THE EAGLE HAS LANDED BY JACK HIGGINS

Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

”The slab slid to one side, tilting on the slope of the mound, and all was revealed. I suppose it was one of the most astonishing moments of my life, for it was a simple stone with a German cross at the head--what most people would describe as an Iron Cross. The inscription beneath it was in German: Here lies Lieutenant-Colonel Kurt Steiner and 13 German paratroopers, killed in action on November 6th, 1943.”


Colonel Otto Skorzeny with Benito Mussolini after the successful rescue attempt.

Really this story begins with Operation Oak or the San Gasso raid, in which commando paratroopers led by Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny rescued Benito Mussolini after he was overthrown and imprisoned by the Italian Government in 1943. It was a daring, bold move that gave some hope to a war effort that was already beginning to crumble inward.

Hitler, invigorated by this success, demands an even more audacious mission to capture Winston Churchill and bring him back to the Reich. Admiral Wilhelm Canaris thinks this idea is absolutely insane, but then his loyalty to Hitler has transformed into a more deeply felt loyalty to the future of Germany. Heinrich Himmler, also present during this meeting, is suspicious and threatened by Canaris, and decides to support the plan more for political reasons, in a bid to undermine Canaris, than out of any real interest in the plan. Jack Higgins does a wonderful job showing the struggles within the party and the doubts about the viability of the war that were starting to afflict all but the most loyal of the inner circle.


Colonel Oberst Radl played by Robert Duvall in the movie

Unfortunately, Canaris assigns the project to a very efficient staff member named Colonel Oberst Radl, who promptly discovers a way for such an intrepid plan to succeed. It all comes together when a deep cover agent in a small community in Norfolk reports that Winston Churchill is scheduled to visit their little hamlet for some much needed R&R to paint some of the idyllic countryside.

Joanna Grey is a fascinating character. She lost her family during the Boer War in South Africa and, through a series of events, ends up living in the very country she despises the most. She has become close, bedsheet close, to the local aristocracy, and in a bid to impress his mistress, he can’t help but tell her the biggest news he’s ever had bounce around in his noggin. I have to say I’m impressed that a 68 year old woman can still twitch her skirt and catch the eye of a man who normally would be chasing after women decades younger than himself. She must have that something something that allows men to see beyond the iron gray hair and the wrinkles and see that inner flame that, with just a touch, sparks their pilot light.

She is too old in the minds of the men in Berlin to handle this mission, though frankly, I think they sold the old girl short. Luckily, they have the man they need right there in Berlin, teaching English Literature at the University, a Trinity graduate and an IRA member named Liam Devlin. Embracing the Nazis has been difficult, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend makes them...allies??? Devlin thinks the plan is a bit daft, but he is bored and wants to get back into the action. Any way that he can twist a thumb in the eye of the British helps the cause in Ireland. He is more of a lover of women, a drinker of Bushmill’s Irish whiskey, and a reader of poetry than he is a soldier, but he can handle himself, and nobody gets into Trinity College with just a wink and a bit of wit.


Donald Sutherland is Liam Devlin in the movie. That is Jenny Agutter looking lovely perched on the back of the bike.

Radl finds his man to lead the mission, the disgraced Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Steiner, son of a German general and an American mother. He is a man who readily admits that, if his parents had switched nationality, he could easily have found himself fighting with the Americans. Steiner is in the Channel Islands sitting on manned torpedoes, attempting to blow up Allied shipping. Remember Slim Pickens riding the bomb down to the surface of the Earth in Dr. Strangelove? Similar level of risk.

All the pieces are in place; now it is just a matter of pulling the trigger.


1976 Movie Poster

This was a huge best seller that spawned a very successful movie, released in 1976, starring Donald Sutherland, Michael Caine, and Robert Duvall. I look forward to watching the movie to see how closely it follows the book. If you are going to read one Jack Higgins book, this is the one. The publisher states that 50% of the book is absolute fact, and it is up to the reader to determine what of the rest of it is true or merely speculations by the writer. This book is a page turner. The characters are well developed, even the female characters. We really get a chance to understand motivations, even when Radl or Devlin or Steiner or Grey find themselves questioning the meaning of what they do. There is a doomed romance, adding a bit of poignancy to the thrilling aspects of what seems to be an ill-fated quest. There is courage, treachery, humanity, and cruelty, each working to squeeze the resolve of those involved. All of this leads up to one final epic attempt to accomplish the impossible.

