Gil T's Pleasure

The last book I reviewed by Chuck Palahniuk ("Choke"), I remarked about how I love non-linear story telling and that I appreciate especially the non-linear works of Mr. Palahniuk. This book I think was the perfect non-linear book. At first though I was let down by the time-line structure. Basically the book is a history of the would-be / could-be messianic character of Buster "Rant" Casey, told through anecdotes from various characters who knew Rant or in some cases technical/governmental advisers. It's not until about halfway through the book that you realize the beginning may be the ending, or the ending may be the middle or the end may be, or the middle may not have ever happened, or any combination thereof. At this point in reading, the book became more of a dark humorous novel to something of weird existentialism.

Basically Buster Casey's mom becomes pregnant with him at the age of 13 by what could be a stranger or maybe the man she later marries, Chet Casey. The rumors through the small town of Middletown, run rampant about the family, so anything could be true. As Buster grows up he leads a not so normal childhood. In order to either perpetuate or dispel myths told to little children, Buster creates some strange scenarios. Take for example the tooth fairy myth.

There is a time in Middletown's history when a squirt gun cost $50 and a candy bar could cost $500. This inflationary period is started by Buster Casey. When walking with his grandmother to church, a strange man tells Buster that he is his real father, and proceeds to tell Buster how he can receive untold wealth. Just after he tells him this, Buster's grandmother is bitten by a black widow spider in her church bonnet and dies. After this Buster and a friend gather empty paint cans from the townsfolk for a recycling drive for scouts. In some of these cans are rare coins worth thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars. When a kid loses a tooth in town Buster would give the the kid a coin in which the kid would replace with the one from a parent. This could would be worth thousands and the parents couldn't say anything, because after all they are the ones that started the whole tooth fairy myth, and asking where the coins came from would be to admit to the lie of the tooth fairy, then Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and so on.

One year, on Halloween, Buster earns his nickname of "Rant." Every year the city puts on a Halloween haunted house and party. In the Haunted house the children dip their hands in cold macaroni and olives while blindfolded and told they are touching guts and eyeballs. (Remember those days of childhood?) Well Buster decides to spend some of his new found fortune and makes a rather large purchase from a local slaughterhouse. This Halloween the eyeballs, guts, blood etc. are real. The kids are covered in cows blood and guts at the party which is at the end of the maze that is the haunted house. The cake becomes covered in blood from eager hands, costumes become darkly stained from kids wiping off the sticky mess. Finally someone finds out that it is all real and a grand pukefest begins that covers the blood covered community center with a fresh layer of puke. Buster is then called Rant. Rant being the sound you make when you puke up when all has been puked.

Now keep in mind this history of Rant is told through the folks that were there. The book has many more such incidences until Rant finally graduates (or bribes his way out of high school) and moves to the city. This is the point where not only do you start to fully realize the non-linear aspect of the story but also a story of a futuristic distopian society in which there is a class war between those that live/work during the day (daytimers) and those that live/work during the night (nighttimers).
The nighttimers are the lower of the class system and the daytimers look down their noses to nighttimers.

Rant invades the nighttimer society not only throwing it in turmoil but also throwing daytimer society into turmoil along with it. Rant takes up with Party Crashers. These are nighttimers that in order to have fun they crash cars into each other, then milk the event by pretending to get out and argue with each other.

The pasttime of party crashing was started by the government when the government was trying to find ways to make traffic move more smoothly. The first thing the government found was the the biggest slowdown in heavy traffic was not the crash but the rubberneck effect of the passersby. They found this by having agents intentionally crash into each other and then record the results. Finding the rubberneck effect was the slowdown they then created DRVR Graphic Traffic Radio. A Radio station that not only told of wrecks but took calls from paramedics, police and rescue personnel and report on the injuries and describing them in full gory detail.

Well Graphic Traffic soon became a reporting station for the thrill seeking Party Crashers. The Party Crashers have rules, you can only crash into other Party Crashers, and to alert that you are Party Crashing you had to decorate your car to that night's theme. Honeymoon nights are when you decorate your car with shaving cream / tin cans etc. and write Just Married on your car, all passengers are dressed as brides, grooms or other members of a bridal party. Other themed nights are Christmas, Thanksgiving and so on.

Here also is where the weirdness begins. Rant, throughout his childhood, has always sought out being bitten by spiders, snakes, rabbits, coyotes, dogs and any other wild critter. Rant then becomes a carrier/spreader of rabies. Rant starts to infect all nighttimers and party crashers with rabies. Soon nighttimers infected with rabies begin infecting daytimers by maybe licking apples to be sold in a store etc.

After starting a major rabies epidemic Rant crashes his car off a cliff, but his body is never found.

This brings us to the beginning of the book and starts a section of the book where the story goes off in an extremely surprising science fiction/existentialistic view that will treat you with a great read. There are rumors that Chuck Palahniuk is writing a sequel to this book and with the cliffhanger/twisting ending I don't doubt this at all.

I'm not going to give too much up about the end of the book other than be ready for time travelling, creating immortals and gods and a never ending rabies epidemic that threatens the world. I think that I've only covered about 30% of this immense volume of work with my summary. So be prepared for fun.

Labels: book review, books, buster casey, chuck palahniuk, day timers, existentialism, night timers, party crashers, party crashing, rant, rant casey, Science-Fiction, time travel

Yes this is a BOOK review and not a COMIC BOOK review. I have usually stayed away from novelizations of comic books. I'm not really sure why but I think it's probably because I'm a HUGE fan of comic books especially Spider-Man comics. How does that keep me away from the novels? Well, because mainly I believe strongly that the best part of the story-telling in comic books is the artwork along with the written lines of dialogue. Sure the occasional "Thwipp", "Snikt" and "Whack" make for good otomotopeiaic words and look cool when printed in the cool font on the page, but comic books actually have great dialogue and big words. As a side note I knew an English Professor that would "force" his students to read comic books because of the structure and word use.

That all being said, I've just never thought that reading a novel of a comic book hero would have that same oomph. Enter Jim Butcher. I've been reading (and reviewing) Jim Butcher's series of novels, "The Dresden Files," and his adventures of the Wizard Harry Dresden are great books. Harry Dresden is everyman, except he has powers, and instead of going off and getting rich, he chooses to help people with his powers. With great power comes great responsibility.....hmmm....I know that's Spider-Man's credo but that is also what Harry Dresden lives by. So, when I saw that Jim Butcher had authored a Spider-Man novel I thought that it was a sign that I must read it. I'm a Jim Butcher Fan, I'm a Spider-Man fan (btw, I was a Spider-Man fan loooooong before those movies came out) and Jim Butcher knows how to present a hero as a human with a normal life as well as kicking evil villain butt.

I was not let down with this book. The great writing style of Jim Butcher and the life of Peter Parker/Spider-Man turned out to be a very entertaining and exciting read.

In "The Darkest Hours" one of Spider-Man's worst enemies comes back to haunt him, except it's actually that enemy's family that seeks revenge. A few years ago J. Michael Straczynski, the man that brought the epic space opera "Babylon 5", wrote for a stretch of Spider-Man comics and created a villian named Morlun that fed on superhumans that had animal totems...you know like SPIDER-Man. Morlun was invincible and nearly killed Spider-Man, but of course Spider-Man came out the victor. Morlun was a what has been deemed an "Ancient." Now three more "Ancients" appear on the scene and seek revenge for Morlun's death.

