Best Fiction of 2012

Featuring Thomas Cromwell, Dallas Cowboys, a cancer-teen love story, a twisty mystery, and more
By Rob Brunner
December 06, 2012 at 05:00 PM EST

1 of 11

Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies

Part 2 of Mantel’s trilogy about Thomas Cromwell is a masterful imagining of the events leading up to Anne Boleyn’s demise.

Read Rob Brunner’s review.

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 11

Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master's Son

A strange, scary, and sometimes funny novel about the endless mysteries of North Korea.

Read Rob Brunner’s review.

3 of 11

Jess Walter, Beautiful Ruins

Set in ’60s Italy and contemporary L.A., this irresistible Hollywood novel features lost love, thwarted dreams, and Richard Burton.

Read Leah Greenblatt’s review.

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 11

Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Penned by a former Arrested Development writer, it’s part hilarious Seattle send-up, part rich portrait of an eccentric family and its troubled matriarch.

Read Stephan Lee’s review.

Advertisement

5 of 11

5

6 of 11

Nell Freudenberger, The Newlyweds

What happens when an innocent young Bangladeshi woman marries some dude from Rochester after they meet on a website? Freudenberger expertly explores their odd relationship in this continent-hopping novel.

Read Lisa Schwarzbaum’s review.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 11

John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

The most fun you’ll ever have reading a YA cancer-teen love story. Also: deeply sad.

Read Stephan Lee’s review.

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 11

Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

This twisty, can’t-stop-reading mystery features a divisive ending and real insight into human relationships.

Read Jeff Giles’ review.

Advertisement

9 of 11

Chris Ware, Building Stories

Ware’s astonishing deconstructed graphic novel comes in a box that looks like a Monopoly set — which consists of 14 interchangeable parts — and captures the lonely lives of people living on top of each other in a Chicago apartment building.

Read Melissa Maerz’s review.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 11

Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her

A linked series of flawless short stories that train Díaz’s sharp ear on narrator Yunior’s wandering eye.

Read Thom Geier’s review.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Popular in Gallery

All Topics in Gallery

Advertisement
EDIT POST