Burnett Books

This is a real stay up late can't put down book. Don't miss it and don't think it can't happen here.

I found that reading the series begun with Term Limits, it helps to read them in order of writing, as they build on previous issues. Transfer of Power is the second in the series, and I found it very hard to put down, just as I did Term Limits. I have finished the next two in the series, The Third Option and Separation of Powers, and I find all of Flynn's books full of incredible knowledge of the FBI, CIA and a full grasp of the pitiful inadequacy of our present Congress and the political system in general. I strongly recommend that all Americans read these books. All those who think "all is well" in Washington will have their eyes opened.

This is the second Flynn novel that I have read, and I had higher hopes with the introduction of Mitch Rapp. The first novel was a bit better, mainly because this seems a little drawn out. The dialogue is weaker, and character development is minimal. The action sequences are pretty good, but they make up a small portion of the book. My favorite authors are Lee Child, and Barry Eisler. True, neither writes a political thriller, but the character development is far superior, and the action/violence is well choreographed.

I first heard (or read, rather) about Flynn while browsing on Amazon. I found this book in a used book store and decided to give it a try. I was thinking maybe it would be overly patriotic and flag waving, and it's certainly no doubt that Flynn's loyalty is with Israel when it comes to the middle east, but it didn't make the novel less enjoyable.

Becusue enjoyable it is. Flynn combines great action with political intrigue and despite being almost 550 pages (paperback edition) the pace never slows down. The book has good characters but there's not really any character development. Mitch Rapp is a good hero and I wouldn't mind reading more of Flynn's books. Recommended

What a horrible book! I tried to read it but I just couldn't take it anymore. I stopped in the middle of what this writer considers action, and I don't even care how it ends.
There are just too many unjustified descriptions obviously put it to make the book long. Thus writer must want long books like Clancy but is going about it the wrong way. I don't care to know what color a lady's fingernails are when she points at something. I don't care what kind of shirt someone is wearing. I don't care about this book nor Vince Flynn's other books.
Way too many incorrect references. One example is MP-5's are used not MP-10's unless you want to kill everybody including the hostages. Also at the beginning why even bother with a SEAL team if the "hero" of the book does all the work. I know that writers want to show their character as a bad to the bone but even James Bond always called in help and even let them do some of the fighting.
If this is the standard of writing to expect from todays writers then I am missing out, because I have some stories that I wrote when I was 5 that are better than this. Heck I could even start writing now. It seams that no research is required anymore to get the mass public to make a star out of a writer like Vince Flynn.
There is no way that I will ever pass this book onto someone else. I won't even donate it, I will just burn it.

Wow! This is our first novel by Vince Flynn that we have read - and it certainly won't be our last!

What a find. Vince Flynn is a fantastic writer in this genre. Just with this book alone, we like him better than Tom Clancy. Flynn juggles action/adventure and political intrigue with aplomb. Not an easy feat.

Mitch Rapp is a CIA operative that actually works outside the web of counter terrorism task forces, the ultimate assassin for the USA that takes care of dirty business that not even the president knows all about.

This book shows that Vince Flynn can handle solid and numerous characters that are not the typical, but interesting and deep. The husband and wife team of assassins, the showing of their internal strife while on a mission, was a breath of fresh air in the literary world. Not often you see solid character writing like this for the bad guys. (You even start to feel for the bad guys.)

We have just purchased 5 more books from this author, and will be reviewing them as soon as we can get to them. So many great writers and books out there!

If you haven't discovered Vince Flynn yet, and you like espionage-type adventure novels that Hollywood would salivate to make, then you need to try this author out.

The story is predictable to a point. The novel very entertaining. If you know the character Mitch Rapp, you already know he will prevail. Unlike some other Rapp novels, his character is much more believable & human in this one. The international tale is nicely woven & written. There's a good little twist used to finish the story

This book was a gift for my son, an avid reader. I had read several of Vince Flynn's books ( not this one ) and knew he would enjoy a fast paced spy novel by this acclaimed writer. A good buy.

Deadly skills+revenge=Exciting book.
The presidential support is fun to read as well. Wish we had current leadership like that.

