20 May Reads That Will Knock Your Socks Off

Looking for something a little different to dive into in May that will break you out of that reading slump? I've got you covered with an eclectic mix of suspense and SFF, and even a little something for young readers!

Wolf by Mo Hayder

Via groveatlantic.com

The scoop: When a vagrant—the Walking Man—finds a dog wandering alone with a scrap of paper with the words “HELP US” attached to its collar, he’s sure it’s a desperate plea from someone in trouble and calls on Detective Inspector Jack Caffery to investigate. Caffery is reluctant to get involved—until the Walking Man promises new information regarding the childhood abduction of Caffery’s brother in exchange for the detective’s help tracking down the dog’s owners. Caffery has no idea who or what he is searching for, but one thing he is sure of: it’s a race against time.

Meanwhile a wealthy local family is fighting for their lives, held hostage in their remote home. As their ordeal becomes increasingly bizarre and humiliating, the family begins to wonder: Is this really a random crime?

Why it's a must read: Wolf is the 7th book in Hayder's superb Jack Caffery series, and it finds the already on-the-edge Detective Inspector racing against the clock to save a family held hostage in their own home, while tracking down clues to his own brother's long ago disappearance. This one will keep you on your toes, and on the edge of your seat. It's suspense at its creepiest best!

Release date: May 6th, 2014

Young God by Katherine Faw Morris

Via us.macmillan.com

The scoop: Meet Nikki, the most determined young woman in the North Carolina hills. Determined not to let deadbeats and dropouts set her future. Determined to use whatever tools she can get her hands on to shape the world to her will. Determined to preserve her family’s domination of the local drug trade. Nikki is thirteen years old.

Opening with a deadly plunge from a high cliff into a tiny swimming hole, Young God refuses to slow down for a moment as it charts Nikki’s battles against isolation and victimhood. Nikki may be young, but she's a fast learner, and soon—perhaps too soon, if in fact it's not too late—she knows exactly how to wield her powers over the people around her. The only thing slowing her down is the inheritance she's been promised but can't seem to find, buried somewhere deep in those hills and always just out of reach.

Why it's a must read: Young God is told is terse prose that conveys the stark reality of Nikki's situation. Such matter-of-fact brutality is jarring for such a young girl, but you won't be able to tear your eyes away from her determination and grit.

Release date: May 6th, 2014

The New Black: A Neo-Noir Anthology edited by Richard Thomas

Via thedarkhousepress.com

The scoop: The New Black is a collection of twenty neo-noir stories exemplifying the best authors currently writing in this dark sub-genre. A mixture of horror, crime, fantasy, science fiction, magical realism, and the grotesque—all with a literary bent—these stories are the future of genre-bending fiction.

Table of Contents:

Foreword by Laird Barron

Stephen Graham Jones, "Father Son, Holy Rabbit"

Paul Tremblay, "It's Against the Law to Feed the Ducks"

Lindsay Hunter, "That Baby"

Roxane Gay, "How"

Kyle Minor, "The Truth and All Its Ugly"

Craig Clevenger, "Act of Contrition"

Micaela Morrissette, "The Familiars"

Richard Lange, "Fuzzyland"

Benjamin Percy, "Dial Tone"

Roy Kesey, "Instituto"

Craig Davidson, "Rust and Bone"

Rebecca Jones-Howe, "Blue Hawaii"

Joe Meno, "Children Are the Only Ones Who Blush"

Vanessa Veselka, "Christopher Hitchens"

Nik Korpon, "His Footsteps are Made of Soot"

Brian Evenson, "Windeye"

Craig Wallwork, "Dollhouse"

Tara Laskowski, "The Etiquette of Homicide"

Matt Bell, "Dredge"

Antonia Crane, "Sunshine for Adrienne"

Why it's a must read: Did you see that author list? Matt Bell's In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods was a huge hit; Roxane Gay has a new book, An Untamed State, coming up; Benjamin Percy's Red Moon was a literary horror sensation, and don't even get me started on the awesome that is Craig Davidson (Cataract City, Sarah Court). Those are just the tip of the iceberg. There's something here for everyone, and each story is a gem.

Release date: May 13th, 2014

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

Via groveatlantic.com

The scoop: Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti’s richest sons, she has an adoring husband, a precocious infant son, by all appearances a perfect life. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men in front of her father’s Port-au-Prince estate. Held captive by a man who calls himself the Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents.

Why it's a must read: This terrifying tale of a kidnapping in Haiti is more than just a suspenseful read. It's the story of a young woman who must will herself to endure a untenable situation, while re-evaluating her privileged life. It's also a portrait of a country in flux and of a people struggling to break free, much like Mireille is desperate to escape her captors. This one will have you white knuckling the edge of your seat.

Release date: May 6th, 2014

The Painter by Peter Heller

Via randomhouse.com

The scoop: Jim Stegner has seen his share of violence and loss. Years ago he shot a man in a bar. His marriage disintegrated. He grieved the one thing he loved. In the wake of tragedy, Jim, a well-known expressionist painter, abandoned the art scene of Santa Fe to start fresh in the valleys of rural Colorado. Now he spends his days painting and fly-fishing, trying to find a way to live with the dark impulses that sometimes overtake him. He works with a lovely model. His paintings fetch excellent prices. But one afternoon, on a dirt road, Jim comes across a man beating a small horse, and a brutal encounter rips his quiet life wide open. Fleeing Colorado, chased by men set on retribution, Jim returns to New Mexico, tormented by his own relentless conscience.

Why it's a must read: Peter Heller wrote The Dog Stars. Need I say more?

Release date: May 6th, 2014

A Girl Called Fearless by Catherine Linka

Via us.macmillan.com

The scoop: Avie Reveare has the normal life of a privileged teen growing up in L.A., at least as normal as any girl’s life is these days. After a synthetic hormone in beef killed fifty million American women ten years ago, only young girls, old women, men, and boys are left to pick up the pieces. The death threat is past, but fathers still fear for their daughters’ safety, and the Paternalist Movement, begun to "protect" young women, is taking over the choices they make.

Like all her friends, Avie still mourns the loss of her mother, but she’s also dreaming about college and love and what she’ll make of her life. When her dad "contracts" her to marry a rich, older man to raise money to save his struggling company, her life suddenly narrows to two choices: Be trapped in a marriage with a controlling politician, or run. Her lifelong friend, student revolutionary Yates, urges her to run to freedom across the border to Canada. As their friendship turns to passion, the decision to leave becomes harder and harder. Running away is incredibly dangerous, and it’s possible Avie will never see Yates again. But staying could mean death.

Why it's a must read: A unique (yet timely) dystopian premise and a strong protagonist makes this seem like a standout in a crowded genre.

Release date: May 6th, 2014

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Via randomhouse.com

The scoop:

A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

Why it's a must read: This story of a young girl that suffers a head injury at 15 in an accident at her grandfather's private island and tries to piece together the memories she's lost in the aftermath looks to be a scorching look into a privilaged family's dynamics. Also, I hear the ending is a bit of a shocker.

Release date: May 13th, 2014

Next Life Might be Kinder by Howard Norman

Via hmhco.com

The scoop: Sam Lattimore meets Elizabeth Church in 1970s Halifax, in an art gallery. The sparks are immediate, leading quickly to a marriage that is dear, erotically charged, and brief. In Howard Norman’s spellbinding and moving novel, the gleam of the marriage and the circumstances of Elizabeth’s murder are revealed in heart-stopping increments. Sam’s life afterward is complicated. For one thing, in a moment of desperate confusion, he sells his life story to a Norwegian filmmaker named Istvakson, known for the stylized violence of his films, whose artistic drive sets in motion an increasingly intense cat-and-mouse game between the two men. For another, Sam has begun “seeing” Elizabeth—not only seeing but holding conversations with her, almost every evening, and watching her line up books on a small beach. What at first seems simply hallucination born of terrible grief reveals itself, evening by evening, as something else entirely.

Why it's a must read: A man devastated by his wife's death begins hallucinating his wife's presence, but is it just a vision, or something more diabolical? Everything about this screams "read me."

Release date: May 13th, 2014

Debbie Doesn't Do It Anymore by Walter Mosley

Via randomhouse.com

The scoop: Millions of men (and no doubt many women) have watched famed black porn queen Debbie Dare—she of the blond wig and blue contacts-"do it" on television and computer screens every which way with every combination of partners the mind of man can imagine. But one day an unexpected and thunderous on-set orgasm catches Debbie unawares, and when she returns to the mansion she shares with her husband, insatiable former porn star and "film producer" Theon Pinkney, she discovers that he's died in a case of hot tub electrocution, "auditioning" an aspiring "starlet." Burdened with massive debts that her husband incurred, and which various L.A. heavies want to collect on, Debbie must reckon with a life spent in the peculiar subculture of the pornography industry and her estrangement from her family and the child she had to give up. She's done with porn, but her options for what might come next include the possibility of suicide. Debbie . . . is a portrait of a ransacked but resilient soul in search of salvation and a cure for grief.

Why it's a must read: A tale of redemption and salvation featuring a very unique heroine from master storyteller Walter Mosley (Little Green)? Yes, please!

Release date: May 13th, 2014

American Woman by Robert Pobi

Via robertpobi.com

The scoop: A stifling heat wave rolls into New York City, amplifying the already critical level of tension in the fragile concrete ecosystem. The air tastes of electricity—the negative charge of bad things to come—but everyone hopes it’s just the temperature. Then, on the morning homicide detective Alexandra “Hemi” Hemingway finds out she is pregnant, a twisted serial killer makes his debut. And the heat goes up.

Not for the faint of heart—American Woman is a relentless ride that takes you through the fractured world of a nascent killer. And you will never feel safe again.

Why it's a must read: The author of Bloodman is back with a twisty turny thriller featuring newly pregnant homicide detective Alexandra Hemingway on the trail of a very sadistic killer, and it's already been called "gripping" by Publisher's Weekly.

Release date: May 20th, 2014

Sundance by David Fuller

Via penguin.com

The scoop: Legend has it that bank robber Harry Longbaugh and his partner Robert Parker were killed in a shootout in Bolivia. That was the supposed end of the Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy.

Sundance tells a different story. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Longbaugh is very much alive, though serving in a Wyoming prison under an alias.

When he is released in 1913, Longbaugh reenters a changed world. Horses are being replaced by automobiles. Gas lamps are giving way to electric lights. Workers fight for safety, and women for the vote. What hasn’t changed are Longbaugh’s ingenuity, his deadly aim, and his love for his wife, Etta Place.

It’s been two years since Etta stopped visiting him, and, determined to find her, Longbaugh follows her trail to New York City. Confounded by the city’s immensity, energy, chaos, and crowds, he learns that his wife was very different from the woman he thought he knew. Longbaugh finds himself in a tense game of cat and mouse, racing against time before the legend of the Sundance Kid catches up to destroy him.

Why it's a must read: Take a trip back to 1913 in this rollicking western featuring one of the biggest legends of the Wild West.

Release date: May 29th, 2014

The River of Souls by Robert McCammon

Via subterraneanpress.com

The scoop: The year is 1703. The place: the Carolina settlement of Charles Town. Matthew Corbett, professional “problem solver,” has accepted a lucrative, if unusual, commission: escorting a beautiful woman to a fancy dress ball.

What should be a pleasant assignment takes a darker turn when Matthew becomes involved in a murder investigation. A sixteen-year-old girl has been stabbed to death on the grounds of a local plantation. The suspected killer is a slave who has escaped, with two family members, into the dubious protection of a nearby swamp. Troubled by certain discrepancies and determined to see some sort of justice done, Matthew joins the hunt for the runaway slaves. He embarks on a treacherous journey up the Solstice River, also known as the River of Souls. He discovers that something born of the swamp has joined the hunt… and is stalking the hunters with more than murder in mind.

What follows is a shattering ordeal encompassing snakes, alligators, exiled savages, mythical beasts, and ordinary human treachery. The journey up the River of Souls will test the limits of Matthew’s endurance, and lead him through a nightmarish passage to a confrontation with his past, and a moment that will alter his life forever.

Why it's a must read: The fifth Matthew Corbett adventure by horror legend McCammon promises to be as riveting as the first four!

Release date: May 28th, 2014

House of the Rising Sun by Kristen Painter

Via hachettebookgroup.com

The scoop: Every vampire has heard rumor of the mythical place where their kind can daywalk. But what no vampire knows is that this City of Eternal Night actually exists.

And its name is New Orleans.

For centuries, the fae have protected the city from vampire infestation. But when the bloodsuckers return, the fragile peace in New Orleans begins to crumble.

Carefree playboy Augustine, and Harlow, a woman searching for answers about her absent father, are dragged into the war. The fate of the city rests on them --- and their fae blood that can no longer be denied.

Why it's a must read: The first book of a new series by Kristen Painter (House of Comarre), promises to deliver a (hopefully) fresh and atmospheric take on the vampire mythos.

Release date: May 13th, 2014

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Via harpercollins.com

The scoop: Something is out there . . .

Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, Malorie has long dreamed of fleeing to a place where her family might be safe. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but Malorie's wits and the children's trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster?

Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motley group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?

Why this is a must read: Post apocalyptic terror with a twist. I'm in.

Release date: May 13th, 2014

Hot Lead, Cold Iron by Ari Marmell

Via titanbooks.com

The scoop: Chicago, 1932. Mick Oberon may look like just another private detective, but beneath the fedora and the overcoat, he's got pointy ears and he's packing a wand.

Oberon's used to solving supernatural crimes, but the latest one's extra weird. A mobster's daughter was kidnapped sixteen years ago, replaced with a changeling, and Mick's been hired to find the real child. The trail's gone cold, but what there is leads Sideways, to the world of the Fae, where the Seelie Court rules. And Mick's not really welcome in the Seelie Court any more. He'll have to wade through Fae politics and mob power struggles to find the kidnapper – and of course it's the last person he expected.

Why it's a must read: The new book from Ari Marmell (The Warlord's Legacy and the Widdershins series) has already been compared to the Dresden novels by Jim Butcher.

Release date: May 13th, 2014

American Craftsmen by Tom Doyle

Via us.macmillan.com

The scoop: In modern America, two soldiers will fight their way through the magical legacies of Poe and Hawthorne to destroy an undying evil—if they don’t kill each other first.

US Army Captain Dale Morton is a magician soldier—a “craftsman.” After a black-ops mission gone wrong, Dale is cursed by a Persian sorcerer and haunted by his good and evil ancestors. Major Michael Endicott, a Puritan craftsman, finds gruesome evidence that the evil Mortons, formerly led by the twins Roderick and Madeline, have returned, and that Dale might be one of them.

Dale uncovers treason in the Pentagon’s highest covert ranks. He hunts for his enemies before they can murder him and Scherie, a new friend who knows nothing of his magic.

Endicott pursues Dale, divided between his duty to capture a rogue soldier and his desire to protect Dale from his would-be assassins. They will discover that the demonic horrors that have corrupted American magic are not bound by family or even death itself.

Why it's a must read: A genre blending debut sure to please fans of urban fantasy and military fantasy.

Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire

Via penguin.com

The scoop: Rose Marshall died in 1952 in Buckley Township, Michigan, run off the road by a man named Bobby Cross—a man who had sold his soul to live forever, and intended to use her death to pay the price of his immortality. Trouble was, he didn't ask Rose what she thought of the idea.

It's been more than sixty years since that night, and she's still sixteen, and she's still running.

They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by "Rose", a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what's his. She's the angel of the overpass, she's the darling of the truck stops, and she's going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it's not like it can kill her.

You can't kill what's already dead.

Why it's a must read: This ghost story from the perspective of the ghost is a surprisingly poignant American road trip with plenty of magic, and of course, ghosts.

Release date: May 6th, 2014

Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter

The scoop: For years the human race was under attack from a deadly Syndrome, but when a cure was found – in the form of genetically engineered human beings, Gems—the line between survival and ethics was radically altered. Now the Gems are fighting for their freedom, from the oppression of the companies that created them, and against the Norms who see them as slaves. And a conference at which Dr Eli Walker has been commissioned to present his findings on the Gems is the key to that freedom. But with the Gemtech companies fighting to keep the Gems enslaved, and the horrifying godgangs determined to rid the earth of these ‘unholy’ creations, the Gems are up against forces that may just be too powerful to oppose.

Why it's a must read: Corporate greed plays a huge part in this unique dystopian vision from an arresting debut author.

Release date: May 6th, 2014

Fearful Symmetries edited by Ellen Datlow

Via chizinepub.com

The scoop: Fearful Symmetries was funded on Kickstarter. In addition to sixteen stories specifically solicited for the anthology, Ellen Datlow chose four stories submitted during the month-long open reading period, adding some excellent new writers to the mix. So in addition to award-winning and/or bestselling writers such as Brian Evenson, Jeffrey Ford, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Pat Cadigan, and Michael Marshall Smith, there are a few names with whom readers might not yet be familiar—yet. Writers such as Siobhan Carroll, Catherine MacLeod, and Carole Johnstone. Each writer in this book has a unique voice, and this multitude of voices has created a symphony that will continue to be appreciated for many years to come.

Why it's a must read: Here's another anthology that pretty much stands on the awesome of its editor and authors. Michael Marshall Smith, Pat Cadigan, Jeffrey Ford! The list just goes on and on. Don't miss this one!

Release date: May 27th, 2014

Odin's Ravens by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr

Via hachettebookgroup.com

The scoop: Seven kids, Thor's hammer, and a whole lot of Valkyries are the only things standing against the end of the world.

When thirteen-year-old Matt Thorsen, a modern day descendant of the Norse god Thor, was chosen to represent Thor in an epic battle to prevent the apocalypse he thought he knew how things would play out. Gather the descendants standing in for gods like Loki and Odin, defeat a giant serpent, and save the world. No problem, right?

But the descendants' journey grinds to a halt when their friend and descendant Baldwin is poisoned and killed and Matt, Fen, and Laurie must travel to the Underworld in the hopes of saving him. But that's only their first stop on their journey to reunite the challengers, find Thor's hammer, and stop the apocalypse--a journey filled with enough tooth-and-nail battles and larger-than-life monsters to make Matt a legend in his own right.

Why it's a must read: Two powerhouse names in adult and YA fantasy/urban fantasy lend their considerable talents to the sequel to 2013's Loki's Wolves, and it promises knockout fantasy for the younger set. Plus, you know, Valkyries...

Release date: May 13th, 2014