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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 7th and August 14th 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 latest poll --- "Which fiction titles releasing in August are you planning to read?" --- and our Word of Mouth contest, where you can win THE GOOD DAUGHTER by Karin Slaughter and A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE by Shari Lapena.
If you missed Carol Fitzgerald's latest Bookreporter.com Bets On selections in last week's Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter, be sure to click on the covers above for her commentary on THE LYING GAME by Ruth Ware, THE MARRIAGE PACT by Michelle Richmond, and THE ADDRESS by Fiona Davis.
We also are featuring RED LIGHT RUN, a debut from Best New American Voices writer Baird Harper, which is made up of 11 tightly linked stories that pull us into the inner lives of its characters to untangle the mounting forces that carry them to their fates.
Finally, we continue to spotlight Algonquin Books' "All Summer Long" promotion, which features exciting giveaways throughout the summer. Each week, you have the chance to win a new book from Algonquin and a tote bag.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Now Available: RED LIGHT RUN by Baird Harper
RED LIGHT RUN: Linked Stories by Baird Harper (Fiction/Short Stories)
When two cars collide at an intersection in a leafy Chicago suburb, Hartley Nolan is not the person police expect to find behind the wheel. After all, he barely drinks; everyone knows it’s his wife who’s the alcoholic. But the bigger question on people’s minds is what brought Sonia Senn, dead at the scene, back to her hometown in such a hurry that night? A brilliant feat of storytelling, RED LIGHT RUN is the radiant and stunning debut from Best New American Voices writer Baird Harper.
“Baird Harper’s passionate and recalcitrant characters struggle both to remember and to forget the events surrounding a fatal accident in a small town. His stories conjure a world half-known and half-understood in which there are no easy answers to the questions of guilt, blame, and forgiveness. This is a dazzling and absorbing collection.”
– Margot Livesey, author of MERCURY and THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY
Click here to read more about the book.
Read Algonquin, All Summer Long:
Win a Book & Tote Bag
Every week of summer, Algonquin Books is highlighting an exciting new book, giving you the chance to win it along with a very cool "All Summer Long" tote bag. Yeah, summer reading just got a whole lot cooler.
This week, Algonquin Books is featuring SHADOW OF THE LIONS, the boarding school thriller that is a summer must-read! The Wall Street Journal says Christopher Swann’s debut novel “comes alive with action and intrigue.” When Matthias returns to his alma mater as a teacher, he gets swiftly drawn into the past and finds himself driven to find out what happened to his long-missing best friend, Fritz. An Amazon Best Book of the Month, this page-turner is a moving coming-of-age story that is as much about the mystery as it is about the redemption of a broken friendship and a lost soul.
Enter for a chance to win a book
and a special, limited-edition tote bag every week!
This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's Latest Poll
and Word of Mouth Contest
Poll
Which fiction titles releasing in August are you planning to read? Please check all that apply.
Click here to vote in the poll by Friday, August 18th at noon ET.
Word of Mouth
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from August 4th to August 18th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of THE GOOD DAUGHTER by Karin Slaughter and A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE by Shari Lapena.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of August 7th in Hardcover
August 8th
ALL IS BEAUTY NOW by Sarah Faber (Historical Fiction)
A glamorous family prepares to leave the seeming paradise of Brazil for Canada in the wake of the presumed drowning of their eldest daughter a year earlier. We meet the family's brilliant and charismatic father, whose bipolar extremes are becoming increasingly disturbing; his long-suffering wife, who once had a brief affair that proves to have shattering consequences for the family she swore to protect; their two remaining daughters, both on the brink of understanding the darker currents that run in their once-proud family; and the lost daughter herself, a beautiful young woman undone by her own grand delusions.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316394963
THE AMBER SHADOWS by Lucy Ribchester (Historical Mystery)
As World War II rages on, Honey Deschamps tediously transcribes decrypted signals from the German Army, doing her part to assist the British war effort. Halfway across the world, Hitler’s armies are marching into Leningrad, leaving a trail of destruction and pillaging the country’s most treasured artworks, including the famous Amber Room. As reports begin filtering into Bletchley Park about the stolen loot, Honey receives a mysterious package postmarked from Russia. Inside is a small piece of amber, and it is just the first of several such packages. When she examines them together, she realizes that someone, relying on her abilities to unravel codes, is trying to tell her something.
Pegasus Books | 9781681774480
AMONG THE DEAD: A Rachel Carver Mystery by J .R. Backlund (Mystery)
Former North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation agent Rachel Carver blames herself for the collateral death of an innocent woman in her last case. Unable to accept her superior’s attempts to cover up the incident, she turned in her badge. But when a former partner asks her to lead a group of inexperienced detectives on a hunt for the killer, she reluctantly agrees. The trek has hardly begun when what seems to be the act of a loner proves to be much more as Rachel's team comes under attack --- and a detective is killed in the fallout. Just as she delves into the town’s past, Rachel discovers a secret history that connects the victims --- one that makes her the target of a man who would kill to keep it a secret.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683312734
ANY DREAM WILL DO by Debbie Macomber (Fiction)
Shay Benson adored her younger brother, Caden, and that got her into trouble. Pastor Drew Douglas adored his wife. But when he lost her, it was all he could do to focus on his two beautiful kids, and his flock came in a distant third. Shay and Drew meet in church one day and strike up a friendship that, over time, turns into something deeper and possibly romantic. Shay learns to trust again as she, in turn, proves herself trustworthy to her adopted community. But Caden’s return to town and a disastrous secret threaten to undo the life Shay has tried so hard to rebuild. It will take the utmost courage and faith if she and Drew hope to find healing and open their hearts to a brighter future.
Ballantine Books | 9780399181191
BARELY LEGAL: A Herbie Fisher Novel Featuring Stone Barrington by Stuart Woods and Parnell Hall (Thriller/Adventure)
Under the tutelage of Stone Barrington, Herbie Fisher has transformed from a bumbling sad sack into a capable man about town and the youngest partner at the white shoe law firm Woodman & Weld. Now all of his training will be put to the test as he finds himself embroiled in his most daring adventure to date.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735217232
BIBLIOMYSTERIES: Stories of Crime in the World of Books and Bookstores edited by Otto Penzler (Mystery/Short Stories)
If you open your dictionary, you will discover that there is no such word as “bibliomystery.” However, most mystery readers know that the word refers to a mystery story that involves the world of books: a bookshop, a rare volume, a library, a collector or a bookseller. The stories in this unique collection were commissioned by the Mysterious Bookshop and were written by some of the mystery genre’s most distinguished authors --- tough guys like Ken Bruen, Reed Farrel Coleman, Loren D. Estleman, and Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; bestsellers like Nelson DeMille, Anne Perry and Jeffery Deaver; and Edgar winners such as C. J. Box, Thomas H. Cook and Laura Lippman.
Pegasus Books | 9781681774589
THE COLOR OF FEAR: A Sharon McCone Mystery by Marcia Muller (Mystery)
Sharon McCone learns that her father has been the victim of a vicious, racially motivated attack. A nationally recognized Shoshone artist, Elwood had been visiting Sharon for the holidays, browsing for gifts in San Francisco's exclusive Marina district when he was set upon by a mob of angry young men. Now he lies in a coma, hovering between life and death. With little progress on the investigation from the overworked, short-handed police, Sharon resolves to track down Elwood's attackers herself. But when she begins receiving hate-filled, racist threats from a shadowy group, it becomes clear that her pursuit of justice may be putting her own life in jeopardy.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455538928
THE DRIVER by Hart Hanson (Thriller)
Michael Skellig is a limo driver waiting for his client in the alley behind an upscale hotel. Suddenly the wind begins to speak to Skellig in the guttural accent of the Chechen torturer he shot through the eye in Yemen a decade ago: Troubletroubletrouble. Skellig has heard these warnings before --- he’s an Army Special Forces sergeant whose limo company is staffed by a ragtag band of wounded veterans. He runs inside just in time to save Avila from two gunmen but too late for one of Avila’s bodyguards --- and wakes up hours later in the hospital, the only person of interest in custody for the murder. Avila is willing to help clear Skellig’s name under one peculiar condition: that Skellig become Avila’s personal chauffeur.
Dutton | 9781101986363
EMMA IN THE NIGHT by Wendy Walker (Psychological Thriller)
One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: 15-year-old Cass and 17-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family, Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250141439
THE GOOD DAUGHTER by Karin Slaughter (Psychological Thriller)
Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead and their father, Pikeville's notorious defense attorney, devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night. Twenty-eight years later, Charlie has followed in her father's footsteps to become a lawyer herself. But when violence comes to Pikeville again --- and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized --- Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. The shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly 30 years ago won't stay buried forever.
William Morrow | 9780062430243
THE GREAT QUAKE: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet by Henry Fountain (History)
At 5:36pm on March 27, 1964, a magnitude 9.2. earthquake --- the second most powerful in world history --- struck the young state of Alaska. The violent shaking, followed by massive tsunamis, devastated the southern half of the state and killed more than 130 people. A day later, George Plafker, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, arrived to investigate. His fascinating scientific detective work in the months that followed helped confirm the then-controversial theory of plate tectonics. With deep, on-the-ground reporting from Alaska, often in the company of George Plafker, Fountain shows how the earthquake left its mark on the land and its people --- and on science.
Crown | 9781101904060
THE LAST TUDOR by Philippa Gregory (Historical Fiction)
Seventeen-year-old Jane Grey was queen of England for nine days. Her father and his allies crowned her instead of the dead king’s half-sister Mary Tudor, who quickly mustered an army, claimed her throne, and locked Jane in the Tower of London. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner’s block, where Jane transformed her father’s greedy power-grab into tragic martyrdom. Meanwhile, Jane’s sister, Katherine, faces imprisonment in the Tower when her pregnancy betrays her secret marriage. What will happen when the youngest Grey sister, Mary --- the last Tudor --- defies her ruthless and unforgiving cousin Queen Elizabeth?
