After 22 Years, Gayl Jones Returns
“Palmares” — her first novel since 1999’s “Mosquito” — is an emancipation story set in 17th-century Brazil.
This Kenyan Activist Said No to ‘the Cut’
In her memoir, “The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree,” Nice Leng’ete tells the story of her courageous fight against female genital mutilation.
Is Stranger Hatred Hard-Wired Into Humans?
“Of Fear and Strangers,” by George Makari, examines the history of xenophobia, its evolution in modern times and how we might combat it.
Gabrielle Union Has Some Personal Updates
In her second memoir, “You Got Anything Stronger?,” the actor bares her struggles with fertility, rape, aging and grief.
Colson Whitehead’s Warmhearted Novel of a 1960s Crime Caper in Harlem
“Harlem Shuffle” luxuriates in the seedy spaces of late night, “when the straight world slept and the bent got to work.”
A Novel of Young Love, New York City and Coffee
In Vince Passaro’s new novel, “Crazy Sorrow,” two college students meet in 1976. Their story spans decades.
T.C. Boyle’s New Novel Looks Into the Mind of a Chimpanzee
“Talk to Me” tracks the complex relationships among a professor, his undergraduate assistant and a chimp who knows sign language.
George Washington Slept Here? Then So Will Nathaniel Philbrick.
In “Travels With George,” a book that’s part history and part travelogue, Philbrick retraces Washington’s steps in an effort to understand America’s problems then and now.
When the Criminal Is Furry and Has a Penchant for Garbage
In “Fuzz,” Mary Roach explores the tricky terrain where humans and wildlife overlap and often collide.
The False and Dangerous Promise of Humane Wars
Samuel Moyn’s “Humane” explores America’s enthusiasm for making wars more humane even if it assures us of future wars.
A Black Woman in Finance Regains Her Agency
In Natasha Brown’s slim debut novel, “Assembly,” the social critique matters more than the plot.
Billy Summers
UnCovered review by Stephanie Baker, ACLS IT
Stephen King announced his retirement in 2002, and then along came over 20 more novels, novellas, and collections. Among them are new classics such as Under the Dome, 11/22/63, the Bill Hodges Trilogy, the awaited Holly Gibney Series, and now Billy Summers.
All of King’s post 2002 works, including this one, exhibit an easiness and flow to his writing that he was arguably lacking in a few of his publications preceding his ‘retirement’ (in this reviewer’s humble opinion anyway). However, what makes Billy Summers different is its noticeable absence of the otherworldly. Billy is just a man who’s - with the brief exception of a scenario raising the Overlook Hotel - life experiences, past and present, have solid footing in reality. As many of King’s protagonists are, Billy Summers is an anti-hero; a gun-man for hire for which you can’t help but like and root. Throughout the novel, the King of Horror spotlights the horrors of the real world by weaving in issues of the times: Afghanistan, the #METOO movement, child trafficking, domestic abuse, and even prescient references to the looming pandemic.
Billy Summers is an assassin and an avenger with a heart and, yes, even a moral code because whether something or someone is good or bad is not always cut and dry in any of King’s novels. This is also true of other primary characters in the story; Alice a young woman wronged, who becomes Billy’s companion and champion, and Bucky, Billy’s servicer and enabler living on the edge. King even manages to redeem the mob figures who double cross Billy without justifying their way of life.
This novel presents a new Stephen King at his former best. If you are a fan or just starting his considerable library, you won’t be disappointed here. As Billy Summers reveals his own story through the writing of a sham novel-that-is-really-a-memoir, you are given a window into Stephen King’s own use of writing as catharsis. Let’s hope this is not “one last job,“ Dear Reader, because as long as Mr. King remains ‘retired’ I’m looking forward to more of his process and what is yet to come.
Banned in Her Home Country, Wendy Guerra Writes of a Lost Cuba
In “I Was Never the First Lady,” the protagonist sets out to find the mother who abandoned her, and Cuba, long ago.
Thrillers and Suspense: September 2021
Footsteps behind you... Conspiracy theories... A race against time... Horrific consequences... If you're seeking white knuckles and a racing heart, you've come to the right place. Monthly.
Delivered: 9/13/2021 12:00:00 AM
Delivered: 9/13/2021 12:00:00 AM
You Haven't Read A Heist Novel Like This Before
Cassandra Khaw's new novel follows a rag-tag band of criminals who have to pull together for one last heist — but in their hands, what could be an ordinary tale becomes visionary sci-fi adventure.
(Image credit: Erewhon)
Liane Moriarty’s New Novel Is a Family Saga and a Mystery
In “Apples Never Fall,” the author of “Nine Perfect Strangers” and “Big Little Lies” serves readers the tale of a missing mother and tennis pro.
The Nuns of Fiction: Experts in Affliction and Awe
From Chaucer to Don DeLillo and Lauren Groff, nuns in literature have served a variety of functions — not least, Claire Luchette writes, as the authors’ stays against mortal agony.
A Boy Aims To Save His Mom — And Himself — In 'The War For Gloria'
Atticus Lish's book opens a disturbing window into a teenager's battle to save his mother, our broken healthcare system — and the power that humans have to inflict harm on one another.
(Image credit: Knopf)
Once, Twice, Thrice Upon a Time
Three book-length fairy tales — by Tom Gauld, Nadja Spiegelman and Ole Könnecke — take common ingredients and whip them into fresh new stories.
Brandon Taylor on the Sally Rooney Phenomenon
Taylor talks about Rooney’s “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” and David Rooney discusses “About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks.”
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