Katamaster

• Rated 2 stars

“The usually dependable Grippando goes off course with this one and tries to cram too many ideas into one story (Maddoff, witness protection, government plots, corporate intrigue, computer hackers, terrorists, mercenaries, et al.). On top of that the title of the book refers to a Lady Antebellum song and really has no bearing on the meat of the plot.

Patrick Lloyd was sent to Singapore by a government agent to spy on Lily Scanlon who may have knowledge of two billion dollars that was being funneled through the Bank of Switzerland to off-shore accounts. These funds may be the only money that was not actually part of a Ponzi scheme enacted by Cushman who lost 60 Billion (same amount as Maddoff?).

This later leads to Patrick and Lily being hunted by everybody from a mercenary from South America, an ex government agent called Mongoose, and the Treasury Department for which BOS new boss came from. The story gets so convoluted and later brings in a computer nerd (called a quant) named Evan who has a wall chart that looks like it was taken out the the television series "Flashfoward." This quant is able to break encyrption and even to partial decode a memo that has the highest level of encryption.

As I said it seems like the author tried to take every type of idea and try to bring them together to make a story. The story is actually difficult to follow and sometimes you need to re-read prior sections to remember who some of the characters are. ”

Katamaster wrote this review Sunday, January 8, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“This is the second Alex Hunter tale I have read (Beneath the Dark Ice) and though this book is not nearly as good as the first it is important in the evolution of Alex Hunter's abilities. The book draws a lot of similarities from the first with Alex's HAWCs paired with a scientist to get something from a foreign power with a giant creature trailing Alex's team. The creature this time is an alien entity brought to Earth from the opening of a small black hole.

Scientists in Iran accidently discover the means to create a temporary black hole. This technology could be used to harness energy greater than the sun. It also could destroy everything that we know. Alex and his team are joined by Adira (an Israeli Special Forces agent) and Zach (an Israeli scientist) to go covertly into Iran and steal the new technology before Israel has no choice to launch a nuclear attack against Iran.

The book moves a lot slower than Beck's first book and the creature that tracks the team bears an amazing resemblence to the creature Alex battled in the Antarctic caves. As the book evolves Alex learns about more abilities that he has and his other abilities seem to get stronger. Alex is like a super Shane Schofield (Mathew Reilly's main character, whose books are similar to these first two Beck books)always going up against the best special force agents and impossible odds. In this book we learn about three brands of Iranian black ops agents and they are so fearsome that the Mossad are even afraid.

An above average action thriller which I give just above three and a half stars. ”

Katamaster wrote this review Sunday, January 8, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Not since The Devil in the White City have I read a history book that gripped me from start to finish. The authors do an amazing job of transporting the reader back in time where the reader feels like they are actually there. It starts with the last days of the civil war. It describes the events in such detail and suspense that even though you know that Lee will be cornered at Appomattox, you keep thinking that maybe he will escape back into the South.

I could barely believe how Lee's soldiers could have fought so fiercely with no food or sleep for days, while marching over a great distance. Some of the fights included men fighting like wild animals, using teeth and anything else.

The grandeur of Lee's actual surrender is utterly amazing. Now for the conspiracy. It is told in such a way that all the way up until Booth fires the fatal shot, you are hoping that he will change his mind. The level of detail about that April 14th is so amazing that the authors had to sift through an incredible amount of research and then sort it chronolgically. Amazing!

For real history buffs there are reprints of the Harper's Bazaar articles about the assasination and the hunt for Booth and the others.

Had I had a book like this in College, I probably would have taken a lot more history. The people that write those droll history textbooks should take a lesson from this book! ”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Several of the readers at Amazon have compared this work to a Mathew Reilly or a James Rollins' novel and I most wholeheartedly agree. This definately reminds me alot of a combination of Ice Station and Amazonia and the main character (Alex Hunter) can easily be a suped up version of Shane Schofield or Painter Crow. A group of special forces (HUACS) enlist the aid of some scientists to find out what happened to another group that was lost in Antarctica. The military also suspects that the area involved may be the site of a huge deposit of oil that could cause several nations to battle over it.

Alex Hunter is a type of Captain America, in that he has enhanced strength, speed and senses. This was caused by a bullet to the brain, that caused his neuron channels to find new paths and allowed Alex to use his entire brain. something similar happened to John Travolta's character in the movie Phenomenon). Hunter's Russian arch enemy (Borshov) was the one who had shot him in the head and left him for dead. Of course Borshov will have to return to stalk Hunter and his group, to make sure Hunter stays dead this time.

Hunter and his group of scientists get to the site and go underground. Beneath the ice lies remnants of an ancient civilization and creatures left over from prehistoric times. Some of these creatures are pretty nasty but the main problem is a leviathan size creature that has the ability to mimick human appearances (reminiscent of The Thing). The action is virtually non-stop and the tension is high, especially since Borshov is able to seal off the only way in to under the ice.

I would have rated the book a full five stars but there were too many similarities to other books as mentioned above.”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“This book is listed as being "reintroduced." Well it is so good I wonder why it didn't do well the first time around. Marvin is a writer with many ideas for screenplays. Some of them center around the mind of serial killers. He hangs around the buildings of famous movie directors hoping that he can directly hand one of his scripts to them. The doormen of some of these buildings report him to the police. He is then visited by a pair of detectives who believe that Marvin may be responsible for the disappearance of several women.

Spaced throughout the book, written in italics and told in "first person" by an apparent psycho who has captured a woman and is keeping her prisoner in a basement to be a sex slave. The woman who is named Sarah, happens to be missing female that the two detectives investigating Marvin believe has been abducted by a serial killer.

There is some great writing as Marvin matches wits with the two detectives and tries to prove he is smarter than they are. The reader is never sure is the psycho in question, though all signs seem to point to him. In such a short novel, the author really builds a connection with the reader to Sarah, Marvin, the two detectives and the psycho. The story never gets boring and it is very difficult to put this book down. Should not be missed! ”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“The author brilliantly uses a fairly simple plot to weave a tension filled thriller. You won't find any complex government plots, improbable escapes or conspiracies. Instead we get a well written story that has engaging characters (even a hero who likes to say "you all" a lot).

Jake Crosby and his young daughter Katy go to an Alabama hunting area to hunt wild turkeys. This simple father/daughter outing becomes a nightmare when a group of dangerous men with nothing to do, decide to rob the camp house where Jake and Katy are staying. Jake is forced to shoot one of the intruders but the others vow revenge and relentlessly pursue Jake and Katy through a heavily wooded and remote area.

The writing is what makes this one good and does a good job mixing in bumbling law enforcement, poor cell phone service and additional victims that end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jake must constantly stay one step ahead of the bad guys while slowed down by a shoeless Katy and another young lady with an injured leg.

This is the type of story that transports the reader directly into the fray and as the Sheriff's men seem to miss all clues, you want to scream out to them. The book is difficult to put down so be forewarned.
”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“This story sucks the reader in from the start and grips you most of the way. Mike Wingate was abandoned by his father and left in a schoolyard when he was four. Mike was in such shock of being left there that he didn't know his own name or where her lived. He ends up being raised in a boys home where he makes friends with an outcast named Sheppard (called Shep). Sheppard becomes a professional criminal while Mike seems to shake off his shakey past and becomes a successful building designer.

On the eve of getting a huge contract for green "dream" houses, Mike learns that a subcontractor put non-green PVC pipe throughout the base of the complex. Mike feels that he is cheating everyone by calling "green" houses that are not really "green." He is told to forget about it and has his picture taken with the Governer. From then on Mike's life takes a huge turn for the worst and two dangerous men start to threaten him and his family.

When the situation starts getting out of hand, Mike needs to call on his dangerous "friend" from his past, Shep, for help. Even with the help of Shep and a private investigator, Mike has to go on the run to protect his wife and daughter and it seems that not only are the two bad men after him, but powerful forces in the government want to kill him.

As I stated up front, for most of the book this is a real page turner and highly tense. Once the reader learns why Mike is being chased, the explanation seems a little lame and the book seems to run out of steam though there are a few tense moments later on. All in all, this had the makings of one of the best thrillers of the year but I still rate it four stars. ”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I agree with other reviewers in that you need to at least read the first book (The Breach) in the trilogy to fully appreciate this one. As in the other two books, this one starts with a bang. The president (Garner) is hit with a bomb while giving a speech and the Vice President (Holt) takes over. It seems his number one priority is to take over Tangent.

Meanwhile Travis Chase, Paige and Bethany are at work at the underground Tangent complex when they learn about Garner. They receive a desperate call about "Scaler." Travis and Paige search Tangent's archives and learn that all references to Scaler have been removed. Paige is sure her father knew about it and that a woman he was close to in Tangent should know. They decide that she should use a Breach device called the Tap to go back to a memory she had of her father and see if she can find out about the mysterious woman her father knew.

The Tap allows them to learn the present day location of the woman but also reveals Paige's father to be incredibly secretive about anything to do with Scaler. As with the two previous books, as they go to investigate swarms of bad guys come out of the woodwork after them. This time the bad guys are all under the direction of the new president Holt.

Holt launches a spectacular attack on Tangent and Travis and Paige only have about 24 hours to learn everything about Scaler before something terrible will happen. Other Breach entities will come into play and the Tap will factor greatly in them learning what they need to know.

Most of the book is full of chases and battles. The author finally reveals what the Breach is about and why Travis is so important. Also, why the note from the future from Paige, instructing the current day Paige will be explained. Though most questions are answered by the end, there is still room for a sequel book should the author choose to do so.

I liked most of the book and would not mind a sequel. ”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Professor Ward had discovered a new manufacturing process (codename Adamas) that he tried to sell to an unscrupulous businessman (Tarnwell). When Ward tries to extort additional payment from Tarnwell, he sends some bad guys to take care of Ward. Ward's last act is to send an email to Kevin (a struggling University student) that the Key to Adamas is in Kevin's thesis paper and that the bad guys had killed Stein (Ward's lawyer.

Kevin learns that Ward and his wife had died in a fire and then gets the email. He thinks something may not be right so he calls the police to let them know about the email. The same two bad guys that took care of Ward appear at Kevin's apartment posing as police so he thinks they came in response to his call. When he finds out they are not really cops, he escapes and then gets help from his female friend Erica.

Tarnwell seems to have a lot of connections and has all his forces chasing Kevin and Erica while they try to determine what the "key" in Kevin's paper is and to try to get someone to believe them that the baddies are after them.

The author does a good job with the pairing of Erica and Kevin as each has their own past issues. They constantly need to stay ahead of the bad guys and there are several tense moments. The main bad guy (Lobec) is a "super polite all business" bad guy that makes him more scary.

I really liked the book and would have given it the full five stars except I felt that Tarnwell had entirely too many resources working for him and sometimes the bad guys looked overly dumb. ”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“Ever since King's early work (The Stand, Misery, The Shining) he seems to have been just a prolific writer of mediocracy. This book is his big comeback! In probably the best book of have read in 2011, King grabs the reader from the beginning with excellent characters, an interesting story proposition all in a setting that actually transports the reader back in time to experience the late 50's going up to the fateful day of Novemenber 22, 1963.

Jake Eppling is an English teacher whose good friend Al at the diner, all of a sudden looks to have aged overnight and seems have have lost about 30 pounds in a day. Al decides to let Jake into a little secret. Under Al's diner is a portal to the past specifically to 1958. Jake thinks Al is crazy but Al gets Jake to go through on a "test" run. Jake finds out that what Al says is true.

Al then starts telling Jake about his experiences in the past as well as explaining the rules. Al says that while you could spend years in the past, only about 2 minutes passes in the present. On Al's last excursion he spent a few years and that is why he appeared to age overnight. Al had done many experiments and found that he could alter the present by changing things in the past. However, each time he went into the past there is a "reset" and everything is back as it was in 1958 and the present gets reset to its original history.

Al is dying from cancer and has little time to live. He begs Jake to do what he couldn't do on his last mission to the past and that is stay around to meet up with Lee Harvey Oswald and prevent him from carrying out the JFK assasination. Jake has to act quickly because the diner is to be turned over to a developer who will level it at the end of the month.

Al gives Jake a new identity as George Amberson and provides him with all his notes about Lee Harvey Oswald. Jake eventually takes on the mission but finds everything may not be the way Al described as there may be bigger forces involved that Al didn't understand.

During George's (Jake's) time in the past he meets incredibly intriguing indivduals and builds a life that he really didn't have in the present. All through George has to decide whether he should give up his mission and enjoy his good fortune to be in a much better life than he had in 2011.

The timeperiod literally comes to life and the reader seems to be right there in the past, seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, tasting the tastes that George experiences. George starts getting a sense that the past has almost a soul of its own and will try to prevent anyone from changing it. The reader notices that a lot of the clues are given by the mysterious "Yellow Card Man", that both George and Al had encountered.

The book is one of King's larger ones along the size of "It," however it is a much better read than "It" was. It is interesting that the characters from that book are referred to several times in this book and parts of the book take place in Derry. I hope that King can stay on a roll and put out a few more books that match the quality of this one!”

Katamaster wrote this review Thursday, December 22, 2011. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink )