CANDID LOOK at pill addiction shares the author’s own experience, interviews with current and recovering users. B PLUS

PILL HEAD: THE SECRET LIFE OF A PAINKILLER ADDICT
Hyperion
2009

EVOCATIVE WRITING, a convincingly flawed protagonist, rich detail rescue this Big Gay Novel from soap-operadom. B PLUS

OBJECT OF DESIRE
Kensington Publishing Corporation
2009

RICHLY DETAILED BIOGRAPHY of the little-known 14th century Queen Joanna of Naples foregrounds medieval politics. B PLUS

THE LADY QUEEN: THE NOTORIOUS REIGN OF JOANNA I, QUEEN OF NAPLES, JERUSALEM, AND SICILY
Walker & Company
2009

GRIPPING TRUE STORIES of crime, politics, and corruption in Los Angeles of the 1920s and 30s. Fascinating! A MINUS

A BRIGHT AND GUILTY PLACE: MURDER, CORRUPTION, AND L.A.’S SCANDALOUS COMING OF AGE
Doubleday Books
2009

GRIMLY EVOCATIVE but oddly flat book about a desert town haunted by fears of aliens, apocalypse. SOLID B

WORMWOOD, NEVADA
St. Martin's Press
2009

A FIELD BIOLOGIST’S chatty, engaging take on unusual and surprising interactions in the animal and plant worlds. B PLUS

SEXY ORCHIDS MAKE LOUSY LOVERS & OTHER UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIPS
University of Chicago Press
2009

FAST-PACED MYSTERY with a feisty “ski diva” detective offers tight plotting, vivid Vermont ski-resort detail. B PLUS

DOUBLE BLACK (SKI DIVA MYSTERY SERIES)
St. Martin’s Press
2010

ENGAGINGLY WRITTEN look at how the brain sees in 3-D by a scientist who lacked that ability until her late 40s. SOLID B

FIXING MY GAZE: A SCIENTIST’S JOURNEY INTO SEEING IN THREE DIMENSIONS
Basic Books
2009

CHARMING, IF SLIGHT, story of a very English boy coping with the woes of his French and Bangladeshi parents. SOLID B

CORNER SHOP
St. Martin's Press
2009

HAUNTING FABLE of lonely people on a mysterious island paints vivid pictures of a unique landscape, creatures. A MINUS

THE GIRL WITH GLASS FEET
Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
2010