K Books

If you are tired of your son or daughter playing video games all day, tune them into a series of books guaranteed to keep them occupied at least a few days anyway. This is the first of four books in the series "Dragons in Our Midst". My son could not put these books down! They are written with good morals in mind while not being preachy. You will want to buy the whole series because once started, they will plow straight through! This mom gives a big thumbs up!

This book is a great read, shares truthful insights. Grat to read with the kids.

this was another good read by donita k. paul. i've enjoyed this series immensely!

I've always loved anything that has to do with dragons, so when i saw DragonSpell i wanted to read it, when i finished it, i was sad that i had. you know that feeling when you're coming to the end of the book and your happy your gonna finish it, but your sad that you are gonna finish it? yeah, thats how i felt. when i finished it, i looked into the author, and learn a little more about, to find out she already wrote two more! i was so happy, and imediatelly ordered DragonQuest. It is a great story, but if you haven't read the first one, you're going to be clueless. lol I can't wait to read what happens to Bardon and Kale in the next one, DragonKnight! BYE

The sound of words being eaten, eaten away.

Confession time: I made several negative comments in my review of DragonSpell (which I still agree with). But I also made several predictions, negative ones, and I have to say I was completely wrong.

I could tell by the first page of this book that Ms. Paul's writing style had improved. I could tell about twenty pages in that her characterization had improved. And I could tell about fifty pages in that this book had a really, really compelling plot. Best of all, the "moral dilemma" I had so begged for had come, too, with Kale's mother number 1 and mother number 2.

Did I mention there was a lot more humor, too, which is always nice with Christian fiction?

Dar is better, funny and loyal. Kale is better, smart and interesting. Two new dragons are introduced. The meech egg from Book 1 is back, almost fully grown, and there's another meech dragon too, a female in bondage to the evil guy, Risto. And the protagonists being who they are, they must rescue her.

And -- wait for it -- this book actually has a BATTLE at the end! A real one! Involving real danger!

Quite exciting. I was hoping DragonQuest would be better, I really was, because the premise of the series had so much potential, and I'm always up for reading Christian fiction as long as it isn't too preachy. The preachiness died in this book. Granted, it's obvious that it IS Christian fiction. But the characters aren't robots who spew Paladin's teachings all over the place (or, in non-fantasy Christian fiction, robots who become Christians and a week later know fifty Bible verses by heart). They're real, flawed, funny people.

Why, then, did I give it only four stars?

Well, there are little annoying details such as some awkward dialogue, confusing scenes, and just an edge of predictability. (Though, in all fairness, I was surprised when it was discovered that the dragons really hadn't deserted after all.)

So, of course it wasn't perfect -- but what is? It was compelling, and MUCH better than the first, so I'll be borrowing DragonKnight as soon as I can.


Rating: Very Good

This book is GREAT! It was all I expected and better. I laughed out loud alot, and the pictures, although in black and white, are hysterical! A great touch is the pictures of Conan and Andy's reactions. This book is a great buy!

What are you waiting for? Go buy it!

If They Mated is one of my favorite skits on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, so I just had to buy this book. I am glad I did, it is one of the funniest books I've ever read. Even if you never saw the show before, or this skit, I highly recommend getting this book, I guaranty you'll laugh! I would have rated it a 5 but the pictures in the book are grayscale, color would have been much better, but it is still a great book.

The book is funny with hilarious pictures and commentaary. In my opinion Conan O'Brien is the best show between the hours of 12:30 AM and 1:30 AM on nbc.

Conan O'Brien is one of the funniest men alieve and this book proves that!This book evolved from a sketch on the show(one of the best, other than Pimpbot 5000). He and the Late Night Writers are amazing,they come up with so many diffrent sketches that its not even funny. If you have ever wondered what celebrities babies looked like this book is a must have.
HAIL CONAN!

heart,
ivy the barbarian

Ive always loved Conans humor. He is the king of couch humor. A classic comedian. In this book he showcases my favorite, and I think everyone elses too, jokes that he does. IF THEY MATED. Very funny book. Purchase this now.

This book is such a great read. I read it before and rarely do I read the same book more then once. This got me emotionally invested now as it did the first time around. I am reading book two of the series and I highly recomend these books.

