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October 13, 2015 |
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The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of October 12th and October 19th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.
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On Sale the Week of October 12th in Hardcover
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October 13th
THE ADVENTURESS: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander (Historical Mystery)
Emily and husband Colin have come to the French Riviera for what should be a joyous occasion --- the engagement party of her lifelong friend Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge, and Amity Wells, an American heiress. But the merrymaking is cut short with the shocking death of one of the party in an apparent suicide. Not convinced by the coroner's verdict, Emily must employ all of her investigative skills to discover the truth and avert another tragedy.
Minotaur Books * 9781250058263
ALL THE STARS IN THE HEAVENS by Adriana Trigiani (Historical Fiction)
The movie business is booming in 1935 when 21-year-old Loretta Young meets 34-year-old Clark Gable on the set of The Call of the Wild. Though he's already married, Gable falls for the stunning and vivacious young actress instantly. Far from the glittering lights of Hollywood, Sister Alda Ducci has been forced to leave her convent and begin a new journey that leads her to Loretta. Over the course of decades, they forge an enduring bond of love and loyalty that will be put to the test when they eventually face the greatest obstacle of their lives.
Harper * 9780062319197
AND WEST IS WEST by Ron Childress (Fiction)
Jessica, a young Air Force drone pilot in Nevada, is tasked with launching a missile against a suspected terrorist halfway across the world. Ethan, a young Wall Street quant, is involved in a more bloodless connection to war when he develops an algorithm that enables his company’s clients to profit by exploiting the international financial instability caused by exactly this kind of antiterrorist strike. These two are only minor players, but their actions have global implications that tear lives apart --- including their own.
Algonquin Books * 9781616205232
CARRYING ALBERT HOME: The Somewhat True Story of A Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator by Homer Hickam (Historical Fiction)
When Homer Hickam (the father of the author) asked for Elsie Lavender’s hand, Elsie instead chose a dancing actor named Buddy Ebsen. But ultimately her dreams of a life with him were crushed, and she married Homer. She was reminded of her carefree days with Buddy every day because of his unusual wedding gift: an alligator named Albert she raised in the bathroom. When Albert scared Homer by grabbing his pants, he gave Elsie an ultimatum: “Me or that alligator!” After giving it some thought, Elsie concluded there was only one thing to do: Carry Albert home.
William Morrow * 9780062325891
CITY ON FIRE by Garth Risk Hallberg (Historical Fiction)
New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor --- and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve. When the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever.
Knopf * 9780385353779
DARK RESERVATIONS: A Mystery by John Fortunato (Mystery)
In John Fortunato's DARK RESERVATIONS, Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent Joe Evers still mourns the death of his wife and, after a bungled investigation, faces a forced early retirement. What he needs is a new career, not another case. But when Congressman Arlen Edgerton's bullet-riddled Lincoln turns up on the Navajo reservation --- 20 years after he had disappeared during a corruption probe --- Joe must resurrect his failing career to solve the mysterious cold case.
Minotaur Books * 9781250074195
DRINKING IN AMERICA: Our Secret History by Susan Cheever (History)
From the drunkenness of the Pilgrims to Prohibition hijinks, drinking has always been a cherished American custom: a way to celebrate, grieve, and take the edge off. At many pivotal points in our history, alcohol has acted as a catalyst. In DRINKING IN AMERICA, Susan Cheever chronicles our national love affair with liquor, taking a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has changed our nation's history.
Twelve * 9781455513871
DUPLICITY: A Washington Thriller by Newt Gingrich and Pete Earley (Thriller)
When President Sally Allworth decides to reestablish America's Mogadishu embassy in Somalia weeks before Election Day, her challenger says she is playing politics with American lives. That turns out to be true when the embassy is attacked and hostages are taken. Embassy station chief Gunter Conner and Marine captain Brooke Grant end up the unlikely survivors of this Benghazi-style attack. Suddenly, they are the only hope for saving their captured colleagues.
Center Street * 9781455530427
EMPIRE OF SELF: A Life of Gore Vidal by Jay Parini (Biography)
The product of 30 years of friendship and conversation, Jay Parini’s EMPIRE OF SELF probes behind the glittering surface of Gore Vidal's colorful life to reveal the complex emotional and sexual truth underlying his celebrity-strewn life. But there is plenty of glittering surface as well --- a virtual Who's Who of the American Century, from Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart through the Kennedys, Princess Margaret and the crème de la crème of Hollywood.
