Minnesota Books

A marvelous book, extremely well written with accurate detail and and hundreds of wonderful street scene photos on virtually every page. Book is worth twice the price.

Fascinating book for a boy who lived in St.Paul from 1928 until 1951. Great pictures,maps and text. A real joy.

What a great book!! John Diers and Aaron Isaacs have given transit fans and Twin Cities historians an in depth look into the horsecar, cablecar, and streetcar era in our towns. I knew that there were horsecars in the Twin Cities, but did not know about the cablecars. In 1953 and 1954, my aunt took my on several streetcars routes prior to their abandonment. About 1960, I joined the Minnesota Transportation Museum and helped restore the TCRT 1300--the car that runs in Linden Hills. Both Mr. Diers and Mr. Isaacs are involved with that streetcar museum. My goal this summer is to have both authors autograph my book.

I wish they would have had a short chapter on the Hiawatha Light Rail line to complete rail transit history for the Twin Cities.

As information, Aaron Isaacs late father (George) was very instrumental in getting the Hiawatha Light Rail line for the Minneapolis area.

Ed Burns of Anoka

This is a wonderful book. The pictures are amazing. We actually found a picture of my husband's Grandfather, George, that worked on the Lake Steet line.

Unlike many streetcar histories that assume that the reader already has a familiarity with at least the geography or operation of the traction company being presented, the authors of this book combine a creative layout and numerous maps with a discussion of all aspects of Minneapolis/St. Paul streetcar operations that can be easily grasped by non-Twin Citians. The maps are the best that I have ever seen, especially the individual route maps that show each street along with dates of the start and end of service on each segment. The book has a rich, "coffee-table" appearance that invites picking it up for frequent browsing, and the nicely reproduced black and white photographs and well-written text amply reward the effort.

I so love Teresa McClain-Watson's writing, I've read all of her books including Plenty Good Room. I first read "Surviving Mr. Right" and enjoyed it so much (such wit and humor) that I immediately looked for another by her. When I found "Loose Lips", I was at first skeptical because reading the summary, it didn't sound that interesting but LORD was I wrong!! Thankfully. Of all of her characters, Ben and Josie had me the most enthralled! I absolutely love them. Ben is beyond sexy and Josie just pure cracks me up. But I can identify with her too. The conflict between the two (personality, age, interests, etc.) makes for thrilling reading and I couldn't put the book down. I've read both "Loose Lips" and "What We Did For Love" at least five times over already and I'll continue to do so. I never get tired of Ben and Josie. Please Mrs. Watson, bring on some more. We readers need it!

Oh My Goodness. I must say, when I picked this book up at the store I only bought it because it was the sequel to "Loose Lips". Now that I have read it, I WANT ANOTHER SEQUEL. I am so estatic to have read a book, gotten to the last page and I want to read more! The relationship between Ben & Josie is so turbulent, yet and still they are unable to give up because they are so in love with each other. They both grow a lot in this book and I want to continue to experience their growth as a couple. I want to know how the Vegas episode goes (I don't want to give the book away), I want to know how life continues for these two people. I want to know how Ben & Josie grow together. I want to know how Ben handles himself now that Josie has developed into the woman he knew she could, & the woman he wanted to see & he now has the desperate need, desire & love for her that she once openly expressed for him. I want to see Josie strong, driven, purposeful & confident in herself & their relationship. I want to hear more about Scotty & see their comraderie again. I want to see Ben smile more often & experience life as he never knew he could now that he has the woman he doesn't want to live without.

This is the best sequel ever!! It doesn't overshadow its predecessor but instead compliments it perfectly. If you want to lose yourself in a book, get sad, get angry, get happy & experience written suspence, then read this book. If you don't want to enjoy those things..read it anyway. I promise you will not be dissapointed.

This followup book will keep you wanting more!! I totally enjoyed Loose Lips and actually loved What We Did even more. Josie is growing up and it was fullfilling to see the tables turned with a jealous Ben. I am actually reading this book again now that Josie and I have finally understood the depth of Ben's love. Some slight continuation errors but overall, just Awesome!! To the Author: Please let there be another book, this story is NOT finished, not by a long shot!!

I am totally addicted to these two people in these books. I have read each of them back to back for as long as I have had these books..please, please, please write a sequel so that I can know what happened to Ben & Josie. I want to follow them to the end of thier lives.

I am a prolific reader and will not waste my time or energy on a book if it isn't good. My thought process is that life's too short and there are too many other good books to waste my time on just one. I hated for this book to end. This book touched my heart as few have when dealing with love. You felt Josie's love....kind of made me want myself a Ben. He's the strong, silient type. Won't pass this book on to others as I have with other books. I'm keeping this one to read again...I NEVER DO THAT!

I bought this book at the suggestion of a Homeschool Curriculum and my son and I love it. It goes through the alphabet and isn't too distracting.

This book is a must read for any young child- even an infant. The black and white pencil drawings are intricate and soft, and though my son is older, he was drawn right into the illustrations. The copy that we checked out came with an audiotape, with accompanying music which is printed in the book on the last page, with the words. The book itself it very rhythmical and lends itself to be sung by a child even without the music. I found a few grammatical (punctuation) errors (Scholastic 1990 edition), which tripped me up as I read along, but not having another printing to compare to, I didn't let that determine the star quality of this book. I can almost remember it being read to me as a child, and I would read it to anyone who would sit and listen.

What a lovely book for young children. ABC Bunny creatively displays the alphabet in story form. In the little bunny's many encounters with other critters it lays the groundwork for a great nature study. There is a cute little song for children who like to sing as well as be read to! The illustrations are enticing and full of action. Written in a very original way to introduce the alphabet to young children, I hope that this book will soon be back in print so that we can continue to share it with others.

A TERRIFIC BOOK FOR YOUNG CHILDREN!!!! THIS LOVELY LITTLE BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF A BUNNY FINDING ITS WAY HOME AFTER IT WAS RUDELY AWAKENED BY AN, QUOTE, "APPLE, BIG AND RED". IT MEETS UP WITH A FROG, A, QUOTE, "KITTEN, CATNIP CRAZY" AND A LIZARD. THE BOOK CAN BE ENJOYED BY ALL, 1-YEAR-OLDS THROUGH 100-YEAR-OLDS. IN SOME EDITIONS, IT ALSO HAS A NICE LITTLE SONG. HERE IS A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM THE BOOK:

A FOR APPLE, BIG AND RED
B FOR BUNNY, SNUG ABED
C FOR CRASH, D FOR DASH,
E FOR ELSEWHERE IN A FLASH
F FOR FROG, HE'S FAT AND FUNNY
"LOOKS LIKE RAIN" HE SAYS TO BUNNY
G FOR GAIL, H FOR HAIL
HIPPETY-HOP GOES BUNNY'S TAIL
I FOR INSECTS HER AND THERE,
J FOR JAY WITH JAUNTY AIR
K FOR KITTEN, CATNIP CRAZY
L FOR LIZARD LOOK HOW LAZY........
Y FOR YOU, TAKE ONE LAST LOOK,
Z FOR ZERO. CLOSE THE BOOK!

A small book on the alphabet which tells a story in rhyme of a bunny going home. It was a 1934 Newbery Honor book (i.e., runner-up to the Medal winner) for best contribution to American children's literature. Wanda Gág (1893-1946) was a well-known illustrator and writer of children's books.

As the daughter of a semi-country doctor, I grew up with the experience of having a father who always seemed to be on call. Dr. Macdonald's anthology of cases was an excellent read, and after the first story I immediately called my mom to share it with her. We both had a laugh over it, and I am going to recommend that she buy it, along with my 2 older sisters. I enjoyed reading the stories, and they are set up such that you can read for as long or as short a time as you want. A must-buy for any child or spouse of a physician!

I thought this book was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed this book... you'll laugh out loud and you'll cry as you see everything through the eyes of one rural Minnesota doctor. I'm couldn't wait until his second one came out! Read it!!

