SS-GB

My first time reading Len Deighton. He is probably most well known for the film adaptation of his book “The Ipcress File” starring Michael Caine. SS-GB is a murder mystery set in an alternative history where Britain lost the war against Nazi Germany and is under occupation. Readers of Robert Harris’ “Fatherland” or Philip K. Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” will enjoy this book immensely. The atmosphere of tension, fear and claustrophobia Deighton conjures is palpable. It reminded me (in a good way) of John Le Carré’s work.

Polostan

This is the first in a new spy thriller series from Neal Stephenson. This book covers an interesting period of history during the aftermath of the Russian revolution and the American Great Depression. Hot takes: I did not realise where polo horses were bred in America. I also did not realise that American companies and architects helped design some of the Soviet Union’s blast furnaces for steel manufacturing. Great book and will certainly read the follow-up instalments.

See also Seveneves and Fall or Dodge in Hell.

2024 A Novel of the Next World War

2034 A Novel of the Next World War. Book Cover

A page turner from Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis about a hypothetical near-peer conflict set in the year 2034 between the United States and China. When I spoke about the book with a work colleague, we both felt “2034” was in the same vein as the cold war / hot war thriller “Red Storm Rising” by Tom Clancy from the 1980’s and that is not a bad thing. Enjoyable and a bit scary.