Echo Burning - by Lee Child

This is book #5 in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.  Reacher is in Texas and needs to get out of town quickly. Luckily, as a hitchhiker, he almost immediately gets picked up by Carmen Greer.  As it turns out, this was not so random an event and ends up being most fortunate for Mrs. Greer.  Her husband, who she claims beats her, is getting out of jail in a few days, and she hopes to pick-up someone who will kill him and solve her problems.   While Reacher is no assassin for hire, he ends up immersing himself in the situation and ultimately solving the mystery of what is really going on.  As usual, no one truly understands what they are up against.

In my opinion, this is nowhere near the best of the Reacher tales.  The action is less and I found myself somewhat conflicted about many of the other characters.  In the end, however, there is still a lot of the classic Reacher formula in this story to like.

Die Trying - by Lee Child

This is the second book of the Jack Reacher series and was written back in 1998.  Fate places Reacher on a Chicago street at the same time that a woman is being abducted.  Kidnapped along with her, Reacher slowly learns who she is and works with her to deduce what is happening to them and why.  Then he must take the situation under control as only he can do.

I have read quite a few of the books in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.  Although this was not my favorite, it has the pace and the feel of the other thrillers in the series.  I better appreciate how Reacher has grown as a character because I have now experienced this early volume of the series.  If you like the genre, I think you'll find this a worthwhile read.

Deliver Us From Evil - by David Baldacci

This is a sequel to The Whole Truth, featuring Shaw, the premier operative of an unnamed agency sent to beautiful Provence, where he plans to abduct Evan Waller, a very bad man made wealthy by selling young girls into the sex trade and now dealing with Arab terrorists over the sale of enriched uranium. There, he crosses paths with Reggie Campion, a Nazi hunter who is after Fadir Kuchin, a cold-blooded Ukrainian psychopath known as the "Butcher of Kiev" who is now known as Evan Waller.

While I like David Baldacci's books, this was not one of my favorites.  Shaw is not my favorite of his protagonists.  While I did not dislike this story, when I reached the end I was somewhat glad that it was over.  This thriller was not short on suspense, action, and violence, but for me personally, it did not totally grip and engage me.  That said, it was a decent story and your results may differ.

The Black Box - by Michael Connelly

Detective Harry Bosch is back in his stint as part of the open and unsolved (cold case) unit (he has a limited term contract under the LAPDs Deferred Retirement Option Plan). He is working a murder case from back in 1992, during the L.A. riots, that he originally investigated but because of the situation in the city was forced to quickly move on and hand it off to a task force that was unable to solve it. As usual, as soon as Harry gains a little momentum, he quickly runs up against departmental politics.

If you are not familiar with Bosch, this is the 18th book of the series that features him. I find Harry to be one of the more realistic protagonists of the crime thriller genre. He is smart and tough, but certainly no genius or para-military freak of nature. He makes mistakes sometimes, he struggles with guilt, he can be gruff and he sometimes deals poorly with his emotions and relationships. He is dedicated to his police work, however, and does what it takes to close his cases and obtain justice. He follows his moral code, even if that means bending a few rules or making decisions that jeopardize himself and/or his career.

The title of the book was highlighted from two aspects. First, Bosch mentions knowledge passed down to him that the key to investigation is finding the "black box."  Just as the wreckage is combed after a plane crash to find the aircraft's black box, the key to criminal investigation is to find the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together.  Second, the time of the murder in this book preceded the widespread use of digital storage technologies common today.  Back then, handwritten notes were jotted on index cards and stored in little black boxes.  An old-school cop like Harry is comfortable and even a little nostalgic about things like this.

Because I Said So! - by Ken Jennings

74-time Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings gives the real scoop on much of the conventional wisdom passed down from parents.

