Midnight Black is another fast-paced and gripping entry in Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series. This time, Court Gentry (the Gray Man) takes on one of his most personal and dangerous missions yet. His objective is not a contract or a target, but a rescue. Zoya Zakharova, his partner and former Russian spy, has been captured and thrown into a brutal prison camp deep inside Russia. Refusing to believe she’s lost forever, Gentry embarks on a desperate mission to bring her back, no matter the cost.
The pacing is fierce right from the start. The book portrays a strong emotional drive in the Gray Man, which was never seen in any of the previous books in the series. For the first time in 14 books of the series so far, the readers (and followers of the series) see a personal side of him and he appears truly human.
The book leans heavily toward action and military-style missions rather than subtle spy craft.
The narration by Jay Snyder deserves special mention. His delivery once again elevates the story to another level. The pacing of his narration perfectly matches the tension and rhythm of Greaney’s writing, and his voice modulation brings each scene and character to life. Snyder has become inseparable from the Gray Man series, and his performance here is among his best.
Midnight Black is pure adrenaline with heart — a mix of non-stop action, emotional stakes, and high-end espionage. It’s a story about loyalty and love set against the backdrop of danger and impossible odds. I was not disappointed, and I can definitely say the series’s fans will not be either. New readers will find it a thrilling introduction to one of the best modern spy thrillers.
From Kargil’s peaks to today’s fragile LoC, this book reminds us that the echoes of 1999 still shape India’s military conscience.”
Few books pierce the surface of India’s modern military history with the clarity and courage that Artillery’s Thunder does. Written by Major General (Retd) Lakhwinder Singh, this is not another sanitized retelling of the 1999 Kargil War—it is a ground-up reconstruction of how India’s artillery turned the tide when confusion, unpreparedness, and political hesitation loomed large.
From the very first pages, Singh pulls readers into the raw tempo of Operation Vijay. He paints the early chaos with startling honesty: intelligence lapses, senior commanders underestimating a well-entrenched enemy, and a rush to attack without adequate reconnaissance. The Indian Air Force’s initial unpreparedness for high-altitude combat adds to the realism of his account, yet he’s quick to acknowledge their exceptional logistical support that kept operations alive.
Where this book truly thunders is in its portrayal of the artillery corps. Singh’s descriptions of coordinated barrages by Bofors FH-77Bs roaring day and night, precisely synchronizing with ground advances reveal how artillery became the silent architect of victory. He doesn’t hesitate to critique the post-war glorification imbalance: renaming Gun Hill to Batra Top symbolizes, in his view, how institutional bias often eclipses artillery’s contributions.
The political backdrop runs as a constant undercurrent, Singh sharply critiques the restrictions imposed for optics, such as the “no crossing LoC” rule, even as the enemy violated it. His tone remains patriotic, but it’s the patriotism of someone who has seen both the brilliance and the blunders of war up close.
Artillery’s Thunder is not merely a military memoir, it’s a mirror held up to India’s defense establishment, urging introspection and readiness. The book closes on a haunting note: that the echoes of Kargil are far from silent, especially in the light of recent events like the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.
In the end, this is both a tribute and a warning. It celebrates the men behind the guns as much as it cautions against complacency.
Highly recommended for defense enthusiasts, policy thinkers, and anyone who seeks the unfiltered truth of India’s most hard-fought modern war.
James Rosone and Miranda Watson’s The Gotland Deception arrives with the promise of a gripping military technothriller, setting the stage for a new global conflict in the 2030s. The book’s premise seems very compelling.
I found that roughly 85% of the book is devoted to comprehensive world-building. This includes deep dives into family life, military exercises, spy infiltration plots, and incredibly detailed descriptions of autonomous systems and advanced equipment. While some foundational work is crucial in launching a new series, this extensive setup significantly slows the narrative pace.
It’s clear the authors are meticulously establishing the stakes and the technology of this near-future world. They detail the “frontlines to a proxy war” across locations like Angola, Svalbard, and Taiwan, painting a plausible, if chilling, picture of how a new World War III could quietly begin.
The good news? The meticulous setup pays off—eventually.
The real, explosive action only kicks in during the final chapters. When it does, the pace accelerates dramatically, delivering the kind of fast-paced, engaging military action fans of Rosone’s The Monroe Doctrine series expect. That late surge of adrenaline and thrilling potential is what truly saves the book.
I’m rating The Gotland Deception three stars, largely on the strength of that ending. It’s an undeniable hint that the sequels, built on the solid, albeit dense, foundation of this first installment, could very well deliver a continuous, gripping thriller experience. It’s a slow burn that promises much for the series to come. Readers with patience will be rewarded by a thrilling finale and an exciting glimpse into a potential future military conflict.
I have my own private DNS setup in my home network, powered by Pi-hole running on my very first Raspberry Pi, a humble Model B Rev 2. It’s been quietly handling ad-blocking and DNS resolution for years. But today, something broke.
I noticed that none of my devices could resolve domain names. Pi-hole’s dashboard looked fine. The DNS service was running, blocking was active, but every query failed. Even direct dig queries returned SERVFAIL. Here’s how I diagnosed and resolved the issue.
The Setup
My Pi-hole forwards DNS queries to Unbound, a recursive DNS resolver running locally on port 5335. This is configured in /etc/pihole/setupVars.conf.
And outbound connectivity was fine. I pinged one of the root DNS servers directly to ensure this:
$ ping -c1 198.41.0.4 PING 198.41.0.4 (198.41.0.4) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 198.41.0.4: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=206 ms
--- 198.41.0.4 ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 205.615/205.615/205.615/0.000 ms
The Diagnosis
At this point, I suspected a DNSSEC validation failure. Unbound uses a trust anchor, which is simply a cryptographic key stored in root.key. This cryptographic key is used to verify the authenticity of DNS responses. Think of it like a passport authority: when you travel internationally, border agents trust your passport because it was issued by a recognized authority. Similarly, DNSSEC relies on a trusted key at the root of the DNS hierarchy to validate every response down the chain. If that key is missing, expired, or corrupted, Unbound can’t verify the authenticity of DNS data — and like a border agent rejecting an unverified passport, it simply refuses to answer, returning SERVFAIL.
Even though dns-root-data was installed, the trust anchor wasn’t working.
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR ;; ANSWER SECTION: google.com. 300 IN A 142.250.195.78
Why This Happens
Even with dns-root-data, the trust anchor could become stale — especially if the system missed a rollover event or the file was never initialized. Unbound doesn’t log this clearly, so it’s easy to miss.
Preventing Future Failures
To avoid this in the future, I added a weekly cron job to refresh the trust anchor:
0 3 * * 0 /usr/sbin/unbound-anchor -a /usr/share/dns/root.key
This was a good reminder that even quiet systems need occasional maintenance. Pi-hole and Unbound are powerful together, but DNSSEC adds complexity. If you’re running a similar setup, keep an eye on your trust anchors, and don’t trust the dashboard alone.
Shooting Straight is more than just a recounting of battles; it is a meticulously researched biography of an exemplary soldier and leader of the Indian Army, Lt Gen. Rostum Kaikhushru Nanavatty. Written by accomplished military historian Arjun Subramaniam, the book aims to capture the essence of soldiering, command, and leadership across five turbulent decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s.
The book’s subject, Lt Gen. Nanavatty, emerges from the pages as a paragon of the Indian Army—a figure defined by integrity, discipline, and unwavering dedication to the nation. His career was marked by action across key operational areas, including Nagaland, Sri Lanka, Siachen, and Baramulla, establishing him as a decorated and accomplished infantry officer.
Subramaniam excels in presenting a balanced and comprehensive portrait. The biography not only covers the operational acumen and intellectual brilliance for which Gen. Nanavatty was known but also masterfully integrates his personal life with his professional ups and downs. The writing is simple, engaging, and always provides the necessary context for the reader, ensuring the narrative is accessible even to those not deeply familiar with India’s military history.
One of the most valuable aspects of Shooting Straight is the wealth of primary source material incorporated into the narrative. Approximately 30% of the book is dedicated to various references and detailed notes taken by Gen. Nanavatty throughout his career. This inclusion offers readers an invaluable, first-hand perspective on contemporary warfare, counterinsurgency, high-altitude operations, and the overall landscape of the Indian Army from the view of one of its most respected commanders.
The biography truly shines in its depiction of a leader who was unafraid to “speak ‘truth to power.’” By offering insights into every facet of his challenges and triumphs, the book stands as a testament to his resilience and profound commitment.
For anyone seeking a deep and engaging look at modern Indian military history, command structure, and the qualities of exceptional leadership, Shooting Straight is an essential read. It’s a compelling portrait of a life dedicated to service, captured with skill and objectivity by a masterful historian.
