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Bookreporter.com Newsletter |
May 28, 2004 |
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Here Comes Summer... |
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Here comes summer and to celebrate we have a special treat -- a special Bookreporter.com game that was designed for us by Jim Gladstone, author of a book just out called GLADSTONE'S GAMES TO GO. See details below on how you can enter a contest associated with the game! This is the book to buy NOW to get ready for summer car and plane trips, as well as those idyllic afternoons at the beach, lake or pool.
A little more than two years ago I had dinner with Christopher Whitcomb, who had written a nonfiction book called COLD ZERO about his work as a member of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). The story of this elite group intrigued me and from our conversation that night I gathered that there is a world of "law enforcement" that few people are privy to. Whitcomb has a novel coming out Tuesday, called BLACK with a character named Jeremy Waller, who is a HRT member. When you read our interview with Whitcomb --- and our review of BLACK --- I think you, like me, will consider that the news we are seeing on television each night may be only a small part of the story.
Our new Suspense/Thriller Author is Perri O'Shaughnessy, whose new one, UNLUCKY IN LAW, is coming out on July 13th. Perri O'Shaughnessy is actually the pen name of two sisters who write together, a concept that intrigues me. How does a team share writing? This is a question we will delve into in the weeks to come. Here is a bit about their book: Nina Reilly takes on the most dangerous and difficult case of her career in New York Times bestselling author Perri O'Shaughnessy's latest thriller. An ingenious blend of forensic science, history, and gripping suspense, UNLUCKY IN LAW pits the tough but compassionate attorney against the most unbeatable adversary of all: the law. We have 20 galleys of this book to give away. Interested in reading, then send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, June 11th. PLEASE specify that you want to read O'Shaughnessy since we also are using this mailbox for Tami Hoag requests, as well.
A couple of months ago I read THE DOCTOR'S WIFE, a debut novel by Elizabeth Brundage. Completely intrigued by her work, we selected her to be one of our "One To Watch" authors. Here is a quick blurb about the book. From the outside, the Knowles family appeared to have it all --a loving marriage, two beautiful children, a home in an idyllic part of the countryside in upstate New York. Michael is a rising OB/GYN at a prominent private practice, his wife, Annie, teaches at a local college. But Annie's role as "the doctor's wife" has worn thin, and Michael has answered the call of an old flame to moonlight at the local women's health center, the city's only provider of abortions. These subtle cracks in their life widen when anonymous threats arrive at their home. Who are they meant for? Michael or Annie? Want to be one of ten advance readers of THE DOCTOR'S WIFE? Please drop us a note at Contests@bookreporter.com with your name AND your mailing address by Friday, June 4th.
This month's roundup of New in Paperback titles features authors whose debut novels achieved bestseller status when originally released in hardcover. They include Mark Haddon (THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME), Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez (THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB) and Jacqueline Winspear (MAISIE DOBBS). We also spotlight the works of such established writers as James Patterson (THE LAKE HOUSE) and Mary Kay Andrews (LITTLE BITTY LIES).
To celebrate the release of the movie The Notebook, which is based on the bestselling book by Nicholas Sparks, Bookreporter.com is offering a special random giveaway of movie screening passes and books. Sign up to receive a copy of THE NOTEBOOK by Nicholas Sparks and/or a free screening pass to the movie. We'll be giving away 100 copies of the book and 350 movie passes. Books and movie passes will be awarded at random. See details by clicking on the cover above.
I am planning lazy days of reading this weekend before I leave for Chicago for Book Expo America on Thursday. What's on my stack? THE RULE OF FOUR. I have to see what all the buzz is about.
Have a great week.
Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com) |
Read this month's New In Paperback titles here.
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Bookreporter.com Talks To Christopher Whitcomb, Author of BLACK |
Carol Fitzgerald and Joe Hartlaub of Bookreporter.com talk to Christopher Whitcomb about his debut novel BLACK, a thriller that delves into the world of counter-terrorism. Whitcomb, a former member of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, speaks candidly about how aspects of the book parallel his experiences, the role that black operations play in combating terrorism and the significance of the title.
BLACK by Christopher Whitcomb (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
For those chosen to fight terrorism at its source, secrecy is the only imperative --- a rule Special Agent Jeremy Waller is about to find out the hard way. Selected for the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team, Waller dives headlong into a violent world of trapdoor truths and shifting alliances where the greatest threat may be his own sense of right and wrong. |
Read our interview with Christopher Whitcomb and a review of BLACK here.
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Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Edna Buchanan, Author of COLD CASE SQUAD, Tami Hoag, Author of KILL THE MESSENGER and Introducing Perri O'Shaughnessy, Author of UNLUCKY IN LAW |
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Edna Buchanan, author of COLD CASE SQUAD, which is on sale this Tuesday, June 1st is our May Suspense/Thriller Author.
COLD CASE SQUAD
Edna Buchanan's latest novel launches a new series with members of Miami Police Department's "cold case squad" as her protagonists. Two separate cases occupy the team's minds. Sergeant Craig Burch and Detective Pete Nazario are investigating the supposed accidental death of a father who may very well be alive --- while Detective Sam Stone is hot on the trail of a serial killer.
Tami Hoag, author of KILL THE MESSENGER, is our June Suspense/Thriller Author. KILL THE MESSENGER hits bookstores July 6th.
New This Week for Tami Hoag:
-Read Fast Facts about Tami Hoag
-Read critical praise for Hoag's books
-Enter to win one of 20 advance copies of KILL THE MESSENGER by sending your name AND mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by June 4th.
Previous Weeks:
-Read about KILL THE MESSENGER
-Read about DARK HORSE (mass market paperback, on sale 6/1)
-Read more about Tami Hoag
-Browse through Hoag's bibliography
KILL THE MESSENGER
At the end of a long day, bike messenger Jace Damon has one last drop to make. But en route to delivering a package for one of L.A.'s sleaziest defense attorneys, he's run down by a car, chased through back alleys and shot at. He narrowly manages to escape with his life --- and a package someone would kill for. Now he finds himself suspected of murder, and he's on the run from both the cops and a brutal killer. The key to saving himself and his ten-year-old brother may be the envelope with a message no one wants delivered: the truth.
Perri O'Shaughnessy, is our latest featured Suspense/Thriller author. UNLUCKY IN LAW will be in stores July 13th.
New This Week for Perri O'Shaughnessy
-Enter to win one of 20 advance copies of UNLUCKY IN LAW by sending an email to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com with your name AND mailing address by Friday, June 11th. PLEASE specify that you want to read UNLUCKY IN LAW since we also are using this mailbox for Tami Hoag requests.
-Read about UNLUCKY IN LAW
-Read about PRESUMPTION OF DEATH
-Read more about Perri O'Shaughnessy
UNLUCKY IN LAW
Nina Reilly takes on the most dangerous and difficult case of her career in New York Times bestselling author Perri O'Shaughnessy's latest thriller. An ingenious blend of forensic science, history, and gripping suspense, UNLUCKY IN LAW pits the tough but compassionate attorney against the most unbeatable adversary of all: the law. |
Read our Suspense/Thriller feature here.
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Debut Suspense/Thriller Authors to Watch: Linwood Barclay, Author of BAD MOVE; Christopher Fowler, Author of FULL DARK HOUSE; and We Introduce Jack Kerley, Author of THE HUNDREDTH MAN |
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We are spotlighting three very different debut suspense/thriller authors --- Christopher Fowler, author of FULL DARK HOUSE, Linwood Barclay, author of BAD MOVE and our latest author, Jack Kerley, author of THE HUNDREDTH MAN.
New This Week for Linwood Barclay:
-Read a third excerpt from BAD MOVE
BAD MOVE (in stores June 1st)
Anyone who thinks that the burbs are boring will think again after reading Linwood Barclay's hilarious debut mystery, BAD MOVE. Zack Walker is a safety obsessed dad who quickly finds that his suburban neighborhood is not a crime-free paradise. Zack's paranoid tendencies get him implicated in a crime. What does he do? He heads off to track down the killer himself.
New This Week for Christopher Fowler:
-Read a third excerpt from FULL DARK HOUSE
FULL DARK HOUSE (in stores June 1st)
FULL DARK HOUSE is a perfect read for those who love classic British crime mysteries. It's the first book in a riveting new series featuring Arthur Bryant and John May, two of Britain's oldest detectives, who have been partnered in the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit for over sixty years. Here Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case --- and how this crime-fighting odd couple changed the face of detection.
New This Week for Jack Kerley
-See our ARC Winners
-Read an excerpt from THE HUNDREDTH MAN
THE HUNDREDTH MAN (in stores June 7th)
Carson Ryder is a former psychology graduate student who finds his calling in the Mobile, Alabama, police department. While a young patrolman, he appears to single-handedly solve the "Adrian Killings." His success brings him a detective's shield, as well as political enemies. When a killer is again loose in Mobile, leaving behind headless corpses with cryptic messages inked into their flesh, Carson gets plunged into a past he'd tried to forget. |
Read more about our Debut Suspense/Thriller authors here.
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ONE TO WATCH: Elizabeth Brundage, Author of THE DOCTOR'S WIFE |
Elizabeth Brundage truly is One to Watch. From the moment you start reading THE DOCTOR'S WIFE, you are drawn to the four characters --- Michael, the doctor; Annie, the doctor's wife; Simon, the painter and Lydia, the painter's wife. Brundage creates a story that is told in their four voices, and keep you on your toes from start to finish in a complex psychological tale of literary suspense.
The book is on sale on June 21st. We are looking for 10 advance readers to read the book and comment about it. Interested in reading an author that we know is going places? Then send a note to Contests@bookreporter.com with your name and snail mail address by Friday, June 4th. |
Click here to read more about Elizabeth Brundage and THE DOCTOR'S WIFE.
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Celebrate Summer with GLADSTONE'S GAMES TO GO --- With a Bookreporter.com Game AND A Special Contest |
Summer means long car rides and plane trips. Summer means family gatherings at far flung places. Summer means there are rainy afternoons to fill as well as sunny ones.
What's a great way to keep everyone entertained? GAMES! Sure board games can fit the bill, but when you are without a flat surface there are brain games you can play that can keep everyone challenged and happy.
We were thrilled when Jim Gladstone (author of THE BIG BOOK OF MISUNDERSTANDING) told us he wanted to create a special Bookreporter.com Summer Reading Game. In fact, we were so glad that we decided to create a contest to go along with it. 20 winners will receive a copy of GLADSTONE'S GAMES TO GO and ONE Grand Prize winner will receive that book and five other hot titles -- THE ENEMY by Lee Child, THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE by Kristin Hannah, TEN BIG ONES by Janet Evanovich, KILLER SMILE by Lisa Scottoline and BREACH OF TRUST by D.W. Buffa. |
Click here to play Gladstone's Bookreporter.com Game and enter the contest. Also, learn more about the book!
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This Week's Book Reviews and Features |
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THE TAKING by Dean Koontz (Suspense)
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Dean Koontz tells the story of a community cut off from a world under siege, and the terrifying battle for survival waged by a young couple and their neighbors as familiar streets become fog-shrouded death traps.
BREACH OF TRUST: A Joseph Antonelli Novel by D.W. Buffa (Legal Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Attorney Joseph Antonelli is seduced into taking a case that has dangerous implications not only for the upcoming United States presidential race but also for a group of friends who thought they had put the sudden death of a young woman behind them long ago.
DOUBLE PLAY by Robert B. Parker (Fiction)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub and Ron Kaplan
In a departure from his popular Spenser series, and novels featuring Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall, Robert B. Parker goes back in time to the year 1947 --- when Jackie Robinson breaks major-league baseball's color barrier by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This is the story of that season, as told through the eyes of Robinson's bodyguard --- a difficult, brooding and wounded man named Joseph Burke.
YOU REMIND ME OF ME by Dan Chaon (Fiction)
Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
The lives of three people form a heart-wrenching mosaic of family yearning and loss in this lovely novel by Dan Chaon, whose AMONG THE MISSING was a finalist for the National Book Award.
SARAH: Book One of the Canaan Trilogy by Marek Halter (Fiction)
Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
SARAH is the first novel in a magnificent new trilogy about the women of the Old Testament by internationally bestselling author Marek Halter. From the great ziggurat of Ishtar and the fertile valleys of Canaan to the bedchamber of the mighty Pharaoh himself, the story of Sarah reveals an ancient world full of beauty, intrigue and miracles.
WIND SPIRIT by Aimee & David Thurlo (Mystery)
Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
Aimee and David Thurlo have written an interesting story about Native American rituals juxtaposed against the modern world as Ella Clah, special investigator for the Navajo Tribal Police, must find the perpetrators of arson and murder on the reservation.
WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME by Veronica Chambers (Fiction)
Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
The world of a young African American girl is torn apart when her mother disappears without a trace. This coming-of-age story allows the reader to get a glimpse of what it is like to be black and living in America in the late 1970s.
THE GOODBYE SUMMER by Patricia Gaffney (Fiction)
Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
Thirty-two-year-old Caddie Winger must make major adjustments in her life when her grandmother, who has raised her since she was nine years old, moves into a convalescent home. Living alone for the first time since college, she uncovers some startling truths from her past.
FUNNY CIDE: How a Horse, a Trainer, a Jockey, and a Bunch of High School Buddies Took On the Sheiks and Bluebloods ... and Won, by The Funny Cide Team with Sally Jenkins (Sports)
Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds
In 2003, a relatively unknown racehorse named Funny Cide came out of nowhere to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Sally Jenkins recounts these improbable events, focusing on the main players involved --- their emotional ups and downs against overwhelming odds, illness, and even scandal. |
Read the reviews and features here.
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Poll: Weigh In and You Could Win ALEXANDER HAMILTON by Ron Chernow or THE NARROWS by Michael Connelly |
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This week's poll gives you the opportunity to give feedback that can influence the direction of some future book clubs for readers. To thank you for your participation, we will select a winner from those who enter the poll to win either THE NARROWS by Michael Connelly or ALEXANDER HAMILTON by Ron Chernow. It will be your choice. To enter just answer YES to the second question and give us your e-mail address. Thanks!
Do you buy books online?
Yes
No
What is the key determinant for you in selecting an online book seller?
The lowest overall price
Free shipping
Great customer service
Trustworthiness
I do not buy books online.
What kind of information would you like to get from your online bookseller? (Check as many as apply.)
Book reviews provided by independent sources
Personalized recommendations
Book excerpts, first chapters etc.
Author background
Author Q&A
Other
Have you ever belonged to a book club like Book of the Month Club,
Doubleday, Scholastic?
I currently belong.
I once belonged.
I have never belonged to a book club like this.
What keeps you from joining a book club like this (e.g. Book of the Month, Doubleday, Scholastic)? (Check as many as apply.)
High shipping and handling charges
They send me books I really don't want
Their prices are too high
I receive too many mailings from them.
I currently do belong to one of these clubs.
Would you be interested in signing up for a service that automatically sends you your favorite author's new releases - upon publication date - for at least 50% off list price?
Yes, definitely
Yes, if the price is right
Maybe
No, I might not like all the books my favorite author writes. I would need
to look at it first.
No, definitely not
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Answer the Poll here.
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Question of the Week: Talk to us about book clubs like Book of the Month Club |
What would it take for you to sign up for a book club like Book of the Month Club, Doubleday, Scholastic, etc?
Our next question update will be on June 11th. |
Answer the Question of the Week.
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Word of Mouth: Tell Us What You're Reading -- TWO Prizes! |
Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.
This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of THE TAKING by Dean Koontz and BLACK by Christopher Whitcomb. Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on June 11th. |
Need more details about Word of Mouth? Click here.
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As always, here are a few housekeeping notes. If you are seeing this newsletter in a text version, and would prefer to see the graphics, you can either read it online (see the link on the upper right) or change your preferences below.
Those of you who wish to send mail to Bookreporter.com, please see the form on the Write to Us page. We were forced to move to this format after we were inundated with SPAM at the other address. If you would like to reach me, please write Carol@bookreporter.com. Writing any of the respond buttons below will not get to us.
Quick observation --- we have noticed that many of you have been changing your Internet providers in the past month. If you do, please be sure to "take us along" by signing up for the newsletter in your new name!
Happy reading! Don't forget to forward this newsletter to a friend or to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com: ReadingGroupGuides.com, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com, FaithfulReader.com, AuthorYellowPages.com, Teenreads.com, and Kidsreads.com.
--- Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)
The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228
New York, New York 10107 |
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