Monday Book Pick: The Perfect Assassin: A Doc Savage Thriller
The Perfect Assassin: A Doc Savage Thriller by James Patterson and Brian Sitts
If you have been following this blog, you should have noticed that I’m a long time Doc Savage fan. So when I saw this, I had to give it a read. I didn’t expect much, since I was disappointed with the Patterson Shadow book. I’ve read enough Shadow books to do more than hum the tune, and I wasn’t impressed. This “Doc Savage” book took a different path, and I got the impression that Sitts is a Doc fan and read a lot of the books, unlike the Patterson co-author on the Shadow book. Brandt Savage has a doctorate in anthropology, and is a mild mannered professor at the University of Chicago. He is also the great grandson of Clark Savage, Jr., the famous adventurer active in the early 20th Century.
Life for Brandt is pretty calm, until he is kidnapped, and forced to partake in a odd regiment of exercise and diet by a woman is clearly dangerous and beautiful. Over a surprising brief period of time, Brandt gets leaner, stronger, and taller. Then things get weird. He and his former captor end up in a bunch of danger as they travel to exotic locations where people want to kill them. There is even a tip of the hat to the Rocketeer comics, where was his great grandfather who invented the jet pack.
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. There is a sequel out, which I also enjoyed, and it’s clear more are in the pipeline.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Speed
Let’s set the Wayback Machine to 1994 and visit the movie that helped two young actors on their way to movie stardom. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. It has some other fine actors as well, including Dennis Hopper and Jeff Daniels. Hopper plays a bitter former bomb squad cop out to feather his retirement nest by threating to blow stuff, and people up. His first attempt is thwarted by two LA cops played by Daniels and Reeves. So he tries a again, rigging a city bus to explode if it goes under 50 MPH. Sandra Bullock just happened to be on the wrong bus and ends up behind the wheel as Reeves plays a battle of wits against man who wants “his money” and Reeves dead. Definately worth the popcorn, so sit back and enjoy “Die Hard on a bus.” Since this is Valentines day, I’ll throw in a spoiler, the two young leads end up together at the end. Which of course lead to a sequel.