Quick Book Reviews Blog

David Baldacci has long ago established himself as a master of thriller literature, and needless to say, he has further cemented that title for himself with his latest book detailing the exploits U.S. Army special agent John Puller, titled The Escape . To put it as briefly as possible, Puller is brought in once again to lend a hand in a matter of national security: he must find and bring in his own older brother, Robert, who recently escaped from the most secure prison on the planet. Of course, Robert wasn't there because he got lost on the way to the supermarket; he was convicted on charges of treason, amongst other crimes against the country.

The fantasy of humanity's collective doom and sinking back into a technological oblivion is one that has pervaded literature for ages, and exponentially so with the incredible scientific advancements made in the past couple of centuries. Steven Konkoly is a writer who decided to take a more realistic approach to the whole thing, gifting us The Perseid Collapse , the book which serves as the sequel to The Jakarta Pandemic and as a prequel to Event Horizon. As was mentioned in our review of the prequel to the Perseid Collapse series, the focus was placed on the survival of certain individuals during a most deadly flu pandemic.

When most people are dissatisfied with what they have, they either tend to: complain about it and pretend that will fix something or actually try and make incremental improvements to their lives in the direction they see fit. And then, of course, there are those like Eva and Iris in the novel Lucky Us by Amy Bloom, who decide to journey across the country in search of some kind of fulfillment.

The Watergate Scandal certainly remains one of the most infamous moments in U.S. Presidential history, marking a moment where a President was ousted from power not through force, but through exposition and law. Despite the extensive investigations and inquiries made by numerous parties into the affair, there are still many question marks pending to be answered, in great part due to the complexity of the entire cover-up that followed.

The Civil War which led to the creation of the United States of America is a subject that is thoroughly covered in school (or at the very least, in most education systems), but even so many of its notable topics are left out, some because there is simply no time for them, and others because they aren't exactly well-known. The role which four women – Belle Boyd, Emma Edmonds, Rose O'Neale Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew – played in the conflict falls into the latter category.

To begin with, I feel I must open with the statement that this series of books by Castaneda needs to be read in the order they were published in; otherwise, you are going to have a hell of a time comprehending, analyzing, following and being entertained. If you haven't read The Teachings of Don Juan yet, I would suggest you begin your journey into this wondrous world over there.

Ever since our distant ancestors began to live in societies, having the respect of one's neighbors has always been, to varying extents, an important rule of survival, especially in smaller societies where everyone knows everyone else. When neighbors start turning on each other, or worse, mobbing up on a specific target, then survival quickly becomes a very real issue.