Information Review

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

A Mercy takes place in the 1680's - the early days of the slave trade in the Americas.

Jacob is a trader who takes a small slave girl-Florens - in partial payment for a debt. The mother of the child begs him to take the girl, not herself. It is this act that has consequences for all the lives that are intertwined with that of Florens'. Florens joins Jacob's wife Rebekka, Lina, a servant and Sorrow, an indentured young woman, at their hardscrabble farm. Scully and Willard are also hoping to buy their freedom. Florens yearns for the blacksmith, an African who has never been enslaved.

Life at this time in history is defined and described from the viewpoint of each of these characters. Each character is enslaved to something in this new world - an owner, religion, wealth, desire and memory. The most poignant voice is that of Floren's mother. The last chapter of the book belongs to her and it ends on a powerful note.

Toni Morrison has a gift with words. Although it is tempting to read straight through to the end.

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The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (renamed in the English translation as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is an award-winning novel by the late Swedish author and social conscience journalist Stieg Larsson

A middle-aged journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, publishes the magazine Millennium in Stockholm. He is hired one day by Henrik Vanger, the aged former CEO of a group of companies owned by a wealthy dynasty, in order to chronicle the family history. His real mission, however, is to solve a cold case - the disappearance, some forty years previously, of Vanger's niece when she was sixteen. Blomkvist encounters "the old Miss Marple closed-room scenario with all the wealthy suspects marooned on the family estate on an island; a village we grow familiar with, full of hostile locals peering out from behind their curtains". The real main character of the story is Lisbeth Salander, an asocial punk who has been victimized by authorities throughout her whole life. By accident she meets Blomkvist and the unlikely couple become another classic detective pair where the hunters become the hunted.
The opening courtroom drama where Blomkvist as publisher loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström, has serious repercussions for his Millennium magazine's future.

Blomkvist reads crime novelists Sue Grafton, Val McDermid and Elizabeth George and enjoys amateur sleuthing and investigative journalism. Later, he is asked to investigate a family mystery by Henrik Vanger, the elderly scion of a wealthy but dysfunctional family. Henrik has questions about the disappearance of his 16-year-old niece Harriet 40 years before. Ever since, on her birthday Henrik has received an unusual flower from various parts of the world, which he believes to be sent by the killer. Blomkvist is certain that he can discover nothing new, but delving into family secrets produces shocking results. When he teams up with Salander they shed disturbing light on the four decade long puzzle.

The historic scenario of a locked-room mystery applies since the island on that fateful day was cut-off due to a road-tanker crash on the only bridge that connects the inhabitants to the mainland. Henrik Vanger believes that Harriet (his brother’s granddaughter) was murdered by one of his family members, as the island was sealed from the mainland when she vanished. In disgrace due to losing his libel defense, Blomkvist takes on the Vanger case when the old man offers him not only to help his financially strapped magazine, but also promises to give him information to prove Wennerström is corrupt. His cover is spending a year writing the Vanger family history.

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Three weeks to say goodbye by C. J. Box

New York Times bestselling author CJ Box’s novels have been called “red hot,” (Booklist) “an edge-of-your-seat read,” (Omaha World-Herald) and “unforgettable, powerful.” (Bookreporter). Now, he delivers a novel that steals your sleep as much as it wrenches your heart. It’s a novel that could be anyone’s worst nightmare…

Jack and Melissa McGuane were both thirty-four-years-old and were happily married. There was only one thing missing in their life... and that was a baby. After years of unsuccessfully trying to conceive a baby the old fashioned way... they went through a costly and complicated adoption process... but it seemed to be all worthwhile... with the arrival... of "their" gorgeous, precocious, daughter, Angelina. Little Angelina was the missing flower that made their personal love bouquet complete. Angelina was now nine-months-old... and Jack and Melissa's entire life orbited around sweet... gurgling... Angelina. Then the world as they knew it... came to an abrupt end. Out of nowhere... the adoption agency notified them that the teenage biological father didn't... and wouldn't... sign away the parental custody papers. The signing of this document was... per the adoption agency representatives... a foregone conclusion. A literal slam-dunk... not even worth mentioning as a possible problem. But it became more than a problem... it became a nuclear explosion... and that's where this gifted author spreads his literary wings... and takes the reader on a non-stop... heartfelt... journey... that starts in Denver and stretches all the way to Germany... Montana and back.

What is so spellbinding about this story, is that unlike so many other novels, where the protagonist is in law enforcement... the military... advertising... journalism... etc. Jack merely works for the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau... and Melissa quit her job to be a fulltime Mother. They can barely meet their bills... so if Jack can't work for even a short period of time... they'd lose their house and their ability to survive economically. As with any nuclear explosion... there is additional damage after the initial shock. The teenage boy... Garrett Moreland... not only wants his child back... but he is a certified sociopath as well... with ties to the Mexican Mafia. If that isn't enough... Garrett's Father is Federal Judge John Moreland... and the Judge makes it clear from the get-go... that Jack and Melissa have no choice but to give the baby back... and give her back in three weeks.

What follows is Jack and Melissa doing everything in their power to try to figure out a way to stop this nightmare... and keep their dream baby with them. Joining them in this near hopeless task are two of Jack's childhood friends from Montana... Cody Hoyt a hard drinking Denver cop... who is in the midst of being embarrassed by the same Judge Moreland in a giant pedophile court case... and Brian Eastman... a gay, successful real estate man... who bandies about in all of Denver's high society events. As the story unfolds the reader gets to know about their rural upbringing... and any reader who is a typical hard working family person... can't help but identify with Jack and Melissa's plight... even as dead bodies start to mount. In the midst of gang-banger intimidation... killing of pets... and help from a wild-shotgun-armed Uncle from Montana... the author never allows the violence to seem cartoonish. I can truly say... you won't be able to put this book down. Though the author has a number of previously released books... this is the first one that I've read. I was so impressed that I have already ordered his next book, which is scheduled for release in June... even though I don't know what it's about.

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Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth is the latest book from Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. After Interpreter of Maladies, the Pulitzer Prize winning book, this is her second collection of short stories. Just like her other books, Unaccustomed Earth is also a reflection of life of two separate cultures, and how people cope with each other.

The father of Ruma and Romi, who retired from his pharmaceutical company after his wife's death due to a reaction to anesthesia. Ruma's father likes to travel around the world, Europe being one of them. Ruma, being newly settled in suburbs of Seattle with her son Akash and workaholic husband Adam, torn between her life and her father's. She is torn between her father to leave Pennsylvania and afraid he might stay with them, but she also knows that her father needs no care and at the end of story, she realizes that he is not accustomed to her world, he likes to live it in his own. Her father came to visit her and was affectionate to her son but he thinks he does not belong here. He met another Bengali woman on his trip to Europe and wants her company, but doubtful of what her daughter's reaction would be, thus wants to hide the fact. On his way back he lost the postcard he wrote for his newly found friend which falls into Ruma's hand and she realizes her father never intends to stay with them permanently. After her father is gone to catch the plane, she keeps the postcard for the mailman, as if to fulfill and respect her father's desire.

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Daemon by Daniel Suarez

Daemon by Daniel Suarez (aka Leinad Zeraus), released in 2006.

The story begins with legendary computer game designer Matthew Sobol's untimely death. At the time of his passing, he had a program running that was scanning obituaries on the Internet. That program coupled with his premature death sets in motion a series of other programs that move money, recruit followers, and even kill. It is Detective Peter Sebeck who is now responsible for combating a killer from beyond the grave in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Sebeck must somehow stop Sobol from accomplishing his ultimate goal, but he first must figure out what that goal is...

Daemon is a fast-paced, technologically accurate, and terrifying novel. It demonstrates how complicated human/computer interface has become and what potential risks may one day ensue.

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by Daniel Suarez, Daemon | |

Death Race 2008

The film produced, written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, based on Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer", and stars Jason Statham in the lead role.

In 2012, the economy of the United States has fallen into disaster, unemployment, and crime is on the rise, and private corporations run most prisons across the nation for profit. The movie focuses on the Terminal Island Prison, which broadcasts "Death Race" to the world via a popular paysite on the Internet. Death Race is not only a race to the finish line, but a battle pitting driver against driver for survival.

The film begins by showing a race near its end between Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) and a famous masked driver known as Frankenstein (David Carradine in a voice-over cameo appearance), who is accompanied by a female navigator. During the race, Frankenstein's car's defensive systems stop working and he orders his navigator to "drop the tombstone", a 6 inch steel plate in the rear of the car; dropping it disconnects it from the car, tumbling it towards Joe. Joe's Dodge Ram is heavily damaged but he manages to destroy Frankenstein's car since, with the tombstone gone, the car's fuel tank is exposed. Frankenstein's navigator ejects, leaving him to race alone to the finish line. Joe fires a volley of rocket-propelled grenades toward Frankenstein's car, which is blown over the finish line in a flaming inferno leaving Frankenstein critically wounded.

Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is framed for his wife's murder on the same day that the steel mill he works at closes; the murderer is actually a masked intruder that points a finger-gun at Ames as he leaves. Ames is sent to prison where he immediately makes enemies by fighting with a white supremacist gang, led by Pachenko (Max Ryan). He is taken to Hennessey (Joan Allen) who tells him that those men will kill him without her help. Thus he is coerced by the warden to become the new driver of Frankenstein's 2005 Ford Mustang, as the previous Frankenstein died on the operating table. The warden tells Ames that she knows about his baby daughter left in foster care. She also states that prisoners are freed upon winning five Death Races, but since he will take on the mask of the legendary Frankenstein, who had 4 wins at the time of his death, he will only need to win one race.

The races are broken into three stages: Stages 1 and 2 are races in which the driver must merely survive, and Stage 3 the driver must win the race in order for it to count toward his freedom. The track's features [devices that activate either defensive or offensive weapons] are controlled by the prison warden and can be enabled or disabled at her command.

Ames meets his pit crew, Coach (Ian McShane) his crew chief who has been eligible for parole for three years. "Gunner" (Jacob Vargas) the mechanic for his car, and "Lists" (Frederick Koehler), who has background info on all the drivers. Lists tells Ames about the other drivers, including Hector Grimm (Robert LaSardo) AKA "The Grimm Reaper", described as 'a clinical psychopath and mass murderer'; Travis Colt (Justin Mader) an ex-NASCAR driver trying to regain his fame; 14K (Robin Shou) a tenth generation Triad and considered to be the smartest in the prison because he's the only one with a degree from MIT. Ames also learns that Pachenko is the driver for the gang he fought with earlier and that no one knows just how many people Pachenko's killed off the track.

Just before the Stage 1 Race, Ames is introduced to his navigator, Case (Natalie Martinez), who was also the previous Frankenstein's navigator. During the race, Ames sees Pachenko make the same hand gesture as the intruder that killed his wife. Driver Siad is killed when his car is impaled on a device known as a 'Deathhead' and exploded as the Deathhead descends back into its slot. Travis Colt is killed when, after Ames' car's defensive systems fail, he uses the navigator's ejector seat to launch a napalm canister toward Colt's Jaguar XJS, after which Case ignites the napalm with a cigarette lighter. Grimm is killed after crawling from his wrecked Chrysler 300 when Machine Gun Joe's Gatling gun decapitates him while Joe is traveling at high speeds. Ames finishes last after taking a hard hit from Machine Gun Joe.

Ames learns he is part of a plot to keep the legend of Frankenstein alive solely for the personal profit of warden Hennessey. He confronts Hennessey about the driver he believes is responsible for his wife's death, but instead of acting on this information she shows him pictures of his daughter living with foster parents, asking him if he thinks he could provide for his child better than they could. Furious, he takes one of the pictures and leaves. The night before Stage 2 of the race he makes a trip to the Pachenko's team's pit to confront him. He is then ambushed by Pachenko but is helped by Lists who stabs Pachenko in the back with a pen, allowing Ames to retaliate, but his revenge is thwarted by head prison guard Ulrich (Jason Clarke) who tells both men to 'save it for the race'.

Ames goes into Stage 2 of the race and immediately questions his navigator Case on her intentions, threatening to eject her into the ceiling of a tunnel if she does not answer truthfully. She tells him she was ordered to sabotage the previous Frankenstein's defense weapons so he would not win his freedom, promised that she would earn her own. Ames realizes he is not meant to survive the Death Race at all, but is meant to die so another "Frankenstein" can be brought into the prison and his purpose is 'just to make it exciting'. He realizes that one way or another Hennessey will sabotage any driver that gets close to winning five races and will allow no one to leave the contest alive. He causes Pachenko's Buick Riviera to crash and roll, allowing him another opportunity for revenge. Pachenko crawls away from the car wreck, pleading with Ames and saying that Hennessey made him kill. Ames replies that "She's next" and snaps Pachenko's neck. Five drivers remain until 14K, Carson, and Riggins are killed by 'the Dreadnought', the warden's secret weapon, (an 18 wheel tank truck filled with assorted weapons) that had been secretly in production for months. Ames and Machine Gun Joe collaborate to destroy the Dreadnought using one of the Deathheads and finish Stage 2. Realizing that Ames knows what's going on, Hennessey orders Ulrich to plant an explosive under Ames' car before Stage 3 of the Death Race to ensure that Ames does not cross the finish line alive. However, Ames devises his own scheme when Coach shows him a video of Grimm's death, highlighting that Grimm's car collided with a particular billboard in the earlier race. Ames then meets with Joe, who now suspects him to be "Frankenstein" and tells Joe that Joe and Frankenstein should talk.

The Stage 3 Race begins with only two drivers remaining: "Frankenstein" and Machine Gun Joe. The race begins, and Ames soon takes the lead but the warden rigs the track to benefit Joe to Ames' disadvantage. Throughout the entire lap, Joe stays on Ames' tail, hammering him with bullets; Ames drops the 'tombstone' again, but Joe dodges it without taking damage. As they near the beginning of the second lap, Joe preps newly added missiles and fires an RPG in Ames' direction, seemingly with the intent to kill him. However, they miss the car and instead hit the billboard at the first turn of the track. It is shown that the Ames saw a pathway to the bridge leading off the island behind the destroyed billboard in the video he and his crew reviewed previously.

Ames and Joe escape onto the bridge, pursued by police cruisers and helicopters. As the police close in on the two cars, Ames releases his exposed fuel tank, causing it to explode and stop the pursuing cars. (Gunner had equipped Ames with an extra half-gallon tank for his escape). Hennessey then orders that the explosive under Ames' car be set off, but nothing happens because Coach had found, removed, and deactivated the bomb prior to the start of the race, proclaiming "nobody fucks with my car." Escaping past the bridge, Joe and Ames separate, and Hennessey orders the helicopters to focus on 'Frankenstein', but he switches seats with Case when she tells him that Hennessey had already signed her release papers, and that she 'owed one' to the old Frankenstein. He bails out of the car without being seen, making the helicopters believe he is still inside. Joe meets up with Ames and they board a train to escape, lamenting on Hennessey's continued existence. Soon, Ames' Mustang is stopped and Case, posing as Frankenstein, is apprehended.

Later, Hennessey exults in the high ratings and revenue and the supposed apprehension of 'Frankenstein'. Ulrich then hands her a present sent to her for the record number of viewers subscribing to the Death Race. However, the explosive that was put on the Frankenstein car is inside the box and Coach detonates it remotely, stating directly into the camera, "I love this game."

Six months later, Ames and Joe are shown working on a car in a junkyard in Mexico, when Case unexpectedly arrives. The two men are happy to see her, and Case hugs Ames, and he shows her his baby daughter. The movie closes with Ames explaining that even though he knows he's far from being the best parent in the world, no one could love his child more than he could.

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Journey to the Center of the Earth 2008

During a scientific expedition in Iceland, visionary scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and their beautiful local guide, Hannah (Anita Briem), are unexpectedly trapped in a cave from which their only escape is to go deeper and deeper into the depths of the Earth. Traveling through never-before-seen worlds, the trio comes face-to-face with surreal and unimaginable creatures including man-eating plants, giant flying piranha, glow birds and terrifying dinosaurs from days past. The explorers soon realize that as volcanic activity increases around them, they must find a way back to the earth's surface before it is too late.