June 2017 Fiction Stars

The stars are aligning for these sizzling summer reads:

EMMA IN THE NIGHT by Wendy Walker
“Both twisted and twisty, this smart psychological thriller sets a new standard for unreliable narrators.” — Booklist, starred review

“Walker’s portrayal of the ways in which a narcissistic, self-involved mother can affect her children deepens the plot as it builds to a shocking finale.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

THE FORGOTTEN GIRL by Rio Youers
“Canadian author Youers makes his U.S. debut with a paranormal thriller distinguished by subtle characterizations and emotionally evocative prose. Harvey’s compelling, moving search for Sally and the truth offers everything that fans of intelligent suspense could wish for.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“How Youers manages to skillfully weave character development into a book filled with edge-of-your-seat action is a testament to his writing skills. This is a smart thriller that also explores the power of love and memory. Highly recommended.” — Booklist, starred review

THE GRIP OF IT by Jac Jemc
“The latest from Jemc is a haunted house tale that toys with the hallmarks of ghost stories—a young city couple moving to a small town, a curmudgeonly neighbor, a spooky legend—to create an exhilarating and unsettling literary page-turner. The conclusion is the perfect cap to a story full of genuine frights.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A psychological spook story in the best high literary tradition. Shivery and smart. A book that brings the legacy of Henry James into the modern world with great effect.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

LIKE A FADING SHADOW by Antonio Muñoz Molina
“Blurring fiction, memoir, and biography, the absorbing latest from Muñoz Molina tells two stories: James Earl Ray’s 10-day excursion to Lisbon while on the run after assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, and the author’s own research trip to the same city in 1987 when writing his first novel, A WINTER IN LISBON… The result is a fascinating dual portrait of a writer looking into the clouded mind of a murderer.” — Publishers Weekly, boxed and starred review

“This is a stylistically complex novel, with shifts of perspective and time, and gorgeously layered language, a book in which to lose oneself, like Italo Calvino’s IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER. Muñoz Molina’s compelling tale also evokes comparisons to Don DeLillo’s ‘historiographic metafiction,’ especially in LIBRA, which explores Lee Harvey Oswald much in the manner that Muñoz Molina writes about James Earl Ray.” — Booklist, starred review

TO DIE IN SPRING by Ralf Rothmann
“Searing, haunting, incandescent: Rothmann’s new novel is a vital addition to the trove of wartime fiction.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Spare and elegant, the novel paints a quietly harrowing picture of the lasting effects of human violence and offers brief, poignant glimpses into the natural world (especially when members of the animal kingdom wander unknowingly into the war zone). Directly confronting issues of responsibility, accountability, and legacy, this is an undeniably powerful work.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review