July 26, 2022
In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 25th and August 1st 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 Jennifer Hillier's brilliant new thriller, THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK, which will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Paris Peralta is suspected of killing her celebrity husband, and her long-hidden past now threatens to destroy her future. Scroll further down the newsletter for more about the book, including Carol's "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Jennifer.
July 26, 2022
This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we think is a great summer reading selection. Read more about it, and enter our Summer Reading Contest by Wednesday, July 27th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of SUGAR AND SALT by Susan Wiggs, which is now available. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!
July 22, 2022
I have discovered the way that I get more reading done. I leave my phone in the house, head outside to my chair underneath the turquoise tent, which my husband calls “The Cleopatra Tent,” and I read. Then I float in the pool and read. Last Saturday, I floated and kicked for three hours while reading THE IT GIRL by Ruth Ware. A pool means that I can exercise and read at the same time. This is very efficient. I have been lobbying hard for a hot tub. I was picturing myself reading while kicking my legs with flippers. Yes, I will not get far, but what a workout. Hmmm…I will need heatproof flippers.
Editorial Content for The Dead Romantics
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Ashley Poston, the bestselling author of young adult books like HEART OF IRON and GEEKERELLA, makes her adult debut with THE DEAD ROMANTICS. This quirky and surprising romance will make a believer --- of ghosts, love and everything in between --- out of any reader. Read More
Teaser
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem. After a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For 10 years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and it feels like nothing has changed. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Promo
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem. After a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For 10 years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and it feels like nothing has changed. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
About the Book
A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem --- after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For 10 years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead...but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
Audiobook available, read by Eileen Stevens
Editorial Content for The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi novel, THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU, took on the ethical problems of experimentation, vivisection in particular. It has inspired filmmakers and writers for over a hundred years to also consider scientific responsibility and morality. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the latest author to take Wells’ characters to new places in her book, THE DAUGHTER OF DOCTOR MOREAU. Read More
Teaser
Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman. Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his experiments. The hybrids: The fruits of the doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities. All of them live in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Dr. Moreau’s patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction.
Promo
Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman. Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his experiments. The hybrids: The fruits of the doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities. All of them live in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Dr. Moreau’s patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction.
About the Book
From the bestselling author of MEXICAN GOTHIC and VELVET WAS THE NIGHT comes a dreamy reimagining of THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU set against the backdrop of 19th-century Mexico.
Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman.
Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers.
The hybrids: The fruits of the doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities.
All of them live in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Dr. Moreau’s patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction.
For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and, in the sweltering heat of the jungle, passions may ignite.
THE DAUGHTER OF DOCTOR MOREAU is both a dazzling historical novel and a daring science fiction journey.
Audiobook available, read by Gisela Chípe
Editorial Content for The Retreat
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In Sarah Pearse’s sophomore novel, THE RETREAT, an island off the English coast with a dark history is transformed into an exclusive wellness resort. But stunning contemporary architecture and luxe amenities can’t hide the fact that LUMEN is still Reaper’s Rock --- the place where four teens were murdered by a deranged caretaker back in 2003. Before that, it was home to a boarding school that mysteriously burned to the ground. Centuries earlier, it was a dumping ground for plague victims. Read More
Teaser
An idyllic wellness retreat has opened on an island off the English coast, promising rest and relaxation --- but the island itself, known locally as Reaper’s Rock, has a dark past. Once the playground of a serial killer, it’s rumored to be cursed. A young woman is found dead below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But Detective Elin Warner soon learns the victim wasn’t a guest --- in fact, she wasn’t meant to be on the island at all. And they would do anything to escape. The longer Elin stays, the more secrets she uncovers. When someone else drowns in a diving incident, Elin begins to suspect that there’s nothing accidental about these deaths. But why would someone target the guests at this luxury resort?
Promo
An idyllic wellness retreat has opened on an island off the English coast, promising rest and relaxation --- but the island itself, known locally as Reaper’s Rock, has a dark past. Once the playground of a serial killer, it’s rumored to be cursed. A young woman is found dead below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But Detective Elin Warner soon learns the victim wasn’t a guest --- in fact, she wasn’t meant to be on the island at all. And they would do anything to escape. The longer Elin stays, the more secrets she uncovers. When someone else drowns in a diving incident, Elin begins to suspect that there’s nothing accidental about these deaths. But why would someone target the guests at this luxury resort?
About the Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of THE SANATORIUM, a Reese’s Book Club pick, Detective Elin Warner uncovers the truth behind the suspicious deaths on a stunning island getaway.
They couldn’t wait to stay here.
An idyllic wellness retreat has opened on an island off the English coast, promising rest and relaxation --- but the island itself, known locally as Reaper’s Rock, has a dark past. Once the playground of a serial killer, it’s rumored to be cursed.
But now they can’t leave.
A young woman is found dead below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But Detective Elin Warner soon learns the victim wasn’t a guest --- in fact, she wasn’t meant to be on the island at all.
And they would do anything to escape.
