The Latest

SCIENCE FICTION

Did the ancient Greeks make First Contact?

Did the ancient Greeks make First Contact?

We humans are a race of storytellers. Over the course of the 300,000 years that we have commanded the power of speech, we have huddled in caves, sat around campfires, recited epic poems, published books, produced stage-plays, and used modern media to tell our stories. But in...

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MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

This slow-burning thriller will haunt you for years

This slow-burning thriller will haunt you for years

When Belinda Bauer won the top British award for crime fiction for her debut novel, she told a reporter she was surprised the Crime Writer's Association considered it a crime novel. It wasn't a whodunit, after all. Only three or four years later, after several later novels, did...

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NONFICTION

MacArthur was not the hero of the Philippines. This man was.

MacArthur was not the hero of the Philippines. This man was.

For most Americans, the enduring image of World War II in the Philippines is the iconic shot of General Douglas MacArthur wading onto the shore of Leyte Island on October 20, 1944. The photo was posed, part of the general's public relations campaign to grab headlines at home....

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Popular Fiction

Niccolo Machiavelli, private eye

Niccolo Machiavelli, private eye

If you've read The Prince, you probably think you know the work of Niccolo Machiavelli. Chances are, you think of him—as I always did—as the Renaissance propagandist who lionized a lying, cheating, brutal scoundrel as the ideal political and military leader. Having read The...

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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!

 

Arms merchants and spies in a thriller set during the Spanish Civil War

No living writer today can surpass Alan Furst in his mastery of the historical spy novel. With the dexterity of a veteran stage magician, his writing conjures up the tension and the tragedy of life behind the headlines in Europe of the 1930s and 1940s. Furst's stories cover the territory from...
Cover image of "Blood Test" by Jonathan Kellerman, a complex murder mystery

This complex murder mystery hinges on the symptoms of schizophrenia

Most genre authors are generalists who bring little special knowledge to their writing. There are exceptions, of course. For instance, science fiction authors who are actually scientists and the authors of police procedurals who serve, or have served, as cops. It's unusual, though, to find a...
In Spymaster, Brad Thord betrays his anti-Russian perspective.

Brad Thor showcases his anti-Russian perspective in this novel

Brad Thor has achieved the dubious distinction of reaching #25 on the Richtopia list of the "Top 200 Most Influential Authors" in the world. Judging from the list, that may mean very little. But there's no disputing Thor's success as a writer. The 19th entry in his Scot Harvath series of thrillers...
This book is an Astounding history of science fiction.

Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and the man who made their careers

If you're even a casual fan of science fiction, you're surely familiar with the name Isaac Asimov, author of the Foundation Trilogy, "Nightfall," and the stories collected in I, Robot. Asimov is often credited as the author of more published books than anyone else, even though it isn't true. He...
Cover image of "The Laws of Murder," an entry in an engaging detective series

An engaging detective series set in Victorian London

Mystery stories set in the past hold a certain fascination for me, so I turned to the Charles Finch detective series with anticipation. The Laws of Murder, the eighth and most recent addition to the series, is a workmanlike effort but fell short of delivering the thrill I get when a mystery or...
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

A grim but hopeful view of New York underwater in 2140

What will life on Earth be like a century from now once the oceans have risen fifty feet or more? This is the central question the acclaimed science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson sets out to explore in his ambitious new novel, New York 2140. Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Robinson's...
Cover image of "Present Danger" by Stella Rimington, one of the best spy novels recently

Do all the best spy novels come from Britain?

John le Carré. Eric Ambler. Graham Greene. Ian Fleming. Len Deighton. Frederick Forsyth. Somerset Maugham. Charles Cumming. Ken Follett. Alex Gerlis. Philip Kerr. Is that enough names to make the case that the best spy novels come from Britain? (Okay, maybe just in the English language.) Not that...
Cover image of "Gravity," a medical thriller in space

An action-packed medical thriller set in orbital space

Gravity opens in the Galápagos Rift nineteen thousand feet below the surface of the South Pacific. And it reaches a shattering conclusion two hundred twenty miles above the Earth. The connection between these two events, two years apart, lies at the heart of the mystery in this pulse-pounding...
Prince of Spies is about an attack on the Nazi V-2 rocket program.

British spies and the Nazi V-2 rocket

Alex Gerlis is the author of four outstanding standalone World War II spy novels (The Best of Our Spies, The Swiss Spy, Vienna Spies, and The Berlin Spies), all of which I enjoyed enormously. I can't quite say the same about his most recent novel of espionage in that era, Prince of Spies—a tale...
The Sanctuary Sparrow

A cozy mystery set in 12th-century England

In the previous entries in Ellis Peters' Cadfael Chronicles, much of the focus lies on the contest between King Stephen (1096-1154) and his cousin Empress Maud (1102-67) over the English crown. The warring cousins crowd the background. But the seventh book, The Sanctuary Sparrow, resembles a cozy...

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.

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…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.

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