A casual look at this blog might give you the impression that my reading runs all over the map. There’s considerable variety, of course. But in fact I’m aggressively selective in choosing books to read. For starters, you’ll find a slew of topics I never read about at What I read (and what I don’t). You should also know that I review only those books I’ve actually read from beginning to end — and there are lots of books I start reading but never finish. However, as veteran readers of this blog have discovered, I have a special fondness for fiction, especially detective stories, thrillers, science fiction, and historical novels.
In the list below, you’ll find links to the lists of books I’ve reviewed by some of my favorite novelists in these three categories. They’re arranged in alphabetical order by the authors’s last names. Almost every one is a work in progress: as I read more books by an author, I add the review to that author’s list.
Jussi-Adler Olsen’s captivating Department Q thrillers
5 thrilling science fiction novels by Paolo Bacigalupi (and 3 novelettes)
The 12 novels of Alex Berenson’s thrilling John Wells spy series
The Quirke series of Dublin crime novels from Benjamin Black
The outstanding historical fiction of Geraldine Brooks
Christopher Buckley writes satirical novels that are very, very funny
The pleasures of reading the complete Vorkosigan Saga
Charles Cumming’s first-rate spy thrillers
Reviewing the Dublin Murder Squad novels by Tana French
The evocative Night Soldiers series from Alan Furst
Top-notch spy novels from Alex Gerlis
Timothy Hallinan’s Junior Bender series of comic crime novels
The spellbinding thrillers of Robert Harris
Following Mick Herron’s clever British spies at Slough House
Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels
The Fjällbacka series of Swedish thrillers from Camilla Läckberg
The magical Lisbeth Salander novels
The outstanding Harry Hole thrillers from Jo Nesbo
Dame Stella Rimington’s Liz Carlyle series of top-notch espionage novels
J. K. Rowling’s thrilling Cormoran Strike detective series
John Sandford’s excellent Virgil Flowers novels
Karin Slaughter’s well-crafted series of Grant County thrillers
Olen Steinhauer’s brilliant Yalta Boulevard cycle set in Eastern Europe
Reviewing Ross Thomas – thrillers that stand the test of time
The Maisie Dobbs novels from Jacqueline Winspear
This list is by no means a complete list of my favorite novelists. For one thing, I’ve omitted crime writers such as John Grisham, Michael Connelly, John Sandford (the Prey series), and Karin Slaughter (the Will Trent series), all of whom I’ve been reading for years. I’ve omitted Ross Macdonald and Robert B. Parker, all of whose books I read decades before launching this blog. And I have posts in development for the work of Joseph Kanon, Joseph Finder, and John Lescroart.
And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, plus a guide to this whole site, on the Home Page.
