Library Journal

Baldacci, David. The Forgotten. Grand Central. Nov. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780446573054. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Last year’s first John Puller thriller debuted in the top spot on the New York Times best sellers list and so far has sold an impressive 237,000 copies in ebooks alone. So fans will be waiting for this second in the series. Here, Puller doesn’t believe that his Aunt Betsy’s drowning death in her backyard pool was an accident—she sent a letter before she died saying that something was scaring her—and starts investigating. Basic thriller premise, Baldacci writing, buy multiples.

Connelly, Michael. The Black Box. Little, Brown. Nov. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780316069434. $27.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
LAPD Det. Harry Bosch is back, smart enough to connect a current murder with the 1992 killing of a young female photographer during riots in Los Angeles. That killing, never solved by the Riot Crimes Task Force, now seems a whole lot more personal than anyone ever thought. Bosch must search for the “black box,” that one piece of information that will explain the link between the two deaths that’s just been proved by ballistics. Look for special promotions this year for Connelly, who’s releasing his 25th book in 20 years of publishing.

Haas, Derek. The Right Hand. Mulholland: Little, Brown. Nov. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780316198462. $25.99; Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
In this latest from Haas, a Hollywood screenwriter (e.g., 3:10 to Yuma) and author of the Silver Bear thrillers, Austin Clay does down-and-dirty deep-secret jobs for the government that would be disavowed if ever he were caught. Here, he starts by hunting for a missing American operative held somewhere outside Moscow and soon teams with a woman who’s convinced that a mole sits somewhere in the top echelons of U.S. government. Let’s see where that goes. Meanwhile, note that Haas is editor of PopcornFiction.com, a site the publisher runs for him that presents short stories by top novelists and screenwriters.

Littell, Robert. Young Philby. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781250005168. $24.99; eISBN 9781250013651. CD: Macmillan Audio. THRILLER
The story of double agent Kim Philby is well known but little understood. What were his motivations and, finally, his ideals? Best-selling author and Gold Dagger winner Littell tries to answer those questions by reconstructing Philby’s early life, as told from the perspectives of 20 real-life characters. If truth is stranger than fiction, fictionalized truth can really shake you up. Look for excerpts at Scrib’d, Watpad, and Issuu.

Ochse, Weston. SEAL Team 666. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781250007353. $24.99; eISBN 9781250013460. THRILLER
Cadet Jack Walker doesn’t know what he’s in for when he’s plucked from SEAL training and sent on a secret mission with four full-fledged SEALs and their dog (a Belgian Malinois?). SEAL Team 666’s members soon discovery that the enemy is literally out of this world, as they battle demons and possessed humans, animated by an ancient cult, who are intent on taking over not just the United States but the world. Since Ochse’s Scarecrow Gods won the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel, you might take a chance on this paranormal thriller; his Pushcart Prize nomination is added confirmation of his writing skills.

Patterson, James & Michael Ledwidge. Merry Christmas, Alex Cross. Little, Brown. Nov. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9780316210683. $19.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Wow, a Christmas thriller (and another Christmas book from Patterson after last year’s The Christmas Wedding, which is being reissued in November). On a cozy Christmas Eve, Alex Cross has just wrapped up a little case—someone robbing the church’s poor box—when he gets word of a hostage situation that could tie his holidays in knots. The last Alex Cross novel has sold over a million copies (so far).

DeMille, Nelson. The Panther. Grand Central. Oct. 2012. 600p. ISBN 9780446580847. $27.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
The author’s most recent novel, The Lion, which featured his popular hero John Corey, debuted in a tie for the top spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list in 2010. So readers will rejoice that Corey is back, working in antiterrorist capacity with his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, in Sana’a, Yemen. Their assignment? To track down the al-Qaeda operative responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole. Alas, things are not quite as they appear. Roar.

Donoghue, Emma. Astray. Little, Brown. Oct. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780316206297. $24.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. SHORT STORIES
Emigrants, runaways, and lovers; counterfeiters and slaves. The characters in Donoghue’s new story collection have all wandered far from home, and they’ve pushed psychological boundaries as well. The author of the uniquely voiced Man Booker finalist Room, which has sold over a million copies, does something interesting here. Aside from writing eye-popping stories, she provides endnotes for each story detailing its historical background—especially intriguing when her writing ranges from the Puritans’ Massachusetts to antebellum Louisiana to 1960s Toronto. Can’t wait to read.

Dunmore, Helen. The Greatcoat.  Atlantic Monthly. Oct. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9780802120601. $24. HISTORICAL
Having moved to Yorkshire in winter 1952 with her doctor husband, who’s often absent, Isabel Carey is feeling isolated. One night she wakes up freezing and, finding an RAF greatcoat abandoned in a cupboard, huddles under it for warmth. Then she hears a knock on the window and discovers a young man wearing a greatcoat just like hers. What follows is an intense affair, but who is this mysterious stranger? Orange Prize winner Dunmore makes the past shimmer, but here she’s making it spooky, too.

Harrison, Kim. Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond. Morrow. Oct. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780061974328. $24.99; eISBN 9780062207906. SHORT STORIES
With this short fiction collection, Harrison offers a new view of the Hollows—haunt of bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan, the star of Harrison’s best-selling series—while spinning out a few new fantasy worlds. Included are three new novellas, e.g., “Million Dollar Baby,” featuring elven tycoon Trent Kalamack’s efforts to rescue his daughter with the help of a pixy named Jenks, plus all her previously published short fiction. Bonbons for fans of a series that just keeps ramping up.

Kiesbye, Stefan.Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone. Penguin: Penguin Group (USA). Oct. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9780143121466. $15. HORROR
I’ve been promised that this is a really spooky novel—chilling right down to the title, taken from the dark nursery rhyme; its billing as Shirley Jackson meets the X-Files just cements the feeling. The setting is Hemmersmoor, a place seemingly out of time where fear creeps around every corner; there’s a manor whose inhabitants despise the townsfolk, an old mill no one dares mention, and dark talk of revenants in the pub. Four village children are about to find out what’s going on. A  novel for the brave; from the author of There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby—clearly, Kiesbye has a macabre turn of mind.

Locke, Attica. The Cutting Season. Harper: HarperCollins. Oct. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780061802058. $25.99; eISBN 9780062097743. lrg. prnt. THRILLER
Locke follows up her multiple-prize-nominated debut, Black Water Rising, with a story set in contemporary Louisiana but freighted with implications from the past. A young woman is found with her throat cut on the antebellum plantation Belle Vie, regarded nostalgically by some and reviled by others as a living reminder of slavery. Locals are angry about migrant labor and the corporate takeover of the area’s small family farms, but estate manager Caren Gray turns elsewhere for a solution. Fingers crossed for this sophomore effort.

Patterson, James. Free Alex Cross. Little, Brown. Oct. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780316097512. $28.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Alex Cross arrested hotshot plastic surgeon Elijah Creem for sleeping with underage girls, but Creem is now out of prison and has used his skills to change his face. Meanwhile, a young woman is found hanging, having just given birth, but the baby is missing. More young bodies pile up, and Alex hardly realizes that he is being watched. I think that we can guess where this is going. With 75 million copies of his books in print, Patterson is the king of crime.

Sharratt, Mary. Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen. Houghton Harcourt. Oct. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780547567846. $25. HISTORICAL
A noted writer of historical fiction, Sharratt is also editor of the contrarian anthology Bitch Lit. So she should effectively capture the contrarian spirit of Hildegard von Bingen, who was tithed to the church at age eight and eventually broke out of servitude to a punishingly pious nun and system to become a powerful abbess, scholar, and composer who preached her own brighter vision of God. Not the biggest book on the list but with strong appeal for those interested in religious debate, strong female characters, and the High Middle Ages.

Boianjiu, Shani. The People of Forever Are Not Afraid. Hogarth: Crown. Sept. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780307955951. $24. LITERARY
Having grown up together in a small village, three young women join the Israeli Defense Forces at 18 and learn to withstand the threat of war. Yael trains marksmen, Avishag stands guard as refugees clamor at a barbed-wire fence, and Lea imagines lives for the anonymous people who pass by her checkpoint. Boianjiu, born in Jerusalem of Iraqi-Romanian heritage, also served in the Israeli Defense Forces. She comes well recommended, having been chosen by Nicole Krauss as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 award winners last fall.

Brown, Sandra. Low Pressure. Grand Central. Sept. 2012. 300p. ISBN 9781455501557. $26.95. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
On the day 12-year-old Bellamy’s sister was murdered, a tornado swept through town and destroyed the evidence—not to mention Bellamy’s memory of what really happened. Now that she’s 30, Bellamy has published a novel based on the incident—under a pseudonym. Of course, an unprincipled journalist has dug up her real name, and now there’s a killer after her. Brown is still a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author after all these years.

Doig, Ivan. A Bartender’s Tale. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781594487910. $26.95. LITERARY
Doig follows up his well-received Work Song with another story set in the past, though here he’s moved the action up to the early 1960s, right before the Age of Aquarius dawned. It’s about two women make an enormous difference in the lives of a father and his son.

Edward, John. Fallen Masters. Tor. Sept. 2012. 464p. ISBN 9780765332714. $25.99. POP FICTION
The author of numerous New York Times best sellers, internationally famed psychic Edward here turns to fiction, creating a work billed as metaphysical suspense as Good and Evil duke it out both on Earth and on the Other Side. More I cannot tell you, but you’ll know if you want this.

Freveletti, Jamie. Robert Ludlum’s The Janus Reprisal. Grand Central. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780446539845. $24.99. THRILLER
When terrorists attack a World Health Organization conference and make off with deadly viruses and bacteria, army microbiologist Lt. Jon Smith has a big  job on his hands: preventing worldwide biological warfare. A trial attorney and ultramarathon runner with a black belt in aikido, Freveletti (Running from the Devil) seems tough enough to take over the Ludlum franchise.

Ryan, Hank Phillippi. The Other Woman. Forge: Tor. Sept. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780765332578. $24.99. THRILLER
Ryan just won’t quit, even though as an investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate she’s won 27 Emmys and ten Edward R. Murrow awards. She’s also written four mysteries that have won Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity honors and is incoming president of Sisters in Crime. Here, disgraced reporter Jane Ryland can’t abide the lightweight stuff she’s expected to churn out, so she uses her spare time to track the mistress of a candidate running for the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, Det. Jake Brogan is tracking the serial killer of young women. Inevitably, our two protagonists find their cases connecting. The publisher’s lead title for the fall.

Brunson, Paul Carrick. It’s Complicated (But It Doesn’t Have To Be): A Modern Guide to Finding and Keeping Love. Gotham: Penguin Books (USA). Sep. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781592407699. $22.50. RELATIONSHIPS
“Modern Day Matchmaker” Brunson ditched his high-paying portfolio management job to do something far nobler: helping people find love. Young, black, and male, he’s not your average dating coach; he got inspired to switch careers when he realized that all the children at a summer camp he ran for the underserved in Washington, DC, came from single-parent homes. Among other things, Brunson hosts matchmaking events in numerous cities, but  if you can’t make them, you can still get this book. Aimed at everyone.

Burke, Monte. 4th and Goal: From the Gridiron to the Boardroom and Back. Grand Central. Sept. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781455514045. $26.99. SPORTS/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Joe Moglia always wanted to coach college football, but family responsibilities meant climbing onto the corporate ladder instead. Eventually, he became the CEO of TD Ameritrade—and then he quit, determined to pursue the dream he’d deferred. Now, after a stint of unpaid coaching to get back into the game after 25 years, he’s head football coach at Coastal Carolina University. We could all use inspiration like this.

Danza, Tony. I’d Like To Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High. Crown. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780770436704. $26. EDUCATION/MEMOIR
Yes, that’s Danza, the Golden Globe and Emmy nominee you know from Taxi, teaching English at Philadelphia’s Northeast High. After years of acting success, he felt it was payback time, and being a teacher appealed. What he discovered: it’s really hard work. A great antidote to all those pieces by folks who consider teaching glorified babysitting; you might know this from a short series on A&E called Teach, which covered Danza’s 2009–10 classroom year.

