Author: ekkarn

The Midnight House – Alex Berenson (John Wells #4)

  By

 

So, four weeks plus later and two books read in between, I finally finished Alex Berenson‘s The Midnight House. The Midnight House is the fourth book in the John Wells series and I loved the first three. The story lines were good and John Wells was a well developed character who I liked. So I had high expectations when I picked up this book, unfortunately, the book fell short of those expectations. It’s not that the book was bad, it’s just that there really was no hook that brought me into the story and made me want to keep reading.

The novel revolves around interrogation unit 673 that operated in Poland at what they called The Midnight House. After their operation ended, the majority of the soldiers have been killed and John Wells is called in to find out the whys and wherefores. The story goes back and forth in time to tell the story of what happened at the Midnight House and at times that seemed awkward and confusing. The last one hundred or so pages were better than the first two hundred some and overall the ending was satisfying. But the story lacked any personal development in Wells’ character, though some things were touched on. Overall this book rates a 2 out of 5 stars for me. Maybe it would be more enjoyable for first time readers of the series. Those with no expectations. But will I be waiting for the next John Wells book, yes I will,  because Berenson may just knock one out of the park next time!

Favorite Series -Joe Pickett

  By

C.J.Box’s Joe Pickett series has been a favorite of mine since I read Savage Run (Book #2) in 2004. I quickly went back and read book #1 Open Season (which won an Edgar Award for Best First Novel) and have continued from there. From the beginning, I have loved the characters of Joe Pickett and his family. Joe Pickett is a game warden originally living in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming and now Saddlestring. Joe is a kinda’ normal guy living a normal life and correcting the wrongs that he encounters and there have been enough to fill ten books. From his website:

the New York Times once wrote, “…Box introduced us to his unlikely hero, a game warden named Joe Pickett, a decent man who lives paycheck to paycheck and who is deeply fond of his wife and his three daughters. Pickett isn’t especially remarkable except for his honesty and for a quality that Harold Bloom attributes to Shakespeare — the ability to think everything through for himself.”  and Joe Pickett has been compared to Gary Cooper by both reviewers and the actor’s only daughter for his quiet, but determined, approach.

Joe moves through life with the help of his beloved wife, Marybeth and his daughters Sheridan and Lucy and helped by his right hand man Nate Romanowski, falconer and man of the land who often appears at just the right time to help Joe. Joe’s life is of-times complicated by his mother-in-law Missy (with several last names due to her penchant for moving up the social ladder through divorce). All of the novels are great Box really creates a great “sense of place” in his novels muc  like James Lee Burke, so that even though I’ve never visited Wyoming, I’ve been there many times thanks to Box. Box says this about his books and particularly about  Trophy Hunt

:

My novels include environmental issues that are integral to the modern West.Trophy Hunt is no different. The boom in coal bed methane development in the Rocky Mountains has literally transformed the terrain – and the economy– in ways both good and bad. I was researching the issue for background when something entirely unrelated happened: the discovery of dozens of mutilated cattle in Montana. Remembering the stories of cattle mutilations from my youth, I contacted the lead reporter covering the story and she supplied me with clippings, reports, and extremely disturbing photos. The details of the deaths were eerily similar: no obvious cause of death; faces and genitals surgically removed; no tire tracks, footprints, or evidence near the bodies; and, strangest of all, the bodies were untouched by natural predators. I knew as I leafed through the documents that Joe Pickett would have a new case – one that would test his sense of reality.

While many of the stories stand on there own, I do think that this is a series that deserves to be read in order. So much of the character development and ancillary story lines develop from book to book that if you haven’t read the other books you’ll not get the full effect of the book. If you don’t like to read series books, you can still experience Box’s writing  talent by reading his two standalone novels, the Edgar Award winning Blue Heaven or Three Weeks to Say Goodbye both excellent reads. I can’t wait for the April 6th release of Pickett’s next adventure chronicled in Nowhere to Run. As for you who have never read any you got lots of readin’ to do, but it will be worth the effort!

Polydor Artists Circa 1971!

  By Uncategorized

So last night when I was listening to Jake Holmes I pulled out the album sleeve and looked at the other artist on the Polydor Label at that time. Some of the names are only familiar and a couple I do have the albums. Area Code 615 and John Mayall’s Empty Rooms and a favorite Mayall’s The Turning Point. Here’s a quick Poll Which Artist’s album do you have? or have you heard of?

[polldaddy poll=2853085]

(polls)

Book 9 -2010 – Redemption Street

  By

While I am still working my way through The Midnight House I finished book 9 of 2010 Reed Farrel Coleman‘s Redemption Street. Redemption Street is the second book in Coleman’s Moe Prager series and my first read of this series. Prager is a retired New York City police officer, now running a wine shop with his brother. The story opens when a vagrant Arthur Rosen  comes into the shop and wants Prager to find his sister Karen, only problem is that his sister died in a fire in the Catskills sixteen years prior, with two other girls and sixteen other guests. Rosen, his sister and the other girls all went to the same high school as Prager, with one of the girls being a major crush of Prager’s.  Rosen is convinced his sister is still alive. Prager brushes him off as a crazy and when he goes to apologize a few days later, Rosen finds him, shortly after he has committed suicide and Prager’s name written in blood on his wall. So Prager sets out to set things right and find out what really happened the night of the fire.

I really enjoyed Coleman’s writing and Moe Prager’s wise-cracking attitude. Most of the story takes place in the Catskill town of Old Rotterdam and Coleman captures the “”sense of the town” and the last gasps of the Catskills after the demise of the Borscht Belt. The story line was interesting and the characters all believable. Overall a definite  4 out 0f 5. and I will go back and find Walking the Perfect Square the first book in the series and then catch up with the three books that follow.

Reed Farrel Coleman – Redemption Street-As Good as It Gets!

  By
Redemption Street -Reed Farrel Coleman

While I am still working my way through The Midnight House I finished book 9 of 2010 Reed Farrel Coleman‘s Redemption Street.

Redemption Street is the second book in Coleman’s Moe Prager series and my first read of this series. Prager is a retired New York City police officer, now running a wine shop with his brother.

The Story

The story opens when a vagrant Arthur Rosen  comes into the shop and wants Prager to find his sister Karen, only problem is that his sister died in a fire in the Catskills sixteen years prior, with two other girls and sixteen other guests. Rosen, his sister and the other girls all went to the same high school as Prager, with one of the girls being a major crush of Prager’s.  Rosen is convinced his sister is still alive.

Prager brushes him off as a crazy and when he goes to apologize a few days later, Rosen finds him, shortly after he has committed suicide and Prager’s name written in blood on his wall. So Prager sets out to set things right and find out what really happened the night of the fire.

Thoughts About Redemption Street

I really enjoyed Coleman’s writing and Moe Prager’s wise-cracking attitude. Most of the story takes place in the Catskill town of Old Rotterdam and Coleman captures the “”sense of the town” and the last gasps of the Catskills after the demise of the Borscht Belt.

The story line was interesting and the characters all believable. Overall a definite  4 out 0f 5. and I will go back and find Walking the Perfect Square the first book in the series and then catch up with the three books that follow.

Reed Farrel Coleman

Links

Author Website
Amazon
Facebook
Instagram
Goodreads;

About Reed Farrel Coleman

Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post, Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirty-one novels—including the Nick Ryan series and six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series—short stories, poetry, and essays.

In addition to his acclaimed series characters, Moe Prager and Gus Murphy, he has written the stand-alone novel Gun Church and collaborated with decorated Irish crime writer Ken Bruen on the novel Tower.

Reed is a four time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories: Best Novel, Best Paperback Original, and Best Short Story. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards.

With their kids moved away to far off Brooklyn, Reed, his wife Rosanne, and their cats live in the wilds of Suffolk County on Long Island. Read More

BornMarch 29, 1956 (age 69)
New York City, U.S.
Pen nameTony Spinosa
OccupationPoet, crime fiction writer
NationalityAmerican
GenreCrime fiction
Years active1991 to present
Notable worksMoe Prager series
Notable awardsAnthony (2006)
Audie (2013)
Barry (2006)
Macavity (2010)
Shamus (2006, 2008, 2009)

Avalon Ballroom – 1967

  By Uncategorized

According to my Avalon Ballroom 2010 calender, on this day in 1967 Quicksilver Messenger Service played the Avalon Ballroom and in 1968 Cream, Jeremy and the Satyrs and Blood Sweat and Tears played Winterland. Ok proof that I didn’t just start liking jam bands but liked jam bands before they were labeled jam bands. Quicksilver’s album Happy Trails and their cover of “Who Do You Love” are all time favorites and Cream’s fourteen minute drum solo “Toad” would make any of today’s jam bands proud!

Book 8 – Red Sky at Night

  By

While this book is my first read of a book by James W. Hall it is the sixth book in the eleven book series featuring Hall’s  iconoclast beach bum fisherman Thorn. (Anyone know his full name?). The book centers around the senseless slaughter of eleven dolphins at a Key West park that Thorn and his current girlfriend Monica had visited a few days previous. The slaughter is tied to the experiments in pain alleviation being performed on wounded veterans by an old boyfriend of Thorn’s Bean Wilson Jr. Wilson is also being investigated by the DEA for illegal actions and they have placed an undercover agent Greta Masterson in Wilson’s clinic. As Thorn starts to investigate he becomes a target and the rest of the story revolves around solving the mystery of the slaughter of the dolphins and rescuing Greta!

It was a good read and I enjoyed the character development of  many of the characters including Bean Wilson, Pepper Tremaine and Thorn. However, I know that there’s a lot of background on Thorn’s life that was missing, so overall I don’t think I enjoyed the book as much as I would have had I started at the being of the series.  So now, I have to go back and learn about Thorn from the first five books before I travel forward to the next five. Like I need another series. So check James W. Hall out but start with  Under Cover of Daylight.

Red Sky at Night

  By

While this book is my first read of a book by James W. Hall it is the sixth book in the eleven book series featuring Hall’s  iconoclast beach bum fisherman Thorn. (Anyone know his full name?). The book centers around the senseless slaughter of eleven dolphins at a Key West park that Thorn and his current girlfriend Monica had visited a few days previous. The slaughter is tied to the experiments in pain alleviation being performed on wounded veterans by an old boyfriend of Thorn’s Bean Wilson Jr. Wilson is also being investigated by the DEA for illegal actions and they have placed an undercover agent Greta Masterson in Wilson’s clinic. As Thorn starts to investigate he becomes a target and the rest of the story revolves around solving the mystery of the slaughter of the dolphins and rescuing Greta!

It was a good read and I enjoyed the character development of  many of the characters including Bean Wilson, Pepper Tremaine and Thorn. However, I know that there’s a lot of background on Thorn’s life that was missing, so overall I don’t think I enjoyed the book as much as I would have had I started at the being of the series.  So now, I have to go back and learn about Thorn from the first five books before I travel forward to the next five. Like I need another series. So check James W. Hall out but start with  Under Cover of Daylight.

Flogging Molly – The Electric Factory

  By Uncategorized

Last night my wife and I treked to the Electric Factory to see her favorite band Flogging Molly. This is either the eight or ninth time we have seen them live. We have gone several times to Philly venues, the Electric Factory and the Trocadero,  twice to the House of Blues in Atlantic City and once to Sayreville, NJ. As always the show was great. Last night, I thought that the leader of the band and lead vocalist Dave King was in rare form and had a really good time. The band played for about two hours and played a set that consisted of standards like “Drunken Lullabies”, “Requiem for a Dying Song”, “Float”, “Seven Deadly Sins”, “Rebel with a Sacred Heart”, “Factory Girl”, with Bridget singing the Lucinda Williams part,  a short acoustic set and a few songs that they typically don’t play like “The Wanderlust” and “Lighting Storm”  and I am sure a couple more and since they don’t play them I don’t know them. The show ended with the typical encore song “Black Friday Rule”, which was one of the first songs they wrote when they formed the ban and as usual King played the bodhran in the song.

If you don’t know Flogging Molly you should! They are a seven member  American Celtic Rock Band and have their own unique sound. From their website Dave King the leader says about their music:

“If it didn’t have mandolin, accordion, fiddle and whistle, it would be punk rock, and if it didn’t have guitar, bass and drums, it would be traditional Irish music,” King admits, adding, “You can’t be bothered being labeled.”
The band consists of:
Dave King: Vocals and acoustic guitar
Dennis Casey – Electric guitar and vocals
Matthew Hemsley- Accordion, Concertina, piano and vocals
Nathan Maxwell- bass, vocals
Bridget Regan (King’s wife) – violin, tin whistle, classical guitar, vocals
Robert Schmidt – Mandolin, mandola, tenor banjo, five string banjo, vocals
George Scwindt- Drums and percussion
Each of these great musicians, particularly Bridget Regan, Hemsley and Schmidt add to the overall sound of Flogging Molly.
The band started in Los Angeles and played every Monday night at Molly Malone’s and that is where the name originated. King says:
“We used to play there every Monday night and we felt like we were flogging it to death, so we called the band Flogging Molly.”
Opening the show was a band called The Architects playing typical punk rock they put on a lively show. At moments the guitarist caught my interest but otherwise standard fare for me. The second act was Frank Turner an artist my wife has been listening to since she knew he was going to be on the bill. Frank is from Wikipedia:
Frank Turner (born 28 December, 1981) is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke,Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band’s split in 2005. To date, Turner has released three solo albums, a rarities compilation album and two EPs. His most recent album, Poetry of the Deed, was released on September 7, 2009.
My wife says that his song lyrics are quirky and good , but at show like last night it’s hard to hear the lyrics, but his set was still enjoyable. Here’s a neat video from his opening song.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfGLzDQ7e-k
All in all it was a great night of music that thankfully wasn’t cancelled because of bad weather! As usual you can check put some videos on the sidebar!
An additional note for fans from their website:
It was announced by the band on Jan 8th on their Twitter page that they will be releasing a new live dvd/cd set called “Live At The Greek Theater” on March 2nd, 2010.
This three disc set (Double CD + full-length DVD) captures Flogging Molly’s performance at the Greek Theatre on September 12, 2009. Featuring over 90 minutes of music spanning the band’s entire catalog, from Swagger to Float. The DVD, shot in HD with over ten cameras, showcases the explosive performance. DVD bonus content includes seven Flogging Molly videos as well as behind the scenes interviews with the band.