The Latest
How cities have built civilization and shaped human history
When I was born in 1941, about six months before the United States entered World War II, the world's three largest cities were New York, Tokyo, and London (which had been #2 before the Blitz). None of the three housed even close to 10 million people. As of 2025, the three...
SCIENCE FICTION
First Contact deep in the Amazon rainforest
What can I say about a book that could have been great but isn't? In Entropy, the 31st entry in his long-running series of standalone novels about First Contact with alien intelligence, Australian author Peter Cawdron tells a gripping story about the crash of a private jet deep...
MYSTERIES & THRILLERS
Russian police confront diamond smuggling and murder in Siberia
The independence of Chief Inspector Rostnikov's cozy little squad is on the line. "The Office of Special Investigations was at the very bottom of the Moscow police force. The Office had been created solely as a receptacle in which to dump unsolvable and politically sensitive...
NONFICTION
How cities have built civilization and shaped human history
When I was born in 1941, about six months before the United States entered World War II, the world's three largest cities were New York, Tokyo, and London (which had been #2 before the Blitz). None of the three housed even close to 10 million people. As of 2025, the three...
Popular Fiction
A brilliant novel of love, hope, and the Rwanda genocide
Today, Rwanda is one of the brightest lights in Africa. The economy is booming. Corruption is rare. Government delivers services. The streets of Kigali, the capital, are clean. It's even easy to open a business. Thirty years ago the country was in chaos, as this award-winning...
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
