INCISIVE YET LYRICAL novel captures Berlin and Chicago in the 1980s through the eyes of a gay Black writer. B PLUS

BLACK DEUTSCHLAND
Farrar
2016

SHARP ENGLISH THRILLER takes on love and loss and family and friendship with a chilling twist. Very smart. B PLUS

THE SISTER: A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER WITH A BRILLIANT TWIST YOU WON’T SEE COMING
Bookouture
2016

TERRIFYING TEXAS MURDERS of the 1880s, brilliantly revisited by an incomparable true-crime writer. B PLUS

THE MIDNIGHT ASSASSIN
Henry Holt & Company
2016

THREE WOMEN OBSESSED with self-invention, film, and the idea of truth find their lives intertwined. Haunting! B PLUS

INNOCENTS & OTHERS
Scribner Book Company
2016

GRAND EPIC FANTASY set in a brilliantly imagined world where two nations have clashed for a century. B PLUS

THE WATER ROAD (THE WATER ROAD TRILOGY BOOK 1)
JD Byrne
2016

A DREAM ARTIST’S STRUGGLE to stay on the right side of the law; vivid French noir fantasy hits hard. B PLUS

THE DEEP SEA DIVER’S SYNDROME
Melville House Publishing
2016

FASCINATING AMERICAN HISTORY looks at Boston’s 1721 smallpox epidemic, its impact on science and politics. A MINUS

THE FEVER OF 1721: THE EPIDEMIC THAT REVOLUTIONIZED MEDICINE AND AMERICAN POLITICS
Simon & Schuster
2016

SASSY VAMPIRE MYSTERY/ROMANCE with a great sense of fun and a memorable Florida setting. B PLUS #BeachReads

BITE SOMEBODY
World Weaver Press
2016

EXTRAVAGANTLY ECCENTRIC MEMOIR from a Swedish entomologist charms with its love of nature, science, history. B PLUS

THE FLY TRAP
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
2015

EXTRAVAGANTLY ECCENTRIC MEMOIR from a Swedish entomologist charms with its love of nature, science, history.