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Please note that there will be no "On Sale This Week" newsletter on December 25th or January 1st as we pause to celebrate the holidays, thus we are covering releases for the next three weeks in this edition. Our next newsletter will be sent on Tuesday, January 8th. Happy New Year!
In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of December 17th, December 24th and December 31st 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 Reviewer Picks for 2018, where our reviewers reveal their favorite books of the year, and various "Best Of" lists that we've compiled from around the web. Let us know how many books you've read, and how many audiobooks you've listened to, in 2018 in our latest poll.
Also, be sure to check out our Holiday Author Blogs, which have returned for an 11th consecutive year. We are featuring a new blog post from an author on select days through Saturday, December 22nd talking about the books that he or she has given and/or received during the holidays. This year's contributors are Fiona Davis, T. Greenwood, Bonnie Kistler, John Lescroart, Lynda Cohen Loigman, Alex Michaelides, Kate Morton, James Rollins, Whitney Scharer and Lisa Wingate.
And please keep in mind our very special End-of-the-Year contest featuring Carol Fitzgerald’s Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2018. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded all 45 books, while nine other winners will receive a selection of five of these titles. The deadline for your entries is Monday, January 7th at noon ET.
P.S. 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, perhaps as you do your holiday shopping!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
This Week's Bonus News: Reviewer Picks for 2018,
"Best Of" Lists from Around the Web,
and Our Year-End Poll
Bookreporter.com Reviewers Choose Their Favorite Books of 2018
Recently we asked our reviewers to provide us with a list of some of their favorite books from 2018. Included is a mix of fiction and nonfiction titles, all published this year. Take a moment to read these varied lists of titles and see if you agree with their selections! Please note that due to personal and professional commitments, some reviewers were not able to participate in this feature.
2018 “Best Of” Lists from Around the Web
This is the time of year when “Best Of” lists are everywhere. These annual roundups always seem to spark lively discussions among readers as they reflect on their favorite books of the year. Although we at Bookreporter.com don’t have a “Best Of” list of our own, we’ve compiled a number of them for you. See which of your top picks appear on these lists and which titles you feel should've been included but weren't. Perhaps you’ll even find some books to add to your reading list as we head into the new year!
Bookreporter.com's Year-End Poll
How many print books or e-books did you read in 2018? How many audiobooks did you listen to? Click here to cast your votes!
On Sale the Week of December 17th in Hardcover
December 18th
INFLUENZA: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History by Jeremy Brown (History/Health)
While influenza is now often thought of as a common and mild disease, it still kills over 30,000 people in the US each year. Dr. Jeremy Brown, currently Director of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes of Health, expounds on the flu's deadly past to solve the mysteries that could protect us from the next outbreak. In INFLUENZA, he talks with leading epidemiologists, policy makers, and the researcher who first sequenced the genetic building blocks of the original 1918 virus to offer both a comprehensive history and a roadmap for understanding what’s to come.
Touchstone | 9781501181245
On Sale the Week of December 17th in Paperback
December 18th
FRESHWATER by Akwaeke Emezi (Fiction)
Ada has always been unusual. As an infant in southern Nigeria, she is a source of deep concern to her family. Her parents successfully prayed her into existence, but something must have gone awry, as the young Ada becomes a troubled child, prone to violent fits of anger and grief. Born “with one foot on the other side,” she begins to develop separate selves. When Ada travels to America for college, a traumatic event crystallizes the selves into something more powerful. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind and these alters --- now protective, now hedonistic --- move into control, Ada’s life spirals in a dangerous direction.
Grove Press | 9780802128997
HUNTING ANNABELLE by Wendy Heard (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Sean Suh is done with killing. After serving three years in a psychiatric prison, he’s determined to stay away from temptation. But he can’t resist Annabelle, who alone can see past the monster to the man inside. Then Annabelle disappears. Sean is sure she’s been kidnapped --- he witnessed her being taken firsthand --- but the police are convinced that Sean himself is at the center of this crime. And he must admit, his illness has caused him to “lose time” before. What if there’s more to what happened than he’s able to remember? Though haunted by the fear that it might be better for Annabelle if he never finds her, Sean can’t bring himself to let go of her without a fight.
Mira | 9780778369349
THE ICE HOUSE by Laura Lee Smith (Fiction)
Johnny MacKinnon might be on the verge of losing it all. The ice factory he married into, which he’s run for decades, is facing devastating OSHA fines following a mysterious accident and may have to close. The only hope for Johnny’s livelihood is that someone in the community saw something, but no one seems to be coming forward. He hasn’t spoken to his son Corran back in Scotland since Corran’s heroin addiction finally drove Johnny to the breaking point. And now, after a collapse on the factory floor, it appears Johnny may have a brain tumor. But this may be his last chance to bridge the gap with Corran --- and to have any sort of relationship with the baby granddaughter he’s never met.
Grove Press | 9780802128645
MICKEY SPILLANE’S MIKE HAMMER: THE NIGHT I DIED written by Max Allan Collins, with illustrations by Marcelo Salaza and Marcio Freire (Graphic Novel/Hard-boiled Mystery)
Paperback Original
Mickey Spillane's tough-talking, brawling, skirt-chasing private detective Mike Hammer returns to comics in this thrilling noir series, based on an original plot by Mickey Spillane, written by Max Allan Collins. When a chance encounter with a captivating femme fatale leads to a violent mob retaliation, hard-boiled detective Mike Hammer finds himself dodging both bullets and hard broads as he undertakes the most dangerous case of his career.
Titan Comics | 9781785866449
THE NINE OF US: Growing Up Kennedy by Jean Kennedy Smith (Memoir)
Before Joe and Rose Kennedy’s children emerged as leaders on the world stage, they were a loving circle of brothers and sisters who played football, swam, read and pursued their interests. They were children inspired by parents who instilled in them a strong work ethic, deep love of country, and intense appreciation for the sacrifices their ancestors made to come to America. "No whining in this house!" was their father’s regular refrain. It was his way of reminding them not to complain, to be grateful for what they had, and to give back. In THE NINE OF US, Jean Kennedy Smith --- the last surviving sibling --- revisits this singular time in their lives.
Harper Perennial | 9780062444233
THE POPE OF PALM BEACH by Tim Dorsey (Mystery/Humor)
Perpetually hunting Floridian arcana and lore, Serge A. Storms and his sidekick, Coleman, are on a frenzied literary pilgrimage that leads them back to Riviera Beach, the cozy seaside town where the boys spent their formative years. Growing up, Serge was enthralled by the Legend of Riviera Beach, aka Darby, a welder at the port who surfed the local waves long before the hot spots were hot. Meanwhile, there was a much murkier legend that made the rounds of the schoolyards from Serge’s youth --- that of the crazy hermit living in a makeshift jungle compound farther up the mysterious Loxahatchee River than anyone dared to venture. Serge moved away but never forgot, and is back now, with those legends looming larger than ever in the rearview mirror of his memory.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062429261
THE TERMINAL LIST by Jack Carr (Thriller)
On his last combat deployment, Lieutenant Commander James Reece’s entire team was killed in a catastrophic ambush that also claimed the lives of the aircrew sent in to rescue them. But when those dearest to him are murdered on the day of his homecoming, Reece discovers that this was not an act of war by a foreign enemy but a conspiracy that runs to the highest levels of government. Now, with no family and free from the military’s command structure, Reece applies the lessons that he’s learned in over a decade of constant warfare toward avenging the deaths of his family and teammates.
Pocket Books | 9781501180828
On Sale the Week of December 24th in Hardcover
December 26th
WATCHING YOU by Lisa Jewell (Psychological Thriller)
As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all --- including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with him. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenage son Freddie --- a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5 --- excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father. One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced that her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. Meanwhile, 20 years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam.
Atria Books | 9781501190070
On Sale the Week of December 24th in Paperback
December 24th
CAVE OF BONES: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman (Mystery)
When Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives to speak at a character-building program for at-risk teens, she discovers chaos. Annie, a young participant on a solo experience, stumbled upon a human skeleton. While everyone is relieved that Annie is back, they’re concerned about a beloved instructor who went out into the wilds to find the missing girl. The instructor’s disappearance mirrors a long-ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. While Bernie searches for answers in her case, her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back --- and involved with Bernie’s sister, Darleen.
Harper | 9780062391933
NIGHT MOVES: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
There’s no spilled blood, no evidence of a struggle, and, thanks to the victim’s missing face and hands, no immediate means of identification. And no telling why the disfigured corpse of a stranger has appeared in an upscale L.A. family’s home. Chet Corvin, his wife and their two teenage children are certain the John Doe is unknown to them. Despite that, their cooperation seems guarded. And that’s more than LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware can elicit from the Corvins’ creepy next-door neighbor. As the investigation ensues, it becomes clear that this well-to-do suburban enclave has its share of curious eyes, suspicious minds and loose lips.
Ballantine Books | 9780345541482
ONE STATION AWAY by Olaf Olafsson (Fiction)
An overlooked pianist who finally receives fraught success after decades of disappointment. An elusive dancer whose untimely death her fiancé is desperate to untangle. A mysterious patient who is comatose after a violent accident. These are the three women who animate ONE STATION AWAY. Magnus, a New York neurologist --- son to one, lover to another, and doctor to a third --- is the thread that binds these women’s stories together as he navigates relationships defined by compromise and misunderstanding, guilt and forgiveness, and, most of all, by an obsessive attempt to communicate --- to understand and to be understood, to love and to be loved.
Ecco | 9780062677495
THE WANTED: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel by Robert Crais (Thriller)
When single mother Devon Connor hires Elvis Cole, it’s because her troubled teenage son Tyson is flashing cash and she’s afraid he’s dealing drugs. But the truth is devastatingly different. With two others, he’s been responsible for a string of high-end burglaries, a crime spree that takes a deadly turn when one of them is murdered and Tyson and his girlfriend disappear. They stole the wrong thing from the wrong man, and, determined to get it back, he has hired two men who are smart and brutal and the best at what they do. To even the odds, Cole brings in his friend, Joe Pike, but even the two of them together may be overmatched.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399573897
On Sale the Week of December 31st in Hardcover
December 31st
THE BOY by Tami Hoag (Mystery/Thriller)
When Detective Nick Fourcade enters the home of Genevieve Gauthier, the bloody crime scene that awaits him is both the most brutal and the most confusing he's ever seen. Genevieve’s seven-year-old son, KJ, has been murdered by an alleged intruder, yet Genevieve is alive and well. Meanwhile, Nick's wife, Detective Annie Broussard, sits in the emergency room with the grieving Genevieve. Annie understands the emotional devastation this woman is going through, but is troubled by a story that makes little sense. Who would murder a child and leave the only witness behind? When the very next day KJ's sometimes babysitter, 12-year-old Nora Florette, is reported missing, Nick and Annie dig deep into the dual mysteries.
Dutton | 9781101985397
A DELICATE TOUCH: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
When an old acquaintance reaches out to Stone Barrington requesting assistance, the job seems easy enough. She needs an expert in an esoteric field, someone with both the knowledge and careful dexterity to solve a puzzle. But the solution to one small problem blows the lid open on a bigger scandal going back decades, and involving numerous prominent New Yorkers who would prefer that the past stay buried. With this explosive information in-hand, Stone Barrington is caught between a rock and a hard place, his only options either to play it safe to the detriment of others, or to see justice done and risk fatal exposure.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735219250
IN A HOUSE OF LIES by Ian Rankin (Mystery)
Rebus' retirement is disrupted once again when skeletal remains are identified as a private investigator who went missing over a decade earlier. Rebus' old friend, Siobhan Clarke, is assigned to this case, but neither of them could have predicted what buried secrets the investigation will uncover. Rebus remembers the original case --- a shady land deal --- all too well. After the investigation stalled, the family of the missing man complained that there was a police cover-up. As Clarke and her team investigate the cold case murder, she soon learns a different side of her mentor, a side he would prefer to keep in the past.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316479202
SIEGE OF STONE: Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles, Volume III by Terry Goodkind (Fantasy)
The Sorceress Nicci, the Wizard Nathan Rahl, and the young swordsman Bannon remain in the legendary city of Ildakar after a great internal revolt has freed the slaves and brought down the powerful wizards council. But as he fled the city, capricious Wizard Commander Maxim dissolved the petrification spell that had turned to stone the invading army of General Utros 15 centuries earlier. Now, hundreds of thousands of half-stone soldiers from the ancient past have awakened, led by one of the greatest enemy commanders in history. Even as General Utros holds Ildakar hostage and also unleashes his incredible army on the unsuspecting Old World, an equally powerful threat arises out in the sea.
Tor Books | 9781250194763
VERSES FOR THE DEAD: A Pendergast Novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
A. X. L. Pendergast and his new colleague, junior agent Coldmoon, are assigned to investigate a rash of killings in Miami Beach, where a bloodthirsty psychopath is cutting out the hearts of his victims and leaving them with cryptic handwritten letters at local gravestones. The graves are unconnected save in one bizarre way: all belong to women who committed suicide. But the seeming lack of connection between the old suicides and the new murders is soon the least of Pendergast's worries. Because as he digs deeper, he realizes that the brutal new crimes may be just the tip of the iceberg: a conspiracy of death that reaches back decades.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538747209
January 1st
THE GIRL AT THE BORDER by Leslie Archer (Thriller)
Renowned archaeologist Richard Mathis is half a world away on the island of Crete when he learns that his daughter, Bella, has gone missing. Within 20 minutes, he’s on his way back to the States. Two days later, he’s dead. Richard’s young assistant, Angela Chase, is devastated by the loss of the man who had become both mentor and friend, and she’s determined to find the missing girl, who seems to have made dangerous connections --- and whose lonely childhood so resembles Angela’s own. Born Laurel Springfield, Angela now spends her days digging up the origins of a lost civilization while struggling to keep her own past buried. But will the search for Bella expose Angela’s carefully disguised identity --- and will she find Bella before she’s lost forever?
Lake Union Publishing | 9781503904774
JUST ONCE by Lori Handeland (Fiction)
Frankie Sicari is roused from sleep late one night by a key rattling in the front door lock. It’s her ex-husband, Charley Blackwell, who she hasn’t seen for nearly a quarter of a century. What’s baffling is that Charley seems to think they are still married, and has no recollection of his current wife, Hannah. When medical tests reveal shocking findings, Frankie finds herself reluctantly caring for the man who left her 20 years earlier, while Hannah is relegated to the sidelines. How can Frankie forgive the man who abandoned her when she needed him most? And how can Hannah cope with the impending death of the man she’s loved for the past 20 years --- especially now as she is faced with the shattering truth that he has never stopped loving his first wife, Frankie?
Severn House Publishers | 9780727888334
On Sale the Week of December 31st in Paperback
December 31st
THE BISHOP’S PAWN by Steve Berry (Thriller)
Known as a maverick, Cotton Malone is a Navy lawyer in trouble when Stephanie Nelle, from the United States Justice Department, seeks his help in investigating a delicate situation involving a stolen rare coin and a rogue FBI faction. Soon Malone realizes that the Justice Department and the FBI are at war over something else entirely: a cache of secret files about the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination --- documents thought long destroyed. Caught in the midst of this epic clash, Malone ultimately discovers a shocking truth --- one that could threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement’s greatest hero.
St. Martin's Paperbacks | 9781250140241
THE CHALK MAN by C. J. Tudor (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same. In 2016, Eddie is fully grown and thinks he has put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank…until one of them turns up dead.
Broadway Books | 9781524760991
FINAL SHADOWS: A Bishop Files Novel by Kay Hooper (Supernatural Thriller)
Paperback Original
Tasha Solomon's world turned upside down when the psychic abilities she had tried so hard to live with in secret suddenly made her a target stalked by unseen enemies. John Brodie is a member of an intricate and secretive network of individuals who have devoted their lives to the deadly struggle of saving psychics in danger of being taken or being killed. It is a war very few other people even know exists, and yet its tentacles stretch deeply and dangerously into every aspect of society. Tasha has to learn how to become a warrior in a battle she did not choose, to save people she does not know, and possibly even the very world around her. That is, if John Brodie can keep her alive long enough.
Berkley | 9780515153354
THE GOWN: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown. Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062674951
GRIST MILL ROAD by Christopher J. Yates (Thriller)
The year is 1982. The setting: an Edenic hamlet some 90 miles north of New York City. There, among the craggy rock cliffs and glacial ponds of timeworn mountains, three friends --- Patrick, Matthew and Hannah --- are bound together by a terrible and seemingly senseless crime. Twenty-six years later, in New York City, living lives their younger selves never could have predicted, the three meet again --- with even more devastating results.
Picador | 9781250150301
OPERATOR DOWN: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
It was to be a simple mission. Nothing more than assessing whether a merchant in the fabled Israeli Diamond Exchange was involved in a scheme that could potentially embarrass the state of Israel. But nothing is ever simple in the world of intelligence, as Aaron Bergman --- a former leader of an elite direct action team under the Mossad --- should have known. Executing the operation as a contractor, he disappears without a trace. Pike Logan and his team know none of this, but he’s tracking an American arms dealer in Tel Aviv who may be attempting to sell sensitive nuclear weapons components to the highest bidder. When Pike’s team breaks up an attempt at killing Shoshana, Aaron’s partner, they stumble upon a concerted conspiracy to topple a democratic African country.
Dutton | 9781101984833
THE PERFECT MOTHER by Aimee Molloy (Psychological Thriller)
They call themselves the May Mothers --- a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time. When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar, they are looking for a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested and friendships are destroyed.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062696809
THE TRANSITION by Luke Kennard (Dystopian Fiction/Satire)
Do you or your partner spend more than you earn? Have your credit card debts evolved into collection letters? Has either of you considered turning to a life of a crime? You are not alone. We know. We can help. Welcome to the Transition. While taking part in the Transition, you and your partner will spend six months living under the supervision of your mentors, two successful adults of a slightly older generation. Freed from your financial responsibilities, you will be coached through the key areas of the scheme --- Employment, Nutrition, Responsibility, Relationship, Finances and Self-respect --- until you are ready to be reintegrated into adult society. At the end of your six months, who knows what discoveries you’ll have made about yourself?
Picador | 9781250309310
TRUST ME by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Psychological Thriller)
There are three sides to every story. Yours. Mine. And the truth. 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 | 9781250232724
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