The End of October. Lawrence Wright. 2020.  A New York Times bestseller, this is a pandemic novel.  Closely paralleling the Covid-19 pandemic, this book offers a cataclysmic  view of when things all go wrong.  Take a pandemic with a 70% death rate, add in a Russian hack of all American power stations along with a major war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.  Makes for quite a doomsday novel.  Fast paced and timely its makes for an interesting albeit fatalistic read.

I have been working through most of the Karin Slaughter books.  This includes  the  Will Trent series, Grant County series , Good Daughter series and a selection of different novels and short stories many of which are placed in the South.  These are very good crime novels with very strong female characters.  Her male main characters can have a flaw/disability.  The writing is crisp and flows  well. These are  “can’t put them down” type of reads.  I especially appreciate her insights into police minds and the struggles of female officers to gain respect.

I recommend this author

On Leopard Rock. A life of adventures . Wilbur Smith. 2018. ISBN 9781499861280.  You can get lost in a Wilbur Smith adventure.  Full of swagger, adventure, lusty men and women, political intrigues and wildlife with the backdrop of Africa always there.  I have read my way through the The Courteney Series (16), The Ballantyne Series (5), The Egyptian Series ( 6), Hector Cross (3),  and his standalones (11). So it makes sense to read this, his autobiography. An early editor told him write what you know. Over 50 years, Smith writes what he and  his several generations of family have lived through and done growing up from early African colonization , the Boer War,  WW1 and 2,  Ian Smiths’s Rhodesia, Apartheid and Mandala, and now present day Africa.  He does painstaking research on all his stories and weaves in great backstories and histories.  He loves books and what they do for his readers.  And he has been wildly successful , yet he still continues to write.  This is very enjoyable and gives you even more background into his stories.

Salesman on Fire. Carson V.Heady. 2020.  The fable of Vincent Scott.  It follows his fictional career in selling up to present day. Through a biographical approach the content is laid out in a day long visit with Scott.  Scott’s life as a sales phenomena is laid out in three previous books and this one continues the saga.   This contains some very useful sales assistance content as well as how “the Man’ can get you in larger organizations.  Very easy read and well worth it for the young and experienced salesperson.  There be dangers afoot youngster!

Agency. William Gibson. 2020. ISBN 9780451490988.  A vision of a future where players can go back in time and create a “stub” a new future that plays out differently from what was reality. A cast of very original characters who can look back in time and interact with people who are living a different future from the original. Gibson weaves a surreal and personality rich tale that draws you into something that just might happen.  I could not put it down and finished it wanting more from this author, Just what will he do with the pandemic?

The Lost Girls of Paris. Pam Jenoff. 2019. ISBN 139781460398760.   Twelve female agents of the SOE (UK) are deployed to France in the months preceding D Day.  The author uses another woman in New York just after the end of the war who starts to find out what happened to these women. You walk through their lives and families, their training and then a series of adventures in France leading up to their betrayal in The UK, then capture and execution by the Nazis. Clear, concise and gripping this is a fine tale.

Bristol shops

A Man Called Ove. Fredrik Backman. 2014. ISBN 1476738031.  A grumpy curmudgeon and how his life is turned upside down with new neighbours moving in. He is not social, is principled and helps others despite his leanings.  His Swedishness is evident and the humour is dry and timeless. Recommed this as a great holiday laugh.

Fall, or, Dodge in Hell. Neil Stephenson. 2019. ISBN 9780062458735.   A story within a story.  The short story asks and answers what would happen if you just deluged/overwhelmed the Internet with masses of “fake news” with the intent to make readers more discerning.  That one does not end so well as it appears that readers, just did not care enough to separate “truth’ from items that reinforced their prejudices. The US breaks down into “civilized” liberal leaning areas and vast territories ,”Ameristan”,  full of survivalists, gun toting freedom protectors.  The larger story the author pursues is what if we are able to scan a person and upload it successfully to a “cloud ” so their “soul” continues after death?  He carries this thesis through to what would that “cloud’ existence look and feel like. How would this new society evolve in Bitspace?  What happens in and to our “Meatspace?  Lots to chew on in this part in truth Stephenson style.

James Ryker series by Rob Sinclair. 2017.  A Lee Child, Vince Flynn style writer. Ex military SAS/CIA type who goes around the world preventing terrorist and other threats,, Fast paced and decent stories. Could use a bit more character development in order to hold the reader into a full series of books. Should be popular with the readers of these types of books. Too bad there is not more description of these very important locations where the action takes place.

Cork O’Conner series (1-17_ William Kent Kreuger .  O’Connor is at various times sheriff, deputy, and private eye out  of Tamarack County in upper Michigan butting up to large US/Canada forests and lakes. He is Irish/Ojibwa with a foot in both camps. This series follows his exploits in tracking down murders, conspiracies and other goings on in his small town, local reservation and the wilderness nearby. They are American cowboy style tales with a good sensitivity to Native issues.  The author spins a good story and pace.  There are many back stories unearthed in the series which give them depth. Enjoyable