Montana Books

This novel features veteran Montana state trooper Beau MacAllister, a wise-cracking good ol' boy who has great instincts and is not too concerned with protocal. Beau is called to a truck stop to stop a robbery in progress - but the whole thing seems fishy to him and he ends up shooting the supposed victim in the butt during a 3 way fight between Beau, the "victim" and several Indians using compound bows. Beau suspects something is amiss and tugs on this loose thread until he finds the conspiracy.

The characters in this story are well-written - Beau is particulrly well developed, especially for a cop novel. The DA character (Vanessa Ballard) is quite memorable and "feels" like a real person, rather than a caricature. Even McAllister's nemesis, Dwight Hogelan, shows signs of growth during the book.

All of this makes the end of the book very disappointing. The first 90% of the book is a great cop thriller - but the end is very hoaky and formulaic. It is like he finished the book under pressure and ran out of time. For example, he was maneuvering an Indian character into becoming a second Crazy Horse destined to lead a spiritual revival of the Plains Indians. However, 50 pages of character development was quickly dismissed in one page at the end. Why bother?

Due to the disappointing end of this novel I have to lower the rating for this book from 5 stars to 3 stars.

I've reviewed Carsten Stroud in the past. I've always stressed his atmosphere and characters. In my opinion he excells in his books at being able to take you into the story and make you genuinely care for his chatracters. the same is true of Lizardskin, but here his dialouge is also very finely done. Yes the conclusion is a little weak but it's such a pleasure getting there that I will readily forgive Mr. Stroud and his Robin Cook ending. Actually I found myself enjoying the story so much that I really wasn't in all that much of a rush to see it end. I have read this novel several times over the years and every time I enjoy it immensely. Read this novel if you enjoy storytelling at its finest.

Carsten Stroud's Lizardskin is one of the best books I have ever read. If you had the chance for revenge--would you take it? It's your choice. You decide. In an instant. That is partly what this book is all about. Set in the area of Montana and the Little Big Horn, this book opens with an incident at a gas station. There is a shootout between the owners and someone shooting at him with bows and arrows. Carsten Stroud's character is called in to investigate. He does not like what he finds

This was Stroud's first novel, after two works of non-fiction. And unlike most journalists who have great difficulty making the transition from fact-based writing to fiction, Stroud has no problem at all. This is an outstanding book: characters so real you can practically touch them, humor so outrageous that sections provoke out-loud laughter, a complex completely viable plot-line, and sections of writing lyrically simple and beautifully constructed. Stroud is one wonderful writer.

Aside from all the above assets, the author's feel for place is so powerful that Montana comes alive in its vistas, its climate and its denizens. There's also a lot of native American history, integral to the plot, that isn't sentimentalized but made to come alive--via hero Beau McAllister's sensibilities.

A good author always, always leaves the reader wanting more. Lizardskin is a signal accomplishment in that it practically begs for a sequel. Stroud has gone on to write other, equally fine books, resisting the temptation to overwork a winning hand. Smart fellow, first-class writer.
My highest recommendation.

i really loved this series, and this book in particular. oliole's personality is such an easy one to love. i never wanted to stop reading!the ending is understandable, but that doesn't make it easier to take. it's not a happily ever after, so it leaves the book feeling unfinished. i would love more books in this series!!

When you combine a fiesty, independent 30 year old woman in the west who also happens to be a photographer-- with a handsome gentleman with plans for an isolated ranch, you are in for a wild ride.

Ollie as I called her, fought with the best of them, often freeing herself and others from the frightful gangs of outlaws which terrorized their towns. She was always ready.

One of the highlights of the book occured when Ollie was commissioned to do a 24 picture series titled Women of the West and her quest to obtain those pictures...the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, all colors and ages.....what an adventure.

Much action, much emotion, just enough religion and love cause this book to hold one's attention clear to the last few pages when I wanted to throw the book across the room I was sooo disappointed. More, please.

Really related to this heroine and her struggles to choose between her photographer career and freedom and ride off into the sunset with a handsome drover. His open personality and simple ways sneak past her defenses and force her to consider giving up all she came West to find. It's a fight between her will and God's as she faces a number of enemies too. The ending was right, but want more in this series!

This book is full of hilarious dialogue, real life experiences of people assuming things before they happen and a great love story where the boy does not get the girl. A fun read, but most important is the dialogue between the main character and God. Thanks, Mr. Bly, for a great book and one that does not end in the normal way.

