Treadgold’s Fallen Man series, which has followed the romantic lives of the wealthy O’Connell family of Washington state’s Port Townsend, comes to a satisfying end in this final entry, bringing everyone together and tying up the strands of the earlier stories. Edward O’Connell has quietly left the Catholic priesthood and his Philadelphia parish, moving from celibacy to sexual profligacy. During a Thanksgiving visit to the family compound built by his musical superstar brother Joe, Edward becomes smitten with Lisette Manegold, the proprietress of a local restaurant, but soon discovers her reputation with his family, though limited, is less than stellar.

Though previous series entries work as standalone romances, and Treadgold offers context here for new readers, this climactic volume really targets readers of the whole series, structured as a family soap opera in which Edward and Lisette’s relationship is often sidelined to the follow ups for David, Maddie, and Liam’s movie pursuits, Ali and Liam’s drama about their addicted birth mother, and the return of the distasteful but still compelling yoga guru Kilo. The connection between Lisette’s past and the current O’Connell dramas overshadows the romantic story arc. Edward’s church backstory is shared almost entirely in exposition, so its emotional impact is lessened, and his disclosure of psychic predictive powers would feel more surprising if not for the family’s other supernatural gifts.

Still, the cast and holiday setting are presented with a casual mutual warmth, and the overall impression is an appealingly fuzzy one of a family coming together with love and mutual support, despite their wide disparities in life paths and backstories. Treadgold’s deep affection for her characters and understanding of their hearts, quirks, and concerns will reward fans of the series, though this entry isn’t a jumping-on point. Readers wanting more from protagonists of earlier installments get plenty of it, and overall the series comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Takeaway: Reunions, romance, and a warm holiday vibe power this series ender.

Comparable Titles: Lydia Michaels’s Almost Priest, Nora Roberts’s The MacKade Brothers series

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

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This brief but baggy study from Mohr mounts evidence for an intuitive explanation of the persistent and “staggering” wealth inequality between nations over centuries. Mohr argues that the underlying cause of disparity is temperature, with nations’ position on the globe plus “atmospheric circulation, ocean currents, and local geography” playing key roles in shaping their “various economic and social outcomes,” including GDP, their Human Development Index (HDI), education level, students’ test results, and more. Mohr acknowledges exceptions to this simple but persuasive idea, digging into why a nation like Singapore has developed rapidly while its surrounding nations have not, or why the income gap has lessened between southern and northern regions of the U.S. have in recent decades.

The “revolution” of air-conditioning, Mohr argues, is a crucial driver in these cases, and his case is clear and persuasive. Of course, that comfort comes at a cost, and in a final section Mohr draws on an analysis of numbers of Cooling Degree Days around the world to demonstrate the extraordinary energy expenditure it will take to cool hot regions enough to become competitive. (Mohr is convincing when noting the necessity of air conditioning for growth and stability and the “formidable” challenge of providing it.) Mohr backs up his claims throughout with original analysis of nations’ (and sometimes their inner regions’) per capita GDP, HDI, and other factors, showing his work in easy-to-follow charts, demonstrating that “the availability of conducive academic and working environments where individuals can effectively work and study is crucial for economic development within a society.”

While the major contentions in The Divide of Nations have some persuasive power, the text itself feels padded and repetitive. Mohr explains basic ideas multiple times within a chapter or even a page, and continually identifies the analyses here—which feel like starting points rather than conclusive proof—as “comprehensive.” Still, Mohr demonstrates strong correlations between temperature and the strengths of nations’ institutions, and his crunching of numbers offers some understanding of why.

Takeaway: Original study arguing that wealth disparity between nations comes down to temperature.

Comparable Titles: Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson’s Why Nations Fail, Branko Milanovic’s Global Inequality.

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

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This thought-provoking debut memoir begins with a compelling dissection of childbirth, as psychologist Caraballo muses "some of the most wonderful things in life are achieved through pain" and recounts the physical damages his birth caused to his mother. Springing from this “suffering-happiness dichotomy,” Caraballo confesses his nagging feeling that he must earn his existence. The son of devout Jehovah's Witness parents, he succumbs to typical teenage rebellion and later describes his gay identity as “part of what the religion regards as sinful.” From there, Caraballo embarks on a life lived in secret, out of fear of rejection—the antithesis of the inner freedom he seeks.

That motif of freedom permeates the narrative, one that Caraballo describes as "not entirely an illusion" but is "the result of all that has been done." When he’s diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin's lymphoma at 18, he believes the disease is sent from God as his divine punishment. With a matter-of-fact, stoic voice, Caraballo relives grappling with shame and self-blame—”two years of torture” from cancer and chemotherapy, momentarily falling into the bleakness of addiction, and later on, incarceration for “violating the rules of a DUI sentencing.” Of his life in prison, Caraballo writes "so many of the challenges you face are brought upon you by others, although the reminder that your own actions put you there remains with you almost constantly."

Caraballo reconciles the murky aspects of shaping his identity, self-perception, and life choices with a nod to how his early religious upbringing may have affected his concept of freedom. Throughout, he uplifts, enlightens, and encourages a clear-cut view of his experiences as an homage to resilience and inner strength. “The average person shouldn’t ever have to live through so much turmoil in order to better themselves,” he writes, “and yet, each of those experiences was something I needed to have happen.”

Takeaway: Observant account of resilience through cancer, addiction, and imprisonment.

Comparable Titles: Allie Bailey’s There Is No Wall, Brandon J. Wolf’s A Place for Us.

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

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Resurrecting the delights and dishy pleasures of epic family sagas, Treadgold immerses readers once again in the O’Connell family in this fourth Olympic Peninsula series love story (after The Magic Man). Jake O’Connell, the storied CEO of the family empire, is no stranger to taking care of business; he was the sibling who stayed behind after their father’s death—while his estranged twin Joe went on to country music stardom—to take over the lucrative family business. Jake’s path granted him wealth, wine, and women, but now, on the brink of finding it all too superficial, Jake returns, quite unexpectedly and as a decided outsider, to the family fold.

Treadgold skillfully teases out the complexities of multigenerational relationships, twisting the individual threads of the O’Connell family into one immense, labyrinthine tapestry that hums with the conflicts and interplay expected from a large, high-powered family. As his siblings find their way to their happily-ever-afters, Jake finally grasps the opportunity to follow his own dreams: becoming an author, something he sacrificed to fulfill his father’s legacy. His family reunion isn’t quite as sweet as expected, and, as Treadgold plumbs the intricacies of jumbled family dynamics, Jake surveys his own life choices and struggles to make sense of his instant attraction to Chiara, the Italian guardian of his brother’s child.

Jake and Chiara—a fellow outsider who’s currently embroiled in a loveless marriage—make a spirited couple, as they face nearly impossible challenges, both paranormal and not, on their road to happiness. Treadgold leaves readers guessing throughout, weaving a suspenseful will-they-or-won’t-they with rapid perspective changes and rich descriptions of her characters’ luscious lifestyles. That chaos makes the threads challenging to track at times, but, in the end, this is a satisfying escape into the lives of the rich, the famous, and the wounded.

Takeaway: High-powered family saga with a hint of the paranormal.

Comparable Titles: Bobbie Jean Huff’s The Ones We Keep, Lisa Kleypas’s Dream Lake.

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

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This brisk, funny science-fiction head-spinner, Ringel’s follow up to I Look Forward to Further Collaboration Between Our Species, blends an ongoing future-Earth first-contact story with playful, sometimes biting satire and a commitment to both science itself and all that’s worth loving in our civilization, like pizza and British TV mystery procedurals. The story is a continuation, but new readers should have no trouble jumping right into the madness as, a year after encountering aliens from the planet Lattern, the Earth of the 22nd century faces an unexpected consequence: humans’ abuse of Kleptrons, dragonfly-like brain suckers from Lattern who, given the chance to penetrate a human skull, will rouse a person to brief, intense pleasure while feeding on their memories.

