The air is polluted. World has heated up, requiring more air conditioning. Water supply questionable.
People spend a lot of time in ‘wooms’, something like a climate controlled capsule.
“hums” – humanoid robots – are increasingly taking the jobs of humans.
Mary is out of work — and hears of an opportunity to earn several months’ salary by receiving an experimental facial injection, and takes it. The injection will render May’s face unrecognisable to the ubiquitous hums. She’s a guinea pig for a form of adversarial AI.
The American economy might never have been stronger relative to the rest of the world than in 2024.
BUT more and more of that money is going to the very rich. If that continues, you can project the States will be come some kind of oligarchy. Perhaps even a totalitarian state.
The Economist still ranks the USA as a ‘flawed democracy‘ in their annual Democracy Index. Only 29th on the list of democracies.
The full democracies 2023:
Norway
New Zealand
Iceland
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
Ireland
Switzerland
Netherlands
Taiwan
Luxembourg
Germany
Canada
Australia
Uruguay
Japan
Costa Rica
United Kingdom
I want to live in a full democracy where it’s easiest to get rid of leaders the majority don’t want. As Churchill said: “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”
The full democracies tend to have a smaller gap between rich and poor.
Russians can’t get rid of Putin. Ali Hosseini Khamenei has been the leader of Iran since 1989. Iranians can’t get rid of him.
Americans should be wondering whether they can get rid of Musk or Trump.
It’s obvious that the top 1% buy American politicians who vote in their interest. This chart is from 2014. Things are much worse in 2024.
With the new TV series launching 2024, there was more than usual interest in the 2024 release of 33rd book in the series.
I’d say this is one of the better books. Entertaining escapism.
It’s timely. Set around the inauguration of a new President.
Judges on the list of potential Supreme Court candidates are being murdered.
Why?
A body believed to be the vigilante serial killer called “M” is found after a car wreck in Nevada.
Bree believes that he was the mastermind behind the criminal organization Maestro. She and Sampson pursue to the lair in British Columbia. And disappear.
Very early, 4:45 on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out. But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck — and find themselves for just one second face to face with a blond woman who’s driven into the garage.
Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, wife of an investigator named Lucas Davenport.
Did she see enough? Can she identify them? Gnawing it over later, it seems to them there is only one thing they can do: Find out who she is, and eliminate the only possible witness….
Another kinda dumb, non-stop action, entertaining read.
19th Christmas is the nineteenth novel in the Women’s Murder Club novel series by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.
Better than average, I’d say.
Christmas is coming …
Detective Sgt. Lindsay Boxer, her family, and her friends of the Women’s Murder Club have much to celebrate. Crime is down. The courts are slow and the medical examiner’s office is quiet.
Journalist Cindy Thomas is working on a story about the true meaning of Christmas in San Francisco.
Then a series of crimes and threats of horrific crimes to come put the entire police force into nonstop action.
At first, all they have is a name, “Loman,” behind the threats. It takes until Christmas before enough pieces come together to find enough to hope to pinpoint where Loman can be caught.
Rick McCharles 