New fiction includes holiday horror stories

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A new ‘World’
Who is Isa Sohn? How did she come to stay in a pediatric burn unit, her parents killed in the fire that ruined her legs? In Katherine Min's debut novel, “Secondhand World” (Knopf, $23), those mysteries slowly unfold as teenage Isa, a first-generation Korean-American, struggles to carve out a place for herself in 1970s upstate New York.

The seeds of Isa’s story are sown in the legacy of the Korean War and her family's passage to America. Her younger brother's death in a tragic accident, her father's devastating war service, and her mother's loneliness and great beauty create brief vignettes that lead the reader in a dizzying circle until all the pieces finally come together at book's end.

The story is mainly of childhood, but Isa's voice is preternaturally adult, the result of her voracious dictionary reading in an effort to fit in in America, to pass in her suburban neighborhood. Min’s strengths lay in her lush writing and full development of the vibrant, complex characters that surround Isa. By the end of the book, readers feel as though the characters are personal friends, and are fully invested in the satisfying conclusion. —Sara Astruc

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Seeking ‘Redemption’ in the Big Easy
Frederick Turner’s crime drama, “Redemption” (Harcourt, $24) takes readers back in time to the colorful streets of 1913 New Orleans.

REDEMPTION
Fast-Mail Muldoon is a disgraced cop who now works for crime boss Tom Anderson, the man who runs most of the whorehouses and bars in Storyville. With a threat of takeover from New York, Anderson and his cronies must defend their turf. When Adele, a mysterious woman from Anderson’s past, comes to town, Muldoon questions his criminal life for the first time.

Turner, who is primarily a nonfiction writer, has certainly done his research. "Redemption" snaps with color and life, luxuriating in rich detail. The book’s flaw comes primarily in the character of Adele, whose inner monologues are flowery and whose character defies logic. The woman not only forgives her molester, but risks her life for him. In contrast to the more sharply drawn Muldoon and Anderson, she doesn’t read like a real person — more a symbol.

Still, with its rich descriptions, "Redemption" is an easy book to get lost in. And in these post-Katrina days, this atmospheric picture of old New Orleans should be savored. —P.N.

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Books Editor. Paige Newman is MSNBC.com's Movies Editor. Linda Holmes is a writer in Bloomington, Minn. Ree Hines is a writer in Tampa. Sara Astruc is a writer in Seattle. Helen A.S. Popkin is a writer in New York.

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