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ADULTERY by Paulo Coelho (Fiction)
A woman in her 30s begins to question the routine and predictability of her days. In everybody's eyes, she has a perfect life: happy marriage, children and a career. Yet what she feels is an enormous apathy. All that changes when she encounters a successful politician who, years earlier, had been her high school boyfriend. As she rediscovers the passion missing from her life, she will face a life-altering choice. Reviewed by Donna Smallwood.
ALIAS HOOK by Lisa Jensen (Fantasy/Adventure)
Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. The magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
THE BLACK ROAD by Tania Carver (Thriller)
The honeymoon is over for newlywed criminologist Marina Esposito. Her house is in flames. Her detective husband is in a coma. Her baby daughter is missing. And then her phone rings: "I have something you've lost," the voice said. "Your daughter." The voice at the other end wants to play a game. If Marina completes a series of bizarre tasks within three days, she wins her daughter's life. If she fails, her little girl dies. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS by Julie Schumacher (Fiction)
Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor at a small liberal arts college. His department is facing cuts and squalid quarters, while another department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
DON’T LOOK BACK by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
While on a rafting and hiking tour through the jungles and mountains of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, Eve Hardaway spots a menacing man in his yard throwing machetes at a human-shaped target. With a violent past and deadly mission, he will do anything to avoid being discovered. Due to a major storm that wipes out the roads and all communication with the outside world, Eve’s tour group is trapped in the jungle with a dangerous predator who has a secret to protect. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE EQUALIZER by Michael Sloan (Thriller)
Robert McCall is a former covert operations officer for the CIA who tries to atone for past sins by offering, free of charge, his services as a troubleshooter (often literally), a protector and an investigator. In this novel, based on the 1980s television show and timed to come out shortly before the feature film version starring Denzel Washington, McCall goes up against an old enemy, a Chechen nightclub owner, who now runs an elite assassination service to try and save the life of an innocent woman. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
FLINGS: Stories by Justin Taylor (Fiction/Short Stories)
In this piercing collection of short fiction, Justin Taylor captures the lives of men and women unmoored from their pasts and uncertain of their futures. A man writes his girlfriend a Dear John letter, gets in his car and just drives. A widowed insomniac is roused from malaise when an alligator appears in her backyard. A group of college friends try to stay close after graduation, but are drawn away from --- and back toward --- each other by the choices they make. Reviewed by Miriam Tuliao.
THE FROZEN DEAD by Bernard Minier (Mystery)
One winter morning, a group of workers discover the headless, flayed body of a horse, hanging suspended from the edge of a frozen cliff. There’s something disturbing about this crime that Commandant Martin Servaz can’t ignore. Then DNA from one of the most notorious inmates of an asylum, a highly intelligent former prosecutor accused of killing and raping several women, is found on the horse carcass. And a few days later, the first human murder takes place. A dark story of madness and revenge seems to be unfolding. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
GUN METAL HEART by Dana Haynes (Thriller)
Diego, an old colleague of freelance operative Daria Gibron, had been a bodyguard in Florence, protecting an engineer and her invention, when they were attacked by a highly trained paramilitary group. He alone escaped, and the White Scorpions, a Serbian mercenary group known for their indiscriminate violence, are now after him. At the same time, a small group of disgraced CIA agents have been waiting for their chance to exact revenge on the person they blame for their discharge --- Daria Gibron. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE HIGH DRUID'S BLADE: The Defenders of Shannara by Terry Brooks (Fantasy)
When his sister is kidnapped by a sorcerer, Paxon Leah follows the dark mage with nothing but his old family sword to protect him. He stumbles into a plot to overthrow the Druids and remake the world…and accidentally unlocks the powers of the ancient blade. Now, he must learn to master the sword’s power in order to protect not only his sister, but also those teaching him to control his powers in the first place: the Druids! Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.
I CAN SEE IN THE DARK by Karin Fossum (Psychological Thriller)
Riktor doesn’t like the way the policeman storms into his home without even knocking. He knows he’s guilty of a terrible crime and is sure the policeman has found him out. But when the policeman finally does confront him, Riktor freezes. The man is arresting him for something totally unexpected. Riktor doesn’t have a clear conscience, but the crime he’s being accused of is one he certainly didn’t commit. Can he clear his name without further incriminating himself? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LOCK IN by John Scalzi (Thriller)
A new and highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. For most, the virus is nothing worse than the flu, but for the unlucky 1% of the population, it results in locked-in syndrome: the victim is fully awake and aware but unable to respond. Fifteen years later, integrators are able to let the locked-in borrow their bodies, when a single murder rocks this new world and everything they thought was true. Reviewed by Sam Glass.
LOVE LETTERS: A Rose Harbor Novel by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Summer is a busy season at the Rose Harbor Inn, so proprietor Jo Marie Rose and handyman Mark Taylor have spent a lot of time together keeping the property running. Jo Marie knows surprisingly little about Mark’s life, due in no small part to his refusal to discuss it. She’s determined to learn more about his past, but first she must face her own --- and welcome three visitors who, like her, are setting out on new paths. Reviewed by Donna Smallwood.
THE MAGICIAN’S LAND by Lev Grossman (Fantasy)
Quentin Coldwater has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. He uncovers a spell that could create magical utopia, a new Fillory --- but casting it will set in motion a chain of events that will bring Earth and Fillory crashing together. To save them, he will have to risk sacrificing everything. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
MEAN STREAK by Sandra Brown (Romantic Suspense)
Dr. Emory Charbonneau disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Emory, suffering from an unexplained head injury, regains consciousness and finds herself the captive of a man with a violent past. As her husband's deception is revealed, and the FBI closes in on her captor, Emory begins to wonder if the man with no name is, in fact, her rescuer from those who wish her dead --- and from heartbreak. Reviewed by Maggie Harding.
THE MOUNTAINTOP SCHOOL FOR DOGS AND OTHER SECOND CHANCES by Ellen Cooney (Fiction)
Ellen Cooney’s latest novel is the story of two women and a whole pack of dogs who, having lost their way in the world, find a place at a training school --- and radical rescue center --- called the Sanctuary. It is a story of strays and rescues, kidnappings and homecomings, moving on, holding on and letting go. And it is, ultimately, a moving and hilarious chronicle of the ways in which humans and canines help each other find new lives, new selves and new hope. Reviewed by Carole Turner.
ONE KICK: A Kick Lannigan Novel by Chelsea Cain (Thriller)
Famously kidnapped at age six, Kick Lannigan captured America’s hearts when she was rescued five years later. Trained as a marksman, lock picker, escape artist and bomb maker by her abductor, Kick could not return to the life of the average young girl after her release. When two children go missing in three weeks, an enigmatic and wealthy former weapons dealer approaches the now-21-year-old with a proposition --- and he won’t take no for an answer. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE STORY HOUR by Thrity Umrigar (Fiction)
Lakshmi Patil is lost in the sadness of her life. Dr. Maggie Bose is adrift and in danger of ruining her marriage. Brought together by Lakshmi’s suicide attempt, both women begin to see life from a new perspective, and realize their lives are more than what they perceive and can be more than what they thought. They begin their relationship as patient and doctor, and end up in a weird quasi-friendship from which neither can walk away. Reviewed by Amy Gwiazdowski.
SUNSHINE ON SCOTLAND STREET: A 44 Scotland Street Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
When Angus Lordie and Domenica Macdonald head off on their honeymoon, Angus's dog Cyril goes to stay with the Pollocks. The long-suffering Bertie knows firsthand how stringent his mother's rules can be, and he resolves to help Cyril set off on an adventure. Meanwhile, Big Lou becomes a viral Internet sensation, and the incurable narcissist Bruce meets his match in the form of a doppelganger neighbor, who proposes a plan that could change both their lives. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
THREE BARGAINS by Tania Malik (Fiction)
Twelve-year-old Madan's father works for Avtaar Singh, who owns the largest factory in town and much of the land around it. When Madan’s father's misdeeds jeopardize his sister's life, Madan strikes his first bargain with Avtaar Singh to save her. Drawn into Avtaar Singh's violent world, Madan becomes his son in every way but by blood. Suddenly it looks as if everything will change for Madan and his family until a forbidden love affair has brutal consequences, and he is forced to leave behind all that is dear to him. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THREE STORY HOUSE by Courtney Miller Santo (Fiction)
Nearing 30 and trying to avoid the inescapable fact that they have failed to live up to everyone's expectations and their own aspirations, cousins and childhood best friends Lizzie, Elyse and Isobel seek respite in an oddly-shaped, three-story house. As they work to restore the almost-condemned house, each woman faces uncomfortable truths about her own failings. Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.
WE ARE NOT OURSELVES by Matthew Thomas (Fiction)
When Eileen Tumulty meets Ed Leary, a scientist whose bearing is nothing like those of the men she grew up with in Woolside, Queens, she thinks she’s found the perfect partner to deliver her to the cosmopolitan world she longs to inhabit. They marry, and Eileen quickly discovers that Ed doesn’t aspire to the same, ever bigger, stakes in the American Dream. She encourages him to want more, but as years pass, it becomes clear that his growing reluctance is part of a deeper psychological shift. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
WINDIGO ISLAND by William Kent Krueger (Mystery)
When the body of a teenage Ojibwe girl washes up on the shore of an island in Lake Superior, the residents of the nearby Bad Bluff reservation whisper that it was the work of a mythical beast, the Windigo, or a vengeful spirit called Michi Peshu. Such stories have been told by the Ojibwe people for generations, but they don’t solve the mystery of how the girl and her friend, Mariah Arceneaux, disappeared a year ago. At the request of the Arceneaux family, Cork O’Connor, former sheriff turned private investigator, is soon on the case. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
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