Patent to Kill, April Christofferson

Dr. Jake Scully and his wife Anna were doctor's in Nogales, Mexico. Jakes wife ends up dead under mysterious circumstances, it was supposed to be a suicide. Jake was asked to work in Seattle, Washington, with a pharmaceutical company that Anna was against. One of their sons became blind and Jake was doing research on this blindness, he held a patent on the beginning stages of this condition.
Asahel was a lawyer for Gen-Chrom, a pharmaceutical company that her father owned. Before her employment she was an activist against these corporate giants, because of their Biopiracy: the theft of healing secrets of native tribes to exploit them and make large profits on the patent to cure. Her father hired her to keep an eye on her.
Dr Jake Scully accepts the job with the pharmaceutical company and went to Brazil to go up the Amazon in search for the missing gene that was needed for this blindness. He begins his journey, only to find out things were not right. Asahel receives some very disturbing information and goes to the Amazon herself. She meets up with Jake by accident, Jake saves her life and they confide in each other to unravel the mystery. They proceed with the journey up the Amazon, that turns into a real adventure with death and mayhem. Christofferson puts together a real good story that ends up in Seattle with the truth of the matter, coming together with a good ending.

Hour Game, David Baldacci

Baldacci writes a very in depth account of a serial killer's motives. In the small town of Wrightsburg, Virginia, a serial killer strikes hard and fast. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have a partnership in a Private Investigating team and they were asked to investigate a burglary at a millionaires estate of Bobby Battles. In defending Junior Deavers for the burglary, Michelle runs into a nude woman dead in the forest. This was the first killing of a serial maniac. It was replicated like the Zodiac killer of San Francisco. After a couple more deaths by this killer, the chief of police Williams makes Sean and Michelle deputies to help with the killings. The investigation of the burglary continues and so do the killings. Sean sees a connection with the burglary and the killings and starts coming up with answers to this bizarre situation. Remmy Battle, the wife of Bobby, was very adamant about the burglary and wanted Junior prosecuted. This caused Sean to think even more about the happenings and he comes up with the truth. It is very complicated but Baldacci puts it all together in a fine story. I would rate it as a four star book.......

Divine Evil, Nora Roberts

Clare Kimball was a famous sculptor in New York City. Angie and Jean-Paul owned an art gallery there and were good friends of Clare. They had great success in showing and selling her work. Clare was having these recurring nightmares of a satanic cult sacrificing a goat with strange men in black robes and masks. Clare was seeing a therapist but that didn't help. She decided to go to Emmitsboro, Maryland and stay in her old home that she was raised in. Clare contacted her twin brother, Blair to find out the status of the house. It was vacant so she decided to go there to find the truth. She packed her bags and drove to Emmiitsboro arriving late at night. The old home brought back many memories of the past, including the fatal fall of her father from the third story window and impaling himself on garden stakes below. As she was looking at the inside of the home, she was tackled by a man, Cam Rafferty, the local sheriff. He thought she was a trespasser, but with further talk he realized the mistake. They knew each other from school days, Cam and Blair were chums. Clare moved in and started work on her sculptures. Cam came by to see how she was doing , they went out for a bite to eat and that started a relationship that turned into love. Clare used the teen, Ernie from across the street to model his arms for a sculpture she was making.
There were strange happenings in town, a grave at a cemetery was dug up but only the dirt was gone, this was to neat for teens to do. Atherton, the mayor talked to Cam about this, but had no solution. There were several women that were missing also. This bothered Cam!
Memorial Day was a big day for Emmitsboro with a big parade and picnics everywhere. Clare invited her friends Angie and Jean-Paul and her twin Blair for a week of fun and laughter. Jean-Paul was talking to Ernie when he noticed a satanic pendant around his neck. He cautioned Clare about the pendant and asked her to stay away from him. Cam and Blair were gathering information on satanic cults for Cam thought there was a cult in town. Come to find out there was a cult but Cam didn't know who was in it. After the parade things started to heat up. Clare ends up missing. She was captured by the cult and was to be sacrificed on the summer solstice. Cam was beside himself and searched everywhere for her. Things become serious and the ending is spectacular. There is a big surprize waiting for the readers with a big twist...

R is for Ricochet, Sue Grafton

Nord Lafferty was a wealthy man living in an estate in Montebello, Ca. He hired Kinsey Millhone, a private detective from Santa Teresa, to pick up his daughter, Reba who was incarcerated for two years in Corona prison for women. She embezzled $350 thousand from her former employer, Alan Beckwith, known as "Beck". Reba was a known gambler an alcoholic, a rebel. Kinsey and Reba talked little at the start of the trip, but became amiable after an hour into the drive. Kinsey had to take Reba to her parole officer. Kinsey ran into an old friend while there who was a detective on the Santa Teresa PD, Cheney. They chatted for a while and made future arrangements. Reba and Kinsey went to eat at Rosie's, Kinseys favorite hang out where Reba ran into her old boss, Beck. They were glad to see one another, Reba loved Beck and took the fall for the missing money. Kinsey was talking with Cheney about Beck, who had several federal agents after him for laundering money out of the nation. They didn't have the evidence they needed, so they approached Reba with some pictures that incremented Beck. Reba had been had, she spent two years of her life in prison listening to the lies that came from Beck. She wanted revenge! This starts a wild chase to Reno and Beverly Hills and back to Santa Teresa. The confrontation was intense, with a good ending.

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.



Live Expert Advice!

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...

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!!!

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.

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!!!

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.