"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.k. Rowling

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"L is for Lawless" by Sue Grafton

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"First to Kill" by Andrew Peterson

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“The Mystery of the Sea” by Bram Stoker

Genre: Mystery

Rating: 4 Water Towers

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Archibald Hunter was spending his annual vacation in Cruden Bay, Scotland when he sees two women and a man walking abreast. Suddenly, he has a vision of the man carrying a coffin and the two women walking behind. Just as suddenly, he sees the three walking normal again. Very odd.

As this was happening, Archie was being watched by an old woman, Gormala. She had seen Archie’s shocked look at what he had just seen and tells him that he has the gift (if you can call it that) of “Second Sight”. This means he can see the future, and that the next day he will find out what his vision meant.

Sure enough, the next day Archie finds out that the child of two of the adults he saw walking had drowned. A series of “Second Sight” visions follow including the death of an accomplished seaman by drowning in the often rough Cruden Bay near the rock formations known as the Skares (see this picture of Cruden Bay and the Skares) and the vision of a procession of ghosts spanning hundreds of years of seaman who have drowned in the Skares..including the latest victim who Archie is presently carrying to Whinnyfold after failing to save him. His death was predetermined, and no one could have saved him. As Gormala states: “Am I to wark against the Fates when They have spoken! The Dead are dead indeed when the Voice has whispered in their ears”.

Archie loves the area around Cruden Bay so much that he has started to build a house on the cliff overlooking the Skares. One day he spots two women in trouble and he rushes in to save them, which he does. One woman, the younger of the two, ends up being Archie’s love, Marjory Drake. Marjory is an American on the run from a Spanish group that wants to find her (the story takes place during the Spanish American War and Marjory, a rich heiress who helped the U.S. fight the war, is not liked by Spain).

To help furnish his new house, Archie purchases an old oak chest from an auctioneer. In this chest are very old and yellowed papers written in an odd cipher code. Being curious Archie and then later Marjory undertake the task of deciphering the code. Once they do, they find that it leads to a treasure buried in the area over 300 years ago by the Spanish Armada.

Archie and Marjory embark on an effort to find this treasure and along the way experience the adventure of a lifetime, and find that true love conquers all.

“The Mystery of the Sea” is a terrific book written by a true master. It may not reach the heights of “Dracula” (which I give 5 WaterTowers), but, it is a wonderful adventure mystery mixing information about ciphers and codes, romance, and the supernatural. 

See this Wikipedia link on Bram Stoker.

“Black Wind” by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler

Genre:  Adventure Thriller

Rating:  3 Water Towers

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“By the time the chimera ran its course, tens of millions would lie dead in the U.S., with untold more around the world.  Not a family would go unscathed by its black touch….”

In “Black Wind” Clive and his son Dirk have given us a thrill ride of an adventure starring Dirk Pitt, Al Giordano, Dirk Pitt Jr., and Summer Pitt.  In this book, Dirk Jr. and Summer have the starring roles, but, Dirk Sr., is the one who ultimately saves the day.

Luckily Dirk Jr. is near the Aleutian Islands conducting tests for NUMA when two Coast Guardsmen are struck dead,  and a group of CDC scientists are taken ill (from the same ill wind) a little further inland.  Investigating the deaths in his NUMA helicopter, Dirk finds a fishing boat that opens fire on Dirk, shooting him down.  Luckily he survives.

Something is up, but, Dirk does not yet know what. 

The pieces start to come together and it turns out that in WWII two Japanese submarines (with the capability to launch aircraft) were sent in the final days of the war, to the west coast of the U.S. to spread biological terror.  Fortunately, neither sub made it all the way, but, one did send (before it was sunk) one round onto an isolated beach in Oregon, killing several people.

Now it seems as though someone evil (South Korean mulit-millionare, Kang) has recovered the biological cargo from the sunken submarines and has modified it to be more lethal than ever.  The plan is to murder millions of people in the U.S. and, while the world’s attention is on the U.S., North and South Korea will become one again.  By force. 

But…we all know that the Pitts and Al save the day with help from everyone else in NUMA.  It has to be that way, but, getting to the ending is quite an adventure.

I particularly look forward to the part when Clive Cussler himself helps save Dirk and Al (or, now, Dirk Jr. and Summer).   Often, Dirk and Al, comment how familiar Clive Cussler looks, but, Dirk Jr. and Summer have not run across Clive that often so they only are amazed at how much he looks like Dirk Sr.

One word of advice to the bad people:  The next time you get the chance to kill any one of the Pitt’s or Al, do so.  Do NOT tie them up, chain them to a wall, lock them in a storage room, or chase after them in a car.  Just put a bullet in their head when you have the chance.  As all those before you have found out….the good guys will get free, and you will not make it to the next book. 

I leave my real world behind when I read Clive Cussler.  But that is what “fiction” is….a place to escape from the realities of this increasingly messed up world.   I hope Dirk Cussler has plans to carry on the tradition!  

Oh yeah....if you watch the movie "40 year old virgin" watch for the the scenes near, and in, the bookstore where "Black Wind" advertising is on display.  

Breaking News: Michael Crichton

I was just looking at CNN when the headline came up that Michael Crichton has passed away. I'll get a link and put it here in a bit. (I'm hoping the news is wrong.)

A very sad day for readers. Mr. Crichton was one of the best....he will be greatly missed.

Here are the Reviews I have written so far from Michael Crichton.

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Obama Wins!

At last.....at long last....we have HOPE.

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Three Quick Book Reviews

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As I was long term subbing for the 7th grade class, I fell behind a bit in my reading and blogs.

Here are 3 short reviews of the books I read while subbing.

"The First Billion" by Christopher Reich

3 WaterTowers

Jeff Gavallan is planning to take a new Russian telecommunications company public. Unfortunately, Gavallan and friends find out that company is run by a ruthless murderer who needs the money so desperately that he will will do anything to keep the public sale from falling thorough.

I really enjoyed Reich's "Numbered Account" but "The First Billion" was a bit of a disappointment. There were several technical errors that made reading it kind of fun, for example he explains that a a technology reduced its calculations to a "gigasecond" which is about 1,000,000,000 seconds. I can do the calculation, by hand, much quicker than about 30 years or so....

"Rain Storm" by Barry Eisler

5 WaterTowers

Rip roaring action as John Rain's "retirement" in Brazil is interrupted by the CIA. They need his help with a project and he is pressed into action in Macau. His task is to make the murder of Belghazi, an arms dealer who the "Christians in Action" would like terminated, look like a natural death. In "Rain Storm" John meets new people, renews old friendships, and has to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds until the exciting climax.

The first book in the John Rain series is: "Rain Fall". A terrific series.

"Forced Out" by Stephen Frey

4 WaterTowers

Jack Barrett was once a well respected NY Yankee scout. Now he is a down and out retired scout barely able to make ends meet living in Florida. One day he goes to a Single A baseball game and sees the best player he has ever seen, Mikey Clement. He is better than Mickey Mantle and Jack wonders why he is floundering in Single A. But we find out that Mikey is not floundering at all, he is hiding from a NY mob boss who wants him dead.

Jack's, Jack's daughter's, and Mikey's lives come together in "Forced Out" and the action that follows is pure Stephen Frey (my readers know that Frey is one of my favorite authors)....brutal and fast.

"Fatal Care" by Sanjaya Kumar, MD

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NOTE: This is a preview rather than a review since I will proceed reading "Fatal Care" one story at a time over the next few months.

As you know, I collect signed books. I have recently been lucky enough to receive a signed copy of "Fatal Care" written by Sanjaya Kumar an MD who lives in Tracy, CA. Really quickly, this book explains (via a series of real stories) what you should know to avoid medical mistakes from happening to you.

In the first story, Lewis Blackman is a healthy 15 year old with a congenital deformity (not life threatening) that cause his sternum to be depressed. This deformity is called "pectus excavatum" or "funnel chest". The operation (a new procedure meant to lessen the recovery time) took much longer than expected, but, Lewis pulled through just fine. Over the next few days, he slowly declined despite the fact that he was in a hospital and being attended to by multiple health professionals. Eventually, sadly, Lewis died. An autopsy revealed that a medication he was getting for pain (Toradol) caused a stomach ulcer that eventually caused Lewis to bleed to death.

The fact that multiple health professional missed the symptoms and did not take the very simple blood test that would have pointed directly at the ulcer is very scary and hammers home the fact that you need to take an active role in your own health care.

This is a very timely book that everyone should read. At some point every family will face the health care system and should know as much as possible about the process.

In fact, a good friend of ours, right here in Tracy, CA, lost his wife to a medical mistake in our local hospital many years ago...so the words written in "Fatal Care" ring very true for us.

To order this book you can go to the Fatal Care web site.

Tell them TracyReaderDad sent you...