Fiction Book Reviews: 12/14/2009
Reviews of New Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction and Comics

Dec 14, 2009

Daughters of the Witching HillMary Sharratt. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24 (352p) ISBN 978-0-547-06967-8

The 1612 Lancashire, England, witch trials that resulted in nine executions inspires Sharratt’s gorgeously imagined novel that wonders if some of the accusations of witchcraft might be true. Sharratt (The Vanishing Point) focuses on the Southerns family of Pendle Forest. Widowed mother Bess Southerns tries to save her family from bleakest poverty by healing the sick, telling fortunes, and blessing those facing misfortune, conjuring “charmes” that combine forbidden Catholic ritual, medicinal herbs, and guidance provided by her spirit-friend, Tibb. Though Bess compassionately uses her powers, her granddaughter, Alizon, unwittingly endangers her family while under the interrogation of a conniving local magistrate. Sharratt crafts her complex yet credible account by seamlessly blending historical fact, modern psychology, and vivid evocations of the daily life of the poor whose only hope of empowerment lay in the black arts. Set in forests and towers, farms and villages, deep in a dungeon and on the gallows, this novel grows darker as it approaches its inevitable conclusion, but proves uplifting in its portrayal of women who persevere, and mothers and daughters who forgive. (Apr.)

Jesus BoyPreston L. Allen. Akashic, $15.95 paper (364p) ISBN 978-1-936070-04-6

Though well plotted, this tale of a May-December romance in a religious black community in 1970s Florida fails to become anything more than a passing crush. Elwyn Parker is a smart 16-year-old equally dedicated to piano and God. When his sweetheart marries another man after conceiving a child with him, Elwyn is thrown into the arms of the seductive Sister Morrisohn, 42 years old and mourning a deceased husband. What begins as lust turns into something that will test Elwyn’s strict adherence to biblical law, as well as alienate him and Morrisohn from their congregation, community, and peers. Allen can plot, and his prose is always up to the task of delivering the next twist in the story, but his characters and their world never become complex enough to satisfy. Though apt at quoting the Bible, their conscience-pricked gnashings rarely get beyond that stage, making the dilemmas they wrestle with feel false. Similarly, a potentially interesting subplot involving Morrisohn’s disapproval of her gay brother remains stuck in the name-calling stage. Allen’s novel isn’t without merit, but it doesn’t penetrate as deeply as it could. (Apr.)

The Year It Snowed in AprilEva Bottier. St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99 paper (309p) ISBN 978-0-312-36060-3

This uneven debut novel begins in the heart of the African-American community in Harlem, circa 1983, where Avery Clarke, 13, is living with his grandparents. His mother, Carla, long ago rejected her upwardly mobile family and the responsibilities of motherhood for drugs and alcohol. Avery comes across as too good to be true: a “straight-A student who avoided conflict and never wanted to cause anyone any unnecessary strife or irritation.” Then Carla shows up, and concerned that her son may be too sheltered and even gay, she begins having him come over to her apartment for profanity-filled conversations, cigarettes, and pot. At a frankly unbelievable pace, Avery begins cussing his grandparents, getting into fights, and having an incestuous relationship with mom. Melodramatic events pile up, leaving Avery in Carla’s care and the abuses subsequently spiral out of control. There is no suspense because it’s clear early on that nothing good can come from Avery living with his mother. Despite some good dialogue and a well-drawn Manhattan setting, the story remains unfocused, with too many plot lines. (Apr.)

LostAlice Lichtenstein. Scribner, $24 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4391-5982-8

Three people are brought together during a search and rescue mission on a wintry weekend in the taut second novel from Lichtenstein (The Genius of the World). Corey is a boy who accidentally set a fire that killed his brother, resulting in his losing the ability to speak and rejection from his family. Susan is the middle-aged wife of an older man, Christopher, whose dementia has sent him into rapid deterioration. Leaving him asleep and alone in their house for a few minutes, she returns to find he’s walked out into the snowy woods near their rural town. Jeff, a Vietnam vet with a cheating wife, is on the search and rescue team searching for Christopher and also, as a social worker, has Corey within his purview. During the long wait for leads on Christopher, the trio meditate on their histories of love and betrayal, death and violence, while the temperature drops and hope fades, though Jeff remains a presence at Susan’s side through the horrible shock that awaits them. The unending toll of bereavement and trauma contrasts with a glimmer of hope brought by the characters’ newfound connection in this stark and moving novel. (Mar.)

Getting InKaren Stabiner. Hyperion/Voice, $14.99 paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-4013-2246-5

Stabiner (The Empty Nest), known for her books on parenting, has written a novel about five families with children applying to college that’s as arduous and tedious as the actual application process. The Harvard legacy fourth-generation child who secretly wants to be an architect and ditch applying to the top school, the girl whose B+ has damned her to look just below the Ivies, and the financially struggling immigrants’ daughter with a perfect SAT score whose sights are set on Harvard and nowhere else are among the teens and their overzealous parents fully focused on the prize or confused about their future in Stabiner’s stuffy and boring study. There is no real desire to care for these characters and too much time spent setting the scene, thereby blurring the focus of the story. Getting into college may have its challenges, but reading this book is one test best left undone. (Mar.)

A Theory of All ThingsPeggy Leon. Permanent, $28 (272p) ISBN 978-1-57962-195-7

In Leon’s second novel (after Mother Country) the Bennetts, a pleasingly dysfunctional family, grapple with troubling events from their childhood: their mother’s abandonment and brother Peter’s suicide. Now scattered, the family keeps in touch via e-mails and phone messages. Mary is living in the family home, caring for their father stricken with Alzheimer’s. Her thoughtful narration grounds the book, which is otherwise filled with eccentric chapters from her siblings’ points of view. Each individually complains of a dilemma and begs to be rescued. Brother Mark is the outcast—a physicist in a family of artists who must bail the youngest, Luke, out of jail and look after their father while Mary goes to fetch pregnant Ellie from a Greek island. Eventually, the whole family reunites, along with a homeless woman, a skeptical girlfriend, a tattooed runaway, and a shabby mutt, to hash out their disturbed past. The characters are always on the verge of a breakdown, but their epiphanies save them (and us) from emotional exhaustion. Despite overused metaphors, Leon’s novel touches on very real familial issues yet maintains a playful tone. (Mar.)