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The Corporation Wars: Dissidence By: Ken Mcleod

The Corporation Wars: Dissidence by Ken MacLeod
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this alot, A fun hard scifi that's right up my alley, I love it when space and future stories aren't pretty. They are brutal affairs. A great mix of military style science fiction and space opera.

This is worth your time, I am in the middle of the second book of the trilogy now

The ideas come hard and fast in this book, if you like deep scifi that makes you think, go get it

and Merry Christmas!



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Herriot For A Christmas Read

James Herriot's Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales by the Author of All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't always read a Christmas story this time of year, but when I do, I like it to be gushingly heartwarming, perhaps naively innocent, and if you want to throw a moral in there for good measure, by all means!

Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales by the Author of All Creatures Great and Small has all that and more to spare! How can it not? I mean, just look at that title!

Does this shout "Christmas" to you? Perhaps not, but at least one of the stories happens during Christmas and others have a winter-time setting. And besides, stories don't have to be about Christmas to feel like it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to digress...

Is this real life?

I often find myself asking that whenever I read a James Herriot book.

James Alfred "Alf" Wight, aka James Herriot, wrote some lovely stories based upon his career as an animal vet in the Yorkshire Dales up there in northern England. Not all of his stories are true. Clearly in this collection of shorts at least one is a complete fabrication of his own design. However, it's also clear (to me anyhow) that most of what happens in these charming tales quite likely could have happened to a country vet and quite likely did happen to Herriot.

Why is this important? Search me, but I guess it maybe has something to do with my need to attach significance to the subjects, the animals. In all of his books there is life and death, and it's important to me that these things contain all the weight and importance they deserve.

Digression Over!

In summary, if you're looking for an uplifting read this holiday season, you can't go wrong with this one, or honestly any of Herriot's books! Don't let the "...for Children" part of the title throw you. This book is for young and old...hell, it's even for us grumpy middle-aged farts!


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A Tasty Drop of Block

A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's high time I started on book one in Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, because I am LOVING what I'm reading so far!

Scudder is a once-cop, once-private investigator cum investigator (just seems to depend on the day and his finances) who's battling alcoholism. (view spoiler)[An old school friend/crook he's been recently reacquainted with is trying to get his life in order when he gets done in. (hide spoiler)] He's forced into a case somewhat close to his hardened heart, so he ends up looking into it just as much for the pay as for his own conscience.

In fine Block fashion, the reader is left wondering "Is this the guy who done it?...No wait, it's gotta be this guy! Or maybe..." almost right up to the end. I might've figured it out sooner, but I got stuck on this one character and having made up my mind it was him, I spent a third of a book looking for clues specifically for this one guy, thus missing any clues that would've pointed to the real killer. I swallowed the red herring bones and all. The clue that I was on the wrong track came when my killer got killed. Doh!

Folks that are looking for a straightforward mystery or crime story won't get it in A Drop of the Hard Stuff. Nope, and that's the beauty of it for me. I prefer books with some literary merit (SNOB ALERT!) and this has it. I'm not talking about highfalutin poetical bs, I'm talking about a little more character development than what you usually get with the genre stuff. You get plenty of character in this one! Scudder is working on his first year of sobriety and so many of the scenes take place in AA meetings. Block described some dynamite scenes of temptation and inner turmoil that really made you feel for these sad sods.

Even though I felt like this book provided some great insights into that world, of course not everyone's going to be down with reading about depressing AA meetings. Even I got a tad bored a time or two. There isn't a lot of action in this one, but when it heats up, it gets intense.

Now, it's time for me to start from book one. I am completely ready to get to know this Scudder fellow from the beginning!</["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]>

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The Man From Primrose Lane

The Man from Primrose Lane by James Renner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Widowed writer David Neff is at rock bottom when his agent drops the tale of The Man From Primrose Lane into his lap. Will a new book to work on bring him out of the funk he's been in since his wife's death or will his obsession kill him?

