What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week

Paul Tremblay’s Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep, Colin Asher’s The Midnight Special, and Jenny Jackson’s The Shampoo Effect all feature among the best reviewed books of the week.

Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home for book reviews.

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Fiction

1. Devotions by Lucy Caldwell
(Faber & Faber)

6 Rave • 1 Positive

“Lucy Caldwell is less well known here than she should be; it’s time to correct that … A genuinely ambitious and rewarding collection … If Caldwell’s short story project were to end with Devotions, circling back to the idea that fate relies on knowing when and how to let go is a tremendously satisfying conclusion.”

–Cory Oldweiler (The Boston Globe)

2. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
(William Morrow)

6 Rave

“Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep will likely be a divisive novel, even among the Tremblay die-hards … Readers who choose to take the hand Tremblay has outstretched here, though, will find themselves entertained, enraged and satisfied … One of Tremblay’s greatest strengths is his ability to keep a surprising number of narrative balls in the air; wildly different tonal threads coexist in his stories without the boundaries between them becoming muddled … If the author’s cri de coeur about A.I. occasionally overshadows the story, I think he’s earned it.”

–Emily C. Hughes (The New York Times Book Review)

3. The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson
(Pamela Dorman Books)

4 Rave • 1 Positive

“Offers sharp social commentary on millennials navigating middle age, set in a close-knit Massachusetts beach town … Fueled by humor, sex, and drugs, this pointed, character-driven novel will appeal to fans of Emma Straub or Taffy Brodesser-Akner.”

–Stacy Alesi (Library Journal)

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Nonfiction

1. On the Origin of Sex: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Reproduction by Lixing Sun
(Basic Books)

2 Rave • 5 Positive

“Sun winningly takes his experience and knowledge and translates it into a book for the masses. The writing style and flow are easy to follow, keeping readers engaged and eager to read the next line … A terrific example of a scholar sharing his knowledge with the public in a way that is engaging and understandable to a wide range of people while remaining intellectually stimulating.”

–Aaron Paul (Library Journal)

2. The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music by Colin Asher
(W. W. Norton)

3 Rave • 1 Rave

“Asher’s book is a Midnight Special of its own. It’s a fog-piercing down-bound train of a book, better than it had to be … If these profiles had been straightforward, that might’ve been enough. But Asher is a calm and sophisticated storyteller who picks you up and sets you back down in places you didn’t anticipate. Like a good film director, he knows how to stagger his material.”

–Dwight Garner (The New York Times)

3. Thundering Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Niagara Falls by Christen E. Civiletto
(Island Press)

2 Rave • 1 Positive

“Simultaneously a crime thriller, environmental exposé, geographic history, and personal memoir, Civiletto’s granular examination of an ecological disaster makes for sobering, frightening reading.”

–Carol Haggas (Booklist)