Fourth-market Books

This book is about the Kent State shootings in May, 1970 where four students were killed and 10 other people were wounded. Bill Warren, the "editor," was at the time a 19 year-old sophomore at Kent State majoring in anthropology.

Probably the most important aspect of this book is that it was published by Avon in all haste, immediately following the shootings. In fact, the text is conveyed in a manual typewriter font and typos are rampant. The 160 pages are hand-numbered and cut-and-paste photocopies of contemporary newspaper accounts make up facets of the work. There are some pretty good black-and-white (non-professional) photos of activities during the week of the fateful incident, including a shot of the burned ROTC building.

Warren assembled anecdotal accounts of various students and faculty members so the story is told mostly from that perspective, rather than from that of the officials who chiefly gave rise to the shootings.

If you are unfamiliar with the incident, riots were popping up here and there on college campuses (and elsewhere) during the late 60s and early 70s across the nation in protest of the Vietnam War. President Nixon had recently expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia which helped to feed the flames.

Due mostly to some broken windows of businesses caused by students in the small Ohio town of Kent, and also to the burning of the University's ROTC building, conservative Republican Governor James A. Rhodes (at the behest of the Kent mayor) sent in the National Guard to quell the problem. The Guardsmen were poorly prepared for the task -- they were mostly untrained and they had just come off duty from dealing with a truckers' strike and so they were pretty much tired out. They were additionally led by a pretty hard-core commander who was clearly not fond of college students.

On May 4th, in a panic of sorts, some of the Guardsmen opened fire with live ammunition on a large group of students, some of whom were protesting on the Campus' Commons area and a tragic historical event thus became manifest.

After the shootings, (I was attending college in Ohio at the time but not at Kent State), everyone had an opinion -- there was no middle ground. Folks either hated the students and said that more of them should have been shot, or, they hated Governor Rhodes and President Nixon (who, by the way, despised Jim Rhodes for this debacle) for causing the deaths of the students. A lot of people on both sides gave the National Guardsmen, who did the actual firing, a bit of a pass and blamed their leadership for the tragedy.

The written accounts of the students are about what one would expect. They contain many interesting insights which are all but lost now. The commentary of faculty members is more inflammatory in nature and I was surprised at their lack of writing competence, sometimes using certain words incorrectly. But Kent State was not Harvard. It was a state college for mostly middle-class students, so certain faculty members were not necessarily the top people in their respective fields. One also has to take into account that the adrenalin was no doubt still flowing and these faculty members likely had difficulty in containing their personal anger and grief as they wrote out their views on the incident.

If one weeds out the loaded language within the text, s/he can glean out a pretty fair account of what actually happened. Each of the stories exudes a primal, guttural truth, mostly because these testimonials were garnered so soon subsequent to the tragedy.

Don't look for professional essays here -- but if you want to know the whys and hows of the Kent State Shootings then I can highly recommend this book to you.

Some other reviewers have compared this to the Matrix. Let me tell you, the action is nothing like the Matrix, and neither is the pace. Lots of talking, flashbacks, and description here more than action.

Overall the book took a slow pace, and I found the author a bit wordy. That said, I liked the premise of the story.

The backstory as to who and why and where it starts fills kind of rolled in though and not well explained. Perhaps a cheap pawn off excuse for the rest of the story.

The dialogue feels stilted and the flow is a bit rough around the edges.

Good points -
Characters grow and change during the story.
Some really likeable characters.
Good descriptive detail where important.
Open viewpoint on religion - bonus points for that.

This is my first novel by him that I've read. I'm going to buy the 2nd book in the trilogy. Expecting the writing to only get better.

I came on this book cold--I knew nothing of the reviews, the author's mysterious identity, etc. It was just a book on the library shelf. And so I read this book as a virgin, innocent and pure. After thoroughly enjoying it, I was surprised to learn about the author's mystery and the book's buzz.

The book does deserve some attention. It's a fun story, and it speculates on a world not so different from that of Bush and Cheney. Tools of the the War on Terror feature heavily in the novel, and evil emanates from those who distrust that which they cannot control. With the War on Terror with us for many years to come, such fiction is not only interesting, it is important.

As other reviewers have suggested, the characters are flat. The author has a lot to learn about writing--the novel lags at times, and the reader can easily drift in and out of the novel's draw. But, for the most part, I eagerly returned to the book, hungry for more looks into a world so very like our own.

