Neil Hollands
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PREMIUM
Dark Orbit
Blending mystery, philosophy, and science gracefully in a twisty plot, Gilman (Ison of the Isles) has written a challenging but ultimately satisfying space adventure that explores how the most basic preconceptions can distort our outlook. It's a winner for any sf fan, of special appeal to those with interests in epistemology, ethics, or physics.
PREMIUM
This novel works as gleeful satire, as wacky alternate history, and as thriller, but what really shines is the character study at its center. Nixon's self-loathing, longing for appreciation, and inability to please his beloved motivate every moment perfectly, ultimately creating a narrator who is pathetic, yet at the same time sympathetic. [See Prepub Alert, 2/2/15.]
Crooked
This novel works as gleeful satire, as wacky alternate history, and as thriller, but what really shines is the character study at its center. Nixon's self-loathing, longing for appreciation, and inability to please his beloved motivate every moment perfectly, ultimately creating a narrator who is pathetic, yet at the same time sympathetic. [See Prepub Alert, 2/2/15.]
PREMIUM
In Lumen, Gaylord creates an unforgettable and, well, luminous narrative voice, and his language captures the lush, dangerous possibilities of teenage nights to perfection. Working both as a contemporary coming-of-age gothic novel and as a metaphorical exploration of the importance and cost of exploring one's instinctual side, this book deserves a breakout success like that of Jeffrey Eugenides's first novel, The Virgin Suicides.
When We Were Animals
In Lumen, Gaylord creates an unforgettable and, well, luminous narrative voice, and his language captures the lush, dangerous possibilities of teenage nights to perfection. Working both as a contemporary coming-of-age gothic novel and as a metaphorical exploration of the importance and cost of exploring one's instinctual side, this book deserves a breakout success like that of Jeffrey Eugenides's first novel, The Virgin Suicides.
PREMIUM
Inside a Silver Box
While showing flashes of humor and insight, Mosley's ("Crosstown to Oblivion" series) latest sf outing will ultimately leave most readers unsatisfied. Explorations of class and race, sex, violence, and subjugation mix in a plot too frail to sustain its cosmological questions, and that meanders too much to work up momentum or emotional force. Fans of Mosley's crime fiction will long for his return to that genre, while sf readers may find the work short of science or action. Best recommended to those interested in New Age philosophy. [Mosley's new Leonard McGill mystery, And Sometimes I Wonder About You, will be released May 2015.—Ed.]
PREMIUM
A cut above the strong recent crop of dystopian futures, with a sympathetic protagonist, a believably degenerated society, and harrowing pacing, this deserves a wide audience.
Goodhouse
A cut above the strong recent crop of dystopian futures, with a sympathetic protagonist, a believably degenerated society, and harrowing pacing, this deserves a wide audience.
PREMIUM
De Potter's Grand Tour
Scott's approach may alienate readers who are lured to her book through a love of travel or those who prefer linear storytelling, but readers who stick with the author's layered narrative will find a fascinating tale of the dark side of the rags-to-riches story, a husband and wife whose reality is so convoluted that they aren't entirely known to each other or even to themselves.
PREMIUM
Half World
O'Connor is a gifted stylist, and he vividly captures the rabbit hole that swallows agents, their families, and their victims alike. The book works wonderfully as long as the March family remains the focus. Readers may get disoriented as it becomes difficult to distinguish victims from perpetrators in later iterations of the program. The story is fascinating, but readers will have to judge its authenticity for themselves: most of the MKULTRA records were destroyed by the CIA in 1973.
PREMIUM
The Strength of Bone
Wilk illuminates the differences between Malawian culture and that of the West while capturing both the fever-dream beauty and desperation of the country. If her novel has any weakness, it's a lack of plot and character development. Readers who enjoyed Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone may want to give this book a try.
PREMIUM
The protagonist's genuine joy in discovering the good things the unstable human race has produced—peanut butter, Emily Dickinson, Australian wine, the Beach Boys, dogs, and love, to name a few—is contagious. Readers of all stripes will find the results quick-paced, touching, and hilarious. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/13.]
The Humans
The protagonist's genuine joy in discovering the good things the unstable human race has produced—peanut butter, Emily Dickinson, Australian wine, the Beach Boys, dogs, and love, to name a few—is contagious. Readers of all stripes will find the results quick-paced, touching, and hilarious. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/13.]
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