Coming Soon -- Early Review!

At library conferences publishers often preview the books that they feel will be the big hits of the coming season. I was fortunate enough to receive copies of some of the books they talked up. Over the coming months I hope to read (and review) a bunch of these in time for you to get your holds on them before they are released!

I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman – Available August 17^th!

This is a hauntingly psychological novel exploring the mind of a woman trying to put the events of her past behind her, only to have them reenter her life unexpectedly. Eliza, now a happy housewife and mother of two, was once known as Elizabeth. At age 15, back in 1985, she was kidnapped and held hostage by Walter. Walter manages to discover her current whereabouts and starts to write to her, since his time on death row is finally coming to an end.

Walter, who killed and raped a number of young girls, didn’t kill Elizabeth and she doesn’t understand why she lived. She is living with guilt and confusion and now that communication has opened between them she can finally get the answers to her questions.

Chapters flip between 1985 and the current day, and Lippman has a wonderful ability to open up more questions while answering others that will keep you guessing and reading until the end.

Looking for Something Different?

Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow

Have you heard of the Collyer brothers? They were the reclusive brothers who lived in a mansion on Fifth Avenue from the 1880s until 1947. Their house was so filled with junk (including a Model T, baby carriages and over 25,000 books) that 130 tons of garbage was removed from the house upon their deaths and the house was in such disrepair that he had to be razed.

Doctorow takes the information he gleaned from news accounts and writes the fictional diary of younger brother Homer. Homer is relating his story through the use of a Braille typewriter since he has been blind since he was quite young. What’s so fascinating about this account is that in a strange way their hoarding and eccentricity begins to make sense in the framework Doctorow creates for the brothers. As the brothers cut off contact with the outside world, the house, and the writing, feels more claustrophobic and introspective. This is a thoughtful first person account by an intriguing character at once self-sufficient and dependant; an interesting juxtaposition that changes by degrees throughout his life.

If you’re fascinated by the television show Hoarders you may want to check this one out!

Cell by Stephen King

I love zombie books. Why? Because they truly scare me. Vampires and werewolves have been tamed by current television shows and novels, but zombies, the dead rising and going on a rampage is still terrifying!

As much as I love zombie books I hate cell phones. Which makes this book a perfect read in my mind. One beautiful day the pulse goes through all cell phones and those that answer are transformed into crazy, rampaging creatures spreading death and destruction. Those that are infected are “phonies;” those that haven’t gotten the call are “normies.” We follow a group of “normies” as they flee Boston and try to find others that haven’t been affected.

So, while this isn’t exactly a zombie book (the phonies aren’t dead, they are just, well, zombie-like), it feels that way from the get go. Then, as with most Stephen King books, things get weirder and weirder…but unlike most Stephen King books, in the end there is hope!

If you miss the “old King” from classics like Christine and Misery you’ll want to check this one out. It’s classic King with his wonderful colorful descriptions and interesting plot twists all the way.

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

You know you’re having a bad day when you have to kill the terrorist you killed a few days ago yet again. Ordinary people coming back to life and trying to bite, infect and eat the living is the core problem at the center of this book. Since it’s a government agency doing the fighting they try to be all politically correct and call the infected walkers, but they often slip and call them zombies, which is what they are. (Had to get a REAL zombie book on here somehow.)

The scariest science fiction and horror is born from reality. Especially really scary reality. A genius bioterriorist creates a plague by tweaking a prion disease called fatal familial insomnia. It’s a disease where you literally cannot sleep. You eventually go crazy from stress and die. And yes, that disease does exist.

There is a lot of science and a lot of description of military weaponry. I’d suggest this one to fans of horror and action books.

Maberry’s latest The Dragon Factory came out recently, and I have a signed copy just begging to be read this summer. I can hardly wait!

Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez

This series is awesome. Scary and awesome. What would happen if a genius, the world’s most reknown computer game designer, faced with a terminal illness, decided to take over the world from beyond the grave? Sounds like fantasy, but Daemon explains how, using today’s available technology, it could happen.

Events are manipulated in a way that should get a respectful nod from all of us savvy library users. New programs, emails, and events occur once a previous event is over. How is it done? By searching for keywords in newsfeeds. Once the event is “detected” as happened, then next event is launched. Pretty cool, pretty creepy, pretty neat.

The story doesn’t end at the action-packed end of Daemon. This year, Freedom, was released and story concludes. Need some thought provoking philosophical issues mixed with your action? Try this two part series.

Upcoming Popular Fiction Book Discussions

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
(This title will be discussed at the Bridgewater Library on Tuesday, June 22nd. There will be a slide presentation showing the locations discussed in the book as well so you can see where the characters went for clues.)

Want fast-paced edge-of-your-seat action, with recognizable locations and history lessons thrown in? Then join Robert Langdon, the renowned symbologist as he embarks on another quest to solve a mystery hidden in plain sight in The Lost Symbol. Journey with Langdon around Washington D.C. as he discovers clues to locating the secret portal leading to the lost treasure of the Freemasons.

This is breakneck race against time that will feel far fewer than its 500 pages. Yes, the villain is over-the-top and local and Freemason lore is twisted just a little bit to fit the plot, but that’s what we like. There is enough reality here to make the story seem true, and that helps suspend our disbelief and allows us to enjoy the ride that much more.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
(This title will be discussed at the Borders Store of Bridgewater on Tuesday, July 20th at 7pm)

Want a story that makes you think? I finished this book a few days ago and I’m still contemplating what the author wanted me to take away. There are so many ways to interpret her meaning that you’ll be thinking about it for days after closing the covers. Questions of the value of fate, luck and truth-telling during a time of war are all questioned in the story.

This story focuses on the lives of three women during 1940 and 1941. Frankie Bard is a radio reporter covering the blitz in London, and later, the conditions she witnesses while journeying through Europe by rail. Emma Trask, the doctor’s new bride, has recently settled with her husband in the small shore town of Franklin, Massachusetts. After a tragedy he leaves to help aid the wounded in London. The postmistress of Franklin, Iris James, is the third central character of this tale. She is a middle aged single woman who believes in rules and order. The lives of all three of these women become woven together by one letter.

This is a story about characters and the choices they make, and how those choices affect themselves and the lives of others. It is a well-crafted tale; the reader really gets the foreboding feeling of World War II, and the upcoming American involvement, waiting just off-shore.

Characters to Love, Like (Sort of…), and Not Quite Like…

The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens

Mary Gooch’s husband leaves her on the eve of their Silver Wedding Anniversary. But rather than this event being an ending, it is the day that her life finally starts.

Mary has never gone anywhere: never been on a plane, never left her native Canada, and never had an adventure. When her beloved husband suddenly leaves her, she decides to be brave and leave her hometown and track him down. She does have some challenges facing her before she starts her journey. Mary is morbidly obese. She has no wardrobe and no energy. Yet she meets helpful strangers along the way that guide her, advise her and connect with her in ways that she never thought imaginable.

You can identify with Mary’s hunger. You don’t pity her, you understand her, and you cheer as she starts living her life, perhaps for the first time. This is a story of a woman learning to love and accept herself just the way she is.


Horns by Joe Hill

Need a little horrific fiction to leave you with a pleasantly uneasy feeling? This one may be for you. What would it be like to wake up one morning with horns growing out of your head? Horns that make everyone who saw them suddenly tell you their darkest desires? And forget touching people. Once you touch someone all their inner thoughts become your own. That’s exactly what happens to Ig Parrish. Everyone in town thinks he brutally murdered his long time girlfriend, now he’s out to find the killer and exact revenge.

Just like his father (his famous dad is horror king Stephen King) Joe Hill is a master at horror pacing. The current timeline of the story flies by as Ig learns more and more (and much he doesn’t want to know) from the people he’s known all his life, and the parts that leisurely tell the story of Ig’s childhood and teen years seem to mosey along. There are dark parts, and sweet parts. His writing keep you feeling unbalanced, exactly what you want in a horror book.

Ig is the anti-hero out for justice that you root for even though deep down you know that liking him isn’t quite right…


Solar by Ian McEwan

I finished this book a week ago and I can’t quite describe why I enjoyed it. If I was to describe the womanizing, lying, cheating, egocentric man the book revolves around you wouldn’t want to read it. But he’s an engaging character. You know what makes him tick and why he does what he does, and in a strange way you’re okay with the horrible things he does. In his worldview his decisions make sense. He’s a well-developed character that you grow to like despite himself…

McEwan’s writing is wonderful as usual. He’s descriptive without being too wordy. It’s worth the read just for the descriptions of an ill prepared man attempting to snowmobile across the Nordic tundra. Trust me; you’ll have tears of laughter and pain at his ordeal.

I guess I should mention the plot. It’s semi-twisty and I don’t want to give anything away… In a nutshell, a former Nobel Laureate, who hasn’t had a novel idea in decades and has been milking his award for the past umpteen years, is given a position with a center tackling the global warming issue. At a suggestion mentioned by our scientist in passing gads of money is spent developing wind turbines to dot all over London to harvest wind energy. He instead, through odd circumstances, pursues solar power.

Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah

Two sisters have lost their beloved father, the man who was the glue that kept their family together through the years, and they are now left to care for their cold, distant mother. Their mother is a woman they have never understood or ever tried to understand. On his deathbed, their father charges his daughters with listening to the Russian fairy tales their mother tells in their entirety. And therein is the heart of the story. The fairy tales their mother tells are thinly veiled retellings of their mother's life during the Siege of Leningrad in World War II.

This is the story of a family rediscovering each other and how the past affects the future. It is also about the power of stories and how stories are what form you and your family. Told in Hannah's engaging style, this book is heartwarming, heart wrenching and unforgettable. This story will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

Pick Up a Paperback -- Featuring Romantic Suspense

Personally, I love paperbacks. You can read them anywhere and, for me at least, their small size makes me feel like I'm reading faster. I've just discovered some great romantic suspense authors who only come out in paperback and I wanted to share.

