The Woman in Suite 11

 The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware (2025), 387 pages

I was dense and didn't connect that this might be a follow-up to The Woman in Cabin 10. I realize it has that on the cover, but I listened to the audiobook and it totally escaped me. So, when I heard the name Lo Blacklock, all the pieces came together. If you have the time, I highly suggest re-reading The Woman in Cabin 10. It came out in 2016 and getting a refresher on that mystery will enhance this one. There is a ten-year time jump between the two stories. I appreciated this as Lo has a bit more backstory as do the supporting characters. Lo, though (and I do say this with love), is still a fumbling, naive human that you would have thought had learned more through her first murder experience. But Ware does write solid, intricate, twisty mysteries and I will continue to read them. I do hope she continues this series and lets Lo grow a bit in her detective skills. Although, I suppose it wouldn't be Lo if she wasn't a completely trusting and generous soul. 

Among the Thugs

Among the Thugs by Bill Buford (1992) 313 pp

An absolutely frightening read. While riding the tube in London, journalist Buford observes loutish behavior by football fans and decides to find out what all the fuss is about. For the next several years he immerses himself in the tawdry fan base of a number of British club teams as they rampage across the country and the European continent. Buford seems to be channeling Hunter Thompson’s wild ride in the book Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga and George Orwell as he explored poverty in Down and Out in Paris and London. In his defense, Buford would never have been able to embed himself if he hadn’t embedded himself. His deplorable subjects were reluctant to go on the record. Not only were they involved in criminal activity, they were also proud of their bigotry and claimed to be maligned by the press. Hence the only way to report on the clubs was to become one with the fans. So, rather than take the “high road” of a traditional reporter – neutrally observing and filing a story – Buford plunges into the raucous behavior, cozying up to the team supporters. In too many examples to recount, he attempts to match their drinking habits and interacts with the thugs: drunks, Nazi sympathizers, skinheads, outright criminals, and other riff-raff as they disrupt civil life in the name of sport. Ethically it is hard to justify this style of reporting and indeed his observations are bleak and pretty simplistic. He recognizes and explains the frightening nature of crowd behavior (including getting severely beaten himself) and how otherwise good citizens can slip into anti-social, self-destructive behavior. Nothing good happens in this saga.

The Ice Age

The Ice Age: a Novel / Margaret Drabble, 295 pp.

A slow but insistent novel of Anthony and Alison, their friends and the children of their blended family, set in the backdrop of 1970s Britain during a period of economic malaise and national identity crisis.  The ills that beset the country play out in the lives of these characters: IRA activity is intensifying, and Anthony's friend is killed at a London cafe explosion; property values have plummeted and real estate speculators are going to prison, among them the couple's friend Len; Alison's daughter Jane causes a terrible car crash behind the Iron Curtain and is imprisoned indefinitely.  Dreary but not hopeless and extremely smart.  I liked this very much.