Ed's comments (member since Aug 05, 2008)

Ed's comments from the 50 Books A Year group.

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75. Term Limits - Vince Flynn

I was hoping for Mitch Rapp, Flynn's usual hero, instead I got Congressman Michael O'Rourke.

Fortunately, I was traveling so I zipped through the first 75% of the book before I realized I had a clunker on my hands. I read the last 100 pages after arriving and by that time was driven by my usual obsession to finish any book I start.

If you are able to suspend your disbelief, this could be a fun read. I prefer the Mitch Rapp books because my expectations are so much lower.

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74: Sharpe's Waterloo - Bernard Cornwell

This may be the best book I've read in the entire series and most of them were pretty terrific.

I've read accounts of the Battle of Waterloo but none of them were as complete or as clear as this one. Plus, Cornwell's description of the fighting is as compelling as in any of the other books.

Sharpe somehow manges to be in the center of the action, throughout the story. Even the Historical Notes are fascinating.

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73. The Black Ice - Michael Connelly

I don't know how I missed this one. It's a real winner: Michael Connelly at his best.

This story involves a supposed suicide of an LAPD narc, Calexico Moore, that Harry Bosch pursues based on a hunch that it wasn't a suicide at all.

The Black Ice is a terse, suspenseful, exciting story.

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72. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II - Doris Kearns Goodwin

A truly memorable book. This volume covers the period from May, 1939 to April, 1945 and focuses on what was going on in the U.S. through the actions and writings of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and others close to them.

This book comes as close as possible to the ideal of a factual history being as interesting to read as a novel.

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71. Journey Into Fear - Eric Ambler

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I had never read an Ambler story. To many people he is the inventor of the literate espionage/spy novel.

In this case, a naive English armaments engineer, Mr. Graham, becomes the target of German agents who do not want his work for the Turkish government completed.

In spite of its faults, it was still a satisfying read. I will try another one or two Ambler efforts before giving up on him.

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70. Resolution - Robert B. Parker

This sequel to Appaloosa is every bit as well done as its predecessor.

Everett Hitch, the narrator, has left Appaloosa without his partner Virgil Cole. He rides into the town of Resolution and is hired by a saloon owner, Mr. Wolfson, to keep peace in the saloon.

The story moves along very quickly, especially when Cato and Rose, two well known gunfighters are hired by Wolfson's rival, Eamon O'Malley, and Virgil Cole arrives to hang out with his friend Hitch.

As you might guess there is a great deal of conflict and bloodshed which eventually gets itself all sorted out.

While I've not always enjoyed Western novels, I love what Parker has done in these two books. Another one is on the way titled Brimstone. I can hardly wait.

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69. Transgressions - Edited by Ed McBain

This book edited by Ed McBain of 87th Precinct fame contains two Novellas (10,000-40,000 words) one by Jeffrey Deaver and the other by Lawrence Block.

Both stories are delightful. Deaver's titled "Forever" involves a detective, Talbot Simms, whose mathematical skills have gotten him a job as a statistical analyst in the Westbrook County, Sheriff's Department.

Lawrence Blocks effort, "Keller's Adjustment" explores how Keller, the protagonist of the "Hitman" series, reacts to the 9-11 tragedy.

Both these stories are fast reads. I completed both of them in 24 hours. Ed McBain served readers well by bringing these two authors together in one volume.

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68: Armageddon in Retrospect - Kurt Vonnegut

I have always admired Kurt Vonnegut and liked his writing. I'm not sure about this collection of essays, speeches, short stories and what-all.

For one thing, I acquired the audio version and listened to it while driving. I think I might have appreciated the work more if I had read it rather than listened to it.

The volume contains a number of un-published writings. The stories, speeches and essays are all anti-war and anti-violence.

I would rather remember Vonnegut for his novels than this conglomeration of stuff.

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67. Midshipman's Hope - David Feintuch

I cannot believe I liked this book so much.

It follows the adventures of 18 year old, Midshipman Nicholas Seafort, who through a series of unlikely events becomes the captain of an interstellar space ship.

The characters are surprisingly well-drawn and the situations while straining credulity are exciting and believable, taking into account that this is Science Fiction.

The series continues and so will I.

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66. Kingdom of Shadows - Alan Furst

One of Furst's better efforts. No one writes better "espionage fiction" than Alan Furst. As I've said before his books are more literature than thriller.

This story, which takes place in 1938-39, follows Nicky Morath, a Hungarian businessman, living in Paris, who is also a part-time diplomat and part-time spy. Nicky is a fascinating, likable, admirable character. His love affairs are open and honest, his dealings with his friends are transparent and yet he somehow manages to carry off a number of assignments that require great imagination and bravery, all in the service of keeping Hungary out of Hitler's clutches and trying to avoid the inevitable world-wide war on the horizon.

