Nova Books

This was a great follow-up to confirm what I had previously read in "1421 the Year the Chinese Disvovered America" His research was extensive and his tie in to 1421 was great.

Easy and a delight to read, Paul Chaisson's The Island of Seven Cities both informed me of the early Chinese in North America and inspired me to read more. Having already read Gavin Menzies 1421 - The Year China Discovered the World and complimented with some background while I was in China on reading Bamber Gascoigne's The Dynasties of China, I can't help but concur the Chinese had every tool, skill and knowledge to have almost conqured the world. Had it not for the Mandarins taking control in the late 1400's and closing China to the world, we'd all be speaking Chinese! Paul Chaisson uncovered an historic miracle of a magnitude yet to recognized on a strategic island off the East coast of Canada. Yes, he'll be chastised by the "experts" as Menzies has, but in the immortal words of Winston Churchill about truth; "...there it is." Great reading, hard to put down, well researched with what must be 30 pages of superb Notes and Bibliography! A must read for anyone intrested in the TRUE story of world history. I'm impressed! BTW: My daughter's courses in World History at the University of Southern California made Chinese history of world discovery as per Menzies' book required reading.

The book received was consistent with what I ordered. It arrived in a timely manner.

One of Architect Paul Chiasson's motivation to writing THE ISLAND OF SEVEN CITIES: WHERE THE CHINESE SETTLED WHEN THEY DISCOVERED AMERICA was his life changing experience of facing mortality. Chiasson discovered he was HIV-positive. Although the book is not an autobiography of his experience, there is semi-autobiographical information that he shares with his readers, which inspired him to write the book, revisiting his birthplace of Nova Scotia and rediscovering his ancestral history closely linked to French explorer Samuel de Champlain. But the compelling aspect of his discovery is that upon learning of his illness, he hiked to the mountaintop on Cape Breton Island where past generations of his family had lived, and by accident, he came across ruins that may have dated back to the Ming dynasty. And with this discovery he formulated a hypothesis claiming that the Chinese may have landed in North America before European explorers.

This books ties in with a previous book examining China's possible role and contribution to the exploration of the New World, 1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD by Gavin Menzies. Drawing from Menzies's discovery, Chiasson went on a two-year research expedition to finding more about the ruins and proving that they were settled by the Chinese. The Mi'kmaq, an indigenous people of the island, may have derived their culture from the Chinese, and in turn, helped French settlers to live and thrive on the island centuries later. But Chiasson's thought-provoking book is purely hypothesis, and extensive research by archaeologists and historians are still in order for his findings to be definite; if proven correct, this part of history adds another dimension to the understanding of world history.

ISLAND OF SEVEN CITIES is a fascinating read. Chiasson offers insight to the many facets of how the exploration and discovery of the North American continent and its various settlements included a global community of different countries from the West and possibly may have included the East. For several historians this is skeptical history, but for curious minds wanting to understand the discovery of the New World from different perspectives, this is an interesting book.

I have just finished this book, and I can say that it is excellent.

This is a book about a search that was a solution to one of the all-time mysteries of global exploration, dating back to the early 1400s, decades before Columbus. I actually knew something of this mystery before hearing about this book, but I bought it in regards to another mystery. Two mysteries came together and - well, read the book!

I was especially impressed with what the author did not try to do. He was looking for a solution to a riddle, and he looked under every likely stone, one after the other. Logically and methodically and thoroughly, he walks us through every option. As each one turned up nothing, he kept at it, until there were no more stones to turn over. He didn't try to push any pet solution(s) on the reader; he just kept eliminating possibilities, all the while thinking that the one he was looking at would be the one. And he thought of giving up altogether...

So, what happened when he ran out of answers? Serendipity stepped in...

In a true story, luck showed the way. And all the answers didn't come from him, not at all. But when the pieces fit, well, they just fit... And when they do, you have to recognize it.

The book left me with some unresolved questions, so I hope the author can move on and solve those for me, too. I want a sequel...

Keys to the Street is not one of Rendell's better books, and she has so many better books. Diehard fans will like this well enough, but the endless descriptions of London neighborhoods are very dull, and the book takes a long time to get off the ground. Also, there are occasional shortcuts taken, which is something this author seldom does. Her characters are usually very well done, although again, this one didn't blow me away. New readers should start with The Rottweiler, or any of the Barbara Vine books.

Fortunately I can type! I just finished the book on CD. What a book! I thought Live Flesh and Make Death Love Me were great, but, wow! I won't get critical here and pick it apart, just recommend it!

This plot was unbelievable, the ending even worse. This was the first Ruth Rendell I've read and I'm told by my book club counterparts that she's an excellent author. If that's really the case I would recommend starting with some other books of hers because this one was lame.

I should have remembered Rendell's remarkable ability to endow everything and everyone she writes about with a thick layer of creepiness. Although putatively a mystery novelist, it's this creep factor that distinguishes Rendell's writing from the rest of the genre, and ironically it's the creep factor that made this particular novel interesting to me.

Set in Regent's Park and St John's Wood, a staid and very posh neighborhood of London, the plot involves a serial killer (with the habit of impaling his homeless victims on the spikes of the park gates), by a hapless masochistic heroine stalked by abusive ex-boyfriend, and by her new love who is (disasterously) not who or what he says he is.

The contrast between these characters and their genteel surroundings pushes the book beyond the mystery genre and closer to horror. The mystery part (who is the killer/why does he kill/who will he kill next) seems secondary to the author's interest in giving you some shivers and convincing you the world is full of undeclared maniacs. If you like that sort of thing, just remember to keep the lights on and lock the doors before you get started.

I picked up "Keys to the Street" in anticipation of a six-month move to this part of London. Now when I walk through Regent's Park I sometimes fight the urge to look over my shoulder for serial killers and stalkers!

The novel has a complex plot that moves from character to character. I would suggest that the previous reviewer should re-read the last chapter. There are a number of interwoven plots. There is Mary Jago, escaping from an abusive boyfriend, who thinks she has found a new love; Roman, victim of a tragedy, who has dropped out of life to sleep on the streets; Bean, a 70-year old ex-butler to a man who liked to be beaten, who now works as a dog walker to supplement his small pension; Hob, a druggy who earns a living as an enforcer for drug dealers; Detective Inspector Marnock, who investigates various murders that are committed; an unknown impaler who is killing street people; and an assortment of other characters plus a large number of dogs. Some people like dogs and some people don't, but be careful how you treat them because they have friends who may take revenge in unexpected ways.

The setting is the Regent Park area of London. The gates are closed at night except to residents who have keys, but various other people find their way past the gates. Several people are murdered and their bodies impaled on spiked fences, but that is just one of the plots. There is drug dealing, blackmail, muggings, and there is Mary Jago trying to escape from her ex-boyfriend and find a new life.

The plot takes some surprising twists and turns. Some people get what they deserve, but the abusive ex-boyfriend seems to walk away unscathed (except that he lost his chance with a rich heiress). Perhaps Marnock should have named the killer on the last page instead of making readers figure it out from the clues given, but that means you have to read the book carefully.

Her prose is economical and expressive to the point that other talented writers now strike me as using too many words. What's more, Bainbridge's imagination is stunning. Although I understood that I was reading a 'fictional' account of the failed Scott expedition, I kept finding myself thinking that I was there, witnessing what happened, peering over a shoulder as someone wrote in his journal...(!) She's that good. I'm a historian, and I find B's imagined re-creation of what happened on the Scott expedition (which is based on her expert command of the historical sources) completely convincing, and powerfully moving. What a genius!
Bravo, Bainbridge.

Bainbridge's hair-raising fictionalized account of Captain Robert Scott's doomed1912 venture to the South Pole begins with the glory and giddiness of their send off and ends with disappointment and slow death. Five men reached the pole and Bainbridge chooses these five to narrate, in turn, a section of their journey - during which each has a birthday, his last.

Taff Evans, the only non-officer, opens the book with his account of drunken parties and celebrity treatment. His hero-worship of Scott and glory tales of previous adventures contrasts with the bitter fears of a wife chary of being left destitute with children in a grimy slum. Taff is gritty and honest, roaring with life and humor.

Too bad Bainbridge's officers didn't have a little more of that rough and ready ebullience. Subsequent narratives - of the ocean crossing, setting up advance camps, scientific side trips, the numerous setbacks, disasters, equipment failures and human endurance - are all told by men with stiff upper lips.

Their idea of rousing good fun is a drunken scrimmage which ends with them all half naked. They avoid coming to terms with poor preparation and the disastrous equipment choices by blaming bad luck and admiring each other's bravery and fortitude in the face of each new disaster.

Bainbridge is a marvelous writer who brings the horrifics of cold and inadequate preparation vividly to life. Her point is to show the human waste engendered by the British code of honor and this she does. Yet, because of Capt. Scott's voluminous notes, recovered after his death, this is a story that's been often told. Nothing beats the nonfiction version for sheer excitement and heart break.

I would give this book infinite stars when it comes to storytelling, but only one or two when it comes to facts. That aside, this is a great book, humourous, witty, and insightful. This book gives one itimate knowlage of the characters, which is rarely accomplished by other books of this genre. I very much enjoyed the first chapter, narrated by Taff Evans, finding it very well writen and in character. What I liked most about this story was its sense of voice. As the author swiched between characters, the reader recieved an excellent retelling of the facts from one of five very different points of view. Ultimately a very fulfilling read.

Bainbridge does a fine job dramatizing the deaths of the five doomed members of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic Polar Expedition, in five separate chapters, each written in the voice of a different one of the five men. Bainbridge is obviously well-versed in the details of the true story, and the book hews closely to the facts of the case.

She's at her best in articulating the sort of self-absorbed England-forever attitude of the officers, but her depiction of ordinary seaman Edgar "Taff" Evans falls short; he speaks with almost the same Oxbridge vocabulary as his captain.

Despite this weaker one-fifth of the book, the book overall is quite appealing in the way it conveys a strong sense of the physical place, Antarctica. You can just imagine the sharp intake of frozen air into your lungs as you fall down a crevasse to the end of your harness, waiting for your companions to pull you back to safety.

This woman is one of my favorite writers. I have just finished her "Watson's Apology" and found it wonderful as well. But I always use a caveat with Ms. Bainbridge, as I do with Ian McEwan: she is an acquired taste. "The Birthday Boys" is no exception to the rule.

To begin with, as with many of Ms. Bainbridge's novels, this is based on true events. In this case the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott expedition to the South Pole in 1912. Scott and four of his crew died on their way back from the Pole itself which had already been reached by the intrepid Roald Amundsen two weeks prior. What Bainbriddge does is invite herself and us into the minds of the five men who died, and each of the interior glimpses and monologues takes place on the event of each one's own birthday, and reviews various aspects of his life including how he is feeling that day. Scott, who died last we must suppose, is saved for last.

It is a bold and marvelous literary concoction of fact, fantasy, and intellectual probing coupled with an almost uncanny peek into the hearts and minds of the men who cannot, of course, be interviewed and what they truly thought can never be truly known. Yet I have accepted these portraits as actual "interviews." Each of the men is given a full literary treatment, a complete characterization. It takes a lot of courage to do what Bainbridge does (she does it in "Watson's Apology" as well): she tells us things she cannot possibly know for sure and leaves it at that. Many people try to do that today, they pretend they are writing history when in fact, they are writing fantasy. Bainbridge doesn't pretend to be doing anything but writing about people and what she thinks or imagines they might have been thinking at any one time. She is the best at this conceit that I have ever read.

I had the advantage of already having read Cherry-Garrard's rather lengthy tomb: The Worst Journey In The World, so I was aware of the characters, of who they really were and what their various jobs were. That may or may not be essential. I will have to let the reader figure that out. They may stand on their own as literary concoctions, fanciful imaginaries floating at the margins of consciousness, or, as in my own case, rock-solid portrayals of real people I had already read about extensively.

She's a bold writer, and, I think, it might require a bold reader to take this on. But it's wonderful if you just go with it and accept what's there.

Four Stars from me is the same as Five Stars. I always save that fifth star for something I have yet to see. So consider this a Big Pick from yours truly.

I just stumbled across this book in my brother's closet. I remember reading it. Whew! What a fast-paced, egde of your seat thriller with twists like no tomorrow. It's a perfect mental capture on how people, no matter who they are, believe in what they will accomplish. But then there's always that guy who wants to steal a discovery. But things aren't as simple as all that. Not only does Jack Collier, the hero of the story, go to great lengths to try and steal back his own discovery but the discovery, a new cure for cancer, becomes a deadly disease that Jack Collier is appaerntly imune to and the rest of the world isn't. In any case, this book holds sure-fire potential to become a movie. If I had the money I would direct it right now. Great work, Holden Scott. Enjoy!

After you read this book, you will probably never want to use a public toilet again! When Holden Scott first started writing as Ben Mezrich, there was an obvious talent there that somehow seemed to elude critical or public acclaim. However, since changing his name and writing "Skeptic," seems his fate is a little more promising.
"The Carrier" is a by the numbers chase thriller, which has some interesting scenarios, and some truly frightening scenes (reference to the above mentioned public toilet scene..yipes!). However, so many "coincidences" occur and agent Thomas Moon is so over the top that you have to grimace at some of the cliches Scott uses. However, this is an effectively creepy and involving book, one that flows nicely and gives us another one of Mezrich/Scott's typical young medical heroes who is caught up in the bureaucratic/evil world of modern science. You can't help but admire Jack and his quest to save his beloved Angie from cancer; and you can't help but hate Michael Dutton, who cruelly steals Jack's "miracle."
A nice, engaging read and one that I recommend; it's fun.

Heard the taped version of THE CARRIER by Holden Scott,
a medical thriller about a brilliant Ph.D. candidate at Harvard
who has an idea that will make medical history . . . he
has trained a type of bacteria that will attack tumors rather
than healthy flesh . . . but his mentor steals the idea from
him . . . very fast-paced story that kept my attention until
the very end . . . I really felt for Jack Colier, the main
character, and could empathize with his many trials and tribulations.

I can't believe I actually paid good money for this book.

I'm not normally a person who stops reading books in the middle, but I could not bring myself to finish this. The author's grasp of medical science was almost nonexistent. His characters and dialogue were stock. And his depiction of life at an Ivy league university was truly laughable. (My friends who are university professors would definitely like to know how to make as much money as Scott's faculty characters. In reality, academia pays quite poorly.)

Normally I like biotech thrillers, but not this one.

The hook: a young man, a genius, racing across the country to save his girlfriend from cancer. The problem: his cure has gone bad and he is now a carrier. A mere touch from him causes the flesh of people to dissolve in seconds. Hard to believe, but then the effects of HIV and Ebola were probably hard to believe a few years ago. The author maintains the suspense throughout the story and makes the unbelievable at least interesting if not believable. A fast paced read, good for a few hours of entertainment.

John R. Maxim is excellent, as usual. This is a side story about Elizabeth Stride and Max Kessler, both infamous assassins in their heydays. The plot is excellent but the ending may not be to the liking of everyone. Thankfully, John R. Maxim's latest, 'Bannerman's Ghosts', ties everything together even further and provides the happy ending, which I felt these two extraordinary people deserved.

HAVEN is a story about the increasing vulnerability of any country to the crazed actions of a few fanatics. The author does a commendable job of wrapping up too many loose ends of a slightly incredible plot.

I found this book a quick overnight read. I was glued to the book and unable to put it down. Excellent characters and non-stop action. I hope to see Kessler and Stride again real soon.

Elizabeth Stride,a former Israeli assassin known as the "Black Angel" has moved to Hilton Head Island to make her home. She is also trying to escape her past lover Martin Kessler a former Stasi agent.Elizabeth starts dating a surgeon but Martin Kessler reappears.A teenage girl is about to be abducted by an English bounty hunter named Pratt who has been hired by her uncle.This is holds the key to a terrible terrorist act.Elizabeth and Martin join forces to protect this teenage girl and the action begins.They battle the teenage girl's uncle,various terrorist elements and many other forces of evil.You have every kind of gun battle that you can imagine. The action is fast and furious.
The ending of this book is also very good. You will definitely like this book.

I just finished 'Haven'.....would somebody PLEASE tell me why Aisha's uncle was so obsessed about finding her?.......was it to ensure that he would control the fortune she would inherit after the death of both parents? The book seemed to point to the fact that she had something to do with a deal he was cooking up with who? The Libyans.....the Egyptians? It was confusing because it kept alluding to the notion that perhaps this had something to do with the warheads, radiation, biological warfare etc. I don't consider myself stupid but while I was reading this book took allot to stay focused because it seemed to keep wandering......and wandering.....and now I suppose we will see Kessler again because he managed inspite of a gut wound and exposure to radiation to get away.......hmmmmmmmmmm

This is my third venture into Kathy Mallory's world. Descriptions of crime scenes are gory. Neverending tension! Thank heaven for the men around her to balance her out. She's intense and seemingly invulnerable. I could not put the book down! What a ride! On to the next!

This is my third venture into Kathy Mallory's world. Descriptions of crime scenes are gory. Neverending tension! Thank heaven for the men around her to balance her out. She's intense and seemingly invulnerable. I could not put the book down! What a ride! On to the next!

This third book in the series is just as great as all the others, maybe even a little more so. All the characters I've come to love are here as well as the introduction of J.L. Quinn (pretty please let him reappear). This was an intensely emotional story that ends with a bang. Art cricits are being killed off and it has something to do with an old crime handled by her late foster father. All hell breaks loose when a determined Mallory reinvestigates. We've gotten to know these characters so well by now that when Riker's past is delved into or Mallory is proven to be as destructible as the next person, the reader is there. The ending left a quite a blow and I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next one in this series (The Stone Angel). I really can't praise this series enough for it's deep character development, unusual as well as strong heroine and well written plots.

This was the first Carol O'Connell book I read and still one of my favorites. It's the only book that ever scared the hell out of me while making me cry for so many characters who were irreversibly devastated by their loss. Carol O'Connell has a wonderful way of creating characters who are rarely likable or sympathetic but who are almost always interesting.

Carol O'Connell's Killing Critics is her third Kathleen Mallory mystery, and they just continue to get better. This book has it all: complex plot, memorable characters and some brilliant detective work.

An artist, Dean Starr, is discovered murdered in the middle of an art gallery exhibition. His death is made to look like performance art. NYPD Special Crimes Unit detectives Mallory and Ricker are called in to investigate. Twelve years previous, there was a brutal double homicide in an art gallery owned by the same man, and the circumstances are very similar. Mallory's late father, Markowitz, was on that case and although he got a confession and a conviction, he never for a minute believed that he had the right man. As Mallory and Riker find out more about this new murder, the more parallels there are to the old one. Yet, the NYPD considers the old case closed, and will not allow them to "officially" investigate. The list of suspects is very long, and there are also a good number of people who would like to see the murders remain unsolved. Those in high ranking office are vulnerable including the police commission and a state senator.

In Killing Critics, O'Connell gives us a crash course on the New York City art world, including artists, works of art, galleries, gallery owners, art shows, art critics, art patrons and art investors. It truly is fascinating. She also opens the door wider into Mallory's troubled childhood, and we better understand why she remains so scarred. All the major characters (Mallory, Riker and Butler) are fleshed out in greater detail.

Two things kept me from giving this book five stars. First, I thought it was a bit slow at the beginning, although it quickly picked up speed and the ending will blow you away. Second, I thought it stretched O'Connell's credibility to have Mallory challenge a former Olympic gold medalist to a fencing duel (she only had one semester of fencing in college). Still, these criticisms aside, this is an awesome story and O'Connell is one of the few writers who gives us mysteries with meat.

Elizabeth Lowell has done an outstanding job in this book. The tension and excitment on the openning lines of the story is only better if you get the audio cassette. The heroine is rooting for the wounded man to outrun, and out smart his attackers. Jenna the heroine is strong,resourceful, and beautiful. She knows how to live on the land in the west with indians a constant danger. She rescues a man who is a warrior in strength and has rugged good looks, but he doesn't know what a gem he has found in Miss Wayland. The danger of taking gold out of indian country proves near fatal for them both and there is more... the constant sexual tension just underscores the gentle love story of a girl-woman who has the dream of being the hero's "silken lady" is so touching. Looking for a western love story this is your book. It only gets better in the audio version. You can feel the tension and excitment so easily in the unabridged audio version. It is superbly done by the actors. This is a keeper.

Other books by Lowell are wonderful, but this was not. I could not even finish it. Sorry.

Not as great an introduction to the MacKenzie-Blackthorn saga as I had hoped. Books 2,3,4and 5 were much better and remain among my favorites.

Lowell can definitely write a stroy. I just wish the hero had not been such an abusive hunk. He gets saved from certain death, seduces, then abuses the heroine. She should have socked him in the chops and found someone who appreciated her.

Orphaned when she was just 14, Janna Wayland has spent the last five years of her life living alone in the wilds of Utah Territory, with only the wild mustang horses for company. That solitude is shattered, though, the day she watches Tyrell MacKenzie escape from a band of Indian renegades. Coming to his rescue, she secrets him away to safety, heals his body...and falls in love with him. But Ty, having lost everything in the Civil War, dreams of rebuilding his fortune and sharing it with the perfect "silken lady" of his imaginings. In Janna, he finds a woman who matches him in intelligence, courage, and strength, but is he too blind and fixated on a dream to appreciate the real woman he holds in his arms?

Reckless Love struck me as being quintessential Elizabeth Lowell, and in a very real way, Lowell represented the best of historical romances from the 80s and 90s. She has a style that is uniquely and unmistakeably her own, and there is a consistency of structure, voice, and characterization to her novels that is certainly evident here as well.

Lowell's heroes are masculine and courageous, with a deeply-ingrained sense of honor. But they are also obtuse and hard-edged. You can almost always count on a Lowell hero to have a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease, and some of the things he says to the heroine may have a 21st century reader cringing -- especially one who is reading this novel for the first time. I don't recall that the hero's diarrhea of the mouth was much of an issue for me when I was younger, but now that I'm an older and more experienced woman, I find I have FAR less tolerance for this boorish behavior.

Lowell's heroines, on the other hand, have aged better for me. Yes, they are very young. No one does the shy but naturally sensual and seductive virgin quite as well as Elizabeth Lowell. I also feel that they put up with far too much emotional and verbal abuse from the heroes, especially during the first half of the story. But I still can't classify them as that most hated of romance constructs: the Too Stupid To Live heroine. In their own way, Lowell's heroines are scrappy and independent characters who work hard and face their fears, and I think it's those qualities which eventually get through to the hero and effect the typical Lowell-style redemption and resolution...after a bit of much-deserved grovelling by the hero, of course!

Despite the predictability of Lowell's formula, though...and despite my cringing every time the hero repeats one of those silly nicknames he uses for the heroine ("satin butterfly", in this story)...I can't help but enjoy her old novels. She tells a good story, and she writes a good story. She doles out bits and pieces of characterization or background in such a way that keeps you turning the pages because you just have to learn MORE. She doesn't get ahead of herself or rush the delivery, and when it comes to the sex scenes, she takes her own sweet time and delivers the goods with hardly a "dirty word" to be found. Physical attraction is always the initial spark between Lowell's characters, but by the time the novel is finished, the reader can't help but feel that the characters really know one another and that their love for each other goes beyond the phsyical and superficial. She gives you a happy ever after you can believe in, and pehaps that's what makes Lowell's novels so satisfying to me, even nearly 20 years after publication.

One note about this book: This is considered the first book in Lowell's Mackenzie-Blackthorn series, but I believe this is the only historical novel in that series. The others are contemporaries.

If you love paleontology, this book is not about that. It is about a legal battle over dinosaur bones. Not science. I was surprised, to say the least, to see the difference between the title of the book and its contents.

Tyrannosaurus Sue is a great book about the discovery of the largest T-rex fossil ever excavated. Sue Hendrickson and Peter Larson, commercial fossil hunters, found the giant in South Dakota. When her Cretaceous remains were unearthed, all parties involved were under the impression that the find had been made on private property and the property owner was duly paid for the fossil.

The situation quickly turned greatly political. The Sioux, the Federal Government and professional paleontological societies got involved. The bones were seized from the Larson institute and impounded by the Feds. It took years of confusing court proceedings to settle the issue.

This is a great story of how science is often politicized, especially when money is involved (the remains are worth a fortune). Sue wasn't simply discovered and studied by scientists and enjoyed by curious members of the public. She was fought over, transported, stored, etc. The tale of her journey is very intriguing. As a scientist in another field, I found it very interesting to gain insight into the operations of another field. Yikes, sometimes controversy is just inevitable.

Check it out, it's a great read (I intentionally left Sue's fate out of the review in case you're not aware of her whereabouts).

Although "Tyrannosaurus Sue" takes a while to get rolling, eventually author Steve Fiffer does get into the trial over the bones, and, as a lawyer, he does an excellent job of clarifying that mess.

In a foreward, dinosaur researcher Robert Bakker says, "There's a lot of Roshomon in Sue's story." By that I take it he means that there is a shortage of certainty about who the villains are, although Bakker and Fiffer are sympathetic to Peter Larson and his friends, who dug up Sue.

The fossil equivalents of Yankee tinkerers, the Larsons were self-taught and entrepreneurial. As such, predictably, they raised the hackles of academic researchers.

One complaint by the academics against the Larsons can be disposed of: that commercial bone collecting interferes with proper study of fossils. Surely the information to be gleaned from the bones is more valuable than the money people (or the Field Museum) will pay for the bones -- millions -- so interference with proper study is a serious matter.

However, although Fiffer does not go into it, the record of academic bone hunters in the western states has frequently been scandalous, with illegal collecting, faked documentation, slovenly curation and failure to publish.

As a good businessman, Larson was, at least, not inclined to the last two of those.

While some of the academic critics may have been sincere and even have had legitimate concerns, the leading lights come off very poorly in "Tyrannosaurus Sue."

Part of the reason Fiffer's book starts slowly is his evident intent to build up suspense -- generally, as here, an irritating approach -- but he also has the more reasonable goal and task of setting the finding of Sue in context. This means going back to the Bone Wars of the 19th century. Much of this is already plowed ground, but Fiffer's explanation of a legitimate (as it seems to have been) commercial pale ontological enterprise was new and interesting to me.

Once all that is finally taken care of, "Tyrannosaurus Sue" races to an exciting conclusion, with a lively courtroom drama, a tense auction, some corporate struggles and a not entirely satisfactory (to me) outcome.

It's a complex story, made even more so by a factor I have not mentioned so far: the fact that Sue was found on Indian land that was under lease to an Indian rancher. That added extra layers of legal uncertainty to an already uncertain story.

