Virginia, 1954. When a woman wakes on a patient transport bus arriving at Hanover State Psychiatric Hospital, she remembers nothing of her life before that moment. Doctors tell her she’s Dorothy Frasier, a paranoid schizophrenic, committed for her violent delusions. She’s certain they’re wrong --- until disturbing visions of a dystopian future in which frantic scientists urge her to complete “the mission” and save mankind begin to invade her reality. Believing it’s Hanover causing the hallucinations, she tells no one and focuses only on escaping --- until there’s a visitor. A man whose loving face --- and touch --- she remembers, a man who knows all about her visions, because he’s spent years helping her cope with them: her husband, Paul Frasier. Now she’s sure of nothing, caught between two realities.
Nora Davies doesn’t exactly fit in to Winter Park, Florida, where old-guard Floridians mix with the tax-fleeing coastal elite. Twenty-eight and barely making ends meet working at a country club, Nora feels like she’s going nowhere fast. Enter Will Somerset: a prominent 46-year-old lawyer, father to a teenage daughter, and recently divorced. The two set Winter Park’s social scene agog when they fall in love and marry after a whirlwind Cinderella-style courtship. But Winter Park is fully upended when Will disappears the morning after a birthday bash Nora throws for him. Going back and forth between Nora and Will’s romance and the search in the wake of Will’s mysterious disappearance, Nora must answer the question from all angles: Where. Is. Will?
Lily --- a bored, beautiful twentysomething --- wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside 19 other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave. Why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur.
Rosie, Daniel and Serge met at Oxford in the early 2000s. Fifteen years later, they are guests at a lavish three-day wedding in Provence. They are also no longer on speaking terms. Rosie is dreading a weekend around her ex, Serge, and his fiancé, Isla. Serge is hiding a crippling debt --- and a secret separation. Daniel, now a successful actor, is drinking to cope with life in the limelight. And Isla is wondering why motherhood looks so much easier for everyone else. As the champagne flows, historic rivalries and infatuations surface, and old and new secrets emerge. This is a wedding to be remembered, for all the wrong reasons.
One calm night in Twickenham, a businessman named Tom Treadnor is shot off his barstool at The Queen pub. Superintendent Richard Jury is called in to investigate and quickly realizes that everyone in Treadnor’s life --- from his widow, Alice, to the staff at his manor, to his business partner --- had differing opinions of him. And to complicate things further, Jury has just happened upon a photo in a newspaper of a man in the United States who is a dead ringer for Treadnor. Meanwhile, Wiggins, Jury’s partner at New Scotland Yard, becomes sidetracked by an investigation of his own: His sister, missing for years and presumed dead, has just sent a postcard to their mother. When Wiggins takes off in search of his sister, the two investigations begin to converge.
For nearly five decades after the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided Europe, forming the longest and most heavily guarded border on earth. No physical combat would take place along this frontier. Instead, the war was fought psychologically. It was a battle for hearts, minds and intellects. Few understood this more clearly than George Minden, head of a covert intelligence operation known as the “CIA book program,” which aimed to undermine Soviet censorship and inspire revolt by offering different visions of thought and culture. Minden’s “book club” secretly sent 10 million banned titles into the East. Charlie English narrates this tale of Cold War spycraft, smuggling and secret printing operations for the first time, highlighting the work of a handful of extraordinary people who fought for intellectual freedom.
In poetry that is at once bold and lyrical, affecting and devastatingly frank, Miranda Cowley Heller --- the #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE PAPER PALACE --- takes us through childhood, marriage, motherhood and beyond. Suffused with the natural world and the landscape of Cape Cod, where many of the poems are set, WHAT THE DEEP WATER KNOWS contemplates love in all the seasons.
When criminal lawyer Justine Stone is handed the lead on her first murder case, she’s thrilled at the chance to enter the big leagues --- until she discovers that she recognizes the man on the stand: Jake Reynolds, her first love who abruptly disappeared from her life years ago and is now facing charges for a grisly double homicide. If she’s going to send Jake to prison for murder, she has to be sure, and that means heading back to their hometown to seek answers. Back home after almost two decades, Justine is haunted by memories, not only of the idyllic love she shared with Jake, but darker recollections of the death of her beloved father and the weight of the small town’s expectations. When her older brother, Max, goes missing, she starts to suspect that everything is connected.
Silent film star Venita Rost's malevolent spirit lurks spider-like in her cliffside mansion, a once-beautiful home that's claimed countless unlucky souls. Now the house has yet another new owner. This time it's Ronnie Mitchell, a grieving woman who buys the run-down place sight unseen. She arrives armed with an unexpected inheritance, a strong background in renovation, and a blissful ignorance regarding the house's blood-soaked history. Then, a man comes knocking. He brings wild stories and a secret connection to the house that can only lead to violence. Venita's fury awakens, and a deadly game unfolds. Caught between a vengeful ghost and a ruthless living threat, Ronnie's skepticism crumbles. The line between living and dead isn't as sharp as it seems, and she realizes too late that in Venita's house, survival might be just an illusion.
Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime. To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done. But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night. Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.
Is a book that has been chosen for one of the major book clubs something you consider when looking for your next read? Which of the following book club selections do you follow and act upon the most?
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from June 20th to July 11th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of DON'T LET HIM IN by Lisa Jewell and THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO by Adriana Trigiani.
Our major goal for 2025 is to redesign Bookreporter and the rest of the sites in The Book Report Network. How can you help? We have launched a GoFundMe campaign and are asking for donations. Any level of donation that you would be comfortable with is sincerely appreciated. If you would prefer donating via check, please send to:
The Book Report, Inc.
16 Mt. Bethel Road, Suite 365
Warren, NJ 07059
Click here to read more about our plans and to donate.
Coming Soon
Curious about what books will be released in the months ahead so you can pre-order or reserve them? Then click on the months below.
June's Books on Screen roundup includes the series premieres of Prime Video's "We Were Liars" and Netflix's "The Survivors"; the season premieres of "Grantchester" on PBS "Masterpiece" and "The Buccaneers" on Apple TV+; the season finale of "The Walking Dead: Dead City" on AMC; the continuation of Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers" and Max's "And Just Like That..."; the films The Life of Chuck and How to Train Your Dragon in theaters and Pie to Die For: A Hannah Swensen Mystery on Hallmark Mystery; and the DVD/Blu-ray releases of Snow White, The Friend, The Monkey, In the Lost Lands and A Working Man.