This fifth edition of Goldman’s adventurous collection inspired by 30 years of mountaineering adds ten new poems that join the others in exploring the lore, terror, technique, and emotional journey of what he calls the “useless and dangerous sheer joy of climbing.” His poems detail his experiences on peaks ranging from the Eiger to Kilimanjaro and include fascinating glimpses into the nuts-and-bolts of mountaineering, from crampons and carabiners to unstable scree and avalanches. But while these aspects of Reflections on Mountaineering may resonate most readily with other “Seekers” (his term for mountaineers like himself), Goldman’s verses offer much even for those who have never seen a summit.

In clear language that blends a coaching tone with the elemental directness of cliff faces, Goldman showcases what mountains and mountaineering can reveal about universal experiences, such as being afraid, growing old, and confronting a challenge. Occasionally readers will hear echoes of the author’s years as a Harvard-trained lawyer, not just in his sophisticated vocabulary and cultural references or occasional burst of Latin, but also in his precision and clarity, such as his consideration of the limits of a rope partner’s responsibilities in “Rope Partner of Mine.” Similarly, he pursues a kaleidoscopic inquiry into what mountains mean to climbers throughout the book, embracing the question’s nuances and possibilities.

The poems take on varied forms, from more traditional poetic couplets and stanzas to blank verse and robust prose poems. The new entries showcase the stylistic diversity: “Hidden Peak” begins with a familiar AABB rhyme scheme, whereas “Guarded Revelation” plunges readers into a ragged, unpredictable rhythm that mimics the speaker’s racing pulse and culminates in a wild surge of words representing his epiphany. Though summiting a mountain may appear a straightforward (though not simple) act, Goldman’s work reveals its beauty and its complexity, showing how its rippling implications reach even those far below its peak.

Takeaway: Impassioned, incisive poems of climbers, mountains, and life.

Comparable Titles: Nan Shepherd, Gary Snyder.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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Wood debuts with an intriguing novelist-themed thriller deeply concerned with the act of writing and its impact on the world. Davis Quigley, frustrated with the routine of his work as a radio news writer, launches his writing career with a novel that highlights how the American justice system unsympathetically ignores the reasons people commit crimes. When his new agent sends him into the contentious political talk show circuit, Davismeets pundit and fellow immigrant sympathizer Catherine Lane, a successful novelist herself, and pivots that connection into romance. Meanwhile, bipolar Brady Harvey succeeds in petitioning for a move from the mental hospital to supervised home confinement, but his obsession with the high school crush that provoked his crimes does not stay limited to the novel he is writing about their ersatz relationship.

Obsessions, unexpected connections, and a resonant frustration with the business of publishing all abound, as Wood demonstrates high ambitions for exploring the relationship between fiction, real life experience, and the impact of writers in the larger world. A tangle of subplots includes Quigley’s hopes to open discussion on justice, the appeal of Catherine’s depiction of college life to contemporary students, the dubious ethics of agent Sandra pushing her lover to invent a better hook for a biography he’s written, and the public obsession with Brady’s self-published novel once he becomes a high-profile criminal. These ambitious themes build to insights and surprises, though readers might wish that the novel explores the written craft of more of its cast of authors. Brady’s disordered writing, the only in-character prose here, provides some of the strongest, most engaging characterization.

A core twist is teased early, but well-planted shocks cutting short some publishing drama are a testament to Wood’s refusal to play things safe. This literate thriller succeeds in making writers’ lives engaging while still honoring the truth of them, the “long, lonely months of writing, rewriting, and incorporating changes”—and, of course, the resentments, grievances, and, yes, even the rewards.

Takeaway: Idea-driven thriller of novelists, publishing, and obsession.

Comparable Titles: Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot, Catherine McKenzie’s Fractured.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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Young scientist and widow Mayela has always wondered if the visions she’s experienced since childhood are merely hallucinations or a glimpse into another world. When she meets the enigmatic Nathan, she finds that the veil between her world and the underworld is surprisingly thin. Nathan is a Soul Hunter, an immortal being who has reaped souls from the annals of history, creating a legion ready to do his bidding. In Mayela, he sees something strange and wonderful. If he can reach her and make a pact of allegiance, he just might be able to secure his place among the legendary Soul Masters, the immortals who hold sway over both demon and earthly realms. As Mayela discovers her magic, what she knows about her own past may just unravel.

Gastreich creates a tense, spooky atmosphere—her underworld is as intriguing as it is scary. A pantheon of scheming immortals and figures from history (Anne Boleyn, Mozart) populate the Soul Hunter realm. Plucky Mayela’s budding romance with Nathan is buoyed by moments of eroticism, and the dialogue is fun: “I ate duck in the Underworld? I went to the bathroom in the Underworld?” Both worlds have their complexities, as Mayela’s right-wing father, sporting his red ballcap, insists he’s no racist but just wants what’s best for the country, a case of Gastreich striving for nuance, while a serial-killer twist is not up to the level of invention of the book at its best.

Gastreich is ambitious, and the immortals here do so much that it can be a challenge keeping up with all the powers and portents: the reaping of historical souls, seeing future pandemics, influencing natural phenomena, politics, and religion. However, there are many flashes of brilliance, especially when Gastreich lets Mayela breathe and discover her own brand of nature magic. Soul Masters will appeal to seasoned fantasy readers up to the twists and turns of Gastreich’s storytelling.

Takeaway: Spooky, inventive romantic fantasy of souls, immortals, and the underworld.

Comparable Titles: Maggie White’s Soul of Light and Shadow, Susan F. Banks’s Red Souls.

Production grades
Cover: B-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A-

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A young girl’s fancy takes flight in Welton’s charming debut picture book. In a distant kingdom bursting “with rays of light,” the inquisitive Myrtle gets lost one day while out picking apples. With no way back to her home, she skitters across the clouds in search of help, wondering “What on earth will happen to me?” Luckily, the wind whisks Myrtle down to the ocean, where, thanks to a couple of savvy seagulls and one very cheerful sea turtle named Max, Myrtle gently lands on a magic carpet, safely on Max’s back, surrounded by a flood of friendly ocean animals.

Myrtle’s journey is every bit as fanciful as readers might hope, given her dreamlike descent to the ocean. Pham paints her adventures in sweeping strokes of aquamarine wonder, as Myrtle is flanked by otters, dolphins, and even a quizzical octopus, all curiously asking her “Where is your home? And who are you? You came here right out of the blue.” She adapts to her new surroundings quickly, making friends and sharing her dreams—an inspiration for younger readers facing unfamiliar situations—and that willingness to stretch her wings pays off big in the end.

Welton’s rhyming structure feels forced in places, but Myrtle’s charisma and sense of whimsy more than make up for it. “In my land, I wished to be queen,” she announces, giving birth to a spectacular cavalcade of briny fun, as she learns to swim with dolphins, frolics with flying fish, and pretends to be a turtle alongside Max—culminating with a dramatic ending that plays off Myrtle’s imagination and special fondness for sea turtles. Welton’s pearls of wisdom—to “see what happens when you believe”—are the perfect fit for this saltwater romp, and Myrtle’s eventual transformation will make even the youngest reader believe in the magic of imagination.

Takeaway: Dreamy aquatic adventure that stretches the imagination.

Comparable Titles: Patrick McDonnell’s Shine!, Amy Sparkes’s Once Upon a Wish.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: A

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Siegel mounts a vigorous yet inviting response to “the theory that the story of the exodus and monotheism,” as set down in the Torah, were “later inventions meant to unify the Israelites,” finding this claim “not just implausible” but simply failing “to explain many facts.” The History Behind the Bible digs deep into the composition of the Bible’s first five books, how the history laid out by the four accepted authors of the Torah reflects the beliefs and thinking of their likely eras, and how revelations from the archaeological record point to the likelihood that an actual Israeli exodus from Egypt did occur, contrary to the arguments of some current historians. While always acknowledging that the Torah is no infallible historical record—its stories, he notes, can be “rambling, repetitive and sometimes self-contradictory” and written to “serve” their authors’ contemporary purposes—Siegel (author of The Bible Untangled) mounts fascinating evidence for the plausibility of Torah stories, the common origins of overlapping “doublet” passages, and more insights into a theory that “there was an exodus” albeit one “different in many ways from what the Bible describes.”

Siegel earns reader’s trust with his painstaking, historically informed approach, drawing on established scholarship about biblical authorship, offering clear explanations of how different texts were combined and expanded upon over the course of the Bible’s composition, and illuminating consideration of why authors in different eras would pen contradictory details, such as why in one version of the Noah story the ark-builder gathers seven pairs of animals rather than just two. (The likely explanation? Each authorship period’s rules for animal sacrifice.)

Writing with crisp precision and a welcome lack of dogmatism, Siegel both illuminates and challenges contemporary scholarship about biblical history, the development of monotheism, the deep histories of the twelve tribes of Israel, the life of Moses, and more. He always acknowledges that he’s offering informed speculation rooted in the best-available history and interpretation, rather than carrying truth down from the mountain, buoying his arguments.

Takeaway: Historically informed look at the veracity of the Torah’s story of exodus.

Comparable Titles: Richard Elliott Friedman’s The Exodus, Yitzhak Meitlis’s Excavating the Bible.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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This twisty, socially engaged Icelandic noir, Sheldon’s debut, opens with one of the two dead plutocrats promised by the title: American tech billionaire Jack Drumman, wealthy from social media and data mining, is discovered with his throat slit in a luxury hot-spring hotel 45 minutes out of Reykjavik. Facing her first murder investigation, and the nation’s “first known murder in years,” detective Hekla Rafney Fritzdóttir, shaken but determined, quickly finds wealthy Americans like Drumman’s wife and assistant to be defiantly uncooperative, as both nations put on the pressure to solve the case, and the evidence at first seems to point to a homegrown killer— Aldís Eva, an activist investigative journalist, famous for targeting international financial crime and making a target of Drumman.

With crisp prose and a strong feeling for characters living at the ends of their ropes, Sheldon mines tension not just from the crime and its coverup. Throughout, Hekla understands that Iceland’s future is in some ways at stake, from her disgust at Drumman’s hotel—“sleek, two-story monument to excess” —to her reluctance to ascribe guilt to Aldís, who has stoked great controversy in her zeal to push “back on the corroding influence that countries like the United States had on Iceland.” Hekla’s nerves and exhaustion, touchingly drawn, never diminish her savviness, and she proves a compelling detective as she faces bureaucratic setbacks, red herrings, and tough interrogations—she snaps at her nation’s wealthiest citizen, a business partner of Drumman’s wife, “If you’re helping Iceland, why are all your negotiations in secret?”

Sheldon’s plot eventually pairs Hekla with August Sorenson, a former FBI legal attaché in Copenhagen who once was close to Aldís. August, too, is living bleakly, and his early perspective chapters wallowing in sex, suicidal ideation, and autoerotic asphyxiation feel convincingly miserable but diminish narrative momentum. Still, August eventually proves a memorable co-lead, but it’s Hekla who grabs attention and keeps the pages turning.

Takeaway: Dark Icelandic noir with a strong edge of outrage at economic injustice.

Comparable Titles: Sara Blædel, Ragnar Jónasson.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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This urgent debut imagines a dystopian (very) near-future shaped and haunted by racial injustices of the American past and present, as bin Vilio spins a surprising and incisive story about vengeance, history, spirits, retribution, connection, and systemic oppression. Twenty-something best friends Ida, Soweto, and Abeni set off on their annual vacation, blowing off some steam from their hectic college careers—and stoking some drama among their parents. As the young women roadtrip, their African ancestors send a message neither they nor the world can ignore: those that history has been engineered to erase rise from the watery depths in which they perished with a reminder of broken promises and what is owed.

While the stakes could not be higher, bin Vilio roots the novel in the compelling lived experience of his leads. Ida is partially deaf and has vitiligo, the rare skin condition; Black and adopted by a mixed-race couple, she has always felt out of place. Her sisterhood with Soweto and Abeni, plus the love of her professor parents, are all she can count on, even before they find themselves facing ghosts and, eventually, the government’s totalitarian overreach. Into that potent study of three Black women’s journeys bin Vilio deftly incorporates history, rousing voices from the past, “chosen one” elements edged with cultural critique, and depictions of authoritarian terror that all-too-convincingly suggest contemporary politics.

Especially powerful is the women’s bearing witness to what they previously knew from historical accounts. “It was then that the dominating sentiment being sadness stopped,” bin Vilio writes. “Fear came to the fore and took a firm stake.” And then, following fear: action, though what that will actually look like is a matter for readers to discover. Promised Land is about learning one's past and taking back one's power, with three educated, resourceful young women standing on the strength of their knowledge, their family lineage, and the protection of their ancestors.

Takeaway: Three Black women’s powerful trip through a near-future America with ghosts of the past.

Comparable Titles: Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby; LaTanya McQueen's When the Reckoning Comes.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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A politically charged thriller of accountability and abuses of power, the first of Stanley’s Vengeance series, Collective Vengeance follows Samantha, a private equity investor who, in the early 1990s in North Carolina, was raped and impregnated by David Jaymes, the son of a “cartoonish but ruthless old-world plantation master.” David’s father Jonathan plotted to save his son’s reputation by demanding an abortion against the will of the sixteen-year-old Sam. Now, decades later, David is the president's ultraconservative nominee for the Supreme Court. But David’s older sister, Ryleigh, is enacting a long-term plan to get revenge on behalf of Sam. Ryleigh will keep Sam and her twins out of the Jaymes’ clutches and see to it that David never secures confirmation—preventing him from using his power to let the right-wing political action group Aegis enact an authoritarian plan for America, stripping citizens of civil rights.

Ideal for readers who are politically minded, with an interest in civil rights, but still look to books for escapism, Collective Vengeance centers on a high-stakes, long-game battle that finds Ryleigh making desperate choices both in past and present, some unbeknownst to even Sam—readers should expect surprises. Stanley keeps the stakes high as, in 2019, Sam and Ryleigh put together a team to expose the Jaymes family’s many corruptions, while dodging a hired thug for the Jaymes family who quickly accelerates from intimidation to assault. Sam and her team must think two steps ahead because Jonathan, a convincing villain, will stop at nothing to silence them.

This inspired-by-the-headlines novel moves quickly and is sharply plotted, making for a swift thriller, edged with real-world concerns, that stirs real tension but at times might benefit from slowing down a touch. An unaddressed irony that stalks this book is that the main character of a story focused on a woman's right to choose rarely gets to make choices for herself, or her moment of rage about her manipulation. Still, the stoy’s jolts all jolt, and characters like Cynthia James prove gripping.

Takeaway: Political thriller of a long-ago victim and a supreme court nominee.

Comparable Titles: Anthony Franze’s The Advocate’s Daughter, Stacey Abrams’s Avery Keene series.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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Composed of poems written over the course of 35 years, software engineer Kerl’s stormy debut collection offers a record of the poet’s life and emotional states from youth to middle age while also exploring the mysteries of cyclical time, all without, as the title suggests, wasting words. Kerl distills his history to essences in Brevity, allowing readers to absorb his life’s trajectory, structured here by shifts in attitude and perspective, from a discerning distance. “Younger, I had been a ghost moving through the world but not seen by it,” Kerl writes in “Touch” from 2006, but for readers, this metaphor has heightened significance—the younger ghost wails into the void not 30 pages prior.

In the striking “Not much” from 1989, Kerl writes “I was feeling like not much at all, except maybe a lifeless rock,” moving through the world listlessly, naming the stars pallid rather than brilliant. Thus concentrated, Kerl’s collection allows readers a far-removed overview effect of his life, something like seeing a photograph of Earth from the moon, and from the fresh perspective offered by the collection’s structure and approach, the concept of time both stretches and shrinks. That’s particularly true in Kerl’s six Perseid and Orionid meteor shower poems, which are dispersed throughout Brevity and mark the transformations and cycles of Kerl’s—and the cosmos’s—existence.

In these surprising and thought-provoking entries, the poet and the cosmos are united; Kerl’s words bridge human and asteroid and show that each is a body of stardust, just differently shaped. For Kerl, humanity is not insignificant and separate from the universe, but as necessary a part of it as gas giants and galaxies. In the collection’s penultimate poem “Kitchen,” which tenderly describes an “old and threadbare” kitchen rug worn by years of use, the speaker writes “say what you want,” about the tattered carpet, “it is the center of the world.” Everything matters, Kerl’s collection shouts, because everything contributes to “more irreplaceable brief sudden-bright moments such as this.”

Takeaway: Moody, reflective poetry surveying love, time, life, and the cosmos over 35 years.

Comparable Titles: Christopher Buckley’s “Perseid Meteor Shower,” Paul Smyth’s “Desert Watch”

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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This straight-talking, tool-packed, at times proudly impolitic handbook from behavioral scientist Gavoni (author of The 5 Scientific Laws of Life & Leadership) explores leadership as both art and science, offering practical steps, conceptual frameworks, and tools like the Performance Diagnostic Checklist, crafted for anyone wishing to improve their leadership skills. Gavoni makes the case that true leadership goes past “positional authority” and even tangible measures like exceeding sales goals or wins vs. losses. Instead, he sees it as measured by the impact those who lead have on the hearts and minds of those who look to them to be roused to that elusive next level.

With a nod towards behavioral-analyst pioneer B. F. Skinner, Gavoni notes that when faced with a leadership conundrum, there are three basic courses of action: accept the status quo, try to change it, or walk away. It’s the second option that provides the impetus for the book. Gavoni persuasively describes effective leadership as “a dance of balance and precision, akin to traversing a high wire.” Leaders, he argues, should positively contribute to the greater good, with each decision and action nurturing a “culture of trust, collaboration, and collective excellence." With clarity, evidence, and more rigor than many titles in the genre, Gavoni lays out practical steps leaders can take to achieve that goal: understanding one’s limitations while finding ways to surpass them, setting reasonable goals, managing boundaries, keeping communication open, giving credit, remaining unselfish, and maintaining behavior accountability, including for those at the top.

Gavoni also advocates for “quick wins” that set a positive tone while encouraging momentum and cohesiveness, and establishing clear paths to victory to improve the chance for group success and set the stage for meeting greater goals. For all the striking, research-backed insights, Gavoni’s tone bounces from serious to crass—he’s fond of the capped, half-censored term “A$$ CLOWNS”—which may put off some readers. A glossary, checklists, and a heartfelt epilogue all add to the book’s value and utility.

Takeaway: Persuasive, pragmatic guide to encouraging, effective leadership.

Comparable Titles: Natalie Parks, Ashley Tudor, and Adam Ventura’s Leadership in Behavioral Analysis, Aubrey C. Daniels’s Bringing Out the Best in People.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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This unique cocktail of memoir, self-help, and essays offers a captivating and bitingly comic journey through a California coming-of-age, too close to Hollywood and too far, at times, from empowerment. Performer/artist/community-builder Tico's briskly told story, expressed through personal essays, stories, and poems, mirrors the moon's cycles, suggesting her transition from adolescence to adulthood. Tico fearlessly explores tumultuous relationships (“As a general rule, it takes equal parts energy to remove oneself from a relationship as it does to wiggle into it”), wild bachelorette weekends (powered by “a cardboard box of whatever store-brand alcohol the Bachelorette Overlords have decided will get us drunk in the van”), and other life passages, all without the guidance of the previous generation.

Her crack comic timing and eye for the killer detail never come at the expense of hard-won wisdom, and her reflections on her twenties exhibit maturity and grace while offering an inspiring call for young people to think independently. Tico deftly puts readers in her shoes in moments of turmoil and joy, facing the “Stages of Alone” and learning that “confusion, shock, and ambivalence are perfectly normal—nay, healthy—responses to pregnancy.” The awkwardness of finding your footing and power while navigating adult relationships and being part of a generation taught in health classes to “Fear the Sperm” feels relatable, poignant, and rousing.

Tico’s form is bold, as Cancer Moon mixes straight-ahead memoir with pages of intimate blank verse that dig deep into ideas and feelings, like the poem “Call Your Mother”’s contemplation of her, her mother’s, and her grandmother’s lineage: “we are granddaughters of a million versions of moon, / And sometimes they’re waxing poetic /’Bout everything they have done wrong.” That one finds Tico in powerful communion with her own unborn daughter. These raw verse passages may at first strike some readers as interruptions to the flow of the polished memoir, but Tico uses them to plunge deep into the emotions and themes that power the narrative, and her linework—playful, urgent, surprising, inviting—rewards leaping with her.

Takeaway: Rousing, bold, funny story of growing into one’s power.

Comparable Titles: Phoebe Robinson’s Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outdoor Clothes, Jessi Klein’s You’ll Grow Out of It.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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The assured fiction debut from Smith (author of From Three Feet off the Ground) explores trauma, death, and family secrets, but also healing and spirituality, as an unlikely duo set off on a journey for answers that will reveal just how intertwined they truly are. Readers meet Gracie Wilder and Beau Griffin at the funeral of Gracie’s father, David Wilder, as death brings them unexpectedly together. Both Gracie, a dancer on the cusp of a major break, and Beau, a building contractor, soon find their lives wrecked, with Gracie having lost her position under Boden Contemporary Dance and Beau having been labeled a reckless driver and the destroyer of the beloved town historical site, the Fidelis building, about to enjoy its 150th anniversary.

As Gracie strives to make sense of clues (a sewn blackbird, a lost e-mail) to the secrets her father left behind, she heads to Montreal, asking Beau to travel with her. Like Smith’s open-hearted nonfiction, Threads of Us explores connections and discovery, how at our best people can lift and support each other. This time, in swift but richly emotional prose, she employs multiple perspectives to explore the challenges and urgent importance of resolving and conquering trauma, including both leads, of course, but also surprises like Cooper, a private investigator and friend of Beau, and Eloise, a First Nations shop owner in Montreal, whose past, present, and lineage are sketched out with touching detail.

Smith smartly allows these other perspectives to weave into the story of Gracie and Beau, giving them such major roles in the novel’s revelations. For all Smith’s insights into relationship dynamics, spirituality also plays a major role, with the use of symbolic storytelling and “‘heirlooms” such as the Blackbird given to Gracie. Readers will appreciate Smith’s deft sleight-of-hand, building mystery and anticipation across a complex but humane narrative, without even hinting at the major secrets to come.

Takeaway: Touching novel of family secrets, surprise connections, and healing.

Comparable Titles: Barbara O’Neal’s In the Midnight Rain, Susan Wiggs’s Lisa Van Allen’s The Wishing Thread.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Incisive, moving, and stripped of sentimentality, Still Phyllis finds Friedman (author of The Hand Before the Eye) facing, some two decades after the fact, a period of pain, loss, and surprising connection: the 18 months between his sister’s diagnosis, at the start of her fifties, with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, an incurable and fatal condition that, as he puts it, “had been turning Phyllis’s brain into Swiss cheese.” In scrupulous prose, Friedman relives the shock of seeing his younger sister “trapped inside her deteriorating mind, conscious of each successive loss—of language, memory, executive function.” This was a one-in-a-million diagnosis, and the neurologist brusquely announced to Friedman that there’s no known palliative treatments and little hope of Phyllis lasting a year. “Your sister needs to go to a nursing facility. She cannot be cared for by you.”

But, for Friedman, family is family, and Still Phyllis finds him drawing from long-forgotten diaries as he both recounts and interrogates his choice to take Phyllis into his New Jersey home, a decision he made without consulting his wife. He writes with crisp precision of the practicalities of caring for Phyllis despite the medical system’s zeal to convince us “to exile our debilitated parents or suddenly useless spouses to institutional caretaking.” Scenes of brother and sister still managing to understand each other despite the fraying of Phyllis’s capacity for language have rich power. These edge between the touchingly playful—Upper West Sider Phyllis offers tart assessments of authors reading at the 92nd Street Y—and the profound, as in the inclusion of a handwritten note from Phyllis (“Don, I lov yu. your deep & wondreerful &so &deep”).

Friedman notes that her words still “communicated well the truths about dying—about its terrors and confusions” more powerfully than the “saccharine and, finally, empty nuggets” he’s read in the likes of Tuesdays with Morrie. That commitment to rigorous thinking and writing about life as it’s actually lived powers this first-rate memoir, an act of memory, empathy, and love.

Takeaway: Finely wrought, deeply human memoir of a sister’s neurodegenerative disorder.

Comparable Titles: Elizabeth Hay’s All Things Consoled, Philip Roth’s Patrimony.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Still Phyllis: A Caregiver's Memoir of Dementia and CJD

The 12th entry in Archer’s playful and all-too-human Davis Way Crime Caper series picks up on Davis Way Cole’s life as she returns to her hometown of Pine Apple, Alabama, to fill in for her police chief father during Memorial Day celebrations. Davis escaped the town years ago, to run an elite security team at a million-dollar casino in Mississippi, and even though coming back home means facing people and memories she’d rather avoid, Cole is looking forward to a laid-back time at a quiet job. But Archer, as always, keeps things winningly off-kilter, and before Davis knows it everything goes horribly awry: accidents, surprises from her past, and a slew of crimes and intrigues that threaten the town itself. Can Cole save them?

The novel is fast-paced, with characters and situations flung from all sides. Every interaction seems to teem with hidden pasts and mysteries, hinting at the history that people share with each other, courtesy of living in a small town. There’s also the odd little detail about people thrown in now and then, again exuding a small-town quaintness. Even as the narrative hurtles forward at break-neck speed, Archer’s characteristic sense of humor, part sarcastic, part ridiculous, brings a refreshing lightness to the at-times quite dire happenings. The characters remain memorable and engaging creations, capable of surprises, and readers new to the series will feel invited right in.

At points, there’s so much happening—plot twists and surprising situations that stretch credulity—that Double Blast at times tests suspension of disbelief …how many mysteries can one town hold? Most of the time, though, Archer is right on the money, capturing a slightly heightened realism with surprises that stir gasps and character motivations that resonate. It’s an extremely fun read alive with crime, action, heaps of local dish and color, and above all, transporting entertainment.

Takeaway: Fun, funny small-town caper with a fill-in police chief.

Comparable Titles: Janet Evanovich; Victoria Houston’s At the Edge of the Woods.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Double Blast

Debut novelist Lieman’s engaging narrative reads like a memoir but is the fictional account of Erik Bernstein and his self-examination of life and mortality. From the age of eleven, Erik has long pondered about death—and, as the story begins, Erik is watching his own funeral from the back of his synagogue. Burdened during life with overwhelming self-doubt, anxiety and shame, Erik has never felt as if he fit in anywhere, despite the friends he sees eulogizing him. Next, he’s transported to another world which might be Heaven, where he is soon issued an invitation to God’s house, inexplicably narrated by the beloved late Chicago Cubs broadcaster, Harry Caray. But rather than the Almighty, a short jester named Fate appears, calling himself God’s court jester.

Fate soon explains that situations that appear to be random instead were orchestrated by his machinations. “Many—not all—of those moments are creations of my imagination. They are designed to delight God,” Fate intones. A fellow traveler is shown the unlikely way he met his beloved wife of five decades; another received a promotion when the lost file he’d been fired for reappeared. And Erik is shown the many times during his life that he lost out by not making choices — when it’s too late to do anything about it. Or is it?

Lieman deftly illustrates the weight of mortality carried by all humans, and his polished, inviting prose allows readers to imagine themselves in similar situations. Indeed, he punctuates each chapter with a real-life unlikely situation—including a NICU nurse who cares for a baby and after twenty-eight years and across the country cares for that preemie’s own infant — all examples are footnoted at the end of his story. Anyone who has ever contemplated the meaning of life and its fleeting duration will find deep meaning in Lieman’s words.

Takeaway: This inspiring novel will have readers re-evaluating their own life choices.

Comparable Titles: Mitch Albom, Richard Bach.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Debut novelist Young offers young readers a wild sense of wonder and adventure in this coming-of-age science fiction drama. At 16, Dayton Murdoch elevated himself through hard work to the rank of Survey pilot aboard the exploration ship he was born on, Venture. With only a handful of flying hours left until he earns a coveted Recon pilot designation, he finds his future bright. When Venture, supposedly still 4 years away from returning to Earth, undergoes an unexpectedly early re-entry, Dayton, his partner Zara, and the rest of the crew find themselves living in a very different world than the one they’d been living out amongst the stars.

What comes next is an exciting space-to-Earth coming-of-age story that relies on action to share a powerful message of adaptation and acceptance. Dayton is rudely introduced to Earth law and culture, stuck in Chuck Yeager High School until his 18th birthday. That means no more flying, and no more tight-knit camaraderie with his fellow pilots. The adjustment is difficult for the confident Dayton, who says, “A lot of you on the spacer side say I’m too much of an Earther. Then the Earthborn say I’m too much of a spacer.” When his father is recalled to active service in space, Dayton finds he must contend with an aunt who has very different ideals than the ones he grew up with. To top everything off, he’s head over heels for Allyson, a popular classmate.

With its stark focus on societal divides (with Griefers, neuros, and more), the novel shines a bright light on contemporary issues and plays on the classical literary themes of man vs self, man vs nature, and man vs other. The 1950’s-esque plot calls back to Heinlein’s Juveniles, and action-packed scenes will provide middle-grade readers with a delightful taste of science fiction without being overwhelmed by excessive character development.

Takeaway: Exciting coming-of-age SF story in space, on Earth, and inbetween.

Comparable Titles: Robert A. Heinlein’s Have Space Suit—Will Travel, Jennifer L. Holm’s The Lion of Mars.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: A

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