Alone

Alone by Lisa Gardner

　

Catherine Rose Gagnon endured a month-long nightmare of abduction and abuse, but that was Twenty-five years ago, but for some nightmares never end.

A madman survived solitary confinement in a maximum security prison where he'd done hard time for the most sadistic of crimes. Mr. Umbrio is released from prison, Now he walks the streets a free man, invisible, anonymous...and filled with an unquenchable rage for vengeance.



ALONE... Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge watches a tense hostage standoff unfold through the scope of his sniper rifle. Just across the street, in wealthy Back Bay, Boston, an armed man has barricaded himself with his wife and child.

ALONE... Bobby Dodge’s finger tightens on the trigger and in a split second, Catherine’s husband Jimmy Gagnon's lay dead.

Garner has woven an intricate web in Alone. This book is worth the read. Why, it’s not predictable. The twists and turns grasped your interest. And if you love a secret this book has a good one.

I would say read Alone, read it and tell me what you think?

T Portlock

Blue Nowhere, Jeffery Deavers

Reviewed by Carlos Vazquez

           
 I felt that even though Jeffery Deavers did a wonderful job, with this psychological mystery, some of the of the character development was a bit weak. Personally, I thought that the villain could have been stronger, and a lot more vicious, that isn't saying that "Phate" wasn't bad enough but I thought it could' be worse.   Still, the book was incredible and insatiably delightful, in a wickedly psychotically delicious and yet disturbing way.
                            

 The Blue Nowhere, was written in 2001, so some of the computer terms such  IBM are a bit  obsolete, for todays' technical norms. Mr. Deavers has invited readers to experience a  somewhat mentally unstable, villain.  Our villain is a suffering, wicked computer hacker, named  Phate. Phate is a stalker, that takes his targets out one by one, using disguises, and his base tool of elimination is the internet.  

   The good guy is Wyatt Gillette although  he is a unlikely hero.  Wyatt was locked up for hacking the Federal Reserve. The question that I pose is How do you catch a hacker? The answer, get a better hacker.  

 I liked the book because it was fascinating and disturbing. However this story is incredible and yes I would recommend it to anyone who likes to be scared. Now don't take my word for it read it for yourself.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD considers the relatively new science of “nutritonism,” whose purpose is to make the consumer believe that he or she is getting the most nutritional bang for the buck. Not so, says Pollan. The “Western Diet” consists of “lots of processed foods, lots of added fats and sugar, lots of everything --- except real vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.” Pollan attributes American attitudes about eating are mostly to blame. We want our food quick, easy and now! We are overfed, but undernourished. And I would agree with Pollan, more young people and children are suffering with obesity.

One of the brightest parts of this is book are the ideas Pollan offers is :“You are what you eat eats.” So, for example you ate a steak, the cow was grain fed and the grain, was grown in composted soil. As the end-user, you got the maximum benefit. I tookthis to be  a reminder we are all apart of the food chain.

The downfall of the book for me is when Pollan brings all these topics to light, but he can offer
no real resolutions. Topics like: Don't eat too many seeds because those are full of omega 6 and too much of that can kill you. So can too little of it. And by the way, everything we eat is seeds, or everything we eat ate seeds before it became our food. Yep, I thought the same thing.

The concept of not eating things with more than 5 ingredients kind of threw me. My homemade gumbo has more then 5 ingredients and it‘s the bomb. I really wanted to have solutions to today’s food issues until I realized Pollan may not have an answer for me either. Perhaps, Pollan is saying why aren’t there any answers?

Lastly, Pollan states we should not eat anything our grandmother wouldn’t recognize.  Grandma would reconize the mac and cheese for mac and cheese.The real issue is all those recipes such as grandmas’ mac and cheese are now filled with lots of added fats and sugar, none of which are not in Granny’s recipe. Ok, except butter. But I’m not referring to the butter, but to the chemical additives most of us can barely pronounce. I thought  Pollan spent a lot of time talking about the western diet, but the book was informative. I think some of Pollan’s concepts such as You are what you eat eats are eye openers. but now I have more questions then answers. Perhaps that was the real point.

I do have a question of my own, if all this fast, quick and easy food is so good for us, why are so many Americans’ suffering from obesity, food allergies, colon disorders,A.D.D and/or cancer?

Read In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan for your self and tell me what you think.

T Portlock