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January 7, 2014

January 7, 2014

The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of January 6th and January 13th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

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On Sale the Week of January 6th in Hardcover

January 7th

THE ASCENDANT by Drew Chapman (Thriller)
When bond analyst Garrett Reilly discovers that US Treasury bonds are being sold off at an alarming rate, he sees a chance to become incredibly rich. But when the United States military arrives at his office, Garrett learns he has stumbled upon the first attack in a covert war of unthinkable proportions.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476725888

BELLE CORA by Phillip Margulies (Historical Fiction)
BELLE CORA is the story of a good girl who became a bad woman. At the old homestead, her name is never spoken and her picture is turned to the wall, but in the vast world beyond, everyone remembers her as the celebrated madam of the finest parlor house in San Francisco. Now, at the end of her life, after half a century of successfully hiding the details of her scarlet past, Belle has decided to reveal all her secrets.
Doubleday * 9780385532761

BINGO'S RUN by James A. Levine (Fiction)
Bingo, a drug runner in the slums of Kibera, Nairobi, faithfully serves Wolf, the drug lord of Kibera. He earns his keep by running “white” to a host of clients, including Thomas Hunsa, a reclusive artist whose paintings, rooted in African tradition, move him. But when Bingo witnesses a drug-related murder and Wolf sends him to an orphanage for “protection,” Bingo’s life changes and he learns that life itself is the “run.”
Spiegel & Grau * 9781400068838

THE BURGLARY: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI by Betty Medsger (History)
THE BURGLARY is the never-before-told full story of the 1971 history-changing break-in of the FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists --- quiet, ordinary, hardworking Americans --- that made clear the shocking truth and confirmed what some had long suspected: that J. Edgar Hoover had created and was operating his own shadow Bureau of Investigation.
Knopf * 9780307962959

DELIVERING DEATH by Julie Kramer (Mystery)
TV reporter Riley Spartz is a star investigative journalist for Channel 3 --- and no stranger to the seedier side of her hometown. But when she receives a package of human teeth in the mail at work, she’s quickly embroiled in a homicide investigation. Though the cops try to keep certain grisly details quiet, this murder has a strange twist --- it seems that the killer wants the crime publicized. Is it a revenge killing, or something more?
Atria/Emily Bestler Books * 9781451664669

THE EXECUTION: A Jeremy Fisk Novel by Dick Wolf (Thriller)
It’s United Nations Week in Manhattan, and Jeremy Fisk can’t let grief over a devastating loss keep him from safeguarding his city. Complicating matters is the startling news of a mass murder in nearby Rockaway --- and the arrival of a disturbingly beautiful and assertive Mexican cop. To have a chance at finding an assassin responsible for 23 beheadings on the US border, these uneasy allies must learn to work together and fast.
William Morrow * 9780062064851

THE EXILES RETURN by Elisabeth de Waal (Historical Fiction)
Vienna is demolished by war, the city an alien landscape of ruined castles, a fractured ruling class, and people picking up the pieces. THE EXILES RETURN is the postwar story of Austria’s fallen aristocrats, unrepentant Nazis, and a culture degraded by violence. The novel follows a number of exiles, each returning under very different circumstances, who must come to terms with a city in painful recovery.
Picador * 9781250045782

FEAR NOTHING: A Detective D. D. Warren Novel by Lisa Gardner (Thriller)
The last thing Boston Detective D. D. Warren remembers is walking the crime scene after dark. She is later told she managed to discharge her weapon three times. All she knows is that she is seriously injured and unable to return to work. Six weeks later, a second woman is discovered murdered in her own bed, her room containing the same calling cards from the first. It soon becomes apparent that the killer isn’t just targeting lone women --- he is targeting D. D.
Dutton Adult * 9780525953081

THE FIRE DANCE: An Inspector Irene Huss Investigation Set in Sweden by Helene Tursten (Mystery)
Detective Inspector Irene Huss hasn’t seen Sophie Malmborg for over 15 years, but she’s still haunted by the strange young ballerina’s role in the fire that killed her stepfather. All her questions resurface when Sophie disappears, and the charred remains of a dancer are found in an abandoned warehouse. Irene has a startling realization that could shed light on the case that has been lingering in the back of her mind since the beginning of her career.
Soho Crime * 9781616950101

FROM THE DEAD: A Tom Thorne Novel by Mark Billingham (Mystery)
A decade ago, Alan Langford’s charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and sentenced to 10 years in prison. But before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. How is it possible that he’s still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why?
Atlantic Monthly Press * 9780802122131

IN THE BLOOD by Lisa Unger (Psychological Thriller)
When Lana Granger’s closest friend, Beck, mysteriously disappears, Lana lies to friends, the police, and herself. The police have a lot of questions for Lana when the story about her whereabouts the night Beck disappeared doesn’t jibe with eyewitness accounts. Lana will do anything to hide the truth, but it might not be enough to keep her ominous secrets buried. Someone else knows about Lana’s lies --- and he’s dying to tell.
Touchstone * 9781451691177

THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd (Historical Fiction)
Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. On her 11th birthday, Sarah Grimke is given ownership of Handful. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next 35 years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies, and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.
Viking Adult * 9780670024780

THE KEPT by James Scott (Historical Fiction)
In the winter of 1897, a trio of killers descends upon an isolated farm in upstate New York. Midwife Elspeth Howell returns home to the carnage: her husband and four of her children are murdered. Before she can discover her remaining son Caleb, alive and hiding in the kitchen pantry, another shot rings out over the snow-covered valley. Twelve-year-old Caleb must tend to his mother until she recovers enough for them to take to the frozen wilderness in search of the men responsible.
Harper * 9780062236739

LITTLE FAILURE: A Memoir by Gary Shteyngart (Memoir)
After three acclaimed novels, Gary Shteyngart turns to memoir in a candid, witty and deeply poignant account of his life so far. Swinging between a Soviet home life and American aspirations, Shteyngart found himself living in two contradictory worlds, all the while wishing that he could find a real home in one. And somebody to love him. And somebody to lend him 69 cents for a McDonald’s hamburger.
Random House * 9780679643753

MY AGE OF ANXIETY: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind
by Scott Stossel (Memoir)
Drawing on his own long-standing battle with anxiety, Scott Stossel presents an astonishing history of the efforts to understand the condition from medical, cultural, philosophical and experiential perspectives. He ranges from the earliest medical reports of Galen and Hippocrates, through later observations by Robert Burton and Søren Kierkegaard, to the investigations by great 19th-century scientists as they began to explore its sources and causes, to the latest research by neuroscientists and geneticists.

Knopf * 9780307269874

ON SUCH A FULL SEA by Chang-rae Lee (Dystopian Fiction)
In a future, long-declining America, society is strictly stratified by class. In this world lives Fan, a female fish-tank diver, who leaves her home in the B-Mor settlement when the man she loves mysteriously disappears. Fan’s journey to find him takes her out of the safety of B-Mor, through the anarchic Open Counties, where crime is rampant with scant governmental oversight, and to a faraway charter village, in a quest that will soon become legend to those she left behind.
Riverhead Hardcover * 9781594486104

OUT OF THE WOODS: A Memoir of Wayfinding by Lynn Darling (Memoir)
When her college-bound daughter leaves home, Lynn Darling, widowed over a decade earlier, finds herself alone and utterly lost, with no idea of what she wants or even who she is. Searching for answers, she leaves New York for the solitary woods of Vermont. Removed from the familiar, cocooned in the natural world, her only companions a new dog and a compass, she hopes to develop a sense of direction --- both in the woods and in her life.
Harper * 9780061710247

THE PAGAN LORD by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
At the onset of the 10th century, England is in turmoil. Alfred the Great is dead, and Edward his son reigns as king. Wessex survives, but peace cannot hold: the Danes in the north, led by Viking Cnut Longsword, stand ready to invade and will never rest until the emerald crown is theirs. Uhtred, once Alfred’s great warrior but now out of favor with the new king, must lead a band of outcasts north to recapture his old family home.
Harper * 9780061969706

PRISCILLA: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France by Nicholas Shakespeare (Biography)
When Nicholas Shakespeare stumbled across a trunk full of his late aunt’s personal belongings, he was unaware of where this discovery would take him and what he would learn about her hidden past. As a young boy, Shakespeare had always believed that his aunt was a member of the Resistance and had been tortured by the Germans. The truth turned out to be far more complicated.
Harper * 9780062297037

THE QUESTION THAT NEVER GOES AWAY by Philip Yancey (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
In his classic book, WHERE IS GOD WHEN IT HURTS?, Philip Yancey gave us permission to doubt, reasons not to abandon faith, and practical ways to reach out to hurting people. And now, 30 years after writing his first book, Yancey revisits our cry of "Why, God" in three places stunned into silence by the calamities that have devastated them.
Zondervan * 9780310339823

RADIANCE OF TOMORROW by Ishmael Beah (Fiction)
Benjamin and Bockarie are two longtime friends who return to their hometown of Imperi after the civil war in Sierra Leone. As more villagers begin coming back, they try to forge a new community by taking up their former posts as teachers, but they’re beset by such obstacles as a scarcity of food and a rash of murders, thievery, rape and retaliation. As Benjamin and Bockarie search for a way to restore order, they’re forced to reckon with the uncertainty of their past and future alike.
Sarah Crichton Books * 9780374246020

RED 1-2-3 by John Katzenbach (Psychological Thriller)
When three red-haired women receive chilling letters in the mail from a killer known only as the Wolf, their lives are upended as they spend every waking moment fearing that their lives could be snuffed out at any time. The Wolf is stalking them, biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to complete his master plan. Yet the one thing this cunning and devious killer didn't plan for is the Reds discovering each other.
Mysterious Press * 9780802122056

RIVER ROAD by Jayne Ann Krentz (Romantic Suspense)
It’s been 13 years since Lucy Sheridan was in Summer River. The last time she visited her aunt Sara there, she’d been sent home suddenly after being dragged out of a wild party by the guy she had a crush on. Mason Fletcher was the overprotective type who thought he had to come to her rescue. Now, returning after her aunt’s fatal car accident, Lucy is learning there was more to the story than she realized at the time.
Putnam Adult * 9780399165122

ROBERT B. PARKER'S BULL RIVER by Robert Knott (Western)
No sooner do Territorial Marshal Virgil Cole and Deputy Everett Hitch remand notorious desperado Alejandro Vasquez into custody than a major bank robbery occurs. When their primary suspect is found severely beaten outside a high-class brothel and turns out to be using a false identity to escape a torrid past, it is Alejandro who becomes the key to their investigation.
Putnam Adult * 9780399165269

SOY SAUCE FOR BEGINNERS by Kirstin Chen (Fiction)
Adrift at the age of 30, Gretchen Lin leaves her floundering marriage in San Francisco to move back to her childhood home in Singapore and immediately finds herself face-to-face with the twin headaches she’s avoided her entire adult life: her mother’s drinking problem and the machinations of her father’s artisanal soy sauce business.
New Harvest * 9780544114395

STANDUP GUY: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller)
A polite, well-deported gentleman comes to Stone Barrington seeking legal expertise on an unusual --- and potentially lucrative --- dilemma. Stone points him in the right direction and sends him on his way, but it’s soon clear Stone hasn’t seen the end of the case. Several people are keenly interested in this gentleman’s activities and how they may relate to a long-ago crime. Some of them will stop at nothing to find the information they desire.
Putnam Adult * 9780399164156

STRINGER: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo by Anjan Sundaram (Memoir)
In the powerful travel-writing tradition of Ryszard Kapuscinski and V.S. Naipaul, STRINGER is a haunting memoir of a dangerous and disorienting year of self-discovery in one of the world's unhappiest countries.
Doubleday * 9780385537759

THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM DYING: A Book About Life by David R. Dow (Memoir)
In THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EXECUTION, David Dow enraptured readers with a searing and frank exploration of his work defending inmates on death row. But when Dow's father-in-law receives his own death sentence in the form of terminal cancer, and his gentle dog Winona suffers acute liver failure, the author is forced to reconcile with death in a far more personal way --- both as a son and as a father.
Twelve * 9781455575244

UNREMARRIED WIDOW: A Memoir by Artis Henderson (Memoir)
In her memoir, Artis Henderson recounts not only the unlikely love story she shared with her husband Miles and her unfathomable recovery in the wake of his death --- from the dark hours following the military notification to the first fumbling attempts at new love --- but also reveals how Miles’s death mirrored her father’s death in a plane crash, which Artis survived when she was five years old and left her own mother a young widow.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451649284

THE WAY OF ALL FISH by Martha Grimes (Fiction/Humor)
In this sequel to FOUL MATTER, hitmen Candy and Karl once again venture into the murky Manhattan publishing scene. This time they come to the aid of a writer who is being sued by her unscrupulous literary agent, who is determined to get a 15 percent commission for a book he didn’t sell. The contract killers join forces with a publishing mogul and a mega-bestselling writer to rid the mean streets of the agent, not by shooting him, but by driving him crazy.
Scribner * 9781476723952

WHAT I HAD BEFORE I HAD YOU by Sarah Cornwell (Fiction)
Olivia was only 15 the summer she left her hometown of Ocean Vista. Two decades later, on a visit with her children, her nine-year-old son Daniel, recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, disappears. Olivia’s search for him sparks tender and painful memories of her past --- of her fiercely loving and secretive mother, an erratic and beautiful psychic, and the discovery of heartbreaking secrets that shattered her world.
Harper * 9780062237842

THE WIND IS NOT A RIVER by Brian Payton (Historical Fiction)
Following the death of his younger brother in Europe, journalist John Easley heads north to investigate the Japanese invasion of Alaska's Aleutian Islands. While accompanying a crew on a bombing run, his plane is shot down. He survives only to find himself exposed to a harsh and unforgiving wilderness. Meanwhile, John’s wife, Helen, struggles with the burden of his disappearance and is forced to reimagine who she is --- and what she is capable of doing.
Ecco * 9780062279972


January 9th

THE LAST DEAD GIRL by Harry Dolan (Mystery/Thriller)
A chance encounter on a lonely road draws David into a romance with the enigmatic Jana Fletcher, a beautiful young law student. David would like to know her secrets, but he lets them lie --- until it’s too late. When Jana is brutally murdered, the police consider David a prime suspect. But as he sets out to uncover the truth about Jana, he begins to realize he’s treading a very dangerous path --- and that her killer is watching every move he makes.
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam * 9780399157967

THE ROME PROPHECY by Sam Christer (Thriller)
A beautiful young woman covered in blood, who claims to be an ancient prophet in search of a mystical amulet, has been arrested in the streets of Rome. Ex-priest Tom Shaman teams up with a headstrong policewoman to unravel the mystery. But within Rome’s churches and corridors of power, stealthy enemies are conspiring against them. And soon, the woman’s deadly visions begin to come true.
Overlook Hardcover * 9781468301090
On Sale the Week of January 6th in Paperback

January 7th

ALL THINGS HIDDEN by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
After being stripped of his medical license and having his engagement broken off by his fiance, Dr. Jeremiah Vaughan accepts an invitation to join Dr. Hillerman's growing practice in the isolated Alaska Territory. Jeremiah and Hillerman's daughter, Gwyn, soon recognize a growing attraction to each other. But when rumors of Jeremiah's past begin to surface, they'll need more than love to face the threat of an uncertain future.
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764211195

CALLING ME HOME by Julie Kibler (Fiction)
Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle wants her hairdresser, Dorrie, a black single mom in her 30s, to drop everything to drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why. Tomorrow. Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.
St. Martin's Griffin * 9781250020437

THE DANCING MASTER by Julie Klassen (Historical Romance/Mystery)
Paperback Original
London dancing master Alec Valcourt moves his mother and sister to remote Devonshire, hoping to start over. But he is stunned to learn the village matriarch has prohibited all dancing, for reasons buried deep in her past. Alec finds an unlikely ally in the matriarch's daughter. Though he's initially wary of Julia Midwinter's reckless flirtation, he comes to realize her bold exterior disguises a vulnerable soul --- and hidden sorrows of her own.
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764210709

DARE TO LOVE AGAIN: The Heart of San Francisco, Book 2 by Julie Lessman
(Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
When Allison McClare takes a notion to explore the wild Barbary Coast, she quickly discovers she's no match for the unsavory characters that haunt the dark streets. Detective Nick Barone would rather do almost anything than teach this petite socialite self-defense, but it seems he has little choice. Sparks fly every time the two meet until a grudging friendship develops into something deeper. But is he just a fraud, or the one who will let her dare to love again?
Revell * 9780800721664

THE DESCENT: Book Three of the Taker Trilogy by Alma Katsu (Supernatural Mystery)
Paperback Original
Alma Katsu’s trilogy comes to a stunning conclusion that brings Lanore McIlvrae to a final encounter with Adair, her powerful nemesis. Dismayed by Adair’s otherworldly powers and afraid of his passionate temper, Lanore has run from him across time, even imprisoning him behind a wall for two centuries to save Jonathan, her eternal love. But instead of punishing her for her betrayal, Adair declared his love for Lanore once more and set her free.
Gallery Books * 9781451651829

ENEMY OF MINE: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller)
A tentative peace between Israel and Palestine has been brokered by the United States. But the Taskforce gets wind of an assassination attempt on the American envoy sent to solidify the treaty and must devote every resource to saving his life. Taskforce operator Pike Logan and his partner, Jennifer Cahill, are charged with following the assassin’s flimsy trail through the Middle East, a trail that becomes more muddled at every turn.
Signet * 9780451419934

ISCARIOT: A Novel of Judas by Tosca Lee (Historical Fiction)
ISCARIOT is the story of Judas, from his tumultuous childhood to his emergence as the man known to the world as the betrayer of Jesus. But even more, it is a singular and surprising view into the life of Jesus that forces us to reexamine everything we thought we knew about the most famous --- and infamous --- religious icons in history.
Howard Books * 9781451683981

LIFE AFTER LIFE by Kate Atkinson (Historical Fiction)
On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife but dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born and embarks upon a life that will be unusual. As she grows, she also dies --- repeatedly, in a variety of ways --- while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny?
Back Bay Books * 9780316176491

A MATCH MADE IN TEXAS: A Novella Collection by Karen Witemeyer, Mary Connealy, Regina Jennings and Carol Cox (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
In the small town of Dry Gulch, Texas, a good-hearted busybody just can't keep herself from surreptitiously trying to match up women in dire straits with men of good character she hopes can help them. How is she to know she's also giving each couple a little nudge toward love?
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764211768

NEWS FROM HEAVEN: The Bakerton Stories
by Jennifer Haigh (Fiction/Short Stories)
Jennifer Haigh returns to the vividly imagined world of Bakerton, Pennsylvania, a coal-mining town that has been rocked by decades of painful transition. With a revolving cast of characters, these stories explore how our roots --- the families and places in which we are raised --- shape the people we eventually become.
Harper Perennial * 9780060889630

NO ONE TO TRUST: Hidden Identity, Book 1 by Lynette Eason (Mystery/Romance)
Paperback Original
Summer Abernathy wakes up one morning to find her husband missing, three men in her home intent on finding him, and the life she's been living based on a lie. The search for her husband --- and answers --- takes Summer ever deeper into a world of organized crime where people are used one moment and discarded the next. And with her deepest relationship of trust already shattered, Summer doesn't know who to believe.
Revell * 9780800722081

ONCE UPON A WINTER'S HEART by Melody Carlson
(Romance)
Paperback Original
Emma Burcelli concludes that love is officially dead when her grandfather Poppi suddenly passes, leaving her grandmother Nona devastated. To help out, Emma works in the family bookstore, which Nona insists must be decked out in sweetheart décor as Poppi would have done for Valentine's Day. Emma quickly learns to enjoy the task with the help of a handsome family friend, Lane Forester, who shows her that hanging hearts is much more fun when done to the tune of Dean Martin.
Center Street * 9781455528110

A PROMISE KEPT by Robin Lee Hatcher (Romance)
Paperback Original
The day Allison issued her husband an ultimatum, she thought it might save him. She never expected he would actually leave. Now, living in the quiet mountain cabin she inherited from her Great Aunt Emma, Allison must come to terms with her grief. But when she finds a wedding dress and a collection of journals in Emma’s attic, a portrait of her aunt emerges that takes Allison completely by surprise: a portrait of a heartbroken woman surprisingly like herself.
Thomas Nelson * 9781401687656

THE REAL JANE AUSTEN: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne (Biography)
In this well-researched and highly entertaining biography, Paula Byrne gives us a Jane Austen many readers may not recognize: a woman who enjoyed black humor and was well aware of the political scene of her time. Byrne uses artifacts from Austen’s life as a starting point for her engaging chapters on the events that shaped Austen’s worldview and inspired some of the most beloved scenes and characters in all of English literature.
Harper Perennial * 9780061999109

RITA MORENO: A Memoir by Rita Moreno (Memoir)
In this luminous memoir, Rita Moreno shares her remarkable journey from a young girl with simple beginnings in Puerto Rico to Hollywood legend --- and one of the few performers, and the only Hispanic, to win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and two Emmys. Here, for the first time, Rita reflects on her struggles to break through Hollywood’s racial and sexual barriers.
Celebra Trade * 9780451416391

SHE SHALL BE PRAISED: A Women of Hope Novel by Ginny Aiken (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
Socialite Emma Crowell, the victim of a kidnapping, is found by local rancher Peter Lowery, who has no intention of abandoning his livelihood to take her back to civilization until the fall. However, he will provide food, shelter and safety, and in return he expects Emma to earn her keep. As Emma aspires to the picture of womanhood shown in the 31st chapter of Proverbs, Peter comes to realize that he may be underestimating the strength and character behind this woman's beauty.
FaithWords * 9780892968466

SUSPECT by Robert Crais (Thriller)
After a shocking assault killed his partner and nearly killed him, LAPD cop Scott James is an angry emotional wreck. Maggie is a German shepherd who survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing explosives, but when she lost her handler to an IED, she developed PTSD similar to Scott's. They are each other's last chance, and their case takes them through the darkest moments of their personal hells. Can the two survive together?
Berkley Trade * 9780425264690

A TEASPOON OF EARTH AND SEA by Dina Nayeri (Fiction)
Growing up in a small rice-farming village in 1980s Iran, 11-year-old Saba Hafezi and her twin sister, Mahtab, are captivated by America. When her mother and sister disappear, Saba is certain that they have moved there without her. As she grows up, falls in and out of love, and struggles with the limited possibilities in post-revolutionary Iran, Saba envisions that there is another way for her story to unfold.
Riverhead Trade * 9781594632327

TENTH OF DECEMBER: Stories by George Saunders (Fiction/Short Stories)
The 10 stories in George Saunders’s latest collection demonstrate why he is considered a modern master of short fiction. From “Victory Lap,” the tale of an attempted abduction, to “The Semplica Girl Diaries,” in which families employ Asian women as live garden ornaments, Saunders’s gift for inventive plots and vivid detail, and his ability to home in on moments that quickly define character, have never been used to more stunning effect. Believe the hype.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812984255

A WEEK IN WINTER by Maeve Binchy (Fiction)
When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger, a bad boy turned good, and her niece, Orla, Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House’s big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms.
Anchor * 9780307475503
On Sale the Week of January 13th in Hardcover

January 14th

ANDREW'S BRAIN by E.L. Doctorow (Fiction)
Speaking from an unknown place and to an unknown interlocutor, Andrew is thinking, talking, telling the story of his life, his loves, and the tragedies that have led him to this place and point in time. And as he confesses, peeling back the layers of his strange story, we are led to question what we know about truth and memory, brain and mind, personality and fate, about one another and ourselves.
Random House * 9781400068814

THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE IS ME: A Memoir of Amnesia by David Stuart MacLean (Memoir)
On October 17, 2002, David MacLean “woke up” on a train platform in India with no idea who he was or why he was there. Soon he could remember song lyrics, but not his family, his friends, or the woman he was told he loved. All of these symptoms were the result of the commonly prescribed malarial medication he had been taking. Upon his return to the States, he struggled to piece together the fragments of his former life.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780547519272

THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)
Eleven-year-old chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce gathers with her family at the railway station, awaiting the return of her long-lost mother. Yet upon the train’s arrival, Flavia is approached by a stranger who whispers a cryptic message into her ear. Moments later he is dead, mysteriously pushed under the train by someone in the crowd. Who was this man, what did his words mean, and why were they intended for Flavia?
Delacorte Press * 9780385344050

THE DEATH CLASS: A True Story About Life by Erika Hayasaki (Inspirational/Personal Growth)
When nurse Norma Bowe decided to teach a course on death at a college in New Jersey, she never expected it to be popular. But year after year students crowd into her classroom, and the reason is clear: Norma’s “death class” is really about how to make the most of what poet Mary Oliver famously called our “one wild and precious life.” By following her over four years, Erika Hayasaki shows how Norma steers four extraordinary students from their tormented families and neighborhoods toward happiness.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451642858

THE EMPIRE OF NECESSITY: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World by Greg Grandin (History)
Drawing on research on four continents, THE EMPIRE OF NECESSITY explores the multiple forces that culminated in a remarkable slave rebellion one morning in 1805. Historian Greg Grandin uses the dramatic happenings of that day to map a new transnational history of slavery in the Americas, capturing the clash of peoples, economies and faiths that was the New World in the early 1800s.
Metropolitan Books * 9780805094534

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO SEE: Dispatches from the World of the Blind by Rosemary Mahoney (Memoir)
Rosemary Mahoney tells the story of Braille Without Borders, the first school for the blind in Tibet, and of Sabriye Tenberken, the remarkable blind woman who founded the school. Fascinated and impressed by what she learned from the blind children of Tibet, Mahoney was moved to investigate further the cultural history of blindness. As part of her research, she spent three months teaching at Tenberken's international training center for blind adults in Kerala, India.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316043427

FOREIGN GODS, INC. by Okey Ndibe (Fiction)
FOREIGN GODS, INC. tells the story of Ike, a New York-based Nigerian cab driver who sets out to steal the statue of an ancient war deity from his home village and sell it to a New York gallery. While in Nigeria, he has to deal with old friends, family, and a mounting conflict between those in the village who worship the deity, and those who practice Christianity.
Soho Press * 9781616953133

MERCY SNOW by Tiffany Baker (Fiction)
In the tiny town of Titan Falls, New Hampshire, the paper mill dictates a quiet, steady rhythm of life. But one day, a tragic bus accident sets two families on a course toward destruction, irrevocably altering the lives of everyone in their wake.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455512737

MRS. LINCOLN'S RIVAL by Jennifer Chiaverini (Historical Fiction)
Jennifer Chiaverini excels at chronicling the lives of extraordinary yet little-known women through historical fiction. What she did for Elizabeth Keckley in MRS. LINCOLN'S DRESSMAKER and for Elizabeth Van Lew in THE SPYMISTRESS, she does for Kate Chase Sprague in MRS. LINCOLN'S RIVAL.
Dutton Adult * 9780525954286

PERFECT by Rachel Joyce (Fiction)
Byron Hemmings wakes to a morning that looks like any other. But when he, his mother and his sister leave home, the morning takes an unmistakable turn. In one terrible moment, something completely unexpected happens. While his mother seems not to have noticed, 11-year-old Byron understands that nothing can be the same. Over the days and weeks that follow, Byron’s perfect world is shattered. Unable to trust his parents, he confides in his best friend, and together they concoct a plan.
Random House * 9780812993301