Spider-Man is warned by Black-Cat, aka Felicia Hardy, which Spider-Man converted her from criminal to "good-guy" and had a love interest in. Black-Cat warns Spidey that the Rhino is rampaging in New York only to get Spidey's attention, so someone can trap the web-slinger. Those someones are the Ancients, and they want to drain Spidey's life force to keep themselves alive and extract revenge.

Spidey seeks out Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, but the good ole Doc can't help...at least not outright...because that would throw off the balance of good and evil. So without helping his major domo slips Spidey some rocks that may or may not help. He also offers the advice that Spidey needs to learn not to work alone.

In order for the Ancients not to harm his wife or millions of other innocents, Spider-Man agrees to meet them with one final battle. Spidey has a few tricks up his red and blue sleeve and with a major battle that can't be missed this book creates all the excitement of any comic book.

Give it a chance...you may find it pretty fun. If your first response is that's not my type of book, then you are the first person that should give this book a read. You'll thank me when you do.

Labels: book review, books, comic books, jim butcher, novel, spider-man

I'm one of those people that sits through the credits at the movie theater. I don't need to know best grip or stuff like that, mostly I look at the writing credits and the music credits. After seeing the 2007 movie "I am Legend" starring Will Smith, I saw that the movie was "based on the novel by Richard Matheson." Many times the term "based on" is used very loosely, for example, look at the movie "Lawnmower Man" it was "based on" the story by Stephen King. It had so little to do with the Stephen King story that Stephen King wanted his name off the film, in fact it had NOTHING to do with the story.

That all being said, I thought the movie was very well done and wanted to read the book. Well let me tell you I was a bit let down in the fact that it was merely based on the novel. The character portrayed by Smith was named Robert Neville, as in the book. He was the last living human (sort of) and strange creatures were created by a disease. Those are the only similarities. Okay the basic survival storyline is similar also. But the zombies in the movie are actually vampires in the book.

As I was reading this book I was thinking, I've seen this movie, but not the Will Smith version. After awhile it dawned on me, I had seen the movie. The lead was played by Vincent Price. Yes the 1964 movie "The Last Man on Earth" was based on the novel. However in this case it was based less loosely. After some research I found that the 1971 Charleton Heston film, "Omega Man," was also based on the novel. Out of all three of the movies "The Last Man on Earth" was the one closest to the the book.

The 2007 version had zombies instead of vampires, the 1971 version went to a weird military protest view and had more than one man left on earth. But hey, that's Hollywood.

Okay here's what the actual book has, which, by the way, is a very good sci-fi/horror read while at the same time having something to say about humanity. "I Am Legend," the novel, follows the life of Robert Neville who is the last man alive on Earth after a disease has turned everyone else into vampires. The disease is a by-product of war. Neville spends his days restringing fresh garlic and hanging mirrors and crosses to keep the vampires at bay. His nights are spent drinking alone in his home turned fortress as the vampires bang on his door. One vampire in particular is a friend (back when he was human) and constantly taunts Neville to come out. Also during the days Neville drives through town finding supplies and killing the vampires, the sleep during the day after all.

After hitting his low point with the drinking Neville decides to try and find a cure for the disease. He soon learns the nature of the bacteria causing the vampirism that claimed humanity, including his wife and daughter. During his research he notices a stray dog, after feeding the dog and eventually gaining the dogs trust a little, Neville finally has a companion. Eventually the dog contracts the disease and Neville must work harder to find a cure.

Eventually Neville sees a woman (during daylight hours) and after some time he gains her trust, although he never fully trusts her. The drama then unfolds as the woman becomes more and more mysterious while at the same time fishing for information from him.

Without becoming too much of a spoiler, I will warn you that this book does not have the happy ending of the movies, but a very interesting view on the philosophies of humanity.

Labels: book review, books, horror, i am legend, richard matheson, Science-Fiction, vampires, will smith, zombies

When I took Philosophy in college I had had an interest in making it my major. But I looked to the future and asked around about why one would do such a thing. The biggest answer I received was: "to make the parents mad." But since I paid for my own education (2 Bachelor degrees and one Associates, fyi), I knew the only person I would tick off was myself. Okay, actually it was Sallieae and me paying for the school and Salliemae wants her money back...so I'm still paying, but that's beside the point.

I did take a philosophy course as a requirement, and loved the idea of sitting around thinking and making profound statements. I chose to go the route of Broadcasting / Theatre / Electronics instead (crazy mix there...but it makes sense now). But I do now have time to enjoy a good read and the title of this book "Nietzsche in 90 Minutes"intrigued me. This book is part of a philosophers in 90 minutes series which provides nice information to supplement my autodiadactism.

I chose Nietzsche as my first because he was so misunderstood. He's been credited with the Nazi final solution. But in reality it was Nietzsche's sister that created the pure race Superman that the Nazis took as their goal. After his death Nietzsche's sister re-wrote some of his diaries creating the "Will to Power" publication Hitler used as propaganda. The book has been rewritten since, to create more of what Nietzsche intended.

Basically this book is a quick reference guide. Beginning with a biography the reader learns what formed the man that formed the "will to power" philosophy and later to claim "God is dead." His major concept is the will to power, which he saw as the basic impulse for all our acts. Christianity he saw as a subtle perversion of this concept—thus Nietzsche’s famous pronouncement, “God is dead.”

The book also contains a section featuring cronologies on Nietzsche's life, Nietzsche's Era and Philosophical dates, along with a section with choice quotes.

This book is a great quick reference, but not the end all on Nietzsche. So for a graduate student, hopefully you are looking at more in-depth texts, but for the curious and those seeking some interesting reference 90 minutes is not too much time to waste on understanding a philosopher.

To wrap things up here are some of my favorite Nietzsche quotes:

Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.

I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.

Without music, life would be a mistake.

What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.

Labels: book review, books, nietzsche, non-fiction, philosophy

Lt. Eve Dallas must postpone her first Christmas with Roarke to hunt for an escaped serial killer.

In going back and finding the books in the "...in Death" series by JD Robb that I haven't read yet, I found this little treat. Little in that this book is under 100 pages long. If you haven't read the series yet, this may not be the first in the series but it might be a good introduction for someone to start with. It does have some references to previous books but it is a fast read, you won't want to put it down.

If you've been reading my reviews on the "...in Death" series of books you already know I really love the writing and the characters created by JD Robb. Robb is actually the alter-ego of Nora Roberts. These books all take place in New York around the year 2058 and provide some great cop/crime/thriller/sci-fi reading material.

In this book Lt. Eve Dallas is just hours off the previous case, see "Holiday in Death," and is called in on a homicide in which the mutilated body of a judge is found in the middle of the ice rink in Rockefeller Center. The reason she's called in is that she's among 5 other names on a note found pinned to the judge. It turns out she's the arresting officer and the one who cracked the case on David Palmer 3 years prior. Palmer has broken out of prison seeking revenge. Palmer claims his murder/tortures are for science and is a bit of a whack job.

Eve now has until midight New Years Eve to find Palmer and bring him down, or risk the life of her closest friend Dr. Mira. In perfect Eve Dallas form she tracks down Palmer and fights the good fight...but will she be in time? With her team of NYPSD detective and officers and a little inside help from her insanely rich and techno-savvy husband Roarke this thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat up until the last page.

Great short read, and trust me you'll get hooked on the series.

I have said in prior reviews that the one thing that makes these books awesome is the characterization. The characters, while set in the future, are very real in all aspects and Robb/Roberts' writing is what makes them jump out of the page. My only complaint is that too much time is wasted in these books with descriptive sex scenes. I'm no prude but I really think we get that Dallas and Roarke are in love and don't need the detailed sex scenes to prove that. But in another aspect it's one other thing that could appeal to some. These books have everything, crime stories, great police work, great characters, humor, sci-fi and action, so I guess a little sex will get that one niche of reader that still isn't sure.

Labels: book review, books, in death, j. d. robb, midnight in death, nora roberts

Well sadly I've come to the end of the series of books that is "Robot City." It has been a great endeavor with some ups and downs in both reading of the series and the adventures of "David/Derec" and "Katherine/Ariel." Before I go too much further allow me to recap the idea behind these books.

Isaac Asimov's Robot City is a series of novels written by various authors and loosely connected to Isaac Asimov's Robot Series. It takes place between The Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire. The novels were written in response to a writing challenge issued by Asimov to write a series involving the Three Laws of Robotics, which brought about a collaboration of several talented authors.

The books in this series are:
1. Odyssey by Michael P. Kube-McDowell (1987)
2. Suspicion by Mike McQuay (1987)
3. Cyborg by William F. Wu (1987)
4. Prodigy by Arthur Byron Cover (1988)
5. Refuge by Rob Chilson (1988)
6. Perihelion by William F. Wu (1988)

One thing this series introduces is the concept of aliens. In Asimov's universe there were no other intelligent lifeforms other than human and robot. In the later books by Asimov he explained that this could be because the robots were sent ahead of humanity to terraform planets and thus destroying alien life forms. So maybe some aliens could have "survived." In my humble opinion I think Asimov simply wanted to explore humanity through robots and their interaction with humans and just left out the aliens.

This book is the final book in the series and the second in the series by writer William F. Wu. In Perihelion, Derec and Ariel have returned to Robot City from Earth to find Dr. Avery (the creator of Robot City) and find out why he has "infected" Derec with Chemfets, molecule sized robots that are taking over Derec's Body.

Upon arrival the team of Derec, Ariel, Wolruff (the caninoid alien) and Mandlebrot (the hybrid robot created by Derec) find that Robot City has pretty much covered the entire planet and the robots are all finishing up tasks and instructed to reprogram to "migration programming." While trying to solve this puzzle of migration programming and find Dr. Avery the team must avoid Hunter robots that wish to capture them.

As they get closer to Avery, Derec's infection of Chemfets leaves him immobilized. The team is joined by Jeff Leong, the man who was turned into a cyborg in book 3. Jeff is back to help them off the planet thinking they were still stranded as when he last left them. As it turns out Jeff had met Dr. Avery when Dr. Avery sought Jeff's fathers assistance in creating Robot City.

The books climax is one that not only wraps up the entire series and solves all the mysteries, but also leaves space for the series to continue. In fact the last page of the book says, "Robot city continues in book #7." Sadly no book 7 was ever written. Actually that's not quite true...Asimov did the same with this series in another series called "Robots & Aliens." That series is said to continue where this one left off. Guess I'll be looking for that series next.

All in all the experiment was a success and I think the other authors captured the spirit of Asimov's robots. Maybe a standard should be set here.

Labels: book review, books, Isaac Asimov, robot city, robotics, robots, Science-Fiction, william f. wu

I recently read Mary Roach's book, "Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife," and was impressed by the way the author not only could explain the science of death and dying but that she did it with great wit. I mean there were times while reading the book I would catch myself laughing out loud, and have to look around and make sure no one thought I was a bit crazy. But no one did...or at least none that would admit it. Anyway, after that treat of non-fiction, educational but in a fun way, book I had to go back and read her earlier book, I was not let down. This book provided the learn something new but have some laughs along the way fun that I've now come to expect from Mary Roach.

Keep in mind she does look at this in a fun way, but in no way does Mary Roach make fun of the dead or dying. Humor with class and education is the best way to describe what is in this book.

In "Stiff:..." Mary Roach examines the many things that happen after a person ceases being a person. Mostly these people have donated their bodies for research, but in the past it was not always that way. So not only is there a bit of exploring what a cadaver is expected to go through, Mary Roach also gives a bit of a history lesson on the dead.

I think this book is best summed up with a list of the chapters, so here's a list of the chapters.

1. A Head Is a Terrible Thing to Waste: Practicing surgery on the dead
2. Crimes of Anatomy: Body snatching and other sordid tales from the dawn of human dissection
3. Life After Death: On human decay and what can be done about it
4. Dead Man Driving: Human crash test dummies and the ghastly, necessary science of impact tolerance
5. Beyond the Black Box: When the bodies of the passengers must tell the story of a crash
6. The Cadaver Who Joined the Army: The sticky ethics of bullets and bombs
7. Holy Cadaver: The crucifixion experiments
8. How to Know if You're Dead: Beating-heart cadavers, live burial, and the scientific search for the soul
9. Just a Head: Decapitation, reanimation, and the human head transplant
10. Eat Me: Medicinal cannibalism and the case of the human dumplings
11. Out of the Fire, into the Compost Bin: And other new ways to end up
12. Remains of the Author: Will she or won't she?

As you can see lots of interesting subjects and each chapter more informative and entertaining than the previous. Keep in mind this book is not for the squeamish. I will have to say that the book as a huge squirm factor, by that I mean if you , like me, have a hard time listening to very descriptive discussions about body parts and cutting into same and squirm around in your seat when you hear or read such, you'll be squirming throughout this book. However, I found the book very fascinating, informative and yes entertaining so I squirmed but read on.

Seriously you know you're in for some squirming when the book opens up with:

"The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken. I have never before had the occasion to make the comparison, for never before today have I seen a head in a roasting pan. But here are forty of them, one per pan, resting face-up on what looks to be a small pet-food bowl. The heads are for plastic surgeons, two per head, to practice on...."

After this book I've decided I'm still not sure about what to do with my body after I'm done with it. I do support the "harvesting" of my organs but for the rest, i'm thinking seriously about the composting idea. (read chapter 11)

Labels: book review, books, born in death, cadavers, mary roach, non-fiction, Science-Fiction, stiff

Here it is the 4th installment in Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series. Odd Thomas, yes that's his name (it seems his parents were cruel in many ways), is in all practicality just your average late teens teenager, except that he can see the dead. Odd sees actual ghosts of the recently departed. Usually they appear to him so he can solve the circumstances of their death or so Odd may help them to "move on" and fully depart the living world. Recently Odd helped the King of Rock-n-Roll Elvis Presley to move on. In past books Odd has stopped terrorist-like activities on his home town of Pico Mundo, been lured to help a voodoo priestess attempt to achieve immortality, and saved some "special" children who were in danger from a dark evil at a monastery.

Odd Thomas' only "powers" are those of seeing the recently departed, premonitions of future events, and psychic magnetism. Let me explain these a little further. Seeing the recently departed is just that, seeing, they cannot talk and cannot affect the living material world, unless they have rare poltergeist abilities. The premonitions are often in Odd's dreams and are never explained and are slowly unfolding enigmas. And finally psychic magnetism is a form of Odd just thinking about who he wants to see and by just wandering he ends up meeting them. The magnetism can backfire and lead to those he doesn't want to see. Other than that he's pretty normal.

In this book Odd's psychic magnetism has led him to the small California coastal town of Magic Beach. Something big is about to happen thanks to a premonition coming to Odd in a dream. Odd has found employment with a retired actor who goes by Hutch, and had his heyday in film back when Hollywood films were filled with silver screen icons like Barbara Stanwick, Humphry Bogart, et. al. Odd takes care of Hutch by cooking for him.

Odd Runs into Annamarie, a pregnant woman in Odd's vision, on a pier and is immediately sucked into the action. Odd and Annamare is threatened by 3 thugs; 2 redhead brothers (one with "meth-teeth") and a large thug with a chin beard. When the large thug touches Odd, Odd's vision is passed on to to him and he asks Odd, "Who are you?" At which point odd realizes these guys are not friendly and escapes by jumping off the pier after Annamarie heads to a crowd. He evades them with the help of his dog, Boo, by the way Boo is a ghost dog who only Odd sees.

After Odd escapes he finds his way to Annamarie's home where she presents a strange proposition to Odd which she asks if Odd would die for her. He answers without hesitating in the affirmative and then he and she both get a "feeling" which they must both leave immediately. The three thugs show up at her door and the chase is on. After sending her to a safehouse Odd proceeds to find out what is going on. Soon he is picked up by the local Sheriff in which all is made clear.

Odd must then stop the importing of Nuclear weapons to Magic Beach. The weapons are part of a plan to create a New United States and Odd must fight terrorists and maybe give up his aversion to guns. With the action of a Bruce Willis action film and the teen angst of a Spider-man Comic book, the unlikely hero of Odd Thomas must take on the worlds woes. Also at the same time he has to help the spirit of "The Chairman of the Board" Frank Sinatra, to move on.

Great book, great read, great characters, Dean Koontz has continued with the winning formula that is Odd Thomas.

Labels: book review, books, Brother Odd, Dean Koontz, odd hours, Odd Thomas

Every so often you have to treat yourself to a David Sedaris book. If you haven't read David Sedaris, let me introduce him to you. First of all he's extremely funny, his wit is a bit on the cynical and sarcastic side of humor. He's actually been referred to as Garrison Keillor's evil twin. My first introduction to him was the book, "Me Talk Pretty One Day," and I have enjoyed his books ever since.

Sedaris got his start in radio after This American Life producer Ira Glass saw him perform at Club Lower Links in Chicago. In addition to his NPR commentaries, Sedaris now writes regularly for Esquire. Some of his other books include: Barrel Fever (1994), Naked (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and the latest, When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008).

Sedaris's younger sister Amy is also a writer and performer; the two have collaborated on plays under the moniker "The Talent Family." Amy Sedaris has appeared onstage as a member of the Second City improv troupe and on Comedy Central in the series Strangers with Candy.

Okay really that's a decent introduction, let's talk about this book.

Like his other books, this one is a collection of stories, the theme of this book of course are the Christmas holidays. In all this book is one you'll find yourself laughing out loud several times so if you get embarassed by such things you may want to read this one privately. Or if you listen to the audiobook be prepared to look funny laughing when others aren't. Speaking of the audio book, it is read by David and he gets a little help from Ann Magnuson and his sister Amy Sedaris. I'll break the rest of this review down to the separate stories.

First you have SantaLand Diaries, this is the tale of David's stint working as an elf during the holiday's at Macy's Santaland. This story has several moments of hilarity but true to David Sedaris's style he throws in a few poignant moments. What are the holidays without a little poingnancy here and there? This story is filled with many adventures in the separate sections of Santaland including the collecting money from the shoppers for photos with Santa. One of the Santas, there are several hired for different shifts, takes his role a bit too seriously and David hates working with him. This "Santa Santa" often asks the kids to tell their favorite Christmas Carol and asks them to sing, if the child is shy Santa asks the elf to sing. David doesn't want to but when Santa coaxes him he sings "Away in a Manger" in the style of Billie Holiday. Santa doesn't ask him to sing anymore.

Season's Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!! is the next section. This story is one that seems like a harmles annual Christmas letter but soon goes to the trials and tribulations of a family that gets an unexpected gift of the husband's illegitmate Vietnamese 22 year old daughter and adopt their natural daughter's "crack-baby."

Dinah, the Christmas Whore, seems to be one of those true stories that David is good at that seem completely unlikely but at the same time could dwell in the realm of possibility. Dinah is a friend of David's older sister who happens to be a prostitute and comes to spend some time with the family around Christmas.

Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristolm, has got to be one of the funniest yet harshest essays I've ever read. You know all those Christmas plays and pagents you have to sit through if you have grade school kids? Well finally a critic tells it like it is and reviews all the area grade schools plays.

Based Upon a True Story, is the story of a TV producer trying to convince a rural, "redneck/hillbilly" community to have a woman sell her story of how she cut out her own kidney and placed into her young son to save his life, to the TV network.

And finally Christmas Means Giving, is the ultimate battle of one upmanship between two extremely wealthy families.

So when the holidays come around and you get tired of the fuss, pick up this book. Or if you are simply looking for some fun stuff to read anytime pick up this book.

Labels: book review, books, david sedaris, holidays on ice

Let me start this review by first saying, "I never saw this movie." I think I will see it but I know I'll be let down because the books are always better than the movie. But using that formula ( Book > Movie) the movie can't be too bad (I know famous last words). But for now let's talk about the book.

Cormac McCarthy writes the book in two voices. The bulk of which is presented in third person, but this is interspersed with first person reminiscences from Sheriff Bell. The reliance on dialogue and the sketchbook revelation of plot details lend a mystical air to the work. The plot revolves around 3 main characters and as a little bit of a spoiler here, there is no "real" happy ending.

The 3 characters are; Anton Chigurh, the main antagonist, a sociopathic hitman, Llewelyn Moss, the main protagonist, a welder and Vietnam War veteran, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a laconic World War II veteran who oversees the investigation and the trail of the murders even as he struggles to face the sheer enormity of the crimes he is attempting to solve. His reminiscences serve as part of the book's narration.

The book takes place sometime around the late 70's along the Texas/Mexico border. Moss is out hunting when he comes across a drug deal gone really wrong. Several dead bodies and trucks are found along with a living Mexican drug dealer who is on his last breath. The drug dealer asks Moss for "Agua" in his dying breath. Moss takes the dealers weapons and leaves. Following a trail of blood and a thought of "there has to be one that got away," Moss finds a dead man grasping a leather satchel. In the satchel is over two million dollars. Moss takes the money and the weapons back home and hides them. That night a guilty feeling comes over him and he returns to the scene to bring the Mexican a jug of water. Upon returning, he finds a truck with 2 men investigating and soon comes under fire and becomes the hunted. Moss heads toward Mexico and sends his wife of so she won't get caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile after killing a few police officers Anton Chigurh is tracking down the money to return to its "rightful" owner. Chigurh is a ruthless killer, who at one point uses a coin toss to determine wheter a store owner will live or die. Chigurh's weapon of choice is a "cattle-gun" which leaves police puzzled as to what he's using. The "cattle-gun" shoots out a rod at a high power, the same used in a slaughter house to kill the beef cattle for slaughter.

Sheriff Bell begins the task of putting the pieces together and begins tracking down Moss in order to find Chigurh.

This book is at times a great thriller, a great philosophical insight to humanity and a dark murder crime novel. A great read that you won't be able to put it down.

Labels: book review, books, cormac mccarthy, movies, no country for old men

Anytime a politician writes a book and they haven't run for president yet, you know they will be. Well that's just what happened with Senator Barack Obama. This book was published in 2006 and can serve as a great tool to get to know the 2008 Presidential candidate.

The book talks about his run for Senator in Illinois and the people he met and the beliefs he stands for. In other words this book Is a good insight into what platform this candidate will stand on once elected. In the book he talks about “sensitive” topics like religion, racism, U.S. foreign policy and family.

I found it a great get to know the candidate book, in fact, so much so that I think all candidates should write such a book before running. That way when elected we can say, "well right here in black and white you said you stood for this...do you plan on making yourself a liar or can we believe you?"

The book is written in first person narrative. At times it feels as though you are sitting down and reading a letter from a friend with some very humble statments, such as while he's helping to propose Iran get rid of nuclear weapon capabilities he calls his wife to discuss the positive steps and his wife tells him to bring home ant traps, she's found ants coming into the kitchen and bathroom. While other times the passages feel as though you are reading a campaign speech. The good part about it is, that the moments of "speech" are heartfelt and do not use "political rhetoric" but in terms any American can grasp and, whether on the same side of the issue or not, can empathize with the Senator.

Empathy, that's a major issue in this book. Senator Obama mentions that many of todays youth and even many adults lack that same skill when it comes to everyday life. He mentions this throughout the book and in retrospect I can see his empathic skills are much needed in America's leadership, and has been lacking for about, oh, say maybe 8 years or so.
Okay personal jokes/jabs aside. I will say this today's culture has a serious Empathy Deficit Disorder. Really look around you, the rudeness in today's society can be directly attributed to lack of Empathy. For example, that guy/gal walking down the street or sitting next to you in the restaurant or theater yelling into his cell phone, do you think he/she cares that it is rude to others around? If he/she could empathize with others, they would probably be less rude. And that is just a minor example. Well I think the Senator from Illinois has hit this nail on the head.

Can our country use a little leadership with Empathy?

With topics like Faith, Race, Family, and of course Politics discussed in this book, I think that any person, Republican or Democrat would benefit in reading this book. If nothing else at least knowing what a certain candidate stands for.

A side note here; I don't care what email you received but nowhere in this book does Senator Obama claim to be a Muslim, so please stop sending that d**n spam email telling me that he is.

Labels: barack obama, book review, books, illinois, non-fiction, obama, presidential campaign, senator

I don't know what it is about nonlinear storytelling, but I seem to have a weak spot for it. Give me a good book or movie that is nonlinear and well you've got me hooked. Non-linear, for those who have yet to experience it, is when the story pretty much jumps around from past to present and back with no particular order. Chuck Palahniuk is one author that can pull this off and does so with his books, remember "Fight Club"? Either the book or movie "Fight Club" was a great example of nonlinear storytelling. Other Examples include; the movie "Pulp Fiction," Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (1961), Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and, Takashi Shimizu's Japanese horror series, Ju-on, brought to America as The Grudge, is also nonlinear in its storytelling.

This book, "Choke," by Chuck Palahniuk, is yet another nonlinear story. Told in first person (as was "Fight Club") the story captures the life of Victor Mancini and his friend Denny through a few months of their lives with frequent flashbacks to the days when Victor was a child. Victor grew up while going from one foster home to another. Victor's mother was found to be unfit to raise Victor. Several times throughout his childhood his mother would kidnap him from his various foster parents. They would eventually be caught and he would again be remanded over to the government child welfare agency. This part is all told/revealed as we go through Victor's modern life where, to say the least, he's a little screwed up in the head.

Victor's mother is dying in a retirement home and before she goes he wants to know more of who he is. With the help of Dr. Paige Marshall, Victor can help his mom live by creating a baby and harvest the cells to cure his mom. When Victor visits his mom he has to pretend to be various attorneys that represented her in the past because when he says he's himself she ignores him. Through the "attorney's" Victor discovers his mom kept a diary and it is revealed who victor is, but the catch, she wrote the diary in Italian. Paige Marshall says she can read Italian and proceeds to tell Victor that he is the son of Jesus. (Very interesting story in that one...but you'll have to read it to find out how.)

Also Victor is a recovering Sexaholic and attends meetings but can never get past step 4, which is where he needs to write in a journal all his past "exploits." The problem here is twofold, one that he is still writing and has numerous events to keep track of and two that his meetings are also great places to hook up with chicks.

Victor is out to save the world by creating heroes, also a good way to make extra cash. The heroes are folks that save Victor's life. Every night Victor forces himself to choke in a restaurant and the heroes that save his life are forever heroes with a story to tell their grandchildren. Yes, he intentionally chokes on food.

Throughout the book there are many hilarious moments between Victor and his many friends and foes, so with a strange mystery to solve, although the reader doesn't realize there's a mystery until the very end of the book, and the strange flashbacks, this book is a great read.

If you're interested the book was recently made into a movie and debuted at the Sundance Film Festival (2008) with rave reviews. The movie stars Sam Rockwell as Victor. Sam Rockwell is the one that portrayed Zaphod Beeblebrox in the 2005 film "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." You can check out the trailer below.

Labels: book review, books, choke, chuck palahniuk, fight club, movies

I have just finished reading book 5 of this "Robot City" series and I will have to say out of the the 5 so far this one seems the closest to the universe created by Isaac Asimov that gave us the 3 laws of robotics and even laws of humanics later used in the Foundation series. Before I go too far let me recap what this series is about.

In science fiction, the Three Laws of Robotics are a set of three rules written by Isaac Asimov, which almost all positronic robots (designated by their Asimov created positronic brains) appearing in his fiction must obey. Introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although foreshadowed in a few earlier stories, the Laws state the following:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.


2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.


3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Isaac Asimov created these laws as more or less a challenge to himself for writing his novels. Later, Asimov added the Zeroth Law: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm;" the rest of the laws are modified sequentially to acknowledge this. He created murder mysteries in space using the 3 laws and the Detective Elijah Bailey. Bailey would receive help from R. Daneel Olivaw, a human appearing robot. Many science fiction writers have used the ideas of Asimov's robots, but no other author could directly state 3 three laws. Even the positronic brain was copied in the series "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Commander Data had a positronic brain. Asimov was honored to have many sci-fi writers copy the ideas but the laws were his and he did not allow this. Not until the Robot City series of books. This series of 5 books was a challenge to 4 different Sci-Fi writers to write stories based solely on the laws and Asimov's universe.

Isaac Asimov's Robot City is a series of novels written by various authors and loosely connected to Isaac Asimov's Robot Series. It takes place between The Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire. The novels were written in response to a writing challenge issued by Asimov to write a series involving the Three Laws of Robotics, which brought about a collaboration of several talented authors.

