Glenn Greenwald, author of No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State, is having quite a week. On Monday, he went toe to toe with Matt Lauer on the Today Show. Last night, he explained the importance of privacy (and of journalists revealing uncomfortable information) to Stephen Colbert. He’s clearly had plenty of practice, he debated former NSA Director Michael Hayden last week.

He also revealed that more is coming. In part 2, he tells Colbert that he is working on a story, to be released in 4 to 8 weeks, which he believes will have even more impact than his previous reporting. It will reveal who the NSA is spying on.

The two titles sucking up media attention this week are reviewed in quick succession by Michiko Kakutani in the NYT.

Yesterday, she reviewed former Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner’s Stress Test:  Reflections on Financial Crises (RH/Crown), saying it “provides an intimate take on the financial crisis, and in this respect stands as a gripping, if subjective bookend to already published accounts, like journalist David Wessel’s riveting chronicle In Fed We Trust [RH/Crown, 2009) and the economist Alan S. Blinder’s lucid After the Music Stopped, [Penguin Press, 2013]” But, she says it does not provide new revelations.The Daily Beast, however, manages to unearth 13 juicy bits (that is, if you consider Geithner’s daughter’s not knowing the acronymn “POTUS,” juicy).

Today, Kakutani turn her attention to the other hot media title, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State, by Glenn Greenwald (Macmillan/Metropolitan). Again, she finds much of the material familiar, from news stories last year (many of them by Greenwald himself, who won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking the story at The Guardian), as well as from an earlier book The Snowden Files (RH/Vingate, Feb, 2014), but says Greenwald’s book is “enlivened by reproductions of dozens of fascinating documents from the Snowden archive that help illustrate the N.S.A.’s methodology” and she applauds his “fierce argument in defense of the right of privacy,”

Both books are rising on Amazon’s sales rankings (Geithner’s is at #8, while Greenwald’s is at #13). Holds in libraries, however, are relatively light at this point.

The book we called “THE Title You Need to Know” for the last week of April, Natchez Burning by Greg Iles, (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperLuxe; HarperAudio), debuts at #2 on this week’s New York Times Fiction best seller list and at #5 on the USA Today list, where is is just below Veronica Roth’s Divergent.

It’s been five years since Iles’s most recent book, The Devil’s Punchbowl. He published 13 thrillers in rapid succession and was on track to release Natchez Burning in 2011, when twin tragedies changed that plan. He nearly died in a car accident, losing part of his right leg, and then his father died, making him realize, as he tells the Greenville S.C. newspaper, “life was too short to pull any punches. I decided there was no room in this book for formula and fluff. The story had to be handled with appropriate gravitas. I had to deal with it not only the way it deserved but in a way that would make my father proud.”

He ultimately decided to make Natchez Burning the first in a trilogy. On his Web site, Iles says, “I’m working like a madman to finish The Bone Tree, volume 2 of the trilogy.”

Kicking off the media campaign for his book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State (Macmillan/Metropolitan Books), Glenn Greenwald appeared on the Today Show this morning.

The amiable conversation turned contentious towards the end.

Greenwald also appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New books from several big names arrive next week. Jeffery Deaver’s creepily-titled thriller, The Skin Collector, (the follow up to The Bone Collector, but somehow, “skin” is more creepy) leads with the most copies ordered by libraries. The winner for the most sinister cover is Jo Nesbo’s next, The Son, a standalone that is being positioned as a break out.

Readers advisors will want to have three LibraryReads titles on the tips of their tongues next week. Bittersweet is a hit with LibraryReads as well as both People and Entertainment Weekly. LibraryReads continues to bring YA titles with crossover appeal to adult readers’ attention, with the #1 pick for May, E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars. Also be sure to tell your horror readers about the debut novel, Bird Box.

