Michael A. Draper's Blog, page 3

All's not fair in love and war

 In an inspiring story of love and war, Martin Fletcher has written "The War Reporter."

This riveting thriller begins in 1994 with Tom Layne - an American TV journalist, reporting from Sarajevo. He's teamed with his cameraman, the lovely translator, Nina, and English journalist, Nick Barnes.

Always on the look out for the nest inspiring story, Tom visits the nearby hospital and notices a small boy. The boy is left alone and doesn't speak. He was being taken to the hospital for an operation on his harelip. However, he was separated from his mother in a bombing incident and he's left alone. No one knows his name or his mother.

Tom and Nick discuss how finding the boy's mother could be a great story and decide to risk the shooting in the mountains to find the boy's mother.

They succeed in doing so at great cost. One of their members is killed and Nina is attacked after she reacted to a man who stole her family's land.

Battle worn, Tom returns home and returns 12 years later.

The story tells of the horrors of war. The cruelty inflicted and the love that develops between Tom and Nina. It grabs at the reader's heart to witness what these two brave people go through.

Winner of a Jewish National Book award for good reason.  The author describes Tom becoming traumatized after the death of a friend and experiencing the hopeless feeling as he hears his love screaming for help which he can't deliver.

The strong story will linger in the minds of the reader long after reading the book.

Recommended.

"Johnny is a joker, he's a bird dog." Song Lyrics

Philip Reed has written a book about the hazards of dealing with an unscrupulous auto dealership. His first novel is titled "Bird Dog."    Most of us have preconceptions of dealing with a car salesman and with "Bird Dog," the actions of one car salesman definitely takes a downward step.
Harold Dodge is familiar with the tricks of a car dealer. He has worked in that industry and written a book about it. although his present job is as an engineer.
He's an overweight man who has a problem with his image. However, he's flattered when a pretty co-worker named Marianna asks for his help.  She purchased a car from a dealer and traded in her own car for it. After reading the contract and what was supposed to be included in the purchase price, she feels that she was taken advantage of. Now she wants to reverse the transaction.
When Harold and Marianna get to the return to the dealership, her car is no longer on the lot. The flashy salesman wonders is Harold might be an investigator from the DMV so is careful and asks them to let him research it and return again.
Marianne tries to finish the transaction and returns on her own to unwind the sale. However during this time, she unwittingly takes a document that would incriminate the man who runs the dealership.
During this time, the central office of the dealership sends representatives to examine the operation and take steps in removing the shady manager.
Reed describes the action well as the criminals vie for power and attempt to bluff their way out of the predicament This allows the reader to see the hypocrisy and conniving that goes on..
Harold's heart is won by Marianne and he puts himself in danger in working with the unscrupulous salesman.
The action at the auto dealership and the situations that the characters find themselves in reminded me of the writing of the great Elmore Leonard.
I was drawn to the story and seeing the action unfold even though I wasn't drawn to any of the characters.

Second mystery by J. K. Rowling

 
In "The Silkworm" private investigator Cormoran Smith and his ambitious assistant, Robin, search for a missing author.  Robin is a tall, young woman with a goal of becoming a private investigator herself.
Cormoran is an intelligent, kind hearted investigator who lost part of his leg in a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
The captivating story begins with a scene that makes the reader root for his success.
When Leonora Quine comes to Strike's office requesting his help. Strike is about to start a meeting with an arrogant client. Strike was a bit late for the meeting and when the client gets huffy, Strike tells Robin to give the man his file. When the client isn't sure of what is transpiring, the client who had been waiting,  Leonora gloats, "He's sacking you."
The author paints a picture of how difficult it is to be a successful P.I. It is explained when Strike explains to Robin that dedication to an investigation is more important than financial benefits.
The missing author had written a novel, "Bombyx Mori" which is a parody of man of his compatriots in the literary world.. It's a demeaning novel that gives many of these literary notables  enough reason for wanting him, Owen Quine, dead. 
Strike's heroic action in Afghanistan included him reaching across the back seat of a military vehicle and pulling another soldier out of the auto as it exploded. The end result cost Strike his lower leg, the man he rescued had some facial scars but the driver was mortally wounded.
I also enjoyed the way the author described the difficulty a person missing part of a leg, would have attempting to get around London in the Snowy surroundings.

Silken Prey

Lucas Davenport gets mixed up with politics when he's asked to investigate the accusation of child porn on a wealthy political candidate.

Even though the governor is on the opposing party, something about the convenience of the discovery of the accusation so soon before the election doesn't seem right.

Stay tuned for the full review...

The Legend of Vince Flynn Lives On

This action packed suspense novel picks up where "The Last Man" leaves off.

I was sad to learn of the death of Vince Flynn.  Kyle Mills picked up on the Mitch Rapp adventures and did a nice job in carrying on his legacy.

