Matt Richtel

Six spooky fall thrillers, whose plots range from a campus crime to an international spy hunt to a young girl’s mystical self-murdering, all unsettle the neat distinctions between “hero,” “villain,” and even the reader.

Reviews of new books by Harlan Coben, Heidi Pitlor, Benjamin Percy and more.

Matt Richtel discusses “A Deadly Wandering,” and Mark Edmundson talks about “Why Football Matters.”

A journalist examines a deadly accident and the risks of texting and driving.

Every kid loves a pillow fort — but some parents may be itching to build for themselves.

A Web survey finds that the more time 8- to 12-year-old girls say they spend online, the less happy they are.

The New York Times won two Pulitzer Prizes for commentary and foreign reporting in 2010, while The Los Angeles Times received the coveted public service Pulitzer.

The winning journalism covered a broad range of topics but largely steered clear of those that had most dominated the national discussion in 2009.

Verizon denies providing local telephone records to National Security Agency for database to track terrorists (M)

Excerpts of conversation between technology reporters Katie Hafner and Matt Richtel, who discuss whether convergence of cellular telephone technology and cameras is new wave in communicating or grand idea that will never take off (M)