With Christmas rapidly approaching, I thought I’d try and get myself in the holiday spirit. So the time seemed right to try out a Christmas-themed story. When I think of a Christmas story, I think Christmas movies. So I went for one of the best Christmas movies ever made. No, not Home Alone. This is the book that inspired the first epic Die Hard movie.Joe Leland is a security consultant and former cop who goes to visit his daughter in Los Angeles. But the Christmas party at her work goes horribl...

After reading this, I am now fully convinced that 'Die Hard' . . . is a Christmas movie. There are a lot of movies that take place on Christmas, but only certain ones feel Christmas-y. Right?Nothing Lasts Forever is the inspiration for the movie 'Die Hard', which is the only reason I picked it up. I don't usually like to start with Book #2, but I've seen the movie based on 'The Detective', and it bored me to tears. The book The Detective is also around six hundred pages long, and has a lot of GR...

“Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick ThorpPlenty of other reviewers have compared & contrasted this exciting, action-packed novel—a fascinating snapshot (albeit a fictitious one) of antiterrorist perspectives in the mid-to-late 1970s—with the iconic blockbuster 1988 filmic adaptation “Die Hard,” so I’ll just focus on the differences in weaponry.—In the novel, protagonist Joe Leland carries a 9mm Browning Hi-Power, which at the time of writing was THE most popular sidearm with military and /an...

04/2021From 1979 The huge movie based on this novel (Die Hard) follows its plot down to the detail, but it differs in these major ways: the hero is named Joe Leland. He is a grandfather of around 60, his divorced wife deceased, and it is his grown daughter who works in the terror-addled Klaxon Building. The main bad guy is named Anton (Tony) Gruber, not Hans, and Leland knows him already. So, though the movie follows it closely, the book doesn't have that great scene where Gruber speaks with an ...

The basis for the first DIE HARD movie by an incredible author in his prime. What's not to like? This book drips action.

Woop Woop! Sound the alarm! We have a movie that's better than the book!The primary reason to read this sucker is because it's the basis for the movie Die Hard, a Christmas Classic (don't fight me on this, just accept). This is one case where the movie WAY outshines the book. John McClane is charming. He's an underdog. He's like Howard the Duck: Trapped in a world he never made.Joe Leland is a dud. Also, he claims responsibility for encouraging stores to put high-theft items like pens on cardboa...

Honestly, and with no shame, I knew that my opinion of this book would be tainted by close to three decades worth of the greatest action movie ever - Die Hard! Usually the book is better than the movie, but this movie is better (as expected) so . . . that's just how it is!Moving on . . .As an action book, this was decent. It takes place in the late 70s and in some ways it had aged well and in some ways it hasn't. With our modern technology, some people may have a hard time enjoying the CB commun...

This review can also be found on Books as portable pieces of thought-blog.I grew up watching action films with my Dad just as I grew up reading Harlequin novels with my Mum. Until I got older and broke out of the predetermined genre preferences, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson—before his descend to cray cray—were my childhood. Die Hard is one of those films I knew by heart and that has stood the test of time better than most. So, when I saw that the book th...

I got a digital copy of this book from Netgalley, so first of all thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a chance to read this one.If you are like me, you have seen the movie Die Hard countless times. I had not read the book so my husband and I decided to make this one out next "buddy" read. First of all, this book was published a while back, so there are few dated references. Also, the story is very different from the movie. So, if you see that this is the book the movie was based on, try n...

Treasure of the Rubbermaids 14: Yippee kai yay, Mr. Falcon!The on-going discoveries of priceless books and comics found in a stack of Rubbermaid containers previously stored and forgotten at my parent’s house and untouched for almost 20 years. Thanks to my father dumping them back on me, I now spend my spare time unearthing lost treasures from their plastic depths.Gather around you whippersnappers and listen closely as Grandpa Kemper tells you another fascinating tale from his days of yore. Many...