Featuring: Kate Atkinson, Amy Chua, Franklin Foer, Miles Lagoze, Premee Mohamed, Meredith Mooring, K.J. Parker, John Sandford, Duane Swierczynski, Danielle Trussoni, Steve Urszenyi

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Kate Atkinson, NORMAL RULES DON’T APPLY (Doubleday)

Nothing is quite as it seems in this collection of eleven dazzling stories. We meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep; a secretary who watches over the life she has just left; a man who bets on a horse that may — or may not — have spoken to him. Everything that readers love about the novels of Kate Atkinson is here — the inventiveness, the verbal felicity, the sharp observations on human nature, and the deeply satisfying emotional wallop.

A startling and funny feast for the imagination, these stories conjure a multiverse of subtly connected worlds while illuminating the webs of chance and connection among us all.

This is the first book of Atkinson’s that I’ve read. It was pretty good, too. Not what I was expecting, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped, but there were flashes of excellence throughout. I think I’ll have to check out the author’s mysteries, and also Life After Life (which I bought years ago…). Normal Rules Don’t Apply is out now, published by Doubleday in North America and in the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads

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Amy Chua, THE GOLDEN GATE (Minotaur)

In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.

The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth — not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China’s First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings — Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.

Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.

This novel has been buzzed about for quite some time, certainly long before it was published. This is Chua’s first novel, and one that I think sounds pretty interesting. Looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. The Golden Gate is out now, published by Minotaur Books in North America and Corvus in the UK.

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Franklin Foer, THE LAST POLITICIAN (Penguin Press)

Franklin Foer tells the definitive insider story of the first two years of the Biden presidency, with exclusive access to Biden’s longtime team of advisers, and presents a gripping portrait of a president during this momentous time in our nation’s history.

On January 20, 2021, standing where only two weeks earlier police officers had battled with right-wing paramilitaries, Joe Biden took his oath of office. The American people were still sick with COVID-19, his economists were already warning him of an imminent financial crisis, and his party, the Democrats, had the barest of majorities in the Senate. Yet, faced with an unprecedented set of crises, Joe Biden decided he would not play defense. Instead, he set out to transform the nation. He proposed the most ambitious domestic spending bills since the 1960s and vowed to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan, ending the nation’s longest war and reorienting it toward a looming competition with China.

With unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades, Franklin Foer dramatizes in forensic detail the first two years of the Biden presidency, concluding with the historic midterm elections. The result is a gripping and high-definition portrait of a major president at a time when democracy itself seems imperiled. With his back to the wall, Biden resorted to old-fashioned politics: deal-making and compromise. It was a gamble that seemed at first disastrously anachronistic, as he struggled to rally even the support of his own party. Yet, as the midterms drew near, via a series of bills with banal names, Biden somehow found a way to invest trillions of dollars in clean energy, the domestic semiconductor industry, and new infrastructure. Had he done the impossible ― breaking decisively with the old Washington consensus to achieve progressive goals?

The Last Politician is a landmark work of political reporting — which includes thrilling, blow-by-blow insider reports of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and the White House’s swift response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine — that is destined to shape history’s view of a president in the eye of the storm.

I’ve been a long-time fan of Foer’s writing (far more than his novelist brother’s work), and this may be the book about Biden that I’ve been waiting for. His administration has done so much, but for some reasons seems rather hesitant to toot its own horn. So, hopefully this book — which looks at the administration’s successes, difficulties, and failures — will serve as a great account of the first two years of President Biden’s time in office. I’ll be reading this very soon. (Well, as soon as I have a break from work reading, which is also US politics-related at the moment.) The Last Politician is out now, published by Penguin Press in North America and in the UK.

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Miles Lagoze, WHISTLES FROM THE GRAVEYARD (Atria/One Signal)

At just eighteen years old, Miles Lagoze joined the Marine Corps a decade after the war began and found himself surrounded by people not unlike those he’d left behind at home — aimless youth searching for stability, community, and economic security.

