TRIAL OF THE SEVENTH CARRIER

ZEBRA

Written by Peter Albano

Copyright © 1990 by Peter Albano



In Trial of the Seventh Carrier, written by Peter Albano - the sixth book in the Seventh Carrier series - the seventh Japanese carrier Yonaga and a WWII submarine go up against terrorists.

With Brent Ross serving on the WWII submarine Blackfin, tensions flare between him and the Blackfin's commander, Lieutenant Reginald Williams. It seems almost unamerican that these two should be at odds with each other. It seems to me that Ross and the Japanese should be at odds with each other instead of Ross and Williams, but Ross and the Japanese have grown to respect each other throughout the series. The Libyans and Japanese of course loath each other and the confrontations between these countrymen are pretty graphic.

The one thing that I keep waiting for, but so far has not been shown, is some kind of attempt to circumvent the Chinese killer satellite weapons system that is preventing the use of modern ships and planes and other modern weaponry and communications. This was basically preventing any real computing power and programming for military use. Despite the fact that as of 2013 we civilians are used to lots of computer devices, you would think that back in 1990 there would still be a lot more computer access for use in the military.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

The Lion

GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING

Written by Nelson DeMille

Copyright © 2010 by Nelson DeMille

In this sequel to The Lion's Game - The Lion, written by Nelson DeMille, has former NYPD homicide detective John Corey of the Anti-Terrorist Task Force being pursued by the wanted Libyan terrorist "The Lion."

As part of the John Corey series, this is a serious thriller, with typical witty asides from John Corey. There are several times I wonder how Corey's FBI Special Agent wife Kate puts up with him. Since terrorist Asad Khalil "The Lion" had escaped without a trace in a previous book, The Lion's Game, Khalil returns several years later to take care of unfinished business - get revenge on Corey and Kate for their interference in his last terrorist killing spree.

Leaving behind a series of bodies, both of civilian and Agents bodies in both Khalil's mission and in Khalil's revenge, Cory is determined to get Khalil - especially as Khalil has made his revenge personal.

It is interesting to see the contrast of the difference between Khalil's Libyan culture background and our American culture background. While you understand Khalil's motivation, even Khalil is extreme as far as his people is concerned.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

PATRIOTS

Ulysses Press

Written by James Wesley, Rawles

Copyright © 1990-2009 by James Wesley, Rawles. Fourth Edition (Expanded) All Rights Reserved.











Cover design: what!design@whatweb.com

Cover photos: istockphoto.com



In Patriots - written by James Wesley, Rawles - America in the near future has an economical collapse and the infrastructure of the country fall. Now a group of survivalists must gather together at an enclave to protect themselves from the gangs of looters.

Most of this book is more of a textbook on survival instead of having an actual story for the book since Rawles has a blog on family preparedness. Actually, most of the dialog between characters were more like an instructional manual of how they did things during their journeys and of gathering their gear instead of any real character development. The story did not really get interesting until the last third of the book as the characters deal with a provisional American government and a provisional President of the United States of America as they go to war. While I can understand that a provisional American government was put in place, I never got any real knowledge of how the original Federal government was disbanded aside from an economic collapse. There were also a couple of characters that I thought would become major characters in the book, but these characters just disappear without any resolution to them.

There is a disclaimer in an IMPORTANT NOTE TO THE READER that the novel is only for entertainment purposes only and not intended as a source of instruction. Although, there were a number of survival skills described that would seem to be quite helpful.

There is a Glossary at the end of the book of survivalist terms, as well as an Index of various survival subjects that you can refer to.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

ALEX RIDER - POINT BLANK

PUFFIN BOOKS

Written by Anthony Horowitz

Copyright Anthony Horowitz, 2001

All rights reserved



In Point Blank, the second book in the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, some billionaires have been mysteriously killed and orphaned Alex Rider is sent by MI6 - the British Secret Intelligence Service - to infiltrate a school in the snow-covered French Alps that is a school for these malcontent children of these high profile industry businessmen in order to find out why they are being killed.

Alex is brought by helicopter to Point Blanc by Mrs. Stellenbosch, the co-director of the Point Blanc Academy for young men. While at the Academy, Alex meets the students at the Academy which includes James - who wants to escape from the Academy. After sneaking out of his room, Alex sees a boy being dragged downstairs and believes it to be James. The next day, Alex sees James - whose attitude towards escaping the Academy have changed. James has become just like all the other robotic students at the Academy.

Alex soon finds out the sinister truth about the Academy - that the Academy is targeting these young men - and signals MI6 for help.

What I did not like was that the head of MI6, Alan Blunt, refuses to have his people go in on the Academy immediately - thus risking Alex's life. But I did like that when a team of SAS - Special Air Service - soldiers is finally sent out to liberate the school, the team is lead by Alex's former SAS trainer Wolf.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

KING KONG

THE MODERN LIBRARY

Written by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper

Novelization by Delos W. Lovelace

Introduction by Greg Bear
Preface by Mark Cotta Vaz

Introduction copyright 2005 by Greg Bear
Preface copyright 2005 by Mark Cotta Vaz

All rights reserved.



In King Kong - originally written by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper, with the novelization by Delos W. Lovelace - movie producer Denham is out to make a film with the new 8th Wonder of the World - the great ape, King Kong.

Denham takes a film crew and an innocent leading lady, Ann Darrow, out on a freighter ship in the South Pacific ocean and sails to an exotic tropical island in order to search for a mythical legend. There on the island full of dinosaurs, they run into the natives who kidnap the beautiful actress Ann and have put her up to sacrifice to the native's mysterious monster god - the giant gorilla beast King Kong.

This novelization of the original movie from 1933 gave me the feeling of the movie. The Preface by Mark Cotta Vaz explains how the story of the movie King Kong came about. This is especially important as some people like me might think that King Kong had came from a book first, but this is a completely original story that was created to be produced for a movie - with Cooper saying that he had gotten the idea from a dream that he had of a giant gorilla terrorizing New York. From reading the Preface, this story seems more like a biography about Cooper who is living his life vicariously through the character of Denham - especially with a film crew trying to film an unusual wildlife phenomenom. Greg Bear's introduction of the book gives a modern perspective of the story behind King Kong. The fact that the book is printed by Modern Library Classics shows how much of an impact this fictional story of a beast loving a beauty has had on the American popular culture for the movie story to be even considered to be a classic story.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language. 

Johnny Tremain

LAUREL LEAF BOOKS

Written by Esther Forbes

Copyright 1943 by Esther Forbes Hoskins
Copyright renewed 1971 by Linwood M. Erskine, Jr.
Executor of the Estate of Esther Forbes Hoskins



In Johnny Tremain, written by Esther Forbes, Johnny is a young silversmith apprentist who soon becomes involved with the start of the American Revolutionary War.

I have always wanted to read this book after watching the
Walt Disney Productions movie of Johnny Temain when I was a kid. In the book, Johnny appears to me as younger than what he was portrayed in the movie. Johnny was also more of an arrogant, egotistical kid in the book - at least in the beginning - than he was in the movie. I had difficulty liking Johnny as a result of his being so arrogant, as compared to Johnny being a hero to me in the movie. Johnny also does not have any good relationships with the people around him because of his arrogance. Aside from those things, most of the book was in the movie from what I can recall of the movie, as I have not seen the movie since I was a kid. Although, The Liberty Tree song was written for the movie of which the song was about the American Revolution. I was actually surprised at how much of the American Revolution events that was incorporated into the book that Johnny would be involved in, including Johnny being involved with several of the historical characters. Actually having the fictional characters of Johnny Tremain becoming involved in the American Revolution against the British Army Redcoats representing the British crown made the Revolutionary War come alive for me far more than it ever did for me in my American History classes of the revolutionary war battles as well as the American Minutemen coming alive for me as the Minutemen fought for the American War of Independence.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK and The Three Investigators in THE MYSTERY OF THE NERVOUS LION

Armada

Text by Nick West
Based on characters created by Robert Arthur

Copyright 1971 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.




In The Mystery of the Nervous Lion, written by Nick West, The Three Investigators are being sent by film director Alfred Hitchcock to the theme park - Jungle Land. The owner of Jungle Land, who is Hitchcock's friend, has rented out the park to a movie company - who has trouble with the owner's nervous lion.

Southern California is full of theme parks, some of which have come and gone, so this story of a theme park was rather appropriate for the series. Jungle Land is more like a zoo, rather than a typical theme park with attractions and rides. With only about four people to run Jungle Land, including the animal handler and the animal doctor, it is not surprising to me that Jungle Land was on the verge of bankruptcy and that they had allowed a film crew to film on their Land. I was surprised that Jim - the owner, along with Jim's nephew Mike - had made the trained lion as pretty much of a pet. So, while it was a surprise for Jim and Mike to find out that George the lion is nervous, it was not a surprise to me that the lion was a pretty dangerous animal to be around. Although, there was a good reason why the George the lion was nervous - having Jim and Mike in a sort of denial about George the lion being harmless was very reckless to me.

I liked the fact that the Three Investigators spent much more time at Jupiter's Uncle Titus's "Jones Salvage Yard" than they have spent in the earlier books. The Salvage Yard, after all, is Jupiter's home as well as The Three Investigator's Headquarters. So naturally the Investigators should spend more time in the Salvage Yard. There is more time spent with Uncle Titus and Aunt Matilda as well as time spent with their Bavarian helpers, the brothers Hans and Konrad. As a result, there was an equal amount of time spent between Hans and Konrad as well as spending the time with The Three Investigator's chauffeur Worthington.

There is quite a lot of danger for The Three Investigators involving escaped animals, as well as danger with an auto metal shredder.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.