November 17, 2016

Post-election, we’ve got one thing on our mind: escapism. No, we don’t mean moving to Canada; now that the media din of election season has quieted down, we’re looking toward brighter, faker entertainment to keep us busy (and “brighter, faker” is not a euphemism for #kardashian, although it very well could be). Of course we don’t mean to undermine the importance of staying active and engaged in your world, but sometimes a little self-care is in order.

There’s something ironic about watching “Westworld” --- a show about, among other things, the dangers of indulging our fantasies --- in order to escape. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: This show is killing it on every front. Top-notch acting? Check. Intriguing and resonant themes? Check. Genuinely surprising plot twists? Check. A third hot Hemsworth brother? Sure, why not. The show was recently renewed for a second season, and with storytelling this good, we’re not the least bit surprised.

Speaking of storytelling, “Good Behavior” --- based on three interlinked Blake Crouch novellas --- premiered this week on TNT to mixed reviews. That doesn’t dampen our excitement to see Michelle Dockery kick some serious butt as Letty Dobesh, a con artist and un-reformed thief (RIP Lady Mary). The show is steamy AF, with Juan Diego Botto playing a complicated hitman and foil (read: hate/love interest) for our girl. Click here to read about the recently released compendium of the three novellas and stay tuned for the review.

If you’re not like Emily (don’t be like Emily), then you didn’t forget to anticipate the highly anticipated third book in Erika Johansen’s excellent fantasy series, THE FATE OF THE TEARLING. It’s the final chapter in the story of Queen Kelsea’s fight to save her kingdom from growing forces of evil. Kelsea is a heroine for the books, and fans of the series include the internet’s favorite #feminist and book club organizer Emma Watson, who has even expressed interest in playing the complex queen if and when the books get made into a movie --- and based on Hollywood’s books-to-film track record these days, it’s probably a safe bet.

And here’s some fun, if not quite shocking, news: In her forthcoming memoir, THE PRINCESS DIARIST, our fave rogue princess Carrie Fisher reveals that she and the then-married Harrison Ford got a little frisky on the Star Wars set. Carrie claims she was so enamored with her co-star that she fantasized about him leaving his wife for her, and even doodled “Carrison” in her diary. And let’s be honest, who among us hasn’t? But real talk, it may be for the best that Carrison didn’t work out: We only have eyes for Gary, the truly important man in Carrie’s life.

Lest we forget one of the best ways to self-care: the movies. Tom Ford’s second directorial tour de force hits screens next Wednesday, November 23rd...just in time to make some last minute turkey day plans. Nocturnal Animals looks dark, sexy and something of the sort that we all secretly want. We’re also super pumped about The Edge of Seventeen, which comes out this Friday and stars Hailee Steinfeld (who is not Jerry Seinfeld’s daughter). There are a few reviews in and they’re lookin’ good. If it’s anything like Garden State or Empire Records, we bet we’ll be playing the soundtrack for the next decade. Plus, there’s nothing like a real emo teen movie to remind us of a “simpler” time in our lives. Looking for more books to screen movies? Then click here to check out our Books to Screen feature for November.

If E) none of the above tickle your fancy, don’t worry...we’ve got plenty more:

THE GERMAN GIRL by Armando Lucas Correa is one of the sleeper hits of the season. The story is set in 1939 when Hannah Rosenthal and her best friend Leo Martin, barred from places that once felt like home and stripped of their possessions, make a pact: Come what may, they promise to have a future together. A chance to have that future appears in the form of the St. Louis, a transatlantic liner that can supposedly provide Jews safe passage to Cuba. Seven decades later, Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, a great aunt she has never met. She and her mother travel to Havana to meet her, and learn the story of how Hannah and Leo honored the solemn pact they made.

One of our favorite flicks of the year did the time-old movie-to-book switch. Helen Fielding’s BRIDGET JONES’S BABY: The Diaries is the third installment of the famous Bridget Jones stories. As Bridget careers towards baby-deadline, a series of classic Bridget Jones moments finally leads her into pregnancy --- but just not quite as intended. It's a pregnancy full of cheesy potatoes, outlandish advice from Drunken Singletons and Smug Mothers, chaos at scans and childbirth classes, high jinks and romance, joy and despair --- but all of it dominated by the terribly awkward question: Who's the father?

