Fiction Reviews: Week of 1/15/2007
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 1/15/2007
The Unknown Terrorist
Richard Flanagan. Grove, $24 (336p) ISBN 978-0-8021-1851-6
A life quickly flames out in Flanagan's firebrand follow-up to 2002's acclaimed Gould's Book of Fish. Gina Davies, a 26-year-old nightclub pole dancer (referred to throughout as "the Doll"), leads a provincial life in Sydney, Australia, spends $2,000 a month on clothes and is given to the occasional racist rant. But after a one-night stand with a man named Tariq, she turns on the TV and learns she's been pegged as the accomplice in an attempted terrorist attack on Sydney's Olympic stadium. She's instantly the most-wanted woman in Australia and the source of a raging tabloid media feeding frenzy led by sleazy TV journalist Richard Cody. The fast-paced narrative builds to a fittingly bloody crescendo, and Flanagan drops astutely cynical observations along the way (the Doll, for instance, "realized that her life was no longer what she made of it, but what others said it was"). A true page-turner as well as a timely, pithy critique of celebrity culture and the politics of fearmongering. (May)
In the Age of LoveMichael Stein. Permanent, $26 (160p) ISBN 978-1-57962-150-6
A sophisticated, intense and compact tale of love and regret, Stein's fifth novel is set in 1984. Jonathan Parrish is 43, unmarried and living in Burlington, Vt., working as a teaching consultant for UNICEF and as a part-time professor. Lily Mayeux, 35 and living in Portland, Maine, is a married high school biology and earth science teacher, with a four-year-old son. Jonathan and Lily's one-year relationship in New York 12 years earlier ended when workaholic Jonathan went off to Nicaragua. When he sees her name on a list of attendees for a New Orleans convention where he's scheduled to speak, he starts smoking again. Over that weekend, Lily and Jonathan reunite and ruminate in alternating viewpoints over their profound losses, each emerging as vulnerable and flawed. Their reunion is wary, and, without overly sentimental trappings or major declarations, it's affecting. Stein (This Room Is Yours) makes their musings smartly paced and multilayered, with sharp writing throughout. The past ends up crowding out the former lovers' weekend in lush, sultry, pre-Katrina New Orleans, but a canny twist makes for a satisfying ending. (May)
Sheer Abandon Penny Vincenzi. Doubleday, $24.95 (624p) ISBN 978-0-385-51988-5
British bestseller Vincenzi (No Angel) pulls out all the stops in this orchestral saga. In 1985, three young British women meet in a Heathrow departure lounge en route to precollege sojourns. One of them, upon her return to England, secretly gives birth and abandons the baby in a cleaning supplies closet at the airport; "Baby Bianca" captivates the public's sympathies until she is adopted. The mystery of who her mother is serves as the spine of this fat, satisfying novel, and Vincenzi creates multiple intrigues around the three women: Jocasta, a rising tabloid journalist (Vincenzi wrote for Vogue and Cosmopolitan); Clio, a physician specializing in geriatrics; and Martha, a corporate lawyer running for Parliament. It's 16 years before they all meet again, and Baby Bianca has matured into a stunning blonde teen, Kate, who is summarily exploited by a ruthless fashion editor as she searches for her mother. The various narrative themes crescendo through several all-hands-on-deck scenes, including a swank party where daughter almost meets mother, and a packed funeral where someone figures out who the father is. Although some of the male characters are too overbearing to be believed (especially Clio's sneering surgeon husband), the women are, without exception, multifaceted, smart and brave, and their happiness is hard won. A U.K. bestseller, the book offers major escape and abandon for summer. (May)
The Raw Shark TextsSteven Hall. Canongate, $24 (448p) ISBN 978-1-84195-911-5
Hall's debut, the darling of last year's London Book Fair, is a cerebral page-turner that pits corporeal man against metaphysical sharks that devour memory and essence, not flesh and blood. When Eric Sanderson wakes from a lengthy unconsciousness, he has no memory. A letter from "The First Eric Sanderson" directs him to psychologist Dr. Randle, who tells Eric he is afflicted with a "dissociative condition." Eric learns about his former life—specifically a glorious romance with girlfriend Clio Aames, who drowned three years earlier—and is soon on the run from the Ludovician, a "species of purely conceptual fish" that "feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self." Once he hooks up with Scout, a young woman on the run from her own metaphysical predator, the two trek through a subterranean labyrinth made of telephone directories (masses of words offer protection, as do Dictaphone recordings), decode encrypted communications and encounter a series of strange characters on the way to the big-bang showdown with the beast. Though Hall's prose is flabby and the plethora of text-based sight gags don't always work (a 50-page flipbook of a swimming shark, for instance), the end result is a fast-moving cyberpunk mashup of Jaws, Memento and sappy romance that's destined for the big screen. 125,000 first printing; $150,000 promo. (Apr.)
Goodbye, MexicoPhillip Jennings. Forge, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-765-31661-5
Former Marine and CIA agent Jennings returns with a riotous sequel to his acclaimed Vietnam farce Nam-A-Rama (2005). It's 1973 and the CIA has posted the naïve, earnest Jack Armstrong (back from Nam-A-Rama) to Mexico City, where he receives a surprising visit from former best friend and colleague Gerard Gearheardt—surprising because Gearheardt was last seen in the burning wreckage of a helicopter in the Laotian jungle in 1969. The Phoenix-like Gearheardt recruits a reluctant Armstrong for the following scheme: assassinate the Mexican president, blame it on Castro and use the resulting outrage as cover for taking over Cuba (which Gearheardt plans to rename Pussy Galoreland and give to the International Sisterhood of Prostitutes as a refuge). Meanwhile, the CIA's new chief-of-station in Mexico, Major Crenshaw, rides into town on a burro with his own plan: a devout Catholic, Crenshaw aims to hijack Gearheardt's operation in order to secure Cuba for the Vatican. Lurking in the shadows is the Pygmy, a three-foot tall CIA operative, and the habitually naked Marta Carlingua, a Cuban prostitute who's either a Gearheardt loyalist or a Castro mole. As Gearheardt's Byzantine plot unravels in this gonzo satire of international diplomacy, it's all as obvious as it is exaggerated, and it's very funny. (Apr.)
