Fiction Reviews: 9/14/2009

Keyes delivers a dizzying vertical view of the mismatched, mixed-up tenants of Dublin's 66 Star Street, friends and lovers who grow up, grow old and give way to their “heart currents” with help from a puckish sprite. This multitiered saga of Dubliners searching for “the brightest star in the sky... the planet of love” straddles slapstick and sophistication in an engaging balancing act both giddy and grand. Here's Katie, publicist, freshly 40, and her workaholic, commitment-phobic fella, Conall; newlyweds Maeve and Matt, who hide a violent and crippling secret that binds them and drives them apart; madcap, sassy Lydia, a taxi driver who juggles worries about her aging mom and an over-the-top passion (mixed with equal parts lust and disdain) for her sexy flatmate; plucked from nowhere hunk Fionn, who hopes to begin a TV career, and his psychic foster mom and her mean-as-a-snake dog who improbably helps bring all the sweet mayhem to a satisfying close. Keyes (This Charming Man) is an expert at weaving dark threads into cozy material, and in this ambitious outing, she's in top form. (Jan.)

Hemon (The Lazarus Project) edits the inaugural volume of an anthology of European short fiction, and while the maiden outing has many fine moments, there's room for improvement in upcoming years. The mix of authors—35 writers from 30 countries—is excellent and includes better knowns with unknowns, though each piece is allotted an average of 10 pages, leading several of the more promising works to feel truncated. Other pieces (such as Giulio Mozzi's story, originally written as part of an art exhibit) don't seem like the best work to represent an author. Still, there is much excellent work. Christine Montalbetti's surreal and enigmatic “Hotel Komaba Eminence (with Haruki Murakami)” plays on the author's obsession with the Japanese writer. In Igor Stiks's terse but well-managed “At the Sarajevo Market,” the discovery of a watch at a Bosnian marketplace triggers a crisis between war-fatigued lovers. Victor Pelevin's acidic satire “Friedmann Space” evolves into a Borgesian tale of Russian scientists sending “lucrenauts” past the “Schwarzenegger threshold” to report back on the black hole–like domain of the megarich. This is a good start—one hopes that next year's volume will be a more consistent collection. (Jan.)

Authentic Cajun touches (and recipes) spice up Wheaton's delightful debut yarn about faith and the yearnings of the flesh. Fr. Steve Sibille, the reflective protagonist, is re-evaluating his vow of celibacy after being tempted by Vicky Carrier, the sinfully conceived but beloved daughter of St. Peter's church's former padre. Father Steve considers the repeated advice of his family friend Miss Rita, a scene-stealing African-American centenarian who tells Father Steve that what he needs is a woman. Things get stickier for Father Steve when his gay friend, Fr. Mark Johnson, quits the priesthood and the Rev. Paul Tompkins attempts to woo St. Pete congregants to his Pentecostal church, leading to a big showdown and the festival of the title. Wheaton writes with an infectious energy, and his affection for the characters and culture is authentic without being overbearing or cheesy. Do the bon temps rouler? In Wheaton's hands, they sure do. (Jan.)

A meteorite crashing into the Nevada desert sparks a search for meaning and purpose in Oppegaard's intriguing if flat follow-up to The Suicide Collectors. Tyler and Anna Mayfield move to Wormwood, Nev., looking to escape the postcollege funk that permeated their lives in Nebraska. When a night out at the local bar is interrupted with a massive explosion nearby, the young couple find themselves in the middle of an already off-kilter town going meteor crazy. Tyler, haunted by the disappearance of his older brother years ago, sees booze, weed and fatigue-induced visions of aliens and becomes involved with a group that believes “visitors” will arrive imminently. Meanwhile, Anna, a former Miss Nebraska, suffers apocalyptic nightmares amid fears that the best years of her life are slipping away. Oppegaard deftly aligns the inner fears and waning hopes of his well-rounded protagonists with the paranormal tremors, but the tension all but dies in the final act as the novel unspools into a disappointingly diffuse anticlimax. (Dec.)

Sisters Debra and Valerie Gantt finally complete the Colette trilogy (begun 30 years ago) with the story of Charmaine Ryan, governess to the late Colette Duvoisin's girls and heir to Colette's role as soul of the Duvoisins, a family of prosperous 19th-century plantation and mill owners. The novel is heavy with flashbacks and recaps intended to catch readers up with preceding events. It's now 1837, and Colette's widower, Frederic Duvoisin, wishes to make up for past mistakes, but son John remains estranged in Virginia while John's half-brother teeters on the brink of marriage. Meanwhile, Agatha Duvoisin continues to hatch sinister schemes, leaving hardworking heroine Charmaine to triumph the old-fashioned way: by not giving into anything but true love. The novel feels very much like a throwback to the staid romances written a generation or two ago, where a man's masculinity is silhouetted by a burning fire and love ignites when hero and heroine dance at a ball, then stroll alone together through a garden. (Dec.)

Lofts (The Concubine) returns to characteristic concerns with this rich historical fiction, focusing on the lute player and companion to Richard the Lionhearted, Blondel. King Richard is loved desperately by his wife, Berengaria; she, in turn, is loved by Blondel; Blondel, meanwhile, has caught the eye of Berengaria's hunchbacked sister, Anna Apieta. Richard, however, neglects his wife in favor of his true love—his Crusade—as well as his lesser loves (other men). For Berengaria's sake, Blondel follows Richard on his failed attempt to capture Jerusalem, as well as his journey back to England, leaving only when Richard is captured. Through his eyes and three others'—Berengaria's, Eleanor of Aquitaine's and Anna's—the Crusades and Richard himself are addressed from a number of unfamiliar angles. Humanizing the legend of Richard without cheapening his legacy, Lofts also portrays the oppression inherent in the life of a privileged woman as easily as she dissects the horrors of war. Exquisite and triumphant, this deep look into Richard's world will dazzle those familiar with the period. (Dec.)

