1.

The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz

A tapped-out novelist “borrows” a plot from a former student (now dead) and uses it to write a best-seller. He assumes he’ll never be found out, but Korelitz has other plans for the hapless appropriator.

2.

Northern Spy, by Flynn Berry

Two very different sisters play a dangerous game with the I.R.A. in Northern Ireland in 2019. Berry explores the fierceness of the family bond in this taut story of a woman who is willing to sacrifice everything for her double-agent sister.