The Overnights (Amistad, 368 pages.)
The Big Sugar (University of Minnesota Press, 200 pages.)
Killingly (Soho Crime, 360 pages.)
The Puzzle Master (Random House, 384 pages.)
All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron, 352 pages.)
Zero Days (Scout Press, 368 pages. Out June 20.)
In a Hard Wind (Minotaur, 320 pages. Out June 27.)
The Mistress of Bhatia House (Soho Crime, 432 pages. Out July 11.)
How Can I Help You (Putnam, 256 pages. Out July 18.)
What Never Happened (Thomas & Mercer, 428 pages. Out Aug. 1.)
Those We Thought We Knew (Putnam, 400 pages. Out Aug. 1.)
Harlem After Midnight (Berkley, 352 pages. Out Aug. 29.)
The Wishing Game (Ballantine. 286 pages.)
Everything's Fine (Simon & Schuster. 336 pages.)
Lucky Red (Dial Press. 304 pages. Out June 20.)
The Glass Chateau (William Morrow. 384 pages. Out June 20.)
The Glow (Random House, 302 pages. Out June 20.)
Holding Pattern (Riverhead, 288 pages. Out June 20.)
Save What's Left (Anchor, 304 pages. Out June 27.)
The Imposters (Little, Brown, 352 pages. Out June 27.)
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (Harper Perennial, 160 pages. Out July 4.)
Small Worlds (Grove Press, 272 pages. Out July 18.)
Family Lore (Ecco, 384 pages. Out Aug. 1)
The English Experience (Doubleday, 240 pages. Out Aug. 15.)
Saints of the Household (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 320 pages.)
She Is a Haunting (Bloomsbury, 352 pages.)
Star Splitter (Dutton, 320 pages.)
Warrior Girl Unearthed (Henry Holt, 400 pages.)
Big Tree (Scholastic, 528 pages.)
When the Vibe Is Right (Balzer + Bray, 336 pages.)
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra Books, 280 pages.)
Chasing Pacquiao (Viking, 272 pages.)
Gossamer Summer (Atheneum, 192 pages.)
School Trip (Quill Tree Books, 256 pages.)
Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic (HarperTeen, 416 pages.)
Actually Super (Penguin Random House, 288 pages. Out Aug. 22.)
The Overnights
By Ian K. Smith
If you asked Ashe Cayne, he'd say his two favorite things are Shakespeare and golf. If you ask me, Cayne is one of my favorite fictional PIs. Cayne has swagger, style, striking wit and money to spend. Right before TV sweeps week, Cayne is hired to discover who's threatening Morgan Shaw, Chicago's top-rated news anchor. Cayne's investigation collides with a police shooting of an unarmed Black man. Cayne is Black and an ex-cop. He knows "going after a Chicago cop is nothing short of declaring war." He doesn't hesitate. Smith's dialogue-driven plot races to a breathless end. (Amistad, 368 pages.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
The Big Sugar
By Mary Logue
In her 1880s-set "Sugar," Logue continues her entertaining chronicle of Irish immigrant Brigid Reardon's life, one that's become pretty chaotic. Brigid survived servitude in a St. Paul mansion and a murder conspiracy in Deadwood, S.D. She's finally ready for a wee bit o'peace in her life. It's not to be. While adjusting to being a homesteader in Cheyenne, the "'magic city of the plains,'" Brigid discovers neighbor Ella Bates, hanging from a tree not far from her "soddy," where Ella also had staked a homestead. What happened to Ella? Brigid means to find out. (University of Minnesota Press, 200 pages.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
Killingly
By Katharine Beutner
Bertha Mellish is a "defiant agnostic." Her roommate, Agnes, wants to be a doctor. She worships "the earthly body" — Bertha's in particular, all the "glories of her." But it's 1897. Instead of building a future, Bertha is missing in lush woods near Mount Holyoke College. The search for Bertha unveils the difficult choices women, LGBT women in particular, made (and make) to survive and to love. Like Margaret Atwood's "Alias Grace," "Killingly" is an evocative novel crafted from an actual historical mystery where, according to Beutner, the subversive elements of a 19th-century women's college are "thoroughly intertwined with oppression." (Soho Crime, 360 pages.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
The Puzzle Master
By Danielle Trussoni
"Wouldn't you like to experience something so absolutely singular?" a character asks Mike Brink, diagnosed with savant syndrome after a high school football injury. Brink "reroutes his life ... like a river" and embraces his singularity, becoming a famous puzzle master. When he's invited to solve a strange puzzle posed by a convicted murderer, Mike finds it "impossible to walk away." You won't be able to, either. This immersive, brilliant book is a labyrinth of ciphers, cryptograms, logic puzzles, word puzzles, and a doozy of a conspiracy. Wouldn't you like to experience a book so singular? (Random House, 384 pages.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
All the Sinners Bleed
By S.A. Cosby
On the anniversary of his election as the first Black sheriff of Charon County, Titus Crown is faced with the shooting of a high school student who has murdered a popular teacher. Titus "lives in a no-man's land between people who believed in him, people who hated him because of his skin color, and people who believed he was a traitor to his race." From this place, Titus burrows into the shootings, uncovering a serial killer whose crimes bring a long overdue reckoning. Cosby's thriller is Southern Gothic at its most visceral and profound. (Flatiron, 352 pages.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
Zero Days
By Ruth Ware
Scottish author John Buchan's "The Thirty-Nine Steps" began my love of novels where the protagonist is chased cross-country, forced to survive on wits and wooly blankets. Ware's fast-paced fugitive story made me breathless. Jack (aka Jacintha), a cyber security stress-tester, discovers her murdered husband slumped over his computer in their London living room. Under questioning, Jack refuses a lawyer because it'll be "weird and antagonistic." After a pointed police interview, Jack realizes she's the main suspect. She flees. While off the grid and on the run, Jack pieces together her husband's final days, finding much more than his killer. (Scout Press, 368 pages. Out June 20.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
In a Hard Wind
By David Housewright
The body of a property developer is found buried near a communal garden in suburban Shoreview. Jeanette Carrell, a neighbor whose garden borders the site, is charged with the murder. Rushmore McKenzie, ex-St. Paul cop and unlicensed PI, reluctantly agrees to investigate as a "favor for a friend of a friend of [his] friend." Carrell claims her threats to kill the developer "were mere utterances of an angry suburban housewife." McKenzie digs beneath a gazebo, uncovering more than he bargained for. Housewright, one of Minnesota's treasured authors, is right on the money with this one. (Minotaur, 320 pages. Out June 27.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
The Mistress of Bhatia House
By Sujata Massey
In 1920s India, women obey their husband's demands in all things, especially areas of reproductive rights and body autonomy. With no available birth control and no access to doctors, Bombay's child mortality and maternal deaths are high. Perveen Mistry, Bombay's only female lawyer, is thrust into these tragic circumstances when she volunteers to defend a wealthy Bombay family's young servant, who's accused of aborting her fetus. Massey's evocative mysteries featuring Mistry have always woven political, cultural and critical social issues into a compelling historical mystery. This one's threads could be worn today. (Soho Crime, 432 pages. Out July 11.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
How Can I Help You
By Laura Sims
They are librarians in a "quaint town on the Platte River" and dangerous women. Margo's a fugitive murderer; Patricia's a struggling novelist. Margo's a "killer nurse" hiding behind books she doesn't read until she discovers Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle." Patricia's "done making things up" until her pen decides Margo's life is good plot fodder. Sims' audacious story shifts between Margo and Patricia's points of view in a battle of wits that's mesmerizing. This exceptional novel is firmly in Highsmith territory (yep, another Patricia) and the ending is everything. (Putnam, 256 pages. Out July 18.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
What Never Happened
By Rachel Howzell Hall
As a child, journalist Coco Weber's family moved from "the heart of Black Los Angeles" to Catalina Island where, years later, her family was slaughtered in a home invasion. Since then, Coco has filled her life with "words, men, and guilt," which "demands ransom even when you're broke." Coco returns to the island to take care of an elderly aunt, escape an ex-boyfriend and "let it all work itself out." Not going to be that easy, especially when elderly islanders are dying in unusual numbers. Howzell Hall's prose is stiletto sharp and the plot's a killer. (Thomas & Mercer, 428 pages. Out Aug. 1.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
Those We Thought We Knew
By David Joy
This searing stunner of a book is a lamentation on place, how for "certain groups in America, trauma was ... inheritance." It's like a Nina Simone song that contains "an infinite sort of sadness," yet closes with a promise of hope. Toya Gardner, a Black artist, has returned to her grandmother's house in the North Carolina mountains, a county "you didn't land on by accident." Toya's art reckons with a past that too many idealize. Ernie Allison, a white deputy, finds a Klan contact list of government officials in a drunk's car. The intersection of their stories drives the novel. (Putnam, 400 pages. Out Aug. 1.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
