Best Fiction of 2012: The Top 25

by Shalom Auslander

Brutal, irreverent and very funny. An honest-to-goodness heir to Portnoy’s Complaint. Full review >

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by Sherman Alexie

Whether recent or from his earliest period, these pieces show Alexie at his best: as an interpreter and observer, always... Full review >

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by J.G. Ballard

Ballard writes brilliantly about the nightmarish underside of modern life, and this novel makes us poignantly aware of the... Full review >

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by Richard Beard

Beard’s take on Lazarus is nothing less than astonishing—and he respects the reader by taking religion and religious... Full review >

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by Chris Bohjalian

A gruesome, unforgettable exposition of the still too-little-known facts of the Armenian genocide and its multigenerational... Full review >

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by Carol Rifka Brunt

There is much to admire in this novel. The subtle insight on sibling rivalry and the examination of love make for a poignant... Full review >

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by Michael Chabon

The evocation of “Useless, by James Joyce” attests to the humor and ambition of the novel, as if this were a Joyce-an remix... Full review >

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by Philippe Claudel ; translated by John Cullen

A technocratic Kafka nightmare—heavy on surreal diagnosis of the world’s ills, light on the traditional rewards of... Full review >

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by Dave Eggers

Even so, Eggers’ fiction has evolved in the past decade. This book is firm proof that social concerns can make for resonant... Full review >

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by Tan Twan Eng

Grace and empathy infuse this melancholy landscape of complex loyalties enfolded by brutal history, creating a novel of... Full review >

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by Gillian Flynn

One of those rare thrillers whose revelations actually intensify its suspense instead of dissipating it. The final pages are... Full review >

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by Richard Ford

At the start of the novel’s coda, when Dell explains that he teaches his students “books that to me seem secretly about my... Full review >

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by Ben Fountain

War is hell in this novel of inspired absurdity. Full review >

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by Lauren Groff

As a follow-up to Groff’s well-received debut (The Monsters of Templeton, 2008), this novel is a structural conundrum,... Full review >

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by Tania James

At every turn, James’ prose is crisp, observant and carefully controlled; unlike the narrator of “Escape Key,” who grows... Full review >

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