Plenty of fiction will be competing for readers’ attention next week, including a debut story collection from Riverhead Books that’s getting some buzz: Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans.

Entertainment Weekly gives the book a B+, saying that it “offers rich slices of African-American life . . . and carries a strong scent of freshness and promise.” But trade reviews are more mixed: while Booklist hails author Danielle Evans an “important new voice in literary fiction,”PW observes, “Evans has some great chops that would really shine with a little more narrative breadth.”

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self Danielle Evans Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2010-09-23) ISBN / EAN: 1594487693 / 9781594487699

Other Notable Fiction On Sale Next Week

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (Dial Press) is “chock-full of the kind of sitcom shenanigans Kinsella’s fans expect,” says Kirkus.” This latest in the series (Shopaholic & Baby, 2007, etc.) keeps the silly plot moving along. A little more growth from her iconic heroine, though, might have won over new readers as well.”

The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel by Diana Gabaldon and Hoang Nguyen (Del Rey) recasts Gabaldon’s bestselling time-travel romance from her 18th-century Scottish hero’s point of view. PW wasn’t impressed: “Scenes that ought to be exciting, such as sword fights and escapes from the law are breezed over in a page or two. Approximately four out of five panels are simply talking heads, and despite Nguyen’s most valiant efforts, it simply isn’t visually interesting.”

Don’t Blink by James Patterson and James Roughan (Little, Brown) finds reporter Nick Daniels interviewing one of baseball’s legendary bad-boys when he accidentally captures a piece of evidence that lands him in the middle of a mafia war.

Sante Fe Edge by Stuart Woods (Putnam) gets a decent review from Booklist: “while some plotlines are a bit repetitive, particularly regarding Teddy, who has been on the run for many novels, and [his ex-wife] Barbara, who is also always one step ahead of her pursuers, theres plenty of fun here for those who enjoy losing themselves in Woods entertaining escapist fare.”

Bad Blood by John Sandford (Putnam) is the fourth novel featuring Virgil Flowers, agent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Kirkus calls it “lurid and overscaled. . . The mystery, which is resolved early on, leads to an extended series of cat-and-mouse games between Virgil and the people he knows are guilty of some truly heinous crimes.”

Heaven’s Fury by Stephen W. Frey (Atria) follows a sheriff trying to solve a murder before a blizzard isolates his town. PW was not impressed: “The plot of this stand-alone crime thriller from Frey (Hell’s Gate) fails to generate much excitement, despite a gruesome murder that may be the work of a satanic cult and scenes set during a crippling snowstorm.”

And, One We Had to Mention..

Presenting…Tallulah by Tori Spelling and Vanessa Brantley Newton (Aladdin) is a picture book for very young readers by reality show star and bestselling author Spelling. PW and Kirkus both panned it, finding the poor little rich girl unbelievable and unsympathetic. Several libraries we checked haven’t ordered it – but given the success of Spelling’s previous books, you’re likely to be hearing about it.

In addition to the three Oprah fiction contenders we just mentioned, Emma Donoghue’s much anticipated novel Room arrives next week, with the highest sales rank of all the Booker shortlist titles on Amazon. The novel is told in the voice of a five-year-old who’s spent his entire life in a single room, held captive there (unknowingly) with his mother. It’s a People magazine pick in the current issue and was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition today. Holds are 5:1 or higher at libraries we checked.

Other Notable Fiction On Sale Next Week

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s) begins a new series in a genre that Kirkus dubs “paranormal farce,” with the hunt for ancient artifacts corresponding to the seven deadly sins.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central) follows a mysterious new woman’s slow integration into a small town. The hardcover will be promoted not just by the publisher, but by the movie company that plans to produce a film version of the book, even though the screenplay has not yet been finalized, according to a Wall St. Journal story.

Reckless by Cornelia Funke (Little, Brown) draws on the spooky side of traditional fairy tales to launch a major new dark fantasy series for young readers. Despite making her mark as a master creator of richly imagined worlds with the Inkheart series, Funke’s latest effort gets mixed early reviews. Kirkus praises the “fluid, fast-paced narrative,” but PW finds “the writing is beautiful on one page, clunky on another…. Planned sequels will give Funke a chance to fill in the missing back-story that makes this a frustrating read.”

The big fiction title of the week is Sara Gruen’s Ape House (Spiegel & Grau). Gruen faces heavy anticipation after the runaway success of her 2006 title, Water for Elephants. The new book is about a group of researchers studying communication with bonobo apes through sign language. Consumer reviews have compared the book unfavorably to the previous title, echoing PW and Kirkus.

The NYT,  “…the novel address[es] a vast sweep of subjects: the potential for and implications of interspecies communication; the varieties and uses of sexual contact, both among humans and among the other primates; family dynamics and dysfunction; the abduction and enslavement of animals for scientific research; the crass obtuseness of pop culture; the very notion of what constitutes humanity and the humane.”

The LA Times;  “Animal lovers, particularly, will find much to like in Gruen’s depictions of the apes and the research into their language skills. And we do learn a lot about bonobos. But the book’s failure is in not concocting an engaging story through which to preach the beauty of the bonobos and the darker aspects of animal experimentation. The message is the book’s reason to be, she seems to tell us. But a novel requires more attention be paid to the art.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune; Intriguing tale of saving apes is short on passion

Lurking in the reviews are indicators that the book may become a hit with readers; the NYT says it’s “fun,” the L.A. Times calls it “charming.” Booklist, alone among the prepub reviews to give it a positive review, starred it and called it “wildly entertaining.”

And, in the Barnes & Noble Review, critic Jane Ciabattari calls the book flat-out “captivating.”

In a video, Gruen talks about her sources of inspiration.

Water for Elephants, the movie, starring Reese Witherspoon and Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson is scheduled to release next April.

Several libraries have received Ape House; holds are averaging 2:1 on moderate orders (2 copies each per large branch).

Ape House: A Novel Sara Gruen Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Spiegel & Grau – (2010-09-07) ISBN / EAN: 0385523211 / 9780385523219

LT; Random House; Pbk;  9780739328040; $26
RH Audio; UNABR; 9780739368541; $40

Other Notable Fiction On Sale Next Week

Sure Bets

Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan (Viking) the four women  from Waiting to Exhale are back. Essence, which ran excerpts beginning in May and concluding this month, declares “McMillan has lost none of her edge, humor or ability to capture our stories.”

The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass (Pantheon) — Who can resist the subject?  A newly retired librarian experiences unexpected life changes.

Zero History by William Gibson (Putnam) — on the Amazon Top 100 for the past three days, now at #57 and rising, the author of Neuromancer; “returns to his familiar concerns with hacker culture, surveillance, paranoia, and viral marketing, with occasional digressions into the semiotics of fashion and celebrity and references to cosplay, base jumping, and the Festo AirPenguin (look it up)” Booklist.

The Thorn, by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House) —  the launch of a new series, The Rose Trilogy from the queen of the Amish romance genre.

Watch List

Russian Winter, by Daphne Kalotay, (Harper).  An aging ballerina recalls her complicated past while putting together her jewelry for an auction.  A hit at the ALA First Author program, the galley of Kalotay’s book has picked up librarian fans and strong prepub reviews. It’s a favorite of Kayleigh George, HarperCollins Library Marketing Associate; hear her speak about it here.

The Mullah’s Storm by Thomas Young (Putnam) is a debut novel about male and female co-pilots downed with a high-value prisoner in Taliban territory in winter that’s had strong prepub reviews. PW says that Young “draws on his own war experiences for verisimilitude, which, along with believable characters and an exciting plot, makes this one of the better thrillers to come out of the Afghan theater.”

A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell (Algonquin) is “an irresistible romp about a lovelorn 19th-century doctor who falls in with Sigmund Freud—and some dangerously attractive women,” says the  Oprah Magazine, which features it as one of 10 books to pick up in September, along with a reading guide.

Craig Ferguson satirizes our current obsession with electronic gadgets in the intro. to his interview with Laura Lippman on The Late Late Show.

Lippman, a librarian’s daughter, is showing her support for libraries by running a why-I-love-my-library essay contest; the winner will get a visit from Lippman to his or her favorite library (deadline, 9/30/10). Rules are on Lippman’s web site.

I’d Know You Anywhere: A Novel Laura Lippman Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2010-08-17) ISBN / EAN: 0061706558 / 9780061706554

• CD available from HarperAudio 09/01/2010: $39.99; ISBN 9780061988486
• Larger Print from Harperluxe  09/01/2010: $25.99; ISBN 978006197922

Franzen’s isn’t the only novel to be aware of next week:

Fiction Watch List

The Gendarme by Mark Mustain (Putnam) is a first novel about a 92-year-old Turkish American who suddenly comes face-to-face with his part in the Armenian genocide. It comes from the Amy Einhorn imprint at Putnam/Penguin – and as one bookseller put it, “Our staff has come to expect at least one blockbuster every season from Amy Einhorn Books.” Her first list, Winter 2009 included The Help, followed by The Postmistress this year.

This one may be the breakout for Putnam’s Fall list. Einhorn presented it at BEA during LJ‘s Day of Dialog and said it’s a Penguin sale rep’s pick. Prepub reviews, however, are mixed.

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (Farrar Straus & Giroux), a novel set in a Catholic boy’s boarding school in Dublin that made the Booker long list and is being made into a movie directed by Neil Jordan, gets a flat-out “A” from Entertainment Weekly: Murray’s humor and inventiveness never flag. And despite a serious theme — what happens to boys and men when they realize the world isn’t the sparkly planetarium they had hoped for — Skippy Dies leaves you feeling hopeful and hungry for life.”

Holy Thief by William Ryan (Minotaur) is a debut mystery set in Stalinist 1936 Moscow. This one got starred reviews in Library Journal and PW, and several mentions in a recent EarlyWord Galley Chat. Talia Sherer, of Macmillan LibraryMarketing, calls it a “book to read in one sitting without taking a single breath.”  LJ said, “In his solitude and resolve, Ryan’s Korolev evokes Martin Cruz Smith’s fierce Arkady Renko, while the period detail and gore call to mind Tom Rob Smith. Ryan’s first novel will be released with a tsunami of marketing, so readers in public libraries will be lengthening the reserve lists for this remarkable thriller.” However, Kirkus says “the pacing is at times a bit slow, and the mystery holds few surprises.” Orders and reserves are light at this point in the libraries we checked.

Sure Bets

Body Work by Sara Paretsky (Putnam) is the 14th mystery starring private investigator V.I. Warshawski, and is set in Chicago’s avant garde scene. PW calls it “superb” and declares: “This strong outing shows why the tough, fiercely independent, dog-loving private detective continues to survive.”

Lost Empire by Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood (Putnam) is the second adventure with married treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo. PW isn’t impressed, calling it “a standard chase thriller” with “uninspired dialogue.”

Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie (St. Martin’s) is a romantic comedy about a woman trying to fix the problems of a family in a haunted house. PW says, “Crusie’s created a sharp cast of lonely souls, wacky weirdos, ghosts both good and bad, and unlikely heroes who are brave enough to give life and love one more try. You don’t have to believe in the afterlife to relish this fun, bright romp.”

Dark Peril by Christine Feehan (Berkley) is a new entry in the Carpathian fantasy series.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Tor) is the first volume of a planned 10-part fantasy series by the author best known for his efforts to complete the late Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.  PW is optimistic: “Sanderson’s fondness for misleading the reader and his talent for feeding out revelations and action scenes at just the right pace will keep epic fantasy fans intrigued and hoping for redemptive future installments.”

Will Ballantine’s major push for Anne Fortier‘s debut novel Juliet pay off? The tale of an American woman who travels to Italy and discovers her ties to the Giulietta who inspired Shakespeare was first touted on the BEA Editors’ Buzz panel and at ALA’s Shout and Share. Rights have been sold in 29 territories around the world.

Earlier this summer it was chosen as a summer reading pick by the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

But now, Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B-“, finding that it falls short of its aim to be,

…a distaff version of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, with a dash of A.S. Byatt’s Possession tossed in. . . . Fortier’s writing is on firm ground in the book’s historical passages. The modern section, by contrast, feels contrived, and the author resorts to more telling than showing to keep her plot zipping along.

Still, holds are edging up at libraries we checked.

Juliet Anne Fortier Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2010-08-24) ISBN / EAN: 0345516109 / 9780345516107

Notable Young Adult Fiction On Sale Next Week

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic), the doorstopper final entry in the Hunger Games trilogy, is embargoed until 12:01 am next Tuesday, August 23, when bookstores will break into midnight party mode, says USA Today. It’s also been signed for a movie that’s drawn casting speculation from New York magazine’s Vulture blog.

Three Black Swans by Caroline B. Cooney (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) is the suspenseful tale of twins seemingly separated at birth – or are they more than twins? This was one of LisaVon Drasek’s Picks for August, for ages 12 and up.

Other Notable Fiction On Sale Next Week

Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner) is the 13th novel starring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Publishers Weekly says, “Reichs, who once again uses her own scientific knowledge to enhance a complex plot and continually developing characters, delivers a whopper of a final twist.”

The Town by Chuck Hogan is the mass market movie tie-in edition of the author’s third novel, Prince of Thieves (2004), about four friends and rivals who rob a bank in Charlestown. The movie, directed by Ben Afleck, opens in theaters on September 17.

The Sonderberg Case by Elie Wiesel, translated by Catherine Temerson (Knopf), is a novel about a New York theater critic whose parents are Holocaust survivors and whose children are Americans living in Israel. PW says, “Wiesel returns to the moral questions that characterize the post-WWII generation in this slim novel that is both overstuffed with plot and skimpy on motive. . . . The ambitious scope of the story, spanning generations, is compelling, but limited by the novel’s length.”

The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard (Morrow) follows the lives of two girls born on the same day in the same hospital in New Hampshire. Entertainment Weekly gives it a C,

The author, whose last novel, Labor Day, was more satisfying and sure-footed, seems to think she’s weaving a knotty tale of family secrets, told in the alternating voices of her likable main characters. And yet all her twists are clumsily telegraphed.

Among the names that appear on lists of “What To Read After You Finish Larsson” are Henning Mankel, Jo Nesbo and Karin Fossum.

The Washington Post reviews Fossum’s latest, a “haunting psychological suspense novel,” which alternates chapters from the author’s point of view thus, “having some fun…with the old saw that, during the writing of a book, a novelist’s characters will take on lives of their own.”

Broken Karin Fossum Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – (2010-08-01) ISBN / EAN: 0151013667 / 9780151013661

I’d Know You Anywhere, Laura Lippman’s stand alone novel is poised to bring her to an even wider audience. In today’s Washington Post, Patrick Anderson likens it to Dennis Lehane’s break out, Mystic River. In Lippman’s case,  however, Anderson feels both I’d Know You Anywhere and on of her earlier stand alones, What the Dead Know (Morrow, 2007), are break outs,

I’ve read hundreds of thrillers in the past 10 years, and some have been excellent, but only a handful — thanks to their insights, their characterizations and the quality of their writing — could equal the best of today’s literary fiction. Those few certainly include What the Dead Know and I’d Know You Anywhere. In both cases, Lippman began with a real crime and then used the magic of her imagination to produce novels that are not only hypnotic reading but serious meditations on the sorrows and dangers of this world. Some people would segregate Lippman as a crime or thriller writer. That’s a shame. She’s one of the best novelists around, period.

Lippman, a librarian’s daughter, is showing her support for libraries by running a why-I-love-my-library essay contest; the winner will get a visit from Lippman to his or her favorite library (deadline, 9/30/10). Rules are on Lippman’s web site.

I’d Know You Anywhere: A Novel Laura Lippman Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2010-08-17) ISBN / EAN: 0061706558 / 9780061706554

• CD available from HarperAudio 09/01/2010: $39.99; ISBN 9780061988486
• Larger Print from Harperluxe  09/01/2010: $25.99; ISBN 978006197922

I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (Morrow) is the author’s 16th book, and her sixth stand-alone thriller – and it might just be her big breakout. Holds are three to one and higher at libraries we checked, for this tale of a woman who is contacted by the kidnapper – now on Death Row – who held her captive for weeks as a teenager.

Early book reviews are quite positive, like the one in the Kansas City Star (also syndicated to papers in the South), which calls the book

…a thrilling treatise on unreliable memories, on survivor guilt, emotional health and the intrusion of violence…. Eliza proves her resourcefulness and intelligence throughout the novel, even when reliving the horrific six weeks with Walter…. Lippman brings that same care to Walter, letting the reader see him as a man and as a monster.

