Christopher

I confess to not being a Stephen King fan, despite wading through a few superficially attractive works. I managed a sneak preview of this work and then went straight to audible.com.

This is a long story about time-travel and its perils and paradoxes and Mr King has excelled himself. Working initially on the somewhat unlikely premise that the world would have been a better place had JFK not been assassinated, the hero is a rather nice person who becomes hardened by experience. A port to the past or rabbit hole has been the secret of a hot-dog restaurant who has made slight changes to the past which have had no world-wide change but a cigar-chomping, old marine has terminal cancer and time is running out. Enter the hero Jake Epping, who eats at the old boy's premises and has become friendly. The dying marine has a burning ambition - to prevent that day in Dallas. He obviously cannot achieve the goal but youth, a growing empowerment and a couple of simple excursions to alter history slightly for the benefit of others,not himself, show him that time-travel has potential problems with history trying to be "obdurate" but he persists.

The death of his marine pal leaves him little choice and a moral dilemma. To say more would be to give some of the plot away and that is something I will not countenance because Mr King deserves every accolade possible for this work. I remember the 1950s well and he has it down pat, trading off the advantages of a cleaner time than 2011, although his hero certainly misses cell phones. The characterizations are finely drawn and thoroughly believable,, along with the premises of the plot.

I would go so far as to say that if you don't buy another book this year, this is the one - an absolute gem.

I have read a great deal by Bob Mayer and seen some of his TV work. I found this book entertaining and interesting especially as I listened to it just before the world was supposed to end last December. I never regarded those predictions as plausible but the author writes a quite beautiful narrative about the person regarded as the ultimate betrayer.

The authors are usually excellent and have a fine history of writing behind them. The plot line in this book, namely that US astronauts landed on the moon before Neil Armstrong but it was hushed up because of what was found had so much potential. I was disappointed that it wasn't developed further because while it's a rattling good read and having corresponded with both authors a few years ago, I was left with the feeling of wanting more. In terms of quality the book is one of the best "nuts and bolts" style of science fiction but I would have loved to have sat down with Jack and Mike to discuss other ways of fleshing out the story, perhaps even a hook for an encore. The politics of the times were accurately depicted and although every story needs a victim, it was all too easy to blame Richard Nixon, whom I think will be more fairly treated by history than by current commentators.

Michael Flynn is a very accomplished writer and I have several of his books in hardback or paperback form. This is a classic conspiracy theory that maintains Charles Babbage's "difference engine" was built and used to change history. The Babbage story in itself is fascinating and worth reading and a number of replicas do work but they are advanced calculating machines rather than computers. This is a book where you have to switch worlds to a parallel time and immerse yourself for a reasonably complex plot and some taut action about the way organizations rise and fall, split and admit to human weaknesses. Mr. Flynn conveys the outdoors in a very beautiful manner. This is not a book for everyone but rewards the diligent reader.

If you want to buy an argument about the greatest detective in the world, some of the modern updates are highly entertaining and although I approach some with apprehension, by and large those to be found on audible.com are well up to standard. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the alternatives and this is no exception. If you are a traditionalist, as I was once, it may take a little time to reorient but it is time well spent.

Be warned that this is an old book and the author has been dead for some while. I like it because of my interest in aeronautical matters and especially the problems of metal fatigue in early jet airliners. The film made in black and white has not stood the test of time but the plot of this story is really quite good as an obsessed and driven man tries to prove he is correct before more disasters occur. I am extraordinarily pleased that audible.com has secured rights to a number of old books. My paperback copy of the book fell apart years ago but as someone who was born to fly and loves the experience, Nevile Shute did a very good job given the time. There is some congruence with Michael Crighton's Airframe and the technological differences are considerable. Well worth a read.

I don't know the author's work and came at this after the very smooth Stephen Booth. Some familiarity with the UK and police practice is probably required for maximum enjoyment. At first I despaired with the plot but as the author drew it together, with various complexities and the darker side of human nature, it gripped me quite well. The scene is set in Shropshire and the senior cop is from Birmingham via London while his current squeeze is a DC in London. The anticipation in reading the book was knowing that murder had been committed but not finding out until almost the end, who did it and more particularly how. I found it most enjoyable but patience is a virtue.

I'm interested in the social aspects of erotica but make no judgements - each to their own. For an enjoyable rest and listen, this is pretty good. The story line hangs together quite well.

This is not a definitive substitute for the surgical implant. However, it may work for some, provided you can work at it. The reader is excellent but it probably needed another 15-25 minutes. For those with problems where a band is recommended I suggest that a psychological evaluation is a necessary pre-requirement: as a person qualified to make this statement, you must fully understand what the process involves and the side effects - food that you can no longer enjoy even in minute quantities; sudden reflux and rejection of food you may have enjoyed days before with the band in! Learn the basics of projectile vomiting and practise before you venture out.

I can assure you your life will never be the same. I would not have my band removed because it reduced weight and appears to have rendered treatment for Type II diabetes unnecessary. I would have liked this track available some 7 years ago - well done Hypnosis Live.

This story was originally to be found online. It has been modified a little and even if ones suspends the critical faculties and folklore about Bigfoot or similar large hairy creatures said to be found on every continent, the story is badly told. Suggestion: spend your money on Sherlock Holmes.

For those of us frustrated pilots and sanguine airline passengers, perhaps viewers of TV programs on the macabre investigation of air crashes, this is a good story, stretched a little by the effects of globalised airline construction. Radical technology is an interest of mine but fly-by-wire is very real. Larsen takes this to a higher level (I was tempted to pun a plane) and the dangers inherent in computer-directed systems. In this genre Michael Crichton's Airframe leads the field and although the aircraft concerned is a cargo plane, the possibility of passenger derivatives is always at the back of the mind. The problems of sub-contracting construction and potential for sabotage are all too real. Inter-agency squabbling add a little piquancy to the story, although some of the escapes from danger are slightly wild, a good novel needs heroes with just a tad of luck. This book is well worth a read.