TAUT POLICE PROCEDURAL with a richly depicted cast of characters is 13th outing for London detective Bill Slider. B PLUS

A SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHILDHOOD is remembered, reframed in a time of family crisis in eloquent, bittersweet memoir. B PLUS

SPACE OPERA, THRILLER, nanotech fantasia combine in tale of folks on an asteroid battling both thugs, rogue AIs. SOLID B

FOOD ALLERGY SELF-HELP/MEMOIR by a counselor who also has severe food allergies is clear, helpful, and detailed. SOLID B

ALLERGIC GIRL: ADVENTURES IN LIVING WELL WITH FOOD ALLERGIES
Turner Publishing Company
2011

ACADEMIC SATIRE FEATURES philosopher frenemies enlivening futile existences by insulting each other. SCHWA MINUS

SPURIOUS
Melville House
2011

GRIM, GRIPPING MYSTERY centers on two acclaimed Scottish writers–one dead, one a recluse–with dark secrets. B PLUS

NAMING THE BONES
Felony & Mayhem
2011

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