In a Far Country: The True Story of a Mission, a Marriage, a Murder,and the Remarkable Reindeer Rescue of 1898

Book Description

In the fall of 1897, eight whaling ships became trapped in the ice on Alaska's northern coast. Without relief, two hundred whalers would starve to death by winter's end. Mercifully, an extraordinary missionary, Tom Lopp, and seven Eskimo herders embarked on a harrowing journey to save the whalers, driving four hundred reindeer more than seven hundred untracked miles.

At the heart of the rescue expedition lies another, in some ways more compelling, journey. In a Far Country is the personal odyssey of Tom and his wife Ellen Lopp-their commitment to the natives and the rugged but happy life they built for themselves amid a treeless tundra at the top of the world. The Lopps pulled through on grit and wits, on humility and humor, on trust and love, and by the grace of God. Their accomplishment would surely have received broader acclaim had it not been eclipsed by two simultaneous events: the Spanish- American War and the Alaska gold rush. The United States and its territories were transformed abruptly and irrevocably by these fits of expansionist fever, and despite the thoughtful, determined guidance of the Lopps, the natives of the North were soon overwhelmed by a force mightier than the fiercest Arctic winter: the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews:

Life in Alaska in the late nineteenth century was frought with constant danger and unimaginable challenges........2007-06-17

They certainly were a hardy lot. Those who chose to come Alaska in the latter part of the nineteenth century faced obstacles and hardships that most of us simply cannot comprehend. So why did they come? Despite the fact that the industry was in decline, fleets of whaling ships from such distant ports as New Bedford, Mass. and San Francisco, CA still made the trek to the Bering Sea each year in an effort to eke out a living. Those in the business of saving souls viewed Alaska as fertile territory to spread the Good News. And as the nineteeth century drew to a close there was yet another important reason why thousands would risk life and limb to come to the Alaskan wilderness. The Great Alaskan Gold Rush was on! "In A Far Country" is author John Taliaferro's remarkable account of the events that were unfolding in Alaska during these years.
Tom and Ellen Lopp were missionaries who came to Alaska in the early 1890's. Tom was a Presbyterian from Indiana while Ellen was a Congregationalist who hailed from Minnesota. Both were assigned to a mission at Cape Prince of Wales on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula. Only a month after meeting in July 1892 Tom and Ellen were married. As things turned out Tom and Ellen would start a family and spend the next dozen years ministering to the Eskimos at Cape Prince of Wales. The work was dirty, difficult and exhausting but proved to be extremely rewarding nonetheless. During their years at Cape Prince of Wales the Lopps opened a mission school and assisted in the effort to establish a herd of reindeer in the area. The man who had attracted both Tom and Ellen to Alaska through an advertisment in "American Missionary" magazine was one Sheldon Jackson. Jackson, who was at the time the general agent for education for the new U.S. Territory of Alaska was absolutely convinced that bringing reindeer to Alaska was the key to the regions economic future. Reindeer were indigenous to neighboring Siberia and had been used there for centuries as both a source of food and for transportation. Jackson envisioned teams of reindeer driven sleds moving people, commodities and even the mail throughout the Alaskan territory. At the same time Sheldon Jackson argued that the reindeer could replace the dwindling numbers of caribou as the primary source of food for the native Eskimo population. "In A Far Country" details how large herds of reindeer would eventually be established in several areas of the Alaskan wilderness. Finally, John Taliaferro spends a great deal of time chronicling what became known as the Overland Relief Expedition. At the end of the summer of 1898 a total of 8 whaling ships who were operating in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska became trapped in the ice and were unable to leave the area. It was feared that unless help arrived in time more than 200 sailors would eventually starve to death. The Overland Relief Expedition was organized and Tom Lopp was tapped to lead the final leg of this Herculian rescue effort. What an incredible adventure!
I found "In A Far Country" to be quite compelling reading indeed. The publishers quite wisely furnished a detailed map of the region at the beginning of the book and I found myself referring to it again and again. I find that inclusion of maps like this often greatly enhances my understanding of the events being discussed in the text. All in all this is a nicely written book about important history that has been largely forgotten. Recommended!

