Rod Collins

Mariah leads a sad and broken life. At thirteen she tries to care for her Mom, a woman seriously addicted to meth. At the same time she is trying to avoid any contact with her mother's live-in boyfriend Manfred or Manny as he was usually refered to, the facilitator of her addiction and a violent man. It's midnight, and she can hear disturbing noises of violence, maybe a beating, maybe a murder near the garage. She sees a man almost lifeless being beaten with a two-by-four on the head by show more Manny when he hears and sees her and threatens her. From this moment, knowing Manny will come after her as witness and with certainty that he will kill her, she starts running for her life. In the meantime, he tries to drag the man's body and load him into the trunk of his car.

Mariah is a wonderful character, she keeps you glued to the book wondering what she is going to be able to do to excape next. She is very resourceful and manages at one point to conceal herself in the loft space in the back of a trailer-pickup combo when the driver is getting gas and though has no idea where this rig will be going, she feels somewhat safe. She also manages to hand a note to the cashier at the gas & shop station to call 911 and have them go to her address with an ambulance and the police. As I said, resourceful. I loved this book with all its toughness. The interludes of the police who are also friends gone fishing was a great touch. These guys know how to get the best out of the worst, with the passion, the caring, the difficulties of living a normal life. The major head of the snake is more like the hydra, with drug cartels being the heads. This book takes place pretty much from Oregon to Mexico, a lot of land to cover and cover it the characters in this book do. From sheriffs to FBI to our runaway girl and finally to the cartel homes in Alamos, Mexico, the race is on, to find and save Mariah, to keep Amanda from being blown up, to save Mariah's mother, to catch Manny and much more. Also, there is a very good warning that many people don't think about on what can happen with an Amber Alert: Leave it to the police! A young girl who thinks she is helping by keeping people informed of Mariah but publicly saying she has been found could too easily have cost Mariah her life.

This story also created a background for seeing some everyday small town police at their best. A lot of good planning is involved, but at the same time all of them know it could go belly-up in the twitch of a hair or blink of an eye. The same applies to the FBI, NCIS, whatever other government agencies are there to back up or implement, whichever is needed. Mariah's story is terrifying, a thirteen-year old running for her life and yet she has a beautiful soul. With drug cartels involved in other areas but with a crossover due to Manny as a supplier, the tension throughout is steady, with a few of those fishing breaks and friendship breaks, and even then it's not restful, especially with a bomb in the mix. A trip to Mexico puts a definite crimp in the plans to take on a major drug cartel, one of the busiest doing business in the U.S., when another cartel fouls their plans. This is a book that will grab you, shake you up, and not let go. So much can go wrong and some of it does, but that's what keeps us on our toes in life and in this book it really works. I loved it. show less

As usual I received this book for free because someone gave it to me for review. This time it was a LibraryThing drawing. Despite that kind consideration I give my candid opinions below.

Usually in my reviews I try to draw out some positive and negative aspects of a book and make an argument for the assigned rating. That's difficult to do with non-fiction because the topics are so varied and of sometimes dubious interest. Instead I'll just try to tell you what this book is and what it show more isn't.

The first third of the book argues quite vehemently and specifically for tearing down traditional hierarchical management structures. By these I mean those archaic constructs in which a boss controls 6-7 employees and he in turn has a boss above him controlling 6-7 of his peers onward and onward. It argues instead for a collaborative structure in which groups of employees choose their own teams based on work needs at a specific time with leadership positions only there to referee in the event of deadlock. Rather than the usual 6:1 ratio of employees to managers the book recommends 60:1.

After it makes its case for why you should organize your company in this way, the book settles down in the latter two thirds to give specific practices that successful organizations use to make this style effective. It goes on at length and in great detail about how to manage such an organization from meeting styles to employee evaluations. It is a soup-to-nuts treatise on modern management structure and practice.

My only real beef with the book lies in the practicality of what it has to say. As a non-management professional in the software industry I respect the proposition and would love to work in such an environment but I have trouble imagining any workplace I've ever been in successfully pulling off anything from this book except dangling bits and pieces. Unfortunately, when companies try to reinvent themselves in the way the book describes the outcomes are almost always unpleasant. You can't really piecemeal your way into an entirely new style of management and no company I've ever worked for has been willing to go at this sort of thing with sufficient gusto. So if you're looking to start a company or are the CEO of a really tiny and nimble operation, I invite you to the book and suggest you build your company around it. I'll sign up to be your first employee as would every professional acquaintance I have. show less

This was a REALLY good book. If you are looking to create a business in the "new world" then this is the book for you. Rod analyzes WHY businesses are successful in a world economy that is in the gutter. This would be a wonderful text for the college classroom. Maybe if more people understood keeping up with the times like Rod does, then more businesses would be successful!

Although he was confessed to the murder of a local rancher, Sheriff Henry "Bud" Blair is not convinced and continues the investigation.
A decent mystery.