Man of la Book reviews Barefoot in Baghdad by Manal M. Omar “Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity-My Own and What It Means to Be a Woman in Chaos” by Manal M. Omar is a memoir which the author wrote of her time working as a Non-governmental organizations called “Women for Women” in Iraq. Ms. Omar is an American woman and a devout Muslim, which gives her a unique perspective.” MYSTERIES in PARADISE reviews A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn “Superb debut crime fiction novel by an Australian author. Set in South Africa in 1952 at the beginning of legislated apartheid. ” Indian Eagle’s Diary reviews The Big Short by Michael Lewis “As someone who was in the thick of these things in the spectacular collapse that happened in 2008, it is amazing how a book like The Big Short gives you a view in what happened in retrospect. I was a student while the collapse happened and we were grappling with the possibility of being unemployed despite passing out from one of the top ranked institutes in India.” Man of la Book reviews Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith “Child 44″ by Rob Tom Smith is…

In “Devil’s Garden”, a historical fiction novel, author Ace Atkins recounts the events of a historic Labor Day weekend in 1921, San Francisco. On that fateful day beloved comic and silent movie star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle held a weekend of drunkenness orgy (regardless of the prohibition laws) and debauchery with several friends, sans his wife of course

Vicary is a spy catcher – he does his job well until realizing that a small group of German sleeper agents trained by Abwehr officer Kurt Vogel are still in Britain. The threat is that the German agents could discover the secrets to the invasion and allow the Germans to setup a proper defense line (or call the invasion off) and the invasion would fail.

The story centers on Operation Jupiter, the allies plan to free Norway from the Nazis.  Only that Operation Jupiter, a real event, was a fake plan to draw Nazi forces away from the real fronts.  Of course, Lt. Boyle does not know that.  He is brought into General Eisenhower’s staff because of his experience as a police officer and being Ike’s relative doesn’t hurt either.  As a former Boston cop, Boyle plays a fish-out-of-water in England. 

The story is told through the eyes of an invisible observer, a fly on the wall. We, the readers, do not hear what any of the characters think but we observe them from a close distance.The storytelling is riveting and exciting; the characters are interesting, engaging and dimensional. I don’t know if Mr. Atkins meant to make George Kelly a likable figure, but to me he was the most likeable person in this unique cast of characters.

 From what I understand, author Jane Singer used Asia Booth’s diary as her basis for this book which makes her take on the events following the assassination of President Lincoln unique.

“Purge” is a wonderful book; I highly recommend it to both men and women of all nations. I certainly hope more people will read this wonderful novel which, as we all know, don’t come around as often as we would like them to..

Even though this book was written centuries ago I found it contemporary, charming, hilarious and accessible. I believe that it is a great disservice to Cervantes that Don Quixote is being thought of as a drama only to disregard the story’s comedic aspects.