AFTER THE END by Clare Mackintosh (Fiction)
Audiobook available; read by Louise Brealey, Matt Reeves and Nathalie Armin
Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. They're best friends, lovers --- unshakable. But then their son gets sick, and the doctors put the question of his survival into their hands. For the first time, Max and Pip can't agree. They each want a different future for their son. What if they could have both? Reviewed by Ray Palen.
AYESHA AT LAST by Uzma Jalaluddin (Romance)
Audiobook available, read by Roshni Shukla
Ayesha Shamsi’s dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her 100th marriage proposal. Then she meets Khalid, who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices and who dresses like he belongs in the seventh century. When a surprise engagement is announced between Khalid and Hafsa, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and the unsettling new gossip she hears about his family. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
BACKLASH by Brad Thor (Political Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Armand Schultz
In ancient texts, there are stories about men who struck from the shadows, seemingly beyond the reach of death itself. Their loyalty was to their families, friends and kings. You crossed these men at your peril. And once crossed, there was no crossing back. They were fearless --- men of honor who have been known throughout history by different names: Spartan, Viking, Samurai. Today, men like these still strike from the shadows. They are highly prized intelligence agents, military operatives and assassins. One man is all three. Two days ago, that man was crossed --- badly. Now, far from home and surrounded by his enemy, Scot Harvath must battle his way out. But survival isn’t enough. Harvath wants revenge. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
BIG SKY by Kate Atkinson (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jason Isaacs
Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner, Julia. It's picturesque, but there's something darker lurking behind the scenes. Jackson's current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network --- and back across the path of his old friend, Reggie. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
BLOOD RELATIONS by Jonathan Moore (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by David Colacci
Who is Claire Gravesend? So wonders PI Lee Crowe when he finds her dead on top of a Rolls Royce in the most dangerous neighborhood in San Francisco. Claire’s mother, Olivia, doesn’t believe the coroner’s ruling that she killed herself and hires Crowe to investigate. But the questions about the Gravesend family pile up fast. First, the autopsy reveals round scars running down Claire’s spine, old marks Olivia won’t explain. Then, Crowe visits Claire’s Boston townhouse and has to fend off an armed intruder. He leaves Boston afraid, but finds his way to Claire’s secret San Francisco pied-à-terre. It’s there that his questions come to a head. Sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, he finds Claire, and as far as he can tell, she’s alive. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE BODY LIES by Jo Baker (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Imogen Church, Deborah McBride, Sam Woolf, Simon Ludders and Julie Maisey
When a young writer accepts a job at a university in the remote English countryside, it's meant to be a fresh start, away from the bustle of London and the scene of a violent assault she is desperate to forget. But despite the distractions of her new life and the demands of single motherhood, her nerves continue to jangle. To make matters worse, a vicious debate about violence against women inflames the tensions and mounting rivalries in her creative-writing class. When a troubled student starts turning in chapters that blur the lines between fiction and reality, the professor recognizes herself as the main character in his book --- and he has written her a horrific fate. Will she be able to stop life imitating art before it's too late? Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
BUNNY by Mona Awad (Fiction/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by Sophie Amoss
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. She is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction-writing cohort, a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny." But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon," and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door --- ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the sinister yet saccharine world of the Bunny cult and starts to take part in their ritualistic off-campus "Workshop," where they magically conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur, and her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies are brought into deadly collision. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
CITY OF FEAR by Larry Enmon (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Angelo Di Loreto
The unexpected killing of Dallas drug kingpin Ricardo Salazar sets everyone on edge. A New York crime family is up in arms about the loss of a major narcotics supplier. The Dallas Police dread the ensuing gang war, but Detectives Rob Soliz and Frank Pierce were on the scene at the time of the shooting. Frank saw a mysterious red-haired woman enter Ricardo’s just moments before the shooting, but she was never seen leaving. Instead, all they found inside the house was a dead man and a voodoo doll at his feet. Rob and Frank search for the redhead. She is the key to unraveling the crime. But finding her only presents more questions than answers. Frank knows she’s not being honest but can’t prove a direct connection to the murder. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
CITY OF GIRLS by Elizabeth Gilbert (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Blair Brown
