A natural disaster is a terrifying backdrop for this briskly paced yet emotional novel, and readers will be hard-pressed to put the book down before reaching its satisfying ending. This title will appeal to readers who enjoyed The River at Night, by Erica Ferencik, or One by One, by Ruth Ware.
First-world problems abound in this Midwestern family drama, but West makes the most of her material. For readers who enjoyed Bruce Holsinger’s The Gifted School, Lauren Weisberger’s When Life Gives You Lululemons, and Laura Zigman’s Separation Anxiety.
For readers who enjoyed the darkness of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer, Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen, or Joyce Carol Oates’s Jack of Spades.
Haig (How To Stop Time) takes readers on a journey of quantum physics that will have them feeling that they actually understand the theory. Most reminiscent of Ken Grimwood’s Replay.
The main protagonist is an unreliable narrator, but then all the characters are unreliable, making this a fast-paced, unputdownable roller-coaster of a read sure to appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins.
A peek inside the wacky life of beloved Hollywood royalty, this debut novel should have wide appeal. Read-alikes include Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada and Joyce Carol Oates’s Blonde.
Paranoia about smart appliances spying on us is a real thing, and this book feeds into that fear, albeit in a rakish, humorous way, but unfortunately, the human characters don’t quite come to life. [See Prepub Alert, 12/9/19.]
This debut novel shows some promise and should appeal to librarians and book lovers everywhere. Read-alikes include Karen Hawkins’s The Book Charmer and Jenny Colgan’s The Bookshop on the Corner.