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Randall Peffer

Auteur de Lonely Planet : Puerto Rico

18+ oeuvres 373 utilisateurs 4 critiques

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Randall Peffer teaches literature and writing at Phillips Academy/Andover.

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Œuvres de Randall Peffer

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National Geographic - January 1984 - Vol. 165, No.1 (1984) — Contributeur — 29 exemplaires

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This is a great book. It was a gift from my cousin Anthony, so I’m thankful to receive any book from a personal friend or family member. The first books I ever received, which I also still have, were books (children’s classics) from my aunt in grammar school. I’m not sure if she knew I liked books, or she was just into books herself and thought I would like those which she chose for me.
This book is about the US Navy during the WWII era. I don’t know a lot about naval operations but just the basics of military history from some books I’ve collected and places I’ve visited. This narrative chronicles the USS Leopold (namesake was a sailor killed in action on Pearl Harbor December 7th) which was torpedoed in the off of Iceland. The book does not address why the convoy was in the area other than to say it was the mission to supply the UK. These missions were suicide missions with U-boats lying in wait to sink any cargo and munitions ships traveling with or without destroyer escorts. The Leopold was a destroyer escort. Leaving that stupidity of the mission aside (ships could have landed on the western part of England and moved the materiel east by rail) the book goes into accurate detail and best of all explaining all the nautical terms and naval orientation to understand what was going on. This was a very sad episode in the war, 1944. The war in the European Theatre was nearing its culmination with Hitler’s marriage & suicide in his Berlin bunker). The Americans had won the war but the German army and navy were still fighting because that’s what Hitler felt militaries should do. They must give their lives for the autocrat dictator. In hindsight, this tragedy of the Leopold should never have happened but due to political factors which the book does not go into, thankfully, the naval episode is forgotten in the expected VE-day celebrations. This book aims to memorialize the lost sailors from the ship and the few survivors who managed miraculously to live. The book’s author also gives generous attention to the actions of the U-boat crew who sunk the Leopold. There is a very good preface by a Coast Guard Admiral about the history of the Coast Guard and its absorption into the Navy during WWII. A very sympathetic read of young US sailors trying to do their part in saving the world from oppression. This book links up with the HMS Hood’s battle with the Bismarck (WWII), the Hood also sinking under mysterious circumstances.
B&W Photos, Index, Bibliographical Sources.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
sacredheart25 | Aug 8, 2023 |
I forced myself to read the first 15 percent of this book, but that's it. Life's too short for bad writing.
 
Signalé
fromkin | Mar 5, 2012 |
In Cape Cod, Michael Decastro, former public defender and current fisherman, receives a message from Tran, Tuki Aparacio's half-brother, that she's in Ho Chi Minh City and in trouble.

Tuki is the daughter of a black American serviceman and Vietnamese mother. She's lovely with her dark skin and Vietnamese looks. She's working as a nightclub singer and worried that The Dragon Lady, an underworld figure, is looking for her and the Heart of Warriors, a ruby worth millions that Tuki has.

It is obvious that the author spent a great detail of time researching this novel but I found the characters to be one dementional and uninteresting.

I also question the logic of the action. At the start of the story, Michael Decastro has just been jailed in Cape Cod for a possible suicide attempt while drinking too much. He drops everything and travels to Vietnam.

Michael asks his father, Caesar, to accompany him. Caesar served in Vietnam as an MP. Against all odds, forty years after the war, he finds the bargirl he lived with, and, she still loves him.

I had difficulty believing that young Tuki could be in possession of this multi million dollar gem while having very little in other assets. If this was such a value, could she avail herself of other help by using the gem as collateral?

Told in the third person, it was difficult to get a feel for the character's motivation or to know what was really going on in their hearts.

Lastly, I found the antagonist, The Lady Dragon, to be too unpredictable. There are times that she takes action against Truki and other times she is tender toward her, I felt this was out of character.

Many books are worth reading slowly to appreciate the author's words but not so in this book. The idea of the story had merit and I believe that the author has a story in him that could be told better in the future.
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½
 
Signalé
mikedraper | Sep 15, 2011 |
This is the fifth in Cape Island Mysteries. Warning, it does contain adult material and strong language. It is a Police Procedural featuring a single mom, Detective Yemanja Colon. It is set in modern day Cape Island, Massachusetts.

Bird Island is just beginning to thaw from the piles of snow and ice which subsequently uncover the corpse of a 1980s murder. Is this young girl, shackled and buried alive another of the New Bedford serial killings that took place back in the 80s or unrelated? Who was this girl with the flowing long red hair? Detective Yemanja Colon is put in charge of the investigation of this very cold case. Even the harbormaster who tends the lighthouse on Bird Island has something to hide and nobody is coming forward with information. Yemanja likens it to a dentist literally strapping a patient down and having to pull teeth.

Yemanja's grandmother practices Santeria and is apprenticing Yemanja into the ways, which adds plenty of atmosphere. The murdered girl, "Princess" starts to literally haunt Yemanja and intrude on her thoughts, providing flashes of what led up to her murder, all sketchy and laced with promiscuity and drugs. Princess was a tragically lost soul who fights to regain her dream of ice skating competitions but seems unable to overcome her cocaine habit and her resulting willingness to do pretty much anything to fund the habit. Yemanja is also haunted by her own demons throughout the story from her past.

It doesn't help when Yemanja gets personally involved with the harbormaster hiding his own secrets. As the story unfolds even influential and connected attorneys and wealthy socialites are dragged into the investigation. Is Princess's murder connected to a 1980s several-month-long drug run from the Bahamas to New England that Princess was the cook for (and other locals including the harbormaster were part of) or was she simply one of the victim's of the New Bedford serial killer? The New Bedford Serial Killings are a true crime case (nine women's bodies were found alongside Southeastern Massachusetts highways between July 1988 and April 1989) that remains unsolved and an open investigation to this day.

This is definitely for mature readers, but don't take that to mean it contains "R" rated scenes just for sensationalism without a point. Everything is pertinent to this tragic girl's life and murder. If anything it brings compassion to just how sad these lost-souls-to-drugs are and puts a pathetic face to the murder victim. It is interesting to note that Bird Island and Buzzard Bay (as well as New Bedford) where this novel takes place do really exist and the book seems to faithfully portray them. These locations provide a lush atmospheric setting for this tale.

Character development is done very well. The character of Yemanja is complex and even a touch volatile. She is not the sort of character most will want to become friends with or hang out with, but she is compelling as she attempts to wade through the quagmire of the case. The character of the harbormaster (Corby Church) is prominent in the story with many scenes from his point of view and flashbacks of his recollections of the drug run from Bahamas to New England and the deceased girl. His character is only slightly easier to relate to as his own shortcomings become evident. He has a reputation as a "player" and did the crazy scene plenty, but how much has he grown up from all that is doled out in small doses leaving the reader always wondering about him. Yemanja's boss is the kind of boss you love to hate, sexist and prejudice. Yemanja gets assigned a partner that is a good leveling influence on her . The character of "Princess", the murder victim, is expertly drawn as well.

The plot is well thought out and executed with precision. This novel many not be for everyone with its "mature audience" rating, but it is actually a well done story that keeps you puzzling and wanting to figure out who the killer really is. The subject matter of "Princess's" life and death is dark but overall I didn't feel the story dragged me down into the pit with Princess - which I feel is an important point. The climax is suspenseful and the wrap-up I appreciated. If I had one thing I would have changed would be the mingling of Yemanja's personal demons with the case. In those instances I began to feel bogged down with hopelessness. Thankfully those moments weren't prevalent.

If you like well written grittier police procedurals, this book should be to your liking.

Read the entire review here:
http://mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-listen-to-dead.html
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
AFHeart | Oct 4, 2010 |

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Œuvres
18
Aussi par
1
Membres
373
Popularité
#64,664
Évaluation
3.8
Critiques
4
ISBN
57

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