|
BOY ON ICE: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard by John Branch (Biography/Sports)
The tragic death of hockey star Derek Boogaard at 28 was front-page news across the country in 2011 and helped shatter the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports. Now, acclaimed reporter John Branch tells the shocking story of Boogaard's life and heartbreaking death. BOY ON ICE raises deep and disturbing questions about the systemic brutality of contact sports and the damage that reaches far beyond the game. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.
THE BOY WHO KILLED DEMONS by Dave Zeltserman (Horror)
The setting is quiet Newton, Massachusetts, where nothing ever happens. Nothing, that is, until two months after Henry Dudlow’s 13th birthday, when his neighbor, Mr. Hanley, suddenly starts to look…different. While everyone else sees a balding man with a beer belly, Henry suddenly sees a nasty, bilious, rage-filled demon. Once Henry catches on to the real Mr. Hanley, he starts seeing demons all around him, and his boring, adolescent life is transformed. Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy.
BURNED: A Vanessa Pierson Novel by Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett (Thriller)
Covert CIA ops officer Vanessa Pierson has dedicated her career to capturing one man: Bhoot, the world’s most notorious nuclear arms dealer. When she narrowly escapes death during a devastating explosion at the Louvre, Vanessa immediately suspects that Bhoot was the architect of the brazen terrorist attack. But when a previously unknown militant group claims responsibility for the bombing and promises even greater carnage, she is forced to rethink her initial assumptions. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
THE CHRISTMAS LIGHT by Donna VanLiere (Fiction)
In the small town of Grandon, five very different people discover the true meaning of Christmas. Jennifer and Ryan are both single parents, struggling with their own losses and heartache. Sixteen-year-old Kaylee is faced with a life-changing situation that has affected her whole family. Stephen and Lily are happily married and ready to start a family. When they are brought together for a rather unconventional church Nativity, they will learn that with strength, courage and love, there is always hope. Reviewed by Donna Smallwood.
GRAY MOUNTAIN by John Grisham (Legal Thriller)
Samantha Kofer’s career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track --- until the recession hits and she gets downsized. However, she is offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic in Virginia for one year without pay, after which there would be a slim chance that she’d get her old job back. Samantha’s new job takes her into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, and within weeks she finds herself engulfed in litigation that turns deadly. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
HAND TO MOUTH: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado (Memoir/Sociology)
We in America have certain ideas of what it means to be poor. Linda Tirado takes all of these preconceived notions and smashes them to bits, articulating not only what it is to be working poor in America, but what poverty is truly like --- on all levels. She discusses how she went from lower-middle class, to sometimes middle class, to poor and everything in between, and in doing so reveals why “poor people don’t always behave the way middle-class America thinks they should.” Reviewed by Miriam Tuliao.
J: A Novel by Howard Jacobson (Fiction)
When Ailinn Solomons arrives in his village by a sea that laps no other shore, Kevern Cohen is instantly drawn to her. Although mistrustful by nature, the two become linked as if they were meant for each other. Together, they form a refuge from the commonplace brutality that is the legacy of a historic catastrophe shrouded in suspicion, denial and apology, simply referred to as WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
LAST WINTER, WE PARTED written by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Allison Markin Powell (Thriller)
A young writer is assigned a difficult task by his editor: he is to write an investigative biography of a death row inmate named Yudai Kiharazaka, a 35-year-old photographer who has been convicted of the murders of two women. Trying to unearth the truth about Kiharazaka forces the writer to grapple with horrifying archival material and to interview dangerous, grotesque people --- not least of all Kiharazaka himself. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LEAVING TIME by Jodi Picoult (Fiction)
For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest: Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons, and Virgil Stanhope, a private detective who originally had investigated Alice’s case. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
LILA by Marilynne Robinson (Fiction)
Lila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a small-town Iowa church --- the only available shelter from the rain --- and ignites a romance and a debate that will reshape her life. She becomes the wife of a minister and begins a new existence while trying to make sense of the days of suffering that preceded her newfound security. In LILA, Marilynne Robinson revisits the beloved characters and setting of her Pulitzer Prize–winning GILEAD and HOME, a National Book Award finalist. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
MALICE by Keigo Higashino (Mystery)
Bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he’s planning to relocate to Vancouver. His body is discovered by his wife and his best friend, both of whom seem to have rock solid alibis. But the question before Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga isn't necessarily who or how, but why. In MALICE, the detective and the killer battle over the truth of the past and how events that led to the murder really unfolded. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE MISSING PLACE by Sophie Littlefield (Mystery/Suspense)
The North Dakota oil business is spawning shantytowns full of men hired to work on the rigs. When two young men in their first year on the job disappear, only their mothers believe there’s hope of finding them. Colleen, used to her decorous life in a wealthy suburb, is determined to find her son. And hard-bitten Shay, from the wrong side of the tracks, is on the same mission. These two unlikely partners must work together against the town of strangers if they want any chance of finding their lost boys. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE MURDER MAN by Tony Parsons (Mystery)
Someone has been violently killing members of London society. The killer is strong enough and smart enough to kill with a single knife stroke, and bold enough to kill in public. When Detective Max Wolfe realizes that the victims may have all crossed paths decades ago at their exclusive private school, the case changes. Suddenly, the murders look less random and more personal, and Max finds the killer's reach getting closer to everything --- and everyone --- he loves. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
NOT MY FATHER'S SON: A Memoir by Alan Cumming (Memoir)
Acclaimed stage, television and film actor Alan Cumming shares the story of his complicated relationship with his emotionally and physically abusive father and the deeply buried family secrets that shaped his life and career. He integrates stories from his childhood with those detailing his experiences as a successful actor today in a memoir that is suspenseful, deeply moving and wickedly funny. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
RUN by Andrew Grant (Thriller)
Marc Bowman, a highly successful computer consultant and software designer, walks into his job at a major tech company one morning only to find himself fired on the spot, stonewalled by his boss and ushered out of the building. Then an explosive argument drives his wife away, and a robbery threatens to yank a million-dollar idea --- and his whole future --- out from under him. Before the week is over, Marc will be stalked, ambushed, wiretapped, arrested, duped, double- and triple-crossed --- until he can’t tell enemies from allies. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SHOPAHOLIC TO THE STARS by Sophie Kinsella (Fiction)
Becky Bloomwood and her two-year-old daughter, Minnie, have relocated to L.A. to join Becky’s husband, Luke, who is there to handle PR for famous actress Sage Seymour. Becky really hopes to become a personal stylist --- Sage’s personal stylist --- if only Luke would set up an introduction. Then, unexpectedly, she is offered the chance to dress Sage’s archrival, and though things become a bit more complicated, it’s a dream come true. Suddenly Becky has everything she’s ever wanted. Or does she? Reviewed by Amie Taylor.
SIDNEY SHELDON'S CHASING TOMORROW by Tilly Bagshawe (Thriller)
When a mysterious and beautiful stranger enters their lives, Tracy Whitney and her partner's once unbreakable partnership is suddenly blown wide open. Jeff Stevens wakes one morning to find Tracy gone, vanished without a trace. For more than a decade, a broken Jeff struggles to carry on knowing Tracy is out there somewhere. But the rest of the world believes she is dead…until a series of murders leads a tenacious French detective to her doorstep. Reviewed by Renee Yeager.
SOMETIMES THE WOLF by Urban Waite (Thriller)
After struggling with money troubles, Sheriff Patrick Drake ended up convicted of one of the biggest crimes in local history. Now, 12 years later, Patrick is on parole under the watchful eye of his son Bobby, who is a deputy sheriff. No matter how much distance he has tried to put between himself, his father, his grandfather and the past, small town minds can have very long memories. But trouble isn’t done with the Drakes --- and a terrifying threat boils up from Patrick’s old life. And this time, no one will be spared. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THEN CAME LIFE: Living with Courage, Spirit, and Gratitude After Breast Cancer by Geralyn Lucas (Memoir)
One mastectomy, two C-sections, three pants sizes and lots of red lipstick later, Geralyn Lucas --- the author of WHY I WORE LIPSTICK TO MY MASTECTOMY --- is dealing with the same issues as other women her age. When she looks in the mirror at her hard-won wrinkles, all she wants is Botox. Celebrating her sweet 16 cancerversary, she’s thankful for her second chance and ready to be daring. But can she survive life’s new ups and downs with the same courage she’s always had? Reviewed by Jane Krebs.
TUNNEL VISION by Aric Davis (Mystery)
It’s been 15 years since Mandy Reasoner was murdered --- a crime for which her boyfriend, Duke, was convicted. But when best friends Betty and June discover that Mandy was June’s long-forgotten aunt, they decide to pursue the mystery. Galvanized by the growing community who doubts the evidence against Duke, the two girls start on a path into a world of drugs and violence that will bring them not only to Duke himself but smack into Nickel, a tough-as-nails teenage P.I. attempting to keep his own life together. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
WAIT FOR SIGNS: Twelve Longmire Stories by Craig Johnson (Fiction/Short Stories)
Ten years ago, Craig Johnson wrote one of the earliest appearances of the sheriff who would go on to star in his award-winning novels and the A&E hit series "Longmire." Each Christmas Eve thereafter, Johnson sent out a new story featuring an episode in Walt’s life that doesn’t appear in the books. WAIT FOR SIGNS collects those beloved stories --- and one entirely new story --- for the very first time in a single volume, regular trade hardcover. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
|
