Consultants Books

Love him or hate him, this book is a fascinating historical account of Rove's ascendancy from Texas political consultant to White House policy maker woven in with that of W's. Because of its publication date, it doesn't cover the Iraq war debacle, though the authors hint at the duo's motivations for the invasion. Great read for political junkies on either side of the spectrum.

This is an excellent primer to the illustrious career of "Bush's Brain" as he is called. Of the two books presently popular ("Bush's Brain" is the other) this is the more balanced and thorough; indeed, it often times seems that the authors of Bush's Brain had used this for their source, and there is very little information in that book that is not in here. Don't bother to read both, if you're just looking for an introduction to the subject. A careful portrait of the crafty man that learned his tricks (and even instructed others in the same) during the time of "Tricky Dick" Nixon himself. Must read if you are at all interested in learning how Bush Jr. got to the oval office and why all the "big money" lined up behind him as miraculously early as it did.

Every human endeavor has its masters. There are leading physicists, writers, teachers, architects, carpenters and chefs.
The demi-monde also has its corp of top pick-pockets, pimps, snitches and flimflammers. It is to this latter list that we can write the name of Karl Rove. His talents add nothing useful to the world; to the contrary, he and his cabal of mayberry machiavellians' efforts are directed toward finding people's weaknesses and exploiting them, tearing down peoples lives and putting any skeletons on public display, so that "their" guy might win. "Boy Genius" depicts the political career of Karl Rove, how he honed his skill and applied them to the benefit of conservative Republicans and especially to George W. Bush.

The authors do give some background information on Rove and briefly describe how he came to embrace right-wing politics.
As a young man, he is described as a "nerd" and one can well imagine that he was the boy who gotten beaten up on the playground at school. But no thorough psychological profiles are hazarded in this work. We learn only that Rove is a rather emotionless person. The authors offer a couple of "Oprah moments" that hint that their subject might harbor some modicum
of humanity. Despite a couple of these excursions into sentimentality, Dubose et al. stick mostly to the political highlights that mark Rove's life. And that is just as well, because we intuit that if we extracted the electoral machinations from this biography, there would be almost nothing left.

But reading this book reveals as much about we Americans and our times as it does about Rove. We would hope to be titilated by some of Rove's underhanded schemes to win elections, but instead find ourselves rather bored with the enterprise. We are used to this sort of dirty dealing and know that both major parties engage in these activities. It's old hat. Karl Rove just happens to be the best and the scummiest at the game that goes on all the time. The victors in political affairs are not those who present the best ideas but rather those who know how to manipulate through the electronic media. We are given in this book an introduction to the Cardinal Richelieu of the Nouveau Regime, Karl Rove.

This book is particularly relevant concerning the current election and how things are done in this White House. It is difficult to believe someone with Karl Rove's track record is a close presidential advisor, and it says a good deal about a president who chooses a confidant who has exercised the techniques Rove has used.

After reading the book "Boy Genuis" I have came to the conclusion that it is a bad thing that John Kerry is leading in the polls. Rove will go dirty fast because he simply hates to lose. HE has transformed Texas into what he hopes America will become, an unabashed Republican stronghold. His pandering to the religous right by being the liason between the White House and those groups is so laughable considering Rove himself has said religion is unimportant to him. That may be true except on one day every four years, on that day, his role as the Republican party's greatest asset comes in handy. Rove knows that economic conservatives and moral conservatives despise what they "perceive" the Democratic Party stands for: big government, tax hikes, loose morals, diversity, and weak foreign policy. Karl Rove has exploited these perceptions with a "whatever it takes" mentality. He blew through the streets of Austin leaving only like minded conservatives in his wake. He has been in Washington for almost four years, four more and the divide and hate in this country will reach a fevered pitch. Lets hope Nixon and Lee Atwater won't be proud this election cycle. After reading this book, I'm sure they will though.

Good product but less creative than I originally believed it to be. Secondly, I fell it is a $10-$15 book not a $55 book.

If you are a newer recruiter, I would highly reccomend you buy this book. I read it from cover to cover three times, and have modified several of the scripts to my own style and have them pinned up at my desk. They are a great reference for overcoming objections, and I use them daily.

The Recruiter's Almanac is a great first step for anyone new to the recruiting industry. The scripts Bill has included in this book are vanilla but plentiful making them perfect for the new recruiter to expand, customize and infuse with their own flavor. This book will help get the newbie out from behind the monitor and on the telephone - where the real money is made!

This is a useless book, dont waste your money on this. This book is for someone who does not know anything about recruitment process. If you are a beginner then there are other choices also....there is nothing special in this book.

Good workbook for going over all your recruiting methods and procedures. A very good help mate.

I have read this book almost 6 months ago, so i cannot cite any specific passages from the book, but i do feel this book was well written and was very very intresting. It is better than what some of the reviewers rated it. I liked how the book was cronologically arranged, it took you through the clinton years as if you were there almost with Strobes. The only down fall i can think of is the list of names that continued to come up. I almost broke down to making some notes so i would remmber who was who. There are so many clinton bashing books out there, it is always good to read the opposite view point.

Clinton's old friend and key Russia advisor provides insight on a number foreign policy topics as they evolve. As deputy secretary of state, his accounts provide personal, scholarly and practical accounts. The reader might determine both that Talbott was an invaluable resource as the post-Cold War era evolved, and that in the end, Clinton was his own "Russia Hand."

The primary theme of the book is the relationship between Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. As they address issues such as NATO expansion, the Balkans, economic difficulties, and each president's own personal troubles, a number of lessons emerge. First, great power politics takes place between human beings, not merely among structural or organizational frameworks. Second, the blending of idealism and realism is thorough and complex, they are not either-or options. Third, political, military, economic, domestic and international issues all impact each other, often in surprising ways. Fourth, watch out for the u in trying to explain policy making: in the generic Y=Ax+By+Cz+u, that u (for unexplained/unexpected) can often play a large role.

