|
Carol's latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview is with Taylor Jenkins Reid, whose new novel, the New York Times bestseller MALIBU RISING, is a Bets On pick. It follows four siblings over the course of 24 hours in August 1983, the day of their annual party, which is legendary. All the “right” people are there. But by the end of the night, their lives will be changed, secrets will be revealed --- and the house where the party is taking place will be burned down. The Rivas are connected to fame. Two are beloved surfers, one is a renowned photographer, and all four are the children of singer Mick Riva, who is estranged from them.
Taylor shared her thoughts on the book’s appealing setting (1980s Malibu) and why Malibu originally became a mecca for stars. She and Carol also covered her earlier books, THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO and DAISY JONES & THE SIX, which took place in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively. Taylor filled us in on the decade in which her next novel will be set, which will pull these books together in a quartet. In addition, they talked about fame and how it impacts people’s lives. And there’s an update on the film adaptation of DAISY JONES & THE SIX! Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
We hosted this month's “Bookaccino Live” event last week. Carol presented 24 books releasing between now and September 7th, along with nine from October, that she wanted to get on your radar. You can watch it here and see a list of the featured titles here.
Next month’s "Bookaccino Live" event will take place on Wednesday, September 15th at 2pm ET. Carol will talk about titles releasing between September 14th and October 5th, along with a few from November, that she thinks will appeal to you. Click here to sign up. Those attending the live event will be asked to answer a survey about the books from the presentation that they are most interested in reading and will be eligible to win a prize.
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
Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events
As so many book and author events are happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.
Wednesday, August 18th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe --- will celebrate debut authors with Lou Diamond Phillips (THE TINDERBOX) and Gervais Hagerty (IN POLITE COMPANY).
Wednesday, August 18th at 7pm ET: Once Upon A Crime: Naomi Hirahara will join Once Upon A Crime to discuss her latest book, CLARK AND DIVISION, with Sara Paretsky.
Wednesday, August 18th at 10pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Ash Davidson will discuss her new novel, DAMNATION SPRING, the deeply human story of a Pacific Northwest logging town wrenched in two by a mystery that threatens to derail its way of life.
Thursday, August 19th at 7pm ET: Books & Books: James Lee Burke will be in conversation with Michael Connelly about his new thriller, ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN, a captivating tale of justice, love, brutality and mysticism set in the turbulent 1960s.
Thursday, August 19th at 7pm ET: Main Street Books: Main Street Books and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation present a virtual evening with Ash Davidson, author of DAMNATION SPRING, who will be in conversation with Kelly Mustian.
Friday, August 20th at 1pm ET: Women & Children First: Join Women & Children First for a virtual lunch date with the New York Times bestselling author of WHISPER NETWORK, Chandler Baker, and the one and only Samantha Irby for the release of THE HUSBANDS, which is this month's "Good Morning America" Book Club pick.
Saturday, August 21st at 2pm ET: Murder By The Book: James Lee Burke will be in conversation with fellow award-winning author Brian Panowich about his latest novel, ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN.
Sunday, August 22nd at 5pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": For this special bonus episode, the "Friends and Fiction" authors will talk to award-winning author and New York Times columnist Leslie Lehr and her husband, screenwriter John Truby.
Sunday, August 22nd at 6:30pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: James Lee Burke will discuss his new thriller, ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN, with fellow New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane.
Monday, August 23rd at 10pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: William Kent Krueger will discuss his latest novel, LIGHTNING STRIKE, a prequel to his acclaimed Cork O’Connor series.
Tuesday, August 24th at 7:30pm ET: Community Bookstore: Louise Penny joins Community Bookstore to present her newest novel, THE MADNESS OF CROWDS, in conversation with cookbook author Dorie Greenspan.
This Week's Bonus News:
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?"
Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Enter to Win Up to 12 Copies of
THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict
and Victoria Christopher Murray for Your Group
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 up to 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 THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, a "Good Morning America" Book Club pick and a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. This instant New York Times bestselling novel tells the remarkable story of J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, September 8th at noon ET.
THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Historical Fiction)
In her 20s, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection. But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white --- her complexion is dark because she is African American.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read our review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Click here to watch Carol's "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
- Click here to listen to a podcast of the interview.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of August 16th in Hardcover
August 16th
THE NOISE by James Patterson and J. D. Barker (Psychological Thriller)
In the shadow of Mount Hood, 16-year-old Tennant is checking rabbit traps with her eight-year-old sister, Sophie, when the girls are suddenly overcome by a strange vibration rising out of the forest, building in intensity until it sounds like a deafening crescendo of screams. From out of nowhere, their father sweeps them up and drops them through a trapdoor into a storm cellar. But the sound only gets worse.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316499873
August 17th
56 DAYS by Catherine Ryan Howard (Psychological Thriller)
56 days ago. Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores. 35 days ago. When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who --- and what --- he really is. Today. Detectives arrive at Oliver's apartment to discover a decomposing body inside. Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime?
Blackstone Publishing | 9781982694654
ALL IN: An Autobiography by Billie Jean King, with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers (Autobiography)
In this spirited account, Billie Jean King details her life's journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis career --- six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, 20 Wimbledon championships, 39 grand slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes." She poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of those years and the profound impact on her worldview from the women's movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Knopf | 9781101947333
ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN by James Lee Burke (Historical Thriller)
The American West in the early 1960s appears to be a pastoral paradise: golden wheat fields, mist-filled canyons, frolicking animals. Aspiring novelist Aaron Holland Broussard finds work on a farm in Denver and meets Joanne McDuffy, a fierce college student and gifted painter. Their soul connection is immediate, but their romance is complicated by Joanne’s involvement with a shady professor who is mixed up with a drug-addled cult. When a sinister businessman and his son who wield their influence through vicious cruelty set their sights on Aaron, drawing him into an investigation of grotesque murders, it is clear that this idyllic landscape harbors tremendous power --- and evil.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982151713
THE BARCELONA COMPLEX: Lionel Messi and the Making --- and Unmaking --- of the World's Greatest Soccer Club by Simon Kuper (Sports/History)
FC Barcelona is not just the world’s highest grossing sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organizations on the planet. It has more in common with multinational megacompanies like Netflix or small nation-states than it does with most soccer teams. No wonder its motto is “More than a club.” But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona went from a regional team to a global powerhouse, becoming a model of sustained excellence and beautiful soccer, and a consistent winner of championships. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how this transformation took place, paying special attention to the club’s two biggest stars, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi, who is arguably the greatest soccer player of all time.
Penguin Press | 9780593297711
BLOODLESS: A Pendergast Novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
On the evening of November 24, 1971, D. B. Cooper hijacked Flight 305 with a fake bomb, collected a ransom of $200,000, and then parachuted from the rear of the plane, disappearing into the night…and into history. Fifty years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre and gruesome case: in the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia, bodies are found with no blood left in their veins --- sowing panic and reviving whispered tales of the infamous Savannah Vampire. As the mystery rises along with the body count, Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, race to understand how --- or if --- these murders are connected to the only unsolved skyjacking in American history.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538736708
COMPLICATIONS by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
The Hotel Louis XVI has been the most lauded boutique hotel in all of Paris for decades, attracting an international clientele of the rich and famous. Now, after four years of renovations and the death of its legendary and beloved manager, it is set to reopen its doors at last. An esteemed group of loyal returning guests will descend upon the hotel, joined by a number of new faces who have managed to secure coveted bookings in the wake of last-minute cancellations. Awaiting them all is the Louis XVI’s new manager, Olivier Bateau, and his level-headed assistant manager, Yvonne Philippe. But they quickly realize that anything can happen at any moment, and on one cool September evening, everything does.
Delacorte Press | 9781984821492
THE DARKNESS KNOWS by Arnaldur Indridason (Mystery)
A frozen body is discovered in the icy depths of Langjökull glacier, apparently that of a businessman who disappeared 30 years before. At the time, an extensive search and police investigation yielded no results --- one of the missing man’s business associates was briefly held in custody, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him. Now the associate is arrested again, and Konrad, the retired policeman who originally investigated the disappearance, is called back to reopen the case that has weighed on his mind for decades. When a woman approaches him with new information that she obtained from her deceased brother, progress can finally be made in solving this long-cold case.
Minotaur Books | 9781250765468
THE FAMILY PLOT by Megan Collins (Psychological Thriller)
Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, Dahlia Lighthouse is unable to move beyond the disappearance of her twin brother, Andy, when they were 16. After several years away and following her father’s death, Dahlia returns to the house, where the family makes a gruesome discovery: buried in their father’s plot is another body --- Andy’s, his skull split open with an ax. Dahlia is quick to blame Andy’s murder on the serial killer who terrorized the island for decades, while the rest of her family reacts to the revelation in unsettling ways. As Dahlia grapples with her own grief and horror, she realizes that her eccentric family, and the mansion itself, may hold the answers to what happened to her twin.
