Behold a Pale Horse

Book Description

The author, former U.S. Naval Intelligence Briefing Team Member, reveals information kept secret by our government since the 1940s. UFOs, the J.F.K.. assassination, the Secret Government, the war on drugs and more by the world's leading expert on UFOs.

Customer Reviews:

Behold a Pale Horse.......2007-09-15

Behold a Pale Horse is a book that will stop and make you think about much that is going on in the world today. You will never look at our political leaders the same again.

Behold a pale horse.......2007-08-29

i didnt like it. it was a bunch of nonsence. i dont even want to give it a star.

Too much chaff, not enough wheat.......2007-08-17

This is the kind of book that gives historical revisionists and truthseekers a bad name--specifically the "conspiracy nut" slur. While the author may or may not be sincere, a look at the cover is enough to give you a sense of how serious or not serious a presentation is contained within. Certainly there is much about history and society that we are routinely lied to about and historical facts that are suppressed so as to protect those with the power to pull the invisible strings fettering the world. This book documents much of that, but unfortunately delves into much disinformation and in the end will leave people confused--perhaps aware of several legitimate issues they had not known about before but also distracted by a series of unfounded claims muddying the waters. I put this in the same category as the works of David Icke, of reptilian shape-shifter fame...

Informative.......2007-08-13

William Cooper did an outstand job in writing this book. He has a wealth of knowledge that will assist the reader in researching other books that supports his claims.

IN THE COLD.......2007-07-21

Not a read for anyone who doesn't know or does know what others claim or wish to know. But if you read this book and it confirms what you did know or didn't know it may be worth the time reading. However, when you do buy this unknown known it will lead others to watch you over to see what else you know and what your planing to do with what you now know.....be careful buying it, the book will lead a cloud over you.

Average customer rating:

Pale horse coming ... A very good read
Pure Action
I'm Gonna Bring Guns. A Lotta Guns.
Simply a good story!
Not Pop Fiction -- Great Writing with a Great Story

Pale Horse Coming
Stephen Hunter
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0684863618
Release Date: 2001-10-09

Amazon.com

Medal of Honor winner Earl Swagger returns in a hard-hitting sequel to Stephen Hunter's best-selling Hot Springs, this time compelled by duty and friendship to follow his best friend, former Arkansas prosecutor Sam Vincent, to the most dangerous place in Mississippi. Sam has gone to Thebes, a prison for violent African American criminals, on a mission for a client. What he finds there is not only a travesty of justice, but a place where the inhumanity of the jailers is matched by the horrific secret research being carried out on helpless prisoners. Captured and tortured himself, Earl manages to escape, but in short order he's back, along with a hand-picked posse of aging sharpshooters who are eager to prove they've still got what it takes. They're also as intent as Earl is on unmasking the conspiracy and destroying the real criminals. Bloody, bullet-ridden, and brilliantly paced, this is Hunter at his explosive best. --Jane Adams

Book Description

In Pale Horse Coming the unforgettable Earl Swagger returns in a searing follow-up to Hot Springs, Stephen Hunter's New York Times bestselling novel. It once again demonstrates why Hunter has been called "the only modern writer who can lay claim to being Dashiell Hammett's immediate successor."

It's 1951, and the last place in America any sane man wishes to visit is Thebes State Penal Farm (Colored) in Thebes, Mississippi. Up a dark river, surrounded by swamps and impenetrable piney woods, it's the Old South at its most brutal -- a place of violence, racial terror, and even more horrific rumors. Of the few who make the journey, black or white, even fewer return.

But in that year, two men will come to Thebes. The first is Sam Vincent, the former prosecuting attorney of Polk County, Arkansas. With great misgivings, Sam accepts a job from a smooth-talking Chicago lawyer to investigate a disappearance. Sam has heard of Thebes and knows that in the Negro culture he only imperfectly understands, the place has a special resonance of horror.

Sam is a careful man. Before he leaves on this dangerous trip, he confesses his fears to his former investigator Earl Swagger, a Marine hero on Iwo Jima, veteran of the mob wars in Hot Springs, and now a sergeant of the Arkansas State Police. Earl pledges that if Sam is not back by a certain time, he will come looking for him. Sam will bring his knowledge of the law, his compassion, and his sense of the rational to Thebes, but Earl will bring only his guns.

What they encounter there is something beyond their wildest imaginations for evil. The dying black town is ruled by white deputies on horseback who are more like an occupying army than a police force. Each citizen of the town is in debt to the Store, the one remaining civic institution, and the only escape is over the wild currents of the dark river that drowns as many people as it liberates.

But nothing in the town can prepare Earl for the prison itself where he becomes the first white inmate. It is a site of fear: Run by an aging madman with insane theories of racial purity, it is administered by a brutally efficient Stalin of a guard sergeant known as Bigboy. The convicts call him The Whip Man -- he can take a man's soul with his nine feet of braided catgut.

Both Sam and Earl will be challenged to the limits of their strength by this place and will struggle not only for their own survival, but with deeper questions: What does a man do when confronted with such evil? Can it be remedied? Can it be rectified, redirected, reformed?

Or must it just be destroyed? And if so, where would you find the men to destroy it?

Drawing on the oldest myths, classical and modern literature, popular culture at its most vigorous, and the Golden Age gun writers of the '50s, Pale Horse Coming is a stunning story of violence and retribution, written with the same high velocity of Hunter's classic thrillers Point of Impact, Dirty White Boys, Black Light, and Time to Hunt.

