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May 22, 2012

May 22, 2012

The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of May 21st and May 28th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

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On Sale the Week of May 21st in Hardcover

May 22nd

ABDICATION by Juliet Nicolson
1936 began with the death of a beloved king and the ascension of a charismatic young monarch who was sympathetic to the needs of the working class. By year’s end, the world would be stunned as it witnessed that new leader give up his throne in the name of love, just as the unrest and violence that would result in a Second World War were becoming impossible to ignore.
Atria Books * 9781451658835

ALPHA by Greg Rucka
For the visitors to Wilsonville, the largest theme park in the world, the day began with a smile. By the end, they wonder if they'll be able to escape with their lives. Retired Delta Force operator Master Sergeant Jonathan "Jad" Bell is Wilsonville's lead undercover security officer. The threat begins with the announcement of a hidden dirty bomb, but quickly becomes something far, far worse.
Mulholland Books * 9780316182287

BEAUTIFUL SACRIFICE by Elizabeth Lowell
Archaeologist Lina Taylor has devoted her life to studying ancient Mayan artifacts, but the professor’s structured, studious life spins out of control when some valuable and important Mayan artifacts go missing. Lina is recruited to recover the missing pieces, which, she discovers, may be being used by fanatics determined to create chaos and usher in annihilation.
William Morrow * 9780061629860

CALLING INVISIBLE WOMEN by Jeanne Ray
Clover, a mom in her early 50s, wakes up one morning to discover she's invisible --- truly invisible. Her husband and son don't even notice that anything is wrong, and she is crushed by the realization that they never really look at her. As she uses her invisibility to get to know her family and her town better, Clover leads the way in helping invisible women become recognized and appreciated no matter what their role.
Crown * 9780307395054

CANADA by Richard Ford
When 15-year-old Dell Parsons' mother and father rob a bank, his sense of a happy, knowable life is forever shattered. Undone by the calamity of his parents' criminal actions and arrest, Dell struggles under the vast prairie sky to remake himself and define the adults he thought he knew.
Ecco * 9780061692048

DAN GETS A MINIVAN: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad by Dan Zevin
A coming-of-middle-age tale told with warmth and wit, DAN GETS A MINIVAN provides the one thing every parent really needs: comic relief. Whether you’re a dude, a dad, or someone who’s married to either, fasten your seat belt and prepare to crack up.
Scribner * 9781451606461

DANDY GILVER AND AN UNSUITABLE DAY FOR A MURDER by Catriona McPherson
Aristocratic amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver is caught between two feuding families in the second mystery of this charming and funny series. When the heiress to one of the stores goes missing, Dandy is summoned to Dunfermline, where two warring families run rival department stores. As Dandy starts to unravel family secrets, she begins to discover disturbing connections.
Minotaur Books * 9781250007377

DARK MAGIC by James Swain
A magician by day, Peter Warlock is a member of an underground group of psychics who gaze into the future to help prevent crimes. No one, not even his live-in girlfriend, knows the truth about Peter --- until the séance when he foresees an unspeakable act of violence that will devastate the city.
Tor Books * 9780765329943

FEARLESS: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown by Eric Blehm
FEARLESS is the story of a man of extremes, whose courage and determination was fueled by faith, family, and the love of a woman. It’s about a man who waged a war against his own worst impulses and persevered to reach the top tier of the US military. Always the first to volunteer for the most dangerous assignments, Adam’s final act of bravery led to the ultimate sacrifice.
WaterBrook Press * 9780307730695

LAST CALL FOR THE LIVING by Peter Farris
For bank teller Charlie Colquitt, it was just another Saturday. For Hobe Hicklin, an ex-con with nothing to lose, it was just another score. For Hobe's drug-addled, sex-crazed girlfriend, it was just more lust, violence and drugs. But in this gripping narrative, nothing is as it seems.
Forge Books * 9780765330079

THE LONGEST SHOT: Jack Fleck, Ben Hogan, and Pro Golf's Greatest Upset at the 1955 U.S. Open by Neil Sagebiel
With the overlooked Jack Fleck still playing the course, NBC-TV proclaimed that the legendary Ben Hogan had won his record fifth U.S. Open and signed off from San Francisco. Undaunted, the forgotten Iowan rallied to overcome a nine-shot deficit over the last three rounds --- still a U.S. Open record --- and made a pressure-packed putt to tie Hogan on the final hole of regulation play.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9780312661847

THE LOWER RIVER by Paul Theroux
When his wife and child leave him, Ellis Hock journeys back to Malawi on the remote Lower River, an area he hasn’t returned to since his years with the Peace Corps. But when he arrives, he finds that poverty and apathy have transformed the village he once so idealized.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780547746500

THE RECKONING by Jane Casey
Detective Constable Maeve Kerrigan takes on an investigation everyone else would rather avoid. Two sex offenders who have served their time have been tortured and killed in one morning. So is their killer someone who's trying his own hand at justice?
Minotaur Books * 9780312622008

THE ROCK STAR IN SEAT 3A by Jill Kargman
The night before her flight, Hazel’s boyfriend gave her a free pass if she ever met rock star Finn Schiller, her idol. She never would have thought the very next day the rock god would be sitting next to her on the plane. Now, when fantasy becomes real attraction, Hazel must decide what she wants.
William Morrow * 9780062007209


May 24th

A SMALL FORTUNE by Rosie Dastgir
Harris, the presumed patriarch of his large extended family in both England and Pakistan, has unexpectedly received a “small fortune” from his divorce settlement with an English woman: £53,000. As a devout Muslim, Harris views this sum as a “burden of riches” that he must unload on someone else as quickly as possible. But deciding which relative to give it to proves to be a burden of its own.
Riverhead Hardcover * 9781594488108

STRINDBERG’S STAR by Jan Wallentin
Cave diver Erik Hall finds a dead body wearing an ancient ankh, buried deep in an abandoned mine. Religious symbol expert Don Titelman seeks out Erik to study the ankh --- but finds Erik dead. Don is the prime suspect, and soon he’s being chased across Europe to escape a secret society that will do anything to get their hands on the ankh.
Viking Adult * 9780670023578


May 25th

THE CHESSMAN by Jeffrey B. Burton
Hidden forces are willing to kill any and all who stand in the way of untold billions of dollars. To toss the authorities off track, they borrow the modus operandi of a brutal serial killer --- The Chessman --- who stalked the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. some years earlier. The ruse is working brilliantly except for one minor detail: the real Chessman is not pleased.
MacAdam/Cage Publishing * 9781596923706

 
On Sale the Week of May 21st in Paperback

May 22nd

COMING UP FOR AIR
by Patti Callahan Henry
After the sudden loss of her formidable mother, Lillian, Ellie discovers the late woman’s diary, which opens up a whole side to her mother she never knew. She decides to return to the summer house in coastal Alabama where Lillian spent the summer of 1961, in the hopes of learning more about her mother and, perhaps, find some closure for herself.
St. Martin's Griffin * 9781250007841

DROWNED by Therese Bohman
A single young woman visits her older sister, who is married to a writer as charismatic as he is violent. As the young woman falls under her brother-in-law’s spell, the plot unfolds in a series of precisely rendered turns. The reader, anticipating the worst, hopes against hope that disaster can be averted.
Other Press * 9781590515242

FULL BLACK by Brad Thor
There are some missions so deadly, so sensitive, that they simply don’t exist. When one such mission goes horribly wrong, a wave of dramatic terrorist attacks is set in motion. Their goal: the complete and total collapse of the United States. Scot Harvath launches an audacious plan to infiltrate the terrorists’ network and prevent one of the biggest threats the United States has ever faced.
Pocket Books * 9781416586623

I’LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE by Steve Earle
Doc Ebersole lives with the ghost of Hank Williams, and not just because he is rumored to have given Hank the final morphine dose that killed him. Ten years after Hank's death, Doc himself is wracked by addiction. But when a young Mexican immigrant appears in the neighborhood, miraculous things begin to happen.
Mariner Books * 9780547754437

KILL ALEX CROSS by James Patterson
The President's children are abducted, and Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene. But someone very high-up is using the FBI, Secret Service and CIA to keep him off the case. Meanwhile, a deadly contagion in the water supply cripples half of the capital, and Alex discovers that someone may be about to unleash the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455510207

THE LEFTOVERS by Tom Perrotta
In his sixth novel (following THE ABSTINENCE TEACHER), Tom Perrotta returns to the familiar suburban territory he’s visited in novels like LITTLE CHILDREN with a thoughtful look at what the world might feel like to ordinary people left behind after a Rapture-like event.
St. Martin's Griffin * 9780312363550

LONG GONE
by Alafair Burke
After a layoff, Alice Humphrey finally lands her dream job managing a new art gallery in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District. Everything is perfect until the morning she arrives at work to find the owner’s dead body on the floor. Her dream job has vanished, and she finds herself at the center of police attention with nothing to prove her innocence.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062120151

