There are a few authors whose books I almost always request when I see their books on NetGalley, Ann Cleeves is one of these authors.

The Dying Light is the fourth book in the Detective Matthew Venn series. Each of her books that I have read are part of a series. She writes several series and I am sure you’ll have no problem in finding them.

Reading a series in order does have the advantage of getting to know background of characters in depth. But each book is written so it can stand alone.

As you might expect the mystery starts with a suspicious death. And then progresses to a likely double murder. More pressure is put on the investigators because of a connection to a powerful politician.

The situation is complicated and there are multiple suspects. As Matthew Venn’s team investigates, we get to learn more about the suspects and possible motives but the mystery seems to deepen as we see relationship between them.

Cleeves is very good at weaving in histories of Venn’s team, the suspects, and various locals into the mystery. When the killer is finally revealed, I was totally surprised but I could also see that it made perfect sense.

I thank Netgalley (https://www.netgalley.com ) for the chance to read this before publication. Sadly, this book is not available now but is scheduled to published on Sep 29 2026.

Carlos the Jackal is famous. In this work of non-fiction you do learn a lot about him, various terrorist movements, intelligence services and politics (especially Middle East politics). You may be surprised to learn that he was not really named Carlos and how the Jackal part came about.

The book is THE JACKAL: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist by Joby Warrick. It is an authoritative and well-written account by the national security correspondent for The Washington Post.

I thank Netgalley (https://www.netgalley.com ) for the chance to read this before publication.

This is a rather short review but for those who prefer something longer, a wonderful and more detailed review appeared in the New York Times about a week ago.