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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 16th and September 23rd 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 "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com, where three book groups will win 12 paperback copies of HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (the audiobook is a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick). The deadline for your entries is Wednesday, October 9th at noon ET.
Also, please click on the covers above for our reviews of three books that we featured in last Friday's Weekly Update newsletter: THE TESTAMENTS, the riveting sequel to Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopian classic, THE HANDMAID'S TALE; THE INSTITUTE by Stephen King, a gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good vs. evil in a world where the good guys don’t always win; and Emma Donoghue’s latest novel, AKIN, in which a retired professor's life is thrown into chaos when he takes his great-nephew to the French Riviera in hopes of uncovering his own mother's wartime secrets.
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
Special Preview of Friday's Bookreporter 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 September 20th Weekly Update newsletter here. We hope you enjoy it!
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This Week's Bonus News: September's
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest
on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Note: To be eligible to win, let us know the title of the book that YOUR book group is CURRENTLY reading, NOT the title we are giving away.
Our latest prize book is HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh, which is now available in paperback --- an eye-opening memoir of working-class poverty in America that will deepen our understanding of the ways in which class shapes our country. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, October 9th at noon ET.
HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (Memoir/Sociology)
Sarah Smarsh was born a fifth-generation Kansas wheat farmer on her paternal side, and the product of generations of teen mothers on her maternal side. Through her experiences growing up on a farm 30 miles west of Wichita, we are given a unique and essential look into the lives of poor and working class Americans living in the heartland.
During Sarah’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, she enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but observed the painful challenges of the poverty around her --- untreated medical conditions for lack of insurance or consistent care, unsafe job conditions, abusive relationships, and limited resources and information that would provide for the upward mobility that is the American Dream. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves with clarity and precision but without judgment, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country.
Beautifully written, in a distinctive voice, HEARTLAND combines personal narrative with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, challenging the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read our review.
- Click here to read Carol Fitzgerald's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary for the audiobook.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of September 16th in Hardcover
September 17th
A COSMOLOGY OF MONSTERS by Shaun Hamill (Horror)
Noah Turner see monsters. His father saw them --- and built a shrine to them with The Wandering Dark, an immersive horror experience that the whole family operates. His practical mother has caught glimpses of terrors but refuses to believe --- too focused on keeping the family from falling apart. And his eldest sister, the dramatic and vulnerable Sydney, won't admit to seeing anything but the beckoning glow of the spotlight…until it swallows her up. Noah Turner sees monsters. But, unlike his family, Noah chooses to let them in.
Pantheon | 9781524747671
COVENTRY: Essays by Rachel Cusk (Essays)
Rachel Cusk redrew the boundaries of fiction with the Outline Trilogy, whose narrator, Faye, perceives the world with a glinting, unsparing intelligence while remaining opaque to the reader. Now, in COVENTRY, Cusk gathers a selection of her nonfiction writings that both offers new insights on the themes at the heart of her fiction and forges a startling critical voice on some of our most urgent personal, social and artistic questions. The book encompasses memoir, cultural criticism and writing about literature with pieces on family life, gender and politics, and on D. H. Lawrence, Françoise Sagan and Kazuo Ishiguro.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374126773
DEATH IN FOCUS: An Elena Standish Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
On vacation from London on the beautiful Italian coast, 28-year-old Elena Standish and her older sister, Margot, have finally been able to move on from the lasting trauma of the Great War, in which the newly married Margot lost her husband and the sisters their beloved brother. Touring with her camera in hand, Elena has found new inspiration in the striking Italian landscape, and she’s met an equally striking man named Ian. When Ian has to leave unexpectedly, Elena finds she’s not ready to part from him, and the two share a spontaneous train trip home to England. But a shocking sequence of events disrupts their itinerary, forcing Elena to personally deliver a message to Berlin on Ian’s behalf, one that could change the fate of Europe.
Ballantine Books | 9780525620983
ELEVATOR PITCH by Linwood Barclay (Psychological Thriller)
It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets. Right to the bottom of the shaft. It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world --- and the nation’s capital of media, finance and entertainment --- is plunged into chaos. Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line?
William Morrow | 9780062678287
HEAVEN, MY HOME: A Highway 59 Novel by Attica Locke (Mystery)
Nine-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; now he's alone in the darkness of vast Caddo Lake. A sudden noise distracts him, and all goes dark. Darren Matthews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness. After the events of his previous investigation, his marriage is in a precarious state of re-building, and his career and reputation lie in the hands of his mother. She now holds the key to his freedom, and is not above a little maternal blackmail to press her advantage. Levi's disappearance has links to Darren's last case, and to a wealthy businesswoman --- the boy's grandmother --- who seems more concerned about the fate of her business than that of her grandson.
Mulholland Books | 9780316363402
KOPP SISTERS ON THE MARCH: A Kopp Sisters Novel by Amy Stewart (Historical Fiction)
It’s the spring of 1917, and change is in the air. American women have done something remarkable: they’ve banded together to create military-style training camps for women who want to serve. These so-called National Service Schools prove irresistible to the Kopp sisters, who leave their farm in New Jersey to join up. When an accident befalls the matron, Constance reluctantly agrees to oversee the camp --- much to the alarm of the Kopps’ tent-mate, the real-life Beulah Binford, who is seeking refuge from her own scandalous past under the cover of a false identity. Will she be denied a second chance? And after notoriety, can a woman’s life ever be her own again?