Although I read the book when it first came out, I'm now enjoying the incomparable reading of the audio book by George Guidel. He is the best voice I've heard, with the possible exception of Kenneth Branagh doing the 1st Narnia book. As far as the book is concerned: SPOILER ALERT: Thank heaven the atrocious wife Anna is no longer cluttering up the bookscape with her insufferable ego and disrespect for her husband and his work. From her tendency to be late (which invariably means that the person who is late considers her own time important and yours of no value) to her attempts to worm secrets out of the man who die to protect her (and all of us), there were times when I wanted to blow her up myself. She may have served a purpose in showing that even superman Mitch has a weak spot in his brain by getting involved with this gal, but gosh I'm glad she's gone.For that alone, this book would be worth the money. I've read every one of Vince Flynn's books and I've preordered the newest one. Go Vince!

In Clear and Present Danger, we get an insiders look at the danger of acting against national security threats outside the traditional channels of military use. We also get a sense of the danger of inaction against such dangerous targets. In this case, the danger is the war on drugs, specifically cocaine. A covert strike team is dispatched to Colombia which is still in the throes of left-wing terrorists who take kickbacks from the narcoterrorists and help protect drug dealers. The book deals with the famous John Clark, a legendary (in Clancy's books) black ops operator. Clark sets up the team which deals blows to the narcoterrorists but has repercussions for the civilians who get caught in the way. But at some point, Ritter (who set up the covert ops) has to cut them loose for deniability. Jack Ryan jumps into the fray. He won't let American troops hang out on a limb. Ryan was promoted to CIA DDI and can't let them die on the vine. He heads down to South America to rescue them with the help of John Clark. Ryan is trying to do what is both morally right and legally - not always a fine line. So the book intersects law, politics and morality. In addition, we get the continuity of the great characters that Clancyites enjoy - Admiral Greer and John Clark. This book is where Clark and Chavez meet - and become an inseparable black ops team for future books.

This is an incredible book. Mr. Clancy has managed to weave an extremely complex story of drugs, betrayal, murder, honor and ultimately justice. Woven throughout this book's pages are many great moral values, creating a truly positive reading experience.
QUICK NOTE
This book has high levels of violence (hey it's a military novel) and not a little swearing. (Comprable every two hours of reading to a rated R war film.

Drug spy morals.


Jack Ryan is promoted, and not pleased to find out about very dodgy drug operations being run in Colombia.

He and a military officer work together when revenge is taken on the CIA for interfering in the drug business to try and salvage a dangerous situation.

A pretty standard Clancy book.

Being someone that is not really into reading books, this book totally took me away. I really felt like I was living the fight with the story. Great book, highly recomend it.

This is the best Clancy book I've read. It doesnt have much of Jack ryan but it does have a bit more about the military than some of his other books. It also has Mr. Clark in some action in the end.

Any American general or president who leads an army against jihadist Islam deserves our almost unqualified respect in a West that comes across as comfort-driven, welfare-pandering, entertainment-drugged, and seemingly too cowardly to defend itself. Both Tommy Franks and George Bush will stand tall in the annals of future history, as always defined by military prowess, long after the topical dust of our shallow, politically correct culture settles and fades into television-commercial oblivion.

However, it's important NOT to take a book by Tommy Franks at face value. The brutal realities of fighting "our worst enemy since the civil war" will never be articulated in a world whose impression of any hard reality must first pass muster with Sunday School simplicity prompted by history- and context-free self-congratulation. "Guns aren't nice," some superficial wives sloganeer, and "Make love not war," effortlessly proclaiming a self-righteousness that is both unearned and dangerous to any hope of a durable peace.

Accordingly, "American Soldier" is an unfortunate chronicle of media-palatible commentary about military and personal events that might be drawn quite otherwise if free-speech were truly to prevail in Tommy Franks' life as an honest spokesman of military wisdom. After all, he freely acknowledges his 4-starness to having been selected by Bill Clinton; he's a "Clinton general" in his own words. Must we ask what kind of commanding general would have been chosen by former presidential candidate Al Sharpton? Generals-in-waiting surely come in all chevrons, from Marxist liberals to Axis militarists. The commander-in-chief "of the moment" chooses. Today we want our military leaders to feign ideological innocence while being supported by a statistics-savvy management mechanism. Good luck, but it's ruthlessness and a whatever-it-takes aggressiveness that win wars, not media accountability or other facile diplomacy.

Those who've attended the general's public lectures will recognize right away that he's not the Erwin Rommel, George Patton, or Tadimichi Kuribayashi they might have hoped for. Even so, let us acknowledge his predictable standing applause from largely World War II veterans everywhere: a salute to a universal code of military fighting spirit that has existed in all times and that will stand independent of the political surface.

Too bad that Gen. Franks often chooses to portray a "Gomer Pyle" persona to audiences that expect to hear even more saber-rattling than is now fashionable. He shrinks from being more germane than political reality allows. Yes, we would much rather fight on foreign shores than at home. But shouldn't we also prefer to fight NOW rather than selfishly defer our battles to future generations? Too often, our orientation to politics is greedy, too apt to defer deprivations that might interfere with our own comforts. The example of our Spartan forebears will only vaguely influence us, though a strong Christian military in the West would surely benefit from a plunge into our Greco-Roman-Viking past!

If you enjoy military biographies, this is one of the very best I've ever read.

I read this book when it first came out, and out of the thousands of books I have read over some 60 years, it is one of the most unforgettable. This man came out of the dust and dirt of Oklahoma and Midland, Texas to enter the Army as a grunt boot, and when he was getting on the bus to report to the Army, his Dad simply said "Make em a hand, son" which in West Texanese means, "Whatever they teach you to do, Son, do a good job for them!" And did he ever----Commander of the greatest Military Force in the History of this planet! An unforgettable true story that should make all Americans proud.

15 June 2008 - Even though I was "in the military" during Operation Iraqi Freedom and watched CNN every day this book did an amazing job detailing OIF from start to the end of phase three. Gen Franks offers his insightful account of History at one of the major "creases" in American History. Gen Franks stands tall above the Washington blame game and instead focuses on successes and failures, why those failures may have occurred, and HIS solutions to some of those failures. This is a must read for anyone who criticizes our presents in Iraq.

I will admit my bias - I am a huge "fan" of General Franks. This book is about his life, his perspectives and experiences. There is a ton of stuff we'd never get to know about if it weren't for this book. One thing I admired most was his professionalism in writing it. If you're looking for some "tell all" expose, this ain't it. General Franks speaks respectfully about his bosses throughout the book. I know some readers won't like that, but to me it was refreshing.

Having been already exposed to both film versions of the book, I was finally curious enough to engage myself in this classic and this time with my seven year old daughter.

Needless to say this is a fairly direct departure from the films. Sara Crewe and her world is not the sappy musical world of Shirley Temple nor the melodrama of the more recent version. This is an exploration of character. Sara Crewe is struggling with her identity and the toolkit she had built up to cope with life and discovers that poverty and cruelty cannot repair a hungry stomach or a lonely heart. Readers may be surprised by the ending which is far less melodramatic than the film and frankly much better. This book is a more gentle Oliver Twist. It is a reminder to us all that we cannot hide from the torments of the world around us. Instead we must face the trials of society if we are to make them better.
At the end of the story, Sara learns the true meaning of being a Princess and the ending is as poignant as anything I have read for it is real drama based on real situations.

Just as a caution please be aware the language is a bit dated. The term 'queer' is used to describe strange long before other meanings were added on. The term 'oriental' and 'yellow man' were used as well but this is just a reflection of the time, not overt racism.

This book is about a rightly raised little girl and how she turns out - nearly PERFECT. This goes to show parents to BE NICE TO THEIR dependant and helpless little kids - brats are raised by @sshole parents, NOT by kind and loving parents, as Sarah's dad had been. It is about a very serious battle of the Self. Sarah says to every one "me and you are the same. it just so happens that I was born rich and you born poor." It doesn't make us WHO we are." which is true, but then her self-doubt manifests "who knows? maybe I am kind and generous because I have everything I could ever want. I give someone 100 pence and I don't lose anything because I have many many more. maybe if I was poor or had to work I'd be cruel and just a total Miss Michnkin or something." Note: these quotes are not exact from the book.

at this, "the Magic" steps in so that she DOES become poor and wretched, and thus proves to herself that she is who she is BECAUSE SHE IS, NOT because of being rich and doesn't work. Being poor and wretched gives the child the opportunity to manifest her inate kindness in unprecedented ways, like giving other people food when SHE herself had been so cold, wet and very hungry. See, she could not have proven this to herself had she stayed rich, and she apparantly needed to. All in all, a beautiful story of truimph of good over evil, abundance over poverty, exuberance over stale bread, and self security over self doubt (which she didn't have before). A truimph of the SELF shown where it always begins in life - in childhood. We are used to seeing this type of stuff in adults but adults do NOT have the same battles as children do. For one, adults are not helpless, dependant, and our battles are not as serious life-and-death. so, whatever empathy we have for other adults, should be increased a thousand times for children, like this soldier this little girl. yeay!