Harlem After Midnight
By Louise Hare
For London-based jazz singer Lena Aldridge, autumn in New York (as a 1934 song describes) seems "so inviting" with its "thrill of first-nighting" and "promise of new love." After a harrowing Atlantic crossing, Lena stays in Harlem to get to know her beau Will, earn a chance to sing at the Apollo and learn more about her late father Alfie's side of the family. Lena discovers Will and Alfie have serious family secrets. Hare's accomplished mystery shifts between Lena's Harlem in 1936 and her father's in 1908, when autumn in New York was "often mingled with pain." (Berkley, 352 pages. Out Aug. 29.)
Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune
The Wishing Game
By Meg Shaffer
In this charming love letter to books and reading, Lucy, a struggling teacher's aide, longs to adopt Christopher, an orphaned boy in her class. But circumstances — no money, no car, too many roommates — stand in her way. Then her favorite children's writer announces he's publishing a new book, and she's invited to compete in a contest on his remote Maine island. Lovers of wordplay and puzzles will delight in the contest trickery, and Shaffer invests us deeply in Lucy and Christopher's happiness, ensuring that readers will revel in the book's satisfying conclusion. (Ballantine. 286 pages.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Everything's Fine
By Cecilia Rabess
Can two ideologically opposed people fall — and stay — in love? That's the question Rabess takes on in her bold debut novel. Jess and Josh, once university rivals, are new hires at Goldman Sachs, but being the only Black woman sets Jess apart. As she battles casual racism and a network of privilege, she finds her old nemesis taking her side. Romance blossoms, but Jess must make hard decisions about compromise. Rabess displays a sharp sense of humor, and her examination of entitlement and staying true to yourself in the modern political world rings painfully real. (Simon & Schuster. 336 pages.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Lucky Red
By Claudia Cravens
This subversive twist on the American western has all the bells and whistles: sex, love, deadly snakebites, renegades, a hanging gone wrong, secret hideouts and shootouts on the high plains. The difference is its protagonist is someone usually relegated to the sidelines: the hooker with a heart of gold. Bridget, aka "Red," with nothing but a broke-down mule to her name, enters bordello work in Dodge City, finding it more appealing than starving to death. Then she falls in love with a swaggering female gunslinger. Bridget's journey is a powerful feminist battle cry, but it's also rollicking good fun. (Dial Press. 304 pages. Out June 20.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
The Glass Chateau
By Stephen P. Kiernan
The characters in this bittersweet story of beauty in the aftermath of unspeakable tragedy have suffered but not surrendered. Set after the end of World War II, the story follows Asher, a Jewish shoemaker who lost his family and became an assassin for the French Resistance. Roaming the countryside, starving and alone, he comes upon a chateau where artisans make stained glass for a bombed cathedral. He discovers a talent for design, but the past threatens to derail his new life. Kiernan has written a lovely, moving elegy for those who were lost and resilient survivors who long for redemption. (William Morrow. 384 pages. Out June 20.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
The Glow
By Jessie Gaynor
Struggling publicist Jane Dorner believes she has found the perfect client in Cass, gorgeous, charismatic leader of an offbeat wellness retreat in New Jersey (not the best tagline, Jane knows). She's determined to make Cass a star, no matter how dizzy some of her beliefs may be. But she'll have to win over Cass' husband, Tom (who might not be straight), and adapt to eating a diet of zucchini (and not much else). Gaynor has a blast satirizing the wellness industry, social media influencers and our obsession with beauty. They're easy targets, but begrudging such well-placed, funny and knowing shots is impossible. (Random House, 302 pages. Out June 20.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Holding Pattern
By Jenny Xie
Kathleen Cheng moves back to Oakland to live with her mother, Marissa. They're not close, but Kathleen discovers her mother has changed. She doesn't want to return to China anymore, and she wants Kathleen to help plan her wedding to a tech entrepreneur. Kathleen, meanwhile, accepts a disconcerting job to make ends meet: physically holding clients who pay for human contact. She can cuddle with them, but can she rekindle a close relationship with Marissa? The push and pull of the mother-daughter relationship feels real, and Xie brings humor, hope and cultural depth to a familiar story. (Riverhead, 288 pages. Out June 20.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Save What's Left
By Elizabeth Castellano
If you have ever dreamed of buying a beach house, Kathleen Deane has some advice: Don't. When her husband, Tom, announces he's unhappy and takes off on a cruise, leaving her with 37 antique clock radios and a houseful of regrets, Kathleen buys a rickety East Coast beach house, hoping to ease into retirement to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. Instead, she's drawn into clashes over permits, construction and every other small-town municipal nightmare imaginable. The novel walks the line between funny and outright wacky, and Kathleen's battles will resonate with any homeowner. (Anchor, 304 pages. Out June 27.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
The Imposters
By Tom Rachman
Dora Frenhofer, the aging writer at the center of Rachman's intricately constructed novel, understands that dementia is setting in. But before the inevitable darkness descends, she is determined to finish her final book. Trapped in her London apartment during the pandemic, she weaves a tapestry of riveting fictional stories that tie into her past. Rachman deals with dark subjects — death, the fear of irrelevance, terror of the unknown — but this beautifully written work is not depressing. With precision and dexterity, Rachman unfurls Dora's potent legacy and builds a convincing argument for the power of art and storytelling. (Little, Brown, 352 pages. Out June 27.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
By Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa
This slim, entertaining Japanese novel reminds us how books can change our lives by assuring us we're not alone. Takako, 25, thinks her future is on track until her boyfriend informs her he's marrying another woman. Miserable, Takako quits her job and takes refuge in the crowded upstairs room at her uncle's book shop. She begins to read the books there, which offer a wider view of the world, distract her from depression and reawaken her interest in the real-life stories flowing around her, including drama between her uncle and his estranged wife and the possibility of new romance. (Harper Perennial, 160 pages. Out July 4.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Small Worlds
By Caleb Azumah Nelson
In his moving followup to "Open Water," Nelson returns with another compelling story about generational, racial and cultural pressures on young Black Londoners. The son of Ghanaian immigrants, Stephen struggles under parental pressure to earn a university degree, while he longs to pursue his passion for music. When he refuses to follow the path set for him, he and his father grow estranged. "Small Worlds" also thoughtfully explores Stephen's first romance and heartbreak, his loving relationship with his brother and how easily tragedy can derail dreams. Nelson's prose can be an intense symphony or a delicate melody. Either way, this composition is masterful. (Grove Press, 272 pages. Out July 18.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Family Lore
By Elizabeth Acevedo
Long before they left their home in the Dominican Republic for New York, the Marte sisters displayed uncanny talents. But Flor's ability to predict death is the most unsettling gift of them all. When Flor decides to throw herself a wake, her family members wonder if she has foreseen her own end, but Flor refuses to explain her decision. Unfolding over three tumultuous days before the big event, "Family Lore" is a warm, big-hearted novel — Acevedo's first for adult readers. She infuses it with humor, compassion and a firm understanding of how family history can threaten, yet strengthen, sibling bonds. (Ecco, 384 pages. Out Aug. 1)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
The English Experience
By Julie Schumacher
St. Paul's Schumacher ends the hilarious trilogy that began with "Dear Committee Members," following the troubles of Jay Fitger, Department of English chair at undistinguished Payne University. In this final chapter, he's charged with leading the annual trip abroad. In London, Fitger and a group of misfit undergrads are beset by challenges, while Fitger tries to figure out how to prevent his ex-wife from leaving Payne (and himself) behind. Schumacher skewers everything about the scholarly world with a cynical insider's eye — professors, students, academia itself — but, surprisingly, ends this engaging farce with a bit of hope for the ever-beleaguered Fitger. (Doubleday, 240 pages. Out Aug. 15.)
Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune
Saints of the Household
By Ari Tison
Art, identity and the ripple effects of family violence form the heart of a debut novel by Minneapolis writer Tison. Brothers Jay and Max live a tightly controlled life in tiny Deer Creek, Minn., trying to protect their mom from their dad's physical abuse. But when a confrontation with their school's star soccer player spins out of control, the brothers' futures and college dreams are at risk. In alternating chapters that capture Max's visual interest through experimental poetry forms and Jay's exploration of Bribri Indigenous storytelling patterns, Tison weaves a compelling, morally complex debut. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 320 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
She Is a Haunting
By Trang Thanh Tran
A haunted house in the southern Vietnamese highlands has a voice in this debut thriller. Jade Nguyen is about to start college in Philadelphia, where she'll finally be able to carve out her own identity and meet the girl (or boy) of her dreams. But first she must survive summer with her estranged dad in the French colonial mansion he's renovating for tourists in Da Lat. As Jade is haunted by increasingly disturbing dreams, she and friend-maybe-more Florence try to turn the tables on a hungry ghost and reckon with the legacy of Vietnam's brutalized past. Sharp, sexy and well-paced. (Bloomsbury, 352 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Star Splitter
By Matthew J. Kirby
What makes us human? Our consciousness? Our bodies? What happens if the two diverge? In 2199, Jessica Mathers steps into a teleportation machine, then wakes up in a crashed lander with the ship's crew buried nearby and her scientist parents nowhere in sight. As she stumbles toward safety, the limits of her understanding of science are tested by encounters with three survivors — one haunted, one sane and one monstrous — and the unexpectedly diverse life on a supposedly barren planet. In this space thriller, Kirby probes the human need to, as Robert Frost wrote, "satisfy a lifelong curiosity/About our place among the infinities." (Dutton, 320 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Warrior Girl Unearthed
By Angeline Boulley
The clan from "Firekeeper's Daughter" is back in Boulley's sophomore novel, set in northern Michigan's Sugar Island Ojibwe community — and they're grappling with more missing young women and a black market for the tribe's cultural items. Perry Firekeeper-Birch wants to go fishing, but she's stuck interning at the tribal museum. When she breaks the rules to liberate ancestral remains, she's drawn into harrowing encounters with those who profit from tribal heritage. The story sometimes bogs down in Native graves repatriation law, but Boulley's fans will cheer the deepening web of Sugar Island stories. (Henry Holt, 400 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Big Tree
By Brian Selznick
"No matter how unstoppable the danger seems, no matter how unavoidable, there's always something you can do,"writes the "Wonderstruck" author. On an Earth ruled by dinosaurs, two sycamore seeds are cut loose from their mother tree during a devastating fire, with a big extinction event looming. They journey toward a new home — on the wind, an insect's back, a leaf — and encounter a mycelium network of Ambassadors, tiny scientists under the sea, and an ancient intelligence known as the Old One. The Caldecott winner's diaphanous, black-and-white panels give the story of Earth's web of life a deep emotional resonance. (Scholastic, 528 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
When the Vibe Is Right
By Sarah Dass
Trinidad's annual Carnival celebration meets Shakespeare in this enemies-to-lovers romance. Tess is an aspiring costume designer who lives and breathes her family's fading Carnival masquerade band, Grandeur. But when rivals from a more popular band try to sabotage Grandeur's Carnival season, Tess finds herself working with the one classmate she most wants to avoid, charming social media influencer Brandon. Dass creates a compelling slow burn full of romantic misdirection amid the island's lush landscapes, Indo-Caribbean flavors (from fry bake and shark to pholourie and breadfruit fritters) and steelpan and soca beats. Should come with its own soundtrack. (Balzer + Bray, 336 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls
By Cherie Dimaline
The author of the dystopian "Marrow Thieves" is back with one of the snarkiest, funniest ghost stories ever set in a cemetery. Since her mother's death, Winifred Blight has lived with her father in the neglected Toronto graveyard where he works. After a humiliating romantic fumble with her best friend, she summons a ghost, Phil, who died as a teenager. Ghost sightings draw a pushy tour operator who might be the cemetery's financial savior, if Phil agrees to appear on cue. Full of throwaway lines — "She was perfection in a pair of XXL jeans" — and sharp insights, this is Métis writer Dimaline clicking on all cylinders. (Tundra Books, 280 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Chasing Pacquiao
By Rod Pulido
Bobby Agbayani spends his free time dreaming about his comic book geek boyfriend Brandon. He just doesn't want his whole Los Angeles neighborhood to know. Before he can come out on his own terms, rumors fly and one of his school's most notorious bullies targets him. To survive the beatdowns, Bobby takes a job at Jab Gym, hoping for pointers from an aging trainer with his own regrets. A homophobic social media post by Bobby's boxing hero, Manny Pacquiao, also adds to his struggles. The meditation on masculinity is woven with geek culture and the bonds of three best friends. (Viking, 272 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Gossamer Summer
By H.M. Bouwman
A fairy tale takes on a terrifying life of its own in this middle-grade adventure by Minnesota writer H.M. Bouwman. Sisters Maisie, JoJo, Bee and Amy's lives are upended after the death of their Grandma Nan. Their new life in the country is isolated, and JoJo no longer has the heart to tell stories. Then they meet neighbor boy Theo and discover a portal to a magical fen with menacing "bone birds." JoJo must grapple with her grief, write a new ending to save the fairy world and make it home in one piece in this thoughtful story of navigating loss. (Atheneum, 192 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
School Trip
By Jerry Craft
In this sequel to Newbery winner Craft's "New Kid," aspiring artist Jordan Banks is back, this time contemplating whether to attend his dream arts school. But first, he and classmates from Riverdale Academy Day School have one more adventure together — a class trip to Paris. As the diverse group of eighth-graders is set loose in the City of Lights, they navigate school dynamics as well as the delight and strangeness of encountering a foreign culture. "You never see kids like us traveling in books and movies. I wonder why that is?" Jordan's friend Drew muses. A heartwarming conversation opener. (Quill Tree Books, 256 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic
Edited by G. Haron Davis
In a year when trans youth and their families are under attack, we could all use the empathy and playfulness this anthology unleashes. It opens with Saundra Mitchell's tale of misunderstood magic and an unexpected romance that flickers to life at the drive-in. A debut short story by Minneapolis writer Dove Salvatierra leans toward the collection's suspenseful side as the sole survivor of a failing farm family finds himself in a wary dance with a magical coyote that expands his view of the possibilities of love and gender. The collection is full of hope, pixie dust and heart. (HarperTeen, 416 pages.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune
Actually Super
By Adi Alsaid
A teen grappling with despair takes a gap year to search for hope in this latest novel by Mexican-born Alsaid. Isabel Wolfe has always had to hold unwanted thoughts at bay. But the pandemic has lit a fuse of hurt and anger in those around her. A quest to find "Supers," people who have unexplained powers that they use to do good, takes her from Tokyo to the Philippines to South America, where she discovers moments of connection even as she plumbs the human capacity to misuse power. Alsaid's well constructed story is full of tiny truth bombs. (Penguin Random House, 288 pages. Out Aug. 22.)
Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune