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Week of June 11, 2012

New in Paperback

Week of June 11, 2012

DOUBLE DEXTER by Jeff Lindsay features Dexter Morgan enjoying his day job as a blood spatter analyst --- but he lives for his nighttime hobby of hunting other killers. When he discovers that someone is shadowing him, observ­ing him, and copying his methods, Dexter is not pleased. But he is not one to tolerate displeasure --- in fact, he has a knack for extricating himself from trouble in his own pleasurable way.

From Michael Ondaatje comes THE CAT'S TABLE, a classic coming-of-age story, an evocative tale of a strange and wondrous sea voyage from Sri Lanka to England in 1954. Its 11-year-old narrator is introduced in the course of a three-week journey to a cast of colorful, enigmatic characters and to a glimmer of the mysteries of the adult world.

Afraid to Die: A Selena Alvarez / Regan Pescoli Novel by Lisa Jackson - Thriller

The bodies of two women who Detective Selena Alvarez  knew are found frozen solid and deliberately displayed. And each wears a piece of Selena's jewelry. Selena’spartner, Detective Regan Pescoli, is on the case, but this killer already knows too much about her secret terror, her flaws, and the past she's tried to outrun. And soon he'll show her that she has every reason to be afraid.

America Pacifica by Anna North -

 

Darcy lives in a future we can't even imagine, taking place after another ice age has destroyed North America. America Pacifica is a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean where Darcy and her mother eke out a miserable existence, made bearable only by their closeness…until Darcy's mother vanishes. Darcy's yearning to find her brings a breathless urgency to this page-turner.

The Astral by Kate Christensen - Fiction

 

The Astral is a huge rose-colored old pile of an apart­ment building in the gentrifying neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For decades it was the home of the poet Harry Quirk, his wife, Luz, and their two children. But Luz has found (and destroyed) some poems of Harry’s that ignite her long-simmering sus­picions of infidelity, and he’s been kicked out. Now he must reckon with the consequence of his literary, marital, financial and parental failures. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

Bloodline by Mark Billingham - Thriller
 
Pregnant journalist Joan Harken is cautiously excited to follow her fiancé back to his Minnesota hometown. After spending a childhood on the move and chasing the screams and swirls of news-rich city life, she’s eager to settle down. Lilydale’s motto, “Come Home Forever,” couldn’t be more inviting.And yet, something is off in the picture-perfect village. Joan can’t shake the feeling that every move she makes is being tracked. An archaic organization still seems to hold the town in thrall. So does the sinister secret of a little boy who vanished decades ago. And unless Joan is imagining things, a frighteningly familiar figure from her past is on watch in the shadows. 
 
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje - Fiction

Many stories have been written about journeys at sea, but it is less common to see such a journey combined with a coming-of-age tale. This is exactly what Michael Ondaatje has done in his latest book, THE CAT'S TABLE. This story, though fictional --- and very imaginative--- is drawn from Ondaatje’s own life; he took the very same voyage at the same age. Through a number of characters that our reviewer Harvey Freedenberg calls “colorful and enigmatic,” Mynah begins to learn about how the adult world works. Harvey says the book “is a tale Michael Ondaatje someday was destined to tell. It’s a pleasure for us, his readers, to share in that telling.”

City of the Snakes by Darren Shan - Horror/Urban Fantasy

 

CITY OF THE SNAKES brings a worthy horror/fantasy series to a close with a final installment that is more repulsive and shocking than ever. Thus far, these books have been crime mysteries focusing on the supernatural, but the last installment is the darkest, tending toward pure horror and giving readers a better glimpse of the serial killer Paucar Wami --- maybe a closer view than you’d bargained on.

Damage Control by Denise Hamilton - Psychological Thriller

 

A bus full of teenagers on a church mission are held hostage, and the ransom demands are explicit: deliver three million dollars --- with zero involvement from law enforcement --- or all captives will be executed. Rescue specialist Jonathan Grave must face the chilling possibility that someone within the U.S. government has a deadly secret to protect --- one that could jeopardize national security like never before.

The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale by Oliver Pötzsch - Historical Mystery

 

Oliver Pötzsch takes readers on a whirlwind tour through the occult hiding places of Bavaria’s ancient monasteries, bringing to life an unforgettable compassionate hangman and his tenacious daughter, painting a robust tableau of a 17th-century Bavaria still negotiating the lasting impacts of war, and quickening our pulses with a gripping, mesmerizing mystery.

Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay - Thriller

 

Dexter Morgan enjoys his day job as a blood spatter analyst --- but he lives for his nighttime hobby of hunting other killers. When he discovers that someone is shadowing him, observ­ing him, and copying his methods, Dexter is not pleased. But he is not one to tolerate displeasure --- in fact, he has a knack for extricating himself from trouble in his own pleasurable way.

The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair - Fiction

A young woman unsure of her engagement revisits in memory the events of one scorching childhood summer when her beautiful yet troubled mother spirits her away from her home to an Indian village untouched by time, where she discovers in the jungle behind her ancestral house a spellbinding garden that harbors a terrifying secret.

Hope Springs by Kim Cash Tate - Christian Life

 

Janelle Evans hasn't gone back to Hope Springs since losing her husband. Becca Anderson is finally on the trajectory she's longed for. And Stephanie London has the ideal life. As these women come together, they soon recognize that healing is needed in their hearts, their families and their churches. God's plan for them in Hopes Springs is bigger than they ever imagined.

Kiss Her Goodbye by Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane -

 

Private eye Mike Hammer’s old mentor on the New York police force has committed suicide, but Hammer knows that Inspector Doolan would never have killed himself. When a woman is murdered practically on the funeral home’s doorstep, Hammer is drawn into the hunt for a cache of Nazi diamonds, and for the mysterious beauty who had been close to Doolan in his final days.

Mondays with My Old Pastor: Sometimes All We Need Is a Reminder from Someone Who Has Walked Before Us by José Luis Navajo - Christian Life

 

Thinking of quitting the ministry, pastor José Luis Navajo doesn't know where to turn until he begins meeting with a seasoned man of the cloth --- his "old pastor" --- who offers a legacy of wisdom in the form of 15 unique principles. In lyrical prose, Navajo shares the personal anecdotes, fables and deep spiritual insights offered by the old pastor and his wife.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier - Suspense

 

Set in a small town in North Carolina in the early 1960s, NIGHTWOODS tells of Luce, a young woman who inherits her murdered sister’s troubled twins. Before the children, Luce was content with her quiet life amidst the Appalachian landscape, choosing to live apart from the community around her. But the coming of her disturbed niece and nephew changes everything, cracking open her solitary life in difficult, hopeful and dangerous ways.

Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce with Daniel Paisner - Sports

 

The perfect game is one of the rarest accomplishments in sports. No hits, no walks, no men reaching base. In more than 130 years of Major League Baseball, it has only happened 20 times. On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga threw baseball’s 21st perfect game. Except that’s not how it entered the record books.

When We Argued All Night by Alice Mattison - Fiction

 

Two young men are swimming naked in an Adirondack lake when they hear a motor, a car appears, and two women get out, one with an orange scarf around her head. It's 1936: New York is suffering through the Great Depression, and childhood friends Artie and Harold are unsure about everything --- jobs, lefty politics, women. After this time in the mountains, nothing will be quite the same.

Relentless Pursuit: Secrets of Roux River Bayou, Book 3 by Kathy Herman - Suspense

 

Sax Landry left home at 17 to escape his father’s abuse, leaving his mother and sister to fend for themselves. Now, 28 years later, both parents are dead, and guilt compels him to find his sister and make peace.