If you’re planning on writing a true crime memoir reflecting on relationships, neural development disorders, small town life, and the American dream, I have bad news. Poe Balentine just wrote the definitive one of those. Composed of short explorations into his troubled marriage, his son’s possible autism, and a gruesome murder in his small Wyoming town, Love and Terror on the Howling Plains exists in that place where folksy meets smart, empathy meets honesty, and plot meets ponderings. And, if “memoir” or “true crime” aren’t your usual cup of tea, don’t be alarmed. Balentine’s masterful storytelling lifts this book clear of those sometimes fraught labels and authoritatively deposits it on the pile of this year’s must-reads.