Deep Storm by Lincoln Child

Synopsis

Your Top Secret credentials are checked and verified many times before you are allowed to accompany Dr. Peter Crane to a research facility located two miles below the ocean's surface near Greenland. The underwater city was built in the aftermath of an incredible archaeological discovery from an offshore oil platform rumored to involve the lost city of Atlantis.

The facility is huge - think "Mall of the Americas" underwater or picture a submerged aircraft carrier - really big. It is staffed and operated under the dual leadership of the military and the scientific community, which foreshadows a natural conflict of motives.

Dr. Crane, a specialist in deep-sea pressure-related anomalies, has been summoned to the scene to investigate a number of mysterious illnesses affecting the physical and psychological status of the entire crew. Due to a web of security features that border on paranoia, Dr. Crane is rendered helpless to investigate the facility and determine the possible source of the illness.

As more and more employees become violent or dead, Dr. Crane gradually discovers some inconsistencies in both the mission and the motives of the operation. When the entire structure is threatened with imminent implosion, the secrets start revealing themselves, leading to a frantic and compelling finale. * * *

My Two Cents Worth

Deep Storm was my first Lincoln Child novel. I picked it out of the stack, scanned the cover, and started reading, covering the first 135 pages without interruption. With very few exceptions, I found myself fully engrossed in the story and unexpectedly entertained. I found the military commander, Admiral Spartan, to be a little too "Third Reich" and the scientific director, Dr. Usher, to be weak and almost incompetant, but it served to enhance the stature and necessity of Dr. Crane.

Child did an admirable job of creating a convincing environment for me, and the pace of the action was crisp and not nearly as predictable as I had feared. I think this would make a much better movie than The Abyss. I will be looking forward to reading more from Mr. Child.

Paperback
419 pages
4 hours

Last Man Standing by David Baldacci

Synopsis

Web London is one bad hombre. As the tactical leader of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), he commands a unit made up of Navy Seals, Delta Force, and other special ops units that represent the ultimate warriors. He is not a diplomat, couldn't care less about being politically correct, and doesn't lead from the rear. He is battle tested and has the scars to prove it.

How could it be, then, that on an inner-city mission to shut down a major drug gang, London freezes in an alley while his entire team gets slaughtered? He is the only survivor.

Consumed with guilt and ostracized by his fellow HRT teams, London consults the FBI psychoanalysis doctors and submits to hypnosis to discover why he froze at the critical moment of the raid and became the last man standing.

Last Man Standing is another Baldacci masterpiece of storytelling. The characters are raw and believable and the action is intense and disturbing. The plot is complicated and clever, involving conspiracies, cover ups, and deception at the highest levels. Well done. * * *

My Two Cents Worth

London is the epitome of a modern day elite warrior - Rambo with a vocabulary and a PhD. He lives in a black and white world - good guy, bad guy - kill or be killed - enemy or ally. He has never finished in second place. Obviously, Baldacci does a masterful job developing his characters then thrusting them into the most demanding situations.

The stigma of a super hero turning to the shrink to take a look inside his mind and soul is a tough scenario for an author to attempt. It can destroy the credibility of the entire book on a single sentence, but Baldacci pulls it off without a hitch. It is a testament to his research and discipline. It makes you take note of the names in the acknowledgements: FBI agents Edney, Walker, and Schiff and Dr. Steve Sobelman should be proud of their contributions to this story.

This was my first Baldacci novel and although it is different from most of his other works, he made a fan out of me. I was compelled to make a late-night dash to the bookstore to get four more samples of his work. I love those B&N and HPB gift cards.

Paperback
638 pages
8 hours

In for the Kill by John Lutz

Synopsis

Detective Frank Quinn returns in this chilling account of a deranged killer who comes from the swamps of Louisiana, and his equally deranged mother, from whom he learns some very special survival skills. Taking in boarders who eventually disappear without a trace, a la Amos Moses.

The lost son makes his way to New York and commences a murder spree whereby he drowns his female victims in their own bathtub and dismembers them without leaving a single trace. He taunts the famous detective Quinn with clues to the identity of his next victim. Quinn reenlists the help of his former team of retired cops, including Fedderman and Pearl, his former live-in girlfriend, to help him stop the murders.

The detectives get off to a slow start, having to find clues while the bodies continue to be discovered at a frantic pace, as it seems the killer is always a step ahead. The plot takes some interesting turns when Quinn's 20-year-old daughter unexpectedly arrives in the Big Apple to live with her estranged father. * * *

My Two Cents Worth

I picked up In for the Kill in the same minute I finished Darker than Night - another of Lutz's "Frank Quinn" novels. He is one of the more interesting recurring characters of this genre. I found it to be a good, solid read, with a high body count and a medium pace. Although I never really bought into the near perfection of the killer, or the subplot that took place in the swamp, I kept turning the pages.

Maybe I have been conditioned by the CSI TV series to the point I simply cannot accept that a body can be killed and be completely dismembered in a bathroom without leaving a single trace of evidence. Especially when it happens nearly a dozen times.

I also found it interesting that Lutz completely avoids giving the reader even a hint of the passage of time between the murders. I got the impression that the murders happened on almost consecutive nights, but could never find an answer.

I found the whole relationship between Pearl and the killer was a stretch, at best. In prior books she was much too savvy to have been duped so badly.

Finally, within two pages of the introduction of Quinn's daughter, you knew without a doubt that she would become one of the potential victims. There was not a doubt in my mind

I liked the premise of the book and found Lutz to be a capable story teller if a bit predictable. It reminded me of Dexter.

Paperback
477 pages
6 hours

Total Control by David Baldacci

Synopsis

Sidney Archer's near-perfect world implodes when her loving husband Jason reportedly dies in an airplane crash. Questions arise when attorneys working on an international high-tech merger worth hundreds of millions of dollars reveals that Jason was stealing corporate secrets that would put the merger in jeopardy.

A savvy FBI agent investigates the crash and becomes suspicious when the evidence suggests that Jason not only sabotaged the plane, but engineered a multi-million dollar embezzlement plot. The loving wife is crushed at the allegations, but is even more shocked when she discovers that her husband had switched planes at the last minute and was likely alive, but missing and thought to be held captive by a group whose ultimate goal was to move in on the action and acquire the corporate merger for a rival company.

With the aid of her lawyer, Sidney sets out to rescue her husband and reveal the truth. She proves to be a capable heroine, outwitting the murderous goons at every turn and uncovering an immense conspiracy that holds Jason's future in the balance. * * *

My Two Cents Worth

My fifth Baldacci in the past month, you could call me a fan. Okay, I am a avid fan, but for good reason - he knows how to tell a story. His research is remarkable, allowing him to write with discipline and precision.

The industrial espionage theme of the book moves with an electric pace and I found myself completely captured by the plot. I read 140 pages in the first sitting, which was enough for me to find it difficult to get out of my mind. I actually got out of bed, unable to sleep, and read another 92 pages. This is a rare event for me. I was also aware that I did not read nearly the 100 page per hour that I usually average for the standard size paperback.

The only problem I had with the book was with the character of Sidney Archer late in the book. I was with her until the action found its way to the east coast and she left home to save her man.
She morphed from a young and intelligent mother of a two-year-old girl into a mercenary that would have make Rambo blush. I applauded her mission, but found it a stretch to believe that she had more lives than an alley cat.

If you are a fan of espionage, intrigue and high-action, give Total Control a read.

Paperback
694 pages
8 hours

Sail by James Patterson

Synopsis

Since the death of her husband, Dr. Anne Dunne and her three children have struggled in every way. In a last ditch effort to save the family, Anne plans an elaborate sailing vacation to bring everyone together again. After bidding farewell to her new husband, the powerful Manhattan attorney Peter Carlyle, the family sets sail with former brother-in-law Jake Dunne at the helm.

Only an hour out of port, everything goes wrong as the hidden demons of the children come to the surface. From her daughter's suicidal desires to the son's drug abuse and the suppressed intimate desires of Anne's former brother-in-law and captain, the story takes a Stephen King meets Gilligan's Island turn for the worse.

Meanwhile, the rich and powerful attorney is holding court of a very different kind back in New York. Seems he has big plans for his future.

My Two Cents Worth

I enjoyed Sail as a quick and light-hearted summer read. It is certainly not among my favorite Patterson novels, but it does compel the reader to keep the pages turning at an alarming rate. The character development is marginal at best, and the high-adventure plot is comical at times, but it is difficult to not smile and keep reading.

Hard core mystery readers will have a difficult time accepting the fish story in the beginning of the book, but if you can accept the loss of credibility in the opening pages, you will be mildly amused with the book.

Paperback
448 pages
3 1/2 hours.

Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman

Synopsis

Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when she first met Dr. Alex Delaware for treatment of her obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now, at 19, she again turns to the doctor with a plea for help to discover the truth behind her mother's mysterious deathbed confession of a murder that happened sometime in her past. With the help of a detective from the LAPD, the trio sets out to discover the real events that may or may not have transpired, with no clues, witnesses or motive to go on.

Stepping into the sleaziest neighborhoods of Los Angeles, the trail leads them to discover unscrupulous real estate brokers, heroin addicts, and an affluent family that thrives solely on the trust funds from prior generations and the slumlord investments willed to them. * * *

My Two Cents Worth

I finally gave in to the badgering of my bookworm friends to "read a Kellerman." They have raved about his talents for as long as I can remember, so I plucked Obsession from the stack and settled in to see what all the fuss was about.

The result? I agree with them that Kellerman is an exceptional wordsmith - I found myself marking phrases and tagging words that I thought particularly appealing at a rapid pace.
However, the story went nowhere in a hurry.

I read the first 101 pages on the first sitting, set it aside, and felt like giving up on it. There was far too much psycho-babble that had nothing to do with advancing the story line. Nothing had happened so far. An obscure deathbed confession followed by psycho analysis and speculation.

"Let's assume she meant ..." and "What if she meant ..." was all we were subjected to, without any action by the characters to uncover the plot. I was bored.

The efforts to merge the events of the past with the questions of the present to solve the mystery took a back seat to the symptoms and treatment of OCD.

I stopped at page 208 - the beginning of chapter 24. I gave up. I felt the story was just about to get started, but I couldn't force myself to care enough. After 2 1/2 hours I picked up a Dean Koontz, desperate for a story. This is a very rare occurrence for me - happens only about 2-3 times a year.

Paperback
464 pages
2 1/2 hours - did not finish - indifference

The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel by Robert Crais

Synopsis

Joe Pike is the consumate "good cop," a former special forces SWAT team standout of almost super-hero proportions. To pay back an old debt, Pike is coerced into playing bodyguard to a wealthy young heiress whose life is in danger after getting involved in an auto accident with some unscrupulous types that are set on her destruction. Pike must figure out the who, how, and the why while on the run as the bullets and the body count soar. The plot is revealed at breakneck speed with a twist in the end that will leave your head spinning. * * *

My Two Cents Worth

In my quest to find new authors and fresh material, I picked up The Watchman by Robert Crais. This was my first book with the Cole/Pike characters. The Watchman was simply plucked from the double stack of books waiting to be read and I jumped in with both feet.

I read about 80 pages with the first sitting, enough to feel comfortable with both the characters and the plot; in fact, I felt almost too comfortable - like I had seen this story before, starring Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) and Paris Hilton.

The Watchman gets off to a blistering pace as Pike attempts to make good on a promise to an old friend by agreeing to act as bodyguard/mercenary to a young debutante who is involved in a bizarre auto accident. The body count quickly escalates as they race from one hideout to another, with a host of unknown gunmen hot on their trail.

Crais sets a scorching pace and has me hooked. I also appreciated the dialogue between Pike, the ultimate special team warrior, and Larkin, the spoiled, rich, valley girl. Their chemistry worked for me, at least as far as the communications, although the hint of intimacy made me a little uncomfortable and seemed out of place.

I thought the plot unfolded nicely for the next 150 pages, with Pike making all the right moves, until he leaves her alone for a few hours. This all but ruined it for me. It contradicted all the admirable work he had done up to this point - it just didn't make sense. As the mystery of exactly why Larkin was being pursued and who was behind the sinister plot is discovered, you couldn't help but wonder why such an elaborate scheme was devised to get to her, when it would have been infinitely easier to resolve at the scene of the crash on about page 20.

As for the author, I will read other Crais books and recommend The Watchman to friends mostly because of his writing style and story-telling skills.

Paperback
384 pages
3.5 hours

So I have a Blog . . .Now what?

Getting into the blogosphere seems like a natural next step for me, but I must admit that getting started is intimidating. I hope to start by reporting on the 10 or 15 books I read most recently, then making daily entries as I go along.

My goal is not only to share an overview of books I'm reading with anyone who might be interested, but I hope that you good folks will respond with your recommendations and tell me about your favorite books as well. When you come across an author that you consider a great storyteller, let me know. My intention is for this to be an interactive guide for you as you broaden your reading experience, and a way to find fellow "bookworms," as well as the casual reader.

I tend to look for good writers and not just a particular book they have written. If I read a novel by Grisham and like his style and the plot, I will seek out his other works and dissect as many as possible. Usually, I will mix it up with about four authors at a time to keep the stories from running together. Jimmy Buffet and Bill Bryson serve as good change-of-pace stories when I get too involved in the political intrigue/international terrorism genre, as often happens.

I will probably not dwell much on writing reports on the classics of Faulkner, Twain, Steinbeck, Poe, etc. as these have been examined for decades by literary experts from around the globe. Besides, most of these were required reading at some time in every student's literature classes.

It is possible that I will also attempt to share some of the articles I have written back in my newspaper days, especially the "Perspectives" columns that my stepdaughter and I wrote that became pretty popular in our area. It basically chronicles the trials and tribulations of a young girl's high school experiences and contrasts them with her stepfather's lessons from a prior generation. If I can figure out how to include them without being too obtrusive, we will give it a try.

Give me a few days and I will start posting some of my thoughts on some of the books that are now in my "finished" pile.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Mike