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Bestsellers
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September 2010
Click on the cover to reserve your copy.
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Fiction |
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Postcard Killers by James Patterson & Liza Marklund
Paris is stunning in the summer NYPD
detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But
the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral,
and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer. The killing is
simply marvelous Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were
murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris,
Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little
connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that
precedes each new victim. Wish you were here Now Kanon teams up with the
Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in
Stockholm--and they think they know where the next victims will be. With
relentless logic and unstoppable action, The Postcard Killers may be
James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.
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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
Lisbeth Salander - the heart of Larsson's two
previous novels - lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her
head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She's
fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers,
she'll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With
the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only
have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in
authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse
and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge against the man who
tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very
nearly destroyed her life. Once upon a time, she was a victim. Now
Salander is fighting back.
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Tough Customer by Sandra Brown
Introduced in 2009's Smash Cut, Atlanta
PI Dodge Hanley makes this entertaining, if slightly talky romantic
thriller from bestseller Brown a must-read for anyone who appreciates a
tough guy hero with a heart of gold. Late one night Dodge receives a
phone call from his lost love, Houston realtor Caroline King, who asks
him to come to Texas to help catch Oren Starks, a creepy over-the-top
stalker who's out to kill Dodge and Caroline's 30-year-old daughter,
Berry Malone. Dodge hasn't seen Berry since the day she was born. When
Starks takes a shot at Berry in Caroline's house, hitting a work
associate of Berry's instead, Dodge rushes to the rescue. While Merritt
County deputy sheriff Ski Nyland, who falls for the equally smitten
Berry, is no slouch on the case, the relentlessly ruthless Dodge plays
the most crucial role in the effort to stop the bad guy. Brown fans will
want to see more of the irresistible Dodge. (Aug.) Copyright 2010 Reed
Business Information.
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Star Island by Carl Hiaasen
Twenty-two-year-old pop star Cherry Pye
is attempting a comeback from her latest drug and alcohol disaster. Ann
DeLusia is Cherry's "undercover stunt double," portraying Cherry
whenever the singer is too wasted to go out in public. But, one night,
Ann-as-Cherry is mistakenly kidnapped from a South Beach hotel by an
obsessed paparazzo named Bang Abbott. Now the challenge for Cherry's
handlers (uuml; berndash; stage mother; horndog record producer;
nipped-and-tucked twin publicists; weed-whacker-wielding bodyguard) is
to rescue Ann while keeping her existence secret from the public-and
from Cherry herself. A further complication: Ann has had a bewitching
encounter with Skink, the unhinged former governor of Florida, and now
her's heading for Miami to find her. Will Bang achieve his fantasy of a
private photo session with Cherry? Will Cherry sober up in time to
lip-synch her concert tour? Will Skink track down Ann before Cherry's
posse does? All will be revealed in Carl Hiaasen's hilarious spin on
life in the celebrity fast lane. From the Hardcover edition.
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The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
Married to a man twice her
age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret Beaufort
is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart
on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to
herself, England, and even her son. Disregarding rival heirs and the
overwhelming power of the York dynasty, she names him Henry, like the
king; sends him into exile; and pledges him in marriage to her enemy
Elizabeth of York's daughter. As the political tides constantly move and
shift, Margaret charts her own way through another loveless marriage,
treacherous alliances and secret plots. always with her ultimate goal
before her.
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Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith
Arkady Renko's reward for his
investigative prowess described in five previous novels (from Gorky Park
to Stalin's Ghost) is pathetic-he's about to be cashiered from his job
as a cop in Moscow. He and his alcoholic detective buddy Viktor find a
lovely young woman dead in a filthy trailer in Three Stations, a
crime-ridden transportation center. The fate of one prostitute, however
young or beautiful, is a trivial matter to their boss, so the
investigation is squelched. Renko forges on stubbornly and develops
clues that point to a serial killer on the loose. At the same time,
Zhenya, Renko's solitary protegee, is embroiled in the kidnapping of
another prostitute's infant. At Three Stations these two grim story arcs
converge, and Renko's bravery, tenacity, and sheer intelligence are
burnished to a warm glow in this compact yet deeply textured and finely
written descent into Moscow's lower depths. Verdict Fans everywhere will
be eager to get the latest installment in the Renko saga, a terrific
oeuvre for readers in every public library. [See Prepub Alert, LJ
3/15/10.]-Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA Copyright 2010 Reed Business
Information.
