The Girl on the Train

This is a constricted, tedious, and grossly overwritten "thriller."

The Saint-Fiacre Affair

This Maigret mystery is most notable for its details on the boyhood of the great detective.

The Shadow Puppet

The Maigret mystery here is less impressive than the keen insights Simenon packs into it. Greed, revenge, resentment, and madness all make effective appearances.

The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin

This is a subtle, psychological, and satisfying Maigret mystery but with some twists that, on final analysis, seem a bit contrived.

One Fat Englishman

Kingsley Amis's comic novel from 1963 reads like a coarse Waugh, with enough of a whiff of racism and anti-Semitism to make it occasionally unpleasant. It does manage to entertain and skewer American culture, just not nearly as elegantly as, say, The Loved One does.

King of the Rainy Country

In a nice piece of meta commentary deep within this detective novel, the Dutch police investigator Van der Valk compares himself and his plodding ways to the Marlowes and Bonds of fiction, who would never be putt-putting around like he is in a rented Renault on the trail of a potential murderer. There's not much action in this psychological story, but Van der Valk is an appealing enough character to carry the day. 

Love in the Ruins

Idiosyncratic and beautifully written, this Walker Percy novel from 1971 imagines a near future in which vine tendrils herald the decline of civilization, people have lost the ability to repair what is broken, and one man hopes that love can conquer all. It is a disorienting tale full of weird characters with a beating heart at the center.

Consumed

This David Cronenberg novel is a mishmash of technology worship, weirdness, and unconvincing human behavior.

Tanner's Virgin

As an example of its type, this Lawrence Block spy adventure featuring the recurring character Evan Tanner is good enough. It delivers a page-flipping plot and exotic locales.

Extinction

Thomas Bernhard's Extinction is, like his other novels, a cry of denunciation and renunciation. The plot can be summarized as follows: An Austrian living in Rome receives news of the death of his parents and brother in an automobile accident and returns for the funeral. Within that bare frame, Bernhard paints a dark and complex portrait of a family, stopping along the way to assess German literature, the destructive influence of photography, and other subjects. The ending stuns, but such is Bernhard's skill that on a moment's reflection it is revealed to be perfect.