In Her Sights Written By Robin Perini

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AppId is over the quota

Jasmine "Jazz" Parker was an expert with a rifle. She was the lead sniper for the Jefferson County Police Department, recently won by her talent, but bitterly fought by others in the department. This story is excellent as it gives us a glimpse of law enforcement in a small county police force and the politics that go with the positions within the force. The author has to know a lot about the subject as she has written such an excellent story telling in interesting detail this very plausible story. Jazz was raised in the home of an alcoholic father who would beat her and her mother to a pulp before taking off and disappearing for a long time, until he beat his wife so badly that he killed her. Jazz was used to running and hiding to avoid the beating she knew was coming from her father.

The story opens with Jazz having her scope and rifle sighted on the person that had kidnapped the daughter of the Governor. She had this man in her scope sight for some time awaiting the perfect shot and the approval to take her shot. Gabe Montgomery was also on the county police force and was one in on the current situation. His brother, Luke, was a writer who just had to have his news story before the news occurred, if you can understand the mindset of a person such as Luke. Luke felt there was something wrong in the Jefferson County Police Force and he was determined to find out what no matter whom he hurt along the way. He and Gabe were entirely two different types of men and Luke was in love with Jazz, which plays a part in the further parts of the story. Jazz finally received the order to shoot and she nailed the culprit and saved the Governors daughter. At the mini-celebration in the bar after the scene was cleaned up, Luke and Gabe got into it pretty good as Luke had to put in his two-cents worth about the shooting and the entire police force. This banter between the two brothers never did end all through the story and it is a good part of the book.

Another "villain" on the police force was Brian Tower, the son of the Sheriff. He had it in for Jazz and had reported her to Internal Affairs for investigation. After she had saved the life of the Governor's daughter she thought she would receive an advance in position, not be investigated. Between Luke and Tower, Jazz didn't know which was giving her the roughest time. When the next chance arrived for the team to need a sniper, Jazz lined up her shot but when she took it, she missed quite badly and wounded Gabe in the process. This gave more ammunition to Luke and Tower to show up Jazz. Jazz knew she couldn't have missed, much less that badly. She felt someone had sabotaged her scope and/or her rifle. This she tried to prove on the practice range but no one would listen to her side. Jazz was relieved of her lead sniper position, which made her search deepen to find out who or what caused her miss.

The entire story is great. Robin Perini did a fantastic job in writing this book. It has police actions, love encounters, violence and close completion between the police force, sex, and much mystery. It is a thoroughly enjoyable story. When I read a book, and believe me I read hundreds, once in a while I will tell my wife she would enjoy a particular book. This book is one of those.

Reader review by Cy Hilterman of a book supplied by The Amazon Vine Program.

Worst Case Written By James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

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AppId is over the quota

This book is excellent. Some of Patterson's books lately have been only fair, especially the ones written with another author. In "Worst Case" I think the story is very well written and in today's world of not knowing what to expect, it is very plausible. This book features Detective Michael Bennett of the NYPD, who has been featured in a few other books by James Patterson. Bennett has 10 children, all adopted and of all origins. He has a nanny to take care of this brood when he has to work, which is quite a bit of time. Since his wife had died several years earlier, the children give Michael Bennett quite a problem of balancing his work and his personal life. In this story he is teamed with an FBI agent, Emily Parker, who, while working close with Bennett, has made both of them open their eyes toward each other.

Children of rich people disappear, followed by a phone call to the parents. When the police get involved, Bennett and Parker along with their teams, at first the culprit says he does not want any ransom but tells them where the child can be picked up. After leading them on a wild goose chase, the body of the first child is found. This is repeated several times with some variation on the kidnappers method of operation. Since all the parents are rich and very influential the police can't make a connection as to why certain children are taken and with different variants involved, how do they get to the whys and wherefores?

As the police are led in circles, or so it seems, they get no closer to finding this dangerous person. Many other aspects are brought into the story such as parents that think they are above all others, priests that don't seem to have any connection, and chases, some of which lead no where. The story is good, well written and has a good flow. The last part of the book will have you wondering what this guy is thinking and when it all comes together you will be very surprised. You might be glad you don't have children in such a mess!

If James Patterson would continue writing this suspenseful type of story, he would remain the best. He, like some others, try to write too many and think that bringing another author into the book helps thihngs along. Not always the case.

Reader review by Cy Hilterman. reviewer of many types of books.

The Falls By Ian Rankin

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AppId is over the quota

I am not quite sure when this book was written but it was a while ago - I just hadn't read it yet. This mystery has a certain eerie quality to it which I am not usually fond of but, because Rankin is a master of weaving stories, was very enjoyable. The beginning of the book has us meet a university student who is worried because his girlfriend has gone missing. We immediately think the worst, because this is a murder mystery, but there is no body.

Detective Inspector John Rebus has the case and members of the girl's family and her boyfriend's family immediately try to bully our John. He isn't having any of it and succeeds in annoying the higher ups at work as well as many people who seem involved in this girl's life. At first, of course, everyone paints a delightful picture of her but as the time wears on a little more information is given and Rebus and his team begin to see a different story behind the 'perfect' daughter and friend. Meanwhile it seems as though Rebus has a little romance in his life. A curator at the museum returns an interest in him and he is finally going out with someone other than his murder team. She proves helpful to the case as well because there are items in her museum which show up in places that seem to make no sense to anyone.

The Falls comes to play as a miniature coffin is found by them and the lady who calls in the story is only too happy to share her information with not only the police but also the local reporter. She becomes a definite burden for the force as they are trying to keep some information quiet about the details of the disappearance and amazingly the press themselves seem to be getting hold of pertinent details. The actual area known as the Falls is interesting too as it is really only slightly faster moving water with some elevation drops and hardly what one would call a fall but it has been known as the falls for as long as anyone can remember and just so happens to be very near to where the missing girl grew up.

Here is where the plot thickens, literally. The girl's mother seems remote and suspicious, her father bombastic and overly dependent upon a friend as opposed to his wife and a little background history which would give more than one person a great motive to want to punish their family. Typical Rankin right!

This is excellent stuff and a story that is guaranteed to confound you. I thought I had it figured out several times only to be surprised yet again.

You can find more of my book and movie reviews at: http://ukchica.com/

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and the Intriguing Special Agent Pendergast

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AppId is over the quota

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child became my favorite authors when I started reading Relic, a horror/thriller set at the American Museum of Natural History. Douglas Preston worked at the Museum as a writer and editor from 1978 to 1985 and the rich detail around the museum's inner workings drew me in. There began a series of novels that would become centered around a very unusual protagonist, Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast.

Douglas Preston was born in Cambridge, MA in 1956. He attended Pomona College and after exploring the sciences picked English literature as his area of study. After working at the museum for eight years, he wrote a non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic. It was that book that led to his introduction and later collobaration with Lincoln Child, the editor of his book at St. Martin's press. Their first book Relic, was made into a movie in 1997, and was the beginning of a successful series of ten additional novels, Cold Vengeance, their latest, was just released in August, 2011.

Lincoln Child, was born in Westport, CT, and attended Carleton College majoring in English. His first position after college was at St. Martin's Press, where he made full editor in 1984. He left publishing in 1987 to pursue a career with MetLife in computer programming and analysis, and in doing so began pursuing his writing on the side. After Relic was published in 1995 he began writing full-time.

Both authors experiences in college and professional careers can be felt in the detailed backgrounds they give both the characters and their stories. They have over the course of the series introduced concepts that are somewhat fantastic, a serum to prevent aging, or a drug that causes a metamorphosis, but have done so in a plausible way.

They have developed their characters over the series, many reappear in subsequent novels to where they were first introduced, and their continued growth and development is not ignored in favor of the main character. But it is that main character, Aloysius Pendergast, and his loyal friend, NYPD Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta, that keep me returning to their novels. Special Agent Pendergast is one of the most entertaining characters I have met in years. His background as a member of a wealthy, but strange, New Orleans family that includes charletons and serial killers, is an ever unfolding delight.

His methods are as eccentric as his family, and include a smattering of disguise, Tibetan meditation, Chongg Ran, pyschological manipulation, and pure brilliance. He is a charming enigma, whose story and background is uncovered slowly over the series. While he started out almost as super-hero like in his amazing abilities, it is in Preston and Childs' latest series, the Helen trilogy, you get to see the character as a man, who's loss of his wife ten years earlier, and his subsequent discovery of a cover up, causes cracks in that unflappable exterior.

C. J. Mackey is a working mother of three, balancing a full time career while taking an active role in her children's lives. She has an advanced degree in engineering and over twenty years making technology decisions for fortune 500 companies. For more professional information about Special Agent Pendergast you can visit Special Agent Pendergast Series

The Shadow Patrol Written By Alex Berenson

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AppId is over the quota

The preface for this story took place in 2009 when the CIA, always looking for specialist agents to assist in the war on terror, thought they had found a man who was fully knowledgeable about all the enemies in the Afghanistan area to the point where, except for his immediate handler who had some doubts about this man, polished him to gain access to those who would kill all Americans, then report this information to his superiors. This preface gives the reader an excellent start to the intrigue and suspense to follow.

The story advances to present day Afghanistan at a friendly forward operating base where the friendly military, some out to gain only for themselves, could fairly well come and go as needed with few checks on them. They were smart and had most of the superior officers brainwashed thinking they were always on military missions when they left the perimeters of the base. Little did they know about all the money some of these "friendly" military made on their visits to other areas. They were good but there were some higher ups that suspected something wrong was going on and decided to bring in the best intelligence person they had, John Wells, to investigate closely. Wells appeared in the authors preceding book and immediately gave readers a likeable role in almost everything he did, despite being a bit loose in morals and tougher than nails physically even though he was getting up in years. He had kept himself well conditioned, physically and mentally. Before Wells arrived in Afghanistan, there were people disappearing, bodies found, even some in charge were killed. Also before he departed for Afghanistan, he had to make a trip to meet his son who he had not seen in many years. They had their meeting but the son only knew his father as one who always had to leave rather than do things with the family. They did not part with good feelings as his son thought of his father as leaving his family once again, apparently without concern. Such was the life of a deep cover spy. When he left his son he headed for the CIA to obtain the details of his mission, should he decide to go back into action. After learning how the crookedness was going on in Afghanistan he decided he had to take this assignment so off he went to work his way into the area hopefully as an unknown.

