RaveNew York Daily News...she reveals a cool savvy, an appraising eye that\'s necessarily tamped down in a series. And When She Was Good, a stand-alone, is a smart, chilly novel, hard-edged in all the right places ... Lippman does a nice job of fashioning the noose she will throw over Heloise\'s neck and tighten with a particular ease ... There\'s authentic, hard-boiled suspense to And When She Was Good, but ironically we fear the ruin of Heloise\'s business as much as the loss of her life. She isn\'t just another soccer mom running a stable. She\'s an estimable businesswoman who deserves her shot as a legitimate entrepreneur if only she can live to see the day. And get a small loan.
Tana French
RaveDaily NewsThere\'s an ethereal quality to Tana French\'s seductive new mystery ... The Secret Place may be French\'s best novel yet and that\'s saying something. She\'s that good.
Lauren Beukes
RaveThe New York Daily NewsLauren Beukes so seamlessly blends two genres that it’s hard to pinpoint the moment a commonplace crime story becomes infested with supernatural horror … What begins as a straightforward investigation of a not-so-routine murder fragments as Beukes threads her story through multiple perspectives including Versado’s 15-year-old daughter, Layla; a guy named TK who scavenges newly-abandoned buildings for salable goods; and Jonno, a failed journalist from New York cynically looking to exploit the broken city for his own gain … Each is a fascinating character study, but the most compelling is Clayton, the man committing the grotesque murders.
Teju Cole
RaveThe New York Daily NewsBut Teju Cole's first novel, Open City, isn't solely preoccupied with the race divide. Though he seems to amble aimlessly, Julius is something of a cartographer of the city's 'others,' whether the separation was imposed, chosen or simply embodied ... His stream-of-consciousness reflections focus on the identities, personal and national, refracted throughout the city ... Against such an illumination, in another novel the city would serve as a mere setting. Cole, though, all but foists it on us in case we might be tempted to narrow our view or even look away.
Robert Galbraith
RaveThe New York Daily NewsBitter or not, Rowling’s acerbic tone serves the story she tells about a grim, failed author whose final work is a fictional exposé of some big literary names. Owen Quine doesn’t live to see his poisonous novel published. He’s murdered while it’s still in manuscript form … The conceit is delightful, particularly coming from Rowling, who’s had her own issues with London’s snobby literary establishment.
Phil Collins
MixedThe New York Daily NewsSeveral times throughout the book, Collins presents himself as drawn almost haplessly into volatile situations, one after another. But he is brutally honest in detailing his harrowing descent into alcoholism 10 years ago at age 55.
Peter Ames Carlin
PositiveThe New York Daily News...respectful, insightful — and so very damning ... Carlin offers several instances of musicians with credible claims of getting ripped off by Rhymin’ Simon.
Gary Rivlin
RaveThe New York Daily NewsKatrina: After the Flood is as harrowing as it is riveting in recounting the tale of a city too broken to fight off its predatory would-be saviors. Gary Rivlin, formerly a New York Times reporter sent to cover the catastrophe 10 years ago, delivers a balanced and comprehensive chronicle of all those who did wrong by post-Katrina New Orleans.
Sloane Crosley
RaveThe New York Daily NewsThe novel deepens even as the mood lightens. The madcap adventure is responsible for the latter, but it’s the profound connection that the lapsed friends rekindle that makes The Clasp a rich read.
