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Editorial Content for Thief River Falls

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

THIEF RIVER FALLS is a story within a story of a novel. We see this on the first few pages when we are treated to an excerpt from the bestselling book, Thief River Falls, by award-winning thriller author Lisa Power. It is just dynamite and makes readers hungry for more. Read More

Teaser

The author of a bestselling thriller called Thief River Falls, Lisa Power is secluded in her remote house as she struggles with the loss of her entire family: a series of tragedies she calls the “Dark Star.” Then a nameless runaway boy shows up at her door with a terrifying story: he’s just escaped death after witnessing a brutal murder --- a crime the police want to cover up. Obsessed with the boy’s safety, Lisa resolves to expose this crime, but powerful men in Thief River Falls are desperate to get the boy back, and now they want her too. Still under the strange, unforgiving threat of the Dark Star, Lisa must find a way to save them both, or they’ll become the victims of another shocking tragedy she can’t foresee.

Promo

The author of a bestselling thriller called Thief River Falls, Lisa Power is secluded in her remote house as she struggles with the loss of her entire family: a series of tragedies she calls the “Dark Star.” Then a nameless runaway boy shows up at her door with a terrifying story: he’s just escaped death after witnessing a brutal murder --- a crime the police want to cover up. Obsessed with the boy’s safety, Lisa resolves to expose this crime, but powerful men in Thief River Falls are desperate to get the boy back, and now they want her too. Still under the strange, unforgiving threat of the Dark Star, Lisa must find a way to save them both, or they’ll become the victims of another shocking tragedy she can’t foresee.

About the Book

Harrowing loss, psychological trauma and a deadly mystery test the human will to survive in this electrifying novel from award-winning author Brian Freeman.

Lisa Power is a tortured ghost of her former self. The author of a bestselling thriller called Thief River Falls, named after her rural Minnesota hometown, Lisa is secluded in her remote house as she struggles with the loss of her entire family: a series of tragedies she calls the “Dark Star.”

Then a nameless runaway boy shows up at her door with a terrifying story: he’s just escaped death after witnessing a brutal murder --- a crime the police want to cover up. Obsessed with the boy’s safety, Lisa resolves to expose this crime, but powerful men in Thief River Falls are desperate to get the boy back, and now they want her too.

Lisa and her young visitor have nowhere to go as the trap closes around them. Still under the strange, unforgiving threat of the Dark Star, Lisa must find a way to save them both, or they’ll become the victims of another shocking tragedy she can’t foresee.

Audiobook available, read by January LaVoy

Editorial Content for Upright Women Wanted

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Maya Gittelman

The world as we know it ended a long time ago, but the aftermath of this apocalypse is as familiar as a shadow. In Sarah Gailey’s UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED, near-future America has devolved into a landscape similar to the Wild West, complete with blazing suns, an oppressive imbalance of resources, and a deeply corrupt government. Any whispers of resistance are swiftly executed, and only state-sanctioned information is allowed to disseminate. Read More

Teaser

Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her --- a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

Promo

Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her --- a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

About the Book

In UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED, award-winning author Sarah Gailey reinvents the pulp Western with an explicitly antifascist, near-future story of queer identity.

“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”

Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her --- a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.

The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

Audiobook available, read by Romy Nordlinger

Editorial Content for The Burn: A Detective Betty Rhyzyk Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

Just as she did in THE DIME, her first novel starring narcotics cop Betty Rhyzyk, Kathleen Kent opens THE BURN with a scene from Betty’s earlier years, this time when she was still a student at the police academy in Brooklyn. A disastrously failed ride-along with her older brother, also a cop, gave Betty the academy cadet an early glimpse at the temptations and repercussions of corruption for police officers, especially those working in narcotics. Read More

Teaser

Betty Rhyzyk’s wounds are still fresh from an encounter with an apocalyptic cult known as The Family. She's back at work as a narcotics detective, but something isn't right --- at work, where someone has been assassinating confidential informants, or at home, where she struggles to connect with her loving wife, Jackie. To make matters worse, Betty's partner seems to be increasingly dependent on the prescription painkillers he was prescribed for the injuries he sustained rescuing her. Betty decides to go rogue, investigating her own department and chasing down phantom sightings of the cult leader who took her hostage. The chase will lead her to the dark heart of a drug cartel terrorizing Dallas, and straight to the crooked cops who plan to profit from it all.

Promo

Betty Rhyzyk’s wounds are still fresh from an encounter with an apocalyptic cult known as The Family. She's back at work as a narcotics detective, but something isn't right --- at work, where someone has been assassinating confidential informants, or at home, where she struggles to connect with her loving wife, Jackie. To make matters worse, Betty's partner seems to be increasingly dependent on the prescription painkillers he was prescribed for the injuries he sustained rescuing her. Betty decides to go rogue, investigating her own department and chasing down phantom sightings of the cult leader who took her hostage. The chase will lead her to the dark heart of a drug cartel terrorizing Dallas, and straight to the crooked cops who plan to profit from it all.

About the Book

Rattled from a run-in with a cult and desperate for answers, Detective Betty Rhyzyk decides to go rogue --- but her investigation leads straight into the dark underworld of the Dallas drug cartel.

There's not much that can make Detective Betty Rhyzyk flinch. But her wounds are still fresh from an encounter with an apocalyptic cult known as The Family, and she's having trouble readjusting to life as it once was. She's back at work as a narcotics detective, but something isn't right --- at work, where someone has been assassinating confidential informants, or at home, where she struggles to connect with her loving wife, Jackie. To make matters worse, Betty's partner seems to be increasingly dependent on the prescription painkillers he was prescribed for the injuries he sustained rescuing her.

Forced into therapy, a desk assignment and domestic bliss, Betty's at the point of breaking when she decides to go rogue, investigating her own department and chasing down phantom sightings of the cult leader who took her hostage. The chase will lead her to the dark heart of a drug cartel terrorizing Dallas, and straight to the crooked cops who plan to profit from it all. There's never a dull moment in Dallas, especially now that Detective Betty's back.

Audiobook available, read by Christie Moreau

Editorial Content for The Absolution

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

In THE ABSOLUTION, the third installment in her Children’s House series, Yrsa Sigurdardottir brings together Detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja to help solve two murders and explore how bullying impacts victims.

Two teenagers are found tortured to death, marked with the numbers “2” and “3” on their bodies. Is there a number “1” out there that has not yet been found? Or a number “4” waiting on the horizon? Read More

Teaser

The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows a terrified young woman begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number “2”. Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim, but who could have hated her enough to kill? Then another teenager goes missing, more clips are sent to social media, and the body with a “3” is found. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. The killer is not done yet. And is there an undiscovered body carrying the number “1” out there?

Promo

The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows a terrified young woman begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number “2”. Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim, but who could have hated her enough to kill? Then another teenager goes missing, more clips are sent to social media, and the body with a “3” is found. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. The killer is not done yet. And is there an undiscovered body carrying the number “1” out there?

About the Book

THE ABSOLUTION is the third installment in Queen of Icelandic crime fiction Yrsa Sigurdardóttir’s series about the psychologist Freyja and the police officer Huldar.

The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows a terrified young woman begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number “2”.

Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim, but who could have hated her enough to kill?

Then another teenager goes missing, more clips are sent to social media, and the body with a “3” is found. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. The killer is not done yet. And is there an undiscovered body carrying the number “1” out there?

