My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura Review

A man reads a mysterious manuscript in a lodge. He’s there to assume a new identity. Also in the room is a suitcase - with a body inside. So begins the bizarre journey of Fuminori Nakamura’s latest novel, My Annihilation.

The Unsound Review (Cullen Bunn, Jack T. Cole)

It’s Ashli’s first day as a nurse at Saint Cascia, a mental health clinic in a poor part of the city - and it might be her last. Following a riot by the patients, Ashli and the rest of the staff must escape the increasingly surreal labyrinth of the hospital by putting their trust in the mysterious patient with a paper plate mask - who somehow seems to know Ashli quite well…

Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout Review

Anything is Possible is a kind of sequel to My Name is Lucy Barton - “kind of” because there’s no overarching plot to this series, but it does continue to explore Lucy’s life and the people in her orbit, many of whom were introduced in the first book, and all of whom are connected via the small fictional town of Amgash, Illinois. It’s also much better than the first book, although the experience of Anything is Possible is definitely improved having read My Name is Lucy Barton first, so it’s worth sticking with the series and reading it in order.

Suicide Squad, Volume 1: Give Peace a Chance Review (Robbie Thompson, Eduardo Pansica)

It’s the usual Suicide Squad smorgasbord of crapiola: tie-ins to bad events, drivel about recruiting team members, and pointless missions to nowhere simply because Amanda Waller, bombs in your brains, etc. Give peace a chance? How about this title takes a chance on something original for a change instead!

The Nice House on the Lake, Volume 1 Review (James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno)

A mutual friend, Walter, invites ten people to stay in a fancy lakeside house in the country for a weekend getaway. A nice house, far enough away from the hectic pace of modern life to make you think you were the last people on Earth - and then it turns out that you are! Because “Walter” is an alien who has saved his nearest and dearest from the end of the world. What next - imprisonment in some hellish mystery box? Oh…

Kaiju No. 8, Volume 1 by Naoya Matsumoto Review

The exciting life of a Defense Force Captain, taking down kaiju on the reg and keeping the world safe - that’s definitely not Kafka Hibino’s lot. He’s part of the crew who go in post-kaiju kill to clean up the mess left behind! After getting stuck on intestine duty two days in a row and finding out the age range has been upped due to the declining Japanese birth rate, 32 year old Kafka decides to try for the Defense Force one more time - and then he gets turned into a kaiju himself! Protagonists in mangas sure can’t catch breaks eh…

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Review

Korede, a plain-looking nurse obsessed with cleaning, has a gorgeous little sister, Ayoola, who’s a fashionista/social media maven - and who also kills her many suitors! And then Ayoola captures the attention of Korede’s cute doctor crush, Tade. Will Korede allow Tade to become another corpse at the hands of her sister or will this be the line she finally draws and stops the murdering once and for all?

Batman: Killing Time #1 Review (Tom King, David Marquez)

Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin (all of whom happen to be in the new Batman movie out now), and Croc team up to steal a valuable item from a bank vault. But what is it? Batman’s on the case!

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout Review

Elizabeth Strout’s novel is almost like a person in book form: “My Name is Lucy Barton”, it announces, and, if you read it, you’ll hear all about Lucy’s life. The story, such as it is, jumps around episodically from childhood to the present but it’s mostly about the time when Lucy was in hospital during the ‘80s, was visited by her estranged elderly mother and the two got to know each other over the course of several days.

The Me You Love In The Dark Review (Skottie Young, Jorge Corona)

An artist looking for inspiration rents a haunted house - and then discovers it’s actually haunted! But the ghost is not vengeful - quite the opposite in fact. That’s right, it’s time to get the pottery wheel out and fire up the Righteous Brothers for The Me You Love in the Dark!

Batman: The Imposter Review (Mattson Tomlin, Andrea Sorrentino)

In just three years, the Batman has made a huge impact on Gotham crime - but that good work is threatening to be undone as footage of “Batman” executing unarmed prisoners emerges. There’s an imposter out there - but who? Batman and Detective Blair Wong set out to uncover the mystery.

A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance, Volume 1 Review (Rick Remender, Andre Lima Araujo)

Who hasn’t had a day like this: you go visit a wealthy couple only to find them brutally murdered by international assassins at the behest of the billionaire elite - and it’s raining and you don’t have a brolly! Well, time to hit the old dusty trail with a couple other targets and a buncha people with guns chasing you and hope you don’t get too wet!

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Review

Set in 2000, our nameless narrator decides to check out of her life for a year with the help of a fictional prescription pill. Zipping in and out of consciousness for much of that year, she starts to notice strange side effects - what will she find at the end of her experiment: the miracle transformation of her outlook that she’s seeking or will she perish along the way?

Primordial Review (Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino)

As part of the Space Race, Soviet scientists sent into space Laika the dog in 1957 and American scientists did the same to a pair of monkeys, Able and Miss Baker, in 1959. But they didn’t die! Something saved them. And made them smarter. And now they’re coming back to Earth…

The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim Review

When the Korean War began thousands of refugees fled from north to south to escape - among them the young mother of The Waiting, who left with her husband, son and daughter, and was then separated from her husband and son - forever? In modern-day South Korea, her daughter attempts to make a reunion, via the Red Cross, to bring her ailing mother in contact with her long-lost son in the north one last time before she dies…