Charles

...for a Swaggart. Interesting location and plot line for a location and time we don't usually remember. A study in the Earl Swaggart character and what made Bobby Lee the character he became.

Michael Connelly and I have been 'Audible Friends' for a few years now, and his early work was extremely well crafted. In my opinion, his approach with Bosch as a character peaked with Trunk Music and The Last Coyote, masterpieces of the genera, and has been somewhat formulaic since. With The Drop, I think he's broken new ground with a complex, multifacited plot that let's Bosch mature into a much better character with a lot more texture and substance. Len Caiou's voice, with it's age and gravel, really fit the character now. It's a pleasure to see him grow and expand the character.

I've read several of Bear's works before, such as Darwin's Radio and was intriqued. I'm somewhat perplexed by this effort. It is singularly uninteresting and given it's shortness, bereft of drama. It's the sort of dreamy, trip through narcissism teenagers usually write as opposed to an entertaining novel. I can only assume that Bear wrote it as a contracted for, income producing piece. Not my cup of tea.

I liked Altered Carbon, but I have two bones to pick with Morgan here. First his story tempo and obtuse way of presenting it reminds me of a Kodo Drum recital, loud and forced. Second, I hope he paid Philip K. Dick for channeling the Roy Batty character out of Blade Runner. All this baloney about too graphic sex and anti christian themes leaves me wondering if people were just looking for an excuse. It's just a poor effort by a talented author. I gave up after 7-8 hours.

Connelly's Bosch novels are always good, but this one is in a unique class. From the beginning you can feel something special is about to unwind and it doesn't disappoint you. Bosch is devoted to solving the murder of a young woman who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and became the pawn in a conspiracy; not the mythic National Intelligence conspiracy all the guys downtown are drawn to, but the conspiracy of vicious, criminals that killed her. He sieves through mass of misleading and misunderstood clues to reveal the truth and exact the retribution she deserves while bringing peace to a tormented fellow peace officer. The overlay of jazz is particularly poignant and appropriate and adds a Peter Gunn like patina to the story. A minimasterpiece of this genre.

Weber should be legally prevented from using the phrase, "but on the other hand". I have never seen an author who relies on dramatic dialog and writes some of the best space battle sceens I've ever read/heard rely on such a cliche this much. Literally every scene containing a substantiative discussion between characters, and they are numerous, used that phrase. His editors should be flogged.

I've listened to four Reacher books at this point. Some, I've thought were better than others, but all were good. Out of all mystery, thriller titles I've ever read, however, this is among the best. I literally couldn't bring myself to turn it off. It's a very good detective story, a great study in what creats human character (good&bad), revealing about how banal the motivation for evil can be and a relentlessly intense adventure. As others have said, it is uniquely revealing about what makes Reacher tick. Even more so, it explains the relentless rage Reacher felt at the death of his brother in "The Killing Floor". A great read!

Bad Luck and Trouble sheds a lot of light on Reacher and what drives him. Sometimes he seems almost a two dimensional entity without any clear motivation other than violence, and then you see the almost Taoist clarity with which he sees the world. If there were a grim reaper, Reacher could be his avatar on earth. He takes the admonition "do the right thing" from his mother (Enemy), and does it. The eye for an eye nature of his balancing the books for his brutally murdered comrades is justice at it's simplist. If he were to have a tatoo, it would say "Let God sort it out later", to paraphrase R. Lee Ermey. Great Book!

Having collected the $$ for Angels and Da Vinci, Brown should have left well enough alone. This was about as interesting as a grocery list. I would recommend he move on to another form. I couldn't finish it.