January 20, 2026

January 20, 2026

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We recently have added a number of new subscribers, so we wanted to take a moment to welcome you to Bookreporter.com's “On Sale This Week” newsletter.
We love to hear from our readers, so if you have any questions, comments or feedback, please let us know!

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of January 19th and January 26th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to the Most Requested Guides of 2025 on ReadingGroupGuides.com. We pulled together the 30 guides that were accessed the most by you last year. Your top five picks are THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon, THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah, THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN by Marjan Kamali, THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach, and MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman. We always love seeing which guides appealed to you the most!

Join Us Tomorrow Evening
for Our Winter Preview Event!

Join Us Next Tuesday Evening
for Our Book Group Event with Allen Levi!

This Week's Bonus News:
Most Requested Guides of 2025
on ReadingGroupGuides.com

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

Here are three upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.

Wednesday, January 21st at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Jesse Q. Sutanto about her new book, READ BETWEEN THE LIES, a claustrophobic psychological suspense novel in which the line between victim and villain blurs with every chapter.

Wednesday, January 21st at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Winter Preview Event: Carol Fitzgerald will talk about a number of books releasing this winter that we think you will enjoy reading over the next few months. Included will be fiction; historical fiction; thrillers and mysteries; and memoirs, biographies and other nonfiction.

Tuesday, January 27th at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Group: Carol Fitzgerald will talk to Allen Levi about his debut novel, the New York Times bestseller THEO OF GOLDEN. Allen also will answer questions from guests who will be "on stage," as well as from other members of the audience.

On Sale the Week of January 19th in Hardcover

January 20th

ALL THE LITTLE HOUSES by May Cobb (Domestic Thriller)
It's the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can't get for herself… well, that's what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen --- blond, beautiful and ruthlessly cunning --- remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser and an outcast, humiliated and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she'd so desperately thirsted for. When a prairie-kissed family moves to town --- all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes --- Charleigh's entire self-made social empire threatens to crumble. Who will be left standing when the dust settles?
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464245794

A BOX FULL OF DARKNESS by Simone St. James (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings --- Violet, Vail and Dodie --- the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother. It started as a normal game of hide-and-seek. The three closed their eyes and counted to 10 while Ben went to hide. But this time, they never found their brother. As their parents grew increasingly distant, Violet, Vail and Dodie were each haunted by visions and frightening events that made them leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people --- spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years. And now, after two decades running from their past, it’s time for a homecoming.
Berkley | 9780593200414

CRUCIBLE by John Sayles (Historical Fiction)
Already the gateway for illegal Canadian liquor during Prohibition, the Motor City becomes a crucible for American class conflict during the Great Depression, with an army of laid-off Ford workers drifting into the ranks of the burgeoning union movement. To keep the hundreds of thousands still employed by Henry Ford in thrall, he recruits black laborers migrating from the deep South to serve as “strike insurance.” The Model T mogul also has bought a sizable chunk of Brazil's Amazonian rainforest, vowing to grow his own rubber for tires, but stubbornly refusing to include a botanist in his troop of would-be jungle tamers. As a series of biological plagues descend on the Fordlandia plantation, the racial melting pot he has created in Detroit begins to boil over, and not even the Sage of Dearborn can control the forces that have been unleashed.
Melville House | 9781685892272 

CRUX by Gabriel Tallent (Fiction)
Dan and Tamma are two teenagers in their last year of high school in the southern Mojave Desert. One is a gifted golden child, the other a mouthy burnout. Climbing boulders in trash-strewn parking lots during cold desert nights, they seal their unique bond and dream of a life of adventure. As the year progresses and adult reality looms, they are rocked by change and pulled apart by irreconcilable obligations. Differences of class, talent and prospects take on new importance; options dwindle, and their decisions grow ever more consequential and perilous. It feels inevitable, finally, that something must give.
Riverhead Books | 9780593714188

DEPARTURE(S) by Julian Barnes (Fiction)
Shortly after our narrator, a writer named Julian, begins this compact book by discussing the workings of involuntary memory, he interrupts himself with a bulletin to the reader: "There will be a story --- or a story within the story --- but not just yet.” Of course, whether DEPARTURE(S) is mostly fiction or not, there is a lot of its author in it, including Julian Barnes' reckoning with the blood disorder he has been living with since he was diagnosed in 2020, his long preoccupation with dying and grief, and his mordant sense of the indignities and lost opportunities we're prey to in love. The story he promises to deliver is a love story, that of two friends he met at university in the 1960s, that time of touted but rarely experienced sexual freedom.
Knopf | 9780593804506 

DISCIPLINE by Larissa Pham (Fiction)
Christine is on tour for her novel, a revenge fantasy based on a real-life relationship gone bad with an older professor 10 years prior. Now on the road, she’s seeking answers --- about how to live a good life and what it means to make art --- through intimate conversations with strangers, past lovers and friends. But when the antagonist of her novel --- her old painting professor --- reaches out in a series of sly communiques after years of silence to tell her that he’s read her book, Christine must reckon with what it means to lose the reins of a narrative she wrote precisely to maintain control. When her professor invites her to join him at his house, on a remote island off the coast of Maine, their encounter threatens to change the very foundations of her life as she’s imagined it.
Random House | 9780593979648

EATING ASHES written by Brenda Navarro, translated by Megan McDowell (Fiction) 
Alone and adrift in Barcelona, an unnamed narrator is haunted by the death of her teenage brother, Diego. Diego, the little boy she helped raise in Mexico while their mother struggled to make a living in Spain. Diego, who loved Vampire Weekend and dreamed of becoming a pilot. Diego, who hated Madrid as much as she did. Now, his ashes in hand, she must return to Mexico. Plagued by memories, she recounts their young lives leading up to tragedy in blistering detail: the acute loneliness that accompanied their emigration; the siblings’ first separation, when she left for Barcelona to make her own way in the world; her activism against labor abuses, which is threatened by her tumultuous relationship with an entitled lover; and the final, heavyhearted confrontation with her brother. 
Liveright | 9781324096085 

THE ELSEWHERE EXPRESS by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Fantasy/Romance)
You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. Appearing only to those whose lives are adrift, it’s a magical train seeming to carry very rare and special cargo: a sense of purpose, peace and belonging. Raya is one of those lost souls. She had dreamed of being a songwriter, but when her brother died, she gave up on her dream and started living his instead. One day on the subway, as her thoughts wander, she’s swept off to the Elsewhere Express. There she meets Q, an intriguing artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world. Together they find a train full of wonders. Over the course of their long, strange night on the train, they also discover that it harbors secrets --- and danger: A mysterious stranger has stowed away and brought with him a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy the train.
Del Rey | 9780593725023 

EVELYN IN TRANSIT by David Guterson (Fiction)
Radically open-minded, formidably strong, and unusually clear-eyed about herself and others, Evelyn Bednarz has always been a misfit. She's easily bored, unsuited to life at school, asks odd questions about faith and time, and sees through conventions that others take for granted. Seeking to be true to herself, she hitchhikes across the American West taking odd jobs. In distant Tibet, another life unfolds as remote from Evelyn’s as can be: the life of a boy named Tsering, raised as a Buddhist monk in the mountains of Tibet, who eventually becomes a high lama. And yet, their lives are strangely linked --- as Evelyn discovers when a trio of Buddhist lamas show up at her door to announce that her five-year-old son, Cliff, is the seventh reincarnation of the illustrious Norbu Rinpoche, recently deceased. The lamas’ visit sets off a family crisis and a media firestorm over Cliff’s future.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324111054 

THE FAIR WEATHER FRIEND by Jessie Garcia (Domestic Thriller)
It's always sunny in Detroit for Faith Richards. The popular TV meteorologist, endearingly referred to as "The Fair Weather Friend" by her viewers, has the world by the tail. But one night, Faith leaves work on a dinner break and never returns. Her body is found the next morning. The town is reeling, suspects emerge, and long-buried secrets are uncovered. While her allies rally, her list of adversaries also grows. Little does anyone know that only the deepest secrets will expose the truth.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250364456 

THE FLOWER BEARERS: A Memoir by Rachel Eliza Griffiths (Memoir)
On September 24, 2021, Rachel Eliza Griffiths married her husband, the novelist Salman Rushdie. On the same day, hundreds of miles away, Griffiths’ closest friend and chosen sister, the poet Kamilah Aisha Moon, who was expected to speak at the wedding, died suddenly. Eleven months later, as Griffiths attempted to piece together her life as a newlywed with heartbreak in one hand and immense love in the other, a brutal attack nearly killed her husband. As trauma compounded trauma, Griffiths realized that in order to survive her grief, she would need to mourn not only her friend, but the woman she had been on her wedding day, a woman who had also died that day.
Random House | 9780593730218 

FOOTBALL by Chuck Klosterman (Sports)
Chuck Klosterman did not write this book to deepen your appreciation of football. He’s not trying to help you become that person at the party, or to teach you how to make better bets, or to validate any preexisting views you might have about the sport (positive or negative). Football does, in fact, do all of those things. But not in the way such things have been done in the past. Cultural theorists talk about hyperobjects --- phenomena that bulk so large that their true dimensions are hidden in plain sight. In 2023, 93 of the 100 most-watched programs on U.S. television were NFL football games. This is not an anomaly. This is how society is best understood. Football is not merely the country’s most popular sport; it is ingrained in almost everything that explains what America is, even for those who barely pay attention. Klosterman gets to the bottom of all of it.
Penguin Press | 9780593490648

THE FRIEND OF THE FAMILY by Dean Koontz (Historical Thriller)
The human “oddities” in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket. Until she’s rescued by two compassionate strangers. Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds it. Yet despite everyone’s overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They’re vivid, unsettling and threatening. Alida fears that they’re also warnings. And that it’s the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662533297 

THE FUTURE SAINTS by Ashley Winstead (Fiction) 
When record executive Theo meets the Future Saints, they’re bombing at a dive bar in their hometown. Since the tragic death of their manager, the band has been in a downward spiral. Theo has been dispatched to coax a new --- and successful --- album out of them, or else let them go. He is immediately struck by Hannah, the group’s impetuous lead singer, who replaces their California pop with gut-wrenching rock. When this new music goes viral, striking an unexpected chord with fans, Theo puts his career on the line to give the Saints one last shot at success with a new tour, new record and new start. But Hannah’s grief has larger consequences for the group, and her increasingly destructive antics become a distraction as she and her sister, Ginny --- her lifelong partner in crime --- undermine Theo at every turn.
Atria Books | 9781668024669 

HALF HIS AGE by Jennette McCurdy (Fiction)
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all: Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
Ballantine Books | 9780593723739 

HOW TO COMMIT A POSTCOLONIAL MURDER by Nina McConigley (Fiction)
Summer, 1986. The Creel sisters, Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna, welcome their aunt, uncle and young cousin --- newly arrived from India --- into their house in rural Wyoming where they’ll all live together. Because this is what families do. That is, until the sisters decide that it’s time for their uncle to die. According to Georgie, the British are to blame. And to understand why, you need to hear her story. She details the violence hiding in their house and history, her once-unshakeable bond with Agatha Krishna, and her understanding of herself as an Indian-American in the heart of the West. Her account is, at every turn, cheeky, unflinching and infectiously inflected with the trappings of teendom, including the magazine quizzes that help her make sense of her life.
Pantheon | 9780593702246 

KINGS AND PAWNS: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America by Howard Bryant (Biography)
KINGS AND PAWNS is the untold story of sports and fame, Black America, and the promise of integration through the Cold War lens of two transformative events. The first occurred on July 18, 1949 in Washington, D.C., when a reluctant Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball star who integrated the game, appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee to discredit Paul Robeson, the legendary athlete, baritone and actor --- himself once the most famous Black man in America. The testimony would be a defining moment in Robinson’s life and contribute heavily to the destruction of his iconic reputation in the eyes of America. The second occurred on June 12, 1956, when a battered, defiant Robeson --- prohibited from leaving the United States --- faced off in a final showdown with HUAC in the same setting that Robinson appeared in seven years earlier.
Mariner Books | 9780063308169 

THE METHOD by Matthew Quirk (Thriller)
Actress Anna Vaughn is fearless --- on screen, at least. She likes to believe she is as tough as her characters, but off-camera she leads a far quieter life. When her best friend Natalie, her rock, disappears after a night out with a mysterious new man, the signs point to foul play and a circle of spies operating in Manhattan. Anna must use all the tricks she’s learned for her roles to hunt for her missing friend. She crosses paths with Kevin Matthews, an FBI agent on the same trail, tracking a string of killings and disappearances and a powerful clique of oligarchs. With Matthews as her handler, she has only days to prepare for the greatest performance of her life --- going undercover. As the killers close in, her only chance for survival is to become as lethal as the characters she once played.
William Morrow | 9780063393028 

MY HUSBAND'S WIFE by Alice Feeney (Psychological Thriller)
Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife. One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying. Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner called Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person's date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel, and as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs.
Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar | 9781250337818 

NINE GOBLINS: A Tale of Low Fantasy and High Mischief by T. Kingfisher
(Fantasy/Adventure)
No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all of this, and they might throw in “cowardly” and “lazy”  for good measure. But goblins don't go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece. Unfortunately, between them and safety lies a forest full of elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures: a human being.
Tordotcom | 9781250400116 

ONE ALADDIN TWO LAMPS by Jeanette Winterson (Memoir/Literary Criticism)
A woman is filibustering for her life. Every night she tells a story. Every morning, she lives one more day. ONE ALADDIN TWO LAMPS cracks open the legendary story of Shahrazad in ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS to explore new and ancient questions. Who should we trust? Is love the most important thing in the world? Does it matter if you are honest? What makes us happy? In her guise as Aladdin --- the orphan who changes his world --- Jeanette Winterson asks us to reread what we think we know. To look again. Especially to look again at how fiction works in our lives, giving us the courage to change our own narratives and alter endings we wish to subvert. As a young working-class woman, with no obvious future beyond factory work or marriage, Winterson realizes through the power of books that she can read herself as fiction as well as a fact.
Grove Press | 9780802167118 

ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE REVENGE by Brian Freeman (Thriller/Adventure)
Shadow --- the head of Treadstone --- has found evidence of massive Chinese espionage activity in the U.S. The spy running the operations is a shadowy American known only by the codename Bai Ze. No one knows who he is, but when Shadow consults the Files --- the hacked AI database she stole from the Chinese --- she discovers that Jason Bourne encountered Bai Ze during an operation eight years earlier. The trouble is, Bourne doesn’t remember him. As Bourne hunts for the elusive spy, he meets a reporter named Laney Reese, who shares his strange affliction: eight years ago, Laney lost her entire memory, too. Bourne is convinced that whatever happened to both of them is at the heart of the Chinese espionage operation. With Laney at his side, Bourne follows a zigzagging trail of clues to a quirky billionaire and his ex-wife, both of whom may have ties to Bai Ze.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9798217046218 

ROOM 706 by Ellie Levenson (Fiction)
Kate’s children and her husband are her whole world. Since marrying young, she’s dedicated her life to making her little family grow. But in the last few years, she’s carved out something just for herself: hours stolen away with another man. After one midday tryst with her lover, Kate’s double life is thrown into chaos when she turns on the TV to find their hotel has been overtaken by an unnamed, dangerous group. As Kate’s life hangs in the balance, she is faced with “a gripping exploration of the murky grey areas of marriage, relationships, and womanhood” (Hazel Hayes).
SJP Lit | 9781638932321

TWELVE MONTHS: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Urban Fantasy)
Harry Dresden has been through a lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies narrowly managed to save Chicago from being razed to the ground, everything is different --- and it’s not just the current lack of electricity. In the battle, Harry lost people he cared about. And that's the kind of loss that takes a toll. Harry being Harry, he’s doing his level best to help the city and his friends recover and rebuild. But it’s a heavy load, and he needs time. But time is one thing Harry doesn’t have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and taking out innocent civilians. Harry’s brother is dying, and Harry doesn’t know how to help him. And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the Fae has allied with the White Court of vampires --- and Harry has been betrothed to the seductive, deadly vampire Lara Raith to seal the deal.
Ace | 9780593199336

TWO WOMEN LIVING TOGETHER written by Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo, translated by Gene Png (Memoir) 
When most of their peers were moving in with romantic partners and having children, Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo chose independence. But in their 40s, something shifted, and they were met with a new, unexpected loneliness. Refusing to settle for the outdated choice between marriage or isolation, Hana and Sunwoo made a radical decision: to buy a home and live together --- not as lovers or roommates, but as chosen family. Now a bustling household of two women and four cats, Hana and Sunwoo still value solitude, but can do so while sharing a life and its meaning with someone else. Together they navigate the challenges and comforts of cohabiting in midlife, the growing pains of interdependence, and the unexpected rewards of compromise when you’ve grown set in your ways.
Ecco | 9780063473362 

UPSIDE-DOWN LOVE: A Memoir in Two Voices by Sari Bashi (Memoir)
Osama is a Palestinian professor, originally from Gaza, who cannot leave the West Bank city of Ramallah. Sari is an Israeli-American lawyer and long-distance runner who petitions Israel's Supreme Court for his right to travel freely. When the case began, neither expected to fall in love --- and when it was over, nobody expected their love to endure. First published in Hebrew in 2021, Osama and Sari's star-crossed romance --- an intimate, vulnerable portrait of an astoundingly resilient Israeli-Palestinian relationship --- has since become a beacon of hope in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. UPSIDE-DOWN LOVE speaks to the unique circumstances of this specific moment in history, while also illustrating a timeless truth: Love will triumph over bigotry and destruction.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798228590052

WHEN WE WERE BRILLIANT by Lynn Cullen (Historical Fiction)
In 1952, Norma Jeane Baker follows documentary photographer Eve Arnold into a powder room on the night they first meet. She has a proposition for her. Norma Jeane created Marilyn Monroe to be photographed, and she wants Eve to do it. Eve is better than anyone she’s seen at revealing a person’s inner truth. Together they can help each other. Together, she says, they can make something brilliant. Skeptical of this cipher of a young woman, Eve demurs. She’s looking for more serious subjects than this ambitious starlet. But she keeps getting drawn back into Marilyn’s orbit, and the women come to recognize something in each other --- something fundamental. Nothing will get in the way of what they want, and when Marilyn’s star takes off to teetering heights, neither will ever be the same.
Berkley | 9780593815854

On Sale the Week of January 19th in Paperback

January 20th

THE AMERICAN NO: Stories by Rupert Everett (Fiction/Short Stories)
In his first collection of stories --- drawn from the wealth of film and TV ideas that he has worked on over the course of his illustrious career --- Rupert Everett takes us on exhilarating journeys with a cast of extraordinary characters. From Oscar Wilde’s last night in Paris to the ferociously unforgiving world of a Los Angeles talent agency and beyond, these stories will delight and surprise his many fans.
Atria Books | 9781668076460

THE BUSINESS TRIP by Jessie Garcia (Psychological Thriller)
Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but are on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip, and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship. After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man --- the messages becoming stranger and more erratic. And then the two women vanish. The texts go silent, the red flags go up, and the panic sets in. When Stephanie and Jasmine are each declared missing and in danger, it begs the questions: Who is Trent McCarthy? What did he do to these women --- or what did they do to him?
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250364432

