Michael Connelly The Brass Verdict Book Review

This terrific follow-up to The Lincoln Lawyer, featuring troubled defense lawyer Mickey Haller, also includes famed police detective Harry Bosch, who has been a hero in thirteen previous Connelly mysteries. Though Haller and Bosch work on opposite sides (one on defense and one on prosecution) and even live on opposite sides of the bay, they are thrown together against their wills and must cooperate if they are going to see justice served.

Haller has just returned to law practice after a hiatus in which he has dealt with his demons and his addictions, the result of a long, painful hospitalization and several complex surgeries after he was “gut shot.” Haller has inherited the entire caseload of former prosecutor Jerry Vincent, who became a defense attorney after Haller beat him soundly in a court case. Vincent has been murdered in the garage beside his office, his laptop and case notes missing, with the biggest case of his career due for trial in less than a week.

Walter Elliot, head of the highly successful Archway Pictures, is being tried for the murder of his wife and her lover, and he refuses to agree to a continuance, even though Haller, new to the case, recommends it. This case, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, soon begins to overlap with another of Vincent’s cases–one taken pro bono, and not in any of Vincent’s  files or on his calendar–a complete “mystery case” to Haller.

As he works, Haller relies on stalwart friends and associates, all of whom show their own personalities here as they support Haller and try to keep him from backsliding under stress. His first former wife, Maggie McPherson, a prosecutor, needs to be reassured that he is stable enough to be a father again to his daughter. His second former wife, Lorna Taylor, still works with him, though she is now living with Dennis Wojchiechowski (Cisco), Haller’s investigator.

Harry Bosch, who is investigating the Jerry Vincent murder for the police, frequently overlaps with Haller regarding issues in Vincent’s cases, and they occasionally meet. Though they are alike in many ways, their hostility is often palpable.

As Haller looks for the “magic bullet,” the “get-out-of-jail-free” card that would clear Walter Elliot of a double murder, he must explore issues of bribery, jury tampering, fraud, police misconduct, organized crime, legal malpractice, federal crime, and even international crime–not to mention murder, including potentially his own.

The novel, written in exceptionally clear prose, keeps all the complications from becoming overwhelming as the author recreates the legal one-upsmanship of a case going to trial. Connelly draws the reader in and increases the tension by making him/her an “expert” on the legal importance of events to the Elliot case. Exciting, beautifully crafted, filled with non-stop action, and always centered on achieving justice, this novel is completely satisfying–one that has it all.

I am a big fan of Michael Connelly’s work I give this book 5 star great job on character development, sorry line direction and information is very informative. He makes you feel like a real life lawyer is telling the story.

The Cuckoos Egg Book Review

This is a real-life spy thriller centered on computer hacking and espionage on high-end military and research establishments in the US. We read about painstaking hours spent by the author, stalking an intruder through computer terminals and communication hardware and experiencing indifference from the FBI, the NSA, the CIA and the Air force and the Army even though it is these institutions’ computers which were detected by the author as having been compromised by the hacker. Finally, you read about repeated attempts by the author, tracking the hacker and failing to nail him due to the intruder logging off a little too soon before the international phone-tap could succeed. The events occur in the late 1980s and so I found all the technical details of the ‘security holes’ which were exploited by the hacker in Unix systems and VAX computers quite familiar and fascinating, having heard about issues like thing in college. What is really revelatory about these events was that it took the hacker mainly patience and not software wizardry to break into all these high security systems because most of these systems simply used obvious passwords or emailed passwords in clear text between systems and the systems administrators hardly monitoring any of the audit trails to see if unauthorized users have logged on to their systems. In many ways, it shows that the computer world in 1987 was a much more innocent one than it is today, with most systems being open and trusting so as to enable co-operation and inter-operability between institutions and individual scientists.

Dr.Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) and has the profile of the typical left-leaning Berkeley academic. As Systems manager, he stumbles on a small 75 cent accounting discrepancy in his systems and while tracking it down, finds himself zeroing in on a hacker who was prowling his systems as well as the nation’s military and research networks. The hacker takes him across the US, then under the Atlantic Ocean in the company of defense contractors and Universities and finally to the city of Hannover in Germany. The ‘chase’ ends in the discovery of a spy-ring in West Germany (this was before communism’s collapse in 1990) selling industrial and military secrets to the Soviet Intelligence in return for cocaine and much money. Dr.Stoll’s efforts end successfully in March 1989, after about an year of stalking the hacker.

This book is the true story of Markus Hess, a German citizen, is best known for his endeavors as a hacker in the late 1980s. Hess was recruited by the KGB to be an international spy with the objective of securing U.S. military information for the Soviets.

This book is a great true crime novel with a good very in-depth look into both the author’s life and the technology of the 1980’s. I give this book 5 stars it’s a great book with real life drama and facts. The book can be found on amazon in regular and ebook format.

The Cuckoo’s Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage

The Bourne Legacy Book Review

The Bourne Legacy published in 2004 is a spy fiction thriller written by Eric Van Lustbader. It is the fourth novel in the Jason Bourne series created by Robert Ludlum and the first to be written by Lustbader.  There was a movie released in August of 2012 that is nothing even remotely like this great novel.

The movie focuses on film stars Jeremy Renner who plays Aaron Cross.  A member of a black ops program whose agents are physically and cognitively enhanced, goes on the run once Bourne’s actions lead to the public exposure of Operations Treadstone and Blackbriar.  None of this has ever been mentioned in the book.

The novel focuses on Jason Bourne now a professor at college.  He is settled down with his wife Marie and two children under his real name David Web.  A threat is made against his live and now the Jason Bourne persona must come back and protect his life, family and friends.  Bourne is much older in this book and focus more on his thoughts from vietnam and his struggles to reclaim is fragmented thoughts.  Which come back to haunt, help and move him into the right direction just like the previous three books.

Over the course of the book we learn a great deal more about Bournes past as he uncovers an elaborate plot to try and kill some very important public figures.  While fighting of a ruthless assassin who is a very important persons from his past.

This book is another GREAT novel with this great captivating character.  I think this book focuses more on Bourne’s personal past and current situation then it does his time as an operative.  Even though there are parts of it mentioned in the book it’s not the main focus.

Overall this was a great book that I would give 5 stars one of the best spy action novels I have ever read.  I would recommend to anyone for a great fiction read.

Trump The Art of the Deal Book Review

Trump: The Art of the Deal is a 1987 book by business magnate Donald Trump, that is part memoir and part a business advice book. It became one of the most successful business best-sellers of all time, reigning at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list for many weeks.

Trump writes about his childhood, his work in Brooklyn prior to moving to Manhattan and building The Trump Organization out of his studio apartment, developing the Hyatt Hotels and Trump Tower, renovating Wollman Rink, Arena Football, Atlantic City and other projects.

The business advice in the book can be classified as dated however the books gives you great insight into creative finance in the real estate world. When talking about Atlantic City especially it gives you insight on how to build a real estate empire using borrowed money.

The book included a week in the life of Donald Trump showing his busy schedule and insight into his family life. I give the book five stars.

Ghost In The Wires Book Review

I myself always enjoyed reading mostly my genres consist of technology books, autobiographies and biographies.  I have read may different books as of late which I will eventually blog about but today I would like to highlight Kevin Mitnick – Ghost In The Wires.  This book gave a very detailed look at Kevin Mitnick’s life and cleared up a lot of rumors about this past.  Steve Wozniak even does blurbs in the book giving it even more authenticity.  The book speaks about the Free Kevin movement.  Touches on the movie that was right to DVD Track Down.  The book does go into some techie information for more of the technical person and geek at heart but also does a good job of simplifying information for the average reader.  I think this was a great book and I had a hard time putting it down.  I will also be reading Kevin Mitnick -Art of Deception and Art of Institution soon.  I give this book 5 Stars.