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January 20, 2015 |
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The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of January 19th and January 26th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.
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On Sale the Week of January 19th in Hardcover
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January 19th
GATEWAY TO FREEDOM: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad by Eric Foner (History)
Building on fresh evidence --- including a detailed record of slave escapes secretly kept by Sydney Howard Gay, one of the key organizers in New York --- Eric Foner elevates the underground railroad from folklore to sweeping history. It eventually took a civil war to destroy American slavery, but here at last is the story of the courageous effort to fight slavery by "practical abolition" --- person by person, family by family.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393244076
SWEETLAND by Michael Crummey (Fiction)
The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package --- the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses Sweetland, whose ancestors founded the village, is the only one to refuse. As he watches his neighbors abandon the island, he recalls the town’s rugged history and its eccentric cast of characters.
Liveright * 9780871407900
January 20th
A BAD CHARACTER by Deepti Kapoor (Romance)
She is 20 and restless in New Delhi. Her mother has died, and her father has left for Singapore. He is a few years older, just back to India from New York. When they meet in a café one afternoon, she --- lonely, hungry for experience, yearning to break free of tradition --- casts aside her fears and throws herself headlong into a love affair, one that takes her where she has never been before.
Knopf * 9780385352741
BLACK RIVER by S. M. Hulse (Western)
When Wes Carver returns to Black River, he carries two things in the cab of his truck: his wife’s ashes and a letter from the prison parole board. The convict who held him hostage during a riot 20 years ago is being considered for release. How can a man who once embodied evil ever come to good? How can he pay for such crimes with anything but his life? As Wes considers his own choices and grieves for all he’s lost, he must decide what he believes and if he can let Bobby Williams walk away.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544309876
THE BOOK OF LOVE: Improvisations on a Crazy Little Thing by Roger Rosenblatt (Love & Romance)
In THE BOOK OF LOVE, Roger Rosenblatt explores love in all its moods and variations --- romantic love, courtship, battle, mystery, marriage, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, delirium, ecstasy; love of family, of friends; love of home, of country, of work, of writing, of solitude, of art; love of nature; love of life itself. Rosenblatt is on a quest to illuminate this elusive and essential emotion, to define this thing called love.
Ecco * 9780062349422
CANE AND ABE by James Grippando (Thriller)
A woman’s body is discovered dumped in the Everglades, and Abe Beckham is called upon to monitor the investigation. The FBI is tracking a killer in South Florida they call “Cutter” because his brutal methods harken back to Florida’s dark past, when machete-wielding men cut sugarcane by hand in the blazing sun. But when the Feds discover that Abe had a brief encounter with the victim after his first wife’s death, and when his current wife goes missing, the respected attorney finds himself under fire.
Harper * 9780062295392
ETTA AND OTTO AND RUSSELL AND JAMES by Emma Hooper (Fiction)
Otto finds a note left by his wife in the kitchen of their farmhouse in windswept Saskatchewan. Eighty-three-year-old Etta will be walking 3,200 kilometers to see the ocean, but somehow, Otto understands. He took his own journey once before, to fight in a faraway land. With Etta gone, Otto struggles with his demons of war, while their friend Russell initially pursues the woman he has loved from afar. And James --- well, James you have to meet on the page.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476755670
FEAR THE DARKNESS by Becky Masterman (Thriller)
After her sister-in-law dies, retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn’s niece, Gemma Kate, comes to live with her and her husband, Carlo. There's always been something unsettling about Gemma Kate, but family is family. Meanwhile, Brigid agrees to help a local couple by investigating the death of their son --- until dangerous things start to happen. As the menace comes closer and closer to home, Brigid begins to wonder if she can trust anyone.
Minotaur Books * 9780312622954
A FIFTY-YEAR SILENCE: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France by Miranda Richmond Mouillot (Memoir/History)
A FIFTY-YEAR-SILENCE is the deeply involving account of Miranda Richmond Mouillot's journey to find out what happened between her grandmother, a physician, and her grandfather, an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials, who refused to utter his wife's name aloud after she left him. To discover the roots of their embittered and entrenched silence, Miranda moves to their stone house; immerses herself in letters, archival materials and secondary sources; and teases stories out of her reticent grandparents.
Crown * 9780804140645
FIRST FROST by Sarah Addison Allen (Fiction)
Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley’s Candies, though it’s costing her the everyday joys of her family. With each passing day, her half-sister, Sydney, longs more for a baby, while her daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250019837
GLOW by Ned Beauman (Fiction)
Twenty-two-year-old Raf spends his days walking Rose, a bull terrier who guards the transmitters for a pirate radio station, and his nights at raves in warehouses and launderettes. When his friend Theo vanishes without a trace, Raf’s efforts to find him will lead straight into the heart of a global corporate conspiracy. Meanwhile, he’s falling in love with a beautiful young woman he met at one of those raves, but he’ll soon discover that there is far more to Cherish than meets the eye.
Knopf * 9780385352604
GUANTANAMO DIARY written by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, edited by Larry Siems (Memoir)
Since 2002, Mohamedou Slahi has been imprisoned at the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. A federal judge ordered his release in March 2010, but the U.S. government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the United States plans to let him go. Three years into his captivity, Slahi began a diary, recounting his life before he disappeared into U.S. custody, "his endless world tour" of imprisonment and interrogation, and his daily life as a Guantánamo prisoner.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316328685
IF I FALL, IF I DIE by Michael Christie (Fiction)
Will has never been outside, at least not since he can remember. And he has certainly never gotten to know anyone other than his mother, a fiercely loving yet wildly eccentric agoraphobe who drowns in panic at the thought of opening the front door. But Will’s thirst for adventure can’t be contained. Clad in a protective helmet and unsure of how to talk to other kids, he finally ventures outside and is thrust headfirst into the throes of early adulthood and the dangers that everyday life offers.
Hogarth * 9780804140805
THE MAN WHO COULDN’T STOP: OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought by David Adam (Memoir)
David Adam, an editor at Nature and an accomplished science writer, has suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder for 20 years, and THE MAN WHO COULDN’T STOP is his unflinchingly honest attempt to understand the condition and his experiences. Drawing on the latest research on the brain, as well as historical accounts of patients and their treatments, this is a book that will challenge the way you think about what is normal and what is mental illness.
Sarah Crichton Books * 9780374223953
MORT(E) by Robert Repino (Science Fiction/Post-Apocalyptic Thriller)
Former housecat turned war hero, Mort(e) is famous for taking on the most dangerous missions and fighting the dreaded human bio-weapon EMSAH. But the true motivation behind his recklessness is his ongoing search for a pre-transformation friend --- a dog named Sheba. When he receives a mysterious message from the dwindling human resistance claiming Sheba is alive, he begins a journey that will take him from the remaining human strongholds to the heart of the Colony, where he will discover the source of EMSAH and the ultimate fate of all of earth's creatures.
Soho Press * 9781616954277
MY FATHER’S WIVES by Mike Greenberg (Fiction)
Jonathan Sweetwater has been blessed with money, a fulfilling career and a beautiful family. But there’s one thing he never had: a relationship with his late father. On his quest for understanding --- about himself, about manhood, about marriage --- Jonathan decides to track down his father’s five ex-wives. His journey will take him from cosmopolitan cities to the mile-high mountains to a tropical island --- and ultimately back to confront the one thing Jonathan has that his father never did: home.
William Morrow * 9780062325860
THE SAME SKY by Amanda Eyre Ward (Fiction)
Alice and her husband, Jake, have a loving marriage and thriving business, but Alice still feels that something is missing. Carla is a strong-willed young girl who is acting as caretaker to her six-year-old brother, Junior. Years ago, her mother left the family behind in Honduras to make the arduous, illegal journey to Texas. But when her grandmother dies, Carla takes fate into her own hands. The lives of Alice and Carla will intersect in a profound and surprising way.
Ballantine Books * 9780553390506
SEE HOW SMALL by Scott Blackwood (Fiction)
Two strangers walk into an ice cream shop shortly before closing time. They bind up the three teenage girls who are working the counter, set fire to the shop and disappear. SEE HOW SMALL tells the stories of the survivors who must endure in the wake of atrocity. Justice remains elusive in their world, human connection tenuous. Hovering above the aftermath of their deaths are the three girls, who try to connect with and prod to life those they left behind.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316373807
SERPENTS IN THE COLD by Thomas O'Malley and Douglas Graham Purdy (Historical Thriller)
Cal O'Brien and Dante Cooper are struggling to find their identities after World War II. Cal has built a mildly promising life for himself as an employee of a company providing private security. A heroin addict, Dante feels the call to do good after he discovers that his sister-in-law was the latest victim of a serial killer targeting disadvantaged women. Cal and Dante take it upon themselves to track the killer --- but their daunting quest takes on dangerous consequences when the trail leads them to the highest ranks of city government.
Mulholland Books * 9780316323505
A SMALL INDISCRETION by Jan Ellison (Fiction)
At 19, Annie Black trades a bleak future in her washed-out hometown for a London winter of drinking and abandon. Some two decades later, in San Francisco, she is a successful lighting designer married to a good man and the mother of three children. Then, one June morning, a photograph arrives in her mailbox, igniting an old longing and setting off a chain of events that threaten to overturn her family’s hard-won happiness.
Random House * 9780812995442
THE SWEET SPOT: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work by Christine Carter, Ph.D. (Self-Help/Sociology)
Christine Carter, a happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, shares the combination of practices that transformed her life from overwhelmed and exhausting to joyful, relaxed and productive. From instituting daily micro-habits that save time to bigger picture shifts that convert stress into productive and creative energy, THE SWEET SPOT shows us how to say “no” strategically and when to say “yes” with abandon, stop multitasking and gain efficiency, and much more.
Ballantine Books * 9780553392043
THE SWEETHEART by Angelina Mirabella (Historical Fiction)
It’s 1953, and 17-year-old Leonie Putzkammer is cartoonishly tall and curvaceous, destined to spend the rest of her life waiting tables and living with her widowed father in their Philadelphia row house. Until the day a legendary wrestling promoter walks into the local diner and offers her the chance of a lifetime. When Leonie becomes The Sweetheart, one of America’s most infamous female wrestlers, she attracts the fans she desires but complicates all of her relationships.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476733876
WHIPPING BOY: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully by Allen Kurzweil (Memoir)
WHIPPING BOY chronicles prize-winning author Allen Kurzweil’s search for his 12-year-old nemesis, a bully named Cesar Augustus. The obsessive inquiry, which spans some 40 years, takes Kurzweil all over the world --- from a Swiss boarding school (where he endures horrifying cruelty) to the slums of Manila, from the Park Avenue boardroom of the world’s largest law firm to a federal prison camp in Southern California.
Harper * 9780062269485
January 22nd
DIRTY CHICK: Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer by Antonia Murphy (Memoir)
DIRTY CHICK chronicles Antonia Murphy’s first year of life as an artisan farmer. Having bought into the myth that farming is a peaceful, fulfilling endeavor that allows one to commune with nature and live the way humans were meant to live, Antonia soon realized that the reality is far dirtier and way more disgusting than she ever imagined.
Gotham * 9781592409051
FROG by Mo Yan (Fiction)
FROG opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole, who plans to write about his aunt. In her youth, Gugu --- the beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communist --- is revered for her skill as a midwife. But when her lover defects, Gugu’s own loyalty to the Party is questioned. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant.
Viking Adult * 9780525427988
LEAVING BEFORE THE RAINS COME by Alexandra Fuller (Memoir)
LEAVING BEFORE THE RAINS COME begins with the dreadful first years of the American financial crisis when Alexandra Fuller’s delicate balance --- between American pragmatism and African fatalism, the linchpin of her unorthodox marriage --- irrevocably fails. Recalling her unusual courtship in Zambia, Fuller struggles to understand her younger self as she overcomes her current misfortunes. She soon realizes what is missing from her life is something that was always there: the brash and uncompromising ways of her father.
The Penguin Press * 9781594205866
UNBECOMING by Rebecca Scherm (Psychological Thriller)
In Garland, Tennessee, two young men have just been paroled. Both were jailed for a crime that Grace planned in exacting detail. The heist went bad, but not before she was on a plane to Prague with a stolen canvas rolled in her bag. And so, in Paris, begins a cat-and-mouse waiting game as Grace’s web of deception and lies unravels --- and she becomes another young woman entirely.
Viking Adult * 9780525427506
WATCH ME GO by Mark Wisniewski (Noir Thriller)
Douglas “Deesh” Sharp has managed to stay out of trouble living in the Bronx, paying his rent by hauling junk for cash. But on the morning Deesh and two pals head upstate to dispose of a sealed oil drum whose contents smell and weigh enough to contain a human corpse, he becomes mixed up in a serious crime. When his plans for escape spiral terribly out of control, Deesh quickly finds himself a victim of betrayal --- and the prime suspect in the murders of three white men.
Putnam Adult * 9780399172120 |
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On Sale the Week of January 19th in Paperback
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January 20th
ALL IN: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life by Mark Batterson (Christian Living/Spiritual Growth)
The Gospel costs nothing, but it demands that we go “all in,” putting all that we have into God’s hands. And that’s where we get stuck --- in spiritual no man's land. We’re afraid that if we go all in, we might miss out on what this life has to offer. It’s not true. The only thing you’ll miss out on is everything God has to offer. And the good news is this: if you don't hold out on God, then God won't hold out on you.
Zondervan * 9780310341826
ALL JOY AND NO FUN: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior (Parenting/Sociology)
Thousands of books have examined the effects of parents on their children. But almost none have thought to ask: What are the effects of children on their parents? In ALL JOY AND NO FUN, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior analyzes the many ways children reshape their parents' lives. She argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear.
Ecco * 9780062072245
BLACK MOON by Kenneth Calhoun (Dystopian Fiction)
Somehow the world has stopped sleeping. Words are slurred, eyes are red-rimmed, and people are starting to lose their grip. Matt Biggs, however, is one of the few who can still sleep. His marriage is now at a crossroads: Carolyn has succumbed to the sleeplessness, gone mad and run away. Desperate to find his wife, save his marriage and preserve his sanity, he ventures out into the bizarre new world in which he lives.
Hogarth * 9780804137164
CAUGHT by Lisa Moore (Literary Adventure)
David Slaney has escaped from prison, where he was locked up on charges of marijuana possession. A trucker who is a friend of his sister transports him to a strip bar, where he survives his first night of freedom. But Slaney intends to track down his old partner, Hearn, and get back into the drug business. Along the way, Slaney's fugitive journey across Canada rushes vibrantly to life as he visits an old flame and adopts numerous guises to outpace authorities.
Grove Press * 9780802122957
CITY OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT: A Molly Murphy Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Historical Mystery)
Molly and Daniel Sullivan are settling happily into the new routines of parenthood, but their domestic bliss is shattered the night a gang retaliates against Daniel for making a big arrest. Daniel wants his family safely out of New York City as soon as possible, so Molly agrees to take their young son, Liam, on the long journey to Paris to stay with her friends. But upon arriving in the City of Lights, nothing goes as planned.
Minotaur Books * 9781250051608
THE DAYS OF ANNA MADRIGAL by Armistead Maupin (Fiction)
THE DAYS OF ANNA MADRIGAL, the ninth and final novel in Armistead Maupin’s classic Tales of the City series, follows one of modern literature’s most beloved and indelible characters --- Anna Madrigal, the legendary transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane --- as she embarks on a road trip that will take her deep into her complicated past.
Harper Perennial * 9780062196279
KINDER THAN SOLITUDE by Yiyun Li (Fiction)
In 1989, three teenage friends are among the residents of a Beijing quadrangle in which all the neighbors know one another. It’s four months after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Twenty-two-year-old Shaoai, one of the residents, was among the Tiananmen protesters. One day, the friends discover that someone has poisoned Shaoai. This mystery is the backdrop of a novel about jealousy and the ways in which the traumas of adolescence can devastate one’s adulthood.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812980165
THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS by Ted Thompson (Fiction)
Anders Hill, entering his early 60s and seemingly ensconced in the "land of steady habits," abandons his career and family for a new condo and a new life. Stripped of the comforts of his previous identity, Anders turns up at a holiday party full of his ex-wife's friends and is surprised to find that the very world he rejected may be one he needs. Thus Anders embarks on a clumsy, hilarious and heartbreaking journey to reconcile his past with his present.
Back Bay Books * 9780316186575
MARCH: Book Two written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell (Graphic Memoir/History)
Paperback Original
Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, continues his award-winning graphic novel trilogy with co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell. After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence --- but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before.
Top Shelf Productions * 9781603094009
OUT OF THE WOODS: A Memoir of Wayfinding by Lynn Darling (Memoir)
When her college-bound daughter leaves home, Lynn Darling, widowed over a decade earlier, finds herself alone and utterly lost, with no idea of what she wants or even who she is. Searching for answers, she leaves New York for the solitary woods of Vermont. Removed from the familiar, cocooned in the natural world, her only companions a new dog and a compass, she hopes to develop a sense of direction --- both in the woods and in her life.
Harper Perennial * 9780061710230
THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY: A Journey to Intimate Friendship With God by Dutch Sheets (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
There's just something about people who are close to God. Through the ups and downs of life, they remain secure and hopeful. If you want a more rewarding spiritual life, if you want the pleasure of knowing your Creator's heart, this soul-lifting book is for you. Learn from Dutch Sheets as he shares his life lessons for cultivating an intimate relationship with God.
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764213335
ROMANCING YOUR BETTER HALF: Keeping Intimacy Alive in Your Marriage by Rick Johnson (Love & Marriage)
Paperback Original
If you've been married more than a few years, you probably know how it goes. You start out in the throes of passionate romance only to have the fire cool over the years --- especially when kids come along or life gets too busy. But keeping the romance alive is easier than most people think. Now the author of BECOMING YOUR SPOUSE'S BETTER HALF shares the secrets of pursuing romance that won't quit.
Revell * 9780800722340
ROOSEVELT’S BEAST by Louis Bayard (Historical Thriller)
Plagued by hunger and suffering the lingering effects of malaria, Theodore Roosevelt, his son Kermit, and the other members of the now-ravaged Roosevelt-Rondon scientific expedition are traveling deeper and deeper into the jungle. When Kermit and Teddy are kidnapped by a never-before-seen Amazonian tribe, the great hunters are asked one thing in exchange for their freedom: find and kill a beast that leaves no tracks and that no member of the tribe has ever seen.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250053114
SHE’S LEAVING HOME by William Shaw (Historical Mystery)
Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen believes that the victim of a strangulation may be one of the many Beatles fans who regularly camp outside Abbey Road Studios. With his reputation tarnished by an inexplicable act of cowardice, this is Breen's last chance to prove he's up to the job. Both he and Helen Tozer, a young policewoman assisting him with the case, navigate a world where conservative tradition gives way to frightening new freedoms --- and troubling new crimes.
Mulholland Books * 9780316246859
THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC: A Piper Donovan Mystery by Mary Jane Clark (Mystery)
Piper Donovan has barely arrived in New Orleans to perfect her pastry skills at a renowned French Quarter bakery when a ghastly murder rocks the magical city. Intrigued by the case, Piper can’t help but look for the “Hoodoo Killer” among the faces around her. When the murderer strikes again, she thinks she can unmask the killer. But Piper will have to conjure up some old black magic of her own if she hopes to live long enough to reveal the truth.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062135483
THE TRANSCRIPTIONIST by Amy Rowland (Fiction)
When Lena, the transcriptionist for the Record, a New York City newspaper, reads a shocking piece about a Jane Doe mauled to death by a lion, she is surprised to see that she recognizes the woman, having met her on the bus a few days before. Obsessed with understanding what caused the woman to deliberately climb into the lion's den, Lena begins a campaign for the truth that will destroy the Record's complacency and shake the venerable institution to its very foundation.
Algonquin Books * 9781616204501 |
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On Sale the Week of January 26th in Hardcover
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January 26th
MARCHING HOME: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War by Brian Matthew Jordan (History)
Following the Civil War, Union veterans --- tending rotting wounds, battling alcoholism, campaigning for paltry pensions --- tragically realized that they stood as unwelcome reminders to a new America eager to heal, forget and embrace the freewheeling bounty of the Gilded Age. Mining previously untapped archives, Civil War historian Brian Matthew Jordan uncovers anguished letters and diaries, essays by amputees, and gruesome medical reports, all deeply revealing of the American psyche.
Liveright * 9780871407818
PRIVATE VEGAS by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Thriller)
In Las Vegas, Lester Olsen treats gorgeous young women to five-star restaurants, splashy shows and limo rides --- and then teaches them how to kill. Private Jack Morgan spends most of his time in Los Angeles, where his top investigation firm has its headquarters. But a hunt for two criminals leads him to the city of sin --- and to a murder ring that is more seductively threatening than anything he's witnessed before.
Little, Brown & Company * 9780316211154
January 27th
THE BIG SEVEN by Jim Harrison (Mystery)
Detective Sunderson's new neighbors are creating even more havoc than the Great Leader did. A family of outlaws, armed to the teeth, the Ameses have local law enforcement too intimidated to take them on. Then Sunderson’s cleaning lady is murdered, and black sheep brother Lemuel Ames seeks Sunderson’s advice on a crime novel he’s writing that may not be fiction. Sunderson must struggle with the evil within himself and the far greater, more expansive evil of his neighbor.
Grove Press * 9780802123336
BREAKING CREED by Alex Kava (Thriller)
Ryder Creed and his dogs have intercepted several major drug stashes being smuggled through Atlanta’s airport. But their newfound celebrity has also garnered some unwanted attention. Meanwhile, FBI agent Maggie O’Dell is investigating a series of murders and suspects it’s the work of a cunning and brutal assassin. Unfortunately, by the time she uncovers a hit list with Creed’s name on it, it might be too late.
Putnam Adult * 9780399170768
THE GRAND PARADOX: The Messiness of Life, the Mystery of God and the Necessity of Faith by Ken Wytsma (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
Following Jesus is done --- can only be done --- in the messiness of this world into which we were all born. Yet many Christians expect the walk of faith to be easier, neater and relatively devoid of hassles. So perhaps it’s time for a frank conversation about the true nature of Christian faith. Maybe there are many desperately in need of a clear dialogue about how our greatest joy is found in our pursuit of God. In THE GRAND PARADOX, Ken Wytsma seeks to help readers understand that although God can be mysterious, He is in no way absent.
Thomas Nelson * 9780849964671
THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA by Matthew Reilly (Thriller/Adventure)
The Chinese government has found a species of animal no one believed even existed that will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time. The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will be struck with wonder at these beasts, that they are perfectly safe, and that nothing can go wrong. Of course it can’t…
Gallery Books * 9781476749556
HAPPY ARE THE HAPPY by Yasmina Reza, translated by John Cullen (Fiction)
The 20 interlocking vignettes in this slim novel by Yasmina Reza, author of the plays “Art” and “God of Carnage,” focus on the family lives of more than two-dozen characters. Couples bicker over such trivialities as the purchase of the wrong cheese at a grocery store or the playing of a wrong suit in bridge. As in much of Reza’s work, these conflicts are catalysts for larger arguments and the release of long-suppressed resentments.
Other Press * 9781590516928
INSIDE A SILVER BOX by Walter Mosley (Speculative Fiction)
Two people brought together by a horrific act are united in a common cause by the powers of the Silver Box. They join to protect humanity from destruction by an alien race, the Laz, hell-bent on regaining control over the Silver Box, the most destructive and powerful tool in the universe. The Silver Box will stop at nothing to prevent its former master from returning to being, even if it means finishing the earth itself.
Tor Books * 9780765375216
THE JAGUAR’S CHILDREN by John Vaillant (Fiction)
Héctor is trapped. The water truck, sealed to hide its human cargo, has broken down. The coyotes have taken all the passengers’ money for a mechanic and have not returned. Those left behind have no choice but to wait. Héctor finds a name in his friend César’s phone --- a name with an American number. He must reach her, both for rescue and to pass along the message César has come so far to deliver. But are his messages going through? As water and food run low, Héctor tells how he came to this desperate place.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544315495
THE KINGS OF LONDON: A Breen and Tozer Mystery by William Shaw (Historical Mystery)
Detective Sergeant Breen has a death threat in his inbox and a mutilated body on his hands. The dead man was the wayward son of a rising politician, and everywhere Breen turns to investigate, he finds himself obstructed and increasingly alienated. Breen begins to see that the abuse of power is at every level of society. And when his actions endanger those at the top, he becomes their target. Out in the cold, banished from a corrupt and fracturing system, Breen is finally forced to fight fire with fire.
Mulholland Books * 9780316246873
THE MIME ORDER by Samantha Shannon (Urban Fantasy)
Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal penal colony of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun. Many of the fugitives are still missing, and she is the most wanted person in London. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided. Will Paige know who to trust? The hunt for the dreamwalker is on.
Bloomsbury USA * 9781620408933
MUNICH AIRPORT by Greg Baxter (Fiction)
In Greg Baxter’s second novel, his follow-up to 2013’s THE APARTMENT, an unnamed narrator waits in Munich’s fog-bound airport with his father and a US consul to transport the corpse of the expatriate narrator’s sister to America. She died alone of starvation in Berlin three weeks earlier. The book consists of flashbacks that paint a portrait of one family’s struggles and of a young man trying to come to terms with decisions he has made.
Twelve * 9781455557950
ONE STEP TOO FAR by Tina Seskis (Psychological Thriller)
A happy marriage. A beautiful family. A lovely home. So what makes Emily Coleman get up one morning and walk right out of her life? Emily now has become Cat, working at a hip advertising agency in London and living on the edge with her inseparable new friend, Angel. Cat has buried any trace of her old self so well, no one knows how to find her. But she can't bury the past --- or her own memories. And soon, she’ll have to face the truth of what she's done --- a shocking revelation that may push her one step too far.
William Morrow * 9780062340078
THE SACRIFICE by Joyce Carol Oates (Fiction)
When a 14-year-old girl is the alleged victim of a terrible act of racial violence, the incident shocks and galvanizes her community, exacerbating the racial tension that has been simmering in this New Jersey town for decades. In THE SACRIFICE, Joyce Carol Oates explores the uneasy fault lines in a racially troubled society. In such a tense, charged atmosphere, Oates reveals that there must always be a sacrifice --- of innocence, truth, trust and, ultimately, lives.
Ecco * 9780062332974
SHARK SKIN SUITE by Tim Dorsey (Fiction/Humor)
Ruthless at taking down the greedy banksters kicking people out of their homes, young lawyer Brook Campanella --- one of Serge Storms’ old flames --- lands a major class-action lawsuit and wins big. The opposition is determined to shut her down, and they’ll go to extreme lengths to do it. Luckily for her, Serge has been hired to do some investigative legwork on the case. There's nothing he likes better than saving a damsel in distress, especially when it means kicking a bunch of shyster butt.
William Morrow * 9780062240019 |
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On Sale the Week of January 26th in Paperback
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January 27th
THE BOOK OF JONAH by Joshua Max Feldman (Fiction)
A bizarre, unexpected biblical vision at a party changes everything for young Manhattan lawyer Jonah Jacobstein. This disturbing sign is only the first of many Jonah will witness, and before long his life is unrecognizable. Though this perhaps divine intervention will be responsible for more than one irreversible loss in Jonah’s life, it will also cross his path with that of Judith Bulbrook, an intense, breathtakingly intelligent woman who is no stranger to loss herself.
Picador * 9781250062116
THE CAIRO AFFAIR by Olen Steinhauer (Thriller)
Sophie Kohl is living her worst nightmare. Minutes after she confesses to her husband, a mid-level diplomat at the American embassy in Hungary, that she had an affair while they were in Cairo, he is shot in the head and killed. Stan Bertolli, a Cairo-based CIA agent, has fielded his share of midnight calls. But his heart skips a beat when he hears the voice of the only woman he ever truly loved, calling to ask why her husband has been assassinated.
Picador * 9781250036155
CALL ME BURROUGHS: A Life by Barry Miles (Biography)
Fifty years ago, Norman Mailer asserted, "William Burroughs is the only American novelist living today who may conceivably be possessed by genius." Few since have taken such literary risks, developed such individual political or spiritual ideas, or spanned such a wide range of media. In CALL ME BURROUGHS, Beat historian Barry Miles presents the first full-length biography of Burroughs to be published in a quarter century --- and the first one to chronicle the last decade of Burroughs' life and examine his long-term cultural legacy.
Twelve * 9781455511938
CARELESS PEOPLE: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby by Sarah Churchwell (Literary History)
CARELESS PEOPLE is a unique literary investigation: a gripping double narrative that combines a forensic search for clues to an unsolved crime and a quest for the roots of one of America’s best-loved novels. Acclaimed scholar of American literature Sarah Churchwell reconstructs the events of that pivotal autumn in 1922, revealing in the process new ways of thinking about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.
Penguin Books * 9780143126256
COP TOWN by Karin Slaughter (Thriller)
As a brutal murder and a furious manhunt rock Atlanta’s police department in 1974, Kate Murphy wonders if her first day on the job will also be her last. When she and her new partner, Maggie Lawson, are pushed out of the citywide search for a cop killer, their fury, pain and pride finally reach the boiling point. They pursue their own line of investigation, risking everything as they venture into the city’s darkest heart.
Dell * 9780345547507
DAY ZERO by Marc Cameron (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Suspected of murder and marked for death by a network of conspirators embedded in the White House, special agent Jericho Quinn knows he has to get out of the country before a team of contract killers finds him and his daughter. To set things right at home, he'll have to take a nonstop flight from Anchorage, Alaska, to Vladivostok, Russia, aboard a massive Airbus A380. But soon after takeoff, it becomes apparent that Quinn and his daughter picked the wrong plane.
Pinnacle/Kensington * 9780786035274
A DEADLY BUSINESS: A Mia Quinn Mystery by Lis Wiehl and April Henry (Mystery)
Detective Charlie Carlson believes that Mia Quinn's husband's deadly car accident was no accident at all. When Mia and Charlie encounter resistance to reopening the case, they take the investigation into their own hands. And they find much more than they bargained for. Was Mia's husband more than an accountant...and less than an honest man? As the truth becomes more shocking and the case grows more complex, her husband's killers take note of Mia...and her children.
Thomas Nelson * 9781595549075
DEATH OF A POLICEMAN: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery by M. C. Beaton (Mystery)
Local police stations all over the Scottish Highlands are being threatened with closure. This presents the perfect opportunity for Detective Chief Inspector Blair, who would love nothing more than to get rid of Sergeant Hamish Macbeth. Blair suggests that Cyril Sessions, a keen young police officer, visit the town of Lochdubh to monitor exactly what Macbeth does every day. Macbeth hears about Blair's plan and is prepared to ensure that Cyril returns back to headquarters with a full report. But Cyril is soon found dead, and Hamish quickly becomes the prime suspect in his murder.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455504749
ECHO LAKE: A Swift River Valley Novel by Carla Neggers (Romance)
Paperback Original
In snowy Swift River Valley, unexpected romance is just around the corner. Heather Sloan has landed her dream job, and, for once, she's in charge. When Diplomatic Security Service agent Brody Hancock returns to Echo Lake to help out a friend, a romance develops between him and Heather. However, she is wary of Brody's sudden interest in her and suspects there's more to his homecoming than he's letting on. Can Heather wrap her head around the possibility of this new love?
Mira * 9780778317432
GLORIOUS WAR: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer by Thom Hatch (Biography)
GLORIOUS WAR, the definitive biography of George Armstrong Custer’s Civil War years, is nothing short of a heart-pounding cavalry charge through the battlefield heroics that thrust the gallant young officer into the national spotlight in the midst of the country’s darkest hours. From West Point to the daring actions that propelled him to the rank of general at age 23 to his unlikely romance with Libbie Bacon, Custer’s exploits are the stuff of legend.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250061546
THE GUTS by Roddy Doyle (Fiction/Humor)
In the 1980s, Jimmy Rabbitte formed the Commitments, a ragtag, blue-collar collective of Irish youths determined to bring the soul music stylings of James Brown and Percy Sledge to Dublin. These days, the almost-50-year-old Jimmy has a loving wife, four kids, and a recent cancer diagnosis that leaves him feeling shattered and frightened. As he battles his illness on his path through Dublin, Jimmy manages to reconnect with his own past.
Penguin Books * 9780143126096
INSIDE MAN by Jeff Abbott (Thriller)
Sam Capra's friend, Steve, has been murdered. The only lead is a mysterious, beautiful stranger Steve tried to protect. To avenge his friend, Sam goes undercover into the Varelas, one of Miami's most prominent and dangerous families. Now on the inside, playing a part where one wrong move means death, Sam faces a powerful, unstable tycoon intent on dividing his business empire among his three very different children, who each may hold murderous secrets of their own.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455528448
THE LONG MARS by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Science Fiction)
In the years after the cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption, there is massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to myriad Long Earth worlds. Sally, Joshua and Lobsang are all involved in this perilous rescue work when Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father. He tells her he is planning a fantastic voyage across the Long Mars and wants her to accompany him. But Sally soon learns that he has an ulterior motive for his request.
Harper * 9780062297303
LOVED BACK TO LIFE: How I Found the Courage to Live Free by Sheila Walsh (Memoir)
Paperback Original
Sheila Walsh was at the pinnacle of her career, appearing daily on television as co-host of "The 700 Club." One day, she found herself walking away from it all and checking in to a psychiatric hospital, where she stayed for a month. From the outside everything seemed fine, but on the inside Sheila was in trouble. LOVED BACK TO LIFE takes readers on Sheila’s journey of the soul from hopelessness to joy as she finds that although the road was scary, at every turn God beckoned her to follow and trust Him.
Thomas Nelson * 9780718021870
LYDIA’S PARTY by Margaret Hawkins (Fiction)
Lydia is having a party, one that she has hosted every year for six female friends who treasure the midwinter bash. As this particular evening unfolds, Lydia prepares to make a shattering announcement. As we follow these friends through their party preparations, we meet flawed but lovable characters who are navigating the hassles of daily chores while also meditating in stolen moments on their lives, regrets, complicated relationships and deepest desires.
Penguin Books * 9780143126119
A MAN OF HIS OWN by Susan Wilson (Fiction)
Rick Stanton was once a promising professional baseball player with a bright future ahead of him, until he returned home from World War II with his body permanently broken and his dreams shattered. He and his wife, Francesca, also volunteered their beloved dog Pax for the Army’s K-9 Corp, and when Pax comes back along with his handler Keller, they hire the soldier to stay with them as Rick's live-in aid. All three of them are lost, broken and need healing...and Pax might be the one to guide them home.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250054487
MERCY SNOW by Tiffany Baker (Fiction)
In the tiny town of Titan Falls, New Hampshire, the paper mill dictates a quiet, steady rhythm of life. But one day, a tragic bus accident sets two families on a course toward destruction, irrevocably altering the lives of everyone in their wake.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455512751
MY LIFE IN MIDDLEMARCH by Rebecca Mead (Memoir)
Rebecca Mead was a young woman in an English coastal town when she first read George Eliot's MIDDLEMARCH. After gaining admission to Oxford and moving to the US to become a journalist, through several love affairs, then marriage and family, Mead read and reread MIDDLEMARCH, which offered her something that modern life and literature did not. Here, she leads us into the life that the book made for her, as well as the many lives the novel has led since it was written.
Broadway Books * 9780307984777
THE ORPHAN CHOIR by Sophie Hannah (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Louise’s troublesome neighbor has begun blasting choral music at all hours of the night --- and she’s the only one who can hear it. Hoping to find some peace, Louise convinces her husband, Stuart, to buy them a country house in an idyllic, sun-dappled community. But it seems that the haunting melodies of the choir have followed her there. Louise starts to suspect that this sinister choir is not only real, but a warning. But of what? And how can it be, when no one else can hear it?
Picador * 9781250063755
POWER PLAY by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
In Northern California, two successful CEOs are both indispensable to their growing companies' futures. Both are brilliant at the power game, but one is a man and the other a woman. In POWER PLAY, Danielle Steel explores what that means as she takes readers into the rarefied world of those at the pinnacle of international business and reveals the irrevocable choices they make, what drives them, and how others perceive them.
Dell * 9780345530929
THE PROMISE OF PALM GROVE: Amish Brides of Pinecraft, Book One by Shelley Shepard Gray (Romance)
Paperback Original
The more time Amish bride-to-be Leona spends with Edmund and his overbearing ways, the less she wants to be his wife. When a chance encounter with a wayward cat brings her face-to-face with a handsome, fun-loving Amish man named Zachary Kauffman, Leona is faced with two vastly different futures. Does she follow the path set out before her? Or take a chance with only the promise of what could be to guide her?
Avon Inspire * 9780062337702
QUEEN OF THE DARK THINGS by C. Robert Cargill (Fantasy)
Colby Stevens can’t catch a break. Only six months after an epic battle in a magical realm, he’s doing his best to live in a drunken stupor, but the creatures that inhabit the shadows won’t let him be. When a long-lost friend reemerges and brings an army with her demanding revenge for something Colby did as a child, he begins making deals --- deals even monsters and magical creatures don’t want to make.
Harper Voyager * 9780062190468
RIPPER by Isabel Allende (Mystery)
High school senior Amanda Jackson is a natural-born sleuth addicted to crime novels and Ripper, an online mystery game. When a string of strange murders occurs across the city, Amanda plunges into her own investigation, discovering that the deaths may be connected. But the case becomes all too personal when her mother suddenly vanishes. Could her mother’s disappearance be linked to the serial killer?
Harper Perennial * 9780062291424
ROMANCE IS MY DAY JOB: A Memoir of Finding Love at Last by Patience Bloom (Memoir)
As a teen, Patience Bloom fell in love with Harlequin novels and imagined her life would turn out just like the heroines’ on the page. Years later, she moved to New York and found her dream job: editing romances for Harlequin. Bloom became an expert when it came to fictional love stories, but her dating life remained uninspired. Then one day, a real-life chance at romance made her wonder if what she’d been writing and editing all those years might be true.
Plume * 9780142181393
SEARCHING FOR GRACE KELLY by Michael Callahan (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
For a small-town girl with a big dream in 1955, there is no address more glamorous than New York’s Barbizon Hotel. Together, three young ladies embark on a journey of self-discovery that will take them from the penthouse salons of Park Avenue to the Beat scene of Greenwich Village to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier --- and into the arms of very different men who will alter their lives forever.
Mariner Books * 9780544313545
THE SON by Jo Nesbø (Thriller)
Sonny Lofthus is a strangely charismatic and complacent young man. He has been in prison for a dozen years, nearly half his life. The inmates who seek out his uncanny abilities to soothe leave his cell feeling absolved. They don’t know or care that Sonny has a serious heroin habit --- or where or how he gets his uninterrupted supply of the drug. Or that he’s serving time for other peoples’ crimes.
Vintage * 9780345807243
STILL LIFE by Christa Parrish (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Ada was born into a fringe religious sect named for her father, The Prophet. But her lifelong habit of absolute obedience was shattered when she fled the family compound to elope with photographer Julian Goetz. Katherine Walker’s marriage was a sham, and her affair brings her both escape and guilt. When a plane crash takes Julian from Ada and exacerbates Katherine’s sense of shame, both women become desperately unsure of where they belong in the world --- until the devotion of an artistic young boy conspires to bring them together.
Thomas Nelson * 9781401689032
WAITING FOR WEDNESDAY: A Frieda Klein Mystery by Nicci French (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Ruth Lennox is found dead in a pool of her own blood. Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson can’t piece together a motive and calls in psychotherapist Frieda Klein, hoping her talents will offer a new angle on the case. When it emerges that Ruth was hiding a scandalous secret, her family closes ranks. Then a patient’s chance remark sends Frieda down a dangerous path that seems to lead to a serial killer who has long escaped detection.
Penguin Books * 9780143127178
WARRIORS: An Alex Hawke Novel by Ted Bell (Thriller/Adventure)
When an elderly professor at Cambridge is murdered, a victim of bizarre, ancient Chinese torture, Alex Hawke teams up with his Scotland Yard colleague and friend, Inspector Ambrose Congreve, to find the killer. But the death is only the opening move in a tense and lethal game of geopolitical brinksmanship. Hawke must pull off his most daring mission yet: infiltrate China and neutralize the source of their advantage, or risk witnessing World War III.
Harper * 9780062279392
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