[email protected]

I did not enjoy this book as much as others written by Packard. The plot focuses on the Hawk who completes serving a prison term and immediately resumes his criminal career. He outsmarts police and other thieves by repeatedly intercepting and decoding telegram messages sent by felons via a railroad communications system, thereby grabbing the loot before others arrive on the scene. For me the details about the decoding process (which was repeated very often) was boring and I just didn't understand it. The Hawk's success at everything he did was so predictable - after a while I lost interest in his fate. To Packard's credit, he writes crisp, vivid scenes, fast paced, coupled with exceptional insight into the criminal mind.

How do I write a review about a masterpiece? I am totally unqualified. Suffice it to say that Dreiser has written a magnificent work, holding up a mirror as it were, to so many aspects of life. His characters reflect every human experience imaginable - love, hate, hypocrisy, greed, lust, success, failure, poverty, envy, pride, humility, disappointment, hunger, deprivation of body and soul, the loss of everything one holds dear, the tragedy of unfulfilled dreams, the joys of fame and fortune, the eternal quest for the meaning of life, the search for true love. What more can I say? Don't miss reading this marvelous novel. Dreiser also wrote "An American Tragedy", still in copyright in US, on which the 1951 film "A Place In The Sun" was based, featuring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.

Well told adventure story about the search for the fabled "El Dorado" city of gold in Peru. It contains the elements of "can't put this book down" adventure stories as written by Arthur Conan Doyle and H. Rider Haggard such as many narrow escapes from death, discovery of new, huge, frightening beasts eager to devour everyone, long jungle treks without food, water, shelter, savages anxious to kill everyone on the expedition and perhaps eat them, emeralds the size of goose eggs, gigantic, beautiful man-eating flowers, and even romance. Is there a happy ending? I won't spoil the suspense by telling. This is my first Harry Collingwood book, and definitely not my last - he seems to specialize in a variety of adventure stories.

This is a drawn out tale about a 33 year old wealthy San Francisco businessman who marries a 19 year old beautiful woman, Helene, after a ship board romance. She is accompanied by her mother who is very protective and rather vague about their French origins and past. Once married, he begins to suspect something is awry. Is Helene having an affair? Is she a spendthrift? Was her mother once the queen of a bordello in San Francisco? Is Helene her illegitimate daughter? Who can he trust? He hires a private detective to unravel everything. For me this was a lackluster set of characters enacting a dreary plot.

In contrast to other reviewers, I thought this short story failed miserably in conveying dimension in its characters and the mystery, suspense, horror, fear, presence of evil that quality ghost stories possess. To me it was a parody of a ghost story, trite, predictable, childish, and aimed at young readers, if that.

A woman in her late fifties undergoes treatment to become younger and now looks 30. She falls in love with a 34 year old man and the story focuses at length on his/her struggles to overcome their real differences in ages, outlooks, and priorities in life.

I was rather bored with the lengthy descriptions of New York High Society in the 1920's, their values and prejudices within their cliques as well as towards this odd couple.

Can an old woman in a young body really find happiness? Read the book.

Alvin, a meek, self-deprecating college teacher and Louise marry after a brief friendship, to relieve their mutual loneliness, despair and search for love. Her tawdry past, unknown to Alvin, includes promiscuity, gambling, drinking and unbridled spending. These traits begin to surface soon after the marriage. Three months after the wedding, Alvin is charged with the murder of Louise. Did Alvin kill Louise? Was it justified? The plot unfolds via many accounts of the court-room trial followed by Alvin and Louise's related life experiences. The author excels in describing motivations, emotions, strengths and weaknesses governing this tragic couple. This is a poignant story of unfulfilled lives and lost love.

This book was a best seller in its time, but to me it was much too long and drawn out to qualify. I tried my best to plow through the interminable scenarios and sub-plots, and I just couldn't finish it. Perhaps the fault lies in me, not the author.

What a story! Full of the most descriptive, insightful passages I have ever read concerning an animal, Buck, the featured dog. I felt like I was there observing and experiencing all of Buck's happy and terribly painful, sad times. A heart-wrenching story with a beautiful ending.

About the triumph of good over evil and the power of faith, under very unique circumstances. Four criminals (3 men, 1 woman), who specialize in scams, organize a phony faith healing enterprise to make millions fast. They target an elderly, unsuspecting, blind, deaf, mute man, The Patriarch, who, based on faith, has been quietly healing a few people in his small town. The faith healing business becomes an international attraction, bringing fortunes to all. To the crooks' shock, within a few weeks of operating the scam, they undergo a slow transformation into honest, Godly, benevolent persons. Fast-paced, vividly sketched story. "The Miracle Man" was a silent movie featuring Lon Chaney Senior.