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Editorial Content for Pro Bono

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Thomas Perry is a great thriller writer, and his latest stand-alone release is clear evidence of that. Following the acclaim he has received for the FX series “The Old Man,” which is based on his 2017 book of the same name, Perry has been in demand. Read More

Teaser

Los Angeles attorney Charles Warren has dedicated his career to aiding people in financial straits. He is particularly skilled at the art of recovering assets that have been embezzled or hidden. In his newest case, helping a beautiful young widow find the money missing from her late husband’s investment accounts, Charlie recognizes a familiar scheme --- one that echoes the con job that targeted his own widowed mother many years before and led him, as a teenager, to commit a crime of retribution that still weighs on his conscience. He can’t get the present case out of his mind, but within hours of starting his investigation, he is followed, shot at and has his briefcase stolen. As Charlie continues to pursue answers, he quickly becomes too entangled in the web of fraud, betrayal and career criminals surrounding the theft to escape its deadly snare.

Promo

Los Angeles attorney Charles Warren has dedicated his career to aiding people in financial straits. He is particularly skilled at the art of recovering assets that have been embezzled or hidden. In his newest case, helping a beautiful young widow find the money missing from her late husband’s investment accounts, Charlie recognizes a familiar scheme --- one that echoes the con job that targeted his own widowed mother many years before and led him, as a teenager, to commit a crime of retribution that still weighs on his conscience. He can’t get the present case out of his mind, but within hours of starting his investigation, he is followed, shot at and has his briefcase stolen. As Charlie continues to pursue answers, he quickly becomes too entangled in the web of fraud, betrayal and career criminals surrounding the theft to escape its deadly snare.

About the Book

A tenacious attorney grapples with a dangerous group of thieves in this new thriller from the author of THE OLD MAN.

Los Angeles attorney Charles Warren has dedicated his career to aiding people in financial straits. He is particularly skilled at the art of recovering assets that have been embezzled or hidden. In his newest case, helping a beautiful young widow find the money missing from her late husband’s investment accounts, Charlie recognizes a familiar scheme --- one that echoes the con job that targeted his own widowed mother many years before and led him, as a teenager, to commit a crime of retribution that still weighs on his conscience.

Charlie can’t get the present case out of his mind, but within hours of starting his investigation, he is followed, shot at and has his briefcase stolen. It’s clear that someone doesn’t want him following the trail of the missing money. But as Charlie continues to pursue answers, he quickly becomes too entangled in the web of fraud, betrayal and career criminals surrounding the theft to escape its deadly snare.

A nail-biting tale of conspiracy and pursuit from Thomas Perry, “a dominating force in the world of contemporary suspense thrillers” (Publishers Weekly), PRO BONO will have readers looking over their shoulders as constantly as they keep turning pages.

Audiobook available, read by L.J. Ganser

Editorial Content for The Texas Murders

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

James Patterson teams up with Andrew Bourelle for the third installment of their Texas Ranger series. Read More

Teaser

Texas Ranger Rory Yates protects his home state wearing a five-pointed silver badge and carrying a Sig Sauer. When a native woman disappears on the summer solstice, clues point to a cold case. Yates, a quick-draw champion, partners with expert archer Ava Cruz of the Tigua Tribal police. The investigation leads to the edges of Texas’s most unforgiving landscape, where the officers take dead aim with every shot in their arsenals.

Promo

Texas Ranger Rory Yates protects his home state wearing a five-pointed silver badge and carrying a Sig Sauer. When a native woman disappears on the summer solstice, clues point to a cold case. Yates, a quick-draw champion, partners with expert archer Ava Cruz of the Tigua Tribal police. The investigation leads to the edges of Texas’s most unforgiving landscape, where the officers take dead aim with every shot in their arsenals.

About the Book

In this thrilling novel from a #1 New York Times bestselling author, the great Texas Rangers go on a no-holds-barred pursuit of the most dangerous killer ever to terrorize Texas.

Texas Ranger Rory Yates protects his home state wearing a five-pointed silver badge and carrying a Sig Sauer.

When a native woman disappears on the summer solstice, clues point to a cold case.

Yates, a quick-draw champion, partners with expert archer Ava Cruz of the Tigua Tribal police.

The investigation leads to the edges of Texas’s most unforgiving landscape, where the officers take dead aim with every shot in their arsenals.

Audiobook available, read by Christopher Ryan Grant

Editorial Content for Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

Starting EDDIE WINSTON IS LOOKING FOR LOVE is like diving headfirst into a warm bubble bath, knowing that heated towels are waiting for you when it's over. The story is delightful, the characters are heartfelt and real, and the ending is just perfection. Read More

Teaser

Eddie Winston is 90 years old. He has lived and he has loved, but he has never been kissed. A true gentleman and an incurable romantic, Eddie spends his days volunteering at a charity shop, where he sorts through the donations of the living and the dead, preserving letters and tokens of love along the way. And it is here that he meets Bella, a troubled young woman who, at 24 years old, has just lost the love of her life. When Bella learns that Eddie is yet to have his first kiss, she resolves to help him finally find love. This sparks an adventure that will take them to unexpected places and, they hope, bring Eddie to the moment he has waited for all his life.

Promo

Eddie Winston is 90 years old. He has lived and he has loved, but he has never been kissed. A true gentleman and an incurable romantic, Eddie spends his days volunteering at a charity shop, where he sorts through the donations of the living and the dead, preserving letters and tokens of love along the way. And it is here that he meets Bella, a troubled young woman who, at 24 years old, has just lost the love of her life. When Bella learns that Eddie is yet to have his first kiss, she resolves to help him finally find love. This sparks an adventure that will take them to unexpected places and, they hope, bring Eddie to the moment he has waited for all his life.

About the Book

The author of the beloved international hit THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT returns with a funny, uplifting story about the power of friendship and finding love in unexpected places.

Eddie Winston is 90 years old. He has lived and he has loved, but he has never been kissed.

A true gentleman and an incurable romantic, Eddie spends his days volunteering at a charity shop, where he sorts through the donations of the living and the dead, preserving letters and tokens of love along the way. And it is here that he meets Bella, a troubled young woman who, at 24 years old, has just lost the love of her life.

When Bella learns that Eddie is yet to have his first kiss, she resolves to help him finally find love. This sparks an adventure that will take them to unexpected places and, they hope, bring Eddie to the moment he has waited for all his life.

A tale of friendship and kindness that reminds us that those we love are never forgotten and it is never too late to try again.

Audiobook available; read by Kim Durham, Clare Corbett and Natalie Nightingale

Editorial Content for All the Water in the World

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

From the administrative collapse of society to a deadly epidemic to an epic natural disaster, post-apocalyptic literature posits many horrific and dangerous futures. Read More

Teaser

ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents, and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality.

Promo

ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents, and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality.

About the Book

In the tradition of STATION ELEVEN, a literary thriller set partly on the roof of New York’s Museum of Natural History in a flooded future.

ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents, and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science.

When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they've saved.

Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story --- with danger, storms and a fight for survival. In the spirit of FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER and PARABLE OF THE SOWER, this wild journey offers the hope that what matters most --- love and work, community and knowledge --- will survive.

Audiobook available, read by Eunice Wong

Editorial Content for Strange Pictures

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

Two murders, one lost child, an enigmatic blog, grieving parents, a seasoned journalist, several curious students, and a child psychologist. At face value they have little in common. But each is circling a set of mysteries where central clues include a series of drawings.

STRANGE PICTURES by Uketsu was a sensation in Japan and has been translated into English by Jim Rion. It is a fun puzzle of a story, and the drawings that are included help both the characters and readers figure out what is happening and how each part fits together. Read More

Teaser

A pregnant woman's sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning. A child's picture of his home contains a dark secret message. A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbit hole that will reveal a horrifying reality. Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, mystery horror YouTube sensation Uketsu invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the over-arching backstory that connects them all.

Promo

A pregnant woman's sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning. A child's picture of his home contains a dark secret message. A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbit hole that will reveal a horrifying reality. Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, mystery horror YouTube sensation Uketsu invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the over-arching backstory that connects them all.

About the Book

The spine-tingling "triumphant international debut" (Publishers Weekly starred review) that has taken Japan by storm --- an eerie fresh take on mystery-horror in which a series of seemingly innocent pictures draws you into a disturbing web of unsolved mysteries and shattered psyches.

An exploration of the macabre, where the seemingly mundane takes on a terrifying significance.

