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Editorial Content for Driven

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

In 2025, we lost one of the world’s most talented authors when Andrew Pyper passed away following a battle with cancer. He also wrote under the pseudonym Mason Coile. In those novels, he explored ideas and genres that he never ventured into before. Read More

Teaser

Jamie Newcross wants to disappear. His wife and baby girl have abandoned him, and his only wish is to retreat from society. As it turns out, Jamie is also being haunted. Every house, condo or apartment he moves into is plagued with ghosts. But Jamie has a plan. He posts queries online and finds someone wanting to get rid of their Lion --- the world’s most advanced self-driving car --- a sleek, private, contained vessel that is a hundred percent safe. Or so he thought. Because now, Jamie has woken up to the Lion speeding down a dark road, the hood is dented (wait, is that blood?), and the car will not respond, or stop, or let him out. As the miles rack up and Jamie becomes increasingly complicit in his car’s choices, he is forced to face the tragic past he has kept buried.

Promo

Jamie Newcross wants to disappear. His wife and baby girl have abandoned him, and his only wish is to retreat from society. As it turns out, Jamie is also being haunted. Every house, condo or apartment he moves into is plagued with ghosts. But Jamie has a plan. He posts queries online and finds someone wanting to get rid of their Lion --- the world’s most advanced self-driving car --- a sleek, private, contained vessel that is a hundred percent safe. Or so he thought. Because now, Jamie has woken up to the Lion speeding down a dark road, the hood is dented (wait, is that blood?), and the car will not respond, or stop, or let him out. As the miles rack up and Jamie becomes increasingly complicit in his car’s choices, he is forced to face the tragic past he has kept buried.

About the Book

A terrifying locked-room mystery from the author of EXILES and WILLIAM --- this time set in a cutting-edge autonomous car.

Jamie Newcross wants to disappear. His wife and baby girl have abandoned him, and his only wish is to retreat from society. Because, as it turns out, Jamie Newcross is also being haunted. Every house, condo or apartment he moves into is plagued with ghosts --- at the end of the bed or when pulling back the shower curtain. He hasn’t been able to sleep in weeks.

But Jamie has a plan. He posts queries online and finds someone wanting to get rid of their Lion --- the world’s most advanced self-driving car --- a sleek, private, contained vessel that is 100 percent safe. Or so he thought.

Because now, Jamie has woken up to the Lion speeding down a dark road, the hood is dented (wait, is that blood?), and the car will not respond, or stop, or let him out.

As the miles rack up and Jamie becomes increasingly complicit in his car’s choices, he's forced to face the tragic past he has kept buried. DRIVEN is a taut, near-future fever-dream. Mason Coile delivers another one-sitting read that blends science fiction and psychological horror to explore loneliness, grief and the things that make us human.

Audiobook available, read by Sean Patrick Hopkins 

Editorial Content for When You Tell

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

L. Dean Murphy

Bree Wagner is “the book whisperer,” a ghostwriter who deals with authors only through an agent. But Randi Alexander is a childhood friend and pulls that friendship marionette string for Bree directly to ghostwrite and promote her books. Bree had “learned early on in our friendship that boundaries are only a suggestion” for Randi.

"WHEN YOU TELL is a tale of manipulation, deception and catastrophic consequences. A shocking plot arc defines psychological suspense."

Teaser

Bree Wagner has spent her life behind the scenes --- as a ghostwriter, an aunt, and a woman scarred by tragedy. When her former best friend Miranda, now the wildly popular lifestyle influencer Randi F. Alexander, begs for help with her next book, Bree reluctantly agrees. It’s a chance to reconnect after 18 years of silence following a devastating accident in Amsterdam. But just as Bree steps back into Randi’s world, a viral misstep sends the influencer’s career into a tailspin. While Bree tries to steer clear of the spotlight and the toxic whirlwind of cancel culture, old secrets begin to surface --- ones that make her question everything she thought she knew about Miranda and their shared past.

Promo

Bree Wagner has spent her life behind the scenes --- as a ghostwriter, an aunt, and a woman scarred by tragedy. When her former best friend Miranda, now the wildly popular lifestyle influencer Randi F. Alexander, begs for help with her next book, Bree reluctantly agrees. It’s a chance to reconnect after 18 years of silence following a devastating accident in Amsterdam. But just as Bree steps back into Randi’s world, a viral misstep sends the influencer’s career into a tailspin. While Bree tries to steer clear of the spotlight and the toxic whirlwind of cancel culture, old secrets begin to surface --- ones that make her question everything she thought she knew about Miranda and their shared past.

About the Book

Old friends. New lies. Deadly consequences.

Bree Wagner has spent her life behind the scenes --- as a ghostwriter, an aunt, and a woman scarred by tragedy. When her former best friend Miranda, now the wildly popular lifestyle influencer Randi F. Alexander, begs for help with her next book, Bree reluctantly agrees. It’s a chance to reconnect after 18 years of silence following a devastating accident in Amsterdam.

