New Arrivals: The Best Recent Book Releases

Set in rural Virginia, this first-ever whodunit from the master of the legal thriller follows a struggling attorney whose wealthy new client draws him into a tangle of deception and accusation. Publishers Weekly praised it as “a captivating legal whodunit,” noting that Grisham’s nuanced portrait of his protagonist “demonstrates his gift for constructing morally flawed yet sympathetic characters.”

This posthumous collection brings together newly discovered short stories and previously published essays that show Harper Lee beyond Maycomb. From vivid sketches of Alabama schoolyards to reflections on New York life, these pieces reveal a sharp observer in dialogue with the South, the page, and the culture around her. With an introduction by Casey Cep, Lee’s biographer, this is a rare chance to hear a famously quiet writer in her own words.

When two married parents meet at a baby group, their instant connection challenges everything they thought they knew about commitment. As their bond deepens, the story unfolds in two parallel timelines—one where they give in to desire and one where they don’t. Vulture praised it, saying, “It’s hard to stop reading, and Somers has many tricks up her sleeve.”

Living alone in the countryside after an abrupt move, a woman sorts through the memories of those she’s loved—especially the man who believed he knew her better than she knew herself. As she recalls the details of past relationships she begins to question how intimacy shapes identity, and what it means to let go.

In this timely new work from National Book Award–winner Ha Jin, a Chinese student studying in the U.S. unearths the buried legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, confronting the cost of silence and the weight of remembrance. Literary Hub calls it “a novel for our times: a coming-of-age story about protest.”

In this urgent new book, Sanders makes the case that the U.S. has become an oligarchy—and lays out how working people can take back political power. A clear-eyed indictment of inequality and corruption, and a hopeful path forward from one of the country’s most consistent political voices.

Finalist for the 2025 National Book Award, this sweeping narrative blends memoir, reportage, and historical research to chart Russia’s twentieth and twenty-first centuries through the lives of its women—from Lenin’s lover to Soviet war veterans to Pussy Riot and Yulia Navalnaya. Ioffe, who fled the USSR as a child, returns to document the promises and betrayals that shaped a generation and helped clear the path for Putin’s rule.

In this autofictional novel from the author of The Resisters, draws from family history to trace a woman’s path from elite 1930s Shanghai to Cold War–era New York, and into the contradictions of suburban American life. "Astute and revelatory," writes Publishers Weekly. "Throughout, the author blends sharp-witted autofiction with powerful images."

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill comes a chilling story of friendship, ambition, and the terrible cost of curiosity. When six college students attempt to summon a mythical dragon to fix a deadly mistake, they awaken something far worse—an entity that demands an annual human sacrifice. Kirkus Reviews praised it as “at turns spooky and funny, with bits of inside baseball and a swimming pool’s worth of blood… there’s never a dull moment.”

The final installment in Pullman’s acclaimed trilogy follows two seekers drawn toward a mysterious desert where the secret of existence itself may lie hidden. Combining adventure with searching moral inquiry, it closes one of the most ambitious fantasy sagas of our time. The New York Times calls it “a stunning achievement, this universe Pullman has created and continues to build on.”