Dangerous

By Suzannah Daniels

Dangerous has two principal characters: Stone, the hard-bodied motorcycle riding loner who just happens to work with Tom at a bookstore and Dara, the pretty socialite who lives with her Grandma, drives her granny’s old clunker and comes to work at the same store to earn money to buy a car of her own. The sexual tension between the two is palpable. The book is written in the first person alternately from each character’s point of view. Will opposites attract and will the bad boy who exudes sexual charisma get the good girl with the good looks and grades, does he even want to.

Stone had a twin named Luke who died in an accident he doesn’t want to talk about. We get the impression that he was somehow responsible. Can he work through his anger and grief to learn to love and commit to someone else? Although the storyline is generally predictable it still manages to throw us a few curves. This is definitely a teenage romance novel but somehow it manages to be more than that.

The Fault in Our Stars

John Green it seems is a wildly popular young adult writer also famous for a video blog shared with his brother and the world on you-Tube. The book in question is written from the point of view of a girl dying of cancer who meets a tall handsome young cancer survivor at a support group with whom it is mutual love at first sight. Both are wildly articulate as were Judd Apatow’s characters or Kevin Williamson’s on Dawson’s Creek. Call them old souls or old beyond their years. What sets this book and the movies apart is the fact that the teens in question frankly share the emotions and urges common to people their age. Boys see a pretty girl, their bodies react, and they describe their urges--that does not mean they intend to immediately jump her bones. Is it sinful to think they’d like to? I’m no teenager with raging hormones, in fact the fewer the better for my prostate, but the book is well-written and edited, and eminently readable.

Interesting that the producers found a young pair who epitomized the characters described in the book who additionally shared what is called chemistry and the movie version is topping the charts over the usual crop of action-adventure summer blockbusters--eat your heart out Tom Cruise. What sets both book and movie apart from the usual disease of the week flick is the fact that it’s about living not dying. Not every young male would feel secure enough in his masculinity to allow a girl drive his car when he takes her home because his prosthetic leg makes his driving erratic. It will be interesting to see if this made it to the movie. Given that I began writing this on Father’s Day I would also give a plug to the parents who raised these two.

Cancer victims aren’t given a choice in the matter of hanging tough. It’s either succumb to negativity and expire quickly or fight. It isn’t as if one can get conscientious objector status or be a coward and desert the fight. The title comes from a Shakesperean Sonnet. A lot of the philosophy comes from a ficticious book from a nonexistent authour. Will the trip to Holland make the movie? Since this is a young adult novel we are spared detailed descriptions of the pair’s love-making. What we can’t be spared is the inevitable ending. All people die, young people with cancer die young.

Boys For Sale

If I use the proper terms to describe the activities that go on in this book Amazon may not want to publish my review but I got the book from Amazon. The ‘action’ takes place in an unnamed city which would appear to be in South-East Asia which seems to be a destination of choice for Sexual Tourism. Boys are bought or kidnapped and sold as sex slaves for pedophiles who indulge in voyeurism, fondling, fellatio, and sodomy. The boys are imprisoned, drugged, abused, beaten, injured, and even murdered. I’m of two minds about the ethics of writing a book such as this one. Yes we should be made aware that two million children are bought and sold daily by sexual predators but I’d also be concerned that those same individuals would get off on reading the descriptions supplied here. Not for the faint of heart or those with delicate sensibilities. One wonders where the author got his information. For once a book that is well edited. 

Ganges Boy

After reading tales such as this one all I can say is that my soul revolts against the kind of abuse meted out against military recruits of all kinds, in this case teen-aged naval recruits. The idea of having to climb a 142-ft mast is something I don’t even want to think of. The randomness that matched a slender boy with a burly heavily-muscled brute as a boxing partner, fairness never enters the equation. Mess call was the only truly positive part of this recruit’s day. Once more I repeat that military discipline and me are polar opposites. The book could use some editing but it does follow its own logic, Naval Logic it seems.

Superbia

by Bernard Schaffer

Some men see psychiatrists, some take up martial arts, some lift weights or punch bags, and some write. Everyone finds a means of venting their demons or they’ll explode. This author apparently works in law enforcement. The book has an abrupt ending and the storyline is unfinished because there are indeed volumes 2 and 3 in the series. The writing style is straight forward and refreshingly well-edited for a change. This police procedural will carry you along but be warned the details can be graphic and squalid. The writer does not paint police in a particularly positive light. It will leave the reader wondering just where the dividing line between the good guys and the bad guys lies.