But just as Bree steps back into Randi’s world, a viral misstep sends the influencer’s career into a tailspin. While Bree tries to steer clear of the spotlight and the toxic whirlwind of cancel culture, old secrets begin to surface --- ones that make her question everything she thought she knew about Miranda and their shared past.

As tensions rise and lines blur, Bree is forced to make an impossible choice --- stay hidden, or risk exposing everything to protect her orphaned nephew.

WHEN YOU TELL is a gripping psychological suspense about friendship, fame and fierce love.

Audiobook available, read by Jennifer Jill Araya

October 9, 2026 - October 23, 2026

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of October 9 - October 23.

October 9, 2026

Many people who have been to our home have been served the Hot Charred Cherry Tomatoes with Cold Yogurt from Yotam Ottolenghi's SIMPLE. It is a favorite! So I very much enjoyed getting to meet Yotam on Tuesday night in Montclair, New Jersey, to celebrate the release of his new book, SIMPLE TOO, at a Watchung Booksellers event. He was in conversation with Ina Garten, who asked really great questions. Hearing them talk shop about creating recipes and the joys of culinary adventures was brilliant fun. He projected photos from the book onto the screen behind him as he discussed them.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2026

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2026 has been awarded to Anne Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” Throughout her career, Carson has combined poetry writing with translation work and teaching at various universities. Almost all of her literary production has centred on the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning. She herself has identified the etymology of words as the starting point for all of her work.

The 2026 Kirkus Prize

The winners of the 2026 Kirkus Prize in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction and Young Readers’ Literature were announced on October 7th in an in-person ceremony at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York that also was livestreamed on Kirkus's YouTube channel.

Tom Beer, the editor-in-chief of Kirkus Reviews, said, “Readers can rejoice over the winners of this year’s Kirkus Prize; these are remarkably accomplished works of fiction and nonfiction that nevertheless wear their accomplishments lightly. Above all, they are unforgettable books that will engage and transform all who enter their pages.”

Week of October 26, 2026

Paperback releases for the week of October 26th include THE TIN MEN --- the final novel from the legendary Nelson DeMille, coauthored with his son, Alex DeMille --- in which Special Agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor plunge into a deadly web of military intrigue, AI technology and robot soldiers as they unravel the shocking murder of a senior scientist; JOYRIDE, which is a magic carpet ride through Susan Orlean’s life and career, where every day is an opportunity for discovery and every moment holds the potential for wonder; THE BURNING LIBRARY by Gilly Macmillan, a thrilling dark academic tale of murder, obsession and ruthless ambition set in remote St. Andrews, Scotland; and DEAD AND ALIVE, in which Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects that have captured her attention in recent years.

Week of October 19, 2026

Paperback releases for the week of October 19th include THE LAND OF SWEET FOREVER,   a posthumous collection of newly discovered short stories and previously published essays that offers a fresh perspective on the remarkable literary mind of Harper Lee; THE LAND IN WINTER by Andrew Miller, which our reviewer Philip Zozzaro calls “a deep and probing character study of two pairs of spouses facing uncertain futures. It is a first-rate read that deserves all the accolades it has received.”; THE PHOEBE VARIATIONS, a stunning coming-of-age novel from Jane Hamilton about friendship, mothers and finding one's way in the world; and the paperback original MISSING MOLLY by Natalie Barelli, a dark psychological thriller about a cold case, the newspaper investigating it, and the woman for whom it all hits a little too close to home.  

Week of October 12, 2026

Paperback releases for the week of October 12th include ALL THE LITTLE HOUSES, a deliciously wicked thriller from May Cobb about mean girls, mean moms, and the delicious secrets inside all the little houses; FUTURE BOY, a poignant, heartfelt and funny memoir about how, in 1985, Michael J. Fox brought to life two iconic roles simultaneously --- Alex P. Keaton in "Family Ties" and Marty McFly in Back to the Future; Marisa Meltzer's IT GIRL, the first comprehensive biography of Jane Birkin --- actress, singer and legendary style icon --- and her profound cultural impact; NEAR FLESH, a previously unpublished collection of stories from Katherine Dunn about motherhood, violence and desire; and the paperback original THE BLUFF by Wade Rouse, a humorous and sharply observant look at a family teetering on the edge of merry mayhem.  

Week of October 5, 2026

Paperback releases for the week of October 5th include the 20th installment in Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series, THE DEVIL’S BIBLE, a tale of mystery and intrigue stretching back over four centuries; SHADOW TICKET, Thomas Pynchon's first novel since 2013’s BLEEDING EDGE, which is set during the Great Depression and follows a private investigator in Milwaukee on a mission that ultimately takes him to Hungary amidst political and criminal intrigue; THE LADY ON ESPLANADE, the third entry in Karen White's Royal Street series, in which people and secrets from the past threaten to disrupt Nola Trenholm’s new life in New Orleans; and THE BOYS IN THE LIGHT by Nina Willner, an epic story of the triumph of good over evil that follows the parallel journeys of Company D and Eddie Willner, the author’s father, as they are caught up on two sides of World War II.