Two Books...

"Barack and Michelle - Portrait of an American Marriage" by Christopher Anderson William Morrow 326 pages $25.99

This book is basically a rehashing of the stories about the Obamas during the long campaign. Yes, she is a controlling woman; he is the dreamer who believes it'll all come out all right (against all evidence to the contrary would be what Miz Obama would say.) Yes, she does run him like a train; yes, he likes it and considers them a true partnership ...

Moving on ...

"Even" by Andrew Grant Minotaur Books 341 pages $24.95

Author Grant is a former telecommunications executive, who lives in the UK with his family. This is his debut novel and judging by the list of authors who endorse him (Nelson DeMille, Tess Gerritsen, Ridley Pearson, Jeffrey Deaver to name a few) he is very, very good.

But I had a hard time getting interested. David Trevellyan, of Royal Naval Intelligence is a loner (much like Lee Child's character Jack Reacher) with a somewhat sardonic sense of humor -- veddy, veddy British, old chap.

But by page 40 I was interested. Grant's use of devices in ingenious (if somewhat James Bond-ish) and, of course, Trevellyan is able to take out whole regiments at once - without getting a scratch or scrape. Each chapter begins with Trevellyan's memories of childhood and then naval training which give you insight into how and why he thinks the way he does.

I look forward to Grant's second and since Trevellyan is alive and well at the end (which you ill note all through the book - not giving anything away here) I would imagine we'll be seeing him again.