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Adams Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Adams
Ready to Restore
Published in Paperback by Baker Pub Group (1981-06)
Author: Jay Edward Adams
List price: $3.50
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Counselling With Assistance
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-13
We haven't experienced everything in life though we may think we have. How many times do we give advice and are not in the boat. It is very important to have a second opinion. When in doubt, talk to someone else or read what someone else has to say that is a reputable writer and has been acknowledged by others. Get this books it will be like a ministry of helps to you as you attempt to assist others. Read some of Jay's other materials here at Amazon.

Great survey of nouthetic counseling
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-24
This book is a great review of Biblical counseling. It covers the basics very well, including some resources as to where further information can be found. The information is current (since it is Biblically based), but the resource list is somewhat dated because there has been much written in this field in the past few years.

This is a great resource for basic training. It is a must for all Christian workers, both vocational and volunteer. I would honestly say that it should be in every Christian's library. The ideas in this book are developed deeper in The Christian Counselor's Manuel, Competent to Counsel, and (Ready to Restore:)A Theology of Christian Counseling.

Readiness Involves Ability--hence the book
Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-04
"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)

Ready to Restore is a high tribute to the authority of God's Word, as Dr. Adams actually expects Christians to take action on Galatians 5:1. Adams believes that each person is responsible to obey this passage, not merely the pastor alone.

To that end, Adams writes, "Is Christian counseling the work of a highly specialized group of persons? Does it belong to pastors and elders of the church alone? What of everyday man or woman-in-the-pew Christians; do they too have a ministry of counseling to which God has called them as laymen? ... The answer is simple, yet profound: God calls every Christian to counsel some people, somewhere, at some time about something..."

Adams addresses the barriers to obedience which the "you who are spiritual" must overcome: fear, knowledge, spiritual maturity, and integrity.

It is a short book, but worth every minute spent studying and reading. I simply love it when an author places his trust in God, God's Word, and assumes that God's people will obey. Adams demonstrates an immense respect for God and for Christians in this book.

Adams
Really Reading!: 10 Simple and Effective Methods to Develop Your Child's Love for Reading
Published in Paperback by Adams Media Corporation (1997-06)
Authors: Janet Gardner and Lora Myers
List price: $7.95
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Sensible, jargon-free book on reading with kids.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-11
There are lots of books on reading with your kids, but this one has many good suggestions which are easy to implement. Really Reading helps you rethink the way you spend the time spent reading with your kids and helps you use the time more productively. Well worth the money!

Terrific help to parents
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1997-10-08
This book offers many useful, light-hearted ideas that help make most out of the time parents spend reading with their children.

great advice on how to read more productively with your kids
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1998-04-22
This handy little book dispenses with jargon and explains how to get the most out of reading with children. It shows you how to encourage kids to become active readers -- readers who think ahead, figure out unfamiliar vocabulary, use their imagination and look beyond the literal meaning of a story to its broader implications.

This book has valuable suggestions for parents and grandparents and teachers of very young readers (and listeners), and older, more sophisticated readers, too. Plus, reading Really Reading! is not a major undertaking; you can read it in an afternoon and use its techniques with your kids that evening!

I've found that my kids enjoy the time we spend reading together more now that I'm using the things I learned from this book; and I'm enjoying reading with them more, too.

Adams
The Reduced Shakespeare Company Radio Show
Published in Audio Cassette by Audio Partners (1998-06)
Authors: Adam Long, Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor
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Ripping Good Fun
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-13
As the child of a teacher of English, I'd been introducted to many of Shakespeare's plays at a very early age. This has lead to two things - a twisted sense of humour and an appreciation of the same. The Reduced Shakespeare Company fits the bill perfectly. Silly, witty, and intelligent, the RSC puts life back into the bard. If you're looking for a serious scholarly thesis on Shakespeare, look elsewhere. If you're looking for somthing that will make you laugh until you cry, the RSC is for you! And hey, you never know - you might learn something too.

Very funny!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 1998-07-18
A whimsical mixture of slapstick humor and witty parody. Somewhat sophmoric at times, but generally insightful.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company knows their stuff, and are very creative about their presentation.

