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This book does have a couple of instances of swearing.

It feels so wrong, yet so right to read this book.

If you think you've read and watched everything else related to Ed Snowden, then you're missing an important piece. The box. Which this book tells all about.

“the focus of our book was the human relationships that shepherded Snowden’s box — rather than the material inside”

How much of this story is actually true? That I don't know, but as the book mentions,

“systems are only as reliable as the people who operate them. “When it all boils down to it,” he concluded, “it is all about personal trust.””

Stories are a great way to hook someone in, and it's interesting the approach that this book took.

““Thanks for making me laugh so hard,” Laura wrote to both of us the next day. It was the last time I’d laugh for a while.”

It's fascinating how the book is structured, telling the main story first, then adding details, then talking about US history and the future.

If you aren't interested in US history, or the US in general, then I feel you can finish the book once the author's dive into that. I felt they expanded too far away from “the box”, and they had to fill the book to be a certain number of pages.

“Society evolves when people can test boundaries and experiment with ways of living outside the mainstream. In a climate of total surveillance, such innovations would halt. The culture would stagnate and conformity would reign.”

“It also reflected what I consider to be one of the great lessons of adulthood: that most of the institutions and endeavors we regard as ironclad — from parenting to politics — are actually held together with chewing gum and duct tape. Nothing truly works, at least not for long, or not in the way it’s supposed to.”

The book does have multiple instances of swearing, people do die (which is mentioned in the description, but sometimes the book goes into detail), sexual acts, and killing someone. Rated 3.75 (which I rounded down to 3.5).

I found it hard to start this book, as the introduction was boring, but it did provide some context of what's to come.

“Jacob squinted. “What’s the point?” Lauren shook her head. “I honestly don’t know.”

There were many instances of the book going into tons of detail, which sometimes was helpful to be able to visually see what's going on. However, in multiple cases, it felt like the author was adding padding to the book to make it longer.

“The book, Lauren realized, didn’t just preserve knowledge; it preserved their past selves, captured them in amber. But their identities weren’t set in stone. They were changing whether they wanted to or not, just as the world outside had changed.”

“Lauren clenched her teeth and sunk deeper into her chair, wishing herself five or ten minutes into the future”

There is a one chapter in the book, where the author switches from present to past in the middle of the chapter. It was very confusing, and I felt I had to stop reading to full understand the switch. I wish the author did a better job with the switch.

When reading I felt the book was going to end a certain way, however, there is a big twist within the last few chapters. After I started reading that, I just wanted to finish the book. Thanks to the author for ending the book the way they did.

““Hello,” he said. “My name is Tristan Brandt. I’ve been waiting for you.””

Got this book for free as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. This is my honest review and nobody (the author, publisher or LibraryThing) has read this review before it went public.

I DNF'd at the beginning of chapter 8 due to the book being slow in pace, and not very interesting in general. It wasn't because of the details, which I felt there was the right amount of. It could be because there were so many stories that took place and I just wanted the main story to get to a certain point without feeling like I'm missing a huge ton.

I'm not sure how I feel about the prologue, if you read the book description you almost don't need this, but it also somewhat feels like skipping ahead.

Another point about all the stories, it was hard to tell when one story stopped and another continued. And many of these stories continued throughout the book, which meant you had to keep reading to know what's going to happen, and know when the book went back to the side story.

If you like hearing about long bike rides or overcoming challenges, the struggles while doing them, long adventures, imposter syndrome, or failure, then you will like this book. It also touches on travel and food if you're also into that.

"The arrival of a friend made me feel a little more like I belonged here"

If you aren't from the UK or in the biking community, there may be words you don't know and that a dictionary may not be able to tell you, so don't worry if you struggle.

"Often, when I read of a new round-the-world record, or when a roadie friend would boast about the 200km sportive he was training for that summer, I would think of the audaxers, many of whom will quite happily cover 400 miles in a weekend, before heading back to work on Monday morning, simply because they claim to enjoy it."

This is one of those books that has certain parts that suck you in, and you want to continue reading, so keep an eye on the time.

"I was still doing it, I reminded myself. As long as I kept moving forward, even if I was walking, even if I had to stop every five minutes, I was still in the race, and I would make it to the top of the mountain, no matter how long it took."

"Anticipating the moments of panic I knew I’d experience later on in the ride, when I’d convince myself that I was a failure and didn’t even deserve to be there, I told myself that, as long as I was riding my bike, however slowly, I was doing it, and I was on my way to finishing the Transcontinental, no matter how long that might take."

While I understand why certain stories were included, I felt some could have been removed to shorten the book or make it easier to keep track of everything.

There is a very sudden end to this book before the epilogue.

"people would find my persistence inspiring if I carried on regardless. I didn’t tell her that the very thought of that made my stomach clench."

"You’ve done things your way for your entire life. Why not try something different? A lasting, loving relationship may very well be waiting for you on the other end."

The author does have a bias (worked at Google before working on this book, and worked at Hinge after submitting it) but does provide good advice.

You will want to make notes / highlight, and sometimes there is a quiz, so will want a way to write something down.

"You need to put in effort to find someone."

"No relationship is easy all the time. Even the healthiest, most rewarding marriages require effort. Finding someone can be hard, but often the real challenge comes later. The hard part is the daily work you put in to grow and sustain a great relationship."

While the book does feel geared a bit more towards women, anyone of any gender I believe can make use of this book. It is geared towards those who have more dating experience and are extroverts, but anyone can get useful advice from this book.

"But what you really want to look for is somebody who will hold your purse in the cancer clinic."

There is humour injected multiple times in this book, which keeps the book from becoming too serious.

"Of course! Cue the Céline Dion soundtrack!"

Wonder what your life would be like if you had done one thing differently? Unfortunately that currently isn't possible, but through this book you can through Nora, her life, and her different lives.

"Now, you have to decide how you want to live."

"Because, Nora, sometimes the only way to learn is to live"

The book starts off with a number of quotes, then I found it went weird. It's hard to explain, and early on I wondered why the author chose to go this way.

Since there are multiple characters at many points in the book, it can be difficult to know who is saying what.

There are some chapters or parts that I felt could have been removed all together, and the book overall would be the same. Sometimes the book felt wordy, or felt like I was reading a page filler.

"The quiet made her realise how much noise there was elsewhere in the world."

At multiple points while reading, I wondered, how is the book going to continue with x number of pages left?

At the beginning of many lives, there are tons of talking to figure out what's going on in that life, and as the book progresses you are just told about certain things happen. I'm not sure if the author did this to shorten the number of pages, or because they knew you would only need to know about certain things.

"This was a new feeling – as if she was taking someone’s place"

The book does have a couple of frightening moments, which do help to ensure the book doesn't get too boring, however some may find it stops them from continuing to read.

"that you can choose choices but not outcomes"

If you want to read a book about the author, life in the war, or NASA (including one of the original astronauts and how his life was changed), then this book is one to add to your list. Deke passed away due to a brain tumour in 1993, this book was published in 1994.

"until I was in my thirties, I was always Don Slayton. Nobody called me Deke until I became a test pilot at Edwards in the 1950s"

Content warning for this book: war, death

As always with older books, some words have a different meaning today, or you would use something else. That doesn't take away too much from the book, but it may make you stop and wonder what the author means.

"It was maybe sixty hours from the Agena failure to White House approval. That was how things got done in those days."

This book is heavy detailed, which can be great for some but a slow read for others. Skipping some of the details doesn't detract from the overall book.

"In those days we did all our academic work—running all our performance numbers—on little hand calculators or slide rules. Today guys in test pilot school are sitting there with laptops. They can do more real-time calculating in five minutes than we could do in a six-month course."

