An insider's view of the pentagon: Three of the four military services have their headquarters within these walls... The underlying idea is that proximity will force the services to work together in neighborly harmony. And it would seem to make sense because after allMan in the Middle by Brian Haig read by L.J. Ganser

"Let's start the day with a reminder of our boundaries, Henry." Indeed. But some boundaries are more forgettable than others... Consider, for example, the boundaries between Scarpetta and Marino... Posted By: admin () Date: 10/21/2004 5:11 pm Trace by Patricia Cornwell read by Kate Reading

Incongruous, unlovable, post-Vietnam: a weatherman and a reporter make the Minnesota TV newsroom hummm. Dixie Quinn locks into the weather and doesn't let go. Rick Beanblossom, burn-victim, works behind the scenes, behind his mask. Their curious, uneven characterizations are ambushed midway by a grim, hopeless plot. Quotes: "Y'all take care now" (The weatherman's lastThe Weatherman by Stephen Thayer read by George Guidall

For years the facile, monarch-note like introductory blurbs of audiobooks have been aimed at delayed airline passengers looking forward to a two or three hour seat in a jet on hot tarmac. As nonlocalizably uninformative as the pilot, but more or less referential. The introduction to Robin Cook's CriticalCritical by Robin Cook read by George Guidall

"Salander was not a normal person." Bandied about from one institution to another,  she has a casebook full of entries written by social workers, psychiatrists, administrators: serious Swedish officials. Because she does not speak, she is assumed to be stupid. She is not. Because she looks too young, she isThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson read by Simon Vance

It is not unusual to hear unflattering descriptions of Americans in the press, but when did Americans get so ugly in fiction? Consider a white haired couple who seem to be wearing each other's clothes in Donna Leon's Blood from a Stone: The woman wore a flannelBlood from a Stone by Donna Leon::David Colacci

Kinsey is a tough dame. Brutally honest about herself and therefore about others. She's twice divorced, and is determined to stay that way. As Kinsey says: "I'm difficult". She says it to account for her reluctance to marry for the third time. Also because she likes toT is for Trespass by Sue Grafton read by Judy Kaye

Nevil Shute's America: Beyond the Black Stump How do we know what we look like to others? They tell us, that's how. When Stan, sober geologist, good son and citizen of Hazel, Oregon, tells Molly that he or maybe his friend got a girl pregnant, and that the twelve year oldNevil Shutes America: Beyond the Black Stump

How is it possible to account for irrationality in a scientific way? What kind of a science, what kind of a scientist studies the the irrational side of human behavior? How, moreover, can irrational decisions be measured, explained and controlled? Arielly describes experiments which do just this. The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Arielly

Grass soup is exactly what it sounds like. It's a recipe for food of last resort that my father has apparently squirrelled away somewhere. I have never actually seen this recipe but it was referred to fairly often when I was a child. Should everything else turn to shit, weDavid Rakoff, Don't Get Too Comfortable

Ethically demented, seriously ambitious police detective brutalizes innocent, unthinking little boy. Heartwrenching. A must for prosecutors.The Rag and Bone Trade by Robert Cormier

It could be any small college town and any next door neighbor. But the town is Promise Falls and the neighbors next door are The Langleys. The story begins when they are murdered. Bert the policeman investigates the neighborhood, starting with Jim Cutter's house. Jim has beenToo Close To Home by Linwood Barclay read by Christopher Lane

A Bruegellian world of busy little people working very hard and magical children repeating absolutely useless gestures: marvellous Maeve Binchy. Eddie's dressmaker mother is surrounded by patterns and perpetually draped in some nearly finished garment as she sews and listens to the radio. "Let's just agree that he didn't keepThe Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy read by Barbara Caruso

It is truly comforting to hear good old Tony Roberts playing good old Stone Barrington sitting at good old Elaine's on 88th and Second, looking at the girls again, working another case. Stone is hungry. Hungrier than usual,  for a rare hamburger, cooked for lawyers, not by lawyers.  AndFresh Disasters by Stuart Woods read by Tony Roberts

The voice is everything. Instead of the typical pomposity of a haughty OBE accent, spouting that mixture of bad faith, betrayal, and malice so characteristic of the displaced British upper class, we have a whisper, a tempered, middle brow tone telling a tale about a slightly fat slightly alcoholic NottinghamROUGH TREATMENT by JOHN HARVEY::JOHN WILKINSON