Sterling Reviews

Thompson shares her "divine" wit in a feast of words to delight your palate - that is, if you are a bit of a renegade. Not for the faint at heart, pick up the book and find your thought-for-the-day, something to make your day a little crisper, your thought processes range a little further afield. Try it; you'll like it.

Author Mary Bringle has this to say about Sacred Hearts: Daily Reflections for Divine Renegades Sacred Hearts offers real comfort and true insights instead of blather. Sterling Thompson is the only guru who does not embarrass me and make me want to lampoon the concept of daily reflections in a savagely witty book.

Quantum Mind thanks Mary Bringle for permission to quote this review. (Bringle is author of Murder Most Gentrified, Hacks at Lunch, True Confessions: The Novel)

Truly insightful, inspirational and honest. This book is a must for anyone needing a little push to examine the way they live or don't live their lives! It is laced with humor and thought provoking anecdotes. I'm over 50 and the book has taken me on a wonderful journey of possibilities. My 19 year old daughter, who like many her age, is trying to grasp the meaning of life and its purpose, has borrowed the book and absolutely loves it! She got more out of the book in 10 minutes than in the 19 years I've been trying to provide insightful advice. This book is for all generations. I highly recommend it.

For anyone who wants to know the indepth ramifications of the new threat of global organized crime then look no further than Claire Sterlings supberb effort. I have read two other of Claire Sterling's books and was impressed. Very few authors can boast such a talent for researching as Mrs Sterling does.
The book covers the networks of organized crime groups as she details their very important relationships with each of the other. Also what I found very impressive is the way she manages to get the figures for the numerous sums of money that is floating around so many the illegal markets. She also talks about the "Pax Mafiosi", something that Judge Falcone was aware of, the Pax Mafiosi being the new conglomeration of multinational criminal confederations, that is now the biggest threat to the worlds economy. The Russian Mafia are also mentioned to great aplomb, the mysterious syndicates that are now thriving following the break down of the old USSR. This book is an absolute must for anyone seeking knowledge about how the modern Mafia's are joining forces and becoming a multi hydra headed monster, that just keeps on growing new heads, when others are cut off.

Claire Sterling does an amazing job of exposing the new world order of organized crime. Her references seem impeccable and the story she tells is one of world governments crippled by an inability to coordinate and cooperate to the degree that counter-governments (ie, crime families) are cooperating. As a result, the world Sterling paints is one where crime is rapidly becoming the single dominant force in world politics and economics.

This book represents and remains one of the most significant studies of the threat magnitude of international organized crime available today. It is a shame that it is out of print and that it has not received the attention it deserves. Sterling's thoroughly documented study makes crystal clear the breadth and depth of control/leverage purchased with drug profits by international crime organizations acting as a cooperative international affiliation of predators with an objective of power and all that can be achieved with such power over societies little aware of their existence. Sterling's work is an important statement that should have received far more visibility.

Although not too impressed with the Sterling story, the one by Russell is definitely worth listening to. Just wish I could find more by this author!

I stumbled upon this tape on a lark. Boy, am I glad I did. Talk about an idea whose time had come. I especially liked the story by Ms. Sterling. It really grabbed me and made working out enjoyable for a change. In fact, I worked harder than I normally do and didn't even realize it.

I gave this a try because I'm always looking for a way to stay motivated through my dull walking routine. These truly are "romantic walks". There's just enough in both stories to keep you interested. Aruba Sunsets (the Russell story) was a real fantasy love affair. Dangerous Waters had a touch of mystery mixed with romance. They both crammed a lot into 45 minutes! Both had great Caribbean settings that really took me away.

The Big Bike Race by Lucy Jane Bledsoe

In The Big Bike Race the main characters are Sonny, Ernest, Melissa and Grandma. His Grandma has raised Ernest and his sister, Melissa since the death of their parents. Ernest wanted a sleek bike for his tenth birthday. Instead he gets a chunky yellow one with streamers and baskets hanging off. Since his family is poor he wasn't too sad when he got a bad bike.

He thought if he won the junior division of the Citywide Cup he would win the new sleek bike. Then he met a professional racer named Sonny. Sonny, his coach, taught Ernest to be a good bike racer. Sonny said that it's better to have a great body and a bad bike instead of the other way around.

The Citywide Cup took place in Washington D.C. Ernest was really good but his bike was too heavy so he finished in thirteenth place. This is amazing because he only got about a month to train. Ernest got lucky because he was friends with Sonny , who won the race and got the new bike. He gets Sonny's old bike which is better than his yellow clunker.

I think Ernest will win his next race because he has a good body and a good bike now.

I liked this book because it shows you don't have to do everything without help.Ernest didn't give up when he lost the bike race. His friendship with Sonny taught him how to be a good bike racer and helped him earn a new bike.This book is good because it presents a believable story. So bike on down to your closest library and get this book!

Reviewed by Eli (8 years old)

This book is about a boy named Ernie who dreams of being a bike racer, but is poor. He gets a secondhand yellow clunker, not a racing bike, but he learns that your determination speeds you up more than your bike.

I read this book because I decided to take up golf, and didn't really understand it. It's cute, the illustrations are charming, and I finished with a slightly better understanding of golf. Overall, its an okay read. I would recommend it for younger children, though. Although it's written by an eighth-grader, it seems more suited to a fourth or fifth grader. It would be great for kids starting golf, and is good for adults. (just dont let any of your friends see, or they might tease you forever.)

The little one's view on golf opened the doors into his world. In his book, we see how his everyday observation on the green brings life and color to this wonderful sport. The extrodinary sense of humor and playful metaphors make this book a great buy!Your kids will love the insight and the humorous pictures that accompany Drew's style of writing.

"We are like the body, which needs all its parts to work. We are like the fingers of the hand." These were the early, impassioned words of the apparently soulless doyenne of the garment trade who is found murdered--and mutilated by the severing of her hand--in her sophisticated apartment. The case comes to Frank Clemons, as he anticipates: "He didn't know what he'd been waiting for but only that when it came, it would be wrapped in something else, that he wouldn't recognize it until, like a hand in the dark, it suddenly gripped him from behind." The wrapping turns out to be the garment trade itself, and the grip is the long, hidden past of a woman who appeared to have no past. Clemons' investigations lead him back into the lives of garment workers in the 30s, the world of women and men who "worked their fingers to the bone" and ultimately, to the continuing injustices done against workers in our own day. As always, Cook shows himself to be an extraordinarily fine writer, casually shedding incandescent images the way a welder's torch sheds sparks. His main character, Frank Clemons, is a man suffering from the deepest alienation. Grey is his color, night his time, dullness his tone of voice. He represents the determination to mourn truthfully for his own daughter, a suicide victim, and also for the victims of crimes he has solved in the past. There is integrity in his stance, as against his lover's determination to fuzz the edges of her own grief with material comforts and pastel colors. But one has to be grateful that Clemons picks up an exotic and witty sidekick in Farouk, whose fatalism is lifted by a certain joy in companionship and the human condition. If the novel has a flaw, it's that a host of characters cross the stage, do one stunningly informative turn, and then disappear, never to be seen again. To Cook's credit, he endows each with individuality, and the story strung together on this series of encounters is fascinating--even a little fantastic toward the end--but never outright unbelieveable. What remains most moving is the image of the victim as a young woman, speaking out in the cold, a defiant fist raised for justice. Cook's antihero does justice to her--brings all her life together, like the fingers of the hand.

Thomas H. Cook is an above the average mystery/detective author. His descriptions of environment, human emotions, and situations outdo most modern writers. This is one of his best novels centered around the main character who has appeared in his other novels: Frank Clemens, a former policeman from Georgia who is now in New York City functioning as a private detective. Frank Clemens, himself, is a unique star in that his personality is a dark, brooding one, with dominant and admirable traits of honesty, loyalty, and commitment. He demonstrates a deep desire and need to undestand and unfold the lives of the people he investigates, digging into the depths of their souls, and bringing to light their passions, weaknesses and strengths. In this novel, Clemens teams up with Farouk, who along with Frank investigate the murder of a garment industry worker who rose from sewing machine operator in the 30's to a major consultant in a firm upon her murder. Her murder is a little different in that her right hand has been severed at the wrist and is missing. Frank is hired by the head of the design company to find a next-of-kin for this woman, Hannah Karlsberg, who seems to have no past. What Frank and Farouk unravel is a long trail of murder, suicide, rape, corruption, revenge and forbidden love. An exciting book, I read it in 2 days, not being able to put it down. The ending is a "sure to grab you" twist you'd never figure out until the last few pages. Exceptional!!!

This book has a wonderful selection of Queen Anne, Mission, Italianate, Colonial Revival and other architectural styles represented. The photos are large and colorful. The 50 houses are all beautiful in different ways. And the stories about these buildings, their history, and their owners are interesting. I would love to see photos of the insides also.

A practical interesting guide that makes touring the neighborhood of Olde Town a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I found the biographical sketches of the original owners fascinating.

Robin Sterling's vivid diary of the last days of the fall of the Shah held me from the first page until the last when she was boarding the bus to be evacuated. I felt I was following those intense events again, this time from inside Iran, not just from the media view. Her love for the people she met before the craziness took over is evident throughout. This should be reprinted --everyone needs a glimpse of the Islamic world that exists below the media hype that passes today for information.

I loved this book. Wonderful humor. I literally laughed out loud at many, many points in the book. It was really interesting to see Robin Sterling's love and compassion for the individual people she met in Iran as well as her details of the compassion individual Iranians had for the Americans in Iran at the time of the revolution. AS the other reviewer did, I felt as if I were reliving those days but with a lot more insight into Iran, her people, and why the center did not hold. I'd love to see more by Robin or Martie Sterling and I'd love to see this book reprinted given recent events. Wonder what R. Sterling's up to these days?

Being from a small town in Georgia myself, I completely bonded with the characters in both Mossy Creek books. These authors have done a wonderful job continuing these delightful stories and I look forward to reading more.

I have waited for the new mossy creek book very much, but I was a bit dissappointed. It was great meeting the old wonderfully exentric characters of the first book, but the reunion was laced with pain and hurt. The book concentraed around the question who burned Mossy Creek's old high school 20 years ago? The question unearthed secrets from the town's past. Some of the stories were really great like the love story between shy Josie M. and bigfoot, but while the first book was all along touching and fanny and a just a little bit sad, the second one had too much hurt people in it. But still I want to hear about the residence of mossy creek so I will buy the next book, I just hope it will be uplifting as the first.

With the twenty-year reunion at Mossy Creek, Georgia coming soon, Creekites wonder who burned down the town's high school back then that has forced locals to attend nearby rival Bigelow High School? Apparently the arsonist is taunting the Creekites by having sent to the town the ten cent fortune telling machine used during that homecoming day when the fire changed so many lives.

Though not even born yet, wallflower Josie McClure knows the impact of the fire because her mother was the homecoming queen who never celebrated her victory and forced her to compete for the Bigelow High School Homecoming Day Queen, which she humiliatingly lost. Rainey Ann Cecil thinks back to that fatal day in 1981 when she was twelve and with Robert Walker and Hank Blackshear believed they caused the fire. Amos Royden is now the sheriff and would like to solve the case that his now deceased father always felt blemished his law enforcement record. Other are impacted by either the fire or the upcoming reunion. Will the reunion complete the destruction of the Creekites or refurbish the civil pride of being a Creekite?

Written as a series of vignettes tied together through the reunion, the story line is humorous and sad focusing on how a pivotal event can change lives forever. Though an ensemble, the characters come across as genuine leaving readers to understand their pain, loneliness, and their need to belong. Fans will enjoy tremendously REUNION AT MOSSY CREEK and want to read the previous slice of small town southern living, MOSSY CREEK. Both novels colorfully and cleverly illustrate small town southern living.

Harriet Klausner

I gave this book three stars because parts were pretty boring. It kept me reading in the beginning and the end. I think it was a good book and I recomend it to people who like animals. When the book starts out Robbie Trent(a thirteen year-old boy) learns of a wolf den and wants a whelp for a pet. When they find the wolf den Robbie climbs into it and gets the whelp he wanted. His parents let him keep it and as time progresses the wolfling grows bigger and bigger. The book ends when Robbie, Wolf, and Inga (this girl he likes) live happily ever after.

When Robbie Trent learns of a wolf den, he wishes to have a wolf welp for his own. When one of his school mates also learns of the den he wishes to have all of the welps for bounty paid by the Wisconsin Government. When the two meet up at the den......... THE RACE IS ON!!!!!!!!!

A 12 year old boy wishes to have one of Old Three Toes' wolflings. When Bubs, one of his schoolmates finds the den he hopes to get the wolfling before Bubs and his father smoke out the wolves.