The Trashman Stoppeth

The Ancient One, as many know, does much of his reading on his morning walks through the neighborhood. Only on rare occasions does it pose a physical threat, usually the result of walking into a parked car while engrossed in a compelling scene of a murder mystery. Now and then other walkers or neighbors wake him from his reverie with comments or questions about the reading material.

Having been noticed regularly by others as he passed along the way, he wasn't really prepared the other morning when the trash truck stopped to pick up the greenwaste as I was leaving for work. After emptying the barrels, the driver turned and came up the driveway. With a big smile and a heavy accent, he said that he often noticed my reading habit as I walked along the street. He asked what types of books I read and I gave him my standard answer about mystery novels and thrillers. Then he surprised me.

"Reading is good," he said. With a wonderful, wide smile on his face, he continued, "I always have a book with me on the truck and I always read during my lunch hour and breaks. I learn so much from reading." I must confess that he proved to me once again how much people in all walks of life want to learn and that books provide an excellent vehicle to do so. And I was delighted to know that it was the printed word on paper that helped enlighten his day.

Yes, The Ancient One agrees. Reading is good for everyone!

Stacked Books

It's been over 3 months since I last wrote about the books I had read. But that doesn't mean I stopped reading; the below pictured stack covers all that was read, mostly on my daily walks.

The list:

• Jeffrey Archer, A Prisoner of Birth

• J.A. Jance, Hand of Evil

• Douglas Preston, Blasphemy
  

• Linda Fairstein, Likely to Die

• Jonathan Kellerman, Billy Straight
  

• Clive Cussler, The Chase

• Faye Kellerman, Grievous Sins

• John Lescroart, Betrayal

• Linda Fairstein. Killer Heat
  

• Raymond Khoury, The Last Templar

• Barbara Delinsky, Accidental Woman
  

• Michael Palmer, The First Patient

• Sue Grafton, T is for Trespass

It's clear that most fall within the mystery category, some with an historical perspective and a couple also containing the elements of thrillers. It would take too much space to discuss all of them but I do want to focus on two in particular.

A Prisoner of Birth was the first Jeffrey Archer novel I have read and I will be seeking out more of his work. Set in England, the intricacies of the plot coupled with a wonderful mastery of language and story telling kept me on the edge of my seat, so to speak, all the way through. I hope that future encounters with his work will prove as pleasing.

In the case of Sue Grafton, I have read all of her "letter" mysteries although I don't generally find them to offer much more than the story at hand. However, in the case of T is for Trespass, one of the plot lines dealt with the criminal aspects of elder abuse and I found it to be extremely informative in that it placed the issue in the context of a "real" victim and the modus operandi of a "real" abuser. For me, it made human the types of things we all too often come across in newspapers where the stories are reported but not in enough detail to make clear the extent to which elder abuse robs senior citizens with limited capabilities of their dignity and, in many cases, what little they have in the way of possessions. I recommend this mystery to anyone who wants a clear picture of the horrors of elder abuse.

My reading continues. There are just so many more exciting, well written mysteries novels and thrillers out there. It is almost reassuring to know that I will never come close to reading them all. There will always be new crimes to solve and heroes to solve them.

Reading Up A Storm

I haven't written much over the past 6 weeks but I sure have done a lot of reading, mostly on my daily walks. Six books have been devoured, all of them written by those on my "favorite authors" list. Where do I start?

I have long been a fan of John Sandford's Prey mysteries featuring Lucas Davenport. However, in Dark of the Moon, he moves Virgil Flowers, who works for Davenport to the forefront. While I liked Flowers and his path to solving a wave of small town murders, I missed the Davenport panache. This was a good mystery but it was different.

Two Patricia Cornwell books were on the reading agenda. One, Book of the Dead, won a 2008 "crime thriller of the year" award in Great Britain although I found it somewhat disturbing. While Cornwell's novels tend toward the dark side, this one was just a bit too dark for me and it became more of a bit-by-bit read than a can't-put-it-down one. In contrast, I found her 1993 Cruel and Unusual mesmerizing with a number of unusual twists that had me wondering what might happen next right up to the ultimate solution. For me, this was a case of liking her earlier writing better than the later effort.

Jonathan Kellerman was the author of two other books on the list, Compulsion (2008) and The Murder Book (2002). This was also a case of liking the earlier writing better than the latter. While Compulsion was good and well written, as are all Kellerman mysteries, I kept wondering why psychologist Alex Delaware was involved in assisting Milo Sturgis in the first place. It seemed like he was there because he had nothing better to do with his time. In The Murder Book, Delaware was understandably involved from the opening page and we learned a lot about Sturgis' early career as a detective as they pursued a cold case. For me this was a spellbinder and the 605 pages flew by. The unexpected twists and turns kept me glued to the book on morning walks and, on a couple of days I narrowly avoided walking into parked cars.

The final book of this group was David Baldacci's Stone Cold which I found top be among the best of the 9 Baldacci thrillers I have read. I was reunited with Oliver Stone and The Camel Club along with con artists Annabelle Conroy and her ailing father. Both of the parallel storylines were spellbinding. The action was intense. My only regret is that the ending makes it appear that The Camel Club will not appear in future Baldacci efforts. But then again, that possible conclusion comes from the unanswered questions that lead to speculation. We will see.

Well, that's a quick review of The Ancient One's recent reading without giving away any of the plot lines.

--------

P.S. Previously I added links to Amazon.com so that interested readers could look more closely at the books I read and, perhaps, even order them. But alas, the particular style widget I used appears to be no longer available. If anyone is interested, I will add the titles to the reading list link in the right hand column.

Grisham Without the Legal Stuff

Most fiction readers are familiar with some of John Grisham's 15+ legal thrillers. But he has also, on occasion, written books that are not related to the legal system. I just finished the latest such Grisham effort, Playing for Pizza.

The hero is Rick Dockery, a perennial 3^rd string NFL quarterback, who seems to be hidden on a different roster every season. At the beginning of the book, he has called on with 11 minutes left in the Super Bowl, the starting and 2^nd string quarterbacks out with injuries, and his team leading by 17 points. Somehow he manages to lose the game even though the defense played outstanding ball. Of course, Rick remembers nothing because he was flattened and suffered a concussion on the final play of the game.

Everything and everyone suggests that Dockery should retire from the game even though he is only 28 years old. But he wants to play. The only offer, which he finally accepts, is with the Parma Panthers of the Italian NFL. Off we go to Italy with Rick. We see him gradually make the adjustment in a league with no more than 3 Americans on each roster and where most of the local players are there for the love of the game, not money. That is the source of the Playing for Pizza title.

This was a quick, easy read and a lot of fun. We learn as much about Italian food, opera and churches as we do about football. Of course, I won't give away the outcome of the story as Rick leads Parma through the Italian NFL season. This is one of those stories that does not require any deep thinking as you speed through its pages. It certainly was a fine read for The Ancient One as he took his daily morning walk through the neighborhood.

Back With Peter and Rina et al

You know that feeling you get when you see some old friends you haven't seen in a while and it seems like you just picked up the conversation where you left off the last time you were together. That's the feeling I had while reading Faye Kellerman's The Burnt House. It was like a family reunion. There was Peter Decker, now a Detective Lieutenant in the LAPD, and his wife Rina. Daughter Cindy (from his first marriage) was there as was Hannah, the now teenage daughter of Peter and Rina. Detectives Marge Dunn (now a Sergeant) and Scott Oliver were part of the story too. It was like old home week for me; a reunion with characters I have followed through about a dozen earlier murder mysteries in Kellerman's Peter/Rina series. And it felt so good!

As the novel opens, a commuter jet crashes into an apartment house. Out of this came the suspicion that a flight attendant listed as missing was not on the flight and might have been murdered. That possibility becomes more real as the search of the crash scene does not yield her body although she has not been seen since early on the morning the plane went down. And the search of the ruins of the building the plane hit does yield an unidentified female body. From one possible murder, we now have two murder investigations. The rest of The Burnt House covers the search for the body (and killer) of the flight attendant and the identification of what turns out to be a victim of a murder committed more than 30 years earlier and pursuit of her killer.

As in all of Kellerman's murder mysteries, Rina makes an observation that leads her detective husband to a key clue that might have been overlooked. We also get a glimpse into the Decker's family life as orthodox Jews in the San Fernando Valley. Ultimately, of course, good, solid, often painstakingly detailed police work leads to solving both cases. And, of course, it turns out that there is a connection between them although they are 2 very different cases with 2 different killers.

I admit it. I am a big fan of Faye Kellerman and the Deckers. This was a very well crafted, well written mystery. I recommend it knowing that not every reader will agree with me.

New to Me - J.A. Jance

Ah that wonderful counter of paperback books at the local Costco. I have been introduced to many writers there and J.A. Jance is the latest although her novels have been published for well over 20 years. I'm glad that I looked at her website before I started writing this. It helped me put my first venture into her writing in perspective.

As I started reading Jance's Justice Denied, I immediately liked her main J. P. Beaumont. I did not realize that this was something like the 18^th mystery in the J.P. Beaumont series. And I like his fellow investigator and lover (which is stated in the blurb on the back cover of the paperback) Mel (for Melissa) Soames. And I liked the heart of the story and how a series of crimes came together as part of a conspiracy. The 2^nd plot line concerning a cold case was a bit less satisfying but all in all, the mystery aspects were conceived and written well. But something was bothering me.

I was put off a bit by the amount of personal backstory about Beaumont and his family and how much of it intruded on the main storylines. And that is where looking at Jance's website helped. She stated there that, "I come to the task of writing with the understanding that my characters are people first and police officers second." As I read Justice Denied, I was more concerned with the investigation and the "police style" of Beaumont and Soames than I was with all the family matters that seemed to intrude. And I know that is not fair because there are other authors (e.g. Faye Kellerman and her Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus Decker mysteries) where I find the personal lives and backgrounds as fascinating aspects affecting the direction some of the investigations take.

All in all, I enjoyed Justice Denied although, at this point in time, I don't know if I will go back and read the earlier novels in the J.P. Beaumont series. We all have read writers whose style and prose excite us and others who provide an experience that is not so energizing.

Two Mysteries, Or Is It Just One

I had not previously read any of Catherine Coulter's novels. My introduction to her writing came via Double Take, the 11^th book in her FBI Series.

FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, married to each other, are at the core of the mysteries in this series. Yet, if I had not checked Coulter's website for some background, I would have seen them as just two of the "good guys" in this novel. It seemed to me that Special Agent Cheney Stone and Dixon Noble, a sheriff from Virginia, played more prominent roles in solving the 2 mysteries in Double Take.

Actually, it just seems like there are two separate stories here. Coulter very ably starts with what appears to be 2 unrelated investigations on opposite coasts and gradually weaves them together until we see at the end that there is a single source of the evil perpetrating the initial crimes.

It is highly likely that I will read other novels in Coulter's FBI Series. She does say on her website that they can be read in any order. Knowing how obsessive I can be, I'll probably go back and start at the beginning.

Prey, Prey, Prey

It was sort of a John Sandford reading orgy. Consecutively, I read 3 of Sandford's Prey novels; Silent Prey (1992), Mind Prey (1995) and Mortal Prey (2002). These mysteries, published over a 10 year period, are part of what I believe is now an 18 book series featuring protagonist Lucas Davenport. Why these three? Other than my liking Sandford's work, they all were part of a large selection of his books available recently at the local Costco. (Now you know how I select what I read most of the time.)

Silent Prey begins with the escape, during his trial, of a vicious, drug-addled, insane pathologist murderer, Michael Bekker, who had previously been captured (and maimed) by Davenport in Eyes of Prey. Bekker's forte is slowly torturing and killing his victims after removing their eyelids, in the name of science, so he can see into their souls and study them as they die. After his escape, victims reflecting Bekker's MO start showing up in New York. Then Davenport, who has left the Minneapolis Police Department, is hired by the New York City Police Department to find Bekker and, surreptitiously, root out some "rogue killers" within the NYPD. Davenport does manage to pull off both feats with his usual panache and Sandford's storytelling dexterity.

In Mind Prey Lucas is back in Minneapolis, now as Deputy Chief of Police, the focus is less that of solving a murder than it is trying to rescue kidnap victims, a noted psychiatrist and her 2 daughters, before they are murdered. I just knew I would enjoy reading the entire mystery when it started with this opening sentence: "The storm blew up late in the afternoon, tight, gray clouds hustling over the lake like dirty, balled-up sweat socks spilling from a basket." What a graphically wonderful description! The story did not disappoint and the ending result held a very pleasant surprise that I won't share here.

Mortal Prey offers a different twist. Davenport is in St. Louis, on loan to the FBI, as they try to capture hit-woman Clara Rinker, who Lucas has faced before. She is out to gain revenge on some local mob figures who had failed in trying to get her killed. Lucas, while respecting what the FBI "does well," makes contact with some retired St. Louis detectives. They succeed in uncovering a lot of important intelligence using their street smarts, something which the FBI, the story suggests, "does not do well." There are plenty of twists, turns and close calls. In some ways, Rinker is one of the more likable foes Davenport has faced. While the mystery was a spellbinder most of the way, the ultimate ending was a bit anti-climatic.

According to my count, I have now read at least 10 of the 18 Prey mysteries. After 3 in a row I plan to take a bit of a hiatus from Sandford and Lucas Davenport. But I know that I will return and eventually read the full series.

A Baldacci Maze. . .

Reading David Baldacci's Last Man Standing (2001) is like finding your way through a never-ending thriller maze. It goes on and on (638 pages) and the pieces don't really come together until the very end where you are left with one last piece of an unanswered puzzle.

The novel follows a tortured FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) hero, Web London, as he pieces together what went wrong on an operation and is led on a twisting path that ties together some disparate events present and past.

Along the way, we are exposed to some long, detailed discussions of the inner workings of the FBI and its HRTs, psychiatry, operations of a horse breeding business and a handful of other related topics. But the action carries the day. Little by little, new events reveal the path through the maze (or is it mazes) until we reach a mostly satisfying end. The reader has to make decisions about characters who display both good and evil traits. Really, just who are the "good" and "bad" guys? In some cases, these are not easy decisions. But when this thriller ends, most of the good folks are still alive albeit scarred and unsure of their own futures.

Yes, this was classic Baldacci.

A Baldacci Double Entendre. . .

The title of David Baldacci's 1999 thriller, Saving Faith, is a double entendre. Much of the focus of the action is directed at saving the life of lobbyist Faith Lockhart. But I saw a challenge, after reading the book, in "saving faith" in the American political system as it operates in Washington, DC.

In this novel, Baldacci does a good bit of character development in the early chapters. I came to appreciate the likes of Lee Adams, Danny Buchanan, Faith Lockhart, Brooke Reynolds, even Robert Thornhill. I found the clandestine competition between the FBI and CIA interesting. But I found some of the early going a bit tedious as Baldacci talked about the inner workings of Congress and lobbying; it was almost like I was back in my political science courses of over 40 years ago. But that's me, not the average reader. My having specialized in legislative politics and behavior while pursuing graduate work in political science and having a brother who shared much of what he experienced as Staff Director and Chief Counsel of a U.S. Senate subcommittee in the 1960s must have been the reason.

But once what seemed like overly descriptive lessons were completed, the pace picked up and by the end I reached that "can't put the book down phase" which saw me finally finish Saving Faith about 1:30 a.m. the other day.

All in all, I enjoyed the book and have moved on now to a 1970 Baldacci wok, Last Man Standing.

Baldacci is a wonderful, prolific writer who also has done outstanding work supporting literacy efforts through the Wish You Well Foundation.

More Prey

I am a fan of Lucas Davenport, around whom John Sandford's Prey mysteries revolve. Davenport is a classy cop/investigator working, in the later novels out of the Governor's office in Minnesota. The latest Sandford opus, that I just read, is Invisible Prey, a multi-layered murder mystery that draws in the art community and, as a common denominator, some quilts that have taken on enormous value.

Davenport works closely with St. Paul police after a "wealthy woman and her maid" are found murdered. But the case ranges widely, involving other murders, one as far away as Des Moines, Iowa. Added to all the confusion is an attempt by the perpetrators to throw Lucas off the trail by trying to complicate another case he is working on; an investigation and possible prosecution of a state senator who is suspected of being involved with a 15 year old girl.

As the cases rushed to their resolution and I could not put down the book, I was reminded again of why I enjoy following Lucas Davenport through the Prey novels. In fact, my reading in the near future will be dominated by 3 older Sandford Prey mysteries I found at the local Costco. Oh, yes, they were also featuring a collection of David Baldacci thrillers and I have 2 more of those, from his earlier work, to read. That sort of defines my "literary summer", . . . along with everything else that's going on.

Nothing Simple Here. . .

I just finished the latest of David Baldacci's thrillers to come out in paperback. There is nothing simple about Simple Genius. It is a finely woven tale with plenty of opportunities to head off in the wrong direction.

The heroes once again are ex-secret service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. The main story is sandwiched between an opening that displays the manifestation of some serious psychological issues of Michelle's and closes with a revelation of the early childhood source of those issues. Along the way, Sean brings in a psychologist friend, Horatio Barnes to help Michelle; he does but he is also around to participate in the main story involving an "unusual laboratory" and a CIA installation lying across the river from each other in Virginia.

Part of the enjoyment I found in reading this Baldacci work is that almost everything that happened was beyond easy explanation and there were plenty of interesting and unexpected twists and turns. Sean and Michelle are given clues by a girl described as autistic who is also labeled as having "extraordinary genius." The main story starts a bit slowly and then gathers momentum as it races to its wild conclusion. I found Simple Genius to be another fine Baldacci volume. As I finished this book, I was already anticipating his next offering.

What Did He Really Mean?

A couple of weeks ago an e-mail arrived from son Bill over at BillyBlog to let me know that a package of "belated" holiday gifts had finally been mailed. He then went on to say that part of the delay was because he wasn't sure how I would react to the gift designated for me. Last week when the package arrived and was opened, I understood his concern. Donna was obviously pleased with the piece of Lenox china which has been added to her collection. But, partly because of what Bill said in the e-mail, I wasn't sure how to react to receiving the book Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh.

Now, I am relatively new to blogging, having recently passed the one year mark. Bill had a significant head start on me. I thought I was doing okay. I should actually reach the 5,000 hit mark later today according to my site meter. But how was I to react to my oldest son sending me a book on "clear blogging?" Are my posts unclear? Is my amateur blogging status that obvious despite being a bit long in the tooth as they say? Bill and I have always had a very close, open relationship and he knows he can just come right out and say what he means.

Then I skimmed very quickly through the book and discovered that Walsh seems to have a lot to say that would help me improve on what I write as The Ancient One. While I have not delved very deeply into the contents, I can see where I might learn ways to alleviate some of the frustrations that comes with learning how to maintain a blog. I really should not have been suspicious of Bill's motives. I generally pride myself on saying what I mean without hidden agendas. I'd like to think that my children learned at least that much from me.

So. . .THANK YOU Bill, Mel, Jolee and Shayna. This is a gift that, while arriving late which seems to be a family tradition, will be put to good use. Who knows, this book might turn The Ancient One into a blogging monster! Just check back regularly to see if it is having a positive impact.

Another Connolly

I have made no secret of my liking of author Michael Connolly and his Harry Bosch detective novels. Although I started reading Connolly relatively recently, Bosch quickly became one of my favorite characters. So, a few weeks ago when rushing past the book counter in the local Costco, I saw another Connolly novel and quickly grabbed it.

A few days later I picked up the book and started reading. In the middle of the first page, I felt something was wrong. This clearly was not written by the Connolly I knew and there was no Harry Bosch. I looked back at the cover and discovered that I had picked up a thriller by Irish author John Connolly. I had just gone through another one of those "senior moments" that occasionally drive me to distraction.

Actually, The Unquiet was a fascinating and disquieting book. This Connolly, while living in Ireland, uses the state of Maine as the backdrop for this psychological thriller that takes place several years after the disappearance of a psychiatrist who worked primarily with children who had been abused. It was well written although in a style that, at times, I thought was a bit ponderous. But what made the reading more difficult for me was that this was at least the 4^th of Connolly's novels in which private detective Charlie Parker was the protagonist. Without knowing any of the back-story, there were a lot of references to the past that left me a bit confused.

Every now and then, a passage leaps out of a book that just hits you between the eyes. That happened to me in The Unquiet when Parker was interviewing the attorney of one of the "victims" who was in prison and, among other things, she said: "Winston Churchill once said that you can judge a society by the way it treats its prisoners. You know, there was all of this stuff about Abu Gharib and what we're doing to Muslims in Iraq and in Guantanamo and in Afghanistan and wherever else we've decided to lock up those whom we perceive to be a threat. People seemed surprised by it, but all they had to do was look around them. We do it to our own people. We try children as adults. We lock up, even execute, the mentally ill. And [referring to her incarcerated, mentally ill client] we tie people naked to chairs in ice-cold rooms because their medications aren't working. If we can do that here, then how the hell can anybody be surprised when we don't treat our enemies any better?" [Note: bracketed phrase added]

I do apologize for the length of the quote but, by itself, it made reading this novel worth it. It was a decent read overall and it did contain some scary insights into human nature. Now, I have to decide if I will go back and read this Connolly's earlier novels.

Alex Delaware At His Best

Dr. Alex Delaware, a psychologist, is the protagonist in most of Jonathan Kellerman's mysteries. In Obsession, the latest Kellerman novel to come out in paperback, Delaware is at his best.

The story evolves from a visit from 19-year-old Tanya Bigelow, whom Delaware had treated when she was a child. Tanya explains that her mother Patty, who had recently died of cancer, made a deathbed confession indicating that somewhere in the past she had committed a murder. In her dying breathes, she urged Tanya to see Dr. Delaware to help her learn the truth.

From that seed, Alex proceeds to unravel the mystery with the help of his friend (and Kellerman regular), LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis. As they begin to ask questions and put together disparate pieces, new murders occur. Eventually the full story is revealed and the real bad guys are dispensed to their fates. It was a pleasant journey that challenged the mind as psychological mysteries are supposed to do. The only strange twist was the final chapter which occurred after all was solved but which added what, for me, was not a totally unexpected sidelight to the tale.

It was the kind of good read I expected from a Jonathan Kellerman effort.

An Exciting First Novel

I just finished the paperback edition of The Faithful Spy, the first novel by Alex Berenson, and it was good. It is another one of those books I probably would never have seen if not for the paperback counter at the local Costco store.

The hero of this thriller is John Wells, who grew up in Montana and ended up as a CIA operative inside of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. When I started the book, I was wondering how Berenson could succeed in writing a story about terrorism without becoming too polemical. But he does. And it was a spellbinder although, fortunately, I was able to finish it in daytime hours and did not end up reading through the night.

I found it to be an excellent, very well written story and look forward to his follow-up, The Ghost War, which was published in hard cover in February. I expect to remain a fan of Berenson in the years ahead.

A Deep, But Not A Perfect, Storm

I just finished Lincoln Child's Deep Storm, a book that caught my eye while passing through the local Costco Warehouse store. It is billed accurately as a thriller, but in some ways it seems more like science fiction which is not one of my favored genres. The action takes place in "a top secret aquatic science facility," two miles below the ocean's surface. It is concealed by what appears to be an oil platform in the North Atlantic.

