Oregon Books

Caught in corporate downsizing, Todd Fielding was out of work and desperate. Todd and her husband Barney had spent lavishly never expecting the paychecks to stop. In the month's since her layoff, Todd heard the same thing over and over again, she was over qualified. When she received a call from the Brindle Times, Todd was over the moon. Okay, so the job was on the other side of the mountain and Barney had to say put in order to finish his dissertation. They would find a way to work it out.

Todd's job was two-fold. She did the editing, layout and any computer troubleshooting that was necessary, as well as helped Ruth, her boss, with a special centennial edition of the newspaper. The special edition would choreograph the history of Brindle. During her research, Ruth had uncovered the truth behind a fire in 1888 that killed four people and wanted to publish it.

While working for the paper, Todd learned of a series of teenaged girls that had disappeared over the years and recently, a fourteen-year-old named Jodie Schuster had disappeared. When she started writing articles about the disappearances, no one wanted to hear it. The residents of Brindle didn't believe that there was a predator living among them.

When Ruth provided a similar, but much older pattern of disappearances, the two women start investigating. With the help of a ghostly presence, they uncover the truth. A community icon was kidnapping girls that reminded him of the love he couldn't have. He cared for them for a time, but they invariably died. He would bury the girl and then start looking for a replacement.

The Price of Silence has a little bit of everything, dysfunctional families, complacency, ghosts, kidnapping and murder, courage, truth and love. It is an excellent psychological mystery and well worth reading.

I am a big fan of Kate Wilhelm's Barbara Holloway books, but have not always been as impressed with her others. I had a difficult time getting started with this book, but eventually became snared by the remarkable character development: Ms. Wilhelm, who appears to be in the middle stage of her life, has written very convincingly about two women who are at opposite spectrums. Todd, the main character, is young, multidimensional, ambitious, capable and confident. Ruth Ann is nearing the end of her life, and is also portrayed as energetic, intelligent and attractive. I was charmed by the relationship between Ruth Ann and Maria, her longtime companion/housekeeper. The book resolves a little too conveniently, but I have to say I enjoyed reading it. Her descriptions of the central Oregon desert are lyrical, and I especially appreciated Todd's comment about a sunset being difficult to capture in art or photography "because it is a process, not an event." So true. As a former Oregonian, I loved reading about Oregon's beauty. Good read. Karen Knapp

This is a subtle, walking pace novel that's really about conscience and what tension does to a small town.
If you are looking for a rip-roaring thriller with twists and turns, this is not it.
The setting is beautifully described, as are the characters in this book. It is nicely drawn, and explores the parts of the mind that work when we aren't paying attention.
It's an old fashioned novel; a good book for contemplating.
Certainly not for everyone, but a good read none the less.

Wilhelm is an excellent writer, and a master of psychological suspense. This book is no exception. However, I found it a little less satisfying than her best; a couple of the characters didn't quite ring true.

The plot is one Wilhelm has used a couple of times before: an attractive and intelligent young person who is at loose ends as to what to do with herself, and not quite sure of her life's direction, winds up through chance circumstances in a small town where something is deeply wrong, and no one wants to talk about it.

That's part of the problem I had with this book, though; while in past books such as "Skeletons," the secret has had to do with the past and is hidden by an older generation, in this book, the problem is ongoing and yet people are still ignoring it. Teenage girls keep disappearing - and no one pursues them or suspects them of anything other than running away. While that might have been the case half a century ago, in these days of entire organizations built around missing children, and pictures of missing children on every milk carton, and TV shows about searching for missing people, it just didn't seem likely to me that in a single village, 5 or more teenage girls would disappear and no one would be raising a stink, not even their parents, until our protagonist appears. And that in a relatively small town, no one prior to her would have noticed the similarities between the girls, nor figured out what other things were going on right when the disappearances started.

It also seems unlikely to me that the kidnapper could be doing the kinds of things they are doing, and not have other abnormalities show up in their behavior or personalities, that no one else would ever think that there was anything odd or unusual in the way this person behaves or things they say. (I'm not giving away who it was; that's why I'm avoiding saying she or he.) I think that people who are this sick show signs of the sickness in more than one way and generally aren't able to completely compartmentalize their lives. It's one thing if the person is a loner and doesn't associate with their neighbors at all, so that no one ever talks to them much; it's different if the person has a regular job and talks to many people every day and goes to social events: some other sign that something is WRONG with this person would show up. So I found the characterization of this person a little unrealistic, and the behavior of the neighbors a bit unbelievable.

Nonetheless, it's a well-written story and lots of action for our heroine and her husband. And I know that many people like this kind of suspense and think that there ARE completely hidden monsters among us, and those people won't have the reservations I had about the realisticness of the villain.

Oregon, home of and a favored setting for author Wilhelm, is the background for this dark tale of murder, hypocrisy, and lies. Brindle is a small town that appears on the surface to be a haven of peace and quiet. It is quite the opposite as Todd Fielding soon discovers.

Todd has come to Brindle to work for the local newspaper while her husband, Barney, pursues his doctoral degree in a nearby university town. Newspaper owner Ruth Ann Colonna is planning a special edition of the paper featuring Brindle then and now. So, Todd busies herself becoming acquainted with her new community.

The superficial serenity of Brindle isn't interrupted by the sudden disappearance of a young girl. This sets Todd to wondering - she does more than wonder when she discovers that five other girls have mysteriously vanished during the past two decades. What is even stranger and rather frightening is that no one seems to care about the whereabouts of the girls.

Newcomers to any place who start probing are seldom welcome, and Todd fuels a fire that threatens to get away when she decides to write about the girls' disappearance. Ruth Ann seems to be her only ally, and Barney is often miles away.

Voice performer and Audie Award winner Anna Fields successfully captures the outrage, fear, and determination of Todd as she seeks to uncover the truth. A more than satisfying listening experience!

- Gail Cooke

I have lots of guidebooks - and lots of Lonely Planets, for that matter. But despite the fact that they say they are for "independent travellers", I keep finding ridiculous reviews on restaurants and hotels, to the point where I've stopped using them.

The History, Snapshot, and similar sections are great, but if you have a brain of your own - use it. Forget their restaurant and hotel recommendations, as I'm not even sure they visit the places. Sometimes they have history or comments on places that is worthwhile to read, though. All tourbooks may have these drawbacks, to be fair.

Finally, I think I'm going to stop buying Lonely Planet's, though. First, they always act like driving is so scary everywhere, when it's actually quite easy to anyone with a brain. They also forget to give worthwhile tips on getting a car, etc. I imagine that this is their way of "saving the Earth". To a person who does care about the Earth, but doesn't believe that being a dirty hippie is going to save anything, this - and all their other BS trying to coerce their opinions onto you as fact - gets really freakin' old. Yes, yes, I know, LP is founded by some hippie freak from AUS or something - whooptie doo. That doesn't mean I have to pay some jerk who's going to push his politics on me, whether I agree with them or not.

I literally just got back from my trip which spanned from Berekely, CA- Vancouver, BC and we used this book throughout the whole trip. The hotel and restaurant recommendations are excellent and for every price range. We did a lot of last minute changes of plans and the book was able to help us with those hotel reservations. It also contains great maps and excellent background history of the area. If you are traveling through the Pacific Northwest I highly recommend this book.

This is a really good book for exploring the Pacific Northwest and we had a fantastic trip using it. The only place it left out that we think it should include is the heavenly ZEN GARDEN Bed and Breakfast on the Oregon coast in Manzanita.

The rooms are beautiful, it is almost on the quiet, dreamy, seven mile beach, nearly in the forest of the Nehalem Bay State Park, and the breakfast is Huge and DELICIOUS.

Full of ideas and covers all the good stuff.

This is not a city resturant guide, however. Someone else gave this book 3 stars because it only told them about the highlights of what makes the Pacific Northwest special, and didn't name the 5-star resturants. I am a 4th-generation Seattle-ite and fancy resturants are not my scene. Go anywhere, eat wild salmon and a latte, then go do some more walks or boat trips or something like that!

While this book provides fairly accurate guidance regarding natural features and campgrounds, don't use it a reliable guide to travel necessities that are market driven like hotels, restaurants, admission costs, etc. Each time we used the book to choose a hotel, we were surprised and sadly disappointed in either the quality, the cost, or both. The same for recommended restaurants. Admission costs were generally 20% higher than listed. No big deal, but again, for a current publication it fell short in accuracy. It's as if an earlier printing was simply published as current without checking on the accuracy of the contents.

Use it as a guide, but not as a reference. I'm sure there are other sources of more accurate information for travelers.

"BLACKTAIL DEER HUNTING ADVENTURES promises to be well received by deer hunters. His slow and thorough approach allows Murphey lots of time to savor the art of hunting and provides plenty of experiences to talk about. Interwoven among the stories are plenty of his own observations about what works and what doesn't. Part of the charm of Murphey's book is that it covers the mistakes he made as a young hunter just getting started."-- Mike Stahlberg (The Eugene Register-Guard)

I've read BLACKTAIL DEER HUNTING ADVENTURES with a great deal of interest and enjoyment. It's fun to read while at the same time containing a lot of solid "how to" information. The book depicts a young enthusiastic outdoorsman who made a lot of mistakes in his early years. It shows the same young man maturing into a responsible, successful hunter with a deep respect and love for the wildlife resource. He has written this book in a manner which will help the young reader to avoid the mistakes which he made and give older hunters cause to reflect on how they conduct themselves while in the woods. As a bow hunter who grew up hunting Whitetail deer, I know Murphey's methods for hunting Blacktails can also be applied successfully to Whitetails. Murphey's final chapter on the future of hunting could well be the most important message he delivers. Hunting rights are no longer something that sportsmen can take for granted. They are under attack from all directions, and unless hunters realize the danger and are willing to become involved in the political and legislative process, our children and grandchildren will never experience the thrill of opening morning, or of having a four point bust out of his bed and into their sights.-- Rod Harder (Executive Director Oregon Sportsmen's Defense Fund)

I found BLACKTAIL DEER HUNTING ADVENTURES to be very interesting. I felt like I was in the woods with you. I could almost smell the woods and see the trees.

I greatly enjoyed reading BLACKTAIL DEER HUNTING ADVENTURES. Your work really counterbalances a lot of the anti-hunting and anti-trapping sentiment which is so strong especially here in California.

At first the book seems nothing more than a compilation of Murphey's various hunting escapades. But a closer review shows chapters laced with tidbits and tips taken from personal experiences. --Bill Monroe (The Oregonian)

I was very disappointed with this book as it was presented to me as a book of historical facts. Well, maybe if you have never known anything about anything.

This book is strickly a novel. It is to be read just for pleasure. It is a great book if you want to follow a woman who traveled by herself in a wagon train, which was NOT allowed.

The author sold it as the frist wagon train to leave MO, that was done in 1841 not 1843 as this man wants you to believe. He talked about not having a trail to follow yet on the other side of a river crossing, the wagon train would have to back track to pick up the trail again?

And I love this one, in the back of the book, the writer has a member of the wagon train beginning the city of Sacramento, wasn't that Sutter?

And at times the book was redundant. At times I was thinking okay, let's go already.

As I said, this book is strickly fictional with not much historical value. So read it as a pleasure book not if you are looking for correct information about trail passage.

I loved TJ Hanson's book "Western Passage," which is a detailed story of a young woman, Abigail (Hanley) Meacham, who heads west as part of the 1843 Oregon Trail wagon train. I was delighted when I saw another book published by TJ Hanson, "Oregon Country," and could hardly wait for it to arrive after I ordered it. I was terribly disappointed that this is the same book as "Western Passage," except with updated appendixes including pictures of pioneer's tombstones and a little extra research. You don't need both books. Get this 2nd one, "Oregon Country," if you are interested in the extra research -- get the earlier version "Western Passage" if you want a cheaper version of the same story, with a little less research in the appendixes.

I am still giving this 5 stars, because the book is a terrific story, but please please be aware that it is the exact same story as Western Passage. I just wasted $33 for something I already have.

I'm still waiting for TJ Hanson to write more about Abigail's life in Oregon, after she made the adventurous trip.

This is the story of Abby, who is recently widowed and determined to finish her husband's dream of starting a new life in the Wallamet (now spelled Willamette) valley. The story follows her through her journey to Independence, getting her wagon purchased and stocked, hiring the fur trapping mountain man Jacob to man her rig and off on the trail to Oregon. This is not a page turning, racy sit on the edge of your seat type of book. This follows every bit of day to day business, from how they made their food, hunted, crossed the rivers, and kept not only themselves but their livestock alive.

The trail follows the western plains, over the Rockies, through Idaho into Oregon's Blue Mountains and finally through the Columbia River Gorge on the way to the end of the trail at Oregon City. Although I mentioned some might not find this a racy page turner, I was thoroughly fascinated and had a hard time putting the book down. The historical detail, even of the day to day part of living on the trail was fascinating -- the buffalo stampede was just heart stopping.

All in all a very good tale of a courageous woman with "sand" as Jacob called her, able to live up to and exceed the challenges of the Oregon Trail to reach her destination and achieve her dreams of a new life in Oregon City. I especially enjoyed the last of the tale, as Abby sees the Columbia River for the first time and her reaction to the beauty of that river. I am fortunate to live in the Pacific Northwest and have traveled many times along that glorious river, and the author brought all of it magically to life -- the rapids (which are long gone due to dams), the basalt cliffs, the waterfalls, Beacon Rock are all there for the reader to experience along with Abby.

This was a first rate book and I highly recommend for any lover of historical fiction or for one interested in the Oregon Trail.

One of my favorite authors as a child was Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books. I loved reading her books which often gave great and exacting how to's (how to make maple syrup, how to use a pig bladder as a balloon, how to twist hay into sticks when you run out of wood, etc.). I loved the idea of heading out west with nothing but some good horses and a covered wagon with just the essentials. In fact, while many had Barbies that were getting dressed for their prom date with Ken, mine was hitching up the horses and riding along with Jane West to the great unknown.

My brother sent me a copy of Western Passage by T.J. Hanson. I'm still trying to figure out if the fact that it is a large print edition was intentional or not since it was for my birthday.

If you liked reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and her descriptions, then this is also a book you will enjoy. In this book, you follow the heroine, Abby, every step of the way from Independence to Oregon City. And I mean every step of the way, from learning what kind of supplies would be bought, to taking a wagon across a stream, this book follows along with the first wagon train along the Oregon Trail. You are really right there. Even though this is fiction, it reads like a really good journal.

I think everyone who lives in Oregon is a little bit fascinated with the Oregon Trail. Forth grade, if you go to school in Oregon, is spent totally studying the trail. You visit the nearest trail sites (which are everywhere), learn to make candles, and write fake trail diaries. It's a lot of fun, and ever since then I've been fascinated with the trail. Living across the river from Oregon city and going there everyday fuels that.

But I've only been able to find historical fiction about the trial written for kids and young adults. This always bothered me, because while those books written for kids may be great, they're not of an adult perspective on the great migration west. So I was thrilled when I found this book.

