Living with a Navy SEAL- Be Ready for Anything at Any Time

If you want to get tough, hire a Navy SEAL to train you. Jesse Itzler wanted to find out if he had what it took to become in the best shape of his life, so he hired an actual SEAL to train him for a month in order to get out of the exercise rut he had been in. By the end of the training period, Jesse was running at a faster pace, had done more push-ups and sit-ups in one day than most of us do over a year, and had experienced swimming in icy old water during an especially frigid New England winter. His trainer, simply named SEAL in the book in order to keep his identity secret, lived, went to work and traveled with Itzler and his family, and during one especially humorous incident, protected their home from two door-to-door potential home invasion individuals. Having a house guest who orders for your family an emergency life raft in case of a terrorist attack on Manhattan so you can escape via the Hudson River makes life interesting, and Jesse relates his time spent with SEAL with equal parts of humor and angst over his blisters and pains acquired from the training. Itzler certainly gets his money's worth from SEAL, and over the course of the book, gets a new perspective on life. SEAL trains right along with Itzler, and if our country's SEALS are as tough as he is, we should all sleep much better at night knowing they are there to protect us. At the conclusion of the month, Itzler's wife expresses a wish for SEAL to return to train her as well, which hopefully will lead to a second story with SEAL. If you thought your own workouts were tough enough for you, you haven't learned anything until you read this. 

Itzler, Jesse, Living With a SEAL:31 Days With the Toughest Man on the Planet, Center Street Books, Hatchette,  New York. November 2015. Isbn: 978-1-4789-6045-4 

For the Geek Girls

Dahlia Moss has no job, no income, and is surviving by staying at her friend Charice's apartment while still getting over a breakup with a guy who left her for a dental hygenist. During one of her roommate's parties, Dahlia meets a handsome stranger who asks her to do a job for him, find a spear that was taken from him in an online role playing game, Kingdoms of Zoth. Dahlia can't say no to the money, and as she used to play the game, she figures it will be easy enough to do for some fast cash. All she has to do is go to the library and find book on how to become a private detective right? Unfortunately for her foray into her new career, her client soon winds up dead in the real world, murdered by an actual spear, and now his family wants Dahlia the private detective to find out who did it. Dahlia attempts to solve the crime both in the real and online world, and the novel comes to a finish at where else but a gaming convention for players of the online game. If you have ever been considered a "fan girl" of anything in the world of geek, you will enjoy this novel immensely. Those born after the year 2000 might not get some of the references made in the novel however, unless they have knowledge of geekdom topics such as the TARDIS and Pokemon. Luckily, two more Dahlia novels will be forthcoming in the future, as the comedic writing of Wirestone is fantastic.

Wirestone, Max, The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss, Redhook Books, New York, October 2015, Isbn: 978-0-316-38597-8 

Patterson & Ledwidge-Alert

Detective Michael Bennett is back in New York from Ireland, just as someone is targeting the city with devastating attacks.The killers have a knowledge of technology, and how to use it to deliver the maximum impact to stop the city in its tracks, disrupting the everyday lives of New Yorkers and putting everyone on edge. After the first attack in the city's subway systems, Bennett teams up with an old ally, FBI agent Emily Parker, in order to try to find the killers and  stop the next attack. It comes quickly, and a high profile indivudual in the city is assassinated. The clock is ticking, and Bennett and Parker are racing to figure out who is responsible. Interestingly, there is a cameo  in the novel from someone who thinks he can assist them, that of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, currently spending his days in federal prison. Finally the killers make a demand, deliver a ransom or an engineered tsunami will occur, wiping the city off the face of the earth. Bennett and Parker need to find the killers before the city of New York is completely destroyed. A great fast paced read, and one that fans of Bennett's character will enjoy reading. 


Patterson, James, Ledwidge, Michael,  Alert, Little Brown and Co, New York, August 2015, Isbn: 978-0-316-40703-8

Goodbye Mitch Rapp

I had to slowly savor the last Mitch Rapp novel by Vince Flynn, The Survivor. For me this was a tough but enjoyable novel to read, as I love Rapp’s character and have been enjoying reading about him for a long while. The recent passing of Flynn however, made me want to slow down as much as possible while reading to make the book last just a little longer, knowing it would be the last one. Luckily for fans of Flynn, Kyle Mills stepped in to finish the book after Flynn’s death, and personally I think he did a pretty good job in staying with the characters Flynn had developed over the last decade. Rapp is a take-no-prisoners CIA operative, who is feared and respected over the world as a man who gets the job done. The latest threat comes from a man in their world who is threatening the CIA world by posthumously releasing critical information vital to the safety of current operatives, in a bid to take down the CIA and cause chaos in the government. Operatives and informants are at risk, and Rapp is racing against time and other players to find the source of the leaks before more information is released, while at the same time dealing with international players and governments who want nothing more than to see Rapp dead.  Rapp gets the job done, with his typical no-holds-barred actions, and the novel builds to a great finish. Previous characters from the Rapp series are also featured in this last novel, and it was like saying goodbye to old friends with this novel. The world would be better off with more people like Mitch Rapp, and his character will be missed.

Flynn, Vince, The Survivor: A Mitch Rapp novel by Kyle Mills, Simon and Schuster, New York. October 2015. Isbn 978-1-4767-8345-1

Lucy Foley-The Book of Lost and Found

Lucy Foley has written a novel of lost love that spans three generations with the novel The Book of Lost and Found. Kate loses her mother, a ballerina,  and her adoptive grandmother within a short span of time. Before her grandmother passes, she tells Kate a secret she had kept, that Kate’s real grandmother had come searching for her lost daughter years ago. This revelation prompts Kate to begin searching into the past, traveling to Europe and Corsica, and New York, trying to learn who her grandmother really was. The story is told in both Kate’s present and in flashbacks to her grandparent’s era from the 20’s to the war, with Kate searching for the answers she seeks while trying to hold onto her memories of her mother. It is a novel of love lost, mother and daughter relationships, and dealing with a loss while keeping memories alive. Kate finds a large portion of the information she is seeking on Corsica, with the help of a man who knew and loved her grandmother, and she is able to begin dealing with the loss of her own mother and possibly begin anew with a love of her own.  I thought this was a fantastic read, and the story kept me turning the pages to find out what happens to Kate, and what happened in the past. 

Foley, Lucy, The Book of Lost and Found, Back Bay Books(Little, Brown and Company), August 2015, Isbn:978-0-316-37505-4