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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 14th and May 21st 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 Sneak Peek contest for MAKE ME EVEN AND I'LL NEVER GAMBLE AGAIN, Jerrold Fine's debut novel. Fifty readers will have the chance to win an advance copy of the book, which releases on August 14th, and share their comments on it. Carol Fitzgerald has this to say about the book: "I love the voice of the book’s protagonist, Rogers Stout. The story is fast-paced, just like life on the Street. Trust that once you start reading it, you will not want to put it aside. The sharpness of it reminded me a lot of Molly’s Game." The deadline for your entries is Thursday, May 24th at noon ET.
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 about “The Great American Read,” an upcoming series on PBS that will focus on America’s 100 best-loved novels and give viewers a chance to vote for their favorites.
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
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Sneak Peek Contest for MAKE ME EVEN AND I’LL NEVER GAMBLE AGAIN by Jerrold Fine
Our latest Sneak Peek Feature spotlights Jerrold Fine's debut novel, MAKE ME EVEN AND I'LL NEVER GAMBLE AGAIN, an intriguing look at human aspiration and the interplay of honor, greed, fear and individuality that reveals a time when a new generation upended the status quo on Wall Street and forever changed investing. The book doesn’t release until August 14th, but we have 50 advance copies to give away to readers who can commit to previewing it and sharing their comments on it by Wednesday, July 25th. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, May 24th at noon ET.
For our Sneak Peek program, your commitment to participate is critical, so please only enter this contest if you truly will have time to read MAKE ME EVEN AND I'LL NEVER GAMBLE AGAIN and give us your feedback by the July 25th deadline.
MAKE ME EVEN AND I'LL NEVER GAMBLE AGAIN by Jerrold Fine (Fiction)
Drawing from his own experiences in the turbulent '70s and '80s, hedge fund pioneer Jerrold Fine blends a heartfelt story of a young man fiercely intent on achieving independence with a fascinating insider’s look at the perks and pitfalls of a high-stakes life in the world of financial markets in his debut novel.
Rogers Stout has the gambler’s gifts --- a titanic brain, an uncanny ability to read people, and a risk-taker’s daring. As an apathetic high school student who loves baseball but lacks a 90-mph fastball, he knows that the game does not begin until the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. But his life needs direction.
Everything changes the summer he is invited into the boisterous environment of an investment bank’s trading room, and to a gambling hall dive where he immediately wins big at poker, capturing the attention of his co-workers with his card-playing skills. Intrigued by trading markets, Rogers’ intellectual curiosity takes him to Wharton and then Wall Street, where he faces challenges as an outsider who thinks and acts differently from the white-shoe establishment. With his intuition and prowess, he’s ready to rewrite the rules and tackle markets with a flair that leaves his employers flabbergasted.
Rogers senses opportunity and willingly accepts the challenge that awaits him. He leans heavily on his gut instincts and the unusual cadre of friendships he cultivates, but learns the hard way to be alert to the perils that await him. He longs to prove himself and achieve his goals, yet is torn between the thrill of trading and investing, and pursuing a higher purpose in life. And through it all, he still feels the loss of his mother, who died when he was too young to remember her --- an open wound that refuses to heal.
As Rogers plays his career hand, life plays another. Should he follow the temptress Elsbeth and her ravishing beauty, or Charlotte, his high-spirited first love?
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read Jerrold Fine’s bio.
