The Sentinel: A Jack Reacher Novel

Lee Child and his brother, Andrew, penned this. Mostly Andrew, I think. 

This Jack chats and asks dumb questions. Well, not dumb but not what I expect of Reacher. Plus a Russian collusion. And he's gone all touchy-feely. Has Andrew read the Reacher series?  

This book starts of like a Reacher novel -- trouble finding him. He gets off a bus and feels like some live music. He finds a bar, and one thing leads to another and he sets a few people right. This was a great start. 

The band that he helped drops him off at a small sleepy town where (in time) he meets Rusty.  A guy he saves from getting jumped. The cops arrive and he gets arrested. The guy he helped is the small town's most hated man. He fucked up the city. The town is under a Ransonware Attack. Really? The whole town. Rusty is blamed. But not all is as it seems, especially in a Reacher novel.

From here it kind of lingers on. Reacher starts doing non-Reacher stuff. 

The plot is weak as fuck. BUT, a few of the latter Lee Child books were also found to be wanting. 

I couldn't finish this book. I was near the end as well. 

Bugger. 

I always give new authors a two book chance or three books, so I will be buying Better off Dead, in due time. 

  

Save the Cat Goes To The Movies

If you are looking to learn more screenwriting in this book, think again. It is a collection of pitches followed by a synopsis of the movie. He lays out the beats for you as he tells the tale. Most of these movies are kinda recent. 

It is a damn interesting read for almost anybody.

Writers will learn by osmosis how to write the dreaded short and long synopsis editors and publishers are looking for. They wanna see the big picture. Your story telling skills will be analyzed at a later date. 

I'm not a scriptwriter, but I heard that if you have all three of these books, you'll have a complete screenwriting course in your hands. Not sure if that's true. 

Not having read the original, let's me rate this book as a stand alone. 

   

It's a little this review. Mainly because, even though I don't write scripts, many people will get value from this as I did. 

The United States of Japan

 

This is the first Peter Tieryas book. The title grabbed me at first, then the cover followed. I stumbled upon this book and decided to buy the audio version. 

I had no idea what this book was about when I purchased it apart from the blurb on the back. I didn't read any reviews. I try to avoid them when I plan to review these books. I like to go in cold.

So, this book is a mystery. At it's heart, this is a mystery set in an alternative history where Japan sent a Gundam mecha to the US and the president concedes. And a game called The USA. 

From the cover I felt that this book would be filled with robots and battles galore. But it fails on that end. There are battles, killing and The George Washington's -- a US terrorist group (they kill easily) fill the pages with the action, but everything seems to happen to our heroes and not because of our heroes. 

Our heroes, Ben and Akiko (a loyal member of the Taiko -- think secret police), are chasing a renegade officer called Mutsuraga across a Japanese influenced US. We have Imperial overlords, giant bots, newly designed viruses used as torture weapons. We have a high tech world with holograms of the emperor and everyone must bow. Plus 'normals' bow to imperial soldiers.

The ending wasn't great for me and other parts of the ending were expected. 

This book may not be for everyone. If you are expecting Mecha Anime, you may be disappointed. 

  

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

There are a ton of books and videos on improving your memory. A lot of people would like a photographic memory. It would be awesome, they think. Be like Sheldon (Big Bang Theory) and never forget anything. I'm not sure if I'd want that. There are sad and bad moments in time that people would want to forget. Unfortunately, most of those times never leave, they live on in the scars. 

“Photographic memory is a detestable myth,” he said. “Doesn’t exist. In fact, my memory is quite average. All of us here have average memories.” Ed Cooke young grand master from England. Memory Champion.

This book, however, is NOT a book on memory techniques, but rather a book on techniques that memory champions use to remember. There is a lot of history and some (filler?) info on Roman and Greek memory techniques and Chicken  Sexers. Interesting facts, but I think they are not needed. 

This book reads like a long article in a magazine. For me, this book was quite dull most of the time. And I was using the audiobook version. 

If you are interested in memory championships, then this book might be good for you. 

The Master! 3 vol set

The Master! 3 vol set

Audio version

Big Finish Productions

Eric Roberts has the best ever Master voice. I remember him in the crappy 1996 movie (that I have watched a thousand times) that tried to reboot the series in the US with US funding. Didn't happen. Which is good. They changed the regeneration into a Frankenstein rip-off. Apparently, that didn't go down well with anybody.

In an interview on the audiobook, Eric Roberts said, Dr. Who at the time was very campy (it was, and we still loved it), and he asked if he could play it straight. The producers said, OK. And he gave us one of the best Masters until Sacha Dhawan came along. Yes, Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley were great in their time. 

The audio script (I should say book as everything is acted out) was written by Robert Valentine, Robert Whitelock, and Matt Fitton (One book each for the three book series)

Starring Eric Roberts and Chase Masterson.

Earth is rebuilding after an invasion by the Daleks. Drake enterprises is one of the top research companies in the world. Their top scientist is Lila and while researching teleportation, she stumbles into the Vortex and starts to hear a voice, whispering to her all the answers to the universe. All she has to do is find a way to free this person, calling himself, The Master.

This three book series is totally badass. The Master is devious but I feel he could have been written a little darker. I loved Simms at his second run as The Master. He was dark and crazy as fuck. Brilliant. Missy was also brilliant. 

In the audio script, you will enjoy The Master taking control, facing as assassin, taken prisoner in the streets, chased through the underground system, Daleks return. And someone who died but she not dead. Not really. 

The books are short. Or they seemed short as I listened at every opportunity. 

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

Audiobook version. 

Tremblay's first book, A head full of ghosts, was not my cup of tea. I wasn't scared, I was bored and I sold that paperback to a second hand bookstore and bought: The kind worth Killing by Peter Swanson (review later). 

However, Survivor Song interested me enough to buy a copy and listen/read it. 

The book starts off with a bang and barely lets up. We are plunged into the world of Natalie worried about her husband who has gone shopping, three hours prior. She is eight months pregnant and a virus has broken out. A rabies virus. 

After an incident at her home, Natalie rushes off to her friend, Ramola (previously a pediatric). The main basis of this story is to get Natalie to a hospital for a C-Section to remove the baby a few week earlier. Stuff happens that forces them to an abandoned farm house. 

The best characters in this story are the two BMX riding hoodlums. They were awesome. Especially their final scene in the book. I like how Tremblay stayed with them for a time after they left Natalie and Ramola. Apparently, they appeared in another of Tremblay's books. 

All up, this is an excellent read/listen and recommended BUT (there's usually a but) this book doesn't seem to hold the tension of what's going to happen next. It was easy to not continue but I did and I'm kind of glad I did. 

Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary 

Andy Weir

At its core, this is a story about friendship. 

Grace is a scientist. He teaches science in Junior High school. Many years ago, he was a real scientist and wrote papers. One of the papers got him mocked, enough to leave the field and become a teacher. He loves his new job and his new life. 

And then everything changes. 

The sun is cooling and Earth is on a collision course for another ice age. Billions will die. The paper that got Grace mocked is now lauded and a woman in charge of saving the world, needs to speak with him. 

This book, like his previous, The Martian, has a lot of science and it's explained in a way laymen (like me) can understand and follow along. I enjoyed this book a lot. There's humor, excitement, treachery and an unexpected ending. 

What's not to like. 

Excellent back story as well. 

3.5 out of 5 stars. Why? Because I thought it could have moved a little faster. It didn't feel like padding (mostly) but it did feel strung out. 

Still, a darn good book. 

Check it out.