House, Karen Elliot. On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Contradictions—and Future. Knopf. Sept. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780307272164. $30; eISBN 9780307960993. CURRENT EVENTS
A Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and then foreign editor of the Wall Street Journal, House has been familiarizing herself with Saudi Arabia over 30 years. Here she draws on her access to the ruling Al Saud family, including the king, crown prince, and many government ministers, to paint a portrait of a country that remains central to Middle East politics and America’s future—it’s our second largest oil supplier. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Issenberg, Sasha. The Victory Lab. Crown. Sept. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780307954794. $26. POLITICS
Explains Issenberg, who covered the 2008 election for the Boston Globe, it’s not business as usual in the political realm. Academics, statisticians, and strategists are shoving aside seasoned advisers, emphasizing data rather than instinct as they change completely how campaigns are managed. A chapter from this book, “Rick Perry and His Eggheads,” was enthusiastically embraced when released as an e-original—Politico called it “Moneyball for Politics”—and Issenberg just launched a column on Slate, also called “The Victory Lab.” So there’s already a readership.

Leman, Talia. a random book about the power of ANYone by a random kid. Free Pr: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9781451664843. pap. $14.99. PHILANTHROPHY
At age ten, Leman did something remarkable: she organized the efforts of kids like herself nationwide and raised $10 million for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Then she launched a campaign that again brought youngsters together to help their counterparts in 20 countries worldwide. Here Leman explains how she did it, using advice like “Use Your Inexperience Shamelessly” to show what it takes—enthusiasm, determination, and a ready wit—as she encourages others to follow her example.

Reiss, Tom. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo. Crown. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780307382467. $26. BIOGRAPHY
New Yorker writer Reiss’s The Orientalist, a New York Times best seller, unfolded the complicated life story of a Caucasus-born Jew who declared himself a Muslim prince. So Reiss seems the right man to chronicle Alexandre Dumas, a former slave who became a royal musketeer and eventually a noted general in Napoleon’s army. He would be unknown today had the son who shares his name not used his adventures to write numerous beloved and enduring novels, including, of course, The Count of Monte Cristo. The result of five years of research and bound to be fun.

Prescott, Townes III. Total Frat Move. Grand Central. Sept. 2012. 220p. ISBN 9781455515035. $18.99. HUMOR
Drawing on the raucous website and Twitter feed of the same name, this book celebrates just how raunchy, lowdown, and, shall we say, unstudious frat life has become. Prescott is the (rather glam) pseudonym for a self-described hard-partying rich boy who was among the three Texas State grads who founded the site. Said to make Animal House look quaint; your move.

Robinson, Gene. God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage. Knopf. Sept. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9780307957887. $24; eISBN 9780307961754. RELIGION
Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church and the first openly gay person elected to the historic episcopate, Robinson has penned an argument in favor of gay rights and gay marriage grounded in the Bible that he loves. His audience: gays and lesbians who want to argue their case, heterosexuals who want to understand, and policy makers who need to understand. With a 50,000-copy first printing; inevitably a controversy stirrer despite the devout and congenial tone.

Sheldrake, Rupert. Science Set Free: Dispelling Dogma. Deepak Chopra: Crown. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780770436704. $26. SCIENCE
Biologist Sheldrake, once a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and now a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, aims to persuade fellow scientists that a strictly materialist worldview will eventually hold back their work. What’s interesting here is not just that Shekdrake is the author of the best-selling Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home but that this new work is the lead title in Deepak Chopra’s new imprint.

Thomas, Evan. Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle To Save the World. Little, Brown. Sept. 2012. 423p. ISBN 9780316091046. $29.99. CD: Hachette Audio. HISTORY
The genial Dwight Eisenhower was apparently a crack poker player, routinely cleaning out his fellow army officers, and, argues Thomas, he took a big, poker-faced gamble when as President he confronted the Soviet Union, China, and his own saber-rattling generals. A former Newsweek editor at large, now teaching at Princeton, Thomas explains how his careful strategy paid off—for him and for the world.

Velasquez-Manoff, Moises. An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases. Scribner. Sept. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781439199381. $26. HEALTH/MEDICINE
Worm therapy. It sounds disgusting, but consider. In the 20th century, many serious diseases were eradicated or sharply curtailed through better hygiene, vaccines, antibiotics, and more. In the process, we may have also eradicated organisms that help keep our bodies in balance, as evidenced by the rise in allergic or autoimmune diseases like asthma and Crohn’s disease. As science journalist Velasquez-Manoff explains, some researchers are trying to counter these diseases through the use of parasitic worms (helminthes) to help the immune system adjust. This should be fascinating if quease-inducing reading.

Witchell, Alex. All Gone: A Memoir of My Mother’s Dementia, with Refreshments. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781594487354. $26.95. MEMOIR
New York Times Magazine columnist Witchell can be hard-driving, but here she reveals a gentle side. As her mother, who always sustained her, slides into dementia, Witchell holds on by cooking up and sharing favorite recipes from her 1950s childhood. We could learn something here.

Cohen, Joshua. Four New Messages. Graywolf. Aug. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9781555976187. pap. $14. STORIES
Not for everyone, but please let the cognoscenti know that the brilliant Cohen, author of the shape-shifting Witz, is back with four expectedly weird and imaginative stories. In one, a writing teacher won’t read his students’ stories but asks them to build replicas of the Flatiron Building; elsewhere, an aspiring journalist stumbles upon a village (in Russia?) inhabited by women who have starred in the Internet porn he’s watched.

Cumming, Charles. A Foreign Country. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9780312591335. $24.99. CD: Macmillan Audio. THRILLER
Even as an elderly French couple is murdered in Egypt and a young French accountant is snatched from the streets of Paris, Amelie Levene—about to become the first female chief of M16—vanishes in the south of France. Former M16 officer Thomas Kell, now in bad odor with the service, appears to be the only person capable of finding Levene and figuring out what links the three events. One of the publisher’s biggest books of the month and a juicy-sounding follow-up to the best-selling The Trinity Six.

Dabbagh, Selma. Out of It. Bloomsbury USA, dist. by Macmillan. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781608198764. pap. $14. LITERARY
As bombs drop on Gaza, unemployed 27-year-old Rashid restlessly awaits word of a scholarship that will take him to London, his wheelchair-bound older brother writes a history of their country, and his twin sister becomes seriously involved in politics. A first novel from PEN and Pushcart prize nominee Dabbagh, likely an important new voice on Palestine (Dabbagh currently lives in London).

