Code to Zero (2000) … follows Luke, an amnesic who spends the duration of the book learning of his life, and slowly uncovering secrets of a conspiracy to hold America back in the space race.

It’s set in 1958.

Luke wakes up in a men’s room with no recollection of his past.

His clothing, associates and surroundings suggest to him that he is an alcoholic derelict, however his behaviour, intelligence, morals and instinct lead him to investigate and research his past. 

As always with Follett, the plot is intriguing. The love story passionate.

There was talk of a TV adaptation, but I’m not sure that happened.

I was keen to get my hands on this book.

The author won the 2020 Hugo Award for her debut novel A Memory Called Empire (2019).

Arkady Martine is the pen name of AnnaLinden Weller, a historian and city planner in New Mexico.

AnnaLinden was a SciFi geek from a young age. A big reader too.

The book starts well.

A young female ambassador is sent from tiny Lsel Station to the home planet of the Teixcalaanli Empire.

She’s a fish-out-of-water. Unsophisticated. But with a secret technology.

I was hooked.

But about half way through I was tempted to give up. The palace intrigue not intriguing enough for me.

Not enough action.

Most people love this book. I made it through. But I won’t continue with the inevitable sequel.

related – The Verge – A Memory Called Empire is a brilliant blend of cyberpunk, space opera, and political thriller

Excellent. 

Based on a true story. 

Tom Holland will play the lead in the Hollywood movie adaptation.

For some reason I’d never thought about Italy during WW II — before reading this book.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.

In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders.

Amazon

 

Tana French is widely considered one of the best murder mystery writers. No surprise, she lives in Dublin.

The Searcher (2020) — her 8th book — did surprise me in many ways.

Released immediately before COVID-19 lockdowns, it has an upbeat ending. Twists and turns. Kept me focused right to the last page.

French said it was a traditional Western updated for modern rural Ireland.

I’d recommend the audio version so you can enjoy the many Irish dialects.

After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, Cal Hooper just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens.

But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.

The 3rd book in the Odd series is not quite as compelling as the first two. But I’ll continue on to #4.

I’m no fan of horror. But like the humour. The banter. The philosophy.

Easy reading.

Odd Thomas has been a guest at St. Bartholomew’s Abbey, where he hopes to seek peace and understanding. …

Rodion Romanovich, the abbey’s other guest, is an excellent character. He steals every scene.

Brother Knuckles, former mafia goomba is somehow now a monk. Also entertaining.

A very entertaining book.

The Pack Horse Library Project was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) program that delivered books to remote regions in the Appalachian Mountains between 1935 and 1943.

Women were very involved in the project which eventually had 30 different libraries serving 100,000 people …

Giver of Stars is fiction. The story of 5 lady pack horse librarians.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity, and passion.

These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives. …

Amazon

Click PLAY or see pack horse librarians it on YouTube.

I was blown away by Adrian McKinty‘s 2020 book The Chain.

So — requested more by the same author from the library.

Next up was the first of his Sean Duffy series — Cold Cold Ground (2012).

If you are an Irish writer, the bar is set high. This is literature. And I can’t recall any better insight to The Troubles.

Spring 1981. Northern Ireland. Belfast on the verge of outright civil war.

The Thatcher government has flooded the area with soldiers, but nightly there are riots, bombings, and sectarian attacks.

In the midst of the chaos, Sean Duffy, a young, witty, Catholic detective in the almost entirely Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary, is trying to track down a serial killer who is targeting gay men.

As a Catholic policeman, Duffy is suspected by both sides and there are layers of complications. …

Fast-paced, evocative, and brutal, this book is a brilliant depiction of Belfast at the height of the Troubles and a cop caught in the cross fire.

1995	Deal Breaker and Drop Shot
1996	Fade Away

Fade Away is the third novel in his series of a crime solver and sports agent named Myron Bolitar.

Best so far, I’d say.

Myron Bolitar is called by Clip Arnstein, the owner of NBA New Jersey Dragons.

Clip’s star player is missing and he wants Myron to find him.

Clip wants Myron to take Greg’s place on the team, feeling that the other players would be more open with him rather than an investigator. Myron is reluctant yet excited at the same time. Having never had the opportunity to play pro-ball, he is anxious to know if he can make it with the Dragons.

These are light weight easy books to read. But I like the humour. The banter.
Don’t spends too much time analyzing the plot.

Myron’s parter Windsor Horne Lockwood III is always entertaining.

Esperanza Diaz, his assistant at MB SportsReps, is a brilliant character, as well.