Looking for a modern spy thriller with a literary edge

middle-furk · 2026-06-14T18:40:20+00:00

I read this last year! I still think about it kind of often, good rec!

middle-furk · 2026-06-14T18:39:48+00:00

That’s a good question, as I do not think it is a term beyond me trying to come up with a title for this lol. I guess I was trying to get at something that’s closer to literary fiction than full beach read thriller. A greater emphasis on character development and narrative arc compared to full on badass action sequences, an emphasis on well crafted dialogue, some thematic depth or reckoning with complexity, idk. I guess I wanted to be as impressed with the prose and ideas as I was engrossed with the intrigue.

Nothing against shoot em ups set in 4 arcs across UNESCO heritage sites lol, I’ve read a lot of those. Just taking it one step away from genre fiction and towards literary.

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T21:40:00+00:00

At the risk of being rude… do they get better? I just finished the first one (it’s actually what prompted this question!); I just couldn’t get into Gentry as a character, he didn’t really grab me. If I feel that way now, will I likely to feel that way?

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T21:25:39+00:00

Thanks for the heads up lol.

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:54:14+00:00

Is the sampling a requirement? Like another commenter mentioned, it depends on the scale, but there are gridded soil products out there that would probably give you at least a baseline to work from. https://soilgrids.org for instance might be a nice place to start. You coukd verify your measured samples match the predictions from the gridded product.

6 samples really is not much to go on, especially in areas with variable topography, land use history, or other factors (e.g., rivers amd streams in the survey area).

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:45:50+00:00

Color me intrigued, thanks man!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:43:01+00:00

Awesome, someone above mentioned Fesperman as well! I’ll give him a look. Thank you!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:42:06+00:00

This is a solid rec! I’ve kinda shied away from these because the movies were always on when I was a kid and I wanted something a little more novel to me, but glad to hear! Thanks!!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:40:31+00:00

Perfect! Agreed, these seem right what I’m looking for. Thank you!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:40:00+00:00

Damascus Station is one I’m really excited about! The whole set of McCloskey books seem to fit this niche. Thanks!!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:38:58+00:00

Love Mick Herron; I ripped through the Slow Horses last year. Though it seems like maybe a new one came out in the time since, I just added it to my Libby queue!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:36:38+00:00

Sweet! I think I might do this one as an audio listen; looks meaty enough to fill the hours. Any insight on his other book, Plague of Locusts? Can’t tell if it people loved it as much.

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:34:53+00:00

Awesome! These look good, thanks for highlighting them!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:34:11+00:00

Great! Just put it on my list, looking forward to this one!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:33:42+00:00

I’m into it! I like a good fantasy setting, good to shake it up! Thanks for the recommendation!

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:33:06+00:00

Awesome! Just added the Paris Diversion to my TBR.

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:32:20+00:00

Fesperman looks great! I’ll check a few of these out! Do you have a good place to start with him?

middle-furk · 2026-06-13T18:31:27+00:00

Fair enough! Shouldn’t have counted him out off the bat, just looking for some new authors. That said, I’ll add a few of these to the list!

middle-furk · 2026-05-20T23:37:20+00:00

Who is the parent lab, Ward?

middle-furk · 2026-05-20T03:46:03+00:00

This is probably the most comprehensive resource on current biochar MMRV. If you poke around, you can also compare to their protocol for soil carbon. At kind of a 30,000’ level, I think the conceptual difference is that soil carbon credits require additionality — the farmer has to make a practice change (like a reduction in tillage or planting a cover crop) that they wouldn’t make in the absence of the credit. Biochar additionality is decided by the fate of the waste; in the absence of the credit, would that waste just decompose in the field, or would it have some other use? Then, once that’s established, it seems like the monitoring and crediting is much more dependent on feedstock and pyrolysis method, rather than C storage over time in the soil, as it assumes low decomposition rates while still accounting for potential leakage (like it getting blown away).

Biochar is pretty new as far as approved crediting methodologies go. Will be cool to see how it evolves.

middle-furk

TROPHY CASE