Hiller, Mischa. Shake Off. Mulholland: Little, Brown. Aug. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780316204200. $24.99. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Having escaped from the exploding Middle East, where his family was killed by extremists, Michel Khoury has become an intelligence operative with a desire for peace, a stash of passports and unmarked bills in the bathroom of his London apartment, and a new girlfriend who doesn’t know his true identity. Soon, the truth wills out and turns deadly, forcing the couple on the run from London to Berlin to the Scottish countryside. Hiller, who’s half-Palestinian and half-British, should give texture to his first thriller (and second novel after the award-winning Sabra Zoo). Great quotes from not just the UK but the Jordan Times and Israel’s Haaretz.

Hurwitz, Gregg. The Survivor. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780312625511. $25.99; eISBN 9781250009722. THRILLER
Some set-up: divorced, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and dying of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, former soldier Nate Overbay stands 11 stories up on the ledge of a bank building, ready to end it all. But when robbers break into the bank and start shooting, Nate rushes down and handily saves the day, only to be kidnapped by the Russian mobster who masterminded the initial break-in. Nate is told that he must return to the bank and snatch what the mobster was after—or watch his ex-wife and daughter suffer the consequences. Great expectations: Hurwitz’s You’re Next was an LJ Best Thriller of 2011.

Jones, Howard Andrew. The Bones of the Old Ones. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780312646752. $25.99; eISBN 9781250015136. FANTASY
Emerging fantasy author Jones follows up The Desert of Souls, a sword-and-sorcery debut set in eighth-century Baghdad, with the continued adventures of scholar Dabir and soldier Assim. Here, the dazzling duo find themselves living comfortably in Mosul—until a young woman approaches them, insisting that she has escaped from a sorcerous cabal and that her memory has been altered by magic. The tools of the cabal? The Bones of the Old Ones. Looking up.

Kenyon, Sherrilyn. Time Untime. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780312546618. $25.99; eISBN 9781466801981. CD: Macmillan Audio. PARANORMAL
Bad news for the warrior Ren Waya, just back from the dead: to keep a prophecy from coming true and an ancient evil from reemerging to destroy the world, he must kill Kateri Avani, the one person he has always cherished. Meanwhile, Kateri has been plagued by visions of places she hasn’t visited and a man she hasn’t met and has headed to Las Vegas (Las Vegas?) to calm herself. Next in the Dark-Hunter series; note that Kenyon has been No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list an eye-opening 15 times in the last two years. Multiples, of course.

MacMahon, Kathleen. This Is How It Ends. Grand Central. Aug. 2012. 356p. ISBN 9781455511310. $24.99. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. POP FICTION
You’ll have to read the book to find out how it ends, but it begins in fall 2008 when Bruno travels from America to Ireland in search of his roots and meets unemployed architect Addie, who’s nursing both a broken heart and her ailing dad. Lots of excitement at the London Book Fair for this debut by MacMahon, a journalist RTÉ News, Ireland’s National Public Service Broadcaster; rights have sold to 20 territories so far.

Read, Cornelia. Valley of Ashes. Grand Central. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780446511360. $24.99. lrg. prnt. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Read’s a rising author in the scary-reading realm; her debut, A Field of Darkness, was nominated for all the biggies—the Edgar, Barry, Anthony, Gumshoe, RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice, and Audie awards—and her subsequent titles have won stars, best books honors, and regional bestsellerdom. In her latest, Madeline Dare is bored with life as a stay-at-home mom in Boulder, CO, where the family has just moved, so she takes on a freelance newspaper assignment. Unfortunately, a serial arsonist is making her job a whole lot more trouble than she had imagined.

Rich, Simon. What in God’s Name. Reagan Arthur Bks: Little, Brown. Aug. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9780316133739. $23.99. POP FICTION
Founder and CEO of Heaven, Inc., a bored God is about to ditch Earth when Craig and Eliza, two starry-eyed angels from the Department of Miracles, intervene. If they can convince Earth’s two most socially maladjusted souls to fall in love, then the planet will be saved. Former president of the Harvard Lampoon, a four-time Emmy nominee for his writing on Saturday Night Live, and author of the novel Elliot Allagash (the film rights have just been sold), Rich has credentials in the Department of Laughs. Let’s see how this works.

Schneider, Michel. Marilyn’s Last Sessions: A Novel. Little, Brown. Aug. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780316212991. $25.99. POP FICTION
Dropped into the schedule in time for the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, this translation from the French reimagines the star’s last visits with Dr Ralph Greenson, her psychoanalyst and at the time probably the most important person in her candle-in-the-wind life. In a revealing review when the translation appeared in the UK, John Banville calls this a fascinating if puzzling hybrid, even quoting the author’s observation that “like Marilyn’s hair, this novel is a phony of the bona-fide kind.” Take a look if Marilyn rage is hitting your community.

Tan, Sandi. The Black Isle. Grand Central. Aug. 2012. 464p. ISBN 9780446563925. $24.99. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. HISTORICAL
Cassandra has fled Shanghai with her father and twin brother for the Black Isle, a steamy, teemy British colony in the Indonesian archipelago. It’s crammed not only with immigrants like herself but with ghosts, which only she can see and whose blandishments she studiously resists. Meanwhile, there’s trouble in the world of the living: even as Cassandra wrestles with impossible love and her increasingly important role in the booming colony, war is looming—the book opens in the 1920s and takes us through World War II. An intriguing-sounding debut from filmmaker Tan.

Tsukiyama, Gail. A Hundred Flowers. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780312274818. $24.99. CD: Macmillan Audio. HISTORICAL
In 1957, Mao may have proclaimed, “Let a hundred flowers bloom,” but not long thereafter the Cultural Revolution began. Tsukiyama here portrays the family of Kai Ying, whose teacher husband is sent to the countryside for reeducation after writing a letter critical of the regime and whose young son, desperate for a view of his father, climbs a tree and breaks his leg badly after falling. Winner of the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award and author of best sellers like Women of the Silk, Tsukiyama can be relied on to deliver a powerful sense of the political through the delicately polished lens of the domestic.

Abbott, Jeff. The Last Minute. Grand Central. Jul. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780446575201. $24.95. lrg. prnt. Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Ex-CIA agent Sam Capra owns bars worldwide for a desperate reason; even as he works for a mysterious network, he uses the bars as a cover to hunt for his kidnapped son. Now the kidnappers will return the child if Sam agrees to murder the one man they see as a threat. Some bargain. The author of Adrenaline is big but could be even bigger; keep on tap for thriller fans.

Gross, Andrew. 15 Seconds. Morrow. Jul. 2012.  336p. ISBN 9780061655975. $25.99; eISBN 9780062196354. lrg. prnt. THRILLER
So what can happen in 15 seconds? Leading surgeon Henry Steadman can get pulled over by a cop for a minor traffic violation, the cop can get shot by someone speeding by in a blue sedan, and  Henry can get blamed, as he’s suddenly the target of a huge manhunt. With a one-day laydown on July 7 and a 200,000-copy first printing; Grossman is a Patterson coauthor but obviously does pretty well on his own.

Haynes, Elizabeth. Into the Darkest Corner. Harper: HarperCollins. Jul. 2012. 426p. ISBN 9780062197252. $25.99. THRILLER
Gorgeous Lee Brightman seems like a dream come true to Catherine Bailey—until he shows himself to be violent and controlling, something her friends just don’t believe. Four years later, he’s in jail, and she’s staring life over, traumatized enough to check every lock twice and vary her routine daily. Sure, the guy next door looks appealing, but then there’s that phone call…. A surprise hit in the UK, where it was named an Amazon Best Book of the Year, this book has been sold to 12 foreign markets and Revolution Films as well; the first printing is hovering around 100,000 copies. Big and scary; you might need multiples.

John, David. Flight from Berlin. Harper: HarperCollins. Jul. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780062091567. $24.99; eISBN 9780062091604. THRILLER
British journalist Richard Denham is attending the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and despite Hitler’s white-washing efforts, he doesn’t like what he sees. American swimmer Eleanor Emerson was bounced from the team at the last moment because of her brashness, but she’s covering the event for a newspaper back home. Chance and shared opinions throw them together, and then they’re after a missing dossier that could destroy the Third Reich’s leadership. Unfortunately, both the Gestapo and British intelligence are after them. Billed as a blend of Alan Furst and Daniel Silva, and featuring many real-life characters, including those we met recently in Erik Larson’s In the Garden of the Beasts, this book should do the trick for anyone who likes historical thrillers. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Rollins, James. Bloodline: A Sigma Force Novel. Morrow. Jul. 2012.  448p. ISBN 9780061784798. $27.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. THRILLER
Another Sigma Force novel, so freshly minted that I can’t even tell you about the plot. But Rollins’s most recent title, The Devil’s Colony, debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times best sellers list, all his titles have hit the list instantly since 2004, and the one-day laydown on July 26 and 350,000-copy first printing say the rest.

Silva, Daniel. The Fallen Angel. Harper: HarperCollins. Jul. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780062073129. $27.99; eISBN 9780062073174. lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. THRILLER
Art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon is glad to be back in Rome, cleaning up a Caravaggio. Then he gets a call from erstwhile friend Monsignor Luigi Donati, the pope’s private secretary, who’s found the body of a beautiful woman lying shattered beneath the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. No, Allon does not see this as a suicide. Digging deeper, he uncovers a ring of antiquities smugglers with revenge on their minds. And that’s just the beginning. The one-day laydown on July 7 and 500,000-copy first printing make this pretty much essential.

Bakopoulos, Natalie. The Green Shore. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781451633924. $25. LITERARY
I’ve already mentioned this first novel in conjunction with my hunt for books on the crisis in Greece and, more broadly, the E.U., but it bears further discussion. Bakopoulos opens the narrative with the Greek military’s 1967 coup d’état, then shows the consequences for four characters: Sophie, a student of French literature sucked into the resistance; her widowed mother, Eleni, who has lost heart in the face of yet another upheaval; Sophie’s uncle Mihalis, a famous poet who’s stepped out of the limelight for personal reasons; and Sophie’s sister Anna. A personal look at the political, then, and ripe for discussion as a means of understanding why Greece is where it is now.

Coake, Christopher. You Came Back. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9781455506705. $24.99. POP FICTION
Many parents who lose a child divorce, as the pain is too palpably in the way of the relationship. Such is the case for thirtyish Mark Fife, who at least seems to have coped successfully with his grief over son Brendan’s accidental death and is about to remarry. Then the woman who owns his old house contacts him to say that she thinks it is haunted by Brendan’s ghost. Mark is skeptical, but former wife Chloe is not. Not so much a tale of the supernatural as of enduring parental love and hope.

Farris, Peter. Last Call for the Living. Forge: Tor. May 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780765330079. $24.99. THRILLER
Taken hostage by an ex-con who’s just double-crossed his buddies in the Aryan Brotherhood, bank teller Charlie Colquitt finds himself somewhere in the hills of northern Georgia, with both Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Sallie Crews and two Aryan soldiers in hot pursuit. Obviously a bank-heist thriller, this also aims to be a more reflective tale of a young man learning something important about himself under suddenly stressful circumstances. Personal note: debut novelist Farris is son of legendary New York Times best-selling novelist John Farris.

Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl. Crown. Jun. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780307588364. $25. LITERARY SUSPENSE
On Nick and Amy’s fifth anniversary, Amy disappears. Nick has not been a model husband, and Amy’s diaries reveal turmoil in the marriage, but did he really kill her? Even as Nick protests his innocence, it becomes evident that if Amy is dead, that’s the least of it. Flynn’s novels glitter scarily, and her last one, Dark Objects, was a New York Times best seller, but this one is expected to break her out.

Frank, Dorothea Benton. Porch Lights. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780061961298. $25.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. POP FICTION
Sloping dunes, salty breezes: it must be the South Carolina Lowcountry, the real star of Frank’s best-selling novels. Here, a grandmother, mother, and son clarify the meaning of love and the importance of family while recalling tales of pirates and Edgar Allen Poe. Frank keeps building (she had her best New York Times debut ever with last June’s Folly Beach), and the one-day laydown on 6/12 and 250,000-copy first printing suggest strong support. Get multiples.

