Interesting story---the devil is in the details
930308
Mordechai Vanunu was a technician at the Dimona Nuclear Weapons facility in the mid-1980s. Dimona officially was a nuclear power plant providing power to southern Israel, but in reality was manufacturing atomic bombs. Vanunu became disillusioned with Israeli policy with regards to the bombs, and a whole list of other things with regards to Israel, and left the country. He lived in Australia for a while, and wound up contacting a British newspaper, telling his story of working in a nuclear arms manufacturing facility. He backed up his story with pictures he'd taken while he worked there with a camera he'd smuggled into the facility.
Then he was kidnapped and smuggled back to Israel, where an only nominally fair trial was held and he was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was incarcerated in a prison with few amenities and little contact with the outside world.
This book was written soon after Vanunu was convicted. Toscano was a Jerusalem-based American reporter for a while, and he covers the ground swiftly and well. Vanunu's motives, actions while he was in Australia and Britain, and the trial itself, are recounted clearly and carefully, but painlessly. The prose is a bit pedestrian, and of course given that Toscano is a journalist, the chapters are short, as if he can't hold a thought for long. That's OK, though, it makes for a quick read. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic.
2836572
While I found the story interesting, and the set up of going back and forth in time between the daughter and her mother an interesting way to tell the story, I was disturbed by the graphic detail of the forced sex.  It was written as though it were intended to have a titillating effect.  How in the world, given the circumstances, could anyone but the most twisted enjoy those way over the top descriptions?  Clearly, we all knew what Anna had to go through, against her will.  Providing sick detail certainly wasn't necessary and didn't add to the story in any way.  It did, however, detract greatly from what would have been a far more enjoyable book without it.  I wish the author would have spent more time helping us to understand the history or the characters. I had so many unanswered questions throughout the book, one of which another reviewer touched on -- how could the doctor get Anna pregnant if he truly cared about her?  No efforts not to?  The Anna depicted as a young girl is so different from the older Anna.  Why?  When did that happen?  Did her life in America ever get better?  Was she ever happy again?  Why did she and Trudy drift apart?  Did she end up loving her husband?  Etc. etc.  And I really found the ending to be so contrived.
3964748
Interesting story until the end.  Hard to take it seriously with all of the physical evidence that has been found in the last several years to disprove it.
4471609
Although not true, much of the story was interesting and one got the feeling of reality
344091
Human trafficking... something I did not even realize EXISTED in this "land of freedom"!  And my ignorance and that of others is probably part of what makes human trafficking even possible.  Hopefully, this book will succeed in raising public awareness.

The story, while fiction, is based on the sad reality that human trafficking DOES exist here in the USA.  It's reasonably well-written, although the characters and plot are somewhat lightly developed.  It's an easy read in that it only took part of one day to read the entire book.  It's NOT an easy read in the disturbing elements, realizing that while Elani's story is fictitious, she is actually a montage of real-life stories of enslaved children.  I feared sexual exploitation would be graphic, but was only alluded to.

Sadly, there are MANY evidences of poor proof-reading, which detracted significantly from enjoying the book and causing me to give it only four stars.  Seriously, anyone capable of writing a novel should know the difference between "fowl" and "foul", "where" and "were" and similar properly spelled and improperly used words.
924011
Overall, an interesting story. A woman finds herself on a street corner with pockets full of cash, a dress covered in blood, and no memory. And you spend the entire book wondering if she's descending into insanity or if her husband is up to something evil...and wondering why.

But while I did like the book, it was also a little longer than it needed to be. Sometimes it felt really repetitive...I mean, I understand why--the woman is trying to figure out what happened to her and she's constantly mulling it over--but I wish the editors had trimmed a bit more.
2245657
I'm a little torn over this story. While it was quite preposterous at times, I still found it very thought-provoking. My favorite part of the entire book was the author's note at the end of the book. I was fascinated and concerned over the facts that the author outlines after all is said and done. I think the story stretched the facts and possibilities a little too far, causing it to be preposterous, but based on possibilities left open by current laws. The story was a little far-fetched for me, but the facts that the story was based were very intriguing.
1929212
This is a good read about a relationship between an adult son and his aging father who has a brain tumor. However, about 2/3rds of the way through, it got muddied with too much information about the Holocaust, discrimination of Jews, and a Holocaust survivor's request to have his pornographic manuscript published. I skimmed and skipped over all that to find the real meat of the focus of the story. It puzzles me, though, how Philip could take all those fecal-soiled clothes, towels, and such to a laundry service? Just throw them away. It was clear in the story prior that his father didn't hold onto anything of perceived value and certainly they were wealthy enough to afford replacements (after all, they could afford a laundry service). A worthy read and information about how others handle the impending loss of a parent.
1512330
Interesting story, but fairly unbelievable during  the story.
3080698
At times this was difficult to read due to excessive details,but in the end somewhat fascinating. This type of story is not my particular cup of tea,but for those who enjoy action ,adventure and conspiracy, it just might be. A word of caution this is a thinly veiled indictment of the current politicians in government today
475914
It's quite technical (i.e., boring!), but if you want the entire story, you have to wade through it. It's the story of a discovery, a coverup and a ruined career. As someone with a dear close friend with CFS, it explains a lot about the disease. Unfortunately, it explains a lot about the rough-shod way some "scientists" can ride over the truth when that truth disagrees with some pre-conceived notions. Run afoul of the establishment at your own peril. I certainly hope someone somewhere is still investigating with the tenacity of the protagonist in this morality tale.
3329668
The author goes into a lot of detail about the business of rare book finding...sometimes, ad nauseum. Tho, I did find this an interesting perspective on which to build a murder mystery. The story drags in the middle, then picks up pace when the protagonist gets serious about solving the mystery. It does make me want to read the next in the series just to see how many more people can get killed over valuable books.
3071053
This is an interesting story intertwined with some historical fact.  The story provides some alternative interpretation of historical fact, but is presented as fiction.
3481184
Very interesting (I can't really say enjoyable) and with some details quite surprising. But overall it is somewhat "overstretching" the subject. The (typo)graphic form is rather original, for example, printing the first one thousand digits of pi after the decimal!  but somewhat confusing.
1999569
This story was OK...not as suspenseful as I would have liked.

I did find it an interesting look into how victims of unsolved crimes are consistently hounded by the press with stories on each anniversary and veiled suspicion toward the victims.

One of the major issues in the story revolves around the hotel key card.  Unfortunately I think the author should have done a little more research on how they work!  The mother of the little girl who is taken has lost her key card twice during the vacation and had to have a new card made.  She feels guilty that someone may have found and used her key card to gain entrance to where the little girl slept.  Though she had new cards made, she is even blamed by her husband for having lost the key cards.

I worked in a hotel a few years ago and that is not how key cards work!  If any card is lost, when new cards are made by the front desk, ALL the previous cards for that room are immediately electronically cancelled.  We would get complaints from guests staying in one room when they were told even though only one card was lost, they would now all need new cards for that room.  The old cards would not have worked!

It was pretty easy to guess who was responsible for the kidnapping in my opinion.  And the wrinkle about Caroline's husband Hunter were also pretty obvious.

And interesting plot but got a little lost in the details for me.  Plus some of the characters were very one dimensional.
642164
The premise of the story is interesting enough and of course inspired by the infamous German tale of Faust; an unsatisfied scholar makes a deal with the devil for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasure, all he has to give up is his soul. Who knows of course what happens to our soul but if the devil in the story wants it so bad then I'm pretty sure it has some importance, whether here or there. The Damnation game has it's merits, the mystery and buildup are engrossing and dangerously tantalizing, the release however needs some work and heavy editing, considering that this was the authors first long novel all is forgiven because this is a good read, I'm glad I got to experience it even though it dragged a bit and was too light and relied on too many reader interpretations to rise to the top.

I had the pleasure of reading the newest reprint of this with a new introduction by the author himself which was very nice, whatever critique I give to the book is nothing in comparison to what it takes to write a book, this is his baby, his work of art and I'm happy to say I got to read it even if it wasn't perfect to my taste. It's still more than I could pull out at my first attempt, I liked the mystery, you have an ex-con taken out of jail to be a bodyguard, you get to like him and care for him until you find out what he has gotten himself into, a place where death and bizarre behavior are step in step with his daily activities, a place where death is noting in comparison to what can await at the end of the riddle. The tale itself is very interesting even if the delivery could have provided an extra punch; you have the rich millionaire hidden in a mansion surrounded by state of the art lighting and top breeds of dogs, a man who is afraid of something that comes with the dark. He hides in his sauna with his bottle of vodka to forget his troubles, he relies on Marty Strauss, a gambling addict, to keep him safe in the most important game of his live, a game of life and death and a game of endurance, which opponent can outlive the other. There is incest, cannibalism and all sorts of demented things happening, along with gruesome monstrosities that arise even though they should be dead.  The nemesis lets us know that everything is due to chance, fortune belongs to the one who is willing to risk everything on a single throw of the dice. The more there is the stake the easier to throw that dice, so close your eyes and hope for the best, win big or go home.

The three start status is because of the pace and the lack of editing, it felt like I was reading the book forever. I'm usually a speedy reader, I can read a book in a day or stretch it over five days, but this felt like a slow tango, I wish it took me faster though the actual story, but I'm glad I got to experience it, I don't think that anyone should say no to it just because of the rating, what we get out of stories goes beyond star ratings and sales, it's all the good bits that settle down and pull our memory every once  in a while, Clive Barker is a serious contender in the horror world of storytelling and he should not be overlooked.

 Kasia S.
1427603
Took a while to make it interesting enough to pay attention to the conflicting details.  Nevertheless, it kept me reading