Steve Smith is recently out of prison. He’s sworn he’s not going back to his old life, not going back to prison again. He has an adult son he’s never met. And Steve has memories of the book he found on a bus that led to a favorite teacher disappearing when he was 14. We follow Steve through transcripts of recorded notes he left on his phone. Because in trying to find out what happened to Miss Iles (or “missiles” per the transcription software) Steve falls down the vast Twyford Code conspiracy rabbit hole. Was Twyford just a children’s author? Or a spy who hid messages to other WWII spies in her books? Maybe she was a double agent? Did she help the Nazis steal Britain’s gold reserves? Or did she save the gold via bluffs and double bluffs? Her code (does it even exist?) leads to the stolen (or possibly saved) gold. Or to a supervirus and it’s vaccine. Or aliens. Or it’s the biggest internet conspiracy hoax ever. Who knows what? Who’s lying about what they know? And what did happen to Miss Iles in 1983?

I loved the movie and didn’t realize there was a book. I loved all the added detail in the book!!!!!

I love reading classics from my childhood!

Very interesting book about a son’s journey in trying to discover how his father died, the CIA involvement in his death, as well as learning the character of the man he had never really known &barely remembered

I loved the movie and didn’t realize there was a book. I loved all the added detail in the book!!!!!

Corinne Michaels has a way of grabbing your heart and never letting go. One of my favorite authors and a fantastic listen while washing dishes

Garland compares beliefs about the afterlife, funerary issues like mummification and embalming, and general attitudes to death and dying across the peoples of the ancient world. Unfortunately the ancient world in this book only covers the various ancient societies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome (only the original kingdom, not the full empire), plus the Etruscans, Jewish people, early Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Zoroastrians. That's a lot of course, but look at a map and you see what a very small part of the ancient world. Nothing east of India or west of Italy, north of Italy or south of Egypt. So while it is really interesting, I'm hoping for a volume two covering the Far East, Africa, Australia, and the whole western half of the world.

From a Certain Point of View shares stories from the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as experienced by the background characters. Meet the caf delivery guy who rescues rebels evacuating Echo Base on Hoth. Follow the final thoughts of an Imperial admiral as he’s being force-choked by Darth Vader. A tie-fighter pilot shares her rules for not getting killed. An Uggnaught clan rushes to escape Cloud City when stormtroopers take over. The twenty-odd short stories are written by as many different authors. They vary in tone and length, but all give you the SW galaxy beyond the Skywalker family.

If I could read this over again for a first time I would. Riveting and keeps you sucked in the whole time. Absolutely love this authors writing. I will be looking for more from her.

If I could read this over again for a first time I would. Riveting and keeps you sucked in the whole time. Absolutely love this authors writing. I will be looking for more from her.