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328736529
LAND OF WOLVES by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
Attempting to recover from his harrowing experiences in Mexico, in LAND OF WOLVES Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire is neck deep in the investigation of what could or could not be the suicidal hanging of a shepherd. With unsettling connections to a Basque family with a reputation for removing the legs of Absaroka County sheriffs, matters become even more complicated with the appearance of an oversize wolf in the Big Horn Mountains to which Walt finds himself feeling more and more empathetic.
Viking | 9780525522508
A LITTLE HATRED by Joe Abercrombie (Historical Fantasy)
The chimneys of industry rise over Adua, and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments. Savine dan Glokta --- socialite, investor and daughter of the most feared man in the Union --- plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye.
Orbit | 9780316187169
MET HER MATCH by Jude Deveraux (Romance)
Terri Rayburn is a girl with a reputation. She doesn’t deserve it, but having grown up on the outskirts of Summer Hill, Virginia, she knows how small towns work. The only way to deal with vicious gossip is to ignore it. When Terri returns home from a short trip to find a handsome stranger living in her house, she smells a rat. Someone is trying to fix her up, and she has to admit that Nate Taggert is just her type. However, Nate is engaged to the daughter of the mayor and strictly off-limits. As he starts to hear rumors about Terri, he’s determined to discover the source of the gossip. Terri doesn’t want to revisit the past, but Nate won’t stop until he discovers the truth --- even if the truth might be more than either of them can handle.
Mira | 9780778351245
NIGHT BOAT TO TANGIER by Kevin Barry (Fiction)
In the dark waiting room of the ferry terminal in the sketchy Spanish port of Algeciras, two aging Irishmen --- Maurice Hearne and Charlie Redmond, longtime partners in the lucrative and dangerous enterprise of smuggling drugs --- sit at night, none too patiently. It is October 23, 2018, and they are expecting Maurice's estranged daughter, Dilly, to either arrive on a boat coming from Tangier or depart on one heading there. This nocturnal vigil will initiate an extraordinary journey back in time to excavate their shared history of violence, romance, mutual betrayals and serial exiles.
Doubleday | 9780385540315
RED AT THE BONE by Jacqueline Woodson (Fiction)
As RED AT THE BONE opens in 2001, it is the evening of 16-year-old Melody's coming-of-age ceremony in her grandparents' Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, she wears a special custom-made dress. But the event is not without poignancy. Sixteen years earlier, that very dress was measured and sewn for a different wearer: Melody's mother, for her own ceremony --- a celebration that ultimately never took place. Unfurling the history of Melody's parents and grandparents to show how they all arrived at this moment, Jacqueline Woodson considers not just their ambitions and successes but also the costs, the tolls they've paid for striving to overcome expectations and escape the pull of history.
Riverhead Books | 9780525535270
THE SECOND FOUNDING: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution by Eric Foner (History)
The Declaration of Independence announced equality as an American ideal, but it took the Civil War and the subsequent adoption of three constitutional amendments to establish that ideal as American law. The Reconstruction amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed all persons due process and equal protection of the law, and equipped black men with the right to vote. In grafting the principle of equality onto the Constitution, these revolutionary changes marked the second founding of the United States. Eric Foner’s history traces the arc of these pivotal amendments from their dramatic origins in pre-Civil War mass meetings of African-American “colored citizens” and in Republican party politics to their virtual nullification in the late 19th century.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393652574
A SINGLE LIGHT by Tosca Lee (Dystopian Thriller)
Six months after vanishing into an underground silo with 60 others, Wynter and Chase emerge to find the area abandoned. There is no sign of Noah and the rest of the group that was supposed to greet them when they emerged --- the same people Wynter was counting on to help her locate the IV antibiotics her gravely ill friend, Julie, needs in order to live. As the clock ticks down on Julie’s life, Wynter and Chase embark on a desperate search for medicine and answers. But what they find is not a nation on the cusp of recovery thanks to the promising new vaccine Wynter herself had a hand in creating, but one decimated by disease. What happened while they were underground?
Howard Books | 9781476798646
A SINGLE THREAD by Tracy Chevalier (Historical Fiction)
After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. So she saves enough to move out of her mother's place and into the town of Winchester, home to one of England's grandest cathedrals. There, Violet is drawn into a society of broderers --- women who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral. But when forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, Violet must fight to put down roots in a place where women aren't expected to grow.
Viking | 9780525558248
SONTAG: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser (Biography)
Mythologized and misunderstood, lauded and loathed, a girl from the suburbs who became a proud symbol of cosmopolitanism, Susan Sontag left a legacy of writing on art and politics, feminism and homosexuality, celebrity and style, medicine and drugs, radicalism and Fascism and Freudianism and Communism and Americanism, that forms an indispensable key to modern culture. She was there when the Cuban Revolution began, and when the Berlin Wall came down; in Vietnam under American bombardment, in wartime Israel, in besieged Sarajevo. She was in New York when artists tried to resist the tug of money --- and when many gave in. SONTAG tells these stories and examines the work upon which her reputation was based.
