Berry Books

In Riverton, Wisconsin, Regina Coeli Hospital has admitted a rape victim with apparent multiple personalities. When the hospital doctor and a counselor from the nearby Rape Crisis and Domestic Abuse Center attempt to examine the patient, the young woman turns into a ferocious animal. Cate Lawson, on her first day as director of the rape crisis center, tries to talk with the animal-person, but luckily the ?host? Mandie Harwood resurfaces to take charge of her body.

Mandie explains to Cate that she was not raped, but her six-year old ?insider? Anna was raped by a low IQ person Will Forsyth. He insists he had consensual sex with an adult. Ambitious local district attorney Paul Josephson sees the case as headline news material that will give his career a tremendous boost. He goes after Forsyth with a vengeance, leaving Cate to wonder who really is the victim in this complex legal case.

MY NAME IS LEGION is an exciting complex psychological legal thriller based on a real experience author Sheila Martin Berry dealt with in Wisconsin. The complicated story line is crisp and entertaining. The charcaters, especially Mandie and her insider cohorts, and Will come across as very real. Ms. Berry packs too many emotional subplots including the tangle of Cate?s personal life into the novel. However, these sub-plots do not hinder a great main story line from providing fans of legal-medical thrillers with an insightful yet entertaining look at multiple personality disorder.

Harriet Klausner

I listened to an interview with the author on public radio. I was very impressed with her knowledge about unjust convictions and the criminal justice system. It appeared to me that she had significant and valuable experience to relate to listeners and readers. I was hoping for a book related to that subject. Unfortunately from what I can understand so far this book is about what to me is the quackery of "multiple personalities". If you like well written quackery books this might be perfect for you. But if you are looking for any kind of practical or realistic knowledge than don't waste your time. This author sounded in the radio interview that she had a lot to offer. I hope she writes a book about the criminal justice system in addition to this kind of nonsense.
Kenneth Ellman
email:ke@kennethellman.com

If you liked the movie Sixth Sense, if you like psychological mysteries, you will like this novel by Sheila Berry. It is the story of a woman with a dissociative disorder (I am still stuck with "multiple personality disorder"), one of whose personalities is raped, and a series of events that involve a rape crisis counselor going through a divorce, local police, and an ambitious prosecutor. It is, as my wife, who reads three novels a week, says "a page turner," a "good read." I liked the story. Not having treated many people of this sort (I am a psychologist), but one memorable one whom I saw for about eight years, I do not have enough experience to generalize. I stumbled over one aspect which I prefer not to tell for the sake of the reader. All the rest, including the plot development, characterization of main players, and descriptive narratives were very believeable. If you are looking this fall for a novel that keeps your attention, keeps you turning pages for the next plot development which in good writing seems natural or "organic" to the characters, this is one that you will enjoy.

YES, this excellent book is a basic primer for new students and non-savvy marketing VP's. And maybe that's where some folks should get back to? Back to the basics of reporting to their COO and CEO and CFO the ABC's of Marketing, Publicity and Advertising. WHAT'S THE ROI OF YOUR PLAN?

A= Is it Authorized?

B= Was it Budgeted?

C= Will it be Cost effective?

For too long, too many Marketing, Publicity and Advertising folks have gone to their bosses and submitted proposals as high as 50 million dollars and gotten it. Six months later, the product was pulled from the shelves and the funds had been wasted.

This book is a basic, hard school of knocks which helps a creative person establish and lay out what and how and who will be responsible for budgeting and producing results. There are no shortage of great ideas, great campaigns, great new jingles and slogans coming from top agencies, worldwide - for a hefty multi-million dollar cost.

Having worked for the largest ad and marketing company in the world (which owns almost 100 companies) there are at least a half dozen colleagues whom could care less if the CAMPAIGN produced any sales results. This book puts an end to irresponsible behavior.

You can't have your income of 400k per year anymore if you can't prove the ROI or prove sales were lifted or the P & L benefited! Just because you have a great marketing idea - doesn't mean you get your requested project budget!

