Needful Things

By Stephen King
2 Stars
Horror/Suspense
Adult

I hear that Stephen King is a better writer than this book would seem to indicate. I’m not into horror, and this book gives me no desire to seek out any more of his work. I got the book from a thrift store for next to nothing, because I wanted to see how he writes. I was disappointed.

There is a scene where he rips off Edgar Allan Poe. Okay, I’m sure he did that as some kind of tribute, and maybe that makes it all right. Meh. Every single English literature and creative writing professor I ever had would have crucified me for doing something like that.

Second, he would throw in random sexual references in at least one scene where that was unnecessary unless you wanted to add some interest to a scene that really wasn’t very good. I understand the technique, and I don’t view it as a mark of good writing.

The climactic scene required a leap in logic. I’m not ashamed to say that I did not see that coming. I did not feel smarter after reading that.

That being said, I did read the whole thing, which means the writing was not completely atrocious. Stephen King fans seem to like it. I don’t feel any guilt about rating it a two. I usually don’t review or rate anything less than three, but I think Mr. King is tough and can take it.

His Majesty's Yankees

 By Thomas H. Raddall

5 stars

Adventure/Historical Fiction

Adult

This book sat apparently untouched in my parents' library while I was growing up. In my teens, I decided to pull it out and read it. I’m not sure anyone else in my family ever did. The book turned out to be far better than I was expecting. Someone in my family still has the family copy of this. I don't know who, but suspect someone. No worries, I hope it gets read by many.

The book is set in the maritime provinces of Canada, mainly Nova Scotia, during the American Revolution. The main character is David Strange, the youngest member of his family, and the story revolves around him and his family. The family is torn between loyalty to Britain and loyalty to the cause of their fellow colonists. The research on the history in this book is superb, and the story is memorable enough. I read the story about forty-five years ago and remember it well enough to review it without having to find a copy and rereading. The rebel assault on Fort Cumberland is particularly well written. I have visited the site and have written an article on this site that might be of interest. The host for the site this is on is going to shut down, and if this link is not working, let me know. I’m trying to host it on one of my own blog sites so that it will still be accessible. https://hubpages.com/education/Homeschooling-Lessons-of-Opportunity-Fort-Beausejour

This book did win the Governor General’s Award when it was published, and if you can get access to a copy and Canadian history is something that interests you, this book should be well worth your while.

The Silent Corner

By Dean Koontz
5 Stars
Action/Adventure/Suspense
Adult

In my opinion, this is one of Dean Koontz’s best. I wish I’d discovered his work sooner.

The heroine is Jane Hawk. She is an FBI agent who goes rogue. Her husband committed suicide under questionable circumstances. When she digs into the case, she is warned off, and she and her son are threatened. She goes on leave, hides her son somewhere safe, and continues her investigation underground. What she finds is chilling. The bad guys are truly evil. As usual, I will not give away the story. This is the beginning of a series, so while the ending is satisfying, there are things left unresolved for the next saga in the series. I’m truly tempted to devour the whole rest of the series before I read anything else, but that will work at cross purposes to why I’m reading these books in the first place.

The writing is, of course, excellent. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. I was not tempted to flip ahead in the book because I didn’t want to miss anything. I also didn’t want to put it down. At the beginning of the book, you will spend most of your time in Jane’s head. There is what felt like a head hop at one point, but I didn’t find it very confusing. I also felt that one of the helper characters didn’t acquit himself quite as well as I expected from the buildup. These are minor quibbles that didn’t really bother my enjoyment of the book at all.

Great read. Highly recommended.

The Triumph of the Sun

 

By Wilbur Smith
4 Stars
Action/Adventure/Suspense
Adult

This book was given to me by a family friend. I had not heard of this particular author beforehand. Before I get into the review, I will advise any of my readers that this book contains a lot of graphic violence and graphic sex scenes. I would label the sex scenes as erotic (by my own definition) in nature. I would not go so far as to call them porno/smut. I did not know that going in. I would not have read it knowing that.

The main characters are Rebecca Benbrook: young, beautiful, intelligent, and responsible beyond her years; however, when it comes to men, she’s naive and stupid. Penrod Balantyne: young soldier, courageous, dashing, handsome, but he’s a man-whore. Emir Osman Atalan: the main villain, courageous, handsome, intelligent, absolutely ruthless. There are four more characters of slightly lesser importance that I will mention. Ryder Courtney: a merchant, courageous, handsome, intelligent, rich, but a little bit boring. The twins Saffron and Amber Benbrook are younger sisters. They mature through the course of the book. Finally, the Mahdi: a religious leader who unites the warring tribes of Sudan in rebellion. There are many other important characters throughout the book, but everything revolves around the ones I’ve mentioned. 

The book begins with the siege of Khartoum in 1884 and flows from there. This book is very well written. The descriptions were excellent, although in a few places near the beginning, I felt they dragged a bit. Maybe I’m just an impatient reader, but I did have to fight the urge to skip ahead through some of it. After one of the sex scenes, I wasn’t far from putting it down and not picking it back up. Everything you would expect in a well-written novel was there, though. The characters were complex and, for the most part, believable. The action scenes were riveting. There was foreshadowing, symbolism, and parallels, and it all made sense. I found the climax a little predictable, but the ending was satisfying. My star deduction in the rating is based on the writing itself, not the graphic depictions that some may disapprove of. Some people enjoy that in a book.

One small thing baffles me. There is a minor character toward the end of the book that is a part of a family where all the men are handsome and the women beautiful, but for some reason, it’s pointed out a couple of times that he is butt-ugly. It stood out so starkly, and I’m not sure why the author did that.

The Fist of God

 

By Frederick Forsyth
5 Stars
Action/Adventure/Suspense
Adult

I would have to consider myself a fan of Frederick Forsyth. This is the sixth of his novels that I have read, and I haven’t been disappointed in any way in any of them.

The book is set during the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Desert Shield, and the beginning of Desert Storm. The premise of the book is that Saddam Hussein has built a Weapon of Mass Destruction that Iraq has code-named The Fist of God. It is a top-secret program that almost managed to escape the Allies' attention. There is a race against time to identify, locate, and destroy the threat. The consequences are enormous.

Through most of the book, Major Mike Martin of the SAS does the heavy lifting. He is borrowed by the intelligence people to work inside first Kuwait, then Iraq. The allies have a wild-card-type spy on the inside. They don’t actually know who he is, and neither do we. There is a twist at the end of the story that completely blindsided me.

Great book, highly recommended.

The Dogs of War

 

By Frederick Forsyth
5 Stars
Action/Adventure/Suspense
Adult

I read this book when I was in high school and absolutely loved it. Became a bit of a fan of the author. My kids learned about this while we were discussing different authors that I liked when I was growing up. My daughter found a copy in the used bookstore in town and decided I should have my own personal copy. This review is based on my reread.

Cat Shannon is a mercenary leader who finds a job for himself and his band of mercenaries. They are hired to overthrow the government of a small African country so that his client can gain mining rights and favour from the installed regime. The clients motivation is of course greed and the mercenaries need money as well. The author draws the reader in and you will end up cheering for these guys. The story ends with a twist and it is quite satisfying. My second time through, I knew what was coming and looked for all the little clues along the way. A great read both times but the ending hit me completely differently the second time around.

I saw the movie made from this book and didn’t like it at all. Christopher Walken played Cat Shannon and he is not what I envisioned the character to be. No disrespect to his acting but I think he was miscast. For me the book is highly recommended but the movie is not. 

 

Nala's World

 

By Dean Nicholson with Garry Jenkins

5 Stars

Non-Fiction/Adventure

Adult 

We found this book in the Sackville, New Brunswick, book exchange box and took it home with us. Nala is a cat, and the book is basically the story of how this long-distance bicycle traveler found her and adopted her. They have been touring the world together ever since, raising money for animal shelters and the like. They can be followed on their YouTube channel 1bike1world and their Instagram account @1bike1world. I do follow them myself. You can subscribe to their community at https://www.1bike1world.com/community. There is a cost.

The initial appeal of the story to me is that I have traveled by bicycle myself and would love to be doing it again. I won’t list my excuses here. Reading about it is quite enjoyable. I can sit and exchange stories with fellow riders for hours. I also grew up with cats. 

The author meets an abandoned kitten while cycling in Bosnia and takes it with him. He names her Nala and then goes through the adventure of learning how to care for her and take care of the paperwork involved with traveling with a pet and crossing international borders. The story became an Internet phenomenon, and they’ve been able to contribute a great deal to animal shelters along the way. It’s a feel-good story, and I quite enjoyed it.