Before I get down to business, let's all be honest with one another. Most of the books we read are of average or less quality and are just an entertaining way to pass the time. This book is not one of those. This one grabs you by the genitals and infects your thoughts while you aren't reading it.

The Man From Primrose Lane is one hell of a crazy read. The titular character is a local eccentric who was known as The Man with a Thousand Mittens to the cop who found his corpse, complete with fingers in a blender. In life, he was always seen wearing mittens and had a closet full of them when he died? Interested yet? What if I told you the MFPL had a painting of David's dead wife in his basement? Or that he has a notebook about another woman's daily habits that just happens to resemble David's wife?

This is one of those books that I cannot divulge the plot of without ruining it. Suffice to say, it is a cleverly written mind bender. Part detective story, part bat shit crazy. Your brain might fold in on itself like a black hole before it's finished.

What the hell else can I say without spoiling things? I like how Renner uses David going through the withdrawals for his depression meds as a good way to reveal his back story using flashbacks. I had a feeling who The Man From Primrose Lane was about 30% into the story but I had no idea how complex things really were.

That's about all I'm prepared to reveal at this time. If you like genre-bending, thought provoking reads, you could do a lot worse than this. This is in the top two or three books I've read so far in 2016. Perfect score.

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A Frost of Cares

Amy Rae Durreson
Dreamspinner Press
Reviewed by Nancy
5 out of 5 stars

Summary

Military historian Luke Alcott leaps at the chance to live in the seventeenth-century country mansion of Eelmoor Hall, home of the Royal Military School of Medicine, after being offered a job cataloging the school’s archives. Luke believes he chose the perfect place to start a new life and put his broken past behind him. But soon after settling into the old house, he hears strange noises—like footsteps—and he begins to suffer from terrible nightmares.

The only person Luke can turn to for help is the taciturn caretaker, Jay, a veteran of the Afghanistan war who carries an old battle wound. Together they try to understand Eelmoor Hall’s history and decipher what could be causing the haunting. As the weather grows colder and snow dusts the countryside, a child goes missing. Luke needs to deal with his own demons and learn to trust in love again if he hopes to face down the angry spirit and find the missing girl.

My Review

A delightful read by a new to me author that left me breathless and charmed in equal measure. This is a modern gothic novel set in England replete with a haunted country mansion, dusty archives, an unhappy ghost, an aloof caretaker, and a lonely man looking for a fresh start.

Jay McBride lost his leg in Afghanistan. Luke Alcott is losing hope that he will find his missing lover. Luke is offered a job by the Royal Military School of Medicine that involves cataloguing the school’s archives stored at Eelmoor Hall.

This story was interestingly told from Luke’s perspective a decade after the story’s events. Though he has achieved closure after learning what happened to Danny, and moved on to have a very loving relationship, Luke is still haunted by the Mistletoe Bride. His husband, Jay, believes that writing the story down will excise the ghosts in his head.

The men don’t like each other at first. Their friendship starts tentatively with lots of conversation, a home-cooked meal and lots of heat, including that caused by the green chilies. I loved how Luke and Jay work through their struggles together and develop trust and love.

“I don’t think it’s the things that happen to us that decide whether we’re broken. I think it’s how we choose to live with the things we can’t control.”

This is a romance first, and a beautiful one that takes its time developing. Luke and Jay may drive each other crazy at times, but there is no denying the chemistry between them. This is also a chilling, tense and satisfying mystery that wraps up neatly in the end.

I gobbled up this book in one sitting, flipping pages well into the night. It was beautifully written, dark, atmospheric, and as comforting as a warm blanket.

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 5: Super Famous

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 5: Super Famous by G. Willow Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kamala Khan is busy. She has the normal teenager stuff like school, homework, and family obligations to deal with,

but then she's also the superhero Ms. Marvel. Did I mention she's an Avenger now too?

Ms. Marvel is facing off against an evil entity that is using her likeness to turn people against her while they take over Jersey City.

