Bats Books

I could not put this book down. I especially enjoyed Patterson's reference to real life scenarios and applaud his accounts in multicultural writings and versatility from music references to basketball. The book will keep you on your toes. I wish there could have been a better ending as I really liked 'Tom'. Definitely recommend it especially for the not so serious reader, like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it and you will too.

I just never got into this book. I'm an avid fan of James Patterson's books... I've purchased so many at airports across the country it is almost comical.

But this one never really drew my in like most others. There just wasn't enough depth to any of the characters and their relationships to each other were missing something. And the ending just did not make sense. I didn't feel there were enough clues to lead me to say "aha" at the end.

Short story - I was disappointed. I won't quit reading... just disappointed in this yarn.

I think Patterson could have done without the help. I like Patterson's style and move-along plots. This plot however, with the autopsy on Peter's body getting passed off as a drowning-suicide, was a disappointment. The rich buy the courts, but not with the kinds of evidence the coroner presented. The ending really frosts the cake when they have their "Kangaroo Court" in the abandoned Beach house over a two-day span. Since it wasn't terrible, I can only give three stars.

J. P. Landry, author of Hazard 666

I loved this book! I read it in a day and a half, couldnt put it down. Loved the plot-people taking the law into their own hands. highly recommend!

This is a great story and keeps your interest from beginning to end. Typical excellence from James Patterson.

Well without a doubt the collection of reviews here for this rather loose-limbed and pop-ish book makes for some entertaining and often amusing reading. Highly recommended and in some ways better than the book itself!

Bell and Strieber are a first-rate carny act (and I mean that in a genuinely complimentary way!) and whether they've got their facts straight or not whatever they do is bound to generate interest, controversy, and most importantly, sales! The book is no doctoral thesis (it was surely never meant to be) but it's also no opium dream--sudden changes in systems (catastrophe theory) can occur in very odd and unanticipated ways and the results can often be mind-boggling.

I teach earth science, and spend a great deal of time instructing my students on how to critically view the materials they see on tv and in the movies. Most of them have seen the Hollywood sensationalistic movies like Armageddon, The Core, Dante's Peak, and The Day After Tomorrow, but they often have questions about what is fact and what is fiction for the sake of selling a movie. This book does a good job of explaining the science behind the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, and how it drives modern climate, and along with the description, it interjects the scenes from the movie, The Day After Tomorrow, that are based (sometimes accurately, and sometimes loosely) on those facts. It does digress a bit and talk about ancient civilizations and even postulates a bit about ancient and future life forms, but overall the beginning of the book serves as a good background for anyone interested in the science behind global warming triggering a future ice age due to disruptions in ocean currents.

Strangely enough they get some of it right, but like Hitler's lies about the Jews: every big lie has a foundation in some ordinary truth.
It does appear that rapid climate changes are upon us.
Will they produce sudden climate changes like the ones in this book?
It doesn't seem to likely. It might be preferable to the other runaway
train alternative where the CO2 build up continues until the earth turns in to another Venus. In either case the government may sometime later decide to try to do something besides give tax breaks to car companies and oil companies.
I can't say that scaring the pants off people is a very good idea either, but calling their attention as AL Gore has done is a good idea.
People should just get it right without ancient civilizations and
cataclysms that have consistently been proved to be wrong interpretations of the data.

There are three different aspects in this book. Part of it is an argument that a technological human society previously existed and was wiped out something like 15,000 years ago. In this regard, the book borders on the absurd, not much better than the works by the "aliens-built-the-pyramids" crowd.

The second aspect is the end-of-the-world fictional narrative. Just watch the movie "The Day After Tomorrow." I think it was inspired by this book.

Lastly, there is a quasi-scientific attempt to explain how a rapid and drastic change in the global climate could occur. This would produce a global storm of biblical proportions that could usher in a new Ice Age. This would happen in a matter of months and not years (or decades).

Mildly interesting but, keep in mind: neither of these authors has any real credentials. I don't have much confidence in the science behind the claims but it's not a complete waste of time, if you like end-of-the-world books.

We normally think of rapid climate change occurring over decades, but could it happen in a matter of hours? The premise behind this book is that global warming could shut off the Gulf Stream and plunge the whole world into a new ice age. Although I find the evidence presented by Bell and Strieber not particularly compelling, climate science has many grey areas and I do not think such an event can ever be ruled out. If you are following the global warming debate and are also, like me, interested in ancient mysteries, you will find this an entertaining read.

Lengthy novel that has some good courtroom scenes but Turow's depiction of gangsta talk is laughable, and distracting. Read one his other books before this one and you will see why Turow is a favorite.

Wow what a book! A clever beginning and abang up ending. This is so compelling and well done I wonder why most readers who read this type of thriller didn't get this one. UNDOWNPUTABLE! To say the least. This is Turow's best book ever. Honestly! REad it for yourself!

