Eagle Reviews

This one seems to be a filler novel. After the action filled fifth entry in the series, the group doesn't even get it's mission until halfway through the book. After assassins stalk them in the city of Hue, the Eagles are sent out to boobytrap the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Although an above average action yarn in general, for this series it's a bit of a letdown.

given what i know of john ralston saul and the blurb on the back, i expected much better from this book. decrying corporatism, positing it as a new ruling morality, is genuinely interesting, but i don't think this is an interesting way of presenting it. the story-line is conventional, the female characters stock and tiresome, and the morality tale unambiguous and predictable. this book reminded me of nothing so much as of an ayn rand polemic, harsh words to be sure. while coming at a world view from a diametrically opposite perspective, the writing is similar in its uninterestingness. like the idea, don't like the realization of same.

The book starts off slow and without much dialouge. Within a chapter or two you start getting involved with the characters. The description of the "wood and water" battle is a very interesting concept. By the time I read the last chapter the author had me wondering what would happen next. For a first time author, R.C. Wild took an interesting time in American history and gave us a hero that we could believe in.

A must read for any Western or Cival War buff.

I suppose that dear reader could stereotype this novel and question why a man would read it. Considering the title and all, I guess that's a classic case of judging the book by its cover, isn't it? Because the title doesn't contain, the words "Kill," "Maim," "Suspect," "Massacre," etc., it's likely that this story would be easily missed. I'm glad that I don't fall for all of that stereotypical hype.

A young woman with four children finds herself widowed in a small mining town in England. She and her children are somewhat literate, being that they can read some and write their names. This particular talent seems threatening to her peers and she is treated as somewhat of an outcast. Finding little compassion for her loss, she is forced to uproot and go into the next town in search of a means to support herself and her family. She takes up residence as a housekeeper in the country manor of a reclusive gentleman who eventually teaches her children to read and write and introduces them to the finer things in life. But always at a price, we quickly observe.

Being the second Cookson book that I've been lucky enough to read, I can admit that she remains consistent. She chooses England in the early 1800's as her setting. Her characters speak (through her words) in that Queen's English that seems to be adopted by people of what was considered a low position on the social ladder. Reading this book was like learning a foreign language, but in an enjoyable way.

The best part about Cookson's writing is that she doesn't place all of her efforts in making the reader second guess what is going to happen. She doesn't present a mystery, murder, or crisis of some kind that would be clearly considered point "A" and spend the entire story leading the characters and the reader in the direction of point "B." If these points do exist in her efforts, the reader isn't aware of it. We just follow along with the story and read about someone's life. Life for most of us is not just a matter of getting from "A" to "B," where someone on the outside (such as dear reader) knows how we'll get from one place to the other.

I'm still trying to reconcile the title of the story, since the actual "black velvet gown" seemed like such an insignificant role in the story. But then again, I couldn't think of a better title that didn't sound like a cliché. Maybe it's this sort of literary obscurity that makes me want to read the rest of Cookson's work. I assure you that I'll read more and recommend that dear reader do the same.

I read all three books but of course Diana's was the best. I gave three stars because of Diana Palmer contribution. The books all centered around the Native American theme. The men were all of Native American decent. I stuggled through the second book, it was sooooo boring. The third book was toooo unrealistic. I found it confusing and a little hard to follow. However, I do know that Heather Pozzessere is a good writer. Anyway, the first book was DP's Hunter. This book is the followup of His Girl Friday. Jennifer Marist is a geologist who is under the protection of Phillip Hunter. They are on assignment to do a land survey in the Arizona desert. Jennifer is absolutely, irrevocably in love with Phillip and cannot hide her attraction to him. Phillip is not interested in an interracial relationship, but is attracted to Jennifer also. He is a product of an interacial marriage and saw the absolute misery his father endured at the hands of his mother. For this reason, Phillip strives to keep Jennifer at bay. Of course he is not always successful and this is fodder for some of the hottest sex scenes that Diana has ever done (whew!). This is a definite keeper, but only for this book. Good reading!

Castle of Eagles shows both the romance and the events of the times in Vienna. This book does give you a some information about Austria but I really enjoyed the plot.

The Haynes Repair Manual for the 1993-1997 Chrysler LH cars is useful overall, but lacking in some regards. I bought this manual as a complete beginner to the mechanics of automobiles. I only know the primary basics, and only in minimal detail. I thought this book would be a great way to get to know my 1997 Dodge Intrepid in a more intimate way. To an extent, I now can. The manual does lack in a few areas though, mainly in description and illustration. While there is basic instruction for all the repair and maintenance jobs covered, detail is scant. The pictures and illustrations are sometimes marginally helpful, but are usually of poor quality. Sometimes the pictures seem to not even correspond to what the task at hand is.

The manual can also become frustrating when you cannot find a certain repair or other task you'd like to read about. For example, nowhere in this manual can I find information about the reverse light that is located in the center of the rear lights cluster on my Dodge Intrepid. Another instance of frustration occurred for me when I was reading about the wheel and tire sizes for my vehicle. The manual briefly discusses tire size, quote "All vehicles covered by this manual are equipped with metric-sized fiberglass or steel belted radial tires (see illustration)". Upon examining the illustration, where it gives a tire size of P185/80R13, confusion is easily encountered. After talking with other Intrepid owners, and e-mailing Haynes Publishing Group, I was able to determine that the illustrated tire size was just an example and was not intended to indicate the actual tire size of the vehicles covered in the manual. In case you're wondering, the actual stock tire size for the Dodge Intrepid is either P225/60R16 or P205/70R15, depending on the trim (base or ES). The manual doesn't say this though, and I have yet to see where it discusses wheel (rim) size at all.

So if you're planning to buy this manual, I hope I have given you a little insight on how it reads. In my opinion it was worth the money I spent on it, even if I found it a little lacking for someone of my skill level. More pictures and better detail, and maybe some color, would have made this a five star manual for me. As it is, I can give it a solid 3.5.

Ted Allbeury writes espionage novels from the perspective of one who has experience as an operative in war and post war military and civil Intelligence.The world he depicts is a million miles removed from the glamour and gadgetary of a James Bond .It is a world of routine legwork and such non exotic locations as the English Midlands and quiet dormitory towns like Chichester .It is a world where truth exists rather to be concealed than revealed and the notion of an open society is a hollow mockery.
The Dangerous Edge opens in 1990 and contains two lengthy falshback sequences -both to Germany ,one to World War two ,and one to the immediate post war era.
In 1990 British Intelligence is concerned by tabloid press stories that they knowingly employed Nazi war criminals .The service is anxious to suppress the story because they know it is true ,and while unaplogetic about the fact they wish to avoid the embarrassment of the story becoming public.They assign an agent ,Mallory .to dig into the case mainly to see if there is a chain of evidence that could be used against them.His main find is Carter ,a retired operative who makes no bones about having used Nazi sympathisers to infiltrate the Soviet zone and obtain information about Soviet plans to sweep futher into the West after the war.
In a flashback sequence we are told of the recruitment and training of such men and in particular of one man , Zellar ,who was responsible for at least 50 deaths of Dutch resistance fighters
Mallory threatens to go public and the service goes into overdrive to stop him
Its a cynical novel .Remote in tone and unfussily written in a clear and serviceable prose.The author gives a sense of insider expertise and knowledge that will leave you with the view that our Intelligence community is imbued with "realpolitik" and expediency at the expense of morality.
Its not an exciting book but quietly gripping and well characterised by an still under-rated author

James Jackson advances the hypothesis that, during and after WW II, any Soviet soldier captured by German troops who either escaped or somehow survived in captivity until the end of the war and was repatriated, was treated as suspect and was either executed or sent to a slave labor camp.

Grisha Malmudov had been captured by the Germans during their initial advance into Soviet territory and spent the duration of the war as a slave laborer in German manufacturing plants. At the end of the war, he was lucky enough to be in a zone that was captured by U. S. forces. The U. S., in spite of almost certainly knowing the fate awaiting repatriated Soviet soldiers who had only recently been allies, chose the easy way out and sent them back to their probable deaths at Stalin's hands. I have no reason to believe that Jackson is wrong in describing our culpability and Soviet inhumanity.

Grisha, however, along with a few other lucky Soviet captives, was offered the option of being given a new identity and smuggled back into Russia in return for some minor spy activity. Feeling that he had no other option, he accepted the offer.

DZERZHINSKY SQUARE is unusual for this genre of book in that Grisha is presented as a real, feeling human being with a past, a family, and the whole gamut of human emotions. The Communist Party Functionaries, however, are stereotypical, wooden bureaucrats.

The tragedy of this story is that once Grisha is back and living under his assumed identy of Alexander Kuznetsov, he realizes that he can never see his wife and daughter again. Exposure could endanger not only his own life, but that of his wife who believes him dead, and his daughter.

For over 30 years he manages to sustain this fiction. He advances in his career to Chief Engineer of a motor manufacturing plant but remains a bachelor with no close friends and no real life.

What he has always feared eventually comes to pass, and he is found out, publicly tried as a traitor, found guilty, and executed by firing squad. At the time of his capture he does manage to reestablish contact with his wife and feels the relief of having a load lifted from his back.

This is not a traditional spy story. It is the story of a man burdened by the necessity of living his whole life fearing exposure. Grisha is a man who loved his country and was betrayed by that very country. It is a sad story of a good man in a less than good world. He had to turn his back on his very reason for existing in order to go on existing. How sad!

DZERZHINSKY SQUARE has anti-Soviet propaganda as a background but, in the foreground, it is a story about one man's love for his family and his country and his loss of both. It makes good light reading.

Two Soviet nuclear warheads were lost as they were evacuated back to Russia from a region troubled with militant separatists. Nearly two years later, a hostage rescue mission in the Middle East conducted by the Royal Marines in conjunction with warplanes from the HMS Eagle resulted in the death of the hostage and all the would-be rescuers except for the commander, Captain Peter. All the botched operation achieved besides the destruction of the organisation of the kidnappers was to leave their leader Abdul Habib alive with a burning hunger for revenge, and the enough money to achieve it. Two events : a prominent Turkish political commentator died attempting to warn the President of the United States of an impending nuclear outbreak in the Middle, and a known associate of the Habib was spotted smuggling into Spain, convinces Peter that the two events are linked. With little information and links to follow, stopping them would be difficult. But more difficult for Peter would be to convince his bosses who were convinced that Peter was still suffering from the trauma of the botched rescue.

Unfortunately, the author failed to develop several promising areas which could have make the book more gripping. Instead, the focus was on Peter as he stumbles through the bureaucrats and his own self-confidence. Abdul Habib could have been a very interesting villain who was confined to displaying his desire for revenge and seems to possess a clairvoyance to evade his pursuers without any problems. A sideplay of "naughty naughty" in the Whitehall failed to make itself relevant but became just a related premise. More interesting was the play of rivalry between the forces of the UK, US and the Russians who had to cooperate together but with very different agendas.

If Tom Clancy had written this book, it would have been four times as long with only twice the content. Geoffrey Archer though, gave too little to flesh out the characters.