Audiobooks In General Archives - Page 10 of 18

Backroom Deals, Media-Created Scandals & Secret Cover-Ups…”Guilty Minds”, by Joseph Finder

Author, Joseph Finder, has accomplished many things, but being an American author of mystery thrillers seems to be his best niche in life. He has been a history teacher at Harvard, has been recruited by the CIA, and supposedly sang with Ella Fitzgerald, but most remarkably, is a New York Times bestselling author. His latest, Guilty Minds, is a theme that could be taken right out of current political playbooks, where a very powerful person can be brought down by professional character assassinators with carefully structured lies. It is a sad commentary to think that such people exist, but we know they do…….we have recently seen them in action.

Guilty Minds is the third in a series featuring super spy, Nick Heller, who has been called in to find the necessary evidence to defend a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court against the untrue accusations presented against him by a prostitute. Not only is this “escort” trying to defame him, but a sleezy website known for their lying gossip is supporting her with publicizing the lies. Nick is based in Boston, but is hired by many because he has a history of handling discreet and risky situations in his own way. He has just 48 hours to prove the allegation to be false, which seemed like an easy task to accomplish……..then, he found the prostitute murdered. The story – line then takes many twists and turns exposing political backroom “deals”, media – created scandals, and secret cover-ups!!! All proving that the secrets we keep and bury so deep, can never truly stay buried.

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Shaking Up the Establishment…”Great Again: How To Fix Our Crippled America”, By Donald J. Trump

If you have read a biography of author and businessman, Donald J. Trump, you already know that he is the definition of the American success story. He is constantly upgrading the standards of excellence, while at the same time, increasing his interests in real estate, sports, and entertainment. Mr. Trump has written more than fifteen books, with his first book, The Art of the Deal, being a classic and iconic book in the business field. Mr. Trump was himself, a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance.

Crippled America: How To Make America Great Again, is Mr. Trump’s latest book. He calls this book a blueprint of how to Make America Great Again. His idea is that the country just needs someone who can courageously say exactly what needs to be done, and it does not happen through career politicians.

To quote Mr. Trump: “I am shaking up the establishment on both sides of the political aisle”………. because he is a different kind of candidate who did not take money from special interest groups during the primary campaign. He spent his own funds to run his campaign until he received the Republican nomination. Through staying above the usual handouts for money, Mr. Trump has established his agenda for bringing America back to greatness and prosperity.
Excerpt……..”We need someone with a proven track record in business, who understands greatness, someone who can rally us to the standard of excellence we once epitomized and explain what needs to be done.”

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Demeanor Like a Ticking Time Bomb…”The Black Window”, by Daniel Silva

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.”

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She Could Be So Charming One Minute and Brutally Ruthless in the Next…”The Girls”, by Emma Cline

If the reader is looking for a light-hearted novel to read and relax, Emma Cline’s debut novel, The Girls, might not be a good one to choose. But for most readers it will be a very interesting comparison to the other novels that have been written about the subject. The Girls is a sort of explanation from the woman’s point of view as to why the women, or girls as they were very young, chose to have any part of Charles Manson and the cult they became, to go on a horrendous, murderous crime spree. Most previous works have focused on how Charles Manson got these seemingly ordinary girls to do the awful acts that they committed at his request. Cline delves into who they were before the murders and who some are as they are older.

As one character Evie, exemplifies, she was 14 when she came into contact with Russell’s cult. She is going through puberty, easily influenced by the other girls who seem to be so sure of themselves. She finds an immediate attraction to the group. Another, Suzanne, who is an extension of real-life Susan Atkins, is a different story. The character Suzanne is like Susan who was both troubled and attractive, so she used her ability to read people’s desires to her advantage. She could be so charming one minute and brutally ruthless in the next. She chose power and belonging over having any control over any part of her life, including her body. Cline chooses to show the many facets of Suzanne’s (Susan’s) personality, rather than just simply make her the “bad girl” as other works have done. Many agree that Cline’s portrayal of Susan through Suzanne is probably more like what the true person was.

The one thing the reader may notice is that Russell (Manson) is not charismatic or even interesting as a person on his own. He preyed on girls who had issues and flaws, who were wanting attention, or who needed to belong to something…..anything! Other sociopaths do not get the continuing notoriety of Charles Manson, and Emma Cline honed in on an explanation for that…….. the others did not have a group of seemingly “normal” young women following them around doing their bidding. It seems there is very little left to say about Manson, but still plenty of information to be told about The Girls.

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A Tale of a Very Tragic Accident…”LaRose”, by Louise Erdrich

As author of another amazing book, LaRose is the latest effort by author Louise Erdrich. It is another brilliantly written piece about life as a Native American Indian, and how the culture influenced the lives of two families during their brush with an unspeakable tragedy. Author Erdrich’s books attempt to tell the story of a civilization that was at worst, almost annihilated. And it worked best because she is a Native American Indian by heritage and is a woman.

Erdrich creates a combination of subjects, placing liked and unliked in such a way that each is greater because of it’s placement. Her words play off each other to brilliantly describe her subjects in their best and worst light. “Her language is rich but plain. Her sentences conjure a face, a town, a situation with a transparent power.”

In LaRose, a man named Landreaux, while hunting, shot the stag in his sights, but the deer took off running unscathed. To his horror, he had shot the five year old son of his good friend and neighbor. Filled with unimaginable anguish, after much consultation with his advisors, Landreaux and his wife decide that the only way they can live with what has happened is to give their friend and neighbors their own five year old son, LaRose, to try to make amends for their loss. In this way, Erdrich creates a magical narrative that is emotionally haunting about a tale of a very tragic accident, a need for justice followed by a profound act of atonement…….all actions with roots heavily embedded in Native American culture.

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Harnessing the Electrifying Power of a Bold Vision…”Shoe Dog”, by Phil Knight

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.”

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Unspeakable Sins….”The Obsession”, by Nora Roberts

The New York Times bestselling author, Nora Roberts, has written another excellent novel that promises to give her fans the reading satisfaction that they have come to expect. She uses ordinary, relatable characters to draw in the reader, then gives a twist and turn to the story that is totally unexpected. She is best known for “painting a picture with her words”.

Naomi Bowers, as a young girl on the verge of turning twelve, discovers a hideous secret life that has been lived by her father, not far from the home she thought was safe and secure. Nothing could have been further from the truth. She saved a life on that stormy night, but lost her own identity as she had known it. In later life, no matter how close she got to happiness, she could not escape the sins of her father……… unspeakable sins.

Naomi became a very successful photographer, and changed her name to Naomi Carson. She has a very rewarding career and lives in a rambling, old house with beautiful views. Yet, that one, stormy night when she innocently, playfully followed her father into the woods, will forever be obsessively only a nightmare away for her. The Obsession is so compelling as a story of the terrifying evil that humans are capable of. Author Roberts mixes light and shadow like no other. After walking through all the darkness, The Obsession shows the human spirit as being capable of incredible strength and courage to thrive and survive.

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The Man Who Can Forget Nothing…”The Last Mile”, by David Baldacci

Author David Baldacci has written a new book, The Last Mile, that is a second book with main character, Detective Amos Decker……..the man who can forget nothing”. Decker gets involved in a case where a convicted criminal is within hours of execution, when another person confesses to the killing of his parents twenty some years ago. Decker identifies with the death row criminal, but it will demand all of his unusual brain power to help one of the two men to be set free of murder charges.

Amos Decker was a professional football player who had a career ending injury that left him with an almost perfect memory. Some reviewers felt that Decker was a more interesting character in the Memory Man, but that die-hard Baldacci fans will appreciate the different form of Decker using his Quantico unit to help solve the latest case in usual investigative style.

Baldacci lives in Virginia with his family where he and his wife work with their foundation, Wish You Well, in supporting literacy efforts across the country.

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Tall, Blonde, Blue Eyes, Medical Student…Perfect…So, They Thought…”Most Wanted”, by Lisa Scottoline

In keeping with author Lisa Scottoline’s ability to write the most searing and powerful thrillers, Most Wanted, will not disappoint her many fans. One reviewer put it this way…….”it drew me in, in a single breath”.

Just think about the premise of the novel……..Christine and Marcus Nilsson are a happily married couple who have a great life, except that they cannot conceive a child. As time passes by, they decide to take further steps by participating in artificial insemination with a donor male. His bio sounded like the perfect person to provide what they needed to make their family complete. Three months after insemination, Christine was indeed pregnant. They were, of course, ecstatic. The bio had read……..Donor 3319 Profile: Tall, Blonde, Blue eyes, Medical student……..perfect…….or so they thought!

One day Christine is watching the news and notices that authorities are looking for a suspect who has committed a series of murders. The artist’s sketch looks alarmingly like the sperm donor of the baby she is carrying. With the usual depth of emotions that Scottoline’s fans have come to expect, the ethical and moral dilemma presents itself. WHAT IF ……… the biological father of your unborn baby is a serial killer? Most Wanted could easily be Lisa Scottoline’s best selling novel yet!

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In an Attempt to Catch the Most Wanted Elusive Felons…”The Job”, by Janet Evanovich

This is the third in the Fox and O’Hare series by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum series, Alexandra Barnaby series and the Lizzie and Diesel series) and Lee Goldberg (author of the bestselling Monk mysteries). In an attempt to catch the most wanted and most elusive felons in the world, the FBI teams up Special Agent Kate O’Hare with ex con artist Nicholas Fox. To the rest of the world, Nick is still wanted by the FBI and Kate is the agent in charge of capturing him. The reality is that they are working together formulating a con to catch a violent drug lord at the request of Kate’s boss and the Deputy Director of the FBI. They are given unlimited funds and unofficial permission to do what it takes to capture their mark without being caught. In this adventure Kate and Nick formulate an elaborate con to bring down the leader of a drug smuggling empire. Traveling around the world with their enlisted band of misfit accomplices, Nick and Kate work to execute their plan. Challenges include a psychotic bodyguard and a Portuguese enforcer among others. Kate’s father Jake, who is retired Special Forces and shares Kate’s deep love of impressive firearms is back again to help out a good cause. An ongoing flirtation between Kate and Nick, as well as the antics of their team keeps the book light and funny, while still delivering an impressive and well thought out plot. Be sure to read the first two novels to get the most enjoyment out of ‘The Job’. (The Heist – book one, and The Chase – book two.)

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