shelfreflectionofficial's Reviews (844)

“There would be ‘collateral damage’ along the way and young Lachlan Kite would somehow have to get used to it.”

Judas 62 is the sequel to Box 88.

Another spy novel with Lachlan Kite at center stage.

In brief: it’s a story of revenge. The past— Kite’s exfiltration of a valuable scientist from Russia— meets the present— a mission to frame a Russian FSB officer who has put out a bounty on Kite’s head for the past grievances.


At just over 500 pages, this is a long read. It’s also complex/hard-to-follow because of the larger cast of characters, dual timelines, political nuances, and UK cultural references. As with Box 88, you will want to read this one in larger chunks or you will feel lost.

Note: There is a character index at the beginning of the book, but I found it burdensome to go back and forth while reading a digital version of the book so I had to rely on context clues and memory as to who was who and who was good or bad.

At least with this one, compared to Box 88, the timelines don’t change back and forth as often. The ‘past’ portion is told in a large chunk and describes the mission to exfiltrate a scientist from Russia. It is sandwiched on either side by the present day situation where Kite’s on Russia’s radar and in order to protect his family has to engage the enemy in an effort to trap and frame him and eliminate him from the equation.


This isn’t a mystery novel where you aren’t sure who the bad guy is. The reason you want to finish this book is to see if justice is served, if the mission succeeds.

To that effect, I wanted to and was interested in finishing the book.

However, it felt like it took some effort to get through it all. I’m not sure if I’ll continue this series because of the swearing, the widespread lust and sexual content, the length (including a lot of information or parts that seemed unnecessary), the confusion. I’ve yet to read one yet, but I think if I’m in the mood for a spy novel again I’ll probably read one of Daniel Silva’s books instead.


More Plot Details

The setting of this story is two-fold.

The past story- 1993- takes place in Russia.

The present story- 2020- takes place in Dubai.


1993: Lachlan fills in for an injured agent to pose as a teacher in Voronezh, Russia. This is his cover to connect with Yuri Aranov, a scientist with biochemical knowledge the US does not want getting into the wrong hands— a mission of defense rather than offense. The goal is to get Yuri out of the country.

But young Lockie is still sowing his wild oats and puts the mission in jeopardy. Add to that, his girlfriend, Martha, shows up and puts herself and the success of the mission in more danger.

Can Lockie get the asset out without anyone getting hurt?


2020: Box 88, the clandestine ‘non-government’ organization Lockie works for, discovers Lockie’s cover name from the 1993 mission has just been added to Russia’s hit list— the JUDAS list.

“JUDAS was a list of Russian intelligence officers, military personnel and scientists living in the West who had been targeted for reprisal assassinations by Moscow.”

[Judas was the list name, his alias was 62nd on the list, hence the title. Kudos on the title correlation with the first book.]

Why, after so many years, is the name now of interest? Is he, Martha, or his family in danger of Russian assassins like so many other names on the list who have recently been killed?

The primary Russian officer Lockie went up against in 1993 is currently in Dubai. Box 88 cooks up a plan to find out more information about what Russia does and doesn’t know about Lockie, the mission, and the organization. The mission doubles as a way to frame the Russian officer as revenge for some of the fallout of the 1993 mission.

Is their inside man into Russia trustworthy enough to help them accomplish such a tall task in a foreign country without being exposed? The plan involves a dangerous weapon and many things could go wrong.


COVID Inclusion

Cumming set part of this story in 2020 during the pandemic. If talk of temperature-taking, mask-wearing, social-distancing, limited-capacity restaurants, etc is a trigger for you— you might not want to read this one.

I’m not sure if I liked that or not. So far I’ve appreciated new books that ignore that part of life and keep settings free of that nonsense.

However, in some ways, I can see how including the Covid aspect was essential or relative to the story. For example, in a highly monitored city with CCTV cameras everywhere, face masks provided an inconspicuous/normal way for the agents to blend in undetected.