Shakespeare like you've never heard it
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2001-09-26
I've been an RSC fan since their early renfaire days, & their work is as timeless as the Bard's. This is Shakespeare thru the eyes of American pop culture with references to everything from Casablanca to Dr. Ruth to rap music. But it's not Shakespeare for dummies -- the RSC lads know the real texts inside & out. They show Shakespeare's greatness thru their humor -- & they remind us how funny Shakespeare really is. The RSC would be an excellent introduction to Shakespeare for students or anyone who thinks the Bard is stuffy & boring.

Adams
The Renaissance (World's Classics)
Published in Paperback by Oxford University Press, USA (1987-01-22)
Author: Walter Pater
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Paterphilia perpetuates puissant pulsations�
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2003-11-12
The Conclusion which crowns this, the most perfect book in the English language should be memorised and chanted sutra-like on a daily basis.

Impressionism in criticism...travel at your own risk...
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-21
This work by Walter Pater, published in 1873, as
a volume of collected (previously published) essays
along with an essay on "Winckelmann", a Preface, and
a Conclusion was [and perhaps still is] an extremely
influential work of aesthetic criticism. The volume
helped shape [influence] the perceptions, the
attitudes, and the approaches of many youthful readers
in the late 1880's and 1890's. It is very interesting
to read, immensely engaging to consider and muse about,
but also offers cautions to the overenthusiastic,
easily influenced [or persuaded] disciple.
This volume consists of an Introduction [by the
editor, Adam Philips], a Preface [by Pater], 9 chapters,
and a Conclusion (in this particular edition
by Oxford Classics there is also a chronology, a
Selective Bibliography, an Appendix titled "Diaphaneite,"
and Explanatory Notes in the back. The chapter titles
(after Pater's Preface) are: Two Early French Stories;
Pico Della Mirandola; Sandro Botticelli; Luca Della
Robbia; The Poetry of Michelangelo; Leonardo da Vinci;
The School of Giorgione, Joachim Du Bellay; Winckelmann;
and Conclusion.
* * * * * * * * * *
What's the problem here? Well, unfortunately, Pater
is not completely reliable as an objective perceiver
or critic. He tends to be a bit eccentric in his
individualistic perceptions and interpretations of
the art works, but he goes ahead and defends this
approach in a very "modern" sounding fashion --
which seems to include a bit of "situational perceptions,"
subjective impressions of perception and response,
and subjective criticism. Which makes for extremely
engaging [sometimes irritating] reading, but leaves
something to be desired as far as objective and
judicious thoughtfulness and truthfulness. Pater
seems to believe that it is acceptable to "bend"
or even create facts to further his own it-pleases-
me-to-think-that-this-is-or-should-be-so desires.
We know that we are on a slippery critical slope
[though it will sound all too familiar to modern
ears and modern apologetics] when the editor Phillips
informs us: "In Pater's first published writing, his
essay on Coleridge of 1866, he had suggested that --
'Modern thought is distinguished from ancient by its
cultivation of the "relative" spirit in place of the
"absolute" ... To the modern spirit nothing is, or
can be rightly known, except relatively and under
conditions." It doesn't take much time to realize
that such a critical position is going to lead to
an end-position of aesthetic, critical, and moral
relativism ("You can't tell me I'm wrong, because
there is no one set way of seeing, analyzing,
believing, or evaluating."-- the spoiled, indulged child's
self-justification for the validity of its own
ego supremacy and authority against that of any
parental or adult restrictions. Such a position usually
means a lack of any meaningful in-depth self questioning
or objective evaluating of personal motives, and a
welcoming of lack of restraints in the pursuit of
pleasure and non-self discipline. And this, of course,
is the critical negative refrain that often comes
against the decadent followers of Pater's credo.]
The second fall-out effect of Pater's evaluations
and pronouncements is that some of his disciples
[self-styled] went farther than even he was willing
to approve with their hedonism and purposefully
shocking lifestyles and "decadent" behaviors and
aesthetic appetites.
But it came from statements like this, which Pater
may have meant one way, but which their subjective,
individualistic perceptions took another way: "The
aesthetic critic, then, regards all the objects with
which he has to do, all works of art, and the fairer
forms of nature and human life, as powers or forces
producing PLEASURABLE SENSATIONS [caps are mine], each
of a more or less peculiar or unique kind. [We value
them --he says] for the property each has of affecting
one with a special, a unique, impression of pleasure.
Our education becomes complete in proportion as our
SUSCEPTIBILITY to these impressions increases -- in
depth and VARIETY."
Let the perceiver and the critic -- and the
experiencer -- proceed with extreme caution and good
judgment.
* * * * * * * * *

Pater and the Renaissance: Aesthetic Self-Help
Helpful Votes: 20 out of 21 total.
Review Date: 1997-05-03
This book has changed many lives in a very
peculiar way: although its evaluations are
quite wrong at times, particularly the chapter
on the School of Giorgione(if you care, check
out the edition with an introduction by
Kenneth Clark), Pater's Renaissance still
shines with the very same light that made it a
cult among Victorian youngmen.

The "gemstone flame", the pervasive feelings
of which Pater invited us to share have not
vanished (in spite of the attempts of the
so-called modern art), and the book's
invaluable lesson is that you simply
do not need a fancy objet d'art to see
what true beauty is all about.

So basically this is what I have to say: if
you have ever derived aesthetic pleasure from
anything at all in life, you should read this
little book tomorrow. If you never felt any
such pleasure, you must read The Renaissance
right now, or you'll simply let the good
things pass you by. I mean it.

Adams
The Repository
Published in Paperback by Meisha Merlin Publishing (1999-09)
Authors: Adam Niswander and Kevin Murphy
List price: $14.00
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Average review score:

Once I picked it up and started to read, I couldn�t put it..
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1999-10-01
THE REPOSITORY was a bit of a different read for me. I believe that it would be called, dark fantasy. Not that I don't like dark fantasy. I do. I just don't get to read it often enough. Adam gives us the standard evil characters but adds an air of"anything is possible" that is very charming. Once I'd picked it up and started to read, I couldn't put it down until I was finished.

First off, the cover. Yes, I do notice those things. I love good cover art and THE REPOSITORY has excellent cover art. Kevin Murphy, the cover artist, and Neil Seltzer, cover design, have put together the perfect package that could sell this book on looks alone.

Though THE REPOSITORY is not the sort of book that has to get by on looks alone. THE REPOSITORY is a wonderful read. Thrilling. Enthralling. You will find yourself under a spell as Adam Niswander cleverly weaves you into his story. And what a story it is!

I suppose that you want a bit of a peek. Okay, open the pages and you will find; an ancient fellowship, an evil witch, a gifted and kind man, Lucifer himself, and Ambrose Bierce. Just imagine. Can you? Well, if you can, you are Adam Niswander.

You are going to want this one. If you don't, I picked up a thing or two when I went to New Orleans and I just might have to demonstrate.

Buzzy

Masterful dark storytelling of magic realism
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1999-09-15
THE REPOSITORY is one of those books that you can't put down until you find out how it all turns out, and once it's over you wish it wasn't. This is a real page-turner, with a background of epic scope, characters that are simultaneously larger than life and all-too-human, and incredible pacing. Niswander tells a great story and he tells it well. His prose enters into poetic beauty during the Wormwood-like chapter introductions, attributed to Ambrose Bierce in the form of a report to his dark master. And on top of everything else, the item itself is very handsomely made. This is a book that fans of fantasy and horror will be doing themselves a disservice to miss

A brilliant fictional of accouning of Satan's War
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1999-09-13
The Fellowship founded by Merlin consists of magicians dedicated to keeping Lucifer from destroying humanity. Over the past millennium, many dedicated individuals battled the evil minions of Lucifer. Though always victorious, the Fellowship members know their biggest fight is always the next war because a loss means the end of mankind.

The powerful witch Urthane la Voisen, a former resident of Hell, has been slowly eroding the organization for years. One of her mightiest successes was killing the sibling of Josiah, the librarian who maintains all the known books on magic. However, Urthane failed to slay the unborn child of Josiah's sister-in-law. When he was born, Randall was abandoned on the courthouse steps. He grows up in an orphanage. The lad has magical powers, but lacks formal training in their use. When a catastrophe strikes, the Fellowship turn to Randall as their only hope to defeat Urthane.

THE REPOSITORY is a fascinating but chilling account of the eternal battle between Good and Evil. Adam Niswader, author of the Shaman Cycle, has created a fine work filled with interesting heroes and delightful villains. The story line is so taut that readers will believe Mr. Niswader is chronicling real events including those of the future. This novel is simply great story telling.

