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SEPT. 1, 2011
Adiga nails the culture of corruption. How exciting to watch a writer come into his own, surpassing the achievement of his... Full review >
OCT. 1, 2011
A beautiful and affecting novel, Tolstoyan in its compassion for humanity. Full review >
OCT. 11, 2011
A knockout. What at first seems like a polite meditation on childhood and memory leaves the reader asking difficult... Full review >
APRIL 5, 2011
Berg’s masterful portraits and keen insight makes for a memorable read. Full review >
MAY 3, 2011
OCT. 1, 2011
A sheer delight. Full review >
JUNE 7, 2011
Bolton (Blood Harvest, 2010, etc.) provides excruciating tension and much else. Romantics can drool over Jonesbury’s... Full review >
AUG. 2, 2011
Once again, Box provides the complete suspense package: unobtrusively slick detection, buckets of surprises and mounting... Full review >
SEPT. 1, 2011
JULY 1, 2011
APRIL 1, 2011
Tubal and Co. is a small, ancient private bank in London, and its longtime chief, Sir Harry Trevelyan-Tubal, has drafted his... Full review >
SEPT. 1, 2011
Absolutely not to be missed. Full review >
APRIL 20, 2011
A 15-year-old girl is raped. The Latino boy she’d been tutoring is the sole suspect. She’s rich, the daughter of Frank... Full review >
SEPT. 8, 2011
With gorgeous prose, Cohen skillfully takes us from past to present and back again as she explores the ramifications of... Full review >
FEB. 8, 2011
Determining whether the novel's main character is hero, villain or somewhere in between might require the reader to start... Full review >
APRIL 5, 2011
A first novel sure to make the bestseller lists. Full review >
OCT. 18, 2011
MARCH 29, 2011
A lively, eccentric, mythmaking novel inspired by 200 years of Canadian history. Full review >
MARCH 1, 2011
Taut, atmospheric and immersive—an instant classic. Full review >
JULY 1, 2011
Thoughtfully haunting and sometimes beautifully written, the first of Hjelm’s cases to be translated into English is likely... Full review >
JULY 1, 2011
The rare crime novel with something for everyone who reads crime fiction. Full review >
NOV. 1, 2011
An authoritative reworking of history, combining a splendid welter of religious and political intrigues with Duncan's... Full review >
NOV. 8, 2011
What does it all add up to? An indictment of the old Europe, for one thing, and a perplexing, multilayered,... Full review >
JUNE 1, 2011
An impressive debut, particularly notable for its pellucid prose. Full review >
OCT. 3, 2011
In rueful, witty, unpredictable and compassionate prose, Enright gives expression to subtle, affecting shades of human... Full review >
OCT. 11, 2011
MAY 1, 2011
A quirky, imaginative, dazzling black comedy. Full review >
JULY 1, 2011
AUG. 9, 2011
Fabulous fantasy spiked with bitter adult wisdom—not to be missed. Full review >
MAY 10, 2011
Haigh deals with complex moral issues in subtle ways, and her narrative is beautifully, sometimes achingly poignant. Full review >
SEPT. 7, 2011
A promising debut—and one guaranteed to draw attention, for it commanded an unusually big advance and will likely be pushed... Full review >
JUNE 7, 2011
A modern saga of rocketships, ice floes and dreams of the Caribbean, and great fun to read. Full review >
AUG. 1, 2011
Near the end, a character refers to the fate of “the dreadful, drab English.” There’s nothing drab about this dark and... Full review >
JUNE 1, 2011
A terrific, believable novel about the intersection of politics, ethics and finance. Full review >
MARCH 29, 2011
A delight from start to finish, and a note-perfect evocation of the gray 1950s. Full review >
NOV. 1, 2011
Encompassing the lives of women in the 20th century, this sprawling saga is tender and satisfying, with a heartbreaking end. Full review >
NOV. 1, 2011
Though his scenarios aren’t always plausible in strictest terms, King’s imagination, as always, yields a most satisfying... Full review >
JULY 1, 2011
JAN. 25, 2011
Heartfelt (everyone cries), deft and highly readable fiction. Full review >
APRIL 1, 2011
As languid in its movement as a gondola ride. Yet none of Brunetti’s earlier cases (About Face, 2009, etc.) is as... Full review >
JUNE 21, 2011
Written with piercing beauty, alive with moral passion and sorrowful insight—a rueful masterpiece. Full review >
MARCH 1, 2011
Bar none, Joe Rizzo is the most authentic cop in contemporary crime fiction. Full review >
MARCH 29, 2011
Though shivering in the winter of his discontent, Wallander will grip the reader hard. Flawed and occasionally exasperating,... Full review >
MARCH 8, 2011
A pleasure to read—and a pleasure to see Hadley Richardson presented in a sympathetic light. Full review >
SEPT. 1, 2011
A first-rate thriller; a touch slow to get going, but hard to apply the brakes to once it gets rolling. Full review >
MAY 17, 2011
A major intellectual achievement that, despite all difficulties, persuades and enthralls. Full review >
AUG. 23, 2011
NOV. 1, 2011
SEPT. 13, 2011
AUG. 2, 2011
Like La Joconde, Carson’s debut novel is set in an elegant frame—a newspaper reporter wrests the amazing story from a dying... Full review >
OCT. 25, 2011
Orwellian dystopia, sci-fi, the modern world (terrorism, drugs, apathy, pop novels)—all blend in this dreamlike, strange and... Full review >
AUG. 2, 2011
MAY 1, 2011
The smart, suspenseful cat-and-mouse game will remind some readers of Erik Skjoldbjærg’s 1997 film Insomnia—and that’s high... Full review >
JUNE 1, 2011
Precisely written, deeply human stories. Full review >
JULY 12, 2011
JUNE 7, 2011
Thrilling, disturbing and moving in equal measures—even better than Patchett’s breakthrough Bel Canto (2001). Full review >
AUG. 30, 2011
There’s even a happy ending of sorts, as characters adapt and keep going, fortified by the knowledge that they “were more... Full review >
MAY 5, 2011
Beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry’s relentless focus on the question of where the next... Full review >
APRIL 19, 2011
A literary lark, at times too labored, that offers an amusing gloss on the publishing industry’s recent problems with fakes. Full review >
OCT. 11, 2011
A treat no fan of Discworld—and there are boatloads of them—will want to miss. Full review >
NOV. 1, 2011
MAY 1, 2011
Spectacularly and convincingly inventive, assured and wholly spellbinding: one of the most impressive debuts in years. Full review >
MARCH 7, 2011
Will readers miss Rankin’s long-running protagonist, John Rebus (Exit Music, 2008, etc.)? Don’t see why they should. Bonus:... Full review >
JUNE 21, 2011
Think Hemingway or Jim Harrison, and know that Ray's collection is the deserving winner of the Bread Loaf Writers'... Full review >
JUNE 30, 2011
A fine collection of stories. Full review >
MAY 1, 2011
A long time in coming, with an ending that's one of the most memorable in recent literature. A superb novel, as grand in its... Full review >
SEPT. 13, 2011
APRIL 1, 2011
Shifting seamlessly between past and present versions of the case, Spencer produces a tour de force readers won’t quickly... Full review >
JULY 26, 2011
SEPT. 20, 2011
Who’ll prevail? We don’t know till the very end, thanks to Stephenson’s knife-sharp skills as a storyteller. An intriguing... Full review >
JULY 5, 2011
Dazzling, chilling and brilliant. Full review >
MARCH 17, 2011
Nazi collaboration, government cover-ups, kinky sex, a baby daughter waiting impatiently to be born and a vigilante-minded... Full review >
MAY 1, 2011
A masterful wide-angle portrait of an Iowa family over three decades. Full review >
MAY 24, 2011
Bluntly powerful but deeply nuanced stories from a unique voice in American fiction. Full review >
JAN. 1, 2011
Likely to rank with the best story collections of the year. Full review >
MARCH 15, 2011
A thick web of family tensions and psychological dysfunction with a whodunit chaser, Tolkien's third novel (The Inheritance,... Full review >
SEPT. 2, 2011
Upon finishing, readers might be tempted to start again, not wanting to let it go. Full review >
JUNE 9, 2011
To read this novel is to enter a Borgesian rabbit hole—it’s a fiction that purports to tell the truth obscured by another... Full review >
AUG. 9, 2011
A stellar debut. Waldman’s book reflects a much-needed understanding of American paranoia in the post-9/11 world. Full review >
JULY 26, 2011
A captivating story of loss, forgiveness and ultimate redemption. Full review >
DEC. 1, 2011
Passionate, intelligently written, thoroughly entertaining historical fiction. Full review >
AUG. 30, 2011
AUG. 9, 2011
A fantastic first novel that asks if the kids are alright, finding answers in the most unexpected places. Full review >
AUG. 2, 2011
A former private investigator with an encyclopedic knowledge of the seamier side of Southern California, Winslow... Full review >
JAN. 1, 2011
A compelling, gracefully written novel about mixed gender that sheds insight as surely as it rejects sensationalism. This... Full review >
OCT. 5, 2011
JUNE 1, 2011
Not just scary but funny too, as Wortham nails time and place in a sure-handed, captivating way. There’s a lot of good stuff... Full review >
MARCH 15, 2011
An unusual and unusually involving first novel with strong characters and nifty supernatural effects. Full review >
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