BLACK HILLS; Custer’s Ghost
Libraries are showing demand for Dan Simmons’ historical novel with a supernatural twist, Black Hills, which is also picking up positive early reviews. Holds are averaging 4:1 on this tale of about a Sioux man who communes with the spirit of George Armstrong Custer for 50 years after his death in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Booklist praises Hugo award-winner Simmons as “equally adept at horror, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.”
Publishers Weekly also lauds “his ability to create complex characters and pair them with suspenseful situations, [which] stands almost unmatched among his contemporaries.”
Entertainment Weekly gives the book a B+, finding that “some passages of Black Hills sink into tourist-pamphlet minutiae, [but] Simmons (Drood) keeps the tale buoyant with his evocative prose and storytelling muscle.”
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Audio: Hachette Audio; UNABR; 9781600247866; $39.98
BBC Audio; UNABR; 9781607883463; $129.99
Large Print: Little, Brown; pbk; 9780316073998; $25.99
Audio and ebook available from OverDrive
Other Fiction Titles Going on Sale Next Week
Danielle Steel‘s Big Girl (Delacorte), about an unconventional beauty, has holds of up to 7:1 in libraries we checked.
Kim Harrison‘s Black Magic Sanction (Eos) is the eighth title in her urban fantasy series, Robin Morgan/ Hollows. Holds are in the 4:1 range at many libraries we checked.
J.D. Robb‘s Fantasy in Death (Penguin), the 30th book in the bestelling Death series featuring NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas, has predictably high holds.
Robert Parker‘s Split Image (Putnam) is the latest title in the Spenser series, following the author’s death last month. Holds are high in the libraries we checked. [According to The Age (Australia), there are several more Spenser novels coming.]