A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 31 Jul 09

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the July 31st issue include:


The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. Random House. THRILLER. EW's slant: "...gripping, stay-up-all-night read...also a bit sloppy..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (72 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander - the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo..." - Amazon.

Perfect Lifeby Jessica Shattuck. Norton. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...smart, sad rumination on the pursuit of happiness...with her elegant prose, Shattuck manages to make her characters' stories feel both engrossing and utterly real." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Two years ago, Neil Banks walked into a bathroom in the Pacific Fertility Center to provide his former college girlfriend, Jenny Callahan, with the biological material needed to conceive a child. Becoming a father was not part of the deal: adrift in his postmodern Los Angeles lifestyle, he signed away all paternity rights. But on the day of the baby's christening, Neil turns up at the church. His unexpected - and unauthorized - return to Jenny's privileged East Coast world sends a shockwave through the families of Jenny and her two college roommates - and sets off this deeply funny and keenly observed novel about fertility, love, and American excess..." - Amazon.

Glover's Mistakeby Nick Laird. Viking. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...Iago with an IP address...the dark side of desire." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (13 reviews). Kindle edition $14.27.
"...Set in the London art scene awash with new money and intellectual pretension, in the sleek galleries and posh restaurants of a Britannia resurgent with cultural and economic power, Nick Laird's insightful and drolly satirical novel vividly portrays three people whose world gradually fractures along the ineluctable fault lines of desire, truth, deceit, and jealousy. With wit, compassion, and acuity, Laird explores the very nature of contemporary romance - The Death of Love in Modern Culture, - as David puts it in one of his dyspeptic blog posts-among damaged souls whose hearts and heads never quite line up long enough for them to achieve true happiness." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: Compulsionby Keith Ablow.

How to Make Love to Adrian Colesberryby Adrian Colesberry. Publisher. HUMOR. EW's slant: "...while Colesberry's lovemaking may be many-hued, his joke writing is fairly monochromatic." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99.
"...In an act of generosity, Adrian Colesberry has written an exquisitely detailed guidebook to ensure that every reader knows precisely how to please him - in bed and beyond.... Recounting dozens of annoying peccadilloes and helpful pro tips gleaned from his experiences with former lovers, Colesberry covers all corners to ensure that no stage of the court-and-conquer process is overlooked... A pitch-perfect parody that spares no detail, How to Make Love to Adrian Colesberry is a hilarious and filthy new entrant into the fratire genre." - Amazon.

The Night Counterby Alia Yunis. Shaye Areheart Books. FIRST NOVEL. EW's slant: "...impressive if uneven first novel...rich in character and spirit." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"Yunis takes readers on a magic carpet ride examining the lives of Fatima Abdullah and her huge dysfunctional family. Imitating Scheherazade, Fatima - in a clever twist - spins her own tales to the legendary storyteller. And she has plenty of material: Fatima is dying, and more interested in her prized possessions - including a house in Lebanon - than in reuniting her splintered offspring and her estranged husband, Ibraham, whose enduring love is proved in a neat twist at the end of the novel. Fatima's family is all over the country, all with issues, including daughter Laila battling breast cancer in Detroit, openly gay actor grandson Amir in Los Angeles and pregnant great-granddaughter Aisha in Minneapolis... Add in a bumbling neophyte FBI agent seeing al-Qaeda smoke where there is no fire and the result is a sometimes serious, sometimes funny, but always touching tale of a Middle Eastern family putting down deep roots on U.S. soil." - Publishers Weekly.

Kindle E-Books on the Cheap: A Weekly Selection (29 Jul 2009)

Once you've purchased an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, the wonderful world of public domain, Creative Commons and free e-book promotions opens up to you. In this weekly Kindle Reader feature, I point you to a few of the most interesting new free (or very cheap) e-books available for download from the web.

Free e-book selections for this week include a practical "how-to" book for writers, an E. M. Forster short story collection, Fredric Brown's first full-length detective novel, Murray Leinster's sci fi novel Med Ship, and short stories from sci fi greats Frederik Pohl and Frank Herbert.

How to Write a Great Query Letter: Insider Tips & Techniques for Success, by Noah Lukeman. NONFICTION. Download site: Feedbooks. Format: Mobipocket/Kindle.
"New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, President of Lukeman Literary Management Ltd and author of three critically-acclaimed books on the craft of writing, has read thousands of query letters during his years as a literary agent. In this book, he offers his insights on the query letter, sharing an insider's perspective, giving insights and practical tips about what works and what doesn’t." - Feedbooks.

The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories by E. M. Forster. SHORT STORY COLLECTION/FANTASY. Download site: Feedbooks. Format: Mobipocket/Kindle.
"A traveler steps off the road and finds himself in an alternate reality. A sullen boy accidentally summons a spirit. A man gets more than he bargained for when he buys his fiancée a plot of wooded land. These six stories deal with transformations, the truth of the imagination, and the effect of the unseen on ordinary lives. By juxtaposing the Edwardian English with pagan mythology, E.M. Forster created in this collection a work of lasting strangeness and great beauty." - Amazon.

The Fabulous Clipjoint by Fredric Brown. MYSTERY FICTION. Download site: MobileRead. Format: PRC.
"When teenaged Ed Hunter's alcoholic father is murdered, Ed is for all intents and purposes orphaned, as he feels no affection whatsoever for his mean-spirited stepmother and hypersexual stepsister. The police dismiss the case as nothing more than the random murder of a back-alley drunk, and so Ed decides to investigate the crime on his own. The Fabulous Clipjoint, like most of Brown's works, is notable for its solid craftsmanship, atmosphere, and suspense. In 1948 it received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel..." - mtravellerh at MobileRead.

Med Ship by Murray Leinster. SCIENCE FICTION. Download site: Baen Free Library. Format: Mobi.
"Scattered through the galaxy are thousands of worlds colonized by humans. Many have native microbes dangerous to the human immigrants. Others have diseases brought to them accidentally—or on purpose—by visiting ships. When millions of lives are threatened, it's a job for the Interstellar Medical Service, and a Med Ship is sent to solve the problem..." - Baen.

The Hated by Frederik Pohl. SHORT STORY/SCIENCE FICTION. Download site: Manybooks. Format: AZW.
"After space, there was always one more river to cross ... the far side of hatred and murder!" - Manybooks.net.

Old Rambling House by Frank Herbert. SHORT STORY/SCIENCE FICTION. Download site: Feedbooks. Format: Mobipocket/Kindle.
"All the Grahams desired was a home they could call their own...but what did the home want?" - Feedbooks.

Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media

Today we begin a continuing Kindle Reader column featuring forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on upcoming TV and radio shows. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

ON NPR'S DIANE REHM SHOW (28 JUL 09):

Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of Historyby Margaret Macmillan. Modern Library. Kindle edition: $9.99.
"History is used to justify religious movements and political campaigns alike. The manipulation of history is increasingly pervasive in today’s world. Dictators may suppress history because it undermines their ideas, agendas, or claims to absolute authority. Nationalists may tell false, one-sided, or misleading stories about the past. Political leaders might mobilize their people by telling lies. Adolf Hitler, for instance, blamed the Jews for Germany’s humiliation at Versailles and its defeat in World War I. It is imperative that we have an understanding of the past and avoid the all-too-common traps in thinking to which many fall prey - as MacMillan skillfully illuminates. This brilliantly reasoned work will compel us to examine history anew, including our own understanding of it, and our own closely held beliefs. Margaret MacMillan is the author of Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World,and Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India.

ON THE CBS EARLY SHOW AND THE COLBERT REPORT (28 JUL 09):

Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining Americaby Arianna Huffington. Three Rivers Press. Kindle edition: $9.99.
"Huffington, political commentator and columnist, provides a scathing indictment of corporate America's CEOs, the current president and vice-president, Democrats and Republicans, lobbyists, accountants, and other powerful entities that she holds responsible for 'the lunatic excesses and the frenzy of fraud perpetrated by our high-flying corporate chieftains [that] have left our 401(k)s and pension plans in ruins and 8.3 million people out of work.' The author details the legal and ethical debacles at companies such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco that have undermined the well-being of our society, and she blames not only the CEOs but the unprecedented collusion between corporate interests and politicians..." - Booklist.

ON NPR'S TALK OF THE NATION AND NBC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (03 AUG 09):

The Liar in Your Life: The Way to Truthful Relationshipsby Robert Feldman. Twelve. Kindle edition: $9.99.
"In The Liar in Your Life, psychology professor Robert Feldman, one of the world's leading authorities on deception, draws on his immense body of knowledge to give fresh insights into how and why we lie, how our culture has become increasingly tolerant of deception, the cost it exacts on us, and what to do about it... Feldman uses this discussion of deception to explore ways we can cope with infidelity, betrayal, and mistrust, in our friends and family. He also describes the lies we tell ourselves: Sometimes, the liar in your life is the person you see in the mirror. With incisive clarity and wry wit, Feldman has written a truthful book for anyone who whose life has been touched by deception." - Amazon.

ON THE NBC TODAY SHOW (28 JUL 09) AND THE COLBERT REPORT (04 AUG 09):

Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew Americaby Kurt Andersen. Random House. Kindle edition: $9.99.
"In this smart and refreshingly hopeful book, Andersen - a brilliant analyst and synthesizer of historical and cultural trends, as well as a bestselling novelist and host of public radio’s Studio 360 - shows us why the current economic crisis is actually a moment of great opportunity to get ourselves and our nation back on track... The present flux can enable us as a society to consolidate the enormous gains of the last several decades in areas such as technology, crime prevention, women’s and civil rights, and the democratization of the planet. We can reap the fruits of a revival of realism and pragmatism at home and abroad. As we enter a new era of post-party-line common sense, we can start to reinvent hopelessly broken systems - in health care, education, climate change, and more - and rediscover some of the old-fashioned American values of which we’ve lost sight." - Amazon.

ON NPR'S DIANE REHM SHOW (04 AUG 09):

The Slippery Yearby Melanie Gideon. Knopf. Kindle edition: $9.99.
"For anybody who has ever wondered privately Is this all there is, Melanie Gideon’s poignant, hilarious, exuberant meditation, The Slippery Year, chronicles a year in which she confronts both the fantasies of her receding youth and the realities of midlife with a husband, a child, and a dog (one of whom runs away). She reflects on the exigencies of domesticity--the need for a household catastrophe plan, the fainting spell occasioned by the departure of her nine-year-old son for camp, the mattress wars, and the carpool line. With tenderness, unsparing honesty, and uproarious wit, Gideon brings us back again and again to the sweetness of ordinary pleasures and to life’s most enduring satisfactions. She captures perfectly that moment right before everything changes and the things we have loved forever begin to fall away for the first time. The Slippery Year is the story of a woman’s quest to reignite passion, beauty, and mystery and discover if “happily ever after” is a possibility after all." - Amazon.

ON NPR'S DIANE REHM SHOW (05 AUG 09):

In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanaticby Peter Berger and Anton Zijderveld. Harper Collins. Kindle edition: $9.99.
"Modernity was supposed to usher in a rational secular world where religion was marginalized. Some even predicted it would disappear. But religion has not only survived - it is growing and thriving in the modern world. Defying predictions, we live today in a world of plurality where diverse groups live under conditions of civic peace and in social interaction. However, this arrangement is not without tensions. How do we handle moral issues, such as abortion or homosexuality, when different groups have strongly held but opposing viewpoints? And how does culture maintain its harmony when confronted with the challenge of an aggressive fundamentalism? The answer, according to world-renowned sociologists Peter Berger and Anton Zijderveld, is doubt. Not the stupefying doubt of relativism where we become incapable of any decision because we are overwhelmed by options, but a virtuous use of doubt that allows us to move forward boldly with strong moral convictions without caving in to the fanatic's temptation of seeing everyone who disagrees with you as the enemy..." - Amazon.

ON THE CBS EARLY SHOW (07 AUG 09):

Crush It!: Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk. Harper Collins. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Author Gary Vaynerchuk is a 33-year-old entrepreneur who grew his family wine business from $4 million to $60 million in five years. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion shows readers how to find their passion, then step by step how to turn it into a flourishing, monetized business. " - Harper Collins.

A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 24 July 09

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the July 24th issue include:

It's Not Me, It's You: Subjective Recollections from a Terminally Optimistic, Chronically Sarcastic and Occasionally Inebriated Womanby Stefanie Wilder-Taylor. SSE Ebooks. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "...a few too many rim-shot-ready-one-liners, but her writing is rich with insights about loved ones..." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (36 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99.
"Stefanie Wilder-Taylor has never been one to take the conventional route. Whether financing a move to LA with only a best friend's bat mitzvah savings or accidentally freebasing cocaine, Stefanie is living proof that the unlikely can happen - usually to her. And when it does, the best response is a potent combination of pluck, luck, humor, and frequently, alcohol. In these candid essays, Stefanie recounts how a nice Jewish girl from Queens became a Hollywood producer, writer, and mother of three, with some surprising detours along the way..." - Amazon.

The Alternative Heroby Tim Thornton. Publisher. FIRST NOVEL. EW's slant: "Music nerds of all ages may recognize more of themselves than they care to admit." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99.
"What do you do if you’re a failed music fanzine writer in your early thirties with a dead-end job, and the best moment of your life occurred when you went to your first Thieving Magpies gig as a teenager and suddenly you belonged in a way you never had before, and the worst moment of your life occurred about six years later when Lance Webster, the Magpies’ lead singer, self-destructed on stage before your eyes - basically taking you with him - and just today you’ve discovered that Lance lives down the street from you?" - Amazon.
"With The Alternative Hero, Tim Thornton has gone through the looking glass of obsessive fandom and brought back a hilarious, memorable, and hard-rocking tale." - Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls' Rising.

Benny & Shrimpby Katarina Mazetti. Penguin Group. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...a romance novel for the hip and smart..." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99.
"...this addictively readable tale asks the question: Why is it so impossible to get a relationship between two middle-aged misfits to work? The answer lies in the story of Shrimp, a young widowed librarian with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that her jam jars are in alphabetical order; Benny, a gentle, overworked milk farmer who fears becoming the village’s Old Bachelor; and an unlikely love that should not be as complicated as it seems. Reminiscent of the works of Carol Shields, this quirky, humorous, beautifully told novel breathes new life into the age-old conundrum that is love." - penguingroup.com.

Twenties Girlby Sophie Kinsella. Dial Press. NOVEL. EW's slant: "lighter-than-a-champagne-bubble caper..." Amazon customer rating: 2 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $14.30.
"Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they? When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie - a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance - mysteriously appears, she has one last request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years...Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different 'twenties' girls learn some surprising truths from each other along the way." - Amazon.
$9.99 or less alternative: What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Dayby Pearl Cleage.


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Kindle Genre Watch (23 Jul 09)

Genre fiction - as opposed to nonfiction, graphic novels and picture books - lends itself to enjoyable Kindle reading because when you pick up a book of fiction you don't necessarily expect it to be illustrated. Authors of mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, romance novels and westerns paint word pictures and their readers use their own imagination to picture the scene of the crime or the stare of a vampire or the track of an alien space craft hurtling towards earth.

Now you can spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Storeso you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases include:

MYSTERIES/
THRILLERS

The Defectorby Daniel Silva. Putnam. Kindle edition $13.34.
"...enigmatic art restorer and assassin Gabriel Allon...has returned to the tan hills of Umbria to resume his honeymoon with his new wife, Chiara, and restore a seventeenth-century altarpiece for the Vatican. But his idyllic world is once again thrown into turmoil with shocking news from London. The defector and former Russian intelligence officer Grigori Bulganov, who saved Gabriel's life in Moscow, has vanished without a trace. British intelligence is sure he was a double agent all along, but Gabriel knows better...Gabriel and his team of operatives will find themselves in a deadly duel of nerve and wits with one of the world's most ruthless men: the murderous Russian oligarch and arms dealer Ivan Kharkov. It will take him from a quiet mews in London, to the shores of Lake Como, to the glittering streets of Geneva and Zurich, and, finally, to a heart-stopping climax in the snowbound birch forests of Russia..." - Amazon.
Less expensive alternative: the first book in the Gabriel Allon series, The Kill Artist.

Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles. Scribner. Kindle edition $9.95.
"As a prosecuting attorney in Houston, Penn Cage sent hardened killers to death row. But it is as mayor of his hometown - Natchez, Mississippi - that Penn will face his most dangerous threat. Urged by old friends to try to restore this fading jewel of the Old South, Penn has ridden into office on a tide of support for change. But in its quest for new jobs and fresh money, Natchez, like other Mississippi towns, has turned to casino gambling, and now five fantastical steamboats float on the river beside the old slave market at Natchez like props from Gone With the Wind. But one boat isn't like the others. Rumor has it that the Magnolia Queen has found a way to pull the big players from Las Vegas to its Mississippi backwater. And with them - on sleek private jets that slip in and out of town like whispers in the night - come pro football players, rap stars, and international gamblers, all sharing an unquenchable taste for one thing: blood sport - and the dark vices that go with it. When a childhood friend of Penn's who brings him evidence of these crimes is brutally murdered, the full weight of Penn's failure to protect his city hits home..." - Amazon.

Fugitive by Philip Margolin. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99.
"When the editor-in-chief of World News magazine offers Amanda Jaffe a $500,000 retainer to defend Charlie Marsh, an ex-con turned bestselling spiritual guru,... Amanda can't say no. Marsh, who fled the country in 1997 after being accused of murdering Congressman Arnold Pope Jr., has spent the 12 years since in the African country of Batanga under the protection of its benevolent ruler, Jean-Claude Baptiste, whose threat to kill Marsh for sleeping with his favorite wife has prompted Marsh to return to the U.S. to stand trial. Toss in Pope's revenge-seeking father, several homicidal maniacs and the evil head of the Batanga secret service, and you've got a plot set on full boil..." - Publishers Weekly.

Sworn to Silenceby Linda Castillo. Minotaur Books. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Kate Burkholder grew up in idyllic Painters Mill, where many residents drive buggies, shun electricity, and distance themselves from the complications of modern life. The presence of a serial killer shatters the stillness of the town, leaving its citizenry terrified and on guard. During this time, young Kate’s life takes a fateful turn when she is sexually assaulted by an Amish man named Daniel Lapp. She shoots Lapp in self-defense and, seeing blood splattered across the floor, is certain he’s dead. (Her father drags away the body, and the family banishes the incident from their memories, never reporting it to police.) With Lapp’s demise, the area murders cease. Rattled residents rest easily once again. Fast-forward 16 years. Kate, now chief of police in Painters Mill, is faced with a series of brutal crimes in which the female victims are tortured and raped. Could Daniel Lapp still be alive?... - Allison Block for Booklist.

FANTASY

Warbreakerby Brandon Sanderson. Tor. Kindle edition $15.37.
"...the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as 'breath' that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people..." - Tor.com.
"Sanderson melds complex, believable characters, a marvelous world and thoughtful, ironic humor into an extraordinary and highly entertaining story." - Publishers Weekly.
$9.99 or less alternative: Sanderson's earlier fantasy Mistborn.

Fire-Heart: A Tale of Alterra, The World That Isby C. S. Marks. AuthorHouse. Kindle edition $2.99.
"This is the tale of Gorgon Elfhunter, a monstrous, mysterious creature who has sworn to destroy all the Elves of Alterra - until none remain. It is the story of Wood-elven heroine Gaelen Taldin, who has sworn to rid her world of the Elfhunter even as she is hunted by him. Filled with moments both tender and terrifying, thrilling yet thought-provoking, it is a timeless epic fantasy suitable for readers young and old." - Amazon.

Thorn Queenby Richelle Mead. Kensington Publishing. Kindle edition currently $0.00.
Eugenie Markham is a shaman for hire, paid to bind and banish creatures from the Otherworld. But after her last battle, she’s also become queen of the Thorn Land. It’s hardly an envious life, not with her kingdom in tatters, her love life in chaos, and Eugenie eager to avoid the prophecy about her firstborn destroying mankind. And now young girls are disappearing from the Otherworld, and no one - except Eugenie - seems willing to find out why..." -kensingtonbooks.com.

ROMANCE

Twlight of a Queenby Susan Carroll. Ballantine Books. Kindle edition $9.99.
"It is 1588, and as the Spanish Armada prepares to besiege England, Paris balances on the brink of revolution. To maintain her grip on the throne and on the dark magic that has become her obsession, Catherine de Medici turns to Louis Xavier, a ruthless corsair who was schooled in the dark arts and has mastered piracy along the Spanish main. But Louis’s basest instincts are held in check by the kindness of Lady Jane Danvers, a British exile whose innate sense of honor is but one facet of her complex and passionate nature. On Faire Isle, Ariane Cheney, unaware of the escalating threat from the Dark Queen, struggles with the task of protecting the daughters of the earth and their vast store of ancient magical wisdom. Weak and desperate for an advantage, the ailing Catherine makes a devil’s bargain that will cast a shadow over all." - Amazon.

Anybody But Justinby Shelli Stevens. Samhain Publishing. Kindle edition currently $0.00.
"Gabby is serious about her search for Mr. Right, but no one can say she hasn't had a good time looking. She enjoys her numerous dates and the sex that comes with them. Until she finds herself falling for the one man she vows to never love. Her best friend and roommate, Justin. A player in every sense of the word - and a reminder of her awful past. One night, with the help of a bottle of tequila, things get a little too hot for comfort. She moves out, intent on removing him from the line of temptation. Justin has different plans..." - Amazon.

TailSpinby Catherine Coulter. Jove. Kindle edition $6.39.
"When a small plane carrying FBI Special Agent Jackson Jack Crowne makes a crash landing in mountainous Parlow, Ky., his friends FBI Special Agents Dillon Savitch and Lacey Sherlock fly by helicopter from Washington, D.C., to the scene. Jack survives the crash, aided by Rachael Abbott, a young woman who's returning to Parlow, her childhood home, after escaping an attempt to drown her in a Maryland lake. After Rachael reveals that she's the illegitimate daughter of the late Maryland senator John James Abbott, whose siblings she suspects are trying to kill her, the FBI agents agree to help. As further attempts on Rachael's life occur, the attraction grows between her and Jack..." - Publishers Weekly.

SCIENCE FICTION

Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnantby Karen Traviss. Ballantine Books. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Based on the blockbuster Xbox game, this is the stunning story of the men and women who stood between a planet and total destruction - and now have to face the consequences of their actions. After a brutal fifteen-year war for survival, the Coalition of Ordered Governments is forced to destroy mankind’s last city in a final bid to stop the Locust Horde. As the survivors flee Jacinto, they must contend with the last of the Locust, bent on vengeance, as they struggle to stay alive in an icy wilderness..." - Amazon.

The Roswell Protocolsby Allan Burd. Bed Bug Publishing. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, an object is detected on radar rapidly descending to earth. Just moments before impact, it vanishes, crash landing somewhere other than originally predicted. Where? No one knows. But the ripple effects are felt worldwide. In a mountain chalet, an innocent children’s book author is about to be frightened to the very core of her soul. In the Kremlin, a war hero is once again summoned to serve his country. In Japan, a determined general sets a daring plan into motion. In California, an expert in kinesics, the science of body movement, is about to be put to the test. In Canada, the RAF takes to the skies. In Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, an order is given - Initiate the Roswell Protocols..." - Amazon.

Against a Dark Backgroundby Iain M. Banks. Orbit. Kindle edition $9.99.
"On the run from a cult of intergalactic religious fanatics who want her death, the Lady Sharrow emerges from retirement to seek out a powerful artifact that may save her life - a weapon that kills by altering the reality around it... Sophisticated prose, complex characters, and an unbridled imagination combine in this tale of high drama and intrigue..." - Library Journal.

The Men Returnby Jack Vance. Wonder eBooks. Kindle edition $2.49.
"Five vintage stories from the 1950s by Science Fiction Grand Master, Jack Vance. SF stories of adventure, detection, horror, and humor [including] The Men Return; The Devil On Salvation Bluff; A Practical Man's Guide; Worlds of Origin; and the haunting, When the Five Moons Rise." - Amazon.

Something Wicked This Way Comesby Ray Bradbury. Synergy House. Kindle edition $1.99.
"Few American novels written this century have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury's unparalleled literary classic... For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin.The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. The shrill siren song of a calliope beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes...and the stuff of nightmare." - Amazon.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Soul Keyby Olivia Woods. PKT HC JV eBooks. Kindle edition $6.39.
"There is a void in the alternate universe that demands to be filled. Iliana Ghemor, the Cardassian operative who years ago was altered in both body and mind to replace Kira Nerys, dreams of fulfilling a prophecy that will mark her as the one true Emissary of that other reality - a messianic figure who could lead her followers into an era of renewed hope...or an age of deepening darkness.Ghemor's claim to the mantle of the Emissary is by no means certain, however, as the inexorable pull of providence tugs also at other souls who are swept into the vortex of the Prophets, the remote and timeless beings who have set these strange events in motion.But the stakes are higher than anyone imagines: for the outcome of this struggle for the fate of one universe will ripple across many others, and become the key to unlocking a future that will prove to be the greatest trial yet for the heroes of station Deep Space 9." - Amazon.


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WESTERNS

The Road to Ratchet Creekby J. T. Edson. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $5.99.
"There are six passengers on the stagecoach from Promontory to Ratchet Creek among them a beautiful singer with bad intentions, a lawman dressed in deacon's garb ... and a red-headed hellion named Martha Jane Canary, who's hell with a whip and quicker on the draw than most male gun artists. But Calamity Jane has met her match in Marshal Solly Cole, which is just as well, since they're both rolling into more bad news than ever. Because Ratchet Creek's home to a lot more than the lowlife swindler that Cole's been trailing; it's a hotbed of mystery and death that abandoned the law long ago..." - Amazon.

Bloodshed of Eaglesby William W. Johnstone. Pinnacle. Kindle edition $4.00.
"Falcon MacCallister never thought he'd wear army brass. But Colorado is about to join the Union - and the would-be state has just made him Lt. Colonel in its Home Guard. Then, before his military career can take off, Falcon loses one of his men and two deadly new Gatling guns to a murderous ambush. Falcon is going to get those Gatling guns back-before they kill the wrong people..." - Amazon.

