I remember when my Penguin sales rep handed me a galley of Tana French’s first book In the Woods back in early 2007. “Megan,” he said, “even if you think you don’t like thrillers or procedurals, you have to read this book. It’s very smart and the writing will knock your socks off.” The man was right–one of the biggest reasons to keep sales reps for publishers around. I read it, loved it, and have since read the follow-ups. What I like best is that each subsequent book focuses on a different character from the murder squad, so you don’t get tired of reading about the same character. It also allows French to explore more themes. She really loves to get into the protagonist’s head and presents a unique story line for each of them.

Her latest Broken Harbor, coming out later this month, features Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, who appeared in a minor role in Tana French’s third book Faithful Place. Here he leads the investigation of the brutal murder of the Spain family in a half constructed housing development called Brianstown. When the wife survives, Kennedy realizes the case–which might make or break his career–is much more complicated. Best of all is French’s psychological portrait of Kennedy, who appears to have the most successful solve rate of all of the detectives but has his own dark past with Brianstown, formerly called Broken Harbor. His troubled sister shows up, dragging back dark childhood memories that threaten his iron tight grasp of right and wrong.

Often by the fourth book of a series, I grow bored or the writing has gone stale, but not so with Tana French. Her stories of the Dublin murder squad remain strong and I will continue to look forward to each new one.

Lawrence Norfolk wrote several historical novels, including Lempriere’s Dictionary and The Pope’s Rhinoceros. His first novel in a decade, John Saturnall’s Feast, is another richly-researched historical piece, set amid the religious and political turmoil of 17th-Century England. John Saturnall and his mother flee their village after she’s accused of witchcraft. While they hide in the woods, she teaches him what she knows of food and the earth’s bounty, but nonetheless starves to death over the winter. Saturnall survives, and eventually finds work as a kitchen boy, where his mother’s culinary gifts catch the notice of the head chef.

The many descriptions of the 17th century kitchen system make this novel alone worth reading. However the other story line about his feeling s for the daughter of the lord of the manor add another layer of both lushness and deprivation. It’s a great story, one that leaves your senses stunned and wanting more.

Jess Walter has long been getting great reviews from bookselling friends and reviews. His latest, Beautiful Ruins, is my first foray into his books, but certainly not my last!

The novel opens with a dying actress named Dee Mornay arriving in an isolated Italian fishing village to check into the Hotel Adequate View, run by a young man with futile aspirations of running a grand resort. 50 years later, the innkeeper comes to Hollywood, and meets cynical mega-producer Michael Deane and his not-yet-cynical assistant, Claire Silver. A genuinely cinematic love story unfolds as the narrative skips back and forth. Walter does a great job drawing parallels between the small town boy straining to reach across the ocean to reach Hollywood in its golden era, and a young woman in Hollywood today straining to reach across time to do the same thing.

To Walter’s credit, the love story feels completely true and lacking the corniness that some lesser writers might add without meaning to. I’m excited to have found an author whose writing makes me so eager to read all his prior novels.

Absolutely fun beach reads: A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness. The first is out in paperback now, and the sequel is coming soon.

Glen Duncan came to my notice with The Last Werewolf, which brought enormous doses of earthy humor to the standard vampires vs. werewolves vs. human occultists narrative. The phrase “Reader, I ate him” pretty much won my heart. Spoiler: The narrator of book 1 isn’t exactly the last werewolf. Enter the sequel, Tallula Rising, which continues the murderous fun. Don’t let anyone read this over your shoulder on the subway.

Justin Cronin’s novel The Passage was a hit in 2010 in the category of non-sparkly vampires, and Bookdwarf loved it. I only caught up with it this year, when she got a preview copy of the sequel, The Twelve, which is coming out soon, and which we both devoured almost immediately (and no, you can’t borrow our copy, half the bookstore wants to read it next). It’s been a long time since I’ve been this engrossed in a novel. Sure, the government bioweapons lab accidentally unleashing a killer virus isn’t the most subtle of concepts. But Cronin executes it beautifully, portraying the collapse of civilization and the struggle 100 years later to remake it with lucid characterizations and careful adaptations of the ancient myths. Absolutely thrilling, and laced with just enough social commentary (video-blogging the apocalypse, check) and humor (the weapons program operative having to brief the military and not knowing how to say “oops, we accidentally made vampires”) to make it a really comprehensive world. I’m already looking forward to the final installment.

Someone needs to invent a time machine, one that simply freezes time.  If I could do that, then I could sit for hours and read a whole damn book at once without all the usual daily interruptions.

I don’t think like that all the time, but I do when I’m halfway through something like The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, and I have to do things like go to work or get ready for final exams or walk the dog.

The plot is not complicated, but it’s endlessly nuanced, full of meaningful glances and things left unsaid. It’s set in 18th-century Stockholm, with revolution brewing and ladies fluttering fans in ballrooms to keep themselves cool and signal their interest to suitors. The story centers around a complicated card reading and a man named Emil Larsson, a bachelor who needs a wife so he can keep his job at the Office of Excise and Custom. If I had enough time, I’d repeat the whole story for you, but I don’t, and I wouldn’t do it justice anyway. If you’ve got a time machine, or a few hours of uninterrupted reading, I’ve got a book to recommend you.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain is getting a lot of coverage, and the preview copy has been on my to-read list for months. I guess I was reluctant to read it because I figured it would be emotionally difficult, but when I finally picked it up, I had a hard time putting it down. Let me tell you: It deserves the hype. This novel very well be to the current wars what The Things They Carried and In Country are to the Vietnam war.

• Say Nice Things About Detroit by Scott Lasser: This made for pleasant reading over the rainy weekend. David Halpert returns to Detroit, having left after high school twenty five years ago. After he hears about the double shooting of his high school girlfriend Natalie and her half-brother Dirk, he contacts her sister and becomes involved with her. The various strands of the story come together nicely in the end. This is also one of the only books I’ve read that doesn’t make Detroit sound like a wasteland!
• Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson: Wilson adeptly marries the old and the new in this novel, combining computer hacking with The Thousand and One Days. Sound weird? I thought so too, but it works.  A young hacker with the alias of Alif in a nameless Middle Eastern country tries to stay out of trouble. When the increasingly oppressive state security finally breaches his computer, he’s forced underground where he discovers that the world of The Thousand and One Days is real and the book itself might reveal a new era of knowledge.
• People who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry: This is a really dark fucked up non fiction book about what at the beginning is simply the disappearance and murder of a young English woman working in a Japanese hostess bar. The author, struck by the story, investigates and helps uncovers  a string of murders all done by one deranged man. It’s a crazy story that I can’ t begin to explain but one that Parry tells with exceptional reporting skills. Comparisons to In Cold Blood  are not out of order here! It’s another paperback original in the FSG Originals line.
• The Orphan Master by Jean Zimmerman: This is not the novel set in North Korea. This story is set in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (aka Manhattan). Orphans are going missing and Blandine van Couvering, herself an orphan, begins to worry. Suspects seem myriad and an English spy named Edward Drummond becomes involved. What sets this story apart from the average mystery are the unique details about early colonies. Zimmerman brings the time period alive with details.

What were to happen to daily life if the rotation of the earth began to slow? What effect would this have on the days and nights? Could birds continue flying? Karen Thompson Walker explores all of these and more in her beautifully written debut The Age of Miracles.

The center of this novel however isn’t the scientific questions. Walker explores the effects of the “slowing” as they call it on Julia, a twelve year old only child living in California. Ordinary life is hard enough on her as the shy quiet girl in her grade. Her best friend Hanna moves away to Nevada once the slowing begins, leaving her alone amongst the pre-teen turmoil. Her mother grows increasingly scared and stockpiles supplies while her father remains remote. Julia learns early on in her observation that not everyone reacts the same way.

In less skilled hands, the concept could have overwhelmed the novel, but Walker’s focus on Julia keeps the book centered. The entire novel crackles with how real this could be.