Another in My Occasional Series of Book Reviews.

Once in a while, I feel moved to review a book I really really like and shout out a recommendation.  I really like a good scary story.  I like that whole zombie, vampire, otherworldly genre.  Dean Koontz really does it for me.  Love his characters.  Odd Thomas and Christopher Snow are terrific characters.

So, when I picked this up new title by J. N. Duncan (a new author for me) realizing that it was book three in a series,  I figured if I liked it, I would pick up one and two and then carry on from there. Unfortunately, considering what I have read here, I would be saying the same thing even if it had been book one or book two.

While the characters and ideas are intriguing and this storyline is interesting, the writer makes liberal use of the F word throughout the story. And, this also includes F in combination with religious oaths that upset me a lot.

This liberal use of F contributes nothing to the story or the characters. At one point, I read the author's book bio because only the first and middle initials are used with the last name. The short bio on the last page gives no clue as the writer's gender but whether male or female, I'm not wasting my money on another book in this series. The language is way too distracting which is really too bad because otherwise, it would have been a worthwhile series to pursue. 

The Librarian of Basra

Jone over at Deo Writer recently mentioned a children's book entitled The Librarian of Basra. She mentioned it in a comment on my Iraq Diary post. I was at Border's today to pick up The Rule of Benedict (and of course left with four books, not just one). But before I left, I remembered the Basra book and found one copy in the children's section. This is a marvelous picture book that in a very few words, conveys a startling message of bravery and determination. Even if you don't have young children, I would encourage anyone who loves inspirational true life stories to add this book to their library. You never know when you might have a little one sitting on your lap asking you to read a book to them.