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Week of September 9, 2019

New in Paperback

Week of September 9, 2019

Paperback releases for the week of September 9th include FEAR, Bob Woodward's intriguing account of life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies; THE REAL LOLITA, in which Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Vladimir Nabokov knew of the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing LOLITA; John Lescroart's THE RULE OF LAW, which finds attorney Dismas Hardy defending the least likely suspect of his career --- his trusted assistant who is suddenly being charged as an accessory to murder; and THE GLASS OCEAN by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White, a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century --- two deep in the past, one in the present --- to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.

Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time by Ian O'Connor - Sports/Biography

September 10, 2019

Bill Belichick is perhaps the most fascinating figure in the NFL --- the infamously dour face of one of the winningest franchises in sports. As head coach of the New England Patriots, he’s led the team to six Super Bowl championship trophies. In Ian O’Connor’s revelatory biography, readers will come to understand and see Belichick’s full life in football --- from watching college games as a kid with his father, a Naval Academy scout, to orchestrating two Super Bowl–winning game plans as defensive coordinator for the Giants, to his dramatic leap to New England, where he has made history.

Boomer1 by Daniel Torday - Fiction

September 10, 2019

Bluegrass musician, former journalist and editor, and now PhD in English, Mark Brumfeld has arrived at his 30s with significant debt and no steady prospects. His girlfriend Cassie --- a punk bassist in an all-female band --- finds work at a “new media” company. When Cassie refuses his marriage proposal, Mark leaves New York and returns to the basement of his childhood home. Desperate and humiliated, he begins to post a series of online video monologues that critique Baby Boomers and their powerful hold on the job market. But as his videos go viral, and while Cassie starts to build her career, Mark loses control of what he began --- with consequences that ensnare them in a matter of national security.

Can Democracy Work?: A Short History of a Radical Idea, from Ancient Athens to Our World by James Miller - Political Science/History

September 10, 2019

Today, democracy is the world’s only broadly accepted political system, and yet it has become synonymous with disappointment and crisis. How did it come to this? In CAN DEMOCRACY WORK? James Miller offers a lively, surprising and urgent history of the democratic idea from its first stirrings to the present. As he shows, democracy has always been rife with inner tensions. The ancient Greeks preferred to choose leaders by lottery and regarded elections as inherently corrupt and undemocratic. The French revolutionaries sought to incarnate the popular will, but many of them came to see the people as the enemy. And in the United States, the franchise would be extended to some, even as it was taken from others.

Dark Tide Rising: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry - Historical Mystery

September 10, 2019

When kidnappers choose a broken-down waterside slum as the site of a ransom exchange for the wife of wealthy real estate developer Harry Exeter, the Thames River Police and Commander William Monk shadow Harry to the spot to ensure that no harm comes to him or his captive wife. But on arrival, Monk and five of his best men are attacked from all sides. Certain that one of his colleagues has betrayed him, Monk delves into each of their pasts, one of which hides a dreadful secret. Soon facing a series of deadly obstructions, Monk must choose between his own safety and the chance to solve the mystery --- and to figure out where his men’s loyalty really lies.

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward - Politics

September 10, 2019

With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.

The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White - Historical Mystery

September 10, 2019

From the New York Times bestselling authors of THE FORGOTTEN ROOM comes a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century --- two deep in the past, one in the present --- to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.

Jane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility: The Lives of Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth by Marian Veevers - Biography

September 10, 2019

Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth were born just four years apart, in a world torn between heady revolutionary ideas and fierce conservatism, but their lives have never been examined together before. They both lived in Georgian England, navigated strict social conventions and new ideals, and they were both influenced by Dorothy’s brother, the Romantic poet William Wordsworth and his coterie. They were both supremely talented writers yet often lacked the necessary peace of mind in their search for self-expression. Neither ever married. JANE AND DOROTHY uses each life to illuminate the other.

Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard - History

September 10, 2019

Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe but is escalating in the Pacific, where American soldiers face an opponent who will go to any length to avoid defeat. The Japanese army follows the samurai code of Bushido, stipulating that surrender is a form of dishonor. KILLING THE RISING SUN takes readers to the bloody tropical-island battlefields of Peleliu and Iwo Jima and to the embattled Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur has made a triumphant return and is plotting a full-scale invasion of Japan.

Liar Liar by James Patterson and Candice Fox - Thriller

September 10, 2019

Detective Harriet Blue is a very good cop…gone very bad. In the space of a week, she has committed theft and fraud, resisted arrest, assaulted a police officer, and is considered a dangerous fugitive from the law. It's all because of one man, Regan Banks. He viciously killed the only person in the world who matters to Harriet --- and he plans to kill her next. As she recklessly speeds toward the dark side --- and finally crosses it --- Harriet won't stop until Regan pays for the many lives he has taken.

The Line: A Sueño and Bascom Investigation Set in South Korea by Martin Limón - Historical Mystery

September 10, 2019

A battered corpse is found a few feet north of the line dividing North and South Korea. When 8th Army CID Agents George Sueño and Ernie Bascom pull the body to the South Korean side on orders from their superiors, they have no idea of the international conflict their small action will spark. Before war breaks out, they must discover who killed Corporal Noh Jong-bei, a young Korean soldier working with the US Army. The murderer could be from either side of the DMZ. But without cooperation between the governments involved, how can two US military agents interrogate North Korean witnesses? What George and Ernie discover gets them pulled off the case, but fearing they’ve put the wrong man behind bars, they disobey orders in an attempt to discover the truth.

The Man Who Came Uptown by George Pelecanos - Hard-boiled Thriller

September 10, 2019

Michael Hudson spends the long days in prison devouring books given to him by the prison's librarian, a young woman named Anna who develops a soft spot for her best student. Anna keeps passing Michael books until one day he disappears, suddenly released after a private detective manipulated a witness in Michael's trial. Outside, Michael encounters a Washington, D.C. that has changed a lot during his time locked up. But what hasn't changed is the hard choice between the temptation of crime and doing what's right. Trying to balance his new job, his love of reading, and the debt he owes to the man who got him released, Michael struggles to figure out his place in this new world before he loses control.

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar - Historical Fiction

September 10, 2019

One September evening in 1785, Jonah Hancock hears an urgent knocking on his front door near the docks of London. The captain of one of Jonah’s trading vessels bears shocking news. On a voyage to the Far East, he sold Jonah’s ship for something rare and far more precious: a mermaid. Thrust from his ordinary existence, somber Jonah finds himself moving from the city’s seedy underbelly to the finest drawing rooms of high society. At an opulent party, he makes the acquaintance of the coquettish Angelica Neal. This meeting sparks a perilous liaison that steers both their lives onto a dangerous new course as they come to realize that priceless things often come at the greatest cost.

The Real Lolita: A Lost Girl, an Unthinkable Crime, and a Scandalous Masterpiece by Sarah Weinman - True Crime/History

September 10, 2019

Vladimir Nabokov’s LOLITA is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the book was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, THE REAL LOLITA tells Sally Horner’s full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing LOLITA.

Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson - Science Fiction/Space Opera

September 10, 2019

It is 30 years from now, and we have colonized the moon. American Fred Fredericks is making his first trip, his purpose to install a communications system for China's Lunar Science Foundation. But hours after his arrival, he witnesses a murder and is forced into hiding. It is also the first visit for celebrity travel reporter Ta Shu. He has contacts and influence, but he too will find that the moon can be a perilous place for any traveler. Finally, there is Chan Qi. She is the daughter of the Minister of Finance, and without doubt a person of interest to those in power. She is on the moon for reasons of her own, but when she attempts to return to China, in secret, the events that unfold will change everything.

Rising Star, Setting Sun: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and the Presidential Transition that Changed America by John T. Shaw - History/Politics

September 10, 2019

After winning the presidency by a razor-thin victory on November 8, 1960 over Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s former vice president, John F. Kennedy, became the 35th president of the United States. But beneath the stately veneers of both Ike and JFK, there was a complex and consequential rivalry. In RISING STAR, SETTING SUN, John T. Shaw focuses on the intense 10-week transition between JFK’s electoral victory and his inauguration on January 20, 1961. In just over two months, America would transition into a new age, and nowhere was it more marked than in the generational and personal difference between these two men and their dueling visions for the country they led.

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons - Fantasy

September 10, 2019

Kihrin grew up in the slums of Quur, a thief and a minstrel's son raised on tales of long-lost princes and magnificent quests. When he is claimed against his will as the missing son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds himself at the mercy of his new family's ruthless power plays and political ambitions. Practically a prisoner, Kihrin discovers that being a long-lost prince is nothing like what the storybooks promised. The storybooks have lied about a lot of other things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies and how the hero always wins. Then again, maybe he isn't the hero after all. For Kihrin is not destined to save the world. He's destined to destroy it.

The Rule of Law: A Dismas Hardy Novel by John Lescroart - Legal Thriller

September 10, 2019

Dismas Hardy knows something is amiss with his trusted secretary, Phyllis. Her out-of-character behavior and sudden disappearances concern Hardy, especially when he learns that her convict brother --- a man who had served 25 years in prison for armed robbery and attempted murder --- has just been released. Things take a shocking turn when Phyllis is suddenly arrested at work for allegedly being an accessory to the murder of Hector Valdez, a coyote who’d been smuggling women into this country from El Salvador and Mexico. That is, until recently, when he was shot to death --- on the very same day that Phyllis first disappeared from work.

The Siege of Troy written by Theodor Kallifatides, translated by Marlaine Delargy - Historical Fiction

September 10, 2019

Bombs fall over a Greek village during World War II, and a teacher takes her students to a cave for shelter. There she tells them about another war --- when the Greeks besieged Troy. Day after day, she recounts how the Greeks suffer from thirst, heat and homesickness, and how the opponents meet. Helmets are cleaved, heads fly, blood flows. And everything had begun when Prince Paris of Troy fell in love with King Menelaus of Sparta's wife, the beautiful Helen, and escaped with her to his homeland. Now Helen stands atop the city walls to witness the horrors set in motion by her flight. When her current and former loves face each other in battle, she knows that, whatever happens, she will be losing.

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker - Dystopian/Science Fiction

September 10, 2019

In the Before, when the government didn't prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world. One of her songs had just taken off, and she was on her way to becoming a star. Now, in the After, terror attacks and deadly viruses have led the government to ban concerts. As a result, Luce performs in illegal concerts to a small but passionate community. Rosemary Laws spends her days helping customers order all of their goods online for drone delivery. By lucky chance, she finds a new job and a new calling: discover amazing musicians and bring their concerts to everyone via virtual reality. The only catch is that she'll have to go out in public. But when she sees how the world could actually be, that won’t be enough.

The Starlet and the Spy by Ji-Min Lee - Historical Fiction

September 10, 2019

Although the Korean War armistice was signed a year ago, most citizens of Seoul still battle to return to some semblance of normalcy. Conditions are dismal. Children beg for food, and orphanages are teeming. Alice J. Kim, a Korean translator and typist for the American forces still sanctioned in the city, yearns for the life she used to live before her country was torn apart. Then Alice’s boss makes an announcement --- the American movie star Marilyn Monroe will be visiting Korea on a four-day USO tour, and Alice has been chosen as her translator. The Marilyn she meets, while just as dazzling and sensual as Alice expected, is also surprisingly approachable. As Marilyn’s visit unfolds, Alice is forced into a reckoning with her own painful past.