The Latest

SCIENCE FICTION

Four robots wake up in a restaurant, and they’re in charge

Four robots wake up in a restaurant, and they’re in charge

California's long War of Independence has ended. It's 2064. All of a sudden the new country's many sentient robots, most of them veterans, face an uncertain future. The president has signed legislation declaring them HEEI (pronounced HE-eye), or Human Equivalent Embodied...

read more

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express

Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express

Work began on the Trans-Siberian Railway on March 9, 1891. Then, Tsar Alexander III still ruled the Russian Empire. But when he died at the age of 49 three years later, his feckless son Nicholas II ascended to the Imperial Throne. And at immense expense, Nicholas realized his...

read more

NONFICTION

How the women’s revolution changed the CIA

How the women’s revolution changed the CIA

Few agencies of the US Government resisted women's liberation and the civil rights movement as long or as fiercely as the CIA. Born in the macho exploits of the OSS in World War II, an old boys' network continued to direct the country's premier spy service well into the 1980s....

read more

Popular Fiction

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!

 

The Lost Fleet: Dauntless is the first book in a popular military SF series.

The exciting first book in a military SF series

Military science fiction doesn't often rock my boat. Of course, there are exceptions, such as Joe Haldeman's classic, The Forever War. But that novel didn't work so brilliantly because it celebrated the military life. No, it was exciting because it highlighted the impact of relativity on travel at...
Cover image of "Gabriel's Moon,"

An unsuspecting author is trapped in Cold War intrigue

Many novels of Cold War espionage, especially those that make their way to television or film—feature hard-boiled spies on dangerous assignments east of the Berlin Wall. But William Boyd's outstanding new novel of Cold War intrigue is nothing like that. His protagonist, Gabriel Dax, is a travel...
Cover image of "Breaking Cover" by Stella Rimington, a novel about Russian agents

Russian agents under cover in the UK

A prominent civil liberties advocate named Jasminder Kapoor is saved from muggers on a London street late at night by a passerby. Within weeks, she has fallen in love with the man, a Norwegian banker. There is something a little strange about him, but she can't put her finger on it. Meanwhile, a...
Cover image of "Sea of Tranquility,"

Emily St. John Mandel writes another novel about a pandemic

Emily St. John Mandel came to the attention of millions of readers worldwide with the publication of her third novel, Station Eleven. The book has sold at least 1.5 million copies and elevated Mandel to the ranks of superstar status in the literary firmament. Perhaps it was foreordained that a...
Cover image of "Zealot," one of the great books about Jewish topics

Worthy books about Jewish topics

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes Only when I glanced through the archives of this blog did I realize that I'd read and reviewed so many excellent books about Jews and the Jewish experience. Though I'm not observant, I was raised in the faith and still identify myself as Jewish, and I probably...
Cover image of "The Oppermanns," an early anti-Nazi novel

A German anti-Nazi novel published in 1933

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes From a distance of ninety years, it's difficult for many Americans to understand how Adolf Hitler could have come to power in such a highly advanced and cultured country as Germany. And at the same time, many of us wonder why, with Hitler's true intentions so...
Cover image of "Lightless," a futuristic mystery

This futuristic mystery doesn’t measure up

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes What might we reasonably expect of a novel set in interplanetary space several centuries in the future? Certainly, at a minimum, some plausible picture of technology more advanced than today's, right?. No alarm clocks, for example. Or fluorescent lights, mainframe...
Cover image of "Faithless," a novel about a religious cult

In rural Georgia, a gruesome murder and a religious cult

Dr. Sara Linton and Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver take center stage once again in Faithless, the fifth in Karin Slaughter's excellent Grant County series of bestselling thrillers. It's a novel about a religious cult. They had been married, but Sara ended things when she discovered Jeffrey sleeping...
Cover image of "Murder in the Sentier," a novel about a brilliant French detective

1970s radicals, Paris in the 1990s, and a brilliant French detective

It's puzzling to me why an American author living in the United States would choose to write one novel after another in a long-running series of detective novels set in a foreign land. Cara Black's series about the brilliant French detective Aimee Leduc is set in Paris. But she is by no means the...
Cover image of "The Murder of Patience Brooke,"

In 1849, Charles Dickens investigates a murder

As mid-century dawned in Victorian England, Charles Dickens had already reached the summit of literary fame. Author of The Pickwick Papers (1837), Oliver Twist (1838), A Christmas Carol (1843), and several other novels easily recognizable today, he could hardly walk the streets of London without...

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!

Share This