YES, my own family's company that we have helped created enduring slogans that MADE MONEY FOR PEOPLE like, "When it rains it pours," for Morton Salt - "Reach out and touch someone," for Bell Telephone (my Uncle Tony Galli) and others like, "A diamond is forever." These ideas and jingles or slogans with campaigns made and make money still for clients - even after 100 years they are still being used today.

What I found in Tim Berry's and Doug Wilson's book and software program is that they are holding people accountable for their proposals. And that is a back to the basics, school desk approach that most CEO's, COO's and CFO's find refreshing. Forecasting is key but so is Actual Results for Sales.

To this day, I can't erase from my mind a senior VP at a major ad agency telling me, "the 20 million dollar campaign we handled was for delivery of an excellent campaign - we have no responsibility or interest in the financial results for the client."

In this case, the client was a Fortune 100 client...

Have you ever heard of a SWOT analysis? If you have, then this book is not for you. This book is very good for an entry level book. The authors have very little successful experience in business plan writing and the tasks they include are elementary. You would be much better off reading and intro to marketing textbook instead. The textbook would cover fundamentals of marketing. I respect the authors background, but most people would be better off with a different book.

This is a great way to get your arms around doing the some times challenging task of writing a marketing plan. It takes you through the process step-by-step and it is filled with great resources, especially the current web sites it suggests. A great way to get that plan accomplished with solid coaching throughout. These guys know what they are doing!

This is a very basic knitting book. it is a great book to buy for a new knitter as the patterns mostly use garter stitch (all knit rows). As an experienced knitter it is impressive to see how effective the old garter stitch can be. It works really well for home accessories, and doesn't require the purchasing of expensive yarn. In fact, the more basic the yarn (like string and cotton chenille) the better. Unfortunately Erika Knight mostly uses Rowan yarns. Rowan yarns are gorgeous but expensive, particularly when you need large quantities to make a throw rug. Detailed yarn specifications and hints for substitution would have been great.
I would buy this book for a beginner knitter, particularly who doesn't feel inspired by knitting scarves. Despite the photography which really is quite minimalist and appeals to adults, I think the patterns are great for children who are learning to knit. Using garter stitch squares and some funky coloured yarn they can make baskets, cushions and even blankets.
Overall it makes a great present for a new knitter. I'm hoping to inspire the person who will recieve this book and will package it in a string basket (made from the pattern in the book) with a set of needles and a ball of string.

This book is the EXACT same book as Erika Knight's book: Comforts of Home, simple knitted accents. "Simple Knits for Easy Living" was produced for England's market while the "Comforts of Home" was produced for the United States market.

I was very disappointed in the book and thought it lacked creativity. It's definitely TOO basic for an advanced knitter. Not at all worth buying.

This is an excellent book containing a variety of knitting tips and patterns for useful pieces for the home, such as blankets and cushions. It is a worthwhile investment for any knitter interested in creating useful and attractive objects for themselves or as gifts or heirlooms.

The templates are simple to code and work well.
The book can be downloaded for free online.
The download version is 2nd edition, whereas this
is only the 1st addition.

An excellent, concise book for the iterative solution of linear systems by a entire plethora of current researchers in the field. It not only quickly introduces the various iterative methods, stationary and non-stationary, e.g. Jacobi, SOR, Gauss-Seidel, Conjugate Gradient etc, but briefly analyses them in terms of current research whether unpreconditioned or preconditioned. In addition it considers other more specialised techniques involving domain decomposition and fast solvers. All round excellent although the book is available for free from the website. Definitely worth it.

This is a nice book for a person to get a good overview of iterative methods. The detail is often lacking, however the book is a good introduction to the field. The authors are some of the biggest names in the field and the book shows some insight into the theory and application of iterative methods.

I first checked this book out from my library because my husband and I wanted to get the most out of our four days at Disneyland with our two young children. This book had all the little details that we needed to know! We followed the suggested game plan and got on the most popular rides with hardly any wait times. And I loved knowing where some little out of the way resting spots are. I think everyone who is planning a vacation to the Anaheim area should read this book. It is filled with fantastic info.

There are some good hints here, but do not be mislead by the title. For a complete book on Disneyland and California Adventure, I highly recommend Birnbaum's Disneyland Resort 2003, Expert Advice From The Inside Source. Birnbaum's Disneyland is updated annually and published every year.

