Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




New Mysteries & Thrillers


Cover art for HEARTBROKEN
FICTION
Released: June 26, 2012

"Unger knows how to write a taut thriller, but one improbable character keeps this book from being extraordinary."
Unger's latest offers a triumvirate of strong women pitted against a shared past and dangerous future. Read full book review >
Cover art for BONEREAPERS
FICTION
Released: June 5, 2012

"A tepid case that heats up only when Matthews (Bet Your Bones, 2011, etc.) delves into Norse myths. "
Freezing to death in Norway. Read full book review >
Cover art for COP TO CORPSE
FICTION
Released: June 12, 2012

"Nobody but Lovesey could thump out a gritty procedural yet instill Bath with so much charm and history that readers will have to put it on their bucket lists."
How many mistakes can Detective Superintendent Diamond make and still catch the Somerset Sniper? Read full book review >
Cover art for THE DARK CHRONICLES
FICTION
Released: June 1, 2012

"The immediacy of Duns' writing grabs and suspends the reader in a beautifully realized heartbeat of recent history."
A trio of gritty spy yarns featuring British double agent Paul Dark. Read full book review >
Cover art for DEATH'S DOOR
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2012

"Not all the details of the complex investigation are equally compelling, but the quality of Kelly's prose and the ongoing upstairs-downstairs relationship between the two protagonists will propel readers past the dry spots. "
For CID coppers Shaw and Valentine (Death Toll, 2011, etc.), an unsolved murder poisons the air 20 years later. Read full book review >
Cover art for A CLASS ON MURDER
FICTION
Released: June 15, 2012

"Gibson creates a mystery as laid-back and mellow as her heroine. "
An academic cozy about murder. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE DEMANDS
FICTION
Released: June 12, 2012

"This great novel should put Billingham in the same league as Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, John Harvey and Denise Mina. "
The clock is ticking for London detective Tom Thorne. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE SKELETON BOX
FICTION
Released: June 5, 2012

"Complex but lumpy, perhaps because of the true-crime roots a closing note reveals. But there's no mistaking Gruley's fierce love for his frigid hamlet. "
The inexplicable murder of his mother's dearest friend sends Upper Michigan journalist Gus Carpenter, of the dying Pine County Pilot, back for another bracing trip to his town's endlessly sordid past. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE RISK AGENT
FICTION
Released: June 19, 2012

"Exotic locale. Credible heroics. Vicarious thrills. Fans will want more, and soon."
If you have the right incentives, dollars in the billions can be made in Shanghai, where capitalism wrestles with communism. So says Pearson (In Harm's Way, 2010, etc.) in this first in a new series of thrillers. Read full book review >
Cover art for OUTERBOROUGH BLUES
FICTION
Released: June 12, 2012

"First-time novelist Cotto's shaggy, dreamlike saga begins with a curse and ends with a redemption of sorts. What's in between is a lot less clear. "
A highly unlikely detective pursues the even more unlikely trail of a missing man during Holy Week in Brooklyn. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE PARIS DIRECTIVE
FICTION
Released: June 19, 2012

"By-the-numbers plotting, with a killer whose motivations make you wonder how he's lasted so long; a police hero who's bound to return in further installments; and some meals you'll remember long after the 10 fatalities have faded from memory."
Pseudonymous Jay's debut plops a killer-for-hire down in the placid Dordogne village of Taziac to produce a mashup of cloak-and-dagger and cozy replete with murder and fine dining. Read full book review >
Cover art for LOUISE'S GAMBLE
FICTION
Released: June 1, 2012

"An alarming reminder of how sexist life was back in the '40s and how the Mafia took root in Sicily."
The indignities of being a woman during World War II in Washington, D.C. Read full book review >
Cover art for A KILLING COAST
FICTION
Released: June 1, 2012

"A generally satisfying puzzler whose hero takes a little too long to connect the dots."
DI Andy Horton (Blood on the Sand, 2010, etc.) misses the mark when he mistakes a murder for an accidental drowning. Read full book review >
Cover art for SEAL TEAM SIX OUTCASTS
FICTION
Released: May 29, 2012

"If you enjoy multiplayer shooting games and know or want to learn more about weapons systems, this book is for you."
Capitalizing on the success of the memoir Wasdin wrote with Stephen Templin, Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper (2011), the pair returns with a cartoonish novel. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE LAST POLICEMAN
FICTION
Released: July 10, 2012

"A promising kickoff to a planned trilogy. For Winters (Bedbugs, 2011, etc.), the beauty is in the details rather than the plot's grim main thrust."
In a pre-apocalyptic world, one detective still keeps watch--but to what end? Read full book review >
Cover art for UNDEAD AND UNSTABLE
FICTION
Released: June 5, 2012

"Davidson's latest seems to be less interested in presenting new action than in laying groundwork for further volumes in her series (Undead and Undermined, 2011, etc.). The same mixture as before, but with more Game of Thrones references."
A vampire queen misses her late friend…until he mysteriously returns. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE LAST TRADE
FICTION
Released: June 14, 2012

"Sure to unsettle readers who check their investments 10 times a day. "
Fascinating, if uneven, debut thriller that links Wall Street treachery to international terrorism. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE LINE BETWEEN HERE AND GONE
FICTION
Released: June 19, 2012

"A light thriller with romantic elements."
Amanda Gleason's infant son, Justin, is fighting for his life, and only his father can save him. But his father, Paul Everett, is dead. Or is he? Read full book review >
Cover art for MISSION TO PARIS
FICTION
Released: June 12, 2012

"The novel recalls a time when black and white applied to both movies and moral choices. It's a tale with wide appeal."
A historical spy novel that takes the reader back to the 1930s, when Europe hurtled toward the abyss. Read full book review >
Cover art for POWERS OF ARREST
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2012

"Talton (Deadline Man, 2010, etc.) crafts a solid mystery while telling the engrossing, sometimes poignant story of a cop with a cane who refuses to be pigeonholed."
A brave cop finds the kind of courage he didn't know he had. Read full book review >