By Rob Hart
** Publication Date 24 June 2025 **
4 stars



I didn’t read the first novel in this series, but it didn’t matter. The Medusa Protocol is a fast-paced novel about former assassins coming together to save one of their own. Super speedy pace to this novel. I honestly can say I don’t think there’s a dull moment.


Mark is a former assassin. He frequents a meeting in the basement of a now defunct Catholic Church. The meeting is for those who have left the ranks of hit men and assassins. Assassins Anonymous is based off the more common AA, Alcoholics Anonymous. 


Astrid has been off the grid for a bit of time now. Mark is concerned that she’s either fallen back into the killing lifestyle or something terrible has happened to her. When a pizza is delivered to the meeting with a cryptic message, they all know it’s Astrid sending up a signal. What they don’t know is what is about to happen next.


I had previously read Rob Hart’s The Paradox Hotel and loved it. Similar in some ways, both novels tackle an alternative profession and world. Most of us cannot imagine what it’s like to live the life of someone who kills for a paycheck. Or imagine what it takes to be a person that is comfortable with that. In the Medusa Protocol a lot of the background of these people is explained. 


The novel is told from the points of view of Mark and Astrid, mostly. At times the novel truly makes light of their profession, though it’s anything but. Very well written and fun to read. The novel is complete as a standalone. I suspect I’ll be reading the first novel, Assassin’s Anonymous in the not too distant future.


Great read. Lots of violence. 
​

By Jayson Greene
** Publication Date 17 June 2025 **
​4 stars


In the world of UnWorld, humans have the ability to accessorize their brains with a device that stores their memories. Smooths them out. Helps them organize their thoughts. Not quite an implant, as they are externally worn, but somehow these devices grasp the human's brain and intersect with it. 


Anna has a son, Alex, and a husband, Rick. Alex is 15 and a bundle of anxiety. Rick has the boundless enthusiasm and energy of a golden retriever. Both Alex and Rick feel too much, while Anna is more stoic. Anna was gifted an 'upload' by her husband for her 40th birthday. For eight years she's synced nightly with this non-human part of her brain. But when things go horribly, terribly wrong in her life, she can no longer handle having this extra voice inside her head. It has simply become too much.


This was not an easy book to read. Some of the themes are very dark and tragic. The characters are all struggling with their own issues. But that being said, it's also an amazing dive into the human psyche. Each chapter covers a point of view of one of the main characters, starting and ending with Anna. While Anna really is central to the entire story, the true center is the 'upload.' This fictional bit of hardware that almost seems to have a soul is the main character and the reason for the story to exist. 


Quite creative in the sci-fi sense, this book really isn't science fiction. While the town Anna and the others inhabit is mostly run by AI, the people are just people like you and me. With the same quirks and habits. It's really very well done in the sense that you don't feel like you're going to an alternate universe. 


As I said, not the easiest book to read. But worth every minute spent reading. The character development and storyline are interesting. Well thought out and well constructed. I did enjoy it. 


Trigger warning: suicide and addiction 

By Allison King
** Publication Date 3 June 2025 **
​4.5 stars


A pencil is just a pencil to most of us. In Shanghai back before WWII, there was a family that had the ability to perform magic with pencils. It’s almost a lost art, until Monica Tsai wants to help her grandmother remember her past and wants to gather her grandmother’s stories before it’s too late.


Monica is a software engineer working on a project that links people through social media posts. She decides to try the software to reconnect her grandmother Yun with her long lost cousin Meng. What she uncovers leads her to a college student, Louise. It will be Louise that has the key to getting Yun and Meng back together. 


Yun grew up in Shanghai with her mother at their family’s pencil company. One day her cousin Meng arrives with her mother to stay with Yun and her mother. Yun doesn’t want her there and does everything she can to discourage a friendship with Meng. When a practical joke turns on Yun, she finds out that Meng knows family secrets that Yun doesn’t. 


Really beautiful story about pre-Communist Shanghai, Taiwan, and those whose families were torn apart by war and politics. Monica’s journal entries are interwoven with correspondence from Yun to Meng, piecing together the history of Monica’s ancestors. It’s so beautifully written. This novel wonderfully weaves the past and the present together into a cohesive story about families and the stories they share or hide. 


Long, but incredible read.

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By Kenneth Oppel
** Publication Date 3 June 2025 **
​4 stars


As the world hurtles toward the effects of climate change, you have to wonder, what will happen to all of us when the Earth is no longer habitable? Would a benevolent galactic neighbor take pity on us? Would it just be our demise? What if you woke one morning and found your home, exactly as it is, in a brand new world?


Xavier, his dad Caleb, and stepmom Nia, head to the lake to spend a week at their cottage. Zay’s brother Sam stayed home with his mom, but Caleb wanted a week with his 13 year old son before Nia gave birth to a new baby. They get to the cottage late, and head to bed. Zay is first up in the morning, and what he finds isn’t what they left last night.


Their cottage, down to the sandwich wrappings in the trash, has moved. The lake that used to be outside the cabin has been replaced by a barn and goats in a field. GOATS! Zay thinks he’s lost his mind, so he wakes his dad. Sure enough, they aren’t where they should be. They are now in a new place. They’ve got running water and electricity, but no car, and nothing to be seen for miles.


After some exploration, they determine that they are the only place in a roughly six mile diameter dome. No way out. They get to work farming, and make the best of their new life in this place. 


Until another family arrives and puts the hope of maybe getting out of the dome into Zay’s head. Can they learn to live peacefully with another family? Or will the differing views of the two families be the end of all of them?


What a thought provoking and amazing novel. You won’t want to put this one down as you watch one family adapt to their new surroundings while the other fights it tooth and nail. All along the questions arise as to how they got there, why they are there, and is there any chance of ever returning to their old lives? Really amazing novel. As with so many books, I want more. I want to know what the future brings for these people. 


Loved it.