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13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A FAT GIRL: Fiction by Mona Awad (Fiction)
Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks. She starts dating guys online but is afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend, China, does her makeup. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged and pounds dropped. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, friends, husband and reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl? Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
ALL THINGS CEASE TO APPEAR by Elizabeth Brundage (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kirsten Potter
Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife murdered and their three-year-old daughter alone in her room. And he is the immediate suspect --- the question of his guilt echoing in a story shot through with secrets both personal and professional. While his parents rescue him from suspicion, a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving Clare a heartless murderer. The pall of death is ongoing and relentless; behind one crime are others, and more than 20 years will pass before a hard kind of justice is finally served. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
THE CARDINALS WAY: How One Team Embraced Tradition and Moneyball at the Same Time by Howard Megdal (Sports)
Despite years of phenomenal achievements, including going to the World Series in 2004 and again in 2006, the St. Louis Cardinals reinvented themselves using the "Cardinal Way," a term that has come to represent many things to fans, media and other organizations --- from an ironclad code of conduct to the team's cutting-edge use of statistics and analytics, and a farm system that has transformed baseball. Howard Megdal takes fans behind the scenes and off the field, revealing how the players are assessed and groomed using an unrivaled player development system that has created a franchise that is the envy of the baseball world. Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.
THE CONSIDERATE KILLER: A Nina Borg Thriller written by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis, translated by Elisabeth Dyssegaard (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Katherine Kellgren
In an attempt to save their marriage, Nina Borg and her husband traveled to a beach resort in the Philippines for a dream vacation. Only now, six months later, does Nina begin to understand the devastating repercussions of that trip --- repercussions that have followed her home across the globe to Denmark. On an icy winter day, she is attacked outside the grocery store. The last thing she hears before losing consciousness is her assailant asking her forgiveness. Only later does she understand that this isn’t for what he’s just done, but for what he plans to do. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
FAR FROM TRUE: A Promise Falls Novel by Linwood Barclay (Thriller)
After the screen of a run-down drive-in movie theater collapses and kills four people, the daughter of one of the victims asks private investigator Cal Weaver to look into a recent break-in at her father’s house. Cal discovers a hidden basement room where it’s clear that salacious activities have taken place --- as well as evidence of missing DVDs. Meanwhile, Detective Barry Duckworth is still trying to solve two murders --- one of which is three years old --- that he believes are connected, since each featured a similar distinctive wound. As the lies begin to unravel, Cal is headed straight into the heart of a dark secret as his search uncovers more startling truths about Promise Falls. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
A GIRL'S GUIDE TO MOVING ON by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Audiobook available, narrated by Nancy Linari and Allyson Ryan
Nichole is recovering from a broken heart after learning that her husband was having an affair and separating from him. The twist is that her mother-in-law, Leanne, is the one who told her that her son was cheating. Leanne has looked the other way for decades as her own husband cheated, and can’t bear to see her son repeating the same pattern. In telling Nichole, she also gathers the courage to leave her husband, and the two women rent apartments across the hall from each other, supporting one another in rebuilding their lives and embracing surprising new romantic endeavors. Reviewed by Susan Miura.
GONE AGAIN: A Jack Swyteck Novel by James Grippando (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Jonathan Davis
Jack Swyteck is called to action when teenager Sashi Burgette vanishes on her way to school. The night after Sashi’s disappearance, ex-con Dylan Kyle was stopped for drunk driving and a piece of her clothing was found in his truck. A police videotape of his drunken explanation under interrogation sealed his fate at trial. Now, just days from Kyle’s execution, Sashi’s mother visits Jack and delivers shocking news: “Sashi called me.” Unconvinced that the case is closed, Jack jumps into the investigation. But the deeper he digs, the more he discovers that nothing is what it appears to be. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
GOODBYE TO THE DEAD by Brian Freeman (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Joe Barrett
Detective Jonathan Stride is haunted by his first wife Cindy’s death, even as he maintains a relationship with fellow detective Serena Dial. When Serena witnesses a brutal murder outside a bar, she stumbles onto a case that goes back to the last year of Cindy's life. At the time, Stride and Cindy were on opposing sides of an investigation that ended up sending Cindy’s friend, Janine, to prison for shooting her husband. During the current investigation, Serena finds a gun used in the murder of a woman connected to an organized crime syndicate --- a gun that turns out to be the same one used to kill Janine’s husband. Two unrelated cases years apart suddenly have a mysterious connection, and Stride must not only investigate, but also confront his past. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
HIDDEN BODIES by Caroline Kepnes (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Santino Fontana
Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past 10 years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, determined to put his past behind him. But the problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They re-emerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: true love. And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
ICE CHEST by J.D. Rhoades (Comic Thriller/Adventure)
Clarissa Cartwright is about to take the stage wearing a fortune in jewels. In the wings, a motley crew of bumbling crooks is scheming to make off with the biggest heist of their careers: five and a half million dollars in precious stones. When the robbers find themselves pursued by both the intimidating ex-cop tasked with protecting the world’s most valuable piece of lingerie and Clarissa's insanely jealous and mobbed-up ex-boyfriend, things get ugly. Especially when Clarissa decides she's had quite enough of being an object and resolves to turn the tables on both the crooks and the fashion world. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
INTERIOR DARKNESS: Selected Stories by Peter Straub (Literary Horror/Short Stories)
"Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff" is a darkly comic masterpiece in which a stern estate lawyer known as the Deacon hires a pair of "Private Detectives Extraordinaire" to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife. In "The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine," a man and his much younger lover explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies on a luxurious yacht in the remotest stretch of the Amazon River. "Blue Rose" finds violence and power in the hands of the most innocent among us, leading to a conclusion that is fully surprising and devastating. The stories assembled here represent Peter Straub’s astonishing range and his ability to terrify, transport and hold a reader hostage. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
INTO OBLIVION: An Icelandic Thriller by Arnaldur Indridason (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by George Guidall
A woman swims in a remote, milky-blue lagoon. Steam rises from the water, and as it clears, a body is revealed in the ghostly light. Miles away, a vast aircraft hangar rises behind the perimeter fence of the US military base. A sickening thud is heard as a man's body falls from a high platform. Many years before, a schoolgirl went missing. The world has forgotten her, but Erlendur has not. Erlendur is a newly promoted detective with a battered body, a rouge CIA operative, and America's troublesome presence in Iceland to contend with. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE LEGENDS CLUB: Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, and an Epic College Basketball Rivalry by John Feinstein (Sports)
Audiobook available, narrated by John Feinstein
On March 18, 1980, the immensely powerful Duke basketball program announced the hiring of its new coach --- the man who would resurrect the team, restore glory to Duke and defeat the legendary Dean Smith, who coached down the road at UNC Chapel Hill and had turned UNC into a powerhouse. The table was set nine days later, when on March 27, Jim Valvano was hired by North Carolina State to be their new head coach. In the skillful hands of John Feinstein, this extraordinary rivalry --- and the men behind it --- come to life in a unique, intimate way. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
THE LION’S MOUTH: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel by Anne Holt (Mystery)
Less than six months after taking office, the Norwegian Prime Minister is found dead. Was it a politically motivated assassination or personal revenge? Hanne Wilhelmsen, Chief Inspector of the Norwegian Police, is on leave in California, but when this death shakes the country to its core, she knows she can’t remain on the sidelines of such a crucial investigation. When secrets begin to unravel from the Prime Minister’s past, Hanne and her partner, Billy T., must piece together the crime before a private tragedy becomes a public outcry. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE LONELY CITY: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing (Memoir/Cultural Criticism)
When Olivia Laing moved to New York City in her mid-30s, she found herself inhabiting loneliness on a daily basis. Increasingly fascinated by this most shameful of experiences, she began to explore the lonely city by way of art. Moving fluidly between works and lives --- from Edward Hopper's Nighthawks to Andy Warhol's Time Capsules, from Henry Darger's hoarding to David Wojnarowicz's AIDS activism --- Laing conducts an electric, dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
A MIDSUMMER'S EQUATION by Keigo Higashino (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by P.J. Ochlan
Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as "Detective Galileo," has traveled to Hari Cove, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort's guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. As the police try to uncover where Tsukahara was killed and why, Yukawa finds himself enmeshed in yet another confounding case of murder. In a series of twists, Galileo uncovers the hidden relationship behind the tragic events that led to this crime. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
A MOTHER'S RECKONING: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold (Memoir)
Audiobook available, narrated by Sue Klebold
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill 12 students and a teacher and wound 24 others before taking their own lives. For the last 16 years, Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. In A MOTHER’S RECKONING, she chronicles with unflinching honesty her journey as a mother trying to come to terms with the incomprehensible. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.
MOVIE FREAK: My Life Watching Movies by Owen Gleiberman (Memoir/Entertainment)
Audiobook available, narrated by Owen Gleiberman
What molds a critic? Perhaps it takes parents willing to buy nine-year-old Owen Gleiberman drive-in tickets for Rosemary's Baby. Like millions of us, Gleiberman loves movies, and in MOVIE FREAK, he not only reveals the details of how he became a critic but attempts to show why we find cinema so defining as a society. As one of the premiere tastemakers for more than three decades, Gleiberman, a self-confessed movie freak, explains why he and so many others equate film with life. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
THE NARROW DOOR: A Memoir of Friendship by Paul Lisicky (Memoir)
Lisicky’s memoir provides a compelling collage of scenes and images from two long-term relationships, one with a woman novelist and the other with his ex-husband, a pot. Denise and Paul, stretched by the demands of their writing lives, drift apart. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, earthquake in Haiti and local disturbances make an unsettling backdrop to the pressing concerns of Denise’s cancer diagnosis and Paul’s impending breakup. Lisicky’s survival --- hard-won, unsentimental and authentic --- proves that in turning to loss, we embrace life. Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth for HeadButler.com.
NO CURE FOR LOVE by Peter Robinson (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Jeff Harding
Sarah Broughton, the star of a hit cop show on TV, has put her dark past behind her…as well as her old name, Sally Bolton. When Sarah begins receiving letters mysteriously signed with the letter “M,” she thinks they’re from a harmless admirer…until her real name appears in the third letter. And then she finds that name inscribed in the sand near her home --- next to a body. The message is clear: Someone is watching Sarah’s every move. Someone so obsessed with her that he won’t stop at just one murder in order to prove his love. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
OPENING BELLE by Maureen Sherry (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Julia Whelan
In 2008, Isabelle appears to have it all: an Upper West Side apartment, three healthy children, a handsome husband and a high-powered job. But her reality is something else. Her work environment resembles a 1980s frat party, her husband feels that employment is beneath him, and the bulk of childcare and homecare still falls to Belle. As she deals with her former college fiancé, Henry, becoming her biggest client and a group of sexually harrassed women beginning to organize, Belle can sense the financial markets heading toward their soon-to-be historic crash and that something has to give. Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth for HeadButler.com.
THE PASSENGER by Lisa Lutz (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Madeleine Maby
Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone and flees town. She meets Blue, a female bartender who offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya (now Amelia) accepts. It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia (now Debra) and Blue have the courage, ingenuity and desperation to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret. Can she outrun her past? Reviewed by Maggie Harding.
PEACEKEEPING by Mischa Berlinski (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Ben Williams
When Terry White, a former deputy sheriff and a failed politician, goes broke in the 2007–2008 financial crisis, he takes a job working for the UN, helping to train the Haitian police. He is sent to the remote town of Jérémie, where he is swept up in their complex politics when he befriends an earnest, reforming American-educated judge. Soon he convinces the judge to oppose the corrupt but charismatic Sénateur Maxim Bayard in an upcoming election. But when Terry falls in love with the judge’s wife, the electoral drama threatens to become a disaster. Reviewed by Jane Krebs.
PERFECT DAYS by Raphael Montes (Psychological Thriller)
Teo Avelar is a loner who only feels honest human emotion in the presence of his medical school cadaver --- that is, until he meets Clarice. She's almost his exact opposite. An aspiring screenwriter, Clarice is working on a screenplay called Perfect Days about three friends who go on a road trip across Brazil in search of romance. An obsessed Teo begins to stalk Clarice and ultimately kidnaps her, at which point they embark upon their very own twisted odyssey across Brazil, tracing the same route outlined in her screenplay. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
REASONS TO STAY ALIVE by Matt Haig (Memoir)
Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt Haig’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest cliché is the truest --- there is light at the end of the tunnel. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOR: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Audiobook available, narrated by Tony Roberts
After a series of nonstop adventures, Stone Barrington is eager for some peace and quiet in a rustic British setting. But no sooner does he land in England than he’s beset by an outrageous demand from a beautiful lady, and an offer he can’t refuse. Unfortunately, Stone quickly learns that his new acquisition comes with some undesired strings attached --- namely, a deadly mystery involving the complex relationships of the local gentry, and a relentless adversary who raises the stakes with every encounter. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.
THE SOUND OF GRAVEL: A Memoir by Ruth Wariner (Memoir)
Audiobook available, narrated by Ruth Wariner
Ruth Wariner was the 39th of her father’s 42 children. After Ruth’s father is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries. In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where Ruth’s mother collects welfare and her stepfather works a variety of odd jobs. As she begins to doubt her family’s beliefs and question her mother’s choices, Ruth struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
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