9. Eye Of The Needle - Ken Follett

Eye of the Needle is a spy/suspense novel set in World War II. Originally published in 1978 under the title "Storm Island", it was an almost immediate hit. According to Ken Follett's official website, it is still selling in 25 to 30 languages, with approximately 10 million copies sold.
Operation Fortitude was the code name for the Allies counterintelligence effort to disguise the location of the D-Day assault, and therefore keep troops and weaponry from being moved towards Normandy. The main focus of the operation was the creation of the First United States Army Group (FUSAG). FUSAG consisted of large, fake, fleets of ships, aircrafts...etc. built near the Pas de Calalis. From the air, this concentration of wooden ships & machinery gave the appearance of a massive military buildup and thus implied the invasion would come from the Pas de Calalis.
In Eye of the Needle, a german spy operating in the U.K. discovers the fabricated military buildup. The story follows the spy "Die Nadel" as he trys to escape to Germany with the photographic proof of the fabricated buildup, which if known to the German high-command, has the potential to expose the D-Day landing site and turn the tide of the war.
The plot races along while continually building suspense, before ending in a very satisfying, well-thought out conclusion. I loved this book. The setting and the mood of the novel was simply amazing. The background detail, while never intrusive, left me with the feeling that I was living in London during the war. Simply a great book and highly recommended!

A Reader - Month In Review - March

Total number of books read: 2
Number of pages read: 559
Books Read:
The Drawing of the Dark
Something From The Nightside
Authors:
Male: 2
Female: 0
Books Purchased: None
Favorite Book:
The Drawing of the Dark
From TBR Challenge:
None this month
Thoughts:
A hit and miss month in terms of good books. The Drawing of the Dark was great, but Something From The Nightside was a bit of a disappointment. No books purchased either...I definitely have to correct that next month!

8. The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers

First published in 1979, The Drawing of the Dark is one of Tim Powers earliest works and his first entry in the Fantasy genre.  The novel takes place in Vienna in the early 1500's.  Brian Duffy is a soldier of fortune, who after a confrontation along a venice canal with 3 swordsman, is offered a job as a bouncer at the legendary Herzwestern brewery.  It's an improbable start to a fresh take on the Fisher King legend.  Duffy finds himself protecting the leader of the western world against a siege of Vienna from Suleiman 1st, leader of the Turkish Ottoman empire.  Plenty of sword fighting, along with vikings, Swiss mercenaries, and of course lots of beer! 

If you've read Tim Powers before you'll recogonize many of his familiar themes, especially his tendency to keep you a bit confused in the beginning as snippets of remembrances and conversations eventually begin to make sense as the story progresses.  My only criticism of the novel is that Duffy's love affair with Epiphany never really makes a significant contribution to the novel.  It just seems to labor along without adding much to the story.  

This is a great introduction to Tim Powers work and a great story overall.  Highly recommended.

7. Something From The Nightside - Simon R. Green

"Something from the Nightside" is the first in a long running series of novels (I think its up to 9 now) featuring a down on his luck P.I. named John Taylor. The series takes place in an alternate London called the Nightside. In the opening novel in the series we learn that John Taylor grew up in the dangerous Nightside, possesses the gift of finding things, and left the Nightside 5-years ago vowing never to return. Of course, in walks a female client with a lost daughter and Taylor once again finds himself visiting the gritty world of the Nightside.

Much of what Green attempts to do will be familiar to fans of Neil Gaimon's "Neverwhere", Jim Butcher's "Dresden series", or Glen Cook's "Garret files". Unfortunately this first book is too simplistic and not nearly as in-depth as some of the works mentioned above. For most of the novel it is essentially a straight line progression with two characters, neither of which seems very complex. In fact, most of the novel is with the two characters moving in a straight line and giving the readers glimpses of the Nightside landscape as they turn their heads left and right. Characters come and go without really learning much about them.

Having said all of that, if you're a fan of Gaimon, Butcher or Cook then you'll probably enjoy the story and setting, if for no other reason than it's potential. This wasn't a very good book in my mind, but it was good enough that I'm going to read the second book in the series.

Philip Jose Farmer 01/26/18 - 2/25/09

One of the sci-fi pioneers, Philip Jose Farmer, passed away yesterday at the age of 91.

I re-read "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" just a few months ago. It's the first book in his ground breaking Riverworld saga. The concept is that everyone who has ever lived on Earth is resurrected on this unknown world, next to a large river. If you haven't read this, it's well worth your time. Thought provoking, great characters, and an incredible premise. I'm in my den looking at my "to be read" pile and his second book "The Fabulous Riverboat" is there. It just might be time to pick that one up.

Here's a link to his official website. http://www.pjfarmer.com/

A Reader - Month In Review - February

Total number of books read: 4
Number of pages read: 1482
Books Read:
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
Riders of the Purple Sage – Zane Grey
And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
Three Days To Never – Tim Powers
Authors
Male: 3
Female: 1
Books Purchased: 3
Something From The Nightside - Simon Green
Eye of the Needle - Ken Follett
The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers
Favorite Book:
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
From TBR Challenge:
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
Riders of the Purple Sage – Zane Grey
And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
Three Days To Never – Tim Powers
Thoughts:
I'm very happy to have finished 4 books this month given my rather hectic work/life balance. I finished 4 books off of my "to be read" pile, and as it turns out all of them were fantastic!

6. Three Days To Never - Tim Powers

Published in 2006, Three Days To Never is a complex, slowly unfolding mystery of time travel, complete with historical figures (Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin) and supernatural elements. This one's not as intricately plotted as his World Fantasy Award winner "Declare" but it had enough strange twists and turns that I found myself having to go back and reread pages more often than I'd like to admit.  Urban fantasy, cyberpunk, secret histories; it's hard to classify Tim Powers.  Whatever the label, it's easy to be a fan.