Never by Ken Follett

Found this paperback at Sam's, a Follet novel I'd not read, a saga in one volume, 802 pages, published originally in 2022 this edition in 2023 . A great mystery, action intrigue featuring three dynamic females and a couple stalwart males. 

 Pauline Green  President of the US faces personal domestic challenges with her teenage daughter and with her husband while she faces decisions that can lead the US into nuclear war after tense military operations against North Korea and  China.  Tamara Levit is a CIA operative assigned to gather intelligence about jihadist terrorists for the French CIA, Direction General de la Securitei Exteriuere (DGSE) in Chad Africa where "everything is the same shade of tan, bleak as a moonscape."  Tamara meets a young widow, Kiah, in a village; Kiah dreams of leaving destitution and starvation of her village for France and a better life for herself and young son.  Ultimately Kiah's tumultuous, twisted, treacherous  brave journey despite the backing out of her brother in law will intertwine her with CIA operations and a new life.  Colonel Susan Marcus is page 106,  "part of what the US military called a Tier 2 Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force or for short, Special Forces."  Abdul is a Lebanese/ US undercover CIA agent in Chad working to find jihadi hideouts and the contact for Tamara and the French.  Abdul is operating as a cigarette vendor.  Tabdar (Tab) Sadoulis an Algerian French operative with the French CIA,  DGSE .  Chan Kai in Beijing China is Chinese intelligence, vice minister of international intelligence.  Tamara's insufferable boss in the CIA office is Dexter.  James Moore is a political opponent of President Paulines and constantly trying to stir public opinion against her until his interpersonal relationships bring him down.  

A multitude and more of fascinating characters who keep this novel moving along.  

Tab discovers jihadis have weapons made by Norinco a Chinese Industrial group in Niger and lays  the intrigue from China to Africa.  

Page322 "  A lie goes halfway round the world while the truth is getting its boots on."  

As with every Follett novel this is outstanding reading. 5*****

BCK COVER 

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Persuader by Lee Child

 

Published in 2017 but  I only read  it February, 2024, after I  purchased new through Amazon to prepare for the Amazon Prime Reacher Season 3.    The opening Chapter 1 is very different  with  Reacher in the wrong place at the right time and saving a rich college kid from abduction.  Although it is not apparent  opening that Reacher is part of this scenario and accidentally kills a cop while fleeing the scene.  It took me about 16 pages into the book to realize that was Reacher though I could not imagine him killing a cop.  He gives in to the pleas of the young man who  has persuaded him to drive him home to his family in Maine.  The boy, Richard Beck  is the son of a wealthy rug importer and had been abducted before for ransom.  

Page 26, Chapter 2 is background where Reacher tells he's been in for 11 days, in Boston, on his way to a bar when he sees a man whom he knows he killed a decade ago.  He calls on former Military Police to trace the license plate of the car he saw the man get into.  A warrant officer, Powell,  who knows only of Reacher who'd been out of the Army for 6 years now, takes the call.  But instead of a return call  the next morning,  two federal DEA investigators knock at his motel room door,   Steven Eliot and Susan Duffy.  

They have lost another DEA investigator,  who was undercover 

getting information on Zachary Beck, a rug importer in Maine who is working with a notorious Los Angeles drug dealer.  Duffy explains that their  operation is off the books because the investigator was also off the books.  There were mistakes made getting photos previously of the connection between Beck and the drug dealer.  And so Reacher agrees to help them.  

A brief history of drugs in the Army is on pg. 32, "  Were there drugs in the Army?" Eliot asked.    I smiled.  "Armies love drugs" I said.  "Morphine, Benzedrine.  The German Army invented Ecstasy.  It was an appetite suppressant.  CIA invented LSD, tested it on the US Army.  Armies march on their veins."   "Recreational?"  "Average age of a recruit is eighteen.  What do you think?"  

