Journalist Lawrence Wright learned a lot about pandemics for his new thriller — and he packs it all into sometimes-clunky dialogue. But right now, all that information is exactly what readers want.
In this time of crisis, Michiko Kakutani writes, we are reminded that literature provides historical perspective, connecting us with others who lived through similar events.
“The Index of Self-Destructive Acts,” a new novel by Christopher Beha, considers the collapse of a Manhattan family in the wake of the financial crisis.