Doubleday * 9780385537568
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
When he’s apprised at the last minute of a mandatory meeting abroad, Stone Barrington rushes off to Europe for a whirlwind tour of business and, of course, pleasure. But the trip seems to be cursed from the start, plagued by suspicious “accidents” and unfortunate events, and some of Stone’s plans go up in flames --- literally. Not a believer in coincidence, Stone sets out to learn the true source of his curious misfortune and finds that what appeared to be bad luck may have been a warning.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399174674
FRONT RUNNER: A Dick Francis Novel by Felix Francis (Thriller)
In his role as an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, Jeff Hinkley is approached by a multi-time champion jockey to discuss the delicate matter of losing races on purpose. Little does he know that the call will set off a lethal chain of events, including the apparent suicide of the jockey and an attempt on Hinkley’s own life. Never one to leave suspicious events alone, Hinkley begins investigating the jockey and the races he may have thrown. But there are others out there who intend to prevent his inquiry from probing further…at any cost.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399168239
THE KING'S JUSTICE: Two Novellas by Stephen R. Donaldson (Fantasy)
In THE KING’S JUSTICE, a stranger dressed in black arrives in the village of Settle's Crossways, following the scent of a terrible crime. He even calls himself "Black," though almost certainly that is not his name. The people of the village discover that they have a surprising urge to cooperate with this stranger, though the desire of inhabitants of quiet villages to cooperate with strangers is not common in their land, or most lands. But this gift will not save him as he discovers the nature of the evil concealed in Settle's Crossways.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399176975
THE LAST OF THE PRESIDENT'S MEN by Bob Woodward (History/Politics)
Bob Woodward exposes one of the final pieces of the Richard Nixon puzzle in THE LAST OF THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. He reveals the untold story of Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret White House taping system that changed history and led to Nixon’s resignation. In 46 hours of interviews with Butterfield, supported by thousands of documents, many of them original and not in the presidential archives and libraries, Woodward has uncovered new dimensions of Nixon’s secrets, obsessions and deceptions.
Simon & Schuster * 9781501116445
PRINCE OF DARKNESS: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire by Shane White (History)
Eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger-than-life story of a man who defied every convention of his time. He wheeled and dealed in the lily white business world, married a white woman, bought a mansion in rural New Jersey, owned railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and generally set his white contemporaries’ teeth on edge when he wasn't just plain outsmarting them. An important contribution to American history, Jeremiah G. Hamilton's life offers a way into considering subjects that are usually seen as being quintessentially white.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250070562
THE RISE OF GERMANY, 1939-1941: The War in the West, Volume 1 by James Holland (History)
In THE RISE OF GERMANY, the first of a major new three-part history of World War II in the West, James Holland weaves together the experiences of dozens of individuals --- from civilians and infantrymen, to line officers, military strategists, diplomats and heads of state --- as well as war strategy, tactics, and the economic, political and social aspects of the war to create a captivating book that redefines and enhances our understanding of one of the most significant conflicts in history.
Atlantic Monthly Press * 9780802123978
SAVAGE LANE by Jason Starr (Thriller)
Karen Daily, who is recently divorced and starting to date again, lives with her two kids in a suburb of New York City. Mark Berman, Karen’s friend and neighbor, wants out of his unhappy marriage, and so does his wife, Deb, but they have stayed together for the sake of their children. Unbeknownst to Karen, Mark’s obsession with her has grown. And as his rich fantasy life takes on a more sinister edge, rumors begin to spread about Karen and a bigger secret is uncovered. Karen soon finds that Mark is not the only one who has taken an undesired interest in her.
Polis Books * 9781940610641
SEE ME by Nicholas Sparks (Romance)
With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him, and the threat of prison dogging his every step, Colin Hancock is determined to walk a straight line. Maria Sanchez, the hardworking daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the picture of conventional success. Yet she has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed. A chance encounter on a rain-swept road will alter the course of both Colin and Maria's lives, challenging deeply held assumptions about each other and, ultimately, themselves.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455520619
STRONG LIGHT OF DAY: A Caitlin Strong Novel by Jon Land (Thriller)
Over the years, Caitlin Strong has taken on all manner of criminals and miscreants, thwarting the plans of villains to do vast damage to the country and state she loves. But none of that has prepared Caitlin for an investigation that pits her against ruthless billionaire oilman Calum Dane, whose genetically engineered pesticide may have poisoned a large swath of the state. How that poisoning is connected to the disappearance of 30 high school students presents Caitlin with the greatest and most desperate challenge of her career.
Forge Books * 9780765335128
THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING: Fiction by Colum McCann (Fiction/Short Stories)
Colum McCann’s latest consists of a novella and three short stories. In the title piece, mystery surrounds the death of a retired 82-year-old New York Supreme Court justice. The other stories involve a writer struggling to compose a story for a New Year’s edition of a magazine, a mother in Galway whose 13-year-old adopted son has disappeared, and an elderly nun who discovers that the man who kidnapped her 37 years earlier is now a diplomat.
Random House * 9780812996722
TWAIN'S END by Lynn Cullen (Historical Fiction)
In TWAIN'S END, Lynn Cullen reimagines the tangled relationships between Mark Twain, his private secretary Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager Ralph Ashcroft, as well as the little-known love triangle between Helen Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy, and Anne’s husband John Macy, which comes to light during their visit to Twain’s Connecticut home in 1909. Add to the party a furious Clara Clemens, smarting from her own failed love affair, and carefully kept veneers shatter.
