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Book Review

Book Review Elmore Leonard: Raylan

The venerable crime writer returns to the world and character that spawned the FX show Justified, but the series renders his characters better than he does.

February 8, 2012 | 12:03pm -
Book Review Will McIntosh: Hitchers

When the dead start possessing the living after a cataclysmic terrorist attack, a comic-strip writer has some tough moral choices to make.

February 8, 2012 | 12:02pm -
Book Review John Green: The Fault In Our Stars

A spectacular young-adult novel addresses teenagers with cancer in a direct, insightful way, rather than playing for sympathy.

February 8, 2012 | 12:01pm -
Book Review Tom McCarthy: Men In Space

An interim novel from the author of Remainder and C brings its story of an art heist in the Czech Republic to the U.S. for the first time.

February 8, 2012 | 12:00pm -
Book Review Shalom Auslander: Hope: A Tragedy

A Jew and a German confront each other in a town famed for its lack of history in this morbidly entertaining, metaphor-rich book from the author of Beware Of God.

February 1, 2012 | 12:03pm -
Book Review Elliot Perlman: The Street Sweeper

A historian with access to a lost cache of Holocaust stories and a Pole with a need to share his past form parallel stories in this mystery-esque drama.

February 1, 2012 | 12:02pm -
Book Review Ben Hellwarth: Sealab: America’s Forgotten Quest To Live And Work On The Ocean Floor

No, this book isn’t about the Cartoon Network animated series, it’s about 60 years of attempts to create a real-life underwater lab—with fatal results.

February 1, 2012 | 12:01pm -
Book Review Graeme Kent: One Blood

The second installment in a mystery series set in the Solomon Islands is as fascinating for its setting and its politics as it is for its murder case.

February 1, 2012 | 12:00pm -
Book Review Gil Scott-Heron: The Last Holiday: A Memoir

The late artist known for “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” tells his own story, but lacks the focus or insight that would make his book match his music.

January 25, 2012 | 12:04pm -
Book Review Dave Barry & Alan Zweibel: Lunatics

This comic novel is already set to become a Steve Carell comedy, but that doesn’t make it any more manageable or engaging.

January 25, 2012 | 12:03pm -
Book Review Lawrence M. Krauss: A Universe From Nothing

A lecture explaining how science proves the universe doesn’t need God became a viral hit via YouTube, but is harder to follow in book form.

January 25, 2012 | 12:02pm -
Book Review Matt Bondurant: The Night Swimmer

The author of The Wettest County In The World returns with the story of a couple who win their own pub in Ireland, but see their relationship disintegrating as a result.

January 25, 2012 | 12:01pm -
Book Review Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis: The Boy In The Suitcase

Two Danish writers move from children’s lit to dark thriller material, but have trouble maintaining tension or sticking the landing.

January 25, 2012 | 12:00pm -
Book Review Charlie Louvin and Benjamin Whitmer: Satan Is Real: The Ballad Of The Louvin Brothers

Intimate anecdotes and a knack for storytelling make this autobiography by the long-lived half of The Louvin Brothers a worthy match to their music.

January 18, 2012 | 12:04pm -
Book Review William Gibson: Distrust That Particular Flavor

The first non-fiction collection from the author of Mona Lisa Overdrive highlights his attention to small details and a surprising discomfort with the future.

January 18, 2012 | 12:03pm -
Book Review Gin Phillips: Come In And Cover Me

The second novel from the author of The Well And The Mine follows a museum director whose interest in archeology dovetails with her apparent encounters with ghosts.

January 18, 2012 | 12:02pm -
Book Review Richard Rhodes: Hedy’s Folly

The Pulitzer-winning author of The Making Of The Atomic Bomb turns his sights to “most beautiful woman in the world Hedy Lamarr, but his dry history splits its focus.

January 18, 2012 | 12:01pm -
Book Review Michael Scott and Collette Freedman: The Thirteen Hallows

The author of the bestselling Nicholas Flamel books launches a new, co-written fantasy series filled with flat characters and familiar tropes.

January 18, 2012 | 12:00pm -
Book Review Roberto Bolaño: The Third Reich

A lost, early, not entirely finished novel from the late author of 2666 is revealing and sometimes fascinating.

January 11, 2012 | 12:04pm -
Book Review Alex Gilvarry: From The Memoirs Of A Non-Enemy Combatant

A debut novel about a fashion designer turned terrorism suspect mixes humor with a wry look at the politics of detainment.

January 11, 2012 | 12:03pm -
Book Review Anne Holt: 1222

A Scandinavian author provides a genre-aware, Agatha Christie-style mystery, right down to the room full of suspects.

January 11, 2012 | 12:02pm -
Book Review Mazarkis Williams: The Emperor’s Knife

A debut novel launches a fantasy series that’s less than the sum of its impressive parts.

January 11, 2012 | 12:01pm -
Book Review Scott Raab: The Whore Of Akron: One Man’s Search for the Soul of LeBron James

A GQ/Esquire contributor lays out how LeBron James became the focus of his personal vendetta.

January 11, 2012 | 12:00pm -
Book Review Mark Evans: Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside Of AC/DC

Two years of insider experience as AC/DC's bassist is enough to make this memoir colorful, but not always insightful.

January 4, 2012 | 12:04pm -
Book Review Carrie Fisher: Shockaholic

The actor-turned-writer follows up Wishful Drinking with another slight but entertaining collection of personal stories, from life post-Princess Leia to dinner with Ted Kennedy.

January 4, 2012 | 12:03pm -
Book Review John C. Wright: Count To A Trillion

This throwback reminds science-fiction fans of how much fun pulp used to be, both in its narrative and in its characters' musings.

January 4, 2012 | 12:02pm -
Book Review Ann Beattie: Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines A Life

Richard Nixon's wife provides a focus for this series of stylistic exercises and literary musings

January 4, 2012 | 12:01pm -
Book Review Rob Ziegler: Seed

A debut novel covers the recently well-trod ground of a fallen future America, sometimes with exceptional style.

January 4, 2012 | 12:00pm -
Book Review Paul Brannigan: This Is A Call: The Life And Times Of Dave Grohl

The nicest guy in rock gets an equally nice bio, but “nice” doesn't mean “compelling.”

December 21, 2011 | 12:04pm -
Book Review Luis Alberto Urrea: Queen Of America

The life of a Mexican folk healer gets its second compelling exploration via another novel from one of her relatives.

December 21, 2011 | 12:03pm -