Originally published in 1982, this novel by Finnish writer Jansson (1914–2001) examines desire and deception among residents of a remote snowbound village. Known as “the witch” by the local children (and equally unpopular with their parents), black-haired, brutally honest Katri Kling cares only about her younger brother, Mats, whom the villagers consider slow. She keeps her distance from everyone else, aided by her unnamed German shepherd and her rejection of small talk. Meanwhile, Anna Aemelin, a reclusive and well-to-do children's book artist, occupies the largest house in the village—the town's only semblance of aristocracy—painting watercolors of flower-furred rabbits and reading adventure stories. In the hope of securing a future for Mats, Katri slowly but deliberately insinuates herself into Anna's solitary life, moving in before long and rousing the suspicion and jealousy of the townspeople. The strident battle of wills that ensues makes for an intimate portrait of two disparate outsiders; Jansson's keen insight into her characters' inner worlds will keep readers rooting for a proverbial (and literal) thaw. (Dec.)

With hardly a shot fired, Spur Award–winner Boggs delivers one of his best westerns. Jim Hawkins tells his grandson about his wild days as a teenage cowboy, riding with Tommy O'Hallahan and their mentor, John Henry Kenton. The three pards begin cowboying in Texas and make their way north to Montana, ending up working on the big cattle spread of William MacDunn. Kenton, however, goes to work for Tristram Gow, a MacDunn rival whose competition is close to erupting into a range war. As tensions simmer, Jim and Tommy are smitten by MacDunn's daughter, Lainie, but it is the brutal winter that gets top billing in this exciting tale. Snows deepen, winds howl and temperatures plummet, killing cattle and cowboys alike. Add a train derailment, feuds, a missing woman and a hard-case gunman wearing a lawman's badge, and Boggs has produced a tender and suspenseful western that doesn't need to rely on gun smoke. (Dec.)

King's return to supernatural horror is uncomfortably bulky, formidably complex and irresistibly compelling. When the smalltown of Chester's Mill, Maine, is surrounded by an invisible force field, the people inside must exert themselves to survive. The situation deteriorates rapidly due to the dome's ecological effects and the machinations of Big Jim Rennie, an obscenely sanctimonious local politician and drug lord who likes the idea of having an isolated populace to dominate. Opposing him are footloose Iraq veteran Dale “Barbie” Barbara, newspaper editor Julia Shumway, a gaggle of teen skateboarders and others who want to solve the riddle of the dome. King handles the huge cast of characters masterfully but ruthlessly, forcing them to live (or not) with the consequences of hasty decisions. Readers will recognize themes and images from King's earlier fiction, and while this novel doesn't have the moral weight of, say, The Stand, nevertheless, it's a nonstop thrill ride as well as a disturbing, moving meditation on our capacity for good and evil. (Nov.)

New York City law officers have more technological weapons at their disposal in bestseller Robb's snappy near-future series, but so do criminals, including the sadistic rapist killer who strikes down Deena MacMasters, the 16-year-old daughter of police captain Jonah MacMasters, in the 30th full-length novel to feature homicide detective Lt. Eve Dallas (after Promises in Death). MacMasters specifically asks that Dallas, who has a knack for clever insights and deductions, lead the investigation into his daughter's murder. An impressive team of professionals—augmented by Dallas's husband, Roarke, and his young protégé, Jaime Lingstrom—begins the arduous task of collecting and analyzing data. Clues suggest Deena may not be the only victim targeted by her killer and increase the pressure on Dallas and her cohorts. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) combines sex, horrific crime, forensics and technological wizardry for another winner sure to please her many fans. (Nov.)

In McFadyen's intense fourth book to feature scarred FBI agent Smoky Barrett (after The Darker Side), a psychopath known as “Dali” abducts wives for men who wish to be rid of them, imprisons them for years in darkness and isolation (“I'm just storing meat”) until life insurance proceeds are paid to the husbands—then charges half the insurance for “services” rendered. Nonpaying husbands suffer excruciatingly painful blackmail. While Smoky, who heads the L.A. branch of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, is attending a friend's seaside wedding, a bald delirious woman is thrown out of a car, which speeds off. This incident leads to Smoky's own abduction, in which her sadistic captor forces her to choose her freedom on condition of what amounts to death for her young FBI colleague. McFadyen knows how to put readers into the minds of his characters, but many will need megawatt night-lights after finishing this violent psychological thriller. (Nov.)

At the start of Nikitas's stellar second novel (after his Edgar-finalist debut, Pyres), Jodie Larkin, a house cleaner in Atlanta, succumbs to temptation—she steals $5,000 and a car from a client—and sets off to visit the son she gave up for adoption and whom she hasn't seen in five years. Cal Nowak, Jodie's now 15-year-old son, lives in Cape Fear, N.C., and is struggling with his sexual identity. Together, Jodie and Cal set off north on a desperate, doomed journey. Meanwhile, SUNY student Wynn Johnston is trying to help a friend rescue the friend's missing sister, and Weymouth, N.Y., deputy Sam Hartwick must deal with his dying wife and a double murder. Sentences, paragraphs, even chapters don't so much end as act like synapses jumping to the next sequence. Nikitas effectively picks up and drops each thread. Beautifully realized characterizations power complex story lines that meet and connect this disparate group with the inevitability of Greek tragedy. (Nov.)

Set in 1907, the rousing second thriller to feature detective Isaac Bell (after The Chase) from bestseller Cussler and Scott pits Bell against “the Wrecker,” who's been destroying trains and railroad facilities around the country for no apparent reason. These horrific incidents are wreaking havoc on the plans of Osgood Hennessy, the Southern Pacific Railroad's president, who's constructing the massive Cascade Canyon Bridge in Oregon. If the project isn't completed by winter, Hennessy's bankers will withdraw financing and his company will be destroyed. As in the first book, the purposefully stilted writing style takes a little getting used to, but there's plenty of excitement to be had in a world where massive, fire-breathing trains fly along at speeds of up to 120 mph. While the Wrecker's identity is revealed early on and there's never any doubt that Isaac will get his man, readers will find many thrills and much diabolical cleverness along the way. (Nov.)

Employing her trademark skill at honing detail and dialogue, Lively (Moon Tiger) delivers a vigorous new novel revolving around a house outside of London, the sprawling Edwardian homestead of Allersmead, and the family of six children who grew up there. By degrees—in shifting POVs and time periods cutting from the 1970s until the present—Lively introduces the prodigious Harper family. There's Alison, the frazzled matriarch, who married young and pregnant, and persuaded her historian husband to buy Allersmead; distracted father Charles, who writes recherché tomes in his study and can't remember what ages his children are; and the children, who range from the wayward eldest and mother's favorite, Paul, to the youngest, Clare, whose parentage involves a family secret concerning Ingrid, the Scandinavian au pair. Lively adeptly focuses on the second-oldest, Gina, a foreign journalist who planned her life to stay far away from home until, at age 39, fellow journalist Philip goads her to contemplate settling down for the first time. With its bountiful characters and exhaustive time traveling, Lively's vivisection of a nuclear family displays polished writing and fine character delineation. (Nov.)

Teran's cinematic fifth novel portrays the 1910 Mexican revolution via the gun sights of an unlikely duo: Rawbone, a hardened smalltime assassin, and John Lourdes, a Bureau of Investigation agent. The two are thrown together when Rawbone is caught smuggling munitions from Texas into Mexico and Rawbone's lawyer arranges a deal: immunity in exchange for Rawbone sharing his criminal intel. A bargain is struck, with Lourdes assigned to accompany Rawbone into the Mexican underground. The twist: Lourdes, unknown to everyone but himself, is Rawbone's son. As the two men make their way through a snake's nest of smugglers, thugs and professional killers, Lourdes must suppress the angst he feels toward his father and focus on surviving another day. While this bit of dramatic irony quickly wears thin, father and son share a sharp wit, cunning instinct and thirst for adventure that make this spy mission the very definition of a thrill. Teran's fast-paced prose reads like it was written for the big screen (Universal scooped up the film rights), and even if the moralizing about U.S. foreign intervention gets heavy-handed, this remains an intelligent page-turner. (Nov.)

Sexually abused for five years, studious 12-year-old Jillian Maxwell lives in terror of her pedophile stepfather, Byron James, in Roby's (The Best of Everything) powerful short novel. The nightmare begins with her stepfather's inappropriate fondling shortly after the birth of her half-sister, Layla, and gradually escalates. Byron warns her that Roxanne, Jillian's mom, won't believe her if she tells and later says he'll start abusing Layla if Jillian doesn't cooperate. When revelations about Byron's abuse of another underage girl surfaces, Roxanne kicks him out, but then takes him back. Meanwhile, Nikki, Jillian's BFF, is obsessed with promiscuous Marcus, who sees nothing wrong in “running a train” (gangbanging) on Nikki with two of his pals during a school dance. Nikki becomes a laughingstock and almost kills herself, which is the turning point for Jillian, who learns that Nikki is an abuse survivor. A heart-wrenching confrontation leads to a resolution with hopeful repercussions. An intense gem in an authentic voice. (Nov.)

Bestseller Bond and DeFelice (Larry Bond's First Team) launch a four-book series with an adrenaline-fueled, multilayered thriller that cuts right to the chase. In 2014, China must cope with widespread riots and a devastating drought; the U.S., where gas costs $14.39 a gallon, is suffering through a recession and a housing crisis; Europe has problems just as serious. When China decides to invade Vietnam in an effort to save its starving populace, the U.S. determines to aid Vietnam to insure the world order. Compelling characters include CIA operative Mara Duncan, who's based in Bangkok, Thailand; Maj. Zeus Murphy, who simulates a war game called Red Dragon (which pits China against the U.S. under code names) and proudly drives a gas-guzzling Corvette; and American scientist Josh MacArthur, who's on the run in Vietnam from a Chinese commando and martial arts master, Lt. Jing Yo. Constant action makes this a must read for military adventure fans. (Nov.)

Pornography and prostitution, the fear of terrorism, desperate attempts to make a fast buck, social status and cross-cultural differences are all part of the equation in Philippine native Bobis's second novel (after Banana Heart Summer). Manila's grim poverty is examined through the innocent eyes of Noland, a mute 10-year-old boy who sells beautiful paper lanterns on the street. The story begins with Noland and his friend Elvis competing for sales during the Christmas season. Their world changes when one evening a politically motivated drive-by shooting injures a young, beautiful American woman. Noland, inclined to fantasy, sees her as an angel and brings her to his home made of scraps, which nonetheless is magical, papered with pictures of stars and angels. His mother is furious: “Ay, ay, you good-for-nothing kids, always picking up trouble....” While the outside world searches for the missing tourist, a transformation is taking place inside the shack. Sparse poetic style and Bobis's strong feeling for Philippine culture and the dialect of Manila's poor lends a fable-like charm to the story, but there are too many worthy issues, none fully addressed. (Nov.)

Dubai native Gargash weaves an enticing tale of a fiery, independent woman struggling to live the life she has been assigned in the 1950s in the area outside modern Dubai. Noora Al-Salmi is 17. Her mother has died, her father has since gone mad, and her brother, Sager, is trying to provide for her. When Sager hears of a rich pearl merchant looking for a new wife, Noora, unhappy with this plan, escapes to a nearby village where she quickly becomes involved with a man who, unbeknownst to her, is promised to another woman. She returns home to find that Sager has married her off to the merchant. With intimate, well-paced prose, Gargash takes us along with Noora to her new life: competing with her husband's two other wives and enduring the nightly ritual in hopes of a child for the household. But when Noora begins an illicit affair, she becomes mistress of her fate. Does she choose the confines of security or the potential happiness of freedom? An exciting, passion-filled read that illuminates an intriguing culture through the eyes and experience of a feisty heroine. (Nov.)

In the opening scenes of Moorhead's downer debut, an acerbic, unnamed narrator goes on a bender that takes her from a Philadelphia house party to the East Village and Brooklyn and finally to her mother's New Jersey home. Haunted by the memory of her ex-boyfriend, Daniel, the narrator betrays her keen vulnerability via her brusque, sardonic commentary on her activities and the men she encounters at parties and in bars. References to meds and panic attacks hint at deeper reasons for the narrator's indulgence in alcohol and drugs, but these are left unexplored. Similarly murky is the nature of the narrator's relationship with her mother, who sees that her daughter is troubled and yet plies her with pot. Moorhead captures the unhappy recklessness of a wayward 20-something, from booze and drugs to a series of chance encounters with an alluring stranger. If Bukowski were alive and writing from the point of view of a troubled young woman, it'd read like this. (Nov.)