The longer Elin stays, the more secrets she uncovers. When someone else drowns in a diving incident, Elin begins to suspect that there’s nothing accidental about these deaths. But why would someone target the guests at this luxury resort? Elin must find the killer --- before the island’s history starts to repeat itself.
Most are here to recharge and refresh. But someone’s here for revenge.
Audiobook available, read by Elizabeth Knowelden
Editorial Content for The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bill Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings and a Hit
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
My two passions are baseball (duh) and movies (really?). So when I learn about a book that combines the two, it jumps to the top of my “to read” list.
Let’s back up just a step. Read More
Teaser
Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely revered as the best sports movie of all time. But back in 1987, Ron Shelton was a first-time director, and no one was willing to finance a movie about baseball --- especially a story set in the minors. The jury was still out on Kevin Costner’s leading-man potential, while Susan Sarandon was already a has-been. But something miraculous happened, and THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL attempts to capture why. From organizing a baseball camp for the actors and rewriting key scenes while on set, to dealing with a short production schedule and overcoming the challenge of filming the sport, Shelton brings to life the making of this beloved American movie.
Promo
Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely revered as the best sports movie of all time. But back in 1987, Ron Shelton was a first-time director, and no one was willing to finance a movie about baseball --- especially a story set in the minors. The jury was still out on Kevin Costner’s leading-man potential, while Susan Sarandon was already a has-been. But something miraculous happened, and THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL attempts to capture why. From organizing a baseball camp for the actors and rewriting key scenes while on set, to dealing with a short production schedule and overcoming the challenge of filming the sport, Shelton brings to life the making of this beloved American movie.
About the Book
From the award-winning screenwriter and director of the cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking.
“The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the church of baseball.” —Annie in Bull Durham
Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely revered as the best sports movie of all time. But back in 1987, Ron Shelton was a first-time director, and no one was willing to finance a movie about baseball --- especially a story set in the minors. The jury was still out on Kevin Costner’s leading-man potential, while Susan Sarandon was already a has-been. There were doubts. But something miraculous happened, and THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL attempts to capture why.
From organizing a baseball camp for the actors and rewriting key scenes while on set, to dealing with a short production schedule and overcoming the challenge of filming the sport, Shelton brings to life the making of this beloved American movie. Shelton explains the rarely revealed ins and outs of moviemaking, from a film’s inception and financing, screenwriting, casting, the nuts and bolts of directing, the postproduction process, and even through its release. But this is also a book about baseball and its singular romance in the world of sports. Shelton spent six years in the minor leagues before making this film, and his experiences resonate throughout this book.
Full of wry humor and insight, THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL tells the remarkable story behind an iconic film.
Audiobook available, read by Ron Shelton
Editorial Content for American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The death toll from opioid overdoses has steadily climbed in the United States over the last two decades. Unlike previous drug crises, the opioid epidemic was sparked by U.S. drug manufacturers and further stoked by those same drug companies, pharmaceutical distributors, pharmacies and doctors. Read More
Teaser
AMERICAN CARTEL is an unflinching and deeply documented dive into the culpability of the drug companies behind the staggering death toll of the opioid epidemic. It follows a small band of DEA agents led by Joseph Rannazzisi, a tough-talking New Yorker who had spent a storied 30 years bringing down bad guys, along with a band of lawyers, including West Virginia native Paul Farrell Jr., who fought to hold the drug industry to account in the face of the worst man-made drug epidemic in American history. It is the story of underdogs prevailing over corporate greed and political cowardice, persevering in the face of predicted failure, and how they found some semblance of justice for the families of the dead during the most complex civil litigation ever seen.
Promo
AMERICAN CARTEL is an unflinching and deeply documented dive into the culpability of the drug companies behind the staggering death toll of the opioid epidemic. It follows a small band of DEA agents led by Joseph Rannazzisi, a tough-talking New Yorker who had spent a storied 30 years bringing down bad guys, along with a band of lawyers, including West Virginia native Paul Farrell Jr., who fought to hold the drug industry to account in the face of the worst man-made drug epidemic in American history. It is the story of underdogs prevailing over corporate greed and political cowardice, persevering in the face of predicted failure, and how they found some semblance of justice for the families of the dead during the most complex civil litigation ever seen.
About the Book
The definitive investigation and exposé of how some of the nation's largest corporations created and fueled the opioid crisis --- from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters who first uncovered the dimensions of the deluge of pain pills that ravaged the country and the complicity of a near-omnipotent drug cartel.
AMERICAN CARTEL is an unflinching and deeply documented dive into the culpability of the drug companies behind the staggering death toll of the opioid epidemic. It follows a small band of DEA agents led by Joseph Rannazzisi, a tough-talking New Yorker who had spent a storied 30 years bringing down bad guys, along with a band of lawyers, including West Virginia native Paul Farrell Jr., who fought to hold the drug industry to account in the face of the worst man-made drug epidemic in American history. It is the story of underdogs prevailing over corporate greed and political cowardice, persevering in the face of predicted failure and how they found some semblance of justice for the families of the dead during the most complex civil litigation ever seen.
The investigators and lawyers discovered hundreds of thousands of confidential corporate emails and memos during courtroom combat with legions of white-shoe law firms defending the opioid industry. One breathtaking disclosure after another --- from emails that mocked addicts to invoices chronicling the rise of pill mills --- showed the indifference of big business to the epidemic’s toll. The narrative approach echoes such work as A CIVIL ACTION and THE INSIDER, moving dramatically between corporate boardrooms, courthouses, lobbying firms, DEA field offices and Capitol Hill while capturing the human toll of the epidemic on America’s streets.
AMERICAN CARTEL is the story of those who were on the front lines of the fight to stop the human carnage. Along the way, they suffer a string of defeats, some of their careers destroyed by the very same government officials who swore to uphold the law before they begin to prevail over some of the most powerful corporate and political influences in the nation.
Audiobook available, read by Kiff VandenHeuvel
Editorial Content for The Great Man Theory
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The sorrows of a white, liberal, middle-aged, divorced, male academic in contemporary America might not seem like the most absorbing fictional material. But in the hands of Teddy Wayne, it’s an opportunity to create a compelling portrait of a man driven to the brink in a culture that he understands both all too well and not at all. Read More
Teaser
Paul is a recently demoted adjunct instructor of freshman comp, a divorced but doting Brooklyn father, and a self-described “curmudgeonly crank” cataloging his resentment of the priorities of modern life in a book called The Luddite Manifesto. Outraged by the authoritarian creeps ruining the country, he is determined to better the future for his young daughter, one aggrieved lecture at a time. Shockingly, others aren't very receptive to Paul's scoldings. As one indignity follows the next, and Paul's disaffection with his circumstances and society mounts, he concocts a dramatic plan to right the world's wrongs and give himself a more significant place in it.
Promo
Paul is a recently demoted adjunct instructor of freshman comp, a divorced but doting Brooklyn father, and a self-described “curmudgeonly crank” cataloging his resentment of the priorities of modern life in a book called The Luddite Manifesto. Outraged by the authoritarian creeps ruining the country, he is determined to better the future for his young daughter, one aggrieved lecture at a time. Shockingly, others aren't very receptive to Paul's scoldings. As one indignity follows the next, and Paul's disaffection with his circumstances and society mounts, he concocts a dramatic plan to right the world's wrongs and give himself a more significant place in it.
About the Book
From acclaimed, Whiting Award-winning author Teddy Wayne, the hilarious, incisive yet deeply poignant story of a liberal armchair-revolutionary desperate to save America from itself.
Paul is a recently demoted adjunct instructor of freshman comp, a divorced but doting Brooklyn father, and a self-described “curmudgeonly crank” cataloging his resentment of the priorities of modern life in a book called The Luddite Manifesto. Outraged by the authoritarian creeps ruining the country, he is determined to better the future for his young daughter, one aggrieved lecture at a time.
Shockingly, others aren't very receptive to Paul's scoldings. His child grows distant, preferring superficial entertainment to her father's terrarium and anti-technological tutelage. His careerist students are less interested than ever in what he has to say, and his last remaining friends appear ready to ditch him. To make up for lost income, he moonlights as a ride-share driver and moves in with his elderly mother, whose third-act changes confound and upset him. As one indignity follows the next, and Paul's disaffection with his circumstances and society mounts, he concocts a dramatic plan to right the world's wrongs and give himself a more significant place in it.
Dyspeptically funny, bubbling over with insights into America's cultural landscape and a certain type of cast-aside man who wants to rectify it, THE GREAT MAN THEORY is the work of a brilliant, original writer at the height of his powers.
Audiobook available, read by Adam Barr
Editorial Content for Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Mysterious Press has given Joyce Carol Oates fans a real treat. With the publication of EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES, we are gifted a collection of short stories by the five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist that spans the length of her illustrious writing career, going back to the early 1960s. Originally published in long out-of-print books, these tales have not appeared in any form this century --- until now. Read More
Teaser
Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong. A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life. Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party. Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date. Originally published in long out-of-print volumes, these tales have not appeared in any form this century --- until now.
Promo
Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong. A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life. Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party. Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date. Originally published in long out-of-print volumes, these tales have not appeared in any form this century --- until now.
About the Book
Twenty-two disturbing tales of crime and suspense from "America's preeminent fiction writer" (New Yorker).
Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong. A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life. Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party. Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date.
Originally published in long out-of-print volumes, these tales have not appeared in any form this century --- until now. Formally fresh and endlessly experimental, they show a writer boldly engaging with disturbing truths and terrifying possibilities, and deconstructing the tropes and expectations of traditional prose writing as she does so. But beyond their stylistic ingenuity, these are creepy, suspenseful stories that cut straight to the bone; their darkness will linger long after the final page is turned.
A must-read for long-time fans of Joyce Carol Oates and an excellent introduction for the uninitiated, the 22 tales included in EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES exemplify the author’s idiosyncratic spookiness, “visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute" (Booklist).
Audiobook available, read by Hillary Huber