As with author Daniel Silva’s other seventeen spy novels, The Black Widow is another ingenious writing that is a very timely book of intrigue and extreme danger. The subject of ISIS is very compelling and one which many people want to learn more about.
The main character, Gabriel Allon, art restorer, spy, and assassin is again asked to find an Islamist extremist who has claimed responsibility for a huge bomb that was exploded in a part of Paris. He enlists the assistance of a beautiful doctor who will pose as an ISIS recruit. Her demeanor is to be that of a ticking time bomb……..a black widow.
The novel is a journey into a new world of darkness that promises to haunt those who read it. “The Black Widow reveals itself as Silva’s most timely and powerful novel yet.”
Phil Knight, the founder of Nike has written a very honest and entertaining memoir about how he became the chairman of the board for one of the most successful companies in business history. His decision to try something other than the usual corporate employment and ladder climbing was reached after a back-packing trip through Asia, Europe, and Africa. He was 24 years old and was questioning what his future would hold. During that trip, he decided to follow an unconventional path…….one that would lead him to be the chairman of a company that now grosses $30 billion annually.
Knight was a graduate of the University of Oregon, where he was a runner on their track team. He decided that he wanted a career in something that would allow him to not only make money, but afford him the opportunity to pretty much “play all the time”. He began his amazing venture by borrowing $50 from his father, and sold Japanese made running shoes from the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant. He says that in his first year, he made a profit of $8,000. That “company” was named Blue Ribbon, after those hanging on his bedroom walls representing his own running competitions.
The road to his current multi-billion dollar corporation was not always rosey. Knight encountered many successes and setbacks along the way. But through those good and bad times, he persevered, with his most cherished accomplishment being the formation of relationships that formed the foundational heart and soul of Nike. One can only imagine the current thoughts of the struggling graphic designer who was paid $35 to create the iconic swoosh! The chairman Knight, and his “ragtag group of misfits”, together “harnessed the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the redemptive, transformative power of sports, and created a brand, and a culture, that changed everything.”
Approximately 30 years after Return of the Jedi, comes The Force Awakens. It traces Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron and their battle with the Resistance. Led by veterans of the Rebel Alliance, they fight members who are decedents of the Galactic Empire.
“Thirty years after the destruction of the second Death Star, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi, disappeared. The First Order has risen from the remains of the Fallen Galactic Empire, and seeks to eliminate Luke and the Republic.”
The Force Awakens was filmed in Abu Dhabi and Iceland, and other photography took place in Ireland and England. It premiered on December 18, 2015, which was more than 10 years after the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sixth. The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, and others.
Michael Connelly, detective novelist, releases another in the series of Harry Bosch novels. Different than the nineteen that came before, Harry has just retired and is looking forward to that phase in his life, but his lawyer brother requests his help on one of his cases. Against his own instincts, he accepts the case and secretly enlists the help of his former partner. As they get closer and closer to the answers, Harry becomes a target himself. He has agreed to help his brother in a defense case, which is counter to all cases in which he participated. His colleagues would say he went to the dark side and question whether he was betraying the principles that he had lived by for his whole career.
Connelly has been called a master in building suspense in his novels. He is also noted for his success in writing crime procedurals. He step by step describes what actually happened in a case. The process is neither quick nor easy. Connelly is a one-of-a-kind author, deserving of the critical accolades he has received. Every Michael Connelly book is a highly anticipated read, and The Crossing will not disappoint.
Authors Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard have joined once again as a best selling writing team to create their next in a long line of successful books, Killing Reagan. They educate their readers in an enjoyable read of the career and life of President Ronald Reagan. They explain his rise to power and tell of those who conspired to bring him down.
When President Reagan barely escaped death when a gunman’s bullet came close to his heart, he was grievously injured, but still had to carry out the duties of the most important man in the world. Such a traumatic incident would have been too much for men half his age to carry on.
Killing Reagan goes back to his glory days in Hollywood on through to California’s governor’s mansion, and finally to the White House and the Presidency. O’Reilly and Dugard present an unforgettable view of a great man who served in a violent time.
Brad Thor has written another episode in the Scot Harvath Series (#14). Many reviewers have exclaimed that “he topped himself again”! Others have said that it reads like the action on the TV series “24”, which was a hit for many viewers. The story covers the covert actions of a secret committee that is hidden within one of the most powerful organizations in the world, whose members are considered to be untouchable. The book has many components of a scary, intense thriller and an excellent read.
It takes just a four second video of “the committee” to set a whole range of actions in motion by the book’s hero, Scot Harvath. As a counterterrorism operative, he jumps into character when asked to do a personal favor. But that request sends him on a globe-spanning journey that will expose him to international intrigue, political gamesmanship, and the most clandestine fears of the espionage world. As one reviewer commented…… “Thor isn’t at the top of his game……. he owns the entire game”.
The newly published book, Modern Romance, by author (and comedian) Aziz Ansari is a factual research-based book that attempts to explain how people are finding romance in this day and age of technology. He provides the element of humor that makes the charts and statistics more palatable to the reader of books, or to the listener of audiobooks. Ansari developed the idea for the book when he was performing his comedy routine about obsessing over a girl that he had called who had not yet returned his call. He imagined her phone had fallen into a volcano, or that maybe she was dead. And then, it hits you that she just doesn’t want to call back. And that is the scariest reason of all.
Ansari enlisted the professional expertise of Eric Klinenberg, a sociology professor at New York University, to provide the scientific data to serve as the base of the book. They held group discussions in several different cities in several different states, forums on social media, and consulted experts in the fields of sociology, psychology, and human behavior. The result is a book of simple facts, observations, advice, and comedy. The book answers one of today’s most asked questions…….why do millennials not answer the phone? As author Ansari surveys all the information, one statement seems to stand out……… “The main thing I’ve learned from this research is that we’re all in this together”.
The book is especially interesting on audiobook, since author Ansari is the narrator and what could be better than having the comedic parts of the book presented by a comedian. It gives a substantial reason to listen to this book rather than read it in paper form. Or, the best of both worlds……..do both!
Once again, the genius author Stephen King, masters another thriller novel with a brilliant title…… Finders Keepers. The book is the second volume of a planned trilogy with main character, Detective Bill Hodges. Mr. Mercedes was volume one in the trilogy, and introduced Detective Hodges. The main theme of Finders Keepers is somewhat of a recurring theme (as was his novel, Misery) of a reader whose obsession with a favorite writer has become very dangerous. The new novel, published on June 2, 2015, promises to fulfill the high expectations that Stephen King’s readers have come to expect.
A thirty year old murder of a writer sets the stage for the premise of the novel. Detective Hodges gets drawn into the complicated story, but does not realize how it will lead to more mystery involving the decades old murder. It is a deadly cat and mouse game that he walks into, but he is the detective who brought down the murderer, Mr. Mercedes.
“Finders Keepers is spectacular, heart-pounding suspense, but it is also Stephen writing about how literature shapes a life……… for good, for bad, forever”.
Tom Brokaw, the former news anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News has written a new book, A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope, in which he reflects back on his life and considers what he would still like to achieve. He was 75 years old and had extreme back pain due to his multiple myeloma. Every day that he went outside his Manhattan apartment, he was smacked in the face by a huge billboard of a young, healthy Tom Brady starring back at him. He admitted to Tom Brady the first time they met, that he therapeutically cursed that billboard every time he saw it. He told Brady that his cursing him got him through cancer treatment. The story gave the New England Patriots quarterback a good laugh.
Brokaw was very touched by all those who reached out to him with support during his battle with cancer. Among them were the current President, President George W. Bush, Charles Barkley, and many more, including David Letterman, who was very kind in checking on him and inviting him to dinner. It was immensely helpful to him to have such considerate people caring about him.
In the book, he considers his bucket list: ● Learn to sail solo ● Learn to play chess ● Get a short story published ● Spend more mornings by the sea, with his wife, Meredith, a copy of The New Yorker, and plenty of black coffee ●Fish more river and saltwater flats
Brokaw insists he is an eternal optimist, even through the difficult journey of having multiple myeloma. A great story he used as illustrating that optimism was when Ronald Reagan used the great line “about a child comes down in the morning, and beneath the Christmas tree there is just an enormous pile of horse dung. And he starts thinking, ‘there must be a pony here somewhere’. That is kind of my attitude about life.”
Legends and Lies: The Real West is a book by authors Bill O’Reilly and David Fisher, that serves to provide evidence that either supports iconic legends of the Old West, or debunks myths that have taken hold for readers over the years. If the reader has ever wondered about Black Bart, the “gentleman bandit” or Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, then this book is for them. Generations of Americans have grown up hearing about these Western legends in books, movies, and television.
The book is so new that many opinions have yet to be expressed, but the concensus of the opinions given seem to agree that Legends and Lies: The Real West, is a straightforward historical account describing many of the biggest characters of the Old West. O’Reilly’s Killing series of books often raised more controversial questions, but his latest work is a much less complicated explanation of what really happened when the West was won.
Legends and Lies: The Real West debuted on April 7, 2015, and is considered an essential companion for those who plan to watch the historical series (by the same name) which premiered on April 12, 2015. The historical episodic specials will be televised for 10 weeks on the Fox News Channel. The series will include the stories that readers think they already know, as well as others that may be surprising and astonishing.
As with author Daniel Silva’s other seventeen spy novels, The Black Widow is another ingenious writing that is a very timely book of intrigue and extreme danger. The subject of ISIS is very compelling and one which many people want to learn more about. 
