Product Description
"Listen to the Silence... An instant classic novel of chilling psychological suspense...a critically-acclaimed audio production of unforgettable intensity...From the tormenting words of the homicidal maniac Dr. Hannibal Lecter and the flesh-rending depravity of an elusive killer to the sheer courage of a young F.B.I. novice, who risks her life to track him down and stop the bloodshed, experience the ultimate terror of an audio masterpiece..." ... Read more

Product Description
Someone knocking on the door at 3 A.M. is never  good news. For V.I. Warshawski, the bad news  arrives in the form of her wacky, unwelcome aunt Elena.  The fire that has just burned down a sleazy  SRO hotel has brought Elena to  V.I.'s doorstep. Uncovering an arsonist  -- and the secrets hidden behind Elena's boozy  smile -- will send V.I. into the  seedy world of Chicago's homeless... into the Windy  City's backroom deals and bedroom politics, where  new schemers and old cronies team up to get V.I.  off the case -- by hook, by crook, or by  homocide.


From the Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A tedious disappointment
After having finished Burn Marks last night, I read the on-line reviews here. Isn't it interesting how the same book can provoke such different opinions?
Look out, VI fans - I'm about to commit sacrilege.
I found Burn Marks in my bookshelf while hunting for some bedside reading. After the first chapter I got the impression that I'd read the book before, but never finished it.
I soon realized why.
So long-winded, so verbose, frankly - so BORING!
Ms Warshawski is alternately dead tired, sick, throwing up, having headaches, being injured or detailing the condition of every last burn blister in minute detail; her old Chevy is "groaning" on virtually every page, sometimes even in consecutive paragraphs, until it predictably dies; the plot barely gets going only in the last couple of chapters.
OK, I'm exaggerating a bit, but not much.
Doesn't Ms. Paretsky have an editor who could weed her story down by some 50 percent?
By sheer dogged persistence I managed to arrive at the final chapters, where the tension picks up a bit.
But unless you're looking for a sleeping pill, stay away.

Excellent read
This is the best installment of the VI Warshawski series that I have read.Here, she's tough and uncompromising yet vulnerable.This book is most thoroughly recommended.

My Favorite Paretsky
Vic mustreluctantly rescueher Aunt Elena, a notorious drunkard, con woman and flirt. While she is disgusted atElena's antics, she is discerning enough to know that she shares some of Elena's character flaws.As usual, Vic's good heartedness leads her into a murky world of dishonestpoliticians, traitorous cops and disgruntled bankers. As usual, she canrely on none but herself to solve the mystery and right the wrongs of thesystem.As usual, Peppy,Mr. Contreras (Sal)and Lottie are ever watchfuland protective of their friend.As usual, this book is filled withinteresting characters, locations, events and probing character analyses. If you like your protagonists intelligent, resourceful, wisecracking yetwearing the perfect set of Magli pumps, this heroine is for you.

Great Stuff!!!
One of Paretskies greatest Books ever. Private Eye V.I.Warshawski gets in trouble in helping her old aunt, who is adicted to alcohol and got thrown out of her appartment. Watching V.I. stumbling through the world of crime, government politics and lovely neighbourhood, listing to her sarcastical comments and sharing her decisions concerning her wardrobe is once again great fun and everybody who has read any of the other Paretsky books will love this one. It definitely is my personal favourite of all V.I.-Adventures! ... Read more

Product Description
Several cross-country travelers--including a writer, a family on vacation, and a professor and his wife--end up in the little mining town of Desperation, where a crazy policeman and evil forces force them to fight for their lives. Read by Kathy Bates. Amazon.com Review
En route to Lake Tahoe for a much anticipated vacation, the Carverfamily is arrested for blowing out all four tires on their camper. CollieEntragian is the arresting officer, the self-made sheriff of a town calledDesperation, Nevada, and the quintessential bad cop. Unbeknownst to theCarvers, Entragian regularly sniffs out passerbys on this stretch of road,and in fact has done in nearly every resident of his hometown. He can alsochange form and summon the help of creepy creatures, including scorpions,snakes and spiders. Though the family seems doomed, an unlikely hero emerges--11-year-old David Carver--who finds his ownway to get around the Law.

Desperation is the companion novel to King's The Regulators, which waspublished simultaneously under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.Forget the more-or-less literary novels of recent years, like Dolores Claiborne. These booksmark the return of the Stephen King of The Stand and Pet Sematary, where King's mainconcerns where whether good could defeat evil and how much gore could besqueezed into (or out of) one book. In each novel, the characters andsituations are altered as King plays with questions of identity and form. Butboth really center around a new personification of evil that goes by the nameof Tak. Tak wants to rule the world. Somebody has to stop him. Somebody'seyes have to pop out. Somebody's head has to explode. Now that's StephenKing! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (615)

Amazing!
This is one of the greatest, scariest, seat clenchers of stephen kings extensive collection. Just dont make the mistake of watching themovie of this one.

A great premise turns out to be a letdown
This book had a great premise, but it ended up letting me down. First off, it took King nearly 700 pages (in hardcover) to tell this story when he could have done it in 300. There's literally 30 pages of back story for every character. Overblown, in my opinion. This could have been a much stronger read if cut in half.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. There are some great moments here that are a pleasure to read, but there are too many where I was left tempted to skip pages and a few times I did (which I hate to do) and didn't feel like I missed anything. The whole God thing got tiring after awhile and the end left me scratching my head.

I'm torn between giving this 2 or 3 stars. I've given other King books 3 stars, but I've also enjoyed them a lot more than I did this one, and I felt this could have been a lot better, so I guess I'll have to settle on 2.

Read The Regulators instead
I'm shocked that Desperation is rated higher than The Regulators.Granted, I did not read the entire book. However, I read nearly 200 pages and got to the point where I considered reading further to be a waste of time that could be better spent with better books.Desperation started off like it was going to be a real page turner, and I wanted to stay up all night to read more.But it peetered out as soon as the Carver family came into the picture.Bits were very entertaining, but wholly unsatisfying.The villian started off as quite frightening but his stupid, ridiculous dialogue and that of characters like Cynthia got on my nerves.I have to say I was glad to see the reference to Rose Madder (highly recommended), though.The Regulators was great, Desperation I couldn't get through.

same old King story
I have a great fondness in my heart for some of King's work. He has a gift as an author thats hard to ignore when it comes to genre writing. Mostly, I am partial to his short stories and novellas. I think that just about every story he tells could fit neatly into one of these tight packages. Maybe with the exception of an epic like the Stand. Its my belief that when King loosens up and publishes a longer piece, he's not really telling moreof a story, just using more words. And because 'Desperation' is a huge book, King is using a lot more words.

I think that the idea is good. And King is a good enough story teller to make it somewhat entertaining when he meticulously pulls in massive back stories to a half dozen characters. Its just if you have read enough King... these are not new characters. He's pretty much told these stories before. If he were to cut them out, using sparser language, he would have chopped half of the pages away and been left with a much stronger story.

Also, this book really feels like it could have some great horror potential. But it gets a little silly in my mind when King starts getting into the demonic animals of Desperation NV... Basically the story here is a half dozen people, three different groups from outside and a lone individual from Desperation are being tormented by a cop/some evil spirit from hell. A lot is left sort of unclear, like why them? Why not keep a few of the townspeople around instead? And King pulls in some silly aspects like a 'special kid'. Sort of reminded me of the hoakier Dean Koontz story angles.

I'd stay away from this King. If you have not read them, 'Skeleton Crew', 'The Stand', and 'Salem's Lot' are all really good.

Great story but poor Kindle quality
Loved the story, loved the characters.
Lots of periods where there should not be one.Lots of misspelled words. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of short stories by Stephen King. "Suffer the Little Children" is read by Whoopi Goldberg, "Crouch End" is read by Tim Curry, "Rainy Season" is read by Yeardley Smith, "Dolan's Cadillac" is read by Rob Lowe. Stephen King reads an introduction.Amazon.com Review
Many people who write about horror literature maintain thatmood is its most important element. Stephen King disagrees: "My deeplyheld conviction is that story must be paramount.... All otherconsiderations are secondary--theme, mood, even characterization andlanguage."

