Drew Stevens followed Mallory (a beautiful and up and coming movie star) in a frantic car chase in West Hollywood. He had to meet her, get to know her, because he was on an assignment ' and one he didn't particularly like. Shadowing her these past weeks he had come to like Mallory and now he wanted to protect her from the people he was working for.

Mallory was meeting a girl friend in a rowdy bar. After one drink she starts to leave but is accosted by a drunk. Naturally, Drew is the first to rescue her. This leads to a naughty interlude between two strangers. But Drew was sent for a purpose and by making love to her he has betrayed a powerful man. For this he could lose his life. The story hots up in more ways than one as an exciting chase/adventure story unfolds. This book is erotic but it has more than a few sexy scenes and from the way it ends, which is surprising, would probably make a compelling series. I think this writer tells a good story and I would like to read more from her. I give 4.5 red roses to this particular book. Morna.

Hi, This Dee Dawning. I took the liberty of posting this independant review.

I haven't read a Dean Koontz authored book in a couple of years but I don't remember him being this detail oriented. My paperback copy was six hundred and eighty-one pages. Enough already, this story could have easily been told in half that many pages. In bold type too!

That's not to say it wasn't an interesting story. It was. I guess you might say I enjoyed it despite itself. There is no doubt Koontz is one of the better story tellers around and this was a good yarn. Trouble is I read through five hundred pages of tedium to get to one hundred and eighty pages of knock down drag out excitement and that's the part I can't tell you about. So let's talk about what I can tell you about.

Dean Koontz's M.O. is that he writes very good horror and science fiction horror stories not unlike the other guy whose name also starts with K, only Koontz is less erratic.
With the other K, you get a good one, then an bad one, then an average one then a great one and so forth. Koontz doesn't quite get to the great threshold very often but he also stays to the left of average as well.

Main Characters:

Da good guys
Curtis Hammond - a ten year old boy (or is he?)
Leilani Klonk - a precocious, handicapped nine year old girl
Mickey Bellsong - A pretty twenty something ex-con (she was framed)
Aunt Geneva - Mickey's aunt
"Old Yeller" - dog who tags along with Curtis
Noah Farrel - semi retired private eye
Polly and Cass - beautiful, buxom former show girls.

Da crumbs
"Ole Sinsemilla" - Leilani's good for nothing drugged out mother
Preston Maddoc - Leilani's evil stepdad, whom she calls "Dr Doom".

Da yarn
Mickey and Geneva's new but temporary neighbor, nine year old Leilani is smart as a whip (who ever thought up that expression?), Cute as a button (another one, never saw a cute button yet) and sharp as a tack (ok, that one fits) but she is also handicapped, with a deformed left hand and leg (she wears a leg brace) and she obviously fabricates stories, saying her mother is an insane druggie and her step father has murdered eleven people that she knows about, including her severely handicapped year older brother. It seems that Dr Doom is a sort of Dr Korvorkian but worse, an advocate of mercy killings and more. Like killing his version of the misfits and Leilani falls in his version.

Yes, tall tales indeed, until Mickey get a taste of the utterly bizarre behavior of Leilani's mother "ole Sinsemilla" dancing in the moonlight and then jumping down Mickey's throat for calling her Sinsemilla. At this point Leilani's tall tale seems a lot shorter and after that and a couple other episodes, Mickey and Geneva are quite worried not only for Leilani's welfare but indeed for her life.

Curtis Hammond is running for his life. There is something evil after him, worse than evil, malevolent and it's closing in. In Utah, after visiting a sleeping families house to find clothes and food, the family dog trails after Curtis as he makes a hasty get away after the evil almost catches him. It seems, what is after Curtis has already killed his mother and now they're killing this Utah family, so not only is Curtis in danger but so is anyone he contacts.

And so on goes the story where our divergent characters, good and bad alike, are inexorably drawn to a confluence in a small town in the Idaho panhandle.

Conclusion

Dean Koontz seems to come up with unusual and original plots and he tells the story well with an open easy to follow writing style. Likewise One Door Away From Heaven is a well presented clever story in Koontz's classic Good versus Evil motif. His depiction of the characters, especially Leilani was excellent. He made you want to adopt her and similarly with Curtis, however this book is not without some faults.

The effort that Koontz put forth was overly loquacious and there was much too much attention paid to detail. An example that comes to mind is where Curtis goes into a truck stop bathroom. This bathroom, which has no real bearing on the story is described in such detail that some 140 words are used. I felt this excess of description turned a rather simple straight forward novel into a wordy complex story that, as I mentioned, bordered on tedium, not to mention the additional two or three hundred pages took me an extra five or six hours to read.

I have read many Koontz books, Coldfire, Hideaway, Tick Tock, Strange Highways, Lightning and others and I don't remember Koontz's writing being so distracting. It almost seems like Koontz supplied a plot and someone else wrote the book.

Regardless, the plot and story were interesting enough despite the overdone presentation to salvage the book.

The first time I ever read F. Paul Wilson, in the early eighties, it was the quasi Vampire novel, The Keep. Although the antagonist of that book wasn't truly a Vampire, The Keep read like a vampire novel.(and a very good one at that)

Well Wilson decided he would write another Vampire novel and Midnight Mass is the result of that endeavor. Now Wilson thinks there aren't any redeeming qualities in Vampires, citing the fact that some authors romanticize even glorify the bloodsuckers in their recitals. With that in mind Wilson has written a book about Vampires as the merciless, venal, malevolent creatures they are supposed to be.

MIDNIGHT MASS

Plot

They came out of the East, starting shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain. They were unstoppable overrunning country after country killing millions, no billions or converting people into nocturnal monsters. Now they were entrenched in the East coast of America. They had a method, convert the religious and secular leadership, convert them and make resistance seem hopeless, they had a plan, transform all humans at first to a point of saturation, then using them only as food or breeding, harvesting at will. The Vampires also had allies, they left some of the lowlives and dreck alive to watch over them and seek out new victims during daylight, this unholy vanguard are called the "cowboys but, the Vampires the have a vulnerability.

The Story

The Vampires certainly seem invincible but in a small New Jersey town an unlikely cadre of citizens are fighting back, a pinprick at first but gradually a ripple. Meet Father Joe - a disgraced priest, Sister Carole - a one woman vigilante, Rabbi Zev - a rabbi with a cross, and Lacey - the feisty niece of Father Joe. Together and with the help of the congregation, they take back Father Joe's church, St Anthony, which the vampires, and cowboys, had taken over and made into a grisly, macabre, killing Temple.

In addition cowboys are being killed and displayed upside down from trees or telephone poles and even a couple Vampires including one of the strongest has been dispatched

In the overall plan of the Vampires, this little rebellion seems insignificant but they thrive on fear and no dissension can be tolerated, so help is sent from New York Vampire headquarters to stem the unrest.

Conclusion

I'll admit I'm a little ambivalent about Midnight Mass. F. Paul Wilson is one of probably my three or four favorite authors. I have read every book he has written including the inscrutable end of the Adversary series, Nightworld - which is mysteriously not in publication - so I tend to be favorably inclined toward the good doctor but I do have some issues with this book.

Good

The Wilson writing style is still there, so the story is very accessible and understandable. His writing is also fluid and a pleasure to read. There are no unnecessary use of large words which the average Joe would have to look up. The story as a whole flows well and is fast paced. The book itself, at three hundred and thirty-two pages is short in this day and age of word processing and there are no dead or boring chapters.

Bad

Where I thought the book fell short was the premise of the book itself. I found it a little incredulous why or how legions of malevolent creatures would descend on the West from the East, as Gengis Khan or Tamerlane did centuries prior, merely because of the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

There was no explanation of how this event precipitated such an invasion nor of what was keeping them from doing so sooner. It was like they were hibernating or metamophosing. Any reasonable explanation would have been welcome.