Customer Reviews:

Pale horse coming ... A very good read.......2007-10-10

Sam Vincent is a prosecuting attorney of Polk County, Arkansas. One day in June of 1951, a smooth-talking Chicago lawyer named Trugood comes to see Sam. Trugood needs a representative to travel to the town called Thebes, in Thebes County, Mississippi, the deepest part of the deepest South. He wants to make some private inquiries about the penal farm for Colored called Thebes Farm, a place that has an evil reputation.
When Sam vanishes in the mists and swamps, his old friend Earl Swagger heads to Thebes to rescue him. Earl is a state police, an ex-Marine who won a Medal of Honor for his bravery during the battle of Iwo Jima. Earl is captured in Thebes and there he discovers the terrible truth about this ghost town. He escapes, asks his old friend gunmen for help and comes back to Thebes for revenge. The pale horse is coming...

Pure Action.......2007-08-26

I have read many-many books in my time but can't recall any that has held me more spellbound than Pale Horse.....

I'm Gonna Bring Guns. A Lotta Guns........2007-08-17

Stephen Hunter's book, PALE HORSE COMING, is the second book in his Earl Swagger series, following HOT SPRINGS. Like the first book, I listened to the abridged audiobook read by Jay O. Sanders.

The plot gets tangled from the beginning, but I trust Hunter's writing implicitly. I may be confused for a while out of the blocks, but by the end of the race I know he'll put all his cards on the table and I'll know everything. Part of the excitement of this book is trying to figure out everything that's going on behind the scenes. I had most of it, but Hunter is a master storyteller that threw some surprises and curves my way.

Before I get into the book, I want to talk about Jay O. Sanders's reading. I found the man absolutely amazing in both books I've listened to. Sanders has an ear for Southern dialect and thinking that's unparalleled. Growing up in Oklahoma as I have, I know when people are affecting the local accent without truly knowing it. Sanders talks the talk like a native. He should. He was born in Austin, Texas. His rendition of Earl Swagger is fantastic and I truly hope he does more of Stephen Hunter's books. He's a good fit for the series, just as Will Patton is a good fit for James Lee Burke's novels.

It's 1951 and Earl Swagger is an Arkansas State Trooper in this one. His friendship with Sam Vincent, an attorney, that compels him to action. Sam has been hired by a Chicago attorney named Davis Truegood to find out exactly what happened to an inmate of Mississippi's infamous Thebes prison farm. Sam's journey through the backwoods country is deftly portrayed and comes to life in Sanders's narration. The modern world (relatively speaking) drops away in a short time and the atmosphere becomes grim and threatening.

In no time at all, Sam arrives in Thebes and begins asking the wrong kinds of questions. Generally those are the ones that end with a question mark, and even thinking them aloud can get you into trouble. The trouble with the small town sheriff oozes with menace, then things turn even more nasty when Sam realizes he can't just walk away from the situation and let it go. After he returns in the still of the night to get some paperwork so he can start an investigation, the sheriff frames him for murder.

By this point I was totally immersed in the story. I knew that Earl Swagger was going to saddle up and rescue his friend. That's what a Marine Corps first sergeant who was awarded the Medal of Honor in Guadalcanal does. And Earl does it in fine fashion. Unfortunately, the rescue goes sour and he's left behind when Sam makes his escape.

For weeks Earl is held at the prison, and he's treated unmercifully. The warden's favorite guard, a hulking goliath called Big Boy, tortures Earl to find out who he really is. Earl sticks to his story that he's just a man named Jack Bogash who was scouting land to lease for deer hunting. This part of the novel kept reminding me of the Paul Newman movie, COOL HAND LUKE -- only a lot meaner.

Eventually, though, Earl finds a means to escape. And when he does, he promises to return to the prison and destroy it, burn it to the ground and not leave a stick standing. If you've read and enjoyed HOT SPRINGS, you know that a man like Earl Swagger is fully capable of exacting such a terrible promise.

I listened to the novel during several hours of a recent road trip, and I was clinging to every word. The images played through my mind like a movie, and they marched inexorably on to a fine and righteous vengeance. If you like strong male action-adventure novels, PALE HORSE COMING is a great one.

The action, the tough-guy dialogue, the reprehensible villains, and the atmosphere of the backwoods Mississippi of the 1950s is awesome. This book would make a good movie, and now that Hollywood has discovered the Swagger family (Bob Lee Swagger in SHOOTER starring Mark Wahlberg), I can only hope that someone realizes that another great movie franchise would be about Earl Swagger.

Stephen Hunter's main career focus has been on being a film critic. He's noted for being a demanding viewer, first for THE BALTIMORE SUN then for THE WASHINGTON POST. So far he's written seven novels about the Swagger family. The newest, THE 47th SAMURAI, hits the bookshelves on September 11, 2007 and stars Bob Lee in a story that ties back to Earl's days in World War II.

Simply a good story!.......2007-06-30

A Pale Horse Coming is simply a great story. It is entertaining, has an intriguing plot, and good character development. Written along the lines of the movie High Noon, Earl Swagger finds himself yet again in the world of bad men and evil times. His heroic ideals carry him through to a rousing conclusion. Is the story plausible? Probably not, but in the world of fiction anything is possible and a good tale is worth the read.
Deep in the swamps of Mississippi is a place where evil lives and men simply exist. Dark and brooding, At Thebes the laws of the jungle prevail while the men except their fate and simply live out their miserable lives. Into this horror stumbles Earl Swagger. Incarcerated, he barely endures and upon escape vows to return to put an end to Thebes State Penal Farm (colored). He does return and ends Thebes as only Earl Swagger can.
Excellent story and plot highlighting man's epic struggle against evil. Many twists and turns but in the end good prevails. Good character development in the continuing Earl Swagger saga.
Some graphic violence but germane to the story. No gratuitous violence, sex, or language.
Mr. Hunter is a master storyteller with a knack of keeping the reader involved. Although simplistic, his good versus evil writing style is refreshing in today's overly complex "shades of gray" world.
At 600 pages, Recommended for that long vacation where a little "good guys win" will be appreciated. I throughly enjoyed this book.

