Featuring: David Baldacci, Josh Brolin, Peter Fracassi, Carolyn Huynh, Stephen Graham Jones, Elizabeth Kaufman, Al Pacino, Chris Pavone, Michael “Sugar” Ray Richardson, Curtis Sittenfeld, Richard Swan, John Warner

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David Baldacci, A CALAMITY OF SOULS (Grand Central)

Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, a racially charged murder case sets a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully accused Black defendants…

Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism—until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. He quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what’s at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.

Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for all. She enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in the Commonwealth. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era.

Lee and DuBose could not be more dissimilar. On their own, neither one can stop the prosecution’s deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair.  But together, the pair fight for what once seemed impossible: a chance for a fair trial and true justice.

Over a decade in the making, A Calamity of Souls breathes richly imagined and detailed life into a bygone era, taking the reader through a world that will seem both foreign and familiar.

It is becoming next-to-impossible to keep up with David Baldacci’s releases… This is by no means a bad “problem” to have. Rather, it just makes me a little guilty about the ever-growing number of books that are going unread for so long… I haven’t read any of the author’s historical novels, yet, but I’ve heard very good things about this one. Decided to finally get it, and hope to read it soon. A Calamity of Souls is out now, published by Grand Central Publishing in North America, and Macmillan in the UK.

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Josh Brolin, FROM UNDER THE TRUCK (Harper)

Weaving a latticework of different strands, moving back and forth through time, Josh Brolin captures a life marked by curiosity, pain, devotion, kindness, humor. He recounts an unconventional childhood far from Hollywood.

Raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, he was surrounded as a child by the wolves, cougars, and other wild animals gathered by his fearless and explosive mother, Jane Agee Brolin. Her tragic, early death haunts this book, and the force of her unforgettable personality is felt throughout.

Brolin also brings to life his career in the film industry — from his breakout role in The Goonies to the set of No Country for Old Men — and the professional and personal ups and downs in between and since. With unflinching honesty but also great humor, he shares insights into relationships, addiction, love, and fatherhood, while letting the white space in between words speak for itself. 

Grappling with the mysteries of life and death in a way that will catch readers by surprise, From Under the Truck is an audacious and riveting memoir from a born writer.

I can’t remember the first thing I saw Josh Brolin in — I assume it was a movie, but he’s always been great. As a long-time fan of memoirs, and after hearing Brolin on a lot of my favourite podcasts, I thought I’d give this a try. I’ll be starting later today. From Under the Truck is out now, published by Harper in North America and in the UK.

Follow the Author: Website, IMDb, Goodreads, Instagram

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Peter Fracassi, THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL (Orbit)

Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.

A scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning.

Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She’s built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time — to any point in the traveler’s lifetime — and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it’s not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe.

After Beth’s husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella — their only daughter—and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology.

Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp.

As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.

Thought this sounded interesting, and I was pre-approved for a DRC. I’ve always liked time-travel stories (perhaps a result of my childhood re-watching Back to the Future movies countless times), but I also realized that I don’t read much of it… Not sure why that is. Looking forward to trying it; and it’ll the first of Fracassi’s novels that I’ve read. The Third Rule of Time Travel is due to be published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK, on March 18th, 2025.

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Review copy received via NetGalley

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Carolyn Huynh, THE FAMILY RECIPE (Atria Books)

Duc Tran, the eccentric founder of the Vietnamese sandwich chain Duc’s Sandwiches, has decided to retire. No one has heard from his wife, Evelyn, in two decades. She abandoned the family without a trace, and clearly doesn’t want anything to do with Duc, the business, or their kids. But the money has to go to someone. With the help of the shady family lawyer, Duc informs his five estranged adult children that to receive their inheritance, his four daughters must revitalize run-down shops in old-school Little Saigon locations across America: Houston, San Jose, New Orleans, and Philadelphia — within a year. But if the first-born (and only) son, Jude, gets married first, everything will go to him.

Each daughter is stuck in a new city, battling gentrification, declining ethnic enclaves, and messy love lives, while struggling to modernize their father’s American dream. Jude wonders if he wants to marry for love or for money — or neither. As Duc’s children scramble to win their inheritance, they begin to learn the real intention behind the inheritance scheme — and the secret their mother kept tucked away in the old fishing tackle box, all along.

The Family Recipe is about rediscovering one’s roots, different types of fatherly love, legacy, and finding a place in a divided country where the only commonality among your neighbors is the universal love of sandwiches.

Trying to mix up what I read, and the synopsis for Huynh’s next novel caught my attention. Hope to read it soon, but will hold off posting a review until closer to release. The Family Recipe is due to be published by Atria Books in North America, on April 1st, 2025.

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Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Stephen Graham Jones, THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER (Saga Press)

A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits.

I have not read nearly enough of Stephen Graham Jones’s fiction. The author’s latest sounds particularly excellent and intriguing, so I’ll be reading this very soon. The Vampire Buffalo Hunter is due to be published by Saga Press in North America and Titan Books in the UK, on March 18th, 2025.

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

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Elizabeth Kaufman, RUTH RUN (Penguin Press)

Cybercrime leads to a cross-country pursuit as an ambitious, misfit young thief exploits a hacked microchip to rob banks, and learns too late that the wrong people have been watching her

Twenty-six-year-old Ruth excels at microchip design but decides to get rich the old-fashioned way: robbing banks. She becomes a cybercriminal and devotes five years to siphoning more than $250 million out of the banking system using a hacked firewall chip that she created and only she knows how to access. Then one night an alarm goes off and she realizes she’s been discovered.

Five hours later she’s on the run, chased across California and the West by a slew of government agents who see her as both a high-level national security threat and a potential intelligence asset. They’ll catch her dead or alive — whatever it takes to make sure no one else discovers what she knows. Each of these men is obsessed with the woman he’s hunting, certain he knows what makes her tick. But Ruth, always a step ahead, armed with her ironic wit and a reluctant dog, eludes their understanding; can she elude their capture, too?

A nonstop oddball thriller for the age of digital theft, Ruth Run introduces an irresistible new heroine and a fantastic new voice in contemporary fiction.

I started reading this pretty soon after getting the DRC, intrigued by the premise. It’s… interesting. But also quite strange. It hits the ground running, and doesn’t let up. However, I really struggled to connect with the two perspective characters. They didn’t feel fully or properly developed, and Mike was particularly creepy, but not in an interesting way. The novel ends rather abruptly, too. There are good moments, and Kaufman is a good writer; but the novel ultimately didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I’d certainly be interested in reading another book by the author, but this one unfortunately didn’t live up to my expectations. Ruth Run is due to be published by Penguin Press in North America and in the UK, on April 15th, 2025.

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Review copy received via Edelweiss

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Al Pacino, SONNY BOY (Penguin Press)

To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies — The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon — that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force.

But Pacino was in his midthirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe.

Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions — the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference.

I pre-ordered the audiobook edition of Pacino’s memoir, and it’s been one of my most-anticipated ever since I saw it announced (probably via Penguin Press’s Instagram account). Like so very many people, I’ve been a fan of Pacino’s work for decades — with particular favourites being Heat and Any Given Sunday. Sonny Boy is out now, published by Penguin Press in North America and Century in the UK.

Follow the Author: Goodreads

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Chris Pavone, THE DOORMAN (MCD)

A doorman at a luxury New York City apartment building is drawn into a web of intrigue, adultery, robbery, and murder.

Chicky Diaz stands on his little patch of the earth, the clean quiet sidewalk in front of the Bohemia Apartments, thinking: there sure are a lot of great places to kill someone in this city.

He’s everyone’s favorite doorman at the Bohemia, New York City’s world-famous home of celebrities, financiers, and the cultural elite.

In the penthouse, Emily Longworth seems to lead a perfect life: perfect kids, perfect homes, perfect outfits, perfect profile of museum boards and charity work. And while Emily’s husband is perfectly wealthy, she has quietly loathed Whit since well before the recent revelations that he’s a profiteer. But their marriage came with an iron-clad prenup, and Emily can’t bring herself to leave. Yet.

In apartment 2A, there’s nothing perfect about Julian Sonnenberg’s morning.. He’s already struggling with the mundane indignities of turning fifty, and now his doctor says he needs heart surgery, immediately. Things are falling apart, and awfully fast.

Down in the staff room, where the Bohemia’s working-class staff are all Black and Latino, word is spreading that the NYPD has killed an unarmed Black man and that the streets are filling with protestors. Upstairs, the residents panic about safety; downstairs, the guys are worried about survival — and justice. As Chicky dons his epauletted suit for tonight’s shift, he tucks a pistol into his waistband for the first time ever.

Someone, tonight, is going to die.

The Doorman, as The Bonfire of the Vanities did before it, presents a city poised to boil over. In what is far and away his best and most ambitious book yet, Chris Pavone has delivered a piercing portrait of the way we live now that is also a finely-honed thriller of tock-clicking suspense. The Doorman is a book about class and privilege, about race and racism, principles and sacrifice, love and loyalty. And murder.

I’ve fallen behind on Chris Pavone’s novels (that is becoming an all-too-familiar refrain), but this sounds really interesting so I might have to read it next. It feels like an age since I read a review copy of The Accident, which was a very good publishing-world mystery. The Doorman is due to be published by MCD in North America (May 20th, 2025) and Aries/Head of Zeus in the UK (May 22nd).

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Review copy received via NetGalley

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Michael “Sugar” Ray Richardson w. Jake Uitti, BANNED (Skyhorse)

Michael Ray Richardson was a star in the making. After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Montana, where he was voted first team All-Big Sky Conference as a sophomore, junior, and senior, the future seemed bright. Taken fourth overall in the 1978 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, Richardson was billed as “the next Walt Frazier.”

In just his second professional season, he became the third player in NBA history to lead the league in both assists and steals — both Knicks team records. Richardson would also notch four All-Star appearances and twice being named to the All-Defensive team over eight seasons between the Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and New Jersey Nets.

But during that time, his time off the court was having a bigger impact on his career than what he was doing on the court.

On February 25, 1986, after three violations of the league’s drug policy, NBA commissioner David Stern would ban Richardson from continuing his professional career. His struggles with drugs and alcohol were well documented, and someone considered the next big thing became the first player in league history to be receive a lifetime ban.

For most people, this would be the end to their story — one in which their substance abuse would take over and their downfall inevitable.

However, that was not in the cards for Michael Ray Richardson.

In Banned, Richardson opens up about his life both on and off the basketball court, discussing all the highs and lows that made him both a hero and a villain. Though being reinstated to the NBA in 1988, he would instead have stints in the United States Basketball League and CBA before taking his talents to Europe. With stints in Italy, Croatia, and France, he would lead his teams to numerous championships in his decade-plus overseas.

Continuing to expand my NBA-shelf (which has been growing nicely, actually, of late), this one caught my attention. I’ve only heard or read Richardson’s name in passing, so I’m looking forward to reading something more substantial about his career. Banned is due to be published by Skyhorse Publishing in North America and in the UK, on November 26th.

Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via NetGalley

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Curtis Sittenfeld, SHOW DON’T TELL (Doubleday)

In this compulsive collection of twelve witty stories, Sittenfeld shows why she’s as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels, as she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends.

In ‘The Patron Saints of Middle Age,’ a woman visits two friends she hasn’t seen since her divorce. In ‘A for Alone,’ a married artist embarks on a project intended to disprove the so-called Mike Pence Rule, which suggests that women and men can’t spend time alone together without lusting after each other. And in ‘Lost but Not Forgotten,’ Sittenfeld gives readers of her novel Prep a new window into the world of her beloved character Lee Fiora, decades later, when Lee attends an awkward school reunion.

A new short story collection from the author of Prep, American Wife, Romantic Comedy, and more. I’ve enjoyed Sittenfeld’s short fiction in the past, so I’m very much looking forward to reading this new collection. Show Don’t Tell is due to be published by Doubleday in the UK (February 27th, 2025), and Random House North America (February 25th).

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Review copy received via NetGalley

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Richard Swan, GRAVE EMPIRE (Orbit)

Begins the epic tale of an empire on the verge of industrial revolution, where sorcery and arcane practices are outlawed – and where an ancient prophecy threatens the coming end of days.

Blood once turned the wheels of empire. Now it is money.

A new age of exploration and innovation has dawned, and the Empire of the Wolf stands to take its place as the foremost power in the known world. Glory and riches await.

But dark days are coming. A mysterious plague has broken out in the pagan kingdoms to the north, while in the south, the Empire’s proxy war in the lands of the wolfmen is weeks away from total collapse.

Worse still is the message brought to the Empress by two heretic monks, who claim to have lost contact with the spirits of the afterlife. The monks believe this is the start of an ancient prophecy heralding the end of days — the Great Silence.

It falls to Renata Rainer, a low-ranking ambassador to an enigmatic and vicious race of mermen, to seek answers from those who still practice the arcane arts. But with the road south beset by war and the Empire on the brink of supernatural catastrophe, soon there may not be a world left to save…

The first in a new series from the author of the Empire of the Wolf trilogy — and it’s set in the same world, a few years after the end of The Trials of Empire. Very much enjoyed Swan’s debut trilogy, so of course this was high on my must-read list. Grave Empire is due to be published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK, on February 4th, 2025.

Also on CR: Interview with Richard Swan (2022); Reviews of The Justice of Kings, The Tyranny of Faith, and The Trials of Empire

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Review copy received via NetGalley

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John Warner, MORE THAN WORDS (Basic Books)

A veteran writing teacher makes a “moving” (Rick Wormeli) argument that writing is a form of thinking and feeling and shows why it can’t be replaced by AI

In the age of artificial intelligence, drafting an essay is as simple as typing a prompt and pressing enter. What does this mean for the art of writing? According to longtime writing teacher John Warner: not very much.

More Than Words argues that generative AI programs like ChatGPT not only can kill the student essay but should, since these assignments don’t challenge students to do the real work of writing. To Warner, writing is thinking — discovering your ideas while trying to capture them on a page — and feeling — grappling with what it fundamentally means to be human. The fact that we ask students to complete so many assignments that a machine could do is a sign that something has gone very wrong with writing instruction. More Than Words calls for us to use AI as an opportunity to reckon with how we work with words — and how all of us should rethink our relationship with writing.

Ever since ChatGPT was launched, I and many other teachers have been struggling to convince students, at all levels of education, to not use ChatGPT for their assignments. I will forever be disappointed by my college students who insist that they “need” it, despite it producing middling-at-best essays. In recent semesters, I’ve seen a glimmer of hope, though, as a few more students each time are determined to write for themselves — perhaps reflecting a shift away from worshipping all things tech? I received the DRC of this book shortly before the latest tranche of written assignments came in, so I waited until after I’d finished grading before reading this. More Than Words is due to be published by Basic Books in North America and in the UK, on February 4th, 2025.

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Review copy received via NetGalley