Her Mother’s HopeFrancine Rivers. Tyndale House, $24.99 (528p) ISBN 978-1-4143-1863-9

Romance Hall of Famer Rivers (Redeeming Love) returns with her first full-length novel since 2003 with this two-generation saga of a mother and daughter, the first of two parts. Ambitious, strong-willed Marta Schneider leaves her home in rural Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century. She’s determined to flee her abusive father, loving but weak mother, and the constraints placed on women. Meeting interesting characters all along her journey, she works her way to Canada. There she buys a boardinghouse and meets her match in Niclas Waltert, a German engineer with a farmer’s heart. Through Marta’s sharp elbows and the sweat of Niclas’s brow, the family eventually arrives at an increasingly comfortable life in California’s Central Valley. The second half of the story, told from the point of view of constitutionally timid daughter Hildemara Rose, is less deeply imagined. So many events happen as history rapidly unrolls in the background that the narrative feels too much like an outline for a Lifetime TV offering about a couple buffeted by the winds of WWII. Writers like Rivers are why people buy Christian fiction: it’s dramatic, engaging, and acknowledges the bedroom without going inside. This well-told tale will have readers eagerly awaiting the story’s resolution. (Mar.)

Model HomeEric Puchner. Scribner, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7432-7048-9

Puchner’s heartrending first novel (after the collection Music Through the Floor) traces the gradual ruin of a family in the 1980s. By the time Warren Ziller’s car is repossessed—he tells the family it was stolen and tries to keep the family’s money woes a secret—he realizes he made a mistake in hauling his family from the Midwest to Southern California to get rich quick on real estate. Warren’s wife, Camille, suspects her husband’s squirrelly behaviour indicates he’s having an affair; 11-year-old son Jonas has developed strange obsessions; 16-year-old daughter Lyle is miserable and misanthropic; and college-bound son Dustin is a handsome surfer with punk rock dreams. The unhappy family’s annual camping trip inspires Warren to confess their dire financial straits, earning a momentary reprieve cut short by a natural gas explosion at their house that horribly burns Dustin. The Zillers move to one of Warren’s depressing model homes and nearly fall apart until a new crisis involving Jonas creates a tenuous unity. With careful attention to nuanced and fractured perspectives, Puchner teases a fragile beauty out of the loneliness that separates the members of this family. (Feb.)

Gator A-Go-GoTim Dorsey. Morrow, $24.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-143271-2

Spring break, from its innocuous beginnings in 1935 to its drunken orgiastic present, provides the theme for bestseller Dorsey’s dizzy 12th adventure to feature vigilante serial killer Serge A. Storms (after Nuclear Jellyfish). When vengeful drug dealers and federal agents go after an innocent college student, Andy McKenna, who’s come to enjoy Florida’s Panama City Beach, Serge becomes Andy’s protector. Along the way, Serge delivers rough justice in inventive and bizarre fashion (death by garage door, by bridge guitar, etc.) to a mugger, a rude driver, and various others guilty of minor infractions. The reality show Girls Gone Haywire offers ample opportunities for scathing satire, as the show’s producer becomes another one of Serge’s targets. Meanwhile, Coleman, Serge’s perennially stoned companion, acts as a guru to the spring breakers. As usual, Dorsey leavens the slapstick humor with intriguing bits of Florida historical lore. (Feb.)

Poor Little Bitch GirlJackie Collins. St. Martin’s, $26.99 (480p) ISBN 978-0-312-56745-3

At 72, with 26 bestsellers under her belt, Collins (Drop Dead Beautiful) prowls familiar terrain with this overheated tale of the filthy rich, nasty poor, and cravenly ambitious. Collins picks up the saga of the Santangelos with spoiled-brat Annabelle Maestro, the daughter of two Tinseltown icons, who runs a high-priced call-girl ring in New York with her coke-sniffing nogoodnik boyfriend, Frankie. Annabelle’s mom’s murder brings the black sheep home to L.A. to mourn for a parent she never loved—and to lean on the adventurous Denver, a quick-witted, sex-starved lawyer who’s defending the No. 1 suspect in the murder, Annabelle’s dad, film legend Ralph Maestro. But Denver also juggles the rescue of his missing best friend, Carolyn, who’s fooling around with a horn dog U.S. senator, and a few hot one-night stands. For all the convoluted connections, mismatches, and throw-away references to ripped-from-the-headlines news and celebrities, Collins is at her seasoned best with this raunchy, retro hot-sheets romance. “It’s men, dollface,” one brassy Hollywood agent muses. “They all spew forth the same tired old lines.” As does Collins. And it’s impossible not to fall for it. Again. (Feb.)

Devils in ExileChuck Hogan. Scribner, $25 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-5886-6

In this fast-paced crime thriller from bestseller Hogan (The Strain with Guillermo del Toro), Iraq war veteran Neal Maven faces a series of dead-end jobs and little in the way of hope for the future back in his hometown of Boston. Then he catches a glimpse of his old high school heartthrob, Danielle Vetti, and his life is changed forever. Shortly after this sighting, Neal fights off a robbery attempt, an attack witnessed by Danielle’s boyfriend, who decides to hire Neal to join his gang of Iraq war vets in their enterprise of ripping off drug dealers. Neal has morals, but he decides because they’re doing good, i.e., destroying drugs and hurting drug dealers, this is an honorable career move. Things go well for a while, but after Neal starts sleeping with Danielle, the whole deal starts to unravel, with explosive results. This is a compelling portrait of a good man who makes bad choices and in the end must battle his way out of a destructive and deadly life. (Feb.)

The Fifth ServantKenneth Wishnia. Morrow, $25.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-172537-1

Set in 16th-century Prague, Wishnia’s outstanding debut convincingly transforms a Jewish sexton and his rabbinic mentor into a plausible pair of sleuths. Just before the start of Passover, the discovery of the bloody corpse of Gerta Janek, “a blond girl, maybe seven years old,” inside the store of Jacob Federn, a Jewish businessman, triggers the inevitable revival of the blood libel and threat of mass retribution against the entire Jewish community. Benyamin Ben-Akiva, the newly arrived shammes, has three days to prove that someone other than Federn is guilty of Gerta’s brutal murder. He faces opposition from his own people, but manages to win the respect and support of the legendary Rabbi Loew, who helps him gain access to the body so that a rudimentary examination can be done, though many Gentiles are offended by the very notion. Well-developed characters and detailed portrayals of life at the time help make this historical crime thriller a gripping page-turner. (Feb.)

Blood Ties: A Bishop/Special Crimes Unit NovelKay Hooper. Bantam, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-0-553-80486-7

Too many interchangeable doll-like victims and a by-the-numbers plot mar bestseller Hooper’s conclusion to her paranormal thriller trilogy that began with Blood Dreams and Blood Sins. When a serial killer tortures, dismembers, and dumps eight women in eight weeks in Tennessee and adjacent states, Noah Bishop, head of the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit, gets on the case, along with Noah’s touch-telepath and seer wife, Miranda, and special agent Hollis Templeton, a profiler-in-training and medium who can self-heal and see auras. Hollis and special investigator Diana Brisco, also a medium and healer, travel to the “gray time,” a corridor between life and death where a young spirit, Brooke, helps them connect the killings to a past threat. Series fans and newcomers alike will appreciate the appendixes, which include bios of Special Crime Unit agents and definitions of their various paranormal abilities. (Feb.)

Rescuing OliviaJulie Compton. Minotaur, $25.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-37876-9

Compton’s intense, entertaining second novel involves a horrifying coverup and a powerful new drug. A hit-and-run motorcycle accident in a Florida forest leaves Olivia Mayfield in a coma in intensive care and her live-in boyfriend, 29-year-old Anders Erickson, feeling guilty. “I was going to ask her to marry me,” Anders confesses to Olivia’s sympathetic nurse. Was the theft of the couple’s helmets from their parked bikes shortly before the crash just a coincidence? Had a car really been following them, as Olivia suspected? Olivia’s father, Lawrence, a pharmaceutical magnate who blames Anders for the accident, informs Anders at one point that his daughter has died. When Lawrence turns out to have a hidden agenda, Anders travels to Clifton, Conn., where Olivia grew up, and later to Kenya in search of answers. While sometimes stretching the bounds of credibility, Compton (Tell No Lies) pulls off a super-satisfying resolution to this romantic thriller. (Feb.)

The American GirlMonika Fagerholm, trans. from the Swedish by Katarina E. Tucker. Other Press, $15.95 paper (528p) ISBN 978-1-59051-394-0

This third, unusual novel from Fagerholm (Wonderful Women by the Sea) is a hypnotic coming-of-age story that hinges on a dark but powerful bond between two Finnish girls growing up in the swamplands of outer Helsinki. Born to jet-setter parents, timid young Sandra finds strength by clinging to obstinate, wild-eyed Doris, who is no stranger to dysfunction herself: her mother has a “hundred thousand excuses for beating her daughter.” The two begin to obsess over an unsolved death that haunts the town. Making up games in abandoned pools, basements, and the muddy marshlands, the girls dress alike and begin to form solipsistic creeds, such as the belief that “suffering has developed a hidden power in us that makes it so that we can see what no one else sees.” The fractured work can by trying—there’s no straight chronology, and sentences are frequently appealingly off-balance (kudos to Tucker for the slick translation)—but Fagerholm’s esoteric prose and her omnipotent narrator’s eye bring to life a world of ambient longings, cryptic memories, and ethereal figures. (Feb.)

The Wild ZoneJoy Fielding. Atria, $25 (368p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8529-9

The Wild Zone, a South Beach (Miami Beach, Fla.) bar filled with lusty men—specifically, charismatic personal trainer Jeff Rydell; his cute visiting half-brother, Will, a Princeton graduate student; and Jeff’s married best friend, Tom Whitman, a dishonorably discharged Afghanistan war veteran with some serious problems—provides the starting point for bestseller Fielding’s nonstop thrill ride. A sexy bar patron, Suzy Bigelow, inspires the trio to make a wager on who can bed her first, and they even ask Jeff’s live-in girlfriend, a Wild Zone bartender, for help. Suzy chooses Will for a platonic date, which has some distinctly unpleasant repercussions that involve not only wide-eyed Will but desperate, gun-loving Tom, whose wife takes their children and files for divorce. Fielding (Still Life) combines a fast-paced plot with top-notch character development to create an atmosphere of brooding unease that explodes in a wonderfully wild resolution. (Feb.)

Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like LaughterMichael J. White. Putnam, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-399-15590-1

The title of White’s first novel says little about the story found within, but much about the heavily stylized narrative. High school junior George Flynn, newly transplanted to Des Moines, Iowa, spends his first night in town in a hotel while a murder takes place on the floor below his family’s room. This adds a slight edge to the regular stress of being the new kid at school, but George soon falls into familiar coming-of-age patterns, becoming infatuated with Emily Schell, the school’s leading actress, and befriending Emily’s caustic, multiple sclerosis—afflicted younger sister, Katie. By navigating Katie’s nascent crush and the slippery territory of “friendship” with Emily, George quickly discovers how he fits in Des Moines, but a tragic accident unravels his new life even as it may be leading him down the path to love. White is at his best when his characters churn through unanswered and unanswerable questions, such as the hotel murder and the events that propel the novel’s second half. Conversely, the author stumbles on the details of George’s adult life, while young George and Emily’s adventures feel constructed and artificial, as if the story’s main goal is to appear clever. (Feb.)

The Vera Wright Trilogy: My Father’s Moon; Cabin Fever; The Georges’ WifeElizabeth Jolley. Persea (Norton, dist.), $19.95 paper (560p) ISBN 978-0-89255-352-5

The first two novels of this trilogy by the late Australian writer Jolley were issued in the U.S. in the 1980s, but the third was not available until now. Largely autobiographical, the novels provide a haunting portrait of a woman who came of age during WWII in England, forging her identity in courageous circumstances. My Father’s Moon traces Vera’s childhood, her experiences as a nurse in wartime London and her seduction and pregnancy by a womanizing physician. In Cabin Fever, Vera, poor and desperate, is exploited as a teacher at a dreadful boarding school. The Georges, the title characters in the third novel, are an elderly brother and sister in Glasgow who take in Vera as a maid. Vera has another daughter out of wedlock with Mr. George, with whom she moves to Australia in the 1950s. The books do not accrue to a conventional narrative, however. These facts, teased out from the repetition of seminal memories, like the shards of a kaleidoscope, are merely the bones of a lyrically written, imaginatively observed and emotionally compelling work. (Feb.)

HeresyS.J. Parris. Doubleday, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-385-53128-3

Set in 1583 against a backdrop of religious-political intrigue and barbaric judicial reprisals, Parris’s compelling debut centers on real-life Giordano Bruno, a former Italian monk excommunicated by the Roman Catholic church and hunted across Europe by the Inquisition for his belief in a heliocentric infinite universe. Befriended by the charismatic English courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney, the ambitious Bruno flees to more tolerant Protestant England, where Elizabeth I’s secretary of state, Sir Francis Walsingham, recruits him to spy, under the cover of philosophical disputation, on secretly Catholic Oxford scholars suspected of plotting treason. As one Oxford fellow after another falls to gruesome homicide, Bruno struggles to unravel Oxford’s “tangled loyalties.” Parris (the pseudonym of British journalist Stephanie Merritt) interweaves historical fact with psychological insight as Bruno, a humanist dangerously ahead of his time, begins his quest to light the fire of enlightenment in Europe. (Feb.)

