INSIDE THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY, from midocean boredom to pirate watch to shipwreck. Great, engaging reporting! B PLUS

NINETY PERCENT OF EVERYTHING
Metropolitan Books
2013

MURDER IN PARIS, 1929. Historical suspense has an appealingly hard-boiled sleuth, too many celebrity cameos. SOLID B

THE BONES OF PARIS
Random House Publishing Group
2013

ENCHANTING BIOGRAPHY OF Marianne Moore reveals the rich inner life of this famously reserved poet. Wonderful! B PLUS

HOLDING ON UPSIDE DOWN
Farrar
2013

MODERN LOVE, CAPTURED in impressionistic vignettes. Sometimes poetic, sometimes harsh, always ringing true. SOLID B

THIS IS BETWEEN US
Tin House Books
2013

NEAR-FUTURE HORROR TALE follows four young women fighting to survive a terrifying viral pandemic. Chilling!

THOUGHTFUL TRUE CRIME reporting traces the lives of five women whose bodies were found on Long Island. B PLUS

LOST GIRLS : AN UNSOLVED AMERICAN MYSTERY
HarperCollins
2013

FASCINATING, CHALLENGING OVERVIEW of research into Alzheimer’s Disease, its possibilities and limitations. B PLUS

THE ALZHEIMER CONUNDRUM: ENTANGLEMENTS OF DEMENTIA AND AGING
Princeton University Press
2013

EGYPTOMANIA! FROM ANCIENT ROME to Napoleon to Hollywood, an entertaining exploration of a cultural obsession. B PLUS

EGYPTOMANIA: OUR THREE THOUSAND YEAR OBSESSION WITH THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS
Palgrave Macmillan
2013

ODD, ELEGAIC PARABLE is vintage Coetzee, and has a distant moral resonance, like a sermon heard in a dream. B PLUS

THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS
Viking Books
2013

JAMES BOND IN AFRICA, circa 1969. William Boyd’s reimagining may be the smartest post-Fleming Bond yet! B PLUS

SOLO: A JAMES BOND NOVEL
HarperCollins Publishers
2013