Editor’s Choice
Ancient Highway, by Bret Lott, $25. Recent Fulbright scholar and celebrated author Lott (“Jewel”) shows how one man’s aspirations to become a famous Hollywood actor reverberate over three generations. Written with a distinctive sense of emotional resonance, this novel reveals complex personal truths that feel authentic. Library Journal
FICTION
The Garden of Evil, by David Hewson, $24. At the outset of this dark jewel of a thriller, Hewson’s sixth to feature Roman detective Nic Costa (after “The Seventh Sacrament”), Costa and his team are just starting to process a crime scene in an artist’s shabby studio, where two corpses lie sprawled before a painting of a rapturous female nude redolent of Caravaggio, when they flush out a hooded gunman. Publishers Weekly
The King’s Gold, by Arturo Perez-Reverte, $24.95. Perez-Reverte, a former war correspondent, continues his popular Captain Alatriste series with a fourth swashbuckling volume. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates The Darkest Story of His Life. His Own, by David Carr, $26. An intriguing premise informs Carr’s memoir of drug addiction — he went back to his hometown of Minneapolis and interviewed the friends, lovers and family members who witnessed his downfall. Publishers Weekly
Massacre at Mountain Meadows, by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr. and Glen M. Leonard, $29.95. On Sept. 11, 1857, more than 120 men, women and children traveling from Arkansas to California were butchered by Mormon militiamen and Paiute Indians at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. This study by three LDS historians utilizes archival documents to answer the question, “How could basically good people commit such a terrible atrocity?” Publishers Weekly
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us), by Tom Vanderbilt, $24.95. Everyone gets stuck in traffic at some point, and here freelance journalist Vanderbilt provides a fascinating look at the whys and hows of the traffic we confront on a daily basis. Library Journal
PAPERBACKS
DeNiro’s Game, by Rawi Hage, $13.95. Juxtaposing edgy imagery with the repetitive calm of beautiful Arabic poetry, the novel explores the lives of Bassam and George, young men who must choose either to stay in Beirut relying on stealth and violence or live in alienation abroad. Washington Post
The Night Villa, by Carol Goodman, $14. A tale of intrigue, romance and treachery, Goodman’s novel follows the lives of two women centuries apart. The pleasure of a Carol Goodman novel is in her enviable command of the classical canon — and the deft way she writes a book that’s light enough for a weekend on the beach but literary enough for a weekend in the Hamptons. Chicago Tribune
Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, by Jeremy Scahill, $16.95. In company handouts, Blackwater USA claims to run the largest privately owned firearms training facility in the country, but according to award-winning journalist Scahill, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Barnes & Noble
COMING UP
A Most Wanted Man, by John Le Carre, $28. A new novel from the master that has all of his trademarks — set in Germany, featuring rival intelligence agencies and sympathetic protagonists who discover a desire for moral integrity. (October)
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by H.W. Brands, $35. Brands, who has also written a biography of Andrew Jackson, tackles the larger-than-life story of a man both parties admire. (October)
