This book has quite a few twists and turns, and enough red herrings that keep you guessing which side some of the characters are on, which is great for mysteries. Overall, a great read, esp. if you like the genre.
Rating: read it!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
KCR: One Shot, a Jack Reacher novel (crime, sniper, detective, novel)
Another sniper novel... almost same premise as I, Sniper... sort of. A sniper kills 5 office workers with 6 shots, and disappears. Forensics picked out one guy, and he was arrested. However, he refused to cooperate. Instead, he said, "You got the wrong guy. Get Reacher for me." However, Reacher was already on his way... Having seen the news. You see, Reacher knew this guy... who did the exact same thing a long time ago... However, Reacher will get to the bottom of this... and deal justice the only way he can.
This book has quite a few twists and turns, and enough red herrings that keep you guessing which side some of the characters are on, which is great for mysteries. Overall, a great read, esp. if you like the genre.
Rating: read it!
This book has quite a few twists and turns, and enough red herrings that keep you guessing which side some of the characters are on, which is great for mysteries. Overall, a great read, esp. if you like the genre.
Rating: read it!
KCR: Act of Treason (Mitch Rapp series) (terrorism, hero)
Vince Flynn's uber-operator Mitch Rapp is basically the ultimate weapon against bad guys... He speaks fluent Arabic and several other languages, survives almost any situation, and hates double-crossers. In this book, Mitch Rapp is out to investigate a presidential candidate whose motorcade was attacked by a terrorist bomb. Everybody thought it was Al Qaeda. However, something does not fit. Could the bomb be an inside job solely to manipulate public opinion? Is it treason? Mitch Rapp investigates, and will get to the truth...
The problem with this book is it's not quite as exciting. Unraveling conspiracies is not as exciting as saving people's lives, finding weapons of mass destruction, and so on. There is just no feel of "sense of doom", or a "ticking bomb" if you will. Still, this is one of the better escapist novels about terrorism without falling into "campy" feel like "Ghost" (reviewed earlier)
The problem with this book is it's not quite as exciting. Unraveling conspiracies is not as exciting as saving people's lives, finding weapons of mass destruction, and so on. There is just no feel of "sense of doom", or a "ticking bomb" if you will. Still, this is one of the better escapist novels about terrorism without falling into "campy" feel like "Ghost" (reviewed earlier)
KCR: Kris Longknife, Intrepid (novel, scifi, space, adventure)
The more I read Kris Longknife, the more the stories blur together, and there is an itch in my head, about how I've seen this sort of plot before... then I realized.... This is a typical A-team plot... very often.
Why? Let's describe the setup for this book. The Wasp Q-ship is out on the rim, hunting pirates, but showing not much luck. They visit a planet of recluses, but there's hint that they are up to no good. They visit another planet, and promises to take one guy to a frontier colony along with his cargo. Upon arrival, they found the planet was taken over by a bunch of mercs. Kris Longknife and her marines, along with some volunteers, must defeat the mercs, and figure out how this may be tied into the planet's recluses and what nefarious plot they may be hatching.
Why did I say it's like A-Team? The Kris Longknife team did all sorts of tricks and tactics to hurt but not kill the mercs, right up to the point where the final battle is joined... Then things got deadly. Before then, they got goats and sheep as infra-red lures, firecrackers to disorient, snipers to kill trucks and tires... so on. Basically, she did everything to avoid casualties... and give the other side a way out, but they won't take it.
The problem with this book is it has two separate plots but almost no link between them . There's a secondary plot about that planet of recluses. Somehow when the primary plot, about the mercs, concluded, that secondary plot all of a sudden turned into a main plot. So the book feels... disjointed.
Still, all in all, not a bad read.
Rating: borrow it
Why? Let's describe the setup for this book. The Wasp Q-ship is out on the rim, hunting pirates, but showing not much luck. They visit a planet of recluses, but there's hint that they are up to no good. They visit another planet, and promises to take one guy to a frontier colony along with his cargo. Upon arrival, they found the planet was taken over by a bunch of mercs. Kris Longknife and her marines, along with some volunteers, must defeat the mercs, and figure out how this may be tied into the planet's recluses and what nefarious plot they may be hatching.
Why did I say it's like A-Team? The Kris Longknife team did all sorts of tricks and tactics to hurt but not kill the mercs, right up to the point where the final battle is joined... Then things got deadly. Before then, they got goats and sheep as infra-red lures, firecrackers to disorient, snipers to kill trucks and tires... so on. Basically, she did everything to avoid casualties... and give the other side a way out, but they won't take it.
The problem with this book is it has two separate plots but almost no link between them . There's a secondary plot about that planet of recluses. Somehow when the primary plot, about the mercs, concluded, that secondary plot all of a sudden turned into a main plot. So the book feels... disjointed.
