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For our latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview, Carol had the pleasure of chatting with Alli Frank and Asha Youmans about their first two novels, TINY IMPERFECTIONS and the newly released NEVER MEANT TO MEET YOU, both of which are Bookreporter.com Bets On selections. These books are sharply smart and full of comedic timing (Carol laughed out loud reading them) as readers see both dialogue and inner monologue from characters.
Alli and Asha once worked together in a tony private school; Alli was a kindergarten teacher, and Asha was an administrator. Each often said, “If I ever write a book.” And then one day they joined to do just that. They talk about their co-writing process and share how their different backgrounds --- Alli is white and Jewish, Asha is Black and Baptist --- inform their writing realistic characters. At a time when diversity is being touted in publishing, Alli and Asha are creating characters who talk the talk --- and make you laugh. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
This is your last newsletter reminder to sign up for this month’s “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event, which will take place THIS Thursday, October 27th at 8pm ET.
Our guest will be Joyce Maynard, and we will be talking about her most recent novel, COUNT THE WAYS, which released in paperback this summer. According to Ann Hood, “COUNT THE WAYS is the book you will want to curl up in a chair and read from beginning to end. It’s rich and complex, beautiful and heartbreaking, just like life. Reading about this flawed and lovely family will make you want to hug your own flawed and lovely family tight. Joyce Maynard celebrates the messy, wonderful thing that is love.”
You can register for the event by clicking here. If you would like to ask Joyce a question on camera during the event and chat with her in our “backstage green room” before the event, please email Carol with your question using the subject line “Joyce” by Thursday the 27th at noon ET. Those who are camera shy can send their questions via the Q&A feature on Zoom.
Carol just learned from Joyce that she is working on the sequel to COUNT THE WAYS now. We are hoping she can tease a bit of it for us on Thursday night!
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 many book and author events are still 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, October 26th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of the Jack Reacher series, Lee Child and Andrew Child, for a live virtual event to celebrate the release of NO PLAN B as part of the B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. Lee and Andrew will be in conversation with Ruth Ware.
Wednesday, October 26th at 5pm ET: Books & Books: Books & Books is excited to partner with McNally Jackson and other independent bookstores around the U.S. to present an evening with John Banville in conversation with Alexandra Kleeman about his new novel, THE SINGULARITIES.
Wednesday, October 26th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris and Susan Meissner about their new novel, WHEN WE HAD WINGS, along with Sunday Times bestselling author Santa Montefiore.
Thursday, October 27th at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Group: Carol Fitzgerald will talk to Joyce Maynard about her novel, COUNT THE WAYS, which is now in paperback. Joyce also will answer questions from guests who will be "on stage," as well as from other members of the audience. If you would like to be one of our featured audience guests and ask Joyce a question on camera, please send Carol an email with the subject line “Joyce” by Thursday the 27th at noon ET.
Tuesday, November 1st at 1pm ET: National Archives: In his new book, THE LAST CAMPAIGN, bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands follows the lives of General William Tecumseh Sherman and Apache war leader Geronimo to tell the story of the Indian Wars and the final fight for control of the American continent. Brands will discuss how Sherman and Geronimo were keen strategists and bold soldiers, ruthless with their enemies.
Tuesday, November 1st at 2pm ET: Book Passage: Book Passage, in partnership with Warwick's and Books & Books, will host Lee Child and Andrew Child as they discuss the latest book in their Jack Reacher series, NO PLAN B, with fellow bestselling author Louise Penny.
Tuesday, November 1st at 7pm ET: Hudson Library & Historical Society: Hudson Library & Historical Society will host a live virtual streaming event with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham, who will talk about his latest book, AND THERE WAS LIGHT: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle.
Tuesday, November 1st at 7pm ET: Murder By The Book: Patricia Cornwell will be in conversation with David Baldacci about LIVID, the 26th installment in her #1 bestselling series featuring chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, who finds herself a reluctant star witness in a sensational televised murder trial.
This Week's Bonus News: ReadingGroupGuides.com's
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest
Enter to Win Up to 12 Copies of THE WAYS WE HIDE
by Kristina McMorris for Your Group
Each month in our "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" feature, 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 WAYS WE HIDE by Kristina McMorris, which is now in stores. The New York Times bestselling author of SOLD ON A MONDAY has penned a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, November 9th at noon ET.
THE WAYS WE HIDE by Kristina McMorris (Historical Fiction)
As a little girl raised amid the hardships of Michigan's Copper Country, Fenna Vos learned to focus on her own survival. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she's the mastermind of their act. Ultimately, controlling her surroundings and eluding traps of every kind helps her keep a lingering trauma at bay. Yet for all her planning, Fenna doesn't foresee being called upon by British military intelligence. Tasked with designing escape aids to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, Fenna discovers that no mission is more treacherous than escaping one's past.
On Sale the Week of October 24th in Hardcover
October 25th
THE ATLAS PARADOX by Olivie Blake (Dark Fantasy)
THE ATLAS PARADOX is the long-awaited sequel to Olivie Blake's New York Times bestselling dark academic sensation, THE ATLAS SIX --- guaranteed to have even more yearning, backstabbing, betrayal and chaos. Six magicians were presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Five are now members of the Society. Two paths lay before them. All must pick a side. Alliances will be tested, hearts will be broken, and The Society of Alexandrians will be revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way.
Tor Books | 9781250855091
BLACK IS THE NIGHT: Stories Inspired by Cornell Woolrich edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Mystery/Short Stories)
BLACK IS THE NIGHT is an anthology of exclusive new short stories in tribute to the master of pulp-era crime writing, Cornell Woolrich. Woolrich, also published as William Irish and George Hopley, stands with Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and Dashiell Hammett as a legend in the genre. He is a hugely influential figure for crime writers, and is also remembered through the 50+ films made from his novels and stories, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, I Married a Dead Man, Phantom Lady, Truffaut's La Sirène du Mississippi and Black Alibi.
Titan Books | 9781789099997
INCITING JOY: Essays by Ross Gay (Essays)
In these gorgeously written and timely pieces, prize-winning poet and author Ross Gay considers the joy we incite when we care for each other, especially during life’s inevitable hardships. Throughout INCITING JOY, he explores how we can practice recognizing that connection and how we expand it. In “We Kin,” he thinks about the garden (especially around August, when the zucchini and tomatoes come on) as a laboratory of mutual aid; in “Share Your Bucket” he explores skateboarding’s reclamation of public space; he considers the costs of masculinity in “Grief Suite”; and in “Through My Tears I Saw,” he recognizes what was healed in caring for his father as he was dying.
Algonquin Books | 9781643753041
INTO THE WINDWRACKED WILDS by A. Deborah Baker (Dark Fantasy/Adventure)
When the improbable road leaves Avery and Zib in the land of Air and at the mercy of the Queen of Swords, escape without becoming monsters may be impossible. But with the aid of the Queen's son, the unpredictable Jack Daw, they may emerge with enough of their humanity to someday make it home. Their journey is not over yet; the dangers are no less great.
Tordotcom | 9781250848444
THE LAST FOLK HERO: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson by Jeff Pearlman (Sports/Biography)
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. His strength was legendary, and his power was unmatched. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, and turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports and overtook Michael Jordan as America’s most recognizable pitchman. Then, almost overnight, he was gone. He was Bo Jackson. Drawing on an astonishing 720 original interviews, Jeff Pearlman captures as never before the elusive truth about Jackson, Auburn University’s transcendent Heisman Trophy winner, superstar of both the NFL and Major League Baseball, and ubiquitous “Bo Knows” Nike pitchman.
Mariner Books | 9780358437673
LIVID: A Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell (Mystery/Thriller)
Chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta is the reluctant star witness in a sensational murder trial when she receives shocking news. The judge’s sister has been found dead. At first glance, it appears to be a home invasion. But then why was nothing stolen, and why is the garden strewn with dead plants and insects? Although there is no apparent cause of death, Scarpetta recognizes telltale signs of the unthinkable, and she knows the worst is yet to come. The forensic pathologist finds herself pitted against a powerful force that returns her to the past, and her time to catch the killer is running out.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538725160
MARMEE by Sarah Miller (Historical Fiction)
In 1861, war is raging in the South, but in Concord, Massachusetts, Margaret March has her own battles to fight. With her husband serving as an army chaplain, the comfort and security of Margaret’s four daughters --- Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy --- now rest on her shoulders alone. Yet even with all that weighs upon her, Margaret longs to do more, so she fills her days with humdrum charity work. All of that is interrupted when she receives a telegram from the War Department, summoning her to her husband’s bedside in Washington, D.C. While she is away, Beth falls dangerously ill, forcing Margaret to confront the possibility that the price of her own generosity toward others may be her daughter’s life.
William Morrow | 9780063041875
MY TRAVELS WITH MRS. KENNEDY by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin Hill (Memoir)
While preparing to sell his home in Alexandria, Virginia, retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill uncovers an old steamer trunk in the garage, triggering a floodgate of memories. As he and Lisa McCubbin, his coauthor on three previous books, pry it open for the first time in 50 years, they find forgotten photos, handwritten notes, personal gifts and treasured mementos from the trips on which Hill accompanied First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy as her Secret Service agent. During these journeys, Jacqueline Kennedy became one of her husband’s --- and America’s --- greatest assets; in Hill’s words and the opinion of many others, she was “one of the best ambassadors the United States has ever had.”
Gallery Books | 9781982181116
NO PLAN B: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Thriller)
In Gerrardsville, Colorado, a woman dies under the wheels of a moving bus. The death is ruled a suicide. But Jack Reacher saw what really happened: A man in a gray hoodie and jeans, moving stealthily, pushed the victim to her demise --- before swiftly grabbing the dead woman’s purse and strolling away. When another homicide is ruled an accident, Reacher knows this is no coincidence. With a killer on the loose, Reacher has no time to waste to track down those responsible. But Reacher is unaware that these crimes are part of something much larger and more far-reaching: an arsonist out for revenge, a foster kid on the run, a cabal of powerful people involved in a secret conspiracy with many moving parts.
Delacorte Press | 9781984818546
THE PASSENGER by Cormac McCarthy (Fiction)
1980, Pass Christian, Mississippi: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of his wet suit and plunges from the Coast Guard tender into darkness. His dive light illuminates the sunken jet, nine bodies still buckled in their seats, hair floating, eyes devoid of speculation. Missing from the crash site are the pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box and the 10th passenger. But how? A collateral witness to machinations that can only bring him harm, Western is shadowed in body and spirit --- by men with badges; by the ghost of his father, inventor of the bomb that melted glass and flesh in Hiroshima; and by his sister, the love and ruin of his soul.
Knopf | 9780307268990
THE POISON MACHINE: A Hunt & Hooke Novel by Robert J. Lloyd (Historical Thriller/Mystery)
London, 1679. A year has passed since the sensational attempt to murder King Charles II, but London is still a viper’s nest of rumored Catholic conspiracies, and of plots against them in turn. When Harry Hunt --- estranged from his mentor, Robert Hooke --- is summoned to the remote and windswept marshes of Norfolk, he is at first relieved to get away from the place. But in Norfolk, he finds that some Royal workers shoring up a riverbank have made a grim discovery --- the skeleton of a dwarf. Harry is able to confirm that the skeleton is that of Captain Jeffrey Hudson, a prominent member of the court once famously given to the Queen in a pie. Except no one knew Hudson was dead, because another man had been impersonating him.
Melville House | 9781612199757
THE REVOLUTIONARY: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff (Biography)
Thomas Jefferson asserted that if there was any leader of the Revolution, “Samuel Adams was the man.” John Adams thought his cousin was “the most sagacious politician” of all. With high-minded ideals and bare-knuckle tactics, Adams led what could be called the greatest campaign of civil resistance in American history. Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Stacy Schiff returns Adams to his seat of glory, introducing us to the shrewd, eloquent and intensely disciplined man who supplied the moral backbone of the American Revolution.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316441117
THE RISE OF THE DRAGON: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One by George R. R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia, Jr. and Linda Antonsson (Fantasy)
For hundreds of years, the Targaryens sat the Iron Throne of Westeros while their dragons ruled the skies. The story of the only family of dragonlords to survive Valyria’s Doom is a tale of twisty politics, alliances and betrayals, and acts both noble and craven. THE RISE OF THE DRAGON chronicles the creation and rise of Targaryen power in Westeros, covering the history first told in George R. R. Martin’s epic FIRE & BLOOD, from Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros through to the infamous Dance of the Dragons --- the bloody civil war that nearly undid Targaryen rule for good. Packed with all-new artwork, the Targaryens --- and their dragons --- come vividly to life in this deluxe reference book.
Ten Speed Press | 9781984859259
THE SINGULARITIES by John Banville (Fiction)
A man with a borrowed name steps from a flashy red sports car --- also borrowed --- onto the estate of his youth. But all is not as it seems. There is a new family living in the drafty old house: the Godleys, descendants of the late, world-famous scientist Adam Godley, whose theory of existence threw the universe into chaos. And this mystery man, who has just completed a prison sentence, feels as if time has stopped, or was torn, or was opened in new and strange ways. He must now vie with the idiosyncratic Godley family, their harried housekeeper who becomes his landlady, his recently commissioned biographer of Godley Sr., and a wealthy and beautiful woman from his past who comes bearing an unusual request.
Knopf | 9780525655176
THE SONG OF THE CELL: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Medicine/History)
In the late 1600s, a distinguished English polymath, Robert Hooke, and an eccentric Dutch cloth-merchant, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, looked down their handmade microscopes. What they saw introduced a radical concept that swept through biology and medicine, touching virtually every aspect of the two sciences and altering both forever. It was the fact that complex living organisms are assemblages of tiny, self-contained, self-regulating units. Our organs, our physiology, our selves --- hearts, blood, brains --- are built from these compartments. Hooke christened them “cells.” In THE SONG OF THE CELL, Siddhartha Mukherjee tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans.
Scribner | 9781982117351
A STRANGE HABIT OF MIND: A Cameron Winter Mystery by Andrew Klavan (Hard-boiled Mystery)
The world of Big Tech is full of eccentric characters, but shamanic billionaire Gerald Byrne may be the strangest of the bunch. The founder of Byrner, a global social media platform, Byrne is known for speaking with vague profundity and dabbling in esoteric spiritual practices. And every person who gets in the way of his good work seems to die. When a former student commits suicide, English professor and ex-spy Cameron Winter takes it upon himself to understand why. The young man was expelled from the university in an unfortunate episode that left Winter sympathetic to his plight. After a prolonged silence, he reached out to his teacher with two words just before taking the fatal plunge from the roof of his San Francisco apartment: “Help me.”
Mysterious Press | 9781613163511
On Sale the Week of October 24th in Paperback
October 25th
ANYWHERE YOU RUN by Wanda M. Morris (Historical Thriller)
Paperback Original
In the summer of 1964, three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, 21-year-old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. With the help of her white beau, she escapes. Back in Jackson, Violet’s older sister, Marigold, has dreams of attending law school, but she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063082502
THE BECOMING: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 2 by Nora Roberts (Paranormal Fantasy/Romance)
The world of magick and the world of man have long been estranged from one another. But some can walk between the two, including Breen Siobhan Kelly. She has just returned to Talamh with her friend, Marco, who is dazzled and disoriented by this realm --- a place filled with dragons, faeries and mermaids. He is welcomed kindly by her people, and by Keegan, leader of the Fey. Keegan has trained Breen as a warrior, and his yearning for her has grown along with his admiration of her strength and skills. But one member of Breen’s bloodline is not there to embrace her. Her grandfather, the outcast god Odran, plots to destroy Talamh --- and now all must unite to defeat his dark forces.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250771780
THE CHILDREN ON THE HILL by Jennifer McMahon (Supernatural Thriller)
1978: At her renowned treatment center in Vermont, psychiatrist Helen Hildreth is acclaimed for her compassionate work with the mentally ill. But when she’s home with her grandchildren, Vi and Eric, she’s just Gran. Then one day, Gran brings home a child to stay with the family. Although Iris does not behave like a normal girl, Vi and Eric invite her to join their Monster Club, where they catalogue all kinds of monsters and dream up ways to defeat them. 2019: Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast “Monsters Among Us,” is traveling to Vermont, where a young girl has been abducted, and a monster sighting has the town in an uproar. Lizzy knows better than anyone that monsters are real --- and one of them is her very own sister.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982153960
THE COLLECTIVE by Alison Gaylin (Psychological Thriller)
Camille Gardener is a grieving --- and angry --- mother who, five years after her daughter’s death, is still obsessed with the privileged young man she believes to be responsible. When her rash actions draw the attention of a secret group of women --- the collective --- Camille is drawn into a dark web where these mothers share their wildly different stories of loss, as well as their desire for justice in a world where privilege denies accountability. Fueled by mutual rage, the collective members devise and act out retribution fantasies via precise, anonymous, highly coordinated revenge killings. As Camille struggles to comprehend whether this is a role-playing exercise or a terrifying reality, she must decide if these women are truly avenging angels or monsters.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063143562
DAMASCUS STATION by David McCloskey (Political Thriller)
CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad’s recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad’s spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324036135
THE DARKEST PLACE: A Robin Lockwood Novel by Phillip Margolin (Legal Thriller)
As she recovers from the consequences of representing a reprehensible defendant charged with even more reprehensible crimes, Robin Lockwood heads home to her small town of Elk Grove. There, a unique legal challenge presents itself. Marjorie Loman, a surrogate, is accused of kidnapping the baby she carried for another couple, and assaulting that couple in the process. There's no question that she committed these actions, but that's not the same as being guilty of the crime. As Robin works to defend her client, she learns that Marjorie Loman has been hiding under a fake identity and is facing a warrant for her arrest for another, even more serious crime. And buried within the truth may once again be unexpected, deadly consequences.
Minotaur Books | 9781250849830
DESOLATION CANYON by P. J. Tracy (Mystery/Thriller)
LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan is struggling to move forward after the death of her brother in Afghanistan and taking a life in the line of duty. A moment of weakness leads to cocktails with a colleague --- an attraction she knows could be dangerous --- at the luxurious Hotel Bel-Air bar. A stroll through the grounds leads to a grim discovery beneath the surface of Swan Lake: the body of a successful attorney who made his fortune in international trade. It initially appears to be death by misadventure, but the case is anything but straightforward. As a series of shocking revelations emerge, Nolan finds herself confronting a sinister cabal that just might destroy her and everyone she loves.
Minotaur Books | 9781250860668
GREENWICH PARK by Katherine Faulkner (Domestic Thriller)
Helen’s idyllic life begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class and meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be. Rachel doesn’t seem very maternal, but Helen is still drawn to her. She makes Helen laugh, invites her confidences and distracts her from her fears. But her increasingly erratic behavior is unsettling. And Helen is not the only one who’s noticed. Her friends and family begin to suspect that her strange new friend may be linked to their shared history in unexpected ways. When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.
Gallery Books | 9781982150327
HELLO, TRANSCRIBER by Hannah Morrissey (Mystery/Thriller)
Every night, police transcriber Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives divulge Black Harbor, Wisconsin’s gruesome secrets. An aspiring novelist, Hazel believes that writing a book could be her only ticket out of this frozen hellscape, but her life isn’t exactly brimming with inspiration. Until her neighbor confesses to hiding the corpse of an overdose victim. With an insider’s look at the investigation, Hazel becomes spellbound by the lead detective, Nikolai Kole, and the chilling narrative he shares with her. Through his transcription, she learns that the suspicious death is linked to Candy Man --- a drug dealer notorious for selling illegal substances to children --- and when Kole invites her on a covert operation to help take the dealer down, the promise of a story calls to her.
Minotaur Books | 9781250847416
KILLER VIEW by Roy Johansen (Thriller)
Kendra Michaels, blind before gaining her sight via a revolutionary surgical procedure, offers her razor-sharp senses to assist her friend, Jessie Mercado, in a baffling case. When Owen Blake of Mamertine Consulting hires Mercado to find his missing partner, their suspect list is filled with recently released white-collar criminals, a few drug kingpins and a couple of murderers to keep things interesting. As witnesses turn up dead and car chases leave destruction in their wake, Jessie and Kendra learn just how far someone will go to keep the fate of one man hidden. But why? Together they must hunt down the lethal secrets of Blake’s company, hell-bent on staying one step ahead of disaster.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538762844
THE LAST SHADOW by Orson Scott Card (Science Fiction)
THE LAST SHADOW is the long-awaited conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender's Shadow series, as the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe --- the deadly virus they call the descolada, which is incurable and will kill all of humanity if it is allowed to escape from Lusitania.
Tor Books | 9780765344144
LOOK BOTH WAYS by Linwood Barclay (Thriller)
Paperback Original
The media have descended on Garrett Island, a small, isolated community that is the setting of a visionary experiment. All the residents’ cars were sent to the mainland, and for the past month the islanders have been “driving” the Arrival, a revolutionary autonomous vehicle. With a simple voice command, an Arrival will take you wherever you want to go. As the excitement reaches a fever pitch, public relations executive Sandra Montrose prepares for Arrival Inc.’s flashy press event. But as the celebratory day gets underway, disaster strikes. A visiting journalist has vanished, possibly murdered. Before long, the Arrivals run amok, no longer taking orders from their passengers. They’re starting to organize. They’re beginning to hunt. And they seem hell-bent on killing any human they encounter.
William Morrow | 9780063144170
A MAN OF HONOR by Barbara Taylor Bradford (Historical Fiction)
Opening five years before the start of A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE, A MAN OF HONOR begins with 13-year-old Blackie O’Neill facing an uncertain future in rural County Kerry. Orphaned and alone, he has just buried his sister, Bronagh, and must leave his home to set sail for England, in search of a better life with his mother’s brother in Leeds. There, he learns his trade as a navvy, amid the grand buildings and engineering triumphs of one of England’s most prosperous cities, and starts to dream of greater things. And then, high on the Yorkshire moors, in the mists of a winter morning he meets a kitchen maid called Emma Harte. In A MAN OF HONOR, the true Blackie O'Neill is revealed.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250850805
THE MIDNIGHT LOCK: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver (Thriller)
A woman wakes up in the morning to find that someone has picked her apartment’s supposedly impregnable door lock and rearranged personal items. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to investigate and soon learn that the sociopathic intruder, who calls himself "the Locksmith,” can break through any lock or security system ever devised. With more victims on the horizon, Rhyme, Sachs and their stable of associates must discover his true mission. Their hunt is interrupted when an internal investigation in the police force uncovers what seems to be a crucial mistake in one of Rhyme's previous cases. He is fired as a consultant for the NYPD and must risk jail if he investigates the Locksmith case in secret.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525536017
SHOOT-OUT AT SUGAR CREEK: A Caleb York Western by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (Western)
An abusive, drunken young scoundrel resists arrest, holds a barmaid hostage, and gets what he deserves from the blazing .44 of Sheriff Caleb York. The late youth's powerful mother, cattle baroness Victoria Hammond, takes the news with stoic resignation. All she asks of Caleb is a favor: help her convince Willa Cullen --- the love of Caleb's life --- to sell her the spread that Willa's late father had carved out of the wilderness. As Willa refuses to give up her land without a fight, the seductive cattle queen sends an army of hired guns to Sugar Creek, the sole source of water available for Willa's herd. Caleb finds himself caught in the crossfire of a savage shoot-out between Willa's cowboys and Victoria's gunfighters.
Pinnacle | 9780786046904
STRAIGHT THROUGH THE LABYRINTH: Becoming a Gay Father in China by Peter Rupert Lighte (Memoir)
Paperback Original
STRAIGHT THROUGH THE LABYRINTH chronicles the true story of a gay Jewish scholar of China caught in the crosshairs of the very history he has studied. Suddenly ensnared in Hong Kong's handover back to China in 1997, Peter Lighte, intent on adopting a Chinese baby, navigates his way through daunting bureaucracy and unforeseen drama --- and prevails, likely becoming Hong Kong's first adoptive gay father. A second daughter soon follows, a story no less fraught, convincing him that purposeful synchronicity can thrash anything in the way of love.
Acausal Press | 9780991252909
SUCH A PRETTY GIRL by T. Greenwood (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Living peacefully in Vermont, Ryan Flannigan is shocked when a text from her oldest friend alerts her to a devastating news item. A controversial photo of her as a preteen has been found in the possession of a wealthy investor recently revealed as a pedophile and a sex trafficker --- with an inscription to him from Ryan’s mother on the back. Memories crowd in, providing their own distinctive pictures of her mother Fiona, an aspiring actress, and their move to the West Village in 1976. Forced to reexamine her childhood, Ryan begins to untangle her young fears and her mother’s ambitions, and the role each played in the fraught blackout summer of 1977.
Kensington | 9781496739322
THIEF OF FATE: A Providence Falls Novel by Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets (Romance/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
When Liam O’Connor stole Cora McLeod from her destined soul mate, Finley Walsh, in 1844, he changed the course of history. Now Liam has been given three months to set things right, but he has failed to reunite Cora and Finn. And with time running out, things are looking worse than ever. As the three investigate a murder case together, they are caught in a devilish love triangle. Finn has always loved Cora. She has finally realized she wants Liam. And Liam knows he has no choice but to push Cora away if he has any hope of avoiding eternal damnation. As Liam tries desperately to make amends, he realizes his actions in the past have put them all in grave danger. And, once again, someone will pay the ultimate price.
Mira | 9780778386551
TOM CLANCY CHAIN OF COMMAND: A Jack Ryan Novel by Marc Cameron (Thriller/Adventure)
A shadowy billionaire uses his fortune to further his corrupt ambitions. Along the way, he’s toppled democratically elected governments and exacerbated divisions within stable nations. Now, he’s ready to implement his most ambitious plan of all. There’s only one force standing in his way --- President Jack Ryan. How do you compel a man like Jack Ryan to bend? It will take more than political headwinds or media disfavor to cause him to turn from his duty to the American people, but every man has an Achilles heel. Jack Ryan’s is his family. The answer is as simple as it is shocking. The billionaire has assembled an international team of the most ruthless mercenaries alive. Their mission --- kidnap the First Lady.
Berkley | 9780593188170
THE VANISHING POINT by Elizabeth Brundage (Literary Thriller)
Julian Ladd and Rye Adler cross paths as photography students in the exclusive Brodsky Workshop. Both men are fascinated with their beautiful and talented classmate, Magda, whose captivating images of her Polish neighborhood set her apart. Twenty years later, Rye is at the top of his field. When Magda reenters his life, asking for help only he can give, Rye finds himself in a broken landscape of street people and addicts, and his search for a missing boy becomes his own desperate fight to survive. Months later, when Julian discovers Rye’s obituary, the paper makes it sound like a suicide. Julian attends the funeral, where there is no casket and no body. This sudden reentry into a world he thought he left behind forces Julian to question not only Rye’s death, but the very foundations of his life.
Back Bay Books | 9780316430388
W. E. B. GRIFFIN ROGUE ASSET: A Presidential Agent Novel by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (Thriller/Adventure)
Secretary of State Frank Malone has been kidnapped from his Cairo hotel --- his security detail wiped out. President Natalie Cohen is left with several unacceptable options. It's time to think outside the box, and that can only mean one thing: the revival of the Presidential Agent program. Cohen calls for Charley Castillo to come out of retirement to direct a new Presidential Agent, one Captain P. K. "Pick" McCoy, USMC. Charley may be too old to kick down doors and take names, but Killer McCoy is just the man to get the job done. Together, they will track the kidnapped secretary from Cairo to sub-Saharan Africa. The only problem is that one man can't hope to win against an army of terrorists. Good thing there are two of them.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780515155624
On Sale the Week of October 31st in Hardcover
October 31st
TRIPLE CROSS: An Alex Cross Thriller by James Patterson (Thriller)
A precise killer, he always moves under the cover of darkness, flawlessly triggering no alarms, leaving no physical evidence. Alex Cross and John Sampson aren’t the only ones investigating. Also in on this most intriguing case is the world’s bestselling true-crime author, who sees patterns everyone else misses. The writer, Thomas Tull, calls the Family Man murders the perfect crime story. He believes the killer may never be caught. Cross knows there is no perfect crime. And he’s going to hunt down the Family Man no matter what it takes. Until the Family Man decides to flip the narrative and bring down Cross and his family.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316499187
November 1st
BARKLEY: A Biography by Timothy Bella (Biography)
Passionate, candid, iconoclastic and gifted both on and off the court, Charles Barkley has made a lasting impact on not only the world of basketball but pop culture at large. Yet few people know the real Charles. Raised by his mother and grandmother in Leeds, Alabama, he struggled in his early years to fit in until he found a sense of community and purpose in basketball. In the NBA he went toe-to-toe with the biggest legends in the game, from Magic to Michael to Hakeem to Shaq. But in the years since, he has become a bold agitator for social change, unafraid to grapple --- often brashly --- with even the thorniest of cultural issues facing our nation today.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335484970
THE BODY FALLS: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter (Mystery)
Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe returns to Glendara, Inishowen, where a charity cycle event is taking place. But rain causes the cyclists to postpone the start of their event and stay overnight in the town. In the middle of the night, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy is called out to Mamore Gap. A body, dislodged from a high bank by the heavy rain, has fallen onto a passing vehicle. It is identified as Bob Jameson, a well-known charities boss and the organizer of the cycling event. Stunned, the local doctor finds evidence of a recent snakebite. Terrible weather persists, and soon bridges are down and roads are impassable. Glendara is completely cut off. Since there are no native snakes in Ireland, could there be a killer trapped in the community?
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094301
THE CLOISTERS by Katy Hays (Literary Thriller)
When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs.
Atria Books | 9781668004401
THE COUPLE AT THE TABLE by Sophie Hannah (Psychological Thriller)
Jane and William are enjoying their honeymoon at an exclusive couples-only resort until Jane receives a chilling note warning her to “Beware of the couple at the table nearest to yours.” At dinner that night, five other couples are present, and none of their tables is any nearer or farther away than any of the others. It’s almost as if someone has set the scene in order to make the warning note meaningless. But why would anyone do that? Jane has no idea. But someone in this dining room will be dead before breakfast, and all the evidence will suggest that no one there that night could have possibly committed the crime.
William Morrow | 9780063257702
DELIBERATE CRUELTY: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century by Roseanne Montillo (True Crime/History)
When Ann Woodward shot her husband, banking heir Billy Woodward, in the middle of the night in 1955, her life changed forever. Though she claimed she thought he was a prowler, few believed the woman who had risen from charismatic showgirl to popular socialite. Everyone had something to say about the scorching scandal afflicting one of the most rich and famous families of New York City, but no one was more obsessed with the tale than Truman Capote. Capote decided that the story of Ann’s turbulent marriage would be the basis of his masterpiece --- a novel about the dysfunction and sordid secrets revealed to him by his high society “swans” --- never thinking that it eventually would lead to Ann’s suicide and his own scandalous downfall.
Atria Books | 9781982153731
EXCUSE ME WHILE I DISAPPEAR: Tales of Midlife Mayhem by Laurie Notaro (Humor/Essays)
Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past 50, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts) and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything). Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting --- the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries --- Laurie accepts it. And then some. With unintentional abandon, she shoplifts a bag of russet potatoes, heckles a rude driver from her beat-up Prius, and engages in epic trolling on Nextdoor.com. That, says Laurie, is the brilliance of growing older. With each passing day, you lose an equivalent amount of fear.
Little A | 9781542033510
FOSTER by Claire Keegan (Fiction)
It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas’ house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household --- where everything is so well tended to --- and this summer must soon come to an end.
Grove Press | 9780802160140
FRIENDS, LOVERS, AND THE BIG TERRIBLE THING: A Memoir by Matthew Perry (Memoir)
“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.” So begins the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, taking us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who traveled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; 14-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; 24-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called “Friends Like Us”; and so much more.
Flatiron Books | 9781250866448
GILDED MOUNTAIN by Kate Manning (Historical Fiction)
Sylvie Pelletier recounts leaving her family’s snowbound mountain cabin to work in a manor house for the Padgetts, owners of the marble-mining company that employs her father. Her fairy-tale ideas of romance take a dark turn when she realizes the Padgetts’ lofty philosophical talk is at odds with the unfair labor practices that have enriched them. Outside the manor walls, the town of Moonstone is roiling with discontent. The editor of the local newspaper --- a bold woman who takes Sylvie on as an apprentice --- is publishing unflattering accounts of the Padgett Company. Sylvie navigates vastly different worlds and struggles to find her way amid conflicting loyalties. When the harsh winter brings tragedy, Sylvie must choose between silence and revenge.
Scribner | 9781982160944
GODMERSHAM PARK: A Novel of the Austen Family by Gill Hornby (Historical Fiction)
On January 21, 1804, Anne Sharpe arrives at Godmersham Park in Kent to take up the position of governess. Anne is neither one of the servants nor one of the family, and to balance a position between the "upstairs" and "downstairs" members of the household is a diplomatic chess game. One wrong move may result in instant dismissal. When Mr. Edward Austen's family comes to stay, Anne forms an immediate attachment to Jane. They write plays together and enjoy long discussions. However, in the process, Anne reveals herself as not merely pretty, charming and competent; she is clever too. Meanwhile, Jane's brother, Henry, begins to take an unusually strong interest in the lovely young governess. And from now on, Anne's days at Godmersham Park are numbered.
Pegasus Books | 9781639362585
GOING ROGUE: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich (Mystery)
Stephanie Plum turns up for work at Vinnie’s Bail Bonds to find that longtime office manager Connie Rosolli hasn’t shown up. Her worst fears are confirmed when she gets a call from Connie’s abductor. He says he will only release her in exchange for a mysterious coin that a recently murdered man left as collateral for his bail. Unfortunately, this coin, which should be in the office, is nowhere to be found. The quest to discover the coin, learn its value and save Connie will require the help of Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur, her best pal Lula, her boyfriend Morelli, and hunky security expert Ranger. As they get closer to unraveling the reasons behind the kidnapping, Connie’s captor grows more threatening.
Atria Books | 9781668003053
HOLMES COMING by Kenneth Johnson (Mystery)
While checking on a former patient at her isolated Victorian house, Dr. Amy Winslow discovers in the cellar a secret, cobweb-covered 1899 electrochemical laboratory containing a Jules Verne-esque steam-punk sarcophagus out of which springs a wild-eyed, half-mummified, crypt-keeper-like man. He claims to be a real-life Victorian master chemist and detective named Holmes, who allowed Conan Doyle to write stories based on his cases. Holmes and Amy, his reluctant new Watson, find themselves unexpectedly attracted to each other while perilously involved in reclaiming his proof of identity. It’s all connected to a horrific death-by-tiger, only the first of several bizarre, mystifying murders being committed by an exquisitely fiendish descendant of Holmes’ Victorian archenemy, Professor Moriarty.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798200706884
THE LAST CAMPAIGN: Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America by H. W. Brands (History)
William Tecumseh Sherman and Geronimo were keen strategists and bold soldiers, ruthless with their enemies. Over the course of the 1870s and 1880s, these two war chiefs would confront each other in the final battle for what the American West would be: a sparsely settled, wild home where Indian tribes could thrive, or a more densely populated extension of the America to the east of the Mississippi. When Sherman rose to commanding general of the Army, he was tasked with bringing Geronimo and his followers onto a reservation where they would live as farmers and ranchers and roam no more. But Geronimo preferred to fight.
Doubleday | 9780385547284
THE LAST HILL: The Epic Story of a Ranger Battalion and the Battle That Defined WWII by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (History)
They were known as “Rudder’s Rangers,” the most elite and experienced attack unit in the United States Army. In December 1944, Lt. Col. James Rudder's 2nd Battalion would form the spearhead into Germany, taking the war into Hitler’s homeland at last. In the process, Rudder was given two objectives: Take Hill 400…and hold the hill by any means possible. To the last man, if necessary. The battle-hardened battalion had no idea that several Wehrmacht regiments, who greatly outnumbered the Rangers, had been given the exact same orders. The clash of the two determined forces was one of the bloodiest and most costly encounters of World War II.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250247162
MEREDITH, ALONE by Claire Alexander (Fiction)
She has a full-time remote job and her rescue cat, Fred. Her best friend, Sadie, visits with her two children. There's her online support group, her jigsaw puzzles and favorite recipes, her beloved Emily Dickinson poems. Also keeping her company are treacherous memories of an unstable childhood and a traumatic event that had sent her reeling. But something is about to change. First, two new friends burst into her life. Then her long-estranged sister gets in touch. Suddenly her carefully curated home is no longer a space to hide. Whether Meredith likes it or not, the world is coming to her door.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538709948
OCEAN'S ECHO by Everina Maxwell (Science Fiction/Space Opera)
Rich socialite, inveterate flirt and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe. Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified “architects,” he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds.
Tor Books | 9781250758866
THE PRISONER by B. A. Paris (Psychological Thriller)
Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she married the handsome billionaire Ned Hawthorne. But then Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250274144
RACING THE LIGHT: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel by Robert Crais (Thriller)
Adele Schumacher isn't a typical worried mom. When she hires Elvis Cole to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, bizarre tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of professional bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn't alone in the hunt --- a deadly team of mysterious strangers are determined to find Josh and his adult film star girlfriend first. With dangerous secrets lurking behind every lead, Elvis needs his friend Joe Pike more than ever to uncover the truth about Josh, corrupt politicians, and the vicious business cartels rotting the heart of Los Angeles from within.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525535720
A RESTLESS TRUTH by Freya Marske (Historical Fantasy)
Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady’s companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago. What she didn’t expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who’s also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet can’t help but desire: a magician, an actress and a magnet for scandal.
Tordotcom | 9781250788917
SEVENTEEN: Last Man Standing by John Brownlow (Thriller)
Behind the events you know are the killers you don’t. When diplomacy fails, we're the ones who gear up. Officially we don’t exist, but every government in the world uses our services. We’ve been saving the world for 100 years. Sixteen people have done this job before me. I am Seventeen. The most feared assassin in the world. But to be the best, you must beat the best. My next target is Sixteen, just as one day Eighteen will hunt me down. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and it gets lonely at the top. Nobody gets to stay for long. But while we're here, all that matters is that we win.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335469595
SOMEDAY, MAYBE by Onyi Nwabineli (Fiction)
Here are three things you should know about my husband: 1) He was the great love of my life despite his penchant for going incommunicado, 2) He was, as far as I and everyone else could tell, perfectly happy. Which is significant because… 3) On New Year’s Eve, he killed himself. And here is one thing you should know about me: I found him. Bonus fact: No. I am not okay. SOMEDAY, MAYBE is a debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband.
Graydon House | 9781525899805
TAKING BERLIN: The Bloody Race to Defeat the Third Reich by Martin Dugard (History)
Fall, 1944. Paris has been liberated, but this diversion on the road to Berlin has given the Germans time to regroup. The American and British armies press on from the west, facing the enemy time and again, all while American general George Patton and British field marshal Bernard Montgomery vie for supremacy as the Allies’ top battlefield commander. Meanwhile, the Soviets begin to squeeze Hitler’s crumbling Reich from the east. Led by Generals Zhukov and Konev, the Red Army launches millions of soldiers against the Germans. As both the Anglo-American alliance and the Soviets set their sights on claiming the capital city of Nazi Germany, Churchill seeks to ensure Britain’s place in a new world divided by Roosevelt’s America and Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Dutton Caliber | 9780593187425
TOAD by Katherine Dunn (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Sally Gunnar spends her days alone at home, reading drugstore mysteries, polishing the doorknobs and waxing the floors. Her only companions are a vase of goldfish, a garden toad, and the door-to-door salesman who sells her cleaning supplies once a month. She broods over her deepest regrets: her blighted romances with self-important men, her lifelong struggle to feel at home in her own body, and her wayward early 20s, when she was a fish out of water among a group of eccentric, privileged young people at a liberal arts college. There was Sam, an unabashed collector of other people’s stories; Carlotta, a troubled free spirit; and Rennel, a self-obsessed philosophy student. Self-deprecating and sardonic, Sally recounts their misadventures, up to the tragedy that tore them apart.
MCD | 9780374602321
TRESPASSES by Louise Kennedy (Historical Fiction)
Amid daily reports of violence, Cushla lives a quiet life with her mother in a small town near Belfast. By day she teaches at a parochial school; at night she fills in at her family’s pub. There she meets Michael Agnew, a barrister who has made a name for himself defending IRA members. Against her better judgment --- Michael is not only Protestant but older, and married --- Cushla lets herself get drawn in by him and his sophisticated world, and an affair ignites. Then the father of a student is savagely beaten, setting in motion a chain reaction that will threaten everything, and everyone, Cushla most wants to protect.
Riverhead Books | 9780593540893
WE ARE THE LIGHT by Matthew Quick (Fiction)
Lucas Goodgame lives in Majestic, Pennsylvania, a quaint suburb that has been torn apart by a recent tragedy. Everyone in Majestic sees Lucas as a hero --- everyone, that is, except Lucas himself. Insisting that his deceased wife, Darcy, visits him every night in the form of an angel, Lucas spends his time writing letters to his former Jungian analyst, Karl. It is only when Eli, an 18-year-old young man whom the community has ostracized, begins camping out in Lucas’ backyard that an unlikely alliance takes shape and the two embark on a journey to heal their neighbors and, most importantly, themselves.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668005422
WHITE HORSE by Erika T. Wurth (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Kari James spends most of her time at her favorite spot in Denver, a bar called White Horse. There, she tries her best to ignore her past and the questions surrounding her mother who abandoned her when she was just two years old. But soon after her cousin, Debby, brings her a traditional bracelet that once belonged to Kari’s mother, Kari starts seeing disturbing visions of her mother and a mysterious creature. When the visions refuse to go away, she must uncover what really happened to her mother. Kari’s journey toward a truth long denied by both her family and law enforcement forces her to confront her dysfunctional relationships, thoughts about a friend she lost in childhood, and her desire for the one thing she’s always wanted but could never have.
Flatiron Books | 9781250847652
THE WORLD WE MAKE by N. K. Jemisin (Urban Fantasy)
Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading --- and destroying the entire universe in the process --- the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.
Orbit | 9780316509893
THE ZERO NIGHT: A Jonathan Stride Novel by Brian Freeman (Mystery/Thriller)
After nearly dying of a gunshot wound, Jonathan Stride has been on leave from the Duluth Police for more than a year. When his partner, Maggie Bei, gets called about a suspicious abduction involving a local lawyer, she tells Stride it's time for him to come back. Attorney Gavin Webster says he paid $100,000 in ransom money to the men who kidnapped his wife. Now they've disappeared with the cash, and she's still missing. Gavin claims to be desperate to find her --- but Stride discovers that the lawyer had plenty of motive to be the mastermind behind the crime. Even as Stride digs for the truth about Gavin Webster and his wife, he also must deal with a crisis in his own marriage.
Blackstone Publishing | 9781094082349
On Sale the Week of October 31st in Paperback
November 1st
ALL ABOUT ME!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business by Mel Brooks (Autobiography)
ALL ABOUT ME! charts Mel Brooks’ meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army in World War II, or during his burgeoning career as a teenage comedian in the Catskills, Mel was always mining his experiences for material and looking for the perfect joke. His book offers fans insight into the inspiration behind the ideas for his outstanding collection of boundary-breaking work, and includes details about the many close friendships and collaborations Brooks had, including those with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Alfred Hitchcock and the great love of his life, Anne Bancroft.
Ballantine Books | 9780593159132
THE APPEAL by Janice Hallett (Mystery)
The Fairway Players, a local theater group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their fellow castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival. But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy --- nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material with a growing suspicion that a killer may be hiding in plain sight.
Atria Books | 9781982187460
THE BANNED BOOKSHOP OF MAGGIE BANKS by Shauna Robinson (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend's struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But Bell River's literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat. To help save the store, Maggie starts an underground book club, running a series of events celebrating the books readers actually love. But keeping the club quiet, selling forbidden books and dodging the literary society is nearly impossible. Especially when Maggie unearths a town secret that could upend everything.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728246444
BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME by Jacqueline Bublitz (Mystery)
Paperback Original
When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city’s latest Jane Doe. Meanwhile, Ruby Jones is also trying to reinvent herself. After traveling halfway around the world, she’s lonelier than ever in the Big Apple. Until she stumbles upon a woman’s body by the Hudson River and suddenly finds herself unbreakably tied to the unknown dead woman. Alice is sure that Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her short life and tragic death. Ruby just wants to forget what she saw, but she can’t seem to stop thinking about the young woman she found. If she keeps looking, can she give this unidentified Jane Doe the ending and closure she deserves?
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982198992
BEWILDERMENT by Richard Powers (Fiction)
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324036142
THE BONE RECORDS by Rich Zahradnik (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
NY Police Academy washout Grigg Orlov discovers an eerie piece of evidence at the scene of his father's brutal murder: a disc-shaped X-ray of a skull. It's a bone record --- what Soviet citizens called banned American songs recorded on used X-rays. But the black-market singles haven't been produced since the ’60s. What's one doing in Coney Island in 2016? Grigg uncovers a connection between his father and three others who collected bone records when they were teenage friends growing up in Leningrad. Are past and present linked? Or is the murder tied to the local mob? Grigg has too many suspects and too little time. He must get to the truth before a remorseless killer takes everything he has.
1000 Words a Day Press | 9798985905649
BOX 88 by Charles Cumming (Thriller)
Lachlan Kite is a member of BOX 88, an elite transatlantic black ops outfit so covert that not even MI6 and the CIA are certain of its existence. But even the best spy can’t anticipate every potential threat in a world where dangerous actors lurk around every corner. At the funeral of his childhood best friend, Lachlan falls into a trap that drops him into the hands of a potentially deadly interrogation, with his pregnant wife, also abducted, being held as collateral for the information he’s sworn on his own life to protect. In order to save his family, Lachlan will be forced to revisit painful memories of a special assignment from 30 years ago that allowed him special access to one of Iran’s most dangerous men.
Mysterious Press | 9781613163696
BURNING BOY: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane by Paul Auster (Biography)
With BURNING BOY, celebrated novelist Paul Auster tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Crane, best known as the author of THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, who transformed American literature through an avalanche of original short stories, novellas, poems, journalism and war reportage before his life was cut short by tuberculosis at age 28. Auster’s probing account of this singular life tracks Crane as he rebounds from one perilous situation to the next.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250848543
CARRY THE DOG by Stephanie Gangi (Fiction)
Bea Seger has spent a lifetime running from her childhood. The daughter of a famous photographer, she and her brothers were the subjects of an explosive series of images in the 1960s known as the Marx Nudes. Disturbing and provocative, the photographs shadowed the family long past the public outcry and media attention. Now, decades later, both the Museum of Modern Art and Hollywood have come calling, eager to cash in on Bea’s mother’s notoriety. Twice divorced from but still entangled with aging rock star Gary Going, Bea lives in Manhattan with her borrowed dog, Dory, and sort-of sister, Echo. After years of avoiding her past, Bea must make a choice: let the world in --- and be compensated for the trauma of her childhood --- or leave it all locked away in a storage unit forever.
Algonquin Books | 9781643753270
COKIE: A Life Well Lived by Steven V. Roberts (Biography)
Through her visibility and celebrity, Cokie Roberts was an inspiration and a role model for innumerable women and girls. A fixture on national television and radio for more than 40 years, she also wrote five bestselling books focusing on the role of women in American history. In this loving tribute, Cokie’s husband of 53 years, Steve Roberts, reflects not only on her many accomplishments, but on how she lived each day with a devotion to helping others. For Steve, Cokie’s private life was as significant and inspirational as her public one. Her commitment to celebrating and supporting other women was evident in everything she did, and her generosity and passion drove her personal and professional endeavors.
Harper Perennial | 9780062851482
DR. NO by Percival Everett (Fiction)
Paperback Original
A brilliant professor of mathematics who goes by Wala Kitu is an expert on nothing. That is to say, he is an expert, his area of study is nothing, and he does nothing about it. This makes him the perfect partner for aspiring villain John Sill, who wants to break into Fort Knox to steal a shoebox containing nothing. Once he controls nothing, he’ll proceed with a dastardly plan to turn a Massachusetts town into nothing. Or so he thinks. With the help of the brainy and brainwashed astrophysicist-turned-henchwoman Eigen Vector, our professor tries to foil the villain while remaining in his employ. In the process, Wala Kitu learns that Sill’s desire to become a literal Bond villain originated in some real all-American villainy related to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
Graywolf Press | 9781644452080
FIVE TUESDAYS IN WINTER: Stories by Lily King (Fiction/Short Stories)
Told in the intimate voices of complex, endearing characters, FIVE TUESDAYS IN WINTER --- Lily King's first book of short fiction --- intriguingly subverts expectations as it explores desire, loss, jolting violence and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. A reclusive bookseller begins to feel the discomfort of love again. Two college roommates have a devastating middle-aged reunion. A proud old man rages powerlessly in his granddaughter's hospital room. A writer receives a visit from all the men who have tried to suppress her voice.
Grove Press | 9780802159496
THE FORTUNE MEN by Nadifa Mohamed (Historical Fiction)
In Cardiff, Wales, in 1952, Mahmood Mattan, a young Somali sailor, is accused of a crime he did not commit: the brutal killing of Violet Volacki, a shopkeeper from Tiger Bay. At first, Mahmood believes he can ignore the fingers pointing his way; he may be a gambler and a petty thief, but he is no murderer. But as the trial draws closer, his prospect for freedom dwindles. Now, Mahmood must stage a terrifying fight for his life, with all the chips stacked against him: a shoddy investigation, an inhumane legal system, and, most evidently, pervasive and deep-rooted racism at every step. Under the shadow of the hangman's noose, Mahmood begins to realize that even the truth may not be enough to save him.
Vintage | 9780593467435
GIRL IN ICE by Erica Ferencik (Thriller)
Valerie “Val” Chesterfield is a linguist trained in the most esoteric of disciplines: dead Nordic languages. Despite her successful career, she leads a sheltered life and languishes in the shadow of her twin brother, Andy, an accomplished climate scientist stationed on a remote island off Greenland’s barren coast. But Andy is gone: a victim of suicide, having willfully ventured unprotected into 50 degree below zero weather. Val suspects foul play. When Wyatt, Andy’s fellow researcher in the Arctic, discovers a scientific impossibility --- a young girl frozen in the ice who thaws out alive, speaking a language no one understands --- Val is his first call. Under the auspices of helping Wyatt interpret the girl’s speech, Val journeys to the Arctic to solve the mystery of her brother’s death.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982143039
GOOD RICH PEOPLE by Eliza Jane Brazier (Psychological Thriller)
Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than a bootstrapper. Demi has always felt like the odds were stacked against her. At the end of her rope, she seizes a risky opportunity to take over another person’s life and unwittingly becomes the subject of the upstairs couple’s wicked entertainment. But Demi has been struggling forever, and she’s not about to go down without a fight. In a twist that neither woman sees coming, the game quickly devolves into chaos and rockets toward an explosive conclusion.
Berkley | 9780593198261
THE GREAT WITCH OF BRITTANY by Louisa Morgan (Historical Fiction/Magical Realism)
Brittany, 1762. There hasn’t been a witch born in the Orchière clan for generations. Ursule Orchière has been raised on stories of the great witches of the past. But the only magic she knows is the false spells her mother weaves over the gullible women who visit their fortune-telling caravan. Everything changes when Ursule comes of age and a spark of power flares to life. Thrilled to be chosen, she has no idea how magic will twist and shape her future. Guided by an ancient grimoire and the whispers of her ancestors, Ursule is destined to walk the same path as the great witches of old. But first, the Orchière magical lineage must survive. And danger hovers over her, whether it’s the bloodlust of the mob or the flames of the pyre.
Redhook | 9780316628730
KEEPER OF ENCHANTED ROOMS by Charlie N. Holmberg (Historical Fantasy)
Paperback Original
Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home --- until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever. Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too. But the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated.
47North | 9781662500343
KISS HER ONCE FOR ME by Alison Cochrun (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone and desperate for money. Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack --- the mysterious woman she fell for the year before.
Atria Books | 9781982191139
LAWS OF DEPRAVITY: A Martyr Maker Novel by Eriq La Salle (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Every 10 years, for the past 30 years, a dozen clergymen are killed, brutally murdered in twisted scenes emulating the deaths of Jesus and his disciples. Now, "The Martyr Maker" has set his mark on New York City. LAWS OF DEPRAVITY follows two NYPD detectives and an FBI agent as they race to catch a serial killer before he completes his last cycle of kills and disappears forever.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728261003
THE LEAST OF US: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth by Sam Quinones (Social Science)
Sam Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the US to create DREAMLAND, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic. As the nation struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine, causing tens of thousands of deaths. At the same time, Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States. Quinones hit the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639730476
THE MISSING PIECE by John Lescroart (Thriller)
No one mourned when San Francisco DA Wes Farrell put Paul Riley in prison 11 years ago for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. And no one is particularly happy to see him again when he’s released after The Exoneration Initiative uncovered evidence that pinned the crime on someone else. In fact, Riley soon turns up murdered, surrounded by the loot from his latest scam. But if Riley was really innocent all along, who wanted him dead? To the cops, it’s straightforward: the still-grieving father of Riley’s dead girlfriend killed the former prisoner. Farrell, now out of politics and practicing law with master attorney Dismas Hardy, agrees to represent the defendant, Doug Rush --- and is left in the dust when Rush suddenly vanishes.
Atria Books | 9781982170509
NAVIGATING GRIEF AND LOSS: 25 Buddhist Practices to Keep Your Heart Open to Yourself and Others by Kimberly Brown (Self-Help/Mental Health)
Paperback Original
NAVIGATING GRIEF AND LOSS is a book for anyone who has experienced the pain of mourning, struggled to find a job, or is devastated by a bad breakup. It's a guidebook filled with relatable stories and practical meditations to help navigate the profound experience of death and loss. Filled with traditional Buddhist wisdom into the nature of life, each short chapter honestly describes a personal experience dealing with death or grief, followed by compassionate and mindful practices --- meditations, exercises or contemplations that readers can use to discover insights and truths, and bring comfort and friendship to their own struggles and sorrow.
Prometheus | 9781633888197
THE QUARRY GIRLS by Jess Lourey (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games. Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears --- the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate. Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542034296
THE REWIND by Allison Winn Scotch (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
When college sweethearts Frankie and Ezra broke up before graduation, they vowed never to speak to each other again. Ten years later, on the eve of the new millennium, they find themselves back on their snowy, picturesque New England campus together for the first time for the wedding of mutual friends. Frankie is on the rise as a music manager for the hottest bands of the late ’90s, and Ezra is ready to propose to his girlfriend after the wedding. Everything is going to plan. But when they wake up in bed next to each other the following morning with Ezra’s grandmother’s diamond on Frankie’s finger, they have zero memory of how they got there --- or about any of the events that transpired the night before.
Berkley | 9780593546536
THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA by Shehan Karunatilaka (Fiction/Satire)
Paperback Original
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida --- war photographer, gambler and closet queen --- has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake, and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to the photos that will rock Sri Lanka.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324064824
THE STOLEN BOOK OF EVELYN AUBREY by Serena Burdick (Fiction)
Paperback Original
England, 1898. When Evelyn first married the famous novelist William Aubrey, she was dazzled by his brilliance. But their newlywed bliss is brief when William is gripped by writer’s block, and he becomes jealous of Evelyn’s writing talent. When he commits the ultimate betrayal --- stealing a draft of her novel and passing it off as his own --- Evelyn decides to write her way out of their unhappy marriage. California, 2006. Abigail always wondered about her father, his identity forever lost when her mother unexpectedly died. Or so Abigail thought, until she stumbled upon his photo and a message that her great-great-grandmother was the author Evelyn Aubrey, leading Abigail on a journey to England in search for answers.
Park Row | 9780778333104
THE STROKE OF WINTER by Wendy Webb (Gothic Thriller)
Paperback Original
In the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter. As the house’s restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess’ late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations. But these appear to be the works of a twisted mind, almost unrecognizable as paintings she and others familiar with his art would expect. The sinister canvases raise disturbing questions for Tess, sparking nightmares and igniting in her an obsession to unearth the truth around their origins. What evil has been locked away for so many years?
Lake Union Publishing | 9781542037600
THANK YOU, MR. NIXON: Stories by Gish Jen (Fiction/Short Stories)
Beginning with a cheery letter penned by a Chinese girl in heaven to “poor Mr. Nixon” in hell, Gish Jen embarks on a fictional journey through U.S.-China relations, capturing the excitement of a world on the brink of tectonic change. Opal Chen reunites with her Chinese sisters after 40 years; newly cosmopolitan Lulu Koo wonders why Americans “like to walk around in the woods with the mosquitoes”; Hong Kong parents go to extreme lengths to reestablish contact with their “number-one daughter” in New York; and Betty Koo, brought up on “no politics, just make money,” finds she must reassess her mother’s philosophy.
Vintage | 9780593314098
THESE PRECIOUS DAYS: Essays by Ann Patchett (Essays)
“Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of THESE PRECIOUS DAYS is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship. When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life-changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman --- Tom’s assistant, Sooki --- with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both.
Harper Perennial | 9780063092792
A VERY MERRY BROMANCE by Lyssa Kay Adams (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Country music star Colton Wheeler felt the most perfect harmony when he was with Gretchen Winthrop. But for her, it was a love him and leave him situation. A year later, Colton is struggling to push his music forward in a new direction. Gretchen, an immigration attorney, has clients who are scrambling to afford their rent. So when her estranged family reaches out with an offer that will allow her to better serve the community, she’s unable to say no. She just needs to convince Colton to be the new face of her family’s whiskey brand. Colton agrees to consider Gretchen’s offer in exchange for three dates before Christmas. With the help of the Bromance Book Club, Colton throws himself into the task of proving to her that there’s a spark between them.
Berkley | 9780593332795
WHEN FRANNY STANDS UP by Eden Robins (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny Steinberg has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper. When Franny steps into Chicago's Blue Moon comedy club, she realizes the power of a Showstopper --- that specific magic sparked when an audience laughs so hard, they are momentarily transformed. And while each comedian's Showstopper is different, they all have one thing in common: they only work on women. After a traumatic flashback propels her onstage in a torn bridesmaid dress, Franny discovers her own Showstopper is something new.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728256009
ZORRIE by Laird Hunt (Fiction)
After losing both her parents, Zorrie moved in with her aunt, whose own death orphaned Zorrie all over again, casting her off into the perilous realities and sublime landscapes of rural, Depression-era Indiana. Drifting west, Zorrie survived on odd jobs, sleeping in barns and under the stars, before finding a position at a radium processing plant. At the end of each day, the girls at her factory glowed from the radioactive material. But when Indiana calls Zorrie home, she finally finds the love and community that have eluded her in and around the small town of Hillisburg. And yet, even as she tries to build a new life, Zorrie discovers that her trials have only begun.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635578430
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