21 Books to Read This May

In Kill 'Em and Leave, National Book Award winner James McBride—heartsick after a divorce, broke, yearning—probes the myth of the enigmatic music icon James Brown. As he tracks down numerous associates, friends, and family members, McBride's quest to figure out who soul's mercurial godfather really was takes him to the Deep South and beyond. The result? A gorgeously written piece of reportage that gives us glimpses of Brown's genius and contradictions, and leaves us feeling that he may have been, at the last, unknowable.