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RABBIT HOLE

Teddy Angstrom was 16 when her older sister, Angie, disappeared after sneaking out to a party. Afterward, everything seemed to fall apart. Now, 10 years later, her father has driven his car off a bridge, and Teddy and her mother are left to pick up the pieces. Cleaning her father’s things, Teddy discovers that he was deeply invested in the online community built up around Angie’s disappearance. What began as a daughter trying to close up loose ends in the wake of her father’s death slowly devol

NERO

To borrow a philosopher’s phrase opining on another era, life in ancient Rome was nasty, brutish, and short—and being on top of the heap didn’t seem to help much. In the year 37 CE, the brutal Emperor Tiberius is dying. Agrippina is related to him by marriage and has a young son, Lucius, who will one day become known as Nero. Sit back and enjoy—or cringe at—this bloody tale that is littered with the bodies of the powerful, the ambitious, and the innocent. The story roughly follows Agrippina and

LOOT

Abbas, the hero of James’ lively and symbolically rich third novel, is a poor 17-year-old artisan in Mysore in 1794 when he’s recruited by Tipu Sultan, the local ruler, to apprentice with Lucien Du Leze, a French clockmaker. Together they are charged with making an automaton of a tiger attacking a British soldier. The experience hones his carving skills, but just as importantly it introduces him to an intercontinental power play: Tipu, aka the Tiger of Mysore, is attempting to fend off an incur

STARTER VILLAIN

Charlie Fitzer, a former business journalist–turned–substitute teacher, is broke and somewhat desperate. His circumstances take an unexpected and dangerous turn when his estranged uncle Jake dies, leaving his business—i.e., his trillion-dollar supervillain empire—to Charlie. Charlie doesn’t really have the skills or experience to manage the staff of the volcano lair, and matters don’t improve when he’s pressured to attend a high-level meeting with other supervillains, none of whom got along wit

EXTINCTION

What a glorious way to spend a honeymoon: Mark and Olivia Gunnerson go backpacking through the vast Erebus Resort in the mountains of Colorado, where scientists have “de-extincted” species like the woolly mammoth and other Pleistocene megafauna. Just watch the peaceful beasts at their watering holes. Behold the giant armadillos, and the indricothere that make mammoths look like dwarfs. The scientists have removed genes for aggression in these re-creations, so humans will be safe unless they’re

BLUE RUIN

Kunzru’s seventh novel is narrated by Jay, who in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic is in ill health, getting by delivering groceries in upstate New York. His route takes him to an estate that’s coincidentally occupied by Alice, a former flame, and her husband, Rob, Jay’s one-time art school rival. Alice is disinclined to bring him into their pod for fear of infection—or of stoking old drama—so instead hides him in a barn while his health improves. In the weeks that follow, Jay recalls th

ASH'S CABIN

Ash has always felt like an outsider, and ever since Grandpa Edwin passed away, that feeling of isolation has only gotten worse. Their parents haven’t fully accepted Ash’s recent name change or newly shorn hair, and school isn’t much better. When Ash learns that their family plans to sell Grandpa Edwin’s old ranch, they come up with a plan: to find Grandpa’s secret cabin in the woods and stay there—forever. They earn money, watch online videos to pick up survival skills, and buy food, gear, and

Σ

The planet of Ninivon is ruled by a tyrant: The alien Vampire and his blood-drinking, purple-eyed soldiers arrived from space and conquered the free nations, human and humanoid alike. Zeno fought the Vampire’s forces as a member of the Rangers—the elite fighting force of the Republic—but after hearing reports of the death of his closest friend, Alexandra, he quit the war. Now, 10 years later, he serves as a librarian in the semi-independent city of Sarpedon, keeping his head down so as not to w

WISE LITTLE ONE

Wilson writes that she was born into a troubled family of four that lived in a series of different homes in Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Plant City, Florida. The kids witnessed constant fights between their parents, Wilson writes, who would periodically split and reunite in a never-ending “toxic cycle.” The author says that her mother, who had bipolar disorder, had frightening episodes that included an incident involving a shotgun; she also says that her father physically abused her mother when she

NEAR MISSES & COWBOY KISSES

Seventeen-year-old talented artist Riley Thomas’ world has been turned upside down. Her parents’ new jobs require her family to relocate to small-town Nebraska from Southern California the summer before her senior year. Even worse, Mom and Dad are dragging Riley and her younger brother on a week of forced family fun with the Oregon Trail Adventure Co. Cowboy Colton Walker is the reigning 18-and-under solo lasso champion and the strong, silent type, whose family’s business is guiding wagon train

BADASS(ISH)

Alberta teens Davis Klein-Mah, Renzi Chan Cruz, and Jae Schmidt are fighting to protect the environment and their community from an oil pipeline. Unfortunately, local people rely on the pipeline for employment, complicating their task. Various personal circumstances also affect the girls’ involvement: Jae’s mother is a lawyer for Haus Oil, Davis’ parents are Haus Oil engineers, and Renzi is being pursued by Izzy Malone, a boy who’s a vocal activist—and Davis’ recent ex. The central characters a

TRAVEL GUIDE FOR MONSTERS PART DEUX

Beginning with a ski vacay in British Columbia, with the Vancouver skyline featured prominently in the background, a cast of silly monsters traverse popular Canadian destinations. As the monsters and their diverse crowd of humans travel, they showcase unique natural environments (belugas in Northern Manitoba; lobster trapping in New Brunswick) and recognizable urban landscapes (looking at you, CN Tower) and dip into regional flare and traditions (kissing the cod in Newfoundland). Places are ide

JANE ESCAPES TO THE JUNGLE OF INDIVIDUALITY (THE ADVENTURES OF JANE'S IMAGINATION)

One morning, Jane, who has tan skin and curly brown hair, wakes, eats breakfast, puts on her glasses, and grabs her bag.  However, just as she leaves for school, she becomes nervous and stalls. At school, shy Jane feels unaccepted by her peers and holds back her questions.  Her mother then comforts her, encouraging her to celebrate what makes her unique (“what makes you different makes you beautiful”), but on the bus, a miserable boy named Eric forces her to move away from the group. In that mo

SALLY RIDE

This brief, well-written biography begins with Sally Ride’s childhood and ends with Ride starting a company that produced science books for children; it’s not until the timeline in the backmatter that readers learn she died in 2012. The book stresses Ride’s dedication to learning; she’s described as “studying physics in college,” though what that entailed gets little explanation. When NASA opened up its pool of astronauts to scientists, Ride applied and, along with five other women, was accepte

SAGE SMILES

One of a trilogy, this poetry collection plainly announces its intentions to serve as “a gentle reminder that we don’t have to look far for things that warm our soul. Joy, the author suggests, can be found “in everyday things.” The poems contained within this book illuminate life’s simplest pleasures, including enjoying a cup of coffee alongside a copy of Rumi’s poetry just as the sun rises (“Sweet Sips”). The beauty of animals grazing on gentle hills is noted in the poem “Antelope,” (“Big-pict

FAMILY LORE

Acevedo’s widely anticipated new novel, her first for adults, begins with an oblique bit of magic: Flor, who for her whole life has been able to predict when and how people will die, announces that she will be holding a living wake for herself, and all her siblings are invited (and their children, too). Whether Flor has predicted her own death—or anyone else’s—doesn’t become clear to either the reader or Flor’s family until later. In the meantime, we’re introduced to Flor’s sisters, Matilde, Pa

YOU KNOW BEST

The author describes her book as “an invitation to curate the best version of yourself while building influence in fast-paced organizations.” The text is organized into four sections outlining a total of 10 rules and accompanying skills to achieve such curation. Each chapter begins with a vignette from the career of a fictional character named Madison Hopeton, described as “fictional accounts of real events that have happened in the workplace.” Dawkins covers the necessary abilities to “read th

MELVILL

“Call me Herman.” Such a commandment could come from only one writer, Herman Melville, who stands at the center of Fresán’s narrative. Occupying much of that space, too, albeit in sometimes spectral form, is Melville’s father, Allan Melvill (the -e a typo that his son, the victim of a bureaucrat’s pen, stuck with, even as, later in the novel, he notes ruefully that his obituary in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, where several of his stories appeared, will render his name as Henry). Allan, born to a

NOWHERE AT HOME

“October leaves / pile up like scattered drafts of some design” the author writes in “Raking” as fall sets in, “aching on this byway to December...” Even so, he still has more in life to conquer, finishing the job with “my feet still two good inches off the ground.” The moodiness of academic life intrudes, as Poitevin, a mathematics professor, is annoyed by a shared office, pesky students, and Red Sox chatter in “Nostalgia for Quieter Times”; he longs for the halcyon days of grad school at the

THE WEIGHT OF NATURE

In his second book, neuroscientist and environmental journalist Aldern examines the palpable effects of climate change on our brain chemistry, including not just increased anxiety, stress, and depression, but also detrimental changes in decision-making abilities and judgment. Paraphrasing a climate advocate in California’s Central Valley, the author writes, “planetary empathy is rooted in pain: the aches and grimaces of a world grieving not just the loss of species and an unspoiled troposphere,