Noir, Updated

Perfidia
by James Ellroy

Pulp master Ellroy, who regularly introduces himself at readings as “the demon dog, the foul owl with the death growl,” begins another quartet of tersely written historical noir novels with Perfidia, set in Los Angeles in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombings. Ellroy’s tightly wound prose is part 1950s tabloid, part telegram, and all deeply absorbing.
(Knopf, September)

Alice + Freda Forever
by Alexis Coe

A fascinating historical true crime story, Alice + Freda Forever tackles the tale of a teenager who attempted to pose as a man to marry her girlfriend. When her scheme failed, the two grew apart until Alice gruesomely and publicly murdered her former love. The lesbian relationship was then used as evidence of Alice’s insanity in a court trial, and documented in Coe’s captivating account.
(Pulp/Zest, October)

Revival
by Stephen King

Horror master Stephen King returns to form with a new thriller about a reverend who renounces his faith, a heroin-addicted
musician, and the curious pact between them.
(Scribner, October)