Missing Person
Modiano's slender 1978 psychological thriller remains a superb and disturbing Parisian novel.
Gutshot
Amelia Gray is adept enough with grotesqueness to make it feel second nature, and that's a gift.
Swallowed by the Cold
Jensen Beach's 15 stories are set in Sweden and convey equal doses of wisdom and melancholy.
A Little Lumpen Novelita
Roberto Bolaño's understated Rome-set novella is a posthumous example of the Chilean writer's genius.
A Cure for Suicide
In Jesse Ball's unsettling novel, suicide has a "cure" of sorts, but the price is profoundly surreal.
Zero K
Don DeLillo's latest future-sprawl, cryonic freezing included, doesn't quite know what it most wants to say.
Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts
Donald Barthelme's controlled zaniness helped paved the way for the likes of George Saunders and China Miéville.
The North Water
Ian McGuire's 1859-set whaling detective story captures the 19th-century spirit of Melville and Poe.
The Story of My Teeth
The brilliant and ambitious Mexican Valeria Luiselli tries far too hard in her debut novel.
Mothering Sunday
Graham Swift's latest novel is a morally generous remembrance of a housemaid-turned-author.
Dirty Snow
Georges Simenon's novel of occupied France revels in the squalor that stands for collaboration.
Forty Rooms
Olga Grushin's semi-autobiographical novel weighs in on missed opportunities.