Maine Books

I can read English, French, Italian. This novel ranks with Proust's La Recherche du temps perdu, and Manzoni's Promessi sposi. Breathtaking scenes follow more breathtaking scenes and the whole leaves the reader breathless. Magnificient, none like it.

I found this book an effort to read. Confusing at the start, yet did grab me midway but I was ready to discard with about 1/3 left, but thought better of it and completed. Yes, his writing is very descriptive and captures the essence of every sense the reader needs to be placed within the story. However, it just seemed to skip and jumble along, the ending wasn't anything like the many my mind conjured up, it wasn't really anything special at all...Grady continued on rambling as did the book. I perhaps need to read another of his works to get a better grasp of the talent of this writer, as so many have applauded his style.

Cormac McCarthy seems to be everywhere right now--Oprah's book club, a recent Coen Brothers film adaptation, one of the top novels of the past quarter-century. I decided it was time to check out his work, since he's considered the modern Faulkner, and a great depicter of the violent and beautiful American southwest. All the Pretty Horses both lives up to my expectations and kind of frustrates them. The novel starts out gloomy with the funeral for the protagonist John Grady's grandfather, turns comedic when Grady and his friend cross the border into Mexico in search of adventure, then shifts into a semi-melodramatic romance, finally returning to a state of pitch-black gloom and despair. All throughout, McCarthy retains a distance from the world of the novel, coldly surveying the raw beauty of the Mexican landscape and stubbornly refusing to enter the heads of his equally stubborn characters. In some ways, this narrative distance works quite well, amplifying the frankness and simplicity that Hemingway is known for. But it also prevents the novel from striking home on any real emotional level.

The most problematic part of the novel is Grady's passionate love for a ranch owner's daughter, Alejandra. The two are a sort of Romeo and Juliet pair, deeply desiring one another, but knowing that their love can never be allowed to flower. The romance, however, is jarringly out of place with the events in the rest of the novel, and feels a little bit contrived. Especially irritating is the lack of insight into Alejandra's character; she is given no more than a handful of lines, and it is never really clear what she sees in run-down, dirt-poor Grady.

Minor criticisms aside, the icing to top off this striking novel, however, is McCarthy's metaphysical musing that underlies all the events of the novel. Most profound is his consideration of the workings of Fate in human activities. One of the best passages in the novel occurs when Grady confronts Alejandra's grand-aunt for the second time. She is determined to prevent him from stealing off with her protégé, but respects him enough to deliver a haunting and thorough account of her reasoning. She expresses her deep frustration with the randomness of life, describing a coin minter who arbitrarily decides which way to press each coin he makes, blindly affecting countless coin flips down the road. She laments the inability of mankind to ever know the alternative course that their actions could have taken; for a history that never sees the light of day, and can never be judged against what actually transpired. Building off this theme is Grady's fascination with the long-dead frontier of the American West. Early in the novel we see him wistfully imagining the hunting parties of the glorious and departed Native American tribes, disappearing in the red light of the setting sun. At the end of the novel, Grady likewise disappears, fading into history like so many movements whose splendor the world will never see.

Adventure, full-hearted love, revenge, the majestic wilderness, and of course horses: the western-movie staples are what moves this novel. Yet if All The Pretty Horses is a classic cowboy story, it is also that of a dying world, and all the more accessible to us that it is set in the post-war era.

John Grady Cole, a young man of 16 years, leaves the country for Mexico together with his friend Lacey Rawlins, both on horseback, in search of a life that has become inaccessible to them in Texas. A cruel but romantic saga of tests and tribulations awaits them - which I won't spoil by giving too much of it.

The dialogues are suitably laconic. The characters are frank and unambiguous, except for one key exception. Nature is reserved the richer, more complex, and admiring language. While the novel begins at a slow pace, making the reader wonder whether this is really a back-to-the-wild story, the action later quickens to a satisfyingly gripping climax. One warning: a good part of the dialogue is in Spanish, untranslated; though this won't throw you off the plot, if you don't understand Spanish, it may get annoying.

I have looked at some of the reviews here, and am a bit surprised as the number of people who hated this book. It is a challenge to read, but this is no "Ulysses." The main themes can be understood with a little careful attention. Some have compared McCarthy's style to Hemingway's but this is not a fair comparision. McCarthy's prose is far more complex. Hemingway wrote arresting prose, but at times his minimalist style was cartoonish. McCarthy is simple the way Picasso is simple -- that is to say, only if you do not look hard enough.

McCarthy's skill with language is unequalled among living American authors. It is the language that is the star of this book, and if you cannot appreciate the language itself the story will not bear the weight. Yes, I found myself re-reading passages and puzzling out the construction of some sentences, but I did it with the same pleasure a sports fan looks at a replay of a spectacular play. This is a book for the patient. Not every book pays off like a James Bond novel.

This is your typical chic lit. Great for a lazy summer day. As a lawyer working in banking and finance just like the main characther, I'm very impressed by Kinsella's background check and how she captures the work in lawfirms. This book will not change your life but it will make you laugh.

Can you Keep a Secret was much funnier and, if you can believe it, more believable. I found Samantha Sweeting a little too flippant for a life-long workaholic. And without giving anything away,

I'm fussy, but love funny books. Sophie is spot on with this laugh out loud book. People at the beach must have thought I was insane, but it was very funny! Loved it! Nothing life changing, just sweet entertainment. Well done Sophie!

The Shopaholic series is fabulous, but in the Undomestic Goddess Kinsella takes a different turn on learning a life lesson in a fun, fluffy way.
In this book Samantha is high powered lawyer living in the city who has been working her way toward a partnership in her law firm. When this seems in grasp, her life takes a turn. She runs off the the country and is mistaken for a housekeeper, and she does not tell anyone else otherwise. In this new life she makes for herself she realizes what really is important is spending time with friends and family and having time for yourself.
This one will have you taking a step back and examining what you really want out of life.
A funny and uplifting read, I could not recommend it more!

and all of her other books (Can You Keep a Secret and the entire Shopaholic series) so I figured this one would be just as good. It is good and I did like it, but not nearly as much as I enjoyed CYKAS and the Shopaholic series. I would really give this book 3.5 stars, but that's not possible and I don't think it was bad enough for 3 stars so I bumped it up to 4.

I did not like the ending of the book whatsoever. It left me thinking - okay, what's next? What did they decide to do? I would love to have some sort of closure, but it didn't happen at all!

However, it's still a good story and worth checking out!

In "My life so far" Jane Fonda opens her heart and her life to all of us and while doing so teaches us how to live and survive in these difficult times.

My Life So Far by Jane Fonda is a fascinating look into her family life and journey into womanhood. Very revealing look into her life as the child of Henry Fonda to "Hanoi Jane" and the criminal investigation waged against her by the government, to Jane the mother/wife, to the insightful woman she is today. She is her own woman. Never knowing much about her, I found this book intriguing, candid and educational.

Very Honest and inspiring. Just when she gets whiney she deflects you. A great read overall.

First of all, I would like to thank Jane Fonda for sharing so much of her spirit, self and life. Reading her book made me feel like I was a time traveler as she took me back in time to when she was a liitle girl and traversed along side her throughout her life and into her third act.

I most definitely could relate to some of the same issues Jane Fonda dealt with in her life. For instance the lack of love, compassion and acceptance in the home while growing up.
The uncertainty about her sexuality.
Questions concerning the Vietnam War.
Jane Fonda's relationship with her father or lack thereof. Unable to connect with her father on any level (no fault of her own). All these issues I to combatted in my life and just like Jane I am a fighter and a survivor.

On another note, I have a favorite actress for each decade going back to the 30's. For instance Merle Oberon is my favorite actress of the 30's, Ginger Rogers the 40's, Kim Novak the 50's, and Jane Fonda of the 60's and 70's. I have not been able to choose one since Jane Fonda retired, but I am so happy to see that she is making a come back in movies. I so missed her presence on the big screen.

In closing, I believe this book has something for everybody. I highly recommend "My Life So Far" to everyone.
Thank you Jane Fonda for sharing so much of yourself with family, friends and fans.

For a love story that is unlike anything you've ever read check out D. W. Gutridge's Captured by a Smile.Captured by a Smile "Imprisoned by Love": A Memoir of Young Love that Refused to Die.

Jane is a pretty misunderstood woman. People make judgements about her based on stories they see in the media, and based on the rhetoric of those who oppose her. I learned a lot about the real Jane Fonda in this book. Her childhood was not that pretty. Her relationship with her father was strained at best, and this book delves into that with the insight and sensitivity of a person who has learned to accept parents who are not perfect, and who has come to understand how those early years shaped her life and the decisions she made throughout.

- C.A.Wulff, author of Born Without a Tail

Everything arrived nicly packaged, in mint condition, and in a timely manner. I would definetely utilize this resource again.

I ordered the book from Amazon. It came in a very short time and in excellent condition. The price was amazingly low! I enjoyed the book immensely. I am a big Patterson fan. Recommend it highly.

This was a wonderful mind bending story full of emotional highs & lows. Patterson has created another fascinating and thrilling book and I would recommend it to everyone. I wish they would make more of the Alex Cross series into movies. S.L. Chessor author of Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers and My Tongue Fell Out. Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers: A Poetry CollectionMy Tongue Fell Out

James Patterson's "Mary, Mary" is a return to the interesting Alex Cross books that Patterson wrote early on in the series. This novel, the 11th in the series, hits the ground running practically from page one. Cross, while on vacation in California with his family, is thrust into a serial murder mystery that consumes him professionally while threatening to uproot the harmony in his family.

In "Mary, Mary", Patterson spins a complex plot that dares the reader to try and figure out the ending. One or two killers? Male or female killer(s)? These are just a couple of the questions that the reader must try to answer while speed reading through this novel. The usual short chapters and rapid-fire delivery of thrills and chills will keep the reader glued to this book.

If you are a fan of the early Cross novels, then you won't be disappointed with "Mary, Mary". Here's hoping that the 12th entry simply entitled, "Cross" will be just as strong.

James Patterson hits it right on the mark once again with his newest Alex cross novel, "Mary,Mary". The plot twists and turns to a thrilling climax and the characters continue to develop.

With some of the same themes as classic cyberpunk (in particular, corporations taking over everything), you'd think this book would fit in naturally with that genre. But I don't think it does, mostly because the book is too satirical..too obvious. I like my cyberpunk more subtle, not where the author is saying "see how clever I am?" Too me cyberpunk is also a little more dark (perhaps post-apocalyptic), and a little more future, not near-future. Cyberpunk often involves technology too, and this book does not use anything science fiction or high tech. So while the social commentary themes are similar, its just not really a good match. I mostly enjoyed Barry's "Syrup" but this book was too over-the-top for my tastes. I also did not care for the short scenes in this book...I think they were intended to help keep the action moving, but to me they were like forcing me to be ADHD.

Many modern day dystopian novels place the blame for many of the world's ills on technology run amok. Max Barry does not do that, whether for lack of desire or ability, but instead he places the blame for the messed up world on the takeover of everything by the profit motive. Without money crimes are not investigated and two corporate behemoths fight it out on the world stage with everything from ads to guns. Some of the book is slightly dated in a technology way, but this does not seem to really bother the story. The characters are well outlined even fleshed out fairly well.

I recommend this one for a good read; though I think he may take a few things beyond the scary to the absurd. I gave it a 4 because of that.

It's very easy to read about outsiders and their beliefs and ideals messing up, and only become more infantile and blind. This great novel and the Space Merchants series by Cyril Kornbluth and Fred Pohl actually challenge the real dogma of our new Dark Ages directly.

If asked to write the foreword to some 20th anniversary commemorative edition, I would say that Max Barry's Jennifer Government is like a bottle of Diet Neal Stephenson served with a twist of Christopher Moore (or perhaps a dash of Tom Robbins?) There is something uncannily similar between Snow Crash and Jennifer Government: in the comic book pacing; in the hyperbolic and impossible but chillingly familiar geo-political climate that he illustrates; in the characters that reek of auto-erotic caricature and yet are so well-drawn, so believable and sympathetic and damn plausible. You can see Y.T. dropping out of school because of girls like Haley McDonald's. You can see NRA franchises competing against La Cosa Nostra in the burbclaves. You can imagine Hiro Protagonist sub-contracted by Jennifer Government to fend off Violet ExxonMobil. You wonder how the milieus of these novels aren't linked.

But even if you haven't read Snow Crash, even if you aren't making those comparisons, you will find this one wholly enjoyable. It has an immediate start, thrusts you headlong into the story-already-in-progress but makes sure to catch you up just as quickly. And it never loses this momentum. The chapters coming at you fast (each about 3-5 pages) and are fairly dialogue-driven. Before you know it, you'll find you've burned through 100 pages. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. The narrative draws you in, the prose gets out of the way, and the characters encourage you to get invested.

Borderline 5 star review. There is a whimsy to this tale that draws on a lot of familiar dystopian capitalist tropes (e.g., the libertarian anarchy of free market capitalism run amok); it borders on cliche but doesn't quite cross the frontier into hackneyed territory. That it gets that close, that the prose taps its toes on cliche's fences is where we lose the fifth star in the rating. But that the narrative goes there so unabashedly, in all of its over-the-top banality -- that is a beautiful thing.

Satire on consumerism and the Americanization of the world. Being a person disgusted by both of those things I had no trouble imagining the world that Barry created.

It is set in a future where most of the planet is part of America and corporations run the world. It was a quick read and while some of the content was violent and bleak, it remained kooky and upbeat enough that I didn't think the story was dark.

It didn't quiet feel like a dystopian society, since very few people seemed unhappy with their lives and the fact that they were so owned by corporations that their own last name was whatever company they worked for.

Jennifer works for the government, thus Jennifer Government is her name; some of the other characters are John Nike, Hayley McDonald's, and Claire Sears(creepy, huh?). Everything is corporate owned and operated, even the schools.

This is one of those stories that I thought was just "okay" while I read it, but liked it more afterward. There are things in this story that will stay with me always, and that I will be reminded of when I see over-the-top consumerism.

I havn't read it yet, but I've seen my dvd of it (at least) 3 times already. Let alone, on tv a few times too. ;)

~a Stephen King Constant Reader

I've read many of Mr. King's books and I believe the reason they are so long is because he spends a great deal of time talking about trivial things such as the color of eyes, shape of eyes, length of hair, color of pants, etc. In this book Croatan is mentioned at least twice (and in the movie), but neither explains what a Croatan is! It's a werewolf! If you want true horror and excitement, try Clive Barker and I would suggest your first experience with Mr. Barker be "The Damnation Game". It's FANTASTIC!

Let me start off by saying that whatever else he is, you have to give Stephen King credit for doing innovative stuff. His serial novel "The Green Mile" is a good example of it, and releasing Storm of the Century as a teleplay is another one. I had never read a teleplay before, and it was definitely interesting to see the different format.

The novelty of the format alone was enough to hold my attention through what was, essentially, a pretty standard King story. King trots out all the hallmarks of his "schtick" here: supernatural tragedy comes to small insular town. Seen it in the Castle Rock stories, in It, in the Tommyknockers, in Salem's Lot, in Bag of Bones, in From a Buick 8...etc. I'll also point out that the insularity of his towns grows increasingly less believable in today's modern, wired world, but it's as if King's idea of what constitutes town life is stuck at say, 1950 or so--has he ever written a character who is a web-geek, for example? For that matter, has he ever *shown* a character using the Internet?

But anyway, all his standard cliches are here: Small, somewhat improbably insular Maine town? Check. Townsfolk hiding secrets? Check. Stranger with mysterious and evil powers showing up? Check. (Shades of Mr. Gaunt, Randall Flagg, etc.) Stranger knows and publicly reveals folks' secrets? Check. Odd nursery rhyme or saying repeated at intervals throughout the story? Check. Stephen King's stock characters trotted out? Check. The reenactment of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" at the end was about the only thing here that seemed somewhat fresh, and even then, Stephen King's fascination with that story has been demonstrated in many of his other books (check out the Dark Tower III, for example).

I don't mean to sound as negative as the preceding might come across; it's just that this struck me as a fairly standard (and mediocre) King outing that basically rehashed a lot of material that he had used before. Perhaps after having written for such a long time, he simply doesn't have that much original to say anymore. *shrug* Nothing much to see here, folks; move it along.

This is the first screenplay that I read of S.King., it is so well written that you can imagine it as if you were actually seen the movie. The story is so good that it keeps you interested at all times, without a clue about what is going to happen at the end.

First I need to say that I was not very excited to read Stephen King's "Storm of the Century" because I was afraid that the screenplay format would strip away all the character building I enjoy in Stephen King's writing. Secondly, I have never liked many of his works written for, or adapted for, the screen. I began this book with some serious concerns.

No worries were needed. After I got through living with the residents of Little Tall Island for two nights during the biggest storm ever to hit the island, and the visitor who chose this time to rip the island's community apart, I was more than satisfied that I picked up "Storm of the Century".

The characters were stock King characters, but the anti-hero, Linoge, was actually even creepier because the screenplay format would not allow a deep dive into Linoge's motivation. All his physical actions, with no understanding (until the end) of his intentions, made Linoge unpredictable and a very strong evil character.

I also enjoyed seeing how Stephen King structured the suspense visually. From the quick cuts showing scenes of a town slowly being swallowed by the storm (and Linoge), to the great scene where Mike is chronicling the crime scene at Martha's with a Polaroid camera and each flash of the camera reveals new details of the crime. I thought his creative use of a visual medium was very good.

There were also enough pure Stephen King lines in the screenplay that you never forgot who the author was. The dialogue was not great, but some of the throw away direction is priceless. For instance, when one of the characters gets an axe to the face, Stephen King describes how he wants it sound (the action happens of camera) "it's like someone slapping mud with the flat of his hand". Or when he writes how the Town Hall should be depicted as the final safe haven in Little Tall Island and then adds "Of course the Titanic probably looked the same way before it hit the iceberg".

The theme of guilt within the tight family of islanders was also interesting, and I am glad the ending had a glimpse into the future (present) so we could see what happened to some of the main participants of the final tragedy.

All in all I enjoyed it a lot.

This is by far the best James Rollins book I've read so far. Demonstrating his impressive scope of vision and imagintion, he pulls together science, history and the occult into a plot that grabs you and holds you tight until the last page.

While I found some other books by this author quite readable but still sadly shallow and lacking feasibility, "Black Order" has no such flaw. The opening of the book takes place in post World War II Germany, which I think will hook many European readers as myself to the story. But the way Rollins intertwines these infamous events in European history with ancient lore, science and technology into a wild "super human" project orchestrated by a modern day "mad scientist" is awesome and raises an almost unbeatable challenge to the reader. The knot of this mystery stays tight throughout the book and only begins to loosen towards the end. So I simply have to give Rollins credit for that. I enjoyed the scientific background as well as the bits of Norse lore and mythology thrown here and there. Some of the conclusions he makes are a little far-fetched for my taste, but after all, this is a work of fiction, so I guess it's quite alright.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book. It is a great example of suspence literature that puts one's mind to work from the very first page and keeps it busy to the end. You can't go through the book without a decent amount of thinking in order to put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. Best of all, a significant amount of the information the book is based on is TRUE--which comes to show--as the author has repeatedly stated--that indeed "truth is often stranger than fiction." I do intend to follow up on the recommended readings because I really find some of the questions raised in "Black Order" worth exploring. This is a great read, and I hope Rollins keeps up the good work!

wow!
another page turning, thrill a minute tale by james rollins!
and another few sleepless nights for me!
i just COULD NOT put this book down!
highly recommended!
looking forward to reading mr. rollins' new book!

this was my first james rollins novel, and it was hard to put it down. it would make a good script for a hollywood sci-fi movie-- with all the actions and somewhat cheesy humors. thumbs up from me. i will definitely seek out more of this author's other books.

If you like other books like this you should definitely be reading James Rollins. His books read like a movie.

Just the biblical research on this one must have been time consuming. Would that I had his imagination!!! Great book!!

Good little story from Stephen King's dark vault of early unpublished writings. There's quite a bit of balance, nuance, and sophistication for an almost four decades-old story that Mr. King waited until now to publish. For instance, the tribulations of Blaze's early life create sympathy for the title character, but not to the point where we want to excuse or forgive Blaze's later criminal career. In other words, I felt bad for the guy but still wanted him to get caught by the F.B.I. once he crossed over into child kidnapping.

I also liked how, in the story's earlier going, we see that Blaze's friend George was good for him in many ways, but things got mucked up because George was a career criminal and encouraged Blaze to refine and deepen his own clunky (and, until then, mostly harmless) criminal past.

Complex, ironic situations like these deepened this engaging story, making it more than a simple crime-laced morality tale.

I also enjoyed Stephen King's lengthy introduction to "Blaze". In it he talks not only about the history of the book in question, but the many things that were going on in his professional and personal life around the time of the book's writing. It's a fun and interesting piece in itself.

I listened to the 7-CD unabridged audiobook version of "Blaze", which features a wonderful, skillful performance by actor, writer, and frequent audiobook narrator Ron McLarty. However, you don't get the bonus short story, "Memory" which accompanies the print editions of the book.

Blaze was a decent, short novel by King, though not his best work by a long shot (he says so in the forward). You can't help feeling a little sorry for the lead character "Blaze". His troubled past was really the cause of his present, and you can't help but wonder what could have been.....

I really wasnt expecting to like this book too much but I was happily mistaken. The character, Blaze, although on the wrong path, elicited my sympathy and I liked him and wished he could have been raised differently. All in all it was a good book.

Stephen King writes best as Richard Bachman. This story was a page-turner and I read it all in one weekend.

I'm surprised at how many reviewers found Blaze to be a sympathetic antihero. I've experienced that feeling before when the part is written strongly, like in the original Jackel movie, but I did not experience that here.

Blaze is a book about a thug. He has some of the usual, my upraising was bad and I got whipped a few times excuses, but it becomes quite evident that Blaze is a thug and likes being a thug. He gives no real thought or regret to anyone he harms who is in his way.

I expected this story to take the next step and go beyond, holding out hope that it could rise to the level of later King novels, but it didn't. I won't say what i expected for the sake of not putting spoilers in this review.

King can always keep me listening, he is an excellent storyteller, but I didn't find anything the character he picked, all that interesting.

I was rooting for his demise.

As an adult I normally loathe stories with talking animals, animals who reason, etc. I'm also not that fond of mice! But "Stuart Little" is done in an engaging way, and it's far better than the live-action movie of the same name. The story is a little more serious and less action-oriented, and the book as a whole is evocative of a simpler time.

I see the reading level as 9-12. Yikes! If Harry Potter is 9-12, then Little should be 1-3. I did love the beginning of this story. There is no explanation as to why a human mother presumably gives birth to a mouse instead of a human child. The story goes on without anymore reference to it. As if this is just the way it was. End of discussion. I loved that! Funny. And the writing is charming, to be sure, but the story just goes on without getting anywhere. It's one adventure after another without an end in sight. No goal. That's my trouble with Stuart Little.

To explain the sudden and unsatisfying ending, I did hear that the author, White, was quite a hypochondriac. At the time of this book's writing, he was convinced he was going to die at any moment, (He ended up living a number of decades after Stuart Little was first published.) So, fearing certain death, White demanded the publisher to publish the book now!, as is, "before I die tomorrow!" Amazing, but true.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't really enjoy the ending. The beginning and middle were well written, the characters were well thought out. The boat race was probably the most exciting part. The ending was poorly written. However, EB White was suffering from hypochondria, and this is why he ended the book so abruptly and never wrote a sequel. He could have written one, but was suffering from this illness. I prefer the movie, very sadly, in this one instance.

my 6 yr old read charlotte's web - wanted this one - loves it also

When Mrs. Fredrick C. Little gave birth to her second son, everyone was surprised when it was a mouse. Even though Stuart is only two inches tall, he has all the attributes of a human, including the ability to talk. And he finds that his small size is a help around the house. But it also gets him into some dangerous situations since people often overlook him. Whether it's going down the drain looking for a ring, sailing a boat on a pond in Central Park, or accidentally getting thrown out with the garbage, you can bet that Stuart will face any obstacle head on.

I was first read this book in first grade and loved it for the most part. Even back then, the ending bothered me. Still, there plenty of laughs at some of Stuart's adventures, and the early chapters are entertaining. Garth Williams' illustrations are absolutely darling, and add much charm to the story.

However, the second half really disappointed me when I reread it. The first half is pretty much a series of unconnected adventures. The barest hint of a plot begins to take shape in the second half, but it goes no where. Furthermore, Stuart begins to show some rather immature behavior in those last few chapters. While he had always had some arrogance, it became too much by the end. And that doesn't even touch the ending, which leaves the plot that had finally taken hold completely unresolved.

This book is really a character study rather then a story. Parts of it will entertain kids. But the second half will let them down and the ending will leave them unsatisfied. The book isn't bad, but it's too bad it doesn't live up to my memories.

A very enjoyable book to read. Lots of twist and unexpected turns, a typical of Joseph Finder style. After this one, I am eager to read his latest...the Power Play.

Enjoyable story. Great plot. I like the twist about the police officer investigating Jason Steadman. In the end, he was a impostor cop. Joseph Finder got me on that one. He knows how to make that twist that takes us by surprise. There are lots of twist on this one. I like the characters on this one except the wife. She seems a little too out there. But as far as Jason and the other employee surrounding him, I thought they were all believable character. They were all after a promotion. Aren't we all?

I'm not quite sure why this book got such glowing reviews. It's a quick read - a standard mystery/thriller suitable for a day on the beach. But as far as being a GREAT book - it really wasn't. You could see what was coming two chapters ahead. Nothing unexpected ever happened in this book - no plot twists, not even a suitable climax. The dialog was almost childish at times. I've never seen the word "bro" used that often in a book. As far as it being a "business" thriller - it wasn't. It was actually closer to Rambo - military guy goes wacko. The characters were either boring (Jason and Kate and their whole family) or ridiculously unbelievable (Kurt), with a few other undeveloped characters thrown in because he needed them to try and make at least some kind of sense.

If the rest of his "business thrillers" are like this, I think I will pass.

Joseph Finder does it again. I have not read one book of his that I have not loved. This is another great one. Now I've read all of his books and can't wait for the next one. If you want a fast-paced, exciting, scary, thrilling, book, read this. It's fantastic. My husband and I read it together and both loved it.

This is only the second book by Joseph Finder that I have read but it certainly won't be the last. His books are totally engrossing and keep the reader turning the pages at a rapid rate!

'KILLER INSTICNT' grabbed me from the very beginning when Jason Steadman meets tow truck driver & ex-special forces Kurt Semko and they immediately hit it off.

Jason soon gets Kurt a job at his company as corporate security. And before Jason knows it things begin to look up for him, his beautiful wife is with child and he is swiftly moving up the corporate ladder. However, it seems that his new friend has been helping him climb the ladder in some less than ethical ways. When Jason tries to put a stop to Kurt he soon realizes that it is better to have Kurt Semko as a friend than as an enemy.

Yet another gripping novel Joseph Finder, I cannot wait to get my hands on his next!