Some more, recently-acquired books; and quite a nice mix, too. It really has been a very busy few weeks. Nine of these aren’t out until 2027 — one not until August — but, while I may read them very soon, I’ll (try) to hold off publishing reviews until closer to their release dates. As usual, I’ll have some initial thoughts/observations on Instagram, when I do start reading them.
Featuring: Joe Biden, Michael Connelly, Thomas Elrod, Louise Erdrich, Toby Harnden, Alma Katsu, Shanley Jane Kearney, Daniel Kehlmann, Stephen Markley, Ben Markovits, Giles Milton, Jude Reid
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Joe Biden, PROMISE ME, AMERICA (Little, Brown)
The story of President Joe Biden’s groundbreaking four years in the White House: his campaign, his presidency, his decision to run again—and to withdraw
In his candid and revealing memoir, Joe Biden reflects on his time as president: the challenges, triumphs, sorrows, and accomplishments that marked his administration amid one of the most tumultuous eras in American history.
Biden took the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where—just two weeks earlier—rioters had stormed the halls and threatened the very foundation of our democracy. He did so while looking out at a field of flags where crowds should have been, except that our nation was in the throes of a pandemic that kept people from gathering. With the nation still reeling from the January 6 assault, shattered by an inept response to a historic pandemic, and paralyzed by a steep recession, the mandate before him was clear but daunting: to heal a divided country, restore the integrity of its frayed institutions, and prove to a skeptical public that the world’s greatest democracy could still deliver for its people.
Now Biden tells the story of a historically eventful presidency. With his hallmark grit and decades of hard-won institutional wisdom, he led an administration that engineered the most sweeping domestic agenda in generations. From orchestrating a historic multibillion-dollar infrastructure renaissance and reviving American manufacturing to passing landmark legislation lowering healthcare costs and tackling the climate crisis, Biden details how he took risks, made gambles, and defied the pundits to build an economy, in his words, “from the middle out and the bottom up.”
On the world stage, Biden recounts the urgent high-stakes diplomacy required to rebuild America’s traditional alliances in the face of new threats. He shares first-person accounts of standing steadfast against authoritarian aggression, modernizing NATO, and leading the global coalition to defend Ukraine in its darkest hours.
And for the first time, he reveals the deeply agonizing calculation behind his decision in the summer of 2024 to step aside from the presidential race and to put his party and the nation before his personal ambitions.
Former President Joe Biden’s previous memoir, Promise Me, Dad, was excellent. Since he left the White House, I’ve been wondering if he had another memoir on the way; and, thankfully and predictably, he does. I have many thoughts about his presidency, ranging in various degrees from the positive to frustrated. I’ll save those for the review of this book. I’ve read a couple of other people’s books on the Biden administration, and so far I’ve not been impressed. I know this will be somewhat legacy-polishing, and any memoir must be taken with a pinch of salt. What I will say, though, is that I’m very much looking forward to this. Promise Me, America is due to be published by Little, Brown in North America and in the UK, on November 17th.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Audio review copy received via Publisher/Libro
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Michael Connelly, THE HOLLOW (Little, Brown)
Retired LAPD detective Harry Bosch delves into the darkest chapter of his past…
When Harry Bosch was eleven years old, his mother was murdered and he became a ward of the state, housed in MacLaren Children’s Center, a notorious facility where abuse was rampant. Decades after its closure, a lawsuit has resulted in a massive settlement for former residents. But when Bosch’s half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, brings him word that Harry is entitled to part of it, Bosch says he doesn’t want the money. He wants justice.
The news awakens his memories of a place he had hoped never to revisit, and of a boy nicknamed Chops, a fellow ward who wound up dead. Bosch is certain that Chops was killed in a hidden space under the stairs — the kids knew it as “the hollow” — and his murder covered up. Now he is determined to reopen the investigation and learn the truth, even if the killer is long gone.
As Bosch digs into the files, he picks up the trail of a predator who not only survived, but went on to a life of vicious crime — possibly including one of the city’s most notorious unsolved cases. Forced to face a history that both scarred him and launched him on his mission as a cop, Bosch must bring down a sadistic criminal and finally put to rest the demons of his past.
