Editorial reviews

Not surprisingly, the case ripped from the headlines is much more absorbing than the tale of restaurant malfeasance and imperiled love. Alex’s 14th is distinctly below average for this bestselling series.

King’s work is beyond postmodern, complex in conception, perhaps too esoteric for mainstream fiction fans, but relevant to the graphic-novel, video-gaming generation.

It’s a fast, fun read with crisp dialogue and a tight plot. If you’re a bedtime reader, you might as well plan on staying up late, because you’ll be itching to learn how it ends.

For Democratic political junkies who enjoy straight-talk policy discussion.

Ruiz Zafón narrowly avoids preciousness, and the ghosts of Spain that turn up around every corner are real enough. Readers are likely to get a kick out of this improbable, oddly entertaining allegory.

“Sharps” is another excellent story from a devious mind.

Enigmatic and intellectual, yes, yet readily accessible and massively satisfying, Joyce’s latest is a joy.

It is worth persisting, for the vivid combination of glittering privilege and tragedy that surrounds the Gallia family story.

The book is a cozy feedback loop, the perfect comfort food for its enormous demographic — the kind of communal comfort food that, as long as we're on the subject of aging and death, people bring over after a death in the house.

"Gold" does succeed in making you want to know what happens, both on and off the track. Cleave directs the action with some quick cutting between venues of the kind we're likely to see televised from London.

Kafka famously wrote, "A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us." "Runaway Girl" just might become such a book.

All in all, though, “The Obamians” provides the reader with a succinct and serious-minded overview of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy so far.

Swarns’s research is extensive and meticulous — one feels the hours that she spent poring over old documents and talking with genealogists and historians. Her passion for the story is clear and striking.

Meander is an excellent introduction to Turkish history for anyone planning a summer holiday.

Billy Lynn is an exhilarating read, and convincingly – if belatedly – damning of Bush's America.

Overall, it’s a very good book. The characters are wonderful and likeable.

Angelella sticks the landing, but the rest of the routine is a chaotic mess.

The Long Earth suffers slightly from its own overpacked potential: It promises a satisfying meal, and delivers a tasty appetizer.

Gold truly shines, and Cleave proves again that if writing were an Olympic sport, he’d be vying for a medal.