In My Sister’s HouseDonald Welch. Ballantine/One World, $14 paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-345-50162-2

The bond of sisterhood for African-American twins Storm and Skylar Morrison becomes stronger when sorely tested in Welch’s engrossing latest. After Storm serves a three-year prison term for her part in a botched robbery, she asks for a job at Skylar’s successful Philadelphia night club, Legends. Reuniting with encouraging old family friend Nettie Flowers, and knowing she has an inheritance from her father who died while she was incarcerated, infuses Storm with hope. But she makes a big mistake in hooking up again with her two-timing thug boyfriend, DuBoy. Welch (The Bachelorette Party) weaves fascinating supporting characters into his mad and wise morality play—including Lovely, a nurse-by-day/Legends dancer-by-night; June Alvarado, Nettie’s young Latina lesbian lover; and third-rate comic Flynn Wilson—although Gidget, a rude white dancer at the club, is a blatant stereotype. As tragic events pile up, including the fatal stabbing of Nettie, Welch scores a winner with the two sisters discovering the extraordinary power of forgiveness. (Feb.)

The InformerCraig Nova. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-0-307-23693-7

Set in 1930 Berlin, this fine novel from Nova (The Good Son) smoothly combines crime and politics. Armina Treffen, who works for the serious crimes section of the Berlin police department and has a successful track record catching serial killers, goes after a fiend who strangles his female victims and leaves their abused bodies in the Tiergarten. Treffen’s investigation is interwoven with the story of the title character, Gaelle, a 22-year-old prostitute with an alluring facial scar from a car accident, and her 16-year-old pimp, Felix. A mysterious gentleman, Bruno Hauptmann (not to be confused with the man executed for kidnapping the Lindbergh baby), recruits Gaelle to pass along any information about what, say, the Communists are up to that she might pick up on the job. While those expecting a conventional police procedural may be disappointed, the author’s evocative portrait of Weimar Germany and sophisticated portrayals of the lead characters will satisfy most readers. (Feb.)

The Cougar ClubSusan McBride. Avon, $13.99 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-177126-2

They are middle-aged, hear them roar. And so they do, this trio of 40-something careerists and lifelong BFFs—Kat, an out-of-work and out-of-love New York advertising exec; Carla, a St. Louis anchorwoman who’s protecting her turf from an invading bimbo; and Elise, a successful dermatologist wife and mom who’s undone by her empty nest and empty sex life. Kat’s abrupt job loss sends her running home to St. Louis, which triggers a reunion of the three friends and prompts their rediscovery of each other and the awakening of their inner cougars. In the process, the gals rifle through a slew of good-looking young hunks in the search for love and meaningful employment. The journey is full of curves and detours, even if the destination is a foregone conclusion. McBride, author of the YA series the Debs, explores new territory with these adult heroines and puts together a good-old-girls club with characters who are smart and insatiable, and who like their men young, athletic, and accommodating. It may not be likely, but it sure is a fun fantasy. (Feb.)

Coming of the StormW. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear. Pocket, $26 (512p) ISBN 978-1-4391-5388-8

In their first book of a planned epic series about the European explorers’ conquest of the Native Americans, the archeologist husband-and-wife bestselling writing team (People of the Thunder) follow Black Shell, a wandering, mystical trader of the Chicaza clan who in 1539 first clashes with Hernando de Soto and his Conquistadors invading south Florida. Enslaved and cruelly mistreated by de Soto, Black Shell is soon freed by his extraordinary mate, Pearl Hand. Emboldened by his powerful “Spirit dreams,” Black Shell, aided by wily feminist Pearl Hand, swears revenge for the atrocities committed against the Native Americans and vows to defeat the brutal de Soto. De Soto obsesses over acquiring gold and spreading Catholicism in his armed scuffles with Black Shell and his intrepid band called the “Orphans,” a struggle cast as a traditional good versus evil showdown. The rich historical details and keen characterizations are offset by the graphic depictions of battlefield violence and social cruelty in this smooth, brisk-paced narrative that should generate wide appeal to American historical fiction fans. (Feb.)

Everything Here Is the Best Thing EverJustin Taylor. Harper Perennial, $13.99 paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-06-188181-7

Taylor’s superb debut short story collection is explorative and fresh with well-crafted empathic characters. In “A House in Our Arms,” a young hedge fund assistant reconnects with his first love, Leah, in New York yet is drawn to Richard, an older man. “Whistle Through Your Teeth and Spit” has proud regulars of a Lower East Side coffee house commenting on and criticizing the new bourgeois clientele as they watch the neighborhood change around them. “In My Heart I Am Already Gone,” gives narrator Kyle the unpleasant job of putting down his uncle’s cat, Buckles, all the while feeling terror that he will never escape his hometown or his on again/off again girlfriend. Each story is spare and clean and speaks the truth in beautiful resonant prose. (Feb.)

The Traitor in Us AllRobert S. Levinson. Five Star, $25.95 (378p) ISBN 978-1-59414-852-1

Bloodthirsty killer Emil Grass abducts teen Tracy Collins from an Eden Highlands, Calif., pizza parlor, after shooting dead a high school friend of hers, at the start of this far-fetched thriller from Levinson (In the Key of Death). Jack Sothern, a world-weary journalist, recognizes a link between Tracy’s kidnapping and Tracy’s mother, Maggie, who may be privy to the secrets contained in the missing diary of the late Erich Mielke, the notorious head of East Germany’s Ministry of State Security. Years earlier, Maggie was married to Dan Boone, a controversial American entertainer who became known as “the turncoat rebel” after he defected to the U.S.S.R. When Dan tried to return to the U.S. in 1987, he was apparently murdered in East Germany. Tracy’s harrowing experience as Emil’s hostage is the high point of a tale hampered by less than credible characters, notably the over-the-top villain and a mysterious femme fatale who manipulated Jack and broke his heart during the cold war era. (Feb.)

Reverend FeelgoodLutishia Lovely. Dafina, $15 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7582-3865-8

Lovely (A Preacher’s Passion) continues to unravel the crazy, sordid activities of megachurches with a wicked flair. The promiscuous Rev. Nate Thicke, senior pastor of the Gospel Truth Church of Palestine, Tex., tends to his adoring female flock following the dubious example of his minister grandfather and father who saw nothing wrong in “spiritual covering.” When Nate suddenly decides to marry 16-year-old Destiny Noble, her mother, Simone, is appalled. The minister’s been bedding her and her mother, Katherine, Nate’s administrative assistant. Simone was the one hoping to marry him, but Katherine believes Nate has the holy right to whatever he desires and whisks Destiny to an elaborate Florida Keys tryst. Destiny gets pregnant and to avoid scandal is taken away to have the baby and to finish school. Nate marries Destiny with the intention of becoming a “one-woman man” until wild child Melody Anderson not only beds him but tapes the encounter, leading to Nate’s ultimate exposure. Lovely once again expertly illuminates the wacky world of the devout and devoutly devilish. (Feb.)

O, JulietRobin Maxwell. NAL, $15 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-451-22915-1

Maxwell (Signora da Vinci) tries in vain to flesh out one of the most famous love stories ever told. Her Renaissance Juliet is an 18-year-old Florentine, the educated daughter of Capello Capelletti, a silk trader whose business foibles have led him to promise his daughter to his would-be partner, Jacopo Strozzi. At a party celebrating her best friend Lucrezia’s betrothal, Juliet meets Romeo Monticecco, who reveals that he snuck in hoping to smooth over an old feud. The two are immediately smitten with one another, and their secret courtship ensures. Shakespeare is a tough act to follow, and Maxwell falters with both her flowery writing style (“This woman, this earthly angel—perhaps 'Goddess’ suited her more”) and her hyperbolic, black-and-white characters. Jacopo, for instance, is not only boring and physically grotesque, he’s also the embodiment of evil. In contrast, Romeo is respectful and appreciative of women, great in the sack, and wise beyond his years. The story unfolds as the play does, but Maxwell’s tweaks amount to a disappointing attempt to fix what isn’t broken. (Feb.)

This Time TomorrowMichael Jaime-Becerra. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-60502-5

The struggling Mexican-American families depicted in Jaime-Becerra’s debut will strike a chord with readers, but the intermittently moving narrative too often gets stuck in the spin cycle. Since his wife left him, Gilbert Gaeta has been supporting his 13-year-old daughter, Ana, with night shifts at a local dairy. Though he can barely pay his mortgage, he dreams of saving up to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Joyce, so she’ll move out of her father’s house and in with him. But when Ana starts to complain about being bullied at the Laundromat, Gaeta must choose between his dreams and buying Ana the washer and dryer she wants. Meanwhile, Joyce looks after her controlling father and secretly plans to sell her beloved purse collection so she and Gaeta can start their life together on solid ground. Despite its 1988 setting, Gaeta and Joyce’s struggles feel current, and their working-class lives solidly lived, though Joyce’s sections suffer from the absence of well-rounded characters and her clunkily handled devotion to her purses. It’s a decent enough first book, but nothing about it really stands out. (Feb.)

Walking on Broken GlassChrista Allan. Abingdon, $13.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-4267-0227-3

When a narrator opens her tale by declaring, “I lost my sanity buying frozen apple juice,” the reader knows she’s in for a witty ride. The narrator is Leah Thornton, a 27-year-old Southerner, English teacher, and middle-stage alcoholic. She’s got her reasons: her only child died of SIDS and her sexual relationship with her husband, Carl, is so troubled their marriage is devolving into a standoff between hostility and frigidity. Leah is steered into rehab by her BFF Molly, which kicks off transformation through growing honesty, self-awareness, and large doses of wry humor. Allan draws many strong, quirky minor characters: Leah’s rehab roomie, Theresa, one of a rehab unit’s worth of addicts of all manner of substances; Leah’s wry obstetrician, Dr. Nolan. A few supporting characters—Carl’s wealthy parents—feel more caricatured than characterized, and the largely unsympathetic portrait of Carl makes the reader wonder why the marriage is worth saving at all. A few major developments toward the book’s end cry out for greater resolution. But Leah is fascinating, complicated, and above all funny. This nonformulaic look at the spiritual redemption of a life is a bright start; debut novelist Allan is one to watch. (Feb.)

Mystery

On Deadly GroundMichael Norman. Poisoned Pen, $22.95 (278p) ISBN 978-1-59058-692-1; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-1-59058-713-3

Mining interests and conservation forces clash in southern Utah in this absorbing whodunit from Norman (The Commission). Shortly after J.D. Books, a new Bureau of Land Management law enforcement ranger, returns to his hometown of Kanab, the sheriff asks him to take a look at a crime scene. The bullet-ridden body of David Greenbriar, the head of the Escalante Environmental Wilderness Alliance, was found hanging from a beam in a barn used as an old west movie set, though it’s clear the victim was shot elsewhere. A former cop who left the Denver police force under a cloud, Books soon locates Greenbriar’s abandoned SUV, with blood traces on the door, near a trail head miles away. Greenbriar’s wife’s lover, a fellow EEWA member, emerges as the prime suspect, but Books has his doubts. A well-crafted plot with plenty of action, a likable hero with a checkered past, and a magnificent western setting make this one a winner. (Mar.)

Corpus DelictiKeith McCarthy. Severn, $28.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6836-7

A body with too many kidneys is just one of the darkly delectable treats in British author McCarthy’s outstanding seventh mystery to feature forensics pathologist John Eisenmenger (after 2008’s With a Passion Put to Use). After Helena Flemming, John’s solicitor girlfriend, suddenly ditches him for another man, John decides to become an on-call pathologist again, much as he dislikes the work. His first case—the knifing murder of petty criminal Billy Whipple—reunites him with Insp. Beverley Wharton. While investigating an apparently unrelated case, the disappearance of the son of an influential Cheltenham medical official, Beverley must care for her dying brother, Jack, as well as deal with a superior looking for any excuse to sack her. McCarthy tweaks this spine-tingler with jittery twists, including a shocking ending. The utterly human frailties of the principal characters don’t get in the way of their crime solving but only enhance it. (Feb.)

No Sleep Till WonderlandPaul Tremblay. Holt, $14 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-8050-8850-2

While somewhat derivative of Hitchcock, Tremblay’s second novel featuring South Boston PI Mark Genevich improves enough on the first, The Little Sleep (2009), to suggest that the unusual hero—a narcoleptic sleuth subject to unpredictable blackouts—can sustain a series. Genevich is scraping the bottom of the barrel after one of his frequent screwups leads to his following the wrong woman on what should have been a straightforward investigation of marital infidelity, a goof that leads his client, an investment company CEO, to consider suing him. Genevich gets another opportunity from a fellow member of the group therapy sessions his mother forces him to attend, who asks him to protect a female bartender from a stalker. That assignment winds up placing Genevich on the police radar as an arson suspect. The plot twists satisfy more than surprise, but the clever writing will keep readers turning the pages. (Feb.)

Print the LegendCraig McDonald. Minotaur, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-55437-8

Edgar-finalist McDonald raises a little discussed theory about Ernest Hemingway’s suicide in 1961—that the writer’s last wife, Mary, killed her husband as an act of mercy—in his provocative third Hector Lassiter mystery (after 2008’s Toros & Torsos). Set in Sun Valley, Idaho, at a conference of “Papa” academics in 1965, the plot zeroes in on three men who have come to the conference with their own pieces of unfinished business to discuss with Mary. One is crime novelist Hector Lassiter, Hem’s old friend, who’s heard rumors of the discovery of “lost writings.” Another is Richard Paulson, a Hemingway scholar who wants to set the record straight on the suicide. Finally, there’s Donovan Creedy, an old FBI man who’s dogging the case for his own, dark reasons. McDonald creates a fast-paced drama—replete with shifting motives and personal interests on the part of all the major players—about the lore of one of America’s greatest novelists. (Feb.)

Tooth and ClawNigel McCrery. Pantheon, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-307-37702-9

At the start of British author McCrery’s middling mystery thriller, the sequel to Still Waters (2008), Det. Chief Insp. Mark Lapslie has been reduced to working at home. Lapslie suffers from synesthesia, a neurological disorder that causes him to hear tastes. Then he receives a high-profile assignment—investigating the torture murder of TV newscaster Catherine Charnaud. Det. Sgt. Emma Bradbury, Lapslie’s former partner, gives him a pair of headphones to block out noise at the crime scene, the victim’s house in Essex, where Charnaud’s body was found with its left arm completely stripped of flesh. Meanwhile, a disturbed young man, whose mother happens to be a criminal profiler, sets off homemade bombs to kill small animals. Aided by Bradbury, Lapslie perseveres in spite of sensory overload as more murders follow. While the detective’s unusual disability lends interest, clichéd plot developments and an overly pat resolution disappoint. (Feb.)

Secret LamentRoz Southey. Crème de la Crime (Dufour, dist.), $14.95 paper (305p) ISBN 978-0-9557078-6-5

Southey’s entertaining third 18th-century mystery (after 2008’s Chords and Discords) finds Newcastle-upon-Tyne musician Charles Patterson disgruntled that an Italian, John Mazzanti, has displaced him from his conducting job. That he must play the violin instead of his beloved harpsichord only adds insult to injury. The imperious Italian “was born to be murdered,” but it’s the dead body of Mazzanti’s lovely but vocally challenged daughter, Julia, that Patterson discovers facedown on a cobblestone street one hot June night. Attuned to the spirit world, the acutely observant Patterson once again turns sleuth. Might the culprit be one of Julia’s many suitors, or is the crime related to her father’s secret dealings? While some may find the ghostly intrusions an unnecessary frill, vibrant characters, reminiscent of those in Beverle Graves Myers’s Tito Amato series, make this historical a rewarding read. (Feb.)

Back with VengeanceC.J. Carver. Severn, $28.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6847-3

British author Carver doesn’t make it easy for her heroine, Jay McCaulay, in this so-so sequel to Gone Without Trace. Carver awakes in an unfamiliar Moscow hotel room with no recollection of how she got there and only nightmarish wisps of memories from the previous five days. After making a hasty return to London, Jay relearns that her uncle, Duncan Bailey, has disappeared. With help from friends, like undercover cop Tom Sutton and MI5’s Max Blake, Jay uncovers surprising secrets in Bailey’s past, including sinister ties to Russian oligarch Nikolai Koslov, now resident in Britain. An uninspired romantic quandary—should she try to salvage a relationship with Tom or give in to Max’s importuning?—adds little to the story. In the end, Jay must risk returning to the scene of her nightmares to find her missing uncle. Climactic scenes in both Russia and Britain test Jay’s mettle and prove she’s up for further adventures. (Feb.)

Hasta la Vista, Lola!: A Lola Cruz MysteryMisa Ramirez. Minotaur, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-312-38403-6

Romance overshadows the crime solving in Ramirez’s saucy second mystery to feature Sacramento, Calif., PI Lola Cruz (after 2009’s Living the Vida Loca). Lola returns home one evening to find all the members of her close-knit Mexican-American family overjoyed to see her alive. A little earlier, they heard on the news that her body was discovered in an alley behind the Florin Mall. The victim, who suffered a fatal head blow, turns out to be an identity thief, Rosie Gonzales. Lola and her Sacramento Bee journalist boyfriend, Jack Callaghan, learn that Rosie posed as Lola for six months and had even enrolled in Lola’s alma mater, Sacramento State. Rosie also left behind a missing child Lola’s determined to locate. Also disturbing is a possible link to Lola’s slimy ex-boyfriend, Sergio Garcia. Ramirez insightfully explores one of today’s more pervasive crimes, identity theft, but hopefully she’ll beef up the action in the next installment. Author tour.(Feb.)

Mist Over the WaterAlys Clare. Severn, $28.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6848-0

Norman plans to build a cathedral on the Isle of Ely in East Anglia lead to trouble in Clare’s less than compelling second medieval historical featuring apprentice healer Lassair (after 2009’s Out of the Dawn Light). When unknown assailants attack Lassair’s cousin Morcar while he’s fishing for eels one night, they leave him close to death. With Lassair’s teacher otherwise engaged, she must try to save Morcar’s life. After she succeeds in stabilizing her patient, 16-year-old Lassair turns her attention to identifying the men responsible for the assault and their motives. She soon learns that the culprits, who may be connected with a local monastery, are still looking to tie up loose ends by eliminating Morcar—and that they’re prepared to kill her as well. Clare (the pseudonym for British author Elizabeth Harris) has done a better job of creating interesting lead characters and settings in her Hawkenlye series (The Joys of My Life, etc.). (Feb.)

SF/Fantasy/Horror

The Rats and the Ruling SeaRobert V.S. Redick. Del Rey, $27 (640p) ISBN 978-0-345-50885-0

This exciting follow-up to 2009’s The Red Wolf Conspiracy features enough plot twists and double-crosses to satisfy the most demanding lover of suspense. The powerful Nilstone, most recently held by a living statue who was once an insane god-king, is sought by a wizard who wishes to destroy humanity by sparking war between empires. The whole world believes the ship Chathrand to be sunk, but it secretly survives and carries the Nilstone to the fabled lands of the south beyond the Ruling Sea, while a ragtag group of conspirators battle not only the wizard but their own empire and captain in a desperate attempt to preserve the world. Vivid characterizations and Reddick’s brilliant depiction of the microcosmic world aboard Chathrand will captivate readers. (Feb.)

Except the QueenJane Yolen and Midori Snyder. Roc, $23.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-451-46273-2

World Fantasy Award—winning Yolen (Dragon’s Heart) teams up with Snyder (The Innamorati) to weave a magical tale. After Serana and Meteora stumble across a secret that could damage the reputation of the Fairy Queen, the close-knit fae siblings are separated and banished to Earth. Stripped of youth, beauty, and magic, they struggle to adapt to the baffling modern world. In New York, Serana meets a feral young man whose talent for music is uncanny. In Milwaukee, Meteora finds refuge in the legendary Baba Yaga’s house, where she befriends a troubled woman being stalked by a murderous tattooist. As the various players converge for a deadly showdown, the truth behind the sisters’ exile is revealed. Unconventional narrative techniques and a full dose of magic and folklore give this urban fantasy a lyrical, mythic feel. (Feb.)

The New Dead Edited by Christopher Golden. St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99 paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-312-55971-7

The 19 provocative, haunting, and genuinely unsettling original stories in this zombie anthology move the genre beyond its usual apocalyptic wastelands. David Liss’s novelette “What Maisie Knew” is a stunning and gruesome meditation on the banality of capitalism and evil. Mike Carey’s “Second Wind” is a haunting tale of an undead stockbroker who comes to question whether he ever truly lived. Lovers of more traditional zombie fare will also not be disappointed. Joe Hill’s ingenious “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” tells a classic slasher film story through Twitter posts, while Jonathan Maberry’s heartbreaking “Family Business” describes a ruined America populated by kindly monks and zombie hunters. This powerful anthology shines a bright and unflinching light on the fears of death, decay, and loss that underpin America’s longstanding obsession with the undead. (Feb.)

El Borak and Other Desert StoriesRobert E. Howard. Del Rey, $16 paper (544p) ISBN 978-0-345-50545-3

The late Howard (1906—1936) is best known for his sword-and-sorcery stories, but he was a prolific author whose work spanned many genres. This collection focuses on his Central Asian stories, offering 11 tales of derring-do along with various miscellanea and supplemental materials. Much of the book is devoted to Francis “El Borak” Gordon, an American caught up in the struggle among various imperial powers who seek control of the regions north of India. More self-centered adventurers like Kirby O’Donnell and Steve Clarney get fewer pages, but provide an interesting contrast with Gordon’s loyalty to his friends of all races. Many elements of these stories have aged badly, but Howard’s skill as a writer and his enthusiasm for the subject matter are undeniable. Illus. by Tim Bradstreet and Jim & Ruth Keegan not seen by PW. (Feb.)

BlackoutConnie Willis. Spectra, $26 (528p) ISBN 978-0-553-80319-8

With her trademark understated, eloquent style, Willis expands the conceit of her Hugo and Nebula winning 1982 story “Fire Watch” into a page-turning thriller, her first novel since 2001’s Passage. Three young historians travel from 2060 to early 1940s Britain for firsthand research. As Eileen handles a measles outbreak during the children’s evacuation and Polly struggles to work as a London shopgirl, hints of trouble with the time-travel equipment barely register on their radar. Historians aren’t supposed to be able to change the course of history, but Mike’s actions at Dunkirk may disrupt both the past and the future. Willis uses detail and period language exquisitely well, creating an engaging, exciting tale that cuts off abruptly on the last page. Readers allergic to cliffhangers may want to wait until the second volume comes out in November 2010. (Feb.)

Mr. ShiversRobert Jackson Bennett. Orbit, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-316-05468-3

Set during the Great Depression and reading like a collaboration between Stephen King and John Steinbeck, this remarkably assured first novel relates a good man’s desperate travels through the ruins of the American heartland on the trail of his child’s murderer. As he tracks the eponymous fiend, Marcus Connelly discovers that he’s not the only person whose life the killer has ruined. The Dust Bowl refugees pursuing Mr. Shivers gradually realize that he embodies an elemental force of destruction, and they begin sacrificing their own humanity for the sake of vengeance. The everyday horrors of a deserted, drought-blighted countryside are interrupted by frightening dreams and fragments of disturbing superstitions as Bennett’s characters try to articulate what’s happening and imagine a way back home. Bennett makes dark fantasy feel like gritty realism, achieving a rare laconic eloquence that will captivate horror readers hungry for new voices. (Feb.)

The Adamantine PalaceStephen Deas. Roc, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-451-46313-5

Deas’s dragon-riding fantasy debut lumbers along as sinister Prince Jehal, called the Viper, connives, seduces, poisons, and murders his way to the throne of the Kingdom of the Endless Sea. The story only leaves well-trodden fictional ground when unique white dragon Snow begins to communicate telepathically with her handler, Kailin. Neither cuddly or companionable, dragons in this world are violent fire-breathers who have been tranquilized by alchemists and forced to serve aristocrats for war and hunting. Snow’s dreams of freedom ignite her urge to incinerate humans and all their works, and she brings other dragons into her quest to destroy the alchemists forever. Played off against villainous Jehal and repetitive palace intrigues, Deas’s dragons provide fitful shuddery glimpses into alien minds, a few brief fireworks in an otherwise commonplace performance. (Feb.)

Mass Market

Truly, MadlyHeather Webber. St. Martin’s, $7.99 (316p) ISBN 978-0-312-94613-5

This clever paranormal mystery series launch is sure to delight fans of Webber’s gardening detective, Nina Quinn (Weeding Out Trouble, etc.). The Boston Valentines have been professional matchmakers for generations, but Lucy Valentine’s psychic talent tends to show her people’s lost car keys rather than their ideal mates, so she’s shocked when her parents stick her with running the company. A vision leaves her wondering whether a client murdered his girlfriend, so she hires sexy PI Sean Donahue to find the missing woman, but while she’s imagining them naked in bed, he’s suspecting her of murder. Lucy has to contend with her meddling grandmother’s efforts to find her a new boyfriend as she dodges the cops, hunts a killer, and struggles to explain the truth to Sean. Fun characters, sparkling prose, and a twisty plot add up to a great beginning for Valentine Inc. (Feb.)

Spider’s BiteJennifer Estep. Pocket, $7.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4391-4797-9

Bodies litter the pages of this first entry in Estep’s engrossing Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. In the corrupt Southern metropolis of Ashland, weather witches mingle with vampires, giants, and dwarves. A mysterious client hires assassin Gin Blanco, known as the Spider, to murder a whistle-blowing financial officer named Gordon Giles. Then the client attempts a double cross and brutally kills Gin’s mentor. Now Gin, a stone elemental with a hard-boiled attitude, a closely guarded heart, and a penchant for throwing knives, has to join forces with one of the few honest cops in Ashland, sexy detective Donovan Caine, who hates her for killing his partner. Fans of Estep’s humorous paranormal romances (Jinx; Hot Mama) may be taken aback by the gritty violence and steamy sex, but urban fantasy fans will love it. (Feb.)

Lessons in FrenchLaura Kinsale. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $7.99 (480p) ISBN 978-1-4022-3701-0

Often flat and uninspired in its interactions, this by-the-numbers 1820s romance relies on complicated subplots and the heartstring-tugging tale of reunited childhood sweethearts. Lady Callista Taillefaire has been jilted three times and is resolved to devote herself to raising cattle, particularly her prize-winning bull, Hubert. When her lost love, Trevelyn, returns from nine years away, that resolve is firmly tested, but no sooner is their romance rekindled than he is convicted of forgery and forced into exile. Readers may enjoy the history lessons in several creaky but soundly constructed tales of Trevelyn’s wartime experiences with another of Callie’s former suitors, but Kinsale neglects to fill in the background details for Trevelyn and his unsavory valet, ex-boxer Jock, preferring to follow romance conventions with monotonous regularity. (Feb.)

Shadow BladeSeressia Glass. Pocket/Juno, $7.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4391-5679-7

The heart-pounding first in Glass’s Shadowchasers urban fantasy series piles on the twists and turns in a supernatural Atlanta where everyone has a hidden motive. The Gilead Commission discovered Kira Solomon’s gift for psychometry when she was 12 and trained her to fight Shadow Avatars. Now 25, she mostly tries to focus on her day job as a freelance antiquities expert. Her former mentor, Bernie Comstock, brings her a 4,000-year-old Egyptian blade to authenticate, and one touch tells her it belonged to an immortal Fallen from the shadow world, who’s still seeking it. When a demon murders Bernie, Kira confronts the immortal, now disguised as a young man, but she can’t deny that the dark blade calls to her, as does its handsome owner. Kira’s personal battle against the forces of chaos will keep readers riveted. (Feb.)

Comics

Madame Xanadu, Vol. 2: Exodus NoirMatt Wagner and Michael W.M. Kaluta. DC/Vertigo, $12.99 paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-4012-2624-4

Wagner and Kaluta team up to provide more backstory for the glamorous and powerful Madame Xanadu in Exodus Noir. Collecting issues 12 through 15, the volume toggles between New York in 1940 and Spain in 1493, at the height of the Inquisition. In the modern era, the Gypsy sorceress tracks a demon set on destroying three men who thought they had outrun an ancient curse. Back in Spain, readers learn of Madame Xanadu’s tragic affair with a ginger-haired seamstress that arouses the suspicions of the Catholic Church. The twists and turns of the two tales eventually dovetail in a dramatic conclusion that includes a cameo by another Vertigo mainstay. While both portions are engaging, the New York part of the story really springs off the page. The detailed, pulp-inspired style of Kaluta, who created the original Madame Xanadu covers for the Doorway to a Nightmare series in 1978, are a perfect fit for a dark fantasy Manhattan, and Wagner peppers the narrative with telling details. Exodus Noir should please Madame Xanadu fans, but is accessible to new readers looking for a juicy tale. (Feb.)

I Love You, I Hate You, I’m HungryBruce Eric Kaplan. Simon & Schuster, $12.95 (182p) ISBN 978-1-4165-5694-7

In spite of the title, there isn’t much love to be found in New Yorker cartoonist Kaplan’s collection of single-panel cartoons. Whether the protagonists are couples, parents and children, cocktail party attendees, or woodland animals, all share a fundamental hatred of themselves and one another. Kaplan spoofs various aspects of our modern angst, including psychobabble—one elf in Santa’s workshop says to the other, “Obviously, behind all the jolliness there’s a lot of rage”; the Web way of life—a wife walks up to her husband with the words, “There you are—I’ve been looking all over the Internet for you!”; and our hidden but ever-present insecurities—one sheep tells another, “Sometimes I worry I’m a wolf dressed as me.” Kaplan’s simple, chunky line drawings are the perfect accompaniment to his depressive jokes, simultaneously conveying heaviness of spirit and a vision of others as blank vehicles of urbane truisms. Anyone with a cynical bone in his or her body is bound to enjoy these dark gags. (Jan.)

Blood SongEric Drooker. Dark Horse, $19.95 paper (312p) ISBN 978-1-59582-389-2

Drooker’s postindustrial “silent ballad” of man’s place within a planetary life cycle is back in print with this lush new softcover edition. Also known for his New Yorker covers, Drooker’s wordless comics and graphic novels follow the traditions of politically motivated woodcut-novelists including Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel. Drooker infuses those artists’ emblematic approach with comics-specific narrative forms, fluid storytelling, and gracefully animated drawing. Less frenetic than his darkly urban Flood! this book moves at a stately pace matched to the grander rhythms and cycles of a living world. In the highly symbolic and sharply pointed narrative, a rural Southeast Asian woman’s budding maturity dovetails with her awareness of a larger, technological world—forcibly manifested by a platoon of familiar-looking, heavily armed GIs. The woman escapes in an epic journey that takes her to a cosmopolitan city, where she discovers both the creative and oppressive possibilities of civilized modernity. This contemporary fable is expressed entirely through the intense artwork, combining dark, inky scratchboard with sensitive and judicious watercolor, crisply and brightly reproduced. The high production values of this affordable paperback edition are perfectly calibrated to communicate Drooker’s universal message with maximum clarity. (Dec.)

Time and Again: Vol. 1JiUn Yun. Hachette/Yen, $10.99 paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-7595-3058-4

A manhwa for older teens mixing history, fantasy, and horror, Yun’s latest series gets the job done. Taking place in the Tang Dynasty, this first volume of short stories features traveling exorcists for hire, Baek-On and Ho-Yeon. So far, there’s no strong plot, but it feels as if one is building. For now, the two main characters alternately run into creepy and otherworldly happenings, or have the creepy and otherworldly brought to them. Baek-On seems to like the bottle more than anything, and Ho-Yeon has a certain delicate sensitivity. It’s only when people are grappling with a malevolent spirit or terrible curse that the two exorcists become part of the tale. Things are invariably not as they first appear, as perhaps a malevolent spirit has reason for its feelings, or a curse revoked only causes worse heartache. The story of the curse is an especially intriguing and dark one, suggesting life and death questions for the reader. Yun’s schoolgirl tale, Cynical Orange, is quite different from what she’s attempting here. As a story of ironic cosmic twists, Yun gives readers a haunting tale. (Dec.)