CATCH HER IF YOU CAN by Tessa Bailey (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Madden Donahue, the newest catcher for the Yankees, has been in love with Eve Mitchell since high school. Although the burlesque club owner always turns him down, that never stopped him from being her self-appointed protector. Now that Eve’s sister has left Eve with her two children indefinitely, Madden steps in with a proposition --- marry him for the much-needed health benefits. Eve has secretly harbored feelings for Madden all along, but there’s one problem --- her best friend, Skylar, called dibs on him when they were 14. With Skylar happily paired off, though, Eve accepts Madden’s proposal --- on the condition that their marriage remains strictly private. What starts as a marriage of convenience soon ignites into something much hotter, and now it’s up to Madden to convince Eve that their connection is far more than a business arrangement.
Avon | 9780063380882

DEAD IN THE WATER by John Marrs (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
When Damon survives a near-drowning, his life flashes before his eyes. Every memory is crystal clear --- except one. A dead boy. A face he can’t place. A moment he doesn’t remember living. At first he tells himself it’s a trick of the mind. But everything else he saw was real. So why not this? With his waking life stalked by the disturbing scene, confusion quickly turns to obsession. Desperate for answers, Damon digs into his fractured past and becomes convinced that the only way to remember is to die again. And again. And again. When he meets a perfect stranger who’s all too willing to help, the stage is set for his dice with death. But if this is what it takes to uncover the truth, maybe some memories are better left buried.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662527708

DREAM STATE by Eric Puchner (Fiction)
Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her future in-laws’ lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a young doctor with a brilliant life ahead of him. Charlie has asked Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, though Cece can’t imagine anyone more ill-suited for the task --- an airport baggage handler haunted by a tragedy from his and Charlie’s shared past. But as Cece spends time with Garrett, his gruff mask slips, and she grows increasingly uncertain about her future. And why does Garrett, after meeting Cece, begin to feel, well, human again? As a contagious stomach flu threatens to scuttle the wedding, and Charlie and Garrett’s friendship is put to the ultimate test, Cece must decide between the life she’s dreamed of and a life she’s never imagined.
Vintage | 9780593687789

A FORTY YEAR KISS by Nickolas Butler (Fiction)
Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles, even though the love didn't quite die. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin 40 years later, he's not sure what he'll find. He is sure of one thing --- he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. But 40 years is a long time. It's 40 years of other relationships, 40 years of building new lives, and 40 years of long-held regrets, mistakes and painful secrets.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464221279

KINGDOM OF CLAW: The Ashen Series, Book Two by Demi Winters (Historical Fantasy/Romance)
In the aftermath of a harrowing journey, Silla Nordvig’s dreams of a simple life have been shattered. Beaten, betrayed and reeling from the revelation of her true name, she flees Kopa with Reynir Galtung, the ruthless leader of the Bloodaxe Crew. But when they're forced into hiding together, Silla soon discovers that Rey has been keeping secrets of his own. Stuck in a shield-home with the murderous man she thought she knew, Silla forms a new plan: master the magic flowing through her veins to save her sister. But before she can do that, Silla must face her most formidable opponent yet --- her own inner demons. Saga Volsik has nothing to lose. They’ve murdered her family. Stolen her throne. And now they expect her to marry their son, but not if she can dismantle Queen Signe’s plans first. The only problem? The handsome Zagadkian dignitary who knows far too many of her secrets.
Dell | 9780593975640

NEMESIS: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
Evan Smoak is a highly trained former government assassin who has survived for years by keeping his circle to a few trusted confidants and a strict code he calls “The Ten Commandments.” Tommy Stojack might be Evan's best friend in the world. He is a gifted gunsmith who has created much of Evan's own weapons and combat gear. But now he apparently has crossed one of Evan's hardest lines, and their argument explodes into open warfare. Now Evan has no choice but to track and face down his only friend. In the meantime, Tommy has left town in order to honor his own promise to help a dead friend's son. While Tommy is fighting to save the son with everything he has, Evan arrives with vengeance in mind. But as deadly as the former Orphan X is, there is an even more dangerous threat about to arrive on the scene. Will any of them get out alive?
Minotaur Books | 9781250420954

NO ONE WOULD DO WHAT THE LAMBERTS HAVE DONE by Sophie Hannah (Mystery)
Paperback Original
You think it will never happen to you. The doorbell. The policeman. The words that turn your world inside out: I'm afraid there's been an incident. For Sally Lambert, those words mean only one thing --- danger. Not just for her family, but for Champ, their loyal and beloved dog. A single accusation, a neighbor's grudge, and suddenly the Lamberts are trapped in a nightmare with no escape. Unless they make one. Most people would never run. Most people would never leave behind everything they know to protect an animal who can't defend himself. But for Sally, Champ is more than a dog --- he's one of her children. And most people aren't the Lamberts. No one has ever done this before. No one has ever gone this far. But the Lamberts have never been quite like any other family.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464264306

THE OLIGARCH’S DAUGHTER by Joseph Finder (Thriller)
Paul Brightman is a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. When his security is breached, Paul is forced to flee into the New Hampshire wilderness to evade Russian operatives who seemingly can predict his every move. Six years ago, Paul was a rising star on Wall Street who fell in love with a beautiful photographer named Tatyana --- unaware that her father was a Russian oligarch and the object of considerable interest from several U.S. intelligence agencies. Now, to save his own life, Paul must unravel a decades-old conspiracy that extends to the highest reaches of the government.
Harper Perennial | 9780063396036

RAISED BY A SERIAL KILLER: Discovering the Truth About My Father by April Balascio (Memoir)
One evening in 2009, April Balascio was searching online, as she had been every night, for unsolved murders in the towns her family had lived growing up, when she stumbled across the latest investigations into the “Sweetheart Murders” cold case. All at once, the buried memories of her father’s dark history were awakened, and she knew she had to take action. She picked up the phone to call a detective, and the rest is infamous true-crime history. In RAISED BY A SERIAL KILLER, Balascio bravely reveals an astonishing tale of a lifetime of manipulation, unexplained upheavals and silent fear. Some part of her had always known what her father, Edward Wayne Edwards, was capable of, but the full truth of how she came to these revelations is as riveting as it is quietly terrifying.
Gallery Books | 9781982177041

SHADOW OF THE SOLSTICE: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman (Mystery)
The Navajo Nation police are on high alert when a U.S. Cabinet Secretary schedules an unprecedented trip to the little Navajo town of Shiprock, New Mexico. The visit coincides with a plan to resume uranium mining along the Navajo Nation border. Tensions around the official’s arrival escalate when the body of a stranger is found in an area restricted for the disposal of radioactive uranium waste. Is it a coincidence that a cult with a propensity for violence arrives at a private camp group outside Shiprock the same week to celebrate the summer solstice? Assigned to monitor the situation, Officer Bernadette Manuelito finds a young boy at grave risk, abused women, and other shocking discoveries that plunge her and Lt. Jim Chee into a volatile and deadly scenario.
Harper Perennial | 9780063344860

THE SOCIETY by Karen Winn (Literary Thriller)
Paperback Original
Vivian Lawrence was born into old-money Boston, but when her family fortune vanishes so does her carefully curated life. Desperate, she turns to an old family legend that ties her to the Knox and its inheritance, seeking a way into the exclusive secret society. She doesn’t expect that entry to come in the form of Peter, a Knox insider with movie star good looks and just enough roughness to his charm to make Vivian weak in the knees for the first time in her life. Far from Boston’s glittering elite is newcomer Taylor Adams, a young nurse eager to leave her humble past behind. When the effortlessly glamorous Vivian lands in her ER after a suspicious fall, Taylor is instantly captivated. But then Vivian abruptly disappears without a trace, sending Taylor on a search for answers that pulls her into the Knox itself --- as their new employee.
Dutton | 9780593475362

SUCH A CLEVER GIRL by Darby Kane (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Fifteen years ago, the Tanner family vanished without a trace. As rumors fade into local folklore, the mystery of their disappearance seems destined to remain unsolved --- until Aubrey Tanner returns. Now a hardened 30-year-old, Aubrey arrives in town with secrets etched in her silence. Why did she come back? Was she a victim of the night that changed everything, or does she hold the truth of what happened to her family? The town is rife with theories, but three women share a dangerous bond: they know more than they’ve ever confessed. As the past resurfaces, old alliances fray. A teacher, a café owner and a psychologist are drawn together by memories they’d rather forget. Each holds a piece of the puzzle --- and a dark secret of their own. When a new disappearance sends shock waves through the town, blackmail begins, and the stakes climb higher.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063352018

On Sale the Week of January 26th in Hardcover

January 27th

BLACK DAHLIA: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood by William J. Mann (True Crime)
The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short --- better known as the Black Dahlia --- in 1947 has been in the public consciousness for nearly 80 years, yet no serious study of the crime has ever been published. Short has been mischaracterized as a wayward sex worker or vagabond, and --- like the seductive femme fatales of film noir --- responsible for and perhaps deserving of her fate. William J. Mann, however, is interested in the truth. His extensive research reveals her as a young woman with curiosity and drive, who leveraged what little agency postwar society gave her to explore the world, defying draconian postwar gender expectations to settle down, marry and have children. It’s time to reexamine the woman who became known as the Black Dahlia.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668075906 

THE FINAL SCORE by Don Winslow (Thriller)
THE FINAL SCORE is a collection of six all-new short novels from Don Winslow. The multi-million-dollar casino heist is impossible. That’s what makes it irresistible to a legendary robber facing the rest of his life in prison for his “Final Score.” An ambitious, hard-working college-bound teenager has a side job delivering illegal booze to “The Sunday List” until a crooked cop, a seductive customer and a fake guru threaten to end his dreams. Two wise guys tell each other a “True Story” over breakfast at a diner. It’s all laughs until someone else has to pick up the check. And there are three more stories that are just as twisty: “The North Wing,” “The Lunch Break” and “Collision.”
William Morrow | 9780063450424 

A GREAT ACT OF LOVE by Heather Rose (Historical Fiction)
Van Diemen’s Land, 1839. A young woman of means arrives in Hobart, Australia, with a boy in her care. Leasing an old cottage next to an abandoned vineyard, Caroline Douglas must navigate an insular colony of exiles and opportunists and invent a new life on this island of extreme seasons and wild beauty. But Caroline is carrying a secret of such magnitude that it has led her to cross the world. It will take all she is made of to bring it into the light. A GREAT ACT OF LOVE soars from the French Revolution to London and New York on an epic voyage to Tasmania. Here is a story of a family with champagne in their blood, and an enterprising woman determined to rewrite their legacy. The lives of Caroline, her father and the residents of the island will collide in devastating and profound ways.
S&S/Summit Books | 9781668094914

THE HOUR OF THE WOLF: A Memoir by Fatima Bhutto (Memoir)
Fatima Bhutto was a teenager when her beloved father was assassinated. Ever since, she longed for a complete and happy family. Years later, still grappling with profound grief, she meets a charismatic man who offers her a new beginning --- promising love, healing, and the children she’s always dreamed of. But the dream soon unravels, revealing a toxic, manipulative relationship that holds her captive for over a decade. By the spring of 2020, Fatima finds herself secluded in the English countryside, accompanied by her most loyal companion: Coco, a fiercely protective Jack Russell terrier. In the presence of nature and Coco’s unwavering devotion, Fatima begins to question everything --- and slowly finds the courage to confront her suffering and reclaim her voice.
Scribner | 9781668075623

IF I RULED THE WORLD by Amy DuBois Barnett (Fiction)
It's 1999, and Nikki Rose is the only Black editor on the staff of a prestigious fashion magazine she once thought would be her ticket to becoming a respected editor in chief. But after being told one too many times by her boss that “Black girls don’t sell magazines,” she quits to take over Sugar, a struggling hip-hop music and lifestyle magazine with untapped potential. Thrown into an entirely new world of wealth, decadence and debauchery, Nikki has just six months to save Sugar --- and her own dreams. As she pulls all-nighters at the office and parties with New York City’s most influential bad boys, Nikki must prove that she has what it takes to lead. But her most dangerous challenge is evading Alonzo Griffin, her very married, very powerful ex-lover and former boss, who is determined to destroy both her and Sugar.
Flatiron Books | 9781250378125 

MAKE IT OUT ALIVE: A Quinn & Costa Thriller by Allison Brennan (Mystery/Thriller)
Three newlywed couples have disappeared from an exclusive resort in Florida, only to turn up dead soon after. It’s up to the FBI Mobile Response Team to catch a serial killer before anyone else ends up dead. And they have the perfect bait --- Detective Kara Quinn, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the targeted women. Undercover as newlyweds pretending to enjoy their honeymoon, Kara and FBI Agent Matt Costa set a flawless trap. When their plan works and they arrest the predator, Matt sends the rest of the team home. But on Monday morning, the couple doesn’t show up to work, and the MRT learns they never checked out of their hotel. As their team tries to find them, Matt and Kara learn the truth --- the killer wasn’t acting alone. He had a partner who succeeded where he failed. Kidnapped and forced into a twisted escape room, they need to find a way out.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335001412

MISSING SAM by Thrity Umrigar (Domestic Thriller)
One night after a party, old grievances surface between married couple Aliya and Sam, and the night ends badly with a heated argument. Sam goes for a run early the next morning to clear her head --- and doesn’t come back. Aliya reports her wife missing, but as a gay Muslim daughter of immigrants, she can't escape the scrutiny and suspicion of those around her. Scared and furious, and feeling isolated as strangers and acquaintances alike doubt her innocence, Aliya makes one wrong choice after another. She must fight to prove her innocence in the public eye even as she is torn between her fear that Sam is dead and her desire to find and save her wife. But is safety ever truly possible for them?
Algonquin Books | 9781643757629 

ONE SUN ONLY: Stories by Camille Bordas (Fiction/Short Stories)
A young woman takes stock after the burglary of her apartment. A teenager becomes obsessed with the obituaries in a weekly magazine. Grandchildren mourn the grandparents who loved them and the grandparents who didn’t. Painters and almost-painters try to distinguish Good Art from Bad Art. People grapple with life-altering illness, unrequited love, and promises they have every intention of keeping. Some win the lottery. Others don’t. In these sinewy, thoughtful stories, celebrated New Yorker contributor Camille Bordas delves into the mysteries of life, death, and all that happens in between. At once darkly funny and poignantly self-aware, Bordas’ writing offers a window into our shared, flawed humanity without insisting on a perfect understanding of our experiences.
Random House | 9780593729878

PENDERGAST: The Beginning by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
It only took six months for the life of Special Agent Dwight Chambers to crumble around him. First, he lost his partner, and then, tragically, his wife. Returning to work at the New Orleans Field Office, Chambers is dismayed to find himself saddled with mentoring a brand-new FBI agent --- A. X. L. Pendergast. As Chambers tries to pull himself together, his enigmatic and exasperating junior partner pulls an outrageous stunt that gets both of them suspended. Pendergast welcomes the banishment, because it gives him the opportunity to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi that has captured his fancy. Chambers grudgingly goes along. Thanks in large part to Pendergast’s brilliance and unorthodox methods, they solve the case and find the killer. That is when the true horror begins.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538765746 

THE SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF DUPREE by Nikesha Elise Williams (Fiction)
It’s 1995, and 14-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother, Gladys, remains silent about the family’s past. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers a legacy of family secrets, where every generation of Dupree women has posed more questions than answers. From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby’s fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia’s future forever, the Dupree women carry the weight of their heritage. Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781668051948 

SUCH A PERFECT FAMILY by Nalini Singh (Domestic Thriller)
Love at first sight, a whirlwind Vegas wedding, a fairy-tale romance. For 43 days, Tavish Advani has been the happiest man in the world --- until his new life turns to ash, his wealthy in-laws’ house going up in a fiery explosion. His badly injured wife lies in a coma, her family all but annihilated. Tavish thought he'd left the sins of his Los Angeles life behind, but it’s not so easy to leave behind an investigation into the deaths of several high-profile women --- all of whom he'd professed to love. Desperately trying to clear his name as the authorities zero in, Tavish begins his own investigation into the fire --- and learns that his wife’s picture-perfect family may have been nothing but a meticulously constructed mirage. The truth is much darker than anything Tavish could’ve imagined.
Berkley | 9780593549797

VIGIL by George Saunders (Fiction)
Not for the first time, Jill “Doll” Blaine finds herself hurtling toward earth, reconstituting as she falls. She plummets towards her newest charge, yet another soul she must usher into the afterlife, and lands headfirst in the circular drive of his ornate mansion. She has performed this sacred duty 343 times since her own death. Her charges, as a rule, have been greatly comforted in their final moments. But this charge, she soon discovers, isn’t like the others. The powerful K. J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it. Isn’t it? Crowds of people and animals --- worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead --- arrive, clamoring for a reckoning. Birds swarm the dying man’s room, and two oil-business cronies from decades past show up with chilling plans for his post-death future.
Random House | 9780525509622 

THE WINTER WARRIORS by Olivier Norek (Historical Thriller)
November 1939: The Soviet Union invades its small, relatively defenseless neighbor Finland, just three months after the declaration of World War II. So began what is known as the Winter War. A makeshift Finnish army of soldiers, workers and farmers must face off against columns of tanks and millions of Stalin's Red Army fighters. In a dramatic and deeply moving narrative based in part on diaries, journals and accounts of participants, Olivier Norek captures the horror and tragedy of war. Soldiers go to battle with a shortage of weapons, and cold becomes both enemy and friend --- causing wounds to freeze and limiting the movement of the invaders. The legendary sniper Simo Häyhä, nicknamed the "White Death," puts terror in the hearts and minds of the Russians.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802167651

On Sale the Week of January 26th in Paperback

January 27th

BEEN WRONG SO LONG IT FEELS LIKE RIGHT: A King Oliver Novel by Walter Mosley (Mystery)
Joe King Oliver’s beloved Grandma B has found a tumor, and at her age, treatment is high-risk. She has only a single, dying wish: to see her long-lost son. King has been estranged from his father, Chief Odin Oliver, since he was a young boy. But Grandma B’s pure ask has opened King’s heart, and he gains a deeper understanding of his father. Although Chief was released from prison years ago, he’s been living underground ever since. Now, King not only must find Chief, he has to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Marigold Hart, the wife of a powerful California billionaire, has gone missing, along with their seven-year-old daughter. Orr is brutish and dangerous, and King realizes after locating her that it’s in her best interest to stay hidden. But are his motives pure?
Mulholland Books | 9780316573276

A CURSE CARVED IN BONE: Book Two of the Saga of the Unfated by Danielle L. Jensen (Historical Fantasy/Romance)
The secret of her divine heritage revealed, Freya finds herself on a path that will see thousands of lives lost to the magic in her blood. Desperate to avoid this dark fate, she risks an alliance with Skaland’s greatest enemy to seek answers from the seer who foretold her future --- the same seer who sent Bjorn to kill her. The blood oaths that bind Freya demand that she keep him close as she hunts for a way to avert the looming war. Her magic draws her to the front lines of an old enmity, embroiling her with Nordeland’s Unfated --- children of the gods who serve the king she was raised to fear. The same king who is now willing to fight at her back. Despite the desire that burns hot between Bjorn and Freya, his growing distrust of her chosen path threatens to drag them further apart.
Del Rey | 9780593599884

DEAD IN THE FRAME: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood (Historical Mystery)
Wealthy financier and connoisseur of crime Jessup Quincannon is dead, and famed detective Lillian Pentecost is under arrest for his murder. Willowjean “Will” Parker knows for a fact that her boss is innocent. She just doesn’t know if she can prove it. With Lillian locked away in New York’s infamous women’s prison, the House of D, Will is left to root out the real killer. Was it a member of Quincannon’s murder-obsessed Black Museum Club? His jilted lover? Or the mob hit-man who disappeared just after the shots were fired? With the city barreling toward the trial of the century, Will is desperate to get her boss out from behind bars before her reputation is destroyed. Because the House of D is no kind place, especially for a woman with multiple sclerosis. Or one with so many enemies.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard | 9780593687123

DEAR DEBBIE by Freida McFadden (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
For years, Debbie Mullen has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction. Or at least, she did. These days, Debbie's life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie is done being the bigger person. She's done being reasonable and practical. It's time to take her own advice. And now it's time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464249624

A DRAGON OF BLACK GLASS by James Rollins (Fantasy/Adventure)
With the apocalyptic threat of moonfall looming ever closer, Nyx and her allies must venture into the eternally sunblasted lands to search for an ancient weapon buried untold millennia ago. All the while, enemies close upon her flanks, and a greater danger lurks ahead. For beneath a desert turned to glass, hidden from the scorching heat, life thrives --- both wondrous and monstrous. But a more fearsome menace lies even deeper, where an ancient army has been seeded to protect a secret from any who dare seek it out. Can Nyx truly trust those at her side? Or even herself? For while her gifts grow ever stronger, so does the danger of losing herself to a dark madness. Worst yet, the same afflicts Bashaliia, her winged and bonded brother. Elsewhere, a looming war explodes across the Crown, forging new alliances and greater enmities, as lands around the globe are drawn into fiery conflict.
Tor Books | 9781250768186

A FIELD GUIDE TO MURDER by Michelle L. Cullen (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Once a globe-trotting anthropologist, Harry Lancaster is now certain that all his grand adventures are behind him. Recently widowed and suffering from a fractured hip, Harry spends his days and nights behind a pair of binoculars, nose-deep in his neighbors’ affairs. His millennial caregiver, Emma, is determined to get him out of his armchair and back into the world. Fate intervenes when Harry’s mysterious neighbor, Sue, phones, pleading for help. But instead of rescuing her, Harry and Emma find Sue dead: poisoned, days after a break-in at Sue’s house. Harry resolves to find out what happened, and Emma insists on going along for the ride. Together, they discover motives and suspects abound in Harry’s quaint condominium community --- putting them both in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded killer.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892424639

FIRE EXIT by Morgan Talty (Fiction)
From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the river on Maine’s Penobscot Reservation. He caught brief moments of his neighbor Elizabeth’s life. But there’s something deeper and more dangerous than the river that divides him from her and the rest of the tribal community. It’s the secret that Elizabeth is his daughter, a secret Charles is no longer willing to keep. Now, it’s been weeks since he’s seen Elizabeth, and he's worried. As he attempts to hold on to and care for what he can, he becomes increasingly haunted by his past. Forced to confront a lost childhood on the reservation, a love affair cut short, and the death of his beloved stepfather, Charles contends with questions he’s long been afraid to ask.
Tin House Books | 9781963108491

GOOD DIRT by Charmaine Wilkerson (Fiction)
When 10-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well. The crime was never solved, and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England, the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. When Ebby's high-profile romance falls apart without any explanation, she flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what's happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day 18 years ago --- the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor.
Ballantine Books | 9780593358382

HARMATTAN SEASON by Tochi Onyebuchi (Hard-boiled Noir/Historical Fantasy)
Work has dried up for veteran and private eye Boubacar, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust. But Bouba is a down-on-his-luck deux fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds. When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hard-won clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he’s long kept hidden and decide what he’s willing to offer next.
Tor Books | 9781250814494

HEARTWOOD by Amity Gaige (Literary Thriller/Mystery)
Deep in the Maine woods, an experienced hiker goes missing. She is 42-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping. At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a 76-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie’s disappearance may not be accidental.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668063613

HER COLD JUSTICE by Robert Dugoni (Legal Thriller)
Paperback Original
In a quiet South Seattle neighborhood, a suspected drug smuggler and his girlfriend are murdered in their home. When a young man named Michael Westbrook is accused of the brutal double homicide, his uncle, JP Harrison, turns to Keera Duggan to defend him. The evidence is circumstantial --- Michael worked with one of the victims, drugs were found in his possession, and he bolted from authorities. Ruthless star prosecutor Anh Tran has gotten convictions on much less. With the testimony of two prison informants, the case looks grave. To free her client, Keera must dig deep before Tran crushes both of them. As the investigation gets more twisted with each new find, Keera is swept up in a mystery with far-reaching consequences. This case isn’t just murder. It’s looking like a conspiracy.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662524639

HOW TO SLEEP AT NIGHT by Elizabeth Harris (Fiction)
Ethan and Gabe have been a devoted couple for years. Sure, they may have drifted to different ends of the political spectrum, but their marriage still has its spark. Then one night, Ethan makes an announcement: he wants to run for Congress as a Republican, but only if he has progressive Gabe’s blessing. For weeks, a slightly queasy Gabe struggles between supporting his husband and maintaining his own lefty ideals. In a nearby town, suburban mom Nicole wonders what happened to her younger self --- living in New York City, freely dating men and women, and on a path to a career in the art world. Nicole feels like an accessory in her husband’s life and like she’s given up on the goals she had for herself. Then an old flame re-enters her life unexpectedly. That woman is Ethan’s sister, Kate.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063353244

IF YOU WERE MY DAUGHTER: A Memoir of Healing an Unmothered Heart by Marianne Richmond (Memoir)
At nine years old, Marianne Richmond's life is upended when she collapses on her kitchen floor with full-body convulsions. "Pinched nerve," says the ER doctor, a baffling explanation. But when one episode becomes many, it's clear something is wrong. Marianne desperately hopes for help and healing, but her emotionally unavailable mother --- still reeling from her own past trauma --- refuses medication on her behalf, preferring to try prayer and homeopathy. At age 18, a full-body seizure in Marianne's dorm room leads her to a diagnosis, medication and neurological intervention. Physically, she feels "fixed," but emotional healing proves more elusive. When her mother becomes ill, Marianne has a choice to make. Will she be present for the mother who rarely felt present to her?
Sourcebooks | 9781464231933

JANE AUSTEN’S BOOKSHELF: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend by Rebecca Romney (Literary Criticism)
Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austen’s books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more. JANE AUSTEN’S BOOKSHELF investigates the disappearance of Austen’s heroes --- women writers who were erased from the Western canon --- to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer and recounts Romney’s experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s.
Scribner | 9781982190255

A KILLING COLD by Kate Alice Marshall (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
When Theodora Scott met Connor, a member of the powerful Dalton family, she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives. Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood. Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger.
Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar | 9781250343079

PEOPLE OF MEANS by Nancy Johnson (Historical Fiction)
In the fall of 1959, Freda Gilroy arrives on the campus of Fisk University full of hope. Soon, the ugliness of the Jim Crow South intrudes, and she’s thrust into a movement for social change. Freda finds herself caught between two worlds, and two loves, and must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice for the advancement of her people. In 1992 Chicago, Freda’s daughter, Tulip, is an ambitious PR professional on track for an exciting career, if workplace politics and racial microaggressions don’t get in her way. But with the ruling in the Rodney King trial weighing heavily on her, Tulip feels called to action. When she makes an irreversible professional misstep as she seeks to uplift her community, she must decide, just like her mother had three decades prior, what she’s willing to risk in the name of justice and equality.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063157538

PRESUMED GUILTY by Scott Turow (Legal Thriller)
Rusty Sabich is a retired judge attempting a third act in life with a loving soon-to-be wife, Bea. But the peace that’s taken Rusty so long to find evaporates when Bea’s young adult son, Aaron, living under their supervision while on probation for drug possession, disappears. If Aaron doesn’t return soon, he will be sent back to jail. Aaron eventually turns up with a vague story about a camping trip with his troubled girlfriend, Mae, that ended in a fight and a long hitchhike home. Days later, when she still hasn’t returned, suspicion falls on Aaron. And when Mae is subsequently discovered dead, Aaron is arrested and set for trial on charges of first-degree murder. Faced with few choices and even fewer hopes, Bea begs Rusty to return to court one last time, to defend her son and to save their last best hope for happiness.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538706381

THE QUIET NEIGHBOR by J.D. Barker and Adam Roach (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Cynthia Burrows thought she'd built the perfect life --- successful law career, loving husband, beautiful daughter. But when 18-year-old Tori vanishes without a trace, Cynthia's carefully constructed world begins to crumble. The school says Tori was excused by family. Security footage shows her leaving with an older man. And the boy she was supposed to date? His name sends chills down Cynthia's spine --- Alexander Beaufort. That's impossible. Alexander Beaufort is the serial killer who destroyed Cynthia's childhood, murdered her best friend, and forced her into witness protection 20 years ago. He's supposed to be locked away forever. But someone is playing a deadly game, leaving clues that drag Cynthia back to her darkest memories. With only three days to find her daughter, she must confront the monster from her past and the shocking secrets Tori has been hiding.
Hampton Creek Press | 9798990746190

THE RE-DO LIST by Denise Williams (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Willow experienced all her big firsts with her high school sweetheart. Now, reeling from their very public breakup, she wants to get a re-do on those important moments. While dog-sitting for her brother during his deployment, she has a chance to start over, and spending time with his best friend gives her the confidence to start checking items off her “Re-Do list.” Deacon promised his best friend two things when Cruz left for a deployment: he would look out for Willow and keep his hands off Cruz’s baby sister. “Operation Re-Do” is innocent enough at first: Deacon likes Willow, and he’s willing to help her out any way he can. But when the list of firsts turns from a first dance to first kisses and more, Deacon can’t deny the connection he feels to Willow.
Berkley | 9780593641453

THIS IS A LOVE STORY by Jessica Soffer (Fiction)
For 50 years, Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park. They came alone to get away from each other and together for important discussions and pivotal life moments. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now. Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew --- their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives --- and the parts they didn’t always want to know --- the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood, and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs.
Dutton | 9780593851289

THE VANISHING POINT: Stories by Paul Theroux (Fiction/Short Stories)
The stories in Paul Theroux’s fascinating collection are both exotic and domestic, their settings ranging from Hawaii to Africa and New England. Each focuses on life’s vanishing points --- a moment when seemingly all lines running through one’s life converge, and one can see no farther, yet must deal with the implications. With the insight, subtlety and empathy that has long characterized his work, Theroux has written deeply moving stories about memory, longing and the passing of time, once again reclaiming his status as a master of the form.
Mariner Books | 9780063432529

WATCH YOUR BACK by Terri Parlato (Domestic Thriller)
After a whirlwind courtship, psychiatrist Eve Thayer and her husband, Nathan, have settled into domestic life. But Eve's stress is mounting, both professionally and personally. Though the clinic where she works has been remodeled since its notorious days as an institution for the criminally insane, she feels increasingly uneasy there. And in her own neighborhood, a break-in at a nearby empty house hasn't helped either. Detective Rita Myers hasn’t yet figured out if Eve is a target or a suspect, but every disturbing discovery in this usually peaceful neighborhood seems to revolve around her. Only as a deadly ice storm crashes through does it become clear just how far from perfect Eve and Nathan’s lives really are. And as the cracks in the surface come to light, so do the sinister secrets that lie beneath.
Kensington | 9781496738639

WE ARE WATCHING by Alison Gaylin (Psychological Thriller)
Meg Russo and her husband, Justin, were driving their daughter, Lily, to Ithaca College. Then a car swerved up beside them, and Meg lost control of her vehicle. Justin didn’t survive the accident. Four months later, Meg works to distract herself from her grief and guilt, reopening her small local bookstore. But soon after she returns to work, bizarre messages and visitors begin to arrive, with strangers threatening Meg and Lily. They are obsessed with a young adult novel titled The Prophesy. An online group of believers are convinced that it heralds the apocalypse, and social media posts link the book --- and Meg’s reclusive musician father --- to Satanism. These conspiracy theorists vow to seek revenge on The Prophesy’s author: Meg. As the threats turn violent, Meg begins to suspect that Justin’s death may not have been an accident.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063000964

WILD WEST VILLAGE: Not a Memoir (Unless I Win an Oscar, Die Tragically, or Score a Country #1) by Lola Kirke (Memoir/Essays)
Raised by a rock star father and clothing designer mother, Lola Kirke and her older siblings (including actress Jemima and celebrity doula Domino) spent their childhoods freshly plucked from their English heritage in an eclectic West Village brownstone, hosting everyone from Cuban exiles to Courtney Love. But behind the enviable exterior of worldly coolness was a home in disarray. In WILD WEST VILLAGE, Kirke chronicles a search for self amidst the chaos of the affairs, addictions and afflictions surrounding her, detailing misadventures in everything from masturbation to marijuana, Cadbury’s to country music, and a dream of salvation on the silver screen.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668035580

WOMEN OF A PROMISCUOUS NATURE by Donna Everhart (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
On a brisk February morning while walking to the diner where she works, 24-year-old Ruth Foster is stopped by the local sheriff. He insists she accompany him to a health clinic, threatening to arrest her if she doesn’t undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease. Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day’s end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she’s transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women’s medical treatment and “training” until they’re deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker’s rule book or face the consequences --- solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.
Kensington | 9781496740724

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