Fall's Bounty of Books!

Survey by Jeanne

Elly Griffiths, author of the mystery series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway, is starting a new series.  The premise is that there was a special ops unit in WWII composed of magicians and illusionists who used their skills to confound and confuse the enemy.  Now the war is over, but there’s a killer who seems to be using some of their old tricks.  Look for The Zig Zag Girl  in September.

Fans of Stieg Larsson may want to check out The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz.  It's a continuation of Larsson's Millennium series, authorized by his father and brother.  The early descriptions promise international intrigue, computer hacking, the NSA, and the return of Lisbeth Salander.

Also due out in September is Catherine Coulter’s new book in her Brit in the FBI series.  Entitled End Game, it’s co-authored by J.T. Ellison, and has Drummond and Caine investigating a radical environmental group which is planning a violent attack.  The reviews promise plot twists, thrills, and perhaps some romantic complications.

Local favorite Adriana Trigiani has written several fiction books based on family stories.  Now she’s written the story of movie star Loretta Young using the same blend of fact and fiction.  Young was much in demand as an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age and weathered both success and scandal.  She worked and socialized with Clark Gable, Cary Grant, John Wayne, David Niven, and many more.  This should be a fascinating, entertaining book!  The title is All the Stars in the Heavens.

Homer Hickam is another local favorite, best known for Rocket Boys (aka October Sky) and  The Coalwood Way. His stories of growing up in a small coal mining town in West Virginia where his father was  a miner struck a chord with readers here. His new novel is Carrying Albert Home:  The Somewhat True Story of a Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator.  I’m not quite sure what it is about, but the title alone makes me want to read it. (Actually, on his website Mr. Hickam says it's about love and is a sort of prequel to Rocket Boys, since it's based on an event in his parents' lives. I stand by my earlier statement, however:  the title alone is enough to make me want to read it!)

When the first mystery by Robert Galbraith appeared, it rather slipped under the radar—until it was revealed that J.K. Rowling was the author.  Then sales soared and critics either loved or hated the book with equal passion.  Now Rowling—er, Galbraith—has brought private detective Cormoran Strike back in a third novel, The Career of Evil.  When Strike’s assistant receives a package containing a woman’s severed leg, the search is on for someone from the detective’s past with a penchant for violence and brutality.  It’s due out October 20.

Nicholas Sparks fans, October 13 is going to be your lucky day!  Sparks’ new book, See Me, should be out that day.  The plot revolves around a young man who falls in love with the daughter of Mexican immigrants.  Then a danger from her past threatens their relationship and perhaps their lives.

When Vince Flynn passed away in 2013, he was working on the 14^th Mitch Rapp book.  His estate and his long time editor engaged the services of thriller writer Kyle Mills to complete The Survivor, which will be out in October.  Mills will write two more Mitch Rapp books.

John Grisham has made quite the career writing about the legal profession.  His latest is Rogue Lawyer, due out October 20.  Sebastian Rudd defends those that no other attorney wants to touch: drug lords, child molesters, a man who shot at a SWAT team.  He has a mobile office in a van complete with bullet-proof glass, a bar, and a hidden gun compartment.  He believes in very little—except that everyone is entitled to a fair trial.  

Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sargeant Barbara Havers are back in Elizabeth George’s new novel, A Banquet of Consequences. What do a suicide in Dorset and a murder in Cambridge have in common? That’s just what Lynley and Havers are trying to unravel in this new mystery. Early reviews suggest that this is a return to form for George, and should be welcome news to those fans who have been a bit disappointed with her recent novels. Everyone should be able to judge come October.

In November, David Baldacci fans can look forward to the return of Will Robie, whom we first met in The Innocent.  Will and his father have been estranged since Will left his home in Mississippi right after high school.  Now his father has been arrested for murder, and Will is determined to find out exactly what happened in The Guilty.

Another view of Albert

And here's one of the actual descriptions of the book: 

CARRYING ALBERT HOME is the story of a love triangle. Homer loves Elsie.  Elsie loves Albert. It's classic. Except there's a difference to this ménage à trois, a rather large, scaly one. Albert is an alligator.

Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars by Sonia Faleiro uses the story of one young woman to examine the contradictions in modern Indian society where immense wealth and immense poverty operate side by side.  Leela is a lively, charming young woman who works as a dancer because she has very little alternative.  Then a politician tries to have the dance bars closed on moral grounds, a move which could produce disastrous for Leela.   Beautiful Thing has won numerous awards, and has been praised for both its insights into Indian culture and for the beautiful writing.  Our reviewer thought it was both heartbreaking and breathtaking.

Another somewhat mysterious world is examined in Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum.  Blum became interested in finding the physical location of the internet the data centers and information hubs as well as the places where the internet was “born.”  While the writing is suitable for non-geeks, some found it a bit dry but fascinating.

Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts takes a look at the women behind the men who helped form our nation.  Since much less has been written about these mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, Roberts relied on primary sources such as letters.  All the women are fascinating, in our reviewer’s opinion, and the book does an excellent job of informing and entertaining. Roberts covers the usual women (Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, etc.) but also some other lesser known but influential women such as Esther Burr or Peggy Shippen.

Less successful, at least to our reviewer, was Julian Barnes’ novel Sense of an Ending.  The plot concerns a middle-aged man who receives an unexpected legacy that causes him to re-examine his life and his past.  The book was described as depressing, with a main clueless main character, and a strange plot twist for no reason.

One of our reviewers who has been disappointed with David Baldacci’s more recent novels decided to re-read an earlier book she had enjoyed.  In The Winner, a down-on-her luck waitress is wins a lottery courtesy of a mysterious and sinister benefactor known as Jackson.  There’s only one caveat:  she must leave the country forever.  After a decade abroad, Luann is so homesick that she returns.  This a breach of her agreement that will bring down Jackson’s considerable wrath and results in a breathtaking game of cat and mouse. Our reviewer said this was still an outstanding book, and if someone wanted to read a book by Baldacci, this is the one to read.

What's Hot for April!

 It's time to see what books top the reserve list at Bristol Public Library:

16. Miss Julia to the Rescue by Ann B. Ross is the thirteenth in the series and will be welcomed by fans of the feisty widow. 

15. Loving by Karen Kingsbury is the fourth and final book in the Bailey Flanigan series, about a young woman who leaves home to find a career and adventure.  The earlier titles are Leaving, Learning and Longing. 

14. The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark uses Biblical archaeology and lore in her newest mystery.  Biblical scholar Jonathan Lyons believes he’s found a letter written by Jesus, but before his discovery is confirmed Lyons is found murdered.  The police believe he was shot by his wife, an Alzheimer’s sufferer who knew he was having an affair.  It’s up to the couple’s daughter Mariah to uncover the truth.

13. The Innocent by David Baldacci is the Virginia author’s latest thriller.  Government hit man Will Robie has never refused an assignment—until now.  Soon he finds himself on the run with a young girl who may hold the key to a vast conspiracy.  The book will be published April 17.

12.  Home Front by Kristin Hannah is back on the list after dropping off for a month. This contemporary family story deals with a family’s struggle when the wife is deployed to Iraq. Hannah practiced law before becoming a full time writer and has won numerous romance writer awards.

11. Force of Nature by C.J. Box is the new mystery thriller with Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.  This series is picking up fans very quickly! The first book in the series, Open Season, was a major award-winner, and Box has maintained a high standard.  He has also written several standalone novels.

10. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James is the new digital phenomenon.  Originally available only as an ebook, it will be published as a traditional book in April with two sequels to follow.  The steamy plot concerns a young naïve college student who becomes attracted to an older, very wealthy and very worldly businessman.

9.What Doesn’t Kill You by Iris Johansen focuses on Catherine Ling, a character introduced in Chasing the Night, who embarks on a globe-trotting chase to find the creator of a very powerful and undetectable poison.

8. Unwritten Laws by Greg Iles has been delayed but should be published in 2012.  This is the long-awaited first part of his newest thriller, delayed when Iles was severely injured in a car wreck.

7. Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas is the book in a trilogy by this increasingly popular contemporary romance writer.  Betrayed by her fiancé, glass artist Lucy finds herself being romanced by a new man—but is it love or a set-up?

6.  Unnatural Acts by Stuart Woods is the latest entry in his very popular and long running Stone Barrington series.   What appears at first to be an easy assignment— to show a billionaire’s son the error of his ways—becomes very complicated when an old case intervenes.

5.  The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani is not only a love story of two people, but a love story for two countries as well.  It’s also a very personal story for Trigiani: she based part of the book on her grandparents’ courtship.

4. Eleventh Hour by James Patterson is the new entry in the Women’s Murder Club series.  It will be published May 7, 2012.

3. Stay Close by Harlan Coben begins seventeen years earlier, when a husband and father failed to return home and hasn’t been heard from since. Old cases never go away; and soon a detective, a soccer mom and a down on his luck photographer will find the past can sometimes destroy the present.

2.  Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult examines the question of end of life issues as a divided family tries to decide what to do after a terrible accident leaves the father in a coma.  Picoult is wonderful at humanizing difficult moral questions, leaving readers both thoughtful and haunted.

And the number one reserve book is:

1.  Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris, the penultimate “Southern Vampires” novel. Fans are eager to see what’s in store for our favorite psychic waitress, Sookie Stackhouse.  Harris has said that she intends to end the series with book 13, so there should be only one more after this one.  If you want to start at the beginning, read Dead Until Dark.

See a book you'd like?  You can add your name to reserve list by logging into your library account or by calling the library to do it for you.

New Novels for November!

David Baldacci has a new book out, Zero Day!  Army combat veteran and special investigator John Puller is called to the scene of a brutal murder in rural West Virginia, where nothing is what it seems to be and a local homicide might have international implications.

Anthony Horowitz has made quite a name for himself as an award-winning screenwriter as well as a novelist writing thrillers for both adults and children.  Now he takes on a rather unusual assignment for the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. . . writing the first authorized Sherlock Holmes novel  for 106 years. If you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, you’ll want to reserve House of Silk.

What if you could go back in time and change an event? That’s been the hook for many a novel, some good and some very, very bad.  This time, however, the question is asked by Stephen King—and the event is the Kennedy assassination.  This could be very, very, very good indeed! The title is  11/22/63 and the time to reserve it is today!

Danielle Steel‘s newest book is Hotel Vendome, a behind the scenes look at a five star hotel in New York.  Expect glamour, glitz, secrets, celebrities, romance—in short, all the ingredients that have made Danielle Steel a best-selling and beloved author.