Two Con-men of a Feather Flock Together
931374
Disclaimer: I am a total Ilona Andrews Fangirl and have loved, LOVED, everything they write. Some works I love better than others, but everything I've read has been 4-5 star quality work. FATE'S EDGE is no exception and is one of their finest. Even though I've loved everything they've written, there has always been at least something that I didn't quite like...until now. I can't think of anything that I would have changed about this story.

Audrey Callahan is a gifted thief, but is determined to go straight. She's even making a go at a normal life in the Broken, leaving her magic and her grifter family behind in the Edge. But when her father comes to ask for help on one more job, she agrees on one condition: She's out of the family; she wants nothing to do with them again. Unfortunately, the job caught the attention of every Weird Government agency and they are gunning for her. Kaldar Mar, a very talented thief and current spy, is excited for a chance to track down the stolen items, which leads him to a very talented con-woman who can out-con him!

FATE'S EDGE was such a fun read. FUN. There are so many subtle humorous moments that I found myself smiling the entire read. I ended up marking up my kindle version to the point that there is about 1/3 the book in "my clippings."

Fans of George and Jack from the first book will be pleased to know that they feature heavily in this story, including several POV from the boys and so much talent. These boys have grown so much since&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/On-the-Edge-The-Edge-Book-1/dp/0441017800/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1)</a>, but are still so young. They were my favorite part of the first book, so I just LOVED having them again.

The development of Audrey and Kaldar's relationship was so smooth and subtle. It built and built and I could see the pieces coming together slowly building a solid base. These two were so in sync with each other, but so different and unique at the same time.

At one point in the novel, they have to sneak into somewhere to steal something. (Don't want to give too much away, do I?) When they finally get in and Audrey sees all inside she whispers "Best date ever."

If you haven't read any of the previous books, do not to worry. Each book is a stand-alone book. Only events from previous books that are pertinent to this storyline are briefly summarized...I really do mean briefly: 1, maybe 2, paragraphs for each summarization. So, we don't have to trudge through pages and pages of exposition.

The Edge Series
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/On-the-Edge-The-Edge-Book-1/dp/0441017800/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1)</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Bayou-Moon-The-Edge-Book-2/dp/0441019455/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Bayou Moon (The Edge, Book 2)</a>
Fate's Edge
755119
See there were these two guys who had an agenda, a clever line of spiel, a back and forth repartee and patter with the women, and could sell whatever there was to sell, in selling themselves. And successfully jumping into various and sundry beds as a result. Oh, no that was the Wedding Crashers not the film under review, The Internship. Well, wait a minute, maybe that synopsis is not so far off as this pair, Vince Vaughn (who co-wrote this one) and Owen Wilson (the pair playing modern day Mutt and Jeff, Abbott and Costello, etc. etc.) once again team up to give a funny pair of performances which kept the thinness and commonality of the plot-line from causing us all to go into a stupor.  These guys can apparently save anything with their antic hay humor.

Okay, lets try again. See there are two guys, two guys who can sell anything while selling themselves, who become unemployed by virtue of their company going under. What to do. Well why not go from just your average low- tech middle-aged joes to try out life in the land of high- tech. And the culture of high- tech chosen (and on display) is none other than at Google out in sunny California. Except you just don't walk in and grab some job on your resume there (at least in this film) but must run the gauntlet by serving an internship filled with all kinds of funny tasks, including team-building, for the few available jobs. Well you know our two boys are nothing but low-tech guys so they would fail themselves and their motley of teammates if it was only techie stuff but they bring their version of shoulder-to-the-wheel-think-out-of-the-box in to save the day. And mercifully save this film with their flat-out slap-stick hi-jinx that made even this low-tech guy laugh a few times. No, many times.
2457915
Two con men try their luck at seducing an heiress in the hope that her father will buy the lucky one off, only to find that they are the prey rather than the predators. Intricate plotting saves the book, as the characters are all such scumbags it's difficult to care what happens to  them.
280284
I  have read two of these books and there are too many  people involved it is had to follow who they are all the time.
396594
When Annette Bening leans naked in a doorway in a seductive and bold posture, that lingering, unexpected image defines the cool criminality of this neo-noir.  Stephen Frears's adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel twists our discomfort with the primal relationship of mother, son and girlfriend.  The latter two played by John Cusack and Angelica Huston.

The central conceit here is suggests that a life devoted to running the con corrupts the most basic of relationships and values.  Well, duh.  The world of the story seen through the eyes of the con-artists and is filled with either "grifters" or "squares."

This same world-view seems to have permeated the politics of capitalism.

In light of today's national economic woes, how ironic that we once called chiselers "confidence" artists.
1313766
Funny escapades abound in this short story. Double crosses, thieves, and assassin's, all working outside of their respective guild's. All for a fashion statement. The things men will do to please a woman.

If this short story is indicative of the novel it precedes, I'm gonna be reading it next.
1510484
Spencer and Radcliffe are two witty and Charming rogues and con men operating in a fictional town in approximately the 18th century. The story begins at a society ball where it is the hostess' birthday. In amongst the nobles are a number of assassins, criminals and con men. Some are targeting the hostess for death by poisoning. Our two rogues are cruising the party, pretending to be nobles and looking for opportunities to take a few choice pieces to liquidate into cash.

Meanwhile, in the basement, anarchists are loading up an ironclad with gunpowder to take over the government.

Much action ensues including sword fights, gun fights, huge explosions, assassinations, a duel and the arrival of an airship.

With so many clearly dangerous people trying to kill our charming scoundrels, the likelihood of the actually living through the story idealism to none. While I genuinely enjoyed reading this novella, because the style of the prose, the wit of the characters and the tone of the piece, it was just too over the top. Either they needed to be more deadly dangerous, or they need to have fewer enemies that specialize in killing. This is why it got three stars instead of four. This piece did reminded me of some of the forces of the 18th century. It is well written and entertaining. If you want to take a witty, charming, swashbuckling swing through a variant of the 1700's, then give it a read.
2470011
Readers will enjoy this tale of two different people pushed together to unite their very extraordinary differences. I enjoyed the story. You can read this entertaining tale in one day. I WILL definitely be reading the next book by this author! Fun!!
157554
Another classic satire from the younger Buckley.  This book starts out at warp drive with many moving parts. I had to check the character index a few times.  Yet Mr. Buckley succeeds in tying it all together.

We have Bird, a highly successful defense lobbyist who is down on his luck after losing DUMBO to the peaceniks.  His military industrial master gives him a new assignment, to stir up trouble with the Chi-Coms to ensure that Americans become more receptive to huge defense programs.  Bird's marriage is already on the rocks when he meets a true believer on K Street, with legs to make Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes blush.  Bird's home situation is beyond hilarious, with a senile mother looking to kill him, a falling down Rappahanock County mansion, a brother too involved with Civil War re-enactment, and a house staff involved with excessive weight gain, pregnancies, and drugs.

But the really clever story line involves the Dalai Lama.  I had not given much thought to what happens when the holy man dies but Buckley has realized that he is likely to become a holy corpse without a country as the Chinese are not disposed to invite him back to Tibet.

Since this is DC satire we also have the standard issue G-Man, his blue blood State Department boss, and a weirdly warm relationship between POTUS and the Chi-Coms. Nothing good is going to happen to the hard liners in Beijing when you mix that drink.

