12 New January Books
Here are works on and of the West, including Crux, How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder, and Vigil, that we’re delighted to see published this month.
THE WATER LIES, BY AMY MEYERSON
When Tessa Irons’s toddler has a meltdown over a stranger in a coffee shop, she assumes it’s just a quirk—until that same woman is found dead in the canal beside their home. Soon after, Barb Geller arrives in Venice Beach, desperate for answers about her daughter’s death. Tessa and Barb team up to piece together the victim’s last few days, even as the police refuse to help. They are pulled into a web of secrets. Thomas & Mercer, January 1
THE FIRST TIME I SAW HIM, BY LAURA DAVE
The bestselling thriller The Last Thing He Told Me now has a sequel. Five years after the first book, Hannah and her stepdaughter, Bailey, are building a new life in Southern California. Everything shifts when Hannah’s missing husband, Owen, suddenly appears at an art exhibition, putting their safety at risk once again. Pushed out of their new life, Hannah and Bailey must confront the past in a gripping novel about trust, forgiveness, and the possibility of second chances. Scribner, January 6
TALKING WITH BOYS, BY TAYYBA KANWAL
In a collection of linked stories, Kanwal traces a Pakistani diasporic community in Houston, knitting together today’s happenings with tales of their pasts in Dubai and Pakistan. In one, a group of immigrants plot to protect one another from ICE with clever tricks. In another, a housekeeper works to liberate her fellow workers from an abusive house. The result is a multigenerational, cross-continental work of love, power, and survival. Black Lawrence Press, January 6
AMERICAN REICH: A MURDER IN ORANGE COUNTY, NEO-NAZIS, AND A NEW AGE OF HATE, BY ERIC LICHTBLAU
In blue California, a segment of the state has long been deep in the red: Orange County. Through careful reporting, investigative journalist Lichtblau follows the history of the far right and sects of neo-Nazis in Orange County and elsewhere and the lives that these groups took in the process. He focuses primarily on the death of a young, Jewish, gay Ivy League student named Blaze Bernstein, who died in 2018 at the hands of a neo-Nazi former classmate. Little, Brown and Company, January 6
THE STAR SOCIETY, BY GABRIELLA SAAB
Two sisters fled their war-torn hometown of Arnhem, Netherlands, and ended up on different paths: Ada became a glamorous actress, while Ingrid built a career as a private investigator in Washington, D.C. Each believes the other is gone. When they reunite during the Hollywood Red Scare, they must decide whether they trust each other and whether they want to risk their hard-won careers to confront the past and seek justice. Harper Muse, January 6
FIRESTORM: THE GREAT LOS ANGELES FIRES AND AMERICA’S NEW AGE OF DISASTER, BY JACOB SOBOROFF
MS NOW senior political and national reporter Soboroff’s weekslong coverage of the Palisades and Eaton Fires began with a text from his brother saying his family was evacuating. Having grown up in the Palisades, Soboroff knew he had to be on the ground. His reporting soon expanded into interviews with survivors, first responders, and even Governor Gavin Newsom. In Firestorm, he explores how these fires happened and what must be done to prevent the next disaster. Mariner Books, January 6
PHILOSOPHY OF WRITING, BY DAVID ARNDT
In Philosophy of Writing, Arndt redefines what writing is and why it matters as a social good. He breaks down several kinds of thought, and he shows how each takes shape in papers, books, dialogues, and stories. Within this book, he also shares 50 principles of composition that writers can use. An illuminating look at writing from every angle—it considers writing both as a craft and as a means of seeking truth. Bloomsbury Academic, January 8
SCAVENGERS, BY KATHLEEN BOLAND
After losing her job, Bea ditches her life in New York City to spend some time with her mother, Christy, who is living in Utah in an apartment funded by her daughter. Christy has a new boyfriend in her life and a new calling: finding $1 million in buried treasure in the deserts of the West. After spending hours on an online forum, Christy brings her begrudging daughter along for a trek through America, the adventure ramping up with each turn of the page. Viking, January 13
I COULD BE FAMOUS, BY SYDNEY RENDE
Rende’s debut short story collection introduces 10 women determined to chase their often-misguided dreams. One learns the pitfalls of influencer culture; another caters to a man she can’t name; and in another, an actress loses herself for a role. Linking the stories is Arlo Banks, an actor dealing with his own downfall. Together, these pieces form a witty and pointed reflection on ambition, disappointment, and our obsession with fame. Bloomsbury Publishing, January 13
HOW TO COMMIT A POSTCOLONIAL MURDER, BY NINA MCCONIGLEY
Tween sisters Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna welcome their aunt, uncle, and cousin from India to live with them in their home in an oil town in Wyoming in 1986. Later, the sisters kill their uncle—and blame it on the legacy of the British. In a twisty and slightly experimental tale of sisterhood, trauma, abuse, murder, and colonialism, one sister, Georgie, adopts a wide lens to tell of how these dark events came to be. Pantheon, January 20
CRUX, BY GABRIEL TALLENT
Close friends Dan and Tamma grow up together between the boulders of the Mojave Desert, their mutual affection for rock climbing drawing them closer. As the end of high school looms, their families as well as their attributes, which also connect this odd, platonic pair—one is a natural rebel, and the other is straitlaced—put a strain on their relationship. Beautiful writing about the landscape and the duo’s shared adventures reveals two people struggling to find themselves and each other, even when the world tries to pull them apart. Riverhead Books, January 20
VIGIL, BY GEORGE SAUNDERS
After her own death, Jill “Doll” Blaine is charged with guiding souls to the afterlife. She’s done this 343 times, but things are different when she’s assigned to console K.J. Boone—a powerful, complicated man with no regrets—in his final moments. The novel follows the final night of Boone’s controversial life and confronts some of the problems shaping our world today: corporate greed, the weight of capitalism, and the environmental damage unfolding around us. Random House, January 27
Jessica Blough is a freelance writer. A former associate editor at Alta Journal, Blough is a graduate of Tufts University where she was editor in chief of the Tufts Daily.
Elizabeth Casillas is an assistant editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.