Atria Books | 9781982163846
THE GARDEN HOUSE by Marcia Willett (Fiction)
Fresh out of university and right on the precipice of adulthood, El is trying her best to figure out what she really wants from life. This is complicated by the fact that she is also dealing with the loss of her father, Martin. After his sudden death, El inherits and moves into his home just outside Tavistock, in the Devon countryside. Her stepbrother, Will, comes to help her through her grief and to go through her father’s belongings. As El spends time in her father’s home, she uncovers more about his life, and the secrets he had been keeping from her and her family. This includes mysterious messages on his phone from someone El suspects may have been more than just a friendly acquaintance.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250760265
GETAWAY by Zoje Stage (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Imogen and Beck, two sisters who couldn't be more different, have been friends with Tilda since high school. Once inseparable, over two decades the women have grown apart. But after Imogen survives a traumatic attack, Beck suggests they all reunite to hike deep into the Grand Canyon’s backcountry. A week away, secluded in nature…surely it’s just what they need. But as the terrain grows tougher, tensions from their shared past bubble up. And when supplies begin to disappear, it becomes clear that secrets aren’t the only thing they’re being stalked by.
Mulholland Books | 9780316242509
HOW TO KILL YOUR BEST FRIEND by Lexie Elliott (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Georgie, Lissa and Bronwyn have been inseparable since dominating their college swim team. Swimming has always been an escape from their own problems, but now their shared passion has turned deadly. How can it be true that Lissa, the strongest swimmer they know, drowned? Granted, there is something strange about Kanu Cove, where Lissa was last seen, swimming off the coast of the fabulous island resort she owned with her husband. Lissa’s closest friends gather at the resort to honor her life, but Georgie and Bron can’t seem to stop looking over their shoulders. As the weather turns ominous, trapping the funeral guests together on the island, nobody knows who they can trust.
Berkley | 9780593098691
THE ISLAND by Ben Coes (Political Thriller)
Iran has been planning a revenge attack on America for years, which involves assassinating U.S. President J. P. Dellenbaugh and neutralizing their most successful agent, Dewey Andreas. The first pre-emptive attack against Dewey fails, but it worries the head of the CIA enough that he sends him out of town and off the grid. Muhammed el-Shakib, head of Iran's military and intelligence agency, launches a bold strike. When the President arrives in New York to address the U.N., embedded terrorist assets blow up the bridges and tunnels that connect Manhattan to the mainland. Taking control of the island with its hidden forces, they race to the U.N. in search of Dellenbaugh and to launch an even deadlier attack that will wreak unimaginable destruction on the country itself.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250140821
TWO-WAY MIRROR: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Fiona Sampson (Biography)
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." With these words, Elizabeth Barrett Browning has come down to us as a romantic heroine, a recluse controlled by a domineering father and often overshadowed by her husband, Robert Browning. But behind the melodrama lies a thoroughly modern figure whose extraordinary life is an electrifying study in self-invention. TWO-WAY MIRROR is the first biography of Barrett Browning in more than three decades. With unique access to the poet’s abundant correspondence, Fiona Sampson holds up a mirror to the woman, her art, and the art of biography itself.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324002956
VELVET WAS THE NIGHT by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Noir Thriller)
1970s, Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger. Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman --- and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists.
Del Rey | 9780593356821
VIRAL by Robin Cook (Medical Thriller)
Brian Murphy’s wife, Emma, is diagnosed with eastern equine encephalitis, a rare and highly lethal mosquito-borne viral disease. Their young daughter then begins to exhibit alarming physical and behavioral symptoms, too. Emma’s harrowing hospital stay becomes even more fraught when Brian receives a staggering hospital bill full of outrageous charges and murky language, and his health insurance company refuses to cover any of the cost. To get to the bottom of the predatory practices targeting his loved ones and countless others, he must uncover the dark side of an industry that has strayed drastically from its altruistic roots --- and bring down the callous executives preying on the sick and defenseless before the virus can claim even more people.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593328293
On Sale the Week of August 16th in Paperback
August 17th
THE BASS ROCK by Evie Wyld (Fiction)
Surging out of the sea, the Bass Rock has always borne witness to the lives that pass under its shadow on the Scottish mainland. And across the centuries, the fates of three women are inextricably linked to this place and to one another. Sarah, accused of being a witch, is fleeing for her life; Ruth, in the aftermath of the Second World War, is navigating a new marriage and the strange waters of the local community; and six decades later, Viv, still mourning the death of her father, is cataloging Ruth's belongings in the now-empty house. As each woman's story unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that their choices are circumscribed, in ways big and small, by the men who seek to control them. But in sisterhood there is also the possibility of survival and a new way of life.
Vintage | 9780525432708
BEFORE YOU GO by Tommy Butler (Fiction)
In the Before, humankind is created with a hole in its heart, the designers not realizing their mistake --- if it was a mistake --- until too late. Elliot Chance is just a boy and knows nothing of this. All he knows is that he doesn’t feel at home in this world, and his desire for escape becomes more urgent as he grows into adulthood. Desperate and lost, he stumbles upon a support group on the edge of Manhattan. There he meets Sasha, who leaves coded messages in the copy she writes for advertising campaigns, and Bannor, whose detailed depictions of the future make Elliot think he may have actually been there. With these two unlikely allies, Elliot launches into the business of life, determined to be happy in spite of himself. Yet the hole in the heart is not so easily filled.
Harper Perennial | 9780062934970
THE BOOKSELLER’S SECRET: A Novel of Nancy Mitford and WWII by Michelle Gable (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
London, 1942. Still recovering from a devastating loss, Nancy Mitford is estranged from her husband and has given up her writing career. Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay. Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present.
Graydon House | 9781525806469
CROSSHAIRS by Catherine Hernandez (Dystopian Fiction)
Kay, the gay son of Filipino and Jamaican immigrants, is on the run from a fascist regime operated by a paramilitary group known as the Boots. Those who fall at the bottom of the Boots’ social stratification are rendered “Other” and subsequently sent to work camps. They suffer violence that pushes them further into this otherness, although the new regime labels these sweeping acts the “Renovation.” Kay’s account of these events is a silent letter to his lover, Evan, from whom he is separated when the Renovation’s plans fall rapidly into place. When Kay finds himself on the run again, he lands in the front lines of a civilian-led movement called the Resistance.
Atria Books | 9781982146030
CRY BABY: A Tom Thorne Novel by Mark Billingham (Mystery/Thriller)
In the summer of 1996, two boys run from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one comes out. DS Tom Thorne takes on a case that quickly spirals out of control when two people connected with the missing boy are murdered. As London prepares to host the European Soccer Championships, Thorne fights to keep on top of a baffling investigation while also dealing with the ugly fallout of his broken marriage.
Grove Press | 9780802149473
FIRE AND VENGEANCE: A Koa Kāne Hawaiian Mystery by Robert McCaw (Mystery/Thriller)
Hilo, Hawaiʻi Chief Detective Koa Kāne learns that an elementary school was placed atop a volcanic vent, which has now exploded. The subsequent murders of the school’s contractor and architect only add urgency to his search for the truth. As Koa’s investigation heats up, his brother collapses in jail from a previously undiagnosed brain tumor. Using his connections, Koa devises a risky plan to win his brother’s freedom. As Koa gradually unravels the obscure connections between multiple suspects, he uncovers a 40-year-old conspiracy. When he is about to apprehend the perpetrators, his investigation suddenly becomes entwined with his brother’s future, forcing Koa to choose between justice for the victims and his brother’s freedom.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094417
KILLER, COME BACK TO ME: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury by Ray Bradbury (Hard-boiled Crime Fiction/Short Stories)
Honoring the 100th birthday of Ray Bradbury, this definitive collection of the master's less well-known crime fiction, published in a high-grade premium collectible edition, features classic stories and rare gems. Is it murder to destroy a robot if it looks and speaks and thinks and feels like a human being? Can a ventriloquist be incriminated by the testimony of his own dummy? Can a time traveler prevent his younger self from killing the woman they both loved? And can the survivor of a pair of Siamese twins investigate his own brother's murder? No other writer has ever rivaled the imagination and narrative gifts of Ray Bradbury, and the 20 stories in KILLER, COME BACK TO ME demonstrate this singular writer's extraordinary range, influence and emotional power.
Hard Case Crime | 9781789096651
THE LAST MONA LISA by Jonathan Santlofer (Thriller)
Paperback Original
August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now returned to the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911. Present day: Art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728240763
NIGHT MUSIC by Jojo Moyes (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Isabel Delancey, a classical violinist, has always taken her comfortable life for granted. But when her husband dies suddenly, leaving her with a mountain of debt, she and her two children are forced to abandon their home and move to the Spanish House, a now-dilapidated manor Isabel inherited in the English countryside. With the house falling down around them, and the last of her savings disappearing fast, Isabel turns to her neighbors for help, not knowing that her mere presence there has stirred up long-standing obsessions. As she fights to make her house a home, passions and lives collide. Isabel will discover an instinct for survival she never knew she had --- and that a heart can play a new song.
Penguin Books | 9780735222311
NO WITNESS: A Cal Claxton Mystery by Warren C. Easley (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Running a one-man law practice in the heart of Oregon's wine country, Cal Claxton hires a young, undocumented man as an assistant. Timoteo Fuentes is a bright, hardworking student by day and Cal's legal clerk by night. When one of Timoteo's family members is brutally murdered, the migrant community is reluctant to cooperate with the police investigation for fear of deportation. Devastated by the loss and nervous about engaging with the legal system, the family turns to Cal for help. With Timoteo protected as a "Dreamer" from deportation, the two begin a dangerous investigation of ruthless people who leverage the fear of a vulnerable population for profit and an assassin who is as cunning as he is deadly.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464214431
OLIVE THE LIONHEART: Lost Love, Imperial Spies, and One Woman's Journey into the Heart of Africa by Brad Ricca (Biography)
In 1910, Olive MacLeod, a 30-year-old, redheaded Scottish aristocrat, received word that her fiancé, the famous naturalist Boyd Alexander, was missing in Africa. So she went to find him. In jungles, swamps, cities and deserts, Olive and her two companions, the Talbots, come face to face with cobras and crocodiles, wise native chiefs, a murderous leopard cult, a haunted forest, and even two adorable lion cubs that she adopts as her own. Olive awakens to the many forces around her, from shadowy colonial powers to an invisible Islamic warlord who may hold the key to Boyd’s disappearance. As these secrets begin to unravel, Olive is forced to confront the darkest, most shocking secret of all: why she really came to Africa in the first place.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250796691
SHOW THEM YOU’RE GOOD: Four Boys and the Quest for College by Jeff Hobbs (Social Sciences)
Four teenage boys are high school seniors at two very different schools within the city of Los Angeles, the second largest school district in the nation with nearly 700,000 students. Blending complex social issues with each individual experience, Jeff Hobbs takes us deep inside these boys’ worlds. The foursome includes Carlos, the younger son of undocumented delivery workers, who aims to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and attend an Ivy League college; Tio harbors serious ambitions to become an engineer, despite a father who doesn’t believe in him; Jon struggles to put distance between himself and his mother, who is suffocating him with her own expectations; and Owen, raised in a wealthy family, can’t get serious about academics but knows he must.
Scribner | 9781982116347
On Sale the Week of August 23rd in Hardcover
August 24th
FERAL CREATURES by Kira Jane Buxton (Fiction/Humor)
When the world last checked in with its favorite Cheeto addict, the planet had been overrun by flesh-hungry beasts, and nature had started reclaiming her territory from humankind. S.T., the intrepid crow, alongside his bloodhound-bestie Dennis, had set about saving pets that had become trapped in their homes after humanity went the way of the dodo. That is, until S.T. stumbled upon something so rare and precious that he vowed to do everything in his power to safeguard what could be humanity's last hope for survival. But in a wild world plagued by prejudiced animals, feather-raising environments, new threats so terrifying they make zombies look like baby bunnies, and a horrendous dearth of cheesy snacks, what's a crow to do?
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538735244
THE GUIDE by Peter Heller (Thriller)
Kingfisher Lodge is known by locals as "Billionaire's Mile" and is locked behind a heavy gate. Sandwiched between barbed wire and a meadow with a sign that reads "Don't Get Shot!" the resort boasts boutique fishing at its finest. Safe from viruses that have plagued America for years, Kingfisher offers a respite for wealthy clients. Now it also promises a second chance for Jack, a return to normalcy after a young life filled with loss. When he is assigned to guide a well-known singer, his only job is to rig her line, carry her gear, and steer her to the best trout he can find. But then a human scream pierces the night, and Jack soon realizes that this idyllic fishing lodge may be merely a cover for a far more sinister operation.
Knopf | 9780525657767
HERO OF TWO WORLDS: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan (History)
Few in history can match the revolutionary career of the Marquis de Lafayette. Over 50 incredible years at the heart of the Age of Revolution, he fought courageously on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a soldier, statesman, idealist, philanthropist and abolitionist. As a teenager, Lafayette ran away from France to join the American Revolution. Returning home a national hero, he helped launch the French Revolution, eventually spending five years locked in dungeon prisons. After his release, Lafayette sparred with Napoleon, joined an underground conspiracy to overthrow King Louis XVIII, and became an international symbol of liberty. Finally, as a revered elder statesman, he was instrumental in the overthrow of the Bourbon Dynasty in the Revolution of 1830.
PublicAffairs | 9781541730335
THE KILLING LOOK by J.D. Rhoades (Historical Thriller)
Civil War veteran L.D. Cade arrives in 1870s San Francisco, seeking his fortune and a place to end his restless wandering. A job as bodyguard to a flashy real estate speculator seems like just the opportunity he’s been looking for. But beneath the glitter and glamour of Gilded Age San Francisco lie festering greed, corruption and intolerance. It’s a dangerous place for an honest man, even one who’s as good with a gun as Cade. As he makes his way between the decadent chaos of the notorious Barbary Coast, the luxurious mansions of Russian Hill, and the secretive societies of Chinatown, Cade will face vicious and sadistic enemies, find allies in unexpected places, and encounter a pair of enigmatic women who will change his life forever.
Polis Books | 9781951709495
LIGHTNING STRIKE by William Kent Krueger (Historical Mystery)
Aurora is a small town nestled in the ancient forest alongside the shores of Minnesota’s Iron Lake. In the summer of 1963, it is the whole world to 12-year-old Cork O’Connor, its rhythms as familiar as his own heartbeat. But when Cork stumbles upon the body of a man he revered hanging from a tree in an abandoned logging camp, it is the first in a series of events that will cause him to question everything he took for granted about his hometown, his family and himself. Cork’s father, Liam O’Connor, is Aurora’s sheriff, and it is his job to confirm that the man’s death was the result of suicide, as all the evidence suggests. In the shadow of his father’s official investigation, Cork begins to look for answers on his own.
Atria Books | 9781982128685
THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (Fiction)
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,” a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’ words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans --- the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great-grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers --- Ailey carries Du Bois’ Problem on her shoulders. To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors --- Indigenous, Black and white --- in the deep South.
Harper | 9780062942937
THE MADNESS OF CROWDS by Louise Penny (Mystery)
Professor Abigail Robinson will be giving a lecture at a nearby university, and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is asked to provide security for it. He discovers an agenda so repulsive that he begs the university to cancel the lecture. They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start seeping into conversations so that truth and fact, reality and delusion, are so confused it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart. When a murder is committed, it falls to Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir and their team to investigate the crime, as well as this extraordinary popular delusion. And the madness of crowds.
Minotaur Books | 9781250145260
MORE THAN I LOVE MY LIFE written by David Grossman, translated by Jessica Cohen (Fiction)
MORE THAN I LOVE MY LIFE is the story of three strong women: 90-year-old Vera; her daughter, Nina; and her granddaughter, Gili, who at 39 is a filmmaker and a wary consumer of affection. A bitter secret divides each mother and daughter pair, though Gili --- abandoned by Nina when she was just three --- has always been close to her grandmother. With Gili making the arrangements, they travel together to Goli Otok, a barren island off the coast of Croatia, where Vera was imprisoned and tortured for three years as a young wife after she refused to betray her husband and denounce him as an enemy of the people. This unlikely journey lays bare the intertwining of fear, love and mercy, and the complex overlapping demands of romantic and parental passion.
Knopf | 9780593318911
SEEING GHOSTS: A Memoir by Kat Chow (Memoir)
Kat Chow has always been unusually fixated on death. She worried constantly about her parents dying --- especially her mother. A vivacious and mischievous woman, Kat's mother made a morbid joke that would haunt her for years to come: when she died, she'd like to be stuffed and displayed in Kat's future apartment in order to always watch over her. After her mother dies unexpectedly from cancer, Kat, her sisters and their father are plunged into a debilitating, lonely grief. In SEEING GHOSTS, Kat weaves together a story of the fallout of grief that follows her extended family as they emigrate from China and Hong Kong to Cuba and America.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538716328
SOMETHING WONDERFUL: Stories by Jo Lloyd (Fiction/Short Stories)
Whether seeking knowledge, riches or a better life, the characters in this debut collection are united by a quest for lasting value, as they ask how we should treat our world, our work, our selves, and each other in both past and present. A vainglorious mine owner dreams of harnessing all of nature to the machinery of commerce. Two women hunt rare butterflies in a pre-First World War landscape already experiencing the first bites of biodiversity loss. A young man tracks down the father who abandoned him inside a festival exhibit. A rural Welsh community is fascinated and angered by glimpses of its invisible, wealthy neighbors.
Tin House Books | 9781951142728
THE WOMEN OF TROY by Pat Barker (Historical Fiction)
Troy has fallen, and the victorious Greeks are eager to return home with the spoils of an endless war --- including the women of Troy themselves. They await a fair wind for the Aegean. It does not come, because the gods are offended. The body of King Priam lies unburied and desecrated, and so the victors remain in suspension, camped in the shadows of the city they destroyed as the coalition that held them together begins to unravel. Old feuds resurface, and new suspicions and rivalries begin to fester. Largely unnoticed by her captors, the one-time Trojan queen Briseis, formerly Achilles' slave, forges alliances when she can, with Priam's aged wife, the defiant Hecuba, and with the disgraced soothsayer Calchas, all the while shrewdly seeking her path to revenge.
Doubleday | 9780385546690
On Sale the Week of August 23rd in Paperback
August 24th
DEAR CHILD by Romy Hausmann (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
A windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare. She says her name is Lena. Lena, who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior. She fits the profile. She has the distinctive scar. But her family swears that she isn’t their Lena. The little girl who escaped the woods with her knows things she isn’t sharing, and Lena’s devastated father is trying to piece together details that don’t quite fit. Lena is desperate to begin again, but something tells her that her tormentor still wants to get back what belongs to him…and that she may not be able to truly escape until the whole truth about what happened in the woods finally emerges.
Flatiron Books | 9781250768551
FRATERNITY: Stories by Benjamin Nugent (Fiction/Short Stories)
In a Massachusetts college town stands a dilapidated colonial: Delta Zeta Chi. Here, we meet Newton, the beloved chapter president; Oprah, the sensitive reader; Petey, the treasurer, loyal to a fault; Claire, the couch-surfing dropout who hopes to sell them drugs; and a girl known, for unexpected reasons, as God. Though the living room reeks of sweat and spilled beer, the brothers know that to be inside is everything. FRATERNITY celebrates the debauched kinship of boys and girls straddling adolescence and adulthood: the drunken antics, solemn confessions and romantic encounters that mark their first years away from home. Beneath each episode lies the dread of exclusion.
Picador | 9781250798602
HOT TO TROT: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton, with R.W. Green (Mystery)
When Private Detective Agatha Raisin learns that her friend and one-time lover, Charles Fraith, is to be married to a mysterious socialite, Miss Mary Brown-Field, she sees it as her duty to find out what she can about the woman. Coming up empty, Agatha does the only sensible thing she can think of: she crashes their wedding, which ends in a public altercation. Nursing a hangover the next morning, she gets a phone call from Charles with even more disturbing news: Mary has been murdered. Agatha takes on the case and quickly becomes entrenched in the competitive equestrian world, in which Mary had been enmeshed --- as well as the victim’s surprisingly violent past.
Minotaur Books | 9781250157768
THE LAST UNCHARTED SKY: Book Three in The Risen Kingdoms by Curtis Craddock (Historical Fantasy)
Isabelle and Jean-Claude undertake an airship expedition to recover a fabled treasure and claim a hitherto undiscovered craton for l'Empire Celeste. But Isabelle, resulting from a previous attack that tried to subsume her body and soul, suffers from increasingly disturbing and disruptive hallucinations. Disasters are compounded when the ship is sabotaged by an enemy agent, and Jean-Claude is separated from the expedition. In a race against time, Isabelle must figure out how to ward off her ailment before it destroys her and reunite with Jean-Claude to seek the fabled treasure as ancient secrets and a royal conspiracy threaten to undo the entire realm.
Tor Books | 9780765389664
THE LESS DEAD by Denise Mina (Mystery/Thriller)
Dr. Margo Dunlop’s adoptive mom just passed away, and she can't begin to empty the house --- or, it seems, get her brother on the phone. Not to mention she's newly single, secretly pregnant and worried about her best friend's dangerous relationship. In an effort to cheer herself up, she goes in search of her birth mother. Instead she finds Nikki, her mother's sister. Aunt Nikki isn't what Margo expects, and she brings upsetting news: Margo's mother is dead. Worse, she was murdered years ago, and her killer is still at large --- and sending Nikki threatening letters. Then Margo receives a letter, too. Someone out there has been waiting and watching, and in Margo sees the spitting image of her mother.
Mulholland Books | 9780316528535
NICOTINE: A Love Story Up in Smoke written by Gregor Hens, translated by Jen Calleja (Memoir)
Written with the passion of an obsessive, NICOTINE addresses a lifelong addiction, from the thrill of the first drag to the perennial last last cigarette. Reflecting on his experiences as a smoker from a young age, Gregor Hens investigates the irreversible effects of nicotine on thought and patterns of behavior. He extends the conversation with other smokers to meditations on Mark Twain and Italo Svevo, the nature of habit, and the validity of hypnosis. With comic insight and meticulous precision, Hens deconstructs every facet of dependency, offering a brilliant analysis of the psychopathology of addiction.
Other Press | 9781635420524
ORDINARY HAZARDS by Anna Bruno (Fiction)
It’s 5pm on a Wednesday when Emma settles into her hometown bar with a motley crew of locals, all unaware that a series of decisions over the course of a single night is about to change their lives forever. As the evening unfolds, key details about Emma’s history emerge, and the past comes bearing down on her like a freight train. Why has Emma, a powerhouse in the business world, ended up here? What is she running away from? And what is she willing to give up to recapture the love she once cherished?
Washington Square Press | 9781982126964
PAYBACK by Mary Gordon (Fiction)
Quin Archer is the revenge-loving queen of the reality TV show "Payback," and has dedicated her life to confronting and outing the guilty. But long before she was a star, Quin was an angry teenage student at a private New England girls’ school, whose closest confidant was her art teacher, Agnes. But when Quin (then known as Heidi) turned to Agnes for help in a moment of desperate need, Agnes’ stunned response devastated them both.
Anchor | 9780593082546
ROBERT B. PARKER’S FOOL’S PARADISE: A Jesse Stone Novel by Mike Lupica (Mystery)
When a body is discovered at the lake in Paradise, Police Chief Jesse Stone is surprised to find that he recognizes the murder victim --- the man had been at the same AA meeting as Jesse the evening before. But otherwise, Jesse has no clue as to the man's identity. Their single lead is from a taxi company that recalls dropping off the mysterious stranger outside the gate at the mansion of one of the wealthiest families in town. Meanwhile, after Jesse survives a hail of gunfire on his home, he wonders if it could be related to the mysterious murder. When both Molly Crane and Suitcase Simpson also become targets, it is clear that someone has an ax to grind against the entire Paradise Police Department.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525542100
SISTERS by Daisy Johnson (Fiction)
Born just 10 months apart, July and September are thick as thieves, never needing anyone but each other. Now, following a case of school bullying, the teens have moved away with their single mother to a long-abandoned family home near the shore. In their new, isolated life, July finds that the deep bond she has always shared with September is shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand. A creeping sense of dread and unease descends inside the house. Meanwhile, outside, the sisters push boundaries of behavior --- until a series of shocking encounters tests the limits of their shared experience, and forces shocking revelations about the girls’ past and future.
Riverhead Books | 9780593188965
THE TALENTED MISS FARWELL by Emily Gray Tedrowe (Thriller)
At the end of the 1990s, with the art market finally recovered from its disastrous collapse, Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killing at Christie’s in New York City, selling a portion of her extraordinary art collection for a rumored 900 percent profit. To some, the elusive Miss Farwell is a shark with outstanding business acumen. To others, she’s a heartless capitalist whose only interest in art is how much she can make. But a thousand miles from the Big Apple, in the small town of Pierson, Illinois, Miss Farwell is someone else entirely --- a quiet single woman known as Becky who works tirelessly as the town’s treasurer and controller. How long can the talented Miss Farwell continue to pull off her double life?
Custom House | 9780062897718
TOTAL POWER: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Political Thriller)
When Mitch Rapp captures ISIS’s top technology expert, he reveals that he was on his way to meet a man who claims to have the ability to bring down America’s power grid. Rapp is determined to eliminate this shadowy figure, but the CIA’s trap fails. The Agency is still trying to determine what went wrong when ISIS operatives help this cyber terrorist do what he said he could --- plunge the country into darkness. With no concept of how this unprecedented act was accomplished, the task of getting the power back on could take months. Perhaps even years. Rapp and his team embark on a desperate search for the only people who know how to repair the damage. But his operating environment is like nothing he’s experienced before.
Pocket Books | 9781501190667
TURN A BLIND EYE: A Detective William Warwick Novel by Jeffrey Archer (Mystery)
Newly promoted to Detective Inspector, William Warwick is tasked to go undercover and expose corruption at the heart of the Metropolitan Police Force. His team is focused on following Detective Jerry Summers, whose lifestyle exceeds his income. But the investigation risks being compromised when Nicky falls for Summers. Meanwhile, notorious drug baron Assem Rashidi goes on trial; the prosecutors are William’s father, Sir Julian, and his sister, Grace. William’s wife, Beth, makes a surprising new friend in Christina Faulkner --- the ex-wife of William’s former rival, criminal financier Miles --- who has a new-found source of income when Faulkner dies suddenly of a heart attack and she stands to be sole inheritor of his estate.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250801203
WHEN THE SUMMER WAS OURS by Roxanne Veletzos (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Hungary, 1943: As war encroaches on the country’s borders, willful young Eva César arrives in the idyllic town of Sopron to spend her last summer as a single woman on her aristocratic family’s estate. Longing for freedom from her domineering father, she counts the days to her upcoming nuptials to a kind and dedicated Red Cross doctor. But Eva’s life changes when she meets Aleandro, a charming and passionate Romani fiddler and artist. With time and profound class differences against them, Eva and Aleandro still fall deeply in love --- only to be separated by a brutal act of hatred. As each are swept into the tides of war, they try to forget their romance. Yet the haunting memory of that summer will reshape their destinies and lead to decisions that are felt through generations.
Washington Square Press | 9781982152130
|
