"Talking to myself again...": What I'm reading: Hell's Gate

Sunday, June 5, 2016

What I'm reading: Hell's Gate

(Actually, what I just read.)

Yesterday, I was afforded the opportunity to 'Be a Good Boyfriend' and go hang out with Herself in the hospital all day. This not being my first rodeo, I accepted the offer.... and I grabbed a book to take along.

It turned to be the right choice of book. Hell's Gate, by Bill Schutt and J.R.Finch, is a light thriller-ish novel, and managed to keep me sane while sitting in the ER for 6 hours. I finished it just as the Doc cut her loose (No worries, all is well).

Set in WWII, Hell's Gate is a what-if story of an officer with a scientific bent being sent to deepest South American jungle, there to sniff out a hellish plot by axis forces.

There's just enough character development to get a reader interested, and the flashes of science that peak through the story actually build a framework which holds together. The author is a zoologist, and that experience is what shows through consistently in the story.

I'll be looking for more from this writer. I suspect we haven't heard the last from this MacCready character of his.

I would call it light summertime reading. You get a chance to relax for an hour while enjoying the weather, or maybe a quiet Sunday morning over coffee, and this would be a book to grab.

4 comments:

freddyboomboom said...: Added to my wish list.

Thanks for the recommendation!; June 5, 2016 at 10:43 AM
Carteach said...: NP my friend. I don't think it's for sale yet, but soon enough.
I wonder if Amazon has some sort of 'watch' list I can set up, for when authors I like turn out new books?; June 5, 2016 at 10:49 AM
freddyboomboom said...: Your question made me go find out...

You can go to an author's Amazon page, and below their picture is a "follow" button, and supposedly Amazon will send you emails when they're putting out a new book, or other news.

You have to be logged into your Amazon account, of course.; June 6, 2016 at 1:39 PM
Carteach said...: Nice! Thank you Sir.; June 6, 2016 at 4:48 PM

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.