have been. More effective is the Hitchcockian
“Equatorial,” in which Mrs. Wheeling, her
husband’s third wife, begins to suspect
during an excursion to the Galapagos that
her scientist spouse may be trying to clear
the decks for the fourth Mrs. Wheeling;
Oates deftly manipulates the reader through
this novella, in part by doling out key bits
of backstory that dramatically shift the
narrative kaleidoscope. And she truly hits
her stride in the stories rooted in apparent
normalcy, as in the George Zimmerman
riff “Soldier,” and “Big Momma,” in which
angry, unloved 13-year-old Violet ends up
taking a horrific turn from the Jersey suburbs into the Twilight Zone. This devil’s
half-dozen of dread and suspense is a must
read. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins
& Associates. (May)
Zigzag:
A Nameless Detective Novel
Bill Pronzini. Forge, $24.99 (272p) ISBN 978-
0-7653-8103-3
This so-called novel in MWA
Grandmaster Pronzini’s consistently superior Nameless Detective series (Vixen, etc.)
consists of two new novellas and two
previously published short stories set in
the San Francisco Bay area. In the titular
novella, the character known as Nameless
investigates a car accident in the Russian
River area when he stumbles upon two
bodies. It looks like a fatal gun battle over
marijuana and money, but when the wife
of one of the victims asks him to investigate
further, the action zigs and zags to an
unexpected and satisfactory conclusion.
In “Grapplin’,” street musician Charles
Anthony Brown searches for his long-lost
niece, only his name isn’t Brown, and she
isn’t his niece, and the story is a study in
compassion. “Nightscape” is a deftly
handled study of how two unrelated things
can come together. “Revenant” explores
how an evil man can use a belief in the
occult to his advantage. Pronzini is economical with his details, providing just
the right ones to bring each scene to life.
Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel
Literary Agency. (May)
Back Lash:
A Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mystery
Chris Knopf. Permanent, $29 (264p) ISBN 978-
1-57962-429-3
Early in Knopf’s nicely plotted seventh
getting the respect or resources it deserves,
decide that the way to change things is to
begin starting fires. Though the story is
mostly formulaic—Spenser spars with
thugs, crosses a high-level mobster, shares
good food, banter, and a bed with his
long-time love interest—Atkins tosses in
a surprising change to his lead’s status quo,
and series fans will be eager to see what he
does with it in Spenser’s next outing. Agent:
Helen Brann, Helen Brann Agency. (May)
; The Doll-Master and Other
Tales of Terror
Joyce Carol Oates. Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious,
$24 (336p) ISBN 978-0-8021-2488-3
Oates (Jack of Spades) convincingly dem-
onstrates her mastery of the macabre with
this superlative story collection. Though
the titular
opening tale sets
the creepy tone,
narrator Robbie,
who starts
stealing dolls
as an eighth
grader, is odd
enough that its
denouement is
less surprising
than it could
authors highlight the brutality of the North
Korean government, though the titular
villain, “Honored General” Chou Jang Hee,
is barely a presence. Crocker’s globe-trotting
investigation of state-sponsored counter-
feiting feels like make-work before the final
mission unfolds. It’s only when the rescue
goes wrong, as rescues will, and Crocker and
his surviving team must avoid dangerous
North Korean forces as they make their way
toward the border that the novel becomes
consistently gripping. Agent: Heather
Mitchell, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (May)
Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn
Ace Atkins. Putnam, $27 (304p) ISBN 978-0-
399-17085-0
Edgar-finalist Atkins’s solid fifth Spenser
novel (after 2015’s Robert B. Parker’s Kickback)
finds the Boston PI looking into a year-old
blaze at a Catholic church in the South End
that claimed the lives of three firefighters.
While Spenser’s fire department friend,
Capt. Jack McGee, suspects arson, neither
the police nor McGee’s investigators have
been able to make a case. McGee needs
Spenser to keep a low profile, fearful that
his pension may be imperiled if word of
his unofficial digging reaches the brass.
Meanwhile, some firefighter wannabes,
who believe that the fire department isn’t
; The Loney
Andrew Michael Hurley. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-0-544-74652-7
Apalpable pall of menace hangs over British author Hurley’s thrilling first novel, narrated by a London boy, “Tonto” Smith, whose affectionate nickname was bestowed by a parish priest who likened himself
to the Lone Ranger. Tonto and his family undertake an
Easter pilgrimage to the Moorings, a house overlooking a
treacherous swath of tide-swept Cumbrian coast known as
the Loney. Smith’s devoutly Catholic mother hopes that
taking the waters at the nearby shrine will cure his older
brother, Hanny, of his lifelong muteness. But the Cumbrian
landscape seems anything but godly: nature frequently manifests in its harshest
state and the secretive locals seem beholden to primitive rites and traditions that
mock the religious piety of the visitors. Adding to the mystery is Coldbarrow, a
spit of land turned twice daily by the tides into an island, where a man, a woman,
and a pregnant teenage girl have taken refuge in a gloomy house named Thessaly.
Hurley (Cages and Other Stories) tantalizes the reader by keeping explanations for
what is happening just out of reach, and depicting a natural world beyond understanding. His sensitive portrayal of Tonto and Hanny’s relationship and his insights
into religious belief and faith give this eerie tale depth and gravity. Agent: Lucy
Luck, Aitken Alexander Associates (U.K.). (May)