The Proving Ground (2025) is 8th in the Mickey Haller (Lincoln Lawyer) series. Possibly the best yet.
A courtroom procedural. Mikeywith a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a teenage girl.
It’s set post-Covid. During fires in L.A.
Very contemporary.
… a chatbot told a sixteen-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty.
Representing the victim’s family, Mickey’s case explores the mostly unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails.
Along the way he joins up with a journalist named Jack McEvoy (The Poet), who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it.
But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McEvoy’s digging ultimately delivers the key witness, a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake.
I’m a huge fan of author Ken Follett‘s historical fiction. Especially his Kingsbridge series, starting with The Pillars of the Earth (1989).
I was excited to see he published a 2025 book set in the Neolithic period when the Stonehenge was created.
Circle of Days is set in prehistory 2500 BCE, where people are divided into tribes, their names in accordance to their roles such as miners, herders, woodlanders, and farmers.
The people meet each season at the wooden Monument for religious rites and festivities, led by priestesses.
In 2017, Witherspoon started Reese’s Book Club. Quite influential.
When she finally got around to writing her own novel, she reached out first to Harlan Coben (not James Patterson 😀).
A good call. Coben is a master of the plot twist.
Gone Before Goodbye (2025) is best on audio as Reese is the voice of Army combat surgeon Maggie McCabe.
Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion.
At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion. …
Needing the money, she reluctantly flies to Russia to do plastic surgery on a reclusive Oligarch.
It’s a fast paced thriller.
Try not to pay too much attention to the plot. 😀
Porkchop is easily the most interesting character.
I did find the emerging medical technology and technical details of trauma surgery quite interesting. They certainly had good researchers.
One of the better books in the long, long series. An unusually strong premise.
Below the Belt (2017) is #40 in a series of guilty pleasure reads. We enjoy the life of the rich and powerful vicariously.
An impressive gentleman, Nelson Knott, launches a 3rd political party in the USA.
But he’s hiding some secrets. Backed by dirty scoundrels.
Somehow Stone Barrington finds himself in the middle of it.
Former Russian CIA mole Ed Rawls, a hilarious old curmudgeon, happens to live near Stone. He entrusts Stone to hang on to the locked case that has dirt on Knott.
… mavericks who go “against the grain” in their work …
People who chose to ignore conventional wisdom, found or invented a better way, questioned the status quo at great sacrifice and pushed for change against all odds.
Some were drummed out of their careers for it but in the end were proven right (Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis).
Some were celebrated but had to fight every inch of the way (Norman Lear).
Some re-invented their industry but preferred to stay an outsider (Tom Laughlin—aka Billy Jack).
Some confounded their competitors with ingenious strategies (NHL coach Roger Neilson).
One even saved millions of people around the world, but was humiliated, demoted, and dismissed for her entire career (Dr. Katalin Karikó—co-creator of the COVID vaccine).
I haven’t cancelled J.K. Rowling as she’s not ALL bad. She’s donated much to charity. And may even be a good person who somehow stumbled into this issue, getting it way wrong.
Themes explored in the plot involve Freemasonry, human trafficking, the silver antiques trade, corruption in the media, secrecy surrounding the military and intelligence services, mental health issues …
That said, the book is too long, as are most of her books in this series.
The relationship between Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott is agonizing and stupid. I can’t believe so little has progressed over 8 books.
I used to be sympathetic for Robin, as Strike is such an asshole. But she’s just as bad.
The only person to cheer for is Office Manager Pat. 😀
Worse — perhaps — is the plot. WHY did they take on a case to identify a mutilated corpse? WHY spend so much time and manpower on this case?
Who cares?
Story line convoluted and hard to follow. At the end, I read some explainers ➙ and still can’t be bothered to understand the plot.
IF you can get past those flaws, I actually enjoyed this book.
I don’t normally enjoy fantasy — but there was something about this book that kept me going.
The pace at the beginning was encouragingly quick.
It’s set currently with mobile phones and apps. Less world building than typical for the genre.
Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain.
Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild.
Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Jasmine run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests’ shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. …
Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone…and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.
Rick McCharles 