Gallery Books * 9781476758961
WE THAT ARE LEFT by Clare Clark (Historical Fiction)
Jessica and Phyllis Melville have grown up at Ellinghurst, a family estate fraught with secrets. Into their midst walks Oskar Grunewald, a frequent visitor fascinated by the house but alternately tormented and ignored by the Melville children. The Great War arrives to devastate and reshape their world. In a country unrecognizable from the idylls of their youth, the Melville sisters struggle to forge new paths without the guidance of the old rules. But Oskar’s life has become entwined with theirs once again, in ways that will change all of their futures.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544129993
WINTER STROLL by Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction)
Christmas on Nantucket finds Winter Street Inn owner Kelley Quinn and his family busily preparing for the holiday season. Though the year has brought tragedy, the Quinns have much to celebrate: Kelley has reunited with his first wife, Margaret; Kevin and Isabelle have a new baby; and Ava is finally dating a nice guy. But when Kelley's estranged wife, Mitzi, shows up on the island, along with Kevin's devious ex-wife, Norah, and a dangerously irresistible old fling of Ava's, the Inn is suddenly overrun with romantic feuds, not to mention guests.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316261135
October 15th
CHARLOTTE'S STORY: A Bliss House Novel by Laura Benedict (Historical Mystery/Horror)
The fall of 1957 in southern Virginia was a seemingly idyllic, even prosperous time. A young housewife, Charlotte Bliss, lives with her husband, Hasbrouck Preston “Press” Bliss, and their two young children, Eva Grace and Michael, in the gorgeous Bliss family home. On the surface, theirs seems to be a calm, picturesque life, but soon tragedy befalls them: four tragic deaths, with apparently simple explanations. But nothing is simple if Bliss House is involved. How far will Charlotte go to discover the truth? And how far will she get without knowing who her real enemy is?
Pegasus * 9781605988788
NAPOLEON: Soldier of Destiny by Michael Broers (Biography)
Michael Broers' biography draws on the thoughts of Napoleon himself as his incomparable life unfolded. It reveals a man of intense emotion, but also of iron self-discipline; of acute intelligence and immeasurable energy. Tracing his life from its dangerous Corsican roots, through his rejection of his early identity, and the military encounters of his early career, it tells the story of the sheer determination, ruthlessness and careful calculation that won him the precarious mastery of Europe by 1807.
Pegasus * 9781605988726 |
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On Sale the Week of October 12th in Paperback
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October 13th
THE ACCIDENTAL EMPRESS by Allison Pataki (Historical Fiction)
The year is 1853, and the Habsburgs are Europe’s most powerful ruling family. With his empire stretching from Austria to Russia, from Germany to Italy, Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich and ready to marry. Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister’s groom.
Howard Books * 9781476794747
BERLIN: Portrait of a City Through the Centuries by Rory MacLean (History)
BERLIN is a history book that reflects the nature of the city itself. In its architecture, through its literature, in its movies and songs, Berliners have conjured their hard capital into a place of fantastic human fantasy. No other city has so often surrendered itself to its own seductive myths. No other city has been so shaped and defined by individual imaginations. BERLIN captures, portrays and propagates the story of those myths and their makers.
Picador * 9781250074904
BOY ON ICE: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard by John Branch (Biography/Sports)
The tragic death of hockey star Derek Boogaard at 28 was front-page news across the country in 2011 and helped shatter the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports. Now, acclaimed reporter John Branch tells the shocking story of Boogaard's life and heartbreaking death. BOY ON ICE raises deep and disturbing questions about the systemic brutality of contact sports and the damage that reaches far beyond the game.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393351910
THE BOY WHO DREW MONSTERS by Keith Donohue (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, 10-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outdoors. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, he spends his time drawing monsters. When those drawings take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. While those around him are haunted by what they think they see, only Jack Peter knows the truth behind the frightful occurrences as the outside world encroaches upon them all.
Picador * 9781250074881
THE BOY WHO KILLED DEMONS by Dave Zeltserman (Horror)
The setting is quiet Newton, Massachusetts, where nothing ever happens. Nothing, that is, until two months after Henry Dudlow’s 13th birthday, when his neighbor, Mr. Hanley, suddenly starts to look…different. While everyone else sees a balding man with a beer belly, Henry suddenly sees a nasty, bilious, rage-filled demon. Once Henry catches on to the real Mr. Hanley, he starts seeing demons all around him, and his boring, adolescent life is transformed.
The Overlook Press * 9781468311686
CHASING SUNSETS: Angels Walking Series, Book 2 by Karen Kingsbury (Fiction)
Mary Catherine lives in Los Angeles with her roommate, Sami, and volunteers at a local youth center with coach Tyler Ames and LA Dodger Marcus Dillinger. Despite Mary Catherine’s intention to stay single, she finds herself drawing close to Marcus, and their budding romance offers an exciting life she never dreamed of. That is, until she receives devastating news from her doctor --- news that alters her future and forces her to make a rash decision.