In 1940, 19-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters. But when she makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Now 89 years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life --- and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
CONVICTION by Denise Mina (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Cathleen McCarron
The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life explodes starts off like all the days before: packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true-crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone. Reeling and desperate for distraction, she returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own. But this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life, a life she's taken great pains to leave behind. And she is convinced that she knows what really happened. Then an unexpected visitor arrives on her front stoop, a meddling neighbor intervenes, and life as Anna knows it is well and truly over. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE CUTTING ROOM by Ashley Dyer (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Peter Noble
Lured to a “crime scene” by a mysterious digital invitation, Ruth Lake is horrified by what she finds: a bizarre and gruesome tableau surrounded by a crowd of gawkers. The deadly work is the latest “art installation” designed by a diabolical criminal dubbed the Ferryman. Not only is this criminal cold-blooded, he’s a narcissistic exhibitionist desperate for an audience. He’s also clever at promoting his deadly handiwork. Exploiting England’s current true-crime craze, he uses social media to titillate and terrorize the public. Ruth is joined in the investigation by her partner Greg Carver, who is slowly regaining his strength after a run-in with another sadistic criminal. But Greg can’t seem to shake the bewildering effects of the head wound that nearly ended him. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
DEAR WIFE by Kimberly Belle (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Vivienne Leheny, Chris Andrew Ciulla and Pete Simonelli
For nearly a year, Beth has been planning for this day. A day some people might call any other Wednesday, but Beth prefers to see it as her new beginning. She has given her plan significant thought, because one small slip and her violent husband will find her. A couple hundred miles away, Jeffrey returns home from a work trip to find that his wife, Sabine, is missing. All signs point to foul play, but as the police search for leads, the case becomes more and more convoluted. Sabine’s carefully laid plans for her future indicate trouble at home, and a husband who would be better off with her gone. Where is Sabine? And who is Beth? The only thing that’s certain is that someone is lying, and the truth won’t stay buried for long. Reviewed by Rebecca Wasniak.
END OF THE OCEAN by Matthew McBride (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Keith Szarabajka
When newly divorced Sage arrives in Bali, his only plan is to drink on the beach until his money runs out and then return home to start over. So he’s caught by surprise when he falls in love with the country and its people, particularly the attractive and considerate Ratri. Soon Sage can no longer see himself living anywhere else, even as his funds dwindle and his visa’s expiration date nears. Increasingly desperate to stay with Ratri, Sage finds himself being recruited by a drug-smuggling ring --- in a country where drug trafficking is punishable by death. The promised payout would be enough to set Sage and Ratri up for life, but only if Sage isn’t caught. Will Sage go home and risk the life he envisions with Ratri, or risk everything to stay and make that life possible? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes (Fiction/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by Julia Whelan
Recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her house nearly a year after her husband’s death. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them. Meanwhile, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. What starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
FALL; OR, DODGE IN HELL by Neal Stephenson (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Malcolm Hillgartner
While undergoing a routine medical procedure, multibillionaire Richard “Dodge” Forthrast is pronounced brain dead and put on life support. Long ago, when a much younger Dodge drew up his will, he directed that his body be given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Dodge’s family has his brain scanned and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud, until it can eventually be revived. In the coming years, technology allows Dodge’s brain to be turned back on. An eternal afterlife --- the Bitworld --- is created, in which humans continue to exist as digital souls. But this brave new immortal world is not the Utopia it might first seem. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.
THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER by Patti Callahan Henry (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Joshilyn Jackson
Ten years ago, Lena Donohue experienced a wedding-day betrayal so painful that she fled the small town of Watersend, South Carolina, and reinvented herself in New York City. Though now a freelance travel writer, the one place she rarely goes is home --- until she learns of her dad’s failing health. Returning to Watersend means seeing the sister she has avoided for a decade and the brother who runs the family’s Irish pub and has borne the burden of his sisters’ rift. While Alzheimer’s slowly steals their father’s memories, the siblings rush to preserve his life in stories and in photographs. As his secret past brings Lena’s own childhood into focus, it sends her on a journey to discover the true meaning of home. Reviewed by Melanie Reynolds.
