All Systems Red is the first book in the Murderbot Diaries series, a popular science fiction series and streaming series on Apple TV. The book won a number of awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for best novella. We watched the series first, then I was able to get a copy of Fugitive Telemetry from the library and thoroughly enjoyed it. I recently … Continue reading →
Exiles was a book I tried to read once and put it down, then made a second attempt and enjoyed it a lot. It is the third book in the Aaron Falk series, all set in different areas of South Australia. Although Falk is with the police, his job follows financial crime in Melbourne. When he visits friends in a small town, the mystery of … Continue reading →
Fugitive Telemetry is the 6th book in the entertaining and popular Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. It is both a traditional mystery and a science fiction novel told by a bot/cyborg who has moved into a self-conscious, cynical, character. All of the books feel fresh and rich with interesting characters, humorous commentary, lots of action, and a power-packed plot. Wells’ flair for balancing Murderbot’s … Continue reading →
Out of Sight is a crime novel written by a master of his craft. It is the first book (of two) in the Jack Foley (the gentleman bank robber) series. Foley is in prison to start the book, but escapes and a series of interesting and amusing events follow. We are introduced to Karen Sisco, a deputy marshall, some of Foley’s friends from prison and … Continue reading →
River of the Gods – Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile is a historical account of the expeditions of Richard Burton and John Speke in the 1850s. The author Candice Millard has written a historical account of the at-the-time-famous expeditions by British explorers to trek from the East Coast of Africa into the Interior in search of the … Continue reading →
Knife by Jo Nesbo is the 12th book in the Harry Hole series of Nordic noir books. It is a longer story with many twists and several layers of dark and unsettling sections. Hole is an alcoholic, sometimes suicidal, and flawed, but he is also a sharp detective. With a long complex history behind him, his estranged wife is murdered, and he can … Continue reading →
Gideon the Ninth is a fantasy novel which combines a number of genres, themes, and elements to bring a quirky, dark story of necromancers, warriors, and labyrinths, in a mystery thriller format. It was first published in 2019 and many readers were intrigued by the world, the characters, and the storytelling. The author has gone on to write two more stories and has a loyal following. … Continue reading →
Hamnet is a historical fiction book by Maggie O’Farrell. The life and circumstances of William Shakespeare’s life has been more of an outline than a full biography, but we do know some of the basics. This novel builds a story from young Shakespeare’s family life, his courting and marriage to Agnes, the birth of his three children, and the time of his family’s life in … Continue reading →
Force of Nature is a thriller/mystery novel written by Jane Harper, the second in the Aaron Falk series, set in Australia. Five women set out on a four day corporate retreat backpacking into the remote Giralang Range, but only four return. A search is started and the police question the women and anyone else associated with the missing Alice Russell. Their stories are not consistent … Continue reading →
The Children of Men by P.D. James is a dystopian novel set in recent times, in a world in which human fertility has failed and no more children have been born for 25 years. The spirit of the people has been broken and as the population decreases, a universal malaise sets in. Democracy fails and a dictator (Warden) rules, supported by State Police. Criminals … Continue reading →
