Five picks for February

Buzz Reads is a column about books by reviewer Cindy Burnett. Each month, Cindy recommends five recently or soon-to-be released titles.

Beartooth by Callan Wink (fiction) – Faced with losing their family home due to large medical bills following the loss of their father, two brothers, Hazen and Thad, struggle to make ends meet. Residing in Montana on the edge of Yellowstone National Park, the brothers resort to illegal poaching jobs to survive, including a large, risky one that goes awry. While the heist storyline is enthralling, the true draw of Beartooth is Wink’s ability to transport the reader to this stunning but often inhospitable landscape; the setting is brought to life so vividly. Moreover, his characters are well drawn and complex, and the in-depth exploration of family relationships and the roles family dynamics play in those relationships is engaging. This short book packs a huge punch, and fans of Peter Heller’s books and other stories set in nature and the backwoods will love this melancholy but ultimately hopeful tale.

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (mystery/thriller) – As one of the first employees at Airbnb, Jakob Kerr is intimately familiar with the world of start-ups and Silicon Valley, and his experiences inform this twisty, funny, and clever thriller. The controversial CEO of tech’s hottest startup Journy has just been murdered, leaving behind billions in “dead money” frozen in his will. Mackenzie Clyde, a fixer for the venture capital company that invested heavily in Journy, is brought in to consult and help solve the murder, but her help is not welcomed by the FBI. This intelligently constructed mystery into the wild and surreal world of the tech industry and startups where nothing is as it seems will keep readers on the edge of their seats; this debut is a clear standout in the genre. Dead Money will appeal to those who like smart thrillers that keep the reader guessing.

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson (fiction) – Good Dirt is a novel rich in lore and history, weaving together the stories of the Freeman family ancestors and a stoneware jar that has been with the family for centuries with the current day narrative of Ebony “Ebby” Freeman, the main character. The Freemans are a prominent Black family whose young son Baz was murdered, a crime that is still not solved years later. While the book jumps around in time a fair amount, I found it easy to follow and loved that each perspective contributed to explaining the significance of the jar as well as who killed Baz. This beautiful book will appeal to those who enjoy complex family dramas as well as character-driven tales focusing on family, trauma, loss, legacies, and love. Learning about the stoneware jars made by slaves is an added bonus.

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray (historical fiction) – Victoria Christopher Murray shines the light on Jessie Redmon Fauset, a woman whose accomplishments and life are unknown to many. A published author in her own right, Fauset was the literary editor of The Crisis, the NAACP’s magazine that published pieces by the foremost Black writers of the time, including Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, and Countee Cullen. W.E.B. Du Bois, a well-known civil rights activist, founded The Crisis, and due to his affair with Jessie Fauset, appointed her to this position to keep her in his orbit. While readers may not understand or relate to Jessie’s affair after learning about Du Bois’s numerous affairs and behavior towards others he felt were his competition, her work with The Crisis is admirable and interesting and helped launch a generation of literary legends. Harlem during the Roaring ’20s is a fascinating setting, and I loved getting a glimpse into the lives of people like Langston Hughes before they were well-established authors. This book is a good fit for anyone who likes to learn about someone forgotten by history as well as those who love to be transported to another time period.

Penitence by Kristin Koval (fiction) – As the novel opens, 13-year-old Nora fatally shoots her 14-year-old brother Nico, who suffers from juvenile Huntington’s, a debilitating disease which leads to an early death after exacting a brutal toll on the body. While readers may expect the story to focus on why Nora committed this act, instead the novel heads in a different direction, dissecting the aftermath of the shooting and how it affects Nora and her experience with the legal system, her parents Angie and David, and several other characters. The second timeline explores Angie’s relationship as a teenager with Julian, who becomes Nora’s criminal defense attorney, and the accident they were involved in that tore the two families apart. This is not a happy story, but it is compelling and well worth the read. I found myself constantly contemplating how I would react to the various hardships the characters endured, and I have not stopped thinking about the book since I finished it. Fans of complex family dramas will enjoy this one, and it will make an excellent book club selection.

Editor’s note: Book reviewer Cindy Burnett also writes our weekly Page Turners column. She hosts an award-winning book podcast entitled Thoughts from a Page Podcast www.thoughtsfromapage.com, runs the Instagram account @thoughtsfrompage, and regularly speaks to groups about books.