Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




2012 Fall Preview: Fiction


Cover art for SKAGBOYS
FICTION
Released: Sept. 17, 2012

"Red meat for Welsh cultists, but a heavy load for anybody else."
Once more into the ditch: Welsh revisits the economically depressed, heroin-sick slums of Edinburgh in this hefty prequel to Trainspotting (1993). Read full book review >
Cover art for THE MIDDLESTEINS
FICTION
Released: Oct. 23, 2012

"A sharp-tongued, sweet-natured masterpiece of Jewish family life."
From Attenberg (The Melting Season, 2010, etc.), the deeply satisfying story of a Chicago family coming apart at the seams and weaving together at the same time. Read full book review >
Cover art for TELEGRAPH AVENUE
FICTION
Released: Sept. 11, 2012

"The evocation of "Useless, by James Joyce" attests to the humor and ambition of the novel, as if this were a Joyce-an remix with a hipper rhythm track."
An end-of-an-era epic celebrating the bygone glories of vinyl records, comic-book heroes and blaxploitation flicks in a world gone digital. Read full book review >
Cover art for HOSTAGE
FICTION
Released: Aug. 24, 2012
by Elie Wiesel, translated by Catherine Temerson

"Nobel Peace Prize winner Wiesel continues to remind us of the brilliant possibilities of the philosophical and political novel. "
Wiesel takes us on a journey through dream, memory and especially storytelling in his latest novel, which concerns Shaltiel Feigenberg, who in 1975, is captured and imprisoned for 80 hours in a basement by two captors. Read full book review >
Cover art for A FISTFUL OF COLLARS
FICTION
Released: Sept. 11, 2012

"Chet, who continues as narrator in this exciting fifth installment of the series (The Dog Who Knew Too Much, 2011, etc.), often struggles to understand what the humans are up to but always gets it right in the end."
The Little Detective Agency can't afford to turn down a case, because financial problems continue to dog them. Read full book review >
Cover art for A KILLING IN THE HILLS
FICTION
Released: Aug. 21, 2012

"A fictional debut for a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, born and raised in West Virginia, whose love for the state, filled with natural beauty and deep poverty, pervades a mystery that has plenty of twists and turns and a shocking conclusion."
A tough prosecutor who's trying to make a difference in the lives of West Virginians suddenly finds her own life in shambles. Read full book review >