Black Order: A Sigma Force NovelBlack Order: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fire in Copenhagen. A massacre in the Himalayas. Strange animals in South Africa. Sigma Force operatives on different cases find themselves drawn together as proof appears that secret Nazi technology thought destroy at the end of World War II has been been updated in secret around the world.

James Rollins does a good job of simplifying the very complex science of quantum biology that is at the heart of his story. This is based on a real Nazi field of research that was destroyed at the end of the war.  It isn’t known for sure what it was intended to do but this is a possibility based on rumors.  I especially like the last few pages of this book.

Undercover Girl: Growing up Transgender by Jill Davidson

At the age of 4, John MacDonald started to realize that he identified more with women.  At 11 he heard about a male to female transsexual for the first time.  He spent the next 40 years living as a male school psychologist with a secret.  After the age of 50 he decided it was time to come out to his wife and start living as Jill.

I didn’t find the first part of the book about his childhood as interesting as the second part.  She talks about the fear of coming out to family and coworkers.  She had a very accepting group of friends and family.  She also lives in Seattle which is a fairly open city.  She talks at the end of the book about the guilt that she feels because she has had such an easy time during transition when so many transsexual people are killed for living as she does.  This is a great look at the issues around gender identity and expression.  What do you lose when you go from being a man to being a woman?  What do you gain?