includes artists, writers, tech workers, and
“Tea Party types” (according to the narrator)—but the influx of the (mostly
white) newcomers vexes the area’s original
inhabitants, in particular Nolan Smith, a
local African-American artist and friend of
Marny’s. Confrontations between Smith
and Jamestown residents, along with other
racially charged incidents, ensue, culminating in a trial and national media storm
that for many readers will call to mind
recent events in Ferguson, Mo., Staten
Island, N. Y., and North Charleston, S.C.,
among others. The novel is a bit overcrowded and the prose sometimes too
breezy, but Markovits writes boldly about
some of our era’s most important—and
most delicate—subjects. (July)
The Hand That Feeds You
A. J. Rich. Scribner, $26 (288p) ISBN 978-1-
4767-7458-9
Writing under the pseudonym A.J.
Rich, Amy Hempel (Reasons to Live) and
Jill Ciment (Heroic Measures) team up in
this toothless mystery about murderous
dogs and a “victimologist turned victim.”
Morgan is a master’s student in forensic
psychology studying how victims are
chosen by their attackers. She is engaged
to a man named Bennett, whom she met
while conducting an online experiment
about sexual predators—a red flag if
there ever was one. One day Morgan
returns to her Williamsburg apartment
to find Bennett fatally mauled, presum-
ably by her three beloved rescue dogs,
two pit-bull mutts and a Great Pyrenees.
From this taut, eerie opening, the tale
gradually loses its fierceness. Morgan
begins to doubt whether her blood-cov-
ered hounds could be capable of such
aggression, and her suspicions only
increase when she discovers that Bennett
was keeping some rather significant
secrets. In search of answers about her
lover’s hidden life and gruesome death,
she also tries to prevent her dogs from
being put down, which slows her investi-
gation and any narrative momentum.
With its focus on sociopathy and overt
references to Cholderlos de Laclos’s mas-
terpiece of erotic manipulation, Dangerous
Liaisons, the novel has the makings of a
penetrating psychological thriller.
Unfortunately, neither the perpetually
blindsided heroine nor the paper-thin vil-
lain has the depth to redeem this perfunc-
tory, and outlandish, mystery. (July)
In his accomplished
debut novel, Seiler deftly
sketches memorable,
diverse characters while
drawing on fascinating
historical background.
Steeped in the charm
and traditions of tea
drinking and underlaid
with serious thought
about compassion, this
novel is a delight to read
from start to finish.
––Kirkus Reviews
There is something
about tea that is
practical
and mystical.”
To ebb is human, to
flow divine.”
Available now on
“
; The Incarnations
Susan Barker. S&S/Touchstone, $26 (384p) ISBN 978-1-5011-0678-1
With her latest, Barker (Sayonara Bar) produces a page-turning reincarnation fantasy. In modern-day Beijing, Driver Wang receives anonymous letters from a source claiming to have known him in five
previous lifetimes over the past 1,000 years. The letters narrate these lifetimes—set in the Tang Dynasty, 632 C.E.; the
Jin Dynasty, 1213; the Ming Dynasty, 1542; the Qing
Dynasty, 1836; and the People’s Republic of China, 1966—
and paint them in lush historical detail, exhibiting Barker’s
extensive research. These two “souls” have inhabited many
rich characters (eunuch, prostitute, slave, concubine, pirate, Red Guard) and have
been friends, enemies, parents, and lovers. Every new incarnation reverses their
power dynamic, giving one the opportunity to betray the other. Not for the
squeamish, these historical narratives contain graphic torture and sexual violence.
Meanwhile, Wang’s current incarnation also includes a series of radical shifts and
identities within a lifetime: born to a wealthy government official father and a
mentally unstable mother, he has been a promising student, an asylum inmate, a
closeted homosexual, a husband, a father, and a taxi driver. Driving the narrative
is the suspense over the identity of Wang’s stalker and whether the stories are
indeed true. A very memorable read. (Aug.)