The books in this series are:

1. Odyssey by Michael P. Kube-McDowell (1987)
2. Suspicion by Mike McQuay (1987)
3. Cyborg by William F. Wu (1987)
4. Prodigy by Arthur Byron Cover (1988)
5. Refuge by Rob Chilson (1988)
6. Perihelion by William F. Wu (1988)

One thing this series introduces is the concept of aliens. In Asimov's universe there were no other intelligent lifeforms other than human and robot. In the later books by Asimov he explained that this could be because the robots were sent ahead of humanity to terraform planets and thus destroying alien life forms. So maybe some aliens could have "survived." In my humble opinion I think Asimov simply wanted to explore humanity through robots and their interaction with humans and just left out the aliens.

In Book 5 of Robot City "Refuge" Rob Chilson takes Derec and Katherine/Ariel back to planet Earth via a "Key to Perihelion." The Key takes them back to an apartment in St. Louis on earth. (side note, Rob Chilson is a comic book writer from Kansas City, Missouri, and has some really neat insight into the St. Louis of the future.) Katherine/Ariel is still suffering from the mysterious illness and it seems to be getting worse. All the "spacer" doctors told her there was no cure, thus the reason she was wandering the universe and found Derec. The illness is not incurable on Earth. The Earth doctors are only able to treat her after her memory loss has started so Derec records what memories they have shared so they can be fed back to her and hopefully restoring them after the illness is cured. Derec at that time learns the reason for his amnesia is this same illness but he was intentionally given the virus...but why??? So another mystery pops up.

Another thing found in Derec are a type of robot infection in his bloodstream taking over his body. He now must get back to Robot City. If you read book 4 or read my review of that book you may know they had only just recently escaped Robot City...now they have to return and confront Dr. Avery and find the reason for his intentional infection of both the disease and the robot virus.

As they leave Earth and are headed back to Robot City, the Alien, Aranimas, finds them and attacks them. Aranimas is looking for a Key to find Robot City so he can have robots of his own. The aliens don't possess the ability to create robots.

I'll leave the space fight up to you to read and find the outcome...or wait until my review of the final book in the series. But I want to leave you with one final comment. This book is the closest in the series in capturing the entire universe created by Asimov with the steel and concrete caves that have become the cities on Earth. While the others work great on capturing the essence of the robots and the laws of robotics, this book captures the entire Asimov universe.

Labels: book review, books, Isaac Asimov, refuge, rob chilson, robot city, robotics, robots, Science-Fiction

Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Every step she takes makes her question her own sense of right and wrong - and brings her closer to a
confrontation with humanity's most seductive form of evil...

That is how the book's cover lures you in, but let me tell you that, there is oh so much more in this book. Before I talk about the book I've got to get this off my chest. I've mentioned before that the "...in Death" series of books by JD Robb would make a great series, especially on the Sci-Fi channel. The book has great characters in which an ensemble cast could easily bring to life. (most of the work is already written into the books.) There is great action and mystery and some great sci-fi touches that make the stories more fun. On top of all that the books feature holiday linked themes that work really well on tv series. There are a couple of the books that take place around the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years). Then there is this book which would make a great Halloween episode. The setting is Halloween 2058 and the police officer's death is pointing ot a witch's spell or possible from the Church of Satan.

The fellow police officer whose death begins all this died of a heart condition. However he never had a heart condition on record. His former partner and best friend happens to be the best Electronics Division cop, Feeny. Yes the same Feeney that taught Dallas the ropes and is mentor/ father figure to her as well. Commander Whitney puts Dallas on the case to prove that Feeney or his former partner were doing anything wrong. To do this Dallas has to work behind Feeney's back. Feeney gets word of this and is hurt because he wasn't in and takes it out on Dallas.

The investigation leads to a circle of witchcraft both black and white and a battle between the two. Oh yeah and it just so happens to be Halloween. Dallas now has to not only prove 2 cops innocence ( one dead and one her mentor) she also has to investigat 3 more homicides. One is nailed to an inverted pentagram outside her home. Being the practical cop Dallas works with only logic and is not distracted by con artists or "witches".

So if you are looking for some Halloween fare this fall try this book for fun.

Labels: book review, books, ceremony in death, in death, j. d. robb, nora roberts, Science-Fiction

If you have read any of the books in the "...in Death" series, you pretty well know how busy Lt. Eve Dallas, homice, NYPSD, can be. In this book the author decides that's not enough and really lays it on Eve Dallas, but on top of being busy this book is fun, especially at the end. I will warn you there is a bit of a spoiler in this review so you may not want to read the end. The spoiler will not be about the case(s) Dallas is working on but about her friend Mavis Freestone, the rockstar.

In the sci-fi world of Lt. Eve Dallas, cop work still comes down to talking to folks and in this case tracing the money. However, being the future and being married to Roarke (the wealthiest man on or off planet) there are some neat tools to help with the money trail. That is just what is needed here. Two accountants are found murdered and Dallas is primary detective on the cases. It seems as though the accountants found something big that could get someone in serious trouble, they were going to try to expose the criminals before going to the police. But that's what got them killed. Now Lt. Dallas has to find what they found.

On top of this Eve and Roarke are attending birthing coach classes, not because Eve is pregnant, but because her best friend Mavis Freestone, rockstar, vidstar and party animal is about to pop and wants Eve and Roarke to be there at the birthing, along with Mavis' cohab partner , fashion designer Leonardo. Eve and Roarke are horrified by the idea of being present at the birth, but will do this favor for their friend.

One of the women Mavis met at the coaching classes is a single woman who is also about to pop. Tandy has just moved to New York from London and is Mavis' pregnant pal. When Tandy doesn't show up to Mavis' baby shower, Mavis gets worried and as victim of hormones falls apart worrying about Tandy. She makes Dallas promise to find her. So now Dallas has 2 cases to work a double homicide case which turns up a third homicide, to find a missing person, and to be prepared to be Mavis' coach for the birth.

As it turns out the missing persons and the homicides seem to tie together. So strap yourself in for this thrill-a-second sci-fi detective novel by JD Robb.

Now for the somewhat of a spoiler portion of the review. One of the many things I've come to appreciate about this series of books is that they are well rounded in action, suspense, thrills, mystery and even some comedy. The comedy aspect really comes in to play at the end of this book when Mavis gives birth. The scene described with Dallas, Roarke, Somerset, Mavis, Leonard, et. al. is just some really good comedy that almost falls in the slapstick category. This scene alone made the entire book worth the read. There are some serious emotional highs in the finale of this book.

Labels: book review, books, born in death, eve dallas, in, in death, j. d. robb, lt. eve dallas, nora roberts, roarke, Science-Fiction

I'm continuing in my quest to read all the books in the "...in Death" series by J.D. Robb, a.k.a. Nora Roberts. This is the sci-fi series about NYPSD Lt. Eve Dallas, Homicide division. Lt. Dallas kicks butt and takes names, most of the time she forgets the pencil, but she always gets the job done. I accidentally read one of these books thinking it was just a straight sci-fi detective book. I was surprised to find they were written by romance/thriller writer Nora Roberts. I'm glad I have discovered these books. They are fun and full of excitement. Especially this one.

"Origin in Death," I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the best book in the series. This has got all the great stuff of a great sci-fi/Detective novel. In fact this book would give Isaac Asimov and his R. Daneel Olivaw books a good run for the money. Great gadgets, great sci-fi/bordering on "could happen now" plot and, as with all the books, great action/thrills.

