BOOK REPORTS—

The Racketeer by John Grisham

Another dandy offering by one of my favorite authors.  This one involves a heist of 8 million bucks worth of pure gold...with a federal judge who benefits...and is killed...with a lawyer who is jailed wrongly...who pals with some really slippery folks...some of whom enjoy sex...and go off into the Caribbean sunset...I think.  Regardless, it’s a thoroughly entertaining read; as usual.

The Last Refuge by Ben Coes

This one involves Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the kidnapping of the grandson of a former Israeli prime minister which angers his buddy, a former army ranger, who does what former members of the elite forces do which gets the attention of the Iranian secret service, all with a little sex mixed in, well, you get the picture.  I can hardly wait until I find this author’s first novel, Power Down.

Power Down by Ben Coes

Found it; and what a dandy!  It is Coes’ debut novel and those tend to be great reads because the then aspiring author has had his lifetime to ponder the tale he wants to write.  This one involves embedded terrorists who launch an incredibly deadly attack on America’s energy and transportation infrastructure.  They are met by an equally determined and long retired Army Ranger and Delta warrior.  WoooHooo, what a wild romp of a read!

Round About the Earth by Joyce E. Chaplin

I treasure travel stories and this one is about the ultimate.  It briefly chronicles man’s effort to circumnavigate the Earth from early explorers like Magellan in the early 1500s to orbits of the space age.  Remember many folks believed the Earth was flat in Magellan’s time.  Then explorers encountered the perplexing problem of dealing with what later became the International Date Line.  Space age orbits took a few hours to accomplish what it took the early seafarers 3 or 4 years to do.  Mesmerizing read.