- Click here to visit Jerrold Fine’s website.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of May 14th in Hardcover
May 15th
BORN TO FISH: How an Obsessed Angler Became the World’s Greatest Striped Bass Fisherman by Tim Gallagher and Greg Myerson (Biography)
Overcoming learning disabilities, substance abuse, and the violence associated with a father in the mob, Greg Myerson, a lifelong sport-fisherman, caught an 82-pound striped bass in 2011, shattering a world record that had stood for 29 years. Without any training in biological research, he began studying the striped bass like a scientist, which led to the creation of the RattleSinker, the lure that helped him catch the record-setting bass. During an appearance on the TV show "Shark Tank," Mark Cuban bought a 33 percent share of Greg's company, World Record Striper Company. Yet at the very instant he achieved his crowning glory as a striped bass fisherman, he had a staggering epiphany and instantly regretted killing the fish.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544787247
BY INVITATION ONLY by Dorothea Benton Frank (Fiction)
The Lowcountry of South Carolina is where BY INVITATION ONLY begins at a barbecue engagement party thrown by Diane English Stiftel to celebrate her son’s engagement. The bride’s father, Alejandro Cambria, discovers the limits and possibilities of cell phone range, while the mother of the bride, Susan Kennedy Cambria, learns about moonshine and dangerous liaisons. Soon the novel zooms to Chicago, where the unraveling accelerates. Nearly a thousand miles away from her comfortable, familiar world, Diane is the antithesis of the bright lights and super-sophisticated guests attending her son Fred’s second engagement party.
William Morrow | 9780062390820
THE CAST by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Kait Whittier has built her magazine column into a hugely respected read. She loves her work and adores her grown children. But after two marriages, she prefers to avoid the complications and uncertainties of a new love. Then, after a chance meeting with television producer Zack Winter, everything changes. Inspired by the true story of her own indomitable grandmother, Kait creates the storyline for a TV series. And when she shares her work with Zack, he decides to make this his next big-budget project. Within weeks, Kait is plunged into a colorful world of actors and industry pros who will bring her vision to life. But in the midst of this charmed year, she is suddenly forced to confront the greatest challenge a mother could ever know.
Delacorte Press | 9781101884034
THE CROSSING by Jason Mott (Dystopian Fiction)
Twins Virginia and Tommy Matthews have been on their own since they were orphaned at the age of five, surviving a merciless foster care system by relying on each other. Twelve years later, the world begins to collapse around them as a deadly contagion steadily wipes out entire populations and a devastating world war rages on. When Tommy is drafted for the war, the twins are faced with a choice: accept their fate of almost certain death, or dodge the draft. Virginia and Tommy flee into the dark night. Armed with only a pistol and their fierce will to survive, the twins set forth in search of a new beginning. They must navigate the dangers and wonders of this changed world as they try to outrun the demons of their past.
Park Row | 9780778330738
DAMNATION ISLAND: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York by Stacy Horn (History)
Today we call it Roosevelt Island. In 1828, it was Blackwell’s, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world ever saw, Blackwell’s Island quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, “a lounging, listless madhouse.” In the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell’s, Stacy Horn tells this chilling narrative through the gripping voices of the island’s inhabitants, as well as the period’s officials, reformers and journalists, including the celebrated Nellie Bly. Digging through city records, newspaper articles and archival reports, Horn brings this forgotten history alive.
Algonquin Books | 9781616205768
THE ENSEMBLE by Aja Gabel (Fiction)
Brit is the second violinist, a beautiful and quiet orphan; on the viola is Henry, a prodigy who's always had it easy; the cellist is Daniel, the oldest and an angry skeptic who sleeps around; and on first violin is Jana, their flinty, resilient leader. Together, they are the Van Ness Quartet. After the group's youthful, rocky start, they experience devastating failure and wild success, heartbreak and marriage, triumph and loss, betrayal and enduring loyalty. They are always tied to each other --- by career, by the intensity of their art, by the secrets they carry, by choosing each other over and over again.
