Reading Ahead: July 2015, part 3

All thrillers, all the time seems to be the motto of publishers over the last few summers. While I promise there's more to summer than thrillers, let's go ahead and wrap up before we move on. Here are the last note-worthy suspense and thriller titles slated for July release. (There may be a few mysteries mixed in here, but I know you won't hold it against me. Right?)




One Way or Another, by Elizabeth Adler. One moment Angie Morse is standing on the deck of a large luxury yacht and the next she feels a stinging blow to her head, followed by a push. She is in the water and can see people on the yacht, but they don't seem to notice that she is gone, and all seem to have deliberately turned their backs as the yacht begins to slowly pull away from her. Each one had a reason for getting rid of her, though she would never have thought it would come to this. Until now. Revenge burns so deeply inside her that she knows she will survive somehow. She will get them. Each one of them-three men and one woman. She will get them all. One way or another.

Those Girls, by Chevy Stevens. Life has never been easy for the three Campbell sisters. Jess, Courtney, and Dani live on a remote ranch in Western Canada where they work hard and try to stay out of the way of their father's temper. One night, a fight gets out of hand and the sisters are forced to go on the run, only to get caught in an even worse nightmare when their truck breaks down in a small town. As events spiral out of control they find themselves in a horrifying situation and are left with no choice but to change their names and create new lives. Eighteen years later, they are still trying to forget what happened that summer. But when one of the sisters goes missing, followed closely by her niece, they are pulled back into the past. And this time there's nowhere left to run. I'm a big fan of Stevens's work, and am very much looking forward to this one.

Badlands, by C.J. Box. Box is the author of the award winning Joe Pickett series, but here he brings readers something a little different. The small North Dakota town where 12-year-old Kyle lives with his mother is booming, thanks to the discovery of oil nearby. But oil money means drug money, which means gangs. No one's more aware of that than Cassie Dewell, the new deputy sheriff, who's been running into body parts clearly placed to shake her. Meanwhile, Kyle, who may be considered slow by the townsfolk but who really wants to help his mom, pins his hopes on a package, left behind after a car wreck, that his mom's boyfriend says will make their fortune. If you haven't read Box before, this would be the perfect opportunity to start.

Perfect Touch, by Elizabeth Lowell. Dedicated careerist Sarah "Sam" Maddox circles the globe to find the best artwork for her clients, while Jay Vermillion is putting all his efforts into the family ranch in Wyoming he's just inherited. Neither has time for love, but it happens anyway when Jay hires Sam. Then a pair of too-close-for-comfort murders really throw them together. Lowell has a long list of contemporary romantic suspense novels to her credit, so expect good things. Also available in Large Print.

July is bringing some excellent novels that are perfect for reading on the beach or at poolside, so come on back this Thursday and I'll have reviews ready for you. In the meantime, happy reading!

Reading Ahead: July 2015, part 2

Need a few more suspense or thriller novels to add to your list of summer reads? I've got you covered!

Code of Conduct, by Brad Thor. Hidden deep within one of the world’s most powerful organizations is a secret committee with a devastating agenda. Its members are afforded incredible protections—considered elites, untouchables. But when four seconds of video is captured halfway around the world and anonymously transmitted to D.C., covert wheels are set in motion, and counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is tapped to undertake the deadliest assignment of his career. What begins as a favor will evolve into a globe-spanning drama of highly personal stakes played out against a backdrop of stunning international intrigue, duplicitous political gamesmanship, and the darkest, most clandestine fears of the espionage world.

The Bone Labyrinth, by James Rollins. A new Sigma Force novel (eleventh in the series--the series begins with 2004's Sandstorm) marks a new chapter for mankind, or will it be our destruction? A series of strange events throws the world into turmoil. As a manned Chinese rocket explodes upon launch, three American astronauts, each separated by thousands of miles, are murdered. Then an archaeologist in Croatia uncovers a new cavern system that reveals elaborate primitive paintings by a tribe of Neanderthals. The artwork, painted in blood, illustrates an immense battle between the Neanderthals-joined by Homo sapiens-and frightening shadowy figures.Who is the ancient enemy depicted and what does it mean? The search for answers will take Commander Gray Pierce of Sigma Force 50,000 years back in time.