These fine stories, each written in what King calls "a burst of faith,happiness, and optimism," prove his point. The theme, mood,characters, and language vary, but throughout, a sense of story reignssupreme. Nightmares & Dreamscapes contains 20 shorttales--including several never before published--plus one teleplay,one poem, and one nonfiction piece about kids and baseball thatappeared in the New Yorker. The subjects include vampires,zombies, an evil toy, man-eating frogs, the burial of a Cadillac, adisembodied finger, and a wicked stepfather. The style ranges fromKing's well-honed horror to a RayBradbury-like fantasy voice to an ambitious pastiche of RaymondChandler and RossMacDonald. And like a compact disc with a bonus track, the book endswith a charming little tale not listed in the table of contents--aparable called "The Beggar and the Diamond." --Fiona Webster ... Read more

Customer Reviews (107)

The Brooklyn Bridge, Over and Over Again
In his introduction to this collection, Stephen King recalls being a credulous youngster who believed all sorts of things--from the reality of Santa Claus to Richard Nixon's plan to get the country out of Vietnam.He is still like this, and willingly accepts the recurring disappointments in exchange for the ability to believe in a story and bring it to life.In this collection, his third following Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, King believes into existence twenty-two stories--and one nonfiction piece--intended to scare the reader "...so badly you won't be able to go to sleep without leaving the bathroom light on."Some of them deliver all too well.

Three of my favorites:

In "Dolan's Cadillac" we live through years of obsessive investigation and planning for revenge.A man traps the mob boss who ordered his wife's death and systematically covers up all evidence of his crime.Perfect.

If you could remove mankind's violent tendencies and bring about "The End of the Whole Mess" of murder and war, you would do it, right?Even if it wasn't the smartest thing to do.

In "Suffer the Little Children" we meet Miss Sidley, a teacher who has been taking care of children all of her adult life.One day her students begin acting strangely...so she takes care of them.

This book is highly recommended for Stephen King fans and readers who enjoy a well-crafted story that makes their brains squirm for a day or two after reading.

Expect the expected--and the unexpected
One of the many things I love about Stephen King as a writer is this--when you read one of his works (whether short story, novella, novel, or epic novel), you get exactly what you expect, along with a bit of what you don't expect. And that's one of the characteristics that make him such an entertaining and amazing author--he keeps building his repertoire and impressing you with talents that you didn't know he had. This collection of short stories allows King to showcase many of the talents you'd expect from him, as well as a number of talents he doesn't often get an opportunity to showcase in his novels. There's a revenge tale reminiscent of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" ("Dolan's Cadillac"), a story featuring creepy kids ("Suffer the Little Children"), stories about animated things that shouldn't be animated ("Chattery Teeth" and "The Moving Finger"), apocalyptic tales ("The End of the Whole Mess" and "Home Delivery"), an homage to Lovecraft ("Crouch End"), and what is probably one of King's best short stories, "The Ten O'Clock People"--all pretty standard, and well done, Stephen King fare. And then there's the unexpected--a teleplay ("Sorry, Right Number"), a Sherlock Holmes story ("The Doctor's Last Case"), a poem ("Brooklyn August"), and--the most pleasant surprise of all--a non-fiction piece about King's son's Little League team ("Head Down"), which resulted in an effect I never imagined a piece of Stephen King's writing would have on me: I cried. I will continue to sing the praises of Stephen King and insist that he is one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated writers around. Despite his massive popularity, he is often derided as a one-dimensional writer with no skill outside of his chosen genre--horror. "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" offers ample proof that that is not the case at all. Read it, and be surprised.

2 stars for Seller;5 stars for book
The book had many interesting short stories.I would recommend the book but not the seller, Thriftbooks.The book they sent me had pages out of order.For example, you're reading on page 342 and the next page is 382.The pages were mixed up throughout the middle of the book.All the pages were there but not in order.

