Micro: A Novel

By Michael Crichton and Richard Preston
Harper, $28.99, 430 pages

When representatives of an innovative company showed up at Cambridge to recruit grad student scientists, the students had no way of knowing the dangerous adventure they were facing. The company, Nanigen, offered to pay all expenses for the students to visit the company headquarters in Hawaii. One of the executives, Eric Jansen, was the brother of Peter Jansen, one of the students. The following week, shortly before the students were to leave, Eric sent a text to Peter saying “Don’t come”. When the students arrived, they were told that Eric had been killed in a boating accident. When Peter, knowing Eric was an experienced boater, expressed his suspicions, all the students were brutally introduced to the technology Nanigen had developed. They were all shrunk to a height of about an inch, and left in a rain forest, where they encountered monstrous insects and other incredible dangers.

What can one say about Michael Crichton? His body of work made him one of the world’s favorite authors. He has sold over 200 million books, which have been translated into 36 languages. Thirteen of his books have been made into films. Begun before his death in 2008, Micro was completed by award-winning author Richard Preston, who is also a famous and accomplished author with an impressive list of successful books.

Micro is as wild a ride as Crichton’s Jurassic Park and The Lost World and is just as crazy scary and believable. The story is sensational and suspenseful, with surprising turns throughout.

Reviewed by Fran Byram

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Restless in the Grave

By Dana Stabenow
Minotaur Books, $25.99, 384 pages

 Restless in the Grave is the 19th book in the Kate Shugak series. When a well known pilot flies his airplane into the frozen turf of Alaska everyone is a suspect in what Alaska State Trooper Liam Campbell refers to as sabotage. He wants Kate to investigate because she would be an outsider looking in and would bring a fresh pair of eyes to the investigation.

It turns out the late Mr. Grant was blackmailing everyone who had anything to do with air freight in Alaska. Along the way, Kate encounters a Hollywood star, gets thrown into a chest freezer, unceremoniously dropped into a dumpster and locked in the hold of a fishing ship headed to Russia – all in the pursuit of justice.

The best that can said of this book is that it is mildly entertaining, with plausible but not likely events that lead up to the capture of the killer. Not surprisingly, the root of all this evil involves selling stolen weapons to the Russians who then sell them to terrorists. Fans of the previous Kate Shugak novels will no doubt embrace the book, newcomers to the series might want to read the early novels to get a better idea of the lead character.

Reviewed by Dick Morris

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Miss Dimple Rallies To The Cause

By Mignon Ballard
Minotaur, $24.99, 262 pages

As World War II kicks into high gear in the U.S., the small town of Elderberry, Georgia, decides to do its part by holding a War Bond rally. Unfortunately the rally doesn’t go as planned, as one of the participants, Buddy Oglesby, runs off with the bond money and another resident, Jesse Dean, is shot in the shoulder. Disturbed by this as well as by the dead body found on a local farm during a school field trip, Miss Dimple, the no-nonsense elementary school teacher, decides that she must investigate the goings-on and help her town return to normal.

Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause is a charming mystery set in a town full of fun characters, which are the main draw to the book. Each character feels real, as if they could have existed in small town Georgia at the time. The mystery story line is not as interesting as the characters unfortunately; there is minimal surprise in the revelation of the murderer.  Frankly, the subplot involving a blackmailer is more interesting than the murder story line.  Despite that, the characters created manage to overcome the weak mystery story line and fans of tea cozy mysteries will enjoy the tale.

Reviewed by Barbara Cothern

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Miss Dimple Rallies To The Cause

By Mignon Ballard
Minotaur, $24.99, 262 pages

As World War II kicks into high gear in the U.S., the small town of Elderberry, Georgia, decides to do its part by holding a War Bond rally. Unfortunately the rally doesn’t go as planned, as one of the participants, Buddy Oglesby, runs off with the bond money and another resident, Jesse Dean, is shot in the shoulder. Disturbed by this as well as by the dead body found on a local farm during a school field trip, Miss Dimple, the no-nonsense elementary school teacher, decides that she must investigate the goings-on and help her town return to normal.

Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause is a charming mystery set in a town full of fun characters, which are the main draw to the book. Each character feels real, as if they could have existed in small town Georgia at the time. The mystery story line is not as interesting as the characters unfortunately; there is minimal surprise in the revelation of the murderer.  Frankly, the subplot involving a blackmailer is more interesting than the murder story line.  Despite that, the characters created manage to overcome the weak mystery story line and fans of tea cozy mysteries will enjoy the tale.

Reviewed by Barbara Cothern

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A Dead Man’s Tale: A Charlie Moon Mystery

By James D. Doss
Minotaur Books, $24.99, 295 pages

A man walked into the office of the Chief of Police of Granite Creek, Colorado. He claimed he was going to be murdered in a little over a month. He doesn’t know who will kill him. Thus begins the tale. Filled with delicious plot twists and rascally characters, it is told in a manner as comfortable as old jeans.

Charlie Moon, cattle rancher and sometimes policeman, quietly accepts the wager proffered by the potential victim to keep him alive until after the alleged date of his demise. Charlie and his best friend, Chief of Police Scott Parris, devise a plan to protect the rich man from whatever varmints may threaten him. At the same time, subplots involving Charlie’s elderly and irascible Aunt Daisy intersect, sometimes violently, with the case.

James D. Doss is the author of fourteen previous Charlie Moon mysteries, two of which were among the Best Books of the Year named by Publishers Weekly. Seldom can a reader know right away if they will like a book. In the case of this novel, it is immediately apparent that this will be an immensely enjoyable read. Filled with old West slang and down-home humor, it is an amusing and intriguing tale from cover to cover.

