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Reviews

Reviews

by Meg Howrey - Fiction, Science Fiction

In four years, aerospace giant Prime Space will put the first humans on Mars. Helen Kane, Yoshihiro Tanaka and Sergei Kuznetsov must prove they’re the crew for the historic voyage by spending 17 months in the most realistic simulation ever created. Constantly observed by Prime Space’s team of "Obbers," Helen, Yoshi and Sergei must appear ever in control. But as their surreal pantomime progresses, each soon realizes that the complications of inner space are no less fraught than those of outer space. The borders between what is real and unreal begin to blur, and each astronaut is forced to confront demons past and present, even as they struggle to navigate their increasingly claustrophobic quarters --- and each other.

by Marcus Sedgwick - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, History, Mystery

In Paris in the year 1899, Marcel Després is arrested for the murder of his wife and transferred to the famous Salpetriere Asylum. The doctor assigned to his care soon realizes this is no ordinary patient: Marcel Després, Mister Memory, is a man who cannot forget. And the policeman assigned to his case soon realizes that something else is at stake: For why else would the criminal have been hurried off to the hospital, and why are his superiors so keen for the whole affair to be closed? This crime involves something bigger and stranger than a lovers' fight, something with links to the highest and lowest establishments in France. The policeman and the doctor between them must unravel the mystery, but the answers lie inside Marcel's head.

by Nickolas Butler - Fiction

Camp Chippewa, 1962. Thirteen-year-old Nelson Doughty, a social outcast and an overachiever, is the Bugler, sounding the reveille proudly each morning. Yet this particular summer marks the beginning of an uncertain and tenuous friendship with a popular boy named Jonathan. Over the years, Nelson, irrevocably scarred from the Vietnam War, becomes Scoutmaster of Camp Chippewa, while Jonathan marries, divorces and turns his father’s business into a highly profitable company. And when something unthinkable happens at a camp get-together with Nelson as Scoutmaster and Jonathan’s teenage grandson and daughter-in-law as campers, the aftermath demonstrates the depths --- and the limits --- of Nelson’s selflessness and bravery.

by Jacqueline Winspear - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

At the moment Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasts to the nation Britain’s declaration of war with Germany, a senior Secret Service agent breaks into Maisie Dobbs' flat to await her return. Dr. Francesca Thomas has an urgent assignment for Maisie: to find the killer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium as a boy, some 23 years earlier during the Great War. In a London shadowed by barrage balloons, bomb shelters and the threat of invasion, within days another former Belgian refugee is found murdered. As Maisie’s search for the killer escalates, the country braces for what is to come. Britain is approaching its gravest hour --- and Maisie could be nearing a crossroads of her own.

written by Malin Persson Giolito, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

A mass shooting has taken place at a prep school in Stockholm’s wealthiest suburb. Eighteen-year-old Maja Norberg is charged for her involvement in the massacre that left her boyfriend and her best friend dead. She has spent nine months in jail awaiting trial. Now the time has come for her to enter the courtroom. How did Maja --- popular, privileged and a top student --- become a cold-blooded killer in the eyes of the public? What did Maja do? Or is it what she failed to do that brought her here?

by Kathleen Kent - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Dallas, Texas is not for the faint of heart. Good thing for Betty Rhyzyk she's from a family of take-no-prisoners Brooklyn police detectives. But her Big Apple wisdom will only get her so far when she relocates to The Big D, where Mexican drug cartels and cult leaders, deadbeat skells and society wives all battle for sunbaked turf. Betty is as tough as the best of them, but she's deeply shaken when her first investigation goes sideways. Battling a group of unruly subordinates, a persistent stalker, a formidable criminal organization and an unsupportive girlfriend, the unbreakable Detective Betty Rhyzyk may be reaching her limit.

by Lissa Evans - Fiction, Historical Fiction

It is 1940. France has fallen, and only a narrow strip of sea lies between Great Britain and invasion. The war could go either way, and everyone must do their bit. Young copy writer Catrin Cole is drafted into the Ministry of Information to help “write women” into propaganda films --- something that the men aren’t very good at. She is quickly seconded to the Ministry’s latest endeavor: a heartwarming tale of bravery and rescue at Dunkirk. It’s all completely fabricated, of course, but what does that matter when the nation’s morale is at stake? Since call-up has stripped the industry of its brightest and best, it is the callow, the jaded and the utterly unsuitable who must make up the numbers.

by Ali Smith - Fiction

Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Two old friends --- Daniel, a centenarian, and Elisabeth, born in 1984 --- look to both the future and the past as the United Kingdom stands divided by a historic, once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand-in-hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever. A luminous meditation on the meaning of richness and harvest and worth, AUTUMN is the first installment of Ali Smith’s Seasonal quartet, and it casts an eye over our own time: Who are we? What are we made of?

by Yewande Omotoso - Fiction

Hortensia James and Marion Agostino are neighbors. One is black, the other white. Both are successful women with impressive careers. Both have recently been widowed, and are living with questions, disappointments and secrets that have brought them shame. And each has something that the woman next door deeply desires. Sworn enemies, the two share a hedge and a deliberate hostility, which they maintain with a zeal that belies their age. But, one day, an unexpected event forces Hortensia and Marion together. As the physical barriers between them collapse, their bickering gradually softens into conversation and eventually the two discover common ground. But are these sparks of connection enough to ignite a friendship, or is it too late to expect these women to change?

by Kayla Rae Whitaker - Fiction

In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo: Sharon is quietly ambitious but self-doubting, Mel is brash and unapologetic, always the life of a party. They spent their 20s ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature and stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success comes doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. When the only other partner Sharon has ever truly known --- her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy --- reappears, long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.