Ecco | 9780062896391
THE STRANGER INSIDE by Lisa Unger (Psychological Thriller)
Twelve-year-old Rain Winter narrowly escaped an abduction while walking to a friend’s house. Her two best friends, Tess and Hank, were not as lucky. Tess never came home, and Hank was held in captivity before managing to escape. Their abductor was sent to prison but years later was released. Then someone delivered real justice --- and killed him in cold blood. Now Rain is living the perfect suburban life, her dark childhood buried deep. But when another brutal murderer who escaped justice is found dead, Rain is unexpectedly drawn into the case. Eerie similarities to the murder of her friends’ abductor force Rain to revisit memories she’s worked hard to leave behind.
Park Row | 9780778308720
A TRICK OF LIGHT: Stan Lee’s Alliances by Stan Lee and Kat Rosenfield (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Nia, a gifted but desperately lonely hacker, is living in isolation with her strict single dad. As a social-media maven, she is wildly popular and has more than a million friends. But they are all strangers. Cameron is on a quest for YouTube fame as a vlogger focusing on exploring the mysteries of Lake Erie. While recording his latest video, he is knocked out by lightning in a freak storm that appears to defy the laws of physics. When Cameron awakens, he discovers an astonishing cyberkinetic talent: the ability to manipulate computers and electronics with his mind. After a chance meeting online, the two teenagers join together to right wrongs in the world --- but they draw the attention of dangerous forces, putting the future of the planet at risk.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780358117605
WE ARE THE WEATHER: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer (Science/Environment)
Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know. Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of global warming and those who said they accepted the science but failed to change their lives in response? In WE ARE THE WEATHER, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal and urgent new way.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374280000
WHAT ROSE FORGOT by Nevada Barr (Mystery/Thriller)
Rose Dennis has been committed to the Alzheimer's Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she's "not making it through the week," Rose is convinced that if she is to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication and then stages her escape. The only problem is: How does she convince anyone that she's not actually demented? But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now she knows that someone is determined to get rid of her.
Minotaur Books | 9781250207135
On Sale the Week of September 16th in Paperback
September 17th
BLACK FLAGS, BLUE WATERS: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates by Eric Jay Dolin (History)
Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, BLACK FLAGS, BLUE WATERS reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy’s “Golden Age” --- spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s --- when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond. Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them.
Liveright | 9781631496226
CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL by Scott Von Doviak (Hard-boiled Thriller)
A group of criminals in 1946 pull off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. But while the thieves get caught, the art is never found. Forty years later, the last surviving thief gets out of jail and goes hunting for the loot, involving some innocent college students in his dangerous plan --- and 30 years after that, in the present day, the former college kids, now all grown up, are drawn back into danger as the still-missing art tempts a deadly new generation of treasure hunters.
Hard Case Crime | 9781785657191
CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN written by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Fiction)
Winner of Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa Prize, CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN is the incomparable story of Keiko Furukura, a 36-year-old Tokyo resident who has been working at the Hiiromachi “Smile Mart” for the past 18 years. Keiko has never fit in --- neither in her family nor in school --- but in her convenience store, she is able to find peace and purpose with rules clearly delineated by the store’s manual, and copying her colleagues’ dress, mannerisms and speech. She plays the part of a “normal person” excellently --- more or less. Keiko is very happy, but those close to her pressure her to find a husband and a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action.
Grove Press | 9780802129628
GALLOWS COURT by Martin Edwards (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
A spate of violent deaths has horrified London, and Rachel Savernake --- the enigmatic daughter of a notorious hanging judge --- is on the killer’s trail. Jacob Flint, a young newspaperman temporarily manning The Clarion's crime desk, is looking for the scoop that will make his name. He's certain there is more to Miss Savernake's amateur sleuthing than meets the eye. He's not the only one. Flint's pursuit of Rachel Savernake will draw him ever deeper into a labyrinth of deception and corruption. Murder by murder, he'll be swept ever closer to its dark heart --- an ancient place of execution. Twisted family relationships add to a trust-no-one narrative positively reeking with atmosphere.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781492699286
THE GIRL FROM BERLIN by Ronald H. Balson (Historical Fiction)
An old friend calls Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart to his famous Italian restaurant to enlist their help. His aunt is being evicted from her home in the Tuscan hills by a powerful corporation claiming they own the deeds, even though she can produce her own set of deeds to her land. Catherine and Liam’s only clue is a bound handwritten manuscript, entirely in German, and hidden in its pages is a story long-forgotten. What became of Ada Baumgarten? How is she connected to the conflicting land deeds of a small Italian villa? As they dig through the layers of lies, corruption and human evil, Catherine and Liam uncover an unfinished story of heart, redemption and hope --- the ending of which is yet to be written.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250195258
THE GOOD NEIGHBOR: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King (Biography)
Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was an enormously influential figure in the history of television. As the creator and star of "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood," he was a champion of compassion, equality and kindness, fiercely devoted to children and taking their questions about the world seriously. Based on original interviews, oral histories and archival documents, THE GOOD NEIGHBOR traces Rogers’ personal, professional and artistic life through decades of work. It includes his surprising decision to walk away from the show in 1976 to make television for adults, only to return to the neighborhood to help children face complex issues such as divorce, discipline, mistakes, anger and competition.
Abrams Press | 9781419735165
INHERITANCE by Evelyn Toynton (Fiction)
Paperback Original
After the sudden death of her husband, Annie Devereaux flees to England, site of the nostalgic fantasies her father spun for her before he deserted the family. A chance encounter in London leads Annie to cancel her return to New York and move in with Julian, the disaffected, moody son of Helena Denby, a famous British geneticist. As their relationship progresses, Annie meets Julian's sisters, Isabel and Sasha, and becomes infatuated with visions of their idyllic childhood in England's West Country. But the more she uncovers about Julian's past, the more he explodes into rage and violence. Finally tearing herself away, Annie winds up adrift in London, rescued from her loneliness only when she and Isabel form an unexpected bond.
Other Press | 9781590519219
INSPECTION by Josh Malerman (Psychological Thriller)
J is a student at a school deep in a forest far away from the rest of the world. He is one of only 26 students, all of whom think of the school’s enigmatic founder as their father. The students are being trained to be prodigies of art, science and athletics, and their life at the school is all they know --- and all they are allowed to know. But J is beginning to ask questions. What is the real purpose of this place? Why can the students never leave? And what secrets is their father hiding from them? Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, in a school very much like J’s, a girl named K is asking the same questions. As K and J work to investigate the secrets of their two strange schools, they come to discover something even more mysterious: each other.
Del Rey | 9781524797010
OPEN YOUR EYES by Paula Daly (Psychological Thriller)
Jane Campbell avoids confrontation at any costs. Given the choice, she’ll always let her husband, Leon --- a bestselling crime writer --- take the lead, while she focuses on her two children and her job as a creative writing teacher. After she receives another rejection for her novel, Leon urges Jane to put her hobby to rest. And why shouldn’t she, when they appear to have the perfect house and the perfect life? But then Leon is brutally attacked in their driveway, and suddenly their perfect life becomes the stuff of nightmares. Who would commit such a hateful offense? With her husband in a coma, Jane must open her eyes to the problems in her life, as well as the secrets that have been kept from her.
Grove Press | 9780802147226
OPIOID, INDIANA by Brian Allen Carr (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Seventeen-year-old Riggle is living in rural Indiana with his uncle and uncle’s girlfriend after the death of his parents. Now his uncle is missing, probably on a drug binge. It’s Monday, and $800 in rent is due Friday. Riggle, who’s been suspended from school, has to either find his uncle or get the money together himself. His mission exposes him to a motley group of Opioid locals --- encounters by turns perplexing, harrowing and heartening.
Soho Press | 9781641290784
THE POSSIBLE WORLD by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz (Fiction)
It seems like just another night shift for Lucy, an overworked ER physician, until six-year-old Ben is brought in as the sole survivor from a horrifying crime scene. Lucy, who’s grappling with a personal upheaval of her own, feels a profound, unexpected connection to the little boy. She wants to help him…but will recovering his memory heal him, or damage him further? Across town, Clare will soon be turning 100 years old. She has long believed that the lifetime of secrets she’s been keeping don’t matter to anyone anymore, but a surprising encounter makes her realize that the time has come to tell her story. As Ben, Lucy and Clare struggle to confront the events that shattered their lives, something stronger than fate is working to bring them together.
Scribner | 9781501166150
WINTER IN PARADISE by Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction)
Irene Steele's idyllic life is shattered when she is woken up by a late-night phone call. Her beloved husband has been found dead, but before Irene can process this tragic news, she must confront the perplexing details of his death. He was found on St. John island, a tropical paradise far removed from their suburban life. Leaving the cold winter behind, Irene flies down to the beautiful Caribbean beaches of St. John only to make another shocking discovery: her husband had a secret second family. As Irene investigates the mysterious circumstances of her husband's death, she is plunged into a web of intrigue and deceit belied by the pristine white sand beaches of St. John's.
Back Bay Books | 9780316435536
THE WINTER SOLDIER by Daniel Mason (Historical Fiction)
Lucius is a 22-year-old medical student when World War I explodes across Europe. He enlists, expecting a position at a well-organized field hospital. However, upon his arrival, he discovers a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus. The other doctors have fled, and only a mysterious nurse named Sister Margarete remains. But Lucius has never lifted a surgeon's scalpel. And as the war rages across the winter landscape, he finds himself falling in love with the woman from whom he must learn a brutal makeshift medicine. Then one day, an unconscious soldier is brought in from the snow. He seems beyond rescue, until Lucius makes a fateful decision that will change the lives of doctor, patient and nurse forever.