THE POLARIS PROTOCOL: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are in Turkmenistan with the Taskforce --- a top-secret antiterrorist unit that operates outside US law --- when Jennifer gets a call from her brother, Jack. Working on an investigative report into the Mexican drug cartels, Jack Cahill has unknowingly gotten caught between two rival groups. His desperate call to his sister is his last before he’s kidnapped. In their efforts to rescue Jack, Pike and Jennifer uncover a plot much more insidious than illegal drug trafficking.
Dutton Adult * 9780525953975

THE PRIORITY LIST: A Teacher's Final Quest to Discover Life's Greatest Lessons by David Menasche (Memoir)
When a six-year battle with brain cancer ultimately stole his vision, memory, mobility and ability to continue teaching, David Menasche turned to Facebook with an audacious plan: a journey across America in hopes of seeing firsthand how his kids were faring in life. Had he made a difference? Within 48 hours of posting, former students in more than 50 cities replied with offers of support and shelter.
Touchstone * 9781476743448

SAINTS OF THE SHADOW BIBLE by Ian Rankin (Mystery)
Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. He is investigating a car accident when news arrives that a case from 30 years ago is being reopened. Rebus's team from those days is suspected of helping a murderer escape justice to further their own ends. Malcolm Fox, in what will be his last case as an internal affairs cop, is tasked with finding out the truth.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316224550

SNAPSHOT by Lis Wiehl (Mystery)
When a photograph surfaces showing a blond, four-year-old Lisa playing with an African-American girl at a civil rights march in Fort Worth, Lisa is faced with a jarring revelation: the girls may have been the only witnesses who observed the real killer of civil rights leader Benjamin Gray…and therefore the only ones who can exonerate the death row inmate falsely accused of the murder.
Thomas Nelson * 9781401689520

A STAR FOR MRS. BLAKE by April Smith (Historical Fiction)
The United States Congress in 1929 passed legislation to fund travel for mothers of the fallen soldiers of World War I to visit their sons’ graves in France. Over the next three years, 6,693 Gold Star Mothers made the trip. In this emotionally charged novel, April Smith breathes life into a unique moment in American history, imagining the experience of five of these women.
Knopf * 9780307958846

TRESPASSING ON EINSTEIN'S LAWN: A Father, a Daughter, the Meaning of Nothing, and the Beginning of Everything by Amanda Gefter
(Memoir)
In a memoir of family bonding and cutting-edge physics for readers of Brian Greene’s THE HIDDEN REALITY and Jim Holt’s WHY DOES THE WORLD EXIST?, Amanda Gefter tells the story of how she conned her way into a career as a science journalist --- and wound up hanging out, talking shop and butting heads with the world’s most brilliant minds.
Bantam * 9780345531438

THE VISIONIST by Rachel Urquhart (Historical Fiction)
Fifteen-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to the family farm, killing her abusive father. She and her young brother find shelter in a Massachusetts Shaker community called The City of Hope. As she struggles to keep her dark secrets concealed in the face of increasing scrutiny, Polly finds herself in a life-changing friendship with a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who will stake everything --- including her faith --- on Polly's honesty and purity.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316228114

WAKING FROM THE DREAM: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr. by David L. Chappell (History)
David L. Chappell reveals that the civil rights movement entered a new phase following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. These were years when decisive, historic victories were no longer within reach, and veterans of the movement struggled to rally around common goals. WAKING FROM THE DREAM documents this struggle, including moments when the movement seemed on the verge of dissolution and the monumental efforts of its members to persevere.
Random House * 9781400065462
On Sale the Week of January 13th in Paperback

January 14th

BEAR IS BROKEN: A Leo Maxwell Mystery by Lachlan Smith (Mystery)
Leo Maxwell’s older brother Teddy, a successful yet reviled criminal defense attorney, has been shot and lies in a coma. Leo quickly realizes that the list of possible suspects is much larger than he could have imagined. The deeper he digs into Teddy’s life, the more questions arise. Somewhere, the person who shot his brother is still on the loose, and there are many who would happily kill Leo in order to keep it that way.
Mysterious Press * 9780802122261

BENEDICTION by Kent Haruf (Fiction)
When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him. Her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them.
Vintage * 9780307950420

DADDY LOVE by Joyce Carol Oates (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
A kidnapper who calls himself "Daddy Love" has abducted, tortured and raped several young boys. His latest victim is Robbie Whitcomb, who must endure punishment beyond his wildest nightmares if he misbehaves. As Robbie grows older, he becomes aware of just how monstrous Daddy Love is. Somewhere within this tortured young boy lies a spark of rebellion, and he will soon discover just what lengths he'll go to in order to survive.
Mysterious Press * 9780802122247

DAMN FEW: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior by Rorke Denver and Ellis Henican (Memoir)
Rorke Denver trains the men who become Navy SEALs. With his years of action-packed mission experience and a top training role, Lieutenant Commander Denver understands exactly how tomorrow's soldiers are recruited, sculpted, motivated and deployed. Now, Denver takes you inside his personal story and the fascinating, demanding SEAL training program he now oversees.
Hyperion * 9781401312800

GUN MACHINE by Warren Ellis (Thriller)
After a shootout claims the life of his partner, Detective John Tallow unwittingly stumbles across an apartment stacked high with guns. When examined, each weapon leads to a different, previously unsolved murder. Confronted with the sudden emergence of hundreds of unsolved homicides, Tallow soon discovers a hunter who may be the most prolific murderer in New York City's history.
Mulholland Books * 9780316187411

KURT VONNEGUT: Letters edited by Dan Wakefield (Letters)
This extraordinary collection of personal correspondence has all the hallmarks of Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction. Written over a 60-year period, these letters, the vast majority of them never before published, are funny, moving, and full of the same uncanny wisdom that has endeared his work to readers worldwide.
Dial Press Trade Paperback * 9780385343763

THE LAWYER’S LAWYER by James Sheehan (Legal Thriller)
Jack Tobin, “the lawyer's lawyer” --- the guy the best lawyers say they'd want to represent them in a courtroom battle --- undertakes the representation of a serial killer who he believes to be innocent. The Chief of Police is outraged, the citizens of Oakville where the murders occurred erupt, and the State Attorney is out for blood as Jack challenges the criminal justice system once again.
Center Street * 9781455547067

RED MOON by Benjamin Percy (Thriller/Horror)
When government agents kick down Claire Forrester's front door and murder her parents, Claire realizes just how different she is. Patrick Gamble was nothing special until the day he got on a plane and hours later stepped off it, the only passenger left alive. Chase Williams has sworn to protect the people of the United States from the menace in their midst, but he is becoming the very thing he has promised to destroy. The night of the red moon is coming, when an unrecognizable world will emerge...and the battle for humanity will begin.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455501656

SMITTEN BOOK CLUB by Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt and Denise Hunter (Romance)
Paperback Original
At a rummage sale, Heather discovers a turn-of-the-century romantic advice book written by a once-famous Smitten, Vermont, resident. When she shares the precious volume with her book club friends, they find clues about a hidden treasure rumored to be buried in their tiny town. As Heather, Abby, Lia and Molly take turns reading the book, each projects onto it her own literary tastes. One by one, each of the women finds romantic love --- often in spite of the historic book’s advice.
Thomas Nelson * 9781401687168

SOME GIRLS, SOME HATS AND HITLER: A True Love Story by Trudi Kanter (Memoir)
In 1938, Trudi Kanter fell deeply in love with Walter Ehrlich, a charming and romantic businessman. But as Hitler’s tanks rolled into Austria, the world this young Jewish couple knew collapsed, leaving them desperate to escape. This is the true story of Trudi’s astonishing journey from Vienna to Prague to blitzed London seeking safety for her and Walter amid the horror engulfing Europe.
Scribner * 9781476700281

SUMMER DEATH by Mons Kallentoft (Mystery/Thriller)
A teenage girl is found naked and bleeding in a city park, without any recollection of what has happened to her. Another grisly discovery is made on a lakeside beach, and the whole town is on edge. A serial killer walks among them, and while families withdraw to protect their young, Detective Malin Fors must uncover the secrets behind these crimes, potentially putting herself and her own family at risk in the process.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books * 9781451642551

THE UNIVERSE VERSUS ALEX WOODS by Gavin Extence (Fiction)
A rare meteorite struck Alex Woods when he was 10 years old, leaving scars and marking him for an extraordinary future. When he meets curmudgeonly widower Mr. Peterson, he finds an unlikely friend, who teaches him that you only get one shot at life and you need to make it count. So when, at age 17, Alex is stopped at customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the front seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing.
Redhook * 9780316246590

VAMPIRES IN THE LEMON GROVE: And Other Stories by Karen Russell (Fiction/Short Stories)
A dejected teenager discovers that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left behind in a seagull’s nest. A massage therapist discovers she has the power to heal by manipulating the tattoos on a war veteran’s lower torso. Two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try helplessly to slake their thirst for blood. And this only scratches the surface of what appears in Karen Russell’s new collection of stories.
Vintage * 9780307947475

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