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AMONG THE WICKED: A Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Kathleen McInerney
Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called upon by the sheriff's department in rural, upstate New York to assist on a developing situation that involves a reclusive Amish settlement and the death of a young girl. Unable to penetrate the wall of silence between the Amish and "English" communities, the sheriff asks Kate to travel to New York, pose as an Amish woman and infiltrate the community. In the coming days, she will unearth a world built on secrets, a series of shocking crimes, and herself, alone...trapped in a fight for her life. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE BLACK WIDOW by Daniel Silva (Thriller/Adventure)
Audiobook available, read by George Guidall
Art restorer, spy and assassin Gabriel Allon is poised to become the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service. But on the eve of his promotion, events conspire to lure him into the field for one final operation. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris, and a desperate French government wants Gabriel to eliminate the man responsible before he can strike again. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
THE DEVOURERS by Indra Das (Dark Fantasy)
Audiobook available, read by Meera Simhan
College professor Alok encounters a mysterious stranger with a bizarre confession and an extraordinary story. Tantalized by the man’s unfinished tale, Alok will do anything to hear its completion. So he agrees, at the stranger’s behest, to transcribe a collection of battered notebooks, weathered parchments and once-living skins. From these documents spills the chronicle of a race of people at once more than human yet kin to beasts, ruled by instincts and desires blood-deep and ages-old. With every passing chapter of beauty and brutality, Alok’s interest in the stranger grows and evolves into something darker and more urgent. Reviewed by Amy Gwiazdowski.
THE DREAM LIFE OF ASTRONAUTS: Stories by Patrick Ryan (Fiction/Short Stories)
A would-be Miss America auditions for a shady local talent scout over vodka and Sunny D; a NASA engineer begins to wonder if the woman he’s having an affair with is slowly poisoning her husband; a Boy Scout troop leader, recovering from a stroke, tries to protect one of his scouts from being bullied by his own sons; a grandmother, sentenced to driver’s ed after a traffic accident, surprises herself by falling for her instructor. THE DREAM LIFE OF ASTRONAUTS balances heartbreak with wry humor as its characters try to make sense of the paths they find themselves on. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
FALLING: A Love Story by Jane Green (Romance)
Audiobook available, read by Jane Green
When Emma Montague left the strict confines of upper-crust British life for New York, she felt sure it would make her happy. But the cutthroat world of finance and relentless pursuit of more began to take its toll. On the move again, Emma settles in the picturesque waterfront town of Westport, Connecticut, where she decides to remake the dilapidated cottage she rents from Dominic, a local handyman who lives next door with his six-year-old son. They become friends, and slowly much more, as Emma finds herself feeling at home in a way she never has before. But just as they start to imagine a life together as a family, fate intervenes in the most shocking of ways. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
GUILTY MINDS by Joseph Finder (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Holter Graham
The chief justice of the Supreme Court is about to be defamed, his career destroyed, by a powerful gossip website that specializes in dirt on celebs and politicians. Their top reporter has written an exposé claiming that he had liaisons with an escort, a young woman prepared to tell the world her salacious tale. Intelligence operative Nick Heller has just 48 hours to disprove the story. But when the call girl is found murdered, Nick resolves to find the mastermind behind the conspiracy before anyone else falls victim to the maelstrom of political scandal and ruined reputations predicated upon one long-buried secret. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE HOPEFULS by Jennifer Close (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Jorjeana Marie
When Beth arrives in DC, she hates everything about it. At dinner parties, guests compare their security clearance levels. They leave their BlackBerrys on the table. They speak in acronyms. And once they realize Beth doesn't work in politics, they smile blandly and turn away. Soon Beth and her husband, Matt, meet a charismatic White House staffer named Jimmy, and his wife, Ashleigh, and the four become inseparable. But as Jimmy’s star rises higher and higher, the couples’ friendship --- and Beth’s relationship with Matt --- is threatened by jealousy, competition and rumors. Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.
HOUSEBROKEN: Admissions of an Untidy Life by Laurie Notaro (Humor/Essays)
Audiobook available, read by Laurie Notaro
Laurie Notaro isn’t exactly a domestic goddess --- unless that means she fully embraces her genetic hoarding predisposition, sneaks peeks at her husband’s daily journal, or has made a list of the people she wants on her Apocalypse Survival team (her husband is not on it). She chronicles her chronic misfortune in the domestic arts, including cooking, cleaning, and putting on Spanx while sweaty (which should technically qualify as an Olympic sport). HOUSEBROKEN is a rollicking new collection of essays showcasing Notaro’s irreverent wit and inability to feel shame. Reviewed by Maggie Harding.
THE INNOCENTS: A Quinn Colson Novel by Ace Atkins (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Macleod Andrews
When a former high school cheerleader is found walking a back road completely engulfed in flames, the entire state of Mississippi focuses on Tibbehah county, wanting answers. The light soon shines on several people: the girl’s father, a worthless drunk; a pair of teenage thugs with grand ambitions to control north Mississippi; and a red-headed truck stop madam who has her own problems. As Quinn Colson and acting Sheriff Lillie Virgil uncover old secrets and new lies, the entire town turns against them, and they learn that the most dangerous enemies may be the ones you trust most. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
I'VE GOT SAND IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella (Humor/Essays)
Audiobook available, read by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella are back with another collection of warm and witty stories that will strike a chord with every woman. This six-book series is among the best reviewed humor books published today and has been compared to the late greats Erma Bombeck and Nora Ephron. This seventh volume will not disappoint as it hits the humorous and poignant note that fans have come to expect from the beloved mother-daughter duo. Reviewed by Carole Turner.
THE KINGDOM written by Fuminori Nakamura, translated from the Japanese by Kalau Almony (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Michi Barall
Yurika is a freelancer in the Tokyo underworld. She poses as a prostitute, carefully targeting potential johns, selecting powerful and high-profile men. When she is alone with them, she drugs them and takes incriminating photos to sell for blackmail purposes. She operates alone and lives a private, solitary life, doing her best to lock away painful memories. But when a figure from Yurika’s past resurfaces, she realizes there is someone out there who knows all her secrets. There are whispers of a crime lord named Kizaki, and Yurika finds herself trapped in a game of cat and mouse. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
OUTFOXED: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Grover Gardner
Lately, defense lawyer Andy Carpenter has been involved in a county prison program where inmates help train dogs the Tara Foundation has rescued to make them more adoptable. One of the prisoners Andy has been working with is Brian Atkins, who has 18 months left on a five-year term for fraud. Brian has been helping to train Boomer, an adorable fox terrier the Tara Foundation rescued from a neglectful owner. But one day, Andy arrives at the prison to discover that Brian has used Boomer to make an ingenious escape. The next day, the man on whose testimony Brian was convicted is found murdered. Brian is caught and arrested for the crime, though he forcefully protests his innocence. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
PARADISE LODGE by Nina Stibbe (Fiction/Humor)
After succeeding in her quest to help her unconventional mother find a new "man at the helm," 15-year-old Lizzie Vogel simply wants to be a normal teenager. Just when it looks as if things have settled down, her mother goes and has another baby. On top of that, Lizzie's best friend has deserted her for the punk craze, which Lizzie finds too exhausting to commit to herself. But Lizzie soon gets more commitment than she bargained for when she takes a job as a junior nurse at Paradise Lodge, a ramshackle refuge for the elderly that has seen better days. When Paradise Lodge faces a crisis in the form of a rival nursing home, Lizzie must find a way to save her job before she loses the only place she's ever felt she belongs. Reviewed by Katherine B. Weissman.
POND by Claire-Louise Bennett (Fiction)
Claire-Louise Bennett’s debut captures the interior reality of its unnamed protagonist, a young woman living a singular and mostly solitary existence on the outskirts of a small coastal village. Sidestepping the usual conventions of narrative, the novel focuses on the details of a young woman’s daily experience --- rendered sometimes in story-length, story-like stretches of narrative, sometimes in fragments no longer than a page, but always suffused with the hypersaturated, almost synesthetic intensity of the physical world that we remember from childhood. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
THE SINGLES GAME by Lauren Weisberger (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Heather Lind
When America’s sweetheart, Charlotte “Charlie” Silver, makes a pact with the devil --- the infamously brutal tennis coach Todd Feltner --- she finds herself catapulted into a world of celebrity stylists, private parties, charity matches aboard mega-yachts, and secret dates with Hollywood royalty. Under Todd’s new ruthless regime, Charlie the good girl is out. Todd wants “Warrior Princess” Charlie all the way. Celebrity mags and gossip blogs go wild for Charlie as she jets around the globe chasing Grand Slam titles and Page Six headlines. But as the Warrior Princess’s star rises on and off the court, it comes at a cost. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.
THE TRAP written by Melanie Raabe, translated from the German by Imogen Taylor (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Julie Teal
For 11 years, bestselling author Linda Conrads has mystified fans by never setting foot outside her home. Haunted by the unsolved murder of her younger sister and the face of the man she saw fleeing the scene, Linda's hermit existence helps her cope with debilitating anxiety. But the sanctity of her oasis is shattered when she sees her sister's murderer on television. Hobbled by years of isolation, Linda resolves to use the plot of her next novel to lay an irresistible trap for the man. As the plan is set in motion and the past comes rushing back, Linda's memories --- and her very sanity --- are called into question. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
UNDERGROUND AIRLINES by Ben H. Winters (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by William DeMeritt
A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor works to infiltrate the local cell of an abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines. He believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
WHITE BONE by Ridley Pearson (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Todd Haberkorn
When ex–military contractor John Knox receives a text from partner Grace Chu warning that she fears her cover may have been blown while on assignment, he jumps into action. Knox must locate her overseas handlers, convince them of the threat, and then attempt to retrace the well-hidden steps of a woman who had been attempting to determine how one million euros’ worth of AIDS vaccine disappeared, all while eluding angry poachers on a parallel trail. As the threat from Al-Shaabab militants interferes with his pursuit of Grace, Knox finds himself pitted against the most savage and suicidal fighters in the world. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
WOLF LAKE by John Verdon (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Christopher Lane
Former NYPD star homicide detective Dave Gurney is called upon to solve a baffling puzzle: Four people who live in different parts of the country and who seem to have little in common report having had the same dream --- a terrifying nightmare involving a bloody dagger with a carved wolf’s head on the handle. All four are subsequently found with their wrists cut --- apparent suicides --- and the weapon used in each case was a wolf’s head dagger. Troubled by odd holes in the official approach to the case, Gurney begins his own investigation --- an action that puts him in the crosshairs of not only an icy murderer and the local police but the darkest corner of the federal government. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 by Ruth Ware (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Imogen Church
Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for --- and so the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
YOU'LL GROW OUT OF IT by Jessi Klein (Humor/Essays)
Audiobook available, read by Jessi Klein
In YOU'LL GROW OUT OF IT, comedian Jessi Klein offers a relentlessly funny yet poignant take on a variety of topics she has experienced along her strange journey to womanhood and beyond. These include her "transformation from Pippi Longstocking-esque tomboy to are-you-a-lesbian-or-what tom man," attempting to find watchable porn, and identifying the difference between being called "ma'am" and "miss." Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
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