Another thing I didn't like was, the Vampires were ruthless, yet their servants, the cowboys, from whom they depended on for daytime protection, seemed less than efficient, in some cases screw ups.

Overall

First, this is a good book and if you can discount my aversion to origin of the plot, I think you might like Midnight Mass. No it's not a classic but it is enjoyable, nonetheless, for fans of tongue in cheek horror plus a sequel may be forthcoming. I found the book to be innovative and the Vampires vulnerability well thought out. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, therefore it is deserving of a Final Rating of low four stars / high three stars rounded to four stars because of the author.

Many of you are familiar with Canadian ensemble Godspeed you Black Emperor and if you are, you are most likely aware of Silver Mt. Zion as well. Why? Because S.M.Z. is a side project of three or four (depends on how you count)members of G.Y.B.E., namely Efrim (keyboards, guitar), Sophie (Violin), Thierry (bass) and guest Aidan (drums). The remainder of the band and the choir is fairly nebulous, so I won't go there.

Now the type of music S.M.Z. and G.Y.B.E. for that matter play is about as unconventional as you can get. Adjectives like weird, strange, bizarre even deviant would be appropriate to describe their music. The music of these artists consist almost exclusively of long repetitive, somewhat classical harmonies that gradually build in intensity, a crescendo if you will to a rapturous culmination. A song that we're all familiar with, of similar presentation would be Ravel's Bolero but beware that comparison is only for the construction of the music, not the content.

The music is not particularly gratifying to just sit and listen to. In fact, though I have never done this, I imagine to do so would be mildly hypnotic and meditative. However I find the music exquisite as background music while reading or working, drawing or painting.

By design, it seems, the music is a little chaotic and purposely off key. In addition the vocals, also chaotic are purposely amateurish. I know this doesn't sound particularly appetizing but surprisingly the whole recording comes together wonderfully, a case of the sum being much greater than the parts.

I hesitate to describe the music any further as It would take a better person than I to do so, therefore, I am merely going to state what is bad about this album and what is good about this album.

Bad:
Really, really hard to dance to.
If tired, prepare to fall asleep during many quieter parts.
Can cause depression in depressed individuals.
Been known to cause a trance induced state in geniuses.
Has been confused for a funeral dirge.
Similar music found on Sci-fi soundtracks.
Music is not very cheerful.
Poorly constructed cheesy cardboard CD container.
Atrocious artwork on CD cover and inserts.

Good:
Could have replaced Bolero in the movie Ten.
Excellent for crowd control.
An aid to hypnosis.
Frees ones creative energies.
Catchy, catchy melodies. (sometimes)
Increases the human libido by thirty percent.
Band members are special because they have only one name.
Very pretty almost inspiring dark music.
Good music to calm you down

This is my first S.M.Z. album, I also have two G.Y.B.E. albums, and even though I enjoy it I hesitate to get more. Since I feel there is not that much difference between each song, one can assume the same would be true on additional albums.

If you are familiar with and like Godspeed You Black Emperor and are not familiar with A Silver Mt. Zion, chances are good that you will also like S.M.Z. as the music is comparable but with occasional vocals.

If your not familiar with either, give it a try anyway. What do you have to lose. Be decisive, be forceful, be daring, show everyone how avant garde you are. Heck if you don't like it give it to your mother in law for Xmas and tell her it's the latest in Christmas music.

Ok, It's official! The Who's, Who's Next is the greatest rock & roll album of all time, Mr. D has spoken! What, you don't agree? If not The Who's, Who's next, Who then, eh Who? Oh sure there is a plethora of classic rock & roll albums, many of which are worthy runnerups. Led Zepplin, Boston, The Beatles, Styx, BTO, The Doors, Mob Rules... Mob Rules? Forget that one.

Anyway, there have been numerous great R & R albums over the years but in my opinion from the urinique album cover to the fabulous music, from Baba O'Riley (which many people think is entitled Teenage Wasteland) to Won't Get Fooled Again, this is the best most thorughly original non filler album around and I'm not a big Who fan.

