Spies

Witold Rybczynski goes rogue in the Slate top book of the year by picking a book from 1986. He chose one of Charles McCarry's spy novels. I was unaware that Overlook press is reprinting the older ones. This is great news as when they were out of print they were quite expensive. So, bully for you, Overlook. And more Charles McCarry for me.

Slate writer Meaghan O'Rourke names her most over-rated novel of the year and calls into question the genre she names "precocious realism."