DWD's Reviews

Great Elvis Cole novel Robert Crais L.A. Requiem is a wonderful hard-boiled detective novel - a real pleasure, especially since I've run across a string of sub-par books lately. No worries with that here. The reader does not have to have read the previous Elvis Cole novels to read and enjoy this one - in fact, you will discover more about Cole's mysterious partner, Joe Pike, in this one book than you will have read about in all of the previous books combined. L.A. Requiem is book #8 in the Elvis Cole series and well worth the read. Rather than ruin it with lots of spoilers, let me describe it like this: lots of action, good old-fashioned detective work, flashbacks, tragedy, revenge, honor, loss and re-dedication. Very well done. Crais is definitely on my short list of authors to watch out for! I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here:  L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole #8) by Robert Crais . Reviewed February 28, 2006

Thoroughly enjoyable Alexander McCall Smith The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency started out pretty slowly and I nearly stopped listening about 45 minutes into it. Suddenly, the story "clicked" for me and I gladly listened to the whole 8 hours and 15 minutes. Narrated wonderfully by Lisette Lecat, a native South African who injects a touch of authenticity with her lovely accent and voice rhythms, this book is much more than a series of detective stories. It is also the story of Botswana and its culture and the complex interactions between traditional and modern, male and female, rich and poor, and white, black and Indian. A lovely book and a real joy to listen to. Sometimes laugh out loud funny, sometimes deeply moving. Well done. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. Reviewed on February 13, 2009.

An Amazing One Volume History of the Civil War Bruce Catton (1899-1978) When I was a freshman in college, way back in 1986, I happened upon a Bruce Catton (1899-1978) book in the bookstore while buying all of my textbooks for my first semester. I picked it up just because I was in a mood to be educated with something that looked more interesting and less daunting than my economics and math textbooks. My fascination with all things Civil War began with that book (I sold it in a fit of stupidity a couple of years later). I read his trilogy, re-printed articles in American Heritage and then I moved on to other talented authors, such as James McPherson. Rather stupidly, I forgot how truly gifted Catton was as a writer and I just assumed that because Catton was the historian of my childhood, he was an inferior writer. Why? I don't know. I picked up this This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War to read on a family vacation and I was reminded, once

Mike Hammer almost kicks the bucket ...and he drives around a lot with a seeping gut wound, visits old friends, gets put in a coma, gets a marriage license and looks for $89 billion. Sounds like a lot of action, doesn't it? In reality, there's not too much going on here. The series is not aging well. I find myself running the math figures on this 1997 book and most of Hammer's friends and contacts are in their 70s, 80s and 90s. One former Prohibition cop that he uses as an informant would be at least 93 years old - that is if he served as a division chief in the fight against booze brought in to get around the Prohibition laws at the tender age of 18! I conservatively estimated his age to be at least 103 - how many 103-year-olds are sources of current mafia information? Also, has Spillane ever actually seen a backhoe? It is a heavy duty piece of construction equipment. Even the small ones are extremely heavy and must be towed with special trailers. He

Published in 2003 by Simon and Schuster Regardless of your views on Jimmy Carter the politician, he is also Jimmy Carter the author. A good reviewer should separate his opinions, be they pro or con, about the politician from a politician's works of fiction. I will endeavor to do so here. Carter's interest in his native state of Georgia has led him to write, The Hornet's Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War , a historical novel about the Revolutionary War in Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida. Admittedly, this is an area that is often ignored in favor of Boston, Valley Forge and Philadelphia so there is room for quality fiction in this area. The problem with Carter's work is not a lack of attention to historical detail - it is too much attention to historical detail to the detriment of an actual story about fictional characters. Carter's storyline shifts from being a piece of historical fiction to being a rather dry local history throughout the work

Awful. I give it an 'F' Published by HarperAudio in 1994 Abridged Audiobook. Duration: About 3 hours. Let Us Prey gets some pretty decent reviews on Amazon.com so...maybe it is pretty decent IF you are a fan of gratuitous, super-detailed rape scenes, splattering mists of blood and brains, barely fleshed-out government plots and revenge-driven soldiers who insanely act without cause. Admittedly, I listened to it as an abridged book on tape, however, Brannon's book is in serious need of more detail explaining the connections between the characters, including what some of these characters are doing in this plot in the first place. I was irritated at the lack of detail, but yet even more irritated at the insane amount of detail devoted to these items: 1) a visit of a 'John' to a hooker in Las Vegas; 2) an unnecessary rape and genital mutilation scene and similar descriptions of violence. In an abridgment, you should abridge the unnecessary parts