Aurora (2022) was written by David Koepp, one of the most successful screenwriters of all time.

Great story. A surprisingly upbeat take on a dystopian future.

It’s an account of what happens if a CME, or coronal mass ejection, causing geomagnetic storms, hits the Earth.

In Aurora, Illinois, Aubrey Wheeler is just trying to get by after her semi-criminal ex-husband split, leaving behind his unruly teenage son. 

Then the lights go out—not just in Aurora but across the globe. 

A solar storm has knocked out power almost everywhere. 

Suddenly, all problems are local, very local, and Aubrey must assume the mantle of fierce protector of her suburban neighborhood. 

Across the country lives Aubrey’s estranged brother, Thom.  A fantastically wealthy, neurotically over-prepared Silicon Valley CEO, he plans to ride out the crisis in a gilded desert bunker he built for maximum comfort and security.

But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of several long-overdue reckonings—which not everyone will survive . . . 

Some of the best have endorsed this book including Linwood Barclay and Blake Crouch.

Very good.

Sleeping Beauty is a 1973 novel by Ross Macdonald.

This one I found surprisingly sophisticated. The plot quite complex.

Private eye Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands – including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of nembutal, a six figure ransom and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach.

Murder Takes a Vacation (2025) is super popular right now.

It’s an easy read murder mystery with a charming protagonist.

“She was a large woman,” Lippman writes. “OK, fine. She was fat.” But Mrs. Blossom is comfortable with her body although she occasionally feels self-conscious when she senses others are judging her.

She is in her late 60s now, widowed and a grandmother, but thanks to a winning lottery ticket she found in a parking lot, she has money for the first time in her life. One of the things she does with it is take her first trip to Europe.

On the cross-Atlantic flight, and again when she reaches Paris, younger men begin showing Mrs. Blossom a great deal of attention. She rather likes this, although she wonders if they might be after her money. But soon, after she boards the cruise ship to tour the Seine, she becomes aware that she is being followed. Eventually her stateroom is ransacked and a stranger tries to mug her. …

Book Review: An aging widow’s European river cruise turns deadly in ‘Murder Takes a Vacation’

Metzger’s Dog (1983) has a bit of a cult following.

A surprising and quirky story.

Leroy Chinese Gordon (Wonderful name!) is a bit of an idiot savant, minor criminal, tool and die guy who lives in Los Angeles.

He has lovingly hand-built his own anti-aircraft gun and mounted it in the back of his Ford van.

He has two close friends who have particular skills (lockpicking and sharpshooting) and who comprise his “gang.”

He has a beautiful (Of course!) and smart (Surprisingly!) girlfriend named Margaret.

Chinese himself is ruled by his roommate, Dr. Henry Metzger, a cat.

The Nature of Things review

While stealing cocaine from a University lab, the misfits grab a locked box — which happens to contain research papers.

The CIA desperately wants the papers back. They assume the Russians stole them, using the cocaine as a cover story.

Meanwhile, Chinese has problems selling the cocaine.

AND there’s a vicious junkyard dog, a huge, black brute that wants to kill the gang. Until tamed by Dr. Henry Metzger.

I enjoyed the first 2 books in this collaboration:

1. The President Is Missing
2. The President’s Daughter

So was enthusiastic about The First Gentleman (2025).

I’d say it’s the best of the three. And it would make a good TV mini-series.

The President of the United States is up for reelection.  Her husband is on trial for murder.  

Is the First Gentleman a killer? 

A pair of investigative journalists set out to answer that burning question about the NFL star-turned-political spouse. 

Another great book by one of the best authors working today.

Void Moon (2000) is the ninth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly.

… the third of Connelly’s books not to follow the character Harry Bosch.

It was also his first novel to feature a female protagonist, Cassidy “Cassie” Black, and a protagonist who is a criminal instead of an investigator of criminals. …

She had served five years in prison for conspiring with her previous partner-in-crime, Max Freeling, to steal the winnings of casino visitors while they were asleep. …

Cassie decides she needs just one more big score to disappear overseas with her daughter.