Dean Koontz is one of my all-time favorite authors. He writes stories that have plenty of creepy moments, while at the same time mixing in a laugh-out-loud sense of humor. His books are an easy read, which at times can be a breath of fresh air.

Brother Odd is the third and latest book in the Odd Thomas series. The main character, Odd Thomas, is a young man with a sixth sense. What he lacks in personal ambition, he makes up for with his visions of the lingering dead, whose spirits have yet to move on from this world to the next for whatever reasons. What’s interesting about this, is he can in some ways interact with these spirits, but they can’t talk. Because of these visions, he can sometimes sense when death and violence are just over the horizon. It’s up to him to figure out as best he can what that impending doom is, and find a way to stop it.

In this book, Odd is spending time in a monastery to try and get away from this sixth sense, and hopefully find rest and refuge. The monastery is connected to a school and home for disabled children. After some time has passed, a missing monk who turns up dead reveals a horror which is based in mad scientific experiments. The odd one along with several friends he’s made at the monastery must fight to save the children from this evil presence.

I’m currently taking a little break from reading fiction. I have several projects going at the moment. If you’re interested in keeping up with what I’m up to, just visit my primary site, Antbag.com. I will get back to reading soon.

This is another excellent book from Harlan Coben. This is the second book I’ve read by this author, and I would say he’s becoming one of my favorites. He has such a great style, it just reels you in.

The story is about Will Klein, who grows up looking up to his older brother as a hero figure. About the time Will is entering adulthood, his former high school sweetheart is brutally murdered, and the prime suspect is Will’s older brother, Ken Klein. Ken vanishes when this happens. Although the authorities consider Ken the murderer, some of his blood was found at the murder scene and the Klein family believes he’s dead.

Fast forward eleven years…….Will finds proof that his brother is in fact alive. He follows every lead he can to find out the truth. In the process he learns many good and not-so-good things about his brother and himself as he peels away the layers of hidden truth.

This was one of those books that was a pretty fast read, yet it was still pretty deep. I may just hold onto this one and read it again in the future.

Finally, I finished this book. It didn’t take so long because it wasn’t good, but because I just got busy with “stuff”. Rather than sitting down for several hours at a time to read, I opted to read a chapter or two when it was convenient. The result was reading the same book for the past three weeks or so. Now, as for the book…..

This is Vince Flynn’s fourth book, the third one featuring special operative, Mitch Rapp. The story picks up where The Third Option left off. That’s great for a big fan of this series such as myself. However, if you picked this book up as a stand alone book, I think you would get confused pretty quick. There are a lot of references to the past books, that I’m not sure how you could understand if you haven’t read the past books, despite the short explanations provided.

In this book, Mitch continues to explore who tried to kill him during the last book. During this, he also gets involved in another mission, despite the fact he has “retired”. I got a little confused at one point. It seemed the book was headed in one direction for a couple hundred pages, then completely shifted directions. Fortunately, by the end of the book, it all comes together into a great ending.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but when I read a novel, especially this “series”, I tend to form an image in my mind of what the characters look like. Do you do that? For many of them, I visualize a celebrity playing the part in a movie, other characters I can’t help but see them as someone I know in my own life. I was thinking about this while reading this book, and I kept seeing former senator, Fred Thompson, as the Senator Hank Clark character. There are others as well, but I won’t bore you with that.

Anyway, if you’re a fan of Vince Flynn and you’ve read the first three books in his series, this is a MUST READ. If not, pick up Term Limits, and start there.

I’m still reading Separation of Power. I’ve had a lot going on over the last couple of weeks, that has kept me from reading as much. I’ve started the book a couple of weeks ago, and I’m only half way through it right now. I plan to finish it up right away, and I’ve got a few others planned:

• The Lions Game by Nelson DeMille – this is the follow-up to Plum Island
• Gone For Good by Harlan Coben – looking forward to this as well

Anyway, I didn’t want anyone to think I had abandoned my site!

What The Rich Teach Their Kids – That You Can Learn Too

This has been a super popular book for several years, and I believe I know why. It’s very motivating! Robert Kiyosaki takes the reader through the financial lessons he supposedly learned growing up. On one hand was his real father(poor dad), who was very educated and worked a steady job all his life. On the other hand was his best childhood friend’s dad(rich dad), who taught him how to make money work for him. This book does not discuss detailed instructions on how to invest, nor does it give any specific instructions. So, if that’s what you’re looking for, you may look elsewhere. What the book does provide, is an outline for how the wealthy make their money and how they make it grow. You can get a much more in-depth review here.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book over the past couple of years. After purchasing the book, and after I had started reading the book, I became aware that there is some controversy surrounding the reality of some of the stories presented in the book. For instance, no-one has ever been able to figure out who “rich dad’ was. As a result, some have charged that these illustration stories are fabrications rather than actual happenings.

On the other hand, this book is highly recommended by some high profile people. Maybe it’s all in how you look at it. Dave Ramsey has mentioned this book several times on the radio as one of his favorites, and Mr. Kiyosaki has recently co-written a book with the super-rich and super-famous Donald Trump. I say make your own conclusions.

Now this is a good book. This has all the elements that make a great mystery. This is the first I’ve read from Mr. Harlan Coban, but it certainly will not be the last. I’m impressed.

This story has just the right amount of twists and turns to keep you guessing to the end. Not only that, the story is absolutely engrossing. David Beck and his childhood sweetheart grew up and got married. They are completely in love. One night at their families cabin, David is swimming when he hears his young wife scream……she’s been abducted. A month or so later, the body is found and it appears that Elizabeth Beck was the victim of a serial killer. Life goes on for David. He becomes a pediatrician.

Eight years later he starts receiving anonymous emails with details only he and his wife could know. Is someone playing a sick joke, or could she actually still be alive?

I liked this book so much, that I’ve already purchased a couple of other books by this author. I look forward to seeing if the next one is as well written as this one.

• Have you ever read anything by Harlan Coban?
• What’s your opinion?

I saw this over at Junk Mail Gems which is a website that has all sorts of projects and uses for junk mail.

You can easily take the corner of an envelope and make a “corner bookmark”. Not a bad idea.

I guess with a little creativity, you can find a use for most anything.

I “borrowed” these photos from Junk Mail Gems as well. Check out their site for more interesting things that can be done with all that mail box litter.

Stay tuned! My review for Tell No One by Harlan Coben will be up in the next couple of days.

Once again I’ve read a book by an author who is new to me. Certainly, I’ve heard of James Patterson, as he is one of the most popular novelists in existence, however, I had never read one of his books. I have seen a couple of movies based on his books such as Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls.

Right off, a couple of things I really like about this book:

• short chapters
• fast moving story
• interesting plot, although fairly predictable

Although there was really no “earth-shattering” ending, it still was a super enjoyable read. I’ve begun to really like books like this, that are easy to read, with fast moving stories. I’m not sure I could see a blockbuster movie coming from this, but it was still good enough that I’m interested in reading more books by this author.

The story is about Nora Sinclair who leads a double life. She marries rich men, then poisons them to death, taking their money. FBI agent, O’Hara, goes undercover to investigate, where he is caught between his investigation and falling in love.

This review is different. Instead of reviewing a book, I’m reviewing a website that is all about brilliantly written short stories. Very Short Novels is a site that claims a novel with more than 299 words is a waste. What I like about these stories, is that they are so concentrated, that there is no detail that is not needed, and you have to pay attention to every word or you’ll miss the whole point. How’s that for a “very short” review? Check it out!