Rose is, in my opinion, Martin Cruz Smith best novel. It’s a historical mystery that seems to break all the rules. It is vivid, engrossing, and brilliant. It is beautifully written, and its unusual plot and location only serve to deepen one’s interest. This is the sort of novel that captures and transports us to a different world, and involves us so thoroughly in the action that we never want to leave. Is it historically accurate? I don’t know, but nor do I care. It feels real, and that’s good enough for me.

By the time Martin Cruz Smith wrote this novel, he had already proven himself a master storyteller. He is the author of such winners as Gorky Park, Polar Star, and Red Square. But if you’re looking for Arkady Renko or a Russia setting, I have to warn you, they aren’t present here.

This is an ambitious and riveting mystery that clearly shows Mr. Smith’s versatility and mastery of his craft. I read the entire thing in one sitting, and now I wish I had read slower. I highly recommend this unusual page turner. If you don’t like it, I suggest you grab your wrist and check for a pulse. Get it now.

And Then There Were None, also published as Ten Little Indians, is one of the most intriguing, bewildering, and ingenious mystery/thriller novels of all time. It belongs at the very top of must reads, not only for mystery lovers, but for fiction fans across all genres.

Agatha Christie leaves no argument, with this novel, that she will forever be the queen of the close room mystery. I have read virtually all of her work, and I can say that this novel shows her at the top of her game.

This is an intricate page turner that slowly builds up to one shocker of an ending. This novel is at times dark, and in very subtle ways, complex. It is nothing like Agatha’s previous work up to this point.

In short, this novel is a spectacular couldn’t put it down good read. If you have seen the stage or movie adaptations, you may not be aware that Agatha Christie rewrote the ending of the book for these. Read the book. It’s way better.

Ender’s Game is considered by many, to be the best Science Fiction novel of all time. It is probably only second in popularity to Frank Herbert’s Dune. Ender’s Game truly is a remarkable novel, one of the few that manages to transcend its genre.

When I started reading Speaker for the Dead, its supposed sequel, I couldn’t wait for it to pick up where the Ender’s story had left off. But it only took a couple of pages for me to be deeply disappointed. It was soon clear this was not really a sequel at all. These weren’t children anymore, and the tone of the novel was far more serious and grown up.

Because Orson Scott Card holds the extraordinary honor of having won both the Hugo and Nebula awards two years in a row, first for Ender’s Game and then for this so called sequel Speaker for the Dead, I forced myself to keep on reading. I am glad I did. This has to be one of the richest, most complex and awe inspiring novels of all time. It astonishingly manages to speak, on many levels, directly to the human condition. This is an amazing thing for a science fiction novel to do.

Speaker for the Dead is in many ways far superior to Ender’s Game. It is by far Orson Scott Card’s crowning achievement, and one that sadly, I fear, he will never be able to surpass. Even sadder however, is how the success of Ender’s Game has so thoroughly overshadowed this far superior, much more important novel. If you’re a fan of Ender’s Game and Orson Scott Card, I implore you to read this novel. If you read it for its own merits and not as a sequel, I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

Set in Sweden, we get an inside look at Swedish culture and the quirks of Swedish law. The best way to describe this thoroughly enjoyable read, is as an Agatha Christie mystery on steroids. Once I picked it up it was virtually impossible to put down. The book does have its flaws, but it is such fun reading that they are easily forgivable.

Sadly the author of this excellent book passed away shortly after handing in this and two other manuscripts. He will be sorely missed. Hopefully the other two books are as good as this one.