G.P.Putnam's SonsOld SoulSusan Barker’s is a book I can only describe as gripping — I finished it in a little over a day after picking it up during my weekend and ending up unable to tear myself away.It was like I blinked and was suddenly 100 pages in, and just had to keep going to find out what would come next.Early on, strangers Jake and Mariko miss a flight and end up drunkenly talking about their lives, leading to the realization that they each lost a loved one under what seem to be the same tragic and (extremely specific) bizarre circumstances.
One thing their deceased loved ones appear to have in common is that they both became briefly entangled with a mysterious woman right before their deaths.Jake becomes determined to learn more, and tracks down other people whose lives were affected by this woman, who herself doesn’t seem subject to the same rules of time and mortality as the rest of us.is told through several different perspectives, with a series of testimonies about strange events of the past placed in parallel to a narrative following two women who set out on a hike into New Mexico’s Bisti Badlands for a photo/video shoot.
is a haunting look at how predators operate, latching onto vulnerable people and falsely empowering them for nefarious reasons.It establishes a quiet sense of dread at the very beginning that only builds with each new account of the devastation left in the woman’s wake.I’ll be surprised if I look back on the year in 11 months and this doesn’t end up being one of my top reads of 2025.
$26 at AmazonImage ComicsThe Seasons #1Much of the first issue of a new series byRick Remender and Paul Azaceta, plays out like an old-school cartoon.A frenzied character, Spring Seasons, crashes her way through people and stores as she chases a very important letter from her sister that keeps getting swept out of reach by the wind.It’s completely over the top and silly, so much so that you quickly forget how the story opened — with a scene of a city in ruin, cut off from contact with the rest of the world.
In that city, we see a traveling circus packing up amidst the destruction, getting ready to depart for whatever its next stop is.The tonal shift between the opening and Spring’s mad dash is unexpected and hooks you in a “what the hell is going on?” kind of way.Issue #1 doesn’t really tell you what the series is going to be about, but it sure makes you want to find out.
Especially once the circus shows up in Spring’s own town.The description explains a little more: “Summer, Winter, Spring and Autumn are the Seasons Sisters, the daughters of the world-renowned Seasons Detectives.Ten years ago, their famous parents disappeared.
Left to raise themselves, the sisters formed an unbreakable bond.Now that bond is tested as the sisters fall prey to sinister forces.The youngest sister, Spring, is the last hope of saving them from a fate worse than death.” The first issue was released this week and the next arrives at the end of February.
$3 at Amazon