As in every one of the Reacher novels there is always interesting tidbit information like that on drugs .Pg 143, mentions how steel shanks in the sole of men's' dress shoes gives flexibility and strength.  And that metal detectors are designed to ignore shoes.  And on pg 144 some  mention about Maglite flashlights. This interested me because we had an old one that  corroded from inside by an old battery and I had to toss it.  I always thought I could have used it as a weapon if I had to.  We'd brought it from CA with us when we moved.  "The flashlight was a big black Maglite, the length of a nightstick.  Six D cells inside.  We used to use them in the army.  They were guaranteed unbreakable but we found that depended on what you hit with them and how hard,"  But enough of the miscellany. 

Another excellent read that has me anxiously awaiting the Amazon movie.  Another 5*****.  All 465 pages.  At the end is an intro and  the first chapters of Midnight Line.  

More about the Mona Lisa

 This time from History facts online about Pablo and  the Mona.  I have read at least 2 fiction novels about the Mona Lisa and posted reviews here.  Recently Stolen Lady.  

Pablo Picasso Was Accused of Stealing the “Mona Lisa”

Picasso is well known for his surrealist artworks, but the legendary Spanish painter also had a real surreal experience of his own in 1911. That year, on August 21, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece the “Mona Lisa” vanished from Paris’ Louvre Museum, and Picasso was deemed a suspect. Though there was no direct evidence linking Picasso to the brazen heist, the accusations stemmed from the artist’s relationship with a known art thief named Honore-Joseph Géry Pieret.

Pieret was the former secretary of Picasso’s Paris housemate, Guillaume Apollinaire. In fact, four years before the “Mona Lisa” was stolen, Pieret nabbed two Iberian sculptures from the Louvre and sold them to Picasso; the artist even used one of the statues as the inspiration for a face in his 1907 painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” Upon learning that Pieret was a person of interest in the theft of the “Mona Lisa,” Picasso and Apollinaire planned to throw the stolen art that was in their possession into the river Seine, though ultimately they could not bring themselves to do so. Instead, Picasso was brought before a magistrate and lied, claiming he had never met Apollinaire. In the end, the case was thrown out and Picasso and Apollinaire were cleared two years later, when a handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia was caught attempting to sell the “Mona Lisa” to a Florentine art dealer.

When the Rain Ends

 This is the first I have read of this author and wondered why I'd selected it.  Paperback, published in 2023 it is  326 pages.  Took until about page 120 to get my interest.  Surprised me that I kept on reading but it is light and easy reading.  It turned out to be nicely written, a decent story about grief, trials, trying to start over and romance.  It is how one woman divorced with a teen daughter is slowly going to lose her vision.  But Dani, the mother, has backbone and is one who will not wallow but gird herself and go forward..  Dani is very accustomed to cloaking her feelings and giving  the impression that everything is fine.  She dresses up, and goes forth. Pg. 194, "Even alone, she kept her shoulders back.  Posture affects attitude and as an added bonus made the clothes hang better."  That technique is so like me.  

But when her ex husband and father of  daughter, Bella, dies suddenly in an accident life has turmoil.  Bella t internalizes her grief and  mimics  her mothers way of not showing feelings.  Like mother like daughter.  Dani keeps her vision loss secret from all but her father and brother.  She runs a successful art gallery off the outer banks but decides to move inland and away,  She bought an old farm with silos and has hired a contractor known to the realtor to renovate it.  She plans to renovate the silos into a different art gallery where tourists will stop on their way to and from. . This uproots Bella from her friends and routine. 

Dani has become involved with her contractor, Jackson, but has kept the relationship a secret.  She herself is unsure.  Jackson has his own load of grief.  

Page 52, "Her mind lingered in the odd space between awake and asleep where  dreams and worries flourished."  

Pg 181, "She had  few memories but the precious few were crisp and sharp honed to a fine tip.  But memory was a tricky thing.  It changed with time, emotions and experience like the beach did with the tides."

