Review: Coordinates for Murder

Title:	Coordinates for Murder
Author:	Darren Kirby
ISBN:	1470079100
Pages:	123
Copyright:	2012
My rating:	2/5 (below average)

Geocaching is one of my favorite hobbies, not only because it takes me to new places but because it often combines many of my other hobbies like camping and hiking. I don't get to do enough of any. As with most hobbies, I usually enjoy books and/or movies about the subject. I received a gift card for Barnes & Noble at Christmas this year and ended up searching for Geocaching, just to see if there were any fiction books around on the subject. Sure enough, I found two, one of those being Coordinates for Murder by Darren Kirby.

I didn't pay attention to the rating, reviews or even information about the book, other than the synopsis, when I made the purchase. (Now that I go back and look, there is none.) The book is the story of two friends who go camping in the wilderness of northern Wisconsin. While there they attempt to gain bragging rights of being the "First-to-finds" on a new multicache. But what they find is not what they were expecting.

The narration in the book switches primarily between the two main characters. That is tolerable but unfortunately it isn't quite as predictable as in some other series such as Ender's Game in which each chapter switches narrators. Usually when the narrator does switch in this book it goes back in time and tells the same events from another character's point of view. Most books I enjoy, the concept of narration is left behind as the images of the story block it out but in Coordinates for Murder the narration stayed most of the time.

Now, I can't say the book was all bad; it did have its suspenseful moments and I did actually read the entire thing, more than I can say for some. *The following sentence may contain spoilers. Highlight the text to view.* The end of the book was even a huge surprise and out of the ordinary.

I think one of the biggest problems for me was simply the age group the book was probably intended for. I probably would have enjoyed it more when I was in elementary school. Of course, I don't think some of the content is appropriate for children that age. But then again, in the past 15 years since I was that age, American culture has changed a lot. But for parents to decide, the book does contain some bad language and some mild (compared to a lot of movies) gore.

I personally give the book a 2/5 (below average) rating. I've read worse, but I have also read much better. Have you read the book? Do you agree? Let me know in the comments below.

Unexpected Outcome from Doctor Visit

Almost the first thing that I did after dinner tonight was take a call from my grandmother who inquired about how my doctor visit turned out. I told her, "The doctor said 'some people make a new years resolution to lose weight but for you its doctors' orders.'" I proceeded to laugh and told her it was only have true when she began to question about the diet. The thing is I've known I needed to lose weight and I've wanted to lose it for a while. I was thinking today of the Facebook status I wanted to post: "One of my new years resolutions for 2014 was to make myself drink more water. I cannot leave the office until I have drank a minimum of 28 oz of water. This is for every day I am at work and, so far, I have kept it. The thing is, if drinking more water and less soda doesn't help me lose weight, maybe the extra 500 steps back and forth between the other end of the building will add up!"

I went to the doctor after my headache, neck ache, back pain and some chest pain lingered for too long. Friday I came home exhausted and had a 102 degree fever. Luckily by Saturday it was low grade and by Sunday I didn't appear to have a fever at all. I returned to work Monday feeling much better than Friday. But the other pain when it hit made me wonder if I was still sick and what I had, although I continued to suspect sinus headaches for part of it. But just to be safe, I went to the Little Rock Walk-in Clinic on North University Avenue in Little Rock after work today.

What I didn't expect was for the nurse to take my blood pressure, ask me if it was always that high and then tell me to monitor it because they may need to put me on blood pressure medicine. I am 25 years old, too young to be on blood pressure medicine. Later the doctor also expressed concern about my blood pressure. He didn't put me on a diet, but it looks like its time.

I had set out to make one small step at a time with 2014, starting with more water and gradually building up to less calories, better balance and more exercise. Instead, it looks like I am going to have to tackle head on and drop the weight. Not that it is a bad thing, but there is definitely a difficult road ahead.