The Expats
by Chris Pavone (Crown, $26)
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The Mark Inside
by Amy Reading (Knopf, $27)
This nonfiction work promises “the perfect swindle,” then deftly “delivers the goods,” said Doug Childers in the Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch. When diminutive rancher J. Frank Norfleet showed up in Dallas in 1919, he seemed the perfect mark, and sure enough he was taken, for massive bucks, by con men who’d devised a sweet nine-act scheme. Even sweeter, though, was Norfleet’s revenge. Or was it? Maybe there’s a reason the story Norfleet later told “seems a little too good to be true.”
The Thief
by Fuminori Nakamura (Soho, $23)
This first Fuminori Nakamura novel to be translated into English “provides a great inroad into the world of popular Japanese crime fiction,” said Hugh Ryan in TheDailyBeast.com. Nakamura’s Tokyo is “not a city of bright lights” but a much bleaker, seamier place. The award-winning writer’s protagonist, a seasoned pickpocket, has an almost mystical connection to his work, at least until he gets in over his head when he’s hired for a robbery. The Thief is noir at its most probing and sublime.
American Sniper
by Chris Kyle (Morrow, $27)
Readers who value sensitivity in America’s warriors may want to pass on Chris Kyle’s memoir, said Tony Perry in the Los Angeles Times. After joining the Navy SEALs, the Texas native developed a taste for killing an enemy from a distance with a single shot, and his tours convinced him that his Iraqi enemies were “damned savages.” But this book makes room for his wife’s voice as well, and “much of its wallop” comes from watching the strife created by anger born on the battlefield.
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Weapons: Julia Garner stars in 'hyper-eerie' psychological thrillerThe Week Recommends Zach Cregger's 'top notch' new film opens with 17 children disappearing at exactly the same time
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Freakier Friday: Lohan and Curtis reunite for 'uneven' but 'endearing' sequelThe Week Recommends Mother-and-daughter comedy returns with four characters switching bodies
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Al fresco art: the UK's best sculpture parksThe Week Recommends Soak up the scenery with a stroll through these open-air galleries
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”