THE FIRST MISTAKE by Sandie Jones (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Nathalie Buscombe
For Alice, life has never been better. With her second husband, she has a successful business, two children and a beautiful house. Alice knows that life could have been different if her first husband had lived, but Nathan’s arrival into her life gave her back the happiness she craved. Through the ups and downs of life, from celebratory nights out to comforting each other through loss, Alice knows that with her best friend Beth by her side, they can survive anything together. So when Nathan starts acting strangely, Alice turns to Beth for help. But soon, Alice begins to wonder if her trust has been misplaced. Reviewed by Pamela Kramer.
FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Allyson Ryan
Toby Fleishman thought he knew what to expect when he and his wife of almost 15 years separated. He could not have predicted that one day, in the middle of his summer of sexual emancipation, Rachel would just drop their two children off at his place and simply not return. As Toby tries to figure out where Rachel went, all while juggling his patients at the hospital, his never-ending parental duties, and his new app-assisted sexual popularity, his tidy narrative of the spurned husband with the too-ambitious wife is his sole consolation. But if Toby ever wants to truly understand what happened to Rachel and what happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen things all that clearly in the first place. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE HARD STUFF: A Joe the Bouncer Thriller by David Gordon (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Richard Poe
Still reeling from a particularly difficult operation, and having plummeted back into the drug and alcohol addiction that got him kicked out of the military as a result, Joe Brody has just managed to detox at the clinic of a Chinese herbalist when the mob bosses phone: they need Joe to help them swindle a group of opioid dealers (of all things). But these are no typical drug-ferrying gangsters. Little Maria, the head of the Dominican mob, has discovered that her new heroin suppliers belong to an al-Qaeda splinter group, and that they're planning to use their drug funds to back their terrorist agenda. With Joe in command, the mob coalition must pull off an intricate heist that will begin in Manhattan's diamond district. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
HER DAUGHTER'S MOTHER by Daniela Petrova (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Tavia Gilbert, Carlotta Brentan, Dan Bittner and Lisa Flanagan
Lana Stone has never considered herself a stalker --- until the night she impulsively follows a familiar face through the streets of New York's Upper West Side. Her target? The "anonymous" egg donor she'd selected through an agency, the one who's making motherhood possible for her. Hungry to learn more about her, Lana plans only to watch her from a distance. But when circumstances bring them face-to-face, an unexpected friendship is born. Then, just as suddenly as Katya entered Lana's life, she disappears --- and Lana might have been the last person to see her before she went missing. As she digs into Katya's past, Lana is unprepared for the secrets she unearths, and their power to change everything she thought she knew about those she loves best. Reviewed by Amie Taylor.
I’LL NEVER TELL by Catherine McKenzie (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available; read by Julia Whelan, Timothy Andrés Pabon and Whitney Dykhouse
Twenty years ago, Amanda Holmes was found bludgeoned in a rowboat at the MacAllister family’s Camp Macaw. No one was ever charged with the crime. Now, after their parents’ sudden deaths, the MacAllister siblings return to camp to read the will and decide what to do with the prime real estate the camp occupies. However, the will stipulates that until they unravel the mystery of what happened to Amanda, they can’t settle the estate. Any one of them could have done it, and each one is holding a piece of the puzzle. Will they work together to finally discover the truth, or will their secrets finally tear the family apart? Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
IN THE DARKNESS by Mike Omer (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Brittany Pressley
An online video of a girl clawing at the ceiling of her own grave could be the worst thing FBI forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley has ever seen. Perhaps even more disturbing is the implication of the video’s title: “Experiment Number One.” Zoe and her partner, Special Agent Tatum Gray, work as fast as they can to find the monster behind the shocking video, but soon another one shows up online, and another girl turns up dead. Meanwhile, a different murderer is on Zoe’s mind. Rod Glover has been tormenting her since childhood, and his latest attack is a threatening photo of himself with Zoe’s sister. As Glover’s threats creep toward action, Zoe is torn between family and duty. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
INTO THE JUNGLE by Erica Ferencik (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jayme Mattler
Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes --- a teaching job in Cochabamba, Bolivia --- but unfortunately that gig falls through. Tired of hustling and already world-weary, crazy love finds her in the form she least expected: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’d abandoned his life as a hunter to try his hand at city life. When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: Stay alone in the unforgiving city, or travel to the last in a string of ever-more-isolated river towns in the jungles of Bolivia. She follows Omar to this ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin.
