Starred Reviews Releasing This Week

May 5, 2025 through May 11, 2025
All the books to receive starred reviews in PW that are hitting bookstore shelves this week.
FICTION

The Stalker

Paula Bomer. Soho, $28 (256p) ISBN 978-1-64129-626-7

Complete Review »

The Director

Daniel Kehlmann, trans. from the German by Ross Benjamin. Summit, $28.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-6680-8779-4

Complete Review »

Old School Indian

Aaron John Curtis. Hillman Grad, $28 (416p) ISBN 978-1-63893-145-4

Complete Review »

Other Worlds: Stories

André Alexis. FSG Originals, $18 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-37461-140-8

Complete Review »

The Names

Florence Knapp. Viking/Dorman, $30 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-83390-2

Complete Review »

Are You Happy?

Lori Ostlund. Astra House, $26 (272p) ISBN 978-1-6626-0302-0

Complete Review »

My Name Is Emilia del Valle

Isabelle Allende, trans. from the Spanish by Frances Riddle. Ballantine, $30 (304p) ISBN 978-0-593-97509-1

Complete Review »

MYSTERY/THRILLER

The Retirement Plan

Sue Hincenbergs. Morrow, $30 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-339801-6

Complete Review »

Big Bad Wool: A Sheep Detective Story

Leonie Swann, trans. from the German by Amy Bojang. Soho Crime, $28.95 (384p) ISBN 978-1-64129-662-5

Complete Review »

A Thousand Natural Shocks

Omar Hussain. Blackstone, $27.99 (352p) ISBN 979-8-212-97913-9

Complete Review »

ROMANCE/EROTICA

Disco Witches of Fire Island

Blair Fell. Alcove, $19.99 trade paper (352p) ISBN 979-8-89242-034-1

Complete Review »

SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR

The Adventures of Mary Darling

Pat Murphy. Tachyon, $18.95 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-61696-438-2

Complete Review »

The Night Birds

Christopher Golden. St. Martin’s, $29 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-28591-1

Complete Review »

Six Wild Crowns

Holly Race. Orbit, $30 (416p) ISBN 978-0-316-57292-7

Complete Review »

NONFICTION

Warhol’s Muses: The Artists

Laurence Leamer. Putnam, $32 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-71666-3

Complete Review »

This Is Your Mother: A Memoir

Erika J. Simpson. Scribner, $27.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-6680-2403-4

Complete Review »

Everyday Intuition: What Psychology

Elizabeth Greenwood. Harper, $32 (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-337569-7

Complete Review »

Ellmann’s Joyce: The Biography of a Masterpiece and Its Maker

Zachary Leader. Belknap, $35 (448p) ISBN 978-0-674-24839-7

Complete Review »

Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir

Craig Mod. Random House, $31 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-73254-0

Complete Review »

Karen: A Brother Remembers

Kelsey Grammer. Harper Select, $31.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4002-5281-7

Complete Review »

Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age

Amanda Hess. Doubleday, $29.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-3855-4973-8

Complete Review »

Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries

Abigail Leonard. Algonquin, $30 (288p) ISBN 978-1-64375-653-0

Complete Review »

Melting Point: Family

Rachel Cockerell. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $32 (416p) ISBN 978-0-374-60926-9

Complete Review »

Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back

Miranda S. Spivack. New Press, $27.99 (256p) ISBN 978-1-62097-855-9

Complete Review »

Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America

Bridget Read. Crown, $30 (368p) ISBN 978-0-593-44392-7

Complete Review »

Everything Is Now: Primal Happenings

J. Hoberman. Verso, $34.95 (464p) ISBN 978-1-80429-086-6

Complete Review »

The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother

Jill Bialosky. Washington Square, $28.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4516-7792-8

Complete Review »

CHILDREN'S

Return to Sender

Vera Brosgol. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (320p) ISBN 978-125029218-6

Complete Review »

This Thing of Ours

Frederick Joseph. Candlewick, $18.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-5362-3346-9

Complete Review »

Wake the Wild Creatures

Nova Ren Suma. Little, Brown, $18.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-61620-672-7

Complete Review »

Cranky

Corey R. Tabor. Greenwillow, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-337358-7

Complete Review »

Miss Liberty

Erin Moonyeen Haley. Storytide, $18.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-06-336001-3

Complete Review »

Hurricane

Jason Chin. Holiday House/Porter, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-8234-5849-3

Complete Review »

A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation

Pablo Cartaya. Kokila, $18.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-4514-7975-4

Complete Review »

J vs. K

Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft, illus. by Jerry Craft. Little, Brown, $16.99 hardcover (240p) ISBN 978-0-316-58268-1; $10.99 paper ISBN 978-0-316-59710-4

Complete Review »

His Face Is the Sun (Throne of Khetara #1)

Michelle Jabès Corpora. Sourcebooks Fire, $19.99 (528p) ISBN 978-1-4642-2458-4

Complete Review »

Drawing Is... Your Guide to Scribbled Adventures

Elizabeth Haidle. Tundra, $19.99 (72p) ISBN 978-1-7748-8503-1

Complete Review »

Catch!

Trish Cooke, illus. by Ken Wilson-Max. Charlesbridge, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-6235-4622-9

Complete Review »

Shampoo Unicorn

Sawyer Lovett. Disney Hyperion, $18.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-368-10895-9

Complete Review »

The Gathering Table

Antwan Eady, illus. by London Ladd. Knopf, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-48060-1

Complete Review »

So Many Years: A Juneteenth Story

Anne Wynter, illus. by Jerome Pumphrey. Clarion, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-063-08114-7

Complete Review »

The Thrashers

Julie Soto. Wednesday, $20 (352p) ISBN 978-1-2503-7717-3

Complete Review »

Where Are You

Tomie dePaola, illus. by Barbara McClintock. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-5344-1850-9

Complete Review »

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