This is an upper middle-grade fantasy novel. On the archipelago of Prospera, a paradise hidden from the deteriorating outside world, retirees take a ferry ride to the Nursery where bodies are renewed, memories wiped, and they restart life-except staff are questioning their roles and a resistance is growing.ĭumas, Marti: Charmed Life (Abrams/Amulet 978-1-4197-5563-7, $18.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook and audio, ) This dystopian science fiction thriller novel is about the climate crisis, what lengths a parent might go to for a child, space/time/reality, and more. Through stories about violence, alienation, and dystopia, Bazterrica’s vision of the human experience emerges in complex, unexpected ways-often unsettling, sometimes thrilling, and always profound.Ĭronin, Justin: The Ferryman (Penguin Random House/Ballantine 978-7-5, $30.00, 560pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, ) This is a dystopian science fiction novel set in an alternate United States, where prisoners in a private-run prison system can compete for freedom in gladiator-style arena death matches.īazterrica, Agustina: Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird (Pushkin Press UK 978-1-782279013, $17.99, 176pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, )įrom celebrated author Agustina Bazterrica, this collection of 19 brutal, darkly funny short stories takes into our deepest fears and through our most disturbing fantasies. Agent: Steve Axelrod, Axelrod Agency.Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame: Chain-Gang All-Stars (Penguin Random House/Pantheon 978-3-4, $27.00, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, ) Readers will revel in the gripping mystery and 1930s glamour of this expertly crafted romance. Quick expertly balances the paranormal intrigue of their investigation with the building attraction between Nick and Vivian while making time for delightful historical details.

Private investigator Nick Sundridge is hired by a mysterious third party to protect her, and together they hatch a plot to catch the killer using Nick’s special ability to “see things” in visions and psychic dreams. When her knowledge of photography comes in handy in helping the police identify the so-called “Dagger Killer,” Vivian unwittingly makes herself a target of someone who may be the murderer’s accomplice. Uninterested in a society marriage, heiress Vivian Brazier leaves San Francisco to build a career as an art photographer in L.A., paying the bills by taking headshots for beefcake wannabe actors and racing to crime scenes to shoot exclusives for the dailies. Quick demonstrates her mastery of sexy and sophisticated romantic thrillers with this superb fourth installment to her Burning Cove series, set in the golden age of Hollywood.

Close Up by Amanda Quick