Fiffer also explores, without suggesting much in the way of remedy, the national government's confused, confusing and probably self-defeating legislation concerning fossils on public lands.

Steve Fiffer's "Tyrannosaurus Sue" is an interesting tale of the discovery of the most complete T-Rex skeleton found up to that point, and the bizarre battle that ensued over the ownership of the find. The book provides some insight into the world of paleontology (especially the pitfalls of searching on property where boundary lines aren't clear), and details a rather maddening tale of government intervention. I would have enjoyed more discussion of paleontology, but I understand that that wasn't the purpose of this particular work. Fiffer's writing style is straightforward to the point of being a bit dry at points, but it's well suited to describing the legal and political manipulations of the story. An interesting book that will spur interest in reading more about its subject matter.

One of the greatest dinosaur finds in history - perhaps THE greatest - was caught up in politics, money and jealousy. It is just pathetic what the government did to this scientist and makes one wonder question the rationality of "officials" who would commit such deeds.

All the ins and outs of scientific rivalry, government bumbling and misplaced priorities are thoroughly described. The story is fascinating and will hold your attention for days. Our view of T-rex and dinosaurs in general changed following this discovery. Good book, guaranteed to make you furious.

I've read many, many novels, mostly thrillers, and this ranks among the very best. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 10. It's first a really great story, told in the first person by someone who is very good at the job he is hired to do in the plot. A few reviews say his language is too crude or rough or some such. Nonsense. He tells the story in a logical and methodical fashion with an appropriate choice of language. I first read this book a number of years ago and kept my copy. I ran across it yesterday, and I decided to read it again, not something I often do. I couldn't put it down until I finished it again. The guy who said it took him two months to read either had an awful lot of other things on his plate or he's a moron. The story grabs you and you're with the protagonist/narrator every step of the way. You like the "good guys," and you dislike the "bad guys," so the authors must have done his job. I wish that Mr. Topor had some other offerings, but he does not. I thank him mightily for this one. If you like a great detective story, you'll thank me for recommending this book.

The first time I read this book I stayed up all night because I could not put it down. It has everything; believable characters, a fascinating and intricate plot, and even a bit of history thrown in. I've recommend this book to all my friends, who have also loved it.

This is a love story, war story, mystery, and thriller all rolled into one. Matthew Marshall is dead. But as the title implies, he lives through the codicil to his will. Adam Bruno is hired by some questionable executors Matt Marshall has named to see that his wishes are carried out. He instructs them that there are to find the Vietnamese woman he loved and their child. That child will inherit half of his sizeable estate, fifty million dollars. The problem is, there are people who do not want them found. Mr. Torpor has created characters you learn to care about, a story that sometimes gets entirely too close to what we might imagine what the Vietnam war was like, and what has happened to the guys who fought there. All loose ends are accounted for. I like that in a story.

Topor's legal thriller has a straightforward plot that never loses its momentum.

With virtually nothing to go on, and $50 million at stake, lawyer-turned-investigator Adam Bruno is hired to find the Vietnamese child of a former American captain.

The former soldier, Matthew Marshall, returned home to become a telecommunications tycoon worth $100 million. Nothing was known of any illegitimate child until the codicil to his will, made recently and unknown to the partners of his heavy-hitting law firm, comes to light when Marshall dies suddenly of a stroke at his country retreat. The codicil, devastating to Marshall's widow and three spoiled children, provides that the original bequests stand if the Vietnamese child can be proved dead or back in Vietnam.

Marshall, a man of vast charm and many women, led a compartmentalized life - his home, the cabin where he went to be solitary, and the secret but long-term New York apartment where he brought his various women. None of his friends or his family recall any mention of his Vietnam experiences, though he did take his children to the Wall in Washington.

But, visiting Marshall's country retreat, off-limits to family and friends, Bruno encounters a dangerously crazy Vietnam vet, bristling with weapons and paranoia, who guards Marshall's empty home. And Bruno finds a room dedicated to photos and memorabilia of Vietnam. The people in the photographs are identified only by nicknames and as Bruno begins the painstaking process of identification, most of them seem to be dead. Those still living insist Marshall, upright and married, would never have had anything to do with a Vietnamese woman.

Running into one stone wall after another, Bruno's case gets a sudden shot of adrenaline when he receives, anonymously, a letter in Vietnamese, written to Marshall by a Vietnamese man who clearly was searching for the missing woman and child.

Slowly, doggedly, Bruno pieces together a dark and painful story, crisscrossing the country by jet and computer. Despite setbacks, false trails and dangerous developments, he digs through layers of lies and complex connections. And, naturally, the family back in New York would like to see him fail and will stop at nothing - perhaps not even homicide - to preserve their inheritance and the power they've come to think is theirs by right.

