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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 15th and May 22nd that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our Summer Reading Contests and Feature, a series of 24-hour contests that are taking place on select days between now and Thursday, August 24th. Enter for your chance to win fiction and nonfiction titles that we think will be great summer book picks.
Also, we encourage you to enter our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests for an opportunity to win some fabulous hardcovers and audiobooks. And please be sure to vote in our latest poll, where we ask what type of reader you are.
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This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's Summer Reading
Contests and Feature
Summer will be here before you know it! At Bookreporter.com, this means it's time for us to share some great summer book picks with our Summer Reading Contests and Feature. We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through August 24th, so you will have to check the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter to win. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.
- Click here for a Special Preview newsletter, which brings you a sneak peek at the books that are included in the feature. More titles will be added to the feature in the weeks to come.
Click here to read all the contest details
and see the prize books being awarded in May, June, July and August.
On Sale the Week of May 15th in Hardcover
May 16th
APOLLO 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger (History)
In August 1968, NASA made a bold decision: in just 16 weeks, the United States would launch humankind’s first flight to the moon. Only the year before, three astronauts had burned to death in their spacecraft, and since then the Apollo program had suffered one setback after another. Meanwhile, the Russians were winning the space race, the Cold War was getting hotter by the month, and President Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade seemed sure to be broken. But when Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders were summoned to a secret meeting and told of the dangerous mission, they instantly signed on. APOLLO 8 takes us from Mission Control to the astronaut’s homes, from the test labs to the launch pad.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781627798327
ARE YOU ANYBODY?: A Memoir by Jeffrey Tambor (Memoir)
It's rare that an actor embodies even one memorable character over the arc of a career. Jeffrey Tambor has managed to create three, beginning with Hank "Hey Now!" Kingsley on “The Larry Sanders Show,” the series created by Garry Shandling, Jeffrey’s first mentor in television. He went on to find two more show creators, Mitch Hurwitz of “Arrested Development” and Jill Soloway of “Transparent,” who shared a love of actors and taught him a lot about acting along the way. ARE YOU ANYBODY? is Tambor's chance to discuss his creative process and immense accomplishments from a life lived onscreen.
Crown Archetype | 9780451496355
THE AWKWARD AGE by Francesca Segal (Fiction)
Julia Alden has fallen deeply and unexpectedly in love. American obstetrician James is everything she didn't know she wanted --- if only her teenage daughter, Gwen, didn't hate him so much. Uniting two households is never easy, but when Gwen turns for comfort to James' 17-year-old son, Nathan, the consequences will test her mother's loyalty and threaten all their fragile new happiness.
Riverhead Books | 9780399576454
BAD DREAMS AND OTHER STORIES by Tessa Hadley (Fiction/Short Stories)
In these short stories from the award-winning author of THE PAST, it’s the ordinary things that turn out to be most extraordinary. Two sisters quarrel over an inheritance and a new baby; a child awake in the night explores the familiar rooms of her home, made strange by the darkness; a housekeeper caring for a helpless old man uncovers secrets from his past. The first steps into a turning point and a new life are made so easily and carelessly. Each of these stories illuminate crucial moments of transition, often imperceptible to the protagonists.
Harper | 9780062476661
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN X: A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century by Chuck Klosterman (Popular Culture/Essays)
Chuck Klosterman has created an incomparable body of work in books, magazines, newspapers and on the Web. His writing spans the realms of culture and sports, while also addressing interpersonal issues, social quandaries and ethical boundaries. He has written nine previous books, and contributed profiles and essays to outlets such as GQ, Esquire, Billboard, The A.V. Club and The Guardian. Klosterman’s 10th book collects his most intriguing of those pieces, accompanied by fresh introductions and new footnotes throughout. He presents many of the articles in their original form, featuring previously unpublished passages and digressions.
Blue Rider Press | 9780399184154
COACH WOODEN AND ME: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Memoir)
When future NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still an 18-year-old high school basketball prospect from New York City named Lew Alcindor, he accepted a scholarship from UCLA largely on the strength of Coach John Wooden's reputation as a winner. It turned out to be the right choice, as Alcindor and his teammates won an unprecedented three NCAA championship titles. But it also marked the beginning of one of the most extraordinary and enduring friendships in the history of sports. In COACH WOODEN AND ME, Abdul-Jabbar reveals the inspirational story of how his bond with John Wooden evolved from a history-making coach-player mentorship into a deep and genuine friendship.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455542277
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: A Biography by Mary V. Dearborn (Biography)
Here is a revelatory look into the life and work of Ernest Hemingway, considered in his time to be the greatest living American novelist and short-story writer, winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Mary Dearborn's biography gives the richest and most nuanced portrait to date of this complex, enigmatically unique American artist, whose same uncontrollable demons that inspired and drove him throughout his life undid him at the end, and whose seven novels and six short-story collections informed --- and are still informing --- fiction writing generations after his death.
Knopf | 9780307594679
EVENSONG by Kate Southwood (Fiction)
Margaret Maguire --- a widow and grandmother, home from the hospital in time for Christmas --- is no longer able to ignore the consequences of having married an imperious and arrogant man. Despite her efforts to be a good wife and mother in small-town Iowa, her adult children are now strangers to one another, past hope of reconciliation. Margaret’s granddaughter could be the one to break the cycle, but she can’t do it without Margaret’s help. It’s time to take stock, to examine the past --- even time for Margaret to call herself to account.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393608595
EXIT STRATEGY: A Nick Mason Novel by Steve Hamilton (Thriller)
Nick Mason has been given a true mission impossible: infiltrate WITSEC, the top-secret federal witness-protection program that has never been compromised, locate the three men who put his boss Darius Cole behind bars for life, and kill them. But first he has to find them --- they’re ghost prisoners locked down around the clock in classified “deep black” locations by a battalion of heavily armed U.S. marshals charged with protecting them --- and the clock is ticking. As he risks everything to complete his mission, Mason finds himself being hunted by the very man he replaced, the ruthless assassin who once served, then betrayed, Darius Cole.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399574382
THE FACT OF A BODY: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (True Crime/Memoir)
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, who begins a summer job at a law firm, is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes, she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar. As Alexandria pores over the facts of the murder, she finds herself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky’s childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky’s case, she is forced to face her own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors her view of Ricky's crime. But another surprise awaits: She wasn’t the only one who saw her life in Ricky’s.
Flatiron Books | 9781250080547
FULL WOLF MOON by Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Jeremy Logan is an "enigmalogist," an investigator who specializes in analyzing phenomena that have no obvious explanation. He travels to an isolated writers' retreat deep in the Adirondacks to finally work on his book when the remote community is rocked by the grisly discovery of a dead hiker on Desolation Mountain. The body has been severely mauled, but the unusual savagery of the bite and claw marks call into question the initial suspicions of a wild bear attack. When Logan is asked to help investigate, he discovers no shortage of suspects capable of such an attack --- and no shortage of locals willing to point the finger and spread incredible rumors. One rumor, too impossible to believe, has even the forest ranger believing in werewolves.
Doubleday | 9780385531429
G-MAN: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel by Stephen Hunter (Thriller/Adventure)
Bob Lee Swagger has finally decided to sell the family homestead, but when the developers begin to tear down the house, they uncover a strongbox hidden in the foundation. Enclosed is an array of memorabilia dating back to 1934 --- a much-corroded federal lawman’s badge, a .45 automatic, a mysterious gun part, and a cryptic diagram --- all belonging to Charles Swagger, a World War I hero and sheriff of Polk County, Arkansas. Fascinated and puzzled by these newly discovered artifacts, Bob is determined to find out what happened to his grandfather. But he soon learns that someone is following him and shares his obsession with finding out what Charles Swagger really left behind.
Blue Rider Press | 9780399574603
IT'S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND by Michele Campbell (Psychological Suspense/Mystery)
Kate, Aubrey and Jenny first met as college roommates and soon became inseparable, despite being as different as three women can be. As an unlikely friendship formed, the three of them swore they would always be there for each other. But 20 years later, one of them is standing at the edge of a bridge, and someone is urging her to jump. How did it come to this? Kate married the gorgeous party boy, Aubrey married up, and Jenny married the boy next door. But how can these three women love and hate each other? Can feelings this strong lead to murder? When one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, will everyone assume, as is often the case, that it’s always the husband?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250081803
LOU: Fifty Years of Kicking Dirt, Playing Hard, and Winning Big in the Sweet Spot of Baseball by Lou Piniella with Bill Madden (Sports/Memoir)
For nearly five decades, Lou Piniella has been a fixture in Major League Baseball, as an outfielder with the legendary New York Yankees of the 1970s, and as a manager for five teams in both the American and National leagues. With respected veteran sportswriter Bill Madden, Piniella now reflects on his storied career, offering fans a glimpse of life on the field, in the dugout and inside the clubhouse.
Harper | 9780062660794
NEW BOY by Tracy Chevalier (Fiction)
Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day --- so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players --- teachers and pupils alike --- will never be the same again. The tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers.
Hogarth | 9780553447637
NO MIDDLE NAME: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories by Lee Child (Thriller/Short Stories)
Get ready for the ultimate Jack Reacher experience: a thrilling new novella and 11 previously published stories, together for the first time in one pulse-pounding collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child. NO MIDDLE NAME begins with “Too Much Time,” a brand-new work of short fiction that finds Reacher in a hollowed-out town in Maine, where he witnesses a random bag-snatching but sees much more than a simple crime.
Delacorte Press | 9780399593574
PAPI: My Story by David Ortiz with Michael Holley (Sports/Memoir)
David “Big Papi” Ortiz is a baseball icon and one of the most popular figures ever to play the game. As a key part of the Boston Red Sox for 14 years, David helped the team win three World Series, bringing back a storied franchise from “never wins” to “always wins.” He helped them upend the doubts, the naysayers, the nonbelievers and captured the imagination of millions of fans along the way, as he launched balls into the stands again, and again, and again. Now, looking back at the end of his legendary career, Ortiz opens up fully for the first time about his last two decades in the game.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544814615
RISE AND SHINE, BENEDICT STONE by Phaedra Patrick (Fiction)
In the quiet village of Noon Sun, Benedict Stone has settled into a complacent and predictable routine. Business at his jewelry shop has dried up, and his marriage is on the rocks. But then a surprise arrives at his door. Gemma is Benedict's audacious teenage niece --- the daughter of his estranged brother, Charlie. The two Stone brothers had a falling out and haven't spoken in almost two decades, since Charlie left for America. Reckless and stubborn, Gemma invites herself into Benedict's world and turns his orderly life upside down. But she might just be exactly what he needs to get his life back on track.
