Trust by David Moody

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

The story, created by David Moody, compares to a train moving away from a station platform. At first, a person could run alongside the track easily, though as the train speeds up, there comes a moment that the runner anticipates the futility of persevering, and as the cars rush forward, the person inevitably slows down, or at the last moment a decision emerges to jump on for the ride.
I was that runner, easily bored at the beginning of the book--my mind outracing the slowness of the words, but approaching the finish line, my every thought fixated on this speeding target, and the ride arrived in a blur of insanity.

The destruction of mankind achieved by the resolute desire of alien's to take over our beautiful planet isn't an original concept. The total annihilation of the human race asserts an expectation both implausible and infuriatingly frightening--how can one's mind begin to perceive the idea of humans never existing again on our planet, the Milky Way Galaxy or the known universe?

In our seeking of amusement, the question we must ask ourselves--how does our story play out? Would a realistic ending achieve the favored results, or a breathtaking climax featuring humans kicking ET's butt, as in the movie Independence Day or Wells theory that humans commit to remaining alive until an earthly virus attacks the invaders, and abruptly we're impervious to their onslaught? This leaves us finishing a book or movie perceiving humans as invincible and pitying those fools from space who think they could win a war with us.

The probable truth tells a diverse story of alien victory. They possess the technology to travel copious light years (one can travel six trillion miles at the speed of light in one year) to commence their battle, and earth owns a space station and a few exhausted space shuttles providing meager protection.

The intelligence of invading aliens would eclipse the beings in Signs (one of my favorite movies) who can't open doors, traveled a prodigious distance while forgetting to bring along catastrophic weapons to kill the pesky humans and arrived on a planet that's seventy percent water which contains their deadly kryptonite. Just as the witch said in The Wizard Of Oz, "it burns, oh how it burns," the aliens knew of what she spoke of.

Unfortunately, they could produce a hostile takeover without excessive effort on their part, in the same manner the aliens in Trust conquer earth. The brilliantly planned strategy never had a chance of failure, since the adjustment of the human brain proved quite effortless.

When Tom confronts the alien, whom his brother called a friend, he asserts, "we aren't going to relinquish the earth easily." The alien proclaims, "look around Tom, we've already taken over," he spoke the truth, but the sad earthling wasn't equipped to comprehend the reality.
The alien explains that people are guilty of committing the same actions as the ones wrestling away the human's grasp of our world. Throughout history, people with power attain land through their might, uncaring of the rightful inhabitants.
His alien sensibility hasn't an ounce of empathy concerning the fate of humans, and even though it's a drop of water in a universe of oceans, I'm happy that Tom killed him.

Greed in aliens and humans surface abundantly, and the number one rule of the universe--if you're in possession of a substantial commodity, then quite possibly someone bigger and stronger will eventually attain it for themselves

I experienced two problems with Trust--one is the sexual content, which in this age of sex tortured to the point of wanting its mommy, implies that innumerous readers will consider it quite mild.
The second shows my complete lack of self-control, as I had trouble turning my Kindle off, and finished in the wee hours. Subsequently, my mind became a whirlwind of alien thoughts, which finally faded as sleep approached.

David Moody has developed into one of my favorite writers. His book Autumn revealed an amazing truth--I could love zombies, and my fear of Night of the Living Dead proved a terror of the past and vanquished from the present.
Though Trust isn't my favorite by Moody, my thoughts surrounded it for days, and that is a mark of a great book.

In the Days of the Comet by H.G. Wells

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

When I discovered my love for reading, as a young teenager, I found myself skipping over paragraphs that I found boring. Over time, I realized the words I threw away contained crucial information to the story line, which subsequently stopped the habit, until now. I caught myself leaping over paragraphs to lessen my burden of the wrath contained within along with the boredom it produced.

On opening the pages, words viciously tumbled out, forcing an aspiration to seek safety from the onslaught. Seventy-five percent of the book dwells with the dreadful conditions preceding the comet, followed by the final words telling the story after the comet passes the earth, yet continues to cast dispersions concerning the past.
Dude, we get it and it was bad.

The leading character isn't a man that's easy to respect. He thinks too highly of himself, blames other people for his problems, has a disastrous slow boiling temper and makes terrible decisions while disrespecting essentially everyone, including his hard-working poor mother. Though, after the transformation, there emerges a tenderness for his mother, which creates a happiness that she richly deserves.

Willie's fury awakens a destructive force from within, which pushes him "to the dark side," creating a wish to destroy the woman responsible for breaking his heart.
He comprehends a true love existing between Nellie and himself, though he's rarely declared his love in person, as there's significant mileage separating the two.
His enhanced feelings find writing a torrent of letters outweigh his anticipation of the letters he receives (the British postal system became the basis for their entire relationship). As all pretentious and self-righteous people believe, he acknowledges there's more for him to teach than to learn.

There's more than one villain in the book, as Nellie deserves limited respect--running off with a rich man that will one day cast her aside when he's through with her. Strict conformity of class conscience permeates society well into the twentieth century.  A rich man who married a poor woman would be an outcast, since polite society would never receive him in their midst.
Women who made this decision, during that time period, left chaos and shame for her family to bear alone. Their selfish act would leave behind a decreased standing in the community, reflecting on younger siblings future prospects.