Good fun, lots of chills
This collection is chock full of everything King aficionados love, and it'll easily hook the uninitiated.There are many different samples on display, from one of King's true oldies (a Castle Rock story originally published in a college literary magazine, and feeling its roots very deep...when the autumn pumpkins get loving detail, you know it's a young man's voice) to something he finished in about three days in the year this was published.They are, for the most part, very good, full of story and gab, which is what you expect from King.I especially liked 'Popsy', which is a sort of child abductor revenge fantasy meets vampire tale (parents everywhere are confronted with their greatest nightmare and must give a cheer at the end), 'Suffer the Little Children', which kept me up for HOURS later that night, 'Rainy Season', which walks the line between horror and humor very well (the only time King tips his hand is when he name drops 'The Lottery'...you'll see what I mean), and 'Umney's Last Case', since it's clever and I'll gobble up anything Raymond Chandler-esque.

There are actually only a couple of bumps in the road.King's Sherlock Holmes story is passable Conan Doyle, at best.If you want a BRILLIANT modern attempt, read Neil Gaiman's 'A Study in Emerald.'King probably gets a moderate grade because Holmes requires icy precision, subtle restraint and a wry, nimble style of writing, and King, much as I love him and much as he has great talent, is not especially gifted in those areas.(I could be wrong, but I think Holmes makes a pussy joke somewhere in there...reader, I cringed.)

Still, there is much to enjoy here.I won't give a blow by blow of everything I liked (which was a lot), and everything I didn't (which was a little.)Instead, I'll take on two stories, my favorite and the one I liked least.

Crouch End- King goes to Lovecraft country, and I absolutely didn't want it to end.Everything you love about King-- the sense of place and character, dialogue and dialect, rising sense of terror, and flat out crazy, tentacled monsters living under the city streets-- is here.It's also one of the best examples of story and mood working together, instead of fighting with each other.A young couple visiting London go to meet the husband's colleague in Crouch End.The moment they enter the suburb, I became unsettled.It got worse from there.The wife, who (spoiler) lives to tell the tale, notices the strange orange light, the claw-handed child, the people with rat heads (but she imagined it...?), the one-eyed cat who seems to become a vagrant under a bridge later.The woman's tale is interspersed with the kindly officers at the police station, who listen to her story and don't know what to make of it.The editing in this tale is very good, so that the action unfolds as you might see it on television or at the movies.I won't say what happens to the husband, or how it ends, but it's very satisfactory, very frightening, and also very creepy.I had to turn on the lights when I was done, and it was only afternoon.King's command of the British dialect in this is nearly always spot on, and he makes everyday things in the light of day appear sinister and evil.The plotting, writing, everything is good here.Happily, most of the collection falls into this area, though I think this is the best example of the book.

Home Delivery- Unfortunately, everything that is right about Crouch End is wrong about Home Delivery.The story starts out as some kind of Lifetime movie, with an incredibly mousy woman, unable to cope without a man.She once married a dashing sailor, you know, who showed her love, until...until he was drowned at sea.Now, weak minded and pregnant, she must face the void alone.And then the zombies eat the president.Not kidding.That's basically the next line.King's instincts here are wrong, between trying to play all this nonsense dead serious and the wall to wall folksiness of EVERY F---ING SITUATION.The down home charm is one of the reasons I like King, but if you were up in a space shuttle, watching space worms eat your compatriots' brains (don't ask, it'll make sense) and knowing you're next, would your last musings to the world via satellite be 'I did so like all of them, especially the fat guy who dug around in his nose.'Yeah, it's a British character.King's knack for the Brit dialect vanished on this one.Sometimes, it does seem like King will be folksy if it kills him.Then the pregnant woman fights the Ray Harryhausen (in my mind) sailor husband back from the grave, zombies you know.And the men of the island town machine-gun the whole graveyard.And the woman is happy that she'll have a home delivery.Probably the two greatest failings here were the decision to, as I said, play it straight, and the relentless down home chat.Honestly, Steve, I know you have an ear for dialogue.I BELIEVE YOU.

Still, snark ended, this is a very good, creepy read, excellent for curling up with on a dark night.Going through it, piece by piece, you see and understand how much love King has for the craft, how hard he works at it, and how much joy it brings him.It's bound to bring you happiness as well, even if it's the squirming, terrified kind of happiness.It'll do.