Texas Killersby J. T. Edson. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99.
"To Dusty Fog's eye, it seems like a killer's conventionis set to convene in Corpus Christi in honor ofthe arrival of a European crown prince. And it's Dusty's job along with fast-draw artist Waco, a knife master called the Ysabel Kid, and other members of Ole Devil Hardin's Floating Outfit to keep his highness breathing while on American soil. But things are threatening to get seriously out of hand, because there're a lot more than just a few hired gunswho want a shot at this royal target. And it's looking like Fog's going to be facing an old adversary again the world's most feared assassin even though Dusty's already killed him once!" - Amazon.

Running Ironsby J. T. Edson. HarperCollins. Kindle edition $9.99.
"Danny Fog has a lot to live up to, being the younger brother of Dusty Fog, the legendary gun wizard from Rio Hondo. But Danny's still a lawman to be reckoned with and by breaking up the loathsome cow-thieving outfit that's terrorizing Caspar County, he'll be well on his way to writing his own legend. The gun-crazy outlaws and Mexican cutthroats standing in his way shouldn't be too much of a problem for the big and brash young Texas Ranger. But dealing with the lady boss of the rustlers may be more than he can handle without help... - Amazon.

The Kindle Runs Blind into a Tripwire and Dies Trying: The Jack Reacher Series

If you are a fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, you'll know immediately what the title of this post means. If not and if you love "can't put it down" thrillers, you're in for a treat.

Lee Child published his first Reacher novel back in 1997. Somehow I missed it - and the 13 more books that followed - all featuring the enigmatic ex-military cop and drifter Jack Reacher. If I'm ever in danger, Reacher is the first person I'd want to cover my back - a pragmatic tough guy who gets the bad guys by out-thinking and of course out-fighting them in locales from the Florida Keys to D.C. to the Maine coast.

In another era, I could see Robert Mitchum, who had a life similar to Reacher's - riding the rails during the depression and serving for a time on a chain gang before becoming an actor - in the starring role of a movie based on the books. I recall reading an interview with Child in which he said it would be difficult to find an actor as large in stature as Reacher (6'5" and about 240 lbs.) so he'd be looking for someone who could convey the physical presence of the man - someone like a young Clint Eastwood. My personal picks for the role would be either the versatile actor Christian Bale or the Australian newcomer Alex O'Loughlin - both of whom could pull off the loner/tough guy/Paladin qualities of the main character.

Kindle readers will be pleased to learn that all the Jack Reacher novels are available for their favorite reading device. You might want to read the novels in the order in which they were published although on Child's web site we are told that "...Lee wrote the Reacher novels so you could start the series with any one of them. Really. No fooling."

The Jack Reacher series in publication order:

Killing Floor(1997). Jove. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"When Jack Reacher suddenly decides to ask a Greyhound bus driver to let him off near the town of Margrave, Georgia, he thinks it's because his brother once mentioned that the famed blues guitarist Blind Blake died there. But it doesn't take long for the footloose ex-military policeman to discover that there are plenty of strange - and very dangerous - things going on behind Margrave's manicured lawns and clean streets that demand his attention." - Amazon.

Die Trying(1998). Jove. Kindle edition: $7.19.
"Jack Reacher is in both the wrong and the right place at the same time when FBI Special Agent and daughter of the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Holly Johnson is abducted from a Chicago street. It is the wrong place because Reacher, a former army major drifting around the country, is kidnapped as well. It is the right place because only he has the instincts to foil the complex, deadly plan of the kidnappers..." - Library Journal.

Tripwire(1999). Jove. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"...Reacher is incognito, living the life of a drifter and digging swimming pools in Key West. When a PI from New York comes looking for him, and shortly afterwards turns up dead with his fingertips sliced off, Reacher flies north and discovers that the instigator of the search is Leon Garber, his former army commanding officer... Reacher is spellbinding whether kicking in doors or just kicking around a thought in his brain." - Publishers Weekly.

Running Blind (2000). Jove. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"...A serial murderer is on the loose, killing women across the country in the same bizarre fashion: there are no fatal wounds on the corpse and no evidence or clues. Other than the killer's unknown method, the only thread tying the victims together is that they have all served in the military - and they all knew Reacher." - Library Journal.

Echo Burning(2001). Jove. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"Carmen Greer wants out of a bad marriage, but it's going to be tricky. Her abusive husband, Sloop, is in prison on an IRS beef; he's due out soon, and he knows it was Carmen who turned him in to the feds. Faced with losing her daughter to Sloop and his full-pockets Texas family, Carmen takes to auditioning hitchhikers for the job of killing her husband. She winds up with ex-military cop Jack Reacher..." - Booklist.

