A spy novel for fans of 'The Americans,' a good Pennsylvania neo-noir, and a great new contemplative rock album

Roundup 11/13/2023

Greetings from Read Max HQ, and welcome to our weekly roundup column, in which I pick out some worthwhile and often overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. For this week’s round-up, I’ve got:

• A melancholy, compulsively readable American spy novel;

• a pretty good neo-noir about drugs and bare-knuckle boxing in Pennsylvania; and

• a great new album of beautiful indie rock.

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Now, the roundup. First, as always, a dispatch from the future: