Death and crime are universal and, unfortunately, recurring, but the East Kentucky of the Mick Hardin books is so individual and precise that it, more than the generically required crime, will have to itching for another book the second you're through with the last.

While shit and sadism has always been rife in the work of Moshfegh, here those elements feel focused and purposeful. 

"Can a forgery not give as much pleasure as an original? Isn't there a point when fakes become more authentic than originals?" Reality is up for enthralling debate in Portrait of an Unknown Lady.

It's the inalterable qualities of humanity, the ones that St. John Mandel suggests survives far into the future, regardless of pandemic and other disaster, that makes the novel so ultimately moving in a way that's better experienced than expressed.

Don't Know Tough is both a thrilling and compassionate look at the needed duality of strength and delicacy. 

Mouth to Mouth is a must for fans of Patricia Highsmith and Hitchcock at his most restrained.