Howard Books * 9781451687521
CHRISTMAS BLISS by Mary Kay Andrews (Fiction)
Christmas is coming, but Savannah antiques dealer Weezie Foley is doubly distracted: by her upcoming wedding to her longtime love, chef Daniel Stipanek, and also by the fact that her best friend and maid-of-honor, BeBe Loudermilk, is due to give birth any day --- and is still adamantly refusing to marry her live-in-love Harry.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250019714
DE POTTER’S GRAND TOUR by Joanna Scott (Historical Fiction)
In 1905, a tourist agent and amateur antiques collector named Armand de Potter mysteriously disappeared off the coast of Greece. His body is never recovered, and his wife is left to manage his affairs on her own. But as she starts to piece together his life, she realizes that everything was not as he had said.
Picador * 9781250074744
THE EMPIRE OF NIGHT: A Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller by Robert Olen Butler (Historical Thriller)
In the latest installment of the Christopher Marlowe Cobb series, it is 1915, and Kit is now a full-blown spy in England, working undercover in a castle owned by a suspected British government mole, Sir Stockman. His mother, world-famous actress Isabel Cobb, is attempting to seduce Stockman as a spy, but finds herself falling in love with him. As Kit follows his mother and Stockman to Berlin, he must stay undercover under the very nose of the Kaiser.
Mysterious Press * 9780802124265
GUARANTEED HEROES by William Lashner (Science Fiction/Dystopian Thriller)
Paperback Original
In a nation still recovering from the nuclear tragedies of 40 years earlier, Clyde is working a dead-end guaranteed job at a diner, and Moonis is incarcerated in a Labor Camp for the Malcontented. But when Moonis’ sister, Cecily, goes missing, the old friends escape their prisons to search for her in post-fallout America. Moonis and Clyde follow Cecily’s trail until it leads them into the atomic-ravaged heart of the Midwest, an outlaw territory of dark legends and darker truths where Cecily is being held captive by a brutal gang lord.
Thomas & Mercer * 9781477827635
HOW TO BE BOTH by Ali Smith (Fiction)
HOW TO BE BOTH is a novel all about art’s versatility. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it’s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There’s a Renaissance artist of the 1460s. There’s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real --- and all of life’s givens are given a second chance.
Anchor * 9780307275257
JOAN OF ARC: A Life Transfigured by Kathryn Harrison (Biography)
In JOAN OF ARC: A Life Transfigured, Kathryn Harrison gives us a Joan for our time --- a shining exemplar of unshakable faith, extraordinary courage and self-confidence during a brutally rigged ecclesiastical inquisition and in the face of her death by burning. Deftly weaving historical fact, myth, folklore, artistic representations, and centuries of scholarly and critical interpretation into a compelling narrative, she restores Joan of Arc to her rightful position as one of the greatest heroines in all of human history.
Anchor * 9780767932493
THE LAUGHING MONSTERS by Denis Johnson (Literary Thriller)
After 10 years’ absence, Roland Nair returns to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to reunite with his friend, Michael Adriko. Adriko is an African who styles himself a soldier of fortune, newly engaged to a college girl named Davidia from Colorado. Together the three set out to visit Adriko’s clan in the Uganda-Congo borderland --- but each of these travelers is keeping secrets from the others. Their journey through a land abandoned by the future leads Adriko, Nair and Davidia to meet themselves not in a new light, but rather in a new darkness.
Picador * 9781250074911
LET ME BE FRANK WITH YOU: A Frank Bascombe Book by Richard Ford (Fiction)
Through Frank Bascombe, we’ve witnessed the aspirations, sorrows, longings, achievements and failings of an American life in the twilight of the 20th century. Now, in LET ME BE FRANK WITH YOU, author Richard Ford reinvents Bascombe in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In four narratives, Bascombe (and Ford) attempts to reconcile, interpret and console a world undone by calamity.
Ecco * 9780061692079
MERMAIDS IN PARADISE by Lydia Millet (Fiction)
On the grounds of a Caribbean island resort, newlyweds Deb and Chip meet a marine biologist who says she has sighted mermaids in a coral reef. As the resort's "parent company" swoops in to corner the market on mythological creatures, the couple joins forces with other adventurous souls to save said mermaids from the "Venture of Marvels," which wants to turn their reef into a theme park.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393351729
MISSING REELS by Farran Smith Nehme (Fiction)
One day, Ceinwen Reilly discovers that her downstairs neighbor may have starred in a forgotten silent film that hasn’t been seen for ages. She is determined to track down the film, impress her neighbor, and become a part of movie history: the archivist as ingénue. Ceinwen and a bumbling but charming math professor she has just met will or will not discover the missing reels, will or will not fall in love, and will or will not encounter the obsessives that make up the New York silent film nut underworld.
The Overlook Press * 9781468311693
MONDAY’S LIE by Jamie Mason (Thriller)
Dee Aldrich’s marriage is falling apart, and she’s starting to believe that her husband has his eye on a new life. Just as she begins determining the course of the future, she makes a discovery that will change her life: her mother left her a lot of money, and her own husband seems to know more about it than Dee does. Now, before it’s too late, she must investigate her suspicions and untangle conspiracy from coincidence, using her mother’s advice to steer her through the blind spots.
