16th SEDUCTION by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by January LaVoy
Fifteen months ago, Detective Lindsay Boxer's life was perfect --- she had a beautiful child and a doting husband, Joe, who helped her catch a criminal who'd brazenly detonated a bomb in downtown San Francisco. But Joe wasn't everything that Lindsay thought he was, and she's still reeling from his betrayal as a wave of mysterious heart attacks claims seemingly unrelated victims across San Francisco. As if that weren't enough, the bomber she and Joe captured is about to go on trial, and his defense raises damning questions about Lindsay and Joe's investigation. Lindsay must connect the dots of a deadly conspiracy before a brilliant criminal puts her on trial. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
ALL BY MYSELF, ALONE by Mary Higgins Clark (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jan Maxwell
Fleeing a disastrous and humiliating arrest of her husband-to-be on the eve of their wedding, Celia Kilbride, a gems and jewelry expert, hopes to escape from public attention by lecturing on a brand-new cruise ship --- the Queen Charlotte. On board she meets 86-year-old Lady Emily Haywood, “Lady Em,” as she is known throughout the world. Immensely wealthy, Lady Em is the owner of a priceless emerald necklace that she intends to leave to the Smithsonian after the cruise. Three days out to sea Lady Em is found dead, and the necklace is missing. Celia sets out to find the killer, not realizing that she has put herself in mortal danger before the ship reaches its final destination. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.
ASSASSIN'S FATE: Book III of the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy by Robin Hobb (Fantasy)
Audiobook available, read by Elliot Hill
FitzChivalry Farseer’s young daughter, Bee, has been kidnapped by the Servants, a secret society whose members not only dream of possible futures but use their prophecies to add to their wealth and influence. As Bee is dragged by her sadistic captors across half the world, Fitz and the Fool, believing her dead, embark on a mission of revenge that will take them to the distant island where the Servants reside --- a place the Fool once called home and later called prison. It was a hell the Fool escaped, maimed and blinded, swearing never to return. For all his injuries, however, the Fool is not as helpless as he seems. And though Fitz is no longer the peerless assassin of his youth, he remains a man to be reckoned with. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.
THE AWKWARD AGE by Francesca Segal (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Jayne Entwistle
Julia Alden has fallen deeply and unexpectedly in love. American obstetrician James is everything she didn't know she wanted --- if only her teenage daughter, Gwen, didn't hate him so much. Uniting two households is never easy, but when Gwen turns for comfort to James' 17-year-old son, Nathan, the consequences will test her mother's loyalty and threaten all their fragile new happiness. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
BAD DREAMS AND OTHER STORIES by Tessa Hadley (Fiction/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, performed by Emma Gregory
In these short stories from the award-winning author of THE PAST, it’s the ordinary things that turn out to be most extraordinary. Two sisters quarrel over an inheritance and a new baby; a child awake in the night explores the familiar rooms of her home, made strange by the darkness; a housekeeper caring for a helpless old man uncovers secrets from his past. The first steps into a turning point and a new life are made so easily and carelessly. Each of these stories illuminate crucial moments of transition, often imperceptible to the protagonists. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
BENEATH A SCARLET SKY by Mark Sullivan (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Will Damron
When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino Lella joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier, which they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the age of 18 to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers. Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
THE BEST OF ADAM SHARP by Graeme Simsion (Fiction/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by David Barker
Two decades ago, Adam Sharp’s piano playing led him into a passionate relationship with Angelina Brown, an intelligent and strong-willed actress. They had a chance at something more --- but Adam didn’t take it. Now, on the cusp of turning 50, Adam likes his life. He’s happy with his partner Claire, he excels in music trivia at quiz night at the local pub, he looks after his mother, and he does the occasional consulting job in IT. But he can never quite shake off his nostalgia for what might have been. And then, out of nowhere, from the other side of the world, Angelina gets in touch. What does she want? Does Adam dare to live dangerously? Reviewed by Amy Haddock.
D'ARC by Robert Repino (Science Fiction/Post-Apocalyptic Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Bronson Pinchot
In the aftermath of the War With No Name, the Colony has been defeated, its queen lies dead, and the world left behind will never be the same. In her madness, the queen used a strange technology to uplift the surface animals, turning dogs and cats, bats and bears, pigs and wolves into intelligent, highly evolved creatures who rise up and kill their oppressors. And now, after years of bloodshed, these sentient beasts must learn to live alongside their sworn enemies --- humans. Far removed from this newly emerging civilization, a housecat turned war hero named Mort(e) lives a quiet life with the love he thought he had lost, a dog named Sheba. But before long, the chaos that they escaped comes crashing in around them. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Cathleen McCarron
Eleanor Oliphant struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
FAST AND LOOSE: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Tony Roberts
Stone Barrington is enjoying a boating excursion off the Maine coast when a chance encounter leaves him somewhat the worse for wear. Always able to find the silver lining in even the unhappiest circumstances, Stone is pleased to discover that the authors of his misfortune are, in fact, members of a prestigious family who present a unique business opportunity, and who require a man of Stone’s skills to overcome a sticky situation of their own. The acquaintance is fortuitous indeed, for as it turns out, Stone and his new friends have an enemy in common. When Stone’s sly cunning collides with his adversary’s hair-trigger-temper, the results are sure to be explosive. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.
A FILTHY BUSINESS by William Lashner (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Luke Daniels
A lifetime ago, brutally efficient fixer Phil Kubiak coldly cleaned up the messes of shady clients from Miami to Las Vegas by any means necessary --- short of murder. Now he’s one eye and one working leg short of the man he used to be, scarred beyond recognition, and with the feds and criminal organizations in hot pursuit. Throwing back sour beer in a dingy bar, Phil recounts the long story of his bitter life to the only person left to listen. Across the splintery table, a journalist in pursuit of a career-making interview seeks not only an award-winning profile but also something more…something darker. Will what she sees in Phil’s empty gaze spur her toward forgiveness --- or vengeance? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
FULL WOLF MOON by Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Johnathan McClain
Jeremy Logan is an "enigmalogist," an investigator who specializes in analyzing phenomena that have no obvious explanation. He travels to an isolated writers' retreat deep in the Adirondacks to finally work on his book when the remote community is rocked by the grisly discovery of a dead hiker on Desolation Mountain. The body has been severely mauled, but the unusual savagery of the bite and claw marks call into question the initial suspicions of a wild bear attack. When Logan is asked to help investigate, he discovers no shortage of suspects capable of such an attack --- and no shortage of locals willing to point the finger and spread incredible rumors. One rumor, too impossible to believe, has even the forest ranger believing in werewolves. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
GINNY MOON by Benjamin Ludwig (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Em Eldridge
Ginny Moon, an autistic teenager, has been in foster care for years, and for the first time in her life, she has found her "forever home" --- a place where she'll be safe and protected, with a family who will love and nurture her. Though this is exactly the kind of home that all foster kids are hoping for, Ginny has other plans. She'll steal and lie and reach across her past to exploit the good intentions of those who love her --- anything it takes to get back what's missing in her life. She'll even try to get herself kidnapped. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
INTO THE WATER by Paula Hawkins (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Rachel Bavidge with a full cast
A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged. Left behind is a lonely 15-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother's sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from --- a place to which she vowed she'd never return. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
IT'S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND by Michele Campbell (Psychological Suspense/Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by January LaVoy
Kate, Aubrey and Jenny first met as college roommates and soon became inseparable, despite being as different as three women can be. As an unlikely friendship formed, the three of them swore they would always be there for each other. But 20 years later, one of them is standing at the edge of a bridge, and someone is urging her to jump. How did it come to this? Kate married the gorgeous party boy, Aubrey married up, and Jenny married the boy next door. But how can these three women love and hate each other? Can feelings this strong lead to murder? When one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, will everyone assume, as is often the case, that it’s always the husband? Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
THE LEAVERS by Lisa Ko (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Emily Woo Zeller
One morning, Deming Guo’s mother, Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon --- and never comes home. No one can find any trace of her. With his mother gone, 11-year-old Deming is left mystified and bereft. Eventually adopted by a pair of well-meaning white professors, Deming is moved from the Bronx to a small town upstate and renamed Daniel Wilkinson. But far from all he’s ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his adoptive parents’ desire that he assimilate with his memories of his mother and the community he left behind. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
MARATHON by Brian Freeman (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Joe Barrett
Tens of thousands of people crowd into Duluth for the city's biggest annual event: the Duluth Marathon. But in a terrifying echo of the Boston bombing, there is an explosion along the race course, leaving many people dead and injured. Within minutes, Jonathan Stride, Serena Dial and Maggie Bei are at work with the FBI to find the terrorists behind the tragedy. One spectator remembers being jostled by a young man with a backpack not far from the bomb site. He spots a Muslim man in a tourist's photo of the event and is convinced that this was the individual who bumped into him in the crowd. But are the answers behind the bombing more complex than anyone realizes? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
NEW BOY by Tracy Chevalier (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Prentice Onayemi
Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day --- so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players --- teachers and pupils alike --- will never be the same again. The tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
NO MIDDLE NAME: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories by Lee Child (Thriller/Short Stories)
Get ready for the ultimate Jack Reacher experience: a thrilling new novella and 11 previously published stories, together for the first time in one pulse-pounding collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child. NO MIDDLE NAME begins with “Too Much Time,” a brand-new work of short fiction that finds Reacher in a hollowed-out town in Maine, where he witnesses a random bag-snatching but sees much more than a simple crime. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
PROVING GROUND by Peter Blauner (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Ari Fliakos
Nathaniel Dresden never really got along with his father, an infamous civil rights lawyer who defended criminals and spearheaded protest movements. As an act of rebellion, Natty joined the U.S. Army and served in Iraq, coming back with a chest full of commendations and a head full of disturbing memories. But when his father is found murdered near the peaceful confines of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Natty is forced to deal with the troubled legacy of their unresolved relationship. He also has to fend off the growing suspicions of NYPD Detective Lourdes Robles, a brash Latina cop with something to prove, who thinks Natty might bear some responsibility for his father’s death. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
RANDOM ROAD: A Geneva Chase Mystery by Thomas Kies (Mystery)
It's a crime scene worthy of Hieronymus Bosch, so shocking and so senseless it challenges the local law and intrigues veteran reporter Geneva Chase, whose career may be dying alongside that of her small town newspaper. For Geneva, battling alcoholism and bad choices, writing this story is the last chance to redeem herself. But ink still flows thick in her veins, and her story on Sheffield's unlikely killing field is the Sheffield Post's lead. She's also tracking community connections, watching a hit-and-run case disappear through a large donation, interviewing dangerous suspects, visiting a swingers club, joining cops for a burglary bust, and taking a guided tour to spot history's underwater ghost. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
ROBERT B. PARKER'S LITTLE WHITE LIES: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Joe Mantegna
Connie Kelly thought she’d found her perfect man on an online dating site. She fell so hard for M. Brooks Welles that she wrote him a check for almost $300,000, hoping for a big return on her investment. But within weeks, both Welles and her money are gone. Enter Spenser, who quickly discovers that everything about Welles is phony. But uncovering the truth won’t be easy, as he’ll have to keep the mystery man alive long enough to get back his client’s money. As the trail winds from Boston to backroads Georgia, Spenser will need help from trusted allies Hawk and Teddy Sapp to make sure Welles’ next con is his last. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SAME BEACH, NEXT YEAR by Dorothea Benton Frank (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Bernadette Dunne
A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms brings former sweethearts Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up a deep friendship of their own. Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island’s tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
SINCE WE FELL by Dennis Lehane (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, performed by Julia Whelan
SINCE WE FELL follows Rachel Childs, a former journalist who, after an on-air mental breakdown, now lives as a virtual shut-in. In all other respects, however, she enjoys an ideal life with an ideal husband. Until a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon causes that ideal life to fray. As does Rachel’s marriage. As does Rachel herself. Sucked into a conspiracy thick with deception, violence and possibly madness, Rachel must find the strength within herself to conquer unimaginable fears and mind-altering truths. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
TESTIMONY by Scott Turow (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Wayne Pyle
When former prosecutor Bill ten Boom is tapped by the International Criminal Court --- an organization charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity --- he feels drawn to what will become the most elusive case of his career. Over 10 years ago, in the apocalyptic chaos following the Bosnian war, an entire Roma refugee camp vanished. Now for the first time, a witness has stepped forward: Ferko Rincic claims that armed men marched the camp's Gypsy residents to a cave in the middle of the night --- and then with a hand grenade set off an avalanche, burying 400 people alive. Only Ferko survived. Boom's task is to examine Ferko's claims and determine who might have massacred the Roma. Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley.
THE THIRST : A Harry Hole Novel by Jo Nesbø (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by John Lee
The murder victim is a self-declared Tinder addict. Two days later, there’s a second murder: a woman of the same age, a Tinder user, an eerily similar scene. The chief of police knows there’s only one man for this case. But Harry Hole is no longer with the force. He promised the woman he loves --- and himself --- that he’d never go back: not after his last case, which put the people closest to him in grave danger. But there’s something about these murders that catches his attention, something in the details that the investigators have missed. Now, despite his promises, despite everything he risks, Harry throws himself back into the hunt for a figure who haunts him, the monster who got away. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
TRAJECTORY: Stories by Richard Russo (Fiction/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by Amanda Carlin
Richard Russo's characters in these four expansive stories bear little similarity to the blue-collar citizens we're familiar with from many of his novels. In "Horseman," a professor confronts a young plagiarist as well as her own weaknesses as the Thanksgiving holiday looms closer and closer. In "Intervention," a realtor facing an ominous medical prognosis finds himself in his father's shadow while he presses forward --- or not. In "Voice," a semiretired academic is conned by his increasingly estranged brother into coming along on a group tour of the Venice Biennale. And in "Milton and Marcus," a lapsed novelist tries to rekindle his screenwriting career, only to be stymied by the pratfalls of that trade when he's called to an aging, iconic star's mountaintop retreat in Wyoming. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
WHAT MY BODY REMEMBERS written by Agnete Friis, translated by Lindy Falk van Rooyen (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Susan Boyce
Ella Nygaard has been a ward of the state since she was seven years old, the night her father murdered her mother. She doesn’t remember anything about that night or her childhood before it --- but her body does. The PTSD-induced panic attacks she now suffers incapacitate her for hours at a time, sometimes days. After one particularly bad episode lands Ella in a psych ward, she discovers that her son, Alex, has been taken from her by the state and placed with a foster family. Desperate not to lose him, Ella kidnaps Alex and flees to the seaside town in northern Denmark where she was born. But being there forces Ella to confront the demons of her childhood --- the monsters her memory has tried so hard to obscure. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
WOMAN NO. 17 by Edan Lepucki (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell and Phoebe Strole
High in the Hollywood Hills, writer Lady Daniels has decided to take a break from her husband. Left alone with her children, she’s going to need a hand taking care of her young son if she’s ever going to finish her memoir. In response to a Craigslist ad, S arrives, a magnetic young artist who will live in the secluded guest house out back, care for Lady’s toddler, Devin, and keep a watchful eye on her teenage son, Seth. S performs her day job beautifully, quickly drawing the entire family into her orbit and becoming a confidante for Lady. But in the heat of the summer, S’s connection to Lady’s older son takes a disturbing, and possibly destructive, turn. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.