ANY MEANS NECESSARY: A Leona Lindberg Thriller written by Jenny Rogneby, translated by Agnes Broome (Hard-boiled Thriller)
A man blows himself up outside the Parliament House in Stockholm, but miraculously survives. Was he a lone wolf, or are there more heinous acts to follow? Leona Lindberg is put on the case. But Leona, who has barely escaped her trials from the last case, is focused on other things. Her family is shattered, she is living under threat and desperately needs liquid assets. It's lucky, then, that she can think outside the box like no other detective. With one foot on each side of the law, she mounts a special operation of grand proportions. And the higher the risk, the higher the rewards. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF by Marlon James (Historical Fantasy)
Audiobook available, read by Dion Graham
Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. As Tracker follows his scent, he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying? Reviewed by Maya Gittelman.
BLOOD ECHO: A Burning Girl Thriller by Christopher Rice (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Lauren Ezzo
Enabled by a superpower drug, Charlotte Rowe is partnered with a shadowy pharmaceutical company to hunt down and eliminate society’s most depraved human predators. When her latest mission goes off the rails in a horrifying way, she wants some time to retreat. But something sinister is evolving in Altamira, California --- a massive network of domestic terrorists with ties to Charlotte’s influential and corrupt employers. As a vast and explosive criminal conspiracy grows, the fate of Charlotte’s hometown hangs in the balance. With everyone she cares about in danger, Charlotte has no choice but to bring her powers home. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
BLOOD ORANGE by Harriet Tyce (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Julie Teal
Alison has it all: a doting husband, an adorable daughter and a career on the rise --- she's just been given her first murder case to defend. But Alison drinks too much. She's neglecting her family. And she's having an affair with a colleague whose taste for pushing boundaries may be more than she can handle. Alison's client doesn't deny that she stabbed her husband --- she wants to plead guilty. And yet something about her story is deeply amiss. Saving this woman may be the first step to Alison saving herself. But someone knows Alison's secrets. Someone who wants to make her pay for what she's done, and who won't stop until she's lost everything. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
CARELESS LOVE: A DCI Banks Novel by Peter Robinson (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Simon Prebble
Two suspicious deaths challenge Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his crack investigative team. A young local student’s body is found in an abandoned car on a lonely country road. The death looks like suicide, but there are too many open questions for Banks and his team to rule out foul play. Meanwhile, a man in his 60s is found dead in a gully up on the wild moorland. Post mortem findings indicate that he died from injuries sustained during a fall. Was it an accident? Or was he pushed? As the inconsistencies multiply and the mysteries surrounding these two cases proliferate, a source reveals a piece of information that shocks the team and impacts the investigations. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE CITY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT by Charlie Jane Anders (Science Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Jennifer O'Donnell and Laura Knight Keating
January is a dying planet --- divided between a permanently frozen darkness on one side, and blazing endless sunshine on the other. Humanity clings to life, spread across two archaic cities built in the sliver of habitable dusk. But life inside the cities is just as dangerous as the uninhabitable wastelands outside. Sophie, a student and reluctant revolutionary, is supposed to be dead, after being exiled into the night. Saved only by forming an unusual bond with the enigmatic beasts who roam the ice, Sophie vows to stay hidden from the world, hoping she can heal. But fate has other plans --- and Sophie's ensuing odyssey and the ragtag family she finds will change the entire world. Reviewed by Katherine B. Weissman.
CONNECTIONS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Susan Ericksen
Homicide cop Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband, Roarke, are building a brand-new school and youth shelter. For expert help, they hire child psychologist Dr. Rochelle Pickering --- whose own brother pulled himself out of a spiral of addiction and crime with Rochelle’s support. Lyle is living with Rochelle while he gets his life together, and he’s thrilled to hear about his sister’s new job offer. But within hours, triumph is followed by tragedy. Returning from a celebratory dinner with her boyfriend, she finds Lyle dead with a syringe in his lap, and Eve’s investigation confirms that this wasn’t just another OD. Reviewed by Jennifer McCord.
EARLY RISER by Jasper Fforde (Fantasy/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by Thomas Hunt
Your name is Charlie Worthing, and it's your first season with the Winter Consuls, the committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses. You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams that you dismiss as nonsense. When the dreams start to kill people, it's unsettling. When you get the dreams too, it's weird. When they start to come true, you begin to doubt your sanity. But teasing truth from the Winter is never easy. You have to avoid the Villains and their penchant for murder, kidnapping and stamp collecting; ensure you aren't eaten by Nightwalkers, whose thirst for human flesh can only be satisfied by comfort food; and sidestep the increasingly less-than-mythical WinterVolk. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
FINDING DOROTHY by Elizabeth Letts (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Ann Marie Lee
As soon as she learns that MGM is adapting her late husband’s masterpiece for the screen, Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank’s passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book. But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of “Over the Rainbow,” Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story. Judy reminds Maud of a young girl she cared for and tried to help in South Dakota, a dreamer who never got her happy ending. Now, with the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her --- the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
FORGET YOU KNOW ME by Jessica Strawser (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Gabra Zackman
Molly and Liza have always been enviably close. Even after Molly married Daniel, the couple considered Liza an honorary family member. But after Liza moved away, things grew more strained than anyone wanted to admit --- in the friendship and the marriage. When Daniel goes away on business, Molly and Liza plan to reconnect with a nice long video chat after the kids are in bed. But then Molly leaves the room to check on a crying child. What Liza sees next will change everything. Only one thing is certain: Molly needs her. Liza drives all night to be at Molly’s side --- but when she arrives, the reception is icy, leaving Liza baffled and hurt. She knows there’s no denying what she saw. Or is there? Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
THE HIDING PLACE by C. J. Tudor (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Richard Armitage
Joe never wanted to come back to Arnhill. After the way things ended with his old gang and after what happened when his sister went missing, the last thing he wanted to do was return to his hometown. But Joe doesn't have a choice. Because judging by what was done to that poor Morton kid, what happened all those years ago to Joe's sister is happening again. And only Joe knows who is really at fault. The hardest part will be returning to that abandoned mine where it all went wrong, and finally confronting the shocking, horrifying truth about Arnhill, his sister and himself. Because for Joe, the worst moment of his life wasn't the day his sister went missing. It was the day she came back. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
IN THE DARK by Cara Hunter (Psychological Thriller)
A woman and child are found locked in a basement, barely alive and unidentifiable. The confused, elderly man who owns the house claims he has never seen them before. As the police grow desperate for a lead, Detective Inspector Adam Fawley stumbles across a breakthrough, a link to a case he worked years before about another young woman and child gone missing. When he realizes the missing woman’s house is directly adjacent to the house in this case, he thinks he might have found the connection that could bring justice for both women. But there’s something not quite right about the little boy from the basement, and the truth will send shockwaves through the force that Fawley never could have anticipated. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE LAST ROMANTICS by Tara Conklin (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell
When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, The Love Poem, she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time. It begins in a big yellow house with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief variation forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. The Skinner siblings emerge from the Pause staunchly loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, they find themselves once again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds, forcing them to question the life choices they’ve made and ask what, exactly, they will do for love. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
LOST CHILDREN ARCHIVE by Valeria Luiselli (Fiction)
Audiobook available; read by Kivlighan de Montebello, William DeMeritt and Maia Enrigue Luiselli
A mother and father set out with their two children, driving from New York to Arizona in the heat of summer. Their destination: Apacheria, the place the Apaches once called home. Why Apaches? asks the 10-year-old son. Because they were the last of something, answers his father. In their car, they play games and sing along to music. But on the radio, there is news about an "immigration crisis": thousands of kids trying to cross the southwestern border into the United States, but getting detained --- or lost in the desert along the way. As the family drives, we sense they are on the brink of a crisis of their own. A fissure is growing between the parents, one the children can almost feel beneath their feet. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Stephen Shanahan
Brothers Nathan and Bub Bright meet for the first time in months at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the lonely outback. Their third brother, Cameron, lies dead at their feet. In an isolated belt of Australia, their homes a three-hour drive apart, the brothers were one another's nearest neighbors. Cameron was the middle child, the one who ran the family homestead. But something made him head out alone under the unrelenting sun. Nathan, Bub and Nathan’s son return to Cameron’s ranch and to those left behind by his passing. While they grieve Cameron’s loss, suspicion starts to take hold, and Nathan is forced to examine secrets the family would rather leave in the past. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
MARY VENTURA AND THE NINTH KINGDOM: A Story by Sylvia Plath (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Orlagh Cassidy
Never before published, this newly discovered story by literary legend Sylvia Plath stands on its own and is remarkable for its symbolic, allegorical approach to a young woman’s rebellion against convention and forceful taking control of her own life. Written while Plath was a student at Smith College in 1952, MARY VENTURA AND THE NINTH KINGDOM tells the story of a young woman’s fateful train journey. Lips the color of blood, the sun an unprecedented orange, train wheels that sound like “guilt, and guilt, and guilt”: these are just some of the things Mary Ventura begins to notice on her journey to the ninth kingdom. “But what is the ninth kingdom?” she asks a kind-seeming lady in her carriage. “It is the kingdom of the frozen will,” comes the reply. “There is no going back.” Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.
MORE THAN WORDS by Jill Santopolo (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Jill Santopolo
Nina Gregory has always been a good daughter. Raised by her father, owner of New York City's glamorous Gregory Hotels, Nina was taught that family, reputation and legacy are what matter most. And Tim --- her devoted boyfriend and best friend since childhood --- feels the same. But when Nina's father dies, he leaves behind a secret that shocks Nina to her core. As her world falls apart, Nina begins to see the men in her life --- her father, her boyfriend and, unexpectedly, her boss, Rafael --- in a new light. Soon Nina finds herself caught between the world she loves and a passion that could upend everything. Reviewed by Leah DeCesare (www.leahdecesare.com).
NEVER TELL by Lisa Gardner (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Kirsten Potter
A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. When the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun. D.D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman --- Evie Carter --- from a case many years back. Evie's father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many. Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim --- a hostage --- and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad's murder. But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
PARKLAND: Birth of a Movement by Dave Cullen (Social Science/Current Affairs)
Audiobook available, read by Robert Fass
Dave Cullen unfolds the story of Parkland through the voices of key participants whose diverse personalities and outlooks comprise every facet of their grassroots #neveragain movement. Instead of taking us into the minds of the killer, he takes us into the hearts of the Majory Stoneman Douglas students as they cope with the common concerns of high school students everywhere --- awaiting college acceptance letters, studying for mid-term exams, competing against their athletic rivals, putting together the yearbook, staging the musical "Spring Awakening," enjoying prom and graduation --- while moving forward from a horrific event that has altered them forever. Reviewed by Gabriella Mayer.
THE RECKONING written by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, translated by Victoria Cribb (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Lucy Paterson
Vaka sits on the cold steps of her new school. Her father appears to have forgotten to pick her up, her mother has forgotten to give her this week’s pocket money, and the school is already locked for the day. With no way to call home, she resigns herself to waiting on the steps until her father remembers her. When a girl approaches, Vaka recognizes her immediately from class, and from her unusual appearance: two of her fingers are missing. The girl lives at the back of the school, and Vaka asks to call her father from the girl's house. That afternoon is the last time anyone sees Vaka. Detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are called in and soon find themselves at the heart of another shocking case. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE SOURCE OF SELF-REGARD: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison (Essays)
Audiobook available, read by Bahni Turpin
THE SOURCE OF SELF-REGARD is brimming with all the elegance of mind and style, the literary prowess and moral compass that are Toni Morrison's inimitable hallmark. It is divided into three parts: the first is introduced by a powerful prayer for the dead of 9/11, the second by a searching meditation on Martin Luther King Jr., and the last by a heart-wrenching eulogy for James Baldwin. In the writings and speeches included here, Morrison takes on contested social issues: the foreigner, female empowerment, the press, money, "black matter(s)" and human rights. And here, too, is piercing commentary on her own work and that of others. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.
THE UNWINDING OF THE MIRACLE: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Emily Woo Zeller and Joshua Williams
Born blind in Vietnam, Julie Yip-Williams narrowly escaped euthanasia at the hands of her grandmother, only to flee with her family the political upheaval of her country in the late 1970s. Loaded into a rickety boat with 300 other refugees, Julie made it to Hong Kong and, ultimately, America, where a surgeon at UCLA gave her partial sight. She would go on to become a Harvard-educated lawyer, with a husband, a family and a life she had once assumed would be impossible. Then, at age 37, with two little girls at home, Julie was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer, and a different journey began. THE UNWINDING OF THE MIRACLE is the story of a vigorous life refracted through the prism of imminent death. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.
THE VICTORY GARDEN by Rhys Bowen (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Saskia Maarleveld
As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong 21-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage. When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace. Reviewed by Carole Turner.
THE WEDDING GUEST: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by John Rubinstein
Summoned to a run-down former strip joint, Dr. Alex Delaware and LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis find themselves crashing a wild "Saints and Sinners"–themed wedding reception. But they’re not the only uninvited guests. A horrified bridesmaid has discovered the body of a young woman, dressed to impress in pricey haute couture and accessorized with a grisly red slash around her neck. What’s missing is any means of identification, or a single partygoer who recognizes the victim. The baffled bride is convinced the stranger snuck in to sabotage her big day --- and the groom is sure it’s all a dreadful mistake. But Delaware and Sturgis have a hundred guests to question, and a sneaking suspicion that the motive for murder is personal. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
WHEN YOU READ THIS by Mary Adkins (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Sarah Naughton
For four years, Iris Massey worked side by side with PR maven Smith Simonyi, helping clients perfect their brands. But Iris has died, taken by terminal illness at only 33. Adrift without his friend and colleague, Smith is surprised to discover that in her last six months, Iris created a blog filled with sharp and often funny musings on the end of a life not quite fulfilled. She also made one final request: for Smith to get her posts published as a book. With the help of his charmingly eager, if overbearingly forthright, new intern Carl, Smith tackles the task of fulfilling Iris’ last wish. Before he can do so, though, he must get the approval of Iris’ big sister Jade, a haute cuisine chef who’s been knocked sideways by her loss. Reviewed by Cindy Burnett.