SENSATIONAL HORROR THRILLER with a vividly imagined setting in the Great Smoky Mountains and an unforgettable cast of characters is both smarter than it needs to be and an all-out gut punch. B PLUS

REVELATOR
Knopf
2021

BEAUTIFUL, POETIC NOVEL based on the life of 12th century writer and nun Marie de France is both an evocation of a lost age and a powerful meditation on timeless themes like love, exile, joy, and despair. A MINUS

MATRIX
Riverhead Books
2021

THE GREAT CITY-STATES OF MESOPOTAMIA are the setting for a brilliant historical fantasy that mixes ancient history, technology, and magic. 600 BCE comes alive in this vividly detailed novel! A MINUS

THE KING’S AUTOMATA
Francis Morrow
2022

A HEARTBREAKING ASSIGNMENT IN INDIA confronts a journalist with the horrors and the beauties of the homeland she has shunned for decades. Absolutely compelling novel tells a story of the best and worst of human nature. B PLUS

HONOR
Algonquin Books
2022

RECLUSIVE, ASCETIC DETECTIVE Charlie Waldo winds up once again in the middle of big-money Hollywood scandals and secrets. Will he lose track of his own unique redemption under the pressure? Distinctive, fresh mystery with LA flavor. B PLUS

PAY OR PLAY
Severn House
2021

A CRIMINAL TALKS TO ANIMALS and attracts some attention from even more dangerous people. Will his furry and feathered friends help him go on the run? Amusing fantasy yarn set in 1930s America has hard-boiled charm. SOLID B

THE ZOOLINGUIST: A HUMOROUS CRIME FANTASY
S.A. Adams
2021

WHEN THE CONSPIRACY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX and the Internet panopticon collide, a cynical journalist needs all the help he can get, and more. Wild, satirical thriller with an abundance of twists is Nick Mamatas’s best book yet. A MINUS

THE SECOND SHOOTER
Solaris
2021

CASUALTIES OF THE POST-HUMAN ECONOMY scratching out a living in West Virginia uncover some disturbing secrets about the recent past. Creepily believable worldbuilding, well realized characters. B PLUS

BUSTED SYNAPSES
Broken Eye Books
2020

THE POWER OF BLACK COMMUNITIES, and of Black families, are central to this memoir by the former mayor of Stockton, California, an educator elected to the city council while still a Stanford student. Thoughtful, visionary, frank. B PLUS

THE DEEPER THE ROOTS
Flatiron Books: An Oprah Book
2021

JAPANESE FOREST SPIRITS, dream magic, and an angry boar god crash into the life of a Black Canadian expatriate teacher. Hypnotic fairy tale alternates with a modern story of “foreignness” and alienation. B PLUS

YUME
Rare Machines
2021