In FAITHFUL, Alice Hoffman tells the story of Shelby Richmond, an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt. What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls --- including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night. This might be a good one to check out in audiobook as fan fave Amber Tamblyn narrates.

It’s officially the start of the holiday season and that’s not because we’re throwing back shots of Manischewitz wine, watching the arrival of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center or tracking early Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. We know they’re here because our annual Holiday Bundle of Cheer is live! We’re giving five readers one of each of the featured titles plus some festive treats. Enter now through Wednesday, December 21st at noon ET for your chance to win. Scroll down to see the featured titles or click here to read more and enter.

Also, be sure to check out LOVE VOLTAIRE US APART: A Philosopher’s Guide to Relationships by Julia Edelman. It’s a hilarious spoof relationship guide with a philosophical edge, made up of philosophers’ love letters, advice columns and breakup letters. Its sharp wit and casual sarcasm is exactly what we need to take the edge off that crazy little thing called love. In our opinion, this is what relationship advice dreams are made of.

Intrepid 20SomethingReads contributor Allison Sharp’s latest blog post is *hopefully* one of a very cool series: @uthors You Really Should be #Following. Allison has a good eye for writers who are making a splash in the world of social media (not to mention IRL), and in her inaugural post she features John Green, king of the weepy YA thrillers and also voice to a sizable (and pre-success) online following. Here, she breaks down the Who, Where and Why of Green’s domain domain; check it out and see what you’ve been missing.

Until next time, may you eat too much turkey and fall asleep way too early!

5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Frank Ocean's very rare New York Times' interview
2. All the Joe Biden memes. Hilarious.
3. "Planet Earth II"
4. #MannequinChallenge
5. The brand new Kardashian BB. What a Dream.

Nicole Sherman (Nicole@bookreporter.com) + Emily Hoenig (Emily@bookreporter.com)

 

This year's featured titles include:

• MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN by Ransom Riggs
• MY NOT SO PERFECT LIFE by Sophie Kinsella
• THE OUTLIERS by Kimberly McCreight
• RED QUEEN by Victoria Aveyard
• REPLICA by Lauren Oliver
• A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS: A Stranje House Novel by Kathleen Baldwin
• THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR by Katharine McGee

99: Stories of the Game by Wayne Gretzky with Kirstie McLellan Day (Sports/Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Mike Chamberlain
From minor-hockey phenomenon to Hall of Fame sensation, Wayne Gretzky rewrote the record books, his accomplishments becoming the stuff of legend. Dubbed “The Great One,” he is considered by many to be the greatest hockey player who ever lived. No one has seen more of the game than he has --- but he has never discussed in depth just what it was he saw. For the first time, Gretzky discusses candidly what the game looks like to him and introduces us to the people who inspired and motivated him: mentors, teammates, rivals, the famous and the lesser known. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

AND EVERY MORNING THE WAY HOME GETS LONGER AND LONGER by Fredrik Backman (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by David Morse
Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day. As they wait together there, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife, and what it was like to lose her. She’s as real to him now as the first day he met her, but he dreads the day when he won’t remember her. Sometimes Grandpa sits on the bench next to Ted, Noah’s father; in their love of Noah, they have found a common bond. Grandpa, Grandma, Ted and Noah all meet in this peculiar space that is growing dimmer and more confusing all the time. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

THE APARTMENT by S. L. Grey (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Audiobook available, read by Nicholas Guy Smith and Fiona Hardingham
Mark and Steph have a relatively happy family with their young daughter in sunny Cape Town until one day when armed men break into their home. Left traumatized but physically unharmed, Mark and Steph are unable to return to normal and live in constant fear. When a friend suggests a restorative vacation abroad via a popular house swapping website, it sounds like the ideal plan. But once Mark and Steph arrive in Paris, they quickly realize that nothing is as advertised. When their perfect holiday takes a violent turn, the cracks in their marriage grow ever wider and dark secrets from Mark's past begin to emerge. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

