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December 22, 2015

December 22, 2015

The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of December 21st and December 28th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

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Happy Holidays!

On Sale the Week of December 21st in Hardcover

December 22nd

TIME AND TIME AGAIN by Ben Elton (Science Fiction/Thriller)
In June 1914, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer Hugh Stanton is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be. Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming --- a collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come. He knows this because, for him, that century is already history. Somehow he must change that history. He must prevent the war --- a war that will begin with a single bullet.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250077066

TRAGIC ENCOUNTERS: A People's History of Native Americans by Page Smith (History)
During the last years of his life, historian Page Smith concentrated on composing a history of Native Americans after the first European contact. This manuscript was discovered unpublished after his death. Using his wonderful technique of narrative, discovering in the events of each period the thematic overview of that period, Smith again turns to contemporaneous documents to provide the structure and substance of his story. From Jamestown to Wounded Knee, the story of these Native peoples from coast to coast is explored, granting these oppressed and nearly destroyed people a chance to tell their own broad story.
Counterpoint * 9781619025745
On Sale the Week of December 21st in Paperback

December 22nd

14th DEADLY SIN by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Thriller)
Detective Lindsay Boxer is called to a gruesome crime scene, where a woman has been murdered in broad daylight. As she investigates, shocking video footage of another crime surfaces. Their faces obscured by masks, the cold-blooded criminals on the tape could be anyone --- and now all of Lindsay's co-workers are suspects. As a rash of violence sweeps through San Francisco, Lindsay and her friends must risk their lives in the name of justice before it's too late.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455584994

THE POCKET WIFE by Susan Crawford (Psychological Thriller)
Dana Catrell is shocked when her neighbor, Celia, is brutally murdered. To Dana’s horror, she was the last person to see Celia alive. Suffering from mania, the result of her bipolar disorder, she has troubling holes in her memory, including what happened on the afternoon of Celia’s death. The closer she comes to piecing together the shards of her broken memory, the more she falls apart. Is there a murderer lurking inside of Dana...or is there one out there in the shadows of reality, waiting to strike again?
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062362865

THE PRESIDENT’S SHADOW by Brad Meltzer (Thriller)
A young staffer with the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Beecher White is also a member of the Culper Ring, a 200-year-old secret society founded by George Washington and charged with protecting the Presidency. The alarming discovery of a buried arm has the President's team in a rightful panic. Who buried the arm? How did they get past White House security? And most important: What's the message hidden in the arm's closed fist? Indeed, the puzzle inside has a clear intended recipient, and it isn't the President. It's Beecher himself.
Grand Central Publishing * 9780446553964

THE RECKONING: Death and Intrigue in the Promised Land --- A True Detective Story by Patrick Bishop (True Crime)
As the ringleader of the infamous Stern Gang, also known as Lehi, militant zionist Avraham Stern masterminded a series of high-profile terrorist attacks in pursuit of his dream. On the run from British authorities, Stern was hiding in an attic in Tel Aviv when he was killed by Geoffrey Morton, a British colonial policeman assigned to capture him. Morton claimed Stern was trying to escape, but witnesses insisted he was executed in cold blood. THE RECKONING is the story of Patrick Bishop's quest to discover the truth.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062267832
On Sale the Week of December 28th in Hardcover

December 29th

AFTER SHE'S GONE by Lisa Jackson (Thriller)
Cassie Kramer and her younger sister, Allie, learned the hazards of fame long ago. Together, they’d survived the horror of a crazed fan who nearly killed their mother. Still, Cassie moved to L.A., urging Allie to follow. As a team, they’d take the town by storm. But Allie, finally free of small-town Oregon and just that little bit more beautiful, also proved to be more talented --- and driven. Where Cassie got bit parts, Allie rose to stardom. But now her body double has been shot on the set of her latest movie --- and Allie is missing.
Kensington * 9781617734656

