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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of January 23rd and January 30th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our Winter Reading Contests and Feature, which kicked off this week. On select days between now and February 24th at noon ET, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it.
Also, we are excited to share that tickets to the Simon & Schuster Book Club Matinee on Saturday, March 11th at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City are now on sale (and selling briskly). Author guests will be Anthony Doerr, Isabel Allende, Lisa See, Lisa Genova, Ruth Ware and Megan Miranda. Full details and a link to order tickets are here.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
This Week's Bonus News: Bookreporter.com's
Winter Reading Contests and Feature
At Bookreporter.com, we are kicking off 2017 with our third annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature. On select days between now and February 24th at noon ET, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.
This year's featured titles include:
Click here to read all the contest details.
On Sale the Week of January 23rd in Hardcover
January 24th
THE BOOK THAT CHANGED AMERICA: How Darwin's Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation by Randall Fuller (History)
In early 1860, a single copy of Charles Darwin’s ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES was read and discussed by five important American intellectuals who seized on the book’s assertion of a common ancestry for all creatures as a powerful argument against slavery. THE BOOK THAT CHANGED AMERICA offers a fascinating narrative account of these prominent figures as they grappled over the course of that year with Darwin’s dangerous hypotheses. In doing so, it provides new perspectives on America prior to the Civil War, showing how Darwin’s ideas became potent ammunition in the debate over slavery and helped advance the cause of abolition by giving it scientific credibility.
Viking | 9780525428336
CLOWNFISH BLUES by Tim Dorsey (Mystery/Humor)
Serge A. Storms and Coleman’s adventure traveling the byways of the Sunshine State’s underbelly is about to take a detour. Someone is trying to tilt the odds in the state lottery amidst a conga line of huge jackpots, spinning off more chaos than any hurricane season. With this much at stake, of course every shady character wants in. Crooked bodega owners, drug cartels laundering money through the lottery, and venture capitalists are all trying to game the system --- and lining up to get their cut. They’re also gambling with their lives, because when Serge and Coleman get hip to this timely (and very lucrative) trip, there’s no telling whose number is up next.
William Morrow | 9780062429223
DARK AT THE CROSSING by Elliot Ackerman (Fiction)
Haris Abadi is a man in search of a cause. An Arab American with a conflicted past, he is now in Turkey, attempting to cross into Syria and join the fight against Bashar al-Assad's regime. But he is robbed before he can make it, and is taken in by Amir, a charismatic Syrian refugee and former revolutionary, and Amir's wife, Daphne, a sophisticated beauty haunted by grief. As it becomes clear that Daphne is also desperate to return to Syria, Haris' choices become ever more wrenching: Whose side is he really on? Is he a true radical or simply an idealist? And will he be able to bring meaning to a life of increasing frustration and helplessness?
Knopf | 9781101947371
DAYS WITHOUT END by Sebastian Barry (Historical Fiction)
Thomas McNulty, aged barely 17 and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian Wars --- against the Sioux and the Yurok --- and, ultimately, the Civil War. Orphans of terrible hardships themselves, the men find these days to be vivid and alive, despite the horrors they see and are complicit in.
Viking | 9780525427360
DEATH’S MISTRESS: SISTER OF DARKNESS: The Nicci Chronicles, Volume I by Terry Goodkind (Fantasy)
One-time lieutenant of the evil Emperor Jagang, known as “Death’s Mistress” and the “Slave Queen,” the deadly Nicci captured Richard Rahl in order to convince him that the Imperial Order stood for the greater good. But it was Richard who converted Nicci instead, and for years thereafter she served Richard and Kahlan as one of their closest friends --- and one of their most lethal defenders. Now, with the reign of Richard and Kahlan finally stabilized, Nicci has set out on her own for new adventures. One of her jobs will be to keep her travelling companion, the unworldly prophet Nathan, out of trouble. But her real task will be to scout the far reaches of Richard Rahl’s realm.
Tor Books | 9780765388216
DISASTER FALLS: A Family Story by Stéphane Gerson (Memoir)
On a day like any other, on a rafting trip down Utah’s Green River, Stéphane Gerson’s eight-year-old son, Owen, drowned in a spot known as Disaster Falls. That same night, as darkness fell, Stéphane huddled in a tent with his wife, Alison, and their older son, Julian, trying to understand what seemed inconceivable. “It’s just the three of us now,” Alison said over the sounds of a light rain and, nearby, the rushing river. “We cannot do it alone. We have to stick together.” DISASTER FALLS chronicles the aftermath of that day and their shared determination to stay true to Alison’s resolution.
Crown | 9781101906699
DUST BOWL GIRLS: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory by Lydia Reeder (Sports/History)
Traveling from farm to farm at the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. With passion for the sport and heartfelt loyalty to one another and their coach, the Cardinals won every game. For author Lydia Reeder, this is a family story: coach Babb is her great-uncle. When her grandmother handed her a folder that contained newspaper articles, letters and photographs of Sam and the Cardinals, she said, “You might want to tell their story someday.” Now, with extensive research and the gathered memories of the surviving Cardinals, she has.
Algonquin Books | 9781616204662
FATAL by John Lescroart (Thriller)
Kate and her husband, Ron, attend a dinner party where they meet another couple, Peter and Jill. Kate and Peter only exchange a few pleasant words, but Kate is suddenly overcome with a burning desire for Peter. Her fixation on him results in an intense, passionate encounter between the two. Confident that her life can now go back to normal, Kate never considers that Peter may not be so willing to move on. Not long after their affair, a masked man barges into the café Kate is sitting in with her best friend, firing an assault weapon indiscriminately into the crowd. This tragedy is the first in a series of horrifying events that will show Kate just how grave the consequences of one mistake can be.
Atria Books | 9781501115677
THE FIFTH PETAL by Brunonia Barry (Mystery/Thriller)
When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem's chief of police, John Rafferty, who is now married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem’s most notorious cold case --- a triple homicide dubbed "The Goddess Murders," in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, respected local historian Rose Whelan, is guilty of murder or witchcraft. But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force.
Crown | 9781101905609
THE GIRL BEFORE by JP Delaney (Psychological Thriller)
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control. The space is intended to transform its occupant --- and it does. After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street, she is instantly drawn to the space --- and to its aloof but seductive creator. Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to her in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror as the girl before.
Ballantine Books | 9780425285046
MEXICO: Stories by Josh Barkan (Fiction/Short Stories)
The characters in Josh Barkan’s story collection --- chef, architect, nurse, high school teacher, painter, beauty queen, classical bass player, plastic surgeon, businessman, mime --- are simply trying to lead their lives and steer clear of violence. Yet, inevitably, crime has a way of intruding on their lives all the same. A surgeon finds himself forced into performing a risky procedure on a narco killer. A teacher struggles to protect lovestruck students whose forbidden romance has put them in mortal peril. A painter’s freewheeling ways land him in the back of a kidnapper’s car. Again and again, the walls between “ordinary life” and cartel violence are shown to be paper thin, and when they collapse the consequences are life-changing.
Hogarth | 9781101906293
NO MAN'S LAND by Simon Tolkien (Historical Fiction)
After the death of his mother, Adam Raine and his father head north of London to the coal mining town of Scarsdale. Tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, escalate, and finally explode with terrible consequences. Adam’s fate shifts once again, and he finds himself drawn into the opulent Scarsdale family home where he makes an enemy of Sir John’s son, Brice. However, Adam finds consolation in the company of Miriam, the local parson’s beautiful daughter with whom he falls in love. When they become engaged and Adam wins a scholarship to Oxford, he starts to feel that his life is finally coming together --- until the outbreak of World War I threatens to tear everything apart.
Nan A. Talese | 9780385541978
NUMBER 11 by Jonathan Coe (Fiction)
This long-awaited sequel to THE WINSHAW LEGACY opens as two 10-year-olds, Alison and Rachel, have a frightening encounter with the "Mad Bird Woman" who lives down the road. As the narrative progresses through time, the novel envelops others who are connected to the girls: Alison's mother, a has-been singer, competing on a hit reality TV show; Rachel's university mentor confronting her late husband's disastrously obsessive search for a German film he saw as a child; a young police constable investigating the seemingly accidental and unrelated deaths of two stand-up comedians; and the ludicrously wealthy family who hire Rachel as a nanny --- under whose immense London mansion Rachel will discover a dark and terrifying secret.
Knopf | 9780451493361
THE PATRIOTS by Sana Krasikov (Fiction)
When the Great Depression hits, Florence Fein leaves Brooklyn College for what appears to be a plum job in Moscow --- and the promise of love and independence. But once in Russia, she quickly becomes entangled in a country she can’t escape. Many years later, Florence’s son, Julian, will make the opposite journey, immigrating back to the United States. His work in the oil industry takes him on frequent visits to Moscow, and when he learns that Florence’s KGB file has been opened, he arranges a business trip to uncover the truth about his mother, and to convince his son, Lenny, who is trying to make his fortune in the new Russia, to return home. What he discovers is both chilling and heartbreaking: an untold story of what happened to a generation of Americans abandoned by their country.
Spiegel & Grau | 9780385524414
PERFECT LITTLE WORLD by Kevin Wilson (Fiction)
When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she’s fresh out of high school, pregnant with her art teacher's baby, and totally on her own. Izzy knows she can be a good mother, but without any money or relatives to help, she’s left searching. Dr. Grind, an awkwardly charming child psychologist, has spent his life studying family, even after tragedy struck his own. Now, with the help of an eccentric billionaire, he has the chance to create a “perfect little world” --- to study what would happen when 10 children are raised collectively, without knowing who their biological parents are. He calls it The Infinite Family Project, and he wants Izzy and her son to join. This attempt at a utopian ideal starts off promising, but soon the gentle equilibrium among the families disintegrates.
Ecco | 9780062450326
THE PROMETHEUS MAN by Scott Reardon (Thriller)
When a pile of bodies is found in Paris, CIA Agent Tom Blake hustles his way onto a major case: tracking a man with enhanced abilities, the test subject of a secret government program. There's just one problem: the man using Agent Blake's identity is not Agent Blake. He's Tom Reese, a man without a family or a home. Reese is searching for his brother's killer. He stole Agent Blake's identity two months ago and has bluffed his way onto the team investigating his only lead. But soon the CIA will find out that Agent Blake is in two places at once. Soon the augmented man will come looking for him. And soon both will discover that Tom Reese carries a secret even he doesn't know about. He is the last test subject of Project Prometheus.
Mulholland Books | 9780316310925
RISE: How a House Built a Family by Cara Brookins (Memoir)
After escaping an abusive marriage, Cara Brookins had four children to provide for and no one to turn to but herself. In desperate need of a home but without the means to buy one, she did something incredible. Equipped only with YouTube instructional videos, a small bank loan and a mile-wide stubborn streak, Cara built her own house from the foundation up with a work crew made up of her four children. With no experience nailing together anything bigger than a bookshelf, she and her kids poured concrete, framed the walls and laid bricks for their two-story, five-bedroom house. She had convinced herself that if they could build a house, they could rebuild their broken family.
St. Martin’s Press | 9781250095664
THE SIGNAL FLAME by Andrew Krivák (Historical Fiction)
In a small town in Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, Hannah and her son, Bo, mourn the loss of the family patriarch, Jozef Vinich. Having survived the trenches of World War I as an Austro-Hungarian conscript, Vinich journeyed to America and built a life for his family. His daughter married the Hungarian-born Bexhet Konar, who enlisted to fight with the Americans in the Second World War but brought disgrace on the family when he was imprisoned for desertion. He returned home to Pennsylvania a hollow man, only to be killed in a hunting accident on the family’s land. Finally, in 1971, Hannah’s prodigal younger son, Sam, was reported MIA in Vietnam. And so there is only Bo, a quiet man full of conviction, a proud work ethic, and a firstborn’s sense of duty.
Scribner | 9781501126376
SILVER CITY: A Novel of the American West by Jeff Guinn (Historical Fiction/Western)
Cash McLendon has journeyed to Mountain View in the Arizona Territory with one goal: to convince Gabrielle Tirrito that he’s a changed man and win her back from schoolteacher Joe Saint. As they’re about to depart by stage for their new life in San Francisco, Gabrielle is kidnapped by enforcer Killer Boots, who is working on orders from crooked St. Louis businessman Rupert Douglass. Cash, once married to Douglass’ troubled daughter, fled the city when she died of accidental overdose --- and Douglass vowed he’d track Cash down and make him pay. Now McLendon, accompanied by Joe Saint and Major Mulkins, hits the trail in pursuit of Gabrielle and Killer Boots, hoping to make a trade before it’s too late.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399165436
THE SPIDER AND THE FLY: A Reporter, a Serial Killer, and the Meaning of Murder by Claudia Rowe (True Crime/Memoir)
In September 1998, young reporter Claudia Rowe was working as a stringer for the New York Times in Poughkeepsie, New York, when local police discovered the bodies of eight women stashed in the attic and basement of the small colonial home that 27-year-old Kendall Francois shared with his parents and sister. Rowe became consumed with the desire to understand just how a man could abduct and strangle eight women --- and how a family could live for two years, seemingly unaware, in a house with the victims’ rotting corpses. Reaching out after Francois was arrested, Rowe and the serial killer began a dizzying four-year conversation about cruelty, compassion and control.
Dey Street Books | 9780062416124
THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS by Laurie Frankel (Fiction)
When Rosie and Penn and their four boys welcome the newest member of their family, no one is surprised it’s another baby boy. At least their large, loving, chaotic family knows what to expect. But Claude is not like his brothers. One day he puts on a dress and refuses to take it off. He wants to bring a purse to kindergarten. He wants hair long enough to sit on. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn aren’t panicked at first. Kids go through phases, after all, and make-believe is fun. But soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.
Flatiron Books | 9781250088550
THE TRUE FLAG: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire by Stephen Kinzer (History)
How should the United States act in the world? Americans cannot decide. Sometimes we burn with righteous anger, launching foreign wars and deposing governments. Then we retreat --- until the cycle begins again. No matter how often we debate this question, none of what we say is original. Every argument is a pale shadow of the first and greatest debate, which erupted more than a century ago. Its themes resurface every time Americans argue whether or not to intervene in a foreign country. Revealing a piece of forgotten history, Stephen Kinzer transports us to the dawn of the 20th century, when the United States first found itself with the chance to dominate faraway lands.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781627792165
WHO KILLED PIET BAROL? by Richard Mason (Historical Fiction)
Piet Barol was a tutor before he came to South Africa, his wife, Stacey, an opera singer. In Cape Town they are living the high life, impersonating French aristocrats --- but their lies are catching up with them. The Barols’ furniture business is on the verge of collapse, and they need cheap, top-quality wood. Piet enlists two Xhosa men to lead him into a vast forest, in search of a fabled tree. He’s sure he’ll be able to buy what he needs for a few glass trinkets. But he’s underestimating the Xhosa, who believe the spirits of their ancestors live in this sacred forest. Battle lines are drawn. When Piet’s powers of persuasion fail him, he resorts to darker, more dangerous talents to get what he is determined to have.
Knopf | 9780385352888
On Sale the Week of January 23rd in Paperback
January 24th
BAD SIGNS by R.J. Ellory (Historical Thriller)
Orphaned by an act of senseless violence that took their mother from them, half-brothers Clarence Luckman and Elliott Danziger have been raised in state institutions, unaware of any world beyond its walls. But their lives take a sudden turn when they are seized as hostages by a convicted killer en route to death row. Earl Sheridan is a psychopath of the worst kind, and as he and his two hostages set off on a frenetic path through California down to Texas, Clarence and Elliot must come to terms with the ever-growing tide of violence in their wake.
The Overlook Press | 9781468314328
EVERYBODY'S FOOL by Richard Russo (Fiction)
In this long-awaited follow-up to 1993’s NOBODY’S FOOL, Doug Raymer has become the chief of police and is tormented by the improbable death of his wife --- not to mention his suspicion that he was a failure of a husband. Meanwhile, the irrepressible Sully has come into a small fortune, but is suddenly faced with a VA cardiologist’s estimate that he only has a year or two left to live. As Sully frantically works to keep the bad news from the important people in his life, we are reunited with his son and grandson; Ruth, the married woman with whom he carried on for years; and the hapless Rub Squeers, who worries that he and Sully aren’t still best friends.
