The Barsley Brief

After stumbling upon David Baldacci’s latest novel in Sainsburys I have become hooked and am quickly working my way through his back catalogue.

Split second is the first book in the Sean King and Michelle Maxwell series.  In a split second everything can change, and the King and Maxwell it did in the worst possible way, both secret service agents lost their principles.  King’s was assassinated, Maxwell’s was kidnapped several years later, but is there a connection between the two?

Here’s the blurb from the back of the book

‘He was the only one in the room who could see it. His attention stayed there for one beat, two beats, three beats, far too long. Yet who could blame him for not being able to pull his gaze away from that?’

When something distracts Secret Agent Sean King for a split second, it costs him his career and presidential candidate Clyde Ritter, his life. But what stole his attention? And why was Ritter shot? Eight years later Michelle Maxwell is on the fast track through the ranks of the Secret Service when her career is stopped short: Presidential candidate John Bruno is abducted from a funeral home while under her protection.

The similarity between the two cases drives Michelle to re-open investigations into the Ritter fiasco and join forces with attractive ex-agent King. The pair are determined to get to the bottom of what happened in those critical moments. Meanwhile, high-ranking members of the legal system and key witnesses from both cases are going missing. King is losing friends, colleagues and clients fast and his ex-lover, Joan Dillinger, is playing curious games – she wants Sean back, but she also owes him for something . . .

As with the other Baldacci books I have read I was hooked from the first page, I like the fast paced style of the book.  However while there was an exciting conclusion to the story I felt it was slightly over complicated and implausible, but it was a great read!

Click here to find out more about the book and buy from Amazon.co.uk

As we approach the end of 2008 I felt I should post a short post to round off 2008 – The year of the Potato!

Cycling

Back in January I resolved to get fitter, to motivate me to this end I signed up to the Royal British Legion 2008 Poppy Cycle to Paris.  In January it seemed like a long time off – it wasn’t until September that the cycle started but I wuickly started training.  I soon bought a new bike a Giant OCR 4 (road / race bike) and almost every week went into Evernden Cycles to accesorse it!

I was rather slow on my bike to begin with, looking at one of my posts from February I was struggling to complete 30 miles.  That soon changed though and my furthest training was 76 miles to Farnham, in 5 1/2 hours.

Then in September I completed the Pedal to Paris, 283 miles in 4 days.

Over the year I have cycled 1526 miles acording to my speedometer.  For 2009 I am going to aim to cycle 1000 miles – a drop I know but I am not currently planning any big multiday events and want to set an achieveable goal.

House

I have completed most of the renovations and decorating on my house over 2008 and am enjoying living in it.  Currently I am stocking it with pots and pans and other necessities – I wasnt short of ideas for Christmas this year!

For 2009 I want to finish the house – although is a house ever finished!  For me this means all the little touches, light fittings, doors, skirting boards, window sills oh and a dining room floor!  Also I want to start work on the garden/

Computing

I started this website “The Barsley Brief” back in January 2008 and have written 76 posts since then.  I have enjoyed writing about my cycle to Paris but am now sometimes at a loss at what to write about.  I think I will continue into 2009 writing book reviews and my views on news and events.  A challange for me will be to move server when my current contract expires.

Though the Barsley Brief is not my only website, I became captiavted with the idea of affiliate marketing.  To explain what this is I’ll used the example of Confused.com, many people go there to get car insurance comparisons.  If you use them and then sign up for a insurance plan that they suggest they will recieve a commison from the insurance provider for selling their insurance plan.

I started out along this route with no real expectations, as I didn’t believe that it is possible for one person to make a really difference among so many large affiliate companies.  To date I have 3 completely unique affiliate marketing websites with mixed success, but not ready to retire yet.  Aim for 2009 – that they break even (pay for the web hosting £60)

Wishing you all a great 2009!

Charles

Skeleton Coast by Clive Cussler with Jack Du Brul.

Before I start writing about Skeleton Coast let me write briefly about Clive Cussler.  Clive Cussler is one of my all time favourite authors, I grew up reading my fathers Clive Cussler books, I have continued to read them as they are released and between us we own all of the books.  Originally Clive Cussler’s books concerned Dirk Pitts adventures working for NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency).  Aswell as a few Non Fiction books.  Clive Cussler has expanded his writing with co authors Jack Du Brul, Dirk Cussler (his Son), Paul Kemprecos and Craig Dirgo which has enabled him to release more books each year.

Clive Cussler

Aswell as the Dirk Pitt series he now authors Kurt Austin adventures (another member of NUMA!) and The Oregon Files aswell as a few standalone books.

Skeleton Coast is one of the Oregon Files.  The Oregon first appeared in the Dirk Pitt adventure Flood Tide but has now spanned into its own series of which Skeleton Coast is the forth book.  The Oregon is a hi tech covert “Warship” (for want of better words) disguised as a tramp steamer.  It is owned by “The Corporation” a group of mainly ex CIA individuals headed by Juan Cabrillo hiring themselves out to governments and individuals who share their ideals to make the world a safer place while turning a healthly profit.