People being people, stolen Kleptrons are being put to nefarious ends. The story kicks off with Latternian biobots’ cockeyed solution: introduce to Earth the bioengineered predator that handled Kleptrons on Lattern. Unfortunately, these Flektanians turn out to be “meter-long creatures that look remarkably like dung beetles.” Complicating matters, as they help Maine doctors Ed and Helen Gilner track down Kleptrons, the Flektanians spit out radical speeches about resurrecting the reign of the trilobites, even vowing “to make arthropods great again.” As that suggests, Ringel’s satire edges at times toward the wacky, but like all good conjurers of speculative fiction his world is internally consistent, no matter how off-beat. Nothing here is scattershot, and despite the silly stuff the novel offers a smart, twisty investigation of how the powers that be use Kleptrons, complete with insights into 22nd century American politics and business.

The science, too, is dead serious despite the fun. The crisply told narrative, spiked with sharp comic dialogue and diplomatic crises, builds to real surprises and thoughtful ideas, demonstrating in the end that “A civilization's understanding of theoretical physics is far and away the best indicator of its overall maturity.” Ringel’s own blend of maturity and its opposite is idiosyncratic, but lovers of oddball comic SF will be on board.

Takeaway: Truly funny science-fiction satire, alive with ideas and fun.

Comparable Titles: Keith Laumer, Robert Sheckley.

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

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Celebrated pianist, recording artist, a “piano tuner to the stars” Wilson chronicles his unexpected rise from a “music-obsessed miscreant from a broken home” in a rough-and-tumble Texas town to a pianist who headlines PBS specials and serves as a behind-the-scenes fixture for some of music’s biggest names—and isn’t shy about admitting to being star-struck when asked to “install an adapter in Paul McCartney’s piano and show him how to work it.” (Four hours of playing, chatting, and laughing together follow.) Music always was a savior for Wilson, helping to lift him from a hopeless cycle of dead-end jobs and poor decisions.

While upbeat, briskly told, and alive with charm and life lessons, Tuned In never shies away from personal hardship, especially early in Wilson’s career. He recounts leaving home as a young man, dropping in and out of schools, and navigating a series of mostly failed relationships and moments of despair. Performing, meanwhile, had its humiliations: playing his “pensive” original compositions at the Hotel Bel-Air, he was asked by a patron for “something from Cats.” A turning point came when Wilson enrolled in piano-tuning school. Soon after graduation he began getting business from local musicians, and his reputation grew, eventually leading to tuning a piano for classical pianist Van Cliburn. Wilson proved up to the task and soon began tuning pianos for Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Carole King, Elton John and more. Lively anecdotes abound.

Drawing on lessons “baked into [his] DNA from [an] act of self- determinism,” Wilson became adept, as he matured, at seizing an opportunity, helping, in the 1980s, to develop the first MIDI-adapter for acoustic piano before collaborating with Spectrasonics, a creator of virtual-instrument software plug-ins. It was during this time that four of his recordings earned spots on the Billboard Top 20 and he became something more remarkable still: the kind of star who could hire a world-class piano tuner. Tuned In hits the right notes, with wit, surprises, and winning enthusiasm.

Takeaway: A pianist and piano technician’s surprising story of success with music’s greatest names.

Comparable Titles: Andrew McMahon’s Three Pianos, Franz Mohr’s My Life with the Great Pianists.

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

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McBride’s assured debut launches her Potomac Shores series with a turbulent but uplifting romance centered on a trifecta of serious concerns (mid-life crises, whirlwind courtships, COVID lockdown), ultimately positing that the only way to navigate rough waters is by taking the helm. At 48, Katherine Young is everybody’s steady Katie: dutiful daughter, protective parent, faithful friend, exemplary employee. After dropping her daughter at college, the single mother feels unmoored, but that’s not an unfamiliar sensation. Katie loves escaping land to explore the waterways of her native Virginia, and envies her brother, who lives on a yacht, and proclaims, “Home is where your anchor drops.”

After accepting a tempting job offer in Miami (a professional upgrade to IT infrastructure manager), Katie is swept off her feet by the exuberant bon vivant J.C., James Conrad Bland III, a D.C. high-society fixture who offers just the kind of freewheeling life Katie craves after decades of stifling stability. She rides his romantic wave, which crests at their October 2019 wedding, but McBride doesn’t send Katie crashing onto the rocks just yet. Marry in haste, repent at leisure: Katie’s wish-fulfillment fantasy melts away drop by painful drop, heightened by stupefying grief and COVID isolation.

McBride, a former National Geographic magazine staffer, imbues The Cicada Spring with a profound love of nature and infectious curiosity about the Occoquan River and Virginia’s history, going back to its ancient inhabitants. Deftly capturing the forced introspection of the 2020 shutdown era, she steers Katie toward her core values, including faith in American institutions (like the government agencies that converge to address environmental devastation). The pandemic shifts Katie’s perspective to the long view, from selfless people-pleaser to steward of the land and its generations of inhabitants. While the cultural shifts from COVID still reverberate, McBride’s briskly told story proposes, with persuasive heart and wisdom, that it’s the recalibration of individual lives that will power our collective future.

Takeaway: Uplifting middle-age romance alive with wisdom and love of nature.

Comparable Titles: Rachel Hanna’s The Beach House, Pamela M. Kelley’s The Nantucket Inn.

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

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O’Sullivan’s brisk, upbeat debut shares her methods for making meaningful change in life, drawn from a lifetime as a proud “disrupter” dedicated to turning “the ‘impossible’ into the ‘possible.’” Part memoir, part self-help guide, and part journal, From Doubt to Do finds O’Sullivan (and several women she has profiled) sharing key moments from her experience, demonstrating how she learned to believe in her own “magic” to make transformation possible in seemingly impossible situations. Her tone is sunny and encouraging, at times even irreverent (“When people do ask me where I graduated, I reply, ‘MSU,’ as in, ‘Make Stuff Up’—the school of experience and results”).

As she cheers readers on to face their own desires for change equipped with the four “C”s (courage, clarity, commitment, and capacity), O'Sullivan shares inspirational quotes from sources familiar in the genre (Steve Jobs, Dale Carnegie) and some welcome wild cards (Lady Gaga, Beyoncé). Her goal, she notes, in chatty prose, is for the book to be both rousing and practical, showcasing two keys to change-making and seeing yourself on the other side of challenging situations: “the courage and a roadmap to say, ‘Hell, YES!’” O’Sullivan’s zeal for life jumps off the page as she shares her journey from a child born into mysterious circumstances, to a teen that wanted to perform with a traveling group of inspiring performers, to using what she refers to as “The Bob Hope Method,” which “is about believing the seemingly impossible is possible and being brave enough to ask for what you want.” (Rest assured, younger readers, she explains who Hope is.)

Throughout, she balances actionable steps for change-making with breezy accounts of putting them into practice. The book is quite literally colorful, especially in typography, though some all-caps passages can feel unintentionally shout-y. Still, she charmingly invites readers into her world and encourages them to participate in things that wow and excite them as she does.

Takeaway: Upbeat and positive self-help memoir and journal encouraging change-making.

Comparable Titles: Andi Andrew’s Braving Change, Case Kenny’s That’s Bold of You.

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

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Helms weaves a gripping tale of secrets, betrayal, and the relentless pursuit of truth in this assured series starter. Five years after leaving the Charleston Police Department under a cloud of controversy, Detective Whitlock finds himself drawn back into the world of investigations when multibillionaire Tucker Donovan hires him for a special mission: to uncover the identity of Donovan's long-lost daughter. As Whitlock delves into the case, he navigates an agreeably complex web of deception and danger, with each potential candidate for Donovan's daughter harboring their own secrets and motivations. With the shadow of a murdered detective hanging over the investigation, Whitlock must race against time to unravel the truth before he becomes the next target.

Seasoned mystery pro Helms (Doctor Hate) demonstrates his mastery in blending genres as the narrative seamlessly transitions between mystery, suspense, and family drama, creating a rich and multi-dimensional story powered by crisp prose, sharp-edged dialogue, and an eye for the killer detail. Helms’ skilful pacing and scencraft will keep readers on the edge of their seats, but the page-turning storytelling never comes at the expense of complex themes and convincing, multifaceted characters revealed in striking portraiture, like the actress who, facing “the constantly shrinking scope of her dreams” and “degradation at the hands of at least one producer” finds herself “reduced from ambition to resignation.”

Helms combines shoe-leather procedural sleuthing with unpredictable setpieces and a savvy examination of South Carolina business, politics, culture, and personalities. (Charleston is the “Holy City” of the title, and the milieu is evoked with offhand precision, with the silver hair one local swell, at his plantation, “drawn stringy in the Low Country humidity.”) Holy City excels in building suspense and intrigue, with a twisty but satisfying plot, as Helms spices his thoughtful buildup with jolts of action and fish-out-of-water suspense as Whitlock jets to surprising locales. Readers will be eager for more Whitlock.

Takeaway: A Charleston PI seeks a billionaire’s lost daughter in this polished series starter.

Comparable Titles: Greg Iles, James Lee Burke.

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

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Lusty, outraged, and so over-the-top it can see your house from up there, Shallman’s horned-up satire of war and sex, American style, has been crafted to shock, offend, provoke, and—from those open to its spirited sex and spearing of taboos—stir laughs and maybe insights, too. Shallman (author of The Tyranny of Desire) announces his audacity from the go-go get-go, opening with a burst of Iraq war-era Top Gun pastiche that quickly proves to be the most homoerotic action parody this side of Philip José Farmer’s A Feast Unknown. Sex, torture, and official commendations follow, until Shallman moves the action to the Obama era, with protagonist Rod Solo now suffering PTSD (that’s “Post-Traumatic Sex Disorder”), spending his days piloting murderous drones and his nights unable to rouse himself for his wife.

Soon, Rod’s vigorous workplace sex with fellow drone jock Honey results in the accidental bombing of a Karachi school, and he and Honey are dispatched to Pakistan to kill the target they missed the old-fashioned way: undercover as Canadian DJs eager to discover the local talent. Shallman’s novel is a proudly take-it-or-leave-it affair, though the prose is crisp, the outrages inventive, the sex scenes vigorous, and the surprises, when they come, legitimately surprising, especially an of-the-moment third section in which Rod, from the vantage point of 2024, announces he’s had enough of Shallman and will tell his story himself.

As in the work of Chuck Tingle, the sex is vigorous, graphic, and explosive but always tinged with clever absurdity, though Shallman’s scenes involving torture and his explicit linking of Rod’s desires to “waves of enemy infantry strafed into oblivion” ensures the book repulses more often than it arouses. Witty prose and the wilder twists reward readers on Shallman’s wavelength. One jawdropper: Rod’s unexpected connection with a woman who witnessed the school’s destruction and an audition from a Pakistan man whose talent is the “silent scream” of the vestigial twin visible in his bare chest.

Takeaway: Proudly scabrous and sexually graphic satire of 25 years of American war.

Comparable Titles: Chuck Tingle, Philip José Farmer’s A Feast Unknown.

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

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Despite the promise of its title and some memorable stories from the ad game, Eglin’s memoir reveals a host of things he wanted—and managed—to be over the course of a surprising life. He offers a vivid retrospective of his remarkable journey spanning over five decades. Eglin's narrative resonates with precision and intimacy, from his formative years in war-torn Britain, where he faced bomb attacks and sugar scarcity, to his diverse array of occupations: competitive cyclist, clarinetist in a London-based, New Orleans-style jazz band, filmmaker, bakery owner, and a gardener. His recollections of childhood antics, the camaraderie among schoolmates, his experiences serving in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and his involvement, as an advertising man and business owner, in efforts like Sam Wanamaker’s 1970 campaign to rebuild the epochal Globe Theatre, all come together in a rich tapestry of memories.

The “banshee howling” of the Blitz proves formative, as Eglin recounts discovering the talent for art that would bring him into advertising, marketing, and design as a boy hunkered “underneath the shelter of our sturdy table," awaiting the all clear. Building and re-building are themes throughout—London and the Globe; bands and businesses; eventually his beloved gardens. The memoir also chronicles Eglin's transition into adulthood, his ad adventures, and his eventual move to Canada with his wife, Barbara. Small details, like traveling by Greyhound bus for the first time, strategizing a plan for a newspaper’s biggest advertiser, and obsessively researching how to create a hybrid blue rose highlight Eglin's keen eye and curiosity.

What sets Eglin's memoir apart is his attention to detail, capturing not only the significant milestones but also the seemingly mundane moments that shaped his journey and the factors that powered his decision making, from accepting job offers to moving to a new country. All I Ever Wanted to Be Was An Ad Man is a testament to a life lived to its fullest potential.

Takeaway: A London ad man’s life of adventure, from the Blitz to the garden.

Comparable Titles: Fred S. Goldberg’s The Insanity of Advertising, Dave Buonaguidi’s Blah! Blah! Blah!.

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

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The carol becomes a song in this surprising and heartfelt riff on Dickens’s beloved Christmas ghost story, updated for an era of antidepressants, big box stores, and soul-crushing cubicle jobs. But as in the Victorian era, faith, hope, charity, and the possibility of changing one’s heart offer a troubled individual a path forward. Rather than a miser, the Scrooge figure is Justin R., a divorcee whose attempt to end his life lands him in a St. Louis recovery center during the holidays. As his meds calm him, and an ex-wife insists they’re now back together, Justin is visited by a beloved figure from his past, his grandfather, and faces visions, at bedtime, of Christmases both long ago and trailer-park contemporary. What’s in doubt is his future: can he commit to living when he feels “small,” like there’s nothing he “loved enough to be dedicated to and excel in for its own sake”?

Lovers of Dickens will enjoy picking out surprising correspondences and Easter Eggs (a “Boz” haunts the pages). Unlike many authors inspired by A Christmas Carol, however, Cummins avoids a point-by-point recreation, instead finding fresh approaches to familiar beats and favoring meds over ghosts, all while still embracing Dickens’s themes and eye for social problems, as Justin contemplates the desperation of addiction, adults’ ambivalence for Christmas (“But we knew the truth. It was for kids”), the lives of other patients (one man is “an empty pit of metabolism”), and more.

Ex-Mas Song is hefty in length, and Cummins can’t resist chatty characters and some repetitive prose. But it moves swiftly as Justin, in brisk and unfussy prose, plays Christmas trivia games with other patients, contemplates his childhood in a therapy session or considers the faith of King David, and eventually finds his way to committing to a life worth living. The “song”’s final verse inevitably involves a cemetery, but Cummins upends expectations as the story makes its way toward the traditional transformative ending.

Takeaway: Heartening Christmas epic of finding faith and hope when life doesn’t feel worth living.

Comparable Titles: Annie Rains’s Through the Snow Globe, Richard Paul Evans’s A Christmas Memory.

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

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Frost’s rousing Gen X-minded followup to KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into Your Nineties offers hard-won practical guidance to strength training, nutrition, “sexercise,” and other aspects of a healthy lifestyle for an audience whose members he encourages to “Think of yourself as a real-life action figure born between the calendar years 1965 and 1984.” That phrasing exemplifies Frost’s upbeat tone and approach, as Strong to Save balances his playful inspirational exhortations to become “great” through developing strength (“A great GenX has a very good chance to become a healthy centenarian. Yup.”), easy-to-follow explanations of exercise techniques, ample “Flex Alert” pointers for more effective training, and illuminating breakdowns of what health-minded Gen Xers should know about the sciences of muscles, kinetics, and more.

Through it all, Frost’s voice is engaging, informative, and funny, even punny—one section is titled “Good Things Come to Those Who ‘Weight’”—in the manner of an inviting trainer or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson guiding tourists through a jungle cruise. Johnson, a “paragon of GenX performance,” is frequently cited throughout as a source of inspiration as Frost explains, with buoyant urgency, the essential health and aesthetic impacts of strength training, chief among them the promise of being a “vital second-half performer for up to fifty years.”

Helpful photo illustrations demonstrate some finer points of stretching, squats, planes of body motion, different types of lifting, while Frost offers clarifying insights into the carb and fat impact of energy bars, and much more. He’s created a host of mnemonic acronyms (WIFM, DEEP, FITT, MORNINGS) and fresh metaphors crafted not just to inform readers about healthy mindsets and habits but to make sure the info sticks—like any good coach, his voice gets stuck in one’s head. The advice is smartly targeted at men and women both, though the book’s organization is eccentric, with introductory material on the basics (including the advice to consult a doctor before heavy lifting) coming in later chapters.

Takeaway: Rousing guide to strength training for Gen Xers eager for high performance.

Comparable Titles: Wayne Westcott and Thomas Baechle’s Strength Training Past 50, Timothy Caso’s Weight Training for Old Guys.

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

Click here for more about Strong to Save

Internal medicine doctor Sidhartha debuts with a refreshing approach to understanding the intricacies of the human body. “This is a story of secrets - about your body’s inner workings” he writes, urging readers, through nine interconnected stories of fictional individuals, to pay more attention to their bodies’ cues, to “course-correct our behavior to maintain health and wellness.” The stories—constructed from Sidhartha’s years of experience with countless patients—are rooted in spirituality and recounted with special emphasis on self-care, healthy diet, and holistic healing, seamlessly weaving conventional medical knowledge with a deeper understanding of the mind-body connection.

Though unusual, Sidhartha’s format lends an expressive air to the text, where meditation transforms into a dialogue with the body and readers are encouraged to slow down, listen to their bodies, and embark on an ever-changing journey of self-discovery. Sidhartha probes Hindu precepts, as well as Greek and Roman mythology, for spiritual parallels throughout, delving into specific health concerns in each of his nine stories—concerns that range from weight management to chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart conditions. From the outset, readers are prompted to wholeheartedly commit to self-care, and Sidhartha’s holistic perspective promises the robust lifestyle that is possible when diet, exercise, and mindfulness become the focus.

Sidhartha’s approachable style makes the transition to a healthier lifestyle feel attainable for all readers, and he includes recipes at the end to help readers integrate his principles into everyday life, transforming healthy choices into sustainable habits. Each of Sidhartha’s nine stories illuminate the healing influence of meditation for a host of physical conditions, highlighting the immense, untapped knowledge our bodies hold: “communication between the body’s inner workings and the person living in that body is fundamental to maintaining a healthy relationship with the body” he writes. Readers wishing to take control of their health and pursue overall wellness will embrace this.

Takeaway: Empowering concepts for a lifetime of health.

Comparable Titles: Deepak Chopra’s Quantum Body, Justin Glaser’s Sweat.

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

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Jakel’s debut sets a historical melodrama of love, betrayal, and bombings in the Argentina of the first decade of the twentieth century, a time of political unrest, anarchist newspapers, government corruption, and shifting social norms—“Respectable ladies can’t dance Tango in Buenos Aires,” one character tuts. The brothel at the novel’s heart is the unexpected new home of 24-year-old Sofia, a woman of bourgeois background but radical political leanings, brought into the country by her uncle, an Argentine senator, after the murder of Sofia’s parents. Senator Hugo Montserrat realizes that Sofia’s cleverness will be a problem for his plans to secure inheritance of her parents’ ranch, especially as she becomes suspicious about the circumstances of her parents’ deaths, so he sends her off to Madam Josefina, where Sofia quickly becomes a bookkeeper tutored “through the Machiavellian ways of a brothel madam.”

The novel bursts with life and culture. As the masterpiece Teatro Colón opera house is raised in Buenos Aires, and Sofia falls in love with a man and the tango, the powers that be—including commander of the investigative division of the Police of the Capital—jockey for power and wealth, willing to do anything to secure their positions, right up to staging the kind of anarchist violence that they inveigh against. Despite the cruelties of its owner, the brothel affords Sofia an education, disillusioning her in ways that her dabbling with secessionist editorials in anarchist newspapers couldn’t. Her love of the tango inspires the richest prose, and her wiliness powers the plot.

Jakel’s storytelling favors ruminative flashbacks and colloquies that edge toward the explanatory. Scenes and key moments of action tend to be understated, while musings about them later—such as a murderer rationalizing that, since he kills in fits of rage, he “lacked full knowledge of his actions” so they couldn’t be “mortal sin”s. The pacing is uneven, but the politics and culture are vividly drawn, and Jakel lays bare his characters’ hearts.

Takeaway: Historical melodrama of 1900s Buenos Aires corruption and the politics of dancing.

Comparable Titles: Carolina De Robertis’s The Gods of Tango, Lloyd Jones’s Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance.

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

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After surviving the chaos of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Mark Lin knew it was only time before another virus took over—but he never suspected it would be a cyberattack putting his patients’ lives at risk. Lee’s compelling debut finds Dr. Lin, an internist who’s seen the worst at California’s Ivory Memorial Hospital, questioning the ethical duties and responsibilities that come with the science of healing. When three of his patients “crash,” on medications he didn’t prescribe and due to mistakes he didn’t make, he feels his career slipping away for reasons he can’t comprehend. With the news spreading rapidly of cyberattacks called “Lucifer’s Worm” targeting businesses, Dr. Lin begins to grasp the truth: whoever is behind Lucifer’s Worm, AKA Doctor Lucifer, is also killing Lin’s patients.

The first of Lee’s Dr. Mark Lin mysteries plunges readers into a chilling week of Lin’s life, where the stakes couldn’t be higher and the battleground isn’t Lin’s usual realm, the body, but the digital world of medical records and the darkest corners of cyberspace. Lin, a cynic but a good doctor, is determined to clear his name, and his jaded, sometimes scalding thoughts about the medical field—when “know-it-all” patients “accuse us docs of being greedy, self-serving frauds who only cared about the extra dollars in our wallets”—are resonant, allowing readers to step inside the shoes of a doctor who, even before the suspense ramps up, already finds himself tested by the landscape of healthcare.

Lee deftly weaves real-world concerns about cybersecurity into the fabric of his narrative, highlighting the vulnerability of medical institutions. At times, the deliberate pacing flags, but the convincing milieu, strong characterization—especially of relatable antagonists like the bereaved Lisa Flint—and thoughtful consideration of the motives behind cyber warfare are timely and compelling, as is Lee’s exploration of the moral complexities of contemporary healthcare. Fans of medical and hacker thrillers will relish Lin’s outrage and determination under impossible pressure.

Takeaway: Thrilling medical suspense debut pits a doctor against hacker terror.

Comparable Titles: David Baldacci’s Zero Day, Marc Elsberg’s Blackout.

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

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