Betsy Maury reviews The Puzzle Master, Danielle Trussoni’s thriller about a centuries-old riddle. Plus short reviews of The Work: A Jigsaw Memoir by Zachary Sklar; The Empty Kayak by Jode Millman; Death, Resurrection, and the Spirit of New Orleans by Ken McCarthy; Hyman by Lawrence Bush; and We Beat Back the Fascists by Spencer Kroll.
Susan Yung reviews Skull Water, Heinz Insu Fenkl’s magical realist novel of Korean life post-World War II.
Plus short reviews of Bannerman Island: Reflections of a Time Gone By by Neil Caplan; Silver Dollar Girls by Margaret DiBenedetto; Marfa’s River by Marina Antropow Cramer; Reading Old Books: A Farce in Two Novellas by Tom Tolnay; and Unspoken Word by Mitch Ditkoff.
Susan Yung reviews Two Nurses, Smoking, a new book of short stories by David Means, the acclaimed witer and Vassar College professor. Plus short reviews of five books for September reading that span sex advice to politics to thrillers.