{"id":16832,"date":"2025-11-18T08:10:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T13:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=16832"},"modified":"2025-11-18T08:11:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T13:11:49","slug":"readers-notebook-11-18-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2025\/11\/18\/readers-notebook-11-18-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader’s Notebook, 11\/18\/25"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somehow I haven\u2019t read a spy book since July. It was time to revert to the mean, so this entry features one proper spy story, one that brushes up against the genre, and a proper mystery.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sheepdog – Elliot Ackerman
\nWhen I added this to my reading list, I noted that it was described as being for people who liked Mick Herron\u2019s Slow Horses series, either the books or show. There is some truth there, but I wouldn\u2019t say they are siblings. More like cousins once-removed. In fact, this felt more like an Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen novel.<\/p>\n

An ex-CIA officer, Skwerl, is having a difficult time after an unceremonious divorce with the US military. He stumbles upon a private group that provides lucrative jobs for people with his skills and is tasked with stealing a jet. He\u2019s not given a reason for the mission, just that he needs to get the plane somewhere safe temporarily to facilitate other events. He and the Afghani pilot he\u2019s recruited for the job, Big Cheese, will get a pile of cash for their efforts.<\/p>\n

Things quickly go sideways, and continue to go sideways, in hilarious ways. Skwerl\u2019s girlfriend and Big Cheese\u2019s wife are pulled into the mess. So is an Amish farmer with a BDSM fetish. And some other very Hiaasen-like characters.<\/p>\n

A fun, funny page turner.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fortune Favors The Dead – Stephen Spotswood
\nThis is the super charming first book in an unconventional mystery series. It is written from the perspective of one of the main characters, Willowjean Parker, a former carnival worker who ends up in World War II-era New York and, completely randomly, saves the life of an unorthodox private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. The two form a partnership, with Parker doing a lot of the footwork for the brilliant Pentecost, who suffers from Multiple Schlerosis and has moments when she is physically limited.<\/p>\n

Parker is writing from down the road, looking back on her career, here not the first mystery the duo solved together, but one of the most interesting, involving multiple deaths within a prominent business family, a \u201cseer\/psychic,\u201d and several parts of New York society that were hidden deeply underground in 1945. It has a snappy style that immediately comes to mind when you think of that era. It was good enough that I\u2019ll probably read another in the series at some point.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Collaborators – Michael Idov
\nAn American CIA agent loses an asset when he is killed by the Russian commandos. Soon the agent\u2019s team is assassinated, and the agent just avoids being killed in the attack. His investigation leads him to a young American woman whose billionaire father recently disappeared after wiping out all the accounts he managed. Naturally their stories are intertwined and lead to adventures in Latvia, Portugal, Morocco, Turkey, and Russia. Almost Bond-like!<\/p>\n

As much as I like a book that is brisk, there seemed to be something lacking from the overall plot, the parts falling together too easily. That said, it ends with a clear jumping off point for continuation in a book that is due early next year. So I guess I appreciate Idov not carrying on too long if there\u2019s more to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Somehow I haven\u2019t read a spy book since July. It was time to revert to the mean, so this entry features one proper spy story, one that brushes up against the genre, and a proper mystery. Sheepdog – Elliot Ackerman When I added this to my reading list, I noted that it was described as being for people who liked Mick Herron\u2019s Slow Horses series, either the books or show. There is some truth there, but I wouldn\u2019t say they are siblings. More like cousins once-removed. In fact, this felt more like an Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen novel. An ex-CIA officer, Skwerl, is having a difficult time after an unceremonious divorce with the US military. He stumbles upon a private group that provides lucrative jobs for people with his skills and is tasked with stealing a jet. He\u2019s not given a reason for the mission, just that he needs to get the plane somewhere safe temporarily to facilitate other events. He and the Afghani pilot he\u2019s recruited for the job, Big Cheese, will get a pile of cash for their efforts. Things quickly go sideways, and continue to go sideways, in hilarious ways. Skwerl\u2019s girlfriend and Big Cheese\u2019s wife are pulled into the mess. So is an Amish farmer with a BDSM fetish. And some other very Hiaasen-like characters. A fun, funny page turner. Fortune Favors The Dead – Stephen Spotswood This is the super charming first book in an unconventional mystery series. It is written from the perspective of one of the main characters, Willowjean Parker, a former carnival worker who ends up in World War II-era New York and, completely randomly, saves the life of an unorthodox private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. The two form a partnership, with Parker doing a lot of the footwork for the brilliant Pentecost, who suffers from Multiple Schlerosis and has moments when she is physically limited. Parker is writing from down the road, looking back on her career, here not the first mystery the duo solved together, but one of the most interesting, involving multiple deaths within a prominent business family, a \u201cseer\/psychic,\u201d and several parts of New York society that were hidden deeply underground in 1945. It has a snappy style that immediately comes to mind when you think of that era. It was good enough that I\u2019ll probably read another in the series at some point. The Collaborators – Michael Idov An American CIA agent loses an asset when he is killed by the Russian commandos. Soon the agent\u2019s team is assassinated, and the agent just avoids being killed in the attack. His investigation leads him to a young American woman whose billionaire father recently disappeared after wiping out all the accounts he managed. Naturally their stories are intertwined and lead to adventures in Latvia, Portugal, Morocco, Turkey, and Russia. Almost Bond-like! As much as I like a book that is brisk, there seemed to be something lacking from the overall plot, the parts falling together too easily. That said, it ends with a clear jumping off point for continuation in a book that is due early next year. So I guess I appreciate Idov not carrying on too long if there\u2019s more to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-16832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-books"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16838,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16832\/revisions\/16838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}