Willie buys a gun and hunts down the two lovers. At the moment he shoots, the effects of the comet create an unconscious state for the entire human race, or both would assuredly felt the sting of a bullet, if not for such perfect timing.

After the comet, all hatred ceased, as humans care for one another in extraordinary ways never imagined before. The wealthy destroy the class system, inviting the poor to live in the empty rooms of their mansions.
The thirst of knowledge  accelerates with a fervor, newly born in the heart of humanity. The destruction of tenements and other unsightly buildings brings forth the construction of extensive buildings, comparable to a communal persuasion, built with beauty and grace. Humanity strives for the happiness of the entire race, and not the select few.

While reading of the new love, I imagined the comet happening today, racists, gang members, mobsters, evil regimes and the greedy rich would vanish. Judging and hating others would cease, leaving only feelings of kindness, respect and love would prevail.
To think of the end of hunger, poverty, war, murder, rape exchanged for the beginning of  healthcare, food and lovely accommodations for the entire world--the visions of dreams becoming reality.
At what cost to us, would we lose that unique spark that makes us human, or become bored with all the love permeating the air we breathe?


Would horror movies or detective TV shows become artifacts from the past? The thought of a world tuning in every night to the Hallmark channel inspires the feeling of nausea, or conceivably TV and movies would become redundant, leaving the world forever.
What about rock music, car racing, hamburgers, fatty sweet desserts, roller coasters, Star Wars, wine, Las Vegas, partying, video games, lazy weekends, The Walking Dead, vacations, competitive sports, Starbucks.....I presume we'll never experience the true feelings of modern humanity, as it's very doubtful the events in the book will ever occur in our reality.

Though the book has serious flaws, I would still recommend it for the unique idea of a comet spreading love throughout the land. I guess the Beatles were right, "All You Need Is Love!"

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

Hercule Poirot solves yet another murder that flourishes in his general vicinity, an occurrence that happens quite frequently. Should authorities engage in the deliverance of Poirot to an abandoned island to save the humanity around him?
Certain individuals may attract the dark side in unsuspecting humans, forcing their minds with a murderer's logic to kill, though the "certain individuals" appear guiltless of their power.
This brings to mind, Stephen King's television show called Haven--a town of people who innocently have "The Troubles," which harm others around them in a myriad of ways.
Poirot would not hesitate in adjusting his address to a remote location if murders occurred from his continued existence amid the populace. Though, when a challenging murder case hasn't presented itself for him to solve, boredom steps in for Poirot, as he has a need to continually exercise his little gray cells. He lives in a paradoxical world--detesting the actual deed that conveys contentment to his brain using order, method and psychology.

Traveling on the Orient Express, through the snowy night from Istanbul towards its long trek across Europe, officials wake Poirot to impart the news concerning a fellow  passenger's murder. His famous gray cells embark on a journey of truth as he delves into an investigation.
The Perp left twelve stab wounds on the Vic (wrong time period), implicating specific passengers. Delving further in pursuit, Poirot inserts additional people in the guilty spotlight, until the number of suspects match the twelve marks on the body. Poirot imparts two outcomes, one sets the group free and the second delivers the twelve to the gallows.

Netflix contains twelve seasons of Agatha's Poirot, displaying several of her short stories and an occasional novel.  It's impossible for each episode to follow a strict formula capturing the exact story line, and the episode of Murder on the Orient Express fails on all levels.
Poirot appears without a human soul, exclusively empty of empathy or compassion. This horrid human being, watching a woman stoned to death for adultery (this scene in Istanbul doesn't appear in the book), states nonchalantly she knew the consequences for such actions, therefore the fault belongs to her alone.
Poirot's anger at the end lacks intelligence or wisdom, and the script writer's delivery to the back lot for a beat down would bring a smile to the heart of a multitude (or a few) of Christie's fans.

Christie's opinion toward Poirot emanates puzzling reflections--she states he's a "detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep."
Arrogance depicts his extreme personality fault, and forced to stay in his near proximity on a daily basis, might prove tiresome, yet a creep--it's not in his job description.
It's understandable that an author's capacity of exhausting a continuing story line might possibly assert feelings of animosity which taxes her soul. Killing the beast wasn't an option, and remarkably she kept trudging along for her fans close to sixty years.

A recurring character, named Ariadne Oliver, appears in several books with Poirot. Oliver, who personifies Christie, writes a series of books which feature a Finnish detective named Sven Hjerson.
Oliver detests her creation, and she repeatedly complains of writing situations which generate enormous difficulties for Hjerson in concluding his cases.
Christie's apathy for Poirot mirrors Oliver's loathing of Hjerson, and declaring her emotions through an imaginary identity is brilliant.


Even though this isn't my favorite book starring Poirot, it's still interesting enough to continue rereading every couple of years.

