Fiction Book Reviews: 10/12/2009

It probably doesn't reflect glowingly on American expat Kennedy's native country that this watershed novel is the first to be published in the U.S. after a decade of acclaim abroad. Why it's taken so long is anyone's guess, as there's plenty to admire in the serpentine unwinding of troubled protagonists adrift in contemporary Copenhagen. First there's Bernardo “Nardo” Greene, a Chilean sifting through the torments he suffered at the hands of Pinochet's secret police with the help of his Danish therapist, Thorkild Kristensen, who acts as part-time narrator. Meanwhile, Michela Ibsen attempts to escape a history of abusive lovers, most recently, the psychopathically jealous Voss. Inquisitions into the nature of violence follow from Thorkild's private musings and from Michela's hospital-bound father, but it is in Nardo and Michela's cautious flirtation that the story's central problem—how do we exorcise patterns of abuse and arrive at what is worth loving in a world poisoned by cruelty?—is etched. Kennedy's respect for his characters and startlingly tender regard for basic humanity color what is in effect a high-concept love story resonant with, as Nardo says, “The produce... of our lives.” (Mar.)

Fans of Marley and Me will find a new dog to cheer for in Wilson's (Beauty) insightful heart-tugger about Adam March, a Boston man recovering from the shame of a foolish crime, and Chance, a scrappy pit bull mix trying to escape the illegal dogfight circuit. Adam, 46, is a ruthless self-made millionaire married to an icy socialite living a picture-perfect existence that includes a teen princess daughter. Then he loses his job for slapping his assistant, Sophie, full across the face after she gives him a message that reads: “Your sister called.” Forty years ago, Adam's sister, Veronica, ran away leaving Adam with their widowed dad, who subsequently placed Adam into foster care. For his violent act, Adam is sentenced to perform community service at a homeless men's shelter where the adorable Chance teaches Adam about survival and what matters. Chance tells his story in his own words, which makes his mistreatment and return to the fighting pit powerfully disturbing. Combined with Wilson's unflinching portrayal of Adam's struggle to overcome his past, Old Yeller's got nothing on this very good man and his dog story. (Mar.)

Fissures of familial and amorous transgressions erupt in the seemingly placid lives of everyday people in Bausch's eighth collection (after novel, Peace), where power outages, raging snow storms and the sweeping Mississippi River form a backdrop seething with looming menace for unhappy marriages and drowning dreams. In subtle but firm prose, Bausch allows his characters to stumble along a harrowing path that they hope will lead them to be, as the protagonist of “Blood” proclaims, “Free at last.” But freedom is elusive for many characters, including the two women and two children of the title story who hide out in a house during a storm. Elsewhere, sacred ground—be it the bed of a minister and his wife, a friend's marriage or a confessional booth—forms the stage for the pursuit of pleasure, healing and escape. Throughout, Bausch takes the chaotic fallout from simple acts—delaying a friend's husband so she can plan a surprise party, killing time on an errand, sleeping in and nearly missing an appointment—to show how dangerously close we may be to encountering a predatory world eager to destroy our comforts, relationships and beliefs. (Feb.)

Clark (The Great Stink) bases her third novel on the true story of the first French settlers in America and the women who are sent to be their wives. Her dual protagonists—the novel begins as two narratives which then converge—are the independent Elisabeth Savaret and the curious youth, Auguste. Elisabeth sets herself apart from her gossipy sister brides-to-be, finding solace in her books, but when she meets her rugged husband, she softens into a devoted wife and hopeful mother. Auguste is assigned the task of learning the ways and language of “the savages” since alliance with the native population is key to France's position in the New World. Throughout the novel Elisabeth and Auguste experience all the tropes common to life in the colonies. Clark has many graces as a writer, but while she brims with enthusiasm over her novel's world and delights in describing every facet of it, her penchant for overwriting makes what could be a fast-moving romp into a slog. She is an assiduous researcher, but too eager to show it. Still, Clark's passion for her story overcomes and will please lovers of historical fiction. (Feb.)

Nobel laureate and two-time Booker-winner Coetzee has been shortlisted for the third time for this powerful novel, a semisequel to the fictionalized memoirs Boyhood and Youth that takes the form of a young biographer's interviews with colleagues of the late author John Coetzee. To Dr. Julia Frankl, who briefly sought in Coetzee deliverance from her husband, he was “not fully human”; to his cousin, Margot Jonker, he is boring, ridiculous and misguided; and to Sophie Denoël, an expert in African literature, Coetzee is an underwhelming writer with “no original insight into the human condition.” The harshest characterization—and also the best of the interviews—comes from Adriana Nascimento, a Brazilian emigrant who met Coetzee when both were teachers in Cape Town; she was repulsed by the intellectual's attempts at courtship. “He is nothing,” she says, “was nothing... an embarrassment.” The biographer's efforts to describe his subject ultimately result in an examination that reaches through fiction and memoir to grasp what the traditional record leaves out. (Jan.)

In the thrilling third installment in bestseller Reilly's series to feature Jack West Jr. (after Seven Ancient Wonders and The Six Sacred Stones), the adventurer from the Australian outback and his band of merry men, women and children race against several nefarious groups to defuse a disastrous celestial event. The planetary entity known as the “Dark Star,” the evil twin to our sun, is set to return to our solar system, igniting a massive negative energy source that will destroy all life on earth. It's a tough challenge, but if anyone can save the world, it's Jack. There are riddles to solve, bad guys to kill and derring-do to be done, all of which flashes by as one action scene piles onto the next. Readers should leave their thinking caps behind, hang onto the panic bar and be prepared to be flung hither and yon. Plenty of maps and diagrams add to the fun. (Jan.)

