Meg's Picks: January 2017, part 1

While there's plenty of the standard best-selling fare on tap for January, there are also a number of novels that I felt deserved some special mention. You never know when you might find a new favorite!

The Girl Before, by J.P. Delaney. This international bestseller is slated to be made into a movie with Ron Howard attached to direct. So if you're in the habit of reading the book before seeing the movie, there's no time like the present. In the tradition of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and The Silent Wife, The Girl Before is the tale of two unlikely people joined by a twist of fate. Emma needs to find a new living arrangement following a traumatic breakup. Jane needs a fresh start after a personal tragedy. Both of them find themselves drawn in by the allure of One Folgate Street, where the space and its rules guarantee a transformative experience...for good or ill. Also available in Large Print.

The Fifth Petal, by Brunonia Barry. I adored Barry's 2006 debut, The Lace Reader, which followed a woman back to her hometown of Salem, Mass. for rest and relaxation, only to have her life upended by the sudden, mysterious death of her aunt. The Fifth Petal returns readers to that world. When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem's chief of police, John Rafferty, now married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem’s most notorious cold case, a triple homicide dubbed "The Goddess Murders," in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian, is guilty of murder or witchcraft. But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?Make sure you read The Lace Reader first, and if you're a fan of authors like Deborah Harkness, I'd highly recommend Barry's work.

Also available in Large Print.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, by Lindsey Lee Johnson. With echoes of Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep, Johnson's debut takes readers to the wealthy enclaves north of San Francisco, which are not the paradise they appear to be. Nobody knows this better than the students of a local high school. Despite being raised with all the opportunities money can buy, these vulnerable kids are navigating a treacherous adolescence in which every action, every rumor, every feeling, is potentially postable, shareable, viral. Into this complicated web, an idealistic young English teacher arrives from a poorer, scruffier part of California. Molly Nicoll strives to connect with her students—without understanding the middle school tragedy that played out online and has continued to reverberate in different ways for all of them. I think this is a book which will lead to great discussions and is a natural pick for book clubs.

Reading Ahead: January 2017, part 3

If you're in the mood for something a little dark and brooding, a tale of obsession and intrigue, January has several offerings!

Sleepwalker, by Christopher Bohjalian. Bohjalian never writes the same book twice, always keeping his readers guessing. Here, when Annalee Ahlberg goes missing, her children fear the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. Once, she merely destroyed the hydrangeas in front of her Vermont home. More terrifying was the night her older daughter, Lianna, pulled her back from the precipice of the Gale River bridge. The morning of Annalee's disappearance, a search party combs the nearby woods. Annalee's husband, Warren, flies home from a business trip. Lianna is questioned by a young, hazel-eyed detective. And her little sister, Paige, takes to swimming the Gale to look for clues. When the police discover a small swatch of fabric, a nightshirt, ripped and hanging from a tree branch, it seems certain Annalee is dead, but Gavin Rikert, the hazel-eyed detective, continues to call, continues to stop by the Ahlbergs' Victorian home. As Lianna peels back the layers of mystery surrounding Annalee's disappearance, she finds herself drawn to Gavin, but she must ask herself: Why does the detective know so much about her mother? Also available in Large Print. 

The Mistress, by Danielle Steel. Natasha has lived the last seven years under the protection of a Russian billionaire--her job is to keep Vladamir happy, ask no questions, and be discreet. With hardship in her past, she knows how lucky she is to be in the lap of luxury now, and since she believes he will always keep her safe, she follows the rules and devotes herself to him. However, when Vladamir and Natasha encounter Theo Luca, the heir to a brilliant artist's fortune in artwork, two obsessions are born--Theo for Natasha, and Vladamir for Theo's collection of paintings. Both are determined to have their heart's desire, regardless of the cost. Also available in Large Print.

Reading Ahead: January 2017, part 2

January is brimming with great thrillers sure to get your blood pumping!

Below the Belt, by Stuart Woods. Fans of Woods's long-running Stone Barrington series will be delighted with a new installment so close on the heels of 2016's Sex, Lies, and Serious Money. Newly ensconced in his Santa Fe abode with a lovely female companion, Stone Barrington receives a call from an old friend requesting a delicate favor. A situation has arisen that could escalate into an explosive quagmire, and only someone with Stone’s stealth and subtlety can contain the damage. At the center of these events is an impressive gentleman whose star is on the rise, and who’d like to get Stone in his corner. He’s charming and ambitious and has friends in high places; the kind of man who seems to be a sure bet. But in the fickle circles of power, fortunes rise and fall on the turn of a dime, and it may turn out that Stone holds the key not just to one man’s fate, but to the fate of the nation.

Ring of Fire, by Brad Taylor. In this, book eleven in Taylor's popular Pike Logan series (following 2016's Ghosts of War), readers are plunged into the desperate tale of a defense contractor, who panics when the
 the Panama Papers burst onto the public scene. Providing insight into the illicit deeds of offshore financing, they could prove his undoing. To prevent the exposure of his illegal activities, he sets in motion a plan to interdict the next leak, but he is not the only one worried about spilled secrets. The data theft has left the Taskforce potentially vulnerable, leaving a trail that could compromise the unit. Back in the good graces of the new president, Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are ordered to interdict the next leak as well, in order to control the damage. 

Reading Ahead: January 2017, part 1

I realize it feels rather early to start thinking about next year, though I've been ordering January release titles for six months already... In any case, if your New Year's resolutions include reading more, this is a great place to start making your list!

Fatal, by John T. Lescroart. Lescroart's latest is a standalone novel that examines what happens to a seemingly happy married couple after one of them indulges in a one-night stand. Hint: the consequences are a lot bigger and further-reaching than what you'd imagine. Advance reviews describe this as an absorbing page turner that will keep you guessing right up to the last page.

Never Never, by James Patterson & Candice Fox. Harry Blue is the top Sex Crimes investigator in her department. She's a seasoned pro who's seen it all. But even she didn't see this coming: her own brother arrested for the grisly murders of three beautiful young women. Looking into a seemingly simple missing persons case, Harry's been assigned to a new "partner." But is he actually meant to be a watchdog? Still reeling from the accusations against her brother, Harry can't even trust her own instincts, which she's never doubted...until now. Also available in Large Print.

The Prisoner, by Alex Berenson. This new entry in Berenson's popular John Wells series (following 2016's The Wolves) finds Wells on the most dangerous mission of his career. Evidence is mounting that someone high up in the CIA is doing the unthinkable—passing messages to ISIS, alerting them to planned operations. Finding out the mole’s identity without alerting him, however, will be very hard, and to accomplish it, Wells will have to do something he thought he’d left behind forever. He will have to reassume his former identity as an al Qaeda jihadi, get captured, and go undercover to befriend an ISIS prisoner in a secret Bulgarian prison.

The Nowhere Man, by Gregg Hurwitz. In this sequel to 2016's Orphan X, Evan Smoak is the Nowhere Man. Taken from a group home at twelve, Evan was raised and trained as part of the Orphan Program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets―i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the Program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man.

But his new life is interrupted when a surprise attack comes from an unlikely angle and Evan is caught unaware. Captured, drugged, and spirited off to a remote location, he finds himself heavily guarded and cut off from everything he knows. His captors think they have him trapped and helpless in a virtual cage but they don’t know who they’re dealing with―or that they’ve trapped themselves inside that cage with one of the deadliest and most resourceful men on earth.