G.I. JOE - THE RISE OF COBRA

A Del Rey Mass Market Original

Written by Max Allan Collins
Based on a Story by Michael Gordon, Stuart Beattie, and Stephen Sommers

and the Screenplay by Stuart Beattie, David Elliot, and Paul Lovett
Copyright © 2009 by Hasbro Inc.
Copyright © 2009 by Paramount Pictures

All Rights Reserved.



 A convoy of nano-tech weaponry, weaponry made from molecular robots - is ambushed by aggressive super-soldiers that are called Vipers. The convoy is rescued by a top secret elite team of soldiers from all branches of the armed forces called G.I. JOE. Survivors of the convoy, Duke and Ripcord soon join the team G.I. JOE as they go after the nano-tech weaponry the Vipers stole from the convoy before the Vipers can deploy the weapons. The Vipers collaborate with a weapons dealer, who basically is in charge of a group of terrorists - that will soon become the terrorist organization called COBRA.

This is a fairly straight-forward novelization of the movie with very little additional material to add to the adaptation, which makes it a little disappointing coming from Max Allan Collins. I expected a little more bite in the style from a novelization from the usually dependable Collins - especially after watching the movie, which was more commercialized. I wanted to see more of the envitonmental impact of the nano-technology weapons of grey goo eating all of the metal it touches, like when they ate the Eiffel Tower.

See movie review:
G.I. JOE - THE RISE OF COBRA

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Alfred HItchcock and The Three Investigators in The Mytery of Death Trap Mine

Random House

Written by M.V. Carey
Based on characters created by Robert Arthur

Copyright © 1976 by Random House, Inc.



 The 24th book in the series Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, written by M.V. Carey, teen aged boys - The Three Investigators - are invited by the uncle of their old friend Allie to spend some time at their ranch for the summer. Allie is suspicious of their neighbor who returned to his family's shut down mine and begins working the mine again. What valuable minerals could he be mining? There was a reason the mine was closed. Tensions rise when a suspect from an old armed robbery is found dead in a mine shaft and The Three Investigators search for a connection as to why the suspect came to the mine.

In this young adult book, Allie is the equal of The Three Investigators analytical abilities which is why she irritates the boys so much - because Allie is just as headstrong and competitive as they all are. It is too bad that I felt that The Three Investigators never really took to Allie. I have always felt that they needed a girl as a regular in this series as a resourceful companion to the boys, and Allie definitely fits the bill.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.