August’s best books keep you on the edge of your seat

These are the fiction titles our reviewers liked best this month.

Children of Wolves, by Lawrence Osborne (Simon & Schuster/Summit Books)

Lawrence Osborne’s fiction revolves around travelers losing their way in foreign lands. In his latest novel, an American private investigator gets out of his depth while on an assignment in Istanbul to locate a billionaire’s runaway daughter. He befriends a group of young radicals and uncovers a dark conspiracy. It’s a gripping psychological thriller rich in intrigue and drama. – Malcolm Forbes 

Nearshore, by Steve Hawk (Viking)

Steve Hawk’s debut novel is a modern apocalyptic thriller, featuring an unlikely trio: a California surfer, an orphaned teenager, and a math genius. The mathematics doctoral student is trying to convince authorities that a Silicon Valley billionaire is plotting domestic nuclear terrorism. Featuring seascape settings and insightful dialogue, this coastal noir tale delivers important ideas with a courageous heart. – Stefanie Milligan

Sunlight Finds You, by Laura Moriarty (Riverhead Books)

Laura Moriarty explores the stages of womanhood in a story set in Florida at the start of the Cold War. Main character Nora Chesnow reflects on her turbulent teenage years while navigating a surprise pregnancy. The harrowing experience teaches her lessons in love, trust, resilience, and forgiveness as she fights for the right to make decisions about her own body. Between moments of deep sadness and heartbreak, she does find sunlight and hope. – Kelenna Onukwugha

Astronaut!, by Oana Aristide (W.W. Norton)

The absurdities and tragedies of daily life in dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Romania roar from the page in Oana Aristide’s irresistible debut. Nine-year-old Lia – artistic, outspoken, and forever in trouble – hatches a plot to convince her country’s Dear Leader to return color to their austere world. A stalwart police detective tracks a far-ranging serial killer, even as the media blames a fictitious bear for the (neither grizzly nor particularly grisly) deaths. Aristide deftly brings her parallel storylines ever-closer until lives converge in the satisfying finale. Truth, dignity, reason, individuality: All feel a bit more precious – and fragile – by the novel’s close. – Erin Douglass

The Camino, by Anya Niewierra, translated by Eileen Stevens (Simon & Schuster)

In this Dutch bestseller, chocolatier and mother Lotte Bonnet heads to France to hike the Camino de Santiago in the wake of her husband’s apparent suicide on the trail. Nearly as shocking as his abrupt death is the news that he had been lying to the family for decades; the real Emil Jukić disappeared after a Bosnian War massacre in 1995. While retracing his route, revisiting photos, and dredging her memories for clues to his distress, Lotte encounters dangers and pushes her limits. As the action alternates between Lotte’s adventure and Emil’s childhood in the former Yugoslavia, twists abound. So, too, do insights into lives riven by ethno-
religious antagonism. It’s a winner. – Erin Douglass

Time to Burn, by Ellery Lloyd (Harper)

This time-travel mystery takes ultra-wealthy “time tourists” back to 1941 London, at the height of the Blitz. When Phoebe Hunt, a documentarian for Tempus Tours, discovers that a real estate heiress who didn’t return from a journey is actually a suspicious woman from Phoebe’s past, Phoebe races to stop history from being rewritten. The stakes are high. People she knows are endangered. Ellery Lloyd’s story cleverly examines ethical issues with smartly drawn characters. – Stefanie Milligan 

A Stranger in Corfu, by Alex Preston (Pegasus Crime)

This thriller centers on disgraced or damaged agents of Britain’s MI6 intelligence service who have been exiled to a remote Greek island. Young agent Nina is recuperating in Corfu after a botched mission in the Balkans, but the idyllic landscape darkens when an agent is murdered. As the past catches up with the present, secrets and betrayals emerge with dangerous consequences. The storytelling will keep readers rapt. – Stefanie Milligan

These are the nonfiction titles our reviewers liked best this month.

Liberation Summer: The Moment That Changed the Women’s Movement and the Future of American Politics, by Micki McElya (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster)

The 1968 Miss America Pageant and the concurrent Miss Black America Pageant are seldom thought of as critical to the formation of the modern women’s movement. But historian Micki McElya delves into forgotten events that illuminate this vital story. Her research shows how the struggle to reconcile conflicting factions and form a collective challenge to oppressive beauty standards gained strength. The episode also gave rise to iconic figures such as Anita Bryant, Phyllis Schlafly, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem. – Joan Gaylord

Mothers of Invention: A History of Creativity From the Greek Muses, by Moiya McTier (Grand Central Publishing)

At a time when many people value artificial intelligence more than the arts, and celebrity more than science, Moira McTier explores the annals of human innovation. Blending whimsy with historical accuracy, she examines innovative contributions through the eyes of the nine Muses, the divine daughters of Greek mythology who were once believed to inspire mortals. Drawing from the Muses’ imagined journals, the book explores such cultural breakthroughs as Shakespeare, electricity, and jazz. It underscores what society would lose without inspired creative thought. – Joan Gaylord

Daylight Come: Harry Belafonte and the World He Made, by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro (Penguin Press)

This admiring biography of Harry Belafonte captures the epic sweep of the long life of the entertainer and activist, who died in 2023. Born in Harlem to Caribbean immigrants, Belafonte achieved success in the 1950s – unprecedented for a Black singer and actor. Jelly-Schapiro demonstrates that the charismatic star, who shared a deep friendship with Martin Luther King Jr., was most interested in using his fame and wealth to advance the Civil Rights Movement. – Barbara Spindel

The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn, by Dave Zirin (Dutton)

Dave Zirin’s rousing biography of Howard Zinn explains how the activist-historian, born to impoverished Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn in 1922, developed the radical beliefs that informed his bestselling 1980 classic, “A People’s History of the United States.” The seminal book presented a bottom-up view of American history, and Zinn, who lived well into his 80s, never lost faith that small acts of grassroots social struggle have the power to change the world. – Barbara Spindel

The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State, by Jill Lepore (Liveright)

Inspired by Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” a 1951 work in which the philosopher drew parallels between the rise of automation and totalitarianism, historian Jill Lepore points to a similar relationship between today’s Big Tech industry and threats to individual liberty. Her book offers few specific solutions, but the range of her learning and her gift for historical anecdote prove engaging. – Danny Heitman

Courage Can Save US: Ten Extraordinary Americans and the Fight for Our Future, by Rye Barcott (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Rye Barcott, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and co-founder of With Honor, shares 10 examples of current government leaders (most of whom are veterans) who have had the courage to choose co-partisanship under pressure. The book examines how dedication to good governance rather than personal agenda has resulted in cooperation across party lines. Published the year of the United States’ 250th birthday and ahead of a potentially consequential midterm election, the book comes as a timely example and warning to a country that Barcott says needs saving from its own internal dissension. – Emily Staunton