Search

Search only in certain items:

    Taichi Panda: Heroes

    Taichi Panda: Heroes

    Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    The earth-shaking roar of the Lion Lord heralds a new chapter in the legend of Nozwot. The King of...

    Fallout Shelter

    Fallout Shelter

    Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    *** App Store Best of 2015 *** Mobile Game of the Year - 2016 DICE Awards Winner 2015 Golden...

    Guns of Glory

    Guns of Glory

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    GoG’s thrilling multiplayer RTS and RPG gameplay lets you raise your own powerful army to shoot...

    Asva The Monkey HD

    Asva The Monkey HD

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Free today with ‘App of the Day’. Best Game Art Nomination at Casual Connect Asia 2014 *** #1...

Get ready for a wild ride
Get ready for a wild ride, this book is non-stop from beginning to end. Sure it starts on a calm Sunday morning and escalates quickly when Lee’s husband is called into action to find his cousin’s husband, Martin, who is missing in the Guatemalan jungle. Despite her being an indoor kind of girl, he recruits Lee onto the mission because he senses there is a mystery to solve at the archeological dig where his cousin works. He is of course right. Kidnapping, vandalism, theft, maybe murder? Lee is on a roll pulling together the facts and clues with her “survival trained” CEO mother in tow and her trusty, IT genius brother on the sat phone. The Alvarez Family is on the case. Twists and turns abound leading to a grand reveal that is as humorous as it is serious. I certainly never picked up on all the secrets.

I loved this book.

I chose to read it because I live with a junior archeologist and my daily life is filled with words like stratigraphy, digs, grants, and finds. Plus, there is lecture upon lecture about ancient artifacts, ancient history, and just what it all means (spoiler alert: It’s probably ritual). The fairly recent discoveries of LIDAR enhanced ruins covering the jungles of Central America are of particular interest around here at the moment. This book looked like fun and I am always looking to see if someone writing a story about this stuff gets it right. Heather Haven definitely did.


This is a story of intrigue, backstabbing, and just plain greed and that is just the academics on staff. Once people start dying the story really gets interesting. This book has a large cast of characters, all of them vivid and well written and so perfectly suspect. The relationship between Lee and her mom, Lila, is hilarious. On one hand, Lee is a grown woman who has proven time and again that she is quite capable, yet Lila can reduce her to gibbering incoherence in a single glance. “But, Mom!” is the comedic subtext behind most of their dialogue. Still, the two make a terrific sleuthing team and there is a lot of ground to cover in this tale. In addition to great characters, the description of the look and feel of the jungle and rainforests is spot on and puts the reader right in it.
  
In The Shadow of Death: The Story of a Medic on the Burma Railway 1942-45
In The Shadow of Death: The Story of a Medic on the Burma Railway 1942-45
Idris James Barwick | 2021 | Education, History & Politics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
"Remember all the fine young men who died in far off lands and all the veterans who must live with their memories."


Ever since I found out my grandfather-in-law was a prisoner of war at the hands of the Japanese, I have had an interest in the subject. He would never speak about his experiences, bar a couple of stories, and having read this, I can understand why.

It is dreadful to think my grandfather-in-law was in a very similar situation as he was there at the fall of Singapore. The author describes a massacre in a hospital in Singapore in which my grandfather-in-law was a patient after being admitted with shrapnel injuries. He could quite easily have been a victim of that massacre and if he had, it's scary to think that my husband of 30 years wouldn't be here.

One thing that both surprised me and horrified me in equal measure was the conduct of the prisoner of war officers. I can't understand how many lived with their conscience after watching their comrades starving to death whilst they ate their fill or how they could inflict further punishments when they were already enduring so much. I wonder if any were reprimanded for their despicable behaviour?

If I have one little gripe is that I wanted to know what happened to some of the other people after the war; there are some but it would have rounded things up for me if some of the main prisoners and Japanese stories were updated.

This book is heart-breaking, horrific and hard to read at times. It is a real story of survival against the odds and a story of keeping your humanity and compassion in what was clearly pure hell. Many times his compassion and descriptions brought me to tears and saying to myself "how did anyone survive that?" The addition of pictures also helped bring Idris's words to life.

I defy anyone not to be moved by this book and it is one that I would recommend to anyone who has any interest in this part of the War.

My thanks must go to Pen & Sword Books and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.