Latest Reviews
Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to notorious Prohibition gangster Eddie McGee. Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her.
When Zoe Ann Weiss moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, her whole future is wide open. But then Zach, the bartender and aspiring actor she’s falling for, ghosts her. Her debut novel, a thriller, fails. And she has writer’s block worse than ever before. Now, three years later, Zoe is facing her 30th birthday, a dead-end job at a flower shop, and a demanding agent. But when she goes to make a flower delivery and Zach is at the address, it’s like no time has passed at all. They start casually dating in secret, and her writer’s block disappears. But then the inevitable happens and photos are leaked, landing Zoe in the press. Her first novel goes viral, and now everyone seems to know her name. Except the problem with everyone knowing your name is that everyone knows your name --- including the mysterious stalker obsessed with Zach.
Over the course of 100 luminous player profiles, the best sports newsroom on the planet paints vivid portraits of the game’s most compelling characters. They include George Mikan, Gary Payton, Dennis Rodman, Allen Iverson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Steph Curry. Edited by award-winning reporters David Aldridge and John Hollinger, THE BASKETBALL 100 also answers the game’s toughest, most important questions: How should we weigh championship rings, versus statistical profiles, versus the “eye test”? Were the great players of yesteryear, like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, propelled by the inferior athleticism of their competition, or would they have been transcendent in any era? And of course, who’s the GOAT --- MJ or LeBron?
Five years ago, when Detective Jena Campbell put the Leviticus Killer behind bars, she locked her darkest secret away with him. Something never meant to surface. Something better left to rot with the madman who had destroyed so many lives. When a strange man calling himself Azrael appears on social media with threats to unleash 10 plagues and 10 deaths in 10 days unless Leviticus is released, Jena is forced to reopen that door and face her past. Unable to share what she knows, she turns to the only man who can help her find Azrael before he kills again, the man she condemned. Jena quickly learns that the only thing more terrifying than facing him is facing herself.
Isabelle Duprees is one of Forbes's most powerful self-made women and has built a reputation as one of New York's savviest investors and sharpest advisors. With a penthouse overlooking Central Park, an open invitation to any event she wishes to attend, and a weekly date with a man who won't ask too much of her, Isabelle's carefully curated life is exactly what she wants. Until it isn't. After her estranged sister shows up, circumstances --- and too much champagne --- have Isabelle Googling herself, only to discover three other women her age, with the same name, birthdate and familiar features. Too curious not to follow this rabbit hole, Isabelle and her sister embark on a road trip that leads them back to their hometown --- and possibly each other. On the way, they seek out all the other Isabelles and find each one of them living a life that could have been hers if she'd made different choices.
For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery has kept a flock of chickens in her backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality and connects with Sy in her own way. In WHAT THE CHICKEN KNOWS, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals all the things that make chickens such remarkable creatures. Only hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run and peck; relationships are important to them, and the average chicken can recognize more than a hundred other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information through at least 24 distinct calls. Visitors to her home are astonished by all of this, but for Sy what’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially considering there are about 20 percent more chickens on earth than people.
Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she’d rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. In a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children. From awkward encounters to unexpected connections, Anna gamely begins to put herself out there, asking out waiters, the mailman and even her celebrity crush. But when a romantic connection appears where she least expected it, will she be brave enough to take another chance on love?
Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent scientists of his time. Driven by curiosity, he conducted cutting-edge research on electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds and plants. But today, Franklin is remembered more for his political prowess and diplomatic achievements than his scientific creativity. In INGENIOUS, Richard Munson recovers this vital part of Franklin’s story, reveals his modern relevance, and offers a compelling portrait of a shrewd experimenter, clever innovator and visionary physicist whose fame opened doors to negotiate French support and funding for American independence. Munson’s riveting narrative explores how science underpins Franklin’s entire story and argues that his political life cannot be understood without giving proper credit to his scientific accomplishments.
In 1958, Manchester United was flying high. The best-known soccer team in the world and reigning English champions, the team was led by a bright young group of star players nicknamed the “Busby Babes” after their charismatic manager Matt Busby. But on a snowy afternoon that February, a plane carrying the team back from a European Cup match crashed on takeoff in Munich, killing 23 people --- including eight Manchester United players and three team officials. The accident destroyed the team, traumatized fans all over the world, and devastated the tight-knit community in Manchester. In MUNICHS, renowned novelist David Peace reimagines the crash and its aftermath, dramatizing the deep scars it left on British society.
The first lyricist to win the Pulitzer Prize, Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) has been hailed as one of the masters of the Great American Songbook, a period that covers songs written largely for Broadway and Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s. Now, in this first full-length biography devoted to his life, Michael Owen brings Ira out at last from the long shadow cast by his younger and more famous brother, George. Drawing on extensive archival sources and often using Ira’s own words, Owen has crafted a rich portrait of the modest man who penned the words to many of America’s best-loved songs, like “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Embraceable You” and “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.”
