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

🚨 THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO IS HERE 🚨@tashaowensmusic's viral new anthem "TDS" just dropped its OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO — and it's every bit as bold, hilarious, and unapologetic as you'd expect. 🔥

Watch now on our YouTube channel and see why everyone's talking about it. 🎶🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/DZ3SYO9US6

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

Sounds Greek

I'm still listening to these songs after more than 15 years. No need to know the lyrics.

Six Singles Under One Roof

Tags: Korean, movie and TV actors, reality show

Drat. I'm hooked again on a Korean reality show with 6 TV and movie actors almost and in their 40s and never been married except one male. They lived alone for between 7 and 20 years. It's like Roommate  for older singles. Once again Jang Keun-Suk is the main reason I am watching. But I have seen the works of the other 2 males and one female, Lee Da-Hee. Jang Keun-Suk has been a favorite of mine since I first saw him in You're Beautiful and Beethoven Virus. He disappeared from KDramas for several years making only 2 or fewer series a year to focus on his solo music career. I only found out from this show  that he had thyroid cancer 3 years ago. That's probably the reason he looks bloated and unhealthy. He takes a cocktail of vitamins, minerals, and a variety of supplements daily like a 90 year old person.

The first episode is hilarious. Keun-Suk ordered an almost 50 pound live octopus for their first night dinner together and it started crawling out of its box. Everybody was shouting and running away from it as though it is a monster. They had a wonderful dinner cooked by Keun-Suk, using all the parts of the octopus.

One of the funniest housemates is Choi Daniel who has no filter and just blurts out his observations of his new roommates without thinking if he might offend them. But these actors are very polite and they don't quarrel or argue at all. 

Lee Da-Hee is the oldest among them at 42. She is tall at 5'8" and very thin, almost skeletal although she eats a ton, very slowly, that she's the last to finish eating. She is also a neat freak, cleaning up everything while they were still cooking, washing and wiping surfaces and walls, all the pans and pots once they have served their purpose. I've only seen her in several series and movies and I have the impression that she is a bit anal in her neatness from just watching one of her reality shows.  

The third male is the "unfortunate" actor Ahn Jae-Hyun who had a very public wedding and nasty divorce story and maybe the reason the shaman proclaimed he had lost his former self and needs to rediscover it. Poor guy. 

There are 5 an hour and 30 minutes episodes with subtitles so far. Episodes 6 and 7 are already out but still raw (no subtitles). 

This reality show is surprisingly airing simultaneously on HBO, Amazon, and Apple TV. I wonder why Netflix didn't join the party.. 

The cast

 

Murder By Design

Tags: Amazon First Reads, humor, murder mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

In a world carefully constructed for murder, solving crimes takes a keen mind and eye in a witty, clever, and fresh reinvention of the whodunit.

Edison Bixby is wealthy, handsome, and, due to a traumatic brain injury, impulsively rude. He’s also a brilliant insurance investigator who solves baffling crimes by figuring out how the design of the man-made world around us makes them possible.

Enter Wally a struggling actor hired to keep Bixby from offending everyone he meets. Their first case together looks like a simple accident. Caroline Crowley took a nasty fall down a staircase at a shopping mall in front of dozens of witnesses. Video clearly shows the deadly misstep. But Bixby is certain she was murdered by design, subtly manipulated into causing her own demise. The mall itself made the crime intentional, if not inevitable. Now Bixby must prove his outrageous theory before a very cunning killer gets others on his hit list to murder themselves, too.

I'm glad Amazon First Reads included a male writer in maybe 6 months of nothing but female authors. Month after month all the free books for First Reads are written by untalented female authors. The only other time I downloaded was 2 years ago in 2024 Dean Koontz' The Bad Weather Friend. When I visit the First Reads page, I look at the authors' names and if the choices are written by a sea of females, I just skip it. Why bother downloading when they are 99% stupid. Sorry for the rant. 

I didn't expect to like this humorous short novel but I did and recommend it highly.  The pair a la Sherlock and Dr. Watson complement each other very well. Very funny duo. Bixby is a combination of Sherlock Holmes, M. Auguste Dupin, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Agatha Raisin. Teaming with the failed actor Wally as his assistant is brilliant IMHO. There's a twist at the end that I guessed early on. Still a great read for readers who have a sense of humor.

