Despite efforts to bring them up to speed, readers unfamiliar with the series opener may flounder as the mildly surreal continuing storyline takes a few more dizzying spins in this second entry. Being the last of the murderous Paladins still at liberty after Rodeo’s application of the Plunger of Truth, bad guy Athelstan concocts an […]
If everyone in Clifton County knows everyone else, that may be because half the people in North Falls, one of the county’s four cities, are named Clifton. Det. Allison Vickery doesn’t turn up for the funeral of acting sheriff Emmy Clifton’s mother, Myrna Joy Clifton, first because she’s fleeing her abusive husband, Bill Garrison, then […]
What is one to do upon discovering that a favorite artist is a monster? That’s one of the questions that Dixon, an assistant professor of philosophy at Cardiff University, grapples with in this provocative work. Her goal is “to take you on a journey through the history of immoral art, exploring some of the most […]
An omniscient narrator explains that Shy (who’s white with brown patches) is “the smallest and quietest pup at the shelter. She seldom made a sound.” When a light-skinned man with floppy brown hair visits the shelter and says that he’s looking for a dog “who can keep me company and help me concentrate while I […]
After a meteoric rise within the National Ballet Theatre, Zahara Douglass, a 21-year-old Black ballerina, has the life she always dreamed of. But Zahara is emotionally detached, haunted by a fissure in reality that only she seems able to remember: When she was 16, she saw her twin sister, Annica, get into a car and […]
Ever since Roxana’s mum died in a car accident four years ago, her father hasn’t been the same. When he accepts a job in America, it seems to offer a second chance at happiness. Roxana’s older sister, Azar, stays in England, while she and her younger brother, Ehsan, travel with Dad—although in just six weeks, […]
Despite her brief moment of internet fame after catching a killer at a crime writing festival in A Novel Murder (2025), Jane is without an agent or publisher, and suffering from writer’s block. Still, she has journeyed from Cumbria to London’s Willow Tree Books to celebrate the publication of a debut thriller by her new […]
Introducing the main characters of “The Axe,” the narrator—omniscient, omnipotent, and jaded—suddenly pauses: “But none of that matters, because these aren’t real people, and it’s hard enough to hold onto your own memories without holding onto theirs.” Some of Row’s characters are aware that they’re characters; some of his narrators struggle against the constraints of […]
Three siblings look ahead to a long weekend, with older sister ’Tea in charge while Momma is working. Middle child Taylor is delighted that morning to find the titular postcard in the kitchen. Indeed, the whole neighborhood is abuzz with excitement over the opportunity to exchange their postcards for a surprise box “filled to the […]
The Sea Breeze volunteer fire department puts out the blaze before it does further damage to the town’s small library. But Laura Meehan, who moved back to the Jersey Shore community to run her late father’s paint store, is incensed that the authorities aren’t taking the incident more seriously, especially considering the online threats against […]