FINNISH SCIENCE FICTION sets family conflict against a backdrop of environmental disaster. Poetic, scary. B PLUS

THE BLOOD OF ANGELS
Peter Owen Publishers
2014

INTERSTELLAR TENSIONS, PSIONIC powers, and family secrets weave together in an engrossing space thriller. B PLUS

THE GALAXY GAME
Del Rey Books
2015

RICH IN TERROR AND CHARM in the grand old English tradition, Kim Newman’s modern haunted house tale delights. B PLUS

AN ENGLISH GHOST STORY
Titan
2014

THE FEMALE PHARAOH HATSHEPSUT’S life and times, vividly recreated from ancient inscriptions and artifacts. B PLUS

THE WOMAN WHO WOULD BE KING: HATSHEPSUT’S RISE TO POWER IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Crown/Archetype
2014

A VIRTUOSO LITERARY RIFF on fame and fortune, on love and death and parenthood, and especially on
New York. B PLUS

10:04
Faber & Faber
2014

A DREAMLIKE PARABLE SET in a harsh desert land whose feudal lords are preparing for war. Poetic, haunting. B PLUS

AKIN
None
2015

A FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST’S MEMOIR of her work in New York: from heart failure to homicides to the 9/11 attacks. B PLUS

WORKING STIFF TWO YEARS 262 BODIES & THE MAKING OF A MEDICAL EXAMINER
SIMON & SCHUSTER TRADE
2014

SCIENCE AND STORYTELLING COMBINE in an engrossing account of a massive 1783 volcanic eruption in Iceland. B PLUS

ISLAND ON FIRE
Pegasus Books
2015

A SCIENTIST TURNED MERCENARY and her bounty hunter lover, drawn into a mysterious interstellar quest. Wow! B PLUS

MOTHER OUTLAW
self-published
2014

THE EXTRAVAGANT, ECCENTRIC LIFE of surrealist fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, beautifully presented. B PLUS

ELSA SCHIAPARELLI
Knopf
2014