A good book for a cloudy night.
356280
Well blended with history and up-to-date science. It reads like a well written novel sprinkled with lots of interesting tidbits. It is apparent the author infused a great deal of thought and research into this excellent read.
1525330
This was a good story and kept me interested into the wee hours of the night. Enjoyable to read. Thanks.
317910
This was a bookclub read, introduced by our leader as a light, fun read, to counteract the ones we haven't enjoyed recently. It lived up to its summary, and I enjoyed it.

The book combined a set of people who would be taking the train for various reasons, setting up their stories, and exposing the key turning points for each of them on that fateful night when they should have been asleep in the Wagon-lits, with Switzerland passing by in the darkness.  Well, for some of them it did; for others  lets say they were beset by their private demons. Although for most of them, I think the night was fairly uneventful, and all the action took place before they went, or in Venice itself, begging the question of whether a Night on the Orient Express was the right title.  The situations were somewhat clichd, especially the family of four, and the two who had won the lonely hearts competition that their friends had entered them for.  But the events were nicely written, save for the back story of the older couple (photographer and film star), which for some unknown reason the publishers had allowed to be written in italic.  Three chapters, each at least twenty pages, written in italic. Really hard to read when travelling.

But it was an enjoyable read, light and fluffy, and excellent for a train journey (probably not on the Orient Express) or the beach.
3771736
I read it over six months ago so it's a bit foggy.  As I remember it was a pretty good read with some history included that is little known.  It flowed well and held my interest mostly.
1787767
I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting concept for a story. I liked the characters as well as the setting. The story was a little hard to follow sometimes.  It was not scary, but I thought it was creepy at times. All in all this is a pretty good read. I have very few complaints. I would recommend this book for an October read.
3400041
Clouded Rainbow was my type of book. I like how the author, Sturak, spoke the story through different characters, Roger, Lois, the detective, and the head nurse taking care of Lois. I thought it was a short read with the story advancing at a good speed. There was no lingering page-long detail about the clouds and the weather and the traffic that has nothing to do with the story. I found myself talking to myself a few times when Roger was so close to finding information about his wife, but then things kept getting in the way. If you believe in true love and the strength that love can give a person, then I recommend this book.
2134537
Good book on a cold and rainy day.  Not really a suspense/mystery but it's still ok. Worth the few $$ I spent.
3590176
I like a book that is not too intense.  If you are a casual reader like me, I would recommend it.
1048489
This was a wonderful read when I needed to escape my hectic life for a bit. It takes place in a 1930s small English town, with quirky characters and charming, dated language. It is a wonderful read for a dark stormy night or being transported to another time and place when things were simpler. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was entertained and relaxed by it. I gave it 3 stars because the mystery was a bit predictable.
4679849
I liked this book, and I have found it to be a perfect book for late night reading.  It's interesting enough that I can stay awake for an hour or so to read it, but not so riveting that I would stay up all night.  This is an interesting story about a woman whose husband gets killed and then she decides to go to seminary.  In short order she becomes Chaplain for the Maine Warden Service (like Fish & Game).

She recounts dealing with her grief over the loss of her husband, and how she copes with her job and her 4 children as a single working mother, who often has to come and go at weird hours if, say, a child is lost in the Maine woods.

While some of these reviews have questioned her beliefs or her understanding of theology, I think that's irrelevant to the story.  I have preferred that what she believes is somewhat vague.  If this book had had a proselytizing tone, I would have put it down after the first chapter.  I think what's important is that she is doing the best she can with what she has, and she is trying to do some good for people who are frightened or have suffered a loss.

So if theology is your interest, this is not the book for you.  But if you want to read an interesting story about a woman who cares, about her children, herself, God and helping others, then you will enjoy this book.  I know very little about Christian theology but I can appreciate the anecdote and smile when I read about one of her children dragging around a stuffed toy named (by the child) Jesus, and her late husband saying something like, "I see Jesus is a good friend to you."
1836998
I found this book intriguing.  Sometimes a tad slow, but it kept my attention enough to read much too late into the night.
4052302
Sorry, I read this book a while ago, but from what I can remember it was a fairly interesting story. It wasn't one of the greatest books ever written but I wasn't bored reading it and it kept you curious as to what would happen next. The characters were believable and you enjoyed reading their conversations. I wish the book had a better cover, though. The ending was okay.
1611938
This was not a book that I thought was extremely well written.  There were some clichs that I did not particularly like; but, I did like the story, the plot, and the book certainly kept my attention during the whole reading.  I looked forward to getting back to it every night......which is wen I read.
2666404
I enjoyed this book, but at times it became a bit too dark. I would rather have a fun and enjoyable story, such as The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. He kept the actin rolling without all the dark imagry.

I would still reccomend this book to anyone who likes a good book to read in the dark of night, maybe not for young teens, but overall, a good job
1122954
A good story for an evening. Leaves you with good thoughts and maybe even a plan to help others.  A good story to read to third to sixth graders.
4814212
It  was a good enough book.  Very easy read, but not a  book that kept me up at night.  I enjoyed it for light reading.  Col
3709239
Okay -- I got one of those it's free notices on my Kindle. It's cold, the weather is bad, the nights are long, which makes it the best time of year for me to read -- late into the night.

I started the book and had some trepidation in the first quarter of the book. The characters including Calvin start out a bit flat and a bit trite. There are some grammatical and some occasional "first your pants, then your shoes" (Thank you, Far Side) mistakes. We learn that the executive officer assigned to our intrepid Calvin (interesting choice of names for a hero -- quite the contrast from say, "Blast Riprock") thinks outside the box, but since he's in the Imperial Navy Intelligence Service and he's been very effective for a young whippersnapper, he's jumped up the chain and been rewarded with his very own command. He gets assigned a blonde goddess as a first officer from the Regular Navy and she hates his lax ways of command. There's a beautiful and smart princess. There's a rugged captain who's a fugitive because he's a patriot. And the really good part is there is a wonderful conspiracy that threatens the Galactic Empire that's the last, best hope of mankind.

After the first quarter of the book, we achieve literary "liftoff" and the plot and the characters suddenly begin to lose that cartoonish (not in a good way) quality, and Richard Sanders does two things. He brings his characters (good and bad) into some three dimensionality and the plot begins to move. Sanders avoids some common mistakes, and this book really turns into a fun read as an adventure. There is some plausible "space tech" and some interesting explorations through his characters of age-old conflicts -- "brawn versus intelligence, humans versus aliens, beauty versus professionalism, age versus youth, "by the book" versus "outside the box". Sanders manages to address these issues through his characters and plot without lecturing us about how he sees the universe should work. Yes, there's nothing much really new here, but this young man manages to make it fun, as well as solid science fiction by the end.

The improvements continue and our interest grows through the next two books, and frankly, I can't wait for the fourth.

RECOMMENDED:
Characters - B-
Plot - B+
Atmospherics - B
Readability - B