Fiction Book Reviews

Director, producer and screenwriter Bass creates a riveting narrative that digs into the notion that “there is nothing that happens to a child that does not implicate the parent in some way.” Emily Ascher is planning her wedding at the site of her Berkshires childhood family vacation home, on the very hillside where the ashes of her brother, Thomas, are scattered. Alternating between present day and the past, Emily's story, along with that of her divorced parents, Joe and Laura, unfolds along with the circumstances surrounding Thomas's death. Joe, a once famous actor and playwright, is now “consumed by a desire to create and equally consumed by his inability to do so,” while Laura, now remarried, still carries the emotional scars of a rocky first marriage and the inability to truly understand or successfully communicate with her daughter. Bass creates a large window into the workings of the Ascher family, exposing how small slights or seemingly minute actions ripple with consequence. Bass's excavation of a complex familial labyrinth is an elegant testament to the beautiful mess that is family. (July)

Coyne's compelling debut shines an unnerving light on the fallout from a childhood rooted in abuse. Alexandra “Cat” Rucker, an alcoholic strip club cocktail waitress, returns to her childhood home after her mother kills herself. She's been gone 10 years and is now uncomfortable around her brother, Jared, and sister, Wendy; while confronting her past, she also tries to discern the meaning of her mother's suicide note: “He isn't who you think he is.” Alternating between the complicated present and the horrific past, Coyne portrays the myriad ways family members cope with abuse. Cat's mother lived in a world of her own; Cat, the oldest, bore the brunt of her father's attacks; Jared buried himself in school sports, occasionally coming to his sister's defense when it was safe to do so; and Wendy focused on being the perfect daughter. Then there's Addison Watkins, the son of a family friend who at once offered a haven and a challenge to teenage Cat. Though the occasional one-liners distract rather than enhance, Coyne's prose effortlessly carries the reader through a thorny history and into possible redemption. (July)

McCann's sweeping new novel hinges on Philippe Petit's illicit 1974 high-wire walk between the twin towers. It is the aftermath, in which Petit appears in the courtroom of Judge Solomon Soderberg, that sets events into motion. Solomon, anxious to get to Petit, quickly dispenses with a petty larceny involving mother/daughter hookers Tillie and Jazzlyn Henderson. Jazzlyn is let go, but is killed on the way home in a traffic accident. Also killed is John Corrigan, a priest who was giving her a ride. The other driver, an artist named Blaine, drives away, and the next day his wife, Lara, feeling guilty, tries to check on the victims, leading her to meet John's brother, with whom she'll form an enduring bond. Meanwhile, Solomon's wife, Claire, meets with a group of mothers who have lost sons in Vietnam. One of them, Gloria, lives in the same building where John lived, which is how Claire, taking Gloria home, witnesses a small salvation. McCann's dogged, DeLillo-like ambition to show American magic and dread sometimes comes unfocused—John Corrigan in particular never seems real—but he succeeds in giving us a high-wire performance of style and heart. (June)

Barris (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) misses the mark with this grating attempt at whodunit parody. Heir to millions, Arthur “Art” Deco Jr. wants nothing to do with his father's mammoth company, Kentucky-based Deco Industries, preferring to hobnob in Manhattan. So when he falls in love with wannabe actor Eddie Cotton and gleefully announces to his father, Arthur Deco Sr., that he's gay, it doesn't sit well with Deco Sr. or the rest of Art's Southern family. When Art is discovered shot in his apartment, the police are quick to call it a suicide and avoid a high-profile investigation. But then Jimmy Netts, a former podiatrist-turned-unlicensed-PI from Philadelphia, recently relocated to Bowling Green, Ky., hits the scene, hired by Deco Sr. to look into Art's death and prove it was murder. Netts gets most of his investigative techniques from old episodes of Homicide, but manages to bumble along, thanks to the help of two unbelievably cooperative NYPD detectives, finally stumbling upon the underwhelming truth. Unfortunately, Barris's characters are one-dimensional stereotypes, and the sophomoric humor is, well, very sophomoric. (June)

A Hollywood screenwriter turned novelist, Haas shows a skilled literary hand in his sharp first novel about college dropout Henry Bay, who turns into something of a serial associate editor at a series of fringe magazines, beginning with a stint at one geared toward kite buggy enthusiasts. From there, Henry bounces around the country taking low-paying editing jobs at enthusiast rags with such themes as crocheting, ice climbing and conspiracy theories. The compelling side characters are central to the novel's charm. These include Gerald, Henry's talkative friend, and Henry's brother, Barney, who transforms from a science prodigy and stem cell researcher into a secretive adrenaline junkie who may be on the hit list of Freebird, a Unabomber-like domestic terrorist. Haas plunges Henry into bizarre nooks where hobbies become obsessions and subsubcultures are formed, but the characters encountered aren't dismissed as freaks; rather, they're examined with a near curatorial zeal. Though the narrative could stand to go a little deeper into Henry's motivations, overall this is a slick first novel: funny, thought provoking and a little alarming. (June)

Set against a backdrop of ancient and modern religious conflict, this solid thriller from bestseller Khoury (The Last Templar) explores a number of current planetary preoccupations, from far-right political demagoguery to global warming. While in Antarctica covering the breakup of the continent's ice shelf, TV reporter Grace Logan and her crew are astounded to see a “bright, shimmering sphere of light” in the sky. They film this astronomical anomaly as it runs through a variety of tricks, then disappears. People around the globe wonder: is it a UFO? a sign from God? or some sort of techno trick fashioned by perpetrators unknown? After the blazing sign reappears over the Arctic, a possible link emerges to an old Catholic priest, who has heard on a desolate mountain in Egypt a portentous voice in his head (“Are you ready to lead your people to salvation?”). Unrelenting action and a suitably twisted ending compensate for the clichéd prose. (May)

