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Editorial Content for The Death of Vivek Oji

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Maya Gittelman

Once again, Akwaeke Emezi proves themself to be one of the most skilled, powerful writers crafting today. Their latest book, THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, is the echo of a raw cry, the present and the aftermath blurring together, a sharp, singeing masterpiece. Read More

Teaser

Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, he finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens --- and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis --- the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.

Promo

Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, he finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens --- and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis --- the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.

About the Book

What does it mean for a family to lose a child they never really knew?

One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son’s body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family’s struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious.

Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, he finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens --- and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis --- the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.

Propulsively readable, teeming with unforgettable characters, THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI is a novel of family and friendship that challenges expectations --- a dramatic story of loss and transcendence that will move every reader.

Audiobook available, read by Yetide Badaki and Chukwudi Iwuji

Editorial Content for Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting a Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

In 1934, Cleveland, Ohio, welcomed the most famous G-Man at the time: Eliot Ness. He was fresh off his huge successes in Chicago, Illinois, where he and his self-proclaimed team, the Untouchables, had cleaned up the Windy City by putting away the infamous gangster Al Capone and several of his cronies. Now, Ness was expected to do the same on a lesser scale in Cleveland. Read More

Teaser

In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter --- fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history --- arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer. Eliot Ness' greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.

Promo

In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter --- fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history --- arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer. Eliot Ness' greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.

About the Book

In the spirit of DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY comes a true detective tale of the highest standard: the haunting story of Eliot Ness' forgotten final case --- his years-long hunt for "The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run," a serial killer who terrorized Cleveland through the Great Depression.

In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter --- fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history --- arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer.

Eliot Ness' greatest case had begun.

Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz --- the acclaimed writing team behind SCARFACE AND THE UNTOUCHABLE --- uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping and unforgettable nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.

Ness had risen to fame in 1931 for leading the “Untouchables,” which helped put Chicago’s Al Capone behind bars. As Cleveland's public safety director, in charge of the police and fire departments, Ness offered a radical new vision for better law enforcement. Crime-ridden and devastated by the Depression, Cleveland was preparing for a star-turn itself: in 1936, it would host the "Great Lakes Exposition," which would be visited by seven million people. Late in the summer of 1934, however, pieces of a woman’s body began washing up on the Lake Erie shore --- first her ribs, then part of her backbone, then the lower half of her torso. The body count soon grew to five, then 10, then more, all dismembered in gruesome ways.

As Ness zeroed in on a suspect --- a doctor tied to a prominent political family --- powerful forces thwarted his quest for justice. In this battle between a flawed hero and a twisted monster --- by turns horror story, political drama and detective thriller --- Collins and Schwartz find an American tragedy, classic in structure, epic in scope.

Audiobook available, read by Malcolm Hillgartner

Editorial Content for The Wicked Sister

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

Diana was the Cunninghams’ first-born and was loved beyond words. Gradually, though, Diana’s mother, Jenny, started to worry about her daughter’s unusual behavior. Something didn’t seem right. And when tragedy struck in their own backyard, Jenny’s suspicions turned to horror at what she feared Diana had done. So the Cunninghams pulled up stakes and moved to the family’s remote lodge in the midst of vast wooded acreage, hoping to create an environment that might help Diana thrive. Maybe there, the girl could grow into a healthy, normal adult. Read More

Teaser

For a decade and a half, Rachel Cunningham has chosen to lock herself away in a psychiatric facility, tortured by gaps in her memory and the certainty that she is responsible for her parents' deaths. But when she learns new details about their murders, Rachel returns, in a quest for answers, to the place where she once felt safest: her family's sprawling log cabin in the remote forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As Rachel begins to uncover what really happened on the day her parents were murdered, she learns --- as her mother did years earlier --- that home can be a place of unspeakable evil, and that the bond she shares with her sister might be the most poisonous of all.

Promo

For a decade and a half, Rachel Cunningham has chosen to lock herself away in a psychiatric facility, tortured by gaps in her memory and the certainty that she is responsible for her parents' deaths. But when she learns new details about their murders, Rachel returns, in a quest for answers, to the place where she once felt safest: her family's sprawling log cabin in the remote forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As Rachel begins to uncover what really happened on the day her parents were murdered, she learns --- as her mother did years earlier --- that home can be a place of unspeakable evil, and that the bond she shares with her sister might be the most poisonous of all.

