Another John Scalzi book, and another good one. This one is (arguably) his first novel. Quite military based, which tends not to be my favourite.

The premise is that a bunch of old people – hence the title – join the military for, effectively, a new life. Their bodies get some upgrades to make it worthwhile. Skipping a lot of detail there because much of the fun is finding out what’s happening.

Another year, another William Boyd book [affiliate link]. I make that sound like a bad thing, but really it isn’t.

This one won’t go down as a classic, but it’s thoroughly entertaining and fast-paced, zipping between Guatemala, London and Berlin in the early sixties. It has the usual Boyd mix of well-researched historical details and character moments. He makes it seem effortless. Maybe it is easy for him now, having written so many novels, but it all works.