Edge of Apocalypse by Tim LaHaye, Craig Parshall

Avoid these authors, as one reviewer described the book as 'religious propaganda'.

Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen

Great to re-read this book. Hiaasen characters are as good as it gets and funny. PW: When Palmer Stoat notices the black pickup truck following him on the highway, he fears his precious Range Rover is about to be carjacked. But Twilly Spree, the man tailing Stoat, has vengeance, not sport-utility vehicles, on his mind. Idealistic, independently wealthy, and pathologically short-tempered, Twilly has dedicated himself to saving Florida's wilderness from runaway destruction. He favors unambiguous political statements - such as torching Jet-Skis or blowing up banks - that leave his human targets shaken but re-educated. After watching Stoat blithely dump a trail of fast-food litter out the window, Twilly decides to teach him a lesson. Thus, Stoat's prized Range Rover becomes home to a horde of hungry dung beetles. Which could have been the end to it had Twilly not discovered that Stoat is one of Florida's cockiest and most powerful political fixers, whose latest project is the "malling" of a pristine Gulf Coast island. Now the real Hiaasen-variety fun begins.... Dognapping eco-terrorists, bogus big-time hunters, a Republicans-only hooker, an infamous ex-governor who's gone back to nature, thousands of singing toads and a Labrador retriever greater than the sum of his Labrador parts - these are only some of the denizens of Carl Hiaasen's outrageously funny new novel.

Damascus Countdown by Joel C. Rosenberg

Rosenberg puts together another page turner but intertwined in the espionage, bombs and intrigue are too many personal stories of characters finding Jesus. I don't know if he's trying to broaden his appeal or just doesn't realize how these ill fitting, forced and interruptive these subplots are to the story. PW: The Twelfth Imam Series, Book 3. Israel successfully launches a first strike on Iran, taking out all of their nuclear sites and six of their nuclear warheads. American president William Jackson threatens to support a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Jewish State for unprovoked and unwarranted acts of aggression. And the Twelfth Imam prepares to order a genocidal retaliation. Meanwhile, CIA operative David Shirazi has infiltrated the Iranian regime and intercepted top secret intelligence indicating that two Iranian nuclear warheads survived the attack and have been moved to a secure and undisclosed location. In danger not only from the ongoing war between Israel and Iran but also from the increasingly hostile governments in multiple countries, Shirazi and his team are in a race against time to find the remaining nuclear warheads before the most cataclysmic event in the history of the Middle East comes to pass.

A Serpent's Tooth: A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

Book 9 of this series is, like the rest of the series, very enjoyable. PW: In this ninth installment in the award-winning and New York Times best-selling Walt Longmire mystery series, the Wyoming sheriff follows his cowboy code of ethics in a religious range war that strikes a little too close to home.

When the Game Was Ours by Larry Bird, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and Jackie MacMullan

PW: From the moment these two players took the court on opposing sides, they engaged in a fierce physical and psychological battle. Their uncommonly competitive relationship came to symbolize the most compelling rivalry in the NBA. These were the basketball epics of the 1980s - Celtics vs Lakers, East vs West, physical vs finesse, Old School vs Showtime, even white vs black. Each pushed the other to greatness - together Bird and Johnson collected eight NBA Championships, and six MVP awards and helped save the floundering NBA at its most critical time. When it started they were bitter rivals, but along the way they became lifelong friends.

Pines by Blake Crouch

A story where the main character has amnesia and painfully slowly and uneventfully figures out the trouble he's in. The author writes well but I was too bored to finish. PW: Wayward Pines, Idaho, is quintessential small-town America — or so it seems. Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in search of two missing federal agents, yet soon is facing much more than he bargained for. After a violent accident lands him in the hospital, Ethan comes to with no ID and no cell phone. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels…off. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation into his colleagues’ disappearance turns up more questions than answers. Why can’t he make contact with his family in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what’s the purpose of the electrified fences encircling the town? Are they keeping the residents in? Or something else out? Each step toward the truth takes Ethan further from the world he knows, until he must face the horrifying possibility that he may never leave Wayward Pines alive…

The Survivor by Gregg Hurwitz

Do not listen to Hurwitz again, he spends too much time with silly and frustratingly obvious obstacles that add nothing to the plot. Instead of using plot to build tension, he uses these tiresome gimmicks. On top of that he's very graphic and depressing. PW Nate Overbay, a former soldier suffering from PTSD and ALS, goes to an 11th-floor bank and climbs out the bathroom window onto the ledge, ready to end it all. But as he’s steeling himself to jump, a crew of gunmen bursts into the bank and begins viciously shooting employees and customers. With nothing to lose, Nate climbs back inside, confronts the robbers, and with his military training, starts taking them out, one by one. The last man standing leaves Nate with a cryptic warning: “He will make you pay in ways you can’t imagine.” Soon enough, Nate learns what this means. He is kidnapped by Pavlo, a savage Ukrainian mobster and mastermind of the failed heist. Now blocked from getting into the bank vault to retrieve the critical item inside, Pavlo gives Nate a horrifying ultimatum: Either break in and acquire the item or watch Pavlo slowly kill the people Nate loves most - his estranged wife, Janie, and his teenaged daughter, Cielle. Nate lost them both when he came back from Iraq broken and confused. Now he’s got one chance to protect the people he loves, even if it’s the last thing he is able to do.

Inferno by Dan Brown

Mediocre, read the others in the series before this. PW: In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces: Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust...before the world is irrevocably altered.

The Second Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders

Very good. PW Lawrence Sanders's masterpiece, The First Deadly Sin, set a standard for today's novels of psychological suspense. Now, retired Captain Ed Delaney returns to a distinctly urban milieu of paranoia and impulsive violence to solve a brutal murder that shocks New York's unshockable art world. The victim is Victor Maitland. Long-considered one of the world's greatest artists, he excelled in capturing the beauty of life on canvas. In private, he destroyed whomever he pleased: his wife, his son, his mistress, his dearest friends and family. Fittingly, Maitland has paid for his sins. But in a world where self-delusion is rewarded, where greed triumphs, and where murder is just another art, who else will pay the price?

Soft Target by Stephen Hunter

The first in the Ray Cruz series is just fair. They mention his father, Bob Swagger, but he doesn't play a role. PW: Recently retired marine sergeant Ray Kruz has been talked into a mall trip by his fiancé, the beautiful Molly Chan. For Ray, Molly represents a way to reconnect with normal life, something his 20 years in the service and five tours in two combat zones have prevented. But now he finds himself in the middle of the softest target of all, a huge consumer mall where a self-styled “Mumbai Brigade” has come to bring massive death to the heartland.

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy, Grant Blackwood

Enjoyable. PW: Jack Ryan, the former president of the United States, is out of office, but not out of the loop about his brainchild, the "Campus" - a highly effective, counter-terrorism organization that operates outside the Washington hierarchy. But what Ryan doesn't know is that his son, Jack Ryan, Jr., has joined his cousins, Brian and Dominic Caruso, at the shadowy Campus. While a highly effective analyst, young Ryan hungers for the action of a field agent. The Campus has now turned their sights on the Emir, the number-one terrorist threat to Western civilization. A reclusive figure and mastermind of vicious terrorist acts, the Emir has eluded capture by the world's law-enforcement agencies. But now - with the help of ex-CIA agent John Clark and protégé Marine Colonel Ding Chavez - the Campus is in on the hunt.