This series is a fast page turner .you should read the first which is

In My Fathers House
A Thousand Shall fall
Say Tt To This Mountain
Shiloh Autumn.
The stories are so clear, you become a part of the story.You will fall in love and dislike some, just as the ones you are reading about. Thoene is a wonderful writer.It is history at its best.I learned more than I have ever known of how bad it was in the pass.Because of the wall street crash and the very hard times that followed.Each book should be read in turn .They are outstanding for young and old.It is a very good knowledge of our pass, that a lot of kids today have no idea.Boys will love the Shiloh Autumn. It is packed with fun .I laughted so hard I was crying. Great Books!

I read numerous books by numerous authors, and Theone is by far the best I have ever read. I have read her Zion Chronicles and Galway Chronicles and Shiloh Autumn. But the Shiloh Legacy is definantly the best one. Theone defines hisorical fiction and makes it real to life. She is a master in descriptive writting. Her characters come alive and you find yourself becoming a part of them and their joys and struggles. After reading one of her novels I learn and understand so much more the events and places in history that she is writting about. I haven't read the second book in this series but I know that it will be just as good as the first book or even better.

In My Father's House got me started on Thoene books. Then I read the whole series of Shiloh Legacy. After thatI read Shiloh Autumn (which I think is the best book I ever read.) I have kept going on Thoene books and never regretted buying one of their books. Anything the authors write is a cut above. No wonder they dominate all the awards for Christian writing.

The Shiloh series is the best of the Thoene's work, but all of it is excellent. What really stood out to me, reading this book, was the experience of the black soldier. He served many more hours on the front lines, fighting in the most dangerous positions. He was honored while overseas for his service. Then he went home, proudly wearing the uniform in which he served his country, and was condemned for being uppity. Who did he think he was?

These black men were beaten, accused of crimes they didn't commit, and lynched.

As a white woman, I could never live that experience. But I lived it vicariously along with Jefferson Canfield.

The characters are real, with strengths and flaws, just as the people we meet every day. They experience good things, but they also experience horrible, awful things too. That's life.

It isn't light reading, but it IS riviting. And it is educational, because you experience things along with the people in the books, things that really happened at the time. I loved the love story between Birch and Trudy and the biding friendship that developed between Jeff and Birch.

This ties in with the Zion books, too, because Max Meyer and Ellis Warne were the fathers of two of the main characters in the Zion Chronicles, I believe, David Meyer and Ellie Warne.

They are worth reading. The only drawback is that once you've read the first, you HAVE to read them all, and they are LONG books!

Other than the language being like in ancient times, "Thy, thee" this book was excellent and a good savory book. It is not a fast read though.

Why has it taken me so long to read this excellent book! It is not just a "children's" book. One of the best books I have read in a long time!

My 6-year-old daughter and I loved this book. We could hardly put it down as we trekked with Lassie across hundreds of miles and met many different people along the way. Many of Lassie's encounters on her journey do introduce difficult subjects - class difference, poverty, the horrors of war, the cruelty of humans and animals. But each of these subjects is dealt with very gently and through each encounter we learn to value the compassion, kindness and courage that triumphs over hardship and cruelty, sorrow and loss.

Still an interesting, emotion-provoking and relevant read for the 21st century's jaded youth. It's about the most basic kind of friendship and loyalty, where an animal exhibits more of both than do the humans. Some of the Depression-era references and rigid class distinctions probably aren't as relevant today, but the core of the book, the love of and for an animal, remains. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful reproduction of the original World War II edition of the classic Eric Knight story. I find it appalling that many Americans do not know that the original Lassie of the story was British because I read the original "Lassie Come Home" short story (published in the December 1938 issue of the Saturday Evening Post) in school. This original story is a well-written, haunting tale of a poor Yorkshire family forced by economic times to sell their son's beloved collie (a tricolor dog, not a sable as portrayed in the movies and on TV) and of the dog's long torturous journey home during which she meets kind people--a couple who nurse her after she swims the river Tweed, a kindly peddler--and cruel--callous dogcatchers, bullying boys--as well as farmers protecting their livestock. A classic in every sense of the word.

Master "helper" Travis keeps coming up with frightened damsels. And thankfully, Meyer is frequently there to offer advice and consent.

Before reading The Long Lavender Look, I would have argued that Bright Orange for the Shroud was the best Travis McGee book. After careful consideration, I have to admit that The Long Lavender Look steals the crown, even though they both remain extremely entertaining. Since MacDonald sets a high standard for hard-boiled detection, this should tell you that I liked this book very much indeed.

McGee swerves to avoid a nearly naked girl running across the road, and ends up in a swamp of more than one kind. In order to clear his name, he has to find his way to the center of a secret at the heart of a small town Florida police department.

Smart. Fair. Entertaining. Easy to find at used book stores for a small bit of change. What's not to like?

While I still find "Flash of Green" to be my favorite John D. MacDonald book, there's something so appealing about the Travis McGee series that it keeps me coming back to them. And "The Long Lavender Look" is just another addition to the spectrum of colors that his novels get their titles from. Also "The Long Lavender Look" has such a gripping opening sequence of events, and such an array of fascinating characters, that you cannot put this mystery down.

And while I know that MacDonald enjoyed popularity in his time, it seems that his popularity is running out of gas. I hope I am wrong because he is horribly overlooked.

Travis McGee and his friend Meyer are driving home on an abandoned road when a nude young woman races in front of their car. McGee and Meyer end up going off the road and rolling the car, but that's just the beginning of their troubles. Before long, they're shot at by someone in a beat-up pickup truck. As a final welcome to the area, they're arrested for murder and accused of being involved in a robbery some years earlier. Needless to say, McGee digs in and tries to get to the bottom of things.

Travis is loved by a legion of fans and he's at his best here. The supporting cast is interesting as we meet characters like Betsy Kapp, a waitress turned part-time call girl. King Sturnevan is a former boxing contender who is now a sheriff's deputy and befriends Travis. And Lilo Perris is a psycho who mixes freakish strength, extreme sadism, and raw sexuality to keep McGee on his toes. These few and more form a rich stew for Travis to work with as he tries to unravel the mystery of robbery and murder.

The mystery is interesting, and certainly had me guessing for a good while. My only complaint is that it dragged on for a bit too long. There is a climactic scene 50 pages before the book ends where MacDonald could have easily wrapped up the story. Instead, he went for another twist and the actual ending felt a bit anti-climactic and stretched out. It's not like it completely ruined the book, but it does keep it from being as tight as it might have been.

The Long Lavender Look is a solid entry in the Travis McGee series. Long time fans will probably appreciate that the story is a bit of a change of pace from the norm since it doesn't involve McGee performing one of his standard "salvage" operations for a reward. It's not a bad choice for first time readers either. While I did think the ending was a bit sub par, the book is certainly an entertaining read overall.

John D. MacDonald's mysteries are as tasty as the hamburgers of the same name! I love all the Magee books!

I work a lot with Welsh Gods and I have to remind everyone, this is THE source of what we know about Welsh mythology. I am not sure if persons not interested in deciphering the stories would enjoy them, but if you want the mystery and challenge, buy this book. Too many people claim to worship Rhiannon or know all about Ceridwen, and have never read the original sources of what we know about them which drives me nuts.

I received this book the evening before departing on a trip. After settling in on the plane the woman who was seated next to me asked, "What are you reading?" I showed her and was greeted with an immediate "Oooooh.... ugghh." I must admit that I understood her reaction. Although I have steadfastly slogged my way through them, many translations of ancient works have left me wishing for the touch of a modern bard. This one, however, did not (or perhaps it had, indeed, benefitted from such a touch!). Ford was my companion on both the flight out and the return trip. He was informative, entertaining, insightful, and (I am told by others who would know), quite accurate. I recommend this book highly.

How does the handsomely bound new rendering by Sioned Davies, Chair in Welsh at Cardiff, compare with the standard version often used and widely praised, Harvard professor Ford's? I consulted my 1977 copy as Ford's new printing has not yet been published. Will his "30th Anniversary" U of California paperback reissued edition find itself in a dead heat with Davies? The race may prove a photo finish!

I compared their translations of a favorite passage of mine early on in the First Branch, Pwyll's tale. Arawn's just been reunited with his queen after the year's test by unwitting yet steadfast doppelganger Pwyll. She wonders, post-coitally after a long year's lapse, why it's been so long since her husband made love with her.

Here's Ford (1977 ed., p. 41) first at the starting line.

"Shame on me," she said, "if from the time we went between the sheets there was even pleasure or talk between us or even your facing me-- much less anything more than that-- for the past year!"

And he thought, "Dear Lord God, it was a unique man, with strong and unwavering friendship that I got for a companion." And then he said to his wife, "Lady," he said, "don't blame me. I swear to God," he said, "I haven't slept with you since a year from last night nor have I lain with you."

And he told her the entire adventure.

"I confess to God," she said, "as far as fighting temptations of the flesh and keeping true to you goes, you had a solid hold on a fellow."

"Lady," he said, "that's just what I was thinking while I was silent with you."

"That was only natural," she answered.

--You can feel the hesitant insertion of the teller's dramatic pauses implied with the "saids." These intensify rhythms of the poet's strong, confident prose. A few contractions and the well-placed dashes quicken the dialogue's pace. The language avoids the flowery exactitude and chivalric diction that marked Gwyn and Thomas Jones' 1949 Everyman edition. But, neither does Ford choose an entirely modern register. He keeps a slightly elevated style while emphasizing verve and a gently sophisticated voice for the couple.

--Compare and contrast Davies (2008 ed., p. 7). As in other pages I spot-checked, the two professors run neck and neck and overlap considerably-- a sign of how both scholars channel what Ford calls the "restraint" in this passage as well as its humor and tension.

"Shame on me," she said, "if there has been between us for the past year, from the time we were wrapped up in the bedclothes, either pleasure or conversation, or have you turned your face to me, let alone anything more than that!"

And then he thought, "Dear Lord God," he said, "I had a friend whose loyalty was steadfast and secure." And then he said to his wife, "Lady," he said, "do not blame me. Between me and God," he said, "I have neither slept nor lain down with you for the past year."

And then he told her the whole story.

"I confess to God," she said, "you struck a firm bargain for your friend to have fought off the temptations of the flesh and kept his word to you."

"Lady," he said, "those were my very thoughts while I was silent just now."

"No wonder!" she said.

--Davies in her preface emphasizes the "performative" qualities in her edition. In this passage, she appears to let the lines go longer rather than reining them in to English syntax. They drift away slightly before coming back to us. Perhaps this echo demonstrates Davies' own scholarship in the medieval Welsh interplay between orality and literacy. The author of two books on the Mabinogi, she stresses the "interactive" nature of the manuscript to be read aloud for the "acoustic dimension" embedded in the Welsh texts and through alliteration, tone, and beat, she tries to give us a feel for this tempo, albeit imperfectly conveyed perforce into our clunkier English.

--Both Davies and Ford include the four branches: Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan, and Math. Both include Lludd & Llueyls. But, reflecting textual differences in the original manuscript anthologies, they also differ. Ford's tales attributed to Gwion Bach & Taliesin, Culhwch & Olwen, and his appendix on Cad Goddeu do not appear in Davies. She provides Peredur, The Dream of the Emperor Maxen, The Lady of the Well, Geraint, and Rhonawby's Dream.

--Both editors explain their textual choices and open with prefaces. They both add glossaries, pronunciation guides, and bibliographies. Ford situates the tales in Indo-European contexts and Davies delves into their delivery as recited stories. Ford begins each tale with a short introduction; Davies adds explanatory notes in a detailed appendix, keyed to asterisks in the body of the text. Davies keys her "Index of Personal Names" to pages in the text while Ford does not. For study and teaching, it looks like the competition may result in a dignified and spirited draw. Most serious readers doubtless will want to consult, as I have, both fine efforts side-by-side.

(This review's, fittingly, also at the Davies listing on Amazon US. May both translations flourish.)

Patrick Ford's translation is the best that I've read. It appears to be the most accurate translation and the easiest to read and understand. Anyone who is interested in Welsh mythology or mythology in general should read this book. The tales themselves are interesting and entertaining. They give us a great glimpse into the world of the ancient Welsh people.

An excellent and accessible translation of most of the stories normally included in the Mabinogion (minus the three Arthurian tales, Macsen Wledig, and Rhonabwy), plus "The Tale of Gwion Bach/The Tale of Taliesin" and the hard-to-find "Cad Goddeu". Includes introductions, a glossary of proper names, and an index.

This book is a joy to read. It inspires anyone to enjoy all of the little blessings in life.

Mama fell in love with San Francisco as soon as she and her husband arrived in the city from Norway. Five children were born to her there, and she raised them with love and wisdom that daughter Katrin - who Americanized her name to "Kathryn" in early adolescence - would always remember.

