Chris Hewitt, The Minnesota Star Tribune

The title of Jason Mott’s oddly riveting “People Like Us” refers to several groups: Black people (like its three narrators), Europeans, writers, Southerners, Americans, those who feel left out.

“I wonder what it feels like to be somewhere in this world and not feel like an outsider,” says a guy named Dylan in a poignant exchange late in the novel. Dylan is like all of the other characters in “People Like Us” — particularly the Black ones — who feel so alienated by the gun-loving, police-overreaching culture of America that they’re searching for somewhere else.

I rarely think to write about a book’s design, but it’s worth addressing because Patrice Sheridan’s work on “People Like Us” is so handsome, clever and useful. A cartoony cover image of som

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