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The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva
"Of those writing spy novels today,
Daniel Silva is quite simply the best." -The Kansas City Star "The
perfect book for fans of well-crafted thrillers ... the kind of page-
turner that captures the reader from the opening chapter and doesn't let
go." -The Associated Press Gabriel Allon, master art restorer and
assassin, returns in a spellbinding new novel from the #1 New York
Times-bestselling author. Over the course of a brilliant career, Daniel
Silva has established himself as "the gold standard" of thriller writers
(Dallas Morning News) who "has hit upon the perfect formula to keep
espionage-friendly fans' fingers glued to his books, turning pages in
nearly breathless anticipation" (BookPage). But now, having reached "the
pinnacle of world-class spy thriller writing" (The Denver Post), Silva
has produced his most extraordinary novel to date-a tale of greed,
passion, and murder spanning more than half a century, centered on an
object of haunting beauty. Two families, one terrible secret, and a
painting to die for ...
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Crossfire by Dick Francis and Felix Francis
Shell-shocked and missing a foot, lost to
an IED during his tour of duty in Afghanistan, Captain Tom Forsyth uses
his finely honed military skills to find the person blackmailing his
estranged mother--the first lady of British racing--who is being forced
to make her horses lose.
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The Vigilantes by W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV
The dramatic new novel in Griffin's New
York Times-bestselling chronicle of the Philadelphia police force.
There's a sudden spike in murders in Philadelphia, but no one seems to
mind much because the victims all seem to be lowlifes. The more Homicide
Sergeant Matthew Payne investigates, however, the more he gets a bad
feeling - one that only gets worse when vigilante groups spring up
claiming credit for some of the hits, even though Payne knows it can't
be true. As the targets get bigger and events start moving out of
control, Payne realizes that if he and his colleagues can't figure out
who's behind this very soon, the violence could overtake them all.
Filled with authentic color and detail, this is a riveting novel of the
men and women who put their lives on the line - storytelling at its
absolute best.
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Veil of Night by Linda Howard
"Jaclyn Wilde is a wedding
planner who loves her job -- usually. But helping Carrie Edwards with
her Big Day has been an unrelenting nightmare. Carrie is a bridezilla of
mythic nastiness, a diva whose tantrums are just about as crazy as her
demands. But the unpleasant task at hand turns seriously criminal when
Carrie is brutally murdered and everyone involved with the ceremony is
accusing one another of doing the deed." -- Dust jacket.
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Private by James Patterson
Former CIA agent Jack
Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches
around the globe. He already deep into the investigation of a
multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of
18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home: his
best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed.
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Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
Sometimes all you can do is fly away
home... When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had
wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has
remade herself as the ideal politician's wife - her hair dyed and
straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits.
At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty
pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband,
the senator. Lizzie, the Woodruffs' younger daughter, is at twenty-four
a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?)
helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to
find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has
everything Lizzie failed to achieve - a husband, a young son, the
perfect home - and yet she's trapped in a loveless marriage. With
temptation waiting in one of the ER's exam rooms, she finds herself
craving more. After Richard's extramarital affair makes headlines, the
three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight.
Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her
life, who she is and who she is meant to be. Written with an
irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity, Fly Away Home is an
unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime
of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another.
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Super Sad Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
Shteyngart (Absurdistan) presents another
profane and dizzying satire, a dystopic vision of the future as
convincing-and, in its way, as frightening-as Cormac McCarthy's The
Road. It's also a pointedly old-fashioned May-December love story,
complete with references to Chekhov and Tolstoy. Mired in protracted
adolescence, middle-aged Lenny Abramov is obsessed with living forever
(he works for an Indefinite Life Extension company), his books (an
anachronism of this indeterminate future), and Eunice Park, a
20-something Korean-American. Eunice, though reluctant and often cruel,
finds in Lenny a loving but needy fellow soul and a refuge from her
overbearing immigrant parents. Narrating in alternate chapters-Lenny
through old-fashioned diary entries, Eunice through her online
correspondence-the pair reveal a funhouse-mirror version of contemporary
America: terminally indebted to China, controlled by the singular
Bipartisan Party (Big Brother as played by a cartoon otter in a cowboy
hat), and consumed by the superficial. Shteyngart's earnestly struggling
characters-along with a flurry of running gags-keep the nightmare tour
of tomorrow grounded. A rich commentary on the obsessions and
catastrophes of the information age and a heartbreaker worthy of its
title, this is Shteyngart's best yet. (Aug.) Copyright 2010 Reed
Business Information.
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The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman
If any contemporary author deserves to
wear the mantel of Jane Austen, it's Goodman, whose subtle, astute
social comedies perfectly capture the quirks of human nature. This
dazzling novel is Austen updated for the dot-com era, played out between
1999 and 2001 among a group of brilliant risk takers and truth seekers.
Still in her 20s, Emily Bach is the CEO of Veritech, a Web-based
data-storage startup in trendy Berkeley. Her boyfriend, charismatic
Jonathan Tilghman, is in a race to catch up at his data-security
company, ISIS, in Cambridge, Mass. Emily is low-key, pragmatic, kind,
serene-the polar opposite of her beloved younger sister, Jess, a crazed
postgrad who works at an antiquarian bookstore owned by a retired
Microsoft millionaire. When Emily confides her company's new secret
project to Jonathan as a proof of her love, the stage is set for issues
of loyalty and trust, greed, and the allure of power. What is actually
valuable, Goodman's characters ponder: a company's stock, a person's
promise, a forest of redwoods, a collection of rare cookbooks? Goodman
creates a bubble of suspense as both Veritech and ISIS issue IPOs,
career paths collide, social values clash, ironies multiply, and
misjudgments threaten to destroy romantic desire. Enjoyable and
satisfying, this is Goodman's (Intuition) most robust, fully realized
and trenchantly meaningful work yet. (July) Copyright 2010 Reed Business
Information.
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The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
Brimming with charm and whimsy, this
exquisite novel set in the Tower of London has the transportive
qualities and delightful magic of the contemporary classic Chocolate and
American pie. Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his
loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight
years. That's right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). It's
no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day
London. Among the eccentric characters who call the Tower's maze of
ancient buildings and spiral staircases home are the Tower's Rack & Ruin
barmaid, Ruby Dore, who just found out she's pregnant; portly Valerie
Jennings, who is falling for ticket inspector Arthur Catnip; the
lifelong bachelor Reverend Septimus Drew, who secretly pens a series of
principled erotica; and the philandering Ravenmaster, aiming to avenge
the death of one of his insufferable ravens. When Balthazar is tasked
with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house
the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all
the more interesting. Penguins escape, giraffes are stolen, and the
Komodo dragon sends innocent people running for their lives. Balthazar
is in charge and things are not exactly running smoothly. Then Hebe
decides to leave him and his beloved tortoise away. Filled with the
humor and heart that calls to mind the delightful novels of Alexander
McCall Smith, and the charm and beauty of The Guernsey Literary and
Potato Peel Pie Society, The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise is a
magical, wholly original novel whose irresistible characters will stay
with you long after you turn the stunning last page.
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The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
The wondrous Bender conjures the lush and
moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse.
"The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" is a luminous tale--heartbreaking
and funny, wise and sad.
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I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson
An enthralling novel of a mother and
son's turbulent relationship from the author of Out Stealing Horses. It
is 1989: Communism is crumbling, and Arvid Jansen, thirty-seven, is
facing his first divorce. At the same time, his mother gets diagnosed
with cancer. Over a few intense autumn days, we follow Arvid as he
struggles to find a new footing in his life while all the established
patterns around him are changing at staggering speed. I Curse the River
of Time is an honest, heartbreaking yet humorous portrayal of a
complicated mother-son relationship told in Per Petterson's precise and
beautiful prose.
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Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
This 16th Stephanie Plum adventure will
wear the blockbuster crown for grand scale fun, it's a surefire bet.
Someone wants to kill Vinnie, but who? The list is long, and it's up to
Stephanie to whittle it down to one.
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Nonfiction |
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Women Food and God by Geneen Roth
The bestselling author of
"When Food Is Love" helps overeaters find the underlying reasons for
using food as an emotional buffer. Roth also provides seven basic
guidelines for eating and other therapeutic self-help tools.
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Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
Tuesdays with Morrie meets
F My Life in this hilarious coming-of-age book about a son's
relationship with his foul-mouthed father by the 29-year-old comedy
writer who created the massively popular Twitter feed of the same name.
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Angelina by Andrew Morton
With astonishing, never-before-seen
photos and never-before-heard revelations, #1 "New York
Times"-bestselling biographer Morton paints a mesmerizing portrait of
the secret history and private life of gorgeous, exotic, and mysterious
icon Angelina Jolie. Two 16-page color inserts.
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The Obama Diaries by Laura Ingraham
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) On May 20, 2010, Laura Ingraham
received a package from an anonymous source that will change the history
of the United States and the legacy of President Barack Obama. While
retrieving her automobile from the underground garage at the Watergate
complex (where she had just enjoyed her weekly pedicure), Ingraham
discovered a manila envelope on the hood of her car. When she picked it
up, a deep baritone voice called out from a nearby stairwell: "Just read
it. You will know what to do." The shadowy figure then disappeared into
the darkness without another word. The envelope contained copies of what
appeared to be diary entries written by President Barack Obama, his
family, and high-ranking administration officials. Because the "diaries"
are so revealing, Ingraham felt compelled to release them to the
American public and the citizens of the world. Major media outlets love
to describe the president as "no drama Obama," but The Obama Diaries
tell a different tale. Through these "diary entries," readers will see
past the carefully constructed Obama facade to the administrations true
plans to "remake America." In The Obama Diaries, Ingraham hilariously
skewers the president and his minions. She takes aim at the cynical
"razzle-dazzle" marketing of Obama's radical agenda; the use of the
Obama "brand" and family to obscure Obama's true aim; Michelle Obama's
gardening and anti-obesity initiative; and much more. Informative and
hugely entertaining, The Obama Diaries will inspire both laughter and
critical thinking about the future of the nation and the man currently
at the helm. Excerpts from Laura Ingraham's The Obama Diaries: Obama on
Sarah Palin: "Hell, doesn't Palin have anything better to do than
criticize me? Shouldn't she be back home shooting some endangered wolf
species from a helicopter?" (April 9, 2010). Michelle on being First
Lady: "I'll be damned if all this fabulosity is going to go to waste
reading Dr. Seuss to snot-nosed kids all day." (January 23, 2009). Vice
President Joe Biden on Michelle Obama: "She's kind of like a black
Hillary Clinton. I mean that in a good way." (May 5 2009) Obama on his
visit to the Vatican: "If I can ingratiate myself with a few more of
these red-hats, the pope thing might not be a bad follow-up to the
presidency."(July 10, 2009).
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Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
Space is a world devoid of the things we
need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce,
privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what
it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness
can they take? What happens to you when you can't walk for a year? have
sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a
space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at
17,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up
all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As
Mary Roach discovers, it's possible to preview space without ever
leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of
NASA's new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes
us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space
and space on Earth.
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The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo
Despite journalist Capuzzo's obvious
reverence for the crime fighters he profiles, his account of the
formation of the legendary Vidocq Society is as scattered as many of the
cold case files they wade through. Based in Philadelphia, the Vidocq
Society was the brainchild of three wildly different men brought
together by their desire to speak for the dead: freewheeling exboxer
turned forensic sculptor Frank Bender; FBI and U.S. Customs agent
William Fleisher; and pre-eminent forensic psychologist and profiler
Richard Walter. What began as an informal meeting of colleagues in 1990
evolved into an expansive international think tank of sorts modeled and
named after France's famed criminal-turned-sleuth EugeA ne Vidocq, a
model for Sherlock Holmes. The cases, Oranging from Philadelphia's
long-festering "Boy in the Box" murder to the "Butcher of Cleveland," a
serial killer who taunted Elliot Ness in the 1930s, Oare fascinating,
but Capuzzo (Close to Shore) loses much of his narrative momentum by
abruptly shifting between the founding members' individual backstories
and homicides the society investigates. Yet there is no denying that the
82 "VSMs"(Vidocq Society Member) do an immeasurable service in the name
of justice. (Aug. 10) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat,
Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born
man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they
met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each
other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get
legally married. (Both were survivors of previous bad divorces. Enough
said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United
States government, which-after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an
American border crossing-gave the couple a choice: they could either get
married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again.
Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of
marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her
might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much
personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution
actually is. Told with Gilbert's trademark wit, intelligence and
compassion, Committedattempts to "turn on all the lights" when it comes
to matrimony, frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation,
fidelity, family tradition, social expectations, divorce risks and
humbling responsibilities. Gilbert's memoir is ultimately a clear-eyed
celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real
love, in the real world, actually entails.
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Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain
Tracking his own strange
and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling
professional eater and drinker, and even to fatherhood, Bourdain takes
no prisoners as he dissects what he's seen, pausing along the way for a
series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some
of the most controversial figures in food.
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War by Sebastian Junger
Junger turns his brilliant and empathetic
eye to the reality of combat--the fear, the honor, and the trust among
men in an extreme situation whose survival depends on their absolute
commitment to one another. His on-the-ground account follows a single
platoon through a 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in
Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. Through the experiences of these young
men at war, he shows what it means to fight, to serve, and to face down
mortal danger on a daily basis.
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