There is plenty of action. There is conflict between the military and scientific personnel and their differing goals as they drill down through the ocean floor toward. . . . I won't say what they are seeking; it would reveal too much about the plot line. Dr. Michael Crane is a likable, imaginative protagonist.

Suffice to say that this is an engaging, well told story. Parts of it are gripping. I enjoyed Deep Storm although it does not go high on my list of favorites; probably only 3 of 5 stars.

Truly Machiavellian!

I had not read any of Allan Folsom's earlier novels before I picked up The Machiavelli Covenant. I am now a Folsom fan and will probably go back and read his previously published books.

The Machiavelli Covenant is truly a thriller and truly Machiavellian. While it is 690 pages long, I had a hard time putting it down.

The book's website included the following synopsis of the story line:

"For five hundred years, a despotic order of the supremely rich and powerful has kept a manuscript by political thinker Niccolo Machiavelli hidden away under heavy guard: The Covenant, a terrifying blueprint for the gaining and keeping of true political power. Bonded by complicity in ritual murder and dedicated to a singular vision of global domination, the group, guided by this document, has prospered far beyond any dreams of power and avarice.

"In Washington, DC, former LAPD rogue detective Nicholas Marten comes out of hiding to hunt down the killers of his childhood sweetheart. And in Europe, US President John Henry Harris flees for his life, afraid to trust anyone after a secret cabal within his own administration orders him to have the president of France and the chancellor of Germany assassinated. Harris joins forces with Marten and the beautiful but enigmatic French photo-journalist Demi Picard, and together they uncover the truth about the most powerful group the world has ever known. Outmanned, outnumbered, and outgunned, these three stand alone against the secrets and power of The Covenant."

I finished the book in a marathon reading session that ended about 2:00 a.m. I had to keep going! I had to know what happened next! I had to discover how it all ended! It is one of the best thrillers I have read, right to the final page. Even the ending of the epilogue was Machiavellian, leaving me wondering whether Folsom might be planning to write a sequel.

When An Appeal Is Not All That Appealing

I just finished reading John Grisham's latest novel, The Appeal. Like all his books, it moves along quickly and is a relatively easy read. But, for me, it just was not that appealing.

Early on, I felt that Grisham was writing to a formula that covered an interesting trial and then would move on to a decision on appeal that would be satisfying in spite of all the roadblocks along the way. My problem is that I am sort of a Pollyanna; I like murder mysteries to be solved and legal thrillers to have happy endings. And that is what I expected of The Appeal. However, as the story unwound, it turned out to be less about trials and courts and the legal system and more about how electoral politics can be corrupted by too much money derived from questionable, but well hidden, sources. In the end, it was the result of an election that determined the outcome of the appeal.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the book and found it entertaining. I was just disappointed that it didn't have that special quality that I remember from many of Grisham's earlier efforts.

The Best Bosch I’ve Read. . .

City of Bones by Michael Connelly is only the 4^th of his Detective Harry Bosch books I've read, but, for me, it was the best so far. It isn't his most recently published mystery, but it was a spellbinder. It starts with a dog finding a bone in the Hollywood Hills and it follows many twists and turns until the final, unexpected moment of the story.

Once again, Harry Bosch is an all-too-human protagonist. And he is a solid, honest, good detective. He will not settle for "easy" answers that might cast a better light on the LAPD. As in other Connelly novels, Bosch's gut instincts are as good as his detecting skills. The bone, it turns out, was that of a child and had been in the ground over 20 years. This alone makes the case interesting and the path to a solution a rather twisting one. Obviously, I will not provide details; that would make it less of a read for others who might seek out City of Bones. [As it happens, I found it at our local Costco warehouse store.]

I will say that this Connelly effort fell into the I-can't-put-it-down category for me. It started as one of my "morning walk" books and was finished less than two days later during dinner hour because, well, I just had to get to the end. I am a relative newcomer to Connelly and Harry Bosch but I will continue to seek out the rest of the novels in which this likable detective plies his trade.