This week we review Anthony Marra's third novel, Mercury Pictures Presents, which examines the lives "swept up by the machines of war and propaganda in a dazzling novel set in 1940s Hollywood"; Mohsin Hamid follows up Exit West with "a frighteningly timely allegory," The Last White Man; and two-time Newbery Honoree Christina Soontornvat "packs a powerful punch" in To Change a Planet, a picture book about climate change with "sublime illustrations" from Rahele Jomepour Bell.
All eyes in the bookiverse are on the Justice Department suit seeking to block Penguin Random House's purchase of Simon & Schuster. A highlight on the second day of the trial this week was Stephen King's testimony: "I came because I think that consolidation is bad for competition."