Emily St. John Mandel (Sea of Tranquility; The Glass Hotel; Station Eleven) ponders the fine line between chaos and control--and between one world and another--in Exit Party, a smart and complex mind-bender of a novel.

In a near-future Los Angeles, Ari reluctantly agrees to accompany her roommate to a nearby house party. This would be routine enough, except the party is Ari's first after serving 18 years in prison, and house parties have been an impossibility for years because of citywide curfews following the collapse of the former United States. Even amid all that, the party still feels off: doubles of some partygoers appear without explanation and the party's host, Kareem, vanishes without a trace.

Ari's journey takes her across the fractured states, and Exit Party asks how people hold on--as individuals and as collectives--through upheaval, change, and loss. Mandel probes further with thorny questions: What if that years-ago party was not just a party but somehow a door--one that opened one way and spit out two doppelgängers before disappearing Kareem into a parallel place. In this alternate United States, there are no private militias or independent states; instead, there is a unified, fascist force with a powerful surveillance network, two Kareems, and a missing physicist or two.

These layers upon layers of what-ifs and what-could-bes make Exit Party as thought provoking as it is immersive. With her characteristic literary skill, Mandel invites readers to consider whom they might choose to be at the end of the world as they know it--and at what cost to their individual and shared humanity. --Kerry McHugh, Textus Collective

A detective on the brink of retirement faces a series of cadavers that appear to have been bitten to death in Something of a Calling, a terrifying novel by Zoje Stage (Wonderland; Baby Teeth).

Two weeks before retirement, Detective Andy Cooper is kayaking when she spots a corpse in the lake with a lasso around his neck and his legs gnawed as if by piranha. Disillusioned with trying to serve justice in a broken world, Andy tells herself this won't be her case, but she can't let go of the puzzle. Then more bodies appear, accompanied by rumors of sudden bizarre changes in animal behavior. Meanwhile, Andy meets and invites Fiona, a free spirit embracing van life, into her home in part to protect her from lurking dangers and nosy neighbors, but mostly for the promise of a new friendship. Andy's life has been lonely since the death of her daughter and her divorce from her husband. However, hints that Fiona may have something to do with the murders won't stop nagging at Andy. But how could these hints fit with the evidence that animals seem to have caused the deaths?

Stage integrates elements of horror, eco-thriller, and police procedural to create a brief but taut vision of nature's revenge. Andy's frustration with the system's failures to protect the vulnerable or punish the rich and powerful is palpable, as is the bond between two women who are outsiders in different ways. When Something of a Calling's climactic revelation comes, it is at once shocking and inevitable. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library

The quest for one of nature's most inspiring and elusive predators becomes a window into the history, conquest, and culture of Tibet in the thought-provoking What's a Snow Leopard to You? by Taiwanese author Chen-Fu Hsu, translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin. The novel, Hsu's first, won the 2021 Taiwan Literature Award under the title Taming the Blue Sheep.

An unnamed Taiwanese natural sciences graduate student receives feedback that his novel about snow leopards would be stronger if he actually saw one. He secures permission to spend 72 days at an NGO conservation outpost on the Tibetan Plateau, looking for an animal "with spots like scattered black poppies" that can blend into the landscape as though it has "become a stone, or inconspicuous flakes among falling snow." Tibet captivates the student and inspires return journeys. Chinese security officials confiscate several of his books about Tibetan unrest and the experiences of Tibetan exiles, but he retains a rare diary called Taming Sheep written in Japanese by a Buddhist monk who traveled in the region during Tibet's annexation. Readers see the depth and vitality of Tibetan culture as well as the loss, brutality, and change that have shaped modern-day Tibet through chapters alternating between the student's and monk's accounts.

Hsu blends lyrical nature writing and musings on Tibetan art and religion with tense, graphic depictions of violent occupation. Readers should have some familiarity with Tibetan history before diving into this poetic, moving look at the highest region on Earth. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

In Garry Disher's Sanctuary, Grace hasn't always been Grace. Growing up, she was known as Anita to a series of foster parents. But Grace has always been a thief, no matter what identity she's using. After an unexpected encounter with Adam, her foster brother from childhood, and weary of living on the run, Grace abandons a potential crime and takes a job in a rural antique shop. However, Grace's past won't let her go that easily, and Disher (Signal Loss) takes readers on a suspenseful journey in this gripping Australian thriller.

Adam can't get Anita out of his head after catching a glimpse of her again. He hates the grifter he's working for, but he's deep in debt and doesn't know how to get out. Perhaps if he can find out where Anita has gone, he can figure out other options, so he alerts a Telegram chat full of fellow scammers to be on the lookout for her.

Mixing thieves, abusive husbands, and stubborn cops, Sanctuary is a top-notch mystery. Disher expertly entwines many disparate storylines as the tension ratchets higher. Fast-paced and with a strong sense of place, Sanctuary is bound to have readers tracing maps of Australia as they follow Grace and Adam on their adventures. Fans of Henning Mankell or Jane Harper are sure to enjoy Disher's work, especially since Sanctuary is a stand-alone novel and a perfect introduction to the sinister side of Australia that Disher portrays so convincingly. --Jessica Howard, former bookseller, freelance book reviewer

In A Study in Sparkling, the second book of her Love Notes series, Jodi McAlister (An Academic Affair) returns readers to Tasmania and into a world of good wine, yearning, and liberation. Fiona is recently divorced after discovering that her husband had a second family--and that he chose them over her and their children. She treasures her friendship with Satoshi, the owner of her favorite local wine bar, who's eight years younger than her and fell in love with her for her kindness long ago. While Satoshi pines for Fiona, she works to carry on with her life and support her children.

Though a stand-alone novel, A Study in Sparkling will feel more satisfying for those who have read An Academic Affair, which introduces Fiona and Satoshi as side characters. Satoshi is a gem of a man; he's hardworking, in touch with his emotions, and caring about others. Although Fiona is imperfect and, at times, does not treat Satoshi well, she can be forgiven as McAlister reveals more layers of her marriage and the lofty expectations of her academically gifted family. It is easy to root for Fiona's success as, single for the first time since her early 20s, she develops confidence and grows into herself.

Fiona and Satoshi have a delightful friends-to-lovers relationship. Through the dual points of view, readers are treated to not only Satoshi's utter infatuation but also Fiona's realization that she is truly worthy of love. A Study in Sparkling perfectly captures the joys to be found in a fresh start, a friendly face, and a delicious fancy beverage. --Alyssa Parssinen, freelance reviewer and former bookseller

Acie Clark's debut collection may be titled Small Talk, but there's nothing vapid or guarded about these 61 poems. The New Southern Voices Poetry Book Prize winner plumbs the challenges facing a gay, liberal transgender man in a red state. Marked by love of nature and the lingering power of religion, his alliterative verse alternates between the portentous and the pastoral.

Each section opens with a "Small Talk" entry that, fittingly, remarks on the weather and the morning's coffee before going deeper. "Self-Portrait as Orpheus on T" connects to an ancient tradition of metamorphosis. "Transformation is not painless:/ this needle is two inches long and has to hit muscle." Weekly sound recordings track the process, which has unexpected side effects: "The dog no longer recognizes my voice." Being out in the South is risky for the speaker. In "Let's Stay Gay in Alabama," he is spat on in the street and encounters hate speech. Vexed family relationships, complicated by inherited substance abuse disorder (as addressed in a "Temperance" series), thread through as well.

Biblical allusions and premonitions create a sense of foreboding. In contrast to that weightiness are sources of balm, chiefly the support of a partner and the poet's joy in the natural world--especially birds--even during climate crisis ("the woods call to the woods with the warblers we have left"). For readers who finds themselves in flux, facing an uncertain future, this collection promises that "a poem is not an answer,/ but a question we can live in." --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader, and blogger at Bookish Beck

Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli (Seven Brief Lessons on Physics; The Order of Time) is known for his ability to elucidate obscure concepts that would normally be considered out of reach for those not trained in physics. On the Equality of All Things demonstrates this skill while also highlighting his willingness to embrace unconventional or even counterintuitive views. In exploring the strong links between the hard facts of science and the ambiguities of philosophical meditations, Rovelli maintains that both fields--physics and philosophy--have been at times trapped by limited perspectives.

Through a series of six lessons, Rovelli moves easily between accessible descriptions and complex mathematics. He admits that parts of the book may be "a bit more turbulent" than others, and gives readers full permission to just skip the densest material. These lessons focus on time and space, free will and existence, each one threaded with his theory of relational quantum mechanics and an argument against the search for one fundamental or foundational theory; instead, he argues for uncertainty and curiosity. He insists, "We need the nimble lightness of circularity, complexity, ambiguity, metaphors, emotions, the acceptance of uncertainty and change." Rovelli is a gentle teacher, guiding readers with patience and a quiet confidence that they will understand even "the most dizzying of the implications."

"Our entire life is full of surprises and discoveries. Science is no different," Rovelli writes, before reminding readers that "learning, changing our minds, is part of what we are." On the Equality of All Things offers a strong argument for remaining open to the mysterious and wondrous aspects of the world yet to be discovered. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian

Elizabeth Acevedo, author of the National Book Award-winning The Poet X, writes a tremendously impactful story in her fourth YA novel, Anger Is Only a Shadow, about a teen with an arrest record.

Two months ago, 17-year-old "Indigenous Salvadoran and Afro Dominican" Lil noticed her 20-year-old brother, Aldwin, acting strangely: closing all the blinds, talking to himself, looking paranoid. She kept it a secret, not wanting to worry her already stressed and cash-strapped family. To release her scorching tension, she took a joyride in her mom's food truck--which she accidentally wrecked. Now, after a week detained in the Youth Services Center, Lil is released to her parents with an ankle monitor. She tells them about the changes in Aldwin, away at college in Virginia, but he refuses to see them and the university won't intervene. Lil can't leave Washington, D.C., to visit Aldwin herself, and she feels overcome with helplessness: "My body needs to go go go." New Lil, who "follows the rules, keeps her head down," fights Old Lil, who wants "a way to feel something else," over how to relieve the mounting pressure inside her when the possibility of jail time looms.

Lil's moving first-person prose narrative, elevated by her precise and audaciously voiced diary-in-verse, tells of an enormously supportive family--of "the moldability of a love that spackles over the deepest flaws and cracks." Lil channels Aldwin's acts of kindness and ferocious familial loyalty as a guide to help him the way he has always helped her. Acevedo incorporates figures from Salvadoran, Dominican, and Taíno myths who parallel her characters in this moving story about a closely connected family. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer

Newbery Honor winner and three-time National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin (Impossible Escape) makes a strategic move to the chess world with the riveting graphic nonfiction Mind vs. Machine. Chess Grandmaster and commentator Maurice Ashley (Move by Move) joins Sheinkin and Eisner Award-winning illustrator Thien Pham (Family Style) to create a suspenseful page-turner about the 1997 match between world champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM computer Deep Blue.

The work opens in the late 1700s with a prologue about Hungarian engineer Wolfgang von Kempelen and his fake chess-playing machine. A page turn returns readers to the present in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Ashley is playing chess in the park and relating the story of von Kempelen to his child opponent. Ashley, who delivered the play-by-play in the 1997 match, acts as the narrator, describing to the children the match's monumental events.

Sheinkin and Ashley keep readers in suspense as the text and Pham's New York City setting move between present day and May 1997. Sheinkin admits in an author's note that he worried he wouldn't be able to express the drama of chess. But with Ashley's help, Sheinkin delivers another narrative in the tense, exhilarating style that has become his trademark. Pham's art depicts characters experiencing complex and intense emotions, and he brilliantly employs perspective changes to illustrate the importance of the match.

History buffs, chess fanatics, and tech junkies will likely struggle to put this down, and anyone who's ever considered chess boring will certainly find out how thrilling it can be. --Jen Forbus, freelancer

Sarah Everett's The Continuation of Summer Dillon is an endearing and thought-provoking middle-grade science fiction novel about a Black tween's exploration of what it means to be human.

Following 12-year-old Summer Dillon's death from a chronic illness, her grieving family activates Summer 2.0, an android created to continue Summer's life. Summer 2.0 initially believes her role is to seamlessly pick up where the original Summer left off. "I have all Summer's mannerisms and memories and physical features.... I know the details of her life in the same way she does. Sure, androids can make the occasional error, but in all the ways that matter, I am Summer." However, as Summer 2.0 attempts to fulfill her assumed purpose and meet the expectations of her grieving family and friends, she begins to have emotions and thoughts that are uniquely her own. This growing self-awareness leads Summer 2.0--and those around her--to question whether she's meant to be a replacement or to instead forge her own identity.

The Continuation of Summer Dillon is outstanding and thoughtful. Everett (The Shape of Lost Things) skillfully examines themes of grief, identity, family, and humanity in this captivating and evocative work. Although the novel asks challenging ethical questions about artificial intelligence, Everett's use of short, well-paced chapters makes it approachable to a variety of readers. The Continuation of Summer Dillon is an excellent read-alike for those who enjoyed Peter Brown's The Last Robot. --Natasha Harris, freelance reviewer

The Little House That Needed a Witch, a kind, tender picture book about change that draws influences from Baba Yaga, is Dutch author/illustrator Sophie Pluim's first solo picture book published in the U.S.

The little house sits "deep in the forest" and its witch is "so old even her wrinkles were wrinkled." When the witch walks away and doesn't come back, the house is left "empty and alone." The seasons pass and the house realizes it'll fall down "if no one moves in." So, "creaking and squeaking," it slowly stands up on chicken legs and sets off to find a new witch. The house travels far, asking in every new place if anyone knows of a witch in need of a house. Finally, in a "dark wood," it sees a "small light": the lantern of a witch who needs a house as much as the house needs her.

Pluim (The Runaway Pancake) uses watercolor and ink to create a series of cozy, dreamy, and creepy double-page spreads depicting the little house's search for its next occupant. Pluim's prose (executed by The Slightly Spooky Tale of Fox and Mole translator Polly Lawson) is calm and fluid, creating a growing tension that doesn't feel scary or overwhelming. Pluim draws the house itself in firm, crisp lines that emphasize its role as protagonist, and the endpapers show first the old then the new witch tucked safely inside the house's warm spaces. The Little House That Needed a Witch is a heartwarming adventure and an amusing twist on the concept of finding a forever home. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer

Author Nelly Buchet (Cat Dog Dog) found inspiration during the Covid-19 lockdowns in a newspaper article about a woman in Iceland who manually records the weather. The result is The Weather Keeper, a jubilant tribute to nature and those who live in concert with its dynamic forces. The inspiring text is matched by exquisite atmospheric art by author/illustrator Elizabeth Haidle (Drawing Is...).

"My mother," the book's protagonist, checks the weather conditions every three hours because "The fishermen should know,/ To stay safe in the water.../ The farmers should know,/ To plant their crops." This weather keeper's work is challenging--"Sore muscles./ Long days. Longer nights."--but she is happy on the farm with the northern lights above. The work is in her blood, as it is in the narrator, who declares that she will follow her mother and take her place as a weather keeper because "strangers, too,/ Like me, like you," should know what the weather is doing.

The rhythmic cadence of Buchet's narrative is as mesmerizing as Haidle's stark, breathtaking art. Buchet's short, concise stanzas of poetic text allow Haidle a great deal of space to depict Iceland's ravishing beauty. Haidle contrasts dark, bustling city life with bright, calming farm life and gives readers a special treat in the form of an enchanting gatefold showing the spectacle of the northern lights.

The Weather Keeper is a multilayered story of place, family, and calling, which features a gentle tone and natural landscapes. It will likely prove perfect for bedtime reading. --Jen Forbus, freelancer