A Great RIde
I really enjoyed this book, its a lot like enjoying classical music. The moods, the tempo and the pacing of the stories is so enjoyable. The story that still freaks me out to this day is "Home Delivery" simply for the scene that takes place in the space shuttle!! King could have made a whole novel based on that scene. But he didn't and that is what makes him so good at the short stories. I think a good short story forces your mind to ask "what would have happened if the story kept on going"? Not that his novels do not do the same, but in the short story King is forced to put down the bare bones of the story. The other stories that blew me away were: The Night Flier, The Moving Finger, Crotch End and My Pretty Pony. My Pretty Pony shows the depth of King's thinking on the philosophy of time. The Ten O' Clock People is a nice story but to me it's just a ripe off of John Carpenter's They Live. All in all not a bad collection of stories. ... Read more

Product Description

Hannibal Lecter. The ultimate villain of modern fiction who scared the world silent. A young FBI trainee. An evil genius locked away for unspeakable crimes. A plunge into the darkest chambers of a psychopath's mind -- in the deadly search for a serial killer...

An instant classic of chilling psychological suspense...a critically-acclaimed audio production of unforgettable intensity...From the tormenting words of the homicidal maniac Dr. Hannibal Lecter and the flesh-rending depravity of an elusive killer to the sheer courage of a young FBI novice, who risks her life to track him down and stop the bloodshed.Amazon.com Review
The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris, is even better than the successful movie. Like his earlier Red Dragon, the book takesus inside the world of professional criminal investigation. All theelements of a well-executed thriller are working here--driving suspense,compelling characters, inside information, publicity-hungry bureaucratsthwarting the search, and the clock ticking relentlessly down toward thedeath of another young woman. What enriches this well-told tale is theopportunity to live inside the minds of both the crime fighters and the criminals aseach struggles in a prison of pain and seeks, sometimes violently,relief.

Clarice Starling, a precociously self-disciplined FBI trainee, is dispatchedby her boss, Section Chief Jack Crawford, the FBI's most successful trackerof serial killers, to see whether she can learn anything useful from Dr.Hannibal Lecter.Lecter's a gifted psychopath whose nickname is "TheCannibal" because he likes to eat parts of his victims. Isolated by hiscrimes from all physical contact with the human race, he plays an enigmaticgame of "Clue" with Starling, providing her with snippets of data that, ifshe is smart enough, will lead her to the criminal. Undaunted, she goeswhere the data takes her. As the tension mounts and the bureaucracy thwartsStarling at every turn, Crawford tells her, "Keep the information andfreeze the feelings." Insulted, betrayed, and humiliated, Starling strugglesto focus. If she can understand Lecter's final, ambiguous scrawl, she canfind the killer. But can she figure it out in time? --Barbara Schlieper ... Read more

Customer Reviews (285)

Kathy Bates does an excellent job
Great quality, and well read audio book. The Silence of the Lambs story is perhaps the best thriller/horror story out there.

Starling, Make the Lambs Stop Screaming!
Even though I still have not seen the film, I thought I'd explore Harris' world when I discovered a paperback very cheap at a local book swap.Though the book is marketed as all about Hannibal Lecter "the ultimate villain," it's really about the minds of criminals and the people who wish to stop them.

It's interesting that each side is set in pairs -- the criminal side and the justice side of the equation.

At one end of the spectrum we have Clarice Starling, an FBI agent who is learning the ropes.I mean, she hasn't even finished school yet!She runs into prejudice all the time -- "how long have you been at the FBI Ms. Starling?" to which she quickly changes the subject.Her mentor and confidant Jack Crawford is in his own world.Struggling with his wife's terminal illness, he yet makes an effort to teach Starling the ropes -- and an ulterior motive to use her to get into Lecter's mind -- the only man who may have the clue to find Buffalo Bill -- the mad serial killer who is skinning women and leaving them floating in rivers.

The other end of the spectrum is Dr. Lecter, an expert of the mind and behavior, but also rather insane -- he literally will bite the hands that feeds him!His sense of smell is startling.His ability to see deep into Starling's core is also a bit unsettling -- for Starling as well as the reader!Lecter's pair is Buffalo Bill himself whom we meet as he prepares to skin a senator's daughter!