"Marge got the idea that it might be good if everyone got to know each other better, so she organized the Astronaut Wives Club with Frank Borman’s wife, Sue"

The beginning of many chapters were weird, after a bit you realized they were quotes from someone in Deke's life. I don't think those quotes needed to be there, as they didn't add to the current point in the story.

The book does touch on some things that could have been different if x happened. And it touches on the highs and lows. It also just ends, then going into quotes of praise and acknowledgements.

"But that made five funerals in one year"

"Someone took a picture of me dozing at the console at the one-hundred-hour point in the mission. My own copy has an inscription from Jim, Jack, and Fred “thanking” me for my attention."

"People think that being an astronaut is all flying missions, but most of the job was just tedious work"

Disclosure: I got this book for free from BookSirens (thanks to the author [a:William Sonn|109293|William Sonn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1638301481p2/109293.jpg]). They hope I would give a review but it isn't required and I have to be honest if I do give one.

Something Like Treason starts out how you least expect it, the foreword actually starts six years later. You would think that it would give spoilers but I can see why the author chose to do this, it helps to give a good amount of context to the story ahead.

In the beginning, they mention a fair amount of camps, but the author doesn't exactly say where. If you are a reader from USA you can figure out where they are located fairly clearly, but if you are an international reader then it's hard. The author may want to mention that this all happened in the United States.

When I started reading I wasn't sure if this story was actually true or not (I didn't look at the genre). I said it would be a damn good story if it wasn't true, and a terrible story if it was true. Upon searching the main character's name (Dale Maple) you can clearly read that this book is 100% true, and even includes references. If you don't wish to spoil the book for you then don't search any of the character's names since they are all true names.

It was interesting to read how much has changed between the war and today. Including addresses, and phone numbers.

The book really dives into detail, not just in each person but also in the camps, where they are located and what's around them. If you are a visual reader then it helps you to visually see the story more.

I do appreciate that any time money was mentioned, the author included how much that would be at the time of writing. The author didn't mention what year "at this writing" was, but I still think it allowed someone to understand how much or little something was.

The author does include a few smaller stories in the book which talk about certain people, some of these stories could have been shorten, either to add more to the time frame after the war, or to shorten the length of the book.

While I was reading, there was a number of things that I didn't see coming since I didn't know the history of Dale Maple. These were some very good surprises and I can't imagine how Dale Maple felt when they happened.

The book ends (before the afterword) in a way that either wraps up the book well, or leaves unanswered questions. I feel the author ended the book well and if I was curious about more on each person then I could search for them online.

Overall, an interesting book and something that I didn't know happened until reading.

DNF for now at 27%. I wanted to really enjoy this book because I've read the first two in this series, and while there are parts I love, there are a couple major things that turned me off from continuing.

First regarding what I loved, it was a continuing of the beloved series. If you haven't recently read the second book then do so as it helps the third book to make more sense. There is a summary but that may not do justice.

The book picks back up from where the author left the character, and many details are included. There are many points where you may not want to stop reading.

"The search operation must have been pricey for you though.”
“Astronomical. With the constant mobilization of our staff and the fines for stalking and mass surveillance, it had to be the costliest wild goose chase in the Free Era.”"

There are also points of things that could, or do, happen in the real world, so that was interesting to read.

“Money bends rules like a blowtorch on steel.”

Now for what got me to stop reading, some points have so few details that you also have to make up certain things in your head. The author also includes the chapter marks in odd spots. This book is dialogue heavy and with such, it can be confusing to try and keep up with who is saying what, at some points I even got confused in that regards.

At a point in the book, the author starts to switch between periods of time, which just become confusing as many of the switches lack context and aren't done in a coherent way.

I feel like the author included tons of details and page fillers to make the last book (in this series) as long as possible and that is a major thing that turned me off.

“Flying into the unknown. A fitting metaphor for life, don’t you think?”

"The only choice they left us was how to cope with the consequences"

Disclosure: Got an advance copy of the book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. Nobody has gotten a copy of this review before it went live.

This is a book for those 18+ (21+ in some areas) about the porn industry. If that doesn't appeal to you then don't read this review or book.

Trigger warnings for the book (does contain spoiler): pornography, sex, violence, suicide, hint of racism, courthouse, trial, driving / car decency, funeral, pyrotechnics

[a:Stuart Canterbury|8367483|Stuart Canterbury|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] is the perfect person to write this book, not only does he do a great job of covering the industry within this book, he was an writer, director and producer on many movies so he knows what happens.

The book covers not just what happens in front of (or behind) the camera, but also what happens outside of "action" and "cut". You see that everyone is a person, who has their own things going on.

"For a group who made a living out of make-believe, it was all too real now; even on such a flawless day in the flux of life, nobody could ignore what ending came to all."

"The story behind the movie was always more interesting than the story on the screen. "

The book seems to take place over the course of a year, but there aren't any exact date, which makes it a bit harder to read when periods of time seem to be skipped.

The author does include many details which helps with the book, and some places the author doesn't include any detail. For example, the author mentions that someone says thank you. The author didn't have to include that, but they did.

The industry and relationships may look good on the outside, but you don't really know what is happening. And there are many things that happen that you wouldn't see every day.

"Only does scenes with other girls. This always happens when the girls get involved in off-camera relationships with men. Very hard on the male to see her going off to work in the morning to swallow an anaconda.”
Travis did not want to get into such serpentine details. “Understood. You have to respect the girl’s feelings. Especially given the proportions.”"

"If any neutral witness had seen what he had written, the random list on the paper would have been baffling: Pegging. Uniforms. Secretary. Brazilian. Grandma."

The author does include multiple stories within the book, and I wish they had finished one story before moving onto the next one as it was confusing at some times (and to ensure the reader doesn't forget anything).

There were times the book seemed to be in third-person, and other times it was in first-person. But it was all done in a way that allowed to reader to understand what was going on.

The author includes a major quote from someone near the end of the book, that could have been used to end the book in a really powerful way, but the author chose to end the book in a different way.

"Sometimes, you think you really know someone well. And maybe you think the worst of them. But they can surprise you. It turns out that there can be good in everyone. But as far as I am concerned he should win an award, you know, as a human being."

Book has trigger warnings of: violence, blood, gore, guns, depression, swearing. If you don't like (or don't want to read) any of those, then don't read this book.

A science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and storytelling book all mixed into one, and a wild story that happens along the way. When you start the book you feel out of place, unsure of what is going on, but as you continue to read it all makes sense. The details in this book allow you to imagine yourself there, being one of the characters, and looking around.

"Breathe deep. Can’t tell Ruby. Can’t tell anyone. Not until I figure out what this is."

There are some places you will feel confused, and many have to read over multiple lines again. It's particularly because it's so weird, but also because there may be multiple characters speaking and you aren't sure who is saying what.

There were a few times I just had to laugh from the situation or words that were said.

"Godfuckingdamnit I forgot about the dinosaurs."

From what I can tell, multiple stories happen within this book, and it can be confusing to know which story you are currently in. Most of them do come together by the end, but it can be confusing until you get there. Some of those stories feature jumps in time, either back or forwards, and you may not even know there has been a time jump until you read one particular thing.

“I like learning, and getting hurt is the only way you learn.”

When you get near the end, the main character does a great job giving a recap of what all happened and how some of the stories come together. That isn't the end of the book, there is more, which I'm not sure the author needed to include as finishing may leave you in a state where you aren't sure if it was a good or bad thing.

"“The fuck?” I ask."

There will be times that you don't feel like continuing, and that's ok, keep reading, overall it's a good book.

"Silence, which I accept to mean I am correct."
"I almost want to say this out loud. But I’m not ready. Not yet."

Rating: 2.7/5

"I dared not tell my parents about my latest “job opportunity” — my mother would not have slept for the entire week."

This book does have bias because it's written by the author, about herself and her time. The CIA has reviewed the book so there parts that are reacted. Which does take away from the book, but the publisher explains why, before the first chapter. So you take everything in this book with a grain of salt (read & understand it, but don't believe it 100%).

"had taken the position that [Text has been redacted here.]. In other words, [Text has been redacted here.] "

"the vast majority of people really only want to talk about themselves. Answering a query about yourself, especially if there is not a lot you want to give out, is a matter of providing enough to be polite, then deflecting the question back to the conversation partner."

While this book does cover some details that similar books don't cover, I would encourage you to read similar books to get context behind things that the author doesn't cover.

"Making decisions on how much money to offer a potential asset while handing crayons to my daughter who sat under my desk was strange indeed, but not without humor."

Many sentences felt like run-on sentences, commas are needed. The chapters are also very long, so I encourage you to watch the time when you read. There are passages of time that happen without context, or how long has passed, which makes it a bit harder to read.

"It was obvious to me that anyone working for the government better truly love what she was doing, because the modest pay and personal sacrifices wouldn’t keep a good employee with any ambition around for long."

The book could have been shorten in multiple ways, from removing sections & chapters that didn't make sense to have, the author's family history, and the afterword (which seems to be a shorten version of the book).

Overall, an interesting book which has a different perspective on the CIA.

"Nearly all foreign travel carries the risk of stomach upheaval, but while it is an inconvenience as a tourist, it is a catastrophe when on business."

Rating: 4.6/5

This book continues right off from where the second book in this series finished off. While it does recap a few things, I found it best to read this book right after finishing the second book. This book does have violence in it, so if you don't like reading about that, then don't read this book.

The author continues with the humour, it's not as much as the previous books in this series, as this book is more serious.

“Drink your potatoes or you can’t have potatoes for dessert.”

“Cute makes me sound like a stuffed animal.”
“Keep in mind that I sleep with my stuffed animals.”
“Okay, cute it is, that’s definitely me, cute as a button.”

There are some great reminders that having a group as leaders, is better than just having one person. They all see and think differently.

“Keep on questioning my decisions,” Herb said. “Sometimes the people on the committee are uneasy about challenging me.”
“Well, you have been right most of the time.”
“Just keep on questioning what I’m saying, promise?”

Many discussions are had that reflect our planet currently.

Sometimes it helps to have the right person there, at the right time. As well as to gain friend and partnerships, as everyone should want to help each other.

“It’s good for all of us to have somebody to talk to. There have been things I’ve had to go through that have shaken me.”

I found myself wanting to keep reading, so please keep an eye on the time while reading, otherwise you may miss things, or stay up all night.

“I wasn’t asleep. I was watching out the front window. This must be important,” Herb said.
“It is. We have to talk. We have everything wrong.”

I'm not going to spoil how this ends, but it does finish off the series, but leaves it open if the author decides to continue writing.

"There was always hope. Life would find a way."

Rating: 3.8 / 5

This is the second book in this series, please have read the first book before reading this book (or this review). The book picks back up at the end of an action scene from the first book, but also does a nice recap of the first book.

"What a thought. Did any of us really appreciate something until it was gone?"

Numerous periods of time are skipped over, which could have been done to not bore the reader, but didn't indicate how much time has passed.

"there’s a basic human need for things to be normal and predictable"

It's interesting how many things (like small talk) stop happening when you see someone multiple times per day, when your all trying to survive. And how people can change over a length of time.

“So this wasn’t a social visit.”
“Nope.”

At multiple points, there could have been a different story line. It's interesting why the author kept the story line they did.

The book does get emotional at multiple times, especially near the end. Once you get near that ending you will want to keep reading.

“I don’t think you’re helpless … just special … too special to put at risk.”
“I know that was supposed to be a compliment, but I’m just as capable as you out here, probably more so with a gun.”

The book does end on a cliffhanger.

"Safe might never happen again."