Well, I don't know how anyone else feels about this but .... I had read Caleb Carr's The Alienist and I was seriously impressed. The book was suspenseful, well-written, the atmosphere was well crafted, etc., etc. Then, I read his follow-up, The Angel of Darkness. It was a MAJOR disappointment -- it seemed like such a rehash of the first book. Anyway, I had such high hopes for the second book and I was badly disappointed. I guess you could say I wasn't exactly fair to the author. Of course, others might have liked his subsequent books. Oh, and I had a somewhat similar experience with Umberto Eco. I loved his The Name of the Rose and I followed that up with the equally excellent (though godawfully convoluted) Foucault's Pendulum. But his efforts since then .... I think they were good but they didn't seem to live up to those first two that I read. (I'm going to start on his homage to comic books next) Yes, I guess I'm not TOO fair to him either since my expectations were quite high. In a way, I think you're correct -- if we, as readers keep expecting an author to keep outdoing himself or herself, then is there anyway for such an author to live up to our expectations? For this same reason, I'm kind of afraid of Carlos Zafon's next book. I loved his Shadow of the Wind and I don't want to be disappointed!

I was thinking an early Dean Koontz, until you got to the part where you say "The pilot along with his new girlfriend joint the army . . ", so its probably not, though it wouldn't hurt to check some of his early stuff out.

Old Mother West Wind, Grandfather Frog. Boy, did I love those when I was a kid in the 40's and 50's. I pulled out one which was printed in 1915, so my mother enjoyed them as well. None of mine have checkered covers, so they must have been printed for a long time. Goes to show you a good story never goes out of date.

Thanks guys, I will check that out. A little about myself: I am recently widowed, I live in the mid west in a 2 year old patio home. I have two friends in the development who keep me so busy, it's hard to find reading time. My main interest right now is traveling. I have been reading since the first grade teacher stopped reading books to the class. My favorite books are historical novels...not the romances. I just bought......and am re-reading the Outlander series. That's some heavy reading, about 800 pages per book and 6 in the series. I also like The Earth Children Series. I ran out of historical novels years ago and went to books about strong women, Danielle Steele's books for example. I like light reading most of the time. Books like The Little Lady Agency by Hester Brown, her second was Little Lady, Big Apple. I like Fern Michaels, they are such an easy read which helps at my age. I especially like her Sisterhood Series and Hey Goodlooking. Another one I like is Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz. The list goes on and on. If you don't mind I will hang in here for a while. There was another book I was interested in. If I remember right the title was "Under the ____ Tree". It was about a woman who's husband surprised her with a divorce, he gave her nothing except a house in a small town and kicked her out. In spite of feeling so alone, she makes a life for herself in her new environment. I am going to check out Ladder of Years, thanks again.