“The Holdout” by Graham Moore – The Unforgiven Juror
Graham Moore has injected into to his novels his own experience as an award-winning screenwriter, giving them a more eventful atmosphere and a quicker pace.
In his most recent novel, The Holdout, he introduces us to Maya Seale, a young juror who convinces her peers as to the innocence of a suspect in a murder case.
Now, ten years later, after a true-crime series reassembles the jurors, one of them is found dead in Maya’s hotel room, launching the ultimate search for truth as to what really happened the first time around.
“Dune” by Frank Herbert – The Spice of Power
Frank Herbert has set a milestone in science-fiction when he penned the great classic Dune, realized once into a movie by David Lynch, and soon to be on the silver screens again under Denis Villeneuve’s direction.
Set on a desert planet where the sole thing of value is the “spice” drug, the story follows a young noble boy, Paul Atreides, who loses his realm as his family is betrayed and destroyed. Thus begins his epic adventure to evolve into a figure of legends.
“The Word is Murder” by Anthony Horowitz – A Partnership with the Morbid
Anthony Horowitz is one of the busiest and most inventive writers in his country, constantly trying the push the boundaries of literary techniques for our amusement.
In The Word is Murder he once again takes a unique path, writing himself into his own novel as the sidekick and chronicler of disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne. Together, they try to unravel the peculiar case of a woman who is found dead six hours after arranging her own funeral service.
“Last Night in Montreal” by Emily St. John Mandel – Searching for a Vanished Memory
Emily St. John Mandel has made a splash with her recent novels, but the start of her career was no less impressive, when she published Last Night in Montreal.
Following a woman by the name of Lilia Albert, we discover she was taken from her mother as a child and is left with no recollection of her childhood.
Determined to somehow find it, she moves from one city to the next looking for any links, shadowed by a private detective… and after a long time searching, she’s on the cusp of making a discovery.
“Providence” by Max Barry – Alone in the Void
Max Barry has been a distinct voice in the realm of science-fiction ever since he published his first novel over twenty years ago, and he certainly is intent on spreading it further, as he does with his latest novel, Providence.
The premise is quite simple: four people are tasked with manning, but mostly monitoring a space warship sent to wage war against an alien threat to humanity.
However, as they travel further into space, the communications are cut off, and the ship becomes less an less reliable, leaving them stranded in the great cosmic void, headed for war all by themselves.
“Master Class” by Christina Dalcher – Shedding the Pretense of Understanding
Christina Dalcher certainly isn’t content with tackling small and meaningless topics, with her second novel Master Class examining potential extreme our society might yet reach one day.
The story takes place in a society where the worth of individuals is determined by their quotient score (Q), and follows a mother’s efforts to save her daughter who gets transferred to a state boarding school hundreds of miles away after failing a monthly test.
“The King at the Edge of the World” by Arthur Phillips – What Does a Monarch Believe?
Arthur Phillips has really been exploring his abilities as an author by diving into different genres since his first novel, and in The King at the Edge of the World he transports us into the realm of historical fiction.
Taking place in 1601, we follow a web of courtly intrigues anchored around the impending death of Queen Elizabeth I, the leading candidate to her succession King James VI, and Mahmoud Ezzedine, a Muslim physician who stayed behind from the Ottoman Empire’s last diplomatic visit.
“Code Name: Lise” by Larry Loftis – The Unsuspecting Heroine
Many are the people eager and willing to forget the history of yesteryear, but thankfully there remain authors such as Larry Loftis who believe in the importance of knowing about our past and the heroes in it.
In Code Name: Lise, Loftis returns once again to the Second World War to tell the story of Odette Sansom, a mother of three daughters who became an invaluable Allied intelligence officer and perhaps one of the most celebrated members of the British Special Operations Executive.
Sabotaging, spying, and surviving torturous imprisonment, she became the first woman to be awarded both the George Cross and appointed as a Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur.
“The Exit Man” by Greg Levin – An Outlaw’s Compassion
Greg Levin has never been short of mind-twisting premises to impart on his readers, and his first novel, The Exit Man, was very much an early testament to this.
The story follows Eli Edelmann, a man who comes back home to take over his family’s supply store business, only to find himself falling down the rabbit hole of the illegal euthanasia business.
With a volatile new girlfriend who is also possibly a serial killer and the police breathing down his neck, it’s only a matter of time before the noose tightens around Eli’s own neck.
“Normal People” by Sally Rooney – To Save a Soul
Sally Rooney has taken little time in becoming a distinguished figure in the realm of books with her debut novel in 2017, and only a year later she came back with another brilliant story titled Normal People.
To put it simply, it follows two young students as they walk parallel paths over the years and learn the hard way about the complexities of friendship, love, family, and life as a whole in general.
“The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone – The Grasp for Heaven
Irving Stone had a knack like none other for writing poignant biographical novels which still remained true to their sources, with The Agony and the Ecstasy arguably being his most famous and defining work.
Fictionalizing the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, the all-time famous artist responsible for many immortal creations, the novel takes us on a grandiose and perilous journey through the Renaissance as the artist tries to find his way in life against all odds.