Ken unveils the truth behind parental guidance such as "Don't talk to strangers!"; "Don’t crack your knuckles, you’ll get arthritis!"; "Don't cross your eyes—they'll get stuck like that!"; "Stay away from the poinsettia! The leaves are poisonous."; "No swimming for an hour after lunch. You'll cramp up." "When you start shaving, the hair will grow in thicker.";"Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day."; " "Most of your body heat escapes through your head!"; "If you pick up a baby bird, its mommy will reject it."; "Take off the Band-Aid to let your cut air out."; and many more of the things we probably all heard while growing up and now likely pass on to our own kids.

This is a fun, entertaining, informative, and downright delightful book.  I learned a lot from this quick read and had a few nostalgic chuckles with about my personal experiences with the subject matter and Jenning's sometimes witty explanations.

The Racketeer - by John Grisham

Malcolm Bannister is an incarcerated former lawyer who tells his story of getting caught in the net of a zealous federal prosecution of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act violations. He is currently a resident of the Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

When Judge Raymond Fawcett and his secretary are murdered at his lakeside Virginia cabin, the FBI investigation quickly stalls. Malcolm claims to have the information they need to close the case. Rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure allows for a prisoner to be pardoned or have their sentence reduced if they can solve another crime and Malcolm wants a deal based on this. As you probably expect, however, the situation is not as straightforward as it may appear.

This story does not follow the traditional Grisham formula. It is, however, an intriguing tale about the execution of a complex and well planned scheme. There a plenty of surprising twists and turns. I was a little conflicted about Malcolm. I wanted to like him, and generally did, but also found him a little cocky and even annoying at times. If you demand uncompromised realism, you may have issues with the storyline. For me, personally, though, I really enjoyed it.

Mad River - by John Sandford

Mad River is book #6 in John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series.  In southwest Minnesota, not far from Virgil's hometown, a trio of youngsters is terrorizing the community.  As part of an apparent armed robbery, they kill a young woman in her parents home.  Their attempts to run result in a crime spree with innocent victims piling up rather quickly.  Virgil is a somewhat unorthodox state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) investigator who joins in the hunt.

If you are unfamiliar with the series, Flowers is a rather unconventional super-cop.  Although he doesn't shy away from dangerous situations, he is not a macho mercenary type and does not like carrying a gun.  While very intelligent and often innovative, he's a talented but normal guy who employs effective police work and just gets the job done.  He's very likable and loves the outdoors (his fishing boat is probably his most prized possession).  He enjoys beer, women, burgers, and conversation, but also spends a good amount of time pondering God (though he is the son of a Lutheran minister).  He is a kind and thoughtful person, but has had problems with long-term relationships (he's already been divorced three times).  Like most of Sandford's characters, he is an interesting, somewhat quirky, and well-developed personality.

This book is not a mystery.  While Virgil is a good investigator, this is about a case where Virigil is, for the most part, forced to deal with events as they play out.  This is a criminal thriller, of sorts, and the plot has a number of suspenseful moments.  The storyline, however, is also about Virgil's rationalization and handling of the situations and emotions that surround the case as it plays out beyond his control and he must deal with the ethics of improper and unattainable justice.

The Litigators - by John Grisham

David Zinc is a 31-year-old Harvard Law graduate who is burnt out from working long hours underwriting bonds for the high-powered law-firm of Rogan Rothberg. This story starts with his anxiety attack, causing him to flee his lucrative job, escaping to an all-day bender that indirectly lands him with the "boutique" firm of Finley and Figg.  Showing up drunk on their doorstep, he ultimately convinces them to take him into their firm as an almost unpaid associate.  David is refreshed by the change, but shocked by the often questionable ethics of his new firm.  When Wally Fig, the junior partner, stumbles across the possibility that Krayoxx, an anti-cholesterol drug, might lead to heart attacks and strokes, he sees a chance to move beyond the divorce, personal injury, and other "street law" staples of his ambulance chasing firm.  Partnering with highly profitable tort firms, the plan is to accumulate clients for the almost guaranteed settlement.  With a title of "The Litigators," you can easily speculate how that turned out for this set of lawyers with almost zero trial experience and a lawsuit that turns out to be pretty shaky.

