Trust Her by Flynn Berry

TRUST HER by Edgar Award winner Flynn Berry (Northern Spy) starts out with a surprise kidnapping and spirals into additional suspense and intrigue. The main character is Tessa whose past history means that the IRA wants her to turn an M-I5 agent. Scary situation for anyone, especially a young Mom and thriller fans will really enjoy the chase. Tessa’s sister, Marion, was also an IRA informant and she goes missing which further upends Tessa’s fragile stability. TRUST HER received starred reviews from Booklist (“empathetic characters seen believably navigating unforeseen circumstances”) and Kirkus (“A meditation on generational trauma—along with well-scripted action and suspense.”).

 

Westport by James Comey

WESTPORT by James Comey again features Nora Carleton, the U.S. Attorney prosecutor from his debut novel Central Park West. Nora has left government service in Manhattan and taken a new, well-paying job at a hedge fund in Westport, Connecticut. The new lifestyle is working well for Nora and her family (daughter Sophie and Mom, Teresa) until Nora’s boss, the Chief Operating Officer of the hedge fund, Helen Carmichael, is found murdered. Suddenly Nora seems to be the prime suspect and her friends, Benny Dugan, a mafia investigator with the U.S. attorney’s office, and Carmen Garcia, a lawyer and Nora’s former boss, are anxious to help her. Comey has provided another twisty mystery with involved family dynamics regarding relinquishing control and at the hedge fund and concerns about improper trading. The values of this hedge fund - where truth is a paramount virtue and almost all conversations are recorded – appear in sharp contrast to the discovery of a series of “private” files stored by Helen and suitable for blackmail. Nora, Benny, Carmen, and local law enforcement combine forces to solve a mystery which Comey keeps evolving. And critics keep praising: Publishers Weekly describes WESTPORT as a “crowd-pleasing blend of financial thriller and Agatha Christie-esque whodunit” while Booklist notes “this one is intricately constructed with plenty of surprises.” 

Unit X by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff

UNIT X by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff explores “How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War.” In the past, it was the Pentagon which often funded private experimentation with technologies like nuclear power, lasers, and even early versions of the internet. But in the early twenty-first century, military technology was far behind available options (think GPS, drone application, facial recognition, etc.).  Acknowledgement of this situation led to the establishment of Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, DIUx, formed in 2015 and headquartered in Mountain View, California. Shah and Kirchhoff were two of the founders and hence provide an inside look at Unit X’s evolution. They chronicle the initial resistance from DoD as officials sought to protect relationships with traditional suppliers and appropriations from Congress. And then there was resistance within Silicon Valley, as when three thousand Google employees signed a letter arguing that the company “should not be in the business of war.” Readers will be fascinated by stories involving companies like Palantir, Anduril, Shield AI, Joby Aviation and venture capitalists as well as the authors’ insightful analysis of the culture clash between the military, clearly risk-adverse and bureaucratic, and tech innovators. The authors poignantly conclude: “the ultimate goal is not to win wars but to deter them. … Advocates of innovation must keep pressing despite the seemingly Sisyphean task of reform. Leadership must back them to the hilt.” An extensive Bibliography (about 15% of the book) and a helpful Index are included. Recent analyses of military tech “disruptors” and future trends are available online from sources such as RAND, McKinsey and Brookings.  UNIT X was longlisted for the Financial Times Best Book of the Year and reviewed further in publications like The Wall Street Journal and briefly in Foreign Affairs.

Other Rivers by Peter Hessler

OTHER RIVERS by Peter Hessler is subtitled “A Chinese Education.” Hessler is a staff writer at the New Yorker and has written several other award-winning travel texts. He has lived and worked in China over many years and this text describes the changes he sees given the roughly twenty years which have passed between his initial time in Beijing (2000 to 2007) and time in Chengdu (2019 to 2021). OTHER RIVERS offers an insightful perspective on the lives of many of Hessler’s former and current students and there is much here about what he learned while teaching, too. Hessler is particularly effective in evoking emotion, partly due to the excerpts of student writings which he includes. COVID was active during his second stint in China and Hessler explores and relates the Chinese societal response, detailing the activities and restrictions in Wuhan, even his correspondence with a pharmacist there. OTHER RIVERS received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.

The Movement by Clara Bingham

THE MOVEMENT by Clara Bingham is about “How Women's Liberation Transformed America 1963-1973.” Bingham (Witness to the Revolution) is an award-winning journalist and author. She has divided her latest text into sections that deal chronologically with events and people relevant to the women’s liberation movement. She has interviewed more than 100 women and consulted primary documents in order to write about topics like abortion, the formation of NOW, the role of Shirley Chisholm, and publication of Our Bodies, Ourselves. But there is so much more as Bingham once again cleverly utilizes contemporary voices to truly convey an important and tumultuous time in American history. THE MOVEMENT received a starred review from Publishers Weekly (“Readers will be electrified.”) and Booklist recommends it for teen researchers, saying “This provides a wealth of information for report writers presented in a uniquely accessible format.”

What's Next Is Now by Frederik Pferdt

WHAT'S NEXT IS NOW by Frederik Pferdt, Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist, describes “How to Live Future Ready.” Pferdt, who taught at Stanford for a decade, outlines five key points: make your future happen; your mindset is critical; learn to expect the unexpected; pursue better (progress, not perfection); and check in with yourself regularly (i.e, what future do I want to create?).  After briefly introducing about a dozen “future ready” people (mostly colleagues from Google), Pferdt stresses values like optimism, openness, curiosity, experimentation, and empathy and offers exercises to practice and develop those habits. His “work is entirely focused on the future -- how to see potential and solve challenges in situations we haven't yet encountered.” This is an inspirational text and might make more sense to read as a team, reinforcing each other and re-emphasizing the hard work of shifting mindsets so as to adhere to the “belief that change is constructive, not a threat.” What fun, for example, to explore and play together with Google’s Arts and Culture resources. WHAT'S NEXT IS NOW is a 2024 Next Big Idea Club selection.  Pferdt’s emphasis on “future ready” made me think about the ALA program with that title from a few years ago.

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths

THE LAST WORD by Elly Griffiths is the fourth in a series involving detective Harbinder Kaur (start with the first, Stranger Diaries for a great read). Once again, Kaur suggests involving private detectives Natalka (energetic and Ukrainian-born) and Edwin (in his eighties, but still a great contributor) with help from Natalka’s boyfriend, Benedict who runs a coffee stand. Readers will come to know the personalities and motives of each of these three as they look into the death of a local romance writer. Turns out that there seem to be several writers who died recently and they are linked to Battle House where Edwin and Benedict register for a writers’ retreat seminar as they continue sleuthing. THE LAST WORD is a fun read with plenty of twists. And some of the best comments are cultural references like, “It's the same with Duolingo, which he started during lockdown. … he's not going to lose his streak.”  THE LAST WORD received starred reviews from Booklist (“Griffiths is one of the most engaging writers in the business.”) and Library Journal (“satisfyingly twisty cozy”). Enjoy!