Intelligent Sensor Design Using the Microchip dsPIC (Embedded Technology)

Book Description

Intelligent seonsors are revolutionizing the world of system design in everything from sports cars to assembly lines. These new sensors have abilities that leave their predecessors in the dust! They not only measure parameters efficiently and precisely, but they also have the ability to enhance and interupt those measurements, thereby transformng raw data into truly useful information.

Unlike many embedded systems books that confine themselves strictly to firmware and software, this book also delves into the supporting electronic hardware, providing the reader with a complete understanding of the issues involved when interfacing to specific types of sensor and offering insight into the real-world problems designers will face. Meaningful software examples are implemented in both C and assembly language, and the source code is included on the accompanying CD. The examples provide a complete, easily extensible code framework for sensor-based applications as well as basic support routines that are often ignored or treated superficially. The goal throughout is to make readers truly productive as quickly as possible while providing the thorough understanding necessary to design robust systems.

Readers will gain in-depth, real-world design information that will help them be more productive and get up to speed on sensor design skills more quickly. The book provides designers and students a leg up in a relatively new design area, imparting knowledge about a new microcontroller that offers some of the functionality of a DSP chip.

· Quickly teaches the reader to design the new wave in sensor technology, "intelligent" sensors

· In-depth design techniques, real-world examples, detailed figures and usable code

· Application chapters thoroughly exploring temperature, pressure and load, and flow sensors

· A FREE CD that provides a toolkit of software models in both C and assembly language

Customer Reviews:

dsPIC.......2007-05-13

This is an introductory text on making sensors "intelligent". It meets that need well.

This book is not a text on DSP. If you need a text book on DSP, get a DSP text book.

This is not a text on PIC microcontrollers. There are several from introductory to advanced in print.

An Excellent Book for the dsPIC Enthusiast Interested in Intelligent Sensor Design.......2007-01-13

This is an Excellent Book for the dsPIC Enthusiast Interested in Intelligent Sensor Design. The book really does deserve 5 stars. The reason I rated the book 4 stars is that there are a few errors that, once corrected will go a long way to a 5 star rating.

I sometimes get frustrated with an author that makes errors. This book is not riddled with errors like some I've read. In this case, the errors are forgivable as it is obvious that they were made in the effort to get this book to print. The first error has to do with the Nyquist theorem. The author states, "As one can easily see, a problem arises when the highest frequency component in the original signal is greater than twice the sampling frequency, a sample rate known as the Nyquist rate." Opps; the maximum frequency in an analog signal, f1, is often referred to as the `Nyqust frequency'. The minimum sampling rate (2 *f1 samples per second) at which a signal can be recovered is known as the `Nyquist rate'. The `folding frequency', which is one-half the sampling frequency used, is the highest frequency which can be recovered according to the Sampling Theorem (See Lynn and Fuerst, "Introductory to Digital Signal Processing, 2nd ed., p11). Hence, I believe the author meant to say, "As one can easily see, a problem arises when the highest frequency component in the original signal is greater than one-half the sampling frequency, a sample rate known as the Nyquist rate." The other factual error I found was stating that the dsPICDEM Demo board has a temperature sensor with SPI. The board I believe the author is referring to (dsPICDEM 1.1) has a TC1047A which is an analog sensor, not SPI. Neither error is worth rating a book lower, I just wanted to point out two errors that may, at first, puzzle a reader.

So, why is the book excellent? After reading the book, I believe it is fair to say Creed Huddleston is an experienced embedded veteran with a disciplined code style. Creed has mastered the dsPIC and can teach you a lot about using the dsPIC in intelligent sensor designs. That is, if you have an open mind, take the time to read and use the code on included CD, you will learn a lot. The code in the book is very well organized. You will need access to 1) Microchip's C30 GNU C compiler (a free student version is available); 2) the dsPIC Digital filter software (a lite version is available at a modest cost), 3) MPLAB (Free download from Microchip); 4) The dsPICDEM 1.1 demo board (unless you have the time to build your own circuit or adapt the code to another); 5) Time to build an interface circuit to the sensor of your choice. Creed takes you though the rational for intelligent sensors in the early part of the book, though a brief introduction to DSP (this is NOT a DSP tutorial book), though a brief introduction the dsPIC architecture, and finally to sensor interface by example of three projects; a temperature sensor, pressure and load sensors, and flow sensors.

In the latter half of the book, you are introduced to a dsPIC `toolkit', created by the author organized in a framework that you can use in your own projects. The beginning dsPIC developer or an intermediate developer would most likely benefit from learning from the code style, rational behind the code organization, and examples the author demonstrates. The framework is state machine driven using a simplistic approach and is not a UML diagram-based. That is, the style is common sense and low-key to allow the reader to understand the intelligent sensor concept, not software design theory.

The chapters are:
1. What Are Intelligent Sensors, and Why Should I Care about Them?
2. Intuitive Digital Signal Processing
3. Underneath the Hood of the dsPIC DSC
4. Learning to be a Good Communicator
5. A Basic Toolkit for the dsPIC DSC
6. Sensor Application - Temperature Sensor
7. Sensor Application - Pressure and Load Sensors
8. Sensor Application - Flow Sensors
9. Where are We Headed?
10. Appendix A: Software on the Included CD-ROM
11. Appendix B: Initialization of the dsPIC DSC and the System Start-up Code
12. Appendix C: Buffered, Interrupt-driven Serial I/O

Estimation with Applications to Tracking and Navigation

Average customer rating:

Excellent book on estimation/Kalman filter
best standard book for target tracking system

Estimation with Applications to Tracking and Navigation
Yaakov Bar-Shalom , X. Rong Li , and Thiagalingam Kirubarajan
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 047141655X

Book Description

Expert coverage of the design and implementation of state estimation algorithms for tracking and navigation

Estimation with Applications to Tracking and Navigation treats the estimation of various quantities from inherently inaccurate remote observations. It explains state estimator design using a balanced combination of linear systems, probability, and statistics.

The authors provide a review of the necessary background mathematical techniques and offer an overview of the basic concepts in estimation. They then provide detailed treatments of all the major issues in estimation with a focus on applying these techniques to real systems. Other features include:

Problems that apply theoretical material to real-world applications
In-depth coverage of the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) estimator
Companion DynaEst(TM) software for MATLAB(TM) implementation of Kalman filters and IMM estimators
Design guidelines for tracking filters

Suitable for graduate engineering students and engineers working in remote sensors and tracking, Estimation with Applications to Tracking and Navigation provides expert coverage of this important area.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book on estimation/Kalman filter.......2004-09-29

I don't usually write online reviews but this book is so clear and useful that I really want to recommend it to others. It is well written with a good outline and summary for every chapter. It also has a pretty diverse range of topics on estimation, including an introductory chapter on basic estimation approaches (e.g., ML, MAP, least squares), and very practical extensions (e.g., state augmentation, square-root filters). Even though I am not in EE and some of the examples are thus not particularly helpful to me, I still find this book one of the best of all the estimation/Kalman filter books out there.

best standard book for target tracking system.......2001-05-09

I think any person who major in target tracking system related to the Kalman filter must see this book. This book present the fundamentals of state estimation theory and the tools for the design of state-of-the-art algorithms for target tracking.

The book covers the basic concepts and estimation techniques for static and dynamic systems, linear and nonlinear, as well as adaptive estiomation. This constitutes a one semester graduate course in estimation theory in an electrical/systems engineering program.

The discussion deals mainly with discrete time estimation algorithms, which are natural for digital computer implementation. The basic state estimation algorithm-the Kalman filter-is presented in discrete as well as in continuous time. The use of the estimation algorithms is illustrated on kinematic motion models because they reveal all the major issues and in particular the subtleties encountered in estimation, and this serves as an introdution to tracking.

Guidelines for tracking filter design-selection of the filter design parameters-are given and illustrated in several examples.

At the end of each chapter, a number of problems that enhance the understanding of the theory and the connection of the theoretical material to the real world are given.

And I have this book as text for my paper.

Average customer rating:

Good to start with a Radius

Good overview and reference

Bad copy of RFC

Inaccurate copy of RFCs

Acceptable as an intro, but severly lacking details

Radius
Jonathan Hassell
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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LDAP System Administration

AAA and Network Security for Mobile Access: Radius, Diameter, EAP, PKI and IP Mobility

Kerberos: The Definitive Guide

802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition (Definitive Guide)

DNS and Bind:3rd Ed

ASIN: 0596003226

Amazon.com

There's far more to information security than usernames and passwords; it's not just a matter of letting legitimate users "in" and keeping bad guys "out." Users who have authority to use certain parts of a system may not be authorized to see everything, and businesses, for billing purposes, often want to track how long users spend in a system. The Remote Access Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) solves all of these engineering challenges, but you have to implement it correctly in order to achieve maximum benefit and keep your systems safe. RADIUS provides an architectural and technical guide to RADIUS implementation, enabling its readers to design RADIUS-secured systems properly and choose products wisely.