While this was not my favorite Grisham book, that's not necessarily a bad review.  Grisham is the king of the legal thriller.  Although I would consider this less of a thriller, I really enjoyed this book and found much of it humorous.  While the underlying plot was pretty predictable, the story was told in a way that really engaged me and kept my interest.

Hostage - by Robert Crais

Jeff Talley used to be a negotiator for the LAPD SWAT team. After the death of a young hostage, however, he left the LAPD and opted for a position as the Chief of Police for a small California town with little to no violent crime.  Now, however, three punks rob a grocery store, kill its owner, and in the process of fleeing, end up taking Walter Smith and his two children hostage in their own home.  This was the nightmare that Talley had run from.  It turns out to be even more personal than he could imagine.

I love Rober Crais' Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series.  This was similarly a very enjoyable thriller that kept me turning pages.  I have since discovered that this book was turned into a 2005 Bruce Willis action movie that I now plan to watch.

The Enemy - by Lee Child

This is the eighth book of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.  It takes the reader back to the start of the last decade in the twentieth century.  The Berlin Wall is coming down and the military is facing changes.  It is New Year's Eve and Major Reacher has just been transferred from Panama to Fort Bird, North Carolina, where he is working the night shift to give his staff the holiday.  He takes the call about a two-star general found dead in a nearby hotel room.  This quickly evolves into a case, however, that threatens his then promising military career.

As I have probably mentioned many times, I am a Jack Reacher fan.  I read this book not too long after watching the recent Tom Cruise movie, "Jack Reacher."  This book fills in some of his past that is alluded to in other installments of this series.  This is not my favorite of the Reacher volumes that I have thus far consumed, but I enjoyed it.  If you have similar interest, I would suggest that you give it a try.

Calico Joe - by John Grisham

In Calico Joe, John Grisham weaves a fictional baseball tale inspired by the 1920 beaning of Ray Chapman, the only baseball player ever killed by a pitch.

In 1973, Paul Tracey is an 11-year-old boy who loves baseball.  His father, who pitches for the New York Mets, drinks, chases women, and abuses his wife and kids.  Paul is a pretty good Little League pitcher, himself.

Paul is enamored with Joe Castle, a young phenom brought up mid-season by the Chicago Cubs, who is re-writing the rookie record book.  As the reader easily surmises from the very beginning, the young and talented Calico Joe and the aging journeyman pitcher Warren Tracy are on a tragic collision course.

The story is narrated by a grown-up Paul Tracey who has since abandoned the game of baseball and is estranged from his father.  When he receives the news that his father is dying of cancer, however, he decides that there is something he must do.

At just over 200 pages, this is a pretty quick read.  For me, the baseball stories took me back to my childhood.  I grew up watching many of the players mentioned in this book.  This book is about more than baseball, though.  It is about excitement, disappointment, tragedy, conflicted feelings, regrets and ultimately the power of forgiveness.  I highly recommend it.

Steve Jobs - by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs was an American icon of ingenuity and creativity.  His entrepreneurial skill and product vision revolutionized the personal computer, animated movie, music, phone, tablet computing, and digital publishing industries.

This book provides insight into his background, his personality, his passion, and his values. It attempts to be fair and candid, and Jobs did not even request the right to read it before it was published.  This book includes a good number of stories that will not endear readers to him.  There are plenty of inspirational stories about his ability to build teams and companies that produced amazing products.

This book is nearly 600 pages long.  Therefore, it is not a quick read.  I liked some parts better than others, but, in general, was fascinated.  I felt like this biography provided a significant glimpse into who Steve Jobs was, what drove him, and how he lived his life.  It provides some perspective into how much of our everyday lives have, in one way or another, been touched by him.

You Are An Ironman - by Jacques Steinberg

This book is an inspirational look into the lives of six ordinary people and their decision to attempt an Ironman.  For anyone not familiar with triathlon, an Ironman event consists of a 2.4 mile open water swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and completed with a full marathon (26.2 mile) run. Achieving Ironman status requires completion of the course within 17 hours.  It represents one of the highest achievements in endurance sports.

