The 15th book (2016) in the Charlie Parker series is not his best.
Too long. Too slow.
The most interesting characters are Charlie’s sidekicks/bodyguards, Angel and Louis. They are not given enough time in this book. Nor is lawyer Moxie Castin.
John Connolly is an excellent author. But his story telling skills are far inferior to Stephen King, for one example.
Connolly writes gritty crime fiction with supernatural elements. Much violence.
In this book, one of Charlie’s clients is killed.
His investigation leads him to weird, creepy, cult-like group who call themselves the Cut.
Meghan Michaels is trying to find balance between being a single mom and working full time as an ICU nurse, when a patient named Caitlin arrives in her ward with a traumatic brain injury. They say she jumped from a bridge and plunged over twenty feet to the train tracks below.
A shocking revelation.
When a witness comes forward with new details about Caitlin’s fall, it calls everything they know into question. Was a crime committed? Did someone actually push Caitlin, and if so, who… and why?
No one is safe.
Meghan lets herself get close to Caitlin until she’s deeply entangled in the mystery surrounding her. Only when it’s too late, does she realize that she and her daughter could be the next victims…
I noted again that the DRAMA in all these psychological thrillers with “Girl”, “Woman”, or “She” in the title are caused by lying. One lie leads to the next. And the next. Then the murder.
For countries where water is plentiful (Canada) and industries where water is a huge fraction of costs, desalination is probably not viable for industry.
BUT for countries where water is already scarce, or for industries that don’t depend mainly on water, bringing desalinated water is completely plausible. Prices continue to drop.
I recall having a hot shower in Saudi Arabia. Great water pressure. … Wondering where the H2O was coming from.
Now age 84, he’s determined to finish his William Warwick series.
Nothing Ventured (2019)
Hidden in Plain Sight (2020)
Turn a Blind Eye (2021)
Over My Dead Body (2021)
Next in Line (2022)
Traitor’s Gate (2023)
An Eye for an Eye (2024)
William begins his career, after leaving university in 1970, as a constable on the beat. You follow the lives of William, his friends, family, colleagues and adversaries over five tumultuous decades, until William finally becomes Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 2022, not without many setbacks along the way.
He first becomes a detective in the art squad, and through his career moves through drugs, murder, royal protection, Olympic Games security and finally counter terrorism – with several triumphs and a few disasters in between.
A backdrop of colourful characters, including his remarkable wife Beth, The Hawk, his boss, Inspector Ross Hogan, his closest friend, and often the cause and sometimes the solutions of his problems, Princess Diana, The Crown, and Miles Faulkner, a brilliant and resourceful criminal who dogs his path and chance of promotion at every opportunity.
An Eye for an Eye is a drama revolving around a potential arms deal between Saudi Arabia and Great Britain. William is now Scotland Yard’s Chief Superintendent.
The arms deal is complicated by a murder — and international intrigue.
Meanwhile, villain Miles Faulkner has been released from prison, intent on ruining the lives of William and his wife Beth.
For most people, Instagram and TikTok are the most entertaining. I don’t much look at either.
If you want to avoid POLITICS, Meta (Instagram, Facebook, Threads) has definitely reduced the emphasis on political arguments. In Canada, a bonus for using Facebook is that news links are banned.
I haven’t quit Twitter — surprisingly — as my own feeds focused on Gymnastics and Hiking are still good. If I click on Following and avoid For You, the stream is valuable. Of course I quickly block anything I don’t like.
I post today as many of the people online I trust and respect are migrating to Bluesky.
Looking more for VIDEO than anything else, these are the sites I use most:
I hate advertising. Facebook doesn’t offer paid ad-free feeds, so I use ad blockers.
I hate Elon Musk and refuse to send him even one penny. So use ad blockers.
I use WhatsApp only for small group communication. It’s excellent. Messenger, as well, only for communication with very few people.
I’ll check Reddit once in a while if I’m looking for something specific.
Mastodon could be my favourite, but it’s not caught on with the people I want to follow.
LinkedIn should be best of all. But I’ve never seen much value for my purposes.
I never signed up for Snapchat. Hikers are mostly on Instagram. Gymnastics coaches mostly on Twitter.
I’ll try Bluesky. But I’m worried it will never grow big enough.
If desperate, I’ll create a browser bookmark folder and open all these social media sites simultaneously to check the latest news in Gymnastics and Hiking. OR … could I use an A.I. client to do that for me?
Season 2 centers on Kate Wyler, the new United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, as she helps to defuse an international crisis, forges strategic alliances and adjusts to her new place in the spotlight.
She also manages her deteriorating marriage to fellow career diplomat Hal Wyler.
The plot is interesting. A British aircraft carrier is attacked in the Persian Gulf, killing 41 sailors?
Who is responsible?
Was it Russia?
Or the Prime Minister?
More twists and turns than typical American television.
Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to users and business customers to maximize profits for shareholders.
Córy Doctorow might just be the smartest tech pundit. And he’s incredibly well spoken.
I started the sequel — Homeland (2013) — but only made it about 30% through the audiobook.
The start at the Burning Man festival was entertaining. But I found it increasingly too geeky. The decision whether or not to release leaked data was not a compelling enough plot to keep me going.
The cliffhanger from season 3 is a main plot thread. Charles’ good friend and former stunt double — Jane Lynch as Sazz Pataki — seemed to have been killed in Charles’ apartment. What happened?
Oddly, Hollywood is interested in making a feature film about the podcast murders.
