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!
Editorial Content for Guide Me Home: A Highway 59 Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
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
Editorial Content for The Perfect Son
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Freida McFadden has said that she writes novels rather quickly. It is editing and reviewing them that takes time, especially when you’re a perfectionist. She has a knack for plotting and leading her readers down different paths before completely pulling the rug out from under them. Happily, I can proclaim that THE PERFECT SON is no different and becomes one of the best explorations on what constitutes a sociopath versus a psychopath that I have ever read. Read More
Teaser
Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until, one quiet evening, two detectives show up at her front door. A high school girl has vanished from their quiet neighborhood, and the police suspect the worst. Erika's teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive. Erika has always sensed something…different in her seemingly perfect oldest child. He's charming, smart and popular, but mothers have the best instincts, and Erika knows there's more to her son than meets the eye. She wants to believe he's innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can't deny the truth. Liam may have done the unthinkable.
Promo
Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until, one quiet evening, two detectives show up at her front door. A high school girl has vanished from their quiet neighborhood, and the police suspect the worst. Erika's teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive. Erika has always sensed something…different in her seemingly perfect oldest child. He's charming, smart and popular, but mothers have the best instincts, and Erika knows there's more to her son than meets the eye. She wants to believe he's innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can't deny the truth. Liam may have done the unthinkable.
About the Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a twisted, thought-provoking story about a family's loyalty pushed to the limits.
All families have secrets. But some secrets are deadly.
Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until, one quiet evening, two detectives show up at her front door.
"Mrs. Cass, we were hoping your son could answer a few questions about the girl who disappeared last night..."
A high school girl has vanished from their quiet neighborhood, and the police suspect the worst. Erika's teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive.
Erika has always sensed something...different in her seemingly perfect oldest child. He's charming, smart and popular, but mothers have the best instincts, and Erika knows there's more to her son than meets the eye. She wants to believe he's innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can't deny the truth. Liam may have done the unthinkable.
Audiobook available, read by Suzie Althens and Daniel Thomas May
Editorial Content for So Thirsty: A Vampire Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
To call Rachel Harrison a horror author would be stating the obvious. To say that she has created some of the most unique depictions of strong female characters in various horrific circumstances would be far more accurate. Read More
Teaser
Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a birthday-weekend getaway --- not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi. Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings, cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear that Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.
Promo
Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a birthday-weekend getaway --- not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi. Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings, cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear that Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.
About the Book
A woman must learn to take life by the throat after a night out leads to irrevocable changes in this juicy, thrilling novel from the USA Today bestselling author of SUCH SHARP TEETH and BLACK SHEEP.
Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a birthday-weekend getaway --- not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi. Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings, cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity.
But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear that Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever. The friends are forced to come to terms with some pretty eternal consequences in this bloody, seductive novel about how it’s never too late to find satisfaction, even though it might taste different than expected.
Audiobook available, read by Brittany Pressley
Editorial Content for The Reaping: A Steinbeck and Reed Thriller
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
A new novel from Jess Lourey is always something to celebrate. When it ends up being another book featuring forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck and cold case detective Evangeline “Van” Reed, you know you're in for a special treat. THE REAPING follows the opening installment of the series, THE TAKEN ONES, and sets Harry and Van in the middle of an extremely creepy and supernaturally charged case that really hits home, especially for the former. Read More
Teaser
In 1998, an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for 25 years. Until today. Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister’s abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku’s unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate. The case grows impossibly darker as, one by one, the children of Alku begin disappearing. Harry and Van can’t shake the sensation that someone is watching every move they make --- and the elusive killer’s trail leads to a truth more sinister than either imagined.
Promo
In 1998, an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for 25 years. Until today. Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister’s abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku’s unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate. The case grows impossibly darker as, one by one, the children of Alku begin disappearing. Harry and Van can’t shake the sensation that someone is watching every move they make --- and the elusive killer’s trail leads to a truth more sinister than either imagined.
About the Book
By-the-book forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck and rogue BCA agent Van Reed must catch a cold-case killer who’s returned to abduct a small town’s children one by one in this heart-stopping novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of UNSPEAKABLE THINGS.
In 1998, an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for 25 years. Until today.
Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister’s abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku’s unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate.
The case grows impossibly darker as, one by one, the children of Alku begin disappearing. And Harry and Van can’t shake the sensation that someone is watching every move they make.
As an elusive killer’s trail leads to a truth more sinister than either imagined, Harry knows there’s only one way to crack this case: he finally must face the secrets of his own past --- even if doing so will cost him everything.
Audiobook available, read by James Daniels