About The Site

The author is a columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal, and in 1996 purchased a broken-down house in the Highland Square area of Akron. Flipping through the book while standing at Borders, I decided I had to have it, as I know the neighborhood and I’m one of those that are enthralled by house-flipping stories. Giffles describes the acquisition process from a widow that had lived in this falling-apart mansion since her husband’s death in 1965, never maintaining anything. Missing roofs and walls, space shared with squirrels and raccoons, a complete lack of running water and heat - who wouldn’t want to attempt a restoration? The author paints a story of making this shell into a home even as he describes the toll on his family. It was a fun read, and one of these days I’ll be pulling to the curb to view the house!

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Posted on August 26th, 2008 by toddg
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So, I made it two weeks and four books since my last Jack Reacher book, but the promise of five hours on a plane pulled this off of the shelf. This is actually the first appearance of Jack (even if a latter novel went back to his military days) and at this point he’s been out of the Special Investigators for just six months. While sitting at a diner in Margrave, Georgia, Jack is arrested for murder, a shock given his appearance ten minutes earlier. The town is immaculate, thanks to the mysterious Kliner foundation located at the city limits, and even after Reacher is cleared, he finds himself involved with the mystery and Roscoe, a local cop. This novel is written in the first person, unlike the others I’ve read, which gives interesting insight to the character. These books can be picked up in any order, but I really enjoyed seeing the beginning of Reacher.

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Posted on August 24th, 2008 by toddg
Filed under: Books, Mystery | No Comments »

This is a hard novel to classify and describe, but an easy story to follow and enjoy. Louis and Angel are hired killers, handled by men that act as agents and used as simple tools of destruction. A fellow reaper ends up dead in a bar bathroom, stabbed through the heart, and an attempt on associates of Louis and Angel follows. They are hired by the “enemy of their enemy” to hunt down a reclusive criminal boss, and get pinched in the process by a double-cross that lands them in the sights of Bliss, a reaper hired to delete the men that killed his son many years before. This novel holds the reader’s attention, and is different than anything I’ve come across elsewhere. I’d definitely pick up another of this author’s books.

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Posted on August 23rd, 2008 by toddg
Filed under: Books, Mystery | No Comments »

Hurrah - the author has returned to his pattern of creating “odd” stories out of common situations. This time, the administration of a California high school suddenly decides to become a charter school, removing it from the supervision of the larger district. This is, of course, the beginning of the “odd” things that Little tends to write into his stories - violence and sex that is disturbing in the way it is so pronounced and so natural for the characters. Here, the principal starts a band of student guards resembling the Hitler Youth, and many of the teachers and students fall into a pattern of depravity even as their own numbers are reduced. The author is a throwback to the horror novels of the early 80s when even cover was black with a streak of crimson, and every plot was a bit superficial but entertaining nonetheless.

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Posted on August 16th, 2008 by toddg
Filed under: Books, Horror | No Comments »

I didn’t actually read this book, so I can’t count it towards my 2008 quota, BUT having found myself facing nine hours on the road today, I picked up this Reacher book-on-CD to keep me awake. I was so entertained that I drove four hours without realizing that I had failed to stop for coffee! Jack is called upon by his deceased brother’s ex-girlfriend, now a Secret Service member in charge of the VP’s security detail, to conduct a security audit in the face of a threat to kill her charge. Jack pulls in his past colleague Neagley, and together they chase down multiple leads that lead them to a final showdown in Wyoming. Even the abridged CD version contains enough action to keep me enthralled, and I will definitely read the full version in the near future to see what’s different!

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Posted on August 12th, 2008 by toddg
Filed under: Books, Mystery | No Comments »

This is the author’s second novel featuring August Adams, a rare bookseller, and this time August receives a surprise package from his estranged father which contains a copy (or is it) of the Gospels of Henry the Lion. Of course, there must be an evil group searching for the book as well, and in this case it’s the Black Vehm, a group that believes that the Gospels will help lead them to religious artifacts hidden by Hitler in underground ice caves carved by the Nazis in Antarctica. Yes, you read that sentence correctly - and it actually works as a guilty two-day read! There are a few silly and unbelievable moments, but the story works in spite of, or maybe because of, these almost-cartoonish interludes. In a world of Da Vinci wannabes, this one is actually worth the time!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted on August 12th, 2008 by toddg
Filed under: Books, Mystery | No Comments »

Novels are difficult to write - I know, I’ve tried - and as a result I will usually give an author the benefit of the doubt. This was not a good book, and I had to force myself to the end, hoping all the while that something would change, shock me a bit. Nope. This story hinges on members of a Poe (as in Edgar Allen) Society being killed, and has the stock characters of butler, private investigator, and distressed girlfriend. The dialogue is very disappointing, and in the final eight pages, the killer was revealed with absolutely no build-up, that is, nothing pointed to this character at all. The “paranormal” aspect of the story that initially intrigued me involved a few people that could see ghosts, the latter of which showed up as emergency beacons. This book, in my opinion, held no positive attributes besides the ability of the author to fill nearly 300 pages.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted on August 10th, 2008 by toddg
Filed under: Books, Mystery | No Comments »

Book 7 of the series was finished today.  This was the last book that I read the first time through the series, so after this, it’s all new.  This book is very different from everything up to this point as we see the story from the point of view of a brand new character.  We don’t see the characters we’ve grown to know throughout the series until very late in the book and really only as a segue into book 8.  This was an interesting novel in it’s own right and if this was a stand alone book, it wouldn’t be all that bad….but there is just something about it that I had trouble getting through it.  Not sure if it was the book itself or just fatigue of the series as a whole.  Perhaps it’s time to take a short break and pick something else up in a different genre to keep this series from getting stale.  Not a bad book, just not one of the best.  6++/10

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted on August 5th, 2008 by jason
Filed under: Books, Fantasy | No Comments »

Book 6 of the Sword of Truth series was finished a few weeks ago but just now getting around to posting the review.  I feel this is one of the better books up to this point in the series.  There is not a lot of the typical sword and sorcery you might expect from a fantasy novel, but this books focuses more on the deeper development of Richard and his growth as a leader despite his circumstances.  People just naturally gravitate to him as a leader.  I really enjoyed this fascinating character development.  Moves the story sufficiently forward, though at this point, I’m not sure where we’re really heading.  8++/10

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Posted on August 5th, 2008 by jason
Filed under: Books, Fantasy | No Comments »

This was my third Jack Reacher novel in as many months, and actually I violated a personal rule by reading the same author back-to-back. I am really enjoying this character, however, and Child’s writing style is fascinating, low-keyed but spell-binding. In this tale, Reacher is a witness to a ransom drop in a kidnapping, and soon after is trying to figure out who’s a friend and who’s an enemy, carrying that quest from New York to London. Like Reacher, I was trying to figure it out, and unlike Reacher, I wasn’t successful! It’s time to move on to another author for awhile, but I’ll be itching to get back to Child and my newest favorite character.

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Posted on August 3rd, 2008 by toddg
Filed under: Books | No Comments »