A diner waitress in late 1970s Canada listens to her customers' stories in DeGrace's plodding second novel (after Treading Water). Young Jo leaves an unfortunate situation at home, only to land a waitress gig at a roadside cafe in the middle of nowhere. One windy day sends several travelers to Jo's tables, and each is more than ready to share their story: an elderly woman with nothing to lose, a ruined young businessman on the run, a well-meaning Mountie with a crisis and many more, all in one way or another connected to a hitchhiking hippie named Pink. The parade of archetypes through the diner is a weak stand-in for a plot, and reading their painfully predictable backstories is equivalent to a dose of Ambien. The lack of insight and drama is terminal. (Nov.)

In this darkly inventive second work of fiction, Graziano (The Love Song of Monkey) deposits his protagonist among the despairing crowds of an institutional hell. At first, the narrator, a thin man known as Sage, shares a tiny, dank cell with a woman and man, Rose and Henry Greene, so-called because of the “color” of their voices. Locked together in such close quarters, the three grow intimately close, even loving; when Sage later digs a hole in the concrete and they push their way out, they eventually lose one another in the mad flux of other cave dwellers. Sage follows the herd to the feed trough, learns how to jostle savagely for the hard biscuits (stamped with an H: hell or heaven? Sage wonders) and even feels a kind of comfort within the mob: “the warmth of universal inclusion.” His curiosity gets the better of him as he wonders what's behind the light holes in the ceiling: eternal freedom or eternal isolation? Graziano's grim allegory interrogates human existence with its visceral, sensuous description. (Nov.)

In Atkins's improbable sequel to his equally improbable debut, Ashes, Ashes, Dr. Barrett Conyors proves once again she's more than just a forensic psychiatrist who cares too much; she's also an action hero. Having prevented the Manhattan water supply from being contaminated by the plague in Ashes, Ashes, Conyors now stumbles upon a white slave ring that preys on foster children run by Chase Strand, a social worker for New York City's Department of Family and Youth Services. Despite being a new mother, Conyors repeatedly, and often heedlessly, hurls herself into harm's way, without ever suffering serious consequences. The book's big reveal—the identity of the higher-up behind Strand's evil—will surprise few, given the portrayal of that character beforehand. One can only hope that the author, who's a psychiatrist on the Yale clinical faculty, will use his impressive professional experience to create a more realistic thriller next time. (Nov.)

Australian author Redhead puts her past as a stripper and table dancer to effective use in her debut, the first in a crime series to feature aspiring PI Simone Kirsch. Simone, who performs in peep shows and as a striptease dancer to support herself, gets her first break after Frank Parisi—a thug who ran a strip club called the Red Room in St. Kilda, a Melbourne suburb—is “brutally hacked to death before being dumped in the bay.” Frank's brother suspects Simone's best friend, Chloe, who worked for the dead man, ordered the murder. Simone, who manages to buy some time by offering to identify the real killer, gets a job at the Red Room and starts to pump the other dancers for information. Soon, she's involved with several men, one a police officer whose boss is notorious for being both dirty and violent. Readers should be prepared for some graphic sex scenes, which fit naturally into the action, given the heroine's line of work. Redhead has made an unlikely premise convincing. (Nov.)

Bassiouney's bighearted fourth novel (the first to be translated into English) portrays the agonies of love and identity. When Ashraf Daawood returns to Egypt in 1980, after growing up and becoming a banker in England, his cousin Wafaa falls hard for him. She must deal with her turmoil in secret, however, when Ashraf begins dating Lubna Thaabit, a feisty Communist journalist. After a brief stay in jail for her political leanings, Lubna breaks up with Ashraf, who returns to London and soon loses all his money. Penniless and disgraced, Ashraf flees to America, where his comeuppance involves working as a lowly cashier in a bank and living in poverty in a group house. Meanwhile, Wafaa has become a history teacher, supporting her parents and refusing to get married, doggedly waiting for Ashraf, with whom she shares an initially stilted correspondence that eventually shows signs of something deeper. Though sentimental in places and melodramatic in others, this story of self-discovery and the trials of love is delivered with warmth and humor. (Nov.)

Readers who can overlook some cartoonish Old West stereotypes and lackluster prose will enjoy this historical romance from Amos (Outlaw Heart). In 1887, Jeremiah T. Dalton, a Boston businessman, arrives in Lowdown, Tex., just in time to say farewell to his dying, estranged father, Noah—and infuriate Noah's fiery young foreman, Abigail “Abby” Wilcox. In order for Jeremiah to receive his inheritance, he must live at Dalton Ranch for six months and learn all aspects of ranching from Abby. If he can't hack it, Abby and various others stand to inherit instead. Jeremiah yearns to return home to Evelyn DuBlois, his high society fiancée, but he's also immediately attracted to plucky Abby. Evelyn's unexpected arrival creates problems, as do a series of murder attempts that strain credulity (by pitchfork, poison and gunshot). While some might wish for more background about Abby, all will root for the unlikely couple—and appreciate the surprise twist regarding the villain's identity. (Nov.)

Kauffman's bland latest sends a D.C. workaholic to a cozy Colorado resort town to find sex and intrigue. When Lauren Matthews arrives in Cedar Springs, she is eager to learn about her mother's impulsive marriage to Mayor Arlen Thompson. Surprisingly for her, if not the reader, she also hooks up with sexy pilot Jake, and a whirlwind romance ensues. Romantic thrillers also require villains, and Kauffman tries to create one in Arlen, but he's never given a chance to be very villainous, while his marriage to Lauren's mother doesn't contain even a modicum of believability. Jake, meanwhile, fills the role as the affable hero. There are hints of menace, but the payoff isn't there. (Nov.)

This isn't as good as its predecessor, but readers who liked the characters introduced in Rhythms of Grace will be happy for one more dance with Grace, Brian, Zeely, Ron and assorted supporting characters. Ostensibly stand-alone, the story gets moving faster for readers already in on the tangled web of relationships, which gets a lot more tangled, and more related, as the four major characters slowly, slowly move past the trauma that ended the first novel. Both books are set in Testimony, Ohio, a place that, in the author's clever conceit, was home to any fleeing slave who could pay $500 to settle there. The history of slavery ties the story together as it marks and twists family lines laid out in the book. This good idea suffers in execution from a few too many secrets and neat resolutions. The pace also drags, with literal sermonizing as characters sit in church or as they agonize over repeated relationship setbacks. Though her promise doesn't deliver enough, Griffith remains worth watching. (Nov.)

You have to read closely so as not to miss significant clues in these tightly coiled stories by Katherine Anne Porter Prize–winner Johnston (Never So Green), who ventures deeply into the consciousness of Midwesterners to unearth old tensions and buried animosities. In “Water,” he balances a marvelously multilayered plot involving a widowed mother of now grown twin boys (“one healthy, one not”) who recognizes how her protectiveness of her sons—even if one commits a horrible crime—supersedes the ties she holds to her past. “Dirt Men” finds Buddy Jr., the son of a local excavating entrepreneur, returned home in disgrace from the Colorado college where he was teaching and trapped within the intersection of his past and his hubris when the dismembered body of a woman is found in an auto salvage lot. In “Things Go Missing,” Johnston enters the mind of a young woman burglar whose seemingly senseless thefts (such as her shrink's autographed Michael Jordan poster) allows her to connect finally with someone, despite the pain she inflicts. These beautifully rendered tales deliver an emotional wallop. (Nov.)

In her newest, chick lit and romance veteran Davis (A Match Made on Madison) spins another web of upper-echelon Manhattan society, centering on successful, well-bred city gal Andi Sevalas, SoHo apartment owner and host of her own cable cooking show. Andi is crushed when she finds out that her semi–live-in boyfriend has been seeing a vicious Manhattan socialite, but it isn't long before Andi falls, literally, into the Armani-clad arms of Ethan McCay, one of New York's most eligible bachelors. Of course, Andi finds herself immediately at odds with Ethan, and their spirited back-and-forth sees them through business drama and the interference of Andi's matchmaking aunt, Althea. Peppered with funny moments and occasional insight (especially regarding New York's food scene), Andi's story is as entertaining, vapid and forgettable as an episode of Gossip Girl or an issue of US Weekly. (Nov.)

Nobel laureate Pamuk's latest is a soaring, detailed and laborious mausoleum of love. During Istanbul's tumultuous 1970s, Kemal Bey, 30-year-old son of an upper-class family, walks readers through a lengthy catalogue of trivial objects, which, though seeming mundane, hold memories of his life's most intimate, irretrievable moments. The main focus of Kemal's peculiar collection of earrings, ticket stubs and drinking glasses is beloved Füsun, his onetime paramour and longtime unrequited love. An 18-year-old virginal beauty, modest shopgirl and “poor distant relation,” Füsun enters Kemal's successful life just as he is engaged to Sibel, a “very special, very charming, very lovely girl.” Though levelheaded Sibel provides Kemal compassionate relief from their social strata's rising tensions, it is the fleeting moments with fiery, childlike Füsun that grant conflicted Kemal his “deepest peace.” The poignant truth behind Kemal's obsession is that his “museum” provides a closeness with Füsun he'll never regain. Though its incantatory middle suffers from too many indistinguishable quotidian encounters, this is a masterful work. (Oct.)

Webb's sobering sixth mystery to feature PI Lena Jones further explores the abuses of polygamy first exposed in 2003's Desert Wives. Late one night, while staking out a Scottsdale, Ariz., storage yard in the hope of catching vandals, Lena hears suspicious sounds just outside the yard. She soon discovers the still warm body of a dead woman wearing a long calico dress—an obvious “sister-wife” (i.e., “a woman who shared her man with numerous other women”). With the nearest polygamist compound a five-hour drive away toward Utah, how did the victim wind up in Scottsdale? Lena, who suffered a troubled childhood as an orphan, gets on a trail that leads her to “lost boys,” surplus male teens expelled by the older men who run the polygamist cults. Clear-cut characterizations help a complicated plot flow smoothly. As Webb points out in a note, polygamy still spawns many social ills, despite the recent, well-publicized conviction of Mormon fundamentalist prophet Warren Jeffs. (Dec.)

In the best of the 11 stories in this outstanding entry in Akashic's noir series, characters, plot and setting feed off each other like flames and an arsonist's accelerant. These include Lehane's own “Animal Rescue,” about a killing resulting from a lost and contested pit bull; John Dufresne's “The Cross-Eyed Bear,” in which a pedophile priest is caught between the icy representative of the archdiocese and one of his now adult victims; and Don Lee's “The Oriental Hair Poets,” which charts a literary feud that escalates into a police case. Two populations that define the city for outsiders—the elite WASP “Brahmins” and the hundreds of thousands of college students surging through to earn their degrees—appear only in passing. While Lehane expresses the fear in his introduction that Boston is becoming “beiger,” less tribal and gritty and more gentrified and homogenized, this anthology shows that noir can thrive where Raymond Chandler has never set foot. (Nov.)

In Agatha-winner Page's delightful 18th Faith Fairchild mystery (after 2008's The Body in the Gallery), Faith and her family get away to their cottage on Sanpere Island in Maine's Penobscot Bay for the Christmas season. Tranquility reigns only briefly before Faith finds a young girl's body tucked among the mannequins in a local holiday display. If this wasn't enough to keep Faith busy, she receives a Christmas Eve call from reclusive goat farmer Mary Bethany, who's discovered a babe in her manger—a newborn boy inside her barn, along with a puzzling note and a serious bankroll. When Mary determines to keep the baby safe and Faith attempts to locate the birth mother, both women end up in peril. Amid the holiday festivities, Faith wears the hats of good wife and mother while slipping into her sleuth cap at every opportunity. Her investigative work builds to an exciting conclusion. Faith's kitchen skills result in some wonderful recipes listed at the end. (Nov.)

When “witches” bother widow Loyola Montoya at the start of Doss's enjoyable 14th mystery to feature part-time Ute tribal investigator Charlie Moon (after 2008's Snake Dreams), “the strange old Apache woman” phones Charlie, the only man she knows in Granite Creek, Colo., who will listen to her complaints. By the time Charlie arrives at Loyola's remote 10-acre farm, she's perished in a kitchen fire apparently caused by a fallen kerosene lamp. Was her death accidental, or were the people camped on nearby land owned by the Blue Diamond Natural Gas Company somehow involved? As Moon, FBI agent Lila Mae McTeague and police chief Scott Parris pursue what turns into a criminal investigation, the violence only gets worse. While Doss successfully evokes the mysticism of traditional Native American storytelling, his choppy chapters with their frequent point-of-view shifts may frustrate new readers. Series fans familiar with his style will welcome spending time with old friends. (Nov.)

In Murphy's magical 15th mystery to feature tomcat Joe Grey (after Feb. 2009's Cat Playing Cupid), an anonymous tip leads Det. Juana Davis of the Molina Point, Calif., PD to an empty swimming pool, where she finds trace evidence of a murder but no corpse. When Sage, a feral feline, catches the canny killer in the act of placing the victim in a ditch dug in the garage floor of a house being remodeled, the cat-hating sociopath throws a hammer at Sage. Sage survives to report what he's witnessed to his cat pals who live with humans, including Joe. With so many smart four-footed sleuths on his trail, the killer is doomed. As in recent entries in this popular series, the cat detectives receive more face time than their two-footed cohorts, like Molina Point's often bumbling if well-intentioned police chief, Max Harper, who gets on the stick only late in the game. Mystery fans who prefer people in action will have to look elsewhere. (Nov.)

This disappointing mystery from French author Magnan (The Messengers of Death) opens in 1896 Provence with the slaughter of Séraphin Monge's family at their house, La Burlière, when he was three weeks old. After WWI, the orphan, ex-soldier and road worker returns home to uncover the reasons behind the murders and avenge them. The confession of a dying prior centers Séraphin's suspicions on three villagers; a secret cache of gold coins and the deaths of two of the suspects raise more questions than they answer. A lack of actual detection, an inconsistent period tone, a too-scrupulous translation, the use of inadvisable footnotes and abrupt shifts in tense and points of view slow and ultimately sink the narrative, which closes with an unconvincing ending. First published in 1984, this book won France's Best Novel of the Year Award. (Nov.)

In Hill's unremarkable fourth novel to feature Chief Insp. Simon Serrailler (after 2008's The Risk of Darkness), Serrailler and his team race against time to stop a killer who's gunning down young women, apparently at random. Newlywed Melanie Drew is the first victim, shot at close range inside her flat in Lafferton. The killer shifts method for his second attack, using a rifle to shoot into a crowd outside a nightclub. Next, he uses a handgun to murder a young mother in front of her toddler. The variety of approaches leads the police to consider whether two different killers are at work, even as Serrailler's sergeant finds the visits of Drew's widowed husband to the scenes of the subsequent crimes suspicious. Hill does a decent job of generating suspense with sections from the murderer's point of view, but many readers will lament the lack of fair-play clues to his identity. Hill is also the author of the acclaimed horror novel The Woman in Black. (Nov.)

Carl's well-crafted fourth Jean Fairbairn/Alasdair Cameron mystery (after 2007's The Burning Glass) takes Jean, a journalist for travel magazine Great Scot, and Alasdair, a former detective, from Edinburgh to historic Williamsburg, Va. While attending a reception at a local museum, Jean spies the Witch Box, a 16th-century chest curiously missing its charm stone. The mystery behind the origin of the box heightens with the theft of a replica and the death of the replica's Williamsburg designer in a tragic accident. A myriad cast of characters adds plenty of suspects to the list of possible murderers after a body is discovered hanging from a tree on All Hallows Eve. Could the killer be a female professor who specializes in the arts of witchcraft or an eccentric man bent on proving that witchcraft and the supernatural don't exist? While detailed descriptions of various historical artifacts tend to slow the action, cozy fans should be satisfied. (Nov.)

Knightly, a former New York City police officer, makes a solid debut with this novel of crime and corruption. Seven years after Brooklyn cop David Lodge pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Clarence Spott, who was bludgeoned to death in a precinct cell, Lodge leaves prison only to be gunned down shortly thereafter. Det. Harry Corbin and his partner, Det. Adele Bentibi, have trouble with the official theory of the case. They believe that evidence has been manipulated to finger Spott's brother as the murderer, and both buck their superiors by pursuing other leads. For Corbin, his unwillingness to simply go along to get along jeopardizes his long-held dream of a transfer to the homicide division. The trail, somewhat predictably, leads the pair to reopen the issue of Lodge's guilt. While no one will mistake this portrayal of police work with those of masters like Joseph Wambaugh and Michael Connelly, it's good enough to make further books from Knightly a welcome prospect. (Nov.)

Family drama dominates this pugilistic paranormal romance, the fourth in Laurenston's Pride series (after 2008's The Mane Attraction). Lock MacRyrie, a part-time grizzly bear, and Gwen O'Neill, a lion/tiger hybrid shifter, meet during a brawl. The fists never stop flying as they face down hate crimes, interfering relatives and the challenges of starting a furniture business. Despite being billed as a tough, streetwise Jersey girl, Gwen is a surprisingly and frustratingly passive heroine who has a hard time standing up to her dismissive family. In true cat fashion, she's plagued by jealousy yet leery of commitment, making her romance with Lock a struggle for both of them. With a sharp eye for detail, Laurenston manages to combine Animal Planet and The Sopranos with bonus life-altering roller derby. Fans of the series will enjoy this latest addition. (Nov.)

Larger-than-life characters, awesome extraterrestrial settings and spectacular technology fill these two novellas, packaged back to back in the manner of the old Ace Doubles. In the powerful “Thousandth Night,” starfaring posthumans gather to socialize, exchange dream recordings and gossip about the mysterious galaxy-transforming Great Work. This time, however, high-tech murder is afoot. In the more didactic “Minla's Flowers,” another starfaring immortal happens upon a planet where two nations are at war. Their sun is about to be destroyed by a piece of malfunctioning alien technology, and the traveler must convince them to put aside their differences and evacuate their planet. Reynolds (House of Suns) is a master of modern space opera, and these tales of the far future, although not quite on a par with his best novels, should satisfy his many readers. (Nov.)

Rusch (the Retrieval Artist series) delivers a page-turning space adventure while contemplating the ethics of scientists and governments working together on future tech. Boss is a middle-aged loner who searches ancient spacecraft for historical data. Driven by the memory of her mother being lured to a mysterious station called the Room of Souls, Boss believes humanity is haunted by old science, the kind that could kill us because we don't understand it. As Boss carefully builds a crew of spacers who are mostly loners with secrets, their notions about old and new tech, and about each other, must be re-evaluated as they first dive a 5,000-year-old ship for clues and then head for the Room. Rusch's spare prose sometimes flattens the characters, but admirably suits both the adventure and the deep moral questions she raises. (Nov.)

VanderMeer's third book set in the fungus-laden city of Ambergris is an engrossing recasting of the hard-boiled detective novel. Traditional tropes—femmes fatales, double-crossing agents, underworld crime lords—mix seamlessly with a world in which humans struggle to undermine the authority of sentient fungi a century after the events of 2006's Shriek: An Afterword. By the time titular detective Finch solves the double murder of a human and a fungus, he's been drawn into a conflict in which he's rarely sure who's manipulating him or why he's so important to their plans. VanderMeer's stark tone is brutally powerful at times, and his deft mix of genre-blurring style with a layered plot make this a joy to read. Though the book stands well on its own, fans of the earlier Ambergris novels will appreciate it even more. (Nov.)

Ariel, a tough-talking unicorn, and her best friend, Peter Garey, reunite in this sporadically charming sequel to 1983's Ariel. Their colorful postapocalyptic world has experienced the Change, in which magic made science obsolete. Now young spellcaster Yanamandra Ramchandani wants to reverse the Change, and Ariel's unicorn mate, Joe, has been murdered. To stop Yan and find the killer, Ariel and Peter recruit Fred Garey, Peter's son and Yan's best friend, as well as Yan's father. Boyett enhances the adventure with tantalizing glimpses of forever-Changed sites like John Wayne Airport, the Goodyear Airship station and San Simeon, but it's marred by fuzzy details (why would magic users eat 30-year-old canned chili instead of conjuring food?) and lacks the original's sparkle. (Nov.)

Dellamonica's debut suburban fantasy opens with Astrid Lethewood in custody, charged with kidnapping and murder and being interrogated by hostage negotiator Will Forest. Astrid and her friends, Sahara Knax and Jackson, are central to a bizarre uprising against the government, but most of the novel is Astrid's narrative of her discovery of a source of magical blue ooze in the house she inherited from her father. The depiction of magic is original and consistent, and Astrid's exploration of her magical ability coincides with growth in her relationships and the unveiling of her town's dark history. Dellamonica never goes into detail about either the ooze or the uprising, perhaps saving those for the promised sequel, but Astrid's somewhat deranged conversations with Will give indications of what happened, and sympathetic characters go a long way toward making up for the vagueness. (Nov.)

Braiding together three distinct story lines—a coming-of-age tale involving a quartet of adventurous kids, a woman's quest for vengeance against a maniacal hitchhiker and the vigilante murder of a serial killer—Kelly (Blood Kin) ingeniously blends unapologetically graphic horror, supernatural suspense and poignant mystery. When 12-year-old Keith Bishop is sent from Atlanta to rural Tennessee for the summer, he stumbles across one of the area's darkest secrets: a haunted backwoods hollow where, back in 1917, a nomadic murderer allegedly “harvesting souls for Satan” was hunted down and killed. Somewhere in the shadowy, kudzu-covered grove, the madman's spirit remains alive, waiting for unholy retribution. Kelly's use of dichotomy, from the contrasting urban and rural settings to the generational dissimilarities between Keith and his 95-year-old grandfather, helps to accentuate the intensity and otherworldliness of evil in this well-crafted and wildly entertaining bloodcurdler. (Nov.)

Two-time British Fantasy Award winner Chadbourn (the Age of Misrule trilogy) offers a grim and decidedly current take on supernatural Elizabethan intrigues. Will Swyfte, “England's greatest spy,” is charged with stopping the faerie and their Spanish tools from acquiring the Skull, the Key and the Shield, magic items whose combination could devastate all of Britain. Scenes range from squalid London slums to King Philip's monumental El Escorial palace and the mighty confrontation with the Armada in the English Channel. Readers familiar with cold war spy novels will wryly note Swyfte's visits to Dr. John Dee for the latest in spy technology, à la James Bond and Q. Graphic presentations of tortures from the rack to waterboarding recall contemporary issues in national security, carefully contextualized with Swyfte's dilemmas of personal versus professional codes. (Nov.)

Proving that 2007's The Sword-Edged Blonde was no fluke, this sequel gives every evidence that Bledsoe's combination of sword and sorcery with hard-boiled detection will have a long and successful run. Eddie LaCrosse, a former noble who gave up his title and now works as a freelance sword-jockey, is flagged down by a damsel in distress, Laura Lesperitt. Before LaCrosse can get Lesperitt to safety, they are ambushed, an encounter that leaves her dead. When he recovers, LaCrosse's search for those responsible for the murder brings him into contact with powerful thug Gordon Marantz, the king's Special Office of Domestic Security and a dragon-worshipping cult. Bledsoe effortlessly draws readers into his created world and manages to stay true to both fantasy and mystery traditions. (Nov.)

Readers who are used to Scalzi's straightforward, optimistic SF (e.g., Old Man's War) will be disconcerted by the dollop of ice-cold cosmic horror in this novella. Capt. Ean Tephe and his crew in the spaceship Righteous trust their Lord to protect them in combat and care for their souls; after all, He has graciously given each of His warships a defeated, enslaved god to propel the ship to its destination by warping space. After battles start going against him, however, Tephe has to struggle to keep his faith. When he meets his Lord in person, innocent belief becomes impossible, and the narrative proceeds to surgically peel away layer after layer of comforting certainty. If J.G. Ballard and H.P. Lovecraft had ever collaborated on a space opera, the results might have been like this: ferociously inventive, painfully vivid, dispassionately bleak and dreadfully memorable. (Nov.)

Mallery tacks a sweet fourth story onto the Lone Star Sisters trilogy (Under Her Skin, etc.). Tough-as-nails deputy Dana Birch swears to protect the three Titan sisters at any cost. Wealthy businessman Garth Duncan, the Titans' half-brother, despises their father. When Dana and Garth join forces to destroy a man evil enough to harm his own daughters, unexpected passion builds between them. Dana is a nuanced character with a painful past, not scared of bullets but afraid of love and letting go, while Garth is an alluring leading man burdened with his own sad memories. When they spar, it's a refreshing battle between two equal and fast-thinking minds. Despite some unanswered questions, this glimpse into glitzy Texas high society and the dark underbelly of business is a thoroughly enjoyable read. (Nov.)

British author Lord (The Flower Girl) places lackluster, interchangeable characters against a backdrop of political change and WWI in this disappointing saga. Constance “Connie” Mornington, a wealthy doctor's daughter, and Eveline Fenton, an office worker from the East End of London, go against their families' wishes and join the women's suffrage movement, and their incongruous friendship blooms. The plot plods along as Connie's family disowns her for loving bank clerk George Towers, and Eveline's wealthy lover predictably gets her pregnant and abandons her. Eveline's grandmother, who is “exceptionally modern for one of seventy,” and Albert Adams, the man who agrees to marry Eveline despite her pregnancy, are pleasant distractions, but the central friendship is never truly convincing, and the frequent bickering is obnoxious. Despite the rich setting, this novel merely simmers when it should boil. (Nov.)

Prolific true crime author Lasseter and retired L.A. County prosecutor Bowers (You'll Never Find My Body) team up again to tell the sordid tale of an innocent man and the woman who plotted his murder. In December 1995, at a swap meet near Pasadena, Calif., successful, single 40-something Bruce Cleland meets beautiful Rebecca Salcedo, and her smile changes his life forever. Rebecca insists he support her lavishly, orchestrates a wedding, then demands a divorce, hoping to take Bruce's wealth. When Bruce refuses to pay spousal support, promiscuous, scheming Rebecca arranges for her husband's death. Lasseter and Bowers provide readers with a highly detailed depiction of events leading up to and following the gruesome murder of Bruce Cleland. True crime aficionados will savor this riveting read. (Nov.)

Donovan (The Girl Most Likely To) whips up a fine frappé of romantic comedy and suspense. Josie Sheehan, obituary feature writer, joins her dog-walking friends in a vow to give up on men. After a drunken motorcycle crash left Rick Rousseau nearly crippled and his date comatose, he swore repentant celibacy. Of course, the two can't resist each other, and their first date is laugh-out-loud hilarious, but when Rick's old girlfriend slips from coma to coffin, drama ensues. Donovan creates delightful characters in Josie and Rick and a fine supporting cast in the dog-walkers and Rick's rehab buddy. Even the villain is a sympathetic character, though the end of his plot is cut disappointingly short. Excessive gushing over the trappings of Rick's wealthy lifestyle is the novel's only flaw. (Nov.)

The second volume collecting the popular Web comic Goats gets off to a slow start, but then, it's understandably hard to follow a story line in which your characters turn God into a sandwich and eat him. Goats is reminiscent of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, only stranger and less plot-driven. Diablo, a rooster with a can-do attitude who happens to be a Satanist, and Fish/Fineas, a mad scientist goldfish with multiple personalities, are the closest thing to heroes. Together, they venture forth to stop Diablo's quasi-evil son Oliver and save the multiverse. Meanwhile Jon and Phillip, a pair of geeky human slackers, sit around a bar for a while before getting kidnapped to reprogram the universe. The multiverse, you see, is a giant virtual reality program, and both worlds are looking for the programmer who can change things for the better. Of course, being slackers, Jon and Phillip have no idea how to do this and little interest in doing so, much to the consternation of their kidnappers. Random potshots at libertarians, user agreements and Monsanto follow. A baroque confection of jokes, science fiction tropes and sheer inspired weirdness. (Dec.)

Sixteen cartoonists, mostly European, interpret 13 of Bob Dylan's most familiar lyrics in this lavishly illustrated oversized book. Dylan's songs don't generally call out for visual accompaniment—they map out emotional states or tell stories, but provide all the images they require. There's plenty of stylishness and a wide range of illustrative technique; unfortunately, few of the contributors have anything in particular to say about or add to Dylan's words. Some artists settle for redundant representations of the lyrics, including Bramanti's western death scene for “Knockin' on Heaven's Door” and Gradimir Smudja's semiphotorealist “Hurricane.” Even Dave McKean, rendering “Desolation Row” with his usual multimedia technique and surreal distortion of space, can't help packing his story with literal renderings of individual lines. Other artists simply throw their hands up: Bézian accompanies “Tombstone Blues” ' hilarious torrent of language with apropos-of-nothing drawings of girders, railroad tracks and a crowd of people, and Jean-Claude Götting's “Lay, Lady, Lay” is a brief erotic scenario that just happens to involve a big brass bed. The most rewarding piece is actually a commentary on Dylan himself: Zep's interpretation of “Not Dark Yet” shows four sly caricatures of the songwriter in the various phases of his career. (Nov.)

Far removed from the satirical reimagining some might expect from the father of underground comix, Crumb's long-awaited take on the first book of the Bible presents the artist's own sensitive, visually intense reflections. Where most visual adaptations edit down their prose sources, Crumb has, strikingly, included every word of the Book of Genesis within his first major book-length work. His humanistic visual response to this religious text imbues even briefly mentioned biblical characters with unique faces and attitudes, and his renderings of the book's more storied personalities draw out momentous emotions inspired by the book's inherent drama. Throughout, Genesis is a virtual portfolio of Crumb's career-long effort to instill fluid cartoon drawing with carefully rendered lifelike detail. Some might miss Crumb's full stylistic and tonal range, but the source's narrative sweep includes moments of sex and scandal that recall the artist's more notorious comics. Indeed, this monumental visual adaptation's basic strategy may subvert simply by demanding a reconsideration of its source, one that continues to motivate the complex cultural struggles that have, for decades, preoccupied this master cartoonist's landmark work. (Oct.)

This great coming-of-age tale promotes nonconformity as well as responsibility (and young love, too, but to a lesser extent). It's the summer break, and lacking friends or funds, teenager Kit is hanging around the house too much. Wandering aimlessly through his low-income neighborhood in Brooklyn, Kit takes pity on the stray cats he sees. He feels as abandoned as they are, and is soon feeding them, first from his mother's pantry and then by stealing. But by caring for the kitties, the boy begins a journey of growth and maturity, meeting people like the “crazy” cat lady (who was once involved in radical politics); the shopkeeper who catches Kit stealing and teaches him about Jainism; and most importantly, Jess, a cute punk rock girl with artistic ambitions. She's impressed that even though Kit is not sure why he's doing it, unlike her so-called friends he's doing something selfless and refuses to waver from his beliefs under peer pressure. Jess further encourages Kit by creating Katman, a manga-like superhero alter ego. Pyle's loose, vibrant art brings an immediacy to this story that often reads as if we're peeking into Jess's notebooks. (Sept.)