There’s a lot of heavy hitters coming out this August, all of which are impossible oneself away from (I should know). Below, you’ll find the following: new series installments from Robert Jackson Bennett and William Kent Krueger, the first in a new series from Robyn Gigl, moody character studies from Lawrence Osborne and Chris Bohjalian, daring thrillers from Jennifer Hillier and Josh Silver, haunting gothics from Riley Sager, Donyae Coles, and Jennifer Givhan, and high-concept mysteries from Ellery Lloyd and Raphael Montes.
Robyn Gigl, All We Hide
(Soho Crime)
I’m psyched for Robyn Gigl’s All We Hide, the first in a new series featuring trans detective Lauren Kelly, as she fights rampant departmental discrimination and tries to solve the decades-old murder of a former high school classmate. Sherry Darling was the first out trans girl Kelly ever met, and a beacon of hope to her closeted classmate; she was also the victim of a brutal killing, blamed on her since-exonerated boyfriend—and the closer that Kelly gets to finding the real killer, the more determined the town elders are to stop her. –MO
Robert Jackson Bennett, A Trade of Blood
(Del Rey)
Robert Jackson Bennett’s extremely entertaining Ana and Din series returns for a third installment, and it might be the best one yet. A Trade of Blood takes place in an agriculture region where the local aristocrats have been dropping like flies. Ana and Din have been sent to clear up the suspicious deaths and restore order to an essential region; instead, the two investigators uncover a shocking conspiracy with terrifying implications for the past, present, and future of their beloved Empire. –MO
Lawrence Osborne, Children of Wolves
(S&S/Summit)
With any new Osborne novel, the thing I’m interested to learn first is the setting. I don’t really want to know much more than that, since it goes without saying that I’m going to enjoy the book, that expats will be involved, that something seemingly glamorous will prove to have an unspeakable underbelly. Osborne is, for me, the most atmospheric of working suspense writers. I just want to know where he’s going to be bringing all that talent to bear —this time around, it’s a seaside hotel in Turkey, with the action moving to Istanbul, as well. I won’t tell you more than that, except to say that Osborne doesn’t disappoint—this is an absolutely sensational novel. –DM
Jennifer Hillier, Heart of Glass
(Minotaur)
Heart of Glass looks to be classic Jennifer Hillier, featuring an old crime, a new murder, and a whole lot of secrets. In Hillier’s latest, two women revisit the greatest trauma of their youth—the disappearance of a friend from a notorious amusement park, now set to reopen—when new evidence challenges old assumptions, and new bodies start washing ashore. –MO
Chris Bohjalian, The Amateur
(Doubleday)
Chris Bohjalian’s latest is, quite simply, a masterpiece. I cannot praise this novel enough. It’s delicate, haunting, complex, and startling; a wide-ranging condemnation of polite society disguised as a character study and comedy of manners. And in addition to all The Amateur‘s literary feats, the novel also happens to make golf seem…kinda interesting? Which is obviously the novel’s most difficult achievement. In case you want to know what the book’s actually about: The Amateur begins with a shocking death, as a budding golf pro hits a ball through a hole in a net and hits a caddy in the head, instantly killing him. What follows is an odyssey of self-recrimination and terrible truths, a prescient reminder that those who feel most inclined towards guilt are often the least deserving of blame. The Amateur is a standout stunner of a story, and the perfect gateway into Bohjalian’s substantial literary oeuvre. –MO
Donyae Coles, The Sunken, the Adored
(Amistad)
No one writes about hunger and want like Donyae Coles. I loved her terrifying take on the fairy underworld and their monstrous appetites, Midnight Rooms, and her latest continues her thematic exploration of desire and deprivation, this time in early 18th century Venice. In The Sunken, the Adored, a ship drifts into harbor with only one passenger left alive—and how she survived the voyage is even more nightmarish than any of the deaths surrounding. –MO
Jennifer Givhan, The Sleeping Sisters
(Little Brown)
The New Mexico desert plays host to a series of killings linked to a dark family legacy in Givhan’s latest chilling horror novel. The Sleeping Sisters mines the region’s history and mythology, but at the center of it all is the powerful story of a mother’s search. –DM
Josh Silver, Fruit Fly
(Crooked Lane)
A savage takedown of literary pretension and the quest for authenticity, Fruit Fly is quite possibly the meanest—and most accurate—take on publishing that I’ve read in some time. In this satirical psychological thriller, an author with a nasty case of writer’s block decides to steal the life story of a drug-addled sex worker for her new novel. Her chosen subject is no fool, sensing a place to stay and sober up if he plays this right, and their cat-and-mouse game of manipulation, exaggeration, and exploitation rapidly escalates to the point of mutually assured destruction. This book will leave you shaking your head at the state of the publishing industry, and wondering who owns your story, and more importantly, who dictates your truth. –MO
Riley Sager, The Unknown
(Dutton)
Riley Sager’s at it again, combining horror and mystery in a delightfully creepy, pastiche-savvy standalone. In The Unknown, a struggling actress lands a role in a new movie about five women (all mediums) who mysteriously disappeared in 1926—but when she spends a week on the island with the cast and crew, she begins to realize that what might have happened back then might be happening again now. I’m already shivering!–OR
William Kent Krueger, God’s Country
(Atria)
We’re in somewhat of a series renaissance, and at least some of that must be due to the staying power of series like Krueger’s Cork O’Connor novels, which have kept up the same level of quality for over 20 installments. In the latest to feature the nature-loving detective, Cork uncovers a terrible conspiracy surrounding Minnesota’s Boundary Waters (one which resonates with real-life efforts to protect this environmentally sensitive zone from rapacious energy developers). –MO
Ellery Lloyd, Time to Burn
(Harper)
In near-future England, the very wealthy can travel back in time to a carefully curated version of history, any risks to the timeline justified by the huge payouts received by the tech company and redistributed to the appropriate government ministers. The business is going so smoothly that a famed filmmaker is hired by the tech company’s eccentric founder to document his success in appropriately artistic style, but soon enough, she’s filming a dumpster fire, as a traveler goes missing amidst the Battle of Britain and the timeline begins to deteriorate rapidly in response. Ellery Lloyd’s usual gifts for characterization and plotting are on full display throughout the novel, which I imagine was fiendishly difficult to assemble. –MO
Raphael Montes, The Secret Dinner
(Celadon)
Raphael Montes has been a favorite of mine ever since I read his darkly comedic kidnapping story, Perfect Days (the psychopathic narrator not only abducts a woman but also…forcibly edits her novel, which is just the worst thing you can ever do to a writer). I’ve been waiting to read more from Montes ever since, and The Secret Dinner, his first US publication in over a decade, seems well worth the wait. In The Secret Dinner, a group of broke roommates finds a novel way to make rent: hosting private dinners for the ultrawealthy, where they serve one special ingredient, not available anywhere else—human flesh. A satirical (and literal) evisceration of foodie culture and wealthy excess, The Secret Dinner should be read in public, while eating a very bloody piece of meat, and snickering softly. If everyone around is not freaked out by the time you finish your meal then you are DOING IT WRONG. –MO
