Social Network now on pre-order

From the director who brought you, 'Fight Club' and 'Seven', comes the story of Mark Zuckerberg, destroyed lives and the social network that revolutionized communication – facebook! Pre-order Your copy now, and stand a chance to win a Sony Cybershot Digital Camera!

You can order it online from Kalahari by clicking HERE or on the cover case below:

Hot video games - 2011/01/23

Want to know what video games are hot with the various online retailers? Here is a collection of the hottest games around:

Kalahari.Net
1. Little Big Planet 2 Collectors Edition
2. Little Big Planet 2
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Gran Turismo 5
5. Sports Champions (Move)
6. The Sims 3: Late Night
7. Heavy Rain
8. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011
9. Tekken 6 (Platinum)
10. Sports (Kinect)

Take2
1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (PS3)
2. Warhammer: Dawn of War 2 - Gold Edition (PC)
3. Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow (PS3)
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3)
5. Little Big Planet 2 Limited Edition Collector's Box (PS3)
6. Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition (Xbox 360)
7. Supreme Commander 2 (PC DVD-ROM)
8. Super Mario All-Stars - 25th Anniversary Edition (Wii)
9. ORB PS3 Controller Triggers X 2
10. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)

Amazon.com
1. Just Dance 2 - Nintendo Wii
2. Little Big Planet 2 - PS3
3. Little Big Planet 2: Collector's Edition - PS3
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Xbox360
5. Dance Central - Xbox 360
6. Zumba Fitness - Nintendo Wii
7. Call of Duty: Black Ops - PS3
8. Dead Space 2 - Xbox360
9. Mass Effect 2 - PS3
10. Gran Turismo 5 - PS3

Popular books - 2011/01/23

It has been a while since we have done one of our wrap ups of the best-selling books at the various online retail stores. So here we go:

Kalahari.Net
1. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson
2. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson
3. Jamie's 30-minute Meals -Jamie Oliver
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -Stieg Larsson
5. Awakened - P. C. Cast; Kristin Cast
6. Happy Ever After - Nora Roberts
7. To the point - Steve Smith; Herschelle Gibbs
8. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything - Elizabeth Gilbert
9. Spoor - Deon Meyer
10. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer

Take2
1. Ruthless Game - Christine Feehan
2. Shadowfever - Karen Marie Moning
3. Last Sacrifice - Richelle Mead
4. Hungry for You - Sands, Lynsay
5. Real Love - Greg, M.D. Baer,
6. The Other Side - Robb, J. D. / Blayney, Mary / Gaffney, Patricia
7. Happy Ever After - Nora Roberts
8. Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson
9. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
10. Start-up Nation - Saul/ Senor, Dan Singer

Exclusives
1. The Power - Rhonda Byrne
2. Conversations with myself - Nelson Mandela
3. Fool's Gold The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall Street Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a

Financial Catastrophe - Gillian Tett
4. Skulduggerty Pleasant - Mortal Coil - Derek Landy
5. South Africa's Greatest Entrepreneurs - Moky Makura
6. A rogue of my own - Johanna Lindsey
7. Sean Brand - En Ek Kan Nie Ophou Kyk Nie - 2010
8. The Carrie Diaries - Candace Bushnell
9. Gogos Crazy Bones Bag Series 1
10. English Handbook and Study Guide Beryl Lutrin

Amazon.com
1. You Can Count on Monsters - Richard Evan Schwartz
2. The Investment Answer - Daniel C. Goldie
3. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand
4. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua
5. The Carb Lovers Diet: Eat What You Love, Get Slim For Life - Ellen Kunes
6. Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat after Forty - Suzanne Somers
7. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
8. The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman - Timothy Ferriss
9. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
10. Mr. Sunday's Soups - Lorraine Wallace

Robert Ludlum - The Janson Directive

The "Janson directive" is probably the best spy thriller I have read in the last year.

Forget Jason Bourne, Paul Janson is perhaps the best "spy" hero that I have come across in my fiction reads. Both Bourne and Janson are Robert Ludlum characters but whereas Bourne is a bit disjointed and perhaps too "unstoppable" - particularly in the earlier books - Janson comes across as more normal and human.

The story kicks off with the reader being introduced to security specialist Paul Janson who gets roped into organising a rush rescue mission for a high-profile billionaire who has been taken hostage. If Janson can't save the day, the world is going to witness said billionaire have his head lopped off on national TV.

Janson pulls together a team and successfully saves the day but by a quirk of fate isn't able to get onto the plane which is to transport the rescued party home... which turns out to be quite fortunate because a few minutes later the plan takes off and explodes.