Not Pop Fiction -- Great Writing with a Great Story.......2007-03-05

Wow! This was a great book in so many ways. This is the first Stephen Hunter book I've read, and I know I'm coming back for more. I was expecting more run-of-the-mill pop fiction, but instead I got some really excellent writing that kept me turning page after page. A good "story" can keep me turning pages, but this was good "writing". Excellent research, compelling story, well developed characters, multi-layered plot line, great action -- just great writing.

Earl Swagger is a character I want to read more of. He's elemental, and I'm sure Hunter has more backstory on him in some of his other books. I'm looking forward to tracking those down.

Definitely some squirmy topics touched on in this book: the South in the Jim Crow era, war and the morality of killing, biological warfare to name a few.

On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality, Bk. 1)

Average customer rating:

Not Free SF Reader
One of my favorites
The best Anthony has ever been, but that's not saying much
Best one of the series
PICK IT UP, READ IT, BE AMAZED

On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality, Bk. 1)
Piers Anthony
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0345338588
Release Date: 1986-09-12

Book Description

When Zane shot Death, he learned, too late, that he would have to assume his place, speeding over the world riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others. Sooner than he would have thought possible, Zane found himself being drawn to Satan's plot. Already the Prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved...unless he could discover the only way out....
The first novel of the INCARNATIONS OF IMMORATLITY series.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

This one is played straight. The premise being that being an Incarnation is a career, and your average people get to do it. The book is surprisingly good, as it delves into the theme. This, of course, is Death, (with a capital D) for those not familiar with the quotation the title alludes to.

Cloak, grim reaper, scythe, that sort of thing.

One of my favorites.......2007-07-11

This is one of my top 5 books of all time. I read it when I was in college and re-read it several years ago. I thought the concept of a person becoming death itself and going around dealing with dying people to be an intriguing idea and the type of thing that sci-fi handles extremely well. I highly recommend it.

The best Anthony has ever been, but that's not saying much.......2007-05-03

This first book in the Incarnations of Immortality is surprisingly good, almost despite itself. There are some interesting ideas here, and the story is surprisingly compelling for something so fantastic. Unfortunately, Piers Anthony still writes like Piers Anthony. The characters are one-dimensional, the story stops for pages at a time while he introduces new gadgetry that doesn't serve any purpose, and I swear he uses the word "balk" every third sentence. In the hands of a competent writer (or even a competent editor), this book would've been a classic. As it stands, it's still surprisingly good for how bad it is.

Best one of the series.......2007-04-09

I read this book many years ago and have recommended it to many friends. I read the previous reviewer's ideas and I understand, however, I'm not sure this bunch of books should be taken very seriously. I think that On a Pale Horse is a very clever intersting take on death, love and life, and anything more than that should probably be left to more wieghtly non-fiction books. Anthony write a compelling tale about a man thrust into a strange situation with no previous knowledge, and he muddles though making mistakes and fixing what he can. I loved this book, I found it thought provoking and intelligent.

PICK IT UP, READ IT, BE AMAZED.......2007-03-23

oh my freaking gosh
last week was testing week and my being a gifted student always finish before my fellow classmates so i asked my friend to lend me a book to read. I had recently finished "The Fountainhead" which i loved as well. I had nothing to read. My friend gave me "On a Pale Horse" and i devoured it. I finished it in two days. All i did all of those two days was read. I was facinated by the character of death and it intrigued me that an author could put heaven and hell down on paper so literally and frankly. In the relm he had created everything was i guess one could say clear and sharp. In the book everyone knew they were either going to hell or heaven and it scared them. Now a days everyone is so ignorant about their fate and it was refreshing to read such and interesting and straightforward account.

i recommend this to everyone who likes sci fi and read it even if you do read it if death has ever intrigued you or if you've ever asked why read it regardless if you do not like my review i found this book fantastic amazing and definitely one of my favorite books

:]

Pale Horse, Pale Rider (H B J Modern Classic)

Average customer rating:

Uncritcally Accepted Myth Is A Heavy Burden
Beautiful and sad
Three gems in a jewel box
Short fiction the way it should be.
A great work of art which deserves to be far more well-known

Pale Horse, Pale Rider (H B J Modern Classic)
Katherine Anne Porter
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0151707553

Book Description

First published in 1939, these three short novels secured the author’s reputation as a master of short fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Uncritcally Accepted Myth Is A Heavy Burden.......2006-09-03

In PALE HORSE, PALE RIDER, Katherine Anne Porter creates a world of two universes; one contains the semi-autobiographical life of Porter's alter-ego, Miranda, who is seen first as a very young girl in the first novella, "Old Mortality," then later as an adult woman in the third entrant, "Pale Horse, Pale Rider." The third novella is "Noon Wine," which is linked to the other two in its focus on a protagonist whose choice of life is severely restricted by the need to conform to society's restrictions. In these three long short stories, Porter elaborates on themes and character types that had previously appeared in her short stories. Porter most often examines the innermost recesses of the human mind that cause her protagonists to encounter spiritual and physical isolation even as they attempt to reach out to end their disconnection. These attempts at finding a soul mate are at first rebuffed, but in their continual probing for like-minded life mates, they achieve a near Faulknerian level of endurance even as they fail.