Enjoyed the book, enjoyed the sequel. Agree with the "so-what-ers" regarding the New World Order stuff. What is their aim? They want to control the world and make lots of money for themselves? There are plenty of people doing that already without the need for a new world order. Now "John Twelve Hawks" or Nigel Smith (which is his real name - he lives in Solihull near Birmingham in the West-Midlands, not on in the high plains desert in New Mexico - I suspect he was exposed to Wall of Voodoos album, "Call of the West" young in life), what you need to give your books some direction is a "set piece". Look, (places guiding arm around Mr Hawks' shoulders, or can I call you "Twelvy") with your global super-villains, you need 3 things. Firstly they should have a big base under a volcano or in space or something, secondly they should have a clear mission statement detailing their evil plot ("We intend to be a world class evil organisation, which values its employees, instils a shared responsibility to meet organisational aims and plans to use giant lasers to make the sun explode (or similar). The Tabula promotes total evil quality management and is ISO 9001 certified) and thirdly, there needs to be a set piece in the third book where people in black tactical suits storm the evil base, there are some explosions, some shooting and sword play, and ends with the sexy Harlequin lady having a big swordfight with the head of the Tabula (who is actually UK TV presenter, Noel Edmonds), who although fatally injured, manages to escape to one of the other "dimensions" as he is a Traveller himself! Maya then engages in some nooky, settles down into a humdrum family life and has a daughter, who shock horror is a Traveller herself!! This leads to further books etc etc.. Now, there you go!

Seriously, I did enjoy these books, and will be ordering the new one when it comes out, but Nigel, I mean "John", you are not a native American Chief, you take yourself far too seriously, chill out and have a beer.

This book just isn't worth your time. The writing is leaden, the characterization non-existent, the action is sparse and dull, and the science is just plain wrong in places. In addition to lame brain science, there's the fact that even in our reality, latex fingerprint shields don't fool sophisticated fingerprint readers. You'd really think in his paranoid reality, they'd have the sort of fingerprint readers that scan deeper into the skin than surface fingerprints, because they have them today, and they're dirt cheap.

I really can't understand the reviews that adore this book. I would say they must come from the least sophisticated of pulpy thriller readers and not the readers of even mediocre science fiction, who would expect more than this. But then I'm puzzled as to why the junky thriller readers would like this book, as there's nothing remotely thrilling about it. Seriously, there's almost no action, and the action there is poorly written, with the outcome rarely in question.

Dull, badly written, and lacking in authority. What more can I say, other than: One Star.

Stop. Don't look. I said don't look! Oh, now you've done it: now the closed circuit camera on the building behind you, and the secret government agent sitting at that cafe with the digital camera implanted in his left earlobe, have both taken your picture. Your image will be put through facial recognition software, which will encode your features into a string of numbers which will be entered into a database that the government maintains. Today they will record your height, your weight, the colors, styles, labels, and fit of your clothing, cross-referenced by material and country of origin (With a red flag attached for clothing from questionable countries -- told you not to wear your Iranian burqa. Why can't you wear a nice Mexican burqa like the rest of us?). They will compare your haircut to that of all the celebrities on file, to see who you subconsciously wish to resemble -- and it had better not be someone like Richard Gere or Jane Fonda, or any of those hippie stars. They will also get an image of that book under your arm, "28 Ways To Shingle Your House With Tortillas," and it will put you into the following categories in the file: book reader, homeowner, do-it-yourselfer, potential homemade bomb-maker, idiot. Your file, already several megabytes of data just like this, will be e-mailed to dozens of different functionaries, who sit smugly at their desks and sip imported coffee while they page through the pictures of citizens and think, "If they only knew just how much we invade their privacy. But they don't. Mwahaha."

Then they will eat a danish. And skip to the next file.

If that description terrified you, then this book is the one for you. If you read it and thought, "Yeah, so?" then don't read The Traveler. Sadly, I fall into the "Yeah, so?" category, and so there was a fundamental disconnect all the way through this book. It's about an evil conspiracy, who call themselves the Brethren and who others call the Tabula -- because we couldn't decide on a name, could we, Mr. Twelve Hawks? -- who seek to turn the whole world into a Panopticon. This was a prison designed by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham a few hundred years ago, and the way the prison works, the prisoners can never know when they're being observed by guards, so they have to assume they're being watched all the time. Once you teach the prisoners that they always have to act as if the guards are watching, and that punishment for misbehavior is immediate and severe, then you don't actually need to watch them: they will make it a part of their natural behavior. Using the millions of cameras, and national ID tags and GPS chips in cars and phones and such, and the electronic trail we all leave, the Tabula are slowly teaching the world that we are always being watched.