Without Fail(2002). Jove. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"What better way to test the security surrounding a U.S. vice president-elect than to hire someone skilled in the killing arts to penetrate his protection? Assassination strategy, though, is only part of the assignment facing Jack Reacher in Without Fail. This restive, blunt-edged ex-military cop must also determine whether recent threats against VP-to-be Senator Brook Armstrong are legitimate or are primarily intended to embarrass the perfectionist head of Armstrong's new Secret Service detail, M.E. Froelich, who happens to have been a girlfriend of Reacher's late brother." - Amazon.

Persuader(2003). Jove. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"Jack Reacher... returns in this explosive tale of an undercover operation set up by the FBI to rescue an agent investigating Zachary Beck, a reclusive tycoon believed to be a kingpin in the drug trade..." - Amazon. Warning: the reviews on Amazon contain spoilers. You'll enjoy the plot twists and turns more if you don't read them before starting the book - one of the best in this series.

The Enemy(2004). Delacorte Press. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"...in every cop’s life there is a turning point. One case. One messy, tangled case that can shatter a career. Turn a lawman into a renegade. And make him question words like honor, valor, and duty. For Jack Reacher, this is that case. New Year’s Day, 1990. The Berlin Wall is coming down. The world is changing. And in a North Carolina 'hot-sheets' motel, a two-star general is found dead. His briefcase is missing. Nobody knows what was in it. Within minutes Jack Reacher has his orders: Control the situation. But this situation can’t be controlled. Within hours the general’s wife is murdered hundreds of miles away. Then the dominoes really start to fall." - Amazon.

One Shot(2005). Delacorte Press. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"Jack Reacher has been doing his best to live off the grid, but his past as a military policeman keeps coming back to bite him. This time the biter is a former Gulf War sniper accused of killing six civilians in an unnamed Heartland city. Despite mountains of evidence, the accused claims he's innocent and says enigmatically, 'Get Reacher.' But why? Reacher, it turns out, has every reason to want the man convicted.

The Hard Way(2006). Delacorte Press. Kindle edition: $6.39.
"Former military cop Reacher...lives off the grid (no address, no belongings), but his instincts keep driving him toward solving other people's problems, the kind that won't stay solved without violence. Here, he's having an espresso in Greenwich Village when a man walks across the street, gets in a car, and drives away. It happens every day, but it's not always a kidnapper picking up the ransom. Soon Reacher is involved in helping a ruthless mercenary find his wife and stepdaughter before the kidnappers tie up loose ends." - Booklist.

Bad Luck and Trouble(2007). Delacorte Press. Kindle edition $6.39.
"Former military policeman Reacher, now a wanderer without an address, a phone, or an e-mail, discovers that someone has deposited $1,030 in his bank account and quickly deduces (1030 is the MP's code for urgent assistance needed) that the money represents a call for help from Frances Neagley, a sergeant in Reacher's old 'special investigators' unit. Four members of the unit have been killed, and Neagley is rounding up the survivors to avenge their colleagues and, thus, live up to the group's motto: 'You don't mess with the special investigators.' There's a Magnificent Seven aspect to this scenario..." - Booklist.

Nothing to Lose (2008). Delacorte Press. Kindle edition: $7.99.
"Jake Reacher only rents rooms one night at a time, confirming his 'absolute freedom to move on.' About the only thing sure to convince Reacher to stick around is someone telling him he has to leave. That’s what happens when the former military policeman turned inveterate loner stops for a cup of coffee in an aptly named company town called Despair, Colorado. Strangers aren’t allowed in Despair, he’s told, and two cops arrive to drive him out to the city limits. You can run Reacher out of town, maybe, but you sure as hell can’t keep him out." - Booklist.

Gone Tomorrow (2009). Delacorte Press. Kindle edtion: $9.99.
"...New York City. It all starts on the subway, when Reacher spots a woman exhibiting all 11 of the signs used by Israeli counterintelligence to identify suicide bombers. In the aftermath of what happens on that 6 train, Reacher finds himself in the crosshairs of the FBI, the Department of Defense, the NYPD, one wannabe senator, and two women - the most formidable foes of all - whose provenance and motives are unclear but who are clearly up to no good." - Booklist.

The Jack Reacher series in chronological order:

The Enemy
Killing Floor
Die Trying
Tripwire
Running Blind
Echo Burning
Without Fail
Persuader
One Shot
The Hard Way
Bad Luck and Trouble
Nothing to Lose
Gone Tomorrow