A well known doctor of cosmetic surgery is found murdered. The murder all points to a professional hit. The murderer was in, murdered with one stab of a scalpel, and out with no detection and within a matter of minutes. The murderer is caught on all security cameras and is an extremely beautiful woman. Her face does not turn up in any face recognition databases but her ID used to get past the 'droid and human security makes her to be a resident of Madrid, Spain.

This doctor, Doctor Icove, and his son, Dr. Icove, Jr. run a unique center which not only is the place for vidstars to get work done in complete privacy but also gives back to the community in many ways, donations of money and surgery for victims. The good doctors are saints. But Eve Dallas doesn't believe anyone can have that perfect of a record. Something has to be hidden, and to solve this homicide Eve will have to find that something.

Eve finds secret files in Icoves computers and these files refer to numerous cases of women ages 17-22 in which the records not only list healt records but IQ results. Not normal for cosmetic surgery. The first suspicion is that the doctor was experimenting with 'droid/human hybrids, which were outlawed back in the 2030's. But after following the money trail even more of a danger is discovered. After Dr. Icove Jr. is found murdered, Eve now has 2 murders that lead to a hidden institution and dangerous cloning experiments.

One thing I've always mentioned when writing about these books is the great characterization Robb/Roberts has created within these books. One of my favorites is Eve's husband Roarke. To some Roarke may be the "deus ex machina," because he is one of the wealthiest men on and off planet and that he has some of the coolest gadgets. Roarke is always at Eve's disposal and they make a great crimefighting team. Oh yeah that and his former criminal side sneaks in every so often, for example, his unregistered computer system that can find anyone and anything without being detected by CompuGuard.

As a side note, if you like audiobooks or would like to give audiobooks a try, I HIGHLY recommend checking these out. They are read by Susan Ericksen, and she provides great vocal qualities to each character so that you feel as if you are listening to a radio play.

Labels: book review, books, in death, j. d. robb, nora roberts, Science-Fiction

Once again the butt-kicking NYPSD cop, Lt. Eve Dallas, is primary on a series of murders. The murders seem to be some sort of work of a serial killer. All victims are brutally raped and beaten then murdered and their eyes removed. Sounds like a grisly case and yes it is. This time around Dallas gets some help from a psychic who is seeing visions of the murders.

The psychic is pretty much only affirming what Dallas and her partner Detective Peabody already know, the murderer is a man who has a vengeance against women and is really, really big in size and strength. The key to wrapping this case will be the murder weapon, red chording, which is used to strangle and then tie the victims in a praying position for discovery. The chording is found in most craft stores, but Dallas uses all her faculties to wrap this one. Besides that this is the future and computers are much more powerful and everything is accessible.

One thing with all the "...in Death" books by J.D. Robb is that there is always some sort of separate meaning to the books. In this one it is the definition and discovery of friendship. Because of her troubled life Dallas has never allowed herself to have friends, not close ones anyway. This book develops as Dallas is discovering how tight her circle of friends really is and the strong bonds held between them. She also tells Peabody the entire story of her past in forming a tighter bond with her police partner and friend.

Peabody becomes a target of the murderer and (spoiler alert here!!!!) she is severely beaten and ends up in the hospital. The friendships and bonds become even more clear at this point and the extremely well written characters in the series all surround Peabody in her hospital room as she recovers and the reader is given the great treat of really feeling like being a part of the scene.

With that spoiler alert I will also let hang this; there is a great twist at the end of the book so just when you think the crime is solved and the murderer put away.....hang on to your socks.

I've somewhat complained in the past about the fact that these books are really written by romantic thriller author Nora Roberts, and that she always throws in the romance in the books. In this book she really makes it work with the discovery of friendship and I really appreciated that. I still am not fond of all the sex in these books. Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means a prude, but I just don't like reading about folks having sex, bordering on the erotica, the sex scenes in these books allow me to skip several pages and getting the book read much faster.

Labels: book review, books, in death, interlude in death, j. d. robb, nora roberts, rapture in death, Science-Fiction, visions in death

The experiment continues in the 4th installment of Isaac Asimov's Robot City. 5 authors were instructed to write novels in the 6 book series and stay within the parameters set by Asimov in his 3 laws of Robotics. Each one of these books explores a different what if. In this book the what if is, "What if robots could develop an artistic sense and a sense of humor?" That is what keeps humans human is that we can express our emotions through art and that we have a sense of humor. Can a purely logic functioning robot be funny or creative?

In "Prodigy" the robots seem to have found a creative outlet, at least a choice few. While Derec is contemplating a way to get off the planet of robots a strange light comes from the center of the city/planet. The source of the light seems to be emanating from a strange cube. Derec along with Ariel, the robot Mandelbrot, and the alien Wolruff, head toward the cube only to find that the residents of robot city also seem to be curious and heading that way as well.

At the center of town is a cube displaying many patterns of lights and colors and can only be described as a piece of art. But who created this art? As it turns a robot created the work and not only has a robot shown creativity and independent thinking but another group of artists/robots (later named the 3 cracked cheeks) Benny, Harry and M334 are working on developing a combination music (swing/jazz) and comedy team. Of course subtleties such as sarcasm need a human fine touch, so they ask Derec for some help. Curious as to how robots could have developed such "human traits" Derec agrees to help so he can also explore this phenomenon.

The artist responsible for the cube of art, Lucius, also holds Derec's interest and Derec sets up some time with Lucius to study his positronic brain paths to find how this has happened. Before Derec can meet with Lucius, Ariel discover's Lucius' deactivated and destroyed body at the bottom of a reservoir. So now a mystery is afoot.

The 3 laws of robotics do not prevent a robot from destroying another robot, but Derec finds the idea appalling and sets out to get the robot responsible to find the error in his way. He suspects a robot by the name of Canute and to expose the robot Derec takes the development of creative robots one step further and has a theatre built and trains the robots in the fine art of acting. The play performed, "Hamlet" is set to expose Canute. At this point it is neat to point out the aspect of the play within the play of Hamlet was set to expose the murderous Claudius, and Canute is to portray Claudius.

After the play is performed the creator of Robot City, Dr. Avery, returns and is upset at Derec and Ariel for destroying his Robot City Experiment.

Next....Book 5.

Labels: book review, books, Isaac Asimov, robot city, robotics, robots, Science-Fiction

Once again JD Robb brings us to the "near" future to investigate a crime with NYPSD's toughest cop, Lt. Eve Dallas. This time, as has happened to Eve before this homicide investigation leads to Roarke, Eve's extremely wealthy husband. This time however the victim is the husband of one of Roarke's Security geek employees, Reva Ewing, and the scene is set up to look like Reva killed her husband and best friend after finding they were sleeping with each other.

Before I get to the crime of passion that is a poorly set up frame job, let me tell you about these books. The "...In Death" series of book all revolve around Lt. Eve Dallas and are set about 50+ years from now. Just far enough into the future for some really cool gadgets that I as a sci-fi geek love. This book especially brings out the geek in me because the crime turns out to involve a government agency that evolved out of Homeland Security, and the operatives are now referred to as spies or spooks. One of the reasons Reva Ewing is targeted for the fram is that she is working for Roarke on a "Code Red" Project. This project is to create a shield for a computer worm that would possibly bring down every network in the world. Roarke's company along with many others are contracted through several world governments to create the shield. Roarke's is the one that seems close to cracking the code and blocking the worm.

