Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes Harper Collins, $26.00, 520 pages, ISBN 978-0-00-746459-3 The city of Detroit has long been an American icon; The Shining City, or Motor City as it’s been called, is now an emblem of broken dreams and unkept promises. Now it’s bankrupt and known colloquially as Murder City. It’s a place where taxes go unpaid, homes are abandoned, and buildings are razed by the city because
Death Money by Henry Chang SOHO Press Inc., $25.00, 215 pages, ISBN 978-1-61695-351-5 Ever been to Chinatown in New York City? Go down to Mott Street in lower Manhattan and it’s as if you’ve stepped into a foreign land . . . it’s a place of exotic sights, sounds and smells, a place where even the signs on the store fronts are in another language; indecipherable for nearly all
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes Emily Bestler Books/Atria-Simon & Shuster, $26.99, 612 pages, ISBN 978-1-4391-7772-3 On occasion, a work of fiction comes along which can only be described as riveting. Enthralling, arresting, gripping, fascinating, absorbing, captivating, hypnotic, engrossing or spellbinding . . . but the single best and most descriptive word for MBR No. 181 is riveting. It will drill a hole into your consciousness, insert a red-hot
Young God by Katherine Faw Morris Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24.00, 193 pages, ISBN 978-0-374-53423-3 There’s a newer genre of hard-boiled crime fiction known as southern noir or country noir that is fast becoming one of my favorites. It’s full of fresh new talent with some of the hottest writing and the most unique voices and characters to come along, and this weeks MBR No. 180 is just such
Hangman by Stephan Talty Ballantine Books/Penguin Random House, $26.00, 302 pages, ISBN 978-0-345-53808-6 Buffalo, New York is where the novels of Stephan Talty take place, and after last year’s breakout hit entitled Black Irish, his growing numbers of fans have been eagerly awaiting the next installment of his Abbie Kearney detective series. She’s been called “One of the most intriguing suspense protagonists in memory,” by leading crime fiction writer Tess
Deep Winter by Samuel W. Gailey Blue Rider Press/Penguin, $25.95, 290 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-16596-2 A resonating theme of mine is one which finds developmentally-challenged individuals accused, and often convicted, of crimes they did not commit. Their very oddness often causes them to be found guilty by acclimation in the courts of public opinion. They are, in fact, the low-hanging fruit that’s sometimes irresistible to ambitious, overeager law enforcement types
Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst Random House/Penguin, $27.00, 251 pages, ISBN 978-1-4000-6949-1 If you’re a fan of noir fiction, tales of WWII exploits or spy thrillers, you’ll love this week’s MBR . . . an espionage novel set in Paris in 1938, on the eve of World War II, just as the Spanish Civil War is coming to an end. Generalissimo Franco’s Nationalist forces, together with their Nazi
The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan Henry Holt, $26.00, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-8050-9951-5 The Ploughmen is a remarkable work that will resonate with readers on several levels: its unique storyline, rich characterizations, linguistics, lyricism and the author’s professed and obvious love of the land. The story takes place in Montana, where the author was born and raised, where he still lives and teaches at the University of Montana in Missoula.
The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins Riverhead Books/Penguin Group (USA) LLC, $26.95, 325 pages, ISBN 978-1-59463-366-9 We’ve just returned from the annual Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association Trade Show in Denver, Colorado. It’s a yearly affair with 70 or 80 publishers, several hundred bookstore owners, their employees and managers. It features thousands of new books, authors, lectures and seminars about what’s hot, what’s not, trends in the
Stone Cold by C.J. Box Putnam, $26.95, 370 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-16076-9 For all of the fans who, like me, are mourning the cancellation of the show Longmire by the A&E Network, don’t despair . . . there’s an alternative out there. The novels of C.J. Box, one of today’s “A-list, must read authors,” according to no less of a luminary than world-class author Lee Child, are available to ease