E-book readers: More choices
More and more readers seem to buy e-book readers, and the competition in the marketplace is getting more and more intense. Kindle, by Amazon, is a huge hit. And now Barnes & Noble has released its own e-book reader, the Nook. The third major contender among consumers is Sony’s e-book readers, the PRS-600BC and PRS-700BC. And more e-book readers are on their way. This is good news for readers: more alternatives to choose among and competition that reduces prices.
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New York Times has published a comprehensive review of e-book readers, but these for the moment seem to be the major competitors.
Nook is the device on the top, and below are pictures of Kindle and the Sony reader.
It’s hard to say which is the best. They all seem to be very good. Their prices are fairly similar too. I suspect that to a large extent it is a question about what your shopping and reading habits are and which company you have the strongest relationship to.
It will be interesting to follow what is happening in this area in the near future. Readers are faced with several good choices, and with more to come.
, and 
.The Man with the Iron Heart, by Harry Turtledove
Filed under: book review, Fantasy, Harry Turtledove
Harry Turtledove is known for his alternative 
In The Man with the Iron Heart, Turtledove examines the possible responses of the Russian Army, the U.S. Army, Congress and ordinary Americans if they had been confronted with asymmetrical warfare after the official surrender of Nazi Germany. He explores what would have happened if German resistance had continued after Hitler committed suicide and the Germans surrendered in World War II.
So, while number two SS leader Reinhard Heydrich was killed in 1942, Turtledove examines what might have happened had Heydrich survived and lived to lead a grassroots resistance movement. Borrowing ideas from their late Japanese allies, the fanatics of the German Freedom Front launch a campaign of suicide bombings, kidnappings and assassinations. The Russians responded with calculated brutality, while the mother of a slain American soldier pressures President Truman to bring the boys home. The parallels to the current situation in Iraq are obvious but cleverly drawn, leaving readers on both sides of the war debate with much to think about.
The Man with the Iron Heart is an interesting book, and overall an interesting way to generate plots. However, I didn’t get really excited about the book. The plot was a little to mechanical and the characters didn’t really connect. But if you’re interested in alternative history, you may feel differently.
“Turtledove is the standard-bearer of alternate history.”
–USA Today
“Turtledove pulls out all the stops in a panoramic display of historical speculation. [He] sets the standard for alternate history and once more proves his worth.”
–Library Journal
and Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, by Jeffrey Archer
Filed under: bestseller, book review, Fiction, Financial Thriller, Jeffrey Archer
This is the book that to a large extent made Jeffrey Archer famous and as a world class bestseller writer. Harvey Metcalfe, a self-made American millionaire, finalizes an elaborate scam in which he cheats four strangers out of a million 
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less is fun, it is full of plots, has humor, irony, good characterizations and interesting characters, and is a great read as well. However, the writing style is a little mechanical and simple, and not quite as good as in Jeffrey Archer’s later books. However, even today it provides great entertainment and is a book you should not miss out on.
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less was televised in 1990 by the BBC.
(Order Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
See more reviews of Jeffrey Archer’s books!
First Family, by David Baldacci
Filed under: book review, David Baldacci, Thriller
In First Family we meet again the former Secret Service agents, now private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. They are hired by Jane Cox, the First Lady, 
This is the fourth book featuring this duo. They also appear in Split Second
First Family is a thick book with lots of twists and turns, a plot slightly on the implausible side, full of politics, scandals and plenty of intense action. It is all here: corruption, greed, lust, betrayal, cover-ups, and so on.
Baldacci’s excellent writing compensates for weaknesses in the plot and largely unattractive heroes. And, guess what, the terrorist is not an Arab! Rather it’s a Vietnam War veteran with a grievance. And as the investigation proceeds, some dark truths about the first family start to emerge. Sean and Michelle start making discoveries about things that are concealed, dubious deals, unscrupulous actions, and infidelity.
It’s a fun, entertaining read, a book that sucks you in after a beginning that is a tad slow. First Family is not the best Baldacci I have read, but well worth reading, and quite good entertainment.
.Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child
Filed under: book review, Jack Reacher, Lee Child, Thriller
Gone Tomorrow is the 13th novel in the Jack Reacher series (see also the review of Nothing to Lose). It is a strange and strangely appealing series. And it is one of the most successful thriller series in the world, currently selling six million books or so a year.
Jack Reacher himself is clearly part of the 
Jack Reacher is a born street fighter with enormous fighting skills. He owns nothing, buys a new set of clothes when the current set gets dirty, cleans up, puts on the new clothes and throws away the old set. He is a somewhat mysterious, elusive, and strange character – and sufficiently different from the rest of us to be attractive in his differentness.
In Gone Tomorrow we meet up with Jack Reacher on the New York subway late at night. He happens to see a passenger, Susan Mark, that acts strangely and in a way that makes Reacher conclude that she is a suicide bomber on a mission. He approaches her, and instead of setting off a bomb, she commits suicide. This could have been the end of the story, but it turns out to be the beginning.
All of a sudden Reacher – just a witness, an innocent bystander – is chased by the FBI, the Department of Defense, NYPD and a strange group of terrorists. Susan Mark had something a lot of people are willing to go to great lengths to get hold of, and they all suspect or fear that Reacher may know where it is. So now Reacher must flee or fight for his life. And as Reacher never backs out a challenge, there will be trouble. Big trouble.
Gone Tomorrow is definitely one of the best of the series. Perhaps it is even the best so far. It is a fast paced thriller with an intricate plot, lots of great action, a slowly unfolding mystery and an explosive and very violent conclusion. It has good guys, shady guys and really bad guys. And lots of flat-out-violence. But at the same time it is a smart thriller with lots of good, sound, deductive reasoning. A great mix. I loved it.mYou do not want to miss out on Gone Tomorrow!
New books by Julian Stockwin and Bernard Cornwell – historical fiction
Filed under: Bernard Cornwell, book news, historical fiction, Julian Stockwin
Two new, very interesting releases of historical fiction books:
Invasion: A Kydd Sea Adventure, by Julian Stockwin
A very interesting new release, to say the least! Link to order the book: Stockwin’s Invasion (Kydd Series) from Amazon US
The Burning Land (Saxon Chronicles, book 5), by Bernard Cornwell
Cornwell is releasing the fifth volume in the bestselling Alfred series. We are now at the end of the ninth century. Even though they have failed previously, the Danes still want to conquer Wessex. And now KingAlfred of Wessex is in bad health, and his heir has no experience. The Danes see a new chance. They are lead by a great warrior, Harald Bloodhair, a new leader of the Vikings. On the side of Alfred, Uthred, his very reluctant warlord, is perhaps the greatest asset. He is cunning and smart, and leads Harald into a trap defeats the Vikings at Farnham in Surrey. This is a major defeat for the otherwise victorious and proud Vikings, perhaps the greatest ever. The Burning Land is a well crafted novel which tells the story of how England survived the Viking onslaught, and a magnificient new tale from Bernard Cornwell.
Available for order at Amazon UK: The Burning Land
Numbered Account, by Christopher Reich
Filed under: book review, Christopher Reich, Financial Thriller, recommendation, Thriller
Numbered Account is very good; especially considering it is a debut book. But, as we now know, Christopher Reich is an author with lots of 
The plot is interesting, rich and with more than sufficient drive to create excitement. It requires a little bit of a leap of faith to jump into it, but once you do, it is a smooth and fast ride. The beginning is a bit slow, but Reich is great when he describes the Swiss bank system, and is very intriguing to enter the world of the private banking in Switzerland.
The main character, Nick Neumann, has it all. He has a Harvard degree, a beautiful fiancée, and a star-making Wall Street career. But behind all of that is a man haunted by the brutal killing of his father seventeen years before.
Nick wants the truth and is willing to sacrifice his career, love, and future for a crack at untangling the mystery surrounding his father’s death. To do this, he takes a job at the prestigious United Swiss Bank, the venerable financial cornerstone of Geneva and his father’s former employer. Before he can begin his investigation, however, disturbing events come into play: One portfolio manager is dead, another had a “nervous breakdown,” and his training manager is jumping ship to cast accounts with their staunch enemy.
Nick is soon caught in a ruthless conspiracy that stretches around the world and far into his personal life. There is murder, revenge, and first-rate espionage as well as plenty of action, but even so Numbered Account is a thinking person’s thriller, a refreshing break from the old standbys.