Michael Malone, who has since passed away, was a great scholar. As with his previous writings there is some overlap, but plenty of new material, as well. Other great books include Emmons' book which is also first class. Thus, I would recommend both Malone's early writings and Emmons book. The "Copper Camp" written during the Works project is another book worth looking at; but keep it in historical perspective. It seemed rather racist to me, particularly in the manner in which it deals with the Native American population.

This is what most people would call the "definitive" one-volume history of Montana, and I'd have to agree. Written primarily to serve as a testbook for college-level history courses, this is a comprehensive, balanced, and detailed overview of Montana's fascinating history. All three authors knew the state extraordinarily well, and clearly loved its past. (Both Malone and Roeder taught history at Montana State University, and Malone later served as the school's president; Lang edited the Montana Historical Society's journal.)

Still, it's difficult to recommend this book to the casual reader. By striving so diligently for completeness and balance, the authors created a product that is weighty, dense, and largely without style. Montana's vibrant, spirited history has been rendered lifeless here, and reading this book can be very slow going. As a professional historian, I find it to be a great reference tool, but its not something that most folks will want to read for fun. Instead, you might consider these two evocative and beautifully-written histories of the state: Joseph Kinsey Howard's "Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome" and K. Ross Toole's "Montana: An Uncommon Land." Both are classics in their field, and are wonderful reads.

When I recently asked at the Montana Historical Association about the best history of Montana, this was the book recommended. Having read many books about Montana, I agree. The current edition, published in 1991, is authored by Malone, Roeder, and Lang. An earlier publication in 1976 was by Malone and Roeder alone, and the newer revision is significantly updated.

While acknowledging that Montana's history dates back thousands of years before white Europeans first appeared on the scene, this text primarily deals with history since the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805-1806.

Fur traders and mountain men followed quickly after Lewis and Clark. They explored the land but didn't settle anywhere for long. The populating of Montana began in the western part of the territory in the 1860s with the development of the gold and silver mining districts. Geographically, western and eastern Montana differ greatly. Cattlemen were the first developers of eastern Montana, primarily after 1880, and were followed after 1900 by the farmers of the homestead era. "A History of Two Centuries" is one of the few books to treat development of the entire state evenly.

Gold, cattle, mining, homesteading, railroads, economics, drought, and the evolution from frontier to integration into the United States are all elements of Montana's history. Each of these ingredients caused Montanans to compete forcefully against the natural world and one another. Many of the ingredients have spawned individual books. No other single book covers them all so well.

A lot of the Montana's history is at the heart of America's "Wild West." Few writers have the discipline to describe Montana without getting caught up in the romance of the myth. That is unfortunate since the facts provide ample romance. The reader of this text will find plenty of "wild west" in the people, development, and politics of Montana. It is a worthy successor to "Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome," which for years served Montanans as the best account of their state's history.

The chapters are roughly chronological and the authors provide an extensive bibliography for each chapter.

I am from Montana and have never really learned the history. I became interested after seeing a Montana Historical Society art showing. They recommended this book as the best general review out there. It is rare that any author can capture Montana's extrordinary beauty with words, but Mr. Malone does that surprisingly well. I would have to agree with the Historical Society that this is a great book for people unfamilier with Montana's diverse and amazing history.

NOLA has a special place in my heart and I swear to this day I won't go back because of how Katrina all went down. When I saw Phyllis Montana Leblanc on Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke" I knew there was something about this woman. She spoke with power and the pain of someone who survived a great ordeal. And she didn't mind expressing herself with a curse word or two, which reinforces the BS the survivors went through.

I heard about the book when she was being interviewed on the Tom Joyner show. I rushed out and got it. Let me tell you, this book takes you where the TV did not. I can't imagine how they did made it. Sticking around vs. leaving town. Taking the chance to go out beyond their "safe haven" through murky waters. Going from place to place until they ended up in San Antonio. Going for a week in the clothes on their backs and no baths.

Phyllis Montana Leblanc is no seasoned writer, nor did the editor correct every pargraph or sentence. I don't think that is what this book is about or meant to be presented as. Keep in mind this is her personal account, just as if you were reading her journal or sitting out on the porch listening to her tell it to you - minute by minute. I finished the book on a lazy afternoon, it's only a couple hundred pages but makes you feel like you endured the entire week.

Here is a true American hero. She survived one of the biggest tragedies of the modern age and carried herself forward through the aftermath to dazzle us all with her wit, her charm, her intelligence - and the beautiful, selfless example of her spirit of forgiveness.

The example Montana-LeBlanc sets is gift to all of us. Would that I could live up to her example in the face of adversity... She is a model of positive and constructive energy that every parent can hold up to their children as a lesson in resilience and good.

This is how author closes the last chapter of her story. It made me laugh. It is one of the few things to laugh about in this book.

If you have ever wanted to sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with a survivor of the Katrina disaster, then this is the book for you. The author and her husband did what they felt they needed to do in order to prepare for the storm. They had their cell phones fully charged; filled their tubs with water; cooked plenty of food which they sealed in ziplock bags; set aside water, and secured the windows. But when the roof started to fall in, and they had to make an emergency evacuation, they were forced to leave these things behind and become what the television pundits called "refugees". What happened next makes for a gripping first hand account of their struggle to survive not just during the storm but during the aftermath.

Something she says in her book sums it up: "To say that Hurricane Katrina traumatized me would be a flat-out lie. I was traumatized by being left behind for so long without my family. We were left to die."

This was a hard book to rate. While the author's story is worthy of 5 stars, the presentation, as the Newsweek reviewer noted, is raw. It is unpolished, tends to ramble and could have used better editing. I'd rate it 3 stars. So I averaged the two out and gave it 4 stars.

At times a painful story to read, I learned a lot by doing so. I wish the author and her family the best, as I wish the best for others who also suffered through Katrina.

i watched and followed the whole katrina storm, have family and friends who dealt with it and the whole aftermath, but when you read this book you getr a up close and direct day by day account of just what went down and the many obstacles faced during and after it's devasting effect on all people involved.Phyllis Montana Leblanc pulls no punches and speaks on her and Her Husbands situation through this brutal and unfair storm. it forever changed lives. this is a powerful must read Book ASAP and a reminder of natural disasters and how to be prepared for and what to do. very detailed and a strong,strong book.

I was engrossed with Pretty Shields story from the moment it began. It was wonderful to read of a native woman's life, before "the buffalo went away". Life then was simpler and so full of joy, as well as so many hardships, but the spirit that is brought across is inspiring and uplifting. A wonderful and engrossing read from beginning to end. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in Native studies, feminism, or simply life, before we came along.

Based on the title and the editorial reviews, I was expecting (and hoping) to read about Pretty-shield's life as a healer, and more about the customs of her tribe. Instead, a lot of the stories were about things she did as a child and teen, mostly how she got into trouble and silly things she did with friends.

On the positive side, it's an easy read, and would be a good introduction to Native American life.

a wonderful collection of memories of Pretty Shields life- as soon as you start reading you will love her. A strong, smart woman from the last generation of native people who lived by the way of the earth. you should read this!

This biographical information about Pretty Shield, a Wise One of the Crow was originally compiled and published in the 1930's by Linderman. This book is the third reprint of the original story and contains a new preface by Alma Snell (Pretty Shield's granddaughter) and Becky Matthews. Linderman was called Sign-talker by the Crow due to his insistence that his interview subjects spoke in signs even when a translator was present. His earlier biography about Pretty Shield's clansmen, Plenty Coups, gained him unprecedented respect and admiration within this clan.

Due to this distinguished reputation, Pretty Shield was willing to tell Linderman stories about her seventy-four years and about the lives of women before and after the coming of the White men and the decline of the bison herds. Pretty Shield is uniquely candid describing daily activities of women that are rarely recorded. Moreover, she describes specific incidents illustrating traditional Crow behavior and conduct. Many of these sometimes humorous, sometimes heart breaking stories demonstrate both negative and positive examples of such customs, often with Pretty Shield herself being in the wrong.

In addition to narrating these stories about Pretty Shield's youth, family, marriage, and the raising of her children, Linderman also records his impressions of Pretty Shield and her life at the time of the interview. This information not only illustrates how traditional Crow ideals relate and are translated into the more modern lifestyles of Pretty Shield and her grandchildren but also allows a view into the personality of a very unique woman.

Pretty-shield is a touching biography that will be enjoyed as a recreational read. Nonetheless, this book also contains important rare incites into the lives of traditional and modern Crow women. Thus, the book is suitable for those interested in learning a little about traditional native life as well as those researchers looking for detailed information about the changing lifeways, traditions, and belief systems of the Crow during this transitional period. This book contains unprecedented candid information about this time from a viewpoint rarely recorded presented in an entertaining, easy to read, meaningful way. That the author also wrote a book on the male perspective from the same native group, simply adds to the potential importance of this resource.

Queen of the Legal Tender Saloon is a refreshing, insightful look not just at modern life in Montana, but at life and love, personal growth and a woman making it on her own in the world of cowboy lore. Author Eileen Clake writes as powerfully as Pam Houston, with insight and strength wrapped around lifelike characters that have the same wants and needs, strengths and weaknesses found in all of us, yet tempered by the world of the modern cowboy. You can't help but to get hooked on the prose, captured by the plot. It's the perfect companion with which to curl up by the fireplace on a long winter weekend.

What a wonderful idea: Montana through the eyes of a dental assistant. The Big Sky State is, after all, comprised far more of civil servants and teachers and CNA's and truck drivers than the cowboys and far-sighted writers that we tend to idolize. Thank goodness for a well-spoken author who looks at Montana's foibles through the eyes of a believable character. Thank goodness, too, for a fine portrait of a Montana town and valley. And bravo for the cover artwork. What a relief to find a bold artistic cover statement--as opposed to another look-alike muted dust jacket!

The book started moving by the time I got to the trial. The cover however, leaves something to be desired. I mean I know all the old bla bla about not judging a book by the cover, and that stands true here. Make it past the sad attempt at a cover and find a great story hidden inside. -If that is, you can deal with that "uppity, sage-brush and beat-up truck Montana stuff. Why do all of those Montana writers get off on that stuff?? ;>

An intimate portrayal of a young woman's pilgrimage to small town rustic Montana. Ms. Clarke captures the essence of this close knit community with endearing characters in search of good times amidst their struggles. A lively story with true grit, heart and soul.

This book was very informative on the geology of Montana.

The saga of Glacial Lake Missoula was so gripping I had to buy Roadside Geology of Washington to see how it came out! Alt and Hyndman are the best authors I've found in this series. While you're at it, don't miss Alt's "Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods."

In this guide, you will learn why underground coal fires have played a prominent role in shaping the surface topography and nature of the overlying strata in parts of eastern Montana. You will learn why widespread dryland farming in the early 20th century often caused devistating salinization of the soil. Filled with numerous photos and illustrations, the past and present of Montana's geology is at your fingertips. From the sedimentation, coal formation and general uplift of eastern and central Montana,
to the dominant influence of tectonic and igneous events in the western region, to the recent effects of glaciation in the northern regions, Alt and Hyndman provide you with a detailed description and explanation.

Great little book. I've read it until the covers have fallen off, and it's still a bigger story than I can adequately understand. I'm afraid we live in a very complex state. Dr. Alt's book is exactly the thing to carry around in car while one travels. I only wish it was 20 times longer, bigger - with more pictures. Once in a conversation with Dr. Alt he promised me that in the newer additions of his book would be naked pictures of the geologists - but that hasn't shown up yet. It's perhaps for the best. Great book.

All of Peter Bowen's books are a fast, furious, and a fun read, including Stewball. I love Gabriel's friends and family. I also love the focus on Metis and their culture, because I am familiar with it, and also with the geographic areas the stories tend to be set in. The characters are pretty much like real people seen though a sardonic eye, with a bit of poetic license thrown in. They are real enough to draw you into their concerns but exaggerated enough to make it fun. May the ink never dry in Mr. Bowen's pens.

We're back in another trip to the world of the Metis, who inhabit Montana and parts north, and have a culture uniquely their own - full of music, a love for the independent life, and a fractured grammar that makes backwards, everything. Peter Bowen has spent a lifetime telling the stories of Gabriel du Pres, cattle inspector, brilliant fiddle player, and solver of mysteries. Don't get the idea that Gabriel is a superman. He is carefully herded and guarded by his woman Madelaine, his daughters, madeliane's daughters, and Benetsee the shaman.

In Stewball, Gabriel sets out to find Auntie Pauline's latest boyfriend, and finds a corpse instead. Badger, Gabriel discovers, was doing the FBI a favor, and apparently ran into something bigger than he expected - big stakes horse racing and right wing militancy. Gabriel decides to get involved. Soon he and Booger Tom are the front men in a sting operation that seems to involve the FBI, the ATF, and any other law enforcement organization in the neighborhood.

As always, this story is more about the people than it is about the crime. Of everyone who appears though, the star of this story is Lourdes, Madelaine's oldest daughter, a natural horsewoman, and every bit as frightening as the other women in our hero's life, including Lourde's sister, Pallas, 10-year-old genius and evil spirit.

It is Lourdes' riding skills on Stewball that enable Gabriel and Tom to appear as wealthy horse racers so as to infiltrate the secret brush races and expose the doings of a closed circle of plotters. But men have died already, and the members of the club are wealthy enough to buy their way clean. The forces are evenly matched, but never count a determined Metis out of any fight.

For all its serious moments, Bowen tells this story with a very light touch and vivid characterization. I have come to love all the du Pres stories, but Stewball is special, full of all the things that makes this series entertaining. For all that this is the twelfth book in the series, you could easily start right here. Most likely you will go back and read them all.

I was as puzzled by this book's ending as I have been with all of Peter Bowen's endings since "Ash Child." I finished it, but I felt like I'd been dragged through a séance in the sweat lodge with the inscrutable Benetsee. Maybe the meaning of "Stewball"s conclusion will come to me in a dream.

At least the rich neo-nazi ranchers come out of this book nearly as whupped as the readers. Not that I think they don't deserve a good bashing, but I wasn't quite sure what the evil rancher intended to do with his vintage World War II P-38. He goes wooshing around in it at the end of the book, but he has no specific target that the readers need to worry about like an NAACP Convention or an American Civil Liberties Union picnic or a Navaho Tribal Council.

Nobody out on the prairie, Mr. Blackmore, except us chickens. We're all Aryan chickens so don't be pointing those cannons at us.

Oh well, I get the feeling the author wrote "Stewball" on automatic pilot. It consists mainly of non-expletive-deleted dialog between characters from his previous books. Luckily, Bowen provides an index of characters at the beginning of this book; otherwise new readers will never be able to figure out who's who.

Booger Tom, one of my favorite characters from previous novels in the Du Pré mystery series, gets lots of face time in "Stewball." He is pretending to be a race horse trainer. Bowen also clues us in on this old ranch hand's background: he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor at Heartbreak Ridge in Korea, and also fought in France and Austria in WWII.

This old guy should be writing his memoirs, not mending barbwire and worming cows!

Anyway, Du Pré, the retired brand inspector and Booger Tom team up to race an Australian Quarter Horse named Stewball in brush races attended by neo-nazi ranchers. Du Pré's FBI buddy, Harvey Wallace asks them to discover who murdered one of his snitches, who was passing counterfeit money at a brush race. The snitch also happened to be married to one of Du Pré's aunts.

That's about all the plot there is. Benetsee holds a couple of séances in his sweat lodge and dons his war paint. Du Pré laces on his Cree running moccasins and rubs dirty engine oil on his face. He shoots a couple of bad guys with his MP-40, sets fire to a bunch of aviation fuel drums, and drinks a whole lot of bourbon.

Stewball wins a few races.

That's it, except for some long-winded, expletive-not-deleted lectures on the American far-right.

P.S. Mr. Bowen, if Stewball is a blue roan, he has a black mane and tail, not gray or white.

Gabriel Du Pre meets with his Aunt Pauline at the Toussaint Saloon. She tells him her latest husband Badger has gone missing for two weeks and that the FBI is somehow involved. She wants him to call his FBI friend to find out what happened to her spouse. Du Pre does exactly that and finds Badger was caught coming across the Canadian border with ten thousand valium tablets. Badger agreed to infiltrate a white supremacist and the charges against him will be greatly reduced.

There is heavy gambling at these races and the FBI supplied him with marked money that turned out to be counterfeit. The group killed Badger but the Feds still wants someone to infiltrate the urban theorist group. Du Pre has his granddaughter ride a horse in the races in the hopes that he will be accepted by the group and learn who the real leaders are. It is a dangerous situation but Du Pre has it under control until the leader escapes during an FBI raid. Du Pre is determined to be the one to find him no matter how long it takes.

Du Pre is a unique, independent and ageless protagonist who goes his own way and doesn't let anyone stop him from doing what he wants. It is lucky for law enforcement that he is on the side of Justice because he would make an untouchable crook. Peter Bowen does for Montana what Tony Hillerman does for New Mexico. Perhaps the most delightful character in this novel is STEWBALL, the horse that is in love with Du Pre's granddaughter Lourdes.

Harriet Klausner

Now I know this is not one of better known Thomas Hardy Books. And I know it probably isn't all that well thought of by critics who like the doom of many of his other books (that doesn't sound good, but if you get the chance read them anyway!) I like this because it is nice and simple, about a gil called Anne, who is in love with someone called Robert, who is continously unfaithful to her. And of course you have John, Robert's brother, who is in love with Anne. You sympathise so much with the characters. And, in this book, there is a happy/sad ending, but I would spoil it if I said any more. Without reading this, you might feel that Anne is a bit stupid to stand by her man, but just go and read it and you'll understand better. Perhaps this book isn't a great literary masterpiece like other works, but it is fairly easy to read, which is exactly what I advise you to do!

She was walking through the library carrying the university's entire Hardy collection. I already had a nasty schoolboy crush on her, but after that day I was jello. And perhaps it began on the afternoon she lectured on Thom. Hardy, describing him as a poet who sacrificed his art to survive as a novelist. Yet, his novels were not pot-boilers, and Hardy eventually returned to his true muse. I shouldn't write this - let Linda explain it to you.

This novel tells of the many turns of Anne Garland's heart takes as she decides upon one of three possible suitors. Each turn her heart takes affects the other suitors in ways which are humorous/clever, but the underlying theme is the pathos you feel for the unfavored ones, primarily John Loveday and his ultimate resolution. Overall not bad.

I have read most of Thomas Hardy's novels--he is, along with Wilkie Collins, my favorite novelist--and this is the first one by which I have been disappointed. Still, a disappointing book by Hardy is worth ten by nearly anyone else, so let me explain. The ending felt quite out of the blue and abrupt compared to the events leading up to it, yet in retrospect, it makes more and more sense.

The ending aside--where the oddness is confined to just the last two pages--this is a superb character study of five disparate main characters and a handful of minor characters. Hardy is a master at imbuing each character with not only distinct personalities, but with the inconsistencies and flaws that make them leap, whole and warm-blooded, from the page. His characters are never stock people; they always seem as though they are people you could (or do) actually know in your own life.

The primary character is Anne Garland, a lovely country village girl who is much sought after by three different local men. These include Festus Derriman, a ne'er-do-well with a temper and a lust for his uncle's money; John Loveday, a soldier and the trumpet-major of the novel's title, who is the kindest, most patient character I believe I have ever seen in a novel; and John's younger brother Bob, who is a boisterous sailor with good intentions but a short attention span when it comes to the ladies. The machinations by which these three seek to catch Anne's eye is endlessly inventive and endlessly interesting for the reader, and her varied reactions to their attentions is a marvel of observed detail and the inconsistency of human nature. By turns hot and cold towards each of the men, Anne never seems shallow or thoughtless--merely human. There is also another sharply etched female character, the actress Matilda Johnson, who appears only a couple of times, but who is the linchpin of much important action.

As always, Hardy likes to insert subtle humor into even the most serious of situations. In detailing the village's concern about Napoleon (who is referred to frequently in the book by the derisive nickname "Boney"), Hardy writes:

Widow Garland's thoughts were those of the period. "Can it be the French?" she said, arranging herself for the extremest form of consternation. "Can that arch-enemy of mankind have landed at last?" It should be stated that at this time there were two arch-enemies of mankind, Satan as usual, and Buonaparte, who had sprung up and eclipsed his elder rival altogether. Mrs Garland alluded of couse to the junior gentleman.

You will be surprised, as I was, by the man with whom Anne Garland ends up. Yet now, just a day or two after having finished the novel and having been almost affronted by the abruptness and seeming insuitability of the ending, my position has softened and I can see that Hardy was actually quite true to the characters, their motivations, and their choices--however inconsistent they may at first have seemed to the reader. This is not by any means a great Thomas Hardy novel, but an average novel by Thomas Hardy is still a marvel of construction, of character, and of plot.

From the first page of chapter one, I was hooked. The action and suspense as well as the great characterization make this book hard to put down. Sometimes I wanted to shake the impulsive, often scatterbrained, but intelligent and gutsy heroine, Natasha Greene, but I couldn't help pulling for her as she risked her life in her loyalty to others. Other characters I thoroughly enjoyed were her teenage neighbor, David, her friend Trevor, and the faithful dog, Hero.

This book is the spirit of America, the many heroes both big and small that would and do give their lives for their country - be they our fighting troops overseas, fireman tearing though rubble in hopes of rescuing others, or small town people willing to give up their lives for what they believe in. Natasha Greene is who we all hope we would have the courage to be. But she's not a Saint; she's real - often ditzy, forever fueling her body with good ole American junk food, and loyal to a fault to her friends. The action is non-stop through 331 pages, with numerous stops and pitfalls, some stupidly caused by the heroes, some happening just as we would expect from terrorists in our own backyard. May our Home Defense never be put to this test. A real book with laughs and tears; one no one who loves their country should miss.

This book kept me hooked from beginning to end. I had trouble putting it down! With it's mix of romance and suspense I recommend this book for any adult looking for a real good edge of your seat read!