Good to see that readers are still enjoying this marvelous 1905 book which makes it a century old. Reminiscent of Dickens, but mercifully shorter, the prose flows in beautiful rhythms keeping young readers and readers like myself who are young at heart poised to keep on reading to find out what becomes of our tough little heroine.

Sara had a charmed life as an only and beloved child which fortified her through later immense difficulties as she fell from riches to rags. Her ability to tell stories and to help others saved her from the appalling treatment she received from the aptly named Miss Minchin. The author's own life (1849-1924) as a child parallels that of her heroine.

Young readers will find Sara a loving spirit to emulate. We are truly THERE with her on every page. When she eats her hot cross buns and tea we long for the same. Although drawn out at the end, the book ends at a surprising and perfect place.

My son and daughter were both enchanted by this story as I read it to them a few weeks ago. We all fell in love with Sara and her very active imagination. She inspired us to do good, as she did.

I thought it provided an excellent opportunity for us to discuss how important it is to treat others with respect, even when you think you will gain nothing from it. Sara seemed to be nothing more than a lowly pauper, but the man who chose to provide some beautiful things for the pauper next door was so immensely blessed by having done so. Conversely, Miss Minchin thought she could treat Sara in a humiliating demeaning fashion, but it ultimately brought her harm. Thus, there is value in being kind to everyone we meet. This point wasn't made in the story (I know that would turn some people off), I just thought it worth using the story to drive home the point.

Anyway, it is worth reading for more reasons than just that it is a great story, but it definitely is that.

When I was in third grade, I longed for a story that I could actually enjoy and remember nearly everything that goes on. You see, I couldn't find ANYTHING interesting until I found Secret Garden, Black Beauty, and A Little Princess, all of which I literally COULDN'T PUT DOWN. Now in fifth grade, I continue to read these books again and again and again and again and again and again and again and... you get the picture. $[...] is a great price for a book like this. If you have not yet read this, I strongly reccomend you read it. You will be blown away at this.

Hope you enjoy the story!

-[EoN] FrenchFryMayo

This book is one of my favorite Tom Clancy books. I have read all his books many times. In this book, we learn about two men who have intel on Communist/Left-wing Soviet Union's emerging missile defense program. One man is CARDINAL, a Soviet Army Colonel who lost his sons to Communist indifference. He is America's highest placed spy. And the KGB is running him down. An American is trying to save this hero and stop a potential war. Nuclear strategies are intertwined in Clancy's best global strategy book to date. Jack Ryan is at his best as an analyst chasing down some unusual structures in the southern Soviet Union - responsible for downing a satellite with a laser. Cardinal is sending details about this program, risking exposure. It was great to see the introduction of Mary Pat, a female CIA operative, who threads through the subsequent Clancy books. The plotting is excellent. The characterization is solid. Clancy is at his best in this fine work.

Michael Mandaville, Author - "Stealing Thunder"

this is one of Clancy's better novels, it has a little of everything, Military, intel gathering in the field, counter-espionage, and CIA operations. It isnt a big Clark book but it is still good.

The Cardinal of the Kremlin features a situation that could only been constructed by Clancy. The cold war is at its peak, and tensions are running high with both countries independently developing there own space laser systems. The Americans are doing fairly well and are advancing rapidly seeing as they know what it is that they are doing, but the Soviets are working with the best that they have and have already accidentally managed to create a working laser. CIA witnesses the laser blast and asks there inside man in the Soviet government CARDINAL to relay the info. It is now reveled that the CIA's inside man in the Kremlin is Colonel Filitov, the three-time hero of the Soviet Union and disgruntled patriot. But because CARDINALs courier is burned, they must retrieve their info some other way. The need Mary-Pat Foley to be a direct pick up with CARDINAL. The KGB catches them, but because Foley has diplomatic immunity she is deported but Filitov isn't so lucky. He is arrested. CIA knows what the Soviets do with spies so now they have to decide what to do about Filitov. Do they leave him to die or do they show loyalty to the agent that that loyalty provided information for over thirty years? The Cardinal of the Kremlin is a great book that is more Spy craft and ethics than action and gadgets.

I had read this book previously, but wanted to read it again. Clancey's books are just too good to read only once.

I do not like Tom Clancy. I despise his totalitarian amoral politics and I canNOT stand him slapping his readers with them in his latest oversized and underwritten duds.

However, Tom Clancy was once an EXCELLENT technothriller writer. He might not have invented the genre, yet he launched it into the stratosphere.

This is HIS BEST BOOK and it is actually very good.
The mid-80's Cold-War atmosphere, the paranoia, the double-agents, the clandestine methods and the hardware are all expertly presented.
Now, him being, well...Clancy there still are stereotypes and bigoted characters galore. Deciding to overcome this however, the reader can actually enjoy this one.

Do not judge CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN based on his deteriorated career.

This was the best Camel Club book in the series. The writing is fast-paced and it makes the reader want to find out what happens next. David Baldacci is the next John Grisham. I am so anxious to find out when the next one is coming out. I won't tell you what happens in this book but suffice it to say that the Camel Club is on full tilt.

I've never read Baldacci before but after reading this book I am super excited to read the rest of his work. Stone Cold is a great page turner. I actually found myself thinking of actors to play the characters in the book. Baldacci paints perfect pictures without weighing the reader down in minute details. Every page felt important. The good guys are easy to root for, the bad guys easy to fear and root against.

You made it to this page considering purchasing this book, do it, you won't be disappointed. Pick up Camel Club as well, it will help with character development, although not necessary because I started with this book.

The third story of The Camel Club will keep you on the cutting-edge of your seat that you might fall. The three stories herein are great so you won't be able to close the book till you finish it. The plot and the characters are great and the pace is fast so you'll enjoy reading this one.

I had read one other book in the "Camel Club" series and was disappointed. However, after seeing all the great reviews for this book I decided to give the series another shot (plus I have just gotten a Kindle and it was cheap :-)). Once again I was disappointed. I would have given this 1-star, but Balducci's writing style is interesting - he moves the plot (what there is of it) along at a good pace. However, the characters were flat/one-dimensional with no depth. The 'bad guys' always make mistakes at just the right time and the 'good guys' are basically superheroes that always make the right move. The plot is driven by superhuman achievements by the heroes and by ridiculous coincidences. No more "Camel Club" books for me...

Stone Cold is a mind magnet that pulls you from page to page.

The action moves at a blistering pace, but stops every now and then so you can catch your breath and enjoy the clever and witty prose.

The characters are rich and deep as needed for a thriller to move with agility and purpose along a sharp plotline.

Bestseller Baldacci gets another solid hit----5 stars!

This one really slowed down in the middle. I would say at about the 3/4 mark it picked up and I enjoyed it from that point forward. This one is not as strong as some of Flynn's others like "Consent to Kill".

Scary but realistic story but not for me. I'd rather escape if I'm going to read fiction. However if you like hard hitting, current event based action and intelligence genre novels, you will love this.

This may be my favorite Rapp novel. I like the threads and how they weave together. I read this one the quickest of all Flynn's books, so that is a very strong endorsement.

Another great segment in the Vince Flynn series. Well worth the time to read.

This book was memorable to me for how well the author, Vince Flynn, described a military attack on a terrorist camp. Also it was memorable for how well Flynn described how a terrorist cell could plan and carry out a nuclear attack on the United States.

The author uses Mitch Rapp, CIA operative, to carry us chapter by chapter through what I can only describe as one of the best suspense thrillers that I have ever read, or seen on TV or in the movies. I was sweating during the attack on the terrorist's camp and up to the last chapter I was on the edge of my seat.

This story is of our war against terrorism that we are waging today and after you read it, I believe you will had made a decision on how it should be fought. The author has a talent for painting images in my mind and writing short chapters to blend one event smoothly into the next.

Excellent is the only word that comes to mind to describe Vince Flynn's ability to tell a story like this of government with all it's complex agencies and levels of bureaucracies in a way that makes the people within seem real and creates a suspense thriller with events that really hit home and is so memorable.