Reviewed by Fran Byram

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Fit to Kill

By Donnie Ray Whetstone
StoneCart Books, 295 pages, $15.00

Physical trainers can sometimes be actually psychotic rather than just seeming so to their clients. In Fit to Kill, Tara Tanner must deal with La Flore’s first serial killer, a man who takes out his frustrations by killing proxies, men and women that share traits that remind him of the women he is having problems training. In order to defeat the killer, Tara needs to accept part of her herself that links her to a past she would like to forget.

For a first effort, this is an excellent book. Tara is an incredible character; she is normally genteel and easy to get along with, even allowing for a mouth that gets her in constant hot water, most noticeably in her dealings with Special Agent Mack, who earns her special ire by taking over her case and completely botching it. Most of the characters are drawn well; a lazier writer would limit the characters to their one-dimensional origins, but they have some solidity. The exception is Special Agent Mack, but he works well with just the one dimension he has.

Strangely, the biggest problem is that it seems like it was sponsored by Cinemax; there is lots of sex and even an exotic dance number, which is well pulled-off. It even applies to the demure Tara; only by accepting her sexual side can she defeat her personal demons and therefore the killer. Sex, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, but the last scene just comes off as added on, especially when it was such a great procedural up to that point. I really want to see more of what Whetstone can do, just with more focus on the plot and less on the titillation. Nonetheless, this is a good pot boiler for a rainy afternoon.

Sponsored Book Review

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Pythagoras’ Revenge

By Arturo Sangalli
Princeton University Press, 184 pages, $14.95

Math and Mystery

“Numbers alone might not rule the world of nature created by God, as Pythagoras believed—and in that sense he has been proven wrong—but they increasingly reign over the human-made world that is life in modern society.”

Pythagoras’ Revenge by Arturo Sangalli presents the “what if” premise that Pythagoras did leave a written record of his teachings in his own hand. Since the ancient scholar and mathematician was well known to not allow himself or his disciples to write down his teachings, this would make such a document quite rare and valuable. It also means that it would be difficult to locate if such a document exists at all. That is where the story starts and half the book is searching for this mysterious parchment. The second half of the book focuses on the recovery of the document and finding the possible reincarnation of Pythagoras.

There are references to ancient Greece and mathematical equations throughout the book. One interesting tidbit that came up was that a Pythagorean was at one point a term used for those who abstained from eating meat. The term vegetarian wasn’t coined until 1842. Another point of interest were some the Pythagorean precepts that are briefly mentioned. One such precept states, “Do not devour your heart (meaning, we ought to not to afflict ourselves with grief and sorrow).” For those with an interest in ancient history or mathematics, this might be a fun read.

Reviewed by Jon Sanetel

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Collateral Damage: A Matt Royal Mystery

By H. Terrell Griffin
Oceanview Publishing, 338 pages, $25.95

A Complex Thriller

While retired lawyer Matt Royal is living an idyllic life, fishing off the Florida Keys in his boat, a passing dinner cruise ship runs aground on a sandbar. After assisting in the rescue of passengers, he learns two people aboard were murdered shortly before the accident. A couple days later, a fellow veteran of the Vietnam conflict appears at his door. The man, “Doc”, had saved Matt’s life in the war. He asks Matt to investigate the recent sniper shooting death of his son which occurred a few days before on a nearby beach. The investigation pulls Royal from his quiet island life into a complex series of events, including attempts on his own life.

H. Terrell Griffin is a board-certified trial lawyer who lives in the Florida Keys. He is the award-winning author of Wyatt’s Revenge, Blood Island, Murder Key and Longboat Key Blues. His descriptions of a laid back beach dwelling life are wonderful.

This story is a real puzzler. There are more trails leading off the highway of the plot than most readers can follow. You’ll almost need a scorecard to keep track of all the subplots, the players and their roles in the mystery.

Reviewed by Fran Byram

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Truth Like the Sun: A Novel

By Jim Lynch
Knopf, $25.95, 254 pages

In 2001 Seattle, a young reporter, Helen Gulanos is given the assignment of writing an article for the fortieth anniversary of the 1962 World’s Fair. Alternating chapters describe first her investigation, and then the Fair itself. Her assigned story explodes into a complex and interesting mystery when Roger Morgan, the man behind the Fair, announces in 2001 that he is running for Mayor. As Helen tries to learn more about Morgan, she finds the man and his history as elusive as they are fascinating. Hints of illegal activities during creation of the Fair, involving all layers of authority from street cops to the mayor are uncovered. Morgan, a consummate politician appears to have been involved.

Award-winning author Jim Lynch also wrote the novels Border Songs and The Highest Tide. He grew up in the Seattle area and now lives in Olympia, Washington, with his wife and daughter. This intriguing look into the inside workings of politics in middle of the twentieth century and the results that still exist decades later reads more like history than fiction. Every chapter is filled with interesting people and suspenseful events. It is an imaginative journey into what may have occurred then, and how the city of Seattle earned recognition and fame by throwing a fabulous and futuristic party.

Reviewed by Fran Byram

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Murder Most Persuasive

By Tracy Kiely
Minotaur, $24.99, 293 pages

With Murder Most Persuasive, author Tracy Kiely claims a tie-in to the works of Jane Austen. In fact, the only tie-ins to be found are in part of the title, “Most Persuasive”, frequent quoting of Jane Austen’s works by the main character with similar quotes appearing at the beginning of chapters and the fact that the story loosely resembles an involved family-centered situation, as does Austen‘s works. What humor there is derives mostly from the eccentricities of family members. Otherwise, the story is a modern-day murder mystery, amusing in spots but otherwise unremarkable. The story is aimed at young adults, and that is the audience that would most likely find it amusing. It takes place in Maryland, near the shore, features a rekindled love story and the working out of a number of problematic family relationships, and of course a murder is discovered and ultimately solved.

Reviewed by Rosalie West

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