Fellow Travelers – Thomas Mallon

Expectation: A steamy political thriller about two up and coming politicos balancing a clandestine, queer love affair under the specter of the Lavender Scare.

Reality: Essentially a nonfiction novel with unlikable characters and flat development. Do yourself a favor and skip it in favor of the limited television series. 

North Woods – Daniel Mason

Expectation: A straightforward historical fiction journey through a remote area of New England.

Reality: A dark, but accessible fairytale filled with ghosts – both literal and figurative – that excels at making the reader care about the dozen or so characters we meet. It was one of the more creative novels I read this year. 

Motherthing – Ainslie Hogarth

Expectation: A dark and twisted domestic horror story about how far a young wife will go to save her husband from the ghost of her mother-in-law.

Reality: A bit of a recursive mess, the premise is too thin to sustain nearly 300-pages, but the last few chapters do deliver.

A Fever in the Heartland – Timothy Egan

Paced like a thriller – there’s short chapters and each has a clear focus – Egan stays rooted in basics and not minutiae. There’s detail on the inner workings of the KKK, state and national politics, “Roaring 20s” culture and immigration panic to provide a contextual foundation, but the author keeps everything aligned to his thesis: how Indiana served as a microcosm for a growing wave of racism in northern states, and the resisters who fought it. 


Holly – Stephen King

Expectation: The author’s best character in recent years tackles another supernatural mystery. 

Reality: Somewhat sidelined by an infusion of current events, it still represents a satisfying entry into King’s recent forays into crime procedurals. 

Tom Lake – Ann Patchett

Expectation: The lauded writer swapping complex family dramas for a gauzy faux-Hollywood story.

Reality: Sentimental and affecting, it felt like a warm hug every time I revisited Lara’s past, even though not every memory is rose-colored. 

Our Town – Thornton Wilder

Expectation: Honestly, I had no idea what to expect having somehow missed all productions and required readings of this classic play for more than 40 years.

Reality: It’s easy to interpret Wilder’s words as cursory but that’s a lazy examination of the masterful story he told here.

Chlorine – Jade Song

Expectation: A horror story of a high school swimmer turning into a bloodthirsty mermaid in an act of rage. 

Reality: Aimless and boring, a few body gore sections weren’t enough to keep me interested before throwing in the towel.

Anoka – Shane Hawk

Expectation: An anthology of loosely connected stories all set in the Halloween Capital of the World.

Reality: The setting isn’t leveraged as much as anticipated (although there are a few nice winks for locals) but Shane Hawk showed promise with this somewhat even horror collection.