I was swept away with the various concepts and theories that Mr. Berry wrote about. Although some had a "Star Trek" like feel to them, I felt that his ideas were very promising, and the way that he proposed them were both intrigueing and informative. I look forward to reading any of his works with the same enthusiasm.

The author describes the work needed and the idea behind using black holes as space travel devices. A major hole in this theory, not unlike the time machine postulated by Frank Tipler Jr., is that we must first overcome the problem of inertia! Certainly a non-trivial problem in itself. The book describes the project needed to build an "Iron Sun", out of ferric dust in the neighboorhood of our solar system. Borrowing heavily from Von Neumann, he describes a construction device capable of reproduction that could be turned loose some 1 light year away (another trivial event!) and left to push together a self-contracting pile of iron dust that would collape into a ten-solar mass black hole. He goes on in some detail to describe the problems that this might create, physically and politically, not to mention economically. Also is a rather sketchy version of how two holes could be build and an Einstein-Rosen Bridge be somehow built between them, the science is hazy at this point. There is no mention of quantum effects such as non-locality that could account for this action. Even though, I enjoyed the book throughly and recommend it to anyone intereted in black holes or engineering projects in space.

I don't know what that other guy is talking about; this book is a masterpiece! From start to finish, it's a true work of art for children and adults alike. From the catchy little tune it plays when you press the button to the wonderful story that is written within, it truly is a great book. My child loves this book! He is always whistling the tune it plays and reciting the witty rhymes as he walks through the house. I can tell that he has really been touched by this wonderful little book. A++!!

What a great idea. The cover says, "Let your light shine! A story about helping others." And then quotes Matthew 5:15-16.

After that, it all goes wrong. It is a board book, so it is meant for toddlers and preschoolers. The writing doesn't make sense. Kids aren't taught what a light house really does. And they never tie in the idea of how Jesus and his love are light a light house and how we can be a light house for others. The text rhymed, but it wasn't very good.

Now, my kids liked the lighthouse that lit up and played music, but that's just about it. The story just didn't hold their interest. Or mine!

An excellent and easy read. Most anyone that likes the author, Steve Berry, will enjoy this. He is one of my favorite authors, along with Harlan Coban. He is consistantly very creative working with documented history and incorporating facts into fictional fun. Highly recommend.

pretty good story! i really enjoyed the concept and the books fast pace! looking forward to reading more of the author's works, thumbs up!

I liked most of the book. Some of it is pretty stereotypical in its depiction of the outsiders (non-Italians) being good guys and the insiders (Italians) being the bad guys, but someone has to be the good guy and someone has to be the bad guy or there would not be a story.

I was a little disappointed that the third secret was revealed at the end. It won't effect the enjoyment of the book very much if you know what the third secret is. Basic the third secret is every liberal American catholic's wet dream. Birth control and abortion is OK, so is homosexuality, and presumably non-marital sex of any kind, as long as there is some kind of love in the equation, and women can be priests.

If you buy into the idea that religion doesn't need to take a moral stance, than I guess you will appreciate the third secret. personally, i think the book would have been better off without revealing what the third secret was.

Even so, it is a good read, even with a few flaws.

Colin Michener is secretary to well-loved Pope Clement XV, and lately he has become concerned about the pope's behavior. He seems obsessed with one of the secrets contained within the Vatican's Riserva, a special room filled with historic documents available only to popes. In 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal, and Clement XV keeps entering the Riserva to read the documents related to the apparition. Clement is an old man, in failing health, and many believe he is not long for the world. His chosen secretary of state, Cardinal Alberto Valendrea, has big plans for his own papacy, just as soon as the annoying current pope is out of the way. He believes Clement is far too liberal, and Valendrea wants to advance his own highly conservative agenda, not to mention his plans for personal glorification. He will allow nothing to get in his way, and if a few inconvenient people have to be murdered along the way, they're just martyrs for the cause. On errands for the pope, Colin finds himself in Valendrea's sights, and also finds himself conflicted when the one woman he once loved reappears at critical moments. She's been hired by Valendrea to find out what Michener's errands for the pope are all about, but she finds her loyalties shifting back to the man she once loved, even though he once left her for the church.

