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Book Review: Billy Summers

Posted by Paula Scott on Sunday, December 12, 2021

Billy Summers (Simon and Schuster ISBN: 978-1-9821-8966-2) is the latest release from Stephen King, and at 528 pages it tells the story of the complex man that Billy Summers becomes. As a child he sees his little sister stomped to death, then kills the man who hurt her. Having an alcoholic mother, he was removed to live in a group home, which is all that you've heard about and more. When he comes of age he joins the Marines and becomes a deadly sniper. When he leaves the service he becomes a sniper for hire.

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Book Review: Bone Deep

By Robert McCool
Posted by Paula Scott on Sunday, December 5, 2021

In Charles Bosworth Jr. and Joel J. Schwartz's  brand new true crime book, Bone Deep, Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case (Kensington Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8065-4197-6), the characters and story are real. The circumstances happened as portrayed.

The writing is crisp and compelling, driving the reader to keep reading without stopping, in this true tale about Russ Faria supposedly killing his wife Betsy two days after Christmas in 2011. This book is all about the truth being stranger than fiction, and as it unfolds the truth gets abused by law enforcers and the prosecuting attorney in order to rush a guilty conviction.

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Book Review: Robin Cook's "Viral"

by Robert McCool
Posted by Paula Scott on Sunday, November 14, 2021

With a name like "Viral," you'd expect this book to be about COVID-19. But in Robin Cook's 2021 release (Penguin Random House, $27.00, ISBN: 978-0-5933-2829-3) the title refers to an encroaching wave of an even deadlier disease without a vaccine to protect those exposed to it.

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How fair is the public defender system?

By Amelia Alexander
Posted by Paula Scott on Thursday, November 11, 2021

This is the one-year anniversary of Amelia Alexander, an Ada High School student, becoming an Icon columnist.

Recently, I learned about the public defender system in my government class. This article is inspired by what we learned and our discussion.

What are public defenders?

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Review: A Spooky Book For Halloween

By Robert McCool
Posted by Paula Scott on Sunday, October 24, 2021

This book has it all--deaths, a coven of evil witches, ghosts, a dreadfully haunted Victorian house, children in peril, and rain storms at night. It's a great book for Halloween.

I'm referring to Chris Bohjalian's 2011 tome The Night Strangers (Crown Publishers ISBN: 978-0-307-39499-6).

I've reviewed Chris Bohjalian before and praised his writing talents. This book continues with more of the same. The volume will keep you on your toes with its shifting points of view and precise portrayal of the characters and their intentions.

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Icon book review: Nailing It

Review by Robert McCool 
Posted by Paula Scott on Sunday, October 10, 2021

In Robert Dilenschneider's December of 2021 release of “Nailing It-How History's Awesome Twentysomethings Got It Together” (Citadel Press, $16.95. ISBN: 978-0-8065-4175-4 PB), we see the future through the past, be it by circumstance or choice. The future we create by our own desires. In our twenties these choices determine our path forward to our later life. It can be a calling from our hearts or minds to follow what life has presented to us. What we choose when we're young enough to dream--and old enough to strike out on our own and fight for our beliefs.

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