Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

Book students read often but that I never got around too. Can see why it was a great favorite with boys.  Lots of good action sequences; believable cruelty scenes among the boys; strained, closed relationship with adults. All those with "the end of the world" and an impending war lurking in the background.

Paul Muni . . . held up really well. Not easy being an ex-con. Expose also of chain gang method of punishment, a method used recently by "Sheriff Joe" down in Maricopa, AZ.  Sheriff Joe is the sadistic sheriff pardoned by Trump.

Enjoyable if not memorable.  Poor American-Chinese girl goes to Singapore to meet family of beau . .  . she doesn't know he is from a billionaire family.  His mother rejects her.  Tears, drama, our American girl's mother has a disreputable past.  American girl (who is a professor of economics) gets courage, stands up to the Singapore dragon potential mother in law.  Walks out.  Happy ending as beau gets on plane and proposes again, apparently with mom's blessing

Terrific ending. Tully (older boxer) headed nowhere. Ernie (younger version of Tully) fights alone in Utah then hitchhikes back to Stockton. Gets a ride from two women, one of whom says: "Why would anyone want to go to Stockton."  Captures the mood of small dreams of Tully and Ernie. They don't dream of being world champions, just of fighting enough and winning enough to get some money in their pocket and maybe in the bank, to be able to see out past a few days. Not likely to happen. Trainer is the same way. He wants some boxers who will pay his bills and give him a little breathing room.  I'll look for other books by Gardner.

Nearing the end.  Dugoni's political theme is that US corporations and government were complicit in the Saddam regime.  I'm not generally fond of thrillers that take liberties with history, but it's pretty hard to disagree with that premise.  Very exciting stuff.  Cover-up to protect guilty corporation includes murdering US soldiers and (perhaps . . . nah, not really) our hero Sloane.

Iraq war.  Soldier dies in Iraq--widow believes it is due to negligence of US in not providing the best body armor.  Dugoni--a lawyer--describes how difficult it is to sue the government in such cases.  Asking for benefits is the accepted procedure.  Book also cuts back to the actual battle in Iraq where the man died.  Other wrench in the story--the "suicide" of a soldier who fought with the man. 

Tracy gets the murderer--not the Home Depot employee who was stalking her and who was killed by the police.  He was just a weirdo.  Instead, the killer is the manager of the dance club, spiky haired guy whose mother was a prostitute and who had an itch for acting.  Tracy catches him as he's about to kill again. She talks to him.  The "acting" part of his nature is flattered by the SWAT team outside, the cameras, etc.  Tracy talks him into giving himself up.  (There is a bit too much exposition in the final chapters for my taste.) Tracy decides to continue as a cop. This one wasn't as good as the other Dugoni mystery/thrillers I have read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. He mentioned Hooverville, a tavern I've gone to in SODO, so that was flattering (I'm in there with the cool people!).

Wonderful to read a book set in your home town, even if it's a serial murder story.  Prostitutes who work for strip club are being killed by rope-expert torturer on Aurora Avenue. (Could any street be more inappropriately named?  It sounds so nice and   . . .  it isn't.  Tracy Crosswhite is investigating.  We have strip club owner, special ed teacher, and Texan stepfather as possible suspects so far. Tracy is back in Seattle after exonerating her sister's convicted murderer only to then figure out that he WAS guilty, though he was also framed. Now she feels responsible for these murders because she'd left Seattle to work on her sister's case.  Tracy is also clearly in danger.  Mad killer will have her in his clutches in the end, I'm sure.