SPECULATIVE THRILLER about a future US torn by Anglo-on-Hispanic violence, repression is intriguing but fumbling. B MINUS

AMERICA LIBRE
Grand Central Publishing
2009

VIVIDLY IMAGINED, rich with 15th-century detail, this novel follows Edward IV’s queen through war, court intrigue. B PLUS

THE WHITE QUEEN: A NOVEL (COUSINS’ WAR (TOUCHSTONE HARDCOVER))
Touchstone
2009

GENEALOGIST DETECTIVE returns for a second complex mystery tale of tough UK neighborhoods, at-risk kids, and cults. B PLUS

BLOOD ATONEMENT
Minotaur Books
2009

GOSSIPY, DETAIL-PACKED insider’s account of myriad scandals surrounding life and death in ultra-rich Palm Beach. SOLID B

MADNESS UNDER THE ROYAL PALMS: LOVE AND DEATH BEHIND THE GATES OF PALM BEACH
Hyperion
2009

STREET STORIES AND HINDU MYTHOLOGY blend in this startling memoir of a life recaptured from addiction and crime. A MINUS

IN HANUMAN’S HANDS
HarperCollins Publishers
2009

A FABULOUS FINALE for Donald Westlake’s tales of Dortmunder and gang, who take on reality TV in this last caper. A MINUS

GET REAL
Grand Central Publishing
2009

CRISPLY PLOTTED WHODUNNIT features a murdered architect, a genius hitman, and a world-weary, witty detective duo. B PLUS

SHOOTERS AND CHASERS
Cengage Gale
2009

BIO OF GYPSY ROSE LEE, the first celebrity stripper, puts her in 20th-century cultural context. A bit dry, alas. SOLID B

GYPSY: THE ART OF THE TEASE
Yale University Press
2009

ASTONISHING, INSPIRING MEMOIR by a man who spent his twenties in a colony for Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) patients. B PLUS

SQUINT: MY JOURNEY WITH LEPROSY
University Press of Mississippi
2009

ZANY, FRENETIC SF about a post-Singularity world where humans and aliens talk to trees, stones, hop dimensions. SOLID B

HYLOZOIC
Tor Books
2009