Jonathan Hassell's approach is to lay down a foundation of RADIUS protocol theory, then explain how to implement the protocol with a particular product (FreeRADIUS for Linux). He approaches both elements of his book with precision and detail, and provides plenty of tabular information for reference. He's also liberal with examples, which is a welcome trait if you're in a hurry to know how to format a radiusd.conf file or how to configure Cisco IOS to do RADIUS authentication. This is a comprehensive treatment of a complicated subject. --David Wall

Topics covered: How the RADIUS protocol provides authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA services), and how it fits with other elements of network design. The author covers the protocol in theory before digging into its implementation in FreeRADIUS for Linux and the integration of that package with several important networking products.

Book Description

The subject of security never strays far from the minds of IT workers, for good reason. If there is a network with even just one connection to another network, it needs to be secured. RADIUS, or Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service, is a widely deployed protocol that enables companies to authenticate, authorize and account for remote users who want access to a system or service from a central network server. Originally developed for dial-up remote access, RADIUS is now used by virtual private network (VPN) servers, wireless access points, authenticating Ethernet switches, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) access, and other network access types. Extensible, easy to implement, supported, and actively developed, RADIUS is currently the de facto standard for remote authentication. RADIUS provides a complete, detailed guide to the underpinnings of the RADIUS protocol, with particular emphasis on the utility of user accounting. Author Jonathan Hassell draws from his extensive experience in Internet service provider operations to bring practical suggestions and advice for implementing RADIUS. He also provides instructions for using an open-source variation called FreeRADIUS. "RADIUS is an extensible protocol that enjoys the support of a wide range of vendors," says Jonathan Hassell. "Coupled with the amazing efforts of the open source development community to extend RADIUS's capabilities to other applications-Web, calling card security, physical device security, such as RSA's SecureID-RADIUS is possibly the best protocol with which to ensure only the people that need access to a resource indeed gain that access." This unique book covers RADIUS completely, from the history and theory of the architecture around which it was designed, to how the protocol and its ancillaries function on a day-to-day basis, to implementing RADIUS-based security in a variety of corporate and service provider environments. If you are an ISP owner or administrator, corporate IT professional responsible for maintaining mobile user connectivity, or a web presence provider responsible for providing multiple communications resources, you'll want this book to help you master this widely implemented but little understood protocol.

Customer Reviews:

Good to start with a Radius.......2004-04-14

Clear documentation on Radius env but you must read another document, most on freeradius, to build a real solutions.

Good overview and reference.......2004-01-06

I found this book a good reference to RADIUS. While some content is available in the RFCs, it's handy to have it compact and easy to read inside this book. The overview and guide to FreeRADIUS is good to have, especially considering the lack of available documentation from the project. I especially found the security chapter helpful, a candid discussion of where RADIUS fails.

While there could be more coverage in this book, I think it's a great one to have available. Recommended.

Bad copy of RFC.......2004-01-04

Let me just compare one sentence from the book and RFC:

The book, page 20:
Authenticator
... In this field, the most important octet is transmitted before any other ...

RFC 2865, page 15:
Authenticator
... The most significant octet is transmitted first. ...

Inaccurate copy of RFCs.......2003-09-22

This book is an inaccurate and incorrect copy of RFCs with a lot of buzzwords. This should be great only because this is only book about RADIUS protocol in the world. It is better for you to read RFCs if you understand the situation that needs RADIUS.

Acceptable as an intro, but severly lacking details.......2003-08-07

This book may not be bad for someone looking for a brief overview of the RADIUS protocol (perhaps a manager), but is virtually useless for anything beyond that. The book is poorly organized, severly lacks detail, and has its share of errors. Technical readers should look elsewhere.

Average customer rating:

Lauren's Arrested!
so so
Quick read, but nothing great
Fast-paced story...
Contrived, tedious, nothing new here

Remote Control (Alan Gregory)
Stephen White
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451191692

Amazon.com

In his fifth book about intrepid Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory, Stephen White zooms in on Gregory's wife, Lauren--an assistant district attorney who has multiple sclerosis. Protecting a friend targeted by anti-abortion terrorists, Lauren shoots at a man during a snowstorm and sets off a blizzard of recriminations. As usual, White makes the evolution of a convoluted plot as believable as the rocky landscape. Previous Gregory adventures available in paperback: Harm's Way, Higher Authority, Private Practices, Privileged Information.

Book Description

In the midst of his most challenging and dangerous case, clinical psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory's wife-associate district attorney, Lauren Crowder-is arrested on suspicion of murder. Alan's desperate investigation will bring him face-to-face with true evil: a conspiracy fueled by human greed and bound by a deadly secret that someone will kill to keep.

Customer Reviews:

Lauren's Arrested!.......2007-09-17

This is the fifth installment of the Alan Gregory series. As usual with a series, reading them in order helps to understand and follow the recurring characters, inside jokes, etc. In this one, Lauren is arrested when she fires her gun and gives it to a police officer after a man is shot. We get a police procedural in arrest and see it from the prisoner's (Lauren's) point of view, limited as it is. Her MS is exacurbating and she has very limited vision. Without reading the previous books, I think one would be lacking in being able to understand Lauren's choices in this book and hte way she reacts to different things that happen.

I've started reading this series from the beginning and to me they just get better and better. I don't understand the limited reading audience that Stephen White seems to have, or at least that is represented in the Amazon book reviews. This series give us mystery, suspense, psychological profiles, legal aspects and police procedurals.

so so.......2006-04-23

I won't go into detail because others have, but although this book was well-researched and had many plot twists and turns, it was still incredibly boring. It was my first Stephen White book and I am not sure if I will read more.

My other issue was with Emma Spire - her character was not developed enough. It was not clear why the media would be so obsessed with her other than the murder of her father.

Quick read, but nothing great.......2005-06-08

I picked this book up for $1 at my library's used book sale. This is the first Steven White book I have read. Based on the cover and the fact that I enjoy mysteries and thrillers I picked it up. Overall, I read it in three train trips (1 hr each) and it held my interest. The plot was a little strange and not very believable. I won't bore you with the details, others have written plenty.

Apparently this is one in a series of books about the doctor, Alan Gregory. Based on this book I suppose I will read another, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find them either.

Fast-paced story..........2005-03-31

I liked the fact that the whole story took place in a very short amount of time (about one day), and included some looks back into past events which lead up to the current happenings.

My main complaint about the book is that there was not more Alan! I am a big fan of his character, but don't care too much for Lauren's character. Some of the minor plot details are a bit far fetched, but it's not too hard to overlook and remain caught up in the fast-paced action. Overall, I was a bit disappointed, but not enough to stop reading White's work.

Contrived, tedious, nothing new here.......2004-03-01

I don't know about the book, but the audiotape was tedious and uninteresting, the only redemption coming from Dick Hill's narration....it's amazing how many voices he did on this audiotape....but that's how many characters there are, tripping over each other's feet, as it were. Well, there's Dr. Alan Gregory and his wife, Lauren, the protagonists sort of, but don't forget Emma, who is an intern under Laura in the Boulder (Colorado?) D.A.'s office, where Laura is a D.A. Then there's the polices, Scott Malloy and a veteran whose name I can't recall. Then there's Emma's private security, a guy who used to work for the Secret Service but ends up shot and run over by the villain, J.P. Morgan. Heard that name somewhere before, have we? J.P. Morgan is a financial partner with Ethan Hahn, an inventor who has found a way to transduce bodily movements into bits, which sounds something like EMR or tomography. But anyway, Ethan gets a little carried away and wears the transducer while he's making love to Emma (it's a long story). Then there's Raul Estevez and his wife, another shrink (like Gregory). Did I leave anybody out? Like I said, tedious and contrived. What ever happened to creativity? I don't mean dreaming up fantastic, totally improbable circumstances to drive a plot, but real inventiveness. Well, that's not Stephen White's concern, I suppose. And why should it be? In a 100 years, who will care one way or the other? Diximus.