Back Bay Books | 9780316477598
On Sale the Week of September 23rd in Hardcover
September 24th
AIN'T NOBODY NOBODY by Heather Harper Ellett (Mystery/Thriller)
Still reeling from the scandal that cost him his badge, Randy Mayhill sees a return from community exile in the form of a dead hog trapper perched on a fence. The fence belongs to the late Van Woods, Mayhill’s best friend and the reason for his spectacular fall. Determined to protect Van’s land and family from another scandal, Mayhill ignores the sheriff who replaced him and investigates the death of the unidentified man. His quest crosses with two others: Birdie, Van’s surly, mourning daughter, who has no intention of sitting idly by and leaving her father’s legacy in Mayhill’s hands; and Bradley, Birdie’s slow, malnourished but loyal friend, whose desperation to escape a life of poverty has him working with local criminals, and possibly a murderer.
Polis Books | 9781947993709
ALL THE DEVILS by Barry Eisler (Thriller)
Ten years ago, the daughter of Homeland Security Investigations agent B. D. Little vanished into thin air. So did seven other girls --- the crimes all bearing the same signature characteristics. Now the disappearances have begun again. Agent Little’s efforts to investigate are being blocked by forces far above his pay grade, so he turns to Seattle sex-crimes detective Livia Lone. The two men Little is pursuing are fearsome. Both Special Forces veterans with a dozen tours in Iraq between them. Both sadists and serial rapists. And one, the congressman scion of the vice president of the United States --- a man who will use all his power to protect his son’s secrets and further his own ambitions.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542094238
THE DUTCH HOUSE by Ann Patchett (Fiction)
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.
Harper | 9780062963673
A FIELD GUIDE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE: Who They Are, Where They Come From, What to Feed Them...and Much More. Maybe Too Much More by Dave Barry, Adam Mansbach and Alan Zweibel (Humor)
Why do random Jewish holidays keep springing up unexpectedly? Why are yarmulkes round? Who was the first Jewish comedian? What's "Christian humor," and have you ever even heard of that phrase? Who is "the Golem," and who do you want it to beat up? These baffling questions and many more are answered by comedy legends Dave Barry, Adam Mansbach and Alan Zweibel, two-thirds of whom are Jewish. In A FIELD GUIDE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE, the authors dissect every holiday, rite of passage and tradition, unravel a long and complicated history, and tackle the tough questions that have plagued Jews and non-Jews alike for centuries.
Flatiron Books | 9781250191960
INSIDE OUT: A Memoir by Demi Moore (Memoir)
For decades, Demi Moore has been synonymous with celebrity. From iconic film roles to high-profile relationships, Moore has never been far from the spotlight --- or the headlines. Even as Demi was becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, however, she was always outrunning her past, just one step ahead of the doubts and insecurities that defined her childhood. In this deeply candid and reflective memoir, Demi pulls back the curtain and opens up about her career and personal life --- laying bare her tumultuous relationship with her mother, her marriages, her struggles balancing stardom with raising a family, and her journey toward open-heartedness.
Harper | 9780062049537
LETHAL AGENT: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Political Thriller)
ISIS kidnaps a brilliant French microbiologist and forces him to begin manufacturing anthrax. Slickly produced videos chronicling his progress and threatening an imminent attack are posted to the internet. ISIS recruits a Mexican drug cartel to smuggle the bioweapon across the border, but it’s really just a diversion. The terrorist organization needs to keep Mitch Rapp and Irene Kennedy distracted long enough to weaponize a deadly virus that they stumbled upon in Yemen. If they succeed, they’ll trigger a pandemic that could rewrite the world order. Rapp embarks on a mission to infiltrate the Mexican cartels and track down the ISIS leader who he failed to kill during their last confrontation.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501190629
THE LIAR by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen (Fiction)
Nofar is an average teenage girl --- so average, in fact, that she's almost invisible. Serving customers ice cream all summer long, she is desperate for some kind of escape. But one afternoon, a terrible lie slips from her tongue. And suddenly everyone wants to talk to her: the press, her schoolmates, even the boy upstairs. He is the only one who knows the truth, and he is demanding a price for his silence. Then Nofar meets Raymonde, an elderly immigrant whose best friend has just died. Raymonde keeps her friend alive the only way she knows how, by inhabiting her stories. But soon, Raymonde's lies take on a life of their own.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316445399
MAKE IT SCREAM, MAKE IT BURN: Essays by Leslie Jamison (Essays)
In its kaleidoscopic sweep, MAKE IT SCREAM, MAKE IT BURN creates a profound exploration of the oceanic depths of longing and the reverberations of obsession. Among Leslie Jamison's subjects are 52 Blue, deemed "the loneliest whale in the world"; the eerie past-life memories of children; the devoted citizens of an online world called Second Life; the haunted landscape of the Sri Lankan Civil War; and an entire museum dedicated to the relics of broken relationships. Jamison follows these examinations to more personal reckonings --- with elusive men and ruptured romances, with marriage and maternity --- in essays about eloping in Las Vegas, becoming a stepmother and giving birth.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316259637
THE MONSTER OF ELENDHAVEN by Jennifer Giesbrecht (Fantasy)
The city of Elendhaven sulks on the edge of the ocean. Wracked by plague, abandoned by the South, stripped of industry and left to die. But not everything dies so easily. A thing without a name stalks the city, a thing shaped like a man, with a dark heart and long pale fingers yearning to wrap around throats. A monster who cannot die. His frail master sends him out on errands, twisting him with magic, crafting a plan too cruel to name, while the monster’s heart grows fonder and colder and more cunning. These monsters of Elendhaven will have their revenge on everyone who wronged the city, even if they have to burn the world to do it.
Tor.com | 9781250225689
MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America by Nefertiti Austin (Memoir)
When Nefertiti Austin, a single African American woman, decided she wanted to adopt a Black baby boy out of the foster-care system, she was unprepared for the fact that there is no place for Black women in the “mommy wars.” Austin set off on her path without the ability to seek guidance from others who looked like her or shared her experience. She soon realized that she would have to navigate skepticism not only from the adoption community, who deal almost exclusively with white women, but surprisingly, from her own family and friends as well. MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE is the story of Nefertiti’s fight to create the family she always knew she was meant to have and the story of motherhood that all American families need now.
Sourcebooks | 9781492679011
QUEEN MERYL: The Iconic Roles, Heroic Deeds, and Legendary Life of Meryl Streep by Erin Carlson (Biography)
Meryl Streep is the most celebrated actress of our time. She's a chameleon who disappears fully into each character she plays. She never tackles the same role twice. Instead, she leverages her rarified platform to channel a range of dynamic, complicated women rather than limit herself to marginal roles for which other actresses must settle. Journalist and author Erin Carlson documents all of Streep's Oscars, accents, causes, memes, friendships and feuds, while also exploring the "off-brand" forays into action-adventure (The River Wild) and musicals (Mamma Mia!), and how Streep managed to sneak her feminism into each character.
Hachette Books | 9780316485272
THE SHADOW KING by Maaza Mengiste (Historical Fiction)
With the threat of Mussolini’s army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid in Kidane and his wife Aster’s household. Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie’s army, rushes to mobilize his strongest men before the Italians invade. Hundreds of thousands of Italians --- Jewish photographer Ettore among them --- march on Ethiopia seeking adventure. When Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile, Hirut helps disguise a gentle peasant as the emperor and soon becomes his guard, inspiring other women to take up arms against the Italians. But how could she have predicted her own personal war as a prisoner of one of Italy’s most vicious officers, who will force her to pose before Ettore’s camera?
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393083569
SINS OF THE FATHERS: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
Former Seattle homicide cop J. P. Beaumont is learning to enjoy the new realities of retirement: doing morning crossword puzzles by a roaring fireplace, playing frisbee with his new dog, having quiet lunches with his still-working wife. But then his past comes calling. When a long-ago acquaintance, Alan Dale, shows up on Beau’s doorstep with a newborn infant in hand and asking for help locating his missing daughter, Beau finds himself faced with an investigation that will turn his own life upside down by dragging his none-too-stellar past onto a roller-coaster ride that may well derail his serene present. It turns out that, even in retirement, murder is still the name of J. P. Beaumont’s game.
William Morrow | 9780062853431
THE WATER DANCER by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Historical Fantasy/Magical Realism)
Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her --- but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known. So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.
One World | 9780399590597
THE WORLD THAT WE KNEW by Alice Hoffman (Historical Fiction/Magical Realism)
In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her 12-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, but it’s his daughter, Ettie, who offers hope of salvation when she creates a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked. Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where 3,000 Jews were saved. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the fighter she’s destined to be.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501137570
YEAR OF THE MONKEY by Patti Smith (Memoir)
Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs --- including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief and inescapable sorrow. For Smith --- inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing --- the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.
Knopf | 9780525657682
On Sale the Week of September 23rd in Paperback
September 24th
AGNES written by Peter Stamm, translated by Michael Hofmann (Fiction)
"Write a story about me," Agnes said to her lover, "so I know what you think of me." So he started to write the story of everything that had happened to them from the moment they met. At first, he works with Agnes to create a narrative that is most true to life, but as time passes and he grows more enamored with the narrative he has begun, he continues writing on his own, imagining a future for them after he reaches the present. Happy couples do not necessarily make for compelling reading, and as Agnes sees the unexpected plot he has planned for her, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur.
Other Press | 9781590511534
THE BIG FELLA: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy (Sports/Biography)
After hitting his 60th home run in September 1927 --- a total that would not be exceeded until 1961, when Roger Maris did it with the aid of the extended modern season --- Babe Ruth embarked on the mother of all barnstorming tours, a three-week victory lap across America, accompanied by New York Yankees teammate Lou Gehrig. Business manager Christy Walsh called the tour a "Symphony of Swat." The Omaha World Herald called it "the biggest show since Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and seven other associated circuses offered their entire performance under one tent." Jane Leavy recreates that 21-day circus, and in so doing captures the romp and the pathos that defined Ruth’s life and times.
Harper Perennial | 9780062380234
BRIGHT YOUNG DEAD: A Mitford Murders Mystery by Jessica Fellowes (Historical Mystery)
Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighboring the Mitford home. The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent, and sets out to clear the girl's name…all while the real killer may be only steps away.
Minotaur Books | 9781250170828
CHRISTMAS CAKE MURDER: A Hannah Swensen Holiday Mystery with Recipes! by Joanne Fluke (Mystery)
With her dream of opening The Cookie Jar taking shape, Hannah Swensen’s life matches the hectic December hustle and bustle in Lake Eden --- especially when she agrees to help recreate a spectacular Christmas Ball from the past in honor of Essie Granger, an elderly local in hospice care. But instead of poring over decadent dessert recipes for the merry festivities, she instantly becomes enthralled by Essie’s old notebooks and the tale of a woman escaping danger on the streets of New York. Hannah is surprised by Essie’s secret talent for penning crime fiction. She’s even more surprised when the story turns real.
Kensington | 9781617732348
THE CONSUMING FIRE by John Scalzi (Science Fiction)
The Interdependency, humanity’s interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible is disappearing, leaving entire systems and human civilizations stranded. Emperor Grayland II of the Interdependency is ready to take desperate measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth --- or at the very least an opportunity to an ascension to power. While Grayland prepares for disaster, others prepare for a civil war --- a war that will take place in the halls of power, the markets of business and the altars of worship as much as it will between spaceships and battlefields.
Tor Science Fiction | 9780765388995
THE DAKOTA WINTERS by Tom Barbash (Fiction)
It’s the fall of 1979 in New York City when 23-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps and on the mend from a nasty bout of malaria, returns to his childhood home in the Dakota. His father, the famous late-night host Buddy Winter, is there to greet him, himself recovering from a breakdown. Before long, Anton is swept up in an effort to reignite Buddy’s stalled career. But the more he finds himself enmeshed in his father’s professional and spiritual reinvention, the more Anton questions his own path, and fissures in the Winter family begin to threaten their close bond.
Ecco | 9780062258212
THE FABULOUS BOUVIER SISTERS: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger (Biography)
When 64-year-old Jackie Kennedy Onassis died in her Fifth Avenue apartment, her younger sister Lee wept inconsolably. Then Jackie’s 38-page will was read. Lee discovered that substantial cash bequests were left to family members, friends and employees --- but nothing to her. "I have made no provision in this my Will for my sister, Lee B. Radziwill, for whom I have great affection, because I have already done so during my lifetime," read Jackie’s final testament. Drawing on the authors’ candid interviews with Lee Radziwill, THE FABULOUS BOUVIER SISTERS explores their complicated relationship, placing them at the center of 20th-century fashion, design and style.
Harper Perennial | 9780062364999
THE GIRL IN THE GLASS BOX: A Jack Swyteck Novel by James Grippando (Legal Thriller)
Julia Rodriguez and her teenage daughter, Beatriz, escaped bloodthirsty gangs, random violence and Julia's abusive husband back in El Salvador. Arriving in Miami, mother and daughter struggled to carve their own piece of the American dream. While life in the States is hard, it is safer, until Julia rejects her boss's unwanted sexual advances. Suddenly --- thanks to an "anonymous" tip to U.S. immigration authorities --- she is arrested, locked in detention with criminals and slated for deportation. Miami attorney Jack Swyteck’s only viable legal move to save her is asylum --- a long shot that’s become nearly impossible in today’s charged political climate.
Harper | 9780062657848
THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah (Historical Fiction)
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. Thirteen-year-old Leni dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown. At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. But as winter approaches, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250229533
HOLY GHOST: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford (Mystery/Thriller)
Wheatfield, Minnesota: a metropolis of 600 souls and change, for which the word "moribund" might have been invented. Nothing ever happened there and nothing ever would --- until the mayor of sorts (campaign slogan: "I'll Do What I Can") and his precocious teenage buddy come up with a scheme to put Wheatfield on the map. Should something dramatic occur --- say, that the apparition of the Virgin Mary miraculously appeared at the local Catholic Church --- the whole town would be turned into a shrine, attracting thousands of pilgrims. And all those pilgrims needed food, shelter, all kinds of crazy things. The town would get rich! What could go wrong? Then the shootings begin. And as they --- and Virgil Flowers --- are about to discover, that's only the beginning of their troubles.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735217348
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.
Back Bay Books | 9780316479226
THE KINGDOM OF COPPER by S. A. Chakraborty (Historical Fantasy)
Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad --- and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there. Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of a devastating battle, Nahri must forge a new path for herself. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her family --- and one misstep will doom her tribe.
Harper Voyager | 9780062678140
THE LIGHT OVER LONDON by Julia Kelly (Historical Fiction)
It’s easier for Cara Hargraves to bury herself in the past than to confront the present, which is why working for a gruff but brilliant antiques dealer is perfect. While clearing out an estate, she pries open an old tin that holds the relics of a lost relationship: an unfinished diary from World War II and a photo of a young woman in uniform. Captivated by the hauntingly beautiful diary, Cara begins her search for the author, never guessing that it might reveal her own family’s wartime secrets.
Gallery Books | 9781982107017
LOVE IS BLIND by William Boyd (Historical Fiction)
When he is hired as the personal piano tuner for a brilliant pianist, Brodie Moncur suddenly finds himself swept up into a life of luxury that he never could have imagined. But while accompanying his new employer on tours from Paris to St. Petersburg, Brodie falls madly in love with the Russian soprano Lika Blum: beautiful, worldly, seductive --- and forbidden. Though seemingly doomed from the start, Brodie’s passion for Lika only grows as their lives become increasingly more intertwined, more secretive and, finally, more dangerous.
Vintage | 9780525564447
THE MANSION by Ezekiel Boone (Horror/Thriller)
Years ago, Shawn Eagle and Billy Stafford created a revolutionary computer called Eagle Logic. But they parted ways following a major falling-out. Now Billy is beset by poverty and addiction, and Shawn is the most famous man in the world. Unable to let the past be forgotten, Shawn decides to resurrect his and Billy’s biggest failure: a next-generation computer program named Nellie that can control a house’s every function. He decides to set it up in the abandoned mansion they worked near all those years ago. But something about Nellie isn’t right --- and the reconstruction of the mansion is plagued by accidental deaths. Shawn is forced to bring Billy back, despite their longstanding mutual hatred, to discover and destroy the evil that lurks in the source code.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501165511
MURDER, SHE WROTE: MURDER IN RED by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land (Mystery)
Jessica Fletcher's favorite gin rummy partner, Mimi Van Dorn, checks into the brand-new Clifton Care Partners, a private hospital that's just opened up shop in town, for a simple procedure --- one that leads tragically, and inexplicably, to her death. Seeking justice in her inimitable fashion, Jessica decides to pursue her own investigation on the hospital and its shadowy business dealings. On the trail of what initially appears to be medical malpractice, Jessica digs deeper and learns her friend was actually a victim of something far more sinister. Death is bad for business, but murder is even worse, and Jessica will find plenty of both as she races to bring down Clifton Care Partners before someone else flatlines.
Berkley | 9780451489357
NO JUDGMENTS by Meg Cabot (Romance)
Paperback Original
When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island --- as well as its connection to the mainland --- 25-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried…at first. But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets. Now it’s up to her to save as many of Little Bridge’s cats and dogs as she can. To do so, she’s going to need help from her boss’s sexy nephew, Drew Hartwell. But when Bree starts falling for Drew, just as Little Bridge’s power is restored and her emotionally abusive (but now-penitent) ex shows up, she has to ask herself if her island fling was only a result of the stormy weather, or if it could last during clear skies too.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062890047
THE POISON SQUAD: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum (History)
By the end of the 19th century, food was dangerous. Lethal, even. Food manufacturers had rushed to embrace the rise of industrial chemistry, and were knowingly selling harmful products. Unchecked by government regulation, basic safety or even labeling requirements, they put profit before the health of their customers. But even as protective measures were enacted in Europe, American corporations blocked even modest regulations. Then, in 1883, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemistry professor from Purdue University, was named chief chemist of the agriculture department, and the agency began methodically investigating food and drink fraud, even conducting shocking human tests on groups of young men who came to be known as "The Poison Squad."
Penguin Books | 9780143111122
PONTI by Sharlene Teo (Fiction)
“I am Miss Frankenstein, I am the bottom of the bell curve.” So declares Szu, a teenager living in a dark, dank house on a Singapore cul-de-sac, at the beginning of PONTI. Friendless and fatherless, Szu lives in the shadow of her mother Amisa, once a beautiful actress --- who gained fame for her portrayal of a ghost --- and now a hack medium performing séances with her sister in a rusty house. When Szu meets the privileged, acid-tongued Circe, an unlikely encounter develops into a fraught friendship that will haunt them both for decades to come.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501173127
THE SHAPE OF THE RUINS by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Political Thriller)
When a man is arrested at a museum for attempting to steal the bullet-ridden suit of a murdered Colombian politician, few notice. But soon this thwarted theft takes on greater meaning as it becomes a thread in a widening web of popular fixations with conspiracy theories, assassinations and historical secrets. And it haunts those who feel that only they know the real truth behind these killings.
Riverhead Books | 9780735211155
SIEGE OF STONE: Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles, Volume III by Terry Goodkind (Fantasy)
The Sorceress Nicci, Nathan Rahl and Bannon released the city of Ildakar from the rule of the wizards council, but not without dire repercussions. When the capricious Wizard Commander Maxim fled the city, he dissolved the spell that had turned the invading army of General Utros to stone 15 centuries earlier. Hundreds of thousands of half-stone ancient soldiers have now awakened and are holding the city hostage, led by one of the greatest enemy commanders in history. And an equally powerful threat looms out at sea. Nicci knows the battle won’t remain in the city; if she can’t stop this threat, two invincible armies will sweep across the Old World and destroy D’Hara itself.
Tor Fantasy | 9781250194770
A SPARK OF LIGHT by Jodi Picoult (Fiction)
The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center --- a women’s reproductive health services clinic --- its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage. After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages, he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his 15-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic. But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters.
Ballantine Books | 9780345545008
WILD CARD: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Stone Barrington and his latest paramour are enjoying a peaceful country retreat when their idyll is broken by an unwelcome stranger. He was sent by an enemy, someone who'd be happy to silence Stone and all his collaborators for good. With boundless resources and a thirst for vengeance, this foe will not be deterred, and when one plot fails another materializes. Their latest plan is more ambitious and subtle than any they've tried before, and the consequences could remake the nation. With the country's future in the balance, Stone will need to muster all his savvy and daring to defeat this rival once and for all.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735219298
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