Two scientists are re­search­ing Near-Death Ex­pe­ri­ences, to learn what causes them and what happens during them. This is partly a detective story, partly a story about doing science. The two main characters are likeable and there's a memorable cast of supporting characters: the garrulous WWII veteran; the ma­nip­u­la­tive but charming nine-year-old girl; the horrible psychic fraud; the hardboiled ER nurse; the former English teacher with Alzheimer's; and his caretaker niece.

En­ter­tain­ing, but too long.

Mercy Thompson, coyote shape shifter, mechanic, and heroine of Blood Bound and Moon Called, is asked to in­ves­ti­gate the murder of some fae. The fae (faery) are creatures from the old tales, barely as­sim­i­lat­ed into modern society, and far more dangerous than Disney tales suggest. One of their own, Mercy's mentor, is falsely accused of the murder. Most of the fae would rather see him go down so that the whole thing will blow over quickly. Mercy is determined to get him off, and that doesn't sit well with the fae. Not to …continue.

Two separate police in­ves­ti­ga­tions take place in Portsmouth at the same time. DI Joe Faraday is called over to the Isle of Wight to in­ves­ti­gate the headless body found washed up at the base of a cliff. Suspicion falls on an ex-soldier who runs a nursing home, a man with a dangerous reputation.

DC Paul Winter becomes involved with a callgirl who has ties to a prominent busi­ness­man, who won't take no for an answer. Winter's poor judgement may be due to the crippling headaches he's developed of …continue.

Ilya Muromyets, a figure of Russian legend for 800 years, still lives, albeit mostly in a haze of narcotic self-pity. He is recruited to track down a mysterious artifact found by a former cos­mol­o­gist, Elena Irinonova, in Kazahkstan. Others also seek the artifact, which can open a gate to a parallel world where humans and other races live.

That world, Byelovodye, quite literally is the sum of human dreams and fears, and the dis­il­lu­sion­ment in the post-Soviet republics is desta­bi­liz­ing it.

A very unusual, well-written take on the fantasy quest.

Next book after Something From the Nightside.

The Unholy Grail has come to the Nightside, and the angels of both Heaven and Hell want it. The Fallen and the Elect are deadly and implacable and wholly careless of casualties.

John Taylor, the man who can find anything, must lay hands on it first and keep it from either side.

A fantasy noir with a heavy dose of black humor. Moderately en­ter­tain­ing.

In a parallel world, Roumania is a great European power and America is a barely settled wilderness. Miranda was sent to our world by her aunt, Princess Aegypta, when she was a small child, for her own safety. Now Aegypta and the Baroness each want to retrieve her, for their own reasons.

The book revolves around Miranda and her two friends, lost and confused in the primeval forests of New England, and the Baroness in Bucharest, The latter is the more in­ter­est­ing character: an impulsive former actress who climbed into high …continue.

Deeba and Zanna, both twelve-year-old London girls, find their way into Un Lun Dun (UnLondon). Magic works in the abcity: there's feral rubbish, the ghosts of Wraithtown, words made flesh. Most of all, there's the Smog, an enormous cloud of pollution that's become sentient and wants to consume everything.

This book is aimed at a younger audience than his Bas-Lag novels, such as Iron Council. Supporting characters do die and Deeba must undergo trials, but this book is not grim. Indeed, in places, it's positively whimsical, and Miéville owes a clear debt to …continue.

Tiffany Aching is a nine-year-old dairymaid with the First Sight and the Second Thoughts. She sees more than others do. She sees the tiny Nac Mac Feegle, the little thieving fighting pictsies, who speak with a Scottish brogue and have nae time for laird nor queen.

When the Queen of the Fairies attempts to invade the Discworld by stealing children and their dreams, it is up to Tiffany to stop them.

Ostensibly aimed at children, any adult fan of Pratch­et­t's Discworld novels should enjoy this book too.

Maureen O'Donnell wakes up in her Glasgow flat after passing out drunk and finds her lover tied to a chair, his throat cut. Douglas was a therapist, married to another woman. The police think she's guilty but can't prove it: she has a history of mental illness, her mother's an alcoholic, and her twin brother's a drug dealer.

Mauri is feisty but flawed, coping fairly re­al­is­ti­cal­ly. She manages to find the real murderer and uncover a nasty case of sexual abuse, against a backdrop of domestic violence, alcoholism, and poverty. Her friend Leslie …continue.

Thirty years ago, Heather and Sunny Bethany, 12 and 15, dis­ap­peared without trace from a Baltimore mall. A cold case, long forgotten by almost everyone. Now a woman, arrested after fleeing from the scene of an accident, blurts out that she's Heather Bethany.

Is she Heather? Or someone else? She knows so much about the case, yet there's something off about her and the police don't trust her. Where's she been? Where's Sunny? And why did she never come forward before?

We learn the truth by the end of the novel, …continue.