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Reviews

Reviews

by Nicole LaPorte - Nonfiction, True Crime

GUILTY ADMISSIONS weaves together the story of an unscrupulous college counselor named Rick Singer, and how he preyed on the desperation of some of the country's wealthiest families living in a world defined by fierce competition and a community of deeply insecure parents who will do anything to get their kids into name-brand colleges in order to maintain their own A-list status. Investigative reporter Nicole LaPorte lays bare the source of this insecurity --- that in 2019, no special "hook" in the form of legacy status, athletic talent or financial giving can guarantee a child's entrance into an elite school. The result is paranoia, deception and true crimes at the peak of the American social pyramid.

by Elle Cosimano - Fiction, Humor, Mystery, Women's Fiction

Finlay Donovan is a stressed-out single mom of two and struggling novelist. The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors. When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she is mistaken for a contract killer and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet. Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

by William Boyd - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Satire

It’s summer 1968, and the world is reeling from war and assassinations, protests and riots. In a sunny British seaside town, a producer, a novelist and an actress are enduring their own more private crises on the set of a disaster-plagued movie. All are leading secret lives --- one is in the closet; another is an alcoholic; and the third is sleeping with her costar --- and as the shoot zigs and zags, these layers of secrets become increasingly more untenable. Pressures build inexorably...and that’s before the FBI and CIA get involved. Someone is going to crack. Or maybe they all will.

by Michael Farris Smith - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's periphery, he was at the center of a very different story --- one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I. Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed firsthand, Nick delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance --- doomed from the very beginning --- to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with its own flavor of debauchery and violence.

by Harriet Tyce - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

When Sadie Roper moves back to London, she's determined to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. First, she needs to get her daughter settled into a new school. Next, she's going to get back the high-flying criminal barrister career she sacrificed for marriage 10 years earlier. But nothing goes quite as planned. The school is not very welcoming to newcomers, her daughter hasn't made any friends yet, and the other mothers are as fiercely competitive as their children. However, the tide starts to turn as Sadie begins to work on a scandalous, high-profile case and is befriended by Liza, queen of the school moms. Soon Sadie and her family start to thrive…but does this close new friendship prevent her from seeing the truth?

by James Holland - History, Nonfiction

On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion 11 months later: 160,000 American, British and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air and at sea. Yet, despite its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, very little has been written about the 38-day Battle for Sicily. James Holland’s SICILY ’43 offers a vital new perspective on a major turning point in World War II and a chronicle of a multi-pronged campaign in a uniquely diverse and contained geographical location.

by Robert Bailey - Fiction

On the morning of his 40th birthday, Randy Clark believes the only way he can help his family is to end it all. Standing on the Tennessee River Bridge in Decatur, Alabama, with his dreams of a pro golf career long gone, his marriage struggling and facing financial ruin, Randy sees no other alternative to help his wife and daughter but to jump, which he plans to do in the next 24 hours. But his plans are put on hold when the ghost of his best friend --- who did live out the fantasy of playing the PGA tour --- reveals to Randy that he will be given a wonderful gift: four rounds of golf with his four heroes, the champions he's looked up to his whole life, each with a life-changing lesson to impart.

by Nicci French - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

When a body is discovered in Okeham, England, Tabitha is shocked to find herself being placed in handcuffs. She’d only recently moved back to her childhood hometown, not even getting a chance to reacquaint herself with the neighbors. How could she possibly be a murder suspect? As Tabitha is shepherded through the system, her entire life is picked apart and scrutinized. But most unsettling, her own memories of that day are a complete blur. From the isolation of the correctional facility, Tabitha dissects every piece of evidence, every testimony she can get her hands on, matching them against her own recollections. But as dark, long-buried memories from her childhood come to light, Tabitha begins to question if she knows what kind of person she is after all. 

by John Grisham - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye. His fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security and the safety of his family on the line.

by Billy Collins - Poetry, Poetry Collection

This new collection brings together more than 50 poems and showcases the deft mixing of the playful and the serious that has made Billy Collins one of our country’s most celebrated and widely read poets. Here are poems that leap with whimsy and imagination, yet stay grounded in the familiar, common things of everyday experience. Collins takes us for a walk with an impossibly ancient dog, discovers the original way to eat a banana, meets an Irish spider, and even invites us to his own funeral. Sensitive to the wonders of being alive as well as the thrill of mortality, WHALE DAY builds on and amplifies Collins’ reputation as one of America’s most interesting and durable poets.