I don't want to spoil the ending except to say, as with many of his stories, Furst leaves the reader wondering what will happen to all these fascinating characters from now on. We may never know but it sure is fun to speculate.

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65. The Big Gamble - Michael McGarrity

This book in the Kevin Kerney series was a bit of a disappointment: Too much police procedure, too little plot and character development.

The story follows Santa Fe police chief, Kerney and his recently discovered son, Clayton Istee, who is a Lincoln County, NM detective as they pusue two seperate murder investigations that turn out to be related. The story goes back and forth as Kerney and Istee each try to solve the case they are working.

The narrative does move along briskly and I was never tempted to put the book down and not finish it. The outcome is predictable but satisfying. I hope the next book in the series gets back to the high level of story-telling that the previous six showed.

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64. Executive Power - Vince Flynn

Quite simply, Vince Flynn books are one of my guilty pleasures.

This particular story isn't one of Flynn's best. Mitch Rapp gets involved in a situation in the Philippines after returning from his honeymoon with White House correspondent, Anna Rielly (Yes, Rielly really). Meanwhile in a major sub-plot, a Palestinian terrorist, Jabril Khatabi, code name David, assassinates a number of people to put pressure on the U.S. to back an independent Palestinian state.

But Mitch Rapp is a superman without super powers and by the end of the book he has pretty much single-handedly solved both crises and cemented his relationship with Rielly and Kennedy.

It is a good airplane read in spite of its weaknesses.

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63. High Window - Raymond Chandler

A classic Chandler.

Phillip Marlowe moves through life with an attitude that nothing can really surprise him but he truly does have a good heart.

One of Chandler's obvious skills is to keep the reader guessing right to the end. He certainly does that in this book.

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62. Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries, and Shakes - Bobby Flay

I guess if you want to know more than 100 ways to cook a hamburger this would be a good reference. I wasn't all that interested.

The sections on fries and shakes are minimal and not very helpful.

Needless to say, I did not read this book word for word. I did spend enough time with it, though, to know it was an instant candidate for my Bookmooch inventory.

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61. Sharpe's Revenge - Bernard Cornwell

The book opens with Sharpe fighting a duel ("grass before breakfast" in the jargon of the time) with Captain Bampfylde, who in the previous volume Sharpe's Siege had taken his ship away leaving Sharpe to defend a fort that had been ruined.

The duel is followed by the battle for Toulouse which was fought days after Napoleon had abdicated. All of this is prologue to a plot by the hated and long time enemy of Sharpe, Pierre Ducos, to steal a large quantity of gold and have the theft blamed on Sharpe.

With a number of sub-plots, there are many twists and turns making this book one of the more interesting of the entire series.

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60. Reckless Endangerment - Robert K. Tanenbaum

Though written in 1998 and set in 1981, this story is as relevant as yesterday's latest terrorism news story. The ongoing relationship of Butch Karp, his wife Marlene Ciampi and their family continues in this and subsequent novels. A fascinating group they are.

This particular story has Butch, in a staff role at the NYC DA's office, pursuing what looks to him like a possible terrorist plot. Marlene, spending much of her time helping out at an abused woman's shelter, uncovers a connection to what her husband is working on but neither of them know it.

The story unfolds from there. This is one of the better efforts of the Tanenbaum/Gruber collaboration.

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59. High Five - Janet Evanovich

This was my first Evanovich Book and a pleasant surprise it was. Stephanie Plum is an interesting character in that she doesn't pretend to be tough or even smart but somehow always manages to come out on top. All of this is done with quite a bit of tongue in cheek humor.

The plot a mixture of missing persons, money laundering and murder isn't all that original or compelling but the journey through all the ramifications is a lot of fun.

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58. Lost on Planet China - J. Maarten Troost

This book was a joy to read. I've lived in Hong Kong for 17 years and have spent a lot of time in China. Even though he was there for a relatively short time, he nailed a lot of the peculiarities of Chinese culture and the Chinese people.

A good part of his writing is tongue-in-cheek. Many of the places he describes are places that my wife, Pam, who also loved the book, or I have visited alone or together.

Over-all, the book is must reading for anyone who has spent any time in China or is planning on visiting China other than on a guided tour.

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57. All the Rage - F. Paul Wilson

I was surprised by how much I liked this book.

The story is well plotted and moves along quickly. The characters, especially Repairman Jack and the villains are well-drawn and fun to read about.

The introduction of a mysterious group called "The Others" who come from "Otherness" was a plot device the story did not actually need but it did help the reader make sense of the drug "Bezerk" that changed its molecular structure and lost its hallucinatory properties every new Moon.

The ending was neatly done, tying up the loose ends without straining credibility.

Molly wrote: "Sorry to hear you are leaving CR Ed. Glad I can still hear your insight into books here."

Thanks Molly.

I hated to do it but there are times when even an old fart like myself must stick to some principles.