Reading Roundup: The 11th week of 2025
An average thriller and a quirky short story collection round out my quiet reading week.
A quiet reading week here. I have been given a purportedly excellent recommendation to kick off next week, though, so will look forward to that. Just a pretty average thriller and a short story collection this time around.
3 stars to Missing in Flight, by Audrey J. Cole
Book Description:
"From USA Today bestselling author Audrey J. Cole comes a harrowing thriller about a woman faced with the unthinkable, when her infant goes missing aboard a plane to New York. Rushing back to her seat, Makayla Rossi is relieved that all’s still quiet. But when she checks on her sleeping baby, relief morphs into fear. The bassinet is empty.
Liam is gone.
It was a long flight from Anchorage to New York, and with every flight attendant busy, Makayla reluctantly ran to the restroom, asking a seat neighbor to watch her son. She stepped away for just a few minutes. Yet at thirty thousand feet, he still vanished.
Passengers and crew scour the plane to no avail, and since no one recalls seeing her with a baby, suspicions begin to mount about Makayla’s mental state. She’s certain this is nothing like her mother’s on-air memory meltdown. If only Jack, her husband, were there. He would believe her. A high-profile banker featured in Forbes , maybe he could even help.
But Makayla is squarely on her own. And she’ll have to think fast in order to find her son—before it’s too late. "
My Thoughts:
" Despite the incredible lack of fidelity from almost every adult and the very obvious lure of the memory loss, this was exciting. I'd enjoy watching it as a TV or movie adaptation. No real surprises, but well-written, even if the Nouveau riche tickled my irritation a little."
This Book: has 284 pages, a community rating of 3.98 and was first published in 2025.
3 stars to Alien Plot, by Piers Anthony
Book Description:
" A collection of short stories by the popular science fiction writer includes the tale of an Earthman who finds a new home on an "Alien Plot" of land. Reprint. " My Thoughts: " It's hard to rate short story collections, because naturally the quality of the stories varies. I like the editorial grumblings, but there's no avoiding that this is really a collection of stuff quite off-the-path and hard to publish. Not a particularly appealing authorial introduction. Some amusement at least."
Things not on Goodreads or reread
Code of the Lifemaker and The Immortality option, by James P. Hogan.
This Book: has 256 pages, a community rating of 3.25 and was first published in 1992.
Things not on Goodreads or reread
Code of the Lifemaker and The Immortality option, by James P. Hogan.
I have read Code of the Lifemaker about a dozen times and love it. The second one wasn't quite so good, but I was asked to write an introduction to Jim Hogan for a fanzine and wanted to refresh my memory of these delightful classics.