ARTEMIS by Andy Weir (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Audiobook available, performed by Rosario Dawson
Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you have debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she has stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself --- and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.
BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE by Ruth Emmie Lang (Fantasy)
Audiobook available; read by Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell, Piper Goodeve and Peter Berkrot
Orphaned, raised by wolves, and the proud owner of a horned pig named Merlin, Weylyn Grey knew he wasn’t like other people. But when he single-handedly stopped that tornado on a stormy Christmas day in Oklahoma, he realized just how different he actually was. As amazing as these powers may appear, though, they tend to manifest themselves at inopportune times and places. Since Weylyn saved Mary from an angry wolf on her 11th birthday, she’s known that a relationship with him isn’t without its risks, but she doesn’t care. BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE tells the story of Weylyn Grey’s life from the perspectives of the people who knew him, loved him, and even a few who thought he was just plain weird. Reviewed by Bianca Ambrosio.
THE CITY OF BRASS by S. A. Chakraborty (Historical Fantasy)
Audiobook available, performed by Soneela Nankani
On the streets of 18th-century Cairo, Nahri is a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trades she uses to get by are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive. However, when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she is forced to reconsider her beliefs. For Dara tells Nahri an extraordinary tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mythical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling birds of prey are more than what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass --- a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman.
COUNT TO TEN: A Private Novel by James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Sartaj Garewal
Santosh Wagh quit his job as head of Private India after harrowing events in Mumbai almost got him killed. But Jack Morgan, global head of the world's finest investigation agency, needs him back. Jack is setting up a new office in Delhi, and Santosh is the only person he can trust. Still battling his demons, Santosh accepts, and it's not long before the agency takes on a case that could make or break them. Plastic barrels containing dissolved human remains have been found in the basement of a house in an upmarket area of South Delhi. But this isn't just any house --- this property belongs to the state government. With the crime scene in lockdown and information suppressed by the authorities, delving too deep could make Santosh a target to be eliminated. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
DOWN TO NO GOOD by Earl Javorsky (Mystery/Thriller)
Private investigator Charlie Miner, freshly revived from his own murder, gets a call from Homicide Detective Dave Putnam. Self-styled “psychic to the stars” Tamara Gale has given crucial information about three murders, and the brass thinks it makes the Department look bad. Dave wants Charlie to help figure out the angle, since he has first-hand experience with the inexplicable. Trouble is, Charlie, just weeks after his full-death experience, once again has severe cognitive problems and may get them both killed. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
END GAME by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy
Will Robie and Jessica Reel are two of the most lethal people alive. They're the ones the government calls in when the utmost secrecy is required to take out those who plot violence and mass destruction against the United States. And through every mission, one man has always had their backs: their handler, code-named Blue Man. But now, Blue Man is missing. Sent to investigate, Robie and Reel arrive in the small town of Grand to discover that it has its own share of problems. A stagnant local economy and a woefully understaffed police force have made this small community a magnet for crime, drugs and a growing number of militant fringe groups. But lying in wait in Grand is an even more insidious and sweeping threat, one that may shake the very foundations of America. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
THE END WE START FROM by Megan Hunter (Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Louise Brealey
As London is submerged below floodwaters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, she and her baby are forced to leave their home in search of safety. They head north through a newly dangerous country seeking refuge from place to place. The story traces fear and wonder as the baby grows, thriving and content against all the odds. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
ENDURANCE: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Scott Kelly
The veteran of four spaceflights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have. Now, he takes us inside a sphere utterly hostile to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight: the devastating effects on the body; the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth; the catastrophic risks of colliding with space junk; and the still more haunting threat of being unable to help should tragedy strike at home --- an agonizing situation Kelly faced when, on a previous mission, his twin brother's wife, American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space. Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin.
EVEN IF IT KILLS HER: A Bailey Weggins Mystery by Kate White (Mystery/Thriller)
Bailey Weggins’ new friend in college, Jillian Lowe, had everything going for her. All of that dramatically changed during her sophomore year, when a neighbor became unhinged and murdered her family. Now, 16 years later, Bailey is shocked to see Jillian at her book event. The man accused of murdering her family is on the brink of being cleared of the crime through new DNA evidence. With the real killer walking free, Jillian is desperate for Bailey’s help to identify him and allow her the closure she yearns for. As the two uncover deeply guarded secrets, so shocking that they make Jillian rethink her entire relationship to her family, Bailey and Jillian find themselves in great peril. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.
FOOLS' RIVER: A Poke Rafferty Thriller by Timothy Hallinan (Thriller)
The two most difficult days in Bangkok writer Poke Rafferty’s life begin with an emergency visit from Edward Dell, the almost-boyfriend of Poke’s teenage daughter, Miaow. The boy’s father, Buddy, a late-middle-aged womanizer who has moved to Bangkok for happy hunting, has disappeared, and money is being siphoned out of his bank and credit card accounts. It soon becomes apparent that Buddy is in the hands of a pair of killers who prey on Bangkok’s “sexpats”; when his accounts are empty, he’ll be found, like a dozen others before him, floating facedown in a Bangkok canal. His money is almost gone. Over 48 frantic hours, Poke does everything he can to locate Buddy before it’s too late. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD by Louise Erdrich (Dystopian Thriller)
Audiobook available, performed by Louise Erdrich
The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backwards, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Thirty-two-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker is four months pregnant. Though she wants to tell the adoptive parents who raised her from infancy, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand both her and her baby’s origins. As she goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of potential informants and keep her baby safe. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE GHOSTS OF GALWAY: A Jack Taylor Novel by Ken Bruen (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Gerry O'Brien
Jack Taylor is recovering from a mistaken medical diagnosis and a failed suicide attempt. In need of money, and with former cop on his resume, Jack has been hired as a night-shift security guard. But his Ukrainian boss has Jack in mind for a bit of off-the-books work. He wants Jack to find what some claim to be the first true book of heresy, The Red Book, currently in the possession of a rogue priest who is hiding out in Galway after fleeing a position at the Vatican. Em, the many-faced woman who has had a vise on Jack’s heart and mind for the past two years, reappears and turns out to be entangled with the story of The Red Book, too, leading Jack down ever more mysterious and lethal pathways. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
HARDCORE TWENTY-FOUR: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Lorelei King
Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semi-professional loon, Simon Diggery, won’t let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first, it’s just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church, Stephanie knows that she’s the only one with a prayer of catching this killer. If all that’s not enough, Diesel is back in town. Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, isn’t pleased at this unexpected arrival nor is Ranger, the high-powered security consultant who has his own plans for Stephanie. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
HEATHER, THE TOTALITY by Matthew Weiner (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Matthew Weiner
Mark and Karen Breakstone have constructed the idyllic life of wealth and status they always wanted, made complete by their beautiful and extraordinary daughter, Heather. But they are still not quite at the top. When the new owners of the penthouse above them begin construction, an unstable stranger penetrates the security of their comfortable lives and threatens to destroy everything they've created. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
THE HOUSE OF UNEXPECTED SISTERS: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (18) by Alexander McCall Smith (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Lisette Lecat
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are approached by their part-time colleague, Mr. Polopetsi, with a troubling story: a woman, accused of being rude to a valued customer, has been wrongly dismissed from her job at an office furniture store. Never one to let an act of injustice go unanswered, Mma Ramotswe begins to investigate, but soon discovers unexpected information that causes her to reluctantly change her views about the case. Other surprises await our intrepid proprietress in the course of her inquiries. Mma Ramotswe is puzzled when she happens to hear of a local nurse named Mingie Ramotswe. She thought she knew everybody by the name of Ramotswe, and that they were all related. Who is this mystery lady? Reviewed by Roz Shea.
IT'S ALL RELATIVE: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree by A.J. Jacobs (Memoir/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by A.J. Jacobs
A.J. Jacobs has received some strange emails over the years, but this note was perhaps the strangest: “You don’t know me, but I’m your eighth cousin. And we have over 80,000 relatives of yours in our database.” Who are these people, he wondered, and how do I find them? So began A.J.’s three-year adventure to help build the biggest family tree in history. His journey would take him to all seven continents. He drank beer with a US president, found himself singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and unearthed genetic links to Hollywood actresses and real-life scoundrels. After all, we can choose our friends, but not our family. Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.
LITTLE BROKEN THINGS by Nicole Baart (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Susan Bennett
I have something for you. When Quinn Cruz receives that cryptic text message from her older sister Nora, she doesn’t think much of it. They haven’t seen each other in nearly a year, and their relationship consists mostly of infrequent phone calls and an occasional email or text. But when a haunted Nora shows up at the lake near Quinn's house just hours later, a chain reaction is set into motion that will change both of their lives forever. Nora’s “something” is more shocking than Quinn could have ever imagined: a little girl, cowering, wide-eyed and tight-lipped. But before Quinn can ask even one of the million questions swirling around her head, Nora disappears, and Quinn finds herself the unlikely caretaker of a girl introduced simply as Lucy. Reviewed by Amy Haddock.
THE MIDNIGHT LINE: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Dick Hill
Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of a small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness. The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
OBAMA: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT by Pete Souza (Photography/History)
During Barack Obama's two terms, Pete Souza was with the President during more crucial moments than anyone else --- and he photographed them all. Souza captured nearly two million photographs of President Obama, in moments highly classified and disarmingly candid. OBAMA: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT reproduces more than 300 of Souza's most iconic photographs with fine-art print quality in an oversize collectible format. Together they document the most consequential hours of the Presidency, alongside unguarded moments with the President's family, his encounters with children, interactions with world leaders and cultural figures, and more. Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth for HeadButler.com.