And that would be frightening, except the Tabula doesn't plan to do anything but watch. Oh, they have a vague plan of making everybody the same and using mass entertainment to distract them and keep them docile while the Brethren rule, but they aren't going to do anything with their power except -- rule. And watch. Always watching. The author failed to take this evil world-dominating group to the next level: when they use their evil knowledge of everyone's habits and such to do evil things to them. The Tabula never do that, not even in the scenes when they use their evil knowledge to track people down. Sure, these guys are hard to hide from, but I'm not a Traveler or a Harlequin. Oh yeah, that's the rest of the book's plot: the greatest threat to the Tabula's control are people called Travelers, who can astrally project into alternate universes, and who use the perspective they gain to show people a better way to live. These Travelers, who conveniently include every major prophet and every influential person throughout history, are protected by cold-hearted killing machines called Harlequins. That's right, Harlequins. No, there's no reason for the name -- it just sounds really cool. Not true: there's a reason. But it's stupid, and the real reason for the name is, quite obviously, because it sounds really cool. The book's about the last two Travelers and the Tabula's attempts to find them, while one of the last Harlequins tries to protect them.

See, here's the issue. You can't actually control people by watching them. You also need to remove all influences that get people to act in ways that are counter to your uber-society's purpose. Because there will always be those people who are willing to be subversive, or just perverse, and fight against the machine. Even if they're being watched -- maybe sometimes because they're being watched, which is an even harder tendency to control in this watching world; how do you intimidate attention seekers by watching them? -- they will still do things you don't want, even if they get punished for them. Because our culture values rebellion and individuality, even now, even today. Our media-created images of what makes an individual are pretty screwed up, but we recognize them as screwed up, and we cherish those few individuals, either in public life or of our personal acquaintance, who seem to us like the real thing.

If you want to control people's hearts and minds, you need to do one of the three things laid out by the Big Three Dystopias: divide and conquer them through fear and double think as in 1984; control them with gene therapy and lots and lots of drugs as in Brave New World, or encourage them to drown in their own stupidity as in Fahrenheit 451. This book doesn't do any of those, though it has hints of all three. But the only thing it takes to a proper dystopian extreme is the invasiveness of cameras and electronic information tracking. And again, if all they're doing is watching us and writing down everything we do, a la Harriet the Spy, who cares? People have watched each other since the dawn of time: privacy has always been something of an illusion. How many books have described the small town atmosphere, where everyone knows everyone else's business? Or the crowding of big city life, where you're never really alone? So now the watchers have cameras and computers: so what? We're already being watched by our bosses, our neighbors, our families, our pets. A fear of that shows a level of paranoia that is more harmful than helpful -- and, might I add, feeds in to the real means used to control our populace, to whatever extent we are controlled: fear. This book gives a description of people living Off The Grid out of the watchers' view, and it sounds like an inordinate amount of hassle. And as the Harlequins in this book show us, when you put your effort into living Off The Grid, you don't really get to do anything useful, nor do you get to fight in the most subversive way: by having a happy life. The parts of the book that rang truest for me were the moments when the Harlequin character longed to give up the eternal struggle and just -- live. Happily, even if blissfully unaware of the people who are watching you and not doing anything to you. She should have done it: happiness is the true rebellion.

Wow, that's a whole lot more rant than it needed to be. But then, so was the book. In the end, the action scenes were okay, and the astral projection/Traveler scenes were better, but the characters were bad, the plot was shallow and silly, and the message was something I just don't buy -- the only thing it has going for it is the vague guilt I feel from imagining that I'm a tool of the system teaching people to scoff at the Vast Machine's control over us rather than helping them fight against it by following the wisdom of this book. But I won't give in to the mass-marketed subliminal influence of this book! You can't brainwash me into toeing your line, Twelve Hawks, can't use emotional control to get me to do as you think I should do, can't use your manipulative language and innuendo to make me believe you when you tell me who my enemy is! I will think for myself. And I think: meh.

