Featuring: Samit Basu, Ed Begley Jr., Jeff Benedict, Nicholas Binge, Mike Brooks, Alejandra Campoverdi, Rachel Chrastil, Kate Christensen, Julia Langbein, Mark Lawrence, Anna Pitoniak, Tobias Rose-Stockwell, Curtis Sittenfeld, Adam Thirlwell, David Thomson, Don Winslow

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Samit Basu, THE JINN-BOT OF SHANTIPORT (Tor.com)

Shantiport was supposed to be a gateway to the stars. But the city is sinking, and its colonist rulers aren’t helping anyone but themselves.

Lina, a daughter of failed revolutionaries, has no desire to escape Shantiport. She loves her city and would do anything to save its people. This is, in fact, the plan for her life, made before she was even born.

Her brother, Bador, is a small monkey bot with a big attitude and bigger ambitions. He wants a chance to leave this dead-end planet and explore the universe on his own terms. But that would mean abandoning the family he loves—even if they do take him for granted.

When Shantiport’s resident tech billionaire coerces Lina into retrieving a powerful artifact rumored to be able to reshape reality, forces from before their time begin coalescing around the siblings. And when you throw in a piece of sentient, off-world tech with the ability to grant three wishes into the mix… None of the city’s powers will know what hit them.

This has been described as “a mash-up of Aladdin and Murderbot—with gloriously chaotic results”, which sounds very intriguing, and a must-read. I’ve only read a little bit of Basu’s work, but I’ve very much enjoyed all of it so far. Looking forward to reading this, and I hope to do so very soon. The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on October 3rd.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via NetGalley

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Ed Begley Jr., TO THE TEMPLE OF TRANQUILITY… AND STEP ON IT! (Hachette)

Beloved actor and environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. — known for countless roles over the last five decades, most recently in Better Call Saul and Young Sheldon — shares hilarious and poignant stories of his improbable life, focusing on his relationship with his legendary father Ed Begley Sr., adventures with Hollywood icons, the origins of his environmental activism, addiction and recovery, and his lifelong search for wisdom and common ground.

Ed Begley Jr. is truly one of a kind, a performer who is known equally for his prolific film and television career and his environmental activism. From an appearance on My Three Sons to a notable role in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman to starring in St. Elsewhere — as well as films with Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and mockumentarian Christopher Guest — Begley has worked with just about everyone in Hollywood. His “green” bona fides date back to 1970, and have been the topic of two books, a reality show, countless media appearances, and even repeated spoofs on The Simpsons (in one episode, Begley’s solar‑powered car stalls out on train tracks, but is saved when the train is revealed to be an “Ed Begley Solar‑Powered Train”).

In To the Temple of Tranquility… And Step On It!, Begley shares a fountain of hilarious and poignant stories throughout his life. The memoir is candid and endearing; in one chapter, he is summoned to Marlon Brando’s house to discuss the practical uses of electric eels. In another, he tells the story of taking Annette Bening to the Oscars in “an oddball kit-car that had gull wing doors, and was nearly impossible to get in or out of, unless you were a yoga master, which fortunately she was.” Not to mention insightful and surprising tales about The Beatles, Monty Python, Richard Pryor, Cesar Chavez, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Waits, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carrie Fisher, and so many more luminaries.

Begley’s unmistakable voice is honest and revealing in a way that only a comic of his caliber can accomplish. Behind all the stories, Begley has wisdom to impart. This is a book about family, friends, addiction, failure, and redemption.

I’m not sure if I’ve met anyone who hasn’t seen Ed Begley Jr. in something. They may not know his name (many more do than don’t), and I’ve been a fan of his work every time I’ve seen him in something — his IMDb page is an eye-opening testament to just how much he’s done. (Perhaps unusually, the role of his that has stood out most for me is a guest spot on The West Wing — Season 2, Episode 14 — in a scene opposite Richard Schiff’s Toby Ziegler). When I saw that this memoir was available for review, I jumped at the chance to give it a read. I’ll hopefully have the review up very soon. To the Temple of Tranquility… And Step On It! is due to be published by Hachette in North America and in the UK, on October 3rd.

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Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Jeff Benedict, LEBRON (Avid Reader Press)

LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of the twenty-first century, and he’s in the conversation with Michael Jordan as the greatest of all time. The reigning king of the game and the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, LeBron wears the crown like he was born with it. Yet his ascent has been anything but effortless and predetermined— the truth is vastly more interesting than that.

