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A true story of high finance and murder in Putin’s Russia

A true story of high finance and murder in Putin’s Russia

Even if you follow international news only casually, you're likely to be aware that Putin's Russia is a kleptocracy. Two dozen oligarchs effectively run the country. Some, including President Vladimir Putin himself, hold government office. Others are private "bankers" and...

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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!

 

Cover image of "The Great Escape," a book about the inequality gap

How the inequality gap came to be

Has the human race made progress since the days when all our lives were nasty, brutish, and short? Some might think this question patently silly, since it would appear to answer itself. But Angus Deaton finds in it a point of entry into his inquiry on "health, wealth, and the origins of...

Neo-Nazis in a fascinating murder mystery set in Paris

It's November 1993, and it's raining in Paris. Aimee Leduc is a hacker-for-hire, a kick-ass investigator, and, shall we say, a mistress of disguise. She would probably be pleased to be called a tough broad. Leduc runs a struggling private detective agency with a "handsome dwarf" named Rene Friant...
Cover image of "The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe," a novel that sparkles with humor in abundance

Humor in abundance at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

There's humor in abundance in the charming little novels of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, but I have never laughed so much as I did when reading the 15th entry in the series, The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe.  Here, for example, is a conversation between Mma Precious...
Death in the East is the fourth book in the Wyndham and Banerjee series.

A murder mystery in the British Raj

In the far northeastern corner of India, on land near a border disputed by China, lies the tribal village of Jatinga. There, every year following the monsoon rains, thousands of birds dazed by high winds descend toward the village's lights on foggy, dark nights. Local people, convinced they are...
Brain Wave

How would you behave if your IQ suddenly doubled?

Just as history books often tell us more about historians than they do about history, genre fiction can reveal a great deal about its authors and the times during which they write. History books fall into disfavor as new information comes to light, making way for new interpretations of the facts....
Cover image of "Ah, Treachery!," the final Ross Thomas novel.

Colorful characters and lots of surprises in the final Ross Thomas novel

In the final Ross Thomas novel, the master was at his best. The late Ross Thomas wrote some of America's most fondly remembered novels about politics, espionage, and crime, creating some of the most colorful characters in the genre. One measure of the esteem in which Thomas was held by his peers...
u.s. military: The Outpost by Jake Tapper

How the U.S. military wages war in Afghanistan

A review of The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, by Jake Tapper. @@@@ (4 out of 5). The story of the courageous U.S. soldiers who served in an isolated combat outpost in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2009.

Cover image of "The Bangalore Detectives Club," an historical murder mystery

A murder case crosses class and caste lines in 1921 Bangalore

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Harini Nagendra's debut in crime fiction, The Bangalore Detectives Club, opens in the South Indian city of Bangalore in 1921. It's a gripping historical murder mystery but also well worth reading for its close observation of class and caste dynamics in India a...
Cover image of "Sucker," novel about a Silicon Valley scandal

A comic send-up of a Silicon Valley scandal

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Humor is a funny thing. What you find hilarious might leave me cold or even offend me deeply. And my own sense of humor, which some have found quirky, can make me laugh when no one else does. So, I'm prepared to believe that you'll think Daniel Hornsby's Sucker, a...
Cover image of "The Sparrow," a novel about a First Contact mission

A troubled First Contact mission led by Jesuit priests

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes What can I say about a science fiction novel that’s really about religion? Roman Catholicism, to be precise. It's a wonder I ever picked up this novel in the first place. Admittedly, critics praised it on its first publication, and the book was important enough to...

My Most Popular Reviews

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Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

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Mal Warwick

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…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.

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