Wednesday, June 28, 2006

The Codex, Douglas Preston

Maxwell Broadbent was a wealthy man and a very unscrupulous tomb robber, who amassed a great art collection worth over 1/2 billion dollars. Max was dying of cancer and contacted his three sons to discuss their inheritance. The sons gathered outside of Max's estate in Santa Fe, New Mexico to find the estate gate unlocked, they proceeded to the house to find it in disarray, all the art treasures were gone. Going through the house, they found a video by Max explaining what had to be done. Max was going to his grave with all the art treasures, as the Pharaohs of Egypt were buried with their treasures, so would he. Max told them if they could find his tomb, they could have the treasures. Philip, the oldest son who was an art historian professor in NY, got in touch with an old acquaintance of Max, Hauser PI. With a couple of phone calls, Hauser discovered that Max flew to the jungles of Honduras. Tom, the youngest son, was approached by Sally Colorado, a professor of anthropology at Yale. She told Tom about the Codex (an 800 AD Mayan manuscript of medical plants, animals and mineral found in the rain forest). It was in the treasures that Max took to his tomb. The Codex would be very useful at Yale. The three sons and Sally were off to Honduras. This is the beginning of a great search by all through the rain forest. After many weeks without food and near death , the sons and Sally were rescued by a native Indian from the area, Borabay. Brought back to health by Borabay they seek help from the local indians for they know where the tomb is. The ending is very exciting, with a shoot out by Hauser and the sons. The book is a page turner that keeps one interested to the last page.



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Monday, June 26, 2006

Ringo Starr, All Star Band

I was very fortunate to see Ringo Starr and his all star band perform in concert at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Ca. Ringo is the drummer from the Beatles. The all star band included Rod Argent (The Zombies) Hamish Stuart (Average White Band) Richard Marx, Billy Squier, Edgar Winter and Sheila E. Ringo started the show with a traditional Beatle song with Billy Squier doing one of his hits and Edgar Winter doing "Free Ride" and later doing "Frankinstine". Winter had the audience on their feet with Frankinstine, playing the sax, synthesizer and drums, everyone was alive and clapping to the music. Argent did "She's Not There" a 39 year old hit by the Zombies. Sheila E. did a fantastic solo performance on the drums, she gained fame from Prince. The band performed excellent! Ringo did several beatle songs including "Yellow Submarine" and "Little Help from my Friends". The band performed for over 2 hours, great show...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

London Bridges, James Patterson

The tenth Alex Cross novel sets the pace with the weasel, Geoffrey Shafer, living in Brazil killing prostitutes as he did in America. He is captured by the Wolf, an x-KGB man who had a run in with Cross in the states (Big Bad Wolf). The wolf and the weasel team up together to hold the world hostage with nuclear destruction. First they blow up a small town in Nevada and several more towns around the world to show what they can do. They confront the president of the USA with an ultimatum of blowing up New York, Washington DC, Paris and England for ransom. Alex Cross is in the FBI and has a personal history with these criminals, so he takes the case on with vigor. Alex goes after these criminals, traveling throughout Europe and England and back to the states. Very good ending that is unexpected. Yea Alex Cross!!!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

One Shot by Lee Child ( Jack Reacher novel)

Lee Child has done a wonderful job on this novel. Starts off with an old army sniper that was accused of a sniper attack on innocent people in Indiana, killing 5. James Barr is accused and arrested and interrogated by Emerson, a detective on the police force. Emerson was only able to get a couple statements from Barr saying "they got the wrong guy" and he wanted to see "Jack Reacher". Reacher saw the newscast in Miami while staying with a lady, and had to go to Indiana to find out the truth. After arriving in Indiana, his first stop was at the DA's office to see how strong the case was against Barr. It was rock solid with forensic evidence. This started Reacher on gathering his own statistics. It becomes a wild case that drew Reacher in more. The story is full of adventure and action. Reacher is the best in all he does and the ending is unpredictable. Good novel and I am looking forward to the next Reacher adventure.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Mind Game, by Christine Feehan

This book starts off with a doctor Whitney who adopts children from orphanges with extreme mind power . Doing many experiments with these children he developes their mind power and uses them for his gain. The main character in this book is Dahlia, her power is so great that she can't control it. She is exiled to a sanitarium in the swamps of the Louisiana bayou. Dr. Whitney dies and his daughter Lily takes on the task to find these extraordinary people. Lily sends Nicolas Trevane to rescue her, he is a ghost walker. After a huge fire storm where the sanatarium is destroyed, Dahlia is rescued by Nicolas. Because of the mind powers of these ghost walkers, they are able to do amacing things like telepathy and ESP. Nicolas sucessfully gets her out of the bayou and starts a journey to find reality. The book is action packed and very interesting!!!

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Iron Orchid by Stuart Woods

Just finished "Iron Orchid" by Stuart Woods. A fast moving story about Holly Barker, once the chief of police at Orchid Beach, Florida. She quit the position and became an agent for the CIA. After a brief program with the CIA, she was stationed in New York to find a man who once worked for the CIA, Teddy Fay. He quit the agency and faked his death so there is no trace of him in the files. Because of his superior qualities with the agency, he went out on his own killing people he didn't like, so the agency is after him. After staging another death in a small plane, he moves to New York and starts killing terrorists. Holly is trying to find him, but he is a master of disguise. He meets Holly at an opera and keeps spotting her in his neighborhood. He is intrigued with her and starts to follow her. After killing three more, things get hot. The ending is good and leaves it open for future visits by this man. I found the book easy to read and exciting. Stuart Wood is one of my favorite authors.