Team of Vipers by Cliff Simms

I'd had this book sitting to be read for over a year, not sure how I got it  possibly from making a political contribution back when Trump was in the White House.  One thing and another and I did not read it until a month ago.  Now instead of current events it is like reading history.  This is a first edition, published in January  2019 by St Martin's Press.  It is 344 pages and ends with  " We walked off down the hallway back toward the West Wing and he tied a bow on his line of thought.  "2020 will be fun, that I can tell you--a lot of fun, ".he said, "The kneelers!  Just watch"    Just watch.  I will. And so will you.  Because the fact of the matter is, when it comes to Trump, we just can't look away." 

 A perfect summary to a well written episode of the author's experiences while serving in the Trump Whitehouse. The author "soon found himself pulled into the President's inner circle as a confidant, an errand boy, an adviser, a punching bag, and a friend.  Sometimes all in the same conversation."  The complexity of the situation. Sims is an outsider too and this may be why the powers ultimately came after him..

Front Flap
 

 The title suits the workings,  instead of a Team of Rivals ala Abraham Lincoln Trump had vipers.  Whether or not he knew it , who knows.  Was it deliberate?  Who knows these questions are not answered in this book.  Neither is the book accusatory toward Trump or any individual in particular. The chapter, A Tale of Two Generals contrasts the soon to ousted Steve Bannon with gives a different perspective  about General Kelly. pg. 209, "..the President said, "Steve is a good guy but I told them to straighten it out or I will.    From that point forward, it felt like his days were numbered.  To me.  To the President.  To every single person in the West Wing.  To everyone it seemed but Steve Bannon. Once Trump replaced Priebus with Kelly and gave him the authority to put the entire staff under his thumb, I figured Bannon was indeed finished.  Kelly was bent on installing a more defined staff hierarchy, with himself at the top, and it was hard to imagine Bannon subordinating himself to another staffer, even a four-star Marine general."   I had long admired Kelly whom I thought had done a great job of chief of staff trying to bring chaos to the West Wing organization to herd cats.  Yet his personality and style was not exactly as I had imagined.   Page 211, "Kelly, whom aides had already taken to calling "The Chief" another respectful nod that Priebus never received motioned subtly for everyone to sit down.  He didn't make small talk.  "How many of you here have prior government experience?" he

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asked straight away.  Out of the forty people in the room only one or two hands shot up....."Let me give you some advice, ok? You're going to be dealing with the press.  Tell the truth.  That's important,  I know what you all do.  You know , other generals would get mad at me sometimes because I got such good press.  But that's because I knew how to talk to the press.  I knew how to work with them and they didn't."  ".After he'd left, several press aides, spoked that the new Chief had already exposed himself as a leaker by talking about what great press he used to get.  The only people who attract positive stories in this town, they noted are the ones who reporters can't take shots at because they're scared to lose them as a source."   Wow that is the first clue that not all was spotless and faithfulness in the General.     

 it was not a tell all nor we

re there many  new things now  reading it looking back, but I did gain some different perspective on some of the personalities of that saga.  I was unfamiliar with this author but he did a very decent job writing what could have been a "poor me, look what happened" instead he owns up to his own naivete, mistakes and acknowledges that despite it all, he learned a lot.  His tenure on the Trump team could have left him seething but he does not develop that attitude.  He returns to his civilian life wiser.

In the introduction Simms  mentions that Trump's greatest fear is obscurity.  But he goes on  about Election night, pg. Xiv," .. and he didn't care who was listening.  Trump talked like other people breathed. It was like a form of exercise to him--an endless exertion of words, phrases, asides and observations."...." ..he just is who he is."  and that sets the tone.  I have believed that about Trump always, he is who he is so I was intrigued to read it, a validation of my thoughts. There is enough information that causes me to speculate about the loyalty of  KellyAnne Conway  toward the end of her time.  Page 257, the author reflects on the time and that while he was not always proud of everything the President had done or tweeted or the way the author himself  had behaved at times, he was proud of what had been accomplished.  . "Kellyanne's line from the darkest moments of the campaign, "There's a difference ...between what offends you and what affects you." 

I also liked that this book is well organized with 15 distinct chapters, with titles that reflect the subject matter of that chapter and an Epilogue, "Outside the Bubble." This technique seems rare today. and shows that the author did not just thoughtlessly ramble along.  Page 7, "This was my first direct exposure to Trump's ability to distill an argument down into a bite sized nugget packed with symbolism, even if it wasn't entirely aligned with the facts.  It was a speaking style built for the age of social media and 24/7 cable news."  

I have always felt bad about Jeff Sessions, the former Attorney General who was devoted to Trump.  Yet when he recused himself Trump was done with him and  Sessions never retaliated.  The relationship of the author with Sessions, both are from Alabama, validates what an outstanding character Sessions is.    I thoroughly enjoyed this book,  give it  just about 5 *****.  It is well organized, well written, and a keeper on my shelf of political reads. I took pages of notes while reading this. 

  

Echo Burning by Lee Child

Finished this a week ago, published 2001, 582 pages, paperback,  book sale special another wonderful Jack Reacher novel.  This one has Reacher in Texas not knowing where he is going when he gets a ride from Carmen Greer who is heading back home to Pecos, actually Echo.  So since he's not ever been there he rides along, besides rides were not as easy to catch, more hesitancy about hitchhikers.  It seems Carmen, of Mexican descent,  is an abused wife whose husband is in an established family.  Some of her story turns out to be not so true such as her background and other discrepancies.  There is certain discrimination against the Mexicans in this Texas backwater town.  But Reacher is intrigued and will stick around to sort out the truth and help her as he can.   As suspected nothing is as it seems and there are twists all through the novel. 

Carmen is not all truthful about herself but she does have a young daughter, Ellie,  whom she cannot leave and so she is stuck in with the Greer family and her husband, Sloop, until  she takes a shot and kills Sloop.  Or does she.  The brother, Bobby is Reacher's prime suspect target but it will turn out to be not so.  Ultimately, Sloop is dead, Carmen is in jail and yet Reacher stays on to help.  He finds Alice, a young do gooder legal aid type Family services  attorney to help Carmen who has no financial resources and can expect zilch from the Greer family.  . But Carmen is refusing help.  This will all challenge Reacher and  cause him to look deeper..  Oh and there is a professional hit team involved.  Some of the description of the deceptive professionals is more excellent writing by Lee Child. 

Reacher is quoting Ben Franklin, so he claims when he says things like,  on page 502, "3 can keep a secret iof  2 are dead"  Not so sure Franklin ever said that.  Might be Reacher character stretching things a bit.  

This is clearly another 5 ***** novel. 

Back cover

Page 1 

Page 12 is describing the professional hit team in one setting, notice the reference "they looked like the branch office of a photocopier company on its way to a sales convention."   

 I continue to be a huge fan of this character, Jack Reacher and the author Lee Child.  Fortunately I still have several others of the older books to read. 

The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Another catch up post on books I have read,  this one  between March 23 and April 1, 2021.  Again about my favorite character action novel, Jack Reacher .  However this one Lee Child has teamed up with Andrew Child as authors.  Unusual as Lee has written  24 Reacher thrillers solo.  The book is another outstanding Reacher tale, 351 pages hardback.

  A cyber attack on the municipality of Pleasantville, TN has Rusty Rutherford, the IT manager who has been fired  and blamed for the cyber attack not believing this really happened.  Enter Reacher who prevents an ambush of Rusty.  So Reacher suspects something is wrong  and sure enough, hapless Rusty needs all the help Reacher can give and then some.  A very timely novel with the cyber attacks that have happened attributed to Russia.  

Inside cover flap

Page 58 Possibilities and amusing

 

Page 90  Reacher traits and driving top paragraph

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Night School by Lee Child

 

In March-April I read Night School, published 2016 purchased at local Library book sale and my favorite author character.  Soon I will have read everyone of these mystery, suspense, action novels that all center on Jack Reacher./  From time to time I pause from reading these and try something different but for pur entertainment I always prefer these.  I am excited to learn that Amazon is  underway with a contract to make the Reacher novels into Amazon movies   and with an actor who more physically resembles the character Reacher than Tom Cruise who was in the only other  movie made some time ago.  This one is  369 pages.  And as with allthe others I have read another 5 *****.  

There are some great descriptions throughout this book.  Typical of the good writing.   For example, page 242,.." ..Wolfgang Schlump on a stool at the bar. Not an impressive specimen.  Dark hair, dark eyes, lean dark face, built like a shivering dog.  But useful.  About to be more useful." 

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In Night School Reacher is still in the Army which differs from the previous where he was out and on his own.  Several old Army rules are pointed out that become ingrained in Reacher and will show up in other novels,  "eat when you can."  Reacher recruits the best soldier he knows to help him in his task to find the American who has been leaking and now demanding  a hundred million dollars from Jihadists in Germany.  The soldier is Sgt. Frances Neagley, perhaps she will be in other novels.  Page 30, " She was in woodland pattern battledress uniform, the sleeves neatly rolled, her forearms on the table.  She had dark hair, cut short and dark eyes and a tan.  Her skin looked soft but he was sure it wasn't.  He had seen her in action.  She was fast and exceptionally strong.  She would feel hard and solid underneath.  But he didn't know.  He had never touched her.  Never even shaken her hand..".  

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Reacher gets chewed out by his boss for this mission, Sinclair who knows she needs his skills and tolerates him but tries to set him straight.  "So you broke the law but only because you thought you had a good reason.  You and everyone else.  There are lots of good reasons.  Too many good reasons.  Which is why we have a special structure to decide between them. when they compare one against the other.  That structure is called the National Security Council.  We weigh things up and we judge priorities.  You just blew a year's hard work, major.  You should resign.  Before the after action report comes out.  You'll get a better deal that way........." 

 

 Reacher will have his own hunches and tactics and cause grief for Sinclain and others but  through the twists he is victorious.  

EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN by Janet Evanovich

 

Published in 2011,a paperback I picked up at a bargain book sale and had on my shelf. 

A few months back,  maybe February March 2021, I retrieved it.   When I needed something quick to read this fit.

I have not tracked the numbers of these  books that I've read and enjoyed over the years,  although she has written these consecutively.  They all feature the misadventures of New Jersey,  Bail Bond bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. This is another good  fast read.  334 pages.  The characters are the same, her assistant Lula is a kick, Vinnie the owner of the agency,  main squeeze  Detective Morellii, and Ranger.  Although I am very fond of Stephanie's grandmother, an aged Stephanie always willing to assist.  An easy 4 stars,  nothing literary or  over the top just a good  move along  type of novel mystery.  

Poland by James A Michener

 

This was the third time I have read this masterpiece, all 556 pages and I believe this time I got more out of it than ever.  I began to read it on December 19, 2021 in my new era of widowhood, all alone now. Usually I pull a classic lengthy tome from my study during the summer but this was to be a long cold  winter for me. So I went to the shelves of the study and saw Poland,  time to read it again.  I am glad I did.  

It took me until March 4, 2021 although I did  not read daily and did have another book or so interspersed. Maybe it is my fascination with my full 100% Polish ancestry, my genealogy searches , or my being the last of the family that  leads me to savor so much of this history.  I have always been a Michener fan and have every book he has ever written on my study shelf.  This novel about Poland was  published 1983 and I have my original First Edition, handback.  It was not considered one of his best but to me it is outstanding.  I savored every piece of history along with the fictional characters.  Beginning and ending in the Forest of Szczek, and Buk vs Bukowski the novel tells tales of the Polish people.  From the Tatars whom even Genghis Khan could not subdue (pag. 25)  all through to the Russian tanks withdrawal into the forest in December 1981.  

Maps inside the book, back hard cover.  History here as now in 2021 the names of the countries are different as are the boundaries.  

 

Above are the cover flaps which I still have with my copy, this gives a decent summary. 

To the right a Book Review from 1984 a  Northern California newspaper where we lived.  I have several clippings inside the book which I have kept for years.

Although I purchased my copy just as soon as it was available. back before Amazon through an old time Bookstore where a proprietor ordered newest books for customers. Another bit of history of life that  is  long gone.  Today so much on e-readers.,  So many books are published  in e-editions only.  But back then, books were books .  And although I do have a Kindle app and read some things on it, I still prefer to hold a book in my lap to read.

And last a  two part copy of the review I clipped and saved from the Chicago Sun Times

For some reason Blogger is twisting the order of these 2, the photo is part 1 and the  other columns are part 2 and I am tired of trying to get it adjusted, I have cut and reinserted, but Blogger is being weird so I will let this be. 

And now Poland has returned to my library shelf with the rest of the Michener books. Who knows what I will reread next or when I will read this again. 

 

An Innocent Client by Scott Pratt

 Neither the best nor the worst I have read, but a new author to me and one available in hard print so I bought it.  I like the decent size of this paperback book and the print is not tiny.  But I found it not so thrilling nor mysterious.  Plenty of characters and the author does weave the stories together well over 385 pages.  The synopsis on the back cover is below along with the last page of the book.  . I give it a 3 almost out of 5 rating.  Joe Dillard, the lawyer and main character is not one I will follow in future reads.