Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




Best Fiction of 2012 (page 2)


Cover art for CITY OF THE LOST
FICTION
Released: Jan. 3, 2012

"A head-shakingly perfect blend of zombie schlock, deadpan wit, startling profanity, desperate improvisation and inventive brilliance."
A remarkable debut, LA noir with eye-bulging refinements, from a poet and short-story writer who says of himself: "As a writer he strives to be a hack. Hacks get paid. He's not sure if hacks talk about themselves in the third person, though. That might just be a side effect of his meds." Read full book review >
Cover art for THE BOOK OF JONAS
FICTION
Released: March 15, 2012

"A literary tour de force."
In Dau's debut fiction, Younis, a perceptive, observant boy in a nameless Central Asian land, is caught up in the war on terror. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE BEDLAM DETECTIVE
FICTION
Released: Feb. 7, 2012

"Gallagher loves character development but respects plotting enough to give it full measure. The result is that rare beast, a literary page turner. "
Monsters, actual and metaphorical, are at the heart of this superbly crafted thriller. Read full book review >
Cover art for CANADA
FICTION
Released: May 22, 2012

"At the start of the novel's coda, when Dell explains that he teaches his students "books that to me seem secretly about my young life," he begins the list with The Heart of Darkness and The Great Gatsby. Such comparisons seem well-earned."
A great American novel by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE COLDEST NIGHT
FICTION
Released: April 3, 2012

"An exceptionally fine study of love, war and the double-edged role of memory, which can both sustain and destroy. Prize-winning material."
It's extremes that rivet us in Olmstead's searing seventh novel: the heaven of first love; the hell of the battlefield. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE AGE OF MIRACLES
FICTION
Released: June 26, 2012

"Riveting, heartbreaking, profoundly moving."
In Walker's stunning debut, a young California girl coming-of-age in a dystopian near future confronts the inevitability of change on the most personal level as life on earth withers. Read full book review >