Books were the magic of my youth. No matter how rocky the waters outside their pages, I could always find the solace of hope within them.
Books whispered to me, "What's to come needn't be a continuation of what is."
There’s a saying that good things come in small packages, but as a child I was always more excited about the big boxes under the Christmas tree—those wrapped in red foil or green paper and tied with a huge bow.
The year I turned ten there was one box too large to fit under the tree. It was half as tall as I, and three times as wide. I remember how excited I felt, tearing off the wrapping and lifting the lid. But inside all I saw was yet another box.
The chief policeman in the series is a fat slob with all of the sensitivity and none of the timing of a cuckoo clock. He is a bully, he is sexist, he scratches his backside in public, he belches, he farts.
His sidekick is a fast-track graduate with a stalled career. Mind you, he isn’t much more sensitive. When he shoots someone dead, he knocks up his estranged wife, the pinko bleeding-heart, to tell her he feels good, that this is what he was made for. And then he is surprised when she takes his child and runs off to America with another man.
Stieg Larsson: Man, Myth, and Mistress by Andre Jute and Andrew McCoy was my introduction to an entertaining, tough-minded, and courageous man with a world of fascinating life experiences. No, not Stieg, though this might be said of him also, perhaps -- but I mean Andre Jute. Clearly, Andre Jute is not one to steer away from a conflict where truth and integrity are concerned. He was certainly not afraid to take on legions of Stieg Larsson fans in this book. The cliche that truth is a harsh mistress is demonstrated in this volume, which I read in its Kindle edition shortly after finishing Larsson's three books. I read them with great relish, appreciating the quirks and peculiarities of Larsson's style (digressions into Swedish history, Lizbeth Salander's grocery lists) and driven by the fascinatingly suspenseful narrative, and then I came across Jute and McCoy's analytical book and thought it was just the thing to help me appreciate the adventures of Lizbeth and Mikael even more.
The Shadow at the Gate - guest post for Kindle Obsessed
‘In the lower classes some auto racers are jumped-up mechanics. But in Mallory's class you need to be a near-genius. It is not just reflexes. Great intelligence and will-power are the minimum prerequisites, and a certain disdain for the lives of others. Most of them do not believe they are mortal, that they can die. To be a champion, a racer needs to be a near-sociopath’
“On the track a racer has no friends”
Mallory is a crashed-out, half-dead, never-has-been auto racer. Triple Le Mans winner Charlie Cartwright gives this human wreck an engineering job at Cartwright-Armitage because nobody can take an MIT degree away from her. Now, Mallory is on her way up. As an engineer, as an executive, as a driver — in a winning car! She has a man in her life.
and interview with the author, Steve Konkoly. Stay tuned following the interview for an excerpt from his newest book, Black Flagged.
Description (Amazon.com):
In the late fall of 2013, a lethal pandemic virus emerges from the Islamic Republic of Indonesia and rages unchecked across every continent. When the Jakarta Flu threatens his picture perfect Maine neighborhood, Alex Fletcher, Iraq War veteran, is ready to do whatever it takes to keep his family safe. As a seasoned sales representative for Biosphere Pharmaceuticals, makers of a leading flu virus treatment, Alex understands what a deadly pandemic means for all of them. He particularly knows that strict isolation is the only guaranteed way to protect his family from the new disease.