This is the story of Abbey, who I think is a fictional person. She endured tragedy while homesteading in Ohio and heads to Indepdence on her own to fulfill her dead husbands dream of going to Oregon. While I think the idea of a woman alone on the trail, even with hired help like Abbey has, is not historical accurate, this book is great. The descriptions are trail life is very alive and emotional, and I could really feel the emotions of the travelers as the first saw the great northwest. It is called great for a reason.

This book is very good and obviously well researched. I recommend it for anyone who loves historical fiction. I do wish I knew though if there ever was a woman who traveled without a husband or male family all the way to Oregon City, or if Abbey is a made up person entirely. I was always taught that any woman on the trail had to get immediately re married if her husband died, or if her father died and she was of marriageable age. The journey was too just much for people on their own, and woman, by the social conventions of the day, where not permitted to band together with other woman and go with friends as men were.

So I may never know if Abbey's situation was possible or not. The author obviously knows his stuff, so I'll defer to his expertness. The only thing I didn't like about this book is it really shows that the hope that Oregon City represented to travelers has just been hopelessly wasted by the economic depressing the city (well, town really) is currently in. Its not the authors fault in any way, but Oregon City is a pretty depressing place now.

Five stars for this wonderful book, that I've spent years searching for.

I also recommend along with this "Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847 (Dear America)" by Kristiana Gregory, which, even though it's a young adult book, is a great historical look at the Oregon Trail.

I have been a fan of the "Streetwise" calendars for years -- a folding laminated city map that always folds nicely, stays firm and fits easily in pockets, purses, etc.

On the reverse side, it also has a wider regional map, which is helpful to put your travels into context, especially if you use the map alongside tour books that often point out destinations outside the downtown region.

This is a laminated, card stock map that fits easily in a pocket. Very easy to manage. Amazing detail for its' size.

I like these laminated, folding maps. They have good detail and fit in a purse. Never go out without one.

This is a good and inexpensive resource for Portland. It easily folds up to fit in a small purse or pocket. It is also waterproof and easy to read.

I have a couple of these Streetwise Maps now and find them a joy to use. In Portland there are a few streets I can't find, so an index of some kind would be good. But generally they are so easy to work with - no complicating folding schemes - that I would recommend getting one today. I also have an Artwise Map of London by the same company. Terrific!

It's fascinating when one comes across history that is not often told, or is ignored. This thouroughly depressing book manages to cover the scope, immense timespan and breadth of the arab slave trade around the world in antiquity. It also doesn't shirk from dealing with the uncomfortable truths of the involvement of Africans in trading each other, or the religious basis for the slave trade as conducted by the arabs. The opening chapter adequately tackles the reasons the world doesn't seem to want to tackle the injustice of more than a thousand years of arabs trading black slaves.

As someone who has family from the slave catchment areas in East Africa, it was interesting to read the accounts and reports of the events my grandfather would describe in his tales.

A thoroughly good read... and a much needed education for all those who thought the european trans-atlantic slave trade was the worst there ever was.

Gordon murray has produced a great pioneeing scholarly work into a known but least talked about aspect in history. And that is the arab slave trade in africa. he shows how in africa like other places throughout the world there was already a established slave system, that was similar to european serfdom and other forms of servitude practice throughout the world. he also shows how slavery was embedded in the arab world before islam. and how islam became the rationale for slavery and the basic attitudes of arabs towards africans. some good but most negative. the eastern slave trade was mainly dominated by arabs and other asians (persians, turks, east indians) but the africans from the interior as well as the swahillis along the coast played very signifigant roles in this trade. he also shows how there was diaspora of africans throughout the arab world. this book is excellent for anybody who is interested in the eastern slave trade. i highly recommend it.

The Arab enslavement of African people predates the European African slave trade by a millennium and it is still going on today in the Sudan. The institution of slavery is as old as time, but Europe alone gets blamed for it.

this book is of monumental importance because it deal with the neglected aspects of the legacy of slavery in arab countries which go back far into history. as early as the 6th century, the author deals with how islam was used to racialize slavery, racism, forced religous conversion and imperialism. just like christianity, islam has a legacy of these immoral acts. the arabs were traditional slave traders. they have a legacy of enslaving eastern europeans, turks, persians, east indians, but mostly africans. africa like in the transatlantic slave tade became the hunting grounds for slaves in which made arab countries very prosperous. this book is well informed and should be read by anyone who is interested on the subjects.

This book had some very helpful information, and very surprising information, which I was delighted to learn. Unfortunately, I didn't learn as much as I would have liked because of the writing style.

This is honestly in part due to translation, which Gordon can't be blamed for. There were parts of the book where one could tell that there was an obvious translation error from the French, where the word or phrase wasn't used quite the correct way it is supposed to be used in English. However, numerous times Gordon also contradicts his own thoughts, making for confusing reading. As he himself admits, much of the research itself is contradictory, but he could have done a better job of weeding through the research, and his editor a better job of clearing up contradictions before publication.

I still recommend this, because it is such important information, and there is so little out there. This book should be seen as important first broadside in understanding an important part of our history. There was so much information here that I had never before known. I had no idea the slave trade continued across Sahara until 1920's, and slavery still allowed in the Middle East until 1970's. Gordon gives amazing details on the horrible atrocities committed under this institution, like emasculation of children. His scholarship is quite good- he rightly faults past researchers who were so against slavery that they made the problem bigger than it was. So, for instance, Gordon shows how the emasculation death rate of 99% is exaggerated by far, it being closer to only a 90% death rate.

It is interesting that most of the slavery under Islamic rule was household help and concubines, leading to very few field workers in the history of Arab Islamic slavery, the opposite of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. This also made women more expensive than all men, except for eunuchs. Gordon rightfully shows that though Islamic slavery lasted far longer than the Atlantic slave trade, some 1000 years, it was generally kinder, with slaves usually treated more as family members- although certainly not always. It is after all an evil institution. And though whites were often enslaved as well, there was definite racism with blacks being considered inferior slaves, doing harder work, and in the end, the only slaves.

And I had no idea that there were benefits to colonialism. For, since slavery is approved in Qur'an and by Mohammed (pbuh), it was a long-established practice that no Islamic country was willing to remove on it's own. There was no indigenous anti-slavery movement that grew up as did in the West, such as the Anti-Slavery Society or among the Quakers. It was only through the pressure of the European countries, through colonialism and then subsequently economic pressure, that finally convinced every Islamic country in the world (with the exception of Mauritania) to finally officially give up slavery.

I bought this book based on the wonderful reviews of Herter's first novel, Ceres Storm. That novel is described on the dust jacket of Evening's Empire as "a stripped-down thrill ride some 10,000 years in the future." It's hard to believe this book could have been written by the author of a stripped-down thrill ride. The plot meanders slowly. The main characters don't reveal much of themselves. (Russell has lost his wife and does not know when to seek medical attention. He struck me as kinda dumb in that regard. Megan has also suffered a loss and does not know when to get out of town. She struck me as kinda dumb in that regard.) There is much uncertainty about what may really be happening, but not a lot of actual tension. The plot feels contrived. The "bad guys" seem a lot more like a PTA gone wrong than a dangerous cult.

Finally, as a fan of Charles de Lint and a reader of Gene Wolfe, I think it is unfair to compare Evening's Empire to the generally high level of their work. Herter has not gotten there yet. Not recommended as a fantasy novel or as straight fiction.

If you have read the other reviews you already know that "Evening's Empire" has a disappointing end. There is a masterful slow, chilling buildup of tension, which in the last chapters is inexplicably diffused without a real closure or resolution.

If it was any other book, it would have mattered more.

This book is unique in that it evokes not only pictures, but sounds. The hero, Russel Kent, is a composer, a synesthete who perceives all sound as color. He is comissioned to write an opera based on Jules Verne's "2000 leagues under the sea"; he composes sketches of music haunted by dreams of death and memory. Kent's opera is born in front of our eyes out of the dark secrets of the sea and the fear that lives in small towns on the coast; it is born out of storms and tremors of the earth. It speaks of drowning, and of people who walk under the water, of strange cities abandoned yet active under the pressure of water and ground. It is the music dreams are made of, and nightmares. I know very little about musical theory; yet this book was for me a unique experience of music in greens, blues and greys.

I found most of the fantasy elements in this book redundant, added as if an afterthought to the plot. The written musical pieces never come together as a complete oeuvre, and neither does the book. The opera project is put on hold. Only some of the score is written.

In real life, I guess, we rarely hear about such abandoned projects, even if they are works of genius. Herter lets us listen to Kent's unfinished masterpiece. It may sound strange, but I hope that in Herter's imaginary world, the project is someday completed. I wish I could see this opera performed; I guess I'll console myself with Reimann's Lear.

Needing closure by burying the specter of his wife who accidentally fell off the cliffs near Empire, Oregon, Russell Kent returns to the village with plans to compose an opera focusing on Jules Verne's Captain Nemo. However, ghosts haunt his sleep as he dreams of his deceased spouse as well as the town and its residents.

Feeling a bit guilty, Russell has an affair with Megan Sumner, the owner of the bed and breakfast he is staying at. He also begins to meet many of the residents, but feels uneasy as he senses everyone shares a dark secret except him. Russell finds a thirst to learn the undisclosed as he starts questioning anything and everything for everyday occurrences here in Empire seem slightly off center or eccentric.

This is a strong fantasy suspense thriller that builds the tension to extremely high levels as readers accompany the hero with a need to know the truth. The story line is loaded with action and filled with an assortment of characters that manage to make the everyday appear eerie. However, the climax feels abrupt as a series of inexplicable disclosures with few or no real clues occur in a very short stretch as if a page limit barrier was hit. Still, David Herter displays his talent to keep the thrill at its acme and the need to know even higher in this powerful fantasy suspense tale.

Harriet Klausner

If you want to write a best-selling fantasy novel, you should probably not

a) make the protagonist a modern classical composer struggling to write an opera based on 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

b) make the villains the owners and operators of a cheese factory.

c) wait for over a hundred pages before introducing the first hint of supernatural phenomena.

d) leave the fate of many of the secondary characters unresolved.

This novel is encumbered by all of these obstacles. It starts very slowly, and concentrates on character more than your typical fantasy novel. Personally, I enjoyed it immensely. As for the ending, the ending of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea leaves the fate of several characters hanging, just like the ending to Evening's Empire. There is an important difference, in that in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea there is no possible way for our heroes to find out what happened next, whereas in Evening's Empire the presumption is that the characters will discover what happened in a few months. Somehow, this makes the ending much more unsatisfying. Unfortunately, Herter seemed to miss this distinction.

