WE BEGIN AT THE END by Chris Whitaker (Holt). A dark, demanding but rewarding thriller/noir/small town family novel—very American, convincingly so, though by an established British thriller writer. The small town is in California, but might have been in East Tennessee. The kids in this family are especially compelling, the writing consciously literary, even showy at moments, but the book is a very fine trip, and already a bestseller.

THE PERFORMANCE by Claire Thomas (Riverhead). This is, I guess, a perfectly literary novel—nothing happens in it except the performance of a play; a play that is, famously, one in which nothing happens. So, of course, you can't put it down. The play (which is really just the novel's setting, not its story) is Beckett's “Happy Days,” the one that consists of a lone woman, buried up to her waist, talking (until the second act, of course, when she's in up to her neck). But the book's characters are three separate women in the audience, and each of their husbands, families, lovers—their lives—which are made real and engaging and dramatic for us, all (supposedly) within their minds as they reflect on them as the play meanders along before them. The effect is, then, cinematic, since we float about in three different orbits—but full of emotion and drama. It's brainy, because these are (differently) smart and thoughtful women, but full of feeling, too, so . . . a lot going on, while nothing's happening.

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH: A ROBIN LOCKWOOD NOVEL by Phillip Margolin (Minotaur). The third in his current courtroom drama/mystery series, featuring the defense lawyer who, not incidentally, used to be a mixed martial arts fighter. Robin is likable, believable, and growing; Margolin seemed (to this column, anyway) to go a little flat a couple of years ago, but this series is solid gold, so far.

ETERNAL by Lisa Scottoline (Putnam). One of the great entertainers in this medium, always full value. . . . So where's the news? Odd title for Scottoline, isn't it? So—wait, what? Yeah, it really is a big turn, away from thrillers (though it's thrilling enough), and into historical fiction! The era is before and during World War II, and the place is Italy. A big book, eventful, not a combat novel but certainly a war novel, though that isn't all (three decades pass in these pages) and of course a love story—more than one love story, even. That war, and the political madness that raged through Europe and elevated Hitler and Mussolini and then suffered under them, are the richly realized, enveloping setting, but, well, trust Scottoline (don't we always?); not history, storytelling. Bringing people to life. Full value.