Karin Slaughter’s 2018 thriller, Pieces of Her, is being adapted by Netflix, and her latest novel, False Witness (HarperCollins £20), is out now.
1. Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Katherine Anne Porter (1939)
The title story in this collection was my introduction to the visceral horror of the 1918 flu pandemic. The memory lingered so much that I felt compelled to incorporate Covid into my current novel. Fiction captures history in a way that textbooks cannot.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Penguin £9.99; The Week Bookshop £7.99
2. Polio: An American Story
David M. Oshinsky (2006)
Until recently, the distribution of the polio vaccine was the largest public health project in American history. This book delves into the rush to create the vaccine, and the politics surrounding it, and calls out Isabel Morgan, considered the most skilled polio researcher, who had to retire to raise her family
OUP £19.99; The Week Bookshop £15.99
3. The Wife
Alafair Burke (2018)
This sly legal procedural is told from the point of view of the suspect’s wife. An excellent read in any setting, but particularly gripping with a margarita on the beach.
Faber £7.99; The Week Bookshop £5.99
4. Your House Will Pay
Steph Cha
Past is prologue in this riveting and at times shocking tale of racial unrest in LA. You wouldn’t think that the city that gave us Rodney King, O.J. Simpson and the Banditos would have any more stories to tell, but Cha manages to frame the narrative through the lens of two families grappling with the fallout fromahorrific decision that turns the city up to its boiling point.
Faber £8.99; The Week Bookshop £6.99
5. Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel (2014)
Another flu pandemic, this one set in a dystopian future. While the author didn’t capture the rush on toilet paper, she certainly predicted our reliance on the arts to get us through these horrible times.
Picador £9.99; The Week Bookshop £7.99
6. Make Me
Lee Child (2015)
This young man studied law but went into television, then gave up TV to write novels. I really think he’s onto something with these Reacher books.
-
Political cartoons for December 13Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include saving healthcare, the affordability crisis, and more
-
Farage’s £9m windfall: will it smooth his path to power?In Depth The record donation has come amidst rumours of collaboration with the Conservatives and allegations of racism in Farage's school days
-
The issue dividing Israel: ultra-Orthodox draft dodgersIn the Spotlight A new bill has solidified the community’s ‘draft evasion’ stance, with this issue becoming the country’s ‘greatest internal security threat’
-
It Was Just an Accident: a ‘striking’ attack on the Iranian regimeThe Week Recommends Jafar Panahi’s furious Palme d’Or-winning revenge thriller was made in secret
-
Singin’ in the Rain: fun Christmas show is ‘pure bottled sunshine’The Week Recommends Raz Shaw’s take on the classic musical is ‘gloriously cheering’
-
Holbein: ‘a superb and groundbreaking biography’The Week Recommends Elizabeth Goldring’s ‘definitive account’ brings the German artist ‘vividly to life’
-
The Sound of Music: a ‘richly entertaining’ festive treatThe Week Recommends Nikolai Foster’s captivating and beautifully designed revival ‘ripples with feeling’
-
‘Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right’ by Laura K. Field and ‘The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare’ by Daniel SwiftFeature An insider’s POV on the GOP and the untold story of Shakespeare’s first theater
-
Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secretsfeature Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, through Feb. 22
-
Homes with great fireplacesFeature Featuring a suspended fireplace in Washington and two-sided Parisian fireplace in Florida
-
Film reviews: ‘The Secret Agent’ and ‘Zootopia 2’Feature A Brazilian man living in a brutal era seeks answers and survival and Judy and Nick fight again for animal justice
