Put mischievously spinster twins in a small Mexican city and out come sly laughs.

"Tyler's Last" evokes the ghost of Patricia Highsmith in a thriller of global complications.

Samantha Harvey's novel-length letter to a long-lost friend is as brilliant as it is sad.

In the spirit of "Dr. Strangelove," French novelist Michel Houellebecq puts a brilliantly comic spin on a sensitive topic.

Chilean Alejandro Zambra's stories move from fictional autobiography into handsome melancholy.

David Vann's vision of family redemption starts magically, but grows foul with rage.

Elizabeth Evans' new novel is a powerful look at women friends "reunited" in name only.

A paranoid Salvadoran expat in Mexico City dreams of going him — but conspiracies come first.

American writer Michael Mewshaw generously recalls Gore Vidal and his tumultuous times.

In a novel with autobiographical hues, Norwegian Per Petterson considers friendship and lost time.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's brilliant stories eviscerate families seeking Communist-era roofs.