Pg. 187, " Time.  For a long time, he'd resented the long lonely years stretching out in front of him.  Then he'd  stopped resenting the future and started searching for moments in the present.  Do not squander time, It is the stuff life is made of.,"

Pages 200-201 "..grief bubbled under the surface.  But that's what grief did.  It was patient, always lurking in the shadows, ready  to spoil a happy moment , sour a day or prompt unexpected tears." 

Pg 305, "Does it ever get better?     It never goes away.  Most days it does lose its edge.  But every so often when you least expect it grief cuts.  And maybe that's not so terrible.  The jab is a reminder that you loved her very much."

Pg 307, "Her life wasn't perfect.  Certainly not the one she'd envisioned as a kit.  But it was the one she had.,  And she would make the best of it.  Somehow., "     Another  quote that is so me.  

Pg 320. " Grief has a way of feeding off of other emotions so it's easier not to feel anything."  

Back cover

Over all I give this novel almost 4 ****.  It  did finally catch my interest and  yet it is not the kind of book I'd normally read. 

The Last Mona Lisa by Laura Morelli

 

First completed read of 2024 but one that I've had to be read for awhile.  Published in 2021, this paperback novel spans 461 pages and has interesting acknowledgements and  an explanation of her research, etc. by the author.  I have read others by Laura Morelli but this one was not my favorite, still it was a decent read., It switches among three main characters set in two time periods.  It opens with Leonardo Da Vinci and follows him through Italy in the 1470's and expands to the second character, Bellina a servant in the 1490's in Florence.  Bellina will interact with da ?Vinci who is commissioned to paint the portrait of her mistress, Lisa Ghiardini.  The rule  of the Medici and their  rise, fail and restoration affect much of these two characters.  The third character in a more modern era is Anne, a typist employee of the Louvre in Paris and her adventure with the rest of the staff s preserving the many artworks including the Mona Lisa from the invasion of the Nazis in World War II. 

Page 5-6 Leonardo is working for and finishing a painting for his master but wants to o more.  He is deciding to leave, and thinks" in the end we are all hiding something."

Pg 169,Leonardo again, " As much as I hate to admit it there is something comforting about returning to these old familiar places.  After months away from Florence it fels like home.  Perhaps it is when we might lose it all that we finally gain an appreciation for things we once took for granted."   

Laura Morelli does intense thoughtful research to produce her historical novels.  Her Ph.D in art history from Yale gives her a depth that would be missing if she were just a writer of fiction.   There is some very good descriptive writing on pages 265-266  1942 as the Germans approached Paris and France.  "The news had come to them the way it always did: Pierre sharing information from the wireless.  This time he was pale with shock, his usual smile beneath a scowl now wiped away.  The Germans had invaded the Free Zone at last.  After the Allies landed in North Africa and started pushing back Italian forces, the Free French--courageous citizens who refused to bow either to Nazi Germany or Viiichy, France."  The resistance will ultimately become a part of Anne's adventure, changing her life forever.  

I found this reference to books by the author in  her acknowledgements interesting.  She had written this novel during the pandemic and  could not travel to Paris or Italy instead writing at home.  So she acknowledges  the importance of books to transport us on journeys that we might otherwise not know. 
 

Back Cover

I found her pages of reflections About The Stolen Lady interesting. And she included an excerpt from  the memoir  of Lucie Mauzaric who was an archivist with the Louvre who is reference in the novel.   This is one example of how well she expands to create fiction from real events.  

  The back cover summarizes the novel.  I give this one only  between 4 and 5 stars,  Maybe I was just not into the right mood to switch amongst the characters back and forth over centuries.