Playwright and actor Bogosian presents in his Rothian third novel the diaries of a once-prominent author embittered by his declining fame. The diary of Richard Morris begins with the writer losing a major award to a lesser talent, his latest book a failure and his agent busying himself with more marketable clients. Death and the prospect of being forgotten hound him, and heart surgery leaves him with a metaphorically convenient scar. Housebound while recovering from the operation and hiding from the affections of his young girlfriend, Richard becomes engrossed in his diaries of 30 years earlier, when he was new to New York City. While these notebooks “reveal what a total idiot” the young writer was, the elder Richard fails to notice how very little has changed. Richard remains a man who mistakes self-destruction for authenticity and is utterly incapable of seeing himself as others see him—which is aggravated when his literary fortunes take a welcome, belated turn and faces from his past show up in the present. Richard is a grade-A bastard, and his rise and fall and rise again exemplifies the often arbitrary and opportunistic machinery of the literary world and operators within it. (May)

Bestseller Huston (Secret Justice) grabs the reader by the lapels with the opening sentence of the first chapter of this outstanding thriller: “If my radio alarm had gone off, I would have known the president was dead.” During a violent thunderstorm, President James Adams takes off in Marine One from the White House for a supersecret meeting at Camp David. A few miles out, the helicopter begins to disintegrate and plunges to the ground, killing everyone aboard. The helicopter's French company, WorldCopter, hires Annapolis attorney Mike Nolan to defend it against charges of criminal responsibility. Mike soon finds there are a number of possible culprits to pin the crash on, including the rabidly conservative Marine Corps pilot and the mysterious men who were awaiting the president at Camp David. Mike powers the case forward, even though the government warns him away and assassins attempt to kill him. This is nonstop legal suspense at its best. (May)

Financial troubles and more test the marriage of a downtown Manhattan career mom and her business journalist husband in this writerly page-turner from Listfield (Waiting to Surface). Sam and Lisa Barkley, who were college sweethearts, can just afford to send their two daughters to an Upper East Side private girls' school, though Lisa, whose family “struggled into the middle class,” wonders if a public school “gifted” program would've been a better choice. Meanwhile, Sam's late-night phone calls and odd absences from his office lead her to accuse him of having an affair. Lisa confides her fears to her best friend from college, Deirdre Cushing, whose mysterious death heightens the tension and mistrust between Lisa and Sam. While the author's penchant for punch lines and cliffhangers can come across as a stylistic tic, deft pacing keeps the action moving and the reader guessing. Listfield ensures no character is above suspicion, and in the end, no one is without blame. (May)

When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island in 1883, the evil Captain Flint was already dead and Long John Silver had already lost his leg. Drake imagines the leadup to that classic pirate tale, offering a witty and exciting explanation of how Silver became a pirate, lost his leg and gained a parrot; how Flint conspired to bury his pirate loot and murder everyone within pistol shot; and how Flint and Silver became friends, then bitter enemies. Flint and Silver's paths intersect in the Caribbean, where they team up to terrorize Spanish treasure ships and other unfortunate vessels. They argue and fight over the crew's loyalty and the treasure, but the real wedge is an escaped slave girl named Selena. Drake's novel is rich in historical detail and riveting in its vivid depictions of sea battles, torture, murder and lurid pirate revelry. Though the abrupt conclusion creates a clumsy segue to the forthcoming sequel, this is a rousing swashbuckler loaded with action, greed, treachery and graphic violence. (May)

A family copes with a mother's terminal cancer in Chenoweth's moving and assured debut. The Hansens—Elliot, Helen and college-age daughter Abby—spend a week at a swanky New Hampshire hotel shortly after Helen's oncologist gives her nine months to live. Old family friends come out for the decadent soiree, and as the parents reminisce with friends, Abby wanders the woodsy grounds in a self-absorbed funk, hiding from the humiliation brought about by her mother's diminished capacity. Then one of the hotel's waiters, Alex, begins courting her with poetry and secret notes, and Abby is both attracted and repelled by Alex and the gang of summer employees, who have a predilection for skinny dipping and pot brownies. As Abby slides bumpily from shrugging off reality to facing her mother's fate, the assembled friends and family prepare for a round of wrenching farewells. Chenoweth's smart, unsentimental and poignant takes on living and dying ring true, and her exploration of coming-of-age and coming to terms with mortality is divine. (May)

Romance fans will best appreciate the third near-future political thriller (after Checkmate and Gambit) from Bodman, a former Reagan deputy press secretary and NSC senior director. When a natural-gas pipeline explosion in Oklahoma kills one and leaves thousands without heat during a cold snap, Samantha Reid, the attractive “Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security,” gets on the case. More pipeline explosions follow. In the course of her investigations, Reid falls hard and fast for Tripp Adams, a vice president of GeoGlobal Oil & Gas, the pipelines' owner. After Adams disappears in Venezuela, Reid abandons her post without permission to move heaven and earth to find him, earning the dubious distinction of being the first senior White House staff member to become “completely unreachable.” That Samantha tends to rely on her physical charms in her rescue efforts may dismay those who believe such tactics are unworthy of a high U.S. government official. (May)