In "Old Mortality," Porter becomes young Miranda, who has heard of the almost mythical attributes and deeds of her aunt Amy. In Miranda's mind, her aunt is the apotheosis of all that she herself could be. Porter suggests that much of the accepted myth of the American south is similarly grounded on a no questions asked basis. Later as Miranda matures, her growth is seen as both physical and spiritual, but her sphere of newly-won perceptive vision comes at a heavy cost. She learns what happens when brute reality collides with delicate myth. In the second part, Miranda meets the husband-lover of Amy, whose appearance, actions, and words disrupt her connection to the past. This disconnect is deliberately shaded so that the reader is not quite sure whether Porter intends a discrediting of the past or merely a modifying of its accepted interpretation. In the third part, Miranda is further distanced from her idealized view of Amy when she talks to her cousin Eva, who has a definite grudge against Amy, the result of which leaves Miranda feeling that the immortality of myth is itself a myth. Stories and legends then must be measured against the mortality of those who lived them and those who told of them.

In "Noon Wine," Porter tells of a tragedy that begins in the past, assumes a myth that becomes self-sustaining, then encounters a reality that causes pain for all concerned. A Texas farmer named Thompson hires a roustabout Olaf Helton as a field hand. Helton works hard, well, and uncomplainingly. Thompson is more than pleased with Helton but is puzzled by Helton's harmonica, upon which he never plays more than one single tune. One day, a bounty hunter appears with a tale that disrupts Thompson's idyllic view of Helton. The bounty hunter, Homer Hatch, tells Thompson that Helton is an escapee from a lunatic asylum where he was committed for murder. Thompson ironically and unwittingly kills Hatch to protect Helton, an act for which he is tried and exonerated in court. The trial is so devastating to Thompson that he kills himself in depression. Both Thompson and Miranda are faced with disruptive reminders from the past, and the results cause pain to them and their families.

In "Pale Horse, Pale Rider," Porter brings back Miranda as an adult newspaperwoman during the First World War. She falls in love with Adam Barclay an army officer that brings to mind the ill-fated romance between Amy and Gabriel. Both lovers are stricken with the flu epidemic and Adam dies, leaving Miranda grief-ridden. The best Miranda can hope for is to reestablish her spiritual center in a world that is hostile to her very attempt. In all three novellas, Porter precisely captures the essence of those who face moments of crises when they begin to see that the ground underneath their feet is not as solid as once believed.

Beautiful and sad.......2005-06-08

I was unfamiliar with Katherine Anne Porter before reading this book and am now glad I picked it up. Porter has an amazing way with words and with characterization. With only a few sentences you feel as if you know the people in her stories. This book contains 3 short novels of which I think Pale Horse, Pale Rider is the best. Miranda is a young woman working at a newspaper during the last year of the first world war and of the tragic flu epidemic which killed millions. She goes from show to show every evening writing reviews for the paper, never sure why she bothers. She is alive, but not living. She dines and dances with a soldier she loves but knows the relationship is pointless as he is being shipped overseas in a few days. Then she contracts the flu and the end is a harrowing description of the effects of the disease.

Noon Wine is the second strongest in my opinion, detailing a small Texas family dealing with the aftermath of the father murdering a man. It may have been in self defense, but it might not have been, you are left with the question and the family is left with the guilt and shame.

Old Mortality tells of the sad life of Gabriel through the eyes of his two young nieces. The woman he loves puts him off for a lengthy time while flirting with other men. Finally, though she doesn't love him, marries him and dies 6 weeks later. Gabriel never completely recovers.

These novels are beautiful and sad, filled with complex characters trying to get through each day while figuring out why they are doing it.

Three gems in a jewel box.......2004-02-20

Katherine Anne Porter writes like a lapidary; each sentence is like a polished jewel, every word is perfect. "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" is a compilation of three novellas: "Old Mortality", seen through the eyes of Maria and Miranda Rhea, two children home for the weekend from their stultifying boarding school, is the tale of the family black sheep, a beautiful young cousin of easy virtue who continues to fascinate and frustrate her extended family long after her early death; "Noon Wine" shows us a Texas family torn apart by the guilt of the father who murdered a man in what may or may not have been self-defense, and "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" brings Miranda back again as a young woman disillusioned too many times, whose relationship with her lover Adam is threatened not only by his impending entry in to combat in World War One, but even more immediately by the specter of the great flu epidemic of 1918 that is sweeping through the population, leaving more death in its wake than any war ever fought. Porter writes sparingly, but she packs a world of emotion and feeling into every paragraph. This relatively short book is one of the giants of American fiction.

Short fiction the way it should be........2001-12-19

Katherine Anne Porter displays the human experience with turns of phrase that catch your breath. The awkward spinster cousin blooms "like a dry little plant set out in a gentle rain" when her critical mother leaves the room. A woman delirious with influenza falls into a sleep "that was not sleep but clear evening light in a small green wood..."

I thought Flannery O'Connor had ruined all other southern short fiction writers for me, but Porter meets O'Connor's deft character portraits, with their keen knowledge of mannerisms and their psychological depth, as well as O'Connor's ability to surprise the reader with moments of recognition: Miranda's girlhood experience feels like my girlhood experience, across generations and geography. Even Mr. Thompson's story feels like it could have happened in one's own family, like the story grandparents and great aunts and uncles half-tell and subtly refer to while the turkey roasts in the oven and everyone steals nuts off the pecan pie.

I agree with others who are astonished that this book is not part of the literary canon in the U.S. It is a stunning, gorgeous example of short fiction. With the impenetrable heaps of "literary fiction" from contemporary writers, marketed to ridiculous heights, I'm finding old gems like this one soothing to my constantly inundated reader's mind. Read it. And writers, take note.

