"American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells " by Jesse Ventura & Dick Russell

"American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells "
by Jesse Ventura & Dick Russell
Read by George K. Wilson
Produced by Tantor Audio (2010)
Approx 10.5 hours

I have just read the first non-fiction audiobook that has left me looking over my shoulder and watching what kind of digital/paper trail I'm creating. "American Conspiracies..." by Jesse Venture and Dick Russell is one of those books that tells you the facts and fallacies and leaves the listener/reader to decide for themselves. Jesse Ventura had a very interesting TV program on TruTV network which exposed a lot of hidden government ideals and this book provides a great supplement to that program. It also works alone in that it presents some things which the network wouldn't touch.

Ventura begins the book with information on all the lone gunman assassinations that have plagued our government since the days of Abraham Lincoln. The first half of the book covers the assassinations of Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy. Bringing to question the whole lone gunman theory. Through the latter assassinations Ventura talks about the mind control branch of the CIA commonly referred to as the MK Ultra program. I have always thought that to pull off such high level of killings these folks (Booth, Oswald, Sirhan, Ray) had to have some sort of backing. Think about it these took careful planning and then to carry out the operation had to have a team of experts. Even when the government is the good guy, they need a team to carry out such events. Look at what it took to bring down Hussein & bin Laden.

Ventura then goes on to bring to light some of the darker sides of the Watergate scandel, the Jones town massacre, The stolen elections by Reagan and later the 2 almost three stolen elections by Bush (George W.), the financial crisis of 2007-10 (which is still being felt today) and the questions brought up in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including the one question I've had why was the bin Laden family on the only allowed flight out of the country during the week after the attacks?

At the end of each chapter Ventura throws in a "what should we do now?" section in which he suggests ideas that the American public can institute to help keep this from happening again. These sections are very thought provoking without starting revolution.

If you love your country (U.S.A.) and want some food for thought check out this book. I will warn you though, thanks to the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act the government can and will access your digital/paper trail, so if you check this out from the library (like I did) or purchase online they will know. It's funny that I never had any problems with any government institution but one month after checking out this book I started getting strange letters from the IRS and audits on my government based student loans. Makes me feel like being a veteran isn't enough in this day and age.

The reader George K. Wilson, does a great straightforward job of presenting this book and at times reminded me of listening to the Saturday morning news show for kids, "In the News." Giving the listener a nice flow of some very in depth information.

"The Good Guy" by Dean Koontz published 2007

Tim Carrier is in his favorite bar, run by his friend, enjoying the simple bar chat. Known for "nursing" his beers he's there actually just to take up space and relax. he's approached by a man with a manila envelope. The man talks about how Tim is early and that he recently went skydiving with his dog. Tim seeing this as not your normal bar chat fare chats back with the man. The man then slips Tim the envelope and says there's $10,000 in the envelope, half now and half when she's gone. The man then makes a hasty retreat out of the bar.

Tim opens the envelope and finds a photo of a woman who is "easy on the eyes" and an address on back. Also, as stated $10,000 in wrapped hundred dollar bills. Tim realizes he's just been confused in a murder for hire. Another man then walks into the bar and sees the envelope and approaches Tim. The man tells Tim he's early and Tim tells the man he changed his mind. The man doesn't let this happen and Tim says I'll still pay you half and removes the photo from the envelope and passes the money along to the man.

Tim then leaves and gets set to call the police to tell what has happened. At this point he sees the man get into a car and place an emergency police beacon on the top of the unmarked police car and drive away. Realizing the stranger may be a cop, Tim then decides to take matters into his own hands.

Tim goes to the woman's house and explains how she is in danger. Then the action never lets go. Constantly running away from what turns out to be some sort of shadow government murder for hire Tim and the woman, Linda, begin running for their lives just to be a few steps ahead of this assassin. As the story progresses we find that Tim also has a secret and that secret is what helps him stay ahead of this psycho killer. But in something a little different from most of Dean Koontz's books this secret is not a dark secret but one that leads to a very heroic ending for the book.

Great action to be found and mysterious characters throughout the book keep you on the edge of your seat and constantly turning pages. I'm going to venture to say this is one of the best if not THE best Koontz book I've read.