I classified this Archer novel as "fun". A story of a lifelong battle between two newspaper tycoons, it is fast paced and entertaining. I enjoyed it immensely.

Another excellent Archer offering. I was well into it before I realised the two main characters are based on Murdoch and Maxwell. It is an excellenty told tale. One wonders what the Dirty Digger thinks of it if he has read it. Archer is a great story teller who keeps the reader gripped.

I'm usually very fond of Archer's novels and particularly liked "Kane and Abel"...in fact, it is probably one of the best books I've ever read and it immediately moved Archer to my list of "favorite authors." He's very much at home in multiple genres, ranging from multi-generation sagas to spy thrillers to political dramas to short stories.

This book opens with nearly the same premise as Kane and Abel...two children born in very different circumstances on opposite sides of the globe who grow to become arch nemises. With expectations that we'd be treated to another K&A, this book fell short in numerous ways...so short that I lost interest partway through and just skipped to the end. For me, the main problem was the characters themselves - like two self-absorbed asteroids hurtling towards each other, I just really didn't care if they obliterated themselves in the end.

For those who know the industry, it isn't too hard to guess who Archer patterned his two media-mogul main characters after. They aren't the most lovable guys in the world, just like the characters in the book. Their business-is-war and take-no-prisoners attitude towards life and career isn't particularly endearing, and as a result, Archer managed to somehow give us two antagonists rather than dual protagonists as in Kane and Abel.

There are other Archer novels that far surpass this one, most notably "As the Crow Flies" and "Kane and Abel." I like much of Archer's work...just not this one.

Not recommended. The story could have been told in far less than 742 pages. The first part was intriguing, as we were introduced to the two main characters -- two children in different parts of the world with vastly different lifestyles, both clever and entrepreneurial. Their devious ways were entertaining. When they became mega-business competitors as adults, it was mildly interesting. But by the time I was half-way through the book, I realized that I didn't care about either of them. There was a great lack of character development. As businessmen, they were ruthless and amoral; as people, they were uncaring and self-centered. There was nothing likeable about either of them. The last 300 pages were nothing but repeated plotting and scheming against each other, ad nauseum. But because I had read other books by this author that were exceptionally good, I plodded on, hoping for an exciting conclusion. Disappointingly, the ending was extremely ho-hum. The only bit of satisfaction for me was tossing this book into my trash can.

Some reviewers state there is no heros in this book - it's about the least objectionable person. They are right. It's thinly disguested Maxwell and Murdoch. It's no wonder they sued to stop publicication of the work.

Each character has their share of sleeze. Both were willing to do whatever it took to come out on top. But neither had the good sense to recognize when they should let it go... and let the other ruin each other.

Indeed, ask yourself before the end - which man deserves to triumph. The best of them, the worst of them, neither, or just one of them. The answer might not be what you think.

I started seriously investing back in 1985. I found a computer program called, "My Way" which looked like it would work well. It did, but there was no feed-back in the system. So I invested [.....] in this little book by Robert Lichello. God bless you Robert Lichello. You have made my family millionaires, Plus. The plus is that now when the market tanks, we understand how to profit from the confusion. Robert, your writing style is corny, but your thinking is pretty darn close to brilliant. I would strongly encourage anyone serious about investing to read this book and then say a prayer for Robert's soul. He left the world a priceless gift before he left this world.

When I first heard of this book, I thought it might just be another one of those overly hyped books. When I started to read it, within a few pages I realized this book contained some very valuable information. The more I read, the more impressed I was with the information that the author provided. The book provides a glimpse into what you need to do to become aware of your own investments. Sometimes it may come as a shock, which helps as that will provide the impetus to do something about your money. The author has a truly unique approach to how to buy and sell. It us not your usual method, but a very interesting and different methodology. One cannot help but be thankful for having purchased and/or read this book. This is, in my opinion a very important book for anyone and everyone investing their money in the stock markets and mutual funds. You will be glad you got this gem.

AIM works. In two years I have the numbers to prove it. Everyone should read this book. I use AIM for maintaining my accounts but I use "Rule One Investing" by Phil Towne for picking them. It is a winning combination. Good bye to the old 'buy and hold' method!

The formulas set forth in the book are very helpful and the book is easy to read. It is a good value for the money. I think the formulas would work well for a very conservative investor. The book also includes a formula for making periodic investments in mutual funds. I backtested the book's approach over the last ten years using the mutual funds in my 401(k) which are offered by American Funds. For most periods, the results were better for the book's approach than simple dollar cost averaging. Because the market is presently up significantly, the dollar cost average approach is currently ahead but the book's approach will be better if the market turns down.

After reading "How to Make $1,000,000 in the Stock Market Automatically" I put the system to use with a simulation portfolio from [...] using the $1,000,000 you get when signed up. The first year my portfolio returned 21% and after three years I am looking at a 10% average annual return. This is definetely the best investing book you can read. It takes the emotions of investing out of the equation, and if you have even the slightest bit of knowledge, or know nothing, about the market or investing, this book will show you a way to make money without putting forth too much effort. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in investing for themselves instead of trusting those crook money-managers to do it for them and not showing any return.

I was looking forward to this book...and was very disappointed! The first book was good, if not great. This book instead of building on it, just logically fell apart. Maya (the Harlequin bodyguard) is dedicated to protect Travelers yet when there are only Two travelers left alive in the entire world, she abandons one (in her protection) to a civilian, to chase after his son (that she's in love with) and he gets captured by the enemy. Not to mention that the heartless blood thirsty enemy instead of killing him, takes him alive?? The book just fell apart and became more dribble then drama.

The first book was fun, if a bit mechanical in its action/adventure. The second book lost its head of steam, as these trilogies always seem to do. It's a shame the sci-fi genre seems to require that most all books must be a series (minimum of a trilogy, for Star Trek and other franchises the number is limitless).

I suppose that I need to get used to the concept of books-as-reality-television-series, in which the plot will go on and on and on until either the reader or the ratings are exhausted. Unfortunately, {insert unknown author's name} would have been better served wrapping his story up in one volume and then moving on to some other topic.

In this case, by the end of THE DARK RIVER there was really no end in sight. I don't know when the next book in the series is scheduled to come out, but given that it appears in bookstores by summer I'm afraid I'll opt out and mow the lawn instead of reading the book. Come to think of it, picking weeds seems like a more entertaining diversion.

I loved this book, just like the first. Definitely amongst my all time favorites. Wake up people!

First of all, let me tell you that I haven't read the first book in the trilogy. I was in the airport this summer, I forgot my book in the car... and I wanted a book to read for my 14 hour flight... I read the backpage and I thought... "Why not??"

The truth is that I read the book in less than a week... If you are an action lover, you definitely cannot stop reading this book... It is a never ending action...

Second, you can follow the story even if you don't know what happened in the first book... but it is not an independent book... at the end you get the feeling that... now what??... and I hate to realize that it's been 3 months and there is no answer to my question... because I have to wait the third book... that's the only thing I do not like... I need the book to have some kind of an ending... and this one definitely doesn't have one...

Now if you are the type of person that doesn't like action books... you will definitely do not like this, as there is no break on action in it...

It lacks some explanations of how the author views some stuff... but I believe it is at the discretion of the author to leaves some mystery around...

Finally, the spoiler is that the title makes no sense until.... :) ok I am not going to spoil it... :)

As a book fiend, a scifi maven, and an omnivore of fiction its rare that I find a book that is...well...mush. This is mush. The crystalline edges of technology that drive good scifi plots forward are sort of soft and drippy here.
Even the premise is so... so wrong.
Scifi authors should have some grounding in science... without that, its simply fiction.

The ending was foolish. I liked the book until maybe the last four chapeters then the book just went down hill. I will not spoil the ending for anyone but come on how can you write a terrific first 3/4ths of a book and then fall flat on your face. I started reading the book in highschool then graduated and lost track of the book but when I found the book again I remembered every detail and was thristing to finsh the book but when I did I wish I hadn't. I should have keep the mystery a mystery.

This book is one of the better thrillers available. I recently reread it and it stands the test of time. It has a unique premise. You won't be disappointed.

THE FOURTH PROCEDURE is a debut thriller that caused quite a stir about a decade ago. It is currently out of print, and lawyer/author Stanley Pottinger never turned into the superstar of thrillerdom that many people expected. The prose of this book is definitely well written, but its plot eventually devolves into a level of absurdity that makes it hard for me to recommend.

This novel reminded me heavily of the work of Richard North Patterson - like Patterson, Pottinger is heavily interested in political issues, and THE FOURTH PROCEDURE essentially serves as an excuse for Pottinger to explore the abortion issue in depth. Pottinger is very strongly pro-choice, although this fact isn't entirely clear until the last fifth of the novel or so.

This novel has a lot of different characters, and while many of them are colorful, very few of them are likable. Most of them are intensely ideological and exist only to represent a certain point of view. As a result, I didn't really have that much of an emotional investment in this novel, although I found much of the dialogue to be quite intelligent and clever.

What really kills THE FOURTH PROCEDURE is an absurd plot twist at the very end, which is so blatantly ridiculous that I found myself laughing at the resolution. Whatever your position, abortion is a complex issue, and this novel's approach is insulting to anyone who approaches moral issues in a balanced, thoughtful manner. Still, if you're an ardent pro-choicer who believes that all anti-abortion people are closet misogynists, you may get a kick out of this book's conclusion, which is certainly original. But if you're a fan of realistic plotting, I almost guarantee you will be disappointed.

In short, this thriller is a well written debut, but its plot deficiencies make it subpar.

Starts beautifully and the prose remains brilliant throughout.
However somewhere along the line the author seems unsure whether he is writing a medical/legal/crime or science fiction novel. The characters have little flesh and blood and evoke little deep emotion. The events fit together too smugly and the conversations are often awkward. And the pseudoscience spoils it all. Forced male pregnancy to make men rethink their views on abortion? A long shot and unfortunately one that fails badly.

There is not much of a medical thriller here as the novel revolves around the pro-life - pro-choice debate, pitting Jack McCloed, a pro-choice Congressman, his live-in Significant Other, and surgeon Rachel Redpath against the new Chief Justice, Abner Titus and his pro-life allies against one another. Where Pottinger excels here is toward the end when the parties are forced into a reversal of roles revealing the ironic potential in the lives and staked-out positions of these characters. The author, an old "Wahsington hand" does not deal as well - I should say, as realistically - with the Washington scene, as witness the seeming lack of fall-out for Jack when his past misdeeds are revealed. Nor do his characters seem to be real; had they been more realistic, or better drawn, they might have evoked a deeper caring from this reader. Their childhood traumas seemed too coincidental, their stances on the single issue of the book too stark, especially the pro-life characters. Pottinger might in fact be charged with writing a pro-choice tract here. What is missing is the suspense angle as the outcome began to telegraph itself early on. In fact, given the book's length (562 pp in paperback) one had to wonder if and when the thing would ever end. But, it was, for all that, a fairly quick and easy read. Good for planes and trains, but short on thoughtful introspection.

I thought it was pretty good, even though it could have been better...

This was one of the worst books I've ever read. The characters are all over the place, the plot meanders and Puzo can't decide if it's set in the future or the present. (He invents a futuristic chemical brain scan as a convenient plot device, yet the story is set in present time.)

One particularly irritating facet of this book was that the few women in it are in very minor roles, even the Vice President, and are invariably described in terms of their sex lives.

As for the plot being "parallel" to our current troubles in the Middle East and with terrorism, these problems are nothing new and have been around in various forms for decades. The US isn't known for learning from its mistakes.

This is the only book that I have ever thrown into the trash. I read it on a plane and tossed it into a trash can on my way to the baggage claim. It felt great.

While reading this book I noticed that the protagonist seemed to change between three characters, and the intial protagonist turned to be the antagonist at sometimes, and then changed back to being the protagonist at others. It really served to confuse me. Many of the action scenes in the book were very confusing, not explained well. Some scenes were explained (poorly) and then explained again, without warning, from other points of view. In addition the author tends to make clauses (such as "That we had last night", "Which would make it worse.") as sentences. Call me crazy, but they are not sentences, and when not in dialogue it bothers me to see that repeatedly.

Otherwise, the book held my interest, but it did not impress me whatsoever. Some (read: much) of the plot was predictable, some of it developed before certain facts were reavealed, etc.

Francis Xavier Kennedy, nephew of the slain JFK/RFK has ascended the presidency due, in no small part, to his family name, his political instincts, and his near-adolescent idealisim.

