The careful reader of the Whipping Boy will note that Morgan accepts few of the stereotypes of the southwestern frontier. For example, Hanging Judge Parker has become a symbol to liberals of the mindlessly violent injustice of frontier justice, especially as by the 1880s Federal officials began working to undermine Parker's authority;Morgan reveals that Federal officials chiefly opposed Parker because he strictly enfoced the law to protect the Indians in what is now Oklahoma from both marauding criminal whites and from the Federal government itself that coveted their land and eventually would strip the Nations of their final sovereignty. The novel's time period is 1894, after the great land rush and when a combination of Federal officials and northeastern businessmen with experience in coal and oil began furtively plotting to destroy the Nations and create a larger Oklahoma ruled for and by the interests of those businessmen and their government allies, using white farmers as pawns to weaken the Indian Nations and to convince the American populace this was for the good of the USA as a whole - the same argument that propped the removal of the 5 Tribes from the southeast to what would be eastern Oklahoma.

Morgan didn't need the graphic sex scenes, and his presentation of the Presbyterian pastor who runs the orphanage for Indian boys is the one stock character living up to stereotypes. But The Whipping Boy is a better novel, in some ways vastly so, than the recent bestselling Toni Morrison work also set in Oklahoma, Paradise.

"Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect?" edited by Saul Cornell and Robert E. Shalhope is a collection of essays and journal articles debating the interpretations of the Second Amendment by top notch historians on the subject. The book encourage debate and therefore has a well balanced assortment of articles covering the full spectrum of debate concerning the Second Amendment.

Books from the "Historians at Work Series" are designed to encourage debate and deeper thinking on a particular historiographic issue in American history. Books from the "Historians at Work Series" are designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level American history courses. This being said, its not an introductory text. The authors of the articles go directly into their subjects, with little significant background information. Therefore, you need to have an historical base-level to work from. Nonetheless, it is an excellent tool for students, scholars and general readers of American history.

Editions in the "Historians at Work" publish the entire article or essay, introduce the author and most importantly: it includes all endnotes--a rarity for books that are collections of articles/essays on a related topic.

Overall, an excellent representation on early American historical scholarship.

ADDED NOTE: The final chapter in this book, writen by Michael Bellesiles and his book were later found to be full of misrepresentation and misconduct in research. He has since lost his award and has resigned from his position @ Emory University.

I have a high tolerance for suffering in books, but Gap Creek will test anyone's limit for pain and hardship. Set in North and then South Carolina, it tells the story of 17 year old Julie Harmon's first year of marriage to 18 year old Hank Richards at the turn of the 20th century. Poverty, hardship, and austerity prevail over their lives. The hardship doesn't subside until they've been victims of fire, flood, malnutrition, and deceit. I kept hoping the tide would turn for them, but there would be no tangible positive changes to their lives; if anything, Julie and Hank grow to accept their fate. Their decision to become members of the local church, where they find kindness and support from the Preacher Gibbs and fellow members, figures strongly in their ability to cope with their hardscrabble life. Hank, who at first shows less mettle than Julie, gains maturity and responsibilty after the couple suffers a devastating loss. Julie finds redemption in the catharsis of hard physical labor. That child could clean her way to heaven! While it's a well written book, Gap Creek tested my tolerance for pain and suffering and left me emotionally devastated. Warning: Do not read this book while you are the least bit depressed; it'll have little to give in the way of hope.

In all my life I have never read such a gripping first chapter of a novel. Morgan thrusts the reader right into mountain life a century ago. From page one I could tell that Gap Creek was going to be full of surprises. I was glad that Julie was portrayed as a strong woman but not as some kind of unrealisitc feminist. Morgan made Julie human by making her hard-working and smart but also gullible and sensitive to pleasing her husband. It was refreshing to read about a woman who has real feminine feelings for once. I'm so tired of modern day literature creating liberated women who have no human qualities. I have to admit that three quarters of the way through the book I began to get a little annoyed because nothing good happened to the characters. But as I read further I noticed a spiritual transition take place within Julie and Hank. No matter what happened to them they always had their hope and the couple seemed to find peace. Hopefully, Morgan will write a sequel to Gap Creek. The ending leaves plenty of possibilites for a sequel. I would love to read more about Julie and Hank.

