Book reviews and more!

Posts tagged with ‘Novels’

CLAUDIA SILVER TO THE RESCUE, by Kathy Ebel

July 6, 2013

BITTERSWEET FAMILY DRAMA is rich in details of 1990s New York, strong on characterization. Great #beachread!

Grade: B PLUS

CLAUDIA SILVER TO THE RESCUE
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2013

Tags: , ,

LAST FRIENDS, by Jane Gardam

June 19, 2013

EXQUISITELY CRAFTED NOVEL about the inner lives of a dwindling group of elderly friends in rural England.

Grade: A MINUS

LAST FRIENDS
Europa Editions
2013

Tags: ,

CRASH AND BURN, by Michael Hassan

June 18, 2013

SLY, ACID SATIRE follows a slacker turned hero after he averts a high-school massacre. Grimly funny and true.

Grade: B PLUS

CRASH AND BURN
HarperCollins
2013

Tags: ,

WITHOUT A SUMMER, by Mary Robinette Kowal

June 6, 2013

LOVELY AUSTENESQUE FANTASY, third in a series, with magic-workers involved in English politics. Absorbing fun!

Grade: B PLUS

WITHOUT A SUMMER
Tor
2013

Tags: , , ,

HAMMETT UNWRITTEN, by Owen Fitzstephen

June 4, 2013

INTRIGUING NOIR PASTICHE stars Dashiell Hammett, on the trail of a real-life Maltese Falcon.  Smartly done.

Grade: SOLID B

HAMMETT UNWRITTEN
Prometheus/Seventh Street Books
2013

Tags: , , ,

THE BOYFRIEND, by Thomas Perry

June 3, 2013

BRILLIANTLY PLOTTED THRILLER follows a hard-boiled detective on the hunt for a killer of lovely call girls.

Grade: B PLUS

THE BOYFRIEND
Mysterious Press
2013

Tags: , , , ,

SHADOW ON THE CROWN, by Patricia Bracewell

June 2, 2013

THE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH COURT of Aethelred and Emma, vividly depicted in all its wicked intrigue. Tudors? Pfft!

Grade: B PLUS

SHADOW ON THE CROWN
Viking
2013

Tags: , , ,

THE ANDALUCIAN FRIEND, by Alexander Söderberg

May 31, 2013

TENSE SWEDISH THRILLER follows an intrepid nurse through a deadly web of international intrigue. Breathtaking.

Grade: B PLUS

THE ANDALUCIAN FRIEND
Crown
2013

Tags: , , , ,

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF US, by Aria Beth Sloss

May 30, 2013

TWO YOUNG WOMEN weather the changes of the 1960s in different ways.  A complex, deft portrait of friendship!

Grade: B PLUS

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF US
Henry Holt and Company
2013

Tags: , , , ,

THE MORELS, by Christopher Hacker

May 29, 2013

THE POWER OF ART, both to heal and to hurt, takes center stage in this fascinating, brutally frank novel.

Grade: A MINUS

THE MORELS
Soho Press
2013

Tags: ,