This is a sequel to The Grey Wolf, a book I didn’t like.

Black Wolf is better.

Penny took pains to ensure Ruth and her duck make appearances. Our favourite character.

This book tries to be an end-of-the-world thriller. Not at all believable.

Will the USA invade Canada over fresh water?

I don’t buy it.

Always a doubter, for me the Gamache books have gotten worse over the years.

I liked them better when they were cozy village mysteries.

This book will be a huge success, despite complaints.

I do appreciate Penny pointing out the possibility of Trump becoming some kind of American dictator-for-life.

Nash Falls (2025) is surprisingly good.

Part 1 of an intriguing story. I’m looking forward to the sequel to be published 2026.

I’ve always considered Baldacci to be a lightweight pop fiction writer, cranking them out. BUT his recent books have been much more serious writing.

Walter Nash is a happy, wealthy, boring business executive.

However, following his estranged Vietnam-veteran father’s funeral, Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night.

They have an important request: become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money ….

At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.

Nash has little choice but to accept the FBI’s demands …

But when Steers discovers that Nash is working with the FBI, she turns the tables on him in a way he never could have contemplated. And that forces Nash to take the ultimate step both to survive and to take his revenge: He must become the exact opposite of who he has always been.

Sara Paretsky (born June 8, 1947) is an American author of detective fiction, best known for her novels focused on the protagonist V. I. Warshawski.

Dead Land (2020) is the first of her books I’ve read.

It’s an odd but entertaining book.

For some reason, V. I. Warshawski investigates this case without getting paid by anyone.

Not much happens plot-wise. BUT that doesn’t stop Vic.

The main reason to read it to follow the first-person narrative of the sarcastic, funny, and fiercely self-reliant character.

Chicago is the city of broad shoulders, but V.I. Warshawski knows its politics: “Pay to Play.”  Money changes hands in the middle of the night; by morning, buildings and parks have been replaced by billion-dollar projects.

Private investigator V.I. gets pulled into one of these clandestine deals when her impetuous goddaughter Bernie tries to rescue a famous singer-songwriter, now living on the streets.  

Thanks to Bernie, V.I. finds herself in the path of some developers whose negotiating strategy is simple: they bulldoze – or kill – any obstacle in their way.

Questions pile up almost as fast as the dead bodies.  When she tries to answer them, the detective finds a terrifying conspiracy stretching from Chicago’s parks to a cover-up of the dark chapters in the American government’s interference in South American politics.

saraparetsky.com

Well written. A sophisticated plot.

But I did find myself getting bored at times.

BEST was the ending — not always easy to do with novels.

Paul and Sylvie Turner are the bad guys. Hired to murder a woman who knows too much.

Six years ago, Jack Till helped Wendy Harper disappear. But now her ex-boyfriend and former business partner, Eric Fuller, is being framed for her presumed murder in an effort to smoke her out, and Till must find her before tango-dancing assassins Paul and Sylvie Turner do.

Silence (2008)

If you like Grisham, you will like his 2025 novel The Widow.

It’s much better than his last book, The Boys from Biloxi.

A down-on-his-luck small-town lawyer sees a way out of financial ruin when a wealthy widow arrives.

After the widow has a car accident, she dies in hospital.

The lawyer is charged with murder, poisoning some cookies he gifted her.

This book is the usual detailed courtroom drama. BUT has the murder mystery added in to spice up the story.

The main criticism of the book is the last-minute reveal of the actual killer. We wonder why that character wasn’t introduced earlier.

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Fast and Loose (2017) is one of the better books in the long Stone Barrington series.

Stone’s yacht collides with something bigger — and sinks.

Dr. Paul Carlsson and his daughter, Marisa, save him

His rescuers are owner-founders of the world-famous Carlsson Clinic, with a reputation akin to the Mayo Clinic.

Inevitably, Stone and Marisa hook up.

In a related story, St. Clair Enterprises has suffered the loss of its CEO and owner, Christian St. Clair, to a bomb blast. 

His successor, Erik Macher, is, surprisingly, given St. Clair Enterprises in the CEO’s will.

Mocher is the bad guy. Jake his henchman.

Stone Barrington finds himself in the middle after an old friend, Ed Rauls, drags hime in.

I’m making it sound too complicated. These books are fast-paced, easy to read.

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.

The technology behind Stonehenge is fascinating.

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Follett is a terrific storyteller. Good v Evil. Characters whom you can cheer and despise.

It’s worth reading, for sure.

BUT I can’t call this book the equal of any of his his Kingsbridge series.

I was somewhat disappointed. There’s no need for him to write a sequel.

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I’ve been a big Reese Witherspoon fan since Legally Blonde (2001).

(She keeps me watching The Morning Show, for example.)

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.

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