Reading Ahead: September 2016, part 1

I know, I know, the first post of the month is always the hardest. This is the one where you're saying, "But Meg, it's only just August. How can you even be thinking of September already?!"

To which I have to reply, "If you knew how early in the year I start ordering Christmas-themed fiction, your hair would stand on end!" So count your lucky stars--you have a little time before I start sharing those with you!

Home, by Harlan Coben. A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For ten years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for ten years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken? And most critically: What can he tell Myron and Win about the fate of his missing friend? Fans are already lining up for their copies--I expect this will win Coben some new fans, too. Also available in Large Print.

The Kept Woman, by Karin Slaughter. Hooray! A new GBI Agent Will Trent novel! Slaughter is a favorite of mine, but her last two novels (2014's Cop Town and 2015's Pretty Girls), while both excellent, were departures from the series. Trent last appeared in 2013's Unseen, and now has returned. With the discovery of a murder at an abandoned construction site, Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is brought in on a case that becomes much more dangerous when the dead man is identified as an ex-cop. Studying the body, Sara Linton—the GBI’s newest medical examiner and Will’s lover—realizes that the extensive blood loss didn't belong to the corpse. Sure enough, bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim who has vanished and will be in mortal peril if not found soon.

Will is already compromised, because the site belongs to the city’s most popular citizen: a wealthy, powerful, and politically connected athlete protected by the world’s most expensive lawyers—a man who’s already gotten away with rape, despite Will’s exhaustive efforts to put him away.
But the worst is yet to come...
Also available in Large Print.

Apprentice in Death, by J.D. Robb. Robb, aka Nora Roberts, is a long-time bestseller, and her Eve Dallas series seems to win new fans with every new title. In this new installment, Dallas is up against a killer unlike any she's encountered before in her time with the NYPSD. The shots came quickly, silently, and with deadly accuracy. Within seconds, three people were dead at Central Park’s ice-skating rink. The victims: a talented young skater, a doctor, and a teacher. A review of the security videos reveals that the victims were killed with a tactical laser rifle fired by a sniper, who could have been miles away when the trigger was pulled. And though the list of locations where the shooter could have set up seems endless, the number of people with that particular skill set is finite: police, military, professional killer. But what if there was more than one shooter? And what if they're only just getting started on their deadly agenda? 

Also available in Large Print.