In Gardner's tense, heartfelt romantic thriller, Sarah Jeffery, a discontented teacher hoping to save the world, leaves England for Bangladesh. There she falls in love with Ed Salisbury, an attractive do-gooder who hires her to work for his organization, Schools for Change, which is building a village school. Unfortunately, Ed's protests against the Bangladesh Natural Resources Company and the multinational conglomerate Oxan, which have colluded on seizing land for its oil, result in the school's torching and a friend's murder. When a cyclone hits and Ed's apparently lost in the storm, Sarah can't believe he's dead. After returning to London and meeting Ed's sister and aunt, Sarah learns Ed kept a lot of disturbing secrets from her. Gardner (The Mermaid's Purse) sensitively explores Sarah's struggles with her grief and the political upheavals that afflict contemporary Bangladesh. (May)

Anderson's latest is a hokey, contrived imagining of the first meeting between Batman and Superman, set during the thick of the cold war and hobbled by flat characters and flatter dialogue (“My source was murdered shortly after she spoke with me. That tells me that Luthor must not have wanted her talking”). The two superheroes are initially introduced when Clark Kent interviews Bruce Wayne for a feature in the Daily Planet, and their alter egos cross paths again as Batman and Superman are drawn into Lex Luthor's dastardly scheme for world domination. (It involves the Soviets and “Death-ray transmitters.”) To stop it, Batman and Superman embark on a ludicrous globe-trotting mission that's equal parts camp and Forrest Gump. A schlocky mediocrity for die-hard fans only. (May)

As a child, Hoffman studied piano and dreamed of performing professionally until she redirected her ambition toward writing; here she wields her expertise in both with dazzling success. Acclaimed American pianist Isabel Merton, on tour in Europe, becomes romantically entangled with Anzor Islikhanov, a semiofficial representative of Chechnya who follows her around Europe. They are both enthralled to personal passions—hers for music, his for his ravaged country—and their relationship intensifies with thrilling inevitability as a Chechen radical leader (with whom Anzor is not-so-secretly sympathetic) manipulates Anzor's allegiance to his homeland and drives a wedge between him and Isabel. Hoffman's prose is reliably gorgeous, and while the narrative lends itself nicely to sharp commentary and observations on politics, power and the role of the United States in a changing world, what's memorable is the way Hoffman maps the intersection of art, history and man's striving for meaning. (May)

Outstanding maritime action sequences are the high points of McCain's otherwise naïve-feeling debut. Max Brekendorf, a young German naval officer during WWII, serves on a battleship in the Atlantic, a merchant raider in the Indian Ocean and, after being adrift in a lifeboat and a convalescence in Paris, he volunteers for the U-boat force. As the war wears on, the navy, an institution that once forbade officers from joining political parties, becomes overrun with Nazi loyalists, creating tensions on Max's submarine that will eventually force him to choose between his moral sense and party directives. Unfortunately, the numerous good German/bad German scenes sustaining this uncomfortable premise are clownish at best. However, the action sequences are undeniably stunning, and McCain is no slouch with details, such as a ship's teakwood deck planks (which don't splinter when hit by shells) or the smell of petroleum in a submarine that “permeated even the canned food.” Fans of naval fiction couldn't ask for more authentic action, even if the novel falls short of its ambitions to salvage the reputation of the German navy. (May)

In 1605, one gory slaying after another disrupts the team of Cambridge scholars James I has assembled to prepare a new English translation of the Bible in this feverish historical thriller from DePoy (Dead Easy). Deacon Francis Marbury, the project's local supervisor, thinks he's been sent a trustworthy aide to help solve the murders, but the enigmatic Brother Timon is actually an agent of Pope Clement bent on sabotage. The Catholic church fears the group's study of ancient texts may be uncovering dire secrets that question the basis of all branches of organized Christianity. Much more blood is spilled before Timon can decide where his soul's allegiance really belongs. Clearly, both the king and the pope are insane, but personal obsessions dog many other characters, who spend excessive time skulking through chilly corridors and slashing at dark shadows. Fans of theological melodrama should enjoy this, but others may tire of the bloody hugger-mugger. (May)

A nuclear submarine can be one of the more dangerous places to be trapped, as shown in this suspenseful follow-up to bestseller Bond's Dangerous Ground. Capt. Aleksey Petrov has just taken command of Severodvinsk, the first nuclear sub to enter Russian service in years. His orders are to drive away any American subs observing Russian naval maneuvers in international waters. When a miscalculation leads to a collision with the USS Seawolf, the damaged Yanks can limp away, but Severodvinsk goes to the bottom. The Seawolf's commander attempts to help the stranded sailors, despite resistance from Washington and Moscow. Both sides will have to overcome their mutual suspicions if they are to make the rescue. If this techno-thriller lacks the geo-political sweep of The Hunt for Red October, its depiction of the bond shared by submariners, even those on opposing sides, makes it more intimate and, along with convincing portraits of men under severe stress, more human. (May)

Third-grade teacher Annie Harper pines for boyfriend David Paterson, who's been deployed to Iraq, while she tends the home fires in Tacoma, Wash., in Berentson's cutesy debut. Annie's got plenty to keep her busy: a precious memoir-in-progress, a best friend whose relationship takes a surprising turn, a few pals in a nursing home, a long-lost brother and a growing uncertainty about where her 24-year-old heart might be settling. Sweet and manic Annie chronicles her ever-changing points of view of life, love and loyalty, and while the occasional interesting aside sneaks in, Berentson breaks no new ground on the battleground of modern love: a smart and sassy gal who needs more than safe and sane to make her heart sing discovers the love of her life right in front of her nose. Annie's yearlong slog through loneliness and self-doubt all comes down to a rather underwhelming conclusion. (May)