Deployed to Afghanistan as a Combat Cameraman—an active-duty videographer and photographer — Lagoze produced slick images of glory and heroism for public consumption. But his government-approved footage concealed a grim reality. Here, Lagoze pulls back the curtain and illustrates the grisly truth of the longest war in American history. As these young men and women were deployed to an unfamiliar country half a world away — history’s “graveyard of empires” — they carried the scars of the fractured homeland that sent them. Lagoze shows us Marines straddling the edge of chaos. We see forces desensitized to gore and suffering by the darkest reaches of the internet, unsure of their places in an unraveling world and set further adrift by the uncertain mission to which they had been assigned abroad.

Whistles from the Graveyard shows the parts of the Afghanistan War we were never meant to see — Afghan locals and American infantry drawn together by their fears of the ghostly, ever-present terror of the Taliban; moments of dark resignation as the devastating toll of years in war’s crossfire reveals itself between bouts of adrenaline-laced violence; and nights of reckless, drug-fueled abandon to dull the pain.

In full, vivid color, Miles Lagoze shows us an oft-overlooked generation of young Americans we cast out into the desert, steeped in nihilism, and shipped back home with firsthand training in extremism, misanthropy, and insurrection.

Hadn’t heard of this before it was offered to me for review. Sounds very interesting, though, so I’m looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get to it before it’s released, but I will try to get it to soon. Whistles From the Graveyard is due to be published by Atria/One Signal in North America and in the UK, on November 7th.

Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Premee Mohamed, THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS (Solaris)

The Empires of Varkal and Med’ariz have always been at war.

Alefret, the founder of Varkal’s pacifist resistance, was bombed and maimed by his own government, locked up in a secret prison and tortured by a ‘visionary’ scientist. But now they’re offering him a chance of freedom.

Ordered to infiltrate one of Med’ariz’s flying cities, obeying the bloodthirsty zealot Qhudur, he must find fellow anti-war activists in the enemy’s population and provoke them into an uprising against their rulers.

He should refuse to serve the warmongers, but what if he could end this pointless war once and for all? Is that worth compromising his own morals and the principles of his fellow resistance members?

One of a few new books from Premee Mohamed! Always an author who’s worth reading and checking out, I’m looking forward to giving this a try. The Siege of Burning Grass is due to be published by Solaris Books in North America and in the UK, on March 12th, 2024.

Also on CR: Guest Post on Influences & Inspirations; Annotated Excerpt from The Annual Migration of Birds

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter
Review copy received from publisher

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Meredith Mooring, REDSIGHT (Solaris)

Korinna has simple priorities: stay on the Navitas, stay out of trouble, and stay alive. She may be a Redseer, a blind priestess with the power to manipulate space-time, but she is the weakest in her Order. Useless and outcast. Or so she has been raised to believe.

As she takes her place as a navigator on an Imperium ship, Korinna’s full destiny is revealed to her: blood brimming with magic, she is meant to become a weapon of the Imperium, and pawn for the Order that raised her. But when the ship is attacked by the notorious pirate Aster Haran, Korinna’s world is ripped apart.

Aster has a vendetta against the Imperium, and an all-consuming, dark power that drives her to destroy everything in her path. She understands the world in a way Korinna has never imagined, and Korinna is drawn to her against her better judgment.

With the Imperium and the justice-seeking warrior Sahar hot on her heels, Korinna must choose her side, seize her power and fulfil her destiny — or risk imperiling the future of the galaxy, and destroying the fabric of space-time itself.

Don’t know much about this, but sounds like it could be interesting. Will give it a try when I can. Redsight is due to be published by Solaris Books in North America and in the UK, on February 29th, 2024.

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Review copy received from publisher

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K. J. Parker, SAEVUS CORAX GETS AWAY WITH MURDER (Orbit)

From one of the most original voices in fantasy comes a heart-warming tale of peace, love, and battlefield salvage.

If you’re going to get ahead in the battlefield salvage business, you have to regard death as a means to an end. In other words, when the blood flows, so will the cash. Unfortunately, even though war is on the way, Saevus Corax has had enough.

There are two things he has to do before he can enjoy his retirement: get away with one last score, and get away with murder. For someone who, ironically, tends to make a mess wherever he goes, leaving his affairs in order is going to be Saevus Corax’s biggest challenge yet.

The third novel in Parker’s rapidly-published Saevus Corax trilogy (all three are out now). As anyone who’s been reading CR for even a short while will know how much I enjoy Parker’s novellas and short stories; so of course this was of interest to me. Strangely, though, it’s been a long while since I last read one of his full-length novels… Weird. Saevus Corax Gets Away With Murder is due to be published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK, on December 5th.

Also on CR: Reviews of The Devil You Know, The Last Witness, Downfall of the Gods, My Beautiful Life, Prosper’s Demon, Academic Exercises, The Big Score, The Long Game, and Pulling the Wings Off Angels

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

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John Sandford, JUDGMENT PREY (G. P. Putnam’s Sons)

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers team up to crack an unsolvable case…

Alex Sand was spending the evening at home playing basketball with his two young sons when all three were shot in cold blood. A wealthy federal judge, there’s no short list of people who could have a vendetta against Sands, but the gruesome murders, especially that of his children, turn their St. Paul community on its head. Sand was on the verge of a major donation to a local housing charity, Heart/Twin Cities, and with the money in limbo, eyes suddenly turn to his grieving widow, Margaret Cooper, to see what she might do with the money. Margaret, distraught over the death of her family, struggles to move forward, and can’t imagine how or why anyone would target her husband.

With public pressure mounting and both the local police force and FBI hitting dead end after dead end, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to do what others could not: find answers. With each potential lead flawed, Davenport and Flowers are determined to chase every theory until they figure out who killed the Sands. But when they find themselves being stonewalled by the most unlikely of forces, the two wonder if perhaps each misdirection could lead them closer to the truth.

The 33rd novel in the Prey series — quite the achievement. I read this pretty much as soon as I got this, and I’ll have a review up ASAP. The TL;DR version of a review, though, would be: Another excellent addition to the series, a return to Minnesota investigation, complete with all of the great elements of Sandford’s best. Judgment Prey is due to be published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in North America and Simon & Schuster in the UK (October 26th).

Also on CR: Reviews of Phantom Prey, Wicked Prey, Storm Prey, Buried Prey, Stolen Prey, Silken Prey, Field of Prey, Golden Prey, Neon Prey, Masked Prey, Righteous Prey, Dark of the Moon, The Investigator, and Dark Angel

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Review copy received from publisher

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Duane Swierczynski, CALIFORNIA BEAR (Mulholland)

NONE OF YOU ARE SAFE

“KILLER”: Jack Queen has been exonerated and freed from prison thanks to retired LAPD officer Cato Hightower. But when guilt gnaws at Jack, he admits: “I actually did it.” To which Hightower responds: “Yeah, no kidding.” You see, the ex-cop has a special job in mind for the ex-con…

THE GIRL DETECTIVE: Fifteen-year-old Matilda Finnerty has been handed a potential death sentence in the form of a leukemia diagnosis. But that’s not going to stop her from tackling the most important mystery of her life: Is her father guilty of murder?

GENE JEANIE: Jeanie Hightower mends family trees for a living, but the genealogist is unable to repair her own marriage. And her soon-to-be ex may have entangled her in a scheme that has drawn the bloody wrath of…

THE BEAR: A prolific serial killer who disappeared forty years ago, who is only now emerging from hibernation when the conditions are just right. And this time, the California Bear is not content to hunt in the shadows…

From two-time Edgar nominee Duane Swierczynski, California Bear is clever, moving, and surprising as it takes aim at the true crime industry, Hollywood, justice, and the killers inside us all.

I only learned of this novel fairly recently, but the synopsis caught my attention. I’ve read other books by Swierczynski, and I am very much looking forward to reading this as soon as I can. California Bear is due to be published by Mulholland Books in North America and in the UK, on January 9th, 2024.

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Review copy received from publisher

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Danielle Trussoni, THE PUZZLE MASTER (Random House)

Reality and the supernatural collide when an expert puzzle maker is thrust into an ancient mystery — one with explosive consequences for the fate of humanity…

All the world is a puzzle, and Mike Brink — a celebrated and ingenious puzzle constructor — understands its patterns like no one else. Once a promising Midwestern football star, Brink was transformed by a traumatic brain injury that caused a rare medical condition: acquired savant syndrome. The injury left him with a mental superpower — he can solve puzzles in ways ordinary people can’t. But it also left him deeply isolated, unable to fully connect with other people.

Everything changes after Brink meets Jess Price, a woman serving thirty years in prison for murder who hasn’t spoken a word since her arrest five years before. When Price draws a perplexing puzzle, her psychiatrist believes it will explain her crime and calls Brink to solve it. What begins as a desire to crack an alluring cipher quickly morphs into an obsession with Price herself. She soon reveals that there is something more urgent, and more dangerous, behind her silence, thrusting Brink into a hunt for the truth.

The quest takes Brink through a series of interlocking enigmas, but the heart of the mystery is the God Puzzle, a cryptic ancient prayer circle created by the thirteenth-century Jewish mystic Abraham Abulafia. As Brink navigates a maze of clues, and his emotional entanglement with Price becomes more intense, he realizes that there are powerful forces at work that he cannot escape.

Ranging from an upstate New York women’s prison to nineteenth-century Prague to the secret rooms of the Pierpont Morgan Library, The Puzzle Master is a tantalizing, addictive thriller in which humankind, technology, and the future of the universe itself are at stake.

I haven’t read anything by Trussoni, but I did dip into the author’s debut novel — which wasn’t really my thing. However, this new novel has been getting a lot of buzz from other authors, many of whom I already follow. So, I thought I’d give Trussoni another look. The premise is certainly interesting, and I hope to get to it soon. The Puzzle Master is out now, published by Random House in North America and in the UK.

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Steve Urszenyi, PERFECT SHOT (Minotaur)

A former Army sniper must fall back on her Special Ops skills when a friend’s death uncovers a global nuclear threat…

Special Agent Alexandra Martel has put her days on the battlefield behind her. Charming and disarming, relentless and lethal, she earned a reputation as one of the most renowned and decorated Army snipers in the service before stepping away. But when Alex, now an FBI special agent on loan to Interpol, learns that an old friend, an MI5 officer, has been killed under mysterious circumstances, she’s pulled back into the dangerous world she left behind: a world where some people fear her, some want to recruit her, and everyone seems to want her dead.

Following a trail of clues left behind by the dead woman, Alex pieces together a terrifying conspiracy that only escalates when a nuclear warhead goes missing. Dodging death at every turn, she reluctantly joins forces with a CIA officer, but he has plans of his own for her — and will stop at nothing to achieve them.

Chasing the truth through the streets of London and bustling Turkish markets to the underbelly of Paris, Alex is unrelenting in her pursuit of justice. But as the clock ticks down and the world edges closer to doom, she must fall back on her Special Ops skills to stop the unthinkable. She thought her life as a sniper was over — but with stakes this high, she must use whatever means necessary to render the world safe.

I’ve been looking forward to reading this ever since I first saw it in a publisher catalogue. I’m always on the look-out for new thriller series, and this is the first in a proposed series starring Alexandra Martel. I’ve heard good things from those who have been able to get earlier copies, and I hope to get this read and reviewed prior to its release. Perfect Shot is due to be published by Minotaur Books on November 14th, in North America and in the UK.

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Review copy received from publisher

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Aliya Whiteley, THREE EIGHT ONE (Solaris)

In January 2314, Rowena Savalas — a curator of the vast archive of the twenty-first century’s primitive internet — stumbles upon a story posted in the summer of 2024. She’s quickly drawn into the mystery of the text: Is it autobiography, fantasy or fraud? What’s the significance of the recurring number 381?

In the story, the protagonist Fairly walks the Horned Road — a quest undertaken by youngsters in her village when they come of age. She is followed by the “breathing man,” a looming presence, dogging her heels every step of the way. Everything she was taught about her world is overturned.

Following Fairly’s quest, Rowena comes to question her own choices, and a predictable life of curation becomes one of exploration, adventure and love. As both women’s stories draw to a close, she realises it doesn’t matter whether the story is true or not: as with the quest itself, it’s the journey that matters.

Whiteley’s novels always sound interesting — and usually are very good reads! So, looking forward to reading this. Three Eight One is due to be published by Solaris Books in North America and in the UK, on January 16th, 2024.

Also on CR: Interview with Aliya Whiteley (2017); Guest Post on Five Old British Ways of Predicting the Future; Annotated Excerpt from Greensmith

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Review copy received from publisher