Vintage | 9780307454829
THE FIREBRAND AND THE FIRST LADY: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice by Patricia Bell-Scott (History/Politics)
In 1938, 28-year-old Pauli Murray wrote a letter to the President and First Lady, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, protesting racial segregation in the South. Eleanor wrote back. So began a friendship that would last for a quarter of a century, as Pauli became a lawyer, principal strategist in the fight to protect Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and a co-founder of the National Organization of Women, and Eleanor became a diplomat and first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Vintage | 9780679767299
A FRIEND OF MR. LINCOLN by Stephen Harrigan (Historical Fiction)
It is Illinois in the 1830s and 1840s. Abraham Lincoln is a circuit-riding lawyer, a member of the state legislature, a man of almost ungovernable ambition. To his friends he is also a beloved figure, by turns charmingly awkward and mesmerizingly self-possessed. Among his friends and political colleagues are Joshua Speed, William Herndon, Stephen Douglas and many others who have come to the exploding frontier town of Springfield to find their futures. It is through another friend, fictional poet Cage Weatherby, that we will come to know Lincoln in his 20s and 30s, as a series of formative, surprising incidents unfolds.
Vintage | 9780307745330
GIRL THROUGH GLASS by Sari Wilson (Fiction)
In the summer of 1977, 11-year-old Mira is an aspiring ballerina whose mentor is 47-year-old Maurice DuPont. As she ascends higher in the ballet world, her relationship with Maurice intensifies, sparking unexpected desires that will upend both their lives. In the present day, Kate, a professor of dance, embarks on a risky affair with a student that threatens to obliterate her career and capsize the new life she has painstakingly created for her reinvented self. When she receives a letter from a man she has long thought dead, Kate is hurled back into the dramas of a past she thought she had left behind.
Harper Perennial | 9780062326287
THE GUN written by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Allison Markin Powell (Thriller)
On a nighttime walk along a Tokyo riverbank, a young man named Nishikawa stumbles on a dead body, beside which lies a gun. From the moment Nishikawa decides to take the gun, the world around him blurs. Knowing he possesses the weapon brings an intoxicating sense of purpose to his dull university life. But soon his personal entanglements become unexpectedly complicated. Through it all, he can’t stop thinking about the gun --- and the four bullets loaded in its chamber. As he spirals into obsession, his focus is consumed by one idea: that possessing the gun is no longer enough --- he must fire it.
Soho Crime | 9781616957681
THE MERMAN by Carl-Johan Vallgren (Fantasy)
Nella and her brother, Robert, live a difficult life with their mother and father in a small town on the west coast of Sweden. Robert is bullied at school, and Nella has to resort to debt and petty crime to pay off his tormentors. When she turns to her friend, Tommy, for help, her suspicions are aroused by the mysterious comings and goings of his brothers at their dilapidated boat house. But when she uncovers the reason behind their enigmatic behavior, her life is opened to the realities of a mind-boggling secret.
Pegasus Books | 9781681773100
MIDNIGHT SUN by Jo Nesbø (Thriller)
He was once the kingpin's fixer, but after betraying him, Ulf is now the one his former boss wants fixed. Hiding out at the end of the line in northern Norway, Ulf lives among the locals. A mother and son befriend him, and their companionship stirs something deep in him that he thought was long dead. As he awaits the inevitable arrival of his murderous pursuers, he questions if redemption is at all possible or if, as he's always believed, “hope is a real bastard.”
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard | 9780804172578
THE TRAPPED GIRL by Robert Dugoni (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
When a woman’s body is discovered submerged in a crab pot in the chilly waters of Puget Sound, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself with a tough case to untangle. Before they can identify the killer, Tracy and her colleagues on the Seattle PD’s Violent Crimes Section must figure out who the victim is. Her autopsy, however, reveals she may have gone to great lengths to conceal her identity. After evidence surfaces that their Jane Doe may be a woman who suspiciously disappeared months earlier, Tracy is once again haunted by the memory of her sister’s unsolved murder. As she begins to uncover a twisted tale of brutal betrayal and desperate greed, Tracy will find herself risking everything to confront a killer who won’t go down without a deadly fight.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781503940406
UNDER PRESSURE: A Body Armor Novel by Lori Foster (Romantic Suspense)
Paperback Original
Leese Phelps’ road hasn’t been an easy one, but it’s brought him to the perfect job --- working for the elite Body Armor security agency. However, being drawn to Catalina Nicholson is a dangerous complication, especially since it could be the very man who hired Leese who’s threatening her. What Catalina knows could get her killed. But who’d believe the sordid truth about her powerful stepfather? Beyond Leese’s ripped body and brooding gaze is a man of impeccable honor. He’s the last person she expects to trust --- and the first who’s ever made her feel safe. And he’s the only one who can help her expose a deadly secret, if they can just stay alive long enough.