It is hard not be be inspired by people who, for various reasons and out of different circumstances, commit to a seemingly unattainable goal and then put in the work and make the sacrifices necessary to meet their goal.  The author is clear in his disclaimer that this is not a training manual by any stretch of the imagination.  Rather I would describe it as an engaging documentary of sorts that interweaves the stories of six different Ironman aspirants.  The book introduces their background; provides the details that led each of them to register; highlights some of the ups and downs in their training regimen; and ultimately, exposes the reader to their individual Ironman experiences on race day.

I am not a triathlete (or an endurance athlete of any kind) but was very motivated by these stories that demonstrate real-life drive and commitment enabling the accomplishment of truly astonishing things.

Voodoo River - by Robert Crais

Voodoo River is the fifth book in the Elvis Cole series.  Jodie Taylor is an actress who hires Elvis to help her discretely locate her birth family in order to get details about her medical background.  For those familiar with the series, in this installment, Cole meets and works with Lucy Chenier, who is Jodie Taylor's attorney, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, near the small town where she was born.  This job is almost too easy for the world's best detective and Elvis quickly finds the answers he was paid to find and more.  When things grow unexpectedly complicated, Joe Pike and Elvis Cole must step in.

I have read a number of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike stories by Robert Crais and really like them.  While this is not my favorite of the series, I was certainly not disappointed.  In general, the plot had a good number of twists and turns and was well paced.  The characters and dialogue were interesting.  Elvis is always a somewhat humorous and very likable main character.  Joe Pike is not very conversational, but he is very good at what he does and is a very loyal friend and partner to Elvis.  If you like this brand of crime mystery fiction, I think you will enjoy this book.

Tick Tock - by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

New York City is experiencing a wave of terror-inducing crimes reminiscent of some of the most prolific in its past.  Detective Michael Bennett is on a beach vacation with his family at nearby Breezy Point.  As always, the call of duty does not respect his personal life and he is forced to spend much of his vacation working this high-profile case.

"Tick Tock" is the fourth book in the Michael Bennett series written by Patterson and Ledwidge.  As with previous installments, this is a fast-paced crime thriller with a good dose of suspenseful twists and turns.  This book also places significant focus on potential love interests for Detective Bennett.  His relationship with his nanny, Mary Catherine, has been heating up.  FBI agent Emily Parker re-enters the scene to help on the case   with the romantic evolution of their relationship all but inevitable.

In my opinion, if you like James Patterson books, this is a very good one.  If you don't care for his previous works, however, this one is based on a similar formula.  As these types of crime fiction novels are right up my alley, I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down.

Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President - by Eli Saslow

In an effort to stay connected with his constituents, President Obama has his staff select ten letters for him to read that are representative of the enormous volumes of correspondence received by the White House each day.  For this book, Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow tracks down and profiles ten American letter writers whose letters were personally read and answered by the President.  Each of them had very personal reasons to engage their President with their views on an issue that deeply concerned them.

This book could certainly be considered by many to have a political bias.  It certainly covers letters about politically charged topics, as well as a reaction and response representing President Obama's perspective.  To me, however, this book was much less about the positions taken by the letter writers and/or our President and more about the personal stories of each of the letter writers that led them to actually share their viewpoint with the highest ranking elected official in their government.  These stories provided some examples of national issues having direct and personal impact on the lives of everyday citizens.

In Harm's Way - by Ridley Pearson

This is the fourth book in Ridley Pearson's Sun Valley, Idaho, Sheriff Walt Fleming series.

The story opens with Fiona Kenshaw's heroic rescue of a child trapped under a tree limb in a swift-moving river. Fiona is Walt's photographer that he has developed romantic interest in. She asks him to try to keep her picture out of the press, and when he fails to do so, she is upset about it, but won't explain why.

