Re: Another Book Thread
Recent reads
The Deceived (Jonathan Quinn #2) by Brett Battles This book finds Jonathan hired to clean up a friend of his who saved his life. Once finding the body he seeks to warn the man’s girlfriend and finds himself involved in an international conspiracy.
Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
by Hampton Sides This was a very good story about the King assassination. There was so much about the story and James Earl Ray that I never knew. The fact that he was an escaped convict on the run the whole time he planned and carried out the killing. That he was on the run for quite a while and actually had left the country before being captured. It does give some insight into King’s life but this is mainly a book about James Earl Ray. The killing, his motives and his escape.
Night Over Water by Ken Follett This was an okay effort from Follett but certainly not one of his best. It is a conspiracy aboard a Clipper a plane traveling from England to the US just after Germany has invaded Poland. With an eclectic band a passengers there are love triangles, thieves and others along with the conspirators.
Crime Beat by Michael Connelly This is not a Bosch novel but a collection of true crime stories written by Connelly where some facts were used in his stories. Okay read for what it was.
The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross Very good book by Gross about a woman whose father is arrested and goes in the witness protection program and then she find herself targeted as well. Good read.
Broken (Will Trent #4) by Karin Slaughter Sara Linton returns to Grant County and when she finds herself involved in a murder investigation she calls on Will Trent to help. A very good thriller with quite a few twists and turns.
Mystery (Alex Delaware #26) by Jonathan Kellerman This Delaware novel starts with him and Robin visiting an old haunt that is due to be demolished. He is surprised later when a woman they saw at the event is found murdered. He and Milo dive into the case which finds them investigating the underbelly of the Beverly Hills set. Good read.
The Hunt for Atlantis (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase #1) by Andy McDermott Decided to give this series a try. A young scholar is trying to find Atlantis as her parents did. After her funding is denied she finds people trying to kill her. Saved by a former SAS soldier she hooks up with a billionaire and his daughter to try and track down Atlantis while being hunted by the people trying to kill her. Very similar to Clive Cussler though I think the duo survive even more tight scrapes than Pitt and Giordano.
The Tomb of Hercules (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase #2) by Andy McDermott The second book of this series finds Nina and Eddie living together and working for the UN. Nina is using some old documents to search for the lost tomb of Hercules. Another rip roaring across the world getting out of life threating jams adventure. Good read.
The Inner Circle (Culper Ring #1) by Brad Meltzer An okay book by Meltzer where an archivist comes into contact with a modern day version of the Culper ring and has to determine whether they are doing good or evil.
The Amateur by Edward Klein As I complete my biography’s of all US Presidents, this one about Obama was okay. I expected it to be one sided, but he did interview quite a few democrats for the book, granted many of them had issues with Obama. I’ve found pretty much since Kennedy that in finding a Presidential biography you have to pick a side the author either thinks they walk on water or are the worst president ever. He delves a little bit into his background in Chicago and Illinois politics, though spends very little on his Senate career. It is interesting how many bridges he appears to have burned with some of his early donors and supporters in Illinois. Most interesting in his relationship with Valerie Jarret and Rev Wright.
Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin I read this book to follow up on the one I had read about the fall off Bear Stearns. This follows a short period of time where the banking system was on the verge of collapse and the Treasury, Fed and Wall St’s attempts to stop the meltdown. What really amazed me as that almost everything seemed to involve the same group of bankers, deal makers and lawyers in almost every transaction. Very in depth detail as you can decide if the correct decision was made or if these institutions should have been allowed to fail
Don't Look Twice (Ty Hauck #2) by Andrew Gross This is the second of Gross’s Hauck books. A pretty good read that starts with Hauck in a gas station with his daughter when a drive by happens. Compelled to join the investigation he continues to push even when getting political pressure from above.
The Lazarus Vendetta (Covert-One #5) by Patrick Larkin An okay Covert One book which finds Jon Smith investigating a horrible accident at a nano tech facility which appears to be connected to a shadowy environmental group. With his own intelligence agencies arrayed against him the President must count on Covert One to avoid a catastrophe.
Sam Walton The Inside Story Of Americas by Vance H. Trimble I thought this was a good biography of Sam Walton and the rise of Wal-Mart. It is a little dated since it was written in 1990, for instance the Supercenter which is now everywhere was just starting to be built at the time it was published. He didn’t get the cooperation of the Walton family, though he did speak to Sam and several other family members briefly. This does free him up to cover some items which were not covered in Sam’s biography, Alice’s car accident where she struck and killed a woman a more in depth analysis of Ron Mayer’s brief time as CEO where Sam briefly “retired”.