Harriet Klausner

Adams
Resume Handbook How to Write Outstanding
Published in Paperback by Adams Media+corporation (1990-02)
Authors: Arthur D. Rosenberg and David V. Hizer
List price: $6.95
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Average review score:

Best Value for the Dollar, very informative
Helpful Votes: 26 out of 30 total.
Review Date: 1999-05-20
An excellent bare-bones resume book that gave me a lot of ideas of different ways to format my resume to attract attention.

Improve your chances of getting that first interview
Helpful Votes: 31 out of 34 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-28
This book will help you write a cover letter and resume that will get you in the door. The rest is up to you. There are examples of both good and bad resumes along with a realistic step by step guide to building a resume. This book is good for a first time resume writer, but it is especially good for someone who hasn't been on the job market in awhile. You will be able to send your resume out with confidence.

Oustanding Resource!
Helpful Votes: 36 out of 41 total.
Review Date: 1999-11-23
An absolutely outstanding book. Cuts through the bull and presents its information clearly and concisely. The examples are top notch. This book is easily worth 3 times what it cost me. Thanks!

Adams
Rousseau and Revolution (Story of Civilization)
Published in Audio Cassette by Books on Tape (2001-12-15)
Authors: Will Durant and Ariel Durant
List price: $89.95
Collectible price: $270.00

Average review score:

The Tenth Volume in The Story of Civilization!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-02
In this, the tenth volume in the critically acclaimed series "The Story of Civilization," Dr. will & Ariel Durant have compiled a masterful dramatic exploration of the European climate and the events which paved the way for the French Revolution.

The reader will be exposed to a vivid recount of the acts of: Rousseau, who confessed his most embarassing sexual and emotional episodes. England and the rise of her overseas empire. Catherine The Great of Russia. Frederick The Great of Prussia. The German Enlightenment. Marie Antoinette. France's impotent and frustrated King Louis XVI. And much, much more including plates and maps.

Written to stand alone or within the series, the Durants have composed an unparalleled historical prose in smooth flowing narrative that is easy to read and understand by both professional and layperson alike. In short, this book is for everyone. I rate it as five stars. Bravo!

Lush, remarkable Pulitzer prize-winning volume...
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-08
...continues the excellence of the series. Originally intended as the final book of the series, "The Story of Civilization", in ended up being the penultimate volume.

The Durants lucidly and eloquently summarize the philosophy, life and influence that Rousseau had on the 18th century and, indeed, continues to have to this very day. Rousseau may be regarded as the creator of the Left-wing sensibility. This may seem anachronistic and, in a sense, it is. Rousseau died before the French Revolution, which created the modern political division of Right and Left. Nevertheless, it is accurate to see him as the Fountainhead for relativism, communism, and the worship of feeling as opposed to reason (debased and emptied of all intellectual content this is now called building "self-esteem" by the modern leftist).

Rousseau created most of the modern ills of political fanaticism and airy, absurd idealism as the Durants so ably note.

The rest of the period is not neglected and vivid portraits are made of Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, the Elder Pitt, Diderot, D'Holbach, Samuel Johnson and many, many others help this book to shine.

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize--which should have gone to the entire series as opposed to just this volume--this book gives the reader a complete (if necessarily synopsized) account of the End and Failure of the Enlightenment and how what Rousseau and Voltaire intended in their attacks on the social structure (Rousseau) and religion (Voltaire) lead to disastrous consequences in the French Revolution.

The writing sparkles with vivid wit, pith and lucid beauty. It is a book to be read for a lifetime and bequeathed to children. In an age where smarmy, intellectually empty, political fanaticism is attempting to erase the past in favor of the PC fantasies of the moment, the Durants offer a vivid account of the Truth. European civilization is presented here in all its glory and with all its warts. Slavery, religious fanaticism, exploitation and the horrors of the penal system and warfare are all presented here, in their proper place and in context. The modern academic community has attempted to destroy the ideal of context and balance. As long as these books are around, REAL history and historiography are available to anyone who simply opens a copy and reads it.

Was this review helpful to you?

Lush, remarkable Pulitzer prize-winning volume...
Helpful Votes: 20 out of 29 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-29
...continues the excellence of the series. Originally intended as the final book of the series, "The Story of Civilization", in ended up being the penultimate volume.

The Durants lucidly and eloquently summarize the philosophy, life and influence that Rousseau had on the 18th century and, indeed, continues to have to this very day. Rousseau may be regarded as the creator of the Left-wing sensibility. This may seem anachronistic and, in a sense, it is. Rousseau died before the French Revolution, which created the modern political division of Right and Left. Nevertheless, it is accurate to see him as the Fountainhead for relativism, communism, and the worship of feeling as opposed to reason (debased and emptied of all intellectual content this is now called building "self-esteem" by the modern leftist).

Rousseau created most of the modern ills of political fanaticism and airy, absurd idealism as the Durants so ably note.

The rest of the period is not neglected and vivid portraits are made of Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, the Elder Pitt, Diderot, D'Holbach, Samuel Johnson and many, many others help this book to shine.

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize--which should have gone to the entire series as opposed to just this volume--this book gives the reader a complete (if necessarily synopsized) account of the End and Failure of the Enlightenment and how what Rousseau and Voltaire intended in their attacks on the social structure (Rousseau) and religion (Voltaire) lead to disastrous consequences in the French Revolution.

The writing sparkles with vivid wit, pith and lucid beauty. It is a book to be read for a lifetime and bequeathed to children. In an age where smarmy, intellectually empty, political fanaticism is attempting to erase the past in favor of the PC fantasies of the moment, the Durants offer a vivid account of the Truth. European civilization is presented here in all its glory and with all its warts. Slavery, religious fanaticism, exploitation and the horrors of the penal system and warfare are all presented here, in their proper place and in context. The modern academic community has attempted to destroy the ideal of context and balance. As long as these books are around, REAL history and historiography are available to anyone who simply opens a copy and reads it.

Adams
Sales Talk: How to Power Up Sales Through Verbal Mastery
Published in Paperback by Adams Media Corporation (2003-07)
Author: Len Serafino
List price: $10.95
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Average review score:

Great hands-on book for experienced and novice sales person
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-18
I was looking for a sales training book for my sales staff- which includes highly experienced sales people as well as some who have great potential but have not yet realized that "no" is a good word. This book has something to say and teach all levels of sales professionals. And it teaches it in a way that conveys the author's full understanding of how difficult and how wonderful the job of selling can be.

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-26
Good hands on primer on how to be successful in sales situations and effective use of all available tools.

Highly recommended & should be required reading for all sales professionals -novice to pros

Highly Recommended!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-01
Most books about sales are written by people who have not sold anything in the past decade except their sales courses and their sales books. Few sales book authors have recent experience selling something concrete to the real world. This manual, on the other hand, is written like a speech by a man who got his sales talk training on the job and refined it at Toastmasters. He asks if he can tell us what he wants to tell us before he tells us. He tries several communications techniques, including a few duds that work as speeches given over rubber chicken dinners but bog down in print. Still, the voice of an everyman talking plain about sales language, sales skills and sales foibles is valuable. For its simplicity and useful anecdotes, We recommend this book to beginning salespeople, veterans with declining numbers, corporate communicators and entry level PR types.

Adams
Sarah Hughes Biography: Skating to the Stars
Published in Paperback by (2001-12-01)
Author: Alina Adams
List price: $9.95
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Average review score:

Awesome First book!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-22
Hi, I saw the book online and so I decided to try and go find it at the local bookstore. I was actually there to see if they had the May issue of International Figure Skating which I was very disappointed to find out they didn't carry. I went ahead and bought the book and I was so happy to get my hands on it, I read the whole thing start to finish in about an hour, stopping to look at the pictures of course :)

The book overall was great! It had her ups and downs thru the years, her fight with her mom's illness, a summer she broke her hand and nearly all her competitions. It had a great look at the skaters Sarah has faced and how she did in her programs. She works so hard and is so dedicated! This is a great book to just sit and read, but its also a wonderful collectors items just like the wheaties I found today hehe :) Thanks for listening~

Awesome!!!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-11-15
It is much better than the other Sarah book by Ruth Ashby! It starts off with Sarah at the 2001 World Championships and chronicles her life better than any other Sarah book could!Then it tells a LOT about her main competitors and ends telling how prepared she is for the 2002 Olympics (which she won!!)
I would definitely give it five stars in my book!!

Great insight! A superb bio with lots of intriguing info.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-25
This book gives the WHOLE story about her life and competition leading up to the Olympics gold. It tells about private emotional times in her young life and the training and competitions. There's a nice appendix listing all her placings and some web URLs. I'm glad I got this collector's item before they ran out!

