When I first picked up this book and saw that the authors has such overwhelming credentials, I figured this book would be a real "dry" read. Boy, am I glad I was SO wrong. This book had a lot of wonderful research behind it. I never once found myself sitting with the book thinking "Yeah, right! As if THAT could happen." Everything blended so well, NASA, Mars mission, political problems, threatened budget cuts, sabotage, human flaws and a little romance.

I was pleasantly surprised how well the authors presented their female characters. I kept turning pages (staying up way too late) just to find out what happened next. The characters' personal musings on their religious beliefs even worked in wonderfully with the life-and-death situation for the characters. I highly recommend this book for anyone.

Scientists and fiction usually just don't mix. But these guys defy this law, creating an incredible, spell-binding, page-turning novel of galactic proportions! Ingermanson/Olson rely on incredible scientific smarts to weave a fantastic book.

This book chronicles the tale of four astronauts as they journey on a mission like no other: a mission to Mars. Disasters plague the mission, however, leaving the crew no recourse but to guess at their saboteur. Was it a terrorist? A member of the Mission Control crew? Was it...a member on board their own ship?

This book is incredible. Twists and turns on nearly every page (that is, once the action gets going) really will make you feel like you're on a roller coaster in novel form!

God is also a big part of this book...and a crucial one. Just one more element to make this book OUT OF THIS WORLD. Buy it, read it, and keep remembering to breathe.

I enjoyed Ingermanson's "Transgression," but this book takes his writing to another level. What starts out as a basic trip to Mars (could that really be basic?) turns into a nightmare of suspicion, sabotage, and stretches of faith. Through witty and believable dialogue, with detailed research and thorough but never cumbersome facts, the authors sweep us along into a captivating scenario. Along the way, we come to know Bob and Valkerie and the others that surround their work and relationship. The web of suspicion draws tighter and tighter until the last fifty pages when even further surprises are revealed. What seems to be a fairly straightforward survival-in-space story contains much more. I read the last paragraph with a smile, a short laugh, and my heart in my throat. This is smooth and effortless storytelling. Well worth it.

I recently found this audio edition of "Rumpole on Trial." I had only heard Leo Mckern read the Rumpole stories, but knew other actors had portrayed the British barrister in the past. Unfortunately, after listening to the Timothy West version for awhile, I stopped listening. Those of us who have heard Mckern do Rumpole almost exclusively may be dissapointed with West's version. Mckern is much more bombastic and furious with his Rumpole. West's comedy is much more subtle to the point of non-existance. Where during an objection about a point of law, Mckern would have shouted with a great relish to the argument. West does not have that flair.

But Timothy West is a good reader. I would encourage those who haven't heard Leo Mckern or have not decided that they won't accept any Rumpole other than Mckern's, to give this edition a chance. Those of us who have saturated ourselves with Mckern's acting ability, it might be best to save some money.

and, frankly, Timothy West falls just short. But considering that every drawing of Rumpole is a drawing of Mr. McKern, that he was so closely identified with the character that when he read the stories they were read "by Rumpole himself" for another reader to successfully render Rumpole was a pleasant surprise for me.

Since at least the second recording of this series uses a different actor I wonder about the quality but at least the first volume is a complete success with Mr. West's terrific reading making one (almost) forget the late "Rumpole".

With the recent death of character actor Leo McKern, there will be a resurgence of interest in video editions of his wonderful "Rumpole of the Bailey" series so dear to the hearts of Mystery Theatre watchers on PBS. In fact, HBO is reissuing all of the tapes onto DVD format and they will be available starting in in the Fall of 2002. So it was with great pleasure that I saw listed in the Audio Partners catalogue of books on tape, "Rumpole on Trial" ((61267). The set holds 6 cassettes with a running time of 8 hours and 7 minutes.

The reader is British actor Timothy West, whose voice is the next best thing to the gravel-throated chortle of McKern. Here he reads seven complete Rumpole tales: "Rumpole and the Children of Evil," "...the Eternal Triangle," "...the Miscarriage of Justice," "...the Family Pride," "...the Soothsayer," "...the Reform of Joby Jonson," and (to break the pattern) "Rumpole on Trial." All of these have been televised and all of them are a good deal of fun.

John Mortimer's custom was to create around the case Rumpole is handling a framing plot that has thematic likenesses or is antithetical to the main plot. So, for instance, all the while Rumpole is worried about being disbarred, his draconian wife, Hilda ("She Who Must Be Obeyed" as he calls her) is plotting to have him made a judge.

The army of minor characters are a joy in themselves. The pompous Head of Chambers "Soapy" Sam Ballard, the unhappily married clerk Henry, the pro-labor and pro-women barrister Liz Probert, the opera-loving snake in the grass Claude Erskine-Brown, the foot-in-his-mouth Guthrie Featherstone, and above all the (in)Justices Olliphant and Graves who love the prosecution and cannot see any humor in Rumpole's reminding them a trial should be fair.

Timothy West does all the voices, of course, but does not try to emulate the women as other readers do on (say) the Jeeves tapes. That would have been an error, since the tales are always told first-person from Rumpole's point of view.

For the most part, I think I clocked in about one good laugh per minute while listening to these tapes on long car trips; and I can highly recommend this set.

This ought to be a terrific book. Winston Churchill led a fascinating life and shaped the history of a time with many lessons for our own. John Keegan is a wonderful military historian whose book "In the Face of Battle" I still assign to students. Moreover, there is a real need for a biography of Churchill with a military emphasis. I plunged into this book with enthusiasm after having waded through the parliamentary detail of Roy Jenkins's Churchill biography. But this is very ordinary. It provides a competent sketch of well-known information, and would not make a bad introduction for someone unfamiliar with the man or the time. That merits several stars. But it does not go beyond that; tracing the intricate interweaving of the political, moral, and military strands that enabled this leader to stand almost alone against tyranny and to hold his country with him remains a challenge to future biographers. Part of the problem may be that Keegan's greatest strength as a writer is his ability to recreate small moments of history in amazingly vivid detail. Perhaps a series of vignettes of crucial moments in Churchill's career would have suited Keegan's talents better.

As with the entire Penguin Lives series, this book was written by an expert who was given the challenge of sharing his knowledge in less than 200 pages. John Keegan succeeds brilliantly. As an expert on World War II, Keegan has written many wonderful and insightful books and this is no exception despite the literary constraints placed upon him. His clear and beautiful prose make the book a quick and enjoyable read, but he does not sacrifice information. I did not know a lot about Churchill before reading this book, but now I feel that I have a good understanding for his achievements and why he was so significant in his own time. It is a fabulous book for an amateur historian who does not want to spend dozens of hours wading through a biography several volumes long and simply wants to know significant events and some good analysis by a renowned historian. A wonderful, well written, and interesting book.

John Keegan succeeds brilliantly in this short biography of Winston Churchill, summoning Churchill's persona and principles, as well as providing an overview of Churchill's role in the great events of his long life. While Keegan has crafted his book beautifully, he graciously allows Churchill's voice, in the form of snippets from his speeches, to provide this biography's rhetorical highpoints. This is a first rate portrait of an amazing man. Highly recommended!

This book taught me that living long is a function of many factors, namely one's physical, social, mental, and spiritual health. Some of the factors are totally out of our control such as the genes we are born with and the time period and location we are born into. Also, I learned that longevity and quality of life go hand in hand. For example, a person who smokes heavily all their life not only will die sooner but suffer less enjoyable health in the mean time. This book provides a profound understanding of the factors that determine our well-being and makes a great guide to improving our well-being. I also found it engaging to read. Few of us can make it to 100 or beyond, but by emulating those who have, we can live longer, better lives. It must be nice to live to see your great-grandchildren graduate college and get married and everything.

Also recommended: "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Dr. Stephen Covey, also a great guidebook for improvement.

Harvard has lived up to it's name on this one! The book is terrifically well written with inspiring and helpful explorations of centenarians' lives. The centenarians make it easy for "85 years old in good health" to appear attainable by the rest of us. The book is realistic because the authors say that genes do matter and that most of us have the genes to get us to our mid- to late eighties... there are no promises to get to 100... only a relatively few can do that. But, to be centenarian-like and spend almost all your life in good health is the goal which makes a lot of sense to me. I don't want crazy promises of living to 120 or even 100. Just give me the most up-to-date information about "aging well,not staying young". You won't find human growth hormone in this book. A terrific book with a whole new vision of aging that's good for all of us, young and old alike! If you are looking for one book to inspire you, to get an expert and helpful critique of what to avoid and what to do, and how to be pro-aging, not anti-aging... this is the book for you!!

Jason Taylor is looking for some miracle diet to get him to 100 and it sounds like 150. If he read more than 10 pages of Living to 100 he would realize that there is no miracle diet (SURPRISE!). He proposes that they must have had an amazing diet of some sort to get to 100... when in fact what these authors/real scientists indicate is that genes play a very important role in getting to 100. Diet plays a key role for the majority of us who don't have the genes and therefore can't indulge. For us then some common sense guidelines and suggestions about antioxidant vitamins, exercise etc are outlined in the book.

I thought the book was incredibly well written, full of thought-provoking new ideas about aging and extremely credible.

Jason Taylor seems to work for NASA... he's out in space on this one to!

This is a book for people like me: feeling stuck in a job you hate, believing that God has called you to much more than what you are doing, but afraid to leave the "security" of the life you have built for yourself. In other words, for whatever reason, you're a "boat potato!" Using the familiar Biblical story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter walking out to him (at least until he saw the wind and the waves!), Ortberg, in his entertaining, engaging style, encourages you to overcome your fears, embrace God's call, and trust that God will work through you to do great things you could not do on your own. Between this book and his previous book, "The Life You've Always Wanted", John Ortberg is proving to be one of the top Christian writers on the scene today. You can't afford not to read this book!

Ortberg's book is an excellent challenge to evaluate your way of thinking and to get out of your comfort zone and be mightily used of God.

Among the many excellent points Ortberg mentions are:

1. What happens when God works in a person's life.
2. Our gifts will either be used or unused for God's glory.
3. Take your calling from God seriously and accept your limitations.
4. Appreciate the gifts God has given you, utilize them for His glory, and refuse to compare yourself with others.
5. Fear may be the biggest reason we fail to trust and obey God.
6. Be willing to wait on God and His timing and methods.
7. Suggestions for staying focused on Jesus.
8. Let God be larger than the people around you.

Again, these are just a few of the many points mentioned in the book. An excellent read and supplement to the Bible. Highly recommended!

I am only half-way through this book, and I would recommend it whole-heartedly. I had never read anything by this author before, but the title intrigued me. Well, this book is right on target. With wit and wisdom, Pastor Ortberg walks you through each area, and helps to address why we don't get out of our boats and trust the Lord more. His writing style is as easy to read as if he was sitting across the kitchen table from you. Each chapter has questions after it to further help you address what was discussed to your particular situation. There is even a "Bob-Prayer Challenge" issued by the author! (If you want to know what that is, you will have to read the book!) You will not regret getting this one - if you are serious about your walk with the Lord. It brings to light things that have held us all back from our destiny, our callings and generally fulfilling all that God has planned for us. But..... we will have to get out of the boat!

Really truly love or maybe I should have said loved this series. The adding of the charectar of Clarissa has turned me
off somewhat of the series. Why Alexander tinkered with what was a great series is a bit of a mystery to me in
itself. Maybe his editor felt like the series needed a Nancy Drew touch. It doesn't. Use to couldn't wait for the
next book in the series as they are so wonderfully written and would rate all the past books a five star. Oh, I will get the next book but not with the same excitement and anticipation as I had in the past.

...is quite cookie cutter. The solution is obvious from almost the beginning of the book and therefore, I almost rated this series entry only three stars. But, the writing is first-rate with the accuracy of the descriptions of 18th-century life. I do hope, however, that the next book in the series returns to the more complicated & sophisticated books that I have come to expect from Bruce Alexander.

I have read all the books in this series and I can say that EVERYONE of the books are fantastic. This is of course no exception.The author is able to transport you back in time to England. The characters are all well written and the story line is fresh and interesting. If you enjoy historical mysteries then this is the one series you cannot miss. I look forward to the next book in the series. I only have one worry and that the author will stop writing about Jeremy and Sir John.

This is the first book I have picked up on Al Quaeda, and I could not set it aside until I was finished. By beginning with the killing of Rabbi Kahane in 1990 and following with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, thwarting the Manila bomb plan, Embassy bombings, the USS Cole, and finally to the preparations for 9/11 this brings alot together. Of course, John Miller's ABC interview with Bin Laden in 1998 adds a touch. I learned alot about the Cells and gained a greater appreciation for the dangerous times we live in today. To some this could really be scary. I also gained a positive feeling towards our intelligence forces despite their past problems of "territory" and in some cases outright timidness at the higher levels. They really are on top of alot of the terrorists, but in so many cases their hands are tied behind their backs. Like alot of people I know, I had no real background to latch on to as to just why this all happened. This book may not be the absolute authority and it may be a rehash of a much that has been written, but to me it brought it together in a manner that makes some sense and reason. As much as I am sympathetic to the loss, sorrow and hurt felt by the victims and families, I wasn't interested in another book with pictures of the Towers and the stories surrounding their destruction. I needed something to bring it all into perspective. Most of all it has developed my thoughts on the real problem we face is with the cells, and Osama bin Laden is just a minor part of the whole puzzle and threat we live under today. It is these radical elements around the world in these cells that are the threats to our security, and as this book points out in bold type one of our drawbacks is America's determination to give everyone the benefit of the doubt which results in things coming together like 9/11.

This seems like an amazing fictitious detective story except for the fact that it's true and close to 3,000 people actually perished. John Miller takes us back as early as 1990 when Rabbi Meir Kahane was murdered in New York. The murderer and his cohorts were some of al Qaeda's earliest members and they left a trail of information revealing detailed plans for terrorist attacks on US soil. Over the next decade extensive information about these growing cells was available both to local law enforcement agents as well as to the FBI and CIA. How is it that they didn't see the September 11th attack coming? Reading this book will show you that there was no excuse.

What a great book this turned out to be. The authors take you through the many headed investigation into the Osama / 1st WTC bombing events that lead up to the 9-11 attack. The authors cover all the events that lead up to 9-11 and how the separate events and people lead to Osama and his Al Qaeda group. I found the details on what the Clinton administration tried to do and the reasons they did not arrest Oasma before the Cole bombing enlightening. It makes for some very interesting reading and raises some questions as to the power / competence of the American intelligence machine namely the FBI and CIA.

Like many people I have read a good deal on this topic and seen a number of TV shows, but this book pulled a number of different stories and facts together and put them in a nice order to make the reader really see how they all fit together. The authors were able to weave together a number of different story lines in a method that was very easy to grasp the big picture. Overall a wonderful effort that made the book read fast. I was concerned that with three authors the reader would get s somewhat disjointed and jumpy book with three different styles. The editor must have played a big role because the writing comes off in one voice and is very smooth.

John Banville's Eclipse is, I think, his best novel yet. There is a qualification to this claim. Banville is a quiet, introspective and eloquently descriptive writer. Most of his novels largely avoid plot and instead pay attention not so much to the characters but to the world around them. As such the more you read this author the more you understand and appreciate him.
Eclipse itself is simple. A middle age actor has had enough of life and the stage and retreats to his old family home. However things are not what he expects. Instead of longed for tranquility old problems with life and family persist. And new problems emerge. The actor does not seem able to discern between what is and what is not real.
Are the ghosts and images real or just troubled imaginations? At the end the unreal is something different again. It's a great twist to a ghost story.
Once again Banville's powers of description impress. Few writers, through their prose, can paint the world so well. Eclipse succeeds on many levels.

This is the first novel by John Banville I read and after finishing it I immediately ordered "The book of Evidence" and "Ghost", so you can safely bet that this is going to be glowing review.

The story is moving but unspectacular: Alexander Cleave is an aging actor who has suddenly lost it. For no reason that he can think of he unexpectedly finds himself in cinemas crying his heart out during the afternoon showings and he forgets his lines when he is on stage. He retreats to his late mother's house, hoping to get some peace of mind there and somehow find himself again. But instead of peace and quiet he finds that ghosts and living people have taken up residence with him. He is also beset by memories of his troubled daughter. Hoever, it is not so much the outcome of all this that matters as the processes in Cleave's mind, his dreams, his perplexities, his realizations, his fears.

Banville writes beautifully, exquisitely. His prose is a blend of evocativeness and precision, his metaphors are just right. An example: "Memory is peculiar in the fierce hold with which it will fix the most insignificant-seeming scenes. Whole tracts of my life have fallen away like a cliff in the sea, yet I cling to seeming trivia with pop-eyed tenacity (p. 74)." And another one: "It has always seemed to me a disgrace that the embarrasments of early life should continue to smart throughout adulthood with undiminshed intensity. Is it not enough that our youthful blunders made us cringe at the time, when we were at our tenderest, but must stay with us beyond cure, burn marks ready to flare up painfully at the merest touch (p. 83)?"

This is not a novel of plot and action, but a gently moving, meditative, introspective story, where a lot is left unsaid and merely hinted at and for the reader to find out. Only very good writers can pull that off succesfully. John Banville is such a very good writer.

John Banville has an almost scary insight into the psychology of the lie. Word by painstaking word, he creates a subtle and nuanced portrait of characters who, despite all evidence to the contrary, cannot or will not see the immense flaws in their souls which wreak havoc to all those close to them. In this novel, Eclipse, Banville undertakes on of these subtle portraits to create a story of haunting insight, literally and figuratively.

Alex Cleave is a moderately successful stage actor. In his mind he is terribly successful, but there are many hints throughout the book that all is not the way he paints it, either in his life or his career. Midperformance, Cleave suffers a nervous breakdown and retreats to his haunted boyhood home to recover, much to the dismay of his estranged wife. There, Cleave struggles with ghosts, real and imagined, which bring him to terms with the realities of his ruined life, the shambles of his marriage, and his tense relationship with his emotionally disturbed daughter Cass. Banville uses this rather thin plot, with it's reminiscences of the Victorian ghost story to shape a narrative that is poetic and ultimately tragic.

This novel is short on action or even plot. Rather it is a subtly drawn character study, rendered in some of the most exquisite prose since Henry James. Banville has an uncanny sense of the inner workings of his character. Cleave is an actor, and as such has the touch of the liar about him. As his mind drifts from present events to the remembered past you watch as Cleave's mind skirts around the real problems of his life. He engages in self-aggrandizement, rationalizations and most especially avoidance when faced with anything unpleasant. He admits to lesser failings readily to avoid confrontation with his greater failings. His observations of the other characters in the novel are well drawn, but slanted. Banville's brilliance is shown particularly in the life of these peripheral characters. Lydia, Cleave's wife, seems on the surface to be a shrew...and yet, you leave the novel with the sense that her complaints against her husband are more than justified. Lilly, the daughter of Cleave's rather odious caretaker, is a mysterious cypher, by turns superficial and yet possessing glimpses of a very complicated inner life that Cleave only barely understands.

The central haunting figure in the novel, Cleave's daughter Cass, is not even physically present throughout, and yet she haunts the book more fully than the ghosts in Cleave's house. Cass is brilliant but mentally troubled. She hears voices and has a tendency to self-destruction. Her specter comes between Cleave and his wife and even haunts Cleave's strange and unsettling relationship with Lilly. She troubles Cleave's conscience and yet we never know quite why. Much is left unstated in the novel about the relationship. At heart you feel there is a secret underlying it all, a secret that Banville will never fully reveal. At every moment when you think something is going to finally break in this tenuous story, the characters look away....and don't say what they are actually feeling. Even the final climax of the book is ultimately an enigma...like the eclipse of the title, most of the important events in Cleave's life are obscured by clouds, and even when they aren't he looks away.

This is not a book for "light reading" or for those who's interest is most heavily in plot or dialogue. In fact, the passages of dialogue in the work could probably be fit on ten pages. It is rather a long, internal monologue rendered in breathtaking turns of phrase. If you love haunting, slow and powerfully tragic novels though, Banville is for you. His is a world that I will be entering again soon.

i myself am not an avid book reader, however my brother is. after he finished with Nathan's Run, he raved about this book to all who would listen. Then fealt the need to buy copies for a few of our friends...after a couple months, i got bored and decided to pick up the book...i'm the type of person, where if the book doesn't capture my attention within the first chapter, i won't give it a second chance...but with Nathan's Run...to put it down would be a mistake...i read it from front to back...hating the fact that it had to end...i fealt myself on Nathan's journey to freedom and was dissapointed when i completed the book...i simply didn't want it to end...i wanted to watch Nathan grow up..to be there through the childhood he so much needed and deserved, to be able to see him happy, the way a child should be. my complimants to john gilstrap on a job well done...i look forward to reading more of your work...and thank you for opening my mind up to imagination...

I recently purchased this book, I had seen an advertisement for it and I was interested. When I finally found it, I read it in a day! (I love books but I am a VERY slow reader) This book kept my attention all the way through. A 12 year old boy accused of murdering a supervising guard at a Juv. Detention Center is on the run, as the cops try to find him, he breaks into people's houses, steals people's belongings (even cars), and he calls a radio station daily, talking to the host, trying to prove his innocence. A MUST READ!!

They can't catch him; he's Nathan Bailey: car thief, juvenile delinquent, twelve-year-old boy. Accused of murdering a supervisor, now young Nathan is a desperate fugitive on the run. As an orphan, he is alone in the world and must depend alone on his wits, honesty, and desire to never return to the misery of the Detention Center. By breaking into houses and stealing cars, Nathan constantly puts the reader in suspense, as the police frantically search for him. He desperately calls up a nation-wide radio station to get the truth out, and is eventually nicknamed "The World's Favorite Criminal," due to his manners and habit to do laundry in the homes he breaks into. In this thriller, Nathan must continue his run, and that half the nation, along with the reader can't help but root for him all the way. The mystery of the murder combined with the nonstop pace provides a complex, yet exciting plot, and a challenge to put down the book. The real-life dialogue makes this a fun read, and characters that are easy to relate to. As loveable Nathan runs from the police, angry citizens, and a hit man, the reader tries to piece together the puzzle of the crime. Although not a conventional fugitive story, any lover of suspense and thrillers would enjoy this book. However, because of the adult language and gory, violent details, it is recommended for more mature readers. Confusing at times with the constant change in point of view, Nathan's Run is a roller coaster, as it is impossible to predict what will happen next. Nathan wins our hearts from the beginning, and we cheer him on, as he runs and runs from society, while we run with him.

I've read the entire series of Lucas Davenport mysteries and I think 'Naked Prey' is a superbly-written thriller with few holes. In fact, the last three Davenport books (this one, 'Mortal Prey' and 'Chosen Prey') have been among the best in the series, primarily because Sandford comes up with really juicy, psycho, evil villains.
Davenport is married and has a new baby, but there is (fortunately) little of his home life exposed ' the plot of this book just drives forward with action ' thinking back, I can remember at least eight dead people in this book, so it's full of carnage and killing. Actually, in a small town setting, the number of deaths in rapid succession is almost too unbelievable, but it is fiction and we enjoy suspending belief. Regular Davenport followers should like this one and it's a solid read all the way through for mystery fans.

with another entry in his fine "Prey" series, a group of books centered on Lucas Davenport, "the richest cop in Minnesota" (rich because he also designs video games).

Sandford set the stage for change at the conclusion of his last book, letting the reader percolate on what would be the differences in Lucas when he becomes an active father, and when he leaves the police department for a quasi-bureaucratic governmental position in a new state department headed by his old boss, Rose Marie Roux. Wisely, although Sandford went forward with these changes, the impact was streamlined by having 90% of the book's action happen in rural northern Minnesota, in the fictional small town of Broderick. Family man Lucas still has his best sidekick, Del, gainfully employed with him -- and married or not, he still can spot and appreciate a great looking woman. Some things never change!

The first two murders may be motivated by racial hatred - one victim is black, and his significant other is white...they are found brutally slain and hanging from a barren tree in the frosty Minnesota winter. There's so much odd and unusual "stuff" going on in Broderick, it's difficult for Lucas & Del to pin down the any information about the murders, and the killings continue.

Sandford manages to deftly interweave his social viewpoints -- his lack of respect for the media, his vague unsettlement with the way that federal, state and local authorities sometimes impede each other to solve a case that has generated media attention, and most importantly, his support of a little known grass roots campaign that is quietly smuggling prescription drugs from Canada to US patients who need and can't afford them.
Unlike many other writers of this genre, Sandford can keep both his tale of the crime and his social commentary moving in the same direction -- one does not eclipse or slow down the other.

The book is also notable in that it provides a lot of insight into tribal casinos...a staple of the Minnesota scenery in the last decade. Tribal casinos have changed rural Minnesota in many ways, and Sandford captures this contrast of big city activity with the rural tundra.

The prize of the novel, as many readers have commented, is new character Letty West, who will doubtless appear in future instalments. A precocious 12-year old, Letty's like many rural kids that come from dysfunctional single parent families....in the cities, kids from these homes tend to run with gangs...in the country, they tend to be loners, with old souls. Letty is such a character, and she's the best addition to the series in a long time.

This may not be the finest of Sandford's series, but its darn close! Don't wait for the paperback!

Lucas Davenport is back in John Sandford's continuing series, and fans of the detective won't be disappointed. Davenport now works for a Minnesota state agency, the BCA, under Rose, his old superior from the Minneapolis police department. A murder scene that resembles a lynching is enough to bring in Davenport and his partner Del to invesigate and clean up before a major political crisis can begin. The murder scene is discovered by a very unusual 12 year old girl, Letty West, who talks and acts many years her senior. Davenport enlists Letty's help in his investigation, which revolves around the hanging murders, multiple kidnappings, a car theft ring, and drug smuggling. The individual crimes are linked through several threads that are not apparent at first to Davenport or the several law enforcement groups he is working with on the case.

Davenport's domestic scenes with his wife Weather are kept to a minimum in this yarn, with almost all of the action focused on the crimes. Letty West takes center stage, and she proves more than a match for Davenport. She traps muskrats, totes a rifle, drives pickups, swears a lot, and helps pick up the pace of the book whenever she appears (which is often). There is strong rapport between Davenport and Letty, and the foundations are set for the making of a good team in future editions of the series.