January 1999 Volume 80 Number 1 "serving the protectors"
Book Review
By Mike Horsfall (mich@picknowl.com.au)

NET FORCE - Tom Clancy ($16.95)

It’s 2010 and Internet use has become endemic - it has also evolved into a force capable of undermining the entire world. In order to protect the New World Order, Net Force has been formed - a team of highly-trained operatives whose home ground is the Virtual Reality world of the Net. Brilliant programmer and political mastermind, Vladimir Plekhanov, has devised a scheme to bring chaos to the Net, and attain untold power. In doing so he may also destroy Net Force.

Net Force is the beginning of a powerful new series from one of the world’s most exciting writers. It is a portrayal of future technological problems and the awesome implications of the World Wide Web.

For the opportunity to win a copy of Net Force, put your details on the back of a used envelope and address it to Mike Horsfall, Sturt Police Station (12) Net Force.

AN AMERICAN KILLING - Mary-Ann Tirone Smith ($24.95)

Three people are dead. The killer is in jail. Or is he? In the quiet town of New Claxton, three people are stabbed to death in their home. Days later, a young black man is charged with the crime. He’s found guilty and sent to jail. But rumour has it that he’s innocent.

True crime writer, Denise Burke, believes something sinister has occurred. What she finds in her quest for the truth is far bigger than she would ever have dreamed. She learns just how deep corruption can lie, and how far reaching its consequences can be. Her husband, Nick Burke, is Bill Clinton’s domestic affairs adviser - he too could be involved in a plot that involves the President, Congress and illicit practices entrenched in the entire democratic system.

An American Killing is involved, intense reading. It is entirely relevant and timely. For the opportunity to win a copy of An American Killing, put your details on the back of a used envelope and address it to Mike Horsfall, Sturt Police Station (12) America.

POINT LAST SEEN - Hannah Nyala ($17.95)

Point Last Seen is a critically-acclaimed true story of one woman’s survival - a story that every man should read. This horrifying chronicle of domestic violence may even influence how you next relate to someone in distress.

At Kevin’s house two perfectly folded hand towels meant that a beating possibly would be avoided, provided the space between them was exactly correct. So after leaving him - no matter where my children and I lived, we deliberately hung our towels sloppily - not out of postponed rebellion, but as a marker: if we ever came in and found two hand towels folded precisely in thirds and hung on the towel bar with exactly one inch of space between them, it meant he had been in the house. And might still be there.

So was the life of Hannah and her children, who all endured Kevin’s physical and psychological abuse. Even after her escape after seven years, the abuse continued.

Then one day - a day lost in darkness for me - Kevin disappeared with Jon and Ruthie. The next morning, he called and, with Ruthie screaming “Mommy, Mommy!” in the background, said, “Now you’ve lost them for good, bitch and - SHUT UP, you damn brat!” - I went into a deep dark place of grief.