A pregnant woman's sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning. A child's picture of his home contains a dark secret message. A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbit hole that will reveal a horrifying reality. Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, Uketsu invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the over-arching backstory that connects them all.

STRANGE PICTURES is the internationally bestselling debut from mystery horror YouTube sensation Uketsu --- an enigmatic masked figure who has become one of Japan's most talked about contemporary authors.

Audiobook available, read by Andrew Grace

Editorial Content for The Forger's Requiem

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

THE FORGER’S REQUIEM, which wraps up Bradford Morrow’s trilogy that began with THE FORGERS and continued with THE FORGER’S DAUGHTER, once again takes readers on a dark literary tour into the lives of professional forgers of classic novels.

Literary forger Henry Slader finds himself buried alive. Once he recognizes his fate, he gets his wits about him long enough to dig out of the loosely packed dirt encasing him and work his way to freedom. He was placed in a shallow grave by his two fiercest rivals: Will and Will’s daughter, Nicole. Read More

Teaser

Assaulted and presumed dead by his longtime nemesis, Will, literary forger Henry Slader awakens in a shallow grave. He exhumes himself and sets out to exact revenge on his rival, orchestrate Will’s downfall, and make a fortune along the way --- armed with a devastating secret about Will’s past. Slader quickly draws in Will’s daughter, Nicole, wielding his threats against her father to blackmail her into forging inscriptions by such authors as Poe, Hemingway, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. As Nicole’s skill grows, so does her devotion to --- and doubts about --- her father’s integrity, until she commits the ultimate betrayal for the sake of his freedom. She forges a suite of brilliantly convincing and surpassingly valuable letters by FRANKENSTEIN author Mary Shelley --- planting within them the seeds of Slader’s doom.

Promo

Assaulted and presumed dead by his longtime nemesis, Will, literary forger Henry Slader awakens in a shallow grave. He exhumes himself and sets out to exact revenge on his rival, orchestrate Will’s downfall, and make a fortune along the way --- armed with a devastating secret about Will’s past. Slader quickly draws in Will’s daughter, Nicole, wielding his threats against her father to blackmail her into forging inscriptions by such authors as Poe, Hemingway, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. As Nicole’s skill grows, so does her devotion to --- and doubts about --- her father’s integrity, until she commits the ultimate betrayal for the sake of his freedom. She forges a suite of brilliantly convincing and surpassingly valuable letters by FRANKENSTEIN author Mary Shelley --- planting within them the seeds of Slader’s doom.

About the Book

A gripping literary thriller that brings readers inside the world of expert forgery, rivalrous fury and generations of dark family secrets, with Mary Shelley’s voice and life woven throughout.

Literary forger Henry Slader, assaulted and presumed dead by his longtime nemesis, Will, awakens in a shallow grave, suffocating in dirt. Concussed and disoriented, Slader exhumes himself and sets out to exact revenge on his rival, orchestrate Will’s downfall and make a fortune along the way --- armed with a devastating secret about Will’s past.

Slader quickly draws in Will’s daughter, Nicole, wielding his threats against her father to blackmail her into forging inscriptions by such authors as Poe, Hemingway, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. As Nicole’s skill grows, so does her devotion to --- and doubts about --- her father’s integrity, until she commits the ultimate betrayal for the sake of his freedom. With breathtakingly precise background knowledge and virtuoso execution, Nicole forges a suite of brilliantly convincing and surpassingly valuable letters by FRANKENSTEIN author Mary Shelley --- planting within them the seeds of Slader’s doom.

Moving between upstate New York, a village in Ireland, London and ending in a shocking standoff at the site of Mary Shelley’s grave in a coastal town in Southern England, THE FORGER'S REQUIEM is both a compelling stand-alone novel and the crescendo ending to the trilogy Joyce Carol Oates has called “lethally enthralling to read.”

