|
|
|
|
|
|
The Friend of the Family
by Dean Koontz
The human 'oddities' in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum's golden ticket--until she's rescued by two compassionate strangers. Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds it. Yet despite everyone's overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They're vivid, unsettling, and threatening. Alida fears that they're also warnings--and that it's the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world--
|
|
|
|
Wolf Worm
by T. Kingfisher
Something darker than the devil stalks the North Carolina woods in Wolf Worm, a new gothic masterpiece from New York Times bestselling author T. KingfisherDELUXE EDITION--a gorgeous hardcover with endpapers illustrated by the author and a foil case stamp I saw the devil in these woods. Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator--but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father's reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects, or hope. So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use. Once there though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light, like what happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about blood thiefs? With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder's entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road. His ground-breaking discoveries come with a cost--one that Halder is paying with human flesh. If Sonia can't find a way to stop the monstrosity, she may be next under the knife.
|
|
|
|
Dead Line
by Marc Cameron
Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki brave a brutal and unforgiving Alaskan winter on a desperate manhunt that takes a blood-chilling twist in New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. Marshal Marc Cameron's breathless, taut new wilderness adventure thriller for fans of Paul Doiron, CJ Box, Taylor Moore, and William Kent Krueger. Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki are at frozen Cheney Lake, finally nearing their prey. He's Butch Pritchard, a killer-for-hire as ruthless as the Anchorage wind, and wanted for the murder of a 25-year-old pregnant woman in Missouri. A cruel hit orchestrated by the victim's husband, Royce Decker, a former member of the St. Louis Metro PD and on the run too. As quickly as Butch is in the marshals' sight he disappears, abandoning a bear of a partner who's terrified for his life. But it isn't Butch or Royce he's afraid of. If it isn't those two outlaws, then who? And why? Right now, the creep in custody has gone silent and Arliss and Lola soon realize there's more to this manhunt than they ever imagined. To see it through to the end they'll have to find Butch first, then close on the cold-blooded husband. There is one lead to go on: a woman Butch has been involved with. His number one. She's ready to talk. Even as scared to death as she is. When Arliss and Lola suddenly face an all-new case linked to this one, they'll find out what everyone is so afraid of. And how many ways things could still go terribly wrong. Cameron's novels hook you from the first line, cement your eyes to the page, and grip your heart in a vice. I can't think of another writer whose work I admire more. --WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER A double-barreled blast of action, narrative, and impossible-to-fake authenticity. --CJ BOX
|
|
| House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk; translated by Antonia Lloyd-JonesThis reissuing of a book first published in Polish in 1998 by a Nobel and Booker Prize winner explores life in a small village along the Polish-Czech border. Stylistically complex and using a variety of elements (stories, gossip, recipes, etc.), Tokarczuk's "scattered fragments are beautifully tied together to form a unified whole" (Library Journal). Try this next: Vaim by Jon Fosse. |
|
Books You May Have Missed
|
|
| My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel AllendeRaised by her Irish former nun mother and a loving stepdad in San Francisco, Emilia del Valle never knows her Chilean aristocrat father. As a young journalist covering the Chilean Civil War of 1891, she begins a romance and also finally meets the father who abandoned her. Isabel Allende fans will relish reading about the del Valles, whose various members often appear in her work. Try this next: Kaitlyn Greenidge's Libertie. |
|
| Spent by Alison BechdelIn this comic graphic novel, author and cartoonist Alison Bechdel -- who shares a name and striking similarities with the author of the book -- lives on a goat farm in Vermont with her partner Holly and works on her next book project that deals with late-stage capitalism while helping her sister, spending time with friends, and pitching a reality show where people try to live more ethically. Kirkus Reviews raves, "Bechdel is incisive, tender, and funny -- often at the same time." |
|
| The Heart of Winter by Jonathan EvisonThis poignant portrait of a marriage begins on Abe Winter's 90th birthday. While he's uncomfortable with the attention, his 87-year-old wife, Ruth, has a tooth that's causing her problems. When Ruth's diagnosed with oral cancer, Abe tries to care for her in this novel that looks back over 70 years, from their opposites-attract college romance to marriage problems, raising kids, and more. Try these next: Jessica Soffer's This Is a Love Story; Mikki Brammer's The Collected Regrets of Clover. |
|
| The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham JonesIn 2012, college professor Etsy Beaucarne learns about a 100-year-old diary written by her great-great-grandfather, Lutheran minister Arthur Beaucarne, and hopes she can utilize it to secure tenure. Contained within its pages are the confessions of Good Stab, a Blackfeet vampire seeking vengeance for the massacre of his people. For fans of: The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo; Lone Women by Victor LaValle. |
|
| Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins ReidIn 1980, physics and astronomy professor Joan Goodwin is selected to train as an astronaut at Houston's Johnson Space Center. As the astronaut candidates work together and become friends, Joan unexpectedly finds herself falling in love with one of them. This acclaimed, suspenseful tale cuts back and forth between training and a 1984 mission gone wrong. Read-alikes: Eliana Ramage's To the Moon and Back; Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry. |
|
| Woodworking by Emily St. JamesIn autumn 2016, recently divorced 35-year-old Erica Skyberg, a closeted trans woman in small-town South Dakota, teaches, does community theater, and makes friends with openly trans transfer student Abigail. Though they bond, Abigail is also a snarky 17-year-old trying to find her own way. With characters who feel real, this debut novel is an "engrossing drama [and] a must-read" (Publishers Weekly). Try this next: Edward Underhill's The In-Between Bookstore. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|