Amazonia – James Rollins

Summary: A member of a scientific expedition stumbles from the Amazon years after his entire team disappeared. The catch is he went in missing an arm, and came out with both arms. The government sends in a team to figure out what happened, and one of the members selected is the son of one of the original expedition members.

Setting: Present day U.S. and South America

Plot: Nathan Rand is selected to join a team exploring the Amazon, looking for traces of his father’s expedition which vanished four years earlier. During their quest, they’re pursued by a mercenary hit man and driven directly into the arms of an ancient civilization that might have access to native medicines that has mind boggling properties.

Between the mercenaries, the harsh Amazonian rain forest, and the indigenous natives who are pretty happy with their solitude, this is shaping up to be a pretty harrowing adventure.

Criticisms: Some of the pharmaceutical uses for the plants they find may very well be real, but come across as being fiction. Toward the end of the story there’s a section of the book that requires an active suspension of disbelief.

Wrap-up: Rollins has become one of my favorite authors, in part because of books like this one. A pretty solid story that’s fairly well written and mostly plausible.

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book a B+.

Digital Fortress - Dan Brown

Summary: The NSA’s multi-billion dollar code breaking computer encounters the first code it’s never been able to break. The head of the Crypto division calls in his best troubleshooter to help him figure out what’s going on, while simultaneously sending her boyfriend over to Europe to chase down the personal effects of the code’s designer. It’s a race against time when the code transforms and starts breaking down the machine’s defenses, threatening to open the country’s most secret databases to the entire world.

Setting: Present day U.S. and Europe

Plot: In this case, the summary pretty much says it all.

Criticisms: Can get a bit geeky at times, but not a bad read.

Wrap-up: Dan Brown is pretty good at his craft, and this one’s no exception. He’s not the greatest dialog writer around, but there are some decent action sequences. Not a ‘must read’, but a fun book if you’re looking for something to keep your mind busy.

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book a solid B.

Tripwire – Lee Child

Summary: A Reacher novel. If you need more of a summary than that, you're not familiar with him, and you need to be. Pick up a Reacher novel, then come back to this review.

Setting: Present day U.S.

Plot: Jack Reacher is contacted by a private investigator while working as a laborer in Key West. After the PI makes contact with him, he’s mysteriously killed (the PI, not Reacher). Who hired the PI? Reacher takes it upon himself to figure that out, as well as trying to figure out who took him out, and why they did it.

Turns out that Garber (Reacher’s old boss) was investigating a soldier who was MIA in Viet Nam and he evidently pissed off the wrong people. Reacher’s left to pick up the pieces, which he does in his standard spectacular fashion.

Criticisms: No technical criticisms.

Wrap-up: Reacher is a wonderful character, but to be honest, I need a break from him for a while. He’s a bad ass, and everything typically works out for him. That’s a bit tiring after a while. I think a bit of separation may bring back some of the enjoyment for me.

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book an A-.

The Templar Salvation – Raymond Khoury

Summary: Another Templar conspiracy novel.

Setting: Present day and Medieval Europe and Middle East

Plot: At an archaeological dig in Turkey, clues are found to a Templar treasure. FBI Agent Reilly is involved when his ex-girlfriend is kidnapped by a terrorist who is following the clues to the lost treasure, which could topple the Catholic Church.

Criticisms: A couple of plot holes, a character or two who completely disappear. A bit jumpy in some of the transitions to flashbacks.

Wrap-up: Khoury is an author who’s trying to cash in on the popularity of Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code. His transitions are a bit rough, and this series can be a bit plodding at times, but does a halfway competent job of keeping the books moving.

Having said that, I keep reading this series. Maybe I’m a just glutton for punishment.

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book a C+.

Phoenix Rising – John J. Nance

Summary: A newly revived Pan Am is in trouble. Accidents are plaguing their planes, they’re being turned in to the FAA for bogus violations, and their financial security is anything but stable. From all indications, someone is manipulating their stock valuation, and the lenders are calling in all the chips. Will the new CFO be able to save this fledgling airline?
 
Setting: US and Great Britain, late 1980’s

Plot: It’s not very often (in the books that I read, anyway) that the plot revolves around financing a company.

According to the narrative, Pan Am went out of business and the company has recently been brought back to life, due to the efforts of Elizabeth Sterling, a rising star on Wall Street. When the CFO of the fledgling airline makes some bad decisions (undoing some of the deals Elizabeth put together), management in the company smells trouble coming and entices Elizabeth to sign on as their new CFO.

Now Elizabeth has to restructure all of the deals all over again, but now someone’s been talking to all the lenders and convincing them not to loan to Pan Am. Other things start going wrong as well; maintenance problems with the planes, missing pilot certification records, intruders discovered in their maintenance facilities. It looks like someone is trying to put Pan Am back out of business.

Can Elizabeth find someone who’s willing to lend the necessary money to the new company?
 
Criticisms: Some of the financial material was over my head, but there’s enough action to pull you through the rest of the book.
 
Wrap-up: It might sound pretty boring, but it’s actually a pretty good book. Nance is very knowledgeable about the airline business, and he’s not too bad at the action sequences either. Worth a look.
 
Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book a solid B.