After reading this I'm sure that you will feel as I do that we can only hope that there are real Mitch Rapps out there.

Rather than focusing on the political aspects of a dystopia, Anderson focuses on the cultural aspects. Almost everyone has an implanted "feed" from a very young age which gives them access to unlimited information, but also seems to allow corporations unlimited access to the individual. Everyone is constantly bombarded with offers and news of sales from corporations. This has the somewhat predictable result of dumbing down the population, to the point where all they care about are stupid shows on the feed, and shopping. But wait, that sounds kind of familiar.

There are other repercussions of the feed. People seem to be developing lesions, which continue unexplained throughout the book. By the end of the book, they have become fashion statements, with people who don't have them getting them surgically implanted. But where they come from, and why, is never explained.

Also never explained is the meaning behind the attack that is described at the beginning of the book, causing several characters' feeds to malfunction. Why was the attack carried out? Did it represent some larger faction of society that was disenchanted with the feeds?

Typically, I think, dystopic novels focus on the dissenters or malcontents. Having read this book, which touches on those who rebel only slightly, I can see why that trend developed. Quite frankly, reading about people who buy into the system is just not as interesting. Still, this was a good read, with an interesting premise.

It's easy enough to compare every dystopia book to 1984 or "Brave New World". Yet here's a dystopia book directed towards a completely different audience, we, the internet generation - teenagers. Aside from the completely different sort of world, "Feed" touches on a number of entirely different themes from the most famous dystopia novels.

Yet "Feed" does the same ultimate thing "Brave New World" did for me - it made my brain hurt, provided me with some food for thought, and made me a bit nauseous. It takes me to a whole new world full of familiarities yet starkly... worse. For instance, the internet, instead of being a fundamental part of my life, IS my life and is literally jacked into my brain. Fun, right?

Well, summer vacation has taught me that the internet gets boring after a while, as do numerous other services the "feed" provides. Main character Titus tells his story loosely and somewhat confusingly (there's a lot of "modern", made-up slang - there were some words that I still didn't understand until the end of the book), but the world is clear (radiation poisoning is mentioned casually at some point, indicating towards a wider world beyond the small, teen confines of the story).

"Feed" is something of a boy's book, but it's a welcome dystopia, especially in that it's clearly its own story. It's not an easy read and catching onto the made-up slang is a bit difficult, but rather interesting. Some will see themselves reflected in these characters and even in this weird kind of world. The ending is confusing and will make you scratch your head, flipping a few pages back to understand. And while there are messages etched deep into the book, it's also simply enjoyable and thought-provoking.

Highly recommended.

In this text directed at young adults, I found myself bereft of compassion and hard to relate to the cold almost robotic emotions and actions of the cast. However, about half way into my forced endeavor (you see, this was a classroom assigned text) I found myself unable to stop reading.

It's the 1984 of a new generation. This book should be on reading lists worldwide, and more specifically on the classroom reading lists of its intended audience. The spoiled, self-centered children we are producing today could greatly benefit from reading about a world which shows the cold, artificial consequences of a consumer-driven society without human remorse. Without love. Without compassion.

This book is subtle and can use the guiding hand of an educated instructor but I truly believe it will survive as one of the great dystopian works of our time. And as much as Free Speech advocates quote Orwell today, I can only hope that my grandchildren will be quoting from Anderson when corporations are deciding the healthcare reforms of a nation so obsessed with capital gains. Then again, I can only hope that day never arrives.

Everything must go.

The story in itself is very well written. The launguage used makes it a bit more for teens 13+ years old. I enjoyed this book alot. The ending is very disturbing, but makes you think about the world. I won't give it away, but I would still recomend this book.

It's been a long time since I read a book aimed at "young adults" since I'm no longer in the age category, nor do I know anyone who is. I think it's always important to keep in mind the intended audience for a book, so I went into this expecting something that was going to try to reach "teens these days," and I think this book, a sort of Philip K. Dick/Anthony Burgess combo, definitely succeeds in doing that, and in a way that wasn't overly preachy or condescending.