Touchstone | 9781476758763
THE LOCALS by Jonathan Dee (Fiction)
Mark Firth is a contractor and home restorer in Howland, Massachusetts, who feels opportunity passing his family by. After being swindled by a financial advisor, what future can Mark promise his wife and their young daughter? He finds himself envying the wealthy weekenders in his community whose houses sit empty all winter. Philip Hadi used to be one of these people. But in the nervous days after 9/11, he flees New York and hires Mark to turn his Howland home into a year-round “secure location” from which he can manage billions of dollars of other people’s money. The collision of these two men’s very different worlds --- rural vs. urban, middle class vs. wealthy --- is the engine of Jonathan Dee’s new novel.
Random House | 9780812993226
THE MISFORTUNE OF MARION PALM by Emily Culliton (Fiction)
Marion Palm prefers not to think of herself as a thief but rather "a woman who embezzles." Over the years she has managed to steal $180,000 from her daughters' private school, money that has paid for European vacations, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, and perpetually unused state-of-the-art exercise equipment. But now, when the school faces an audit, Marion pulls piles of rubber-banded cash from their basement hiding places and flees, leaving her family to grapple with the baffled detectives, the irate school board, and the mother-shaped hole in their house.
Knopf | 9781524731908
OF MESS AND MOXIE: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker (Humor/Relationships)
Jen Hatmaker --- beloved author, Big Sister Emeritus and Chief BFF --- offers another round of hilarious tales, frank honesty and hope for the woman who has forgotten her moxie. Whether discussing the grapple with change or the time she drove to the wrong city for a fourth-grade field trip, Jen parlays her own triumphs and tragedies into a sigh of relief for all normal, fierce women everywhere who, like her, sometimes hide in the car eating crackers but also want to get back up and get back out, to live undaunted “in the moment” no matter what the moments hold.
Thomas Nelson | 9780718031848
REBELLION by Molly Patterson (Fiction)
In 1900, Addie, an American missionary in China, goes missing during the Boxer Rebellion. Her sister Louisa anticipates tragedy, certain that Addie’s fate is intertwined with her own legacy of loss. In 1958, Louisa’s daughter Hazel has her world upended by the untimely death of her husband. Yet even while she learns to enjoy her independence, Hazel realizes that the tradeoff for some freedoms is more precious than expected. Nearly half a century later, Juanlan has returned to her parents’ home in Heng’an. Her father is ill, and her sister-in-law is soon to give birth. Frustrated by obligation and the smallness of her own dreams, Juanlan at last dares to follow desire, only to discover an anger that cannot be contained.
Harper | 9780062574046
RED LIGHT RUN: Linked Stories by Baird Harper (Fiction/Short Stories)
When two cars collide at an intersection in a leafy Chicago suburb, Hartley Nolan is not the person police expect to find behind the wheel. After all, he barely drinks; everyone knows it’s his wife who’s the alcoholic. But the bigger question on people’s minds is what brought Sonia Senn, dead at the scene, back to her hometown in such a hurry that night? In 11 tightly linked stories, RED LIGHT RUN pulls us into the inner lives of Hartley, Sonia and a host of other characters to untangle the mounting forces that carry them to their fates.
Scribner | 9781501147357
THE TALENTED RIBKINS by Ladee Hubbard (Fiction)
Johnny Ribkins has just one week to come up with the money he stole from his mobster boss or it’s curtains. What may or may not be useful to him as he flees is that he comes from an African-American family that has been gifted with very odd superpowers. In the old days, the Ribkins family tried to apply their gifts to the civil rights effort, calling themselves The Justice Committee. But when their superpowers proved insufficient, the group fell apart. Out of frustration, Johnny and his brother used their talents to stage a series of burglaries. Now Johnny is on a race against the clock to dig up loot he's stashed all over Florida, and he has an unexpected sidekick: his brother's daughter, Eloise, who has a special superpower of her own.
Melville House | 9781612196367
THE WALLS by Hollie Overton (Psychological Thriller)
Working on death row is far from Kristy Tucker's dream, but she is grateful for a job that allows her to support her son and ailing father. When she meets Lance Dobson, Kristy begins to imagine a different kind of future. After their wedding, though, she finds herself serving her own life sentence --- one of abuse and constant terror. But Kristy is a survivor, and as Lance's violence escalates, the inmates she's worked with have planted an idea she simply can't shake. Now she must decide whether she'll risk everything to protect her family.
