From what I can tell, I’ve read all of Malcolm Gladwell’s books. And before reading this one, which is a kind-of sequel to his best-seller from 25 years ago, I read a blistering review attacking…

In 1936, George Orwell planted roses in the village of Wallington. I visited that village a few years ago and saw his cottage, but not the roses. It turns out that Orwell was an avid…

Imagine if Raymond Chandler wrote near-future science fiction. That pretty much sums up this book. A detective who helps the police but is not a part of the police, with incredible fighting skills and a…

This is a very strange and deeply unpleasant book about a young man who knew no love growing up in 18th century France, has a virtual super-power in his sense of smell, and becomes a…

An observation: If the first book in a series is called “Agent Seventeen”, wouldn’t the sequel be called something like “Agent Eighteen”? A minor quibble. The important thing to note is that the second in…

As this book received the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award in 2023, I thought I’d give it a go. It is a very silly book. Agent Seventeen — whose real name we never learn —…

If you’re like me, most of what you know about ancient Rome comes from repeated viewings of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Maybe even seeing Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus. I never received a “classical” education when I grew…

This a wonderful book. No, really. I was a bit concerned as I don’t always enjoy anthologies, and the only author names I recognised were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzerald, and Dorothy Parker. But that…

I recently saw (again) the film, starring Michael Caine and the late Donald Sutherland, and this awakened in me an interest in reading the original book. There were a couple of pleasant surprises. For one…

This thoroughly-researched, engaging book is full of stories that I didn’t know, showing the vast extent of disinformation campaigns over the last century or so — and not only done by the Russians. Rid has…