After the death of her brother and father, 17-year-old Julie Harmon leaves her mother and sisters in the mountains of North Carolina to start a new life in the valley of Gap Greek in South Carolina with her one-year-older husband Hank Richards. The young couple soon faces a series of challenges brought along by the hard life around the turn of the century.

Through his protagonist Julie, Robert Morgan has given the hard-working women of the late 19th century a voice. Julie's observations, thoughts, and feelings are presented in a simple and clear way without pathos. It seems as if the reader sat opposite Julie, listening to her telling her life story.

"Gap Creek" is a captivating book which the reader can't almost put down -- maybe because the central themes are timeless. The fate of Julie and Hank touches but never turns into being kitschy. All in all, "Gap Creek" can be absolutely called a small literary jewel.

* I was a bit surprised when I picked up Edmund S. Morgan's
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN and found that it was only about 300 pages
long. Professor Morgan is clearly a scholar, and scholars
generally don't write short, simple works. Short, simple
works don't win them any prestige, they're not distinctive
enough to be salable, and besides, scholars are generally so
deeply into a subject that doing something short isn't all
that satisfying to them.

Of course, I wasn't unhappy about finding a short biography
of the magnificent Franklin. Big scholarly biographies are
a fine thing in themselves, but they generally give me several
times more than I want to know or could retain, and a short
simple biography makes it easier to see the forest for the
trees.

However, on reading Professor Morgan's FRANKLIN it wasn't quite
what I was expecting. Instead of a simple, general biography,
what Professor Morgan provides is a book that focuses mostly on
Franklin's political development and work. As such, it seems
more like a selectively edited-down version of a much larger
work.

This was a bit disappointing because I was expecting something
more casual and entertaining, but that being said I have to go
on and say this is a good book. After all, it would almost
take effort to make Benjamin Franklin seem dull and uninteresting,
and if Professor Morgan doesn't focus on how colorful Franklin
was, he doesn't ignore it, either. One of my favorite comments
was Franklin reporting how, in a pre-Revolutionary visit to
France, the French got him to wear French clothes and adopt
French customs, and soon, he concluded, he would have to start
making love to the wives of his friends.

Still, it is telling about Professor Morgan's book that he
doesn't add the famous story about how Franklin took to
wearing a coonskin cap during his diplomatic effort in France
to reinforce their perceptions of him as a person from a
wild, frontier country -- when Franklin had lived in cities
all his life. So this book comes across as a bit neither fish
nor fowl, not exactly the kind of book that would light up
someone who was just starting out on Franklin, and not
all that satisfactory to someone who couldn't get enough of
him and would want a lot more.

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan is not only an excellent biography, but an insightful review of American history surrounding the Revolution-a history that I had mostly forgotten since my high school days. The book is particularly good in describing Franklin as the full-time statesman (post 1757). Certainly, no book could ever equal his autobiography in describing his "earlier" years.

The book succeeds in producing such a favorable impression of the character of Benjamin Franklin and the justness of the American Revolution that one wonders whether the book is highly skewed in those regards. In the end, I think not. Franklin was a most remarkable man, not only because he was both a scientist and a public servant, but he was highly virtuous as well.

I found the casual, almost colloquial, style of writing difficult to follow at times, particularly at the beginning of the book. Also, Prof. Morgan often repeats facts, sometimes separated only by a page or two. Although this habit was annoying at first, I came to appreciate its usefulness in reminding the reader of key pieces of information.

After reading this book, it's virtually impossible to say anything bad about Benjamin Franklin. John Adams apparently thought he was indolent, but that's probably because Adams didn't understand Franklin's style. And what a style he had! Take, for example, his famous quote about Adams: "...is always an honest Man, often a Wise One, but sometimes and in some things, absolutely out of his Senses". A candid, but balanced observation, considering the damage Adams had done to the diplomatic relationships Franklin worked so hard to build with France.

Edmund Morgan's affection for Franklin comes through loud and clear in this well-written, absorbing book. There's not much of Franklin's family life here, although is touches on his relationships with his wife and two children. The focus is on his role as a public servant, which he took very seriously, and his modus operandi, which is fascinating.

A highly social person, as a youth Franklin began founding organizations for the public good. He was responsible for organizing the first lending library and the first volunteer fire company. He later put this skill into diplomatic work with England and France and for the revolutionary cause. In addition to the enormous service he gave to his country, he took delight in being of service to his fellow man worldwide through his scientific research and inventions. The two most notable inventions were lightning rods (arising from his discovery of electricity) and the Franklin stove.

At least as impressive as his accomplishments is the mastery with which he dealt with people, particularly in delicate situations. He knew when and how to use his renowned wit. Although he had strong views, he recognized the power of popular opinion and was capable of suppressing his views to achieve results.

This is a well-written, well-organized portrait of Benjamin Franklin as public servant and social genius.

Now that there is a proven market for recent financial history/humor books, after the stunning success of Liars Poker, Predator's Ball and Den of Theives, this book FIASCO is another one of these books that tries to emulate the financial stories from the 1980's.

To my knowledge it is the first book to take on the derivatves trading industry, which is extremely volatile and can be the most risky sector of the financial markets, if you choose to speculate in it. More importantly, there will eventually be a derivatives disaster outside of the Long-term Capital one that occurred a couple of years ago.

This book, as I read it, is highly sensationalist. I have worked in the financial service industry with institutions and chose to leave the industry about a year ago. Here are my thoughts on this book as it relates to the derivatives markets.

1.Mr. Partnoy gives a high level description of some of the transactions that he was involved in

2.He seems to be indicting the market in derivatives, which I disagree on since he is dealing with institutions, which already should have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients. If they are dumb and allow an investment bank to "rips their face off" as Partnoy claims then they shouldn't be 1) in those financial products or (2) doing business with them. It is their choice!

3.From the reading it seemed as though Partnoy doesn't understand his role in the machine known as Wall Street. He is a salesmen, pure and simple. He gets paid to ring the register, nothing more. Other people construct the deals and he is the marketer to clients. If he makes clients money they should come back more and more. Often times, there are MANY other factors that cause business to vary from firm to firm. LOTS of different agendas/goals in mind.

4.Some of his anecdotes, particularly those in which he discusses the atmosphere in an investment bank around bonus time (pg.40 - 42, 202 - 205), are pretty amusing and dead on accurate.

5.The author's descriptions of some of his deals are clearly told from a junior banker's perspective, but they do a good job of putting forth what was being done, how it was being done, what everyone's perceived incentives for the transaction were, the work required to get the deal done, what kind of money, and importantly what kind of fees were involved.

In conclusion, like all books written by former investment bankers the book contains liberally sprinkled anecdotes regarding job interviews from hell, the ridiculous daily escapades that can occur on a trading floor, strip clubs, the lack of personal lives, gambling trips and other stories which could easily have been pulled from the pages of Mr. Lewis's book or "Monkey Business" by Rolfe and Troob. Folks, not all folks on Wall Street are like that but a HUGE percentage are. Nothing wrong with that lifestyle but it is a choice everyone is free to make. Hope this helps everyone.

F.I.A.S.C.O. offers a look at the ruthless game of derivatives trading on Wall Street, and the devastation of losses upwards of billions suffered by the fools off Wall Street. In this fast paced book, Frank Partnoy chronicles his journey as a derivatives salesman at Morgan Stanley. You will learn how institutions ranging from banks to governments got "blown up" or had their "faces ripped off" by Wall Street's army of fierce derivative salemen. You will cringe at how many organizations that touch your life may be involved in trading these complex, highly leveraged, instruments when they may not even know it or be legally allowed to invest in them.

Portnoy tells his story in a fluid style, leaving the reader wanting more, page after page. This book exposes the greed and ignorance of the market's fools, or customers, and the eagerness of the Wall Street investment firms to offer ever more enticingly packaged derivative instruments to help them achieve their ruin. Everyone who has money in the markets should read a few books like this to get a more realistic idea of what these venerable Wall Street institutions really think of their customers.

A very good introduction to derivatives (and even some general finance for novices) and one of the better looks at how degenerate Wall Street culture can be. Though comparisons are frequently made to Liar's Poker, I found FIASCO to be a more useful read, even though it's not quite as funny as Liar's Poker was at its best. The usual tales of arrested development among Wall Street's community are here, but there's a much more gripping and sobering tale of how rapacious greed knows no bounds, and how a large number of actors, including large multinationals and even governments, ultimately pay the price.

Partnoy doesn't tell his story as smoothly as he could, and his narrative sometimes feels larded with anecdotes that don't add much color or relief. He also struggles at times to weigh his role in the big picture. Overall though, he describes his experiences and general Wall Street culture with enough insight that you can feel his disgust, and applaud when he eventually steps away from it all.

A great business book, flaws and all, and a perfect antidote to all the puffery surrounding coverage of financial markets and Wall Street these days. Now when will we see a book of investment banker/derivatives trader jokes, to add to all the great lawyer joke books?

King wrote Insomnia in the early 90's, when he was still trying to transition away from adolescent-driven horror stories (like Christine, Carrie, and It) and move into more adult fare. This book comes across as a hybrid of the two. King addresses serious issues such as growing old and abortion rights, but the story itself is pulp horror comedy, complete with troll-like demons, magic rings, and evil spirits that can take human and animal shapes.

The characters are well-developed, and the story is fun, especially at first, but it is not good enough to carry its 800 pages. Unlike other King milestones-like The Stand or Dark Tower series-this book becomes tedious and repetitive. In the end, it's about an elderly couple trying to save 2000 people from getting killed by right-wing fanatics who are unwittingly being manipulated by supernatural forces. Even the protagonists don't seem to care too much whether they succeed. For Dark Tower fans, there is also a small event near the end that will affect the story of Roland the Gunslinger.

My recommendation is to skip this one. King has written many other, more entertaining novels.

Ralph Roberts, now there's a name I'll remember. We've been through a lot, Robert and I (oh, around 787 pages, I'd say), and I don't regret one moment. Sure, the first 200 pages aren't your typical Stephen King book, but I don't see this story NOT having those pages! Mr. King actually took a long time to set up his characters, and with good reason: you end up giving a damn about them, you feel their joy and echo their sorrow. But after around 200 pages, ahh, that's where the adventure really begins, when Ralph Roberts, who has been sleeping less and less, starts to see auras around everything. Just when you think that you have it pretty much figuered out, Mr. King throws you a nice curve ball and surprises you again. Not really a horror book, but an amazing read. Oh, and if you've read King's Dark Tower series, you are in for a special treat! Oh, and don't listen to the one star reviews, they must not of had the patience to get through the first 200 pages. 4 and a half stars!!

I have read Stephen King books before, but I have to say, "wow." This book was intense. I had the hardcover, bigprint version so the pages felt like they flowed faster, but even that can't account for the amazing style of King. True, there was more fantasy than horror, but believe me, it was good thing! This book offers a well-deserved rest from some the harder hitting SK novels. 800 pages was a little too much, and to me, the best, most beautifully twisted part of this book was within the last 200 pages. That said, I can still relate and see why King made a long book once again: This kind of story deserves something more than your average short story or novel. This story goes beyond horror, and talks of the idea of an "alternate reality", a hidden city existing within Derry, where the auras of people give away their inner thoughts, and their lifeline hangs delicately above them in the form of a balloon string. I must stop there, for there is much to be discovered in the world of Derry and the secret city existing within it. Like all SK, this book gets twisted, yet all comes back together in the end as any great, complex plot must always do. I highly recommend this book, but a few warnings: be ready for a lengthy novel, be reading for some mind-altering fantasy, and be ready to never sleep again...Welcome to Insomnia.

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I read this book two or three years ago in the self-published version. In that edition, she was definitely trying to present her story as FACT. There was no mention that the work was fiction--my understanding is that that was added to the book jacket of the later hardcover edition, presumably to protect the author (and the publisher) from the many, many claims that she was lying. I found it difficult to believe that her story was true, even without knowing much about the outback. It seemed unlikely that an aboriginal person who had never lived in white civilization could deliver a message that sounded exactly as if it came out of the mouth of a $400-per-seminar California New Age guru. I for one think it DOES matter if the story is fact or fiction, especially if she is going to present it as fact. If you can read the novel and not care about whether or not she is using the aborigines to preach her own message, this book does have a lot of interesting and thought-provoking ideas. But I found that difficult to do. When an author manipulates a real culture--especially one that it is currently fighting to maintain its existence and integrity--to present her own ideas, you have to wonder about her motivation. It's also an indication of a profound lack of respect for your reader, if you ask me.

Read it, but be careful about taking it as gospel (literally).

Mutant Message is the incredibly enticing and interesting tale of an American doctor named Marlo Morgan who travel to Australia, to end up doing a walkabout (walk across australia) with an Aboriginial tribe over a period of 3 months. In the period of the three months, more amazing events take place than I think most people living in an American Society have ever seen, (or will ever see) in their entire lives. In this book, Marlo helps readers explore and understand a society in which very few people in the world have ever seen or heard of, mainly because the society is in no way connected to the technological society than any of us belong to. Mutant Message is an eye opening book, that will change your perspective on life, the universe, nature, and every other natural type object or lifeform that currently exists or at what point did. In this book, Marlo basically explains and depicts a new religion (which by reading you learn isn't a religion at all) that involves believing in Divine Oneness, the belief in everything's beauty and love for everything real. After passing this book along to numerous family members and friends, results have shown that nearly 9 out of 10 people have the same reaction to this remarkable story that I did. This is definitely one of the greater books that I have read in my lifetime, and I feel that by not reading it you are missing out on a culture that you may never find or hear of again for the rest of your life without reading this book.

I heard about this book from a students' mother and thought it sounded very interesting. As soon as I got home I came to Amazon.com to find out more. I was intrigued as I read all of the comments, which varied from outrage to joy. I immediately bought the book to find out for myself what all of the controversy was about. Marlo Morgan's story is one of personal strength, courage and growth! This woman was taken into the deserts of Australia with no warning. She survived by learning about the people she was traveling with. Her eyes were opened to a entire culture foreign to her own. And they were opened to the truths of her own culture. During one evening she played a new game with the tribe. A game which confused her at first, but she slowly caught on. In the end she was told "We journey a straight path in Oneness. Mutants have many beliefs; they say your way is different from my way, your savior is not my savior, your forever is not my forever. But the truth is, all life is one life." (p.125) Whether or not this book is based in fact or fiction, there is no way for us to know, and it isn't important. That statement is!! That's the message to walk away with when you read this book! "All life is one life." I recommend this book for anyone who is open-minded enough to see the message and look past whether or not the book is fact or fiction. If you can do that, your eyes will open wider and wider as you turn each page!

Talk about a tough (and HUGE) subject to cover! Well, I bought this book for two reasons (1) to get a better understanding of C#, and (2) to serve as a starting point for passing the C# for Windows exam. The book served both purposes very well. I read this text cover to cover with the exception of 4 out of 23 chapters.

I saw another review of this book that said something like "1300 page cursory overview" Well, you're probably right. But, I challenge anyone out there to find a book that covers every aspect of .NET that's less that 5,000 pages. Here are a few examples:

1.) There's a chapter on security (there are entire books on the subject)

2.) There's a chapter on ASP (there are entire books on the subject)

3.) There's a chapter on web services (there are entire books on the subject)

4.) There's a chapter on XML (there are entire books on the subject)

5.) There's two chapters on ADO .NET (there are entire books on the subject)

You get my point. This material adds up, and anyone expecting in-depth coverage of everything in 1300 pages should get a reality check. Unfortunately, to really get a grasp on .NET you're going to have to shell out for more books. (So far I have C# in general, web services, and ADO covered. The next purchase will be an ASP .NET book) Can you see where I'm going here? Professional C# is kind of an umbrella for all of the other books. Now, where I find this book does a nice job by itself (not requiring another text) is as follows:

1.) Nice job explaining the C# language itself (including some of the more advanced datatypes), as well as how it implements OO principles.

2.) Nice job explaining what and how the framework is constructed, as well as how a .NET application is constructed.

3.) Focuses mostly on the client-server (windows as opposed to web) side of development.

4.) ADO coverage is enough to get you productive.

There are a LOT of other good features of the book. And most of the subject areas covered provide an adequate presentation of the material. A couple of exceptions are ASP and security. I realize that a book on C# must at least touch on these topics, but it probably could have just left those chapters out. Buy another book. (35 pages on ASP .NET? Don't bother!)

I can't say if it's too advanced for some users. I've never purchased a "beginning" series book by Wrox, I alway go for the "professional". The only thing I would have expected them to do a better job on beacuse you can't really get a separate book on the subject, is deployment.

Anyhoo, I think this is a great book for the purpose for which it was intended. If it was 5,000 pages long, I would have given it 5 stars. For the most part, Wrox usually does a good job. Remember, there are NO silver bullets with .NET books. Unfortunately you're going to have to get at least 4 titles to cover everything well.

Bottom Line: If this is your first .NET book, it's worth it. It was my fourth, and it's still worth it. If you need to take it to the next level, you'll need more than one book - no matter which one you get first.

I am enjoying this book so much that I thought I'd write a review about how I felt about this book. The second edition of Professional C# is really an excellent piece of work. The authors have done a real good job covering a wide range of topics. Not only did I get to learn the basics of the C# language, but the book took me well into the depths of the .NET framework class library. The book starts with a thorough explanation on what the .NET framework and the CLR is all about and where C# as a language fits in. The C# language is introduced in 3 detailed chapters - The basics of the language, Object oriented features in the language, and advanced topics on C#. These chapters had some really nice examples and gave me a strong foundation in understanding the constructs of the language. This is followed by an introduction to the core classes in the framework and how to put them to use. From then on, there are 18 more great chapters covering the framework class library in detail right from writing Windows Forms Applications, Data access with ADO.NET, Controls and Data binding, how to work with the XML classes in the framework, ASP.NET, COM(+) interoperability techniques, GDI+, Web Services, Remoting, Security, Windows services, ADSI etc., You name it and there's probably a topic on the subject covered in sufficient detail to get you up and running. It's hard to pack such exhaustive content all into one book, but they've done a great job at that. Overall, I am very happy with the book and it's well worth the money I spent for this 1220 page tome.

Wrox comes through with another great book! I was looking for something that would help me learn Windows GUI for an independent studies course and so I leaned on my past experiences with Wrox Books (Beginning/Professional Active Server Pages 3.0, Beginning PHP4, Beginning ASP Databases, Beginning XML, Beginning JavaScript), which had always been a good experience to say the least. If you want to learn a language for programming in the .NET environment then this is the book for you.

However, I do suggest some background experience with programming or understanding the concepts behind programming languages. Even though this book does provide excellent explanations of the topics, I think I understood concepts more easily because I've had two years of programming in C++ under my belt. Not that you need to be an experienced programmer! However, it would be good to know a little something beforehand. Otherwise, I suggest checking out the Beginning C# book which might be a little better suited for non-programmers looking to break into the realm of programming. C# really is a lot easier to understand as a starting language than C++ because Microsoft put in a lot of effort into making the language easy to use without having to know all the perplexing C routines for programming in the Win32 API.

If you want a 10,000 foot view of the exam this book is OK. If you aren't already familiar with routing protocols like BGP, OSPF, and EIGRP you'll need a more detailed reference... like a Cisco Press Exam Guide or CCO on line.

The CD with this book has several errors and trying to registar it on line and get "free" updates just does not work. One would do much better to purchase BOSON practice tests from Geocerts.com. They are the way to go along with the Cisco Press book.

As it says in the book, it may not be the only book you want to read, but most likely the last book you want to read before the exam. If you have no knowledge on the topic, most likely it's not going to help you pass. However if you understand the concepts discussed beforehand, this book will help you figure out which parts of those concepts you need to know for the exam. It also comes with a quick cram sheet you can review right before the exam. I recommend reading Routing TCP/IP by Jeff Doyle first, then read this book before you take the exam. This combination helped me achieve an exam score of over 90%. You may also want to find some reading on the basics of BGP (Jeff Doyle doesn't cover it).

TELL ME YOUR DREAMS starts out with the introduction of three women, Ashley, Toni, and Alette. All three are very different, and only two of them know each other. A few chapters and several murders later, we find out that all three women are the same person. It's a story centered on multiple personality disorder, and I found it fascinating. The controversy behind this disorder is one of the main themes of the book - does it really exist? Are there truly people out there that ARE made up of several distinct personalities in one person?

TELL ME YOUR DREAMS is one of many Sidney Sheldon books I've read over the years. This novel, however, is written in a slightly different format. Although this novel was great, I felt that it could've been treated as two different novels, because there are actually two different "endings" to this story: the conclusion of the trial is one ending, and the afterward that goes into Ashley's psychiatric case is another conclusion. It read like TWO books, with the 2nd part of the book being an "addendum" to the first; a follow up story to what happened to the woman with the split personalities. Although both parts of the book were interesting enough for me, I dont' feel this is one of Sheldon's better novels, in terms of structure.

But as always, he knows how to tell a good story! I could not put this book down and it created an interest to look further into cases of multiple personality disorders. I recommend this book, especially to fans of Sidney Sheldon.

Sidney Sheldon's Tell Me Your Dreams is entrancing as all of his books are. But this book also had a special touch. Ashley Patterson has a constant feeling that someone is stalking her. And in the meanwhile, 5 brutal crimes occur and her name is tied in with these murders and two other women Toni Prescott and Alette Peters. Ashley becomes notorious and known to all as the Butcher B**ch, and it is the duty of a brilliant young lawyer with his entire future at stake to try and clear her name from the charges. But it will be difficult since Ashley's DNA and fingerprints were found at all murder scenes. For many, it was an open-and-shut case. But early in the story, a dangerous secret about Ashley is revealed and its ramifications are slowly unraveled throughout the story. Some people called the book predictable, but I would say that in most books, the end can always be predicted but it is in how this climax is reached where the great thrill lies. And Sidney Sheldon performed that part brilliantly, dazzling the reader endlessly and at the same time discussing a fascinating and controversial subject that remains the source of heated debate among psychologists and psychiatrists. This is one powerful read.

For years, Sidney Sheldon has entertained us with his masterful story-telling. From "The Other Side of Midnight," to "A Stranger in the Mirror," "Bloodline," "Rage of Angels," "Master of the Game," "If Tomorrow Comes," and "Memories of Midnight." However, then Mr. Sheldon's novel began to faulter. His stories were weak, often sketchy and his characters lacked any substantial depth - all of which culminated in last years novel, "The Best Laid Plans" which appeared to show Mr. Sheldon as a writer that only cared about selling books because of his name as that novel showed no character development and interjected surprise elements purely for shock value which had nothing to do with the story. It is with great enthusiasm that I can say Mr. Sheldon is back with, "Tell Me Your Dreams." This novel tells the story of 3 women - Ashley, Toni and Alette - all of whom are suspected of committing a series of brutal murders. As their stories are told, the truths begin to unfold resulting in a suspensful, engrossing read. The pages rapidly turn while the heat beats quickly. This is vintage Mr. Sheldon as he shows us he can create well-developed characters and surprising plot developments. Once again I am looking forward to the next Sidney Sheldon novel and I am glad to be able to say he is "the master of the game."