Russell Kent had been commissioned to write an opera based on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. He traveled to the Oregon coast, a town called Evening. A year before, Russ had lost his wife, Anna, in Evening. She had fallen to her death from a cliff, a freak accident. In Evening Russ planned to face his past ghosts and create the opera. What he found was a chance at love anew by the owner of the local B&B, Megan Sumner.

The town of Evening had a secret. Something everyone kept quiet about and secretly worked on, unknown by the rest of the world. Quietly, the population of Evening hid a fantastic secret in a cavern beneath the town and only referred to as "downstairs". After many decades of work, and several deaths, the secret was about to be revealed!

This story seemed to flow as smoothly as mellow music. A small bit of curiosities to begin with, followed by a constant undercurrent of tension. The story kept me guessing as to what the big secret was. Even as my imagination ran wild, I never came close to the truth. David Herter has masterfully created a novel that will keep its readers on the edge of their seats! Recommended!

Read Ms. Gerritsen's books with a highlighter so I can underline and not forget my favorite one liners. She is positively astonishing and I can't wait to get The Bone Garden because I just finished The Mephisto Club and didn't move until the last word. I have read all the rest and I am deeply disappointed that I only have one left until the next Jane/Maura thriller comes out. Four years ago I was walking by another employee's cubicle and saw "The Surgeon" lying on her desk, so I picked it up to read the first few pages. I was hooked and on my way to the bookstore after work. And I spend more time after finishing each book researching and reading about the fascinating stuff in the books - mythology, religion, medicine. For someone who loves books and loves to read, these books are delicious!!!!!

This was an okay book, it wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. If I like a book I can usually finish it in a day or two this one took a couple of weeks for me to read it didn't hold my attention. The book starts with a wedding were the bride has been stood up at the altar. When she leaves the church it is blown up by a bomb that was set to go off in the middle of the ceremony. Who was it meant for and why is the main theme of the book. I found it to be a really slow read and didn't really care what happened to the characters.

If you are attracted to Tess Gerritson's novels of medical suspense, then this book is not for you. It was written well before her newer releases like The Sinner, The Apprentice, Gravity, etc. While a good effort at combining the suspense of a woman on the run from a mad bomber, this novel falls flat of creating any emotional connection to the characters. The heroin, Nina, is being stalked by a bomber, after being left at the alter by her horrendous fiancée. You'd think she'd have a lot on her mind, yet she still finds time to fall for the bomb squad investigator assigned to protect her. The book goes on to detail her thinking as well as his in a pathetic tennis match of who loves who, who doesn't love who, whose too scared to love who, etc. Ultimately, at the end of the book where I would normally be turning pages awaiting the climax, I found myself not caring whether Nina did get out of the whole mess alright, and was frankly irritated by the whole romantic banter part of this book. Bottom line, if you like The Sinner, The Apprentice, Gravity, Bloodstream, etc stick to Gerritson's newer work and stay away from Keeper of the Bride.

Since I have only read Ms. Gerritsen's newer works such as "The Surgeon" and "The Apprentice" it was fun to read one of her earlier works and to see how far she has come as a storyteller.

This is the story about Nina Cormier who is a ER nurse from a very affluent but dysfunctional family. The story opens with Nina being left at the alter. To add insult to injury while she is sitting in a car waiting to go home the church blows up. And still in the same day someone tries to drive her off the road. Why is this all happening to her?

Bomb detective Sam Navarro is called to the scene of the latest bombing and ends up questioning the bride to be. Sam has his own problems from the past and really has no plans to ever share his life with someone else. Now he finds himself drawn to the witness and there is still the huge mystery as to how Nina fits into the puzzle of the recent bombing, and other murder attempts.

The chemistry between these two people was great and Ms. Gerritsen shows her potential as a suspense novelist. You don't want to miss this one.

My gosh, what a book!!!This is my first time reading Tess Gerritsen, she is as good if not better than Patricia Cornwell. I literally could not put this book down, there are so many twists and turns and surprises. A must read.

I just got this book for Memorial Day Weekend, and it saved our trip! The spot we'd planned to go was full, but we were able to not only find another spot real easy for the night, but it ended up be better than where we'd planned to go. Great book! Saved my butt! Will always take it.

I wouldn't dream of roaming around Washington or Oregon without this book -- simply would never get stuck for the night ever again.

General introduction provides humorous, informative camping tips for beginners. Listing of Oregon and Washington campsites with notes on their features, facilities and good directions. Maps included for each region in the Pacific NW. Recently revised for 1998.

I was depending on this book to direct me to the best campgrounds in the area. However,without a rating system, the book is only half as good. I use the California version as a bible for camping and was disappointed to find this missing for Oregon/Washington.

My husband and I enjoy spontaneous traveling in our Motorhome. We plan our vacations by selecting how long we will be gone and what direction we will head. This is the freedom afforded by having a Motorhome and being empty nesters.

