Redeployment by Phil Klay won the National Book Award this year. Klay’s writing has appeared in several publications including Granta, The New York Times, and Newsweek among others, but Deployment is his first novel. Home run, first time at bat! Here are a few debut novels published this year (2014) that are also worth a look.
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
The story of a woman kidnapped and held for ransom. “[A] commanding début . . . Mireille’s struggle to maintain a sense of self while being denied her freedom produces the novel’s most powerful chapters.”—New Yorker
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
An apocalyptic near-future setting and something that must remain unseen, even a glimpse will drive the seer to horrific violence. “[A] chilling debut… Malerman...keeps us tinglingly on edge with his cool, merciless storytelling [and] douses his tale in poetic gloom….An unsettling thriller, this earns comparisons to Hitchcock’s The Birds, as well as the finer efforts of Stephen King and cult sci-fi fantasist Jonathan Carroll.” —Kirkus Reviews
Panic in a Suitcase by Yelena Akhtiorskaya
The story of a newly immigrated Russian family in Brooklyn. “[A] spirited first novel…Akhtiorskaya approaches the fundamental experience of exile with tenderness and satiric wit” —The San Francisco Chronicle
California by Edan Lepucki
Set in an environmentally devastated near-future. A couple leaves Los Angeles to live in the wilderness. "In her arresting debut novel, Edan Lepucki conjures a lush, intricate, deeply disturbing vision of the future, then masterfully exploits its dramatic possibilities." —Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
1977 small town Ohio, a death in the family unveils secrets and a subsequent unraveling. "[A]n accomplished debut... It's also heart-wrenching. Ng deftly pulls together the strands of this complex, multigenerational novel. Everything I Never Told You is an engaging work that casts a powerful light on the secrets that have kept an American family together — and that finally end up tearing it apart. —The Los Angeles Times
The Land of Steady Habits by Ted Thompson
Anders Hill suffers suburban malaise and deals with the consequences when he decides to leave his Connecticut hamlet and family behind. “Filled with heartache and humor, this assured, compassionate first novel channels the suburban angst of Updike and Cheever, updating the narrative of midlife dissatisfaction with a scathing dissection of America’s imploding economy.” —Booklist
I Am Having So Much Fun Without You by Courtney Maum
Set in Paris and London, an unfaithful husband attempts to win back his wife. “Maum is funny: the kind of funny that is mean and dirty, with some good bad words thrown in. And she has a satiric eye for artsy pretension. . . . Enticing.” —New York Times Book Review
Wolf in a White Van by John Darnielle
Isolated game developer creates a text-based role playing game through the mail. “An incredible feat.” —The AV Club
The Quick by Lauren Owen
You think this is going to be a story of a Victorian poet and then it turns into something completely different. “A sly and glittering addition to the literature of the macabre.”—Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall