Mike's Books

American Rebels: How the Hancock, Adams, and Quincy Families Fanned the Flames of Revolution by   Nina Sankovitch 4 Stars American Rebels is a marvelous work of history, telling the story of the founding of our nation through the lives of the Quincy, Hancock, and Adams families of Braintree, Massachusetts.   It’s well-researched, extremely well-written, and thoroughly readable.   It’s one of those books that brings history alive and, as such, it should take its place next to David McCullough’s 1776 as required reading for every American. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45046716-american-rebels https://www.bookbub.com/books/american-rebels-by-nina-sankovitch

Haunting of the Blackthorne House by   Bruce Knapp 2 Stars Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with a digital ARC of Haunting of the Blackthorne House . I found the book to be really disappointing.   It’s really only a separately published short story, and while it’s at least a mildly entertaining horror story, it suffers from many fatal flaws.   It’s written in the first person present tense, a style I find annoying to the point that reading becomes almost painful.   In addition, the plot and the writing are very simplistic and the editing is very poor.   This work just isn’t up to professional publishing standards. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52338277-haunting-of-the-blackthorne-house https://www.bookbub.com/books/haunting-of-the-blackthorne-house-a-blackwater-tale-by-bruce-knapp https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/179971

The Zookeepers' War: An Incredible True Story from the Cold War by   J.W. Mohnhaupt 3 Stars The Zookeepers’ War is an interesting look at the Cold War-era rivalry between Berlin’s two zoos.  I thought the book suffered from the lack of a smooth, cohesive narrative.  It struck me as much more a collection of short tales and never seemed to just flow very well.  Nevertheless, it was an interesting view of a part of Cold War Berlin I would never have thought about otherwise. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43822827-the-zookeepers-war