This is one of Buckley's better works.  I think the critics that see the end as lacking fireworks should stick to Die Hard films. If you want to see more of Buckley in action look for the videos with his late father.
1663965
Great romp that combines the humor of Doonesbury and Dilbert with the philosophical bent of Iris Murdoch topped off with the irony of the 700 Club.  The story is as absurd as our times. Driven by character dialog not development (like Murdoch) the story leads us through the time before, during, and after 9/11 with no acknowledgement that 9/11 ever happened.  Why would it matter to the self-absorbed characters found in this book?(The irony is not lost.)
The characters are so self absorbed with their own fantasies of money, fame, power, and lust.  In the menagerie of characters it is hard to declare any of the characters worth redemption.  The most interesting character is Tingle, the voyeur with a camera and a bad habit of just not being very smart.  There is something pathetic but interesting about him.
The 3 musketeers who create the business are shills of good up against the shills of righteousness.  Like Murdoch's characters and Doonesbury's newer characters, it is hard to connect to them as individuals versus seeing them as props for the author's knife-like lens.  However, the author does a good job of illustrate the inherent satire found in the media, legal, tech business, and organized religious machines that are modern America.
I recommend the book to anyone who likes a tongue-and-cheek story about the media obsessed world of USA 2013.  You'll have fun, and you might even stop and ponder the silliness of the times.
1430254
A great western that pits two wisecracking lawmen (in the vein of Cole & Hitch, although this story predates Mr. Parker's masterpieces by more than a decade) against an evil gang that has taken over a town. It's a very exciting read, and the plot flows smoothly. The tension between the protagonists, with its undercurrent of grudging respect, puts a new twist on an archetypal plot and makes me wonder if ever a sequel was written. I'll have to investigate.
3838625
Something to remind us of the silliness of religion. Great job by both principles  Miuni as the clueless disciple of Satan and the great Claude Rains as the clued-in disciple.
3187032
This is a riveting, comic-creepy, contemporary tale that tingles up and down your spine.  Subversive, menacing, and riotously perverse, Ravens pairs and expands the concept of Stockholm Syndrome with the messiah complex while turning it on its head.  Two men seize an opportunity to secretly hold a family hostage for half of a winning 312 million-dollar lottery ticket, captivating an entire town into believing that it has its own savior.

In the grim and grey, blue-collar, Bible-Belt town of Brunswick, Georgia, the grim and grey Boatwrights have miraculously won the Max-A-Million lottery.  Mitch Boatwright, the timorous, Scripture-bound head of the family, together with his shrewish, alcoholic wife, Patsy, live with their two children in disturbing disquiet.  Believing that the jackpot is their chance to marry happiness, Mitch and Patsy swear their family to secrecy, not wanting to divulge their winnings right away to the community.

The two swindlers, Shaw and Romeo, are traveling through from Piqua, Ohio.  Shaw stops at the service station where the winning ticket was sold, and with the combination of right time and right place, learns of the big-ticket win.  He subsequently hatches a scheme to extort half of the money from the Boatwrights, luring Romeo reluctantly into the deal.  Preying on the willing vulnerabilities of Brunswick's citizens and the chronic turmoil of the Boatwrights, Shaw swoops in and frightens the family into cooperating with his plan.

The prose bewitches with a heinous, acid crackle that horrifies but seduces you. Shaw's outrageous gall is convincing in dissembling a town into cult worship, paying homage to Michael Valentine Smith in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Stranger-in-a-Strange-Land/dp/0441788386/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Stranger in a Strange Land</a>, but with less vision and more malice and greed.  The most unforgettable character, however, is Romeo, a confused, pathetic, but reverberating mixture of self-condemnation, altruism, and rueful loyalty.  The author's ingenious portrait of this doomed and contradictory man is ripe with a tragic pathos generally reserved for the hero or anti-hero.  He is in a class by himself--a blighted, inchoate, but compelling mirror of skewed humanity.

This strange and allegorical parody of blind faith will grip you in its talons from the opening pages and shock you; frighten you; humor you; and thrill you until its merciless end.
1744584
With a great cast of eccentric (and possibly a little clich&eacute;) characters, this is a very funny and very clever story of grifts, cons and magicians. Brill asks how much of our character is governed by our memories and what if we could forget the most painful ones?

It's a funny, clever and twisted tale of grifters and con tricks with a bit of magic thrown in for good measure. Brill gives us a cast of strange characters: there's an ethically dubious brain scientist, a dodgy Derren Brown-type TV celebrity whose interests are guarded by two violent but somewhat hapless Hasidic Jewish thugs, an equally violent FBI agent and a female British copper. At the heart of the story though is an apparently nave British magician, Peter, and a supreme grifter, Kate, in whose life Peter finds himself entangled.

At first, it can take a while to get into the book as the breadth of the characters and their stories take a while to unfold. This is compounded by the meta-concept that Brill adopts that the book itself is a compilation of the basic manuscript and the scientist's own papers, so just when the story appears to get going, there are pseudo-academic papers on the science of the mind. Thankfully this abates somewhat later in the book and the annoyance factor is minimized by the fact that Dr Tavasligh is unlike any academic you've ever read in that his papers are often very funny in themselves. At first though, partly because the two main characters, Peter and Kate, are so interesting it can be a little frustrating not to get on with their story.

While on the subject of the main characters, I'm still a little bemused by the choice of names. Kate's full name is Catherine Minola while Peter's is Peter Ruchio. Obviously this is a reference to Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew (Pete Ruchio - Petruchio) which could be seen to be an indicator or what appears to be Kate's situation - a strong, independent woman who may or may not conform to society - but it's a bit of a stretch and that was a feeling that I had about much of the, very funny, humour throughout the book. The similes in particular are a bit off the wall but often hilarious, but it seems at times as if the story gets stretched to make the joke rather than the jokes flowing naturally out of the story. It's a minor point but I did find it a little irritating and a bit "show-off-ish". And to return to the names issue, Peter is as far removed from Shakespeare's Petruchio as it is possible to be. It seems to me a strange choice of names when a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. To continue the "Shrew" theme, it is Dr Chris Taversligh's (Christopher Sly) story.

What Brill does, well Brill-iantly is to keep the reader guessing about what is real and what is illusion. There's plenty of good old magician-style misdirection but you don't feel that you are being deliberately led astray. Much like a good magician really. Once you get into the meat of the second part of the book in particular the story rattles along without interruption and takes you from the US, to the English south coast, via Paris and New Zealand.

The bottom line is that it's a joy to read and each time I picked it up I found myself smiling at the prospect and when I put it down, smiling at the story, which is not a bad recommendation. It's clearly well researched, both in terms of the magician aspects and the workings of the brain, but this seldom gets in the way of the story. If you are looking for a funny, but intelligent and highly original story, this is a great choice.
588839
I actually got 2 pcs of this understated movie based upon a true story. Very good action thriller,  all star cast with very good performances. Mercenaries get into a bit of trouble when they go stomping into former SAS grounds. Based on the best seller Feather men. I would recommend you watch this, & I am pretty sure you will add this to your collection
2520697
The co-authors of this book, Blood Profit$, James N. Patrick, Sr. and J. Victor Tomaszek have teamed up to write a chilling novel of the machinations of the CIA, high government officials, the Mafia and Wall Street traders who attempt to take advantage of a global conspiracy.  Three inexperienced friends work together to upset a scheme that would shake up the whole world if it succeeded.  The people involved are, at first, incredulous that something of this magnitude could happen, then determined to upset the plans of some very degenerate characters.
  Each of the young people involved, AJ Morales, a newly elected U.S. Congressman, Charles Prendergast, a young up and coming businessman in a suspect organization and Julia Abbott, a hand-picked lobbyist for that same organization have their own reasons for foiling the conspiracy.
  This fast paced, enthralling novel will hold your attention throughout.  It is reminiscent of the books of authors such as James Brown and James Rollins.  I am looking forward to more of the works of these two fine authors.  Be sure to put Blood Profit$ at the top of your to read list.
  James N. Patrick, a political scientist for many years, is a former Washington insider, campaign manager and expert in world political and business affairs.  He has made numerous radio and television appearances over the last 25 years; discussing and predicting social, economic, political and business change. He now lives on his alpaca ranch in Denton, Texas, and owns the Old Irish Bed and Breakfast.
  J. Victor Tomaszek is a published novelist, amateur opera singer, former Vietnam era USAF Air Rescue airborne firefighter and has lived in Europe and Asia for extended periods. He believes his exposure to numerous cultures adds unique color and spice to his novels. He has performed in historical reenactments, and can ride and shoot from the saddle with the best of them.
He and his family breed alpacas in the far northwest Chicago suburbs.
2098641
The Misremembered Man starts slowly, with alternating chapters that introduce the two protagonists.  Coming from different social levels, they seem to have nothing in common but 40 years of suffering and the shape of their noses; so the reader is hard-pressed to see how they will to come together.  It is, however, apparent that they are meant to meet, because of friends who convince them to seek love through newspaper ads, and who otherwise connive to aid the lovelorn pair.  One of those friends, whose non-stop servings of tea and buns, along with liberal helpings of misremembered wise sayings, adds humor to an otherwise bleak narrative. This comic novel of mistaken identity also illuminates a shameful chapter in the cultural history of the Catholic Church.  One might also mistake the identity of the plot as a predictable love story, but a surprise ending is skillfully achieved.