'SKYRING WATER'......SLAMBANG GLOBAL THRILLS THAT TURN UP THE TEMP ON THE COLD WAR......

  Skyring Water by Louis L'Amour and Beau L'Amour (2026)

     For anyone who only associates Louis L'Amour's name with westerns, this book, revised, expanded, co-written and restored by his son Beau will come as a huge revelation.

     Often I felt overwhelmed reading this thrilling, exhaustively researched adventure. By the time I finished I felt like I'd plowed through enough geo-political chicanery, graduate level physics,, death defying, breathtaking escapes, battles and explosive violence that could fill over 50 books by Alistair MacLean, Clive Cussler, James Rollins and Frederick Forsythe. At times, this book just plain wore me out.

     We're back in 1961 where some remnants of World War II still simmer and fester and the new Cold War grows hotter by the minute. Surviving hardcore Nazis, still holding dreams of a Fourth Reich, have inserted themselves back into the society, politics and scientific communities of the many countries around the world.......awaiting to seize their opportunity to achieve world domination.

      Amid the perils of this new nuclear world, the expected clashes that come with the rise of emerging nations serve as the bread and butter of former OSS operative, expert diver and arms dealer Mike Fowler.. He's partnered with (and at times mentored by) former Nazi commander and scientist Anton Voss, a man with no end of secrets in his past. And now they're in hot pursuit of the greatest potential prize for soldiers-of-fortune such as themselves.......a hidden, sunken German U-Boat supposedly holding a cargo of 30 million dollars in stolen Nazi gold.......(try to imagine the value adjusted for 2026 inflation.....)

     But Fowler and Voss are far from alone in their quest. Hot on their heels come a host of enemy-rivals....... - the most vicious 'Fourth Reich' cabal imaginable along with Israeli Intelligence, Mafia thugs and a duplicitous CIA officer whom MIke Fowler has despised since their World War II experience together. The search for the gold laden Nazi sub finally leads all of them to the arctic waters at the southern tips of Chile and Argentina.......but there's way more than mere gold awaiting them.

     I have to admit there are more than a few times when the L'amours' staggering amount of research into history, weaponry international espionage and science threaten to bring the overall propulsive momentum of the book to a dead stop. But one thing nobody has to wait long for here........the rip-roaring, bloody gun battles and hand-t0-hand combat that erupt on a regular basis.

     Readers who loved and dearly miss those clock-is-ticking, global high adventures that dominated bestseller lists and films throughout the 1960's and 70's, 'Skyring Water' provides a one stop shopping bonanza. Top notch for this genre.

      4 stars (****).

 

'MAN OF MY DREAMS'.....HOW DID HER FICTIONAL GUY TURN REAL? AND WHO'S STALKING THE AUTHOR?........

 Man of My Dreams by Olivia Worley (2026)

     I can always depend on a swiftly paced twist-filled read from author Olivia Worley. And this one not only delivers that well, but comes up with a wild wild triple-whammy of a final revelation.........which I had to stop and read extra carefully to make sure I was fully comprehending it after picking my jaw up from the floor.

     Romance writer Ivy Harcourt, currently basks in the success of her new bestseller, a modernized re-invention of "Wuthering Heights" (but with a happier ending that she'd wistfully dreamed for Heathcliff and Cathy.). Her new work-in-progress features a charming dreamboat architect named Liam. And, as the strangest of fates would have it, whom does she encounter one day in a meet cute but a charming dreamboat architect named.......well, do I even have say it out loud?

     So how is this far-fetched life-imitates-art coincidence even possible? How did this guy manage to literally walk right off of Ivy's rough-draft pages and into her real life, capturing her heart so quickly? All manner of suspicious, unsettling little things begin to pile up in her mind about too-perfect-to-be-true Liam and something even more anxiety inducing plagues Ivy. She's being stalked by someone with knowledge of her darkest long repressed family tragedy......someone who appears to know the terrible truth of that nightmarish moment she's managed to block out of her mind.

     Suspense, dread and surprises start quickly tumbling through the storyline, which made 'Man of My Dreams' a lightning fast one day read for me. And then topped off by that super Jumbo twist......which to be honest, requires you either go with it or stare at the book muttering "you gotta be kiddin' me, right? Seriously?"

     But personally, in a book like this, I'm not looking for hardcore, down-to-earth reality and I love it when thriller authors take a swing for the fences to come up with a finale to knock a reader upside and down and sideways.. So thank you, Ms. Worley for taking that grand slam swing that had me shaking my head for its sheer outrageous daring. Had a fine time with this one.

     4 stars (****).

'ROAD TRIP'......ROMANCE, MYSTERY, SISTERLY BONDING....AND GREEN, GREEN IRELAND....

  Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews (2026)

     Mary Kay Andrews arrives just in time with a refreshing summer cooler of a book. It's a warmhearted cocktail mixed with budding new romances, mysteries to solve, even a slight touch of mayhem and all of it transpiring in a cozy Irish town right out of "The Quiet Man".

     We start back in Savannah Georgia, where estranged sisters Maeve and Therese Dunigan face a sea of troubles following the death of their beloved mother. On the eve of her tenure, Maeve's lost her position as a college professor., a cruel blow for someone who's spent her life as a strict rule follower. Therese, her complete opposite in outlook and personality lives her life as a freewheeling would-be actress almost always in a state of unemployment. The sisters discover their dementia-afflicted mom donated her life savings to a shady televangelist, forcing her take out an all new second mortgage on her house.......which neither of her daughters could ever hope to now pay. Their last hope lies in selling a forgotten, family heirloom potentially worth millions......a portrait by a distinguished, famed artist that somehow connects back the sisters' Irish roots.

     In their quest to authenticate the painting, the Dunigan sisters travel to Tarrytown Ireland to unravel the many mysteries surrounding their great-grandmother and the aristocratic family who accused her of murder after she'd been compelled to sail off to an adventurous new life in America.

     Though like oil and water together, Maeve and Therese rediscover their sisterly bond and make a formidable team, piecing together a tale of love, courage, brazen criminality and even murder most foul. And it surely doesn't hurt that Maeve's helped by Liam, that personable maker of Irish whiskey she's fallen for......and vice versa.

     Leave it to Mary Kay Andrews to smoothy weave all these characters and plot elements into one comforting and charming package, making the book as much of a scenic, heart-filled and eventful vacation for her readers as it is for Maeve and Therese. And who can resist an armchair trip through those lush green Irish hills and valleys?

      4 stars (****).

WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP......SPECIAL 'THE SILLY MILLI VANILLI' NATIONAL STATE FAIR' EDITION.....

 

Breaking News!  After multiple artists drop out of the Trumpy 'National State Fair', a new roster of stars was just announced......

     Scott Baio will apear to perform dramatic readings from old 'Joanie Loves Chachi' scripts.

     Jon Voight will dress up as his Joe Buck "Midnight Cowboy" male prostitute character and accost random women and girls in the crowd while signing autographs. 

      Nicki Minaj will parachute into the audience via an attack helicopter and fight no less than five drag queen Taylor Swifts in a UFC sanctioned steel cage match. 

      The surviving member of Milli Vanilli will show up to perform, but will be lip-synched by Lindsay Graham.

       In a grand finale, Stephen Miller will sing passages from 'Mein Kampf' that have been put to music by Kid Rock......

        All concert attendees will be eligible to receive the long anticipated Trump 250 dollar bill.....for the small cost of only $278.59 to cover printing fees and the $1.90 per week salaries of Chinese children factory workers who toiled 24/7 on the inking production line to produce the bills....

       And in further madness this week.......   

Wonderful weekend to all BQ visitors...see you all next week!

'THE WIND AND THE LION'......THE BEST FROM THE MOST BOMBASTIC AND BLUSTERING OF THE 70'S MOVIE BRATS......

 The Wind and the Lion (1975)

      We felt like kicking ourselves  when we realized we'd missed out on doing a 'Happy 50th Anniversary' post for this film last year........especially since it's always been a favorite re-watch just as the summer season kicks off.

     Well, here we are a year later for its 51st Anniversary, and since we still love the movie, we'll still happily sing its praises.

       Of all of the exciting new crop of 'movie brat' filmmakers who came into their own throughout the 1970's (Spielberg, DePalma, Coppola, Scorsese) screenwriter-director John Milius stood out and apart from the pack. 

         A big-bear-of-a-man Hemingway-esque figure, Milius proudly stood behind his right wing conservative outlook, his love of all things military and manly and the grandly epic, larger-than-life mythic storytelling he favored in both his directing and writing ("Conan the Barbarian", "Red Dawn", "Apocalypse Now", "Clear and Present Danger", "Magnum Force", "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean")

           'The Wind and the Lion', served as his most quintessential, personal and all-out attempt to duplicate the old school spectacle and sweep of films by David Lean, William Wyler and John Ford......

           We think he more than succeeded, stamping the film with his own unique celebrations of macho pride, individualism and fabulist exaggeration. 

           Using a true incident in 1904 Morocco as a starting point, Milius has the marauding piratical  Berber Mulai Rahmed er Raisuli (Sean Connery) kidnap beautiful Eden Pedecaris (Candice Bergen) and her two young children. In ransoming Eden and the kids,  Raisuli's hoping to end the cozying up to European powers favored by his brother the Bashaw of  Tangier. (Vladek Sheybal, Connery's chessmaster nemesis in "From Russian With Love")

        Meanwhile half a world away, rugged, rambunctious U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (a wonderfully hammy Brian Keith), fumes in outrage at Raisuli holding him up like a common mugger and sends out a company of Marines to Morocco, planning to deliver some 'big stick' whupass to that uppity Arabian renegade. 

         Milius, aided immeasurably by one of  Jerry Goldsmith's most thunderous, propulsive and yet romantic scores, makes this high adventure a glorious joy to watch unfold. While hemispheres apart, Connery and Keith more than match each other in charismatic bravado and sardonic humor. 

        Bellows Roosevelt at a campaign stop, "Pedecaris alive or Raisuli dead!", a phrase taken from the true incident the film's derived from....though in fact, the real Pedecaris was a middle aged man with no children....

        Bergen, still years away from her second career as an expert comedic character actress, proves a delight as the fearless, fiery independent Eden. She confounds Connery's Raisuli, whose spouting of ancient culture attitudes and wisdom clash with her blunt candor and unfailing confidence in American exceptionalism.  This leads to delicious verbal clashes between them and eventually, a subtly loving, bittersweet but star crossed admiration destined never to be consummated.

       But there's plenty of rip roaring fun along the way as Milius fills the screen with battles, swordfights, diplomatic skirmishes and no end of eye candy landscapes and vistas.....most of which  come from the Spanish locations familiar to everyone who has watched the iconic extravaganzas by David Lean and Sergio Leone. 

         Yes, we'll not deny that at it's heart, the film's essentially a beautifully mounted Hollywood fairy tale....as fanciful as anything found in Arabian nights or the voyages of Sinbad. But isn't that why millions of us fell in love with movies to begin with?

         We may be year late in our Anniversary wishes but here at BQ, it's never too late to lavish some praise on the cinematic gems we treasure the most.....

         5 stars (*****).

         

          

           

'STORM WARNING'......ONCE AGAIN, GLOBAL THUGS AND PSYCHOS GET SOME SERIOUS DEZ-IMATING.....

  Storm Warning by James Byrne (2026)

     Welcome back Dez Limerick, you incredible combination of James Bond, Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun . We always need ye to take on mass quantities of international 'Black Ops' killers, save the Free World and cook up a few tasty meals and play guitar as well.

     Once again, Dez, built like Popeye after guzzling a gallon of spinach, is called upon for his particular skills as a 'Gatekeeper'.......someone who can find a way to break into any and all assorted doors, steel fortresses or similar barriers that supervillains may throw his way. The State Department and FBI are worried that in the snowy wilds of Canada, a multinational scientific facility (and community) has gone incommunicado and on lockdown. To put simply, the fertilizer's hit the ventilator and possibly really bad people need serious Dez-imating.

     In true Dez Limerick fashion, Dez and his hearty little band of allies soon find themselves trapped in the facility, outnumbered and out-gunned by multiple malignant forces. Outside there's a vicious, highly trained team of mercenaries employed by married oligarchs, both equally psychotic. Inside the facility, they're up against a band of heavily armed Russians, suspicious, frightened scientists and and angry townspeople who've fled into the lower levels of the building.

     If that isn't enough danger and tension in the air, there's more than one traitor among them and also along for the ride......a petite, beautiful but powerfully lethal assassin whose otherworldly combat skills leave even Dez in stunned awe. Furious action, sudden death and surprises await around every corner.......(and in this series, we wouldn't have it any other way)

     Author James Byrne knows well how keep the action popping all the way to the last page As always, there's no end of fun to be had as one by one, Dez's many formidable adversaries discover that behind that chatty, cheeky demeanor,, there's a core of steel they've underestimated.....big time.

     Those new to the series could still get into this one as a stand-alone, but I guarantee you'll then want to race to get your hands on the first three. right afterwards Already cannot wait for the next one, which holds the promise that Dez may have picked up either some future new friends or troubling new opponents....depending on how the plot goes. A surefire 5 star don't miss for high-adventure, action-suspense readers.

     5 stars (*****).

'IN CASE I GO MISSING'.....A GIRL DETECTIVE'S BEST FRIENDS COURT DANGER AS THEY SOLVE HER DISAPPEARANCE....

  In Case I Go Missing by R.N. Swann (2026)

     I stand fully impressed by this one. I never expected to end up so enthralled and engrossed by this Nancy Drew-ish YA mystery. I found it intricately plotted, jam packed with twists and turns and filled with well drawn characters (both teen and adult). And to my further surprise, some keen understanding of the enduring power, (sometimes good and sometimes hurtful) in friendships forged for life.

     And in a startling upending of expectations, the very person you thought would be front and center, ace girl detective Sarah Vincenty, has gone missing. To find out what's become of her, it's up to her two loyal, BFFs and Scooby Gang since childhood, 17 year olds Fenny and Sam. Now, instead of doing mere legwork for Sarah as she dug into and solved the town's various crimes, her dearest friends are tasked with actually cracking the case of her disappearance.

     If Sarah met with foul play, which seems more and more likely, there's no shortage of suspects in town among both teens and adults. Sarah's sleuthing sometimes uncovered adulterous affairs, which split lives asunder and she was also instrumental in getting Sam's abusive, bullying older brother Brian to flee town altogether.

     But Brian's back anyway, with a fiance in tow.. And Fenny and Sam discover Sarah's investigation delved into mysteries surrounding the town that go back through generations of its history.......some of it strange and violent. Not quite ancient history, though, since someone in the here and now is leaving anonymous threats and making very real attempts on Fenny and Sam's lives..

     There's no end of clues to untangle, including Sarah's surprising alliances with the most unlikely people. Fenny's troubling relationship with her mom and Sam's living his life under the thumb of his wealthy, entitled family and loathsome brother also deepen the story. And when the ongoing villainy is finally revealed, it makes for a properly thrilling finale.

     All in all, a terrific YA mystery that everyone should have fun with.

      4 stars (****).