  The writing is good but the book didn't resonate with me.  The research is fascinating and the inclusion of the information in the back is also interesting./  

Secret by Lee Childs and 2 bios, Musk and Kushner Catch up postings

 As year ends and time runs out I have books that I have read and not entered here, including one of my favorites, a Jack Reacher novel by "Childs.  Since  this blog is for just me, I often neglect.  My  reading has slowed as t his year I have been engaged in other online studies such as t he Catechism in a Year that divert my time.  So to get these three onto my bookshelf, here we go:

 Stated reading on my birthday Nov 13,  finished Nov    28.    Didn't read every night as I used to.  Of course another winner,  I always await new Reacher novels and am collecting the old ones now.   Sadly years back I cleared my shelf of paperbacks and the Reacher novels included. Then the Amazon series awakened renewed interest and as I began to rebuild my collection, they are harder to find now at book sales.  

   Pg 80-82 typical Reacher react ion by water boarding a jerk who threatens to kill him. "You think?" 

As before another 5 *****   

Excellent bio by Walter Isaacson, all 615 pages.  Very interesting character, not always on the side of angels but who is?  Musk makes the news and headlines consistently so it was a timely read.  More later if /when I have time.  I would like to have someone to discuss this book with but that doesn't seem to be possible.  .  5 *****

ON 1/1/2024 I saw this review in the Daily Signal and copy it here:    " What comes shining through in this book is that Elon Musk—this generation’s premier inventor, entrepreneur, sage, and futurist—is America’s 20th century Ben Franklin. That’s ironic and appropriate, in that Walter Isaacson, the top biographer of this era, has written tomes on both of these geniuses. Here we have yet another iconic spectacularly successful immigrant—from South Africa—who sees the world 50 years ahead of anyone else. He has spawned at least a dozen companies, including Space X and Tesla. The most stunning part of his story is that he had abusive parents, is bipolar, and is on the autism spectrum, but that seems to have inspired his brilliance and risk-taking. Every aspiring entrepreneur should read his story—beautifully and often humorously written—in this authorized biography.

—Steve Moore, distinguished fellow in economics"

Wow read this back in August 2022 but never posted here.  Interesting,  Lots of detail,  took 4 months to read   Now with the Israeli war and so many other issues caused by Biden debacle and the nitwits that went for him, I wonder what Kushner think   469 Pages.  Well done.  5 ***** 

My Brother, The Pope by Georg Ratzinger

 

I waited a long time for this book to be available in this country.  In 2022, late last year Ignatius Press did so and released it.  I had long been  on a waiting list and was happy to receive it sometime earlier this year.  I read it awhile back and have just not posted here .  It is about  the family life of two brothers growing up, in a Catholic family in Germany,  Joseph and Georg, both become priests.  .Joseph  would become Pope Benedict XVI in Aoril 2005.  Georg would become  Director of  the Regensburger Domspatzen for 30 years, the world famous boys chorus of Regensburg.  I was fortunate to visit Regensburg back in 2015 on my European trip with a late friend,.   Georg  has shared wonderful tales of their life and their family who remained very close all their lives and Michael Haseman wrote these down, translated by Michael Miller.   This book was originally printed in Germany  in 2011. This edition has 253 pages with photos,  plus the acknowledgements, index and bibliography.  Pope Benedict passed n December 31, 2022.,  He had resigned as Pope to Pope Emeritus status.  

There is a writing by Pope Benedict in 2008 about his brother,  Georg, used as an introduction at the beginning of the book. 

The family and especially the two brother remained close all through their lives.  Their sister Maria would become a caretaker, housekeep of sorts for Joseph and later for Georg.  They shared lifelong devotion to their parents.  

Page 75 reflects something I believe naturally  true and  hat is barely or not  acknowledged in today's progressive culture:  "Boys just have different temperaments."

Page 76, "As brothers, Joseph and I were one heart and one soul.  Naturally we also quarreled and fought, that is part of it, but by and large we were inseparable, and that remained so our whole life long."

Page 216:  Whenever there is order somewhere then there are always those who disturb that order, do not understand it, or else deliberately refuse to accept it.  I only gradually became ware of the fact that order in the sense of clarity and truth must then be created over and over again.

  This book is a keeper and will remain on my shelf.  It was a very delightful and at times iconic read.  4 ****