Cody Hoyt, a former investigator with the Lewis and Clark County, MT, sheriff’s office, is on the trail of two missing girls. Supposedly on their way from Colorado to Nebraska to visit their father over Thanksgiving, Danielle and Gracie Sullivan are actually driving to Montana to visit Danielle’s boyfriend, Justin, who is also Hoyt’s son. The girls’ reckless behavior and car trouble put them in the path of a killer who drives an 18-wheeler. Although Cody’s erratic conduct and evidence tampering led to his firing, he embarks on a search for the girls at the request of his son and former partner Cassandra Dewell. Then Cody disappears, and Cassandra steps up to search for him. She soon stumbles across evidence of psychotic killers, police corruption, and scenes from the dark underside of transient society. Her tenaciousness serves her well and the results are explosive. VERDICT Drawing on characters introduced in Back of Beyond, Box’s stand-alone weaves together subplots into a nonstop, action-filled race against time. Rolling down the superhighway of suspense, this thriller will leave readers breathless.—Patricia Ann Owens, Illinois Eastern Community Colls., Mt. Carmel

 Hayder, Mo. Poppet: A Jack Caffery Thriller. Atlantic Monthly. May 2013. 400p. ISBN 9780802121073. $25; ebk. ISBN 9780802193582. F

An unsolved crime has become a thorn in the side of Det. Jack Caffery as the anniversary of the disappearance of a model named Misty gets plenty of newspaper coverage and her loudmouthed drunken mother blames Jack, who had been assigned the case, for failing to find Misty’s body. So when a phone call comes in from a staff nurse at the Beechwood psychiatric unit, reporting strange happenings, patients inflicting harm on themselves, a bag full of menacing dolls, and sightings of the spectral Maude, Jack is on the case. It seems that these happenings coincide with the accidental release of an inmate with a horrific homicidal past. VERDICT Hayder’s latest installment in the Jack Caffery series (after Hanging Hill and the Edgar award–winning Gone) is a creepy, twisty thrill ride that doesn’t stop and will give you the shivers if you dare to read it at night. This is another winner.—Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD

 Holt, Jonathan. The Abomination.Harper: HarperCollins. ( Carnivia Trilogy, Bk. 1). Jun. 2013. 448p. ISBN 9780062264336. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9780062267023. F

This beautifully complicated thriller, the first of a trilogy that is set primarily in Venice (both the real city and a perfect 3-D virtual re-creation), follows three protagonists as they investigate the murders of a woman dressed in priest’s vestments and of another who had made a Freedom of Information request at a military base in Italy. Carabiniere captain Kat Tapo follows clues that lead first to a deserted island near Venice, once a cemetery and later the site of an asylum, where mysterious symbols match the tattoos found on the woman priest, and then to a website, Carnivia.com, where identities are hidden behind carnival masks. Holly Boland, a U.S. Army second lieutenant, unearths possible NATO involvement in illegal activities that stoked the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. And Daniele Barbo, a brilliant but mentally unsettled hacker, enters the world he created, impenetrably anonymous, in an attempt to save himself and help the two women as they face attempts to silence them forever. VERDICT A brilliant blend of fascinating story lines, serious issues, impeccable research, gripping intrigue, and engaging characters, Holt’s debut is eminently satisfying from start to finish. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy intelligent thrillers (think Joseph Kanon). [See Prepub Alert, 12/13/12.]—Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

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The following titles are reviewed in the February 1 print issue. Visit Book Verdict for the full reviews.

Deaver, Jeffery. The Kill Room: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel. Grand Central. Jun. 2013. 448p. ISBN 9781455517060. $28.99; ebk. ISBN 9781455517077. F

Gardiner, Meg. The Shadow Tracer. Dutton. Jun. 2013. 368p. ISBN 9780525953227. $26.95. F

Kelly, Mary Louise. Anonymous Sources. Gallery: S. & S. Jun. 2013. 352p. ISBN 9781476715544. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781476715568. F

Moggach, Lottie. Kiss Me First. Doubleday. Jul. 2013. 336p. ISBN 9780385537476. $25.95. F

Smith, Dan. The Child Thief. Pegasus Crime. Jun. 2013. 368p. ISBN 9781605984407. $25.95. F

Steinberg, Hank. Out of Range. Morrow. Jun. 2013. 352p. ISBN 9780062080530. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9780062080547. F

 Stevens, Chevy. Always Watching. St. Martin’s. Jun. 2013. 352p. ISBN 9780312595692. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250031891. F

In this 14th series entry (after Guns in the Gallery) Jude’s new man has a love of tennis, but the game takes a turn when a man dies on the court. Meanwhile, Jude’s neighbor Carole is doing some sleuthing of her own to discover the identity of the “Lady in the Lake.” The women soon discover their cases are connected.

Harris, C.S. What Darkness Brings: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery. Obsidian Mysteries: NAL. Mar. 2013. 368p. ISBN 9780451239273. $24.95; ebk. ISBN 9781101615119. M

Sebastian comes to the aid of his former love when her husband is accused of murder. With a missing diamond, accusations of dark magic, and secrets piling up, Sebastian and his new wife, Hero, will find their marriage and love tested while a killer lurks in the shadows. Historical mystery enthusiasts will enjoy this eighth in Harris’s Regency-set series (after When Maidens Mourn).

Hendricks, Gay & Tinker Lindsay. The Second Rule of Ten: A Tenzing Norbu Mystery. Hay House. 2013. 352p. ISBN 9781401941024. pap. $14.95; ebk. ISBN 9781401941031. M

The second of the “Tenzing Norbu, Dharma Detective” series (after The First Rule of Ten) finds private investigator Tenzing in the midst of new cases, a new love, and a family crisis. Can his past experiences as an LAPD officer and a Buddhist monk bring him enlightenment and answers to all of these troubles?

Jones, Merry. Winter Break: A Harper Jennings Mystery. Severn House. Feb. 2013. 216p. ISBN 9780727882202. $28.95. M

In this third outing (after Behind the Walls), Harper Jennings finds that a visit from her mother and the woman’s new boyfriend may be too much. Is it just pregnancy hormones making Harper think her mother’s boyfriend is hiding something or is she on to something? And what about that body in the woods?

Kelly, Diane. Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria. St. Martin’s. Jan. 2013. 336p. ISBN 9781250023063. pap. $7.99; ebk. ISBN 9781466814769. M

IRS special agent Tara Holloway has been getting a lot of respect around the office lately. In her latest case, she tries to track down cash being sent to terrorist groups. Meanwhile, in this fourth series entry (after Death, Taxes and Extra-Hold Hairspray), everyone else seems to be looking for love in the online dating world, including her own special agent crush..