After some time Wells found a very few he could trust and far too many he did not trust. Men kept dying and not from war action. The military "thieves" had a great drug pipeline moneymaker going so why should they be expected to give that up? Wells worked in personal danger with the few he could trust along with the few he could also trust in the United States. There was a leak somewhere in the CIA and he had to plug that leak. The story is very well written and has lots of intrigue that will drag you into this investigation. I highly recommend it.

Reader review by Cy Hilterman of a book supplied by The Amazon Vine Program

Vince Flynn's Transfer of Power

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AppId is over the quota

The series by Vince Flynn focuses on Mitch Rapp, an undercover counterterrorism agent with the nickname of Iron Man. His policy is to do first and apologize later. As an operative he has little patience for the bureaucracy and political dancing that surrounds his job. Although a bit dated, the author's first book Transfer of Power is well researched and a good read for those interested in political intrigue.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. Even though the hero is outside the political machinations of Washington, D.C., he still has to work within its framework. I guess it is the framework that bores me. Descriptions include lots of numbers and initials to describe all the government agencies and its newest toys and gadgets for getting the job done. For some, that is reason enough to read the books.

I also dislike hostage situations, which is the heart of this story. Rapp has to infiltrate the White House, which has been seized by a group of terrorists. They are painted so extreme in their evilness, that they become their own caricatures. That evilness allows our hero to be forgiven for anything he does or may do in the name of truth, justice and the American way. If this sounds a little like the Jack Reacher approach to life, it is. But Rapp does not seem as cold-hearted as Reacher, at least not in the first book of the series.

I did like the descriptions of the White House and some of the insights into the building and its history. The story about which Roosevelt photo gets the position of honor over the fireplace or to its right, based on whether the standing President is Republican (Teddy) or Democrat (FDR), was amusing. Any book, that teaches you some history as it tells a fictional story, is doing a public service. It is, in fact, the insights and thorough research that make this series a step above pure escapist fiction.

Copyright 2011 by Linda K. Murdock. Linda wrote Mystery Lover's Puzzle Book, Crosswords with Clues from Your Favorite Mystery Series. In it she reviews 29 mystery writers, has a check-off list of book titles and a puzzle for each series. Download a FREE sample crossword on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series or sign up for more mystery book reviews under Author Bio at http://bellwetherbooks.com/

Explosive Eighteen By Janet Evanovich

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AppId is over the quota

So can Ms. Plum get any sillier? The beginning of this book starts with somewhat of a mystery. Apparently Stephanie has been to Hawaii and Ranger was there. Hmmm. But then we find out she ran away, and went home to New Jersey and won't tell anyone any details. So we are left in the dark. Well we find out eventually but she definitely keeps quiet for a long time, much to the chagrin of Lula who tries to get any information out in any way possible. This book has the usual FTAs which our bounty hunter extraordinaire has to find and they are just as incredulous as ever. She actually has one who is morbidly obese but he still manages to not only get away from Stephanie and Lula but also to steal her car. Then we get to her love life and she is not speaking to either of her beaus. We don't find that out for a while either but it is pretty interesting as Evanovich writes exactly what Stephanie is thinking most of the time and it is pretty messed up.

There is a reason this series is consistently in the top 10 of the best seller list. They are fun, quick reads which have a light story line that is easy to follow. Meanwhile back at the ranch or the home she grew up in, her mother is still trying to keep the peace along with great meals daily. Her father still grunts every time any of the women say anything and her grandmother has a new friend who is into potions including love potion. Grandmother thinks it is time for Stephanie to pick a man and settle down and she has just the potion for making that decision.

As you can imagine what ensues is hilarious and ridiculous all at once. Stephanie is once again taken to viewings at the local undertakers with her grandmother as well. It is the best entertainment in town apparently but this one is of interest to Stephanie too. They are trying to gather information about someone and actually attend a service. Grandma Mazur is used to crashing funerals so this is no big deal, in fact she relishes it. What a bunch of nutters!

As I write this the film based on the first book about Ms. Plum is due to be released soon and I am looking forward to seeing how well they do with that. Stephanie's shoes aren't that hard to fill but I think we all have an idea of how she looks and behaves and hopefully we won't be disappointed with the way she is portrayed. Regardless report will follow the movie and we can dish about that.

You can find more of my book and movie reviews at: http://ukchica.com/.