jtrent238 test blog: Books Update: Killer Instincts

January 28, 2022

Ard Su

Dear Reader,

The story of a serial killer on death row — told from the perspective of those most affected by his crimes. Now there's a premise to lure in any fan of literary suspense. The book is "Notes on an Execution," by Danya Kukafka (author of "Girl in Snow"). Our reviewer, Katie Kitamura (author of "Intimacies," one of our 10 Best Books of 2021), calls it "nuanced, ambitious and compelling" in her cover review this week.

Many readers will recall seeing a Times article last month about the Clotilda, which was sunk in the Mobile River in Alabama in 1860 after transporting 110 slaves from West Africa. This week, we review a book about the story behind that ship and its recently recovered wreck: "The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning," by Ben Raines. The author, who discovered the ship's remains himself, is a journalist in Alabama and a river guide in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. (Longtime Times readers may also be aware that he is a son of the paper's former executive editor Howell Raines.)

Also in this issue: "Yonder," a new novel by Jabari Asim, "The Book of All Books," by the late Roberto Calasso, and the final interview given by the late Anne Rice, who answered our By the Book questions.

There's much more in this week's issue, so please check out the full contents below and stay in touch to let us know what you think — whether it's about this newsletter, our reviews, our podcast, our literary calendar, our Instagram or what you're reading. We read and ponder all of it. I will do my very best to write back, albeit belatedly. You can email me at books@nytimes.com.

Pamela Paul

Editor of The New York Times Book Review

@PamelaPaulNYT

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THE BOOK REVIEW PODCAST

Imani Perry Talks About 'South to America'

Perry discusses her new book, and Oliver Roeder talks about "Seven Games."

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FICTION

Fiction

'Notes on an Execution' Isn't Your Typical Serial Killer Novel

Danya Kukafka's book focuses less on the mythos of the murderer and more on the humanity of his victims.

By Katie Kitamura

Horror

A Palpably Seductive Search for a Grimoire of Sex Magic

In Sara Gran's occult thriller, "The Book of the Most Precious Substance," a rare-book dealer falls under the spell of a powerful 17th-century manuscript.

By Danielle Trussoni

Toni Morrison's Only Short Story Addresses Race by Avoiding Race

"Recitatif," originally published in 1983 and now available in book form, features a Black girl and a white girl, but Morrison never identifies which is which.

By Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Fiction

In 'Yonder,' Escape From Slavery Comes With a Magical Twist

The idea of something within sight but just out of reach is at the core of Jabari Asim's new novel, which follows a group of enslaved people living in 1852.

By Vanessa Riley

Fiction

How a Boy in Rural Iceland Became a Tool for Global Fascism

"Red Milk," a novel by Sjón, examines a young man's path to neo-Nazism.

By Peter C. Baker

Fiction

In 'Velorio,' Hurricane Survivors Form a New Society. It's No Paradise.

In his debut novel, Xavier Navarro Aquino follows a group of characters who start a utopia in the Puerto Rican mountains after Hurricane Maria.

By Callan Wink

The Shortlist

The Lives of Black Women, at Home and Abroad

Three debut novels — by Kai Harris, Nikki May and Destiny O. Birdsong — follow female protagonists struggling to find their place.

By Shruti Swamy

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NONFICTION

Nonfiction

Before He Died, the Writer Roberto Calasso Had the Old Testament on His Mind

In "The Book of All Books," the great Italian polymath offers his interpretation of biblical stories.

By Stephen Greenblatt

nonfiction

They Made the Most of the Opioid Crisis. Until They Didn't.

In "The Hard Sell," the journalist Evan Hughes tells the story of the rise and fall of Insys Therapeutics — and the larger pharmaceutical industry.

By David Enrich

Nonfiction

Is Civil War Coming to America?

Two books, "How Civil Wars Start," by Barbara F. Walter, and "The Next Civil War," by Stephen Marche, examine if the United States is facing upheaval.

By Ian Bassin