Latest Reviews
From his early military career and role among the Virginia gentry, to his leadership during the American Revolution and reluctant return to public service as the first president of the United States, AMERICAN PATRIARCH brings to life the man who was called on time and again by his peers to lead. It casts George Washington as the icon of American virtue who wrested America free from British control, gave credibility to the Constitution, and crafted the norms that would steady America as a nation for generations to follow.
NOLAN is an exploration of God, family, baseball and America --- and a tribute to one of the greatest pitchers to ever step on the mound. Nolan Ryan grew up in the small, hard town of Alvin, Texas, was graced with a fastball, and fell in love with a woman named Ruth. He then honored all three in his pursuit of hardball perfection. Alongside Nolan’s personal story, renowned sportswriter Tim Brown offers a thoughtful, deeply researched history of baseball in the Lone Star State, and an unforgettable account of three glorious decades in the Major Leagues.
When Mercy Chan washes up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money and no memories, the only refuge she finds is the infamous, ghost-infested slum of Kowloon Walled City. Since then, she has rebuilt her life, working for the local triad as a ghost talker and dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt the district. But the past Mercy can’t remember isn't done with her. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon’s waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. It claims to know Mercy --- and secrets from her past that are best left forgotten. As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.
No matter what’s going on in the May sisters’ lives, the one thing they can rely on is seeing each other for one week in May at their grandmother’s beachside home in gorgeous Coronado. As adults, Julia, Emily and Nora aren’t particularly close, but their promise to return each year keeps them anchored together. Until one May when Julia, the oldest and most dependable sister, doesn’t show. Suddenly, Nora and Emily start to question how much they truly know about their sister’s life. Told in alternating points of view, spanning from their time together with Grandma Vera as kids into their adult lives, THE MAY HOUSE explores how a decades-long family secret has unknowingly shaped each sister and, ultimately, how it brings them closer together.
Everything needs to be just right for bestselling mystery writer Faye Wader's first-ever fan weekend. Her sales might be slipping --- only a little! --- but her readers still love her enough to pony up for three days and two nights on Great Misery Island. The retreat is precisely planned by Faye and her beleaguered assistant, Jade. Faye's longtime agent and editor will be there, as well as Faye's number one fan, Peggy Mercer. When news comes that the weekend will be crashed by rival novelist Abby Schuss, Faye thinks things can't get worse…until one of the attendees is found dead in her room, setting off an unexpectedly murderous chain of events that make pre-pub anxiety seem like a day at the beach. How far is Faye willing to go to get exactly what she wants from her author weekend?
At 26, Linli Feng is still trying to escape her mother Fanny’s orbit. But after three years of estrangement, she is dragged back by Fanny’s latest medical catastrophe and forced to return home. For decades, Fanny has been addicted to plastic surgery. Now her disfigured face is in dangerous revolt, infected and collapsing yet again from black-market injectables. But Fanny has another secret in store. She has won a spot on “America’s Beauty Extreme,” a reality television competition in which botched plastic surgery addicts compete for reconstructive surgery as riveted audiences tune in. When Linli attempts to rescue Fanny from the sinister subculture that already has claimed her mother’s face, she must confront the corrosive reality of the American Dream that is at the fraught heart of their relationship.
Seven years ago, two boys went missing at sea --- and only one was brought to shore. The Sandbank, a remote stretch of coast dotted with beach huts, was scarred forever. Sarah’s son survived all those years ago. But on the anniversary of the accident, he disappears without a trace. As new secrets begin to surface, The Sandbank hums with tension and unanswered questions. Sarah’s search grows more desperate, and she starts to mistrust everyone she knows. Someone saw everything on that fateful day seven years ago. And they’ll do anything to keep the truth buried.
Hannah “Cookie” Cooke, an interior decorator with a sideline making miniature reproductions of crime scenes for the local police department, lands her dream job when New Preston’s wealthiest couple hires her to renovate their historic New England home. But things go spectacularly wrong when her client, Chuck --- with whom she is having an affair --- is murdered at the housewarming party. The detective on the case commissions one of Cookie’s miniatures to help solve the baffling murder. While grappling with her own complicated role in Chuck’s life --- and the thorny layers of her own envies, resentments and ambitions --- Cookie delves into the strange details of his death. In untangling the mystery, Cookie reveals an ugly truth about New Preston’s elite that might prove deadly.
A MURDER IN HOLLYWOOD was originally written in 1973 but never before published. In the glitz and decadence of 1970s Hollywood, an era when sex and drugs are readily available on any movie set, the writer of the next Western blockbuster, Bloodrock, has been found dead in his motel bathtub. Now publicist Harvey Jason is desperately trying to keep the project on track while the famed Harlow Perkins, a brilliant and ruthless investigator, begins to unravel the mystery and hunt the killer down. From scorching-hot desert locations to sleazy motel bars, the members of the cast and crew --- each one with a very dark secret of their own --- will send this case deeper and deeper into a maze of confusion and shadows until the shocking truth is revealed.
Elegy Ahn did not ask for destiny to find her. She is happy with her life as a soldier, defending her small country from the Talusar, a powerful nation who worships a deadly Fever. A fever that blesses half of its victims with mysterious gifts. But then she’s summoned to hear a prophecy --- her, and the most ruthless of Talusar generals, Rava Vidar. Brought face to face, they learn that one of them will lead their people to victory over the other…but they don’t know which. And at the center of both of their fates: a man. A man with whom, Elegy is told, she will fall in love. In just one day, Elegy’s old life --- her job, her purpose and her future --- is over. She and Rava are destined to collide, with the fate of their nations hanging in the balance. And when they do, only one will be left standing.