Also, it was a little bit interesting to think about how other countries handled Covid— at least if what was written here was true.

For example:

“in the height of the crisis in Bur Dubai and Deira, trucks had driven past every fifteen minutes ordering citizens by megaphone— in Arabic, English, and Filipino— to remain indoors.”

Apparently there was an app called the C19 DXB Covid app which was created in conjunction with the Dubai Health Authority in an effort to provide up-to-date information on statistics, symptoms, and support and stop ‘misinformation.’

One question though: it was written several times that temperatures were taken in order to enter certain establishments and I would just like to ponder how this was able to work properly when it was also reportedly really super duper hot there? My husband was in line for a restaurant in Iowa when it was hot and it caused his forehead to be too hot and showed as an elevated temperature preventing him from being able to go inside. He was not sick. How could they get accurate readings in Dubai??


Comments

In the first book I was hoping to understand Lockie’s relationship triangle with Martha and Isobel more in the sequel. We get a little bit more information on Martha, but not really anything further on Isobel other than she and Lockie are estranged because of the events of book one.

It feels like a TV series where they make a character go travel somewhere because the actor is busy on another project and they have to figure out how to work around it.

Except this is a book not a movie and there are no character restraints.

So even though Cumming tells me that Lockie loves Isobel and his daughter and wants to reconcile, everything else in the book makes me feel like Lockie is still in love with Martha and is a bit of a womanizer.

The book sure makes it seem impossible for men to be faithful or able to reign in their lust.

“For Kite to think back to the man he had been in the summer of 1993 was to remember a different person: richer in feelings, hungry for experience and obsessed by the possibilities and complications of sex.”


There is enough talk of cricket in this book that I had to do some Google searching on how that is played. One of the characters scored 100 runs in cricket and I’m trying to figure out what that looks like. Lucky for me I have a friend from England that I’m going to go get all my more specific hypothetical questions answered!


I had to chuckle at this relatable tidbit: “a recycling bucket marked ‘supposedly saving the planet.’”
And this one: “He placed the card in the slot to activate the lights.” This was at his hotel. I have stayed at a hotel where the lights were activated in this manner. I am embarrassed to say how long it took us to figure that out. Nate Bargatze’s bit on the mystery of hotel lights really speaks to me.


Dubai is an intriguing setting to me. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go there but it seems like such an economic anomaly in that area of the world that I’m very curious about it. A ‘luxurious city’ is a strange thing for me to picture what that looks like and how it functions. But if it’s as hot as the characters say that it was, I’m not sure how enjoyable it would be there.



There was some bold political commentary thrown in this book that I’m not sure what to make of:

“‘Whole country go crazy, psychotic. Two cults. One the Trump cult, the other the cult of the self-righteous. You want to know the trouble with America? Bad schools… Bad schools and now brainwashing through media…’”

“‘… America is land of guns, land of fear, land of hate. Trump pulled back the scab and now we see the wound. We see how stupid they are, how angry…..’ ‘I think perhaps we hear too much about all that… Social media tends to amplify the noise, know what I mean?’”

“‘A president with three wives and a penchant for porn actresses can be proclaimed by his supporters as a man of God. That same president can accuse his opponent’s son of corruption while his own children enrich themselves in full view of the American people.’”

“‘Think of America. In all those places information is a problem. it’s not just a question of who controls it. It’s already out of control. It’s a question of whether people are smart enough to realise that they’re being manipulated. Film clips. News stories. Rumours. What looks like the truth and what looks like a lie?’”

As you can see, some interesting thoughts here. This wasn’t anything significant to the plot of the book, it was just side conversations between characters to fill pages, but it makes one wonder the author’s intent in putting them in there. Especially considering he is British.

I suppose during 2020, that would have realistically been a common topic of conversation around the world.


