With reservations, RON JACOBS recommends a deep dive into the nature, history, and mindset of US intelligence

A WAR between socialist and capitalist factions of the human diaspora has finally been ended with an act of genocidal savagery, in Gareth L Powell's Embers of War (Titan, £7.99), the opening volume of a three-part space opera.
Disgusted by her role in the crime, sentient warship Trouble Dog defects to a non-sectarian, apolitical organisation that is dedicated to rescuing the crews of spaceships in distress.

MAT COWARD presents a peculiar cabbage that will only do its bodybuilding once the summer dies down

A heatwave, a crimewave, and weird bollocks in Aberdeen, Indiana horror, and the end of the American Dream

A corrupted chemist, a Hampstead homosexual and finely observed class-conflict at The Bohemia

Beet likes warmth, who doesn’t, so attention to detail is required if you’re to succeed, writes MAT COWARD