I won't call this classic collection of real-life stories charming, because it's got too much solid and at times downright unpleasant reality in its pages. Instead I'll call it inspiring. Money, education, and influence Mama's family didn't have; but everything that really matters they had in plenty. Good food, meticulously clean shelter, solid values, and most of all - of course - love. Recommended for all ages in the highest possible terms!

This is one of my favorite books to read aloud. I taught junior highers for many years and this was a book they loved! Many times I taught sisters and brothers in later years and they would invariably ask when I was going to read Mama's Bank Account. The story appeals to both boys and girls and though Mama is the central character, I appreciated the fact that Papa was a very strong, loving support to the family. After you have read the book, watch the video! It is one of the few books that made the transition to the screen and is delightful!

I won't give away the spoiler that ties together the whole plot, but needless to say it's right up there in the title of the book and it's still a surprise even after sixty years or more since the novel was first published. Kathryn Forbes must have been a delightful woman and her book is one of the finest achievements ever to have been written in San Francisco. And that's saying something, considering what a rich and cultured city ours is. One episode that will stick with me forever is the time when the little girl and her brother are talked into providing food for their whole class at school, and "Mama" saves the day by cooking up some of her good old Swedish (I guess Norwegian) meatballs. When I first read this passage I was but a little boy and had never heard of any kind of meatballs but Italian ones! Next thing you know, my mom and dad took us to dinner and the waiter asked me what I wanted to eat and I surprised them all by asking for "Swedish meatballs on little tooth picks."

It's a family book for people whose families are no longer with us. And it will rekindle the spirit of hope in everyone, with its message of universal tolerance and mother love.

As an author, I bought this book to use as a reference book while writing a fictional story about a similar type of family. I read this book as a young woman and saw both the stage play and the movie. It is a touching tale of a more simple time and a remarkable woman. Rosalie Kramer, "Dancing in the Dark: Things My Mother Never Told Me."

If you like witty fun stories, this is for you!

And, as in most Heyer novels, you will get an informative glimpse into the lives of your ancestors in England several hundred years ago.

This is one of the last Georgette Heyer novels that I got round to reading - it seemed hard to get hold of at local libraries. Having now read it, I can't understand why it is not more popular as I believe it's one of Heyer's better books. Although in some ways it bears similarity to Powder & Patch in terms of language (and I wasn't too keen on that book), the plot is far more enjoyable and twisted.

It helps to know that the two characters we meet at the beginning, Mr Peter Merriott and Miss Kate Merriott, are actually sister and brother in disguise. "Peter" is actually Miss Prudence and her brother, who was involved in the Jacobite rebellion and is therefore in some danger, disguises himself as a woman. Heyer gives us a few clues as to how this is successful - Robin (the brother) is unusually short for a man, it's the era when women painted their faces, he wears tight corsets, but overall this is a slight weakness in the plot, as is the thought that a woman dressed in man's clothes would pass for a man over a period of several weeks. One just glosses over it, however, and enjoys the fun of the masquerade as Prudence, dressed up as Peter Merriott, gets involved in London society and visits Gentlemen's clubs, challenges a man to a duel and finds herself in love with a very tall man who has befriended her - as Peter. Her brother Robin also falls in love with a young lady he rescued and it's the tortuous ways in which the young couple perform their masquerade which adds to the fun. Their father appears who is the mastermind behind their plans, and claims that he is a Viscount; there is much humour in the scenes with him as he is such an egocentric character.

The highlight of the book for me is the interaction between Prudence, disguised as Mr Peter Merriott, and Sir Anthony Fanshawe, with whom she falls in love. These two characters are well-portrayed and come across as well-suited when the final unmasking takes place.

I heartily recommend this book for a great fun read with interesting characters set in a fascinating period of English history.

Brother and sister trying to evade the authorities (they're Jacobitea) by switching identities and genders, but they get caught up in the beau monde by coming to the rescue of an eloping heiress with second thoughts. Always a tom-boy, I loved the heroine's strength and non-conformism. The hero is placid and intelligent with surprising depths of humor. As usual, her secondary characters are brilliant, with the heroine's father stealing the show.
If you haven't read Heyer this is a great start. If you have, and missed this one, you'll be thrilled.

