Slow Horses

tags: espionage, mystery, thriller

⭐⭐

Goodreads

You don't stop being a spook just because you're no longer in the game.

Banished to Slough House from the ranks of achievers at Regent's Park for various crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal, Jackson Lamb's misfit crew of highly trained joes don't run ops, they push paper.

But not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a 'slow horse'. A boy is kidnapped and held hostage. His beheading is scheduled for live broadcast on the net. And whatever the instructions of the Service, the slow horses aren't going to just sit quiet and watch.

I tried reading British spy novels again after the death of John le Carré but got disappointed with all of them. 

I find Slough Horses just okay. It has tons of characters not unlike John le Carré​'s books and there are some humor although not as witty nor funny. The author invented his own jargon but again not as effective and unique as John le Carré's, making the book IMHO the poor man's le Carré spy novels. It's not even as good as Ian Fleming's James Bond series.

I finished reading it regardless and am currently reading the second book in the series, Dead Lions hoping it will be better than this novel. In Dead Lions, the author introduced an old lady, Molly, a character very similar to Connie Sachs who is one of my favorite recurring characters in John le Carré's Karla Trilogy. I'm not too thrilled with this copycat addition. I think I'll stop at the second installment. 

Wyrd Sisters

tags: Discworld series, fantasy, humor, parody, Terry Prachett

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

Three witches gathered on a lonely heath.

A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. A child heir and the royal crown, both missing.

Witches don't have these kinds of leadership problems themselves - in fact, they don't have leaders. Granny Weatherwax is the most highly regarded of the leaders they don't have. But even she finds that meddling in royal politics is a lot more complicated than certain playwrights would have you believe. Particularly when the blood on your hands just won't wash off . . .

Wyrd Sisters is the second book in the Witches series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

Wyrd Sisters is one of the 41 books in Discworld written by Terry Pratchett. It is a parody of Shakespeare's works specially Macbeth and Hamlet and King Lear's Fool. Here, the Fool is a major character. There are several references to other works like Romeo and Juliet, etc.. The travelling theatrical group's playwright is a dwarf named Hwel (William?) and just like Shakespeare is drawn to ghosts, witches, and death themed plays. 

I like the humor throughout maybe because I already like Pratchett's witty fantasies and satires. There is an animated series based on the book which you can watch on YouTube. I haven't watched the entire video but it looks true to the book.

Happy 250th Birthday USA

Several countries are celebrating our 250th birthday with red white and blue lights on their most well-known buildings. Beautiful!

Enola Holmes 3

 

tags: Enola Holmes 3, Netflix movie

⭐

In 1886, Enola and Tewkesbury prepare for their nuptials, with the ceremony in Malta honoring Tewkesbury’s late father’s service there.

Enola insists she can be both a wife and a detective, but her brother Sherlock, already skeptical of the marriage, is secretly working on another case.

On the wedding day, Sherlock is abducted, and Enola must drop all plans to find him.

I think I'm done with Enola. This third movie is woke to the max. Haven't they heard woke is passe. I also don't like the Moriarty Moriarty Moriarty theme. It is overdone and also the reason I stopped watching Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock series. It got boring. Enola Holmes 3 suffers the same too much Moriarty. Adding to the negative is that Moriarty is played by the ugliest Black actress I have ever watched. And not a good actress either. Dr. Watson played by an Indian actor is not so bad but I've had enough. 

The movie is full of political correctness nonsense and I think the faithful followers of Enola will all go away. People are tired of being lectured about the sins of White people in the 19th century and making the you know who their victims.  

It's a pity because Enola and Tewkesbury are getting married and the movie should have been fun but it was ruined by the script and Moriarty story.

Dr. Trump Tries to Cure TDS

Hilarious AI Dr. Trump's advice to TDS sufferers (Rosie, John, Whoopi, Ed, Robert, Julia): turn off fake news, say your prayers, and when feeling anxious, drink Diet Coke. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Turning off fake news is a great advice for people afflicted with serious TDS. 

Citizen Vigilante

Citizen Vigilante is a 2026 vigilante action thriller film produced, written, and directed by Uwe Boll. It stars Armie Hammer as Michael Sanders, a vigilante enraged by the breakdown of law and order and the violence perpetuated by criminals, mostly migrants.

He decides to take justice into his own hands, killing criminals and corrupt officials. The film was inspired by a 2016 case in Hamburg where a 14-year-old girl was gang-raped by migrants while they received only suspended sentences.

The film was released in select theaters and digitally on June 19, 2026. It received negative reviews from critics while audience reception was positive.

It did not receive an age rating in Germany, effectively banning it in the country. Boll said this was due to concerns the film would incite violence against immigrants. Elon Musk released the film on X, boosting its reach. 

Streaming on Amazon and Apple TV 

Communion

tags: JD Vance, Catholicism, memoir, nonfiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amazon

From the bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy—an intimate account of why Vice President JD Vance strayed from the Christianity of his youth and what led him back to faith.

Communion is a spiritual exploration of what it means to be a Christian in all the seasons of life JD Vance has experienced—as a child, a young man, a husband, a father, and a leader. Picking up in some ways where Hillbilly Elegy left off, Communion recounts how Vance's pursuit of material privileges ultimately led him into a secular wilderness.

Communion reveals how Vance regained his faith and discusses his conversion to Catholicism, how his faith guides his work in public life, and how it shapes his thoughts about the future.

I liked his first memoir, Hillbilly Elegy and of course I want to know what made him reject Christianity and became an atheist for 10 years, returning to the faith and eventually was baptized a Catholic instead of returning to the Protestant denomination he and his family grew up with.

He lost his faith right after the death of his grandmother. Poverty also contributed to it. He started getting interested again in Christianity after the birth of his first son but couldn't decide which one to join. Although he has an uncle who is Catholic, he didn't particularly know anything about Catholicism. His birth father's religion is I think Pentecostal Christianity but he rejected that. His beliefs are more aligned with Catholicism although he didn't know it yet. He had conversations and discussions about religion with a friend, a Jewish convert to Catholicism. Two years hence, he started considering being a Catholic with the encouragement of his own wife, a Hindu, who thought Catholicism might be the best for what he is looking for according to his needs and beliefs.  He was baptized in 2019 to the Catholic religion. He once was lost and now was found. Amazing grace indeed.

Highly recommended for people who have open minds and are willing to set aside politics. 

I Will Find You

tags: crime drama series, Harlan Coben, Netflix

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The story centers on David Burroughs,  a father serving a life sentence for the murder of his young son. Although he was convicted of the crime, David maintains his innocence. His world changes when evidence surfaces suggesting the child may still be alive. Determined to uncover the truth, he sets out on a dangerous search that pulls him into a web of hidden connections, long buried secrets, and unexpected revelations.

I binge watched yesterday this 8 episode drama series based on Harlan Coben's novel I Will Find You. I read it in 2023. I enjoyed the Netflix series regardless of already knowing the who and why. 

As in most TV series adaptations from books, there are a few changes in some characters which are okay and make for great viewing: the lead FBI agent is changed from a male to a young Black female whose father is also an FBI agent played by Chi McBride whose funny one liners give a lighter tone to the tense scenes; the rich matriarch grandma is replaced by the mother; additional police characters and their stories. 

Highly recommended specially for viewers who haven't read the book.

Wolf Hour

tags: mystery

generous ⭐

Goodreads

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2016. When a small-time criminal and gun dealer is shot down in the street, all signs point to Tomas Gomez, a quiet man with a mysterious past—and deep connections to a notorious gang—who has seemingly vanished into thin air. Other murders soon follow, and it appears Gomez is only getting started. Meanwhile, Bob Oz, a down-and-out suspended police officer with a dubious past of his own, becomes fascinated by the he is obsessed with the notion of hunting down a serial killer who only he can understand, a killer with a story as tragic as his own. 

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2022. An enigmatic Norwegian man with ties to Minneapolis—a self-described crime writer—has traveled to the United States to research the Gomez case, in the hopes of writing a book about it. But as his investigation progresses, the writer’s seemingly neutral position reveals itself to be more complicated than the reader is initially led to believe.

I can't believe I gave a 1-star rating of a book written by one of my favorite authors. It is hardly a thriller. The title is not even relevant to the story because it is not about El Lobo, the Hispanic thug who is a minor character in the book, only appeared once to slaughter a family eating in a restaurant where only the father survived. Anybody with normal understanding of the text will be able to guess who the vengeful murderer is from the characters being introduced in the story. It's not very subtle and seems to be written for idiots.

The story is incoherent and reads like Nesbo made a check list of things that he doesn't like about the USA and ticked them off one by one, then wrote a dull book. I specially hated that Nesbo is now praying at the altar of Saint George Floyd. Giant eye roll here. It was not necessary to include this incident but you see, Nesbo hates the USA, guns, and police. Nesbo even defended the fraudulent Somalis and made one Somali character a very good cop. [I guess Nesbo missed the news when a Somali cop for no good reason shot dead an Australian female who reported a possible assault near her house.] This heroic portrayal of a Somali did not age well because of the recent billion $ fraud committed by mainly Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, aided and abetted by democrat politicians. 

The book was written mainly to criticize guns in the USA. Nesbo should stay out of American politics because he revealed his ignorance and contempt for Americans and should just continue writing fiction that are about crimes in Norway because he knows his own country and its criminals. 

Recommended only for woke leftists who hate America. Not recommended for normal people.

Positive Diagnosis

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— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) June 5, 2026