Richard Thomas Puns

I read a lot books on the history of intelligence / covert operations and for years have been trying to find a copy of "Beyond the CIA: The Frank Terpil Story" by Richard Lloyd and Antony Thomas (Seaver Books, 1984, ISBN = 086579023X). But I have yet to have found this book for sale anywhere (Abebooks, Amazon, Ebay, etc). I cannot recall any other books that have in a way disappeared in history such as this one. Has anyone ever read or seen this book? Or do you have any other examples of a book that has for all practical purposes disappeared from the market and become impossible to purchase?

Who's the guilty one?

I received the ARC for this collection a few months ago so that I could have time to read it and chat about it before its release on 02/22/22. I wish I had read it immediately upon receipt because it's THAT good. So good that I will reread these stories, even have actually reread a couple already even though I just finished the collection recently. (I am determined that 2 stories were connected, that a character we meet in the beginning, we get his origin in a later story and I will die on that hill...but I won't tell you who so you can reach your own conclusions...)

Each story is unique in its style and tone. Some are good old fashion classic horror, we have a few with sci fi elements, cosmic horror and magical realism. There were a couple I would have claimed were written by Stephen King and 2-3 I would have pinned on Stephen Graham Jones (two of my favorites, by the way) I did post mini-reviews of each story on my Instagram if you're interested, I can be found on IG u/the_nerdy_narrative.

I read one story per day and that is how I recommend approaching this collection because these stories will make you think. Some have those fun endings that give you plenty of fodder for your imagination to carry forward as to what could have happened going forward. Some are just thought provoking, ones that deep thinkers will enjoy exploring the meanings of actions of the characters or the underlying theme.

I was blown away by the collection as a whole - I loved every single story. Honestly. There was one that I was lackluster about, but the ending flipped it and made the whole story SHINE. (I may not have had enough coffee and missed some connections as to what was happening, lol) It's rare I read a collection of this size and feel each story is a 5 star read, but this one is it...especially with all the stories being by the same author. Now I want to read EVERYTHING Richard Thomas has and anything he has coming out in the future.

Top short story collection of the year for me - trust me, it had some steep competition too!

We know what they did when they were out, but once in Downton do you think the "date" ended there or they "shared" the bedroom? The day after we see Thomas and Richard to go down the stairs together, Thomas stops to wait Richard and signals to him to enter in the dinner room before him... Thomas didn't want people to notice they were coming down together? Or I'm reading too much in it or he just wanted to signal him the people at breakfast were talking about their mischief (the phone call)?