The Sixth Target

The Sixth Target by James Patterson was a quick and easy read, but also a good one. It follows three cases worked by a homicide detective in San Francisco, Detective Sergeant Boxer. The first is the case of a mentally disturbed man who randomly murders five people on a ferry. Then, there was a rash of kidnapping/murders. Finally, there were multiple homicides in a single apartment building. I liked the fact that there were multiple cases going on at once, as oppose to just a single ongoing case. It was more interesting and more realistic to see numerous cases at once. There was even a hostage situation at the end of the book (when the kidnappers were being apprehended) that was more realistic then most television shows-the second the women holding the hostage popped her head out long enough, she was stopped by a sniper bullet. That's the cold, hard truth.

Fortunate Son, The End

I have only been reading this book for a little over a week, but I already finished it. It was an amazing book, even though it was very sad. The young boy, Thomas, goes off to live with his father in a bad neighborhood. He stops going to school, and spends all of his time in an abandoned alley behind his house. Here, he discovers many things such as small animals, birds, and a dead body. In the meantime, his "brother" Eric is leading an upper-class life in a nice neighborhood, however neither one of them has forgotten the other. Thomas becomes a homeless man living on the streets, and Eric lives in a dorm at UCLA. Eventually, they become reunited and suddenly. They end up across the country, and Thomas is in the hospital numerous times due to gunshot wounds and car crashes. In the end, in a crazy twist of circumstances, their problems are solved when a friend calls in political favors. They make it back to L.A., and you'll have to read the book to find out the entire story.

Fortunate Son, Pt. I

I just started Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley, and so far this book is good but very sad. It is about a young African-American boy named Tommy born with a hole in his heart. His mother befriends a white doctor, who convinces her to take him out of the plastic case he is trapped in. The boy survives, and his mother begins dating the doctor. They move in together, and become a family (along with the doctor's son). All is well until the boy's mother, Branwyn, dies. Tommy is sent to live with his abusive father, who claims he loves him but seems to want nothing to do with him. Tommy, however, doesn't seem affected by all of this. He goes about his life trying to find the goodness in all things, even though things are pretty bleak. So far, I am only on page 113, but I can tell that this is a very deep book and I can't wait to read more!

In Cold Blood, The End

The ending of this book was somewhat happy, somewhat sad. The two men responsible for the Clutter murders were finally captured, arrested after a confession, and sentenced to death. A few years later, they were executed by hanging in a Kansas State Penitentiary. Although these two men brutally murdered an innocent family of four for only fifty dollars (all that was gained in the robbery), one still must feel somewhat bad for them, or at least one of them. Perry Smith had an extremely violent and troubled childhood. His parents were separated, and he lived with his mother in San Francisco. His mother drank too much, and he was soon in the care of an orphanage where he was beaten and brutalized. These memories were never forgotten, which no doubt led him on a path to violence. However, this is not an excuse for murder, which the jury in this case realized. Smith showed remorse before his hanging, while his partner joked around. The agents on the case viewed this hanging, and related that it did not make them feel any better. Maybe they will never have consolation for this brutal crime.

In Cold Blood, Pt. II

I am on page 210 of this book, and so far a lot has happened. Two men, Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, have murdered this innocent Kansas family, the Clutters. Due to the fact that this murder occured in such a quiet town, agents were brought in from county as well as state agencies. For quite a while, things looked bleak for the investigators. The followed empty lead after empty lead, not seeming to move anywhere in the case. They could not even determine the motive of the crime! Was it a robbery? A revenge killing? The detectives are puzzled until they recieve a call fom a prison warden who had information. One of the prisoners knew Smith and Hickock, and remembered a plan that he heard them discussing. The detectives followed up on the lead, and things seemed to check out. However, Perry and Smith seemed to be missing in action-that is, until bad checks popped up in their name right in Kansas city! This is all I know at this point, but I think that I'm about to find out more!