REVIEWS
***** My oh my! I was Christie. I was Robert. Back and forth. I felt the spark between them grow to be a volcano, and die horribly, and just explode with rapture. And yet, this grand love story is no romance at all. I don't know what genre it is. Adventure? I just loved it. I can't stop talking about it to my friends.
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***** Audaz is Mitchell's second book. His first was Debugging Java, a computer book that's still in print after five years, and has been translated a dozen or more times. That alone is highly unusual. Computer books last a couple of months. His third, To Chase the Wind is already on the presses, and I hope it's as fine as his first two. The flyleaf tells a lot. It appears Mitchell writes about places he has been, and they are exotic indeed.
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***** A U.S. Air Force pilot who has sat in a Soviet MiG-21? That's unusual, to say the least. If I didn't know history, I'd say this was history - it's that good. But it's fiction. At least he claims so.
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***** I don't read a lot, but I have never read so poignant a story. I cried buckets, well not quite, for the main characters. I shouted encouragement, and soaked more Kleenex. Then glory, it worked out for them. Then devastation, all was lost. But bliss, something wonderful happened after all. What a roller-coaster ride this story has been. It's well written and convincingly told. You should like it too.
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*** Not my cup of tea. Come on Mitch. No sex and no swearing? Fighter pilots get all the girls and they swear with the best. Overall a good story, and I'll get the next one.
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***** Realistic. I got to researching some of the places in this novel, because I've been to a few of the more exotic ones. Either Mitchell has an extraordinary research staff, or he was there too. The details are just too good. This could be a travelogue, if it weren't such a sweet, devastating and shocking tale.
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***** I love how the reader knows all along how the story will probably end, but ends up not having a clue. Convoluted should have been coined for this book. Makes me wonder if Mitchell ever wrote "spaghetti code" as a programmer. He has a computer book too. But like a good computer program, this story all comes together at the end, with only enough loose ends for a sequel. I sure hope to see one. Way to go!
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***** I was a fighter pilot in F-105s. That's how it would have been, if the other guys had rocket-boosted MiGs. I'm glad they didn't. I didn't know any CIA agents flew F-4s though. They flew lots of fighters and other planes in Laos and Cambodia, so who knows? The Thailand and Laos scenery is accurate. I think it's a fine book.
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**** I want to think that two people exist, who would actually deny themselves for the good of something higher like honor and integrity. I hope lots do. Ian Utz and Vicki Marshall Price are well-rounded literary characters. The long novel is tautly written. Best of all, it makes one think about the state of this old world, and hope to work for a better one.
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***** All great classics have high purposes like this. I give it five stars.
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**** Put a virile fighter pilot in aerial formation with the husband of the woman he desperately loves, and let that husband do something incredibly stupid in war, and let virile try his best to save the fool who gets killed. Then virile cries over it? That was beyond belief. That was, until the rest of the story unfolded and made it all seem right.
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***** This book tore off my shirt. This stuff is real. It's just too close to human truth. It's said that fiction exists to tone down the truth so people can stand it. Mitchell writes too close to the bone, and to my mind, that's just about right. You'll love it. I sure did.
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**** You know, I had an extraordinary idea at the end of the book. The word "Audaz" means Audacious or Fearless, and the subtitle is "Fearless". I think this book may be partly an instruction manual on how to become fearless.
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***** Oh yes. Get this one. Read it slowly and absorb. Read it fast for the fun.
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***** All rolled into one, it's the love story I wish I had, the the espionage and flying I wish I'd done. It has honor, and integrity. It teaches those values. Even the villain worships honor. It's steamy without being explicit. I don't think there's a single swear word but you sure know when someone's swearing!
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***** I've rarely encountered a more plausible, more devastating villain than Chiang. This book is destined for the top.
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**** Don't start "The Room Bomb" after supper. It's long and you won't get much sleep. That's a compliment people. I got to work with dark circles, but I was smart enough to show it to my boss. The next day, she had the dark circles. Five stars except it's over long, so four. Split it up into two books if you can.
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***** Yep, I'm a fan for life. After Complexity, I went out and got everything Mitchell has written and put it on my Kindle. Even his non-fiction.
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***** "Complexity" starts out with a mass public kidnapping of women from a fireworks show on the 4th of July. As always, only one person can sally forth and save the world, but this time it's a husband and wife spy team. I won't give away the ending, but there's a grand shootout on the other side of the world. I kept thinking it was predictable and getting surprised. Nice job. Clever twists. The high tech seems real. Gotta love that Cobra!
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**** I haven't given but one book five stars. Tempted, but Mach 6 isn't Red October. On the other hand, as Mitchell says, Red October has to prove it's 10-15 times better for the buck, and it can't. I like Mach 6. I liked The Room Bomb more, but it was long. I'm going to read Complexity next.
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***** Brand new fan of a brand new author. The photos in-text give an unusual depth. Good characters, great plot. Made Mach 6 flight believable. (Mach 6).
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** "Room Bomb" is too long. Outstanding ending!! Whew. Clever. Excellent start. The middle left me but it all tied up tight in the end.
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***** To Chase the Wind. Is this a new genre? It's a rare plot to say the least. A kid gets bullied all thru HS, goes off to Chicago to make a bazilloin in the underworld. Comes back and tries to wreek havoc. Severely deranged, but he hides it really well. There's some good preaching in it. I usually don't like that in a novel, but it fit and added a lot to the story. It shows the commitment of the protagonist and bounces her off the antagonist right well.
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***** I just finished Room Bomb the second time. I like it a lot.
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**** The Negotiaiton book just made me about $2,500. I'd have given away that much on a car purchase. I guess I should have hit the fifth star.
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**** What's your IQ David, if you're writing books on How To Be A Genius. This presents a fine problem solving algorithm. I'd like to see it expanded with case studies and exercises. Negotiation isn't taught very offen in the classroom.
<It hasn't been measured, David.>
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***** I just made my company $400k negotiating a sweet deal for a new facility. Six Figures !!! I get to keep $26k as a bonus. I don't think I could have done it without Mitchell's negotiation book Money For The Asking. I used it like a manual. The other side didn't know what they were facing.
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***** My staff have been passing your book around. We felt like you've been looking over our shoulders at our core research. You gave us one monster idea, so thanks.
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***** I've been through all four of Mitchell's aviation books. Either he has flown a U-2 / TR-1, a B-57 or an SR-71, or maybe knows someone who has. That's how it really looks and feels up there. Very authentic writing. Well done. Habu RSO
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***** Exraordinary. (To Chase the Wind)
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** Chase the Wind is an odd book. I panned it <elsewhere> and still think it's odd. I'm a critic. Maybe it's genius and I don't understand it. It's definitely in its own class and made me think. Maybe it's a brand new genre.
However, I remember my writing professor saying that a movie cowboy shooting the bad guy doesn't exclaim "Take that, gosh darn it." I can't get past the Lack of real language. If someone just said @#$% once in a while, I'd add two stars.
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***** I saw that language comment and had to write one myself. This guy is obviously a lover of God, nothing wrong with that. I think its amazing thata he can write a whole book with all of that tension and action and not let his characters swear. I just hate it when a comedian thinks a potty mouth is funny, and I hate it when an author tries coarse language in the name of literature. I'm hotly passionate, and I try never to swear, but sometimes I do have to bite my tongue, so I know it's possible. Good on ya, Mitchell.
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***** I agree. Refreshing to find a clean novel like Complexity and here are several of them. More, please! HURRY.
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***** Crazy good. I just read To Chase the Wind as a paperback. Got it used. I'm actually glad the uber-smart bad guy didn't die and may have escaped, like Moriarty, to come back on the scene. Hope to see him again. Interesting psychological mix of evail with some good in him. I like it when the two main characters are poles apart, especially when they don't know it.
<Note from author> Wait until 5/6/12 and get it for a buck on Kindle. I have a sequel planned, since people are enjoying it enough to pay the big bucks to get it in paperback. Thanks for your encouragement. After a bad day, one of my very best friends just passed away, you put me back on the map.
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. So what's left? Just the joy of putting a smile on your face, and maybe lifting your spirit. That puts a smile on mine and you lift my spirit to the skies when you like the results of my toil. And then if you don't like my results and tell me, I learn so very much from you.
Thank YOU eternally.