March’s Reads

I didn’t read a lot of books in March, having immersed myself in Max Hastings’s wonderful history of the Second World War, Inferno, which checks in at about 800 pages. More on that when I look back on April.

Frag Box, Richard Thompson. Thompson is a fine example of why to go to conferences. I saw him on a panel at Bouchercon in Indianapolis, which inspired me to read Fiddle Game, which in turn impressed me enough to keep Thompson on the radar. I took way too long to get to Frag Box, but books have the endearing ability of waiting for tardy readers, so it was as good as I’d hoped it would be, though quite a bit different from its predecessor. Thompson has the ability to disappear into his writing while maintaining a style of his own, which must be damned hard to do, since so few people can do it. He’s has written two books since Frag Box; the only question for me is which to read first.

In the Morning I’ll Be Gone, Adrian McKinty. The final installment of McKinty’s Troubles Trilogy, featuring Catholic Sean Duffy as a member of the nearly all Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary, when the only job in Ireland more dangerous than being a member of the RUC was to be a Catholic RUC. I went into this book in more detail a few weeks ago. Suffice to say, I’m as struck by the entire series today as I was when I first read The Cold Cold Ground. Tours de force, all three.