HQN Books | 9780373789931
WORLD, CHASE ME DOWN by Andrew Hilleman (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
Paperback Original
Once the most wanted man in America, Pat Crowe is a forgotten folk hero who captivated the nation as an outlaw for economic justice. WORLD, CHASE ME DOWN resurrects him, telling the electrifying story of the first great crime of the last century. In 1900, the out-of-work former butcher kidnapped the teenage son of Omaha’s wealthiest meatpacking tycoon for a ransom of $25,000 in gold, and then burgled, safe-cracked and bond-jumped his way across the country and beyond, inciting a manhunt that was dubbed “the thrill of the nation” and a showdown in the court of public opinion between the haves and have-nots --- all the while plotting a return to the woman he never stopped loving.
Penguin Books | 9780143111474
On Sale the Week of January 30th in Hardcover
January 31st
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster (Fiction)
Nearly two weeks early, Archibald Isaac Ferguson is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four identical Fergusons made of the same DNA, four boys who are the same boy, go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Athletic skills and sex lives and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Each Ferguson falls under the spell of the magnificent Amy Schneiderman, yet each Amy and each Ferguson have a relationship like no other. Meanwhile, readers will take in each Ferguson’s pleasures and ache from each Ferguson’s pains, as the mortal plot of each Ferguson’s life rushes on.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781627794466
THE ANIMATORS by Kayla Rae Whitaker (Fiction)
In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo: Sharon is quietly ambitious but self-doubting, Mel is brash and unapologetic, always the life of a party. They spent their 20s ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature and stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success comes doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. When the only other partner Sharon has ever truly known --- her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy --- reappears, long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.
Random House | 9780812989281
BEHIND HER EYES by Sarah Pinborough (Psychological Thriller)
On a rare night out, single mom Louise meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. When she arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David --- the man from the bar. David is married and says the kiss was a terrible mistake, but he still can’t keep his eyes off her. And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend. But she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife. But then why is David so controlling? And why is Adele so scared of him? As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers.
Flatiron Books | 9781250111173
THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL by Timothy B. Tyson (History)
In 1955, a 14-year-old black boy named Emmett Till was murdered by a group of white men. He had gone into a small country store a few days earlier and made flirtatious remarks to a white woman, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant; Bryant’s husband and brother-in-law were two of Till’s attackers. THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL revises the history of the Till case, not only changing the specifics that we thought we knew, but showing how the murder ignited the modern civil rights movement. Timothy Tyson uses a wide range of new sources, including the only interview ever given by Carolyn Bryant; the transcript of the murder trial, missing since 1955 and only recovered in 2005; and a recent FBI report on the case.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476714844
CROSSROADS OF CANOPY: Book One in the Titan's Forest Trilogy by Thoraiya Dyer (Fantasy)
Unar dreams of greatness. Determined but destitute, she escapes her parents’ plot to sell her into slavery. Now she serves in the Garden of the goddess Audblayin, ruler of growth and fertility. But when Audblayin dies, Unar sees her opportunity for glory --- at the risk of descending into the unknown dangers of Understorey to look for a reincarnated newborn god. In its depths, she discovers new forms of magic, lost family connections, and murmurs of a revolution that could cost Unar her chance…or grant it by destroying the home she loves.
Tor Books | 9780765385925
THE GIRL IN THE GARDEN by Melanie Wallace (Fiction)
When June arrives on the coast of New England with a baby in her arms and an untrustworthy man by her side, Mabel --- who rents them a cabin --- senses trouble. A few days later, the girl and her child are abandoned. June is soon placed with Mabel’s friend, Iris, in town, and her life becomes entwined with a number of locals who have known one another for decades. Surrounded by the personal histories and secrets of others, June finds the way forward for herself and her son amid revelations of the others' pasts, including loves --- and crimes --- from years ago.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544784666
I LIKED MY LIFE by Abby Fabiaschi (Fiction)
Maddy is a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother. She is the cornerstone of her family, a true matriarch...until she commits suicide, leaving her husband Brady and teenage daughter Eve heartbroken and reeling. As they sift through details of her last days, trying to understand the woman they thought they knew, Brady and Eve are forced to come to terms with unsettling truths. Maddy, however, isn’t ready to leave her family forever. Watching from beyond, she tries to find the perfect replacement for herself. Will the mystery of Maddy ever come to rest? And can her family make peace with their history and begin to heal?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250084873
THE MEN IN MY LIFE: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan by Patricia Bosworth (Memoir)
From acclaimed biographer Patricia Bosworth comes a series of vivid confessions about her remarkable journey into womanhood. Married and divorced from an abusive husband before she’s 20, she joins the famed Actors Studio. She takes classes with Lee Strasberg alongside Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman and others; she works on Broadway opposite Paul Muni, Helen Hayes and Elaine Stritch; Gore Vidal and Elia Kazan become her mentors. Her anecdotes of theatre’s Golden Age have never been told before. At the zenith of her career, about to film The Nun’s Story with Audrey Hepburn, Patricia faces a decision that changes her forever.
Harper | 9780062287908
MY HUSBAND'S WIFE by Jane Corry (Psychological Thriller)
When young lawyer Lily marries Ed, she’s determined to make a fresh start and leave the secrets of the past behind. But then she takes on her first murder case and meets Joe, a convicted murderer to whom she is strangely drawn and for whom she will soon be willing to risk almost anything. Lily is not the only one with secrets, however. Her next-door neighbor Carla may be only nine, but she already has learned that secrets are powerful things. When Lily finds Carla on her doorstep 16 years later, a chain of events is set in motion that can end only one way.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780735220959
THE ORIGINAL BLACK ELITE: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor (Biography)
In the wake of the Civil War, Daniel Murray, born free and educated in Baltimore, was in the vanguard of Washington, D.C.’s black upper class. Though Murray and other black elite of his time were primed to assimilate into the cultural fabric as Americans first and people of color second, their prospects were crushed by Jim Crow segregation and the capitulation to white supremacist groups by the government, which turned a blind eye to their unlawful --- often murderous --- acts. Elizabeth Dowling Taylor traces the rise, fall and disillusionment of upper-class African Americans, revealing that they were a representation not of hypothetical achievement but what could be realized by African Americans through education and equal opportunities.
Amistad | 9780062346094
THE PRISONER: A John Wells Novel by Alex Berenson (Thriller)
Evidence is mounting that someone high up in the CIA is passing messages to ISIS, alerting them to planned operations. Finding out the mole’s identity without alerting him will be very hard, and to accomplish it, John Wells will have to do something he thought he’d left behind forever. He will have to reassume his former identity as an al Qaeda jihadi, get captured, and go undercover to befriend an ISIS prisoner in a secret Bulgarian prison. Many years before, Wells was the only American agent ever to penetrate al Qaeda, but times have changed drastically. He knows it may well be his death sentence. But there is no one else.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399176159
RATHER BE THE DEVIL by Ian Rankin (Mystery)
When Rebus starts reexamining the facts behind the long-ago murder of a glamorous woman at a luxurious hotel --- on the same night a famous rock star and his entourage were also staying there --- the past comes roaring back to life with a vengeance. And as soon as Rebus starts asking questions about the long forgotten crime, a fresh body materializes. His inquiries reunite him with his old pals --- Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox --- as they attempt to uncover the financial chicanery behind the savage beating of an upstart gangster, a crime that suggests the notorious old school crime boss Big Ger Cafferty has taken to retirement as poorly as Rebus himself.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316342575
RIGHT BEHIND YOU by Lisa Gardner (Thriller)
Eight years ago, Sharlah May Nash’s older brother beat their drunken father to death with a baseball bat in order to save both of their lives. Now 13 years old, Sharlah has finally moved on. About to be adopted by retired FBI profiler Pierce Quincy and his partner, Rainie Conner, Sharlah loves one thing best about her new family: They are all experts on monsters. Then the call comes in. A double murder at a local gas station, followed by reports of an armed suspect shooting his way through the wilds of Oregon. As Quincy and Rainie race to assist, they are forced to confront mounting evidence: The shooter may very well be Sharlah’s older brother, and it appears his killing spree has only just begun.
Dutton | 9780525954583
SNOWBLIND by Ragnar Jonasson (Mystery/Thriller)
Siglufjörður is an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors. Ari Thór Arason is a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik --- with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theater, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness --- blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose.
Minotaur Books | 9781250096074
THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON by Tasha Kavanagh (Psychological Thriller)
Fifteen-year-old Yasmin Doner is a social misfit who yearns for a sense of belonging, finding comfort only in food and the fantasy of being close to Alice Taylor, a girl at school. When Yasmin notices a sinister-looking man watching Alice from the school fence, she sees a way of finally winning Alice's affection. Because this stranger, she believes, is going to kidnap Alice. Yasmin decides to find out more about this man so that when he does take Alice, Yasmin will be the only one who knows his name and where he lives --- the only one who can save her. But as Yasmin discovers more about him, her affections begin to shift. Perhaps she was wrong about him. Perhaps she doesn't need Alice after all. And then Alice vanishes.
Mira | 9780778326854
February 1st
THE NIGHT BIRD by Brian Freeman (Psychological Thriller)
When a series of bizarre deaths rock San Francisco --- as seemingly random women suffer violent psychotic breaks --- homicide detective Frost Easton looks for a connection that leads him to psychiatrist Francesca Stein. Frankie’s controversial therapy helps people erase their most terrifying memories…and all the victims were her patients. As Frost and Frankie carry out their own investigations, the case becomes increasingly personal --- and dangerous. Long-submerged secrets surface as someone called the Night Bird taunts the pair with cryptic messages pertaining to the deaths. Soon Frankie is forced to confront strange gaps in her own memory, and Frost faces a killer who knows the detective’s worst fears.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781503943568
On Sale the Week of January 30th in Paperback
January 31st
ALL THE MISSING GIRLS by Megan Miranda (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
It’s been 10 years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched. Told backwards --- Day 15 to Day 1 --- from the time Nic’s younger neighbor, Annaleise, goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her disappearance, revealing shocking truths about Nic's friends and family, and what really happened to Corinne that night 10 years ago.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501107979
AT THE EDGE OF THE ORCHARD by Tracy Chevalier (Historical Fiction)
It's 1838, and James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck --- in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. Fifteen years later, their youngest child, Robert, is wandering through Gold Rush California. Restless and haunted by the broken family he left behind, he has made his way alone across the country. But when Robert’s past makes an unexpected appearance, he must decide whether to strike out again or stake his own claim to a home at last.
Penguin Books | 9780143110972
BLOOD FLAG: A Paul Madriani Novel by Steve Martini (Legal Thriller)
Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds have a new client: Emma Brauer, a woman accused in the “mercy killing” of her aged father, Robert Brauer. Digging into Robert’s military history, Madriani discovers that other members of the Army unit Robert served with have recently died --- under similarly suspicious circumstances. When he finds that a box sent to Brauer shortly before he entered the hospital relates to a mysterious talisman that went missing at the end of World War II --- a feared Nazi relic known as the “Blood Flag” --- Madriani and Hinds realize they are in for the fight of their lives.
