Polygon | May 15, 2021

Summer is upon us, and whether you’re looking to finally get outside to the beach (please do so responsibly) or if you just want to escape the apocalyptic year that we’ve just endured, there’s no better way to escape than into the pages of a new science fiction or fantasy book.

This summer is brimming with good books arriving in stores in the coming months — stories of strange cults, interstellar adventures, fantastical robots, fantasy wonderlands, and quite a bit more — all perfect portals to briefly escape into a new world.

Here are 16 new novels coming out this summer to add to your to-read list.

Bubble by Jordan Morris (July 13)

Back in 2018, comedian and TV writer Jordan Morris had an idea for a series about a hip, futuristic city after thinking about the challenges of living in a place like Brooklyn or Portland — the high rents, roommates, and so forth — and decided to put a but of a science fictional spin on it. The result was a podcast called Bubble, and it followed a young woman named Morgan, who was born in the Brush (hostile, natural world outside of the city), and who makes a living hunting monsters to break in thanks to an app called Huntr.

The series was a lot of fun, and now Morris has gone and adapted the podcast as a graphic novel, along with fellow writer Sarah Morgan and artist Tony Cliff.

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Booklist | May 15, 2021

Slaughter shines an intense spotlight on a new normal laced with COVID-19 protocols and a cast of survivors battling a ruthless pandemic, a serial sadist, and a lifetime of unbeatable odds. When Andrew Tenant, the heir to Atlanta’s most prestigious auto empire, asks Leigh Collier to lead his defense against rape charges, she feels her suburban fantasy life being snatched away, tossing her back into her squalid childhood home, ducking punches and plotting her escape. As teens, Leigh and her younger sister, Callie, babysat Andrew. They also killed his father, Buddy, when he attempted to kill Callie after years of sexual abuse. Andrew doesn’t waste time revealing his agenda: he knows what they did, and he plans to continue preying on women while he draws a torturous penance from them. Leigh immediately springs Callie from her latest flophouse to strategize how they’ll keep what they did hidden. Leigh, haunted by survivor’s guilt over Callie’s abuse, and Callie, struggling to resist the comfort of a heroin binge, begin using their street smarts and working courtroom angles to wage war against Andrew and finally find peace in their unbreakable connection. Slaughter doesn’t save her twists for the end, instead peppering them throughout the intricately layered story amid stomach-churning near misses and gripping character revelations. Equal parts hyperrealistic thriller and epic tragedy, Slaughter’s latest is pitch-perfect storytelling.

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Texas Monthly | May 10, 2021

It should come as no surprise that May Cobb’s new novel, The Hunting Wives, begins with a dead body. If thrillers promise us anything, it’s blood. The East Texas native’s second novel, out this month from Penguin, joins a growing cadre of books by Texas women writers who are bending genre conventions to reveal the harder edges of the world—including Attica Locke, who uses the detective story to explore being Black in rural Texas, and Amy Gentry, who uses the art of suspense to illuminate female trauma. Because are women not always in danger? Because is being Black in America not a constantly unfolding horror story? When you frame it that way, suspense and horror just seem fitting. 

Where, exactly, does The Hunting Wives fit into this? Well, it’s complicated. The lipstick-and-bullet-casings cover and the promo copy (“sultry, salacious, and utterly unpredictable”) make it clear that one of the book’s primary goals is to be a steamy good time, with plenty of sex, drugs, guns, and oil money. The narrator, Sophie O’Neill, has recently left her job as a lifestyle editor at a magazine in Chicago to move with her family to a small town in rural East Texas. As one does. But gardening, parenting, and hashtagging her new “slow” life on social media aren’t cutting it for Sophie, and she becomes embroiled in a secret women-only shooting club revolving around the rich, beautiful, and possibly dangerous Margot Banks. Cue the sex, drugs, and guns.

The Hunting Wives vaguely gestures toward feminism, but rather than using the genre to take on the patriarchy, it is really just a thriller that takes women’s relationships seriously—the complicated ways they love and betray and protect one another. And that is radical in its own way.