Kelly, Jim. Nightrise: A Phillip Dryden Mystery. Crème de la Crime: Severn House. Feb. 2013. 244p. ISBN 9781780290331. $28.95. M

In journalist Phillip Dryden’s sixth outing (after 2007’s The Skeleton Man), he works to find ties between two seemingly unrelated cases: a possible gang killing and a baby burial gone wrong. A third twist comes when the police inform Phillip that his father was killed in a car accident—except his father drowned 35 years ago.

Loweecey, Alice. Veiled Threat: A Falcone & Driscoll Investigation. Midnight Ink. Feb. 2013. 288p. ISBN 9780738726403. pap. $14.95. M

While former nun Giulia Falcone prepares for the holidays with her boss-then-boyfriend-then-boss-again Frank Driscoll, her friends’ adopted baby girl is kidnapped. Worse, the police are ignoring clues that other same-sex couples in neighboring communities have experienced the same crime, with horrifying results. Loweecey’s third book (after Back in the Habit) does not shy away from the grim topics.

Reilly, Linda S. Some Enchanted Murder: An Apple Mariani Mystery. Five Star: Gale Cengage. Feb. 2013. 276p. ISBN 9781432826819. $25.96. M

Paralegal and title searcher Apple Mariani is used to digging for clues in her work, but nothing prepares her for the murder of a local appraiser, or her aunt being named the prime suspect. And when a friend disappears, Apple knows she must dig through the past to ensure that everyone still has a present before the killer strikes again. This series debut will be sure to attract cozy fans.

Taylor, Caroline. Jewelry from a Grave. Five Star: Gale Cengage. Mar. 2013. 276p. ISBN 9781432826871. $25.95. M

Investigator P.J. Smythe does not believe in coincidences. When her roommate disappears after informing P.J. that two previous roommates died mysteriously, and by the way, they both worked for the same company, a trashed apartment and fenced jewelry lead P.J. on a dangerous path in her second outing (after What Are Friends For?).

Now two of his books are available as free Amazon Kindle downloads for a limited time. First released in 1989, Storm Track revolves around a Canadian commercial oil-field diver who seeks revenge against the terrorists who killed his wife. LJ praised this thriller for its breathtaking nonstop pace and exotic locations. You can download the ebook today through Saturday (11:59 pm), December 8.

The second title, The Turning, is a coming-of-age story about 16-year-old Artie Crenshaw as he embarks on a  night-long series of adventures. School Library Journal praised Terpening’s YA novel as “a touching tale about a teenager caught between adolescence and manhood.” The free download is available from Monday (12:01 am) December 10 through Tuesday (11:59 pm), December 11.

Happy a great weekend! Happy reading!

The ITW also announced two new awards for 2013 that will recognize young adult thrillers and ebook originals. Three giants of the genre were presented honors for their contributions: ThrillerMaster Jack Higgins, True Thriller Award winner Ann Rule, and 2012 Silver Bullet Award recipient Richard North Patterson.

The evening capped a four-day conference of writing workshops and publishing industry panels that also included spotlight interviews with Lee Child, Catherine Coulter, John Sandford, Richard North Patterson, and Ann Rule, as well as author signings and a breakfast that introduced 21 debut authors. For an annotated list of the authors and their titles, see Barbara Hoffert’s “International Thriller Writers Debut Authors: 21 Thrillers to Shiver Your Bones.”

Estleman, Loren D. Burning Midnight: An Amos Walker Novel. Forge: Tor. Jun. 2012. c.304p. ISBN 9780765331205. $24.99. M
Detroit police inspector John Alderdyce, who has a complicated and long history with PI Amos Walker (Infernal Angels; The Left-Handed Dollar), arrives hat in hand with a plea to rescue a family member from the clutches of gang life. This entreaty ushers Amos into the world of Mexicantown, an area in southwest Detroit that is less than friendly to our wise-cracking detective. There he finds a new and depressing aspect to racial relations in this once great city. Two rival gangs, the Maldados and the Zapatistas, are waging a turf war while drug running, cock-fighting, and an avenging former nun named Sister Delia reign supreme. As always, the city itself takes center stage as the ever-present and tragic leading lady in this award-winning series.
Verdict Amos Walker is as much a piece of Detroit history as Motown, and his tenaciousness and grit shine though in this fast-paced mystery. The tale is full of action, with vivid and candid descriptions of the squalor that has a stranglehold on the inner city. Sure to please the many enthusiasts of the series and a definite winner for readers of gritty, urban mysteries with a noir feel.—Amy Nolan, St. Joseph P. L., MI

Fresina, Jayne. The Most Improper Miss Sophie Valentine. Sourcebooks Casablanca. Jun. 2012. 373p. ISBN 9781402265976. pap. $6.99. HISTORICAL ROMANCE
After Miss Sophia Valentine is caught in a compromising position with James Hartley on the billiard table at the London home of her relatives, James proposes marriage, but isn’t that the expected thing? Sophie hates being constrained by expectations. Better to leap into the unknown than to settle for less than her warrior hero. And so she does. Ten years later, nearing 30, the still unwed Sophie lives in her family home in Sydney Dovedale with her brother and his shrewish wife. The scar across her face from her fall from the balustrade makes her a subject of derision among her neighbors and her family. In a fit of temper, she advertises in a local newspaper for a husband. Dark and mysterious Lazarus Kane arrives in the village in response to Sophie’s advertisement. In truth, he has finally found his fallen angel from that night in London, the woman who saved him, and he has come to return the favor. Unfortunately for Lazarus, James has also seen the ad.
Verdict Fresina (Seducing the Beast) has drawn her protagonists with impeccable skill, making readers root for our unconventional heroine and her equally flawed hero. Stylish, witty dialog entices as this seemingly odd couple discover a present and the possibility of a future that far outweigh their turbulent pasts. Romance fans will happily enjoy this valentine.—Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

Methven, Jon. This Is Your Captain Speaking. S. & S. Jun. 2012. c.336p. ISBN 9781451642155. pap. $16. F
Flight AW2921 is leaving New York when it has a sudden engine failure. Capt. Hank Swagger, ignoring available runways and open fields, chooses to land on the Hudson River, where a fleet of ferries just happens to be waiting. His perfect landing saves the lives of 162 surprisingly beautiful people. Disgraced TV reporter Lucy Springer is onboard and immediately senses that the perfect landing feels staged. Passenger Normal Fulk also notices that something is wrong, though it could be his own tragic luck. Lucy wants a story, Swagger wants the glory, and all Normal wants to do is save the semen of John Lennon he was illegally trafficking when the plane went down. These unlikely characters come together to unravel the conspiracy behind Air Wanderlust’s miraculous landing.
Verdict Debut author Methven has written a fast-paced, fun, and thought-provoking satire. While at times crass, the deeply flawed characters pull the reader in until one can’t help cheering on their foibles. This will strongly appeal to readers of Carl Hiaasen and Christopher Moore.—Jennifer Beach, Cumberland Cty. P.L., VA

Quirk, Matthew. The 500. Reagan Arthur: Little, Brown. Jun. 2012. c.304p. ISBN 9780316198622. $25.99. F
A year ago, Mike Ford was studying at Harvard Law with a mountain of debt from his late mother’s cancer treatments and no help from his jailed con man father. Now, thanks to Henry Davies of the powerful Davies Group, Mike’s father is out of prison, and the newly minted lawyer is out of debt, living in a nice house and getting very cozy with beautiful junior partner Annie Clark. Mike discovers, though, that the conning tricks that rubbed off from his father are as useful as his Harvard degree in his job helping Henry influence members of the 500‚ the most powerful individuals in Washington, DC. His immediate boss is William Marcus, a man whom Mike is certain once killed for the CIA. His current assignment involves a junior congressman and Rado, a Serbian war criminal. When a Supreme Court justice and Rado’s daughter are murdered by William on Henry’s orders, Mike is framed and must use all of his skills to survive.
Verdict With a brash but naive hero fighting a powerful, shadowy organization, this is fairly standard thriller fare that, while not rising above the pack, should satisfy genre readers. [See Prepub Alert, 12/12/11; ten-city tour.]—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Lib., Wisconsin Rapids

Stephenson, Neal & others. The Mongoliad. 47North: Amazon. (Foreworld Saga, Bk. 1). 2012. 458p. ISBN 9781612182360. pap. $14.95. FANTASY
In this slightly alternate history of medieval Eurasia, √ñgedei Khan, son of Genghis, has not only conquered all of Asia and Eastern Europe, he is poised to crush the West as well. The hopes of the West are pinned on the Khan’s Circus of Swords, a championship exhibition that may buy its armies time to regroup. But one band of militant knights decides on a bold, and totally unsanctioned, quest‚ to infiltrate the vast Mongol Empire and assassinate the Khan. Meanwhile, in the Mongol capital, a young man of the steppes attempts a different mission; Gansukh has been tasked by the Khan’s brother with saving the Khan from the demons in his court and within his own soul.
Verdict This story, originally written cooperatively by seven authors (Stephenson, Erik and Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, E.D. deBirmingham, Cooper Moo, and Mark Teppo) in serial form, sometimes shows its roots as a story about the fighting first and the plot second. Recommended for readers of alternate history and military fantasy‚ and fans of Stephenson.—Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Atlanta

Winslow, Don. The Kings of Cool: A Prequel to Savages. S. & S. Jun. 2012. c.320p. ISBN 9781451665321. $28.99. F
The sins of the fathers and mothers are wrought upon sons and daughters in this prequel to Winslow’s acclaimed Savages. Cutting their teeth as runners for their drug-dealing parents in sunbathed Laguna Beach, CA, teenagers Ben, Chon, and O slither between the hippie cave dwellers of the canyons and the ocean-view mansions of the mega-rich. Chon breaks from the beach crowd and joins the military, but upon his return he easily returns to the chaotic marijuana trade of his father. It’s hard to turn down the money, and it gives Chon time with his pals Ben and O, who give his life meaning and stability. Caught among crooked cops, a publicity-seeking DEA agent, and the violent Mexican drug cartels, the trio become modern-day versions of Bonnie and Clyde as they fight to escape the crossfire. Friends over family is the clear choice in this adrenaline-fused collision of generations.
Verdict Published to coincide with the release of Oliver Stone’s movie version of Savages, this is another Winslow roller-coaster thriller. Set against the lush backdrop of Laguna Beach, it graphically depicts the ferocious drug trade and shows the reader how the characters of Ben, Chon, and O came to be the darkly engrossing twentysomethings of Savages.—Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA

Also problematic are the many, many awesome new titles pouring in from around the globe and elsewhere. I just didn’t have time for the second volume of Francisco Facchinei’s compelling Finite-Dimensional Variational Inequalities and Complementarity Problems or David A. Carter’s bold The Happy Little Yellow Box: A Pop-Up Book of Opposites. Both are coming in July‚ watch this space!

But because I care about you, the reader, in this column I pack double the usual dose of excellence you have come to expect from BFD. This month me and The Team kick out all the jams to help you, highly intelligent consumer of book literature, cut to the chase. That’s right! Maximize your returns with this column‚ at no cost to you! Yes, free to you, with this special, perpetual offer (you just have to read to the bottom) is a full supply of witty, pithy reviews of books from the ’80s, ’90s, and today! No money down! No obligation! No baloney! That’s our pledge at BFD, your best readers’ advisory choice. It’s your only man-centric, one-stop-shop column-within-a-larger-content-rich-resource, which itself is the offspring of the most important serial publication in the free world that focuses on books and other stuff!

What’s that you say? That I’m crazy to just give it away? Well, yes, I am, but if you act now, you’ll also receive my newest product, The Last Word: The BFD Seal of Approval, absolutely free. To recap: that’s eight artisanal reviews and The Last Word, zero baloney, eight gigabytes of tactical readers’ advisory and an ab-ripping workout routine for the low, low price of nothing!

Clegg, Brian. How To Build a Time Machine: The Real Science of Time Travel. St. Martin’s. 2011. 320p. ISBN 9780312656881. $25.99. SCI
Time travel? That would free up my schedule for reading and give me the opportunity to get a better mortgage rate and fix that pesky arrest record. Though not a how-to, this absorbing title enjoyably discusses scientific topics ranging from the zeroth law of thermodynamics to the evolution of the calendar‚ all in relation to the concept of time. Clegg points out that memory is a one-way time machine‚ though I was hoping for a phone-booth-esque machine with buttons and levers. Reading his summary of Einstein’s theory of special relativity had me thinking, hey, maybe there’s something to this‚ and I’m the guy who doesn’t know how to work his GPS. Clegg’s ponderings on movement and dimensions‚ akin to Isaac Asimov’s riffing in Of Time, Space, and Other Things (1965)‚ even allowed me to forget temporarily the reality of needing to regrout the bathroom tile; in my world, that’s a time machine. Good book, but for an actual machine you need to go buy yourself a refrigerator. After the install, pop a coldun and look around. Whattya got? The box the fridge came in. That’s your time machine, bro. Get out some of your special colored pens‚ go with the glitter ink‚ color the apparatus, and bang-o, there you go: time machine-o-la.

Cooper, Mike. Clawback. Viking. 2012. c.390p. ISBN 9780670023295. $26.95. F
When you need the problem solved fast and permanent, you call me. Me is special forces veteran Silas Cade, whose muscle, know-how, and knack for numbers ensure him business in the rarified circles of thems with money problems the rest of us only dream about‚ the one-percenters. Cade is hired to find out who is behind the assassinations of the worst-rated Wall Street money managers. One theory is that the Beardstown Lady types can’t take any more losses and are going vigilante. The more likely scenario is that someone is making money‚ lots of it‚ off the positions (stuff like zinc futures) left by the dead brokers. Cade will appeal to ManReaders because he is a fairly normal, sociopathic, quick-witted CPA-ish nerd with plenty of alpha-dog macho for whoopin’ asses. He’s also charmingly obsessive about remaining off the grid/untraceable. Even though there are two $10 words (demimonde and Breguet) in the first few pages and a weird story arc in which Cade learns of an older brother he never knew about, this novel by Cooper‚ a pseudonym for author Michael Wiecek (Exit Strategy)‚ is breezy and smooth. There’s even an intrepid, sexy reporter chick who makes Silas think more about the curve of neck into shoulder than the problems at hand. Heartily recommended.

Friedman, Daniel. Don’t Ever Get Old. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. May 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780312606930. $24.99. F
Ex-police detective Buck Schatz, the protagonist in Friedman’s debut, is eighty-seven years old and still buying Lucky Strikes by the carton. He’s the most winsome octogenarian monster ever; soon after we meet him, he literally condemns a man to hell. Buck is irascible, crotchety, old school, and Just Plain Old, and though he is at peace with his age, he is not a peaceful man. Like Abe Lieberman in Stuart M. Kaminsky’s Lieberman’s Day, in his integrity and sensitivity to his own mortality, Buck transcends masculinity in favor of manliness. Wind and rain can erode even granite if they have enough years to do it, he notes. No matter how tough you think you are, if you live long enough, eventually you get all squishy. In a very personal reversal of fortune for Buck, about $3 million in Nazi gold‚ owned by the same SS officer who tortured and humiliated him during WWII‚ stumbles upon him. With his grandson-cum-sidekick, Buck dodges cops, other treasure seekers, and a bowel-eviscerating killer trying to get them gold bars from St. Louis to Memphis. With all the finesse of a garbage truck at a flower party, Buck is pure pleasure to watch. If you don’t like this book, there’s something wrong with you.

Lansdale, Joe R. Edge of Dark Water. Mulholland: Little, Brown. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780316188432. $25.99. F
Lansdale (whose heap’em writings include novella Bubba Hotep) kick-starts this lyrically whangin’ novel with a champion line: That summer, Daddy went from telephoning and dynamiting fish to poisoning them with green walnuts. The speaker is teenage Sue Ellen, who has a whole lot of nothing in her future, living in east Texas in the 1930s in a hovel near the Sabine River with a daddy who beats her alcoholic momma. When Sue Ellen’s pal May Lynn is hauled dead out of the Sabine with weighted ankles, Sue Ellen realizes, I wanted out of what I was in, and I wanted something else other than what I had. Stay with me: Sue Ellen figures that the natural move forward is to take stolen bank money and spend it on a trip to Hollywood with a dead girl burnt up in a jar, and that’s exactly what she and her two best friends do with a stash of loot and a cremated May Lynn. And this ain’t no Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; assorted family members, authorities, and an all-too-real boogeyman are in no-kidding-gonna-kill-you hot pursuit as the friends raft down the Sabine. Sue Ellen’s lively expressions (night had dropped down on us like a croaker sack) keep things upbeat, even though this is a South steeped in a misery about as far away from soccer moms and swivel chairs as you can get. An unstoppable read, this should come with the warning Do Not Start @Bedtime.

Leonard, Elmore. Swag. HarperCollins. 2009. 259p. ISBN 9780061741364. pap. $14.99. F
Leonard is the man, isn’t he? You’ll get more prolific authors (Ed McBain), or those with a higher quality-to-output ratio (Dashiell Hammett), but for all-around punch, Leonard is tops. This one is set in Detroit, 1976, where Ernest Stickley is caught stealing a car from salesman Frank Ryan’s lot. Instead of testifying against Stick, Ryan comes to him with a proposition. The two form an alliance and begin a career of armed robbery, which, as Ryan proves to Stick using statistics, is the most profitable racket. Targeting small-time operations like supermarkets, bars, gas stations, and liquor stores, the two are soon earning three to five grand a week (good money even these days). They attribute their success to being selective and to following Frank’s ten simple rules, which include Never say more than necessary and Never associate with people known to be in crime. Unfortunately, all good things must end. When the two join in a scheme for a massive score things fall apart, and it’s every man for himself. As in Get Shorty and Tishomingo Blues, Leonard offers a perfect, dense little symphony of characters, plot, and high stakes. And to think you can find such greatness for $0.75 on half.com.

Runcie, James. Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. May 2012. c.448p. ISBN 9781608198566. pap. $16. F
Reminiscent of old Nero Wolfe or Agatha Christie morsels, Runcie’s (Colour of Heaven) satisfying short story whodunits are set in a British village in the early 1950s and star the titular Chambers, a WWII vet and local canon (like a vicar, only more ass-kicking). Chambers, like me, is a tall, dark, handsome bike rider. We’re both keen observers, good listeners. Our housekeepers leave eerily similar notes (More Vim please. And Harpic. Fish tomorrow. Not Friday). We enjoy similar snacks‚ Sid his consoling Chelsea bun from Fitzbillies and me my big honkin’ apple fritters from the day-old bakery. We’re both a lot like Chuck Norris*, only where me and Chuck kick down doors and export pain, Sid’s scruples compel him to quietly right injustices using his intellect and occasional help from his pal the local backgammon-playing police inspector. Sid is likable, but he won’t be confused with any street lit protagonist‚ and that’s the appeal. Those seeking mild, tame mystery puzzles will enjoy this‚ and the many instances of Chambers’s naiveté, as when he ponders, in the first mystery, It was his first case of adultery, never mind murder.
*But that’s where the similarities end, sister, cause I’m a hard-charging, gun-for-hire cataloger with a heart of lead and a gaze that can stop an errant 810 series added entry dead in its subfield 6 linkage track.

Spoiler Alert: Spring Is Coming!

Truly warm weather is returning to the northern hemisphere in a matter of weeks, bringing with it the option to take the exercise out of doors without bundling up as if for an Antarctic expedition. And that brings concerns about our most precious equipment: bikes and bodies, in that order. We age-grouper triathletes swim, bike, and run with all our might, but if we don’t fuel properly, there’s a good chance we won’t finish longer races as our bodies run out of energy, leading to the dreaded bonk. Believe me, it’s disorienting, disquieting, discouraging, and disillusioning. And really, racing all the time, everywhere? It gets old, chums.