This is a very well-researched novel with plenty of intrigue, but I find that my suspension of disbelief does not translate to religious matters. Catholics or people with an interest in religious practices will likely find a lot of fascinating subject matter in this book, but I fear it was wasted on me. Despite this, however, the book did hold my interest, and the final third was filled with gripping suspense. One big flaw that annoyed me for most of the book, however, was that the reader was left out of the loop. This is one of my least favorite plot devices. Everyone in the story seemed to know all about the Third Secret of Fatima and why it was so shocking, but the author didn't bother to let us in on the details until near the end. That's just bad form. If the protagonist knows, I need to know. Rather than making me want to read faster so I can be caught up to speed, this tactic makes me lose interest in the story. Why should I care what's driving these people to do all the things they're doing if I don't know what it is?

Religious differences and that point aside, however, this was a pretty good book. I'm sure some would find the things I did not care for quite fascinating. Steve Berry isn't the best thriller author out there, but he's a solid writer and his books are fairly well-plotted and worth reading.

AGHH!! STEVE!!! After reading The Third Secret for a second time, the first being years ago when it just came out (and I had forgotten much of it), I was devastated to learn that you simply had the wrong secret! All along I thought I knew exactly what the secret was that the popes agonized over: that the Virgin Mary wanted the church to revert back to the pastoral church of Christ, drop the gold and riches, the pomp and circumstance, and become once again the true and simple church of God. Take away the power and corruption and concentrate only on the red words of the New Testament. Her request should have been to to return the wealth to the people, and for that reason the popes kept the secret tightly hidden in the vault. Everyone knows that the Catholic Church can't do that! Also, this time I listened to the books-on-tape version and I was seriously disappointed that there was no "author's note" explaining what was real and what was artistic license. Author Steve Berry obviously did some incredible research on the subject and I'd love to know if his version of the Marian apparitions is accurate. Perhaps the book has an author's note as explanation. I am a huge Steve Berry fan and would love to give him 5 stars for his effort, but the revelation of the secret was just too whacky for me. Sorry, Steve.

not bad, like most have posted already, more character developement would have really helped out the story,
that being said, i did enjoy the book and will continue with the series.

Unfortunately, this book left a lot to be desired. Mediocre character development and almost obsessive overuse of "big words", almost to the exclusive point of proving the author can use them. For example, the word ensconse was used 2-3 times in the the course of 2 or 3 chapters, and then dissapeared completely from the author's vocabulary. And who uses the word eidetic in everyday conversation?

Perhaps the biggest problem I had w/ the story was how the author conveniently "forgot" to reconcile the resolution of the story w/ the well described goal of Cassiopeia Vitt's desire to bring down Christianity. It was an incomplete story.

For its good points, the author did develop some suspense and did hold my attention at times. He was able to create a very intricate story line and built-in mystery.

This definitely a "genre book" - a bit of a clunky attempt to duplicate Dan Brown's writing, almost as if the writer is a fan and decided to give it a try, too. The plot is interesting, although it does meander a LOT with meaningless episodes that don't contribute much to the story. At times it appears that he used the thesaurus on Microsoft Word to edit his writing - for some reason the characters never "reply" or "say" - they "make clear" as in "It's time to go," Malone made clear" - which is a really weird construct he uses over and over again. But the real problem is that this genre isn't so much writing as describing - the dialogue, pacing, and plot unfolds as if the author is trying to describe a movie rather than write a book. At any rate, its mildly entertaining, but feel free to skip over boring parts to get to the end. As this genre goes this book is amateurish.

Most of the book is a pretty well crafted and readable story. If you like this genre (secret societies and such) you may well like this novel.

Parts of the book, especially some of the characters, really needed some development. I found the character of the spy boss Stephenie to be completely unbelievable. She just did things you would expect a competent spy boss not to do.

The main character, Cotton, is better defined and a more believable character.

A lot of the action scenes (shooting and fighting and such) are not well thought out. It does not appear the author has a good feel for that kind of stuff.

I was a little disappointed at the end when after murdering who knows how many people, the author allowed the modern day Knights Templar to turn into good guys without having to pay the price for the many, many crimes they committed in the book.

