Reading Like It’s Finals Week!
On Tuesday night, I thoroughly enjoyed an evening at the Knickerbocker Club, where Daisy Goodwin gave a brilliant talk about Queen Victoria and showed some upcoming clips from the PBS show. She is the screenwriter and an Executive Producer on the show, as well as the author of a book about the queen; I had caught the first two hours of the program on Sunday night, and it was so enjoyable.
Her research was based on Queen Victoria’s diaries, which you can read online here. With a twinkle in her eye, she was clear that there are some places where she took a tad bit of dramatic license with the story. What I like about Daisy is that she is frank and honest, as well as brilliantly fun and engaging. I always love spending time with her and wish her such success with the show as well as with her book. She already is immersed in writing Season Two!
As many of you have noted from the ads that went up on our websites this week, I am excited to share that tickets to the Simon & Schuster Book Club Matinee on Saturday, March 11th are now on sale (and selling briskly). Author guests are Anthony Doerr, Isabel Allende, Lisa See, Lisa Genova, Ruth Ware and Megan Miranda. I will be interviewing Isabel. Full details and a link to order tickets are here.
Earlier this month, I was interviewed by the Courier News about The Book Report Network, but had no idea it would be the cover story in Monday’s paper. A friend wrote to tell me, and I headed to a local store to buy the paper. You can read the piece here.
I got this wonderful note from Michelle from Omaha, Nebraska, who is the Grand Prize winner of our End-of-the-Year Contest, “When I saw my name as the lucky winner of this contest, I seriously COULD NOT believe it! At first all I had going through my mind was whether it really was me or perhaps another Michelle in Omaha? When I saw my name I screamed out 'I think I won the grand prize!' My heart was racing and I was literally jumping for joy. I just wanted to tell you I'm so over the moon happy I can't stand it! Thank you ~ Thank you ~ Thank you ~ I'm thrilled to say the least!” Reading this I was picturing Michelle’s excitement, and it made me smile. I have asked her to take a photo of herself with the books when they arrive.
THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH by Lindsey Lee Johnson and HER EVERY FEAR by Peter Swanson, both of which we reviewed in the last newsletter, are my first two Bookreporter.com Bets On picks of 2017. Click on the preceding book links to find out why I’m betting you’ll love these novels.
As people in many parts of the country cocoon inside during the winter months, it’s a great time to share the Bookreporter newsletter with your friends. We have this handy signup link if you would like to pass it along.
Now to this week’s update...
Our latest featured New Release Spotlight title is THE NOWHERE MAN by Gregg Hurwitz, an Orphan X thriller that continues the adventures of Evan Smoak, who readers became acquainted with last year in ORPHAN X. At the age of 12, Evan became a trainee of the Orphan Program, an off-the-books operation aimed at producing assassins. He ultimately broke from the Program, though, transforming himself from Orphan X into the Nowhere Man. But a surprise attack has caught Evan off guard, and now he finds himself in a remote location and cut off from everything he knows. His captors think they have him trapped and helpless in a virtual cage, but they have no idea that their prisoner is one of the deadliest and most resourceful men on earth.
According to Joe Hartlaub in his rave review of the book, “Those of you who otherwise eschew series fiction would do well to set aside any preconceptions you might have about this book, given that Hurwitz is a master --- one of the very few --- of the unexpected. The array of knowledge and talents that comprise his skill set is fully on display here, all but guaranteeing a long and successful history for this series and its primary character.” THE NOWHERE MAN will be a Bets On selection, just as ORPHAN X was. You can read my comments in next week’s newsletter. I will confess now that I have a crush on Evan Smoak. If you read these books, you will see why.
Other books we’re reviewing this week include THE WICKED CITY, the latest novel from Beatriz Williams, who brings together two generations of women inside a Greenwich Village apartment --- a flapper who is hiding a remarkable past and a modern-day Manhattanite who must make a brand-new start in life; LITTLE DEATHS, a debut work of fiction from Emma Flint that revolves around the deaths of two small children and their mother who is accused of the unthinkable (this was a BEA Buzz Selection); and LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney, which paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America --- from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic, the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.
The psychological thriller DON’T YOU CRY by Mary Kubica received raves when it released in hardcover last year, and you may remember it as a Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight title last May. The book is now available in paperback, thus we are featuring it again, this time in our Paperback Spotlight. Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment and is nowhere to be found. Her roommate, Quinn Collins, starts to wonder just how well she really knew Esther when a haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is discovered among her possessions. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman appears in a coffee shop where 18-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more sinister. Click here to read (or re-read) our review from last year and here for our interview with the author. I love Mary's writing.
Our Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight & Contest for JP Delaney’s much-talked-about psychological thriller, THE GIRL BEFORE, continues. We’re giving 25 readers the chance to win a copy of the book, which releases on Tuesday, and share their comments on it. The deadline for your entries is Thursday, January 26th at noon ET. We plan on sharing our review and an interview with the author in next week’s newsletter, and my Bets On commentary will appear in the February 3rd newsletter.
The audio version of THE GIRL BEFORE (read by Emilia Fox and Finty Williams, with Lisa Aagaard Knudsen) is one of the prizes in this month’s Sounding Off on Audio contest; Chris Bohjalian’s THE SLEEPWALKER (read by Cady McClain and Grace Experience) is the other. Let us know by Wednesday, February 1st at noon ET what audiobooks you’ve listened to, and you’ll be in the running to win both audio titles.
Our Valentine’s Day contest is back for a 12th year! Five readers will win eight love-themed books --- including the Jojo Moyes bestsellers ME BEFORE YOU and AFTER YOU --- and some delicious chocolates. Enter by Tuesday, February 14th at noon ET, and you’ll have an opportunity to win this delectable prize package.
We’re also excited to announce that our Winter Reading feature has returned for a third year! On select days through February 24th at noon ET, we’ll be hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it. We also will be sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here. Our first three prize books will be the aforementioned THE GIRL BEFORE and DON’T YOU CRY, along with THE RIVER AT NIGHT by Erica Ferencik. The first contest kicks off on Tuesday, January 24th at noon ET.
Please keep in mind all the contests that we’re featuring now on ReadingGroupGuides.com. You can read all about them later in this newsletter, but once again I would like to call out our very special contest for the #1 New York Times bestseller BEING MORTAL: Medicine and What Matters in the End, which published in 2014 but is still going strong in hardcover (the paperback doesn’t release until September). Here, Atul Gawande, who is a practicing surgeon, addresses the most challenging aspect of his profession: how medicine can improve not only life but also the process of its ending. We’re giving 35 book groups the chance to win 10 copies of the book and share their comments on it. All you have to do is enter by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
What is the genre of the book you’re currently reading? That’s our latest poll question; click here to let us know!
In our previous poll, we asked if you received books or book gift cards over the holidays. 26% of you got books and 22% were given book gift cards, while 18% received both and 34% sadly got neither.
In our new Word of Mouth contest, we’re giving away RATHER BE THE DEVIL by Ian Rankin and RIGHT BEHIND YOU by Lisa Gardner. Let us know by Friday, February 3rd at noon ET what books you’ve finished reading for your chance to win both these anticipated January 31st releases.
This week, the nominees for the Edgar Allan Poe Awards and the National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced. Click on the preceding links for a complete list of the finalists and when you can expect the winners to be revealed. Bright and early Monday morning, the winners of the Youth Media Awards will be announced at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta; we will have the results next week.
As we were hitting send on the newsletter last week, we were saddened to hear about the death of William Peter Blatty, who was best known for writing THE EXORCIST and for the Academy Award-winning screenplay of its film adaptation. Blatty, who was 89, had been diagnosed just last month with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He is survived by his wife, three daughters, two sons, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
News & Pop Culture
Reader Mail
Comments about the new newsletter format continue to roll in. Linda said, “The new look of the site takes me a little to get used to, but I knew I would love it because it is so uncluttered, crisp and clean. Thanks from my 'old' eyes. I just finished reading a book that doesn't officially publish until next Tuesday. It is LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney. Has that gotten to your radar yet? It is absolutely THE best. Ms. Rooney knows how to turn a phrase. Since I read an e-ARC, I underlined on my iPad a lot. I'm sure I'm going to read this book again and again. Please try it.” Note that we are reviewing the book this week, so Linda's timing is great.
Sue wrote, “Good evening! As I am technologically challenged, I really love the new format. I am still learning to use my Galaxy Note Pad, and the newest format and font are very easy to navigate and read! Mazel tov!”
Hell or High Water: Very well done film. I recommend it.
"Homeland": The first two episodes are very well done.
Last week at an author luncheon, they served a terrific carrots with pistachios dish that I loved. So I set out to recreate it. Here is what I made, sans the garlic, as I do not think it was needed.
Every few months I have lunch with my friend Sandi, where we always order "our usual salads" and then spend the entire lunch talking about what is happening with our companies. I recreated my salad last week, which has romaine, grilled shrimp, dried cherries, dates and avocado with lemon vinaigrette dressing. It felt like a taste of summer! I also made bran muffins after looking at dozens and dozens of recipes on Pinterest. Did I pick one of those? Oh no! I made up my own from two others. They are more moist than I wanted, but I will be refining that recipe in the weeks ahead.
Cory turns 22 on Monday (how did that happen?); still planning how we will celebrate. I'm waiting for a cake request from him. Greg turns 27 (he catches up with me) next Saturday. He is headed to Florida for his birthday weekend, so we need to schedule that celebration as well. Next weekend I am off to Minneapolis for the American Booksellers Association’s 12th Annual Winter Institute, which is one of my favorite weekends of the year. There will be more than 100 authors on this program. This weekend will be like cramming for finals as I want to be up on the books and authors. There is just a wee bit of reading to do. Right now I am reading and enjoying Pam Jenoff’s THE ORPHAN’S TALE, which releases February 21st, and looking forward to meeting her next week.
And there will be the football playoffs. Here's a note of amusement as I watch football. At a fumble, the players always get up and point towards their end zone. When they are close to the end zone when trying to make a touchdown, even if they are not inside the end zone, they jump up and make a T with their hands. Because you know, the officials will be looking at them for their decision. Even better, they have teammates do what they do too. I always wonder if they go over this in practice. Note: most of the time, it does not work, but they get A for effort.
Read on, and have a great week…..
Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)
P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
New Release Spotlight:
THE NOWHERE MAN by Gregg Hurwitz --- a Bookreporter.com Bets On Selection
THE NOWHERE MAN: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Scott Brick
Taken from a group home at 12, Evan Smoak was raised and trained as part of the Orphan program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets --- i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man. But the new head of the Orphan program hasn’t forgotten about him and is using all of his assets --- including the remaining Orphans --- to track down and eliminate him. This time, though, the attack comes from a different angle, and Evan is caught unaware.
THE NOWHERE MAN will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. Read Carol's commentary in the January 27th newsletter.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read Gregg Hurwitz's bio.
- Visit Gregg Hurwitz's website and YouTube channel.
- Connect with Gregg Hurwitz on Facebook and Twitter.
Click here to read more in our New Release Spotlight.
Featured Review: THE WICKED CITY by Beatriz Williams
THE WICKED CITY by Beatriz Williams (Fiction)
When she discovers that her banker husband has been harboring a secret life, Ella Gilbert escapes their sleek SoHo loft for a studio in a quaint building in Greenwich Village. Her charismatic musician neighbor, Hector, warns her to stay out of the basement after midnight, when a symphony of mysterious noise strikes up, even though it's stood empty for decades. Back in the Roaring Twenties, the building hosted one of the city’s most notorious speakeasies. As Ella unravels the strange history of the building --- and the family thread that connects her to flapper Geneva Kelly --- she senses the Jazz Age spirit of her incandescent predecessor invading her own shy nature, in ways that will transform her life in the wicked city. Reviewed by Catherine Rubino.
- Click here to read more about the book.
Click here to read the review.
Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight & Contest:
THE GIRL BEFORE by JP Delaney --- a Bookreporter.com Bets On Selection
THE GIRL BEFORE by JP Delaney is an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death and deception. To celebrate its January 24th release, we have 25 copies to give away to readers who would like to read the book and share their comments on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, January 26th at noon ET.
THE GIRL BEFORE by JP Delaney (Psychological Thriller)
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control. The space is intended to transform its occupant --- and it does. After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street, she is instantly drawn to the space --- and to its aloof but seductive creator. Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to her in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror as the girl before.
THE GIRL BEFORE will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. Read Carol's commentary in the February 3rd newsletter.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to visit the book's official website.
- Click here to read JP Delaney's bio.
Click here to enter the contest.
New Paperback Spotlight:
DON’T YOU CRY by Mary Kubica
DON'T YOU CRY by Mary Kubica (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, performed by Kate Rudd and Kirby Heyborne
In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate, Quinn Collins, to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew. Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where 18-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read our interview with Mary Kubica.