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Bustle | May 5, 2021

With the COVID-19 vaccination campaign well underway, it’s beginning to look like vacations — albeit socially distanced ones — could be feasible for summer 2021. If you’re building a new TBR with beach season in mind, you can’t go wrong adding a few of the best beach reads of 2021 to your list. These romances and thrillers are the perfect kind of books to enjoy while you take in the sun, sand, and surf.

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb
The transition from the hustle and bustle of Chicago to the quiet laziness of small-town Texas isn’t easy for Sophie, who finds herself itching for something, anything, to do. Enter Margot: one of the most infamous socialites around, and a member of the elite women’s club known as the Hunting Wives. Joining the clique to drink and go target shooting in the wee hours, Sophie finally feels like she may have found her place in Texas. But when a girl’s body turns up near the Hunting Wives’ stomping grounds, she begins to realize that her new friends may be who she thought they were.

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Popsugar | May 3, 2021

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb

In The Hunting Wives by May Cobb, a woman named Sophie O'Neill moves from Chicago to a small town in Texas with her husband and son. Soon, she falls in with a clique of women who love martinis and target practice. But there's more to the Hunting Wives than just sharing drinks and gossip — these women can be deadly, as Sophie finds out firsthand when a teenage girl is discovered dead in the woods.

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Amazon | May 3, 2021

Editors' Picks: Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Find your next favorite read through the Amazon Editors' top book picks.

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Library Journal | May 1, 2021

It’s not just the sweltering weather that’s red-hot in Texas. Sophie and her husband Graham and cherubic son Jack have relocated from Chicago to the sleepy town of Mapleton, TX, to enjoy a simpler, slower lifestyle. Sophie, a successful blogger, thought that gardening and cooking perfect meals would be enough for her, but boredom and loneliness strain this idyllic life. When she catches the eye of sultry socialite Margot Banks and her coterie of rich and naughty friends, Sophie is captivated. Soon, she is invited to their secret club; soon, she is obsessed. At a remote lake house getaway, whiskey is poured generously, and the women shoot skeet. Eager to be included, and fascinated by their sexually suggestive play, Sophie can’t resist the allure of these women, nor the seductive young men who appear in the wee hours. When teenager Abby Wilson is found in the lake, having been murdered, Sophie is under the penetrating gaze of the law. She has everything to lose.

VERDICT
Cobb (Big Woods) writes a clever twisty plot in this alcohol-infused, sexually charged thriller. Gossipy, scandalous housewives behaving badly might make this the juiciest read of the season. For fans of Liane Moriarty.

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PureWow | April 20, 2021

From a gripping legal thriller by voting rights activist Stacey Abrams to beach-ready reads about wedding planners and gay uncles, here are ten books we can’t wait to get our hands on this May.

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb

What happens when a group of housewives gets bored with the monotony of their comfortable, if quiet, lives? Weird stuff, apparently. The newest from Cobb (Big Woods) centers on Sophie, a young woman who’s left behind a stressful yet fulfilling career in Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. It should feel idyllic, but she soon realizes life is now too quiet. That is, until she takes up with a socialite who’s part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives. Suddenly, Sophie is swept into the mysterious world of late-night target practice and dangerous partying. Then, the body of a teenage girl is discovered in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet, and everything changes.

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BookPeople | April 16, 2021

April's adult Amplify pick thrusts back in time to 1970s Uruguay, following five women navigating life under an oppressive regime. Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis is a gorgeous portrait of sisterhood, solidarity, resistance, and we're thrilled to bring it to you this month!

Of Cantoras, Molly M. says, "This is a very special book, with moments, places, and people who have stayed with me in bright, glorious detail since finishing it. I loved these characters, the love they had for each other, and the bravery that love gave them in living fully in the face of an increasingly hostile world.”

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Publishers Weekly | April 16, 2021

Barely ever stopping for a breath, this sci-fi adventure comedy (adapted from the popular podcast) bounds from one escapade to another while keeping up a running satirical patter. The setting is an alien planet where human settlers are divided between cosseted urbanites living in corporate-controlled domed cities and those roughing it out in the “Brush” where mutant Imps roam free. In the Fairhaven dome, Morgan is a onetime “Brush Baby” who uses her knife skills to kill the occasional Imp when it sneaks into the dome. She, her roommate Annie (a casually polyamorous bespoke drug manufacturer), ex-boyfriend and parkour enthusiast Van (widely beloved “Even with the unfortunate toe rings”), and lovable loser Mitch get sucked into a conspiracy involving an app for gig-economy Imp killers called Huntr. The blow-out fight scenes—drawn by Cliff with a fizz-bomb energy that recalls his similarly caffeinated Delilah Dirk series—come fast and furious and are littered with sarcastic one-liners and snarky takes on everything from John Mayer to TGI Fridays, book club wine moms, Frasier, CrossFit, and bearded podcast dudes with “hot takes” (“It’s time for a male Wonder Woman!”). The critique of the gig economy is just discernible beneath the smashmouth confrontations, and the relationship comedy (tangled on-again, off-again connections and flirtations throughout) is surprisingly earnest. It’s a recklessly fun, hoot and holler of a ride.

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Cosmopolitan | April 15, 2021

The Hunting Wives, by May Cobb
After moving from Chicago to a sleepy Texas town with her husband and son, Sophie thinks she's living the perfect life. But when she meets an elite clique known for partying and "late night target practice," she slowly moves away from her family and becomes obsessed. But then, she finds herself in the center of a murder investigation.

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Kirkus | April 14, 2021

An amnesia victim has built a near-perfect new life when she runs into someone from her past.

A disheveled, bleeding woman who doesn't know even her own name is picked up hitchhiking on a highway in New Jersey by a kindly trucker. He and his wife become her surrogate parents, helping her manufacture a new identity as Addison Hope. Addison soon meets Gabriel, a wonderful young man from the Philadelphia Main Line who is so smitten he ends a yearslong relationship with another woman and proposes. Gabriel's mother, Blythe, isn't ready to pop the champagne, though—she wants to know who this girl really is. In truth, Addison feels the same reservations. Meanwhile, up in Boston, a handsome psychiatrist named Julian is caring for his 7-year-old daughter on his own after his wife disappeared two years earlier. Could it be...? In their fifth outing, the sisters who write as Constantine have cooked up another plot involving people with hidden identities—and it works well to embed that issue in the head of the protagonist, who doesn't know herself or anyone else from her past. The plot is twisty but not excessively so—it's the kind where an experienced reader can enjoy staying a few steps ahead of the reveals rather than the kind where the answers are obvious too early or are based on too many late-breaking details. Like most of Constantine's work, including fan favorite The Last Mrs. Parrish (2017), this one is set in the lap of luxury, this time a bit stripped down: fewer ritzy locations and rich-people caricatures, a bit less wealth porn. Still, Gabriel's country-club-snob mother is one of the best characters, and one of several wine recommendations is slipped in as the villain is about to enter his secret den of psychosis: "I have the house to myself overnight for the first time that I remember, and have decided to open the Odette Estate Reserve...."

A fast, fun read for domestic thriller fans.

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Crime By The Book | April 11, 2021

Is it a little bit early to be talking about summer crime fiction releases? Maybe… though I don’t know about you, but I for one am already eagerly anticipating summer and all that it will bring with it! It’s been a long year since the pandemic began, and I will take any and every excuse to look forward to the future - including looking forward to future crime fiction releases. In that spirit, rather than doing separate Spring 2021 and Summer 2021 Most-Anticipated lists, I decided to combine them both into one massive rundown of the upcoming crime fiction releases that I’m most looking forward to in the coming months!

THE HUNTING WIVES by May Cobb
I’ve been saving my advance copy of THE HUNTING WIVES for a rainy day when I need a purely fun suspense novel to dig into - I can’t wait to give this one a try! I’ve heard it compared to Desperate Housewives (yes please!), and can’t wait to get into this juicy, dramatic thriller. This book has “popcorn thriller” written all over it, and looks perfect for a poolside read as the weather warms up.

Follow the link above to learn more.

The Nerd Daily | April 10, 2021

Thriller lovers, we are about to be spoiled! There are an incredible number of new books coming out in the next few months that are sure to be nothing short of outstanding. We have highlighted a few that are scheduled to be published in each of the next few months with (hopefully) just enough information to get you as excited as we are. With an amazing mix of debut authors and perennial favourites, there is definitely something for everyone. We promise, no spoilers here!

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb
An elite club that focuses equally on target practice and martinis leads to a life of dangerous behavior, obsession, seduction, and murder when Sophie, her husband, and young son settle down in a small Texas town.

Follow the link above to learn more.

The New York Times | April 9, 2021

MY MOTHER’S HOUSE, by Francesca Momplaisir. (Vintage, 304 pp., $16.) This debut novel is narrated from three perspectives: a Queens house on fire (its walls “talk, scheme and ultimately give in to an impulse to self-destruct”), its Haitian owner and a mysterious woman living in the basement. Our reviewer, Stephanie Powell Watts, called it “an ambitious attempt to tell a story of despotism and terror, toxic masculinity and survival.”

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Publishers Weekly | February 26, 2021

Lifestyle journalist Sophie O’Neill, the narrator of this nail-biting thriller from Cobb (Big Woods), leaves a successful job in bustling Evanston, Ill., wishing to “slow down” with her architect husband and preschooler son in small town Mapleton, Tex. Soon, a bored Sophie seeks the company of oil-rich Margot Banks, the force behind an exclusive conspiratorial clique of four wives, a group of dysfunctional friends heavily lubricated with a steady diet of martinis and mojitos. Friday nights light up with their private skeet shooting club, followed by barhopping. The flirting women have only two rules: first names only, and don’t go all the way. But rules are meant to be broken. Fueled by alcohol, rage, jealousy, unhappy marriages, and blind lust, the women indulge in adultery and raunchy sex. It’s Texas, so keep an eye out for hunky football players, and when a teenage cheerleader ends up dead, Sophie becomes the prime suspect. Wild plot twists keep the pages turning up to the unexpected ending. This romp is a guilty pleasure.

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Essence | February 25, 2021

Patrisse Cullors has been a force in the social justice and activism space as one of the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement alongside Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza.

As an artist, author, and freedom fighting organizer, Cullors has been no stranger to vocalizing her opinions through any medium necessary, and she unapologetically uses her social platforms to speak out about artistic and cultural work within the Black community. As we approach the one-year anniversaries of the unjust killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the self-proclaimed abolitionist has announced the release of a new book for the everyday activist looking to play their role in the fight for justice and equality.

Set for release on October 5, 2021, “An Abolitionist’s Handbook: 12 Steps to Change Yourself and the World” is available for pre-order now and will be published via St. Martins Press. The handbook will serve as a framework for the activists and abolitionists of today’s generation who want to learn about and implement the necessary skills to effect change among Black people and other poor, marginalized and disenfranchised communities during these unprecedented times. If you’re looking for a how-to guide on becoming a modern-day abolitionist through “love, fierce compassion and precision,” you should add this to your cart.

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People | February 25, 2021

Patrisse Cullors, one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, has inspired millions of people around the world to take to the streets in protest of systemic racism and police brutality.

Now, the activist is sharing her best advice for cultivating positive change and lasting equality in our communities in her new book.

Cullors is unveiling the cover of her upcoming book, An Abolitionist's Handbook: 12 Steps to Change Yourself and the World, exclusively to PEOPLE.

For An Abolitionist's Handbook's cover art, Cullors chose to showcase the title in a straightforward, bold and black typeface set against a grainy white background.

The book offers a framework for readers to push for reform that helps Black, poor and disenfranchised people, initiate reparations and practice compassion.

Follow the link above to learn more.