So Kamala and Bruno come up with a great plan to make clones of Kamala. I mean what could go wrong?


I like Ms. Marvel. I want to say that before anyone gets the wrong idea. My issue is I'm 1.) a guy, 2.) Over 30, and 3.) Not a Muslim. I say that because much of what makes Kamala special is lost on me because I don't relate. She's a fun character and her powers are interesting. She's massively powerful and even though she mostly just grows and shrinks, she can actually do far more. In Super Famous Kamala is just plain run down dog tired. School and family all day with superheroing all night will burn anyone out. Kamala is hanging in there, but it's not going that well. To top it all off Bruno has moved on and started dating just as Kamala was accepting his feelings for her. Sometimes it's no fun being a hero, but Kamala wouldn't trade it for anything.

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HARD RAIN FALLING BY DON CARPENTER

Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”He was legally a fugitive from the orphanage, and in that sense he was ‘wanted’. He did not feel ‘wanted’---he felt very unwanted. He had desires, and nobody was going to drop out of the sky to satisfy them. He tried to milk a little self-pity out of this thought, but it did not work: he had to recognize that he preferred his singularity, his freedom. All right. He knew what he wanted. He wanted money. He wanted a piece of ass. He wanted a big dinner, with all the trimmings. He wanted a bottle of whiskey. He wanted a car, in which he could drive a hundred miles an hour. He wanted some new clothes and thirty-dollar shoes. He wanted a .45 automatic. He wanted a record player in the big hotel room he wanted, so he could lie in bed with the whiskey and the piece of ass and listen to….That was what he wanted. So it was up to him to get those things.”

Those are not big dreams, right? I mean a guy should expect to have a slutty girlfriend, a gun (it is America after all; there are more guns than people), decent clothes, good music, a fast car, a big meal once in awhile, and be able to spin the cap off a fresh bottle of whiskey when he needs to forget how shitty his life is, even when he is walking around in his thirty dollar shoes. For Jack Levitt, who has never had anything, those dreams are so big they seem like millionaire dreams.

His parents came to violent ends at very young ages. Jack was not cute; in fact, even when he was little, he was kind of tough looking. It is hard to find adoptive parents when you look like a future felon at eight. He is in the system so long he becomes part of the system.

Jack meets a pool shark by the name of Billy Lancing, and though they only intersect for a few hours, before Jack is hauled back to juvie, that meeting will prove fateful. They don’t meet again for decades. Jack might be white, and Billy might be black, but there is no color barrier for poverty, desperation, and the feeling that there has to be more than this. ”But I don’t want to be a negro; I don’t want to be a white man; I don’t want to be a married man; I don’t want to be a businessman; I don’t want to be lonely. Life seemed to be a figure eight. It terrified him, sitting on the bus, as if time had opened black jaws and swallowed him.”

Jack has a similar epiphany about his life. He meets up with an old friend, Denny. ”Lived in half a hundred arid furnished rooms, pretended the vacuum was freedom, wakened almost daily to the fear that time was a dry wind brushing away his youth and his strength, and slept through as many nightmares as there were nights to dream. He just sat and smiled at Denny and saw what time had done to him and wondered, now comfortably, why he was so bothered by time. It happens to everybody this way, he thought, we sit here and get older and die and nothing happens.”

Anybody who has ever been to a high school reunion knows about the ravages of time. I’ve never been to one, but someone always sends me pictures from the latest reunion as enticements, I’m sure, to come to the next one. I’m getting old enough now where people have warped, melted, and expanded to such an extent that they are becoming unrecognizable. Little Tommy has become BIG Tommy, and there is barely a glimmer left of the beauty that made the prom queen the lead actress in a series of pornographic dreams.

I find myself having to agree with Jack and Billy...this is it? This is where we strive to arrive? I’ve had a much better start, middle, and hopefully, finish to my life than what Jack and Billy experienced. Regardless, life is a heartless, cold blooded witch, and no one gets through life unscathed. The scale is constantly tilting back and forth between bitter experiences and sweet experiences. I try to focus on the good memories and blur the bad memories, but the older we get, the battle scars start to show.

We become unrecognizable at high school reunions.

Billy and Jack end up incarcerated in the same prison and, in fact, the same cell. They have both failed at almost everything in life. Jack spent some time boxing but discovered he is too thin skinned and bleeds too easily, but he can take care of himself physically. Billy made it briefly into the middle class, but he felt trapped by the responsibility that proved too heavy, and all he could think about was running away from... the weight. He is smaller and gets the wrong kind of attention in prison. (Never die protecting a virgin asshole.) They forge an alliance that becomes built on more than friendship.

This book is hardboiled with a capital H. Once institutionalized, it is hard for people to ever not be institutionalized. They don’t teach you how to survive outside the system. Is it any wonder that too many orphans of the state end up being wards of the state in prison or halfway houses? They have no blueprint to achieve their dreams. They struggle, and when they fail, there is always some judge willing to put them back into the system. They understand life inside. They don’t understand the real world. After all, isn’t it just as hopeless with more responsibility on the outside? Well written, clipped, hard prose with philosophical musings that will have you nodding your head as you realize that the difference between us and Jack and Billy is the fickleness of fate.

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Medieval House-keeping

The Empty Throne by Bernard Cornwell
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like books four and five in the GoT series, much of this book feels like housekeeping. Perhaps I should say, hallkeeping or castlecleaning.

I thought maybe in The Empty Throne our half-Dane, half-Saxon hero Uhtred of Bebbanburg might finally regain his lands and castle, but instead the story veers away from what it seemed to be leading up to and turned its focus on the bigger picture. That's annoying, but perhaps it's for the best. The get-my-castle-back storyline was getting stale. Besides, if he got the castle back, that would be the end. In the very least, it would take a lot of wind of out this series' sails.

Like any and all Bernard Cornwell novels, there's fighting and at least some skirmishes, but this one was low-key compared to others in the series. There's a lot of discussion. Hell, there's essentially what adds up to a court room drama at one point. The fighting that does take place feels inconsequential to the bigger picture.

The book starts with a narration by Uhtred's son, which is done to keep up the suspense created at the end of the last book. However, I think Cornwell might've had a two-fold reason. I believe he wanted to give the son a try-out in the lead role. After all, Uhtred's no spring chicken. If Cornwell wants to keep this series rolling, sooner or later he's going to need a replacement for his hero. I know I'm ready for a change.

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PsyCop Briefs: Volume 1

Jordan Castillo Price
JCP Books, LLC
Reviewed by Nancy
5 out of 5 stars

Summary

Victor Bayne sees dead people for a living…and he sees them off the clock, too. After all, ghosts don’t confine their appearances to a psychic medium’s work hours.

From the macabre to the mundane, from titillating to tender, these PsyCop shorts feature stolen moments between the novels. Get a glimpse of Vic’s life with Jacob between cases, from both men’s viewpoints. Gain new insight on their psychic talents by accompanying them on odd jobs, shopping runs and family visits, or simply enjoy some downtime in the cannery.

The twenty short works range in length from flash fiction to novelettes, woven together to create a novel-length narrative of Vic and Jacob’s relationship from a fresh perspective. The stories are gleaned from various sources: anthologies, newsletters, and web, with four all-new pieces to tie the collection together and delve deeper into your favorite PsyCops' domestic life.

My Review

If you love Vic and Jacob in the PsyCop series, this is the perfect collection of stories to get your hands on!

While some of the stories stand well alone, others are better appreciated if you are acquainted with the characters from the series. I have not read all the books in the series yet, so it was a surprise to encounter characters I didn’t know, get a glimpse of the future, and see psychic abilities further developed. A few of the stories were familiar, but it was more fun to read them a second time as part of a collection.

Coffee O’Clock – Early on in their relationship, Jacob has spent nearly a week at Vic’s apartment, and while Jacob seems perfectly comfortable there, Vic is experiencing some anxiety. It’s fun to see Vic get all flustered when Jacob replaces his powdered creamer with half-and-half. I like being in Vic’s head, privy to all his neurotic insecurities and conversations with dead people. A little sad, but funny too.