The Orient Express existed in reality as well as fiction. The train line operated continuously for over one hundred years. Various  revisions of travel destinations altered over time, though significantly the route started or ended in Istanbul.
The train offered high-class rooms, food and service. The thought of eating in the dining car, sleeping in a little room with a bed that a porter sets up every night and sightseeing through countries still largely untouched by western influences impresses the need for time travel.
I would still love to travel with Poirot in the 1930's, though there may appear a temptation  to shave off his little friend (mustache). Would his face appear in public until it grew out?
Of course, his wrath could consume me and I would be exiled from his life--my plans to shave it off would change to appearing in my daydreams.

The Darkness by W.J. Lundy

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

Running, running, running, running, sprinkled with finite altercations against zombie aliens, could sum up the entire book, and complete my review.

I wanted to love this book, all the elements are in place to create a forceful story, aliens who find a way to "zombiefy" humans, and force them fight against us, a man desperately looking for his family and the human will to fight against all odds, yet there's a missing factor composing any enthusiasm for their welfare.

Jacob falls in with a small group of soldiers and civilians trying to reach safety, while trying to stay alive, and that's when the running comes into play. I would correctly surmise this book to be 80% running to and from danger, and 15% fighting and dabs of worry for his wife and child.

There isn't a cohesive bond present that guides the book into an acceptable story. The characters in Jurassic Park move about constantly, but the story emerged perfectly written, without boredom permeating the hours spent lost in the world of dinosaurs. In fact, we want the characters to succeed in Crichton's books, yet I found myself not caring if Jacob fell to the enemy. If a defection to the dark side had occurred, my interest would have peaked substantially.

The lowest depth, the book achieves, occurs during the reuniting with his family. Tears, happiness, and joyful words, would not appear amiss, in his reaction on perceiving his family, in his hospital bed.
The aloof reaction he portrayed emanated milk warm at best, and bordered on a greeting to a mere acquaintance, and not a beloved family member. 

I yearned for the hospital scene to be a farce in which two possible outcomes could transpire:
(1) He concludes his family and hospital workers are actually alien zombies, controlled by the aliens. The use of subterfuge, by the infiltrators, to discover military's plans of defense would be brilliant.
(2) His family's happiness turns to horror when they discover he's an alien zombie. Their loathing turns into panic, when he systematically destroys every human in the room.

Instead, the book ends with a soldier informing him that it's time to join the military "for reals." This implies the second book will also contain running and fighting, which brings about my decision to quit at the first book and not proceed further in the series. 

A Path to Utopia by Jacqueline Druga

👽Spoiler Alert👽

Oh, dystopian books, how I love you, and Jacqueline Druga is my go to dystopian dealer to feed my need for this genre in my life.

Druga resides in the realm amid my favorite authors, though occasionally there exists a modest dissatisfaction displayed in her writing--her characters may emit the feelings of meeting old friends, then the realization occurs--they may be a rehash of recycled individuals.
A Path To Utopia features Robi, a clone of Brett in Torn who's a clone of  Ellen in Beginnings. Druga should abandon this blueprint, and start over fresh--possibly the correct answer is quality instead of quantity.
Though there's one aspect I admire in her female characters--they posses strength, they fight hard and they never surrender to failure. In a disaster, I'd happily join their team to struggle through each hazardous day with them.

Twenty-five percent of the population survives a worldwide catastrophic event, in which the majority of people die, collapsing to the ground, leaving the survivors alone with their fears.
The concept of standing amid a dead populated planet isn't an original idea, though usually the populace finishes an illness to produce the same result as in The Stand by Stephen King. Autumn by David Moody also has the majority of the world drop to their deaths simultaneously, though they eventually rise as zombies. However it happens, the fear would intensify with the supplemented horrors of evil, zombies or aliens, pushing the sanest person to lunacy.

It's amusing to watch the progress of the characters, the clueless creatures struggling to detect the truth. We (the reader) initially perceived the accuracy of the story--patience is required while waiting for their eureka moment.
The same formula happens in horror movies, when a young woman decides to walk up the stairs (or a room, house or the woods) alone. The audience grasps the truth of imminent death, though the women are so young, so innocent and shortly so dead.
Obviously, aliens attacked the earth, yet our group believes it's world war III, though one person, an elderly doctor they travel with, has ascertained the truth. When they realize he's not senile, he relishes his "I told you so" moment.
Mas and Sam, are two unequaled beings in our diminutive group, who can create walkies out of baby jar lids, yet display extreme excitement for a trip to a mall. They're beings from a world that isn't our own, though they wish to assist in our fight. The Calvary travels from their planet to ours, though they will not arrive for one Earth year.

It's my belief that all stories may be enhanced with a few zombies thrown in, though it didn't fit in the story line, Druga threw in a scene with a mob of walkers which created a warm and fuzzy feeling inside my heart.
All in all, a satisfying book, though distinct components appear crude, rehashed, and predictable, I loved it, and recommend it to all dystopian lovers.

At Home In Mitford by Jan Karon

Mitford's small town life breathes a story that's revealed to us through the eyes of one Timothy Kavanagh, or as people prefer to call him, Father Tim.
Father Tim has led a solitary home life for the majority of his adult existence, though the certainty of that world will shift the year he turns sixty. His reality alters with the appearance of a massive dog, who's still a puppy, a young boy needing a home and an interesting neighbor, for which he's inadequately prepared.

The reasoning behind his bachelorhood isn't a reflection on his view of women, the problem evolved from the lack of a soul mate. He made an unconscious choice to live alone rather than forcing the fear of loneliness into a decision of an unwanted marriage.
At this point in his life, he believes he'll be single throughout his remaining years, though fate has other plans ready to thrust upon him, whether he's ready or not.

Is Mitford a realistic look at life in a southern village? The residents may appear a tad polished for a wee town in North Carolina. They're an engaging, giving, intelligent, interesting, hard working and essentially likable lot.
Mitford is situated on the top of a mountain with gorgeous views of the valleys below, and is a day trip tourist destination, and though the town welcomes visitors, there's an unvoiced slogan of "thank you for visiting, now go home."

Considerable reviews share Father Tim's imperfections. There's a belief  he should save everyone from everything, while never sleeping or meeting his own needs.
Does he have faults? Yes, he realizes he has a hard place in his soul from the result of a harsh father, and wants to deviate away from this flaw, yet this doesn't reflect on his giving spirit, for he metes out love to all he comes in contact with. He daydreams of running away, and self doubt isn't a stranger, and he'll be the first to tell people to put their trust in Jesus Christ and not in men, for men will always fail.
If you want to read a book concerning a perfect pastor--this isn't the book for you, though if you're willing to read of an unfinished (and aren't we all) person continuously looking to God for guidance, then read away.

Aftermath by Owen Baillie

I'm always interested in reading zombie books that happen in different countries besides my own--Apocalypse Z and now Aftermath contribute to that category.  Though, we're all human, and would react the same way (run, hide, fight and scream loudly) when a zombie wanted to eat our brains for a tasty snack, there're little nuances that show a difference (from cursing to weapons).

This zombie tale takes place in Australia, though by the time our group of lovelorn characters appear in the picture the apocalypse has finished it's foul work, and the majority of humans are now walkers.
Our group of five have camped out in a remote area for a month, and they're ready to face civilization again--the world they left behind. The story tells the way they find out what happened, and the means they adopt to survive.

One major problem discloses the love stories, akin to high school romance, continuing throughout. Greg loves Kristy who loves Dylan. Callan loves Sherry, who doesn't love him anymore and just had an affair with his best friend. Yadda! Yadda! Yadda!
Can romance have a place in zombie books? My answer would require me to say yes--there's copious amounts of zombie tales, presenting romance--creative authors deftly weave a love story into a zombie book without doses of romantic pain for the reader.

In the event of a zombie apocalypse(with all the running and screaming and killing), would romance have a place in anyone's mind after an arduous day of surviving, accompanied by tormented fears of the dead (and undead) appearing during the night? Perchance, a captured moment, perceiving another's love--would potentially help survivors maintain their sanity.

One component of the story features various breeds of zombies--the genius type(genius for a zombie) proved incredibly fearsome. They conceive and reason, understanding how to create plans for their desired results(brains), including the use of  weapons, resources and tactics.
If I ever come into contact with a zombie, my fingers are crossed they're the slow shuffling genre, and not an agile walker that accelerates it's speed when a brain becomes available, or the intelligent strain featured in this story.

Though the book has distinct flaws--I would recommend it to all zombie lovers.

Even in Death by Jason D. Morrow

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆
Even In Death is the final book of the Starborn Saga  trilogy, and I have finally accomplished the feat of reading all three books. This was not always a painless task, and though I liked the books, at times they were tedious, and the complaint my mind produced over and over again-- how drawn out the story grew, especially in the third book.

Are all current books treated with more words than necessary to preoccupy the pages with meaningless filler of thoughts and platitudes? This only brings bouts of boredom (begging it to end) and forced reading, which doesn't speak well for the book.

The author gave an interesting idea of knowing who created the zombies, how he's still alive and evil, years later and controls the known world, and the fact mutants with superpowers live, who must battle zombies while laboring to find a way to kill the Screven leader for the betterment of mankind.

There's considerable excitement and compelling situations, and the book is not always boring. Numerous moments are stuffed with strongly written story telling, plus there's zombies, which is always a plus.
The conclusion of the story pleased me greatly as I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

There's  another trilogy to the story, and that's called The Starborn Ascension, which I'm having a debate with myself whether I will read it or not.
Though the beginning of the end is revealed in Starborn Saga, Starborn Ascension delves  intensely into the story and Evelyn (a key Starborn) is featured in the early telling.
Hopefully, one day I will derive the bravery need to start again.

Pines by Blake Crouch

My first indication that Wayward Pines existed became apparent when the current television show of the same name launched on Hulu. Matt Dillon stars as Ethan, the main character (and he's the actor my son Dillon is named after). 

There's a modern Twilight Zone twist to this story of a man waking up in a small town where no one can escape and no one is allowed to talk about their past lives. 

I love books where I can't comprehend absolutely what's happening, and the entire time I'm working on understanding the underlying reality, yet when I feel I'm close, I realize that I'm not approaching the truth at all. 

If a citizen can't pretend or tries to escape--a fete (or a Reckoning on the TV show) is called forth. This event allows the phones to ring in their homes, which brings out all the inhabitants to murder the offender. 

In the story, everyone participates which brings to mind the book called The Lottery, where a name is selected every year, and the townspeople stone the chosen one in the town square. The Lottery has an ulterior motive of keeping the earth satisfied for the continuation of abundant crops will persevere every year. 

The citizens (though not all) murdering in Wayward Pines yearn to kill for pleasure, and frequently dress in elaborate costumes for the event. The disregard for human life forms the shadows of our past--enjoying the slaughter of thousands in the colosseum, the beheadings and hanging in subsequent years.

Today, we feel above such depravity, though on reflection, the fear of how quickly humans may fall back into vast savagery if forced into certain situations brings about uneasiness.

With the revelation of the truth, I felt happiness and pity for the residents of this meager town. This isn't your mama's Mayberry, and the scary monsters outside the walls aren't Yankees.

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆
Thirteen At Dinner is another name for this mystery leisurely created by Agatha Christie.
Brilliant is the word used to characterize our acclaimed Poirot and his superb detective skills. Mais Oui, he may be the best our world has to offer in this slow moving book.

As you can tell from the title, Lord Edgware does indeed die, killed by an American actress, his wife, though only in name. Eye witnesses asseverate she attended a dinner party during the time of the Lord's demise, though others vow that she's present in the Lord's home that night.

If only someone could assist Inspector Japp  to solve this grievous mystery. Ahh, there's someone who hates murder and hates for the wrong person to  hang ("they're hanging everybody out there" was a hit in the 1930's), and will not stop until he sees justice served.

It's unfair that Poirot couldn't have a mutant superpower, or perchance he does. Physical powers would not work--the slight chance of harming the love of his life, his mustache, could not be tolerated. His super power might be reading minds--that would explain his frequent successes.

What would his superhero name be: Captain Justice, Iron Detective, Captain Mustache, Super Knowing Guy or The Belguim Force Of One? Poirot would perceive a suitable name though once the teaming hordes of humanity acclimated his power, mere humans would never approach him and might potentially run from him, even Hastings and Miss Lemon.

Lord Edgeware, an appallingly horrid man, relished unhappiness in others-- is it a shame we should care when evil men are murdered? Should the general public revel in the ability to dance around the village singing Ding Dong the man is dead, the evil man is dead, when a horrid creature expires.

Undoubtedly, this could never happen--people would kill indiscriminately, and announce to the world that the deceased was atrocious and evil, whether they were or not. Murder rates would climb exorbitantly, and Poirot would shake his head in sadness and retire for concretely this time (unless he's also murdered).

If you want to learn how Lady Edgware kills her husband while miles away at a dinner party, please read this book. Don't initiate a reason to generate Poirot's anger, since he may be a superhero. I'm just saying.
I would still like to travel the world with Poirot in the 1920's or 30's--the fantastic lives we would live.
When we were done and over time, I would have a prolonged need to find my way back to the future to glance at pictures of cute animals, view Doctor Who or watch an insane woman, onYouTube, smashing in the McDonald's drive-thru window--they didn't have chicken nuggets available. How could I live without technology?

The Martian by Andy Weir

By now, The Martian has thousands of reviews from mere bloggers to the "experts." Goodreads alone has twenty thousand, and that is a trivial amount compared to the entire internet.
I  will add my soulful few words, struggling to find a place, in this swirling mass of thoughts and feelings in hopes that it will coalesce effectively with the throng.

Boredom, anxiety, humor and intrigue describe the story of one man isolated on Mars, and how his innovated mind constructs solutions for the pervasive obstacles he encounters. His technical knowledge  makes him one of the smartest humans in our solar system--this advances a few problems in the story line for me. He's just too smart (he can create water) and the detailed work involved has the capability of generating boredom.

Humor permeates throughout  showing a wonderful dry sense of humor that made me laugh out loud often. What a pleasant surprise, as I thought his struggle to survive each day would constitute a story of dire seriousness. Several reviewers have called his humor juvenile, but I don't think they understand that in it's simplicity is it's genius.  I could sympathize with his hardship of watching Dukes of Hazzard and other minimal 70's TV shows. This is all that's available to him, not to mention 70's disco music. How he kept his sanity, let alone his sense of humor, is a mystery.

Anxiety is another aspect of the story transfused constantly with every catastrophe that he overcomes. I knew that he must persevere to the end yet there were moments so intense, that often I put down the book, and had to come back to it at a later time.

Not many people could survive in complete isolation of the only human on a planet--he never gives up and he never surrenders (oh, that's another movie).
When he arrives home, he'll be the most famous man in the past or future history, and I wonder if that would make him isolate himself on a  farm somewhere out in Idaho, or sign up to live forever on Mars out of the limelight. Elvis could handle this type of fan worship, but mere mortals might find it hard to cope with.

I could not afford this book, so I put my name down on the library waiting list on March 31. It was a long interval, but worth the long patience, and now it's time to wait for the movie.

Cry by Jacqueline Druga

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

Outer Limits meets War Of The Worlds meets The Twilight Zone in this novel of alien suspense.This book has elements of all three--Outer Limits for gore, War Of The Worlds for alien terra-forming the earth and Twilight Zone for the surprise finale.

