Books 805

“Killer Vibes”
Jack Friday
Minotaur Books
$29

Friday (pen name here, he also writes queer thrillers) now introduces Peter Key, self-proclaimed “laziest private eye in Texas,” who nevertheless has time for bisexuality, drugs, and now, ownership of a distant uncle’s legacy; his decaying house in a high-profile neighborhood in Austin. Before even opening the door, Key is the recipient of insistent offers to buy the dilapidated wreck. Discovering a hidden bag of cash, he begins to suspect avuncular foul play, confirmed when a next-door neighbor with a similar car is blown to smithereens. Everyone, including this reader, loves a mouthy, witty, not-quite-on-the-level amateur sleuth with an inherited dog (from the incinerated neighbor), romance and… Billed as “The First Peter Key Mystery,” Jack Friday vows to continue strewing Key’s path with glistering iron pyrite.

“The Genius of Trees”
Harriet Rix
Crown
$30

Rix, tree science consultant and worldwide traveler who holds a biochemistry degree from Oxford, is less anthropomorphic than other tree chroniclers. She takes the reader back a couple billion years to when ocean-borne cyanobacteria found a way to spin glucose cells together to make cellulose, then cell walls. Sun-scorched on land, they eventually created lignin, then, after eons of time and energy, trees. Entities whose probing roots shattered baked, unyielding stone to soil, whose leafy canopies provided shade and sustenance, enabling life on Earth. Rix posits that while lacking specifically “nurturing” feelings or intentions, trees planet-wide have (in the eight chapters) shaped Water, Soil, Fire, Air, Fungi, Plants, Animals and People, to establish and hold their place in the cosmos and on the planet. A fascinating, entertaining, thought-provoking read.

“Floodlines”
Saleem Haddad
Europa
$19

Haddad’s flowing tale centers on the last half of 2014, but harks back to 1925, when an artist grandfather is pardoned, and begets an acclaimed artist son, who marries a Brit, herself an artist. They have two daughters before he dies, leaving his wife pregnant. The daughters fight through life, living apart. Political upheavals have destroyed their childhood home. Their elderly, widowed mother declines, the daughters feud. Politics, parents and personal trauma infuse Haddad’s compelling prose, as the war debris in their ravaged land echoes their damaged lives. At the heart of family illness is a secret their mother kept for years. Worldwide political damage remains, but Haddad offers the possibility that broken threads within a family’s fabric may be rejoined and a fresh garment begun.

“Was That Normal?”
Alex Potts
Avery Hill Publishing
$19.99

In his third graphic novel, Potts introduces Philip, whose every thought disseminates “failure” throughout his mind, eliminating every possibility. Entertaining, until you realize your brain is on the brink of surrendering to Philip’s self-immolation. Like many, Philip is searching for connection — to others, to himself. He works from his rented basement room, avoiding contact with others; “G’day” is an overload. He wafts at night through bars and cafés, until, one day, he’s attracted to Gina, a musician shadowed by a hulking ex. A collapsing simi-Eiffel structure hovers over the neighborhood, shedding iron. One day, a chunk strikes the ex. Gina withdraws. You wouldn’t suspect this tale could have a happy ending. And, it doesn’t, but it scores an acute awareness of one’s own lurking, inner Philip-ness.