The return of Elvis Cole is well worth the wait. Robert Crais moves Elvis right into action during the first chapter. He is caring for his girlfriend's son and in just one moment the boy disappears. The ensuing search for the boy centers upon's Elvis's Vietnam memories, and a box hidden in his closet that contains medals and pictures. This is not a mystery solved easily- lots of turns and tangles. Old nemesis and the return of Carol Stanger from a previous novel keep this storyline fresh and right on the edge of your seat. Action and deep thought are all a part of the story. Elvis digs deep to keep his relationship with the boy's mom on an even keel, but this may be
the last chance that won't work out. The return of Det. Stanger
gives us renewed hope that she will be part of Elvis Cole's next
case and maybe a new romance...

Please note the rating is provisional - I suspect it will bump up to a five by the time I finish...

I have been waiting a long time to read this book, a continuation of the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. In addition to the resolution of the mystery and the smart-ass humor, I've always appreciated how the friendship of Elvis and Joe has been explored in each book.

The Last Detective further develops the character of Elvis Cole: the mysteries of his upbringing and his Vietnam experiences, all filtered through the search for Ben Chenier, son of Cole's girlfriend, Lucy.

So far, I have already been moved to tears by descriptions of the young Elvis, the battle scene is harrowing, and although I hope for a happy ending, I can't see where Crais is leading me in this story. I'm grateful for that fact. He also has a way of making the reader care about his characters, even those who might only appear for a few pages. They grow and develop; no cardboard people here. He even makes LA look good to this native San Franciscan!

Be sure to read (or re-read) LA Requiem; events in The Last Detective are influenced by the previous book. And if you have never read Robert Crais, begin with The Monkey's Raincoat and read the series in order. You'll read straight through and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Crais is a favorite of mine because he takes chances and seems to grow with his characters. For four years, fans have been waiting for a new Elvis Cole book -- and this tense, fast paced story will not disappoint many!

Be prepared for the darker tone we saw in L.A. Requiem; there is little for Elvis to wisecrack about; no one has brought him a case to strategically solve, instead he's vilified as the party responsible for the kidnap of Ben Chenier. Crais gives us strong dialogue and emotion, change ups in the story's point of view, some blind alleys and some down right insightful detective work.

Layers of Elvis' past evolve, and, for the first time, we see Joe Pike as vulnerable and unsure. Crais adds Carol Starkey, tough cop from "Demolition Angel" as the Juvenile cop assigned to the case. Starkey and Elvis are a potent mix.

True responsibility for the kidnapping is somewhat easy to guess, but Crais makes up for it by insuring that the story ends in a way that much of life does...everybody loses, but some lose more than most.

If there is a better writer in this genre today than Crais, please let me know who he/she is! Crais' work is outstanding...

Highly recommended, but more so if you've read previous novels in the Cole series. You can't invest as much in Elvis and Joe as characterized here, unless you've glimpsed the past.

With this book Patricia Cornwell secured herself a multi-millions dollar career and countless follow-ups. Postmortem is extremely well written, the prose flawless, and the personal and forensic details absorbing. Don't expect and nice character as a protagonist. In Postmorterm a serial killer goes around Richmond, Virginia and kills young women. It's not a laughing matter, and Cornwell handles the narration and pace with a touch of realism which is scary to say the least. Maybe this has to do--apart from her ability to write convincingly--with the fact that the serial killings in the novel are based on a real case which also happened in Richmond, Virginia. Perhaps the only problem is the ending is a little weak but then Cornwell once claimed, 'I don't do mysteries'. And she doesn't. This novel takes you into the head and life of the postmorterm examiner. Keep in mind that Cornwell had taken some artistic liberties from the sake of dramatic tension, and that her protagonist, Kay Scarpetta, involves herself in duties which she would not normally be authorized to handle in real-life situations. Neverthelss, it's a rollercoaster of a book, and for those who have never read a Cornwell, start from the beginning, and read this one. For the record, as the years go by, Cornwell's novels are declining in quality. See my other reviews.

With this book Patricia Cornwell secured herself a multi-millions dollar career and countless follow-ups. Postmortem is extremely well written, the prose flawless, and the personal and forensic details absorbing. Don't expect and nice character as a protagonist. In Postmorterm a serial killer goes around Richmond, Virginia and kills young women. It's not a laughing matter, and Cornwell handles the narration and pace with a touch of realism which is scary to say the least. Maybe this has to do--apart from her ability to write convincingly--with the fact that the serial killings in the novel are based on a real case which also happened in Richmond, Virginia. Perhaps the only problem is the ending is a little weak but then Cornwell once claimed, 'I don't do mysteries'. And she doesn't. This novel takes you into the head and life of the postmorterm examiner. Keep in mind that Cornwell had taken some artistic liberties from the sake of dramatic tension, and that her protagonist, Kay Scarpetta, involves herself in duties which she would not normally be authorized to handle in real-life situations. Neverthelss, it's a rollercoaster of a book, and for those who have never read a Cornwell, start from the beginning, and read this one. For the record, as the years go by, Cornwell's novels are declining in quality. See my other reviews.

With this book Patricia Cornwell secured herself a multi-millions dollar career and countless follow-ups. Postmortem is extremely well written, the prose flawless, and the personal and forensic details absorbing. Don't expect and nice character as a protagonist. In Postmorterm a serial killer goes around Richmond, Virginia and kills young women. It's not a laughing matter, and Cornwell handles the narration and pace with a touch of realism which is scary to say the least. Maybe this has to do--apart from her ability to write convincingly--with the fact that the serial killings in the novel are based on a real case which also happened in Richmond, Virginia. Perhaps the only problem is the ending is a little weak but then Cornwell once claimed, 'I don't do mysteries'. And she doesn't. This novel takes you into the head and life of the postmorterm examiner. Keep in mind that Cornwell had taken some artistic liberties from the sake of dramatic tension, and that her protagonist, Kay Scarpetta, involves herself in duties which she would not normally be authorized to handle in real-life situations. Neverthelss, it's a rollercoaster of a book, and for those who have never read a Cornwell, start from the beginning, and read this one. For the record, as the years go by, Cornwell's novels are declining in quality. See my other reviews.

Which is a very legitimate question, since several better hostage negotiation novels have been written in recent years. Such stories are very tricky to write (I know- I've been embroiled in writing one for over four years now) and this is perhaps the reason why fans of this subgenre inevitably have to settle for a trade off- Either they can read a thrilling novel that's badly researched (Deaver's A MAIDEN'S GRAVE) or a serviceable novel that's well-grounded in research. Robert Crais's HOSTAGE falls in the latter category.

We meet Jeff Tally early in the book, the former LAPD SWAT negotiator who, of course, was knocked almost completely out of the life after a hostage standoff went bad. Tally is chief of a small police department on the California coastline in a sleepy town where a car backfiring is assumed to be a car backfiring. Then three youths rob a convenience store in which the owner is accidentally killed (shades of Sandra Brown's horrendous STANDOFF). Two of them panic and drive away, eventually settling in the house of a father of two children who turns out to be an accountant of a mob family. This is an intriguing setup but somehow Crais doesn't fully pull the trigger.

The group dynamic in the household is interesting (Crais rightly doesn't allow for Stockholming, since Mr. Smith is seriously beaten early in the standoff), as is the response by the mob bosses who want to retrieve at all costs two Zip disks in Smith's house, evidence that, according to Crais, could put away virtually all of organized crime on the east coast.

This is where it gets unrealistic. Somehow, the mob is able to infiltrate the staging area that has since been taken over by the Sheriff's department by kidnapping Tally's estranged wife and daughter and sending over fake FBI SWAT agents to enter the house, although even a local cop would know that the barricade situation isn't a federal matter.

But, to Crais's credit, he makes the situation even more unstable by introducing a wildcard into the mix by telling us that one of the three gunmen, Mars Krupcek, is a serial killer. The creation of Mars is a welcome one and his eerie calmness in the face of these desperate circumstances is far creepier than the frantic, frenetic brothers who are his accomplices. One can almost hear Crais piling on the building blocks as he constructed this pretentious novel with one stock motivation and plot device after another (a cache of over two million dollars is found and this is the motivation that Dennis Rooney, the ringleader, supposedly needs to escape the barricade outside).

Overall, however, the ending was unimaginative and predictable and a fairly sharp reader will be able to tell who the crooked cop behind the barricade is dozens of pages before Crais tells us who it is. His language isn't memorable, the characterization merely adequate (Mars notwithstanding) and I'd give this book only one more star than Sandra Brown's STANDOFF, quite possibly the most inept and boring hostage negotiation melodrama ever penned.

Frankly, I think Mr. Willis's money would've been better spent optioning or buying outright the film property of THE STANDOFF, Chuck Hogan's fictionalized account of the Ruby Ridge fiasco.

When Robert Crais writes a book as good as HOSTAGE, I can almost forgive him for making me and his other fans wait two very long years for the next "Elvis Cole/Joe Pike" novel. Remember, I said almost. HOSTAGE is the story of Jeff Talley (think Bruce Willis!), a former LAPD SWAT negotiator who quit his job and left his family due to serious stress, burnout, and guilt over a hostage negotiation that turned bad. He's now the Chief of Police of Bristo Camino, a small California community where life is simpler and the job less demanding. At least it is, until two young hoods and a deadly psychopath rob a minimart and kill its owner. In a futile attempt to escape the police, the three criminals jump the wall of a housing development and invade the home of Walter Smith, taking him and his two children hostage. Talley and his people, along with the help of the California Highway Patrol, surround the house; and, for the most part, things run smoothly. Talley uses his skills as a former hostage negotiator to keep the criminals inside the house calm, biding his time until the L.A. County Sheriff's SWAT team arrive to take over. When they do and Talley signs off control of the situation, his troubles aren't ending. No way. What he thought was a bad day is going to swiftly turn into a nightmare that will push him right to the edge. You see, Walter Smith isn't an ordinary family man. He's the accountant for the West Coast mob and has two computer disks in his home office, loaded with information that can literally bring the criminal organization down to its knees. Mob honcho, Sonny Benza, has no intention of letting the local police or even the FBI get possession of these incriminating disks. He quickly brings in a team of killers to kidnap Talley's wife and daughter, and then tells our reluctant hero to get those disks one way or another, if he wants to see his family alive again. Talley is caught between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to turn and the odds are stacked heavily against him. He wants to save his family, as well as the hostages inside the house, but he may not be able to do both. It's going to be a hard decision to make, not to mention a long night, but the worse is still yet to come! HOSTAGE is an adrenaline surge that will have the heart pounding and the blood racing, clearly illustrating why Robert Crais is considered the MAN. He's able to create true-to-life characters that breathe with authenticity...characters that could very well be your next-door neighbor or the person you work with. He then puts these normal, everyday people in a "do or die" situation, juices up the stress to the point where a massive stroke is imminent, and waits patiently for the ground to fall out from under them to see what happens. As expected, the quality of Mr. Crais' writing is high and cuts to the very bone with its razor-edge sharpness and terse dialogue. The chapters are brief, tense, and to the point; yet, paced in such a manner that the reader may feel as if he's speeding straight into a head-on collision. This is what action-packed, suspense writing is all about, and this is an author who hits the mark every time out. When a writer like Robert Crais is in top form, nothing else comes even close to the kind rush you get from one of his novels. Buy the book, read it, then prepared for the movie that's in the making, staring Bruce Willis as a cop who's once again in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I have been a Robert Crais fan since I first read THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT many years ago. It sounds cliche, but here is an author who really does get better and better with every book he writes.

HOSTAGE is the story of an ex-hostage negotiator who needs some space and time to find himself again. No other writer working today has Crais' grasp of tension and intrigue, emotion and sensibility. He is a true master of the genre. HOSTAGE is a 5-star read that you won't be able to put down from the time you see the title page until you hit the last words. Crais is riveting, pouring suspense into every page until you think you too are part of the book, hostage to his spellbinding writing.

Crais is also the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole series, a wickedly funny, sharp and moving collection of novels starring an L.A.-based private detective. EVERYTHING he has written is worth it -- here is an author you simply MUST read. For suspense and tightly-strung storylines, there is no better author.

Thank you Robert Crais!! And publish the next one soon!!

There certainly seems to be a strong polarity on this page about whether this book is or is not deserving of its legendary status. Both sides have strong points to consider. If you watch MTV on a steady basis and think that Shakespeare guy was a dull card, don't even bother. If you are delving into the realm of classics and want a good challenge, this might be the place to start. But then again...

Ignored or scorned upon its release in 1851, Moby Dick didn't achieve fame until the mid 1920's when professional writers and scholars 'rediscovered' the book and, impressed by the sheer volume of ideas and symbolism, gradually forced this monstrous text into the popular consciousness. Who doesn't recognize the words Moby Dick or Cap'n Ahab? -- though I'm sure the familiarity comes from watching one or two of the numerous movies based from the bare-bones plot rather than actually sitting down for a good breeze through Melville's incredibly convoluted prose. No one that I know of *really* reads a book like this for enjoyment; it's the academic masochist's delight, the forging ground of literature. If you can endure this, Faulkner and Dickens et al are cake in comparison.

Well, OK, Moby Dick is not entirely without merit: several passages are extraordinary in design and achievement, notably 'The Whiteness of the Whale,' 'The Pacific,' and a few other random gleams of astonishing prose & profundity. But then there are the endless days at sea described all too well. And the insomnia-curing Cetology section. And the character ambiguities and obscure symbols and layered subtexts all drained of power by a turgid style and a general inability to get to the point. Seriously folks, I'm an avid reader who averages 10-12 books a month...Moby Dick took me five months to slog through.

This isn't quite as unfathomable as, say, the last works of James Joyce-most everything here is understandable. But, as has been proven time and time again, intelligent writing is not necessarily great, or even good, writing. To be blunt, Moby Dick is overwhelmingly boring, a self-indulgent mess.

Is it worth it? If you are simply interested in the story, that of a man driven to insane lengths by an unfulfilled passion, go rent one of the movies. If you are interested in learning about human existence, I could recommend a thousand other classics to start with. If you love whales, I mean if you are _endlessly fascinated_ by the mysteries of the abysses and its myriad denizens, go ahead and give Moby Dick a try. If nothing else, finishing it is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of.

I first read Moby Dick; or The Whale over thirty years ago and I didn't understand it. I thought I was reading a sea adventure, like Westward Ho! or Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym. In fact, it did start out like an adventure story but after twenty chapters or so, things began to get strange. I knew I was in deep water. It was rough, it seemed disjointed, there were lengthy passages that seemed like interruptions to the story, the language was odd and difficult, and often it was just downright bizarre. I plodded through it, some of it I liked, but I believe I was glad when it ended. I knew I was missing something and I understood that it was in me! It wasn't the book; it was manifestly a great book, but I hadn't the knowledge of literature or experience to understand it.

I read it again a few years later. I don't remember what I thought of it. The third time I read it, it was hilarious; parts of it made me laugh out loud! I was amazed at all the puns Melville used, and the crazy characters, and quirky dialog. The fourth or fifth reading, it was finally that adventure story I wanted in the first place. I've read Moby Dick more times than I've counted, more often than any other book. At some point I began to get the symbolism. Somewhere along the line I could see the structure. It's been funny, awesome, exciting, weird, religious, overwhelming and inspiring. It's made my hair stand on end...

Now, when I get near the end I slow down. I go back and reread the chapters about killing the whale, and cutting him up, and boiling him down. Or about the right whale's head versus the sperm whale's. I want to get to The Chase but I want to put it off. I draw Queequeg with his tattoos in the oval of a dollar bill. I take a flask with Starbuck and a Decanter with Flask. Listen to The Symphony and smell The Try-Works. Stubb's Supper on The Cabin Table is a noble dish, but what is a Gam? Heads or Tails, it's a Leg and Arm. I get my Bible and read about Rachel and Jonah. Ahab would Delight in that; he's a wonderful old man. For a Doubloon he'd play King Lear! What if Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of The Whale? Would Fedallah blind Ishmael with a harpoon, or would The Pequod weave flowers in The Virgin's hair?

Now I know. To say you understand Moby Dick is a lie. It is not a plain thing, but one of the knottiest of all. No one understands it. The best you can hope to do is come to terms with it. Grapple with it. Read it and read it and study the literature around it. Melville didn't understand it. He set out to write another didactic adventure/travelogue with some satire thrown in. He needed another success like Typee or Omoo. He needed some money. He wrote for five or six months and had it nearly finished. And then things began to get strange. A fire deep inside fret his mind like some cosmic boil and came to a head bursting words on the page like splashes of burning metal. He worked with the point of red-hot harpoon and spent a year forging his curious adventure into a bloody ride to hell and back. "...what in the world is equal to it?"

Moby Dick is a masterpiece of literature, the great American novel. Nothing else Melville wrote is even in the water with it, but Steinbeck can't touch it, and no giant's shoulders would let Faulkner wade near it. Melville, The pale Usher, warned the timid: "...don't you read it, ...it is by no means the sort of book for you. ...It is... of the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hausers. A Polar wind blows through it, & birds of prey hover over it. Warn all gentle fastidious people from so much as peeping into the book..." But I say if you've never read it, read it now. If you've read it before, read it again. Think Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Goethe, and The Bible. If you understand it, think again.

It's always dangerous to label a book as a "masterpiece": that word seems to scare away most readers and distances everyone from the substance of the book itself. Still, I'm going to say that this is the Greatest American Novel because I really think that it is--after having read it myself.

Honestly, Moby Dick IS long and looping, shooting off in random digressions as Ishmael waxes philosophical or explains a whale's anatomy or gives the ingredients for Nantucket clam chowder--and that's exactly what I love about it. This is not a neat novel: Melville refused to conform to anyone else's conventions. There is so much in Moby Dick that you can enjoy it on so many completely different levels: you can read it as a Biblical-Shakespearean-level epic tragedy, as a canonical part of 19th Century philosophy, as a gothic whaling adventure story, or almost anything else. Look at all the lowbrow humor. And I'm sorry, but Ishmael is simply one of the most likable and engaging narrators of all time.

A lot of academics love Moby Dick because academics tend to have good taste in literature. But the book itself takes you about as far from academia as any book written--as Ishmael himself says, "A whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard." Take that advice and forget what others say about it, and just experience Moby Dick for yourself.

Daniel Quinn certainly deserves praise as a progressive thinker, and even as a visionary. But that doesn't automatically mean that his ideas are successful or plausible, as you can see in this book. Like some of Quinn's other works, this is just a collection of vignettes, each taking up one page or less in rather large print, and becomes merely a list of fragmented ideas with little substance. Granted, he does have some great observations on homelessness and people who can't fit into the system. Quinn's overall philosophy is indeed a necessary one, in that there are better alternatives to the current human civilization. But this idea has been presented much more strongly by other authors in the so-called "Post-Civilization" movement, such as John Zerzan.

In this book Quinn tends to make grand generalizations into historical episodes that he evidently has not researched fully, such as Mesoamerican cultures "choosing" to abandon civilized living. He often uses his previous fictional works as evidence for his theories, and is irritatingly prone to the "strawman" method - creating fictitious quotes or arguments that he can then shoot down with his thesis. When it comes to the grand concept of improvements to modern structured civilization, the only examples he can come up with are traveling circuses and his own community newspaper. The problem here is, neither of these were made up of people who were forced to make a modern living in a system from which they could not extricate themselves. This flimsy, unsubstantial book has some good ideas, but for better solutions (make that any solutions) to the problems it complains about, you are advised to look elsewhere.

Always had an interest in aboriginals (but never really knew why)?
Ever wished you could be a native american
(but never really understanding the difference
between their and our lives)?
Always felt resentment at the prospect of working
the rest of your life 9-5 for some multinational company
which pays you well, but treats you lousy
(but never had an alternative)?
This is your way out. Daniel Quinn offers you a DIY solution on how to get away from the horrors of our civilization.
And the wonderful thing is you don't have to wait till everybody
is convinced this is the way to go (as a matter of fact convincing everybody is not recommended). I'm not going to explain how and what, because there a good
reason that mr Quinn wrote this book and i didn't.
I think this book offers a great new story to be part in, instead of going with the flow of civilization with the knowledge there's something wrong, but never really being able to put your finger on it.
Great book from a great mind.

I never used to be *that* concerned about the condition of the Earth and our civilization; I knew we had some great problems, but I figured they would be solved sooner or later and that humanity was in no real threat of going extinct. My God, what a naive view that was. Reading the Ishmael trilogy and Beyond Civilization has totally changed me. I used to be more or less apathetic about these issues, but after reading these books, I absolutely couldn't stay that way. We are in real trouble if we continue this way of life, and nothing less than a world with changed minds will save us. Everyone has to read Quinn's books, including this one. I'm not exaggerating when I say that. We all have to change our vision from the current one, or we'll end up stabbing ourselves to death (that's what we're doing now). Quinn makes these important facts very clear in this book, and his reasoning is so sound. These ideas were totally unknown to me before reading Ishmael. Now I can't believe how I got along without them. I know so many people who feel the same way after reading Quinn's books. They say their lives are changed. Some of these people were the most apathetic I knew towards environmental issues. It's *amazing* what effect these books have on people. I've never experienced anything like it. More than anything, this book is a tremendous inspiration, especially to those who have read Ishmael (they can appreciate the ideas more - so you read Ishmael too! :). It's straightforward, clear, and incredibly powerful. Please read this book.

It is exciting, fast moving, thrilling and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I love the depth in which Patricia Cornwell delves into her characters - we've seen Benton and Marino up close and personal, at their best and at their worst, now it's our turn to see Lucy. As is her usual approach, the characters are colorful and dramatic (can you see Pete Marino in any other light?).

With this title, I wasn't sure what I was picking up to read -- it gave me the mental image of a Frankenstein type book. The Body Farm is actually a research facility in Tennessee where Scarpetta discovers gruesome experiments that may lead to answering her questions and to finding Gault. So my original assessment from just the title wasn't too far off base. With Cornwell writing it, you can be assured of a wild and exciting ride.

Definitely a recommended addition to your Kay Scarpetta library!

Patricia Cornwell takes us to the dark side of forensics (as if there were a light side!) and grisly adventures with both lovable and hate-able characters. "The Body Farm" is no exception. I felt, at first, that the title wasn't justified because Dr. Scarpetta didn't spend much chapter time at the body farm. But when I finished the book, I realized what Ms. Cornwell had done: She grabbed me with the title and the rest was just good reading. If you have the slightest bit of a detective or medical examiner in you, read ALL of Patricia Cornwell's books. You won't be sorry.

I was going on the road for a six hour round trip and in search of the 2nd installment from Stephen King's Dark Tower series on audio book from my local library. I had just finished Patricia Cornwell's Post Mortem in paper back and was starting to become a fast friend of Dr Kay Scarpetta. So when I couldn't get Stephen King, I tried The Body Farm audio book and .... WOW I was hooked. The narrator's voice was very compelling...the story was riveting...and I found myself driving around the block in my car to finish a chapter. I am now trying to catch up with the other Patricia Cornwell books...and I will list this one at the top of my recommended reading list. For me, who frequents the library so that I won't go broke buying the two to three books I read a week.. I WILL buy this book for my personal collection. Patricia Cornwell has a great style, great details, characters that you will love to read about, and careful details of the people and places in the geographical areas she writes about. I am from Tennessee..and the Southern references ring true to me.

I have read almost everything Nora Roberts has written. I buy her books as soon as they hit the bookshelves, and Midnight Bayou was no exception. Sometimes I am less than thrilled by her work, but for the most part, I think an "inferior" Nora Roberts book is better than most romance books out there. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The male lead was, for me, the most lovable and enjoyable of all her male characters to date. He was intelligent, sensitive, but macho, thoughtful, incredibly witty and, of course, rich and handsome. Once of the reasons I read romance novels is to escape to a fantasy world for a little while, and what a great time I had reading about this "too good to be true" guy! The female lead was not so likable, at times, but I really enjoyed their interactions. The dialogue was funny, and the supporting characters were almost as enjoyable as the leads. The flashbacks to the past, although dark, were absorbing. I've always liked ghost stories. And, since I did not grow up in Louisianna, and didn't know that her descriptions weren't accurate, I thought they were fun and charming. The only complaint I have is that I did think the ending was a little anticlimactic. I was expecting more at the end--what that was, I don't know, but something...Despite this, I give this book 5 stars!

