In Curry’s thriller, a schizophrenic janitor with an unusual ability aids in murder investigations.

Andre Brown works nights as a janitor in Cleveland’s Third District police station, trying to hold together a precarious life complicated by a diagnosis of schizophrenia and the medication used to control his “episodes,” in which he experiences other people’s memories and feelings. When Detective Sonny Richardson first witnesses one of these episodes, he takes Andre for another drug addict, but the disturbing level of detail Andre knows about a long-buried family tragedy suggests the impossible (“How could he have known?”). Andre, who’s tried so hard to keep his world small and manageable, finds it widening uncontrollably as Sonny encourages him to assist in an investigation of the murder of Stickup Boi, a local rapper with gang ties. As he is reluctantly pulled deeper into Sonny’s world, a troubled young woman named Camila pushes into his life as well. Shortly after, his help is needed in a brutal liquor store shooting tied to a sex worker with close, unexpected ties to Camila. Solving it will force Andre to test his limits, going off the medication that keeps him functional. Curry’s gritty narrative, set in the struggling margins of Cleveland, fits comfortably in the tradition of psychic detective stories. Despite the high-concept premise, the story’s real strength is its character development, particularly the depiction of Andre’s anxious and passive perspective. The dialogue is particularly noteworthy, especially when exploring personal dynamics, from the easy banter between Sonny and his partner, Lopez, to the sudden, volatile relationship between Andre and Camila. Separating the story into two “episode[s]” helps center the individual murders, but it makes Stickup Boi’s case feel like a demonstration of the premise. Still, the narrative maintains a brisk rhythm, and even when the author focuses on the violence of a poor community and the trauma that shapes its characters, it never feels cheap or voyeuristic.

A character-driven supernatural crime story that prioritizes the overlooked and struggling.

In Curry’s SF novel, an inner-city teen flash-frozen in the latter half of the 20th century awakens in a terrifying post-apocalyptic world where his faith will either save him or his seal his doom.

Marcus Johnson is a hardworking and intelligent 17-year-old just trying to stay one step ahead of the neighborhood bullies and figure out his place in American society when fate intervenes and rocks his world in the most profound way imaginable. After circumstances conspire to thrust him into a strange new world ruled by a deranged autocrat with godlike powers, Marcus quickly finds refuge with a secretive band of dissidents who have an uncanny connection to his past. Will Marcus ever see his family again? How will he cope with a world he never made? Curry’s version of the future is in many ways fresh and stunningly imaginative, with its deeply disturbing organic-based technology and darkly dystopian culture directly extrapolated from our present-day reality (race and identity are still prominent issues). Marcus is the ultimate fish out of water, whether on the streets of his hometown or in the far-flung “realm of the Great Father.” Readers will find themselves rooting for him, not only because of the outrageous injustices hurled out him, but also for the courageous and graceful ways in which he attempts to cope with it all. Curry does falter a bit when attempting to write in the dialect of Marcus’ neighborhood (“Word on da street is dhat Step and Tyrone got a beef wit’ us. Dhey lookin’ for us now! Dhey wants payback, especially Step!”), but he does a fine job of portraying the two vastly different realities his hero experiences in the course of this heady adventure. Like any good tale, this one will leave readers wanting more.

An engrossing and thoroughly human-centered SF adventure.