Petersen, Grant. Just Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike. Workman. May 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780761155584. pap. $13.95. SPORTS
This piece of awesomeness should become a populist manifesto for bicyclists everywhere. In it, Petersen (founder, Rivendell Bicycle Works, Walnut Creek, CA) makes a pungent (yes, pungent) case for enjoying bicycling, for returning it to its recreational and utile state. Though the book is masked as a list of 89 basic ideas (e.g., use your kickstand, get your quick release right, etc.), it’s really a clarion call for riders to unrace aka jettison the influences of racing that make your bike riding worse than fantastic. Spend some time on a bike and you’ll see the dudes I see: blowing by‚ and scaring‚ little kids, pushing themselves to injury, dropping thousands of ka-ching, and scoffing at those not crushing two hard-core century rides every weekend. Petersen gives us permission to enjoy bike riding again, to ride your bike to pick up the groceries, to fart around. I have four bikes (yes, that’s three too many), and I enjoy the hell out of them. But the one bike I really crave isn’t the fully pimped $15,000 Pinarello Dogma 2; it’s the black fat-tire, three-speed with metal fenders, a basket on the front, and a rack on the back. I sit upright on it, not hunched over in aero position. I pedal it to get to work, to the store, to the beach; it replaces my car, and it is extremely awesome. Smell what Petersen is cooking*.
*Except for this funny idea he has that the poncho is the ultimate cycling garment.

Ryan, Monique. Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes. 3d ed. VeloPress. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9781934030820. pap. $21.95. SPORTS
Other than hella training and a willingness to get up at 4 AM and go without primetime TV, what does an endurance athlete need to compete? Fuel. That’s the singular focus in sports nutritionist Ryan’s educative, readable guide that teaches long-distance swimmers, bikers, runners, and triathletes about the nutritional building blocks and daily intake needed to optimize health and performance. Though your mileage will vary, this is designed to help competitors of all sizes‚ the 35-year-old, 125-pound wife as well her foot-taller, 20-years-older, 60-pound-heavier husband. The guide covers daily diet and nutritional needs during training and provides scalable benchmarks for different sports. There’s info about race day, and appendixes list the glycemic index of different foods (hint: avoid potatoes), compare sports nutrition products (e.g., Hammer vs. PowerBar gels), and include sample menus that go beyond the usual fish-yams-veggies. As they did with Matt Fitzgerald’s Racing Weight: How To Get Lean for Peak Performance, endurance athletes will absolutely demolish this.

In addition, an online auction will run from April 20, starting at noon (EDT) and ending at noon on April 25. Would-be thriller authors can bid on a chance to have their manuscript read by Aaron Priest (agent to Harlan Coben and Greg Isles), Darley Anderson (agent to Lee Child), and Victoria Sanders (agent to Karin Slaughter). And Harper Collins and Random House have offered a “galley a month” program where they’ll send the lucky winner one hot galley each month for a year.

“We are also hoping to do another event in the fall for the Dekalb County Library Foundation, this time with special musical guests to do a concert and book event called Music and Mystery,” says Slaughter. Even if you can’t “come to Boston for the springtime” and The Big Thrill, show your library love by placing a bid tomorrow.

For the lattermost question, I offer nine suggestions below, seven of which are engrossing, amusing, and in line with the BFD credo: Immer die neuesten und besten Bücher im √úberblick.

CONTEST WINNER: Last month I promised a dollar and a name check to the first reader emailing me the name and workplace of the SLJ reviewer of David Melling’s epic Don’t Worry, Douglas! Unfortunately, the answer^* came from‚ĶDavid Melling in clear violation of two rules of eligibility, to wit: 1) Contestants may not be named David Melling; 2) Contestants may not reside in New York, California, New Jersey, Washington, or Illinois (Melling owns homes in all five^**).

^*The answer is Anne Beier of the Hendrick Hudson Free Library, Montrose, NY, one of millions of folks smart enough not to enter the contest in the first place.
^{**I may have made that up.}

Abbott, Jeff. The Last Minute. Grand Central. Jul. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9780446575201. $24.99. F
TLM‘s hero is ex-CIA agent turned wannabe stay-at-home dad Sam Capra, last seen in 2011′s Adrenaline. But really, dudes are going to zone in on the villains here, a mysterious profiteering conglomerate called Novem Soles. Suspiciously akin to Get Smart‘s KAOS sans Bernie Koppel, NS are cold and ruthless‚ even for one-percenters. They’re Bad, and they’ll stop at nothing to reap maximum reward while inflicting maximum pain. Having a hard time with your car/job/wife/kids? They don’t care. They crush little guys like you and me and somehow make bazillions of dollars doing it. Novem has kidnapped Capra’s infant son, and with this as leverage they demand that he stalk and assassinate a little computer nerd who knows too much. It’s a breakneck, who-can-I-trust thriller that burbles along with lots of twists’n'turns, cloak’n'dagger, & slap’n'tickle. For a while there, it’s impossible to tell who’s bad and who’s good, but didn’t we all collectively go through that with Lindsay Lohan and Annette Funicello? Worth it for readers who don’t mind a story that bounces wildly all over the place.

Bolzan, Scott, Joan Bolzan & Caitlin Rother. My Life, Deleted: A Memoir. HarperOne: HarperCollins. 2011. 304p. ISBN 9780062025470. $25.99; pap. ISBN 9780062025487. $14.99. MEMOIR
Scott Bolzan, head of a jet chartering company, slipped in the bathroom at work one day in 2008 and fell backward, like, right onto his head. As a result, he suffered brain damage and somehow erased just about every memory he ever had. His diagnosis was profound retrograde amnesia. Along with severe insomnia and cracking headaches, Bolzan surely had a dramatic time of it, but the authors present his story with little panache and much repetition. Reinserting himself into his own life proved difficult, even with the help of a loving and supportive wife. It must be hard when you don’t recall what birthdays and Christmas mean yet, strangely, can remember the rules of football, but it’s just not told that convincingly. The writing is such that Bolzan’s family and friends come across as oddly synthetic, and even his relationship with his son, who has problems with substance abuse, feels devoid of emotion. Unless you’re really into the minutiae of this precise, exact situation (a very sick rich dude has to sell off his yacht, small fleet of cars, and fortune in wristwatches but remains optimistic), it’s better left as a Reader’s Digest article.

Dorgan, Byron L. & David Hagberg. Blowout. Forge. Mar. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780765327376. $25.99. F
Blowout, really? Obviously Messrs. D. and H. have never worked in a kennel where, I assure you, the titular word has an entirely different meaning than it does in this sprawling, likeable blockbuster about clean energy. The Dakota District Initiative (reminiscent of Illinois’s Hole in the Ground) is a top-secret Badlands facility where scientists, ahem, inject a coal-eating bacteria into pulverized coal in a sealed environment, producing methane that could be burned instead of coal, and with a significant drop in CO2. And a fat, greedy, oil-billionaire villain doesn’t like it one bit! Hagberg, author of about a thousand books, and Dorgan, a former North Dakota politician, have created a meet-and-greet of didacticism and pedagogy; some sentences approach the 100-word mark (talk about a blowout!). Characters are stock, down to names that sound as if they were auto-generated. What’s the difference between Whitney Lipton and Ashley Borden? I can’t recall, except that one of them is a brassy woman with more balls than just about every civilian out there. When the authors aren’t clumsily expounding on dirty petroleum vs. clean energy, they’re clogging the plot with Venezuelans killing envoys, bumpkin militias getting ten kinds of pissed off, and an exposé reporter uncovering military secrets. It’s not John Updike, but if dudes stick with this, they do get explosions, eco-terrorists, whack jobs, action, gunfire, government secrets, and big-money stakes, and they’ll also enjoy quantum-effect encrypted burst transmissions.

Heller, Ted. Pocket Kings. Algonquin. Mar. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9781565126206. $13.95. F
Frank Dixon is a washout at everything he’s tried, from boyhood sports to manhood novel-writing. Though I have no idea what his job actually is, he has grown tired of it, of being fat, of his marriage, and, especially, of writer’s block. Failure was my Siamese twin, he says, a writhing, unctuous viper joined to my hip who plotted against me in my sleep. With a nod to James Joyce’s A Little Cloud, Frank’s maniacal dreams of success include snarkily punching out successful writers named Jonathan and David (e.g., Lethem, Franzen, Safran Foer, Foster Wallace, Sedaris, Eggars, etc). Meanwhile, he discovers that he’s really good at online poker. Taking the avatar name Chip Zero, Frank turns little victories at small-stakes tables into massive paydays (after one month playing poker online, I was up $15,000). It’s addiction, sure, but it’s also Frank/Chip’s only arena of success and Heller (Slab Rat, Funnymen) plays it to its brazen hilt. As long as Chip’s life stays online, all’s well. But when he sets out on a messy New York-to-Vegas road trip, his virtual life begins to collide with the real one, and things get decidedly unwell. If you’re like me and don’t know a flush from a straight, that won’t interfere with your enjoyment of Heller’s tale. And even though it’s mostly about self-loathing and immediate self-gratification, this funny, intimate faux-memoir is nonetheless as charming as a steamroller on a hot day.

Moffett, Kevin. Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events. HarperPerennial: HarperCollins. Mar. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9780062069221. $14.99. F
Short stories generally puzzle the crap out of me, and those in this collection by Moffett (whose first collection, Permanent Visitors, won the Iowa Short Fiction Award) are no exception. While I understand that a short story is an inherently different beast than a novel, why is it that nothing happens in a short story? Ever! As in many other short story collections, Moffett’s characters are probably quite unlike anyone you’ve ever known. Among others, there is a cut-rate cruise ship bird trainer and a 74-year-old woman named Alta who feels whole only through relationships with men. These folks, even the newly married couple delivering a smelly Volvo to Jacksonville, think about things that I’ve never quite thought about: algae blooms, the dental health of Eastern Europeans, wooden back scratchers. They do this for a few pages, with some dialog, perhaps repartee, and it’s great. But man, there’s no action‚ no explosions, no car chases or notable sex scenes. Not even a game of darts. Why? Is there some unwritten rule that certain subjects are too pedestrian for the wilds of shortstoryland? It’s a fine collection, and readers will come away feeling happy that they discerned themes, like that you can confront some random, mystical unfamiliarity through the filter of another’s psyche. But if the most dynamic aspect of a book is its cover‚ this one looks like it’s a how-to treatise on back scratching‚ then you may as well spend an hour on YouTube checking out old Marty Feldman videos (see Robert Ross’s title, below).

O’Malley, Daniel. The Rook. Little, Brown. 2012. 496p. ISBN 9780316098793. $25.99; pap. ISBN 9780316098809. $15.99. F
First, a note to the publisher, Little, Brown: My copy was neither little nor brown; it was big, fat, and b&w. Just sayin’. This is among the most imaginative, interesting books to undergo processing in the BFD Review Machine‚Ñ¢ as of late. Absorbing, rich, and charmingly funny, this buoyant debut has much to offer those who don’t mind a mash-up of cloak and dagger, sf, fantasy, and mystery. Affected by retrograde amnesia, Myfanwy (it’s Welsh and rhymes with Tiffany) gradually discovers that she’s an important figure in an international shadow organization called the Checquy, a sort of paranormal version of the MI5 that protects Britain against all sorts of implausibly weird sh!t. Some members, including herself, are like the X-Men, with powers beyond the normal population.^* In addition to being able to kill people with a touch of her bare skin (sounds like my ex-wife), Miffy is freakishly gifted at paperwork, and thus indispensable to the centuries-old bureaucracy. Pretty cool, except that a mystery Checquyer is trying to kill her and she is tasked with facing down some monsters from Belgium (and like Flemish bike racer Eddy Merckx, they really kick ass) called Grafters. Also, O’Malley completely pwns that trick of ending chapters at really awesome spots that compel you to keep reading. Turn off your baloney filter and enjoy.
^*There are lots of others like her who all explored their wildly variant powers at a quite-British government boarding school similar to the X-Men’s Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. There, children sang little animals to death, lifted refrigerators above their heads, and had in-depth conversations with pine trees. One boy was linked to atmospheric phenomena in Iceland, but on such a deep and complex level that no one really understood how they were related.

Parnell, Sean with John R. Bruning. Outlaw Platoon. William Morrow. Mar. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780062066398. $26.99 MEMOIR
Former U.S. Army airborne ranger Parnell’s grunt-in-the-trenches memoir, filled with complicated, upsetting situations so crazy as to seem made up, energetically describes the alternately mundane and extreme life of the contemporary American soldier. Parnell and his soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division, stationed in Afghanistan, must alternate‚ sometimes instantly‚ between roles as combatants, rescue workers, humanitarians, and anti-terrorists. Powerful, gritty, and sometimes disturbing, this book belly-punches readers with story after story of decent guys trying to act honorably in situations where it’s physically, psychologically, and morally difficult to do so. The impact is immediate and powerful, akin to hearing a vet open up over a few colduns. I know some ex-infantrymen, dudes who are confident, relaxed, and comfortable in a variety of situations. They can lead, but they also know how to contribute to team efforts. They are funny, fun, and work hard. It could be that I just happen to know some great guys, but I think not. The upshot is that we have to hand it to Parnell and his men who, alongside Colby Buzzell (My War: Killing Time in Iraq), Benjamin Tupper (Dudes of War), and David Bellavia (House to House: An Epic Memoir of War), are today’s true ‘Mericans. Plus they know how to keep the guns away from imbalanced, unreliable dudes like me.

Rasmussen, Gorm Henrik. Pink Moon: A Story About Nick Drake. Rocket 88. 2012. tr. from Danish by Bent Sørenson. 176p. ISBN 9781906615284. $25; pap. ISBN 9781906615291. $14.95. BIOG
Everyone has a soft spot for poor Nick Drake, a sadder rock figure even than Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett. Drake released three albums in five years and, despite great potential and a strong songwriterly hand, OD’d in 1974‚ no one knows if it was intentional‚ at age 26. Originally published in Denmark in 1980, this quiet, accessible book, which nicely matches its subject’s somber music, somewhat debunks Drake’s romanticized image as depressive loner. Interviews with his parents and school chums reveal a magnetic personality and gifted athlete (he may still hold the record at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, UK for the 100-yard dash). Though he did seem intensely concerned with creating meaning (√† la the personality type described in Eric Maisel’s Van Gogh’s Blues), the young Drake comes off more as a Promethean figure, less a Hart Crane/Dante Gabriel Rossetti (or even Elliott Smith/Ian Curtis) one. This changed in his last years, when depression got the best of him. Wonderful as this work is, however, it can’t be trusted as a biography. Rasmussen can’t know what transpired in 1967 at Aix-Marseille University, where Drake spent six months, nor did he have the kind of access to repeat conversations from Drake’s trip to North Africa verbatim. Too much license is taken for this to be anything but, as the title suggests, a story‚ albeit a really good one‚ in which straight biographical bits are interwoven with skillfully composed, extrapolated scenes. Where casual readers will see this as obsessive, fans will find it a great companion book to Drake’s music, and rock lovers will enjoy the author’s serious, personal attempt to get intimate with his icon.

Ross, Robert. Marty Feldman: The Biography of a Comedy Legend. Titan. 2011. 336p. ISBN 9780857683786. $25.99. BIOG
Awkward writing and a fawning tone ruin what could have been a great appreciation of underrated pop-eyed^* actor/writer comedy genius Marty Feldman. Feldman’s 1970s fame came at the price of a couple of decades of energetically pursued misery, including stints as jazz-loving bohemian in Paris and in hundreds of crappy odd jobs, including book stealer, busker, dishwasher, trumpeter, and boot sole groover‚ whatever that is. Feldman’s early show biz work in dance halls sounds unbelievably dreary, the prevailing theme being that he would do almost anything for a buck; he finally settled into a routine of being basically, a bad musical specialty act. Feldman soon found a niche as a writer‚ at times a brilliant one. Who else could describe Jesus Christ as not the kind of Jew who would be accepted by the Hampstead Garden Suburb. He wasn’t a lawyer or a doctor or the kind of Jew my parents would have accepted. He was merely a savior, which wasn’t a professional. Disjointedly, Ross details the well-liked Feldman’s rise to stardom as Eye-Gor in Young Frankenstein, his eventual disillusion with Hollywood, and his death from a heart attack during the filming of Yellowbeard. Instead of reading this ultimately frustrating jumble, look Feldman up on YouTube, where you’ll find his work on At Last the 1948 Show exuberantly irreverent. Let’s hope someone biographicalizes Peter Cook someday soon.
^*As for his famous eyes, the cause is pretty mundane: an operation for Graves’ disease (just like Rod Stewart and Orca Winfrey have), which resulted in his eyes being more protruded; he also had a squint.

Cumming, Charles. A Foreign Country. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9780312591335. $24.99. CD: Macmillan Audio. THRILLER
Even as an elderly French couple is murdered in Egypt and a young French accountant is snatched from the streets of Paris, Amelie Levene‚ about to become the first female chief of M16‚ vanishes in the south of France. Former M16 officer Thomas Kell, now in bad odor with the service, appears to be the only person capable of finding Levene and figuring out what links the three events. One of the publisher’s biggest books of the month and a juicy-sounding follow-up to the best-selling The Trinity Six.

Dabbagh, Selma. Out of It. Bloomsbury USA, dist. by Macmillan. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781608198764. pap. $14. LITERARY
As bombs drop on Gaza, unemployed 27-year-old Rashid restlessly awaits word of a scholarship that will take him to London, his wheelchair-bound older brother writes a history of their country, and his twin sister becomes seriously involved in politics. A first novel from PEN and Pushcart prize nominee Dabbagh, likely an important new voice on Palestine (Dabbagh currently lives in London).

Hiller, Mischa. Shake Off. Mulholland: Little, Brown. Aug. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780316204200. $24.99. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Having escaped from the exploding Middle East, where his family was killed by extremists, Michel Khoury has become an intelligence operative with a desire for peace, a stash of passports and unmarked bills in the bathroom of his London apartment, and a new girlfriend who doesn’t know his true identity. Soon, the truth wills out and turns deadly, forcing the couple on the run from London to Berlin to the Scottish countryside. Hiller, who’s half-Palestinian and half-British, should give texture to his first thriller (and second novel after the award-winning Sabra Zoo). Great quotes from not just the UK but the Jordan Times and Israel’s Haaretz.

Hurwitz, Gregg. The Survivor. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780312625511. $25.99; eISBN 9781250009722. THRILLER
Some set-up: divorced, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and dying of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, former soldier Nate Overbay stands 11 stories up on the ledge of a bank building, ready to end it all. But when robbers break into the bank and start shooting, Nate rushes down and handily saves the day, only to be kidnapped by the Russian mobster who masterminded the initial break-in. Nate is told that he must return to the bank and snatch what the mobster was after‚ or watch his ex-wife and daughter suffer the consequences. Great expectations: Hurwitz’s You’re Next was an LJ Best Thriller of 2011.

Jones, Howard Andrew. The Bones of the Old Ones. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780312646752. $25.99; eISBN 9781250015136. FANTASY
Emerging fantasy author Jones follows up The Desert of Souls, a sword-and-sorcery debut set in eighth-century Baghdad, with the continued adventures of scholar Dabir and soldier Assim. Here, the dazzling duo find themselves living comfortably in Mosul‚ until a young woman approaches them, insisting that she has escaped from a sorcerous cabal and that her memory has been altered by magic. The tools of the cabal? The Bones of the Old Ones. Looking up.