Midnight Bayou
Nora Roberts

Declan Fitzgerald leaves his job as a Boston lawyer to buy a house--Manet Hall--that he first discovered in New Orleans 11 years ago. The house hasn't been lived in for some time and needs renovation. Declan finds his joy in restoring the old mansion. There's a sad history to the mansion, however, and Declan begins to experience strange dreams and starts sleepwalking. He finds himself terrified to enter one of the rooms on the third floor. Declan meets Lena, the owner of a small bar in down town New Orleans. He is immediately attracted to her and thinks, "at last" the first time he sees her. Lena and Declan are both linked to the history of Manet Hall as well as to each other. Lena's grandmother lives behind Manet Hall and Declan befriends her. She is a wonderful character. Declan has a terrific personality and sense of humor. This is definitely one of my favorite Nora Robert's books. Being interested in reincarnation and past lives added to the flavor. I must admit I was surprised when I discovered what the subject of the book was but I think Ms. Roberts handled it in a believable manner. Definitely a keeper.

While ghost stories aren't my preferred reading material, I usually read anything written by Nora Roberts. Nora has a way of writing male characters that makes them believeable and yet fit the romance archetype. Declan Fitzgerald is no exception! Although I was dubious at first, Nora writes a great reincarnation story. (I won't go into detail, as I don't want to spoil readers with the surprise, but suffice to say it is quite a plot twist, Grin). My favorite character in the book was Remy who steals the show with his 'southern charm.' If I could suggest improvement, I wish Declan wasn't another 'rich unmarried bachelor.' I'd like to see Nora write more about handsome dynamic men of average means... And leave the trustfund babies for authors who can't write... Overall A_+++ keep 'em coming Nora!!!

It's been a while since I've read a straight out thriller, and I didn't regret reading this one. To be honest, I'm the kind of reader who tends to "lurch" through books...read 50 pages, set book down for a few days, read another 50, etc. Gideon had me turning the pages and coming back every day until I finished it, so I must say that I found it engrossing.

The plot had some good twists but wasn't so complicated that I needed 3x5 cards to figure out what was going on. There were a few memorable characters, good villians, decent hero...if a bit stereotypical. Good action, high body count. Overall, I think most people would find it very entertaining.

One other opinion...the identity of the Closer was laughable. Still makes me chuckle when I think about it.

When struggling writer Carl Granville is approached by a successful editor at the funeral of his agent he is excited to learn that she has a project in mind for him, if he chooses to accept it. She wants him to ghost-write a fictional novel based on real events that will potentially earn him a fortune. The only problem is that she wants it done fast. Real fast. He will have to turn a series of diaries, letters and articles into explosive fiction within just a few weeks. Carl accepts.

However, within a few days, Carl begins to get uneasy. He's not entirely comfortable with what the diaries are disclosing - in effect, the murder of a small child - and is unsure whether he really wants to continue. But then, two people close to Carl and brutally murdered, including the editor who originally approached him, and Carl, with no evidence at all to support his claims and no alibi, finds himself to be the prime suspect. Carl quickly realises that he's in great danger...there's someone out there who doesn't want this book written, and they're prepared to go to grave lengths to ensure that it isn't...

Excellent thriller. That's really all I can say. Human characters, great writing, and an absolute snake of a plot. It twists and turns and shocks in ways that would make Jeffery Deaver proud. The plot is original enough, and adds a nice twist to the accepted "innocent-man-on-the-run" formula. The protagonist is a wonderful every-man, and very easy to like. I can only applaud this tense, exciting thriller from the pen of David Handler and Peter Gethers. It's very rare that books written by two people actually work, but Gideon is certainly one of the exceptions. This book should please all thriller fans, and I'm very much looking forward to reading "Icarus", which sounds equally thrilling...

Carl Granville is the writer hired to take the pages of an old diary and turn them into bestselling fiction. The identity of Gideon is a secret and all the names and locations in the diary are blacked out...Granville will be fed bits of information as the novel progresses. The deeper Carl becomes involved with this project, the closer he gets to danger, resulting in several deaths, information being stolen and his apartment ransacked.

With Carl the main suspect in the murders, he must run for his life to prove his innocence and bring together the secrets and identity of Gideon. His race will bring him to need the help of ex-girlfiend, journalist, Amanda, and together the two will discover a chilling, cover-up.

"Gideon" is so fast-paced, you will be likely to finish it in one sitting. The novel does not give much information until the end, and what an ending it is! You will be guessing from the first page all the way to the end.

Russell Andrews has written a novel that teases you with plot twists, and intricately twists and turns them to the shocking climax.

A great summer read.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

Goleman's book successfully educates the reader on the importance of emotional intelligence and provides some insight into how our society has gone wrong in raising our children.

Everyone knows someone who is book smart but doesn't seem to possess common sense. Despite their intelligence they lack the skills needed to have successful relationships and a happy life. Goleman defines these skills in a succinct way so we can finally define what it means to be intelligent. Goleman proposes that we can instill this emotional intelligence in our children and provides the information needed to do so.

The violence that has erupted in our schools is top of mind in both educators and parents. This book is highly insightful for those searching for the answers. It explains why youth are more depressed, violent and aggressive than ever. Goleman spends a chapter explaining how emotional literacy can be integrated into our schools. He proposes that these programs will get to the root of our nation's problem and provide the long-term results that we so desperately need. I highly recommend this book to parents and educators and anyone else who thinks we as a society can do a better job raising our children.

Yes, there are heaps of boring sections in the book...it ain't a fun read. But the heart of the message is incredibly insighful: That empathy is a key life attitude. If you work your way through the book you'll understand why I give it 5 stars...even though I forced myself to finish it.

I'd recommend this book to ANYONE interested in understanding the human condition. Then I'd follow it up with any book by Thomas Gordon (Parent Effectiveness Training, Leader Effectiveness Training, Teacher Effectiveness Training), as these books show you exactly how to put to daily use the skills that nurture and develop emotional intelligence.

I read Thomas Gordon's books first and then found Emotional Intelligence. But either way you're promised an eye-opening experience.

Daniel Goleman's writing is concise, highly readable, and interesting. The first couple of chapters deal with the science behind emotions and the brain, then the rest of them analyze the role of emotions in many different aspects of life (at work, in a developing child, in health, and in disorders and diseases) This book puts some scientific logic and reasoning, and links to research, behind the "common sense" idea that it takes more than smarts to make it in this world...success is not supressing emotions, but being able to handle them when they surface. Everyone can stand to benefit from a better understanding of thier emotions. This is not a "self-help" book, in my opinion, but a thorough examination of the current state of physiological origins and effects of emotions--dealt with in a simple and direct manner. Daniel highlights the effects of anger, depression and anxiety in adults and children. Daniel pulls out the relevant points and parts of today's research and binds them cohesively into a fascinating exploration of how the leading indicator of success is often the amount of rational control one has over thier emotions. The nice thing about the book is it deftly avoids getting bogged down in the research detail and statistics. All in all, learning the importance of emotions in life is a journey we all make sooner or later, but never will you have the opportunity to have it so clearly presented and explained.

Dennett is a philosopher who is interested in science. In "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", Dennett works hard to translate key results from the science of evolutionary biology into a form that non-scientists (particularly those with a background in philosophy) can make use of. For the skilled performance of such an important service, we have to recognize Dennett as a national treasure.

"Darwin's Dangerous Idea" makes the point that no idea is worth wasting your time on if it cannot stand in the cold light of the harshest criticism. You can read plenty of praise for "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" here, but what about serious criticism? How does this book stand up to its critics?

If you quizzed academic philosophers, working psychologists, and cognitive scientists you would find many who never read any of Dennett's books and who would tell you that reading Dennett is a waste of time. This is the same treatment the Darwin himself still gets in some quarters. A large part of "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" is Dennett's attempt to explain why Darwin's revolutionary ideas on evolution have provoked such a response. The short answer is that evolutionary thought is "strong acid" the dissolves many of the ancient dogmas that some people try to cling to. The explicitly stated purpose of "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" is that Dennett wants to show why people need not feel threatened by the truth and power of evolutionary thinking. Of course, people who do not "get" Dennett's presentation continue to feel threatened and try to prevent other people from reading Darwin, Dennett, and anyone else that threatens their comfy old ways.

In addition to the subject matter, Dennett's style in "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" also provokes condemnation from academicians. Dennett dares to cross disciplinary boundaries and deals skillfully with the task of relating dusty academic pursuits to real human concerns. Many philosophers and scientists who lack the intellectual bandwidth to keep up with Dennett can only play the tired old game of calling Dennett a joke. This is the same treatment that Carl Sagan got for his masterful efforts in the service of humanity. If you are a professional philosopher or scientist who believes that "real ideas" are only written in opaque jargon and published in obscure academic journals, then do not buy "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", its broad perspective and clarity of vision will fracture the narrowness of your mind.

In addition to the general criticisms of "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" that come from people who have never read the book, there are criticisms that actually relate to some of the specific ideas that are in the book. For example, Dennett explores the idea that Darwin's theory of natural selection was not a detailed mechanistic account of biological evolution (after all, Darwin had no idea that DNA is the basis of inheritance), but rather an algorithms for producing adaptation or "fit" between living organisms and a complex environment. Some people do not like Dennett's view of Darwinism as algorithm. As a biologist, I feel that viewing Darwin's ideas on natural selection as an algorithm is both correct and refreshing.

There are two "isms" that Dennett makes use of in a most talented fashion: reductionism and functionalism. In philosophical jargon, "reductionism" is what you do when your computer does not work and you systematically search for the problem by investigating each component of the hardware and software. Functionalism is what people do when they think about something like a heart in terms of its function, without imagining that there must be something magical in the material of a living heart that prevents us from building a mechanical pump. As a philosopher who learned much from Wittgenstein, Dennett is not a Platonic Thinker, and Dennett's style of philosophy shows just how powerful functionalism can be as a strategy for understanding reality in the absence of Platonism. If you are like many academic philosophers and have been indoctrinated with the idea that reductionism and functionalism are evils, then you should probably not read this book. You risk learning how narrow your education was.......Dennett might actually pull you out of the dark ages. If you can appreciate a philosopher who uses any available tool that helps us "carve the world at its joints", then you are in for a treat.

"Darwin's Dangerous Idea" does not simply deal with biological evolution in the narrow sense of Darwin's time. Dennett also deals with the application of evolutionary thought to ideas and he has whole-heartedly adopted Richard Dawkin's term "meme" to describe an idea that spreads through minds and societies. It is clear that the idea of evolving "memes" receives the same bitter opposition that Darwin's original ideas on biological evolution received. If you want to see a book-length statement of this sort of sour grapes argument against evolutionary thought, spend your money on the book "Darwin's Black Box". Ever since Darwin published "Origin of Species", critics have been complaining, "Well, you do not know all of the details of evolution, so I refuse to believe any of it. Get back to me when you have a real theory and all of the details have been worked out." This no-nothing attitude displays a deep ignorance of how science makes use of theories that are the best game in town. Evolutionary biology and memetics are both young sciences in that they have just begun to scratch the surfaces of their complex subjects. It is silly to dismiss them as "handwaving" unless you have a better theory.

Dennett's claim in "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" is that evolutionary thinking is central to philosophy and our ability to understand our place in the universe. Dennett's effort deserves to be read and treated with reasoned counter-claims. I predict that "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" will do well in the game of "survival of the fittest".

I loved this book. I've read a lot of the popular literature on evolution and Darwinism, and this is far and away my favorite. This is the book to read when you're already quite familiar with the subject of evolution from a biological perspective, because Dennett assumes his reader already accepts the Darwinian framework. I wouldn't recommend this to people who like to debate Creationists (Dennett himself mentions the controversy only in passing), because there is nothing here in the way of factoids to wield against your online foes. This is an examination of the way Darwinism has changed our philosophy of the Meaning of Life.

Dennett has a great metaphor in the "universal acid" of Darwinism. With it, he argues that when Darwin showed that species were not immutable, the fixed-species model of biology dissolved along with the very foundation of Essentialist philosophy. After this revolution, we could never again look at
such concepts as Species or Life or Consciousness as clear-cut distinctions instead of matters of greater or lesser degree.

The modern synthesis later made it clear that the DNA copying process, competition, and unpredictable environmental factors were responsible for the wonders of nature. The focus changed from the plan to the process, and the Intelligent Designer was replaced with a complex but mindless algorithmic process that produced results. The very notion of Intention in nature was seen as an illusion.

Dennett believes that the demonstrated power of a mindless process frightens those who would try to retain their long-held illusions. Unfortunately, that number includes many professed evolutionists who consider themselves intellectually superior to Creationists. Those who maintain that Darwinism is only biology and who try to keep the universal acid from penetrating into the philosophical realm are clinging to notions that Darwinism itself put to rest over a century ago. The central claim of Darwinism is Design-without-Designer, and you either subscribe to it or you don't. If you deny that the cranes of natural selection did all the design work, the burden is on you to show us the magical skyhook responsible for doing the work instead.

I think Dennett is fair to the scientists he criticizes herein. Stephen Jay Gould was a terrific writer, but Dennett's philosophical edge is much sharper and shreds Gould's attacks on "Darwinian Fundamentalism" and "panadaptationism" to pieces. Noam Chomsky's engineering approach to linguistics was revolutionary, and Dennett gives him the credit he deserves. However, Chomsky's assertion that natural selection couldn't have been responsible for the evolution of the language instinct is just the sort of irresponsible "skyhook-seeking" that Dennett deplores.

This book is full of ingenious thought experiments and philosophical hair-splitting. Dennett assumes the reader is familiar with complexity theory, Artificial Intelligence, memetics, and game theory, and he's fond of answering questions with more questions. If you're ready for a challenging mental workout, this is for you.

I am writing as one who has long treated Stephen Jay Gould's work as "gospel" (forgive the expression!), and as an avid user of technology but harsh skeptic with regard to artificial intelligence. This book is harshly critical of Gould in many ways, staunchly defends artificial intelligence, and convinced me that Dennett's views are justified on both fronts. As an evolutionist recently deeply involved in professional and person discussions with many intelligent and thoughtful creationists, I have looked for a thoughtful and convincing book on the logic of macroevolution that takes a much less arrogant attitude towards religious views than does Richard Dawkins (and sometimes Gould himself). Dennett makes many of Dawkins' strongest points even more cleary, and his original terminology, metaphors and interdiciplinary links, while not as flashy as Gould's, are more carefully chosen for clear explanatory value and should be more easily understandable to many people. The book is certainly not easy going, but is well worth the effort, and MIGHT, unlike Gould or Dawkins, engage those of a religious bent without enraging them as well.