Book Log 2018 #17: The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black

Dublin pathologist Quirke gets pulled into another mystery, this time over the apparent suicide of a young woman that he doesn't quite believe was suicide. Quirke unravels the mystery of the young woman's life and death while dealing with similar issues in his own life.

I thought the actual mystery here wasn't as interesting as in the first book, but was more drawn in by how Quirke and his family are dealing with the events of the first book. There's enough there to almost make the mystery superfluous. Which may not be such a great thing in a murder mystery series, but it's enough for me to stick with it.

Book Log 2018 #16: Blood of Victory by Alan Furst

As Hitler is on the march in Europe, a Russian journalist is approached by the British for help with a plan to slow (or stop) that march. The goal: deny the Germans the output of the Romanian oil fields. The journalist criss-crosses Europe in the attempt, eventually winding up in Yugoslavia with plans to disrupt the barges carrying oil intended for the Nazis.

It's a worthwhile installment of the Night Soldiers series, dishing up its usual mix of wartime espionage, moral ambiguity, and doomed romance.

Book Log 2018 #15: A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin

John Rebus picks up a case of two teens killed by an ex-Army man and loner, with whom Rebus seems to identify (wonder why?). The investigation faces roadblocks both from a local MP (whose son survived the shooting) and a pair of military intelligence types, who would like to keep much of the shooter's past in the past.

Also confounding the investigation is the suspicion the Rebus was involved in the death of a local hoodlum who had been bothering Siobhan Clarke. The crook died in a fire, and Rebus just happened to go to hospital around the same time for treatment of burns. It should not surprise you that Rebus is suspended for a time while this is investigated. It should surprise you less that Rebus continues to investigate the shootings while suspended.

I think what I like the most about these later books in the series is how they tie together the threads of the past. It's not necessarily direct links - for example, I don't think any of the Army characters served with Rebus - but how the plots and characters from the early parts of the series inform what happens now. This should be expected in a long-running series, but it doesn't always happen. So if you've been reading the series, look forward to these later books. If you haven't been, you should probably start.

Book Log 2018 #14: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neil Stephenson and Nicole Galland

I was not particularly interested in reading this book - I don't think of myself as much of a fantasy reader, and the prominent mentions of magic kind of put me off - but I am very glad I overcame my prejudices and picked this up.

The premise is that magic was once common, but as technology developed it hampered the ability to perform magic, with it dying out completely at the time of the Great Exhibition in London. It's up to a team led by the book's protagonists - a low-level university linguist and a military intelligence operative - to figure out why this happened, and if there's a way to bring magic back.  As you might imagine, as the project moves along and grows it becomes harder to manage, with both expected and unexpected results.

I liked pretty much everything about the book, and think it's well worth a read.