This book is fantastic. We have marked it with highlighters, "Post-It" flags, and even different colored stars. "Sea Perch" campground near Cape Perpetua in Oregon, is marked with a gold star. It is literally on the ocean, clean, friendly, and has beautiful scenery.

Since we travel year-round, I like the information on campground openings and Motorhome size limits, facilities, etc. The quadrant maps, detailed driving directions, and "Trip Notes" are invaluable.

I am a skeptic when it comes to ratings in books; to me, quality of an area is determined by personal preference. The descriptions in the "Trip Notes" provide an excellent overview to make personal selections.

We have shared this book and recommended it to MANY people.

I purchased this edition for a class. While the quality of the binding, layout of the actual play, typeface, etc. are solid and what I expected for the price and the type of book I was purchasing (paperback); the introduction is disappointing. Extensively written and extremely boring, it made me want to give up on the book altogether before I even began reading the play (and I'm a Shakespeare fan!). The author brings up multiple interpretations by others as validation for his views, but also takes pains to point out why all the other interpretations aren't as good as his own. This introduction is detailed and not intended for anyone but Shakespeare scholars. For someone who has studied Shakespeare's life and era in the past, this edition will provide lots of information connecting and comparing this play to what you already know and can be very educational.

I know readers who claim to prefer this play to Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde"--which tells you something either about their inability to read Chaucer or their jaded sense of humor. Shakespeare's version of the story is every bit as dark and sardonic as Chaucer's is light and satiric. In fact, this must be the Bard's blackest comedy, too strained, disconnected, and unfocused to pass muster as "tragedy." In fact, if we take seriously Ulysses' oft-quoted speech on "degree" (accepting one's limits as a requirement for cosmic order) and Troilus' confirmation of an up-ended moral universe ("the bonds of heaven have slipped!"), there's no longer room for the heroic or tragic in the modern world Shakespeare has created in this play.

Despite containing some of the playwright's most memorable and eloquent speeches, it's the cynical tone and absurdist context, not story or character, that we remember from the play. Somewhat like Hitchcock in "Rear Window," Shakespeare places the reader in the position of deviant-voyeur, subjecting him to both the testimony and proof of Thersites' recurring reminder that, where heroism and love are concerned, all is "war and lechery." If we decide to stay the course, we're rewarded at play's end with Pandarus's speech to the audience, promising to bequeath us with "his diseases." It's shocking that Shakespeare got away with such material in a pre-penicillin era, but no less noteworthy is the audience's masochistic compliance (in itself, a potential commentary on the degradation that Shakespeare forcefully exposes and criticizes in this play).

The play often scores with modern audiences because productions opportunistically go "over the top" with exaggerated visual and verbal bawdry. The textual version is necessarily five stars because nothing can touch Shakespeare (except perhaps in this case Chaucer). Still it's a good thing that the guardians of public morality aren't better readers or this one might not make the cut in some venues where Shakespeare is performed. In fact, that situation could soon change if acting companies continue to substitute for Shakespeare's language gross and attention-getting stage antics, using the master wordsmith as a license for selling sensation.

The first thing you will probably notice about this play is that it seems longer than his other plays. But if we are willing to look past this, it is a rather good play that explores the theme that personal dissension is the root of chaos and the unreliability of romantic love. This play deals with the last stage of the Trogan War. It begins with Trojan Troilus expressing his love for Cressida to her uncle Pandarus. Pandarus (who for now is Cressida's guardian) consents to Troilus's quest. In the next scene, Cressida will not admit to her uncle Pandarus that she likes Troilus, but she later reveals to us she does. (Some nice comedy.) 1.3 is a rather well drawn scene where the Greek King Agamemnon is frustrated because Greece has not been able to defeat Troy after all this time. Part of the reason may be civil dissension in Greece. The Greek warrior Achilles is more after his own glory than performing his duties. Because of this, when an invitation to fight Hector to decide the outcome comes, Agamemnon chooses the less able, but more modest Ajax. Onto Act 2. Act 2 Scene 2 emphasizes the theme of this play yet again. Priam and Hector honestly feel that the Trojans should just give back Helen to the Greeks and end all this. It makes sense does it not? But Troilus (like Romeo) is a romantic and not a rationalist, and he persuades Priam and Hector to hold onto Helen. (By the way, we can forget about any valuable input from Helen. She shows herself to be an airhead. Or as the great Isaac Asimov puts it: "She appears as a vain, silly woman with an empty head unaware (or uncaring about) what she has caused, and incapable, apparently, of making an intelligent remark." Onto Act 3. Troilus and Cressida confess their love for each other, and for now they are happy. (Along with Cressida's uncle Pandarus.) But this is not to last. Cressida's father (of Greece) wants his daughter Cressida back and Agamemnon is willing to give Troy back their Anteor in return. Agamemnon continues to show contempt for Achilles and his swollen ego, and there is a comical scene where everyone ignores Achilles. The less effective but more modest Ajax continues to win praise. Onto Act 4. 4.2 has the sad scene where Troilus and Cressida realize that they must part, but with a gleam of hope, Troilus plans to see Cressida behind enemy lines. The parting in 4.4 is well drawn. Onto the battle between Hector and Ajax. It takes place, and the battle ends with the 2 praising each other with respect. Perhaps things can even come to a peaceful conclusion, but Achilles and Hector express their contempt for each other, and peace looks less likely. Onto Act 5. Troilus sneaks behind enemy lines to see Cressida, but to make a long story short, he sees that she no longer feels anything for him. Troilus leaves in a bitter rage. (Such is a short romance.) Act 5.3 is a memorable scene where Hector's wife tries to convince Hector to stay home, but like Calpurnia, she can not convince Caesar to stay home. (Even when Hector's father and sister try to help.) And now, the fire flies. War breaks out. The balance of power swings back and forth. Hector kills Achilles's friend Patroclus and when Hector's vanity leaves him vulnerable, Achilles kills Hector in a less than honorable fashion. Troilus survives, but he fears with the loss of Hector, Troy will fall. If you like this story, you may wish to read Marlowe's "Dido Queen of Carthage." That play focuses on Aeneas and the surviving Trojans as they plot their next move.