Angels and Demons is a fast moving, action packed suspense thriller again dealing with the Catholic Church. In fact in this book we deal with the heart of the Catholic Church in the Vatican itself. As with The Da Vinci Code the premise of the book has to do with a long time alleged enemy of the Catholic Church. This time it is the "Illuminati".

Illuminati

An esoteric society of scientists and artisans of which Gallileo was a founding member. Formed in the sixteen hundreds, its members were ostensibly persecuted, hunted and even murdered by the Catholic Church, as at the time the church believed science was incompatible with church dogma. Illuminati were rumored to have eventually mainstreamed and infiltrated, banking establishments, industry, governments and the Masons. They were thought to be defunct for a generation.

A scientist at the world's foremost scientific research facility CERN, has been murdered. In addition he has been branded with an ambigram (meaning reading the same upside down) spelling out the word ILLUMINATI. Later discovered is that the product of the project the murdered scientist, Leonardo Vetra, was working on (anti-matter)is missing, stolen from a secure location. Gram for gram it is the most powerful substance on Earth and it is in the hands of an underground with a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church.

Robert Langdon is awakened at five in the morning by a strange man who says he needs to come to his lab ASAP.
Thinking the guy is a crackpot Langdon hangs up and tries to go back to bed but then his fax machine starts to receive a message. Curious he retrieves the facsimile and is shocked by what it contains. Still stunned, he finally realized the sender was still on the line wanting to talk so he picked up the line.

A short time later Langdon is on a mach fifteen plane to Geneva, Switzerland and a date with destiny.

Wheelbound Director of CERN, Maximillian Kohler, called Langdon because he was listed on the internet as an expert on Illuminati, having written a book, "The Art of the Illuminati". It seems the Illuminati a longtime blood enemy of Chritianity in general and especially Catholicism has stolen something which, if removed from the protective environs of CERN for twenty-four hours, will explode with a force greater than a nuclear bomb.

After meeting the lovely but distraught daughter of the murder victim, Vittoria, also a scientist then discovering the missing anti-matter, Kohlers secretary finally locates him and says the Vatican has been desperately trying to get ahold of him. They want to know what a canister with CERN's logo and apparently counting down is doing in some unknown location in the Vatican, what it is and how it got there.

I'll bet you want to know too. I know I did.

Angels and Demons has so much action and suspense that it had me mesmerized after sixty or seventy pages. It is certainly not a simple story. The story is involved, complex and convoluted and it is told with finesse in a writing style that is quite easy to follow. Unlike The Da Vinci Code, this story comes together wonderfully, doesn't drag and is fully believable. The character development was great as was some tricky misdirection. It seems like it ends several times and to Brown's credit each probable ending is better than the last.

In a nutshell, if you liked The Da Vinci Code, I don't see how you could not like Angels and Demons.

Final rating: 4.75 stars

Fantastic, 2004 is shaping up as a defining year for the Progressive and Symphonic Metal genre. In fact in just the last two months three amazing albums (two of them double)have been released to the public, Evergrey's Inner Circle, Therion's Lemuria/Sirius B and Ayreon's Human Equation.

I'm sure many of you reading this review are familiar but for you newcomers here is a little background. Ayreon is not a band in the normal sense. It is a continuing project of Dutch Multi-instrumentalist and composer, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, not unlike Alan Parsons. This is Lucassen's eighth overall Rock opera and sixth under the name Ayreon. The other two were entitled Star One and Ambeon.

Once Lucassen has written a new rock opera he invites guest singers and musicians to participate. To date he has had ninety-two guest artists participate in his eight projects.

The first thing I noticed about The Human Equation was that it was mellower than most of Ayreon's previous projects. The second thing I noticed was that it was not as mellow as I had thought. The third thing was that, although I at first didn't think I liked it that much, the more I listened the more I liked it. In fact after three listens I decided it is one of Lucassen's best works, if not his best. After a couple more listens I have decided that it's in the running with the two above mentioned masterpieces for Progressive album of the year.

The Human Equation like all previous Ayreon rock operas tells a story. In The Human Equation we have a comatose man reliving his memories and the events leading up to his bizarre auto accident, slowly realizing only he can wake himself.

For this project we have an unprecedented eleven singers including Lucassen himself. I'm sure you'll recognize some of the names as they read like a whos who of progressive rock/metal.

Guest Singers:
"Me" - James LaBrie, Dream Theater
"Best Friend" - Arjen Lucassen
"Wife" - Marcela Bovio - Elfonia

"Father" - Mike Baker - Shadow Gallery
"Agony" - Devon Graves - Dead Soul Tribe
"Fear" - Mikael Akerfeldt - Opeth
"Rage" - Devin Townsend
"Pride" - Magnus Ekwall - The Quill
"Reason" - Eric Clayton - Saviour Machine
"Love" - Heather Findlay - Mostly Autumn
"Passion" - Irene Jansen

Conclusion:

Evergrey, Therion, Ayreon, the three extraordinary bands I mentioned that have released magnificent albums within the last three months have one thing in common. Reviewers, fans, critics, it doesn't matter, they all have trouble putting a label on their music or comparing them to other bands. That is because each of them has followed a uniquely different path than their contemporaries. They each make music like no other, within their own personal sub-genre.

If you've never heard Ayreon or Evergrey or Therion, you're in for a treat and so I leave you with this thought, I bought The Human Equation for just under $17 from Amazon. For that $17 I got 20 songs totaling 103 minutes of four to five star music. This figures out to $.85 per song or $.16 per minute. How does that compare with the last Pop, alternative or rock album you bought. The last Pop album I bought was on sale for $9.99 plus tax, for which I got two four star and one five star song totaling 8 minutes and 45 seconds. How does that break down? Why it's only $3.60 per song or $1.23 per minute.

Of course all this math won't do you any good if you don't like Ayreon's style of music, so I'm going to go out on a limb and draw some parallels to bands you are sure to know. That doesn't mean they sound like these bands, however on some level at some time, there are similarities. Here goes: The Beatles, Styx, Queensryche, Loreena Mckinnett, Jethro Tull, Kansas, Yes, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues and believe it or not Jesus Christ Superstar(Probably because it's a rock opera).

Explorers Club is not a real band. It's actually a side project of Magellan's singer/keyboardist Trent Gardner but if it were a band, boy, would it be a band for the ages. It seems like Gardner took a cue from one of his contemporaries, the incomparable Arjen A. Lucassen and wrote what is essentially a rock opera and invited numerous mega talented musicians to get in the act. Take a look at the plethora of superstar participants: Terry Bozzio (Drums), Billy Sheehan (Bass), Trent Gardner (Keyboards), Wayne Gardner (Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Additional Bass), Brad Kaiser (Additional Midi Percussion), James LaBrie (vocals), D.C. Cooper (vocals), Trent Gardner (vocals), Bret Douglas (vocals), Matt Bradley (vocals), John Petrucci (Guitars), Steve Howe (Acoustic Guitar), Derek Sherinian (Keyboards), Trent Gardner( Keyboard and Trombone), James Murphy (Guitars), Michael Bemesderfer (Flute and Wind Controller), Frederick Clarke (Nylon String Guitar), Matt Guillory (Keyboards)

Now I'll admit I haven't heard of all of these guys but with the ones I have heard of, Billy Sheehan, Trent Gardner, James LaBrie, Terry Bozzio, D.C.Cooper, John Petrucci, Steve Howe and Derek Sherinian, I know a Superstar band when I see it and Explorers Club plays like a band of Progressive Rock Superstars.

About Trent Gardner

Trent Gardner is the band leader of the Progressive Rock Band Magellan. He writes all the songs, sings and plays keyboards. While this is probably enough to keep most musicians busy, it obviously isn't enough for Gardner and several of his contemporaries, like LeBrie, Sherinian and Petrucci who together probably have more side projects than actual band recordings. Gardner for one has produced two subsequent side project releases in the rock opera, Leonardo: The Absolute Man (2001) and a second Explorers Club release, Raising the Mammoth. (2002)

Age of Impact

If you like good Progressive Rock , you're going to love Age of Impact. Though it consists of only five songs, in true prog-rock tradition they average over ten and a half minutes.