Riverhead Books | 9780735214767
THE FAVORITE SISTER by Jessica Knoll (Thriller)
When five hyper-successful women agree to appear on a reality series, the producers never expect the season will end in murder. Brett is the fan favorite. The meteoric success of her spin studio --- and her recent engagement to her girlfriend --- has made her the object of jealousy and vitriol from her castmates. Kelly is Brett’s older sister and business partner. The golden child growing up, she defers to Brett now --- a role that requires her to protect their shocking secret. Stephanie, the first black cast member, is a successful bestselling author of erotic novels. There have long been whispers about her husband and his wandering eye, but this season the focus is on the rift that has opened between her and Brett --- and resentment soon breeds contempt.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501153198
HOW IT HAPPENED by Michael Koryta (Thriller)
Kimberly Crepeaux is a notorious jailhouse snitch, teen mother and heroin addict whose petty crimes are well-known to the rural Maine community where she lives. So when she confesses to her role in the brutal murders of Jackie Pelletier and Ian Kelly, the daughter of a well-known local family and her sweetheart, the locals have little reason to believe her story. However, FBI investigator and interrogator Rob Barrett knows that Kimberly’s story --- a grisly, harrowing story of a hit and run fueled by dope and cheap beer that becomes a brutal stabbing in cold blood --- is how it happened. But one thing remains elusive: Where are Jackie and Ian’s bodies?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316293938
HOW TO WALK AWAY by Katherine Center (Fiction)
Margaret Jacobsen is just about to step into the bright future she’s worked for so hard and so long: a new dream job, a fiancé she adores, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, everything she worked for is taken away in a brief, tumultuous moment. In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Maggie must confront the unthinkable. First there is her fiancé, Chip, who wallows in self-pity while simultaneously expecting to be forgiven. Then, there's her sister Kit, who shows up after pulling a three-year vanishing act. Finally, there's Ian, her physical therapist, who won't let her give in to her pity, and who sees her like no one has seen her before.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250149060
A HOWL OF WOLVES by Judith Flanders (Mystery)
Sam Clair figures she’ll be a good sport and spend a night out at the theater in support of her upstairs neighbors, who have small parts in a play in the West End. Her boyfriend Jake Field, a Scotland Yard detective, agrees to tag along to what is apparently an extra-bloody play filled with dramatic, gory deaths galore. But as the curtain opens to the second act, a dummy is hanging from the rafters, who’s been made up to look suspiciously like Campbell Davison, the director of the production. When Sam sees the horrified faces of the actors onstage, she realizes that this is indeed not a dummy, but Davison himself --- and this death is not part of the show. Now everyone wants to know: Who killed Campbell Davison?
Minotaur Books | 9781250087836
I'M KEITH HERNANDEZ: A Memoir by Keith Hernandez (Sports/Memoir)
During his illustrious career with the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, Keith Hernandez was a perennial fan favorite, earning 11 consecutive Gold Gloves, a National League co-MVP Award, and a batting title. But it was his unique blend of intelligence, humor and talent --- not to mention his unflappable leadership, playful antics and competitive temperament --- that transcended the sport and propelled him to a level of renown that few other athletes have achieved. Now, with a striking mix of candor and self-reflection, Hernandez takes us along on his journey to baseball immortality.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316395731
JANE SEYMOUR, THE HAUNTED QUEEN by Alison Weir (Historical Fiction)
Ever since she was a child, Jane has longed for a cloistered life as a nun. But her large noble family has other plans, and as an adult, Jane is invited to the King’s court to serve as lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon. The devout Katherine shows kindness to all her ladies, which makes rumors of Henry’s lustful pursuit of Anne Boleyn --- also lady-in-waiting to the queen --- all the more shocking. But once Henry disavows Katherine and secures Anne as his new queen --- forever altering the religious landscape of England --- he turns his eye to another: Jane herself. Urged to return the King’s affection and earn favor for her family, Jane is drawn into a dangerous political game that pits her conscience against her desires.
Ballantine Books | 9781101966549
THE LAST COWBOYS: A Pioneer Family in the New West by John Branch (Biography)
For generations, the Wrights of southern Utah have raised cattle and world-champion saddle-bronc riders --- some call them the most successful rodeo family in history. Now Bill and Evelyn Wright, parents to 13 children and grandparents to many more, find themselves struggling to hang on to the majestic landscape where they’ve been running cattle for 150 years as the West is transformed by urbanization, battered by drought and rearranged by public-land disputes. Could rodeo, of all things, be the answer? In this follow-up to his prize-winning first book, New York Times reporter John Branch delivers an epic and intimate family story deep in the American grain.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393292343
PAPER GHOSTS by Julia Heaberlin (Psychological Thriller)
An obsessive young woman has been waiting half her life for this moment. Now she is almost certain the man who kidnapped and murdered her sister sits in the passenger seat beside her. Carl Louis Feldman is a documentary photographer who may or may not have dementia --- and may or may not be a serial killer. The young woman claims to be his long-lost daughter. He doesn’t believe her. He claims no memory of murdering girls across Texas. She doesn’t believe him. Determined to find the truth, she lures him out of a halfway house and proposes a dangerous idea: a 10-day road trip to examine cold cases linked to his haunting photographs. Is he a liar or a broken old man? Is he a pathological con artist? Or is she?
Ballantine Books | 9780804178020
POPS: Fatherhood in Pieces by Michael Chabon (Memoir/Essays)
For the September 2016 issue of GQ, Michael Chabon wrote a piece about accompanying his then-13-year-old son to Paris Men’s Fashion Week. Possessed with a precocious sense of style, Abe was in his element chatting with designers he idolized and turning a critical eye to the freshest runway looks of the season. Chabon Sr. sat idly by, staving off yawns and fighting the impulse that the whole thing was a massive waste of time. Despite his own indifference, however, what gradually emerged as Chabon ferried his son to and from fashion shows was a deep respect for his son’s passion. With the GQ story as its centerpiece, and featuring six additional essays, POPS illuminates the meaning, magic and mysteries of fatherhood.
Harper | 9780062834621
PRETEND I'M DEAD by Jen Beagin (Fiction/Humor)
Mona is almost 24, emotionally adrift and cleaning houses to get by. Handing out clean needles to drug addicts, she falls for a recipient she calls Mr. Disgusting, who proceeds to break her heart in unimaginable ways. In search of healing, Mona decamps to Taos, New Mexico, where she finds a community of seekers and cast-offs, all of whom have one or two things to teach her --- the pajama-wearing, blissed-out New Agers, the slightly creepy client with peculiar tastes in controlled substances, the psychic who might really be psychic. But always lurking just beneath the surface are her memories of growing up in a chaotic, destructive family from which she’s trying to disentangle herself, and the larger legacy of the past she left behind.
Scribner | 9781501183935
ROBIN by Dave Itzkoff (Biography)
From his rapid-fire stand-up comedy riffs to his breakout role in “Mork & Mindy” and his Academy Award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams was a singularly innovative and beloved entertainer. He often came across as a man possessed, holding forth on culture and politics while mixing in personal revelations --- all with mercurial, tongue-twisting intensity as he inhabited and shed one character after another with lightning speed. But as Dave Itzkoff shows in this revelatory biography, Williams’ comic brilliance masked a deep well of conflicting emotions and self-doubt.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781627794244
A SHOUT IN THE RUINS by Kevin Powers (Historical Fiction)
Spanning over 100 years, from the antebellum era to the 1980s, A SHOUT IN THE RUINS examines the fates of the inhabitants of Beauvais Plantation outside of Richmond, Virginia. When war arrives, the master of Beauvais, Anthony Levallios, foresees that dominion in a new America will be measured not in acres of tobacco under cultivation by his slaves, but in industry and capital. A grievously wounded Confederate veteran loses his grip on a world he no longer understands, and his daughter finds herself married to Levallois, an arrangement that feels little better than imprisonment. And two people enslaved at Beauvais plantation, Nurse and Rawls, overcome impossible odds to be together, only to find that the promise of coming freedom may not be something they will live to see.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316556477
TIN MAN by Sarah Winman (Fiction)
Ellis and Michael are 12-year-old boys when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them --- cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more. But then we fast-forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question: What happened in the years between?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735218727
On Sale the Week of May 14th in Paperback
May 15th
ARNOLD PALMER: Homespun Stories of The King by Chris Rodell (Sports)
Paperback Original
About 40 miles east of Pittsburgh is the small town of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the place Arnold Palmer called home. The world knew Palmer as The King. But the Palmer Latrobe knew was funnier, goofier, saltier and less grandiose than the one justifiably loved around the globe. In ARNOLD PALMER: Homespun Stories of the King, journalist, Latrobe resident and accidental Palmer insider Chris Rodell draws upon over 100 interviews with the golf great conducted over 20 years, providing an intimate, charming and at times irreverent glimpse at the icon outside the spotlight.
Triumph Books | 9781629375687
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 | 9780399576461
THE BEDLAM STACKS by Natasha Pulley (Historical Fantasy)
In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall with an injury that almost cost him his leg. When the India Office recruits him for an expedition to fetch quinine --- essential for the treatment of malaria --- from deep within Peru, he knows it's a terrible idea; nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who's made the attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is eager to escape the strange events plaguing his family's crumbling estate, so he sets off, against his better judgment, for the edge of the Amazon. There he meets Raphael, a priest who turns out to be the key to a legacy left by generations of Tremayne explorers before him, one that will prove more valuable than quinine, and far more dangerous.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781620409695
COCOA BEACH by Beatriz Williams (Historical Fiction)
Burdened by a dark family secret, Virginia Fortescue flees her oppressive home in New York City for the battlefields of World War I France. As the war rages, Virginia falls into a passionate affair with the dashing Captain Simon Fitzwilliam, only to discover that his past has its own dark secrets --- secrets that will damage their eventual marriage. Five years later, the newly widowed Virginia Fitzwilliam arrives in Cocoa Beach, Florida, to settle her husband’s estate. Despite the evidence, Virginia does not believe Simon perished in the fire that destroyed the seaside home he built for her and their young daughter. Separated from her husband since the early days of their marriage, the headstrong Virginia plans to uncover the truth, for the sake of the daughter Simon never met.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062404992
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 Paperbacks | 9780062660800
THE RANGE BUCKET LIST: The Golf Adventure of a Lifetime by James Dodson (Sports/Memoir)
Many years ago, when James Dodson was 13 years old, he wrote himself a list titled “Things to Do in Golf.” It included the golfing aspirations of a young boy who had no idea where life would take him. A few years ago, now in his 60s and one of the most respected golf writers of all time, Dodson rediscovered the piece of paper in an old trunk. Realizing that he had yet to achieve many of his 13-year-old dreams, and pondering the things he’d add to the list if he wrote it today, he expanded the list into a golfing “bucket list” of the people and places he had yet to meet and see in the golf world. In this tribute to the game he loves, Dodson takes readers on a journey around the world and into the lives of characters large and small.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476746722
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 | 9781101967089
On Sale the Week of May 21st in Hardcover
May 22nd
BEACH HOUSE REUNION by Mary Alice Monroe (Fiction)
Cara Rutledge returns to her Southern home on the idyllic Isle of Palms. Only through reconnecting with family, friends and the rhythms of the lowcountry can Cara release the hold of the past and open herself to the possibility of a new love, career and hope for the future. Meanwhile, her niece Linnea, a recent college graduate, leaves her historic home in Charleston and heads to her aunt’s beach house. On the island, she is part of the freer, natural ocean lifestyle she loves, rejoining the turtle team, learning to surf and falling in love. Remembering the lessons of her beloved grandmother, Lovie, Linnea rediscovers a meaningful purpose to her life and finds the courage she needs to break from tradition.
Gallery Books | 9781501193293
CULT X written by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Kalau Almony (Mystery/Thriller)
When Toru Narazaki’s girlfriend, Ryoko Tachibana, disappears, he tries to track her down, despite the warnings of the private detective he’s hired to find her. Ryoko’s past is shrouded in mystery, but the one concrete clue to her whereabouts is a previous address in the heart of Tokyo. She lived in a compound with a group that seems to be a cult led by a charismatic guru with a revisionist Buddhist scheme of life, death and society. Narazaki plunges into the secretive world of the cult, ready to expose himself to any of the guru’s brainwashing tactics if it means he can learn the truth about Ryoko. But the cult isn’t what he expected, and he has no idea of the bubbling violence he is stepping into.
Soho Crime | 9781616957865
FIELD OF VALOR by Matthew Betley (Thriller/Adventure)
With the full resources of the Justice Department, Intelligence Community and the military (not to mention presidential pardons pre-signed), Logan West must battle a secret organization with the connections and funding to rival many first-world nations. The goal of this organization is both singular and sinister --- to pit the United States against China in a bid to dismantle the world’s security and economy. Back on US soil, Logan and his task force pursue the elusive foe from the woods of northern Virginia to the banks of the Chesapeake Bay, from suburban Maryland across the urban sprawl of Washington, DC. The stakes have never been higher for Logan or America itself.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501161988
THE GLITCH by Elisabeth Cohen (Fiction/Humor)
Shelley Stone --- wife, mother and CEO of the tech company Conch --- is committed to living her most efficient life. She takes her "me time" at 3:30am on the treadmill, power naps while waiting in line, schedules sex with her husband for when they are already changing clothes, and takes a men's multivitamin because she refuses to participate in her own oppression. But when she meets a young woman also named Shelley Stone who has the same exact scar on her shoulder, Shelley has to wonder: Is she finally buckling under all the pressure?
Doubleday | 9780385542784
THE HIGH SEASON by Judy Blundell (Fiction)
In a beach town overrun with vacationers and newly colonized by socialites, Ruthie Beamish will go to extreme lengths when the life she loves is upended. Ruthie's house is her nest egg, recently renovated and located by the sea in a quiet village two ferry rides from the glitzier Hamptons. But to afford the house, she must rent it during the summer --- and this year to Adeline Clay, who is elegant, connected and accompanied by a “gorgeous satellite” stepson. Adeline forces herself into Ruthie's life, and when she's on the verge of losing everything, Ruthie discovers a new talent for pushing back. Nothing will be the same.
Random House | 9780525508717
THE HOUSE SWAP by Rebecca Fleet (Thriller)
When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap --- from their city apartment to a house in an upscale London suburb --- they jump at the chance for a week away from home, their son, and the tensions that have pushed their marriage to the brink. As the couple settles in, the old problems that permeate their marriage start bubbling to the surface. But while they attempt to mend their relationship, their neighbor is showing a little too much interest in their activities. Meanwhile, Caroline slowly begins to uncover some signs of life in the stark house --- signs of her life. It seems the person they have swapped with is someone who knows her, someone who knows the secrets she's desperate to forget.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780525558835
THE MANDELA PLOT by Kenneth Bonert (Literary Thriller)
As the 1980s draw to a close, South Africa is a maelstrom of political violence with the apartheid regime in its death throes. Young Martin Helger is the struggling odd duck at an elite private boys school in Johannesburg, with his father a rough-handed scrap dealer and his brother a mysterious legend. When a beautiful and manipulative American arrives at the family home, Martin soon finds himself wrenched out of his isolated bubble and thrust into the raw heart of the struggle. At the same time, secrets from the past begin to emerge and old sins long buried return in terrifying new ways, tearing at the Helgers, a second-generation Jewish family, even as the larger forces of history and politics tear apart the country as a whole.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328886187
THE OUTSIDER by Stephen King (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
An 11-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens: Terry Maitland, a Little League coach, an English teacher, a husband, and the father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, THE OUTSIDER kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face?
Scribner | 9781501180989
THE RESTLESS WAVE: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations by John McCain and Mark Salter (Memoir)
Written while confronting a mortal illness, John McCain looks back with appreciation on his years in the Senate, his historic 2008 campaign for the presidency against Barack Obama, and his crusades on behalf of democracy and human rights in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Always the fighter, McCain attacks the “spurious nationalism” and political polarization afflicting American policy. He makes an impassioned case for democratic internationalism and bi-partisanship. He tells stories of his most satisfying moments of public service, including his work with another giant of the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501178009
RUTHLESS TIDE: The Heroes and Villains of the Johnstown Flood, America's Astonishing Gilded Age Disaster by Al Roker (History)
Central Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889: After a deluge of rain swelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork dam. At 3:10pm the dam gave way, releasing 20 million tons of water. The deluge wiped out nearly everything in its path before reaching Johnstown, a vibrant steel town 14 miles downstream. Traveling 40 miles an hour, the deadly floodwaters razed the mill town in minutes. The Great Flood remains the deadliest in US history, killing more than 2,200 people and causing $17 million in damage. In RUTHLESS TIDE, Al Roker follows an unforgettable cast of characters whose fates converged because of that tragic day.
William Morrow | 9780062445513
STAR OF THE NORTH by D. B. John (Thriller)
STAR OF THE NORTH opens in 1988, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twenty-two years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her. Her story is braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed.
Crown | 9780525573296
THE TESTAMENT OF LOKI by Joanne M. Harris (Fantasy)
The end of the world has occurred, and Loki has been trapped in a seemingly endless purgatory until he finds a way to escape. Back in the ninth world (Earth), Loki finds himself sharing the mind of a teenage girl named Jumps, who is a bit of a mess. She’s also not happy about Loki sneaking his way into her mind, since she was originally calling on Thor. Worse, her friends have also been co-opted by the gods: Odin, Jumps' one-eyed best friend in a wheelchair, and Freya, the pretty one. Thor escapes the netherworld as well and shares the mind of a dog, and he finds that it suits him. Odin has a plan to bring back the Norse gods ascendancy, but Loki has his own ideas on how things can go --- and nothing goes according to plan.
Saga Press | 9781481449496
THE UNKNOWNS: The Untold Story of America’s Unknown Soldier and WWI’s Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home by Patrick K. O'Donnell (History)
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is sacred ground at Arlington National Cemetery. Originally constructed in 1921 to hold one of the thousands of unidentified American soldiers lost in World War I, it now also contains unknowns from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and receives millions of visitors each year who pay silent tribute. When the first Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in Arlington, General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in WWI, selected eight of America’s most decorated, battle-hardened veterans to serve as Body Bearers. For the first time, Patrick K. O’Donnell portrays their heroics on the battlefield 100 years ago, thereby animating the Tomb by giving voice to all who have served.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802128331
WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by Franchesca Ramsey (Memoir/Essays)
Franchesca Ramsey didn't set out to be an activist. Or a comedian. Or a commentator on identity, race and culture. But then her YouTube video "What White Girls Say...to Black Girls" went viral. Faced with an avalanche of media requests, fan letters and hate mail, she had two choices: Jump in and make her voice heard, or step back and let others frame the conversation. After a crash course in social justice and more than a few foot-in-mouth moments, she realized she had a unique talent and passion for breaking down injustice in America in ways that could make people listen and engage. In her first book, Ramsey uses her own experiences as an accidental activist to explore the many ways we communicate with each other.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538761038
On Sale the Week of May 21st in Paperback
May 22nd
THE BREAKDOWN by B. A. Paris (Psychological Thriller)
Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside --- the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped. She just can’t forget that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt. Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250179838
CAMPAIGN WIDOWS by Aimee Agresti (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Cady Davenport is in a new city, with a new job and even a new fiancé. But when her husband-to-be hits the road for the upcoming presidential election, Cady realizes she’s on her own --- and that her dream life might not be all she’d imagined. Until she finds herself thrust straight into the heart of the most influential inner circle in Washington, DC: the campaign widows. As friends, they’re an unlikely group, but they share one undeniable bond: their spouses are all out on the trail during a hotly contested election season.
Graydon House | 9781525804267
COLLARED: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Lawyer Andy Carpenter’s true passion is the Tara Foundation, the dog rescue organization he runs with his friend, Willie Miller. All kinds of dogs make their way to the foundation, and it isn’t that surprising to find a dog abandoned at the shelter one morning, though it was accompanied by a mysterious anonymous note. But they are quite surprised when they scan the dog’s embedded chip and discover that he is the “DNA dog,” which helps renew the search for a missing child. Goaded by his wife’s desire to help a friend and fellow mother, and Andy’s desire to make sure the real kidnapper is in jail, Andy and his team enter the case. But what they start to uncover is far more complicated and dangerous than they ever expected.
Minotaur Books | 9781250056351
DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO: Memories of an American Hero by Dr. Rock Positano and John Positano (Memoir)
In 1990, Dr. Rock Positano, a 32-year-old foot and ankle specialist, met Joe DiMaggio. Despite the 40 years between them, an unlikely friendship developed after the doctor successfully treated the baseball champ’s heel spur injury. Joe mentored Rock but came to rely on his young friend to show him a good time in New York, the town that made him a legend. In time, the famously reserved DiMaggio opened up to Dr. Positano and talked about his joys, his disappointments and his sorrows as he reflected on his extraordinary life. The stories and experiences he shared with Dr. Positano comprise an intimate portrait of one of the great stars of baseball and icon of the 20th century.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501156854
THE FAR AWAY BROTHERS: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life by Lauren Markham (Biography)
Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores --- until, at age 17, a deadly threat from the region’s brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they’ve ever known. Journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA. Soon these unaccompanied minors are navigating school in a new language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the triumphs and pitfalls of teenage life with only each other for support.
Broadway Books | 9781101906200
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 | 9780345549242
THE GOOD GOODBYE by Carla Buckley (Psychological Suspense)
Natalie Falcone gets a phone call every mother dreads: It’s from a hospital emergency room in the town where her daughter, Arden, attends college. Arden has been in a fire, along with Natalie’s niece, Rory --- her estranged brother-in-law's daughter and Arden’s best friend. Natalie rushes to the hospital and learns that both Arden and Rory lie unconscious, and that another student has died in the blaze. The case unearths a portrait of a complex friendship, a love triangle, a fight, and a girl who was struggling more than anyone realized.
Ballantine Books | 9780553390605
HOW FAR SHE’S COME by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Cheyenne Florian is recruited to be the new correspondent on the Independent News Network (INN), which has branded itself as innovative. But when Cheyenne joins the INN team, she finds age-old dynamics in play. Some of the female staff resent her meteoric rise, while a number of the men are only too happy to welcome her. Then there’s the diary left for her anonymously, written in 1991 by a female broadcaster. The mysterious diary is accompanied by a note, urging Cheyenne to learn from the past. She wants to believe it’s intended as inspiration and friendly advice, or, at most, a warning. But as disturbing --- and increasingly dangerous --- parallels begin to emerge, she starts to wonder if something more sinister is at work.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062749925
THE JERSEY BROTHERS: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home by Sally Mott Freeman (History)
Three brothers, all Navy men, end up coincidentally and extraordinarily at the epicenter of three of the most crucial moments of World War II. Bill is picked by Roosevelt to run his first Map Room in Washington. Benny is the gunnery and anti-aircraft officer on the USS Enterprise, one of the only carriers to escape Pearl Harbor and the last one left in the Pacific to defend against the Japanese. Barton, the youngest and least distinguished of the three, is shuffled off to the Navy Supply Corps because his mother wants him out of harm’s way. But this protection plan backfires when Barton is sent to the Philippines and listed as missing-in-action after a Japanese attack. Now it is up to Bill and Benny to find and rescue him.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501104169
LESS by Andrew Sean Greer (Romantic Comedy)
You are a failed novelist about to turn 50. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes --- it would be too awkward. And you can't say no --- it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. How do you arrange to skip town? You accept them all. Arthur Less will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Saharan sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and encounter, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to face.
Back Bay Books | 9780316316132
RIVER UNDER THE ROAD by Scott Spencer (Fiction)
Thaddeus Kaufman and Grace Cornell meet at a neighborhood art fair in Chicago, and head to New York soon after. Jennings Stratton and Muriel Sanchez meet in a house he is refurbishing in New Mexico, and they, too, head for the big city. In a vast Hudson River estate, the lives of the two couples ultimately intertwine. Thaddeus has made it big in an unexpected way, setting off a chain reaction of envy among his friends and peers and forever changing the dynamic of his marriage with Grace. And Jennings, hoping to transcend his reputation as the local Casanova, has ventured into a cycle of theft and betrayal that threatens to destroy the fragile life of his family.
Ecco | 9780062660060
WALKWAY by Cory Doctorow (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Hubert Vernon Rudolph Clayton Irving Wilson Alva Anton Jeff Harley Timothy Curtis Cleveland Cecil Ollie Edmund Eli Wiley Marvin Ellis Espinoza --- known to his friends as Hubert, Etc --- was too old to be at that Communist party. But after watching the breakdown of modern society, he really has no where left to be --- except amongst the dregs of disaffected youth who party all night and heap scorn on the sheep they see on the morning commute. After falling in with Natalie, an ultra-rich heiress trying to escape the clutches of her repressive father, the two decide to give up fully on formal society --- and walk away.
Tor Books | 9780765392770
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