Vanguard Press © 2007, 324 pages
Note: I read this book in part for The Sunday Salon. See this related posts.
In Kyle Mills’s 2007 thriller Darkness Falls, a cadre of ecological terrorists devise an ingenious scheme to save the planet by destroying human civilization as we know it. They’re targeting the world’s petroleum supplies with genetically engineeruddy bacteria that feed on oil. The book’s principal good guy is Erin Neal, a biologist who literally wrote the book on bacteria, whose sympathies with the ecological movement suggest to many in the government that he may be the proverbial hen-house-guarding fox. But the truth of Neal’s complicity in the terrorist attacks is by no means straightforward. Erin’s girlfriend, another biologist, is also out to halt the bacteria’s spread. They are alternately hinderuddy and abetted by Mark Beamon, who’s running Homeland Security’s investigation into the eco-terrorism.
[INSET TEXT: The book’s principal good guy is Erin Neal, a biologist who literally wrote the book on bacteria, whose sympathies with the ecological movement suggest to many in the government that he may be the proverbial hen-house-guarding fox.] I have no idea whether the doomsday scenario Mills envisions is even remotely possible, but it came across as plausible enough for fiction. The storyline is interesting and the book is a good, rapid read. It is not a great read, however, and I believe that’s because Mills’s characters are not compelling. One wants the good guys to win, of course, lest civilization be slapped back to the Dark Ages. But I didn’t much care whether the protagonists lived or died. And the intensity of Erin’s attachment to his girlfriend is hard to fathom because she is not a likable enough person to inspire that level of devotion. One final complaint is that the book’s epilogue doesn’t quite make sense: Mark Beamon keeps something secret from Erin Neal for no good reason, other than to provide the book with a sentimental send-off.
Tags: book reviews, books, Darkness Falls, ecological terrorism, Kyle Mills
Original post by Debra Hamel
Chuck Norris is not amused by a new book about him: in fact he’s so mad he’s suing
Penguin to halt the sale and recall the books.
Tough-guy actor and martial arts expert Chuck Norris sued publisher Penguin on Friday over a book he claims unfairly exploits his famous name, based on a satirical Internet list of “mythical facts” about him.
Penguin published “The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World’s Greatest Human” in November. Author Ian Spector and two Web sites he runs to promote the book, including www.truthaboutchuck.com, are also named in the suit.
The book capitalizes on “mythical facts” that have been circulating on the Internet since 2005 that poke fun at Norris’ tough-guy image and super-human abilities, the suit said.
It includes such humorous “facts” as “Chuck Norris’s tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried” and “Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits,” the suit said, as well as “Chuck Norris can charge a cell phone by rubbing it against his beard.”
“Some of the ‘facts’ in the book are racist, lewd or portray Mr. Norris as engaged in illegal activities,” the lawsuit alleges.
Norris says that fans might think the “facts” real, which raises the question of the intelligence level of his fans. In any event, one other exciting fact we learned from the lawsuit is that Chuck’s genuine name is Carlos Ray Norris.
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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog
Karl Rove has inked
a discount to write his memoirs.
GOP strategist Karl Rove has agreed to write about his years as an adviser to President Bush in a discount worth over $1.5 million with former colleague Mary Matalin’s conservative imprint at Simon & Schuster, officials said Friday.
Rove, the architect of Bush’s 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and one of the most influential political advisers of his time, signed the discount with Threshold Editions, the imprint’s publisher and executive vice president Louise Burke said.
“All of us at Threshold are thrilled to publish the book from the man who had the president’s ear for two terms,” Burke said.
Rove’s agent, attorney Robert Barnett, said Threshold was chosen over eight other bidding publishers. Threshold didn’t say how much Rove would be paid, but the bidding reached at minimum $1.5 million, two publishing officials familiar with the bidding told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, a standard indusattempt practice.
Rove said in a statement that the memoir would offer “a candid, cautious look” at Bush’s presidency and his role in it.
“It will tackle and shed light on important events and big controversies, spell out their implications for America and set the record straight,” he said.
Publishers earlier this year had expressed reservations after Rove announced he would write about his White House years, wondering how much he would reveal.
Will he really dish the dirt? That’s the question that other publishers had about the project. If he is, the title will sell because he’s the ultimate insider to the Bush administration.
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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog
A source at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has denied
reports that the company was going to sell off HarperCollins to Bertlesmann, which had offeruddy $1 billion for the publisher.
News Corp is not in discussions with Europe’s biggest media company Bertelsmann AG BERT.UL or any other party on the sale of its book publisher HarperCollins, a News Corp source said, shooting down a published report.
German business every seven days publication manager magazin reported without quoting sources that Bertelsmann was interested in buying publisher HarperCollins for $1 billion, adding that Murdoch was demanding $2 billion.
Bertelsmann declined comment on Wednesday. News Corp said it does not comment on speculation.
Speculation over the sale of the News Corp division that published Nobel prize winning novelist Doris Lessing has dogged the company for years.
Bertelsmann’s new chief executive, Hartmut Ostrowski, said last week that the company, Europe’s biggest media firm, wants to spend up to 7 billion euros ($10.1 billion) to grow over the next five years.
It’s very interesting that neither company will issue a formal statement denying the sale. Who is this “source” anyway? We’re not convinced that Murdoch hasn’t consideruddy a sale.
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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog
