Skip to main content

Week of July 29, 2019

New in Paperback

Week of July 29, 2019

Paperback releases for the week of July 29th include SOMEONE KNOWS, a riveting domestic thriller from Lisa Scottoline about how a single decision can undo a family, how our past can derail our present, and how not guilty doesn't always mean innocent; THE INCENDIARIES by R. O. Kwon, a powerful, darkly glittering novel of violence, love, faith and loss, as a young woman at an elite American university is drawn into a cult's acts of terrorism; THE WITCH ELM, a stand-alone suspense novel from Tana French that asks what we become, and what we're capable of, when we no longer know who we are; and Hank Green's AN ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE THING, a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green - Science Fiction/Humor

July 30, 2019

The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at 3am, 23-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship, April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world, and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.

The Betrayed Wife by Kevin O'Brien - Psychological Thriller

July 30, 2019

Sheila O’Rourke has always known her husband isn’t perfect. Who is? But things have been better since they moved to Seattle to make a fresh start. So much so that when 16-year-old Eden turns up, claiming to be Dylan’s child by another woman, Sheila tries to be welcoming. At first, Sheila feels sympathy for the girl. Eden’s mother recently fell to her death in an incident with unsettling parallels to Sheila’s past. Still, Eden is a difficult house guest, sowing discord among the family. Sheila has already been on edge for weeks, receiving anonymous texts, noticing odd noises coming from the house next door. And that’s just the start. No one can hurt you more easily than the ones closest to you --- the ones you keep believing until it’s too late.

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins - Fiction

July 30, 2019

Sarah Dove is no ordinary bookworm. To her, books have always been more than just objects: they live, breathe and sometimes even speak. When Sarah grows up to become the librarian in her quaint Southern town of Dove Pond, her gift helps place every book in the hands of the perfect reader. Recently, however, the books have been whispering about something out of the ordinary: the arrival of a displaced city girl named Grace Wheeler. If the books are right, Grace could be the savior that Dove Pond desperately needs. The problem is, Grace wants little to do with the town or its quirky residents --- Sarah chief among them.

Button Man by Andrew Gross - Historical Thriller

July 30, 2019

New York, 1930s. Morris, Sol and Harry Rabishevsky grew up poor and rough on the Lower East Side, until the death of their father forced them to fend for themselves and support the family. Morris apprentices himself to a garment manufacturer; bookish Sol drops out of accounting school; and Harry believes he can help out by learning the ways and means of a charismatic local crime figure. Later, when Morris and Sol find career success and decide to create their own business, Harry can’t be lured away from the glamour and prestige that comes from being a “button man” --- a gun man --- for Louis Buchalter, now the most ruthless mobster in the city. When Buchalter sets his sights on the unions that control the garment factories, a fatal showdown becomes inevitable, pitting brother against brother.

Connections in Death by J. D. Robb - Mystery/Thriller

July 30, 2019

Homicide cop Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband, Roarke, are building a brand-new school and youth shelter. For expert help, they hire child psychologist Dr. Rochelle Pickering --- whose own brother pulled himself out of a spiral of addiction and crime with Rochelle’s support. Lyle is living with Rochelle while he gets his life together, and he’s thrilled to hear about his sister’s new job offer. But within hours, triumph is followed by tragedy. Returning from a celebratory dinner with her boyfriend, she finds Lyle dead with a syringe in his lap, and Eve’s investigation confirms that this wasn’t just another OD.

Crucible by James Rollins - Thriller/Adventure

July 30, 2019

Arriving home on Christmas Eve, Commander Gray Pierce discovers his house ransacked, his pregnant lover missing, and his best friend’s wife, Kat, unconscious on the kitchen floor. With no shred of evidence to follow, his one hope to find the woman he loves and his unborn child is Kat, the only witness to what happened. But the injured woman is in a semi-comatose state and cannot speak --- until a brilliant neurologist offers a radical approach to "unlock" her mind long enough to ask a few questions. What Pierce learns from Kat sets Sigma Force on a frantic quest for answers that are connected to mysteries reaching back to the Spanish Inquisition and to one of the most reviled and blood-soaked books in human history.

An Easy Death: A Gunnie Rose Novel by Charlaine Harris - Dark Fantasy/Thriller

July 30, 2019

Battered by a run across the border to Mexico, Lizbeth Rose takes a job offer from a pair of Russian wizards to be their local guide and gunnie. They’re searching through the small border towns near Mexico, trying to locate a low-level magic practitioner, Oleg Karkarov. The wizards believe Oleg is a direct descendant of Grigori Rasputin, and that Oleg’s blood can save the young tsar’s life. As the trio journey through an altered America, shattered into several countries by the assassination of Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression, they’re set on by enemies. It’s clear that a powerful force does not want them to succeed in their mission. Lizbeth Rose is a gunnie who has never failed a client, but her oath will test all of her skills and resolve to get them all out alive.

Hippie by Paulo Coelho - Fiction

July 30, 2019

Paulo is a young, skinny Brazilian man who wants to become a writer and sets off on a journey in search of a deeper meaning for his life: first on the famous “Death Train” to Bolivia, then on to Peru, later hitchhiking through Chile and Argentina. Paulo’s travels take him farther to the famous Dam Square in Amsterdam, where he meets Karla, a Dutch woman who has been waiting to find the ideal companion to accompany her on the fabled hippie trail to Nepal. As they travel together, Paulo and Karla explore their own relationship: a life-defining love story that awakens them on every level and leads to choices and decisions that will set the course for their lives thereafter.

The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon - Fiction

July 30, 2019

Phoebe Lin and Will Kendall meet in their first month at prestigious Edwards University. Phoebe is a glamorous girl who doesn't tell anyone she blames herself for her mother's recent death. Will is a misfit scholarship boy who transfers to Edwards from Bible college, waiting tables to get by. What he knows for sure is that he loves Phoebe. Grieving and guilt-ridden, Phoebe is drawn into a secretive cult founded by a charismatic former student with an enigmatic past. When the group commits a violent act in the name of faith, Will finds himself struggling to confront a new version of the fanaticism he's worked so hard to escape.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite - Fiction/Dark Humor

July 30, 2019

Korede’s sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.

The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher - Fiction/Satire

July 30, 2019

Now is the fall of his discontent, as Jason Fitger, newly appointed chair of the English Department of Payne University, takes arms against a sea of troubles, personal and institutional. His ex-wife is sleeping with the dean who must approve whatever modest initiatives he undertakes. The fearsome department secretary Fran clearly runs the show (when not taking in rescue parrots and dogs) and holds plenty of secrets she's not sharing. The lavishly funded Econ Department keeps siphoning off English's meager resources and has taken aim at its remaining office space. And Fitger's attempt to get a mossbacked and antediluvian Shakespeare scholar to retire backfires spectacularly when the press concludes that the Bard is being kicked to the curricular curb.

Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline - Mystery/Thriller

July 30, 2019

Allie Garvey is heading home to the funeral of a childhood friend, which means seeing the other two people with whom she shares an unbearable secret. Twenty years earlier, a horrific incident shattered the lives of five teenagers, including Allie. They kept what happened a secret, believing that getting caught would be the worst thing that could happen. But Allie has been haunted for two decades by what she and the others did, and by the fact that she never told a soul. The dark secret has eaten away at her, distancing her from everyone she loves, including her husband. Now, Allie stands on the precipice of losing everything. She digs to unearth the truth, but reaches a shocking conclusion that she never saw coming.

We That Are Young by Preti Taneja - Fiction

July 30, 2019

When a billionaire hotelier and political operator attempts to pit his three daughters against one another, a brutal struggle for primacy begins in this modern-day take on Shakespeare’s "King Lear." Set in contemporary India, where rich men are gods while farmers starve and water is fast running out, WE THAT ARE YOUNG is a story about power status and the love of a megalomaniac father.

The Witch Elm by Tana French - Thriller

July 30, 2019

Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who has dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life --- he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden --- and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.