I’d Know You Anywhere: A Novel Laura Lippman Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2010-08-17) ISBN / EAN: 0061706558 / 9780061706554

• CD available from HarperAudio 09/01/2010: $39.99; ISBN 9780061988486
• Larger Print from Harperluxe  09/01/2010: $25.99; ISBN 978006197922

Other Notable Fiction On Sale Next Week

Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster) is the seventh novel starring Russian detective Arkady Renko. The Seattle Times says,”Renko is a complex character, and — though this new book is less powerful than earlier tales — Three Stations delivers a satisfying punch.”

The Cobra by Frederick Forsyth (Putnam) is a political thriller about a president combatting the international cocaine trade with the weight of the entire federal goverment. Publishers Weekly says, “Forsyth lays out how it would all work, and readers will follow eagerly along, always thinking, yes, why don’t they do this in real life? The answer to that question lies at the heart of this forceful, suspenseful, intelligent novel.”

The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund (Little, Brown) investigates the murders of young couples in several major European cities, in the bestselling author’s first collaboration with the Swedish writer. According to the Wall St. Journal, Marklund wrote a draft in Swedish, based on Patterson’s outline, which he edited after it was translated. The book didn’t do well when first released in Sweden.  We’ll see if it finds purchase in the U.S., where Patterson was no doubt eyeing the legions of Stieg Larsson fans.

Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger (Atria) follows a couple faced with sudden fame. Publishers Weekly was underwhelmed: “Weisberger has insightful takes about the price of success in our celebrity-obsessed culture, but Brooke and Julian hew too closely to type to make their struggles sympathetic.”

Crossfire by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Penguin) is the final colloboration between father and son, in which an Army captain’s career must build a new life after his foot is blown off in Afghanistan. Booklist says, “The plot reads like classic Francis; the research parts presumably come from Felix, and they add a lot of weight to the saddle. The publisher hints that Felix may be carrying on his fathers legacy, but its doubtful anyone can. Enjoy this bequest.”

Entertainment Weekly hands out two high grades to novels going on sale next week.

The Tower, The Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart (Doubleday) is the tale of how a Beefeater, his wife and their menagerie cope with modern life in the Tower of London. Entertainment Weekly gives it a solid A:

“British writer Julia Stuart (The Matchmaker of Périgord) crafts a subculture that is so sweet and enchanting that the whole affair would be terribly twee were it not for the sense of heartbreak and longing that holds it all together.”

It’s also the #2 Indie Next pick for August.

This could be one to keep an eye on – libraries we checked show modest holds on modest orders.

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise: A Novel Julia Stuart Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2010-08-10) ISBN / EAN: 0385533284 / 9780385533287

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You Lost Me There by Rosecrans Baldwin (Riverhead) gets an A- from Entertainment Weekly, which calls it “beautiful, brainy, offbeat,” while praising the author’s “steadying compassion and literary flair in the dissection of miseries, identifying with equal compassion the dissatisfactions of a dead wife and the grief of a bewildered widower.”

But Kirkus, PW and Booklist were all underwhelmed by this debut, calling it “thinly plotted” and criticizing the main character’s “fundamental blandness” – so probably best to wait for more reviews.

You Lost Me There Rosecrans Baldwin Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2010-08-12) ISBN / EAN: 1594487634 / 9781594487637

Notable Fiction On Sale Next Week

Tough Customer by Sandra Brown (Simon & Schuster) tells the story of a private investigator whose estranged daughter is threatened by a stalker. Kirkus says “the narrative, slowed by too many talky scenes and descriptive filler, eventually rewards readers’ patience with a bang-up surprise ending.”

Cure by Robin Cook (Putnam) follows a couple, both medical examiners, who investigate a mob hit. PW says “Even devoted Cook fans may find that the crimes and subterfuges are resolved too swiftly and perfunctorily.”

Veil of Night by Linda Howard is a romantic suspense novel about a wedding planner and the murder of her bridezilla client.

Death on the D-List by Nancy Grace is the second Hailey Dean thriller by bestselling author, attorney, and TV personality Grace.

City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris (Little, Brown), is the author’s second literary mystery, set in Saudi Arabia and featuring the desert guide Nayir Sharqi and forensic scientist Katya Hijazi. The starred Booklist review calls it “a suspenseful mystery and a sobering portrait of the lives of Muslim women. Recommend this potent thriller as book-club reading.” It was also a pick on the LA Times summer reading roundup and the August Indie Next list. Libraries are showing modest reserves on modest orders.

NPR posts the list of Top 100 Killer Thrillers, as selected by 100,000 listeners. Critic Maureen Corrigan, noted that many of the choices are dark; “Even the [Agatha] Christie pick, And Then There Were None, is one of her creepier novels.” (Looking ahead, our own maven of all things creepy, Macmillan library marketing head, Talia Sherer has posted her picks of the upcoming fall and winter titles).

Below are the top ten:

1. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. Kiss the Girls, by James Patterson
4. The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum
5. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. The Shining, by Stephen King
8. And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
9. The Hunt tor Red October, by Tom Clancy
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Mary Roach was the big hit of this year’s BEA Librarian “Shout & Share,” getting votes from all the librarians on the panel for her book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. She was also funny, enthralling and informative during a BEA author breakfast moderated by Jon Stewart (who was cracking up during most of her talk – watch it here). She was equally funny when she spoke to librarians at the AAP breakfast at PLA in March..

Word-of-mouth on the new book is good, but libraries we checked are well behind demand on this title.

Expect major media attention (no surprise, she will be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday) for Roach’s look at some of the bizarre and uncomfortable realities facing future astronauts, as outlined in starred reviews from Library Journal (“While there are occasional somber passages, most of the descriptions of the many and varied annoyances of space travel are perversely entertaining.”) and Kirkus (“There is much good fun with – and a respectful amount of awe at – the often crazy ingenuity brought to the mundane matters of surviving in a place not meant for humans“).

The book trailer, already featured on BoingBoing, illustrates Booklist’s assessment that  “Roach brings intrepid curiosity, sauciness, and chutzpah to the often staid practice of popular science writing,” giving it YA crossover appeal

.

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void Mary Roach Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 334 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2010-08-02) ISBN / EAN: 0393068471 / 9780393068474

Brilliance Audio:

• CD, $99.97; ISBN 9781441876638
• Playaway, $74.99; ISBN 9781441878960
• MP3, $39.97; ISBN 9781441876652

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Though scheduled for release next week, Angelina: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton (St. Martin’s) was rushed to market this week because some the supposed revelations about the life and career of actress Angelina Jolie were leaking out.

USA Today dissects Jolie’s epic love life, and adds that the Jolie-Pitt household’s legion staff  includes “nannies from Vietnam, the Congo, and the U.S.; four nurses, a doctor on permanent call; two personal assistants; a cook; a maid; two cleaners; a busboy; four bodyguards, and six French former army guards.”

New York Times critic Janet Maslin chastizes Morton for not citing sources and for his many frivolous details (e.g. the type face of a particular Jolie tattoo never seen in public), while praising him (sort of) for connecting the biographical dots of Jolie’s life.

Entertainment Weekly reads Morton’s bio so you don’t have to and the AP uses it as a springboard to opine that unauthorized celeb bios (such as Oprah by Kitty Kelley) are not doing well these days.

Angelina: An Unauthorized Biography Andrew Morton Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Press – (2010-08-03) ISBN / EAN: 031255561X / 9780312555610

Available from Blackstone Audio on 7/31/2010

CD LIB:; 9781441755124; $52.50
MP3CD LIB: 9781441755155; $14.98
Playaway; LIB; 9781441755186; $45.49
9 Tape LIB; 9781441755117; $36.48

Notable Kids & YA Fiction on Sale Next Week

I Am Number Four by Pitticus Lore (HarperCollins) is a YA novel about nine alien refugee teenages who land on Earth. Three are already dead, and number four is next. As we mentioned earlier, Entertainment Weekly has been running exclusives about this title, including an interview with the author, who claims to be “an extraterrestrial Elder from Lorien named Pittacus Lore.”

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer (Hyperion); this will be the next-to-last entry in the best-selling middle-grade fantasy series, as Colfer revealed this week to the UK’s Guardian.

Notable Fiction on Sale Next Week

My Hollywood by Mona Simpson (Knopf) is her first novel since Off Keck Road (2000), narrated in alternate chapters by Claire, a composer whose marriage is strained by her husband’s late hours as a TV writer, and Lola, the Filipina nanny she hires. Entertainment Weekly gives it an “A-“: “Claire, privileged and damaged, floats along in a daze of unfulfillment, while the ever-practical Lola observes her L.A. milieu with a realist’s eye in imperfect yet oddly poetic English… A character as rich as Lola won’t easily fade from anyone’s mind.”  There’s also an interview with Simpson in the New York Times.

I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson, translated by Charlotte Barslund (Graywolf Press), from the author of the surprise hit Out Stealing Horses, is the story of a Danish communist who faces divorce and a dying mother. Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B,” saying: “A times it’ll feel alien to readers who’ve never been young Communists… (The translation can also be quite a rickety bridge.) But there’s no denying the novel’s Raymond Carver-like power as Arvid and his mother come to terms with how life hands you hope just before it hands you disappointment and tragedy.”

Hangman by Faye Kellerman (Morrow) is the newest mystery novel with spouses Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus. Booklist says Kellerman fans will be reasonably satisfied, but “if you’re new to Kellerman…this is not the place to start. Kellerman works primarily in dialogue, with very sketchy narrative support, which requires readers unfamiliar with the backstory to act as their own detectives, figuring out what the heck is going on in each scene.”

Burn by Nevada Barr (Minotaur Books) is the 16th book with National Park Service ranger Anna Pigeon, though this time she is transplanted out of her element, to New Orleans. Booklist says, “Barr develops the narrative carefully, never letting the eerie black-magic elements overshadow her solid and suspenseful plotting. A definite winner.”

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone) chronicles the War of the Roses through the perspective of Henry VII’s mother.

Scarlet Nights: An Edilean Novel by Jude Deveraux (Atria) follows a woman whose fiancé turns out to be a scheming criminal. Booklist says it’s “another guilty-pleasure romance of suspense that will hook readers and leave them with a smile.”

In Harm’s Way by Ridley Pearson (Putnam) is the fourth thriller with Idaho sheriff Walt Fleming. Booklist is not so impressed: “although this novel is sufficiently entertaining, it lacks both the taut plotting and intricate excitement of his best work.”

It seems strange that a mystery reviewer would denigrate plot. Isn’t plot a particularly important element of the genre?

In the Washington Post, reviewer Patrick Anderson faults the thriller Still Missing by Chevy Stevens for not having interesting characters, calling it “blatantly commercial” and complaining, “The strength of the novel lies not in its characters or insights but in a shrewdly calculated, suspenseful plot that uncorks one surprise after another.”

After a strong review from Janet Maslin in the NYT two weeks ago, the book rose to #35 on Amazon; it is now at #106.

Still Missing has been a favorite on our Galley Chat sessions. One of our regulars says it’s one of the most memorable titles so far this year. Several libraries are showing heavy holds.

Still Missing Chevy Stevens Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Press – (2010-07-06) ISBN / EAN: 0312595670 / 9780312595678

Brilliance Audio UNABR

8 CD’s; 9781441843203; $79.97
MP3-CD; 9781441843227; $39.97

Dennis Lehane heartily endorses debut noir novel Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto in Sunday’s NYT Book Review. Although he thinks Pizzolatto makes some missteps in the opening chapters — he’s “too self-conscious about [the genre’s] structural baggage” —  he resolves that quickly and then,

…settles into the book he wants to write, an often incandescent fever dream of low-rent, unbearable beauty…in its authenticity and fearless humanism, [Galveston] recalls only the finest examples of the form: Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past and David Goodis’s Down There, Carl Franklin’s One False Move and James Ellroy’s Black Dahlia.

Both the PW and Booklist reviews were strong; Kirkus found it “An unsatisfying split-personality novel redeemed by some terrific dialogue.” Most libraries are showing holds on light ordering.

Pizzolatto published a story collection, Between Here and the Yellow Sea, in 2006.

Galveston: A Novel Nic Pizzolatto Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Scribner – (2010-06-15) ISBN / EAN: 1439166641 / 9781439166642

Tantor Audio; Read by Michael Kramer; UNABR; Simultaneous

Trade; 9781400117567; 6 Audio CDs; $29.99
Library; 9781400147564; 6 Audio CDs; $71.99
MP3; 9781400167562; 1 MP3-CD; $19.99

Last month, NPR asked their listeners to nominate the most “pulse-quickening, suspenseful novels ever written.” They ended up with 600 titles. Then they asked a panel of writers and critics to winnow it down. Below are the resulting 182 novels, which they invite you to vote on (or, you can just have fun using it to test your readers advisory knowledge).

Winners will be announced on Aug 2.

NPR’s Killer Thrillers Poll – Vote For 10