James Baldwin: Escape from America, Exile in Provence
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To escape racism in America, James Baldwin fled to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, in 1970, where he...
Clausing a Scene (Christmas Falls #6)
8.0
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I'm definitely on Santa's naughty list this year… My agent calls me a PR nightmare, but I'm...
Contemporary MM Seasonal Romance
John Dexter has Borderline Personality Disorder, quite a special case indeed, and he's recently become infatuated with Carla, a young woman working at a local pub. Well, "infatuated" is too light a word; he's fallen head-over-heels in love with her, and upon first sight, no less. See, that's one of his main issues: he falls hard and fast, and when the inevitable happens, he just doesn't have the emotional capabilities to cope. So, this is just going to be another in a string of intense failings, right? Or will his many years of therapy actually come through for him this time?
Coming from a Psychology background, this book really hits the nail on the head. I was greatly appreciative that the author took the time to outline the different requirements for a diagnosis of BPD and how John fits within each one. It's an interesting read from a fictional perspective, and it has its ups and definitely its downs, but the psychological aspect is spot-on, as well. The ways John chooses to cope with his failings, emotional downfalls, etc, are accurately depicted, from self-harm to drinking himself to oblivion, and while it's not something that everyone can identify with, it's made all the more easier to understand through the author's use of explanatory exposition and narration from John himself, discussing his diagnosis with the reader.
This is the first book I've read of this author, and I plan to add him to my list of those to seek out in the future.
5 stars
Stop Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation
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Stop motion animation is a challenging and time-consuming skill that requires patience,...
Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
10.0
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In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now...
Star Wars: Last Shot
7.0
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The author of Half-Resurrection Blues and Shadowshaper has penned this novel that connects three...
Diary of an Expat in Singapore
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This hilarious new book records the tongue-in-cheek journey of an expat in Singapore, told through...
The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy (Summer, #1-3)
5.0
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From the author of To All The Boys I've Loved Before (now a smash-hit Netflix movie), this is the...
David McK (3425 KP) rated Map of Bones (Sigma Force, #2) in Books
Jan 28, 2019 (Updated Sep 12, 2021)
It's interesting going back to the beginning ('Sandstorm') as I did recently, and seeing how the series as a whole develops. This one is not quite as good as I remember it being, perhaps due my having read the the later novels ... ?
While this may not be the first SIGMA force novel, it is the first in which (what I would term) the core team of Commander Gray Pearce, Monk Kokkalis and Kat Bryant are first put together, and is also the first novel in the series which I read. Thankfully, while there may be the occasional reference to other events, it is not necessary to read the books in order.
SIGMA is best described as, basically, scientists with guns, and these novels invite (perhaps, even, demand) comparisons with Dan Brown as they are based on the same type of subject matter and follow the same plot outlines: secret orders, puzzles to be solved, races against time, and so on.
Based on this book, I would (and have) read more by this author (although I'll admit to being extremely annoyed with some of the characterisations in "Excavation").