Loyalty by John Curry

Jack’s mother passed away before he had graduated high school, putting his father into a deep alcoholic depression. His father ended up losing because of this leaving Jack, the oldest brother of three, in a tight bind. He could have gone to college, but he was afraid of how his brothers would get food and other things they needed, not to mention his fathers abuse of the youngest and smartest brother, Jerry. This is where he meets Ray who, for lack of better terms gives him an offer he can’t refuse. He offers him to become a part of an “Irish family” who run rackets, loan sharks, you know the works. As Jack gets older he takes to family business fast and moves through the ranks. He puts his brother Jerry through Harvard and supports his middle brother’s, Tommy, boxing career. As Tommy goes for the title in Madison Sq. Garden, Jack is approached by the Irish family (In representation of the Italian family) from New York and is told to make Tommy throw the fight. Tommy had been training for that day his whole life and Jack wouldn’t allow him to throw it all away. Now because of his disobedience, Jack not only has to watch out for his Irish family, but also the Italians.

I rate this book, on a scale of 1-10, 10/10. I loved this book from beginning to end. Curry really shows the struggles of a family when a disaster hits and how much pressure is put on the oldest brother when both parents are dead. I could put more into the description, but I don’t want to ruin anything. This is my favorite book and the only one I have read more than once.

Ben

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

I absolutely love this book of novellas by Stephen King. Each tale tells of how a person is pitted up against a life changing event and how that individual faces it. Each story takes your mind and forces you to decide what you would do in such an event.

1922 – The first novella is about a married couple in Hemingford Home, Nebraska and as many of you might know, this is the home of Mother Abigail from Stephen King’s The Stand. The wife inherits 100 acres of farmland and wants to sell it, but the husband wants to use the 100 acres and combine it with his own. He also doesn’t want a butchery up the stream from him. His son is on his side and as the wife decides to involve lawyers, the father and son duo do Something they never thought they could do.

I rate this story, on a scale of 1-10, an 8/10. I love the story, but I sort of wish it was told from the sons point of view. It was kind of hard to get into, but once I was in it, I couldn’t stop reading.

Big Driver – In the second Novella we meet Tess, a successful writer who has made quite a retirement account out from public speaking events. She is invited to speak at library in Chicopee, Massachusetts and on such short notice, making the librarian offer her more than what she usually gets. After the event goes off without a hitch, the librarian tells Tess of a shortcut to get home faster. On this shortcut she runs over a piece of wood with a nail sticking out of it. A guy driving a Ford F150 stops some time after and offers her some help, but as Tess closes his door for him so his battery wont run out she sees a stack of wood with nails sticking out of them in the bed and then she finds out what kind of help he really wants to give her.

I rate this story, on a scale of 1-10, a 9/10. I was quickly pulled into the story and I loved every second as I routed for Tess.

Fair Extension – The Third novella is a about Dave Streeter, a man who has just found out he has cancer and will not live much longer. On his way home he sees a man set up on the road out by the airport. It isn’t unusual as venders do this all the time, what is unusual is at what time he is there. At such time the street is pretty much deserted. Streeter approaches the man to find out he deals in “extensions” and is willing to give him an extension on life. Immediately Streeter thinks he’s a mental patient who has escaped Juniper Hills mental hospital, also the mental hospital from IT, and jokingly agrees to his extension. The man, George Elvid, tells him it will cost him 15% of his salary for the rest of his life and he must “transfer the weight of this to another person”. After a week, the doctor shows his cancer disappearing and Streeter sees who the weight was transferred to.

I rate this story, on a scale of 1-10, a 9/10. From the moment I started reading the story I didn’t put it down until I was finished.

A Good Marriage – The Fourth novella was my favorite. Darcy and Bob Anderson have been married for 27 years and she thinks she knows absolutely everything about him until one day she needs to get some batteries for the remote control. She goes into his garage to retrieve them and almost falls over a stack of magazines. As she searches through them, they were the ones Bob said she spent too much money on, she gets angry and is going to bring them into the house to spite him. She comes across a porno mag where the woman on the cover is being tortured. Disgusted, but not mad as she understands some men need this type of thing, she puts the magazines back and kicks the box under the table. She hears a sound as the box meets a hollow spot in the wall and upon closer examination revels a deep dark secret.

I rate this story, on a scale of 1-10, a perfect 10/10. I loved the story beginning to end. I loved the hard choices Darcy was faced with and how King shows that you never truly know somebody.

Under the Weather – For those of us lucky enough to have bought this book with the bonus story, we are introduced an ad executive who is married to a girl who cannot conceive. She had taken medicine when she was a kid that not only took that ability away, but gave her heart conditions. There is an awful smell in the building they live in and as the exterminators check out the apartment they think its coming from, he gets a call from the super to let them know it was his apartment and they needed him to be there to go in. I can’t say much more, as I would be giving the story away.

I rate this story, on a scale of 1-10, a 8/10. Although it was a short story in a book of novellas, it was a good story and it fit perfectly in with the theme of this book.

Ben

The Bone Garden by Tess Gerristen

Julia Hamill makes a disturbing discovery in her home in rural Massachusetts, a skull. She finds out that it is a female and the owner of the skull was murdered. Tess takes us on a journey back to 1830 Boston to track who the skull belongs to. Here we meet Norris Marshall, a brilliant medical student at Boston Medical College, who takes up a job as a resurrectionists (People who take bodies from the grave and sell them) to pay for his tuition. The death of a distinguished doctor causes Norris to become a prime suspect. We follow him as he tries to prove his innocence by tracking down Rose Connolly, the only person who might have seen the killer.

I rate this book, on a scale of 1-10, a 7/10. Although its interesting and a genuinely good story, some parts are difficult to get through. I like this book, because Tess really paints a good picture of what Boston was like back in the 1800’s. We see how hard it was for poor people to get by and how easy it was for rich people to get away with almost anything.

Ben

Echo Park by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch has been haunted for over a decade by the disappearance of Marie Gesto. It was a case he worked as a detective and now, back from retirement, is still trying to work in the Open Unsolved Unit. He had copied and taken the files home with him before he retired and never really stopped working the case. One day he gets a call from the DA’s office looking for the files on her murder he had checked out of the archives, saying they have a serial killer who admitted to the taking and killing of Marie Gesto. After Bosch convinces the DA to let them on the case, Bosch reveals a conspiracy that proves that Marie Gesto’s killer is still on the loose.

On a scale, of 1-10, I rate this book an 8. It is definitely a page tuner I never wanted to put it down. There is never a dull moment in this book and you are left guessing until the very end.

Ben

Seven Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly

America and Europe are in a race against time to restore the capstone to the Great Pyramid of Giza so that when the Tartarus rotation is complete they can perform the ritual and have absolute power for their country for 1,000 years. The only problem is Alexander the Great divided the capstone and spread it throughout the world. Another problem is Jack West Jr and his team of misfit nations (Canada, Ireland, Israel, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Jamaica and New Zealand) are in the race as well, only they don’t want absolute power, instead these nations want to perform another ritual which will will bring 1,000 years of peace instead of power. In order to perform the ritual you need the oracle. Europe stole the oracle pretty much out of the mother’s womb when he was born, Alexander, but they didn’t know that she had twins. Jack West Jr had performed a cesarean section to extract Lily and become part of the race.
With an upper hand on the Americans we follow West and his team as they try to find the capstone pieces in various worldly wonders. With a mix of Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider and a little Da Vinci Code, Seven Deadly Wonders brings us on a thrill ride.
I rate this book, on a scale of 1-10, a 7/10. Although the story is action packed and a good read, most of the time he tried to throw a curve ball, I already knew what was going to happen. Some of the things were hard to understand, but the characters were easy to fall in love with. His knowledge of the worldly wonders is great and his knowledge of army equipment is outstanding. And even though there is a clear hatred for America, I liked the book.

Ben

The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)

In the Long Walk 100 teenage boys walk from the Canadian/Maine border and down the east coast until one boy is left standing. The main character is Maine’s own Ray Garraty and we follow him as he tries to outlast the 99 other young men. They get canteens of water whenever they like, but only get concentrated food, like the astronauts use, 9:00 every morning. Walkers have to walk at least 4 mph the whole way and if they fall under this speed then they are given a warning. You get three warnings and on the fourth you are shot by army personnel who patrol the whole way. At the end, the lone survivor is not only given money for the rest of his life, but also granted one wish of anything they’d like.

I rate this book, on a scale of 1-10, a 10/10. I felt like I was walking beside Garraty the whole way. Every time he was thirsty, I was literally thirsty. Every time he could hear his stomach growl, I heard mine and every time he was sleepy I felt my head start to dip until it snapped back up. Stephen King had a masterpiece in this. By the time I was done reading, I was so into the story that I felt a depression when one of the kids was killed, because I felt as I was the one watching it and I felt as if they were my friends.

Ben

Firestarter by Stephen King

Andy McGee and his future wife, Vicky Tomlinson had participated in an experiment while they were in college where they would take a drug called Lot6, which had hallucinogenic effects, only they had no idea what it was really about. They thought it was an experiment given by the college, when in reality, it was a government agency called The Shop who was conducting it. When they wake up, the two have powers. Vicky had minor telepathic abilities, while Andy receives auto hypnotic mind domination, which if used too much gives him crippling migraine. Years after the experiment they have a kid, Charlene aka Charlie, who they realize has also taken to their genes and can start fires with the blink of an eye. The Shop also finds this out and is now after her so they can run tests.
One day at work Andy has a psychic image and rushes home to find his wife dead and daughter kidnapped. he uses his ability to track Charlie and rescue her, but at a cost that leaves him mentally weakened. Now him and Charlie are on the run from The Shop.

I rate this book, on a scale of 1-10, a 5. It was very hard to get through for me and I hate to say this because I idolize Stephen King. At times i literally fell asleep in my chair out of boredom. Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely  a couple of exciting parts, but for the most part it was like putting on PBS right before you go to bed to make you sleep.The idea itself was masterful, but the story could have been a lot better.

Ben

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

Present day Russia is trying to get a new Tsar and after the throne was forcefully taken from Nicholas II and his family by the Soviets, they are enlisting a list of distant relatives of Nicholas II. A bunch of clients have enlisted Miles Lord’s law firm to make sure that their investment in this one man is a solid investment, in other words to make sure there is no possible way that there is any other person more closely related. Lord has a special pass that makes it so he can read throughout the known historic documents of Russia, some not even the Russian people themselves have seen. This is where he finds out that two of Nicholas’ children might have survived the execution that killed his whole family.
Miles Lord is then chased throughout Russia by a Mafiya and police alike as it seems other people have an investment in this one heir as well and if what Miles has found out gets out, then they wont have their puppet and therefore they wont have control over the decisions made in Russia.

I rate this book, on a scale of 1-10, an 8. Berry throws you straight into the action and although some of the book is slow, it is still a great read and it held my attention the whole way through as I am an avid Nichols II fan. He goes into great detail of how the whole thing went down, from Rasputin’s prophecy to the survival Nicholas’ children, Anastasia and Alexei, survival and eventual journey to stay under the radar. It may be fictitious, but it got me wondering.

Ben