February 25, 2005

As the Snowflakes Fly, the Oscars are Dazzling Fantasy

Two snowstorms in a week is too much for me. I was moving my head into an "It's Almost Spring" frame of mind and the flakes started falling. I also wish that instead of calling at 5:45 AM with a "school is canceled message" they would just send me e-mail. Oh well, there is lots of great book news this week to cheer me up.

We have a new Suspense/Thriller author to share with you, Jess Walter, whose new book CITIZEN VINCE will be in stores on April 12th. The story of CITIZEN VINCE unfolds during the eight days before the Reagan/Carter election in 1980. Vince Camden is in the witness protection program. He's headed to his low-level job when he finds that he is embroiled in a world of petty thievery, local politics and murder. I started reading this one just before the election last fall and I was smiling at how the political game really does not change every four years as much as we are lead to think it does. Want to be one of our 20 advance readers of CITIZEN VINCE? Then send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, March 11th to enter our random drawing.

This week we also announce Philip Beard as our latest One to Watch author. You may remember my talking about his book DEAR ZOE last fall. It was a book that I just could NOT put down. It's a stunning epistolary novel written from 15-year-old Tess DeNunzio to her little sister Zoe. Zoe was killed on September 11, 2001, a day that carries so much sadness for the country, but for this family weighs in with its own personally tragic message. DEAR ZOE is on sale on March 24th. Want to be one of ten advance readers of DEAR ZOE? Send your name and mailing address to OneToWatch@bookreporter.com by Friday, March 4th to enter our random drawing.

February's roundup of New in Paperback titles includes Jodi Picoult's MY SISTER'S KEEPER, Daniel Silva's A DEATH IN VIENNA, THE ZERO GAME by Brad Meltzer and THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Read more about these books by clicking on the New in Paperback link above.

Sunday night is Oscar night. I love Oscar night. I like dishing the clothes. I like making my own picks. I have 200 pages of a novel written (have not touched it in about 5 years). On Oscar night I fancy myself accepting the Oscar for the Best Picture Screenplay. (Oscar night makes one think BIG; you go right from unpublished manuscript to Oscar-winning screenplay.) I am wearing something turquoise (my favorite color). I thank everyone with just the right line. I tear up at the appropriate moments. I time my remarks so they end JUST as the music comes up. Signal applause. Leave stage. Do not trip. Hey, it's a night that inspires fantasy. That's mine. Want to read our feature on the books that inspired some of the Oscar nominees or were spawned by them? Read more by clicking on the Books Into Movies button above.

Also, mark your calendars to watch Oprah Winfrey Presents presentation of the movie THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD starring Halle Berry on Monday, March 6th at 9PM ET.

Have a great week. Hope some of your own bookish fantasies come true.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

Author Talk: Daniel Silva, Author of PRINCE OF FIRE

In this interview, Daniel Silva talks about his interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict, shares why he chose this moment to write about terrorism and sheds light on his character Gabriel Allon, as well as revealing some of his personal reflections on researching PRINCE OF FIRE.

PRINCE OF FIRE by Daniel Silva (Thriller)
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
In Daniel Silva's newest masterpiece, Israeli intelligence knows the exact time of a catastrophic terrorist attack --- down to the very minute --- but they must find out the location and who is behind the plot.

Read an interview with Daniel Silva here as well as a review of PRINCE OF FIRE.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Jess Walter, Author of CITIZEN VINCE

One to Watch: Philip Beard, Author of DEAR ZOE

Philip Beard is our newest One to Watch author, whose book DEAR ZOE will be in stores March 24th.

We have 10 advanced reading copies of DEAR ZOE by Philip Beard to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. A description can be found by clicking the link below. If you are interested, please send your name and mailing address to OneToWatch@bookreporter.com by Friday, March 4th.

Here's more about DEAR ZOE:
Beard's stunning debut is an epistolary novel written from 15-year-old Tess DeNunzio to her little sister Zoe. After Zoe's accidental death on September 11, 2001--a day so many others died--Tess's family is numbed by their personal tragedy. Not since THE LOVELY BONES has there been a study of grief, adolescence, and healing that rings as true as DEAR ZOE.

Read more about Philip Beard and DEAR ZOE here.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Iris Johansen, Author of BLIND ALLEY

Our new featured Suspense/Thriller author is Iris Johansen, whose novel BLIND ALLEY will be available in paperback March 29th.

New This Week:
-See our Free Copy Winners.
-Read Fast Facts.

Read more about Iris Johansen.
Read more about BLIND ALLEY.
Go to Iris Johansen's Website.

Here's more about BLIND ALLEY:

The New York Times bestselling author of FIRESTORM, Iris Johansen, returns with a psychological thriller so terrifying, so relentlessly paced, it won't leave you time to catch your breath before the next shock comes. A forensic sculptor is locked in a deadly duel with a serial killer determined to destroy her --- one life at a time.

Read more about Iris Johansen and BLIND ALLEY here.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Jodi Compton, Author of SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS

Read more about Jodi Compton and SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS here.

One to Watch: Elizabeth Flock, Author of ME & EMMA

Our latest One to Watch author is Elizabeth Flock, Author of ME & EMMA, which is in stores now.

New This Week:
-Read a third excerpt.

Here's more about ME & EMMA:

In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old-playing make-believe, dreading school, dreaming of faraway places. But even her imaginative mind can't shut out the realities of her impoverished North Carolina home or help her protect her younger sister, Emma.

By turns achingly naive and utterly pragmatic, Carrie has been shaped by the loss of her beloved daddy, and mired by a drunken stepfather and emotionally absent mother. Charting an astonishing course of survival for herself and Emma, she hopes to transform their life into one more closely resembling the story books she treasures.

But after the sisters' plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn-and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.

Click here to read more about Elizabeth Flock and ME & EMMA.

Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Kevin Guilfoile, Author of CAST OF SHADOWS

Kevin Guilfoile's CAST OF SHADOWS is on-sale March 1st. Read below for more about the book.

About the Book: A bereaved doctor undertakes a diabolical experiment in a shattering philosophical thriller that anticipates the moral, social, and metaphysical dilemmas science is poised to confront. Davis Moore is a fertility doctor in Chicago specializing in reproductive cloning, a controversial and closely regulated new practice, when his seventeen-year-old daughter is brutally raped and murdered. The case is investigated but never solved. Months later, Moore retrieves her belongings from the police, and finds among them a vial containing the killer's DNA. Tormented by grief, Moore entertains a monstrous thought: the possibility of cloning not his daughter but the man who killed her. How far would you go to look into the face of your daughter's murderer?
 
-Read more about CAST OF SHADOWS.
-Read what Jordan Pavlin, Guilfoile's Editor had to say about the first time she read CAST OF SHADOWS.
-Read more about Kevin Guilfoile.
-Get Kevin Guilfoile's tour schedule.

Click here to read more about Kevin Guilfoile and CAST OF SHADOWS.

Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Pam Lewis, Author of SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR

Another featured Debut Suspense/Thriller author we are spotlighting is Pam Lewis, whose SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR will be in stores on March 1st.

New This Week
-Read an excerpt.
-See our ARC Winners.
 
Here's more about SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR:
New York City, 1965: At Spence, the exclusive Manhattan girls' school, shy, overweight scholarship student Carole finds herself drawn into an unlikely friendship with charismatic, pedigreed Naomi. On a dare, Carole and Naomi make a pact to lose their virginity before graduation. Enter Eddie, a slick Upper East Side prep school dropout, expelled from a half-dozen private schools on the East Coast. Eddie is handsome, fatally charming, and more than willing to help the girls accomplish their goal. But something about him is not quite right -- his overly familiar way with Naomi, his hair-trigger temper, the stories that just don't add up -- and on one bitterly cold holiday weekend in an isolated cabin deep in the Vermont woods, a horrifying twist develops in the girls' plan. Before the night is over, a stomach-turning secret is sealed between friends, setting in motion a series of events that will have dire and far-reaching consequences.

Read more about Pam Lewis and SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR here.

KILLING KELLY by Heather Graham is Now in Stores

From New York Times  bestselling author Heather Graham comes the highly anticipated thriller KILLING KELLY.

Playing Marla Valentine, the malicious, man-hating advice diva on a popular daytime soap, actress Kelly Trent has garnered wealth, fame-and more than her fair share of hate mail. When her character is put on hiatus, Kelly reluctantly agrees to shoot a music video on a remote island in the Florida Keys. The murder of several top advice therapists, along with some deadly threats made against Kelly by a deranged fan, lead Doug O'Casey, an ex-cop-and her dance partner-to help her find out who is behind this murderous intent.

Click here to read more about KILLING KELLY by Heather Graham.

This Week's Reviews and Features

THE ROSARY GIRLS by Richard Montanari (Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Richard Montanari has written an astounding novel that pits two besieged detectives against a fiercely intelligent serial killer who is brutally murdering Catholic high school girls.

JUICED: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, And How Baseball Got Big by Jose Canseco (Nonfiction)
Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
Jose Canseco --- former Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, six-time all-star, and poster boy for better living through science --- returns from his absence in the limelight with this tell-all book that names names in an attempt to give steroids a positive spin.

STRANGE AFFAIR by Peter Robinson (Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Peter Robinson's fifteenth Alan Banks novel begins with the British police inspector hearing the Richard Thompson song "Strange Affair" in a pub, an incident that remarkably enough has ties to his past. Banks has no way of knowing that within a few minutes he will receive a phone message that will irrevocably change his life. Again.

THE PRESIDENT'S ASSASSIN by Brian Haig (Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
In Brian Haig's latest novel featuring Sean Drummond, the Army lawyer has just three days to prevent the assassination of the President. Only after a dramatic hostage rescue does Sean realize that a horrible miscalculation has been made by law enforcement --- and what must be done to set things right.

SURVIVOR IN DEATH by Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb (Mystery)
Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, returns to the New York City of 2059 --- where Lieutenant Eve Dallas will struggle to solve the murder of a seemingly ordinary family and protect one small, terrified survivor.

THE BRIDE'S NECKLACE by Kat Martin (Historical Romance)
Reviewed by Amie Taylor
When Tory's stepfather tries to molest her beautiful, innocent sister, Claire, the girls bash him over the head with a brass bed warmer, grab a cursed, antique necklace, and head for London to start a new life, never knowing that they'd find love and happiness beyond their wildest dreams.

VILLAGES by John Updike (Fiction)
Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner
John Updike's twenty-first novel follows its hero, Owen Mackenzie, from his birth in the semi-rural Pennsylvania town of Willow to his retirement in the rather geriatric community of Haskells Crossing, Massachusetts.

Click here to read this week's review and features.

Bookreporter.com Blog

Which of the following February releases are you most excited about reading?

All the Flowers Are Dying by Lawrence Block
Conviction by Richard North Patterson
Fleshmarket Alley: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin
The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais
The Ha-Ha by Dave King
Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock
Most Wanted by Michele Martinez
Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva
The Rosary Girls by Richard Montanari
Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern
Snobs by Julian Fellowes
Strange Affair by Peter Robinson
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
None of the above

Question: Name an author who you recently discovered --- and enjoyed.

Please note: Our next question update will be on March 4th.

Answer the Question of the Week here.

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 PRINCE OF FIRE by Daniel Silva and VANISHING ACTS by Jodi Picoult. Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on March 4th.