Audiobook available, read by Christina Delaine

Editorial Content for We Lived on the Horizon

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

In her previous two books, THE BOOK OF SPECULATION and LIGHT FROM OTHER STARS, Erika Swyler has crafted works of science fiction that also tackle important philosophical questions. In her third novel, she continues to do so, in a dystopian narrative that explores social injustice, privilege, and the power and limitations of technology. Read More

Teaser

A walled city built to protect and preserve the people who managed to survive a series of great cataclysms, Bulwark was founded on a system where sacrifice is rewarded by the AI that runs the city. Over generations, an elite class has evolved from the descendants of those who gave up the most to found mankind’s last stronghold, called the Sainted. Saint Enita Malovis feels the end of her life and decades of work as a bio-prosthetist approaching. She is determined to preserve her legacy and decides to create a physical being, called Nix, filled with her knowledge and experience. In the midst of her project, a fellow Sainted is brutally murdered and the city AI inexplicably erases the event from its data. Soon, Enita and Nix are drawn into the growing war that could change everything between Bulwark’s hidden underclass and the programs that impose and maintain order.

Promo

A walled city built to protect and preserve the people who managed to survive a series of great cataclysms, Bulwark was founded on a system where sacrifice is rewarded by the AI that runs the city. Over generations, an elite class has evolved from the descendants of those who gave up the most to found mankind’s last stronghold, called the Sainted. Saint Enita Malovis feels the end of her life and decades of work as a bio-prosthetist approaching. She is determined to preserve her legacy and decides to create a physical being, called Nix, filled with her knowledge and experience. In the midst of her project, a fellow Sainted is brutally murdered and the city AI inexplicably erases the event from its data. Soon, Enita and Nix are drawn into the growing war that could change everything between Bulwark’s hidden underclass and the programs that impose and maintain order.

About the Book

The acclaimed author of the “dazzling” (Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author) THE BOOK OF SPECULATION returns with an engrossing new novel about a bio-prosthetic surgeon and her personal AI as they are drawn into a revolution.

The city of Bulwark is aptly named. A walled city built to protect and preserve the people who managed to survive a series of great cataclysms, Bulwark was founded on a system where sacrifice is rewarded by the AI that runs the city. Over generations, an elite class has evolved from the descendants of those who gave up the most to found mankind’s last stronghold, called the Sainted.

Saint Enita Malovis, long accustomed to luxury, feels the end of her life and decades of work as a bio-prosthetist approaching. The lone practitioner of her art, Enita is determined to preserve her legacy and decides to create a physical being, called Nix, filled with her knowledge and experience. In the midst of her project, a fellow Sainted is brutally murdered and the city AI inexplicably erases the event from its data. Soon, Enita and Nix are drawn into the growing war that could change everything between Bulwark’s hidden underclass and the programs that impose and maintain order.

A complex, imaginative and unforgettable novel, WE LIVED ON THE HORIZON grapples with concepts as varied as the human desire for utopia, body horror, and what the future holds for humanity and machine alike.

Audiobook available, read by Shiromi Arserio

January 17, 2025

Francesca, our Contest Coordinator, and I hunkered down on Wednesday to mail the prizes for the Year-End Bets On contest. My kitchen table had 80 books on it when we started the packing. A randomizer was used to select the winners --- and from there we tried to match readers with the books we thought they would enjoy reading from the genres that they noted in their entries. Yes, we took our roles as book concierges very seriously.

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

January 2025

I have been a passionate reader of Fiona Davis’ novels --- all eight of them. So when I tell you that I think THE STOLEN QUEEN is her best one, it’s really high praise.

As long-time readers know, Fiona sets her books in iconic New York City buildings. This time it’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As always, there are two time frames. This one takes place in 1936 and 1978.

In Egypt, the setting for the earlier chapters, Charlotte Cross is on a dig with a number of other archaeologists. Along the way, she finds a tomb that has not been completely researched. It belongs to Hathorkare, a female pharaoh who has not been given her due in history. Charlotte finds a broad collar in gold, which hints that this woman had been regal. Fiona has us entrenched in the ruins with the team, and we feel like we are dusting off the treasures found there.

The Note by Alafair Burke

January 2025

In THE NOTE by Alafair Burke, three friends have decamped to a stunning place in the Hamptons for a reunion visit. It all sounds idyllic, but this is a thriller, so don’t settle back in your chair and relax.

Lauren, Kelsey and May have not seen each other in a while. But it quickly becomes clear that had they not attended the same camp in the past, they probably would not be in each other’s lives. They were close at one time, but we don’t know exactly why they’re spending time together now. Is it to share memories, or something else? Each has a history that is carefully parsed to readers, as something scandalous or embarrassing has happened to them. They know some of each other’s secrets, but not all of them. Alafair does a great job of drawing us deeper and deeper into their lives.