A stunning artifact holds the key to an untapped power of global destruction-- While working on a dig in the California wilderness, archaeologist-adventurer Annja Creed uncovers evidence of a tragedy that's linked to Chinese miners during the days of the Gold Rush. A sudden attack on the site by shadow if gures drives Annja to if nd the connection to a mysterious buried city in China. Lured by legends of gold, betrayal and the vengeance of a Han Dynasty overlord, Annja travels on the Orient Express, battling avaricious treasure hunters and a modern-day descendant of an ancient league of assassins. Her adversaries will stop at nothing to stake their claim on the fabled lost city, where a Han leader's dark past promises doom for those who dare to reveal its evil power. Views: 62
FromUnder different circumstances, North Korea could be the subject of a Marx Brothers satire, with the elements of a pompous, ego-driven patriarch, a worshipful population, and a general aura of fantasy and illusion. But North Korea has a superbly equipped million-man army and an expanding nuclear weapons program. So this comprehensive examination of this totalitarian society and the two men who have dominated it is often terrifying. For a quarter century, Martin has covered North Korea while working for the Baltimore Sun, the Asian Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek. Using newly available material from Russian and Chinese sources, Martin offers surprising insights into the career and character of both Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. He strives, albeit with moderate success, to unveil the reality from the mounds of myth and distortions with which both men have surrounded themselves. But Martin's account is most chilling in his descriptions of contemporary North Korean society. And yet, as Martin eloquently illustrates in this important book, the control of the Kim dynasty may well be tenuous. Jay FreemanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedReview"_Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader_ is, from all I have read, simply the best book ever written about North Korea. Relying largely on extensive interviews with defectors, Martin portrays North Korean life with a clarity that is stunning, and he captures the paradoxes in North Korean public opinion."--Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Review of Books "Martin's massive book provides as useful a set of insights into life in North Korea as can be found anywhere."- L.A. Times Review "As an AP correspondent covering South Korea in the 1970s, I learned quickly how difficult it was to discover any reliable information about that secretive, threatening regime to the north. Brad Martin's book is testimony to the thoroughness of his work, and the high level of his ability as a journalist and researcher. " North Korea is one of the least known, least understood countries in the world. Its leaders have always been enigmas, both frightening and fascinating, but almost impossible to decipher. Again today, it becomes vitally important that we do both, yet there is almost nothing of importance being written about the subject. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader is important, as well as fascinating. The research is impeccable, the writing excellent. This is a major and timely contribution, and essential to anyone who hopes to deal sensibly with a vital region of the world." -Terry Anderson, former AP correspondent and author of Den of Lions "Brad Martin's Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, a careful, penetrating analysis of North Korea, is more than just a book. Given the levels of secrecy which surround the Pyongyang regime and the danger it poses to its neighbors, Martin has rendered a considerable service to us all." -bestselling author, David Halbertstam "Brad Martin's book on North Korea is at once enlightening and frightening. It is lucid in writing, balanced in analysis, and comprehensive in its meticulous research and anecdotal evidence. The detailed exposition of the narrow life of luxury and the devious character of the 'Dear Leader,' Kim Jong-il, is scary. So is the description of North Korea as a corrupt, secretive, stagnant fief of the Kim family. Brad Martin, with his long years as a Pyongyang-watcher, is eminently qualified to write a book that should strip away any illusions America and the West have about Kim's dangerous regime."-Richard Halloran, former correspondent for The New York Times in Asia and Washington, D.C. Views: 62
In a wonderfully unpredictable tale of adventure, romance and a goodly bit of humour, Ever After tells the story of a princess who is trapped in a tower by her over protective father. The princess must escape the tower and choose between love and duty. And when one thinks this is the end, the tale takes a turn and the princess finds herself on an unconventional path to happily ever after. Views: 62
Compelling, true accounts of the dangerous expeditions of courageous men who dared to risk their lives for the sake of murderers, thieves, and even cannibals. Their unrelenting passion moved them onward as they shared the message of hope with ruthless peoples who had never been reached and desperately needed to hear about God's love and redemption. Indeed, these men are true heroes to emulate. Views: 62
From Publishers WeeklyBestsellers Preston and Child have come up with another gripping, action-packed page-turner in this concluding volume to a trilogy pitting their Holmesian hero, FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast, against his Mycroft-turned-Moriarty—his younger brother, Diogenes. Picking up shortly after the events of 2005's Dance of Death, the book opens with the arrival of a package of fine dust at the Museum of Natural History; Diogenes has returned the diamonds he stole earlier. Meanwhile, Aloysius is in prison, having been framed for a number of murders. As his friends plot to spring him, his adversary lays the groundwork for a crowning criminal achievement. A mysterious benefactor funds the restoration of an ancient Egyptian tomb at the museum, but the work is beset by the mayhem Preston and Child's readers have come to expect—gory murders and suggestions of the supernatural. This entry, tying up many loose ends from its predecessors, is less likely to work as well for first-time readers, but followers of Aloysius Pendergast's previous exploits will find it a satisfying read with a tantalizing, ominous twist at the end. 10-city author tour. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ReviewJames Gale's gravelly voice is ideal for the cinder-lunged Rebus, and he manages somehow to lubricate out some of the harshness for cleaner living characters. Meanwhile, Gale's accents are superb , as he handles a spectrum ranging from overweening English toffee-nose to malicious Edinburgh corner boy. All in all, this narration adds another degree of atmosphere to a novel that is already redolent of the city it sprang from.
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It began as the ultimate voyage of discovery — only to become the stuff of lost Republic legend…and a dark chapter in Jedi history. Now, at last, acclaimed author Timothy Zahn returns to tell the whole extraordinary story of the remarkable — and doomed — Outbound Flight Project.
The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking. Six Jedi Masters, twelve Jedi Knights, and fifty thousand men, women, and children will embark — aboard a gargantuan vessel, equipped for years of travel — on a mission to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds beyond the known galaxy. The government bureaucracy threatens to scuttle the expedition before it can even start — until Master C'baoth foils a murderous conspiracy plot, winning him the political capital he needs to set in motion the dream of Outbound Flight.
Or so it would seem. For unknown to the famed Jedi Master, the successful launch of the mission is secretly being orchestrated by an unlikely ally: the evil Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, who has his own reasons for wanting Outbound Flight to move forward… and, ultimately, to fail.
Yet Darth Sidious is not the mission's most dangerous challenge. Once underway, the starship crosses paths at the edge of Unknown Space with the forces of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and the brilliant mastermind best known as "Thrawn." Even Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, aboard Outbound Flight with his young Padawan student, Anakin Skywalker, cannot help avert disaster. Thus what begins as a peaceful Jedi mission is violently transformed into an all-out war for survival against staggering odds — and the most diabolical of adversaries.
Timothy Zahn's unique mix of espionage, political gamesmanship, and deadly interstellar combat breathes electrifying life into a Star Wars legend. Views: 61
Welcome to Schooled, where even homework has a price. Ivy-League educated Anna Taggert believes that enriching the minds of America's youth is the greatest gift, and that landing a job at an elite Manhattan school is her lucky break. But when the grim reality of the private school hierarchy settles in, not to mention that of her meager compensation, Anna realizes that passion might not be worth the sacrifice. Ever the optimist, Anna forges on until she discovers that the papers she grades are not the work of her students, but of their high-priced, college-educated tutors. After uncovering this underground economy, where a teacher can make the same hourly rate as a Manhattan attorney, Anna is seduced by lucrative offers—one after another. Teacher by day, tutor by night, she starts to sample the good life her students enjoy: binges at Barneys, dinners at the Waverly Inn, and a new address on Madison Avenue. Until, that is, Anna gets schooled. Views: 61
Katie Hoffman lost her husband after only four months of marriage. Pregnant and close to losing the farm, she advertises to sell it. When a handsome buyer offers to marry her and let her keep the farm, she hastily agrees, wanting to give her child a father. But rushing into another marriage proves to be a mistake when a rugged bounty hunter crashes the wedding to capture the groom. Will Katie slow down enough to hear God's voice? Dusty McIntyre lost his wife to a heinous outlaw. After tracking the criminal for over a year, catching him doesn't bring Dusty the satisfaction that he'd hoped for. Dusty feels compelled to help Katie. Will he stay and find the peace and love he is looking for? Views: 61
"The first time I saw Nica after she died was at Jamie Amory's Fourth of July party . . ."A stunning debut about murder and glamour set in the ambiguous and claustrophobic world of an exclusive New England prep schoolDeath sets the plot in motion: the murder of Nica Baker, beautiful, wild, enigmatic, and only sixteen. The crime is solved, and fast—a lonely classmate, unrequited love, a suicide-note confession—but memory and instinct won't allow Nica's older sister Grace to accept the case as closed. Dropped out of college and living at home, working at the moneyed and progressive private high school from which she recently graduated, Grace becomes increasingly obsessed with identifying and punishing the real killer.Compulsively readable, Lili Anolik's debut novel combines the haunting atmospherics of The Secret History and the hairpin plot twists of Megan Abbott's Dare Me. Views: 61