Learning Corner

More words and phrases that I learned while reading!

salubrious: healthy, beneficial

After Eight: a chocolate/mint Nestle candy bar (that I will never be trying)

Operation PAPERCLIP: a historical and secret operation after WWII in which the US relocated German scientists and engineers who had been under Nazi employment

be to the manor born: born of wealth/privilege

Factor-30: what Brits call sunscreen?

zebra crossing: crosswalk (I definitely had to reread this section because I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be zebra crossings like we have deer crossings…)


Recommendation

If you are just really into spy novels and language doesn’t bother you, then you’ll probably enjoy Cumming’s books. You can tell he does a lot of research and wants his books to be realistic.

If you’re a little pickier about your spy novels, I would perhaps suggest trying Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series (which I haven’t personally read yet but have heard good things about).

For another exfiltration from Russia read The Eighth Sister.

For a scientist exfiltration from Nazi Berlin read An Affair of Spies.

Both of those I enjoyed more than this one.

Cumming’s stories have potential, but when it comes to the books in their entirety, they just fall a little short (and long) with what I am looking to read.

Plus the main character— Lachlan Kite— is just not really a character I feel invested in. Even if it’s not realistic, I prefer my spy heroes to be a little more mature and moral.

I think if this was a PG-13 movie, I would have enjoyed it a lot more than reading it as a book.

I am also not super well-versed when it comes to spy novels so perhaps my evaluation isn’t as full as it could be. That’s for you to decide.


[Content Advisory: 73 f- and 40 s-words; lots of talk of sex but no graphic scenes described; one short paragraph describing a disturbing video of assault and rape]

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

‘Not By Blood’ is a debut psychological thriller from Chris Narozny, a ghostwriter who has coauthored four New York Times bestsellers with James Patterson. 

This book definitely had the mystery and suspense, the twists and turns and a satisfying ending, but the language turned me off a bit. I guess considering several of the characters are criminals and drug addicts it makes sense for their characters, but it’s just something I personally don’t care for. 

The basic premise of the book is this: 

Tina Evans, paramedic, gets a distress call from her drug addict brother, Bill. Not an uncommon occurrence. But when she shows up at his place he is not there. Instead there is a body, dead by gunshot and Bill’s sketchbook that he never goes anywhere without. 

Fiercely protective of her brother Tina decides to get to the bottom of it and find her brother before bringing the police in. 

Then she gets an anonymous text message that says ‘Shhh…’ Is she being watched?

Things get worse when that very same night she gets a call that her wealthy developer/architect husband, Tom, has been in a bad car accident—when he’s supposed to be home watching their son— and is in a coma. 

Tina’s world is turned upside down as she is torn between finding her brother, being there for her husband and son, and realizing some of the people closest to her have been telling lies. Plus the past comes back to haunt her as she discovers she must visit her father in prison. 

Who can she trust?

For the most part I enjoyed the book. There were parts of it I figured out early on, but I still thought Narozny did a good job of weaving the story and clues together. 

It was a really fast read at only 277 pages so it’s a low-commitment book. 

One thing I thought Narozny could have done a better job with was his descriptions. The action and suspense begins immediately— which I like— but I realized halfway through the book that I didn’t feel like I could picture the characters very well. I still am not sure what Tina looks like. 

The book is more plot-driven than character-driven but it still seems weird that I can’t envision who I’m reading about. 

Maybe that’s partly why I didn’t feel connected to the characters much and didn’t find them likeable. Tina definitely experienced some trauma in her life, but it was hard to see where she was resilient to her past and where she was still influenced in a negative way. 

Last comment: I like the book cover image and the title. That helped with the intrigue and had made me interested in reading it. 

Recommendation

If you can get past the language, this is a decent psychological thriller read that won’t take up too much of your time. 

This book didn’t blow me away, but I may be interested in reading his next book just for the plot creation. But if it’s full of seedy characters like this one, I may not. 

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

“This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time.”


I’m not sure if I was excited to read this book— I think I was more curious. For some reason I was thinking it would be more sci-fi-ish like Ready Player One since it had to do with video game creation. It is definitely plain old fiction.

