America should be riveted to the farther reaching implications of the illegal diamond trade, but instead, we will go on blindly consuming.

Where did that rock on your hand come from honey? You don’t know, and you don’t care either.

Wake up.

I didn’t really like this book.

I have read one other “Covert One” novel, The Moscow Vector and liked it well enough.

I think the over arcing storyline of Lt. Col. John Smith is interesting enough; but, I just wasn’t impressed with this one nearly as much as the other.

It was a nice change from all the middle eastern terror books that are currently being published.

I also don’t like books that get tied up in a nice little package at the end, because life often is not this way.

I got this free from http://www.freederekwebb.com

I think the promo is finished now – but Derek’s new album is out at the end of the month.

Pick up a copy of this album and be challenged. Be changed.

Solid Grisham, doing what he does best, spinning a wire about lawyers doing extraordinary things.

The cloak and dagger stuff is not new to Grisham’s style, but he did he a bit more high tech then in the past (which is noted post-story by the Author himself).

I especially liked how much Italian was weaved into the novel. As always, solid settings, and beautifully concise descriptions.

All it all, it left me wanting to pack my bags and spend a couple months on my own Italian adventure!

I stole this book from the library of an apartment I had stayed at this summer… It was simply painful.

Reading it on and off since August, I just finished it today. The book didn’t get good until it was halfway through… but then, it was over.

The romance factor, which played a huge part in the first half, and was the most interesting sub-plot, was non-existent in the back half. Then it was neatly packaged at the end.

The Russian in the book was poorly transliterated, all eight lines of it. If you are going to include it, then include it. If not, then don’t. You can make the same point by saying “He chided in Russian.” like you did for half the book!

This book is obsolete in it’s version of political tension. Written in the era of Glasnost, the USSR is long gone. There is still tension between modern Russia and the US, but, its not so quite… full of espionage. Its more poking at each other in the media then anything.

I really liked the technical descriptions in the book. However, since most of the description centered around a make-believe mini-sub of the future… I learned little about existing technologies and weaponry.

I’m glad I didn’t pay for this book. I will not be picking up this author again.

Beg, borrow, or steal a copy of this now.

Thanks for highlighting all the good parts Matt! (That is the guy I stole my copy from.)

It is a not-so-easy easy read. The language Rob uses is simple, but the ideas and issues he presents and tackles are not. They are messy, they are complex, they are real.

This is a must read for people in leadership positions. It will change your ideas about ‘success’.

I am a bit fan of Grits, and so I didn’t mind paying the price for an album of already released songs. I also like to explore re-mixes that DJ’s do of songs released by groups like Grits. Most of the songs on this album are re-releases, a few are new mixes, and a few new tracks. I didn’t get into the remixes on this album like I have before…

Pretty good, don’t bother if you have all the other albums already.

I still love you Grits. :)

Robert Lundlum may be dead, but this book based on his Covert One characters still makes the grade. Watch out Jason Bourne, your sibligs may be getting movies before you know it.

The book takes place in a smattering of interesting places, from Moscow to Bahgdad and Washington to Berlin. The action is always high paced, if not nearly unbelievable at times. There are some situations which had me cheering out loud as the good guys squeaked through. The Kremlin, the Russian President (who is not named Vladimir Putin, but is described almost identically), and a rouge Virologist thought dead since the fall of the Berlin wall all conspire to allow Russia to stage a reclamation of the former Soviet Republics. A strange disease starts killing off all experts on Russian politics as well as qualified military commanders in the former Soviet States.

Not quite as far fetched as you may think. This book presents situations that could easily be ripped from today’s newpaper headlines. Patrick Larkin does a good job of writing the plot twists in the same style as Lundlum would have chosen.

I want to go read the rest of the Covert One novels as soon as I can!

Interesting Concept. Interesting Storyline. Half-ass acting. Predicitable scripting. An ending that makes you slap your head and moan.

If you want to see stuff blow up and some pretty effects, then check it out.

I didn’t make it all the way through this movie… I was tired, it was late, and it wasn’t all that action packed. It was however full of suspense and drama.

I think it highlights how America (trying to do a good thing) really f**ked up in Cambodia and Vietnam is general. It is from the memiors of a NY Times journalist, so I think it has a slightly liberal slant.

What I made it though was worth it.