Leading in library holds of the books releasing next week are Thankless in Death by J.D. Robb, aka Nora Roberts, (Penguin/Putnam; Brilliance Aucdio; Thorndike), followed closely by Catherine Coulter’s The Final Cut, her first book with a co-author and the first in a new series (Penguin/Putnam; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike Large Print), and Nicholas Sparks next sure-to-be-a-major-motion-picture, The Longest Ride, (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print).

Also among the big names next week is Nelson DeMille, taking a bit of a detour into Dan Brown territory with a novel featuring characters in search of  the Holy Grail.

All titles highlighted here and more coming next week, are available on our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, Week of Sept 16.

The Quest, Nelson DeMille, (Hachette/Center Street; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print)

There are no prepub reviews on this one because it was already published in paperback in 1975. This is a revised hardcover, with DeMille’s current signature cover treatment, of a book the author wanted to return to. As he as he told PW‘s BEA Show Daily, “I think a lot of authors would like the opportunity to take one of their earlier books which are good, but not as good as they could do after all the years of working in the trenches. Authors do become better writers.”

Watch List

  

Seven for a Secret, Lyndsay Faye, (Penguin/Putnam/Amy Einhorn; Dreamscape Audio; Thorndike)

The first in Lyndsay Faye’s series, The Gods of Gotham, came out last year to a great deal of fanfare (NPR’s Fresh Air reviewer Maureen Corrigan called it “one of the worthiest successors yet” to Caleb Carr’s The Alienist). Librarians have praised the sequel on GalleyChat, saying they liked it even better than the first. Clearly, the publisher feels there is a need for a rebranding, giving this one a new cover style. The cover blurb, from Gillian Flynn, is a single word, “Amazing.”

Help for the Haunted, John Searles, (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperLuxe)

Excitement began building for this title on GalleyChat and was then sealed when librarians were charmed by the author at the AAP librarians dinner at BEA. It is a Sept. LibraryReads pick:

“Fourteen-year-old Sylvia slowly unravels deep family secrets after her demonologist parents are gunned down in a deserted church. Creepy, disturbing, and compelling, with gothic overtones and well-drawn characters, Help for the Haunted is definitely one of my favorite suspense novels of the year. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to older teens, and it would also make a terrific movie.” — Robin Beerbower, Salem Public Library, Salem, OR

This is the second of two books this week with a cover blurb from Gillian Flynn; “Dazzling … a novel both frightening and beautiful.”

The Big Crowd, Kevin Baker, (HMH)

In this coming Sunday’s of the New York Times Book Review, author Scott Turow gives this title a strong full-page review, ending with, “I’ve read few other novels that portray in such a nuanced way the temptations of power, the complex division of control in a great metropolis and the perils of political deal-making in that environment.” Kevin Baker, the author of the City of Fire trilogy: Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Strivers Row,   has recently been writing about politics for Harper’s Magazine and the New York Observer. This one seems to have fallen below the prepub radar; only Booklist covered it, lso very positively, but library orders are   light.

Media Magnets 

Command And Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, Eric Schlosser (Penguin Press; RH/BOT; Thorndike)

Yes, the Fast Food Nation guy now takes on a new subject,  the dangers of storing nuclear weapons, beginning with a near-disaster in Damascus, AR.  It is reviewed in this week’s NYT Book Review, and the author is scheduled for several shows, including CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show, PRI’s To the Point. Reviews are expected from many consumer sources, including The Rolling Stone.

Simple Dreams, Lind Ronstadt, (S&S; S&S Audio)

The 60’s singer has been much in the news for her announcement that she is suffering from Parkinson’s and can no longer sing. Next week, she is scheduled to appear on ABC/ World News with Diane Sawyer; ABC/Good Morning America; ABC/Nightline and NPR’s Fresh Air. Entertainment Weekly gives the book a B, saying she does not mention her Parkinson’s, diagnosed as the book was going to press,  and that, although she “writes evocatively about growing up in the Arizona desert and her musical collaborations, this is a largely scuttlebutt-free zone. That’s her right, but the few tales of excessive behavior by the likes of Jim Morrison and Gram Parsons do leave you wanting more.”

Kate: The Future Queen, Katie Nicholl, (Weinstein Books; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike)

This one was embargoed so that Vanity Fair, where the author is a contributor, could have the exclusive, with an excerpt in the Oct. issue . After all, they had to protect the hot news that the future queen eats muesli bars and smoothies for breakfast.

The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski, Samantha Geimer, (S&S/Atria)

A memoir by the woman Roman Polanski was convicted of raping as a girl. She is set  to appear next week on NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s The View, CNN’s Anderson Cooper and NPR’s Weekend Edition.

 

Movie Tie-ins

A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips, (Hyperion)

Advertising is heavy and early reviews are strong for this adaptation of Captain Richard Phillips’ memoir, A Captain’s Duty, which opens Oct 11, starring Tom Hanks. Phillips became a national hero in 2009 when he courageously led his crew to safety after Somali pirates hijacked his unarmed merchant marine ship. There’s no tie-in, but the paperback now features a sticker, “The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture.”

Adore: A Novella, Doris Lessing, (HarperPerennial)

Based on Doris Lessing’s novella, titled The Grandmothers, this is a reminder that fiction about older women sleeping with teen age boys was not invented by Alissa Nutting in Tampa. The “grandmothers” in Lessing’s book are childhood best friends who had affairs with each other’s teenage sons. The movie, titled Adore, starring Naomi Watts and Robin Wright, is in a limited number of theaters and on VOD (reviews have not been kind — see the NYT, and NPR’s web site, while Entertainment Weekly was somewhat more positive).

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