There's an air of paranoia hanging over the books my colleagues and I are recommending this week. One imagines a world where AI is on the cusp of leading a global government; another traffics in gothic tropes of mysterious mansions and dangerous games. The third has more personal tensions on its mind—masculinity, mostly—which might make it the most topical of them all.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. We're also sharing PW's Fall 2025 Writers to Watch feature, which highlights a slate of exciting fiction debuts. At least a few of the books on our list take a lighter approach, and the heavy ones herald promising new literary voices, at least. Phoebe Greenwood's Vulture, which publishes on Tuesday, straddles the line—it's a sharp satire of war journalism that our reviewer called "a striking portrait of hubris."
Elsewhere, we've got interviews with authors about autism, midcentury Hollywood, and a long-unsolved mystery. Here's hoping there's a little something for everyone. Happy reading!
—Conner Reed
Starred Reviews Releasing Next WeekCheck out all the books to receive starred PW reviews that are hitting shelves next week. more
Writers to Watch: Fall 2025This fall’s hottest debut fiction is all about location, location, location, whether in stories about crazed house hunters, Upstate New York politics, or hypocrisy in the Deep South. more
Holly Smale Is Living Out LoudFor Smale, being diagnosed with autism at age 39 changed her life and reshaped her fiction. more
The Enduring Relevance of a 75-Year-Old Hollywood Satire: PW Talks with David M. LubinIn Ready for My Closeup, the film professor takes readers behind the scenes of the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. more
Peter Orner’s Healthy ObsessionIn his latest novel, Orner uses a real-life unsolved murder from the 1960s to explore the nature of storytelling. more
How Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian Got MadeAn inside look at the publication process for the author’s latest novel. more
with Brian Anderson
Children's book author and nationally syndicated cartoonist Brian Anderson had more to say about Sophie, the dog at the heart of his popular comic, Dog eat Doug. He decided to expand it into a middle grade graphic novels series with the loveable Sophie winning over adults and children alike in the process. (Sponsored) MORE »
Artificial WisdomBy Thomas R. Weaver (Del Rey)
Books about AI have already flooded the sci-fi and nonfiction markets, but they've been slower to take over the thriller beat. This previously self-published bit of noirish political suspense imagines a future ravaged by climate disaster in which a former U.S. president is preparing to face off against an AI persona in a global election. Throw in a grizzled reporter, a murder mystery, and a strong instinct for well-deployed plot twists, and Weaver winds up delivering a timely page-turner that's perfect for the dog days of summer. —Conner Reed, mystery and memoir reviews editor
DogsBy C. Mallon (Scribner)
A number of memorable novels about wrestling have come out in the past decade—the first that comes to mind, of course, is Stephen Florida by my predecessor on the fiction reviews desk, Gabe Habash, an Orphic journey into the monastic dedication required to compete at the scholastic level. I’m also thinking of books that wade into the semi-pro circuit, like Gene Kwak’s Go Home, Ricky! and Chris Koslowski’s Kayfabe. These books often explore fraught friendships and family relationships, loneliness, and masculinity, as does Mallon's debut, which our reviewer found to be a sinewy and heartbreaking story of high school wrestlers pinned down by inescapable demons. Let's go! —David Varno, literary fiction reviews editor
House of Monstrous WomenBy Daphne Fama (Berkley)
I make it a personal policy never to accept invitations to old friends' and/or secret crushes' houses for dangerous games with extravagant prizes. But that’s the setup of Fama’s excellent debut, an eerie gothic tale set in the Philippines in the 1980s, and in her hands it’s good fun. —Phoebe Cramer, SFF, horror, and romance reviews editor
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On Power
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A Theory of Dreaming Deluxe Limited Edition: Sequel to a Study in Drowning
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Glorious Rivals
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Do Not Disturb
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Lights Out: An Into Darkness Novel
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