Thaw - This sweet, humorous, short story shows a brief glimpse into the lives of Vic and Jacob, when they are not busy fighting crime. Who knew ice-skating could be so fun and sexy?

Mind Reader – Even though Crash is Jacob’s ex, he is still very much a presence in their lives. His friendship with Vic starts awkwardly, but I love their banter while they’re on a museum trip discussing mummies and ghosts. Crash is slutty and unpredictable, and fortunately for Vic, his empathic abilities are not nearly as honed as Vic’s abilities to communicate with the dead, allowing Vic to stuff his feelings under his belt.

Stroke of Midnight – This is one of few stories where the reader gets Jacob’s perspective on events. It’s Vic and Jacob’s first New Year together, and they are planning to attend a party hosted by Jacob’s ex, Keith, but work calls and Jacob goes alone. It was nice getting into Jacob's head and knowing how strong his feelings for Vic are. I never knew Vic had a cleft chin.

No Sale – The flirtatious salesman and his fancy knives don’t have a chance with Jacob, not while Vic is seeing ghosts. I love Vic’s self-confidence in this one.

Most Likely To… – A nice little glimpse into 80’s hairstyles and Vic’s past.

Jock Straps on Sale – Vic needs some Florida water and Crash needs a ride. I love how Crash unsettles Vic and never fails to make me laugh.

Piece of Cake – Another short featuring Crash, this time while Vic is trying to bake Jacob a cake.

In the Dark – Vic is far more comfortable stuffing himself with meat pastries than making small talk with Jacob’s friends. An encounter with a ghost and a chat with Jacob’s ex, Keith, leads to mutual understanding.

Let the Chips Fall – Before I met my husband, my home was a mishmash of eclectic pieces I picked up at flea markets, yard sales, and from friends. I feel Vic’s pain. Why agonize over paint colors when white goes with everything?

Memento – Old t-shirts, yard work, and sweet lovin’. Told from Jacob’s point of view, his tenderness and desire shines through their relationship. Vic is so lucky!

Impact – I haven’t read the stories beyond Camp Hell, so seeing Vic help Jacob explore his own abilities was a nice surprise.

Everyone’s Afraid of Clowns – A creepy, unsettling story that is just perfect for Halloween. Vic and Jacob are out buying painted pumpkins for another party that Vic is not thrilled about attending. Jacob becomes curious when Vic recalls his first experience seeing a ghost clown in an old movie theatre. Instead of going to the party, they are off to hunt ghosts. Clowns are not the only scary things!

Waiting Game – Loved this short told from Vic’s partner Lisa’s point of view. She uses her precognitive talent to read between the lines, causing Vic and Jacob to blush.

On the Road – Vic and Jacob are planning to head out to visit Jacob’s parents. Jacob is very focused on his trip preparations and attention to details, while Vic is worrying about getting there too early. Hilarious little story that shows even Mr. Perfect can make mistakes.

Wood – Vic and Jacob are helping Jacob’s Uncle Leon put together some bookshelves. I love the stories that focus on lighter moments between the two men. This was fun, humorous, and sexy.

Off the Cuff – As much as I love clothes that fit well, I don’t envy Vic’s experience with the tailor. Still, it was a thoughtful gesture on Jacob’s part and Vic really needs some new clothes.

Locked and Loaded – This started out a little tense, with both guys on high alert. Jacob didn’t have his sidearm, but proved that a strong voice and confident stance goes a long way.

Inside Out – This is a fun little prequel to the PsyCop series and one of a few stories told from Jacob’s perspective. He and his partner, Carolyn, are going to his first PsyCop meeting. While he’s excited about it, Carolyn is more interested in fixing Jacob up with a new man. As Carolyn is a telepath, Jacob has to be very careful what he says to her. As much as I enjoyed this story, I think it would be better appreciated by gaining some familiarity with the characters and their world. Vic’s misadventure with a jelly donut is hilarious!

Witness – This story packs a punch! What starts as a dull training exercise that Vic has absolutely no interest in, turns into a satisfying mystery and further solidifies the bond between Vic and Jacob.