What Fiction are you reading this week, January 25, 2026?

[hermetic]

This discussion thread is pinned.

Just finishing The Feast by Margaret Kennedy. This little masterpiece is so funny, and sad. Amazing to think it was written over 75 years ago.

Listening to An Easy Death, a dark fantasy by Charlaine Harris. "A taut new thriller (2018); the first in the Gunnie Rose series. Set in a fractured United States, in the southwestern country now known as Texoma." Quite entertaining. I always thought the HRE was Holy Roman Empire. Silly me.

I hope you all are safe with ample heat, food, and books. Fortunately for me, I am west of the storm.

[Bristlecone]

1. Secret of Secrets, Dan Brown Hard Times, Charles Dickens

The Dan Brown book is the usual Robert Langdon formula. It’s decent.

Started reading Charles Dickens last Fall starting w/ David Copperfield,(which was excellent). tThen read A Christmas Carol” over a couple of days during Xmas week. Now, Hard Times. Oliver Twist or Great Expectations next.

[cbabe]

2. John Sandford/Ocean Prey

Reread. Have you ever chosen a book for fantasy travel? Escaping winter to Florida sun and sand.

Also a top notch Lucas and Virgil thriller.

[Bayard]

4. That's a good one

I recommend all the Prey books.

[hermetic]

5. Yes, I do enjoy

reading stories about Florida and the Keys when it's all icy outside. That one's on my list.

[cbabe]

3. Speaking of fantasy/alternate American history, have you read

The Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card?

Nephew called it ‘seriously good’.

From Goodreads:

From the author of Ender’s Game, an unforgettable fantasy tale about young Alvin Maker. In this alternative history of frontier America, folk magic actually works—dowsers find water and second sight warns of true dangers—and that magic has colored the entire history of the colonies. Alvin, the seventh son of a seventh son, is a Maker, the first to be born in a century. He must learn to use his gift wisely. But dark forces are arrayed against Alvin, and only a young girl with second sight can protect him.

[hermetic]

7. No, I haven't

Sounds good. I see there are 6 books with a new one due out this year, Master Alvin.

[Bayard]

9. "Seventh Son,"

Sounds good. I will look for it. "Ender's Game," the movie, was interesting.

[Bayard]

6. Finished, "The Woods," by Harlan Coben last night, while the snow fell

Its a good one, with interesting twists and turns. "Twenty years ago, four teenagers disappeared in the woods at summer camp. Two decades later, everything changes. Paul Copeland's sister was one of the missing teenagers. Now raising a daughter alone after the death of his wife, he balances family life with a career as a prosecutor. But when a body is found, the well-buried secrets of the past threaten everything."

I'm thinking another Child & Preston will be up next from my new stash.

[hermetic]

8. Sounds like a good one

Don't think I've ever read a Coben book. Put it on the list, I will.

[Bayard]

10. He's pretty good

I've read several of his.

[MIButterfly]

12. Harlan Coben is one of my favorites.

Most of his books are very good, but a few were disappointing to me. Is "The Woods" a recent one? I don't seem to recall that one. Off I go to look it up.

Edited to add: It's from 2007. I don’t know how I missed it. I'm going to check if my library has it.

I like his Myron Bolitar series a lot and there were several stand-alone novels that were excellent.

[hermetic]

16. Pendergast

I belong to the Preston & Child fan club and get some marvelous emails. I thought you might enjoy excerpts from the most recent.

Through our long careers chronicling the cases of Special Agent Pendergast, one mystery in particular has continued to loom ever larger in our minds. It is the case that lies behind all the others, the original investigation that launched Pendergast on the fateful trajectory of his life. Vague references of it have surfaced now and then, offhand mentions, odd hints, only to vanish and leave us wanting more.

Pendergast always resisted our pleas to tell us his “origin story.” When out of desperation we finally appealed to Constance, she volunteered to help. We don't know what she said, but she succeeded, and Pendergast decided it was time to open up to us. Realizing how ephemeral this change of heart might be, we quickly sat him down and collected the full, the strange, the awful, the tragic story of his first case.

When we heard it, we finally understood why he was so reluctant to share the story with us and the world. And when you read it, you, too, will realize why.

PENDERGAST: THE BEGINNING just published.

Can't wait to read this one!

[MIButterfly]

11. Fatal Flaw by William Lashner

I just started it. I got it from the library a couple of months ago and am just now getting around to it.

[hermetic]

13. Sounds good

About an "ethically adventurous Philadelphia lawyer who usually ends up doing the right thing, but, as his law partner says, often for all the wrong reasons."

[LogDog75]

14. The List by Steve Berry

The story is about a lawyer, Brent Walker, who returns to his hometown, in Georgia. Ten years earlier, his wife committed suicide and he left town and worked in the Atlanta Prosecutor's office. Two years ago, his father drowned while fishing and his mother has early stage of Alzheimer's disease. He get a job as legal counsel in the local paper mill. The mill has invested heavily in the town and offers good wages, retirement, and they provide in-house medical insurance. One of the three founders of the paper mill, Chris Bozin, is dying and he wants to clear his soul. What he and his two partners have been doing over the last 20 years is complying a Priority list of current and retired employees whose medical conditions is costing the company millions of dollars. Their in-house security chief ensures those whose with expensive medical conditions are eliminated in a manner in which no one will question their deaths. Bozin documents want he and his partners have been doing and seals it in an envelope. He gives the information to Brent to open and follow his instructions. After Bozin is put on the Priority list and killed, Brent realizes hem his mother, and others he cares about are in mortal danger from the company. He has to figure out how he and the others will survive as well as bring down the remaining two partners as well as the killers the company employs.

[hermetic]

15. That sound pretty exciting.

Thanks!!

[yellowdogintexas]

17. I finished The Russian Cage book 3 in the Gunnie Rose series by Charlaine Harris

It was very good! Lots of exitement, unexpected surprises. The characters are still great and she really can tell a good story

I dived right intoBook #4 The Serpent in Heaven

synopsis: Felicia, Lizbeth Rose’s half-sister and a student at the Grigori Rasputin school in San Diego—capital of the Holy Russian Empire—is caught between her own secrets and powerful family struggles. As a granddaughter of Rasputin, she provides an essential service to the hemophiliac Tsar Alexei, providing him the blood transfusions that keep him alive. Felicia is treated like nonentity at the bedside of the tsar, and at the school she’s seen as a charity case with no magical ability. But when Felicia is snatched outside the school, the facts of her heritage begin to surface. Felicia turns out to be far more than the Russian Mexican Lizbeth rescued. As Felicia’s history unravels and her true abilities become known, she becomes under attack from all directions. Only her courage will keep her alive

The POV has switched from Lizabeth to Felicia, and She jumps right into it too. This is the last one I can read for a while until they pop up on the discount list (which is where I got the first 4) or I get them from the library.

My book club is reading "The Body" by Bill Bryson. I am still waiting on my ebook from the library.

If you are familiar with Frangela from the Stephanie Miller show, they have a book club on their Patreon site. The newest book is Prequel by Rachel Maddow It's down to $4.99 on Amazon, so I snatched it up. This book club reads through a few chapters at a time so it is a different experience.

[yellowdogintexas]

18. Hermetic how are you liking An Easy Death?

I am really enjoying the series and I am going to hate having to wait!!!

[hermetic]

19. I really liked it

And have already got the second book, A Longer Fall, lined up to listen to.

[yellowdogintexas]

20. Glad you are enjoying it. I am plowing through it.

I checked the library after I posted my question to you and scored Book 5 for Kindle!!!

It just gets better!!

I love Charlaine Harris's books! I have read 4 of her other series and liked them all.

Side note on Ms Harris: She lives in Granbury, TX which is about 30 miles from Ft Worth. There is a very active chapter of Texas Democratic Women there and every year I attend their fundraiser and silent auction.A couple of years ago her books were on the auction table which didn't surprise me because there are several ladies over there who donate books.

I assumed a big fan of hers donated the books. When I asked about it, I was told she donated the books herself and was attending the event! My friend pointed her out to me and of course I went right over to meet her. She is really nice. (and the books were autographed).

Now not only do I enjoy her writing, I also appreciate that she donates to Democratic causes! She did attend last year's event but I did not have a chance to speak with her. (but she did donate books again) I hope to see her in September and tell her how much we are liking this series. I will report back.

[hermetic]

21. Excellent!

You can tell from her writing that she is quite intelligent and I wasn't surprised to learn she is/was also a poet.