A bit of a bumper-edition of New Books — I was away for a couple of weeks, and apparently it was a rather busy period, in terms of review copies… (Certainly no bad thing.)
Featuring: Vanessa Chan, Heather Chavez, Bernard Cornwell, Jeffrey Deaver & Isabella Maldonado, Amitav Ghosh, Rachel Howzell Hall, Gregg Hurwitz, Vera Kurian, Richard Lange, Mike Lawson, Benjamin Liar, Robert W. Merry, Henry H. Neff, Sarah Tomlinson, Ed Zwick
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Vanessa Chan, THE STORM WE MADE (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books)
Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.
Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault; and that her family must never learn the truth.
A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonized Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fujiwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians.” Instead, Cecily helped usher in an even more brutal occupation by the Japanese. Ten years later as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. Now her family is on the brink of destruction — and she will do anything to save them.
Spanning years of pain and triumph, told from the perspectives of four unforgettable characters, The Storm We Made is a dazzling saga about the horrors of war; the fraught relationships between the colonized and their oppressors, and the ambiguity of right and wrong when survival is at stake.
I first learned about this novel because my sister-in-law attended the same MFA course as Chan. Thought the premise sounded interesting (I used to live in Malaysia, too, as it happens, so that increased my interest). Looking forward to reading this as soon as I can. The Storm We Made is out now, published by S&S/Marysue Rucci Books in North America and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK.
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Heather Chavez, WHAT WE’LL BURN LAST (Mulholland)
Two entangled families in a California neighborhood must race to find answers about a missing teenage girl as a wildfire crackles to life nearby…
Three women.
When she was twelve, Leyna Clarke watched her older sister, Grace, walk away from their Sierra Nevada foothills home with her boyfriend, Adam Duran. Neither was ever seen again. Sixteen years later, a stranger who looks like Grace shows up at the restaurant where Leyna works — and vanishes soon after. When it comes out that Leyna was one of the last people to have talked with the young woman, Leyna’s childhood crush Dominic, who is also Adam’s brother, pleads with her to do the last thing she wants to do: come home.
Three secrets.
But Leyna isn’t the only one who hasn’t been able to leave that fateful night behind. Her mother, Meredith, still lives in the family’s old home — even if she claims to believe the police’s theory that Grace and Adam were willing runaways. Down the street, Adam and Dominic’s mother Olivia has also stayed, determined to be there when her son finally returns… and to prove that Meredith and Leyna have been hiding something all these years. But the past isn’t the only threat to the two families, or the missing girl. As a wildfire sparks, tempers flare and intentions turn deadly. Because someone in the neighborhood knows what really happened that night — and just how good the forest is at keeping its secrets.
Who will you trust?
I really enjoyed Chavez’s previous novel, Before She Finds Me (2023), so any new novel by the author was going to be a must-read. What We’ll Burn Last is due to be published by Mulholland Books in North America and in the UK, on July 23rd.
Also on CR: Review of Before She Finds Me
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Review copy received via NetGalley
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Bernard Cornwell, SHARPE’S COMMAND (Harper)
Outsider.
Hero.
Rogue.
If any man can do the impossible it’s Richard Sharpe.
And the impossible is exactly what the formidable Captain Sharpe is asked to do when he’s sent on an undercover mission to a small village in the Spanish countryside, far behind enemy lines.
For the quiet, remote village, sitting high above the Almaraz bridge, is about to become the center of a battle for the future of Europe. Two French armies march towards the bridge, one from the North and one from the South. If they meet, the British are lost.
Only Sharpe’s small group of men — with their cunning and courage to rely on — stand in their way. But they’re rapidly outnumbered, enemies are hiding in plain sight, and as the French edge ever closer to the frontline, time is running out…
I’ve been a long-time fan of Cornwell’s Sharpe series — so much so, in fact, that I ordered a bunch of them to be delivered to me when I was living in Japan. I still have to catch up with the author’s previous book in the series (Sharpe’s Assassin), and I am very eager to do so as soon as I am able. Sharpe’s Command is published by Harper in the UK (out now) and in North America (April 2nd).
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Review copy received via NetGalley
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Jeffrey Deaver & Isabella Maldonado, FATAL INTRUSION (Thomas & Mercer)
As a wave of murders grips Southern California, an unlikely pair must untangle the mysterious patterns of an elusive killer…
Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules. But when her sister is attacked, revealing a connection to a series of murders across Southern California, she realizes a conventional investigation will not be enough to stop the ruthless perpetrator.