The music varies from a Dream Theaterish sound as on the sixteen minute lead song, "Fate Speaks" to a mellower sound which is evident on portions of the middle tracks. I find the variety of singers (there are five) quite exhilarating. They are all very good and they each take the lead for a song with LaBrie taking two and Gardner harmonizing, except for a portion of the last track where he takes the lead. As you might expect there is a lot of instrumentation and soloing but the vocals take a back seat to no one. The music is melodious, despite being prog, the singers are excellent and the lyrics are meaningful.

If you were to ask me to compare Therion's music with other artists, I would probably think, and scratch my head, think some more and finally say, there is none. Fact is there is none. Therion is incomparable. I do get a similar feeling from few of the songs of power metal band extraordinaire Thy Majestie and a little from Rhapsody but that's it. I guess nobody else can do it or if the can, don't want to or can't go through the expense of hiring Symphonic orchestras and large choirs.

Therion, brainchild of Swedish musical obergenius Christofer Johnsson, creates the most beautiful heavy metal music imaginable. His use of classical oriented elements in confluence with heavenly choirs and symphonic orchestras is becoming legendary.

Having said that, the new double release Lemuria / Sirius B is just a little heavier than their last five releases. This is not bad, no, it's very good just different, so don't expect a repeat of Theli etc. Lemuria / Sirius B has more metal and even a little electronica but don't worry there's still plenty of the recent Therion to go around.

More than 170 musicians and singers participated in the creation of Lemuria / Sirius B with the recording sessions taking over nine months. With this release, Therion have taken on the challenge of revisiting their roots. Therion have, until now, not been able to meld the harder facets of their early years with the new bombastic symphonic aspects for which Therion have become renown for, like they have on this album!

I like the new direction of Therion. There is nothing wrong with their older material, after all it is all five stars, but this is an exiting change of pace. A fresh perspective from one of the most creative minds in the music industry. I think, in the long run I may like it more.

As usual with Therion, there are no mediocre let alone bad songs. I'm tempted to give all songs five stars but I guess there are a couple that only deserve four and a half stars. This(these) album(s) is(are) in the running for album of the year

If you were to ask me to compare Therion's music with other artists, I would probably think, and scratch my head, think some more and finally say, there is none. Fact is there is none. Therion is incomparable. I do get a similar feeling from few of the songs of power metal band extraordinaire Thy Majestie and a little from Rhapsody but that's it. I guess nobody else can do it or if the can, don't want to or can't go through the expense of hiring Symphonic orchestras and large choirs.

Therion, brainchild of Swedish musical obergenius Christofer Johnsson, creates the most beautiful heavy metal music imaginable. His use of classical oriented elements in confluence with heavenly choirs and symphonic orchestras is becoming legendary.

Having said that, the new double release Lemuria / Sirius B is just a little heavier than their last five releases. This is not bad, no, it's very good just different, so don't expect a repeat of Theli etc. Lemuria / Sirius B has more metal and even a little electronica but don't worry there's still plenty of the recent Therion to go around.

More than 170 musicians and singers participated in the creation of Lemuria / Sirius B with the recording sessions taking over nine months. With this release, Therion have taken on the challenge of revisiting their roots. Therion have, until now, not been able to meld the harder facets of their early years with the new bombastic symphonic aspects for which Therion have become renown for, like they have on this album!

I like the new direction of Therion. There is nothing wrong with their older material, after all it is all five stars, but this is an exiting change of pace. A fresh perspective from one of the most creative minds in the music industry. I think, in the long run I may like it more.

As usual with Therion, there are no mediocre let alone bad songs. I'm tempted to give all songs five stars but I guess there are a couple that only deserve four and a half stars. This(these) album(s) is(are) in the running for album of the year.