Saturday, February 2, 2013

It's a Mystery to Me

Deadstick: An Owen Keane MysteryDeadstick: An Owen Keane Mystery by Terence Faherty

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I met Terence Faherty at a writing conference last summer where he led a workshop.  I'm not a mystery reader but after learning that the protagonist is a "failed seminarian" I had to give the first book in this series a turn.   I purchased the eBook and read it in my Kindle.  I won't attempt to judge it against other books in its genre.  What I will do is say that I came to care about Owen Keane.  The story started too slowly for me, but I stuck with it and found the pace picking up about half way through.  Maybe I'm more used to the faster pace of current thrillers (i.e. Steve Barry, Greg Iles, James Rollins, etc.).  Another thing I enjoyed was his description of rural and urban locations in the northeast US.



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Short Introduction to the 21st Century's World War

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy TerrorThe Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I found this at my library's book sale.  After reading it I was surprised it was withdrawn.  It offers the casual reader a good short treatment of the current state of struggle between the worldviews represented by the West/United States and the Middle East/Islamist states.  A little dated by now, but it introduces enough information to help the reader decide what he/she wants to investigate further.



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