A look at the month’s best reviewed books in crime.
*
Abir Mukherjee, Hunted
(Mulholland Books)
“A welcome alternative to the typical cops-and-robbers tale … Plot twists are largely presented without the strain of incredulity, the suspense is always weighted with emotion, surprising revelations are carefully constructed — and the ending is unexpected, daring and truly beautiful.”
–E.A. Aymar (Washington Post)
Joyce Carol Oates, Butcher
(Knopf)
“The book has the feverish energy, narrative propulsion and descriptive amplitude — sometimes to excess — of much of her earlier work … Undoubtedly one of her most surreal and gruesome works, sparing no repulsive detail or nefarious impulse. In the end, though, the purview of the novel is larger than one might think, becoming an empathic and discerning commentary on women’s rights, the abuses of patriarchy and the servitude of the poor and disenfranchised. Oates, as is her wont, succeeds in creating a world that is apart from our own yet familiar, making it impossible to dismiss her observations about twisted natures and random acts of violence.”
–Daphne Merkin (New York Times Book Review)
Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black
(Simon and Schuster)
“Jean successfully pivots from romantic-relationship fiction… to crime thriller here. She paints a bleak but not entirely depressing picture of abused and underestimated women who manage to survive.”
–Barbara Bibel (Booklist)
Craig Whitlock, Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy
(Simon and Schuster)
“A masterly investigation into one of the Navy’s worst scandals in modern times … His reporting is astonishingly detailed … Whitlock is particularly good at revealing the way that Francis profited from the “entitlement” of Navy officers.”
–Nicholas Niarchos (New York Times Book Review)