The Russia Hand is valuable to students of foreign policy, Russia and U.S.-Russia relations, and the emergence of the post-Cold War era.

I just finished the book about 15 minutes ago, so this is surely a bit of "instant feedback."

Strobe Talbott writes vividly, with candor and with a justified and well-earned political slant that keeps the reader engaged as a would be a thrill-seeking thirty-something reading a Clancy novel (I am borrowing another reviewer's analogy; by the way, this is way better than Clancy).

For anyone interested in the delicate nature of scrutinizing national security decisions, this is a must read. It offers an 'inside the Situation Room' look at the government of the United States at work. While concentrated solely on issues of the US-Russian genre, he successfully weaves other world and domestic events into the book to give the reader a sense of pace, setting and perspective.

He adequately, though unglamourously, bookends the story with the lead-in (Bush 41) to the Clinton years and the moving away from (Bush 43) a contentious, far from self-effacing eight years of transcontinental relations.

The meat of the book, a study of how presidential decisions are made through and pressed by deputy level and below members of both governments, showcases a 'half-dozen' big ticket shows that played out in the nineties, e.g. Kosovo, NATO expansion, Bosnia, and so on. With great and intense detail, Talbott recounts many and varied emotional meetings held between the world's most prominent governments.

Though certainly not faultless, this book is one of the better memoirs to come from the eight years of Clinton. It is precise, pointed and proves that the show must and will go on in American diplomacy.

Talbott's book is captivating and addictive. He writes in such a way that leaves the reader wondering whether Clinton and Yeltsin and Primakov and Gore and Chernomyrdin and 'Chris' and Sandy and Zhirinovsky and Ivanov (both of them) and Ivashov and Mamedov - Talbott drops dozens of names on the reader - are in the next room, contemplating and calculating tomorrow's continued NATO expansion.

Not just a must read, this book should be reviewed, its merits debated and defended. It is well worth it.

Contrary to several other reviewers on this site who are rather critical, I found this a very useful and insightful book. The fact that it hardly deals with the rise of the oligarchs and other important Russian domestic items is in my view not relevant as this is a book mainly on Russian-US relations in the 1990s. Talbott writes lucid prose and is often entertaining. One gets a good impression of the endless diplomatic wheeling and dealing behind the scenes with the Russians. Talbott gives a very interesting account of his direct relationship with the Russian official Yuri Mamedov, who served as his personal contact at the Russian foreign ministry. The wounded pride of the Russians, basically due to the collapse of the old Soviet empire, was so great that all kinds of irritations about Yugoslavia and Kosovo, NATO enlargement and other issues were basically inevitable, Talbott suggests between the lines. Amazing that things went so well between Russia and the US in this period of great difficulty for Yeltsin on the Russian domestic front. Boris Yeltsin comes through as an unpredictable politician with a drinking problem which was much bigger apparently than I suspected from reading other written accounts of the 1990s. During summits with the Russians, Clinton and his team were always counting the number of drinks Yeltsin gulped down and were often trying in vain to keep the hard liquor out of reach of the Russian president. When the summit was on American soil, that is. In Russia they didn't have this possibility, of course. Talbott writes with a great knowledge of Russian history and a love of the country, but is in no way uncritical of the mess Yeltsin and his team often made in the realm of foreign policy as well. Witness the unexpected transfer of Russian troops from Bosnia to Pristina at the end of the Kosovo crisis in 1999, which as Talbott pictures it, was a clear example of messy and irresponsible Russian decision making. Still, Talbott rightly suggests that Yeltsin as president was definitely preferable to a communist fossil like Zyuganov.

The devil is in the details, but the "angels" call the shots (and in this story the "angels" are no angels). This is the short version of Strobe Talbott's exhaustive, intimate memoir of the transformation of US-Russian relations during the tumultuous 1990s. Bereft of the old adversarial structures of the cold war, and lacking any type of transitional plan, the diplomatic establishments of Washington and Moscow were compelled to feel their way through a stubborn morass of suspicion and ignorance and emerge with something like a policy of institutionalized cooperation.

By this account and many others it was a tough row to hoe. The meat of the book covers the period of Clinton/Yeltsin diplomacy between 1992 and 2000, a time when the Russian nation was reeling from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the social upheaval brought on by free market economic "shock treatment." National pride had suffered a series of body blows as the Soviet Empire fell apart and lost its coveted place as the "other" major power on the international stage.

In 1992, while publicly basking in cold war "victory", the US political establishment was inwardly wringing its hands over how to handle its volatile, battered, erstwhile enemy. Internally in Russia political wars continued to rage among nationalists, communists, and liberal market reformers, and it was nowhere near apparent that the nation might not suffer a political hijacking or economic meltdown which would lead the nation back down a path of despotism and isolation. This was a moment of limitless opportunity and unfathomable risk for the US and the world. The stakes were huge, and the outcome unknowable.

Enter the diplomats. Under the direction and tutelage of Mr. Talbott in this country and Yuri Mamedov in Russia, the two little armies of bureaucrats started the decade long brainstorm over nuclear arms, NATO enlargement, the worrying linkages between Russia and Iran, the disposition of Soviet era debt, and myriad other potentially explosive issues. It was no easy business, and progress was halting.

Time and again Talbott's team ran into roadblocks and obfuscation from their Russian counterparts. Some of it was related to the long Russian predisosition to hiding behind opaque bureaucacry; some had more to do with national pride. Most often, though, US Russian progress was stymied by forces inside the Russian establishment with a vested interest in arresting diplomatic progress where it took hold.