Will Clarice find the killer in time, despite the arrogance of bureaucrats and the curtains everyone of the characters seems to hide behind?And is she willing to give up a bit of herself to Lecter in return for some information?

**Spoiler - Fascinating pace of story, especially at the climax when she actually meets the killer and has no idea who this guy is -- but then does and man, you can't turn the page fast enough!** End Spoiler

I am mighty impressed with Thomas Harris bit of crime fiction here.I may pick up his earlier work, Red Dragon [Red Dragon.

Recommended!

One of the best thrillers ever written
I mean, what can I say?This is the book where Hannibal Lecter first took center stage, and it's a doozy.Harris handles the relationship between the genius serial killer and the newbie FBI agent with a sure and nuanced hand.It's not fair to call this a great genre novel; it's a great novel, period.Harris started the serial-killer trend in fiction, and despite the slew of successful imitators, he's still the grand master.While I like his RED DRAGON just slightly more, SILENCE is still a must read.You will not be disappointed.

Masterful
Unlike Thomas Harris' first book, Red Dragon, this one does not seem to unintentionally make a villain that is worse than Hannibal Lecter. Despite the fact that Lecter is, for the most part, behind cell doors, he gets into your mind and the minds of the characters in a way that no other villain in Harris' novels can. This was what made Red Dragon a bit short of the mark for me. Silence of the Lambs, however, focuses and uses Lecter to benefit the story.

Perhaps my only complaint is that we do not get into the inner psyche of Jame Gumb as much as we did with Francis Dolarhyde. I, personally, enjoy the reasons behind the madness if it is done in a proper, intriguing way. Instead we get bits and pieces that perhaps Harris wants us to piece together ourselves. That, however, would have us assuming and Crawford would sneer at the idea. Speaking of Crawford, he's much more vibrant in this novel. He is a lot less flat and his guidance of Clarice Starling certainly helps him to come out of the pages from a secondary character to one that has personality, pain, nerves, and gentility.

Clarice Starling is our main character. She certainly does not have the genius of Will Graham which makes her relationship to Hannibal much less platonic and much more invigorating. She must depend on him as much as she depends on Crawford and it puts her in a vulnerable spot. Throughout the entire novel she is vulnerable, but she shows her heroine side often enough to keep us rooting for her. We know that when the novel gets dicey there will be no one there to save her but herself and so we like her. She is not our damsel. Because of this and her courteousness, Hannibal becomes, for lack of a better word, enamored. Which, of course, throws another wrench in the gears.

Jame Gumb, our other villain, a pussycat in comparison to Lecter, is a curious blend of interesting traits that makes us reflect on Ed Gein. Though he does not make furniture out of his victims, he is fashioning himself a suit to fit over his own body so that he might become a woman. His last words make us slightly perturbed but also sad at mental instability, something that Lecter never gives us but Dolarhyde and Gumb have.

This is a home run in my book and worth the read even if you have watched the movie. Many things are different about the book despite the fact that the movie is a great interpretation of it.

Another glowing review.
I'm not sure that I can add very much to the hundreds of glowing reviews already posted on Amazon, but I can certainly try. I first read SOTL in high school, and picked it up again recently, rereading it for the first time in 15 years. The book certainly has not lost its magic. SOTL is a scary, fast-paced read and if you are like me, you will find yourself closing the blinds and double-checking to make sure that your door is locked. If you liked the movie version of the book, you will surely love the book itself; characters are much more fleshed out, and there are some good exchanges that are missing from the novel. There are several references to Red Dragon, the most excellent book that came before SOTL, but one does not have to have read Red Dragon in order to fully understand the plot of SOTL.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoyed the movie, or anyone who enjoys a really, dark clever thriller. ... Read more

Product Description
"This is the International Edition. The content is in English, same as US version but different cover. Please DO NOT buy if you can not accept this difference.Ship from Shanghai China, please allow about 3 weeks on the way to US or Europe.Message me if you have any questions." ... Read more

Product Description
BOMB Issue 35, Spring 1991, featuring: Interviews with Philip Taaffe by Shirley Kaneda, Kid Capri by Lynn Geller, Luisa Valenzuela by Linda Yablonsky, James Wines by Stanely Moss, Kathy Bates by Michael O'Keefe, Keith Reddin by Craig Cholson, Jennie Livingston by Reena Jana, Lynne Tillman by Patrick McGrath, Zhang Yimou by Larry Chua. Fiction & Poetry by Elena Alexander, Benjamin Weissman, Liza Bear, Guy Gallo, Klaus Kertess, Maya Borisova, George Green, Tim Dlugos, and J.R. Rodriguez. Art by Ariane Lopez Huici, Karen Kilimnik, Sean Scherer, Teri Slotkin, Joe Andoe, Taro Suzuki, Craig Lucas, and Rocky Schenck. ... Read more

Product Description
Revised and updated by one of the co-developers of the (310-035) Programmer exam, this edition offers complete coverage of the Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 exam objectives and newly added, complete coverage of both portions of the Sun Certified Java 2 Developer's exam. More than 250 challenging practice questions have been completely revised to closely model the format, tone, topics, and difficulty of the real exam. An integrated study system based on proven pedagogy, exam coverage includes step-by-step exercises, special Exam Watch notes, On-the-Job elements, and Self Tests with in-depth answer explanations to help reinforce and teach practical skills.

Praise for the author:

Finally! A Java certification book that explains everything clearly. All you need to pass the exam is in this book.

--Solveig Haugland, Technical Trainer and Former Sun Course Developer

"Who better to write a Java study guide than Kathy Sierra, the reigning queen of Java instruction? Kathy Sierra has done it again--here is a study guide that almost guarantees you a certification!"

--James Cubeta, Systems Engineer, SGI

"The thing I appreciate most about Kathy is her quest to make us all remember that we are teaching people and not just lecturing about Java.Her passion and desire for the highest quality education that meets the needs of the individual student is positively unparalleled at SunEd.Undoubtedly there are hundreds of students who have benefited from taking Kathy's classes."

--Victor Peters, founder Next Step Education & Software Sun Certified Java Instructor

I want to thank Kathy for the EXCELLENT Study Guide. The book is well written, every concept is clearly explained using a real life example, and the book states what you specifically need to know for the exam. The way it's written, you feel that you're in a classroom and someone is actually teaching you the difficult concepts, but not in a dry, formal manner. The questions at the end of the chapters are also REALLY good, and I am sure they will help candidates pass the test. Watch out for this Wickedly Smart book.

-Alfred Raouf, Web Solution Developer, Kemety.Net

"The Sun Certification exam was certainly no walk in the park but Kathy's material allowed me to not only pass the exam, but Ace it!"

--Mary Whetsel, Sr. Technology Specialist, Application Strategy and Integration, The St. Paul Companies ... Read more

Customer Reviews (291)

GREAT book
It's a fantastic book if you want to pass the SCJP exam, and by the way obtain a solid Java knowledge.
It goes straight to business, and it has fun moments as well, so the learning doesn't get too hard.
I highly recommend it!

The perfect book for SCJP
I'll make it quick: it's very simple, you want the SCJP? Buy this book and study, make some annotations and read it again! When you're finished do a lot of mock exams and when you're doing well in the mocks, you're ready for the real test. You'll love the way they explain all the topics.

I did it, it worked! Great book!
I got SCJP6 with 88%, using this book alone.

Thanks a lot Kathy and Bert.

Poor Service
im not receive the book(now 50 days passed), because of poor service. so i dont know about the product.

excellent java book
This SCJP book is very good for preparing the exam, as well as a learning material. I studied the book, and successfully passed the exam. It also helped me to gap knowledge and be a better coder.

The best book for Sun Certification and understanding Java
I failed Java certification 3 times using 3 other books. I simply didn't want to let go. I got this book and passed the exam, and I have to say, this book helped me understand the nuances of Java. I actually became confident in Java after reading this book. Highly recommend this. The writing style is simple and easy to understand. ... Read more