The Stacks
All book reviews
402 honest reviews across fiction, non-fiction, mystery, sci-fi, romance, and more.
Showing 337-360 of 402
Color of Death
by Bruce Alexander
The seventh Sir John Fielding novel. Bruce Alexander on race, theft, and 1770s London. Quietly one of the strongest in the series.
The Cockatrice Boys
by Joan Aiken
Joan Aiken writing strange YA dystopia. A post-monster-invasion Britain, a brother and sister, and a tone you cannot quite categorize.
So Vile a Sin
by Ben Aaronovitch
A 1997 Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures novel co-written by Ben Aaronovitch and Kate Orman. Operatic, dense, the end of a long arc.
The Only Good Yankee
by Jeff Abbott
The second Jordan Poteet mystery. Jeff Abbott loosening up and writing his small Texas town with full confidence.
Titanicus
by Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett writing the Warhammer 40K novel that nobody asked for and that turned out to be one of his best. Giant war-machines, factory cities, and an honest piece of social fiction underneath the metal.
The Tutor
by Peter Abrahams
Peter Abrahams's slow-burning suburban thriller about a tutor who is not what he says he is.
The Toughest Indian in the World
by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie's 2000 story collection. Tougher, sadder, more sexually frank than Lone Ranger and Tonto. The follow-up earns itself.
The Rise and Fall of a Dragonking
by Lynn Abbey
Lynn Abbey wrapping up the Dark Sun: Chronicles of Athas. The series ending the setting deserved.
A Most Contagious Game
by Catherine Aird
Catherine Aird's 1967 standalone, written between her first two Sloan novels. Quieter, sharper, and a small early-career marvel.
Stiff News
by Catherine Aird
The 17th Sloan procedural. A retirement-home death that may not be natural. Catherine Aird at her most institutional and her most quietly biting.
Remembrance Day
by Brian W. Aldiss
Brian Aldiss writing a literary novel about the IRA bombing of Brighton. SF writer in straight-fiction mode.
The Purity of Vengeance
by Jussi Adler-Olsen
The fourth Department Q novel. The Danish eugenics program at Sprogo, four decades on. Adler-Olsen at his most morally serious.
The Marco Effect
by Jussi Adler-Olsen
The fifth Department Q novel. A Roma boy on the run from his family is the only witness to something the Danish foreign ministry is hiding.
Garden Spells
by Sarah Addison Allen
Magical realism with Southern gothic edges. The Waverley sisters and a garden that pays attention to who comes near it.
In Too Deep
by Cherry Adair
Cherry Adair doing T-FLAC romantic suspense. Globe-hopping, ridiculous, and exactly as fun as it knows it is.
Dead Man's Bones
by Susan Wittig Albert
A mid-series China Bayles mystery. Herb mysteries are a niche and Susan Wittig Albert is the queen of it.
Nerve Damage
by Peter Abrahams
Peter Abrahams writing about a sculptor with a terminal diagnosis and unfinished business. Late-period Abrahams at his most controlled.
A Fatal Waltz
by Tasha Alexander
The third Lady Emily mystery. Vienna, anarchist plots, and Lady Emily's most uncomfortable house-party investigation.
Jack Knave and Fool
by Bruce Alexander
The fifth Sir John Fielding mystery. The blind magistrate investigates a murder at the Drury Lane Theatre. Bruce Alexander at his most relaxed.
The Also People
by Ben Aaronovitch
Aaronovitch's 1995 Doctor Who novel, riffing on Iain Banks's Culture. Better than tie-in fiction has any right to be.
End of Story
by Peter Abrahams
Peter Abrahams writing a writing-workshop thriller. The convict who attends has very good fiction and an inconvenient past.
Do Unto Others
by Jeff Abbott
The first Jeff Abbott mystery. Small-town Texas librarian as accidental detective. Edgar winner for a reason.
Blood Pact
by Dan Abnett
A late Gaunt's Ghosts novel. Abnett moving the series into a quieter and more political register.
Ravenor
by Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett doing far-future psychic-investigator novels in the Warhammer 40K universe. Tighter than the Eisenhorn books before it.