A Country Doctor's Casebook: Tales From The North Woods is an anthology of autobiographical stories by Dr. Roger A. MacDonald, a physician who has served the people living in a remote region of northern Minnesota during the years after World War II. Vignettes of sickness, compassion, feuds, dangers, births and deaths make A Country Doctor's Casebook unforgettable and very highly recommended reading.

Dr. MacDonald's book is a welcome remembrance to those who lived in Northern Minnesota in the 40's & 50's. His stories of survival (and sometimes not surviving) are very descriptive and detailed. When he tells of a trip through a swamp he carried his wife through to help a patient, you almost feel as though you are sloshing through the mud with him. His stories are NOT about heroics that he performed on helpless rural Minnesota residents, although he certainly could do that as well. They are about the heroics of those people he cared for. This story has it's humorous parts as well as parts that make you cry for the brave and futile attempts at life of his patients. I am grateful to Dr. MacDonald for this book, and I hope to see more from him in the future.

I got this book because I too come from Minnesota and work in health care, but once started on Dr. MacDonald's A Country Doctor's Casebook Tales from the North Woods, I was hooked. The author was what we would now refer to as a family practitioner who worked in a small rural community near Duluth from 1947 to 1980. His charming collection of stories is a delight to read, and I literally read the book from cover to cover over about three hours without putting it down. The tales of the doctor and his patients pull the reader through the pages without tricks of style, just the author's natural talent for telling a simple story: the life and death struggles of members of his community, the happiness of new lives begun, the suddenness of unexpected death, incredible courage in the face of adversity, acceptance of the setbacks of life, amusing vignettes of simple people living life among their neighbors.

FOR THOSE WRITING PAPERS in English, creative writing, journaling, journalism, history, and sociology, this would make a nice format to follow or a good bibliography entry. The author has used his own life experiences to create a history of his practice, community, and time.

If you have thought of exploring mosaics and want interesting and exciting new approaches and sound technique this book will do it.

I've never written a review before but I felt compelled to spread the word about this book. It's incredible! Every design featured in this book is a masterpiece of creativity. After viewing the art, I can't wait to get started on a project of my own. And the best part is that each design in the book is explained out step-by-step from materials needed to simple techniques. As if that wasn't enough, the back of the book even has templates so you can recreate the exact design if you wish. For inspiration, you can't beat this book.

This is a great book for inspiring creative ideas for making outdoor mosaics. Well written, beautifully photographed, the book shows original problem solving techniques not found in other "how-to" mosaic book...particularly in the construction of 3-D objects. Ms MacKay is a talented writer and mosiac artist.

This book is a great read for aspiring mosaic artists and for beginners. The beautiful pictures show what is possible, the text is well written, and the "how-to" part is easy to follow.
This is a book for those who want to venture beyond the commonplace in mosaics.

Lena

The subtitle of this book is Dazzling Projects and Innovative Techniques and it certainly delivers! It's full of rich, vivid, full color photographs and instructions for interesting and creative projects, most of them 3-D. I was very excited to learn about epoxy putty and how to use it to create curved structures out of backer board or wire. A few of my favorite projects in this book: Snake-In-The-Grass, Gazing Face, and Reflecting Birdbath with View. Your garden will never be the same!

Janet Ruell is a brainy and talented librarian from a provincial Minnesota backwater called Eldreth where, as she explains, because she has not married and she is nearing thirty, she is treated like a third class citizen and scorned or pitied by all. On a automobile vacation on a hot summer day she stops by a toutist camp and joins twenty or thirty strangers for a meal served on a porch. There she meets little Scottie, or "Cottie," as he calls himself, a charming toddler with a suspicious, yet magnetic father in tow. Janet's having one of those moments without which the plot could hardly begin, but she makes that existential leap of faith and takes off with father and son for another tourist camp, this one on the lake of the "Crying Sisters." It's an old Indian legend of two sisters who loved each other so deeply you can still hear them screaming and crying for each other across the eerie stillness of the night lake.

Janet's behavior is puzzling, especially since she knows hunky Dad had a revolver hidden among his things, but the plot of the book is a sort of rehash of Jane Eyre, with the man who calls himself "Steve Corbett" like a Clark Gable version of Rochester. Janet spends most of the book tending to little Cottie, disliking his father, and terrified as fellow guests at the motel start dying and disappearing at strange times of the night. What's great about the book is that, although Seeley is often compared to such HIBK queens as Mary Roberts Rinehart and Mignon G. Eberhart, she is actually much closer to a social realist, and her picture of this flybynight tourist trap, with its creepy denizens and downright hideous atmosphere, gives her a noir edge the others lack. Well, to be fair, they weren't interested in unearthing life among the lower strata of society, while Seeley is fascinated by the Erskine Caldwell lowlives who populate her best books. After making your way through the Grand Guignol horrors of THE CRYING SISTERS, one wonders why she isn't being anthologized by the Library of America in their CRIME NOVELS series. If the guy who wrote NIGHTMARE ALLEY is in there, why not Seeley? THE CRYING SISTERS is as gruesome and haunting as NIGHTMARE ALLEY, no, more so, but because it was written by a woman (perhaps especially a woman called "Mabel"), she has been relegated to obscurity and to specialist regional presses like this one.

I loved this book, although at first I found it hard to accept the premise that a woman would just chuck a vacation for herself and go off to become a nanny. But it turned out to be an excellent story with a well-written and suspenseful plot. It also gives a nice sense of the society of the 1940's, when people did enjoy staying in tourist camps and life was simpler. The lurking evil is first rate, a couple of perfect red-herrings and fully developed characters make this a fun book for summer reading, especially if you like the Great Lakes.

I was born in 1955. I read this book as a teenager and it was tremendously exciting. I read the book again as an adult with children and again I fell in love with it. It has the same mastery of writeing, as To Kill a Mockingbird. It isn't the same type of story. But the scare is timeless.

The story is about a young woman who is a lone in the world without family. She is bright and intelligent and without any prospects for a family of her own. She meets a man with a charming child. He offers her a job takeing care of the boy while he pursues infomation on his long missing wife. During which time she poses as his wife. A long forgotten scandal is involved along with several tense moments as murder is uncovered and the suspicion that the man is involved in the unsolved deaths. Really great with a lot of suspense.

If you've ever been to any of the old-time lake cabins in Minnesota, you'll feel like your there again when you read this classic 1940's mystery. The characters are perfect, and the setting, right down to the dirt and gravel paths to the lake, is so real you can almost see it. All Seeley's books have a real distinct 40's feel to them, so if you enjoy that, I'd say they're well worth your time.

A well-written mystery with many a twist in the plot. The characters are interesting and the book keeps you guessing until the very end.

This book was a funny, heartwarming tale - I loved it as an adult! It would make a great gift for adults and children!

It's 1943 and nine-year-old Isabelle Anderson lives with her mother, her two older sisters, Irma and Inez, her younger brother Ian, and her younger sister Ida in St. Paul, Minnesota. It has been one year since her father died and, ever since then, her life has been very different. Irma and Inez have boyfriends and her mother sold her father's filling station and got a job! But now her mother is always tired and not acting like herself anymore. She eventually becomes so tired that she sends Isabelle to live with Uncle Bernard and Aunt Jaye in Zumbrota, Minnesota. She also sends Irma and Inez to live with Uncle Edgar on a farm. That's when their new lives begin.

While living with her uncle and aunt, Isabelle slowly adjusts to life in a small town. Even though she has new friends and her aunt and uncle are nice to her, she wishes she could be home to help her mother do everything around the house. She wants to be part of a happy family again. Then she starts thinking of a way to get back home with her sisters and to the rest of her family. One day, she steals some money from her aunt and uncle's house and goes to the bus station. Guess what? Inez is there too! They both get on the train to go back home.

When they get back home, they discover that their mother is living in a new house with Mr. Colletti, the owner, and that she has sold their old house. Eventually she gets married to him and Isabelle slowly adjusts to him being her stepfather. Then one day, her mother finds out that she is going to have a baby by Christmas! Will Isabelle adjust to another change to her family? Will Irma come back home to her family?

This heartfelt book of a girl who must experience many changes to her family touched me, because I felt the same way when I had to move to a new house and when my little sister was born. If I would have been Isabelle, I would have come home to my mother too because I would have missed her very much. If you like heartfelt and touching books, read this one to find out if her wish to have one happy family again comes true.

--- (...)

In turns winsome, funny, and heart-wrenching, Dear Papa is a book of letters from Isobel to her dad, who "went to heaven," and her Aunt Izzy, her father's sister in California. We learn about Isobel's life in important moments, always through her particular lens on life. From being separated from her family when her mother can no longer cope with raising so many children and cleaning houses to support them, to being reunited when her mother (a Lutheran) marries a doctor (a Catholic), this is an observant, heartwarming book. Those of us who grew up in the Upper Midwest (a Lutheran) and married a gent (a Catholic) can most definitely identify with the words here. If you liked Jan Karon's Mitford books, or Lois Walfrid Johnson's Northwoods Adventures, or L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, you'll enjoy Dear Papa.

Do YOU remember what it was like to be nine-years old? Can you remember what you were interested in, what your perspective was, what held your attention? Could you then write about it, in the voice of the child you once were?

Anne Ylvisaker can, and does write with the perfect voice of a young girl from the 1940's, coping with the loss of her father, and the ensuing life in her family's house and various other homes following that loss. The series of letters that tell the story are by turns warm, sad, angry, hurt, funny, mischevious, warm, scheming and loving, and in every respect true to their time in history as well as the personality of young Isabelle.

While ostensibly a book for younger readers, "Dear Papa," reads well for all ages, and should be very attractive to readers who grew up during World War Two -- they will recognize this little girl, and will be transported back to a time where their perspectives match those of the book's narrator. (Try it sometime -- read a letter or two from this book to a woman from the WW2 generation -- they'll swear that the author also grew up during that period! Ha -- she did not...)

I *highly* recommend this book -- reading it (in one sitting!) gave the most pleasure I've had with a new work in a very long time.

I read this book in one sitting. Isabelle writes wonderful letters to her father, who recently passed away. Readers will find out how her mother and siblings cope, and what happens to Isabelle when she has to live with her aunt and uncle. Isabelle is warm and funny, the type of girl anyone would want for a friend. I've been buying this as a gift for pre-teens I know, and even adults who would have been young in that era. I hope Anne Ylvisaker writes many more books!

Life goes on for the emigrants turned immigrants turned settlers. Midway through the third book, we find out about Robert and Arvid. They never reached California. Arvid died from drinking poisoned water after getting lost on the trail. Robert ended up in Nebraska with another Swede who came over on The Charlotta.

After four years, Robert returns to Karl Oskar's and Kristina's farm. He has Arvid's watch and a large sum of money which he gives to his brother. Karl Oskar is suspicious. Did he find gold? Where is Arvid? Robert has changed. His health is gone, and he is disillusioned. He sees the folly of gold fever.

As it happened, Robert was swindled. The Swede from the ship traded him wildcat money for gold given to him by a dying Mexican. When Karl Oskar finds the bills are worthless, he hits his brother in the face. Broken, Robert wanders into the forest and dies, free at last. The pessimism of this episode is disturbing. We feel the tenuous nature of life and the ease with which men can be led astray.

The Settlers goes through 1860. Minnesota attains statehood. The book ends with Kristina resigning herself to life in America, just as her brother-in-law yielded to his inescapable fate.

Whether one is of Swedish extraction or not, if your ancestors came to America during the period of great migration from Europe, Moberg presents a wonderful picture of what it must have been like in "the old country" and the decision to start a new life in a new land. This is the third part of a four-part series. One would not get the full flavor of the book without reading the others in the series, but having the whole collection is a good plan, since it is a tale worth reading over and again.

This is an epic work by its Swedish author, who is considered to be one of Sweden's greatest writers. Translated from Swedish into English, this beautifully written book of historical fiction was first published in 1956. It is the third part of a four part opus, the first two of which are "The Emigrants" and "Unto a Good Land". The last book is aptly titled "Last Letter Home".

In the first volume, "The Emigrants", the author detailed the emigration of a Swedish family to the New World, grounding it in the reasons for the exodus of so many Swedes from their mother country in the middle of the 19th century. The focus of the first book in this four part opus is on the family, relatives, and friends of Karl Oscar Nilsson, a peasant farmer who unceasingly worked his farm, only to find that, no matter what he did, he could not progress and would continue to live on the cusp of total poverty. The focus of the first book is on their life in Sweden. Gathering up family and friends of the family, the Nilssons decide to take the monumental step of making a fresh start by emigrating to the new world, specifically the United States of America.

The second volume, "Unto a Good Land", focuses on the arrival of the Nilsson family and friends in the United States of America. It details their journey from New York, a journey that was to take them across the Midwest by rail, steamer, and foot, to arrive in the wilds of what would one day be the State of Minnesota. It is in this wilderness that the Nilsson family and friends would homestead and struggle to make a new home. The author regales the reader with the travails this hardy group of settlers would encounter in their efforts to create by the sweat of their brow a new home in the wilderness. The early struggles of the Nilsson family to succeed in what was an unknown frontier is engagingly chronicled.

In "The Settlers", the author continues the story of the Nilsson family and friends. It is the story of a family who struggled to prevail in Minnesota, an alien land of harsh, inhospitable winters and scorching summers. The book continues to chronicle their lives and their adaptation to the adopted country that they would forever call home. It tells the story of the divided Nilsson brothers, each of whom would forge a path alien to the other. The author hones in on the fact that the early settlers were subject to being taken advantage of by the unscrupulous. He highlights the mass migration of disaffected Swedes to Minnesota and details their contribution to the prosperity of that part of the country. The author shows how these early Swedish settlers consolidated themselves into a thriving, bustling community, despite the obstacles and hardships that were to be their lot in the early years of their struggle to make the new land yield to their will.

I have enjoyed the first, second, and third volumes so much that I look forward to continuing this journey with the Nilssons by reading the last remaining volume. Well-written and vibrant with period detail, this is a book that those who enjoy historical fiction will appreciate.

This is the third book in a series by the talented author, Vilhelm Moberg. It follows the story of the struggling Swedish family of Kristina and Karl Oskar, who are trying to survive and make a better life for themselves and their children in America. I would reccommend reading the first two books in the exciting saga before reading The Settlers, so you'll know how and why Karl Oskar and his wife came to America in the first place. I really enjoyed reading all three of these books, but I especially liked this one because of the vivid descriptions and the overall story of their hardships and how they overcome them. I would definitely suggest that you get your hands on a copy of The Settlers as soon as possible! This is absolutely a two thumbs up read!

The Settlers follows the experiences of Karl Oskar Nilsson, and his wife Kristina, from 1853 to 1860. In 1853 Karl Oskar is surprised to find something new in the woods around his homestead - a neighbor. The mass migration of Swedes has begun, and soon there is a community, with a schoolhouse and a church. Karl Oskar's younger brother Robert returns from the California gold rush, seemingly broken in health and spirit, and reluctant to say what happened to him. It is a bittersweet time of change, a time of gaining and a time of losing.

This book is the third in the Emigrants quadrilogy, and continues to demonstrate the same excellence shown by the others. Vilhelm Moberg was a great writer, and these books are amongst the best that I have ever read. The characters are powerfully written, seeming quite real; this was one of the authors many strengths. This is a wonderful introduction to the settler experience, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

[For those of you with young children, I would like to recommend the Kirsten books in the American Girls series. Written for young readers (primarily girls), it tells the story of a Swedish family that immigrates to Minnesota in 1854.]

A haunting, splendidly written account of one person's plunge into a world of manipulation and brainwashing. Although the organization that Ms. Stein found herself entangled with is beyond the fringe of extreme, it leads one to realize how many so-called mainstream organizations employ some of the same tactics to subjugate their members. Her story illustrates what can happen to a person who desperately wants to belong -- at virtually any cost.

Inside Out: A Memoir Of Entering And Breaking Out Of A Minneapolis Political Cult is the true, compelling, and personal testimony of Alexandra Stein, an intelligent, sensible woman who was lured into a secretive and exploitative political cult called the O. A cautionary tale of corruption run rampant, the dangerous psychology of insulated groups, and the spiraling demands for money and more that cults and the psychopathic, sociopathic, charismatic leaders can exact from their unwitting members, Inside Out is a gripping read and a solid warning of the downside of human nature.

This superbly written book provides a look at a phenomenon not widely recognized; namely, that a cult can be created around a political ideology just as easily as around a religious belief system. In the case of the little-known organization to which Ms. Stein belonged, known simply as the "O", most group members did not even know who the leader was, as he communicated solely by written instructions to his followers. This demonstrates that cult dynamics can come into play even where the leader is not a charismatic figure in the usual sense of the word. Ms. Stein's gruelling ordeal, which began as an idealistic effort based on Marxist principles and ended in exhaustion and the discovery of a shocking crime, makes for a memorable read. Inside Out is a very useful addition to cult memoir literature from a talented writer.

I couldn't put this book down. So creepy! So close to home! A must-read for anyone who's lost a loved one to, or had personal experience with, a totalist organization -- religious, rightwing, sectarian leftist, "personal development," therapuetic, how-to-succeed, etc.

This is a terrific book! Once started, you'll not be able to put down this heart-rending account of ten years lost to a left-wing political cult. This beautifully written story could have happened to anyone who had a political conscience and grew up in the '60's. Although it is painful to read in parts, it is ultimately redemptive as the author finally finds her true self and her own voice.

John Sandford is one of the best in the thriller genre. These books will scare the pants off you

I have all the prey series and continue to be impressed with the details of Sandford's writing and scene-settings. Lucas Davenport is the best loved character I've encountered in any book! Is it possible to get the fourth book of the prey series in hardcover? I look forward to the next one!

Lucas Davenport is the hero for the 90's - and well into the next century!

And now for a public service message:

Want to feel safe tonight, don't make Lucas Davenport mad at you.

Hi, I just started to read Mr. Sandford's Prey Series for the last 2 weeks, so far I have read 2 (Silent Prey and Winter Prey -- thanks to our City Library here) and I'm reading Sudden Prey. I cannot stop reading this book. Now I saw a new book of his (Certain Prey) and I am so excited to get it! I have to start from the beginning so I will have a set of these series. Mr. Sandford, you are now one of my favorite authors. Please continue and more power to you! You're the best...!

Silent Prey - I rated this book 3 stars. Lucas Davenport travels to New York to help capture the escapes murderer from Eyes of Prey (third in the series) and to help former a love interest weed out vigilante cops from the NYPD. This effort falls a little short in comparison to the other Prey novels, but it is very entertaining. And, yes, Lucas hooks up with another woman in this book too. Maybe he is irresistible.

Winter Prey - In his fifth Prey book, some local cops from a small community call upon Lucas Davenport to help solve the murder of a young couple. What he finds is a new love interest, in the form of an attractive medical examiner, and a ring of child molesters. Like Eyes of Prey, this book also has a suprise revelation that keeps you guessing until the end. I rated this book 4 stars.

Night Prey - I rated this book 5 stars. Lucas davenport finds his way back onto the Minneapolis police force as a political appointee. Now he has to team with a dying investigator from the BCA to catch a serial killer, who has escalated from one murder per year to a virtual killing spree. This book is also fulfilling if you have read the other Prey books, because Lucas' love life starts to stabilize, and we see him grow as a man in love.

Read these books, and keep reading the Prey series.