book review kills

Book Reviews Kill

Join Evan and Chad as they delve deep into the world of Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror Novels.

Wednesday Aug 14, 2024

House Of The Dragon S2E8: The Queen Who Ever Was

Evan and Effy discuss the finale of House Of The Dragon's semi-harrowing second season. Things are definitely...going to heat up...at some point...in like two years. That'll be cool. 

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Tuesday Aug 13, 2024

Author Interview: Christopher Buehlman

Christopher Buehlman is an American novelist, comedian, playwright, and poet from St. Petersburg, FL. He has written many acclaimed books, including Those Across The River, Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead, The Blacktongue Thief, and it's new prequel novel The Daughter's War.  Website: https://www.christopherbuehlmanauthor.com/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/buehlmeister/  

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Thursday Aug 01, 2024

House Of The Dragon Episode 7: The Red Sowing

We are so back!! Dragons galore. Drama galore. Strange women lyin' in ponds. Join Evan and Effy for a discussion on House Of The Dragon's penultimate second season episode. 

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Monday Jul 22, 2024

House Of The Dragon Episodes 5 and 6: Regent & Smallfolk

We took a week off from making these episodes aaaaaand what did we miss? Not a lot? A lot? Lots of things happening but kind of segmented and edited in a weird and kind of boring way? Not everything can be awesome dragonfights. Join Effy and Evan for a discussion on not one, but two episodes from House Of The Dragon, Season 2!  BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/RnzHyt5gpv BRK Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill

• Download 998

Monday Jul 08, 2024

House Of The Dragon S2E4: The Red Dragon And The Gold

What an episode!!! Dragons on dragons and fire and blood and characters all over the place!!! Join Evan and Effy for a conversation on what they both agree is the best episode of season two so far.  BRK Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/RnzHyt5gpv

Monday Jul 01, 2024

House Of The Dragon S2 E3: The Burning Mill

How much more tense could things possibly get?? In the show. Evan and Effy are totally fine. Join Evan and Effy for their discussion on House Of The Dragon, Season 2, Episode 3!  BRK Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/3vThHbSB

• Download 995

Monday Jun 24, 2024

House Of The Dragon S2 E2: Rhaenyra The Cruel

Schemes within schemes, intense sword fights, and a gaslighting mother - and we're only in the second episode! Join Evan and Effy for a discussion about the followup to HOTD Season 2's explosive first entry.  Support BRK and gain access to exclusive clips: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill Join the BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/RnzHyt5gpv

• Download 1.1K

Sunday Jun 23, 2024

Author Interview: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the award winning author of Children Of Time, The Final Architecture, Shadows Of The Apt, and many, many more works of fiction. His new novel "Service Model" is now out everywhere and just a total joy to read.  Follow Adrian: https://twitter.com/aptshadow Buy Service Model: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250290281/servicemodel Listen to episodes early on the BRK Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/RnzHyt5gpv

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Book Reviews Kill 

Evan & Chad, two best friends, are inviting you to join them as they journey through magical realms; fraught with danger, intrigue and far too many rambles. . .  If you love Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror Novels, hop aboard! The sun is shining, the tide is high, and the winds of destiny are blowing strong.

Book Reviews Kill

Join Evan and Chad as they delve deep into the world of Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror Novels.

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;} House Of The Dragon S2E8: The Queen Who Ever Was

Evan and Effy discuss the finale of House Of The Dragon's semi-harrowing second season. Things are definitely...going to heat up...at some point...in like two years. That'll be cool. 

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;} Author Interview: Christopher Buehlman

Christopher Buehlman is an American novelist, comedian, playwright, and poet from St. Petersburg, FL. He has written many acclaimed books, including Those Across The River, Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead, The Blacktongue Thief, and it's new prequel novel The Daughter's War. 

Website: https://www.christopherbuehlmanauthor.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/buehlmeister/

House Of The Dragon Episode 7: The Red Sowing

We are so back!! Dragons galore. Drama galore. Strange women lyin' in ponds. Join Evan and Effy for a discussion on House Of The Dragon's penultimate second season episode. 

House Of The Dragon Episodes 5 and 6: Regent & Smallfolk

We took a week off from making these episodes aaaaaand what did we miss? Not a lot? A lot? Lots of things happening but kind of segmented and edited in a weird and kind of boring way? Not everything can be awesome dragonfights. Join Effy and Evan for a discussion on not one, but two episodes from House Of The Dragon, Season 2! 

BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/RnzHyt5gpv

BRK Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill

House Of The Dragon S2E4: The Red Dragon And The Gold

What an episode!!! Dragons on dragons and fire and blood and characters all over the place!!! Join Evan and Effy for a conversation on what they both agree is the best episode of season two so far. 

House Of The Dragon S2 E3: The Burning Mill

How much more tense could things possibly get?? In the show. Evan and Effy are totally fine. Join Evan and Effy for their discussion on House Of The Dragon, Season 2, Episode 3! 

BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/3vThHbSB

House Of The Dragon S2 E2: Rhaenyra The Cruel

Schemes within schemes, intense sword fights, and a gaslighting mother - and we're only in the second episode! Join Evan and Effy for a discussion about the followup to HOTD Season 2's explosive first entry. 

Support BRK and gain access to exclusive clips: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill

Join the BRK Discord: https://discord.gg/RnzHyt5gpv

Author Interview: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the award winning author of Children Of Time, The Final Architecture, Shadows Of The Apt, and many, many more works of fiction. His new novel "Service Model" is now out everywhere and just a total joy to read. 

Follow Adrian: https://twitter.com/aptshadow

Buy Service Model: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250290281/servicemodel

Listen to episodes early on the BRK Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bookreviews...

House Of The Dragon S2 E1: A Son For A Son

We are back in Westeros, everyone, and things are not looking peaceful. Join Evan and Effy for a discussion of episode one in the brand new season of House Of The Dragon! 

Support Book Reviews Kill: 

https://www.patreon.com/bookreviewskill

Join the BRK Discord: 

https://discord.gg/UMCR9wf5MT

Monday Morning Minute (5/21/2024)

It was a Tuesday and all was not a'right in the land of the written word. Many a tome-titillated soul spent the first day of the week rending their clothes and donning sackcloth and ashes in protest of Monday’s episode experiencing delays. Untold thousands of book lovers were out their weekly recommendation. The question of “what to read?” that so many take succor in having an answer to - if only good for a week - was not provided....

Monday Morning Minute (5/13/2024)

Reading - something you do alone . . . or is it? Like pretty much everything in life, with the exception of going number two, it’s better with friends. If you are lacking those of a bookish disposition in your life, or simply are seeking better ones. These two fearless hosts invite you to join them and our awesome discord community for another week of friendship, joy, happiness, and tears as we hit another Monday hard. So please, g...

Monday Morning Minute (5/6/2024)

Though ten thousand and eighty minutes have passed since we last Monday’d, it seems like ten long book-less lifetimes have transpired. There are friends and then there are friends who read together. Then there are friends who read together AND listen to the Monday Morning Minute! Our fearless hosts have a juicy one for you today, folks. Not one rabbit trail will be passed, no page will be left unturned in this bookish dalliance. If...

Monday Morning Minute (4/30/2024)

Monday was AWFUL! It is fair to say the book community was on shaky ground for the last 24 hours. The Monday Morning Minute, starting book-folk’s weeks off since the dawn of time was delayed. It was only the promise of a Tuesday Minute that allowed many to push on through. Due to one whose name shan’t be mentioned (the handsome one), bandwidth was at an all-time low this week, and even after the delay the audio quality was not up t...

Monday Morning Minute (4/22/2024)

Guess who just got back today?

Them wild-eyed boys that had been away

Haven't changed, still have too much to say

But man, I still think them cats are crazy…

At a slight risk of a lawsuit from Lizy and her athletic nature, it is safe to say the Boys are back in Town! We are back Ladies and Gentleman! Join in the fun as you can audibly hear the shouts as good bookish folk the world over cheer as the Minute returns. Yes, it's true - ...

Monday Morning Minute (3/25/2024)

Bookteam assemble! It is Monday and yes, finally, ye of stout bookish heart, the wait is over. The Monday Morning Minute has arrived. In a world overwhelmed with media, stories so abundant they twinkle like the stars in the night sky, two best friends set out to talk about some books, shows, movies, and high-level physics theories that they are not in any way qualified to discuss and barely understand. Also, Chad thinks he could be...

Monday Morning Minute (3/18/2024)

 *SPOILERS FOR DAMSEL*

Hello, fellow book friends - 'tis time once again for everyone’s favorite weekly episode the Monday Morning Minute! 

But first: an idiot named Chad would like to extend his humblest apologies for the late episode, somehow the audio was garbled when the aforementioned dingus uploaded it late last night, before he quickly fell asleep. But fear not! It has been remade and injected with an exuberant passion for b...

Throne of Glass #4 - Queen of Shadows

Join Evan and Chad For their summary and review of The Queen of Shadows as they once again delve deep into the acclaimed Throne of Glass series by Sarah. J. Maas. I shall waste no more breath than I must keeping you here dear friend, just know we are excited to have you here as you are, hopefully, excited to be here for another exciting episode of Book Reviews Kill! 

🏆Join The Patreon Family👉 https://bit.ly/3Th8PFo

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MALAZAN - Memories of Ice (The Spark and the Ashes)

Dear friends, fellow spelunkers of the page, your friendly face brings solace to our fearless hosts as they once again dive deep into this world - safety, a thing fully disregarded as they boldly explore The Memories of Ice Book Review warren. Today their feet will take them through, The Spark and the Ashes, the first book in the third volume of Stephen Erikson’s epic saga, Malazan Book of the Fallen.

As their path takes them deepe...

Monday Morning Minute (3/11/2024)

Whatdya know the boys are back at it again. And once again they cower in fear the night before rushing to produce the perfect episode of book-reviewing brilliance. An episode so chock full of bookish delights and whimsical fantasy treats that their audience just might decide to allow them to live one more week. The call of the minute echoes across the American countryside as pyre after pyre is lit. As each blaze climbs towards the ...

Throne of Glass #3 - Heir of Fire

Join Evan and Chad as they enter into the seriously awesome book that is Heir of Fire. Their foray into the past still fresh in their minds, our fearless book-reviewing hosts needed a fresh book to revitalize their love for the characters and story within the Throne of Glass series. And boy did Sarah J. Maas deliver! Wow - this book stands as a testament to the growth and dedication Maas has for her craft. It is safe to say Heir of...

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To Kill a Mockingbird: Book Review, Summary & Analysis

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We independently review books we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Introduction: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Book Review, Summary & Analysis

Book:  to kill a mockingbird.

• Author: Harper Lee
• Publisher: Harper Collins
• Publication Year: 1960
• Binding: Paperback  

About the Author: Harper Lee  

Excerpts from the original text

There is no need to say everything you know. That's not a lady-besides, people don't like people around them who know more than they do. That will annoy them. No matter how correct you are, you can't change these people. Unless they want to learn, there is no way. You either close your mouth or use their language. —— Quoted from page 153.

Short Comment

Book Summary

Book review & analysis.

"The life that has not read this book is really different from the life after reading it." 

• How to get along with others? 
• How to handle complex interpersonal relationships in an honest manner? 
• How to be a friendly but self-persistent person? 

Main Storyline

How to get along with others?

• The reason why we don't get along well with a certain person (or a certain type of person) is that we disagree with this person's behavior style, and thus produce an overall negation of this person.
• If we always look at others from our own perspective, it is difficult to understand why others have such "weird" behavior;
• "Standing from the point of view of others": It is not simply imagining yourself as the other party, and guessing based on your own experience. It is to "get into someone else's body and wander around", which means that you have to really understand the person's past background and experience. If you still use your own experience to judge what this person is doing, you will not be able to achieve true transposition.
• If you have not been able to "get into someone else's body and wander around", at least, you should have such a belief in others: "After you finally understand them, you will find that most people are good people. ". This sentence is the last sentence that Father Atticus told Scott in the book. I think it is simply a well-known saying. Before we did not understand other people, at least we can first understand that "other people's actions are justified".

How to deal with dissent?

"Even if you didn't do those pranks, I would still let you read to Mrs. Du Boss to accompany her because I want you to take a good look at her. This is the bravest person I have ever seen. What did she explain? called the real courage. courage gas on hand is not a man with a gun. courage is when you embark on the field before you know you will be Tongzou meal, but you still on the field, and no matter what happens, you Persevere till the end. Most of the time you will fail, but sometimes, you will also succeed."

How to stick to yourself?

"Sometimes, I feel that I am a failure to be a parent, but I am everything they have. When Jim looks up to others, he looks up first. It’s me, I want to live upright so that I can face him calmly..."

"You may hear some bad comments in school, but please do one thing for me: raise your head and lower your fists. No matter what others say to you, don't get angry. Try to fight with your head. Don't because We had already failed for a hundred years before that, and though we had no reason to fight for victory."

"Be sensible about despicable things, and when things pass, you can look back with sympathy and understanding, and be grateful for not disappointing people at the time. When most people think they are right and you are wrong Of course, they have the right to think so, and their views are also entitled to be fully respected. But before they can get along with others, they must first get along. There is one thing that cannot follow the principle of conformity, and that is the conscience of people."

Self-photography in the mirror

"Uh, coming out of the court that night, Miss Gates-she walked in front of us when she descended the steps, you must have not seen her-she was talking to Miss Stephenson. I heard her say: It's time to teach them. They are becoming less and less aware of their identities. Will they think that they can marry us in the next step. Jim, a man who hates Hitler so much, is so vicious to the people of his hometown when he turns his face?"

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KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES

The real american war in vietnam.

by Nick Turse ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 8, 2013

The imperfect defense of a controversial perspective on the hell that is war.

An investigative journalist indicts the leadership of the American military for war crimes in Vietnam.

Turse ( The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives , 2008, etc.) has a reputation for rooting out perceived misdeeds on the part of the U.S. government and has plied his trade investigating drone strikes, arms sales and operations by Special Forces. Here, the author attempts to fold more than a decade of research about the Vietnam War into a not-so-neat package, with mixed results. His thesis is that incidents like the shameful My Lai massacre were not isolated anomalies, but rather the inevitable result of a systemized, operational directive to slaughter the population of Vietnam. In reconstructing the 1967 blood bath at Trieu Ai, Turse finds common elements. “Here was the repeated aerial bombing and artillery fire, pounding the rural population on an almost daily basis and forcing them into underground bunkers,” he writes. “Here was the deliberate burning of peasant homes and the relocation of villagers to refugee camps, where their movements were strictly controlled by the government. And here, too, was the inevitable outcome of the soldiers’ training: all the endless chants of ‘kill, kill, kill,’ the dehumanization of the ‘dinks, gooks, slopes, slants,’ and the constant insistence that even women and small children were to be regarded as potential enemies.” Turse’s research is thorough enough to warrant more than 80 pages of notes, but his assembly of the data available has a manipulative sheen to it. The book also treads a lot of previously covered ground, like the 1969 “Operation Speedy Express,” during which the military claimed more than 10,000 enemy combatants dead but recovered less than 800 weapons—an incident that drew fire as early as 1972. Relying heavily on declassified documents and interviews with survivors, the book reads more like the extension of a predisposed agenda than straight-up journalism.

Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-8050-8691-1

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Metropolitan/Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012

HISTORY | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | MILITARY | GENERAL HISTORY

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

The osage murders and the birth of the fbi.

by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann ( The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession , 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

GENERAL HISTORY | TRUE CRIME | UNITED STATES | FIRST/NATIVE NATIONS | HISTORY

More by David Grann

by David Grann

More About This Book

BOOK TO SCREEN

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

More by Elie Wiesel

by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen

by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal

by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel

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Book Review: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ by David Grann

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By Dave Eggers

• April 28, 2017

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON The Osage Murders and the Birth of the F.B.I. By David Grann 338 pp. Doubleday. $28.95.

In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson hosted a delegation of Osage chiefs who had traveled from their ancestral land, which Jefferson had recently acquired — from the French, not the Osage — in the Louisiana Purchase. The Osage representatives were tall, many of them over six feet, and they towered over most of their White House hosts. Jefferson was impressed, calling them the “ finest men we have ever seen.” He promised to treat their tribe fairly, telling them that from then on, “they shall know our nation only as friends and benefactors.”

Over the next 20 years, the Osage were stripped of their land, ceding almost 100 million acres, and were forced onto a parcel in southeastern Kansas that measured about 50 by 125 miles (four million acres). This land would be theirs forever, the United States government told them.

And then — as David Grann details early in his disturbing and riveting new book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” — this promise, too, was broken. White settlers began squatting on Osage territory, skirmishes ensued and eventually the tribe had to sell the land for $1.25 an acre. Looking for a new home, the Osage found an area of what was to become Oklahoma that no one else wanted. It was hilly and unsuited to cultivation. The Osage bought the parcel for roughly a million dollars, later adding a provision that the land’s “oil, gas, coal or other minerals” would be owned by the Osage, too. Thus they owned the land above and whatever was below, as well.

No one argued the point at the time. No one but the Osage knew there was oil under that rocky soil. The Osage leased the land to prospectors and made a fortune. “In 1923 alone,” Grann writes, “the tribe took in more than $30 million, the equivalent today of more than $400 million. The Osage were considered the wealthiest people per capita in the world.” They built mansions and bought fleets of cars. A magazine writer at the time wrote: “Every time a new well is drilled the Indians are that much richer. … The Osage Indians are becoming so rich that something will have to be done about it.”

Indeed. The federal government, ostensibly concerned about the Osage Indians’ ability to manage their windfall, required many Osage Indians — those it classified as “incompetent” — to have a guardian oversee the management and spending of their money. Full-blooded Indians could expect to be deemed “incompetent” and in need of oversight, whereas those of mixed blood were allowed to manage their own affairs. Not surprisingly, the Osage became popular targets for theft, graft and mercenary marriage. A white woman sent a letter to the tribe, offering herself to any willing Osage bachelor: “Will you please tell the richest Indian you know of, and he will find me as good and true as any human being can be.”

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Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans

• Genre: Political Process - Political Parties, American Government - National, Corruption & Misconduct
• Published: February 27, 2024
• Previous Rank: 15
• Buy at Bookshop.org
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It's often said that China is in a cold war with America. The reality is far worse: the war is hot, and the body count is one-sided. China is killing Americans and working aggres-sively to maximize the carnage while our leaders remain passive and, in some cases, compliant. Why? If anyone could crack the code, it's the renowned nonpartisan investigator Peter Schweizer. Schweizer's previous three number one New York Times bestsellers sent shock waves through official Wash-ington, sparking FBI investigations and congres-sional probes that continue to this day. For Blood Money, Schweizer and his team of forensic investigators spent more than two years scouring a trove of restricted Chinese military documents, data-mining a mountain of American financial records, and tracking US political lead-ers' investments and family businesses. Schweizer unloads bombshell after bombshell, exposing the Chinese Communist Party's covert operations in the American drug trade, social justice movement, and medical establishment to sow chaos and deca-dence in the United States. A towering achievement of investigative jour-nalism, Blood Money is one of those rare books that makes you clearly see the world anew.

Goodreads reviews for Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans

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Book Reviews

In 'catch and kill,' ronan farrow offers a damning portrait of a conflicted nbc.

Annalisa Quinn

Catch and Kill

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Editor's note: This review contains explicit accusations from Catch and Kill that some readers may find upsetting.

"If NBC, which has the evidence, doesn't go forward with this story, it's a scandal."

That was what Ken Auletta, a writer for The New Yorker who had tried and failed to break the story of Harvey Weinstein's alleged serial sexual abuse of women, said when he found out that Ronan Farrow had obtained tape of Weinstein admitting to groping the model Ambra Gutierrez.

NBC did not go forward with the story. Ronan Farrow's new book, Catch and Kill, is a measured but damning portrait of that failure at NBC, which he ties to a pattern of harassment and abuse within the network.

In 2016, Farrow, then an investigative journalist at NBC, began work on a series about "undercovered stories" in Hollywood. "Pedophilia, racism, harassment..." as he explained to NBC host Matt Lauer, who would soon be fired for his own serial sexual misconduct. "Sounds terrific," Lauer said.

As Farrow started making calls, the same name kept coming up: the producer Harvey Weinstein. But over the coming months, as Farrow and his producer Rich McHugh amassed more and more stories of women saying they were bullied, harassed and assaulted, their bosses at NBC began hedging — particularly Noah Oppenheim, the head of NBC News:

" '[H]ow serious is this stuff, really?' " 'People say a lot of things when they're trying to get rid of a girl like that.' " 'For the Today show, a movie producer grabbing a lady is not news.' "

And finally, after Farrow wouldn't drop the investigation: "' There's just no room for you in the budget anymore.' "

Eventually, Farrow took the story to The New Yorker , where it, alongside reporting from The New York Times' Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, helped launch the #MeToo movement.

In memos and statements since, NBC has claimed that Farrow just didn't have enough evidence — despite multiple credible sources and the Gutierrez tape. But Farrow reports that many of the NBC executives who obstructed his investigation have been accused of sexual misconduct themselves, which fundamentally compromised their ability to support the story.

Among other instances, Farrow reports that NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack "pursued sexual relationships with underlings and talent" — one event ended with a nondisclosure agreement; the other, in professional retribution against the woman involved.

David Corvo, the senior executive producer for prime-time news, was assigned to shore up the story. The Daily Beast would later report that he too had been accused of sexual harassment. "I left the meeting with Corvo feeling reassured," Farrow writes at one point. "The next day, unbeknownst to me, NBC finalized a nearly $1,000,000 separation agreement with Corvo's accuser."

Tom Brokaw, whom Farrow leans on for support and advice during his fight with NBC executives, is also eventually accused of sexual harassment. NBC's Mark Halperin, Chris Matthews and Matt Zimmerman are all accused of harassment or worse.

In one of the book's most difficult chapters, Farrow describes the details of the complaint that led to host Matt Lauer's firing, which had largely been characterized by NBC and others as an inappropriate relationship. Instead, Farrow reports, it was rape.

"I've lost everything I cared about," Brooke Nevils, Lauer's accuser, told Farrow, going on the record for the first time. "My job. My goals."

In painful detail, Farrow describes a vicious anal rape that left Nevils bleeding and devastated. Nevils is clear in her allegation: "It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent. ... It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn't want to have anal sex."

Nevils went on to have other encounters with Lauer, which is apparently what allowed the company to describe the behavior as an affair, rather than an attack. During this time, Nevils said, she felt unable to say no because of his position of power.

"You need to know that I was raped," Farrow writes that Nevils told a friend. "And NBC lied about it."

Farrow also describes a culture of generalized sexism and bad journalism: MSNBC President Phil Griffin pressuring female producers into attending a peep show in Times Square and, later, pressuring Farrow to cut quotes in a different story to intentionally alter their meaning — what is, or should be, a firing offense at most news outlets.

On Wednesday, Lauer and Lack denied accusations in the book.

Catch and Kill creates a stark contrast with She Said, by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. They should be read together in college journalism courses, not only as stunning accounts of what good investigative journalism does but also as how institutions can find strength in legacy, reputation and numbers or use their substantial power to diffuse guilt and protect the powerful. Farrow quotes a source who said Weinstein exulted when he found out NBC wouldn't run the piece: "He kept saying, 'If I can get a network to kill a story, how hard can a newspaper be?' " Significantly harder, it turns out.

Farrow is cutting about the avoidant and cryptic language NBC executives used to dodge responsibility. It was not a person who killed the story:

"It was a consensus about the organization's comfort level moving forward that stopped the reporting. It was a consensus about the organization's comfort level moving forward that bowed to lawyers and threats; that hemmed and hawed and parsed and shrugged; that sat on multiple credible allegations of sexual misconduct and disregarded a recorded admission of guilt."

" 'Well if the press would stop covering it, it will go away,' " said one of the company's lawyers in a crisis meeting after the Lauer story broke. "There was a pause," Farrow writes, then a journalist said, " 'But we are the press.' "

After The New Yorker piece came out, executives at NBC, Farrow writes, were "reaching out, saying they knew I had a new book coming out — I'd managed to finish the foreign policy book I'd ignored for so long — and they'd be happy to consider having me back on air to promote it, if I'd come in and reach a formal agreement about not rehashing the past."

Outside NBC, other names pop up in the book as well: Hillary Clinton cancels an interview with Farrow after her press person tells him: "[W]e know about the big story you're on ... it's a concern for us." The man, Nick Merrill, later said the cancellation was unrelated. George Pataki, the former governor of New York, personally calls Weinstein to warn him of Farrow's reporting. The high-powered lawyer Lisa Bloom, one of the notable villains of She Said, courts Farrow, not disclosing that she is working for Weinstein.

While Weinstein was making threatening calls to NBC executives, his allies at the National Enquirer were digging into Lauer, apparently hoping to make it harder for NBC to publish allegations.

All the while, Weinstein was waging a desperate war to crush the story. Farrow is trailed throughout the book by private investigators working for the shady Israeli intelligence firm Black Cube. They follow him to work, watch his house and compile dossiers on his family members. American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, was also having people in Farrow's orbit surveilled, according to employees who spoke to Farrow. That investigator briefly followed Farrow's partner before deciding his routine was too predictable. " 'I'm interesting!' Jonathan said, when I told him. 'I am a very interesting person! I went to an escape room!' " (For all its horrors, Catch and Kill is often sweetly funny.)

Ultimately, Weinstein believed that Farrow's weak point was his immediate family: His sister Dylan Farrow has maintained for years that their father, Woody Allen, molested her when she was a kid.

"You couldn't save someone you love, and now you think you can save everyone," spits Weinstein in one of many angry calls with Farrow. His bosses at NBC make the same point more gently: that he is too close, or too invested in the story because of his sister. But instead of a liability, Dylan Farrow appears throughout the book as a force of reason and compassion, urging her brother to do the right thing. "I know what it's like to have people stop fighting for you," she said.

Sifa Elizabeth Reads

A world of books awaits

Book Review: EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE by Benjamin Stevenson

I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder. Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort.

The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common: we’ve all killed someone.

When they find the first body in the snow, it’s clear that only a Cunningham could have committed the crime – and it’s up to me to prove it.

There are plenty of killers in my family. But only one murderer . . .

Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here .

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEBODY is a murder mystery full of fourth wall breaks that plays with the genre’s tropes.

The narrator directly addresses the audience throughout, starting off with the golden rules of crime novels and constantly referring to them. These are the rules of the golden era, with things like “the detective is not the murderer” and “the murderer must be introduced early on.” These come back when a new character in introduced late and immediately dismissed for this reason.

This style is used very cleverly to gain your trust (the list of pages on which a murder happens is given early and they are right) but also to conceal information without lying. Attention is called to certain things, which might be important but not in the way you expect, giving you reasons to dismiss something else that very much is. It took me a bit of time to get used to the style and appreciate it, but once I was into the depths of the story, I very much enjoyed it.

The mystery itself pulls ancient family history and modern tensions together with corruption and gangs into a very fun snarl. This murderous family has a lot of secrets and flash points, all banging into one another as causing plenty of drama.

There is a sequel/companion novel out, so I’ll be putting a library hold on that!

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2 thoughts on “ Book Review: EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE by Benjamin Stevenson ”

Awesome review! I enjoyed this book too!

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Bad Blood (What Doesn't Kill Us) Paperback – August 16, 2024

• Book 1 of 1 What Doesn't Kill Us
• Print length 402 pages
• Language English
• Publication date August 16, 2024
• Reading age 16 - 18 years
• Dimensions 6 x 0.91 x 9 inches
• ISBN-13 979-8895045510
• See all details

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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DDHDM46G
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ isbnservices (August 16, 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 402 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8895045510
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 16 - 18 years
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.91 x 9 inches
• #853 in Medical Thrillers (Books)
• #4,808 in Serial Killer Thrillers
• #8,930 in Murder Thrillers

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Alisha tanner.

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