I often forget that the new year often brings a flurry of review copies and high-profile new books. So, this post comes a little quicker than I thought it might. Anything here catch your attention?

Featuring: Dan Abnett, Kyle Chayka, Jared Cohen, Emily Dunlay, Sierra Greer, Kristopher Jansma, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Maurice Isserman, Dervla McTiernan, Alex Michaelides, Jane Smiley, Sheila Sundar

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Dan Abnett, THE END AND THE DEATH: Volume III (Black Library)

The Great Angel, Sanguinius, lies slain at his brother’s hand.

Terra burns as reality itself unravels and the greatest bastion of civilisation teeters on the brink of annihilation.

Desperate defenders gather, banding against the rabid traitor hordes. The Hollow Mountain, host to the pilgrims of Euphrati Keeler, is one of the last redoubts, held by the Dark Angels while the unclean host of Typhus lays siege. Malcador the Sigillite sits ablaze on the Golden Throne, trying to buy his master more time. But time is running out…

Guilliman races across the stars to reinforce the Throneworld. Will he return to ashes, where a Warmaster of Chaos has ascended to godhood, or will the Emperor have triumphed? And at what cost?

It all comes down to one final, climactic confrontation: the Emperor versus Horus. The father against the son.

And so it all comes to an end. (Probably.) I’ve been reading Black Library’s Horus Heresy fiction since the release of the first book, Abnett’s Horus Rising, in 2006. It’s been a long and twisting journey, and it feels a little strange to be finally reach the conclusion. The End and the Death, Volume III is out now, published by Black Library in North America and in the UK.

Also on CR: Reviews of Horus Rising, Prospero Burns, Know No Fear, The Unremembered Empire, and Saturnine

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Kyle Chayka, FILTERWORLD (Doubelday)

From trendy restaurants to city grids, to TikTok and Netflix feeds the world round, algorithmic recommendations dictate our experiences and choices. The algorithm is present in the familiar neon signs and exposed brick of Internet cafes, be it in Nairobi or Portland, and the skeletal, modern furniture of Airbnbs in cities big and small. Over the last decade, this network of mathematically determined decisions has taken over, almost unnoticed — informing the songs we listen to, the friends with whom we stay in touch — as we’ve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal.

This ever-tightening web woven by algorithms is called “Filterworld.” Kyle Chayka shows us how online and offline spaces alike have been engineered for seamless consumption, becoming a source of pervasive anxiety in the process. Users of technology have been forced to contend with data-driven equations that try to anticipate their desires — and often get them wrong. What results is a state of docility that allows tech companies to curtail human experiences — human lives — for profit. But to have our tastes, behaviors, and emotions governed by computers, while convenient, does nothing short of call the very notion of free will into question.

In Filterworld, Chayka traces this creeping, machine-guided curation as it infiltrates the furthest reaches of our digital, physical, and psychological spaces. With algorithms increasingly influencing not just what culture we consume, but what culture is produced, urgent questions arise: What happens when shareability supersedes messiness, innovation, and creativity — the qualities that make us human? What does it mean to make a choice when the options have been so carefully arranged for us? Is personal freedom possible on the Internet?

To the last question, Filterworld argues yes — but to escape Filterworld, and even transcend it, we must first understand it.

I can’t quite remember how I heard of this book, but it was probably via a podcast interview. Regardless, I’ve been interested in reading it ever since I read the synopsis. Hopefully get to it very soon. Filterworld is out now, published by Doubleday in North America and Heligo Books in the UK.

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Jared Cohen, LIFE AFTER POWER (Simon & Schuster)

Former presidents have an unusual place in American life. King George III believed that George Washington’s departure after two terms made him “the greatest character of the age.” But Alexander Hamilton worried former presidents might “[wander] among the people like ghosts.” They were both right.

Life After Power tells the stories of seven former presidents, from the Founding to today. Each changed history. Each offered lessons about how to decide what to do in the next chapter of life.

Thomas Jefferson was the first former president to accomplish great things after the White House, shaping public debates and founding the University of Virginia, an accomplishment he included on his tombstone, unlike his presidency. John Quincy Adams served in Congress and became a leading abolitionist, passing the torch to Abraham Lincoln. Grover Cleveland was the only president in American history to serve a nonconsecutive term. William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Herbert Hoover shaped the modern conservative movement, led relief efforts after World War II, reorganized the executive branch, and reconciled John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency in American history, advancing humanitarian causes, human rights, and peace. George W. Bush made a clean break from politics, bringing back George Washington’s precedent, and reminding the public that the institution of the presidency is bigger than any person.

Jared Cohen explores the untold stories in the final chapters of these presidents’ lives, offering a gripping and illuminating account of how they went from President of the United States one day, to ordinary citizens the next. He tells how they handled very human problems of ego, finances, and questions about their legacy and mortality. He shows how these men made history after they left the White House.

I’ve enjoyed Cohen’s books in the past, and the post-power lives of the presidents has been of interest to me for some time — many of the early presidents, with the exception of John Quincy Adam, didn’t really do much of anything after they left office. I think William Howard Taft is the only other one found himself back in a governmental position (Supreme Court Justice). Many of the recent presidents, though, have had quite some time post-presidency to do… something. Very much looking forward to reading this, and hopefully it won’t be too long before I can get to it. Life After Power is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America and in the UK, on February 13th.

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Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Emily Dunlay, TEDDY (Harper)

It is the summer of 1969 and Rome is awash with glamour and intrigue: the stars of Cinecittà are drinking and dancing along the paparazzo-lined Via Veneto, where royalty, American expats, and the occasional Russian spy rub shoulders.

Teddy Huntley Carlyle has just arrived in Italy from Dallas, Texas, eager for a fresh start with her new husband, a diplomat assigned to the American embassy. After years of “spoiling like old milk,” in the words of her controlling, politically-minded uncle, Teddy vows to turn over a new leaf. She will be the soul of discretion; she will be conservative, proper, and polite. She will be her most beautiful, luminous self, wearing the right clothes and the perfect lipstick, and she will be good. She will charm her husband’s colleagues at the embassy, and no one will have a word to say against her.

Teddy keeps her promise, more or less — until the Fourth of July, when her new life explodes as spectacularly as the colorful fireworks lighting the Roman sky over the embassy grounds. Now, Teddy is in the middle of a mess that even her powerful connections and impeccable manners can’t contain…

I was intrigued by the “Lessons in Chemistry meets Mad Men” pitch (despite, strangely, never having read/watching the former, nor finished the latter). Sounds like it could be interesting. Teddy is due to be published by Harper in North America (July 2nd) and Fourth Estate in the UK (July 4th).

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Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Sierra Greer, ANNIE BOT (Mariner / Borough Press)

She’s human in every way that matters.

Annie is a robot, created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug. Playful and eager to please, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the outfits he buys for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his whims. Maybe the apartment isn’t always spotless, but she’s trying to be good enough for Doug. She’s trying really hard.

But as Annie grows more self-aware, she begins to chafe against the borders of her life: the empty weeks spent confined to the apartment, the fitness regimens designed to keep her part-organic body toned, the service appointments to increase her bra size and shave inches off her waistline. Worst of all are Doug’s unpredictable moods, and the way he can punish her without even raising his voice.

Annie starts to imagine the impossible – what would life be like outside Doug’s apartment? What could she be like without Doug?

This powerful, provocative novel from a bold new voice examines the intricate relationship between creator and creation, between human and AI, exploring issues of trust, intimacy, power and autonomy.

Is a human soul something we are born with? Or is it something – through love, pain and other people – we can learn?

Thought this sounded really intriguing. Looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. Annie Bot is due to be published by The Borough Press in the UK (March 14th), and Mariner Books in North America (March 19th).

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Review copy received via NetGalley

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Maurice Isserman, REDS: THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN COMMUNISM (Basic Books)

The definitive history of the Communist Party USA, revealing how its members contributed to struggles for justice and equality in America even as they championed a brutal, totalitarian state, the USSR.

After generations in the shadows, socialism is making headlines in the United States, following the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns and the election of several democratic socialists to Congress. Today’s leftists hail from a long lineage of anti-capitalist activists in the United States, yet the true legacy and lessons of their most radical and controversial forebears, the American Communists, remain little understood.

In Reds, historian Maurice Isserman focuses on the deeply contradictory nature of the history of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), a movement that attracted egalitarian idealists and bred authoritarian zealots. Founded in 1919, the CPUSA fought for a just society in America: members organized powerful industrial unions, protested racism, and moved the nation left. At the same time, Communists maintained unwavering faith in the USSR’s claims to be a democratic workers’ state and came to be regarded as agents of a hostile foreign power. Following Nikita Khrushchev’s revelation of Joseph Stalin’s crimes, however, doubt in Soviet leadership erupted within the CPUSA, leading to the organization’s decline into political irrelevance.

This is the balanced and definitive account of an essential chapter in the history of radical politics in the United States.

I saw this available for request, and thought it might be interesting/useful for my professional interest in the Cold War. Looking forward to reading it soon. Reds is due to be published by Basic Books in North America and in the UK, on June 4th.

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

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Kristopher Jansma, OUR NARROW HIDING PLACES (Ecco)

An elderly woman recounts her Dutch family’s survival during the final years of Nazi occupation, shedding new light on old secrets that rippled through subsequent generations.

Eighty-year-old Mieke Geborn’s life is one of quiet routine. Widowed for many years, she enjoys the view from her home on the New Jersey shore, visits with friends, and tai chi at the local retirement community. But when her beloved grandson, Will, and his wife, Teru, show up for a visit, things are soon upended. Their marriage is threatening to unravel, and Will has questions for his grandmother — questions about family secrets that have been lost for decades and are now finally rising to the surface.

But telling Will the truth involves returning to the past, and to Mieke’s childhood in coastal Holland. There, in the last years of World War II, she survived the Hunger Winter, a brutal season when food and heat were cut off and thousands of Dutch citizens starved. Her memories weave together childhood magic and the madness of history, and carry readers from the windy beaches of The Hague to the dark cells of a concentration camp, through the bends of eel-filled rivers, and, finally, to the story of Will’s father, absent since Will’s childhood.

Our Narrow Hiding Places is a sweeping story of survival and of the terrible cost of war — and a reminder that sometimes the traumas we inherit come along with a resilience we never imagined.

I’m a big fan of Jansma’s writing. His second novel, Why We Came to the City, in particular. As soon as I saw that this was available for review request, I jumped at the chance, and I’m looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. (I’ll hold off on the review, though, as the book’s not out for quite some time.) Our Narrow Hiding Place is due to be published by Ecco in North America, on August 13th. (Not sure about UK edition, at the time of writing.)

Also on CR: Review of Why We Came to the City

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Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Doris Kearns Goodwin, AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY (Simon & Schuster)

Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for forty-two years and married to American history even longer. In his twenties, Dick was one of the brilliant young men of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. In his thirties he both named and helped design Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and was a speechwriter and close advisor to Robert Kennedy. Doris Kearns was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student when selected as a White House Fellow. She worked directly for Lyndon Johnson and later assisted on his memoir.

Over the years, with humor, anger, frustration, and in the end, a growing understanding, Dick and Doris had argued over the achievements and failings of the leaders they served and observed, debating the progress and unfinished promises of the country they both loved.

The Goodwins’ last great adventure involved finally opening the more than three hundred boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than fifty years. They soon realized they had before them an unparalleled personal time capsule of the 1960s, illuminating public and private moments of a decade when individuals were powered by the conviction they could make a difference; a time, like today, marked by struggles for racial and economic justice, a time when lines were drawn and loyalties tested.

Their expedition gave Dick’s last years renewed purpose and determination. It gave Doris the opportunity to connect and reconnect with participants and witnesses of pivotal moments of the 1960s. And it gave them both an opportunity to make fresh assessments of the central figures of the time — John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and especially Lyndon Johnson, who greatly impacted both their lives. The voyage of remembrance brought unexpected discoveries, forgiveness, and the renewal of old dreams, reviving the hope that the youth of today will carry forward this unfinished love story with America.

I’ve been a fan of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s books for quite some time — The Bully Pulpit is my personal favourite of the author’s books. This one looks like something a little bit different, so I’m very much looking forward to reading this. An Unfinished Love Story is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America and in the UK, on April 16th.

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

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Dervla McTiernan, WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA? (Harper Collins / William Morrow)

Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA?

Nobody knows. Simon’s explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn’t add up. Nina’s parents push the police for answers, and Simon’s parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign.

HOW FAR WILL HIS FAMILY GO TO KEEP HIM SAFE?

Soon, facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fueled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories and illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina’s social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive “fans”.

HOW FAR WILL HER FAMILY GO TO GET TO THE TRUTH?

Nina’s family is under siege, but they never lose sight of the only thing that really matters ― finding their daughter. Out-gunned by Simon’s wealthy, powerful family, Nina’s parents recognize that if playing by the rules won’t get them anywhere, it’s time to break them.

I’ve enjoyed McTiernan’s writing in the past, and so this was always going to be on my radar. Looking forward to reading it soon. What Happened to Nina? is due to be published by HarperCollins in the UK (March 14th), and William Morrow in North America (March 26th).

Also on CR: Review of The Murder Rule

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Review copy received via NetGalley

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Alex Michaelides, THE FURY (Celadon)

This is a tale of murder.

Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?

Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex-movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.

I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.

We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.

But who am I?

My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.

One of my most-anticipated released of the year. Love the premise, and started reading this the day after I received the ARC, and zipped through it. Review soon. (TL;DR version: Really enjoyed it!) The Fury is out now, published by Celadon Books in North America and Michael Joseph in the UK.

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Review copy received from publisher

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Jane Smiley, THE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER THE MOST (Heyday)

Long acclaimed as one of America’s preeminent novelists, Jane Smiley is also an exquisite observer of the craft of writing.

In The Questions That Matter Most this Pulitzer Prize-winning writer offers penetrating essays on some of the aesthetic and cultural issues that mark any serious engagement with reading and writing. Beginning with a personal introduction tracing Smiley’s migration from Iowa to California, the author reflects on her findings in the varied literature of the Golden State, whose writers have for decades pondered the West’s contested legacies of racism, class conflict, and sexual politics. As she considers the ambiguity of character and the weight of history, her essays provide fresh entry points into literature, and we lucky readers can see how Smiley draws inspiration from across the literary spectrum to invigorate her own writing.

With enthusiasm and meticulous attention, Smiley dives beneath surface-level interpretations to examine the works of Marguerite de Navarre, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, Willa Cather, Franz Kafka, Halldór Laxness, and Jessica Mitford. Throughout, Smiley seeks to think harder and, in her words, with “more clarity and nuance” about the questions that matter most.

I’m a relative newcomer to Smiley’s writing. I’ve picked up a number of her novels (Moo, the Last Hundred Years trilogy, and A Dangerous Business), and am very much looking forward to the author’s next novel (Lucky, due out in April) is due to be published by Heyday Books in North America and in the UK, on June 11th.

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

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Sheila Sundar, HABITATIONS (Simon & Schuster)

A young academic moves from India to the United States, where she navigates first love, a green card marriage, single motherhood, and more…

Vega Gopalan is adrift. Still reeling from the death of her sister years earlier, she leaves South India to attend graduate school at Columbia University. In New York, Vega straddles many different worlds, eventually moving in and out of a series of relationships that take her through the striving world of academia, the intellectual isolation of the immigrant suburbs, and, ultimately, the loneliness of single motherhood. But it is the birth of Vega’s daughter that forces the novel’s central question: What does it mean to make a home?

Written with dry humor and searing insight, Habitations is an intimate story of identity, immigration, expectation and desire, and of love lost and found. But it is also a universal story of womanhood, and the ways in which women are forced to navigate multiple loyalties: to family, to community, and to themselves.

A profound meditation on the many meanings of home and on the ways love and kinship can be found, even in the most unfamiliar of places, Habitations introduces Sheila Sundar as an electrifying new voice in literary fiction.

Thought this sounded interesting, and I was pre-approved for a review copy. Looking forward to reading it. Habitations is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America and in the UK, on April 2nd.

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