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Reviews

by John Boyne - Fiction

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming and hungry for fame. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, he has a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. Maurice quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful --- but desperately lonely --- older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall.

by Andrew Roberts - Biography, History, Nonfiction

When we seek an example of great leaders with unalloyed courage, the person who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the iconic, visionary war leader immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In CHURCHILL, Andrew Roberts gives readers the full and definitive Winston Churchill, from birth to lasting legacy.

by John Feinstein - Nonfiction, Sports

In the National Football League, one player becomes the face of a franchise, one player receives all the accolades and all the blame, and one player's hand will guide the rise or fall of an entire team's season --- and the dreams of millions of fans. There are 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL on any given Sunday, and their lives are built around pressure, stardom and incredible talent. Legendary bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein shows readers what it's really like to play the glory position and to live that life --- mapping out a journey that runs from college stardom to the NFL draft to taking command of the huddle and marching a team down the field with a nation of fans cheering.

by Michael Harvey - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

In a small apartment in Boston, 16-year-old Daniel Fitzsimmons is listening to his landlord describe a seemingly insane theory about invisible pulses of light and energy that can be harnessed by the human mind. He longs to laugh with his brother Harry about it, but Harry doesn’t know he’s there. None of that matters, though, because the next night Harry, a Harvard football star, is murdered in an alley. Detectives “Bark” Jones and Tommy Dillon are assigned to the case. The veteran partners thought they’d seen it all, but they are stunned when Daniel wanders into the crime scene. Even stranger, Daniel claims to have known the details of his brother’s murder before it ever happened.

by John Grisham - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Pete Banning was Clanton, Mississippi’s favorite son --- a decorated World War II hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbor and faithful member of the Methodist church. Then, one cool October morning, he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed his pastor and friend, the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder wasn’t shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete's only statement about it --- to the sheriff, to his lawyers, to the judge, to the jury and to his family --- was: "I have nothing to say." He was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive to the grave.

by John Grisham - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Pete Banning was Clanton, Mississippi’s favorite son --- a decorated World War II hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbor and faithful member of the Methodist church. Then, one cool October morning, he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed his pastor and friend, the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder wasn’t shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete's only statement about it --- to the sheriff, to his lawyers, to the judge, to the jury and to his family --- was: "I have nothing to say." He was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive to the grave.

by David Rosenfelt - Fiction, Mystery

Andy Carpenter doesn’t usually stop to help others, but seeing a dog next to a homeless man inspires him to give the pair some money. Soon after, man and dog are attacked on the street. The dog defends its new owner, and the erstwhile attacker is bitten but escapes. The dog is quarantined, and the man, Don Carrigan, is heartbroken. In a matter of days, Don and his dog Zoey are living above Andy’s garage. It turns out that Don is wanted for a murder that happened two years ago. Don not only claims he’s innocent, but that he had no idea he was wanted for a crime he has no knowledge of in the first place. It’s up to Andy to exonerate his new friend, if he doesn’t get pulled into the quagmire first.

by Stephen L. Carter - Biography, History, Nonfiction

Eunice Hunton Carter, Stephen Carter’s grandmother, was raised in a world of stultifying expectations about race and gender, yet by the 1940s, her professional and political successes had made her one of the most famous black women in America. But her triumphs were shadowed by prejudice and tragedy. Greatly complicating her rise was her difficult relationship with her younger brother, Alphaeus, an avowed Communist who --- together with his friend Dashiell Hammett --- would go to prison during the McCarthy era. Yet she remained unbowed. INVISIBLE tells the true story of a woman who often found her path blocked by the social and political expectations of her time. But Eunice Carter never accepted defeat.

by Ian O'Connor - Biography, Nonfiction, Sports

Bill Belichick is perhaps the most fascinating figure in the NFL --- the infamously dour face of one of the winningest franchises in sports. As head coach of the New England Patriots, he’s led the team to six Super Bowl championship trophies. In Ian O’Connor’s revelatory biography, readers will come to understand and see Belichick’s full life in football --- from watching college games as a kid with his father, a Naval Academy scout, to orchestrating two Super Bowl–winning game plans as defensive coordinator for the Giants, to his dramatic leap to New England, where he has made history.

by Heather Won Tesoriero - Education, Nonfiction, Science

Andy Bramante left his successful career as a corporate scientist to teach public high school --- and now helms one of the most remarkable classrooms in America. Bramante’s unconventional class at Connecticut’s prestigious yet diverse Greenwich High School has no curriculum, tests, textbooks or lectures, and is equal parts elite research lab, student counseling office and teenage hangout spot. United by a passion to learn, Mr. B.’s band of whiz kids set out every year to conquer the brutally competitive science fair circuit. They have won the top prize at the Google Science Fair, made discoveries that eluded scientists three times their age, and been invited to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm.