Zero Day   by David Baldacci

This is my first David Baldacci read and I don’t know how I missed reading at least some of his books.  The book’s main character is John Puller, a combat veteran recently back from the Mideast.  He now works for CID that is short for Criminal Investigation Division, a US government agency.  The work he does is similar to what they do on one of my favorite shows, NCIS.  For all of you out there that is NCIS not NCIS Los Angeles.

Puller is sent out on a solo mission to investigate the brutal murder of a high level military officer and his family.  This murder occurred in a rural, remote area of West Virginia.  Coal Mining territory where practically the whole town is owned by one man who is also getting death threats. 

He enlists the help of a local sargent Sam Cole, that is Sam short for Samantha and together they start putting the pieces together to solve what initially started as one crime scene and turned into two.  Is this a murder involving a conspiracy, National Security, drugs or something altogether different?  You will have to read the book to get the answer.  It is a good thriller and a good read.  And from my research a second John Puller novel is being released in November.  So if you can’t get enough of John  stay tuned there will be more.

 

(If you are interesting in this book and wish to buy it please click on the book.)

Killing Lincoln:  The Shocking Assasination that Changed America Forever  by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard 

I am really not into politics or let’s just say I am not into discussing politics with others. It is a topic that brings out the worst in people and who needs that. That is why when I saw that this book was co-authored by Bill O’Reilly I almost passed it over. His books are usually not the ones I pick up and start reading. But it just so happens that there are a few Presidents that I find extremely interesting to read about.  They are Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Bill Clinton.  That makes two republicans and one democrat.  But it is not their politics that are the thing I find most interesting it is the man himself.

And so one Sunday morning I was reading the Washington Post and in the book section there was a write up on this book.  It peaked my curiosity and so I decided to read the book.  It truly did not disappoint.  The book although non-fiction is extremely interesting to read, not dull and boring like some history books tend to be. But as Bill O’Reilly says it is written as a thriller. The book is engaging from the beginning.  So much so that you actually feel like you are right there in the thick of things.  It starts with the battle of Petersburg and continues of course through the assassination of Lincoln. The Battle scenes were written so that I felt like I was there.  Descriptions of the men and the conditions were so real and captured the emotions, weariness, desperation and at time the elation these soldiers felt.  The authors gave great insight into the psyche and personality of General Grant and Lee as well. Their description of the movement of the conspirators and the President are so well written I felt like I was walking on the streets with them.  I must admit that it does help that I live in the DC area and have been down these streets myself.

At the end of the Civil War Lincoln was the most hated man in America. He received about three hundred pieces of mail per day and many were threats from people who wanted him dead.  In fact according to this book, Lincoln had very strong feeling that he was not going to live.  He taunted death by walking and riding through the streets of DC where anyone could come up to him and do the deed.  He was advised by many people that he was a target but he felt he needed to be close to the people.  He even dreamed of his own death.  To him it seemed it wasn’t if but rather when and somehow he made peace with this knowledge.

And of course what good would a book on the assassination of Lincoln be without going into great detail about the man who did the deed John Wilkes Booth.  This guy was a home grown terrorist.  He felt it was his duty to save the South and the Confederacy and he was the best man for the job.  Being the actor and narcissist that he was he felt this was going to be the greatest role of his life and he did everything he could to make sure that people knew it was him so that he would go down in infamy.  He certainly achieved that. 

The book also touches upon the idea that there was a conspiracy to kill Lincoln.  That aspect always has to be discussed in circumstances such as these just like those that surround the death of President Kennedy.

In closing, I highly recommend this book and when you read it, please come back and leave me your comments.

(If you are interestede in purchasing any of the books you read about in my blog please click on the book icon.)

Joy for Beginners  by Erica Bauermeister

I am on a quest to find a really good book to read.  Joy for Beginners is not the great book I was looking for but it was an interesting read.  Kate is diagnosed with cancer and finds herself on a grueling journey of surgery and chemo therapy to rid her of this disease.  Fortunately she has a great group of women, her friends, who are there for her one way or another.  Their energy and love see her through the worst of times and when her doctor declares she is cancer free they rejoice by having a dinner to celebrate.

At this dinner party she makes a deal with all of them.  To celebrate her new lease on life she will go white water rafting, something that has terrified her.  But if she goes she tells them they must do one thing that makes them uncomfortable or that they find challengingand here is the kicker she gets to choose what each of them will do,  So the author takes you on each of their journeys and the women wonder how Kate new exactly what  to choose for them.  But Kate is a good listener and all the conversations that she had with her friends during her illness gave her great insight.

The Swan Thieves by Elisabeth Kostova

As promised, I am writing about this book written by Elisabeth Kostova who, you may remember from my prior post wrote The Historian.  The Historian was a haunting and sometimes downright sinister tale of Dracula.  While reading it I often looked over my shoulder to see if I was being followed.  No worries about that when you read this book which deals with an artist who is mentally ill.

For some reason which I cannot seem to figure out at the moment I seem to be gravitating towards books with an artist as a main character.  The two others were Coming Up for Air and Trick of the Light.  Perhaps this is no coincidence.  Perhaps this is my subconscious telling me to go buy canvas and paint and create something.  Remember there are no coincidences.  Anyway back to the book.  As I mentioned the story revolves around a brilliant artist, Robert, who turns out to be mentally ill. 

The author uses this character to introduce and develop all the other characters in the book.  In fact, she also uses them to give insight into the inner workings of Robert’s mind.  So his story actually evolves through the eyes of his ex-wife, his mistress and his psychiatrist and in doing so their stories emerge as well.

The best thing about this book is how well this author writes.  You all now I read a lot.  For that matter I read a lot of fiction and I find it very refreshing to read an author is not necessarily writing “bestseller fiction for the masses”.  Don’t get me wrong, I love those books which is evident by my choice of books.  In fact one of the things on my bucket list is to write one of those books when I grow up, but nothing is more exciting than discovering a book that uses the English language well.

This is not the type of book you can breeze through rather it is one that you take your time, savor the writing and enjoy the story.  It is like a good bottle of wine that gets better after the first sip.