The Latest

SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

US Special Forces and the CIA collide in Cold War Berlin

US Special Forces and the CIA collide in Cold War Berlin

Veterans of intelligence agencies and the special forces crowd the ranks of spy novelists. Some have rightfully been hailed as masters of the craft—John le Carré, for example. Or, more recently, David McCloskey. Others have written worthy and suspenseful novels that illuminate...

read more

NONFICTION

Popular Fiction

A brilliant novel of love, hope, and the Rwanda genocide

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...

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!

 

well-written novel: Wanna Get Lucky by Deborah Coonts

A funny, sexy, well-written novel about misdeeds and passion in Las Vegas

A review of Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts. @@@@ (4 out of 5). Lucky O’Toole is the chief problem-solver at a top-ranked Las Vegas casino and hotel, where a sequinned semblance of life goes on frenetically 24/7. This is a funny, sexy, well-plotted, and well written crime novel that promises a lot of fun in the episodes to come.

The Paladin is a revenge fantasy.

The latest from David Ignatius is a little hard to believe

The antihero has been a fixture in literature since Homer, although the term was first used in France only in the eighteenth century. In our time, the antihero has become a familiar figure through the writing of Dostoevsky, Kafka, Sartre, Camus, Kerouac, and Mailer and has entered popular culture...
His Bloody Project is one of the best mysteries and thrillers set in Scotland.

Mysteries and thrillers set in Scotland

Listed below are more than a dozen mysteries and thrillers set in Scotland. They include two historical courtroom dramas, one of them by Denise Mina and set in Glasgow; Peter May’s atmospheric Lewis Trilogy set in the Outer Hebrides Islands; and seven of the volumes in Ian Rankin’s outstanding...

Inspector Lynley and Barbara Havers go to Tuscany

Picking up a new entry in the Inspector Thomas Lynley series is like revisiting an old friend -- in fact, a whole coterie of old friends, with all their quirks and characteristics intact. In Just One Evil Act, the eighteenth novel in the series, Elizabeth George affords us a long yet none too...
SARS-CoV-2-virus

Books about COVID-19 and other pandemics

As the son and brother of doctors, I’ve long had an intense interest in medical history. And I’ve been more aware than most Americans what the threat of epidemic disease represents to our future. That awareness came to the surface in 2017, when I published Hell on Earth: What we can learn from...
Cover image of "The Lost Man of Bombay," historical mystery set in Indiaa

A baffling murder mystery in post-Independence India

Some of the most compelling new mystery series have been coming out of India in recent years. They're arriving thick and fast these days. Sujata Massey's Perveen Mistry novels about the first woman lawyer in Bombay. The Wyndham and Banerjee novels by Abir Mukherjee, about an odd couple of police...
How It Happened is a top-notch thriller.

From Michael Koryta, a top-notch thriller set on the coast of Maine

The ingredients of a top-notch thriller include: an opening scene that grabs attention; believable characters who act in plausible ways; a steady drumbeat of revelations that build suspense; and a fiendishly complex plot that is only resolved as the novel comes to a close. The latest thriller from...
Cover image of "The Armour of Light,"

The Kingsbridge Saga moves to the Industrial Revolution

Many readers know Ken Follett as the author of the popular spy thrillers Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca. But in his long writing career he has sold nearly 200 million books. And the Kingsbridge Saga accounts for more than half the total. It is without question one of, if not the...
Cover image of "The Bat," a novel about a Norwegian cop Down Under

Where it all began for Harry Hole: the Norwegian master-cop Down Under

A review of The Bat, by Jo Nesbo. @@@ (3 out of 5). In the first novel of the celebrated Harry Hole detective series, the Norwegian master-sleuth tracks down a serial killer in Australia.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a classic Boston crime novel.

The classic Boston crime novel that inspired Elmore Leonard

What does it take for a novel to become iconic—to embody the essence of an era and become a classic in its genre? Clearly, a book needs to feature some aspect of style, characterization, or plotting that sets a new trend. For example, take The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. Sam Spade and Philip...

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!