THE PEOPLE VS. ALEX CROSS by James Patterson (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Andre Blake
Alex Cross has never been on the wrong side of the law --- until now. Charged with gunning down followers of his nemesis Gary Soneji in cold blood, Cross is being turned into the poster child for trigger-happy cops who think they're above the law. Cross knows it was self-defense. But will a jury see it that way? As Cross fights for his professional life and his freedom, his former partner John Sampson brings him a gruesome, titillating video tied to the mysterious disappearances of several young girls. Despite his suspension from the department, Cross can't say no to Sampson. The illicit investigation leads them to the darkest corners of the internet, where murder is just another form of entertainment. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
POISON by Galt Niederhoffer (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Hillary Huber
Cass and Ryan Connor have achieved family nirvana. With three kids between them, a cat and a yard, a home they built and feathered, they seem to have the Modern Family dream. Their family, including Cass' two children from previous relationships, has recently moved to Portland --- a new start for their new lives. Cass and Ryan have stable, successful careers, and they are happy. But trouble begins almost imperceptibly. First with small omissions and white lies that happen daily in any marital bedroom. They seem insignificant, but they are quickly followed by a series of denials and feints that mushroom and then cyclone in menace. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
QUICK & DIRTY: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Audiobook available, read by Tony Roberts
When a slam-bang of a crime brings a beautiful new client into Stone Barrington’s office, little does he know his association with her will pull him into a far more serpentine mystery in the exclusive world of art. It’s a business where a rare find could make a career --- and a collection --- and mistakes in judgment are costly. And under its genteel and high-minded veneer lurks an assortment of grifters and malfeasants eager to cash in on the game. In the upscale world of New York City’s luxury penthouses and grand Hamptons estates, it will take a man of Stone Barrington’s careful discernment and well-honed instincts to get to the truth without ruffling the wrong feathers. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.
SLEEP NO MORE: Six Murderous Tales by P. D. James (Mystery/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by Daniel Weyman
It's not always a question of "whodunit?" Sometimes there's more mystery in the why or how. And although we usually know the unhealthy fates of both victim and perpetrator, what of those clever few who plan and carry out the perfect crime? The ones who aren't brought down even though they're found out? And what about those who do the finding out who witness a murder or who identify the murderer but keep the information to themselves? These are some of the mysteries that we follow through these six stories as we are drawn into the thinking, the memories, the emotional machinations, the rationalizations, the dreams and desires behind murderous cause and effect. Reviewed by Jane Krebs.
THE STORY OF ARTHUR TRULUV by Elizabeth Berg (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Elizabeth Berg
For the past six months, Arthur Moses’ days have looked the same: He tends to his rose garden and to Gordon, his cat, then rides the bus to the cemetery to visit his beloved late wife for lunch. Seventeen-year-old Maddy Harris is an introspective girl who often comes to the cemetery to escape the other kids at school and a life of loss. She’s seen Arthur sitting there alone, and one afternoon she joins him --- a gesture that begins a surprising friendship between two lonely souls. Moved by Arthur’s kindness and devotion, Maddy gives him the nickname “Truluv.” As Arthur’s neighbor Lucille moves into their orbit, the unlikely trio bands together, helping one another, through heartache and hardships, to rediscover their own potential to start anew. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE VANITY FAIR DIARIES: 1983-1992 by Tina Brown (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Tina Brown
THE VANITY FAIR DIARIES is the story of an Englishwoman barely out of her 20s who arrives in New York City with a dream. Summoned from London in hopes that she can save Condé Nast's troubled new flagship Vanity Fair, Tina Brown is immediately plunged into the maelstrom of the competitive New York media world and the backstabbing rivalries at the court of the planet's slickest, most glamour-focused magazine company. She survives the politics, the intrigue and the attempts to derail her by a simple stratagem: succeeding. In the face of rampant skepticism, she triumphantly reinvents a failing magazine. Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth for HeadButler.com.
THE WHISPERING ROOM: A Jane Hawk Novel by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Elisabeth Rodgers
“No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this.” These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun --- just before she takes her own life, and many others’, in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better. In the wake of her husband’s inexplicable suicide --- and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals --- Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
WONDER VALLEY by Ivy Pochoda (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Will Damron
During a typically crowded morning commute, a naked runner is dodging between the stalled cars. The strange sight makes the local news and captures the imaginations of a stunning cast of misfits and lost souls. There's Ren, just out of juvie, who travels to LA in search of his mother. There's Owen and James, teenage twins who live in a desert commune, where their father, a self-proclaimed healer, holds a powerful sway over his disciples. There's Britt, who shows up at the commune harboring a dark secret. There's Tony, a bored and unhappy lawyer who is inspired by the runner. And there's Blake, a drifter hiding in the desert, doing his best to fight off his most violent instincts. Their lives will all intertwine and come crashing together in a shocking way. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.