|
In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 20th and August 27th 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 New Release Spotlight of DESOLATION MOUNTAIN, the 17th installment in William Kent Krueger's mystery series starring Cork O'Connor, which is now in stores. This time, Cork and his son, Stephen, work together to uncover the truth behind the tragic plane crash of a senator on Desolation Mountain and the mysterious disappearances of several first responders.
We also encourage you to enter our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests for an opportunity to win some fabulous hardcovers and audiobooks. And please be sure to vote in our latest poll, where we ask if you listen to digital audiobooks.
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 New Release Spotlight of
DESOLATION MOUNTAIN by William Kent Krueger
DESOLATION MOUNTAIN by William Kent Krueger (Mystery/Thriller)
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
To Stephen O’Connor, Hamlet’s dour observation is more than just words. All his life, he has had visions of tragedies to come. When he experiences the vision of a great bird shot from the sky, he knows something terrible is about to happen. The crash of a private plane on Desolation Mountain in a remote part of the Iron Lake Reservation, which kills a United States senator and most of her family, confirms Stephen’s worst fears.
Stephen joins his father, Cork O’Connor and a few Ojibwe men from the nearby Iron Lake reservation to sift through the smoldering wreckage when the FBI arrives and quickly assumes control of the situation. What seems like the end of the O’Connors’ involvement is, however, only the beginning of a harrowing journey to understand the truth behind the Senator’s death. As he initiates his own probe, Cork O’Connor stumbles upon a familiar face in Bo Thorson, a private security consultant whose unnamed clients have hired him to look quietly into the cause of the crash. The men agree to join forces in their investigation, but soon Cork begins to wonder if Thorson’s loyalties lie elsewhere.
In that far north Minnesota County, which is overrun with agents of the FBI, NTSB, DoD and even members of a right-wing militia, all of whom have their own agendas, Cork, Stephen and Bo attempt to navigate a perilous course. Roadblocked by lies from the highest levels of government, uncertain who to trust, and facing growing threats the deeper they dig for answers, the three men finally understand that to get to the truth, they will have to face the great menace, a beast of true evil lurking in the woods --- a beast with a murderous intent of unimaginable scale.
Don't miss our review of DESOLATION MOUNTAIN in the August 24th Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
Click here to read more in our New Release Spotlight.
On Sale the Week of August 20th in Hardcover
August 21st
THE AIR YOU BREATHE by Frances de Pontes Peebles (Historical Fiction)
Nine-year-old orphaned Dores is working in the kitchen of a sugar plantation in 1930s Brazil when in walks a girl who changes everything. Graça, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy sugar baron, is clever, well fed, pretty and thrillingly ill-behaved. Born to wildly different worlds, Dores and Graça quickly bond over music. One has a voice like a songbird; the other feels melodies in her soul and composes lyrics to match. Music will become their shared passion, the source of their partnership and their rivalry, and the only way out of the life to which each was born. But only one of the two is destined to be a star. Their intimate, volatile bond will determine each of their fortunes --- and haunt their memories.
Riverhead Books | 9780735210998
ARTHUR ASHE: A Life by Raymond Arsenault (Biography)
Raymond Arsenault chronicles tennis superstar Arthur Ashe’s rise to stardom on the court. But much of the book explores his off-court career as a human rights activist, philanthropist, broadcaster, writer, businessman and celebrity. In the 1970s and ’80s, Ashe gained renown as an advocate for sportsmanship, education, racial equality and the elimination of apartheid in South Africa. But from 1979 on, he was forced to deal with a serious heart condition that led to multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, one of which left him HIV-positive. Five years after being diagnosed with AIDS, Ashe passed away at the age of 49, leaving an inspiring legacy of dignity, integrity and active citizenship.
Simon & Schuster | 9781439189047
BONE ON BONE by Julia Keller (Mystery)
After a three-year prison sentence, Bell Elkins is back in Acker's Gap. And she finds herself in the white-hot center of a complicated and deadly case --- even as she comes to terms with one last, devastating secret of her own. A prominent local family has fallen victim to the same sickness that infects the whole region: drug addiction. With mother against father, child against parent, and tensions that lead inexorably to tragedy, they are trapped in a grim, hopeless struggle with nowhere to turn. Teamed up with former Deputy Jake Oakes, who battles his own demons as he adjusts to life as a paraplegic, and aided by the new prosecutor, Rhonda Lovejoy, Bell tackles a case as poignant as it is perilous, as heartbreaking as it is challenging.
Minotaur Books | 9781250190925
THE BOY ON THE BEACH: My Family's Escape from Syria and Our Hope for a New Home by Tima Kurdi (Memoir)
THE BOY ON THE BEACH is an intimate and poignant memoir about the family of Alan Kurdi --- the young Syrian boy who became the global emblem for the desperate plight of millions of Syrian refugees --- and of the many extraordinary journeys the Kurdis have taken, spanning countries and continents. Alan’s body washed up on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea on September 2, 2015, and overnight, the political became personal, as the world awoke to the reality of the Syrian refugee crisis. Tima Kurdi first saw the shocking photo of her nephew in her home in Vancouver, Canada. But Tima did not need a photo to understand the truth --- she and her family had already been living it.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982108519
DEAD MAN RUNNING: An Alex McKnight Novel by Steve Hamilton (Thriller)
On the Mediterranean Sea, a vacationer logs on to the security-camera feed from his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Rewinding through the feed, he sees an intruder. When he shifts to the bedroom camera, he sees the dead body. Martin T. Livermore is the key suspect in the abduction and murder of at least five women, but he's never been this sloppy before. When the FBI finally catches him in Scottsdale, he declares he'll only talk to one person: Alex McKnight. Livermore means nothing to McKnight, but it soon becomes clear that McKnight means something to Livermore...and that Livermore's capture was only the beginning of an elaborate, twisted plot with McKnight at the center.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399574443
DESOLATION MOUNTAIN by William Kent Krueger (Mystery/Thriller)
A private plane has crashed on Desolation Mountain in a remote part of the Iron Lake Reservation, which kills a United States senator and most of her family. Cork O’Connor is joined by his son, Stephen, and a few Ojibwe men to sift through the smoldering wreckage when the FBI arrives and quickly assumes control of the situation. As he initiates his own probe, Cork stumbles upon a familiar face in Bo Thorson, a private security consultant whose unnamed clients have hired him to quietly look into the cause of the crash. The men agree to join forces in their investigation, but soon Cork begins to wonder if Thorson’s loyalties lie elsewhere.
Atria Books | 9781501147463
THE DEVOTED by Blair Hurley (Fiction)
Nicole Hennessy’s life revolves around her Zen practice at the Boston Zendo, seeking solace in the tenets of Buddhism to the chagrin of her Irish Catholic family. After a decade of grueling spiritual practice under her Master’s tutelage, living on a shoestring budget as a shop clerk, Nicole has become dangerously entangled with her mentor. As Nicole confronts her past --- a drug-fueled year spent fleeing her family’s loaded silences and guilt-laden "Our Fathers" --- and reinvents herself in New York City, her Master’s intoxicating voice pursues her, an electrifying whisper on the other end of the phone. Somehow, he knows everything.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393651591
FOGLAND POINT by Doug Burgess (Mystery)
When sudden tragedy brings David Hazard back to Little Compton to care for his grandmother during her struggle with dementia, he discovers that her fragile memories may hold the key to a bizarre mystery half a century old --- and perhaps to the sudden and brutal murder right next door. Once Chief of Police Billy Dyer names her as a witness, Grandma Maggie's recollections become vital. But can they be trusted, especially in a town where everyone has a secret, including David himself? The investigation stalls. Then eccentric millionaire Marcus Rhinegold's yacht disappears into the fog, bodies begin to wash ashore, and Maggie's stories come vividly to life, setting off a chain of events both horrifying and hauntingly familiar.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464210228
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE YOURSELF by JM Holmes (Fiction/Short Stories)
