The Latest
The crimes, mishaps, and failures of the CIA in the 21st century
Perhaps you're the sort of person, as I am, whose eye fastens on any story in print or on a screen about the CIA. If so, you've probably gotten the impression that, until Donald Trump took office again on January 20, 2025, the Agency's record had been mixed since 9/11. The...
SCIENCE FICTION
The world is ending. For real. And not with a whimper but a bang.
Try to imagine what might happen if a huge asteroid were heading straight for Earth and nothing could stop it. The human race would be annihilated. Do you think for a minute that people would just continue living their lives and content themselves with wishful thinking and...
MYSTERIES & THRILLERS
India’s first female detective faces separatist revolutionaries
Kiran Bedi became India's first female police officer in 1972 and distinguished herself in a 35-year career. But the Anglo-Indian mystery author Vaseem Khan instead imagined that someone like her had joined the Bombay police two decades earlier. In five suspenseful historical...
NONFICTION
The crimes, mishaps, and failures of the CIA in the 21st century
Perhaps you're the sort of person, as I am, whose eye fastens on any story in print or on a screen about the CIA. If so, you've probably gotten the impression that, until Donald Trump took office again on January 20, 2025, the Agency's record had been mixed since 9/11. The...
Popular Fiction
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...
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!
My Most Popular Reviews
10 top nonfiction books about World War II
If you've been reading my reviews for very long, you're aware that the World War II era holds special fascination for me. This might have something to do with the fact that I was born then—in fact, about six months before the USA entered the war. Or maybe it's just...
The 15 best espionage novels
Over the past decade, I’ve read and reviewed nearly 200 espionage novels (not counting a great many more I never finished). My 15 favorites—well, make that 16: I couldn't choose—are listed immediately below. Though my preliminary list included multiple titles by...
30 outstanding detective series from around the world
Here you'll find my (admittedly incomplete) guide to the most outstanding detective series set in countries all across the world. It's a work in progress. Expect to see more added here from time to time. Below I’ve listed 30 outstanding detective series set outside...
The ultimate guide to the all-time best science fiction novels
OK, I’d better qualify that headline. In this survey, I’m not including science fiction written before World War II. Or, for that matter, short stories or anthologies, comic books, or manga. And definitely not fantasy: zombies, vampires, witches, dragons, superheroes,...
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
