Okay, I lied. What follows is not a list of the 20 best books of 2024, if by that you’re expecting the 20 best books published during the past year. Truth to tell, I don’t believe anyone—not the New York Times, the Washington Post, or any other news organization...
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I admit it. I have a special weakness for historical mysteries and thrillers. The following list of more than 200 such novels will certainly prove the point. They’re divided into three sections, beginning with my selection of the top ten novels. Immediately below that section are the 100 books in...
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Few topics have so dominated conversation in America since November 8, 2016, as the behavior of the country’s forty-fifth president. Some commentators have likened the attention received by Donald Trump to that afforded Ronald Reagan three decades earlier. But there’s no comparison: Trump wins...
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The 20 detective novels listed below may not be the 20 “best” detective novels, even by my uniquely idiosyncratic criteria. I’d read a lot of work in the genre even before I began writing these reviews in January 2010—and there are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of detective novels...
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Historians don’t have a lot of fun. Usually, the field requires countless hours of slogging through dusty old archives in search of that magical key to historical truth: a primary source. It’s taken for granted that original, contemporaneous materials are superior to anything that might have been...
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The 10 books highlighted here may not be the very best novels written about World War II. But they are the best ones I’ve read and reviewed since January 2010. I’ve given every one of them a rating of ★★★★★. There’s a second list below that includes some four dozen runners-up. All are novels...
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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 because it all...
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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 several of the authors...
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Writers from India have garnered a large share of critical attention for their work in recent years, and no wonder. The country has a rich literary tradition, which has animated a new generation of writers to publish in English. And there is no lack of English-speakers on the subcontinent. At a...
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Setting a novel of suspense in a small town offers a writer several advantages. And those advantages multiply when the book is one in a series. Many of those in the cast of characters become familiar over time. They, and not just the investigator, as in an urban-based series, may come across as...
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English-speaking readers and critics are likely to identify the earliest mystery novels in the work of American and British authors Edgar Allan Poe and Willkie Collins. But Chinese scholars might differ. As CrimeReads observes, “The first Chinese proto-mysteries—that is,...
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Although I tend to favor fictional rather than factual stories about crime, I’ve read many of the most widely admired true crime books. Some, I read years before I began posting reviews in 2010. But I’ve devoured many since. And below I’m listing the best of them. You’ll...
Read MoreToday, the CIA lies at the center of a vast complex of eighteen intelligence agencies. The so-called “intelligence community” boasts a combined budget of more than $100 billion annually. That’s one million dollars 100,000 times over. And though the Central Intelligence Agency...
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Most post-Apocalyptic novels portray a world gone irretrievably mad. Books such as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, On the Beach by Nevil Shute, and Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon, depict human life reduced to its lowest common denominator. But Alice Sabo’s A Changed World series presents...
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Over the past fourteen years, since I began posting book reviews, I’ve read and reviewed more than 450 mysteries and thrillers. A fair number are set in Asia, principally (but not exclusively) in India or China. Some, of course, are standalone efforts. But most are entries in series. And when I...
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Police procedurals differ from other stories about investigations by police detectives in one fundamental way. The lead detective is not a lone wolf but a member of a team and often draws upon the resources of the whole department. In most detective novels, the central figure emerges as a hero,...
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Clichés abound in descriptions of World War II. After all, it was the greatest cataclysm in the history of the human race. And books about the events of 1937 to 1945 crowd library shelves throughout the English-speaking world. Amazon lists more than 6,000 titles, though that’s surely an...
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Estimated reading time: 9 minutes Over the past fifteen years, I’ve reviewed more than 600 nonfiction books. Out of those I’ve selected ten that significantly changed my mind with new information and new insight—plus thirteen more that did so a little less. They cover a wide swath of territory,...
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Here you’ll find my candidates for the ten best among the more than three dozen techno-thrillers I’ve read and reviewed. Of course, you might ask what qualifies a novel to be called a techno-thriller. Definitions seem to vary. But mine is that it’s a story in which technology is at the root of...
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Over the past 15 years or so, I’ve reviewed more than 800 mysteries and thrillers. Naturally, I’ve got my favorites. Dozens of them. But most of those stand out for me because they illuminate fascinating places or historic events. Of course, they’re all fun to read. But only a handful are...
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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.
Science Fiction Monday includes my latest SF book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
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.
Science Fiction Monday includes my latest SF book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
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.