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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 22nd and July 29th 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.
Special Preview of Friday's Update: As you may know, as part of our expansion, Carol has been shooting videos each week to promote what you will see on the site on Friday. You can watch a video preview of the July 26th Weekly Update newsletter here. We hope you enjoy it!
This week, we are calling attention to Carol's four latest Bookreporter.com Bets On picks: WHISPER NETWORK by Chandler Baker (this month’s Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick, THE LAST BOOK PARTY by Karen Dukess, GIRLS LIKE US by Cristina Alger, and THE NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU by Amulya Malladi.
Also, please click on the covers above for our reviews of three books that we featured in last Friday's Weekly Update newsletter: THE NICKEL BOYS, the highly anticipated follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, in which Colson Whitehead dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida; THE NEW GIRL by Daniel Silva, a stunning thriller of deception, betrayal and vengeance featuring Gabriel Allon, the legendary chief of Israeli intelligence; and UNDER CURRENTS, a novel of romantic suspense from Nora Roberts, who brings together two strangers wanting to build a new life --- but will the past set them free or pull them under?
Finally, we are spotlighting YOU'VE BEEN VOLUNTEERED, the second installment in Laurie Gelman's Class Mom series, which is now in stores. Refreshingly down-to-earth and brimming with warmth, Jen Dixon’s next chapter will keep you turning the pages to find out what’s really going on under the veneer of polite parent interactions.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Now Available:
YOU'VE BEEN VOLUNTEERED: A Class Mom Novel
by Laurie Gelman
Calling all Class Moms!
In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Laurie Gelman’s "irreverent and hilarious" (The New York Post) hit CLASS MOM, brash, lovable Jen Dixon is back with a new class and her work cut out for her.
Click here to read more about the book and author.
This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com "Bets On" WHISPER NETWORK,
THE LAST BOOK PARTY, GIRLS LIKE US
and THE NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU
WHISPER NETWORK (Audiobook) by Chandler Baker (Mystery/Thriller)
I had seen lots of buzz about WHISPER NETWORK by Chandler Baker. So I quickly grabbed the audiobook, which is narrated by Almarie Guerra, and found it to be one really well-done listen. The book is set at a sportswear company called Truviv, where three women --- Sloane, Ardie and Grace --- have worked for years. The man in line to become the company’s new CEO following the sudden death of his predecessor is Ames Garrett, who women in the company had identified as “trouble.” No, it’s not about his business dealings, but rather about his “women dealings.”
- Click here to read more about the audiobook.
- Click here to read a review of the hardcover.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to see why Reese Witherspoon selected the book as her July book club pick.
Click here to read more of Carol’s commentary on WHISPER NETWORK.
THE LAST BOOK PARTY by Karen Dukess (Fiction)
Set on Cape Cod in 1987, THE LAST BOOK PARTY by Karen Dukess is a brisk, smart summer read and a coming-of-age story. And if that’s not enough to entice you, it’s set in the world of publishing, giving readers a fun insider look at what unfolds behind the scenes in the book world.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
Click here to read more of Carol’s commentary on THE LAST BOOK PARTY.
GIRLS LIKE US by Cristina Alger (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Last summer, I read THE BANKER’S WIFE by Cristina Alger and quickly picked it as a Bets On, noting that she was an author I needed to keep an eye on. So I was quick to snag a copy of GIRLS LIKE US when it came into the office. The book is set in Suffolk County, New York, but the places we know and think of in the Hamptons are not the ones depicted here. Instead, we are on the other side of the tracks where life is a lot grittier than glittery.
- Click here to read more about the book.
Click here to read more of Carol’s commentary on GIRLS LIKE US.
THE NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU by Amulya Malladi (Fiction)
THE NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU by Amulya Malladi is a fun, funny, brisk and smart novel that brings readers a sharp storyline, as well as a deep dive into the culture of global corporate politics. Many years ago, I read a few books by Amulya that I had enjoyed. So when this one got on my radar, I quickly requested a copy.
- Click here to read more about the book.
Click here to read more of Carol’s commentary on
THE NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU.
On Sale the Week of July 22nd in Hardcover
July 23rd
BEIJING PAYBACK by Daniel Nieh (Thriller)
Victor Li is devastated by his father’s murder, and shocked by a confessional letter he finds among his father’s things. In it, his father admits that he was never just a restaurateur --- in fact, he was part of a vast international crime syndicate that formed during China’s leanest communist years. Victor travels to Beijing, where he navigates his father’s secret criminal life, confronting decades-old grudges, violent spats and a shocking new enterprise that the organization wants to undertake. Standing up against it is likely what got his father killed, but Victor remains undeterred. He enlists his growing network of allies and friends to finish what his father started, no matter the costs.
Ecco | 9780062886644
BLACK SUN by Owen Matthews (Historical Thriller)
In order to investigate the gruesome death of a brilliant young physicist, KGB officer Major Alexander Vasin must leave Moscow for Arzamas-16, a top-secret research city that does not appear on any map. There he comes up against the brightest, most cutthroat brain trust in Russia who, on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev himself, are building a nuclear weapon with 3,800 times the destructive potential of the Hiroshima bomb. RDS-220 is a project of such vital national importance that, unlike everyone else in the Soviet Union, the scientists of Arzamas-16 are free to think and act, live and love as they wish...as long as they complete the project and prove to their capitalist enemies that the USSR now commands the heights of nuclear supremacy.
Doubleday | 9780385543408
THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR: The Heartbreaking Imprisonment of the Thirteen Turpin Siblings and Their Extraordinary Rescue by John Glatt (True Crime)
To their family, neighbors and online friends, Louise and David Turpin presented a picture of domestic bliss: dressing their 13 children in matching outfits and buying them expensive gifts. But what police discovered when they entered the Turpin family home would eclipse the most shocking child abuse cases in history. For years, David and Louise had kept their children in increasing isolation, trapping them in a sinister world of torture, fear and near starvation. In the first major account of the case, investigative journalist John Glatt delves into the disturbing details and recounts the bravery of the 13 siblings in the face of unimaginable horror.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250202130
GOOD GIRL, BAD GIRL by Michael Robotham (Psychological Thriller)
A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Half-starved and filthy, she won’t tell anyone her name or where she came from. Six years later, still unidentified, she is living in a secure children’s home with a new name, Evie Cormac. When she initiates a court case demanding the right to be released as an adult, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. Meanwhile, Cyrus is called in to investigate the shocking murder of a high school figure-skating champion, Jodie Sheehan, who is portrayed by everyone as the ultimate girl-next-door. But as Cyrus peels back the layers, a secret life emerges --- one that Evie Cormac, the girl with no past, knows something about.
Scribner | 9781982103606
GRAVITY IS THE THING by Jaclyn Moriarty (Fiction/Humor)
Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson’s brother, Robert, went missing one day before her 16th birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual, The Guidebook, whose anonymous author promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams. The Guidebook’s missives have remained a constant in Abi’s life --- through her family’s grief over her brother’s disappearance, a move across continents, the devastating dissolution of her marriage, and the new beginning as a single mother and café owner in Sydney. Now, two decades after receiving those first pages, Abi is invited to an all-expenses-paid weekend retreat to learn “the truth” about The Guidebook.
Harper | 9780062883735
LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
Drawing on her own secrets, Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl --- assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake. Cleo Sherwood was a young African-American woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie --- and the dead woman herself. Maddie is going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, wants to be left alone.
William Morrow | 9780062390011
THE LAGER QUEEN OF MINNESOTA by J. Ryan Stradal (Fiction)
Two sisters, one farm. A family is split when their father leaves their shared inheritance entirely to Helen, his younger daughter. Despite baking award-winning pies at the local nursing home, her older sister, Edith, struggles to make what most people would call a living. So she can't help wondering what her life would have been like with even a portion of the farm money her sister kept for herself. With the proceeds from the farm, Helen builds one of the most successful light breweries in the country. Yet one day, Helen will find that she needs some help herself, and she could find a potential savior close to home…if it's not too late.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780399563058
THE LIBERATION OF PARIS: How Eisenhower, de Gaulle, and von Choltitz Saved the City of Light by Jean Edward Smith (History)
Following their breakout from Normandy in late June 1944, the Allies swept across northern France in pursuit of the German army. As they advanced, local forces in Paris began their own liberation, defying the occupying German troops. Charles de Gaulle, the leading figure of the Free French government, urged General Dwight Eisenhower to divert forces to liberate Paris. Neither man knew that the German commandant, Dietrich von Choltitz, dissembled and schemed to surrender the city to the Allies intact, defying Hitler’s orders to leave it a burning ruin. In THE LIBERATION OF PARIS, Jean Edward Smith puts this dramatic event in context, showing how the decision to free the city came at a heavy price: it slowed the Allied momentum and allowed the Germans to regroup.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501164927
ONE GOOD DEED by David Baldacci (Historical Thriller)
When World War II veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, he is sent to Poca City on parole. The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer's years serving in the war or his time in jail. Within a single night, his search for gainful employment --- and a stiff drink --- leads him to a local bar, where he is hired for what seems like a simple job: to collect a debt owed to a powerful local businessman, Hank Pittleman. Soon Archer discovers that recovering the debt won't be so easy. When a murder takes place right under Archer's nose, police suspicions rise against the ex-convict, and Archer realizes that the crime could send him right back to prison...if he doesn't use every skill in his arsenal to track down the real killer.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538750568
