I might be reading too fast. This is the 10th week of the year and I’m about to finish my 14th book of 2024. Because of that they are running together a bit. I apologize, as these summaries aren’t the most detailed of my writing career.


The World We Make – N.K. Jemisin
Jemisin’s Great Cities series was supposed to be a trilogy. Between the pandemic, US politics, and some other things that got her down, she decided to cut it off at two books.

Because of that, this book felt rushed and incomplete. Her story about the avatars of the boroughs of New York battling with and against each other as forces from another dimension attempt to destroy the city just never found a good rhythm. What should have been an epic finale came and went with a whimper.

I understand why she decided to cut things off. If your heart ain’t in it, your heart ain’t in it. But I think she let what could have become a great story wither and turn into something not worthy of her talent.


Moscow X – David McCloskey
McCloskey’s Damascus Station was one of my favorite espionage books of this decade. This was nearly as good.

Instead of focusing on the Middle East, here McCloskey pivots to the growing, new cold war between the US and Russia. When a rift develops between the ruling Russian elite, a secret CIA group – Moscow X – pounces to exploit it.

Rather than standard spy stuff, though, this book reflects the reality of the new Russia: the conflict is all about using capitalism to gain leverage over an opponent. The Russians are fighting with each other over money they’ve stolen, in one way or another, from their country. The CIA is using money to gain entry into the world of the Russian elite to find ways to bend them to the West’s advantage. That seems a long way from the original Cold War, when capitalism was battling communism as much as the countries were competing.


Calico – Lee Goldberg
This mashup of genres was a terrific read.

On a February night in 2019, a vagrant runs in front of an RV in remote Southern California and is killed. At the same moment, there are mysterious fires at two nearby military bases. And, soon, a semi-famous TV chef is reported missing from the same area.

I don’t want to give away too much about the plot, but it is a delightful mix of mystery and sci-fi. I really enjoyed how Goldberg laid out the elements of the story. Time travel plays a big part in the book and I loved some of the observations about living in the past one of the characters made. Not many stories about going back in time mention how much the past stank!