Though better paced and written than the prequel, the second Hoare book still had problems.

The author created a character with an interesting disability: the incapacity to speak above a whisper. Unfortunately, throughout the book, Hoare spoke. It would have been intriguing to see him resort to gestures and so on. Instead, the disability was basically ignored.

The rather nebulous plot involved some hard-to-believe-in Satanists and a threat to the British Navy which Hoare had to defuse with the help of an unseaworthy crew of intelligence agents and bluestockings. The plot seemed to wander, and though it was better paced than the first book in the series, it still lacked focus.

Perkins, in this book, essentially paid an homage to Patrick O'Brian -- mentioning one of his characters by name and repeating a joke (the one about the weevils). I trust that Perkins' editors took care of any legal issues there may have been. I was uncertain how I felt about this. On the one hand, I like homages and the sense that books by different authors somehow take place in the same world. On the other hand, I like it better when it's done less blatantly.

Overall I would say that this book, like the one preceding it, had some interesting points but did not attain a very high standard.

This is worth a read if you enjoy the Patrick O'Brien/Hornblower/Alexander Kent genre. My
only real problem with this book is that the
heroes of all 3 of those series either make
appearances or are mentioned here, along with
a Capt. Marryatt. It just seemed a cheap sort
of ploy to me. Still, it's not a BAD book,
it just appears as if the author gleaned most
of his info from reading other authors' work.

It is necessary to read book 1 of the trilogy, "Hoare and the Portsmouth Atrocities," before reading this novel in order to understand the storyline. This story is set in October and November 1805. Hoare has been promoted to commander and finds himself in command of an unusual ship, the Royal Duke, with an unusual crew (including several women - women were not unusual in a crew, see John Nicol's biography). He is in charge of "special investigations" which includes naval intellegence services.

The discovery of two murdered Royal Navy captains plunges Hoare into intrigue involving British traitors and unknown French agents. Hoare is still handicapped by an inability to raise his voice above a loud whisper, but he can whistle and he can pass commands through a loyal lieutenant aboard the Royal Duke. He has an unfortunate encounter with H.R.H. the Duke of Cumberland, a desolute rogue (the royal family receives some unflattering descriptions). Events lead to the disposal of some enemies, but the continuation of the story is left to the third novel of the trilogy, "Hoare and the Matter of Treason."

The author has a bad tendency to forget details as the story proceeds. In the previous novel, Lieutenant Kingsley is shot while in confinement. In this novel, it is stated he was hanged. Also, four roughs captured in the novel become two in number by the time they are turned over to authorities. The gratuitous mention of James Aubrey is out of place. The ficticious Aubrey is referred to as a "successful frigate captain," but in O'Brien's series of novels Aubrey's early success (prior to 1805) was as a commander in a sloop - as was the real life Commander Lord Cochrane who served as the model for the fictional Aubrey. The novel lacks a map which would have been helpful.

Emily Perkins is supposedly one of the new and talented voices of todays New Zealand literature. By chance I read some of her articles in a magazine. It struck me that she seemed to be writing for young women, but still definitely had a talent. Just as much by chance I came into possession of her first novel, "Leave Before You Go", but here my curiosity turned into direct disappointment. The novel starts off with Daniel, a young Englishman, bored with his uneventful life in England, and so he decides to take the risk as a one-time drug courier. He ends up in New Zealand where he meets Kate and her friends who are equally dissatisfied with their lives. Again I get the impression that Emily Perkins is turning to other young women her age, who are in turn bored with their lives and maybe haven't anything better to do than reading this unfascinating and uneventful story. Nothing much happens, and the descriptions both of Auckland and a trip further south in the country are straight out dull. There are occasional moments better than others but all together the entertainment value hardly exists, neither in the storyline, the character portrayals or in the language itself. If I was an 18-year old girl, not having read any other books by my own free will, I might have given it three stars. I'm giving it two stars because of the moments where she does display her talent, but if Emily Perkins can't come up with anything better than this in more than 200 pages, she should probably concentrate her talent on the short stories and essays in women's magazines. Honestly!

For the most part, I strongly agree with the previous review. I originally discovered Perkins when I came across "Not Her Real Name", a collection of brilliantly written short stories about a somewhat lost generation. I was thoroughly impressed and couldn't wait to read the follw-up. However, after reading "Leave Before You Go", I must say, I AM a little disappointed. While I found myself able to connect with the unwittingly emotionally bankrupt characters that she portrays, and yes, both cheering and jeering at their decision-making skills -- I felt like I was being dragged in circles. In the end, I also felt disconnected and unsatisfied -- like there was not resolution or character DEVELOPMENT at all. However, I haven't lost my faith in Perkins yet. Her uniquely tangible descriptions always leave me wanting more.

I really enjoyed this book for what it was--a passage of time. I'll spare you the synopsis since 2 other reviewers have given you that already.

What I liked about this book was at times you can actually hear yourself groaning along with the characters bad decisions, and wanting to give them the high five when they make the good/best/or right decision. The ending left me feeling a bit disconnected, but I think that was the point.

It's a light easy read. No great mysteries of life solved here, you'll be disappointed if you're looking for that in this book.

While the book had extensive coverage of using ODBC in VB, it had very little actual code for C. Most often it just had the function prototypes and hardly more, barely explaining what the parameters meant and very rarely giving a code example. The examples given were muddled with MFC code, and it even had a section simply walking you through an appwizard project. I ended up getting better information using online help, which covers the topics much for extensively. I had previously been trying to work from docs at the MS site, and found this to be somewhat easier, but not much. Overall, it has some good points. I mainly use it for the error codes, etc it has listed.

+ This book gives genaral description about working of ODBC. Good for VB programmers who heard that ODBC is fast but used jet and always wondered why it is so slow with big databases. - A floppy containg samples is much desirable.

I have used this book for two or three years now in my VB consulting business. I find almost all the answers I need in it. These folks explain how ODBC works from the ground up. Once you get past the theory there are nicely organized chapters covering everything from how to connect to what you do once you're connected. There are lots of C and VisualBasic examples, and as far as I can remember, they all worked -- a real plus. I found the writing style to be as entertaining as any nerdy book is likely to be. Lots of detail, lots of context, lots of perspective. If you don't find your answer in this book, chances are good the authors will point you in the right direction. And don't miss their discussion on ODBC tools. If your VB clients insist that you use ODBC then put this book in your bag and carry it with you every day.

confused... robert perkins has issues he chooses to play out in print. the only interesting part of the story was his nervous breakdown. he should keep his 'plastic' boat in new england waters (safer that way - for him and the people that might otherwise have to rescue him from himself).

by the way - your artwork is childlike. stay home robert perkins.

The nature of the voyage that Perkins set out on is extremely unique and interesting making for a captivating story. He ventured into an area of the great northern wilderness where few people have ever been, and he described what he found with wonderful detail and thought. At first, I was annoyed with the personal stories embedded as flashbacks into the adventure, but soon I was drawn in to the psyche of Perkins as he canoed the Back River. My imagination and wonder soared at the thought that there are still places where a person could find utter solitude for such an extended period of time. I suppose the fact that it didn't take any "special" skills, other than an adventurous soul, bravery and an ability with canoes, intrigued me. I ended up purchasing the video, an excellent companion to the book.

Having undertaken a number of Northern canoe trips, I was very pleasantly surprised to read Robert Perkins account of his 1987 trip down the Back River. I found that Mr. Perkins' descriptions accurately capture to daily routine of paddling down a wilderness river. Many times, in reading his descriptions, I was transported back to my own recollections of life on a canoe trip. I was also struck my Mr. Perkins' sharp eye for detail and often lyrical description of everyday events. Moreover, I found Mr. Perkins' reflections on the events of his own life, which invariable arise in the mind of anyone undertaking such a long canoe trip, provided rewarding insights into the character of the author. All told, this is a very enjoyable book that I would recommend without reservation.

The very title of the book tells you something about the intelligence-level of its writers and readers: the authors are too dim to see the self-incriminating pun in "steeling." But they aren't actually stealing the mind of America, for the simple reason that they and their audience have nothing which could be called a "mind" in the first place.

I was given a copy of this book by an American friend, who promised me it would help me understand why his country elects people like George W. and Jesse Helms. It worked. In fact, it worked far too well.

At first the book seemed merely laughable in its credulity, bigotry and xenophobia. But as I read on, laughter turned to horror. I see now--I see all too clearly--why the US could sabotage the Kyoto Treaty and go on pollluting this planet's atmosphere, and even believe it's doing God's work in the process. The mad American Christian right wants the Earth to be trashed, and the sooner the better--because the destruction of the Earth is the goal, the happy Disney ending, of its psychotic apocalyptic scenario.

If you can force yourself to read this book right through (no easy task for anyone who cares about prose style), you will be rewarded with an insight into the real motivation of the Christian American right: a hatred of all life, and a drooling eagerness for the world to be destroyed.

After seeking various sources for Biblical truth and the truth about what is happening both within and without the United States, this expose of five authors has put it all together so everyone can finally know the truth about our future. If you are a Christian, this book will put the Bible prophesies into perspective...if you are not, it should scare the hell out of you! Being a parent in today's American society is hard now and is even going to get more difficult as the minutes tick away and we head toward the Second Coming! The betrayal of the American people by the so-called "Democracy" is a mockery when we discover the extent of the "duping" which Americans have incurred over the past 200+ years. Waiting for the "rapture" (with the word not even appearing in the Bible one time!), has been the "Christian" thing to do. Guess what? The time for standing up for Yahwah and His Word is not later...it's NOW! "MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE." HOSEA 4:6. If the Founding Fathers could walk among us today, the state of this once great country would certainly bring tears to their eyes as they would see their works (The Constitution of the United States of America; The Declaration of Independence; The Bill of Rights, etc.) as ALL being for not. When you begin reading this book, you will not want to put it down until you have turned the last page! Then, you will continue thinking and wondering...then you will pick it up and want to read it again...this time more slowly and wanting to remember every detail so you can recall the information. If you have a Bible study group, whether they are high school age or adult, each one of them should own their own personal copy of this transcript!

Multi-word Review: The Authors dance around the issue of actually programming an ActiveX control and only present a "tutorial" on how to use ActiveX in an HTML document. In light of the functionality in FrontPage and InterDev to drag-n-drop controls into an HTML document, this book is useless!!

Very helpful and comprehensive tome that takes the web object neophyte all the way to ActiveX Wizard. Earns the full four @'s from this reader/programmer wannabe.

There is quite possibly more information here on Microsoft's ActiveX technology than any one person can absorb, but just a little is enough to add all manner of flash and dazzle to anyone's website ...in something less than 21 days :-)

This book was a terrible waste of my money

This is one of the best ways that I have found to save both time and money. I personal recieve this book as a gift. I thought to myself "great a phone book". If I'd have only knew then what I know now. I have since then thanked this person a number of time and have also bought this book as a gift for a number of people in my family.

-This would make a great christmas gift....everytime they use it they would think of you.

Ok, far as I could tell, this book is all about two things. Envy of the author, and trying to make light of all his values. Clancy obviously values the armed servants of his country high and I fail to see why this is cause for diverse derisive comments about him as a person.

Mind you, I haven't read all of this, I could't stand to. I think the Clancy books stand on their own, without anyone having to do their best clobbering him for his great writing.

Read a Clancy book and form your own opinion, don't buy this highly colored collection of defamatory sentences.

This, the first book-length critical study of Clancy's writing, examines both the work and the man who is reflected in it: his knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes. In Clancy's eight novels, discussed and analyzed in separate chapters, we see both the emerging hero and the changing author. One of the most topical contemporary writers, Clancy has written of the Cold War, terrorism, the Vietnam War, the drug culture, and trade wars. Helen Garson's close examination of each of Clancy's novels helps the reader with explication of this wide-ranging and often difficult subject matter. Each novel is examined in its own chapter, with sections on plot development, characters, style, and themes. Garson also offers an alternative critical approach to each novel, giving the reader an additional perspective from which to read and analyze it. A biographical chapter discusses Clancy's life and career and the critical response to his work. A chapter on genre places him in the popular tradition. A complete bibliography of Clancy's work, critical sources, and a listing of reviews of all of his novels complete the work. Clancy's popularity with adults and young adults makes this an essential purchase for school and public libraries.

I discovered this title by accident, but would recommend it to anyone who likes the "cozy" British-style of mystery story-telling. Doug Perkins, a frustrated PR man in 70s London, is trying to save his sinking PR firm by representing an American "hillbilly" singing/comedy act, Black Bart and the Troupe, abroad. He desperately needs their money to stay afloat, but along with the fees he must also bear the brunt of their constant criticism.

Maw, the ultimate stage mother who makes "Gypsy"'s Mama Rose seem retiring, insists on bringing her daughter to the forefront of the act, while Bart thinks he is the true star. Maw's "accidental" death stalls the troupe's UK debut, but when the show does go on Doug knows the star is also a killer.

The mystery part -- who killed Maw -- is quite easy to solve, but the amusing narrative told from Doug's POV makes this easy to forgive.

While I'm sure students of film and film theory will find this book a valuable resource, a novice to the genre should probably seek out another book. Mr. Perkins does not elucidate the topic of film theory, but instead takes a heavy handed approach to the subject and leaves those unfamiliar with the subject scratching her head.