FALSE POSITIVE by Andrew Grant (Thriller)
Alabama detective Cooper Devereaux may have met his match in fellow detective Jan Loflin, who’s fresh off a long undercover stint in Vice when they’re partnered on a case that will test them both beyond their direst nightmares. A seven-year-old boy has disappeared from his home in the Birmingham suburbs. But the more Devereaux digs into the missing child’s background, the more he discovers about his own, eventually shaking loose a series of harrowing truths --- about bloodlines, mass murder, obsession, and what two damaged detectives have in common with the innocent victim they’re so desperate to save.
Ballantine Books * 9780345540751

THE FIRST HOSTAGE: A J. B. Collins Novel by Joel C. Rosenberg (Thriller)
“The president of the United States…is missing.” With these words, New York Times journalist J. B. Collins, reporting from the scene of a devastating attack by ISIS terrorists in Amman, Jordan, puts the entire world on high alert. As the U.S. government faces a constitutional crisis and Jordan battles for its very existence, Collins must do his best to keep the world informed while working to convince the FBI that his stories are not responsible for the terror attack on the Jordanian capital.
Tyndale House Publishers * 9781496406156

THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIER: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
A Special Forces soldier is killed on an operation in Afghanistan, and complicit in the attack is a government official of an allied nation. While the US administration wants to forget the casualty, one Taskforce member will not. When he sets out to avenge his brother's death, his actions threaten to not only expose the Taskforce's activities, but also destroy a web of alliances against a greater evil. Pike Logan is now forced to choose between his friend and the administration he's sworn to protect, while unbeknownst to either of them, the soldier's death is only the beginning.
Dutton * 9780525954910

THE HUNTING TRIP: A Novel of Love and War by William E. Butterworth III (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
At the tender age of 16, Philip W. Williams III is expelled from boarding school for committing a prank. It never enters his mind that he will become a world-class marksman and a special agent of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps in postwar Germany; play a key role in the defection of a Soviet officer and then court danger as a courier for the CIA; marry an Austrian ballet dancer of ferocious mien; become a renowned bestselling novelist; and meet the love of his life on a hunting trip to Scotland.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399176234

MAGGIE SMITH: A Biography by Michael Coveney (Biography)
No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith. Michael Coveney's biography shines a light on the life and career of a truly remarkable performer, one whose stage and screen career spans six decades. From her days as a West End star of comedy and revue, Dame Maggie's path would cross with those of the greatest actors, playwrights and directors of the era. Whether stealing scenes from Richard Burton, answering back to Laurence Olivier, or playing opposite Judi Dench in Breath of Life, her career can be seen as a "Who's Who" of British theatre.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250081483
On Sale the Week of December 28th in Paperback

December 29th

BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT by Neal Griffin (Thriller)
Ben Sawyer was a big-city cop, until he nearly killed a helpless suspect in public. Now a detective in the tiny Wisconsin town where he and his wife grew up, Ben suspects that higher-ups are taking payoffs from local drug lords. Before long, Ben is off the force. His wife is accused of murder. His only ally is another outcast, a Latina rookie cop. Worse, a killer has escaped from jail with vengeance on his mind, and Newburg --- and Ben Sawyer --- in his sights.
Tor Books * 9780765381583

BLACK SCORPION: The Tyrant Reborn written by Jon Land, created by Fabrizio Boccardi (Thriller/Adventure)
Five years have passed since Michael Tiranno saved the city of Las Vegas from a terrorist attack. And now a new enemy has surfaced in Eastern Europe in the form of an all-powerful organization called Black Scorpion. Once a victim of human trafficking himself, the shadowy group's crazed leader, Vladimir Dracu, has become the mastermind behind the scourge's infestation on a global scale. And now he's set his sights on Michael Tiranno for reasons birthed in a painful secret past that have scarred both men.
Forge Books * 9780765370914

BRUTE FORCE: A Jericho Quinn Thriller by Marc Cameron (Thriller)
Paperback Original
In the aftermath of a devastating biological attack, America stands on the brink of disaster. The President of the United States is controlled by terrorists. The Vice President, global mastermind Lee McKeon, is plotting his next move. And special agent Jericho Quinn is running for his life. Desperate to clear his name --- and expose the conspirators in the White House --- Quinn must race against time before McKeon can execute his evil plan. It begins with heightened security, mass surveillance and the establishment of a brutal police state. It can only end in the takeover of America.
Pinnacle * 9780786035298

THE CAVENDON WOMEN by Barbara Taylor Bradford (Historical Fiction)
THE CAVENDON WOMEN, the sequel to Barbara Taylor Bradford’s CAVENDON HALL, follows the Inghams’ and the Swanns’ journey from a family weekend in the summer of 1926 through to the devastation of the Wall Street crash of 1929. It all begins on a summer weekend in July of 1926 when, for the first time in years, the earl has planned a family weekend. As the family members come together, secrets, problems, joys and sorrows are revealed.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks * 9781250032379

COLD BETRAYAL: An Ali Reynolds Novel by J.A. Jance (Thriller)
Ali Reynolds’ longtime friend and Taser-carrying nun, Sister Anselm, rushes to the bedside of a young pregnant woman hospitalized for severe injuries after she was hit by a car on a deserted Arizona highway. The girl had been running away from The Family, a polygamous cult with no patience for those who try to leave its ranks. Something about her strikes a chord in Sister Anselm, reminding her of a case she worked years before when another young girl wasn’t so lucky.
Pocket Books * 9781476745060

THE ENEMY INSIDE: A Paul Madriani Novel by Steve Martini (Thriller)
One of the most successful lawyers in the country, Olinda Serna is a master at managing money as well as her influential clients. So when she’s killed in a crash, powerful heads in Washington begin to panic, worried that their secrets may not be safe anymore. Alex Ives, a friend of defense attorney Paul Madriani’s daughter, is accused of vehicular manslaughter in Serna’s death. To save an innocent young man’s life, Madriani must uncover everything he can about Serna and her clients, leading him to a devious killer poised to strike again.
William Morrow * 9780062328953

I, RIPPER by Stephen Hunter (Historical Thriller)
I, RIPPER is a vivid reimagining of Jack the Ripper’s personal story entwined with that of an Irish journalist who covered the case, knew the principals, charted the investigation, and, at last stymied, went off in a bold new direction. These two men stalk each other through a city twisted in fear of the madman’s blade, a cat-and-mouse game that brings to life the sounds and smells of the fleshpot tenderloin of Whitechapel and all the lurid acts that fueled the Ripper headlines.
Pocket Books * 9781476764863

THE ICE QUEEN by Nele Neuhaus (Mystery)
Ninety-two-year-old Jossi Goldberg, a Holocaust survivor and an American citizen, is found shot to death execution-style in his house near Frankfurt. The autopsy reveals an old and unsuccessfully covered tattoo on the body’s arm --- a blood type marker once used by Hitler's SS. Two more, similar murders happen, and slowly the connections between the victims become evident: All of them were lifelong friends with Vera von Kaltensee --- baroness, well-respected philanthropist, and head of an old, rich family that she rules with an iron fist.
Minotaur Books * 9781250081308

IT WAS ME ALL ALONG: A Memoir by Andie Mitchell
(Memoir)
All her life, Andie Mitchell had eaten lustily and mindlessly. But when she stepped on the scale on her 20th birthday and it registered a shocking 268 pounds, she knew she had to change the way she thought about food and herself --- that her life was at stake. IT WAS ME ALL ALONG takes Andie from working class Boston to the romantic streets of Rome, from morbidly obese to half her size, from seeking comfort in anything that came cream-filled and two-to-a-pack to finding balance in exquisite (but modest) bowls of handmade pasta.
Clarkson Potter * 9780770433253

LAST ONE HOME by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Growing up, Cassie Carter and her sisters, Karen and Nichole, were incredibly close --- until one fateful event drove them apart. After high school, Cassie ran away from home to marry the wrong man, throwing away a college scholarship. Now 31, Cassie is living in Seattle with her daughter and hoping to leave her past behind. Despite the strides she has made, she hasn’t been able to make peace with her sisters. Then one day, Cassie receives a letter from Karen, offering what Cassie thinks may be a chance to reconcile.
Ballantine Books * 9780553391909

LOSING FAITH by Adam Mitzner (Legal Thriller)
Aaron Littman is the premier lawyer of his generation and the chairman of Cromwell Altman, the most powerful law firm in New York City, when a high-profile new client threatens all that he’s achieved --- and more. Nicolai Garkov is accused of laundering funds for the Russian Mafia and financing a terrorist bombing in Red Square. He admits his guilt to Aaron but has a plan for exoneration that includes blackmailing the presiding judge, the Honorable Faith Nichols. If the judge won’t do his bidding, Garkov promises to go public with irrefutable evidence of an affair between Aaron and Faith.
Pocket Books * 9781476764269

MADEMOISELLE CHANEL by C. W. Gortner (Historical Fiction)
Coco Chanel was a woman with a vision who fought every convention of her time to become the most iconic fashion designer the world has ever known. She hit her stride in the 1920s with a style that freed women and money that brought her a freedom she had never known. As her reputation and business reached new heights, Chanel became the woman every man wanted and every woman wanted to be.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062356437

MOTIVE: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman (Psychological Thriller)
Ursula Corey is a successful, attractive divorcée who has been executed. Two suspects emerge: the dead woman’s business partner/ex-husband and her divorce lawyer/secret lover. But just as psychologist Alex Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis think they’re zeroing in on the perp, a bizarre new clue stirs up eerie echoes of a previously unsolved murder. And the discovery of yet another crime scene bearing the same taunting signature raises the specter of a serial killer on a mission.
Ballantine Books * 9780345541390

THE NAKED EYE by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen (Thriller)
Kendra Michaels was instrumental in bringing serial killer Eric Colby to justice. And yet, despite his apparent execution, Kendra is convinced that Colby is still alive. The problem is that she can't prove it. Even her razor-sharp powers of observation --- developed to an amazing capacity during the 20 years she spent blind and now in constant demand by law enforcement agencies --- have gotten her nowhere. But then a reporter who very publicly humiliated Kendra is murdered. Visiting the crime scene in search of anything that might link the brutal homicide to Colby, Kendra instead finds evidence that points to her.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks * 9781250079015

NO FORTUNATE SON: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
Not long after veteran operator Pike Logan and partner Jennifer Cahill are released from the Taskforce --- their longtime employer and one of the world's foremost top secret counterterrorist units --- a high-profile hostage crisis throws the U.S. government into turmoil. Why were Logan and Cahill let go so suddenly? Can they still help decipher the web of lies and chaos spread by a mysterious enemy? And what are the real costs of diffusing such a threat?
Dutton * 9780451467690

THE PATRIOT THREAT by Steve Berry (Thriller/Adventure)
Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired and owns an old bookshop in Denmark. But when his former boss asks him to track down a rogue North Korean who may have acquired some top secret Treasury Department files --- the kind that could bring the United States to its knees --- Malone is vaulted into a harrowing 24-hour chase that begins on the canals in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia.
Minotaur Books * 9781250058447

THE SECRETS OF MIDWIVES by Sally Hepworth (Fiction)
THE SECRETS OF MIDWIVES tells the story of three generations of women devoted to delivering new life into the world --- and the secrets they keep. Neva, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep the details surrounding her own pregnancy --- including the identity of the baby’s father --- hidden for as long as possible. Her mother, Grace, finds it impossible to let this secret rest. For Floss, Neva’s grandmother, Neva’s situation thrusts her back 60 years in time to a secret that eerily mirrors her granddaughter’s --- a secret that, if revealed, will change everything.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250051912

SEIZED: The Profiler, Book 3 by Elizabeth Heiter (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
What should have been a routine investigation for FBI profiler Evelyn Baine turns ominous when she's kidnapped by a dangerous cult of survivalists. As her worst nightmares become a reality, she begins to question what she's seeing. As the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team closes in, Evelyn suspects she's stumbled onto an emerging terrorist threat --- and a cult leader who has a score to settle with the FBI. If Hostage Rescue breaches the compound, Evelyn is dead for sure. If they don't, the cult may unleash a surprise attack that could leave the whole country shattered.
Mira * 9780778318620

THE SONG OF HARTGROVE HALL by Natasha Solomons (Fiction)
Paperback Original
New Year’s Eve, Dorset, England, 1946. Harry Fox-Talbot and his brothers have returned from World War II determined to save their once grand home from ruin. But the arrival of beautiful Jewish wartime singer Edie Rose tangles the threads of love and duty, and leads to a devastating betrayal. Fifty years later, now a celebrated composer, Fox reels from the death of his adored wife, Edie. Until his connection with his four-year old grandson --- a music prodigy --- propels him back into life, and ultimately to confront his past.
Plume * 9780147517593

TRUST NO ONE by Jayne Ann Krentz (Romantic Suspense)
Awkward doesn’t begin to describe Grace Elland’s evening with venture capitalist Julius Arkwright. She has nothing in common with a man who lives to make money, but the intense former Marine does have some skills that Grace can use --- and he’s the perfect man to help her when it becomes clear she is being stalked. Ultimately, Julius will help Grace step into her past to uncover a devious plan to destroy not only her, but also everyone around her.
Jove * 9780515155815

THE UNDOING by Averil Dean (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Best friends since childhood, Eric, Rory and Celia have always been inseparable. Together they've coped with broken homes and damaged families, clinging to each other as they've navigated their tenuous lives. When the trio decides to follow Celia's dream of buying and renovating the Blackbird, a dilapidated hotel that sits on the perilous cliffs of Jawbone Ridge, new jealousies arise and long-held suspicions start to unravel their relationship. Soon they find themselves pushed to the breaking point, where trust becomes doubt, longing becomes obsession, and someone will commit the ultimate betrayal.
Mira * 9780778317395

THE UNQUIET DEAD by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Mystery)
Detective Rachel Getty is asked by her boss, Esa Khattak, to look into the death of Christopher Drayton, who may have been a war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. But as Rachel and Khattak dig deeper into Drayton’s life and death, every question seems to lead only to more questions. Had the specters of Srebrenica returned to haunt Drayton at the end, or had he been keeping secrets of an entirely different nature?
Minotaur Books * 9781250055187

THE WEREWOLF OF BAMBERG: A Hangman's Daughter Tale written by Oliver Pötzsch, translated by Lee Chadeayne (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
In 1668, hangman Jakob Kuisl, his daughter Magdalena, and her husband Simon travel to the town of Bamberg. But what was planned as a family vacation soon becomes a nightmare: a murderer in Bamberg is leaving the severed limbs of victims in the trash outside the city. When rumors quickly spread that the deaths are the work of a werewolf, Jakob must prove the superstition wrong and embarks on a search for the “devil of Bamberg.”
Mariner Books * 9780544610941

WEST OF SUNSET by Stewart O’Nan (Historical Fiction)
In 1937, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a troubled, uncertain man whose literary success was long over. In poor health, with his wife consigned to a mental asylum and his finances in ruins, he struggled to make a new start as a screenwriter in Hollywood. By December 1940, he would be dead of a heart attack. Those last three years of Fitzgerald’s life, often obscured by the legend of his earlier Jazz Age glamour, are the focus of Stewart O’Nan’s novel.
Penguin Books * 9780143128243


December 31st

HAUNTING INVESTIGATION: A Chesterton Holte Mystery by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
(Historical/Paranormal Mystery)
Paperback Original
Poppy Thornton is determined to make a name for herself as a serious crime reporter, but is stuck reporting on garden parties and ladies' fashion. Then one day, her editor assigns her to collect background information on the suicide of a prominent businessman. She soon discovers it was actually a murder...but her surprising source for this information is the ghost of a man killed alongside her father during the Great War. As their investigation into a string of murders narrows in on an all-too-familiar suspect, Poppy becomes a target herself and wonders if her ghost of a partner will appear in time to keep her from joining him in the afterlife.
Cleveland Writers Press * 9781943052004

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