This book is the bedtime favorite of my husband and daughter. The story is clever and entertaining to children and adults. The illustrations are soft and finely detailed. My husband finds many children's books "silly" or "boring," but he loves this one because the plot takes twists and the language is vibrant.

This was an okay mystery. I have not read Mr. Davis before, so I don't know what he is capable of. This was not a book that could be easily read in one sitting. The set-up of the book where it goes back and forth between the jury and its characters, and the Prime Minister searching for his brother and the real killers, and the kidnappers, does not make for easy, consistent reading. The plot felt like it was broken up, even though I thought the problems with the enviro-terrorists and chemical/pesticide companies were and are very plausible. The book just lacked some cohesiveness to it. I will probably try one of Davis' books again, because he is obviously an intelligent writer. I am hoping the problems with this particular story was just a fluke. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

This is the third novel written by the Enlish writer duo I have read. The first two were indeed excellent, but to call this one brilliant, like mrs.Klausner in her review, is in my view highly exaggerated. The writing is good and the pace of the novel OK. Therefore I have finished reading the novel. The storyline is so far-fetched, however, and so improbable at some stages, that it took some effort to continue reading.

The kidnapping of an Attorney-General is an event which leads to high attention. To survive street accidents and pursuits in the sewer is quite unbelievable. That the Prime Minister instead of talking to Judge and Jury ( particularly when the life of thousands of people is at stake) awaits the outcome and goes of on his own enquiry is complete bullocks.

Also the rigging of the jury process is so complicated that it is hardly believable.

The writers better stck to the micro-drama they developed in the first books; they were considerably better!

In London, Dr. Jennifer Fox is on trial for murdering Dr. Charles Easterman. The case was so highly publicized by the international media, England and Wales Attorney General Geoffrey Haversham prosecuted it. The evidence against Jennifer is so overwhelming, everyone expects a guilty verdict. Even the jury goes into deliberation thinking that they only need to discuss guilty.

However, the linear path to conviction is detoured by two simultaneous events. A juror, designer Alex Parrish, believes the accused is innocent. At the same time, England's Prime Minister Edward Haversham is notified that his brother, the same Attorney general on the Fox trial, has been abducted. Haversham will be freed only if Fox is freed. As the jury argue with their one hold-out, a larger stage with another life at stake is the setting for their final decision.

Readers will not be hung up on deciding that they fully enjoyed HUNG JURY, a fast-paced legal thriller. Rankin Davis cleverly develops the story line along two plots that ultimately merge together into a terse climax. The jurors will remind the audience of the jury in TWELVE ANGRY MEN (either version) with a slight twist. The terrorists (especially Pavel) and the Haversham siblings also seem more like genuine individuals rather than characters in a novel. This is must reading for fans of legal thrillers.

Harriet Klausner 11/1/98

Let me say at the outset that I am a Rankin fan. Police Detective John Rebus is a real human character, and Edinburgh makes a fascinating background to his stories, which are generally well plotted. However, "In Black and Blue," Rankin was just a little too ambitious. There are enough plots and subplots for five books, and he isn't always deft at juggling them. I often found myself scratching my head and flipping back pages to remember who a particular character was (there are a dozen major police characters alone). This is a major distraction in a mystery novel, which should be read full steam ahead. The plot strands involve gangsters, drug dealers, rogue cops, the oil trade, and two (count them two) serial killers. The denouement of all this is far from satisfying: the strands don't come together as neatly as a reader would have wished.

I'm still high on Rankin, but I wish he had turned this one into two separate novels (perhaps "Black" and "Blue").

I'd heard some good things about Rankin, and this book was the first I read. While it's true the numerous plots can be somewhat confusing, they add to the realism; do any of us believe that police detectives only have one case assigned to them at a time? The darkness of Rebus' world, his cyncism and bitterness, combined with his stubborness and tenacity, give us a picture of a complete but flawed man. Rebus is a fully developed character, and for once we're given a portrait of a loose cannon that we can BELIEVE would continue to hold down a job.

Some friends gave me this as a Christmas 2002 gift. They knew I liked mysteries/thrillers as I am a close follower of Michael Connelly, Jeffrey Deaver, Ridley Pearson, James Patterson, Robert Crais, and many others. I found this book to be amazing. So much so that I have already read the first four books in the Rebus series and am reading them in sequence. Rankin's detective Rebus is the Scottish version of Connelly's Harry Bosch -- only more extreme and maybe more interesting. Certainly more gritty. And he loves the Rolling Stones! Rankin is a highly intelligent writer and you can see his skills develop from the early books with "Srip Jack" being a turning point of sophistication. I've read that Rankin writes "Tartan Noir." That's a good way to put it. The novels remind me of the best film noir where the cigarette smoke is thick and the booze runs like a river. Being in Scotland also is a real treat, adding a new element of continual interest verus the usual beats of Los Angeles or New York. The layers of intelligence and plot development are lovely. Rankin has an uncanny ability to interweave plot, keep us guesing, and is always surprising us. Keep up the great work Ian. I plan to slow down as I hit the second half of the series as I want to keep Rebus fresh for as long as I can.

Someone is strangling children in Edinburgh. Inspector John Rebus starts receiving what he thinks are crank letters, each enclosing a small neatly tied knot. While investigating the serial strangler, Rebus takes the reader with him on a tour of the seedy side of Scotland's second city. Along the way we learn that Rebus has lost his marriage, has forgotten how to communicate with his young daughter, drinks too much and feels and acts the loner. We meet the other detectives and minor characters that flesh out the story so well. While Rebus starts to see where all the clues are pointing, the reader is completely drawn into the story. Rankin set out to write a modern day parallel to Jekyll and Hyde, not a crime fiction book at all. But the result is the beginning of the best mystery series I've yet to read. Inspector Rebus is fascinating enough to carry a book by himself, but the mystery is absorbing, thought-provoking and makes this book a fast paced page turner. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Ian Rankin has penned a masterpiece with this series. I hope you will read them all.

The character of John Rebus is very realistic and very easy to get to know. He is strong on the outside but troubled inside; his memories of being in the army give him nightmares and sometimes even attack him during the day. Just like all of us, there are ghosts in his past that he refuses to talk about. I like how Rankin leaves most of the details of Rebus's life for us to wonder about until the end of the novel.

The style is similar to John Patterson's. The plot is not overly imaginative, but is realistic and interesting enough to make the book an easy and enjoyable read. The thing that I like most about Ian Rankin is his long, vivid descriptions. "These were the books that lay around his living-room. His books for reading tended to congregate in the bedroom, lying in co-ordinated rows on the floor like patients in a doctor's waiting-room." and "Modern killers bragged of their crimes to their friends, then played pool in their local pub, chalking their cues with poise and certainty, knowing which balls would drop in which order... While a police-car slept nearby, its occupants unable to do anything save curse the mountains of rules and regulations and rue the deep chasms of crime. It was everywhere, crime. It was the life-force and the blood and the balls of life: to cheat, to edge; to take that body-swerve at authority, to kill."

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good crime novel, to any lovers of Patterson or Connelly.

Ian Rankin gets better every time I read another one of his books. After reading "Knots and Crosses", I felt like I had seen it on TV or video, his descriptions were so vivid! The main character is so very human and not always loveable, but understandable nevertheless.

Inspector Rebus is a divorced Scot, a Policeman with an ex-wife and 11 year old daughter. He has the usual troubles and has been compared to other English detectives. He has had a troubled past and his way of working things out and his leaps of intuition are both believable and satisfying.

I recommend this book, but since it is out of print, you may not be able to find it.

Being an avid Rankin reader, I was a bit disappointed about this follow-up to the excellent original. Armageddon II contains the trademark humour of all Rankin books, but has a poorly-planned, confused plot and an ending which ultimately makes the entire tome pointless. Worth a read but if you are new to Rankin "Sprout Mask Replica", the original Armageddon or even "Nostradamus Ate My Hamster" would be better to begin with.

A note to all Hugo Rune fans: If you didn't know, he plays an active role in "The Book of Ultimate Truths". Read that NOW!

The continuing adventures of Rex Mundi, Elvis and Barry the Time Sprout amongst others, which surpasses even the original which was hysterical. This is the funniest book of its type since The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The best parts of the book are the introductions to each chapter which seem to be totally unrelated to the story but gain more relevance as the book goes on; the best one with the two wildly differing accounts of Hugo Rune turning himself invisible. A must read if you like that sort of thing.

This was one of the wittiest, and most comical books I have ever read. It made me laugh continuously from beginning to end. Much in the vein of Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett. Make sure to pick up the other two books in the series.