THE POSSESSION by Michael Rutger (Thriller)
Still recovering from the shocking revelations they uncovered deep in uncharted territory in the Grand Canyon, American myth and legend investigator Nolan Moore and his team take on a new mission, investigating a rumored case of witchcraft and possession. Nolan hopes their new case, in a quaint village in the middle of the woods, will prove much more like those he and his team investigated prior to their trip to Kincaid's cavern. But as the residents accounts of strange phenomena add up, Nolan and company begin to suspect something all too real and dangerous may be at play. A force that may not be willing to let them escape the village unscathed.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538761878
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL by Nina Stibbe (Fiction/Humor)
Eighteen-year-old Lizzie Vogel lands a job in a local dentist's office after answering a classified ad for a "mature lady with a strong interest in dental issues." The job comes with an apartment of her own, as well as an eccentric boss, a high-strung coworker, and the occasional call to perform light dentistry herself. It also provides Lizzie with an introduction to Andy Nicolello, the young man of her dreams. Lizzie seizes her chance to find love and soon begins calling him her boyfriend, even though they have never so much as kissed or sat next to each other on the sofa. Navigating the new waters of adult life, Lizzie arrives at an unexpected --- and unexpectedly moving --- destination.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316309370
A STRANGER ON THE BEACH by Michele Campbell (Psychological Thriller)
After a very public fight with her husband, Caroline Stark realizes that her life may not be as perfect as it seems: her husband is lying to her, money is disappearing, and there’s a stranger on the beach outside her house. As Caroline’s marriage and her carefully constructed lifestyle begin to collapse around her, she turns to the stranger, Aidan, for comfort…and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling, Aidan’s infatuation with Caroline, her family and her house becomes more and more destructive. But who is manipulating whom in this deadly game of obsession and control? Who will take the blame when someone ends up dead…and what is Caroline hiding?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250202536
WE LOVE ANDERSON COOPER: Short Stories by R.L. Maizes (Fiction/Short Stories)
In R.L. Maizes’ debut collection, characters are treated as outsiders because of their sexual orientation, racial or religious identity, or simply because they look different. A young man courts the publicity that comes from outing himself at his bar mitzvah. When a painter is shunned because of his appearance, he learns to ink tattoos that come to life. A paranoid Jewish actuary suspects his cat of cheating on him --- with his Protestant girlfriend. Readers will recognize themselves in these stories and in these protagonists, whose backgrounds are vastly different from their own --- we’ve all been outsiders at some point.
Celadon Books | 9781250304070
YOU'VE BEEN VOLUNTEERED: A Class Mom Novel by Laurie Gelman (Fiction/Humor)
If you’ve ever been a room parent or school volunteer, Jen Dixon is your hero. She says what every class mom is really thinking, whether in her notoriously frank emails or standup-worthy interactions with the micromanaging PTA President and the gamut of difficult parents. Luckily, she has the charm and wit to get away with it --- most of the time. Jen is sassier than ever but dealing with a whole new set of challenges, in the world of parental politics and at home. She’s been roped into room-parenting yet again, for her son Max’s third grade class. But as her husband buries himself in work, her older daughters navigate adulthood, and Jen’s own aging parents start to need some parenting themselves, Jen gets pulled in more directions than any one mom, or superhero, can handle.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250301857
On Sale the Week of July 22nd in Paperback
July 23rd
ANOTHER KIND OF MADNESS: A Journey Through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness by Stephen P. Hinshaw (Memoir)
Stephen Hinshaw never imagined that a profound secret was kept under lock and key for 18 years within his family --- that his father’s mysterious absences resulted from serious mental illness and involuntary hospitalizations. After years of experiencing the ups and downs of his father’s illness without knowing it existed, Hinshaw began to piece together the silent, often terrifying history of his father’s life. This exploration led to larger discoveries about the family saga, to Hinshaw’s correctly diagnosing his father with bipolar disorder, and to his full-fledged career as a clinical and developmental psychologist and professor.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250213280
BELIEVE ME by JP Delaney (Psychological Thriller)
Claire Wright is desperate. A British drama student in New York without a green card, she takes the only job she can get: working for a firm of divorce lawyers, posing as an easy pickup in hotel bars to entrap straying husbands. But then the game changes. When one of her targets becomes the suspect in a murder investigation, the police ask Claire to use her acting chops to lure him into a confession. From the start, she questions the part she’s being asked to play: Is Patrick Fogler a killer? Or is there more to this setup than she’s being told? Claire will soon realize she is playing the deadliest role of her life.
