Book Reviews

Title: Dare Not Blink
Author: Gerald Gillis
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Reviewer: Margaret Brown

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0985252340

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer... The Old Man is dead. Langdon Elerbee—the chairman and founder of Elerbee Engineering—has been struck down by cancer, and the multi-million dollar company that bears his name has devolved into clandestine corporate infighting. The company president, Jeff Wylie, has kept the old man’s illness a secret, so no one but Wylie is prepared to exploit the power vacuum created by Elerbee’s death. Now, Wylie is quietly pulling strings and making backdoor deals to consolidate his own position at the top of the pyramid. Dave Paige is a young gun. A regional vice president at age forty-two, he’s one of the company’s rising stars. He believes in playing the game the way that Elerbee himself had played it: with loyalty, integrity, and a personal devotion to excellence. He suddenly finds himself going head-to-head with corporate backstabbers who will pull every dirty trick in the book to achieve their own short-sighted goals. Dave isn’t just fighting for his job, or the millions of dollars at stake, or even for the company he has grown to love. He’s fighting for the soul of corporate America, and no one is guarding his back.

Title: CIB: Combat Infantryman Badge
Author: Wilbur (Bill) Rambow
Genre: History
Reviewer; Mindy Lawrence

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0983687889

Specialist Fourth Class Philip Lawson arrives in Vietnam after re-enlisting with the promise of assignment as a helicopter door-gunner. But when he arrives in country he is assigned as a replacement to a mechanized infantry ­company and his dreams of action in the sky over Vietnam evaporate in a haze of red dust and sweltering humidity.

Phil sets out with a youthful desire to prove not only who he is to himself, but also to earn the confidence and respect of the more experienced men around him. It's not long before action finds him and he discovers the immense physical, psychological and mortal toll he must face to gain his comrades' respect and quiet his own lurking fears. The misery and daily quest for survival are leavened by the combat soldiers' unbreakable bond, and a cast of eccentric pets and mascots that ride the M113 "tracks" with the mechanized grunts. But further complicating Phil's life is the unexpected arrival in the combat zone of Captain Paul Lawson, the domineering older brother whose influence he has been trying to escape for years.

During his R&R in Sydney, though worried that the war may have forever hardened and brutalized him, Phil finds love and the promise of a bright new future-if he can survive his tour of duty. Ultimately he must fight alongside the hardened soldiers who will become his brothers, against an unseen and ruthless enemy to earn the coveted Combat Infantryman Badge.

Title: Codename Aphrodite
Author: Charles S. Faddis
Genre: Thriller/Mystery

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 061553967X

Ex CIA ops officer, Bill Boyle, has been languishing in limbo in Mexico since the day his wife, another CIA officer, was blown to pieces in front of him during an op on the streets of Athens. Now he's been given a chance to redeem himself and find his wife's killers, but to do so he is going to have to return to Greece and dig up an old, and very dangerous asset, codenamed Aphrodite. Based on the author's own real experiences as a CIA operative working against terrorist groups in Europe and the Middle East, this is as close as you can get to running an operation yourself without signing up for the Company.

Title: A Tribute to Tankers
Author: Clyde Hoch
Genre: History
Reviewer: Dick Geschke

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0615784178

Read a short discription of a type of American tank used in combat, followed by stories of soldiers who served in that type of tank in combat. Starting in WWI and continuing to Iraq, along with photos of each tank. These are true combat stories coming directly from the men who manned the tanks and in their own words. Journey back in time and feel the anguish, frustrations and fear these brave men faced day after day. Read of the great sacrifices they made for you the people of the U. S. These stories must be told. These brave men are all worthy of calling real hero's. "A Tribute to Tankers" will educate you about combat tanks, the men who crewed them and what it was really like to go to war.

Title: Forever Growing
Author: Richelle N. Rodgers
Genre: Biography
Reviewer: Ron Camarda

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1624191312

This book chronicles the life journey of a devout steward of God. It is an intimate and honest self portrait of how God has had a hand in her life decisions; that is, from the tragic death of her father at a very young age to the beautiful birth of her triplet grandchildren. However, even more importantly, it affirms how God has a hand in each of our lives. All we have to do is listen, “be still” and be willing to get off “the roller coaster of self-destruction” with our busy and hectic lives. Have you ever lost trust in God, especially when there is a crisis or major change in your life, such as death, losing your job or divorce? Have you ever questioned if God is real? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book merits your time and attention. It is a short but powerful book which helps you to identify the enemies of your soul and shows you how to conquer these enemies, such as doubt, fear, or obsessive worrying; that is, with insightful step-by-step instructions. This book was written to be inspirational and if it helps one person, the author maintains that it will have served its purpose.