Bound together by shared experience but pulled apart by their changing fortunes, four young friends coming of age in the postindustrial enclave of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, struggle to liberate themselves from the legacies left to them as black men in America. JM Holmes’ debut follows a decade in the lives of Dub, Rolls, Rye and Gio as they each grapple with the complexity of their family histories, the newfound power of sex and drugs, and the ferocity of their desires.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316514880
MEG, JO, BETH, AMY: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux (Literary Criticism)
Soon after its publication, LITTLE WOMEN became an enormous bestseller and one of America’s favorite novels. Its popularity quickly spread throughout the world, and the book has become an international classic. When Anne Boyd Rioux read the novel in her 20s, she had a powerful reaction to the story. Through teaching the book, she has seen the same effect on many others. In MEG, JO, BETH, AMY, Rioux recounts how Louisa May Alcott came to write LITTLE WOMEN, drawing inspiration for it from her own life. Rioux also examines why this tale of family and community ties, set while the Civil War tore America apart, has resonated through later wars, the Depression, and times of changing opportunities for women.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393254730
OHIO by Stephen Markley (Fiction)
On one fateful summer night in 2013, four former classmates converge on the rust belt town where they grew up, each of them with a mission, all of them haunted by regrets, secrets and lost loves. There’s Bill Ashcraft, an alcoholic, drug-abusing activist, whose fruitless ambitions have taken him from Cambodia to Zuccotti Park to New Orleans, and now back to “The Cane” with a mysterious package strapped to the underside of his truck; Stacey Moore, a doctoral candidate reluctantly confronting the mother of her former lover; Dan Eaton, a shy veteran of three tours in Iraq, home for a dinner date with the high school sweetheart he’s tried to forget; and the beautiful, fragile Tina Ross, whose rendezvous with the captain of the football team triggers the novel’s shocking climax.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501174476
THE OTHER WOMAN by Sandie Jones (Psychological Thriller)
Adam adores Emily. Emily thinks Adam’s perfect, the man she thought she’d never meet. Lurking in the shadows is a rival, a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves. Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.
Minotaur Books | 9781250191984
PIECES OF HER by Karin Slaughter (Thriller)
Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence, and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly 30 years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.
William Morrow | 9780062430274
RUSH by Lisa Patton (Fiction)
Cali Watkins possesses all the qualities sororities are looking for in a potential new member. But her resume lacks a vital ingredient: Pedigree. Without family money, Cali's chances of sorority membership are already thin, but she has an even bigger problem. If anyone discovers the dark family secrets she's hiding, she’ll be dropped from Rush in an instant. When Lilith Whitmore, the well-heeled House Corp President of Alpha Delta Beta, appoints recent empty-nester Wilda to the Rush Advisory Board, Wilda can hardly believe her luck. What’s more, Lilith suggests that their daughters, both incoming freshman, room together. What Wilda doesn’t know is that it's all part of Lilith’s plan to ensure her own daughter receives an Alpha Delt bid --- no matter what.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250020666
SMALL ANIMALS: Parenthood in the Age of Fear by Kim Brooks (Memoir/Sociology)
One morning, Kim Brooks made a split-second decision to leave her four-year-old son in the car while she ran into a store. What happened would consume the next several years of her life and spur her to investigate the broader role America’s culture of fear plays in parenthood. In SMALL ANIMALS, Brooks asks: Of all the emotions inherent in parenting, is there any more universal or profound than fear? Why have our notions of what it means to be a good parent changed so radically? In what ways do these changes impact the lives of parents, children and the structure of society at large? And what, in the end, does the rise of fearful parenting tell us about ourselves?
Flatiron Books | 9781250089557
SUMMER by Karl Ove Knausgaard (Memoir)
The grand finale of Karl Ove Knausgaard's intensely personal series about the four seasons, SUMMER once again intersperses short vividly descriptive essays with emotionally raw diary entries addressed directly to Knausgaard's newborn daughter. Writing more expansively and, if it is possible, even more intimately and unguardedly than in the previous three volumes, he mines with new depth his difficult memories of his childhood and fraught relationship with his own father. Documenting his family's life in rural Sweden and reflecting on a characteristically eclectic array of subjects, he braids the various threads of the previous volumes into a moving conclusion.