During Holy Week it seems as if the world is falling apart at the seems. The Pontiff has been assasinated, and FXK's daughter has been kidnapped by Muslim extremists and then executed in cold blood.

FXK devises a response that he feels is commensurate with the crimes committed, and one that is befitting defending the honor of the most powerful nation on earth. There is one little snag; an imperial congress, motivated purely by greed,political opportunism, and a visceral hatred for the CINC,is poised to declare him non compus mentis and have him impeached.

An incident of 9/11 proportions takes place in New York that changes the entire dynamic of this political opportunism/intrigue and FXK adresses an emergency session of a join-session of Congress, and is spared the ignominy of being removed from office. Puzo's prescience here is uncanny; a nation in crisis after a terrorist event, a zealous President/Justice Department eager to preserve the Union, to the point of using draconian measures...it is all there, prophetically so. Eerie.

Puzo spins a yarn like no other. His scenarios/character; development/plots, sub-plots are woven into an exciting, breathtaking tapestry that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride; the thrill of a lifetime. There are so many twists and turns it is likely to give a less engaged reader the literary equivalent of motion sickness. Dialogue is crisp, sometimes raw, and cynical. The stuff a poltical thriller is made of.

Some have decried this work as being a little contrived, but Puzo has a knack for tying up all of the loose ends and leaving the reader satisfied after he/she has read the novel.

A first-class piece of literature.

...if you're in the bathroom with time on your hands! I must admit that I did finish this book and was glad that the ordeal was over. Puzo (like Leon Uris) definitely lost the touch near the end of his career and this book is no exception. In just a few hundred pages, President Kennedy II is shown as a tyrant, a socialist, a reactionary, a humanitarian, a political bumbler, a visionary of USA utopia, a man who would kill a few thousand citizens to save himself from impeachment, a liar who can beat the ultimate lie detector, a dear and loving husband/father, etc....how many characters must one man be? And what's this odd sub-plot of a former-Mormon/Hollywood oddball who on a whim (in less than 10 seconds of consideration when the opportunity presents itself) decides to kill the president of the United States. Once again another character with fourteen different personalities!. Puzo even got his basic facts wrong about the Mormons (he should have stuck with the Catholic Church). I would hate to be washed up on a deserted island and find this book washed up on the shore next to me! I would go crazy reading it again.

R.A Salvatore's enchanting style shows thru once again in a journey thru time arriving in the magic of Ynis Aielle.

Stay away from these books...they are dealing with and promote witchcraft. I may a Redneck country music fan, but I do know one thing, STAY AWAY from witchcraft and Satanic things. Even though these books are fictional, reading them offers spirits the chance to possibly possess you. Evil spirits have torture the person and haunt them...this is real and it is dangerous. You do not want to read these or have anything to do with these books or anything like these. Harry Potter is something you should stay away from as well. I'm not saying that everyone who reads a demonic book or watches a demonic movie will get possessed by a demon, I'm just saying that you are giving the devils opportunity to do so. If you are a Christian, than it would be more difficult...but I wouldn't be taking any chances. I'm not saying this to be funny or sound stupid, and you don't have to believe me if you don't want to...I'm just warning everyone.

I picked up this book after having read over a dozen of his other books (Demon Wars, Cleric Quintet, Icewind Dale, etc.) and have loved some, but at least liked all of them. This book, though written in the same story telling style, is a empty story with little substance. The witch was the only interesting character in the book. I would most all of his books a second time. I am sorry I read this one at all.

The Unicorn was an undersea discovery sub in which any nation in the world could help fund. Those nations that did got to share all the new discoveries from the vessel. However, while a huge storm ravaged above the sea, the sub was sucked into a black void. Most of the crew died. The few who lived emerged to find themselves far into the future.

Captain Mitchell, Reinheiser, Doc Brady, Billy Shank, and Jeffry DelGiudice "Del" found themselves to be the ancient ones who were prophesied to come and change the world.

The race of Man had destroyed themselves. Four humans were chosen by a being to become wizards to help the world in its change.
Brielle, the Emerald Witch of the Woods.
Ardaz, the Silver Mage.
Istaahl, the White Mage.
Thalasi, the Black Warlock.
The world now consisted of elves, known as Moon Dancers, and misshapen lizard beasts known as Talons.

The Ancient Ones, battling amongst themselves, joined the new races to help battle the Black Warlock and his gruesome Talons before all good and the entire race of Moon Dancers were destroyed forever!

**** I found the beginning to be very slow. But after the first few chapters, the story picked up and held onto me. I understand it to be the first of a trilogy or series, but I am not sure. Salvatore fans will NOT be disappointed. However, expect a Sci-Fi, instead of a Fantasy, for the beginning to set up the plot.

As a 15 yr old English literature lover, I stumbled somehow upon this wonderful book, I think attracted to it mainly by its cover. Being an earlier edition, the comical looking cover left me unsure of what to expect. Since I am no lover of naval narrations, the very beginning left me wondering whether to continue, but, boy, I'm so glad I did. I was so thoroughly absorbed by this book, although very short of time, I read it over and over again. Many may argue that it is far-fetched, but I think that, as a first novel, this really is a bold, experimental and raw success, which has worked to great measure. At 17 now, RAS became my favourite author, and I've found the 'Crimson Shadow' series great fun to read, and 'The Dark Elf Trilogy' too, but none grip me like 'Echoes4thMagic'. I was ecstatic to find out there were sequels for the 'Ynis Aielle' series, and hurredly ordered them from the US, over AMAZON, and loving this book like I did, am raring to go with the rest of this. If you want to get started with Salvatore, start with this, it certainly worked for me!

As we read in the newspapers and magazines the drivel that we do not torture and all the other supposed facts along comes a fiction Novel more to fact than some wish to see. Micheal Rose is caught up into what he believes is a financial hostile takeover but is much more than that. Slowly he discovers internal things that affect his family and friends. The understanding of this and eventual direction of the story is very interesting and leads to a conclusion that exemplifies our probable position with terrorism. A fine novel and I highly recommend it.

Book - fine - haven't actually had chance to read it but I love all books by Stephen Frey. MY PROBLEM IS THAT IT WAS SOLD TO ME AFTER IT HAD BEEN STOLEN FROM A LIBRARY!!!!!!!!
NEVER ORDER BOOKS FROM GRASSROOTS BOOKS INC EVEN IF AMAZON IS STUPID ENOUGH TO ALLOW THEM TO SELL MERCHANDISE ON THEIR SITE.

Although the subject of this thriller was something I would normally enjoy, the characters had nothing to engage one into their circumstances. I just found myself putting the book down, thinking what a jerk. And that was for the "good" guys. All the characters were dysfunctional and unlikeable so it was painful to keep going to find out what was going to happen next.

Also, the big themes of torture, civil liberties, freedom, are barely explored through the characters.

Give it a pass.

I have read four previous Stephen Frey novels, and they have all been great. This one is especially timely. His novels have a financial background, but he writes in layman terms, so anyone that does not have a business acumen, can still enjoy them .... and learn a lot about financial issues. Some readers complain that his stories are unrealistic and not credible. I do not agree, because truth is stranger than fiction. This guy has a vivid imagination, and knows how to keep a story moving.

Left-leaning conspiracy drivel. Thank goodness I picked it up from the local library for free, so that I didn't contribute to the author. The premise is shaky, the story is choppy and bizarre. Frey has become another author more concerned with getting a book out into the market than writing a good book. If I could have rated this "zero" stars I would have.

Our bead society uses this book all the time to locate great bead stores when traveling and also wholesalers who sell at great prices. We only have 2 copies and they are always checked out!

This book did not meet my needs at all. They claim to have all these listings and many of them are duplicates. You'd be better off buying the magazines and getting your sources from them. I do not recommend this book and would not buy future editions.

Okay, so call me picky. When someone calls a book "complete" I expect them to at least put a disclaimer somewhere visible that says "NEARLY complete". Maybe this book should have been titled "The Nearly Complete Work-In-Progress Bead Resource Book".

While I realize that stores do come and go in this industry, I have found quite a few stores (six to be exact, and counting) in the San Diego area that are not in this book... wonderful stores with TONS of beads that have been in business many years in the same location... yet... they are not included in the "The Complete Bead Resource Book".

If you're looking for an all-around general listing of bead resources, it would be way cheaper to search the internet, or your local yellow pages.

I am a designer who was looking for specific beads and findings and found this book very useful in locating good wholesalers. I use it all the time to locate items I am looking for. Very helpful!

i have a little jewelry bussiness and i have use this book alot it helps me out keep up the good work