With nowhere else to turn, Sanchez enlists the aid of Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert who, unlike Sanchez, believes rules are merely suggestions. The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favor and she’s cashing in. They team up to catch the assailant, who, mystifyingly, has no discernable motive and fits no classic criminal profile. All they have to go on is a distinctive tattoo and a singular obsession that gives this chillingly efficient tactician his nickname: Spider.
Over the next seventy-two hours, Sanchez and Heron find themselves in the midst of a lethal chess match with the killer as they race to stop the carnage. As the victims mount, so do the risks. Because this spider’s web of intrigue is more sinister — and goes far deeper — than anyone could possibly anticipate.
This is the first in a new series, starring Carmen Sanchez and Jake Heron. I have still not read as much of Deaver’s work as one might expect, but as this is the start of a new series, it seemed like a great place to dive in — and I’m very much looking forward to doing so. I haven’t read anything by Maldonado, either, so in a way this is a nice introduction to both authors. Fatal Intrusion is due to be published by Thomas & Mercer in North America and in the UK, on August 6th.
Follow the Author (Deaver): Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Follow the Author (Maldonado): Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via NetGalley
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Amitav Ghosh, SMOKE AND ASHES (FSG Books)
Ghosh unravels the impact of the opium trade on global history and in his own family ― the climax of a yearslong project.
When Amitav Ghosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels the Ibis Trilogy, he was startled to learn how the lives of the nineteenth-century sailors and soldiers he wrote about were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean but also by the precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising of all, however, was the discovery that his own identity and family history were swept up in the story.
Smoke and Ashes is at once a travelogue, a memoir, and an essay in history, drawing on decades of archival research. In it, Ghosh traces the transformative effect the opium trade had on Britain, India, and China, as well as the world at large. The trade was engineered by the British Empire, which exported Indian opium to sell to China to redress their great trade imbalance, and its revenues were essential to the empire’s financial survival. Following the profits further, Ghosh finds opium central to the origins of some of the world’s biggest corporations, of America’s most powerful families and prestigious institutions (from the Astors and Coolidges to the Ivy League), and of contemporary globalism itself.
Moving deftly between horticultural history, the mythologies of capitalism, and the social and cultural repercussions of colonialism, in Smoke and Ashes Ghosh reveals the role that one small plant has had in making our world, now teetering on the edge of catastrophe.
The Opium Wars have long been an interest of mine, so when I learned that Amitav Ghosh (author of, among others, the Ibis Trilogy — a series I really must get around to reading ASAP) was writing a history of their impact, this book went straight to the top of my must-read list. As it happens, a portion of the book was adapted for the January issue of The Nation, which I was able to read before getting the book. I’ll be reading this very soon. Smoke and Ashes is out now, published by FSG Books in North America and John Murray in the UK.
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Rachel Howzell Hall, WHAT FIRE BRINGS (Thomas & Mercer)
A writer’s search for her missing friend becomes a real-life thriller…
Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As his writer-in-residence, she’s supposed to help him once again reach the bestseller list. But she’s not there to write a thriller — she’s there to find Sam Morris, a community leader dedicated to finding missing people, who has disappeared in the canyon surrounding Beckham’s property.
The missing woman was last seen in the drought-stricken forest known for wildfires and mountain lions. Each new day, Bailey learns just how dangerous these canyons are — for the other women who have also gone missing here… and for her. Could these missing women be linked to strange events that occurred decades ago at the Beckham estate?
As fire season in the canyons approaches, Bailey must race to unravel the truth from fiction before she becomes the next woman lost in the forest.
The latest novel from prolific author Hall. I’ve not read as many of the author’s novels as I would like, but each one has been interesting and distinct from previous books. Highly recommend giving Hall’s books a try, if you’re a fan of mystery and suspense. What Fire Brings is due to be published by Thomas & Mercer in North America and in the UK, on June 11th.
Also on CR: Review of And Now She’s Gone
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Review copy received via NetGalley
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Gregg Hurwitz, LONE WOLF (Minotaur)
Once a black ops government assassin known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak left the Program, went deep underground, and reinvented himself as someone who will go anywhere and risk everything to help the truly desperate who have nowhere else to turn. Since then, Evan has fought international crime syndicates and drug cartels, faced down the most powerful people in the world and even brought down a president. Now struggling with an unexpected personal crisis, Evan goes back to the very basics of his mission — and this time, the truly desperate is a little girl who wants him to find her missing dog.
Not his usual mission, and not one Evan embraces with enthusiasm, but this unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet, one that finds him battered between twisted AI technocrat billionaires, a mysterious female assassin who seems a mirror of himself, and personal stakes so gut-wrenching he can scarcely make sense of them.
Evan’s mission pushes him to his limit – he must find and take down the assassin known only as the Wolf, before she succeeds in completing her mission and killing the people who can identify her — a teenaged daughter of her last target, and Evan himself. Matched skill for skill, instinct for instinct, Evan must outwit an opponent who will literally stop at nothing if he is to survive.
The ninth novel in Hurwitz’s best-selling and entertaining Orphan X series. I’ve been catching up on the series this year, in preparation for the release of this book. (I’ve been letting too many favourite series languish unread, so I’ve decided to make a point of catching up on as many of them as possible, as soon as possible — why save for later?) I’ll be reading this very soon. Lone Wolf is out now, published by Minotaur Books in North America and Penguin in the UK.
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Vera Kurian, A STEP PAST DARKNESS (Park Row)
Six classmates. One terrifying night. A murder twenty years in the making.
There’s something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it’s not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives.
The six couldn’t be more different.
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- Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch
- Kelly, the bookworm next door
- James, a cynical burnout
- Casey, a loveable football player
- Padma, the shy straight-A student
- Jia, who’s starting to see visions she can’t explain
When they realize that they can’t trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence, and promise to never contact each other again. Their plan works — almost.
Twenty years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls — Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time.
This is the second novel by the author of the excellent Never Saw Me Coming. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this novel ever since finishing the author’s debut. A Step Past Darkness is out now, published by Park Row in North America (at the time of writing, I couldn’t find any information about a UK publisher).
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Richard Lange, JOE HUSTLE (Mulholland)
Joe Hustle has never had much luck — but things start looking up when he meets an intriguing new woman and scores a rare windfall. Can he outrun disaster long enough to turn things around?
Joe Hustle is a survivor. A Gulf War vet and ex-con always one stumble away from catastrophe, he manages to scrape together enough money from various jobs to eke out a precarious existence on the darker fringes of Los Angeles. When he meets Emily, the black-sheep daughter of a wealthy family, the two spark an instant connection — she seems like the best thing to happen to him in a while.
But their whirlwind romance is put to the test when what starts out as a simple favor for a friend leaves Joe homeless, unemployed, and on the wrong side of a vengeful drug dealer. An impulsive offer to go on a road trip with Emily promises to take them out of harm’s way — but may only lead to more chaos.
Part hard-boiled love story, part thriller, part portrait of a tormented yet resilient soul, Joe Hustle ratchets up the tension as it rockets from the after-hours clubs and dive bars of the mean streets of L.A. to the mansions of the Hollywood Hills and, finally, to the desolate highways of the Southwest. What emerges is a gritty portrait of a man who may be down but can never be counted out.
I haven’t managed to get fully caught up on Lange’s books, yet, but what I have read I’ve really enjoyed. So, I’m always on the lookout for more by him. Joe Hustle is due to be published by Mulholland Books in North America and in the UK, on June 25th.
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Review copy received via NetGalley
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Mike Lawson, KINGPIN (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Carson Newman doesn’t wear tracksuits. He doesn’t have a consigliere or operate out of the back room of a restaurant. And as evidenced by his ever-growing Boston empire, he doesn’t get his hands dirty. Usually.
Joe DeMarco, on the other hand, is paid to get his hands dirty. So, when John Mahoney, the former Speaker of the House, calls, DeMarco knows it’s time to get to work. Brian Lewis, an intern for Mahoney, has been found dead, seemingly from a drug overdose. But Brian didn’t seem like a drug user, and even more concerning, he seemed to be on the cusp of releasing a report that identified a group of politicians who had taken bribes in helping dismantle a recent bill.
Brian’s mom is convinced that Brian was murdered because of what he’d learned, and it doesn’t take long for DeMarco to come to a similar conclusion.
In a city full of shadowy agreements and duplicitous deals, DeMarco will soon learn that to get to the bottom of Brian’s death, he’ll have to look at people perched the very top of the world.