Through some serious technology and some good old fashioned cop-work Lt. Eve Dallas and her team of Electronics Division Detectives Feeney & McNabb and her assistant the new Detective Peabody and Civilians from Roarke's company the true killer is brought down. But the fun doesn't end there.

Another aspect of these books I've found interesting is that the title of the book is usually a great clue as to how the crime started or will be solved. In this one, however, that is not the case. In this book, the title refers to a subplot created that puts a wedge between Eve and Roarke and has the potential to destroy their marriage. Keep in mind that JD Robb is actually Nora Roberts and Nora Roberts is a romance/thriller writer. Well the romance comes out in this one in the form of Roarke and Eve working out their problems.

From reading previous "...In Death" books it is learned that Eve Dallas, as a child, was a victim of beatings and rapes by her father before she stabbed him to death and became a ward of the state. In this book it is found out that Homeland Security had her father under surveillance and knew what was going on in the home and to the child now known as Eve Dallas. But the kicker is that Homeland Security allowed it to continue, and even cleaned up after Eve killed her father. Here is where the wedge comes in. Roarke, wants revenge and finds the names of the folks that allowed this to happen and threatens to "make them pay." Eve cannot allow this to happen and the two start avoiding each other. Very interesting subplot here.

As I've always said these books are great sci-fi cop thrillers with some romance thrown in...so a little something for everyone. Do yourself a favor and pick up one in the series...if not this one...and get hooked.

Labels: book review, books, eve dallas, in death, j. d. robb, lt. eve dallas, nora roberts, roarke, Science-Fiction, thriller

In early spring of 2059, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is called off planet to face a grueling ordeal - giving a seminar at the largest police conference of the year, to be held in a swanky resort. A resort which just happens to be owned by her husband, Roarke, of course. As usual Lt. Dallas is never a cop and during this seminar she has a huge case to break. Only this case once again deals with Roarke's dark past and may tarnish the reputation of a veteran cop that is a living legend and has an untarnished history.

The nice thing is that on this resort as part of the conference the crack NYPSD staff has been sent along with Eve. She is accompanied by her aide, Officer Peabody, Electronics Division Chief Feeney, & Police Psychologist Dr. Mira. Eve is confronted by the living legend and his bodyguards (bodyguards at a police conference?). The legend asks Eve to help him to finally bring down Roarke. This of course only angers Eve and as she gets up to leave one of the bodyguards grabs her, she then proceeds to break his nose and maybe his arm. That bodyguard is later found dead.

The legend, Commander Skinner, it seems has a past with Roarke, actually with Roarke's father. Roarke's father was a weasel that double crossed Skinner and the double-cross resulted in the death of police officers under his command. Now it seems as though Skinner wants Roarke to pay for his father's deeds.

But things are not always what they seem in these science-fiction cop thrillers by J.D. Robb, and it is up to Lt. Eve Dallas to solve the crime and to protect Roark (who really doesn't need protecting) and the reputation of Commander Skinner.

Once again J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) will keep you up all night solving this crime.

Labels: book review, books, in death, interlude in death, j. d. robb, nora roberts, Science-Fiction

Just when Lt. Eve Dallas is done for the day, she and her aide, Officer Peabody, are preparing to go home to spend some well deserved down time. But crime doesn't rest and when Lt. Dallas gets a personal call on her comm-link a murderer has tagged her to be the primary on the murders he's about to perform. The murderer gives Eve a puzzle to solve but, by the time she solves it and arrives on the scene the victim is already dead.

Soon Eve gets another communication, another puzzle and another victim. In a series of murders that has Lt. Eve Dallas chasing after her number one suspect, Summerset, her husband Roarke's major domo and best friend. Also it would probably make Eve so very happy to arrest Summerset, after all they hate each other, but she knows he didn't do the crime and is being set up.

The crimes seem to start to dig in Roarke's dark criminal past. All are people Roarke once used or friends that helped him to find the murderer's of Summerset's daughter over a dozen years in the past in the year 2043. The chase is on and the clock is ticking. Not only does Eve have to catch the murderer before any more murders occur, she also needs to catch him before Roarke does, knowing what he is capable of when his friends or family are threatened.

This book takes us a bit deeper into the dark history and mystery that is Roarke. The reader of this series of books by J.D. Robb is rewarded in this installment by finding more about the relationship between Roarke and Summerset and their dark pasts. A fun aspect of the book is that in learning of Roarke's past, Roarke and Eve go to Ireland. On the Emerald Isle Eve finds the beauty in the land but also finds why a dark past is possible. Roarke visits the site where his father was killed and seems to get a little more closure.

Once again J.D. Robba (Nora Roberts) has created another fun sci-fi murder thriller. If you haven't read any of the books in this series give them a try, it really doesn't matter which book you start with, the great writing, characterization and great dialogue makes these books fun to read and easy to get lost in.

Labels: book review, books, eve dallas, in death, j. d. robb, lt. eve dallas, nora roberts, roarke, thriller, vengeance in death

With Indiana Jones hitting the theaters soon, and the prior success of both the "National Treasure" movies and "The DaVinci Code" book & movie, it seems as though treasure hunting, conspiracy fighting action stories are here to stay. Thomas Greanias has been in the this genre since the release of his 2004 novel "Raising Atlantis." His latest book "The Atlantis Prophecy," continues where "Raising Atlantis" left off and leads into exciting action, mysteries in the form of puzzles to solve and a great conspiracy covered up by the U.S. Government, the Freemasons, the Vatican and "The Alignment."

Astro-Archaeologist, Conrad Yeats is attending his father's funeral. (His father, General Yeats, former head of DARPA, was killed it Atlantis, or rather, Antarctica.) At the end of the funeral the headstone General Yeats had commissioned is revealed to Conrad. The headstone is an obelisk similar to the Washington Monument, but with mysterious markings and numbers carved strategically on the stone. The new head of DARPA, a former genetic engineer, wants to know what Conrad thinks the strange markings mean. The Government knows that they are a clue to finding something, but what?

Conrad at first doesn't know, what they could mean but soon discovers a conspiracy that has been covered over the years. A conspiracy that could mean the end of the United States of America and the world. The story starts with George Washington signing a mysterious treaty for America, and a secret he took to his deathbed. The clues are found in a famous painting of George Washington and his family and the original L'Enfant map of what would be the nation's capitol.

The Vatican sends Sister Serena Serghetti to help Conrad find the major missing piece, a celestial globe which was used to align the major monuments of Washington D.C. with constellations. But Sister Serghetti is not supposed to allow Conrad to open the globe, the secrets inside are to be brought back to the Vatican. With the history betweend the sister and Conrad this becomes hard for her to pick a side.

The book is a great romp through some of America's history and some great treasure hunting, with clues that can be found by the reader and viewed in actuality. I was constantly looking at the items mentioned in the book on the internet and felt as though I were hunting for clues with Yeats. Especially the painting of George Washington and Family by the artist Edward Savage, some great fun clues there.

Not only was this a great action thrillride but the book ended with a huge clue that points to what will be the 3rd book in what seems to be a trilogy, "The Atlantis Revelation."

You can check out the trailer for the book in the video below: