EDITOR’S CHOICE
The Religion Tim Willocks
The heroic stand of the Knights of St. John against the much larger army of Islamic invaders in 16th-century Malta gets epic treatment in the first, fat volume of a projected trilogy. Stone walls crumble, war machines rumble, bodies fill the ditches, and once in a while there’s some terrific sex. A long, bloody, vastly entertaining story. | Kirkus
FICTION
Ice Moon by Jan Costin Wagner, translated by John Brownjohn | Loss and the infinite ways we attempt to come to terms with it permeate this absorbing psychological mystery, Wagner’s third novel and the first available in English translation, set in the Finnish town of Turku. |Publishers Weekly
In the Woods by Tana French | Irish author French expertly walks the line between police procedural and psychological thriller. When Katy Devlin, a 12-year-old girl from Knocknaree, a Dublin suburb, is found murdered at a local archeological dig, Det. Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, must probe deep into the victim’s troubled family history. | Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
On the Road to Kandahar: Travels Through Conflict in the Islamic World by Jason Burke | A literate travelogue through troubled lands where the clash of civilizations is resounding loudly – and ever louder. Kirkus
Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties by Kenneth D. Ackerman | Ackerman captures well the pathological character of the young Hoover and argues effectively that there is a cautionary tale in the corrosive effect of the denial of civil liberties and extralegal measures employed in the red scare raids. | Publishers Weekly
Red Mutiny: Eleven Fateful Days on the Battleship Potemkin by Neal Bascomb | Desperate sailors take over the Russian Navy’s premier battleship, hoping to use their mutiny as a catalyst for revolution… Bascomb presents the gripping events of June 1905 with sharply focused immediacy and a flair for high drama. | Kirkus
PAPERBACKS
The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld | This is a gloriously intelligent exploration of what might have happened to Sigmund Freud during his only visit to America. Fans of Caleb Carr will adore this work. | Library Journal
Dispatches From the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper | Most listeners will already be familiar with Anderson Cooper’s dangerous field reporting on CNN. While this autobiography is heavy with those tales of wars and natural disasters, it is also rife with a surprising number of very personal incidents and revelations. | Publishers Weekly
Evening by Susan Minot | In spare and lovely language, Susan Minot has set forth a real life, in all its splendor and pain. | The New York Times
COMING UP
JULY
The Guardians by Ana Castillo | The acclaimed author of “Peel My Love Like an Onion” tracks the perilous lives of Mexicans who illegally cross to the U.S. for work. | Publishers Weekly
AUGUST
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan | Horan’s first novel is a fictionalization of the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, best known as the woman who wrecked Frank Lloyd Wright’s first marriage. | Publishers Weekly