Another one of my favourite Georgette Heyer romance novels -- though truth to tell I have so many favourite Georgette Heyer novels that I've begun to think that it may be actually more enlightening to list the ones that I believe only merit 3 1/2 stars! But, with a plot can (successfully) boast of possessing the elements of romance, adventure and intrigue, "The Masqueraders" definitely does merit a 5 star rating.

Prudence Merriot and her brother, Robin, are back in England again because their father (affectionately dubbed by his children as "the old gentleman") has a plan to restore their fortunes. Used to a life on the run (the Merriots, or rather Robin, were involved in the most recent Jacobin uprising) and of adventure, both Prudence and Robin are beginning to find such a life chafing, esp now that they've met the elegant Sir Anthony Fanshawe and the enchanting Miss Letty Grayson. Both Sir Anthony and Letty are members of the ton, and would look for utter respectability from their potential spouses. Would either ever contemplate tying themselves to Prudence or Robin with their shady pasts and their rascally father? And on top of it all there is a further complication: Prudence is masquerading as a man, and Robin as a woman! How on earth can the Merriot siblings hope to woo and be wooed when they're both pretending to be something that they are not!

What I rather liked about "The Masqueraders," aside from the cleverly done cross dressing subplot, was that Ms Heyer showed us that a hero and heroine could be sensible, quietish and pleasantly good looking and still be the kind of hero and heroine that most readers would thrill to -- heroes and heroines didn't always have to be devastatingly good looking or rakish. Prudence and Sir Anthony are (both) my type of hero and heroine, and are the perfect foils for Letty and Robin -- the better looking and more dramatic couple. And really liking both the hero and heroine, I've found, can go a long way to making a novel a lot more enjoyable. So that, even though the language was at times a bit dated, my whole hearted liking of Prudence, Sir Anthony, Robin and Letty, together with a very swiftly paced and exciting storyline, made "The Masqueraders" a thoroughly fun reread.

It might be of interest for readers to know that Heyer wrote this book while she was living in Africa with her Husband in 1927/8. She was only 25, had been published for the last 6-7 years but still had very few novels under her belt (and still had not discovered her talent for Regency period) - and finally she was away from the resources she could use to check out her information

despite this book is still excellent and is based around the fall out of the second attempt by the stuarts to gain the throne of England in the Mid eighteenth century.

It centres on a brother and sister Robin and Prudence, who have been sent to England by their father, 'the old gentleman' to pave the way for his coming home. they have been sent in disguise and the first difficulty in this novel is realising that their father has had them BOTH cross dressing - so Robin is dressed as a woman and Prudence as a young Buck. they are quickly tested in their guises when coming across a young girl Letty Grayson who has mistakenly eloped. They save her and escape and run into the second character who will dominate their future adventures, the Man-Mountain - Sir Anthony.

This is Georgian England in all its excesses - the drinking, gaming, sword fighting, derring-do, plotting, conniving and romance. They must survive so that their father can reappear and reclaim his true identity, without being discovered and uncovered as Bonnie Prince Charlie's supporters of the past (which would mean they would need to flee the country for their lives) and must find the letter which condemns their family for its sympathys.

Written with alight hand, although I have found Heyer's georgian novels sometimes a little jarring in their use of slang - it is one of her better ones, and this really paves the way for her Regency romances which followed soon after. If you haven't read Heyer before, start with something light and frothy like the Grand Sohpy or The Corinthian - but don't ignore this one if you haven't read it yet - nice good humoured fun

This book, my all-time favorite novel, was Anthony Hyde's first novel and to appreciate it you have to remember that in 1984, when this novel was published, there was no Internet, no Google, very few electronic methods of getting information. Hyde's protagonist, Robert Thorne, a former journalist, is a Russian history expert who is drawn into a mystery that consumes him to the end. Thorne is a very likable gentleman, no quirks, utterly normal. When Thorne probes the mystery surrounding him, he uses time-honored methods of finding information, such as the Bettmann Archive, talking to people involved, etc. whereas today most journalists can simply Google someone.

As for the plot, if you've ever read Graham Greene's "The Third Man", you'll find some similiarities. Because Hyde uses the 1st person, we get every thought that Thorne is thinking, and so you get a sense of an updated Mickey Spillane "hard-boiled detective" novel, too.

Because Hyde was writing his first novel, he avoids many of the "hack" techniques other writers often employ, there are no cliches, no gratuitous sex scenes and no inane dialogue.

You can see where Hyde gets some inspiration, though; there's a little bit from "The Godfather", a scene where Thorne is in a restaurant in Leningrad, talking to a Russian KGB agent, that is straight out of "Casablanca".

But, these are quibbles - I love this book and it's replaced "Doctor Zhivago" as my fave novel of all time.

I've destroyed my copy from having read it over and over. This used to be in my father's bookshelf until I was bored as a young lady and absconded with it (SHHHHHHH. That was about ??(mutter mutter mutter) years ago.

I love Soviet history, particularly anything to do with the Russian Revolution and execution of the Tsar. This dances around it through the whole book. There's unrequited love and history and political intrigue. How can you go wrong there? Wonderful intelligent and captivating.

THere's my two cents.

This is a very readable book. The storyline is ever developing and doesn't necessarily lead you where you think it will. It also was refreshing to read a story in the first person, that did not spend enormous amounts of time building themselves up to be experts in this or that or telling you how with-it they were by wearing name brand clothes.

It is a mystery story that is believable in its development and execution. You can identify with the main character, because it could be your next door neighbour. And as an added bonus, there is a lot of information about the Soviet Union that is interesting to know. Good book!

I've read well over 1000 novels in my life, but after this one, I felt compelled to write a review. I'm not saying it's THE best story I've ever read, but it's the most engrossing book I've tackled this year hands down. The well-conceived plot is absolutely impossible to guess and the settings are unique when compared to the cliched L.A. or N.Y. settings of most of today's bestsellers. Get this one before it's out of print.

This is one of my favorites of the cold war fictions. I loved the location descriptions and choices; you start in North American and just keep going east. This is a smart, fun book that gives the reader a great story and a lot of interesting historical facts about Russia. This really is a book that has two - three very well developed and written plot twists that makes you stay on your toes. I have reread the book and it is something how well he places the road signs. This is a great book; unfortunately he was not able to keep up this form into his next.

Very well done. We enjoyed listening to it. The narrator did an excellent job of making the story come alive.

The book Doesn't lack for action and it is a well written book. The one thing they could of done to make it better than it is. Was have men or a man do the male readings for the book. Miss Rose did a very good job with the female parts but was lacking when it came to the male parts in the book.

This one is, in my opinion, probably the weakest Sackett story so far. I admitt I am new to Louis Lamour (relatively). I have read 9 of his books so far and I enjoy them very much and continue to read more. The Sackett series are a special lot but I was not overly excited about this particular one. It is worth reading, I guess, like any other Louis Lamour, but I would put this one off because there are many more exciting ones than this.
Still a Lamour fan

Louis L'Amour writes like a girl, and when he's telling the story of 16-year-old Echo Sackett, that's an excellent thing to do. Echo leaves her mountain home in 1840 to claim an unexpected inheritance in the City of Philadelphia, and the story is principally about her efforts to outwit and outfight the criminals who want to make sure she doesn't get back to the mountains with what is rightfully hers.

Echo, every inch the lady, has spunk and smarts enough to go with the knife she calls her "Arkansas Toothpick." Being a Sackett, she also has a lively sense of her family history. As in most L'Amour books, the Sackett ethos -- help your kin at any cost -- is on full display here. I also enjoyed the book because it includes a free black man and a gallant city boy, not to mention serious villains. Their adventures, and reactions to them, are true to the time and place of which they're part.

It's also worth noting that the moral code that suffuses this book -- the idea that doing good deeds is like scattering bread on the water -- is L'Amour's version of what author Catherine Ryan Hyde would famously call "Pay it Forward" many years later.

In short, on the river or off of it, Echo Sackett is good company, and not just another pretty face. She reminds me of a family friend who ignored the unspoken navy blue dress code to interview for an elementary school teaching job wearing a lime-green skirt and matching Eisenhower jacket. You'll enjoy this story even if you haven't had the good fortune of knowing a young woman of such character.

Echo Sackett is one of the few women mentioned of the family. She is young, but she is a better shot than her brothers. Echo is also a strong female character who still aspires to be ladylike and not masculized.

But she still knows to "expect Higginses" when she finds she is due an inheritance and travels alone to retrieve it. Fortunately, being a woman is an advantage in a world of men who will underestimate her abilities.

I admire L'Amour for writing such a strong, young female character. Girls may become interested in reading westerns after their introduction to Echo Sackett.