Depending on your needs, and no test prep book can be all things to all people, this could be a good supplement to other instruction. Frankly, none of these are a panacea.
The multiple choice section in particular has the basics, but a student preparing for the test would need a lot more walking through the types of questions to be encountered and more practice than this book gives.
Otherwise, it is as good as others on the market. You might give an edge to the Cliff's version if you had to choose just one, though having both would be a good plan, if you find these prep books useful.
Being widely read in a variety of AP level lit. and writing, writing, writing, with someone to give you good feedback is the best prep.

There are a lot of review books for ap tests but I would recomend this one. I'm getting ready to take the test in may and I thought this book was very helpful in my review. They have a very straightforward helpful style..it's like an extra help session with a good, experienced teacher. Very good book..

After seeing the interview of Mr. Rankin on CBS Sunday morning I was very excited to read one of his books. I picked this one up and quite frankly wished I hadn't. To see that it is back ordered surprises me (maybe everyone else saw the interview). Mr. Rankin's mystery novel is a quick read but is one of those types of books you put down only because of boredom. It is very long winded, and not very descriptive compared to other mysteries I have read.

I am a big fan of Rebus - and of anything Ian Rankin writes. Rebus is a believable cop - with lots of personality quirks and a not-so-perfect "home" life. The descriptions of his work environment and the politics involved in being a cop (in any country) are dead-on. Scotland comes alive - its weather, moods, citizens, crime. I highly recommend this book to any reader who is looking for something deep, different, and compelling.

It's impossible for anyone who does not know the Cyrillic alphabet to cope with this dictionary, as for some reason it does not devote any space to showing the English translation of the Cyrillic letters. Also, the print is fine and pale.

I concede that this is one book I should have looked at before purchasing. As they say, let the buyer beware.

I found the content excellent, however I agree with the other reviewer that it is poorly bound. Mine fell apart after three weeks. On a trip pocket dictionaries like this will be in daily use and take quite a pounding. Regrettably, this book is just not up to it.

This pocket Russian dictionary is one of the best that I've used.
It shows all perfective and imperfective verbs, it includes irregular verb endings
and indicates the accent (udarenie) of all Russian words.
I disagree with the poor rating given by a reader that complained about the lack of Cyrillic transliteration.
This dictionary is for people who ALREADY know the Cyrillic alphabet.
A great dictionary at a great price!

Could be me, could be the book, but I didn't find much here of use. I like jumping right in when reading technical stuff and the first chapter which is really just a hard sell for the book itself immediately put me on the wrong track. Apart from that, lots of stuff Rankin says is saying the obvious and the connection with negotiations is strained to say the least. I also find lots of the theory dubious. For example, just because 65% of communication is non-verbal (what communication? - chatting? news at 9? parent child? etc), it does not follow that, a) 65% is non-verbal in negotiations, and b) that even if it is, it makes a 65% difference in negotiation outcome. This needs to be demonstrated. Ranking also seems to be confusing sales with negotiations by talking confusedly about 'sales negotiation' throughout, now switching to sales mode, now to negotiation mode. Finally, for a book published in 2000, one can really expect the author to be aware that the win/win, win/lose idea of negotiations is dated to say the least. Anyway, as I said, it could me, it could be the book. Positive point - lots of nice quotes from various famous people speckled all over.

This is definitely a good read for anyone who has just got into sales and also an eye-opener for those who already are.

An excellent source and a must read for salesmen. Highly recommended!!

After reading some of the other reviews of this book, I have to wonder if they were looking at the same book! I found this volume hugely disappointing, so much so that I returened it the very next day for a refund. There are models that are so fat that you can't find their belly-buttons, models with bruises on thier legs, all lit to look like medical specimens. If that's your cup of tea, then this book is for you. To me it looked like a collection of the photographs that would normally be edited from a book of this sort.

The charm of this book is that it features "real people" - not simply supermodels. Photos and the arranged shots were the ideas of the photographer (Rankin), and also the subjects' own.

Some of the "models" are in "artsy" roles and things - bathed in jelly, smeared with ketchup, etc. Nonetheless, all shots are witty, sensual, and provocative. A must have for the Nude library.

This is one of the best art books I have seen for ages. I love the idea behind the book and I wish I could have been involved in this project- that's how good the photos are!