Adult

Super Mario turns 40 and is forced to “take-a stock” of his life and how “messed up it’s-a become.” Goliath struggles to control the media narrative in the lead-up to his death match against David, a small, beloved child. And a long-discarded participation trophy reminisces about the glorious field day in 1993, when he wound up in the arms of a jubilant, asthmatic Simon Rich. High-stakes and heartfelt, this hilarious and powerful collection of short stories mourns the death of youthful innocence and hails the beginning of something approximating wisdom.

In this immensely enjoyable and wise novel, it takes a sweet and personable squirrel monkey, Beep, to help us see the world we live in more clearly. While intending only to go deeper and higher into the Costa Rican rain forest to find a mate, he instead meets Inga, a kindly American tween on vacation with her family. Inadvertently, Beep travels to Manhattan with Inga. With her devoted help --- and a bit of inspiration from a visiting Greta Thunberg, along with a dramatic zoo liberation --- Beep manages to change the destiny of the world. He even finds his monkey love. Along the way, a vast cast of engaging and perceptive animals have a great deal to say about humanity and the divisions among us, our alien cities, our strange practices and our folly, as well as our beauty, and our promise, unfulfilled.

Minnie Polson has been burned to a crisp in a fire so big and bad that it had to have been deliberate. She had a feeling she was being targeted, but when she solicited Hap and Leonard, all it took was one off-color joke for her to call them off the investigation. As they look closer, Hap and Leonard dredge up troublesome facts. For one, Minnie’s daughter, Alice, has recently vanished. She’d been hard up after her pet grooming business went under and was in line to collect a whopping insurance sum should anything happen to her mother. The same was due to Minnie’s estranged husband, Al, whose kryptonite (beautiful, money-grubbing women) had left him with only a run-down mobile home. But did Minnie’s foolish, cash-strapped family really have it in them to commit a crime this grisly? Or is there a larger, far more sinister scheme at work?

On April 13, 1986, 10-year-old Tiger Woods watches his idol, Jack Nicklaus, win his record sixth Masters. Just over a decade later, chants of “Ti-ger, Ti-ger!” ring out as the 21-year-old wins his first Green Jacket. He blazes an incredible path, winning 14 major titles (second only to Nicklaus himself) by the time he’s 33, smashing records and raising standards. Then come multiple public scandals and potentially career-ending injuries. The once-assured champion becomes an all-American underdog. “YouTube golfer” is how his two children know their father --- winless since 2013 --- until he wins the 2019 Masters, his 15th major, before their eyes. But the story doesn’t end there. TIGER, TIGER is the first full-scale Woods biography of the decade.

Hollows Bend, New Hampshire, is a picture-perfect New England town where weekend tourists flock to see fall leaves and eat breakfast at the Stairway Diner. The crime rate --- zero --- is a point of pride for Sheriff Ellie Pritchett. The day the stranger shows up is when the trouble starts. The sheriff and her deputy investigate the mysterious teenage girl. None of the locals can place her. She can’t --- or won’t --- answer any questions. She won’t even tell them her name. While the girl is in protective custody, the officers are called to multiple crime scenes leading them closer and closer to a lake outside of town that doesn’t appear on any map.

In a pandemic-hushed city, a young doctor lives a life of insecure attachments: to a distant partner in an untended marriage, to a loaner child who stirs up hurts from the past, to houseplants wilting in a dark apartment on a once-vibrant street. Through a yearlong fellowship caring for the dying and their families, death is impossible to ignore, and still more endings loom at every turn --- endings made worse by wounded, avoidant doctors who don’t know how to let go. But after the sudden loss of a long-estranged father, our unnamed narrator’s work is thrown into painful relief, and we see, under threats large and small, how far we will go to hold on to our lives --- no matter how little we live them.

Camryn Lane is living her dream. After years of struggle and rejection, her first novel finally has been published. Her editor is happy, and her loved ones are proud and excited for her. She’s on top of the world --- until she receives a disturbing message from an anonymous reader. Rattled by the accusations she finds there, Camryn vows to put the missive out of her mind. But the disturbing allegations spread, and soon her book is flooded with bad reviews. Camryn is relentlessly trolled online, accused of the unthinkable. It’s clear that someone is trying to ruin her --- personally and professionally. But why? As the online harassment creeps into Camryn’s personal life, she vows to find out who’s behind it. And when the abuse turns deadly, it will take everything Camryn has to unmask the enemy so intent on destroying her.

When the long-simmering abuse from his uncle finally boils over, teenage Justin has no choice but to break free, in a violent act that will haunt him. Meanwhile, in rural Montana, Rene Bouchard, a rancher nearing retirement, grieves the recent death of his wife. Her passing has revealed precisely how fractured the family has become --- particularly the relationship between Rene and his daughter, Lianne. As old wounds ache anew, father and daughter begin to doubt the possibility of reconciliation, even as they each privately yearn for it. Justin’s wanderings bring him to the Bouchard family ranch, and soon Rene and Lianne take the boy in as their own. But before long, Justin’s past threatens to catch up with him, jeopardizing not only his new bond with Rene and Lianne but also the home he’s finally been able to claim.

For as long as she can remember, Everly Aprile has been obsessed with the Monterran royals, especially Queen Kat. As for Everly, her career as an event planner has stalled --- and so has her love life. Then a wealthy new client wants a sweet-16 party that’s fit for an American princess. Everly offers to bring it to life by immersing herself in everything Monterra. Call it intervento divino when she meets dizzyingly handsome and charismatic Max Colby, who’s relocated stateside from the Monterran kingdom of her dreams. If Everly promises to be his New York City guide, he’ll teach her the customs and culture of Monterra so her party gets a boost of authenticity. As their friendship grows, Everly starts falling --- but for what? Another unattainable obsession? Max is such a dreamboat that surely he sees her as just a friend.

During a vicious heat wave, a county maintenance worker stumbles upon two suspicious suitcases abandoned by the side of the road. Sheriff Bree Taggert responds to find two bodies stuffed inside the luggage. Suddenly, Bree is at the center of a media firestorm. In Oregon, a senator’s daughter goes missing. FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick agrees to keep the politically sensitive case on the down-low. When she finds a link between the disappearance and a double homicide 3,000 miles away, Mercy takes the next plane out --- and lands right in the middle of Bree’s double homicide investigation. To save the missing girl, Bree and Mercy must work together to stop a killer who’s playing deadly games with the press and stirring up public rage. Hungry for notoriety, he dares Bree and Mercy to catch him before he kills again.