METAPHYSICAL NOIR DETECTIVE tale set in a vividly depicted post-Katrina New Orleans. Grim and unforgettable. B PLUS

CLAIRE DEWITT AND THE CITY OF THE DEAD
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2011

THREE FAMILIES FOLLOWED over two centuries on both sides of the US black/white “color line.” Impressive history. B PLUS

THE INVISIBLE LINE: THREE AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THE SECRET JOURNEY FROM BLACK TO WHITE
Penguin Press
2011

HEART-POUNDING DYSTOPIAN THRILLER chronicles humanity’s fight against rogue robots and AI. Deftly imagined. A MINUS

ROBOPOCALYPSE
Doubleday
2011

SEARINGLY CANDID MEMOIR of a childhood shaped by undiagnosed bipolar disorder is insightful, chilling, authentic. B PLUS

THE DARK SIDE OF INNOCENCE
Atria Books
2011

TRIPPY, HALLUCINATORY 1960s coming-of-age novel brings a troubled teen’s real, fantasy lives vividly into focus. SOLID B

JOURNAL OF A UFO INVESTIGATOR
Viking Adult
2011

GUYANA”S UNIQUE PEOPLE, culture, landscape, racial politics through the eyes of a young Indian writer. Amazing! A MINUS

THE SLY COMPANY OF PEOPLE WHO CARE
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2011

FASCINATING BIO OF the 18th-century botanical artist Mary Delany, who did her most famous work in her 70s! B PLUS

THE PAPER GARDEN
Bloomsbury USA
2011

INTERESTING “PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY” OF 20th century writer Truman Capote links his life and work. Voyeuristic but fun. SOLID B

TINY TERROR: : WHY TRUMAN CAPOTE (ALMOST) WROTE ANSWERED PRAYERS (INNER LIVES)
Oxford University Press
2011

WARTIME EXPLOITS OF some unlikely US spies, Julia and Paul Child among them. Fascinating, but a bit confusing. B MINUS

A COVERT AFFAIR: JULIA CHILD AND PAUL CHILD IN THE OSS
Simon & Schuster
2011

PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE AS only Ruth Rendell can serve it up! A quiet London street harbors some chilling secrets. B PLUS

TIGERLILY’S ORCHIDS
Scribner
2011