A wastoid playboy gets sucked into a funny and paranoid near-future misadventure in Konstantinou's entertaining debut. In the near future—the 2000s are vintage but not forgotten—the Internet has evolved into the mediasphere, which allows lives to be followed so closely that names are traded like stocks on a Reputations Exchange. Eliot Vanderthorpe Jr. is a longtime screwup, the high-profile party-animal son of Eliot Sr., who runs the company behind the mediasphere. After Eliot Sr. takes his son's name public as a way to control his erratic behavior, the younger Eliot hooks up with a branding expert who attempts to drive up his IPO. Soon enough, Eliot discovers another Eliot living in the off-limits Occupied Zone of Northern California. Things get very crazy very quickly once Eliot sets out to confront his doppelgänger, and the conspiracy he uncovers has a very long, twisted reach. This playful and witty novel takes our celebrity-obsessed and media-hijacked culture, mixes in geopolitics and a dash of cyberpunk dystopia to create an intelligent and blistering what-if. (May)

This scary page-turner by Thrasher (Isolation) features a Stephen King–like author of bestselling horror novels who, paralyzed by writer's block and hard hit by the recent death of his wife, passes off writing sent by a fan as his own. Said fan gets upset, and all hell breaks loose. There's a deep love story between the author character and his late wife interleaved with lots of cinematically creepy scenes played out at ordinary places in upscale suburbia: a home-improvement store, restaurants, a Victorian house on the river. The deranged fan adds a plausible, ripped-from-the-headlines element that Thrasher mines for tension and depth. Horror is a great genre for examining good and evil; demons need not be metaphoric and salvation can be a natural part of the plot. Some shifting back and forth in time can be confusing, particularly at the beginning before emotional momentum is established, and allusions to Pink Floyd are just sophomoric. But those are quibbles about an emotional wallop of a book. Thrasher just keeps getting better. (May 28)

This contemporary romance by Jeschke (Oxford Chronicles series) echoes the classic Jane Eyre with some modern parallels. That 19th-century governess easily becomes today's nanny, as the titular character—an orphan—is employed as nanny to the toddler daughter of Ethan Remington, a wealthy corporate executive and film producer who owns a considerable ancestral home in England. Like Rochester, the lord of the manor falls for his employee's youth and freshness, but plans for the future are blocked by a complication from Remington's past. Many elements from Jane Eyre are cleverly translated: the earlier novel's sternly moral and unloving parson St. John Rivers has a convincing analogues, as do key plot elements at the book's end. The author needs to work harder on minor characters, some of whom—like Remington's lawyer friend Calvin Cole—merely turn the plot wheel. The narrative tone is also uneven, at times formal, almost grave (“The very name can still conjure up in me...”), while at other times it's slangy and modern (“ 'I'm fine. Just a little creeped out.' ”) But reader, if you liked Charlotte Brontë's novel, you'll enjoy revisiting it here. (May)

Centered on the final days of Pope John Paul II, Read's uneven thriller will appeal mainly to those interested in Catholic theology. British journalist Kate Ramsey, who's covering the Old Bailey trial of three men accused by MI6 of plotting a sarin attack, is drawn to one of the defendants, Juan Uriarte, who testifies that he was seeking the poison gas to use as a deterrent against warlords in the Sudan, where he works for the Catholic Refugee Service. After the trial ends in acquittal, Ramsey gets herself assigned to cover Uriarte's relief work in Africa. Rather implausibly, Ramsey agrees to Uriarte's request that she transport on a plane flight a thermos that he claims contains a Nag Hammadi scroll. Meanwhile, British intelligence believes a megaterror event is in the works, and as John Paul II nears death, villains scheme to rig the succession. Read remains best known for Alive (1974), his nonfiction account of Andes air crash survivors who resort to cannibalism. (May)

In this wheezy, melancholy tale, Collignon returns to the fictional New Mexico town of Guadalupe (from his previous novel, Perdido), this time by way of a young woman named Rachael. Rachael grew up an orphan in South Cairo, Ill., and carries on a grudging yet loving connection with an elderly man named Obie, who tells her about her grandfather (and his childhood friend), Madewell Brown. When Obie dies, he leaves her his memoirs of his and Madewell's glory days on an African-American baseball team. Meanwhile, in Guadalupe, an elderly man tells his son, Cipriano, about a long-ago desert encounter with a strange black man. Cipriano later finds the man's bag—emblazoned with the name Madewell Brown—stashed in the shed and pulls from it an unsent letter, addressed to Obie, which he drops in the mail. From there, the two stories begin to converge to sketch out Madewell's story, punctuated by Obie's too-nostalgic remembrances of baseball games past. It's decent enough, but there's nothing especially memorable about it. (May)

The lives of six people collide in McNulty's magical realism–infused debut set in the South African city of Durban during the hottest summer on record. Beth, a cashier at a small grocery, is on duty when the store is robbed. She and the two customers, Mdu and Meryl, are unharmed but shaken. Soon after the robbery, Beth—who floats when she's happy—begins dating Pravesh, an undertaker who can sense death by a tingling at the back of his knees and heat in his ears. Mdu, who can speak to whales, meets Aisha, who's so caught up in her dreams that reality fails to register. Meryl, an assistant at Guinness World Records, is sent to interview Harry, who is trying to set a world record for eating only green foods. Though the characters fall in and out of love, the novel is not a romance but rather an examination of love, the ways we respond to it and how we delude ourselves about our choices. While the themes may sound weighty, McNulty's light touch and evocative descriptions of Durban make for an absorbing read. (May)

Once again, Precious Ramotswe uses her insights into human nature to unravel problems big and small in Smith's charming 10th novel to feature Botswana's No. 1 lady detective (after The Miracle at Speedy Motors). Leungo Molofololo, the owner of the Kalahari Swoopers, a local soccer team with a lot of athletic talent, suspects a traitor on the squad is deliberately sabotaging games for an unknown reason. Despite her complete ignorance of the sport, Mma Ramotswe agrees to look into the matter. She and her prickly assistant, Grace Makutsi, attend a match and begin interviewing the players in an effort to solve what amounts to the book's main mystery. The soccer inquiry, though, is secondary to a major event in Mma Ramotswe's life—the impending demise of the little white van she's used for many years that's much more than a machine to her. Fans can look forward to the debut of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on HBO on March 29. (Apr.)