The Radio Control Model Manual: A Step-By-Step Guide to the Remote Operation of Models

Average customer rating:

The Radio Control Model Manual: A Step-By-Step Guide to the Remote Operation of Models
David Boddington
Manufacturer: Patrick Stephens Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Learn all you can before you buy! This manual details all types and specifications of RC outfits. Discusses ancillary equipments, including mechanical and solid state gyros, autopilots, chargers, electric speed controllers, fail safe systems, remote management systems and tachometers. Also covers transmitters, installation of RC equipment linkages, maintenance of equipment, and more.

Remote Control: Power, Cultures, and the World of Appearances (Writing Art)

Average customer rating:

i really want to like it
Remote Control by Barbara Kruger

Remote Control: Power, Cultures, and the World of Appearances (Writing Art)
Barbara Kruger
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0262111772

Book Description

Who speaks? Who is silent? Who is seen? Who is absent? These questions focus on how cultures are constructed through pictures and words, how we are seduced into a world of appearances: into a pose of who we are and aren't. On both an emotional and an economic level, images and texts have the power to make us rich or poor. In these essays and reviews, written over the last decade, Barbara Kruger addresses that power with intelligence and wit, in the hope of engaging both our criticality and our dreams of affirmation.

Barbara Kruger is an artist whose pictures and words engage issues of power, sex, money, difference, and death. Her work has appeared throughout America, Europe, and Japan in galleries, newspapers, magazines, and museums and on billboards, matchbooks, TV programs, t-shirts, postcards, and shopping bags. She has written about television, film, and cultures for Artforum, Esquire, the New York Times, and the Village Voice.

Customer Reviews:

i really want to like it.......2005-10-20

i really do, but it's so academic at times i just can't get into it. it's not that i'm not an intelligent guy because i am, and it's not that i don't appreciate kruger's work because i do. it's simply that what i most love about kruger is the accessability of her work, and this book was very inaccessable at times. i'm glad i have it in my collection, but i wouldn't call it an "enjoyable" read. it's really more work than fun. i guess it depends on your feelings about kruger if the work is worth it. this is an important book for an art historian or cultural critic, but i would not recomend it as an introduction to kruger.

Remote Control by Barbara Kruger.......2000-09-26

Kruger's work is some of her best yet! She is, without a doubt, the most effective and AFFECTIVE artist of our time. Her art aggressively attacks the viewer, as do her written words. She takes control, and forces the reader to reflect on his or her position/experience/actions in life. Influential and powerful, radical, aggressive, and moving, the book is all put together with wit, dark humor, and poetic grace. An outstanding piece of work from an outstanding, talanted artist!

Book Description

This will be the first book that deals with the use of commercial satellite imagery to monitor non-proliferation of nuclear weapons non-intrusively from space by an international organisation. The book deals with both the technical as well as policy issues related to the nuclear weapons non-proliferation issues. The authors discuss how an international organisation such as the International Atomic Energy Agency can use information derived from satellites to enhance its policing task.

Generators and Inverters: Building Small Combined Heat and Power Systems For Remote Locations and Emergency Situations

Average customer rating:

Generators and Inverters: Building Small Combined Heat and Power Systems For Remote Locations and Emergency Situations

Manufacturer: Chastain Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0970220359

Book Description

The most complete small generator book reference and "how-to" book available. Everything you need to know about building or buying small power plants. If you have any questions about generating your own electricity, you need this book! Not only does Steve answer your questions, he converts an auto engine into a powerplant that runs his whole house and heats his pool!

Average customer rating:

Great Study for Test, Not good for practical applications.
Typos yes but still useable.
Needs Errata badly!

HTI+ Exam Cram 2
Charles J. Brooks , and Ed Tittel
Manufacturer: Que
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0789729377

Book Description

Your resource to passing the HTI+ Certification Exam!

Join the ranks of readers who have trusted Exam Cram 2 to their certification preparation needs! The HTI+ Exam Cram 2 is focused on what you need to know to pass the HTI+ exam. The Exam Cram 2 Method of Study provides you with a concise method to learn the exam topics. The book includes tips, exam notes, acronyms and memory joggers in order to help you pass the exam.

Included in the HTI+ Exam cram 2:

A tear-out "Cram Sheet" for last minute test preparation.
The PrepLogic Practice Tests, test engine to simulate the testing environment and test your knowledge.

Trust in the series that has helped many others achieve certification success - Exam Cram 2.