Gallery Books * 9781476774466
MR. MIRACLE: A Christmas Novel by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Harry Mills is a guardian angel on a mission: help 24-year-old Addie Folsom get her life back on track and help her find love. Posing as a teacher at a local college, Harry is up to the task, but not even he can predict the surprises that lay in store when Addie and her polar-opposite next-door neighbor, Erich, are forced to spend Christmas together. However, Addie and Erich soon find they have more in common than they thought --- and that two people who seem so wrong for each other may actually be just right.
Ballantine Books * 9780553391664
THE NOVEMBER CRIMINALS by Sam Munson (Fiction/Humor)
Paperback Original
High school senior Addison Schacht is taking the prompt for his college entry essay to the University of Chicago to heart: What are your best and worst qualities? He begins to look back on his life so far and considers what getting into college, selling some pot to his classmates, his relationship with his best friend (not girlfriend) Digger, Virgil’s AENEID, and his growing obsession with the murder of a classmate, Kevin Broadus, all mean. The more he digs into his own past, the farther he stumbles into the middle of the murder investigation.
Saga Press * 9781481462853
PAPER LOVE: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind by Sarah Wildman (Memoir)
Years after her grandfather’s death, journalist Sarah Wildman stumbled upon a cache of his letters. One woman’s letters stood out: those from Valy, her grandfather’s lover who had remained behind when he fled Europe six months after the Nazis annexed Austria. Obsessed with Valy’s story, Wildman began a quest that lasted years and spanned continents. She discovered, to her shock, an entire world of other people searching for the same woman.
Riverhead Books * 9781594633973
A QUILT FOR CHRISTMAS by Sandra Dallas (Historical Fiction)
It is 1864, and Eliza Spooner's husband, Will, has joined the Kansas volunteers to fight the Confederates. When the unthinkable happens, she takes in a woman and child who have been left alone and made vulnerable by the war, and she finds solace and camaraderie amongst the women of her quilting group. When she is asked to help hide an escaped slave, she must decide for herself what is right, and who she can count on to help her.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250045959
SAINTS OF NEW YORK by R. J. Ellory (Thriller)
The death of a young heroin dealer causes no great concern for NYPD Detective Frank Parrish --- Danny Lange is just another casualty of the drug war. But when Danny’s teenage sister winds up dead, questions are raised that have no clear answers. As the homicides continue --- and a disturbing pattern emerges --- Frank tries desperately to make some sense of the deaths, while battling with his own demons.
The Overlook Press * 9781468312157
STALIN: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 by Stephen Kotkin (Biography)
In STALIN, Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in all his dimensions. The character of Stalin emerges as both astute and blinkered, cynical and true believing, people oriented and vicious, canny enough to see through people but prone to nonsensical beliefs. STALIN also gives an intimate view of the Bolshevik regime’s inner geography of power, bringing to the fore fresh materials from Soviet military intelligence and the secret police.
Penguin Books * 9780143127864
VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Parmar (Historical Fiction)
London, 1905: The city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous, artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the Bloomsbury Group. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer.
Ballantine Books * 9780804176392
WAITING ON GOD: Strength for Today and Hope for Tomorrow by Charles F. Stanley (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
Are you waiting for God to answer your prayers? Do the days, weeks and years go by without evidence that your deepest longings could ever come true? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, you are facing a common faith-building challenge in the Christian life, and WAITING ON GOD has the guidance you need to endure victoriously. Dr. Charles Stanley gives you the practical wisdom you need to make the most of the delays and follow God’s lead to the blessings you long for.
Howard Books * 9781476794082
WILDALONE by Krassi Zourkova (Supernatural Fantasy/Romance)
Arriving at Princeton for her freshman year, Thea Slavin finds herself alone. Away from her family and her Eastern European homeland for the first time, she struggles to adapt to unfamiliar American ways and the challenges of college life --- including an enigmatic young man whose brooding good looks and murky past intrigue her. Drawn to the elusive Rhys and his equally handsome and mysterious brother, Jake, she ventures into a sensual mythic underworld as irresistible as it is dangerous.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062328038
WINTER STREET by Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction)
Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket's Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four. Patrick, the eldest, is a hedge fund manager with a guilty conscience. Kevin, a bartender, is secretly sleeping with a housekeeper named Isabelle. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can't get him to commit. And Bart, the only child of Kelley's second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines. As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time. But when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus, utter chaos descends.
Back Bay Books * 9780316376105
October 15th
THE LOST GOSPEL: Decoding the Ancient Text that Reveals Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson (History)
Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century. And now, THE LOST GOSPEL provides the first-ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus’ social, family and political lives.
Pegasus * 9781605988870 |
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On Sale the Week of October 19th in Hardcover
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October 19th
KILLING A KING: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel by Dan Ephron (History/Politics)
The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin remains the single most consequential event in Israel’s recent history, and one that fundamentally altered the trajectory for both Israel and the Palestinians. KILLING A KING relates the parallel stories of Rabin and his stalker, Yigal Amir, over the two years leading up to the assassination, as one of them planned political deals he hoped would lead to peace, and the other plotted murder.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393242096
October 20th
BERLUSCONI: The Epic Story of the Billionaire Who Took Over Italy by Alan Friedman (Biography)
Inspired by the Frost/Nixon interviews, and Walter Isaacson's author-subject relationship to Steve Jobs, Alan Friedman tells the story of Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul turned prime minster who has dominated Italian life for the past 20 years. Berlusconi has cooperated with the bestselling author and award-winning journalist in the telling of his life story, warts and all --- from the bunga-bunga parties to his most secret moments with world leaders.
Hachette Books * 9780316301992
CAREER OF EVIL: A Cormoran Strike Novel by Robert Galbraith (Mystery)
When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed; there are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible. With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them.
Mulholland Books * 9780316349932
THE EXPLORERS GUILD: Volume One: A PASSAGE TO SHAMBHALA by Kevin Costner and Jon Baird, illustrated by Rick Ross (Historical Fantasy)
The Explorers Guild is a clandestine group of adventurers who bravely journey to those places in which light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth. The secrets they seek are hidden in mountain ranges and lost in deserts, buried in the ocean floor and lodged deep in polar ice. Their aim is to discover the mysteries that lie beyond the boundaries of the known world. Set against the backdrop of World War I, with Western Civilization on the edge of calamity, this first installment in The Explorers Guild series concerns the Guild's quest to find the golden city of Buddhist myth.
Atria Books * 9781476727394
FEAR THE DARK: A Bishop/Special Crimes Unit Novel by Kay Hooper (Supernatural Thriller)
Something strange is happening in the small mountain town of Serenity, Tennessee. People going on routine errands never reach their destination. It’s as if they simply disappear. The local police chief calls the FBI, and a team from the Special Crimes Unit is immediately sent in. The town is already on the edge of panic, but the mysterious events take a sinister turn when a body unrelated to the missing persons case surfaces and one of the SCU agents vanishes. Now, the team’s hunt for the lost has turned into something very personal…and very dangerous.
Berkley * 9780425280720
FIND A WAY by Diana Nyad (Sports/Memoir)
On September 2, 2013, at the age of 64, Diana Nyad emerged onto the sands of Key West after swimming 111 miles, nation to nation, Cuba to Florida, in an epic feat of both endurance and human will, in 53 hours. Millions of people around the world cheered this maverick on, moved by her undeniable tenacity to be the first to make the historic crossing without the aid of a shark cage. In FIND A WAY, Diana engages us with a unique, passionate story of this heroic adventure and the extraordinary life experiences that have served to carve her unwavering spirit.
Knopf * 9780385353618
GATEFATHER by Orson Scott Card (Fantasy)
Danny North is the first Gate Mage to be born on Earth in nearly 2,000 years, or at least the first to survive to claim his power. Families of Westil in exile on Earth have had a treaty that required the death of any suspected Gate Mage. But Danny survived; he battled the Gate Thief and won. What he didn't know at the time was that the Gate Thief had a very good reason for closing the Great Gates --- and Danny has now fallen into the power of that great enemy of both Earth and Westil.
Tor Books * 9780765326591
GOLDEN AGE by Jane Smiley (Fiction)
A lot can happen in 100 years, as Jane Smiley shows in her Last Hundred Years trilogy. But as its final installment opens in 1987, the next generation of Langdons face economic, social, political and personal challenges unlike anything their ancestors have encountered before. GOLDEN AGE brings to a magnificent conclusion the century-spanning portrait of this unforgettable family --- and the dynamic times in which they’ve loved, lived and died.
Knopf * 9780307700346
HEMINGWAY IN LOVE: His Own Story by A.E. Hotchner (Memoir)
In June 1961, A.E. Hotchner visited an old friend in the psychiatric ward of St. Mary's Hospital. It would be the last time they spoke: a few weeks later, Ernest Hemingway was released home, where he took his own life. Their final conversation was also the final installment in a story whose telling Hemingway had spread over nearly a decade. To protect the feelings of Ernest's wife, Mary --- also a close friend --- Hotch kept the conversations to himself for decades. Now he tells the story as Hemingway told it to him.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250077486
HOME IS BURNING: A Memoir by Dan Marshall (Memoir)
Meet Dan Marshall: 25, good job, great girlfriend, and living the dream life in sunny Los Angeles without a care in the world. Until his mother calls. It turns out her cancer, which she had battled throughout his childhood with tenacity and a mouth foul enough to make a sailor blush, is back. And add insult to injury, his loving father has been diagnosed with ALS. As Dan steps into his role as caregiver, wheelchair wrangler and sibling referee, he watches pieces of his previous life slip away, and comes to realize that the further you stretch the ties that bind, the tighter they hold you together.
Flatiron Books * 9781250068828
HOST by Robin Cook (Medical Thriller)
When her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, enters the hospital for routine surgery, Lynn’s neatly ordered life is thrown into total chaos. Carl fails to return to consciousness after the procedure, and an MRI confirms brain death. Devastated by Carl’s condition, Lynn searches for answers. Convinced there’s more to the story than what the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn uses all her resources at Mason-Dixon to hunt down evidence of medical error or malpractice. What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399172144
THE HOURS COUNT by Jillian Cantor (Historical Fiction)
On June 19, 1953, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed for conspiring to commit espionage. The day Ethel was first arrested in 1950, she left her two young sons with a neighbor and never came home to them again. In THE HOURS COUNT, Jillian Cantor reimagines the life of that neighbor, and the life of Ethel and Julius, an ordinary-seeming Jewish couple who became the only Americans put to death for spying during the Cold War.
Riverhead Books * 9781594633188
LAFAYETTE IN THE SOMEWHAT UNITED STATES by Sarah Vowell (History)
Chronicling General Lafayette’s years in Washington’s army, Sarah Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary War. Riding shotgun with Lafayette, Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles, bumping into John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette, and various kings, Quakers and redcoats along the way.
Riverhead Books * 9781594631740
THE LAKE HOUSE by Kate Morton (Fiction)
One midsummer’s eve, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, 11-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. Decades later, Alice Edevane is living in London, having enjoyed a successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, stumbles upon the Edevanes’ old estate. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone...yet more present than ever.
Atria Books * 9781451649321
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MICKEY ROONEY by Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes (Biography)
In THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MICKEY ROONEY, authors Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes present Mickey’s nearly century-long career within the context of America's changing entertainment and social landscape. In addition to material from Mickey’s own diary, they chronicle his life story using little-known interviews with the star himself, his children, his former co-author Roger Kahn, collaborator Arthur Marx, and co-star Margaret O’Brien. This Old Hollywood biography presents Mickey Rooney from every angle, revealing the man Laurence Olivier once dubbed “the best there has ever been.”
Gallery Books * 9781501100963
NEVER SURRENDER: Winston Churchill and Britain's Decision to Fight Nazi Germany in the Fateful Summer of 1940 by John Kelly (History)
London in April 1940, was a place of great fear and conflict. The Germans were marching. They had taken Poland, France, Holland, Belgium and Czechoslovakia, and were now menacing Britain. Churchill, leading the faction to fight, and Lord Halifax, cautioning that prudence was the way to survive, attempted to usurp one another by any means possible. Drawing on the War Cabinet papers, other government documents, private diaries, newspaper accounts and memoirs, historian John Kelly tells the story of the summer of 1940 --- the months of the “Supreme Question” of whether or not the British were to surrender.
Scribner * 9781476727974
PUDGE: The Biography of Carlton Fisk by Doug Wilson (Sports/Biography)
Carlton Fisk retired having played in more games and hit more home runs than any other catcher before him. A baseball superstar in the 1970s and ’80s, Fisk was known not just for his dedication to the sport and tremendous plays but for the respect with which he treated the game. Doug Wilson uses his own extensive research and interviews with childhood friends and major league teammates to examine the life and career of a leader who followed a strict code and played with fierce determination.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250065438
ROGUE LAWYER by John Grisham (Legal Thriller)
Sebastian Rudd defends people other lawyers won’t go near: a drug-addled, tattooed kid rumored to be in a satanic cult, who is accused of molesting and murdering two little girls; a vicious crime lord on death row; a homeowner arrested for shooting at a SWAT team that mistakenly invaded his house. Sebastian believes everyone is entitled to a fair trial, even if he has to cheat to secure one. He hates injustice, doesn’t like insurance companies, banks or big corporations; he distrusts all levels of government and laughs at the justice system’s notions of ethical behavior.
Doubleday * 9780385539432
THE SILENT BOY by Andrew Taylor (Historical Thriller)
Edward Savill, working in London as an agent for a wealthy American, receives word that his estranged wife, Augusta, has been killed in France. She leaves behind 10-year-old Charles, who is brought to England to Charnwood Court, a house in the country leased by a group of émigré refugees. Savill is sent to retrieve the boy, though it proves easier to reach Charnwood than to leave. And only when Savill arrives there does he discover that Charles is mute. The boy has witnessed horrors beyond his years, but what terrible secret haunts him so deeply that he is unable to utter a word?
HarperCollins * 9780008131357
THE SPY HOUSE: A Spycatcher Novel by Matthew Dunn (Thriller)
When the Israeli ambassador to France is shot dead in Paris by an unknown sniper, the Israeli government blames Hamas and begins planning a massive invasion to obliterate the terrorist organization once and for all. To avoid an all-out war, three members of the UN Security Council assemble a team of intelligence agents to uncover the truth behind the assassination. But when the team stops responding and all four agents are found dead in a bunker locked from the inside, they turn to freelance intelligence operative Will Cochrane for answers.
William Morrow * 9780062309495
A STRANGENESS IN MY MIND written by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Ekin Oklap (Fiction)
Since his boyhood in a poor village in Central Anatolia, Mevlut Karataş has fantasized about what his life would become. But luck never seems to be on his side. Every evening, without fail, Mevlut still wanders the streets of Istanbul, selling boza (a traditional mildly alcoholic Turkish drink) and wondering at the “strangeness” in his mind, the sensation that makes him feel different from everyone else --- until fortune conspires once more to let him understand at last what it is he has always yearned for.
Knopf * 9780307700292
WAR OF TWO: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel that Stunned the Nation by John Sedgwick (History)
In WAR OF TWO, John Sedgwick explores the long-standing conflict between Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr. A study in contrasts from birth, they had been compatriots, colleagues and even friends. But above all they were rivals. Matching each other’s ambition and skill as lawyers in New York, they later battled for power along political fault lines that would not only decide the future of the United States, but define it.
Berkley * 9781592408528
WE WERE BROTHERS: A Memoir by Barry Moser (Memoir)
Brothers Barry and Tommy Moser were born of the same parents in Chattanooga, Tennessee, slept in the same bedroom, went to the same school, and were both poisoned by their family’s deep racism and anti-Semitism. But as they grew older, their perspectives and their paths grew further and further apart. After one particularly fractious conversation, their fragile relationship fell apart. With the raw emotions that so often surface when we talk of our siblings, Barry recalls how they were finally able to traverse that great divide and reconcile their troubled brotherhood before it was too late.
Algonquin Books * 9781616204136
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (Mystery)
From the creators of the wildly popular "Welcome to Night Vale" podcast comes an imaginative mystery of appearances and disappearances that is also a poignant look at the ways in which we all struggle to find ourselves...no matter where we live. Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.
Harper Perennial * 9780062351425
WHAT YOU SEE: A Jane Ryland Novel by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Mystery/Thriller)
A wedding is planned in Jane Ryland's family, but there's a disaster instead. Nine-year-old Gracie has been taken by her stepdad. Where are they? Is the girl in danger? Reporter Jane Ryland learns to her peril what happens when loved ones are pushed too far. Meanwhile, Detective Jake Brogan has a doozy of a case. At Boston's historic Faneuil Hall, a man is stabbed to death in front of a crowd of tourists snapping photos of the murder on their cell phones. Solving the case should be easy, but the pictures and surveillance video lead him to a dark conspiracy of extortion and stolen lives.
Forge Books * 9780765374950 |
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On Sale the Week of October 19th in Paperback
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October 20th
AFTER THE WIND: Tragedy on Everest --- One Survivor's Story by Lou Kasischke (Memoir)
Near the top of Mount Everest, on May 10, 1996, eight climbers died. It was the worst tragedy in the mountain's history. Lou Kasischke was there. AFTER THE WIND tells the harrowing story of what went wrong, as it has never been told before --- including why the climbers were so desperately out of time as the rogue storm struck. His personal story, captured in the title, tells about the intense moments near the top. These moments also revealed the love story that saved his life.
Good Hart Publishing * 9781940877037
THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANCES GODWIN by Robert Hellenga (Fiction)
THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANCES GODWIN is the fictional memoir of a retired high school Latin teacher looking back on a life of trying to do her best amidst transgressions --- starting with her affair with Paul, whom she later marries. Now that Paul is dead and she’s retired, Frances Godwin thinks her story is over --- but, of course, the rest of her life is full of surprises, including the truly shocking turn of events that occurs when she takes matters into her own hands after her daughter Stella’s husband grows increasingly abusive.
Bloomsbury USA * 9781620405505
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 * 9780804140829
NAPOLEON: A Life by Andrew Roberts (Biography)
Andrew Roberts’ NAPOLEON is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon’s 33,000 letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife, Josephine. Roberts traveled to 53 of Napoleon’s 60 battle sites, discovered crucial new documents in archives, and even made the long trip by boat to St. Helena.
Penguin Books * 9780143127857
NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" by Lena Dunham (Memoir/Essays)
In NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL, Lena Dunham --- the acclaimed creator, producer and star of HBO’s "Girls" --- illuminates the experiences that are part of making one’s way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being 10 pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812985177
PARCELLS: A Football Life by Bill Parcells and Nunyo Demasio (Sports/Memoir)
The modern history of the NFL can’t be told without Bill Parcells as a central character. During his decades-long tenure in the NFL, he coached some of the game’s greatest players, turned failing franchises into contenders, and mentored a new generation of its brightest coaches all on the way to his enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013. Now, with remarkable candor, Coach Parcells opens up about his life and extraordinary career.
Three Rivers Press * 9780385346375
RED NOTICE: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder (Memoir/True Crime)
Bill Browder made his fortune heading the largest investment fund in Russia after the Soviet Union’s collapse. But when he exposed the corrupt oligarchs who were robbing the companies in which he was investing, Vladimir Putin turned on him and had him expelled from Russia. Following the murder of his principled young tax attorney, Browder embarked on an unrelenting quest for justice, exposing the towering cover-up that leads right up to Putin.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476755748
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 * 9780062332981
WANT YOU DEAD by Peter James (Thriller)
When Red Cameron meets handsome, charming and rich Bryce Laurent through an online dating agency, it’s instant attraction at first sight. But as their love blossoms, the truth about his past begins to emerge, and with it his dark side. Everything he has told Red about himself turns out to be a tissue of lies, and her infatuation with him gradually turns to terror. Within a year, and under police protection, she evicts him from her flat and her life. But far from being over, her nightmare is only just beginning.
Minotaur Books * 9781250070319 |
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