Idaho : a novel /

INCARNATIONS: A History of India in Fifty Lives, by Sunil Khilnani. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $18.) India's history, as it is usually told, is "a curiously unpeopled place," Khilnani writes. He offers an overview of the country's 2,500-year history through 50 short biographies of people who shaped it. Some figures, like Buddha and Gandhi, are well known, but he also focuses on poets, artists and social reformers. IDAHO, by Emily Ruskovich. (Random House, $17.) In this debut novel about grief, secrets, and violence, a woman tries to uncover what happened to her husband's first wife - and the circumstances of his daughter's mysterious death. As our reviewer, Smith Henderson, said, "Ruskovich's language is itself a consolation, as she subtly posits the troubling thought that only decency can save us." WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O'Neil. (Broadway, $16.) O'Neil, a mathematician and former Wall Street analyst, offers a frightening look at the algorithms that regulate and shape people's lives. Whether you're applying for a loan or a job, machines make decisions at critical junctures with little oversight, and with profound consequences. THE CASTLE CROSS THE MAGNET CARTER, by Kia Corthron. (Seven Stories Press, $23.95.) Two pairs of brothers - one white in rural Alabama, the other black, growing up in Maryland - come of age in the mid-1900s, against a backdrop of World War II and the civil rights era. Our reviewer, Leonard Pitts Jr., praised Corthron: "There are whole chunks of writing here that are simply sublime, places in which one gets swept away by the way she subverts the rhythm of language to illuminate the familiar and allow it to be seen fresh." THANK YOU FOR BEING LATE: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, by Thomas L. Friedman. (Picador, $18.) Three major forces - technology, globalization and climate change - are accelerating at a rapid clip, with significant effects across the world. Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist, explains each of these shifts with humanizing anecdotes. THE PATRIOTS, by Sana Krasikov. (Spiegel & Grau, $18.) It's and Florence Fein is bound from Brooklyn to the Soviet Union, hoping to align herself with the socialist cause. Florence soon finds herself on Stalin's list of enemies, but her loyalty to the revolution doesn't waver. Decades later, her son travels to Russia, determined to learn more about Florence's past - and to persuade his own American son to return to the United States.

In Ruskovich's beautifully constructed debut novel, Ann attempts to piece together her husband Wade's past-namely, the murder of his younger daughter, May, by his ex-wife, Jenny, and the disappearance of his elder daughter, June, which took place years ago, on the mountain where Wade and Ann now live. The book is set in the alluring and haunting landscape of Idaho, spanning over 50 years, and depicting Ann's obsession and determination to figure out what exactly Jenny's motives were and just what happened to the girls. Jenny is now in jail, mostly keeping to herself while serving a life sentence, and Ann is caring for Wade while he suffers from genetic early-onset dementia, training dogs, and making knives. All the while, Ann and Wade hope that June may still be alive, after 18 years of no news. With her amazing sentences, Ruskovich draws readers into the novel's world, using a number of well-developed voices to describe various perspectives, allowing readers to understand the complexities of the story as well as Ann does. Shocking and heartbreaking, Ruskovich has crafted a remarkable love story and a narrative that will stay with readers. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Ann and Wade live a solitary life in the mountains of northern Idaho. In his 50s, Wade has early-onset dementia, and his memory has started to fade. The only good thing about this development is that he begins to forget an appalling family catastrophe: his first wife, Jenny, now long in prison, brutally murdered their young daughter May with an ax, apparently with no warning. Their other daughter, June, ran terrified into the woods and was never seen again. This could be the plot of a psychological thriller, but the awful violence is mercifully muted, and this novel is more about mood than suspense. The chapters zigzag back and forth from different times in the past to the near future and include sad scenes of a zombie-like incarcerated Jenny. Unfortunately, the writing is opaque and oblique just when one would like more clarity and insight into the characters. VERDICT First-time novelist -Ruskovich has written a family tragedy that will be appreciated by aficionados of literary fiction rendered poetically. However, many will find the unrelenting misery and melancholy just too depressing.-Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.