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SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

NONFICTION

Were British double agents the key to the Normandy invasion?

Were British double agents the key to the Normandy invasion?

Americans' views of the Second World War have been dominated by films, books, and television specials about the role that U.S. troops played in the fighting. Even today, more than three-quarters of a century after the war ended, we tend to believe that it was our ingenuity and...

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Popular Fiction

British explorers risk death in forbidden Tibet in 1869

British explorers risk death in forbidden Tibet in 1869

Explorers today plumb the oceans' trenches and the vast reaches of solar space. For the truly adventurous who seek to cross humanity's last frontiers, few if any big challenges remain on land. But a century and a half ago, the opportunities for Western explorers to make their...

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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!

 

Mexico Set is the second novel in Len Deighton's classic spy series.

In Len Deighton’s classic spy series, Bernard Samson goes to Mexico

We first met Bernard Samson in Berlin Game, when the veteran MI6 field officer stumbled into the knowledge that his beloved wife, Fiona, was a Soviet spy. In Mexico Set, the second of the ten novels in Len Deighton's (1929-) classic spy series (three trilogies and a prequel), Bernard is plagued...
The Widows of Malabar Hill highlights the Parsi minority.

The first woman lawyer in Bombay solves a baffling mystery

I'll admit it. I enjoy reading mysteries and thrillers, and I have a special preference for historical fiction. But when an author brings the two genres together and does a superior job in both of them, I'm entranced. And that's certainly the case with The Widows of Malabar Hill. Sujata Massey's...
Cover image of "2034," a great military science fiction novel

Great military science fiction

War makes no sense. Yet if any single thing defines the human experience, it may be the tendency of tribes and organized states alike to rush to arms against those they perceive as enemies. For example, the United States has been engaged in military action almost from the day the country gained...
Cover image of "Beyond the Messy Truth" by Van Jones

Van Jones’ messy truth about the Democratic and Republican Parties

More than half the American people complain about Donald Trump. But few are doing something about it. Van Jones is one of the exceptions. Van does not mince words. "There is evidence that Trump is crazy," he noted in a Nov. 5 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, "but he has also...
In Darwin's Cipher, genetic research goes awry.

Genetic research goes awry in this chilling science fiction novel

Ever since the mid-twentieth century geneticists and molecular biologists have been mucking around in the human genetic code. Medical researchers have been seeking ways to cure diseases or prevent them entirely. Others have been toying with techniques to heighten critical elements in our...
Cover image of "A Tap on the Window," a small town thriller

An engrossing small town thriller

This is the first time I've stumbled across Linwood Barclay. It turns out, though, that A Tap on the Window is one of fifteen novels he's written, most of them, like this one, detective fiction. Barclay is a US-born Canadian author who has won awards for his mysteries. I find it amazing that,...
Cover image of "Vera, or Faith," a venture into dystopia

Dystopia unfolds through the eyes of a precocious 10-year-old

Since the publication of The Russian Debutante's Handbook in 2002 and Absurdistan four years later, Gary Shteyngart has deployed satire and humor to illuminate the human condition in our times. He followed those two novels with his first venture into dystopia, Super Sad True Love Story. Now he...
Stalin

Stalin’s life assessed in a balanced new biography

Leon Trotsky, Isaac Deutscher, Robert Service, Stephen Kotkin, Robert Conquest, and Simon Sebag Montefiore have all produced widely-read accounts of Joseph Stalin's life. They're among scores of others. In fact, Amazon dredges up more than 1,000 titles in response to the query "Stalin biography."...
Cover image of "The Fish That Ate the Whale," a biography of America's Banana King

The amazing story of America’s Banana King

A review of The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King, by Rich Cohen. @@@@@ (5 out of 5). The extraordinary story of the man who added bananas to America’s diet, helped establish the State of Israel, and brought down the government of Guatemala.

Cover image of "The Dog Who Bit a Policeman," a novel about a gang war in Moscow

Moscow cops in Yeltsin’s time take on the mafias

Most Americans have read about "the Russian Mafia." But organized crime in Russia bears no resemblance to the Mafia as we have come to know it through the Godfather and The Sopranos. Instead, there are mafias. And there are the former Communist apparatchiks dominating the Kremlin, many now...

My Most Popular Reviews

Weekly Reviews Delivered to You!

Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

Weekly book reviews to match your taste!

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Mal Warwick

The latest mystery
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…includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

My latest
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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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