In War Of The Worlds, it's the germy atmosphere that killed the aliens--human patience would be our greatest quality while waiting for the microbes to perform their job. In Day Of The Triffids, salt water killed the evil, poison plants, though plain water accomplished the trick in Signs. Numerous times exceptional old fashion warfare provides optimal results, though frequently we lose.

The people in Cry don't have a magic solution against the invaders, though they're able to find something the aliens avoid and that's liquor.
This makes a pleasant day for alcoholics! Drink and earn a pass over on one of the alien's drive by searches, stay sober and turn into a disgusting blob.

If aliens destroyed our world by terra-forming and changed the entire ecosystem where the world is imperceptible to humans  and there isn't a large amount of oxygen left for the few survivors--extreme sadness would permeate all humans. Then to find out that the aliens turned our bodies into a bloody mess to fertilize their plants--extreme agonizing anger would infuse our souls as we helplessly watched from hiding places.

The ending arranged a cruel shock for me as I held out hope the aliens demonstrated feelings of remorse. They started taking humans instead of killing them, and I hoped they'd realized too late we're sentient beings.
Correcting their mistake would establish a habitat where humanity could hope to augment an appearance of accustomed existence.
Yes, we would be in a large see-through dome, and yes the aliens would watch us from platforms....wait a minute, I observed this same set up at the zoo in a large gorilla habitat.

Parts of this book are slow and disjointed, occasionally copious amounts of  info appear that we don't need, and regularly there's not enough. I still highly recommend the book--since it took a lengthy amount of time for the entire story to become clear.
You may hear the Leave It To Beaver theme song in your mind while reading the end.

Torn by Jacqueline Druga

Snakes, giant roaches, giant ant piles so large a child could fall in and never recovered, rabid dogs, the black plague plus new viruses, planes falling from the sky, giant sunspots blasting the surface of the earth and a new ice age encroach upon the homo sapiens of the earth. That's the end of my review--enough said!

Perhaps there's a story, roaming around within all these catastrophes, though sadly the telling of this extensive adventure leaves an impressionable abyss of deficiencies. First the myth of the reversal of the poles, causing extreme harm to our ecosystem equals the myth of humans using a limited ten percent of our brains. Yes, there is a reversal of the poles towards the times of extreme millennia, though the damage will be minimum. This isn't the first time speculation of extreme devastation will occur, nor will it be the last, though if there was a remote possibility of this occurrence, Druga has covered all her bases.

Ellen Bret (Bret's character is a cheap knock off of Ellen) and Dare Dare are hardly likable as the leading love interests. Were there components of evident and legitimate feelings emanating from the characters? Me thinks not! Though each character speaks massive amounts of words, sentences and paragraphs-- an ample blank emits from their personalities.

Though her Beginning series can become rather tiresome, I love all of Druga's books. She has a way of showing the best of humanity through the most trying times. The people in this story are smart and witty, but not the compassionate beings they should be. When Darius and Bret are jumping off the plane (with parachutes) and he tells the flight attendant (who will momentarily die due to the plane crashing) a witty quip showing her near demise--I felt disgust for his lack of empathy.

The very ending, which occurs 1500 years into the future was quite funny. An artifact they believe was the ancient people's bible turned out to be The Stand by Stephen King. Through the humor presents the fact that bits and pieces of society from ancient times don't always tell the full story.
Plus there is a sadness that all the work completed to protect the future of humanity is lost, and no one will ever know the sadness and sacrifice the people in the book suffered through, it's all but a puff of smoke in the past.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

We've all seen parents who are slightly abusive to their children in public settings--which always brings to mind how are these children treated in private?
In reality, essentially all parents love their children, even the abusive ones(their knowledge of parenting is nil) though they're  those few who don't care and would rather slap every time, and they never mete out a single hug.

That's exactly the premise of this story which transpires in the distant future. Every time a child cries, a slap will occur if the mother's nearby. Children aren't hugged or loved, and no one feels the need to reach out with tenderness or caring for others. This is a fascinating glimpse at a village, where every human is severely dysfunctional, resulting from the sick and defective parenting of each home.

The village offers no order or stability as when the men prepare for a hunt. All the spears are assembled rather hazardously, and the men fight for the best weapons, frequently men become injured before their quest has started.
The story of Kira shows what happens to a young crippled girl that was saved due to her mother's strength that fought off efforts to throw Kira into the field to die.
After her mother's death, her world becomes newly structured and she's sheltered in a way she only dreamed of before, but at what cost to Kira and two others she shares her life with?

Thank God that love still flows in our world, and humanity still possesses immense empathy for each other. Selfishness still exist, though we would never turn our heads away from the abuse of children or murder people for their defects.

The only problem I have with this book is the ending, and I hope the third in the series will expand the story.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

One hundred years ago, boundless books were published that no one remembers today, and it's possible that no one would wish too--this series will be the same one hundred years from now--barely amusing for a brief period, ultimately thrown away once the expiration date breaches it's prime.

Books similar to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder generally haven't a speck of interest in my reading wants though sporadically, simple to read/slight love interest/mysteries, seem to hit the spot. Extreme thought will not be a requirement and the effortless ride will soon end with a vague feeling of apprehension that sufficient amounts of strong content are missing.

Disconcerting characters and events fill the story while Hannah's actions would deliver people of the real world in jail for trespassing and removal of evidence.

How did Bill, Hannah's brother-in-law/police officer ever achieves detective status? Bill seems  inept at anything which requires an aptitude higher than eating cookies.

Why did Hannah come back to help her mother who obviously can take care of herself? Do mother's in real life genuinely coerce their daughters to marry? This has been a theme in books since Pride And Prejudice or conceivably from the beginning of time, yet in this day and age, are mothers still pushing unsuspecting men on their daughters?

Hannah's able to solve the crime, plus she gains the admiration of two men, which will hopefully keep her mother subdued.

I've decided to read the second book, which has an exceeding vacuous title (Strawberry Shortcake Murder), I'm not sure if I will be able to continue for the entire 19 book series, but I might try. 

The Honor Girl by Grace Livingston Hill

I've often compared the women in Grace Livingston Hill's books to the women in Agatha Christie's as they both had books published during the same time period.

There isn't one woman in Hill's books (that's not on the dark side) who drinks, smokes, plays cards, dances (and divorce is that terrible word never thought of).

Christie's women are the complete opposite--drinking, dancing and partying are many times a way of life, plus so many are divorced are wanting one.

Are Christie's women evil and Hill's women saints? I believe many of Hill's heroines take their belief system too far, though it's understandable since she wrote Christian books, and the women are most likely set up as role models for young girls. 

Though the women are extremely trusting of men they hardly know and fall in love almost immediately. The characters in her books believe they know a decent man just on the basis of meeting him, and every bad man shows his faults from the start. This situation is misleading--we all know that evil can be covered up with fine manners and a flair for words.

Christie's main characters live a more flamboyant lifestyle, but that doesn't make them wrong, just different. Would the protagonist from The Honor Girl care for one of Christie's characters? Maybe no, but they might find something rare and good in each other and overlook the others faults of being too saintly or not saintly enough.

Though Christie's characters are better at concealing the evil that dwells inside, hidden by smiles, actions and kind words. It's shocking to find out the character that I liked the most turns out to be a murdering fiend.

The Honor Girl is my favorite book by Grace Hill though the beginning part is rather boring. Elsie is so beloved by everyone for her brilliance in her studies and athletics.

After her mother died, she left her father and two brothers to live with her aunt. She hates to even visit her old home and rarely speak to the men she left behind.

One Saturday she must go to her old home to retrieve a book, and she finds her brothers and father live in great filth and poverty. She doesn't understand since they all work and can afford a maid to clean for them. 

 Standing in horror while looking around the large house, she remembers her father asked her in the last year to move home. At this point, I want her to run and never look back, but she starts to think of the youngest brother, and how his sheets are ripped to shreds and he covers up with coats and an old shawl that belonged to her mother.

She decides to spend the day cleaning and cooking a decent meal, leaving before they arrive home, so as in doubt who their house fairy is.

She hires two women (this part is racist now and should have been racist back then) to help her clean, and orders several items from a department store. The three women are able to make the house comfortable, plus Elsie is able to make all the beds with new sheets and comforters, and add many other normal conveniences such as towels.

This was a time period when a 12 hour/6 day work week was mandatory, and no one is at home nor will they be home until evening, so she has the entire day to make this happen and finishes the meal minutes before the men arrive home.

After arriving back at her Aunt's house, she realizes that she's not happy away from her family and starts to think about moving back home. Every Saturday she goes back and to add more comfort to the home, and her brothers find her. Oh, how they love her, and she can't resist any longer to be away from the home she should never have left.

Elsie has many trials along the way--her father is an alcoholic, and she wants her brothers to attend college which they finally kowtow to her wishes. Along the way, she meets the love of her life as it wouldn't be a Grace Livingston Hill book without a love story looming.

I read this book several times a year, it's a nice change from zombie books and it's quite satisfying, and I love books about my God.

Walking in the Rain: Surviving the Fall by William Allen

Another "end of the world as we know it" book told from the perspective of a 16-year old who should have his own survival and wilderness show.

In fact, his vast knowledge of survival during the breakdown of the US, creates a belief in numerous people that he's much older than his years. Plus, his expertise concerning weapons is impressive--his dad's a marine who taught his little Padawan abundantly.

We meet him the moment he rescues a young girl from rape, for in this world the majority of men are rapist, murderers and cannibals, not necessarily in that order.

He decides to let her travel with him to his home, which he's diligently trying to reach.  Hopefully, he will make it back to his parents--there's nothing comparable to a little world-wide catastrophe to bring out the desire of seeing one's mommy.

Luke's that guy that anyone would aspire to have nearby while enduring the breakdown of society, but what are the odds that he would ever exist or be that perfect companion after the downfall. I would undoubtedly meet a computer nerd that never leaves his house, and doesn't know the first thing concerning survival. Murdered and served up as dinner for "Some Fine Young Cannibals" would be an appointment in our day planner

The biggest problem I have with the book is the lack of an ending--it just stops in the middle of nothing. Books should always leave us with absolute wonderment about what happens to our characters, or as in this case a hook to create a desire for the second book, and never to fizzle out into nothingness.

Even though there wasn't a hook, I want to learn what happens-- I will be reading the second book soon.

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

The difficulty in making Hercule Poirot one's dupe is that he's too smart for anyone to outwit. There will always be those criminal elements who think too highly of themselves and decide they can pull it off. This will always conclude in failure for their little murdering souls and another success for the honored Poirot.

Nick, our little protagonist, parties 1930's style--she's a young woman who may soon succumb to a murder's desire to see her dead. The reason for her aspired death is a mystery for she hasn't any money or enemies. When Poirot meets her at his hotel on holiday, he finds out that several attempts on her life have failed, and proposes to keep her safe while finding the murderer before the murder actually takes place.

He tells her to send for her cousin Maggie whose constant presence should function as a deterrent against the killer. Tragedy strikes the first night she arrives when the killer believes she is Nick and the sound of the shot, hidden by local fireworks, finds its mark.

Nick's shawl, worn by Maggie, throws the killer off and the wrong woman is shot. Poirot is devasted that this should happen when he promised protection. A nursing home appears the safest place for Nick though the murderer attempts another success by sending chocolate filled with cocaine.

During the course of the investigation, Poirot finds love letters from Nick's fiance who recently died, leaving Nick a rich woman. Finally, he is able to put the facts together and takes the action he loves, assembling everyone suspected together to tell the identity of the killer. He does this for suspense and to show off his wondrous gray cells.

We find out that Nick isn't a sweet person after all, and she killed her cousin and pretended all the other attempts on her life happened. She overdosed on the cocaine by her own hand and put the gun used to kill Maggie in her best friend's coat. She did all this for the same reason many people kill--for the money.

Nick and Maggie share the same first name of Magdala, so when Nick found love letters from the famous and rich fiance to her cousin, she claimed them as her own. Who would know the difference, since the engagement had been a secret.

Yet again, Poirot allows a suicide for the wrongdoer, so there's not a need to face hanging. Yikes, hanging seems so archaic, but eight women died this way in the US and England in the 1930's.

This is one of Christie's best since no one can guess who the real culprit is though I must say I had my suspensions early on. I'm still hoping that one day I can go to the world of the make-believe past, and become Poirot's sidekick. Hmm, but would there arise the need to kill Hastings. Mon Ami, mais oui c'est possible--pauvre Hastings.

Who Goes There by John W. Campbell Jr.

From the moment I commenced reading this story, memories of another story stirred around in my brain.
Men living on a base in Antarctica and a being so evil that it can duplicate itself into any existing living cell structures.
Voila, I knew it appeared similar to the movie called The Thing, which is a terrifyingly wonderful movie starring Kurt Russel. In fact, the movie's based on the book.

Who Goes There was published in 1938. That boggles the mind to understand the mind of the man who had the intelligence to write such a brilliant book. Reading it today, I felt the concepts were way before their time in the same manner of Jules Verne or H. G. Wells. The story showed such insight that a movie made fifty years later would thrill audiences with anxiety filled horror.

Even though I liked the book, this is one of those instances where the film is superior. The book had several of the same elements, yet the movie took those elements to a higher playing field and added a fresh new story line causing more terror filled moments.

To be stuck in Antarctica with the "being" on the loose would be terrifying, and never knowing if a friend is still a human, would be agonizing. Plus they're in Antarctica with no place to run. The weather outside shows 40 below--until aid arrives, there's no place to hide.
There's also the added fear of spreading the evil off the base and into the world.

I still feel that feeling of wonderful creepiness rolling off my shoulders.

Empty Bodies by Zach Bohannon

Oh, those pesky zombies, by now I'm sure we are all aware that it would be difficult to kill something that is already dead--though the star characters in this book live to tell the tales of zombie mayhem.
Considerable zombie books have their protagonist living through remarkable, deadly discombobulations that would kill off mere mortals.

In Empty Bodies, three people escape from a hotel full of the dead, and it happens that a man and a boy, which were the only two characters previously introduced on a plane, are the only two to survive a plane crash. A man and a girl are thrust into a warehouse full of zombies, sent by a madman full of delusions of grandeur, and they miraculously survive.

I'm sure these defying feats could happen, but what about the everyday person (which might be a large portion of the population--myself included) who runs blindly in panic and confusion straight into the arms of a loving zombie that just wants to eat their brains. No one wants to write about these losers since the reader would feel a large dose of disdain for them, and the story would be short indeed.

That being said, Empty Bodies is a mixture of sadness and heroic adventures. The book starts with several different characters in different areas--at a hotel, at a warehouse job and on a plane, and one of the characters--a little boy who's  likable and quite intelligent, though he can be quite judgmental. The book moves at a rapid speed and brings several of our players together, except two though, and during the ending we understand they soon might be reunited.

The last few pages of the story leave room for a new book when a psychopath is brought back to life for future reference.
I  enjoyed this book and look forward to the second one.