Recent Reading - 2018

Click the occasional spoiler buttons only if you wish to see plot-revealing material.

2018-12-15
Illicit
249 pages
Clamp, CathyCathy Clamp

Rachel Washingon is intent on getting out of Luna Lake. Finally out from under the abusive police chief and mayor, she is determined to escape any chance of being the town's perpetual omega, lowest of the low, pushed around and punished. The Sazi Council decends on the rural town of shape-shifters for a peace conference and her attendance is mandatory.
Recommended

2018-11-30
Past Tense
382 pages
Child, LeeLee Child

In Maine, Jack Reacher decides to go to San Diego, no rush, no special reason, but it feels right. He gets a ride from a contractor planning to take back roads to Boston, avoiding the end-of-summer mass of tourist traffic on the super highways. The contractor gets a call making him need to go back to fix a job problem. Jack realizes he can check to find out about the town where his father was born, Laconia, NH.
Recommended

2018-11-05
Forbidden
292 pages
Clamp, CathyCathy Clamp

Claire Evans is a Sazi. That's a shape-shifter with a wolf being her animal form. She's also a member of the Sazi police, called the Wolven. She's headed to a refugee town in Washington State to investigate vague reports that something/someone is using negative magic to disrupt the purpose of Luna Lake, a long term refugee town for Sazi victims of inter-species hatred.

Forbidden is part of a new series of novels about Sazi culture. There's a lot of shredded clothing to be picked up after an unplanned shift to animal form, whether wolf, bear, owl or snake (shudder: snakes are mainly a cranky and frightening group of Sazi).
Recommended

2018-10-15
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
340 pages
Bujold, Lois McMasterLois McMaster Bujold

Cordelia Vorkosigan, Vicerine of the planet Sergar and Military Commander Oliver Jole cope with their lives after Aral Vokosigan has died. Their lives were always entwined professionally and personally.

Books of The Vorkosigan Saga usually has more stress and strife, but this story has the feeling of an interlude.
Recommended

2018-09-29
A Column of Fire
909 pages
Follett, KenKen Follett

Ned Willard grows up in the mid 1500s Kingsbridge, moving on from commerce to being a key advisor to Queen Elizabeth the first.

Follett continues the story of England, begun with Pillars of the Earth, as through the eyes of strong characters with a blend of their personal lives and the scope of the island nation's developing strength.
Highly Recommended

2018-08-26
The Boy on the Bridge
422 pages
Carey, M. R.M. R. Carey

The scientists and protective military personnel share the cramped quarters of the bus-sized tank (with treads) "Rosalind Franklin" as they move cautiously through Scotland and Northern England gathering new data and caches of samples stored by another expedition. They are searching for ANY potential cure for the plague, the one which has turned the world into two incompatible groups, the enlarging mass of infected "hungries" who behave like vampires and a diminishing cluster of surviving humans. They fervently hope there is a way to find or make a cure.
Recommended

Binge Read Notification
I sometimes get hooked by a series and read much of it all at once. The first seven books of the "InCryptid" series by Seanan McGuire follow.

2018-08-13
Tricks for Free (inCryptid #7)
402 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

After the disaster that happened when Antimony joined the carnival in order to find cryptids for the Covenant of St. George, she runs to hide herself from the Covenant itself, her own family (to protect them if the Covenant finds her again) and from her new cryptid carnie boyfriend so he will be safe! What better place than a Florida theme park, hiding in a crowd?
Recommended

2018-08-09
Magic for Nothing (inCryptid #6)
333 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Antimony Price is the youngest sibling of the Price family and is bitter about it. She has a hard time seeing the freedom and success (especially selfish sister, Verity, who outed the family on TV!). So of course, who else is thrown into the fire by Mom and Dad. Verity has to go into direct contact with the Covenant of St. George, attempting to join up and find out just how much trouble the family is in.
Recommended

2018-08-04
Chaos Choreography (inCryptid #5)
326 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Verity Price returns to dance competition on TV as Valerie Prior, but contestants begin dying. Another snake cult?
Recommended

2018-08-01
Pocket Apocalypse (inCryptid #4)
309 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Alex Price and his girlfriend take on werewolves in Australia.
Recommended

2018-07-26
Half-Off Ragnarok (inCryptid #3)
315 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Verity's Brother Alex seeks out cryptozoologic life in the swamps of Ohio while working in the reptile house at the Zoo. He meets a girl.
Recommended

2018-07-22
Blue Light Special (inCryptid #2)
328 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Verity Price and new boyfriend, Dominic, face off against three members of the Covenant of St. George, the European cryptozoology group...who merely want to kill all the monsters. Can she trust Dominic who was raised by the Covenant?
Recommended

2018-07-18
Discount Armageddon (inCryptid #1)
311 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Verity Price studies weird "cryptozoology" life forms in Manhattan and tries to maintain a life as a professional dancer when some of her friends start to disappear.
Recommended

2018-07-14
Fellside
486 pages
Carey, M. R.M.R. Carey

Jess Moulson faces imprisonment in Fellside penitentiary for setting a fire and killing a child, but she faces worse in her dreams of "the other place" where she must deal with the ghost of the person who died, and much more.
Highly Recommended

2018-07-08
An Obvious Fact
317 pages
Johnson, CraigCraig Johnson

Longmire mixes into the crowds surrounding the annual Sturgis Motorcycle gathering. He's helping the local Sheriff with a hit-and-run investigation which becomes more interesting as he meets the real Lola after whom Henry Standing Bear's Thunderbird is named.
Highly Recommended

2018-06-29
Witchmark
247 pages
Polk, C.L.C.L. Polk

A world of magic set in a place struggling to learning science, industry...and war...but ignoring the consequences. Good characters, powerful writing.
Highly Recommended

2018-06-26
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
347 pages
Lagercrantz, DavidDavid Lagercrantz

Salander is in prison as this book begins, and in danger from the bully who runs the lives of inmates. We gradually learn more about the psychologists who adversely intervened in Lisbeth's young life as they also did in the lives of many twins. Sweden's stock market goes mad.
Highly Recommended

2018-06-19
Twisted Prey
399 pages
Sandford, JohnJohn Sandford

Lucas gets a call from US Senator Small asking Davenport to come to Washington, DC to try to track down the people who tried to kill Small and succeeded in killing his friend, CeeCee. Small even suggests who it might be, the other senator from Minnesota.
Highly Recommended

2018-06-12
Illegal Alien
273 pages
Sawyer, RobertRobert J. Sawyer

Aliens from Alpha Centauri arrive. One of the human scientists who first greets them is killed. Just how do you properly try a n alien for murder?
Highly Recommended

2018-06-06
Factoring Humanity
280 pages
Sawyer, RobertRobert J. Sawyer

Alien messages and a husband accused of molesting his daughter combine in a story vaguely reminicent of the movie "Contact".
Highly Recommended

2018-05-29
Body Blow
130 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

John Rockne's sister gets a job offer in a small town in northern Michigan. John and his family go along as a small vacation. The trip becomes a working vacation when a local, Billy "Dynamite" Dawkins goes missing. Dawkins is a retired light heavyweight contender with lots of enemies because he retired with a detatched retina just before his title shot.
Highly Recommended

2018-05-28
Easy Prey
155 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

It isn't a routine thing when a childhood friend grows up to be a successful doctor, but still winds up strangled to death in the no-man's-land of vacant lots between Grosse Pointe and Detroit, Michigan. John Rockne vows to find the killer.
Highly Recommended

2018-05-26
Long Shot
113 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

When John Rockne's brother-in-law is killed while sailing, he naturally works along with the Grosse Point police to find out why and catch the killer. John's sister being the Chief of Police ensures nothing.
Highly Recommended

2018-05-25
Cold Jade
168 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

John Rockne, PI, works all sorts of cases, even when it is to track a missing "escort", though he is hired by her parents. They do not know what she does for a living and won't be happy to find out.
Highly Recommended

2018-05-22
Hard Rock
145 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

John Rockne must face the hit man who killed Benjamin Collins and, as a consequence got John sacked from the police department.
Highly Recommended

2018-05-20
Dead Wood
258 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

John Rockne is a private investigator in Grosse Pointe, Michigan and in spite of being the brother of the chief of police, lives in disgrace because he failed as a policeman. When a guitar maker is killed, her father hires John to find out what happened, not trusting the police to have the resources. It turns out there's more than murder and a missing guitar going on.
Highly Recommended

2018-05-20
All Systems Red
90 pages
Wells, Martha.Martha Wells

This novella is the first segment of the "Murderbot Diaries". Being an artificial construct combining human flesh and technology enhanced artificial parts is not difficult if you are also a mindless drone. If, however, you have taken over responsibility for yourself, there's a bigger reality to explore. And it does not help that you remember killing all those people, the ones you were sent to protect. (This novella won the 2018 Nebula Award.)
Highly Recommended

2018-05-18
Artificial Condition
95 pages
Wells, Martha.Martha Wells

This novella is the second segment of the "Murderbot Diaries", but I read it first. It didn't suffer from the mistake. Great character and a good space opera story.
Highly Recommended

2018-05-16
Back of Beyond
339 pages
Box, C.J.C.J. Box

Recovering Alcoholic Cody Hoyt is a policeman in Montana. When his AA mentor dies, Hoyt is sure it was not an accident, and it turns out to be part of a much bigger story which might put Hoyt' son in danger while on a trip in the wilderness of Yellowstone National Park.
Recommended

2018-05-08
A Hard Man to Forget
127 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

Retired FBI agent, Lauren Pauling, now a private investigator, goes off to handle a death in the desert when she gets mail with Jack Reacher's name in it. He doesn't show, but he's good motivation for her.
Recommended

