Skip to main content

Editorial Content for Scandalous Behavior: A Stone Barrington Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Judy Gigstad

With the ink barely dry on FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Stuart Woods has penned a new volume in his Stone Barrington series, SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOR. The non-stop action in Stone’s trip to Rome with a dalliance in Paris, coupled with intrigue from Italian mobsters, has left him exhausted. Before flying home to New York, he accepts an invitation from Dame Felicity Devonshire to vacation at her country estate.  Read More

Teaser

After a series of nonstop adventures, Stone Barrington is eager for some peace and quiet in a rustic British setting. But no sooner does he land in England than he’s beset by an outrageous demand from a beautiful lady, and an offer he can’t refuse. Unfortunately, Stone quickly learns that his new acquisition comes with some undesired strings attached --- namely, a deadly mystery involving the complex relationships of the local gentry, and a relentless adversary who raises the stakes with every encounter.

Promo

After a series of nonstop adventures, Stone Barrington is eager for some peace and quiet in a rustic British setting. But no sooner does he land in England than he’s beset by an outrageous demand from a beautiful lady, and an offer he can’t refuse. Unfortunately, Stone quickly learns that his new acquisition comes with some undesired strings attached --- namely, a deadly mystery involving the complex relationships of the local gentry, and a relentless adversary who raises the stakes with every encounter.

About the Book

Stone Barrington is back, in fine form, in the newest thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author.
 
After a series of nonstop adventures, Stone Barrington is eager for some peace and quiet in a rustic British setting. But no sooner does he land in England than he’s beset by an outrageous demand from a beautiful lady, and an offer he can’t refuse.

Unfortunately, Stone quickly learns that his new acquisition comes with some undesired strings attached --- namely, a deadly mystery involving the complex relationships of the local gentry, and a relentless adversary who raises the stakes with every encounter. Stone’s restful country vacation is looking like yet another troublesome situation, but with his tireless aplomb --- and the help of a few friends --- he is more than up to the challenge.

Audiobook available, narrated by Tony Roberts

Editorial Content for Reasons to Stay Alive

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

I’ve loved Matt Haig’s novels for adults and kids for close to a decade now. His books are invariably funny and wise, offering a unique outlook on the world and its foibles. They also can be quite emotionally affecting; I remember finishing his last book, THE HUMANS, while on a transatlantic flight. Read More

Teaser

Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt Haig’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest cliché is the truest --- there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Promo

Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt Haig’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest cliché is the truest --- there is light at the end of the tunnel.

About the Book

One of Entertainment Weekly‘s 25 most anticipated books of 2016 --- Matt Haig’s accessible and life-affirming memoir of his struggle with depression, and how his triumph over the illness taught him to live
 
Like nearly one in five people, Matt Haig suffers from depression. REASONS TO STAY ALIVE is Matt’s inspiring account of how, minute by minute and day by day, he overcame the disease with the help of reading, writing, and the love of his parents and his girlfriend (and now-wife), Andrea. And eventually, he learned to appreciate life all the more for it.
 
Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest cliché is the truest --- there is light at the end of the tunnel. He teaches us to celebrate the small joys and moments of peace that life brings, and reminds us that there are always reasons to stay alive.

Editorial Content for The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jesse Kornbluth for HeadButler.com

“The best book about friendship I’ve ever read.” That’s what I wrote, some years ago, about LET'S TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME, Gail Caldwell’s memoir of her friendship with Caroline Knapp. Two writers, private in the important ways, both triumphantly sober --- and then Caroline was diagnosed with cancer and died, seven weeks later, at 42. Caldwell’s writing is restrained, but no matter. Her book rips your heart out. Read More

Teaser

Paul Lisicky creates a compelling collage of scenes and images drawn from two long-term relationships --- one with a female novelist and the other with his ex-husband, a poet. The contours of these relationships shift constantly. Denise and Paul, stretched by the demands of their writing lives, drift apart, and Paul's romance begins to falter. And the world around them is frail: environmental catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti and local disturbances make an unsettling backdrop to the pressing concerns of Denise's cancer diagnosis and Paul's impending breakup.

Promo

Paul Lisicky creates a compelling collage of scenes and images drawn from two long-term relationships --- one with a female novelist and the other with his ex-husband, a poet. The contours of these relationships shift constantly. Denise and Paul, stretched by the demands of their writing lives, drift apart, and Paul's romance begins to falter. And the world around them is frail: environmental catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti and local disturbances make an unsettling backdrop to the pressing concerns of Denise's cancer diagnosis and Paul's impending breakup.

About the Book

In THE NARROW DOOR, Paul Lisicky creates a compelling collage of scenes and images drawn from two long-term relationships --- one with a woman novelist and the other with his ex-husband, a poet. The contours of these relationships shift constantly. Denise and Paul, stretched by the demands of their writing lives, drift apart, and Paul's romance begins to falter. And the world around them is frail: environmental catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti and local disturbances make an unsettling backdrop to the pressing concerns of Denise's cancer diagnosis and Paul's impending breakup.

Lisicky's compassionate heart and resilience seem all the stronger in the face of such searing losses. His survival --- hard-won, unsentimental, authentic --- proves that in turning toward loss, we embrace life.

Editorial Content for Interior Darkness: Selected Stories

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Peter Straub is a modern Master of Horror, and perhaps only his sometime collaborator, Stephen King, can carry that mantle. INTERIOR DARKNESS gathers for the first time short stories of Straub's that span several decades. These tales were taken from the previous collections HOUSES WITHOUT DOORS, MAGIC TERROR and 5 STORIES, along with a few previously uncollected tales. Read More

Teaser

In INTERIOR DARKNESS, Peter Straub explores the deepest, shadow-filled corners of his imagination. His world is made up of damaged people --- from the righteous to the depraved, from the working class to the wealthy. No one and no place is safe from the darkness that he reveals. In “Blue Rose,” an adolescent sociopath inflicts secret violence on his younger brother; in “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” a stern estate lawyer hires a pair of "Private Detectives Extraordinaire" to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife; and in “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine,” a man and his much younger lover explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies aboard a luxurious yacht on the remotest stretch of the Amazon River.

Promo

In INTERIOR DARKNESS, Peter Straub explores the deepest, shadow-filled corners of his imagination. His world is made up of damaged people --- from the righteous to the depraved, from the working class to the wealthy. No one and no place is safe from the darkness that he reveals. In “Blue Rose,” an adolescent sociopath inflicts secret violence on his younger brother; in “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” a stern estate lawyer hires a pair of "Private Detectives Extraordinaire" to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife; and in “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine,” a man and his much younger lover explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies aboard a luxurious yacht on the remotest stretch of the Amazon River.

About the Book

Peter Straub, an American icon of horror, explores the deepest, shadow-filled corners of his imagination. Straub's world is made up of damaged people --- from the righteous to the depraved, from the working class to the wealthy.
 
No one and no place is safe from the darkness that he reveals. In “Blue Rose,” an adolescent sociopath inflicts secret violence on his younger brother; in “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” a stern estate lawyer hires a pair of "Private Detectives Extraordinaire" to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife; and in “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine,” a man and his much younger lover explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies aboard a luxurious yacht on the remotest stretch of the Amazon River. INTERIOR DARKNESS is a thrilling and terrifying testament to Straub's unparalleled contribution to the world of horror.

Editorial Content for No Cure for Love

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

Mystery aficionados are more likely than not to be familiar with the Inspector Banks series of police procedural novels by Peter Robinson. The individual books balance the personality of the driven and quietly troubled police detective --- and a top-notch ensemble of recurring secondary characters --- with what is always a razor-sharp mystery. What also makes these books so appealing is Robinson’s ability to capture the elements of London as well as small-town England down to their last nuances. Read More

Teaser

Sarah Broughton, the star of a hit cop show on TV, has put her dark past behind her…as well as her old name, Sally Bolton. When Sarah begins receiving letters mysteriously signed with the letter “M,” she thinks they’re from a harmless admirer…until her real name appears in the third letter. And then she finds that name inscribed in the sand near her home --- next to a body. The message is clear: Someone is watching Sarah’s every move. Someone so obsessed with her that he won’t stop at just one murder in order to prove his love.

Promo

Sarah Broughton, the star of a hit cop show on TV, has put her dark past behind her…as well as her old name, Sally Bolton. When Sarah begins receiving letters mysteriously signed with the letter “M,” she thinks they’re from a harmless admirer…until her real name appears in the third letter. And then she finds that name inscribed in the sand near her home --- next to a body. The message is clear: Someone is watching Sarah’s every move. Someone so obsessed with her that he won’t stop at just one murder in order to prove his love.

About the Book

Featuring a foreword by Michael Connelly, this relentlessly suspenseful thriller from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar award-winning author of the Inspector Banks novels marks the first time that Peter Robinson has set a novel in America. 

Sarah Broughton has come a long way. She’s the star of a hit cop show on TV. She lives in a beautiful California beach house. And --- most importantly --- she’s put her dark past behind her… as well as her old name, Sally Bolton. No need for anyone to know about that.

When Sarah begins receiving letters mysteriously signed with the letter “M,” she thinks they’re from a harmless admirer… until her real name appears in the third letter. And then she finds that name inscribed in the sand near her home – next to a body.

The message is clear: Someone is watching Sarah’s every move. Someone so obsessed with her that he won’t stop at just one murder in order to prove his love.

Panicked, Sarah turns to Detective Arvo Hughes of the LAPD, a man who specializes in hunting down the most dangerous stalkers. But nothing in Hughes’ experience has prepared him for the mastermind he’s up against. For the killer, there’s no cure for love. And for Sarah and Hughes, there’s no way out.

Audiobook available, narrated by Jeff Harding

Editorial Content for The Fall of Moscow Station

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Melanie Reynolds

What turns a faithful agent into a traitor? What motivates an Aldrich Ames or a Robert Hanssen to commit espionage against his own nation, to turn his back on democracy, to sell critical and sensitive information that costs the lives of other agents? Sometimes the motivation is just money. Occasionally, the traitor may actually believe in the other side’s system, or be disillusioned with America’s leaders and policies. Can any of these actually justify treason? Read More

Teaser

When a body with Russian military tattoos is found floating in a lake outside Berlin, the CIA immediately takes notice. The body is identified as the director of Russia’s Foundation for Advanced Nuclear Research, who is also a CIA asset. Alden Maines is jaded after years in the CIA cleaning up the messes of incompetent political appointees in dangerous foreign posts. When he is passed over for promotion, Maines crosses the Rubicon and decides to cash in as a double agent for Russia. But while Maines dreams of off-shore bank accounts and a new secret life, Arkady Lavrov of Russia’s intelligence service (GRU) has other plans.

Promo

When a body with Russian military tattoos is found floating in a lake outside Berlin, the CIA immediately takes notice. The body is identified as the director of Russia’s Foundation for Advanced Nuclear Research, who is also a CIA asset. Alden Maines is jaded after years in the CIA cleaning up the messes of incompetent political appointees in dangerous foreign posts. When he is passed over for promotion, Maines crosses the Rubicon and decides to cash in as a double agent for Russia. But while Maines dreams of off-shore bank accounts and a new secret life, Arkady Lavrov of Russia’s intelligence service (GRU) has other plans.

About the Book

When a body with Russian military tattoos is found floating in a lake outside Berlin, the CIA immediately takes notice. The body is identified as the director of Russia’s Foundation for Advanced Nuclear Research, who is also a CIA asset. And the murder coincides with the defection of one of the CIA’s upper-level officers.

Alden Maines is jaded after years in the CIA cleaning up the messes of incompetent political appointees in dangerous foreign posts. When he is passed over for promotion, Maines crosses the Rubicon and decides to cash in as a double agent for Russia.

But while Maines dreams of off-shore bank accounts and a new secret life, Arkady Lavrov of Russia’s intelligence service (GRU) has other plans. He immediately announces Maines’ defection to the world and then pumps him for every last ounce of intel, including the names of every agent in the CIA’s Moscow Station and their assets working in the Kremlin. But why would Lavrov burn an asset whose intel and access could pay dividends for years to come? What is Lavrov up to?

Traveling from Langley to Berlin and finally Moscow --- working black without backup --- analyst Jonathan Burke and agent Kyra Stryker are up against their most formidable enemy yet, and their lives and the fate of America’s most important assets in the New Cold War hang in the balance.

Audiobook available, narrated by Eric G. Dove

Editorial Content for A Midsummer's Equation

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

It has been too long since we last encountered Dr. Manabu Yukawa. The brainchild of prolific Japanese author Keigo Higashino, Yukawa is an eccentric physics professor who has acquired the nickname “Detective Galileo” for providing occasional and ofttimes reluctant assistance to law enforcement when a serious and baffling crime has occurred. To my knowledge, there have been five books published in the series to date, with the newly minted A MIDSUMMER’S EQUATION being the third to be seen in the United States thanks to the stalwart translation efforts of Alexander O. Read More

Teaser

Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as "Detective Galileo," has traveled to Hari Cove, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort's guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. As the police try to uncover where Tsukahara was killed and why, Yukawa finds himself enmeshed in yet another confounding case of murder. In a series of twists, Galileo uncovers the hidden relationship behind the tragic events that led to this crime.

Promo

Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as "Detective Galileo," has traveled to Hari Cove, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort's guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. As the police try to uncover where Tsukahara was killed and why, Yukawa finds himself enmeshed in yet another confounding case of murder. In a series of twists, Galileo uncovers the hidden relationship behind the tragic events that led to this crime.

About the Book

Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as "Detective Galileo," has traveled to Hari Cove, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. One faction is against the proposed operation, concerned about the environmental impact on the area, known for its pristine waters. The other faction, seeing no future in the town as it is, believes its only hope lies in the development project.

The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort's guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. The local police at first believe it was a simple accident --- that he wandered over the edge while walking on unfamiliar territory in the middle of the night. But when they discover that the victim was a former policeman and that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, they begin to suspect he was murdered, and his body tossed off the cliff to misdirect the police.

As the police try to uncover where Tsukahara was killed and why, Yukawa finds himself enmeshed in yet another confounding case of murder. In a series of twists as complex and surprising as any in Higashino's brilliant, critically acclaimed work, Galileo uncovers the hidden relationship behind the tragic events that led to this murder.

Audiobook available, narrated by P.J. Ochlan

Editorial Content for All the Winters After

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stephen Febick

Alaska doesn’t forgive mistakes,” it is written in Seré Prince Halverson’s ALL THE WINTERS AFTER. As we find, Alaska is a dangerous territory both physically and spiritually. It is home to desolation, long landscapes and those escaping society to seek something more. It makes for a fair second novel from Halverson, whose debut, THE UNDERSIDE OF JOY, was also fair enough but nothing extraordinary. Neither book goes above and beyond any form of storytelling, although each has a strong premise. Read More

Teaser

Alaska doesn't forgive mistakes. That's what Kachemak Winkel's mother used to tell him. A lot of mistakes were made that awful day 20 years ago, when she died in a plane crash with Kache's father and brother --- and Kache still feels responsible. He fled Alaska for good, but now his aunt Snag insists on his return. She admits she couldn't bring herself to check on his family's house in the woods --- not even once since he's been gone. Kache is sure the cabin has decayed into a pile of logs, but he finds smoke rising from the chimney and a mysterious Russian woman hiding from her own troubled past.

Promo

Alaska doesn't forgive mistakes. That's what Kachemak Winkel's mother used to tell him. A lot of mistakes were made that awful day 20 years ago, when she died in a plane crash with Kache's father and brother --- and Kache still feels responsible. He fled Alaska for good, but now his aunt Snag insists on his return. She admits she couldn't bring herself to check on his family's house in the woods --- not even once since he's been gone. Kache is sure the cabin has decayed into a pile of logs, but he finds smoke rising from the chimney and a mysterious Russian woman hiding from her own troubled past.

About the Book

Alaska doesn’t forgive mistakes.

That’s what Kachemak Winkel’s mother used to tell him. A lot of mistakes were made that awful day twenty years ago, when she died in a plane crash with Kache’s father and brother --- and Kache still feels responsible. He fled Alaska for good, but now his aunt Snag insists on his return. She admits she couldn’t bring herself to check on his family’s house in the woods --- not even once since he’s been gone.

Kache is sure the cabin has decayed into a pile of logs, but he finds smoke rising from the chimney and a mysterious Russian woman hiding from her own troubled past. Nadia has kept the house exactly the same --- a haunting museum of life before the crash. And she’s stayed there, afraid and utterly isolated, for 10 years.

Set in the majestic, dangerous beauty of Alaska, ALL THE WINTERS AFTER is the story of two bound souls trying to free themselves, searching for family and forgiveness.

Audiobook available, narrated by George Newbern

Editorial Content for The Immortals

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

What happens to gods and goddesses as their religions go extinct and they are forgotten or replaced by new deities? This is not a new question, not even a question unique in contemporary fiction. But in THE IMMORTALS, Jordanna Max Brodsky’s debut novel, it is explored in the always-dynamic setting of New York City as a series of grisly murders pull a classicist and a goddess together to solve the crimes. Read More

Teaser

The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone --- just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous. In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago --- when her name was Artemis.

Promo

The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone --- just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous. In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago --- when her name was Artemis.

About the Book

Manhattan has many secrets. Some are older than the city itself.

The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone --- just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous.

In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago --- when her name was Artemis.

Audiobook available, narrated by Jordanna Max Brodsky and Robert Petkoff

Editorial Content for Ice Chest

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

You can’t read a J.D. Rhoades novel without becoming a fan for life. His dark thrillers --- particularly those featuring troubled bounty hunter Jack Keller --- are all one-sit reads, full of action, twists and turns, and memorable characters. ICE CHEST, his latest novel, finds him eschewing the darker edges of his previous work in the thriller genre, offering instead a caper novel shot through with a somewhat lighter tone. I will leave it for others to decide if it’s his best book to date, but it’s certainly my personal favorite. Read More

Teaser

Clarissa Cartwright is about to take the stage wearing a fortune in jewels. In the wings, a motley crew of bumbling crooks is scheming to make off with the biggest heist of their careers: five and a half million dollars in precious stones. When the robbers find themselves pursued by both the intimidating ex-cop tasked with protecting the world’s most valuable piece of lingerie and Clarissa's insanely jealous and mobbed-up ex-boyfriend, things get ugly. Especially when Clarissa decides she's had quite enough of being an object and resolves to turn the tables on both the crooks and the fashion world.

Promo

Clarissa Cartwright is about to take the stage wearing a fortune in jewels. In the wings, a motley crew of bumbling crooks is scheming to make off with the biggest heist of their careers: five and a half million dollars in precious stones. When the robbers find themselves pursued by both the intimidating ex-cop tasked with protecting the world’s most valuable piece of lingerie and Clarissa's insanely jealous and mobbed-up ex-boyfriend, things get ugly. Especially when Clarissa decides she's had quite enough of being an object and resolves to turn the tables on both the crooks and the fashion world.

About the Book

A smart, sexy and hilarious heist novel about a crew of thieves who attempt to steal the world’s most valuable jewels from the world’s most valuable body.

Clarissa Cartwright, the planet's most famous beauty, is about to take the stage wearing a fortune in jewels, and not much else. In the wings, a motley crew of bumbling crooks is scheming to make off with the biggest heist of their careers: five and a half million dollars in precious stones, used to create the world's most expensive piece of lingerie. But mix the glitz and glamour of the highest of high fashion with a team of crooks that would have trouble stealing a sandwich from a deli, and all bets are off.

When the robbers find themselves pursued by both the intimidating ex-cop tasked with protecting the world’s most valuable piece of lingerie and Clarissa's insanely jealous and mobbed-up ex-boyfriend, things get ugly. Especially when Clarissa decides she's had quite enough of being an object and decides to turn the tables on both the crooks and the fashion world. ICE CHEST combines the page-turning skill of J.D. Rhoades' acclaimed Jack Keller thrillers with the excitement and humor of Ocean's Eleven.