The 11th title in the Gabriel Allon series is my favourite, so far.
While enjoying a day in London with his wife, antiterrorist expert Gabriel Allon spots a man he believes to be a suicide bomber and follows him into Covent Garden. Alas, undercover police knock him down before he can intervene, and carnage ensues. Afterward, the CIA asks Gabriel to track down an American-born cleric now setting himself up as a rival to Osama bin Laden. …
A sequel to the 2012 film Jack Reacher, the film stars Tom Cruise …
The plot follows Reacher going on-the-run with an Army Major who has been framed for espionage. …
It’s been successful at the Box Office. But reviews have been poor.
Personally I very much liked the film. It’s stays quite true to the minimalist Reacher books.
And I’ve always liked Cruise as an actor.
Cobie Smulders is very believable, too.
#21 in the series.
I’ve enjoyed all the Jack Reacher books. This is one of the best.
It’s much stronger than Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon books, in comparison.
A prequel set back in 1996 — Reacher is still in the army, age 35, and he’s moved to an emergency task force because the intelligence services in Europe have plucked a menacing phrase from the air: “The American wants a hundred million dollars.” For what?
With Frances Neagley, his trusted sergeant and trusty sidekick, by his side — what problem can’t be resolved? …
Tumbl Trak sent me a gift certificate. I ordered AirPods. 🙂
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
FAQ: Everything you need to know about Apple’s wireless earbuds
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For some reason I’ve continued with Daniel Silva’s series:
A Death in Vienna (2004)
Prince of Fire (2005)
The Messenger (2006)
They are easy listening. Formulaic.
Instructive of the Israeli dilemma — survival in a region surrounded by enemies.
Of these three Prince of Fire was best, I’d say.
… the semireluctant spy, Gabriel, is pulled from his cover to hunt down terrorists who have committed a horrific crime, in this case the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Rome. The mastermind behind the bombing is French archeologist Paul Martineau, aka “Khaled, son of Sabri, grandson of Sheikh Asad. …
I was not all that impressed with book 2 in the series.
1 The Kill Artist 2000
2 The English Assassin 2002
3 The Confessor 2003
But book 3 was better. A Dan Brown type thriller where the Israeli assassin is called in to prevent an attack on the Pope.
… The new pope, Pietro Lucchesi, who calls himself Paul VII, immediately angers powerful members of the Vatican by announcing his desire to speak at the synagogue of Rome. Opponents, such as Cardinal Marco Brindisi suspect that Paul VII intends to unearth candid and potentially damaging information about the role of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust. …
It motivated me to continue on to book 4 – A Death in Vienna (2004).
Roberts’ Shantaram (2003) is my favourite novel all time.
The Mountain Shadow – a sequel set 2 years later – was not published until 2015.
Julia Flyte:
Like many others, I loved Shantaram, and so I approached this sequel with an equal mix of anticipation and trepidation. Could Gregory David Roberts repeat the magic? The short answer is no. This book isn’t nearly as good as Shantaram, and worse, it has the potential to make Shantaram seem worse in retrospect. But having said that, it’s not a total disaster either.
I agree with Julia and most other critics. I do not recommend The Mountain Shadow to anyone.
There are a few good scenes. Some interesting philosophical observations. But overall it’s a too long, messy ramble with no story line.
Roberts dropped out of public life in 2014.
The Rolling Stones (also published under the name Space Family Stone in the United Kingdom) is a 1952 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. …
The Stones, a family of “Loonies” (residents of the Moon, known as “Luna” in Latin), purchase and rebuild a used spaceship, and go sightseeing around the Solar System.
The twin teenage boys, Castor and Pollux, buy used bicycles to sell on Mars …
While on Mars, the twins buy their brother Buster a native Martian creature called a flat cat, born pregnant and producing a soothing vibration, as a pet. …
A similar concept and plotline appeared in the Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles“. …
Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and Time Enough for Love are two of my favourite books.
The controversial, provocative Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are considered the big 3 early Science Fiction authors. I was one of the teenage boys who read them avidly.
Skillful, original and weird.
Can’t say I loved the book. But it is certainly memorable.
Hey Nostradamus! (2003) … centred on a fictional 1988 school shooting in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia and its aftermath. This is Coupland’s most critically acclaimed novel. …
The novel comprises four first-person narratives, each from the perspective of a character directly or indirectly affected by the shooting. The novel intertwines substantial themes, including adolescent love, sex, religion, prayer and grief. …
Coupland has expressed his concern that the killers of the Columbine High School massacre received more focus than the victims; this is his story about the victims of tragedy. …
Warren recommended Silva’s spy novel series featuring Israeli agent Gabriel Allon.
The Kill Artist (2000) is book #1.
Gabriel Allon was 9 years retired from the espionage game, an art restorer and sailer.
His old boss Ari Shamron convinces him to return to hunt down Tariq al-Hourani, a terrorist mastermind.
I enjoyed the first book and will continue to book #2.
Rick McCharles 