Ballantine Books | 9781524799342
THE COMPLETIONIST by Siobhan Adcock (Dystopian Thriller)
After months of disturbing behavior, Gardner Quinn has vanished. Her older sister, Fredericka, is desperate to find her, but Fred is also pregnant --- miraculously so, in a near-future America struggling with infertility. So she entrusts the job to their brother, Carter. Just home from war, Carter’s search for his sister is a welcome distraction from mysterious physical symptoms he can’t ignore...and his slightly-more-than recreational drinking. Carter’s efforts to find Gardner lead him into a dangerous underground, where he begins to grasp the risks she took on as a Nurse Completionist. But his investigation also leads back to their father, a veteran of a decades-long war just like Carter himself, who may be concealing a painful truth.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501183485
THE DEAD EX by Jane Corry (Psychological Thriller)
Vicki learns from the police that her ex-husband, David, has gone missing. She insists she last saw him years ago when they divorced, but the police clearly don't believe her. And her memory is hardly reliable. Meanwhile, Scarlet is arrested for dealing drugs, and her eight-year-old daughter, Scarlet, is forced into years of foster care --- an experience that will shape the rest of her life. David's new wife, Tanya, is the one who reported him missing, but what really happened on the night of David's disappearance? And how can Vicki prove her innocence, when she's not even sure of it herself? The answer lies in the connection among these four women --- and the one person they can't escape.
Penguin Books | 9780525561217
DEAD SILENCE: A Foundlings Novel by Wendy Corsi Staub (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Investigative genealogist Amelia Crenshaw Haines vows to help a silent little boy who is unable --- or unwilling --- to communicate his past. Though her own roots remain shrouded in mystery, she relies on tangible DNA evidence to help fellow foundlings uncover theirs…until a remarkable twist of fate presents a stranger bearing an eerily familiar childhood souvenir. NYPD Missing Persons Detective Stockton Barnes has spent his career searching for other people’s lost loved ones and outrunning a youthful misstep. Now a chance encounter with a key player from that fateful night leads him on a desperate quest to locate the one woman he’s ever regretted leaving --- unless a savage killer finds her first.
William Morrow | 9780062742063
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 | 9780735219267
THE FLOATING FELDMANS by Elyssa Friedland (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Sink or swim. Or at least that's what Annette Feldman tells herself when she books a cruise for her entire family. It's been over a decade since the Feldman clan has spent more than 24 hours under the same roof, but Annette is determined to celebrate her 70th birthday the right way. Just this once, they are going to behave like an actual family. Too bad her kids didn't get the memo. Between the troublesome family secrets, old sibling rivalries and her two teenage grandkids, Annette's birthday vacation is looking more and more like the perfect storm. Adrift together on the open seas, the Feldmans will each face the truths they've been ignoring --- and learn that the people they once thought most likely to sink them are actually the ones who help them stay afloat.
Berkley | 9780399586897
IT ALL FALLS DOWN by Sheena Kamal (Psychological Thriller)
When Nora Watts’ father killed himself, she denied her grief and carried on with her life. Then a chance encounter with a veteran who knew him raises disturbing questions Nora can’t ignore --- and dark emotions she can’t control. To make her peace with the past, she has to confront it. Meanwhile, former police detective turned private investigator Jon Brazuca is looking into the overdose death of a billionaire’s mistress. His search uncovers a ruthless opiate ring and a startling connection to Nora, the infuriatingly distant woman he’d once tried to befriend. Focused on the mysterious events of her father’s past and the clues they provide to her own fractured identity and that of her estranged daughter, Nora may not be able to see the danger heading her way until it’s too late.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062909831
THE LATE BLOOMERS’ CLUB by Louise Miller (Fiction)
Nora, the owner of the Miss Guthrie Diner, discovers that she and her younger sister, Kit, stand to inherit the home and land of the town's beloved cake lady, Peggy Johnson. Kit, an aspiring (and broke) filmmaker, thinks her problems are solved when she and Nora find out that Peggy was in the process of selling the land to a big-box developer before her death. But Nora isn't quite ready to let go of the land, complete with a charming farmhouse, an ancient apple orchard and the clues to a secret life that no one knew Peggy had. Troubled by the conflicting needs of the town, and confused by her growing feelings towards Elliot, the big-box developer's rep, Nora throws herself into solving the one problem that everyone in town can agree on --- finding Peggy's missing dog, Freckles.
