Michael A. Draper's Blog, page 18

Dt. Tempe Brennan at work

I was excited when I received this book from LibraryThing early reviewers. Once I began reading the story my excitement continued to grow.

Dr. Tempe Brennan is called to a meeting of the Cold Case Unit. She's introduced to an investigator from Vermont who discovered a murder vic and found evidence that relates to two cases of Brennan's area in North Carolina.

As the story progresses, Brennan finds evidence linking the murders of young girls to a serial killer in Canada.

The premise of the story deals with the Canadian serial killer and Dr. Brennan identifying the skeletal remains of three young girls in the killer's basement. Brennan and the other investigators consider if that serial killer is at work again or if there could be a copycat killer.

"Bones Never Lie" is detailed like a police procedural in which the scientific evidence provided by Dr. Brennan adds to the investigation itself. She helps not only with her scientific examination of evidence but by her womanly instinct.

The author is a forensic anthropologist and creator of the TV show Bones.

We certainly empathise with Brennan and the crew of investigators. We also find sympathy for the victims and their parents who suffered the worst thing that could happen in the deaths of their daughters.

The people who populate the novel appear realistic and the action flows nicely. When the investigators link the deaths in Canada to the current victims in North Carolina, they surmise that the killer is about to strike again and the suspense mounts.

I appreciate the manner in which Kathy Reichs can combine forensic anthropology and story telling and do so in such a top notch fashion.

Dt. Temp Brennan at work

I was excited when I received this book from LibraryThing early reviewers. Once I began reading the story my excitement continued to grow.

Dr. Temp Brennan is called to a meeting of the Cold Case Unit. She's introduced to an investigator from Vermont who discovered a murder vic and found evidence that relates to two cases of Brennan's area in North Carolina.

As the story progresses, Brennan finds evidence linking the murders of young girls to a serial killer in Canada.

The premise of the story deals with the Canadian serial killer and Dr. Brennan identifying the skeletal remains of three young girls in the killer's basement. Brennan and the other investigators consider if that serial killer is at work again or if there could be a copycat killer.

"Bones Never Lie" is detailed like a police procedural in which the scientific evidence provided by Dr. Brennan adds to the investigation itself. She helps not only with her scientific examination of evidence but by her womanly instinct.

The author is a forensic anthropologist and creator of the TV show Bones.

We certainly empathise with Brennan and the crew of investigators. We also find sympathy for the victims and their parents who suffered the worst thing that could happen in the deaths of their daughters.

The people who populate the novel appear realistic and the action flows nicely. When the investigators link the deaths in Canada to the current victims in North Carolina, they surmise that the killer is about to strike again and the suspense mounts.

I appreciate the manner in which Kathy Reichs can combine forensic anthropology and story telling and do so in such a top notch fashion.

Beware if this wolf is watching you

The Wolf is a name that Mafia boss Vincent Morelli is known as. He oversees an enormous criminal world.

He's devastated when an attempted hijacking of an airline plane departing from LA ends in a gunfight. There are two air marshals and a bodyguard on the plane. Gunplay erupts and the terrorists are killed, their mission thwarted but there are civilian casualties, among them, Morelli's wife and two young daughters.

He's incensed at the activity of the terrorists and calls a conclave of the most powerful criminal leaders in the world. The International Crime Counsel includes leaders of the Neapolitan crime world, the Camorra Syndicate, the leader of the Japanese crime syndicate and others.

Terrorist activities are costing the Crime world millions of dollars and they declare war on the Russian Mob, the terrorist and the Mexican drug lords who have been working together.

The break neck speed of the action is sure to raise the blood pressure of most readers. Major characters are murdered and we learn that the Russian Mafia is paying a particular terrorist group to create chaos so the Russian Mob can take over most of the world's crime.

Even with the war, Vincent Morellis is easy to sympathise with. He's a loving father who is trying to protect his last living child, his son. He also works with a female leader of the Camorra throne and he and Angela renew a long lasting friendship.

I was thrilled with the excitement generated in this novel and found Vincent Morelli to be believable and likable. I couldn't help but root for his success.

The writing is also poetic "...I would rather people tremble in my presence than feel comfort in it."

There are surprises, traitors and romance with well developed characters. What more could the reader want?

"You're in on the inside" Song lyrics

Sam Capra runs a bar in the Coconut Grove section of Miami. One day, his good friend Steve, asks him questions that infer that Steve needs help. He's been providing security for Cori Varela who is afraid of something but won't say what it is.

Sam meets Cori and Steve and Cori talk for a while and leave the bar. Moments later, Steve is shot and killed and Cori runs away. Sam chases the shooters and the action mounts immediately.

Unable to get answers from the shooters but wanting to avenge his friend's murder, Sam goes to Cori. Reluctant to involve anyone else after Steve's murder, Sam persists. He learns that she is part of the Varela family which has criminal ties.Cori works with charities but the family has other interests.

Sam works for an organization referred to as the Round Table. This undercover group tries to correct wrongs and help people who have been victims. Sam is currently on leave from the group and they have given him a number of bars to run until his skills might be needed again.

The action moves to Puerto Rico and the Verela family compound. The head of the family, Rey Verela, is beginning to show early effects of dementia and wants to turn over the operation of his businesses to his family. His main business is a cargo company but he's been known as a weapons provider and has a secret part of the business which only a few people know about.

The story moves along nicely and Sam seems to be helping but something happens and this kicks up the suspense and tension by a couple of notches.

I enjoy the story which I found to be engrossing. Sam is a well described character who has an interesting group of friends from a hacker to his prior handler in the Round Table.

The author keeps the reader guessing and finally ties things together in a satisfactory conclusion.

Put your eyes on this target

This is an excellent thriller where the reader is presented with one exciting episode after another.

Will Robie and his partner Jessica Reel are given a new assignment but they have to go through requalification first. This presents many obstacles they have to overcome including being waterboarded.

Jessica's father is in a prison on death's row. He contacts Jessica supposedly to say goodbye but it is really something more. This includes kidnapping Julie Getty, a teenage girl who Will and Jessica are protecting after she had been a target. 

In North Korea, there is an influential politician who the US is backing, secretly. They want him to become the head of state but the coup d'tat isn't successful and the man suffers the consequences and his family is put into a penal colony.

Will and Jessica have to sneak into North Korea and rescue the family.

Later, they are assigned to the first lady who is taking a short vacation.

Chung-cha is given the assignment to pay back the US for their audacity of helping people escape from a North Korean prison/colony.

 This is just the highlights of some of the action. The reader will enjoy each exciting scene after another. "The Target' is David Baldacci at his best.

Coming of age

This is a coming of age novel about Danny Kelly. We are introduced to Danny as a young adolescent with a remarkable swimming ability. He dreams of becoming an Olympic gold medal winner for Australia.

It's hard to enjoy a novel where the main protagonist isn't a likable character. Danny is self centered and arrogant with a chip on his shoulder. He's from a middle class family and gets a scholarship to a prestigious high school for his swimming. He's confident as a swimmer but outside of the pool his arrogance stands out. As in many private schools, there is teasing and bullying. Danny receives his share of this with haughtiness and vows to show everyone when he wins the Australian under sixteen swimming competition.

The story moves between Danny's high school days and his adulthood where he's attempting to put his life together after a major incident with the law. Can we relate to Danny? I didn't but the author presents Danny as having only one chance to succeed in life and that is through his swimming.

There is a competition and the parts of the story leading up to the competition are well done. There is success and then failure. The reader can observe this and understand why so many people who had great success in high school, do not succeed with the rest of their lives.

Finally, he realizes that there is more to life. He meets a cousin who has a brain injury and he sympathises with the cousin and befriends him. Thus, from the ashes, a sincere character is born.

I had difficulty following the story because the author jumped from Danny's adolescence to Dan's adulthood in a manner that was difficult to follow.

It was gratifying to see Dan as a person in his thirties when he took responsibility for himself and had compassion for others. He proves to be a worthwhile person. It just took a long time for him to achieve that status.”

A brief visit to Bostswana

"In the Company of Cheerful Ladies" is a story of a short time in Ma Ramotswe's life.

Mma Ramotswe is the founder of The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana. She's surprised when she comes home after a trying day and discovers a man who crawls out from under her bed and runs away. What made her even more surprised is that the man wasn't wearing any pants.

The start of the story seemed to be a prequel to what would be happening later on. The scene of the man running from Ma Ramotswe's home in that state of undress seemed like a scene of a Pink Panther movie with Inspector Clouseau.

Other mysteries in the story are of Mma Ramotswe's former husband returning home and attempting to blackmail her. The other area that she attempts to investigate is what was behind an employee of Mma Ramotswe's husband who quits his job to be with a wealthy woman.

We never find out what the story was about the man under the bed and the rest of the story is a simple story with no violence and filled with happy people

Don't rock this boat

This is the story of nine men who were members of the University of Washington crew team. It shows the hard work the men went through to make the team and their goal to qualify for the 1936 Olympic team and win the gold medal.

The story is well research and follows one of the men in detail. Joe Rantz was a hard working young man from a poor family who had to work to help support his family at a young age while continuing his studies.

He meets Joyce Sanders and realizes that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Joe's mother died young and his father remarried. His stepmother never demonstrated any love for Joe. She'd give all of her love and attention to the three children she gave birth to. Joe even had to deal with abandonment at a young age.

His hard work is recognized and he's invited to attend the University of Washington and try out for the crew team. At that time during the depression, there wasn't any athletic scholarships but part time work was made available for crew members so they could pay for their expenses.

As Joe and his crew mates are moulded into a championship team, depression held the country at bay. Jobs were difficult to get and the dust bowl was a term for the terrible wind storms that blew topsoil away and caused many farmers to go bankrupt.

In Germany, Hitler is rising to power and Dr. Joseph Gobbles was made the minister of propaganda. Both men hated Jews and unleashed a program to wipe out the Jewish population from Germany.

This is a story of sports, determination and a hope of something many shared during the dark days of the depression.

The crew travels to Germany and experiences the anti-Jewish tone and the intense pro Nazi feelings. It made them more determined to beat the German crew and win the Olympic medal for the United States.

I enjoyed reading the story and seeing the progress of the team and how that fit into the events of the time from 1932 to 1936. There are parts of the story that I will remember for a long time.

"That lucky old son" Song lyrics

I listened to this story as an audiobook. It was narrated by Gildart Jackson. His delivery was precise and leisurely which was a good method to match the pace of the novel, which was at times brutal.

In the story, Sonny Lofthus ad been in jail for twelve years for crimes he wasn't guilty of. However he was promised a lifetime supply of heroin if he admitted to these crimes. Then he finds something about his father's murder and that his father was framed.  Sonny stages a clever prison break and proceeds to find and punish the people responsible for his father's death.

It is easy to sympathise with Sonny. He is polite and resourceful as he proceeds to punish the criminals responsible for tarnishing his father's name and his death.

There is also an element of mysticism in the story. With Sonny, the son, compared to Jesus, the Son of God.
Many times Sonny says a prayer for his victim and at one point tells the victim that if he repents he might enter heaven. This is similar to Jesus forgiving the repentant sinner who was on the cross when Jesus was crucified.

Simon Kefas is a cop chasing Sonny. Simon is an old time cop who some say is behind the times but others say he's one of the best cops on the job.

The conclusion is well done and Jo Nesbo carefully brings the elements of the story together in a nice package.

"Cornered" a thriller

In "Cornered," Matt Brady is attempting to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of a number of young women in Temple, Texas.

He's frustrated because all of his leads don't pan out. It's as if someone else had the information he had.

We witness the kidnapping of three women.  The kidnappers are adept and before the reader can shout "Watch Out!" the kidnappers capture the women, tie them up and dump them in the back of a van.

One of the victims was a veterinary assistant. When Matt visits her boss to find more about her, the boss, Tracy Rogers, doesn't have any information but decides to see what she can find out herself. She does this partly for the missing assistant but also because she is attracted to Matt.

Matt and Tracy's interference of the operation of the kidnappers upsets one of the kidnappers and soon both Matt and Tracy become targets.

I consider "Cornered" to be among the top 4 or 5 thrillers I've read this year. I'm very impressed with the author's storytelling ability.

I wished for an electrifying conclusion and while the conclusion was most satisfactory, I was expecting greatness from this awesome author.

I recieved this book for an honest review.