The Silver Swan, by Benjamin Black
Filed under: Benjamin Black, book review, crime book, recommendation
This book is actually written by Booker Prize-winning author John Banville, writing as 
The Silver Swan features Quirke, a somewhat grumpy pathologist at the Hospital of the Holy Family in Dublin. It is a mystery book set in 1950s Dublin.
Quirke is an “incurably curious” guy. He often finds it necessary to go far beyond a pathologist’s normal duties, and in this second novel in the Quirke series (after Christine Falls), he is visited by Billy Hunt, a casual friend from college. Hunt asks him not to autopsy the body of his wife Deirdre, who was found drowned and naked. This, of course, is a somewhat curious request. However, Deirdre may have drowned herself, and the family wants to avoid conflict with the Catholic Church over her burial.
Quirke, being curious, conducts a secret autopsy, and Deirdre gets her church burial. However, when Quirke examines the body, he finds things that make him suspect she’s been murdered. Quirke, being Quirke, cannot help but to begin his private investigation into her death.
Black expertly balances Quirke’s investigation with chapters detailing Deidre’s past, from her marriage to Billy to her shady business deal with Leslie White, an enigmatic Englishman who knew Deidre as Laura Swan, the proprietress of their joint venture, a beauty salon called the Silver Swan. And as Quirke digs deeper and deeper, he discovers a web of lies and blackmail that threatens to envelop even his own estranged daughter, Phoebe.
Quirke is a brooding Irish soul with a very independent code of ethics. This makes him the kind of troubled hero the genre loves. In The Silver Swan, Black runs Quirke’s private investigation on a parallel track with the victim’s own story, told in intimate flashbacks. The result is a lyrical crime fiction book – beautifully and intelligently written, but not quite a mystery book. But Banville’s talents are on full display in the book, so it is not any less of a book for not falling neatly into the mystery category – perhaps rather the opposite! And the laconic, stubborn Quirke makes an appealing hero as the pieces of this unsettling crime come together in a shocking conclusion.
Black is a literary stylist who revels in long descriptive passages laced with elegant similes and metaphors. The characters are meticulously delineated. And the writing is elegant to the extreme. The book is a great pleasure to read.
Terminal Freeze, by Lincoln Child
Filed under: book review, Lincoln Child, Science Fiction, Thriller
Terminal Freeze is an enjoyable book 
As a group of scientists do research at a remote military base in Alaska, they discover a prehistoric beast frozen in ice. And, when news of the find reaches the cable television network which sponsors the expedition, Emilio Conti, a legendary documentary filmmaker, goes to the scene. He plans to film the thawing of the animal on live TV. But the beast has other plans, and suddenly the scientists along with the film crew find their lives are threatened.
Child’s writing is easy to follow, clear, fluid and good. Child is also very good at slowly building up anticipation and suspense. To really get excited, however, you must be willing to suspend your disbelief a little, as the creature involved is extraordinarily fierce and complex. If you do that, then this is an extraordinary and very interesting tale full of excitement and human ingenuity!
Personally, I think I liked Child’s previous book Deep Storm
The Fortress of Glass, by David Drake
The Fortress of Glass is the first book the Crown of the Isles trilogy. This trilogy will bring the conclusion of 
In The Fortress of Glass, Prince Garric voyages far among the Isles in an effort to bring all the Isles under his rule. After landing on a new shore, Garric finds the local king, Cervoran, dead and his heir, the youthful Prince Protas, in dire need of help against an outbreak of wizardry.
However, before Garric can act, more wizardry propels him to another world, where he enlists the aid of a strange creature called the Bird against the monstrous flesh-eating Coerli that terrorize this other world. And then, King Cervoran returns to life. And Garric’s sister, Sharina, and his consort, Liane, must try to settle the question of who rules in Garric’s absence.
David Drake makes the most of his setting based on the classical Mediterranean-like world. Now the powers of magic in the Isles have flooded to a thousand-year peak, and even local magicians can perform powerful spells normally beyond their control. Drake possesses every skill necessary to make this story thoroughly absorbing, even to new readers. Those who have sailed with him through the preceding two Isles trilogies ought to eagerly demand it.
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