DISCLOSURE by Michael Circhton *****

Written by Michael  of "Jurassic Park" fame. The book was very fast moving with a kind of unusual topic. A married man feels pressured into sex by his old girlfriend who recently was moved into his company and as his boss. So he presses charges against her. Lots of surprises pop up here and there. He has a very good lawyer.

He has proof and I'm not giving anything away. I would buy it, good summer reading, got at a yard sale but worth it.

ESCAPE CLAUSE by John Sandford ***

Someone stole tigers to sell their parts to foreign markets mostly China to use as medicine. The tigers came from an unprotected cage.

These brothers were involved 2 of them, ended up dead and their other brothers weren't so happy about that. Meanwhile back at Flowers and his new town pump with 5 kids from 5 different daddies is happy with that but gets jealous of other men talking to her when she's probably already fked them. It's a small town and she's quite a bimbo.

Frankie (Flowers girl) and her spaced out sister Sparkle (?) yeah whatever the fuck that is get beat up for whatever reason you can make up cuz you are never told. And someone comes after Flowers house by throwing a molotov cocktail at a neighbors house. It's all pretty fucked up. Flowers is like the idiot bumbling detective falling thru floor boards, loosing his gun, allowing a tiger to roam free in a barn or garage, the one that hasn't yet been killed.

It's very heartbreaking to read about rare tigers being killed for ground up bone, skin, their meat etc. I think thru the whole thing I was holding my gag reflex because it was disgusting killing a wild species that isn't very wild. Such a terrible waste.

So if you like Virgil Flowers you may like the book aside from tiger slaughter, I don't even care ho many people died. He sure didn't protect them both. AT ALL. Took him forever to get the facts and finally get to the tiger that was left.

You read, you decide. Either you like Flowers or you don't. I don't particularly. I think he's FUBAR. 

4321 by Paul Auster

I really cannot give any stars because I opened it to numerous pages and pages of narrative where they failed the "show do not tell" test of publishing. This was a monster to even TRY to read. The publishers should be ashamed they have this out in public. It's so fucking boring I had to pick up something else just to amuse myself.

No stars. Hated it. Hated the boring almost 100 pages of narrative. Who is who, married to who in what year and who the fuck cares.

Good one Holt & Co. Losers. But MY novel which is very interesting and descriptive is ignored by publishers because they don't get animals telling their own stories. Well all I can say is no wonder people don't read anymore. YOU suck.

The CHOSEN ONES by Steve Sem-Sandberg

I read this large dark novel. It's about children in orphanages that the German doctors were experimenting on, abusing, torturing and euthanizing. Most of them were sort of society's cast offs. Moms worked and no father in the house the kids went to the orphanage. Some, but rarely got adopted unless they were Jewish.

So there's a lot of depressing scenes and sometimes I wasn't sure it was someone's dream, reality, a combo whatever. There were some gruesome things going on and there were a couple protagonists whom you pretty much know nothing about until after 200 pages. So apparently they're not that important to the story line.

What happens to the one kid who barely remembers his tortured childhood, or the nurse who helped enable the abusers. I found it very confusing and barely tolerable. Not because of the subject matter but because of the writing style. Didn't like it at all. You never know how many days pass, or weeks or anything. Children are (for whatever stupid reason) shoved under cold water in their sleeping quarters with no heat and then covered with ice cold towels till they pretty much shiver to death.

They didn't get much to eat, and if in isolation got nothing, hardly any water or bread. It's not a cheerful story and like I said the writing style was sparse and cold. Didn't really like it.
Up to you, buy or library.

The SECOND OPINION bu Michael Palmer *****`

This was a page turner for me. It's was a medical mystery about a female Doctor, her family and dad who was comatose in his own hospital. She finds out it's not an accident that he's in there and strange xrays show up on other people. Some  die some don't.

She eventually figures out the whole thing but is trapped with a killer before she knows what's going on and getting out of that situation was a good enough ending for me. I liked that the story kept my attention, the characters were well drawn for me, I was empathetic towards the characters.

Drawn in and really enjoying the ride. I would buy it.

THIS IS NOT OVER by Holly Brown ***

I was ok with the book. It's about 2 people with issues that get into an argument about a vacation rental. The owner and renter. I liked the story going back and forth between them, I didn't mind the inner blahblah but I found both characters to be low on self esteem, high on the blame game and not very realistic.

So I'd say it's ok, get it at at the library.

I don't like how the author set up questions at the end in case I'm in a book club and don't have the intelligence to ask my own questions. That's a superiority complex of the author. I don't like the book enough to discuss it. It wasn't as if this is "To Kill A Mockingbird" or even close. It's not that memorable or socially important. If you didn't put those questions in I wouldn't have said what I did. And it IS OVER.

The KRAKEN PROJECT *****

I enjoyed reading this and it has a futuristic premise about AI, or intelligent, self aware software programs. There are some well build characters, relationships are well thought out, easy to pick out the good/bad guys.

I had trouble putting the book down because the AI (Melissa was working for NASA) was created to live on a moon around Saturn and because Melissa gave it autonomy it really didn't want the job and escaped by blowing up a test site she was placed in, it was a hostile environment. Then she traveled the internet, being abused online etc.

Finally after all she learned she was ashamed of her earlier behavior blowing up a building and killing some people. She was being searched by Melissa and some guys who used software to beat the system of betting on stocks. They wanted her because she had intelligence and their own program wasn't fast enough.

Very good reading. I would buy it, and did at Dollar General for 3 bucks! :)

KILLER by Jonathan Kellerman *****

This is an Alex Delaware novel. I like the descriptions and people cuz I've been reading about them for a long time. The Sykes family is having issues with a new born baby and custody battles. One of the sisters to the mother of the baby was brutally killed as was a cop and 2 old boyfriends of the mom. So that's the basic set up.

Everytime they get a lead on someone he or she ends up dead. Finally at the end you get details of what happened and why. Like it a lot.

DANCE OF DEATH by Preston & Child *****

This was a page turner for me. I hated falling asleep because I was afraid I'd lose my place. This has Pendergast and he's having a lot of trouble with his supposedly dead brother Diogenes. So by the end it's difficult to know wether Pendergast IS Diogenes.

I found it really puzzling and things happened quick. It's very intriguing.

PRAYING FOR SLEEP by Jeffery Deaver *****

This book is a fast paced story. Begins with an escaped prisoner who is huge and is blamed for a few murders on his way to Lis who lives about 4 hrs or so from the hospital where he escaped from. Michael, the mental patient, knows her from 6 months ago and is determined to get to her house to approach her.

Lots of police and trackers, plus her husband Owen are all trying to track Michaels trail and he gets closer and closer to Lis. There a lot of red herrings and side stories with Lis and her sister Portia, plus who cheated on who. No one really knows what Michael is talking about because he's not clear in his thinking.

Without giving away stuff, you'll want to page turn this sucker without falling asleep. It's hard to put down for sure. I really liked it. Picked it up at a yard sale so it may be an older book but a very good one.