Think of a Numb3r by John Verdon

Think of a Number by John Verdon

Mark Mellery calls his old college friend, recently retired NYPD detective David Gurney. Gurney and his wife, Madeleine, have moved out to the New York countryside on a farm. Gurney barely remembers Mellery but becomes intrigued when Mellery says he has a puzzle. So he meets with Mellery. It seems Mellery was a party boy in college and after college became a full fledged alcoholic. He turns his life around and starts counseling others and now has a spiritual retreat center not too far away from Gurney's farm. He has recieved some weird poems that seem to refer to something in his past. He is afraid he may have done something during one of his alcoholic blackouts. The sender also throws in a game. He/She asks Mellery to pick a number then look in the sealed envelope that accompanied the letter. Somehow the sender had guessed the correct number. This is what really gets Mellery's attention. Are the notes threats? Why now? What did he do? What should he do? How did the sender get the right number?

The murder scenes have puzzling clues too which tasks Gurney's solving skills. His wife, Madeleine, helps him with some good catches. But their relationship is suffering. He is not able to turn off his detecting and fully engage with her and she resents it. I thought Verdon did a good job of integrating Gurney's marriage relationship without too much intrusion into the main story. Good character development. I really enjoyed this book. It was a great mystery and I look forward to more. I'm hoping Gurney's marriage survives because Madeleine and David are a good team for future novels. Considering this was Verdon's first book, it's wonderfully structured. Well done, John Verdon!

Marks of Cain by Tom Knox

Marks of Cain by Tom Knox

Tom Knox is the pseudonym of British journalist Sean Thomas.

Englishman and journalist, Simon Quinn, looks into a series of brutal murders involving victims connected to the Basque regions of Spain and France. Tortured and garroted these murders get the attention of the police. Meanwhile American and attorney, David Martinez, is by his dying Grandfather's bedside. His Grandfather asks him to look into his family history, the history of the Basques in southern France and northern Spain. He sets out with a strange map. He meets the beautiful Amy in a bar where he is asking for Jose Gavrillo. For some unknown reason the men try to attack him and Amy speaks up for him. But the evil Miquel comes on the scene and knocks Amy down. David jumps on Miquel but ends up being knocked out too. For some reason, Amy (who is not from the region, is not Basque) lives here and is deeply attached to the Basque Independence movement. She was a former lover of Miguel. She knows the difficult Basque language, knows the villages and hidey holes and befriends David. She, her background and her quick attachment to David didn't make sense. When it got to the gratuitous violence, weird sex, and constant foul language I gave up on this book. Knox, or Thomas, was using this book as a vehicle for his male fantasies and not a very good vehicle. It's pretty badly written just hopping from one sex scene or violent scene after another with little connection. Poorly structured and offensive and I only read 1/3 of the way through. I give it a big thumbs down!

What is the mark of cain? It comes from the story in the Bible of Cain and Abel.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:1-16)

What was this mark? No one knows. But it was a mark of grace. This man was guilty of not obeying God and brought his idea of a sacrifice instead of God's idea of a sacrifice. But despite God's warning he didn't repent, he just stewed in anger until he murdered his brother, Abel. God caught him in his sin and still Cain didn't repent so God punished him. And, yet, God's grace placed a mark on him to protect him from being attacked by someone. So, although Cain was cursed in punishment, the actual mark was a sign of God's grace and protection. People have obsessed on what this mark was. But it's really not an important fact, which is probably why God didn't reveal what the mark was. What is important is that God loves us even while we are yet sinners. He sent Jesus, His Son, to die on our behalf, to save us from our sins. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, God places the Holy Spirit within us to teach and train our new spirit.

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Ephesians 1:13-14
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

This is the mark of being a Christian. The Holy Spirit is our "mark". It marks us as one of God's children and protects us from satan and eternal hell.

The Super by Jim Lehrer

The Super by Jim Lehrer

This was a quick read and I wasn't impressed with the book.

In its heyday, the Santa Fe railroad’s famous Super Chief was luxury travel and celebrities often used it... it became known as “The Train of the Stars.”



This was before airplanes were the only way to go. This book was set in 1956 when the luxury train was just about to begin it's decline. The Super Chief was the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that went from Chicago to Los Angeles and back. The streamlined Super Chief was the first Diesel-powered, all-Pullman sleeping car train in America, and it eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fe's standard bearer. The Super Chief 1 began running from Dearborn Station in Chicago on May 12, 1936. The Super Chief 2 was the much improved version and began running on May 18, 1937. It could make the trip in 40 hours. It was luxury train travel with gourmet meals.

The Super Chief had dining cars that sat 36. Dining cars almost always operated with a lounge car coupled to them for bar-lounge service and a waiting area when the dining car was full. The height of Super Chief lounge and dining facilities came in 1951 with the new 600-series Dining Cars bracketed by the 500 series Pleasure Domes in front and a bar-lounge-dormitory unit in back (moved from the front of the trains). When Santa Fe rolled out its new "Pleasure Dome"-Lounge cars in 1951, the railroad introduced the traveling public to the Turquoise Room, promoted as "The only private dining room in the world on rails."



The room accommodated 12 guests, and could be reserved anytime for private dinner or cocktail parties, or other special functions. The room was often used by the era's celebrities.



The private dining room called the Turquoise Room on the Super Chief passenger train.


Industrial designer Sterling McDonald created the train’s classic interior Indian designs and themes. Whenever possible McDonald used authentic Native American (many of which depicted the Navajo) colors (such as turquoise and copper), patterns, and even authentic murals and paintings in the train.

He used a combination of rare and exotic woods like ebony, teak, satinwood, bubinga, maccassar, and ribbon primavera for trim through the train giving the Super Chief an added touch of one-of-a-kind elegance.

Onboard crews included train engineers, conductors and brakemen, Pullman conductors, Pullman porters, dining car stewards, waiters, cooks, bartenders, lounge attendants, along with cleaning crews at both ends of the line and maintenance crews en route. At times, during the trains history, there were barbers, maids and valets. The staff aboard the Super Chief, with the exception of the conductors and dining car steward, was black. To be a porter during the depression wasn't a second rate job.


The Santa Fe Super Chief was the next to last passenger train in the United States to carry an all-Pullman consist. The train maintained its legendary high level of service until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on May 1, 1971.

When Amtrak took over operation of the nation's passenger service on May 1, 1971 it ended the 35-year run of the Super Chief on the Santa Fe, though Amtrak would continue to use the name along the same route for another three years. In 1974 the Santa Fe forced Amtrak to drop the train's name due to a perceived decline in service.

Edge of Apocalypse by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall

Edge of Apocalypse by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall
The End Series

Joshua Jordan, wealthy weapons designer, creates the world's most sophisticated missile defense system, a laser shield code-named Return to Sender. If someone launches a nuclear missile towards America, the RTS laser meets it and turns it back on it's sender. At the beginning of the book, North Korea has built a warship that is on it's maiden voyage when a North Korean Admiral launches 2 nuclear missiles to attack New York. Jordan and his family are in Manhattan. There is no option but to try the untested RTS shield. In seconds New York is saved and the North Korean warship is blown to dust.

Mainstream America is thankful and Jordan is their hero but in Washington DC the climate is hostile to Jordan. A Congressional hearing is called to investigate Jordan and his technology. It seems that a private businessman had made a decision on national security and leaving them to face North Korea's accusations. The ineffectual President Corland is struggling with the problems of his predecessors - a failing economy, the falling dollar value, a credit crises and an oil shortage. Desperate to recover by selling the plans for the RTS, Corland wants to get his hands on the design. He is also a globalist. Then there are the international crooks who could make billions if they could get their hands on Jordan's technology. Jordan has a group of trusted conservative friends who are organized into a roundtable organization that is trying to brainstorm and organize resistance to the liberal and globalist policies that are destroying the country. With the help of these friends and a secret Christian group called The Patriots, Jordan is able to protect himself and his technology.

Jordan is not a Christian in this book but his wife, daughter and son have become Christians and he accepts it. Throughout the book, he is learning to respect his family's spiritual source and I'm sure he will become a Christian.

I really liked this book. It's exciting with lots of moves and counter-moves like a good chess game. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Holly Blues by Susan Wittig Albert

Holly Blues by Susan Wittig Albert
A China Bayles mystery

China Bayles owns a tea shop and herbal store in small Pecan Springs, TX. Her friend and business partner, Ruby, has a New Age shop next door. China lives on in a farm house with her husband, PI Mike McQuaid, his son, Brian, and their adopted niece. In this 18th in the series, Mike's ex-wife, Sally Strahorn shows up asking for help. Against her better judgement, China and Mike let her stay with them. China starts receiving menacing calls supposedly from a boyfriend of Sally's, who seems to have a connection to the murder of her parents nearly a decade ago. China, Ruby and Mike solve the mystery.

I didn't particularly care for this. It was the first of this series that I've read and I wasn't impressed. It was OK, just nothing to get excited over.

The Darling Dahlias and The Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

The Darling Dahlias and The Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

A new series by Susan Wittig Albert of a town named Darling in Alabama during the Great Depression of the 1930's. A group of ladies are members of the town gardening club called the Darling Dahlias. They meet in a home donated to them by a deceased charter member, Mrs. Dahlia Blackstone, and it has a lovely and haunted Cucumber tree in the front yard. Widow and probate clerk Verna Tidwell is the Treasurer of the club. Mayor Jed Taylor's wife, Ophelia Snow, is the Vice President of the club. Single and a legal secretary to Mr. Mosely, Elizabeth "Lizzy" Lacy, is freelance journalist as well as being the President of the club. We meet many of the town's inhabitants and Albert draws the town for us. From the bank to Bertha's Beauty Bower, we learn all about Darling, Alabama.

When the peroxided blonde Bunny Scott disappears the ladies investigate. Bunny is the 1930's version of a party girl. She is the cosmetic's clerk at the local drug store where she is playing the slap and tickle with the married druggist and store owner. Lizzy also finds out that she had a relationship with her boss, Mr. Mosely. And there were others. She is found dead in a car reported stolen and the ladies go into high gear. Sneaking into Bunny's rented room they find clues galore but who will they lead to? Meanwhile there has been a prison break at the local prison farm. Some of the neighbors are reporting the ghost has been digging under the Cucumber tree at the Dahlias' house and the only bank in town has some mysterious problems. What is going on in their small and familiar town?

I really liked this book and I look forward to others in the series. I grew up and live in the South. My parents, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncle would have lived during this time period and I can say Alber was very accurate in describing a small Southern town. The characters are a lot like people I've met and known, the feel was right. The women gossip but they care about each other too. It's not malicious gossip, there is a lot of caring and kindness towards each other and their friends. For instance, Ophelia Snow is approached by a neighbor who thinks she should know the rumor that the Mayor, Ophelia's husband, is involved with a lonely young wife out near the Prison Farm. The neighbor isn't trying to be mean but to alert a neighbor. Ophelia is devastated but decides that she's going to check out this young woman. She goes by the lady's house and strikes up a conversation with her. It seems her husband has left her with his two teen sons while he's out of town working and she's lonely. Ophelia offers to take the woman to the grocery store to stock up on her dwindling food supplies. During this trip, Ophelia comes to realize her husband is faithful no matter what it looks like and that he's just concerned about the young wife too. Sure enough, the rumor gets to Mayor Jed Snow's ears and he tells his wife that she has nothing to worry about and he's proud of her helping the young woman around town like she did. It put a quietus on the rumor.

This is one of those cozy mysteries, light and easy to read. Cozy mysteries are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed and an amateur sleuth (or sleuths) solve the mysteries. Examples of this type of genre are Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Monsieur Poirot; Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who... mysteries; Rita Mae Brown's Sneaky Pie Brown series; and, Jessica Fletcher in Cabot Cove in the Murder She Wrote TV series. A few examples of the occupations of the amateur sleuths are: caterer, bed and breakfast owner, quilter, cat fancier/owner, nun, priest, librarian, book store owner, herbalist, florist, dog trainer, homemaker, teacher, needlepoint store owner, tea shop owner, etc. They are usually series. There is no graphic violence, no profanity or very little, and no explicit sex. The murder is not dwelt upon or described in horendous detail. The environment, such as Darling, Alabama, is described and becomes familiar as do the supporting characters. Reading the newest in a series is like catching up on the community. This type of character development and community feel is light and gentle.

Albert has a winner in this series and I recommend it to anyone.

Here are some photos I found of a Magnolia Acuminata, aka the Cucumbertree.

Don't Quit In The Pit by Danette Crawford

Don't Quit In The Pit by Danette Crawford

Danette Crawford is the President of Joy Ministries Evangelistic Association and is a televangelist. If I had known this, I wouldn't have read it because I'm not a big fan of televangelists. I had found it on one of my library runs. I always check out new fiction, mystery, religion, crafts, history, true crime. This time I found Danette Crawford's book and I'm glad I did!

I already knew a lot of this but I have been going through a down time and hadn't been using what I know. This was the kick in the pants I needed. I thoroughly appreciated what she had to say and I encourage anyone to read this book. I want to buy a copy to keep at home.

When you are down, feeling low, scared, panicking... in other words, "in the pit", then turn to this book for encouragement. It was well written, easy to read, included inspiring anecdotes from her own life.

If The Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr

If The Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr
A Bernie Gunther novel

This novel takes place in 1934 in Berlin, Germany. Bernie Gunther is a prior German policeman who is 1/4 Jew. It has come to a point that he is going to have to address the fact that his Grandmother was Jewish due to the German discrimination. He is now the hotel detective for the Adlon Hotel. His routine inquiry into the theft of a Chinese box from a hotel guest named Max Reles, a German-American from New York, gets complicated. At the same time America is contemplating whether or not to boycott the coming 1936 Olympics that are being held in Berlin. Some of the envoys from America get to Germany to check out the stories they hear about the open hostilities for the Jews. But they are wined and dined by spinners who take them only where they want them to go and they know how to grease palms. So they go back to America with a sunny report. American Jewish reporter Noreen Charalambides and agrees to promote a U.S. boycott of the Olympics by telling the real story about the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews. She is a friend of the owner of the Adlon Hotel and Hedda asks Bernie to squire Noreen around and show her the truth. Bernie has no problem with that since the married Mrs. Charalambides is a real looker.

Kerr has developed Bernie Gunther into a real gum shoe detective. Gunther is a German Philip Marlowe and I could see this in my imagination as a typical film noir from the 1930's. Hard boiled crime fiction was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined by Raymond Chandler beginning in the late 1930s. Kerr is fashioning his Gunther novels in this genre. Even the dialogue is very "Sam Spade". Gunther is always tough and cool. His humor is dark and he says what he means around anyone even though he's in the middle of Germany in 1934 and he hates Nazis. And he can back up what he says with his fists or a gun. He's cocky and flippant and falls for the sexpot girl.

If you like this kind of book, then maybe Kerr is for you. I thought it was a little silly, overdone. I didn't like Gunther or Noreen and they were the main characters. I read a 1/3 of it and then gave it up.

Shoot To Thrill by P.J. Tracy

Shoot To Thrill by P. J. Tracy
5th Monkeewrench Novel

Monkeewrench is a computer company that solves cyber crimes. Grace McBride, Annie Belinsky, Harley Davidson, and Roadrunner team up with FBI Special Agent John Smith and Minneapolis, MN homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth to solve YouTube murders. Some group is videotaping real murders to show on YouTube. Strangulation, stabbings, shootings are on the Internet for anyone to see. Is it an organized group? Copy cats? A psychopathic killer? The ultimate shock junkie? How is/are the person/people hiding and eluding the traces. How can Monkeewrench and their co-horts prevent the next predicted murder? What is the connection of an alcoholic ex-judge to this murderous spree? The premise of Internet based crime is

This is one of those books that I really enjoyed. I liked the characters and the reparte. BUT I felt some loose ends. It's probably just me. Once I started, I didn't put it down so I was getting pretty sleepy there at the end.


SPOILER: They catch one killer but it seems there was more than one. I was scratching my head about J's involvement and if he was the ring leader, just a part of the YouTube murderers or was he taking an opportunity? Were there others besides J and the killer they caught? How did they elude the traces? And the last paragraph was a surprise.


I would like to read more because I really liked it and I can't explain why, but I'm ready for more.

Here are the Monkeewrench novels by P.J. Tracy:
Monkeewrench
Live Bait
Dead Run
Snow Blind
and, now, Shoot To Thrill

P.J. and Traci Lambrecht are a mother-daughter team who write these novels. They live in Minneapolis, Minn.

Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert

Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert

This was a fascinating book. Gustav Flaubert published this book in April, 1857. It was considered shocking for the times and he was accused of obscenity but he was acquitted. The trial made his novel notorious.


Gustav Flaubert in his younger years.

Flaubert was born December 12, 1821 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie region of France to Achille-Cléophas Flaubert a Anne Justine Caroline Fleuriot. Flaubert's father was a surgeon and his mother was the daughter of a surgeon. In 1836, he fell in love with Elisa Schlésinger, a married woman eleven years his elder. In 1840, Gustav studied law in Paris but didn't like the city. He left Paris to travel. In 1846, after an attack of epilepsy or a nervous breakdown, he left Paris and abandoned the study of law.

From 1846 to 1854, Flaubert had a relationship with the poet Louise Colet although they met infrequently. After the death of his father and married sister in 1846, he moved home, living with his mother for the rest of his life except for the times he traveled. Their home was also home to his niece whom he was always close to. He did not hide the fact that he used male and female prostitutes and even young teens. And he suffered from Veneral Diseases most of his life. His mother died in 1872 and he had financial problems after her death. Probably due to his venereal diseases, his health began failing and he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1880 at the age of 58.

Memories of a Madman (1838)
November (1842)
Madame Bovary (1857)
Salammbô (1862)
The Sentimental Education (1869)
The Candidate (1873)
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874)
Three Tales (1877):
"A Simple Heart"
"Herodias"
"The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitalier"
Bouvard and Pécuchet (1881)
Correspondence (1887-1893)

"The author, in his work, must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere." - Gustave Flaubert

Flaubert was important in the Realism movement that followed the age of Romanticism. He believed in presenting life without comment, judgement. He was a melancholic himself and this is reflected in Madame Bovary. He made Emma Bovary a romantic that dwelt in a fantasy world of illusion. She hated the real world and tried everything to escape into what she thought her world should be. She constantly ignored anything that disturbed her fantasies until the end when she was forced to come face to face with her reality, the reality created by her own choices.
Her marriage to Charles

She lived a life that most people of her day would have envied. She was adored by her husband; they had a home with furnishings; her husband was a "professional" as a surgeon (not a manual laborer or farmer like her father had been) so she had some social status; she had a servant; she had a good wardrobe; her daughter was healthy, beautiful and loving... Emma Bovary would have been considered comfortable, middle class. But rather than enjoy her life and having a grateful heart, she was miserable. And she made her life even more miserable by her own hands. She was lazy, she was selfish, spoiled and those are the good attributes. She made herself even more selfish, hard hearted and cold to those who loved her. She could not be content with her life and her dissatisfaction led to her making some really bad choices. And the more she got away with it, the more she demanded from life.

For instance, she would get a new dress but that didn't satisfy her, she had to have more and more new dresses and accessories. She'd get new curtains for the house but that wouldn't satisfy her, she wanted new furniture, new knick knacks. She had a maid but she wasn't satisfied, she wanted a manservant too.

Nothing pleased her. She criticized her husband, hated him, resented him. She found motherhood to be nothing like what she read in her cheap novels so she ignored little Berthe. She despised and resented her mother-in-law. She looked down on their friends in the village.

She has an affair with the local landowner, Rodolphe Boulanger. He is rich and worldly. He recognizes her weaknesses upon their first meeting and decides to seduce her. All he has to do is pull her strings and she's ripe for the picking and he knows it. He doesn't love her, he just wants sex but she imagines herself in love with him. In reality, she just wants a ticket out to, what she considers, the good life. After two years, she thinks she's convinced him to take her away and she makes all the plans. But he doesn't show and all she gets is kiss off letter. She goes into a nervous breakdown and worries poor Charles.

He has no idea she's been involved with another man.


After she gets herself back together, Charles takes her to the theatre in Rouen and they meet Leon Dupuis. Leon had been living in the village training for the law and he had been in love with Emma Bovary. He left to go to Paris to finish his studies in the law and had moved to Rouen after his studies. Now he meets Charles and Emma and she decides that Leon will be her consolation prize.

Rouen by Pisarro

Emma and Leon carry on a long distance affair. She tricks Charles into allowing her to take music lessons in Rouen and to pay for it. But it's not music lessons that call her to Rouen.

She and Leon have an affair. So poor Charles is not only cuckolded but he's been paying for the privilege. She is so demanding and clingy that Leon's sizzle turns to fizzle after 3 years. She gets Charles more and more into debt and she becomes bolder and bolder with her shenanigans. She lies, steals, cheats, carries on with these men and keeps going further and further into debauchery. She becomes more and more desperate.

A hirondelle, her mode of transportation from Yonville to Rouen

Her escapism started with romantic novels and dreams of luxury and ended with adultery, shopping and overspending, and suicide. When she finally came face-to-face with the facts of their financial ruin she tried again to take the easy way out. She runs to all those whom she thought were their friends begging money to stop Charles from knowing that his creditors are going to sell everything out from under him. She couldn't face him. But no one could or would help her. She had no real friends any more. They were as insubstantial as her dreams. No help was going to come from Leon or Rodolphe, her mother-in-law, their friends....

So she plays, what she thinks is, her last card. She gets arsenic and eats it. But her easy, romantic, languishing death is also an illusion. Flaubert describes the horror of her death agony. She vomits, vomits blood, convulses, screams in agony. There is nothing beautiful, melancholic, romantic or peaceful about it. Then Flaubert describes how un-romantic the handling of the body is. How ashamed she would be to know about how the vigil night went.

Flaubert made sure we knew how even the clods of earth sounded as she was buried. Then he followed up with how much worse things got for Charles and Berthe.

In this day and age when suicide is rampant, I think this book is again timely. We tend to think that we can easily kill ourselves and then everyone will regret how they've treated us. Sort of like riding off into the sunset. But the reality is that suicide is NOT easy, glamorous, romantic, an elegant way out. The reality is far from it. The pain, horror and general messiness left behind is anything but romantic. The problems for those left behind are increased tenfold.

We must remember that God alone knows when our days are over. Even when death is natural, it's a difficult situation. God never wanted death to begin with, it was Adam and Eve's choice to sin and bring death into the world. God has redeemed this by sending His Son to die on the cross so that when we physically die, our spirits will live in eternity with Him in Heaven. But we still have to deal with the deaths of our loved ones. When we take the decision of our death into our own hands, we have no way of knowing the consequences. God knows when the time is right, we don't. We may feel like all is over but we are limited in our vision. God knows what the future holds and the miracles that can happen if we trust in Him and not take it into our own hands.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. It's about more mature situations so wouldn't interest a child, but there is no foul language, no explicit sex or violence.

