Five hot new books to read in May

The double-cross

Flights of fancy

An ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano eruption shuts down airspace over Europe, setting off a chain of events that alters the course of the lives of Harriet Smith and her family forever. The quiet skies are strangely liberating: Harriet seizes a career opportunity, her husband (stuck in New York) ignites an old flame, and her son smokes pot for the first time. Two years later, when a stowaway falls from a plane's landing gear onto Harriet's car, their lives take another dramatic turn. – Lora Grady

Landing Gear, Kate Pullinger, $30.

A life cut short

Folk meets future

Lost words

This debut novel from Brooklyn writer Alena Graedon is both a cracking good thriller and a thoughtful meditation on language. The action takes place in a future world where people no longer use words to communicate; even emails are obsolete. Smartphones called Memes have taken over and can anticipate people's needs, hailing taxis and ordering food the minute their stomachs rumble.

Doug Johnson, a noted lexicographer and one of the few holdouts, disappears on the eve of publishing what might be the last English dictionary. He leaves only a one-word clue for his daughter, Anana. The search for her father leads her into an intriguing shadow world of secret societies, hidden passageways and the boardrooms of an evil online retailing site, Synchronic. Anana's joined in her quest by Bart, who worked with her father on the dictionary and has long adored her from afar. But Bart soon succumbs to the menacing "word flu" that is engulfing the world and causing sufferers to lose their language.

Philosophically complex, The Word Exchange is a compelling and thought-provoking read. After reading this ambitiously inventive story about the intersection of language and technology, you'll never look at your smartphone the same way. – Robert Wiersema

The Word Exchange, Alena Graedon, $30.