IRA ANALYSIS VOLT

This book was a collection of short stories which I really enjoyed, and that's saying something since I hate to read and all.  But I actually liked these stories, it could be argued that these are the first non children's books that I have liked, the children's books being Percy Jackson and HARRY POTTER (of course).  I do recommend you to read this collection for your next IRA book for more than one reason, 1st they are good books they do have some slow parts but all and all they keep the suspense and action up.  2nde because it was really easy for me to stay on task reading with Volt, because I read one story each week and then wrote about that book, it kept me from reading at the last moment or forgetting to read.  For the review I'm going to go through them in order to state pros and cons of story and which were my favorites.  I also liked that the whole book was based in the same town so many different facets of that town stayed throughout the story, like the sheriff was in about 3 of them, the flood was referenced in quite a few, and all the people had some alike traits (they were all babtist).
Peacekeeper was my favorite book of the collection, it had a great backstory of the sheriff trying to protect her friend from the horrors that actually happened to their daughter.  She took the law into her hands and made a decision to hide the body, and kill the murderer.
My second favorite was probably the straying freight.  I liked the story alot, the farmer gets into all kind of trouble and eventually runs off, all triggered by the accidental death of his son.  He goes to another town and starts a new life, never even thinking of where he had been.  But by far my favorite part of this book is the reoccuring appearance of the train driver, it is probably a illusion of his mind to remind him of where he came from.
My third favorite book was Volt  I never really fully explained this one in a blog but it focuses on the life of a boy growing up in poverty and the sheriff again.  It plays on the role of Nature vs. Nurture, meaning you are either born that way or you are raised that way.  The boy tried to live a good life, unlike his brothers, but made one mistake and was put away in jail for it.  The sheriff is soft on him because he knew her mother who is now sick.
My 4th favorite story was The Daughter, even though this one had a dark undertown to it it was really good.  It shows the relationship between mother and daughter and how nothing can mess that up, even murder.
My 5th favorite book was Lazarus, it was extremely sad since it had letters from a dead boy but it was a good story giving background on a preacher and his ex wife and his final days as a preacher.  Would of been higher but had some boring parts in it that I didn't like reading.
My 6th favorite book was Smoke, dealt with the realizations of a man after he murders someone and how a boy is tied up in the middle of it.  This one had some parts that confused me on what they were saying though.
My least favorite story was . . . . It's a tie . . . I didn't like either Furlough or Fort Apache.  The prior just made no sense first the people are walking and talking and then out of nowhere they walk up to a "satanic" ritual and she runs away?? Idk I didn't like it.  The later again made no sense since the kids are at a movie then throwing rocks at windows then running around naked, it jumped around so much and I couldn't find meaning behind the story.
OVERALL RATING:   90/100  Great set of books that I recommend anyone reads.

IRA: VOLT: LAZARUS

The story starts out with the pastor of the town going to visit his ex.  The pastor is in a bit of trouble since he hired a bad kid to play the organ at church and the town people will be meeting next Sunday to get him kicked out of the Church pastor position.  Him and his wife have been divorced since their son died in a war and they had a big fight over whether or not to read the letters he sent, they decided not to.  On this day the pastor brings the letters and they read them.  The letters are extremely sad and they end up crying and falling asleep in each others arms to comfort each other.  The pastor leaves after a bit and returns to his church to fall asleep.  He awakes to a beautiful song being played by the boy and asks him to play the song on Sunday to let the people know that the boy is good at playing te organ.
The part that his son died is exteremly sad and got me bummed out.  The letters were written like nothing has happened to the boy but he is dead and these are the last words they ever recieved from him.  I think the organ boy represents his new family, his new son.  He likes the organ boy and believes in him even when no one else will.
what surprised me is that I'm looking forward to reading this last story VOLT, I don't care for reading but this is a good series of stories and I've been told that the last one is the best so I'm actually looking forward to this.

IRA: VOLT: The Daughter

This was a quite long short story.  After Miriam's mother died she has been living on her secluded at her house with her daughter Evelyn.  they made a corn maze in one of their feilds so the two McGahee boys have been coming over trying to play in the feild but always weren't allowed.  The boys got violent toward Miriam.  Suddenly the youngest boy went missing and the whole town showed up to try to find the boy in the maze and they eventually cut down the field.  After the first day of looking Evelyn takes off since she had a dream the people will find the boys body in her trunk.  Miriam goes to see her daughter at her apartment but finds our that she hasn't been there since she left her house.  Later the boys father is convicted as the murderer since he seemed to despise the boy.  But no one goes to look at the McGahee place for the boy since they think they are bound to find the boy dead there.  When Evelyn returns she admits that she murdered the boy and her and Miriam make up and are fine with the murder.
There are 2 parts I was intrigued by, first that everyone came to find the boy at Miriams field with the hopes that they will cut down the corn and get some type of profit from it since Miriam wouldn't allow the corn to be taken down.  When the corn is taken down they find nothing and continue with there lives.  What surprised me about this was that when they wanted to find the boy at the McGahee's place no one had the time to show up.  They considered that McGahee was guilt without finding any evidence.  2nd thing I was intrigued by was that Evelyn killed the boy and then was taken in by her mother even after that crime.  And neither of them care that an innocent man now is in jail and just lost his loved son.