Adult

Jane loses everything when her teenage daughter is killed in a senseless accident. Devastated, she manages to make one tiny stab at a new life: she moves from San Francisco to the seaside town of Half Moon Bay. Jane is inconsolable, and yet, as the months go by, she is able to cobble together some version of a job, of friends, of the possibility of peace. And then, children begin to disappear. And soon, Jane sees her own pain reflected in all the parents in the town. She wonders if she will be able to live through the aching loss, the fear all around her. And as the disappearances continue, she begins to see that what her neighbors are wondering: is it Jane herself who has unleashed the horror of loss?

On the surface, Lydia Fitzsimons's life seems idyllic. Her husband, Andrew, is a prosperous, respected judge; they live in the spacious, comfortable, well-appointed house where she was raised. And she is utterly, obsessively devoted to her son, Laurence --- her adored only child, her pride and joy. But Andrew's murder of Annie Doyle, accidental or not, sets into motion a dark downward spiral. It doesn’t take long for Laurence to suspect that something is very, very wrong in the Fitzsimons household --- and he is determined to discover the truth.

After an on-air gaffe goes viral and jeopardizes her career, journalist Desiree Turner retreats home to Verbena, California for some peace and quiet. She begins presiding over funerals for her great-grandfather’s funeral parlor. But the action seems to follow her as a fistfight breaks out between neighbors Rosemarie Brewer and Lola Hansen at one of the first funerals she’s in charge of running. Rosemarie’s husband, Alan, is found murdered shortly after. Lola’s husband, Kyle, is immediately arrested. Determined to clear his name, Desiree jumps head first into the investigation and quickly discovers that Alan had several unsavory habits at his job and in his personal life, including putting assets into his mistress’s account to hide them from Rosemarie.

BERLIN 1936 takes the reader through the 16 days of the Olympiad, describing the events in the German capital through the eyes of a select cast of characters --- Nazi leaders and foreign diplomats, sportsmen and journalists, writers and socialites, nightclub owners and jazz musicians. While the events in the Olympic stadium, such as when an American tourist breaks through the security and manages to kiss Hitler, provide the focus and much of the drama, it also considers the lives of ordinary Berliners --- the woman with a dark secret who steps in front of a train, the transsexual waiting for the Gestapo's knock on the door, and the Jewish boy fearing for his future and hoping that Germany loses on the playing field.

Zebra is the last in a line of anarchists, atheists and autodidacts. Alone and in exile, she leaves New York for Barcelona, retracing the journey she and her father made from Iran to the United States years ago. Books are her only companions --- until she meets Ludo. Their connection is magnetic, and fraught. They push and pull across the Mediterranean, wondering if their love --- or lust --- can free Zebra from her past.

Venus Black is a straitlaced A-student fascinated by the study of astronomy --- until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’ developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing. More than five years later, Venus is released from prison and determined to escape her painful past. Estranged from her mother, and with Leo still missing, she sets out to make a fresh start in Seattle. But as new people enter her orbit, old wounds resurface, and Venus realizes that she can’t find a future while she’s running from her past.

A voice mail from her estranged sister, Melanie, sends Robin’s heart racing and her mind spiraling in a full-blown panic attack. Melanie’s message is dire: Their father, his second wife and his 12-year-old stepdaughter have been shot --- likely in a home invasion --- and lie in the hospital in critical condition. It’s been more than five years since Robin turned her back on her father when he married her best friend. Now she must return to the family she left behind. As she attempts to mend fences while her father clings to life, Robin begins to wonder if there is more to the tragedy than a botched burglary attempt.

There’s no spilled blood, no evidence of a struggle, and, thanks to the victim’s missing face and hands, no immediate means of identification. And no telling why the disfigured corpse of a stranger has appeared in an upscale L.A. family’s home. Chet Corvin, his wife and their two teenage children are certain the John Doe is unknown to them. Despite that, their cooperation seems guarded. And that’s more than LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware can elicit from the Corvins’ creepy next-door neighbor. As the investigation ensues, it becomes clear that this well-to-do suburban enclave has its share of curious eyes, suspicious minds and loose lips.

After a tumultuous youth marked by his inexplicable survival of a devastating tragedy, Nate McHale left his Adirondack hometown of Greystone Lake and never looked back. Fourteen years later, he has become a respected New York City surgeon, devoted husband and loving father. Then a body is discovered deep in the forests that surround Greystone Lake. This disturbing news finally draws Nate home. While navigating a tense landscape of secrets and suspicion, resentments and guilt, Nate reconnects with estranged friends and old enemies, and encounters strangers who seem to know impossible things about him. Haunting every moment is the Lake’s sinister history and the memory of Lucy Bennett, with whom Nate is forever linked by shattering loss and youthful passion.

Born and bred in a small town a train ride away from Dublin, John Banville saw the city as a place of enchantment when he was a child, a birthday treat, the place where his beloved, eccentric aunt lived. And though, when he came of age and took up residence there, and the city became a frequent backdrop for his dissatisfactions, it remained in some part of his memory as fascinating as it had been to his seven-year-old self. And as he guides us around the city, delighting in its cultural, architectural, political and social history, he interweaves the memories that are attached to particular places and moments.