In Retrospect is a good old-fashioned whodunit set in a compelling post-apocalyptic future.

Former elite operative Merit Rafi suffered during her imprisonment at the end of a devastating war but the ultimate torment is being forced to investigate a murder she would gladly have committed herself.

In the year 3324 the Rasakans have attacked the technologically superior Oku. The war is a stalemate until the Oku commander General Zane abruptly surrenders. Merit a staunch member of the Oku resistance fights on but she and her comrades are soon captured. An uneasy peace ensues but the Rasakans conspire to gain control of the prized Oku time-travel technology.

When Zane is murdered the Rasakans exert control over Merit the last person on Earth capable of Forensic Retrospection.

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I loved the poet’s sprawling novel A Suitable Boy. And his early travelogue From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983).

But had not much interest in either the music nor love story in this tale.

An Equal Music (1999) is a novel by Vikram Seth.

The plot concerns Michael, a professional violinist, who never forgot his love for Julia, a pianist he met as a student in Vienna. They meet again after a decade, and conduct a secret affair, though she is married and has one child. Their musical careers are affected by this affair and the knowledge that Julia is going deaf. …

Seth together with Philippe Honoré marketed a double CD of the music mentioned in An Equal Music, performed by Honoré.

The book was especially well received by musical fans, who noted the accuracy of Seth’s descriptions of music. …

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NICHOLAS CHRISTOPHER – NY Times review

A respected writer/philosopher, Iyer is Indian. British. American. And has lived many years in Kyoto, Japan.

He feels “untied to any one culture”. Traveling the world. Writing in one hotel or another.

Some call him a “poet of dislocation”.

In his youth, he aspired to be Leonard Cohen.

This book details the literary influence Graham Greene has had on his own life. He sees a continuum:

Maugham > Greene > le Carré

(Both Greene and le Carré often denied the literary legacy. But I can see it.)

Iyer’s father started the study giving the young Pico Maugham’s classic The Summing Up, one of my favourite books.

Indeed, I’ve read a lot of Iyer, Maugham and le Carré. Not so much Greene. Though maybe I will in future.

On the other hand, Greene can be bleak.

His gift, says Iyer, was to see “the folly and frailty of everyone around him”.

On the up side, Greene inevitably shows compassion for the weakest of his characters.

In the end Iyer’s not sure whether the man within his head is Greene. Or his own father.

related:

Nicholas Shakespeare – The Man within My Head by Pico Iyer: review

Samanth Subramanian – The Man Within My Head by Pico Iyer – review

A Delicate Truth is a 2013 spy novel by John le Carré. Set in 2011, the book flashes back to a 2008 joint American-British covert mission on the Rock of Gibraltar and the consequences for two British civil servants. …

Many would agree that le Carré is one of the most skilled writers working today. But many of his recent books have disappointed in that the plots have been too confusing. Too cryptic. His lead characters hardly ever know what’s happening.

But this one worked for me. 🙂

I did relate to Christopher “Kit” Probyn and Toby Bell.

Make Me is the twentieth book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. …

Reacher makes a stop in a place called Mother’s Rest. There’s a woman waiting for a missing colleague, a cryptic note about two hundred deaths, and a small town full of silent, watchful people.

More of the same. If you like Reacher, you’ll like this book. In fact, it’s a little better than average. 🙂