Tapping the Source (1984) by Kem Nunn

 This is supposedly the novel that the movie, Point Break (surfing bankrobbers), was based on. The genre is surf noir.  I see the similarities but there are quite a differences.  Really they don't have much in common besides the genre and the feel.

This one is set in a grimy version of Huntington Beach and involves a murder by two washed up Vietnam vet surfers who get involved a satanic cult.  

He's a good writer and really does get the mood right, but it's a little hollow.  The one thing I took away from it was the strange similarity between the inland empire and this urban beach.

America: the Farewell Tour by Chris Hedges (2018)

 So far as I can tell, Chris Hedges is a well informed, well read journalist/ presebyterian minister. So he is about facts and the gospel. I like the blend.  The book is an interesting take on where America stood in 2018.

Imperfect Union: How Jessie Fremont and John Fremont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War (2020) by Steve Inskeep

 A book about nineteenth century power couple, Jessie Fremont and John Fremont, by NPR reporter Steve Inskeep.  The writer is crisp and clear, unlike some academic history texts.  John Fremont comes off as unlikeable and kind of overblown but his wife is a heavy hitter.