booknewb

TL;DR: Sherlock Holmes crosses paths with Dracula This was frightening, although a bit less so than the original material. I must say that the story fits quite well with Bram Stoker's original work. I chanced upon this book in one of those late afternoon excursion to a Book Sale. Talk about crossing fictional universes. It's not unusual for characters to have crossovers. But having seen this in that bookstore, this immediately piqued my curiosity. Can this work? And it appears it does.  To be fair, Sherlock seems out of place in this one. One, because he prides himself in being extremely rational and logical. With the infusion of the undead.. well, he seems a bit trapped. Another is it was more like a hunt or a chase, than a tale of detection. It's a good suspense/mystery story nonetheless. Other related books: Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde  by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)   Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

TL;DR: Girl dies and meets five people in heaven; along the way she learn five lessons and then something else. <Spoiler Alert!>

TL;DR: A Dutch Industrialist wanting revenge against Russian leadership sets up a terrorism attempt against the US using a previously submerged Soviet Atomic Bomb. Dirk Pitt and team are compelled to stop this. Dirk Jr. and Summer gets tangled with Russian Intelligence leading to a Russian Imperial Treasure, Romanov Gold. This went fast. Initially thought there were only two entities or story lines. Spoiler: There are three. The pace has the feel of a Sherlock Holmes/Tom Clancy mix while still having that James Bond/Indiana Jones-vibe for the seas and oceans. The Dirk Pitt series has this tendency of mixing contemporary news with historical issues.The fiction starts at the seams where history is deemed to be unfulfilled. The product is one fine craft of action and adventure. Longer summary: More Spoilers

TL;DR: Bad guys are found mining uranium under the Atlantic Ocean causing environmental problems; and they want to takeover the Cuban government. Good guys investigate and try to stop this. Oh and they go on a search for an Aztec Emperor's Treasure I grew up on the Dirk Pitt series. In today's world of the MCU's, DCEU and Star Wars EU, this was my fictional universe. This was my long standing fictional series.  Although it's been a couple years since I'd last read a Clive Cussler novel, it seems the spirit of adventure in this book remains the same. Some of the characters have matured but overall it feels familiar in a good way, like being home. A longer summary below, but a spoiler warning should be called out, so Spoiler Alert.

This was beautiful.  If in another universe I was an author, this would be the book that I would have liked to have written. It tells the story of Francisco "Frankie" Presto, from his birth to his death. All the while, brushing shoulders with well-known people of music.  It's kind of a historical retelling, including a collection of sort of interviews about how different people met Frankie. Here's one beautiful moment in the book. "Papa" "Yes, Kai?" "My fingers hurt." "Music is pain." "Really?" "It's something my teacher told me." "What are these things?" "Those are calluses." "Why am i getting them?" "Because you're learning. The more you play, the harder they will get." "Yesterday they were bleeding." "Yesterday you tried a lot of songs." "I was terrible." "No, you weren't." "I'll be bett...