Idaho Books

Remember "A Million Little Pieces"?

James Frey may or may not have set out to con the literary world, or Oprah. But he did. And he did it not by writing, but by passing off his writing as truth.

Kim Barnes clearly does the same thing here. No, she doesn't make up arrests, jail time, or drug use. Instead, she takes liberty in the details of what she thought, felt, and experienced when she was a pre-teen and a teenager.

However, she does it beautifully, connecting place and person.

Kim Barnes was the daughter of a logging family. She moved easily in the woods, but when her father became a religious zealot, normality was acceptance of The Word. And when she became a rebellious teen, she did not accept The Word. When she was banished from home, she reaccepted The Word. And when she was banished from the banishment, well, she reallocated her faith and life to parts of The Word. And she remembers with crystal clarity the thoughts of the teen suffering this angst:

"What I cannot do is image the girl I was at twelve becoming the girl I was at fourteen. I remember the emotions vividly -- at twelve, adolescent confusion tempered by the security of family, a sense of trust, openness, innocence, I guess. By the time I was fourteen, I felt only anger, loathing, a need to escape from the restrictions imposed by my parents and the church. Even now it scares me to understand how easily a soul may pass from one dimension of itself into another, as though the boundaries separating what we are and what we might become, given an infinite set of motivations and conditions, are little more than the line between waking and sleep, between story, memory dream" (p. 170).

Barnes describes growing up in a atmosphere of fixed roles:

"This was my mother's lesson, and my own, a lesson I have not yet unlearned: be still, be invisible. Do not draw attention to yourself, for in doing so you will become a target. I would learn that unholy men will rape you. Men of God will leave their meditations and good wives to lust after you. Satan himself will see you flashing, drawn like fish to a vulgar lure, and take your soul for his own... We were weak, unpredictable, no more capable of controlling our whims and desires than Eve, whose very nature casued the fall of Man, was able to control her gross appetite" (p. 91).

This memoir is a treatise on why parents, and churches, should be charged with abuse for tainting innocent childhood memories:

"I had seen hippies only on Nan's TV, and their wondrous hair, bright colors and dangling beads amazed me. Even so, I could hardly connect them to the monsters the townspeople spoke of over coffee at the cafe. If we weren't careful to run them off the minute they set their sandaled feet inside the village, they said, the hippies would poison our water tower with LSD" (p. 120).

Beautiful prose. I simply can't believe the detail of the memories.

In the past I have read memoirs about girls growing up 'in the country' and what a challenge it was for them (and their family) This book is a good book to read that covers that theme very well.

This book is beautifully written, with her early years happening in a kind of Idaho Eden, but what impressed me most was the author's fairness. She presents such a kind, loving, balanced view of the church, her family, their larger church family. She illuminates the glory of charismatic faith and accepts the presence of faith-based miracles. But when she explores what is lacking for her, what was missing as she tried to imagine taking her place as a wife in a Pentecostal family, the reader's heart breaks. Her questioning mind will not let this simple faith stand. As someone with no personal experience with this kind of religion, I was astonished by the rigidity of the church, appalled at how unforgiving a faith supposedly born of forgiveness could be.

Highly recommended.

I loved this book! Being an avid outdoorsman I ordered it by the title because I expected to learn something of living in the wilderness. In that regard, the book did not disappoint, but there was much more. Kim Barnes also shares an astonishingly honest story of another kind of wilderness - Pentecostal fundamentalism. Having grown up in a very similar religious tradition, I can vouch that her story does not exaggerate. Barnes pulls no punches in revealing human foilables, but without passing judgment on the sincerely held beliefs of others.

Those who enjoy "In the Wilderness," will definitely also want to read "Growing Up Pentecostal" by J. Stephen Conn. Conn's book has a very different setting but also gives a disarmingly honest view of classical Pentecostalism.

Incredibly moving and beautifully written.One of the best books I've read recently.

Christopher Lane's vocal talents include over 150 audiobooks, so he spices well Ridley Pearson's Killer View, a story of a missing skier and a sheriff whose rescue team begins vanishing. Friendships, biohazard potentials and murder coincide to challenge Walt's community foundations in a fine, involving audio highly recommended for any general-interest listening audience.

Sun Valley Sheriff Walt Fleming faces a formidable task in this sequel novel. Not only must he fight the elements of the natural environment, face the deterioration of his marriage, work with a valued deputy bedding Walt's soon-to-be ex-wife, solve acts of terrorism but also solve a murder, rescue a friend and perform all sort of social good deeds, not to mention running for reelection. How's that for a plot?

The story is a real thriller, from the chase of the villains to the travails of the storms and the environment. The pacing is quick and sure, and the descriptions of Sun Valley and the Idaho landscape (it is home to the author) vivid.

Recommended.

Buried in an early snowstorm, the Sun Valley, Idaho, mountains play a major role in Ridley's second Sheriff Walt Fleming thriller. The story begins with a nighttime mountain search-and-rescue, and goes on to include snowbound cabin hideouts, isolated ranchers, buzzing snowmobiles, chases through the snow and among the peaks, and even a crucial and spectacular encounter with a hibernating bear.

Fleming's search for a missing skier fans out snowshoeing teams with dogs across the mountain, and includes one skier who crosses the slope from the top, Randy Aker. The operation culminates in Randy's murder and the next day his brother Mark, the sheriff's friend, goes missing.

The missing skier was a hoax, of course - someone targeted Randy - or Mark, as it seems he was the intended victim. This surmise is confirmed when veterinarian Mark's young assistant turns up at a hospital, brutally raped and beaten and so drugged she remembers nothing.

The reader has the advantage of Fleming here as Pearson has been cutting to the villain, John Coats, a mountain man and former meth addict who views himself as a hero on a patriotic mission. What this mission is, who is behind it, and why, remains a mystery for Fleming to solve.

Help in this comes from his top deputy and nemesis Tommy Brandon (who is living with Fleming's estranged wife) and an attractive photographer who provides a tentative new love interest while she pieces together crime scenes. Strange illnesses further complicate the puzzle as time begins running out for diabetic Mark Akers.

As the story accelerates, cutting from Fleming to Akers to Coats, the terrain and the weather continue to immerse the reader in Sun Valley's mixed milieu of money, independence and wilderness.

Pearson gives the reader a fast-paced, big story in big country with characters who continue to grow. Yes, there are one or two small holes in the plot, but the ride is well worth a couple of bumps.

This was the first book I read from Pearson and I throughly enjoyed it. I recommend this book if you are looking for a page turner at the beach, airplane etc...

My Review of KILLER VIEW by Ridley Pearson

Ridley Pearson brings back Sheriff Walt Fleming in his new suspenseful story, Killer View. With well developed, intriguing characters and a stunning setting in Sun Valley, Idaho, Pearson has readers unable to put this mystery down as its intricately woven plot keeps you captivated.

When the story opens, a skier is reported missing on Galena Summit in Sun Valley so Sheriff Fleming is immediately alerted. Fleming brings together his top-notch rescue team. Mark Aker, who is Walt's best friend, and his brother Randy, round up their tried and true team of search and rescue dogs. Dividing up the dogs, Mark and Walt take off one way, while Randy who has more experience heads out in another area. Suddenly, Walt and Mark hear what sounds like a shot and that ignites the story with one plot twist after another. They also can't get a hold of Randy, and it isn't long before they find him dead from what appears to be an accident, dropping off a cliff. Finding Randy, protected by his faithful dog, the sheriff notes there is no blood so he didn't die from a gunshot wound. Although, when Walt thinks about it, perhaps the shot was what drew Randy's attention away from where he was headed? If so, who fired that shot and why? Sadly, Walt lifts Randy's body to take him back as his brother Mark is devastated.

The next morning, Walt discovers that now Mark is missing. Sheriff Fleming first wonders if Mark just needed some time alone to grieve. But the search continues with intensity as Mark appears to also now be lost. However, Mark Aker's survival in a very remote area introduces another character for readers to ponder and decide what part of the puzzle he is involved with. The question of if Mark will escape keeps the readers on edge but all the while in an structured manner so you don't have to take notes to enjoy this fast paced flurry of activity on the snow filled mountains of Sun Valley.

Into what is becoming a multifaceted plot, comes Deputy Tommy Brandon, who is known to be sleeping with Walt's soon to be x-wife. Too good a deputy to be fired without charges of discrimination, Walt has this thrown in his face daily as he must work along side Tommy. Next in this picturesque setting, Walt discovers that mountain sheep are mysteriously dying, a local bottling plant contains contaminants causing workers to be hospitalized, and finally that a very powerful political figure may be involved in all of this. The sheriff begins to suspect that terrorism may even be playing a part of the picture.

With the help of his deputy and a photographer, the female love interest, the story's pacing amazingly allows the reader to be able to keep all the clues straight albeit not necessarily connected until the end. Will Mark be found? What part will Fiona, the photographer, play in the scheme of things and in Walt's life? Will Mark finally be saved and is there really a terrorist plot? These questions will keep the reader plowing through this snow filled mystery until the end to find out if Walt Fleming can assemble the pieces that frame the final picture in the Killer View!

Submitted: copyright by Karen Haney, August, 2008, published for Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)

This book chronicles some of the crimes of James Wood. He was a sociopath made more dangerous because he was so compulsive.

Woods had talent as an artist and most of the time he was viewed as overly friendly. Too much so for some people that he met.

The real hero in the book was Scott Shaw,who connected with Woods well enough to ultimately get a confession and closure on the case of Jeralee Underwood,the 11 year old girl that was his last victim. Along the way, Shaw got confessions about another local rape that could have easily had the same end result as the Underwood case. Woods also confessed to a rape and attempted murder of another teen girl in the St.Louis area.
He eventually solved more than 40 sex crimes and 180 armed robberies that were committed by Woods. Scott Shaw got a close look at the very twisted mind of an unusual type of killer.

Shaw's perception was instrumental when he linked the rape with the later murder and insisted the perpetrator was local,contradicting the profile by the F.B.I.

Some of James Wood's cousins broke the case with information that they provided to the police.

This book is researched thoroughly and it is hard to put this down once you start reading it.

I grew up just outside of Pocatello, Idaho and was the same age as Jaralee Underwood when she was kidnapped and murdered. James Wood haunted my dreams for many years and I was completely sickened by the things he did and the fact that he was even able to do the things he did...the man should never have walked out of the the Louisiana prison in the first place. What a sick awful man.

This is a well written book that I believe does a good job of exploring the life of James Woods. I recommend this as a good read for any true crime buff who is interested in serial murders.

a very good read,couldnt put it down.i really admired detective shaw-he gave me a good perspective on this sick (...).

I read approximately 6-7 books a week, and this is the first book that has prompted me to write a review...EVER. This book is poorly written because it never gives the reader reasons why this man became who he is...no history is provided for the reader to understand how a man could do the crimes he committed. I too, read this book in one sitting, mostly because I wanted to get the horror of it over with quickly. Whomever edited the book must have been in another world that day, because the author's thoughts are convoluted most of the time and I found myself wondering what he was trying to say. The amount of errors in proof-reading this book is distracting and the book should be corrected and reprinted. No history, no details, no train of thought involved in writing this book - just the author telling a story that has been written over and over again by better writers than this one.

Although it otherwise is an impressive and useful work, we were disappointed by lack of color photos especially after seeing the beautiful color photo on the cover.

Every bookseller I've ever met in Idaho recommends this book. It's informative but also fun and insanely well-written. Conley covers the Idaho basics but also wanders off down side streets and tiptoes through the state's history. And even though it's 700 pages, you still get the sense Cort knows more than he's telling.

I've had the book for 5 years and find myself going back to it again and again. I strongly recommened it for anyone living in Idaho and anyone interested in the West or just good writing

If every state could offer up a tour guide as thorough as this one, travelers would have much to cheer about, no matter where they were. This is a major achievement in the field.

Conley has arranged the book into three major sections (Lakes and Forests - North; Rivers and Canyons - Southwest; and Mountains and Deserts - Southeast), and then by major highways within each section. He takes the traveler along each route, pointing out historic sites, geological formations, archeology, towns and cities, and all kinds of points of interest along the way. When appropriate he will venture down side roads to highlight sites.

Much historical information is related by Conley (the book is 700 pages long), and there are photographs (mostly historical) galore. As useful as the guide is on the road, it is equally as entertaining and informative for the armchair traveler as well. This book will not help you with finding motels, restaurants, or modern day tourist attractions; it is strictly written with the history of the state in mind. And in that regard, it's a beauty. Travelers in Idaho or those interested in the state's history should be sure to get a hold of this book - you won't be disappointed.

We're planning our first trip to Idaho and were looking for the basic "have to have it with us" tour guide to help plan the trip and guide us through it. This book isn't it.

It appears to be a great book of local history and would be fine for backup information about the state but it is not good for planning a trip.

The only way to find items of interest is to read the whole book, set up your own itinerary, and basicaly write your own guide book from the information found here.

Fodors and Frommer have nothing to fear.

Cort Conley is to Idaho what Frank Dobie is to Texas. There is no man who has seen more of the Idaho landscape and backcountry, and known more of the Idaho people than Conley. And few people (if any) can tell you more about Idaho's underappreciated history and Indian lore. This book should be on the bookshelf of every native to the Pacific Northwest, alongside Evie Litton's Hiking Hot Springs of the Pacific Northwest (they just look good together).

Being a big Hemingway fan I was very excited to get this book after I first discovered it. I was looking forward to photographs of Papa and the places in his life. That's what I expected after "looking inside" another edition of the book at Amazon, which was the only choice to look at. I sure was surprised to get a little paperback with not a single photo. I saw the book I thought I was getting for $5 in a used bookstore the other day. There is no warning that the book you get is entirely different from the one you get to see. Albeit I only paid $1.41 plus $3.99 shipping for it from The Big Book Sale - it is not what I wanted or what was advertized. I will be disputing the charge. BEWARE.

I found this book to be good but not great. It is a mix of a short Hemingway biography and a travel book. For those that want an introduction to Hemingway and like to travel, it is an enjoyable read and I highly recommend it. If you are looking for a detailed Hemingway biography or a travel book only, then I would not recommend the book.

Also, some chapters are better than others. For example, the short section on Pamplona (within the chapter on Spain) is well written and entertaining. But the rest of the chapter on Spain and bullfighting is rushed and incomplete in my mind, given that bullfighting was a subject of so much of Hemingway's writings and that Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon" was practically an English language treatise on the subject.

Further, at times, the book seems to be more of an independent travel book than a "following in the footsteps of Hemingway" book.

As I said, good but not great.

I really like Michael Palin's travel documentaries, both the BBC TV programs and the books based on the programs. He has a knack for finding interesting people and places, and he presents it all with wit and charm and a personal engagement that is beguiling. The books are beautiful with lots of great color pictures, most taken by photographer Basil Pao.

This book is based on the BBC TV program where Mr. Palin traveled to all of the places where Ernest Hemingway had lived and traveled. One can't really say the program "follows Hemingway's footsteps" because some sequences are presented out of order, but it's all there:

Chicago and northern Illinois (Hemingway's youth)
Italy (WW I and duck hunting)
Paris (Hemingway's start as an author)
Spain (running with the bulls, bullfighting)
Key West (fishing, boxing)
Africa (hunting, airplane crash injuries)
Cuba (fishing, Hemingway's home for 20 years)
Montana and Idaho (dude ranches, Hemingway's death)

Each chapter that describes a place almost invariably leaves the reader smiling and thinking that it would be interesting to visit that place oneself.

Incidentally, my high opinion of this book (and the associated TV program) has nothing to do with any interest in Hemingway's authorship. I read "The Old Man and the Sea" when I was in high school, and have not read anything by Hemingway since. Still, I find his life interesting, and I think that Michael Palin has made a great travelogue by visiting the various places and telling about Hemingway's life.

I can especially recommend the audio version of this book, which is read by Michael Palin himself. He does a great job of delivering the dialog of the various people, all with their different accents.

Of course, the audio version of the book does not include the beautiful photographs, so the very best strategy might be to get both, and listen to the audio version while commuting and then look at the pictures when you get home.

Rennie Petersen

If you are going to engage in some armchair travel, you could do no better than to have Michael Palin as your guide. I love all of his books, possibly even more than the accompanying TV shows. The only reason this one gets four stars from me, instead of five, is by comparison- I thought the conceit of following Hemmingway's life's path was less engaging than some of his more challenging itineraries (but add the extra star back on if you're a Hemmingway fan). Like others who have reviewed here, I was compelled by reading this book to seek out some of Hemmingway's work, and I think I was able to appreciate it better knowing something about the man. (But I'll admit, given the choice of reading him or reading Palin, I'll take the Python any day of the week.)

I am not a Hemmingway fan - the idea of a macho yet self-destructive soul holds no appeal for me. Likewise, I find his prose turgid and bland, unlike his contemporary, Steinbeck. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Michael Palin brings his charm, understated wit, and consummate travelogue-writing skill to the book, and Basil Pao brings fantastic photography and art direction.

Hemmingway's life and travels provide an overarching theme to the book that brings us from place to place. Since most travelogues use geographical locations to provide the arc, the eclectic globe-trotting in this book is refreshing, while at the same time logical. Likewise, within each chapter we see a variety of locales that won't necessarily make a standard travelogue, because Hemmingway lived in these places and discovered a number of out-of-the-way sites that give a better feel for the actual culture of the cities and countries we're visiting.

I've personally visited four of the places in the book - Montana, Chicago, Key West, and Paris. That I wish to return to those places and experience the parts I missed, as chronicled in the book, is a testament to Palin and Pao's skills. Presumably a fan of Hemmingway would get even more out of this book than I did, but you obviously don't have to be a Hemmingway afficionado to appreciate and enjoy this book.

Parkinson has created two memorable characters in Walter and Trina, seventeen year-olds who come together in 1917 rural Idaho and discover the aching sweetness of young love. But there is brutality, violence and heartbreak here too, as the world and the war all too soon intrude on these two young peple's idyllic relationship. Parkinson displays a remarkable facility for dialogue, and her male characters are as fully developed and real as the women in this respect. This is especially noticeable in the rude and rowdy exchanges between the young doughboys made old before their time by the horrors of combat. The sloping mountains and grassy pastures of Idaho, as well as the cratered landscape of war are made equally real in turn. This is quite simply a beautifully told story that left me hoping for a sequel.

The descriptions of the country, of horse and dog life, of sheep herding are often quite good, written with real authority. The book has a couple of well-realized and sinister bad guys. The first half is considerably stronger than the second half, and her male characters stronger than her female characters. The latter portions of the book become diffuse and the scenes dealing with a group of returning WWI veterans are not as strongly conceived as the earlier Idaho passages. She surely does set herself up for comparisons with McCarthy, who himself can get overwrought. Her main character is a young man on horseback coming of age. She wants to write in the high-literary style. But lots of the passages in this book are downright meaningless, amounting to less even than pure bombast, and the further one reads the more tiresome these passages become: As the highly negative reviewer writing just below me noted, there are problems with unity and focus, but there are also page-turning, tense portions of the book and several well-defined secondary characters. Some scenes are genuine, and not every one seems to come ready-made for movie adoption and screenplay "treatment" (though some do). There aren't that many good fiction writers out there, so here's hoping that she turns down the volume on her LITERARY knob and pays more attention to the basic necessites of narrative next time around. It's damn hard to write a good novel. I'll give her next book a fair chance.

This novel is quite good. And it's fun to read, even with some limitations. My favorite books are ones that make me think about the world around me and the experiences of people in it in new ways, and this one certainly does. The settings are evocative and shape a sort of scenery of the West as the novel unfolds, almost like a film. The characters make the novel though, and have a simple wisdom that is admirable and rare. From Walter Pascoe, the young shepherder who is becoming a man, to his newly discovered love Trina Ivy, a young woman whose sense of self is quite amazing in someone her age, to the man who teaches Walter about life as he understands it; each character adds something, and each one is interesting. The characters seem like people you know, or would like to (mostly, although even the antagonists are special that way).

Of course there are some inevitable comparisons with Cormac McCarthy- both authors write about the West as it was and maybe still could be if not for the exigencies of life, their stories both involve a mythic coming-of-age for young men, and they both have a smooth rythym that makes a kind of poetry of space with each turn of the page. And while it is notoriously difficult for young writers to instinctually develop a voice that is uniquely their own, McCarthy is an author worth emulating. As far as overdoing style, McCarthy is an estimable writer, and All The Pretty Horses is one of my favorite books, but sometimes McCarthy's writing can be a bit overwrought as well.

Every now and then, Across Open Ground does seem to be striving a bit too much for the "deep" thing when just keeping it so without such a carefully rendered explanation would have been enough. For example, one rather less-realized scene involves a group of soldiers on a train, and the spiritually bereft experience of war. This is one section where the dialogue isn't spare, but it seemed to miss something about men and how they speak to each other. The care that is evident is such places though(and there aren't many), also reveals itself in the construction of the rest of the novel. The story is enveloping, the characters endearing, and the dialogue has an even flow that makes the novel move nicely as you read it. And sometimes there is a certain sentence or a paragraph that asks to be read again and again, when the writing is damn good. Overall, Across Open Ground has much to recommend it, and is an enjoyable, involving read about life in the Old West and love and war and becoming an adult in a strange world. As a debut by Heather Parkinson it is very promising, and the author's next book will have me eagerly anticipating its arrival.

There is a new breed of novelists who specialize in mimicking the style of Cormac McCarthy, Charles Frazier being the most notable.
Parkinson also falls into this group of unfortunates.
"Across Open Ground" -the jacket illustration even mimics McCarthy's `Cities Of The Plain'- is so derivative as to be laughable. Which I did, laugh, out loud several times so ridiculous is the sophomoric pseudo-prose.
This book reads like a ninth grade English assignment to read one of McCarthy's Border Trilogy books, and then do the best possible version of the story as a bad imitation. It's
like reading a parody of a parody.
The author gets so lost in bad attempts at aping McCarthy, her verbose descriptions of landscapes, sunsets and the characters cease to make sense. There is little continuity to this novel, and the author contradicts herself often in the plot and scenario.
This is bad writing. Very bad, and totally unoriginal.
If you haven't read McCarthy, please do so. Then, come back to `Across Open Ground'.
While I laughed at parts of this book's stylistic absurdity, I was crying for the pain of reading it. The most interesting thing about this novel, is the lack of quotation marks. Sadly, another McCarthy stylistic trait, stolen and misused

This book was absolutely fabulous.

I was struck when looking in the bookstore by an author with the same last name, and bought the book. While I am a Southerner, and know very little about the West, the author clearly has a deep and vivid understanding of Western life, culture, and imagery, as evinced in her detailed prose about pre-WWI western life.

As the New York Times book review said, this is an author with a bright future, and I highly recommend the book.

I was quite impressed with the detailed account of the trial and the events leading up to it !!!!

On the other hand I was sorely disappointed with the seeming total disregard for the workers safety !!!!

It is fly-by-nite outfits like this that give the rest of the chemical industry a bad name.

Many of us have spent our entire or large portion of our working life ensuring the workers safety !!!!

Thanks for a great book and being a voice for the worker.

Picking up a well-written book always scares me. It means everything on my carefully planned TO-DO list (except job and kitties, of course) will get reprioritized. Oh well.

I'm about halfway through a real page-turner of an exposé, `The Cyanide Canary,' by Joseph Hilldorfer and Robert Bugoni. This true account of an environmental waste cover-up brings to mind Jonathan Harr's "A Civil Action," with parallel themes of corruption and negligence. Here Hilldorfer is the primary EPA agent in charge of bringing hazardous materials transgressor Allan Elias to justice. Elias is described as an outrageously amoral con-artist whose in-your-face OSHA violations are breathtaking in their heedlessness. Working with larger chemical waste corporations such as Kerr-McGee, Elias' chicanery and unabashed stonewalling has allowed him in the past to slip through the net of the Environmental Protection Agency. Hilldorfer becomes personally vested in this case when he learns of the significant neurological damage sustained by one of the men Elias sent to clean out the `tank.'

The `EPA' is generally regarded as a behemoth greatly to be feared, but the agency as depicted here has few enforcement `teeth' and even fewer agents with a desire to sink those teeth into violators. While the public believes that pursuing environmental lawbreakers on criminal or civil levels is second-nature to the EPA, that's not evident in the book so far. The author suspects the EPA is picking and choosing its battles involving criminal prosecution.

`The Cyanide Canary' was inspired by that sine-qua-non of all good writing: passion and compassion. An issue is only as credible as how well it's expressed, and the articulation in this book is superb. Objectivity and balance --even understatement--pack a powerful punch with me. Writers Joseph Hilldorfer and Robert Dugoni manage to make their case dramatic and compelling through a wry Jack Webb `just-the-facts-ma'am' style that allows readers to easily tap into their own reserves of disgust and wonder, outrage and sympathy.

Like the author in `A Civil Action,' Joseph Hilldorfer finds this investigation leeching into his personal life, his thoughts, his sleep.

And so do I. I must find out how things end here. The cats are fed, but the bills, dishes and deadlines will wait. I can't resist the mesmerizing siren of a particular `canary' one minute more.

Therese Hercher

We lived and worked in eastern Washington State during the mid-1990s for environmental companies and both had to take safety classes where they explained the dangers of confined space entries and the precautions you have to take for working in those environments, not to mention all the other regulatory and safety requirements needed for working with hazardous chemicals. We were lucky: we were educated, well-paid, working for environmental clean-up companies with lucrative government contracts where safety was good business practice.

The circumstances detailed in The Cyanide Canary are 180 degrees different. Allen Elias, the owner of the Evergreen facility, was not engaged in environmental cleanup, but working on the cheap trying to develop a commercial means of reprocessing waste. His employees were high-school graduates desperate for a job, with no safety training or understanding of the requirements for confined space work, nor any clue, really, about the hazards of certain chemicals--things Elias did know. Which is why Elias was charged with criminal conduct after one of his workers was injured during a tank cleanout. The story of the accident, along with the resulting investigation, and trial, makes up this book, which reads like a long Law & Order episode, almost complete with the "Ka-Chung" sound at the end of each chapter. As such, it should appeal to L&O fans, or anyone with an interest in how environmental law is being developed.

The weakest part of the book is the beginning chapter, where the authors attempt to portray the events of the accident in an almost novelistic method, including trying for some suspense about whether the victim, Scott Dominguez, would survive or not. After they get that out of the way (more than likely, a suggestion from some bone-headed editor who felt the beginning needed some punch or a grab for the reader), the book settles down into its portrayal of Hilldorfer's investigation, bolstered by all the interviews and transcripts that were eventually used to indict Elias and bring the case to trial. The truly riveting part of the book is not the opening, but the trial, the question of whether Elias will be found guilty, and whether or not he will attempt to flee justice.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit, reading it in two sessions during a train ride to and from NYC. It's a revealing look into the legal world, and also an interesting case study between the kinds of murder cases usually seen on Law & Order and the "white collar" crime that usually does not end up in jail sentences for the convicted.

I'm a long time Idaho resident and libertarian. I am pretty cynical about help from the Federal government, but...

In Idaho, someone tried to get ahead by cutting corners in ways that impacted others. We have a perfect role for government to step in. This is a true tragedy. The story is almost over and then takes another twist that really had me sprinting to the end of the book.

As I promote free markets, people always ask what will keep big business from destroying the world. This is a great story about the difficulties, and ultimate triumph of the government's effort to make one citizen accountable for his actions.

I bought this book for a friend for Christmas and found I had to go back and buy two more copies (one for myself and as another gift), because I started reading it before wrapping it and couldn't put it down. I won't call this tragic "story"--because the word story implies it is a work of fiction. However, the detailed endnotes based on sworn affidavit, deposition and trial testimony, as well as numerous citations to witness interviews show it is well researched recital of shockingly true facts. Written in the third person, it reads as easily as a fiction novel (including simplified medical, chemical and legal jargon), but it clearly is not. Given the monstrosity of the events, it is easy to understand how witnesses involved in the investigation and trial would easily remembered what they said and saw at the time the events occurred. This is a definite read for anyone interested in a well written and researched compelling story of finding justice in a small Idaho-company based town. The only people who might not want to read it now would be those who don't want to have their holiday preparations waylaid (because it will pull you into the story), or those who are still denying the facts of what happened.

There's a reason Nancy Warren is a USA-Today bestselling author, and once you pick up a copy of TURN LEFT AT SANITY, you'll know why. Just in case you're not able to get to your favorite bookstore today, though, I'll go ahead and give you a clue, or maybe even three-a hot, sexy, corporate-minded hero; a twenty-something, bed and breakfast owning heroine; supporting characters who, although in their seventies, still believe they've got what it takes to be mistresses in a brothel; a small town with more eccentricities than an insane asylum; dialogue that will have you laughing so hard you'll need to wipe the tears from your eyes. And those are only a few of the surprises in store for you once you start reading TURN LEFT AT SANITY.

For Emmylou Sargent, being levelheaded, business-minded, and absolutely normal is the way things have to be. After all, she does own a bed and breakfast in Beaverton , Idaho , that just so happened to once be a brothel. And yes, some of the former "ladies of the evening" still reside with her, and many more seem to drop in all too often for tea. Someone has to have a good head on their shoulders, and it seems that Emmylou has been nominated for the position. Regardless of the seventy-somethings who still proclaim their prowess in the bedroom, or the lady who insists they should burn this modern-day Tara to the ground before the Yankees can get their hands on it, Emmylou is determined to lead as normal a life as possible. The only problem with that scenario is that in a town like Beaverton , normal adds up to a whole lot of boring. Boring, that is, until one Joe Montcrief shows up at her B&B, looking for a room.

Tall, dark, and undeniably handsome, Joe's making his way through Beaverton for only one reason-buy some land, make some deals, and get the heck out of dodge. What he never expects is to be almost instantly attracted to the demure innkeeper where he's bedding down-or to be asked what his sexual problems are by women old enough to be his grandmothers. Undeniably intrigued, however, Joe finds himself in no sudden rush to leave this small town; in fact, he's finding more and more reasons to spend time with Emmylou and her "family" of sexual fanatics. The only problem is, the more the former ladies of the night harp on his love life, the more Joe fantasizes about making some new memories with the very prim and proper Emmylou.

TURN LEFT AT SANITY is a hilarious romp through small town life, with characters just crazy enough to keep you entertained throughout the entire story. For Joe and Emmylou, the attraction might be strong and immediate, but these two characters are looking for different things out of life-and a short, one-night stand isn't it. Ms. Warren has done an excellent job, as always, combining a highly charged sexual attraction with real-to-life characters and witty dialogue, resulting in a story that's as heartfelt and genuine as it is amusing.

Get to the bookstore today. You won't be disappointed.

Once in awhile when life is a bore and you need your funny bone tickled, this is a book for you. Get rid of the drab and travel in this too funny story with so much going on that you can not wait to turn the page. Very hilarious and absolutely crazy.

This was a lot better than I was expecting. I actually liked and respected both of the main characters (which is unusual for me). I enjoyed the quirky town and local characters and laughed out loud at the mixed up town play. I'll be looking for more by this author!

Corporate shark Joe Montcrief has not met a deal he could not barter. Until he arrived in Beaverton, Idaho to broker a deal to obtain the deserted sanitarium for his clients that want to turn it into a kitty litter factory.

The only lodging in town is the B&B "Shady Lady," the former house of ill repute; in fact some of the former ladies are still in residence. When the townspeople discover his reason for coming to town, they scheme to keep him there and show him what a great place it is, though he is convinced that all the residents are complete loons! The town will stop at nothing, even so far as to encourage B&B proprietress Emmylou to seduce him to keep him there.

As Joe and Emmylou battle their hormones, and he finds himself without a link to the modern world (no computer, cell phone or palm pilot), the two people destined to never fall in love might just be free-falling without a net. It is hysterical to watch no-nonsense Joe deal with all the odd characters around him including a man with a penchant for Napolean, two oversexed former "intimate healers," and an kleptomaniac octegenerian who returns her ill-gotten gains.

As always, Nancy Warren seasons her story with lots of engaging dialog, hysterical and quirky secondary characters, and just the right amount of sexual tension to keep the reader glued to the page.

Joe Montcrief, corporate deal maker, intends to wrap up his business in Beaverton, Idaho with all possible haste. If all goes well, he will spend only one night in Beaverton's only lodging, a B&B called the Shady Lady. But Joe has no idea that Beaverton is full of eccentrics and kooks. He is certainly surprised to learn the Shady Lady is a former brothel turned into the home of retired "working girls". The owner of the B&B, Emmylou Sargent, is apparently normal and certainly not Joe's type. So why is Joe going gaga over Emmylou? The only way to keep from going completely around the bend is for Joe to get out of Beaverton. Fast!

Emmylou has always been responsible and normal in comparison to her Beaverton friends and neighbors. She's always been very sedate in her love affairs, but with Joe living at the B&B, Emmylou feels unbalanced. With Beaverton's future hanging in the balance, Emmylou must work to save her hometown. Will keeping Joe in Beaverton, drive them both crazy? Or will it drive them into each other's hearts?

Poor Joe! I felt sorry for the poor guy faced with so many eccentrics and so much hilarity. Joe is handsome, driven and a good sport. Emmylou is wholesome, pretty, and clever. These two share sexual tension and humor, a great combination!

Turn Left at Sanity is a fun, romantic, and sexy book. The town's eccentrics are laugh-out-loud funny and the erotic love scenes are very steamy. Between the humor and the romance, I was hooked. I'll be on the lookout for the next Nancy Warren book. I recommend Turn Left at Sanity for fans of fun contemporary romance.

Annabelle
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Thumbs up to all those ordinary people who help this book be much more than an ordinary read!

When I found this little book,I thought it was a typical 'Road Book';but it wasn't.The author is a small town newspaper columnist,and who is quite happy to live the simple small town life with a job he enjoys,a family he loves,a home he and his wife created out in the country;and that is about all he really yearns for---the simple life.The newspaper that employs him has had its ups and downs,and ownership changes as is so common these days;but through the years Johnson has survived it all;if sometimes only barely; but then that is all he really wants.He is basically a writer who writes a human interest column.He has come up with a novel method of searching out his subjects--he simply picks them at random from his telephone directly.What he finds is that he has an unlimited source of interesting people to write about and all within a short distance of his home.He shows that virtually everyone,and no matter how ordinary their lives seem to be,there is always something interesting about their life experience to write about.
That is about all there is to this book.Except for one thing.A few years ago a friend recommended that I read "The Stone Diaries' by Carol Sheilds.It was a very similar book,written about ordinary people and their lives.The one big difference is that Sheilds won a Pulitzer Prize for her efforts.
I looked up her book and read the Customer Reviews and they are very mixed.Some think the book was wonderful and really deserved the prize,while others just couldn't see where it was merited.
The two books are very similar and if you like Johnston's you are sure to like Sheild's.Likewise; if you find one rather mundane ;you're likely to find the other the same.
Here is what Johnson has to say in a nutshell:
"Over the better part of two decades,these people have confirmed the notion that everyone is worthy of the front page.Moreover,they've shown me how to appreciate the simple things we already have within our grasp and the exhilaration that comes with looking ahead-like to the next person who answers a random call. Most of the answers to life's riddles hide not in the profound,but in the ordinry;not in the unusual;but in the conventional;not in the celebrity pages of a newspaper,but perhaps in the the white pages of a phone book."

I found many of the stories enjoyable but the author tends to inject his own life into too much of the work which is distracting. The book would be better served by a cursory introduction followed by the many wonderful stories of everyday people (stories that I find much more enjoyable than any Hollywood could produce). Instead the author wraps his own life into many of the stories which creates more of a story about him instead of about the people. It would be better to get this book from the Library and try to skip over the self-promotion.

If your dream evening is to sit at a stangers diner table to pry into their greatest victories and defeats without the fear of having to answer the same questions then this book is for you. Its a fascinating read into the lives of many obscure characters. I agree that Johnson's book reads as an autobiography with sideline stories of others (the title tells otherwise) but he does have an interesting story to tell and can tell it very well. I would'nt pay a lot of money for it but I would read it and pass it on to others looking for a few evenings as a dining room guest.

I read this book in just two days! It's enjoyable to read with plenty of light humor, but it also touches on deeper issues like love, family, faith, and personal loss. The author relates the lives of the people he interviews with his own life, and he shows that seemingly 'ordinary' people have something important to share with others. This book gave me a new appreciation for the people I come into contact with everyday.

As the daughter of Bill Pogue, one of the Game Wardens murdered by Claude Dallas, I know the true story of what happened that day. Jack Olson did a wonderful job of interviewing almost anyone involved and investigating the lifestyle of Claude Dallas that led to this tragic event. I learned as much from reading this book as I did sitting through the long and frustrating trial.

A very compelling story told nicely in one of the earlier books of true crime writer Jack Olsen.

The story is fairly and dramatically presented and the author does of good job of giving the reader charachter background to make the story matter.

This book was extremely well written, and I would recommend it to anyone, regardless of their particular interests or hobbies. I know it is a cliche to say that "I could not put this book down," but it fits here. Olsen's writing style is easy and flows well. The whole story is so tragic, but I think the author does a good job of analyzing the events surrounding the murders of two Idaho fish and game wardens. Claude Lafayette Dallas, Jr. is clearly a murderer and yet he also has some sympathetic qualities that the author brings forth. It's a shame that the book is out of print, but if you look hard enough you can get a copy (thankfully, Internet searches will make it easier for you).

Read "Outlaw" by Jeff Long as well. He interviewed several key people that Mr. Olsen did not include (most declined to be interviewed at the time). All in all a fairly accurate and factual book and if you lived in the area at the time it stirs strong memories and emotions. Those who lived close to the events cannot forget Bill Pogue and Conley Elms.

In getting to know Claude via correspondence for several years,I believe that I can make a fairly accurate assessment of Claude's true character. Therefore, I believe I can fairly assess the book's veracity and plausibility. The book was interesting, entertaining, and exciting. Mr. Olsen presented the story in as truthful a manner as he could-considering he did not know Claude. In my opinion, overall, a very good book!