Still Reading…….

I’ve been reading “The Amber Room” by Steve Berry, and a review is coming soon. However, my reading has slowed down this week as I’ve been focusing my efforts on my other site, getting that off the ground. If you’re a blogger, check the site out and leave a comment. I love to read, and will pick back up right away. I’ve got a huge list still in front of me that hasn’t stopped growing. So, there is much reading to be done.

Seven Deadly Wonders

I’ll start this off by saying that I didn’t finish this book. I made it through the first 172 pages of the 550-something page book before giving up. It’s about a group of people searching through caves and all sorts of rough terrain, battling snares and traps, searching for seven separate pieces of an anceint relic in the old Seven Wonders of the World. It has a real “Indiana Jones” flare to it, but I found myself getting bored with it from the start. I’m not saying it’s a bad story, it just didn’t hold my interest. Especially given the elements of the story that were so over-the-top in the unrealistic department. I mean, a 747 jet that can stop in mid-air and hover?, please! I know Matthew Reilly is a popular writer with bestsellers on his resume’, but it wasn’t my cup o’ tea……now I know.

The Third Option

Vince Flynn’s third novel, which is appropriately titled……The Third Option, is even better than the first two in my opinion. The main character is Mitch Rapp, the CIA’s counterterrorism operative, who was also the main character in Transfer of Power. While Rapp is on a mission in Germany to assassinate an industrialist aiding Sadam Hussein in the manufacturing of WOMD, the partner Rapp is set up with turns on him and puts two bullets in his chest. Fortunately, Mr. Rapp is wearing a bullet-proof vest which saves his life. The remainder of the book consists of Rapp searching for his “backstabber”, and their motives. As Rapp doesn’t even officially exist within the CIA, there are only a select few who even have knowledge of him or the mission, which suggests a “leak” in the agency.

The fact that this book is the third in a series, would make it hard to read as a standalone story. Many references are made to past events(that actually took place in the last two books). Flynn gives very short versions of those events to try and bring the reader up to speed, yet I’m not sure I would have liked the book as well if I had not read the first two. Having said that, it was an easier read than the others in that there weren’t as many small details about Washington D.C. Also the fact that this one is approximately 400 pages, where the last two were approximately 550 pages.

Plum Island

Plum Island was a different type of book than I’ve been reading, and I enjoyed every bit of it. First off, this book is a story of a detective solving a double murder and taking you every step of the way. Homicide detective John Corey is a real “tough guy” kind of NYPD detective and he has a very quick wit. This wit being about half the enjoyment of the book. The story is also quite interesting. Corey, who is on medical leave from the NYPD after taking a few bullets, is convalescing in Long Island, New York at his uncle’s waterside vacation home. Local police cheif Maxwell hires Corey as a “case consultant” when the Gorden’s, a young couple John Corey has become friends with, are murdered. The Gorden’s were scientists who worked on Plum Island, where animal disease is studied and where there have always been many rumors of biological warfare studies. The story goes on uncovering the motive, which is anything but obvious. The mixture of the wise-cracking Corey, his romantic quests, the nautical atmosphere, and the fierce action, make for one great book.

This was the first book by Nelson DeMille that I’ve read. I found it interesting that two people in the same week recommended him to me. First, was a co-worker, then Tegan from A Garden In The Pocket recommended this book specifically…….so I’ll say “special thanks” to her. The character, John Corey, appears in three later books, which of course I plan to read. The Lions Game is next, then Nightfall, and finally Wild Fire.