[Whip me with an Udon noodle because I don’t do enough of these. These reviews are short—not as short as the average Amazon review—but, like everyone else, unless I write a review shortly after finishing a book, my procrastination becomes infinite. Here are two books, though, that are certainly worthy to read. Enjoy.]

The Billion Dollar Spy. David E. Hoffman, author (Anchor, 2015). This was a gift from someone. Anchor is a subsidiary of Random House (who distributes the book), so the book is overpriced. Thanks to whoever gave it to me as a gift. It’s non-fiction but reads like a spy novel. While Putin has declined to follow his foreign minister’s advice to expel U.S. diplomats who enjoy that oligarchical paradise known as Mother Russia, all in retaliation for Obama’s actions (and those in retaliation for the cyberattack on his beloved DNC), the Cold War was difficult for the CIA as they tried to find spies in Moscow. This is the story about their most successful recruit and his handlers. A lot of this material was undoubtedly classified TOP SECRET for decades. So fascinating I added it to the “Steve’s Bookshelf” page! As they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

Dark Secret. Edward M. Lerner, author. (Phoenix Pick, 2016.) Can six people start a new human civilization out among the stars? They can with frozen and fertilized embryos and a lot of science and technology to back them up. Their adventure begins when a gamma ray burst from two merging neutron stars gives the Mars colony’s VIPs only a short time to prepare an expedition to preserve the human race. The teeming billions of Earth and Mars are doomed, so the six have to muddle on.

Human nature being what it is, the probability there will be one power-hungry fanatic among them is certainty. Ask yourself what the choir boys in Lord of the Flies would become if brainwashed by such a warped individual—that’s the danger the other five face. Sinister, exploitive danger generated by one individual with Hitler-like aspirations.

This sci-fi novel can be many things to many readers—dark psychological drama, extrapolative science, post-apocalyptic tale, refined space opera—but entertaining will be all their common denominators. The title is a play on words. The planet is named Dark, but the fanatical despot in the tale has a dark secret until the nefarious plans become known to the other five. Better than your average sci-fi story, I must say. Well done, Mr. Lerner!

In libris libertas!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 6th, 2017 at 4:00 am and is filed under Mini-Reviews of Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.