Excellent adventure .......2007-03-24

This is a little known adventure story of missionary people, personalities, government polititians, native Americans, & foreigners. It has graphic illustrations of problems and errors made when dealing with different cultures in unknown and adverse climates. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it.

Life on the Edge of Civilization.......2007-03-09

It must have taken individuals of rare inner strength to even have the desire to go establish a Christian mission at Cape Prince of Whales, 55 miles across the Bering Strait to Russia and only 70 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Even more surprising to me was the number of women, single or married to missionaries, who went as well. Tom and Ellen Lopp were both single, that is until six weeks after they met.

This is a story of the mission at Cape Prince of Wales, the Lopp's and of a dramatic rescue where Tom and seven Eskimo herders drove a heard of reindeer some 700 miles to rescue stranded sailors whose ships had become frozen in the ice. This was a trip to rival the other famous trip in the cold, but up until now has been little known.

All in all, a most interesting book about life on the very edge of civilization.

epic adventure.......2007-02-06

This book rightly takes its place among the other tales of heroic arctic travel. It is well researched, the writing is sprightly, and the characterizations both compassionate and vivid.

Unsung Heroes.......2007-02-06

This was a fascinating book. It takes an honest look at subjects as diverse as; culture clashes, mission work, family struggles, man verses nature, government inner workings, and humanity's dual nature (good and evil). A whole cast of unsung heroes finally get their day. Unfortunately, it comes about 100 years too late. Although the author resides in our current day of political correctness, his characters do not. Frankly, I find them refreshing.

The Alaskan frontier is shown as the mishmash that it must have been. Competing groups vied for their own goals and dreams. They inevitably mixed and influenced each other resulting in the lines that formerly demarcated distinct people groups being erased and blurred. The outcomes of this amalgamation ranged from laudable triumphs to scandalous tragedies.

For some reason (maybe growing up in the hot South), I have always enjoyed books about Polar Regions. The first book I ever read was Jack London's Call of the Wild. I read In a Far Country in less than a week because the story kept my interest. It is one of the few books that I really hated to complete. I did not want to leave the characters.

Average customer rating:

Craig Wells Amarillo Texas
Bonnie & Clyde researcher & writer
Average Book & Facts
Flawed Masterpiece
Falls short

The Lives and Times of Bonnie & Clyde
E. R. Milner
Manufacturer: Southern Illinois University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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My Life With Bonnie And Clyde
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ASIN: 0809319772

Book Description

Relying on primary sources—oral history interviews, personal memoirs, newspaper articles, official records, diaries, and letters—E. R. Milner cuts through myth and legend to create this startling portrait of the real Bonnie and Clyde.

In his prologue, Milner introduces Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, showing them as they drive along a rural Louisiana lane toward the ambush that would put a dramatic end to their turbulent lives of crime. Milner then traces their backgrounds, noting the events that bring the two outlaws together. The ensuing adventures of Bonnie and Clyde featured gun battles, narrow escapes and captures, frequent moves, and, of necessity, several shifts in personnel over a short period of time. It was a life of wild action, betrayal, and sometimes even gallantry. In the abstract, an aura of romance surrounded this violent pair.

Although the mythology surrounding Bonnie and Clyde is charged with drama and fascination, Milner reveals the truth behind the bloody legend, carefully gleaning materials from obscure locally published accounts, previously untapped court records, and archived but unpublished oral history accounts from some sixty victims, neighbors, relatives, and police who were involved in the exploits of the infamous duo. And the truth proves to be sufficiently exciting. Romance aside, the Barrow gang carved a grisly swath through Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The string of deaths was long—and real: Akota, Oklahoma, sheriff severely wounded, deputy killed; Sherman, Texas, grocery clerk killed; Temple, Texas, man killed as gang attempts to steal his car; Joplin, Missouri, two officers killed; Alma, Arkansas, police officer killed; Crockette, Texas, prison guard killed; Miami, Oklahoma, police officer killed.

Milner traces this violent path until 23 May 1934, when Bonnie and Clyde die in an ambush. Even dead, they draw crowds and are buried in a circus-like atmosphere. In death they continue to intrigue us in ways few criminals had before or have since.

Customer Reviews:

Craig Wells Amarillo Texas.......2006-05-12

Although this book is well written and highly informative,some facts are incorrect.The author states that the gang was driving east on Texas Highway 203 between Quail and Wellington.The truth is,they were driving north on highway 83,8 miles north of Wellington,between Wellington and Shamrock,when their car crashed into the Red River.Also Mrs.Pritchard is Mr.Pritchard`s daughter not wife.She is married to John Cartwright.When Mrs.Cartwright was shot in the hand by W.D.Jones,he fails to mention that she was holding her three month old son in her arms.The baby was not injured,altough window screen from the shotgun blast fired through the window hit the baby in the head.Mrs.Cartwright who is in her ninties is still living in Wellington Texas.When the gang fled they headed north towards Shamrock not east toward Wellington.

Bonnie & Clyde researcher & writer.......2005-09-02

One thing for sure about this book by E. R. Milner is that he apparently did not visit the actual sites of many B & C gang's activities. He has names of towns, first and surnames of people, misspelled. He continued to use old material that has been done before and is incorrect in family history. However, Milner did publish the first death photo of Bonnie Parker. I believe that the "Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde" will be of interest to most people as their appeal continues to grow and millions still love to read more about their lives and crimes. I was fortunate to meet the author in 1999 in Miami, Oklahoma. He was a very gracious man and a good speaker. For all it's flaws, I would still recommend this book for your crime library.

Mike Koch, author of "The Kimes Gang."

Average Book & Facts.......2004-11-13

I was disappointed with this book. The events described are an almost an hour by hour passage of time, during the short lives of these two antagonists. We really don't care what Clyde did at 2am on the morning of the 15th of the month if it really has nothing to do with the outcome of the event! It seems as if this author wrote these pages directly from a courtroom transcript or a witness' testimony. Furthermore, there are entirely too few pictures (we want to see more of Bonnie & Clyde - duh!!). Pass on this book and buy one of the others out there.

Flawed Masterpiece.......2001-07-12

E.R. Milner has constructed a pretty fair history of the Barrow gang in The Lives and Times of Bonnie & Clyde. Using contemporary newspaper accounts and police records, he provides detailed accounts of even many of the gang's minor crimes, such as early gas station holdups, and we B&C buffs naturally want all the details we can get. There are some previously unpublished photos, which is a must. There is also too much dialogue for historical purposes, much of it taken, unfortunately, from Jan Fortune's error-strewn Fugitives, the ghosted 1934 memoirs of Emma Parker and Nell Barrow Cowan which in turn derived as much from Ed Portley's 1934 True Detective articles as it did from Bonnie's mother and Clyde's sister. There are quite a number of typos, mostly wrong first names and misspellings of surnames and it is equally unfortunate that Milner failed to visit many of the locations prominent in the Bonnie and Clyde story, where key participants in the events still live, such as Dexter, Iowa. Milner told me once he regretted not having gone to Iowa inasmuch as Dexter was the turning point in the gang's history just as surely as Northfield, Minnesota was the Waterloo of the James gang. Having recently reread this book, I also regret he didn't come to Iowa. The three gas stations the gang hit before going to the Platte City, MO motel were in Fort Dodge, Iowa, not Kansas. Speaking of Minnesota, a visit to Okabena would have raised considerable doubts in the author's mind as to the Barrows' guilt in the bank robbery there. No eyewitnesses ever identified the Barrows there but two men and a woman were later convicted of the Okabena bank job. Milner's epilogue leaves much to be desired. Clyde's mother was shot in 1938, as Milner reports, but not by "an unknown attacker." The would-be assassin was a former minor gang member ostracized by the Barrow family as a "rat" and the shooting resulted from a feud with them which also involved a number of bombings. Cumie was also more than "slightly wounded"--like Blanche she lost the sight of one eye. Little or nothing is recorded of the deaths of Bonnie's mother or other principal participants such as B&C ambushers Henderson Jordan, Prentiss Oakley and Manny Gault. Kidnap victim Thomas (wrongly named as Jimmy!) Persell is only recorded as having retired from the Springfield, MO P.D. And the sideshow "career" of the death car should have been traced down to its present whereabouts in a Nevada casino. In view of the errors and omissions, I feel I must drop a star from my previous rating of this work. Still, Milner did Bonnie and Clyde better than many before him and both his book and the recent Running With Bonnie and Clyde by John Neal Phillips deserve a respectable slot in any crime library.

Falls short.......2000-11-10

I never tire of reading about Bonnie and Clyde and I enjoyed this book. It was very well researched. All quotes and sources are well documented. It was disappointingly short especially since the auther had so much great research to draw from. In a true crime book I also like lots of photographs. It gives me a feel for the period. The photo's in this book are few and of poor quality. This book is good and I recommend it. I can't help but think it could have been great, but falls short.

A Perversion of Justice: A Southern Tragedy of Murder, Lies and Innocence Betrayed

Average customer rating:

WOW, I couldn't put it down
these 2 lil punks deserve death!
I couldn't put it down
A Wake Up Call to America's Juvenile Injustice System
Excellent Book

A Perversion of Justice: A Southern Tragedy of Murder, Lies and Innocence Betrayed
Kathryn Medico , and Mollye Barrows
Manufacturer: Avon
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0060549297
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Book Description

A startling look inside one of the most fascinating cases of last year––the murder of Terry King, the conviction of his 12 and 13–year old sons, and the pedophile who was accused of being an accessory.

On November 26, 2001, Terry King was found dead in his recliner in his home in Pensacola, Florida. Though a fire had been set in an attempt to cover up the scene, the evidence was indisputable––he had been beaten to death with a baseball bat. Days later, King's two young sons, 12 and 13 and not even five feet tall each, were found hiding out in the mobile home of their close friend, Rick Chavis, a convicted pedophile who had recently become very close to 12–year old Alex. In parallel statements, Alex and Derek confessed to murdering their father, and soon, they became the two youngest people ever to stand on trial for murder in the state of Florida.

But in a startling twist, the prosecution decided to do the unprecedented––try the boys for murder in one trial and Rick Chavis for murder in another, despite the boys' confessions. And in a case that gripped the state of Florida and hit headlines across the nation, convictions came down and were soon overturned. But in the end, the case became a series of missed opportunities, stunning reversals, and one of the most riveting true crime stories of the last decade.

Customer Reviews:

WOW, I couldn't put it down.......2005-07-14

This book was very interesting, it sucked me in from the beginning. After reading the book and watching the documentary on A&E about the King brothers I'd have to say that I still don't think they did it. I think it was all Rick Chaves. I don't think the kids were in the right state of mind either. They were brain washed into thinking they're father (terry) didn't love them and was abusing them. I also dont think it was fair that Rick got off as lightly as he did. I know that were his sentence he wont be getting out anyway, but still I think there was enough evidence to convict him for murder.

these 2 lil punks deserve death!.......2005-01-21

NO WAY WAS JUSTICE DONE! THEY KILLED THEIR OWN FATHER BECAUSE THEY WANTED TOO.. NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS ABOUT IT!SAD THING IS I WORK IN THE CORRECTIONS SYSTEM AND WITH THESE KIDS, AND ONE DAY THEY WILL BE SET FREE TO KILL AGAIN! THEY CAN NOT BE REFORMED!

ENOUGH SAID....

I couldn't put it down.......2004-08-13

For three days every time I had a free moment i was reading this book trying to understand just how our justice sytem has sustained for so long when everything that is wrong with it is exposed through the Terry King murder trial. I remember hearing about this case on the news a few years ago and all I ever really got from the media was how distirubed these children must have been to have committed these crimes and what was wrong with the children in the world these days. Little did I know that all the faults in this case were do to people simply not doing their job and just trying to put this case to an end and get a convition the easiest way possible. But even though most of the media just portrayed these kids as uncaring terrible children, Mollye, a news reporter genuinely wanted to find the truth..........something my be our justice system should have been interested in as well. VERY VERY VERY good and thought-provoking book!

A Wake Up Call to America's Juvenile Injustice System.......2004-07-06

A Perversion of Justice hit the nail on the head. Great work Mollye and Kathryn! The book explains through a child's eye the horrors of today's juvenile injustice system. I hope the book is bought by every American family and read by every parent. The tough on juvenile crime political bandwagon parading in this country has been misinterpreted by parents who really have no concept of what they are voting for when they elect politicians with this stance.

This book is a definite wake up call. Parents only find out the terrible reality when their own child gets caught up in the barbed web of the system, and they learn the hard way that their children really aren't under their protection. When prosecutors are given the right to prosecute any age child as an adult, as is the case in Florida, in essence, no child is safe and all children belong to the state instead of their parents.

Ever since a "tough-on-juvenile-crime" political response to a media-hyped juvenile crime wave in the early 90s, the United States Juvenile Justice System has increasingly become a nightmare for America's children. Children caught up in the justice system are no longer recognized as children, yet aren't afforded the rights granted adults. Florida leads the nation in belief that children should be locked away for life.

Society should never respond to children who have committed crimes as though they are somehow equal to adults, fully formed in conscience and fully aware of their actions. Placing children in adult jails is a sign of failure, not a solution. In many instances, such terrible behavior points to societies own negligence in raising children with a respect for life, providing a nurturing and loving environment, or addressing serious mental or emotional illnesses.

Scientific studies have proven that the adolescent brain is not fully formed. Therefore, children should not be held equally culpable as adults. The Legislature needs to come out of the dark ages and listen to experts on child psychiatry and scientific data on human growth and development.

The draconian laws of the past two decades need to be re-evaluated and changed. An easy first step to juvenile justice reform in Florida would be for the Legislature to remove juveniles tried as adults from mandatory sentencing schemes and restore to juvenile judges discretion of deciding whether a child is to be tried in juvenile or adult court, instead of letting prosecutors decide.

There should be defined lines of age distinction drawn between child and adult. If visual difference isn't enough to convince, logic and common sense should recognize that children aren't allowed to drive, sign contracts or vote among other things, because society doesn't believe they are mentally mature enough to do these things competently. Therefore, why is it that if a child commits a crime they are suddenly classified by the courts as an adult?

Any competent adult should know better.

Children are this county's most precious commodity, because they are our future. If a society is judged by how well it treats its most vulnerable, the past two decades of America's juvenile justice system will be recorded as barbaric.

Read this book and you will want to change the juvenile justice system. Laws can be changed, one vote at a time.

Excellent Book.......2004-07-06

Leaving me shocked, disturbed, enraged and at times in tears over the brutal way Alex and Derek were treated, I really think we should all applaud the step Kathryn Medico and Mollye Barrows have taken in writing this book. There is no doubt in my mind that a Perversion of Justice occurred from the very beginning and I am personally horrified that we live in a society where a prosecutor can take a man to trial for murder and not even try to get a conviction and I'm further horrified that a young child can be forced to testify in open court and in handcuffs at the murder trial of a man accused of molesting him.

Regardless of who committed this crime, the fact is that the system failed these young boys miserably and it's only time someone take responsibility for fixing this broken system and Mollye and Kathryn's book is a good first start.

I strongly recommend anyone who cares about justice in America to read this book.

Average customer rating:

AWESOME

KNOW THE AUTHOR

This is a most fascinating and well plotted tale written by a caring physician.

Don't pass this one by!

Kudos for Murder Makes the Rounds

Murder Makes the Rounds
Mela Barrows Bennett
Manufacturer: Pemberton Mysteries
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1563153750
Release Date: 2007-01-31

Product Description

Being a board member just got deadly serious Dr. Janis Saunders is falling in love with Dr. David Hunter. The problem: The trustees of her hospital are dropping dead in the boardroom, one after another. Now Janis and David become involved in more ways than one as they try to track down the killer. Can they untangle the deadly web of politics and ambition that is trying to destroy the hospital? The closer they get to solving the crime, the more they put their own lives at risk. A thrilling mystery and a steamy romance.

Customer Reviews:

AWESOME.......2007-08-03

This book was such a joy to read. I am one who normally does not like to read, when a friend recommended this book i blew it off because well, i have better stuff to do. Finally my friend made me read it, and i can say i should have read it much sooner! The twists the suspense, i would read it again, but sadly for me i know the end. I have to go get more of my friends to read this book so we can talk about it! I sure there is a second book coming soon, i really do.

KNOW THE AUTHOR.......2007-07-30

VERY DISAPOINTED IN THIS NOVEL,,,NOT FINISHED YET BECAUSE I HAVE A HARD TIME PICKING IT UP AGAIN BECAUSE IT IS BORING,,,I AM REALLY DISAPOINTED BECAUSE I DO KNOW THE AUTHOR AND I EXPECTED MORE,,,SINCERELY, E.E.B

This is a most fascinating and well plotted tale written by a caring physician. .......2007-07-07

Mela Barrows Bennett is a family practice and emergency medicine physician. She has experience in administration as president of the medical staff and director of emergency medicine at major hospitals.

Dr. David Hunter decides to run for staff president of Green Valley Hospital, in part to try to block a merger being pushed by the hospital's seedy administrator, John Michael Davenport. Part of his reason for running, other than a desire to maintain the hospital's excellent level of service, is because Dr. George Bluestone, long-time trustee, encouraged him. But when Dr. Bluestone suddenly dies, David enlists help from a new lady friend in his life, pathologist Janis Saunders. The results of the post-mortem findings are vague and disquieting:

"David paged through the reports. Normal liver tests, fair lipid profile, normal blood count, negative drug and alcohol screens...Then he saw. George's potassium level had been 2.4 (normal 3.5 to 4.5), and could have led to an irregular heart rate by itself, but the last page was the shocker. His dig level was 3.9 (desired 0.8 to 1.8)-highly toxic and particularly so in light of the low potassium. This deadly combination would be recognizable to a medical student. 'Meds?'"

When a professional takes to mystery writing, it is sure to produce a highly entertaining and detailed story. It also turns out that Dr. Bennett is quite the romantic, so MURDER MAKES THE ROUNDS is liberally sprinkled with the emerging love story between David Hunter and Joyce Saunders. The docs are the good guys in this plot, and the nefarious background antics of the hospital's administrator to enrich himself and threaten the future make this story all too familiar in today's health care climate.

MURDER MAKES THE ROUNDS is a well-plotted whodunit filled with believable characters just trying to get by in the frantic-paced world of health care. The all-encompassing world of medicine is well portrayed, as the doctors involved try to carve out a normal life for themselves. This is a most fascinating and well plotted tale written by a caring physician. Great job!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

Don't pass this one by!.......2007-05-12

A great story, told well, with plenty to satisfy fans of mystery, romance and hospital intrigue. Discover a great new author!

Kudos for Murder Makes the Rounds.......2007-02-16

Murder Makes the Rounds is a great combination of mystery and romance. The novel will hold your interest from beginning to end. It is intelligently written and a lot of fun to read.

Average customer rating:

Trying too Hard
remind readers of North by Northwest

Deadly Detail [LARGE TYPE EDITION]
Don Porter
Manufacturer: Poisoned Pen Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Happy Hour

ASIN: 159058192X
Release Date: 2005-09-01

Book Description

It's Fairbanks, Alaska, during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Alex Price, a Bethel bush pilot, is looking forward to a pleasant evening visiting his old friend and prospecting partner Stan and Stan's lovely Athabaskan Indian wife, Angie. But his world is shattered when Stan is killed and assassins begin to stalk both Alex and Angie.

On the run, trying to keep hidden, Alex tries to help Angie deal with her grief, and comes to realize how bleak his own bachelor lifestyle is.

In a desperate, deadly game of cat and mouse, Alex and Angie search for the answers to two questions: who is trying to kill them? And why?

Their search for answers takes them from Point Barrow to Valdez while the mysterious killers seem to keep one step ahead of them. Soon Alex and Angie realize that the slightest false step may well be be their last.

Customer Reviews:

Trying too Hard.......2007-03-29

Alaska is the main interest to me in this book. Don Porter sounds like a real nice guy, but I don't think he is a smooth writer.
I'm sure he did a lot of research, and had a lot of information about planes, and how important they are to this state.
I'm glad I read this book, but I don't think I would recommend it to anyone not familiar with Alaska

remind readers of North by Northwest .......2005-09-17

While the pipeline is under construction, flying customers to Fairbanks enables bush pilot Alex Price the opportunity to spend some time with his former prospecting partner Stan and his friend's Athabascan wife Angie. However, Stan asks Alex to meet him in town without his spouse because he is worried about a threat by an unknown assailant who thinks he overheard something; ironically he did not hear anything. They meet at the local, but depart for privacy heading towards Stan's pick-up truck. A bar girl stops Alex while Stan turns on the ignition; the vehicle explodes.

Stunned Alex goes to comfort Angie. Not long after his arrival two cops come on the scene, but instead of breaking the news of Alex's death, they start shooting at the grieving pair. Alex and Angie manage to escape by canoe, but the killers give chase. Alex knows they need time to learn what the criminals think Stan overheard if they are to confront the employers of the assassin chasing after them, but first they must elude their adversaries in the stark frozen Alaskan tundra.

Though this is Alaska and Hitchcock's North by Northwest uses cornfields and climaxes at Rushmore, this fine thriller will remind readers of that excellent movie because of the innocent hero falling into a deadly situation and also the massive backdrops. The story line is superb as Alex and Angie must first find safety to regroup and figure out what is going on and how to act on this. Readers will take immense delight wondering what ironically Stan did not hear that killed him.

Harriet Klausner

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The Triumph of Failure

The Barrow Murder
James I Huston
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595321968

Book Description

As Joseph Andrews prepares to close his unsuccessful one-person law office in Newport, RI, Gretchen Barrow enters his life. She has been charged with the murder of her very wealthy, estranged husband. Although she was in Las Vegas on a gambling trip at the time of his death, the police believe she hired one of her many lovers to kill Mr. Barrow. Many surprises take place as Andrews bungles his way through the murder trial, his first. His efforts are thwarted by a judge who is related to the prosecuting attorney, but are aided by the work of a 90-year-old private detective, hired to assist. Andrews finds comfort in several hundred thousand dollars regularly supplied by Mrs. Barrow as fees, and the encouragement of spectators thronging the courtroom during the trial -- many of Mrs. Barrows lovers, both male and female, and a number of Andrews' clients, who have been charged with public urination.

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Customer Reviews:

The Triumph of Failure.......2004-08-18

"It has been fun writing all this out... and fun getting to know you, dear reader, even though you, too, are a part of this fiction." Well I for one, dear author, had as much fun reading your novel as you did writing it. Since I don't consider myself a fiction, I must reject your claim that you got to know me in the process. However, I most assuredly got to know you, as represented by your narrator, Joseph Andrews -- perhaps the most self-deprecatory protagonist in all literature. But apart from such meta-fictional considerations, this first novel by James I. Huston is hilarious, often outrageous, and replete with fascinating characters. And despite the heroic efforts of the hero to self-extinguish, he succeeds admirably in defining that fine line that separates failure from triumph. Read it, and have a good laugh.

Average customer rating:

Not his best but readable.

Flawless: A Thriller
Adam Barrow
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0525940472

Customer Reviews:

Not his best but readable........2006-08-10

Have you ever had an author of whom you are fond but no-one else seems to like that much?

Adam Barrow is one of these authors, or I should use his real name Tom Kakonis. Kakonis isn't writing anymore but the books that he did write were quite good.

Flawless is the story of a handsome young man who is also a ruthless killer, the man's father who is newly out of jail for killing his wife, the young woman who loves them both and the private eye who is tracking down the killer.

The novel isn't the authors best work but it is readable.

Try Tom Kakonis!

Average customer rating:

High Cost Of Murder
Hugh Barrow
Manufacturer: New English Library ( NEL )
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KKD9WQ

Average customer rating:

Murder! in the southwest
Weston A Pettey
Manufacturer: Chaparral Graphics Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006R4ZQW

Average customer rating:

A perversion of Justice: a southern Tragedy of Murder, Lies and Innocence Betrayed
Kathryn Medico and Mollye Barrows
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000U56ZD6

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