Bill Clinton understood all this. And more importantly, he understood Boris Yeltsin. More than once Talbott invokes the importance of the personal relationship between the two men, both by turns rogues, charmers, and vulgarians, with a singular optimism and clarity of vision both for their respective nations and for the future of world security. With some funny and incisive anecdotes Talbott demonstrates again and again the power of the personal in the political process, as Clinton and Yeltsin transcend the turf wars going on among their minions below to hammer out compromises and agreements that start to assume real political and economic coherence.

Not that there weren't bumps along the way. Yeltsin, though Talbott declines a formal diagnoses, comes across as a classic manic depressive, high energy and visionary when his back is to the wall, despondent and alcoholic when he feels his enemies smothering him. Clinton, though keenly attuned to the constraints on his counterpart from the factional strife in the Russian military and the obstreperous Duma, had his hands full when Yeltsin came to the bargaining table in a blustery or drunken temper. Talbott is masterful in recounting the tensions in these encounters, especially in Helsinki in the early part of the adminstration.

In the end, this is the story of two flawed, great men who left their world a better place for having worked together. Talbott leaves no doubt that all the rest, the quibbling and arguing and messy details of diplomacy, were inconsenquential in the face Clinton and Yeltsin's determination to not just preside over the death of an old era but to define a new one. It's somewhat poignant to go back to the beginning of the book, when Clinton, in the twilight of his term, meets the rising star Putin for the first time and senses a new, more stringent and controlled era settling over the Russian nation and the face it shows the world. There's just no chemistry between the bumptious American and the cautious new leader. Talbott leads us to believe that it wasn't just chemistry, but a genuine personal friendship that put the final stake in the heart of the cold war and all the bad that came of it.

Without hesitation I've put this book on my short list of recommendations for anyone who wants to learn more about the Vietnam War. Not at the top simply because it assumes some prior knowledge about many of the players involved and the historical events described but it should be included, (I think), with books by Halberstam, Sheehan, etc. Why? The Bundy brothers were at the center of most if not all the policy and military decisions concerning Vietnam made during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations - McGeorge as Special Assistant to the President on National Security Affairs to both presidents and William working under McNamara, (Defense) and then Dean Rusk, (State). This book/author does an excellent job of putting these decisions in the context of the Bundy brothers' background, upbringing, education, intellect, loyalty and sense of duty, i.e. all the things a biography should do. Will the reader agree with all the decisions the Bundys made? ...Of course not. In fact one may disagree with every decision each or both of them did make but this book gives the reader an appreciation or at least an understanding as to how and why they came about. (As an aside, most of the questions/doubts concerning Vietnam policy made in hindsight, were raised contemporaneously by one or both of the Bundys -just another piece to this overly complex puzzle) Regarding the book's perspective/objectivity, I have no complaints and found the author admirably evenhanded - Although there are some anecdotes concerning peripheral individuals, (i.e. Henry Kissinger), which do not show them in the most positive light and may even raise a smirk from the reader. Finally although this review has centered on the Bundys and Vietnam this book chronicles much more, both before and after the Vietnam War - Henry Stimson, military service, the CIA, McCarthyism and the Cold War, Harvard and Yale, Cuba, the Ford Foundation - but in the interest of brevity I hope I've made my point.

According to this book everything President Kennedy did was sinister and hawk-like and everything the Bundy boys did was well intentioned and high-minded. It's so blatantly slanted it's disgusting.

In addition, it doesn't even address major questions about the behavior of McGeorge Bundy. For example it mentions that the night before the Bay of Pigs invasion Bundy called Richard Bissell of the CIA and canceled the planned dawn airstrikes that JFK had authorized. JFK did not authorize the cancellation of the airstrikes; Bundy just did it on his own. WHY? Kai Bird never explains why, and never even expresses curiosity. This is a glaring omission in a book supposedly showing what made the Bundy boys tick.

But as another reviewer noted, Kai Bird writes for The Nation, the faux "left"/establishment left publication. So that makes it clear why an author of theirs would try to paint the Bundys as "liberal" and JFK as a hawk, which is exactly backwards.

I gave it a star because the book still has some interesting history and insights.

THE COLOR OF TRUTH: MCGEORGE BUNDY AND WILLIAM BUNDY, BROTHERS IN ARMS: A BIOGRAPHY is essential reading for anyone trying to understand American foreign policy in the twentieth century. This book is well-researched and full of previously-undisclosed information. It also provides two portraits of what "establishment liberalism" was, how it developed, and its consequences. In the process, some of the most fascinating moments in American history are illuminated, most of the time unfavorably.

From their respective military careers in WWII to their numerous positions in academia, government, and the non-profit sector, these two brothers were at the center of a huge web of personal and professional contacts in the American establishment. They were in many ways, the best, but also very flawed. This biography reveals those flaws, and the consequences of their failures.

This book is very dense, especially during the sections dealing with the question of Vietnam, and an acquaintance with the brothers' own corpus of work is helpful and increases the potency of the book's analytical edge. It should be required reading for anyone interested in government policy, because it reveals how decisions are made, and how human beings think.

I happened upon this book in a bookstore in New York. I'm not going to say it changed my life: it would take a lot for a biography to do that. But for what it is: a biography of two men who were raised to hold the reins of power, than did so in one of this countries most difficult periods, the book is balanced, insightful, and enlightening.

I was a bit worried going into the book that Bird, a frequent contributer to the Nation, would perform an unbalanced hatchet-job on these two men-- who must of course be seen with their redeeming qualities. And he does. This is a well-researched, well-put together book. It is a must read for anyone interested in Vietnam, the Kennedy Administration, or foreign affairs in general.

