Adult

Two planes have just departed for San Francisco --- one a 757, another a smaller Airbus A321. At a security checkpoint, TSA agent Bernice Adams finds a postcard of the Golden Gate Bridge bearing an ambiguous --- perhaps ominous --- message. Her supervisor dismisses her concerns, but Bernice calls security and soon Ben Waterman, a senior Homeland Security agent, arrives. As Ben scans the passenger manifests, his focus turns to the A321. Sifting through data and relying on instinct, Ben becomes convinced that someone on that plane is planning something terrible. And he’s right. Passengers, crew and experts on the ground become heroes out of necessity to try to avert tragedy at the 11th hour.

Leona, an isolated American anthropologist, gives birth to a baby girl in a remote Maasai village and must decide how she can be a mother, in spite of her own grim childhood. Jane, a lonely expat wife, follows her husband to the tropics and learns just how fragile life is. Simi, a barren Maasai woman, must confront her infertility in a society in which females are valued by their reproductive roles. In this affecting debut novel, these three very different women grapple with motherhood, recalibrate their identities, and confront unforeseen tragedies and triumphs.

Franchesca Ramsey didn't set out to be an activist. Or a comedian. Or a commentator on identity, race and culture. But then her YouTube video "What White Girls Say...to Black Girls" went viral. Faced with an avalanche of media requests, fan letters and hate mail, she had two choices: Jump in and make her voice heard, or step back and let others frame the conversation. After a crash course in social justice and more than a few foot-in-mouth moments, she realized she had a unique talent and passion for breaking down injustice in America in ways that could make people listen and engage. In her first book, Ramsey uses her own experiences as an accidental activist to explore the many ways we communicate with each other.

In the early hours of a quiet, weekend morning in Manhattan's Diamond District, a brutal triple murder shocks the city. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs quickly take the case. As more crimes follow, it becomes clear that the killer's target is not gems, but engaged couples themselves. The Promisor vows to take the lives of men and women during their most precious moments --- midway through the purchase of an engagement ring, after a meeting with a wedding planner, trying on the perfect gown for a day that will never come. Soon the Promisor makes a dangerous mistake: leaving behind an innocent witness, Vimal Lahori, a talented young diamond cutter who can help Rhyme and Sachs blow the lid off the case.

As the longtime local carpool mom, Frances Bloom is sometimes an unwilling witness to her neighbors’ private lives. She knows her cousin is hiding her desire for another baby from her spouse, and Bill Horton’s wife is mysteriously missing. After the shock of seeing Anne Porter in all her extramarital glory, though, Frances vows to stay in her own lane. But that’s a notion easier said than done when Anne’s husband throws her out a couple of days later. The repercussions of the affair reverberate through the four carpool families --- and Frances finds herself navigating a moral minefield that could make or break a marriage.

She knew it was a weird place. She’d heard the stories, seen the movies, read the books. But now police Chief Inspector Sigrid Ødegård has to leave her native Norway and actually go there: to that land across the Atlantic where her missing brother is implicated in the mysterious death of a prominent African-American academic. AMERICA. Sigrid is plunged into a United States where race and identity, politics and promise reverberate in every aspect of daily life. Working with --- or, if necessary, against --- the police, she must negotiate the local political minefields and navigate the backwoods of the Adirondacks to uncover the truth before events escalate further.

Every day, Boston Globe advice columnist Meredith Goldstein takes on the relationship problems of thousands of dedicated readers. In her column, she has it all figured out, but in her real life she is a lot less certain. Whether it's her own reservations about the traditional path of marriage and family, her difficulty finding someone she truly connects with, or the evolution of her friendships as her friends start to have their own families, Meredith finds herself looking for insight, just like her readers. As she searches for responses to their concerns, she's surprised to discover answers to her own. But it's after her mother is diagnosed with cancer that she truly realizes how special her "Love Letters" community is.

Annie is a drug addict and a thief, and is in trouble again. Her sister Lexie has always helped her, but this time, she’s not just strung out --- she’s pregnant and in premature labor. If she goes to the hospital, she’ll lose custody of her baby and maybe even go to prison. But the alternative is unthinkable. As the weeks unfold, Lexie finds herself caring for her fragile newborn niece while her carefully ordered life is collapsing around her. She’s in danger of losing her job, and her fiancé only has so much patience for Annie’s drama. In court-ordered rehab, Annie attempts to halt her downward spiral by confronting long-buried secrets from the sisters’ childhoods, ghosts that Lexie doesn’t want to face.

Derek Jeter and the “Core Four” have passed the torch to a new generation of Yankees superstars --- featuring Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and Greg Bird --- who have powered through the minors to become stars on baseball’s biggest stage. Joined by reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton, this thrilling group is poised to chase championship titles for years to come. THE BABY BOMBERS details the inside-baseball strategy of the Yankees’ pivot to a younger, more exciting roster, the players’ fascinating paths to Yankee Stadium, their memorable 2017 playoff run, their amazing assaults on the record books, and a unified mission to hoist the franchise’s 28th World Series trophy.

In 1940, the handsome, athletic and charismatic David Sparsholt arrives at Oxford University to study engineering, unaware of his effect on others --- especially on Evert Dax, the lonely son of a celebrated novelist who is destined to become a writer himself. Spanning three generations, THE SPARSHOLT AFFAIR plumbs the ways that the friendship between these two men will influence their lives --- and the lives of others’ --- for decades to come.