NEVER KNOWING by Chevy Stevens
Sara Gallagher has always wondered about her birth parents and why she was given up for adoption. But after months of research, she discovers the devastating truth: her mother was the only victim to escape a killer who has been hunting women for decades. Soon, Sara realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her serial-killing father is him finding out about her.
St. Martin's Griffin * 9781250009319

ONE DOG NIGHT
by David Rosenfelt

Noah Galloway is living with a horrible secret and the fear that his rebuilt life could be shattered. Now his dread has become a certainty, as he finds himself arrested for the arson murder of 26 people. Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter is not in the market for a new client, so Noah plays his hole card: a shared love for Andy’s golden retriever and the knowledge of what her life was like before Andy rescued her.
Minotaur Books * 9781250006592

RAFA by Rafael Nadal and John Carlin
What makes a champion? What does it take to be the best in the world at your sport? Rafael Nadal has the answers. In his memoir, written with award-winning journalist John Carlin, he reveals the secrets of his game and shares the inspiring personal story behind his success.
Hyperion * 9781401310929

STRONG AT THE BREAK: A Caitlin Strong Novel by Jon Land

Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong and her notorious friend, Cort Wesley Masters, reunite to rescue Masters’s son, Dylan Torres --- and wipe out a radical militia movement bent on destroying the fabric of America. The movement is headed by Malcolm Arno, a ruthless and soulless man capable of the most vile crimes.
Forge Books * 9780765363183

TABLOID CITY by Pete Hamill
In a 24-hour period, the lives of a dozen people will cross paths in New York City in this latest novel from bestselling author and legendary newspaperman Pete Hamill. There will be a murder at a good address, a terrorist plot racing toward its murderous conclusion, and the death of one of the last great daily newspapers in the city.
Back Bay Books * 9780316020763

TRAIN DREAMS: A Novella by Denis Johnson

Denis Johnson’s TRAIN DREAMS, originally published in the Paris Review in 2002 and a PEN/O. Henry Prize winner, is the exquisitely told story of one man’s extraordinary, ordinary life, spanning a wide swath of the 20th century in the rugged forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux * 9781250007650

TUNNEL VISION by Gary Braver

Following a biking accident on icy Boston streets, a grad student lapses into a coma. When he wakes up on Easter muttering the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, the media is set abuzz about the “Miracle Man,” and a small team of neuroscientists use him to secretly research near-death experiences. But sinister forces have taken an interest, too --- forces to whom near-death experiences are deceptions by Satan himself.
Tor Books * 9780765348555

THE WILD ROSE by Jennifer Donnelly
THE WILD ROSE concludes the sweeping, multi-generational saga that began with THE TEA ROSE and continued with THE WINTER ROSE. It is London, 1914, when World War I looms on the horizon, women are fighting to vote, and explorers are pushing the limits of endurance in the most forbidding corners of the earth. Into this volatile time, Jennifer Donnelly places her vivid and memorable characters.
Hyperion * 9781401307479

 
On Sale the Week of May 28th in Hardcover

May 28th

SNIPER by Nicolai Lilin
Assigned to an unconventional elite military unit known as the “saboteurs,” Nicolai Lilin’s narrator and his comrades penetrate enemy lines on risky killing missions. Under heavy fire and under corrupt leadership, the camaraderie that develops within their unit is their best hope for staying alive --- and staying human.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393082111


May 29th

A BLAZE OF GLORY: A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh by Jeff Shaara
In the spring of 1862, the Confederate Army in the West teeters on the brink of collapse following the catastrophic loss of Fort Donelson. Albert Sidney Johnston is pulling out of Nashville and must defend the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. And if Generals Ulysses Grant and Don Carlos Buell capture the railroad, the war in the West likely will be over. However, Johnson is onto them and is poised to attack Grant's encampment near the Shiloh church.
Ballantine Books * 9780345527356

CRONKITE by Douglas Brinkley
For decades, Walter Cronkite was heralded as “the most trusted man in America,” from his first reports on the frontlines of World War II to anchoring the "CBS Evening News" until his retirement in 1981. Yet for the most part, he was a remarkably private man. Douglas Brinkley, through analysis of Cronkite’s private papers and interviews with family and friends, now brings the American icon into a focus like never before.
Harper * 9780061374265

IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN by Kim Barnes
Gin Mitchell leaves the dusty farmland of 1960s Oklahoma to follow her husband to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, only to find a world of wealth, glamour, American privilege, and corruption. Award-winning author Kim Barnes weaves a mesmerizing tale of Americans out of their depth in Saudi Arabia, a marriage in peril, and one woman’s quest for the truth, no matter what it might cost her.
Knopf * 9780307273390

ISTANBUL PASSAGE by Joseph Kanon
American businessman Leon Bauer has been drawn into the shadowy country of Istanbul, doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs for the Allied war effort. Now, as the espionage community begins to pack up and an apprehensive city prepares for the grim realities of post-war life, he is given one more assignment: a routine job that goes fatally wrong, plunging him into a tangle of intrigue and moral confusion.
Atria Books * 9781439156414

SEAL TEAM SIX OUTCASTS by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin
The bestselling authors of SEAL TEAM SIX are back --- bringing the thrilling covert operations of the world’s most elite military team to a new novel as the Outcasts race against the clock to stop a new terror threat from al Qaeda.
Gallery Books * 9781451675665

SO FAR AWAY by Meg Mitchell Moore
Thirteen-year-old Natalie Gallagher is trying to escape: from her parents' ugly divorce, and from the vicious cyber-bullying of her former best friend. Her salvation arrives in the form of a dusty old 1920s diary she unearths in her mother's basement. Natalie escapes into the diary, eager to unlock its secrets, and reluctantly accepts the help of a widow with her own painful secret.
Reagan Arthur Books * 9780316097697

THE STORM: A Kurt Austin Adventure by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
In the middle of the Indian Ocean, a NUMA research vessel is taking water samples at sunset, when a swarm of black particles suddenly attacks the ship, killing everyone aboard. A few hours later, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are on their way to the Indian Ocean. What they will find there on the smoldering hulk of the ship will eventually lead them to the discovery of the most audacious scheme they have ever known.
Putnam Adult * 9780399160134

THRILLER 3: LOVE IS MURDER edited by Sandra Brown
Prepare for heart-racing suspense in this original collection by 30 of the hottest bestselling authors and new voices writing romantic suspense today. Bodyguards, vigilantes, stalkers, serial killers, women (and men!) in jeopardy, cops, thieves, P.I.s, killers --- these all-new stories will keep you thrilled and chilled late into the night.
Mira * 9780778313441

THE WATCHERS by Jon Steele
Beneath Lausanne Cathedral, in Switzerland, there is a secret buried before time began, something unknown to angels and men --- until now. Three lives, one purpose: save what's left of paradise before all hell breaks loose.
Blue Rider Press * 9780399158742

WIFE 22 by Melanie Gideon
Alice Buckle sees herself as a wife, mother, drama teacher, Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions. Then an anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” shows up in her inbox. She becomes Wife 22 and is assigned a caseworker (Researcher 101). Along the way, she shares her innermost thoughts and secrets in this survey, and her confessions end up making some sparks fly.
Ballantine Books * 9780345527950

THE YARD by Alex Grecian
Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only 12 detectives --- known as “The Murder Squad” --- to investigate countless murders every month. But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own...one of the 12.
Putnam Adult * 9780399149542


May 31st

THE LOST ONES: A Quinn Colson Novel by Ace Atkins
Fresh from 10 years as a U.S. Army Ranger, Quinn Colson finds his hands full as the newly elected sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi. An old buddy running a local gun shop may be in over his head when stolen army rifles start showing up in the hands of a Mexican drug gang.
Putnam Adult * 9780399158766

 
On Sale the Week of May 28th in Paperback

May 29th

ALICE BLISS by Laura Harrington
When Alice Bliss learns that her father is being deployed to Iraq, she's heartbroken. Alice idolizes her father, and he will miss seeing his daughter blossom from a tomboy into a full-blown teenager. At once universal and very personal, this is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.
Penguin * 9780143121114

BLUE NIGHTS by Joan Didion
In a bookend to THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, her account of the aftermath of her husband’s sudden death, Joan Didion confronts the loss of her daughter, reflecting on the joys and pains of parenthood, the fragility of memory and the process of aging.
Vintage * 9780307387387

THE BOOK OF SUMMERS by Emylia Hall
At 16, Beth Lowe uncovers a life-shattering secret, bringing her sacred summers with her mother abruptly to an end. Now, years later, Beth receives a package containing a scrapbook, a haunting record of a time long forgotten. Suddenly she is swept back to the world she left behind, forced to confront the betrayal that destroyed her --- and to search her heart for forgiveness.
Mira * 9780778314110

BULLFIGHTING: Stories by Roddy Doyle
Anyone looking for a guide to the psyche of the middle-aged man would do much worse than to settle down with Roddy Doyle’s outstanding new collection of 13 stories. Set, with one exception, in present-day Dublin and its environs, they offer the literary equivalent of an MRI of the souls of a troubled, yet sympathetic, group of men.
Penguin * 9780143121060

THE DOG WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD: A Corduroy Mansions Novel by Alexander McCall Smith
In the elegantly crumbling mansion block called Corduroy Mansions, the comings and goings of the motley crew of residents continue apace. Our small, furry, endlessly surprising canine hero, Freddie de la Hay, has just been recruited by MI6 to infiltrate a Russian spy ring. Needless to say, the other denizens of Corduroy Mansions have issues of their own.
Anchor * 9780307739445

THE EIGHTY-DOLLAR CHAMPION: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts
Elizabeth Letts tells the remarkable story of Snowman and Harry de Leyer, the inseparable horse and rider who became unlikely champions in the 1958 National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Ballantine Books * 9780345521095

EYES WIDE OPEN by Andrew Gross
Jay Erlich's nephew has been found at the bottom of a cliff at Morrow Bay. It's all just a tragic suicide --- until secrets from the past begin to rear up again. Did a notorious killer, jailed for many decades, have his hand in this? With eyes wide open, Jay puts his life at risk to uncover the truth.
Harper * 9780061656026

HEARTWOOD by Belva Plain
Iris Stern is an old-fashioned woman living in a modern time. Stress on her daughter, granddaughter, husband and herself will cause an age-old secret about the family to come out, and it seems as though it may tear the family itself apart. But like the inmost rings of a tree that abide through the generations, Iris will be as strong as heartwood.
Bantam * 9780440246039

HEAT WAVE by Nancy Thayer
In this charming page-turner, Carley Winsted's husband dies suddenly, leaving her and their two young daughters heartsick. Now Carley faces the question of financial survival: Can she manage to keep their huge Nantucket home and also support her family, even though she's never had interest in a career?
Ballantine Books * 9780345518323

THE KINGDOM: A Fargo Adventure by Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood
On a journey that takes them to Tibet, Nepal, Bulgaria, India and China, Sam and Remi Fargo find themselves embroiled with black-market fossils, a centuries-old puzzle chest, the ancient Tibetan kingdom of Mustang, a balloon aircraft, and a skeleton that could turn human evolution on its head.
Berkley * 9780425248089

THE MAGICIAN KING by Lev Grossman
THE MAGICIANS took the fantasy world by storm when it released in 2009. Now, in THE MAGICIAN KING, author Lev Grossman takes us back to Fillory, where the Brakebills graduates have fled the sorrows of the mundane world, only to face terrifying new challenges.
Plume * 9780452298019

MAINE by J. Courtney Sullivan
The setting for this summer-friendly read is a perfect beach retreat, and the highly imperfect Irish-American family that inhabits it. When four women of different generations and sensibilities collide, fireworks --- not just the Fourth of July kind --- ensue.
Vintage * 9780307742216

SANCTUS by Simon Toyne
A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel. But this is no ordinary ascent. It is a dangerous and symbolic act. Few people understand its consequence. But for foundation worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others, it’s evidence that a revolution is at hand.
Harper * 9780062038319

THE SCOTTISH PRISONER by Diana Gabaldon
Lord John Grey finds himself in need of help from one particular paroled prisoner of war --- Jamie Fraser. Unwilling to re-kindle their now distant relationship, he also knows Jamie is most likely the only one who can help him. Reluctantly, the two set out for Ireland to investigate a British officer of corruption charges.
Bantam * 9780385337526

SOFT TARGET by Stephen Hunter
Ten-thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators and the escalators of America, the Mall --- a giant Rubik’s Cube of a structure with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of those people, 9,988 have come to shop. The other 12 have come to kill.
Pocket Books * 9781451675344

THE STRANGER YOU SEEK by Amanda Kyle Williams
In the sweltering heat of an Atlanta summer, a killer is pushing the city to its breaking point, preying on the unsuspecting, writing taunting letters to the media, promising more death. Desperate to stop the Wishbone Killer before another victim meets a shattering end, A.P.D. lieutenant Aaron Rauser turns to the one person he knows can penetrate a deranged mind: ex–FBI profiler Keye Street.
Bantam * 9780553593808

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