Currently reading Ruth Rendell's "Dark Corners", the last book before her death. Although I get the impression is was edited after her death, because some of the style isn't quite right. While I quite like the Wexford books, I much prefer the other books she wrote, the psychological thrillers like this one. You know someone is going to die (there is one Rendell where no-one dies, and I can't remember which one it is) but you will still be taken by surprise about who and why.
Other books I've read since I last posted a list:
"Something Coming Through" by Paul J McAuley. (McAuley is one of two British SF writers who seldom get the credit they deserve. The other is Iain MacDonald, who is a genuinely great writer. Although I'll bet money many of the SF fans here won't like his stuff.) A police procedural (sort of) set in the near future after an alien visitation. It is good, but my heart sank when I realised partway through that there will be sequels. Which means no real resolution to anything important.
"The Long Way to Small Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers. Cosy SF. I imagine the Firefly fnas will love it. Not because they have much in common, but because it also feature s a small crew of generally nice people being generally nice to each other. It's also rather sporadic, and has an action climax that is over very quickly. That said, it does avoid falling into the trap of (say) the Expanse books, where the motley randomly gathered crew all appear to be the best in all the universe in their particular fields. But the cosy spaceship style has been dead since the 60s, and I'm not sure it needs to come back. Again, the first of a series, and again it means no real ending.
"reamde" by Neal Stephenson. And I didn't spot the spelling until a character points it out. This would have made a brilliant 500-page book. Unfortunately it is about 1000 pages long (really). Stephenson seems convinced that if a 20-page chase is great, a 200-page chase must be epic, so he keeps having action sequences go on far too long. FAR too long. After 100 pages I'm not thrilled, I'm skimming ahead to find out when it finishes. Great writing lies in contrasts. The action sequences actually distracted from some more interesting ideas concerning the game at the centre of the book.
"Bring the Jubilee" by Ward Moore. And old 1950s classic of alternate world books, where the South won the US civil war. Dated in some ways, but fun, especially for the consequences of that win: the US has fallen far behind Europe in science and technology.
"The Fifth Head of Cerberus" by Gene Wolfe. It wasn't Wolfe's first book, but it is the first that is typical: unreliable narrators, hidden details, and great writing. Again, I suspect most here will hate it.
