When the Eskimo villain captured our hero, Kurt Austin (or is it Austin Powers?), I expected him to say, "Welcome to my evil lair." He even had his own form of ill tempered sea bass! I'm sorry, but this thing read like a farce. Dog sleds in downtown DC? Mutant fish that may take over the world? Give me a break. Furthermore, the book was just plain boring. The action was only compelling in a few sections (unlike most of Cussler's books).

From the beginning, you know Elvis is being hired by a sleezy lawyer, who has got rich on high profile criminal defenses. This time, it involves a TV producer, who is accused of murdering his wife. The defense team wants to pin reasonable doubt on a particular LA police detective known for questionable activity in her past. But Elvis, just wants the truth. And you know, with Elvis and Joe Pike, the truth will be found, no matter who gets hurt along the way. Elvis's romance with Lucy Chenier gets re-kindled, as she pays him a visit during some west coast business meetings of hers.

Elvis gets a call to help out a TV actress discover info about her biological parents, which leads him to a small town in Louisiana. Interesting characters abound, including a giant snapping turtle. Soon, Elvis realizes another detective is on the scene, and not everything is as it first appears. The storyline also involves some romance with Elvis first meeting Lucy Chenier (who appears in subsequent Elvis stories), a lawyer from Baton Rouge. Somewhere about 2/3rd of the way into this book, the storyline changes as Elvis takes on a mission to right the wrongs of several folks in the back woods.

C. S. Lewis takes you into the mindset of a pair of demons named Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood, who connive to corrupt an unnamed British man living during World War II. The elder Screwtape is imparting his wisdom on the lesser experienced Wormwood throughout the letters, often agonizing on the effect the "enemy" (God) is having on the subject human. Screwtape discusses a variety of tactics Wormwood might take in pulling this man's soul toward their goal.

The book is very interesting, but somewhat difficult to read. Lewis writes in an academic style which one might expect from an Oxford professor.

This is not your typical murder mystery. For one thing, nobody drops dead until well after halfway into the story, and, there is not a lot of interest on any of the parties in discovering the murderer, until the end. I was not particularly satisfied with that. The focus for most of the book is on a psychic, who is suspected of being a charlaton. McNally is trying to discover how he gets his psychic powers. Once discovered, I felt the story went out with a bit of a whimper. As usual, though, the lighthearted style of the McNally series is entertaining.

Although I have fond memories of Lawrence Sanders' writing style, I don't understand the criticism for Vincent Lardo's continuation of this excellent series. This book is outstanding. The plot twists are intriguing and clever. I was mesmerized by the intertwined stories of Melva and Fairhurst, as Archie discovered more and more connections between the death of the dispicable Geoff Williams, and the blackmail of Fairhurst the III. The romantic dilemma for Archy was also an interesting side story. In my mind, this book had it all. Archy was in top form, jousting with the pater and his beloved Connie, dealing with the inept Binky on occasion (not too much, thankfully), and enjoying several medium rare steak tartares at the Pelican Club.

A young man dies while working a party at a millionaires house in the Hamptons, and his brother knows it was murder, rather than the suicide the police rush to judge. But why? It takes a while for the reader to discover the motive behind the crime. Meanwhile, some Mafia hitman type thug is running around scarring the old gang of friends of the deceased. The last 100 pages of this books enters bizarre drama, which could never occur in real life. Nevertheless, it was entertaining to an extent.

Was this book a fun read? Eggxactly. Archy is employed to discover if a rich woman's proposed Faberge egg investment is on the up and up. Is it? Of course not, and we all know who the good guys and bad guys are all along, but the book is fun nevertheless. The rich woman's kids have motives of their own, which add to the interest. And the crooks are very entertaining, and Archy spends a lot of time dancing with them as he tries to con them as well.

I particularly enjoy McNally books that have less Binky, like this one.

I say substandard only because Lawrence Sanders' standards are very high. This caper involving the death of a bird shop owner is not terribly intriguing. Too much effort is made to describe gourmet meals, and not enough crime drama is presented in this tale. Silly Binky Watrous gets a girlfriend and a new career entertaining geriatrics, while Archy deals with airhead twins, a pothead son, and a very shady pet shop manager. I found this the most burdensome of several McNally books to read.

Dr Laura would get 10 thumbs up for this one, if I only had 10 to give. Men, I encourage you to read it, examine your own life, and look for ways to improve it. Dr Laura's advice is centered on old fashioned values which too many people in modern society have thrown away. Was I guilty of anything in this book? You bet I am, and I wish I had read it 20 years ago. Women -- not all of this advice is strictly for man bashing, some of it could apply to you too!