The Latest

SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

A compelling thriller full of surprises

A compelling thriller full of surprises

Ariel Pryce awakens to a sunny day in Lisbon only to find her new husband, John Wright, missing. After hours waiting for him to turn up, it's clear something's amiss. There's no message, and no sign of him whatsoever. Fearing he's fallen victim to an accident or been kidnapped,...

read more

NONFICTION

Popular Fiction

A satirical take on British politics at the top

A satirical take on British politics at the top

Meet the Fitzmaurices, a wealthy, aristocratic British family with more than their share of buried secrets. But, like most secrets, they can't remain hidden forever. And as they come to light, the family unravels. But the roots of their exposure lie far in the past at an elite...

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!

 

Berkeley in 1969: Black Panthers, the FBI, and the Vietnam War

A review of Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin III. @@@@ (4 out of 5). An in-depth study of the revolutionary African-American organization that flourished from 1967 to 1971.

Cover image of "At the Edge of Empire," a Chinese family memoir

Probing China’s secrets in Xinjiang and Tibet

For thousands of years the Han people who settled China's heartland around the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers have contended with people of other ethnicities on what is now the nation's periphery. For extended periods, marauders from that region—Mongolians, Manchurians, and Muslim Turkic peoples from...
Cover image of "Take No Names," a novel of international intrigue about the world's rarest gems

International intrigue and the world’s rarest gems

Check this out: Two fugitives on the run, intent on the biggest score they've ever pulled off. A Mexican cartel. A mammoth Chinese state-owned company. The world's second largest airport under construction. And the rarest gems ever discovered. They all figure in Daniel Nieh's propulsive new...
Cover image of "And So It Goes," a Kurt Vonnegut biography

And so it goes: The sad life of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

The face that peers out at you from the cover is immeasurably sad. It's the face of a man in middle age weighed down by lifetimes of tragedy. The man -- one of the most remarkable novelists of the 20th century -- is Kurt Vonnegut, known throughout much of his adult life as Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In...
Cover image of "A Killing of Innocents,"

Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James investigate a troubling knife murder

Sasha Johnson is a trainee doctor walking home from the hospital when someone brushes past her. She stumbles, and falls dead to the ground, the victim of a knife wound. And tony Russell Square, the site of the murder, is on Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid's patch. He rushes to the scene...
Cover image of "Tokyo Kill," a Jim Brodie mystery

A Jim Brodie mystery: murder and mayhem in Tokyo today

What is it about Americans' hunger for violence? Recently, more than 100 million of us watched the Superbowl, a classic annual gladiatorial display in which huge men appear onscreen appearing to do their utmost to injure one another -- and are rewarded with enormous sums of money for doing so....
Cover image of "Groucho Marx Master Detective" by Ron Goulart

Sherlock Holmes, meet Groucho Marx, Master Detective

Here's the ultimate wisecracking detective, and, yes, it's Groucho Marx, in person. If you're a fan of the Marx Brothers classics of the 1930s—Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, Horsefeathers, Animal Crackers, and the others—you'll love this fast-paced romp through the dark side of Hollywood. In...
Cover image of "River of Darkness," the first of Rennie Airth's series of British police procedurals

Rennie Airth’s John Madden series spans the world wars

In six suspenseful crime novels set in England from the First World War to the aftermath of the Second, South African writer Rennie Airth tells the story of Scotland Yard detective John Madden and his wife, née Dr. Helen Blackwell. John is a veteran of the Great War, unhinged by his experiences in...
The Great Successor is a biography of Kim Jong Un.

A revealing, up-to-date biography of Kim Jong Un

Kim Jong Un is thirty-five years old now, but he's been the designated leader of his country since the age of eight. People decades older than him have been sucking up to him all his life. He is "five feet, seven inches tall, and his weight is estimated to be about three hundred pounds." The man...
Cover image of "Girl Waits With Gun," an historical police novel

She was the country’s first female deputy sheriff

Based on the real-life figure of Constance Kopp, the remarkable woman who reportedly became the nation's first female deputy sheriff in 1916, the historical police novel Girl Waits With Gun is not, however, about Kopp's work in law enforcement. It's the backstory that leads up to her hiring...

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!