Download Description

Your resource to passing the HTI+ Certification Exam! Join the ranks of readers who have trusted Exam Cram 2 to their certification preparation needs! The HTI+ Exam Cram 2 is focused on what you need to know to pass the HTI+ exam. The Exam Cram 2 Method of Study provides you with a concise method to learn the exam topics. The book includes tips, exam notes, acronyms and memory joggers in order to help you pass the exam. Trust in the series that has helped many others achieve certification success - Exam Cram 2. This ebook does not include the CD that accompanies the print edition.

Customer Reviews:

Great Study for Test, Not good for practical applications. .......2004-10-20

If you you purchasing this book because you have no idea about Home Electronics Installation and want to take the test, this book will help you pass. Unfortunatly, if you are actually trying to learn to do this, then you are going to have to move on to something else. This book contains several errors, and does not go deep enough that would make someone feel confortable attempting to install this stuff after reading it.

Typos yes but still useable........2004-02-05

The new generation of Exam Cram 2's I reckon to be far better value than the first series, almost always on target and still nice and portable so you can study/cram almost anywhere. Yes this one does have dissapointing typos but of course you will be using another text as well won't you, so you will realise what they are when you come across them? Its is annoying but I found that it sharpened me up not only to look for them (having been warned of their presence) and I certainly remembered salient points because of them. So in an odd way they worked in my favour. Still the perfect item would be nice. But on the whole recommended.

Needs Errata badly!.......2004-01-05

There is an error every 10 to 15 pages in the book or a misleading sentence.

Hopefully the publisher will post an errata soon.

Amazon.com

Don't expect to see Andy McNab's photograph on the cover of his first thriller, Remote Control--the former British Special Air Service agent says both the Colombian drug cartel and the Provisional IRA still have contracts out on him. His two nonfiction books, Bravo Two Zero and Immediate Action, give more detail about his prolific past.

Remote Control is the fictional story of an SAS agent named Nick Stone, who is on the case of two Irish terrorists. He follows them across the Atlantic to Washington, D.C., but is suddenly ordered back home on the next available flight. His old mate Kevin Brown, now with the Drug Enforcement Agency, lives near the airport, so Nick decides to drop in. He finds a slaughterhouse: Kev, his wife, and youngest daughter have been battered to death, but daughter Kelly has survived in a special hideout. Prying information from the shocked child, Nick links the killers to either the CIA, the DEA, or his own organization--which means that he and Kelly are virtually on their own. As Nick trundles the spunky youngster from one seedy motel to another, stuffs her with junk food, and teaches her the rudiments of spy craft, he also begins to piece together a picture of why Kevin and his family were killed. There is a connection between a terrorist bomb scare in Gibraltar in 1988, the Colombian drug cartel, and high-level intelligence-agency skullduggery. McNab keeps dropping those shiny nuggets of believability along the trail and winds up holding our attention until the predictable but satisfying end. --Dick Adler

Book Description

After his mission is suddenly terminated in Washington, D.C., British Intelligence agent Nick Stone decides to visit an old colleague, Kev Brown. But when Stone arrives at his friend's eerily quiet suburban home, he discovers a chilling scene of carnage. Every member of the Brown family has been brutally slaughtered except one: seven-year-old Kelly Brown. Stone grabs the girl and runs--with anonymous assassins in hot pursuit.

Racing from Washington to Florida and finally across the Atlantic, Stone begins to piece together a shocking global conspiracy. Thrust into a lethal game of cat-and-mouse, Stone is certain of two things. No one can be trusted. He and Kelly are on their own. Now his darkest fears about the shadowy link between politics, money, and terrorism are about to be realized. . . .

Customer Reviews:

Better than (insert title here) or your money back!.......2007-04-29

Recently, I acquired a copy of the Stephen Leather thriller, Hot Blood (A Dan Shepherd Mystery), which had on its front cover a sticker that screamed "Better than Andy McNab or your money back". Leather's ongoing fictional hero, Dan "Spider" Shepherd, is a former member of the SAS now working for an ultra-secret undercover unit of London's Metropolitan Police. Nick Stone, the protagonist making his initial appearance here in McNab's first novel, REMOTE CONTROL, is an ex-SAS trooper now working for MI6. What, do Leather and McNab have a mano-a-mano thing going? (I don't ever remember seeing a Dean Koontz release with the claim, "King writes dross; read my stuff.") When queried by me, Stephen said that his publisher suggested the ploy. But, since I did end up buying REMOTE CONTROL, perhaps the point is to sell more books from both.

Here, Stone is tasked by his SIS controller to follow two hard IRA boyos to Washington, DC, to see what mischief they're up to. Once comfortable in his hotel room, Nick is almost immediately recalled home. But, before catching the next plane back across The Pond, Stone decides to visit old SAS pal Kev, now working for the DEA. Arriving at Kev's suburban home, Nick discovers his buddy bludgeoned to death and his wife and one of two daughters with their throats cut. Stone find's the second daughter, 7-year old Kelly, cowering in a hidey-hole. Realizing that Kelly saw the killers and her life is now in peril, and that he himself may become a suspect in the bloodbath, Stone grabs the girl and runs. Over the remainder of the book, our hero must discover the identity of the murderers, protect Kelly, and get both of them to safety in England where his boss, Simmonds, will certainly sort things out.

For a first novel, REMOTE CONTROL is better than average. McNab's personal tour of duty with the SAS imparts a patina of realism to the actions of his Stone character. Indeed, Nick is a Tough Guy in somewhat the same vein as author Lee Child's ex-Army MP, Jack Reacher. At one point in a desperate, hand-to-hand struggle with a Bad Guy over control of a pistol, Stone must essentially chew the man's face apart. Somehow, I don't see Leather's hero doing anything so messy.

One of the criticism's I've made of the Dan Shepherd series is the fact that Spider's young son Liam is trotted out as a prop in every installment to re-emphasize that widower Shepherd is otherwise a warm, decent, family man whose day job takes him to the world's hard and grotty edges. In REMOTE CONTROL, Kelly also starts out as a prop. But, by the conclusion, she plays an integral, nail-biting, and very satisfying part. I see from plot summaries that Kelly also appears in follow-up volumes of the Nick Stone series, so I've gone ahead and ordered the second out of curiosity to see where McNab takes the character.

The drawbacks to REMOTE CONTROL are that we've seen the scenario before in books and films - adult and child flee a deadly conspiracy hand-in-hand - and, well before the end, the coming betrayal twist becomes all to obvious.

By profession, Stephen Leather is a journalist who's lived all over the world. McNab - a pseudonym ostensibly to protect his identity from vengeful terrorists left over from his bad old SAS days - continues to work with intelligence organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. I suspect, therefore, that Andy's books will be more realistic in the finer points, while Stephen's will show a wider scope of imagination. In any case, both are excellent British authors creating some very entertaining reads.

Hey, Stephen and Andy, why don't you both co-author a thriller in which both Dan and Nick appear? The potential for a friendly, or not so friendly, rivalry between the two heroes is almost too good to pass up.

Not bad for a first time out.......2005-10-03

Alright, I knew "who dunnit" pretty early on, but it was still a fun read. Mr. McNab for obvious reasons brought a great deal of verismilitude to the story. I'll definitely be picking up more of his fiction.

sometimes and during the reading.......2005-09-16

i was just wondering if nick stone has to come all the way from england to do a baby sitting job in america. this book at the very beginning read so promising, then, typical mcnab style, the digression and re-routing became such a huge burden to read along. like reading p.t. deutermann's assassination novel, 'firefly', the assassin lost his goal and focus to carry out his mission to kill the target but concentrated on how to eliminate a witness first instead, and spent almost the whole book to describe the panaoia and the stubbornness of how the assassin won't let go of the witness; this remote control exactly did the same like the firefly, making nick stone a more interesting regular screw-up, a constant failure and loser, a pathetic main character of the 3rd kind in the action thriller turf. well, maybe that's a new way to do this genre. if there could be always a clown and jerk-like character in bruce lee's or jet li's serious martial art fighting movies, why not do the same in andy mcnab's novels? why not furthermore making the main character himself a helpless running-around, knock-around SAS wash-up?

Great book Andy!.......2005-01-23

this Book is his best one so far i think, it was very hard for me to put it down and i think it's a very exciting read and andy has a great story once more and the more the book advances you are wondering how the book will end, very good job Andy!

Remote husband.......2004-08-13

Great setting for a crime - everyone snowbound or snowblind perhaps. The psychologist/sleuth is only a husband bringing his
wife's purse to the hospital. A good read if you enjoy lawyers in trouble

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