Book Reviews

Jun 19, 2013 — Maggie O'Farrell's new novel, Instructions for a Heatwave, follows a troubled Irish Catholic family in London over the course of four scorching July days in 1976. Reviewer Heller McAlpin says Heatwave is a beautiful book about "the importance of forgiving those you love."

Jun 13, 2013 — Lauren Beukes' new thriller The Shining Girls traces a time-traveling serial killer as he jumps through the decades, pursued by the only one of his victims to survive. Critic Alan Cheuse calls the book "a frightening journey in time and punishment."

Jun 17, 2013 — If any story screams out for a multimedia e-book treatment, it's the tale of The Rock Bottom Remainders, a small band of best-selling authors — including Amy Tan, Dave Barry and Stephen King — who yowled out rock standards. Hard Listening is a digital scrapbook about their years as musicians.

Jun 17, 2013 — Neil Gaiman's latest, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, is the story of an artist who returns to his childhood home and recalls a magical struggle he was involved in as a young boy. Reviewer Annalee Newitz says the book balances "frenetic action with wistful self-knowledge."

Jun 12, 2013 — Backwoods preachers spout Bible verses while spreading mayhem and revolution in Kent Wascom's The Blood of Heaven. The novel is set in the early 1800s, when western Florida was a battleground where Americans fought Spanish and French imperialists for control.