Both a natural evolution for the world of the X-Men and unlike anything done previously with the characters, this collection is an excellent introduction to Jonathan Hickman’s burgeoning “Dawn of X” universe. With House of X and Powers of X, he takes Marvel’s mutants further from the realm of superhero stories and deeper into the world of speculative fiction in an engrossing narrative that spans three timelines and dozens of characters. This is one of the boldest and most ambitious mainstream comics in years, packed with clever world building, humor, pathos, and the promise of so much more. And it’s the rare case of a comic being perfect for both longtime fans and new readers.
Far removed from the world of George Smiley and British intelligence is The Little Drummer Girl, an ambitious and morally complex standalone novel from John le Carré. His protagonist is Charlie, a young actress whose talent and passionate political bent draws the attention of a cabal of Israeli spies. They coerce her into taking a role in “the theater of the real” in order to catch a bomber, and she’s quickly immersed in a world of danger and consummate paranoia. As she dives deeper into her role, Charlie’s sympathies and motivations begin to bleed together in thrilling, painful fashion. Le Carré tackles intensely political subject matter with nuance, and he boldly embraces the humanity and ugliness in each of his characters.
Published serially in 1946, The Honjin Murders is an influential and cunningly crafted mystery classic. With this novel, Yokomizo introduces his most famous creation, amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi (who would appear in over seventy of his novels), and codifies his unique fusion of western mystery trappings and Japanese literary aesthetics. In The Honjin Murders, Yokomizo wastes no time in constructing an elaborate world populated with unique characters and abundant clues, devising a locked-room mystery with a truly ingenious solution. This is a lean novel with no ink wasted, but it retains a powerful atmosphere thanks to Yokomizo’s visual imagination and rich eye for detail.