In her delightful second novel (after Slipstream), Larson injects a jolt of liveliness into the bleak setting of an assisted living home, thanks to the obstinate and crass narrator, 82-year-old Cora Sledge. The overweight, pill-popping Cora is placed in the Palisades by her children after they deem her unfit to care for herself. Once there, she begins writing in the journal her granddaughter gave her, her entries eventually revolving around a big secret from her past. Meanwhile, around the Palisades, Cora is often in the midst of—if not at the center of—resident feuds, both the victim and suspect of a spree of robberies and the recipient of a suave new resident's amorous attention. Perhaps not surprisingly, Cora decides to take control of her life, and as she questions the loyalty of those closest to her, she reveals intimate feelings and personal heartaches that have always been obscured by her rough exterior. Cora's machinations—sometimes wily, sometimes curious, always funny—and her lovable crustiness give this plenty of heart and humor. (Jan.)

Ethiopia's 1974 revolution tears a family in half in this striking debut. Drought, famine and mutiny in the military are stretching Emperor Haile Selassie's regime to the breaking point, and when it finally tears, Hailu, a skilled and respected doctor in Addis Ababa, must find a way to shepherd his extended family through the ensuing violence. His task is made no easier by the fact that his son Dawit's fiery youthful convictions place him at odds with his more circumspect older brother, Yonas, a university professor with a wife and child. But when soldiers request Hailu to treat a gruesomely tortured political prisoner, he makes a fateful choice that puts his family in the military junta's crosshairs. Mengiste is as adept at crafting emotionally delicate moments as she is deft at portraying the tense and grim historical material, while her judicious sprinkling of lyricism imbues this novel with a vivid atmosphere that is distinct without becoming overpowering. That the novel subjects the reader to the same feelings of hopelessness and despair that its characters grapple with is a grand testament to Mengiste's talent. (Jan.)

South African Kohler's well-written seventh novel takes the lives of the Brontës: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Branwell and their father, and substitutes imagination for facts. The book opens in 1846 with Charlotte's father recovering from eye surgery in Manchester, England. The narrative follows the internal ragings and musings of Rev. Brontë, the Brontë sisters, the nurse briefly hired to help Charlotte and her father, their own nurse of many years and even the mother of George Smith, the eventual publisher of Jane Eyre. Charlotte's desire for a heroine with more courage than she herself has spills onto the page during the long, lonely hours of her father's convalescence, as she remembers her doomed love for her teacher in Brussels and other hurts and affronts throughout her life. Kohler (Crossways) gives us a more multidimensional, passionate and temperamental Charlotte than most biographies. Too much narration and switching of points of view slows the pace, but connecting the writer with her heroine is intriguing. This novel will likely send fans back to the originals and should inspire those who know “of” the novels to finally read them. (Jan.)

Say good-bye to Elizabeth Bonner and her brood with this graceful, sweeping conclusion to Donati's frontier-era Wilderness series (following Fire Along the Sky), focusing mostly on returning characters Martha, Callie, Daniel Bonner and Ethan Bonner, and their perpetual adversary, Jemima Southern, “as close to a witch as [the town] had ever come.” In 1824, troublemaker Jemima returns to rural Paradise, N.Y., and Bonner men Ethan and Daniel realize the only way to save the property of their friends Callie and Martha is to marry them, arrangements born of necessity that quickly become stronger than anyone expected. Before leaving for good, however, Jemima surprises the people of Paradise by revealing the secrets that they've kept from each other. Donati will satisfy and, in some cases, delight her longtime readers by wrapping up nearly every story line, confidently tracking a huge cast and their individual conflicts. Those new to Donati's work would be better served starting at the beginning of the series with Into the Wilderness—it's nearly impossible to pick up at this point—but any reader will be won over, sooner or later, by Donati's affection for her tough, complex characters. (Jan.)

Eslami's clumsy debut attempts to unsnarl the relationships that paralyze a dysfunctional Iranian-American family living in Arrowhead, Ga. When Jasmine Fahroodhi flunks out of the University of Chicago just shy of graduation, her parents bring her home to marry her off. Even though her aloof doctor father, Yusef, married an American instead of the bride his parents chose for him, he wants Jasmine's marriage to be arranged. Jasmine's endlessly cheerful former cheerleader mother, Margaret, embraces “Plan B” with a startling zeal, though Jasmine's youthful angst leads her to vacillate between passivity and sudden outbursts of sarcasm as she submits to a series of interminable dinners with a parade of unsuitable suitors. Unfortunately, Eslami loses her footing in the last third of the book when Yusef encounters vague but troubling medical problems, Jasmine finally finds something to care about in a new job and the perfect man with a mysterious past enters the scene. Things end peachily, but the facile resolution and tepid finale feel as forced as put-upon Jasmine's feel-good turnaround. (Jan.)

Former journalist Klaffke's debut is a delicious guilty pleasure full of hilarious, irreverent moments in the declining career of a glossy mag gal. Sixteen years after founding the snarky Snap magazine on a shoestring budget, editor Sara B. has grown the scrappy zine into one of Canada's biggest weekly glossies, spawning three boutiques, a “Trend Mecca Boot Camp Weekend” and a slew of imitators. Though Sara enjoys her role as arbiter of good taste—the mag's most popular feature is her Dos and Don'ts page—she's overwhelmed by the magazine's success and having suspicions that she may be a narcissistic jerk. Furthermore, at 39, she's beginning to question the validity of a career that involves making fun of people for a living, and she's even having trouble telling the Dos from the Don'ts—a fact hammered home by her stylish young assistant. Although Sara's runaway imagination takes a few turns for the disturbing and she lucks into too many fortunate turns, her character arc and eventual shot at redemption make for absorbing reading. A dark, comic absurdity peppers every page of this sarcastic romp. (Jan.)

Popular Brit Maxted (Running in Heels) rewrites Cinderella for a meaner, more cynical age in a biting saga of a filthy-rich family brought to rack and ruin by a soulless psycho intent on settling an old score. Part social commentary, part thriller, Maxted's novel charts the complicated history of rags-to-riches-times-two Jack Kent, a hotel baron who loses a first wife to an early death, watches an adopted daughter nearly marry her own father, stands by as a wastrel biological daughter squanders her life and love, and is saved by a bitchy and deliciously vindictive second wife. It's a rip-roaring tale with a creepy villain bent on wrecking the family: “I have spent all of my life thinking, plotting, imagining brilliant, twisted ways to make all of you suffer the same unimaginable hell that I did,” he seethes, “and the annoying thing is, you all have the presumption to think it coincidence!” Though the book could lose a good hundred pages and the hopscotching time line can be confusing, when Maxted finds her groove, the flow is smart, crisp and riveting. (Jan.)

British author Furber follows her children's novel, What You See Is What You Get, with a dark novel for adults that raises disturbing questions about faith and religion. Freelance journalist Patrick Price-Johnson reveals from prison, where he's remanded on a murder charge, how he became obsessed with the Rev. Helen Halberd. In a flashback, Patrick interviews the attractive 46-year-old Anglican priest, who has written a controversial bestseller, Fire Down Below, for which she's been denounced as “a blasphemous handmaiden of the Anti-Christ” for trashing the Virgin Mary. Meanwhile, Patrick's girlfriend, Dr. Julia Nayler, wants Patrick to get the dirt on Helen, who may have had an affair with another unconventional Christian, the Rev. Neil Sarbridge, the dean of Lancaster College, Cambridge, in hopes of ridding Cambridge of the overbearing Sarbridge. Furber's needle-sharp characterization of the deranged Patrick is nothing short of terrifying. (Jan.)

In this low-key, lusterless debut collection, Gabriel follows two brothers growing up while testing the boundaries of authority in rural Ohio. Switching among different viewpoints in quasi-chronological order, Gabriel begins with Donnie and Nate Holland, ages 12 and eight, respectively, tracking down a runaway from the nearby delinquent boys' institution after their father is hospitalized. Instead of turning in the runaway for the reward, however, Donnie ends up disappearing with him for two days. In subsequent stories, the boys reach adolescence and young adulthood, Donnie continuing to run against the grain, joining the army and eloping; Nate, meanwhile, remains in town and works at the A&P, but still takes cues from his beloved big brother. Gabriel's writing is frustratingly bland, his character development minimal and his stories all too brief; in the longest tale, “Drowned Boy,” Nate and a girl meet at a wake, but take off on separate, meandering car trips, suspending the resolution in midair. Gabriel's listless plotting leaves readers wanting more of these sympathetic characters. (Jan.)

Savage (1922–1958) died young, but he left behind a trove of western fiction (Shadow River, Long Gun). The two novellas here showcase his fluency with formula westerns—good guys, bad guys, the pretty girl and lots of gun smoke. In “Trouble in Texas,” Bob Knightland, a cowboy working for a large, unscrupulous cattle syndicate, questions the syndicate boss, Victor Cordon, about a murder and is quickly framed for another killing. Bob seems trapped, but guilt and revenge are powerful motivators, resulting in a bloody showdown. “Land of the Lawless” is a clever mystery featuring frontier lawyer Lee Banner and his defense of a Navajo Indian accused of murdering a white man. Accepting this racially charged case makes Lee a pariah, but he can't believe his old friend is guilty of murder. Complicating the defense, however, is a ruthless cattle baron with big plans, a gang of killers, the two women Lee loves and the possibility that there may be an eyewitness reluctant to come forward. Reading these is like opening a time capsule of pulpy 1950s westerns. (Jan.)

False memory syndrome provides the core of bestseller Grafton's intriguing 21st crime novel featuring wry PI Kinsey Millhone (after T Is for Trespass). In 1988, Kinsey takes on client Michael Sutton, who claims to have recovered a childhood memory of men burying a suspicious bundle shortly after the unsolved disappearance of four-year-old Mary Claire Fitzhugh in 1972. But Sutton has a track record of unreliability, and Kinsey must untangle and reconfigure his disjointed recountings to learn if they are truth or fiction. Chapters told from the point of view of other characters in other time periods add texture, allowing the reader to assemble pieces of the case as Kinsey works on other aspects. A subplot involves Kinsey wrestling with conflicting information about her estranged family. Though whodunit purists may be a bit disappointed that the culprit is revealed well before book's end, both loyal Kinsey fans and those new to the canon will find much to like. Author tour. (Dec.)

First published in the U.K. in 2001 and presently being adapted for the movies, Bruen's gritty reimagining of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard transplants the action from glitzy Hollywood to the rough and tumble London streets. Fresh out of prison after serving three years for an assault he can't remember, Mitchell tries unsuccessfully to steer clear of his old life, even as friends pressure him to get back in the crime game. Looking for an honest job, Mitchell finds work as a handyman for a wealthy and reclusive former stage beauty, Lillian Palmer, who lives in a sprawling estate with her taciturn butler, Jordan. Soon, Mitchell's increasingly complicated relationship with Palmer becomes inextricably intertwined with his violent past. While Mitchell and Palmer obviously evoke Sunset's Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond, Bruen (Once Were Cops) adds his own cast of supporting characters, notably Mitchell's eccentric sister, Briony. Noir fans will enjoy this rapid-fire thrill ride. (Dec.)

Fuentes, an old friend of Fidel Castro who escaped a death sentence in 1990s Cuba and now lives in exile in Florida, delivers a clever, ballsy and colorful faux autobiography of the Communist icon. “With this book,” Fuentes-as-Castro writes, “I am not trying to reject anything or defend myself, but to leave behind an interpretation from my own hands, or rather, from my own mouth, of the events in which I am the protagonist.” Castro comes across as megalomaniacal and charming, his hilarious bravado a perfect complement to a profoundly unreliable narrator. Castro reflects on everything from the murder of his first political rival and his campaign against Batista to the Bay of Pigs and the missile crisis to the almost present day. Though peppered with gossipy asides, the story remains strong, mostly linear and always captivating. Fuentes tells Castro's story without questioning himself, and is so convincing that readers may forget this is fiction. (Dec.)

Smolens's plodding sixth novel revolves around the assassination of President McKinley. Among the ensemble cast is assassin Leon Czolgosz; Buffalo police captain Lloyd Savin; Pinkerton agent Jake Norris; and various informants, the most important of whom is Hyde, the only person who knows what Czolgosz looks like and thus is in high demand by both the police and the grimy assortment of anarchists and thugs who hope to exploit the shooting for their own purposes. Czolgosz remains a bit of a cipher: he's enamored, sometimes to the point of delusion, of Emma Goldman, but his motives for wanting to assassinate the president are murky; sometimes he wants to “secure his place in history,” and sometimes the killing is his duty. Though other characters fare better—Hyde is particularly well drawn—Smolens never fully sells the era, leaning too heavily on cut-and-dried class and ethnic tensions (the white establishment oppressing the immigrant anarchists), while the surprisingly reserved narrative feels very at odds with the inherent tension of the assassination plot. The prose is competent, even rather nice at times, but the narrative's slowness is crippling. (Dec.)

In Edghill's (Queenmaker) tedious retelling of the story of Samson and Delilah, the beautiful, dark-haired Delilah is given away by her mother to be raised to become a priestess to the Five Cities that rule Canaan. The novel alternates between Delilah's point of view and third-person narratives featuring Derceto, high priestess of the temple of Atargatis, who keeps a watchful eye over Delilah; Aylah, Delilah's best friend and confidante; Sandarin, prince of the city; and finally, the tall, strong warrior, Samson, who catches sight of the beautiful Delilah and is determined to have her. For Samson, who is chosen by the Israelites to lead the rebellion against the restrictive Five Cities, Delilah comes with risk. Yet Samson cannot resist her, despite falling directly into Derceto's trap. Edghill's attempt to give a voice to Delilah is commendable, and the novel is strongest when it focuses on her. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters lack Delilah's depth, and the third-person narration tries too hard to achieve historical accuracy and, as a result, loses the reader. (Dec.)

In Pollack's clunky debut, Israeli military intelligence hires archeologists Fala al-Shohada, a beautiful Egyptian, and Joshua Krantz, Fala's handsome Israeli lover, to find the person responsible for the slaughter of dozens of men at a terrorist camp in Pakistan with, apparently, a hand scythe, a weapon used by Alexander the Great's soldiers in the third century B.C.E. Meanwhile, Maggie Wagner, a Ph.D. student in genetics at Princeton, who suspects her late father, a Nobel laureate Stanford professor, was not a suicide, begins her own probe into a project code-named Lemuria (after the legendary ancient civilization) that her father had been investigating. The two plot lines, laden with by-the-numbers scenes of sex and violence, converge on the island of Diego Garcia, where chimpanzees wearing bow ties serve dinner to Fala and the American colonel who trained the primates to be waiters. By then, many readers will have already bailed out. (Dec.)

Rose (Stuck) delivers down under romance in her latest about a superstar singer who falls hard for a rugged hottie. Sydney celebrity Stella Starr, recovering from a divorce, hits the road until her car breaks down in a tiny town where she catches the eye of the local hunk, Jonathan Knight, who is trying to make a go of it with Koolwear, his upstart fashion line. He's been crazy about Stella since he was teenager, and he hatches a plan to persuade her to do promo work for Koolwear, roping many of the locals—most of whom work for him—into helping him with the plan. What he doesn't count on is losing his heart. A subplot involving Jonathan's runaway little sister gives this slow-burning romance some texture, but don't expect much more than a sweet, simple story. (Dec.)

An autobiographical novel that looks at changes in Iran between the late 1960s and the early 1980s through the eyes of a 12-year-old Iranian boy and the boy as a man some 14 years later. Having immigrated to California, Shahed returns to Tehran after his father's death, hoping to make sense of their relationship. Shahed's memories of his childhood in a freer, more secular Iran under the Shah alternate (sometimes abruptly) with his experiences of the country after the fundamentalist Islamic Revolution where Q-tips are “objects of bourgeois luxury.” The childhood scenes are sharply rendered. Baba, Shahed's father, is a selfish, greedy spendthrift and perpetual debtor who literally takes food off Shahed's plate; other men fare no better, from Shahed's opium-addict uncle “E” to a school principal who uses his blindness as an excuse to grope schoolgirls. But then there's the houri (Persian for “nymph of paradise”) of the title, the sexy, wealthy neighbor who was the object of the preteen Shahed's fantasies. Iran's struggles under a repressive regime provide the backdrop to this revealing story, but the book succeeds more as a fictionalized memoir. (Dec.)

