THE HUNT

Fall's best fiction features new voices and noted masters solving crimes and other mysteries.

- TAYLOR ANTRIM, ANNA CAFOLLA, CHLOE SCHAMA

PICTURE-PERFECT The cover of Angela Flournoy's (TOP) The Wilderness features art by Mickalene Thomas, while Zoe Dubno's (ABOVE) Happiness & Love shows a painting by Eunnam Hong.

Growing up can feel sometimes like traversing a vast and unruly landscape, and so the title of Angela Flournoy’s latest novel, The Wilderness (Mariner)—her second after a lauded debut 10 years ago—feels apt. It’s a rangy novel, crisscrossing the country to trace the fates of five friends as they navigate relationships, career pivots, and the loss of or estrangement from family. The Wilderness uses social events (recent racial reckonings, the pandemic) as material but has a more seasoned perspective than that of novels written in their immediate wake. The gestation of this book seems to have served it well in that respect, giving it a lightly worn wisdom on the promise and reality of historic inflection points and how a tightly knit group might respond to them differently.