2018-05-05
The Other
127 pages
Peake, MarilynMarilyn Peake

UFOs and time travelers in a short novel. Interesting take on Roswell phenomenon with some writing quirks.
Mildly Recommended

2018-05-03
The Midnight Line
368 pages
Child, LeeLee Child

Reacher finds a small West Point class ring in a pawn shop. He determines to find its owner to return it. It just feels like the right thing to do.
Highly Recommended

2018-04-28
Into the Fire
462 pages
Moon, ElizabethElizabeth Moon

Ky Vatta and the surviving crew of the space shuttle have been rescued. A little time at the Vatta home in Port Major should offer a bit of relaxation. But then Ky gets the word that her crew has disappeared into the military/medical system for "quarantine". She's not sick, of course, why should they not be home with their families on Slotter Key. Then three of the crew show up and reveal they have escaped from horrible, drugged captivity, not simple, caring quarantine, at all.
Highly Recommended

2018-04-08
Red Soil Through Our Fingers
129 pages
Ratnayake, Nalin A.N.A. Ratnayake

Working the land is good, honest work whether on declining Earth or on expanding Mars. Of course, there are different challenges, not the least of which is coping with the corporation which leases you the land, sells you the genetically modified seeds, provides you air, water, and then buys your crops at harvest. As long as the corporation is offering an even playing field, at least, what could go wrong?
Highly Recommended first novel

2018-04-01
Collapsing Empire
232 pages
Scalzi, JohnJohn Scalzi

When you are a brand new emperox, what do you do if your entire empire depends on a feature of physics which is failing? Of course, you work your tail off to keep rebel forces from messing up the end of it! What else is there?
Highly Recommended

2018-03-31
Karen Memory
277 pages
Bear, ElizabethElizabeth Bear

Karen Memery is a blunt spoken whore. In the 1800s on the US west coast, she's considered a "seamstress" for tax purposes as are all the others working in the profession. The mayor is a friend of the madam, but there's a new candidate for the mayor's office who is a competitor! Another "seamstress" is found whipped to death outside the madam's establishment. Strange, but maybe not, in this well written steampunk novel.
Highly Recommended

2018-03-22
The Stardroppers
157 pages
Brunner, JohnJohn Brunner

An agent for the United Nations visits the United Kingdom to find out more about a new device called the stardropper which is causing unrest worldwide with the largest surge of popularity in England.
Recommended

2018-03-20
I Will Find You
275 pages
Kenda, Joe Joe Kenda

Joe Kenda, retired homicide detective writes about his life in the Colorado Springs police department. I recognized some of the cases from "Homicide Hunter", the TV show, but Kenda's language is a bit more direct. He is just as hardass as you might suspect, but it was neat to hear that he never had to shoot anybody.
Highly Recommended

2018-02-25
The Night Circus
430 pages
Morgenstern, Erin Erin Morgenstern

This book thoroughly engaged me, at the level of the story, at the level of the characters and ultimately at a personal level.Highest Recommendation

2018-02-15
Last Good Man
429 pages
Nagata, LindaLinda Nagata

True Brighton works for a civilian military contractor, actually a part owner of Requisite Operations, Inc., which provides international security, training and an occasional on-the-scene hostage rescue. Times have changed, though. She now has support from armed autonomous drones. They are faster to react than the best human soldier and make all the difference to the success of each mission. Danger to humans still exists. The drones don't always discriminate their targets. This book is full of tense action.
Highly Recommended

2018-02-06
Counterpart
288 pages
Stone, HayleyHayley Stone

Rhona has convinced most of the people in McKinley base that she "is" Rhona, though members of the council do know she's a clone. Her value is both as a direct leader of the local human resistance against the machines, and as a figurehead for all of humanity, spread thin around the world.
Mildly Recommended

2018-02-01
Machinations
343 pages
Stone, HayleyHayley Stone

Rhona awakes in a panic, inside a creche where her clone body has developed. Memories are missing, but she feels like "herself". She needs to get out and then get away before the Machines get to her. The machines just won't quit, just like that old movie "Terminator".
Mildly Recommended

2018-01-18
After Atlas
386 pages
Newman, EmmaEmma Newman

Carlos solves crimes, but as an asset of the Ministry of Justice, he's more than just a slave to his work. He is actually indentured to the ministry. Solving the puzzle of a crime is his passion, but he is not free to enjoy the passion. Even his food choices extend his indenture contract.
Highly Recommended

2018-01-04
The Western Star
306 pages
Johnson, CraigCraig Johnson

Walter Longmire, new deputy sherrif for Absaroka County, Wyoming joins his boss to take the Wyoming sherrifs' annual cross-state trip aboard the famous train, The Western Star. The junket turns sour way too quickly when the president of the sherrifs' association goes missing from the train
Highly Recommended

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Authors List

This year's authors in alphabetical order with duplicates removed.
It may not be very useful to anyone, but was good for ongoing JavaScript practice.
How it was done (in part)