FICTION
Released: Jan. 1, 2011
"A compelling, gracefully written novel about mixed gender that sheds insight as surely as it rejects sensationalism. This book announces the arrival of a major writer."
In a remote coastal town in Newfoundland in the 1970s, a young person of mixed gender struggles for identity, acceptance and understanding
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FICTION
Released: Jan. 1, 2011
"Likely to rank with the best story collections of the year."
FICTION
Released: Jan. 25, 2011
"Heartfelt (everyone cries), deft and highly readable fiction."
Tragedy leads to complicated love as a widower and the woman who accidentally killed his wife are united by a grieving child looking for an angel.
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FICTION
Released: Feb. 8, 2011
"Determining whether the novel's main character is hero, villain or somewhere in between might require the reader to start over with the book after finishing it."
A masterful command of narrative voice distinguishes a debut novel that requires patience and rewards it.
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FICTION
Released: March 1, 2011
"Taut, atmospheric and immersive--an instant classic."
A London academic risks his life to uncover a real-life, decades-old Cold War mystery in Cumming's (
Typhoon, 2009, etc.) edgy thriller.
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FICTION
Released: March 1, 2011
"Bar none, Joe Rizzo is the most authentic cop in contemporary crime fiction."
In the gripping sequel to
Rizzo's War (2009), maverick Detective Sergeant Joe Rizzo investigates the murder of a man too unimportant to murder.
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FICTION
Released: March 7, 2011
"Will readers miss Rankin's long-running protagonist, John Rebus (Exit Music, 2008, etc.)? Don't see why they should. Bonus: Rankin's plotting and prose are as compelling as ever."
FICTION
Released: March 8, 2011
"A pleasure to read--and a pleasure to see Hadley Richardson presented in a sympathetic light."
An imaginative, elegantly written look inside the marriage of Ernest Hemingway and Hadley Richardson.
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FICTION
Released: March 15, 2011
"A thick web of family tensions and psychological dysfunction with a whodunit chaser, Tolkien's third novel (The Inheritance, 2010, etc.) is elegantly written, with Masterpiece Theatre pacing and embellishments. "
A prisoner escapes on the very night that his ex-girlfriend is murdered. Could it possibly be a coincidence?
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FICTION
Released: March 15, 2011
"An unusual and unusually involving first novel with strong characters and nifty supernatural effects."
The kidnapping of an American businessman in the Philippines sets in motion an odd series of events involving his estranged son, a hard-boiled cop who inspired a hugely popular film series and a ragtag strike force with special powers.
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FICTION
Released: March 17, 2011
"Nazi collaboration, government cover-ups, kinky sex, a baby daughter waiting impatiently to be born and a vigilante-minded hero who talks back to his boss more irreverently than Dirty Harry. What more could you want?"
Inspector Kari Vaara's success in cracking the Sufia Elmi murder (
Snow Angels, 2010) wins him a transfer from the sticks to Helsinki, below the Arctic Circle but just as hospitable to cold-blooded murder.
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FICTION
Released: March 29, 2011
"A lively, eccentric, mythmaking novel inspired by 200 years of Canadian history."
Ghosts, gangsters, mermen and a Christ-like healer who emerges from the belly of a beached whale are among the attractions in a boisterous, one-of-a-kind folk epic about feuding intermarried clans in Newfoundland.
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FICTION
Released: March 29, 2011
"Though shivering in the winter of his discontent, Wallander will grip the reader hard. Flawed and occasionally exasperating, he is that rare thing: a true original."
Swedish detective Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander (
The Pyramid, 2008, etc.) makes a riveting 10th appearance in the strange case of the spy who was and wasn't.
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FICTION
Released: March 29, 2011
"A delight from start to finish, and a note-perfect evocation of the gray 1950s."
An entertaining Jewish picaresque novel, following on Jacobson's Man Booker Prize–winning
The Finkler Question (2010).
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FICTION
Released: April 1, 2011
"As languid in its movement as a gondola ride. Yet none of Brunetti's earlier cases (About Face, 2009, etc.) is as remorselessly clear in connecting the delicately comic anti-authoritarian gestures Brunetti winks at to the miasma of corruption that hangs over his beloved Venice."
Perhaps the quietest of all Commissario Guido Brunetti's cases concerns a murder that may not even be a murder.
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FICTION
Released: April 1, 2011
"Witty, thoughtful, briskly paced and entertaining—a terrific novel about excess, hubris, class and the age-old (usually one-sided) tussle between art and commerce."
From South African/British novelist Cartwright (To Heaven by Water, 2009, etc.), a winner of the Whitbread Award and Hawthornden Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, a tale half comic and half cautionary—and all compelling—about the financial crisis.
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FICTION
Released: April 1, 2011
"Shifting seamlessly between past and present versions of the case, Spencer produces a tour de force readers won't quickly forget."
A convicted murderer's dying declaration prompts an unexpected investigation for DCI Monika Paniatowski (
The Ring of Death, 2010, etc.) and a world of trouble for her beloved Charlie Woodend.
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FICTION
Released: April 5, 2011
"Berg's masterful portraits and keen insight makes for a memorable read."
The prolific Berg delivers the goods in this perceptive novel about a divorced couple reunited when their daughter goes missing.
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FICTION
Released: April 5, 2011
"A first novel sure to make the bestseller lists."
Nick Meehan is the job, the quintessential New York City PD detective, also one who's ironic and self-contained, intelligent and driven.
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FICTION
Released: April 19, 2011
"A literary lark, at times too labored, that offers an amusing gloss on the publishing industry's recent problems with fakes."
Novelist Phillips (
The Song is You, 2009, etc.) introduces a long-lost Shakespeare play, the titular
Tragedy. This extraordinary find…
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FICTION
Released: April 20, 2011
"That the novel is marked by authenticity is no surprise given Clark's credentials—she was, after all, lead prosecutor in the headline-grabbing O.J. Simpson trial—but what may surprise some readers is the quality of the writing, plus the considerable charm of Rachel and her buddies."
A corker of a debut novel in which a brainy, plucky female prosecutor refuses to rush to judgment.
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FICTION
Released: May 1, 2011
"Spectacularly and convincingly inventive, assured and wholly spellbinding: one of the most impressive debuts in years."
A sort of paranoid-conspiracy, hard sci-fi whodunit: the Scotland resident, Finnish author's jaw-dropping debut.
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FICTION
Released: May 1, 2011
"A masterful wide-angle portrait of an Iowa family over three decades."
In Thompson's unforgettable, offbeat novel, an extended Iowa family struggles for emotional and economic stability over three decades, beginning with a modest Lutheran wedding in 1983 and ending with a bittersweet homecoming.
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FICTION
Released: May 1, 2011
"The smart, suspenseful cat-and-mouse game will remind some readers of Erik Skjoldbjærg's 1997 film Insomnia--and that's high praise indeed."
Erica Jong meets Stephen King meets, yes, Stieg Larsson in this superb thriller, the eighth by Norwegian mystery writer Nesbø.
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FICTION
Released: May 1, 2011
"A long time in coming, with an ending that's one of the most memorable in recent literature. A superb novel, as grand in its vision as one of President McKinley's dreams--but not for a moment, as Sayles writes of that figure, "empty of thought, of emotion.""
Noted novelist/director Sayles (
Union Dues, 2005, etc.) turns in an epic of Manifest Destiny--and crossed destinies--so sweeping and vast that even he would have trouble filming it.
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FICTION
Released: May 1, 2011
"A quirky, imaginative, dazzling black comedy."
Vada Prickett is dying, pinned under a stupendous stuffed bear, thinking about his short life and a fond-of-puns God enjoying the "Moon over My Hammy" breakfast at the local Denny's.
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FICTION
Released: May 3, 2011
"An exotic locale and lyrical language make for a dazzling debut."
Words as musical notes, a book as symphony—so it is with this debut novel, occasionally rippling with pidgin English and yet always sparkling with literary insights, all set within the landscape of a forgotten corner of South America.
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FICTION
Released: May 5, 2011
"Beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry's relentless focus on the question of where the next threat is coming from and how to survive it."
Twenty years after a trio of lowlifes forced him out of retirement (
Sleeping Dogs, 1992, etc.), the Butcher's Boy is back.
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FICTION
Released: May 10, 2011
"Haigh deals with complex moral issues in subtle ways, and her narrative is beautifully, sometimes achingly poignant."
A non-sensationalized novel about an inherently sensational event--the abuse of an 8-year-old boy by a priest.
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FICTION
Released: May 17, 2011
"A major intellectual achievement that, despite all difficulties, persuades and enthralls."
A new venture into science fiction from the talented British author (
Kraken, 2010, etc.) best known for his extraordinary steampunk-style fantasies.
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FICTION
Released: May 24, 2011
"Bluntly powerful but deeply nuanced stories from a unique voice in American fiction."
An unsettling group portrait of victimized young women whose survival on the margins of American life is its own best, or worst, reward.
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FICTION
Released: June 1, 2011
"Precisely written, deeply human stories."
A debut collection of stories that are both challenging and compelling, with narrative perspectives that suggest how difficult it is to know oneself (let alone anyone else).
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FICTION
Released: June 1, 2011
"Not just scary but funny too, as Wortham nails time and place in a sure-handed, captivating way. There's a lot of good stuff in this unpretentious gem. Don't miss it."
FICTION
Released: June 1, 2011
"A terrific, believable novel about the intersection of politics, ethics and finance."
Ignatius (
The Increment, 2009, etc.) continues his series of top-notch CIA thrillers with this fast-paced new entry.
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FICTION
Released: June 1, 2011
"An impressive debut, particularly notable for its pellucid prose."
FICTION
Released: June 7, 2011
"Bolton (Blood Harvest, 2010, etc.) provides excruciating tension and much else. Romantics can drool over Jonesbury's turquoise eyes; amateur psychologists can mull Lacey's one-nighters; and Ripperologists can ponder theories of Jack's real identity, one of which helps tie up the plot."
FICTION
Released: June 7, 2011
"A modern saga of rocketships, ice floes and dreams of the Caribbean, and great fun to read."
Or, the long-awaited Great Faroese Novel: a splendid confusion about life, love and intrigues in the land of the midnight sun.
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FICTION
Released: June 7, 2011
"Thrilling, disturbing and moving in equal measures--even better than Patchett's breakthrough Bel Canto (2001)."
A pharmacologist travels into the Amazonian heart of darkness in this spellbinder from bestselling author Patchett (
Run, 2007, etc.).
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FICTION
Released: June 9, 2011
"To read this novel is to enter a Borgesian rabbit hole--it's a fiction that purports to tell the truth obscured by another fiction--yet its strangeness helps make it both brave and engaging."
An ambitious picaresque tale about civil war, love, propaganda and the Panama Canal, delivered with verve and wit.
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FICTION
Released: June 21, 2011
"Written with piercing beauty, alive with moral passion and sorrowful insight--a rueful masterpiece."
In his magnificent first novel, poet Majmudar (
O°, O°, 2009) embodies the terrible days following the partition of India and Pakistan in the stories of four refugees from sectarian violence.
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FICTION
Released: June 21, 2011
"Think Hemingway or Jim Harrison, and know that Ray's collection is the deserving winner of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Bakeless Prize."
Ray's stories resonate hard and clear, very much word images reflecting the Montana setting of the collection.
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FICTION
Released: June 30, 2011
"A fine collection of stories."
Following his dazzling debut, Ross drops seven more doses of disquieting fears and misleading hopes.
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FICTION
Released: July 1, 2011
"Readers who wear pacemakers will want to check their batteries before they open the book."
Inspired by the death of the author's nephew, this is a grim psychological thriller sure to shock readers.
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FICTION
Released: July 1, 2011
"Thoughtfully haunting and sometimes beautifully written, the first of Hjelm's cases to be translated into English is likely to resonate with readers of the Stieg Larsson trilogy."
FICTION
Released: July 1, 2011
"Buzzelli will have you packing your bags for a move to northern Michigan in the hope that you'll find a friend as appealing as Emily and a dog as lovable as Sorrow."
FICTION
Released: July 1, 2011
"The rare crime novel with something for everyone who reads crime fiction."
A second mind-bending case for Ann Arbor editor David Loogan that begins just as simply and ominously and takes the reader on just as wild a journey.
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FICTION
Released: July 1, 2011
"A haunting story masterfully told."
LaPlante's literary novel explores uncharted territory, imagining herself into a mind, one slipping, fading, spinning away from her protagonist, a woman who may have murdered her best friend. Dr. Jennifer White lives in the dark, shadowy forest of forgetfulness.
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FICTION
Released: July 5, 2011
"Dazzling, chilling and brilliant."
Another detective joins the celebrated ranks of Edinburgh's finest, this one with Stross' distinctive science-fictional twist.
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FICTION
Released: July 12, 2011
"Protagonist Soo-Ja's story will enthrall in this first-rate literary effort."
FICTION
Released: July 26, 2011
"It's not every day genre prose gets that kind of polish (Red Cat, 2007, etc.)."
