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Recent Reviews
Sara Paretsky
Positive The Minneapolis Star Tribune ...the ever thorough sleuth mostly keeps her temper as she and Peppy sniff out every clue and run down every lead in this substantial, twisting mystery novel. The author of the much praised series grew up in Kansas, where she obviously noticed the follies of small-town life. Paretsky began writing V.I. Warshawski stories about 30 years ago, and her tales are favorites of esteemed authors in the genre — at least judging by the book jacket. Anyone who likes a good detective story will like this book.
Jessica Shattuck
Positive The Minneapolis Star Fans of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale will recognize the actions of resistance through the eyes and actions of women ... This compelling novel is less a story with a dramatic arc than a tableau of how war and its aftermath affect ordinary people. While each woman is a vivid character, Shattuck also enables us to lift these women out of fiction and see them as representative of so many survivors who peered into the future with guilt and relief — and bewilderment at their role in history.
Malin Persson Giolito
Rave The Minneapolis Star Tribune ...a compelling story that seems to be more of a courtroom thriller. The narrator is the accused, a disdainful intelligent teenager who is one of two survivors of a classroom massacre at a wealthy prep school in Stockholm … The narrative depends on flashbacks and trial testimony to walk us through what went into her boyfriend’s violent outburst and how Maja was drawn into the nightmare. It’s easy for readers to immerse themselves in Maja’s contracting worldview as she struggles to make sense of peer relationships and how she has ended up in jail and on trial.
Joshua Kurlantzick
Positive The Minneapolis Star Tribune Kurlantzick, who has written extensively about Southeast Asia, backs up his conclusions with recently declassified material and many, many interviews in a clear narrative that very occasionally is overwhelmed by the compact style of a dedicated researcher ... Historians, particularly those who enjoy military history, will find the book compelling, but it is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to more fully understand our government and how its policies evolve.
John Preston
Positive The Minneapolis Star Tribune Author John Preston bears witness in A Very English Scandal, a book that details the downfall of prominent politician Jeremy Thorpe, who was tried in 1979 for conspiring to murder his former male lover ... Particularly sticky for Thorpe was the timing of their affair, which occurred before laws decriminalizing sex between men took effect ... Preston is witty in his speculations and concise in his writing. He also places his story in context, ferreting out charming detail.
Madeleine Thien
Rave The Minneapolis Star Tribune Few books I've read are as haunting and powerful as Do Not Say We Have Nothing ... All of the characters ring true in this intricate tale of the girl's extended family and what they endured in China in this century ... conveys how family loyalty feeds the strength of will to survive.