The author of Stormy Weather and Enemy Women returns with a lively exploration of revenge, dedication and betrayal set mainly in Kentucky and Texas near the end of the Civil War. Britt Johnson is a free black man traveling with a larger band of white settlers in search of a better life for his wife, Mary, and their children, despite the many perils of the journey itself. After a war party of 700 Comanche and Kiowa scalp, rape and murder many of the whites, Mary and her children get separated from Britt and become the property of a Native named Gonkon. Britt must wait through the winter before he can set out to rescue and reclaim his wife and children, only to discover that not only does he not have enough money to bargain with the Indians but also that his own family's fate has as much to do with land disputes and treaties as it does with his determination to get revenge. Jiles writes like she owns the frontier, and in this multifaceted, riveting and full of danger novel, she does. (Apr.)

Readers will learn a lot about bee-keeping in bestseller King's sometimes lively, sometimes plodding ninth Mary Russell novel (after Locked Rooms), though the focus is on Sherlock Holmes's estranged artist son, Damien Adler, who pays an unexpected visit to Holmes and Mary Russell, Holmes's wife, in Sussex. Damien, “a drug-addled derelict” who was arrested for his drug dealer's murder several years back, soon becomes a suspect in more recent deaths. He enlists his father's aid in searching for his missing wife and daughter, while Mary undertakes her own quest into Damien's questionable past. Incognito, she finds her way to Damien's shabby Bohemian London home and to the Children of Light, a Druidic-style cult whose disturbing book Testimony, illustrated by Damien, is quoted at the start of each chapter. While the detective's shrewdly observant brother, Mycroft, and other Doyle regulars appear, fans of the original Holmes stories should be prepared for a strong feminist slant. (Apr. 28)

Former San Francisco homicide detective Sam McGowan sees his plans for a peaceful early retirement go out the window around the same time as his despicable landlord, setting in motion the Rube Goldberg works of this wacky stand-alone from Maleeny, author of 2007's Stealing the Dragon and two other Cape Weathers investigations. Guilted into unofficial sleuthing by his ex-partner, who's the cop probing the fatal plunge, Sam quickly discovers no dearth of suspects among his quirky neighbors on the 20th floor—and a hotbed of criminal activity. Between the slacker brothers whose sandwich business serves as a distribution network for a Mexican drug lord, the two glamazons putting themselves through school with X-rated activities, a mysterious torch singer and the B-movie director who may be a blackmailer, we're firmly on darkly comic terra Hiaasen. Fast-paced and funny, this is a perfectly blended cocktail of escapism, with or without the beach towel. (June)

Pintoff's debut, winner of the first Minotaur Books/MWA Best First Crime Novel award, will remind many of Caleb Carr at his best. The wreck of the steamship General Slocum in 1904 cost Det. Simon Ziele of the New York City police both his fiancée and the full use of his right arm. In response to those losses, Ziele has abandoned big-city policing for the quiet dullness of Dobson, a town in Westchester County, but a brutal murder interrupts his retreat from the world. Someone slashes and bludgeons to death Sarah Wingate, a Columbia mathematics graduate student whose brilliance evoked jealousy in her peers, in her home under circumstances that resemble the notorious murders of Lizzie Borden's parents. Ziele's investigation is soon co-opted by Alistair Sinclair, a student of criminology who's convinced he knows the culprit's identity. The period detail, characterizations and plotting are all top-notch, and Ziele has enough depth to carry a series. (May)

In Canadeo's crafty first of a new cozy series, the Black Sheep Knitters of Plum Harbor, Mass., are horrified when their teacher, Maggie Messina, owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, becomes the prime suspect in the murder of Amanda Goran, who owned the Knitting Nest, Black Sheep's only rival. Maggie disliked Amanda, but says she's innocent, even when the weapon used to crush Amanda's skull, a wooden hat block, turns up within the merchandise Maggie bought from Amanda's husband. Meanwhile, Black Sheep Knitter Lucy Binger adopts Tink, one of Amanda's pet dogs. When veterinarian Matt McDougal operates on the ailing Tink, he finds an important clue—undigested yarn. The friendships among the likable knitters and Lucy's budding romance with Matt (who also knits) help make Canadeo's crime yarn a charmer. Under the pseudonym Katherine Spencer, Canadeo writes the Cape Light series (A Christmas Star, etc.) with Thomas Kinkade. (May)

Det. Frank Coffin and his partner, Sgt. Lola Winters, look into the stabbing death of notoriously promiscuous dominatrix Kenji Sole, who had a gift for bringing out a man's “inner jerk,” in Loomis's riotous second mystery to feature the Provincetown, Mass., cop (after 2007's High Season). The investigators rattle nearly every skeleton in the official closets of the ultraliberal community as well as a few cages in the state attorney general's office. Between panic attacks and feeling increasingly tuckered out by fervid attempts to get his much younger yoga-instructor lover pregnant, Coffin confronts a number of life's real tragedies—in particular, the wish of his Alzheimer's-stricken mother to die. Such serious concerns lend depth to a black comedy full of raunchy vocabulary and kinky sexuality. Loomis appears to enjoy shock effects too much for their own sake, but he's definitely a writer to watch given his knack for illuminating human nature. (May)

Readers who like their hard-boiled crime fiction violent and gritty will cheer Harwood's debut. An arrest for domestic battery derailed the acting career of Jack Palms, a one-hit wonder known for his role in the action film Shake 'Em Down, who's been leading a quiet, uneventful and alcohol-free existence in Sausalito, Calif. In need of money, Jack can't resist the offer of an old friend, Ralph Anderino, to help entertain some visiting Czechs “looking for a large chunk of blow.” Soon, the ex-actor stumbles on Anderino “lying facedown in his Jacuzzi with a good chunk of his skull missing.” To avoid being fingered for the murder, Jack shares what he knows with the cop who arrested him for domestic assault. Jack then decides to play with fire by stepping into Anderino's role to make the coke sale happen. While the plot line may be familiar, the taut prose and fast pacing bode well for future entries in the series. (May)

Some overly familiar situations, including a kidnap victim held in an abandoned warehouse and an unwilling patient kept at a remote sanitarium, undermine Gilman's otherwise promising debut, winner of the Minotaur Books/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel award. Former Philadelphia cop Louis Klein returns to the decaying and dangerous neighborhood he grew up in to help Sarah Blackwell—the widow of his old partner, Sam, who supposedly committed suicide—find her missing teenage daughter, Carol Ann. Klein and Sam vowed that if anything happened to one of them, the other would look after the partner's daughter. Klein, who has problems with his own feisty and impulsive daughter, navigates a bleak and unforgiving Philadelphia with grim bravado as he unravels the unsavory history of Carol Ann and her family. An impressive conclusion provides a serious jolt and appears to set Klein on the path to further gritty adventures. (May)

At the start of Wright's cute if sometimes hokey third cozy to feature Tahoe Tattler reporter Elsie “Beanie” MacBean and Cruiser, Beanie's beloved basset hound (after 2006's Sirius About Murder), Beanie is having a blast celebrating her “Big 5-0” aboard the Dixie Queen on Lake Tahoe, until Frank and Ivy Diggs's anniversary party disrupts the mood. Ivy, a trophy wife despised by Frank's children, informs her husband she wants a divorce, then disappears and is presumed dead by drowning, though her body's not recovered. Beanie's companion, Sheriff Skip Cassidy, suspects homicide. In the course of her investigation, Beanie interviews Crispin Blayne, a professor researching Tahoe Tessie, the lake's Loch Ness–style monster. While Beanie's attraction to Cris sparks some jealousy from her pal Skip, the real emotional interest lies in the warm relationship between Beanie and her “sleuthhound sidekick,” now equipped with a handy GPS navigator on his collar. (May)

Tierney's less than impressive first in a San Francisco mystery series introduces a pair of PIs. Carly Paladino, who's just quit her job with a large Bay Area security firm, lands her first solo case: investigating the death of Olivia Hanover, a teenage girl from a socially prominent family whom someone injected with a fatal dose of morphine. Paladino's search for an office leads her to PI Noah Lang, who's looking to share his work space. Conveniently, Lang is helping the defense attorney representing the police's prime suspect in the Hanover case. Meanwhile, a suspicious husband hires Lang to keep an eye on his possibly wandering wife. When Lang hears the gunshot that claims the woman's life, he can't buy into the official line that the death was a suicide. Some prosaic prose (“Life goes on and it doesn't, she thought, whether you like it or not”) and insufficiently interesting lead characters put this a cut below Tierney's Deets Shanahan series (Asphalt Moon, etc.). (May)

Murders past and present with a Shaker link intersect in alarming ways in Albert's engaging 17th China Bayles puzzler (after 2008's Nightshade). Recent painful events help prompt China, who runs an herb shop and tearoom in Pecan Springs, Tex., to visit her herbalist friend Martha Edmond at Kentucky's Mount Zion Shaker Village, whose board president, Rachel Hart, wants to turn the quaint Shaker museum center into an upscale spa, contrary to the spirit of the original believers. Martha asks China to investigate recent disturbing events, including vandalism, the suicide of a thieving gift shop manager and, according to financial director Allie Chatham, Rachel's embezzlement of funds. When Allie's later found dead in Zion's pool, where a Shaker woman drowned in 1912, Martha and China suspect murder. Shaker-inspired recipes, excerpts from a fictional Shaker journal, insights into the Shaker religion and plenty of herbal lore enhance another winner from this dependable veteran. Author tour. (Apr.)

The inflated closing volume of Butler's generational Stoneways Trilogy (after 2007's Queen Ferris) uneasily combines YA fantasy and romance. Hubley, the 10-year-old daughter of magicians Reiffen and Ferris, becomes the target of Reiffen's old teacher and enemy, the wicked Wizard Fornoch. When Reiffen's concern for Hubley turns obsessively irrational, Hubley's magical talent surfaces. She and Reiffen's friend Avender, himself tragically caught in a Camelot-style love triangle with the wife of his king and friend, struggle to redeem Reiffen with the help of stale fantasy-quest figures like the shape-shifting bear Redburr. A pedestrian, predictable plot; tired true-love platitudes (“Babies first, immortality after”); and a spoiled young drama queen heroine make for a sluggish conclusion to an initially promising coming-of-age saga. (May)

A mysterious curse puts unusual limitations on the cast of Sinclair's slow-moving but intriguing paranormal romance, the first of a trilogy. The blind Darkborn of Minhorne can't survive in the light, while the Lightborn will perish without it. The peaceful lives of Dr. Balthasar Hearne and Lady Telmaine Hearne, magically gifted Darkborn, are disrupted when Tercelle Amberley, once betrothed to Bal's long-missing brother and now engaged to duke-to-be Ferdenzil Mycene, shows up to ask Bal's help in delivering her illegitimate—and Lightborn-fathered—twin boys. She promptly deserts the infants, and an assassin seeking them takes the Hearnes' daughter hostage as further complications ensue. Sinclair (Cavalcade) raises too many unanswered questions, mostly regarding the origins of the curse and the characters' Regency-style manners, but the political intrigue is mostly enough to sustain readers' interest. (May)

Insane god-kings, miniature warriors and sentient animals fight over a powerful ancient artifact in Redick's dramatic, complex debut. The Mzithrin and Arquali Empires have been locked in a 40-year cold war over the resources and riches of the Crownless Lands on their common frontier. Now the Chathrand, a floating city built as much by sorcerer as shipwright, bears young Thasha, an unwilling bride to an enemy prince. No one seems sure whether this is a sincere attempt to bind the two empires together in peace or merely a gambit in their political games. The tense atmosphere soon erupts as various factions struggle to find and control the myth-wrapped Red Wolf. Both adult and young adult readers will find much to enjoy in this tale of sea-faring and bloody diplomacy. (May)

First published in 2006 by Black Heron Press, Day's intense debut opens in the year 2027 with the world on the verge of economic and environmental collapse as nations wage war over a rapidly diminishing oil supply. Army engineer Eduardo Torres accidentally discovers plans for a quantum battery, which could solve Earth's energy crisis. Instead of sharing it, Torres sets up his own rogue state, builds a fleet of starships and takes them through a wormhole to the Holzstein System, only to be attacked first by other humans and then by what appear to be aliens determined to destroy humankind. Though marred by a few technological improbabilities, this well-written, decidedly grim novel is replete with strong, thorny characters, fast-paced action sequences and rich descriptions of human folly and true heroism. (May)

Readers unfamiliar with 2006's Great Sky Woman will struggle a bit with the slow opening of this stand-alone sequel, a fantasy set in Africa around 28,000 B.C., but those who stay the course will find it worth the effort. T'Cori is a young leader of her people, the Ibandi, who look to her and their holy woman Stillshadow to lead them to a new land. During the trek they encounter the bloodthirsty Mk*tk tribe, a rogue Ibandi warrior and primal threats from nature itself. A folktale rhythm proves less than effective at conveying heaps of backstory, but as the characters fill out and the wanderers fight to survive against mounting odds, their tale becomes all at once rugged and elegant in style, a mix of harsh bloodletting with a primeval close-to-the-land beauty. (May)

Too much busyness hampers this disjointed YA fantasy adventure from Marco (The Sword of Angels). After young teens Moth and Fiona flee domineering adults in the vaguely steampunkish mountaintop city of Calio, they cross the fog-covered Reach into a land of magical beings. Most notable are the Skylords, glamorous creatures who look like angels but act like Nazis. Years before, a conscience-stricken female Skylord stole the titular device so her race couldn't abuse its powers. Now Moth has it but doesn't understand how to use it. When Fiona's grandfather, governor of Calio, appears over the Reach in a warship dirigible, and the Skylords attack with the help of various flying monsters, Moth and Fiona's tale is almost smothered. Readers will have to wait for future installments of the series to find out why the commotion matters. (May)

Newark native Bryant populates her hometown setting with clichéd characters and stock plot lines. Newly unemployed secretary Caress Coleman finds solace in the arms of successful photographer Julius Jones, but their one-night stand results in Caress's pregnancy. Mutual friends implausibly let Caress into Julius's apartment while he is away on business. Julius allows Caress to remain despite the requisite doubts about paternity and cohabitation with a near-stranger. Their close proximity refuels their attraction, until Caress asserts her independence by moving out when she gets a new job. A poorly dramatized birth, kidnapping and custodial lawsuit briefly raise tough issues of mistrust and responsibility that vanish in the abrupt resolution. Bryant's fans may be pleased by connections with 2001's Three Times a Lady, but there's little else to recommend this tired urban romance. (May)

Despite an absurd premise, bestseller Mallery's Lone Star Sisters series opener draws in readers with intriguing characters and a precisely assembled plot. Cruz Rodriguez makes former lover Lexi Titan an offer she can't refuse: he'll provide the $2 million she needs to keep her business if she will pretend an engagement to him for six months and introduce him around the small circle of Texas society. Their deal requires that she live and sleep with him for the duration, and despite her better judgment she agrees. Powerful, arrogant and sexy, Cruz disdains romance lest he recreate his parents' abusive relationship. Raised by nannies, Lexi knows little of love and doesn't trust high-powered businessmen. As they struggle to overcome their issues with their parents and each other, their emotional journey makes for painful yet satisfying reading. (May)

Launching a series of adventure-flavored historical romances, Alexander (Seduction of a Proper Gentleman) describes Victorian-era amateur archeology as a cutthroat business. Gabriella Montini, mourning her slain brother, is determined to continue his quest for a priceless ancient seal that could help locate the lost city of Ambropia. When Gabriella breaks into the home of a man she suspects of hiding the seal, his brother, handsome adventurer Nathaniel Harrington, catches her and insists on joining her mission. Episodes of skulking and confrontation ensue through the ballrooms, mansions and bedrooms of London. Gabriella is a likable heroine with a few secrets of her own, and Nathaniel proves easy to love. A pleasant subplot describes Gabriella's reunion with her late mother's family. Two additional seals and Nathaniel's two brothers will presumably require two sequels. (May)

Butcher's absorbing series opener successfully fuses an urban fantasy premise with characters designed to appeal to romance readers. Helen Day encounters a man in a diner and is dismayed to realize she recognizes him from nightmares where he watches her burn to death. Drake, an ancient member of a dying race devoted to protecting humanity, feels a powerful attraction to Helen, which she returns despite her fear that the nightmare will come true. After demons attack them, Drake's determination to keep Helen safe is at odds with her haunting vision, leaving her wondering which to believe. Butcher skillfully balances erotic, tender interactions with Helen's worries, and intriguing secondary characters further enhance the unusual premise. Fans of Butcher's romantic suspense novels (No Control, etc.) will enjoy her turn toward the paranormal. (May)

In Honey Hunt, Volume I, Aihara offers the first installment of a fizzy teenage soap opera about the life of Yura Onozuka. The mousey daughter of a famed composer and a glamorous actress, Yura's life is turned upside down when her parents' divorce becomes a tabloid sensation. Feeling betrayed, Yura decides to become an actress herself, believing achieving fame will be the ultimate revenge on her parents. A mysterious, and possibly nefarious, agent helps her chase the dream, and she soon wins the lead role on a TV show. Along the way, Aihara (Hot Gimmick) offers hints at a future romantic triangle (an Aihara staple) involving Yura, Q-Ta Minamitani, a heartthrob composer, and his more menacing twin brother, Haruka Minamitani, an actor and musician. There are ceaseless twists and turns on Yura's journey, including a public meltdown and a betrayal by her mother. Throughout, Aihara's delicate artwork vibrantly illustrates Yura's constantly fluctuating emotional life, especially her moments of panic, confusion and self-doubt. The difference between the depiction of the goofy and sometimes dowdy Yura and her glamorous mother and the sleek Minamitani brothers makes her self-image clear. (Apr.)

Batman is pushed past the edge of sanity in this spectacular story that mixes icy mind games and passionate outbursts. A club of criminal masterminds, the Black Glove, has an elaborate plot to make Bruce Wayne/Batman self-destruct by convincing him that all his friends and lovers have betrayed him and that his most trusted memories are false. As clever in their scheming as the villains are, however, they have no idea how thorough Batman has been in planning ways to protect his obsessions; consequently, the action is fractured between scenes of what is really happening, what might be happening, what probably isn't happening, etc. This premise gives scriptwriter Morrison and principal artist Daniel a chance to review key episodes and images from the Caped Crime Fighter's long career—including, of course, numerous encounters with the Joker, who's too chaotic to be happy in any organization like the Black Glove, but who struts through the action wielding sardonic humor and two straight razors. Whether Batman winds up (or ever was) totally sane is unresolved, but he's a fascinating protagonist in this sweeping, emotionally draining saga. (Feb.)

Classic pulp writer Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian; Red Sonja) is enjoying a renaissance among comics creators. Veteran horror novelist Lansdale (Bubba Ho-Tep) and Nathan Fox (DMZ) have turned their hands to updating one of Howard's lesser-known stories. Sisters Claire and Janet have just inherited the swampy Blassenville plantation house from their grandmother, a former slave on the grounds. They're understandably nonplussed: the plantation house is in the middle of a swamp, and this being a horror story, it's haunted by the ghosts of dead slaves. The ghosts assault the sisters and their small party of allies, apparently not caring that the girls are their descendants. The girls seek help from the Lawman, a mysterious local figure in cowboy garb, and they seek exposition from Alcebee, an old man who's been guarding the area for more than a century. Lansdale offers a by-the-numbers cabin-in-the-woods tale, with little of the creepiness that marks Howard's prose. Fox's art is an intriguing mix of sketchy and cartoony. Unfortunately, his storytelling lacks clarity, making it difficult to tell where and when things are happening. (Feb.)

A regular in Birds of Prey, Huntress is the sort of character who needs a clear origin story. In her typical comic appearances, it's often hard to get a grasp of who Huntress is, aside from being a superhero who likes purple and uses a crossbow. That's a pity, because she's one of the rare superheroes who can defy Batman on his own turf and follow her own conscience. Madison and Richards's take on Huntress is fast paced and coherent—a strong, solid crime story that's a bit Godfather with capes. Helena Bertinelli lost her entire family to Mafia violence, but her family were Mafia themselves. Unlike her equally young and innocent brother, Helena was spared since the killer assumed that a girl was no danger. Obviously, they were wrong, and Helena becomes Huntress. Although she enters the world of the more familiar vigilantes of Gotham, by the time they meet, Huntress has killed without remorse and will kill again, and so can never join Batman's crew. Madison's focused writing, ably assisted by Richards's clean and striking art turn Huntress: Year One into more a mob story of misogyny, money, faith and betrayal than a superhero tale. (Feb.)

In the first chapter of this dark parody of the “teacher” genre, schoolgirl Kafuka Fura encounters her teacher on the way to the first day of school. Nozomu, whose name can be interpreted as “Mr. Despair,” is in the midst of attempting suicide among the cherry blossoms. Kafuka decides her new teacher is trying to “grow taller,” like her parents have done on several occasions. In each chapter, we are introduced to another of Nozomu's female students, many of whom have psychological problems that double as commentary on Japanese society. Among the freaks in this “class of despair” are a shut-in (hikikomori), a stalker, a girl who can speak only via rude text messages, a “precise” girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder and an illegal immigrant. Toward the end we are introduced to the abnormal “normal” girl. If this were Great Teacher Onizuka or Negima, Nozomu would solve each student's problems, but in Kumeta's cynical world, Nozomu doesn't help and often signs up his students as possible partners for double suicide. Kumeta's artwork is remarkably different from typical manga, with clean lines that look more computerized than pen and ink. Despite its dark subject matter, this tongue-in-cheek work is extremely funny. (Feb.)