Hanauer, Cathi. Gone. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9781451626414. $28.99. POP FICTION
Hanauer’s best-selling essay collection, The Bitch in the House, forthrightly addressed the frustrations of committing to motherhood while trying to remain true to one’s own ambitions. Reflecting those concerns, her new novel (after Sweet Ruin) features fortyish Eve, who’s been working part-time and raising the children while her sculptor husband’s career rises and then starts to fall. Suddenly, he’s gone, having disappeared after dropping off the babysitter, and Eve gets to balance everything on her own. Try it.

Henkin, Joshua. The World Without You. Pantheon. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780375424366. $25.95; eISBN 9780307907561. LITERARY
In Henkin’s debut novel, Swimming Across the Hudson, a man receives a letter from a woman claiming to be his birth mother; in Matrimony, WASPy Julian affair’s with Jewish Mia is launched in the college laundry room. Both won Notable Book status at various publications, and Matrimony was a book club favorite. Like those titles, Henkin’s newest work deals with family, and despite their obvious success this one sounds like a step forward. It features the Frankels, who have gathered at their summer home in the Berkshires for the memorial service of youngest son Leo, a journalist killed on assignment in Iraq. With a reading-group guide and an eight-city tour to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Northampton (MA), San Francisco, and Seattle, this is being set up as a big read.

Kallentoft, Mons. Midwinter Blood. Emily Bestler: Atria. Jun. 2012.  320p. ISBN 9781451642476. $25.99. THRILLER
Yes, another Swedish thriller, this one the first in a series of four books starring Supt. Malin Fors, a thirtysomething divorced mother serving on the police force in a remote town. She’s reputedly an edgy and obsessed character whose first outing takes her on a manhunt for someone ghastly. Watch for all your thriller fans.

Lowell, Elizabeth. Beautiful Sacrifice. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780061629860. $25.99; eISBN 9780062101228. lrg. prnt. ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
When significant Mayan artifacts go missing and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Hunter Johnson is asked by a friend to recover them, he turns to archaeologist and Mayan expert Lina Taylor for help. After all, with Mayan legend proclaiming that the world will end a year from this Wednesday, December 21, someone might be planning mischief. Hunter’s a loner, Lina’s ready to dig up his gentler side, and so we have a typical glowy Lowell novel. With a one-day laydown on 5/25 and a 150,000-copy first printing; consider multiples where Lowell is popular, especially as this is her first novel in two years.

Lustbader, Eric Van. Robert Ludlum’s™ The Bourne Imperative. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780446564472. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Jason Bourne is back, practically looking in the mirror. The man he’s pulled out of an icy lake, bleeding from a gunshot wound and nearly drowned, has no memory of who he is or why he was shot—sort of like Jason himself, way back when. Ludlum originated this series, writing three Bourne thrillers, but Lustbader is up to his seventh and seems to have made Bourne his own. Get plenty wherever Bourne is popular.

McCall Smith, Alexander. A Conspiracy of Friends: A Corduroy Mansions Novel. Pantheon. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 97803079007233. $24.95; eISBN 9780307907240. POP FICTION
McCall Smith’s “Corduroy Mansions” series is not as big as some of his others but is just getting started; this is the third installment. It’s mostly British eccentric—Berthea Snark is still writing that scornful biography of her politician son, Oedipus, for instance—but there is a mystery here: William’s famed terrier, Freddy de la Hay, has disappeared. Fun for the right readers.

McLaughlin, Emma & Nicola Kraus. Between You and Me. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9781439188187. $25. POP FICTION
The coauthors of stratospheric best sellers like The Nanny Diaries again visit that place where fame, fortune, and poshness meet. Having fled an unhappy childhood for New York, Logan Wade is all ears when celebrity cousin Kelsey Wade calls, in need of a new assistant. Unfortunately, heartless paparazzi and control-freak parents are pushing Kelsey to a very real breakdown. For all those who love glitter.

McMillan, Claire. Gilded Age. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451640472. $25. POP FICTION
This novel intrigues me because it is billed as an update of Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, taking place on that rocky ground where old money spars uneasily with new money. After a high-profile marriage and an equally high-profile divorce, Ellie Hart did time in rehab out West, then returned home to Cleveland (so how hot can she be?). Alas, she blows her chance to make good and faces a desperate decision. A first novel with some push behind it; watch.

Meacham, Leila, Tumbleweeds. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9781455509249. $25.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. POP FICTION
Texas author Meacham may have moved from Roses to Tumbleweeds, but she maintains the same bittersweet tone and sprawly size of her first novel, though this book is not quite as long. In a little town in the Texas panhandle where Friday night football rules, three friends grow up, their lives forever linked by a fateful event. For all those readers of old-fashioned, juicy works.

Pettersson, Vicki. The Taken: Celestial Blues: Book One. HarperVoyaguer. Jun. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780062064646. pap. $13.99; eISBN 9780062064110. FANTASY
Griffin Shaw is a Centurion, that is, an angel charged with helping other murdered souls make their way to the afterlife. (Angels seem to be replacing vampires as the hot new fantasy item.) When he sees a nasty attack on journalist Kit Craig, he joins forces with her to track a killer through the darkest stretches of Las Vegas—and the immortal netherworld. Author of the New York Times best-selling series “Signs of the Zodiac,” Pettersson launches a new series that promises spice and atmosphere: as a showgirl for ten years at the Tropicana’s Folies Bergeres, she knows Vegas. A sign of her success: Zodiac was a mass-market series, while this new book is appearing as a trade paperback original.

Roy-Bhattacharya, Joydeep. The Watch. Hogarth: Crown. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780307955890. $25. LITERARY
In this modern retelling of the story of Antigone by Roy-Bhattacharya (The Story of Marrakesh), fighting around a beleaguered American base in Kandahar has left many dead, and a woman comes to demand that she be given the body of her brother to bury according to local Afghan rites. The American soldiers don’t know whether she’s a spy or a lunatic, but they do know that she’s trouble. Written in direct, colloquial language, this novel is among the inaugural titles from Hogarth Press—named, of course, for the enterprise run by Virginia and Leonard Woolf and launched jointly by Crown and by Chatto & Windus in London with the intent of issuing character-driven works told in distinctive voices.

Scalzi, John. Redshirts. Tor. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780765316998. $24.99. SF
Something I just learned: Redshirt, a term that originated with fans of Star Trek, in which the crimson-shirted Starfleet security officers generally met quick ends, refers to a stock character that dies shortly after being introduced. In this spoof, Ensign Andrew Dahl is delighted to be assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since 2456—until he notices that Away Missions always cost at least one low-ranked crew member his life. Then he discovers the Intrepid’s real raison d’être, and he and his colleagues join forces to save their skins. Word has it that a horde of crazed Scalzi fanatics are out there, demanding this book. Don’t skimp.

Toyne, Simon. The Key. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780062038333. $25.99; eISBN 9780062038357. lrg. prnt. THRILLER
In Toyne’s best-selling debut, Sanctus, the threat from the Sancti, a dangerous religious order dwelling in the high-perched Citadel, seems to have been pretty much defused. But a remnant is regrouping, determined to grab back power, which sends American reporter Liv Adamsen and the warrior Gabriel to the very spot where humankind originated so that they can undercover the key to its survival. Whoa, pretty speculative. True believers won’t enjoy, but others will be interested; note the 100,000-copy first printing.

Walter, Jess. Beautiful Ruins. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061928123. $25.99; eISBN 9780062098085. POP FICTION
In 1962, a young Italian innkeeper meets an American starlet in trouble—in fact, she’s sailing toward him across the Ligurian Sea, the drama of their meeting evidently engineered by her conniving publicist. Fifty years later the innkeeper follows his heart to Hollywood to find her. Walter’s The Financial Lives of the Poets won awards and sold especially well in paperback; there’s even a film in the offing, starring Jack Black. All of which suggests that Walter is on the upswing, and this does sound romantic. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Ariely, Dan, M.D. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780062183590. $26.99; eISBN 9780062183620. PSYCHOLOGY
It’s not just Enron; we all cheat, from sneaking extra cookies to padding our résumés to buying imitation Coach bags. Behavioral economist Ariely, author of the best-selling The Upside of Irrationality, isn’t here to lecture us but to examine why we cheat, what the consequences are, and how we can become more honest. A book we’ll all have to sneak to read; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Bernd, Heinrich. Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death. Houghton Harcourt. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780547752662. $25; eISBN 9780547752693. NATURAL HISTORY
Humans face death with trepidation and elaborate rituals, but what about animals? Proffering lessons both spiritual and ecological, the author of the lovely The Mind of a Raven shows us the animal way of death, with examples ranging from carrion beetles burying field mice to wolves, large cats, eagles, and weasels working in tandem to get rid of killed prey. Not just for animal lovers.

Blum, Andrew. Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780061994937. $26.99; eISBN 9780062096753. TECHNOLOGY
Cyberspace just seems so out there, but in fact the Internet really does happen in places—huge data centers and the fiber optic cables carrying all those little pulsing bits of information worldwide. Taking stock of these “concrete” manifestations, Wired correspondent Blum clarifies how the Internet developed and how it works. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Cameron, Bruce. A Dog’s Journey. Forge: Tor. May 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780765330536. $24.99. PETS
Another dog book? You bet. And since Cameron’s 2010 A Dog’s Purpose was on the best sellers lists for nearly five months in hardcover and remains on the best sellers lists in paperback, you can also bet that this book will be big. Cameron’s multi-hanky read talks about what we all know about our dogs: we don’t take care of them, they take care of us.

Crowley, Monica. What the (Bleep) Just Happened?: The Happy Warrior’s Guide to the Great American Comeback. Broadside: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780062131157. $26.99; eISBN 9780062131164. CURRENT EVENTS
A regular Fox contributor and guest host for shows like The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity, Crowley offers (as one might expect) a sharp-tongued critique of the Obama years. A 200,000-copy first printing—and you know if you’ll need it!

Forbes, Steve & Elizabeth Ames. Freedom Manifesto: Why Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn’t. Crown Business. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780307951571. $26; eISBN 9780307951595. BUSINESS
The chair, CEO, and editor in chief at Forbes Media carries a big stick when he argues for limited government, proclaiming that “money is the root of all good” and “markets enhance humanity.” This follow-up to How Capitalism Will Save Us has a build-in audience.

Hayes, Christopher L. Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy. Crown. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780307720450. $26; eISBN 9780307720474. CD/downloadable: Random Audio. CURRENT EVENTS
America is defined by the concept of meritocracy, and that concept is failing. As argued by Hayes, host of his own MSNBC show, crises from the Wall Street meltdown to Major League corruption to pedophile priests have destroyed our trust in basic institutions and driven a wedge between the top dogs and everyone else. The problem: policies are made by and for the elite, with little reference to the country’s need as a whole. Hayes identifies the problem; now we need to find the solution.

Jurek, Scott with Steve Friedman. Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness. Houghton Harcourt. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780547569659. $26; eISBN 9780547722078. SPORTS/LIFESTYLE
Listen up, meat eaters! You don’t need all that dead protein to be a great athlete. Jurek won the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run seven years in a row, all on a plant diet. Here he explains how he came to running and then to veganism as he began thinking about food specifically as fuel (not as holiday yummies). He’s obviously one enduring guy, and this book is motivational in the larger sense. With a ten-city tour to Boulder/Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.

Karp, Harvey. M. The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep: Simple Solutions for Kids from Birth to 5 Years. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780062113313. $24.99; eISBN 9780062113337. PARENTING
The UCLA pediatrician who gave us The Happiest Baby on the Block goes for what’s really important: how to send that happy baby straight to the Land of Nod. Karp upends the big myths (e.g., that it’s best to let babies cry themselves to sleep) while offering two-step training to help sleep happen naturally. Since Karp been on all over television and has sold over one million copies of his two previous titles (plus over 1.6 million DVDs), this is a no-brainer purchase if there are families in your midst. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Marcus, Norman B. End Back Pain Forever: Without Surgery or Drugs. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781439167441. pap. $16; eISBN 9781439167458. HEALTH
Drugs are often mind-numbing, and back surgery works only half the time, so what can the eight in ten of us who will suffer back pain at some time in our adult lives do? Marcus focuses on muscles, not discs or nerves, as the main source of back pain, and his 21 exercises could do the trick. Lots of books on this subject, but consider Marcus’s credentials: he is director of muscle pain research at NYU School of Medicine and a former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Merry, Robert W. Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451625400. $28. HISTORY
The author of a leading biography on James Polk (A Country of Vast Designs), National Interest editor Merry adds a twist to Rating the Presidents, a game historians love to play. In part, he makes his calls by turning to the voters, looking at whether Presidents were reelected and, if so, whether their parties held sway in the next election. Setting aside Lincoln, Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt as “Men of Destiny” who pulled the nation in a new direction, Merry comes up with the near-greats, the failures, and the presidents whose status keeps bobbing about. (I’ll let you guess on those.) This book is meant to cause arguments.

Patterson, Scott. Dark Pools: The Rise of Artificially Intelligent Trading Machines and the Looming Threat to Wall Street. Crown Business. Jun. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9780307887177. $27; eISBN 9780307887191. Downloadable: Random Audio. BUSINESSS
Wall Street loves computers because they can make stock transactions happen at lightning speed; one company recently shelled out $300 million to gain 3 millionths of a second. The problem, says former Wall Street Journal reporter Patterson, is that humans are starting to lose control. There’s even an idea out and about to create a program that could learn from various trades so that eventually supercomputers would be talking to one another and we puny mortals wouldn’t know what was happening. Scary but real; the author of the best-selling The Quants knows his stuff.

Powell, Colin L. & Tony Koltz. It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780062135124. $27.99; eISBN 9780062135148. lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. MEMOIR
Not a memoir, really—that job was handled by Powell’s two-million-copy best seller, My American Journey. This is a series of anecdotes used to illustrate leadership lessons or, as Powell calls them, his “13 Rules.” Those rules range from “Trust your people” to “Get mad, then get over it,” something I have yet to learn. With a 750,000-copy first printing; buy multiples.

Rosenstrach, Jenny. Dinner: A Love Story: It All Begins at the Family Table. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780062080905. $27.99. COOKING/LIFESTYLE
Like Rosenstrach and her husband, I cook dinner every night, but I wasn’t smart enough to launch a blog about it that ranks number four on the top 100 food mom blogs on Babble, averages 107,000 monthly visits, won Rosenstrach coverage in the New York Times and Martha Stewart’s Whole Living, and has even been optioned for film. Recipes, photos, illustrations, tips, and anecdotes—all in the interest of quality time with the kids over a good meal. With 150,000-copy first printing.

Royal, Barbara. The Royal Treatment: How To Keep Your Animals Wildly Healthy. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9781451647693. $25. PETS
Anxious, chubby, arthritic, allergic? No, not you, your pet. Domesticated animals suffer the same ills as we domesticated humans, and to help them licensed veterinarian Royal would like first to remind us that our domesticated friends have not lost their wild needs. To address those needs, she offers a blend of Western and Eastern practices. She’s been on Oprah, so people will ask.

Sanger, David E. An Age of Reckoning: Obama’s Unorthodox Use of American Power. Crown. Jun. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780307718020. $28; eISBN 9780307718044. CD/downloadable: Random Audio. CURRENT EVENTS
In The Inheritance, Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times, considered the issues President Obama faced when he first came to office. Here he considers how Obama has handled everything from the ongoing war in Afghanistan to troubles with Pakistan after the death of Osama Bin Laden. More crucially, he takes the long view, pondering how Obama’s approach to national security and foreign policy has differed from that of previous Presidents and whether it will make a difference. Not just for wonks.

Sullenberger, Chesley B. with Douglas Century. Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America’s Leaders. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061924705. $26.99; eISBN 9780062101365. lrg. prnt. MEMOIR
Sullenberger’s best-selling Highest Duty covered his 42-year career as a pilot, including his miraculous landing on the Hudson in 2009, saving all 155 people aboard his aircraft. Here he offers reflections on leadership—where do the best leaders come from and how do they inspire?—while highlighting top leaders like baseball manager Tony La Russa and Michelle Rhee, founder of the New Teacher Project. Obviously a great book to pair with Colin Powell’s It Worked for Me, previewed above; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Swarns, Rachel L. American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama. Amistad: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780061999864. $27.99. HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY
Taking off from a piece she cowrote for the New York Times, Swarms delineates the First Lady’s ancestry, including not only those who endured the horrors of slavery but a white great-great-great-grandfather revealed for the first time. (There’s information here even Michelle Obama didn’t know.) Since black, white, and multiracial strands crisscross in so many Americans and indeed inform our entire history, this story is ours, too, and should interest a wide range of readers. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Swofford. Anthony. Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails. Twelve: Hachette. Jun. 2012. 300p. ISBN 9781455506736. $26.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. MEMOIR
A New York Times best seller with currently 250,000 copies available, Jarhead recounted Swofford’s service as a marine sniper in the Gulf War. Here he illuminates his postwar experience as he tamped down painful memories with alcohol, drugs, fast cars, and bad sex, then pulled himself together by taking a series of road trips with his terminally ill father, a Vietnam vet. Jarhead was a hit, postwar memoirs are gaining momentum, and there’s a ten-city tour to New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Iowa City, Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, suggesting great expectations.

Tillman, Marie. The Letter. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 200p. ISBN 9780446571456. $23.99; lrg. prnt. MEMOIR
After enlisting in the U.S. Army, NFL star Tillman wrote a letter to his wife, to be opened in case he was killed in action. As we know, Tillman died in Afghanistan in 2004, and his wife explains how that letter got her through the years of mourning. She also chronicles how she sought relief through career, travel, and, finally, her decision to head the Pat Tillman Foundation. Inspirational.

Wolf, Naomi. Vagina: A New Biography. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061989162. $27.99; eISBN 9780062096968. SOCIAL SCIENCE
Like Wolf’s classic The Beauty Myth, this work explores the juncture of women’s bodies and women’s lives. Looking into the relationship between sex and creativity, Wolf discovered a wealth of evidence showing that the vagina is not just flesh but intimately bound to the female brain and hence female consciousness, which has made the historical control of the female body crippling in every sense. Wolf is always provocative and always a best seller. With a 60,000-copy first printing and an author tour including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, and upon request.