Glen Beck’s WINDOW Opens
After five nonfiction bestsellers, Fox News TV host Glenn Beck makes his fiction debut next week with The Overton Window, a political thriller about a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S., with holds of 3:1 at some libraries we checked.
The cryptic video trailer for the book, based on a Rudyard Kipling poem that begins with the memorable line “the dog returns to his vomit,” was released exclusively to Entertainment Weekly.
Never mind the Kipling, what does the book title mean? Politics Daily explains that the Overton Window is a concept concerning the social palatability of political ideas: “If those ideas on the very extremes of the scale become part of the public discourse, the scale shifts in their direction and ideas that were once considered ‘radical’ become ‘acceptable.’ ”
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- Available from Simon & Schuster Audio: $29.99; ISBN 9781442305243
- Large print from Center Point Platinum Mystery (Sept. 1, 2010): $35.95; ISBN 9781602858190
Other Major Fiction On Sale Next Week
Frankenstein: Lost Souls by Dean Koontz (Bantam) picks up in hardcover where his successful paperback Frankenstein trilogy left off. Booklist says: “Koontz does his dance of grisly suspense, wry dialogue, sharp characterization, outlandish but charming (and well-integrated) comic relief, and cultural criticism more adroitly than almost ever before.”
That Perfect Someone by Johanna Lindsey (Gallery) is a Romantic Times top pick: “The Malorys are the family everyone wishes they had, so returning to their world is like entering a bit of heaven. The way Lindsey expertly writes a seductive battle-of-wills love story is magic; love, laughter, adventure and passion collide as childhood foes become lovers.”
Lowcountry Summer: A Plantation Novel by Dorothea Benton Frank (Morrow) follows the dysfunctional Southern family first introduced in Plantation. PW raves: “Heres one for the Southern gals as well as Yankees who appreciate Franks signature mix of sass, sex, and gargantuan personalities… Below the always funny theatrics, however, is a compelling saga of loss and acceptance. When Frank nails it, she really nails it.” Click here to hear it presented at the ALA MidWinter Buzz session (and here to sign up for the Fall ’10 session at Annual).
Whiplash by Catherine Coulter (Putnam) is the author’s 14th paranormal FBI thriller. PW says that “Coulter fans will want to see more of the new crime-fighting duo” whose story dovetails with an FBI probe.
Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst (Random House) is a World War II thriller set in Greece, and was featured recently in a summer reading roundup on NPR.; he is also scheduled to appear on NPR’s Morning Edition this coming Tuesday. Kirkus says: “There’s a scattershot quality to this Balkan imbroglio that leaves it a few notches below Furst’s best work.” Holds run upwards of 2:1 at libraries we checked.
Stories: All-New Tales, ed. by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio (Morrow) is a collection of short fantasy stories by Roddy Doyle, Joyce Carol Oates, and Stuart O’Nan and Chuck Palaniuk, among others. PW says: The range of voices and subjects practically guarantees something for any reader, but the overall quality is frustratingly variable: most stories are good, some arent, and few are exceptional.”
Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis (Knopf) is the sequel to Less Than Zero. Kirkus says: “The novel is short, elliptical and sketchy—even jumpy—but it feels like it takes forever to end. Don’t hold your breath for act three.”
The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst (Little, Brown), about a novelist whose rock star son is arrested for murder, gets a tepid review from Janet Maslin in the New York Times, who says the novel “simply has too much going on. Ms. Parkhurst becomes so involved in creating parallels and coincidences that her once-suspenseful story begins to come unstrung.”
Major Nonfiction Titles on Sale Next Week
How Did You Get This Number? by Sloane Crosley gets thumbs up from Kirkus: “Where her first collection focused on a young professional’s life in Manhattan, this follow-up finds the author—whose day job as a book publicist is rarely mentioned—taking her show on the road… Her literary gifts go well beyond easy laughs. The humor flows naturally and subtly from characters and situations, as if these were real-life short stories.”
Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James M. Tabor (Random House) aims to find the deepest cave system in the world. Library Journal calls it “a gripping and well-written account of the treacherous world of deep cave exploration.” The author is scheduled to appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart next week.
Uncharted Territori by Tori Spelling (Gallery) chronicles the ongoing escapades of a former 90210 star.