Coincidence?

Ben Brice is a central character in this book by Mark Gimenez called “The Abduction”. He is a decorated hero from the Vietnam war but he lives alone and drinks a lot to forget things about the war. He cannot understand why certain events have happened in his life. He remembers his mother telling him God had a plan for his life but fails to see it. The only time he does not drink is when his grand daughter comes to visit with him.

One night after drinking he has another one of his recurring nightmares but there is a twist in the end of it. Instead of seeing the face of the Vietnamese girl begging for help in his past, he sees the face of his grand daughter. This seems to coincide with the abduction of his grand daughter – an abduction for which there is no apparent reason. Is this a kidnap for reward? Her father is on the verge of becoming a billionaire - but no ransom demand is made. Is this prompted by a child molester? “Evidence” seems to point to this and a convicted sex offender is taken into custody. But he professes innocence and kills himself while in jail – and Gracie is still missing. Ben sees this as a mission - to find and get her back – he has visions and still feels connections with her.

A photo of the kidnapper from behind revealed a tattoo that places a connection with Ben’s past in Vietnam. Is this kidnapping an act of revenge against him as he suspects? Or is this a coincidence? Ben does not know but follows the trail. He knows the people he is dealing with and knows it will be a difficult (but not impossible) situation to get his grand daughter back. He and his son (who has not had anything to do with him) go after Gracie.

Nothing is simple about this story / plot. There are so many twists revealed throughout the book that shed more light on what seems like unrelated events. They also reveal some surprises – like a planned assassination of the President of the United States.

I find it hard to really summarize this story – without revealing too much. At first I thought there were too many coincidences to be believable but found the theme was consistent. As Ben learns through this experience (and as his mother had told him), " God has a plan for him and this was how he discovered everything was connected. It was in my opinion a very good book. This is the second book I have read by Mark Gimenez and it was different from the first. I am impressed by his writing skills and plan to read the next book by him.

Mystery in a Rural County

Sheriff Dan Rhodes of Blacklin County (Texas) hands are full again in the 15th book of this series by Bill Crider. The name of this book is “Of All Sad Words”. Some county officials are unhappy about the Citizens Police Academy he lead and some of the “vigilantes” who took it. Then, there is an explosion and fire at a trailer of “suspected” meth dealers that must have been the work of these “vigilantes”. One of these “suspected” meth dealers is also discovered dead.

On top of all of this, the county officials want the sheriff to follow-up on a delayed website for the sheriff’s office – to make sure it gets done.

Finally there are the regular (not necessarily normal) calls he gets to deal with. One widow calls him to remove some possums from her attic. Another man has problems with flying saucers stealing his electricity.

It is interesting to see how the sheriff deals with these and more problems and how he makes use of some of the recent graduates from his Citizens Police Academy.

Also interesting is how the author uses references to a character in another one of his book series – a series he no longer writes. Will he be writing another book in the Dr Sally Goode series? I hope so. Anyway, I enjoyed this Dan Rhodes book as I have the previous ones.

I Want The Truth

"I Want The Truth". These are the word on the sign on a tent overlooking the White House. This is the goal of the group that bears the name also used as the title of this book - "The Camel Club" by David Balducci. And what a web of political intrigue is built into this book. There are several persons of interest that make up this story - the first in a series of three written with the Camel Club involved.

The leader of the Camel Club calls himself "Oliver Stone". He is joined by three others in this group to seek out and expose the truth. The other members are Caleb Shaw, Milton Farb, and Reuben Rhodes. They are having a secret meeting when they stumble upon a murder. When they are almost caught at the scene by the killers, they decide to determine the reason behind the murder. They have no idea the plot behind this murder is about.

Also involved in the investigation of this murder are a couple of agents in the Secret Service since the murder victim had a highly sensitive job involving a national intelligence database. These agents are Alex Ford and Jackie Simpson. The murder appears to be related to the victim's "supposed" involvement with drugs. Alex is aquainted with the person who calls himself "Oliver Stone" and he decides to look further into the murder when Oliver questions him it. Neither he or Oliver realize just how involved they will be.

I do not want to give away too much regarding the story. Suffice it to say that it involves terrorism, intelligence, and a twist of plots by several characters.

Was it something I enjoyed reading? Did it keep my attention? You bet!!! Would I be inclined to read the other two books in this collection - The Collectors and Stone Cold? With out a doubt these two books are on my list of books to read.

The Resolute Desk

No - I have not already finished reading another book. I am still in the process of reading the book - "The Camel Club" by David Balducci. But there is something interesting I want to make a comment on. It is the Resolute Desk. The thing interesting is that I heard about this this past weekend in another form of art - a movie - National Treasure 2. It is interesting I picked up these two references in such a short period of time. They both have the same thing to say about the background of the desk so there is no contradiction between the two. I will followup with my review when I complete the book.

Another Murder By The Yard Selection

Yes. It is another book by D.R. Meredith. The title as you see is "Tome of Death". It is another in the Megan Clark / Murder By The Yard book club series - the fourth. But it is NOT JUST another one of the books.

Each book in this series seems to offer something else. Yes - it is a murder mystery and yes - megan Clark figures out who the murderer is. But isn't that one of the things the sleuth is supposed to do?

In this book the author does something different. The author tells two stories of murder. The first is in the 1860's and the second is in "present day" Amarillo. And these two stories get tied together with the discovery of the present day murder. Well, the present day murder actually occurred five years ago but it is discovered by Megan Clark. When she discovers the bones from this murder, she also uncovers the mummy of the murder victim from the 1860's. Interspersed with the story of Megan Clark's investigation of the present day murder, is the story of another investigation from the 1860's by Spotted Tongue. Spotted Tongue is a Comanche and his second wife was the one who was murdered.

You may recall that Megan is a reference librarian in Amarillo but she has her professional training in paleopathology. She uses this training in examining the mummified body of the 1860's murder victim. The victim was suspected of being a Cherokee, but Megan was able to positively identify the woman as a white lady. She was also able to provide information that leads to the discovery of the identity of the present day murder victim.

The book follows the inestigations made by Megan (present day) and Spotted Tongue (1860's) concurrently. Each one questions potential witnesses and suspects. There were obvious differences in their investigations. In Spotted Tongue's case, the murder was personal since it was his wife who was murdered. Megan was connected with the murder victim other than through the investigation.

It turns out both the murderer in both cases were connected in someway with the victim. That is no big surprise. In both cases the murderer tries to kill our investigator. And in both cases I think our sleuth's had figured out who the murderer was.

And to top it off, Megan Clark and the book club are able to determine a possible identity for our 1860's murder victim through their research.

I am looking forward to the next book in this series. I wonder what surprise the author will offer? But first I have to read my book club selection for June.