These titles listed here, and highlights of others coming next week, with ordering information and alternate formats, are on our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, Week of May 12, 2014

Big Names

Jeffery Deaver, The Skin Collector (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio)

James Rollins, The Kill Switch (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperLuxe; HarperAudio) — listen to an excerpt of the audio

here Douglas Preston, The Kraken Project (Macmillan/Forge Books; Macmillan Audio) — the author’s first solo outing

Breakout Candidate

Jo Nesbo, The Son (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; RH/BOT; RH/Large Print)

One of the leaders of the Scandinavian crime wave, Nesbo has had strong sales but hasn’t reached Steig Larsson status (who could?). This standalone has the hallmarks of taking him to a new level. It is getting a wide range of advance attention, from a long profile of the author in the New Yorker to a Parade Magazine “Sneak Peek” excerpt. On Monday, he is scheduled to appear on Charlie Rose’s PBS show.

The author’s fame is also rising in Hollywood. Martin Scorsese is producing a movie based on the seventh in his Harry Hole series, The Snowman (called his “masterpiece” in the New Yorker profile), set to be directed by Tomas Alfredson, (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Let the Right One In). In addition, in March, Warner Bros acquired a forthcoming Nesbo book, Blood on Snow (no publication information yet), the first in a new series written under the pseudonym Tom Johansen, to star Leonardo.DiCaprio.

Anticipated

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore,  Bittersweet (RH/Crown)

This LibraryReads pick for May is inspiring passion among reviewers as well. It gets the lead review in People, with 3.5 of 4 stars;  “a mesmerizing gothic thriller … worth savoring — it unfolds like a long summer day, leisurely revealing the dark.” It is pick #3 on Entertainment Weekly‘s ‘Must List’ (a high position for this list, which is usually dominated by movies and TV); “In the stay-up-all-night page-turner, a scholarship student from an East Coast college spends the summer at her WASPy roommate’s family compound and uncovers some seriously nasty secrets. Occasionally over-the-top, but always riveting.” That is followed by strong review in the magazine’s book section. The LibraryReads annotation, below:

As unlikely a pair of roommates as you’re ever likely to meet: plain, working class Mabel Dagmar and beautiful, privileged Genevra Winslow. Mabel spends the summer in the Winslows’ idyllic lakefront property in Vermont, dreaming of being one of them–only to discover that being a Winslow is not all sunshine, yachts, and ease. Being a Winslow means keeping very disturbing family secrets.” — Nancy Russell, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH

Joshua Ferris, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio)

Ferris’s debut was the darkly humorous novel about modern day office life, And Then We Came to the End,. His second book, The Unnamed,  was quite different, prompting Jay McInerney to comment in his NYT BR review, “As a fan of Then We Came to the End I can admire Ferris’s earnest attempt to reinvent himself, but I can’t wait for him to return to the kind of thing at which he excels.” Other reviewers must feel the same, since this one was highly anticipated in season previews and is now getting advance attention:

L.A. Times advance review Author interview in Entertainment Weekly‘s Book Review section Slate Magazine:  Author and editor (Reagan Arthur) interviewed together (how they cut 200 pages from the original Daily Beast~ Joshua Ferris’s New Novel Chronicles an Existential Dentist in Despair

More LibraryReads Picks

E. Lockhart, We Were Liars (Penguin YR/Delacorte Press; Listening Library)

Listen to the audio clip for the book’s dramatic opening scene. LibraryReads again gives attention to the crossover appeal of a YA title by making this the #1 pick for May (Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl topped the very first list in September).

“This brilliant and heartbreaking novel tells the story of a prestigious family living on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts. Full of love, lies, secrets, no shortage of family dysfunction, and a shocking twist that you won’t see coming. Though this book is written for teens, it shouldn’t be overlooked by anyone looking for a fantastic read.”  — Susan Balla, Fairfield Public Library, Fairfield, CT

Josh Malerman, Bird Box (HarperCollins/Ecco)

“Close your eyes! Don’t look! Something is out there that will drive you mad if you see it. Is it an alien invasion? An environmental toxin? Two sisters, Malorie and Shannon, embark on a journey seeking safety and other survivors. I was unable to put this book down. Horror at its best, not graphic, but truly creepy and scary. Highly recommended for fans of psychological suspense” — Mary Vernau, Tyler Public Library, Tyler, TX

Malerman wrote the book in what he calls a “26-day word flurry.” A musician in a Detroit rock band, he talks about that, reads from the book and explains why he finds horror “liberating’ in a “Beyond the Book” audio from HarperCollins which features author/musicians. Listen to it here.