While there's nothing particularly original about the story, Topor's straightforward style suits his narrator protagonist - a resourceful, clever, determined fellow, a loner with very individual but firm scruples. Bruno is likable and only ruthless when nothing less will satisfy. A page turner.

If you begin this rapid fire thriller in the evening, be prepared to stay up late. Screenwriter Topor has woven a realistic package of twists and surprises that is hard to put down.

When wealthy Matthew Marshall dies, the heirs to his $100 million dollar estate, his wife and three children, find that a codicil has been added to his will. Marshall is bequeathing half his estate to a child they never knew existed, a child he fathered in Vietnam. During his last visit to Vietnam, Marshall had tried without success to find Cricket, the child's mother.

Savvy, street smart private detective Alan Bruno is hired by the estate's attorney to find the child. As he begins to discover Marshall's life over the past 30 years and his Vietnamese connection, Bruno is stymied with each new lead. He is aided in his search by a Puerto Rican-Vietnamese interpreter, who finds more information in old letters than words would indicate.

Suspense builds as the plot escalates. After a stunning parade of shocks and shivers, Topor skillfully ochestrates a satisfying conclusion.

I found Whistler's Angel enjoyable rather than outstanding. I loved some of John Maxim's other books, but would rate this one as OK in paperback, but I'm glad I didn't buy it in hardback. If it was a movie, I'd call it a rental rather than a movie to see in the theatre...Still, it's not a bad way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon and I'd read it again.

Fun, fast moving story. Not as involved as Maxim's other Bannerman books and a little bit sillier. The story has the typical Maxim confluence of coincidences upon coincidences that make it all rather unbelievable, but still an entertaining read.

If you don't have a wry sense of humor, you may not get this latest effort from John Maxim. However, for those of us that enjoy characters with some "character", then this is a must read. Unlike most reviewers, I have not read any of the Bannerman series (although I certainly will now). The villains in this book were absolutely hilarious. Maxim blended the character's outright stupidity with an occasional cunning thought. Maxim nailed their personalities perfectly. The thriller genre is so saturated with stories of evil government types trying to bring down the hero, that the only way an author scores in my mind is by making the characters memorable. Most of the time, it's the hero that provides the memories. Not so here. While Whistler and Claudia have their moments, Lockwood, Crow, and especially Kaplan, steal the show.

I picked up a copy Whistler's Angel in an airport bookstore when faced with an unexpected flight delay. I had not read any of Maxim's other works and did not know exactly what to expect. This first exposure will have me going back for more. Maxin spins an intriguing story, effectively bouncing back between the present and the past while building to an exciting climax. The book follows Adam Whistler, an ex-special forces soldier and government assassin who is fighting the realities of his past and the corruption of his superiors, and Claudia (who believes she has been tasked with being Adam's guardian angel following her own brush with death) as they come to grips with events that have brought them together. Whistler's Angel is packed with action, suspense, plot twists and good character development. I suspect, however, that the book would have been better is I was more familiar with some of the characters that clearly had been part of Maxim's previous works. I suppose it is time to go back to the early Maxim, starting with the Bannerman series.

What's the best part of reading a John R. Maxim novel -- is it the engaging plots or the fully animated, totally alive characters? I hope you're not looking for an answer here, because I can argue forcefully for either answer. I have read and re-read all of Maxim's books, and just can't get enough!

Whistler's Angel is the sort of book that keeps you up at night. You promise yourself that you'll go to bed at the end of the current chapter, and an hour later you're still furiously turning pages. His characters are so fully realized that you feel that you now them as friends by the end of the book. Maxim also does something that few authors try...he cross-populates his books. Whistler's Angel is a stand-alone, non-series book (at least so far), and yet characters from his popular Bannerman series appear in the plot. [To return the favor, Whistler's Angel characters appear in the new Bannerman book, along with other Maxim characters. Even one of the main Bannerman characters first appeared in Time Out Of Mind.]

You'll find good descriptions of the plot of this book elsewhere on this page, so I'll spare you my own synopsis. Suffice it to say that this is a great book that guarantees the reader many hours of pleasurable reading. The plot has more than enough twists and turns to satisfy even the most demanding reader. Also well featured is Maxim's trick of showing you a piece of the plot, and then bringing it back later so you can see it from a different angle, and get a new and deeper meaning from it.

When you're done with this book, you'll also want to try Shadowbox, Haven, and all of the Bannerman books. Becoming a Maxim fanatic is well worth the effort!