The Stacks
All book reviews
613 honest reviews across fiction, non-fiction, mystery, sci-fi, romance, and more.
Showing 73-96 of 613
Foul Play
by Steffie Hall
Foul Play by Janet Evanovich writing as Steffie Hall 1989 review. A Steffie Hall comic romance about a small-town newspaper editor and the New Jersey landscaper who keeps complicating her life.
Hero at Large
by Steffie Hall
Hero at Large by Janet Evanovich writing as Steffie Hall 1987 review. A pre-Stephanie Plum romance where a Chicago insurance investigator gets stuck with a witness who refuses to behave.
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
by John Grant
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy edited by John Clute and John Grant 1997 review. The 1,049-page critical reference work that defined how the field thinks about itself.
Midnight Angel
by Julie Beard
Midnight Angel by Julie Beard 1997 review. A medieval historical romance about a hardened English nobleman and a French noblewoman whose lives intersect against a tournament backdrop in 1377.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion
by Jude Fisher
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion by Jude Fisher 2001 review. The official Houghton Mifflin tie-in companion to Peter Jackson's first Lord of the Rings film, with film stills, weapon designs, and location production notes.
Vie De France : Sharing Food, Friendship, and a Kitchen in the Loire Valley
by James Haller
Vie de France by James Haller 2008 review. A small-town New Hampshire chef takes his cooking-school students to the Loire Valley for a summer and rebuilds his cooking from the ground up.
Seal Island
by Kate Brallier
Seal Island by Kate Brallier 2007 review. A Cape Cod literary mystery about a marine biologist returning to her family's summer island after her sister's suspicious drowning.
The Strange Case of Dr. Kappler; The Doctor Who Became a Killer
by Keith Ablow
The Strange Case of Dr. Kappler by Keith Ablow 1994 review. A true-crime nonfiction account of a Massachusetts psychiatrist who murdered his wife, written by a working forensic psychiatrist.
Miamigrad
by Jerry Ahern
Miamigrad by Jerry and Sharon Ahern 1989 review. A late-Cold-War paramilitary thriller about a Soviet invasion of Miami via Cuba, played for paperback action rather than political seriousness.
Twelve Tales of Murder
by Jack Adrian
Twelve Tales of Murder edited by Jack Adrian review. A 1998 Oxford University Press anthology of obscure classic British mystery shorts.
The Weight of Dreams
by Jonis Agee
The Weight of Dreams by Jonis Agee 1999 review. A Nebraska ranching family confronts the limits of generational land ownership across one hard summer.
South of Resurrection
by Jonis Agee
South of Resurrection by Jonis Agee 1997 review. A literary novel about a Nebraska Indian-reservation drifter returning home to deal with his stepbrother's violent death and the family that does not want him back.
The Rapture Effect
by Jeffrey A. Carver
The Rapture Effect by Jeffrey A. Carver 1987 review. A near-future SF novel about a small team racing to interpret a wave of mysterious mass disappearances before the government does.
The Infinity Link
by Jeffrey A. Carver
The Infinity Link by Jeffrey A. Carver 1984 review. A first-contact hard SF novel about a NASA technician who becomes the conduit for a deep-space alien dialogue that nobody else knows is happening.
CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Revised
by Katie Hafner
Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier by Katie Hafner and John Markoff 1991 review. The 1991 nonfiction account of three early hackers (Kevin Mitnick, Pengo, Robert Morris) that helped define the public understanding of the hacker mythology.
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet
by Katie Hafner
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner 1996 review. The first serious history of ARPANET and the team at BBN that built it, written by reporters who actually talked to the engineers.
First Man : The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
by James R. Hansen
First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen 2005 review. The authorized 769-page biography of Armstrong that became the source for the 2018 Ryan Gosling film, and is meaningfully better than the film remembers.
When a Man Loves a Woman
by Alina Adams
When a Man Loves a Woman by Alina Adams 1998 review. A Manhattan tabloid newspaper romance pre-dating the Figure Skating Mysteries, with the same working-day-job texture transferred to print journalism.
Death Drop
by Alina Adams
Death Drop by Alina Adams 2007 review. The fourth Figure Skating Mystery takes Bex Levy backstage at a New York Stars on Ice tour where one of the skaters has been hospitalized after a sabotaged spin.
Axel of Evil
by Alina Adams
Axel of Evil by Alina Adams 2005 review. The third Figure Skating Mystery sends Bex Levy to Moscow for a competition where one of the favorites is murdered, again.
Annie's Wild Ride
by Alina Adams
Annie's Wild Ride by Alina Adams 2002 review. A horse-racing romance from the figure-skating mystery author, transplanting her procedural eye from rinks to thoroughbreds.
In His Own Words
by Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton: In His Own Words 1993 review. The first-term reelection compilation of Clinton speeches and statements, assembled in his first year for the 1996 campaign run-up.
Clinton on Clinton: A Portrait of the President in His Own Words
by Bill Clinton
Clinton on Clinton: A Portrait of the President in His Own Words 1996 review. A campaign-era compilation of Clinton speeches, statements, and excerpts assembled to chase the 1996 reelection cycle.
Changer of Days
by Alma Alexander
Changer of Days by Alma Alexander 2004 review. The conclusion to the duology that began with The Hidden Queen, escalating the political stakes without losing the patient register.