In this episode, CIA Operative Mitch Rapp and his team are called to action to stop an intelligence leak that could become a disaster for the CIA and the USA.

Disgruntled star agent Joseph "Rick" Rickmann stole an information file with the leading US agents and their international contacts.  He has been killed after his treacherous past comes to light, but instructs his contact to release the deadly information one at a time to heighten the damage and embarrass the CIA.  Mitch has to find where the information is being leaked from and stop it.  He also needs to learn who is disseminating the information.

Well done and lots of action.   And the conclusion is satisfying.

You've Gotta Have Heart" Song lyrics

"Blood Work" by Michael Connelly is one of my all time favorite books.  The plotting is excellent and the central character, retired FBI agent Terrell McCaleb is sympathetic and the story is addictive.
McCaleb is enjoying retirement while living on his fishing boat.  A woman approaches him and requests his help to find her sister's murderer.
When he tells her he can't because of his heart transplant, she responses, yes, it is my sister's heart.  It is keeping you alive and I think you'd want to find her killer.
He agrees and begins a search putting pieces of an intricate puzzle together that leads to the killer.
Nothing is straight forward in Connelley's novels.  Along the way police receive an anonymous call and suddenly McCaleb becomes the main suspect.  The evidence he was collecting is viewed as evidence of the crimes.
The book starts off with a bang and continues to a strong conclusion.
Highly recommended!

He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother

Billy and Ray Johnson were brothers that had the usual brotherly spats but also suffered abuse.

When Billy is found, the reader assumes that it was by someone who watched him crawl down the road by his house. The misery is described but Ray's reaction seems cold and matter of fact.

This sorrowful picture and writing style reminded me of Erskine Caldwell's "God's Little Acre." That book chronicles a family in rural Georgia. "Billy Dead" takes place in the country back roads of small town Michigan.

The Johnson family are unsympathetic. They were hellions and were disliked.

Ray continues with his life as sheriff Keith McCutcheon investigates the murder. We see the reaction of other family members to Billy's death but there isn't any display of sorrow.

Roses aren't always red

Luther Ewing, aka, Five O brings his unique b  background to his job as a cop on the Baltimore County P.D. narcotics  division. This is a contemporary location with the controversy in Baltimore recently after the shooting of a black man by the police.
Luther an ex-Special Forces sharpshooter with experience in Bosnia. In "Red Rain" Luther is working with his crew in narcotics and he comes across evidence that something is different on the streets. It's a feeling that experienced agents tend to get.
Vasilly is a Russian who is bringing vast amounts of drugs into the Baltimore area and ready to begin selling the drugs on the street. His drug cartel begins making headway and Luther's life and routine changes.
There is good dialogue in the story in what the reader can imagine  taking place. There is also realistic descriptions of what life must be like on the streets. 
It might be the way things are but many of the characters had nicknames and with this I had difficulty in determining who was who and what side they characters were on.
The bodies mount up and there are a number of plot twists that keep things unpredictable. I liked the suspense in a story of people at the edge of society-many who have little to redeem them.

A look at old time Brooklyn

From the writer of "Second Street Station," comes a new adventure of Mary Handley who was the first female police officer in Brooklyn.

Mary wants to become an official detective instead of only being called on for certain cases.  She gets her first case when Emily Wortham believes that her uncle was murdered and wants Mary to look into it.

Once again, the reader has the enjoyment of seeing Mary rub shoulders with such notables as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. She attends a lecture by Benjamin Franklin and shares experiences with John D. Rockefeller and George Vanderbilt.

There are discussions of the political events of the time, concerning New York and Brooklyn. In this regard, I was impressed that at this time, Brooklyn was one of the largest municipalities in the United States.

A woman is murdered and Mary investigates this case which became personal to her when her brother was accused of the crime.

There are lots of historical references and a gutsy protagonist in Mary. As I read the story I considered what some of the TV female detectives like Beckett on Castle or the female detectives on shows like Law and Order owed to a character like Mary, who started it all.

I enjoyed the story and reading about a protagonist like Mary.

Recommended.

Blue Monday How I hate Blue monday" Lyrics

Detective Jeremy Perez of the Shetland Islands Police Department believes he is coming to the Fair Isles to introduce his fiancee Fran to his parents and friends. .

There is a celebratory atmosphere until a woman's body is discovered by the Fair Isles Bird Observatory.

It's a small island and everyone knows the victim but no one can believe that anyone would want to harm her.

Jeremy questions many people people looking for clues and the reader experiences a murder mystery set among the bird watching community.It's a good juxtaposition of a living hobby and a murder.Then the body of another woman is found.

I enjoyed the audio book read by Gordon Griffin and his Scottish accent and calm description of the action.

Ann Cleeves keeps the reader guessing.  She does a good job in describing the scenes and the characters.

I felt myself trying to imagine what I would do if I was in a similar situation and trying to guess who the killer might be.

There was good suspense in the story and a surprising twist when discovering the killer.