The devil's alternative, by Frederick Forsyth

 

As I was organizing my fiction in recent weeks I came across this novel by Frederick Forsyth; I've owned it for ages but never got around to reading it. Back in the 80s and 90s I was an avid reader of spy fiction including Forsyth, Ludlum, and Le Carré. Forsyth books that I read back then were The day of the jackal, The fourth protocol, and The Odessa file. Unbeknownst to me, this novel, which was published in 1979 and set in 1982, is about Ukrainian nationalists who want to start an uprising against the Soviet Union by assassinating the head of the KBG. They succeed in their attempt, but their getaway goes wrong and they're arrested and jailed in West Berlin. Their fellow nationalists attempt to free them by hi-jacking an oil carrier and threatening to release a million tons of crude oil into the ocean. Told from many viewpoints, including the terrorists, diplomats, the ship's captain, the story is slow to build but around the halfway point becomes irresistible. It was ironic to be reading a book with this theme during the Russian war against Ukraine, and at the same time, watching Jack Ryan season 3, which also had a Russian theme.

The wench is dead, by Colin Dexter

 

A different approach for Colin Dexter. Inspector Morse is taken to the hospital after suffering a perforated ulcer exacerbated by his heavy drinking. Another patient there is the author of a small book about a 150 year old murder case, and Morse becomes obsessed with proving that they got the wrong men.

The secret of annexe 3, by Colin Dexter

 

Another complicated mystery from the Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter.

Maya's notebook, by Isabelle Allende

 

I loved this book about a young girl who goes astray after the death of her beloved grandfather. After being required to stay in a rehab facility for years, she leaves and faces six months of harrowing drug use and danger until she is rescued by her grandmother and spirited away to her ancestral home in southern Chile. The writing is superb and the story is remarkable.