Kenyon, Sherrilyn. Time Untime. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780312546618. $25.99; eISBN 9781466801981. CD: Macmillan Audio. PARANORMAL
Bad news for the warrior Ren Waya, just back from the dead: to keep a prophecy from coming true and an ancient evil from reemerging to destroy the world, he must kill Kateri Avani, the one person he has always cherished. Meanwhile, Kateri has been plagued by visions of places she hasn’t visited and a man she hasn’t met and has headed to Las Vegas (Las Vegas?) to calm herself. Next in the Dark-Hunter series; note that Kenyon has been No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list an eye-opening 15 times in the last two years. Multiples, of course.

MacMahon, Kathleen. This Is How It Ends. Grand Central. Aug. 2012. 356p. ISBN 9781455511310. $24.99. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. POP FICTION
You’ll have to read the book to find out how it ends, but it begins in fall 2008 when Bruno travels from America to Ireland in search of his roots and meets unemployed architect Addie, who’s nursing both a broken heart and her ailing dad. Lots of excitement at the London Book Fair for this debut by MacMahon, a journalist RT√â News, Ireland’s National Public Service Broadcaster; rights have sold to 20 territories so far.

Read, Cornelia. Valley of Ashes. Grand Central. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780446511360. $24.99. lrg. prnt. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Read’s a rising author in the scary-reading realm; her debut, A Field of Darkness, was nominated for all the biggies‚ the Edgar, Barry, Anthony, Gumshoe, RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice, and Audie awards‚ and her subsequent titles have won stars, best books honors, and regional bestsellerdom. In her latest, Madeline Dare is bored with life as a stay-at-home mom in Boulder, CO, where the family has just moved, so she takes on a freelance newspaper assignment. Unfortunately, a serial arsonist is making her job a whole lot more trouble than she had imagined.

Rich, Simon. What in God’s Name. Reagan Arthur Bks: Little, Brown. Aug. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9780316133739. $23.99. POP FICTION
Founder and CEO of Heaven, Inc., a bored God is about to ditch Earth when Craig and Eliza, two starry-eyed angels from the Department of Miracles, intervene. If they can convince Earth’s two most socially maladjusted souls to fall in love, then the planet will be saved. Former president of the Harvard Lampoon, a four-time Emmy nominee for his writing on Saturday Night Live, and author of the novel Elliot Allagash (the film rights have just been sold), Rich has credentials in the Department of Laughs. Let’s see how this works.

Schneider, Michel. Marilyn’s Last Sessions: A Novel. Little, Brown. Aug. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780316212991. $25.99. POP FICTION
Dropped into the schedule in time for the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, this translation from the French reimagines the star’s last visits with Dr Ralph Greenson, her psychoanalyst and at the time probably the most important person in her candle-in-the-wind life. In a revealing review when the translation appeared in the UK, John Banville calls this a fascinating if puzzling hybrid, even quoting the author’s observation that like Marilyn’s hair, this novel is a phony of the bona-fide kind. Take a look if Marilyn rage is hitting your community.

Tan, Sandi. The Black Isle. Grand Central. Aug. 2012. 464p. ISBN 9780446563925. $24.99. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. HISTORICAL
Cassandra has fled Shanghai with her father and twin brother for the Black Isle, a steamy, teemy British colony in the Indonesian archipelago. It’s crammed not only with immigrants like herself but with ghosts, which only she can see and whose blandishments she studiously resists. Meanwhile, there’s trouble in the world of the living: even as Cassandra wrestles with impossible love and her increasingly important role in the booming colony, war is looming‚ the book opens in the 1920s and takes us through World War II. An intriguing-sounding debut from filmmaker Tan.

Tsukiyama, Gail. A Hundred Flowers. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780312274818. $24.99. CD: Macmillan Audio. HISTORICAL
In 1957, Mao may have proclaimed, Let a hundred flowers bloom, but not long thereafter the Cultural Revolution began. Tsukiyama here portrays the family of Kai Ying, whose teacher husband is sent to the countryside for reeducation after writing a letter critical of the regime and whose young son, desperate for a view of his father, climbs a tree and breaks his leg badly after falling. Winner of the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award and author of best sellers like Women of the Silk, Tsukiyama can be relied on to deliver a powerful sense of the political through the delicately polished lens of the domestic.

After moving to Luxembourg, where his wife had landed a job, former book editor Chris Pavone spent a year and half in the city’s cafés writing a novel that draws on his life abroad. The result is The Expats (see the starred review on p. 96), an elegant debut thriller about Kate Moore, an expat mom who also happens to be an ex-spy. LJ reviewer Barbara Conaty, a retired librarian and a former expat, chats with the repatriated Pavone about the genesis of his book, his literary influences, and writing from a female perspective.

Did Kate evolve as the main character, or was she the heroine from page one? Was the Luxembourg setting a happy accident, or did the city influence your decision to write a spy thriller?

Kate was always the heroine, and the story called The Expats. But when I started writing, it was a very different book-a portrait of a strained marriage set amid a close-knit expat community. Then sitting in a playground, talking to a woman who was obviously reluctant to tell me what she used to do, it occurred to me that I might be-that Kate ought to be-surrounded by people who were hiding big secrets, people who came to a small, secretive place like Luxembourg to escape those secrets. And what’s a greater deception than being a spy? And a spy whose spouse doesn’t know it?

What resources did you rely on to build Kate’s CIA spy-craft skills? Her exit interviews, for example, seem very realistic.

I wanted to write a book about people and marriage and being an expat-things I’d lived-not a book suffused with facts I had culled from other people’s research or experiences. So the espionage-type scenes are entirely imaginary, and they are driven by character and tension, not by spy-craft minutiae.

When I read The Expats, I thought of espionage novelist Helen MacInnes. Which authors influenced you?

I devour a tremendous amount of fiction, but I have to admit that not much of it is espionage, except for the inimitable John le Carré. As a reader, I tend to seek out books that are less defined by plot or action than by language, voice, or beautifully constructed, sharply insightful, or laugh-out-loud hilarious sentences-writers such as David Foster Wallace, Philip Hensher, and David Mitchell today, or Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Salinger when I was younger.

Your story builds slowly but ends with an elaborately executed plan. Was that deliberate?

Intentional! I wanted to write a book in which no one-not one single character, from the most minor players up to the protagonist-is who he or she at first appears to be.

You write convincingly from inside Kate’s psyche. Did you have interpretive help from the women in your life?

Kate is a woman who tired of the demands of her career and gave it up to be a homemaker, only to find that this new life isn’t entirely satisfying. I have spent a lot of time in the company of women who have made both types of choices-and in fact I’m a man who made a similar choice. I tried to create a protagonist with an exaggerated, dramatized experience of this near-universal predicament, this life-defining decision.-Barbara Conaty