Matthew Kent, son of Jephtha Kent, is in Paris, happily pursuing the life of one of the new "bohemian" artists and befriending many of the new and promising artists of the time-Cezanne, Manet etc. and rather daringly having a live-in mistress.He becomes involved with a sadistic and violent agent of Bismarck (chancellor of Germany)and is forced to flee the country. Dolly, his mistress, becomes pregnant and insists that they marry to avoid the stigma of bastardy for their child.Their marriage doesn't survive so Dolly takes their son Thomas with her to India where she is employed as an English teacher.Matt returns to America briefly but decides that his future lies in Europe. Gideon makes an implacable enemy of millionaire businessman, Thomas Courtleigh who does all he can to destroy Gideon and his business by attacking his family, causing the death of his wife Margaret. On the same night, Gideon's daughter Eleanor is pack raped , causing irreparable damage to her self esteem. Eleanor leaves home at an early age, joining an acting troupe,and therebye relinquishing respectability as it was known in that era.After Margarets death Gideon is able to marry his longtime mistress, Julia Kent, widow of his cousin Louis and takes on the responsibility of her son Carter.

One of the more successful Kent books. The sons of Jephtha Kent -- who is conveniently (and oh too quickly) killed off -- reap what they have sown. The lawless Kent of the title is Jeremiah, the gunslinger-gambler. Jakes cleverly manipulates other members of his cast to come in contact with Jeremiah without knowing who he is; first Julia on her suffragist tour of the Wild West, and then brother Gideon, with tragic results. The travails of Matthew Kent allow Jakes to explore nineteenth-century Paris, but the author is more successful detailing the great Chicago Fire of 1871 and early union uprisings than the Parisian bohemian art world. Gideon Kent's story takes up the bulk of the book: his wife's madness (which I have trouble buying, even though her father was a drunk and alcoholism is supposed to be hereditary), his affair with Julia, his estrangement from his children, his pro-union sympathies, and his conflict with the railroad giant Courtleigh. Gideon's descent into conservatism is less abrupt than Philip Kent's in The Seekers, and therefore more realistic, but equally annoying. The abrupt about-face by Dolly when she decides to leave Matthew seems out of character: I feel like Jakes is setting up her son Thomas to take part in raj activities in India for a future book never written. Eleanor the budding actress is also a believable character, but her last-minute reconciliation with Gideon is even less convincing. The Lawless has less in the way of canvas and sprawl than The Warriors (for instance), and Jakes seems to be truly interested in character development over episode, perhaps for the first time in the series. Unfortunately, none of the characters is as compelling as Amanda Kent in The Furies --and Jakes chooses to relegate the women to a secondary position.

maybe my favoite of the 8, it is hard to decide, they are all great and together an awesome read....

Mary Horowitz does a great job providing powerful empowering information to Lupus patients and their families. Lupus is complex and affects so many different parts of one's body (and mind). I date a lady who has had Lupus for many years, but was only diagnosed about a year and a half ago. Prior to the correct diagnosis, doctors weren't able to pull together all of the different symptoms and positive ANA test. Even though I have been involved in medicine all my adult life, I had never "seen" a complete Lupus patient until I my friend was DX'd. After reading Horowitz's book, I feel much better able to support my friend and understand her symptoms and effects of Lupus on her body. I recommend this book for family members as well as Lupus patients.

I was so happy when I finally read this book. Dr. Mark Horowitz is one of the best rheumatologists out there and when he diagnosed me with Lupus 3 years ago, I never thought I would understand any of it. Thank goodness he took the time and effort to participate in this book and actually sit and explain everything to me. Any time I have a question, I have no problem going back to the book and if it is not there I call his office and he explains anything I want to know. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for some answers and not because my doctor wrote the book but because it is a GOOD book.

When I was first diagnosed, and had little to no clue about lupus, I bought this book. More because of the pink edging on the cover than its applicable title. It turned out to be very useful & filled with good information. Think of it as a "starting off" point though. It isn't as "nitty gritty" medical as it could be, nor is it a female empowerment book. It's for getting good footing when you're lost in the first icy swirl of diagnosis.

Using the voice of various citizens of a small Minnesota town, Kent Meyers tells the story behind a tragic act.

Two-Speed Crandall crashes his semi through town, killing himself and his doomed wife and cutting a pointed path of destruction. Though no one in town claims to really know Two-Speed (even his own son), they fumble with their collective knowledge of this man and his past behavior in attempt to understand his final act.

The reader begins the book hoping to learn more about Two-Speed Crandall's life, but instead, we are shown the inner-workings of a small community and how intertwined their lives are. Each voice is distinct and each character well-defined through his/her own thoughts as relayed to the reader.

What's so fantastic about this book is how the author nails each character, makes them unique, quirky, yet solid. In the end, there are no unanswered questions, just acceptance.

When Two-Speed Crandall crashes his pick-up in the middle of town, killing himself, his wife, and a load of cattle, his surviving family and townspeople speculate as to whether the crash was voluntary, and what led up to it.

This story is told through various persons' thoughts and observations: family members, the only person who witnessed the crash, the local gossip, and others. Each one has separate pieces to the puzzle, so the book made me think of the old story about three blind men trying to describe an elephant, each feeling a totally different part.

The writing is brilliant. You feel like you "know" each of the narrators. At the same time, these differing perspectives result in the development of complex characters. For example, Two-Speed, who generally is a jerk to most people, at the same time secretly befriends a local mentally retarded man in a truly kind way.

The writing also was so clear that I vividly "saw" the town of Cloten, the fields, the river and the events as they unfolded.

I understand that this is the author's first novel, and hope that there are more to come.

Ordinary folks inhabiting any small town in rural America are the multifaceted characters plying the pages of "The River Warren". At the same time the insights brought to the reader through these people living on the fringe of our culture are rather extraordinary. The story is set in motion by Tow-speed Crandall who crashes his tractor trailer loaded with cattle through the streets of a quite Minnesota hamlet, killing driver, passenger and most of the cattle on board. The main characters of the book are connected to the dead occupants in interesting and surprizing ways that are revealed layer by layer as the story unfolds. Every chapter's title is the name of the person speaking, each character offering a varied perspective of the commings and goings of Two-Speed and his truck. Using this interesting literary device Kent Myers gives his story solid form, a backbone so to say. Still the pros are as fluid and varied as the person doing the talking. By design the town(the community) comes to know itself a little better, and I might add, so does the reader. Myers infuses the story line with an undertow tension, a mysterious ebb and flow, not unlike the River Warren itself. At novel's end, we are sitting with people much like ourselves, men and women of light and shadow, maybe a little rough around the edges, all in need of some form of redemption. The author does not disappoint in this regard, transforming his characters and readers in subtle, lasting ways. A fine piece of work that easily warrents its place on the printed page, no doubt worthy of further reflection and much more praise than I am able to give here.

Yeah, it is a conspiracy story. But don't shy away from a good action tale. The author consistantly delivers your money's worth.

Mr. Krueger who has spawned three solid winners with his Cork O'Conner series (Iron Lake, Boundary Waters and Purgatory Ridge) undertakes a stand-alone this time around. He can't resist keeping a fair portion of the action in his beloved Minnesota, but other than that, this is new territory for the author.

Bo Thorsen, a Secret Service agent, is assigned to the First Lady's detail when she makes an emergency visit to her injured father, former Minnesota Senator Tom Jorgensen. Bo suspects the senator's accident may have been premeditated. In the background are the U.S. President, his re-election campaign and his strained relations with the first lady. When escaped mental patient and assassin, David Moses, is added to the mix, the widening implications of the accident, the first lady's safety, and the president's re-election seem to be joined.

By far the most fascinating character is assassin David Moses, brilliant, chilling and who has had an indescribable horror of childhood. David is the best drawn and consequently over-balances the book. "The Devil's Bed" begins with a riveting prologue, and begins with a compelling pace. Events seem to tumble over one another. The reader is given a good background on Bo, who has so much in common with David, but as a child was redeemed rather than permanently abandoned. About at the halfway point in the book, it starts to lose focus. The scope is so broad: government, conspiracy, agencies, and politicians; the story starts to spin away in ever widening ripples. To gather all his threads back together is almost a super-human task for Mr. Krueger, and I felt the ending a little flat.

I'm always glad to see an author stretching his abilities and not getting in a rut with a comfortable series. Think "Devil's Bed" is a good departure, a good read, but perhaps too ambitious in scope. Nevertheless, it is enjoyable, and I await Mr. Krueger's next book with pleasure.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

A Review of The Devil's Bed, by William Kent Krueger

Krueger seizes the reader by the throat in the prologue of The Devil's Bed with a horrific scene of a brutal murder, then follows the prologue with a chapter in the point of view of a maniac who calls himself Nightmare, a man who carves a notch on his own chest to record a kill-and who carries a vendetta against the woman he once loved, the First Lady, Kathleen Jorgenson Dixon.

The President of the United States, Clay Dixon, has problems. His beautiful wife is growing more estranged from him, which not only hurts Dixon emotionally, but disturbs the presidential advisors, who are fretting about the upcoming election. Even Dixon's oldest friend, Robert Lee, is worried about Kate, her emotional state, and the effect she will have on Dixon's presidency.

When Kate's father, a former senator and vice president, is badly injured on his Minnesota orchard, Kate leaves Washington to be with her family. Everyone but Dixon himself is relieved to have Kate out of the political spotlight for a while. She will be fine on the family farm, Dixon's advisors assert, especially since Bo Thorsen, Special Agent in the Secret Service, is stationed in the Twin Cities field office. Thorsen has a history with the Jorgenson family that dates back to his own troubled youth, which was spent in and out of foster care. Though Thorsen is troubled by a few details surrounding Tom Jorgenson's injury, the incident that put the elderly statesman in a coma looks like an unfortunate accident.

Meanwhile, the President's father, William Dixon, a powerful senior senator from Colorado, voices his strong disapproval of Kate Dixon, though he tells his son that for political interests, he must keep his marriage together. He asks about Tom Jorgenson's accident, and points out that though the man's injury is unfortunate, it could help Dixon in the political polls.

Krueger paints vivid pictures of both Thorsen's and Nightmare's desperate childhoods, which parallel each other up to the point where Thorsen was placed with foster parents who redeemed his future. Nightmare, previously known as David Moses, deteriorated to the point where he joined some extremely disreputable characters in order to survive.

Krueger's thriller ratchets up the tension as a conspiracy that encompasses all of the characters is slowly revealed. Bo Thorsen and David Moses are the expendable scapegoats, caught in the vortex of the schemers, and it takes heart-pounding feats on both their parts to reveal the heart of the plot. This is a thriller filled with nonstop action, and though we suspect some of the bad guys, we don't know them all. The novel also has a touch of sweet romance and a touching, bittersweet finale. Quite an exciting summer read!

Reviewed by Debby Atkinson

The line of the Kent famiy is followed through with Amanda Kent as the main player. Amanda, daughter of Gilbert Kent was kidnapped and held as a wife by an Indian brave until his death when she was released.She then married a fur trapper who also died,leaving her to m ake her living as a bar keeper until she was caught up in the Battle of the Alamo and again taken prisoner as the woman of a Mexican Officer.She was treated well by him and gave birth to his son,Louis. By chance, she met,very briefly, with her cousin Jared who had been searching for her for years and inherited, on behalf of his son Jephtha,the control of his share of a gold mine. Determined to restore the printing firm of Kent and Sons in Boston to the family control, she and Louis set up house in Boston where she battles for ownership of the firm from the evil Hamilton Stovall,the man who swindled her family of their fortune and business.

Arguably the best of the Kent Family Chronicles, having as its heroine the strong-willed Amanda Kent, whose personality and strength of character reverberate off every page. How she makes it from the Alamo to the California gold rush to the throes of abolitionist New York strains belief, but ultimately the wild ride is worth the trip. Compelling characters help the journey: Bart McGill, Isaiah Hope, Jephtha Kent, Michael Boyle, Luiz Cordoba. And there is the usual liberal sprinkling of historical figures like Santa Ana. Not necessarily a page-turner, but a strong depiction of key events in American history, very indicative of the hardship and conflicts of the time. Better than "The Bastard."

just keep reading, they keep getting better....

It was the basic source for my MSc project. Very helpful and very modern in its writing.Nancy Adler reached her destination. Recommendable for cross-cultural social and business analysis

I have had the pleasure of using Adler's book for several years now. Simply put, it is far more enjoyable to read than the average textbook and is packed with useful information for those wanting to learn.

Adler does a superb job of addressing the various dimensions of culture. She explains culture quite clearly and makes many connections to management practice. But maybe what I like best is that Adler goes beyond explaining. Each chapter contains vignettes discussing different cultural experiences. The short descriptions are interesting and lively. I have also noticed that the quantity and quality of vignettes has improved in the fourth edition.

Overall, the scope of this book seems quite thorough. National culture, workplace behavior across cultures, communication differences across cultures, creating synergy, multicultural teamwork and negotiation, global leadership, and the expat experience are all discussed. My favorite chapters tend to be early in the book (culture, teamwork, and synergy). It appears that these areas represent the author's greatest strength. The research informing each chapter is thorough and quite up-to-date. Maybe the weakest chapter, in my view, is chapter three which deals with communication. I suspect that maybe the author steps a bit beyond her expertise and is not able to touch on the deeper issues of cross-cultural communication (as she touches on the deeper issues in teamwork or other chapters). The result is a good chapter and sound discussion that maybe lacks the richness found in other parts of the book. She sets the standard so high in other chapters and I was hoping for the same here.

I have used this text for several years in intercultural management courses for undergraduate business students. The students seem to enjoy the book and encourage me to keep using it. I guess that is the highest praise we can give any text--students like it.

As a cross-cultural trainer based in the United States, I needed to find a pragmatic book that both students and sophisticated business people would find helpful. At the same time, it had to provide a lot of solid information in an easy-to-read format. Dr. Adler's book is it at ERUdyne! Actually, we have had to replace our copies many times as they keep disappearing after positive reviews from our clients!

My copy is dog-eared. I recommend it to anyone who needs to understand how culture impacts global business organizations today. It contains excellent questions for reflection, charts, summaries and references.

Dr. Adler's book makes a positive difference in one's perception and understanding of the real challenges facing global businesses. It also provides good case studies with a step-by-step guide for addressing global organizational behavior issues. I couldn't ask for more in one text.

I was very disappointed. The "new evidence" was extremely minor, and as contradictory as most of the other evidence in the case. The author is completely convinced of Lizzie's innocence,and points the entire book to that viewpoint. He does not present the inquest testimony, saying it all comes out in the trial.

Borden fans should check out this wonderful book which presents "just the facts" of the murder case. As many people know, "Fall River Tragedy" by Porter is considered THE BIBLE as far as Lizzie lore goes...but Kent points out that Porter was a yellow journalist whose book was a re-hashing of his numerous, sensationalized newspaper articles of the day. Furthermore, Porter was one-sided against Lizzie. Let's stop looking to Porter as the definitive text on the case, and give Kent a try...he doesn't offer any solution, but at least he doesn't offer any biases and nonsense either.

The MOST important new evidence is the fact that a fairly new hatchet was used (the shred of gilt paint in Abby's skull) - not reported in the past; the old hatchet found in the basement could NOT have been the murder weapon! The "Harvard Perjury" was the testimony preceded by "I believe that ..." the old hatchet was the murder weapon. The common sense jury knew that the hatchet head was SAWN off, not broken off.

The chapter on rumors carries the full text of the anonymous letter from Albany (most likely Joseph Carpenter?) sent to both the Prosecutor and the Marshall. The misspelled "Bordon" name is just a sample of "plausible denial", in case somebody (with a hatchet) came to talk to him. The letter that was later found on a Rome NY street pointing to J. Carpenter was a way to get even; somebody connected with the case wasn't fooled.

This book is a very good complementary to Arnold R. Brown's "final chapter" on the case - as good a solution as you can find after a century.

Edward Radin's 1961 book re-investigated the case, and talked to some contemporaries who knew Lizzie. He was the first to show Pearson's biased reporting, and had his own solution (based on his own experiences as a crime reporter).

The 1973 book by Robert Sullivan, lawyer and judge, provides another point of view. His opinion that "there was enough evidence to convict" shows prejudgment of the case. His book quotes Judge Justin Dewey's charge to the jury, as true and important today as a century ago. He interviewed Abby Borden Whitehead Potter, Abby's niece (and Godchild?).

The most important thing about this case was the condition of the blood of the victims. Red and liquid for freshly-killed Andrew, black and clotted for Abby (predeceased for over an hour). Think about that in a more recent case!

I have all the party game books that Amazon sells. I found this to be the least helpful. My friends are all outgoing but I only found 3 things in the whole book that they MIGHT attempt to do. Its definitely geared towards college aged people (I'm 32, married 11 years.) or at the very least people that drink enough to lose all their inhibitions. Just wanted to forwarn you!

Brian and Allison, congratulations on putting in print all the games we party animals attempt to remember on an ad-hoc basis, but can never seem to remember them. If it weren't for this book, I'd be stuck playing TV tag forever.

This is the book for you if you need to have some spontaneous fun! Creates a frenzy of excitement! Now if I could just get my wife to wear that leopard skin outfit!

A vast improvement from the previous book and benefits from being longer and more complex. Fast moving and although nothing new, it is well put together and weaves a number of storylines together effectively. A little rushed at the end but an entertaining book and a lot to suggest that there is even better to come from the Kents.

This is a book of many parts, and most of them are very exciting. There are a number of plots running together and tied to each other in a reasonably satisfying manner. This structure ensures that the book retains its interest throughout. The pace is relentless and driving; the sort of book that is truly difficult to put down. The principal caharcter, LtCdr Alan Craik is the sort of hero that is common in cartoons; he never fails, never tires, and always wins in the end. Despite this 'Boy's Own Story' approach, the character works. He is surrounded by his friends and supporters, even to a crusty old admiral who watches on with indulgent pride as Craik scores yet another win for the US Navy. There is a lot of accurate detail in respect to naval aviation and carrier operations.

On the downside, I felt a growing sens of "deja vu" as plot-line after plot-line was introduced. This book, it seems to me, is not original and borrows some of its themes from other areas, either books or film. I can't quite place it, but I've seen it before.

Additionally, there were 31 spelling errors; all of these were in the form of letter transposition that enabled a spell-checker to pass over the faults. For example, "chanced" was altered to "changed" and completely destroyed the meaning of the sentence and it is only by context that one is able to insert the correct word. I also counted 11 sentences where there were key words omitted altogether. This lack of accuracy matters, not just by way of maintaining decent English, but crucially because books that rely heavily on accurate detail fail if you begin to suspect that lack of rigour has been allowed to prevail. It was notable that more than half of the errors occurred in last third of the book.

Deary me, what a fantastic book! Okay, it took me from January to July to read it, but I'm all the more happy for reading it.
The novel starts at the main character's house, the main character being Alan Craik. The main characters are having a farewell party in the house: Al Craik is going to NavyIntel; his wife Rose wants really to be an astronaut; Harry O'neill, a funny guy with a lot of good wit is going to train to be a good spy; Dukas is going to an intelligence agency IVI; and the Peretz's are going also into the intel industry. Craik is out in the navy: there will soon be a launch of Peacemaker: a missile that the public, and some of the military even!, think is a satellite capable of keeping peace all around the world 24/7. Of course, it's not that at all. It's a missile capable of dropping hundreds of Uranium rods and exploding them with force. That is what scared me at first reading. Dukas finds Pigareou, a French intelligence officer who is hunting out war criminals: Dukas decides to join him. For months, they are looking out for the world's most dangerous war criminal who could potentially destroy the Peacemaker Ops. Fleetex, the pre-launch exercise goes disastrously wrong as the navy, and the big headed admirals, feel that their crews are bad, and I mean bad. Craik abruptly leaves the ship off the coast of Zaire as he finds an astonishing but worrying piece of truth: Harry O'Neill has been captured. At this point, there is a lot of bloody war and terrorism: in Bosnia, Colonel Zulu, the infamous war criminal is craving to cause chaos and mass death: he needs to mass produce murders for he himself was a sad child, but the reader reads more in to that in a later chapter. When O'neill is found, and both Craik, Harry himself and Al's helper, Djalik, are found to be desperately ill and injured, they find that Rose is doing a fab job of the Peacemaker Op, it's just that their footsteps in the mud are being traced: by Russians and Libyans. Mike Dukas has found, through a Serbian spy, Obren, where Zulu is. In other words, Zulu is going to get shot any point in the book. Part three? I'm going to refrain from giving too much away, but the Russians and Libyans are mistaken for the bad ones in the blue sea? But what are their real intentions? Is the US Navy really playing the good guy in the game?

I personally believe that if you have the time to read such an epic thriller, and the notion that there are always bad people in good institutions, you would really enjoy this book. It may be long, but if you hack through the pages and really appreciate the atmosphere attained on such a matter, you would really lov it. I'll award five stars.

This is a decent Wrox book. Not the jumble of pages stacked together that you get most of the time, but a well rounded compendium of nice to know things for the casual VB Developer. I say "casual", because when it comes to professional programming, you really shouldn't have to read (again) about doing some basic ADO stuff or creating an install package. Three stars for this book because it's good, but not written for a professional developer...

I saw the title of this book and picked it up - we are trying to build web services via SOAP at my company and we are not migrating to .NET for a while yet. The book proved worthy of it's title. This book covers modern implementations with legacy technology. Thank you to the authors. I suspect that there are quite a few companies out there that, like us, need to see VB6 references for a while yet (Microsoft has seemed to replace their VB6 documentation with VB.NET documentation on their site).

I recommend this one!

Finally! A resource I can rely on! This book rocked my bookshelf! Jerry Ablan is a genious, and his team did an excellent job bringing forth a well thought, well written book for us Visual Basic users.

Kick butt book!