Average customer rating:
- fast read
- awesome
- Thriller Writing of a High Standard
- He's done better
- I'd call it junk food thriller, but Micky D Chesseburgers are more satisfying
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No Second Chance
Harlan Coben
Manufacturer: Signet
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ASIN: 0451210557
Release Date: 2004-04-27 |
Book Description
When the first bullet hit my chest, I thought of my daughter...
Dr. Marc Seidman has been shot twice, his wife has been murdered, and his six-month-old daughter has been kidnapped. When he gets the ransom note-he knows he has only one chance to get this right. But there is nowhere he can turn and no one he can trust.
Customer Reviews:
fast read.......2007-10-09
I have read all of Coben's Bolitar series and 3 of his others including "no second chance". The story was a good read and kept things moving. Coben likes to put ONE MORE TWIST at the end of his stories. This one was worked, though not all of em do. I will continue to buy and read Coben
awesome.......2007-09-10
I've become addicted to Harlan Coban as a writer. I find his books always filled with unpredictable twists and turns!
Thriller Writing of a High Standard.......2007-08-17
Harlan Coben continues to prove that he is one of the best thriller writers around at the moment. A page turner is a much used phrase but in this case it is really appropriate. The author's books are always so well structured and his character's well rounded. He is obviously comfortable with his style and ability and this transmits itself to the reader making the reading of his books sheer pleasure from start to finish. Coben has now got a string of best selling crime novels behind him and all I can say is that I hope he continues to write for many years to come. The author lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.
Marc Seidman finds himself in hospital after narrowly surviving a shooting in which his wife has been killed and their baby daughter went missing. When a handover of some ransom money supplied by his rich in-laws goes wrong, Seidman finally realises that he is not only without a wife and daughter, he has a sister who may actually be an accomplice to the crime and worse still he is the principal suspect . . .
As usual Harlan Coben has the reader wanting to do the unthinkable, turn to the end of the book to see how the plot turns out. Of course any thriller reader worth their salt would never consider doing this, but it is a measure of the ability of the author to bring such suspense into his writing.
He's done better.......2007-06-17
This is a good book to read on a plane when you have nothing better to do. I've read several of Coban's books and have enjoyed them but this one doesn't quite measure up.
I'd call it junk food thriller, but Micky D Chesseburgers are more satisfying.......2007-06-05
Who : A family, a non-descript hero, a little girl, kooky in-laws and an emotionally distant spouse. Combine moral ambiguity and directionless lives, and you have to have something pretty dramatic happen to them to make this Beckettian cast interesting.
What: A murder, a kidnapping, a rescue, a past, a present, a future, a friendship.
When: yesterday.
Where: your neighbourhood....no, wait, New Jersey suburbs. No wait....that's right....it all happened at Starbucks. The one near the hospital and the Mall....you know, the one over there...with the couches.
How: well, they were shot. Nobody gets murdered by poison anymore now that Miss Marple has retired to the great Mystery Characters Country House in the sky.
Why [vague spoiler]: were they shot? Jealousy and rage....no....wait....kidnapping.
Coben's fans can't be dissuaded, and his lean good guy prose has definitely found an audience among those victims of lotus who've gathered their moral construct and worldview from a luminated cathode ray tube. But this is a disappointing "thriller" that doesn't thrill, stimulate, enthral, or make you wonder. This is a cheeseburger....you eat it an move on. This is a medium latte, you drink it and flip the pages of the report you should read (or write).
The good things: My heroes are poor white trash Scots-Irish gun owning males. They've basically saved America's bacon since day one and through generations. In a wonderful shock that makes this book worth reading, Coben's real hero is a poor white trash Scots-Irish gun owning male. I screamed halighluia and grabbed me up some snakes and a couple of shots of strychnine I was so happy.
There are three redeeming laughs in the book, and a wonderful all too brief passage about how an innocent looking person can be a monster, and a monstrous looking person be a monster too, but only one has the vote of "monster" on television.
But three hours later reading it you kind of wish you had the time you spent on it back.
Book Description
Marc Seidman's idyllic world is brutally ripped apart when he is gunned down in his home. Twelve days later he wakes up in hospital to learn that his wife is dead and his baby daughter is missing. A ransom demand is made and agreed to. But something goes terribly wrong. The kidnappers escape, and Marc remembers the ransom note's ominous warning: there will be no second chance. An agonising eighteen months pass with no word. And then, as Marc has just about given up all hope of seeing his daughter again, a package arrives with a note attached: want a second chance? The note is chilling, but Marc sees only one thing: the chance to save his daughter. And, haunted by deception and deadly secrets - about his wife, about an old love, and about his own past - he vows to bring Tara home ... at any cost.
Customer Reviews:
A Second Chance.......2006-09-23
Plastic surgeon Marc Seidman is shot in his home. He comes to twelve days later in the hospital and learns that his wife has been killed and his infant daughter Tara is missing. There are no leads, there is no ransom note and the police suspect Marc, however after he's released from the hospital a ransom note is finally delivered. "No cops, two million dollars and no second chance if instructions are not followed," it says. But Marc does tells the cops, then delivers the money. His daughter is not returned.
A year and a half later a second ransom note arrives.
As usual Harlan Coben takes us on a walk down dark path of our deepest fears. We suffer along with Marc at the loss of his daughter, our heart quickens when we find out she may still be alive. Also, as usual, Coben slides between the first and second person point of view with such ease we hardly know he's done it. Coben spins words so well we don't even notice we're caught in the web till the story is finished.
Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
Average customer rating:
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This Shining Hour (Second Chance at Love No 303)
Antonia Tyler
Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0425086313 |
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating! Very highly recommended.......2002-02-09
Two years ago an innocent teenage girl was shot down during a demonstration. Dylan McLean feels responsible for her death because he organized the environmental protesters in response to his stepfather's decision to drill for oil on the family ranch known as the Thunder Bar M. Dylan maintains his innocence, although most of the town folk believe he pulled the trigger. Without proof, he was never arrested. The day following the shooting was to be his wedding day, but he abruptly left town instead. In the wake of his departure, and his stepfather's election as mayor, the town remains convinced of his guilt. Only a rodeo accident and forced down time for introflection led him to suspect who pulled the trigger and convinces him to return to prove his innocence.
Left with only a letter of goodbye on her wedding day, Cathleen started over alone, refurbishing the bed and breakfast she and Dylan should have run together. She dated other men, attempting to put her life back to normal, including Dylan's stepbrother. When Dylan returns to town, however, she wants no part of him. But old rumors prevent him from finding a vacancy anywhere else, and she feels compelled to give him a place to sleep -- in the barn. He doesn't remain there long, however, as she begins to help him unravel the secrets of the past. She doesn't believe he killed the girl, just like she knows he's still a threat to her heart. But he walked out two years ago, and she intends to make him pay.
CJ Carmichael provides fascinating twists and surprises on the path to love for the first Shannon sister in SECOND-CHANCE PROPOSAL. The intricacies, complexities, and secrets behind the murder scandal provide an intriguing background. Dylan's mistake in cruelly leaving his fiancé on their wedding day demonstrates his vulnerability and humanity, revealing him to be a flawed yet sympathetic hero. The fact that Cathleen resumes her social life rather than pining away reveals her strength of character, and underscores the validity of old feelings as they begin to resurface. A terrific beginning to the Shannon Sister miniseries, SECOND-CHANCE PROPOSAL comes very highly recommended.
Customer Reviews:
Tears galore.......2002-12-05
Back Cover description: Nothing rattles confident Scotsman Dillon Cameron--except learning he's fathered a child by his best friend's beautiful widow! Saddened at the secret of his daughter's birth, haunted by a deathbed promise, Dillon storms Thea Kearney's highlands cottage, intent on claiming 'his lasses'. In wrenching grief Thea had once sought comfort in Dillon's sheltering arms, but she and her baby scarcely need him now! Yet Dillon's salty brogue and sea-swept sorcery shatter her resistance and win her heart...until she discovers the man-to-man pledge that even the roguish Dillon apparently feels compelled to honor...
The plot description makes it appear that these characters are forceful and take charge types. That is misleading. I very rarely cry when reading romance stories, sometimes I get a little teary, but not cry. Well, this book will get you to turn on the tears, but in a good way, the way you cry when something is touching and to the heart. All the characters are likable, from the dead husband, Dillon, Thea and the islanders. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the scene near the end where she finds out what the promise is and takes exception to it, instead of seeing it as a last gift from her husband. Try it, good story.
Average customer rating:
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The Real Thing (Second Chance at Love, No 448)
Carole Buck
Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0425109860 |
Average customer rating:
- unbelievable in every way
- Action but no thrill
- A great read
- A fascinating thriller
- Semper Fi - all for one, one for all
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An Execution of Honor
Thomas L. Muldoon
Manufacturer: Leisure Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0843949570 |
Customer Reviews:
unbelievable in every way.......2006-04-02
The story line starts out well, but then quickly deteriorates into unbelievable characters, weaponry, etc. Other reviews have given the story basics, so I won't delve into that. Yes, the part I do believe is that our various government agencie and top pols would act as they do here. Here we see generals, colonels, etc. and our so-called intelligence agencies, all vying for top spot and control over the action.
Also, the author constantly hammers away at the close bond between the force recon member, closer than brothers, absolutely and totally obedient to their leader's orders and never, never acting outside those orders. Oh, wait - one of them did flagrantly disobey an order to stay inside a safe house, never step outside. Not only does he go out for a little "stroll" to stretch his legs, but in doing so, he dismantles all the defensive safeguards of the safehouse plus - he does all this leaving two of his comrades sleeping and - well, guess what? The agencies searching the world for this group have an agent on every block of that city. Oh, except for the American agencies. They always manage to show up last and out of the loop.
The futuristic weapons are not to be believed, that 7 men could take out hundreds so quietly, and that the civilian wife of one of the team quickly becomes a "brother" and has no problem with all this killing, etc. Sorry, I don't buy it. I read about 2/3 of the book, then just quickly flipped through pages to the end, just to get it over with. This one goes to a donation box at the library.
Action but no thrill.......2005-02-06
A fill in the blanks thriller. Good guys? with lots of money seek revenge and then try to avoid retribution. An obvious first of more to come, but it hasn't hooked me.
A great read.......2004-12-23
This book is a great read. So many reviews have mentioned the Semper Fi attitude of the heroes who refused to allow the murderer of fellow Marines to go unpunished despite the U.S. government's commandment to do so, and the resulting penalties which the former Marines were prepared to face to ensure that their comrades' murders paid the price for their deeds. But what these reviews have not bothered to mention are the exciting action which takes place in a chase across London, England, a gun battle in streets of Paris, and an all-out battle in heidelberg, Germany. Then there's the infiltration of the protected grounds of the murderer, a displace dictator; the assault to free captors in Califonia. So much action and such a great read for anyone who likes thrillers.
A fascinating thriller.......2004-11-03
Having been around the military all my life, I found this book to be totally captivating. While not a war book, it has many elements of military training as core elements in its plot. It also captures the characters one encounters not only in the military but in the civilian services which deal with the military. From the jungles of central America through the panhandle of Florida, the reader becomes one with this team of special forces Marines. And then the action actually picks up as they are hounded by the Russians, Cubans and our own government through the States and Europe. Well worth the read.
Semper Fi - all for one, one for all.......2004-09-22
Thomas Muldoon's well balanced military thriller "An Execution of Honor" commences in the steaming jungle enclave of sadistic dictator of the fictitious Central American country of San Tomas, Luis Cardona. Cardona, his staff and family are fleeing from Communist rebels who are overthrowing his corrupt government. Because San Tomas is a last bastion against Communism, Cardona is being supported by the U.S. government. He was being ushered out of the country by an elite 9 man Marine Force Recon team. The team had just discovered that Cardona was involved in a huge cocaine smuggling business. The leaders of the team confronted Cardona, threatening to expose his dirty business. Before they could do so, they were ambushed and captured by the Presidential Guard. Cardona ordered them mutilated, tortured and left for dead. His biggest mistake was not killing them before they were discovered by their brothers in arms.
The seven remaining members of the team, were lead by cool and cerebral born leader Marine sergeant Joe Craig and electronics whiz Ted Billings. The team was stunned to learn that the deaths of their team were being swept under the rug by President Mason and the U.S. government. It seems that Cardona was being palatially exiled in the Florida Panhandle. His cocaine enterprise was being condoned as its profits were to be used to finance an army to overthrow the Communists in San Tomas. In reality the money was being siphoned off to Fidel Castro and to line the pockets of Cardona.
Craig, Billings and the Marine Force Recon Team all resigned their commissions in disgust and swore to avenge the deaths of their buddies.
A break in, 2 years later, to the thought to be impregnable Kirks Armory in Ft. Benning, Georgia marshalled the beginning of their plan of revenge. Kirk's Armory housed the most secret and futuristic weapons developed by the military for use by only the most elite teams. This developement made the team marked men by both the U.S. and Cuban governments as their obvious target was Cardona.
Muldoon, using his military background patterns an inventive and creative plan that leads the reader through twists and turns as he developes this entertaining tale.
Average customer rating:
- greatest esoteric novel in the history of literature
- Re: what a great mini-series this would make
- Hideous
- A Unique Masterwork That Should Not Be Out Of Print
- A fantasy world for the grown up thinking reader
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Mistress of Mistresses: A Vision of Zimiamvia
Manufacturer: Diane Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 0756782120 |
Customer Reviews:
greatest esoteric novel in the history of literature.......2006-12-16
It shouldn't even be necessary to point out that Eddison's books are the high point of twentieth century literature.
It should go without saying that he is the best prose artist in the history of the English-language novel; his writing, and his dialogue in particular, are at least fifteen percent better than whichever lesser genius comes in second (Lord Dunsany, perhaps?).
In a saner world, every college freshman would be expected to read his books, and to at least pretend to understand that the themes Eddison presents within them - the cycles of time, the duality of the godhead, human life lived as a work of conscious art - are the closest approach to Truth that are possible in fiction. (And they are only expressible in fantastic fiction, for we must come at these things indirectly and through the side door of Myth.) Eddison's novels are not mere works of fiction: above all else, they are works of esotericism. Mistress of Mistresses is the best esoteric novel ever written. The essential message of mysticism is contained in its very structure.
But not one man in a thousand can hear the real message this book contains. The reason that Eddison is obscure and his infinite virtues remain almost unsung is, of course, because ours is a civilization, and indeed a world, so unrepentantly degenerate that it isn't capable of understanding his works. A typical professor presented with The Worm or Mistress of Mistresses is in the position of an ape given a laptop computer: the best he can do is to bang his head against it. For what Eddison brings us is truth, at both the spiritual and mundane levels, and truth is more than little men can bear.
You, dear reader, are probably already a cut above, to even have taken time to find out that Eddison exists and to bother to read a review of his books.
If you haven't read any of these works, you now have a great opportunity to evolve further away from the "common muck", as Eddison might call them, and perhaps later on, even agree with the tone and substance of this review. Or, you can do what the common muck will do: instead of attempting to rise to Eddison's level, resent the fact that he is simply smarter, better and more enlightened than you, or any other novelist you've ever come across. And most of all, of course, resent that he doesn't care if you know it.
The chance, and the choice, are yours.
Re: what a great mini-series this would make.......2006-02-04
I read E.R. Eddison's books many years ago, but they are still vivid in my memory. I loved the way the author could write Elizabethan dialogue as if he had lunch with Shakespeare every day. The characters were so colorful, the scenes richly painted, and the strange, time-and-space-roving Lessingham had another life here in this other Europe, that seems to me now like something Tolkien might have wanted for his Fifth Age of Middle Earth.
I yearned for years that someone would make a film or films of The Lord of the Rings. I grew old waiting, but then it happened. Maybe someday there will be a Worm Ouroboros or a Mistress of Mistresses. I know the language would have to be made more simple and most of the philosophy dumped, but to see Lord Gro, of Ouroboros, doomed always to be a traitor, come to his end, or that grand villain of Mistresses, the Vicar of Rerek take time out from his plotting to be 'a washing of his cursed dogs' in his casstle yard, would be a mad treat.
Winston Chruchill once said that schoolboys should be allowed to study Latin as a reward, and Greek as a treat. Readers with imagination and an appreciation for language should be made lighter nad dizzy with the richness of Eddison's prose.
Hideous.......2005-12-12
My interest in the origins of fantasy has led me to several gems like Lord Dunsany, Hope Mirrlees, and William Hope Hodgson. Then there are books like Mervyn Peake's GORMENGHAST, which just leave me wondering what all the fuss is about. And then there is E.R. Eddison, who I have to say is just about the worst writer I have ever tried to grapple with. The plot of MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES goes absolutely nowhere and Eddison commits amateurish errors like wasting pages on end describing every line of someone's face in irrelevant detail. One hears a lot these days about "unjustly forgotten writers," but if I had to nominate the single most justly forgetten fantasy writer of all time, it would be E.R. Eddison, and MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES gets the ultimate raspberry award as his worst book. Even C.S. Lewis, who, in a lapse of reason lavished praise on THE WORM OUROBOROUS, found the world of MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES unlikable. Philosophically, the book appeals to world-domination fantasies so infantile they make Ayn Rand sound like Plato,* and the plotting and characterizations are even more inept. I can't recall the misfortune of ever opening up a worse book, and I hope for heaven's sake not one more tree must give its life to fill the world with more copies of MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES. Unintentionally humorous poetry is the book's only saving grace.
*Since writing this review, I have been directed to an essay by Eric Walker, which leaves me convinced that my previous assessment of Eddison's philosophy is not quite accurate. Eddison is not so much an ultra-infantile Ayn Rand as yet another dumber down of Niezsche with a fondness for archaism.
A Unique Masterwork That Should Not Be Out Of Print.......2005-10-06
An Irish novelist, poet and historian James Stephens wrote, referring to this book: "From whatever heaven Mr. Eddison comes, he has added a masterpiece to English literature." I cannot but symphatize with his amazement, at the same time wondering how this novel, along with the sequels, can be out of print.
A fantasy world for the grown up thinking reader.......1998-03-11
If you tire of Lord of the Rings or endless triologies then Mistress of Mistresses is for you. It is set in a fantasy world similar to 16th Century Europe. The book demands concentration, a knowledge of philosophy and poetry. But beware. It will send you off on a lifelong hunt into these fields. You may end up learning Ancient Greek or Latin. You will fall in love with the women and follow the heroes blindly. Read, enjoy and return to. Like a good wine it matures well.
Book Description
Diabetic-friendly recipes the whole family will love!
From appetizers to desserts and everything in-between, here are 300 easy-to- prepare recipes for diabetics that can be made from everyday household ingredients—and the entire family can enjoy. Food categories include Mexican, Italian, Pan-Asian, fish, poultry, lean beef and pork entrees; appetizers, snacks, side dishes, breads, and desserts; and fruits, vegetables, soups, salads, pastas, and breads.
• First diabetic cookbook to use the new glycemic index for all recipes
• 300 recipes—far more than others on the market
• 6.5% of the U.S. population has diabetes
• World Health Organization is predicting the number of people with diabetes to double from 140 million to 300 million by 2025
Customer Reviews:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Terrific Diabetic Meals .......2007-09-09
Very straight forward. Beale explained the mystery of the glycemic index of different carbs. Easy recipes and full color recipes makes this book a winner.
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