Like nothing else available, Kai Bird's THE COLOR OF TRUTH demystifies liberal pragmatic centrist (the Bundy brothers were EXTREMELY difficult to categorize/pin, politically) contributions to a disastrous post-WWII U.S. foreign policy drift that continues to this day. It does re-cover best/brightest territory, but in the nicest sense of recovery, with graceful focus on key players plus perspective & freedom-of-information access impossible for Halberstam. A case of perfect historian timing? Primary sources still alive/available but no longer needing/wishing to defend/protect/fib too heavily? Bird is a contributing editor for The Nation & dedicates the book, partly, to his parents, lifelong worried opponents of brutal wars in the Middle East, but has no axe to grind, is familiar with context by virtue of previous work on John J. McCloy, appropriately begins with Henry Stimson & Harvey Bundy, father of a couple of perhaps frighteningly blessed sons.

William & McGeorge Bundy grew into decent bright academics who would indirectly destroy millions of humans, plus their own reputations, by doing exactly what bright decent academics get paid do, usually fairly harmlessly. In order to operate in the professional expert marketplace, one must learn to develop/defend theses. Neither of the brothers was a certified official Dr. Henry VIP (an easter egg the size of the Ritz is noted at the bottom of p. 407 of the hardcover) dignitary, but certain allowances can/will be made for the off-the-charts smartly impatient. These guys were good, even superb, at thesis concoction/defense. Also connected well past needing paper proof? Regardless, thesis defense can get out of hand, seriously, if/when thesis basis information turns out to be inaccurate/skewed or even flatly atrociously wrong. What can a responsible expert do? Admit erroneous basis? Revise thesis? Even, if one has accepted a government job, reverse policy? Perhaps. But this can feel mighty embarrassing, or swampy/waffling/kinetic, especially if U.S. troops have already died under prevailing false thesis conditions & elections impend? So, if one is an unusually gifted aristomandarin character, as both William &, probably even moreso, Mac were, all sorts of spinning options are open? After all, one is a professional? Execute the assignment? Indeed.

It took many to generate bloody quagmire in Vietnam. The Bundy brothers were merely essential state-of-the-art instruments (filtering network managers, the postmodern equivalent of loyal trusted Machiavellian courtiers?) humbly serving two Democratic presidents who failed to get a sane/sage grip on something set in motion by congenial Ike. McGeorge Bundy departed in 1966, just as the unreconstructed Texan in LBJ began to explode. Bill left in 1969, before the incoming Nixon plus Dick's own academic favorite, vastly less decent than either Bundy, cranked Vietnam up/down into criminally pointless/cynical brutality, or peace with honor. Bill Bundy eventually wondered, in writing, about the final five years of the futile war he had contributed to failing to curtail.

Bird's chapter on the JFK government adventurism regarding Cuba, which set a tone, is especially valuable, as is his fairly relentless harping on the bizarrely spooky nature/bias of the American electorate during the middle years of the cool quasi-war with the Evil Empire. The Bundy brothers were NOT very bad men, as gentle reader learns as Bird tells of McGeorge at the Ford Foundation or William writing up himself (plus later even more pragmatic others) for arrogant carelessness. But they WERE very bad wizards, which can/does happen when professional experts overestimate their [genius] rights/capabilities, still. Even now? Might be safer to inform/trust our own judgements, sometimes?

Quality in Delivered Product as well as Content.
A quick and easy transaction.

This is one in a series of THE MAN WHO which followed all those CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, a kind of follow through with some of the same characters. This one is a violent man involved with the martial arts and who kills without conscience. He had killed his own brother while drunk. Enough said.

This is touted to be a 'tale of a hero's dark night of the soul.' I feel he has no soul. Any killer is lacking morals and any other virtue. Most drunks lack all the needed virtues to function in this world.

Stephen Donaldson is one of my favorite writers for the trio he did with A MAN RIDES THROUGH as one of them. He had a good woman in these about time travel back to medieval times. I read his GAP series, GAP INTO VISION, GAP INTO MADNESS; I think there had to have been a third in this series. Anyway, I read them but did not understand much, so I classed it as science fiction.

If this book is based on real life, it is a life I know nothing of and wouldn't want to -- I had a young neighbor boy back in Pulaski who watched KUNG FO on t.v. and would get out in the front yard and perform all those moves with a long stick. Before I realized what he was emulating, I thought the child had gone crazy. To me, the martial arts are too noisy to begin with and ridiculous to watch. I suppose you're supposed to scare off your opponent by kicking high and yelling. To me, that is the coward's way out, not real fighting.

Brew fits his name as he is an alcoholic whose loved ones have turned their backs on him (mainly because of the murder he committed), not his drinking. The love of his life seems to be as seedy a character as he.

Donaldson, who lives in New Mexico (my daughter-in-law said she had met him when my son was a teacher in Alburque), is perfect with his use of the English lalnguage, the thing which attracted me to his writings. Now, he is on a MAN thing, THE MAN WHO RISKED HIS BROTHER, THE MAN WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER, THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE, (a new series, I guess) and A MAN WHO RIDES THROUGH (which I loved, he was not a modern man but was from the medieval times). We need more dignity and humility as they practiced back then, even with the cruelty in wars.

We still have much cruelty in war. Consider the beheadings which are a continuing thing going on at the moment in Iran. Where has civilization gone -- to the dogs?! A dog-eat-dog world, what a drudge for sensitive, civilized folks.

As an unabashed SRD fan and having enjoyed the other books in this series, I was surprised to find this read a little flat. I think the thing that initially threw me off was to find that tough-as-nails Mick Axebrewer starts the book by taking a job as a rent-a-cop at a kung fu tournament. WHAT? Is this how far the mighty (or at least grim-and-gritty angst-ridden heroes) have fallen. Seriously, Brew as a security guard?!? And this three day tournament which sets up the whole mystery portion of the story takes a mere 150 pages to slough through. The set up is extremely slow and could have (should have) been edited down to a few introductory chapters. Once the tournament is over and the meat of the story takes place, it becomes a pretty solid effort, but getting there can be a bit of a chore. Sure, the drama is a little "over-acted" and Donaldson does tip off who he real bad guy is a little early in the story but the last half of the book is still a pretty decent read. A hundred pages shorter and a little less grim introspection and this could have been a much better book. I think Donaldson may have gotten caught up a little too much in expounding on a subject with which he is very interested but which his readers might not find quite so captivating.

First, I'd say that Stephen R. Donaldson is my favorite author. Secondly, I'm not just a sci-fi/fantasy reader. My primary reading is the mystery genre. I started reading Mr. Donaldson's work in the early 80s and have continued to read everything he's written. If I'd stumbled across these books before I knew who wrote them, I'd have been addicted years ago to this series.

I began this series with this particular book approximately 6 months ago. It was so awesome that I searched out all the other books and was amazed I didn't know about it for over 20 years.

While this series is quite different from any other Donaldson has written, you can still strongly see his signature in the characters. The language is far less complicated than in his other works and I vaguely missed the challenge of the strong vocabulary while at the same time, appreciating his vivid and evocative descriptions of persons, places and events.

The characters, as in Donaldson's other series, are typically dark and wounded. It's always clear to the reader that if they would only talk openly to each other, they could move more lightly through the world. Alas, it's not meant to be and, as in real life, the characters hold their grief and guilt close and use it as an excuse to not communicate with those who are most important to them and to engage in self-indulgent behavior.

Brew and Ginny are excellent examples of Donaldson's characters. I find them to be very believable and compelling. Mick lives in deep shame and guilt over his alcoholism, accidentally killing his brother while trying to stop a purse snatcher, believing it was his fault his partner lost her hand in a bombing. Yet even in his grief, guilt and self-pity there is a core of strength and loyalty that are compelling. An earlier reviewer referred to him as a wounded bear... I think that analogy is dead on.

In this story, the pair of detectives work apart for the first time in their long history together and both are partially crippled by the distance between them.

As in all the stories, the plot has a lot of unexpected twists and turns. The depth of his insights into Shotokan Karate inspired me to seek out a Shotokan class when my daughter was interested in learning a martial art. Like Mick, the more I learned, the more interested I became.

Overall, I'd rate this book and the entire series 5 stars. The characters are compelling, the plots are captivating and the writing is superb.

I have to admit, I had an awfully hard time getting started with this book. I'm a big fan of Stephen R. Donaldson, and with his recent books I realise I have very high expectations and I'm always afraid that this is where he is going to lose his edge and start going downhill.

It hasn't happened yet, though. This series of mysteries (The Man Who Killed His Brother, The Man Who Risked His Partner, The Man Who Tries to Get Away, and now The Man Who Fought Alone) is another great series, stylistically quite different from any of his other books. I find it a bit hard to describe: the previous books in the series have been almost-parodies of stock detective-book plots; stock plots that Donaldson has injected with his own unique (often dark) perspective, effectively combined with a frequently light attitude that can really be quite humorous. The Man Who Fought Alone is more straighforward and less humorous than previous books, although the overall feel of the book is a bit lighter as Axebrewder starts to bring his life under control. Donaldon has managed to work the martial arts theme quite well too, with a look inside the world or martial arts competition which is both interesting and manages to develop good characters. This is what always draws me to Stephen R. Donalson's books, the wonderfully textured and developed characters, each with their own strengths and foibles and, well, character that really stands out in a genre that is not know for such things.

Now, the start of the book is a bit slow, and it's overall not quite as tight as previous entries in the series. The first few chapters will probably have a few long-time Donaldson fans rolling their eyes a bit as old Axebrewder goes on his lengthy "woe is me" bit. After this slightly rocky start, though, the book really does take off and it thoroghly engrossed me. It's not quite the best in the series, but the series is quite good and The Man Who Fought Alone is highly recommended. I'm glad that it looks like the whole series is being re-issued in hardback under Stephen R. Donaldson's real name (they were previously published under a pseudonym, Reed Stephens); they've been hard-to-get for some time and given his success, this is long overdue.

very entertaining, i couldn't put down the book, so I read it in one or two days.
The book is divided into two parts: first is marvin's biography, the second discussess his impacts on others.

You'll enjoy this book, if:
- you want to understand from where came Mckinsey's requirements for candidates
- you are curious, how mckinsey gained current face (e.g. from where came his 'unified principles accross all country', why do they select the best candidates, why it is a company based on partnership, rather then shareholders; etc.)

The reader can follow marvin's thinking, see how his decisions are based on facts. I learned a lot purely by reading his speech from a meeting of partners (included in the appendix in the book).

That being said, a couple of chapters from the second part seemed boring (resumes of leaders who worked with him; or business stories of these leaders), so I just didn't read them. The book was still very valuable.

Also check out his book, written by him closely before his death, "will to lead".

I never thought I would end up in business, but did. thought the book was a great look into the history of a firm. It has helped me review some of my own decisions and better understand them - what I did right instinctively and where there might be some opportunity to rethink things.

I enjoyed reading about the founder and found the lessons practical to what I am doing today.

This book tells the story - atleast it tries to - of one of the most influential persons in business management, and hence its something worth reading. But on the otherhand, its not a great book from the style of writing - it doesn't really tell a good story and the over-riding focus on integrity - given the more than few recent episodes - I am tempted to say, its not a very balanced piece of work.

But I certainly recommend this book - despite giving it just 3 stars - gives us an insight into this influential person and his life. It provides some great ideas - valid even today on developing and living a concept - in this case - Management Consulting. And well, also shows the importance of being at the right place at the right time and having the presence of mind to realise the same!!

I will still wait for a better written book on the life of Marvin and McKinsey sometime in the future!

