Customer Reviews:
Not much you didn't already know..........2002-04-11
I was very disappointed. I read this skimpy 134 page book in about and hour and half last night. I came away with very little (I even thought about quickly sending it back to Amazon). Don't expect any revelations here and don't expect much in the way of web site help either. This may be a "must read" for some older agent/broker who thinks the web is his/her enemy. Clearly there are a few of philosophical points and strategies explained but they are NOT rocket science. Save your money or expect a quick unsatisfactory read, believe me. I think the earlier reviews were done by friends. (P.S. I have not read "8 new rules" but they discuss them here... #8 is Know What Business You're In... ooooh!). Read "Cluetrain Manifesto" or "New Rules for a New Economy" if you want real eye-opening insight into the near future.
Click and Close right on target.......2000-10-12
Much has been written about how technology will change the real estate business. This book concentrates on harnessing technology to work for you. The book offeres advice on creating your tech business model and how you can use it to provide better service to clients and to survive for the long haul. Both authors have great insight into the real estate business and are also worth hearing as speakers. A must for the tech savy Realtor.
Click & Close.......2000-04-08
Sherry and Tucillo not only understand the real estate industry's problems, they offer a cogent plan to fix it. This book should be required reading for every Realtor(r)Association Executive and every Sales or Broker Associate. What a "novel" idea: The consumer's wants and needs are what really matter.
A must-read for the 21st century broker!.......2000-03-05
This book is the real estate brokerage "owners manual" for the next five years. Tuccillo and Sherry are right on target with their vision of the future. They not only talk about today's empowered consumer, they prove how much they are in control of our industry. "Click and Close" is a step by step plan to meet those consumers on their ground.
Average customer rating:
- Formula Robinson But Still Gripping
- Forensic Science
- Quite readable
- This one is personal
- you call this wordy story a thriller? give me a break
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Close to Home: A Novel of Suspense
Peter Robinson
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 British
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Robinson, Peter
| ( R )
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Similar Items:
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Playing with Fire (Alan Banks Series)
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Cold Is the Grave: A Novel of Suspense
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Blood at the Root (An Inspector Banks Mystery)
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In a Dry Season
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Final Account
ASIN: 0060198788
Release Date: 2003-02-04 |
Amazon.com
Having already shown, in 1999's In a Dry Season, that he can plumb historical homicide for gripping modern drama, Peter Robinson goes further in Close to Home, telling parallel stories about teenage boys lost in a grownup world, decades apart. The first is Graham Marshall, a childhood pal of Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, who vanished mysteriously in 1965, the supposed victim of a pedophile. Hearing that Graham's bones have finally been unearthed, Banks quits his vacation in Greece and heads to his hometown of Petersborough, England, hoping to assist the investigation--and, perhaps, assuage his guilt over his friend's fate. Meanwhile, Banks's colleague and ex-lover, Annie Cabbot, is busy probing the recent disappearance of 15-year-old Luke Armitage, the sensitive, brainy son of a rock star who committed suicide during Luke's infancy. After Cabbot catches hell for interrupting what may or may not have been a legitimate ransom payment for Luke's return, she seeks Banks's advice, drawing these two plot lines neatly together.
As this intense and intricately crafted puzzler develops, blending fiction with a bit of fact (the Kray brothers, who ran a criminal ring in London's East End during the mid-20th century, play off-camera roles here), Robinson explores Banks's troubled relationship with his parents, especially his working-class father, who "had never approved of his choice of career." He also raises doubts about a famed copper who'd originally tackled the Marshall case, involves Banks romantically with a damaged detective whose investigative diligence threatens her safety, and shows Cabbot as someone better and stronger than merely Banks's protégé. Working with themes of lost youth and the dark secrets hidden in small towns, Robinson delivers in this 13th Banks novel a police procedural of remarkable human depth. --J. Kingston Pierce
Book Description
Detective Inspector Alan Banks has never forgiven himself for having possibly caused the disappearance and presumed death of his best friend back in the summer of 1965, a pivotal time when both boys stood on the precipice of manhood.
When the tragic bones are shockingly unearthed and identified near Banks's childhood home more than 35 years later, the imagined skeleton in the detective's closet becomes all too real. Plummeted back into a past he thought he'd left behind, Banks is drawn into an investigation that hits dangerously close to home.
Customer Reviews:
Formula Robinson But Still Gripping.......2007-01-23
After you've read several Robinson books you deduce pretty soon who the murderer is -- or, more accurately, who it isn't. Robinson is a journeyman writer and he does a very good job of laying out a fine story before you. His characters are always well-developed and interesting, his settings are always well-described, and he weaves in enough philosophy, poetry, and culture to add lustre to the book but not weigh it down. But, as the plot unfolds, the formula kicks in and there are few surprises. Which is okay -- one does not read English police procedurals for slam-bang excitement and surprises. I really like Robinson's book and Alan Banks is becoming one of my favorite characters. So, as long as Robinson keeps writin' 'em, I'll keep readin' 'em.
Forensic Science.......2006-07-23
This is a double mystery. Alan Banks is on vacation in Greece when he learns of the discovery of the remains of a teenage boy in his home area. One of his friends disappeared over 35 years earlier. He heads home and is drawn into the case. At the same time, another case develops when a teenage boy is missing and he assists his former lover Annie on that case. All is not as it seems for either case. Forensic science is brought into play, examining bones for the older case, and blood for the newer case.
The investigations unearth details for both cases that some people do not want revealed. People's reputations, both past and present are revealed, and some high placed people stand to lose. I will not reveal details as that would give away the ending. I would note that Banks acquires a new love in his life, and we learn a lot about his past including his relationship with his parents.
The novel is British and is written in the King's English, i.e., some terms are different than U.S. usage. There is also a large amount of discussion about music, mainly UK musicians. The author does a lot of name dropping and one gets the impression that he is putting in plugs for his favorites.
Quite readable.......2006-07-11
This book was a pleasure to read even if the mystery, like so many, requires an undiscovered demi-conspiracy between public officials and private obsessions. Robinson's text flows smoothly and his characters are more realistic than most, giving the drama of their lives more weight. In addition, for a male writer, he does an excellent job of characterizing the emotional state of people especially in group dialogue. I would read another from this writer.
This one is personal.......2006-07-05
I have been reading the Inspector Banks series of books in sequence since In A Dry Season. I suspect I will go back and pick up the stories prior to that one later.
In reading the books the way I have been reading them, I have come to know the mai character pretty well, as the author had intended it.
There had been substantial foreshadowing of one of the murders invrestigated in this book. Alan Banks had always brought up the memory of his friend Graham Marshall and his unexpected disappearance in his previous books. Robinson had brought the memory up as an example of Bank's guilt and messy history. It punctuated his complexity as a person and how that complication marks his life so far and his work as a detective. As such, this book should have been the most emotional and cathartic. Instead, it was pretty much business as usual, wich was disappointing but it also underscores the fact that there is really nothing cathartic in police work.
Peter Robinson is an extraordinary writer, or else I never would have read this many books in such a short time. His device of interweaving two separate story lines together would be disastrous in the hands of an amateur, but in Robinson's hands it is as natural as can be. He steers the narrative easily amongst the stories and builds the tempo of the story equally until the two lines comes to a parallel climax. In this book, the climax wasn't a real climax, it was just an ending, an explanation for the crimes. I didn't exactly feel cheated, since I got my enjoyment out of the process of building the case and edging further into the story. The nice moments of charater building was appropriate and it served to pull the reader into the character, made us sit notice of Alan Banks and Annie Cabbot and Jenny Fuller.
One more note, Robinson could have used the same plotting device as In A Dry Season, soince both this story and that one involved going into the past to get at the truth, but he refrained. I think it may have hurt his narative somewhatbut I also think it was pretty brave of him to lay off the same device and stay with this plotting device, just to stay fresh.
In the end, the confrontation with Bank's past was somewhat of a let down. The other story was actually quite engrossing, it did not quite supercede the Graham Marshall story, but it came close. This whole book had the feel of an intermediate step to somewhere else. But coming on the end of Aftermath, it was good to get into a standard whodunnit.
you call this wordy story a thriller? give me a break.......2005-01-15
good writer, but pathetically lengthy and wordy. snail paced story with no climax or surprises at all. read like a nostalgia of an old man's blahblahblah. the author unnecessarily put his own hobby of collecting and listening to old songs into play with the bore-to-death bland story of two murder cases not thrilled in the least. the main character, banks, of this series is just a mediocre copper and actually did not help solving the murder cases but got beaten up and got laid once. and if you could call this a novel of suspense and felt suspended during watching, you definitely never got on a roller-coaster so far in your life. fire your no-brain editor next time and hire one who could slash your original script at least 200 pages, save some papers, save some time waste for the readers. to me, any reviews over 3 stars were just falsely over-rated. this is a novel uninspired, uninteresting, and most of all, too unimportant to give a review.
Book Description
Military families are especially vulnerable to separations. This book is an easy-to-follow, practical quide to fun and inexpensive ways for keeping service men and women connected to their families while they're away. It's an essential tool for military personnel preparing for active duty training. It also contains connection strategies tailored to the unique demands of the military family before, during and after deployment. This valuable guide will help lessen the impact of being apart from those we love.
Customer Reviews:
Not worth the money.......2006-09-01
I agree with other reviews who have suggested that the author treats deployment like business trips. Several of the ideas to keep close during separations would work only if the separation were short term, like two months or shorter. I've never been through a two month deployment, and I'm willing to bet that when compared to six month and year long deployments, military families have little problems dealing with such a short separation period.
In addition, I found this book to be extremely geared towards children. I do not have children and I doubt that my husband would want to recieve silly art projects from me while overseas. So if you do have children, I would imagine this would be a great resource for creative art projects to show Mom or Dad how much they are missed.
In all I found this book to be incredibly disappointing and I would not recommend it to families who are looking for suggestions on how to stay close during normal military deployments or separations.
not the best.......2005-11-07
i love to read any thing about a military family, just to see how we all deal with it was not like this till hubby went to iraq. Now this was one of the 1st i read and well it was ok then now i have read so many I can tell you this is ok there are better out there
A great tool for a military wife's tool belt!!!.......2005-09-26
I have been a military wife for 19 years and have endured many separations, all with hesitation and sadness. I was never given any tools to deal with this lifestyle. My only regret is that I didn't have this book from the beginning. This author is an advocate of military families and has stepped up to the plate to fill a void, which is offering help with a lifestyle most people never really understand. Even though she is not a military wife herself she has done her part by taking the time to listen to and get to know the hearts of the military wives and families across our country who have a unique set of challenges. When my husband served in Afghanistan for eight months I still did not have this book. Next deployment will be a different experience thanks to this author's gathering of ideas from the wives and families of our brave soldiers who live with fear and separation from a loved one on a regular basis. Awesome tool!!
tips and examples for bearing TDY.......2005-08-15
This book is a wealth of ideas for the spouse who is not immersed in, or just not able to be involved in service community because of where home is located etc-so serves to lighten the burden of being a service spouse who does not have a lot of peer support. I found it interesting even as the parent of a serviceman--very good job on this one!
Trivializing and unoriginal.......2005-05-10
When I bought this book, I was misled into thinking it was a book for military families. The author has never been in a military family and is not a military wife. She often compares deployment to her son going away to college. The ideas she gives are unoriginal and some downright idiotic (i.e. buy a sticker supporting your military branch for your car, then you'll feel close to your service member). I was extremely disappointed and angered that this was a book penned to military families when there are very little ideas addressing deployments specifically, rather just separations like business trips.
Product Description
President Bush announced that a timetable for pulling out of Iraq is a mission for the next administration. Even in peacetime well have over 60,000 troops deployed to fight Global Terrorism. Im Already Home
Again tackles the challenges of keeping our military families connected and strong while away from each other. Military families are especially vulnerable to tough separations. Now theres an easy-to-follow, practical guide to fun and inexpensive ways for keeping our service men and women connected to their families while away in service to their country. Im Already Home
Again Keeping your family close while on assignment or deployment is an essential tool for military personnel preparing for active duty. The first edition of this work, Im Already Home, is widely used by over 20,000 families. Now, expanded and updated, this book includes special features that make it even more useful and relevant to the unique demands of the military family. This book includes 212 connection ideas, over 75 resource websites, an expanded section on reunion and reintegration, added chapters for your extended family, schools, spiritual protection, and community/neighborhood services. All this wonderful information is combined with new stories and the original inspiration. Im Already Home
Again! has been called a message of hope.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome deployment book.......2007-07-09
My husband and I are dual military, and we're using this book for his current deployment. The book has so many great ideas--things you can do before the parent leaves, while they're gone, and even for when they're coming home. The book is different from others because it actually gives you specific things to do to feel closer, instead of vague ideas that don't do anyone much good. I wish I had this book for my last deployment.
FAB - U - LOUS!!.......2007-05-15
Really well done -- easy to read and full of great ideas. Buy it early if you can, so you'll have the time to employ some of the ideas prior to deployment. There are easy ideas that take little time too. I enjoyed this book and am using many of the ideas inside it.
Amazing.......2006-11-15
The first book was great, but this 2nd edition is AWESOME. I,too, wish it was available for my first deployments, but the good thing is that it's out now. As our Platoon KV, I have recommended all my wives go out and purchase this book. It's a lifesaver.
