It's been a LOOOONG time!

Hello again. I can't believe it's been years since I posted anything. Life took many turns and got in the way. I will fill you in soon.

Happy Holidays!

I haven't taken the time to do much reading this month. I have been crocheting hats both for Christmas presents and to donate and it's hard to read or use the computer when doing that. It had been years since I crocheted but seeing some cute ideas on Pinterest got me inspired again. I tried several different hat patterns and it was a lot of fun. I've also done some holiday baking which the family really enjoys - pumpkin bread with dates and black walnuts, cherry chocolate cookies, and homemade dinner rolls. I'm sure everyone will find something they like. Our son and his wife will be here for dinner later today (Christmas Eve) and then they'll go to her folks'. Jim and I will head to my sister's for a soup supper. It's nice to spend the holidays with the family.

I've also been fighting a bad pain in my right leg. I went to the doctor about it several weeks ago and she gave me a steroid which really helped. Only problem is once the pills were gone, the pain came back. I guess another visit to the doc is on the calendar after the holidays. Limping around is NO fun.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Spend it with those who mean the most to you, enjoy your presents and don't eat too many goodies.

Second Nature

Written by Alice Hoffman
© 1994 Published by Berkley
ISBN: 0-425-14681-2
290 pp.

From the book cover: "He was beautiful. He was innocent. And in the locked room where the psychiatrists kept him, he was treated more like an animal than a human being. Robin Moore, coping with a divorce-in-progress and a troubled teenaged son, surprised even herself when she impulsively rescued this man, who'd been raised in the wilderness and had no more sophistication than a child. She spirited him home to her suburban town where she could keep him safe. But with the strange, uncivilized man's arrival came a streak of wild, uncontrollable events that disturbed the peace in this perfectly ordered neighborhood - and changed all of Robin's ideas about love and humanity...."

Hmmm, what would you do? The person referred to as 'Wolfman' who has been locked up for months in a mental hospital and who had never spoken to anyone before, quietly asks you to help him. Without even thinking, Robin Moore takes him home and hides him. She slowly learns some of his background and how he came to live in the wild. She also, of course, falls in love with him. She has plenty to deal with - her estranged, cheating husband who's also a local cop, her love-sick 16-year-old son, her contankerous, ailing grandfather, her very limited income as a landscaper, and now the strange man in her guest room. Adding to that, some sicko is killing the town's pets, including Robin's much-loved cat, Homer.

This book was an easy read and I read it in one day. There weren't too many surprises in it but it was a good story. A little bit romance and a little bit mystery, the ending was kind of sad but there wasn't really any other way to write it.

 

I picked this book up at a flea market. (I apologize for the poor photo.  I'm having camera problems and didn't find a good photo on line.)

Dark Mountain

Written by Richard Laymon
©1987 by Leisure Books
ISBN: 0-8439-6138-4
321 pp.

From the book cover: “For two families, it was supposed to be a relaxing camping trip in the California mountains. They thought it would be fun to get away from everything for a while. But they’re not alone. The woods are also home to two terrifying residents who don’t take kindly to strangers – an old hag with unholy powers, and her hulking son, a half-wild brute with uncontrollable, violent urges. The campers still need to get away – but now their lives depend on it!”

I’ve never been much of a camper. A long time ago we had a pickup topper and went to Mt. Rushmore and a few other places but we never tent-camped. To me a tent always seemed so vulnerable and after reading this book, you’ll NEVER find me in a tent.

Buddies Scott O’Toole and Arnold ‘Flash’ Gordon decide to take their families on a backpacking trip. The group includes Scott’s girlfriend, his teenage daughter and his younger son and Flash’s wife, teenage son and younger twin daughters. They’ve all camped before but not together and not in this area. They plan on making a week of it, hiking up the mountain trails by day and camping by different lakes at night. They spend their evenings telling spooky stories around the campfire. Big mistake, right there! LOL Before they know it, they’re living a worse story than any they could have made up.