Nemesis, by Catherine Coulter. This latest FBI thriller from Coulter to feature Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock (last seen in 2014's Power Play) finds Sherlock having shut down a terrorist attack at JFK. She thinks her job is done once the New York FBI agents take over, but a second plot unfolds almost simultaneously, this time a bomb at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The terrorist at JFK refuses to speak to anyone but Sherlock. She heads back with counterterrorist Special Agent Cal McLain to try to get him to talk. Meanwhile, Savich—with the help of Agent Griffin Hammersmith—has his hands full trying to track an elusive murderer who looks like a Hollywood Dracula. When Dracula’s attempts to kill Savich collide with Sherlock’s terrorist case, then things start to get very strange.

The Naked Eye, by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen. Kendra Michaels was instrumental in bringing serial killer Eric Colby to justice. And yet, despite his apparent execution at San Quentin, Kendra is convinced that Colby is still alive. The problem is that she can't prove it. But then a reporter who very publicly humiliated Kendra is murdered. Visiting the crime scene in search of anything that might link the brutal homicide to Colby, Kendra instead finds evidence that points to her. Finally Colby's master plan becomes clear to her: he is framing Kendra for murder. Kendra is thrust into deadly pursuit to clear her name and catch the killer no one believes exists anymore.

Never Die Alone, by Lisa Jackson. It should be the best day of their lives. Too bad they never get to see it. On the cusp of their twenty-first birthday, he strikes. His victims are always twins, their ritualistic murders planned in exquisite detail, down to the moment when they breathe their last together… A killer has been apprehended, or so the police think. Detective Rick Bentz had doubts about the “21” conviction when he worked the case in L.A. Now the real murderer may be loose in Bentz’s backyard, as twin sisters from All Saints College have vanished on the eve of their twenty-first birthday.

Speaking in Bones, by Kathy Reichs. Professionally, Temperance Brennan knows exactly what to do—test, analyze, identify. Her personal life is another story. She’s at a loss, wondering how to answer police detective Andrew Ryan’s marriage proposal. But the matter of matrimony takes a backseat when murder rears its head. Hazel Strike, an amateur detective, mines the Internet for cold cases and now brings Brennan possible evidence that a woman who disappeared three years earlier may in fact be a set of unidentified remains in Brennan's lab. Brennan's reluctant investigation into the matter unearths an even bigger mystery.

Also, if you're looking for something light and fun to read this month, stop by the main library anytime during the month of June. We've got a display chock full of Beach Reads (even if the weather is cool and cloudy!) just across from the circulation desk, and we're keeping it stocked for you all month long!

Reading Ahead: July 2015, part 1

I know I probably say this every year, but WOW, there are a lot of thrillers being published this summer! Readers, rejoice!

The English Spy, by Daniel Silva. Fifteenth in Silva's extremely popular Gabriel Allon series (new to the series? Consider starting with book one, The Kill Artist.). Gabriel Allon, art-restorer, assassin, spy, is rejoined here where 2014's The Heist left off, but now the game is revenge, and the target is royal. Allon, teaming up with British commando turned professional assassin Christopher Keller, must hunt a killer across the globe. Full of Silva's signature plot twists, this latest is sure to win Silva even more fans.

Broken Promise, by Linwood Barclay. After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent. Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions. A year after a devastating miscarriage, David’s cousin Marla has continued to struggle. But when David’s mother asks him to check on her, he’s horrified to discover that she’s been secretly raising a child who is not her own—a baby she claims was a gift from an “angel” left on her porch. When the baby’s real mother is found murdered, David can’t help wanting to piece together what happened—even if it means proving his own cousin’s guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla’s mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg. Barclay is a favorite of mine, and I'm very much looking forward to this new novel.

Silent Creed, by Alex Kava. In this second installment of Kava's Ryder Creed/Maggie O'Dell crossover series, following Breaking Creed, the duo investigate a risky case uncovered during a devastating mudslide in North Carolina, where Creed and his sturdiest rescue dog, Bolo, search the debris for survivors. This isn't an ordinary rescue mission, though. Among the buildings consumed in the slide is a top-secret government research facility, and Creed's mission is to find what remains. Unfortunately, one of the things he finds is the facility director, who was obviously killed prior to the mudslide. Enter FBI agent Maggie O'Dell, and the two must race against the clock to uncover the truth.

After the Storm, by Linda Castillo. When a tornado tears through Painters Mill and unearths human remains, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder finds herself tasked with the responsibility of identifying the bones-and notifying the family. Evidence quickly emerges that the death was no accident and Kate finds herself plunged into a thirty year old case that takes her deep into the Amish community to which she once belonged.

Meanwhile, turmoil of an emotional and personal nature strikes at the very heart of Kate's budding relationship with state agent John Tomasetti. A reality that strains their fragile new love to the breaking point and threatens the refuge they've built for themselves-and their future.

Brush Back, by Sara Paretsky. No one would accuse V. I. Warshawski of backing down from a fight, but there are a few she’d be happy to avoid. High on that list is tangling with Chicago political bosses. Yet that’s precisely what she ends up doing when she responds to Frank Guzzo’s plea for help. Once they were more than friends, but She forgot about him until the day his mother was convicted of bludgeoning his kid sister, Annie, to death. Stella Guzzo was an angry, uncooperative prisoner and did a full twenty-five years for her daughter’s murder.
Newly released from prison, Stella is looking for exoneration, so Frank asks V.I. for help, and V.I. reluctantly starts to ask around. Those questions lead her straight into the vipers’ nest of Illinois politics she’s wanted to avoid. When V.I. takes a beating at a youth meeting in her old hood, her main question becomes whether she will live long enough to find answers.

Naked Greed, by Stuart Woods. Stone Barrington isn’t one to turn away in the face of danger, so when he witnesses a tricky situation underway, he jumps in to lend a hand.  He never expected, though, that this favor would lead to a mutually beneficial business deal with a prominent gentleman who requires the ever-discreet services of Woodman & Weld. But in the ruthless corporate world no good deed goes unpunished, and Stone soon finds himself the target of a ragtag group of criminal toughs who don’t appreciate his interference in their dealings.  From the isolated landscape of Maine to the white sand beaches of Key West, the trail of deception, theft, and murder will lead to a perilous confrontation.

And don't worry if chilling suspense novels are not your preferred summer reading genre--I promise I have lots of fun beach reads to share, too. Stay tuned!

What I've Been Reading: May 2015

I have to say that even with all of the around-the-house chores that come with springtime, I still managed to read quite a bit this month! In fact, I've been carving out as much time to read as I can, because there have been some good ones lately. So I've been getting up a little earlier and reading while I have my morning cup of coffee. I stay up a little later, "Just to finish this chapter! Okay, maybe one more chapter..." I read on my lunch hour, while I'm waiting for dinner to cook, while I'm in waiting rooms. And I really have to say, I'm not watching much television these days, although I can recommend Netflix's Daredevil series and AMC's Halt and Catch Fire (season 2 starts this Sunday!). All of this to say, really, that there is no secret to finding time to read. It absolutely can be done.

The Liar, by Nora Roberts. Devastated to learn that her unfaithful husband had actually married her using an alias, Shelby returns with her young daughter to her Tennessee hometown and pursues a new relationship before her husband's past poses dangerous threats. I really enjoyed this one, moreso than quite a bit of Roberts's recent work. She excels at creating characters who are delightfully quirky and vibrant, which makes their stories a pleasure to read. If you're looking for an easy beach read with just a little thrill included, I'd recommend picking up this one.

One Night in Winter, by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I had this recommended to me several times recently, and initially I was a little put off--1940s Russia is not my usual historical period of choice, and until I got familiar with the cast of characters and their names, the first couple of chapters were a little confusing. And then? I was captivated. The novel, inspired by historical events, follows the stories of two forbidden, deadly love affairs set in the corridors of one of Moscow's most elite schools, during the end of Stalin's regime. Recommended for fans of historical fiction, particularly works by Hilary Mantel or Sebastian Faulks.

Revival, by Stephen King. I am a long-time fan of King's work, and this is no different for me. Half a century ago, preacher Charles Jacobs arrives in a small New England town with his young family, changing both church and town. When tragedy strikes, Jacobs loses his faith in a most public fashion, ending with his banishment by the shocked congregation. All of this we see through the eyes of the youngest Morton child, Jamie. As the years pass, Jamie grows up and moves away, encountering addiction and desperation. In his darkest hour, he encounters Jacobs again. Jacobs helps Jamie, but his aid comes with a price, part of which is that when Jacobs calls for Jamie, Jamie is helpless to resist. Their bond plagues Jamie for decades to come, culminating in what could be the ultimate sacrifice. This is vintage King, compulsively readable, thoughtful, nostalgic, and heavy on the dark foreboding. I deeply enjoyed it, and anticipate re-reading it in the years to come. Also, while I didn't listen to the audiobook version of this, I did see that the audiobook is read by the amazingly talented David Morse, and I think he's a brilliant narrator.

Church of Marvels, by Leslie Parry. Set during the turn-of-the-last-century New York City, this debut novel follows the lives of four outsiders as they converge in the wake of the Coney Island fire of 1895. Sylvan, once an orphan himself, finds an abandoned newborn while working as a night soiler. He puts his livelihood in jeopardy in order to find her family. Belle and Odile Church are twins, raised amid the applause at The Church of Marvels, a sideshow on Coney Island run by their mother. In the wake of the tragic fire, however, the Church is gone, their mother is gone, and Belle has disappeared, leaving Odile alone and desperate. And Alphie, a young woman who has overcome a traumatic childhood and found true love, awakens to find herself trapped across the river in Blackwell's Lunatic Asylum. Their secrets and the connections among them become clearer as the story races forward, and I found it absolutely spellbinding. Recommended for fans of Alice Hoffman, in particular.

I Regret Nothing, by Jen Lancaster. Lancaster has made a career out of looking on the snarky side of life in her memoirs, but in recent years, there has been a little less rapier wit and a little more quiet wisdom in her work. I have to say, I am enjoying her evolution as a writer--you may remember my review of 2013's The Tao of Martha, which I also loved. Both of these latest offerings have particularly veered into heartwarming territory. In I Regret Nothing, Lancaster takes stock of her life and decides to make a bucket list, including everything from learning Italian, traveling abroad by herself, and removing the tattoo she got during her sorority days...at one hundred times the cost of putting it on. In an effort to turn a mid-life crisis into a mid-life opportunity, Lancaster recounts her adventures with her trademark hilarity, and more than a few lessons for the rest of us. Witty, wise, and delightful. This would make a great summer read to take with you to the pool, beach or on vacation.

Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland, by Amanda Berry & Gina DeJesus. I've had several co-workers recommend this to me, and I was a little wary--this is not my usual reading material. But while what these girls endured as victims of the Cleveland Kidnapper during their years of captivity is harrowing and heartbreaking, the message they send is clear: We survived. We are free. We love life. The book is ultimately very inspiring, and I'd absolutely recommend this to fans of true-crime nonfiction.

A Short History of Women, by Kate Walbert. Another recommendation from friends, and one which has been a reader favorite since its publication in 2009. From the First World War to the early days of the new millennium, this novel follows the intricate relationships among mothers and daughters across five generations. The first in this line is a suffragist and Cambridge graduate, Dorothy Townsend, who starved for her cause, a fact that informs and echoes in the lives of her descendants, the narratives of which overlap. Poignant and resonant. I'd recommend this in particular to readers who enjoyed Kate Atkinson's Life After Life.

Love is Red, by Sophie Jaff. I mentioned this novel, first in a trilogy, in my Meg's Picks for May fiction, and I have to tell you, it's even better than I'd imagined. Over the course of a summer, New York City is held captive by a killer of young women, a murderer known in the media as the "Sickle Man." The reader knows just what drives him, though, and he is a monster far removed from ordinary men, working steadily, methodically, toward his ultimate prey. Katherine Emerson, oblivious to the fact that her fate is inextricably tangled with that of the killer, is living a simple life as a temp only to find herself torn between two different men. Both appeal to her in different ways, but how well does she really know either of them? For readers who enjoy fiction by authors like Diana Gabaldon and Deborah Harkness, I really recommend you pick this up. Now.


I'm back next week to start filling you in on the many (many!!) great new books scheduled for publication in July. In the meantime, happy reading!

Meg's Picks: June 2015, part 2

I'm so glad you're back for more, because I have more titles to share that just may hit the top of your reading list this summer. Intrigued? Then let me end the suspense--here are the rest of my picks from the June fiction titles.

The Mountain Story, by Lori Lansens. I am a huge fan of Lansens. Do you have a novelist who you wish would write faster/publish more often because you enjoy their books so much, but at the same time you don't want them to publish too often for fear of the books becoming rushed and less special? That is how I feel about Lansens's books. (New to Lori Lansens? I highly recommend The Girls, while you wait for her newest novel.)

Speaking of said latest novel... On the morning of Wolf Truly’s eighteenth birthday, he boards the first cable car to head up the mountains just a few miles from his sun-bleached trailer home in the desert community outside of Palm Springs. Armed with nothing but the clothes on his back, Wolf’s intention that morning was to give up on life—specifically at the mountain site of his best friend’s tragic accident one year ago. But on that shaky ride up the mountain, fate intervenes and Wolf meets three women that will leave an indelible imprint on the rest of his life. Through a series of missteps, the four wind up lost and stranded among the forested cliffs—in sight of the desert city below, but unable to find a way down. As the days pass without rescue, we come to learn how each of them came to be on the mountain that morning. And as their situation shifts from misadventure to nightmare, the lost hikers forge an inextricable bond, pushing themselves, and each other, beyond their limits. For Lansens fans, obviously, but also for those who enjoyed John Krakauer's Into the Wild or Cheryl Strayed's Wild (recently adapted for film starring Reese Witherspoon).

Whispering Shadows, by Jan-Phillip Sendker. I'm a bit late to the game here because, as will happen in publishing, this novel by bestselling author Sendker (The Art of Hearing Heartbeats) was bumped up and instead of being published in June as scheduled, it was actually published in April. Apologies for missing it! This is the first in a new trilogy, following American expat Paul Leibovitz, once an ambitious advisor, dedicated father, and loving husband. But after living for nearly thirty years in Hong Kong, personal tragedy strikes and Paul’s marriage unravels in the fallout. Now Paul is living as a recluse on an outlying island of Hong Kong. When he makes a fleeting connection with Elizabeth, a distressed American woman on the verge of collapse, his life is thrown into turmoil. Less than twenty-four hours later, Elizabeth’s son is found dead in Shenzhen, and Paul, invigorated by a newfound purpose, sets out to investigate the murder on his own. Described as part crime thriller, part love story, I have a feeling book clubs will want to add this to their lists in coming months.

The Book of Speculation, by Erika Swyler. Simon Watson lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home, a house perched on the edge of a cliff that is slowly crumbling into the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a travelling carnival and seldom calls. On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious book from an antiquarian bookseller; it has been sent to him because it is inscribed with the name Verona Bonn, Simon's grandmother. The book tells the story of two doomed lovers who were part of a travelling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes and sketches. He is fascinated, yet as he reads Simon becomes increasingly unnerved. Why do so many women in his family drown on 24th July? And could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in years, risk the same terrible fate? I'm recommending this to fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus or Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things.

The Truth According To Us, by Annie Barrows. Barrows follows up The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society with a small-town story filled with big characters. In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck's influential father cuts her off and insists she find work with the New Deal program the Federal Writer's Project. Layla is sent to pen the history of a remote mill town in West Virginia and takes up lodging with the unconventional Romeyn family, one of whom is keen to help her uncover buried family and town secrets. Recommended for fans of Barrows's previous novel, as well as for fans of authors like Lee Smith, Rachel Joyce and Gabrielle Zevin.

The Sunken Cathedral, by Kate Walbert. Walbert, National Book Award nominee and author of the critically acclaimed, New York Times best-selling novel A Short History of Women, returns here with a deceptively simple novel in stories, enriched with footnotes. The result is a multidimensional portrait of two 80-something widows in New York's Chelsea neighborhood venturing outside their comfort zone to take an art class. Simone and Marie, both French survivors of WWII, have been friends since meeting as young mothers on a Brooklyn playground. Neighbors, family, art students, and school administrators provide a supporting cast whose hopes and disappointments, routines and crises, pleasures, and fears converge to form an ode to New York City, a riff on aging, and a discourse on living with a vague fear of impending catastrophe.

I'll be back next Thursday to share what I've been reading this month. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday weekend, and happy reading!