I've read several Turow novels before this one and enjoyed each of them quite a bit. I have to say, though, that if this had been the first of his works I'd read, I probably wouldn't have read a second one or even finished this one. My primary complaint about this story is that I found it to be slow and boring. The flashbacks were tedious, the characters weren't very appealing and the story wasn't exactly gripping. All in all, I call it a snoozer.

But, I do know Turow is capable of much better work and I wouldn't want to steer anyone away from it. Just avoid this turkey. Three stars is probably way too generous.

This is definately not one of Turow's best books. I have enjoyed many of his others, but this one gets lost between the present day (mid-90's) and the 60's. I know he was trying to set the sage for the present day story with background of the characters relationships in a different time and place, but the reader gets lost in too much detail and extraneous information.

This is an all-around poor novel. Turow tries to mix elements of his legal thriller formula with an attempt to write a great novel about aging, crime, redemption, and other "Big Themes." The result is a botched mess, a sloppy book that fails to grasp the reader's attention.

The first problem is Turow's overwrought prose. I have not read any of his other books, so I don't know if this is a common problem for him. Nevertheless, he make the mistakes you would expect from a novice writer. He never picks the simple, direct word or phrase when he can think of a more convoluted one. An early example: The main character is recovering, not from breast cancer, but from "cancer of the breast." What? No one talks like that, and it is consistently distracting.

The second problem is with Turow's outrageous, maudlin sentimentality. Every character is suffering from some deep personal tragedy and meditates on it for pages on end. These passages sap the life from the novel and make the plot slip away.

Even this would be forgivable if Turow had given us likable characters. His characters are not sympathetic in the least, however. One major character, a judge, takes a case she has no business judging, given her long personal history with all of the people involved. Worse, she only further entangles herself as the trial goes on and consistently allows her emotions to compromise her integrity as a judge.

About the other main character, the less said about him, the better. A pompous windbag with no personal integrity, his main contribution to the plot is a scheme to defraud his own father, who is a Holocaust survivor. Ugh.

The book is also far too long. Half of it is devoted to flashbacks to the 1960s that drag on and on. While the current-day trial sequences are decent, they are a small part of the novel. Moreover, the trial's resolution is singularly unsatisfying. As if this wasn't enough, Turow then throws a long, meandering conclusion in that feels thoroughly tacked on.

My first Turow novel, and likely my last.

Be Cool I enjoyed this title, as one completely unfamiliar with the pop music authoring and publishing scene. It's an unusual setting for an attention-grabbing murder mystery, and there's enough violence and intrigue to keep you turning the pages. Not much sex, but what there is, is honest. I did think it just a bit longish, and the main character simply too capable and connected for belief. As for the music-world characters' believability -- how would I know? Recommended.

I am not a big fiction reader but I have found a new favorite author. This book is a very easy read and moves very well.

Another in the great series of Elmore Leonard crime stories, Be Cool is the sequel to Get Shorty, and an innovative story within a story. When the story opens, Chili Palmer has been through a successful film project, and a failed sequel, that have taken him from Brooklyn/Miami gangster to top of the world in Hollywood to just another guy.

Then things get really interesting. After Chili's lunch date is gunned down in front of his eyes, he decides to take control of the deceased's record company and manage a band, described as AC DC meets Patsy Cline. Very quickly Chili makes enemies with the Russian mob, the scorned band manager, his gay Somoan bodyguard, gun-toting rappers, and the police. He solves the problem by setting up his enemies on a collision course with each other.

Elmore knows the world of Hollywood production and deal-making, and shows how a guy from Brooklyn makes all the world a stage. Chili Palmer is only looking to find a good story for a movie, and if that requires crossing some bad guys, well, let's see how it plays out.

This novel comes off like a high schooler wanting to write about the movie and music industries. In between the entertainment biz cliches, the author can only think to put various assination hits. some of the characters are interesting but not believable, and they certainly can't make up for the braindead plot. Read some of his other novels and skip this one.

I saw the movie, liked it (hard to believe), so I read the book. Quite a bit different than the movie but not in a necessarily bad way. I wish the movie would have followed the book more in the area of Elliot but then again I wish the book would have put more Sin Russell in. The book definitely does not attempt to have all the twists as the movie does in a painstaking way.
Overall, I probably wouldn't recommend this book unless you really liked the movie. It is fast fast reading though so maybe if you want to read something mindless, this might be for you.

I got to page 320 or so and didn't care enough to finish it. I still don't know what happened. For me the wall was an inane discourse on art having nothing to do with story in the run up to the climax. I think i've been reading too many classics lately. I just can't stomach this writing any more.

I am a good fan of John Sandford. I liked this book by him as well. He keeps you interested. There are no slow starts as he gets right to the action. I do prefer his Prey series but these others didn't dissapoint me.