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The Powell Agency is a private protection/investigation agency with funds to do basically anything they want. And what they most want to do, and do pretty darn well, is track down serial killers. And I have to say, Barton’s got some strange serial killers in her books.

Especially so in The Dying Game, here the Beauty Queen Killer takes the lives of former beauty queens in their late 20s and early 30s; killing them before their beauty can fade. It's his method that's particularly gruesome - if their talent was ballet dancing, he cuts off their feet; a singer will have her throat cut or head removed. Judd Walker's wife was murdered by this killer four and a half years ago and since that time he has been consumed by grief and obsessed with catching the killer. The Powell Agency has also been hunting the killer for the past few years with no luck. One agent, Lindsay MacAllister, joined the agency after being one of the detectives assigned to investigating Judd's wives murder. She's been on the trail of the killer ever since and helping Judd deal with his grief. He's all wrong for her, but she can't help her feelings for him. As the team closes in on the killer, the relationship between Judd and Lindsay grows closer as well. This book really keeps you guessing.

I can't give away the details, but there is a game, a really sick game, being played here. While the book ends well, the story is not over.

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Karen Rose was a paperback author for many years when suddenly a couple of years ago she started being published in hardcover. Her paperbacks are great and you'll want to start with these!

These are complex stories with multiple storylines and points of view. And in the case of Die For Me we’ve got the mind of the killer as well. And frankly it doesn’t help. This guy has so many aliases he seriously keeps you on your toes. I liked that the multiple seemingly disconnected storylines came together, but not every lead or bit of information was crucial to the case. Made things not too neat. And as in the case of the last serial killer, this guy is seriously disturbed filming the death of his victims by many gruesome means so he can sell graphic renderings of their deaths for use in video games.

Our heroine, Sophie, is a disgruntled archaeologist working for a fledgling museum in Philadelphia, our hero, Vito, is a determined detective who is called in to work the killer’s burial ground. Sophie is called in to use ground penetrating radar to see if there is more than one body in the innocent looking grass field…and there are…lots. As Sophie and Vito become closer, things heat up in more ways than one. Both characters have secrets they’d like to keep, and secrets they desperately need to uncover to stop the psychotic killer.

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Brenda Novak’s latest series revolves around The Last Stand, an investigation firm run by women who have been victims of violence and abuse.

In The Perfect Murder you have two people you just want to see get a break. Sebastian's ex-wife and son were murdered by her second husband, a cop, who convinced the world he committed suicide – everyone except Sebastian. Sebastian gets a little suspicious when the $500,000 cash his ex told him about is missing from her safety deposit box.

Jane Burke is the victim rights activist that decides to help Sebastian. She's battling her own demons, but she's got a new lease on life as an investigator in training at The Last Stand. As she's looking into the kidnapping of two sisters she runs into Sebastian and it seems like they are after the same person. Of course the crazed-killer supposed to be dead guy is still alive and starts going after Jane and Sebastian. But unbeknownst to everyone Jane survived marriage to a serial killer and she’s learned to take care of herself; she's not going to be scared into backing off the trail.

Will the killer finally be caught and brought to justice? Will Jane and Sebastian be able to love and trust again? This is romantic suspense, so you already know the answer…

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Christina Dodd is best known for her historicals, which she is still writing. Recently she’s tried her hand at paranormal romances and romantic suspense. All of her books are released in paperback.

In Thigh High, Ionessa Dahl is stuck at a dead-end job as an Assistant Manager of a bank in New Orleans. A different branch of a that bank that is robbed by the Beaded Bandits each year for a small amount during Mardi Gras. The CEO of the bank is furious and feels that the police aren’t doing all they can to solve the crimes since they are for such small amounts (less than $2000) and only occur once a year. So he assumes a fake name and fake role as an insurance investigator to be there in the thick of it when the next heist goes down. He’s already suspicious of Ionessa, so he makes her his personal assistant. While she badmouths the CEO, unknowingly to the CEO, the CEO has to fight his desire to kiss her and kill her.

Of course sparks do fly, misunderstandings abound, and since it’s New Orleans during Mardi Gras wackiness ensues. This is a light and frothy tale filled with eccentric minor characters that’s a nice break from the serial killer plotlines running through many romantic suspense titles. The others in this series steer clear of serial killers as well dealing with stolen art and hidden family fortunes.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Blurbed by Mary Lynn, North Plainfield Library

Are you in the mood for a novel that will whisk you instantly away from your hectic life in suburban NJ and set you down in the picturesque English countryside? Nothing could be more charming than Helen Simpson’s debut novel set in an idyllic rural village. She skillfully updates for the 21st century the classic English novel of manners complete with local shopkeepers, gentry, vicar, and meddling neighbors. The author has created modern characters out of clichés and the old-fashioned setting feels delightfully modern as Simpson takes Major Pettigrew on a whirlwind tour of family drama, local politics, society antics and romance.

This book reads like a cozy Miss Read novel crossed with a page-turning thriller. You’ll find yourself falling for the characters as they are falling for each other and cheering them along as they struggle toward their hardwon happily-ever-afters. Everyone could use a little happily-ever-after magic in their life-give yourself some with Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand.