“The Fireman” book, Joe Hill(Photo: Courtesy of the publisher)
The temperatures are high this summer, so if you’re staying in town, odds are you’re staying indoors. Here’s a look at 25 books to keep you occupied while you battle the heat, ranging from new authors to such familiar names as James Sallis and Danielle Steel. And if you’re lucky enough to be near the ocean, we’ve even got some peachy beach reads, too.
Crime and suspense
Security, Gina Wohlsdorf
The staff of a soon-to-open exclusive resort are getting knocked off one by one in this debut novel that narrates the action through the cinematic point of view of the hotel s security cameras. Kirkus Reviews: This horror story with a humorous edge casts video surveillance as both hero and villain and raises plentiful goose bumps as a result. Author signing June 21 at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale1. (Algonquin, £25.95. Out now.)
The Girls, Emma Cline
There s huge buzz for this debut novel about an impressionable teenager who falls under the sway of Charles Manson s murder cult. The Huffington Post says it s as fast-moving as a van on the run, as dark and atmospheric as the smog it cuts through. (Random House, £27. June 14.)
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I m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid
Another debut novel earning rave reviews, it s a creepy suspense tale, narrated by a character only called the girlfriend, about a couple taking a road trip to the boyfriend s family farm. It s an atmospheric thriller where the fear builds because the reader is never sure what s actually going on. Reid s tightly crafted tale toys with the nature of identity and comes by its terror honestly, building a wall of intricately layered psychological torment so impenetrable it s impossible to escape, says Kirkus Reviews. (Gallery/Scout Press, £22.95. June 14.)
The Crow Girl, Erik Axl Sund
A serial killer is targeting children in this Swedish import, which one-ups Stieg Larsson s Dragon Tattoo trilogy with its darkly violent indictment of the horrors supposedly civilized humans are capable of perpetrating. Very likely to be the most disturbing book you ll read all year, warns the Guardian. (Knopf, £29.95. June 14.)
“Willnot” book by James Sallis (Photo: Courtesy of the publisher)
Willnot, James Sallis
The Valley author6 known for Drive (the basis for the Ryan Gosling flick) returns with the tale of a small-town doctor out to solve the mystery of a mass grave. It s a mix of noir atmosphere and intimate slice-of-life details in a story that s driven more by characters than by plot. Author signing June 24 at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale7. (Bloomsbury USA, £26. June 21.)
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Horror, sci-fi and fantasy
Mongrels, Stephen Graham Jones
The Native American author best known for Demon Theory creates a new werewolf mythology in this wry coming-of-age story (and grisly horror tale) about a Southern boy growing up in a family of outsiders with a supernatural secret. (William Morrow, £24.99. Out now.)
Infomocracy, Malka Older
This intriguing debut novel is set in a future where a tech giant dubbed Information has organized most of the world into microdemocracies of just 100,000 citizens. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says, This intriguing thought experiment is perfectly timed to leave readers pondering the meaning of voting and representative government in the run-up to the 2016 elections. (Tor.com, £24.99. Out now.)
“The Fireman” book, Joe Hill (Photo: Courtesy of the publisher)
The Fireman, Joe Hill
The zombie apocalypse has been done to undeath, but Hill ( Heart-Shaped Box ) has a hot new take (literally) on the end of the world. A mysterious plague marks its victims skin in gold and black and then causes them to spontaneously combust. Infected nurse Harper Grayson is determined to live long enough to give birth to her child, and she finds hope in the mysterious Fireman, who has somehow learned to control the flame within. (William Morrow, £28.99. Out now.)
False Hearts, Laura Lam
The YA author s first adult novel is a mind-bending thriller about Taema and Tila, surgically separated conjoined twins who grew up in a cult and live in a strange near-future where a virtual-reality drug has tamped down humanity s violent impulses. But when Tila is suspected of (a very rare) murder, Taema is conscripted to go undercover to investigate a crime syndicate that s come up with a new drug that brings out it users atavistic anger. (Tor, £24. 99. June 14.)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jack Thorne
The two-part stage play that serves as the eighth installment of the Harry Potter series is onstage now in London, and a special rehearsal edition script will be out soon. With a story co-conceived by J.K. Rowling, it focuses on an adult Harry s relationship with his son, Albus. (Arthur A. Levine, £29.99. July 31.)
Entertainment and famous authors
Digging Up Mother: A Love Story, Doug Stanhope
The comedian (and Bisbee resident) writes about his relationship with his mother, Bonnie. It s not a sentimental tale, but it is sweet: Bonnie took Doug to her Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and recited Monty Python sketches along with him as he grew up. (Da Capo Press, £25.99. Out now.)
“Bobby Rydell: Teen Idol on the Rocks,” Bobby Rydell
A top pop singer in the 50s and 60s ( Volare, Wild One ), Rydell offers a memoir that deals with the heady days of his show-biz career (he kissed Ann-Margret onscreen in 1963’s “Bye Bye Birdie”). He doesn t shy away from the darker side of his life, writing about his battle with alcoholism and a kidney and liver transplant he received in 2012. (Doctor Licks Publishing, £16.95. Out now)
“The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo” book by Amy Schumer (Photo: Courtesy of the publisher)
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy Schumer
The Trainwreck writer and star offers a collection of essays that deal with the usual topics, i.e. family, sex and relationships. Expect Schumer to be very funny and extremely graphic, if her past work is any indication. (Gallery Books, £28. Aug. 16.)
Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, Mara Wilson
The second child star of Mrs. Doubtfire to write a memoir (following last year s excellent You Look Like That Girl by Lisa Jakub), Wilson s book looks at the odd life of a child actor. For example, Wilson learned about sex on the set of Melrose Place and got her first kiss on a celebrity canoe ride. (Penguin Books, £16. Sept. 13.)
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Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy, Mike Love
A founding member of the Beach Boys and the group s usual lead vocalist, Love is also one of the most despised men in rock and roll. The book offers his take on the band s rise to fame and the power struggles that occurred within the group. Perhaps not so coincidentally, it also reaches stores one month before I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir will appear. (Blue Rider Press, £28. Sept. 13.)
RELATED: ‘Pet Sounds’: The Beach Boys reflect on 50 years of masterpiece that almost did them them in13
Beach reads
The Year We Turned Forty, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
The authors of Your Perfect Life return with a book that features three best pals who are about to turn 50 when they get the magical offer to relive one year in their lives (hence, the title). Comedic, touching and soapy. (Washington Square Press, £16. Out now.)
Summer Secrets, Jane Green
A journalist named Cat Coombs parties her way through her 20s and learns that the father she never knew is alive and living in Nantucket, Ma. Flash forward several years, and Cat is in her 40s, sober, and visiting Nantucket. This is Green s 17th novel, following such bestsellers as The Beach House and Tempting Fate. (St. Martin s Press, £26.99. Out now.)
Intrusion, Mary McCluskey
A married couple rebounds after the death of their son, but soon face another challenge. A friend from the wife s past returns, and soon her presence is threatening to rip apart an already-fragile marriage. This is McCluskey s first novel. (Little A, £24.95. July 1.)
Pierced by the Sun, Laura Esquivel
The author of Like Water for Chocolate offers a book about a woman named Lupita who witnesses the murder of a politician, which makes her a target of a corrupt political system. (AmazonCrossing, £14.95. July 1.)
“Rushing Waters” book by Danielle Steel (Photo: Courtesy of the publisher)
“Rushing Waters,” Danielle Steel
A hurricane is hitting New York City, and six people are caught in the disaster, including a wealthy interior designer, a British investment banker and two college students. If it sounds like the plot of a 1970s Irwin Allen disaster film, it seems like that is what the author is going for. And that author, of course, is the phenomenally successful Steel, with more than 650 million copies of her books sold. (Delacorte Press, £28.99). Aug. 30.
Literary fiction
The Noise of Time, Julian Barnes
A Man Booker Prize winner for The Sense of an Ending, Barnes climbs inside the mind of an embattled genius in his latest novel. It s about the composer Dmitri Shostakovich living in fear of execution in Stalinist Russia. This book becomes a meditation on the role of art, says the New York Times. Narrative recedes, and the prose becomes hypnotic, circling obsessions. (Knopf, £25.95. Out now.)
“Homegoing” book by Yaa Gyasi (Photo: Courtesy of the publisher)
Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
Born in Ghana and raised in Alabama, Gyasi has written a sweeping debut novel that follows two branches of a family from 18th-century Africa to contemporary America. It depicts the horrors of slavery including the complicity of many Africans in the slave trade along with the Civil War, the Harlem Renaissance and the complexity of racial identity in the 2000s. Comparisons to Roots are inevitable, but critics are praising Gyasi s literary touch and the depth of her characters. (Knopf, £26.95. Out now.)
Enchanted Islands, Allison Amend
In the early 1900s, a Jewish woman from Minnesota agrees to an arranged marriage to an American spy assigned to the Galapagos Islands in this novel loosely based on the memoirs of Frances Conway. But the heart of the story is Frances lifelong relationship with her best friend. Amend paints a vivid picture of a woman surviving in a place where friends and enemies alike can both enthrall and harm, says the Chicago Review of Books. The result is beautiful, terrifying, and haunting, a deeply moving lovechild between Elena Ferrante and John le Carr . (Nan A. Talese, £26.95. Out now.)
Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, Ramona Ausubel
The second novel by the author of No One Here Except All of Us revisits the turbulent 1960s and 70s through the eyes of a privileged New England couple. Facing bankruptcy, each takes off on a spur-of-the-moment voyage of discovery (and new romance), and thinking the other is still at home leave their three children alone to fend for themselves. There is true wit in the author s depiction of these tumultuous decades, says Publishers Weekly, and with characters this memorable, the pages almost turn themselves. (Riverhead, £27. June 14.)
The Whale: A Love Story, Mark Beauregard
The debut novel by Tucson journalist Beauregard is a deeply researched imagining of a fraught friendship and pseudo-romance between two giants of American literature, Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and how it shapes the latter s masterpiece, Moby-Dick. Author signing June 14 at Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix14. (Viking, £26. June 14.)
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References
^ Author signing June 21 at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale (www.changinghands.com)
^ 6/22: Join First Draft Book Club and discuss ‘Imagine Me Gone’ (www.azcentral.com)
^ First Draft book club readers discuss “Father’s Day” (www.azcentral.com)
^ First Draft book club talks “Innocents and Others” (www.azcentral.com)
^ WATCH: Video from First Draft Book Club gathering (www.azcentral.com)
^ The Valley author (www.azcentral.com)
^ Author signing June 24 at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale (www.poisonedpenevents.com)
^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)
^ Twitter (twitter.com)
^ Instagram (www.instagram.com)
^ Pinterest (www.pinterest.com)
^ Memoir: Why Toni Tennille left the Captain (www.azcentral.com)
^ ‘Pet Sounds’: The Beach Boys reflect on 50 years of masterpiece that almost did them them in (www.azcentral.com)
^ Author signing June 14 at Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix (www.changinghands.com)