Featuring: Mike Brooks, Joseph Finder, John French, Richard Grant, James Lee Hernandez & Brian Lazarte, Luis Jaramillo, Joseph Kanon, Alma Katsu, Hayley Krischer, David List, Hannah McGregor, Robert Rath, Neal Stephenson, Andrea Warner, Thomas J. Whalen

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Mike Brooks, LELITH HESPERAX (Black Library)

The Drukhari city of Commorragh is without question one of the worst places in the universe – giving even the warp a run for its money – and those who thrive in its dark and treacherous streets are brought up on a diet of murder, intrigue, and more murder. This urban hellscape is what created Lelith Hesperax – the deadliest gladiator in the galaxy, and the slayer of countless souls on the grim blood sands of the Dark City’s arenas.

In the darkest corners of the webway lies the city of Commorragh. Home to the sadistic drukhari, millions are butchered upon its arenas’ sands to slake their terrible thirst for blood.

Greatest of these butchers is Lelith Hesperax, the Queen of Knives, deadliest gladiator in the galaxy. But she has abandoned the Dark City to walk alongside the nomadic death cultists of the Ynnead, and in her absence rise pretenders to her blood-soaked crown.

When a blade strikes at Lelith from the shadows, she is dragged back to Commorragh and into the murderous games of the Living Muse himself – Asdrubael Vect. As his schemes coil around her, the Queen of Knives finds herself ensnared once more in Vect’s terrible web, and this time her blades may not be enough to free her…

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Brooks so far, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with this character. Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives is out now, published by Black Library, in North America and in the UK.

Also on CR: Interview with Mike Brooks (2015)

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Joseph Finder, THE OLIGARCH’S DAUGHTER (Harper)

Paul Brightman is a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. When his security is breached, Paul is forced to flee into the New Hampshire wilderness to evade Russian operatives who can seemingly predict his every move.

Six years ago, Paul was a rising star on Wall Street who fell in love with a beautiful photographer named Tatyana — unaware that her father was a Russian oligarch and the object of considerable interest from several US intelligence agencies. Now, to save his own life, Paul must unravel a decades-old conspiracy that extends to the highest reaches of the government.

Rivalling the classic spy novels of the Cold War, The Oligarch’s Daughter is a breakneck thriller built for the frightening world we live in now.

It has been a very long time since I last read a Joseph Finder novel. I’m not entirely sure why it’s been so long. When I saw this available for review, I thought it would be a good return to the author’s work. The Oligarch’s Daughter is due to be published by Harper, on January 28th, 2025.

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

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John French, AHRIMAN UNDYING (Black Library)

The greatest sorcerer of the Thousand Sons has finally found the relic he’s been searching for – the Key of Infinity. But is it too late for him to use it?

Ahriman languishes on the threshold of space and time, adrift in a sub-realm of unknowable dimension and aspect. He has found it at long last: the ancient device known to the necrons as the Key of Infinity. This should be his moment of triumph – but he is not the Ahriman he used to be. Betrayed and lost, he is a solitary sorcerer, bereft of allies, standing amongst the smashed and ruined ephemera of his grand designs. With his dreams as dust and his Legion consumed by the fires of the Pyrodomon, Ahriman must fight his way across the shattered remnants of his past if he is to have any hope of saving his future.

Ahriman returns! I’ve been a fan of the character since he was introduced in an old WH40k Codex, and French’s novels and short stories about the character (not to mention his appearances in the Horus Heresy series) have all been great. Very glad he’s returning in a new novel. Ahriman Undying is out now, published by Black Library in North America and in the UK.

Also on CR: Reviews of Ahriman series – Exile, Exodus, Sorcerer, and Unchained; Praetorian of Dorn, Slaves of Darkness, The Solar War

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Richard Grant, A RACE TO THE BOTTOM OF CRAZY (Simon & Schuster)

The bestselling author of Dispatches from Pluto and The Deepest South of All turns his sharp wit and observational powers on the epicenter of America’s most divisive issues: Arizona.

When Richard Grant and his wife moved with their four-year-old daughter back to Tucson, Arizona, where the couple first met, he expected to easily rekindle his love of the region. Instead, he found a housing market gone haywire, rampant election conspiracies, and right-wing political violence alarmingly close to his home and family. Undocumented immigration was surging, and the state was also on the front lines of climate change, breaking heat and drought records, and running out of long-term water supplies. Under these circumstances, Grant wondered how he might raise a happy, well-adjusted child who believes in the future. Yet these concerns weren’t keeping people away: Arizona was simultaneously experiencing some of the nation’s highest population growth.

In A Race to the Bottom of Crazy, Grant mixes memoir, research, and reporting in a quest to understand what makes Arizona such a confounding and irresistible place. He visits the world’s largest machine-gun shoot; takes a sunset boat cruise with a US Congressman and a group of far-right patriots; rides through the desert with a Border Patrol agent; and goes camping with his family in breathtaking mountain ranges that rise out of the desert like islands in the sky. Interspersed with these adventures are recollections of his previous stint in the state, including his friendship with cult writer Charles Bowden and years living off the grid with smugglers, dope farmers, and outlaws on the Mexican border. Ultimately, Grant arrives at the conclusion that Arizona has always been a scattershot improvisation, with bizarre and extreme behavior in its DNA.

This book is an entertaining, illuminating, and essential guide to understanding modern America at its most overheated.

Thought this sounded interesting, so taking a punt on it. A Race to the Bottom of Crazy is due to be published by Simon & Schuster, on September 17th.

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

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James Lee Hernandez & Brian Lazarte, McMILLION$ (Grand Central)

In this stranger than fiction story of the massive crime network that rigged the McDonald’s monopoly game for decades, unlock new, exclusive interviews and stories that couldn’t make it into the HBO docuseries, McMillion$. Perfect for readers of Argo, The Wizard of Lies, and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

In March of 2001, Federal prosecutor Mark Devereaux cold-called Rob Holm, the head of security for McDonald’s Corporation. Without explanation, Devereaux asked that Holm and several other McDonald’s senior executives plan a visit to the Jacksonville, Florida, FBI, and tell no one about their intended destination. It wasn’t up for discussion. Upon their arrival, Devereaux watched them closely, looking at body language, checking for tells. To him, they were all potential suspects.

Once they were seated in an unremarkable conference room, sealed away in the hyper-secure FBI building, Devereaux began to lay out a shocking conspiracy, one that ran deep into McDonald’s most beloved promotions: the Monopoly game. This is where they began to discover from 1989 to 2001, almost every high-value prize winner was actually illegitimate. But how could this happen and who all was behind it? A rookie FBI agent and a brilliant undercover operation led them to one man who brilliantly crafted a near-infallible nationwide conspiracy for fraud.

Expanded from the wildly popular HBO docuseries with major new interviews, McMillion$ traces this massive crime, the intricate web of lies that bolstered it, and the tireless work of the FBI agents that unraveled it all. It is a story littered with tragedy: families torn apart, betrayals, financial ruin, and one suspicious car crash. Yet, there are bright spots in the hijinks of the FBI agents and their co-conspirators. Ultimately, it is a story of what happens when the American dream goes very wrong.

I remember hearing about this story years ago. I also remember saving a long article and podcast episode about it… And then never getting caught up on them. Maybe, with this book-length account of the case, I’ll finally learn all about it? Looking forward to reading this as soon as possible. McMillions is due to be published by Grand Central Publications in North America and in the UK, on August 6th.

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

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Luis Jaramillo, THE WITCHES OF EL PASO (Atria/Primero Sueno Press)

A lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this richly imagined and empowering story of motherhood, magic, and legacy…

If you call to the witches, they will come.

1943, El Paso, Texas: teenager Nena spends her days caring for the small children of her older sisters, while longing for a life of freedom and adventure. The premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood are getting worse, and Nena worries she’ll end up like the scary old curandera down the street. Nena prays for help, and when the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time. In colonial Mexico, Nena grows into her power, finding love and learning that magic always comes with a price.

In the present day, Nena’s grandniece, Marta, balances a struggling legal aid practice with motherhood and the care of the now ninety-three-year-old Nena. When Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past, the two forge a fierce connection. Marta’s own supernatural powers emerge, awakening her to new possibilities that threaten the life she has constructed.

The publisher reached out a few times about this novel, so I decided to give it a try. Intriguing premise. The Witches of El Paso is due to be published by Atria/Primero Sueno Press, in North America and in the UK, on October 8th.

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Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Joseph Kanon, SHANGHAI (Scribner)

Pre-World War II Shanghai, where glamour and squalor exist side by side and murder is just a cost of doing business. A love affair against all odds, a city dancing on the rim of a volcano — Shanghai is the story of a political haven that becomes a minefield of conflicting loyalties.

After the violence of Kristallnacht (1938), European Jews, now desperate to emigrate, found the consular doors of the world closed to them. Only one port required no entry visa: Shanghai, a self-governing Western trading enclave in what was technically Chinese territory, a political anomaly that became an escape hatch — if you were lucky enough to afford a ticket on one of the great Lloyd liners sailing to the East and safety.

Daniel Lohr was one of the lucky ones — lucky enough to have escaped the Gestapo when his colleagues in the resistance were caught, lucky to have an uncle waiting in Shanghai, lucky to find a casual shipboard flirtation turn unexpectedly passionate. But even lucky refugees have to confront the reality of Shanghai. With all their assets, and passports confiscated by the Nazis, they arrive penniless and stateless in a tumultuous, nearly lawless city notorious for vice. When you can sink fast, how far are you willing to go to survive? What lines do you cross? As Daniel tries to navigate his way through his uncle’s world in Shanghai’s fabled nightlife, he finds himself increasingly ensnared in a maze where politics and crime are two sides of the same shiny coin. The trick, his uncle tells him, is to stay one step ahead. But how do you stay ahead of murder? How do you outrun your own past?

Joseph Kanon is an author I have wanted to read for a long time — but, for reasons that are quite beyond me, have never got around to doing so. It’s especially strange, because all of his novels sound interesting and very much within my preferred genres. Let’s see if I can finally fix this oversight. Shanghai is out now, published by Scribner in North America, and Simon & Schuster in the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter

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Alma Katsu, THE SPY WHO VANISHED (Amazon Publishing)

A renowned spy’s reputation is put to the test when he becomes an ally to his former enemy in the first installment of Yuri Kozlov’s trilogy from Alma Katsu, the award-winning author of Red Widow.

Yuri Kozlov is well known as the “Russian James Bond.” So when he defects to the United States during Putin’s war on Ukraine, suspicions arise around his loyalties. To prove he’s turned over a new leaf, he’ll have to convince his handlers — and the CIA’s rigorous debriefing and analysis — that his intentions are as honorable as he claims.

The Vanishing Man is part of The Spy Who Vanished, a three-part journey into the political unrest that forces Russia’s most famous spy to choose between his legacy and who he wants to become. Read or listen to each immersive story in a single sitting.

I read this trilogy as soon as I got the DRC. I’ve been a fan of Katsu’s fiction for some time — especially her espionage books — and this trilogy of short stories offers another excellent tale of spies and hidden agendas. I really enjoyed this series, and recommend it to everyone who’s enjoyed Katsu’s work in the past, and also anyone who’s interested in giving her work a try. The Spy Who Vanished series is out now, published by Amazon Publishing, in North America and in the UK.

Also on CR: Interview with Alma Katsu (2013); Reviews of Red Widow and Red London

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

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Hayley Krischer, WHERE ARE YOU, ECHO BLUE? (Dutton)

When Echo Blue, the most famous child star of the nineties, disappears ahead of a highly publicized television appearance on the eve of the millennium, the salacious theories instantly start swirling. Mostly, people assume Echo has gotten herself in trouble after a reckless New Year’s Eve. But Goldie Klein, an ambitious young journalist who also happens to be Echo’s biggest fan, knows there must be more to the story. Why, on the eve of her big comeback, would Echo just go missing without a trace?

After a year of covering dreary local stories for Manhattan Eye, Goldie is sure this will be her big break. Who better to find Echo Blue, and tell her story the right way, than her? And so, Goldie heads to L.A. to begin a wild search that takes her deep into Echo’s complicated life in which parental strife, friend break ups, rehab stints, and bad romances abound. But the further into Echo’s world Goldie gets, the more she questions her own complicity in the young star’s demise… yet she cannot tear herself away from this story, which has now consumed her entirely. Meanwhile, we also hear Echo’s side of things from the beginning, showing a young woman who was chewed up and spit out by Hollywood as so many are, and who may have had to pay the ultimate price.

As these young women’s poignant and unexpected journeys unfold, and eventually meet, Where Are You, Echo Blue? interrogates celebrity culture, the thin line between admiration and obsession, and what it means to tell other peoples’ stories, all while ushering us on an unruly ride to find out what did become of Echo Blue.

The premise for this novel caught my attention (probably unsurprising, given my interest in Hollywood-set fiction). I started reading it the day I got the DRC, and I quite enjoyed it — it had a lot to say about toxic fandom — but it ultimately fell just a little flat at the end. I think this will appeal to fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid. Where Are You, Echo Blue? is out now, published by Dutton, in North America and in the UK.

Also on CR: Review of Where Are You, Echo Blue?

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

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Hannah McGregor, CLEVER GIRL: JURASSIC PARK (ECW Press)

A smart and incisive exploration of everyone’s favorite dinosaur movie and the female dinosaurs who embody what it means to be angry, monstrous, and free

The Jurassic Park series is one of the most famous and profitable movie franchises of all time — an entire generation of people has never known life without these CGI dinosaurs. The movie spectacle broke film and merchandising records, pioneered special effects, and made Jeff Goldblum into an unlikely sex symbol, and now it has also been re-envisioned as a classic of queer feminist storytelling.

In Clever Girl, Hannah McGregor argues that the female-only dinosaurs of Jurassic Park are stand-ins for monstrous women, engineered by men to be intelligent, violent, and adaptive, and whose chaos resists the systems designed to control them. As they run wild through their prison, a profit-driven theme park, they destroy the men and structures who mistakenly believed in their own colonialist and capitalist power, showing the audience what it means to be angry, monstrous, and free. The velociraptors were not just jump scares for children but also revelatory and predatory symbols of feminist rage. Clever girls, indeed.

I remember seeing Jurassic Park when it came out in theatres, shortly before starting at a new school. I had a Jurassic Park pencil case for years. So, very much looking forward to reading this. Clever Girl: Jurassic Park is due to be published by ECW Press, in North America and in the UK, on October 1st.

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

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Robert Rath, THE FALL OF CADIA (Black Library)

Cadia. This proud world stood defiant for centuries – a bulwark against the forces of Chaos residing in the Eye of Terror. All of this would change when it was targeted for destruction by Abaddon the Despoiler as part of his Thirteenth Black Crusade.

Cadia licks its wounds in the wake of the Thirteenth Black Crusade. The heretic forces retreat on all fronts. The day is won. But Lord Castellan Creed cannot rest easy. Something tells him the assault was a mere prelude to something greater, something more final. He is right. Out of the Eye of Terror comes Abaddon the Despoiler, at the head of a warhost unmatched in scale since the dread days of the Horus Heresy.

In the face of the looming apocalypse, Creed must weld the champions of Cadia into a bulwark capable of withstanding Abaddon’s fury. And in orbit, the Despoiler himself finds his own alliance teetering on a knife edge…

This is a tale told at epic scale, from the tables of high command to the slaughter of the pylon fields, and with a huge cast of characters from self-styled demigods to the rank-and-file foot soldiers of the Imperium.

This is the story of Abaddon’s greatest conquest. This is Cadia’s last stand.

I have managed to fall far behind on Black Library’s Cadia fiction — its fall was a pivotal event in its recent meta-story, and has been the subject of a few novels (as has the aftermath). The Fall of Cadia is now available in paperback, so I decided it was time to get caught up — hope to do so soon. The Fall of Cadia is out now, published by Black Library, in North America and in the UK.

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David List, WHAT ARE THE ODDS (Blackstone)

Ray Dawson, a former NYPD detective unfairly forced into early retirement, never thought he would get another chance to be with his second wife and love of his life, Stephanie. So when she opens the door to the possibility, he spends his savings on an extravagant romantic getaway at a resort in Costa Rica. But Ray is still as much a cop as he is a man, and when, in the hotel elevator, he has a chance encounter with Wilbur Bailey — a wily, neurotic, and environmentally conscious fugitive with a $5 million bounty on his head — things get complicated.

IRS special agent Phil Dancourt is determined to bust Mika Salko, the corrupt CEO of Houston based Amco Oil, and believes Wilbur Bailey, an Amco analyst with a conscience, is the one guy on the inside who could help bring Salko down. But in a bizarre twist, Bailey embezzles millions and disappears, putting Phil’s job on the line. Now, after Wilbur is sighted in Costa Rica, Phil is sent to retrieve him. But from the moment he steps off the plane and crosses paths with Ray and Wilbur, nothing goes as planned.

The encounter propels the three men into a harrowing, death-defying, life-changing, and often hilarious journey, attracting unwanted attention from a heroin-addicted dishwasher, a powerful, corrupt CEO, bloodthirsty gangs and drug cartels, and pandering government watchdogs. Along the way, they come face to face, in unexpected ways, with life’s larger questions: friendship, love, loss, faith, and the commitment to values larger than oneself. What results is a trio of unlikely friends, and Ray can only hope that once it’s all over, Stephanie will still be there.

I recently watched Confess, Fletch, an amusing caper-movie starring Jon Hamm. Shortly thereafter, I spotted David List’s debut novel on Edelweiss, and thought it sounded rather good. I was lucky enough to receive a DRC, and I hope to get to it as soon as I can. (On a side-note: I really wish publishers were consistent in the types of eARCs they provide — ePub, always, please. Nobody likes PDF.) What Are the Odds is due to be published by Blackstone Publishing, in North America and in the UK, on October 22nd.

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

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Neal Stephenson, POLOSTAN (Borough Press)

The first installment in a monumental new trilogy: an expansive historical epic of intrigue and international espionage, presaging the dawn of the Atomic Age.

The first installment in Neal Stephenson’s Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora. She spends her early years in Russia but then grows up as a teenager in Montana, before being drawn into gun running and revolution in the streets of Washington, D.C. during the depths of the Great Depression. When a surprising revelation about her past puts her in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities, Dawn returns to Russia, where she is groomed as a spy by the organization that later becomes the KGB.

The first novel in Neal Stephenson’s new Bomb Light series. After a string of door-stopping-in-length stand-alone novels, Stephenson launches a new series. And I am very much looking forward to reading it. Polostan is due to be published by Borough Press in the UK (September 26th), and William Morrow in North America (October 15th).

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

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Andrea Warner, WE OUGHTA KNOW (ECW Press)

A lively collection of essays that re-examines the extraordinary legacies of the four Canadian women who dominated ’90s music and changed the industry forever

Fully revised and updated, with a foreword by Vivek Shraya

In this of-the-moment essay collection, celebrated music journalist Andrea Warner explores the ways in which Céline Dion, Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette, and Sarah McLachlan became legit global superstars and revolutionized ’90s music. In an era when male-fronted musical acts were given magazine covers, Grammys and Junos, and serious critical consideration, these four women were reduced, mocked, and disparaged by the media and became pop culture jokes even as their recordings were demolishing sales records. The world is now reconsidering the treatment and reputations of key women in ’90s entertainment, and We Oughta Know is a crucial part of that conversation.

With empathy, humor, and reflections on her own teenaged perceptions of Céline, Shania, Alanis, and Sarah, Warner offers us a new perspective on the music and legacies of the four Canadian women who dominated the ’90s airwaves and influenced an entire generation of current-day popstars with their voices, fashion, and advocacy.

As someone who grew up in 90s UK, it was impossible to miss the music of Céline Dion, Shania Twain, and Alan’s Morissette (I don’t remember Sarah McLachlan being as big over there, but I could be misremembering). Looking forward to reading this, in part as a trip down memory lane. We Oughta Know is due to be published by ECW Press, in North America and in the UK, on October 15th.

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

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Thomas J. Whalen, DYNASTY RESTORED (Rowman & Littlefield)

A historic look at the fabled 1983-84 Boston Celtics and an unforgettable season.

Ronald Reagan declares the Soviet Union an Evil Empire. The Apple Macintosh personal computer makes its debut. Michael Jackson’s Thriller album dominates the pop charts. And Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics capture the NBA championship over Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the Los Angeles Lakers. It was 1984, and for the NBA and the nation, the year was full of milestone moments.

In Dynasty Restored: How Larry Bird and the 1984 Boston Celtics Conquered the NBA and Changed Basketball, Thomas J. Whalen explores this fascinating and dramatic season. The NBA had been struggling, seen as a minor sports league and suffering from poor attendance, lagging television ratings, and embarrassing drug scandals. The Celtics were beset by locker room turmoil, disruptive coaching, ownership changes, and underperforming stars. But Whalen reveals how that all changed when Bird and his fellow “Big Three” frontcourt teammates Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, along with newcomer Dennis Johnson, banded together to lift the venerable franchise to its fifteenth world championship and helped to transform the league into a global entertainment brand.

Dynasty Restored offers insight into the personal barriers Larry Bird had to overcome to achieve NBA stardom, discusses the personal tensions that existed on the team between Bird and McHale, and gives a probing analysis of the unique pressures Black Celtics players faced in a post-Boston Busing Crisis environment. And it shows how this singular season turbocharged the Celtics and the professional game to unprecedented heights.

This is Whalen’s second “Dynasty” book about the Boston Celtics. (The first, Dynasty’s End, is a little difficult to find; but maybe the Celtics’ NBA championship this year will encourage a more-widely-available re-issue.) Dynasty Restored is due to be published by Rowman & Littlefield, on October 15th.

Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via NetGalley