This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​In Peter Mann's debut, The Torqued Man, two manuscripts intertwine in a twisty literary thriller where nothing is what it seems.
Adrian de Groot, a German military intelligence officer who despises the Nazis but is unable to find a way to avoid submitting to them, writes in his journal about recruiting an Irishman named Frank Pike, who has been released from imprisonment under Generalissimo Francisco Franco's regime in Spain for that purpose. De Groot's supervisors hope IRA fighter Pike can deliver Irish support for a joint attack against England. But their initial mission is aborted, and Pike remains in Berlin until a use can be found for him.
Pike's journals reveal a different story, in which he has been planted as a secret agent and, in the absence of more specific instructions, makes it his mission to eliminate Nazi doctors. The two narratives combine a morbidly dark comedy with an edge-of-your-seat suspense story. Only readers see both sides--but do even they know the truth? Fact and fiction intertwine, and if Pike's story contradicts the historical record, that may mean that his entire manuscript is invented, or merely that he stretched some facts or was mistaken about an individual incident.
The inner workings of the two narrators' minds, questions about the nature of truth and shocking twists will leave readers eager for more of Mann's work. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Two narrators give conflicting perspectives on a gripping spy story set in Nazi-era Berlin.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​The worlds of three mixed-race best friends are overturned by a newcomer to their group in Wahala, the deliciously intrigue-packed debut from Nikki May.
Ronke, Simi and Boo are all Anglo-Nigerian women living in London, and they are searching for different things in their lives. Ronke wants a husband and children; she has hopes for her current boyfriend but her friends have their doubts. Boo is feeling stifled by motherhood and the limited fulfillment of a job that she's placed on the back burner. Simi and her husband, who is temporarily an ocean away, should be enjoying their career successes but she's not as certain of the plans they made together as she claims. When Simi's childhood friend Isobel comes back into her life, she seems glamorous and exciting, if perhaps a little too eager to insinuate herself into all of their lives. But as their relationships with each other and their families begin to suffer, it becomes clear that Isobel has darker plans.
Sharply funny and insightful, Wahala tackles realistic issues around colorism, race and imposter syndrome, while reveling in culture, fashion and food. (Recipes are included.) It seamlessly blends the friendship fiction with a more sinister thriller aspect. Readers will fall in love with this group of friends, hold their breath waiting to discover their fates and eagerly look forward to more from May. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Career and relationship troubles mix with more sinister plots in this wonderfully dramatic story of women's friendship.