61 Hours by Lee Child

61 Hours by Lee Child
A Jack Reacher Novel

Jack Reacher, an ex-military policeman and ex-commander of the mysterious 110th (military intelligence), bums a ride on a tour bus which has an accident during a snow storm in little Bolton, South Dakota. This town has 2 distinguishing features: a brand new prison and an old military installation. The land is flat with a house shaped stone building which is an entrance to a mysterious underground tunnel system. No one in town knows what it really is and it was never used after being built. At the time of Jack Reacher's entrance to town, a motorcycle gang has taken over this military installation and planted a shed village around the building. The town's Sheriff and Chief Deputy welcome Jack's help with this problem. It seems that they know this biker group is into drugs and they think they may be using the tunnel system as a Meth Lab. They have a witness to a drug deal made on their streets and the witness is willing to testify in order for them to get a search warrant. Of course, that means this little old lady needs round the clock guards because her life is now in danger. But if the prison has a riot or escape, every policeman has to leave town and establish a protective perimeter around the prison. This was the deal for them to get the much needed money to keep the prison going and this means work and livelihoods to the town. They are worried that whoever is in charge of the drug situation will arrange something to happen at the prison which would leave the little old lady vulnerable to attack. The weakness in this story is that this little old lady didn't have to stay in town. She could have been smuggled somewhere else and kept guarded outside of town. Other than this weakness, the story was good and I enjoyed the read. I did have it figured out before I was 1/4 of the way through the book. But I still liked it and I look forward to reading more Jack Reacher novels.

Fever Dream by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Fever Dream by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
An Aloysius Pendergast Novel

FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast was once married to Helen. They were only married a year when she was attacked, killed and eaten by a mysterious red mane lion while they were on a Safari. Now, twelve years later, he discovers that her gun had been loaded with blanks. No wonder she "missed". He realizes she was set up and murdered. He asks his friend, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta, to help him track the truth and murderers down. Traveling from Africa to New Orleans, New York to Florida, the two men find out she was fascinated with James Audubon and it had led to her death. Helen's mysterious obsession with Audubon's masterpiece known as the Black Frame drew enemies. The painting was never found, and Audubon's life ended in madness.

This was another great read by Preston and Child. It's also a To-Be-Continued book. Those loose ends are titillating. Can't wait for the next one.

Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson

Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson

This is a wonderful book! A non-fiction book about how Susannah Charleson got involved in a canine search-and-rescue team and how, eventually, she gets a Golden Retriever to train for that job. Little Puzzle is only 10 weeks old when she begins her training to become a search-and-rescue dog. Puzzle's willfulness and high drive are assets in the field but challenged Susannah at home. By the time Susannah and Puzzle gain their certification in Search and Rescue, they had spent thousands of hours in training in all kinds of conceivable situations.

It amazed me that these search-and-rescue teams are mainly all volunteers. I just assumed that they were all police canine teams. But these SAR teams are on call 24/7 and add the hours they spend training... it's overwhelming what they do.

Charleson writes so well you feel you are in her head and you feel the same love for her dogs that she does. I'm a dog person. But I believe, even if you aren't a dog person, you would come to appreciate and love dogs from reading this book. Dogs are living beings that have to be cared for. They can be a handful, they have quirks and personalities, and their total dependence on you to take care of them is a big responsibility. If you get a dog and treat it well and make it a part of the family, chances are you will only have minor troubles. A little pee on the rug, a scratched screen door, a chewed up toilet paper roll - in the greater scheme of things, these are minor irritations. But dogs give back with so much love and adoration, loyalty and companionship that the minor irritations are easy to overlook after awhile.

Charleson does not ignore the minor irritations or the doubts she has at times with Puzzle. She talks about them head on and yet, leads you through her process of problem solving. And it's done in a way that you know her love for Puzzle has never wavered and Puzzle's love for her is never questioned. She took on Puzzle as a commitment and never looks back from that. It's the way marriage is suppose to be, a commitment that is never questioned again after those vows are made. Or the way adoptive parents make that commitment when they sign the adoption papers, the child is their's now and no turning back. Once a woman is pregnant she is committed to that child for the rest of the child's life, no going back. It's a done deal. You can't return said child when things become tough.

I cannot say enough about how well Charleson writes! I know her through my sister, Elaine Harris with PomRescue.com. In fact, Charleson adopted one of Elaine's Pommies and is mentioned in the book's Acknowledgement section. Elaine has sent me some of Charleson's writings about her Poms from one of her Pom message boards and I thought then that she was such a good writer, she should write a book. Well, she did and it's well worth the read!

In fact, I would encourage her to write a fiction novel with her heroine being on a search-and-rescue team. I think she's probably got a ready store of ideas from her work to come up with some mystery books. Have a mystery as the core of the story but write of her relationship with her dogs and the working aspect of the SAR team. I think she's got it in her. Again, if I haven't made myself clear, buy the book and read it!

P.S. Check out her book at Amazon.com. They have a link to her webpage, a great interview with her, personal photos and a video of Charleson and Puzzle.

Impact by Douglas Preston

Impact by Douglas Preston

The U.S. government sends mercenary Wyman Ford on a mission to locate a secret Cambodian mine, the source of some unusual gemstones. These gemstones have never been seen before and they are getting high prices but they are costing people even more dearly than they realize. It seems they are radioactive. He finds the mine alright, but the people forced to work the mine are dying from the radioactive stones. He decides not only to fill out his report but to close the mine down little realizing that wasn't what our government wanted.

In Maine, Abbey Straw has dropped out of college against her hardworking fisherman father's wishes losing the tuition money he paid for. All she's interested in is smoking pot, getting drunk and astrology. She and her friend are out partying on the night that a meteor is seen streaking across the sky. With her new telescope she is even able to get a photograph. Although everyone says it must have hit the ocean, she knows it didn't because there were no shock waves. She triangulates her information to deduce that it hit on one of five islands so she and her party friend sneak out on her father's boat to find it so they can sell pieces of the meteor on ebay. But it's not what she thinks!

In California, scientist Jason Freeman sends co-worker, Mark Corso, a classified hard drive that he stole from where they work. The National Propulsion Facility is studying Mars but Jason has stumbled on something that could rock our world, literally! Jason is killed before he can explain anything to Mark, a researcher with the Mars Mapping Orbiter (MMO) project at the NPF. But Mark does get his package and soon realizes what Freeman was so excited about.

These 3 storylines intersect and the good guys win. There is a unique twist on the last page that was intriguing. Otherwise, this wasn't a favorite of mine. I've read all of his books and the books he co-authors with Lincoln Child and usually love them. This one left me flat. I didn't like the characters. The story seemed implausible to me. I think a meteor hit like he describes would have been heard around the world, if you know what I mean. It would be a good enough read for a beach read or a plane trip but wasn't up to his normal quality.

How Now Shall We Live by Chuck Colson

Now How Shall We Live by Chuck Colson, published in 1999

Eleven years ago Chuck Colson wrote this book and, yet, it is very timely for today. I've had it for awhile in my TBR pile and got around to reading it this year. It is very well written and I would recommend it for anyone to read. Of course, it's on deep subjects so children wouldn't be interested but I think it would be a good read for teenagers and adults.

Our world is no longer faith based here in America. It's scary and shocking to those of us who remember a different time when believing in God was normal and attending church was what families did. It's been turned inside out. Taking our children to church on Sundays is considered abnormal now. Only freaks and stupid people believe in God. God is for the weak or "God is dead". I remember learning the 23rd Psalm, the Golden Rule, the Lord's Prayer and John 3:16 in my public school. Once a week, we had announcements over the intercom in which a short prayer was given. This was in junior high school. Even in High School (mid 1970's) we had a Bible class where I memorized all the books of the Bible and learned the basic timeline of the Bible. We had a storyteller who came to our 1st grade class to tell Bible stories using beautiful flannelboards. But, now, it's illegal to lead prayers in the classroom or mention God in any way. In order to pray, our children have to leave the school building and go to the flagpole. No more prayers in the cafeteria or before a football game. God is being systematically deleted from our government by our courts in suits brought by people who have nothing better to do and are so intolerant of other people's religion that they sue. It's offensive to them. It never crosses their minds that they should just be polite and quiet while someone prays at the ballgame and extend the courtesy of the benefit of the doubt. Instead, Christians are suppose to be polite and quiet while some atheist curses next to them at the same ball game and to give these foul mouths the courtesy of the benefit of the doubt.

For those of us who are believers, it's a harder world to live in. How do we teach our children that belief in God is honorable and intelligent? We aren't stupid, in fact, we are challenged to ask God questions and study His answers. We are taught to love God with all our heart, strength and mind. Yes, our intelligence can love God too. He created us with brains. We don't just suspend our intelligence in order to believe God. We start with faith in God despite our questions. But then our minds are opened by the indwelling Holy Spirit and we are able to learn about God and His truths and why they aren't pie-in-the-sky, in the sweet-by-and-by. They are real and it can affect us where we live. Our faith is stepping-off-a-cliff faith. It is what God requires for our salvation. We don't understand it but we believe! But, once we are saved, in that moment when our spirit is born, the Holy Spirit also comes to live within us to train and mature that new baby spirit. This is called being "born again." It is this spirit that will live forever with God in heaven. Once we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins it's work of "sanctification." Our lives become a classroom where the Holy Spirit can teach us. We are no longer cast upon the sea of doubts and circular arguments. There are answers. The Bible and the Holy Spirit have the truth that sustain us in our questions. We just have to study and read the Word and pray for guidance in our meditations.

If you ever saw Harrison Ford in his Raiders of the Lost Ark series of movies, you may remember when he was searching for the holy grail, the goblet that Jesus used in His last supper. He is in a cave and runs up on a vast chasm. There seems to be no way to get across it. But, in faith, he steps off the cliff. And, suddenly, the camera shifts and you can see the optical illusion. There really is a bridge of rock that he can cross. He couldn't see it from his position on the edge of the cliff. In his mind he is stepping off into nothing with a fall straight down. But when he makes that step, his foot finds footing on a bridge. It was an optical illusion to test his faith. So it is with us. We stand at a chasm so wide and deep and there seems to be no bridge to cross over. Our treasure is God. We seek Him and desire Him. We want to run to Him but we can't get past our doubts. It seems to be all mumbo jumbo, abracadabra. It's not logical or rational so we stand on our side of the chasm and say, "God is dead." But something tells us that if we step off the cliff, we can reach Him. "But it doesn't make sense," we think, "I have to have proof." We argue with ourselves and then we come to a decision. We will either trust in God and take that step or we turn our backs and go back to the way we've always lived. But once we take that little step, we will find sure footing on that bridge to God. It's scary as we make our way across that bridge. But God is there, He has provided a way (through Jesus Christ, the bridge to bring men to God), He desires us to take that plunge and come to Him. We may make some missteps but we will never fall to our utter destruction (hell). We took that first step of belief and now we are in God's hands and He will not allow us to be plucked from His hands. Once we get on the bridge, our mind is now able to study and learn and grow intellectually.

Colson's book is one way of learning and growing intelligently, with our minds, towards God. We can be sure enough in our faith and be smart enough to engage our culture. Their silly arguments can be met with intelligent and thoughtful rebuttal (and should be done with courtesy). Colson encourages us to apply God's truths to our everyday lives... in school, at work, in politics, in relationships, in our families, in our ethics, morals, values. We aren't just Christians for one hour at church. We are Christians through and through and every moment.

I encourage you to read this book, it's very articulate and easy to read but very deep.

The Burning Wire by Jeffery Deaver

The Burning Wire by Jeffery Deaver

Finally a good book. I have liked most of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels and this is another good one. There is some regular foul language so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under 14 yrs old. The technical aspect of electricity is talked about at length and may be hard for someone under 16 yrs old to grasp thoroughly. But, with those limitations, it's a great read for everyone.

Lincoln Rhyme is a quadriplegic crime scene analyst. His brownstone in New York is outfitted with the most up-to-date lab and computer equipment. His team includes his girlfriend and police woman, Amelia Sachs; their younger protege, Pulanski; Lincoln's personal assistant and loyal friend, gay Thom; his favorite lab doctor, Mel Cooper; NYPD Lon Sellito, and Fred Dellray (FBI). Someone has rigged an electrical arc that grounds on a sign. The intense, super powerful arc melts the sign metal and sprays it in a shot-gun type spray of tiny hot pellets that cuts through a man like swiss cheese. A city bus has stopped to pick up a passenger and it's the passenger that dies this gruesome death. Then comes a letter taking responsibility for it and demanding the local electrical company follow it's instructions or face worse attacks.

Rhyme and Sachs go to work trying to find the perpetrator(s) before another attack. I was caught up in the book and enjoyed it. Kudos to Deaver!

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson

According to Amazon.com, the first in the Millenium series, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, "is a thriller that crackles with stunning twists". The second book in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, introduced crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist and punk hacker savant Lisbeth Salander. In this third book, Stieg Larsson's heroine, Salander, once again finds herself paired with journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the trail of a sinister criminal enterprise. Mikael Blomkvist, who is a journalist and part owner of the magazine Millennium, and his sometime partner, Lisbeth Salander, are at it again. Blomkvist's magazine intends to publish a themed edition about the sex trade. A freelance journalist and his researcher girlfriend, are writing the main articles. They are found shot to death in their apartment. Who could have seen that coming? Me, for one. They were going to blow the lid off Sweden's sex trade mafia and reveal a lot of big names who were involved in exploiting kidnapped women whose services are sold for money. As I was reading it, I thought, aren't they afraid of being killed? Wouldn't the magazine have hired some type of security? This was a weak link in the story. It turns out that Lisbeth Salander (usually referred to by her last name, Salander, much like writers do for men) is the prime suspect and Blomkvist thinks she couldn't have done it and tries to prove her innocent. Why would he think she couldn't kill someone when he hasn't had a conversation with her in 2 yrs and she has actually killed people? Hmmmm, another weak link in the story.

I only read 1/3 of the book and had to quit. The author is a good writer and the story kept you interested. But it was overshadowed by all the sex. I kept hoping this would be the last explicitly detailed sex scene only to read on and find myself in another one so I quit. I wasn't willing to wade through any more smut. Larsson indulged in every perverted sexual fantasy he could think of and I only read 1/3 of the book. Salander manages to engage in pedophilia, lesbian sex, multiple partners with "no strings attached", and domination. Editor Berger is involved in multiple adulterous affairs, three-ways with and without her husband, orgies (and all with her husband's approval). Blomkvist is the "square" because he only has sex with women, EVERY WOMAN HE MEETS and especially likes older women. Now Berger decides to do this expose on Sweden's sex trade? These characters have the morals of alley cats. Why would such people want to shine the light on the underside of the sex business? As though they are on some moral high ground? Where do people like this draw the line? How far do they go before it's "over the line"? Well, let's see. Salander seduces a black boy in Grenada by helping him with his Algebra homework. She's an adult, he's supposedly a boy. She's rich, he's poor. Yet she takes advantage of him to have sex. Isn't that pedophilia? Don't people go to jail for that? She sets herself up to be raped by her legal guardian while she videotapes it. Then she kidnaps him, ties him up, rapes him, tattoos him with "...pervert" and then blackmails him to do everything she says or she will release the tape. She hacks into people's computers and breaks into their business offices. She's able to steal enough of a fortune to keep her free and easy for life. And she kills as needed. Did I mention that these are the GOOD GUYS!?!

Karl Stig-Erland Larsson (15 August 1954 – 9 November 2004) renamed himself Steig Larsson so as not to have the same name as his friend and fellow author, Stig Larsson. A Swedish journalist and writer, he began the Millenium series as an after-hours hobby. By Larsson’s late teens, he was interested in politics and he became an ardent supporter of the local Socialists. He became a graphic designer, a photographer. He also was writing and doing research for Searchlight, a British antifascist, antiracist magazine. In 1995 he helped create Expo, a Swedish organization whose mission statement was “to study and survey antidemocratic, right-wing extremist and racist tendencies.” He was the editor for their magazine, Expo. This made him a thorn in the side of the people and groups he was writing about and his life was threatened. Larsson was initially a political activist for the Kommunistiska Arbetareförbundet (Communist Workers League). He was also an editor and co-editor for science fiction fanzines.

He lived with his long time girlfriend, Eva Gabrielsson, an architect. Eva Gabrielson said that he wanted to write novels as a sort of retirement income. He had finished 2 of the books and was working on the 3rd before he even sought publishing. He died of a sudden massive heart attack before he saw any of them published. When he died he was working on an unfinished 4th novel. Because of threats against his life, it was rumoured that he had been killed but it seems that it really was a heart attack. He was only 50 yrs old but did not take care of his health and was a smoker. Eva Gabrielsson found a 1977 will that left everything to the Umea branch of the Communist Workers League (now the Socialist Party). But the will was unwitnessed and therefore invalid. Since he and Eva were unmarried, everything went to his father and brother. She retained her half of their apartment and has retained his laptop with the unfinished 4th novel. There were hard feelings between the family and Eva. The family finally released the other half ownership of the apartment to her for nothing. But things are still not good between them. This should be a warning to all those who live together - the unexpected can happen and leaves the survivor without protection or provision. At least, in America, there are "common law" marriages when you've lived together long enough, but not in Sweden. If Larsson's father and brother (his family) inherited everything, wouldn't that include the unfinished manuscript on his laptop that Gabrielsson is holding? It was Steig Larsson's work and, evidently, by law, the family inherits everything, wouldn't that include this 4th work and any income it generates? Fortunately, I'm not a legal expert and just wonder... who will it benefit? What good would it do her to withhold it? Is it just to keep the Larsson's from benefitting? Who knows?

