Complete book coverage for Feb. 7, 2010
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Four new thrillers show that the class of 2010 is already off to a great start.
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Plus: New and forthcoming releases, Umberto Eco and an excellent clockwork blog.
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A mystery novelist encounters a real whodunit.
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Authors used to expect to struggle as they gained experience. But now it is sell -- or else.
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A novel of romantic maneuverings and musings that invokes two of world literature’s masters, Proust and Dostoevski.
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What substance has played the most decisive role in human history? Is it oil? Gold? Think again, says the author of a broad, provocative look at water as ‘an agent of change.’
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A mass murder in wartime Japan that is seen -- Rashomon-like -- from the perspective of its dying victims.
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DC Pierson’s debut novel is a coming-of-age story for nerds, geeks and comic book lovers.
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Plus: Alyson Hagy’s ‘Ghosts of Wyoming: Stories’
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A novel that puts readers on the hard, sharp edge of reality.
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Fiction Weeks on list1.The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined as they change a Mississippi town. 35 2.First Rule by Robert Crais (Putnam: $26.95) Joe Pike’s past catches up with him when an old friend’s entire family is killed.3 3.The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $25.95) A hacker implicated in two murders must revisit her past to prove her innocence. 23 4.Kisser by Stuart Woods (Putnam: $25.95) A smooth-talking New York lawyer becomes entangled with an aspiring actress with a shady past.15.The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $25.99) Harvard professor Robert Langdon uses his symbology skills to find a missing Freemason in Washington, D.C. 216.Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt: $27) The rise of Henry VIII’s advisor Thomas Cromwell.137.The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown: $26.99) The past and present converge in a mystery surrounding a tormented artist.28.The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper: $26.99) A writer’s escapades encompass 1930s Mexican artist communities and Cold War America. 129.Iron River by T.
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Fiction 1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ($14.95) 2.
