2015 Books

Only 89 books this year. Perhaps I'll get myself back on pace in 2016.

Dead Wrong, by Richard Phillips

This is a sequel to Mr. Phillip's enjoyable "Once Dead." In the first book, our hero, Gregory, is an ex-CIA agent who was saved by an alien force that goes on to inhabit his mind. In this one, Jack has to rescue an prisoner in South America and prevent an ancient alien artifact from falling into the wrong hands (which is to say anyone's hands). Meanwhile a bunch of folks want him dead.

This is all good fun and an interesting story.

Dead Wrong (The Rho Agenda Inception)

The Einstein Prophecy, by Robert Masello

Oh my.  Imagine a book set in Princeton NJ in 1944. Imagine Einstein making a critical last minute design fix to Oppenheimer's work on the atom bomb.  Further imagine this having been orchestrated by demons to increase evil in the world.  Now, because what novel would want to avoid implausible sex at first sight love angles, imagine a brilliant and pretty part-Egyptian gal falling for the hero. Did I mention, oh my?

Now imagine that you're going to ignore all historical facts that might otherwise make this work of fiction more believable. Like: carbon dating techniques (not used in 1944) or the sacking of Cairo by Rommel (he didn't get to Cairo). But frankly the ridiculous love affair between the Egyptologist and the hero bothered me more than the demons. And that's saying quite a bit.

This will probably be made into a movie. A bad one.


The Einstein Prophecy

City of Echoes, by Robert Ellis

This is a well written, interesting, but quite depressing mystery novel.  Our hero is Detective Jones, in his first assignment on LAPD's Homicide squad. He finds pervasive corruption -- so much so that it seems everyone with whom he works is either in on it or flat out eager to kill him.

Much as I'd like to recommend it for the writing, I won't because of the tiresome and fatiguing depressing morass of a plot.


City of Echoes (Detective Matt Jones)

Omega Exile, by Stephen Arseneault

This is a very enjoyable sci-fi novel. Our hero is Knog, a detective who is caught up in the corruption of his time but who will not waver from his moral compass. Interestingly, Knog is not a human although many other of the book's characters are. Highly recommended.


OMEGA Exile

Money Land, by RS Guthrie

I quite enjoyed this modern Western. When cartel -based crime shows up in a small Wyoming town, our hero, Sheriff Pruett handles things in an effectual, pragmatic fashion.  This is stripped down writing and very effective.

Money Land: A Hard Boiled Murder Mystery (A James Pruett Mystery Book 2)

Brain Web, by Douglas Richards

In this thriller, our hero Nick has brain implants that allow him to use the internet from his mind. Oh, he also can read the thoughts of others.  As the author says in his promotional blurb, "Based on actual research on thought-controlled Web surfing..." Okay, if you can get past that, read on.

It actually isn't bad!  The plot is interesting and the writing is good.

BrainWeb

In Her Name - First Contact, by Michael Hicks

This is a prequel to Mr. Hicks' "In Her Name" trilogy (the first novel of which is the excellent "Empire").  It is also an outstanding read. This book is the first of the prequel trilogy. And it is stand alone: you needn't have read any of the later books to enjoy this one, and if you have read them, you won't be disappointed by this either.

Mr. Hicks starts us off with an Earth -based survey ship discovering inhabited planets and scary alien creatures who massacre their victims. One survivor, Sato, tries to explain to the rest of Earth the nature of the threat facing their species.

I don't want to say more except that this book is at the same high standard of excellent writing and superlative pacing as his others.  If you're into sci-fi, I expect that you would really enjoy this series.


In Her Name First Contact

Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson

I have liked Mr. Stephenson's novels. Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books. In fact, this is the first of his books that I did not much enjoy.

All of Mr. Stephenson's books are lengthy.  The problem here is that only about 300 of the 880 pages in this book interested me.

The story line is good: the moon is broken apart and within a short time will rain destruction on the earth. It won't be safe on the surface for thousands of years. Add ons to the International Space Station become a hope for mankind's long term future. Drama ensues initially, and later in the book, as we fast forward 5,000 years, drama ensues again.

Overall too much detail about uninteresting things.

This could have been a multi-volume work, with shorter and more interesting discussion of mine- and submarine -based survivalists, along with the first parts of the story about the space station, and a dedicated book about the far future situation that better develops the human interest aspects of the political structure that evolved.

But it is what it is, and that is, the first of Mr. Stephenson's books that I actively recommend against reading.


Seveneves: A Novel

30 Pieces of Silver, by Carolyn McCray

Garbage.  Poorly written, uninteresting plot, nothing at all believable. And the author has the chutzpah to compare her novel with the DaVinci Code.  Oh please.  Just say no.


30 Pieces of Silver