Pedophilia: A Cause and A Cure - Steve A. Mizera

Steve A. Mizera reveals what life in orphanages was like for him in the middle 1940s and 1950s Pennsylvania. After suffering physical, emotional and sexual abuse, he runs away and lives on the streets of Philadelphia. His survival techniques could serve as an operating manual for today's runaways.

A product of a dysfunctional family and not having any bonding in infancy, he predictably has little success with relationships in the USAF or in employment. Nevertheless with this handicap he starts a weekly newspaper in a small northern California town and vents his anger while taking on the establishment. Believing the pen is mightier than the sword, he conducts his battles while attending law school and working as a conductor on the railroad.

Steve reveals his deepest secrets for a very personal reason and discusses a despicable crime for which he has to learn survival once again in Folsom State prison, the most violent US prison in the 1980s.

In his final chapters of his life he does experience both solid relationships and love which turn his life around completely.

I couldn't finish this book. I expected it to be an interesting enough autobiography but it was written without any kind of flair. It felt like reading a list of facts, not a story.

I understand that in an autobiography you want to keep it accurate and factual but that does not mean you can't still tell it like a story rather than simply listing occurrences.

I'm sure Mizera has a fascinating tale to tell but I just could not get into it.

Contra-ODESSA - Alex Markman

Inspired by actual events, Contra-ODESSA brings the reader back to 1960s Latin America.

Needing money to fund their activities, Soviets send a team of KGB operatives to track down Swiss bank account numbers from Nazis who stashed fortunes obtained from prior looting. Young American secret service agents seek the source of funding for Latin American radical groups.

Utilizing all their training and hiding behind secret identities, agents of both teams push through physical, ethical, personal, and moral challenges in order to help their team succeed.

An inevitable clash of the two spy networks and the former SS organization ODESSA that follows is violent and brutal. Its casualties are not only people but also morality and law.

What a struggle to read! So many times I just wanted to give up and quit the book, but I was determined to finish it for this review.

The story seems like an interesting idea, but, I'm sad to say, it was not well written. The main story arc got lost for many pages at a time, making it very hard to follow. Many times, an entire chapter (or the majority of it), felt completely irrelevant to the storyline.

I enjoyed the characters; they were intriguingly dynamic. However, they seemed to have a hard time conversing. A lot of the dialogue seemed forced, awkward. A lot of the story, in general, was forced and awkward.

I would not recommend reading this book. I struggled to get through it and did not enjoy reading it.