Here is a list of all the books, not in order, that I have read in 2012. I have only reviewed a few so far as I just started this blog a few weeks ago. Make any comments on the list below that you'd like and we can maybe discuss in further detail if you'd like, the ones not posted for review on my blog. My goal is 50 for the year.
Enjoy!!
1. Books 3-7 in the Harry Potter books series J.K. Rawling
6. The Door to December - Dean Koontz
7. The Uncanny - Andrew Klavin
8. The Third Option - Vince Flynn
9. The Darkest Evening of the Year - Dean Koontz
10. Coldfire - Dean Koontz
11. Lost Boy, Lost Girl - Peter Straub
12. Julia - Peter Straub
13. Mr. X - Peter Straub
14. Forever Odd - Dean Koontz
15. Transfer of Power - Vince Flynn
16. Protect and Defend - Vince Flynn
17. The Vision - Dean Koontz
18. The House of Thunder - Dean Koontz
19. Act of Treason - Vince Flynn
20. Phantoms - Dean Koontz
21. Demon Seed - Dean Koontz
22. What the Night Knows - Dean Koontz
23. Frankenstein - City of Night - Dean Koontz
24. Frankenstein - Dead and Alive - Dean Koontz
25. Frankenstein - Lost Souls - Dean Koontz
26. Frankenstein - The Dead Town - Dean Koontz
27. Separation of Power - Vince Flynn - Finished 8/8/2012
28. The Haunted - Bentley Little
29. American Assassin - Vince Flynn
30. The Academy - Bentley Little
31. The Revelation - Bentley Little
32. Kill Shot - Vince Flynn
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Review: Kill Shot - Vince Flynn
Summary:
Very explosive, entertaining novel about Mitch Rapp performing one of his routine assassination of a target that becomes less routine when he his ambushed only to escape with a bullet in his shoulder. The scenes lay out that there is a leak in the CIA and that he was set up and the story is essentially his quest to find out how and why he was set up. Riveting accounts of espionage and secrets told in on the one most famous cities in all of Europe, Paris, France. Rapp moves fast and swiftly not trusting anything, even his handlers back in the states. The ending is jarring, yet satisfying as we learn who the perpetrator(s) are and how it came to be that Rapp was set up.
Review: Maybe my favorite Vince Flynn Novel to date. A must read if you like spies and lots of tangled webs of deceit.
Final Analysis: 10 out of 10 stars.
Next up: Brother Odd by Dean Koontz
Very explosive, entertaining novel about Mitch Rapp performing one of his routine assassination of a target that becomes less routine when he his ambushed only to escape with a bullet in his shoulder. The scenes lay out that there is a leak in the CIA and that he was set up and the story is essentially his quest to find out how and why he was set up. Riveting accounts of espionage and secrets told in on the one most famous cities in all of Europe, Paris, France. Rapp moves fast and swiftly not trusting anything, even his handlers back in the states. The ending is jarring, yet satisfying as we learn who the perpetrator(s) are and how it came to be that Rapp was set up.
Review: Maybe my favorite Vince Flynn Novel to date. A must read if you like spies and lots of tangled webs of deceit.
Final Analysis: 10 out of 10 stars.
Next up: Brother Odd by Dean Koontz
Monday, August 20, 2012
Review: The Academy - Bentley Little
Book Completed 8/17/2012 - Days To Complete - 2
Summary: Told from the 3rd person POV, this novel follows two teachers and about 3-5 students as they seemlingly become aware that the high school that they go is going through some changes. The school in essence is coming alive and showing signs of being haunted. The school's principal is hell bent on making tujis schoo, a carhet school, and weeding out those, students and teachers alike, that don't fither model of perfection .Some teachers are acting very strange and there seems to be a sexual element to a couple of them, while students just look at each other not sure of what is going on. The more the 3 students and 2 teachers puch back toward this avalanche of change, the more they are pushed and seemingly see more visions of ghosts and strange events. The end is what you'd expect, but yet is engaging because you want to see what other odd stuff the author can troll out.
Review: Overall, as I had stated in an earlier tweek last week, the book is predictable but engaging. You care about the two students who become cloer as you go, but question the decision of the main teacher, who keeps getting told my her husband that she should quit and move on, but she says she can't give up on the school and her students.
Final Analysis: 7 out of 10 stars.
Summary: Told from the 3rd person POV, this novel follows two teachers and about 3-5 students as they seemlingly become aware that the high school that they go is going through some changes. The school in essence is coming alive and showing signs of being haunted. The school's principal is hell bent on making tujis schoo, a carhet school, and weeding out those, students and teachers alike, that don't fither model of perfection .Some teachers are acting very strange and there seems to be a sexual element to a couple of them, while students just look at each other not sure of what is going on. The more the 3 students and 2 teachers puch back toward this avalanche of change, the more they are pushed and seemingly see more visions of ghosts and strange events. The end is what you'd expect, but yet is engaging because you want to see what other odd stuff the author can troll out.
