The Reckoning (Matthew Hawkwood #6)
Book
The 6th historical thriller featuring Matthew Hawkwood, Bow Street Runner and Spy, now hunting a...
Mist Revealed (Elemental Desire #1)
Book
An ancient vampire. A bookish woman. And an explosive bond neither expected. Rune awakens into the...
Paranormal Romance
David McK (3773 KP) rated Mission impossible dead reckoning part one (2023) in Movies
Aug 19, 2023 (Updated Jun 1, 2025)
Long winded title.
It's also the 7th entry (of a definite 8, possibly more) in what-has-become Tom Cruise's signature franchise, which has now been running for nearly 30 years (27 years as of 2023, to be precise).
And I was initially shocked by how old Cruise looked during the opening scenes of this - no longer the fresh baby-faced figure of the early entries!
Anyway, this particular entry goes more into the realms of science-fiction than any of the previous instalments have, with Ethan Hunt and co searching for a way to stop the rogue AI known only as The Entity.
Personally, I found this to get a bit muddled in the middle - with one surprising death that I wasn't expecting (and that left a bit of a sour taste) - although it all leads to a barn-buster of a final act.
Personally, I still feel that Rogue Nation is the one to beat.
The Queen of Poisons
Book
The Marlow Murder Club is on the hunt for a killer... Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies...
Hidden in Smoke
Book
When the crimes of a serial arsonist lead to murder, Sharpe and Walker need detective Eve Ronin to...
David McK (3773 KP) rated Project Hail Mary in Books
Apr 13, 2025
Watched the movie no long afterwards.
Enjoyed both, but not enough to make me hunt out any others by the same author, so never (yet) read "Artemis" by the same author.
Then saw this on sale on Kindle, for something like 99pence, so thought I might as well give it a chance, after checking it was not part of a series i.e. could be read as a standalone (which it can).
Like The Martian, I found this enjoyable enough, maybe a bit slow during the middle section, but I'm also left with a burning question at the very end - just what happened back home on Earth? The novel completely bypasses that, perhaps as it's pretty much all told in first-person perspective from the astronaut/science teacher Ryland Grace, the last survivor on board the spaceship Hail Mary on a last-ditch effort to save Earth.
David McK (3773 KP) rated Three Cheers for Me (The Bandy Papers, #1) in Books
Jan 30, 2019 (Updated Aug 10, 2025)
Mainly because I found myself stifling full-blown belly laughs sitting on a bus on the way home from work reading it.
Which happened again here.
For those not in the know, in these early novels the protagonist is a Canadian air war ace, one Bartholomew ('Bart') Bandy, who seems to constantly find himself getting into scrapes, especially where it concerns the top brass of the time, and then - somehow - coming out of them smelling of roses, as the saying goes.
I have since went on and read the entire series, but - I have to say - I found these earlier instalments, set amongst the horrors of the First World War - to be the better of the books.
First Daughter
Book
In the summer of 1895, President Grover Cleveland and his pregnant wife, Frances, retreat to their...
Historical Fiction Crime
Ultimate Lion Simulator
Games and Education
App
Jump into a brand new adventure as a ferocious Lion! Brave a dangerous new world to claim your place...