This is the 17th novel in Lawson’s excellent Joe DeMarco series. I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed all of them, and I read this one pretty much as soon as I got it. Now I just have to settle in and wait for book 18… Kingpin is out now, published by Atlantic Monthly Press in North America and in the UK.
Also on CR: Reviews of House Rules/Dead on Arrival, House Secrets, House Justice, House Divided, House Blood, House Reckoning, House Rivals, House Arrest
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Benjamin Liar, THE FAILURES (DAW Books)
Welcome to the Wanderlands.
A vast machine made for reasons unknown, the Wanderlands was broken long ago. First went the sky, splintering and cracking, and then very slowly, the whole machine—the whole world—began to go dark.
Meet the Failures.
Following the summons of a strange dream, a scattering of adventurers, degenerates, and children find themselves drawn toward the same place: the vast underground Keep. They will discover there that they have been called for a purpose—and that purpose could be the destruction of everything they love.
The end is nigh.
For below the Keep, imprisoned in the greatest cage ever built by magicians and gods, lies the buried Giant. It is the most powerful of its kind, and its purpose is the annihilation of all civilization. But any kind of power, no matter how terrible, is precious in the dimming Wanderlands, and those that crave it are making their moves.
All machines can be broken, and the final cracks are spreading. It will take only the careless actions of two cheerful monsters to tip the Wanderlands towards an endless dark…or help it find its way back to the light.
This is the first book in a new series, The Wanderlands — it’s pitched as “genre-breaking blend of apocalyptic sci-fi and epic fantasy”. The novel has been getting a fair bit of pre-publication buzz, and the premise is certainly intriguing. The Failures is due to be published by DAW Books in North America and in the UK, on July 2nd.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Threads
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Robert W. Merry, DECADE OF DISUNION (Simon & Schuster)
Exploring a critical lesson about our nation that is as timely today as ever, Decade of Disunion shows how the country came apart during the enveloping slavery crisis of the 1850s.
The Mexican War brought vast new territories to the United States, which precipitated a growing crisis over slavery. The new territories seemed unsuitable for the type of agriculture that depended on slave labor, but they lay south of the line where slavery was permitted by the 1820 Missouri Compromise. The subject of expanding slavery to the new territories became a flash point between North and South.
First came the 1850 compromise legislation, which strengthened the fugitive slave law and outraged the North. Then in 1854, Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise altogether, unleashing a violent conflict in “Bleeding Kansas” over whether that territory would become free or slave. The 1857 Dred Scott decision — abrogating any rights of African Americans, enslaved or free — further outraged the North. And John Brown’s ill-planned 1859 attack at the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry stirred anger and fear throughout the South.
Through a decade, South Carolina, whose economy depended heavily on slave labor, struggled over whether to secede in a stand-alone act of defiance or to do so only in conjunction with other states. Meanwhile, Massachusetts became the country’s antislavery epicenter but debated whether the Constitution was worth saving in the effort to abolish bondage. Both states widened the divide between North and South until disunion became inevitable. Then, in December 1860, in the wake of the Lincoln election, South Carolina finally seceded, leading the South out of the Union.
Beginning with the deaths of the great second-generation figures of American history — Calhoun, Webster, and Clay — Decade of Disunion tells the story of this great American struggle through the aims, fears, and maneuvers of the subsequent prominent figures at the center of the drama, with particular attention to the key players from Massachusetts and South Carolina.
This history is a sobering reminder that democracy is not self-sustaining — it must be constantly and carefully tended.
Sounded interesting, and I’ve enjoyed Merry’s books in the past. Looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. (Might be a little while, though, as I have grading and other jobs involving politics and history for the next couple of months.) Decade of Disunion is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America and in the UK, on July 23rd.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Henry H. Neff, THE WITCHSTONE (Blackstone)
Meet Laszlo, eight-hundred-year-old demon and Hell’s least productive Curse Keeper. From his office beneath Midtown, he oversees the Drakeford Curse, which involves a pathetic family upstate and a mysterious black stone. It’s a sexy enough assignment — colonial origins, mutating victims, et cetera — but Laszlo has no interest in maximizing the curse’s potential; he’d rather sunbathe in Ibiza, quaff martinis, and hustle the hustlers on Manhattan’s subway. Unfortunately, his division has new management, and Laszlo’s ratings are so abysmal that he’s given six days to shape up or he’ll be melted down and returned to the Primordial Ooze.
Meet Maggie Drakeford, nineteen-year-old Curse Bearer. All she’s ever known is the dreary corner of the Catskills where the Drakeford Curse has devoured her father’s humanity and is rapidly laying claim to her own. The future looks hopeless, until Laszlo appears at the Drakeford farmhouse one October night and informs them that they have six days — and six days only — to break the spell before it becomes permanent. Can Maggie trust the glib and handsome Laszlo? Of course not. But she also can’t pass up an opportunity to save her family, even if it means having a demon as a guide…
Thus begins a breakneck international adventure that takes our unlikely duo from a hot dog stand in Central Park to the mountains of Liechtenstein. As the clock ticks down, tough-as-nails Maggie and conniving Laszlo will uncover a secret so profound that what began as a farcical quest to break a curse will eventually threaten the very Lords of Hell.
I’m often quite wary of novels that are pitched as “laugh-out-loud funny”, but the premise for Neff’s upcoming novel was intriguing enough for me to give it a try. Looking forward to doing so, soon. The Witchstone is due to be published by Blackstone Publishing in North America and in the UK, on June 18th.
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Review copy received via NetGalley
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Sarah Tomlinson, THE LAST DAYS OF THE MIDNIGHT RAMBLERS (Flatiron)
Three Rock & Roll icons. Two explosive tell-all memoirs. One ghostwriter caught in the middle.
Anke Berben is ready to tell all. A legendary model and style icon, she reveled in headline-grabbing romances with not one but three members of the hugely influential rock band the Midnight Ramblers. The band members were as famous for their backstage drama as for their music, and Anke is the only one who fully understands the tangled relationships, betrayals, and suspicions that have added to the Ramblers’ enduring appeal and mystique. That is most evident in the mystery around Anke’s role in the death of Mal, the band’s founder and Anke’s husband, in 1969.
When Mari Hawthorn accepts the job to work with Anke on her memoir, she is dead set on getting to the truth of Mal’s death. She has always been deft at navigating the fatal charms of celebrities, having grown up with a narcissistic, alcoholic father. As she ingratiates herself into the world of the band, she grows enchanted, against her better judgment, by these legendary rock stars. She knows she can’t get pulled in too deep, otherwise she’ll compromise her objectivity — and her integrity.
I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I saw it in the publisher’s catalogue. I started reading it the day it came out, but it was just before we went on a trip — I’m not sure about others, but I just can’t focus on reading when I’m travelling. So, despite very much liking what I’d read up to that point, I put it aside and returned to it after I got home. The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers is out now, published by Flatiron Books in North America and in the UK.
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Ed Zwick, HITS, FLOPS, AND OTHER ILLUSIONS (Gallery)
This heartfelt and wry career memoir from the director of Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Legends of the Fall, About Last Night, and Glory, creator of the show thirtysomething, and executive producer of My So-Called Life, gives a dishy, behind-the-scenes look at working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
“I’ll be dropping a few names,” Ed Zwick confesses in the introduction to his book. “Over the years I have worked with self-proclaimed masters-of-the-universe, unheralded geniuses, hacks, sociopaths, savants, and saints.”
He has encountered these Hollywood types during four decades of directing, producing, and writing projects that have collectively received eighteen Academy Award nominations (seven wins) and sixty-seven Emmy nominations (twenty-two wins). Though there are many factors behind such success, including luck and the contributions of his creative partner Marshall Herskovitz, he’s known to have a special talent for bringing out the best in the people he’s worked with, especially the actors. In those intense collaborations, he’s sought to discover the small pieces of connective tissue, vulnerability, and fellowship that can help an actor realize their character in full.
Talents whom he spotted early include Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington, Claire Danes, and Jared Leto. Established stars he worked closely with include Leonardo DiCaprio, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Craig, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Connelly. He also sued Harvey Weinstein over the production of Shakespeare in Love — and won. He shares personal stories about all these people, and more.
Written mostly with love, sometimes with rue, this memoir is also a meditation on working, sprinkled throughout with tips for anyone who has ever imagined writing, directing, or producing for the screen. Fans with an appreciation for the beautiful mysteries — as well as the unsightly, often comic truths — of crafting film and television won’t want to miss it.
I’m a big fan of Hollywood/entertainment memoirs, so given Zwick’s incredible (and long) career thus-far, this was bound to be of interest to me. I also bought the audiobook, so I’ll be alternating between the two (memoirs are good company for long walks around the city). Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions is out now, published by Gallery Books in North America and in the UK.
Civilian Reader 