Adams
The Scorpion Signal
Published in Paperback by HarperCollins Publishers (1981)
Author: Adam Hall
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Average review score:

An Introspective, Suspenseful Return to Brilliance
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-27
Following a pair of disappointing titles from the late 70s that tinkered with the conceptual premise of the character and series, "The Scorpion Signal" not only stands as a return to form for Elleston Trevor's embittered agent Quiller, but works to further delve into the fears and motivations of its principle players. Trevor himself (writing as Adam Hall) brilliantly delivers a continually taut, believable plot that will keep readers genuinely interested. In a way, it has always been Quiller's fallibility and flaws that has kept the character believable, if not fascinating. Quiller remains tough, professional, and even funny sometimes, but is neither a superman nor a comic caricature. Never before has his fallibility been so prevalent and it is a credit to Trevor's abilities that this ninth entry seems as fresh as his earlier titles.

Story-wise, Quiller is called upon to work inside Soviet Moscow to investigate the abduction of one of his friends and fellow executive, Shapiro. This time around, the imposing atmosphere of having to work inside an enemy police state richly adds to the suspense. Likewise, among a cell of agents whom he has never worked with, Quiller is faced with being handed over to the KGB by a "Judas" and ends up being taken to the infamous Lubyanka prison for interrogation. In other words, the more superficial architecture of the story provides an environment that is uniquely ripe for suspense. As with the other Quiller books, the really intriguing aspect though is how Quiller introspectively reasons his way through one spot after another and how, in spite of his best rationale, circumstances often work against him. Quiller's ultimate encounter with the "Judas" who has betrayed him is an amazing highlight. Similar scenarios have been played out elsewhere, but few have offered such emotive details.

I offer a couple minor notes of criticism, however. First, there is a bit of an over-reliance on car crashes this time out and at least one is superfluous. Second, the character Ignatov straddles between deadly professional and innocent victim of blackmail. As always, the concept of blackmailing someone into committing crimes they have little stake in seems quite silly. These are, however, minor quibbles that are not worthy of detracting from this masterful work as a whole.

Hall at his best
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-05
Probably the best (but certainly one of the best) in Hall's Quiller-series. It tackles a number of issues & just in the right proportion. We learn the most about Quiller, his personality, sense of honour from this book: the scene in Lyublyanka is quite enlightening. The agent who's ready to die for the Bureau, but kills for his sense of pride; and who wouldn't betray his word to his (ex)-friend not even to save his own life. The perfect mixture of adventure, plot and the tackling of existential questions.

The spy writer's spy writer at his tough, professional best
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-30
I must declare an interest: This book is dedicated to me. It's the eighth of 19 brilliant escapades starring the lean and mean Quiller, about whom reviewers have observed, "the ultimate pro, cynical, hard and master of the double-think ... businesslike, low-keyed, nondescript."

An Englishman, Adam Hall - real name Elleston Trevor - died at his Arizona home in 1996, one day after completing "Quiller Balalaika", scandalously still not taken up by an American publisher. However, the In Memoriam tributes from writers and reviewers around the world set in motion reprints of all his earlier works, including those under his various noms-de-plume (many of which have been misleadingly rejacketed as Adam Hall titles, thus giving the impression of a post-humous cache of new Quillers).

"The Scorpion Signal" is Hall at his tense and entertaining best, opening with Q in foul mood with his employers and actually turning down the mission before the full gravity of the situation sinks in: A fellow agent - another top executive in the field - has been put through interrogation at Lubyanka, escaped, and been *re-captured*. And he knows everything about one of British intelligence's most valuable Moscow-based cells, enough to blow the agency sky high. Quiller's job: To get into the KGB fortress and out again with his target intact. Only Adam Hall could conceive such a suicidally improbable mission for his man and succeed so convincingly. Even with the change of political climate and the demise of that whole genre of cold war thrillers, the Quiller canon continue to crackle on the page for their sheet storytelling excitement and what one reviewer spotted as Hall's "scholar's way of relishing the finer points of his discipline for their own sake." One of the doyens of this trade is no longer with us but his hero lives on to keep new readers on the edge of their seats and to show newcomers how it's really done. If you don't know Q, start with the equally capable "Quiller Memorandum" and work up, and I envy you the pleasures in store.


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