The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry is an enjoyable read. The story covers all the same old Templar histories, but the author's added insights especially on the conflicts found in the gospels is refreshing. That truth is not the enemy of faith is once again proved out in this story of modern day Templars struggling between righting ancient wrongs and remaining true to the foundations of their order. The clues and puzzles that drive all the characters and the rights and wrongs of their own personal pasts add intrigue and scope. The story also has a small important part of modern life that most literature totally ignores, that of the divorced man who is living away from his children. What gives this story real worth is that the reader is left to weigh the value of truth, wealth, and knowledge against each other. This is a book of many puzzles some are blatant and others merely nuances.

Steve Berry delivers another globe-hopping thriller with retired US operative Cotton Malone attempting to live a quiet life running a bookshop in Copenhagen. Retirement comes to an abrupt halt when he escapes the assassins who burn down his bookshop and tell him they have kidnapped his son. Cotton is forced to join forces with his acerbic ex-wife Pam when it seems assassins may be on her tail, as well. They get their son back, but then they find themselves caught between ancient organizations: the Guardians of the Library at Alexandria, pledged to keep its secrets safe, and the Order of the Golden Fleece, a ruthless sect of the powerful who meet in secret and who have vowed to claim the Library for themselves. Accompanying Cotton and Pam is the Order's pet assassin, who has a few plans of his own regarding the library.

At the same time, treachery is afoot in the US government with the president, vice president, secretary of state, and the heads of several security departments all mistrusting each other as a web of secrets and lies is unraveled. Some find this kind of thriller gripping. Unfortunately, I find it a bit tiresome, and in this book, everything that was happening inside the government was not essential to the main plot of Cotton Malone following a quest to the lost Library of Alexandria. This is also the third Steve Berry book I've read starring an idiotic and unlikeable female lead. When Pam Malone, yet again acting stubborn and stupid, gets herself shot, I found myself wishing they'd put her down then and there. This author obviously has some issues with women. The author also seems way out of touch with children. Gary Malone was supposed to be 15 but came across as a 10-year-old in size, maturity, vocabulary, and deed.

I think they're a dime a dozen, but thrillers involving clueless protagonists doing a lot of chasing around the globe while unaware of the web of lies surrounding them as they follow a trail of clues in close proximity to the know-it-all bad guys are pretty popular. Some such books are sometimes a thrill to read, but often they miss the mark and fail to grab my interest. Since this book also contained one of my least favorite plot devices of all the characters knowing something that was kept from me until the very end, it failed to grab my interest.

With the phenomenal success of the Da Vinci Code, it is no surprise that more novels of such genre surface the market. I bought this book expected to find some aspects of the Alexandria Library history, as I learnt about Da Vinci's work from the Code. To my disappointment, nothing of such nature is found here. The name Alexandria Library is mentioned only as the reference point as the origin of the Link. No other history trial is covered. The majority of the book is dedicated to the hunt of such "treasure." The most boring part for me is when they are trying to decipher the clues, the way it was portrayed in the Code, but this time only ten percent as good. I stopped reading it after having covered about 3/4 of the book, didn't want to waste my time further.

I got this book for free when I went to a free screening of Sweeney Todd which was sponsored by The New York Times. The book was not bad but I felt like I was watching National treasure. The beginning of each chapter was really frustrating because I was always, "wait who are these people again". The story was poorly organized the author could have added some clever conversations. The dialogue was so stiff.

Waaaaaaaaaaay too much description of the setting! Seriously, 1/3rd of this book could be eliminated, chalked up as irrelevant. The storyline itself, though, was really good. A completely enjoyable plot, once you get through being dragged through an architectural tour of a ton of different historical sites.

A well written novel that does well by drawing the reader into the story. But the premise is week and poorly researched. The author's understanding of Bibilical History and classical Hebrew are limited at best, as is his knowledge of the literarly devices commonly used in Classical Hebrew.

Having said that, this is yet another attempt to discredit Biblical truth, both that of the Jewish faith and of Christian faith. It seems every author has to try it at one point. Yet all who have tried have succeed only in showing their ignorance and unwillingness to accept truth.

I do like this author, though, and if you are able to look beyond these shortcomings, you will probably enjoy the tale.