From spy novels to romances, the summer’s buzziest new reads bring the heat. Have a look at some of our top picks for the season ahead.

Paige Lewis (Viking)
Two unlikely wannabe heroes embark on quests to prove their worth to God in this absurdist modern epic, set in a 1990s-ish California and referencing everything from “The Odyssey” to “Moby-Dick.” Out now.

Dimitry Elias Léger (MCD)
Gear up for the World Cup with this read. Growing up wealthy in mid-century Haiti, Gilbert Chevalier shows clear promise as a soccer player, but his father pushes him to focus on academics and go to Columbia University. Then, while kicking the ball around Central Park as a college kid, he’s scouted by the US National Team’s coach — who wants Chevalier to join the American squad for the World Cup. Out now

Laurie Frankel (Henry Holt and Co.)
After reluctantly moving into a retirement community in Austin, Texas, 77-year-old Pepper Mills unexpectedly finds love. Even more unexpected, she winds up pregnant. A media circus ensues as the septuagenarian decides how to proceed. Out now

Shannon Garvey (Random House)
This coming-of-age debut takes place on Block Island. For the past decade — ever since her mother died when she was 17 and her father shipped her off — Ruth has spent summers on the island, scrimping and saving throughout the year to be able to afford a few months of refuge. But this summer is marked by tragedy and secrets that make her question who she is, and how she really feels about her first love, Charlie. Out now

Robert Bailey (Thomas & Mercer)
It’s the start of a new legal thriller series centering on Max Ringo, a once high-powered lawyer who has fallen from grace after getting in a car accident and becoming addicted to pills. Since going to rehab, she’s been trying to make a go of it as a mediator — and her first case is a nasty one. The husband kidnaps Ringo’s son, demanding that she get him a good deal in the divorce or he’ll kill the boy. Out now

Carley Fortune (Berkley)
At the start of the romance queen’s latest bestseller, Frankie’s fiancé leaves her at the altar. Her childhood best friend, George, swoops in and convinces her that she should take him go on the honeymoon instead. Their relationship has been rocky in recent years, but the trip will give them a chance to mend it — and maybe take things to the next level. Out now

Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
After her seemingly perfect husband suddenly leaves and takes their money, Naomi becomes obsessed with his new, 20-something girlfriend. But as she digs deeper, she discovers dangerous secrets beyond the usual midlife-crisis cliches. May 26

Annabel Monaghan (Putnam)
A 39-year-old single mom named Dolly heads home to Rhode Island to help her dad and brother. Along the way, the wealthy son of her hometown’s ruling family offers Dolly a “Pretty Woman”-esque arrangement to pose as his new girlfriend at high-society events. May 26

Nora Roberts (St. Martin’s Press)
An introverted writer tries to escape the man who sexually assaulted her and start a new life in Oregon. Even behind bars, the perpetrator remains obsessed with her — and his rich mom has helped get his prison sentence down to just five years. May 26

Matt Haig (Viking)
This follow-up to “The Midnight Library” is set in the same world as its predecessor but with different characters. After dying, a octogenarian named Wilbur journeys back in time, reliving his marriage to the love of his life, Maggie, and the mistakes he made in the relationship. May 26

Naomi Ishiguro (S&S/Saga Press)
This is the first installment in a new fantasy series that takes inspiration from anime, Japanese folklore and the films of Hayao Miyazaki. In corrupt Rainbow City, a tight-knit trio of orphans work to avenge the murder of a friend by a group of criminals called the Lucky Crows. Things kick off when one of the orphans steals a dragon pearl from the gang. May 26

Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf)
O’Farrell, the bestselling author of “Hamnet,” has set her latest in 1865 in Ireland in the wake of famine. It’s inspired by the life of her grandfather, a mapmaker who worked to record the devastation the country suffered. June 2

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Berkley)
In this work of historical fiction, pioneering assistant district attorney Eunice Carter and madam Polly Adler team up to try and take down mobster Lucky Luciano. June 2

Brett Battles (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Stone Barrington is back — and sinking. In the ninth book devoted to the NYC cop-turned-lawyer, he meets with a client on his yacht, only to have the boat go down as they’re sipping cocktails. Barrington survives the shipwreck, but his client doesn’t, leaving him to look into the man’s will and the possibility of foul play. June 2

Ann Patchett (Harper)
The latest from the beloved author of “Tom Lake” centers on a chance encounter between a middle-aged woman named Daphne and her ex-stepfather, Eddie. The two run into each other one afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eddie was only married to Daphne’s mother for a short while, but their unexpected reunion leads each to take stock of their lives. June 2

Dave Eggers (Knopf)
The Pulitzer Prize new novel latest spans 65 years and was some 20 years in the making. An Indiana teen named Cricket Dib journeys to Chicago to take a drawing class. There, he’s captivated by Olympia Argyros, a fellow young artist one year his senior. Their friendship, love and art unfold over the decades. June 9

Ben Fountain (Flatiron Books)
In this rollicking political satire, a president confronts a pandemic of “weeping sickness” and hires a pro wrestler to help him win a third term — and get his reality show, “The Real West Wing,” picked up for another season. June 9

Andrew Sean Greer (Doubleday)
A literary trip to Italy is always a good idea. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Less” whisks readers to the Italian countryside where a wannabe young archivist is swept into the world of his new boss, a 92-year-old baronessa named Coco. She has an amazingly eclectic circle of friends and is on a mission to find a lost love. June 9

Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
The 26th Scot Horvath book finds the Navy SEAL-turned-top spy trying to track down the person responsible for a brutal series of bombings in Bangkok. As he investigates, he realizes that Chinese intelligence is trying to trigger a coup in Thailand, hoping that destabilizing the nation will give it a crucial advantage on the geopolitical stage. June 16

Lisa Jewell (Atria Books)
The bestselling British author’s latest begins in the English countryside. Out walking her dogs, Jane Trevally comes upon a terrier that was being cared for by a teen girl who’s gone missing. Jane offers to take the dog to its registered owners in London, but when she arrives at the address, it’s a creepy house from her past. A strange man answers the door and a spooky woman lurks in the window. June 23

Teddy Wayne (Harper)
In 2024, Wayne gave us one of the summer’s sexiest thrillers with “The Winner.” He’s poised to do it again with this tale of a scandal between a high-achieving wife, her flailing writer husband and their Norwegian au pair. June 30

Natalie Barelli (Poisoned Pen Press)
After marrying a successful widower and settling into his lovely Beverly Hills home, Jodie thinks she has a perfect life. But then her husband turns cold and she learns some disturbing things about him, including the way he treated his late first wife and how that woman died. June 30

Jenny Jackson (Pamela Dorman Books)
The “Pineapple Street” author returns with another frothy tale of East Coast elites. A pack of old friends approaching middle age frolics with their tots in the idyllic New England beach town they grew up in. An ambitious new girl — and another gal’s unexpected pregnancy — threaten group dynamics. June 30

Daniel Mason (Random House)
Quirky academics Miles and Kate relocate their family to the Vermont woods when she is offered a visiting professorship at an esteemed university. After struggling to finish his PhD in Russian folktales for more than a decade, Miles hopes the move will help finally get his life together, but he becomes obsessed with a local legend that might be true. This is author Daniel Mason’s first book since his acclaimed novel “North Woods,” which was a Pulitzer finalist. July 7

Shannon Sanders (Henry Holt and Co.)
Floundering 30-something Aubrey Lamb leaves Washington, DC, and heads south after she inherits a portion of a Tennessee farm from her father. She intends to sell and pay off some debts, but then she reconnects with her living relatives — and several ghosts. July 7

Jessica Knoll (Scribner)
The blockbuster author of “Luckiest Girl Alive” is back. A dozen years after their intense breakup, college sweethearts Faye and Henry reunite at the funeral of a favorite professor. Both are happily married but still feel a connection. Things take a turn when Henry drugs and kidnaps Faye and takes her to a remote cabin. July 7

Jo Piazza (Dutton)
This European jaunt takes place in two time periods. In the modern era, Emma, a poor American artist in Paris, cleans houses to pay her bills. She gets swept up by one of her clients, the widow of an art dealer who moves in dangerous, moneyed circles. Meanwhile, in the late 19th century, Vincent van Gogh’s young sister-in-law inherits hundreds of his paintings when her husband dies. July 14

Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
The third and final book in the Pulitzer Prize winner’s “Harlem Trilogy” brings us to New York City in the 1980s. Furniture store owner Ray Carney continues to try to make his way, by hook and by crook, as the city recovers from a recession and becomes consumed by towering excess and glittering ambition. July 21

Catherine Ryan Howard (Simon & Schuster)
When Ellie moves into a house on Delaney Row, she’s looking to get away from her past — yet her new home has dark secrets of its own. Ellie is curious, but there are forces determined to keep the house’s violent history hidden. July 28

Karin Slaughter (William Morrow)
There’ s more trouble in North Falls, Ga., in the latest from blockbuster thriller writer Karin Slaughter. The Vickery family is already the regular subject of town gossip. Then Allison Vickery is shot and killed in her own kitchen and her daughter narrowly escapes murder. Everyone has ideas about what happened, but Sheriff Emmy Clifton must uncover the truth. Aug. 11

Liane Moriarty (Crown)
The sequel to “Big Little Lies” is here. It’s been a decade since the schoolyard drama, murder and a coverup unfurled in an Australian beach town (or a sandy California enclave in the HBO adaptation). The kids are now in high school, experimenting with sex and drugs, and moms Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata and Bonnie are navigating the limits of yoga and marriage, along with aging parents and an annoyingly inquisitive stranger who’s been lurking about. Aug. 25