AT THE WATER’S EDGE by Sara Gruen (Historical Fiction)
After disgracing themselves at a high society New Year’s Eve party in Philadelphia in 1944, Madeline Hyde and her husband, Ellis, are cut off financially by his father, a former army colonel who is already ashamed of his son’s inability to serve in the war. When Ellis and his best friend, Hank, decide that the only way to regain the Colonel’s favor is to succeed where the Colonel very publicly failed --- by hunting down the famous Loch Ness monster --- Maddie reluctantly follows them across the Atlantic, leaving her sheltered world behind. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
AQUARIUM by David Vann (Fiction)
Caitlin lives alone with her mother in subsidized housing next to an airport in Seattle. Each day, while waiting to be picked up after school, she visits the local aquarium to study the fish. Gazing at the creatures within the watery depths, she accesses a shimmering universe beyond her own. When she befriends an old man at the tanks one day, who seems as enamored of the fish as she, Caitlin cracks open a dark family secret and propels her once-blissful relationship with her mother toward a precipice of terrifying consequence. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS by Elizabeth Haynes (Mystery/Thriller)
Ten years ago, 15-year-old Scarlett Rainsford vanished while on a family holiday in Greece. Lou Smith worked the case as a police constable, and failing to find Scarlett has been one of the biggest regrets of her career. No one is more shocked than Lou to learn that Scarlett has unexpectedly been found during a Special Branch raid of a brothel in Briarstone. What happened to her? How did she end up back here? And why is her family (with the exception of her emotionally fragile younger sister) less than enthusiastic about her return? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
BETWEEN YOU & ME: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris (Writing/Reference)
Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in The New Yorker's copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in BETWEEN YOU & ME, which features her laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation and usage, and her clear explanations of how to handle them. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
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. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
A BLINK OF THE SCREEN: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry Pratchett (Fantasy/Short Stories)
In the four decades since his first book appeared in print, the late Terry Pratchett has become one of the world's bestselling and best-loved authors. Here for the first time are his short stories and other short-form fiction collected into one volume. A BLINK OF THE SCREEN charts the course of Pratchett's long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job, and the origins of his debut novel, THE CARPET PEOPLE; and on again to the dizzy mastery of the Discworld series. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
BLOOD ON SNOW by Jo Nesbø (Thriller)
This is the story of Olav, an extremely talented “fixer” for one of Oslo’s most powerful crime bosses. But Olav is also an unusually complicated fixer. He has a capacity for love that is as far-reaching as is his gift for murder. He has an “innate talent for subordination,” but running through his veins is a “virus” born of the power over life and death. And while his latest job puts him at the pinnacle of his trade, it may be mutating into his greatest mistake. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE BULLET by Mary Louise Kelly (Thriller)
In a split second, everything Caroline Cashion has known is proved to be a lie. A single bullet is found lodged at the base of her skull. Caroline is stunned. She has never been shot. Then, over the course of one awful evening, she learns the truth: that she was adopted when she was three years old after her real parents were murdered. She was wounded too, a gunshot to the neck. Surgeons had stitched up the traumatized little girl, with the bullet still there. Now, Caroline has to find the truth of her past. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE by Ann Packer (Fiction)
Bill Blair finds the land by accident, three wooded acres in a rustic community south of San Francisco, and buys the property on a whim. In Penny Greenway he finds a suitable wife, and they marry and have four kids. Thirty years later, the three oldest Blair children, now adults and still living near the family home, are disrupted by the return of the youngest, whose sudden presence and all-too-familiar troubles force a reckoning with who they are, separately and together, and set off a struggle over the family’s future. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
CROW FAIR: Stories by Thomas McGuane (Fiction/Short Stories)
The ties of family make for uncomfortable binds in Thomas McGuane’s first short story collection in nine years. A devoted son is horrified to discover his mother’s antics before she slipped into dementia. A father’s outdoor skills are no match for an ominous change in the weather. But complications arise equally in the absence of blood, as when lifelong friends on a fishing trip finally confront their deep dislike for each other. Or when a gifted traveling cattle breeder succumbs to the lure of a stranger’s offer of easy money. Reviewed by Stephen Febick.
CUBA STRAITS: A Doc Ford Novel by Randy Wayne White (Thriller/Adventure)
Doc Ford’s old friend, General Juan Garcia, has gone into the lucrative business of smuggling Cuban baseball players into the U.S. He is also feasting on profits made by buying historical treasures for pennies on the dollar. He prefers what dealers call HPC items --- high-profile collectibles --- but when he manages to obtain a collection of letters written by Fidel Castro between 1960 and 1962 to a secret girlfriend, it’s not a matter of money anymore. Garcia has stumbled way out of his depth. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
DON’T TRY TO FIND ME by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
Don’t try to find me. Though the message on the kitchen white board is written in Marley’s hand, her mother Rachel knows there has to be some other explanation. Marley would never run away. As the days pass and it sinks in that the impossible has occurred, Rachel and her husband Paul are informed that the police have “limited resources.” If they want their 14-year-old daughter back, they will have to find her themselves. Reviewed by Alexis Burling.
EMMA: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
The summer after university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury to prepare for the launch of her interior design business. Soon she befriends Harriet Smith, the naïve but charming young teacher’s assistant at an English-language school run by the hippie-ish Mrs. Goddard. Harriet is Emma’s inspiration to do the two things she does best: offer guidance to those less wise in the ways of the world and put her matchmaking skills to good use. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
THE FIFTH HEART by Dan Simmons (Historical Mystery)
In 1893, Sherlock Holmes and Henry James come to America together to solve the mystery of the 1885 death of Clover Adams. Holmes has faked his own death because he has come to the conclusion that he is a fictional character. This leads to serious complications for James. If his esteemed fellow investigator is merely a work of fiction, what does that make him? And what can the master storyteller do to fight against the sinister power that may or may not be controlling them from the shadows? Reviewed by Ray Palen.
HAPPINESS FOR BEGINNERS by Katherine Center (Fiction)
A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter lets her annoying brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. When she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can’t imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen's life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming, where she will survive mosquito infestations, a surprise summer blizzard, and a group of sorority girls. Reviewed by Alexis Burling.
THE HARDER THEY COME by T.C. Boyle (Psychological Suspense)
On a vacation cruise to Central America with his wife, 70-year-old Sten Stensen unflinchingly kills a gun-wielding robber menacing a busload of senior tourists. The reluctant hero is relieved to return home to Fort Bragg, California, after the ordeal --- only to find that his delusional son, Adam, has spiraled out of control. As Adam's mental state fractures, he becomes increasingly schizophrenic, which leads him to shoot two people. On the run, he takes to the woods, spurring the biggest manhunt in California history. Reviewed by Brandon Stickney.
INSIDE THE O’BRIENS by Lisa Genova (Fiction)
A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their 20s, and respected police officer, Joe O'Brien begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s disease. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
KNOW YOUR BEHOLDER by Adam Rapp (Fiction/Humor)
As winter deepens in snowbound Pollard, Illinois, thirty-something Francis Falbo is holed up in his attic apartment, recovering from a series of traumas. Other than the agoraphobia that continues to hold him hostage, all he has left is his childhood home, the remaining rooms of which he rents to a cast of eccentric tenants. The tight-knit community has already survived a blizzard, but there is more danger in store for the citizens of Pollard before summer arrives. Reviewed by Jane Krebs.
THE LOST BOYS SYMPHONY by Mark Ferguson (Fiction)
After Henry's girlfriend, Val, leaves him and transfers to another school, his grief begins to manifest itself in bizarre and horrifying ways. After weeks of sleepless nights and sick delusions, Henry decides to run away and find Val. Once on the George Washington Bridge, however, a powerful hallucination knocks him out cold. When he awakens, he finds out that he has been kidnapped by two strangers who claim to be future versions of himself. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
THE MERMAID'S CHILD by Jo Baker (Historical Fantasy)
Malin has always been different, and when her father dies, leaving her alone, her choice is clear: stay and remain an outsider forever, or leave in search of the mythical inheritance she is certain awaits her. Apprenticed to a series of strange and wonderful characters, Malin embarks on a grueling journey that crosses oceans and continents --- from the high seas to desert plains --- and leads to a discovery that she never could have expected. Reviewed by Kathy Weissman.
MIRACLE AT AUGUSTA by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge (Fiction)
A year ago, Travis McKinley, an unknown golfing amateur, shocked the world by winning the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach. Still he can't shake the feeling that he's a fraud, an imposter who doesn't deserve his success. And after a series of disappointments and personal screw-ups, he might just prove himself right. A shot at redemption arrives in an unexpected form: a teenage outcast with troubles of his own --- and a natural golf swing. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
OLD VENUS edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Science Fiction/Short Stories)
This new anthology of 16 original stories by some of science fiction’s best writers --- edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois --- turns back the clock to a more innocent time, before the hard-won knowledge of science vanquished the infinite possibilities of the imagination. Travel back in time to a planet that never was but should have been: a young, rain-drenched world of fabulous monsters and seductive mysteries. Reviewed by Pauline Finch.
ONE MILE UNDER: A Ty Hauck Novel by Andrew Gross (Thriller)
When an old friend contacts Ty Hauck and says his daughter is in trouble, he doesn't hesitate to get involved. Together, the two step into a sinister scheme running deep beneath the surface of a quiet, Colorado town that has made a deal with the devil to survive. But in the square-off between giant energy companies and beaten-down ranchers and farmers, one resource is even more valuable in this drought-stricken region than oil. They both will kill for it --- water. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
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. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
THE PRECIOUS ONE by Marisa de los Santos (Fiction)
In all her life, Eustacia “Taisy” Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary --- professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father. Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. Why then, is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir? Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.
SCENT OF MURDER by James O. Born (Mystery/Thriller)
Two years after being tossed from the detective bureau for using questionable tactics while catching a child molester, deputy Tim Hallett's life is finally on track. Assigned to a special K-9 unit with the best partner in the world, a Belgian Malinois named Rocky, Hallett has finally learned to balance police work with his family life. But that all changes in the heat of a Florida sugarcane field. While searching for a kidnapper, Rocky locks onto the scent of a predator unlike anyone has ever seen. Or have they? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SIGNATURE KILL by David Levien (Thriller)
A young woman's body is found on a side street in Indianapolis, horrifyingly arranged. Meanwhile, Frank Behr takes on a no-win case to locate a single mother's wayward daughter who's been missing for months. Suddenly Behr feels the two cases may be connected, but he is years removed from his life as a legitimate police officer and has few friends left on the force. His pursuit of a potential serial killer ultimately will lead him to a devastating decision from which he will not be able to turn back. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SOMEONE IS WATCHING by Joy Fielding (Thriller)
While spying on a deadbeat dad in the middle of the night, Bailey Carpenter, a special investigator for a hotshot Miami law firm, is blindsided --- attacked and nearly killed. With the police making no headway in solving her case, she’s determined to overcome her terror and reclaim the power she lost by unmasking her attacker and taking him down herself. But it’s a harrowing battle that threatens to wreck Bailey’s credibility, compromise an investigation, and maybe even claim her sanity. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE STRANGER by Harlan Coben (Thriller)
The Stranger appears out of nowhere. His identity is unknown, and his motives are unclear. But his information is undeniable. He whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world. Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream. Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE UNRAVELING OF MERCY LOUIS by Keija Parssinen (Psychological Suspense)
Mercy Louis, the star of the championship girls’ basketball team, seems destined for greatness, but the road out of town is riddled with obstacles. At the periphery of her world floats team manager Illa Stark, who is spellbound by Mercy’s beauty and talent. But a note discovered in Mercy’s gym locker reveals that her life may not be as perfect as it appears. The last day of school brings the disturbing discovery, and as summer unfolds and the police investigate, every girl becomes a suspect. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
THE WEDNESDAY GROUP by Sylvia True (Fiction)
Gail. Hannah. Bridget. Lizzy. Flavia. Each of them has a shameful secret, and each is about to find out that she is not alone. As the women share never-before-uttered secrets and bond over painful truths, they work on coming to terms with their husbands’ addictions and developing healthy boundaries for themselves. Meanwhile, their outside lives become more and more intertwined, until, finally, a series of events forces each woman to face her own denial, betrayal and uncertain future head-on. Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.
WHISKEY AND CHARLIE by Annabel Smith (Fiction)
Whiskey is everything his twin brother, Charlie, is not --- bold, daring, carefree --- and Charlie blames his brother for always stealing the limelight. When they were just boys, the secret language they whispered back and forth over their crackly walkie-talkies connected them. As the brothers grew up, they grew apart, and in their adulthood, they are barely even speaking to each other. When Charlie hears that Whiskey has been in a terrible accident, he can’t make sense of it. Who is he without Whiskey? Reviewed by Alexis Burling.
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