The Exodus Quest - Will Adams

Having just finished the author's first book, I jumped right into his second and was not disappointed! Archeologist Daniel Knox is back, and quickly on-the-run, accused of murdering his friend, an Egyptian government official. His coworker, and maybe girlfriend Gaille, runs into trouble of her own as she tours with a pompous American television producer and finds that the tourist police are corrut as well. There are two separate digs subject to cover-up in this novel, and a story line that goes straight back to the identity of Adam and Eve. Adams is now one of my favorite authors, and I lament the fact that I now need to wait another year for his next book!

Cell – Stephen King

First King novel in some time for me. I used to devour his works when they came out for years, but I really thought that in later years the quality of his novels dropped slowly. I decided to give this one a shot since I had just read a similar book with a similar premise. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this quite a bit. Enough excitement, suspense and surprise to keep me turning the pages.

I found a couple minor issues with the book that I felt I should mention. First, King’s politics came out early on, there was even a blame Bush moment early on. The politics seemed to come out of nowhere and really didn't add to the story. Knowing the time frame this was written in, I almost put the book away as I didn't feel like being preached to. But the politics ended almost as abruptly as they started so I'm glad I keep reading. Second issue, the ending. No surprise here for those who've read King before. Endings are not his strong suit and he definitely kept you hanging on this one. Not is worse ending by far, but still I would have liked a bit more closure.

The Alexander Cipher - Will Adams

I'm already 75 pages into this author's second book, as I couldn't wait to rejoin Daniel Knox an archeologist adventurer, on his next quest. In this novel, Knox is being pursued by his former boss Hassan, who Knox forcibly stopped from raping a vacationing girl. He's also on the list of a Macedonian nationalist who wishes to find the tomb of Alexander to prompt a war to reunite the former Macedonian territories. Adams tells one heck of a story and has introduced a character that is somewhere between Indiana Jones and Robert Langdon. His second book is proving to be even better than the first!

24 Hours – Greg Iles

In typical Iles fashion, he takes what reads as awful back cover copy (I personally think most of Iles books sound boring and nothing special if you just read the back cover blurb), and turns in a fun book that is a pleasure to read. This book, while nothing breathtakingly different, is a fun romp that takes place in about a 24 hour time frame. Kidnapping for ransom, planned to perfection, yet spoiled by parents that won't lie down. I felt for the characters (both good and bad) and found myself woven into their lives within the brief time frame covered by the book. Iles always has a way of weaving a story such that when you sit down to read, you keep saying "Just one more chapter", and before you know it tons of time has passed.

No Sanctuary – Richard Laymon

Not sure why I bother with Laymon books anymore. Maybe just because I still have a handful on my shelf and they aren't completely horrible, just repetitive. I've said it before, if you've read one Laymon novel, you've read them all. This is no different. Serial killer involved, chasing down his victims, victims typically not little angels themselves and everyone has a habit of being naked most of the time.

This novel was more of the same, though in this case, we almost had two complete novels in this book, intermixed with each other. They only came together in the next to last chapter and even then they came together in a forced, seemingly "I need to wrap this up" way. I'm actually inclined to believe that Laymon had two different stories here that just weren't good enough to make full novels out of, so he mixed the chapters together and tied them to one another late in the book and called it a day. Just not a good novel. It got two stars purely because in a base, animalistic way, I sort of enjoyed it....but not too much. Three more Laymon novels on the shelf, will read eventually, but in no hurry.

Gallows Thief – Bernard Cornwell

I tried, I really did try. A good friend recommended this book too me and let me borrow his copy. I immediately sat down and devoured the first chapter which was incredible. Moving past that initial setup, it came to a screeching halt for me. It's not the typical kind of book I read anyway and this just moved way to slow for me. If you like the mystery / historical fiction genre, then this may be a great book. My friend reads a lot of these type of books and he loved it. Just not for me.

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? - Thomas Kohnstamm

I was in the "travel narrative" section at Borders looking to see if Bill Bryson had anything new and saw a facing of this book instead. With a subtitle of "a swashbuckling tale of high adventures, questionable ethics & professional hedonism," I was intrigued. It was a good book in that I was entertained. The author was an office drone working a late night in Manhattan when he decided to become a travel writer, and a short time later found himself in Brazil writing an updated book for Lonely Planet. The budget and timeline was tight, and he found very quickly that there was no way to do everything technically required for the job. Along the way, he has a few hookups, trades drugs for a motorcycle, and meets an assortment of characters, including Otto, a former member of the IDF. As it appears that this author's only other books are LP guides, I'll simply have to wait for his next narrative.

Darkwalker on Moonshae – Douglas Niles

I read this when it first came out back in the 80s when I was in high school. I remember it being a great read, full of action and excitement. Due to limited funds back in the day, I never did pick up the rest of the trilogy. Meanwhile this book languished on my shelf in all it's glory and memories of how great a read it was.

Move forward 20+ years. I finally found the rest of the trilogy on a swap site and decided to revisit this. Well all I can say is, this book didn't seem to be as fascinating to me as it once did...maybe I'm tainted by the many many fantasy novels I've read since this, maybe it's just the difference between a 16 year old mind back then to a 40 year old one now. Not sure, but all I can say is I just didn't enjoy it as much as I once did. I will be finishing the trilogy however, I don't think I could forgive myself if I didn't and I'm really not for another re-read of this one in another 20 years.

The Ask - Sam Lipsyte

The humor in this book is very dark and acidic, and it works in the context of Milo Burke, a fundraiser for a local college and victim of the recent economy. He finds himself aligned with an old college buddy who has become extremely rich, and of course Milo's job is to work some money out of his buddy Purdy's wallet. Purdy, has another motive as well - keeping his estranged son from coming to light. Although this novel does have some issues, for the most part the writing is very sharp and at times, laugh-out-loud funny. Parts are somewhat graphic, but fit the theme that the author is building around Milo's life. Although I enjoyed the book, I don't intend to track down others by this author anytime soon.

Blood Crazy - Simon Clark

OK.....this was a surprise....I was not expecting to enjoy this one much at all. I've read one other by Clark and didn't enjoy it at all. This isn't they type of novel I typically read, I just don't get into apocalyptic, zombie type novel. Something intrigued me about the copy on the back and I picked it up cheap at a thrift store so I thought I'd give it a go. All I can say is that is probably the quickest I've pounded through 400 pages. Not able to put this one down, I admit, I read this when I should have been doing other things. The story starts off quickly and never stops. I found myself caring about the characters in a way that surprised me and the theory behind the catastrophe actually makes a bit of sense and is somewhat believable (as far as you can believe these things anyway). Even if this isn't your normal cup of tea, go ahead and pick this one up...it won't take much time anyway and you may just find yourself enjoying yourself along the way.

Sandstorm – James Rollins

My goodness what a fun book to read. I really didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The pace was slow at first and at first I thought that it was going to be just another ho-hum thriller novel, but as the book moved on I was pleased to find that while it was another thriller novel, it was so much better than most I've read. Here we have a gov't agency in the Sigma Force against the Guild and mixed in for fun are some scientists, museum types and some ancient protector sects for fun. This book also explains the science behind some of the "super-natural" occurrences, and while true die-hard science fictions fans will think it's light weight, it is explained well enough for the uninitiated to understand and follow why it is important to the novel. The characters are ones that I can't wait to see more of. Some of them I'm sure are not to return in future Sigma Force novels, the ones that do I'm excited to see what new adventures they move on to.

Even after just one book, I've got a new favorite author here and will be picking up the rest of his books soon!