If you haven’t started reading the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer you have a great read ahead of you.  “Breaking Dawn” is the fourth volume in the series.  It follows “Twilight”, “New Moon” and “Eclipse”. Hesitant to read the last book in a series first, I suggest you begin with  “Twilight”.  I read all four titles in four days.  It is a tribute to the series that the 700+ pages in each book were rapidly consumed.   These books follow the convoluted romance between Bella (human), Edward (vampire) and Jacob (werewolf).

Where often Vampire fiction is overly bloody, violent, evil and stomach turning, this series reworks the dark myths into something that is actually innocent, funny and often moralistic.  As a YA writer Meyer is a master craftsman.  Maintaining all the romance and mystery of forbidden love she manages to reach to a moral high ground as she delves into the supernatural realms. 

This series is a worthy heir to the success of Rowling’s Harry Potter books.  

As the final book in the quartet it is a book filled with suspense, adventure, hope and tenuous happy endings.  There is no mystery why so many young women responded to the siren call of the Barnes Noble midnight book release party.  It is a romantic fantasy for the innocent of heart.  With danger always in the background the good triumph.

Characters are diverse, engaging as well as mysterious and repellent in some cases.  The idealistic, vegetarian vampires (They only drink the blood of wild animals or blood bank donations.) have an aversion to killing humans and maintain a mutually beneficial truce with the shape shifters in a neighboring Indian tribe.    They have created a family of individuals held together by common ideals and love. 

Unusual and wonderfully refreshing, don’t miss reading these books.  

A Silicon Valley satire revolving around three women: a housewife reminiscent of the Desperate Housewives' television  show, her entrepreneur daughter learning the cost of financing a busines with credit cards and a fourteen year old child involved in a trainwreck of teenage angst.

The family patriarch, Paul, betrays all of them by systematically cheating them of the rewards of his business success.  Leaving the family for his wife's best friend, this jerk waltzes off into the middle age man's euphoria while destroying his family. 

Likeable, believable characters demand your sympathy but their behavior is somewhat stereotypical.  The book flows swiftly with what is supposed to be engaging humor.

I found the book to be profoundly sad with a positive ending that was rather wishful.  It seemed to tell a story most older women can echo in the voice of at least one of their friends.    The book ends on a hopeful note that in reality would most likely be immense tragedy. 

It is a fun, quick read with a bitter after taste.

An implausible, over-the-top, techno-historical, action thriller, this book is the second in his epic story series.  The first book was "Seven Deadly Wonders". 

It is a fast action, grand sweeping adventure that in spite of it's ridiculous premise provides a pure escapist joy ride  leaving you anxious to read the next installment. 

Some of the dangers have a bit of redundance in their construction.  They are cleverly blended with factual and fantastical locations that blur the line of reality. 

Characters are vivid, likeable but totally fraudulent.  It doesn't matter the weaknesses of the story as you climb aboard the roller-coaster of thrilling feats of heroism based in ancient places around the planet.

Reilly appears to have asperations of writing another "Lord of the Rings".  This book lacks the charm and the magic of Tolkien's work.  It is worth reading if you are the sort of a reader who would rather be playing Dungeons and Dragon  than hanging out in a library.

Final Salute is book about what happens after a Marine dies.  It is about the notification officers who knock on the door and notify the families .  It is about  the public ceremonies as well as about the families, the fallen marines and the challenges of mourning, coping and remembering.

The thoughts and convictions of the notification officers are laid bare along with their struggles to assist the  families with the funeral arrangements and bureaucratic red tape. 

This is not a book with a political agenda.  It provides a window into the  home front anguish of those traumatized souls who remain the invisible casulties of the war. 

Major Steve Beck, notification officer, is featured in the introduction to the stories of four marines.  Sheeler payed the deceased troops and their families the respect of not treating them as card board characters, but rather as well rounded dimensional human beings all people can relate to. 

Sheeler ends the book with  a follow-up on how the families have managed to go forward in the years following their tragic losses. 

Every one  on either side of the War on Terror debate should take the time to read this book.  It removes the debate from the impersonal statistics  and sanitization of the media to a realization that all the people involved in this cycle of sacrifice and loss are individuals,  imperfect  and  unique.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jim Sheeler has performed an act of national service with this book. 

Douglas Preston, author of "The Wheel of Darkness" and "Basphemy" moved his family to Italy to research a novel.

While there he became involved in the mystery surrounding the serial killer known as the Monster of Florence. Joining with Mario Spezi, a longtime student of the crimes and well known reporter, Preston pursued the history of the investigation. An investigation that was so convoluted and incompetent it ranks with the greatest failures of law inforcement.

All the crimes involved the double murders of couples found on lovers lanes surrounding Florence. Over the years many individuals and groups are accused and some convicted of the crimes. Victims of this investigation include village idiots, Sardinian bandits. physicians and pharmacists. Most of individuals were victims of the ineptness of the police system and feuding between branches of the Italian judicial system.

The first half of the book follows Mario Spezi's dogged investigation of the crimes and conflicts with the police. The second part of the book reveals Preston's entrapment in the spider web of this bureaucratic incompetence. Both
writers end up being accused of various crimes, harshly interrogated. Spezi's home is ransacked and he is imprisioned. Preston is forced to leave the country.

Lives have been ruined by this Clouseau like investigation that resulted in no one really knowing who committed the crimes. This book, The Monster of Florence , is equivalent to Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi.

Rollins delivers another high energy suspense thriller, The Judas Strain , about a virus that changes friendly bacteria into killer bacteria. As with most of his novels, Rollins provides very human characters with extrodinary abilities.

Sigma force once again saves the world while tracing the mystery virus along the route Marco Polo followed on his return from China. An implausible but rivoting story, the plot commands the readers attention to the final page. A great read for a summer afternoon.

There is nothing like spending the aftertoon with Sigma's commander Gray Pierce as he once again thwarts the designs of a murderous female assassin to ultimately partner with her in this astonishing quest to save Mankind.

Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef is the Kinsey Millhone of the senior citizen set.   A detective on the cusp of retirement, she is coping with all the afflictions of many women her age.   A full time career, recently divorced after nearly four decades of marriage, grown children and care giver for her elderly mother, she also is afflicted with a bad back.

A serial killer of terminally ill patients on a holy crusade is pitted against this super woman with a sense of humor.  A delightfully humerous tome in spite of the ominous crimes being committed, this book gallops along with all the excitement of a runaway horse.  Hazels bickering staff reflect all the foibles present in most work environments while they maintain the steadfast support that we all long to find among our co-workers.   

This annonymous writer under the pseudonim , "Inger Ash Wolfe" is obviously a master craftsman.  Readers should be careful not to confuse this author with Danish crime writer Inger Wolf.  Grab this book.  It is a keeper!

"The Last Secret of the Temple" is an historically accurate and deeply mysterious tale that blends the myths of the Templars with modern day conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians. A provocative visit to ideas touched on in "The DaVinci Code" , this book goes further into the realm of the believable and redirects the reader to a contemplation of modern and ancient conflicts. Holding out hope for the eventual resolution of the conflict, the narrative is a holds barred approach to the deeply conflicting emotions that swirl in the region. Definitely worth the time neededto drink in this marvelous story.

The Rake by William F. Buckley Jr.

Reuben Castle, candidate for president, is charismatic, handsome and seemingly the perfect candiate for the Democratic Party. The follies of his youth, a forgotten marriage and son push this golden candidate into actions that are devastating to him and his party. It is an interesting study of our political system and its obsession with the pursuit of power and the illusion of a flawless life. During this election year, this book is an intellectual view of the complexities in our lives and culture. It echoes the drama of our current political climate and the fragility of a campaign. The blend of satire and suspense is typical of Buckley's writing. It's main character bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the defining liberals of our time. It is final gift from this well known conservative .

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak This thoughtful book designed for Young Adult and Adult readers is narrated by Death, Death with a ironic view on life. A young girl and her struggle to learn to read is blended with the horror of Nazi Germany and her family's efforts to hide a jew in their basement. Characters are well developed. They develop naturally throughout the narrative. Darkly humorous, it casts death as vulnerable and as frightened of the living as they are of him. As she steals her books she opens up possibilities for understanding the world that swirls around her and those who come in her orbit. Her first book is appropriated from the bottom of a Nazi book burning event. Covered with flamable liquid, it burns her skin as she hides it beneath her shirt and brings it home. From this book, "The Grave Digger's Handbook", her foster father teaches her to read. Zusak created a mesmerizing and original story written with poetic syntax It forces the readers to ponder his words and spurs them to action in the business of correcting wrongs in our modern world.