I didn’t enjoy this Laymon book quite as much as After Midnight (reviewed here) even though it started out great. It was good as far as the spook factor but I thought he was a little short filling out the story. He didn’t give hardly any background on the old woman and her son like where they came from or what they were doing in the mountains. He gave some background on Scott and his girlfriend and the Gordons but I feel he could have told a little more to flesh out the story.

After Midnight

Written by Richard Laymon
© 1997 by Leisure Book
ISBN: 0-8439-5180-X
438 pp.

From the book cover – “Alice has quite a story to tell you. That’s not her real name, of course. She couldn’t give her real name, not after all the things she reveals about herself in this book. All of her … adventures. And all that killing. She wouldn’t want the police to find her, now would she?

It started out so nice. Alice was house-sitting for her friend, enjoying having the whole place to herself, with the sunken bathtub and big-screen television. But everything went wrong that first night, when she looked out the window and saw a strange man jumping naked into the swimming pool. Alice just knew he would be coming to get her, like all those other men before. But she would never be a victim again. Not after she remembered the old Civil War saber hanging in the living room …”

Oh … my… God! This book is one of those that genuinely gives you the creeps and makes you get up and pull your curtains and check your locks. Have you ever gotten up to lock the door and been SURE someone was just on the other side? That’s the feeling I got from reading the first chapter. No spooks, no aliens, no four-legged creatures … just real people who can sometimes be real monsters.

I have to say this author has quite the imagination, even more so than King or Koontz. Alice is her own worst enemy making herself scared which causes the death of the first person. Then she tries to cover that death up and one thing leads to another and another. The methods of death in the book are very graphic and made me squirm at times but I loved the book. I have another Laymon book to read next, Dark Mountain. I hope it’s just as good.

I borrowed the books from my sister who shares my taste in books. Thanks Anne.

In Her Shoes

Written by Jennifer Weiner

© 2002, Published by Pocket Books

ISBN: 0-4165-0334-X

521 pp. followed by questions with the author

From the book cover – “Rose is a thirty-year-old attorney with a secret passion for romance novels. She’s going to start exercising next week, and she dreams of a man who will slide off her glasses and tell her she’s beautiful. Maggie is twenty-eight and drop-dead gorgeous. Although her stardom hasn’t progressed past her hip’s appearance in a music video, she dreams of fame and fortune. These two sisters claim to have nothing in common but DNA, a childhood tragedy, and a shoe size, but when they’re forced into cohabitation, they may just learn that they’re more alike than they thought.”

I love Jennifer Weiner’s books. She doesn’t hesitate to tell it like it is and In Her Shoes is no exception. Rose and Maggie lost their mother at a young age and Rose has always tried to look out for her sister. That’s hard to do when Maggie has such a different lifestyle. She’s dyslexic and to make up for poor performance in school, she uses her looks to get what she wants. When she does have money, she spends it on partying, makeup and clothes. She can’t hold a job or keep an apartment, has a bad habit of snooping whenever she can and doesn’t hesitate to ‘borrow’ money or clothes without asking. She ends up on Rose’s doorstep at a very inopportune time. On the other hand, Rose is somewhat of a stick-in-the-mud. She packs a few extra pounds, dresses very conservatively, and only splurges on great shoes and romance novels. The last thing she wants is her unreliable sister intruding in her life again just as she’s finally found a boyfriend.

I couldn’t live with someone like Maggie without wanting to throttle her daily. I was surprised Rose put up with her as long as she did. When something happens that blows their relationship apart, you have to wonder if they’ll ever speak again. Throw in a ‘wicked’ stepmother, a long-lost grandmother and her retirement community buddies, an unlikely suitor, and a few dogs and you have a great story.

I bought this book at a flea market. Jennifer Weiner is also the author of Good in Bed and Little Earthquakes.

What the Night Knows

Written by Dean Koontz

©2010 Published by Bantam Books
ISBN: 978-0-553-80772-1
442 pp.

From the book jacket: “In the late summer of a long-ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months, he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.

Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, re-creating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family – his wife and three children – will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.

As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.

Here is a ghost story like no other you have read. In the Calvinos, Dean Koontz brings to life a family that might be your own, in a war for their survival against an adversary more malevolent than any he has yet created, with their own home the battleground. Of all his acclaimed novels, none exceeds What the Night Knows in power, in chilling suspense, and in sheer mesmerizing storytelling."

This book is pure Koontz – fantastic suspense, horror and lots of gore thrown in to keep you looking over your shoulder. If you don’t like detailed descriptions of torture and murder, this is NOT the book for you. I happen to think it adds a lot to the fright-factor.

Alton Turner Blackwood was a deformed and abused boy who grew up to be the abuser. Only by killing did he feel powerful. John Calvino put a stop to his murderous rampage 20 years ago but now a copycat killing has taken place. Is John right to think his family is in danger, and why? Has Blackwood returned from the dead? The answer is yes AND no – you'll have to read the book to understand what that means.

I purchased this book at the Albia flea market.



Dark Road Home

Written by Karen Harper

©1996 Signet
Published by the Penguin Group
442 pp.

From the book cover: “Attorney Brooke Benton comes to the Maplecreek Amish community to escape the stalker who terrorized her after her last murder case. She feels safe running a friend’s quilt shop, but the homespun Amish frown on her worldly ways. Daniel Brand, returning to his Amish people after years in the outside world, knows he should have a good Amish wife, but it is the wildly attractive and accomplished Brooke who catches his eye.

When a mysterious hit-and-run driver kills four Amish teenagers, Brooke fears the isolated Amish community may also be in jeopardy, and she plunges into an investigation. When Dan joins her chase to pin down the killers, the trail takes them to Las Vegas, where they find more than they bargained for: Brooke and Dan find love – and its power to break through all barriers. This compelling novel of romantic passions, clashing values, and riveting suspense brims with verve and authenticity.”

This book has such a sad beginning – four young Amish people on their way home at night in a buggy, are victims of a hit-and-run driver. Three are killed outright and the fourth dies at the hospital. The Amish believe it’s the will of God but Brooke is determined to find who did it. She’s in Maplecreek hiding from a stalker and doesn’t want any publicity that may give away her location but she feels very strongly about the loss of the young Amish people. Daniel Brand had returned to Maplecreek just that day and along with Brooke, is the one who hears and finds the accident. One of the victims is his niece and the daughter of one of Brooke’s Amish friends.

I found this book to be very interesting and I learned a lot about the Amish community. We have much smaller groups that live in areas of southern Iowa but they pretty much keep to themselves. It would be quite an experience to live and work with them. The author did a good job intertwining the romance of Brooke and Daniel, her quest for the killers, and the everyday lives of the Amish. I enjoyed reading about their ways and the bits about the quilt store was interesting, too.

I bought this book at a flea market. Most of my books are then recycled by donating them to a local resale shop that serves the community food bank.

Hauser Decoy Mail Service SUCKS!

I was a mail decoy for Hauser Track Mail Service for several years. It's very easy to do, just input the data on the day you received the mail, then keep it for six months in case it's needed. After that, discard the oldest month and start another month. It paid .25 per piece of mail, paying 3 months at a time. Sometimes you had to mail something back to Hauser but you were reimbursed for the postage when you got paid the next time. Sounds like easy money and it was,. The only problem was getting paid. At the beginning, Dave Hauser was pretty good about paying. Then checks started being a few weeks late, then months. Dave was full of excuses - the checks were always 'on the way', he was waiting for a line of credit at the bank, he had a new bookkeeper, and on and on. I had to repeatedly ask for the money I had earned. More excuses were made and I still waited. Finally, I said enough and told them I was quitting at the end of the  pay period which was about 2 weeks away. They wanted me to keep going until they could clear my name from their list. I said no, I'd had enough. Then they asked me to keep the mail that was still coming and send it back as one bundle. I said no. I was quitting for lack of payment but they wanted me to continue working for them. Why would I continue doing something that I wasn't getting paid for? At that time my payment was behind several months. The last check I received was on May 20, 2011 and it was for payment through August 2010. I have emailed Dave Hauser and his bookkeeper several time since asking to be paid and they don't even reply. I'm still getting decoy mail (two pieces just today) and I quit 5 months ago. I just throw it in the trash. Hauser Track Mail Services SUCK!

My advice to anyone wanting to be a mail decoy - go with someone other than Hauser!

If you have experience dealing with Hauser Mail, I'd like to hear about it.  Please leave a comment here.  Thanks.

Prejudice (not a book)

I got into a little discussion on a Facebook page the other day. It was a public site where local people and school alumni can reminisce. Someone was talking about a problem at their job and one thing led to another and finally someone else blamed everything on those towel heads. I didn't say anything right then but as the afternoon wore on, I kept thinking about the term he used and it bothered me more and more. I finally went back to the site and that post and I told him I found his use of the term towel head to be offensive. He apoligized at that time but came back later to ask if the terrorism acts of 9-11 hadn't bothered me. I don't see how one thing has to do with the other but I responded by telling him that I was as patriotic as the next person. My brother fought in both Desert Storm and Operation: Iraqi Freedom. I told him I had had the priviledge of having Korean, German and American Indians in my immediate family and blacks and latinos in my extended family. I told him I was a very tolerant person but I didn't tolerate intolerance. He never did get my point. He finally told me I was entitled to my opinion and he was entitled to his. (The next day that entire post was deleted.)

 

These day we all know not to use the 'N' word when referring to blacks. We don't call Asians chinks or slant eyes or Italians wops. (At least I hope not!)  How is calling the Iraqis towel heads any different? It's referring to a whole nationality in a very derogatory way. I know that their entire country was raised to hate the Americans. Are we going to raise our children to hate them in return? In my opinion, that just brings us down to the level of the terrorists. I never questioned his right to hate the ones who terrorized New York or the ones who continue to injure and/or kill our soldiers. I was only objecting to his use of the term towel heads. A couple of other people spoke up but no one really sided with me. One said that the other poster was free to say what he wanted on his own Facebook page but probably should watch what he posted on a public page. Someone said we should only make comments pertaining to the site. Someone else said they'd had job training to be more polically correct which his term wasn't. Only one told him he was entitled to his opinion even if it was wrong. I'm sure most people just didn't want to get involved and in my opinion that's a major part of the problem with predudice....people won't speak up. Maybe it's because I'm older now but I do speak up more often and I'll continue to do so. I hope you will, too, when you see someone doing or saying something that just isn't right. Speak up!

 
On a slightly different but related subject, we all talk about how patriotic and all-American our soldiers are (and I'm not saying they aren't).  But did you ever stop and think that those same soldiers bring a LOT of non-Americans into our country by marrying the people they meet in other countries? They certainly do their share in diversifying America even as they help protect it and spread democracy. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."
 
........climbing down off my soap box now........

Claim of Innocence

Written by Laura Caldwell

© 2011 by Story Avenue, LLC
438 pp.

From the book cover: “ Forbidden relationships are the most tempting. And the most dangerous.

It was a crime of passion – or so the police say. Valerie Solara has been charged with poisoning her best friend. The prosecution claims she’s always been secretly attracted to Amanda’s husband . . . and with Amanda gone, she planned to make her move.

Attorney Izzy McNeil left the legal world a year ago, but a friend’s request pulls her into the murder trial. Izzy knows how passion can turn your life upside-down. She thought she had it once with her ex-fiancée, Sam. Now she wonders if that’s all she has in common with her criminally gorgeous younger boyfriend, Theo.

It’s Izzy’s job to present the facts that will exonerate her client – whether or not she’s innocent. But when she suspects Valerie is hiding something, she begins investigation – and uncovers a web of secret passions and dark motives, where seemingly innocent relationships can prove poisonous….”

Lawyer Izzy McNeil goes from civil court to criminal court when her friend Maggie needs help. Valerie Solara has been accused of poisoning her best friend while teaching her how to cook a Mexican dish. The grieving husband says he saw her put something blue in the mix. Another friend says she asked her about poisons. . . why? Valerie’s own father was convicted of murder and executed years ago. Is she following in his footsteps?

The characters in this story are normal, everyday people with normal problems. Izzy is 30 with an ex who, although engaged, thinks he may want to get back with her. She also has a 22-year-old hunk of a new boyfriend.  Maggie is a partner in her grandfather’s law firm and he’s starting to show his age. Valerie is a widow with a 19-year-old daughter she’ll do anything to protect. How these women all come together to try and save Valerie from a murder conviction makes an interesting story. The story takes an interesting twist at the end after the verdict is in. Is she guilty or innocent? Read the book and see. Easy to read, short chapters, and good dialogue.

I won this book from one of Book Trib’s weekly contests.

The Map of Time

© 2008 by Felix J. Palma

© 2011 English Translation by Nick Caistor

Published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster
609 pp.

From the book jacket: “Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time is a page-turner that boasts a triple play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H. G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and to save lives and literary classics, including Dracula and The Time Machine, from being wiped from existence.

What happens if we change history? Felix J. Palma explores this questions in The Map of Time, weaving a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting – a story full of love and adventure that transports readers to a haunting setting in Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.”

I put off reading The Map of Time because of its large size. However, once I started reading it, I hated to put it down. In the story, H. G. Wells writes a book about time travel that fascinates 1880’s London. Imagine his surprise when an acquaintance opens a business supposedly taking people to the future world of 2000 where they’re able to secretly observe a battle between humans and automatons (robots) that are destroying the world. One thing leads to another and ‘future’ and present people get involved in numerous ways. It was sometimes hard to follow the twists and turns as different characters would try to explain what would happen if they would do this or change that, would the other still happen? What would happen if they were to run into themselves in the future or past? Could they travel to the past and change things for the better or would the world be better off left as it is? The book really made me think as I was reading it.  Here's just one example from the book - if you could travel to the future to arrest a person who had killed in the past, have you prevented the murder, and if you did, was a crime still committed? If the crime wasn't committed, why would you need to arrest the person?  It's just one big circle that never ends!

In places I thought the story was a little wordy but I just skipped ahead a few paragraphs when that happened. It was written in 3 parts and the author did a wonderful job tying them all together. Some of the characters were real authors including H. G. Wells and Bram Stoker. It was fun reading how the author wove them into the story. If you like Jules Verne or H. G. Wells you’ll enjoy this book. For more information you can visit http://www.mapoftime.com/ .

I received this book unexpectedly from Simon & Schuster; I think it came from a contest I entered.

Judas Kiss

A Taylor Jackson novel by J. T. Ellison
© 2009, Published by MIRA Books
395 pp.

From the book cover: “SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE. It was a murder made for TV: a trail of tiny bloody footprints. An innocent toddler playing beside her mother’s bludgeoned body. Pretty young Corinne Wolff, seven months pregnant, brutally murdered in her own home.

Cameras and questions don’t usually faze Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson, but the media frenzy surrounding the Wolff case is particularly nasty….and thorough. When the seemingly model mommy is linked to an amateur porn Web site with underage actresses and unwitting players, the sharks begin to circle.

The shock is magnified when an old adversary uses the sexy secret footage to implicate Taylor in a murder – an accusation that threatens her career, her reputation and her relationship.

Both cases hinge on the evidence – real or manufactured – of crimes that go beyond passion, into the realm of obsessive vengeance and shocking betrayal. Just what the networks love.”

Lieutenant Taylor Jackson finds her hands full with the murder of a young, pregnant mother. Who beat the woman to death and then left her baby daughter alone with the body for 2 days? The husband/father was supposed to be working out of town but his alibi doesn’t add up. A secret room is discovered in the basement where home movies have been made – but not the ones you would show your friends and family. And to top it off, secretly filmed sex videos of the Lieutenant and an ex-lover show up on the internet. Someone is out to destroy her. How is she supposed to do her job if she’s suspended? She’s also being stalked by an international assassin who wants to kill her in order to hurt her boyfriend. She’d better keep looking over her shoulder!

Great story that kept me guessing until right close to the end of the book. Jackson was a likeable person who just tried to do her job the best she could despite all the obstacles thrown at her. She has a great team working with her and they do a good job solving the murder. The deeper they dig, the more involved the crime becomes. Well-written, good dialog and interesting characters.

The story continues in the next Ellison book, Edge of Black.

I bought this book at a garage sale.



Prayers for Rain

Dennis Lehane

© 1999 by Harper Torch

375 pp.

From the book cover: “ Private investigator Patrick Kenzie wants to know why a former client, a perky woman in love with life, could, within six months, jump naked from a Boston landmark – the final fall in a spiral of self-destruction. What he finds is a sadistic stalker who targeted the young woman and methodically drove her to her death. A monster the law can’t touch. But Kenzie can. He and his former partner, Angela Gennaro, will fight a mind-twisting battle against this psychopath even as he turns his tricks on them.”

Prayers for Rain is Lehane’s fifth book featuring the Boston investigative duo of Kenzie and Gennaro. The book opens with Karen Nichols hiring Kenzie to make a stalker leave her alone. He roughs the guy up and threatens him and things seem to be under control. A few weeks later there is a message from Karen on Kenzie’s answering machine but he’s too busy to return the call and later forgets about it. The next thing he knows she’s jumped off the top of a building. He feels somewhat guilty for not getting back to her and wonders if he could have done anything to prevent her death. When he starts investigating, he finds there’s more to her suicide then people think. Someone made her life so miserable that she couldn’t stand it any longer but who and why?

Patrick Kenzie puts television PI’s to shame. He doesn’t hesitate to put a criminal in his place using (sometimes) unorthodox methods. His buddy Bubba isn't too smart but he has a collection of illegal weapons and is built like a tank. His sometime-partner Angela has mob connections which can come in very handy. The main villain has a VERY sick mind. There's quite a bit of violence and some bad language so I guess you could say this would be an 'R' rated book. Good story, interesting characters, and psychological twists and thrills. What more could you want?

I picked this book up at a garage sale. Can’t wait to read more Lehane novels.

A Painted House

John Grisham

©2000 Published by Bantam Dell
465 pp.

From the cover: “Until that summer of 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in the long, hot summer of his seventh year, two groups of migrant workers – and two very dangerous men – came through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries are flooding Luke’s world. A brutal murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman ignites forbidden passions. A fatherless baby is born…and someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter lives – and change his family and his town forever.”

John Grisham does a wonderful job telling the story of a poor cotton farmer’s family from the viewpoint of a 7-year-old boy. The Chandler’s are poor, barely making a living from their rented 40 acres of cotton. The family is made up of Pappy and Gran, their son, his wife, and their grandson Luke. They hire migrant workers each year to help pick the cotton by hand. In 1952 those workers include 10 Mexican men and the Spruill family from the Ozarks who pick cotton to supplement their income - Mr. and Mrs. Spruill, oldest son Hank who's a mean S.O. B., daugher Tally who's cute and 17, teen sons Bo and Dale, and the youngest, Trot, who's 'not right'. The Mexican men are housed in the barn loft and the Spruill family of 7 sleep in tents in the Chandler’s yard. Life is hard for all of them as they work sun-up to sundown 6 ½ days a week. Even Luke is expected to do his share in the field, as well as helping his mother in her large garden and doing chores. Their main recreations are going to town on Saturday afternoons to shop and catch up on local gossip and to church on Sundays.

Luke learns a lot as he watches the actions of others on the cotton farm and in town. He sees things he shouldn’t and is told to keep quiet. He has to decide to tell about them or keep secrets for the good of his family. Any trouble could cause the migrant workers to leave, the cotton wouldn’t get picked, and the family wouldn’t have any income. People are killed, others disappear, a baby is born, and the crop is threatened by bad weather. Things aren’t easy on the farm but you’ll enjoy getting to know the Chandlers and learning about their lives.

A short while after I started reading this book, I realized I had read it before. I went ahead and read it again and I enjoyed it just as much the second time. I bought this book at a garage sale.



Divine Justice

David Baldacci

©2008 by Columbus Rose, Ltd., Hachette Book Group
523 pp.

From the book: “Known by his alias, “Oliver Stone,” John Carr is the most wanted man in American. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who destroyed Stone’s life and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced.

But his freedom comes at a steep price. The assassinations he carried out prompt the highest levels of the U. S. government to unleash a massive manhunt. Yet behind the scenes, master spy Macklin Hayes is playing a very personal game of cat and mouse. With their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club risk everything to save him. Now as the hunters close in, Stone’s flight from the demons of his past will take him from the power corridors of Washington, D. C., to the coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia – and into a world every bit as bloody and lethal as the one he left behind.”

This book is a sequel to previously written books about Oliver Stone and the Camel Club which I didn’t know when I picked it up. Mr. Baldacci evidently expected his readers to have read the previous books because parts of this plot weren’t clear until quite far into the book. I did enjoy the story and the characters who reminded me of a good TV drama or movie. Lots of action, different story lines, and interesting characters. A little too much violence for my taste but that goes along with this type of story, I guess.

Oliver Stone, AKA John Carr, is a heroic Vietnam vet later drafted by the government for undercover work, mainly carrying out assassinations. When he gets married and has a child, he wants out but finds out it’s not that easy….he knows too much. His wife is killed and his young daughter disappears. He goes into hiding but finally seeks revenge. This is where the book starts and it continues as he goes further into hiding and ends up in a little town in Virginia. Things go downhill from there for Oliver.

I picked up this book at a garage sale.

Fear Nothing

by Dean Koontz

©1998 by Bantam Books
ISBN: 0-553-57975-4
432 pp.

From the book cover: “Christopher Snow is different from all the other residents of Moonlight Bay, different from anyone you’ve ever met. For Christopher Snow has made his peace with a very rare genetic disorder that leaves him dangerously vulnerable to light. His life is filled with the fascinating rituals of one who must embrace the dark. He knows the night as no one else can – its mystery, its beauty, its terrors, and the eerie silken rhythms that seduce one into believing anything – even freedom – is possible.

Until the night Christopher Snow witnesses a series of disturbing incidents that sweep him into a violent mystery only he can solve, a mystery that will force him to rise above all fears and confront the many-layered secrets of Moonlight Bay and its strange inhabitants. A place, like all places, that looks a lot different after dark.”

Christopher Snow suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum which is a rare genetic disorder that leaves him vulnerable to even brief exposure to the sun or any ultraviolet rays from other light sources. His body lacks the ability to repair any damage from UV rays which will cause cancer, blindness, etc. Any time he leaves the house, it has to be between sundown and sun up, fully dressed, with sunscreen and a hat. Taking these precautions, he has already out-lived all expectations at the age of 28. His skin is extremely white as you might expect but he is not an albino.  His nickname is 'Snowman'.

When the story starts, Christopher’s mother, a scientist, has been dead for 2 years following an auto accident. His father lays dying of cancer in the hospital. Shortly after his father’s death, Christopher’s life changes forever. This is the type of book you don’t want to read alone on a dark night. The people Christopher grew up around are not who he thought. Animals are acting strangely. He doesn’t know who he can trust anymore. Everything seems to lead back to the closed military base where his mother worked. It was truly a frightening book when you think of what genetic testing might entail. I definitely recommend it to any fan of Koontz and others who like a good scary tale.

This is an older book but I buy a lot at flea markets where they’re affordable. I’m sure a lot of other people do, too. Or you can probably find this book at your library.

The Remains of War

Surviving the Other Concentration Camps of World War II

Written by G. Pauline Kok-Schurgers
©2011 iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-4502-9671-7
186 pp.

From the book cover: “When the Dutch army surrenders to Japan in 1942, nine-year-old Sophia is imprisoned with her mother, younger brother, and two baby sisters in different concentration camps on Sumatra, Indonesia. Her father is sent to work on the Burma-Siam railroad, and the family doesn’t know if he is dead or alive. In this memoir, author G. Pauline Kok-Schurgers narrates a story of hate and torture, starvation and disease, and physical and psychological abuse experiences during her internment.

The Remains of War tells of Sofia’s toils through those years, taking care of her younger siblings and trying to prevent her mother from sinking deeper into depression. Sofia longs for her father’s return and her mother’s attention and love. The gruesome years in those camps, the loneliness, and the loss of dear friends transform Sofia into a silent, inward person, scarred for the rest of her life.

Written from the perspective of a young child, The Remains of War touches the core of human suffering caused by the senselessness and evil of war. The voices of all who died and were left behind without a name or a cross on their graves will be forever silent. This memoir testifies to their courage.”

I hate saying I enjoyed reading this book because it sounds bad to enjoy reading about other’s troubles, but I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it in the way I enjoyed reading Anne Frank’s Diary. I think people need to know these things that happened, good and bad. I was amazed that any of the prisoners survived the terrible living conditions and treatment they received. It hurt to read of what they went through. I had no idea there were other concentration camps during the war besides those in Europe. The ones ran by the Japanese in Indonesia were every bit as evil as those ran by Hitler and these Dutch settlers would have been exterminated if the war hadn’t ended when it did. This is definitely a book that everyone should read even if just to improve your knowledge of WWII. It was brave of Ms. Kok-Schurgers to write the book and relive all thos horrible memories.

I was provided with a copy of the book to read and review.



Milestones

There are many milestones in life if we live long enough – first day of school, graduation, first job, marriage, children, their marriage and grandchildren, and retirement are just some of them. My husband has been lucky to reach one of those milestones today. He retired after working at the same job at Grip-Tite Manufacturing for 40 years, 3 months and 3 days. His job varied but for the most part he ran a metal press. The company he worked for was small. At the most over the years, they employed less than 20 people in the shop, running two shifts for a time. These days it’s down to 7 with Jim gone and that many more in the office. Funny how it now takes as many to run things as to actually put out production. It used to be president, vice-president and secretary/bookkeeper. Now they also have an engineer, an internet/computer specialist and separate secretary and bookkeeper. The company makes parts for basement stabilization repairs and also in-ground anchors for big poles. They also hold on-site training seminars for companies who want to use Grip-Tite’s products.

Jim just came home with a load of things out of his locker; just like a kid on the last day of school. His 66th birthday is tomorrow so it’s quite a week for him. Guess I’ll have to start a list of things to keep him busy. ☺

Bumblebee Products Prize Win!

I was lucky enough to win a contest earlier this month on The Bargain Shopper Lady's blog and the prize arrived yesterday. It's a box of Bumblebee Tuna and Salmon products, an apron, and a cute inkpen. I'm looking forward to trying the different tunas - Spicy Thai Chile, Sundried Tomato and Basil, and Lemon Pepper. I've never tasted seasoned tuna before. If you're looking for coupons, bargains, and ways to save money, make sure you stop by The Bargain Shopper Lady.