- Click here to read Mary Kubica's bio.
- Visit Mary Kubica's website and Instagram.
- Connect with Mary Kubica on Facebook and Twitter.
Click here to read more in our Paperback Spotlight.
Bookreporter.com's 12th Annual Valentine's Day Contest: Enter to Win Books and Sweet Treats
for Yourself or Your Valentine!
Valentine's Day is only a few heartbeats away. We can't think of a better way to celebrate this special day than to cuddle up with your loved one...and a good book, of course!
We're giving readers the chance to win one of our five Bookreporter.com Valentine's Day prize packages, which includes one copy of each of our featured titles and some delicious chocolates. Enter between now and Tuesday, February 14th at noon ET for your opportunity to be a lucky (and beloved!) winner.
If you're feeling frisky, share with us your all-time book character crush. Don't be shy, we all got 'em! We'll post the top 10 literary loves and lusts --- along with the five winners --- right after Valentine's Day.
This year's featured titles are:
Click here to enter the contest.
Announcing Bookreporter.com's Third Annual
Winter Reading Contests and Feature
At Bookreporter.com, we are kicking off 2017 with our third annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature. On select days between now and February 24th at noon ET, we will be hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it. We also will be sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.
Our first prize book will be announced on Tuesday, January 24th at noon ET.
This year's featured titles include:
Click here to read all the contest details.
Simon & Schuster Presents:
A Book Club Matinee at the Ed Sullivan Theater on Saturday, March 11th in New York City
Bookreporter.com Bets On: THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH by Lindsey Lee Johnson and HER EVERY FEAR by Peter Swanson
THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH by Lindsey Lee Johnson (Fiction)
At a media luncheon over the summer, I heard Lindsey Lee Johnson speak about her debut novel, THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH. It was the first book that I read when I got home as she completely set up the story for me as a “read me now.” It’s set in privileged Marin County, CA, and told through the eyes of a group of high school students and their young teacher. It’s a laser-focused look into the lives of teens today told from the varied points of view of a group of students and their teacher. The book is set in three time frames: eighth grade, junior year and senior year. There’s a story bubbling up that happened when these kids were in middle school that is haunting them and is alluded to before it’s divulged.
- Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
HER EVERY FEAR by Peter Swanson (Psychological Thriller)
Did you like the film Rear Window? I did, and turning the pages of Peter Swanson’s HER EVERY FEAR harkened every chilling and suspenseful moment of watching it. The setup is like this. Kate Priddy’s life in London has been unsettling, to say the least, since she was kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend. Thus she leaps at the opportunity to jet across the ocean to Beacon Hill and apartment-swap with her cousin, Corbin Dell. His apartment is gorgeous, and it feels like she is on holiday --- until she learns that a neighbor of Corbin’s, Audrey, has been killed in the apartment next door. Kate, who already was on edge, finds her anxiety quickly scaling up, and suddenly this trip feels like a lot less than the escape that she planned.
- Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read a review.
Click here for more books we're betting you'll love.
What's New This Month on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Here are the contests currently running on ReadingGroupGuides.com:
Win 10 Copies of BEING MORTAL by Atul Gawande for Your Group
BEING MORTAL, Dr. Atul Gawande's meditation on death, modern medicine and what matters most in the end, was a #1 New York Times bestseller when it released in 2014. It was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR and the Chicago Tribune. Now we are giving 35 groups the chance to win 10 copies of the book and share their comments on it. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET. We ask that winners read, discuss and provide feedback on the book by Friday, April 28th, so please enter only if you are able to commit to that deadline with your group.
Win 10 Copies of PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee for Your Group
PACHINKO is a sweeping saga that follows one Korean family in exile from its homeland through generations of desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs. The book doesn’t release until February 7th, but we are giving 10 groups the opportunity to win 10 copies of Min Jin Lee’s latest novel. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
Win 10 Copies of THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS by Laurie Frankel for Your Group
Laurie Frankel's THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is. We are celebrating its January 24th release with a special contest that will give 10 groups the chance to win 10 copies of the book. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
Win a Copy of THE TUMBLING TURNER SISTERS by Juliette Fay
THE TUMBLING TURNER SISTERS is a heartwarming historical novel from Juliette Fay. Set amidst the backdrop of 1920s American Vaudeville, it is about the four Turner sisters and the "last chance act" that will save their family. To celebrate its recent paperback release, we are giving 10 readers the chance to win a copy of the book. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?": Win 12 Copies of BOOKS FOR LIVING by Will Schwalbe for Your Group
Each month in our "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month" contest, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Our current prize book is BOOKS FOR LIVING, Will Schwalbe's inspiring and magical celebration of books and reading, rich with stories and recommendations of specific books that can help guide us through our lives. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
Tell Us What YOUR Best Books of 2016 Are --- and Enter to Win SIX Advance Reading Copies
We are asking book groups to help us compile our Best Books of 2016 list. Click here to share both your favorite book that you read with your group this year and your favorite book that you read outside your group by Tuesday, January 31st at noon ET, and you will be eligible to win advance copies of SIX fantastic titles coming out this year: THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE by Lisa See, A PIECE OF THE WORLD by Christina Baker Kline, THE HOPE CHEST by Viola Shipman, THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE by Jessica Shattuck, MUSIC OF THE GHOSTS by Vaddey Ratner, and THE CHILBURY LADIES' CHOIR by Jennifer Ryan.
The following guides are now available:
Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:
Click here to visit ReadingGroupGuides.com.
NEVER NEVER by James Patterson and Candice Fox (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Federay Holmes
Harry Blue is the top Sex Crimes investigator in her department, but even she didn't see this coming: her own brother arrested for the grisly murders of three beautiful young women. Looking into a seemingly simple missing persons case, Harry has been assigned to a new "partner." But is he actually meant to be a watchdog? Still reeling from the accusations against her brother, Harry can't even trust her own instincts. Far from the world she knows and desperate to clear her brother's name, Harry has to mine the dark secrets of her strange new home for answers to a deepening mystery --- before she vanishes in a place where no one would ever think to look for her. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LITTLE DEATHS by Emma Flint (Historical Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Lauren Fortgang and Graham Halstead
In 1965, single mother Ruth Malone wakes to discover that her two small children, Frankie Jr. and Cindy, have gone missing. Eventually both are found dead, and all fingers immediately point to Ruth. The lead detective leaps to the obvious conclusion: facing divorce and a custody battle, Ruth took her children's lives. Rookie tabloid reporter Pete Wonicke’s interest in the story develops into an obsession with Ruth, and he comes to believe there's something more to the woman whom prosecutors, the press and the public have painted as a promiscuous femme fatale. Did Ruth Malone violently kill her own children, is she a victim of circumstance --- or is there something more sinister at play? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Xe Sands
She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat, and Manhattan is grittier now, but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed --- and has not. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE RISING by Heather Graham and Jon Land (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Luke Daniels
A football hero and homecoming king with plenty of scholarship offers, Alex Chin’s future looks bright. His tutor, Samantha Dixon, is preparing to graduate high school at the top of her class. When a football accident lands Alex in the hospital, his world is turned upside down. His doctor is murdered, followed by his parents. Death seems to follow him wherever he goes, and now it's after him. The two race desperately to stay ahead of Alex's attackers long enough to figure out why they are hunting him in the first place. The answer lies with a secret buried deep in his past, a secret his parents died to protect. Reviewed by Melanie Reynolds.
OUT OF BOUNDS: A Karen Pirie Novel by Val McDermid (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kathleen McCarron
When a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma, a routine DNA test reveals a connection to an unsolved murder from 22 years before. Finding the answer to the cold case should be straightforward, but it’s as twisted as the DNA helix itself. Meanwhile, decetive Karen Pirie finds herself irresistibly drawn to another mystery that she has no business investigating, a mystery that has its roots in a terrorist bombing two decades ago. And again, she finds that nothing is as it seems. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
THIS IS NOT OVER by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Madeleine Maby and Donna Postel
You’ll have your deposit within seven business days, just like it says on Getaway.com. I’ve put through a refund to your credit card for the full amount, minus 200 dollars to replace the stained sheets. When 30-year-old Dawn reads Miranda’s email, she sees red. People have always told Dawn she’s beautiful, and she just hopes they don’t see beneath --- to how she grew up, to what she’s always tried to outrun. The email strikes a nerve, with its lying intimation that Dawn is so dirty you need to throw out her sheets. Fifty-seven-year-old Miranda thought she’d seen it all, but she can’t believe her eyes when she reads Dawn’s review. People might think that her life is privileged, but they don’t know what’s really going on. They don’t know about her son. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
MRS. SHERLOCK HOLMES: The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation by Brad Ricca (Biography)
MRS. SHERLOCK HOLMES tells the true story of Mrs. Grace Humiston, the detective and lawyer who turned her back on New York society life to become one of the nation's greatest crime fighters during an era when women weren't even allowed to vote. After graduating from NYU law school, Grace opened a legal clinic in the city for low-income immigrant clients, and quickly established a reputation as a fierce but fair lawyer who was always on the side of the disenfranchised. But despite her many successes in social and criminal justice, Grace began to see chilling connections in the cases she had solved, leading to a final showdown with her most fearsome adversary of all and one of the most powerful men of the 20th century. Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.
THE FUTURES by Anna Pitoniak (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Sarah Mollo-Christensen and Michael Crouch
Julia and Evan fall in love as undergraduates at Yale. After graduation, and on the eve of the great financial meltdown of 2008, they move together to New York City, where Evan lands a job at a hedge fund. But Julia, whose privileged upbringing grants her an easy but wholly unsatisfying job with a nonprofit, feels increasingly shut out of Evan's secretive world. With the market crashing and banks failing, Evan becomes involved in a high-stakes deal at work --- a deal that, despite the assurances of his Machiavellian boss, begins to seem more than slightly suspicious. Meanwhile, Julia reconnects with someone from her past who offers a glimpse of a different kind of life. Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley.
THE GLASS UNIVERSE: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel (Science/History)
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell
In the mid-19th century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or “human computers,” to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates. The “glass universe” of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. Reviewed by Pauline Finch.
ALWAYS HAPPY HOUR: Stories by Mary Miller (Fiction/Short Stories)
ALWAYS HAPPY HOUR weaves tales of young women --- deeply flawed and intensely real --- who struggle to get out of their own way. They love to drink and have sex; they make bad decisions with men who either love them too much or too little; and they haunt a Southern terrain of gas stations, public pools and dive bars. Though each character shoulders the weight of her own baggage --- whether it’s a string of horrible exes, a boyfriend with an annoying child, or an inability to be genuinely happy for a best friend --- they are united in their unrelenting suspicion that they deserve better. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
THE WINTER IN ANNA by Reed Karaim (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Will Damron
A young man, Eric, drops out of college and lucks into a job with a small-town newspaper where he meets Anna --- a woman whose story will both haunt and inspire him for the rest of his life. Set in a remote North Dakota community in the last days before the Internet, THE WINTER IN ANNA unfolds around a romance that almost was, and a meditation on what constitutes a life well lived. In wistful, moving reflections, Eric looks back on his days with Anna and struggles to reconcile his memories with what he has since learned of her. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.
INDELIBLE by Adelia Saunders (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Aaron Abano and Charlotte Wright
Magdalena has an unsettling gift. She sees the truth about people written on their skin --- names, dates, details both banal and profound --- and her only relief from the onslaught of information is to take off her glasses and let the world recede. Mercifully, her own skin is blank. In Adelia Saunders' debut, secrets are revealed among forgotten texts in the old archives of Paris, on a dusty cattle ranch in the American West, along ancient pilgrim paths, and in a run-down apartment in post-Soviet Lithuania. By chance, or perhaps by fate, the novel's characters converge, and Magdalena's uncanny ability may be the key to their happiness. Reviewed by Carole Turner.
NIGHT OF FIRE by Colin Thubron (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Michael Page
A house is burning, threatening the existence of its six tenants --- including a failed priest; a naturalist; a neurosurgeon; an invalid dreaming of his anxious boyhood; and their landlord, whose relationship to the tenants is both intimate and shadowy. In NIGHT OF FIRE, the passions and obsessions in a dying house loom and shift, from those of the hallucinating drug addict in the basement to the landlord training his rooftop telescope on the night skies. As the novel progresses, the tenants’ diverse stories take us through an African refugee camp, Greek Orthodox monasteries, and the cremation grounds of India. Haunting the edges of their lives are memories. Will these remembrances be consumed forever by the flames? Or can they survive in some form? Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL: A Novel of the Trojan War by Emily Hauser (Historical Fiction)
Three thousand years ago, a war took place where legends were born: Achilles, the greatest of the Greeks, and Hector, prince of Troy. But what if there was more to the tale of these heroes than we know? How would the Trojan War have looked as seen through the eyes of its women? Krisayis, the ambitious, determined daughter of the High Priest of Troy, and Briseis, loyal and passionate princess of Pedasus, interweave their tales alongside Homer’s classic story of the rage of Achilles and the gods of Olympus. These two brave women, the heroes of the Trojan War, and the gods themselves come face to face in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Troy. Reviewed by Carly Silver.
Next Week’s Notables:
Noteworthy Books Releasing on January 24th
Below are some notable titles releasing on January 24th that we would like to make you aware of. We will have more on many of these books in the weeks to come. For a list of additional hardcovers and paperbacks releasing the week of January 23rd, see our “On Sale This Week” newsletter here.
CLOWNFISH BLUES by Tim Dorsey (Mystery/Humor)
Serge A. Storms and Coleman’s adventure traveling the byways of the Sunshine State’s underbelly is about to take a detour. Someone is trying to tilt the odds in the state lottery amidst a conga line of huge jackpots, spinning off more chaos than any hurricane season. With this much at stake, of course every shady character wants in.
DEATH’S MISTRESS: SISTER OF DARKNESS: The Nicci Chronicles, Volume I by Terry Goodkind (Fantasy)
DEATH’S MISTRESS: SISTER OF DARKNESS launches The Nicci Chronicles, Terry Goodkind's entirely new series with a cast of characters centered on one of his best-loved characters in the now-concluded Sword of Truth.
FATAL by John Lescroart (Thriller)
Kate and her husband, Ron, attend a dinner party where they meet another couple, Peter and Jill. Kate is suddenly overcome with a burning desire for Peter. Her fixation on him results in an intense, passionate encounter between the two --- and a series of horrifying events that will show Kate just how grave the consequences of one mistake can be.
THE FIFTH PETAL by Brunonia Barry (Mystery/Thriller)
When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem's chief of police, John Rafferty, who is now married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem’s most notorious cold case --- a triple homicide in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989.
THE GIRL BEFORE by JP Delaney (Psychological Thriller)
In the tradition of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, THE SILENT WIFE and GONE GIRL comes an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death and deception.
NO MAN'S LAND by Simon Tolkien (Historical Fiction)
Inspired by the real-life experiences of his grandfather, J. R. R. Tolkien, during World War I, Simon Tolkien delivers NO MAN’S LAND, a novel rife with class tension, period detail and stirring action, ranging from the sharply divided society of northern England to the trenches of the Somme.
THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS by Laurie Frankel (Fiction)
When Rosie and Penn and their four boys welcome the newest member of their family, no one is surprised it’s another baby boy. At least their large, loving, chaotic family knows what to expect. But Claude is not like his brothers. One day he puts on a dress and refuses to take it off. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.
THE TRAPPED GIRL by Robert Dugoni (Mystery/Thriller)
When a woman’s body is discovered submerged in a crab pot in the chilly waters of Puget Sound, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself with a tough case to untangle. Before they can identify the killer, Tracy and her colleagues on the Seattle PD’s Violent Crimes Section must figure out who the victim is. Her autopsy, however, reveals she may have gone to great lengths to conceal her identity.
WHO KILLED PIET BAROL? by Richard Mason (Historical Fiction)
Piet Barol was a tutor before he came to South Africa, his wife, Stacey, an opera singer. In Cape Town they are living the high life, impersonating French aristocrats. But their lies are catching up with them, in this long-awaited follow-up to HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER.
Click here to see the latest "On Sale This Week" newsletter.
Our Latest Poll: What Genre Are You Reading Now?
What is the genre of the book that you are currently reading? Please check all that apply.
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Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What You're
Reading --- and You Can Win Two Books!
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from January 20th to February 3rd at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of RATHER BE THE DEVIL by Ian Rankin and RIGHT BEHIND YOU by Lisa Gardner.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the books you write about, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For rules and guidelines, click here.
- To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.
Click here to enter the contest.
Sounding Off on Audio Contest: Tell Us What You're Listening to --- and You Can Win Two Audiobooks!
Tell us about the audiobooks you’ve finished listening to with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for both the performance and the content. During the contest period from January 3rd to February 1st at noon ET, two lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win the audio versions of JP Delaney's THE GIRL BEFORE, read by Emilia Fox and Finty Williams, with Lisa Aagaard Knudsen, and Chris Bohjalian's THE SLEEPWALKER, read by Cady McClain and Grace Experience.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the audiobook, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For complete rules and guidelines, click here.
- To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.
Click here to enter the contest.
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