THE FIERCE BATTLES AND INTRIGUE of 10th century England come alive in Bernard Cornwell’s latest riproarer. B PLUS

THE EMPTY THRONE
Harper
2015

A DARKLY COMIC MYSTERY features a hapless English writer whose fictional murder plot becomes all too real. B PLUS

THE ALMOST PERFECT PLOT (THE ALMOST PERFECT SERIES BOOK 1)
None
2015

THE LEGENDARY GEORGE CLINTON, father of funk, speaks his mind in an insightful, improvisatory memoir. B PLUS

BROTHAS BE, YO LIKE GEORGE, AIN’T THAT FUNKIN’ KINDA HARD ON YOU?
Pocket Books
2014

A FAMILY CONFLICT ECHOES the divisions of power, class, and race in 1970s-80s Argentina. Spare and allusive. B PLUS

DREAMING OF THE DELTA
Texas Tech University Press
2014

ABUJA, NIGERIA IS the setting for an elegantly written Christian romance between two driven entrepreneurs. B PLUS

A SCOOP OF LOVE
None
2015

HYPNOTIC, UNSETTLING PARABLE about paranoia and conformity, set in the wake of an unspecified disaster. B PLUS

THE GUARD
Maclehose Press Quercus
2015

TERRIFYINGLY BLEAK, GORGEOUSLY written novel of life in an African dictatorship evokes both Kafka and Achebe. A MINUS

ARROWS OF RAIN
Soho Press
2015

SEARING, INSIGHTFUL MEMOIR paints a vivid picture of old-school thug life in L. A. Eloquent and devastating. A MINUS

GROWING UP GANGSTER: THE RISE, FALL, AND REDEMPTION OF A NOTORIOUS HUSTLER
Brown Girls Publishing
2015

BRILLIANT HISTORY OF “PASSING” across racial boundaries in the US, rich in research, moving personal stories. A MINUS

A CHOSEN EXILE
Harvard University Press
2014

A SURGEON’S CHALLENGE to the big business of American healthcare is thoughtful, timely, and sobering. B PLUS

THE COST OF CUTTING
Berkley Publishing Group
2014