Review: Overall, as I had stated in an earlier tweek last week, the book is predictable but engaging. You care about the two students who become cloer as you go, but question the decision of the main teacher, who keeps getting told my her husband that she should quit and move on, but she says she can't give up on the school and her students.
Final Analysis: 7 out of 10 stars.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Review: American Assassin - Vince Flynn
Book Completed 8/14/2012 Days to Complete: 2.5
Summary: This is a prequel in the ongoing Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn. The book starts off with Mitch going through his training in VA with the CIA. We see him take on his nemesis Stan Hurley, who may be his nemesis now but is really there to make Mitch see that what they are going to be doing is far from child's play. Mitch makes his way through training, becomes a CIA "assassin" and performs his first mission on his own 1 day before he supposed to. He gets in trouble with Irene Kennedy and Thomas Stansfield, but they ultimately decide that he did a good job, but to not do that again. Rapp, Hurley, and the other guy on the team Richards make there way to Beirut where an American hostage is being tortured for our country's secrets. the Russians are involved and may just pay handsomely for those secrets. Hurly and Richards are captured by terrorists and begin to torture the both, but they have met the're match with Hurley, who sadistically takes their punishment. Rapp goes undercover into Beirut to negotiate the release of all 3 of the hostages and ends up taking down everyone.
Thoughts: A fast paces insight into how Rapp became who he is and why he decides to join the CIA's most feared assassins. His girlfriend and members of is Syracuse University La Crosse team was on the fatal Pan Am flight in the 80's that crashed due to terrorism. Flynn is at his best here, going from one section of the story to another, until the end where the many sections of the story come to a crescendo which makes this prequel very satisfying.
Final Analysis: 9 out of 10 stars.
Summary: This is a prequel in the ongoing Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn. The book starts off with Mitch going through his training in VA with the CIA. We see him take on his nemesis Stan Hurley, who may be his nemesis now but is really there to make Mitch see that what they are going to be doing is far from child's play. Mitch makes his way through training, becomes a CIA "assassin" and performs his first mission on his own 1 day before he supposed to. He gets in trouble with Irene Kennedy and Thomas Stansfield, but they ultimately decide that he did a good job, but to not do that again. Rapp, Hurley, and the other guy on the team Richards make there way to Beirut where an American hostage is being tortured for our country's secrets. the Russians are involved and may just pay handsomely for those secrets. Hurly and Richards are captured by terrorists and begin to torture the both, but they have met the're match with Hurley, who sadistically takes their punishment. Rapp goes undercover into Beirut to negotiate the release of all 3 of the hostages and ends up taking down everyone.
Thoughts: A fast paces insight into how Rapp became who he is and why he decides to join the CIA's most feared assassins. His girlfriend and members of is Syracuse University La Crosse team was on the fatal Pan Am flight in the 80's that crashed due to terrorism. Flynn is at his best here, going from one section of the story to another, until the end where the many sections of the story come to a crescendo which makes this prequel very satisfying.
Final Analysis: 9 out of 10 stars.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Review: The Haunted - Bentley Little
Book Completed 8/12/2012 - Days it Took to Complete: 3.5
Summary: A typical family of 4 moves from one to another because, well, just because. The new house is pretty cool at first as everyone's rooms are bigger and they have a yard where they can have a garden. Weird events start happening in the house. Events such as family members having the same dream about a old, homeless man in the basement with really white teeth hiding out or the laundry basket keeps moving in kitchen. Eventually the daughter has a sleepover and notices the evil spirit toying with one her friend while she sleeps. The presence is so powerful, in fact it can text and email you threatening words so as to wield it's power. It even omits a sexual accelerator to the husband Julian and wife Claire that they're not used to. Eventually they discover the house is on ancient land that has had evil around it for centuries. Claire and the kids move out but Julian is staying put as he believes he has found away to get rid of the demonic spirit. I will not spoil the ending, but I will say it was more satisfying than I had thought it would be and a little surprising as well.
Thoughts: This is my first read of Bentley Little as he is a pretty straightforward author. He doesn't try and dazzle you with large words and drag his sentences out more than it needs to be. The characters are fairly typical, but the father, Julian is a little too pigheaded as it takes quite a bit of evidence for him to believe that the house is haunted. I thought any rational person, based on the events in the book, would realize that there is something wrong with the house, much less the surrounding neighborhood as everyone is trying to sell their house. Overall a good read and I will try and reas another of his. I will say that there are a few very explicit sex scenes that didn't bother me, but didn't see coming based on the description of the book and what i had read prior to the book.
