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10 Fantastic Novels Now in Paperback

Grab these great 2021 books for your 2022 reading pile

Irina Dobrolyubova/Getty Images Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. The Queen of the Beach Read's Nantucket-set novel hit the top of the best-seller list last summer, and for good reason: It may be one of her best. Famous beach-book writer (ha) Vivi Howe is killed in a hit-and-run while out jogging, causing chaos among her three grown children and friends, who want to understand what happened. Meanwhile, Vivi has gone to “the Beyond,” where she's told by an Hermès scarf-wearing character named Martha that she holds three “nudges” to affect life on earth. While deciding how to use those nudges, Vivi watches her loved ones with concern as they go through their summer days — until an unexpected stranger threatens everyone's peace.

Billy Summers by Stephen King br

This weighty thriller from the King of Suspense is a long read at 528 pages but worth the commitment. It's about sharpshooting hit man Billy Summers — though that's just one of his names — who justifies his profession by only killing “bad guys.” But after taking on a high-priced job, he wonders if the person or group orchestrating the hit might be the baddest of all. When he eventually becomes a target himself, he ends up saving the life of a young woman, and they hit the road together. Unlike many of King's classics, there's nothing supernatural here — besides a winking allusion to The Shining. It's on its way to a limited series adaptation for TV. And good news for King fans: He has a new book, Fairy Tale, out in September.

Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams br

Beloved historical-fiction novelist Williams (author of The Summer Wives, among many others) brings us an engrossing story about American twin sisters whose paths diverge during World War II, then come together in dramatic fashion years later. In 1952, Ruth is head of a New York City modeling agency when she's sent an enigmatic postcard from her estranged sister, Iris Digby, who's married to a U.S. diplomat and living in Moscow. Ruth and a British counterintelligence agent set out together, pretending to be a married couple (rather convincingly, ahem) to possibly free Iris and her children from trouble behind the Iron Curtain.

The Magician by Colm Tóibín​ br

Literary lovers will want to sink into this absorbing reimagining of the life of the Nobel Prize-winning German writer Thomas Mann. The story takes us through Mann’s youth, rise to fame in Germany with the publication of Buddenbrooks, initial complacency then growing alarm as the Nazis take power, marriage to wife Katia despite his attraction to young men, and emigration to the U.S. Mann family members have their own struggles, all vividly brought to life. The Irish Tóibín’s other notable novels include 2009’s Brooklyn (turned into a 2015 film starring Saoirse Ronan). Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers >

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan br

The setting for this mesmerizing novel is a quiet suburban street whose center literally and figuratively falls away during a brutally hot summer when a sinkhole opens up, spewing a smelly black sludge. After a girl falls in, a troubled woman starts pointing fingers at one family (they never did fit in), and the nastiness escalates on Maple Street — Langan's witty reference to “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” the famous Twilight Zone episode about scapegoating turned deadly. It offers both page-turning suspense and brilliant social commentary.

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr br

This beautifully written debut novel — a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction — is a love story about two enslaved men, Isaiah and Samuel, whose devotion to each other leads to trouble on a brutally run Mississippi plantation. Voices of their African ancestors are woven throughout the book, Toni Morrison-style, with a complex mix of characters, including an older enslaved man, Amos, who embraces the plantation owner's Christianity and becomes a preacher. This draws attention to the love between the two men, and tension builds toward an inevitably violent reckoning.

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

A sweeping epic with brilliantly drawn characters by Shipstead — author of 2014's Astonish Me — focuses on Marian Graves, whose story begins with a near drowning at sea with her infant twin brother, Jaimie. Her life is no less eventful while growing up as an aspiring pilot in Prohibition-era Montana, working as a bootlegger to squirrel money away for flying lessons. As an adult, she's becomes legendary pilot whose story is in the process of being captured on film in modern-day Los Angeles; the book jumps forward to the filming and the young actress who's playing her role. Update now and save 25% off your next year of membership with Automatic Renewal Pay nothing now and get peace of mind knowing your benefits continue without interruption. No charge until your current term expires. Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers >

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

It's hard to believe this moving, beautifully written novel, long-listed for the 2021 Booker Prize, is a debut. The book is set in the American South just after the Civil War, when enslaved people have been emancipated but are still shackled in many ways by racism, not to mention their traumatic pasts. Trouble starts soon after a good-hearted older white man, George, hires two freed brothers to help him farm his land. He and his family draw close to the pair, but the townspeople don't look kindly on the arrangement. Tensions build to a near-apocalyptic climax, and a kind of justice is finally served.

More winners coming very soon in paperback

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (May 18):
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins (June 21): The author of the mega-bestseller The Girl on the Train whipped up another killer page-turner in 2021, this one about the murder of a young man on a London houseboat. Actress Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) narrates the audiobook. Silverview by John le Carré (July 5): This is the final, posthumously published novel by the renowned master of spy fiction (The Man Who Came in From the Cold Christina Ianzito is the travel and books editor for aarp.org and AARP The Magazine, and also edits and writes health, entertainment and other stories for aarp.org. She received a 2020 Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing. ​ Christina Ianzito covers fraud and breaking news for aarp.org and is the books editor for aarp.org and 'AARP The Magazine.' Also a longtime travel writer and editor, she received a 2020 Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. MORE FROM AARP AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS