The Latest

John Grisham vs. Big Coal

John Grisham vs. Big Coal

In one of his numerous popular legal thrillers set in the American South, John Grisham brings his considerable capacity for anger to bear on Big Coal in Appalachia. There, he zeroes in on the twin tragedies of strip mining and black lung disease. Grisham really, really doesn't...

read more

SCIENCE FICTION

This eco-thriller will keep you up at night

This eco-thriller will keep you up at night

If you're the sort of person who worries a lot, as I am, there's no end of fodder today for your troubled brain. Climate change. The threat of nuclear war. A new pandemic. The end of democracy. And so many other grim possibilities. But, chances are, you're not worried about...

read more

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

John Grisham vs. Big Coal

John Grisham vs. Big Coal

In one of his numerous popular legal thrillers set in the American South, John Grisham brings his considerable capacity for anger to bear on Big Coal in Appalachia. There, he zeroes in on the twin tragedies of strip mining and black lung disease. Grisham really, really doesn't...

read more

NONFICTION

Popular Fiction

Ken Follett’s monumental saga of the First World War

Ken Follett’s monumental saga of the First World War

No one is still alive with any adult memory of World War I, which ended a century ago. So when we think of the events that have shaped the world we live in today it's likely World War II looms large. But its antecedent three decades earlier may have had greater long-term...

read more

Explore My “BEST OF the category” selections

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

When people ask me that question, I never know what to say. In a lifetime of reading, I’ve read many thousands of books. And I’ve reviewed well over 2,000 of them on this site. Picking just one as a “favorite,” or even a handful of them, makes no sense to me.

The problem is, I read for many different reasons. Perhaps you do, too. And I read many different sorts of books. Mysteries and thrillers. Popular fiction, especially historical fiction. Science fiction.

And nonfiction, history in particular. You’ll find hundreds of reviews in every one of those categories on this site.

Look to the right for a rotating random selection culled from throughout this site.

Happy reading!

 

Cover image of "Invasive," a novel about genetic engineering

Genetic engineering, designer ants, and murder

We live in an era when breakthroughs in science and technology have immeasurably improved our lives. And we're told by many of those in high tech that unimaginably new wonders are in store for us. Yet most of us are cautious, if not fearful—and for good reason. Our oceans are clogged by plastics...
The Clockwork Dynasty

When ancient robots walked the Earth

Throughout recorded history, we humans have wondered whether external forces have shaped our destiny. Most have found solace in the belief that a god or gods have been our benefactors. A handful of others have imagined that an extraterrestrial race has guided our ascent through time. In an...
The Collaborator of Bethlehem centers on a murder in Palestine.

A murder in Palestine exposes the fault lines in the refugee community

From 2007 to 2010, Welsh author Matt Rees published the four novels of the Palestine Quartet. The first, The Collaborator of Bethlehem, introduces schoolteacher and would-be detective Omar Yussef. It was an outstanding debut for the series that followed—an unconventional but entirely convincing...
Cover image of "Crash and Burn," a thrilling police procedural

A thrilling police procedural by Lisa Gardner

Crash and Burn opens straightforwardly enough with an automobile tumbling down a hillside in northern New Hampshire, nearly killing Nicole Frank, the intoxicated woman driver. But as the story unfolds, it turns out to be anything but straightforward. Frank sets police off on an intensive,...
Cover image of "Occidentalism," a book about why people hate Western values

Why do so many people hate Western values?

In Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies, Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit trace the intellectual history of "the dehumanizing picture of the West painted by its enemies." In other words, they try to help us understand why so many people in the world hate Western values. The major...
Cover image of "China Mountain Zhang," a classic science fiction novel that is among the best of 2022

The best science fiction of 2022

To be clear, what follows is not a list of the best science fiction published during the past year. Instead, I’ve chosen not to copy those reviewers who imply they've read the many thousands of science fiction novels published in any given year. Nobody, and no team of...
Cover image of "The Fools in Town Are On Our Side," one of the novels listed here that are excellent standalone mysteries.

20 excellent standalone mysteries and thrillers

Ever since the days of Sherlock Holmes, most mysteries and thrillers have been part of series that develop characters over time—sometimes decades. But there are also superb examples of the genre that stand by themselves. Here are more than 100 I’ve found and reviewed in the last eight years. The...
Cover image of "The Warsaw Uprising,"

The Warsaw Uprising of 1944

No country in the world suffered greater devastation in World War II than Poland, not even the Soviet Union, where as many as twenty-seven million people died. Poland's six million dead represented an even higher proportion of the pre-war population—about one in five. And Poland's cities lay in...
Cover image of "The Attention Merchants," a novel about pop-up ads and other advertising techniques

The penny press, Amos ‘n Andy, and pop-up ads

If you've been paying attention, you can't have missed the changes in the character of advertising over the course of your life. Certainly, I have. Chances are, you were born in the age of radio, at the earliest. If so, you've witnessed a string of new technologies enter the realm of news and...
The Ghost Army in World War II

An entertaining account of deception in World War II

A headline in a New York Times obituary recently caught my eye. "Gilbert Seltzer, Soldier in Secret Unit That Duped Germans, Is Dead at 106," it read. In scanning the amazing story of Lieutenant Seltzer's World War II experience, I came across a reference to a book about the top-secret unit in...

My Most Popular Reviews

Weekly Reviews Delivered to You!

Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

Weekly book reviews to match your taste!

Love mysteries and thrillers? Historical fiction fan? Prefer to read nonfiction? Or, like me, you just love reading? Take your pick of my three weekly newsletters. Just click the Yes! button, and you’re on your way.

Here you can take your pick of the three newsletters I publish each week. They’re all free of ads, and I never share subscribers’ email addresses with anyone. Just make your newsletter selections below.

Feel free to subscribe to any or all of these newsletters. Remember, they’re ad-free, and I won’t share your contact information with anyone.

Enjoy reading!

Mal Warwick

The latest mystery
& thriller book
reviews every Tuesday.

…includes my latest mystery and thriller book reviews, with links to other content in the genre.

The latest nonfiction book reviews every Wednesday.

…includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

My latest
book reviews,
every Thursday.

…includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

The Latest Book Reviews of the Week

...includes summaries and links to all of the week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Mystery & Thriller Book
Reviews Every Week

Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Nonfiction Book
Reviews Every Week

Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Book Reviews of the Week

The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Tuesday's Newsletter

Tuesday's Newsletter

Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Wednesday's Newsletter

Wednesday's Newsletter

Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Weekly Newsletter

Thursday's Newsletter

The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!