FICTION
1. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. (Putnam) In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.
2. The Guardians, by John Grisham. (Doubleday) Cullen Post, a lawyer and Episcopal minister, antagonizes some ruthless killers when he takes on a wrongful-conviction case.
3. The Institute, by Stephen King. (Scribner) Children with special talents are abducted and sequestered in an institution where the sinister staff seeks to extract their gifts through harsh methods.
4. Criss Cross, by James Patterson. (Little, Brown) The 27th book in the "Alex Cross" series. Copycat crimes make the detective question whether an innocent man was executed.
5. The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood. (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday) In a sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale," old secrets bring three women together as the Republic of Gilead's theocratic regime shows signs of decay.
6. Blue Moon, by Lee Child. (Delacorte) Jack Reacher gets caught up in a turf war between Ukrainian and Albanian gangs.
7. A Minute to Midnight, by David Baldacci. (Grand Central) When Atlee Pine returns to her hometown to investigate her sister's kidnapping from 30 years previous, she winds up tracking a potential serial killer.
8. The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. (One World) A young man who was gifted with a mysterious power becomes part of a war between slavers and the enslaved.