What makes LeBron’s story so compelling is how he won his destiny despite overwhelmingly long odds, in a drama worthy of a Dickens novel. As a child, he was a scared and lonely little boy living a nomadic existence in Akron, Ohio. His mother, who had LeBron when she was sixteen, would sometimes leave him on his own. Destitute and fatherless, he missed close to one hundred days of school in the fourth grade. Desperate, his mother placed him with a family that gave him stability and put a basketball in his hands.

LeBron tells the full, riveting saga of how a child adrift found the will to become a titan. Jeff Benedict, the most celebrated sports biographer of our time, paints a vivid picture of LeBron’s epic origin story, showing the gradual rise of a star who, surrounded by a tight-knit group of teenage friends and adult mentors, accelerated into a speeding comet during high school. Today LeBron produces Hollywood films and television shows, has a social media presence that includes more than one hundred million followers, engages in political activism, takes outspoken stances on racism and social injustice, and transforms lives through his visionary philanthropy. He went from a lost boy in Akron to a beloved hero who uses his fortune to educate underprivileged children and lift up needy families—and brought home Cleveland’s first NBA championship.

But LeBron is more than just the origin story of a GOAT or a recap of his multi-championship, multi-MVP, gold medal–decorated career on the court. Benedict delves into LeBron’s relationship with fame and power: how he has cultivated it, harnessed it, suffered from it, and leveraged it. In these pages, we go behind the scenes of LeBron’s grappling with his seismic celebrity, from appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior to The Decision, which briefly turned the nation against him. We also watch his evolution from a player who avoided politics and was widely criticized for not joining his teammates in protesting China’s role in the Darfur genocide to becoming an athlete who partnered with President Obama; campaigned for Hillary Clinton; became an advocate against gun violence, racism, and voter suppression; and openly clashed with President Trump, empowering other athletes to speak out against social injustice.

I’ve read a couple of books about LeBron James’s career — both by Brian Windhorst — and when I saw that this was on the way, I popped it on my must-read list. Pretty sure I’ve shared this already somewhere on CR, but I’ve only seen LeBron play once: he was still on the Cavs, and the Raptors were up in the fourth quarter. James just took over, and seemed to win the game single-handedly. It was awe-inspiring. In my humble opinion, he is the GOAT. Anyway, LeBron is out now, published by Avid Reader Press (North America) and Simon & Schuster (UK).

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Nicholas Binge, ASCENSION (Harper Voyager)

The sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of jaw-dropping revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human.

IF YOU EVER READ THIS
TELL OTHERS
DON’T COME HERE.

When a mountain mysteriously appears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a group of scientists are sent to investigate – and discover what is at the summit.

Eminent scientist, explorer and chronic loner Harry Tunmore is among those asked to join the secret mission – and he has his own reasons for joining the team beyond scientific curiosity…

But the higher the team ascend, the stranger things become. Time and space behave differently on the mountain, turning minutes into hours, and hours into days. Amid the whipping cold and steep dangers of higher elevation, the climbers’ limbs numb and memories of their lives before the mountain begin to fade.

What will they discover about themselves and their world as they rise? What, or who, will they discover at the top?

Framed by the discovery of Harry Tunmore’s unsent letters to his family and the chilling and provocative story they tell, Ascension considers the limitations of science and faith and examines both the beautiful and the unsettling sides of human nature.

The premise for Ascension caught my attention, quite a while ago, and early buzz for the novel is very promising. Out next week, I was unfortunately not able to get to it before its release. However, I am eager to read this as soon as a I can. Ascension is due to be published by Harper Voyager in the UK (April 27th) and Riverhead Books in North America (April 25th).

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Review copy received via NetGalley

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Mike Brooks, THE LION: SON OF THE FOREST (Black Library)

After ten thousand years of dreaming, locked in stasis at the heart of his shattered home world, Lion El’Jonson wakes to the nightmare of Imperium Nihilus.

In this midnight age, the dying embers of humanity are threatened on all sides by the hungry darkness. Alone, even the Lion has no hope of prevailing against such evil – but there are those who would aid him in his quest. Hunted to the edge of endurance, many among his Fallen knights have long-awaited the day their liege would return to redeem them. The Lord of Shadowed Paths must gather these lost loyalists to his side once more, and stride forth to vanquish a traitorous son and the twisted Chaos warband that calls him master.

Faced with these strange times, the Lion can be certain of nothing and no-one, except for himself. But in a galaxy without the Emperor, without the Imperium, without his Legion, and without Caliban… who is he?

With the recent return of Lion El’Johnson to the tabletop game, it was inevitable that someone was going to write a novel about him. I’m rather glad it was Mike Brooks, who wrote one of the best Primarchs novels (on Alpharius). The Lion: Son of the Forest is out now, published by Black Library in North America and in the UK.

Also on CR: Interview with Mike Brooks (2015)

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Alejandra Campoverdi, FIRST GEN ()

From former White House aide to President Obama and Harvard graduate, Alejandra Campoverdi, comes a riveting and unflinching memoir on navigating social mobility as a first gen Latina, offering a broad examination of the unacknowledged emotional tolls of being a trailblazer.

To be a First and Only in America is a delicate balancing act of surviving where you come from while acting like you belong where you’re going.

Alejandra Campoverdi has been a child on welfare, a White House aide to President Obama, a gang member’s girlfriend, and a candidate for U.S. Congress. She’s ridden on Air Force One and in G-rides. She’s modeled on the pages of Maxim and had a double mastectomy. Living a life of contradictory extremes often comes with the territory when you’re a “First and Only.” It also comes at a price.

With candor and heart, Alejandra retraces her trajectory as a Mexican American woman raised by an immigrant single mother in Los Angeles, foregoing the tidy bullet points of her resume and shining a light on the spaces between them instead. What emerges is a moving testimony of personal struggle and triumph that shatters the one-dimensional glossy narrative we are often sold of what it takes to achieve the American Dream. Alejandra uses her own experiences to illustrate the emotional tolls First and Onlys often face that are widespread yet rarely acknowledged, providing a road to truth and healing in the process. It is a timely and revealing reflection, as social class continues to be a key determinant of career success.

It seems like almost everyone who worked for President Obama has released, or is soon to release a memoir of some kind. I’m not opposed to this, though, as for many administrations it’s only the cabinet secretaries, the president himself, or other higher-ups who get book deals. The premise for Campoverdi’s book sounded very interesting, and I hope to get to it pretty soon–I’ll hold off on th review until closer to release, though. First Gen is due to be published by Grand Central Publishing in North America and in the UK, on September 12th.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Rachel Chrastil, BISMARCK’S WAR (Basic Books)

A new history of the war that toppled the French Empire, unified Germany, and set Europe on the path to World War I 

Among the conflicts that convulsed Europe during the nineteenth century, none was more startling and consequential than the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. Deliberately engineered by Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the war succeeded in shattering French supremacy, deposing Napoleon III, and uniting a new German Empire. But it also produced brutal military innovations and a precarious new imbalance of power that together set the stage for the devastating world wars of the next century. 

In Bismarck’s War, historian Rachel Chrastil chronicles events on the battlefield in full, while also showing in intimate detail how the war reshaped and blurred the boundaries between civilian and soldier as the fighting swept across France. The result is the definitive history of a transformative conflict that changed Europe, and the history of warfare, forever.

I’ve been helping out with a course on Modern Germany, and have been doing a lot of reading about the country’s founding and development/evolution. This sounds very interesting, and also hopefully useful for that course, so I’ll be reading it soon. Bismarck’s War is due to be published by Basic Books in North America (September 5th) and Allen Lane in the UK (June 1st).

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Kate Christensen, WELCOME HOME, STRANGER (Harper)

Can you ever truly go home again?

An environmental journalist in Washington, DC, Rachel has shunned her New England working-class family for years. Divorced and childless in her middle age, she’s a true independent spirit with the pain and experience to prove it. Coping with challenges large and small, she thinks her life is in free fall–until she’s summoned home to deal with the aftermath of her mother’s death.

Then things really fall apart.

Surrounded by a cast of sometimes comic, sometimes heartbreakingly serious characters—an arriviste sister, an alcoholic brother-in-law and, most importantly, the love of her life recently married to the sister’s best friend–Rachel must come to terms with her past, the sorrow she has long buried, and the ghost of the mother who, for better and worse, made her the woman she is.

I haven’t read anything by Christensen before, but the premise caught my attention. Hope to read it soon, but will hold off on the review until later in the year. Welcome Home, Stranger is due to be published by Harper in North America and in the UK, on December 5th.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Julia Langbein, AMERICAN MERMAID (Knopf)

Broke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist novel American Mermaid becomes a best-seller.  Lured by the promise of a big payday, she quits teaching and moves to L.A. to turn the novel into an action flick with the help of some studio hacks. But as she’s pressured to change her main character from a fierce, androgynous eco-warrior to a teen sex object in a clamshell bra, strange things start to happen. Threats appear in the screenplay; siren calls lure Penelope’s co-writers into danger.  Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her mermaid come to life, enacting revenge for Hollywood’s violations?

American Mermaid follows a young woman braving the casual slights and cruel calculations of a ruthless industry town, where she discovers a beating heart in her own fiction, a mermaid who will fight to move between worlds without giving up her voice. A hilarious story about deep things, American Mermaid asks how far we’ll go to protect the parts of ourselves that are not for sale.

As long-time readers of CR will know, I have a particular fondness for novels set in and around Los Angeles, and especially those that at least brush up against Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Langbein’s new novel fit into that category, while also sounding quite a bit different to the books I usual read in that oeuvre. So, I’m rather looking forward to reading this as soon as I can. American Mermaid is out now, published by Knopf in North America and Text Publishing in the UK.

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Mark Lawrence, THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN (Harper Voyager)

All books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. The stories they carry may last longer. They might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written.

The greatest story can reach the stars…

Evar has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.

Livira has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.

The world has never noticed them.

That’s about to change.

As their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time, each will unlock vast secrets about the world and themselves. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another.

This is the first book in Lawrence’s new series, the Library Trilogy. I’m a big fan of his writing, so I was always going to be interested in this one. Hope to read it very soon. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is due to be published by Harper Voyager in the UK (May 11th) and Ace Books in North America (May 9th).

Also on CR: Interview with Mark Lawrence (2011); Reviews of Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns, Prince of Fools, and One Word Kill

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via NetGalley

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Anna Pitoniak, THE HELSINKI AFFAIR (Simon & Schuster)

CIA agent Amanda Cole is thrust into an international conspiracy involving high-profile assassinations and Russian blackmail. It’s the case of her lifetime, but solving it might require her to betray another spy—who just so happens to be her father.

Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA agent, following in the footsteps of her father Charlie. But Amanda’s posting in Rome is a sleepy one. She’s listless and looking for action when, on a hot summer day, it walks right through her door. A lowly Russian operative is desperate, telling her that a US Senator is about to be assassinated on an overseas trip to Cairo. Amanda believes he’s telling the truth, but her superiors do not, and they determine that the best course of action is no action at all.

But when the assassination occurs, Amanda is suddenly thrust into an international conspiracy as she tries to find out why the senator was killed. What did he know that made him a target of the KGB and the Kremlin? Amanda pairs up with fast-talking, take-no-bullshit Kath, a brash older woman, and legendary spy, to get to the bottom of the case. The investigation takes them from Rome to London to Moscow to Helsinki.

As Amanda and Kath get closer to solving a case that involves double agents, blackmailed CEOs, illegal arms transfers, yachting oligarchs, and more, one question keeps coming back to haunt Amanda: why was her father’s name written down in the senator’s notes, notes that he seemed to be putting together right before he died? In order to get to the bottom of this international plot of blackmail, murder, and lies, Amanda must decide where her loyalty lies: with her country or with her family.

I’ve read all of Pitoniak’s previous novels, and very much enjoyed each of them. With this new one, the author moves fully into espionage fiction, and I for one am very much looking forward to reading it. The Helsinki Affair is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America and in the UK, on November 14th.

Also on CR: Reviews of The Futures and Our American Friend

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Tobias Rose-Stockwell, OUTRAGE MACHINE (Grand Central Publishing)

An invaluable guide to understanding the technology that captures our attention with anger.

Throughout history, new technologies have disrupted our capacity to make sense of the world, from the printing press to the telegraph, from radio to television. Outrage Machine explores the serious recent disruption caused by social media, and how it has triggered an urgent society-wide crisis of trust. Drawing from deep historical context, as well as cutting-edge research, author, designer, and media researcher Tobias Rose-Stockwell shows how social media has bound us to an unprecedented outrage machine, training us to react rather than reflect, and attack rather than debate.

Rose-Stockwell expertly illustrates how social media platforms were unintentionally designed to reward outrage and penalize tolerance, leading to distorted public conversations that live at the extremes and deepen political divisions. Pulling from extensive personal experience in tech and media, he exposes the triggers and tactics used to exploit our anger, unpacking how these technologies hack our deep tribal instincts and cognitive biases. These tools have now become opportunistic platforms for authoritarians and a threat to democratic norms everywhere.

​But this book is not just about the problem. Outrage Machine situates social media within a historical cycle of intense conflict and emerging tolerance. Using clear language and powerful illustrations, this book reveals the magnitude of the challenges we face, while offering realistic solutions and a promising pathway out.

Like many, I am fascinated by the ways in which social media and other recent internet-related developments have changed the way many of us interact with the world — especially the ways in which we acquire and consume information. So, any book that touches upon that subject piques my interest. Outrage Machine is due to be published by Grand Central Publishing in North America and Piatkus in the UK, on July 11th.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter
Review copy received via NetGalley

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Curtis Sittenfeld, ROMANTIC COMEDY (Random House)

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy—it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her… right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Curtis Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.

I haven’t read any of Sittenfeld’s buzziest of books (Prep, American Wife, and Rodham — although, it sometimes feels like all of the author’s books are buzzy, simply because of who wrote them), but I have enjoyed the author’s short fiction. The premise for this new novel piqued my interest, and hope to get to it very soon. Romantic Comedy is out now, published by Random House in North America and Doubleday in the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Adam Thirlwell, THE FUTURE FUTURE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

A wild story of female friendship, language, and power, from France to colonial America to the moon, from 1775 to this very moment: a historical novel like no other.

It’s the eighteenth century, and Celine is in trouble. Her husband is mostly absent. Her parents are elsewhere. And somewhere men are inventing stories about her—about her affairs, her sexuality, her orgies and addictions and assignations. All these stories are lies, but the public loves them—spreading them like a plague. And Celine watches as her name becomes a celebrity symbol for everything rotten in the world.

This is a universe of saturation and corruption, of lavish parties and private salons, of tulle and satin and sex, but also of revolution and resistance. It’s a world ruled by men, all of whom are high on genocide, colonial expansion, forest redevelopment, political theory, violence against women and, above all, language.

As France moves through its revolutions and the earth whirls around the sun, Celine and her young friends band together against evil and history in search of justice, truth, and beauty.

Dazzlingly inventive, hilarious, supermodern, and blindingly bright, Adam Thirlwell’s The Future Future follows one woman on an urgently contemporary quest to clear her name and change the world.

Hadn’t heard of this before it was made available for review request. Thought it sounded intriguing and a bit different to what I’ve been reading recently. Looking forward to giving it a try as soon as I can. The Future Future is due to be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in North America (October 17th) and Jonathan Cape in the UK (August 10th).

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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David Thomson, THE FATAL ALLIANCE (Harper)

In The Fatal Alliance the acclaimed film critic David Thomson offers us one of his most provocative books yet—a rich, arresting, and troubling study of that most beloved genre: the war movie. It is not a standard history or survey of war films, although Thomson turns his typically piercing eye to many favorites — from All Quiet on the Western Front to The Bridge on the River Kwai to Saving Private Ryan. But The Fatal Alliance does much more, exploring how war and cinema in the twentieth century became inextricably linked. Movies had only begun to exist by the beginning of World War I, yet in less than a century, had transformed civilian experience of war — and history itself — for millions around the globe. This reality is the moral conundrum at the heart of Thomson’s book. War movies bring both prestige and are so often box office blockbusters; but is there something problematic at how much moviegoers enjoy depictions of violence on a grand scale, such as Apocalypse Now, Black Hawk Down, or even Star Wars? And what does this truth say about us, our culture, and our changing sense of warfare and the past? 

A nice convergence of my interests: Hollywood and foreign policy. Haven’t read anything by Thomson before, but this does sound like a very interesting book. The Fatal Alliance is due to be published by Harper in North America and in the UK, on November 14th.

Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Don Winslow, CITY OF DREAMS (Harper Collins)

Hollywood.

The city where dreams are made.

On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime war, Danny Ryan is now on the run. The Mafia, the cops, the FBI all want him dead or in prison. With his little boy, his elderly father and the tattered remnants of his loyal crew of soldiers, he makes the classic American migration to California to start a new life.

A quiet, peaceful existence.

But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a fortune or kill him.

And when Hollywood starts shooting a film of his former life, Danny demands a piece of the action and begins to rebuild his criminal empire.

Then he falls in love.

With a beautiful movie star who has a dark past of her own.

As their worlds collide in an explosion that could destroy them both, Danny Ryan has to fight for his life in a city where dreams are born.

Or where they go to die.

From the shores of Rhode Island to the deserts of California where bodies disappear, from the power corridors of Washington where the real criminals operate to the fabled movie studios of Hollywood where the real money is made, City of Dreams is a sweeping saga of family, love, revenge, survival and the fierce reality behind the dream.

This is the second novel Winslow’s final trilogy, starring Danny Ryan. It’s one of my most-anticipated novels of the year, and I started reading it pretty much as soon as I was able to get a review copy. It’s another great read, but one that felt a bit rushed compared to his previous novels. City of Dreams is out now, published by Harper Collins (UK) and William Morrow (North America).

Also on CR: Reviews of The Force, Broken, and City on Fire

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss