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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 16th and July 23rd that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our review of THE SUMMER WIVES and our interview with its author, Beatriz Williams. This Women's Fiction Author Spotlight title will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.
We also are spotlighting our recent reviews of CLOCK DANCE by Anne Tyler, I SEE LIFE THROUGH ROSÉ-COLORED GLASSES: True Stories and Confessions by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella, and THE WIDOWER'S NOTEBOOK: A Memoir by Jonathan Santlofer, the latter of which will be a Bets On selection.
You can read Carol Fitzgerald's commentaries on both THE SUMMER WIVES and THE WIDOWER'S NOTEBOOK in the July 20th Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Review of THE SUMMER WIVES,
a Women's Fiction Author Spotlight Title,
and Our Interview with Beatriz Williams
THE SUMMER WIVES by Beatriz Williams (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Kristin Kalbli
In the summer of 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on elite, secretive Winthrop Island, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. When her beautiful mother marries Hugh Fisher, Miranda is catapulted into a heady new world of pedigrees and cocktails, status and swimming pools. Isobel Fisher, Miranda’s new stepsister, is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop society. Uneasy among Isobel’s privileged friends, she finds herself drawn to Joseph Vargas, who has enjoyed an intense, complex friendship with Isobel. As the summer winds to its end, Miranda is caught in a catastrophe that will shatter Winthrop’s hard-won tranquility and banish her from the island for nearly two decades.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read our interview with Beatriz Williams.
Click here to read more in our Women's Fiction Author Spotlight.
THE SUMMER WIVES will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.
Don’t miss Carol Fitzgerald's commentary in the July 20th
Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter.
On Sale the Week of July 16th in Hardcover
July 17th
BABY TEETH by Zoje Stage (Psychological Thriller)
Suzette is unable to form a bond with her seven-year-old daughter, who cannot --- or will not --- speak. Ever since Hanna was a baby, she felt rejected by her. It’s as if the child hates her, leaving Suzette very frightened. Alex wants to believe his wife’s accounts of their daughter’s cruel and unusual behavior, but he’s never seen anything but her love. Is Hanna just a naughty girl whose antics reveal intelligence, creativity, maybe even charm? Or is she actually trying to kill her mother?
St. Martin’s Press | 9781250170750
BAD CALL: A Summer Job on a New York Ambulance by Mike Scardino (Memoir)
BAD CALL is Mike Scardino's account of the summers he spent working as an "ambulance attendant" on the mean streets of late-1960s New York. Fueled by adrenaline and Sabrett's hot dogs, young Mike spends his days speeding from one chaotic emergency to another. His adventures take him into the middle of incipient race riots, to the scene of a plane crash at JFK airport and into private lives all over Queens, where New Yorkers are suffering, and dying, in unimaginable ways. Learning on the job, Mike encounters all manner of freakish accidents, meets countless unforgettable New York characters, falls in love, is nearly murdered, and gets an early and indelible education in the impermanence of life and the cruelty of chance.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316469616
COTTAGE BY THE SEA by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Annie Marlow has been through the worst. Rocked by tragedy, she heads to the one place that makes her happy: Oceanside in the Pacific Northwest, the destination of many family vacations when she was a teenager. Once there, Annie begins to restore her broken spirit, thanks in part to the folks she meets. Chief among them is Keaton, a local painter whose quiet, peaceful nature offers her both comfort and reprieve from her grief, and the two begin to grow closer. Then events threaten to undo the idyll Annie has come to enjoy. And when the opportunity of a lifetime lands in her lap, she is torn between the excitement of a new journey toward success and the safe and secure arms of the haven --- and the man --- she’s come to call home.
Ballantine Books | 9780399181252
THE DISAPPEARING by Lori Roy (Mystery/Thriller)
When Lane Fielding fled her isolated Florida hometown after high school, she swore she'd never return. But 20 years later, she finds herself tending bar at the local dive and living with her parents on the historic Fielding Plantation. Here, the past haunts her and the sinister crimes of her father --- the former director of an infamous boys' school --- make her as unwelcome in town as she was the day she left. Ostracized by the people she was taught to trust, Lane's unsteady truce with the town is rattled when her older daughter suddenly vanishes. When Lane's younger daughter admits to having made a new and unseemly friend, a desperate Lane attacks her hometown's façade to discover whether her daughter's disappearance is payback for her father's crimes --- or for her own.
Dutton | 9781524741938
DOUBLE BLIND by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen (Mystery/Thriller)
Kendra Michaels, formerly blind and now a hired gun for law enforcement agencies who relies on her razor-sharp powers of observation, is reluctant to help the FBI with the most recent case they’ve brought to her. But then she hears the details: the body was found just blocks away from Kendra’s condo. The young woman was carrying an envelope with Kendra’s name on it, and inside was an SD card with what appears to be an innocuous video of a wedding reception. The woman died trying to get the video to Kendra, but for what purpose? Before Kendra and the FBI can answer that question, the bride is abducted from her suburban home. And so the hunt is on for a killer whose nightmarish plan is slowly becoming clear.
St. Martin’s Press | 9781250075994
THE FAMILY TABOR by Cherise Wolas (Fiction)
Harry Tabor is about to be named Man of the Decade. Gathering together in Palm Springs for the celebration are his wife, Roma, and their children: Phoebe, Camille and Simon. But immediately, cracks begin to appear in this smooth façade: Simon hasn’t been sleeping through the night, Camille can’t decide what to do with her life, and Phoebe is a little too cagey about her new boyfriend. Roma knows her children are hiding things. What she doesn’t know --- what none of them know --- is that Harry is suddenly haunted by the long-buried secret that drove him to relocate his young family to the California desert. As the ceremony nears, the family members are forced to confront the falsehoods upon which their lives are built.
Flatiron Books | 9781250081452
FOUR DOMINIONS: A Testament Novel by Eric Van Lustbader (Supernatural Thriller)
The End of Days has been predicted for the last 2,000 years, but now it is upon us. Emma and Bravo Shaw have rescued the Testament of Lucifer from nefarious hands. But despite their efforts, Lucifer's Fallen have already woken, including the four thrones of legend, and their corruption reaches to the highest ranks. Even the Shaws are not immune, as Leviathan is coming, and no one is safe.
Forge Books | 9780765388605
GIVE ME YOUR HAND by Megan Abbott (Psychological Thriller)
Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane's academic brilliance lit a fire in Kit, and the two developed an unlikely friendship. Until Diane shared a secret that changed everything between them. More than a decade later, Kit thinks she's put Diane behind her forever and she's begun to fulfill the scientific dreams Diane awakened in her. But the past comes roaring back when she discovers that Diane is her competition for a position both women covet, taking part in groundbreaking new research led by their idol. Soon enough, the two former friends find themselves locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to destroy them both.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316547185
IN THE VINES by Shannon Kirk (Psychological Thriller)
Mary Olivia Pentecost, known as Mop, was born into one of the wealthiest families in the country --- and one of the most guarded. Now, two years after her mother’s mysterious death, Mop is seeking closure on the disquieting tragedy by returning to the New England seaside estate of her cloistered Aunty Liv --- once her closest relative and confidante. But behind the walls of the isolated estate, the shadows of the past are darker than Mop imagined. The puzzles of the family history are not to be shared, but unearthed. With each revelation comes a new, foreboding threat --- and for Mop, the grave suspicion that to discover Aunty Liv’s secrets is to become a prisoner of them.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781503901940
THE LATE BLOOMERS’ CLUB by Louise Miller (Fiction)
Nora, the owner of the Miss Guthrie Diner, discovers that she and her younger sister Kit stand to inherit the home and land of the town's beloved cake lady, Peggy Johnson. Kit, an aspiring (and broke) filmmaker, thinks her problems are solved when she and Nora find out that Peggy was in the process of selling the land to a big-box developer before her death. But Nora isn't quite ready to let go of the land, complete with a charming farmhouse, an ancient apple orchard and the clues to a secret life that no one knew Peggy had. Troubled by the conflicting needs of the town, and confused by her growing feelings towards Elliot, the big-box developer's rep, Nora throws herself into solving the one problem that everyone in town can agree on --- finding Peggy's missing dog, Freckles.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9781101981238
THE OTHER WOMAN by Daniel Silva (Thriller/Adventure)
In an isolated village in the mountains of Andalusia, a mysterious Frenchwoman begins work on a dangerous memoir. It is the story of a man she once loved in the Beirut of old, and a child taken from her in treason’s name. The woman is the keeper of the Kremlin’s most closely guarded secret. Long ago, the KGB inserted a mole into the heart of the West --- a mole who stands on the doorstep of ultimate power. Only one man can unravel the conspiracy: Gabriel Allon, the legendary art restorer and assassin who serves as the chief of Israel’s vaunted secret intelligence service. Gabriel and the Russians will engage in a final epic showdown, with the fate of the postwar global order hanging in the balance.
Harper | 9780062834829
RESCUED: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter is reluctant to take on any more cases. He’d much rather spend his time working for his dog rescue organization, the Tara Foundation, than find himself back in a courtroom. However, when a truck carrying over 70 dogs from the South to the rescue-friendly northeast turns up with a murdered driver, Andy can’t help but get involved. The accused just happens to be his wife Laurie’s ex-fiance; her tall, good-looking, ex-Marine ex-fiance. Even though he acknowledges having argued with the victim, he swears that he is not a killer. And though he would rather not, Andy has to admit he believes he's telling the truth.
Minotaur Books | 9781250133069
THE SINNERS: A Quinn Colson Novel by Ace Atkins (Thriller)
The Pritchards were an evil, greedy family who made their living dealing drugs and committing mayhem. Years ago, Quinn Colson's late uncle had put the clan's patriarch in prison, but now he's getting out, with revenge, power and family business on his mind. To make matters worse, a shady trucking firm with possible ties to the Gulf Coast syndicate has moved into Tibbehah, and they have their own methods of intimidation. With his longtime deputy Lillie Virgil now working up in Memphis, Colson finds himself having to fall back on some brand-new deputies to help him out. But with Old West-style violence breaking out, and his own wedding on the horizon, this is without a doubt Colson's most trying time as sheriff.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399576744
THE WRONG HEAVEN: Stories by Amy Bonnaffons (Fiction/Short Stories)
In THE WRONG HEAVEN, anything is possible: bodies can transform, inanimate objects come to life, angels appear and disappear. Amy Bonnaffons draws us into a delightfully strange universe, in which her conflicted characters seek to solve their sexual and spiritual dilemmas in all the wrong places. The title story's heroine reckons with grief while arguing with loquacious Jesus and Mary lawn ornaments that come to life when she plugs them in. In "Horse," we enter a world in which women transform themselves into animals through a series of medical injections. In "Alternate," a young woman convinces herself that all she needs to revive a stagnant relationship is the perfect poster of the Dalai Lama.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316516211
On Sale the Week of July 16th in Paperback
July 16th
UNLOADED VOLUME 2: More Crime Writers Writing Without Guns edited by Eric Beetner (Mystery & Thriller/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
The Anthony-nominated collection of crime stories without guns is back for Volume 2. Two dozen more crime writers have come together to raise their voices and take pen in hand to call for a sensible and reasoned debate about guns in America. In stories of crime, mystery and suspense, these authors have left the guns out to show for a short while that we can do without them and the plot doesn’t fall apart. The top priority in these stories is to entertain with thrilling action and suspense that readers know and love about a crime story. To do so without guns leads to some creative leaps from writers who spin tales of simians on the loose, androids with buried secrets, punk rock shows and tattoo shops.
Down & Out Books | 9781946502599
July 17th
BED-STUY IS BURNING by Brian Platzer (Fiction)
Aaron, a disgraced rabbi turned Wall Street banker, and Amelia, his journalist girlfriend, live with their newborn in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The infusion of upwardly mobile professionals into Bed-Stuy’s historic brownstones belies the tension simmering on the streets below. But after a cop shoots a boy in a nearby park, conflict escalates to rioting. Pulled into the riot’s vortex are Antoinette, devout nanny to Aaron and Amelia’s son; Jupiter, the single father who lives on their block with his son, Derek; Daniel, Aaron’s unhinged tenant in their basement unit; and Sara, a smart local girl, broiling with confusion and rage. As the day unfolds, these diverse characters are forced to reckon with who they are and what truly matters to them.
Washington Square Press | 9781501146961
THE CHICKENSHIT CLUB: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives by Jesse Eisinger (True Crime/Law)
Why were no bankers put in prison after the financial crisis of 2008? Why do CEOs seem to commit wrongdoing with impunity? The problem goes beyond banks deemed “Too Big to Fail” to almost every large corporation in America --- to pharmaceutical companies and auto manufacturers and beyond. THE CHICKENSHIT CLUB --- an inside reference to prosecutors too scared of failure and too daunted by legal impediments to do their jobs --- explains why. A character-driven narrative, the book tells the story from inside the Department of Justice. It spans the last decade and a half of prosecutorial fiascos, corporate lobbying, trial losses and culture shifts that have stripped the government of the will and ability to prosecute top corporate executives.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501121371
THE DARK LAKE by Sarah Bailey (Mystery)
The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when high school classmate Rosalind Ryan is found strangled. As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? Rosalind's enigmas frustrate and obsess Gemma, who has her own dangerous secrets --- an affair with her colleague and past tragedies that may not stay in the past.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538759929
THE DOLL FUNERAL by Kate Hamer (Psychological Thriller)
On Ruby’s 13th birthday, a wish she didn’t even know she had suddenly comes true: the couple who raised her aren’t her parents at all. Her real mother and father are out there somewhere, and Ruby becomes determined to find them. Venturing into the forest with nothing but a suitcase and the company of her only true friend --- the imaginary Shadow Boy --- Ruby discovers a group of siblings who live alone in the woods. The children take her in, and while they offer the closest Ruby’s ever had to a family, Ruby begins to suspect that they might need her even more than she needs them. And it’s not always clear what’s real and what’s not --- or who’s trying to help her and who might be a threat.
Melville House | 9781612197296
EXPOSED by Lisa Scottoline (Legal Thriller)
Mary DiNunzio wants to represent her old friend Simon Pensiera, a sales rep who was wrongly fired by his company, but her partner Bennie Rosato represents the parent company. When she confronts Mary, explaining this is a conflict of interest, an epic battle of wills and legal strategy between the two ensues --- ripping the law firm apart, forcing everyone to take sides and turning friend against friend.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250099723
FAST FALLS THE NIGHT by Julia Keller (Mystery)
The first drug overdose comes just after midnight, when a young woman dies on the dirty floor of a gas station bathroom. To the people of the small town of Acker’s Gap, West Virginia, it is just another tragedy. But then there is another overdose. And another. And another. Prosecutor Bell Elkins soon realizes that her Appalachian hometown is facing its starkest challenge yet: a day of constant heroin overdoses from a batch tainted with a lethal tranquilizer. While the clock ticks and the bodies fall, Bell and her colleagues desperately track the source of the deadly drug --- and engage in fierce debates over the wisdom of expending precious resources to save the lives of self-destructive addicts.
Minotaur Books | 9781250089625
FROM A LOW AND QUIET SEA by Donal Ryan (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Farouk has tried to protect his wife and daughter from the war and hatred that has torn Syria apart. If they stay, they will lose their freedom. If they flee, they will lose all they have known of home. Lampy has too much going on in his small town life in Ireland. He has the city girl for a bit of fun, but she's not Chloe, and Chloe took his heart away when she left him. There's also the secret his mother will never tell him. The game --- manipulating people --- was always the lifeblood coursing through John's veins. But the ghost of his beloved brother and the bitter disappointment of his father have shadowed him all his life. These three men are searching for some version of home, and their lives are moving inexorably towards a reckoning that will draw them all together.
Penguin Books | 9780143133247
GEORGE AND LIZZIE by Nancy Pearl (Fiction)
George and Lizzie have radically different understandings of what love and marriage should be. George grew up in a warm and loving family --- his father an orthodontist, his mother a stay-at-home mom --- while Lizzie grew up as the only child of two famous psychologists, who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love. After a decade of marriage, nothing has changed --- George is happy; Lizzie remains…unfulfilled. But when George discovers that Lizzie has been searching for the whereabouts of an old boyfriend, Lizzie is forced to decide what love means to her, what George means to her, and whether her life with George is the one she wants.
Touchstone | 9781501162909
THE LAST HACK: A Jack Parlabane Thriller by Christopher Brookmyre (Thriller)
Left to fend for a younger sister with learning difficulties when their mother goes to prison, Sam Morpeth is forced to watch her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her online. Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane seems to have finally gotten his career back on track with a job at a flashy online news start-up, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile source on the wrong side of the law. Now that debt is being called in, and it could cost him everything. Thrown together by a common enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realize --- and might be each other's only hope.
Grove Press | 9780802127914
LUSH: A Memoir by Kerry Cohen (Memoir)
Paperback Original
When LOOSE GIRL author Kerry Cohen reached her early 40s, she realized she had a drinking problem. Yes, she could get up on time, bring her kids to school, make dinner, chat with friends, and all around have a normal day. But, throughout it all, Kerry was waiting for her 5:00 glass of wine. Maybe two glasses. Maybe a bottle. Just enough to blur the edges of her life that had become a monotony of vacuuming, carpooling and disagreements with her husband. What she also realized was: she wasn't the only one. LUSH examines Kerry's struggle with alcohol, a struggle that a rising number of middle-aged women are facing today as alcohol dependency amongst females drastically increases.
Sourcebooks | 9781492652199
STING-RAY AFTERNOONS: A Memoir by Steve Rushin (Memoir)
This is a story of the 1970s. Of a road trip in a wood-paneled station wagon, with the kids in the way-back, singing along to the Steve Miller Band. Of brothers waking up early on Saturday mornings for five consecutive hours of cartoons. Of growing up in a magical era populated by Bic pens, Mr. Clean and Scrubbing Bubbles, lightsabers and those oh-so-coveted Schwinn Sting-Ray bikes. And of a father --- one of 3M's greatest and last eight-track salesmen --- traveling across the country on the brand-new Boeing 747, providing for his family but wanting nothing more than to get home.
Back Bay Books | 9780316392259
On Sale the Week of July 23rd in Hardcover
July 24th
BELIEVE ME by JP Delaney (Psychological Thriller)
A struggling actor, a Brit in America without a green card, Claire needs work and money to survive. Then she gets both. But nothing like she expected. Claire agrees to become a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers. Hired to entrap straying husbands, she must catch them on tape with their seductive propositions. The rules? Never hit on the mark directly. Make it clear you’re available, but he has to proposition you, not the other way around. The firm is after evidence, not coercion. The innocent have nothing to hide. Then the game changes. When the wife of one of Claire’s targets is violently murdered, the cops are sure the husband is to blame. Desperate to catch him before he kills again, they enlist Claire to lure him into a confession.
Ballantine Books | 9781101966310
CHARLOTTE WALSH LIKES TO WIN by Jo Piazza (Fiction)
Charlotte Walsh is running for Senate in the most important race in the country during a midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress. Once the campaign gets underway, Charlotte is blindsided by just how dirty her opponent is willing to fight, how harshly she is judged by the press and her peers, and how exhausting it becomes to navigate a marriage with an increasingly ambivalent and often resentful husband. When the opposition uncovers a secret that could threaten not just her campaign but everything Charlotte holds dear, she has to decide just how badly she wants to win and at what cost.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501179419
GHOSTED by Rosie Walsh (Fiction)
When Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love. To Sarah, it seems as though her life has finally begun. And it's mutual: It's as though Eddie has been waiting for her, too. Sarah has never been so certain of anything. So when Eddie leaves for a long-booked vacation and promises to call from the airport, she has no cause to doubt him. But he doesn't call. Sarah's friends tell her to forget about him, but she can't. She knows something has happened --- there must be an explanation. Minutes, days, weeks go by as Sarah becomes increasingly worried. But then she discovers she's right. There is a reason for Eddie's disappearance, and it's the one thing they didn't share with each other: the truth.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780525522775
HANGMAN by Daniel Cole (Thriller)
Detective Emily Baxter is still reeling from the Ragdoll case, and from the disappearance of her friend, William “Wolf” Fawkes. Despite her reluctance to jump into another gruesome case, she’s summoned to a meeting of a new FBI/CIA/UK law enforcement task force in New York. There, she is presented with photographs of the latest copycat murder: a body contorted into a familiar pose, strung up from the Brooklyn Bridge, the word “BAIT” carved deep into its chest. As the media pressure intensifies, Baxter is ordered to assist with the investigation and attend the scene of another murder, again with a victim inscribed with a word: “PUPPET.” Baxter must shake off the grief and fear that have paralyzed her for the last year so she can stop another terrible killer before it’s too late.
Ecco | 9780062653987
HITS AND MISSES: Stories by Simon Rich (Fiction/Short Stories)
Humorist Simon Rich is back with a hilarious new collection of stories about dreaming big and falling flat, about ordinary people desperate for stardom, and the stars who are bored by having it all. Inspired by Rich's real experiences in Hollywood, HITS AND MISSES chronicles all the absurdity of fame and success alongside the heartbreaking humanity of failure. From a bitter tell-all by the horse Paul Revere rode to greatness, to a gushing magazine profile of everyone's favorite World War II dictator, these stories roam across time and space to skewer our obsession with making it big --- from the days of ancient Babylon to the age of TMZ.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316468893
JELL-O GIRLS: A Family History by Allie Rowbottom (Memoir)
In 1899, Allie Rowbottom's great-great-great-uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor for $450. The sale would turn out to be one of the most profitable business deals in American history, and the generations that followed enjoyed immense privilege --- but they were also haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism and mysterious ailments. More than 100 years later, Allie's mother Mary was diagnosed with the same cancer that had claimed her own mother's life. Determined to combat what she had come to consider the "Jell-O curse," Mary started researching her family's past. Before she died, Mary began to send Allie boxes of her research and notes, hoping that her daughter might write what she could not. JELL-O GIRLS is the liberation of that story.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316510615
MARY B: An Untold Story of Pride and Prejudice by Katherine J. Chen (Historical Fiction)
Mary Bennet possesses neither the beauty of her eldest sister, Jane, nor the high-spirited wit of second-born Lizzy. Even compared to her frivolous younger siblings, Kitty and Lydia, Mary knows she is lacking in the ways that matter for single, not-so-well-to-do women in 19th-century England who must secure their futures through the finding of a husband. As her sisters wed, one by one, Mary pictures herself growing old, a spinster with no estate to run or children to mind, dependent on the charity of others. At least she has the silent rebellion and secret pleasures of reading and writing to keep her company. But even her fictional creations are no match for the scandal, tragedy and romance that eventually visit Mary’s own life.
Random House | 9780399592218
A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS by Linwood Barclay (Psychological Thriller)
College professor Paul Davis is a normal guy with a normal life. Until, driving along a deserted road late one night, he surprises a murderer disposing of a couple of bodies. That’s when Paul’s "normal" existence is turned upside down. After nearly losing his own life in that encounter, he finds himself battling PTSD, depression and severe problems at work. His wife, Charlotte, brings home a vintage typewriter to encourage him to get started on that novel he’s always intended to write. However, Paul swears that it is possessed and types by itself at night. But only Paul can hear the noise coming from downstairs; Charlotte doesn’t hear a thing. And she worries he’s going off the rails. Paul believes the typewriter is somehow connected to the murderer he discovered nearly a year ago.
William Morrow | 9780062678256
ONLY TO SLEEP: A Philip Marlowe Novel by Lawrence Osborne (Hard-boiled Mystery)
The year is 1988. The place, Baja California. And Philip Marlowe --- now in his 72nd year --- is living out his retirement in the terrace bar of the La Fonda hotel. Sipping margaritas, playing cards, his silver-tipped cane at the ready. When in saunter two men dressed like undertakers, with a case that has his name written all over it. For Marlowe, this is his last roll of the dice, his swan song. His mission is to investigate the death of Donald Zinn --- supposedly drowned off his yacht, and leaving behind a much younger and now very rich wife. But is Zinn actually alive? Are the pair living off the spoils?
Hogarth | 9781524759612
PROUD: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad, with Lori Tharps (Sports/Memoir)
Growing up in New Jersey as the only African American Muslim in hijab in town, at school and on the playing fields, Ibtihaj Muhammad always had to find her own way. When she discovered fencing, a sport traditionally reserved for the wealthy and white, once again she had to defy expectations and make a place for herself in a sport she grew to love. Ibtihaj's path to Olympic greatness has been marked with opposition and near-debilitating challenges because of her race, religion and gender. As the only woman of color and the only religious minority on the U.S. women's saber team, again Ibtihaj had to push past stereotypes, misconceptions and negativity to find her own path to success and Olympic glory. PROUD is the inspiring story of how Ibtihaj rose above it all with grace and compassion.
Hachette Books | 9780316518963
WHISTLE IN THE DARK by Emma Healey (Psychological Thriller)
Jen and Hugh Maddox have just survived every parent’s worst nightmare. Their 15-year-old daughter, Lana, was found bloodied, bruised and disoriented after going missing for four days during a mother-daughter vacation in the country. She lies mute in her hospital bed, unwilling or unable to articulate what happened to her during that period. Even when she returns to the family home and her school routine, Lana only provides the same frustrating answer over and over: "I can’t remember." Without telling Hugh or their pregnant older daughter Meg, Jen sets off to retrace Lana’s steps, a journey that will lead her to a deeper understanding of her youngest daughter, her family and herself.
Harper | 9780062309716
On Sale the Week of July 23rd in Paperback
July 23rd
FLIGHT OF THE FOX by Gray Basnight (Thriller)
Paperback Original
College professor Sam Teagarden stumbles upon a decades-old government cover-up when an encoded document mysteriously lands in his inbox, followed by a cluster of mini-drones programmed to kill him. That begins a terrifying flight from upstate New York, to Washington, to Key West, as Teagarden must outfox teams of hitmen equipped with highly sophisticated technology. While a fugitive, he races to decode the journal, only to realize the dreadful truth --- it’s the reason he’s being hunted because it details criminal secrets committed by the U.S. in the 20th century. If he survives and publishes the decoded diary, he’ll be a heroic whistleblower. But there is no guarantee. He may also end up dead.
Down & Out Books | 9781946502612
July 24th
THE BOY AT THE DOOR by Alex Dahl (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Cecilia Wilborg has it all --- a loving husband, two beautiful daughters and a gorgeous home in the affluent Norwegian town of Sandefjord. However, one mistake from her past could bring it all crashing down around her. Annika Lucasson lives a dark life with her abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend. She's lost everything one too many times, and now she has one last chance to save herself, thanks to Cecilia. Annika knows her secret --- and just how much she's willing to do to make it all go away. When someone forgets to pick up their little boy at the local pool, Cecilia agrees to take him home, only to find an abandoned, empty house. It's the first step in the unraveling of her meticulously crafted life, as her and Annika's worlds collide.
Penguin Books | 9780451491794
CLASS MOM by Laurie Gelman (Fiction)
Jen Dixon is not your typical Kansas City kindergarten class mom --- or mom in general. Jen already has two college-age daughters by two different (probably) musicians, and it’s her second time around the class mom block with five-year-old Max --- this time with a husband and father by her side. Though her best friend and PTA President sees her as the “wisest” candidate for the job (or oldest), not all of the other parents agree. Throw in an old flame from Jen’s past, a hyper-sensitive “allergy mom,” a surprisingly sexy kindergarten teacher, and an impossible-to-please Real Housewife-wannabe, causing problems at every turn, and the job really becomes much more than she signed up for.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250192561
DAY OF THE DEAD by Nicci French (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
A decade ago, psychologist Frieda Klein was sucked into the orbit of Dean Reeve, a psychopath who was obsessed with her. In the years since, Frieda has worked with --- and sometimes against --- the London police in solving their most baffling cases. But now she's in hiding, driven to isolation by Reeve. When a series of murders announces his return, Frieda must emerge from the shadows to confront her nemesis. Criminology student Lola Hayes has tracked Frieda down with a single-minded pursuit: she wants to delve inside the mind of a woman besieged by darkness. But in following every move Frieda makes, Lola is exposing herself to the same terrors --- and the same twisted fixation of a diabolical psychopath.
Penguin Books | 9780062676702
DEATH IN ST. PETERSBURG: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander (Historical Mystery)
After the final curtain of “Swan Lake,” an animated crowd exits the Mariinsky theatre brimming with excitement from the night’s performance. But outside the scene is somber. A ballerina’s body lies face down in the snow, blood splattered like rose petals over the costume of the Swan Queen. Amongst the theatergoers is Lady Emily, accompanying her dashing husband Colin in Russia on assignment from the Crown. But it soon becomes clear that Colin isn’t the only one with work to do. When the dead ballerina’s aristocratic lover comes begging for justice, Emily must apply her own set of skills to discover the rising star’s murderer.
Minotaur Books | 9781250146151
DUNBAR by Edward St. Aubyn (Fiction)
Henry Dunbar, the once all-powerful head of a global media corporation, is not having a good day. In his dotage he hands over care of the corporation to his two eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, but as relations sour he starts to doubt the wisdom of past decisions. Now imprisoned in Meadowmeade, an upscale sanatorium in rural England, with only a demented alcoholic comedian as company, Dunbar starts planning his escape. As he flees into the hills, his family is hot on his heels. But who will find him first --- his beloved youngest daughter, Florence, or the tigresses Abby and Megan, so keen to divest him of his estate?
Hogarth | 9781101904305
FIERCE KINGDOM by Gin Phillips (Thriller)
The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours, she keeps on running. Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself --- the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines --- is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger.
Penguin Books | 9780735224520
GATHER THE DAUGHTERS by Jennie Melamed (Dystopian Fiction)
Years ago, just before the country was incinerated to wasteland, 10 men and their families colonized an island off the coast. They built a radical society of ancestor worship, controlled breeding, and the strict rationing of knowledge and history. Only the Wanderers --- chosen male descendants of the original 10 --- are allowed to cross to the wastelands. The daughters of these men are wives-in-training. At the first sign of puberty, they face their Summer of Fruition, a ritualistic season that drags them from adolescence to matrimony. At the end of one summer, little Caitlin Jacob sees something so horrifying, so contradictory to the laws of the island, that she must share it with the others.
Back Bay Books | 9780316463683
THE ICE-CREAM MAKERS by Ernest van der Kwast (Fiction)
As the heir to a proud Northern Italian ice-cream dynasty, Giovanni Calamine’s family is none too happy when he decides to break with tradition and travel the world as a notable poet. So when Giovanni receives an unexpected call from his brother, he is faced with a difficult decision: return home to serve in his family’s interests or continue on his own path in life once and for all.
Atria / 37 INK | 9781501169830
THE LAST THING I TOLD YOU by Emily Arsenault (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Therapist Dr. Mark Fabian has been bludgeoned to death in his office. But that doesn’t stop former patient Nadine Raines from talking to him --- in her head. Why did she come back to her hometown after so many years away? She committed a shockingly violent act when she was 16, and has never really been able to explain that dark impulse. Meanwhile, Detective Henry Peacher discovers that shortly before he died, Fabian pulled the files of two former patients: Nadine Raines and Johnny Streeter, the latter of whom is now serving a life sentence for a mass shooting five years ago. Could there be a decades-old connection between Nadine and Streeter? Maybe that would explain why Fabian ended up dead two days after Nadine’s return.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062567369
LITTLE GIRL LOST by Wendy Corsi Staub (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
May 1968: In Harlem, a church janitor finds an innocent newborn in a basket. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, an elusive serial killer prowls slumbering families, leaving a trail of blood and a twisted calling card. October 1987: Amelia Crenshaw embarks on a search to discover the truth about the birth mother who abandoned her, never suspecting she’s on a collision course with a killer. Detective Stockton Barnes, a brash young NYPD detective, trails a missing millionaire whose disappearance is rooted in a nightmare that began 20 years ago. The past returns with a brutal vengeance as a masked predator picks off victims whose fates intertwine with a notorious murder spree solved back in ’68. Or was it?
William Morrow | 9780062742056
LOCKDOWN by Laurie R. King (Psychological Suspense)
A year ago, Principal Linda McDonald arrived at Guadalupe determined to overturn the school’s reputation for truancy, gang violence and neglect. One of her initiatives is Career Day --- bringing together children, teachers and community presenters in a celebration of the future. But there are some in attendance who reject McDonald’s bright vision. A principal with a secret. A husband with a murky past. A cop with too many questions. A kid under pressure to prove himself. A girl struggling to escape a mother’s history. A young basketball player with an affection for guns. Even the school janitor has a story he dare not reveal. But no one at the gathering anticipates the shocking turn of events that will transform a day of possibilities into an explosive confrontation.
Bantam | 9780804177955
THE LONG DROP by Denise Mina (Historical/Psychological Thriller)
In 1950s Glasgow, a household of women were found slaughtered in their beds. The father, William Watt, had a cast iron alibi, but police were convinced he was guilty. Determined to clear his name, Watt let it be known that he would pay for information. Step forward career criminal Peter Manuel, with compelling details only the murderer could know. Watt agreed to meet him. They spent 12 hours together, driving and drinking in Glasgow pubs and clubs. No one knows what happened that night. The next time they met was in the High Court where Manuel was defending himself against the murder charges. He called Watt as a witness and quizzed him about their long, shady night together.
Back Bay Books | 9780316380591
NEED TO KNOW by Karen Cleveland (Thriller)
Vivian Miller. High-powered CIA analyst, happily married to a man she adores, mother of four beautiful children. Until the moment she makes a shocking discovery that makes her question everything she believes. She thought she knew her husband inside and out. But now she wonders if it was all a lie. How far will she go to learn the truth? And does she really need to know?
Ballantine Books | 9781524797041
NIGHTBLIND by Ragnar Jonasson (Mystery/Thriller)
Ari Thor Arason is a local policeman who has an uneasy relationship with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland --- where no one locks their doors. The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by a murder. One of Ari’s colleagues is gunned down at point-blank range in the dead of night in a deserted house. With a killer on the loose and the dark Arctic waters closing in, it falls to Ari Thor to piece together a puzzle that involves a new mayor and a psychiatric ward in Reykjavik. It becomes all too clear that tragic events from the past are weaving a sinister spell that may threaten them all.
Minotaur Books | 9781250193339
NOW MY HEART IS FULL: A Memoir by Laura June (Memoir)
Paperback Original
Laura June’s daughter, Zelda, was only a few moments old when she held her for the first time, looked into her eyes, and thought, I wish my mother were here. It wasn’t a thought she was used to having. Laura was in second grade when she realized her mother was an alcoholic. As the years went by, she spiraled deeper --- and by the time of her death, before Zelda’s birth, the two had drifted apart entirely. In NOW MY HEART IS FULL, Laura June explores how raising her daughter forced her to confront this tragic legacy and recognize the connective tissue that binds generations of women together.
Penguin Books | 9780143130918
UNLOCKED: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Not long from now, a virus will sweep the globe. Most will suffer no worse than flu-like symptoms, but an unlucky one percent will be changed forever. Hundreds of millions become "locked in," awake, aware, but completely unable to control their bodies. This is the story of the doctors, scientists, engineers, politicians and heroes who remade the world. It is the story of the chaotic outbreak, the fight for a cure, the changes that followed. It is an oral history, straight from the mouths of those who survived the most dynamic period in human history.
Tor.com | 9781250307996
YOUR SECOND LIFE BEGINS WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU ONLY HAVE ONE by Raphaelle Giordano (Fiction)
Paperback Original
At 38 and a quarter years old, Paris native Camille has everything she needs to be happy, or so it seems: a good job, a loving husband, a wonderful son. Why then does she feel as if happiness has slipped through her fingers? All she wants is to find the path to joy. When Claude, a French Sean Connery look-alike and routinologist, offers his unique advice to help get her there, she seizes the opportunity with both hands. Camille's journey is full of surprising escapades, creative capers and deep meaning, as she sets out to transform her life and realize her dreams one step at a time.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525535591
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