One of his lesser known works, Shakespeare's Trojan play is also one of his most intriguing. Not quite a burlesque, 'Troilus and Cressida''s lurches in tone, from farce to historical drama to romance to tragedy, and its blurring of these modes, explains why generations of critics and audiences have found it so unsatisfying, and why today it can seem so modern. Its disenchanted tone, its interest in the baser human instincts underlying (classical) heroism look forward to such 20th century works as Giraudoux's 'The Trojan War Will Not Take Place' or Terry Jones' 'Chaucer's Knight'; the aristocratic ideals of Love and War, inextricably linked in this play, are debased by the merchant-class language of exchange, trade, food, possesion - the passionate affair at its centre is organised by the man who gave his name to pimps, Pandarus, and is more concerned with immediate sexual gratification than anything transcendental. The Siege of Troy sequences are full of the elaborately formal rhetoric we expect from Shakespeare's history plays, but well-wrought diplomacy masks ignoble trickery; the great heroes Ajax and Achilles are petulant egotists, the latter preferring the company of his catamite to combat; the actual war sequences, when they finally come, are a breathless farce of exits and entrances. There are a lot of words in this play, but very few deeds.

Paris, Prince of Troy, has abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Led by the latter's brother Agamemnon, and his Machiavellian advisors Ulysses and Nestor, the Greeks besiege Troy, demanding the return of Helen. However, Achilles' dissatisfaction at the generals' endless politicking has spread discontent in the ranks. Within Troy, war takes a distinct second place to matters of the heart. While Paris wallows in luxury with his prize, his youngest brother Troilus uses Pandarus as a go-between to arrange a night of love with his niece, Cressida. When one of the Trojan leaders is taken prisoner by the Greeks, the ransom price is Cressida.

There is only one character in 'Troilus' who can be said to be at all noble and not self-interested, the eldest Trojan prince Hector, who, despite his odd interpreation of the quality 'honour', detests a meaningless war, and tries to spare as many of his enemies' lives as he can. He is clearly an anachronism, however, and his ignoble slaughter at the hands of a brutal gang suggests what price chivalry. Perhaps the most recognisable character is Thirsitis, the most savagely cynical of his great Fools. Imagine Falstaff without the redeeming lovability - he divests heroes and events of their false values, satirises motivations, abuses his dim-witted 'betters' and tries to preserve his life at any cost. Written in between 'Hamlet' and 'All's Well That Ends Well', 'Troilus' bears all the marks of Shakespeare's mid-period: the contrapuntal structure, the dense figures, the audacious neologisms, and the intitially deferred, accelerated action. If some of the diplomacy scenes are too efective in their parodic pastiche of classical rhetoric, and slow things down, Act 5 is an amazing dramatic rush, crowning the play's disenchantment with love (with an extraordinarily creepy three-way spaying of an infidelity) and war.

The New Penguin Shakespeare is the most accessible and user-friendly edition for students and the general reader (although it does need updating). Unlike the Oxford or Arden series, which offer unwieldy introductions (yawning with irrelevant conjecture about dates and sources) and unusable notes (clotted with tedious pedantry more concerned with fighting previous commentators than elucidating Shakespeare), the Penguin's format offers a clear Introduction dealing with the play and its contexts, an appendix 'An Account of the Text', and functional endnotes that gloss unfamiliar words and difficult passages. The Introduction is untainted by fashions in Critical Theory, but is particularly good at explaining the role of Time ('When time is old and hath forgot itself...And blind oblivion swallowed cities up'), the shifting structure, the multiple viewpoints in presenting characters, and Shakespeare's use of different literary and linguistic registers.

Troilus and Cressida is one of Shakespear`s many romances, and, like most of his romances, is a tragedy. Since time immemorial, Shakespears` works have been used as plays, literature and (least often) just casual reading. While Troilus and Cressida is one of the less known plays, it is no less a good one. It is based in Troy(as the name might imply)during the much renowned Trojan War. The valiant Troilus, son of the Trojan king is enamoured of Cressida, also of Troy. Meanwhile, the Greek hosts have laid siege to the city, and the warrior Achilles refuses to fight, encouraging further interaction between the two sides. Cressida, however, is the daughter of a Greek sympathizer(if that is the correct word)and may not be able to honour her commitment to the Trojan prince...