Current Reviews

A DEATH IN MALTA: AN ASSASSINATION AND A FAMILY'S QUEST FOR JUSTICE, by Paul Caruana Galizia
For most of its modern existence, Malta has been laden with political corruption, a place of bribes and kickbacks that has persisted for years, substantially unchallenged by its complacent citizens many of whom feared reprisal. Enter the author's mother, Daphne Caruana Galizia, a political writer who later became an investigative journalist centering on the widespread corruption in Malta.
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HERO, by Thomas Perry
Justine Poole is an employee of Spengler-Nash Security, a firm that provides bodyguard services for the high-profile rich and famous in Los Angeles. She was on a job at the home of a well-known elderly couple when a car-load of five thugs broke into the property set on armed robbery. She fought off this crew of robbers and, in the process, kills two of the five and prevents the planned robbery of this couple. As such, she becomes a hero in the community and is lauded for her efforts by the local media. The crime boss who hired these robbers learns of this failure and that the security guard was a young woman and decides that she must be killed due to the embarrassment and diminished respect in the community--as well as to silence the three survivors who would be questioned by the police.
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PUTIN'S EXILES: THEIR FIGHT FOR A BETTER RUSSIA, by Paul Starobin
In Putin's Exiles, Starobin tracked down and spoke with Putin exiles in France, Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Cyprus, and the United States, interested especially in exiles active in political opposition to the Putin regime but also sought an understanding of the exile experience and mindset. Most of those with whom he spoke had fled Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.
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THE PARIS NOVEL, by Ruth Reichl
The book begins with the difficult relationship of an estranged mother and Stella, her daughter. When Stella's mother dies, she leaves her a plane ticket to Paris and $8000. This wasn't the story I was expecting and I must admit I felt tricked. Was this book going to be about Paris cuisine or the story about a failing mother and daughter? As the story unravels in Paris, we are treated to familiar streets, restaurants and even the famous bookstore, Shakespeare and Company. Stella finds herself falling into one unlikely situation after another, in a city where she knows nobody, but manages to meet the most interesting characters who seduce her into falling in love with the city and them.
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THE WIDE WIDE SEA: IMPERIAL AMBITION FIRST CONTACT AND THE FATEFUL FINAL VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK, by Hampton Sides
Captain Cook. The mere mention of his name conjures up images of far-away islands, small boats braving the high seas, and death at the hands of angry Natives. So much for the images, but from them springs the reality, which is a brilliant seaman, a genius navigator, an imaginative leader who kept his men free from scurvy, who rued the negative impact of the White world his cruises carried to the Indigenous, a loyal subject who died trying to fulfill his royal mission. That, too, was Captain James Cook, a man so revered that more than a few crew members volunteered for each of his three circumnavigations of the globe. That, too, was Captain James Cook, a man so revered that more than a few crew members volunteered for each of his three circumnavigations of the globe.
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