I grabbed this book on a quick perusal of the true crime section in a library that was not my normal branch. I wanted to see what I could get else where. Yes, I know, I was cheating on my library branch. But the truth is, we’ve kind of out grown each other. I had to break the news slowly, but now my branch accepts I am seeing three or four other branches regularly.

The Ultimate Book of Impostors by Ian Graham was entertaining to me. Would everyone find it that way, probably not. I like facts, all kinds of weird facts, little bits, big stories, tales of lying and deception. All in my bailiwick. Impostors was a little dry. And there was less arm chair psychology than I was hoping to find. But for a straight forward reciting of well done research with a little spin in favor of a lovely lady or two, it’s right on the money.

I did take a few notes, mainly of other books I want to read now. LOL.

According to Graham most impostors motivations can be boiled down into four categories: ego, envy, escape or espionage. I suppose if I am prepared to be lenient with the definitions I can agree with him. As the subtitle explains, over 100 true stories of the great phonies and frauds. Most of the stories are two pages or less, so just the facts ma’m.

℘℘℘℘ Four Pages: I liked, I read it rather quickly in just three or four sittings. I enjoyed it. I’m not rushing out to find other works by this author. It was akin to butterscotch pudding. I like it OK. I won’t say no thanks like I might with strawberry but …. I’m not bothering to make it at home, even on a liquid diet. LOL

Don’t forget to pop over to The Phantom Child today and check out my interview and excerpt.

The SAS Fighting Techniques Handbook – Terry White

oh god. this book. so very, very badly written. I have read other books in a similar vein, in fact I read a lot of books in a similar vein. This one was just bad.

First complaint, badly written. Bad word choice. Bad grammar. Misspellings and the wrong word.

Second complaint, random excerpt boxes that break the flow of the narrative(what little there was), all over the place.

Third complaint, the title reads SAS fighting techniques. The author threw in whatever he liked. If he was talking about sniper rifles, he doesn’t talk about which ones the SAS use. Nope, he throws in the Spetsnaz or Army Rangers or Navy Seals. WTF?

If I wrote a book on cooking and suddenly started talking about how to rotate your tires instead of how long to braise the pork….yeah.

℘ – one page. Could not finish it. By 100 pages in I was skimming for any facts I might use in my spy novel. By 200 pages in I was flipping wildly so I could return the damn thing to the library.

The Duff – Kody Keplinger

I read this after seeing a review that made it sound super entertaining. sigh

um….yeah…It was not very well written, better than the SAS book but that isn’t saying much. It was almost mindless entertainment but done badly so I fell out of it constantly.

I had a hard time believing the characters. They were tele novella dramatists masquerading as teenagers. I don’t recall anyone acting like that or reacting like that in my high school or among the junior high and high school students I worked with for years before I had my own sprocket.

℘℘ – Technically this is a two pager. I did finish it, partly out of stubbornness and partly because I was reading it in bed and if I didn’t I would have had to get up as I had no other books on my kindle in that moment. LOL