A  beguiling, sharp, and surprising book that will have you scratching your head in the very best way. Clean, cutting observations and slippery characters combine in this gem for literary fiction lovers. Be warned: you might have to live with a little (ok more than a little) uncertainty in this book, but let Kitamura lead you toward a little provocative discombobulation. —Jeff O’Neal

Literary fiction of the highest order from a Nobel Prize-winning novelist. Not much happens in this quiet, dream-like novel that asks rich questions about history, memory, connection, and pain. It’s the rare book that can be equally subtle and unsettling, and that’s evidence of a masterful writer working at the height of her powers. You always know you’re in good hands with Kang, and that makes it a pleasure to follow her wherever she wants to go. —Rebecca Joines Schinsky

On the third day of reading Jones’ latest horror novel, I had a nightmare, but it might not be why you think. The monsters here are supernatural and all-consuming, but the true horror is the very real story that’s told of the Marias Massacre, where around 200 Blackfeet were murdered in the dead of winter. The story is told through a journal found in 2012, which was written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor. The pastor records his time with a Blackfeet man named Good Stab, a man with peculiar eating habits and seemingly superhuman abilities… and revenge on his mind. —Erica Ezeifedi

Susan Choi’s sixth novel is a masterpiece, a family saga wrapped in a mystery that haunts its characters. Young Louisa and her father are walking along a beach at night, carrying flashlights. Hours later, Louisa is found alone, barely alive, and her father is never seen again. As Louisa grows up with her mother, the loss of her father hovering over their lives, parts of their pasts are revealed, including a long-held secret. Flashlight is a sharp examination of not only the physical loss of someone, but loss of place, estrangement, and loss of self, as Louisa and her mother carry around a grief with no end. It’s a stunning heart-puncher. —Liberty Hardy