A ZIMBABWEAN FAMILY’S HISTORY encompasses revolution, independence, genocide, and life’s more ordinary heartbreaks. Stunning prose with echoes of Achebe and Nabokov. A MINUS

HOUSE OF STONE (HARDCOVER)
W. W. Norton & Company
2019

STUNNING, MORDANTLY WITTY tale of family secrets and women’s anger, with a richly realized Nigerian setting. A MINUS

MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER (HARDCOVER)
Doubleday
2018

A BLACK COP SPEAKS out about the racism and bias deep in the fabric of police culture. Compellingly argued, with added impact from interviews. A MINUS

THE BLACK AND THE BLUE (HARDCOVER)
Hachette Books
2018

HOW MYTHOLOGIES OF BLACK ACHIEVEMENT have taken a bitter toll on people and communities. Heartbreakingly direct memoir in gorgeous prose. A MINUS

THERE WILL BE NO MIRACLES HERE (HARDCOVER)
Riverhead Books
2018

DAZZLING NOIR CAPER with a rich Los Angeles setting finds philosophical burglar Junior Bender over his head in a hundred-year-old mystery. A MINUS

NIGHTTOWN
Soho Crime
2018

IN A POST-APOCALYPSE WORLD where women are scarce, one group rebels against a society’s strictures. Fascinating, edgy SF. A MINUS

BEFORE SHE SLEEPS (HARDCOVER)
Delphinium
2018

A FIERCE WOMAN DETECTIVE fights and sleuths her way through a smuggling scheme in 1887’s Washington Territory. Vivid and exciting! A MINUS

THE BEST BAD THINGS (HARDCOVER)
MCD
2018

GORGEOUS VOUDOU STEAMPUNK set in an alternate New Orleans: spirits and airships and deep secrets abound. A MINUS

THE BLACK GOD’S DRUMS
Tor.com
2018

THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF OPIOIDS across the US, detailed in thoughtful, heartbreaking interviews and reporting. A MINUS

DOPESICK (HARDCOVER)
Little
2018

ELEGANT, SMART PRIVATE-EYE novel takes the “one last job” trope into Hollywood, big business, sex, and murder. Outstanding. A MINUS

LAST LOOKS
Dutton Books
2018