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THE BOOK OF STRANGE NEW THINGS by Michel Faber (Fiction)
Michel Faber’s latest novel is about the search for comfort in the face of life’s tragedies. Peter Leigh is a Christian missionary recruited by an organization known as USIC to be the pastor on a distant planet called Oasis. He leaves behind his wife to work with both the USIC employees stationed on Oasis and the planet’s natives. THE BOOK OF STRANGE NEW THINGS is a meditation on the meaning of faith and the consequences of devotion. Reviewed by Michael Magras.
BROOD by Chase Novak (Gothic Horror)
Adam and Alice are reaching the age when some of the children created by the fertility treatment that spawned them begin to turn feral. Will they succumb to the same physiological horror that destroyed their parents? Their aunt, Cynthia, struggles to give her niece and nephew the love they never had. Meanwhile, the forces of good and evil collide as a troop of feral offspring threatens to invade the refuge Cynthia is so determined to construct. Reviewed by Stephen Febick.
THE BURNING ROOM by Michael Connelly (Thriller)
In the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit, not many murder victims die almost a decade after the crime. But when a man succumbs to complications from being shot by a stray bullet 10 years earlier, detectives Harry Bosch and Lucia Soto are tasked with solving what turns out to be a highly charged, politically sensitive case. Beginning with the bullet that's been lodged in the victim's spine, they must pull new leads from years-old information, which soon reveal that this shooting may have been anything but random. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE FINAL SILENCE by Stuart Neville (Thriller)
Rea Carlisle has inherited a house from an uncle she never knew. It doesn’t take her long to clear out the remaining possessions, but to her horror she discovers a leather-bound book, its pages filled with locks of hair and fingernails: a catalog of victims. Rea turns to the only person she can think of: an old boyfriend, police inspector Jack Lennon. He has more than enough problems already, but a gruesome murder brings the dead man’s terrifying journal to the top of the Belfast police’s priority list. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
THE FIRELIGHT GIRLS by Kaya McLaren (Fiction)
THE FIRELIGHT GIRLS is a story of three generations of women and men whose lives are pieced back together when they return to the place that made them who they are: a summer camp on Lake Wenatchee in Washington State. When they learn that the camp’s future is in jeopardy, Ethel and Ruby send out the alarm, reuniting campers and staff to save the place that was so instrumental in all of their lives. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
THE FRAGILE WORLD by Paula Treick DeBoard (Fiction)
The Kaufmans have always considered themselves a normal happy family. But then they receive a phone call in the middle of the night that their son has been killed in a “freak” road accident. From this moment, the bonds tying them together begin to unravel, and things only get worse when the killer is released from prison early. Curtis packs his car up and takes his daughter on a journey to set things right. Reviewed by Donna Smallwood.
THE HANDSOME MAN'S DE LUXE CAFÉ: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (15) by Alexander McCall Smith (Mystery)
Mma Ramotswe has her hands full both at home and in the office. To add to her current challenges, her devoted partner, Grace Makutsi, has decided to branch out on her own and open The Handsome Man's De Luxe Café. But even “Miss 97 Per Cent” can't quite meet all the demands of running a business --- not to mention those that a lightning strike makes on her building. Eventually, she'll have to accept all the help she can get --- even if it comes from a completely unexpected source. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
THE HUMAN BODY by Paolo Giordano (Fiction)
A platoon of young men and one female soldier leaves Italy for one of the most dangerous places on earth: Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the Gulistan district of Afghanistan. Each member in the platoon manages the toxic mix of boredom and fear that is life at the FOB in his own way. But when a much-debated mission goes devastatingly awry, the soldiers find their lives changed in an instant. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
LAST TRAIN TO BABYLON by Charlee Fam (Fiction)
Aubrey Glass has a collection of potential suicide notes just in case. And now, five years --- and five notes --- after leaving her hometown, Rachel is the one who goes and kills herself. There’s a voicemail from Aubrey’s former friend, left only days before her death, that Aubrey can’t bring herself to listen to --- and worse, a macabre memorial-turned-high-school reunion that promises the opportunity to catch up with everyone…including the man responsible for everything that went wrong between Aubrey and Rachel. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
LET ME BE FRANK WITH YOU: A Frank Bascombe Book by Richard Ford (Fiction)
Through Frank Bascombe, we’ve witnessed the aspirations, sorrows, longings, achievements and failings of an American life in the twilight of the 20th century. Now, in LET ME BE FRANK WITH YOU, author Richard Ford reinvents Bascombe in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In four narratives, Bascombe (and Ford) attempts to reconcile, interpret and console a world undone by calamity. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
MERMAIDS IN PARADISE by Lydia Millet (Fiction)
On the grounds of a Caribbean island resort, newlyweds Deb and Chip meet a marine biologist who says she has sighted mermaids in a coral reef. As the resort's "parent company" swoops in to corner the market on mythological creatures, the couple joins forces with other adventurous souls to save said mermaids from the "Venture of Marvels," which wants to turn their reef into a theme park. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE MIDNIGHT PLAN OF THE REPO MAN by W. Bruce Cameron (Mystery/Humor)
Former college football star Ruddy McCann has experienced a seismic drop in popularity; he is now living a simple life as Kalkaska, Michigan’s full-time repo man and part-time bar bouncer. That is, until Ruddy starts hearing a voice in his head. The voice introduces himself as Alan Lottner, a dead realtor. When Alan demands Ruddy find his murderers, Ruddy decides a voice in your head seeking vengeance is best ignored. When Alan also demands he clean up his act, and apartment, Ruddy tells him to back off. But where can a voice in your head go? Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York edited by Sari Botton (Essays)
NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE is an exuberant celebration of New York, featuring contributions from luminaries such as Elizabeth Gilbert, Susan Orlean, Rosanne Cash, Nick Flynn, Whoopi Goldberg, Phillip Lopate, Owen King, Amy Sohn, Alexander Chee and many others. These essays take place in dive bars and museums, cinemas and old restaurants, horse-drawn carriages and subway cars, capturing the true essence of life in New York. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
THE PERIPHERAL by William Gibson (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran’s benefits, and he finds a new job: beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. It seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He’s supposed to get in their way and edge them back. He’s offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn’t what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it could also be murder. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.
PRINCE LESTAT: The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (Paranormal Mystery/Thriller)
The vampire world is in crisis. Vampires have been proliferating out of control, and old vampires are doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn vampire-mavericks in cities from Paris and Mumbai to Hong Kong, Kyoto and San Francisco. The worlds and beings of all the Vampire Chronicles come together to ultimately rise up and seek out who or what the Voice is, and to discover the secret of what it desires and why. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
THE REPUBLIC OF IMAGINATION: America in Three Books by Azar Nafisi (Memoir/Literary Criticism)
Taking her cue from a challenge thrown to her in Seattle, where a skeptical reader told her that Americans don’t care about books the way they did back in Iran, Azar Nafisi energetically responds to those who say fiction has nothing to teach us. Blending memoir and polemic with close readings of her favorite American novels, Nafisi invites us to join her as citizens of her “Republic of Imagination,” a country where the villains are conformity and orthodoxy and the only passport to entry is a free mind and a willingness to dream. Reviewed by Jane Krebs.
THE SECRET HISTORY OF WONDER WOMAN by Jill Lepore (Cultural History)
Aside from Superman and Batman, no superhero has lasted as long or commanded so vast and wildly passionate a following as Wonder Woman. Like every other superhero, Wonder Woman has a secret identity. Unlike every other superhero, she also has a secret history. Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman’s creator. Reviewed by Sam Glass.
THE SHIP OF BRIDES by Jojo Moyes (Historical Fiction)
Following World War II, four women in Sydney, Australia join 650 other war brides on an extraordinary voyage to England --- aboard HMS Victoria, which still carries not just arms and aircraft but a thousand naval officers. The men and the brides will find their lives intertwined despite the Navy’s ironclad sanctions. And for Frances Mackenzie, whose past comes back to haunt her far from home, the journey will change her life in ways she never could have predicted. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
MY SISTER'S GRAVE by Robert Dugoni (Mystery/Thriller)
Tracy Crosswhite has spent 20 years questioning the facts surrounding her sister Sarah’s disappearance and the murder trial that followed. When Sarah’s remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington State, Tracy is determined to get the answers she’s been seeking. As she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long-kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past --- and open the door to deadly danger. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
SOMETHING RICH AND STRANGE: Selected Stories by Ron Rash (Fiction/Short Stories)
SOMETHING RICH AND STRANGE showcases Ron Rash’s artistry and craftsmanship in 30 stories culled from his previously published collections NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY, BURNING BRIGHT, CHEMISTRY and THE NIGHT NEW JESUS FELL TO EARTH. Each work of short fiction demonstrates Rash’s dazzling ability to evoke the heart and soul of this land and its people --- men and women inexorably tethered to the geography that defines and shapes them. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE SWORD OF MICHAEL by Marcus Wynne (Urban Fantasy)
Marius Winter doesn’t walk the road of the shaman-warrior alone. His spirit guides are a Lakota war-chief and medicine man, First In Front; Tigre, a powerful feminine spirit who appears as a white tiger; and Burt, a spirit raven who channels an old Jewish bookie from the Bronx. Now Marius is targeted by a powerful sorcerer. In the battle for the souls of his friends and lover, he must storm the gates of the underworld and fight through the Seven Demi-Demons of Hell to the deepest dungeons to confront Belial himself. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
US by David Nicholls (Fiction)
Douglas and Connie live more or less happily in the suburbs of London with their moody 17-year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells Douglas she thinks she wants a divorce. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie had planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family. Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in their marriage and might even help him to bond with Albie. Reviewed by Renee Yeager.
WINTER STREET by Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction)
Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket's Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four. Patrick, the eldest, is a hedge fund manager with a guilty conscience. Kevin, a bartender, is secretly sleeping with a housekeeper named Isabelle. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can't get him to commit. And Bart, the only child of Kelley's second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines. As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time. But when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus, utter chaos descends. Reviewed by Vivian Payton.
THE WOLF IN WINTER: A Charlie Parker Thriller by John Connolly (Thriller)
The community of Prosperous, Maine has always thrived when others have suffered. Its inhabitants are wealthy, its children’s future secure. And at the heart of Prosperous lie the ruins of an ancient church, transported stone by stone from England centuries earlier by the founders of the town. But the death of a homeless man and the disappearance of his daughter draw the haunted, lethal private investigator Charlie Parker to Prosperous. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE WORLD OF ICE & FIRE: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia, Jr. and Linda Antonsson (Fantasy)
This is the comprehensive guide to all things “Game of Thrones” and beyond. From the pre-history to the coming of the First Men, through the reign of the Targaryen kings and Robert's Rebellion, this guide --- co-written by George R. R. Martin and the immensely knowledgeable founders and keepers of the www.westeros.org site --- will tell series readers old and new all they might want to know about the history and culture of Westeros and the lands beyond the Narrow Sea. Reviewed by Kathy Weissman.
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