Whether you’re enjoying a summer vacation, or waiting until the dog days of August to hit the beach, the lake or the poolside, books offer a welcome diversion to the relentless Texas heat. Kirkus Reviews Editor-in-Chief Clay Smith says your choices for summer reading range from thriller to memoir.
Smith says those who enjoy fast-paced crime stories should check out Austinite Meg Gardiner’s “Unsub.” The book takes its title from the FBI term for a crime with no known suspects.
“This one is pretty gruesome, I will admit,” Smith says. “[It’s] a serial-killer thriller, loosely based on the zodiac killings from the late 60s in the Bay Area.”
Smith says author Stephen King admitted the book even scared him. CBS television recently acquired the rights to “Unsub.”
If your summer reading tastes are more literary, Smith suggests J. Courtney Sullivan’s “Saints for all Occasions.” The novel focuses on a family secret shared by two Irish sisters who emigrate to the U.S. in the late 1950s. One of Sullivan’s earlier books was named a Time Magazine Book of the Year in 2011.
David Sedaris’ “Theft by Finding” is among the biggest non-fiction books of the summer, Smith says. The hefty volume features the popular humorist and memoirist’s diary entries from 1977 to 2002.
Listen to the full interview in the audio player above.
Written by Shelly Brisbin.