About the Book

From the bestselling and award-winning author of THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER comes a startling novel of psychological suspense as two generations of sisters try to unravel their tangled relationships between nature and nurture, guilt and betrayal, love and evil.

For a decade and a half, Rachel Cunningham has chosen to lock herself away in a psychiatric facility, tortured by gaps in her memory and the certainty that she is responsible for her parents' deaths. But when she learns new details about their murders, Rachel returns, in a quest for answers, to the place where she once felt safest: her family's sprawling log cabin in the remote forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

As Rachel begins to uncover what really happened on the day her parents were murdered, she learns --- as her mother did years earlier --- that home can be a place of unspeakable evil, and that the bond she shares with her sister might be the most poisonous of all.

Audiobook available, read by Kristen Sieh and Andi Arndt

Editorial Content for The Book of Atlantis Black: The Search for a Sister Gone Missing

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

THE BOOK OF ATLANTIS BLACK could be a true crime saga or a mystery. But, in fact, it is Betsy Bonner’s “search for a sister gone missing,” a memoir of loss and a tale of dysfunction, addiction, trauma and violence. Bonner’s older sister Nancy, who renamed herself Atlantis Black, was a musician who penned songs about pain, sex, desire and abuse. She was reported dead in a Tijuana hotel room in 2008 at the age of 31, after months of increased drug use and mental health issues and while in the midst of a criminal trial. Read More

Teaser

A young woman is found dead on the floor of a Tijuana hotel room. An ID in a nearby purse reads “Atlantis Black.” The police report states that the body does not seem to match the identification, yet the body is quickly cremated and the case is considered closed. So begins Betsy Bonner’s search for her sister, Atlantis, and the unraveling of the mysterious final months before Atlantis’ disappearance, alleged overdose and death. With access to her sister’s email and social media accounts, she attempts to decipher and construct a narrative. Through a history only she and Atlantis shared, Bonner finds questions that lead only to more questions and possible clues that seem to point in no particular direction.

Promo

A young woman is found dead on the floor of a Tijuana hotel room. An ID in a nearby purse reads “Atlantis Black.” The police report states that the body does not seem to match the identification, yet the body is quickly cremated and the case is considered closed. So begins Betsy Bonner’s search for her sister, Atlantis, and the unraveling of the mysterious final months before Atlantis’ disappearance, alleged overdose and death. With access to her sister’s email and social media accounts, she attempts to decipher and construct a narrative. Through a history only she and Atlantis shared, Bonner finds questions that lead only to more questions and possible clues that seem to point in no particular direction.

About the Book

THE BOOK OF ATLANTIS BLACK will have you questioning facts, rooting for secrets, and asking what it means to know the truth.

A young woman is found dead on the floor of a Tijuana hotel room. An ID in a nearby purse reads “Atlantis Black.” The police report states that the body does not seem to match the identification, yet the body is quickly cremated and the case is considered closed.

So begins Betsy Bonner’s search for her sister, Atlantis, and the unraveling of the mysterious final months before Atlantis’s disappearance, alleged overdose and death. With access to her sister’s email and social media accounts, Bonner attempts to decipher and construct a narrative: frantic and unintelligible Facebook posts, alarming images of a woman with a handgun, Craigslist companionship ads, DEA agent testimony, video surveillance, police reports, and various phone calls and moments in the flesh conjured from memory. Through a history only she and Atlantis shared --- a childhood fraught with abuse and mental illness, Atlantis’ precocious yet short rise in the music world, and through it all an unshakable bond of sisterhood --- Bonner finds questions that lead only to more questions and possible clues that seem to point in no particular direction.

In this haunting memoir and piercing true crime account, Bonner must decide how far she will go to understand a sister who, like the mythical island she renamed herself for, might prove impossible to find.

Audiobook available, read by Laura Jennings

Editorial Content for Demon in White: The Sun Eater, Book Three

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stephen Hubbard

I’m just going to come right out and say it.

DEMON IN WHITE, the latest installment in Christopher Ruocchio's The Sun Eater series, is a powerful tour de force that stands head and shoulders above its two deftly crafted predecessors. It continues the tale of Hadrian Marlowe, a knight in service to the Empire against the alien Cielcin. At no point while reading this book will you feel that you’ve reached a good place to stop for the day. I don’t use silly phrases like “unputdownable,” but if I did, DEMON IN WHITE would be just that. Read More

Teaser

For almost a hundred years, Hadrian Marlowe has served the Empire in its war against the Cielcin, a vicious alien race bent on humanity’s destruction. Rumors of a new king amongst the Cielcin have reached the Imperial throne. To make matters worse, a cult of personality has formed around Hadrian, spurred on by legends of his having defied death itself. Hadrian’s rise to prominence proves dangerous to himself and his team, as pressures within the Imperial government distrust or resent his new influence. And above it all, there is the mystery of the Quiet. Hadrian did defy death. He did return. But the keys to the only place in the universe where Hadrian might find the answers he seeks lie in the hands of the Emperor himself.

Promo

For almost a hundred years, Hadrian Marlowe has served the Empire in its war against the Cielcin, a vicious alien race bent on humanity’s destruction. Rumors of a new king amongst the Cielcin have reached the Imperial throne. To make matters worse, a cult of personality has formed around Hadrian, spurred on by legends of his having defied death itself. Hadrian’s rise to prominence proves dangerous to himself and his team, as pressures within the Imperial government distrust or resent his new influence. And above it all, there is the mystery of the Quiet. Hadrian did defy death. He did return. But the keys to the only place in the universe where Hadrian might find the answers he seeks lie in the hands of the Emperor himself.

About the Book

Now in paperback, the third novel of the galaxy-spanning Sun Eater series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire.

For almost a hundred years, Hadrian Marlowe has served the Empire in its war against the Cielcin, a vicious alien race bent on humanity’s destruction. Rumors of a new king amongst the Cielcin have reached the Imperial throne. This one is not like the others. It does not raid borderworld territories, preferring precise, strategic attacks on the humans’ Empire.
 
To make matters worse, a cult of personality has formed around Hadrian, spurred on by legends of his having defied death itself. Men call him Halfmortal. Hadrian’s rise to prominence proves dangerous to himself and his team, as pressures within the Imperial government distrust or resent his new influence.
 
Caught in the middle, Hadrian must contend with enemies before him --- and behind.
 
And above it all, there is the mystery of the Quiet. Hadrian did defy death. He did return. But the keys to the only place in the universe where Hadrian might find the answers he seeks lie in the hands of the Emperor himself.

Audiobook available, read by Samuel Roukin

Lesley M.M. Blume, author of Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World

Just days after the United States decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. But even before the surrender, the U.S. government and military had begun a secret propaganda and information suppression campaign to hide the devastating nature of these experimental weapons. The cover-up intensified as Occupation forces closed the atomic cities to Allied reporters, preventing leaks about the horrific long-term effects of radiation that would kill thousands during the months after the blast. For nearly a year the cover-up worked --- until New Yorker journalist John Hersey got into Hiroshima and managed to report the truth to the world.

Finola Austin, author of Brontë’s Mistress

Yorkshire, 1843: Lydia Robinson --- mistress of Thorp Green Hall --- has lost her precious young daughter and her mother within the same year. She returns to her bleak home, grief-stricken and unmoored. With her teenage daughters rebelling, her testy mother-in-law scrutinizing her every move and her marriage grown cold, Lydia is restless and yearning for something more. All of that changes with the arrival of her son’s tutor, Branwell Brontë, brother of her daughters’ governess, Miss Anne Brontë, and those other writerly sisters, Charlotte and Emily. Branwell has his own demons to contend with --- including living up to the ideals of his intelligent family --- but his presence is a breath of fresh air for Lydia. However, her new taste of passion comes with consequences.

Kristin Harmel, author of The Book of Lost Names

Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. It’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in 65 years: The Book of Lost Names. The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II --- an experience Eva remembers well --- and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an 18th-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. It appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from --- or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer. But will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

James Lee Burke, author of A Private Cathedral: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

The Shondell and Balangie families are longtime enemies in the New Iberia criminal underworld and show each other no mercy. Yet their youngest heirs, Johnny Shondell and Isolde Balangie, have fallen in love and run away after Isolde was given as a sex slave to Johnny’s uncle. As he seeks to uncover why, Detective Dave Robicheaux gets too close to both Isolde’s mother and the mistress of her father, a venomous New Orleans mafioso whose jealousy has no bounds. In retribution, he hires a mysterious assassin to go after Robicheaux and his longtime partner, Clete Purcel. In order to defeat the hitman and rescue Johnny and Isolde, Robicheaux will have to overcome the demons that have tormented him throughout his adult life.

August 14, 2020

Your Favorite Book Podcasts

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In the July 31st Weekly Update newsletter, we asked you to share your favorite book-themed podcasts with us. We received so many great recommendations that we have pulled your ideas together into a blog. Thank you for all of your suggestions!