William Morrow | 9780062328984
CALL TO HONOR: A SEAL Brotherhood Novel by Tawny Weber (Romance)
Paperback Original
With a team member killed and the body missing, Lieutenant Diego Torres' honor is sorely tested in the SEALs. His career and reputation are on the line, and a traitor is hiding among them. Diego wants answers…and only one woman has them. Single mom Harper Maclean has two priorities: raising her son and starting a new life. Her mysterious new neighbor may be impossibly charming, but Diego asks too many questions about her past --- and about the father of her child. She fears these questions will reveal her burning attraction for Diego and ultimately put them all in danger's path.
HQN Books | 9780373799282
COLD BARREL ZERO by Matthew Quirk (Thriller/Adventure)
John Hayes is a Special Operations legend who went rogue on a deep-cover mission and betrayed his own soldiers. Disgraced and on the run, he returns to the United States to get back to his wife and daughter and take revenge on his accusers with a series of devastating attacks. Only one man can stop him: Thomas Byrne. He once fought alongside Hayes as a combat medic, but he gave up the gun. Now a surgeon, Byrne moves from town to town, trying to forget his past, until he is called upon by a high-ranking government official to help capture the man he once called a friend.
Mulholland Books | 9780316259194
THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER by Phaedra Patrick (Fiction)
Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. But on the one-year anniversary of his wife Miriam’s death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met --- a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.
Mira | 9780778319801
THE EX by Alafair Burke (Thriller)
Widower Jack Harris has resisted the dating scene ever since the shooting of his wife by a 15-year-old boy three years ago. An early morning run along the Hudson River changes that when he spots a woman in last night’s party dress, enjoying a champagne picnic alone and reading his favorite novel. Eager to help Jack find love again, his best friend posts a message on a popular website after he mentions the encounter. Days later, that same beautiful stranger responds and invites Jack to meet her in person at the waterfront. That’s when his world falls apart.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062390493
FORGED IN DESIRE by Brenda Jackson (Romance)
Paperback Original
When good girl Margo Connelly becomes Lamar "Striker" Jennings' latest assignment, she knows she's in trouble --- and not because he's been hired to protect her from an underworld criminal. Though Striker is now living on the right side of the law, he is convinced his troubled past keeps Margo out of his league. But physical chemistry explodes into full-blown passion when they go on the run together. Surrendering to desire could be a deadly distraction --- or finally prove that he's the only man qualified to keep her safe, and win her love.
HQN Books | 9780373790005
THE GOOD LIAR by Nicholas Searle (Literary Suspense)
Veteran con artist Roy spots an obvious easy mark when he meets Betty, a wealthy widow, online. In no time at all, he has moved into Betty’s lovely cottage and is preparing to accompany her on a romantic trip to Europe. Betty’s grandson disapproves of their blossoming relationship, but Roy is sure this scheme will be a success. He knows what he’s doing. As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Roy’s and Betty’s futures, it also unwinds their pasts.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062407504
THE ILLEGAL by Lawrence Hill (Fiction)
All Keita has ever wanted to do is to run. Running means respect and wealth at home. His native Zantoroland turns out the fastest marathoners on earth. But after his journalist father is killed for his outspoken political views, Keita must flee to the wealthy nation of Freedom State --- a country engaged in a crackdown on all undocumented people. There, Keita becomes a part of the new underground and learns what it means to live as an illegal. As the authorities seek to arrest Keita, he strives to elude capture and ransom his sister, who has been kidnapped.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393353686
THE LONG COSMOS by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Science Fiction/Adventure)
2070-71. Nearly six decades after Step Day, a new society continues to evolve in the Long Earth. Now, a message has been received: “Join us.” The Next --- the hyper-intelligent post-humans --- realize that the missive contains instructions for kick-starting the development of an immense artificial intelligence known as The Machine. But to build this computer the size of an Earth continent, they must obtain help from the more populous and still industrious worlds of mankind. This concluding volume of the Long Earth series explores the greatest question of all: What is the meaning of life?
Harper | 9780062297389
MIDNIGHT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds by Pamela Rotner Sakamoto (History)
After their father’s death, Harry, Frank and Pierce Fukuhara moved to Hiroshima, their mother’s ancestral home. Eager to go back to America, Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Harry was sent to an internment camp until a call came for Japanese translators, and he dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army. Before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family.
Harper Perennial | 9780062351944
THE ODDS OF YOU AND ME by Cecilia Galante (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Thirteen days. That’s all Bernadette “Bird” Sincavage has left to go until she’s done with her probation and can be free again. Her impending freedom is so close she can almost taste it. Trouble soon follows, though, in the form of James Rittenhouse, who she worked with a few years ago. Bird is stunned to see James make the evening news when he’s arrested for assault. But that’s nothing compared to the shock she gets when she discovers James hiding out in an abandoned church choir loft with a gun pointed at her. Will Bird jeopardize her future for someone who helped her out in the past? Or will she turn a blind eye and learn to live with the consequences?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062434852
OVERWATCH by Matthew Betley (Thriller/Adventure)
When Logan West impulsively answers a dead man’s ringing phone, he triggers a global race against the clock to track down an unknown organization searching for an Iraqi artifact that is central to a planned attack in the Middle East --- one that will draw the United States into a major conflict with Iran. Logan, a former Marine officer, is quickly contracted as a “consultant” to assist the FBI as part of a special task force bent on stopping the shadowy operatives, whatever the cost. Meanwhile, Logan is battling his own demons, especially the trauma of the ambush that his Force Recon unit suffered at an insurgent torture compound in Fallujah in 2004, which threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.
