Titles to Know and Recommend, Week of March 7, 2016
The holds leaders this week all feature the return of favorite characters.
Clawback: An Ali Reynolds Novel, J.A. Jance, (S&S/Touchstone; S&S Audio; Thorndike)
Off the Grid: Joe Pickett Novel #16, C.J. Box (Penguin/Putnam; Recorded Books; OverDrive Sample)
Starred PW, “With this exceptional entry, Box solidifies his place at the upper level of the crime fiction pantheon.”
The Steel Kiss: Lincoln Rhyme Novels. Jeffery Deaver (Hachette/ Grand Central; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print; OverDrive Sample)
If you have a fear of escalators, look away. The cover and title refer to a key plot element, a man is gruesomely mangled when one of them malfunctions in a Brooklyn department store..
The titles covered here, and several other notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of March 7, 2016.
Media Magnet
Love, Loss, and What We Ate, Padma Lakshmi, (HarperCollins/Ecco; HarperAudio)
As the former wife of Salman Rusheie and the co-host of Top Chef, Lakshmi’s story has appeal for a wide range of media, including NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday and People magazine.
And, yes, she spills the beans about her marriage.
Peer Picks
The March LibraryReads selections arriving this week include a literary psychological suspense novel which has been highly praised in the trade reviews and the next in a popular urban fantasy series.
All Things Cease to Appear, Elizabeth Brundage (PRH/Knopf; BOT; OverDrive Sample).
Also a People magazine “Book of the Week,” called an “insightful, evocative thriller”
Jennifer Dayton, of Darien Library, Darien, CT offers this annotation:
“When the Clare family purchases a ramshackle farmhouse at a foreclosure auction, it appears that all is well in their world, until George comes home one evening from his job as an Art History Professor at the local private college and finds his wife murdered and their three-year-old untended yet unharmed. Told through the eyes of the townspeople and the families involved, this is a gorgeously unsettling look at a marriage and what happens to a community in the process of change.”
A GalleyChatter favorite, Brundage earned All Stars status for the novel as well, racking up starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly.
Marked In Flesh: A Novel of the Others, Anne Bishop (PRH/Roc; BOT).
Emily Peros, of Denver Public Library, Denver, CO gives her take on the fourth of the Courtyards of the Others series:
“In this thrilling installment, Bishop continues to explore the relationships of The Others and the humans who live at the Lakeside compound. Meanwhile, Humans First and Last organization has been making themselves known, after the attacks in the previous book that killed numerous Others along with their “Wolf Lover” friends, they are not backing down. Little do they know it’s not the Others humans need to be wary of but the Elders for which the Others act as a buffer. This is an excellent installment in the novels of the Others, exciting, heart-wrenching and suspenseful.”
Four Indie Next March picks also arrive.
Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens, Steve Olson (W. W. Norton; OverDrive Sample).
“Eruption is everything a nonfiction book should be: Marvelous storytelling mixed with a great cast of characters, fascinating science, and little-known history. Anyone with even a passing interest in the Pacific Northwest or volcanoes will love this book. I read it in three long, satisfying gulps, and, like all great books, its stories linger in the mind long after you’ve read the last page.” —Tom Campbell, The Regulator Bookshop, Durham, NC
The Travelers, Chris Pavone (PRH/Crown; BOT; OverDrive Sample).
“Full of twists and turns, secrets and lies, and enough misdirection to keep you guessing, Pavone’s third novel delivers everything readers have come to expect from his thrillers. As in his previous work, the world of publishing takes a central role: This time it’s a fading travel magazine and its companion travel agencies in the midst of an acquisition. Will and Chloe are a young married couple dealing with a home in need of extensive repairs so Chloe decides to take a less active role at Travelers magazine after Will is brought on board as the European correspondent. When Will meets an alluring woman while on assignment, she will change his life in ways he never could have foreseen.” —Billie Bloebaum, A Children’s Place, Portland, OR
This third thriller by Pavone struck GalleyChatters as a “sure fire hit.”
Spill Simmer Falter Wither, Sara Baume (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; OverDrive Sample)
“Baume’s debut novel is a heartbreaking story of loneliness and friendship, depression and pure joy, as revealed through the relationship between a man and the dog he rescues. Baume’s transcendent use of language and utterly original voice had me stopping to read whole sentences — even entire paragraphs — aloud. Spill Simmer Falter Wither is an amazing achievement by a writer who makes her work seem effortless.” —Mary Wolf, Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse, Santa Fe, NM
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, Helen Oyeyemi (PRH/Riverhead Books; OverDrive Sample).
“There is magic in Helen Oyeyemi’s writing. There is magic in the settings, which shift between the conventional and the fantastic as readers devotedly follow her characters down any path they please. There is magic in the tales themselves, as readers recognize a situation only to have it bloom into a flower they have never imagined before, full of beauty or of dread. And, most certainly, there is magic in such breathtaking prose and unimaginable characters. This is a captivating story collection, filled with both fairy tale whimsy and dark, complicated mystery. Highly recommended!” —Luisa Smith, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA
Tie-ins
Only one tie-in this week, but it is a biggie. As we reported earlier, the PR surrounding the second season start of Outlander is growing in advance of the April 9th premiere date.
Now comes the tie-in release of the novel that will power the next set of Jamie and Claire’s adventures, Dragonfly in Amber (Starz Tie-in Edition), Diana Gabaldon (PRH/Bantam; OverDrive Sample; also in Mass Market).
The cover art was tweeted by Gabaldon. It keeps with the lush yet dangerous tone of the trailer and supports the series new tag line, “The Etiquette of War.”
For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins.