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Week of August 5, 2019

New in Paperback

Week of August 5, 2019

Paperback releases for the week of August 5th include NEVER TELL, an unpredictable thriller from Lisa Gardner that puts fan favorites D. D. Warren and Flora Dane on a stunning new case that begins with a vicious murder and gets darker from there; DOPESICK, a masterful work in which Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of America's 20-plus-year struggle with opioid addiction; WATCHING YOU, Lisa Jewell's suspenseful page-turner about a shocking murder in a picturesque and well-to-do English town; THE PATCHWORK BRIDE by Sandra Dallas, the irrepressible story of one woman's quest to find love without losing herself in the American West; and Marie Benedict's THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM, a powerful novel based on the incredible true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication.

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth - Psychological Thriller

August 6, 2019

Seventeen-year-old Charlie still struggles with the dark legacy of her family name and the mystery surrounding her mother’s disappearance 10 years earlier. Determined to finally let go of the past, she throws herself into life at Knollwood, the prestigious New England school she attends. Charlie has been tapped by the A’s, the school’s elite secret society well known for terrorizing the faculty, administration and their enemies. To become a member of the A’s, Charlie must play The Game, a semester-long, diabolical high-stakes scavenger hunt. As the dark events of past and present converge, Charlie begins to fear that she may not survive the terrible truth about her family, her school and her own life.

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy - Psychology/Sociology

August 6, 2019

In DOPESICK, Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of America's 20-plus-year struggle with opioid addiction. Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Macy endeavors to answer a grieving mother's question --- why her only son died --- and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy parses how America embraced a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm.

From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir by Beck Dorey-Stein - Memoir

August 6, 2019

In 2012, Beck Dorey-Stein was just scraping by in DC when a posting on Craigslist landed her, improbably, in the Oval Office as one of Barack Obama's stenographers. The ultimate DC outsider, she joined the elite team who accompanied the president wherever he went, recorder and mic in hand. On whirlwind trips across time zones, Beck forged friendships with a tight group of fellow travelers --- young men and women who, like her, left their real lives behind to hop aboard Air Force One in service of the president. But as she learned the ropes of protocol, Beck became romantically entangled with a consummate DC insider, and suddenly, the political became all too personal.

He by John Connolly - Historical Fiction

August 6, 2019

When Stan Laurel is paired with Oliver Hardy, affectionately known as Babe, the history of comedy --- not to mention their personal and professional lives --- is altered forever. Yet Laurel's simple screen persona masks a complex human being, one who endures rejection and intense loss; who struggles to build a character from the dying stages of vaudeville to the seedy and often volatile movie studios of Los Angeles in the early years of cinema; and who is haunted by the figure of another comic genius --- the brilliant, driven and cruel Charlie Chaplin.

The Hotel Neversink by Adam O'Fallon Price - Fiction

August 6, 2019

Thirty-one years after workers first broke ground, the magnificent Hotel Neversink in the Catskills finally opens to the public. Then a young boy disappears. This mysterious vanishing --- and the ones that follow --- will brand the lives of three generations. At the root of it all is Asher Sikorsky, the ambitious and ruthless patriarch whose purchase of the hotel in 1931 set a haunting legacy into motion. His daughter Jeanie sees the Hotel Neversink into its most lucrative era, but also its darkest. Decades later, Asher's grandchildren grapple with the family’s heritage in their own ways: Len fights to keep the failing, dilapidated hotel alive, and Alice sets out to finally uncover the murderer’s identity.

How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson - Fiction/Humor

August 6, 2019

Kate Reddy had it all: a nice home, two adorable kids and a good husband. Then her kids became teenagers (read: monsters). Richard, her husband, quit his job, taking up bicycling and therapeutic counseling. Since he no longer sees a regular income as part of the path to enlightenment, it’s left to Kate to go back to work. When she manages to secure a job at the very hedge fund she helped create, she must prove herself (again) at work, deal with teen drama, and try to look after increasingly frail parents as the clock keeps ticking toward her 50th birthday. Then an old flame shows up out of the blue, and Kate finds herself facing off with everyone from Russian mobsters to a literal stallion.

I Spy by Claire Kendal - Psychological Thriller

August 6, 2019

Holly Lawrence always wanted to be a spy, but the experience proved more dangerous than anything she imagined. Now, Holly lives under an assumed name, hiding from the man who nearly destroyed her life. She avoids relationships and trusts no one. But Holly’s new life begins to unravel when she encounters a young mother and her two-year-old child --- a child who reminds her of a past she has tried hard to forget. This time, someone is spying on her, and Holly will need to decide how far she is willing to go to survive.

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier - Mystery/Thriller

August 6, 2019

When she was 16 years old, Angela Wong disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, was involved in any way. But 14 years later, Angela's remains are discovered in the woods near Geo's childhood home. Angela was a victim of Calvin James, who murdered at least three other women. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo's first love. Their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed. What happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong.

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne - Fiction

August 6, 2019

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming and hungry for fame. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, he has a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. Maurice quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful --- but desperately lonely --- older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall.

Life and Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins - Fiction

August 6, 2019

When Emma London's mother died, her father abandoned her on his mother's doorstep. Genevieve took Emma in and reluctantly raised her --- until Emma got pregnant her senior year of high school. Genevieve kicked her out with nothing but the clothes on her back...but Emma took with her the most important London possession: the strength not just to survive but to thrive. And indeed, Emma has built a wonderful life for herself and her teenage daughter, Riley. So what is Emma to do when Genevieve does the one thing Emma never expected of her and, after not speaking to her for nearly two decades, calls and asks for help?

The Little Clan by Iris Martin Cohen - Fiction

August 6, 2019

Ava Gallanter is the librarian in residence at the Lazarus Club, an ancient, dwindling Manhattan arts club full of eccentric geriatric residents stuck in a long-gone era. Twenty-five-year-old Ava, however, feels right at home. She leads a quiet life, surrounded by her beloved books and sequestered away from her peers. When Ava’s enigmatic friend, Stephanie, returns after an unplanned year abroad, the intoxicating opportunist vows to rescue Ava from a life of obscurity. Stephanie promises to make Ava’s dream of becoming a writer come true, and together they start a Victorian-inspired literary salon at the Lazarus Club. However, Ava’s romanticized idea of the salon quickly erodes as Stephanie’s ambitions take the women in an unexpected --- and precarious --- direction.

The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah - Fiction

August 6, 2019

Kate travels to Burgundy to spend the fall at the vineyard estate that has belonged to her family for generations. There, she is eager to help her cousin clean out the enormous basement that is filled with generations of discarded and forgotten belongings. Deep inside the cellar, she discovers a hidden room containing a cot, some Resistance pamphlets, and an enormous cache of valuable wine. Piqued by the secret space, Kate begins to dig into her family’s history, driving her to find the answers to two crucial questions: Who, exactly, did her family aid during the difficult years of the war? And what happened to six valuable bottles of wine that seem to be missing from the cellar’s collection?

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson - Fiction

August 6, 2019

In Denmark, Professor Anders Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife and his hopes for the future. On an isolated English farm, Tina Hopgood is trapped in a life she doesn’t remember choosing. Both believe their love stories are over. Brought together by a shared fascination with the Tollund Man, the subject of Seamus Heaney’s famous poem, they begin writing letters to one another. And from their vastly different worlds, they find they have more in common than they could have imagined. As they open up to one another about their lives, an unexpected friendship blooms. But then Tina’s letters stop coming, and Anders is thrown into despair. How far are they willing to go to write a new story for themselves?

Mission Critical: A Gray Man Novel by Mark Greaney - Thriller

August 6, 2019

Court Gentry's flight on a CIA transport plane is interrupted when a security team brings a hooded man aboard. They want to kick Gentry off the flight but are overruled by CIA headquarters. The mystery man is being transported to England where a joint CIA/MI6 team will interrogate him about a mole in Langley. When they land in an isolated airbase in the U.K., they are attacked by a hostile force who kidnaps the prisoner. Only Gentry escapes. His handlers send him after the attackers, but what can one operative do against a trained team of assassins? A lot, when that operative is the Gray Man.

The Mystery of Three Quarters: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah - Historical Mystery

August 6, 2019

Hercule Poirot returns home to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Poirot has no idea what she’s talking about and has never even heard of this man. Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him --- a man called John McCrodden, who also claims to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered?

Never Tell by Lisa Gardner - Mystery/Thriller

August 6, 2019

A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. When the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun. D.D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman --- Evie Carter --- from a case many years back. Evie's father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many. Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim --- a hostage --- and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad's murder. But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing.

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict - Historical Fiction

August 6, 2019

She possessed a stunning beauty. She also possessed a stunning mind. Could the world handle both? Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis...if anyone would listen to her.

The Patchwork Bride by Sandra Dallas - Historical Fiction

August 6, 2019

Ellen is putting the finishing touches on a wedding quilt made from scraps of old dresses when the bride-to-be --- her granddaughter June --- unexpectedly arrives and announces she’s calling off the marriage. With the tending of June’s uncertain heart in mind, Ellen tells her the story of Nell, a Kansas-born woman who goes to the High Plains of New Mexico Territory in 1898 in search of a husband. Working as a biscuit-shooter, Nell falls for a cowboy named Buddy. She sees a future together, but she can’t help wondering if his feelings for her are true. When Buddy breaks her heart, she runs away. In her search for a soul mate, Nell will run away from marriage twice more before finding the love of her life.

The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai - Romantic Comedy

August 6, 2019

Rhiannon Hunter may have revolutionized romance in the digital world, but in real life she only swipes right on her career --- and the occasional hookup. The cynical dating app creator controls her love life with a few key rules: 1) Nude pics are by invitation only; 2) If someone stands you up, block them with extreme prejudice; 3) Protect your heart. Only there aren't any rules to govern her attraction to her newest match, former pro-football player Samson Lima. The sexy and seemingly sweet hunk woos her one magical night...and disappears. Rhi thought she'd buried her hurt over Samson ghosting her, until he suddenly surfaces months later --- in league with a business rival. He says he won't fumble their second chance, but she's wary.

A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua - Fiction

August 6, 2019

Holed up with other mothers-to-be in a secret maternity home in Los Angeles, Scarlett Chen is far from her native China, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the owner, Boss Yeung. Now she’s carrying his baby. Already married with three daughters, Boss Yeung is overjoyed because the doctors have confirmed that he will finally have the son he has always wanted. To ensure that his child has every advantage, Boss Yeung has shipped Scarlett off to give birth on American soil. Then a new sonogram of Scarlett’s baby reveals the unexpected. Panicked, she escapes by hijacking a van --- only to discover that she has a stowaway: her housemate Daisy, who intends to track down the father of her child.

The Runaway by Hollie Overton - Psychological Thriller

August 6, 2019

When LAPD forensic psychologist Becca Ortiz agrees to foster teenage runaway Ash, she knows she will love and protect her as her own daughter. Ash may have turned her back on her old life on the streets, but there is still one person who she can't bear to lose. Now he is about to drag her back into a dark world where nothing and no one is safe. How far will Becca go to save her daughter? And can she find her before it's too late?

Rush by Lisa Patton - Fiction

August 6, 2019

It’s move-in day for college freshmen on the Ole Miss campus. Nobody wants to fit in more than Cali, a bright, small town girl with family secrets too scandalous for the well-to-do to imagine. Sorority rush is weeks away, and without a pedigree, Cali doesn’t have much of a chance at membership. Wilda, Alpha Delta Beta alum and rush advisor, has a daughter rushing in the fall, but Lilith, the well-heeled House Corp President, sees Wilda as a pushover. Miss Pearl has been housekeeper and second mother to the girls for years. When a chance for promotion arises, Lilith crushes Miss Pearl’s hopes of a better future. But once Wilda and the girls find out, they devise a plan destined to change Alpha Delta Beta --- and maybe the entire Greek system --- forever.

The Shadow Killer by Arnaldur Indridason - Historical Mystery/Thriller

August 6, 2019

A man is found murdered in a small apartment in Reykjavík, shot in the head with a pistol. The police’s attention is immediately drawn to the foreign soldiers who are on every street corner in the summer of 1941. So begins officers Flóvent and Thorson’s investigation, which will lead them down a path darker than either of them expected, and force them to reckon with their own demons.

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre - History

August 6, 2019

The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Oleg Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war.

Sunrise Highway by Peter Blauner - Thriller

August 6, 2019

In the summer of Star Wars and Son of Sam, a Long Island schoolgirl is found gruesomely murdered. A local prosecutor turns a troubled teenager known as JT from a suspect to a star witness in the case, putting away a high school football star who claimed to be innocent. Forty years later, JT has risen to chief of police, but there's a trail of a dozen dead women that reaches from Brooklyn across Long Island, along the Sunrise Highway, and it's possible that his actions actually enabled a killer. That's when Lourdes Robles, a relentless young Latina detective for the NYPD, steps in to track the serial killer. She discovers a deep and sinister web of connections between the victims and some of the most powerful political figures in the region, including JT himself.

The Victim by Max Manning - Psychological Thriller

August 6, 2019

Gem Golding only has two choices. A stranger holds a knife to her skin, his demands terrifying in the deserted parking garage. Should she surrender? Or should she fight back? This attacker is no ordinary criminal. This night, like so many of them, is all a game to him. He makes the rules, the rules that determine whether his victims live or die. Rules that will set Gem's fate in motion. He's waiting for her to decide. But how can you win the game when you don't know how to play? What if surrendering is the worst thing you can do? What if fighting back will kill you?

The Washington Decree by Jussi Adler-Olsen - Political Thriller

August 6, 2019

Democratic Senator Bruce Jansen has been elected president of the United States. For 14-year-old Dorothy "Doggie" Rogers, Jansen's election is a personal victory: a job in the White House, proof to her Republican father that she was right to support Jansen, and the rise of an intelligent, clear-headed leader with her same ideals. But the triumph is short-lived: Jansen's pregnant wife is assassinated on election night, and the alleged mastermind behind the shooting is none other than Doggie's own father. When Jansen ascends to the White House, he is a changed man, determined to end gun violence by any means necessary. With the country in chaos, Doggie finds herself fighting for the life of her father, who just may be innocent.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell - Psychological Thriller

August 6, 2019

You’re back home after four years working abroad, new husband in tow. You’re keen to find a place of your own. But for now, you’re crashing in your big brother’s spare room. That’s when you meet the man next door. He’s the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive. You find yourself watching him. All the time. But you never dreamed that your innocent crush might become a deadly obsession. Or that someone is watching you.

What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan - Fiction

August 6, 2019

After years of chasing the American dream, the Zhen family has moved back to China. Wei, Lina and their daughter, Karen, join an elite community of Chinese-born, Western-educated professionals who have returned to a radically transformed city. One morning, in the eighth tower of Lanson Suites, Lina discovers that a treasured ivory bracelet has gone missing. This incident sets off a wave of unease that ripples throughout the Zhen household. Lina is haunted by the circumstances surrounding her arranged marriage to Wei and her lingering feelings for his brother, Qiang. When Qiang reappears in Shanghai after decades on the run with a local gang, the family must finally come to terms with the past and its indelible mark on their futures.