JUST ONE BITE by Jack Heath (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Christopher Ragland
Timothy Blake, ex-consultant for the FBI, now works in body disposal for a local crime lord. One night he stumbles across a body he wasn’t supposed to find and is forced to hide it. When the FBI calls Blake in to investigate a missing university professor, Blake recognizes him as the dead man in his freezer. Then another man goes missing. And another. There’s a serial killer in Houston, Texas, and Blake is running out of time to solve the case. His investigation takes him to a sex doll factory, a sprawling landfill in Louisiana and a secret cabin in the woods. As they hunt the killer together, FBI agent Reese Thistle starts to warm to Blake --- but she also gets closer and closer to discovering his terrible secret. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE LAST HOUSE GUEST by Megan Miranda (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Rebekkah Ross
Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline, and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors. Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl, but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable --- until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.
LAYOVER by David Bell (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Robbie Daymond
Joshua Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights, Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each other again. As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a missing person. What follows is a whirlwind, fast-paced journey filled with lies, deceit and secrets as Joshua tries to discover why Morgan has vanished from her own life. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LOCK EVERY DOOR by Riley Sager (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Dylan Moore
Jules Larsen is an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. As she gets to know the residents and staff, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story. Until the next day, when Ingrid disappears. What Jules discovers pits her against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past and escape the Bartholomew. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
A MATTER OF WILL by Adam Mitzner (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Will Damron
Will Matthews came to Wall Street with hopes and dreams of hitting it big. But things have not been going as expected. He’s on the verge of being fired when he meets the devilishly mysterious and fabulously wealthy Sam Abaddon. Winning Sam’s business answers Will’s prayers, catapulting the young stockbroker into the privileged world of money and luxury. Not only that, but Will also has met his dream girl, ambitious attorney Gwen Lipton. But when Will witnesses a shocking act of violence, his charmed new existence is revealed to be a waking nightmare as the truth about his benefactor --- and his own complicity in criminal conduct --- becomes devastatingly clear. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD by Claire Lombardo (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Emily Rankin
When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that's to come. By 2016, their four radically different daughters are each in a state of unrest: Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with booze and younger men; Violet, a litigator-turned-stay-at-home-mom, battles anxiety and self-doubt when the darkest part of her past resurfaces; Liza, a neurotic and newly tenured professor, finds herself pregnant with a baby she's not sure she wants by a man she's not sure she loves; and Grace, the dawdling youngest daughter, begins living a lie that no one in her family even suspects. Above it all, the daughters share the lingering fear that they will never find a love quite like their parents'. Reviewed by Katherine B. Weissman.
MRS. EVERYTHING by Jennifer Weiner (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Ari Graynor and Beth Malone
Growing up in 1950s Detroit, Jo and Bethie Kaufman live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. As their lives unfold against the background of free love and Vietnam, Woodstock and women’s lib, Bethie becomes an adventure-loving wild child who dives headlong into the counterculture and is up for anything (except settling down). Meanwhile, Jo becomes a proper young mother in Connecticut, a witness to the changing world instead of a participant. Neither woman inhabits the world she dreams of, nor has a life that feels authentic or brings her joy. Is it too late for them to finally stake a claim on happily ever after? Reviewed by Pamela Kramer.
A NEARLY NORMAL FAMILY written by M.T. Edvardsson, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles (Psychological/Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Richard Armitage, Georgia Maguire and Emily Watson
Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost 15 years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him? Stella’s father (a pastor) and mother (a criminal defense attorney) find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A NEARLY NORMAL FAMILY asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them? Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley.
NECESSARY PEOPLE by Anna Pitoniak (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Vanessa Johansson
Stella and Violet are best friends in college. After graduation, Violet lands a job in cable news, where she works her way up from intern to assistant to producer, and to a life where she's finally free from Stella's shadow. In this fast-paced world, Violet thrives, and her ambitions grow. But everything is jeopardized when Stella uses her connections, beauty and charisma to get hired at the same network. Stella soon moves in front of the camera, becoming the public face of the stories that Violet has worked tirelessly to produce --- and taking all the credit. As they strive for success, each reveals just how far she'll go to get what she wants --- even if it means destroying the other person along the way. Reviewed by Dunja Bonacci Skenderović.
PATSY by Nicole Dennis-Benn (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Sharon Gordon
When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to America, it comes after years of yearning to leave Pennyfield, the beautiful but impoverished Jamaican town where she was raised. More than anything, Patsy wishes to be reunited with her oldest friend, Cicely, whose letters arrive from New York steeped in the promise of a happier life and the possible rekindling of their young love. But Patsy’s plans don’t include her overzealous, evangelical mother or even her five-year-old daughter, Tru. Beating with the pulse of a long-withheld confession, PATSY gives voice to a woman who looks to America for the opportunity to choose herself first --- not to give a better life to her family back home. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman.
THE PERFECT FRAUD by Ellen LaCorte (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Karissa Vacker and Elizabeth Godley
When we first meet Claire, she’s living in Sedona, Arizona, with her boyfriend Cal and ducking calls from her mother. Her mom is a world class psychic on the East Coast, and Claire doesn’t want her to discover the truth. Claire works in the family business and calls herself a psychic, but she doesn’t really have “the gift” and hasn’t for a long time. She's a fraud. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Rena, a young mother, has family issues of her own. She’s divorced, and her four-year-old daughter, Stephanie, suffers from mysterious, seemingly incurable stomach problems. When Claire and Rena meet by chance on an airplane, their carefully constructed lives begin to explode. Can these two women help each other, and can they help Stephanie before it’s too late? Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
THE PORPOISE by Mark Haddon (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Tim McInnerny
Maja, the pregnant wife of the unimaginably wealthy Philippe, is killed in a harrowing plane crash, but their daughter Angelica survives. Philippe's obsession with the girl's safety morphs into something sinister and grotesque as she grows into a beautiful teen. A young man named Darius, visiting Philippe with a business proposition, encounters Angelica and intuits their secret --- he decides to rescue her, but the attempt goes awry and he flees England by sea. This contemporary story mirrors the ancient legend of Antiochus, whose love for the daughter of his dead wife was discovered by the adventurer Appolinus of Tyre, who becomes the swashbuckling Pericles. As Angelica comes to terms with a life imprisoned on her father's estate, Darius morphs into Pericles, voyaging through a mythic world. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
RECURSION by Blake Crouch (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jon Lindstrom and Abby Craden
New York City cop Barry Sutton is investigating the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome --- a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. Neuroscientist Helena Smith already understands the power of memory. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts. As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face-to-face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease --- a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena will stand a chance at defeating it. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE SHALLOWS: A Nils Shapiro Novel by Matt Goldman (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Macleod Andrews
A prominent lawyer is found dead, tied to his own dock by a fishing stringer through his jaw, and everyone wants private detective Nils Shapiro to protect them from suspicion: The unfaithful widow. Her artist boyfriend. The lawyer’s firm. A polarizing congressional candidate. A rudderless suburban police department. Even the FBI. Nils and his investigative partners illuminate a sticky web of secrets and deceit that draws national attention. But finding the web doesn’t prevent Nils from getting caught in it. Just when his safety is most in peril, his personal life takes an unexpected twist, facing its own snarl of surprise and deception. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE SNAKES by Sadie Jones (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Imogen Church
Recently married, psychologist Bea and Dan, a mixed-race artist, rent out their tiny flat to escape London for a few precious months. Driving through France, they visit Bea's dropout brother, Alex, at the hotel he runs in Burgundy. Disturbingly, they find him all alone and the ramshackle hotel deserted, apart from the nest of snakes in the attic. When Alex and Bea's parents make a surprise visit, Dan can't understand why Bea is so appalled, or why she's never wanted him to know them. Maybe Bea is ashamed of him, or maybe she regrets the secrets she's been keeping. Tragedy strikes suddenly, and in its aftermath the family is stripped back to its heart, and then its rotten core. Even Bea, with all her strength and goodness, can't escape. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE STATIONERY SHOP by Marjan Kamali (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Mozhan Marnò
Roya is a dreamy, idealistic teenager who finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood book and stationery shop. When Mr. Fakhri introduces Roya to Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry, she loses her heart at once. A few months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square, but violence suddenly erupts --- a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. More than 60 years later, though, an accident of fate leads Roya back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did he leave? Where did he go? How was he able to forget her? Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
SUMMER OF '69 by Elin Hilderbrand (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Erin Bennett
It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same. Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, each of them hiding a troubling secret. Reviewed by Vivian Payton.
THIS IS HOME by Lisa Duffy (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Renata Friedman and Emily Woo Zeller
After the death of her mother, 16-year-old Libby Winters lives with her father, Bent, in the middle apartment of their triple decker home --- Bent’s two sisters, Lucy and Desiree, live on the top floor. Quinn Ellis is at a crossroads. When her husband John, who has served two tours in Iraq, goes missing back at home, suffering from PTSD he refuses to address, Quinn finds herself living in the first-floor apartment of the Winters house. For Libby, the new tenant downstairs is an unwelcome guest, another body filling up her already crowded house. But soon enough, an unlikely friendship begins to blossom, when Libby and Quinn stretch and redefine their definition of family and home. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
THOSE PEOPLE by Louise Candlish (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Katharine McEwan, with Jonathan Cowley, Jayne Entwistle, Andrew Fallaise, Paul Fox, Billie Jd Porter and Moira Quirk
Lowland Way is the suburban dream. The houses are beautiful, the neighbors get along, and the kids play together on weekends. But when Darren and Jodie move into the house on the corner, they donʼt follow the rules. They blast music at all hours, begin an unsightly renovation, and run a used-car business from their yard. It doesn’t take long for an all-out war to start brewing. Then, early one Saturday, a horrific death shocks the street. As police search for witnesses, accusations start flying --- and everyone has something to hide. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
TIME AFTER TIME by Lisa Grunwald (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Erin Bennett
On a clear December morning in 1937, at the famous gold clock in Grand Central Terminal, Joe Reynolds, a hardworking railroad man from Queens, meets a vibrant young woman who seems mysteriously out of place. Nora Lansing is a Manhattan socialite whose flapper clothing, pearl earrings and talk of the Roaring Twenties don’t seem to match the bleak mood of Depression-era New York. Captivated by Nora from her first electric touch, Joe despairs when he tries to walk her home and she disappears. Finding her again --- and again --- will become the focus of his love and his life. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
VERY NICE by Marcy Dermansky (Fiction/Humor)
Audiobook available; read by Emily Lawrence, Vikas Adam, Cassandra Campbell, January LaVoy and Johnathan McClain
Rachel Klein never meant to kiss her creative writing professor, but with his long eyelashes, his silky hair and the sad, beautiful life he laid bare on Twitter, she does, and the kiss is very nice. Zahid Azzam never planned to become a houseguest in his student's sprawling Connecticut home, but with the sparkling swimming pool, the endless supply of Whole Foods strawberries and Rachel's beautiful mother, he does, and the home is very nice. Becca Klein never thought she'd have a love affair so soon after her divorce, but when her daughter's professor walks into her home, bringing with him an apricot standard poodle named Princess, she does, and the affair is...a very bad idea. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
WE WERE KILLERS ONCE by Becky Masterman (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Kate Harper
Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn and her husband Carlo, a former priest and university professor, are trying to enjoy each other in this new stage in their lives. But a memento from Carlo's days as a prison chaplain --- a handwritten document hidden away undetected in a box of Carlo's old things --- has become a target for a man on the run from his past. Jerry Beaufort has just been released from prison after decades behind bars, and though he'd like to get on with living the rest of his life, he knows that somewhere there is a written record of the time he spent with two killers in 1959. Following the path of this letter will bring Jerry into contact with the last person he'll see as a threat: Brigid Quinn. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.