Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Meg's Picks: February 2016, part 1

There are some novels coming out next month that I am positively giddy about. I have been waiting with baited breath for these, in some cases, for more than six months already! I cannot wait for the wait to be over! Shall we get on with it?

Hidden Bodies, by Caroline Kepnes. The original working title was Love, so if you click on these links and wonder what's up, that's it. Don't worry. By the street date, we'll have the catalog record updated. In any case, Kepnes's 2014 debut novel, You, was a huge favorite of mine, one I couldn't keep to myself (you can read my glowing review here). You'll want to catch up and read You before Hidden Bodies comes out, though, because it picks up where You left off: Joe Goldberg, antihero extraordinaire, feels most complete when he is fully engrossed in obsessing about a love interest. Here, his new obsession is employee Amy Adam, who drives him to madness when she leaves him for the promise of Hollywood. This is at the very top of my reading list for February!

I'm Traveling Alone, by Samuel Bjork. Bjork is already an international bestseller, but this novel marks his US debut. A six-year-old girl is found in the Norwegian countryside, hanging lifeless from a tree and dressed in strange doll's clothes. Around her neck is a sign that says "I'm traveling alone." A special homicide unit in Oslo re-opens with veteran police investigator Holger Munch at the helm. Holger's first step is to persuade the brilliant but haunted investigator Mia Krüger, who has been living on an isolated island, overcome by memories of her past. When Mia views a photograph of the crime scene and spots the number "1" carved into the dead girl's fingernail, she knows this is only the beginning. Could this killer have something to do with a missing child, abducted six years ago and never found, or with the reclusive religious community hidden in the nearby woods? Critics have made obvious comparisons to Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson, so if that sounds like you, check this one out.



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