Nobody's Fool

Tags: murder mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

In this stunningly twisty thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben, a secret from former Detective Sami Kierce’s college days comes back to haunt him.

His memory is clear, but all these years later, the facts don’t add up…which is something he cannot ignore. Sami Kierce, a young college grad backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning, covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. His screams drown out his thoughts—and then he runs. Twenty-two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who’s working off his debts by doing low level surveillance jobs and teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school in New York City. One evening, he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she bolts.

For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day. His investigation will bring him face-to-face with his past—and prove, after all this time, he’s nobody’s fool.

This is the second book in a series featuring Sami Kierce, and ex NYC cop. I read the first book, Fool Me Once, in 2017 and I don't recall Detective Sami Kierce at all. He was not prominent in the book nor in the Netflix series. 

Harlan Coben decided to write a series that has him as the lead character together with a bunch of students who are wannabe amateur sleuths. They help him in their own way to solve mysteries, crime, and murders. Kinda like the ongoing trend similar to Thursday Murder Club. I like the story of one of the students, Golfer Gary. If the book is successful and the  author continues with the series, he might feature the students' personal stories one book at a time. I like that idea because Golfer Gary's story is almost a heartbreaking tragicomedy IMO.

Sami Kierce's trauma from the "dead" Anna lasted more than 20 years until she appeared in his classroom. He is of course relieved that he didn't murder her after all but he wants to find out why he was made to believe that he killed her. Any normal person who suffered from the guilt for 20 years will have the same reaction. At the same time, he is dealing with a murderer who was let out of prison and a missing girl from 20 years ago. The novel is definitely twistier than pretzel and very entertaining.

Recommended for Harlan Coben fans.

Project Loki

tags: crime, Filipino drama series, mystery, thriller 

7 episodes so far, every Saturday, ongoing

From Viva One

One of Wattpad’s top mystery-crime thrillers comes alive with Viva One stars Dylan Menor, Marco Gallo, and Jayda Avanzado. Join Loki and Lorelei as they crack puzzles, solve cases, and uncover dark secrets within the halls of Clark University.

I've been watching Filipino comedy and drama series lately, the ones with young people - High School and University kids. They do not have much adult drama scenarios like cheating spouses or manipulative characters. Project Loki got me interested because it's about 2 university students helping the campus police solve mysteries, murders, and crimes within the university They are like Holmes and Watson. Take note of the name - Loki (Sherlock) and he has a nemesis who calls himself M as in you know who.

I like the series, the actors, the theme song that I find myself eager to see the next episode. 

Queen Anne Is Dead

tags: historical fiction, politics, romance

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads 

First reissue in over a century of a lost classic by Patricia Wentworth • From the author of the hugely successful and enduring MISS SILVER crime series, QUEEN ANNE IS DEAD is a historical novel set England and France in 1714.Kensington Palace 1714, Queen Anne is dying. Assorted courtiers, flatterers, rogues and favourites are frantically positioning themselves ready to reap bountiful patronages from the new king. 

The scheming Lady Henrietta Clavering is in her element. But the machinations between Lady Clavering, her estranged son Philip and her much younger beau Jack Murray are about to take a surprising turn. Meanwhile, Philip is dispatched on a fool’s errand to the village of Mercy in the Duchy of Lorraine deep in rural France and into the life of the beautiful Hélène, daughter of a Jacobite exile.

The novel set in 1714 is hardly about the death of Queen Anne but more of the suffering of Philip at the hands of his own mother, the despicable Lady Henrietta Clavering. Philip was thought to be dead for 2 years and suddenly came back, His mother tried to make him disappear for good a second time but did not succeed, making Philip learn the truth about his mother's deadly schemes and find true love in young Hélène. 

Highly recommended.

Escape: Sore wa Yukai no Hazudatta

 

tags: Japanese dorama, mystery, satori

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From YouTube 

Yagami Yui, the only daughter of a major pharmaceutical company president, is kidnapped on the night of her 20th birthday. The plan fails miserably. And when the hostage looks her kidnapper in the eyes and says "Run away with me" — a nationwide manhunt begins. What starts as the worst kidnapping in history unravels into a decades-long conspiracy about identity, power, and a secret she's been carrying her whole life. 

The title is Escape: Sore wa Yukai no Hazudatta (ESCAPE It Was Supposed to Be a Kidnapping). The 2025 Japanese series is not playing on Netflix nor Amazon. I watched it in one of the Asian drama websites. 10 Episodes.

The subject of this dorama is a family with satori ability. Yui sees colors when she touches a person, dark for dark aura and light colors for maybe a good person. Her aunt hears sounds, not sees colors. When they touch each other, there are no colors or sounds, neutral in other words. 

Yui takes advantage of being kidnapped to escape not from the kidnapper but from her own father who put a GPS monitoring anklet on her and employed a bodyguard for her. Yui suspects her father of something sinister and decides to cut the device and asks her kidnapper to drive her to where her former nanny lives. From there, she also escapes from the nanny taking the nanny's child with her. The kidnapped becomes a kidnapper in order to protect the child whom she thinks is being neglected by his mother. She and the kidnapper become friends and partners in escaping together. He is not a bad person although he spent sometime in juvie custody for petty theft. They call themselves Hachi (Yui) and Linda (Daisuke). They acquire friends who help them along the way. 

Note: The video is an hour long summary of the almost 10 hour series. I couldn't find a trailer for the series.

The Friend Of The Family

tags: historical fiction, mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads 

A girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discovers her mysterious purpose in a moving novel about family, sacrifice, and transcendent love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

The human “oddities” in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket.

Until she’s rescued by two compassionate strangers. Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds it.

Yet despite everyone’s overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They’re vivid, unsettling, and threatening. Alida fears that they’re also warnings. And that it’s the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world.

Alida will do anything to help those she now holds nearest and dearest. Empowered with a purpose to vanquish evil, she will not fail her family.

The Friend Of The Family is different from all the Dean Koontz books I have read. The first person narrative is a first for me from Koontz. It is written as a sort of journal by the main character, Alida/Adiel.  

Alida is physically deformed but her mind is excellent. She has certain uncommon skills such as remembering word for word the books she has read, and she has read tons of books. She also has a precognitive ability and what the Japanese call Satori. Her dreams are very vivid that foretell future events and although she cannot prevent them, the family can prepare for their coming. She also did something almost supernatural as though she was an angel sent from heaven to help her adopted family and their German shepherd, Rafael. Her deformity was revealed only at the very last few pages which I think is just proper for the readers to see her as she is seen by the Fairchild family, a normal person.

The story is set from 1930 to 1944 when the USA was still suffering from the effects of WWI and up to the tragic WWII. The Fairchild couple work in the movie industry and the novel has many Hollywood biggies such as  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Groucho Marx, Laurel and Hardy and their wives. etc. These people sort of lighten the story amid the dark events during that time. 

Highly recommended.

Iranians Worldwide Celebrate

 

Iranians all over the world celebrate the death of their oppressor doing the Trump dance, thanking the president, USA, and Israel. 

The left and the democrats meanwhile are devastated and do nothing but whine and cry hard that their beloved terrorist is gone forever. 

Sudden Marriage (Ikinari Kon)

 

tags: Amazon streaming, Japanese dorama, romance

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Amazon

"Sudden Marriage" follows plain office worker Mao Koshiba. After being cheated on and drinking herself numb, she wakes in a handsome stranger's bed: Hajime Ando, her new boss.

There are so many questionable things in this Japanese romance dramedy. The male lead, Shirota Yuu is 190 cm (6'3") tall and the lead female, Saito Kyoko is 155 cm (5"). Yuu is 40 years old and Kyoko is 28. 12 year difference in age and she looks very young. But I don't mind and I like the mystery-ish vibe. What's funny and strange is Shirota is shown as pure Japanese and that's how all the characters also see him. I think it is deliberate.

Shirota Yuu is half Japanese, half Spanish (mother). I first saw him in Hana Kimi when he was just 22 years old. I'm not sure if this his first lead role in a Japanese romance series. He has several supporting roles in many Japanese movies and TV shows.

 

Yuu is also a singer. Yuu's Mentirosa featuring his younger brother Jun