Penguin Press | 9780399563393
SWIFT VENGEANCE by T. Jefferson Parker (Thriller)
Returning hero and private investigator Roland Ford is on the trail of a mysterious killer who is beheading CIA drone operators and leaving puzzling clues at each crime scene. His troubled friend, Lindsay Rakes, is afraid for her own life and the life of her son after a fellow flight crew member is killed in brutal fashion. Even more terrifying is the odd note the killer left behind: "Welcome to Caliphornia. This is not the last." Ford strikes an uneasy alliance with San Diego-based FBI agent Joan Taucher, who is haunted by what she sees as the Bureau's failure to catch the 9/11 terrorists. As the killer strikes again, Ford and Taucher dash into the fray, each desperate for their own reasons.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735212695
TRAGEDY PLUS TIME: A Tragi-comic Memoir by Adam Cayton-Holland (Memoir)
Adam Cayton-Holland went from a painfully sensitive kid growing up in Denver, Colorado, to a writer and performer with a burgeoning career in comedy. His father, a civil rights lawyer, and his mother, an investigative journalist, taught Adam and his two sisters to feel the pain of the world deeply and to combat it through any means necessary. Adam chose to meet life’s tough breaks and cruel realities with stand-up comedy; his older sister chose law; their youngest sister, Lydia, struggled with mental illness and ultimately took her own life. This devastating tragedy strikes the Cayton-Holland household at the same moment Adam’s career is finally getting off the ground.
Touchstone | 9781501170164
VOX by Christina Dalcher (Dystopian Thriller)
On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her. Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke 16,000 words each day, but now women have only 100 to make themselves heard. For herself, her daughter and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.
Berkley | 9780440000785
WHISKEY WHEN WE'RE DRY by John Larison (Western)
In the spring of 1885, 17-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbors, she cuts off her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains to find her outlaw brother Noah and bring him home. A talented sharpshooter herself, Jess' quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious Governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah --- dead or alive. Wrestling with her brother's outlaw identity, and haunted by questions about her own, Jess must outmaneuver those who underestimate her, ultimately rising to become a hero in her own right.
Viking | 9780735220447
On Sale the Week of August 20th in Paperback
August 21st
ARARAT by Christopher Golden (Supernatural Thriller)
When an earthquake reveals a secret cave hidden inside Mount Ararat in Turkey, a daring, newly engaged couple are determined to be the first ones inside. The cave is actually an ancient, buried ship that many quickly come to believe is really Noah’s Ark. When a team of scholars, archaeologists and filmmakers make it inside the ark, they discover an elaborate coffin in its recesses. Inside the coffin they find an ugly, misshapen cadaver --- not the holy man they expected, but a hideous creature with horns. Shock and fear turn to horror when a massive blizzard blows in, trapping them thousands of meters up the side of a remote mountain. All they can do is pray for safety. But something wicked is listening to their prayers --- and it wants to answer.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250181343
BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda (Psychological Thriller)
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever. But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really?
Graydon House | 9781525811982
A DISTANT VIEW OF EVERYTHING: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Mystery)
A new baby brings an abundance of joy to Isabel Dalhousie and her husband, Jamie, but Charlie is none too keen on his newborn brother. Isabel must find a way to impress upon her older son the patience and understanding that have served as guiding principles in her own life. These are the very qualities that bring Bea Shandon, an old acquaintance of Isabel’s, to seek her help in a tricky situation. Bea introduced a wealthy female friend to a cosmetic surgeon at her most recent dinner party. Then new information comes to light about the surgeon that causes Bea to doubt his motives and the auspiciousness of the match. Isabel agrees to find out more, but as her enquiries take an unexpected turn, she starts to wonder whom exactly she should be investigating.
Anchor | 9780804169929
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 | 9780451497550
IN THE MIDNIGHT ROOM by Laura McBride (Fiction)
Fun-loving and rebellious, 21-year-old June Stein abandons the safe world of her New Jersey childhood for edgy 1950s Las Vegas. For the next 60 years, June will dare to live boldly. She will upend conventions, risk her heart and her life, rear a child, lose a child, love more than one man, and stand up for more than one woman. June’s story will intertwine with those of three unlikely strangers: a one-time mail-order bride from the Philippines, a high school music teacher, and a young mother from Mexico working as a hotel maid. Knit together around June’s explosive secret, they forge a future that none of them foresee.
Touchstone | 9781501157790
LIGHTS ON, RATS OUT: A Memoir by Cree LeFavour (Memoir)
As a young college graduate a year into treatment with a psychiatrist, Cree LeFavour began to organize her days around the cruel, compulsive logic of self-harm. Her body was a canvas of cruelty; each scar a mark of pride and shame. The thrill of meeting with her psychiatrist, Dr. Adam N. Kohl --- whose relationship with Cree is at once sustaining and paralyzing --- comes to be the only bright spot in her days. LIGHTS ON, RATS OUT brings us closely into these years, recounting a fiercely bright and independent woman’s charged attachment to a mental health professional and the dangerous compulsion to keep him in her life at all costs.
Grove Press | 9780802128058
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 powerful novel.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812983395
LOVEMURDER by Saul Black (Thriller)
When she’s called to the murder scene, the last thing San Francisco Homicide detective Valerie Hart is expecting is for Katherine Glass to walk back into her life. Six years earlier, revulsion and fascination had gripped the nation in equal measure, as Katherine had been convicted on six counts of Murder One. But the freshly mutilated corpse in the ground-floor apartment bears all the hallmarks of Katherine’s victims. And then there’s the note, with its chilling implications, addressed to Valerie. To stop the slaughter, Valerie must ask Katherine to help her decipher the killer’s twisted message. But that means re-entering the pitch-black labyrinth that is Katherine’s mind, and this time Valerie isn’t so sure which one of them will survive.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250185167
On Sale the Week of August 27th in Hardcover
August 28th
BLACKOUT: An Ari Thor Thriller by Ragnar Jonasson (Mystery/Thriller)
On the shores of a tranquil fjord in Northern Iceland, a man is brutally beaten to death on a bright summer's night. A young reporter leaves Reykajvik to investigate on her own, unaware that an innocent person's life hangs in the balance. Ari Thor Arason and his colleagues on the tiny police force in Siglufjordur struggle with an increasingly perplexing case, while their own serious personal problems push them to the limit. What secrets does the dead man harbour, and what is the young reporter hiding? As silent, unspoken horrors from the past threaten them all, and the darkness deepens, it's a race against time to find the killer before someone else dies.
Minotaur Books | 9781250171054
FORTUNATE SON by J.D. Rhoades (Thriller)
Years ago, the Jakes brothers were found in a trailer where they’d been left by their mother. One found a happy home. The older son never did, but he always dreamed of the day when they would be together again. Thirteen years later, big brother appears, and he’s determined to reunite the family, even if he has to do it by kidnapping his younger brother. Their mother is in New Orleans, and she’s in trouble. Her sons are coming to the rescue, even if one of them is doing it at gunpoint. But things are rapidly spinning out of control in New Orleans. The Jakes boys, the disgraced former sheriff trying to chase them down, and an ambitious Louisiana deputy investigating the mother are in for far more danger than any of them bargained for.
Polis Books | 9781947993105
FRENCH EXIT by Patrick deWitt (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Frances Price is in dire straits, beset by scandal and impending bankruptcy. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there’s the Prices’ aging cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral litigator and world-class cad whose gruesome tabloid death rendered Frances and Malcolm social outcasts. Putting penury and pariahdom behind them, the family decides to cut their losses and head for the exit. One ocean voyage later, the curious trio land in their beloved Paris, the City of Light serving as a backdrop not for love or romance, but for self-destruction and economical ruin --- to riotous effect.
Ecco | 9780062846921
THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah (Historical Mystery)
Hercule Poirot returns home to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Poirot has no idea what she’s talking about and has never even heard of this man. Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him --- a man called John McCrodden, who also claims to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered?
William Morrow | 9780062792341
THE OTHER SISTER by Sarah Zettel (Psychological Thriller)
Everyone thought that reckless, troubled Geraldine Monroe was the bad sister --- especially when she fled town after her mother's death 25 years ago. But people don't know the truth. Marie Monroe knows. She was there for their father's cruel punishments, the constant manipulation, the lies. Everyone thinks she's the perfect daughter --- patient, kind and obedient. No one would suspect her of anything. Especially not murder. Now Geraldine is home again, and she and Marie have united in a plan for the ultimate revenge. But when old secrets and new fears clash, everyone is pushed to the breaking point…and the sisters will learn that they can't trust anyone --- not even each other.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538760901
TRUST ME by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Psychological Thriller)
An accused killer insists she's innocent of a heinous murder. A grieving journalist surfaces from the wreckage of her shattered life. Their unlikely alliance leads to a dangerous cat and mouse game that will leave you breathless. Who can you trust when you can't trust yourself?
Forge Books | 9780765393074
WALKING SHADOWS: A Decker/Lazarus Novel by Faye Kellerman (Mystery)
The brutally beaten body of 26-year-old Brady Neil is discovered in the woods adjacent to an empty vacation home. When Brady was a baby, his father, Brandon Gratz, was convicted of robbing and killing the owners of a local jewelry store. While Gratz and his partner admitted to the robbery, they swore they left the owners very much alive. As he digs into Gratz’s past, Detective Peter Decker begins to suspect that the son’s murder may be connected to the father’s sins. Before he can put together the pieces, Decker finds out that one of Brady’s friends, Joseph Boch, has gone missing. Heading to Boch’s house with his temporary new partner, Hamilton PD cop Lenora Baccus, they discover a bloodbath. Who would savagely kill two innocent men --- and why?
William Morrow | 9780062424983
WE ALL LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS by Joanne Proulx (Psychological Thriller)
One frigid winter night, Mia and Michael Slate's comfortable world dissolves in an instant when they discover that their best friend has cheated them out of their life savings. At the same time, a few doors down, their teenage son passes out in the snow at a party --- a mistake the consequences of which will shatter not just their family, but an entire community.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538712450
WE THAT ARE YOUNG by Preti Taneja (Fiction)
Jivan Singh, the bastard scion of the Devraj family, returns to his New Delhi childhood home at the age of 23 after 15 years in the United States. His arrival coincides with the unexpected resignation of the founder and aging patriarch of the Company --- its simple name belying its vast holdings across industry and entertainment, and the family's national renown. On the same day, Sita, Devraj's youngest daughter, disappears --- refusing to marry the man her father wants for her. Now, Radha and Gargi, Sita's older sisters, are given the Company --- and a brutal struggle for power begins.
Knopf | 9780525521525
August 30th
THE FALL OF GONDOLIN written by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee (Fantasy)
In the Tale of THE FALL OF GONDOLIN are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin Turambar. Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328613042
September 1st
HUSK by Dave Zeltserman (Horror)
Charlie is a Husker on the prowl in the New Hampshire wilderness when he falls in love with one of them: a girl named Jill. Loving Jill means leaving the Husk clan, with its gruesome cannibalistic rituals, and that will be far more difficult --- and dangerous --- than Charlie could have foreseen. It’s only in New York City that the secret to ending his terrible cravings may reveal itself --- if it doesn’t kill him and everything he has grown to love first.
Severn House Publishers | 9780727888020
On Sale the Week of August 27th in Paperback
August 28th
BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD by Attica Locke (Mystery/Thriller)
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules --- a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home. When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders --- a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman --- have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes --- and save himself in the process --- before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt.
Mulholland Books | 9780316363273
THE CROOKED STAIRCASE: A Jane Hawk Novel by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane Hawk’s husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive. Jane’s ruthless pursuers can’t stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call. Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her. But nothing can prepare her for the chilling truth that awaits when she descends the crooked staircase to the dark and dreadful place where her long nightmare was born.
Bantam | 9780525483694
ENEMY OF THE STATE: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Political Thriller)
After 9/11, the United States made one of the most secretive and dangerous deals in its history. The evidence against the powerful Saudis who coordinated the attack would be buried. In return, King Faisal would promise to keep the oil flowing and deal with the conspirators in his midst. When the king’s own nephew is discovered funding ISIS, the president suspects that the Saudis never intended to live up to their agreement. He decides that the royalty needs to be sent a message and that Mitch Rapp is just the man to deliver it. The catch? America can’t be seen moving against an ally. Rapp will be on his own.
Pocket Books | 9781476783536
THE GRAVE’S A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)
In the wake of an unthinkable family tragedy, 12-year-old Flavia de Luce is struggling to fill her empty days. For a needed escape, Dogger, the loyal family servant, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. As their punt drifts past the church where a notorious vicar had recently dispatched three of his female parishioners by spiking their communion wine with cyanide, Flavia, an expert chemist with a passion for poisons, is ecstatic. Suddenly something grazes her fingers as she dangles them in the water. She clamps down on the object, which turns out to be a human head, attached to a human body. If anything could take Flavia’s mind off sorrow, it is solving a murder --- although one that may lead the young sleuth to an early grave.
Bantam | 9780345540003
HOUSEGIRL by Michael Donkor (Fiction)
Paperback Original
As a housegirl, Belinda knows how to follow the rules. Mary, a young housegirl-in-training, is still learning the rules. Amma has had enough of the rules. A straight-A student at her exclusive London school, she has always been the pride of her Ghanaian parents --- until now. Watching their once-confident teenager grow sullen and wayward, they decide that sensible Belinda is the shining example Amma needs. So Belinda must leave Mary behind as she is summoned from Ghana to London, where she tries to impose order on her unsettling new world. As summer turns to autumn, Belinda and Amma are surprised to discover common ground. But when the cracks in their defenses open up, the secrets they have both been holding tightly threaten to seep out.
Picador | 9781250305176
THE LANGUAGE OF SOLITUDE by Jan-Philipp Sendker (Mystery/Thriller)
Brooding expat and journalist Paul Leibovitz is beginning to imagine a new life for himself in Hong Kong, one in which the grief over a recent family tragedy doesn’t consume him and his love for Christine Wu brings him great joy. When Christine gets an unexpected and emotionally charged letter from her estranged brother, Paul journeys with her to a remote village outside of Shanghai, where a mysterious illness is affecting the locals. Paul discovers that a powerful chemical conglomerate is polluting a nearby lake, and Chinese officials are doing nothing to stop it. If Paul doesn’t walk away, he could pull the woman he loves reluctantly back into a world she escaped from decades ago --- putting their relationship and their lives at risk.
Atria / 37 INK | 9781476793689
A LIFE OF ADVENTURE AND DELIGHT by Akhil Sharma (Fiction/Short Stories)
Akhil Sharma delivers eight stories that focus on Indian protagonists at home and abroad, plunging readers into the unpredictable workings of the human heart. A young woman in an arranged marriage awakens one day surprised to find herself in love with her husband. A retired divorcé tries to become the perfect partner by reading women’s magazines. A man’s longstanding contempt for his cousin suddenly shifts inward when he witnesses his cousin caring for a sick woman. The protagonists in A LIFE OF ADVENTURE AND DELIGHT deceive themselves and engage in odd behaviors as they navigate how to be good, how to make meaningful relationships, and the strengths and pitfalls of self-interest.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393355895
LOUIS L’AMOUR’S LOST TREASURES: Volume 1: Mysterious Stories, Lost Notes, and Unfinished Manuscripts from One of the World's Most Popular Novelists by Louis L’Amour with Beau L'Amour (Western/Short Stories)
Using his father’s handwritten notes, journal entries and correspondences, Beau L’Amour uncovers how and why many never-before-seen manuscripts were written --- and speculates about the ways they might have ended. These selections celebrate Louis L’Amour’s vision and virtuosity, including the first seven chapters of a powerful novel about the Trail of Tears, a chilling Western horror story, and a tale of the American Revolution featuring a character related to L’Amour’s well-known Sackett family. At the other end of the spectrum are classic adventures, such as "The Golden Tapestry," set in 1960s Istanbul, as well as several uniquely different attempts at what would have been the most profoundly intimate of all of L’Amour’s novels.
Bantam | 9780425284438
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 Paperbacks | 9780062574053
THE RED BANDANA: A Life. A Choice. A Legacy. by Tom Rinaldi (Biography)
One Sunday morning before church, when Welles Crowther was a young boy, his father gave him a red handkerchief for his back pocket. Welles kept it with him that day, and just about every day to come. When the Twin Towers fell, Welles’ parents had no idea what happened to their son, who had taken a Wall Street job there. Eight months after the attacks, his mother read a news account from several survivors who said they and others had been led to safety by a stranger, carrying a woman on his back, down nearly 20 flights of stairs. They didn’t know his name, but despite the smoke and panic, one of them remembered a single detail clearly: the man was wearing a red bandanna.
Penguin Books | 9780143130079
THE SALT LINE by Holly Goddard Jones (Post-Apocalyptic Thriller/Science Fiction)
In an unspecified future, the United States' borders have receded behind a salt line --- a ring of scorched earth that protects its citizens from deadly disease-carrying ticks. Those within the zone live safe, if limited, lives in a society controlled by a common fear. Few have any reason to venture out of the zone, except for the adrenaline junkies who pay a fortune to tour what's left of nature. Those among the latest expedition include a popstar and his girlfriend, Edie; the tech giant Wes; and Marta; a seemingly simple housewife. Once out of the zone, the group find themselves at the mercy of deadly ticks --- and at the center of a murderous plot.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780735214330
SOLD ON A MONDAY by Kristina McMorris (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
2 CHILDREN FOR SALE. The scrawled sign, peddling young siblings on a farmhouse porch, captures the desperation sweeping the country in 1931. It's an era of breadlines, bank runs and impossible choices. For struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family's dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication. But when the image leads to his big break, the consequences are devastating in ways he never imagined. Haunted by secrets of her own, secretary Lillian Palmer sees more in the picture than a good story and is soon drawn into the fray. Together, the two set out to right a wrongdoing and mend a fractured family, at the risk of everything they value.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781492663997
STRONG TO THE BONE: A Caitlin Strong Novel by Jon Land (Thriller)
1944: Texas Ranger Earl Strong investigates a triple murder inside a Nazi POW camp in Texas. The Present: His daughter, fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, finds herself pursuing the killer her father never caught in the most personal case of her career --- a conspiracy stretching from that Nazi POW camp to a modern-day neo-Nazi gang. A sinister movement has emerged from the shadows of history, determined to undermine the American way of life. Its leader, Armand Fisker, has an army at his disposal, a deadly bio-weapon, and a reputation for being unbeatable. To prevent an unspeakable cataclysm, Caitlin and her outlaw lover, Cort Wesley Masters, must win a war the world thought was over.
Forge Books | 9780765384652
TEAR ME APART by J.T. Ellison (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter. The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth, or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart…and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family’s deepest secrets.
Mira | 9780778330004
WHEN YOU CAN'T STOP by James W. Hall (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Despite Harper McDaniel’s best efforts, the man responsible for the murder of her husband and son was exonerated thanks to some slick legal wrangling. This blatant injustice has only made Harper more determined than ever to bring down the culprit. Her ammunition? Incriminating information about his olive oil operations in Italy. But the clues that she follows are leading her into the depths of a corrupt plot that is more poisonous and far-reaching than she realizes. Accompanied by her brother and mobster grandfather, Harper treks across Spain from Seville to a medieval castle, home to a successful olive farmer who is one of Harper’s closest allies. Shadowed every step of the way by a ruthless assassin, Harper is moving ever deeper into enemy territory.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781503903067
|
