June 30, 2015

July 7th

AMONG THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS by Julia Pierpont (Fiction)
Jack Shanley is a well-known New York artist who doesn’t mean to plunge his family into crisis. His wife, Deb, gladly left behind a difficult career as a dancer to raise the two children she adores. In the ensuing years, she has mostly avoided coming face-to-face with the weaknesses of the man she married. But then an anonymously sent package arrives in the mail: a cardboard box containing sheaves of printed emails chronicling Jack’s secret life. The package is addressed to Deb, but it’s delivered into the wrong hands: her children’s.
Random House * 9780812995220

AURORA by Kim Stanley Robinson (Science Fiction)
A major new novel from one of science fiction's most powerful voices, AURORA tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system. Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.
Orbit * 9780316098106

BELL WEATHER by Dennis Mahoney (Historical Fantasy)
When Tom Orange rescues a mysterious young woman from a flooded river, he senses that their fates will deeply intertwine. At first, she claims to remember nothing, and rumor animates Root --- an isolated settlement deep in a strange wilderness. Benjamin Knox, the town doctor, attends to her recovery and learns her name is Molly. As the town inspects its young visitor, she encounters a world teeming with wonders and oddities. As dark forces encircle the town, the truth of Molly's past spills into the present.
Henry Holt * 9781627792677

THE BILLION DOLLAR SPY: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal by David E. Hoffman (History)
While driving out of the American embassy in Moscow one evening in 1978, the chief of the CIA’s Moscow station heard a knock on his car window. A man on the curb handed him an envelope whose contents stunned U.S. intelligence: details of top-secret Soviet research and developments in military technology that were totally unknown to the United States. In the years that followed, the man, Adolf Tolkachev, an engineer in a Soviet military design bureau, used his high-level access to hand over tens of thousands of pages of technical secrets.
Doubleday * 9780385537605

BRADSTREET GATE by Robin Kirman (Fiction)
Georgia, Charlie and Alice each arrive at Harvard with hopeful visions of what the future will hold. But when a classmate is found murdered on campus just before graduation, they find themselves facing a cruel and unanticipated new reality. Moreover, a charismatic professor who has loomed large in their lives is suspected of the crime. Though his guilt or innocence remains uncertain, the unsettling questions raised by the case force the three friends to take a deeper look at their tangled relationship.
Crown * 9780804139311

BULL MOUNTAIN by Brian Panowich (Fiction)
Clayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws. For generations, the Burroughs clan has made its home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot and meth over six state lines. To distance himself from his family’s criminal empire, Clayton took the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can. But when a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows up at Clayton’s office with a plan to shut down the mountain, his hidden agenda will pit brother against brother, test loyalties, and could lead Clayton down a path to self-destruction.
Putnam * 9780399173967

CODE OF CONDUCT by Brad Thor (Thriller)
Hidden deep within one of the world’s most powerful organizations is a secret committee with a devastating agenda. Its members are afforded incredible protections --- considered elites, untouchables. But when four seconds of video is captured halfway around the world and anonymously transmitted to D.C., covert wheels are set in motion, and counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is tapped to undertake the deadliest assignment of his career.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books * 9781476717159

THE DEVIL’S SHARE: A Crissa Stone Novel by Wallace Stroby (Hard-boiled Mystery)
It's been a year since professional thief Crissa Stone last pulled a job, and she's spent that time under the radar, very carefully not drawing attention to herself. When Crissa starts to get antsy and low on funds, she agrees to act as a thief-for-hire, partnering with a wealthy art collector to steal a truckload of plundered Iraqi artifacts before they're repatriated to their native country. But what's supposed to be a "give-up" robbery with few complications quickly turns deadly. Soon Crissa is on the run again, with both an ex-military hit squad and her own partners-in-crime in pursuit.
Minotaur Books * 9781250065759

DEXTER IS DEAD by Jeff Lindsay (Thriller)
Dexter is arrested on charges of murder. He has lost everything --- including his wife, his kids and the loyalty of his sister. Now completely alone, Dexter faces a murder charge (for a crime, ironically, he did not actually commit). His only chance for freedom lies with his brother, Brian, who has a dark plan to prove his innocence. But the stakes are deadly, and the epic showdown that lies in Dexter's path may lead to his demise once and for all.
Doubleday * 9780385536530

DOES THIS BEACH MAKE ME LOOK FAT?: True Stories and Confessions by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella (Humor/Essays)
From identity theft to the hazards of bicycling to college reunions and eating on the beach, Lisa Scottoline and her daughter, Francesca Serritella, tackle the quirks, absurdities and wonders of everyday life with wit and warmth. As Lisa says, "More and more, especially in the summertime when I'm sitting on the beach, I'm learning not to sweat it. To go back to the child that I used to be. To see myself through the loving eyes of my parents. To eat on the beach. And not to worry about whether every little thing makes me look fat. In fact, not to worry at all."
St. Martin's Press * 9781250059949

DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN: A Detective Peter Diamond Mystery by Peter Lovesey (Mystery)
In a Sussex town on the south coast of England, a widely disliked art teacher at a posh private girls’ school disappears without explanation. Meanwhile, a Sussex detective has been suspended for failing to link DNA evidence of a relative to a seven-year-old murder case. When detective Peter Diamond realizes that the suspended officer is an old friend who is not known to make such mistakes, he begins to notice unsettling connections between the cold case and the missing art teacher. Could the two mysteries be connected?
Soho Crime * 9781616956264

FAST SHUFFLE by David Black (Mystery)
Harry Dickinson is a used car salesman who believes he is a private detective. So when he stumbles upon the case of a missing woman, he decides to investigate. However, the situation is far more complex and dangerous than he imagines. Harry witnesses a murder, but no one believes him. With Harry and his girlfriend on the run --- hunted by the police, the killer, and even Harry's friends and relatives --- their chances for survival look grim. But the man everyone believes is crazy may be the only one who can crack the case.
Forge Books * 9780765327703

THE FLYING CIRCUS by Susan Crandall (Historical Fiction)
Three very different people find themselves bound together by need and torn apart by blind obsessions and conflicting goals: Henry “Schuler” Jefferson, son of German immigrants from Midwestern farm country; Cora Rose Haviland, a young woman of privilege whose family has lost their fortune; and Charles “Gil” Gilchrist, an emotionally damaged WWI veteran pilot. Each one holds a secret that, if exposed, would destroy their friendship. But their journey of adventure and self-discovery has a price --- and one of them won’t be able to survive it.
Gallery Books * 9781476772141

THE FRAUD: A Carter Ross Mystery by Brad Parks (Mystery)
A rash of carjackings terrorizing Newark become newsworthy when one such theft ends in the murder of a wealthy banking executive. When a Nigerian immigrant is also killed during a recent carjacking, and it is discovered that the two victims knew each other, investigative reporter Carter Ross is plunged onto the trail of a deadly band of car thieves that includes a sociopathic ex-convict. When his unborn child is put in harm's way, it becomes more than just a story for Carter. He'll stop at nothing to rescue the baby, even if it costs him his own life.
Minotaur Books * 9781250064400

GREEN HELL: A Jack Taylor Novel by Ken Bruen (Mystery/Thriller)
Ex-cop Jack Taylor has hit rock bottom again. One of his best friends is dead, the other has stopped speaking to him; he has given up battling his addiction to alcohol and pills; and his firing from the Irish national police, the Guards, is ancient history. But Jack isn’t about to embark on a self-improvement plan. Instead, he has taken up a vigilante case against a respected professor of literature at the University of Galway who has a violent habit his friends in high places are only too happy to ignore.
Mysterious Press * 9780802123565

THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU by A. J. Rich (Psychological Thriller)
Morgan Prager, who is completing her thesis on victim psychology, is newly engaged to Bennett, a seductive but possessive and secretive man. She returns from class one day to find Bennett mauled to death and her dogs covered in blood. When Morgan tries to locate Bennett’s parents to tell them about their son’s hideous death, she discovers he was not the man he said he was. Suddenly Morgan’s research into Bennett takes on the urgency of survival: to stay alive, she must find out who is killing the women to whom Bennett was closest.
Scribner * 9781476774589

IDEAL by Ayn Rand (Fiction)
Originally conceived as a novel, but then transformed into a play by Ayn Rand, IDEAL is the story of beautiful but tormented actress Kay Gonda. Accused of murder, she is on the run and turns for help to six fans who have written letters to her, each telling her that she represents their ideal. Each reacts to her plight in his own way, their reactions a glimpse into their secret selves and their true values. In the end, their responses to her pleas give Kay the answers she has been seeking.
NAL * 9780451475558

THE INSECT FARM by Stuart Prebble (Psychological Thriller)
The Maguire brothers each have their own driving, single-minded obsession. For Jonathan, it is his magnificent, talented and desirable wife, Harriet. For Roger, it is the elaborate universe he has constructed in a shed in their parents' garden, populated by millions of tiny insects. Following a series of strange and disturbing incidents, Jonathan begins to question every story he has ever been told about his brother --- and if he has so completely misjudged Roger's mind, what else might he have overlooked about his family and himself?
Mulholland Books * 9780316337366

THE JEWISH OLYMPICS: The History of the Maccabiah Games by Ron Kaplan (Sports/History)
Having grown from 390 athletes from 14 countries to 9,000 athletes from 78 countries, the Maccabiah Games (or the “Jewish Olympics,” as it has come to be known) continue to gain popularity. THE JEWISH OLYMPICS by Ron Kaplan details the history of the Maccabiah Games, including how they began, how they have impacted the Jewish community worldwide, and much more. In addition, it highlights the countless special achievements of the athletes over the course of the 19 games.
Skyhorse Publishing * 9781632204943

THE LAST PILOT by Benjamin Johncock (Historical Fiction)
While America becomes swept up in the fervor of the Space Race, Jim Harrison, a test pilot in the United States Air Force, passes up the chance to become an astronaut to welcome his daughter into the world. Together, he and his wife confront the thrills and challenges of raising a child head-on. But when his family is faced with a sudden and inexplicable tragedy, Harrison's instincts as a father and a pilot are put to the test. The aftermath will haunt the Harrisons and strain their marriage as Jim struggles under the weight of his decisions.
Picador * 9781250066640

LOOKING THROUGH DARKNESS by Aimée and David Thurlo (Romantic Suspense)
Josephine Buck runs a trading post just off the Navajo Reservation. Widow Leigh Ann Vance is Jo's right-hand woman, filling the emptiness in her own life. Shortly after her husband, Kurt, was killed, Leigh Ann discovered he had been having a string of affairs. Leigh Ann's trust issues affect her feelings for blind sculptor Melvin Littlewater. Kurt's business partners accuse Leigh Ann of helping Kurt embezzle, and the police wonder if Leigh Ann killed him. When she turns to Melvin for help, she finds him fighting his own demons, haunted by memories of a young girl he saw moments before the car crash that cost him his sight.
Forge Books * 9780765334046

A NECESSARY END by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
Thirty-nine-year-old Adrienne is desperate to be a mother. And this time, nothing is going to get in her way. At 19, Leah bears a remarkable resemblance to the young woman Adrienne once was. Which is why Adrienne knows the baby Leah is carrying is meant to be hers. But Leah has ideas of her own. All she wants is to live in Adrienne’s house for a year after the baby is born and get a fresh start. It seems like a small price for Adrienne to pay to get their baby. And with Adrienne’s husband, Gabe, suddenly on board, what could possibly go wrong?
William Morrow * 9780062356376

NEMESIS: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter (Thriller)
When Special Agent Lacey Sherlock foils a terrorist attack at JFK airport, she thinks her job is done and turns the reins over to the New York FBI. But stopping the grenade-carrying crazy was only the beginning. Another plot unfolds nearly simultaneously with a bomb at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Meanwhile, Savich --- with the help of Agent Griffin Hammersmith --- has his hands full trying to track an elusive murderer who looks like a Hollywood Dracula. When Dracula’s attempts to kill Savich collide with Sherlock’s terrorist case, very strange things happen.
Putnam * 9780399171277

THE NEW NEIGHBOR by Leah Stewart (Fiction)
Stoic and independent, 90-year-old Margaret Riley rarely leaves the Tennessee mountaintop where she lives, finding comfort in the mystery novels that keep her company. That is, until she spots a woman who has moved into the long-empty house across the pond. On the run from her old life, Jennifer Young and her four-year-old son have moved to a quiet town where no one from her past can find her. In Jennifer, Margaret sees both a potential companion in her loneliness and a mystery to be solved. But Jennifer refuses to talk about herself, her son, his missing father, or her past.
Touchstone * 9781501103513

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER by Elizabeth Adler (Mystery/Thriller)
One moment Angie Morse is standing on the deck of a large luxury yacht, and the next she feels a stinging blow to her head. And then a push. She is in the water. She can see people on the yacht, but they don't seem to notice that she is gone. These are her friends and one is her love. Each one had a reason for getting rid of her, though she never would have thought it would come to this. Revenge burns so deeply inside her that she knows she will survive somehow. She will get them all. One way or another.
Minotaur Books * 9781250058188

A PARIS AFFAIR by Tatiana de Rosnay (Romance/Short Stories)
In her new collection of short stories, Tatiana de Rosnay takes the notion of Paris as the city of love and makes it something so much more passionate. In each story, she manipulates both characters and readers into believing that everything is as it should be, then changes the dynamics completely, leaving them in a tangled mess. It’s a little book full of intensity, love and agony.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250068804

PRETTY IS by Maggie Mitchell (Fiction)
The summer Lois and Carly May were 12 years old, they were kidnapped, driven across the country, and held in a cabin in the woods for two months by a charismatic stranger. Nearly 20 years later, Lois has become a professor, while Carly May is an actress, drinking too much and struggling to revive her career. When a movie with a shockingly familiar plot draws the two women together once more, they must face the public exposure of their secret history and confront the dark longings and unspeakable truths that haunt them still.
Henry Holt and Co. * 9781627791489

SECESSIA by Kent Wascom (Gothic Horror)
New Orleans, May 1862. The largest city in the ill-starred confederacy has fallen to Union troops under the soon-to-be-infamous General Benjamin “the Beast” Butler. The city is rife with madness and rage. When 12-year-old Joseph Woolsack disappears from his home, he draws into the unrest his mother, Elise, a mixed-race woman passing for white, and his father, Angel, whose long and wicked life is drawing to a close. What follows forces mother and son into a dark new world.
Grove Press * 9780802123619

THE SMALL BACKS OF CHILDREN by Lidia Yuknavitch (Fiction)
In a war-torn village in Eastern Europe, an American photographer captures a young girl flying toward the lens, fleeing a fiery explosion that has engulfed her home and family. The image becomes the subject of obsession for one writer, the photographer’s best friend, who has suffered a devastating tragedy of her own. As the writer plunges into a suicidal depression, her filmmaker husband enlists several friends to save her by rescuing the unknown girl and bringing her to the US. Yet, as their plot unfolds, everything we know about the story comes into question.
Harper * 9780062383242

SPEAK by Louisa Hall (Fiction)
Each of the characters in SPEAK is attempting to communicate across gaps --- to estranged spouses, lost friends, future readers, or a computer program that may or may not understand them. Louisa Hall explores how the chasm between computer and human --- shrinking rapidly with today’s technological advances --- echoes the gaps that exist between ordinary people. Though each speaks from a distinct place and moment in time, all five characters share the need to express themselves while simultaneously wondering if they will ever be heard or understood.
Ecco * 9780062391193

SWERVE by Vicki Pettersson (Psychological Thriller)
It’s high summer in the Mojave Desert, and Kristine Rush and her fiancé, Daniel, are en route from Las Vegas to Lake Arrowhead, California, for the July Fourth holiday weekend. But when Daniel is abducted from a desolate rest stop, Kristine is forced to choose: return home unharmed, but never to see her fiancé again, or plunge forward into the searing desert to find him…where a killer lies in wait.
Gallery Books * 9781476798578

THOSE GIRLS by Chevy Stevens (Psychological Thriller)
Jess, Courtney and Dani Campbell live on a remote ranch in Western Canada where they work hard and try to stay out of the way of their father's temper. One night, a fight gets out of hand, and the sisters are forced to go on the run. As events spiral out of control, they find themselves in a horrifying situation and are left with no choice but to change their names and create new lives. Eighteen years later, they are still trying to forget what happened that summer. But when one of the sisters goes missing, followed closely by her niece, they are pulled back into the past.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250034588

VANISHING GAMES by Roger Hobbs (Thriller)
It’s just before dawn on the South China Sea when three experienced pirates open fire on a small smuggling yacht. Their target: a bag of uncut sapphires worth millions. But when one of them stumbles across an enormous treasure that wasn’t on the manifest, everything goes sideways. Within minutes two of them are dead, leaving the third, a coldblooded psychopath, to claim both the sapphires and the mysterious windfall for himself. If he disappears, not only will he be wealthy, he’ll have the power to change the course of history.
Knopf * 9780385352642

VENDETTA: Bobby Kennedy Versus Jimmy Hoffa by James Neff (History/Politics)
From 1957 to 1964, Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa channeled nearly all of their considerable powers into destroying each other. Kennedy's battle with Hoffa burst into the public consciousness with the 1957 Senate Rackets Committee hearings and intensified when his brother named him attorney general in 1961. RFK put together a "Get Hoffa" squad within the Justice Department, devoted to destroying one man. But Hoffa, with nearly unlimited Teamster funds, was not about to roll over.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316738347

THE WILD GIRL by Kate Forsyth (Historical Romance)
Dortchen Wild, who lives in the small German kingdom of Hesse-Cassel in the early 19th century, finds herself irresistibly drawn to the boy next door. Forced to live under oppressive French rule, Wilhelm Grimm and his brothers preserve old half-forgotten tales. As Dortchen tells Wilhelm some of the most powerful and compelling stories in what one day will become his and Jacob's famous fairy tale collection, their love blossoms. But Dortchen's father will not give his consent for them to marry, and war, death and poverty also conspire to keep the lovers apart. Yet Dortchen is determined to find a way.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250047540

THE WOMAN WHO STOLE MY LIFE by Marian Keyes (Fiction)
After recovering from a serious illness, Stella Sweeney finds out that her neurologist, Dr. Mannix Taylor, has compiled and self-published a memoir about her illness. Her discovery comes when she spots a photo of the finished copy in an American tabloid --- and it’s in the hands of the vice president’s wife! As her relationship with Dr. Taylor gets more complicated, Stella struggles to figure out who she was before her illness, who she is now, and who she wants to be while relocating to New York City to pursue a career as a newly minted self-help memoirist.
Viking * 9780525429258