I didn’t hate it but it didn’t do much for me. It felt too slow-paced and a bit ‘extra.’ Zevin shoved every major or controversial topic possible into this book instead of just focusing on one or two.

The characters were meant to be flawed but it felt like their flaws overshadowed their strengths and did more to define and drive them. This made them somewhat unlikable and their growth was harder to detect.


The primary story line follows three friends over many years and places (Boston to LA to Tokyo) as they play video games together and then create them. The two main characters— Sam and Sadie— have a volatile friendship— cyclical love/hate relationship. The third character— Marx— acts as the neutralizer and stabilizer. We know personally how messy and complicated relationships are. But we also know that relationships are a mess worth making. It takes a lot for Sam and Sadie to become convinced of that, and there’s part of me that wonders if they ever got there in an altruistic way or not.

For example: Sadie has a perpetual chip on her shoulder and fluctuates between insecurity with her abilities, standing up for herself in work but not in her personal life. Sam is overly ambitious which blinds him to others’ needs and feelings. Marx is thoughtful and managerial but sexually promiscuous and you’re not really sure what he actually cares about.

I didn’t really like how Marx became a ‘glorified’ ‘saint-ed’ character by the end.

The secondary story line (at least in my opinion) was the relationship of the characters to the worlds they create. Gaming as a way of escaping the difficulties of life. Virtual worlds that help them grieve and deal with the brokenness of the real world. The ability to be different people with different skills. The opportunity to ‘start over’ or ‘re-do’ things until they get them right. As one of their games is titled ‘Our Infinite Lives’ or as the book is aptly titled- tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. We can live again better.

“He wanted to be Ichigo… He wanted to die a million deaths like Ichigo, and no matter what damage was inflicted on his body during the day, he’d wake up tomorrow, new and whole. He wanted Ichigo’s life, a lifetime of endless, immaculate tomorrows, free of mistakes and the evidence of having lived.”



But unfortunately, the worlds they create are not real. The characters do not exist. They must still live from day to day.

“In the end, all we can ever know is the game that was played, and in the only world that we know.”

As I said before, there is a hodge-podge of topics crammed into the lives of three people. Over the course of the book they experience/discuss: disability, depression, appropriation, racism, sexism, abortion, amputation, physical abuse, gay marriage and sexuality, death, friendship, grief, murder, gun violence, suicide, and probably something else I missed.

The characters are variations of Jewish, Korean, and Japanese and much of the race and appropriation revolve around these cultures.

I think the concoction of topics takes away from the readers’ relationship to the characters because it feels like each new issue is just another buzzword.

I think it would have been more effective to focus on friendship, forgiveness, and Sam’s disability in relationship to the virtual games. Maybe, too, the loss of a friend, but the more you add in the less important everything seems.



I thought it was interesting how they recognized their desire for an ‘other-world’ where everything is as it should be. People are whole. The earth is beautiful and free of violence (well… their games weren’t void of this) and hatred. They were searching for meaning, legacy, and an escape from a broken world.

I think I have the answer for them. The current death rate is 100%. There is no second chance or infinite life. But there is an afterlife. And it can be the perfection they seek. I think they are looking for the ultimate ‘save point.’ And that is Heaven. It’s real. And for all who trust in Jesus, it is what comes next. And it will be better than an video game world that can be created.

Zevin touches on the realities and results of sin (in not so specific terms). We can all relate to so many of the hardships and heartaches the characters face. We know that yearning for something more, something bigger, something outside of this earth. That is because God put eternity into our hearts. We know in our core, that this world is not our home. Maybe this book can be a catalyst for readers to acknowledge that desire and to seek real answers for it. Not in video games. But in the Bible and the person of Jesus who is in the business of redemption, forgiveness, and restoration.



Along the lines of the ‘escapist’ story line. I found myself pondering this outside of the spiritual realm I just mentioned. Just in terms of health, mental or physical, is it a good coping mechanism to escape into fantasy worlds? Both Sadie and Sam found it comforting in their various griefs. I understand the need and benefit of distractions every once and a while, but from what I know of gaming, it’s pretty addictive. It doesn’t seem healthy to always seek to escape from their problems instead of confronting them or working through them.

Isolation, as we see with Sadie, is not usually a beneficial choice. There is an element of community in virtual worlds but more and more studies are showing that it’s not a good replacement for face-to-face physical connection. We were made to connect with people. Experience the world together, physically, as ourselves. Empathy is often lost online and is an essential component to a healthy society.

Distractions help us grieve or deal with stress, but I think there have to be boundaries for it to be helpful and not harmful.



Another aspect of the gaming side of things is the idea of success. Sadie and Sam had differing views on what a successful game looked like:

“To oversimplify: For Sam greatness meant popular. For Sadie, art.”

I was realizing how much I don’t know about video games, especially PC games. I didn’t realize they incorporated such complex stories or that there was a way to dialogue within them. Reading this game made me have so many questions about how it works to code something that is so graphics and art-heavy. A complete video game really is a work of art.

I went on YouTube and watched a few videos of people playing popular games. I don’t think it’s a hobby I want to get into because I can see how it takes up so much of your time, but it was good to see for myself a piece of what this book was about and be able to appreciate the skill and talent and time that goes into something like that.



The Oregon Trail is a nostalgic piece of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I definitely remember the game and remember the dysentery! I couldn’t relate to a lot of the gaming aspects, but I played Oregon Trail, and mostly Super Nintendo games like Super Mario world, Donkey Kong Country, Top Gear, and PlayStation games like 2Xtreme & Crash Bandicoot Racing.

I really like that Zevin incorporated this because Sadie and Sam are pioneers themselves. They are creating new paths to unknown worlds. They are experiencing the ups and downs of the human experience and of going somewhere new and have to figure out how to survive and allow others to follow them.



Some reviewers talked about the pretentious vocabulary in this book. In some ways I would agree with them. I have a pretty big vocabulary and there were lots of words I didn’t know. I agree that I’m not sure it helped the book at all and didn’t necessarily fit the characters’ personalities, but I enjoy learning new words so it didn’t really bother me. In fact, here are some that I looked up:

- Grokking: understanding thoroughly
- Ouroboros: a snake or dragon eating its own tail
- Bloviating: to speak pompously
- Palimpsest: something that has a new layer, aspect, or appearance that builds on its past and allows us to see or perceive parts of this past
- Turpitude: vile or depraved act
- Jejune: immature and childish



First side note: I thought it was funny that the very first line of the acknowledgements says that there are no secret highways in LA which was going to be the very first thing I googled when I shut the book. So thank you Zevin, for answering that for me, even though I wish it weren’t true.

Second side note: If you’re interested in trying out the Magic Eye stuff, here’s a link to a Magic Eye book on Amazon!

Third side note: This is the second book I’ve read recently that referenced Necco Wafers. Is this something I should have known about slash eating??



Recommendation

This is a hard one to recommend. I don’t read a lot of straight fiction so the fact that this won best fiction is probably par for the course and I’m just not used to that style of writing and story-telling.

But because of the language, drug use, sexual content, the hot-topic potpourri, the length and slow-pace, and the unlikability of the characters, this book didn’t do much for me and I’m not sure it will for you either.

However, many people do love this book. I wonder if they’re gamers and the nostalgia and game content interests them.

I think people who like ‘sagas’ that explore a decades-long span of life for characters won’t be turned off by the length or pacing.

I guess I would read some other reviews if you’re still unsure if this one is for you. Personally, I feel like there are better books out there to spend your time on.



A couple other books that somewhat fit the idea of this book that I would recommend over this one would be:

Infinite by Brian Freeman

Play Dead by Ted Dekker


[Content Advisory: a lot of swearing; a paragraph on the c-word; a lot of drug use; some sexual content; a whole host of trigger issues as discussed in the review]