That leaves Janson looking rather guilty, especially when an unexplained $16m turns up in his bank account and as we all know, renegades aren't really tolerated in the spy game. They send a crack team of snipers after him and he spends half his life ducking bullets in some rather tense situations.

Janson ends up managing to convince one of the snipers - Jessie Kincaid - that he is not such a bad guy and might not need to be on the receiving end of a bullet.

There is an excellent twist at the end of the book which leads to a tense finale.

If you like spy thrillers you can't miss this one.

You can buy it online from Kalahari by clicking HERE or on the book cover.

We rated it a 5 out of 5 and couldn't find anything to fault in it.

David Baldacci - Deliver us from Evil

I am always a little wary when it comes to David Baldacci because I am never quite sure what is going to be served up. However I’ve just finished reading “Deliver Us From Evil” and I really enjoyed this book.

The book features Shaw the super spy who has been sent after human trafficking and arms dealer Evan Waller. The mission is pretty simple – snatch Waller and put him out of business – permanently.

Things however get a little complicated because somebody else is looking to put Waller out of business. A group of vigilantes operating out of England are on a mission to hunt down former war criminals and make them atone for their crimes. Waller it turns out has a murderous history in the KGB and Regina Campion intends being the one to make sure he pays.

But Waller is no wilting violent and doesn’t play nicely with others. To prove this point, early on in the book he tortures a terrorist who tries to double-cross him and it is not pretty.

After Shaw and Campion both fail to take out Waller, they begin contemplating what life on the run will be like with a madman hunting them across the globe.

This is one of those books which keeps you guessing to the end and there is a nice twist at the end.
We rated this book a 4 out of 5 and would thoroughly recommend it if you like a spy / action thriller. Baldacci at his best!

You can buy the book online from Kalahari by clicking HERE or from Loot by clicking HERE

50 people who stuffed up South Africa

We are all armchair politicians and have our own views about who has stuffed up South Africa but Alex Parker has gone one step further and now put together a list of the 50 people he believes has stuffed up the country and it could make for a really nice Xmas prezzie.

A collection of the 50 greatest villains of South African history, from Jan van Riebeeck to Shaka to Cecil John Rhodes to Hendrik Verwoerd to Thabo Mbeki to Julius Malema. These are men – mostly, but not exclusively – who have steered South Africa firmly in the wrong direction, affecting our history, our national psyche and our way of life, often wasting guilt-edged opportunities to do the right thing along the way.

But the obvious heavy-hitters are just the half of it: there are also lesser-known but influential historical figures (Bartle Frere, Lord Milner), nameless icons of our modern social problems (The Minibus Taxi Driver, The Man I Sat Next To At The Polo), criminals (Ananias Mathe), chancers (Mark Thatcher), traitors (Kevin Pietersen) and punks (Kevin Pietersen). Part history, part social commentary, this is a fascinating read that delves into South African politics, war, sport and culture.

Appropriately, Alex Parker’s irreverent but scathing writing is brought to life by Zapiro, who adds the finishing touches with his iconic caricatures.

You can support a South African author and buy the book online for R140 by clicking HERE.

Patricia Cornwell - Port Mortuary

Shoot me now.... I have just limped my way through "Port Mortuary" the latest offering from Patricia Cornwell and I am reminded why I don't buy her books.

Without being overly nasty, this was one of the most painful books I have ever attempted to read. Put in perspective; imagine being in the mind of somebody who suffers from a severe form of schizophrenia and then is trying to put their thoughts to paper.

The write up for the book reads:

Kay Scarpetta has been training at the Dover Port Mortuary, mastering the art of 'virtual autopsy' - a groundbreaking procedure that could soon revolutionise forensic science. And it is not too long before these new skills urgently need to be put into practice. A young man drops dead, apparently from a heart condition, eerily close to Scarpetta's home. But when his body is examined the next morning, there are stunning indications that he may have been alive when he was zipped inside a pouch and locked inside the cooler. When the revolutionary 3D radiology scans reveal more shocking details about internal injuries unlike any Scarpetta has ever seen, Scarpetta realizes that this is a case of murder - and that she is fighting a cunning and uniquely cruel enemy. Now it is a race against time to discover who and why before more people die. But that time is running out ...

But if you read the book you would think you are reading about the mental breakdown of Cornwells' "flagship" character Scarpetta.

If you are a Cornwell fan you can buy the book online from Kalahari for R204 by clicking HERE or from Loot for R201 but you are probably better off donating that money to charity.

We rated the book a lowly 1 out of 5