A Hundred Little Hitlers, by Elinor Langer, is a nonfiction book that reads almost like a Law and Order episode. Actually, to be fair, there was an episode of L&O that I believe was "ripped from" this particular story. Nonetheless, it's a gripping account of the murder in 1989 of Mulugeta Seraw in Portland and the eventual trial of Tom Metzger, who, adding to the drama, represented himself at trial.
It's not incredibly revolutionary as a tome, and Langer, a writer for The Nation periodically seems snowed by Metzger, which is weird, but overall it's an educational book, especially when it comes to the complicated politics of race in the Pacific Northwest.
I read A River Runs Through It recently and was struck by its powerful simplicity. It's not the sort of book I tend to read (fly fishing? no prominent female character?) but I found it to be really soothing and poetic. The way the main character struggles with his difficult brother was incredibly realistic, and written in a way that conveyed acute pain without ever being explicit.