For most Americans, Saudi Arabia is a complete mystery. I was interested in this book because I have made many trips to Saudi. This is a well-researched book about the many cracks in Saudi society. However, it’s one of those books that could have been a long magazine article rather than a 250 plus page book. There are just so many times you can make the same points over and over. Still I found it interesting, probably more so than most people would. I give it a C plus rating.   posted May 19, 2013 at 2:22PM

This creative book is something you can read very quickly, but I think it’s something that is quite memorable. I really loved this book and it will quickly draw you into the characters. I highly recommend that you read this and I would give it a grad of a very solid A. Read it!   posted Apr 29, 2013 at 5:23PM

This book provides detailed and interesting information about the decision to authorize the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. It aslo discussed what led to the information of where he was hiding. I first read the book "No Easy Day" by one of the SEAL teammembers on that raid, but I recommend you read this book first and then that book for a great overview of the whole thing. There is some conflicting information, since at the time this book was written, no members of the SEAL team had yet given details. However, this book provides great information and insight and it is well written.   posted Apr 21, 2013 at 12:20PM

This is a powerful book and as the other reviewers have said, you feel like the characters are your family. It took a bit of time for me to get into the rhythem of the book, so if you aren’t hooked at first, give it some time. You will be rewarded. I give this excellent book a very solid A.   posted Apr 14, 2013 at 10:51AM

This book was actually a whole lot better than what I expected. It was straight-forward, well written, and provides a glipse into what really happened before and after the mission that killed Osama Bin Ladin. I rate this a solid A.   posted Apr 3, 2013 at 2:42PM

This book was a joy to read. Very well written and definitely a page turner. The ending was satisfying and all around, this was a great read. If you like this kind of book, I highly recommend reading this one. I give it a solid A.   posted Mar 28, 2013 at 12:24PM

Although this book is interesting from an academic standpoint, it’s hardly a page turner. It’s interesting to find out what life was like for Leonardo Da Vinci and life in the 1400’s, but it’s a bit like reading a textbook. It was not exactly light reading. Recommended for art buffs perhaps.   posted Mar 3, 2013 at 3:14PM

Patterson is a great writer and this book is exceptionally well-written. It was hard to put this book down. In fact the book would have been perfect, except that the ending was very unsatisfying. It would have been so easy for this to have been rated A plus, but with the surprisingly weak ending, I’d have to rate it a B plus.   posted Feb 23, 2013 at 4:58PM

Well, this certainly is an odd book, but not really in a good way. It’s about a stay-at-home mom who is the Cursing Mommy. It’s pretty much a one-joke book that wears thin after the first few pages, but really gets old by page 245. Yes, the mommy curses on every page and almost every paragraph and uses the F word more than the worst Army drill sergeant. But that’s not really the problem. The book is at times anxiety producing and at other times just plain boring. This book gets a D rating from me (although an F rating would be true justice!).   posted Jan 31, 2013 at 6:13PM

Interestingly, this is the 2012 version of the Mitch Rapp/Vince Flynn franchise. Interesting because it takes place in Rapp’s early years and interesting because it was one of Flynn’s better efforts. Some of Flynn’s later books felt like he was working on auto-pilot, yet this one really was well written and back to Flynn’s pager-turner style. Overall, a really fun book to read. I rate it A minus to an A.   posted Jan 21, 2013 at 5:15PM