It started when I was housitting at my buddy's condo and the power went out during the superbowl. WTF? I had nothing to do and all I could find was one flashlight. On his coffee table I saw a copy of Devil's Code and once I picked it up I could not put it down. This book is far from what you think it is, but everything that you hope it will be! I would compare it most to watching a really good Russel Crowe or Brude Willis movie, but with powerful and exciting thoughts and situations instead of explosions! Forget all those other "code" book out there. Now this book REALLY changed the way I think about what goes on in government. Something tells me that they're not telling us everying that is going on. You'll never look at life the same again. Now I'm usually a slow reader, but the amount of action that takes place in this book is increadible. To think about the fact that a guy could jump out of an air plane and his parachute could not work and he could still live is increadible.

Not worth your time, not worth your money, not worth 3 stars, not worth it.....

and definitely not worth my time writing this review.

The Devil's Code is the second Kidd book I've read by John Sandford after reading the Hanged Man's Song. There are only four in this series of a part time artist/part time computer hacker, and I've read the last two. The Devil's Code is a fun book, where the differences in Sandford mainstay Lucas Davenport and artist Kidd are more fleshed out. Kidd is a funny guy who enjoys his life and his relationship with LuEllen. LuEllen is a thief who likes golf and cocaine and can help Kidd out with the dirty work that he isn't quite used too.

In the Devil's Code, a fellow hacker is killed and his sister comes to Kidd for help. Kidd begins to look into it and finds out that the hacker, named Standford, was researching AmMeth. Meanwhile, the US government is after a group of terrorist hackers named Firewall. The members of firewall include Kidd. There's only one problem, Kidd is on the list of terrorists and Kidd knows that isn't true. Someone must be setting him up.

In Davenport novels, Sandford spends a fair amout of time with the villian, giving the readers all the gory details of his methods. In the Devil's Code, St. John Corbeil is the villain and we get to meet him be he isn't given the center stage in this novel. There are a lot of twists and turns as Kidd and LuEllen run around the country trying to discover what's going on and also not leave any tracks for the authorities. There isn't much cat and mouse like in the Davenport novels, but there is a sense of fun, even when things get violent.

I'll move on to the first two books in the series, which by now are seriously outdated. And I hope there may be another Kidd novel in the series coming soon.

I purchassed Gai-Jin years ago in the 90's but just got around to reading it. I finished it 07102008. First, it has been years since I read Clavell. When I first read Sho-Gun - back in 1977 - I didn't have the questions I have now concerning the Japanese. The two questions I have now are did they really think this way concerning politics and sex?

I recommend this book as I do all of James Clavell's works. I think that people should read these in chronological order though, not in the order they were published. Though I recommend the book, I only gave it 4 stars because with 1,000 plus pages, after awhile, the intrigue, double-plots, spies plans and counter-plans become somewhat tiresome.

I love history and was really impressed by Clavell in Shogun and Tai-Pan, though I never understood the need for renaming the true historical characters such as Tokugawa vs. Toranaga, etc...

In any case - this book is horrendously slow. The last half is just being plain awful. It fills like Clavell was being paid per word and had to come up with as many of them as he could describing totally ordinary events that hardly deserve mentioning, while leaving aside so much that could be very interesting.

Definitely NOT RECOMMENDED, especially if you value your time.

I was torn between four and five stars on this novel but finally settled on a full score because it managed to keep me completely riveted from beginning to end - its pace simply frantic! I have to disagree with some of the other comments which describe the story as "unfinished". When you spin a web as complex and intricate as the storyline in this book, spanning only a few months time and involving a staggering cast of characters, it's simply impossible from a social and human standpoint to completely close all loose ends. We're talking about clashes between multiple European countries, battling for the supremacy of Asian territories, various foreign trading companies clawing at eachother to gain ownership over Japanese precious raw ressources such as coal, personal conflicts and schemes which are vast in scope, all this mingled with the brutality and elegance of feudal Japan, torn between the Shogunate, the Emperor's court and various factions, all pulling in different directions. Not to mention, dozens of parallel plots, treachery, blackmailings, assassination attempts, deadly courtesans, spies and lust-fueled relationships, all intermingling in a cauldron of destruction. Does the author satisfactorily complete most action threads? - yes, definitely. Does he provide a solution to the political puzzle he portrayed? - no, simply because the timeline is too small and not everything was meant to be solved in such a short period.

In my opinion this book is almost as good as Shogun, perhaps the absence of a main hero with whom we can identify and cheer for, makes it a bit harder to win our sympathy, however Gai-Jin introduces more subplots and a larger array of colorful characters than Shogun does, whose inner motivations, personalities, strengths and weaknesses are perfectly portrayed, almost making us feel we grew up with them, leaving us wanting more, so much more.
I can say without any doubt, that Clavell is one of the best storytellers of the past century. Even while being seriously ill (this being his last book before dying), he still managed to captivate us with his wit, and his masterful command of the English language. Highly recommended read!

I need more. What happened to Angelique and Gornt? How did Tess deal with the Gornt scheme? Quillan in Noble house is obviously a descendant of Gornt with the hate continuing - even though the Noble House was written first. There is a Marlowe in Noble house, a descendant of Capt Marlowe? Did Jamie marry that stupid Irish girl that followed him to Japan? And Hiraga, my favorite, what happened with him? Did he make it to England? All these carefully created characters and no ending for them? The book really had me involved but I was left looking for a sequel. Had it not been for the hanging, I would have given this a 4 star.

The theme of this book is classic Clavell - adventures in the early days of Asian and Western contact, with all the risk, bravado, danger, characters, politics, etc etc of the earlier "Asian Saga" books Shogun and Tai-Pan. (King Rat is also a part of that, but a shorter novel with a unique theme set in WW2).
Having read the book, its easy to see why Gai-Jin recieved reviews split down the middle - it is NOT the book Shogun and Tai-Pan are.
Part of it may be a more complicated (and less interesting) time period for the average adventure reader. Gai-Jin is complicated, with a lot of characters and themes from the outset vs the other two novels, and gets more so as the book progresses. The plot gets too convoluted for those that cannot read it in a reasonable time (meaning its hard to put down and pick back up over and over). Like the other two, it weakens in the second half only much more so...
I also noticed some modern phrases that creep into the spoken parts. I doubt they would have been used even in 1862. I have an uneasy feeling Clavell kept writing and writing beyond what this should have been, perhaps under pressure...or perhaps this was too much of a deliberate effort (marketing expectations) ???

I liked it OK, but it marked the end of my interest in this series.
Its not a "bad" book, but it was a let-down after Shogun and Tai-Pan.

I've read the whole Madriani's episodes and I think this is the less interesting. In general, Steve Martini is really bright in portraying the defense-prosecutor in court fight. All of his "trial-based" books are very entertaining. I can't say the same of this one - that is, in fact, a bit "far" from Martini's usual milieu. It is, nevertheless, a good reading, but don't expect Madriani at his best!

This was my first Steve Martini book and I listened to the audio version. The audio is an abridged version so I am always a bit apprehensive as to what was left out.

I found the story to be interesting and it moved quickly. It was OK for light entertainment which is what I listen to when I am on the road and need to stay awake.

There were some technical errors concerning the weapons and their usage and the bad guys were really bad guys. I always have a little trouble with attorneys as action guys. I work with them all of the time (attorneys) and they are not very good as high speed low drag action oriented individuals.

But, I would definitely read another Martini book with the protagonist Paul Madriani.

This story starts off a little slow. You get to know the characters and get a feel for the setting. It is all based around this lawyer named Nick who gets killed. And how his friend Paul Madrini tries to help find out who did this. He gets into a couple of difficult situations in between.

Paul has to go through a whole bunch of people to find out all the missing links of the murder. He has to deal with insurance companies and Nick's wives. Both his ex wife and his widowed wife. You have to sit tight and make it through the beginning chapters before the story really starts to pick up.

Once you start getting towards the end of this book the story starts to move at a very quick pase. When in the beginning you wanted to just put the book aside, but now yo0u can't put it down. There are some pretty crazy action scenes towards the and then it happens. You find out who killed Nick and all the other guys and boy does it surprise you.

Martini is an author that never quite gets it right. All of his books have some moments of high suspense and esoteric thoughts. In fact some of the action scenes here are written in a manner that escalates him to the top of the writers heap (though Martini does go over the top into the silly realm every once and a while). If you read this book, look for some of the more nuanced and downplayed moments of tension and think about how cleverly created they are. Madriani, the protagonist, is not often found in gun fights with dozens of soldiers and facing increadible odds. Instead, Martini places Madriani in smaller, more plausible predicaments and it works very very well. I wish that other authors who can hold a plot together a little better would take note of Martini's gifts and incorporate them into their own works.

On the down side, the plot is terrible. It is not so apparant as you read the book, for Martini does a fine job of keeping you wondering exactly what is going on til the end. But when you reach the end and look back at what you have just read, I dare you to attempt to piece it together and call the actions of the characters here as lucid or rational. The more I think about the story, the more I wonder at the motives and resolutions and thus the less I enjoy the contemplation.

This is brain dead reading material here. Its fun, it clips along, and it will pass a few hours. Beyond that it is something to be avoided. Especially because their are so many better authors and books out there. Try Harlan Coben's more recent titles, early Carl Hiassan, Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), or Patricia Cornwells first five or so novels.

Arraignment was my first Steve Martini book, and I followed the convoluted plot with interest. Much of the plot was implausible but still interesting and worth the time. However, when the denouement occurred in the epilogue, I was stunned. Mr. Martini ends the last chapter of his book with loose ends everywhere. This forces him to give the reader information in the epilogue that he has omitted in the plot. I will give Mr. Martini's work one more chance, but I would not recommend Arraingment.

I am a personal fitness trainer and as such, am always in search of a new piece of inspiration or source of ideas. There are plenty of good ones here, but nothing cutting edge. While I am a big fan of the FIRM workouts series, I didn't find that this book added much to my repertoire. It basically recaps on paper the same program seen in most of their videos, but in a much less appealing way. The nutrition advice is sound, though not very thoroughly explained. The testimonials were very motivating, but I would skip the section on personal aesthetics. I found that portion to be especially hokey with such unrealistic "tips" as to maintain one's manicure daily and advice on feminine waxing and what kind of underwear to buy. It seems obvious that the authors of this book are not in touch with your average "working mom" or even mother of small children and the time constraints, despite the fact that they are a large buying market of said workout products. If this book were to be re-done, I think it should be in color, not b/w and the self-care advice could be a little more encompassing that "follow my personal routine". Overall, the testimonials are the best part, but the videos are much more interesting that the book.

Although this book has received so many bad reviews, I personally thought it was pretty good. If you are a big fan of the workouts - I recommend this book - it is a great companion. True, there is a lot of bashing of other workout instructors in the first part, but the Benson sistes and the Firm were so critized in the beginning - they were just way ahead of their time. The rest of the book is very motivating and includes some good diet and exercise information. It's a fun and easy read and it's a great way to learn about the background of The Firm.

buy one of their videos instead, as many others have said.there is nothing new in here about fitness. Firm lovers may want it for its "historical " value, or hysterical value, depending on your point of view. By the way, I do the Firm almost every day and highly recommend the tapes!

Let me begin by saying that I love the Firm. I've been using their workouts since 1992 and the old Firm tapes by the Bensons (pre-1999)truly are the best on the market. The book, however, leaves much to be desired.

While the chapter on nutrition is somewhat helpful and interesting, the rest of the book is a total disappointment. As many other reviewers have said, the Bensons are SHAMELESS in their bashing of other fitness instructors. They are even quite mean about it, which flies in the face of the later chapters on manners and politeness. (The reference to celebrity instructors was particularly rich, since their second tape featured Janet Jones Gretzky. There is no mention of her, nor the other 'actress/dancer' leads from the classic tapes.) You have a great product, ladies! There is no need to be bitter and defensive.

Much of the extraneous, out-of-place information on grooming, dress and reading material seemed trite and silly in a book, not to mention constricting. It's ok to leave the house with a few grey hairs and without manicured nails! Not all of us want to look like Barbie. Their attitude seems to be, 'this is how we are, thus all of you should be like us,' right down to their particular interest in Ancient Greece. Perhaps the Bensons would have been better served by skipping the book and starting up a magazine. A lot of this material would have been better presented in that type of forum. I am sure many dedicated Firm Believers would have subscribed willingly.

The Bensons sold the Firm a few years ago and the new workouts are a SAD follow-up to the great ones of the past. The new Firm is now glutting the market with cheap, plastic 'must-have' gizmos, while Anna Benson is making new, interesting workouts under the name 'Fitprime'. This book is the only blight on what has been a great contribution by the Bensons.

I'd already been working out with the FIRM Body Sculpting Systems 1 & 2 for a year when I ran across this book. So I was already convinced of the FIRM's awesome track record. At first, I thought the negativity toward other workouts was in poor taste, but then I thought about how we're reading the book in a different time than when it was written. When it was written, in teh mid-to-late '90s, it probably still took some convincing on the part of the Bensons to get people to listen to their workout philosophy. I know I didn't even hear of the FIRM until 1999 or 2000. Until then, I was plugging away with Kathy Smith's workouts and getting admirable results, but nothing like I get with the FIRM. So when you read the part of the book when the Bensons go off on other workout gurus, just let the negativity go. It's not relevant anymore. Research has proven what the Bensons were barking about back then. Don't let it turn you off from the rest of the book, or from the FIRM workouts.
There is some solid nutrition advice, such as if you want defined muscles, eat lots of protein and have a protein "survival kit" that you take with you every day. Then they have more extreme nutrition advice like pretending that there's no such thing as cheese and dessert. Okay. So just take the advice that you know will work for you and chalk the rest up to the Benson Sisters being on their soapbox. And as other reviewers have pointed out, there is more than one instance where the Bensons do get up on their sassy horse about all things from spirituality to thong underwear to what you should be reading.
Remember that the Bensons built their empire, the FIRM, on these serious, awesome cardio + weight training workouts, not on being experts on etiquette or fashion or literature or spirituality. If you're searching for a workout that works, give the FIRM vids a whirl (there absolutely are not enough exercises in the back of this book), get this book to supplement what you learn from the workouts and the firmbelievers club(should you choose to become a member of that), and let the rest just filter through your brain like so much plankton.
One feature of the book that I loved was seeing the profiles of some of my favorite instructors and reading about their roads to fitness and why the FIRM works for them. They're real women, not fitness celebrities. They're all heights, ages, and body types. One instructor is an English teacher in real life. Another is a courtroom lawyer. Some instructors started with the FIRM in their 20s and are now in their 30s and they look even more fabulous in the new videos than they did in earlier ones. It's awesome to read about their struggles and how the FIRM helped them to overcome.
I would definitely recommend Firm for Life to anyone who is searching for a workout program that works and won't bore them in the process. But this book isn't enough on its own. Get yourself a Fanny Lifter and a Body Sculpting System and give the workouts a try, because when it comes to fitness, a video is worth a shelf full of books.

Admittedly Frank Sinatra had an extraordinarily rich and interesting life, but one much too full of details for a single book. So in this rendition of his life, the reader is left to ask the question: how many, hook-ups, breakup, screw-ups, jam-ups, and mob-ups can a story have before it goes well past being well-told, into a whole other zone of being just plain incoherent gossip?

One would think that of all people who should know where this mark in the sand lies, it would be Kitty Kelly? Yet, in this biography, Kelly, who is normally so good at culling the low hanging fruit from the rumor mill and gossip trees and turning them into a tasty and sometimes even a succulent wine, this time, gets it so wrong. She seems to have fouled up the fermentation process altogether and gone well past coherence into a whole new zone of vinegar, all the way past Go into complete incoherence.

There are just way too many repetitious unnecessary details, vignettes, spats, breakup and irrelevances to make this a well-rounded, coherent and interesting story. Some of the details, which after a while just start falling all over each other, simply should have been relegated to footnotes, mentioned in passing, or left out altogether. In the interest of "tightness" and coherence, Kelly, more than anyone, should know that more is not always better. Sometimes unorganized details in a manuscript can overpower the story. As is the case here, they cannot even be tamed by forcing them into a "Procrustean Bed" of the author's own making. Kelly knows, all to well that details must be sorted, selected and ever so carefully placed so that through organization alone, they are allowed to tell their own story. Here, it seemed that Kelly, just as she accuses her subject of doing in the manuscript, allowed her own enthusiasm to get well ahead of her keen sense of organization and storytelling. What a pity: so much material, so little time.

Despite this, one can reassemble this jigsaw puzzle of "way too many pieces" into a mosaic beneath the clutter to get at a reasonable psychological portrait of Frank Sinatra, and still be able to see that he was pretty much handicapped at birth: Accidentally misnamed; an only child; collar-flowered ears, a busted eardrum, skinny and slight of stature. Add to this that he had only a smattering of talent, in a heavily male dominated culture and you get at an early age, a personality blanketed with deeply rooted insecurities.

But these were nothing compared to the "trip his mother put on him" to heighten these congenital insecurities. She was overbearing and over-protective, dressed him like a girl and spoiled him. And then, as this his most powerful role model and ally through life, provided him a very poor example of adult humanity. Dolly Sinatra was the dynamo of the family: the matron and breadwinner, who cursed in technicolor, always dabbled over the edge of legalities, including being jailed multiple times for running an illegal abortion clinic, and for her prohibition era Speakeasy activities. The fact that Frank's father was present, but missing in action: a virtual "nobody" who deferred to his mother, pretty much sealed his psychological fate: Little Frankie had no chance of evolving into a normal well-balanced adult.

What Frank Sinatra had going for him was a very contradictory self-destructive kind of self-confidence spawn mostly out of fantasy and denial. It was one that bordered on unwarranted arrogance, fits of uncontrolled anger, depressive spins, hovering on the rim of immorality and illegality, and leaving him with an empty emotional reservoir. Throughout his life he was little more than an insecure bully with an average voice. Yet he used bullying to his advantage, and as a weapon to "club his way" through life.

And as life would have it, after many inevitable "ups-and-downs," failures and come backs, shattered and scattered love affairs--especially with Ava Gardner -- he became a raving financial and professional success, but an utter moral, personal and human failure. End of story.

Five stars for the research, two for the organization; three for the book.

This was evidently meant to be a commentary on the life and hates of Frank Sinatra. It was probably meant to be quite a character study - connect the dots between all the revolting facts coldly listed here and you find a revolting human being. If the dots don't quite come together, as they didn't for me, you find a rather different connotation. The solemn quote at the beginning delineates the difference between reputation and character. Ms.Kelley, being the all-knowing Author, gets right into her examination into Mr. Sinatra's character behind the reputation with a cold first chapter related in frankly impossible detail. From then on Sinatra is shown to be callous, pathetic, weak, vicious, brutal, abusive, crude, egomaniacal, vindictive, and quite possibly crazy in an overwhelming documentary that seems very fond of the two words "Sinatra screamed" and any reference to any weakness known to man that Sinatra allegedly possessed. In a cold, stark, very nearly cruel style interviews with disgruntled former employees, wives of friends, gangsters, yes-men, Hoboken tattle-tales, discarded girlfriends, two-bit comics, technicians, and the slimy Peter Lawford are all displayed in 633 pages of rot. The skeletal overview of Mr. Sinatra's life is almost frighteningly calculated - any unscrupulous writer can pick and choose to their heart's content while still remaining truthful, and Ms. Kelley could write a book about her inimitable art of relating only the least flattering information and blaming her digustingly biased view on outraged virtue.
Every character in this organized assasination, as a matter of fact, appears to be a good little human being, abused and cruelly rejected by Frank Sinatra, doing their sad duty to let the world know Sinatra done 'em wrong. Appears. Ms. Kelley apparentely agrees with them. Their sympathetically related tales are the backbone of the biography.
I have no idea how Kitty Kelley and several other Sinatra biographers are so blind that they have never been able to locate one positive Sinatra review in their life. In this book, if no bad review exists for a movie, record, concert, TV show, ect., it is either ignored or used to promote another example of bad behavior backstage. I know all the good reviews exist. I've read them, and it always surprised me because according to Kelley and other pick-and-choosers the perfomance was lousy. But this is not about a career, it's said; it's about a life. Then why mention any reviews at all?
If all the names mentioned in here actually said Sinatra was an awful person, I just might believe it. But they didn't. The uncomplimentary comments used are in any other source buried in an avalanche of rave reviews and praise. Ms.Kelley, of coure, the St. Bernard of literature, sniffed them out. Ava Gardner's autobiography paints a very different portrait of what she felt about Mr.Sinatra than the few harsh statements here. Lauren Bacall's "By Myself" is so often negatively interpreted it's ridiculous, and Ms. Kelley joins the long line of misinterpreters. Rare comments by Frank Sinatra Jr., Sammy Davis and others are gleefully repeated, despite the fact that their opinions about Mr.Sinatra are almost always positive to the extreme. No famous friends of his were interviewed, simply because people who genuinely loved him went as high as the summit of upper-class Hollywood, nobility, and the White House, and that was the type of thing Kelley wanted least. I read an interview in which Ms. Kelley supposedly said she didn't find Sinatra appealing because he had no sense of humor. Ha. There has never been anyone with as little humor about them as Ms.Kitty Kelley, executioner of reputation, fabricater of character. The sense of smug gloating, the nasty smirking of the authoress over Mr.Sinatra's discomfort at having so many people read this trash and BELIEVE it, is the only humor evident, and that makes me sick. Even if every statement were true, I'd still have a certain sympathy for Frank Sinatra, because, as it eventually becomes clear, you learn less than nothing about what Sinatra was really like, but you learn a great deal about the writer. The Sinatra story displayed is all probably untrue reputation, but Ms.Kelley's scheme for hurting him backfired - her character is evident. The preface says,''Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us." True.

I read this bound piece of trash twenty years ago. I thought it was nothing but a steaming, stinking pile of lies and over-the-top exaggerations. Time has shown that the author, Kitty Kelley, is a hateful smear mistress lacking the least bit of integrity and decency.

All you will get from this book besides the outright lies are hearsay and rumors.
According to Kelley, Sinatra was nothing but a spoiled brat and bullying coward who relied on thugs to get what he wanted.
She tells us he brought home prostitutes and tried to force his first wife, Nancy, into threesomes with them. We read about a mafia hit on a smalltown sheriff whose wife was being screwed by Ol' Blue Eyes. Then there is the tale of a hot pot of fresh coffee which Sinatra launched at his longtime valet's face. Do you get the idea of what this book is all about?
HIS WAY is typical Kitty Kelley, epitomizing her level and ability as a writer and a human being.

Sinatra had many faults but they were vastly outnumbered by his virtues.

I'm only writing this review because there are those who think this book contains the "truth" about Sinatra. Think about this, someone who doesn't like you much decides to write a book about you, they find all the people throughout your life that hate you, you have had fights with, don't speak to anymore, or you just don't really like. They ignore anyone who has good things to say or your long time friends and family. They interview them and write the book containing all their quotes, stating its factual, after all people did say these things - right!! Now think about how that would make you look, would it represent the truth about you- i don't think so. This is pure unadulterated garbage, from a twisted viewpoint and not worth the paper its printed on. Did Sinatra have some dark moments, i guess so - but this is not the place to find out about them.

This is a lengthy look at the shadows in Sinatra's personality, and is not the one to read if you are interested in how he developed his approach to singing so well. Frank appears to have been a victim of what we now call bipolar disorder, back in the days when no effective medications existed for it except alcohol and nicotine. He sank into scary depressions, and soared into wild bouts of manic activity, exhibited both grandiosity and generosity in excess, supported violence against his enemies and often uncritical acceptance of his friends. He grew up with a passive dad and a forceful but not likable mom, was a spoiled child who sometimes was a victim of discrimination due to his Italian heritage, and developed such an intense drive to be successful that he frequently drove away the people who might have been best for him. Upon finishing this gossipy yet apparently truthful biography, I didn't want Frank as a friend, but I didn't give away any of my dozen CD's, either. Sometimes one has to divorce the artist from the person in order to remain a fan.

ISBN 0451176723 - Almost a sister to Nancy Wagner's All Our Lives (ISBN 0380778084), Mitigating Circumstances is not quite as good. Both books deal with a family dealing with the rape of a daughter and a marriage that's fallen apart, but Wagner's is just a little bit better.

Lily Forrester is an ADA who has just been made head of the Sex Crimes Division and sees her goal of becoming a judge within sight when her marriage finally unravels. Her daughter chooses to live with her father, but spends a fateful night at her mother's. The timing couldn't be worse, as a man who has been watching Lily is released from prison and stalks her to her new home and assaults mother and daughter.

Her own childhood abuse coupled with the horror of watching her own daughter raped drives Lily right over that vigilante line and she seeks justice outside the courtroom for the first time in her life. Now her career, her daughter, her marriage, her freedom, her sanity and her budding relationship with a fellow ADA are all on the line as one very good detective looks for answers.

The sex in this book tends toward graphic and violent and some of it is remarkably unnecessary, which was't too surprising since the main character works in Sex Crimes, but I did find a bit much now and then. Also a little off-putting was the sense that "all Latinos look alike", although that does get explained as "she wasn't wearing her glasses" - not a good excuse, but an excuse. On the funny side, Lily is a lawyer with a young teenaged daughter who borrows her clothes, which would be fine if they weren't her WORK clothes! No teenage girl wants to dress like their lawyer mother, unless their lawyer mother dresses really unprofessionally.

All in all, kind of an average book that would have benefitted greatly if Detective Cunningham had had a larger role and if John, Lily's husband had been an even remotely sympathetic character.

The first book that I ready by this author was Interest of Justice, which I loved, fast paced, not too descriptive, great writing style. So I thought that I would read all of her books. You would never know this book- Mitigating Cir. was by the same author. It starts off a little slow, gets going, then loses it's steam throughout most of the book. I got tired of reading page after page of what they were having for dinner, the item of clothing that the daughter borrowed, her boring conversations with her husband, blah blah blah. It didn't get good again until the last few pages where you will find out what happens to Lily. The plot was a good one, but the writing couldn't hold my interest. I hope her other books are better.

I didn't bother to finish this book. The writing is amateurish, and the author's attempts at descriptive narrative are cliche and often repetative. The characters are one-dimensional and predicatable. Overall, this book reads like a bad romance novel disguised as a legal thriller.

MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES was a disappointing read, considering the excerpt on book jacket had promise. Dramatic words with no drama, moving very slowly from the beginning, into the middle and to the end. Author Nancy Taylor Rosenberg offers a repetitious tale of reminiscences, sadness & anger -- a romance more than a mystery.

Chief character is an ambitious, yet troubled LA District Attorney Lillian (Lily) Forrester. She has an open door to reach her goal as an appointed judge.

As a couple, John and Lily Forrestor are in a non-loving marriage, with a disturbed 13-year old daughter Shana. Not in control as she once thought, Lily's destructive past involving her grandfather, evolves a vengeful, angry woman to the brink of mental explosion. Her rage is released by committing a haunting crime to avenge a current unspeakable tragedy imposed upon herself & daughter Shana.

Although a little rough around the edges, the best character - Detective Cunningham offers the read some zing with some humor, concerns, actions and the desire to leave LA and return to Omaha, a much saner environment. A murder committed, a sketch of a person observed at the scene of the crime raises Detective Cunningham's suspicions as the sketch resembles District Attorney Forrestor.

The author does not complete the story of husband John - his path taken just disappears; a chapter devoted to daughter Shana in which her rage from tragic events is described does not continue to conclusion. The ending of the book is "different" from what a reader would expect, especially from the justice system.

I did enjoy one expression: "The train had finally derailed and the cars were all overturned. All that remained was the baggage." This read is like a train that never picks up speed, consistently changes tracks, and the baggage is lost. Review based on hardcover 1993

Recommend Sara Paretsky's GUARDIAN ANGEL & GHOST COUNTRY.

District Attorney Lily Forrester has recently been promoted to Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit. She is glad to get the appointment but it came at a high price. She is unhappy with her marriage and her relationship with her daughter is deteriorating day by day.

Lily decides to get a fresh start when she asks her husband for a divorce and move out to a new apartment. Her life is irrevocably changed when an intruder storms into her home and rapes both her and her daughter, Shana. Lily believes she recognizes her assailant as one of the case files she brought home from work. Without thinking it over she decides to go kill him. She tracks the suspect and shoots him dead without even flinching. She then erases all traces of evidence she can think of that might identify her. She will now try to continue her life and help her daughter.

Unfortunately, things do not go as planned. Both Lily and Shana are still traumatized by the events and they both disagree as to who raped them. Lily wonders if she has made a mistake now that there is a relentless cop investigating the case.

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg does a good job in applying what she knows in this novel. She has worked in law enforcement for many years and has dealt with sexual offenders. The victims and situations felt real as well as the emotional trauma Lily feels for her action. The novel reads like a Lifetime movie but it kept my interest.