BLACK WIDOW: A Jack Parlabane Thriller by Christopher Brookmyre (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Angus King and Scarlett Mack
Diana Jager is a skilled surgeon and fierce campaigner via her blog about sexism in medicine. Yet it takes only hours for her life to crumble when her personal details are released on the internet as revenge for her writing. Then she meets Peter. He is kind, generous and knows nothing about her past. Within six months, they are married. Within six more, Peter is dead in a road accident. Peter's sister, Lucy, tasks rogue reporter Jack Parlabane with discovering the dark truth behind the woman the media is calling the Black Widow. Still on the mend from a turbulent divorce, Jack's investigation into matters of the heart takes him to hidden places no one should ever have to go. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

BRIDGET JONES'S BABY: The Diaries by Helen Fielding (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Morwenna Banks
As Bridget careers towards baby-deadline, a series of classic Bridget Jones moments finally leads her into pregnancy --- but just not quite as intended. It's a pregnancy full of cheesy potatoes, outlandish advice from Drunken Singletons and Smug Mothers, chaos at scans and childbirth classes, high jinks and romance, joy and despair --- but all of it dominated by the terribly awkward question: Who's the father? Reviewed by Allison Sharp.

BRONX REQUIEM by John Clarkson (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Peter Berkrot
Paco "Packy" Johnson spent a lifetime in the system --- starting in juvie at age 10, then prison for most of his adult life. But he managed to make some real friends in prison, friends who helped him get parole, a place to stay, and plans to help him adjust to a life outside prison after 17 years behind bars. But only 17 hours after he was released, he was found dead in the streets of the Bronx. James Beck can't save Packy any longer --- but he can try to find out what happened to him and exact a measure of justice. But what at first appears to be a simple, if tragic, street killing quickly becomes something much more difficult and complex. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

CROSSTALK by Connie Willis (Science Fiction/Romance)
Audiobook available, narrated by Mia Barron
In the not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. And Briddey Flannigan is delighted when her boyfriend, Trent, suggests undergoing the operation prior to a marriage proposal --- to enjoy better emotional connection and a perfect relationship with complete communication and understanding. But things don’t quite work out as planned, and Briddey finds herself connected to someone else entirely --- in a way far beyond what she signed up for. As things go from bad to worse, she begins to see the dark side of too much information, and to realize that love --- and communication --- are far more complicated than she ever imagined. Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds.

ECHOES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger (Mystery Anthology)
Audiobook available; narrated by Alison Larkin, Clive Chafer, Derek Perkins, Donald Corren, Anne Flosnik and Kate Reading
In this follow-up to the acclaimed IN THE COMPANY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, expert Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger put forth the question: What happens when great writers/creators who are not known as Sherlock Holmes devotees admit to being inspired by Conan Doyle stories? While some are highly regarded mystery writers, others are best known for their work in the fields of fantasy or science fiction. All of these talented authors, however, share a great admiration for Arthur Conan Doyle and his greatest creations, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

EVERY MAN A MENACE by Patrick Hoffman (Thriller)
San Francisco is about to receive the biggest delivery of MDMA to hit the West Coast in years. Raymond Gaspar, just out of prison, is sent to the city to check in on the increasingly erratic dealer expected to take care of distribution. In Miami, the man responsible for getting the drugs across the Pacific has just met the girl of his dreams --- a woman who can't seem to keep her story straight. And thousands of miles away in Bangkok, someone farther up the supply chain is about to make a phone call that will put all their lives at risk. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FAITHFUL by Alice Hoffman (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Amber Tamblyn
Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt. What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls --- including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

THE FALL GUY by James Lasdun (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Charles Constant
Charlie, a wealthy banker with an uneasy conscience, invites his troubled cousin Matthew to visit him and his wife in their idyllic mountaintop house. As the days grow hotter, the friendship between the three begins to reveal its fault lines, and with the arrival of a fourth character, the household finds itself suddenly in the grip of uncontrollable passions. THE FALL GUY is a complex moral tale as well as a gripping suspense story, probing questions of guilt and betrayal with ruthless incisiveness. Who is the real victim here? Who is the perpetrator? And who, ultimately, is the fall guy? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FIELDS WHERE THEY LAY: A Junior Bender Holiday Mystery by Timothy Hallinan (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Peter Berkrot
Junior Bender, divorced father of one and burglar extraordinaire, finds himself stuck inside the Edgerton Mall, and not just as a last-minute shopper. The murderous Russian mobster who owns the place has decided it takes a thief to catch a thief and hires Junior --- under threat --- to solve the mall's shoplifting problem for him. But Junior's surveillance operation doesn't go well: as Christmas Eve approaches, two people are dead, and it's obvious that shoplifting is the least of the mall's problems. To prevent further deaths, possibly including his own, Junior must confront his dread of Christmas --- both present and past. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FILTHY RICH: A Powerful Billionaire, the Sex Scandal that Undid Him, and All the Justice that Money Can Buy: The Shocking True Story of Jeffery Epstein by James Patterson and John Connolly, with Tim Malloy (True Crime)
Audiobook available, read by Jason Culp
Jeffrey Epstein rose from humble origins to the rarefied heights of New York City's financial elite. A college dropout with an instinct for numbers --- and for people --- Epstein amassed his wealth through a combination of access and skill. But even after he had it all, Epstein wanted more. And that unceasing desire --- especially a taste for young girls --- resulted in his stunning fall from grace. From Epstein himself, to the girls he employed as masseuses at his home, to the cops investigating the appalling charges against him, FILTHY RICH examines all sides of a case that scandalized one of America's richest communities. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

A GAMBLER'S ANATOMY by Jonathan Lethem (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Mark Deakins
Bruno Alexander travels the world winning large sums of money from amateur “whales” who think they can challenge his peerless acumen at backgammon. But after a troubling run of bad luck in Singapore and Berlin --- perhaps brought on by his chance encounter with childhood acquaintance Keith Stolarsky and his girlfriend Tira Harpaz, or perhaps the emergence of a blot that distorts his vision --- Bruno passes out and is brought to the hospital. There, he’s given a depressing diagnosis and his only hope is to return to Berkeley, where he discovered his psychic abilities, and undergo experimental surgery paid for by the scheming Stolarsky. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

THE GERMAN GIRL by Armando Lucas Correa (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Joy Osmanski
In 1939, barred from places that once felt like home and stripped of their possessions, Hannah Rosenthal and her best friend Leo Martin make a pact: Come what may, they promise to have a future together. A chance to have that future appears in the form of the St. Louis, a transatlantic liner that can supposedly provide Jews safe passage to Cuba. Seven decades later, Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, a great aunt she has never met. She and her mother travel to Havana to meet her, and learn the story of how Hannah and Leo honored the solemn pact they made. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.

LIVIA LONE by Barry Eisler (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Barry Eisler
Sold by her Thai parents along with her little sister, Nason, marooned in America, and abused by the men who trafficked them, the only thing that kept Livia Lone alive as a teenager was her determination to find Nason. The Seattle PD sex-crimes detective has never stopped looking. And she copes with her failure to protect her sister by doing everything she can to put predators in prison. But when a fresh lead offers new hope of finding Nason and the men who trafficked them both, Livia will have to go beyond just being a cop. She’ll have to relive the horrors of the past, take on one of the most powerful men in the US government, and uncover a conspiracy of almost unimaginable evil. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

MISTER MONKEY by Francine Prose (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Kirby Heyborne and Nan McNamara
“Mister Monkey” --- a screwball children’s musical about a playfully larcenous pet chimpanzee --- is the kind of family favorite that survives far past its prime. Margot, who plays the chimp’s lawyer, knows the production is dreadful and bemoans the failure of her acting career. She’s settled into the drudgery of playing a humiliating part --- until the day she receives a mysterious letter from an anonymous admirer…and later, in the middle of a performance, has a shocking encounter with Adam, the 12-year-old who plays the title role. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.

THE MOTION OF PUPPETS by Keith Donohue (Fantasy/Horror)
Audiobook available, read by Bronson Pinchot
In the Old City of Québec, Kay Harper falls in love with a puppet in the window of the Quatre Mains, a toy shop that is never open. Late one night, she fears someone is following her home. Surprised to see that the lights of the toy shop are on and the door is open, she takes shelter inside. The next morning, her husband Theo wakes up to discover his wife is missing. Kay has been transformed into a puppet, and is now a prisoner of the back room of the Quatre Mains, trapped with an odd assemblage of puppets from all over the world who can only come alive between the hours of midnight and dawn. The only way she can return to the human world is if Theo can find her and recognize her in her new form. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

NIGHT SCHOOL: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Dick Hill
It’s 1996, and Reacher is still in the army. In the morning they give him a medal, and in the afternoon they send him back to school. That night he’s off the grid. Two other men are in the classroom: an FBI agent and a CIA analyst. A Jihadist sleeper cell in Hamburg, Germany, has received an unexpected visitor --- a Saudi courier, seeking safe haven while waiting to rendezvous with persons unknown. A CIA asset, undercover inside the cell, has overheard the courier whisper a chilling message: “The American wants a hundred million dollars.” For what? And who from? Reacher and his two new friends are told to find the American. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

PUBLIC LIBRARY AND OTHER STORIES by Ali Smith (Fiction/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by Ali Smith
Why are books so very powerful? What do the books we’ve read over our lives make of us? What does the unraveling of our tradition of public libraries, so hard-won but now in jeopardy, say about us? The stories in Ali Smith’s collection are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make. Woven between the stories are conversations with writers and readers reflecting on the essential role that libraries have played in their lives. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS by Mark Frost (Supernatural Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Mat Hostetler, Len Cariou, Mark Frost, Michael Horse, David Patrick Kelly, Robert Knepper, Kyle MacLachlan, James Morrison, Chris Mulkey, Amy Shiels, Russ Tamblyn and Annie Wersching
THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS enlarges the world of the original series, placing the unexplained phenomena that unfolded there into a vastly layered, wide-ranging history, beginning with the journals of Lewis and Clark and ending with the shocking events that closed the finale. This supernatural thriller is the perfect way to get in the mood for the upcoming Showtime series, which is set to debut in 2017. Reviewed by Matthew Burbridge.

SHIRLEY JACKSON’S "THE LOTTERY": The Authorized Graphic Adaptation by Miles Hyman (Graphic Novel)
Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” continues to thrill and unsettle readers nearly seven decades after it was first published. This graphic adaptation by Jackson’s grandson, Miles Hyman, allows readers to experience “The Lottery” as never before, or to discover it anew. He has crafted an eerie vision of the hamlet where the tale unfolds and the unforgettable ritual its inhabitants set into motion. Hyman’s full-color, meticulously detailed panels create a noirish atmosphere that adds a new dimension of dread to the original story. Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth for HeadButler.com.

STORY OF A SOCIOPATH by Julia Navarro (Psychological Thriller)
Thomas Spencer, the black sheep of his family, harbors only resentment toward those closest to him for what they have more of: good looks, good cheer, good social graces. But what Thomas may lack in charm, he makes up for in cunning. And it is this that will serve him best when he trades in his glittering world of privilege for a chance to claw his way to the top --- on his own terms, and at any cost. As Thomas achieves fame and success as an ad man, he becomes ever more deeply entrenched in an insidious underworld of media, politics and women, and an astonishing picture emerges of a complex, destructive personality who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

TELL THE TRUTH, SHAME THE DEVIL by Melina Marchetta (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Zaqi Ismail
When Bish Ortley, a suspended cop, receives word that a bus carrying his daughter has been bombed, he rushes to be by her side. A suspect has already been singled out: a 17-year-old girl who has since disappeared from the scene. Thirteen years earlier, her grandfather set off a suicide bomb in a grocery store, a bomb her mother confessed to building. Has the girl decided to follow in their footsteps? To find her, Bish must earn the trust of her friends and family, including her infamous mother, now serving a life sentence in prison. But even as he delves into the deadly bus attack that claimed five lives, the ghosts of older crimes become impossible to ignore. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

THE TERRANAUTS by T.C. Boyle (Fiction)
Audiobook available; performed by Lynde Houck, Joy Osmanski and Charlie Thurston
It is 1994, and in the desert near Tillman, Arizona, a grand experiment involving the future of humanity is underway. As climate change threatens the earth, eight scientists dubbed the "Terranauts" have been selected to live under glass in E2, a prototype of a possible off-earth colony. Closely monitored by an all-seeing Mission Control, this New Eden is the brainchild of ecovisionary Jeremiah Reed, for whom the project is both an adventure in scientific discovery and a momentous publicity stunt. His young, strapping Terranauts must impress watchful visitors and a skeptical media curious to see if E2’s environment will somehow be compromised, forcing the Ecosphere’s seal to be broken --- and ending the mission in failure. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

TRUEVINE: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy (History)
Audiobook available, read by Suzanne Toren
George and Willie Muse were two little boys born to a sharecropper family. One day, a white man offered them a piece of candy, setting off events that would take them around the world and change their lives forever. Captured into the circus, the Muse brothers performed for royalty at Buckingham Palace and headlined over a dozen sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. But the very root of their success was in the color of their skin and in the outrageous caricatures they were forced to assume. Through hundreds of interviews and decades of research, Beth Macy explores a central and difficult question: Where were the brothers better off? On the world stage as stars, or in poverty at home? Reviewed by Dunja Bonacci.

THE TWENTY-THREE: A Promise Falls Novel by Linwood Barclay (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Richard Poe and Brian O'Neill
It’s May 23rd, and the small town of Promise Falls, New York, has found itself in the midst of a full-blown catastrophe. Hundreds of people are going to the hospital with similar flu-like symptoms, and dozens have died. Investigators quickly zero in on the water supply. But the question for many, including private investigator Cal Weaver, remains: Who would benefit from a mass poisoning of this town? Meanwhile, a college student has been murdered, and Detective Barry Duckworth has seen the killer’s handiwork before --- in the unsolved homicides of two other women in town. Suddenly, all the strange things that have happened in the last month start to add up. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN by Keigo Higashino (Mystery)
In Osaka in 1973, the body of a murdered man is found in an abandoned building. Investigating the crime, Detective Sasagaki is unable to find the killer. Over the next 20 years, through the lens of a succession of characters, Keigo Higashino tells the story of two teens, Ryo and Yukiho, whose lives are most affected by the crime, and the obsessed detective, Sasagaki, who continues to investigate the murder, looking for the elusive truth. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.

THE WHISTLER by John Grisham (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell
What happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, and a corruption case crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business as Greg Myers; he claims to know of a judge who was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. Greg’s only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Lacy immediately suspects this case could be dangerous --- but it also could turn out to be deadly. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.

THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE: A Bosch Novel by Michael Connelly (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Titus Welliver
One of Southern California's biggest moguls is nearing the end of his life and is haunted by one regret. When he was young, he had a relationship with a Mexican girl, his great love. But soon after becoming pregnant, she disappeared. Did she have the baby? And if so, what happened to it? Desperate to know if he has an heir, the dying magnate hires Harry Bosch, California's newest private investigator. As he begins to uncover the haunting story --- and finds uncanny links to his own past --- Harry knows he cannot rest until he finds the truth. At the same time, he finds himself tracking a serial rapist who is one of the most baffling and dangerous foes he has ever faced. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATE by Antoine Leiris (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Gildart Jackson
On November 13, 2015, Antoine Leiris’ wife, Hélène Muyal-Leiris, was killed by terrorists while attending a rock concert at the Bataclan Theater in Paris, in the deadliest attack on France since World War II. Three days later, Leiris wrote an open letter addressed directly to his wife’s killers, which he posted on Facebook: “For as long as he lives, this little boy will insult you with his happiness and freedom.” In his determination to honor the memory of his wife, Leiris became an international hero to everyone searching desperately for a way to deal with the horror of the Paris attacks and the grim shadow cast today by the threat of terrorism. Now he tells the full story of his grief and struggle. Reviewed by John Bentlyewski.

THE SECRET DIARY OF LYDIA BENNET by Natasha Farrant (Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Romance, Young Adult 12+)
Lydia is the youngest of the five Bennet girls. She's stubborn, never listens, and can't seem to keep her mouth shut --- not that she would want to anyway. Luckily, the handsome Wickham arrives at Longbourn to sweep her off her feet. Lydia's not going to let him know THAT, of course, especially since he only seems to be interested in friendship. But when they both decide to summer in the fashionable seaside town of Brighton, their paths become entangled again. At the seaside, Lydia also finds exciting new ways of life and a pair of friends who offer her a future she never dreamed of. Lydia finally understands what she really wants. But can she get it? Reviewed by Tia Vasiliou.

THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR by Nicola Yoon (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Bahni Turpin, Raymond Lee and Dominic Hoffman
Natasha believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. She's definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when her family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Daniel is the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. Something about Natasha makes him think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store --- for both of them. Reviewed by Kaela N., Teen Board Member.