Penguin Books | 9781101981245
MEET ME IN MONACO: A Novel of Grace Kelly's Royal Wedding by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
When struggling perfumer Sophie Duval shelters Grace Kelly in her boutique to fend off a persistent British press photographer, James Henderson, a bond is forged between the two women and sets in motion a chain of events that stretches across 30 years of friendship, love and tragedy. James cannot forget his brief encounter with Sophie. Despite his guilt at being away from his daughter, he takes an assignment to cover the wedding of the century. In Monaco, as wedding fever soars and passions and tempers escalate, James and Sophie --- like Princess Grace --- ultimately must decide what they are prepared to give up for love.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062885364
TONY’S WIFE by Adriana Trigiani (Historical Fiction)
Shortly before World War II, Chi Chi Donatelli and Saverio Armandonada meet one summer on the Jersey shore and fall in love. Both are talented and ambitious, and both share the dream of becoming singers for the legendary orchestras of the time: Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman. They’re soon married, and it isn’t long before Chiara and Tony find that their careers are on the way up as they navigate the glamorous worlds of night clubs, radio and television. All goes well until it becomes clear that they must make a choice: Which of them will put their ambitions aside to raise a family, and which will pursue a career? And how will they cope with the impact that decision has on their lives and their marriage?
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062319265
TURNING POINT by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Four exceptional doctors are chosen for an honor and a unique project: to work with their counterparts in Paris in a mass-casualty training program. As professionals, they will gain invaluable knowledge from the program. As ordinary men and women, they will find that the City of Light opens up incredible new possibilities, exhilarating, enticing and frightening. When an unspeakable act of mass violence galvanizes them into action, their temporary life in Paris becomes a stark turning point: a time to face harder choices than they have ever made before --- with consequences that will last a lifetime.
Dell | 9780399179372
THE TWO LILA BENNETTS by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Lila Bennett’s bad choices have finally caught up with her. And one of those decisions has split her life in two. Literally. In one life, she’s taken hostage by someone who appears to be a stranger but knows too much. As she’s trapped in a concrete cell, her kidnapper forces her to face what she’s done or be killed. In an alternate life, she eludes her captor but is hunted by someone who is dismantling her happiness, exposing one secret at a time. Lila’s decorated career as a criminal defense attorney, her marriage and her life are on the line. She must make a list of those she’s wronged --- both in and out of the courtroom --- to determine who is out to get her before it’s too late.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781542093712
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 | 9781538747889
On Sale the Week of July 29th in Hardcover
July 30th
THE ARRANGEMENT by Robyn Harding (Psychological Thriller)
Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend makes a suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar daddy? Though more than 30 years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate. Within a month, they are madly in love. At least Nat is. Gabe already has a family, whom he has no intention of leaving. So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. She begins drinking heavily and stalking him. But Gabe is not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession and, when a body is found near Gabe’s apartment, murder.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982110499
A CAPITOL DEATH: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis (Historical Mystery)
A man falls to his death from the Tarpeian Rock, which overlooks the Forum in the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome. While it looks like a suicide, one witness swears that she saw it happen and that he was pushed. This usually would attract very little official notice, but this man happened to be in charge of organizing the Imperial Triumphs demanded by the emperor. Normally, the investigation would be under the auspices of her new(ish) husband. But, worried about his stamina following a long recovery, private informer Flavia Albia steps in. With the date of the Triumphs fast approaching, Flavia must unravel a truly complex case of murder before danger shows up on her own doorstep.
Minotaur Books | 9781250152701
CHANCES ARE... by Richard Russo (Fiction)
One beautiful September day, three men convene on Martha's Vineyard, friends ever since meeting in college circa the '60s. They couldn't have been more different then, or even today --- Lincoln is a commercial real estate broker, Teddy a tiny-press publisher, and Mickey a musician beyond his rocking age. But each man holds his own secrets, in addition to the monumental mystery that none of them has ever stopped puzzling over since a Memorial Day weekend right here on the Vineyard in 1971: the disappearance of the woman each of them loved --- Jacy Rockafellow. Now, more than 40 years later, as this new weekend unfolds, three lives are displayed in their entirety while the distant past confounds the present like a relentless squall of surprise and discovery.
Knopf | 9781101947746
THE CHELSEA GIRLS by Fiona Davis (Historical Fiction)
The Chelsea Hotel has long been New York City's creative oasis for the many artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers and poets who have called it home --- a scene playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead are determined to use to their advantage. Yet they soon discover that the greatest obstacle to putting up a show on Broadway has nothing to do with their art, and everything to do with politics. A Red scare is sweeping across America, and Senator Joseph McCarthy has started a witch hunt for Communists. As the pressure builds to name names, it is more than Hazel and Maxine's Broadway dreams that may suffer as they grapple with the terrible consequences, but also their livelihood, their friendship and even their freedom.
Dutton | 9781524744588
THE ESCAPE ROOM by Megan Goldin (Psychological Thriller)
Invited to participate in an escape room as a team-building exercise, four ferociously competitive co-workers crowd into the elevator of a high-rise building, eager to prove themselves. But when the lights go off and the doors stay shut, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary competition: they’re caught in a dangerous game of survival. Trapped in the dark, the colleagues must put aside their bitter rivalries and work together to solve cryptic clues to break free. But as the game begins to reveal the team’s darkest secrets, they realize there’s a price to be paid for the terrible deeds they committed in their ruthless climb up the corporate ladder.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250219657
GAME OF SNIPERS: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel by Stephen Hunter (Thriller/Adventure)
When Bob Lee Swagger is approached by a woman who lost a son to war and has spent the years since risking all that she has to find the sniper who pulled the trigger, he knows right away he'll do everything in his power to help her. But what begins as a favor becomes an obsession, and soon Swagger is back in the action, teaming up with the Mossad, the FBI and local American law enforcement as he tracks a sniper who is his own equal...and attempts to decipher that assassin's ultimate target before it's too late.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399574573
GOODNIGHT STRANGER by Miciah Bay Gault (Fiction)
Lydia and Lucas Moore are in their late 20s when a stranger enters their small world on Wolf Island. Lydia, the responsible sister, has cared for her pathologically shy brother, Lucas, ever since their mom’s death a decade before. They live together in their family house by the sea, shadowed by events from their childhood. When Lydia sees the stranger step off the ferry, she feels an immediate connection to him. Lucas is convinced that the man, Cole Anthony, is the reincarnation of their baby brother, who died when they were young. To discover the truth about Cole, Lydia must finally face her anxiety about leaving the island and summon the strength to challenge Cole’s grip on her family’s past and her brother.
Park Row | 9780778308706
LABYRINTH by Catherine Coulter (Thriller)
Agent Sherlock is driving in downtown Washington when her Volvo is suddenly T-boned at an intersection. As her car spins out of control, a man’s body slams against her windshield. No one knows yet who he is or where he is because he ran away. From DNA, they discover his name is Justice Cummings and he’s a CIA analyst at Langley. Meanwhile, Special Agent Griffin Hammersmith rescues a kidnapped woman claiming her captor had probably murdered three missing teenage girls. However, the man she accuses is the local sheriff’s nephew and a member of a very powerful family. When the sheriff arrests Griffin and the rescued woman, he calls Savich for help. Together they have to weave their way through a labyrinth of lies to find the truth of a terrible secret.
Gallery Books | 9781501193651
NEVER HAVE I EVER by Joshilyn Jackson (Thriller)
Amy Whey's sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one night. Amy knows that something wicked has come her way --- a she-devil in a pricey red sports car who seems to know the terrible truth about who she is and what she once did. Roux tells Amy that if she doesn’t give her what she asks for --- what she deserves --- she’s going to make Amy pay for her sins. To protect herself and her family, and save the life she’s built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets. Amy knows the consequences if she can’t beat Roux. What terrifies her is everything she could lose if she wins.
William Morrow | 9780062855312
THE RUSSIAN by Ben Coes (Political Thriller)
The Russian mafia has rapidly taken over the criminal underworld in the U.S. When a powerful Russian mob family declares war by publicly executing two high-profile American politicians, the message is unmistakable --- opposition will be met with overwhelming deadly force. With no other viable options, the President creates a clandestine assassinations team to find and eliminate the unreachable men running this deadly criminal operation. The CIA recruits two Tier 1 operators: former Navy SEALs Billy Cosgrove and Rob Tacoma. But before they can even get started, the Russians murder Cosgrove in his own home. Now Tacoma is on his own against an organization with endless resources and no boundaries.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250140791
SMOKESCREEN by Iris Johansen (Thriller)
A journalist shows up on Eve Duncan's doorstep with a plea for help. Jill Cassidy has just come from a small African village with a heartwrenching story: half the villagers --- many of them children --- have been killed in a horrific attack by guerilla soldiers, the bodies burned beyond recognition. Now, the families desperately need Eve's help to get closure and begin to heal. But when Eve arrives in the remote jungle, she begins to suspect that Jill's plea may have been a cover story for a deeper, more sinister plot. Isolated and unsure who she can trust, Eve finds herself stranded in an unstable country where violence threatens to break out again at any moment.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538713082
SOMEONE WE KNOW by Shari Lapena (Psychological Thriller)
In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses --- and into the owners' computers as well --- learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too. Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets? In this neighborhood, it's not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780525557654
THAT'S WHAT FRENEMIES ARE FOR by Sophie Littlefield and Lauren Gershell (Fiction)
Julia Summers is on the hunt for the next big thing that will make her the envy of her friends and put her back on top. Enter Flame, the new boutique gym in her neighborhood. Seductive and transformative, Flame’s spin classes are exactly what Julia needs --- and demure, naïve instructor Tatum is her ticket in. But rebranding Tatum as a trendy guru proves hard work, and Julia’s triumphant comeback at summer’s end doesn’t quite go as planned. Her life is already spiraling out of control when her husband is arrested for fraud and bribery. As her so-called friends turn their backs on her, and Tatum pursues her own agenda, Julia is forced to rethink everything she knew about her world to reclaim her perfect life. But does she even want it back?
Ballantine Books | 9781984817969
TRUE BELIEVER by Jack Carr (Political Thriller)
When a string of horrific terrorist attacks plagues the Western world during the holiday season, the broader markets fall into a tailspin. The attacks are being coordinated by a shadowy former Iraqi commando who has disappeared into Europe’s underground. The United States government has an asset who can turn the Iraqi against his masters: James Reece, the most-wanted domestic terrorist alive. When a series of events uncovers his whereabouts, the CIA recruits him. Now a reluctant tool of the United States government, Reece travels the globe, targeting terrorist leaders and unraveling a geopolitical conspiracy that exposes a traitorous CIA officer and uncovers a sinister assassination plot with worldwide repercussions.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501180842
THE VEXATIONS by Caitlin Horrocks (Historical Fiction)
Erik Satie begins life with every possible advantage. But after the dual blows of his mother's early death and his father's breakdown upend his childhood, Erik and his younger siblings --- Louise and Conrad --- are scattered. Later, as an ambitious young composer, Erik flings himself into the Parisian art scene, aiming for greatness but achieving only notoriety. As the years, then decades, pass, he alienates those in his circle as often as he inspires them. Only Louise and Conrad are steadfast allies. But in a journey that will take her from Normandy to Paris to Argentina, Louise is rocked by a severe loss that ultimately forces her into a reckoning with how Erik --- obsessed with his art and hungry for fame --- will never be the brother she's wished for.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316316910
On Sale the Week of July 29th in Paperback
July 30th
AN ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE THING by Hank Green (Science Fiction/Humor)
The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at 3am, 23-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship, April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world, and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.
Dutton | 9781524743468
THE BETRAYED WIFE by Kevin O'Brien (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Sheila O’Rourke has always known her husband isn’t perfect. Who is? But things have been better since they moved to Seattle to make a fresh start. So much so that when 16-year-old Eden turns up, claiming to be Dylan’s child by another woman, Sheila tries to be welcoming. At first, Sheila feels sympathy for the girl. Eden’s mother recently fell to her death in an incident with unsettling parallels to Sheila’s past. Still, Eden is a difficult house guest, sowing discord among the family. Sheila has already been on edge for weeks, receiving anonymous texts, noticing odd noises coming from the house next door. And that’s just the start. No one can hurt you more easily than the ones closest to you --- the ones you keep believing until it’s too late.
Pinnacle | 9780786045075
THE BOOK CHARMER by Karen Hawkins (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Sarah Dove is no ordinary bookworm. To her, books have always been more than just objects: they live, breathe and sometimes even speak. When Sarah grows up to become the librarian in her quaint Southern town of Dove Pond, her gift helps place every book in the hands of the perfect reader. Recently, however, the books have been whispering about something out of the ordinary: the arrival of a displaced city girl named Grace Wheeler. If the books are right, Grace could be the savior that Dove Pond desperately needs. The problem is, Grace wants little to do with the town or its quirky residents --- Sarah chief among them.
Gallery Books | 9781982105549
BUTTON MAN by Andrew Gross (Historical Thriller)
New York, 1930s. Morris, Sol and Harry Rabishevsky grew up poor and rough on the Lower East Side, until the death of their father forced them to fend for themselves and support the family. Morris apprentices himself to a garment manufacturer; bookish Sol drops out of accounting school; and Harry believes he can help out by learning the ways and means of a charismatic local crime figure. Later, when Morris and Sol find career success and decide to create their own business, Harry can’t be lured away from the glamour and prestige that comes from being a “button man” --- a gun man --- for Louis Buchalter, now the most ruthless mobster in the city. When Buchalter sets his sights on the unions that control the garment factories, a fatal showdown becomes inevitable, pitting brother against brother.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250214331
CONNECTIONS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
Homicide cop Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband, Roarke, are building a brand-new school and youth shelter. For expert help, they hire child psychologist Dr. Rochelle Pickering --- whose own brother pulled himself out of a spiral of addiction and crime with Rochelle’s support. Lyle is living with Rochelle while he gets his life together, and he’s thrilled to hear about his sister’s new job offer. But within hours, triumph is followed by tragedy. Returning from a celebratory dinner with her boyfriend, she finds Lyle dead with a syringe in his lap, and Eve’s investigation confirms that this wasn’t just another OD.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250308153
CRUCIBLE by James Rollins (Thriller/Adventure)
Arriving home on Christmas Eve, Commander Gray Pierce discovers his house ransacked, his pregnant lover missing, and his best friend’s wife, Kat, unconscious on the kitchen floor. With no shred of evidence to follow, his one hope to find the woman he loves and his unborn child is Kat, the only witness to what happened. But the injured woman is in a semi-comatose state and cannot speak --- until a brilliant neurologist offers a radical approach to "unlock" her mind long enough to ask a few questions. What Pierce learns from Kat sets Sigma Force on a frantic quest for answers that are connected to mysteries reaching back to the Spanish Inquisition and to one of the most reviled and blood-soaked books in human history.
William Morrow | 9780062381798
AN EASY DEATH: A Gunnie Rose Novel by Charlaine Harris (Dark Fantasy/Thriller)
Battered by a run across the border to Mexico, Lizbeth Rose takes a job offer from a pair of Russian wizards to be their local guide and gunnie. They’re searching through the small border towns near Mexico, trying to locate a low-level magic practitioner, Oleg Karkarov. The wizards believe Oleg is a direct descendant of Grigori Rasputin, and that Oleg’s blood can save the young tsar’s life. As the trio journey through an altered America, shattered into several countries by the assassination of Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression, they’re set on by enemies. It’s clear that a powerful force does not want them to succeed in their mission. Lizbeth Rose is a gunnie who has never failed a client, but her oath will test all of her skills and resolve to get them all out alive.
Gallery/Saga Press | 9781481494939
HIPPIE by Paulo Coelho (Fiction)
Paulo is a young, skinny Brazilian man who wants to become a writer and sets off on a journey in search of a deeper meaning for his life: first on the famous “Death Train” to Bolivia, then on to Peru, later hitchhiking through Chile and Argentina. Paulo’s travels take him farther to the famous Dam Square in Amsterdam, where he meets Karla, a Dutch woman who has been waiting to find the ideal companion to accompany her on the fabled hippie trail to Nepal. As they travel together, Paulo and Karla explore their own relationship: a life-defining love story that awakens them on every level and leads to choices and decisions that will set the course for their lives thereafter.
Vintage | 9780525565185
THE INCENDIARIES by R. O. Kwon (Fiction)
Phoebe Lin and Will Kendall meet in their first month at prestigious Edwards University. Phoebe is a glamorous girl who doesn't tell anyone she blames herself for her mother's recent death. Will is a misfit scholarship boy who transfers to Edwards from Bible college, waiting tables to get by. What he knows for sure is that he loves Phoebe. Grieving and guilt-ridden, Phoebe is drawn into a secretive cult founded by a charismatic former student with an enigmatic past. When the group commits a violent act in the name of faith, Will finds himself struggling to confront a new version of the fanaticism he's worked so hard to escape.
Riverhead Books | 9780735213906
MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Korede’s sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.
Anchor | 9780525564201
THE SHAKESPEARE REQUIREMENT by Julie Schumacher (Fiction/Satire)
Now is the fall of his discontent, as Jason Fitger, newly appointed chair of the English Department of Payne University, takes arms against a sea of troubles, personal and institutional. His ex-wife is sleeping with the dean who must approve whatever modest initiatives he undertakes. The fearsome department secretary Fran clearly runs the show (when not taking in rescue parrots and dogs) and holds plenty of secrets she's not sharing. The lavishly funded Econ Department keeps siphoning off English's meager resources and has taken aim at its remaining office space. And Fitger's attempt to get a mossbacked and antediluvian Shakespeare scholar to retire backfires spectacularly when the press concludes that the Bard is being kicked to the curricular curb.
Anchor | 9780525432616
SOMEONE KNOWS by Lisa Scottoline (Psychological Thriller)
Allie Garvey is heading home to the funeral of a childhood friend, which means seeing the other two people with whom she shares an unbearable secret. Twenty years earlier, a horrific incident shattered the lives of five teenagers, including Allie. They kept what happened a secret, believing that getting caught would be the worst thing that could happen. But Allie has been haunted for two decades by what she and the others did, and by the fact that she never told a soul. The dark secret has eaten away at her, distancing her from everyone she loves, including her husband. Now, Allie stands on the precipice of losing everything. She digs to unearth the truth, but reaches a shocking conclusion that she never saw coming.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525539742
WE THAT ARE YOUNG by Preti Taneja (Fiction)
When a billionaire hotelier and political operator attempts to pit his three daughters against one another, a brutal struggle for primacy begins in this modern-day take on Shakespeare’s "King Lear." Set in contemporary India, where rich men are gods while farmers starve and water is fast running out, WE THAT ARE YOUNG is a story about power status and the love of a megalomaniac father.
Vintage | 9780525563341
THE WITCH ELM by Tana French (Thriller)
Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who has dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life --- he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden --- and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.
Penguin Books | 9780735224643
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