A great work of art which deserves to be far more well-known.......2001-11-07

I first read this book about thirty-five years ago, as a young teenager. At the time, I didn't really know what it was about, lacking the historical background to understand World War I, and having no knowledge whatsoever of the widespread influenza epidemic of 1918. Nevertheless, the memory of Porter's shimmering prose somehow stayed with me, leading me to read the story once again, this time as an adult, and to finally comprehend it better. In fact, I have reread it several times over the years, always profoundly moved by the experience. Recently, after the events of September 11, 2001, I found myself thinking again of the story, and hauled it out of the library for still another reading. It is more beautiful and meaningful than ever. It has the powerful force of deeply felt, true experience.

Average customer rating:

J.E. Lowery Ministries Book Review of "A Pale Horse Cometh"
J.E. Lowery Ministries Book Review of "A Pale Horse Cometh"
A PAGE-TURNER

The Pale Horse Cometh
Dani Dubre & Rod Mauck
Manufacturer: FirstWorks Publishing Company, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0971615802

Book Description

Biological warfare in all its unimaginable horror in a novel sure to keep you riveted to your seat! The prophecy of pestilence and plagues looms on the horizon under the curse of those who would bring untold suffering and death to God's innocents. It matters not whether The Pale Horse Cometh... The course has been charted. It's terror wrapped-up in the devil's quest to steal souls from God.

Customer Reviews:

J.E. Lowery Ministries Book Review of "A Pale Horse Cometh".......2002-03-11

Dani Dubre' and Rod Mauck have captured in "A Pale Horse Cometh" a reality that we are living in today. They have done their research well! By combining bio-terrorism, the CIA, Middle East unease, and Biblical Prophecy...they have created a fiction novel that will keep you in your seat waiting to find out what happens next!! I am not big on fiction books but this one keep me wanting more and more. "A Pale Horse Cometh" is what we are living today all over the world, many Bible scholars agree that the end times will involve bio, chemical and nuclear weapons. This is a mind opening book that everyone interested in Prophecy should read!

J.E. Lowery Ministries Book Review of "A Pale Horse Cometh".......2002-03-11

A PAGE-TURNER.......2002-03-04

Dani Dubre and Rod Mauck have written a book that is both powerful and poignant. It's a story of intrigue, love, faith and prophetic and horrific world events.
The main character, Jessie Baldwin, a disillusioned former CIA agent is "chosen" by God, through his Messenger, to face her demons from the past and the mission that brings her and the man she once loved, an Israeli spymaster with the Mossad, to the realization of God's love and forgiveness.
This race-against-time thriller plays out against the deadly background of the Middle East when Saddam Hussein unleashes his biological weapon of mass destruction. The reader is witness to the impending doom and suffering and dying of God's innocents. The story's pace and suspense never lets up, but it is also a story with a strong message of faith and salvation, of the indomitability of the human spirit and the saving grace of God. I heartily recommend this book.

Average customer rating:

Unrealistic at best, boring as well....
Move over Travis McGee, JJ Donovan's on the case
Fine Noir
A welcome return of JJ & Boris
interesting serial killer tale

The Pale Green Horse (J.J. Donovan)
Michael I. Leahey
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Series | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312278136

Book Description

J. J. Donovan is sitting on the beach, his back against a palm tree, watching the sun rise over the Caribbean.He wears the self-satisfied expression of a man who spent half the night reveling with his ex-wife.Donovan and his ex, Kate Byrne, have been enjoying a romantic vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands.As he sips hot tea and watches the colorful spinnakers on sailboats dancing out beyond the barrier reef, he has no way of knowing that his close friend and partner, the inimitable Dr. Boris Koulomzin, has been seriously injured.Before the sun sets again in paradise, Donovan and Kate will be on a plane headed home.On returning to New York City, they find Dr. Koulomzinbruised and bandaged, with several hundred crusty stitches crossing his face and jawline.The Professor is also scared.The mistaken delivery of a plain brown envelope to his seats at Yankee Stadium has managed to change his life forever.A demented man named Johnny St. John is desperate for the return of that envelope.And St. John, who believes he is the right hand of God, is prepared to mete out his own deadly form of justice.The envelope that Mr. St. John will stop at nothing to possess contains photographs and confidential information about three innocent-looking people--a young actor, a sculptress, and a businessman.These three individuals seem to have nothing in common.Except for the fact that they are all very sick.In this fast-paced sequel to Broken Machines, Donovan finds himself racing against time to save these helpless, innocent people, while trying to expose the man behind a scheme to murder them for their viatical, or death, benefits.Along the way, he earns the wrath of Johnny St. John.A man with eyes so black they don't reflect light, St. John ultimately threatens to destroy everything J.J. Donovan holds dear. AUTHORBIO: MICHAEL I. LEAHEY is the director of the Office of Clinical Trials at Columbia University/New York -Presbyterian Hospital, where he facilitates research involving new drugs and devices.He lives with his wife and two children in Westchester.

Customer Reviews:

Unrealistic at best, boring as well...........2003-03-03

Thought I'd try a new author of medical thrillers. Was I ever disappointed. First off, this author seems to know next to
nothing about the reality of hospitals and the role of nurses.
A DOCTOR administering a Demerol shot in a hospital???? PLEASE. Where does this guy get his inaccurate information? Also, a nurse would NEVER leave pills with a patient -- it is his/her job to administer them personally so that it can be documented on the chart -- a legal record.
I hate it when authors get small facts wrong, tells me they are lazy and makes the book totally flop for me.
As for the plot.....well, there's another problem.
Don't waste your money on this one.

Move over Travis McGee, JJ Donovan's on the case.......2003-01-23

Welcome back to JJ and Boris! There aren't nearly enough charming "windmill tilters" in the world these days, and JJ is just what the doctor ordered. Starting in the magnificent temple of baseball, Yankee Stadium, as Boris is inadvertantly drawn into the mystery, right up to the thrilling scene atop the Queensborough Bridge, this story is a pulse-pounding ride through New York. Along with our heroes JJ and Boris, we get to reunite with Manny Santos, Kate Byrne, and the other great characters from Broken Machines. But in The Pale Green Horse, there are some great additions to the cast: NYPD's solid and dependable Lt.Gavin, genial saloon keeper Peter Walsh, the toothpick spitting Det.Sweeney, a cop you'd like to see get smacked around, and of course the horrifyingly evil and psychotically inspired villain, Johnny St. John.
When I finally got around to reading Michael I. Leahey's second JJ Donovan tale, The Pale Green Horse, I was sorry I waited so long to treat myself. Those of us who love to discover a great series of exciting mystery/detective novels with a truly engaging hero are in luck. Hopefully, Mr. Leahey will continue to delight us. The only drawback of course is that there are only two available so far. When I first stumbled onto John D.McDonald's series of Travis McGee stories, he'd already written all but the last three. So now alas, I must patiently await Boris and JJ's next adventure along with everyone else. Write 'em faster dammit!

Fine Noir.......2002-08-23

My barometer for judging any work of fiction is simple...
Does it make me want to keep reading? The
answer here is a resounding Yes! The Pale Green
Horse possesses all the elements that make up
great noir...a cast of colorful characters (including
a pip of a villian), a plot that keeps you guessing, and
a solid, steady pace that never lets up.
From its prologue, to its Hitchcockian ending, this tale will keep you turning pages well into the night.
Buy this book , sit back, and enjoy!

A welcome return of JJ & Boris.......2002-07-19

My, my but the Publishers Weekly reviewers are cranky lately--commenting on promotional material over which authors rarely, if ever, have any control; and entirely missing the point of this book. This is entertainment; as in Broken Machines, JJ and Boris and their various henchmen, including the ever stalwart Manny are in fine form. Boris is somewhat crankier than usual, due to some nasty injuries; the phobic, funny, ever-romantic JJ still loves the winsome Kate. Killings abound; there's a bad guy in town. The underlying motive behind those killings is well-conceived and timely. There's a breathtaking climax on the Queensborough Bridge. What's not to like? And any writer who can give a dog character has a lot going for him.

Ignore the cranky trade reviewers and get this book. It moves like lightning; it's humorous, populated with a great cast, and doesn't have a mean bone in its body--which is more than can be said for some of the people out there being paid to write reviews about books, not about the promotional packages they come in.
Highly recommended.

interesting serial killer tale.......2002-04-15

While James Joseph "JJ" Donovan was enjoying his vacation with his ex-wife in the Virgin Islands, his partner, Dr. Boris Koulomzin attends a Yankees game when he mistakenly receives a manila envelope. However, the messenger must have changed his mind because following the game, he tries to kill Boris. JJ returns home to a badly, battered and frightened Boris because the content of the envelope describes the work of a serial killer.

Johnny St. John believes God has assigned him to provide salvation by delivering the very sick. Johnny does his task so well, killing people that JJ fears for Boris' life. JJ decides to go after this self-anointed mercy angel even though his actions place him in peril from a brilliant but twisted right hand of God.

THE PALE GREEN HORSE is an interesting serial killer tale that uses medical science and the streets of New York to add a deep authentic chill to the plot. The story line is action-packed due to a rising death count, but the solution feels more like the air let out of a balloon. The cynical hard-boiled JJ is a fun character to follow as he seeks clues to the whereabouts of the culprit before Boris joins the death list. Johnny is a fascinating villain, as he believes in what he is doing, yet at times seems too theatrical in accomplishing his "heavenly deeds". Though not as smooth as BROKEN MACHINES, THE PALE GREEN HORSE provides a complex intriguing tale that will garner Michael I. Leahey new readers and satisfy his previous fans.

Book Description

Was it really the Thomasina Tuckerton--dropout heiress turned bohemian beat girl--seen in a cafe brawl with another woman? Her obituary confirms it. Thomasina's unfortunate demise would have passed unnoticed if it hadn't been for the priest who suffered a fatal blow at the hand of a stranger only days later. What's the connection? A list of names hidden in father Gorman's shoes--among them, Miss Tuckerton's. It leads to a former country inn, now a house called, The Pale Horse, and a sinister pattern woven by three unusual ladies--a psychic, a medium, and a witch--each with a secret of her own.

Customer Reviews:

..........2004-10-19

Christie has, in the past, used occultic themes in some short stories, or as a side element in a full length. This time, however, she chose to flesh that out and use it at the heart of one of her mysteries.

"The Pale Horse" is a good read for several reasons. She uses several characters that have appeared in other novels, but none of them are named Poirot or Marple. This forces her to flesh out other characters since she can't rely on either of them to carry the story. While one doesn't read Christie to get intimate with characters (as opposed to Martha Grimes), it's nice to get a better look at some characters.

The story revolves around a society where people mysteriously kill people without leaving a trace. It is "advertised" as killing through supernatural powers controled by three witches. As a result it seems impossible to prove... and even more possible to convict without getting laughed out of court.

The solution is good (and I only guessed the mastermind through a semi-lucky guess), however, the best part is the explaination mid-way through the book about how the payment for the murder happens. That was bloody ingenious. The solicitor and the person wanting to hire the murder make a bet. If the person to be killed dies before a certain date, the person wanting the murder pays X amount of money. If the person to be killed doesn't, then the solicitor pays up the money.

It's all in all a satisfying read and will probably keep you guessing throughout the book.

A departure from the usual for Dame Agatha.......2004-05-01

This 1961 novel is not a part of any of Christie's more famous series (Poirot, Miss Marple or Tommy and Tuppence) but does include some "old friends" from other books: the Dane Calthrops (THE MOVING FINGER), Rhoda and Major Despard (THE CARD ON THE TABLE) and Ariadne Oliver, the famous mystery writer who has appeared in several Poirot stories. The PALE HORSE is one of the novels that is as much romance and mystery.

The story is told by Mark Easterbrook, a writer who had taken up residence in the Chelsea district of London while working on his latest book on Mogul culture. He stopped into a coffee shop for a quick meal and witnessed an argument between two young women that ended with one pulling out a handful of hair from the other. The unfortunate woman's unusual name - Thomasina Tuckerton - stuck with Easterbrook. He was surprised when he saw it a week later, in the obituaries.

Easterbrook went on about his life, meeting with his friend, Ariadne Oliver, traveling to the country to visit his cousin, and going out with his long-time girlfriend Hermia Redcliffe. Meanwhile the police begin to investigate the murder of a priest who was killed on his way home from hearing a last confession. They found a list of names stuffed into the priest's shoe, including the name of the police inspector. The two threads of the story meet and continue to weave throughout London, out to the country, on to Birmingham and returning to London. On the way the path leads to witchcraft, deathrays, and murder for hire.

The mystery here appears to be more a how-it-was-done than a who- done-it although Christie has once again lead us down the garden path to a surprise finish.

A nice diversion.......2004-01-14

I have been a Christie fan for over two years, since I was twelve, and I found this to be a nice little diversion from Hercule Poirot's little gray cells and Miss Marple's village parallels. I must say that though I was able to guess the mastermind behind it all, I was not able to guess the method. This is easily one of Dame Agatha's most original plots (including THE MOVING FINGER, also featuring the Dane Calthrops), a story of two young people, who, in setting out to identify the murderer of a well-liked Catholic priest who learned something from a dying woman, find much more than they bargained for...and each other. I wonder why it's never been made into a movie??... ;-)

A meditation on detective stories and on evil.......2003-09-14

Nothing is more stupid, unanimous, superstitious, and pointless, than the universal habit of running down Agatha Christie as a writer. Even fellow crime writers who ought to acknowledge their debt to one of the absolute masters of the genre, are in the habit, when looking for any kind of literary respectability, to start by pooh-poohing her (thus Ruth Rendell, P.D.James, et caetera).
In point of fact, whatever a great writer is, Agatha Christie was one. Some of her stories are forgettable, many formulaic: but she has written at least a dozen, probably more, that count as classics of the language. The fact is that her kind of excellence runs absolutely counter to modern concerns. She can write stylish prose if she really wants to; she can create vivid and fascinating characters if she really wants to; but most of the time she is not too concerned with either of these things. Her characters are simple and reducible to a few primary types - like those of Homer. Her plots are what she really lavishes attention on (this book has a wonderful vignette of an author singularly like Dame Agatha herself, cudgelling her brains in despair to make some sense of a character's silly but necessary actions), and they are superlative. Properly read, they both express human values and generate great emotion; her denouements are never purely revelations of past events, but always insights into the minds of murderers, accomplices, and victims, into the logic of their situations, into the pressures that drive human beings. It has been said that her stories exist only for the sake of the denouement; if this is true at all, it is meaningless, since denouements do not exist by themselves but are a function of everything that has gone on before, and only work if the whole work has been carefully crafted. Christie, of course, approaches storytelling not as an opportunity for self-expression, but as a skill to be learned and used: she is not out to impress her cleverness on us - indeed, she does not think she is very clever - but to make us like her stories; and so, even poor Christie stories are never less than carefully crafted.
But in this book, written in the autumn of her life, she tries something different, which in some ways goes beyond anything she had done elsewhere (with the possible exception of her first out-and-out masterpiece, EVIL UNDER THE SUN). It is a book about the reality of evil, about evil in real human life, about the kind of people who would in fact make a living by hurting and destroying others - and of the forces that drive them. Her conclusion is bleak, sensible, and probably quite true: evil is a matter of inadequacy, of small men feeling their smallness. There is "no demonic majesty, no black and evil splendour"; those are almost a consoling disguise which decent ordinary people prefer to place on the reality of evil, petty, mean and indecent as it is, to escape the vision of its depressing and familiar ordinariness. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the moral reflection of an author so often accused of being shallow and unintelligent; and not many philosophers have done better.

diverting fun.......2003-02-22

Another of Christie's romantic adventures pairing 2 people in a murder mystery who end up falling in love. Hints of black magic, some elderly women who may be witches and talks of death thru telepathy, may remind the reader of an old Scooby Doo episode, but this one has no meddling kids or a talking dog. One of Agatha's more entertaining cast of characters, however, includes the daffy novelist Adrien Oliver, who's been in several other stories, as well. She provides the amateur sleuths with a rather significant clue involving hair loss. Told in both first and third person narration to present an overall treatment of the mystery, the big twist is typical A.C., tho' if you've read enough of her stories, you might be able to guess the identity of the killer. It doesn't happen too often.

Average customer rating:

Behold a Pale Horse
A Definite Page Turner!
Better and Better
First book I read by Leib and I am impressed
so soft he takes you by surprise

Behold a Pale Horse
Franklin Allen Leib
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0312890648

Book Description

Havana, 1963:
Rupert Justice Tolliver, a young Texan who boasts that he will one day be president, is being driven through the city when a bullet whizzes past his nose. The shooter, a professional Rhodesian assassin named Cobra, fired because he was ordered to. He missed intentionally, perhaps making the greatest mistake of his life. . . .

Washington, 2001:
After a career as a television preacher and a stint as Governor of Texas, Rupert Justice Tolliver is elected president by a razor-thin margin. Declaring a holy war, he calls the Army and Navy to action, releasing the U.S. military machine on all foes, foreign and domestic, that he considers ungodly. As the world teeters at the brink of the millennium, Tolliver's rule disturbs international financial markets, creating chaos worldwide. This causes wealthy men from all corners of the globe to unite in a conspiracy against the leader of the free world, and they begin the search for an assassin.

Cobra:
Brought out of retirement in the African vineyards, the sharpshooter is offered a handsome sum to do what he should have done so many years ago: shoot to kill. This time around, all should go as planned. Except there's one variable Cobra isn't counting on.

Clarissa:
The beautiful and ruthless First Lady. The real mastermind behind the rising tide of terror, Clarissa isn't above using sex to manipulate the men on both sides of the conflict. And if she has her way, the beginning of the next millennium will be an era of demagoguery, mayhem, and bloodshed.

Customer Reviews:

Behold a Pale Horse.......2001-08-12

Very exciting. Loved Cobra - great character. Also liked the father. Let's have more.

A Definite Page Turner!.......2001-06-16

This is an exciting book. You have a hired killer who took part in the original Kennedy assasination. The other character is a Texas Governor named Justice Tolliver who moves to the Presidency. The hired killer named Cobra has an interesting biography and an impressive list of hits. The President and his first lady are as wild as they come. They have shady land deals, the President was also a draft dodger. This book has every kind of scenario that you could ask for. The plot is outstanding as well. This will be one of the better books that you will read this year. You will be wondering if Cobra is sucessful in his newest assignment. You this book. It is a thriller.

Better and Better.......2000-12-24

This is the second of Lieb's books I have read and have the third one on order. His tying in of history along with fiction is well done. His development of characters is also a great work. I will read all his books and hope for more

First book I read by Leib and I am impressed.......2000-06-15

This is a very good story and I spent about full time reading it until I was done. Cobra is the main character, a long distance shooter/assasin, but a good interesting fellow. I enjoyed the tie in to JFK and the life of Cobra (I would have loved more details, at least another 100+ pages more). Tolliver is the other main character and a man of problem that makes it to the White House. The only thing I did not care for was the book's layout, it started in 1963 for a few chapters than jumped to 1999 and while going to 2000+ it interspersed chapters filling in some of the years between. I like more sequential stories, but it still was very good and I highly recommend it.

so soft he takes you by surprise.......2000-05-08

this book sneaks up on you, captures and enthralls. a few pages in you are hooked, then the author carries you to the end like a lover. amazing.

Rider of the Pale Horse: A Memoir of Los Alamos and Beyond

Average customer rating:

Memoir of a Technician at Los Alamos

Rider of the Pale Horse: A Memoir of Los Alamos and Beyond
McAllister Hull , and Amy Bianco
Manufacturer: University of New Mexico Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Nuclear | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A scientist's recollection of his life as a junior member of the Manhattan Project, Rider of the Pale Horse recounts McAllister Hull's involvement in various nuclear-related enterprises during and after World War II. Fresh from a summer job working with explosives in the chemistry department of an ordnance plant, Hull was drafted in 1943, after his freshman year in college. Unlike other accounts written by scientists and historians of that era, Hull's narrative offers a realistic picture of the dangerous and messy job that GIs and civilian powder men were asked to do. Life in the workshops where bomb components were constructed was very different from life in the offices where they were designed.

Hull's description of his postwar work supporting the Bikini Atoll tests in the Pacific and the early concerns about the effects of a hydrogen bomb explosion illuminate the Dark Age of nuclear weaponry. John Hull's handsome illustrations show technicians and scientists at work and bring the story to life.

“Rider of the Pale Horse adds valuably to the total record of the most important technological development of the twentieth century.”—Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atom Bomb

“Hull gives a bottom-up view as seen by a foot-soldier. His account of the grubby details of the project is illuminated by his later view of its historical repercussions and bears new witness to a turning-point of history.”—Freeman Dyson, author of Disturbing the Universe

A recollection of life in the workshops where nuclear bomb components were constructed during the Manhattan Project.

Customer Reviews:

Memoir of a Technician at Los Alamos.......2005-12-20

McAllister Hull had a distinguished career as a nuclear physicist and university administrator but in the fall of 1944 he arrived at Los Alamos to work as an explosives technician. His story of how that happened gives a view of the Manhattan project different from the well told histories of the eminent scientists and military leaders. Hull knew who Oppenheimer and Groves were but his role was a niche producing critical chemical explosive components at the more isolated S-site. For that matter he knew Klaus Fuchs with out any idea of the Soviet connection.

That Hull was a scientist to the depths of his psyche is apparent when he describes his thoughts while careening down a hill driving a truck with failed breaks: "I knew that if even a slight misalignment occurred, the truck would translate its forward momentum into a rotation about an axis across the road."

The book is tantalizing in its brevity as when he alludes to Edward Teller during the Oppenheimer hearings: "He helped a petty man, Lewis Strauss, to harass a man better than either of them." The memoir is a quick summary by someone who had a view of the birth of atomic weaponry from the nuts and bolts up through a thorough comprehension of the underlying theory. It adds to the understanding of how the great wealth of technical talent was put together in the remote New Mexican country side and managed to achieve the unimaginable.

Illustrations by the author's son round out the mid-century feel of the narrative and the bibliography has Hull's comments on nine of the more important accounts of the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs.

Average customer rating:

Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HT77U0

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books