Kira Tulivich is a 21-year-old girl recovering from the pyschological trauma of a violent assault two years earlier. Fiona has taken her under her wing and the two of them are house-sitting for a wealthy couple. When someone start's raiding homes in the area and trying to make it look like the work of a bear, Walt sees the crime for what it is and determines that a prowler is on the loose in Fiona's and Kira's neighborhood.

A football team owner, Marty Boatwright, and a famous sports agent, Vince Wynn, both have homes in Sun Valley. Walt responds to a call where Vince was shooting his gun to scare away retired professional linebacker Martel Gale. Not long afterwards, the large and imposing Gale is found dead from a strike to his head, near the side of the highway. Seattle homicide detective Lou Boldt, from another of Pearson's series, is working the murder of Caroline Vetta, a woman with a history of dating sports figures. The trail on his case intersects with Sun Valley, and ultimately Walt's investigation.

Fleming is a divorced father of two girls and his best deputy lives with his ex-wife. The woman who helps him with his girls (a friend) confides in Walt about her suspicions that her pregnant teenage neighbor is being sexually abused by her father.

Walt has crimes to solve with personal and emotional implications. Their solution is not predictable. This story provides many interesting and sometimes even suspenseful twists and turns. Much of the plot, however, involves Walt wrestling with his feelings, emotions, and morals. This adds depth to his character but may be a little "sappy" for some. Personally, I liked the book a lot, but not enough to rave about it. Certainly enough to recommend it, however.

Forced Out - by Stephen Frey

Jack Barrett used to be a big-time scout for the New York Yankees, but now he and his daughter are barely getting by in Sarasota, Florida.  He has a new mission in life, however, when he discovers the talent of Mikey Clemant, a local minor league player who can occasionally do amazing things on the baseball field but otherwise seems to be an uninspired player with bad attitude. Johnny Bondano is a hit man for the Lucchesi crime family asked to find and kill the man blamed for killing the crime boss's only grandson.  The lives of these three men (and others affiliated with each of them) converge in ways not hard to figure out, but somewhat complicated and unexpected, nonetheless.

In my opinion, this was a good, but not great story.  It was well constructed and somewhat suspenseful.  It kept me turning the pages and wanting to find out what happened.  The ending was not exactly what I suspected.  In my personal opinion, I would not give it a raving review.  I certainly wouldn't complain about it either.  I enjoyed reading it and I'll leave it at that.

Edge - by Jeffery Deaver

Corte is an elite Federal protection officer.  In the vernacular of his agency, he is a "shepherd."  In this story, he is responsible for safeguarding the family of a Washington, D.C. police detective.  Intelligence has revealed that the "lifter," Henry Loving, who six years earlier tortured and killed Corte's mentor, Abe Fallow, is targeting them.  An academic and and aficionado of board games, Corte matches wits with Loving in a dangerous duel of strategy, deduction, deception, and calculated risk-taking.

I am not a big fan of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series, but I loved this book.  The suspense, the action, and the pace of events combined to produce a very enjoyable plot.  The characters were well developed and interesting.  The reader experiences events from Corte's viewpoint and familiarity with the Federal officer protagonist grows as the story progresses.  I appreciated both the view into his reasoning skills that make him so good at his job and the glimpses into his background and  inferences about his personal life that make him fascinating as a person.  In my opinion, this is one of the better books that I have read recently.

The Cut - by George Pelecanos

Spero Lucas is a young veteran (ex-Marine) of the Iraq war who now works as a freelance investigator.  He is good at finding things and his standard fee is a 40% cut of the recovered property.  After doing some good work to help Washington, DC, lawyer Tom Petersen get car theft charges dismissed against a good kid who made a bad decision, he meets with the boy's father, Anwan Hawkins, who is currently in prison on drug charges.  Hawkins explains to Spero the FedEx scheme he uses to smuggle his marijuana.  Recent losses of two shipments, however, have been costly and he wants Lucas to find them for him.

In my opinion, this is a very good book.  Pelecanos spins an origanal and suspenseful tale, set in the neighborhoods surrounding our nation's capital with a cast of interesting and well-developed characters.