Redhook | 9780316268769
On Sale the Week of August 7th in Paperback
August 8th
THE AWARD by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
In 1940, the year Gaëlle de Barbet turned 16, the German Army moved in to occupy France and issued an edict that made clear its position about Jews. By 1944, Gaëlle had lost her brother and father --- a member of the Resistance --- as well as her closest friend. Fueled by her loss, Gaëlle risks her own life to bring Jewish children to safety, and later to salvage France’s great works of art. While Gaëlle goes on to have a rich and fulfilling life in the years following, she speaks little of her wartime experience. Until 77 years later, when her granddaughter succeeds in getting her named as a recipient of the Legion of Honor Medal.
Dell | 9781101883877
THE BLACK KACHINA by Jack Getze (Thriller/Adventure)
Paperback Original
When a top-secret weapon goes missing on Colonel Maggie Black's watch, her honor and her career are on the line. But finding her experimental missile won't be easy --- thanks to the revenge-fueled ambitions of Asdrubal Torres, whose hallucinatory encounter with the Great Spirit challenges him to refill Lake Cahuilla, the ancient inland sea that once covered much of southern California. To fulfill his blessed mission, Torres needs wizardry and weaponry, and the Great Spirit provides both. It turns into a race against time for Maggie and Jordan, who together must stop Torres from destroying Hoover Dam --- and turning the Colorado River into a tsunami that would kill hundreds of thousands and wipe out the Southwest's water supply.
Down & Out Books | 9781943402694
CRUEL BEAUTIFUL WORLD by Caroline Leavitt (Historical Fiction)
Sixteen-year-old Lucy Gold is about to run away with a much older man to live off the grid in rural Pennsylvania, a rash act that will have vicious repercussions for both her and her older sister, Charlotte. As Lucy’s default parent for most of their lives, Charlotte has seen her youth marked by the burden of responsibility, but never more so than when Lucy’s dream of a rural paradise turns into a nightmare.
Algonquin Books | 9781616207373
THE GERMAN GIRL by Armando Lucas Correa (Fiction)
In 1939, barred from places that once felt like home and stripped of their possessions, Hannah Rosenthal and her best friend Leo Martin make a pact: Come what may, they promise to have a future together. A chance to have that future appears in the form of the St. Louis, a transatlantic liner that can supposedly provide Jews safe passage to Cuba. Seven decades later, Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, a great aunt she has never met. She and her mother travel to Havana to meet her, and learn the story of how Hannah and Leo honored the solemn pact they made.
Washington Square Press | 9781501121234
THE GIRL WITH THE LOWER BACK TATTOO by Amy Schumer (Humor/Essays)
In THE GIRL WITH THE LOWER BACK TATTOO, Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress and writer Amy Schumer mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships and sex, and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is --- a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh. Ranging from the raucous to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing, this highly entertaining and universally appealing collection is the literary equivalent of a night out with your best friend.
Gallery Books | 9781501139895
HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT by Kaui Hart Hemmings (Fiction)
When Mele Bart told her boyfriend Bobby she was pregnant with his child, he revealed to her that he was engaged to someone else. Fast forward two years, Mele’s daughter is a toddler, and Bobby and his fiancée want Ellie to be the flower girl at their wedding. Mele, who also has agreed to attend the nuptials, knows she can’t continue obsessing about Bobby and his cheese-making, Napa-residing fiancée. So she answers a questionnaire provided by the San Francisco Mommy Club in elaborate and shocking detail and decides to enter their cookbook writing contest. As the wedding date approaches, Mele uses her fellow club members’ stories to both inspire recipes and find comfort.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501100826
KEEP ME POSTED by Lisa Beazley (Fiction)
The once-close Sunday sisters have not done a bang-up job of keeping in touch. Cassie is consumed with trying to make her life work as a Manhattan wife and mom to twin toddlers, while her bighearted sister, Sid, lives an expat’s life of leisure in far-off Singapore. So Sid, who shuns social media, challenges Cassie to reconnect through old-fashioned letters. Soon, the letters become a kind of mutual confessional that have real and soul-satisfying effects. They just might have the power to help Cassie save her marriage, and give Sid the strength to get her life back on track. But first, one of Cassie’s infamous lapses in judgment comes back to bite her, and all of the letters wind up in the one place you’d never, ever want to see them: the internet.
Berkley | 9781101989876
A LIFE IN PARTS by Bryan Cranston (Memoir)
In A LIFE IN PARTS, Bryan Cranston traces the many roles he inhabited throughout his remarkable life, both on and off screen. For the first time he shares the story of his early years as an actor on the soap opera “Loving,” his recurring spots on “Seinfeld” and his time as bumbling father Hal on “Malcolm in the Middle,” to his tour-de-force, Tony-winning performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson in Broadway’s “All the Way,” to his most iconic role of all: Walter White of “Breaking Bad” fame.
Scribner | 9781476793870
THE LUSTER OF LOST THINGS by Sophie Chen Keller (Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
Walter Lavender Jr. is a master of finding. A wearer of high-tops. A maker of croissants. A son keeping vigil, 12 years counting. But he wouldn’t be able to tell you. Silenced by his motor speech disorder, Walter’s life gets lonely. Fortunately, he has The Lavenders, his mother’s enchanted dessert shop, where marzipan dragons breathe actual fire. He also has a knack for tracking down any missing thing --- except for his lost father. So when the Book at the root of the bakery’s magic vanishes, Walter, accompanied by his overweight golden retriever, journeys through New York City to find it --- along the way encountering an unforgettable cast of lost souls.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735210783
PERFUME RIVER by Robert Olen Butler (Fiction)
Robert Quinlan is a 70-year-old historian, teaching at Florida State University, where his wife Darla is also tenured. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam War protests, now bears the fractures of time, both personal and historical. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain under the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert’s own family are more apparent. He has almost no relationship with his brother, Jimmy. Their father, a veteran of WWII, is coming to the end of his life. And an unstable homeless man whom Robert at first takes to be a fellow Vietnam veteran turns out to have a deep impact not just on Robert, but on his entire family.
Grove Press | 9780802126955
THE QUIET CHILD by John Burley (Historical/Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
It's the summer of 1954, and the residents of Cottonwood, California are dying. At the center of it all is six-year-old Danny McCray, a strange and silent child who appears to bring ruin to those around him. Even his own mother is plagued by an illness that is slowly consuming her. Sheriff Jim Kent has watched the people of his town suffer, increasingly aware of the whispers and rumors surrounding the boy --- and he worries someone might take drastic action to protect their loved ones. Then a stranger arrives, and Danny and his 10-year-old brother Sean go missing. In the search that follows, everyone is a suspect, and the consequences of finding the two brothers may be worse than not finding them at all.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062431851
THE REGULARS by Georgia Clark (Fiction)
Best friends Evie, Krista and Willow are just trying to make it through their mid-20s in New York. They’re regular girls, with average looks and typical quarter-life crises: making it up the corporate ladder, making sense of online dating, and making rent. Until they come across Pretty, a magic tincture that makes them supermodel gorgeous. And it’s certainly not their fault if the sudden gift of beauty causes unexpected doors to open for them. But there’s a dark side to Pretty, too, and as the gloss fades for these modern-day Cinderellas, there’s just one question left: What would you sacrifice to be Pretty?
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501119606
THE STORY OF KULLERVO written by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Verlyn Flieger (Fantasy)
Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery, he swears revenge on the magician. But he will learn that even at the point of vengeance, there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Published here for the first time with J.R.R. Tolkien’s drafts, notes and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala, THE STORY OF KULLERVO is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world.
Mariner Books | 9780544947245
On Sale the Week of August 14th in Hardcover
August 14th
THE STORE by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo (Thriller)
Jacob and Megan Brandeis have gotten jobs with the mega-successful, ultra-secretive Store. Seems perfect. Seems safe. But their lives are about to become anything but perfect, anything but safe. Especially since Jacob and Megan have a dark secret of their own. They're writing a book that will expose the Store --- a forbidden book, a dangerous book. And if the Store finds out, there's only one thing Jacob, Megan and their kids can do --- run for their bloody lives. Which is probably impossible, because the Store is always watching.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316395458
August 15th
THE DOLL FUNERAL by Kate Hamer (Psychological Thriller)
On Ruby’s 13th birthday, a wish she didn’t even know she had suddenly comes true: the couple who raised her aren’t her parents at all. Her real mother and father are out there somewhere, and Ruby becomes determined to find them. Venturing into the forest with nothing but a suitcase and the company of her only true friend --- the imaginary Shadow Boy --- Ruby discovers a group of siblings who live alone in the woods. The children take her in, and while they offer the closest Ruby’s ever had to a family, Ruby begins to suspect that they might need her even more than she needs them. And it’s not always clear what’s real and what’s not --- or who’s trying to help her and who might be a threat.
Melville House | 9781612196657
ELECTRIC OCTOBER: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever by Kevin Cook (Sports/History)
The 1947 World Series was “the most exciting ever” in the words of Joe DiMaggio, with a decade’s worth of drama packed into seven games between the mighty New York Yankees and underdog Brooklyn Dodgers. For all the star power on display, the outcome hinged on role players. Six men found themselves plucked from obscurity to shine on the sport’s greatest stage. But their fame was fleeting; three would never play another big-league game, and all six would be forgotten. Kevin Cook brings the ’47 Series back to life, introducing us to men whose past offered no hint they were destined for extraordinary things.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250116567
EXPOSED by Lisa Scottoline (Legal Thriller)
Mary DiNunzio wants to represent her old friend Simon Pensiera, a sales rep who was wrongly fired by his company, but her partner Bennie Rosato represents the parent company. When she confronts Mary, explaining this is a conflict of interest, an epic battle of wills and legal strategy between the two ensues --- ripping the law firm apart, forcing everyone to take sides and turning friend against friend.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250099716
GONE TO DUST by Matt Goldman (Mystery)
Suburban divorcee Maggie Somerville was found murdered in her bedroom, her body covered with the dust from hundreds of emptied vacuum cleaner bags, all potential DNA evidence obscured by the calculating killer. Digging into Maggie’s cell phone records, private detective Nils Shapiro finds that the most frequently called number belongs to a mysterious young woman whose true identity could shatter the Somerville family. But could she be guilty of murder? After the FBI demands that Nils drop the case, Nils and neighboring Edina Police Detective Anders Ellegaard are forced to take their investigation underground. Is this a strange case of domestic violence or something with far-reaching, sinister implications?
Forge Books | 9780765391285
HOME FIRE by Kamila Shamsie (Fiction)
Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed. Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to --- or defy. Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined.
Riverhead Books | 9780735217683
HOW TO BEHAVE IN A CROWD by Camille Bordas (Fiction)
Isidore Mazal is 11 years old, the youngest of six siblings living in a small French town. He doesn't quite fit in. Berenice, Aurore and Leonard are on track to have doctorates by age 24. Jeremie performs with a symphony, and Simone, older than Isidore by 18 months, expects a great career as a novelist --- she's already put Isidore to work on her biography. Isidore has never skipped a grade or written a dissertation. But he notices things the others don't and asks questions they fear to ask. So when tragedy strikes the Mazal family, Isidore is the only one to recognize how everyone is struggling with their grief, and perhaps the only one who can help them --- if he doesn't run away from home first.
Tim Duggan Books | 9780451497543
HOW TO FIND LOVE IN A BOOKSHOP by Veronica Henry (Fiction)
Nightingale Books, nestled on the main street in an idyllic little village, is a dream come true for book lovers --- a cozy haven and welcoming getaway for the literary-minded locals. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open after her beloved father’s death, and the temptation to sell is getting stronger. The property developers are circling, yet Emilia's loyal customers have become like family, and she can't imagine breaking the promise she made to her father to keep the store alive.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780735223493
I KNOW A SECRET: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen (Thriller)
Two separate homicides, at different locations, with unrelated victims, have more in common than just being investigated by Boston PD detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. In both cases, the bodies bear startling wounds, yet the actual cause of death is unknown. It’s a doubly challenging case for the cop and the coroner to be taking on. As Jane struggles to save her mother from the crumbling marriage that threatens to bury her, Maura grapples with the imminent death of her own mother --- infamous serial killer Amalthea Lank. While Jane tends to her mother, there’s nothing Maura can do for Amalthea, except endure one final battle of wills with the woman whose shadow has haunted her all her life.
Ballantine Books | 9780345543882
THE MOUNTAIN: Stories by Paul Yoon (Fiction/Short Stories)
Six thematically linked stories take place across several continents and time periods, populated with characters who are connected by their traumatic pasts, newly vagrant lives, and quests for solace in their futures. Though they exist in their own distinct worlds, they are united by the struggle to reconcile their traumatic pasts in the wake of violence. A morphine-addicted nurse wanders through the decimated French countryside in search of purpose; a dissatisfied wife sporadically takes a train across Spain with a much younger man in the wake of a building explosion; a lost young woman emigrates from Korea to Shanghai, where she aimlessly works in a camera sweat shop, trying fruitlessly to outrun the ghosts of her past.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501154089
POETRY WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE: A Memoir by Jill Bialosky (Memoir)
For Jill Bialosky, certain poems stand out like signposts at pivotal moments in a life: the death of a father, adolescence, first love, leaving home, the suicide of a sister, marriage, the birth of a child, the day in New York City the Twin Towers fell. As Bialosky narrates these moments, she illuminates the ways in which particular poems offered insight, compassion and connection, and shows how poetry can be a blueprint for living. In POETRY WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, Bialosky recalls when she encountered each formative poem, and how its importance and meaning evolved over time, allowing new insights and perceptions to emerge.
Atria Books | 9781451693201
A PROMISE TO KILL: A Clyde Barr Novel by Erik Storey (Thriller)
Clyde Barr, the drifter with lethal skills, is alone again, wandering the highways of the American West in search of something to believe in. But when he runs across an elderly sick man --- a Ute Indian from a nearby reservation --- Clyde’s dream of solitude is quickly dashed. On the reservation, Clyde finds the old man’s daughter, Lawana, and grandson, Taylor, as well as a group of menacing bikers called Reapers running wild in the economically depressed, half-abandoned village. As tensions rise between the locals and the Reapers, Clyde’s efforts to protect the reservation become a fight for his, Lawana’s and Taylor’s lives. And then the stakes ratchet up even more.
Scribner | 9781501124181
SEEING RED by Sandra Brown (Thriller)
Twenty-five years ago, Major Franklin Trapper became a national icon when he was photographed leading a handful of survivors to safety after the bombing of a Dallas hotel. For years, he gave frequent speeches and interviews but then suddenly dropped out of the public eye. Now TV journalist Kerra Bailey is willing to use any means necessary to get an exclusive with the Major --- even if she has to secure an introduction from his estranged son, former ATF agent John Trapper. When the interview goes catastrophically awry, Trapper realizes he needs Kerra under wraps if he's going to track down the gunmen and finally discover who was responsible for the Dallas bombing.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455572106
SLEEPING IN THE GROUND: An Inspector Banks Novel by Peter Robinson (Mystery/Thriller)
At the doors of a charming country church, an unspeakable act destroys a wedding party. A huge manhunt ensues. The culprit is captured. The story is over. Except it isn't. For Alan Banks, still struggling with a tragic loss of his own, there's something wrong about this case --- something unresolved. Reteaming with profiler Jenny Fuller, the relentless detective dives deeper into the crime...deep enough to unearth long-buried secrets that reshape everything Banks thought he knew about the events outside that chapel. And when at last the shocking truth becomes clear, it's almost too late.
William Morrow | 9780062395078
A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE by Shari Lapena (Psychological Thriller)
You’re home making dinner for your husband. You expect him any second. The phone rings --- it’s the call you hoped you’d never get. You jump in your car and race to a neighborhood you thought you’d never visit. You peer into the dark, deserted building. You brace yourself for the worst. And then, you remember nothing else. They tell your husband you’ve been in an accident. You lost control of your car as you sped through the worst side of town. The police suspect you were up to no good. But your husband refuses to believe it. Your best friend is not so sure. And even you don’t know what to believe.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780735221123
WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Legal Thriller)
When a cop shoots down the son of a respected inner-city Baptist preacher, the community rises up in anger and demands to have the officer prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But there’s something more than a call for justice at work here: a plot to bring down the city’s police force through a conspiracy so vast and malicious that only Butch Karp and his band of truth-seekers can untangle it.
Gallery Books | 9781476793221
On Sale the Week of August 14th in Paperback
August 15th
CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH by Colleen Oakley (Fiction)
Jubilee Jenkins has a rare condition: she’s allergic to human touch. After a nearly fatal accident, she became reclusive, living in the confines of her home for nine years. But after her mother dies, Jubilee is forced to face the world --- and the people in it --- that she’s been hiding from. She finds safe haven at her local library where she gets a job. It’s there she meets Eric Keegan, a divorced man who recently moved to town with his brilliant, troubled, adopted son. Jubilee is unlike anyone he has ever met, yet he can't understand why she keeps him at arm's length. So Eric sets out to convince Jubilee to open herself and her heart to everything life can offer.
Gallery Books | 9781501139291
THE DAUGHTERS OF IRELAND by Santa Montefiore (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
In the green hills of West Cork, Ireland, Castle Deverill has burned to the ground. But young Celia Deverill is determined to see her ruined ancestral home restored to its former glory --- to the years when Celia ran through its vast halls with her cousin Kitty and their childhood friend Bridie Doyle. Kitty herself is raising a young family, but she longs for Jack O’Leary — the long-ago sweetheart she cannot have. And soon Kitty must make a heartbreaking decision, one that could destroy everything she holds dear. Bridie, once a cook's daughter in Castle Deverill, is now a well-heeled New York City socialite. Yet her celebrity can't erase a past act that haunts her still. Nor can it keep her from seeking revenge upon the woman who wronged her all those years ago.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062456885
DAYS OF NIGHT by Jonathan Stone (Thriller)
Paperback Original
When retired police detective Joe Heller is called in to investigate what might be Antarctica’s first murder, he quickly discovers that winter at McMurdo Station comes with a unique set of challenges. But a difficult investigation turns much tougher when all communication with the outside world is suddenly cut off. While Heller works diligently to reconstruct the scene of the crime, evidence mounts that a pathogenic event could be ravaging the rest of the planet. As night descends, fear mounts and confusion reigns, the killer strikes again. If this is a global cataclysm, is someone now picking off the human race’s few remaining survivors? Is this the end of the world --- or just the end of Joe Heller’s?
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542045841
FORTY AUTUMNS: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner (Memoir)
FORTY AUTUMNS makes visceral the pain and longing of one family forced to live apart in a world divided by two. Here, Nina Willner recounts her family’s story --- five ordinary lives buffeted by circumstances beyond their control. She takes us deep into the tumultuous and terrifying world of East Germany under Communist rule, revealing both the cruel reality her relatives endured and her own experiences as an intelligence officer, running secret operations behind the Berlin Wall that put her life at risk.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062410320
HELL FIRE: An Inspector Sejer Mystery by Karin Fossum (Mystery/Thriller)
A gruesome tableau awaits Inspector Konrad Sejer in the oppressive summer heat: a woman and a young boy lay dead in a pool of blood near a dank trailer. The motivation behind the deaths of Bonnie Hayden and her five-year-old son, Simon, is mysterious. Who would brutally stab a defenseless woman and her child? In a parallel story, another mother, Mass Malthe, navigates life with her adult son, Eddie. It’s a relationship some would call too close, since Eddie’s father, a man he obsesses over, abandoned them many years ago.
Mariner Books | 9780544944398
KAROLINA’S TWINS by Ronald H. Balson (Historical Fiction)
Lena Woodward has lived a comfortable life among Chicago Society since she immigrated to the US and began a new life at the end of World War II. But now something has resurfaced that Lena cannot ignore: an unfulfilled promise she made long ago that can no longer stay buried. Driven to renew the quest that still keeps her awake at night, Lena enlists the help of lawyer Catherine Lockhart and private investigator Liam Taggart. She begins to recount a tale, harkening back to her harrowing past in Nazi-occupied Poland, of the bond she shared with her childhood friend Karolina. But there are questions that must be answered about what is true and what is not, and what Lena is willing to risk to uncover the past.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250089045
THE LAST ONE by Alexandra Oliva (Psychological Thriller)
Twelve contestants on a reality TV show are sent into the woods to face challenges that will test the limits of their endurance. While they are out there, something terrible happens. But how widespread is the destruction, and has it occurred naturally or is it man-made? When one of the contestants stumbles across the devastation, she can imagine only that it is part of the game. But as her emotional and physical reserves dwindle, she grasps that the real world might have been altered in terrifying ways --- and her ability to parse the charade will be either her triumph or her undoing.
Ballantine Books | 9781101966839
THE NEXT by Stephanie Gangi (Fiction)
Joanna DeAngelis may be gone from this life, but she has a score to settle before she can move on to the next. Abandoned by Ned McGowan, her younger lover, and obsessed with his betrayal, Joanna falls into a dark afterlife, only to rise up as a restless, vengeful spirit. Anna and Elena, her loving daughters, grapple with grief. Her faithful dog, Tom, watches and waits. But Joanna has only one thing on her agenda: revenge. She streaks through contemporary Manhattan, chasing Ned down, determined to hold him accountable for leaving her alone in her darkest hour.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250110572
THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN by Stephanie Knipper (Fiction)
Sisters Rose and Lily Martin were inseparable when growing up on their family’s Kentucky flower farm, yet became distant as adults when Lily found herself unable to deal with the demands of Rose’s unusual daughter. But when Rose becomes ill, Lily is forced to return to the farm and confront the fears that had driven her away. Rose’s daughter, 10-year-old Antoinette, has a form of autism that requires constant care and attention. She has never spoken a word, but has a powerful gift that others would give anything to harness --- she can heal with her touch. Her gift, though, comes at a price, since each healing puts her own life in jeopardy.
Algonquin Books | 9781616207359
PLAYING DEAD: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood (True Crime)
Is it still possible to fake your own death in the 21st century? With six figures of student loan debt, Elizabeth Greenwood was tempted to find out. So she sets off on a foray into the world of death fraud, where for $30,000 a consultant can make you disappear. But your suspicious insurance company might hire a private detective to dig up your coffin…only to find it filled with rocks. Along the way, Greenwood learns that love is a much less common motive than money, and that making your death look like a drowning virtually guarantees you’ll be caught. (Disappearing while hiking, however, is a great way to go.)
Simon & Schuster | 9781476739342
THE STORY OF EGYPT: The Civilization that Shaped the World by Joann Fletcher (History)
The story of the world's greatest civilization spans 4,000 years of history that has shaped the world. It is full of spectacular cities and epic stories --- an evolving society rich in inventors, heroes, heroines, villains, artisans and pioneers. Professor Joann Fletcher pulls together the complete story of Egypt --- charting the rise and fall of the ancient Egyptians while putting their whole world into a context to which we can all relate.
Pegasus Books | 9781681774565
A THOUSAND MILES FROM NOWHERE by John Gregory Brown (Fiction)
Fleeing New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Henry Garrett is haunted by the ruins of his marriage, a squandered inheritance, and the teaching job he inexplicably quit. He pulls into a small Virginia town after three days on the road, hoping to silence the ceaseless clamor in his head. But this quest for peace and quiet as the only guest at a roadside motel is destroyed when Henry finds himself at the center of a bizarre and violent tragedy. As a result, Henry winds up stranded at the ramshackle motel just outside the small town of Marimore, and it's there that he is pulled into the lives of those around him.
Lee Boudreaux / Back Bay Books | 9780316302838
August 17th
A FRAGILE THING by Kevin Wignall (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Max Emerson is rich and powerful --- a patron of the arts and the owner of a multinational business. But Max’s business is money laundering, and, for the first time in his fortunate life, he’s in trouble. Hackers are targeting his company. The FBI is pressuring him to betray one of his crooked clients. A dark secret from his own past looks in danger of resurfacing. When his parents are killed in a tragic accident, the whole world Max has built for himself seems to be on the brink of collapse. Just as he’s drawn back into the heart of his estranged family, he receives a letter from beyond the grave --- a letter that turns everything he thought he knew on its head.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781612185804
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