Park Row Books | 9780778319993
SAME BEACH, NEXT YEAR by Dorothea Benton Frank (Fiction)
A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms brings former sweethearts Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up a deep friendship of their own. Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island’s tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach.
William Morrow | 9780062390783
THE SCRIBE OF SIENA by Melodie Winawer (Historical Fiction)
When her beloved brother passes away, accomplished neurosurgeon Beatrice Trovato welcomes the unexpected trip to the Tuscan city of Siena to resolve his estate. But as she delves deeper into her brother’s affairs, she discovers intrigue she never imagined --- a 700-year-old conspiracy to decimate the city. After uncovering the journal and paintings of Gabriele Accorsi, the 14th-century artist at the heart of the plot, Beatrice finds a startling image of her own face and is suddenly transported to the year 1347. When she meets Accorsi, something unexpected happens: she falls in love --- not only with Gabriele, but also with the beauty and cadence of medieval life.
Touchstone | 9781501152252
SECRETS IN SUMMER by Nancy Thayer (Fiction)
Memorial Day weekend means that seasonal visitors have descended on the glamorous island of Nantucket. Year-round resident Darcy Cotterill will be hitting the beach and meeting her new summertime neighbors. But the last person she expects to see staying next door is her ex-husband, Boyz, along with his wife, Autumn, and stepdaughter Willow. Darcy must also navigate the highs and lows of a new romantic relationship with local carpenter Nash Forester, even as she becomes smitten with handsome vacationer Clive Rush, a musicologist in town to write a book and visit family. And she finds herself pulled into the concerns of Boyz, Autumn, a charming elderly neighbor and an at-risk teen.
Ballantine Books | 9781101967072
TESTIMONY by Scott Turow (Legal Thriller)
When former prosecutor Bill ten Boom is tapped by the International Criminal Court --- an organization charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity --- he feels drawn to what will become the most elusive case of his career. Over 10 years ago, in the apocalyptic chaos following the Bosnian war, an entire Roma refugee camp vanished. Now for the first time, a witness has stepped forward: Ferko Rincic claims that armed men marched the camp's Gypsy residents to a cave in the middle of the night --- and then with a hand grenade set off an avalanche, burying 400 people alive. Only Ferko survived. Boom's task is to examine Ferko's claims and determine who might have massacred the Roma.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455553549
WEDDING TOASTS I'LL NEVER GIVE by Ada Calhoun (Memoir/Essays)
We hear plenty about whether or not to get married, but much less about what it takes to stay married. Clichés around marriage --- eternal bliss, domestic harmony, soul mates --- leave out the real stuff. After marriage you may still want to sleep with other people. Sometimes your partner will bore the hell out of you. And when stuck paying for your spouse’s mistakes, you might miss being single. In WEDDING TOASTS I’LL NEVER GIVE, Ada Calhoun presents an unflinching but also loving portrait of her own marriage, opening a long-overdue conversation about the institution as it truly is.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393254792
YOU WERE HERE by Gian Sardar (Psychological Suspense)
Eager to settle down with her commitment-shy boyfriend, a recurring dream from Abby Walters' past returns: a paralyzing nightmare of being buried alive. But this time the dream reveals a name from her family's past. Looking for answers, Abby returns home to small-town Minnesota for the first time in 14 years, where she reconnects with her high school crush, now a police detective on the trail of a violent criminal. When Abby tries on her grandmother's mesmerizing diamond ring, she discovers a cryptic note long hidden beneath the box's velvet lining. What secret was her grandmother hiding? And could this be the key to what's haunting Abby?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399575006
On Sale the Week of May 15th in Paperback
May 16th
THE AFTER PARTY by Anton DiSclafani (Historical Fiction)
Joan Fortier is the epitome of Texas glamour and the center of the 1950s Houston social scene. Every man who sees her seems to want her; every woman just wants to be her. The money may flow as freely as the oil, but the freedom and power all belong to the men. What happens when a woman of indecorous appetites and desires like Joan wants more? What does it do to her best friend? Devoted to Joan since childhood, Cece Buchanan is either her chaperone or her partner in crime, depending on whom you ask. But as Joan’s radical behavior escalates, Cece’s perspective shifts --- forcing one provocative choice to appear the only one there is.
Riverhead Books | 9780399573187
BROKEN RIVER by J. Robert Lennon (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
One night, three people --- a couple and their child --- hurry out the door of their modest house in upstate New York, but it’s too late for them. As the opening scene of BROKEN RIVER unfolds, a spectral presence seems to be watching with cold and mysterious interest. Soon the house lies abandoned, and years later a new family moves in. Karl, Eleanor and their daughter, Irina, arrive from New York City in the wake of Karl’s infidelity to start anew. Twelve-year-old Irina becomes obsessed with the brutal murders that occurred in the house years earlier. And, secretly, so does her mother.
Graywolf Press | 9781555977726
THE CITY OF MIRRORS by Justin Cronin (Post-Apocalyptic Thriller)
The Twelve have been destroyed, and the terrifying hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors are stepping outside their walls, determined to build society anew. But far from them, in a dead metropolis, he waits: Zero. The First. Father of the Twelve. The anguish that shattered his human life haunts him, and the hatred spawned by his transformation burns bright. His fury will be quenched only when he destroys Amy --- humanity’s only hope, the Girl from Nowhere who grew up to rise against him.