At the start of this unconvincing near-future thriller from Edgar-winner Handler (The Sour Cherry Surprise), Tim Ferris, a former child actor on The Big Happy Family, America's top-rated TV show from 1954 to 1968, sends Ernest Ludington Thayer, the “world's oldest living Pulitzer Prize winner,” a letter offering the truth behind the 1972 murder spree that killed six of the show's other cast members. One of Ferris's co-stars on the Brady Bunch–like show was Gary Dixon, now a U.S. senator and “Christian conservative” running for president. Dixon leads his Democratic opponent by a wide margin in the polls. Since age has left Thayer too infirm to leave his New York City home and follow up himself, he dispatches Hunt Liebling, a courageous independent blogger, to California to learn what Ferris knows. Liebling's mission soon turns violent after the corrupt creator of The Big Happy Family sends in hired muscle to stop Ferris from talking. Major plot holes don't help a hard-to-swallow premise. (Dec.)

British author Campbell (The House on Nazareth Hill) uses his native Liverpool as the setting for this unnerving suspense novel with supernatural overtones. One day, while Gavin Meadows of Liverghoul Tours is guiding a group around the city, his eccentric father, Deryck, disrupts the tour. When Deryck later goes missing and the police show little interest, Gavin undertakes to track Deryck down himself, bolstered by text messages indicating that his father is still alive, somewhere. Gavin's relations with the official force further deteriorate after he reports seeing a body that vanishes before the cops show up. Various characters explore the theory that Liverpool merchant James Maybrick was actually Jack the Ripper, but this concern with crimes committed in London never fuses satisfactorily with the main story line, which suggests that a hidden truth lies behind Liverpool's myths and legends. (Nov.)

Real life and the virtual world bleed into one another with dangerous results in this well-plotted mystery from May (Blacklight Blue). Michael Kapinsky, a photographer for the Orange County (Calif.) Forensic Science Service, is fighting depression after losing his wife to cancer as well as facing a $3 million financial hole. Given his troubles, Michael decides to accept his therapist's suggestion to join an experimental group therapy session conducted in Second Life, an online world with 14 million members. A colleague of Michael's, crime scene investigator Janey Amat, already belongs to SL, where she runs the Twist of Fate Detective Agency. Janey welcomes Michael as her partner, and the pair soon discover that someone is killing avatars in SL as well as their RL (real-life) counterparts. May keeps the reader guessing while also providing an intriguing glimpse into the pleasures and pitfalls of SL. (Jan.)

Northwest Alaska is the shining star of Jones's fourth Nathan Active mystery (after 2008's Frozen Sun), often viewed from a Super Cub plane flying perilously over wilderness foothills, craggy ridges and autumn tundra. While on a camping trip to a remote lake, Nathan, an Inupiaq (native) Alaska state trooper, and Grace, the woman he loves, come upon a body in a creek, its face eaten by pike. Arson soon follows murder. Back home in the village of Chukchi, the recreation center goes up in a blaze, claiming eight victims, including the town's police chief. Rumors of polar bear poaching complicate both cases. Jones, who's been a bush pilot and an investigative reporter, brings stomach-wrenching verisimilitude to crimes despoiling the land and the people, while he sensitively renders the tender, painful romance between Nathan and Grace. His sympathetic portrayal of Alaska's mixed-ethnic traditions is a tribute to both the state and the states of mind it inspires. (Dec.)

Going back to dorm life isn't much fun for Alison Bergeron in Barbieri's uneven fourth puzzler to feature the reluctant crime magnet (after 2008's Quick Study). Alison, an English professor at St. Thomas University in the Bronx, becomes the temporary resident director of Siena dorm after Wayne Brookwell, its popular RD, fails to return from spring break. Det. Bobby Crawford of the NYPD, Alison's faithful boyfriend, helps her move into her new digs, Wayne's small, less than spotless “suite.” When the toilet overflows after Alison flushes it, Crawford cleans up the mess—and discovers a brick of heroin hidden under the bathroom floor. Adding spice is a love triangle involving Wayne and Amanda Reese, a Siena RA who's engaged to a Princeton student. Less entertaining is a subplot about Alison's bitchy best friend, whose estrangement from her detective husband has gone into overkill. (Dec.)

At the start of this routine police procedural from British author Campbell (Through the Ruins of Midnight), Yorkshire Det. Constable Steve Decker lies in critical condition in a hospital after being bludgeoned by an unknown assailant. Decker and his partner, Dave Black (much is made to little purpose of “Black and Decker,” as in the power tool company), were ambushed while searching for a reckless driver at White Cross, a tough council estate. As Decker drifts in and out of consciousness, he tries to piece together the details of the fateful encounter and identify the person who tried to kill him. Despite a final twist, the plot never generates the kind of suspense found in a similarly themed work like the classic noir film D.O.A., nor do the characters emerge as more than stock types. Readers interested in gritty portrayals of modern British policing will find Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels more satisfying. (Dec.)

In McLean's uneven debut, PI J. McNee, a former Dundee cop, still bears the physical and emotional scars from the car accident that killed his fiancée nine months earlier. When a local farmer, James Robertson, discovers the body of his estranged brother, Daniel, an apparent suicide, McNee reluctantly takes the case. Even though the pair hadn't spoken in 30 years, James can't believe Daniel killed himself. As McNee starts digging, he discovers that Daniel worked as a heavy for Gordon Egg, an ex-gangster turned club owner in London's seedy Soho district. When a woman claiming to know Daniel arrives in Dundee, followed by two vicious thugs with ties to Egg's empire, McNee realizes he may have stepped into something bigger than he can handle. McLean relies too heavily on American noir clichés—the tortured investigator, lost loves, crime bosses and their femme fatales—and never puts his distinctive stamp on the formula, despite the moody Scottish setting. (Dec.)

Maxwell does a fine job of evoking the spirit of the crime fiction of the 1930s in his mystery debut, inspired by the obscure 1891 W.C. Morrow short story of the same title. On March 4, 1933, FDR's inauguration day, a distraught widower, Arthur Vance, calls on PI Joe Scintilla at his Manhattan office. Vance shows the detective a picture of his late wife, Katharine, who killed herself in 1931 after a referral from her therapist to an outfit called the Removal Company. Vance also shows Scintilla a clipping from a 1932 New York newspaper announcing the wedding of Elena Cavalieri with a photo of the bride. Vance believes Cavalieri and Katharine are the same person. Grudgingly, Scintilla accepts the case, traveling to California and later to Italy in search of the truth. The premise and the prose compare favorably with the work of Edgar Wallace. While the final payoff is a little too pat, readers will want to see more of Scintilla. (Dec.)

In Gash's jaunty 24th Lovejoy mystery to feature the crooked East Anglian antiques expert with a weakness for women (after 2004's The Ten Word Game), Lovejoy accepts an offer of early release from prison on condition he work for a speed-dating service run by Laura Moon, a wealthy divorcée. Part of the deal, he soon learns, is to wed Laura in a ploy to bring her ex-husband, a confidence trickster, out of hiding. Lovejoy agrees, but before the ink is dry on the marriage register, a couple of his friends suffer fatal accidents. The rambling plot involves “white tribes,” people who control fortunes in old jewels and curios that could potentially flood the antiques market. While Gash makes the British slang easy to follow for American readers and throws in plenty of authentic antiques lore, this dated tale with its often grating protagonist is unlikely to win the author many new fans. (Dec.)

At the outset of Jardine's 19th Bob Skinner mystery, one of the stronger entries in this hard-hitting police series (Aftershock, etc.), Skinner is about to be appointed chief constable, a promotion that will coincide with his wedding to Scotland's leader, First Minister Aileen de Marco. When a leading mystery author, Ainsley Glover, turns up dead at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the cause is initially believed to be an accidental, or self-inflicted, overdose of glucose. The case becomes one of murder after the medical examiner discovers Glover was injected with a paralyzing drug—and it rapidly becomes politically sensitive after the police learn Skinner's former boss, ex-politician Bruce Anderson, not only argued with the victim shortly before Glover's demise but lied about his whereabouts at the critical time. Keeping track of all the supporting characters and their personal relationships isn't always easy, but Jardine more than makes up for that with a nice surprise ending. (Dec.)

The Christmas curse (that is, “something quite dreadful happen[ing] to put a dampener on things”) strikes again in Kingsbury's diverting fifth holiday Pennyfoot Hotel mystery set in Edwardian England (after 2008's Ringing in Murder). Cecily Sinclair Baxter, the Pennyfoot's proprietress, immediately suspects foul play after the body of Ian McBride, the estranged husband of her chief housemaid, Gertie, surfaces in the hotel duck pond. While Gertie emerges as the prime suspect in her husband's demise, Kingsbury expertly strews red herrings to suggest plenty of others had reason to wish Ian dead. Subplots involving Ian's first wife and what various members of the household staff were up to on the eve of the murder add intrigue. This makes the perfect stocking stuffer for the cozy fan in your life. (Nov.)

This terrific little story, originally published in a 2007 anthology, is the first in Patricia Briggs's Alpha and Omega series. Changed against her will three years earlier, frightened, beaten-down Anna Latham doesn't know she is an omega werewolf, revered for the ability to soothe alpha inclinations at opportune moments. Powerful alpha Charles Cornick, son of the North American werewolf leader, heads to Chicago after the patriarch receives a phone call from Anna, informing him of an unsanctioned murder of a young werewolf. Anna's pack leader feared her abilities, approved her degradation and kept her ignorant of pack lore, which allows readers to learn alongside Anna as Charles teaches her what she needs to know. Spare writing and strong descriptions will entice readers to continue following Anna and Charles in two forthcoming novels. (Dec.)

Gregory (Pandemonium) produces a quietly brilliant second novel. As a teen, Paxton Martin left the town of Switchcreek, Tenn., to escape a scandal and the retrovirus that afflicted many of the town's inhabitants. Many died hideously, and most survivors turned into strange creatures: towering argos, parthenogenic betas, enormously obese charlies. A decade later, Pax returns home to attend the funeral of a close friend who has committed suicide. Hoping to avoid his estranged father, Pax plans to leave immediately after the funeral, but he soon finds himself caught up in both the complexities of his old life and the deep quantum weirdness that Switchcreek has become. A wide variety of believable characters, a well-developed sense of place and some fascinating scientific speculation will earn this understated novel an appreciative audience among fans of literary SF. (Dec.)

Before turning to gritty fantasy-world tales like the Black Company series, Cook wrote some high-quality space opera, as this omnibus reprint shows. In a full-blown and very 1980s space fantasy trilogy, the Silth, wolflike alien witches, use telepathy and enslaved otherworldly beings to explore the Milky Way. Marika, a young Meth whose planet has been targeted by the Silth, discovers that she has remarkable psychic talents. Despite her personal disinterest in power, she finds herself increasingly forced to ruthlessly pursue it, both to protect herself and to force social change on the other Meth in hopes of surviving an impending ice age, vast social upheaval and the appearance of the powerful and expansionist beings known as humans. This is an effectively told if minor tragedy, and an interesting example of Cook's early work. (Dec.)

There are hints of an interesting novel inside this overlong and unsuspenseful book. On Halloween 1977, teen film buff Will Travers flees a terrifying threat in the small town of Grenton, ultimately finding temporary refuge in the home of retired Hollywood model maker Les Deerton. The narrative then jumps back to October 31, 1931, when Deerton and King Kong creator Willis O'Brien teamed up to work on a project somehow connected with a stage magician whose relative was responsible for the death of hundreds in Grenton in the late 1890s. The opening of Star Wars in 1977 is a constant reference point for the more modern sections, but if Herter (Ceres Storm) is attempting to make a profound statement about moviemaking by computer vs. the craft of those like O'Brien, it's lost in an unashamedly derivative plot. (Dec.)

Warrington's so-so sequel to Bram Stoker's classic has the misfortune to follow on the heels of a superior sequel with a nearly identical title, Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt's Dracula: The Un-Dead (Reviews, Aug. 24). Seven years after Van Helsing and the rest of the vampire hunters ended Dracula's existence, the survivors return to Transylvania to perform a Christian cleansing ritual and to reassure themselves the evil is truly destroyed. No one will be surprised when their journey ends up triggering the monster's resurrection. Once again, the count threatens the body and soul of Mina Harker, whom he pursued in Stoker's Dracula. Amid less than compelling variations on the original plot, Warrington (Elfland) throws in a subplot about the search undertaken by a professor friend of Van Helsing's for an academy run by the devil, whose students included Dracula, but its resolution will satisfy few. (Dec.)

Hunt (The Face) whips out a shut-the-cellphone-off, cancel-all-appointments legal thriller whose surprise plot twist caroms out of nowhere. When Erin Tomassi is arrested for the murder of her husband, prominent Illinois state senator Jeffrey Tomassi, his powerful father arranges for Erin to be represented by inexperienced attorney Briley Lester. The defense seems hopeless: abused wife, her fingerprints on the murder weapon, no intruders. Even the opening description of the murder leaves the reader convinced of Erin's guilt. But once Hunt's sophistication with plot and character development kicks in, there is no escaping the notion that Erin is indeed innocent and Briley just might get her acquitted with a shocking and elegant final move. Readers will find the story gripping and compelling from start to finish. (Dec.)

In New York not long after 9/11, appealing psychologist-turned-criminal profiler Lee Campbell is traumatized by the unsolved disappearance of his sister in the mid-1990s. Though still recovering from a nervous breakdown, Lee is determined to keep working with the NYPD and find the man who leaves his female victims mutilated in churches throughout Manhattan, even if it means enduring painful reminders of his past. Lawrence (a pseudonym for Carole Buggé, author of the Claire Rawlings mysteries) assembles a quirky group of detectives and experts, all strong characters who can support future books in the series: Chuck Morton, the commander of the Bronx Major Case Unit, who married Lee's ex; Eddie Pepitone, a hustler who befriended Lee in the hospital; Dr. Katherine Azarian, a forensic pathologist and Lee's love interest; and brilliant criminal justice professor John Paul Nelson. Fans of Keith Ablow will enjoy this dark, intriguing thriller. (Dec.)

The action only stops long enough for steamy passion in this fast-paced conclusion to Craig's contemporary romance trilogy (after 2008's Divorced, Desperate and Dating). Kathy Callahan is the last member of the Divorced, Desperate and Delicious Club to remain single, thanks to distrust of men and her devotion to her son, Tommy. Sparks are flying between Kathy and plumber Stan Bradley, but Stan is actually Luke Hunter, an undercover FBI agent hiding out until he can testify against organized crime boss Lorenzo. When Lorenzo's men—including hilariously reluctant mobster Joel Hinkle—catch up with him, Luke and Kathy have to flee, unable to trust even their closest friends. Craig keeps the sexual tension as high as the suspense in the mad dash Kathy and Luke make toward what they hope is safety, and maybe even love. (Dec.)

Slain supernatural bounty hunter Evangeline Stone is mysteriously brought back to life in the suicide-scarred body of Chalice Frost in the thrilling opening pages of Meding's urban fantasy debut. Evy's fellow hunters, thinking her a traitor, drive her relentlessly through a gritty urban landscape populated by a diverse collection of gargoyles, trolls, gnomes and other strange creatures as she tries to unravel the reasons for her original death, unlikely resurrection and fugitive status. With her would-be lover, Wyatt, and Chalice's close friend Alex as her only remaining allies, doomed to die again in just three days, Evy is forced to seek assistance among her former informants and enemies. Evy is a distinctive heroine, but explosive action scenes don't compensate for the muddled mystery, and an unwieldy cast dilutes the impact of her original approach and promising setting. (Dec.)

This collection of resonant short stories introduces English-language readers to the late Katsumata's distinctively poetic work, a second-wave participant in the gekiga—alternative manga—movement spearheaded by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Katsumata's frank tales of betrayal, conflict and vulnerability suggest comparisons to Tatsumi's own work. But where Tatsumi captures extreme forms of urban desperation, Katsumata narrates vignettes of rural Japanese life. Prostitution, alcoholism and other plot elements that might elsewhere be underscored are presented here as part of the texture of a difficult, traditionally defined existence. When characters fail to meet their religious and customary obligations, their lives are permeated by a magical realist culture of arboreal spirits, half-human water creatures and snow fairies. But these thematic elements are less a platform for fantasy than a material representation of the power ancient folktales retained even as mass-mediated popular music began to filter out into Japan's agrarian regions. The art preserves a sense of the comic, but rendered in a looser, calligraphic style to reflect organic images of the country. These blend seamlessly with visual flourishes that veer toward poetic abstraction. Katsumata's allusive tales sometimes climax unexpectedly with these visual grace notes, distinguishing imaginative, tonal portraits of a past, remembered world. (Nov.)

The final installment of Gonick's deeply funny and impeccably researched series has finally arrived, and like the rest of his Cartoon History series, the book covers a wide range of key and fascinating historical events and topics that have managed to slip through the gaps of common knowledge. The section linking the slave trade, the Haitian revolution and the Napoleonic Wars is particularly good, as are the segments on the modern history of Japan and China. Brilliantly funny, the series finds the inherent humor in history rather than pasting on irrelevant jokes. This is the most politicized book in the series, a jarring but perhaps unavoidable element, since it covers an era ending when Gonick sent the proofs to his publisher. Also, the pacing is odd and frequently rushed—it seems to need an extra hundred pages. Possibly as a result, the book has some interesting gaps. Most notably, aside from the occasional snide remark or allusion, the entire pre-Vietnam history of the United States is completely left out. While Gonick has covered these topics in depth in other books (the stand-alone Cartoon History of the United States) and perhaps tired of them, the absence is glaring. (Oct.)

A TV musical variety puppet show that's been off the air for more than 25 years is an unlikely source for a comic book. Fortunately, Langridge is the perfect cartoonist for the job: his sense of humor draws so heavily on vaudeville, light verse and absurdist blackout sketches that it's as if the franchise were created specifically for him to play with. His timing is impeccable, and his visual style has exactly the right mix of dignified gravity and dizzy silliness. (As with the TV show, we almost always see the Muppets from the waist up only.) Each of the four episodes collected here has a little bit of a narrative through-line (an insurance investigator trying to find out exactly what kind of creature Gonzo is, for instance), but they're mostly an excuse for Langridge to fire off a fusillade of recurring routines (The Swedish Chef! “Pigs in Space”! Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker!) and single-page inventions, gracing nearly every panel with little bonus sight gags. Langridge's command of the Muppet characters is so deft and witty that this volume is as good as having more episodes of the show. (Oct.)

The typical manga situation of a young man ready to experience life as he goes away to college is made unique through some very odd characters, starting with the lead. Tadayasu can see and touch bacteria, unaided, and even talk to them; his talents either save the day or get him involved with those who want to exploit him. The title, which loosely means “mold cultivator,” describes his family business, supplying starter cultures to make fermented products. As he struggles to start his career at an agricultural college, he's surrounded by oddballs: his professor gleefully manipulates those around him and has a fetish for the most disgusting, bacteria-created “foods” (such as decaying seabirds buried inside a dead seal for months). The older student guide dresses like she's about to go club-hopping as a sexy goth. Most strangely, there's a whole flock of tiny little germs as supporting cast. The book's twisted sense of humor is reinforced by various marginal notes that explain the germs he sees or to provide the author's apologies. Favorite scenes feature disgusting college rooms, teeming with Tadayasu's little friends; it's gross-out humor, but gentle and inventive. (Sept.)

Continuing the traditions of feminist fantasy icon Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Waters ably continues the feminist anthology series founded by Bradley (1930–1999) to showcase short-form fantasy with a wide variety of heroic female characters. Of the 17 stories featured, standout selections include “A Curious Case” by Annclaire Livoti, a literary gem of a paranormal fantasy that pits a magic-practicing PI against a serial killer targeting succubae, and Julia H. West's “Soul Walls,” which brilliantly fuses magic, art and Native American mysticism. A disorganized wizard and his unhappy wife are at the heart of the charming “Merlin's Clutter” by Helen E. Davis, and a princess solves the mystery of her father's murder through a magical tapestry in Brenta Blevins's “Material Witness.” Though some of the selections are less than stellar, fantasy fans looking for original stories will find much to enjoy. (Dec.)

Paxson, Marion Zimmer Bradley's long time coauthor, delivers a gripping Bronze Age tale in this seventh installment of the Avalon series. Long before the events of Bradley's epic Mists of Avalon, young Mikantor, destined to be a king, is kidnapped from Avalon and sold into slavery. Mikantor learns much of leadership after being bought by a blacksmith prince. Evil sorcerer Galid is determined to dominate the land in the rightful ruler's absence, but Anderle, the Lady of Avalon, holds him at bay. Anderle's daughter, Tirilan, loves Mikantor, but believing him lost, she accepts the power—and celibacy—of priestesshood. Paxson's eloquent, strongly visual writing enhances a familiar but compelling story line; fascinating historical detail enhances the tale throughout. Fans of the series will be well pleased with this volume. (Dec.)