Dave Donelson, Author of Heart of Diamonds
Classic Reviewer Rank: 11,008
Helpful votes received on reviews, lists & guides:
86% (398 of 464)
Biography:
My career as a broadcaster, entrepreneur, and writer has taken me from the jungles of Australia's Cape York Peninsula to the minarets of Riyadh. I've climbed the spire of the Empire State Building, floated the Usumacinta River to the Mayan ruins at Piedras Negras in Guatemala, and photographed the tree-climbing lions and mountain gorillas of Uganda. My new novel, Heart of Diamonds, is a thriller… Read moreMy career as a broadcaster, entrepreneur, and writer has taken me from the jungles of Australia's Cape York Peninsula to the minarets of Riyadh. I've climbed the spire of the Empire State Building, floated the Usumacinta River to the Mayan ruins at Piedras Negras in Guatemala, and photographed the tree-climbing lions and mountain gorillas of Uganda.
My new novel, Heart of Diamonds, is a thriller about diamond smuggling in the Congo. It's due in Fall, 2008, from Kunati Books.
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Contributions
Classic Reviewer Rank: 11,008
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Valerie Martin has an unequaled ability to capture the essence of a character and build a page-turning story around it. I was sucked into Edward Day's life as if by an industrial vacuum cleaner, fascinated by his persona and the events that shaped it.
As the story progresses, a peculiar tension builds around Edward Day. It is a struggle not between good and evil or anything nearly as mundane as good guys versus bad guys, but rather a growing realization that he may be the villain of his own memoir. I don't believe I have experienced a character such as that since reading Crime and Punishment.
This book epitomizes the writer's dictum to "don't tell--show", which… Read more
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Having studied and written about the horrors of child warfare myself, I appreciate the way Jimmie Briggs helps us understand this terrible phenomenon. Using children as soldiers is not a modern innovation, but he shows how it has evolved in an age of light, cheap weapons and insidious guerrilla warfare.
The greatest strength of Innocents Lost is the way personal stories of children pressed into war are put into the context of the larger conflicts in which they fight. Briggs also does a good job of showing the effects of the phenomenon on not just the children but on their families and others as well.
I particularly appreciated his refusal to sensationalize… Read more
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Big Sport, Big Money, Big Suspense - Michael Balkind hit another one right down the middle!
Reid Clark, Balkind's protagonist from Sudden Death, is back in this murder mystery that keeps you hanging like Tiger's putt on the 16th at Augusta. This time, he's haunted by the discovery of his best friend's dead body at his athletic training center, AllSport, a death that starts Clark and his loyal friends on a search through the dark alleys and smokey back rooms of high-level sports, finance, and other criminal enterprises.
Investigator Jay Scott takes the lead in his novel. His deep knowledge of the detective's craft and multi-volume Rolodex of shady characters on… Read more
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An endlessly fascinating study
Does your diamond ring have a backstory?
Wish List
Favorite Items
Tools of the writer's trade you'll find dog-eared and open on my desk.
Interesting People & Friends
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