DETACHING FROM A TOXIC FAMILY: a writer’s childhood of abuse and denial leads her to break free. Thoughtful. B PLUS

ESTRANGED: LEAVING FAMILY AND FINDING HOME (HARDCOVER)
Scribner Book Company
2017

RURAL ’70s NOIR stars a father-and-son driving team in too deep with an Iowa crime family. Sharp, evocative. B PLUS

LEADFOOT (A MCGRAW CRIME NOVEL BOOK 2)
Down & Out Books
2017

THE US’S FAR-FLUNG TERRITORIES, explored: fun, folksy travelogue keeps a sharp eye on colonialism’s ravages. B PLUS

THE NOT-QUITE STATES OF AMERICA : DISPATCHES FROM THE TERRITORIES AND OTHER FAR-FLUNG OUTPOSTS OF THE USA
W. W. Norton & Company
2017

A POET’S SACRED AND PROFANE, scathing yet sweet-natured, memoir of her eccentric, religion-addled family. A MINUS

PRIESTDADDY: A MEMOIR (HARDCOVER)
Riverhead Books
2017

BEYOND THE BITCOIN HYPE: a witty look at cryptocurrency’s potential, as well as bubbles, scams, and hacks. B PLUS

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT BLOCKCHAIN
David Gerard
2017

MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF SCIENCE, and how they connect to our childhood intuitions, brilliantly explained. A MINUS

SCIENCEBLIND: WHY OUR INTUITIVE THEORIES ABOUT THE WORLD ARE SO OFTEN WRONG (HARDCOVER)
Basic Books
2017

DESPITE A LIFE OF PRIVILEGE, creativity, writer Daphne Merkin battles deadly depression with insight, grace. B PLUS

THIS CLOSE TO HAPPY: A RECKONING WITH DEPRESSION (HARDCOVER)
Farrar
2017

EERILY ENTERTAINING COLLECTION of short tales of the occult; clever riffs on genre traditions abound. B PLUS

FIRST BORN: TALES OF THE LIBER MONSTRORUM
Seventh Star Press
2017

A SPY’S FAILED MISSION on the eve of World War II unfurls webs of treachery in the US and Germany. Thrilling! B PLUS

CAVE DWELLERS (HARDCOVER)
Knopf Publishing Group
2017

A SUDDEN STROKE AT 33 turns a writer’s life, and her construction of her self, inside out. Candid and bold. B PLUS

TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU DON’T REMEMBER: THE STROKE THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
HarperCollins Publishers
2017