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Bestsellers
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July 2009
Click on the cover to reserve your copy.
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Relentless by Dean Koontz
Starred Review. "Cubby" Greenwich is a
best-selling novelist with a new book out and reviews hitting the
stands. When he's eviscerated by renowned critic Shearman Waxx in a
review full of errors, he can't help but wonder at the man behind the
critique, the inaccuracies, and the poor syntax. Following one
relatively harmless run-in at a local restaurant, Cubby and his family
(wife and fellow author Penny, six-year-old son and off-the-charts
genius son "Spooky" Milo, and similarly spooky dog Lassie) are exposed
to terrors beyond metaphorical slaying. Shearman Waxx is a man bent on
destroying not merely Cubby's book sales but the man and his family. He
has uncanny knowledge, and Cubby soon discovers that he's not the only
author to fall victim to Waxx's psychopathic attentions. Relentless
echoes the very best of the Odd Thomas series in voice; this is an
exquisite crafting of the thrilling, the unexplainable, and the
personal, with the mirth and whimsy that Koontz throws in seemingly
effortlessly just when it's most needed and least expected. Koontz fans
will snap up. Buy multiple copies. Highly recommended. [See Prepub
Alert, LJ 1/09.] Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA Copyright � Reed
Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.
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Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Deception by Eric Van Lustbader
"Jason Bourne's nemesis Arkadin is still
hot on his trail and the two continue their struggle, reversing roles of
hunter and hunted"--Provided by publisher.
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The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
Starred Review. Bestseller Connelly
comments on the plight of print journalism in a nail-biting thriller
featuring reporter Jack McEvoy, last seen in 2004's The Narrows. When
Jack is laid off from the L.A. Times with 14 days' notice to tie up
loose ends, he decides to go out with a bang. What starts as a story
about the wrongful arrest of a young gangbanger for the brutal rape and
murder of an exotic dancer turns out to be just the tip of an iceberg
that takes McEvoy from the Nevada desert to a futuristic data-hosting
facility in Arizona. FBI agent Rachel Walling, with whom he worked on a
serial killer case in 1996's The Poet, soon joins the hunt, but as the
pair uncover more about the killer and his unsettling predilections,
they realize that they too are being hunted. With every switch between
McEvoy's voice and the villain's, Connelly ratchets up the tension. This
magnificent effort is a reminder of why Connelly is one of today's top
crime authors. 8-city author tour. (May) Copyright � Reed Business
Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Medusa by Clive Cussler
In the latest in the long line of popular
adventure novels by Cussler, whose first major success, Raise the
Titanic, now seems eons ago, an influenza pandemic in China threatens to
explode and kill countless millions. While a joint U.S. and Chinese team
makes strides on a vaccine, bad guys working on their own vaccine to
gain great wealth and power kidnap the scientists. Enter Cussler hero
Kurt Austin (The Navigator) and his NUMA® buddies to take on the
villains, and who do you think will win? Cussler loves to combine
history with current action, so the key to a vaccine lies in the log of
an 1847 whaling ship owned by the descendants of a crewman. VERDICT
Cussler's thrillers are predictable and over the top, attributes
relished by his legions of fans, and this one is filled with action,
heroics, and apparently plausible science, which makes for great summer
escape reading. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/09.] Robert Conroy, Warren, MI
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved.
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Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
Starred Review. When a young woman blows
her brains out on a New York subway a few feet from Jack Reacher, he
becomes understandably perturbed. His quest to find out why takes the
large and lethal Clint Eastwood-like loner back to the Cold War and
reveals a connection to presidential politics in this 13th Reacher novel
(after Nothing to Lose), complete with cover-ups and numerous intriguing
twists. The government is hiding something, and al Qaeda wants something
but what? All the while, goons from both sides assault and kidnap
Reacher and two cops who are his companions. Reacher concludes that the
Pentagon staffer who killed herself had some kind of information
critical to national security. As the dead and injured pile up, the
ever-resourceful and vengeful Reacher takes on nearly a score of the bad
guys in an exciting climax to an enthralling book that is as satisfying
as its predecessors. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/09;
coming in June is a debut thriller, Even (LJ 3/1/09), by Child's younger
brother, Andrew Grant. Ed.] Robert Conroy, Warren, MI Copyright � Reed
Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.
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Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Two sisters leave
Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles in this
fresh, fascinating adventure.
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Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
Starred Review. Vampires started the craze of coming
out to the ordinary human world. Now weres and shapeshifters have done
the same. In a highly publicized TV interview, a gorgeous young woman
explains that there are those who appear completely human but have a
second nature within, which she then demonstrates by turning into a
wolf. Some mortals are shocked and become belligerent. The issues of
minority rights and hate crimes become a real problem when Crystal, a
pregnant werepanther and estranged wife of Sookie Stackhouse's brother
Jason, is found nailed to a cross. In the midst of this horror, Sookie
finds her own life endangered by a rebellion in the land of the Fairies.
It seems her fae great-grandfather's princely power is being challenged,
making Sookie a target of the rebels. Then there is Sookie's love life.
The handsome, formidable vampire Eric has tricked Sookie into a much
closer relationship with him, not that she minds too much. Three strong
story lines lead to an intensely gripping finale. The ninth book in the
Sookie Stackhouse series is one of the best. Librarians, be warned: buy
multiple copies. Patricia Altner, Biblioinfo.com. Columbia, MD Copyright
� Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.
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Roadside Crosses by
Jeffery Deaver
Deaver brings back body-language
expert Kathryn Dance (The Sleeping Doll) in a clever and twisted tale
that explores the world of the Internet and the premise that words can
be more powerful than any weapon. A roadside remembrance cross is found
with the next day's date. When that day arrives, someone almost dies
near the spot. As more memorials appear that seem to predict future
deaths, Dance must push her talents to the limit; this killer lives in
an online world and believes that his imaginary life is his real one.
And how does an expert on human interaction deal with an avatar from a
fake realm? The web sites mentioned throughout the book are actual live
links and add to the fun. Though a couple of subplots get glossed over,
the main story resonates. Dance is another exciting series character,
and though this series has a ways to go before it achieves the devotion
accorded Deaver's Rhyme/Sachs series, it has unlimited potential. Don't
miss this one. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/09.] Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved.
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Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard
Leonard launches three characters
from previous novels on a collision course in this
seemingly effortless performance. After prison buddy
Cundo Rey (last seen in LaBrava) drops a bundle on a
shark attorney, celebrity bank robber Jack Foley (from
Out of Sight) gets his 30-year prison sentence reduced
to 30 months. Jack's quickly back in the world, living
large in one of Cundo's two multimillion-dollar houses
in Venice, Calif., juggling a fast seduction with
fortune-teller (from Riding the Rap) Dawn Navarro (who
is now Cundo's lady) and the untoward attention of rogue
FBI agent Lou Adams, who's waiting for Foley to rob
another bank. While Dawn tries to enlist Foley in a
scheme to steal Cundo's off-the-books fortune, Cundo
surprises them with an early release. Betrayal simmers
while Foley considers going semi-straight with the help
of a widowed starlet Dawn hatches a plan that could get
her rich and rid her of all her problems, and Cundo's
associates and neighborhood toughs get sucked into the
fray. The plot isn't as tight as it could be, but
Leonard's singular way with words is reason enough to
read it. (May) Copyright � Reed Business Information, a
division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The 8th Confession by James Patterson
and M Paetro
When a preacher with a message of
hope for the homeless is found brutally executed,
reporter Cindy Thomas knows the story could be huge.
Probing deeper into the victim's history, she discovers
he may not have been as saintly as everyone thought...
Rich, beautiful, and powerful, Isa and Ethan Bailey were
living in the spotlight as San Francisco's perfect
couple--until they are found dead in their luxurious
home. As the hunt for two criminals tests the skills of
the entire Women's Murder Club, sparks begin to fly
between Detective Lindsay Boxer and her partner, Rich
Conklin, making it difficult to stay focused on the
case. The electrifying new chapter in the Women's Murder
Club series, THE 8TH CONFESSION serves up the
mile-a-minute twists that only James Patterson can
deliver. ---From the publisher
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The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro
Starred Review. Director Del Toro
(who won an Oscar for Pan's Labyrinth) makes a dramatic
splash in his fiction debut, the first volume in a
vampires vs. humanity trilogy, coauthored with Hogan
(Prince of Thieves). Just as a jumbo jet on a flight
from Germany to New York is touching down at JFK,
something goes terribly wrong. When Ephraim Goodweather,
of the Centers for Disease Control, investigates the
darkened plane, he finds all but four passengers and
crew dead, drained of blood. Despite Goodweather's
efforts to keep the survivors segregated, they get
discharged into the general population. Soon after, the
corpses of the tragedy's victims disappear. The
epidemiologist begins to credit the wild stories of
Abraham Setrakian, an elderly pawnbroker who's the
book's Van Helsing figure, and concludes that a master
vampire has arrived in the U.S. The authors maintain the
suspense and tension throughout in a tour de force
reminiscent of Whitley Strieber's early work. (June)
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of
Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Matters of the Heart by
Danielle Steel
In a
spellbinding blend of suspense and human drama, Steel tells a powerful
and unusual story of one woman's journey from darkness into light, as
she fights to escape a mesmerizing sociopath who holds her in his
thrall.
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Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town
Ireland in the years following World War Two. Though skilled at
bookkeeping, she cannot find a job in the miserable Irish economy. When
an Irish priest from Brooklyn to sponsor Eilis in America -- to live and
work in a Brooklyn neighborhood "just like Ireland" -- she decides she
must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.
Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she
least expects it, finds love. Tony, a blond Italian from a big family,
slowly wins her over with patient charm. He takes Eilis to Coney Island
and Ebbets Field, and home to dinner in the two-room apartment he shares
with his brothers and parents. He talks of having children who are
Dodgers fans. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love with Tony,
devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future. By
far Tóibi;n's most instantly engaging and emotionally resonant novel,
Brooklyn will make readers fall in love with his gorgeous writing
and spellbinding characters. ---From the publisher
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Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Fans of Louise Fitzhugh's iconic Harriet
the Spy will welcome 11-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce, the heroine of
Canadian journalist Bradley's rollicking debut. In an early 1950s
English village, Flavia is preoccupied with retaliating against her
lofty older sisters when a rude, redheaded stranger arrives to confront
her eccentric father, a philatelic devotee. Equally adept at quoting
18th-century works, listening at keyholes and picking locks, Flavia
learns that her father, Colonel de Luce, may be involved in the suicide
of his long-ago schoolmaster and the theft of a priceless stamp. The
sudden expiration of the stranger in a cucumber bed, wacky village
characters with ties to the schoolmaster, and a sharp inspector with
doubts about the colonel and his enterprising young detective daughter
mean complications for Flavia and enormous fun for the reader.
Tantalizing hints about a gardener with a shady past and the mysterious
death of Flavia's adventurous mother promise further intrigues ahead.
(Apr.) Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Skin Trade by Laurell
Hamilton
In her 17th adventure (after Blood Noir), Anita Blake, Vampire
Hunter, also known as the Executioner, finds a surprise package on her
desk early one morning. Inside, carefully packed in ice, is a human
head. She knows this to be the handiwork of the vicious vampire serial
killer Vittorio, whom she had chased from her hometown, St. Louis. The
package was mailed from Las Vegas, so she leaves for Sin City and meets
up with team members: cold, calculating Edward; psychopathic Olaf; and
handsome, mellow Bernardo. Along with Vegas's preternatural police, they
set out to track down Vittorio and anyone or anything else working with
him. VERDICT For readers who have been longing for the engaging stories
of the early Anita Blake urban fantasies, with lots of adventure nicely
mingled with sexual tension but fewer pages of graphic sex, this is the
book. Right from the start this supernatural thriller grabs the reader's
attention and does not let go. Buy multiple copies for all those eager
fans. Patricia Altner,BiblioInfo.com., Columbia, MD Copyright � Reed
Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.
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Dune Road by Jane Green
Set in the beach community
of a tony Connecticut town, our heroine is a single mom who works for a
famous--and famously reclusive--novelist. When she stumbles on a secret
that the great man has kept hidden for years, she knows that there are
plenty of women in town who would love to get their hands on
it--including some who fancy the writer for themselves.
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Far Bright Star by Robert Olmstead
Starred Review. In his seventh novel,
Olmstead (Coal Black Horse) delivers another richly characterized,
tightly woven story of nature, inevitability and the human condition. In
1916, the aging Napoleon Childs assembles a cavalry to search for the
elusive bandit Pancho Villa in Mexico. The ragtag group includes
Napoleon's brother, Xenophon, and America's eager export of losers,
deadbeats, cutthroats, dilettantes, and murderers. Riding on horseback
for months at a time, Napoleon finds himself and his men always just a
few hours behind Villa, whose posse navigates the unforgiving terrain
with ease. When a band of marauders descend upon the group, many of
Napoleon's men are brutally slaughtered and Napoleon himself is left
beaten and emotionally broken. After the attack, Napoleon proclaims to
his brother that the person he was died out there. But this revelation
doesn't last long, and soon Napoleon sets out on yet another date with
destiny on the open plains with his followers. Reminiscent of Kent Haruf,
Olmstead's brilliantly expressive, condensed tale of resilience and
dusty determination flows with the kind of literary cadence few writers
have mastered. (May) Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division
of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The Help by Kathryn
Stockett
Starred Review. Set in Stockett's native
Jackson, MS, in the early 1960s, this first novel adopts the complicated
theme of blacks and whites living in a segregated South. A century after
the Emancipation Proclamation, black maids raised white children and ran
households but were paid poorly, often had to use separate toilets from
the family, and watched the children they cared for commit bigotry. In
Stockett's narrative, Miss Skeeter, a young white woman, is a naive,
aspiring writer who wants to create a series of interviews with local
black maids. Even if they're published anonymously, the risk is great;
still, Aibileen and Minny agree to participate. Tension pervades the
novel as its events are told by these three memorable women. Is this an
easy book to read? No, but it is surely worth reading. It may even stir
things up as readers in Jackson and beyond question their own
discrimination and intolerance in the past and present. [See Prepub
Alert, LJ 10/1/08.] Rebecca Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland
Heights Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc .All rights reserved.
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Martha Stewart's Cupcakes by Martha Stewart
Featuring 175 cupcake ideas and recipes
for the cakes, frostings, fillings, and toppings, this guide includes
templates for stencils and other decorative flourishes, as well as
instructions for basic and advanced decorating techniques.
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Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert
A fascinating,
heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting tale of self-discovery from the
beloved actress who earned a permanent place in the hearts of millions
when she was just a child playing the role of buck-toothed Laura
"Half-pint" Ingalls on "Little House on the Prairie."
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Excuses Begone by Wayne Dyer
Within the pages of this transformational book, Dr.
Wayne W. Dyer reveals how to change the self-defeating thinking patterns
that have prevented you from living at the highest levels of success,
happiness, and health. Even though you may know what to think,
actually changing those thinking habits that have been with you
since childhood might be somewhat challenging. If I changed, it would
create family dramas . . . I’m too old or too young . . . I’m far too
busy and tired . . . I can’t afford the things I truly want . . . It
would be very difficult for me to do things differently . . . and
I’ve always been this way . . . may all seem to be true, but they’re
in fact just excuses. So the business of modifying habituated thinking
patterns really comes down to tossing out the same tired old excuses and
examining your beliefs in a new and truthful light. In this
groundbreaking work, Wayne presents a compendium of conscious and
subconscious crutches employed by virtually everyone, along with ways to
cast them aside once and for all. You’ll learn to apply specific
questions to any excuse, and then proceed through the steps of a new
paradigm. The old, habituated ways of thinking will melt away as you
experience the absurdity of hanging on to them.---From the publisher
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Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox
The popular film and
television actor evaluates the personal philosophy that has enabled his
positive outlook in spite of his battle with degenerative Parkinson's
disease, in an uplifting account that considers how he has become a
happier and more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday
life.
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The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow
From the co-author of the bestselling
"The Last Lecture" comes a moving tribute to female friendships, with
the inspiring story of 11 girls and the women they became. |
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Renegade by Richard Wolffe
Reveals the making of a
president, both on the campaign trail and before he ran for high office. |
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The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler
Conditioned hypereating is a biological
challenge, not a character flaw, says Kessler, former FDA commissioner
under presidents Bush and Clinton). Here Kessler (A Question of Intent)
describes how, since the 1980s, the food industry, in collusion with the
advertising industry, and lifestyle changes have short-circuited the
body's self-regulating mechanisms, leaving many at the mercy of
reward-driven eating. Through the evidence of research, personal stories
(including candid accounts of his own struggles) and examinations of
specific foods produced by giant food corporations and restaurant
chains, Kessler explains how the desire to eat as distinct from eating
itself is stimulated in the brain by an almost infinite variety of
diabolical combinations of salt, fat and sugar. Although not everyone
succumbs, more people of all ages are being set up for a lifetime of
food obsession due to the ever-present availability of foods laden with
salt, fat and sugar. A gentle though urgent plea for reform, Kessler's
book provides a simple food rehab program to fight back against the
industry's relentless quest for profits while an entire country of
people gain weight and get sick. According to Kessler, persistence is
all that is needed to make the perceptual shifts and find new sources of
rewards to regain control. (May) Copyright � Reed Business Information,
a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels
Does it feel as if you’re fighting your
body to lose even one pound—or just to maintain your current weight?
Respected health and wellness expert and bestselling author Jillian
Michaels has been there, too. So she consulted top experts in the field
of metabolism and discovered that she’d inadvertently been abusing her
endocrine system for years. After “fixing” her own metabolism, she
decided to share what she learned by devising this simple, 3-phase plan
that engages all the weight-loss hormones (including the friendly HGH,
testosterone, DHEA; and the not-so-friendly: insulin, cortisol, and
excess estrogen). Michaels offers a wealth of information throughout,
including: shopping lists and online shopping resources, hormone-trigger
food charts, how to eat “power nutrient” foods on a budget, smart
strategies for eating out, quick and easy recipes, as well as
mini-programs for addressing PMS, andropause, metabolic syndrome, PCOS,
and menopause.---From the publisher
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Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton
From the bestselling author of "In Harm's Way"
comes a spectacular, harrowing, true-life soldiers' tale of struggle and
triumph in the wake of the September 11 attacks. b #38;w photographs
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