Pocket Books | 9781476799230
THE RAINBOW COMES AND GOES: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt (Memoir)
Though Anderson Cooper has always considered himself close to his mother, his intensely busy career as a journalist for CNN and CBS affords him little time to spend with her. After she suffers a brief but serious illness at the age of 91, they resolve to change their relationship by beginning a year-long conversation unlike any they had ever had before. The result is a correspondence of surprising honesty and depth in which they discuss their lives, the things that matter to them, and what they still want to learn about each other. Both a son’s love letter to his mother and an unconventional mom’s life lessons for her grown son, THE RAINBOW COMES AND GOES offers a rare window into their close relationship and fascinating life stories, including their tragedies and triumphs.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062454959
THE ROAD TO ENCHANTMENT by Kaya McLaren (Fiction)
Paperback Original
As a young girl, Willow watched her mother leave their home in Washington State in a literal blaze of glory: she set the mattress of her cheating husband on fire in her driveway. With that, she and Willow set off to New Mexico. Willow’s eccentric mother believed in this new life and set about starting a winery and goat ranch. But for Willow, it meant initially being bullied and feeling like an outsider. Today, as a grown woman, Willow much prefers Los Angeles and her job as a studio musician. But things tend to happen in threes: her mother dies, her boyfriend dumps her, and she discovers she is pregnant. Can Willow redefine what home means for her, and can she make a go of the legacy her mother left behind?
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250058225
THE RUNAWAY MIDWIFE by Patricia Harman (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Midwife Clara Perry is accustomed to comforting her pregnant patients, but when her life takes a nosedive, she runs away and starts over again in a place where no one knows her. Deciding to reinvent herself, Clara takes a new identity: Sara Livingston, a writer seeking solitude. But there’s no avoiding the outside world. The residents are friendly, and draw “Sara” into their lives and confidences. She volunteers at the local medical clinic, using her midwifery skills, and forms a tentative relationship with a local police officer. But what will happen if she lets down her guard and reveals the real reason why she left her old life?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062467300
A SHORT TIME TO DIE by Susan Alice Bickford (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Walking home on a foggy night, Marly Shaw stops in the glare of approaching headlights. Two men step out of a pickup truck. One of them is her stepfather. A sudden, desperate chase erupts in gunshots. Both men are left dead. And a terrified girl is on the run. Thirteen years later, human bones discovered in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California are linked to a mother and son from Central New York. Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Detective Vanessa Alba and her partner, Jack Wong, dive into an investigation that lures them deep into the Finger Lakes. They find a community silenced by the brutal grip of a powerful family bound by a twisted sense of blood and honor, whose dark secrets still haunt the one family member who thought she got away.
Kensington | 9781496705945
TWO EMPRESSES by Brandy Purdy (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
On the island paradise of Martinique, two cousins have reached marriageable age. Sixteen-year-old Rose must sail to France to marry Alexandre, the dashing Vicomte de Beauharnais, while Aimee will finish her education at a French convent in hopes of making a worthy match. Once in Paris, Rose’s illusions are shattered by her new husband, who casts her off when his mistress bears him a son. Soon she is pursued by a young general, Napoleon Bonaparte, who prefers to call her by another name: Josephine. Presumed dead after her ship is attacked by pirates, Aimee survives and is taken to the Sultan of Turkey’s harem. Like Josephine, the newly crowned Empress of France, Aimee will ascend to a position of unimagined power. But for both cousins, passion and ambition carry their own burden.
Kensington | 9780758288936
WE LOVE YOU, CHARLIE FREEMAN by Kaitlyn Greenidge (Fiction)
The Freeman family has been invited to the Toneybee Institute to participate in a research experiment. They will live in an apartment on campus with Charlie, a young chimp abandoned by his mother. The Freemans were selected for the experiment because they know sign language; they are supposed to teach it to Charlie and welcome him as a member of their family. Isolated in their new, nearly all-white community not just by their race but by their strange living situation, the Freemans come undone. And when daughter Charlotte discovers the truth about the Institute’s history of questionable studies, the secrets of the past begin to invade the present.
Algonquin Books | 9781616206444
WEDDING CAKE MURDER: A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes! by Joanne Fluke (Mystery)
Hannah Swensen and her fiance, Ross, travel to New York City for the Food Channel’s dessert chef contest. They get a taste of the Big Apple before Hannah wins the Hometown Challenge, and the producers bring all the contestants to Lake Eden to tape the remainder of the show. The contest takes a turn for the worse when celebrity chef and judge Alain Duquesne is found stabbed to death in the Lake Eden Inn’s walk-in cooler. Now Hannah not only has lost her advantage, she’ll have to solve a mystery with more layers than a five-tiered wedding cake.
Kensington | 9781617732188
THE WOLVES: A John Wells Novel by Alex Berenson (Thriller)
John Wells has just barely managed to stop an operation designed to drive the United States and Iran into war, but the instigator himself disappeared behind an impenetrable war of security. Now it’s time for him to pay, and Wells has made it his personal mission. But the White House doesn’t want anybody stirring the pot; his old CIA bosses have their own agendas; and other countries are starting to sniff around, sensing something unusual. It is when Russia and China enter the mix, however, that the whole affair is set to combust. With alarming speed, Wells is once again on his own…and the wolves are closing in.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9781101982761
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