Then there are those who say Larsson wasn't a good enough writer to have written the best sellers. Did he really write them? Being a journalist doesn't necessarily mean you can write a best selling novel, much less two best sellers (and maybe a third best seller). Much like a short order cook can't necessarily prepare a gourmet meal. Could Gabrielsson claim that she had a hand in writing the books or the storylines? Is that how she plans to cash in on that unfinished manuscript on his laptop that she is withholding? Here is what the article in the New York Times had to say.

New York Times
By CHARLES McGRATH
Published: May 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23Larsson-t.html?pagewanted=1

"Gabrielsson herself has been evasive, in at least one interview hinting at something like co-authorship and in another backing away from that position. She now says that she has been misquoted so often that she will no longer discuss the issue and that the whole story will come out in her own book, to be published in France this fall. Nevertheless, I tried to press her a little. Is it fair to say, I asked, that while Larsson may have shown the books to her or discussed them with her, he was the author?

'I’m not sure you could say that,' she said and paused. 'He did certainly write them himself ­— I think that’s fair.'

'But if he wrote them, then isn’t he the author?' I asked, a little baffled. 'Or is that too simplistic?'
She smiled and said, 'Yes.'”

As much of a hit as these books have been I cannot recommend this one to anyone. The language is foul, the sex is constant and explicit. I took it back to the library.

The Legacy of Ladysmith by John Kenny Crane

The Legacy of Ladysmith by John Crane

Biographer Jason Glass is invited to Scotland in 1975 to write a book about Robert Menzies, a doctor who went to South Africa and got caught up in the Boer War. His Scottish family thinks a book that embellishes and polishes up his image is important. It seems that Menzies did some wonderful things that have been overshadowed by a hint of betrayal. When Glass gets to Scotland he immediately falls into the family situation.

Before long he's finding out good things and bad things about his subject and the Menzies themselves. They are all complex and bizarre and Glass stupidly becomes one of them.

It seems that Dr. Robert Menzies was able to heroically save his patients and get them to a town named Ladysmith which then became beseiged by the Boers. How does he get out? Some say he was a traitor to the Crown and colluded with the Boers. What happens to his pregnant wife and his newborn son? Throughout the book you learn of new layers that are both bad and good until you don't have a clue as to the real man. Maybe Crane was deliberately showing that humans are complex and aren't all good or all bad. But the shocking ending put the quietus on that.

Both Glass and the Menzies are good and bad. You understand how they got to be who they are as you read through the book and, yet, their insanity is inexcusable.

There are some sexual scenes in the book and objectionable language. But I did learn a lot about the Boer War and I have to admit I enjoyed the read somewhat. Sort of medium in all (not top on my list nor bottom of my list).

The Romance of Redemption by M. R. DeHaan

The Romance of Redemption by M. R. DeHaan

This is a wonderful study of the Biblical book of Ruth. This is a small book of the Bible with only 4 chapters but it's a wonderful story. Naomi and Elimelech and their 2 sons, Mahlon and Chilion, lived in Bethelehem. During a famine they sell out and move to Moab where the two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion died leaving the 3 women widows. Naomi hears that things are better back in her hometown and she decides to move back there. Both daughters-in-law want to go with her but she insists they stay. Orpah leaves her and goes back home but Ruth refuses to leave her mother-in-law. So the 2 women move back to Bethlehem but they are poor and destitute. Ruth goes about finding a job and eventually marries the big man in the village. Sounds like a million romance movies doesn't it?

Why is this story in the Bible? Because Ruth and her 2nd husband, Boaz, are ancestors of King David and, eventually, Jesus Christ.

But DeHaan takes us much deeper than the initial story. In short, easy-to-read chapters, he beautifully explains some of the most basic foundational truths about redemption. Have you ever wondered why it took Jesus' blood and death to save us? Why couldn't he have just sneezed our sins away and not have to go through torture and death? What does the word redemption mean? Why do Christians focus on the body and blood of Jesus, isn't that morbid? The Romans thought early Christians were practising canibalism when they participated in the Lord's Supper (Communion). I felt that DeHaan explained these things very easily.

This book is not complicated, hard, or dry. It would make a wonderful study for a Sunday School class or Bible study but it's perfect for a personal study too. Sometimes I think I can't love Jesus any more and then I come across a book like this and it makes my love even deeper ergo the name of the book.

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Archaeologist Nora Kelly is called out to the old home place where she grew up. Abandoned, the neighbor says that there have been lights and noises coming from the house. When Nora checks it out, the abandoned home has been vandalized but in such a way as to seem like someone was tearing it to pieces to search for something. Then she's attacked by some men wrapped in filthy furs demanding, "Where is the letter?" Fortunately for Nora, her neighbor shows up carrying a gun and they are able to escape. On the way out she is in such a hurry that she runs into the old mailbox. She has to get out and pull it out from under her bumper and a letter falls out of the old mailbox. It was written by her father 16 years ago when he disappeared while searching a remote area for the Anasazi city of Quivira. He gives her enough information to narrow the search down.

Nora decides she has to try and find her father's remains and whether or not he ever found the city of Quivira. It's suppose to be the city of gold that the Spaniards searched for. Using satellites and computers she is able to find an ancient road and is able to persuade her boss to finance a small group to see what they can find.

By horseback, they go to the ancient road bed and camp and begin looking for the city. This is when the real adventures begin. I enjoyed this book so much. I like all of Preston and Child's books but I believe this one is one of my favorites. I didn't put it down. I thought it was great from front to back. Mystery, action, and believable. Stan and I have visited the ancient Anasazi sites that were mentioned in the book like Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. It made the book more alive for me.

There is one sex scene in the book that I wish they had left out. So I wouldn't recommend it to young teens. Otherwise I highly recommend it.