Final Analysis: 7.5 out of 10 stars
Next Book: American Assassin - Vince Flynn. At the time of this post I was already 255 pages into it as i had read 240 pages yesterday.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Football season has arrived. For a die hard Chiefs' fan, and Viking's fan, hope springs eternal as we get to dream about being the next team to go worst to first. In the real world, the Packers and Pats will play in the Superbowl in 2013. You heard it here first (well okay, maybe 20th), but the game will last roughly 6 hours as neither team will be able to stop the other and in the end, overtime that is, Roger's will hit a very fast Jordy Nelson on a post route and the Packers will win their illustrious 5th Super Bowl.
Final Score: Packers 41 Patriots 35 (OT)
Final Score: Packers 41 Patriots 35 (OT)
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Review: Separation of Power - Vince Flynn
Book Completed 8/8/2012 - Days it Took to Complete: 3
SUMMARY:
This is the third book in the Mitch Series by Vince Flynn. While I've read others in the series, I'm trying to start at the beginning, since I'm noticing that one story blends into the next story. Here we have Mitch and his soon to be fiancee Anna becoming boyfriend and girlfriend and doing stuff together, but Mitch still cannot divulge information to her that is considered "classified". He wants to take her on a trip to Italy, unfortunately he has to take care of some business while he there. Mainly, he has to find out who wanted him dead in the last book, "Transfer of Power." He knows knows who killed Peter Cameron, it's his former lover and spy partner Donatella, a curvaceous and dark haired beauty, according to the author, who is now a assassin by contract only. One thing leads to another and she is almost killed because she used to work for Israel's version of the CIA and they now want her dead. Mitch gets caught in the middle, he brings a wounded Donatella back to his hotel, Anna freaks out after she finds out this is his former lover (not caring that she was shot, hilarious) and leaves.
Moving forward, the main plot of the book is that Iraq is hiding WMD's under a Baghdad hospital. The president, along with CIA director Irene Kennedy, and cast of thousands (actually more like 8 or 9) plot to infiltrate the hospital under a mask of cruise missiles and bombings and take the nukes out. Mitch and his team succeed and Mitch gets back to the US and he and Anna get back together. Mitch proposes and they become engaged.
The end of the book shows Micth and Donatella covertly taking out the evil Senator Hank Clark (who was the one who had hired Peter Cameron to take out Mitch in the last book.
THOUGHTS:
I great thrill ride from start to finish. Of all the books I've read so far in this series, this one delves more into the emotions and mind of Mitch Rapp. He actually sheds tears and goes back and forth on if he should even be with any woman, much less Anna. The sequence of them infiltrating Baghdad is tense and gripping. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of Vince Flynn.
FINAL ANALYSIS:
8 out of 10 stars
NEXT BOOK:
The Haunting by Bentley Little. This will be my first reading of his so I'm looking forward to it. Stephen King highly recommends him and Bentley has won some Bram Stoker awards for his novels. as of 8/9/2012 I'm 20 pages in and so far so good.
SUMMARY:
This is the third book in the Mitch Series by Vince Flynn. While I've read others in the series, I'm trying to start at the beginning, since I'm noticing that one story blends into the next story. Here we have Mitch and his soon to be fiancee Anna becoming boyfriend and girlfriend and doing stuff together, but Mitch still cannot divulge information to her that is considered "classified". He wants to take her on a trip to Italy, unfortunately he has to take care of some business while he there. Mainly, he has to find out who wanted him dead in the last book, "Transfer of Power." He knows knows who killed Peter Cameron, it's his former lover and spy partner Donatella, a curvaceous and dark haired beauty, according to the author, who is now a assassin by contract only. One thing leads to another and she is almost killed because she used to work for Israel's version of the CIA and they now want her dead. Mitch gets caught in the middle, he brings a wounded Donatella back to his hotel, Anna freaks out after she finds out this is his former lover (not caring that she was shot, hilarious) and leaves.
Moving forward, the main plot of the book is that Iraq is hiding WMD's under a Baghdad hospital. The president, along with CIA director Irene Kennedy, and cast of thousands (actually more like 8 or 9) plot to infiltrate the hospital under a mask of cruise missiles and bombings and take the nukes out. Mitch and his team succeed and Mitch gets back to the US and he and Anna get back together. Mitch proposes and they become engaged.
The end of the book shows Micth and Donatella covertly taking out the evil Senator Hank Clark (who was the one who had hired Peter Cameron to take out Mitch in the last book.
THOUGHTS:
I great thrill ride from start to finish. Of all the books I've read so far in this series, this one delves more into the emotions and mind of Mitch Rapp. He actually sheds tears and goes back and forth on if he should even be with any woman, much less Anna. The sequence of them infiltrating Baghdad is tense and gripping. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of Vince Flynn.
FINAL ANALYSIS:
8 out of 10 stars
NEXT BOOK:
The Haunting by Bentley Little. This will be my first reading of his so I'm looking forward to it. Stephen King highly recommends him and Bentley has won some Bram Stoker awards for his novels. as of 8/9/2012 I'm 20 pages in and so far so good.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
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