Audiobook available, read by Lucy Paterson

Editorial Content for One Day You'll Burn

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

I have said it before, but it bears repeating: One of the joys of constant reading is the discovery of a new author who takes your favorite genre(s) in a slightly different direction. On that note, please permit me to introduce you to Joseph Schneider. ONE DAY YOU’LL BURN, his remarkably surefooted debut novel, stars a memorable character who you will want to see more of very soon. Read More

Teaser

A body so badly burned that it could be mistaken for a movie prop...except for the smell. That's not something the LAPD finds lying on the street every day. And when Detective Tully Jarsdel is called to the scene, it's clear to him that something about the placement of the corpse is intentional, even ritualistic. Jarsdel's former career in academia finally seems to be coming in handy. But nothing Jarsdel learned in school can prepare him for the deep evil behind this case, which appears to be as hopeless as it is violent. As Jarsdel and his partner, Morales, attempt to uncover the motive behind the horrendous crime, they find themselves dragged into the underbelly of a city notorious for chewing up and spitting out anyone dumb enough to turn their back on survival.

Promo

A body so badly burned that it could be mistaken for a movie prop...except for the smell. That's not something the LAPD finds lying on the street every day. And when Detective Tully Jarsdel is called to the scene, it's clear to him that something about the placement of the corpse is intentional, even ritualistic. Jarsdel's former career in academia finally seems to be coming in handy. But nothing Jarsdel learned in school can prepare him for the deep evil behind this case, which appears to be as hopeless as it is violent. As Jarsdel and his partner, Morales, attempt to uncover the motive behind the horrendous crime, they find themselves dragged into the underbelly of a city notorious for chewing up and spitting out anyone dumb enough to turn their back on survival.

About the Book

Detective Tully Jarsdel may not be a typical LAPD cop --- but he's the only one who can solve this case

A body so badly burned that it could be mistaken for a movie prop...except for the smell. That's not something the LAPD finds lying on the street every day. And when Detective Tully Jarsdel is called to the scene, it's clear to him that something about the placement of the corpse is intentional, even ritualistic. Jarsdel's former career in academia seems to finally be coming in handy, rather than serving merely as material for jokes from his partner, Morales.

But nothing Jarsdel learned in school can prepare him for the deep evil behind this case, which appears to be as hopeless as it is violent. As Jarsdel and Morales attempt to settle their differences and uncover the motive behind the horrendous crime, they find themselves dragged into the underbelly of a city notorious for chewing up and spitting out anyone dumb enough to turn their back on survival.

ONE DAY YOU'LL BURN is a shimmering debut that captures the glitz and squalor of LA while introducing an unforgettable detective readers will rank among the best in the genre.

Audiobook available, read by Neil Shah

Rose Franken

Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.

Attribution

Rose Franken

February 13, 2020

My neighborhood book group met last night, and we discussed AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins. Everyone loved it, and we had a great dialogue about it. They thought it was a page-turner that was well-written and enlightening about the migrant crisis. They would highly recommend it to others.

They all were aware of the backlash that had been going on --- they knew there was controversy. They heard the cries about cultural appropriation, but felt they were unfounded since this is fiction and the storytelling was so good. They all wish they could see Jeanine talk about the book, and are sorry she has been deprived of the opportunity to tour. They want to read more on the subject; in fact, two members said that they thought about the people crossing in a more humanitarian way and believed this was a strong entry into looking at the issue.

Allison Pataki, author of The Queen's Fortune

As the French Revolution ravages the country, Desiree Clary is faced with the life-altering truth that the world she has known and loved is gone, and it’s fallen on her to save her family from the guillotine. A chance encounter with Napoleon Bonaparte, the ambitious and charismatic young military prodigy, provides her answer. When her beloved sister Julie marries his brother Joseph, Desiree and Napoleon’s futures become irrevocably linked. Quickly entering into their own passionate, dizzying courtship that leads to a secret engagement, they vow to meet in the capital once his career has been secured. But her newly laid plans with Napoleon turn to sudden heartbreak, thanks to the rising star of Parisian society, Josephine de Beauharnais. Once again, Desiree’s life is turned on its head.

Peter Gabriel

Italian food is my favorite food. It's the most sophisticated eating system.

Attribution

Peter Gabriel

Abraham Lincoln

I never went to school more than six months in my life, but I can say this: that among my earliest recollections, I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand.

Attribution

Abraham Lincoln