After the dog days of summer, the book industry is ready to wow readers with some of the best books of the year. We've culled through our starred reviews to choose in fiction to pay special attention to and present them here.
FICTION
Released: Sept. 25, 2012
"A captivating and absorbing read."
A "non-fiction novel" that takes us far beyond Willie Sutton's clever one-liners about banks and deeply into his life.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"Subtle, smart, compelling and blessed with both an intelligent storyline and top-notch writing, this book will grab readers from page one and not let go until the final sentence."
Australia-based writer Robotham's insightful psychologist Joe O'Loughlin once again tackles a tough case involving crimes that, at first blush, do not seem related.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"Power, lust and moral ambiguity combine for an all-American explosion of fictional fireworks."
The acclaimed mystery writer again tries his hand at historical fiction, combining period detail from the Prohibition era with the depth of character and twists of plot that have won him such a devoted readership.
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 15, 2012
"An absorbing update of the classic film, D.O.A., that finds its author so completely in the zone that not a word is wasted, and the story seems to unfold itself without human assistance."
Nothing in Knopf's reflective, quietly loopy Hamptons mysteries starring Sam Acquillo and Jackie Swaitkowski (
Ice Cap, 2012, etc.) will have prepared his fans for this taut, streamlined tale of a man investigating his own murder.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 24, 2012
"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.
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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.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"Where earlier novels provide a better introduction to Hole, this one best takes the full measure of the man."
The internationally popular detective series by the Norwegian author builds to a blockbuster climax.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"A dazzling document, beautifully if most idiosyncratically drawn; in this iteration, sure to become a collector's item, though one that begs for an easier-to-handle trade edition."
A treasure trove of graphic artworks--they're too complex to be called comics--from Ware, master of angst, alienation, sci-fi and the crowded street.
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FICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012
"Britain's foremost living novelist has written a book--often as drily funny as it is thoughtful--that somehow both subverts and fulfills every expectation its protagonist has for fiction."
A subtly and sweetly subversive novel which seems more characteristic of its author as it becomes increasingly multilayered and labyrinthine in its masterful manipulation of the relationship(s) between fiction and truth.
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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.
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