Mortal Prey by John Sandford (2002)

On By Rick McIn books1 Comment

Mortal Prey is 13th in the long Lucas Davenport series. And one of the best.

The bad guy is a woman.

Lucas clashed with her in a previous book ➙ Certain Prey.

Years ago, Lucas Davenport almost died at the hands of Clara Rinker, a pleasant, soft-spoken, low-key Southerner, and the best hitwoman in the business.

Now retired and living in Mexico, she nearly dies herself when a sniper kills her boyfriend, the son of a local druglord, and while the boy’s father vows vengeance, Rinker knows something he doesn’t: The boy wasn’t the target — she was — and now she is going to have to disappear to find the killer herself.

The FBI and DEA draft Davenport to help track her down, and with his fiancée deep in wedding preparations, he’s really just as happy to go — but he has no idea what he’s getting into.

For Rinker is as unpredictable as ever, and between her, her old bosses in the St. Louis mob, the Mexican druglord, and the combined, sometimes warring, forces of U.S. law enforcement, this is one case that will get more dangerous as it goes along. And when the crossfire comes, anyone standing in the middle won’t stand a chance….

Certain Prey by John Sandford (1999)

On By Rick McIn books, movies1 Comment

Lucas Davenport vs Clara Rinker.

Pretty. 5’3″ or so.

Clara’s had a tough life. Raped by her step father. Ran away to become a teenaged stripper.

Her main job now is to run the bar she owns in Wichita, Kansas – The Rink.

Side job ➙ Hitwoman. And she’s very good at killing people. The best hitwoman in the business.

And in this book, Rinker partners up with another killer. Double trouble.

Her latest hit sounds simple: a defense attorney wants a rival eliminated. No problem—until a witness survives. Clara usually knows how to deal with loose ends: cut them off, one by one, until they’re all gone. This time, there’s one loose end that’s hard to shake.

Lucas Davenport has no idea of the toll this case is about to take on him. Clara knows his weak spots. She knows how to penetrate them, and how to use them. And when a woman like Clara has the advantage, no one is safe.

Rinker returns in another book ➙ Mortal Prey.

This is one of the Prey books adapted for a TV movie (2012). Mark Harmon plays Davenport.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Upscaling Old Photos

On By Rick McIn about Rick, McCharles family, photos, travel, travel MexicoLeave a comment

Me fishing bass in Mexico … a couple 😀 of years ago.

upscaled 400%
original
upscaled 400%
Original of my parent’s wedding
upscaled 400%
Original

There are many software options for upscaling.

The better the original, the better the upscaled version.

I used one that was a FREE website in March 2025 — if you upscaled only 1 photo at a time up to a maximum of 400%.

IMGupscaler.com

An Immense World by Ed Yong

On By Rick McIn books, education, scienceLeave a comment

Fantastic non-fiction.

One of those books that makes science entertaining. It reminded me of The Body by Bill Bryson. That book made 1st year Anatomy interesting.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us is a 2022 book by Ed Yong that really impressed.

MOST interesting to me was the mystery behind how all kinds of creatures can migrate so accurately. In 2025 we can still barely grasp how that is possible. It might be partially visual. Birds might SEE something in the direction of flight.

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world. 

In An Immense World, author and Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us.

We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats.

We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision.

We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved. 

EdYong.me

Humans have better vision than any other mammal — but far inferior to birds of prey, some of which can spot a moving rat at 1 mile distance.

Evolution is amazing.

Trial and error over millions of years works.

Ed Yong is a British-American science journalist and author.  Born in Malaysia.

In 2021, he received a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for a series on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ed Yong reads his own audio book. Amazon.

The Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor

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The Lions of Lucerne is a 2002 spy novel by Brad Thor.

Thor’s first novel with the character of Scot Harvath, an ex-Navy SEAL and current U.S. Secret Service agent, The Lions of Lucerne relates how Harvath survives an attack which leaves 30 of his fellow agents dead and the president of the United States kidnapped. Harvath then begins a search for those responsible and attempts to rescue the president.

Spy novel?

I’d call this a thriller. And I don’t like thrillers.

Thrillers are where one hero saves the world. No attempt at anything remotely realistic. Think Tom Clancy

Publishers Weekly wrote “it’s hard to get past the novel’s many graceless shortcomings, clichéd language […], cartoonish scenes and a protagonist whose superhero character desperately needs fleshing out.”

I did enjoy some scenes set in Europe. But that’s about it.

Today Thor is some kind of political junkie. He announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2020 election.

I will read no more Thor.

The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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This is the 3rd book I’ve tried by Korelitz.

I got through The Plot. But quit The Sequel at 60%. Quit The Latecomer at 50%.

Good writing. Critics love Korelitz. But — for me — the storytelling is WAY too slow. Nothing happens page after page.

Here’s one of those good reviews.

The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz review – witty, tightly plotted follow-up

The sequel to bestselling thriller The Plot takes the wife of the first novel’s protagonist and throws her into a satisfyingly twisty, literary satire

I Switched from Twitter to Bluesky

On By Rick McIn ethics, Facebook, internet, TwitterLeave a comment

A MAGA NAZI owns Twitter now. He deliberately posts misinformation and disinformation.

Twitter is now too immoral and dangerous for me.

So far, I like Bluesky much better. For one thing, it embeds correctly in this website.

RickMcCharles.com is my Bluesky handle.

VIDEO ➙ Strong is Beautiful. Gymnastics icon Brooklyn Moors. gymnasticscoaching.com/2025/03/28/b…

— Rick McCharles (@rickmccharles.com) 2025-03-28T15:07:05.973Z

Here’s my attempt to embed a public Facebook post on this site.

And here’s Instagram.

Reacher – season 3 … meh

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

As a big fan of all things Reacher, the 3rd season was disappointing.

Weaker than one or two.

Too much shoot-em-up. Not enough Reacher using his brawn and brains to defeat the bad guys.

In fact, Reacher isn’t up to his usual self-confidence in this one.

Paulie, played by Olivier Richters, a 7’2″ bodybuilder known as “The Dutch Giant” is impressive, however.

Final fight scene is EPIC Reacher.

Neagley, my second favourite character, makes an appearance. That was appreciated.

I’m hoping season 4 goes back to a more traditional Reacher story. Wandering America. Stumbling into a situation.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.