Ballantine Books | 9780425285527
COMMANDER IN CHIEF: FDR’s Battle with Churchill, 1943 by Nigel Hamilton (History)
1943 was the year of Allied military counteroffensives, beating back the forces of the Axis powers in North Africa and the Pacific --- the “Hinge of Fate,” as Winston Churchill called it. In COMMANDER IN CHIEF, Nigel Hamilton reveals FDR’s true role in this saga: overruling his own Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordering American airmen on an ambush of the Japanese navy’s Admiral Yamamoto, facing down Churchill when he attempted to abandon Allied D-day strategy (twice).
Mariner Books | 9780544944466
EVERYBODY BEHAVES BADLY: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley M. M. Blume (Biography)
In the summer of 1925, Ernest Hemingway traveled to Pamplona for the infamous running of the bulls. He then channeled that trip’s drunken brawls, sexual rivalry, midnight betrayals and midday hangovers into a novel that redefined modern literature. Lesley Blume tells the full story behind Hemingway’s legendary rise for the first time, revealing how he created his own image as the bull-fighting aficionado, hard-drinking literary genius and expatriate bon vivant. In all its youth, lust and rivalry, the Lost Generation is illuminated here as never before.
Eamon Dolan/Mariner Books | 9780544944435
HAG-SEED by Margaret Atwood (Fiction)
Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a “Tempest” like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge. After 12 years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his “Tempest” and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall?
Hogarth | 9780804141314
THE HIGHWAYMAN: A Longmire Story by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
When Wyoming highway patrolman Rosey Wayman is transferred to the beautiful and imposing landscape of the Wind River Canyon, an area the troopers refer to as no-man's-land because of the lack of radio communication, she starts receiving “officer needs assistance” calls. The problem? They're coming from Bobby Womack, a legendary Arapaho patrolman who met a fiery death in the canyon almost a half-century ago. With an investigation that spans this world and the next, Sheriff Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear take on a case that pits them against a legend: The Highwayman.
Penguin Books | 9780735220904
A HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS by Nadia Hashimi (Fiction)
For two decades, Zeba was a loving wife, a patient mother and a peaceful villager. But her quiet life is shattered when her husband, Kamal, is found brutally murdered. A shocked Zeba is unable to account for her whereabouts at the time of his death. Her children swear she could not have committed such a heinous act. Kamal’s family is sure she did and demands justice. Barely escaping a vengeful mob, Zeba is arrested and jailed. As she awaits trial, she meets a group of women whose own misfortunes have also led them to these bleak cells. Is Zeba a cold-blooded killer, these young ladies wonder, or has she been imprisoned, as they have been, for breaking some social rule?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062449658
LISTEN TO ME by Hannah Pittard (Psychological Thriller)
Mark and Maggie's annual drive east to visit family has gotten off to a rocky start. By the time they're on the road, it's late, a storm is brewing, and they are no longer speaking to one another. Adding to the stress, Maggie --- recently mugged at gunpoint --- is lately not herself, and Mark is at a loss about what to make of the stranger he calls his wife. When they are forced to stop for the night at a remote inn, completely without power, Maggie's paranoia reaches an all-time and terrifying high. But when Mark finds himself threatened in a dark parking lot, it’s Maggie who takes control.
Mariner Books | 9780544947184
THE MUSE by Jessie Burton (Historical Fiction)
England, 1967: Odelle Bastien --- a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London --- starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art and discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. Spain, 1936: Olive Schloss follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a housekeeper, and her half-brother, Isaac Robles. Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family’s lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come.
Ecco | 9780062409935
NEVER A DULL MOMENT : 1971 --- The Year That Rock Exploded by David Hepworth (Music/History)
David Hepworth, an ardent music fan and well-regarded critic, was 21 in 1971, the same age as many of the legendary artists who arrived on the scene. Taking us on a tour of the major moments, the events and songs of this remarkable year, Hepworth shows how musicians came together to form the perfect storm of rock and roll greatness, starting a musical era that would last longer than anyone predicted. Those who joined bands to escape things that lasted found themselves in a new age, its colossal start being part of the genre's staying power.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250130914
PORCELAIN: A Memoir by Moby (Memoir)
At once bighearted and remorseless in its excavation of a lost world, PORCELAIN is both a chronicle of a city and a time and a deeply intimate exploration of finding one’s place during the most gloriously anxious period in life --- when you are on your own and betting on yourself, but have no idea how the story ends, and so you live with the honest dread that you’re one false step from being thrown out on your face. Moby’s voice resonates with honesty, wit and, above all, an unshakable passion for his music that steered him through some very rough seas.
Penguin Books | 9780143110200
REDEMPTION ROAD by John Hart (Thriller)
After a five-year absence, John Hart, the first and only author to win back-to-back Edgars for Best Novel, makes his triumphant return with REDEMPTION ROAD. A boy with a gun waits for the man who killed his mother. A troubled detective confronts her past in the aftermath of a brutal shooting. After 13 years in prison, a good cop walks free as deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen. This is a town on the brink. This is Redemption Road.
A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250132116
THE ROMANOVS: 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore (History)
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas --- some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence and wild extravagance. It features a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries and poets --- from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin, to Bismarck, Lincoln, Queen Victoria and Lenin.