Here is the teaser from the inside sleeve of Skeleton Coast

Skeleton Coast

Amazon readers rate this book with 4 out of 5 stars but I think it is better!  While I love the Dirk Pitt novels for focusing on Dirk Pitt after 20 books they can get a little similar though it was great to see his life progress.  The Oregon Files is Cussler at his best again, he isn’t constrained by such a character back story and each Oregon adventure has taken the crew to different places where they have faced different challenges.  Skeleton Coast is a great book with many twists and turns and tension all the way!

Click here to buy Skeleton Coast Skeleton Coast: A Novel from the Oregon Files

Already, another book review.  Commuting to work every day usually I am listening to music, doing the Metro’s Sudoku or sleeping!  But yesterday I took a book with me.  One day later and I’ve finished reading a little over 400 pages.  Once I get into a good book I find it hard to put it down!  This was page turner from the start!

From the back cover

They found him in Ponta Pora, a pleasant little town in Brazil, on the border of Paraguay, in a land still known as the Frontier.

They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had been altered. He spoke a different language, and spoke it very well. But Danilo had a past with many chapters.

Four years earlier he had been Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. He had a pretty wife, a new daughter, and a bright future. Then one cold winter night Patrick was trapped in a burning car and died a horrible death. When he was buried his casket held nothing more than his ashes.From a short distance away, Patrick watched his own burial. Then he fled. Six weeks later, a fortune was stolen from his ex-law firm’s offshore account. And Patrick fled some more.But they found him.

This is my first book review of a fictional book and I am unsure how to pitch this review.  I think I have decided to pitch it as a review to tempt you to read the book rather than say too much about the book and spoil it.

Perhaps I’m not the best reviewer of fictional books because I like most of the ones I read, perhaps I just read the ones I know I will like!  John Grisham has written many legal thrillers which I have read many of.  While his books are legally quite accurate he doesn’t bog you down in legalise but keeps the story moving fast.

As above The Partner focusses on the story of Patrick Lanigan who faked his death and stole £90 million dollars from his law firm.  They hunted him for four years before they found him and brought him back to face charges.

The majority of the book focuses on Patrick’s legal fight against the FBI, state officials, insurance companies, his ex wife.  From the start you are seduced by his new life in Ponta Pora, and want him to get away with it but you can’t see how he could!

As the book progresses I picked up hints of future twists but was kept hanging on to the end.

I really enjoyed this book and think it is a great example of John Grisham’s work.

There’s more I want to say but should stop before I give anything away!

Click here to buy The Partner on Amazon

Starbucks Siren logo

I’ve Just finished reading “Pour Your Heart Into It.  How Starbucks built a company one cup at a time” by Howard Schultz the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks and Dori Jones Yang.  I thought it would be a nice extension to my site to develop it out of just cycling and into other things that I am doing or interest me.  Also if I start reviewing books it will make me read more which can only be a good thing!

So here goes.

Pour Your Heart Into It.  How Starbucks built a company one cup at a time

This book was published in 1997 and follows the story of Starbucks and Howard Shultz.  Starbucks originally started a small Seattle based coffee chain which Howard Shultz joined after being seduced by the coffee culture from trips to Italy.  At this time Starbucks only sold coffee in beans, they did not operate as a cafe or “Third Place” as they like to be known.  Howard saw this gap in the market for quality coffee and pushed to develop Starbucks into an espresso bar.  He met a great deal of resistance from the owners and eventually left to start his own chain of cafe’s called Il Giornale.

An opportunity arose to buy Starbucks and overnight Il Giornale doubled in size and they took the decision to use the Starbucks name.

I have read several “business books” and enjoyed this one particularly as it doesn’t preach to you how business should be done but shows where mistakes were made and how they expanded the business to what it is now.  That said it is written by the CEO and Chairman of Starbucks so could be considered a one sided view of the company.

Some interesting facts I didn’t realise

• Starbucks are very focused on the quality of the customer experience.  To this extend they built their company through a route of ownership and not franchising (which would have enabled them to grow the company much faster but with less control over their stores).  This placed enormous capital costs on the company so a lot of venture capital funding was required (In 1995 the average store opening cost was $350,000)
• One of the biggest board room debates was whether to offer the choice of skimmed milk.  While customers requested it, it had been turned down.  The company grew from the directors love and appreciation of fine coffee and they did not want anything to get in the way of that.  The book shows well how Starbucks have pushed to maintain their core beliefs of quality coffee while adapting to suit the customer wants.  An example of this is that a coffee purist could buy an espresso while another customer can have a Latte with skimmed milk and a shot of syrup.  They offer these additions but the core coffee is the same, they would not offer syrup flavoured beans for example.

Also it is interesting reading how a company manages growth, putting expensive systems in place before you need them to plan for the future.

If you’ve read the book please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of it.  If you would like to read it follow the links below to buy it from Amazon or Borders.

Click here to buy Pour your Heart into it from Borders.

Click here to buy Pour your Heart into it from Amazon UK

For lighter further reading their is quite a good Wikipedia article on Starbucks here