Network Effect

Network Effect by Martha Wells, 350 pages.
The first full-length Murderbot novel from Wells. Murderbot finds itself and several of its human friends kidnapped by some odd alien -type beings. Being Murderbot, mayhem ensues.
For those not in the know (you should definitly be "in the know" many of my colleagues and the wonderful Ann Leckie have convinced me of this) Murderbot, formerly a SecUnit, a lethal security robot under control of a profit-driven, unscrupulous company, but now, thanks to its ability to disable its governor module, and with the help of ART and some decent humans, an independent sort of lethal robot / human who (which?) often finds itself in mayhem-rich environments. Network Effect is a bit looser and more rambly than the novellas which precede it, but it is still an excellent, excellent book. And, am I the only one who feels that Murderbot and the Expanse operate in the same universe? Very similar universes? Okay, just me. Cool.
Thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Missouri State Library, The MLC, of which UCPL is proudly a member, was able to purchase a downloadable audio version of this book. I read it the old-fashioned way, because I could not wait, but downloadable audio brings an enormous amount of joy to my life and you should give it a try.

Fair Warning

Fair Warning by Michael Connelly, 399 pages.
Reporter Jack McEvoy, late of the Velvet Coffin, and of the Los Angeles Times before that, is now a reporter at the  consumer watchdog website FairWarning. He is still relentless about pursuing the stories that interest him and he is still making the same mistakes when it comes to trusting people close to him.
McEvoy is more or less dragged into a murder investigation when the LA police question him when a woman he dated once a year ago turns up dead. It turns out she had still his contact information  and had said something to a friend about a stalker. The police push McEvoy hard, wanting to believe he is a suspect, McEvoy pushes back, beginning his own investigation.
Connelly gives us glimpses from some of the guiltier parties (trying to avoid spoilers, they are all bad people in these POVs), and does a great job keeping us guessing about the identity of the killer.
Connelly also brings back former FBI profiler Rachel Walling, alumna of previous McEvoy novels and a few from the Bosch series. All in all a very good thriller. 

These Ghosts are Family

These Ghosts are Family by Maisy Card, 271 pages.
Abel Paisley was a young man, married with children, working on the docks in England, when a container fell on his friend and fellow Jamaican, Solomon. All of the white men working with them, none of whom could tell the two Jamaicans apart believe that it was Abel that they saw crushed to death. Abel decides to take advantage of the situation and leave his responsibilities behind. Citing this as the one time racism worked in his favor, Abel becomes Solomon, leaves his family and moves to New York to begin again.
The story moves back and forth through time, from Jamaica in the early 1800s to present-day New York, following the story of Abel's ancestors, his contemporaries, and his children.