Bundu Reviews

This is the follow-up book by Flynn to the high-paced “Extreme Measures”.

A terrorist attack has gone off in the US with multiple bombs leaving 185 people dead and if it hadn’t been for some smart work by counter-terrorism agents Mitch Rapp and Mike Nash, the tally could have been much higher.

The US President is seething and he has given Rapp and Nash carte blanche to find the perpetrators and deal with them once and for all. They are also still hot on the trail of three of the terrorists who continue to wreak havoc across the US as they try to make their escape.

But hunting terrorists has taken its toll on Nash and he is starting to crack under the pressure leaving Rapp having to play a balancing act to keep the team together, especially when it becomes obvious that the terrorists might have one last point to prove.

This was a great read – fast-paced and good character development. Probably do best to get the Extreme Measures book first.

You can buy this book online from retailer Loot for R96 (paperback) or from Kalahari.Net by clicking here or on the book cover above.

I battle with David Baldacci books.

There are pieces of them which are good and then there are times when the characters and plots tend to drift.

First Family however was more of the good and less of the drift.

The book brings back the popular Sean King and Michelle Maxwell characters who have been asked to investigate the kidnapping of the niece of the First Lady.

It becomes a cat and mouse game as the kidnappers try to manipulate the president and his family to dance to his tune while making fools of the FBI and Secret Service. With the politicians not playing open cards either it makes the job of King and Maxwell difficult… a sitution which is not helped by Maxwell’s mother dying under mysterious circumstances and her father is the prime suspect.

First Family was a nice read. The story moved along nicely with a couple of nice twists in it and it kept you in suspense up to the last page. If you like Baldacci, you will probably enjoy this one.

Title: First Family
Author: David Baldacci
ISBN: 978-0-446-53974-6

We rated the book a tidy 3 out of 5.

You can buy the book online from Loot for R81.

This is the first Vince Flynn book I have read and quite simply – it was a really nice, simple and uncomplicated read. A few places were a little unbelievable but if you’re a fan of action movies and want a similar thing in book format then this is probably the closest you are going to come.

As far as anti-terrorist experts go CIA superagent Mitch Rapp is as big and deadly as they come. He’s the kind of guy who you really don’t want to wake up to because you will know without question why he is there.

Suffice to say in his line of work, he has irritated a few people along the line including an influential Saudi businessman whose son Rapp had supposedly bumped off in a previous novel and now he is seeking revenge. Rapp finds himself and his wife in the sights of a dangerous hitman who will let nothing get in his way.

The end result is a really entertaining action thriller for those who just want to switch off for a bit.

Title: Consent to kill

Author: Vince Flynn

ISBN: 978-1-4165-0501-3

Rated the book a 3.5 out of 5 and would thoroughly recommend it.

You can buy the book online from retailer Loot for R84.

I just wrapped up reading this latest offering from Faye Kellerman and it very rarely takes me a week to wrap up a fiction novel which I guess says something about how gripping the story was.

The intro was slow, but it did pick up a bit of pace in the middle of the story and wrapped up nicely enough.

The book was again focuses on Peter Decker and his police crew who have been called to the scene of a masasacre at a ranch owned by a rich property developer. What initially looks like a robbery gone wrong, quickly unwinds into a potential family feud which appears to involve a violent local gang.

The pace is measured and there were no real “twists” in the story and couldn’t say it grabbed me.

Title: Blindmans Bluff

Author: Faye Kellerman

ISBN:  978-0-00-734646-2

Rated the book an uninspiring 3 out of 5.

You can buy this book online from Loot for R96 in paperback.

Geez – talk about a book which fell apart.

9 Dragons from Michael Connelly started really well and probably held its own for 75% of the book and then it well… lost the plot.

I am not going to go to the effort of running over the plot, the synopsis of it is below in the previous post.

Suffice to say it didn’t grab my attention:

Title: 9 Dragons

Author: Michael Connelly

ISBN: 978-0-316-16631-7

Rated it a 2 out of and wouldn’t rush to recommend it.

Maybe I should be a little circumspect about writing a negative review of “The Death List” considering that’s what opens up a world of trouble for one of the characters in the book….

… But I won’t lie – the only reason the book came into my possession and I actually read it was because it came as a freebie with my latest copy of the Getaway magazine in December.

The story revolves around author Matt Wells who has hit something of a slump in his career. His agent and publisher have dumped him and he is battling to write anything of any substance.

That is until a serial killer makes contact with him and begins blackmailing him into writing his story. The killer knows his every move and who his friends and enemies are… and nobody is safe.

Wells, a former rugby league player then decides to fight back when he finds his back to the wall and the body count climbing rapidly. He partners with his mates – one a multi-millionaire, one a technology wizard who can break into any computer system and one an ex-SAS soldier to try and turn the tables on his adversary.

Right…

In all honesty the story wasn’t half bad, but the characters cost it – they just weren’t believable. If characters count for nought in your reading then the story will be passable, but you will find it bugging you.

Also if you don’t have the stomach for silly levels of graphic violence then you might also want to ignore this book. 

Title: The Death List

Author: Paul Johnston

ISBN: 978-0-7783-0159-2

Rated the book two and a half out of five – good story line but the characters were just a little too unbelievable for me.

You can buy this book online from retailer Loot for R100 but I wouldn’t. 

Admittedly I have been a little late to this whole Stieg Larsson lark, but as they say: Rather late, than never at all.

A very quick piece of trivia around Larsson – he was a Swedish author and journalist who died in 2004 (Born 1954). This trilogy was the first of his books to

be published in the US and 2009 proved a bumper year for him as these books remained top of the bestsellers lists for much of last year.  It is definately interesting to see how almost five years after his death, the books have finally jumped into the spotlight.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first in the series and revolves around disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, a young private investigator with many dark secrets.

Blomkvist is asked by a wealthy industrialist to investigate the disappearance of a young girl (his niece) who went missing almost 30 years ago.

Apart from the investigation there are three other key story lines in play – the first being Salanders battle with her own demons, the second being the future of the magazine operated by Blomkvist and partner and finally the relationship which develops between Salander and Blomkvist.

Initially I found the story a little slow going, particularly as the characters were introduced. My wife says that the second book – which she has read – is much quicker and easier to get into .

The other issue for me was that it was the first book I was reading on the Kindle and it did take a bit of getting used to. As the story built itself up though it definately gathered momentum and I found it harder to put the book down.

Initially the writing style was a little difficult to get my head around. There are places where the dialogue comes across as a little stilted and you get the sense that there are some sentences which have literal translations from Swedish to English – the book was tranlsated – but after a while you find yourself getting used to it.

A lot of work was also put into the development of the characters and there is a lot of depth to them. There are no larger than life “American” style characters and that makes them very believable. 

Title: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
ISBN: 978-1-84724-545-8

This was probably one of the better reads and I rated it a four and half out of five with just the dialogue thing bugging me. A brilliant read.

You can buy this book online from retailer Loot for R112.

Until yesterday I had never heard of the author Graham Guy but after I read his book “Only Eagles Fly”, I’ll be keeping an eye out for some more titles from him…

… which says a lot considering the love-hate relationship that us South Africans have with the Australians!

In a nutshell a couple of Australian thugs and an assassin hear that a certain Italian fashion head honcho (and part-time drug kingpin) is going to be going on holiday and leaving his house and $20 million dollars in a vault at his home when he goes on holiday. The story goes that he is a super-important cog in the global drugs trade that he doesn’t need any protection of his assets when he leaves town.

… err ja.

If you can manage to swallow that particular leap of faith then the rest of the story makes for good reading.

It involves an Australian cop and his partner who are desperately trying to hunt down a crack assasin before he kills again. The assasin in turn has head about this $20 million and wants in.

What follows is an entertaining chase around Australia as the various parties chase after the prize.

As a word of warning, the book is a bit of a slow starter. I contemplated putting it down and looking for something different after the first few chapters but my patience was rewarded.

Title: Only Eagles Fly
Author: Graham Guy

Definately not the worst read around. Rated it a three out of five.

If you know anybody who is keen to start a small business then an essential book for them to read is Scott Cundills ‘ “How Not to Start and Run Your Own Business”.

Scott is a South African entrepreneur and small business owner who has been through it all. His frank, no-nonsense and hilarious novel is a wake-up call for anybody who has grandiose ideas about launching their venture.

There are some pearlers including “Get yourself a hot personal assistant so that you can at least feel motivated to go to work” and you will find yourself laughing through the book while learning as you go.

Scott is becoming an increasingly influential player in the small business sector and with many people now being faced by the reality that they may have to launch their own enterprise to sustain themselves, Scotts book gives some insight into some of the key factors that will be needed to give you half a chance of survival.

You can buy this book online from retailer Loot for R99.

Title: How Not to Start and Run Your Own Business
Author: Scott Cundill
ISBN: 978-1-920153-01-4  

We rated the book a four out of five and highly recommend it as a birthday gift or stocking filler!