Still, all in all, not a bad read.
Rating: borrow it
Monday, May 16, 2011
KCR: Thor (2011) (Movie, Superhero, Comic)
Image via WikipediaSaw Thor last week, but have to think about it a bit before I give you a full review.I was NOT familiar with the Thor lore (no pun intended). I am faintly familiar with the Norse mythology, Asgard, and all that.
Overall, I like the movie. It's not quite as much fun as Iron Man, but it is quite good. Everything fits together quite well. The villain is a proper villain, and you're never quite sure which way is he leaning. I enjoy those plot twists. By being casted to Earth, Thor is forced to confront his own attitude toward life, and dial down his hubris when he was forced to do without Mjolnir, and learn a lot about... mortals.
The main problem is there isn't much fighting to really satisfy the fans. There was basically three fights: one at the beginning, one on Earth, and one at the end. (Oh, and one without any superpower) In one of the fights, the good guys are basically punching bags (i.e. tossed left and right) so that sort of doesn't count.
I paid for the 3D version and it's not that helpful. I almost got a headache as eye strain hurts a bit.
Overall, not bad, not bad.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800369/
KCR: Takedown, capture of Kevin Mitnick (non-fiction, hacker, crime, detective)
Image via WikipediaFound this in a used bookstore, and found it to be interesting on the technical aspects, but comes across as a self-congratulatory (i.e. pat your own back) kind of book.The story is about how Shimomura, one of the best computer security experts of the time, had his personal server hacked by some body. He was able to track down the perp, who turned out to be Kevin Mitnick, the infamous hacker, and in a few months, Mitnick was tracked down and arrested by FBI, with Shimomura's help on the tracker. The book covers both Shimomura's short biography, as well as details of the hack, his deconstruction, the trace through multiple ISPs, the phone network, and finally, to Mitnick himself.
Again, the book sounds like a self-promo book basically describe how great Shimomura is. I have no doubt Shimomura is a brilliant guy, but there's tremendous ego involved... the entire prose comes across as one big ego trip. The technical details were somewhat simplified, and while readable, will likely drive non-techies to tears as they are quite dry. I found them readable, but then I'm a geek (a cranky geek, but still a geek).
You may want to read this books counterpart... The Fugitive Game, the book from Mitnick's perspective.
KCR: Ghost, Paladin of Shadows #1 (terrorism, hero, novel)
Image via WikipediaDespite the series title, this is NOT a fantasy novel, but rather, sort of novel you'd think are more... pulp. And you can guess by the cover. And yes, it does involve OBL. Now that OBL's dead, this book is still a lot of fun to read.Story: Former navy SEAL "Mike" was just going about his business when he witness a girl snatched off the street. He could have left it to local cops, gave a license plate number, and called it quits. But he was cast adrift, going to school when he wish he can be at war. So he trailed the bad guys to a warehouse... where he discovered a nefarious plot... Al Qaeda, lead by none other than OBL himself, has hatched a decidedly evil plot... They will kidnap 50 girls from the US, put them in a base somewhere in Syria, surrounded by commandos and air defenses, and torture and rape them to death, one at a time, on live TV and streaming over the Internet, unless US agrees to withdraw from the Middle East. With no time to contact authorities, he infiltrated the operation, saved a girl, and stowaway on the aircraft and infiltrated the base. Let's just say it's a funny read, and bloody, complete with songs and heavy metal and death.
Don't take this book seriously. It's written as sort of revenge fantasy, and there are plenty of bodies, ridiculous situations that's both serious and laughable, and thus, perfectly entertaining.
People who are easily offended should not read this book.
Rating: Get it!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
KCR: Tears of the Sun (movie, war)
Not a war movie, but more of an adventure, this movie is about a SEAL team tasked to evacuate VIP in a war-torn Nigeria that turned into a major mess after a bloody coup and ethnic cleansing had started. As you can imagine, the mission NEVER goes as planned. When they get there, they find the good doctor with 70 people... and she won't leave them behind. So what do you think happens?
It's so obviously a tear jerker, about how people deal with horrors of war, and how each deal with the horror as they can... and you know there will be a big battle at the end, when the bad guys caught up.
The good guys here are not cliche, and the bad guys are... but that is expected, eh? The only problem I have is one of the sequences, when all of the SEAL team started standing up and firing on full auto. It is, to me, unrealistic. But then, it's one of the best war movies around.
It's so obviously a tear jerker, about how people deal with horrors of war, and how each deal with the horror as they can... and you know there will be a big battle at the end, when the bad guys caught up.
The good guys here are not cliche, and the bad guys are... but that is expected, eh? The only problem I have is one of the sequences, when all of the SEAL team started standing up and firing on full auto. It is, to me, unrealistic. But then, it's one of the best war movies around.
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