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September 20, 2024

On Tuesday, I learned the very sad news that Nelson DeMille passed away. He had been fighting esophageal cancer for about nine months. When I saw a note in my inbox on Tuesday night from his children, Lauren and Alex, I literally yelled “No!’ so loudly that my husband came in from the other room to see what had happened.

Over the past few days, I have been trying to remember which of his books I read first. I am not sure which of his 23 novels it was! Was it THE GOLD COAST or PLUM ISLAND or THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER? I truly cannot recall. I do know that when I read one of his books, I was going to be enjoying a smartly written thriller that would make me think. It often would have Nelson’s wry humor laced in, especially with any of his eight John Corey books, the last being THE MAZE, which came out in 2022.

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Author Talk: Irene Daria, Ph.D., author of I Didn't Believe Him

Sep 19, 2024

Irene Daria is a cognitive developmental psychologist who specializes in teaching children how to read, including those of Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, and Tom Brady and Bridget Moynahan. At the time of her memoir, I DIDN’T BELIEVE HIM, she was thrilled that her son had been accepted to one of the most esteemed public schools in Manhattan. Believing that he was on the path to a venerable education, she did not listen when her five-year-old told her that he --- like millions of other children --- was not being taught how to read in school. An entire, very painful school year passed before Eric got her to realize he was right. Follow along as Daria begins a perplexing but ultimately empowering journey to save his academic life, which she talks about in this insightful and eye-opening interview.

September 17, 2024

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 16th and September 23rd that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our review of the newly released HERE ONE MOMENT. If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate? This intriguing question lies at the heart of Liane Moriarty's new novel, which will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. According to our reviewer Eileen Zimmerman Nicol, “As a reader of HERE ONE MOMENT, you’ll be wondering how on earth Liane Moriarty can possibly resolve this premise…. But by then you're hooked.”

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September 17, 2024

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we know people will be talking about this fall. Read more about it, and enter our Fall Reading Contest by Wednesday, September 18th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE NIGHT WE LOST HIM by Laura Dave, which is now available and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

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Jeffery Deaver, author of Fatal Intrusion

Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules. But when her sister is attacked, revealing a connection to a series of murders across Southern California, she realizes that a conventional investigation will not be enough to stop the ruthless perpetrator. With nowhere else to turn, Sanchez enlists the aid of Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert who believes rules are merely suggestions. The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favor. They team up to catch the assailant, who has no discernible motive and fits no classic criminal profile. All they have to go on is a distinctive tattoo and a singular obsession that gives this chillingly efficient tactician his nickname: Spider. Over the next 72 hours, Sanchez and Heron find themselves in the midst of a lethal chess match with the killer as they race to stop the carnage.

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Danzy Senna, author of Colored Television

Jane and her family are living in luxury for a year, house-sitting in the hills above Los Angeles. The gig magically coincides with Jane’s sabbatical, giving her the time and space she needs to finish her second novel --- a centuries-spanning epic that her artist husband, Lenny, dubs her “mulatto WAR AND PEACE.” Finally, some semblance of stability and success seems to be within her grasp. But things don’t work out quite as hoped. Desperate for a plan B, Jane turns her gaze to Hollywood. When she finagles a meeting with Hampton Ford, a hot producer with a major development deal at a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a “real writer,” and together they begin to develop “the Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies.” Things finally seem to be going right for Jane --- until they go terribly wrong.

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Kate Atkinson, author of Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book

In his sleepy Yorkshire town, ex-detective Jackson Brodie is staving off boredom and malaise. His only case is the seemingly tedious matter of a stolen painting. But Jackson soon uncovers a string of unsolved art thefts that lead him down a dizzying spiral of disguise and deceit to Burton Makepeace, a formerly magnificent estate now partially converted into a hotel hosting Murder Mystery weekends. As paying guests, impecunious aristocrats and old friends collide, we are treated to Atkinson’s most charming and fiendishly clever mystery yet, one that pays homage to the masters of the genre --- from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to the modern era of Knives Out and "Only Murders in the Building."

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Liane Moriarty, author of Here One Moment

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed. Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future --- age 103! --- and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all. If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

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Elizabeth Strout, author of Tell Me Everything

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He also has fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known --- “unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them --- reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

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Editorial Content for Guide Me Home: A Highway 59 Novel

Book

Guide Me Home: A Highway 59 Novel

Contributors

Philip Zozzaro

Reviewer (text)

Philip Zozzaro

The course of Darren Matthews’ day was dictated by actions of necessity, one being unpleasant and the other romantic. The former was turning in his badge as a Texas Ranger. The latter was proposing to his girlfriend, Randie. Upon Darren’s arrival home, he comes face to face with the reason for his resignation, and his romantic plans take a backseat. His estranged mother, Bell, has shown up and desires a conversation with her son about a missing person’s case. Darren barely can face her as she turned over evidence in a case that could lead to his indictment. Read More

Teaser

Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves when he is visited by someone who always has been bent on tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if he can trust that his mother is telling the truth --- and what her ulterior motive may be. He gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again --- his mother.

Promo

Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves when he is visited by someone who always has been bent on tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if he can trust that his mother is telling the truth --- and what her ulterior motive may be. He gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again --- his mother.

About the Book

In this stunning culmination of the award-winning Highway 59 trilogy, Detective Darren Mathews is pulled out of an early retirement to investigate the case of a missing Black college student from an all-white sorority and soon finds a town that will stop at nothing to keep its secrets hidden​.

Texas Ranger Darren Mathews isn’t sure he’s been a good cop, but believes he’s got a shot at being a good man --- if he manages to dodge the potential indictment hanging over his head and if he, from here on out, pledges allegiance to the truth. It’s a virtue the country appears to have wholly lost its grip on, but one Darren sees as his salvation.

He is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves, hoping for the peace of country living at his beloved farmhouse, when he is visited by someone who couldn’t hold the truth on her tongue if it was dipped in sugar, a woman who’s always been bent on tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if his can trust his mother is telling the truth --- and what her ulterior motive may be, and what if that motive has to do with a grand jury deciding his fate.

Darren gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again --- his mother.

In this emotionally stirring conclusion to the singular Highway 59 series, set three years after the events of HEAVEN, MY HOME, Darren reckons with his life’s purpose as he’s forced to choose between his own peace and the higher call to do good.

Audiobook available, read by JD Jackson