Media Attention

Timothy F. Geithner,  Stress Test (RH/Crown) — EMBARGOED

The media is anticipating whether former Treasury secretary Geithner spill an beans about the efforts to save the U.S. economy (Politico is dubious and suggests you read “Elizabeth Warren’s take [A Fighting Chance] on all the people he left behind”). The author is interviewed in the cover story of this Sunday’s NYT Magazine. He also appears on CBS Sunday Morning this week.

Glenn Greenwald, No Place to Hide, (Macmillan/Metropolitan)

By the reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking the story about the NSA, it’s a shoe-in for media attention.

Publicity is ramping up for Stephen King’s upcoming novel Mr. Mercedes, (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio; Thorndike), An exclusive excerpt is promoted on the cover of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands tomorrow.

King released the book’s trailer on his Web site late last week (those afraid of scary clown masks should use discretion CONGRATS to the eagle eye who notes in the comments section that this video shows the pub date as 2013!).

A second 2014 novel arrives from King this fall, Revival, (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio; Nov. 11).

Last month, the King site posted the news we can expect another one in 2015,

Following the success of Doctor Sleep, Stephen King announced today that he will be returning to the story of Dennis Guilder in 2015 with Christine Lives, the sequel to his 1983 novel Christine. Christine Lives LIVES picks up where Christine left off, and follows the trials and tribulations of Dennis’s descent from school teacher to carnival barker as he attempts to evade the smoking tires of fate.

It is not yet listed on retailer or wholesaler databases.

The New Yorker “celebrates” the upcoming Mother’s Day in their own idiosyncratic way, with a cover story from Roz Chast’s new graphic memoir, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (Macmillan/Bloomsbury, May 6) in which she chronicles of the decline of her aging parents. Chast’s book is also reviewed in today’s NYT by Michiko Kakutanti, who says it is “by turns grim and absurd, deeply poignant and laugh-out-loud funny. ”

For more on Chast, take a look at the March New Yorker video profile (check out her variations on Ukranian Easter eggs!)

A slew of new titles arrive next week as publishing begins to ramp up for the summer season. Leading the charge, with the largest number of copies heading to stores and libraries, is James Patterson’s Unlucky 13 (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio). He reveals the not-so-secret secrets to his success to Fast Company’s “Co-Create” blog this week and remarks that he is just “an okay writer, but a very good storyteller.”

Also arriving in quantity is the next in John Sanford’s Prey series, Field of Prey.(Penguin/Putnam; Penguin Audio; Recorded Books; Thorndike).

Having left the character that brought her fame, Sookie Stackhouse, Charlaine Harris changes tack with the first in a new series, Midnight Crossroad, about the residents of Midnight, Texas, a small town with a practicing witch, a telephone psychic, and a vampire who works at the pawn shop (on the night shift, of course). Booklist says, “Although it’s much lighter on the paranormal elements than Harris’ usual fare, this should still make the lists of readers who miss Sookie and company.” The final 10-episode season of True Blood, based on the Stackhouse books, begins on June 22 (the tie-in is All Together Dead, arriving May 27).

Expect heavy review attention for Michael Cunningham’s latest, The Snow Queen, (Macmillan/FSG; Macmillan Audio). It’s already received a rare advance rave from Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times, calling it, “arguably Mr. Cunningham’s most original and emotionally piercing book to date.”

Below are five titles that have been getting advance word of mouth from librarians and booksellers. These titles, and highlights of others coming next week, with ordering information and alternate formats, are on our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, Week of May 5, 2014

All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, (S&S/Scribner)

We’ve already issued a holds alert on this one (S&S/Scribner, May 2014; Audio exclusive from MidWest Tape), after Janet Maslin’s advance review in the NYT. Booksellers made it the #1 pick on the May IndieNext list and librarians put it on the LibraryReads list (if you need further convincing, check  the multiple peer reviews on Edelweiss).

“Set during World War II Europe, this novel is sobering without being sentimental. The tension builds as the alternating, parallel stories of Werner and Marie-Laure unfold, and their paths cross. I highly recommend this beautiful and compelling story.” — Kelly Currie, Delphi Public Library, Delphi, IN

The Bees, Laline Paull, (HarperCollins/Ecco)

We heard about this debut first on GalleyChat. It’s now both an IndieNext and a LibraryReads pick for May:

“This book is set entirely in a beehive, but the novel and its characters are so beautifully rendered that it could have been set anywhere. Societal codes and social mores combine with the ancient behavior rituals of bees, bringing forth a remarkable story that is sure to be a book club favorite.” — Ilene Lefkowitz, Denville Public Library, Denville, NJ

The Garden of Burning Sand, Corban Addison, Quercus

IndieNext, May –“This is a captivating thriller that combines page-turning suspense with a social conscience. In contemporary Zambia, an American lawyer who is seeking justice fights entrenched power as well as her own family demons when her father, an influential senator, becomes a candidate for president. Addison’s tale is a fantastic read for literary novel lovers and thriller readers alike, as it provides both suspense and the exploration of important global issues in a credible and convincing style.” — Ed Conklin, Chaucer’s Books, Santa Barbara, CA

The Forgotten Seamstres, Liz Trenow, (Sourcebooks Landmark)

LibraryReads, May — “Two women’s stories, separated by close to 100 years, connect through a patchwork quilt. Carolyn finds a quilt in her mother’s attic and is intrigued by its origin, and quiltmaker Maria’s story is told through transcripts. Trenow carefully stitches together a novel about family secrets, using many interesting details about fabrics, needlework, and textile conservation. A strong sense of place and well-told story make this book superior women’s fiction.”~~Leslie DeLooze, Richmond Memorial Library, Batavia, NY

Delancey, Molly Wizenberg, (Simon & Schuster)

Another May LibraryReads pick, which was seconded this week by People magazine,– ‘The popular food blogger serves up a crave-worthy memoir that is part love story, part restaurant industry tale. Scrumptious.’

George R.R. Martin’s name on a new book is likely to get fans’ hearts racing. The new issue of People magazine features just that, Rogues, but it may not be what fans are hoping for. It’s a collection of stories edited by Martin, that includes a new Game of Throne story. In the accompanying interview, Martin addresses the inevitable question — yes, he is at work on Book Six in his A Song of Fire and Ice series, titled Winds of Winter, but puts off questions of when it will be finished by joking, “if it’s late I’m blaming it on you!”

Reporters aren’t giving him much time to write. The new issue of the Rolling Stone includes the results of a 10-hour interview with the author.

Also in the anthology, a story by another author under pressure to produce her next book, Gillian Flynn. In a recent Reddit chat, she told fans she is working on “a big, sprawling American folkloric tale of murder” and after that, a YA novel.

George R. R. Martin, Rogues, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois; Original stories by Gillian Flynn, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, and a new Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin, RH/Bantam, coming June 17.

“One of the most eagerly awaited urban ethnographies in years” may sound like faint praise, but it warrants the author, sociologist Alice Goffman, a NYT profile today, two weeks in advance of the publication of her book.

On the Run, (University of Chicago Press; May 13), is described by the NYT as, “a closely observed study of the impact of the criminal justice system on everyday life in a low-income African-American neighborhood of Philadelphia, [that] it is attracting interest well beyond academia.” There has even been film and TV interest, because it “contains enough street-level detail to fill a season of The Wire.” The 32-year-old diminutive blonde author is media-worthy herself, for her deep immersion with her subjects, enduring many of the harrowing events they do, including being arrested.

Publishers Weekly wrote about the book last week in an article titled “The Sociology Book Primed To Become a Trade Hit,” noting that the publisher has already gone back to press three times. The Chronicle of Higher Education was out in front, writing about Goffman back in November.

There will be more noise about the book next year. In an unusual move for a university press, Chicago auctioned off the paperback and digital rights, which were won by Macmillan’s Picador. PW reports that they plan to send Goffman on tour when the paperback comes out in 2015.

An advance review by Janet Maslin in today’s New York Times sent  the novel All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (S&S/Scribner, May 2014; Audio exclusive from MidWest Tape), rising on Amazon to # 167.

The book arrives next week with fanfare from both librarians and booksellers. Booksellers made it the #1 pick for the May IndieNext list and it is also on the  LibraryReads list (If you need further convincing, check  the 16 peer reviews on Edelweiss.).

Maslin calls it “hauntingly beautiful.”  Check your holds; they are heavy in some areas.

Articles We Love — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Esquire on how to understand women. How? By reading novels by women, of course.

Among his six recommendations is a summer title we’ve been hearing about on GalleyChat, Rufi Thorpe’s The Girls from Corona del Mar, (July; RH/Knopf; RH Audio; e-galley available). Jabbar recommends men read it to learn about female friendships, adding he was “was blown away by the poetic prose and depth of characterization. The blunt honesty of the women’s perspective will be a revelation for many men.”

Yesterday, Feb. 23:  “JK ROWLING has mapped out a series of up to seven crime novels featuring her private investigator Cormoran Strike — in a repeat of the approach she took with her Harry Potter books,” The Sunday Times of London, by Richard Brooks.

Today, Feb. 24:  Little, Brown denies Rowling novel plans — “A spokesman for Little, Brown said: ‘Richard Brooks has written this without foundation and there aren’t seven books planned in the series.'” — The Bookseller

   
Well, at least we know there will be two books in the series. The Silkworm (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio) will be released on June 24th.

Examining “Why We Can’t Get Enough of Twisted Marriage Thrillers,” in the Daily Beast, regular contributor Lucy Scholes looks at the spate of recent “psychological page-turners that subvert the ‘happily ever after’ formula of classic chic lit.”

Following in the footsteps of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, A.S.A Harrison’s The Silent Wife, S. J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, and “the less well known but equally creepy How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman,” (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Thorndike) are some new titles (Entertainment Weekly also looks at recent titles in the genre this week).

Scholes considers Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse, (Bloomsbury USA), published last month, as “truly formulaic in every sense of the word, but it’s an easy read and will go some way in filling the Gone Girl shaped hole in Flynn fans’ lives,” (it got a B from Entertainment Weekly).

The one Scholes calls a “significantly superior addition to the genre” arrives next month, Jean Hanff Korelitz’s You Should Have Known, (Hachette/GrandCentral; Hachette Audio, March 18), the author’s next novel after the successful Admission (made into a less successful movie starring Tina Fey). Entertainment Weekly also adds their voice to this one, in their list of “14 Reads That Are Worth the Wait” calling it, ‘The thriller we’re already obsessed with.” LJ did not give it similar cred, saying “the suspense is marred by the overwritten prose” but PW calls it an “intriguing and beautiful book.”

Scholes also suggests keeping an eye out for a summer publication, Natalie Young’s Season to Taste, (Hachette/Little, Brown, 7/15). The American edition does not included the U.K. subtitle, … or How to Eat Your Husband, which gives fair warning that it is not “for the faint hearted or the weak stomached…” It hasn’t been reviewed by the prepub sources yet, so libraries we checked have not ordered it.

The followup to The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling) is set for release on June 24th. Titled The Silkworm, (Hachette/Little, Brown; ISBN-13: 9780316206877; $28.00 US/$31.00 CAN), it is not yet showing on wholesaler or retailer catalogs.

Below is the publisher’s description.

Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo’s Calling.

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days–as he has done before–and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine’s disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives–meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before…

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, THE SILKWORM is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant, Robin Ellacott.

A story on the release by the Associated Press has appeared in several news sources, including USA Today.