The Stacks
All book reviews
613 honest reviews across fiction, non-fiction, mystery, sci-fi, romance, and more.
Showing 337-360 of 613
Hammerheads
by Dale Brown
A Dale Brown 1990 technothriller about a militarized Drug War interdiction force. Pulpy, propulsive, very much of its moment.
The Brave Little Toaster : A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances
by Thomas M. Disch
Thomas M. Disch's 1980 children's novella, eventually adapted as a Disney animated film. Stranger and more melancholy than the film admitted.
Neighboring Lives
by Thomas M. Disch
Thomas M. Disch and Charles Naylor's 1981 literary novel set in 19th-century London's Chelsea district. A small marvel that almost no one reads.
Carnival
by Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Bear's 2006 SF novel. Diplomats on a matriarchal world, a planet of telepathically suspicious humanity, and the most interestingly compromised first contact in recent SF.
The Wings of Merlin
by T. A. Barron
The fifth and concluding Lost Years of Merlin novel. T. A. Barron giving his YA Arthurian sequence the closing it deserved.
Heartlight
by T. A. Barron
T. A. Barron's 1990 YA SF debut. A girl and her grandfather use light-based physics to travel to a dying star. Genuinely scientifically curious children's fiction.
Deadly Hall
by John Dickson Carr
A late John Dickson Carr 1971 historical impossible-crime. The form running on tradition rather than innovation.
Papa La-Bas
by John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr's 1968 New Orleans historical mystery. Voodoo, a Creole household, and the master of impossible-crime turning to atmospheric Gothic.
J.O.B.: A Comedy of Justice
by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein's 1984 late-period theological satire. Bibles, Mark Twain, and the kind of cosmic flippancy only late Heinlein could pull off.
A Song of Stone
by Iain M. Banks
Iain Banks's 1997 literary novel. A castle, a civil war, and a couple whose privilege is unraveling in real time. Bleak and beautifully written.
A Banquet of Consequences
by Elizabeth George
The 19th Inspector Lynley novel. Elizabeth George doing late-period family-secrets and an investigation that genuinely deserves its 700 pages.
Bombshell
by Max Allan Collins
A Max Allan Collins novel about a fictionalized 1962 Marilyn Monroe rescue mission. Pulpy, well-researched, deeply enjoyable.
Spider's Web
by Agatha Christie
Christie's 1954 stage play, novelized later by Charles Osborne. A country-house body, a hostess covering for the wrong person. Slight but pleasant.
The Man With the Iron-On Badge
by Lee Goldberg
A Lee Goldberg solo PI novel outside his media-tie-in work. A security-guard turned PI in LA, a missing rich kid, and a sharper book than the cover suggests.
Lifeguard
by Andrew Gross
Andrew Gross writing a James Patterson-style thriller with his name on it. Beach setup, art-theft conspiracy, propulsive but slight.
Five Great Novels
by Lawrence Block
A Lawrence Block omnibus collecting Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, and Keller. The form on multiple registers in one volume.
Terminal City
by Linda Fairstein
A Linda Fairstein Alex Cooper novel. Grand Central Station as the case's gravitational center. Fairstein at her most New-York-specific.
Heavenly Pleasures
by Kerry Greenwood
The second Corinna Chapman mystery. Kerry Greenwood deepening the Melbourne baker series with chocolate-shop poisoning.
Even Money
by Dick Francis
Dick Francis (with his son Felix) writing a London-bookmaker mystery. Late Francis in collaborative form, still excellent on the racing world.
Evan Blessed
by Rhys Bowen
The ninth Constable Evan Evans mystery. Rhys Bowen in cozy Welsh-village form. Reliable comfort reading.
Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century
by Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card editing an SF retrospective anthology. His introductions are worth the book on their own.
Magic Street
by Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card writing Black urban fantasy in suburban LA. Risky for him, mostly successful, genuinely strange in the best way.
Flashback
by Nevada Barr
The 11th Anna Pigeon. Nevada Barr at Dry Tortugas National Park. Civil War history, present-day crime, and the Gulf as antagonist.
The Promise: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel
by Robert Crais
Robert Crais bringing Maggie the K-9 dog back into the Cole and Pike series. The crossover I did not know I needed.