Vintage | 9780307280510
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE by Maggie O’Farrell (Fiction)
Daniel Sullivan leads a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn, and his wife, Claudette, is a reclusive ex–film star given to pulling a gun on anyone who ventures up their driveway. Together, they have made an idyllic life in the country, but a secret from Daniel’s past threatens to destroy their meticulously constructed and fiercely protected home.
Vintage | 9780345804723
THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman (Essays)
An inquisitive observer, thoughtful commentator and assiduous craftsman, Neil Gaiman has long been celebrated for the sharp intellect and startling imagination that informs his bestselling fiction. Now, THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS brings together for the first time ever more than 60 pieces of his outstanding nonfiction. Analytical yet playful, erudite yet accessible, this cornucopia explores a broad range of interests and topics --- offering a glimpse into the head and heart of one of the most acclaimed, beloved and influential artists of our time.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062262271
WINTERING by Pete Geye (Fiction)
One day, elderly, demented Harry Eide steps out of his sickbed and disappears into the brutal, unforgiving Minnesota wilderness that surrounds his hometown of Gunflint. It's not the first time Harry has vanished. Thirty-odd years earlier, in 1963, he'd fled his marriage with his 18-year-old-son Gustav in tow. He'd promised Gustav a rambunctious adventure, two men taking on the woods in winter. With Harry gone for the second (and last) time, unable to survive the woods he'd once braved, his son Gus, now grown, sets out to relate the story of their first disappearance to Berit Lovig, an old woman who shares a special, if turbulent, bond with Harry.
Vintage | 9781101969991
THE WINTER FORTRESS: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb by Neal Bascomb (History)
It’s 1942, and the Nazis are racing to be the first to build a weapon unlike any known before. All their plans depend on amassing a single ingredient: heavy water, which is produced in Norway’s Vemork, the lone plant in all the world that makes this rare substance. Under threat of death, Vemork’s engineers push production into overdrive. For the Allies, the plant must be destroyed. But how would they reach the castle fortress set on a precipitous gorge in one of the coldest, most inhospitable places on Earth?
Mariner Books | 9780544947290
THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE: A Bosch Novel by Michael Connelly (Thriller)
One of Southern California's biggest moguls is nearing the end of his life and is haunted by one regret. When he was young, he had a relationship with a Mexican girl, his great love. But soon after becoming pregnant, she disappeared. Did she have the baby? And if so, what happened to it? Desperate to know if he has an heir, the dying magnate hires Harry Bosch, California's newest private investigator. As he begins to uncover the haunting story --- and finds uncanny links to his own past --- Harry knows he cannot rest until he finds the truth. At the same time, he finds himself tracking a serial rapist who is one of the most baffling and dangerous foes he has ever faced.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455524211
On Sale the Week of May 22nd in Hardcover
May 23rd
BLACK MAD WHEEL by Josh Malerman (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
The Danes are a washed-up band, eager to once again have a number one hit. That is, until an agent from the US Army approaches them. Will they travel to an African desert and track down the source of a mysterious and malevolent sound? So they embark on a harrowing journey through the scorching desert --- a trip that takes their front man, Philip Tonka, into the heart of an ominous and twisted conspiracy. Meanwhile, a nurse named Ellen tends to a patient recovering from a near-fatal accident. The circumstances that led to his injuries are mysterious --- and his body heals at a remarkable rate. Ellen will do the impossible for this enigmatic patient, who reveals more about his accident with each passing day.
Ecco | 9780062259684
CHEMISTRY by Weike Wang (Fiction)
Three years into her graduate studies at a demanding Boston university, our unnamed narrator finds that her one-time love for chemistry is more hypothesis than reality. But there's another, nonscientific question looming: the marriage proposal from her devoted boyfriend, a fellow scientist, whose path through academia has been relatively free of obstacles, and with whom she can't make a life before finding success on her own. Eventually, the pressure mounts so high that she must leave everything she thought she knew about her future, and herself, behind. And for the first time, she's confronted with a question she won't find the answer to in a textbook: What do I really want?
Knopf | 9781524731748
DRAGON TEETH by Michael Crichton (Historical Thriller/Adventure)
In 1876, two monomaniacal paleontologists pillage the Wild West, hunting for dinosaur fossils, while surveilling, deceiving and sabotaging each other in a rivalry that will come to be known as the Bone Wars. Into this treacherous territory plunges the arrogant and entitled William Johnson, a Yale student who has joined world-renowned paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on his latest expedition. But when the paranoid and secretive Marsh becomes convinced that William is spying for his nemesis, Edward Drinker Cope, he abandons him in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a locus of crime and vice. William is forced to join forces with Cope and soon stumbles upon a discovery of historic proportions.
Harper | 9780062473356
ENEMY OF THE GOOD by Matthew Palmer (Thriller)
Katarina “Kate” Hollister is a second-generation Foreign Service officer, recently assigned to Kyrgyzstan. U.S. authorities have been negotiating with the Kyrgyz president on the lease of a massive airbase that would significantly expand the American footprint in Central Asia. The negotiations are controversial in the U.S. because of the Kyrgyz regime’s abysmal human-rights record. Amid these events, Kate’s uncle assigns her to infiltrate an underground democracy movement that has been sabotaging Kyrgyz security services and regime supporters. But it soon becomes clear that nothing about Kate’s mission is as it seems --- and that she might need to lay her life on the line for what she knows is right.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399175022
THE FROZEN HOURS: A Novel of the Korean War by Jeff Shaara (Historical Fiction)
The North Korean army invades South Korea in June 1950, intent on uniting the country under Communist rule. In response, the United States mobilizes a force to defend the overmatched South Korean troops, and together they drive the North Koreans back to their border with China. But several hundred thousand Chinese troops have entered Korea, laying massive traps for the Allies. In November 1950, the Chinese spring those traps. Allied forces, already battling stunningly cold weather, find themselves caught completely off guard as the Chinese advance around the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. A force that once stood on the precipice of victory now finds itself on the brink of annihilation.
Ballantine Books | 9780345549228
A GOOD COUNTRY by Laleh Khadivi (Fiction)
Laguna Beach, California, 2010. Alireza Courdee, a 14-year-old straight-A student and chemistry whiz, takes his first hit of pot. In as long as it takes to inhale and exhale, he is transformed from the high-achieving son of Iranian immigrants into a happy-go-lucky stoner. For the first time, Reza --- now Rez --- feels like an American teen. But then he changes again, falling out with the bad boy surfers and in with a group of kids more awake to the world around them, who share his background, and whose ideas fill him with a very different sense of purpose. Within a year, Reza and his girlfriend are making their way to Syria to be part of a Muslim nation rising from the ashes of the civil war.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781632865847
THE HEIRS by Susan Rieger (Fiction)
Six months after Rupert Falkes dies, leaving a grieving widow and five adult sons, an unknown woman sues his estate, claiming she had two sons by him. The Falkes brothers are pitched into turmoil, at once missing their father and feeling betrayed by him. In disconcerting contrast, their mother, Eleanor, is cool and calm, showing preternatural composure. Struggling to reclaim their identity, the brothers find Eleanor’s sympathy toward the woman and her sons confounding. Widowhood has let her cast off the rigid propriety of her stifling upbringing, and the brothers begin to question whether they knew either of their parents at all.
Crown | 9781101904718
ISADORA by Amelia Gray (Historical Fiction)
In 1913, the restless world sat on the brink of unimaginable suffering. But for one woman, the darkness of a new era had already made itself at home. Isadora Duncan would come to be known as the mother of modern dance, but in the spring of 1913 she was a grieving mother, after a freak accident in Paris resulted in the drowning death of her two young children. The accident cracked Isadora’s life in two: on one side, the brilliant young talent who captivated audiences the world over; on the other, a heartbroken mother spinning dangerously on the edge of sanity.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374279981
THE LONG DROP by Denise Mina (Historical/Psychological Thriller)
In 1950s Glasgow, a household of women were found slaughtered in their beds. The father, William Watt, had a cast iron alibi, but police were convinced he was guilty. Determined to clear his name, Watt let it be known that he would pay for information. Step forward career criminal Peter Manuel, with compelling details only the murderer could know. Watt agreed to meet him. They spent 12 hours together, driving and drinking in Glasgow pubs and clubs. No one knows what happened that night. The next time they met was in the High Court where Manuel was defending himself against the murder charges. He called Watt as a witness and quizzed him about their long, shady night together.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316380577
THE ONLY CHILD by Andrew Pyper (Gothic Horror/Thriller)
Dr. Lily Dominick has evaluated the mental states of some of the country’s most dangerous psychotics. But the strangely compelling client she interviewed today struck her as somehow different from the others, despite the two impossible claims he made. First, that he is more than 200 years old and personally inspired Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson and Bram Stoker in creating the three novels of the 19th century that define the monstrous in the modern imagination. Second, that he’s Lily’s father. To discover the truth --- behind her client, her mother’s death and herself --- Dr. Dominick must embark on a journey that will threaten her career, her sanity and ultimately her life.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476755212
RICH PEOPLE PROBLEMS by Kevin Kwan (Fiction)
When Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her deathbed, he rushes to be by her bedside. The entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners of the globe to stake claim on their matriarch’s massive fortune. As her relatives fight over heirlooms, Astrid Leong is at the center of her own storm, desperately in love with her old sweetheart Charlie Wu, but tormented by her ex-husband --- a man hell bent on destroying Astrid’s reputation and relationship. Meanwhile, Kitty Pong, married to China’s second richest man, billionaire Jack Bing, still feels second best next to her new step-daughter, famous fashionista Colette Bing.
Doubleday | 9780385542234
SHADOW MAN by Alan Drew (Psychological Suspense)
Detective Ben Wade has returned to his hometown of Rancho Santa Elena in search of a quieter life and to try to save his marriage. Suddenly the community, with its peaceful streets and excellent public schools, finds itself at the mercy of a serial killer who slips through windows and screen doors at night. As Ben and forensic specialist Natasha Betencourt struggle to stay one step ahead of the killer --- and deal with painful episodes in the past --- Ben’s own world is rocked again by violence. He must decide how far he is willing to go, and Natasha how much she is willing to risk, to protect their friendship and themselves to rescue the town from a psychotic murderer and a long-buried secret.
Random House | 9781400067800
May 25th
SHORTGRASS: A Novel of World War II by John J. Dwyer (Historical Fiction)
Mennonite farm boy Lance Roark’s faith is as big as the challenges he faces on his family’s drought-ravaged Dust Bowl spread on the old Chisholm Trail. He can also run over, around and away from people on the football field and is a natural-born aviator. As war clouds gather across the seas, Lance is drawn into the dangerous world of America First, the Lindbergh-led organization that opposes the popular Roosevelt’s covert drive toward American involvement in World War II. When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Lance faces his ultimate decision --- whether or not to accept command of a B-17 Flying Fortress in which he would face, and inflict, mass slaughter in Nazi-occupied Europe amidst history’s most fearsome war.
Oghma Creative Media | 9781633732032
On Sale the Week of May 22nd in Paperback
May 23rd
ALLIE AND BEA by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Bea barely has been scraping by since her husband died. After falling for a telephone scam, she loses everything and is forced to abandon her trailer. With only two-thirds of a tank in her old van, she heads toward the Pacific Ocean with her cat --- on a mission to reclaim what’s rightfully hers, even if it means making others pay for what she lost. When 15-year-old Allie’s parents are jailed for tax fraud, she is sent to a group home. But when her life is threatened by another resident, she knows she has to get out. She escapes only to find she has nowhere to go --- until fate throws Allie in Bea’s path.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781477819715
BREAKING ROCKEFELLER: The Incredible Story of the Ambitious Rivals Who Toppled an Oil Empire by Peter B. Doran (History)
Marcus Samuel, Jr. is an unorthodox Jewish merchant trader. Henri Deterding is a take-no-prisoners oilman. In 1889, John D. Rockefeller is at the peak of his power. Having annihilated all competition and possessing near-total domination of the market, even the U.S. government is wary of challenging the great “anaconda” of Standard Oil. The Standard never loses --- that is until Samuel and Deterding team up to form Royal Dutch Shell. BREAKING ROCKEFELLER traces Samuel’s rise from outsider to the heights of the British aristocracy, Deterding’s conquest of America, and the collapse of Rockefeller’s monopoly.
Penguin Books | 9780143130000
CROSS THE LINE by James Patterson (Thriller)
Shots ring out in the early morning hours in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. When the smoke clears, a prominent police official lies dead, leaving the city's police force scrambling for answers. Under pressure from the mayor, Alex Cross steps into the leadership vacuum to crack the case. But before Cross can make any headway, a brutal crime wave sweeps across the region. The deadly scenes share only one common thread --- the victims are all criminals. As Cross pursues an adversary who has appointed himself judge, jury and executioner, he must take the law back into his own hands before the city he's sworn to protect descends into utter chaos.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455585311
CURIOUS MINDS: A Knight and Moon Novel by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton (Mystery/Thriller)
Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he’s also brilliant, rich and (some people might say) handsome, or he’d probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight. What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country.
Bantam | 9780553392708
FOREIGN AGENT by Brad Thor (Thriller)
As a child, Sacha Baseyev endured an unimaginable horror. Today, he lives and breathes for only one reason --- to kill. And he will kill as many Americans as it takes to accomplish his mission. When a clandestine American operations team is ambushed near Syria, all signs point toward a dangerous informant in Brussels. But as Scot Harvath searches for the man, he uncovers another actor --- a rogue player hell-bent on forcing America’s hand and drawing it into a confrontation deadlier than anyone could have imagined.
Pocket Books | 9781476789361
THE GRAVEYARD OF THE HESPERIDES: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis (Historical Mystery)
In first-century Rome, Flavia Albia, the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken up her father's former profession as an informer. Her beloved, the plebeian Manlius Faustus, has recently moved in and decided that they should get married in a big, showy ceremony as part of beginning a proper domestic life together. Also, his contracting firm has been renovating a rundown dive bar called The Garden of the Hesperides, only to uncover human remains buried in the backyard. In the choice between planning a wedding and looking into a crime from long ago, Albia would much rather investigate a possible murder. Or murders, as more and more remains are uncovered, revealing that something truly horrible has been going on at the Hesperides.
Minotaur Books | 9781250131157
THE ISLAND HOUSE by Nancy Thayer (Fiction)
Courtney Hendricks will never forget the magical summers she spent on Nantucket with her college roommate, Robin Vickerey, and Robin’s charismatic, turbulent, larger-than-life family in their gorgeous island house. Now a college English professor in Kansas City, Courtney is determined to experience one more summer in this sun-swept paradise. Her reason for going is personal: Courtney needs to know if Robin’s brother, James, shares the feelings she’s secretly had for him. Time with the Vickerey family always involves love and laughter, and this season is no different.
Ballantine Books | 9781101967058
THE LADY TRAVELERS GUIDE TO SCOUNDRELS AND OTHER GENTLEMEN by Victoria Alexander (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
When Derek Saunders' favorite elderly aunt and her ill-conceived --- and possibly fraudulent --- Lady Travelers Society loses one of their members, what's a man to do but step up to the challenge? Now he's escorting the world's most maddening woman to the world's most romantic city to find her missing relative. While India Prendergast only suspects his organization defrauds gullible travelers, she's certain a man with as scandalous a reputation as Derek Saunders cannot be trusted any farther than the distance around his very broad shoulders. Instead of finding a lost lady traveler, India just may lose her head, her luggage and her heart.
HQN Books | 9780373803989
THE LAST DAYS OF NIGHT by Graham Moore (Historical Thriller)
New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history --- and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country? As Paul takes greater and greater risks, he’ll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812988925
LEONARD: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man by William Shatner with David Fisher (Biography)
Thanks to the “Star Trek” TV and movie franchise, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner grew to know each other more than most friends could ever imagine. Over the course of half a century, they saw each other through personal and professional highs and lows. In LEONARD, Shatner tells the story of a man who was his friend for five decades, recounting anecdotes and untold stories of their lives on and off set, as well as gathering stories from others who knew Nimoy well, to present a full picture of a rich life.
A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin’s Griffin | 97812500864
MacARTHUR AT WAR: World War II in the Pacific by Walter R. Borneman (History)
World War II changed the course of history. Douglas MacArthur changed the course of World War II. MacARTHUR AT WAR goes deeper into this transformative period of his life than previous biographies, drilling into the military strategy that Walter R. Borneman is so skilled at conveying, and exploring how personality and ego translate into military successes and failures. This in-depth study of the most critical period of his career shows how MacArthur's influence spread far beyond the war-torn Pacific.
Back Bay Books | 9780316405331
THE MIRACLE ON MONHEGAN ISLAND by Elizabeth Kelly (Fiction)
When Spark --- the rakish prodigal son --- returns unannounced to the dilapidated family home, his arrival launches an unforgettable summer on Monhegan Island. During his absence, his gentle brother and shrewd, fork-tongued father, Pastor Ragnar, have been caring for Spark’s son, Hally. A temperamental adolescent emboldened by tales of his father’s mischief, Hally is careening through an identity crisis when he stuns his family by claiming to have had a spiritual vision. Though Spark is permanently dubious, Pastor Ragnar pounces on the chance to revitalize his flagging church. Hally is shoved into the spotlight, and in the frenzy that follows, this fragile family is pushed to the brink.
Liveright | 9781631492976
PAPER: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (History)
Paper is one of the simplest and most essential pieces of human technology. For the past two millennia, the ability to produce it in ever more efficient ways has supported the proliferation of literacy, media, religion, education, commerce and art; it has formed the foundation of civilizations, promoting revolutions and restoring stability. By tracing paper’s evolution from antiquity to the present, with an emphasis on the contributions made in Asia and the Middle East, Mark Kurlansky challenges common assumptions about technology’s influence, affirming that paper is here to stay.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393353709
THE PERFECT HORSE: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis by Elizabeth Letts (History)
In the chaotic last days of World War II, a small troop of battle-weary American soldiers captures a German spy and makes an astonishing find --- his briefcase is empty but for photos of beautiful white horses that have been stolen and kept on a secret farm behind enemy lines. Hitler has stockpiled the world’s finest purebreds in order to breed the perfect military machine --- an equine master race. But with the starving Russian army closing in, the animals are in imminent danger of being slaughtered for food. With only hours to spare, one of the Army’s last great cavalrymen, American colonel Hank Reed, makes a bold decision --- with General George Patton’s blessing --- to mount a covert rescue operation.
Ballantine Books | 9780345544827
THE POLITICIANS AND THE EGALITARIANS: The Hidden History of American Politics by Sean Wilentz (History/Politics)
“There are two keys to unlocking the secrets of American politics and American political history.” So begins THE POLITICIANS AND THE EGALITARIANS, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz’s bold new work of history. First, America is built on an egalitarian tradition. At the nation’s founding, Americans believed that extremes of wealth and want would destroy their revolutionary experiment in republican government. Second, partisanship is a permanent fixture in America, and America is the better for it. With these two insights, Wilentz offers a crystal-clear portrait of American history, told through politicians and egalitarians --- a portrait that runs counter to current political and historical thinking.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393354133
ROUGH RIDERS: Theodore Roosevelt, His Cowboy Regiment, and the Immortal Charge Up San Juan Hill by Mark Lee Gardner (History)
Two months after the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February 1898, Congress authorized President McKinley to recruit a volunteer army to drive the Spaniards from Cuba. From this army emerged the legendary “Rough Riders,” a mounted regiment drawn from America’s western territories and led by the indomitable Theodore Roosevelt. Mark Lee Gardner synthesizes previously unknown primary accounts, as well as period newspaper articles, letters and diaries from public and private archives in Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Boston and Washington, DC, to produce this authoritative chronicle.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062312099
SECURITY by Gina Wohlsdorf (Thriller)
Manderley Resort is a gleaming, new 20-story hotel on the California coast. It’s about to open its doors, and the world --- at least those with the means to afford it --- will be welcomed into a palace of opulence and unparalleled security. But someone is determined that Manderley will never open. The staff has no idea that their every move is being watched, and over the next 12 hours they will be killed off, one by one.
Algonquin Books | 9781616206932
A TIME OF TORMENT: A Charlie Parker Thriller by John Connolly (Thriller)
Jerome Burnel was once a hero. He intervened to prevent multiple killings, but destroyed himself in the process. In his final days, he tells his story to private detective Charlie Parker. He speaks of the girl who was marked for death, but was saved; of the ones who tormented him, and an entity that hides in a ruined stockade. Parker is not like other men. He died and was reborn. He is ready to wage war. Now he will descend upon a strange, isolated community called the Cut, and face down a force of men who rule by terror, intimidation and murder. All in the name of the being they serve. All in the name of the Dead King.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501118333
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