The Book Count 2025

[Greg]

I've got a lot of authors going. It's hard to keep them straight. I really like Max Gladstone and yet he continues to fall off the radar until something or someone reminds me he is out there. I reviewed Dead Country and said I really liked it. Yes, I struggle.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Reading the second 2 close together will be really good, I think. Lotsa moving parts. His prose is getting so much stronger as well.

[Greg]

Excellent.

[Greg]

Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler

How do you get out of the autocratic dystopia once you are deep inside it? That's kind of the question this book poses. The Western World is run by AIs that make every decision. Russian is controlled by a man who will rule forever because his consciousness keeps getting transferred into younger bodies. Neither of these societies seems to be any good with the Russian being slightly worse. But forces are in play to change both societies, hopefully for the better.

It's all pretty bleak. There are a lot of mirrors to today's societies. I got a strong 1984 vibe from this book. A lot of the action takes place off stage so you have to infer a lot of the story for yourself but it all works out. Good dark stuff.

[Greg]

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

This is the sequel (I think. There might be another book as well, but I don't think so) to the Thursday Murder Club.

The whole squad is back. I now see everyone as the characters as portrayed in the Netflix movie. Elizabeth is Mirren. Ibrahim is Kingsley. Ron is Brosnan. But that doesn't take away. The characters, obviously have more depth in the book and are more interesting. Unfortunately, the story isn't quite as interesting. Although some of the new characters are quite fun.

There is a wedding and the best man goes missing, feared dead. His partner in an underground vault is the main culprit but so are various Lords and Drug Dealers. There are several subplots about abused daughters and young girls seeking a life of crime which add flavor but don't really impact the main story. And the main story peters out at the end. The answer to the mysteries are kind of banal.

But the writing is good even if the story being told isn't quite up to snuff.

[Drunk Monk]

The Big Empty by Robert Crais

Back to my junk food. When I first started reading Crais back in the late 1980s, he was kind of a stop gap while I waited for the next Robert B. Parker Spencer novel. In the beginning, they were pretty much the same character, Elvis Cole and Spencer. But I've learned to like Cole for his own virtues and Crais has acquired his own voice.

In this case, Elvis Cole is hired by a muffin baker/influencer to find her father who went missing ten years ago. Of course, Cole finds the clues everyone else missed. Of course, Cole gets into trouble. But the book is well written and the characters are engaging. And I get to drive around Los Angeles with Cole and reminisce.

It is funny that Cole, and his Vietnam era army buddy Joe Pike are still in their late thirties as they traverse 2024.

Umm. 

It’s 2026 now.

[Greg]

Time is fleeting. Madness takes its toll.

[Drunk Monk]

Time is fleeting. Madness takes its toll.

I remember