Marvin Bower may be the most influential businessman you've never heard of. The firm he shaped into an international powerhouse, McKinsey & Company, doesn't bear his name, and he never made splashy public gifts. Yet the company that spawned the management consulting industry would not exist today without this remarkable man's clear, compelling vision. Bower or his consultants transformed countless companies and executives for the better. Here, author Elizabeth Haas Edersheim assembles dozens of testimonials to Marvin Bower's integrity, honesty and drive to excel. Her book contains the story of his life, but it reads less like a biography and more like a Harvard Business School case study - a bit dry, and chock-full of interview transcripts rather than compelling narrative. However, its similarity to a case study is oddly appropriate, since Bower was one of the first graduates of the Harvard Business School and remained connected with it for many years, even defending its case study method of teaching when it came under attack in the late 1970s. We recommend this book to leaders, to those who aspire to lead and to consultants who want to study the best of their profession in action.

Elizabeth Haas Edersheim holds a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and worked at McKinsey & Company from 1979 to 1988. She is now strategic advisor to a number of Fortune 500 companies. The late Marvin Bower is seen as the creator/inventor of management consulting. I see this book, which was published in 2004, as a semi-autobiography. It is split up in two parts, whereby the first part - Translating a Vision into Reality - discusses the creation and development of McKinsey & Company and the second part - A Leader's Leader - discusses the impact of Bower on others.

The first chapter - Marvin Bower - discusses is a short summary on the working life of Marvin Bower, who was born in Cleveland in 1903 and died at the age of in January 2003. During his lifetime worked for a total of 59 years at McKinsey & Company, which he almost personally transformed from "a nearly defunct accounting and engineering firm into a preeminent adviser to senior executives throughout business and, on occasion, government". His most remarkable distinction was his dedication to value and his personal integrity, which is a common theme throughout the book. Bower was the first person to graduate from Harvard Law School (1928) and later Harvard Business School (1930). The short second chapter - The Vision - discusses Bower's vision of and passion for management consulting which began during his career as a lawyer at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue between 1930 and 1933. His vision and values led the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Co., which was formed by James O. McKinsey, from a staff of 18 in 1933 to 2,500 by the time of his retirement in 1992. The third chapter - The Profession and the Institution - discusses the profession of management consulting and the institution (McKinsey & Co.). Bower conceived his vision of the institution as one firm with: a national presence; a strong firm personality; high-caliber, talented, and committed people; aversion to complacency; and regenerating leadership. Each is discussed in detail. "And - except for its personnel - a good reputation is a professional firm's most valuable earning asset." The fourth and final chapter of the first part - Defining Moments of Leadership and Influence - discusses the nine points of key decision making spanning a 60-year period. Each of these nine points is discussed in detail, they range from the decision to go for a one-firm identity nationally in 1939 through to the objection to a joint venture with venture capital firm DLJ on 1969.

Chapter 5 - The Bower Reach - starts the weaker second part of the book. This chapter discusses the power and reach of Marvin Bower's leadership, which is truly astounding. During Bower's 17 years as managing director of McKinsey, more than 50 of the consultants evolved into CEOs of leading global companies. The author identifies 6 attributes responsible for his rich legacy of leadership. One of the most useful parts of this chapter is Bower's 1950-memorandum titled "Steps in Making and Executing Decisions", which essentially discusses McKinsey's famous problem-solving model (for more, read Ethan Rasiel's The McKinsey Mind). Chapter 6 - Inspiring Organizational Courage - discusses the fact that Bower was not reckless, but fearless. "Not all clients were willing or able to muster the courage required to make bold moves; others were put off by Marvin's bluntness." This courage is discussed through case examples at Royal Dutch Shell (1956), Price Waterhouse (1979), and Harvard (1979). Chapter 7 - Educating a Generation of Leaders - discusses some examples from the list of graduates from the "Marvin School". It discusses in detail the careers of Harvey Golub (ex-Chairman of American Express), Gary MacDougal (leader of the Illinois welfare system reform), David Ogilvy (founder and ex-Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather), and Don Gogal (president and CEO of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc.). There are some short, but impressive, CVs from other McKinsey alumni. The book is concluded with a note by the author, timelines for Marvin Bower, McKinsey & Co. and Harvard Business School, a brief biography of Marvin Bower, and Marvin Bower's speech at the Partners' Conference of 1964.

I must admit that I am somewhat disappointed by this book. It starts of strong in the first part, but loses strength very much in the second part. Even so, we must acknowledge that Marvin Bower's work has left an enormous impact on business and the world. He was the visionary who created and developed management consulting through McKinsey & Company. I believe that the strongest part of his leadership was his principles and values, which are discussed in great detail in the first part of the book. I must admit that I expected more detail on McKinsey & Company itself, such as the problem-solving techniques, internal training, and recruitment of the strongest talent in the world. One other comment I have is that I am now quite interested in Marvin Bower's personal memoirs to which the author makes lots of references. I have been quite hard and given this book 3 stars (4 stars for the first part and 3 for the second part) just to indicate my disappointment. I recommend readers to read the first part of the book, the author's note and appendices.

This book was so great I could not put it down. I read it in two days. The plot is great and will keep you on your toes until the end. I would advise anyone intrested in suspense, romance, and mystery to read this book.

Sloane Burbank is doing her best to forge a new life for herself as an independent consultant after being injured on the job and leaving the FBI. She fills her days with conferences, seminars and investigations that allow her to use her skills yet put no stress on her injured hand, which was severely slashed during a takedown when she was still with the FBI.

When contacted out of the blue by the mother of her childhood friend, Penny Truman, Sloane is alarmed to hear that Penny has been missing for a year with no clue as to where or why she disappeared. Sloane immediately agrees to go over the reports from the investigation into Penny's disappearance and see if she can wring out any additional information in order to locate her former companion.

Although her hopes of finding Penny alive are slim, Sloane still gives the case her all as she does everything she undertakes. Even if she can do nothing more than find a body or answers to Penny's disappearance in order to help Penny's parents move on, she's determined to do it. Unfortunately, doing so puts her into close contact with her former lover and co-worker, Special Agent Derek Parker.

Penny knows that Derek is going to be completely underwhelmed by her reappearance into his life, yet loyalty to Penny and the Trumans drives Sloane on to face a demon from her past. It's just too bad that this particular demon has the appearance of a god and still has the power to make her heart race and her pulse pound.

It doesn't take long for Sloane and Derek to find themselves thrown together by this investigation, which escalates quickly. Sloane's research into the disappearing women and Derek's assignment investigating into Chinese organized crime and murdered sex workers amazingly cross paths and bring them both to the trail of the same killer. Unfortunately, the women who have already disappeared and those who have died are not satisfying the perpetrator, and Sloane becomes his next target.

While Sloane works to find the unaccounted-for victims and Derek struggles to protect the woman he loves, the killer makes alarming progress in his sick plan. The clock is ticking as victim after victim disappears, and the case takes one ugly turn after another.

Will Sloane be able to save the many women whose families are frantic with worry? Will Derek be able to protect Sloane, who has quickly worked her way back into his heart? Will time and police work be enough, or will they all fall victim to the evil that is at work? The only way to find out is to keep turning those pages!

Two highly motivated investigators and a madman obsessed with the Greek goddesses of mythology all combine to make TWISTED an unputdownable page turner, and it's easy to find yourself caught up in the investigation and the fate of these women as are Derek and Sloane. Andrea Kane has penned yet another book that urges --- no, make that demands --- the reader race to the conclusion with all the intensity and purpose of the main characters. Fans will be glad to know that a sequel is in the works!

--- Reviewed by Amie Taylor

Others have summarized the plot so I won't bother rehashing that. My difficulty was with the writing itself. The plot was good, but I had a hard time staying connected with this book. I felt no connection with the main characters. Strong female characters are great, but other authors have been able to show strong female leads while still portraying them as human. I don't feel that happened here. Sloane came off as cold and detached, and frankly very uninteresting. Also, calling this a romance is quite a stretch. There may have been a few sex scenes, but there was little sexual tension and no romance. Added to that, many parts of this book read more like a dry technical manuscript than a romantic suspense. And while some background filler is necessary, there were so many excessive, pointless ramblings here that it makes me wonder how closely the editors read this manuscript before sending it to print. I seriously doubt I'll ever try anything by this author again, but if I do, I'll definitely be getting it from the public library rather than spending my hard-earned money on it.

The parents of an old friend ask ex-FBI agent, now private consultant Sloane Burbank if she would look into the disappearance of their daughter Penny, who has been missing for almost a year. Sloane, who is taking time off from the FBI because she was wounded on duty, isn't ready to go back to work, but she throws herself headlong into the case and even though the leads are thin, Sloane soon becomes convinced Penny didn't disappear willingly. Then she finds out about more young women who have disappeared.

Sloane gets the FBI interested, but the special agent they put in charge is her ex-lover Derek Parker and to make matters worse it looks like the madman responsible might have Sloane in his sights. In fact, it appears all of the missing women have a connection somehow to Sloane. Can she unravel it all in time? Probably, because she is a highly trained person who is in perfect shape and can kill with her bare hands. Sloane is a heroine you can sink your teeth into, as is this fine thriller.

This was my first book by Andrea Kane, but it won't be my last. The pace was quick, the characters believable in a fun sort of way, especially Sloane, who I sort of imagined as a kind of a female Jason Bourne without the memory loss. She's rawhide tough, whip cracking smart and somehow vulnerable as well. Time spent with Ms. Kanes's Slone Burbank is time you're going to enjoy.

Ken Douglas, author of Scorpion, Desperation Moon & Dead Ringer.

Twisted is a great romantic suspense novel written by a talented writer. This intriguing plot takes place in the great New York City area. The book is structured in such multiple dimensions that you can't help but think she has experienced some of it along her life. The characters are brilliantly convincing all on their own. Main character Sloan burbank was a former FBI agent who retired due to an injury in Cleveland. She is going thru multiple surgeries and therapy due to that crazy boy slicing her hand. She wishes to join the FBI again as an agent but can't until her hand is healed. Meanwhile while her hand heals she devotes her times to her consulting business. Luckily with her many associates in the law enforcement she gets a bunch of work. Sloan gets a message from the mother of her childhood friend Penny Truman where she learns that she has disappeared. The Trumans ask her to try and find out what happened to their daughter. She knowing the victim well has an advantage of spotting clues that others overlooked. The romance and suspense now builds with her being forced to work with old lover Derek Parker in the force to find out what happened to Penny. The book ends with the identity of the sociopath remaining elusive. Sloan begins to see similarities in other disappearances of women and Derek starts to realize the connection with Sloan so that's when the book gets extremely interesting. It finishes with a climax you won't forget.

VERY GOOD BOOK IN INTERVIEWING AND INVESTIGATION. AND IN GETTING A JOB AND MUCH MORE.

This is a very useful book. I highly recommend it to everybody interested in consulting.

Great book. This and Marc Cosentino's book "Case in point" are the only two books you need. I read these books 1 week before my interviews and practiced as suggested and received my offer.


Thank you Vault.

The book i received has some charts not shown up clearly. Some charts are misplaced in the book like the ones on page 51. The quality of the book (at least the print) doesn't look professional. The content is similar to other case interview books.

I have read the biggest part of this book, and most of it satisfies my expectations. There are a lot of tips and stories about consulting cases in it. I helped me to understand what to expect for consulting cases and how to prepare them.
I am a bit disappointed about the quality of the book, if you compare it to the price. The book is not very thick, it is made of recycled paper and there are advertorials in it.
Otherwise the inside information is useful, so it is a good thing to buy this book.

This is an incredible series of mystery books if you like mysteries, cats, and Las Vegas!

He is one cool cat! Midnight Louie would be welcome in my home anyday along with his dear Mum, Ma Barker and sister, Midnight Louise, oh and we can't forget his sweet papa (now retired). A truly delightful read which keeps you looking for the next book in this great series.

I discovered the Midnight Louie books over 2 years ago and have ravenosly read them all. Cat in a Neon Nightmare is full of unexpected surprises. A major chapter unexpectedly closes here and through Mrs. Nelson Douglas' artistry we are made to feel the void opened by this event as closely as those it affects in the book. Almost every character this time around is exposed to a truth or happenstance that disappoints them/shocks them at a deep soul biting level and we feel it right with them. Everything is not black and white, not all things happen due to premeditation--like real life--somethings just do. A wonderful continuation of the Midnight Louie adventures and by the emotions it evokes, a wonderful example of what a writer can make their readers feel when they have a grasp of the craft as well as Carole Nelson Douglas obviously does. Huzzah!

Many of the reviewers here have read many, or all, of the books in this series. I haven't. This is the first "Midnight Louie" book I've read.

I won't be reading any more of this series, though I might try the author's Adler series.

The author spends a lot of time trying to bring new readers up to speed. Unfortunately, the attempts to explain the various twists and turns in past books add little by way of clarity, and serve to distract the reader (at least this reader) from the story at hand.

While this mystery theoretically addresses the violent death of a woman, the human characters invest relatively little time, energy, or thought in trying to solve that mystery. The feline characters are considerably more interested in finding out what happened.

The investigation of this death is lost amidst a tangle of sub-plots. Characters appear, initiate discussions of Important Topics (not related to the woman's death), and vanish.

Imagine someone going to the roof of a building with a bushel basket of tennis balls. Imagine that person upending the basket so that the balls fall to the sidewalk below, bouncing in every direction. Imagine the person then describing where the various balls bounced to, and where some of the balls came to rest. That's the sense I had with this book -- the author's attention followed this bouncing ball, then dropped that one to check out another bouncing ball, and then on to another, then back to the first from another perspective. The investigation of the character's death was just one bouncing ball, often overlooked.

For me as one reader, this book was completely unsatisfactory as a mystery.

Readers who like stories with a lot of divergence would probably like this book better than readers like me, who like a sense of convergence and even closure of the story at hand.

Readers who enjoy characters who are talking cats, or characters who are humans with a penchant for feeling many emotions and then expressing their views about how they feel to other human characters, will undoubtedly like this book better than I did.

I've just finished this one, and each book in the Midnight
Louie series becomes more exciting! I love the Big Cats and the addition of Louie's mother. I see the love interests of the main characters becoming more confused, complex and even more interesting. I enjoy the characters immensely and feel that I know Temple, Matt, Max and even Molina. I can't wait for the next book to come out in paperback to find out what happens to all of them next.

I've loved this series from the beginning because of the continuing character growth as well as the humor. And the zany Las Vegas background has evolved along with the main characters.

The author spoke recently at my local library, so I asked how come books I love, like this one, sometimes get such negative reviews online. She said sometimes a book's content will hit too close to home and really push a reader's buttons; at least that's what she's found with completely negative reactions. When I showed her a review on this book that was so opposite my reaction, she also said that people's opinions are just that, and they can't be argued with.

But she also was pretty puzzled that someone complained she'd labeled the character of Max as a "lone wolf" so many times it was to the point of nausea. So she did a word search for the phrase after she flew back home and emailed me the results: Max is called a lone wolf in only one of the 16 books: this last one, Cat in a Neon Nightmare. She only found that the phrase lone wolf used twice in earlier books, once by the cat detective, Midnight Louie, contrasting feline and canine behavior, and once as a metaphor for a motorcycle that plays a role in the series.

Amazing, some people aren't really seeing what's in the books, they're reacting to what they think they see. In fact, their comments can be downright wrong in terms of fact as well as opinion.

So my advice is to read these books for yourself and make up your own minds. And write your own review if you don't agree with with what's posted!

It was a quick, lightly entertaining...I'll read something by the same author in the future, I'm sure (although I'd probably get it from the library!)

To me, this book was straight chick lit, and poor chick lit at that. The writing was so full of cliches and stilted language and the "intrigue" was not interesting. In fact I am having trouble finishing it even though it's a fast read.

Since I used to live in London, I buy any chick-lit that's based there, whether I think it looks interesting or not. This book stuck out at me since it's rare to see a chick-lit book that explores mildly-intellectual things (business ethics for example) while still telling a single-girl-coming-into-her-own story.

The premise of the book is that Jen's mother wants her to infiltrate her estranged father's company to find evidence that he is linked to some illegal business dealings. Jen's parents divorced nastily fifteen years before, and her mother went on to start an "ethical" business consultancy to compete with her father's "big business" company. Jen joins the company, and quickly right becomes wrong, left becomes right, the good guy becomes the bad guy.

With a neat and tidy little twist at the end, the book is clever and tells a good story. It drags on in parts, and the dialogue isn't the greatest (the "real life" conversation between Jen and her boyfriend ordering takeout made me want to scream) but I definitely think it's a great escapist chick-lit book, ranking up there with Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding.

This book was truly enjoyable. This book is the 2nd I've read written by her. I enjoyed it and kept wanting to read more!

I had a really time getting interested in this book. I wasn't a big fan of the character, Harriet (Jen's mom), and wasn't looking forward to reading too much more about her and her interactions with Jen. Luckily Harriet was not in all that many scenes in the book.

Once I got going with the book I enjoyed it. I found most all the characters likeable. I didn't necessarily feel like I got to Jen all that much but there was enough to work with and relate to.

The book picked up and I sat down and read straight through the last 80 pages. I would recommend it.