The Amber Room - In the News

Last year I read The Amber Room: A Novel by Steve Berry, which, incidentally, I recommend. It was a good thriller that revolved around the discovery of clues leading to a chase for treasures stolen by the Nazis during World War II and hidden away just before their defeat. The focus is on the legendary Amber Room which was part of a palace in St Petersburg, Russia. During the war, the Nazis stripped the room of its panels of gold and amber. With a few exceptions, they have not been seen since the war.

I found it fairly entertaining; I recommend the book. I don't write reviews on Amazon, but if I did I would give it 4 stars.

Today I was intrigued by news reports about the real Amber Room hunters. I imagine Steve had already researched all this and maybe met these people. As in the book, a presumed underground vault in the former East Germany has been identified. It is presently being cautiously dug out. If you read the book - read the news! If you find the news story fascinating, read the book. It is easy to see that here was an author who started with historical and current day facts and asked, "What if...?"

Steve Berry also authored The Romanov Prophecy: A Novel which our mystery book club read about two years ago. That book was fascinating for the history context, but I did not enjoy the plot line as much - only because I am not a fan of stories that have a bit of a supernatural/spiritual twist to them. There was a bit of "it was ordained by God/the gods" in the plot which turned me off. Otherwise, it was a great story.

Comments on the The Tin Roof Blowdown

This is the first James Lee Burke book I have read, so obviously the first in the Dave Robicheaux series. Although starting with the 16th book in the series, instead of the first, is not my favorite way to read a series, I am finding that it is not difficult to fit into the story line. As is typical in a series, the character has progressed and has a history, and the current book makes references to that history, but it does not take away from the new reader's experience.

However, there are references to the origin of Alafair, Robicheaux's daughter that rang a bell in my memory (given my memory, it must have been a Liberty Bell-sized gong). She says- "You see, I am Indian. I was born in a village in El Salvador. A Catholic priest tried to fly my mother and me into the United States, but we crashed off Southwest Pass. My mother drowned in the plane." [p.161] It's not the first time this fact is mentioned in the book, but this time the bell rang loud enough for me to hear it. So I checked. Sure enough, I remember a movie in which something like that happens. Turns out the movie was based on the second book in the Robicheaux series, Heaven's Prisoners. Might want to check it out, but then again, it might ruin the mental picture you have of the hero.

Changing the due date starting with March book

When I started the blog, and posting the books to read each month, I thought it would be useful to leave a 10-15 day gap between the day that our town library book club finished the book and the date for our online readers to finish the book. I finding that to be a bad idea - mainly because it confuses me! Soooooo... I'm changing that plan. For our online readers, the current book is still due March 10, as posted. However beginning with the next book, Devil in a Blue Dress, the due date will be the 30th of each month. Thanks.

Book Give-Away on Palmer Website

You may want to visit Michael Palmer's website! He has an easy-to-enter give-away contest.

Jabberwocky Bookstore Hosts Michael Palmer

I have always enjoyed a good medical thriller by Michael Palmer. Although he lives locally (Marblehead, MA), I have not had the opportunity to meet him. But I hear that he will be signing his latest book, The First Patient, at the Jabberwocky Bookshop, at the Tannery (50 Water St) in Newburyport, MA.

Time: Friday, March 14, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Location: Jabberwocky Bookshop
Title of Event: Michael Palmer
Join best-selling medical thriller author Michael Palmer as he discusses his latest white-knuckle read, The First Patient.

From the advert...

Gabe Singleton and Andrew Stoddard were roommates at the Naval Academy in Annapolis years ago. Today, Gabe is a country doctor and his friend Andrew has gone from war hero to governor to President of the United States. One day, while the United States is embroiled in a bitter presidential election campaign, "Marine One" lands on Gabe's Wyoming ranch, and President Stoddard delivers a disturbing revelation and a startling request. His personal physician has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, and he desperately needs Gabe to take the man's place. Despite serious misgivings, Gabe agrees to come to Washington. It is not until he is ensconced in the White House medical office that Gabe realizes there is strong evidence that the President is going insane. Facing a crisis of conscience--as President Stoddard's physician, he has the power to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment to transfer presidential power to the Vice President--Gabe uncovers increasing evidence that his friend's condition may not be due to natural causes.


Who? Why? And how? The President's life is at stake. A small-town doctor suddenly finds himself in the most powerful position on earth, and the safety of the world is in jeopardy. Gabe Singleton must find the answers, and the clock is ticking. . . .

Our Book Club in the News!

It was exciting to see book clubs featured in a recent issue of our regional newspaper, the Cape Ann Beacon... and to get coverage for our local library and our Mystery Book Club. So with this post, the cat is out of the bag! You will learn the identity/location of the library book club I referred to in various initial posts as well as my real identity! Makes me think of a Superman plot where Lois finds out about Clark Kent.

OK- here we are... well not quite. We had about 4 more members arrive after the photographer left. This picture was taken from the stacks/upper level. Looks almost like the setting for a mystery, don't you think? We have a grand little library building.



In the next picture, you can see Mike, our assistant librarian and moderator just to the left of the table lamp listening patiently to the guy to the right (me) make a point about Joe Finder's Paranoia. You can tell from the picture that we are a bit of a handful for our moderator-- it is not unusual to have more than one conversation going on at once. We are very animated throughout our meetings.



We meet at the Manchester Public Library, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. And you can read the news story about book clubs here.

Are high tech companies paranoid?

Oh yeah. My personal experience is that competition is fierce and security is strict. In several companies I visited, your escort goes into the rest room with you. This is not true of all companies in any way, but it is real enough.

So I found Joe Finder's Paranoia quite fascinating. In fact, it was one of my best reading experiences in a year.

Finder captured the corporate vocabulary and conversation really well, accurately reflecting the tone of the engineers and senior managers as well as the lower level employees.

Finder's previous novels made use of his occupational background with the CIA to create stories of international intrigue; this was his first book in a corporate setting (succeeding books are also set in a corporate world). Paranoia is a fascinating concoction of corporate espionage. It is way over the top, especially the ending which caught me totally off-guard. Still Finder makes the unbelievable plot totally plausible because the characters and corporate setting are so realistic. As was discussed in our library book club, he is just as successful as Gary Braver is in Flashback. Braver's thriller also "sucks you in" because the science references and nursing home settings are so totally believable. The plot therefore becomes plausible. Just so, Finder's corporate descriptions and high tech references allow you to move into that world with your credibility radar turned low.

Is real-world corporate espionage even a little bit like the book? See what Finder says.

There is also a theme in this book, along the lines of Who can you trust? Who are your real friends? It was not in your face, but it was there and I liked that. I must say that I really related to the relationship of the main character to his obnoxiously cranky and ill father. Well done, and absolutely part of the plot and theme.

I have not read Power Play, Finder's newest book, but I have read Killer Instinct and Company Man. I liked Paranoia the best. And although Killer Instinct won the Thriller Award, three of us (in our library Mystery Book Club) liked Paranoia better.

Also, Finder has an awesome author website with lots of great information.