Book Description
BRUNSCHWIG FILS UP CLOSE showcases beautiful and inspiring interiors from the world's premier textile company. For over 100 years, Brunschwig Fils has maintained its reputation for quality and elegance-it's a name decorators and discriminating customers turn to for the best in interior design. BRUNSCHWIG FILS UP CLOSE transports readers from grand rooms in the White House and the Palace of Versailles to romantic ones in Irish cottages and southern homes, offering a wealth of creative ideas on using fabrics, wallpapers, and furnishings in the best possible way. The book explores the history of early textile techniques and popular patterns, and presents a range of gorgeous rooms from designers around the world. Packed with 220 photographs and watercolor illustrations of exquisite interiors, BRUNSCHWIG FILS UP CLOSE is the portfolio for anyone interested in fine design.
Customer Reviews:
DISAPPOINTING.......2007-03-19
THIS BOOK IS A DISAPPPOINTMENT AFTER READING THE FIRST BOOK BY BRUNSCHWIG...THIS BOOK COVER INTERIOR IS LIMP AND UNINTERESTING ....IT CONVEYS TO ME WHAT FOLLOWS IN THE BOOK, HO HUM, AND YAWN INTERIORS..AND BRUNSCHWIG FABRICS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!!! WHAT HAPPENED?...IT IS TOO BAD ...THE BOOK WHICH SEEMS TO ME IS NOT CAREFULLY EDITED OR WITH INTERIORS THAT ARE REALLY SENSATIONAL IS A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT... SORRY, MRS. DOUGLAS...
Average customer rating:
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Close to Home Postcard Book
John McPherson
Manufacturer: Garborgs Heart N Home
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1583756434 |
Book Description
Carried in 700 papers worldwide, including the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the Miami Herald, and the Tokyo Times, Close to Home has devout fans that range from elementary students to octogenarians. As one fan put it, "I feel like you have been looking in my window and are drawing my life!" Though by no means a Peeping Tom, John McPherson does have the unique skill of being able to take those idiosyncrasies of daily life that drive us all nuts and infuse them with razor-sharp wit. With an award-winning line of greeting cards, a top-selling block calendar, and a line of clothing, Close to Home continues to gain momentum among readers.
In this latest collection John features angry letters from readers, cartoons that were killed by the editor, a glimpse inside his creative process, and never-before-seen photos of his erasers, quill pens, and his lucky drawing slippers. Who could resist it?
Customer Reviews:
Lots of Laughs!.......2006-11-12
I really enjoy John McPherson's humor! He has a great talent for turning common, everyday events and topics into hilarious comedies! I started reading his early comics that were published in Campus Life magazine and have been an avid reader ever since.
Awesome.......2006-02-23
If you are a Close to Home fan you can not go wrong with this book. I LOVED the mamogram one!
Book Description
John McPherson's single-panel comics have appeared in 11 previous books. Nearly 600 daily and Sunday newspapers regularly carry his work, which has been syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate since 1992. A line of McPherson greeting cards, mugs, and calendars has sold well in the United States, and will soon expand to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the European Union. Still, fans cannot get enough of Close to Home!Now comes Ferociously Close to Home. Like its predecessors, this 144-page volume delivers McPherson's trademark take on the absurdities of everyday life. To say that his solutions to these perplexing situations is 'out there' is an understatement. Consider Gina, who decides a branding iron will be the ideal memory aid for her birthday date-challenged husband. And poor Lanny, whose treadmill session is interrupted when he inadvertently triggers the health club's offensive odor alarm.McPherson has long walked the line between grotesque and goofy. But somehow, his figures with big noses and bulging eyes connect with readers with a surefire magnetic precision. Whether it's health care or parenting, dating or car repairs, Close to Home delivers McPherson's warped world without fail.
Books:
- Don Quixote (Penguin Classics)
- Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (Dragonlance: The Lost Chronicles, Vol. 1)
- Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software
- Earthcore
- Essential Avengers, Vol. 4 (Marvel Essentials)
- Fishing for Dummies
- Flotsam (Caldecott Medal Book)
- Forge of the Mind Slayers: The Blade of the Flame, Book 2 (The Blade of the Flame)
- Franny K. Stein's Crate of Danger (Boxed Set): Lunch Walks Among Us; Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid; The Invisible Fran; The Fran That Time Forgot (Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist)
- Freaks!: How to Draw Fantastic Fantasy Creatures (Fantastic Fantasy Comics)
Books Index
Books Home
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- The Last Puritan: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel
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- The Friday Night Knitting Club
- This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
- Watersheds: Processes, Assessment and Management
- Bookends: Two Women, One Enduring Friendship
- The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration
- Israel Agro and Biotechnology Industry Export-Import Directory
8 New Rules of Real Estate: Doing Business In A Consumer Centric, Techno Savvy World
Terri Murphy's E-Listing and E-Selling Secrets: For the Technologically "Clueless"
21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me: Practical Advice for New Real Estate Professionals.
Targeting the over 55 Client
New Business Models for the New Economy
