Summer and Beyond: Upcoming Books That Should Be On Your Radar

"The Cabin at the End of the World" by Paul Tremblay (June 26, 2018)

Tremblay is one of my favorite horror authors, and he gets better with every book. The buzz this one has generated is incredible, and I'm sure it will deliver all we're expecting and more.

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"Jar of Hearts" by Jennifer Hillier (June 12, 2018)

Hot off the press, Hillier's latest is her best so far. A superb narrative with great dialogue and gore explosions of violence and its aftermath, this is one of those books folks are already placing on their Best of 2018 lists.

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"All Hail the House Gods" by Andrew J. Stone (July 4, 2018)

Here's the thing about indie press books: they don't always have fancy Amazon pages ahead of their release. Yeah, indie hustlers have to rely on word of mouth to get the buzz going, and that's exactly why this one is here. Write the title down. This is Stone's second book, and he has blown his previous effort out of the water.

"The People's Republic of Everything" by Nick Mamatas (August 29, 2018)

Mamatas is such a great novelist that it's easy to forget he also writes superb short stories. This collection is a testament to his short form chops, and a powerful one at that (it packs a decade's worth of the author's work under one cover). I'm reading this thing now and can assure you it will be on many end-of-year lists. Get on it. 

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'Blood and Water' by David J. Osborne (June 15, 2018)

Osborne is the best purveyor of extremely weird, dark noir. This is one of those books that quietly became a cult classic, and this rerelease by King Shot Press is sure to have an outstanding layout. Put it at the top of your pile.

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'The Last Thing I Told You' by Emily Arsenault (July 24, 2018)

This thing comes in at 416 pages, and I devoured it in three sittings. It starts as a crazy, noir-ish tale about a man encountering his old crush under bizarre circumstances, but then it starts morphing into a fast-paced, gritty, superbly entertaining narrative about infatuation and bad decisions. Oh, and the ending is brutal.

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'LIVEBLOG' by Megan Boyle (September 25, 2018)

I've loved everything Tyrant Books has published, and this promises to be no different. It's a big book, but its raw, experimental nature and the buzz surrounding it way ahead of publication are more than enough to make me very excited. You know what? I'm gonna crack that galley open as soon as I finish this...

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'Porcelain' by Nate Southard (June 3, 2018)

Sometimes an author will drop a book that feels timely and necessary. When it comes to Nate Southard, that book will also be entertaining and unflinching. This is that book. Go read it.

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'What My Sister Knew' by Nina Laurin (June 19, 2018)

This has been the year of women ruling over 80% of my reading stack, and a large portion of them are writing thrillers, mysteries, and psychological suspense. This book simply added to my already mounting excitement about women absolutely rocking genre fiction harder than ever this year. Tense, smart, and packed with very different writing (there are parts of an imaginary book in there, and Laurin pulls it off with flying colors) make this one a must for your list.

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'In the Valley of the Devil' by Hank Early (July 10, 2018)

The second book in the Earl Marcus series. I've been waiting for this for a long time. If you read the first one, you know why. If you haven't, hurry up and read that one so you can join the club and wait for this one with the rest of us.

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'Into That Good Night' by Levis Keltner (June 3, 2018)

You know how we often talk about the debuts that rocked us and made an author jump into our "buy everything they publish" list? Well, this is one of those books.

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'Out in the Open' by Jesús Carrasco (July 4, 2018)

Sometimes I start reading a galley as soon as I get it...and then I stop and save it for a time when I can focus on it properly. This happened to me with this book. If I were a lazy reviewer, I'd start my review of it with "Hey, if you dig Cormac McCarthy's The Road..."

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'The Mere Wife' by Maria Dahvana Headly (July 7, 2018)

Gonna keep this one short: a superb author writing a retelling of Beowulf set in suburbia. Sold.

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'Providence' by Caroline Kepnes

I have a soft spot for books where people drop dead inexplicably. If that book happens to be written by a very talented author, I feel like Christmas is here. Put this weird gem on your list.

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'Bearskin' by James A. McLaughlin (June 12, 2018)

Imagine a literary fiction novel about bear poachers written by a guy who loves pulpy thrillers about cartel violence and you'll get somewhat close to what this is. About to finish it, and can't recommend it enough. A debut 20 years in the making.

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'The Line That Held Us' by David Joy

Listen, there's no one as good as this guy when it comes to bringing the poetry of violence and the stench of ugly humanity in Appalachia to the page. There, I said it. Fight me. 

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'The Feral Detective' by Jonathan Lethem (November 6, 2018)

So this newbie apparently wrote a little detective novel titled Motherless Brooklyn or something. This is his first detective novel since then. Might or might not be good, but it has a sweet cover and I think this guy is going places, so it earned a spot on this list.

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