Easily one of my most-anticipated books of the year. (Why yes, I will write this about every new book from Connelly.) Particularly looking forward to this one because of the premise. It’s the 26th novel starring Harry Bosch (in the main role, at least), and I am forever impressed by the fact that this series has lost no steam nor quality over the years. An absolutely must for any fan of crime/mystery fiction. I started reading this the day after it was published, and read it over two deep-int0-the-night sessions. Fantastic, as usual. The Hollow is out now, published by Little, Brown in North America, and Orion in the UK.
Also on CR: Reviews of The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde, The Last Coyote, The Overlook, The Wrong Side of Goodbye, Two Kinds of Truth, The Late Show, Dark Sacred Night, Fair Warning, The Law of Innocence, Blood Work, A Darkness More Than Night, and The Narrows
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
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Thomas Elrod, WE USED TO BE HEROES (Tor Books)
A modern fantasy for everyone who’d leave their nine-to-five and return to Narnia and Neverland.
When they were children, Bobby and Derek discovered Telagon, a secret, fantastical world of magic, talking animals, living mountains, and dark demons who haunt the forests. They ruled over this land as benevolent monarchs, fought evil, and liberated the citizens from tyranny.
That’s what Derek remembers, at least. Bobby has other things to worry about. A client is threatening to leave his firm if litigation isn’t expedited. His new backyard deck isn’t up to code and his contractor won’t call him back. His aging father might need to move into an assisted living facility.
So Bobby is both annoyed and concerned when Derek shows up in a nearby park preaching the wonders of Telagon. There are secrets about that place, after all. Secrets that Bobby would rather Derek not talk about. But when his father goes missing — with the transmitter necessary for observing and entering Telagon — Bobby must go on a journey to find him, expose the truth of Derek’s propaganda, and maybe even save Telagon itself.
A novel about belief, estrangement, and what happens when the world you wished was real turns out to be so much more complex than the mythology ever promised.
The second novel from the author of The Franchise (which I unfortunately have yet to get around to, but will try to read soon). As with the author’s first, the premise caught my attention, and I’m looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. We Used to Be Heroes is due to be published by Tor Books in North America, on May 11th, 2027
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Review copy received via NetGalley
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Louise Erdrich, I’M HUNGRY (Harper)
A novel about the collisions of youth — with want, with art, with tenderness, with fury — as experienced by a young writer in the politically fraught America of the 1970s.
Fargo, North Dakota, 1975. Bazil works whatever jobs she can get and writes whenever she can. Lacking critical judgement and living by a confused romantic credo, she draws others into her life. A wiser, rougher, Chippewa cousin, a seductive gift shop owner, a wealthy New York lawyer passing through town — ecstatic poets and lonely seekers inhabit her world. She is grounded by family as she seeks her own way.
Driven by a hunger for experience, for love, for more life, more poetry, and, always, food, she travels, comes home, becomes entangled in the wild eccentricities of American life. Injustices and resistances boil around her. In the endless fallout of the historical massacre and recent occupation of Wounded Knee, she finds fellowship, grace, and begins to understand her family and her calling.
I’m Hungry explores bitter betrayal, cold-blooded violence, unearthly beauty, and the depths of our voracious appetites, from sexual hunger to the need for a life transfigured by passion and poetry. It asks what a poet is, what a writer is supposed to be, and how a woman can find her voice as she encounters lovers, hustlers, helpers and specters whose hungers threaten to consume her own.
When this became available for review, I had just listened to an episode of Culture Study (I think) in which the hosts were effusive about their love for Erdrich’s novels. So, I read the synopsis and thought it sounded interesting. Very much looking forward to reading it, and hopefully quite soon. I’m Hungry is due to be published by Harper in North America (April 20th, 2027) and Corsair in the UK (April 1st).
Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Toby Harnden, THE 39 (Simon & Schuster)
This startling, intimate portrait of a group of previously unknown Americans offers unprecedented insight into the clandestine world. In a narrative spanning seven decades, award-winning author Toby Harnden reveals the exploits of the thirty-nine recipients of the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Cross, a classified and remarkably rare award for valor.
The 39 is the product of four years of relentless investigation to determine the identities of the thirty-nine men and women, their life stories, and the thrilling details of their spying missions and combat experiences in secret CIA operations across the globe. It establishes Toby Harnden as one of the foremost contemporary chroniclers and historians of the CIA.
What these thirty-nine unsung heroes had in common, Harnden finds, is a steadfast belief in enduring American ideals — they served their country in the shadows, never expecting reward or recognition, and some remain in the CIA today. They come from every background and every corner of the United States, and three were born as foreigners. Their bravery took place in China, Cuba, Vietnam, Bolivia, Greece, Lebanon, Iran, Zaire, Pakistan, Kenya, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.
Combining the skill of a meticulous historian and the verve of an intrepid foreign correspondent, Harnden connects the thirty-nine in a kaleidoscopic narrative stretching from World War II to the post-9/11 era. He spoke with more than a hundred serving and former CIA officers, sifted clues from archives, diaries, and letters, met with families, and traveled to three continents. The result is a rich, compelling account of CIA operatives at the tip of the spear.
An intriguing premise and an interesting approach to espionage history. I hadn’t heard of this before I was offered it for review, but I’m looking forward to trying it. In addition to living in what seems to be a new golden age of espionage fiction, there also appears to be a generally-growing interest in espionage history, too, which I am highly supportive of. The 39 is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America, on March 23rd, 2027.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Alma Katsu, THE INVISIBLE ENEMY (Thomas & Mercer)
Struck down but never out.
Vertigo, headaches, nausea… all debilitating, all stemming from a sudden and unexplained attack in a foreign hotel room following a meeting with a Russian asset. CIA operations officer Jack Dunn has seen everything in his line of work, but he’s never experienced something like this before.
Two years later, he’s retired, divorced, and still struggling with the effects of what happened in that room. When he hears of a similar attack on a White House staffer, Jack knows it’s more than an isolated incident. And this time, he’s not letting it go.
CIA leadership has warned him to stand down. His ex-wife and fellow officer won’t be easy to convince. But Jack’s decorated career as a federal agent has earned him loyal contacts, even if the agency itself is a bust.
He gave his life to his country. To a government that left him out to dry. But Jack Dunn isn’t finished fighting for it — or himself — just yet.
Alma Katsu has recently been writing many of my favourite spy thrillers — if you haven’t already, I’d highly recommend you check out Red Widow, Red London, and the Spy Who Vanished short story trilogy. So, as soon as I learned that The Invisible Enemy was on the way (probably via the author’s Instagram account), I’ve been keeping an eager eye open for it. Thankfully, I have been able to get an early review copy, and I’ll be diving in very soon. The Invisible Enemy is due to be published by Thomas & Mercer in North America and in the UK, on March 23rd, 2027.
Also on CR: Reviews of Red Widow, Red London, The Spy Who Vanished; Interview with Alma Katsu (2013)
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Review copy received via NetGalley
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Shanley Jane Kearney, QUANT (Simon Six)
Three quant traders navigating their first year at an elite trading firm…
Tomás, Henry, and Blake are the golden trio of Alatix Capital, an elite, high-frequency trading firm. Tomás, a self-taught math prodigy from rural Oklahoma, arrives at the firm without an Ivy League degree but with a gambler’s edge. Blake, a software engineer and sorority reject, is determined to stake her claim on a floor run almost entirely by men. Henry, the son of a disgraced hedge fund manager, is desperate to prove that he’s more than his family’s last name. Together, they are bound by intellect, loyalty, and a near-religious faith in their shared success.
Over the course of a year, the three inseparable friends ascend from junior traders to millionaires in the making. As they navigate hundred-hour workweeks and ethical challenges, their judgments become increasingly clouded by love, ambition, and a hunger for more. QUANT asks the question: In a game of perfect information, what can’t you see coming
It was the pitched that caught my attention: “Imagine The Secret History set on Wall Street”. Pretty compelling, in my opinion; and it may well appeal to fans of Industry, as well. Looking forward to reading this debut, and hopefully soon. (I may hold off on posting a review until closer to its release, though, as it’s quite some distance away.) Quant is due to be published by Simon Six in North America (May 25th, 2027) and Abacus in the UK (May 18th — and a better cover, in my opinion)
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Daniel Kehlmann, AFRIKA (S&S/Summit Books)
A comic tale of casual barbarism, dangerous lunacy, and accidental authority.
In the winter of 1884, the great colonial powers meet in Berlin. The order of the day: how to divide up the vast continent of Africa between them. For Legation Counsellor Strinetzky though, a minor Austrian diplomat drafted in to the conference so his superior can spend the day practicing for a piano recital, this day of grand global diplomacy is a backdrop to personal crises. His marriage is edging towards the point of no return. He’s embroiled himself into a career-ending expenses scandal. And, more worryingly, a petty slight to a Prussian soldier has landed him in a pistol duel scheduled for the very next morning.
As the leaders of European imperialism bargain and allocate, their allegiances to each other constantly shifting and the political game ever more trepidatious, Strinetzky will be relieved to make it through the next two days alive, if not with honour intact. But, as it turns out, much more is riding on Strinetzky’s hapless maneuverings than his own life.
I still haven’t read anything by Kehlmann. I have no idea why; each of his novels has sounded interesting, and often quite close to my interests (even if just a temporary/transitory interest when the novel was published). I do have his previous novel, The Director, but I think it’s probably that I’ll read this upcoming book first, which “lays bare the absurdity and brutality of empire with imagination and deadly wit”. Sounds like a delicate balance to achieve, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how/if he pulls it off. Afrika is due to be published by S&S/Summit Books in North America (May 4th, 2027) and Riverrun in the UK (April 22nd).
Follow the Author: Goodreads, Instagram
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Stephen Markley, DEMENTED NORTH (Simon & Schuster)
A wild, inventive, kaleidoscopic short story collection that reckons with the full sweep of the human project—the myths, delusions, triumphs, and atrocities that define us.
In “Chimera,” an ambitious contemporary artist creates a work that challenges the limits of ethics and science. In “Night and Fog Over Copenhagen,” a woman with a particular set of skills goes in search of her sister and instead finds a bottomless mystery. In “Splat’s Dangerous Idea,” prehistoric humans stumble toward a radical new technology: language. And in “The Bosh Rebound” a professional basketball player’s clutch play serves as explanation and meditation on all of human existence. Within these stories there is no safe harbor and no way to predict what’s coming next—just the artists and athletes, scientists and detectives, revolutionaries, serial killers, and spies haunting humanity’s long journey from its cradle and into the unknown.
By turns hilarious, unsettling, heartbreaking, and intellectually thrilling, Demented North blends literary fiction, satire, and razor-sharp social observation into a collection unlike any other. With unforgettable characters and astonishing range, Stephen Markley examines the fragile stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world.
A sweeping, audacious collection from one of America’s most ambitious writers, Demented North asks what it means to be human across the vast arc of our shared past—and our uncertain future.
Stephen Markley’s Ohio was one of my favourite books of 2018, so I’ve been keeping my eyes open for each new books of his (as well as a couple of old titles) ever since. I’ll admit, I haven’t finished Deluge, yet, but do fully intend to do so. (I won’t say “soon”, but “as soon as I can” would be honest.) This new book is a collection of short stories, which I think I’ll be starting right away — perhaps reading it in one go, perhaps dipping in between longer reads. Demented North is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America, on August 3rd, 2027.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Ben Markovits, STARTING OUT (S&S/Summit)
“She thought, maybe later you’ll remember this and think when you were young, you were carefree, everything was possible, but that’s not what it was actually like.”
A novel about beginnings: the stories we tell ourselves about how we’re supposed to grow up, and what happens when we discover they might not be true.
Lisa is a bookish girl. Growing up in Austin, she thinks life will be like it is in the pages of books. But it turns out, life is so much more. It’s harder, trickier, more beautiful, wider and wilder, full of choices big and small.
When Lisa goes to college, falls in love, begins graduate school, gets married, has a kid — when she starts living what looks like Real Life — the rules she always lived by begin to blur. And as Lisa moves into adulthood, she faces the tricky tests of young marriage and aging parents and ambition and family. Lisa thought once she gets going in life, it would all fall into place, and instead she has to start out over and over again.
Despite now owning all of his novels, I have yet to read one of Markovits’s books… Each of them, so far, has sounded interesting; I have friends and family who have enjoyed his books. But for some reason, I keep forgetting I have them… Probably because they’re all eBooks and I have eReader Blindness/memory problems. Let’s hope this streak of biblio-amnesia ends now. Starting Out is due to be published by S&S/Summit Books in North America (April 13th, 2027) and Faber & Faber in the UK (April 8th).
Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Giles Milton, EMPIRE AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (Henry Holt)
A gripping tale of exploration, survival, and geopolitical power in the Arctic Circle.
The year was 1921. Charismatic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson was obsessed with a frozen speck of land in the Siberian Arctic: Wrangel Island. Believing whoever possessed it would control the future of the Northern Hemisphere — its air routes, its resources, and the global balance of power — he took an impossible gamble.
Stefansson, born William Stephenson, had changed his name to sound more like the Viking forebears he idolized. Driven by a messianic zeal, he dispatched a small, ill-equipped venture to stake a colony in Britain’s name. It was a maneuver of brilliance, ego, and breathtaking hubris.
What followed was a catastrophe of starvation, madness, and geopolitical risk. As winter locked the island in ice and rescue ships failed to arrive, tensions among the colonists spiraled toward despair. While diplomats from Great Britain, America, Canada, and the Soviet Union sparred and warships were made ready, the settlers were left to endure scurvy, polar bears, and the slow terror of abandonment. At the center of this epic saga stood one unlikely survivor — a twenty-three-year-old Inuit seamstress named Ada Blackjack, who would outlast them all.
Empire at the Edge of the World is a sweeping and chilling tale of superhuman endurance, a man known as a visionary and trickster, and the human cost of his manic ambition. Bestselling author Giles Milton delivers a little-known slice of history perfect for readers interested in the great age of Arctic exploration. With the future of the Arctic once again up for grabs, it is also a story with the greatest possible relevance to today’s uncertain world.
I was offered this for review, and thought it sounded very interesting. I’ve been familiar with Milton’s work ever since Nathaniel’s Nutmeg became a hit in the UK (in my memory, it was everywhere). Looking forward to reading this. Empire at the Edge of the World is due to be published by Henry Holt in North America, on April 6th, 2027; it’s out now in the UK, published by John Murray.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Jude Reid, ARMAGEDDON: SEASON OF FIRE (Black Library)
Armageddon is dying, and Tartarus will fall. The orks are coming, and to stand any chance against the green tide, three soldiers must fight to their last.
In the dying days of the Second War, Major Ambrosius Roth faces a task that seems destined to fail – to hold the walls of the doomed hive against a massive xenos assault. Lacking resources and reinforcements, Roth finds himself outnumbered, outgunned, and rapidly running out of time.
As Armageddon burns and Tartarus begins to break, Sister Superior Sabreen of the Order of Our Martyred Lady is the last protector of a saint’s precious relics. But an evil has seeped into the foundations of Tartarus, one that will force her to make an impossible choice.
Brother Gavriel, a headstrong young Blood Angel, finds death and glory in equal measure amidst the ruins of the broken hive. With Imperial forces crumbling around them, the Angels of Death must fight their way to the dark heart of Armageddon on a merciless quest for revenge.
Facing annihilation, each of them must decide what their sacrifice will be worth.
I’ve been reading fewer Black Library books, recently (in part because of their switch to a closed-ecosystem app, which is a terrible idea, not to mention a terrible reading experience — the books are still available via other eBook stores). There are still plenty of authors and series I’m interesting in continuing to read, though, and Jude Reid is one of them. This new book sounds particularly interesting, and ties in with one sector of the ongoing WH40k narrative. Really looking forward to reading this soon. Armageddon: Season of Fire is out now, published by Black Library in North America and in the UK.
Follow the Author: Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
Review copy received via NetGalley
