"But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion." -- Ecclesiastes 9:4 (NKJV)

Most crime and detective stories ratchet up the horror as a way to escape from having to write an entertaining story. In doing so, the victims are usually carted off the the morgue in a trail of blood and guts. After reading about the details of their autopsies, we don't hear or think much about them.

Robert Crais has written a much different kind of story. His narrators (LA police officer Scott James and former Marine, the German shepherd Maggie) are both victims of violence who carry the scars on their bodies and in their memories. Lacking the kind of physical strength they had before being badly injured, they draw on courage to do their best. Will it be enough?

The story has enough heart in it to carry three and a half stories to great success, yet the book doesn't seem overdone. There's an authenticity in caring about those who are severely harmed in the line of duty that makes this book stirring in many ways.

As someone who loves dogs, but doesn't know a great deal about German shepherds and war dogs, I was impressed by how deftly the necessary information was inserted to fill me in. I thought it was sheer brilliance to have Maggie narrate parts of the story.

If anyone will complain about this book, it will be that the mystery and detection seem a little more clumsily written than might have been expected. I'm sure you'll figure out who did what to whom and why. But that felt like a minor matter to me compared with the fun of reading the story and being encouraged by it.

Bravo, Mr. Crais!

"My son, be wise, and make my heart glad," -- Proverbs 27:11 (NKJV)

Mastermind doesn't quite fit into any category that I know. It's not a book about science. If it were, there would be a lot more science in it. It's not a self-help book. If it were, there would be a great many tools to apply along with exercises. It's not a pop culture book. If it were, the references would be to some character or person more contemporary than Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

To me, the book came closest to being that most wonderful of all books, a sincere homage designed to bring new reasons to appreciate a writer and his creations. Maria Konnikova uses scientific research and simple observations about psychology to validate the approaches used by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in writing the Holmes books and stories. Reading Mastermind made me want to re-read the whole series again. Fortunately, I have a complete set in my library.

So if you can't get enough of Sherlock Holmes and his methods, Mastermind will be a source of new reasons to enjoy those fictional outings. If, instead, you want to learn about how to make better decisions, you'll find better books elsewhere.

In recent years I've found that books about Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tend to be on the debunking side. I enjoyed reading a book like this one that might have been written by a zealous defense attorney with good communication skills.

Have fun!

"When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
Discretion will preserve you;
Understanding will keep you," -- Proverbs 2:10-11 (NKJV)

For more years than I care to count, my children have regularly doubled over in pain and shown obvious distress as they said, "My stomach hurts." Many hours followed treating the symptoms and identifying causes. No two of the youngsters had identical issues. I found the whole process to be more than a little bewildering, and no physician ever explained what was going on in a satisfying way.

As I read Understanding Your Food Allergies and Intolerances: A Guide to Their Management and Treatment, my initial reaction was to wish that this resource had been available 40 years ago. Fortunately, it is available to you today. If your children routinely have painful reactions to eating or drinking, you'll find much helpful advice in this book for both what kind of physician you should seek and how you can accumulate evidence that will help to identify ways to help your youngsters.

I must admit that before reading this book I didn't appreciate that food intolerances can be so important. I thought that food issues mostly related to allergies and lactose intolerance.

I was pleased to see that the authors are candid about what is and isn't known about these issues. In many cases experimentation with alternative solutions presents the best chance of improving matters. I wish I had known that when many physicians began to experiment with my youngsters (without calling it that).

The writing style isn't as academic and remote as in most such books authored by physicians. I found the style to be as accessible as I can imagine any book being on this subject.

I intend to share a copy of this book with each of my children whenever they say, "My children say that their stomachs hurt." Perhaps it will make life a bit easier for the next generation. I pray that will be so. If it occurs, this book will be an enormous blessing to my family. I hope it will be for your family, as well.

Nice work!

"Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" -- Luke 12:14 (NKJV)

Not so many years ago, Supreme Court justices were mostly known to America through their written opinions. As partisanship over who would be confirmed by the Senate increased, public scrutiny did, too. Where once only spouses of the justices and clerks really knew what the justices were like, we live in a "loose lips" era where much more is shared outside the court about what goes on in the court. When you do a close of almost anyone, the view isn't nearly as neat and pretty. The same is true for the Supreme Court. The Oath once again makes that point clear.

The Oath is really three books in one:

1. A chronicle of the parallel careers and tensions between President Obama and Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts.

2. An updated profile on the current sitting justices, as well as the most recent retirees.

3. A look at the legal reasoning behind some of the most important recent cases, from a liberal perspective.

By trying to cover so much ground, The Oath bobs back and forth a little more than I would have liked. The personal stories come across in pretty clear and interesting fashion, if a little too much like People would have covered the same ground.

To me, the book's biggest weakness is that the author critiques the positions of various justices in terms of whether they exactly fit with following the precedent of leading cases from the years when the court was dominated by liberal justices. The Supreme Court has always moved to overturn some precedents and to reign in others. When either one occurs, stare decisis (precedent should prevail) isn't going to have much effect.

I certainly agree with Mr. Toobin that the Supreme Court has become politicized to such an extent that its ability to be a credible influence is at stake. The book leaves us on an interesting note: Chief Justice John Roberts walking a pretty unusual dual argument to affirm Obamacare. In the past other leaders of the court have risen to the occasion to save the court from losing legitimacy. Will Chief Justice Roberts continue on that path? Only time will tell.

One can only hope that the sort of partisanship that led to the ugly Bush v. Gore decision will not recur. But it might!

How accurate is the book? It's hard to say, but I have spent enough time with two of the justices to respond to the portrait conveyed here. I didn't find either characterization to be far from my personal impressions.

Will there be a better book about this particular stretch of Supreme Court history? Possibly, but it probably won't be as entertaining as this one.

"But you must continue in the things which you have learned ...." -- 2 Timothy 3:14 (NKJV)

I enjoyed reading The World Until Yesterday because it describes practices in some traditional societies that I was unfamiliar with. Twenty-five of these societies (and much more of the text) are from New Guinea, a place I'm not likely to visit. Geography professor Jared Diamond mostly draws on descriptions and observations by Westerners who spent limited amounts of time with the traditional societies, sometimes expanded by comments from those who remember practices before interaction with today's typical societies occurred. He addresses these topics:

1. How friends, enemies, strangers, and traders were viewed ... particularly in terms of geographical boundaries.

2. Some ways that small-scale conflicts were resolved.

3. A war between related peoples is recounted.

4. A contrast is drawn between "limited" war and international war.

5. Child-rearing methods are characterized.

6. The role of aged people is related.

7. Ways of identifying and responding to signs of danger are detailed.

8. The sources of religious sentiments are theorized.

9. The advantages of knowing many languages are spelled out.

10. The consequences of changing diet and exercise from what traditional societies have practiced.

While you don't need to know my views on Professor Diamond's conclusions, I suspect that you will find many of them scanty and others may not sit well with you. While almost everyone will agree that eating lots of salt and sugar and not exercising are bad practices, most everything else is much more controversial. I suspect that the flaw is in book's research design. Professor Diamond probably needed to draw on more perspectives from other scientific disciplines to make his conclusions.

Certainly, there's food for thought and discussion here. Just don't rush to judgment ... or to change too many things without more investigation and testing.

I do recommend the book for those who would like a better sense of what life has been like for people who lived independently of the global strip mall that seems to be reducing so many differences among people and cultures.

"I urge you to become like me, for I became like you." -- Galatians 4:12 (NKJV)

If you have been reading about Kinsey Millhone from A through V (so far), you know there are dark shadows in Kinsey's past such as divorces, sketchy family relationships, boyfriend breakups, and people she would rather not see. Until I read Kinsey and Me, I thought that such details were primarily an example of an exceptional novelist's imagination. Now, I realize that there are shreds of Sue Grafton's life contains in these dark places. Through the short stories about Kit Blue, we get a close-up view in the foreground concerning the experiences that appear in Kinsey's background.

Of course, there's another dimension to Sue Grafton, the never-satisfied, ever-stretching author, that's not revealed by either Kinsey or Kit. I suspect that's the one most of us admired the most before reading these stories. Now, I find myself being more impressed by the girl who was more like Kit and turned herself into a Sue who is more like Kinsey ... and who can write up a storm!

Two-thirds of the book contains Kinsey short stories. These are lightning fast in dishing out clues and reaching solutions. (I must admit I still don't understand the solution to one of them. I guess I'm not quick enough to follow the divine Ms. Sue.)

The final third are short stories about Kit, dealing with her dysfunctional family including alcoholic parents. The mother (apparently based on Sue's actual mother) is one of the most memorable characters you'll ever read about. I'll carry those images with me into the future reading I do of Ms. Grafton's work.

The Kinsey stories remind of the favorite devices used by the classic detective short-story writers: logic games, Occam's razor applied, misdirection away from the least likely suspect, the ironic results of a mutual mistake, the sudden revelation of wide-scale pretense, mistaken identity, making murder look like an accident, reversing a scam, and having the upper hand without showing it. It's a veritable homage to the craft.

The Kit stories aren't detective stories. They solve no murder mysteries. They delve into the mysteries, instead, of the human heart.

Brava!

"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." -- Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)

This book is part testimony, explaining how the author was called away from his job as a corporate CEO to head World Vision, and part sermon, searching the Gospels for guidance about what it means to live as a Christian. Basically, the message is to live as Jesus did, following His words and example.

Anyone will feel convicted by at least some parts of this book.

Some of the messages that hit me hardest were the points about those who make $50,000 a year are among the 1 percent of the world's people with the highest incomes, how little money can transform a life, the need to measure not much time and treasure we provide to serve God and His purposes, and how often Christians don't behave any differently from those who aren't. The contrast between how many people view Christians and the way Christians are supposed to love others in generous, nonjudgmental ways will make anyone say "Ouch!"

I heard Mr. Stearns speak at Lakewood Church and found his message to be quite different from the impression I have of World Vision from the various fundraising letters I regularly receive. I was glad to learn that the organization is more Biblically based than I realized.

Ultimately the most moving parts of the book were the testimonies about how God uses tiny efforts by individuals to make great results. What an opportunity to live up to something wonderful that God may have planned for each of us!

I'm sure this book will both convict and bless you, especially the latter if you change what you do to better reflect our Lord.

"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit." -- Matthew 7:17 (NKJV)

What better way to tell the story of modern America than through following an immigrant family through the generations? Such books can emphasize "rags to riches," "American history," "pain of change," or "the human condition." A Good American picks the human condition, especially the ways that mistakes can lead to good results and good intentions can lead to disastrous consequences. You'll find plenty of both in this highly ironical and thoughtful novel that puts a new slant on what it means to be a "good American."

I had the pleasure of listening to the unabridged CD version ably read by Gibson Frazier.

For me, the book was most moving. But its ironies were so painful at times that they took away from my enjoyment. But don't miss the book. It's well worth your time.

"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy." -- 1 Timothy 6:17 (NKJV)

In recent years, I've noticed that more people than ever are writing thrillers ... but also that most of such efforts miss the mark by a wide enough margin to leave me feeling at least somewhat dissatisfied. One book may lack a coherent plot, another may have weak action, still another one may be too slow paced, or yet another one may have errors that spoil the story. I could go on, but I won't.

Then, every once is awhile I have the great pleasure of reading a thriller that gets it right. Even if the book is far from perfect, I feel an enormous joy as I read through the book, savoring the action, speeding my way to the end. For me, The Forgotten was such a book. Could it be improved? Sure. But what couldn't be? But it sure is a rewarding thriller to read. Thank you, Mr. Baldacci!

If you missed the first book in this new series, Zero Day, fear not. You can start right in with this story and be all right. In fact, I liked The Forgotten quite a bit better than Zero Day.

Mr. Baldacci makes especially good use of parallel story lines that only occasionally intersect at first, but eventually combine in ways that make a strong thread of suspense and excitement.

I would especially like to commend Mr. Baldacci for helping increase awareness of the reality of human trafficking within the United States, something that many people don't appreciate is a major and growing problem.

Bravo, Mr. Baldacci!

This review is from: The Black Box (A Harry Bosch Novel) (Hardcover)
"They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons," -- Psalm 106:37 (NKJV)

To me one of the rewards of the last few books in this series is Michael Connelly's taking on the challenge of making Harry Bosch a single parent with a demanding job. While Connelly makes the plot a little easier on Harry than real life would be, we learn a lot more about our Harry as we see how he attempts to do justice on a cold case while being a caring dad.

The early part of this story's investigation is brilliantly put together. It's classic Bosch and Connelly. I felt, however, that in connecting that superb plotting and writing to the actual motives and criminals the story took too many easy ways out. I expected something more imaginative and credible for these parts of the story. As a result, I was a little disappointed. It's not a reason to avoid the book, but it's rather more of a let down after having been carried along at a high level.

The conflict between Harry and the latest pencil pusher running the Open-Unsolved Unit was well done and entertaining.

The book's climax was very well plotted and imaginatively written. I found that it took away some of the sting of not having the murder motive and plot development be more credible.

Close to a vintage Bosch, but no cigar. But it's well worth your time.