Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness

From Publishers Weekly

Big bad business shenanigans turn a poor little rich girl into a turbocharged avenger in bestseller Bagshawe's absorbing, if overheated, second Sheldonesque thriller (after Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of the Game). Against her family's wishes, New York socialite Grace Knowles marries Lenny Brookstein, who's more than 30 years her senior—and one of the cofounders of Quorum, the most profitable hedge fund of all time. For a while, everything's utterly fabulous, until Lenny's investors lose $75 billion. When Lenny disappears after going for a solo sail off Nantucket one summer day (his body surfaces a month later), Grace winds up in prison for securities fraud, among other charges. Determined to clear her name and Lenny's, Grace pulls off a daring escape. NYPD Det. Mitch Connors sets out to catch the elusive society beauty, but in the course of his hunt provides her some unexpected help. Sheldon fans will find only tenuous links to Sheldon's own novels. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Madams are from Mars, Maids are from Venus

How was life in South Africa after Apartheid? 

LITERARYSTOP invites your reviews and comments on this book.
 

By 

Simon Larsen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) 

 This review is from Madams are from Mars, Maids are from Venus:

A New Madam & Eve Collection (Paperback)

Funny cartoon comedy about the life in South Africa after apartheid. The comedy takes up serious issues in South Africa and turns them into funny cartoons. If you know just a little about what South Africa has been going through in the last 12 years, you are going to roll on the floor laughing. My advice, buy it!

The 50th Law

Robert Greene has created a powerful book that will likely be misunderstood by most or discounted by many because of the co-author and his past, this will be a big mistake. In my opinion Robert Greene has taken a fearless step by choosing to cast 50 Cent as a modern day hip hop Napoleon, while I see the correlation, I'm not sure I'd go quite that far.

The 50th law is about two topics near and dear to my heart, fearlessness and hustle. In this case the term hustle is used to describe the street hustling tactics and the criminal endeavors of 50 Cent, what you can't overlook is that much of what 50 Cent did was in fact criminal and had no socially redeeming qualities. That said, he showed amazing insight for a child with little education other than that received from trial and error and other hustlers. He showed an intuitive grasp of core concepts of power, of strategy, and of outright manipulation. Robert discusses those tactics in great detail and in a very interesting way, the text is incredibly motivating. I constantly found myself wondering what I might do if I applied the same kind of hustle in an ethical, legal way to my existing business and kept coming back to the same conclusion, the business would grow and my competitors would be impacted.

                                                                                                                              ~ 

Dave Lakhani 

Nasty (Zane Presents)

This review is from: Nasty (Zane Presents) (Paperback)

Nicola is a newly divorced and beautiful woman. But she harbors a lot of bitterness and resentment due to things that happened in her life. She takes out her aggression through sex and takes out every man in her path. But when she set her sights on an unsuspecting family, there may be disastrous consequences for all that are involved. Nicola first gets involved with a young music executive name Carlos. Carlos is a playboy that's not looking for a long term relationship. Carlos quickly changes his mind when Nicola starts a steamy affair with him. Unbeknownst to Carlos, Nicola also has his brother Jonathan in her clutches. Jonathan is a young man that has successfully practiced abstinence until Nicola seduces him. Things get even more confusing as Carlos' mother reunites with her first love, who is also the father of his older brother Tarik.

Nasty is an entertaining and thought provoking novel by Dr. XyZ. This author brought us a twisted tale that has very realistic consequences. Dr. XyZ did a wonderful job of linking all of the characters to one another. This story serves as a public service announcement of how the HIV and AIDS epidemic is still alive and well. It also shows the end result of promiscuous behavior and how everyone needs to be responsible for their own protection. It would have been nice if the author delved more into the past of Nicola's mother, but maybe that will be explained in a future book. Nasty is a gripping and raw debut novel by Dr. XyZ.

Reviewed by Radiah Hubbert
for Urban Reviews

The 48 Laws of Power

"Learning the game of power requires a certain way of looking at the world, a shifting of perspective," writes Robert Greene. Mastery of one's emotions and the arts of deception and indirection are, he goes on to assert, essential. The 48 laws outlined in this book "have a simple premise: certain actions always increase one's power ... while others decrease it and even ruin us."
The laws cull their principles from many great schemers--and scheming instructors--throughout history, from Sun-Tzu to Talleyrand, from Casanova to con man Yellow Kid Weil. They are straightforward in their amoral simplicity: "Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit," or "Discover each man's thumbscrew." Each chapter provides examples of the consequences of observance or transgression of the law, along with "keys to power," potential "reversals" (where the converse of the law might also be useful), and a single paragraph cleverly laid out to suggest an image (such as the aforementioned thumbscrew); the margins are filled with illustrative quotations. Practitioners of one-upmanship have been given a new, comprehensive training manual, as up-to-date as it is timeless. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon.com Review

James Patterson CROSS FIRE

 

"[Patterson's] books don't pussyfoot around when it comes to the villains. These are bad, bad people... [I, Alex Cross] is political, with a lot of intrigue in high places." (The Today Show Al Roker )

"I truly believe that James Patterson has an IV hooked up to his writing arm and Great Ideas, Great Plots, and Great Characters dribble constantly into his bloodstream...I, Alex Cross stuns." (TheReviewBroads.com )

"The stakes are higher than ever before...More than a crime thriller, it's an absorbing family drama." (NightsandWeekends.com )

Product Description

Wedding bells ring
Detective Alex Cross and Bree's wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.'s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories--is the marksman a hero or a vigilante?

A murderer returns

The case explodes, and the FBI assigns agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Alex and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, the murders continue. It becomes clear that they are the work of a professional who has detailed knowledge of his victims' movements--information that only a Washington insider could possess.

Caught in a lethal cross fire

As Alex contends with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in D.C. and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross and his family for good. With a supercharged blend of action, deception, and suspense, Cross Fire is James Patterson's most visceral and exciting Alex Cross novel ever.

About the Author

James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977, James Patterson's books have sold more than 180 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women's Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the top-selling New York detective series of all time, featuring Detective Michael Bennett. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.

From AudioFile

The prolific Patterson and two fine narrators score a bull's-eye with this 17th Alex Cross adventure. Finally, Alex is going to marry Bree, but the wedding is delayed when snipers begin picking off high-profile characters in Washington. While Cross is jousting with FBI agent Max Siegle, his archenemy Kyle Craig has escaped again and is close at hand. The production is first-rate, and the musical background is perfectly placed for emphasis. Praise is due to Jay O. Sanders for his clear, crisp narration and to Andre Braugher for his accents and believable characterizations. Best of all, Patterson's ending suggests possible new beginnings--maybe even a crossover with another of his favorite characters. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

God's Debris: A Thought Experiment

     

Amazon.com Review
Scott Adams, creator of the popular comic strip "Dilbert," has written a modern-day parable about a young man and an unlikely mentor. God's Debris starts with a young deliveryman trying to hand over a package to a man with a San Francisco address. But delivering the package to this old man proves to be as difficult as trying to understand the meaning of God.

"It's for you," the old man tells the narrator, gesturing to the package. "What's in the package?" the narrator asks.
"It's the answer to your question."
"I wasn't expecting any answers,"

the deliveryman admits. About this time, the narrator begins to realize that he's not dealing with a feeble-minded old man; he's dealing with a situation that could alter his life. The sincerity and metaphysical complexity of this fable will surprise those who expect comedy, but Adams is following a tradition set by such writers as Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior) and Richard Bach (Illusions). As in many parables that have come before, the deliveryman learns the meaning of life from an illusive mentor who seems to arise from a wrinkle in time. The cleverness of the God's Debris concept is original and bound to leave readers pondering some altered definitions of God, the universe, and just about everything else. --Gail Hudson