Jasper is clearly a talented writer. His protagonist is wonderfully developed, and most of the other major characters are also well-done.

The author's writing is crisp and precise: once or twice it seemed like poetry. The style, however, seemed far too elementary for the story being told. This book is written on a fifth-grade reading level. While that makes for a fast read, it also occasionally detracts from the story's emotional intensity.

Overall, this novel is not perfect, but it is a good, fast read. And it will make you think.

I bought this book because I want to support young authors starting out. Maybe things will get better with time.

Namely, look to your neighbor in love, not anger; recognize the nobility in working hard for something rather than expecting charity; be willing to give yourself to a greater cause; believe that people are capable of great things and they will live up to your expectations; recognize the importance of education, not just of the mind, but of the body and soul as well; recognize that any man who provides value to the community in which he lives will be accepted and even welcomed into that community; and above all, trust in God to care for your needs.

I highly recommend this book as a testament to the positive result of thinking from a perspective of Love and Abundance rather than Anger and Scarcity. When Mr. Washington's humility is measured against his accomplishments, he becomes in my eyes one of the greatest Americans to have lived.

Unlike Frederick Douglass, the severe critic of the slaveholding South, Washington's outlook is decidedly postive. He refuses to get into any kind of individual or group bashing, but prefers to dwell on the successes of blacks, improving race relations, and the success of his school- and students. He becomes enamored of his own success on the stump, but such is the case with most ambitious, forward looking individuals. I would have liked a bit more criticism, and fewer excerpts from the newspapers of his time (regarding his speech-making ability.) His repeated refrains about service and merit (being the only true measure of a man), are sound. All in all, this is an upbeat, inspiring story from a man who truly defied the odds, and his winning attitude is sorely needed today.

J. A. Jance always manages to weave personal touches and storylines into the lives of her characters while never slowing down the plot of her mysteries. In "Breach of Duty" we are treated with not one but two seperate mysteries, and an ending which will leave J. P. Beaumont looking at a whole new direction in his life.

Beau and his partner, Sue Danielson, are stuck with two mysteries: first, the discovery of old bones in Seward Park which end up belonging to a powerful Indian shaman some 10 years dead. Second, murder by arson of an older lady who happens to have $300,000 in cold, hard cash in her fridge. Beaumont and Danielson have to figure out where the money came from and where it should go to, as well as who might have murdered the old lady. Was it one of her poverty stricken relatives, or something to do with the rich and powerful Forrester family the lady once worked for?

As for the shaman's bones, they have been disturbed from their ancient burial grounds, and all those responsible and those who have been in contact with the bones are at the mercy of the shaman's curse. As the body count starts rising, can Beaumont solve the mystery and save those who have been affected?

The end of this story will bring about some dramatic changes in the life of J. P. Beaumont. I cannot wait for the next book in the series, to see where Beau's life leads him next, and to see if he can learn to let go of the responsibilities he's unfairly heaped on his own shoulders. I'm hoping that a new love interest for Beaumont - a real one with staying power and plenty of gumption and patience will turn up to reward Beau for all of the good he's done to everyone but himself. Come on Jance, let's give Beaumont the woman he deserves.

McGrory, a reporter and columnist for a Boston newspaper, does what many first novelists do--bases his protagonist on himself in order to write about familiar places and situations. Unlike most first novels, however, McGrory does so without overdoing it. Jack Flynn, the reporter at the heart of the story, is a main character that many readers can identify with--he loves his job and has had his share of personal tragedies to accompnay professional successes. While researching a story on presidential pardons, Flynn is suddenly thrust into the middle of an assassination plot while golfing with the president, Clay Hutchins, just as Hutchins offers him a job as press secretary after the election two weeks hence. Flynn finds himself, ironically, the center of media attention and in the middle of what could be the biggest story of his career. As the plot unfolds, McGrory takes the reader on an interesting journey through the "life" of a story and builds to an exciting--if marginally unbelievable--conclusion. Along the way, Flynn's life is threatened on a number of occasions and it remains unclear until well into the book who the shadowy figure stalking Flynn really is. McGrory does a nice job in interweaving the back story into the main plot, never giving too much away until the reader has already pieced most of the puzzle together for himself.

If the book has any flaws, they are mostly the by-products of the book's length--I would have enjoyed a little more detail about Flynn's meetings and history with Sammy Markowitz and in other places in the narrative. McGrory's climax and denouement are questionable, but this is excusable to a certain extent given the book's main problem. Without giving the plot away, it is unlikely in the extreme that Curtis Black could have achieved what he did in this era of media scrutiny. Nevertheless, this plot contrivance is only a minor irritant in an otherwise well-written and surprisingly thoughtful novel.

Overall, this is certainly a solid book, and one only hopes that McGrory takes the time to demonstrate his talents for political fiction again...and soon.

The second half of the book is the formation of public policy and the making of the laws regarding safety at sea. Its a bit dryer but since I voted for some of these politicans I'm glad that they did their job. That aspect of the story wasn't reported very well in the local news. It is interesting but not the page turner that the first half of the book is.

Still whenever I buy King Crab legs in the grocery store I say a prayer for the saftey of the fisherman.

Anyway if you liked the "Perfect Storm", or any of the other disaster at sea books, "Fastnet Force 10" etc., you'll like this one.

James allows us to perceive the motivations of each of these primary characters and we come to recognise that Catherine is in fact in danger of being deceived. The father who is not a very sympathetic character is insightful enough to do what is necessary in his view to prevent this.

The characters are all well concieved and remain true to type throughout the story.

A bonus is the setting of old New York and the scenes of a growing city are vividly drawn. Imagine a time when moving "uptown" meant moving to what is now the Village.

Overall I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend it

This novella by Henry James finds the prolific author uncharacteristically tight-lipped. It's a good primer to his later, much more challenging Wings of the Dove, which is also about the way money, or the lure of money, ironically cheapens and devalues human relationships. But Wings of the Dove is an experimental novel, where the story is decidedly secondary to James's psychological probings. Washington Square -- more unassuming, more unpretentious, more straightforward -- is also much more disturbing. The central character, Catherine Sloper, is martyred by James right off the bat as "plain," without compensatory wit or intelligence. She has a good heart, but it's implied that this is just a side effect of her rather bovine complacence. Her martinet father can't help but blame her for his beloved wife's death, and her only companion is an insipid, scheming aunt, the kind of woman whose modern day equivalent scours Cosmopolitan for advice on how to land a husband. With no outlet for her untapped stores of affection, and more than one void to fill, the ingenuous Catherine is easy prey -- carrion -- for a handsome and unscrupulous fortune hunter named Morris Townsend.

Accustomed as we are to Jane Austen's tart-tongued heroines, not to mention modern day losers who have a knack for bucking the odds -- Forrest Gump, The Waterboy, almost any other piece of bogus Hollywood populism you care to name -- James's acceptance of Catherine's fundamental unredeemability leaves the reader in the lurch. It gets under your skin. The chilly effectiveness of Washington Square derives partly from the fact that seemingly everyone, author included, is conspiring against poor Catherine. Her aloneness is almost unbearable. We can't help but reflect how happiness is genetic, and that if she had been born with a more expansive personality ( or bust size ) the world of men would be at her disposal. Instead, the reader waits in vain for a reversal of fortune; either Catherine will blossom, her father will learn to love her unconditionally, or she'll come to her senses and shoot down her transparently insincere suitor. Nothing like that happens. In fact, there's the uncomfortable suggestion that Catherine knows she's being strung along, and lets it happen anyway. It's either that or stay home and knit.

By the end of the novel, it's clear that James is attempting something like an American version of Flaubert's Sentimental Education. Both stories track a confused character through a long period of time, zeroing in on their obsession with an unattainable love object. In each novel, the reader's hopes are raised for change, epiphany, victory, only to be rewarded with disappointment, anticlimax, and the ruthless thwarting of expectations. However, where the resigned Flaubert is simply sighing "C'est la vie," James is pointing a few stubby fingers: at capitalism, at stubborn pride, at the simple unfairness of fate. James may seem mostly apathetic to Catherine but he, more than anyone, could relate to the agony of spinsterhood. This book seethes under its mask of propriety.

A bit less of the sex scenes than usual, don't know if that's good or bad! I guess depending on who the reader is. The romance was all there, though, and the tension between the lovers. The murders could have been a little spookier, and, as Roberts is famous for the macabre, they could have been a little more gruesome for the morbidly curious!

As usual, Roberts includes a mixture of love and a scary thriller. Wonderful, fast read!

The story revolves around the death of President MacMann, a former war hero now turned womanizer. MacMann is found dead in bed next to his wife with an imprint of "REVERE" on his forehead from a nearby Paul Revere spitoon. The previous night he had a romantic tryst with Babette Van Atta, a Hollywood starlet staying in the nearby Lincoln bedroom. Foul play is suspected and Elizabeth Tyler MacMann is arrested and earns the tabloid name "Lady Bethmac". MacMann hires Boyce "Shameless" Baylor, a defense attorney notorius for courtroom antics which succeed in getting scoundrel clients off. Baylor and McMann were once engaged in law school and the engagement was broken when Beth married war hero McMann. During their many planning meetings, Beth and Baylor renew their romance which also complicates the proceedings.

This hilarious plot lampoons Bill and Hillary Clinton, trial lawyers a la OJ Simpson trial, media, tabloids, the Washington, D.C. establishment and many others. You will be laughing at the court antics and the mystery is solved in a very funny way.

If you enjoy satire and political humor this is the book for you!!

First Lady, Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, is charged with killing her philandering husband after he is found dead one night in bed. It so happens that earlier that evening he had spent time in bed with his mistress, Babette. After a bedroom spat, the first lady allegedly hurled a spittoon at him, with tragic results, or were they? Elizabeth (Beth) is put on trial for assassinating the president. Beth hires "Shameless" Baylor as her lawyer, who also had a steamy relationship with the first lady in the past. As the story twists and turns it gets funnier and more entertaining than one could ever imagine. What's to become of the First Lady? Is she really the killer or has she been set-up?

This is first-rate humor from an author who knows how to entertain his readers and keep them begging for more. What will he write next? I'm sure we will be surprised and again delighted. Enjoy this creative novel.

Joe Hanssen

Beth MacMann (or "Lady BethMac" as the press has dubbed her) has called on Boyce Baylor, a defense lawyer as famous for his outrageous antics in the courtroom as he is for winning cases. He, however, just may lose this one to get even with Beth, who dumped him way-back-when in law school to marry the Man Who Would Be President. Rounding out the cast of characters is Babette Van Anka, famous actress/singer and Presidential consort, who was one of the last people to see him alive.

Buckley has written a fast-paced novel which sends up both the media and the courtroom in this circus of a trial. Though thinly-veiled references to real personalities seem a little mean spirited (e.g., "Greta Van Botox," a cable news personality), for the most part Buckley sticks to satirizing the institutions and societal values which make such a mockery of justice. Suspenseful, funny and truly an entertaining book.