Feed takes place in a future America where everyone can have a chip implanted when they are very young that basically streams internet and television inside your head constantly. You can communicate by a sort of combo telepathy/text messaging from one person's feed to another, or instantly look up some fact or watch a TV show. Commercials also play in your head constantly, and in a satire on direct marketing and cookie trackers, the companies that tap into your feed develop a sort of "profile" of your likes and dislikes, and thus the commercials and/or suggestions you get on what to buy are pre-geared toward something you'd likely want. You can, conveniently, also purchase items via the feed using credit.

The story follows Titus, a teen from a relatively wealthy family. He's on spring break with his friends on the Moon, which they "thought would be fun but turned out to suck," when he meets Violet, a strange, pretty girl on the Moon by herself. Titus and his friends convince her to come along to some sort of club--despite the fact that she's a little odd and uses words longer than three syllables--where the group is attacked by a hacker who infects their feeds with a virus.

The rest of the story mainly follows Titus and Violet as they build a relationship. Violet, coming from a somewhat nonconformist family, got her feed much later in life, and, thus, isn't as influenced by the illiterate consumerism as Titus and his friends (and, it seems, most of America) are. She tries to make Titus see what is actually happening in the world around him--politically, socially and environmentally--but Titus would rather tune out and watch something on his feed. If he gets really bothered, maybe he'll buy a new shirt to feel better. The lesson here for young readers is one of warning--if our current trend of text shorthand, instantaneous gratification and absolutely irresponsible consumerism and use of credit continues exponentially, we could develop into a culture similar to the one portrayed in this book. Throughout the book, the America the characters live in seems to be in constant threat of war or just complete environmental meltdown, and yet--no one (other than the few "radical" dissidents) cares. Can we become a culture that gets so obsessed with buying our way to happiness that we completely lose track of reality? Can we get so dependent on modern forms of communication that we forget how to read or speak eloquently? It's doubtful the world would ever devolve so dramatically, but it's not a warning to just quickly forget while you move on to read the newest celeb blog...

I don't really know how to rate this book; I could give it 5 stars for its impressive and effective depiction of what life in the Early Cretaceous might have been life for a Utahraptor, or I could give it 3 stars for its (probable; we'll never know) departure from reality and its chimerical fantasy-style romanticism. I guess I'll give it 4.

I really did like this book, and have read it 3 or so times. That said, it falls more under "Fantasy" (in my opinion, one of the worst genres, with a few exceptions) than "science fiction" and certainly "science".

Robert T. Bakker is a well known, influencial, and at times somewhat controversial paleontologist. In his novel "Raptor Red", he also proves he can be an entertaining and fairly talented author. The story is set 120 million years ago in the Western United States. The protagonist is a female Utah Raptor caught up in an epic and often harsh story of survival. The tale has plenty of action ranging from battles between various kinds of prehistoric life(large and small), a massive deluge, kronosaurs going after dinosaurs on the beach like killer whales hunting seals, and the climatic confrontation with a pack of smaller raptors in a snowy mountain region. Throughout it all, Bakker weaves in some of his concepts of dinosaurs and their adaptations without letting himself get bogged down in those details. The story that emerges is a grand tale of evolution, life, and struggle in the natural world. Bakker's characters are surprisingly intelligent without being silly. True, at times (like other reviewers if I'm not mistaken) I wondered if they were a little too intelligent for dinosaurs, but then again, they may have been smarter than people often give them credit for.
One reason I read "Raptor Red" was a sense of nostalgia remembering the days as a kid when I would go to the library and check out books on dinosaurs. I remembered Bakker from Discovery Channel documentaries and hoped this novel would be satisfactory. Overall it was excellent. I wouldn't reccommend it for very young readers due to the violence and Bakker's occassional use of language. In conclusion, a good story by an imaginative writer.

Raptor romance?

Bakker, an eminent palaeontologist has come up with a novel. Basically, a life study as he follows the travels and adventures, if you can call if that, of a female of the velociraptor species. If that sort of realistic animal tale appeals, then you will perhaps like this book a bit more than I did. I like Bakker's other work, have read his papers etc., but this was a bit blah.

Simply one of the best books I've ever read! You have to read it to understand. It's written from the perspective of a living dinosaur---a raptor---by an author who loves dinosaurs and has an incredible ability to recreate the world in which they lived. Read it and you'll never forget it! Has my highest recommendation.

This book is fun to read and loved by every member of my family young and old alike. The book can be read easily in an afternoon. My only complaint is that there aren't more like it.