Fresh DisastersStuart Woods. Putnam, $25.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-399-15410-2
Smooth-talking New York lawyer Stone Barrington, along with his sidekick, NYPD detective Dino Bacchetti, get dragged into an impossible case in Stone's entertaining 13th outing (after Dark Harbor). Stone's bosses at the high-class law firm of Woodman and Weld want him to sue major league Mafia don Carmine Dattila for beating up a character from earlier Stone adventures, the hapless Herbie Fisher. It's all pretty much good fun—the snappy repartee, hot sex, dinner at Elaine's, comedic Mafia hoodlums with names like Sammy Tools, Johnny Pop and Dattila the Hun—until the tale turns darker with the introduction of a psychotic sculptor, Devlin Daltry, who's the ex-boyfriend of Stone's current flame, Celia Cox, a tall, fabulously beautiful masseuse. Woods delivers few surprises, but there are plenty of laughs as the pages speed by. Series regulars and newcomers alike will be perfectly satisfied. (Apr.)
Hollywood Girls ClubMaggie Marr. Crown, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-307-34629-2
Hollywood power-puff Marr pulls back the curtain on the wizards of Tinseltown, exposing a quartet of shameless, shoe-crazy ladies bent on building fame and fortune through blockbusters. Here's Celese "Cici" Solange, the stunning movie queen clinging to stardom by a manicured fingernail; her agent, Jessica Caulfield, president of CTA, "the most powerful agency in town," determined to keep her top-notch client list and position; billion-dollar producer Lydia Albright, fighting to a bring a sure-fire hit to the screen before she's fired by a new studio chief; and writer Mary Ann Meyers, plucked from obscurity to write the $1.5-million screenplay that brings all the players together. Marr knows her power-hungry vipers, thanks to her stint at the talent agency ICM. Though her insider's tell-all bristles at the plight of women who compete ("Talent representation was a male business; it was sales"), this novel is less about hit-making than cold compromise—"With the paparazzi, with the press, with the studios, with the producers, with myself," as Celeste concedes. The girls' club, cutthroat and callous, turns out to be a lot like the boys' club, but cattier and more fun to read about. A sequel is in the works. (Apr.)
Echoes of the DanceMarcia Willett. St. Martin's, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-36100-6
For her latest warmhearted take on love, change and relationships, Willett brings back Kate Webster (First Friends; A Friend of the Family), now a newly widowed grandmother living in Cornwall not far from Roly Carradine, a retired London photographer. While trying to persuade grieving Kate to adopt his newest stray dog, Floss, Roly agrees to take in a stray person, Daisy Quin, who, like Roly's sister, Mim, years before, has just suffered an accident that threatens to end her dancing career. Mim became a successful and beloved dancing instructor and wants to help Daisy follow her example, but Daisy is not ready to face that she may never dance again, or that the man she's in love with is not all he seems. Likewise, Roly's manipulative ex-wife, Monica, still pines for him; Roly retains a guilty secret; and Roly and Monica ignore the fact that their son, Nat, has secrets of his own. Chez Willett, friends help friends when they get "wumbled" (worried and jumbled) while courtship and marriage just wumble things up. Willett gets a bit wumbled herself, overexplaining the psychology of her characters and avoiding a happily-ever-after ending by substituting stagy sentimentality. Appealing, durable, human characters like Kate, Roly, Mim and Daisy deserve better. (Apr.)
American VisaJuan de Recacoechea, trans. from the Spanish by Adrian Althoff. Akashic, $14.95 paper (260p) ISBN 978-1-933354-20-0
The narrator of this sweet noir (which won Bolivia's National Book Prize in 1994 and has been filmed) claims to have read Raymond Chandler, Chester Himes, Dashiell Hammett and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán "as if they were prophets," and their presiding spirits are not far from this winning tale. Mario Alvarez, an English teacher from the provinces of Bolivia, arrives at the zero star Hotel California in La Paz wearing his best suit and clutching a round-trip ticket to the U.S. sent to him by his son. He meets Blanca, a prostitute with cinnamon skin from the tropical part of Bolivia who "had within her the serenity of the great rivers that run through her homeland." Blanca falls for Mario and offers him a more realistic future than the vague promise made by his son, but Mario is obsessed with getting to the U.S. When it becomes clear the authorities will investigate his faked documents, Mario needs to "expedite" his visa problem. Coming up with the harebrained idea of robbing a gold buyer for bribe money, he proceeds to land himself in various inglorious situations. Recacoechea deploys his clichés knowingly and makes Alvarez's crime less a puzzle than an intriguing window onto a society on the fringes of globalization. (Apr.)
Some of Tim's StoriesS.E. Hinton. Univ. of Oklahoma, $19.95 (160p) ISBN 978-0-8061-3835-0
Author of the 1967 YA bestseller The Outsiders and its sequels, several children's books and the adult novel Hawkes Harbor (2004), Hinton offers a thin collection of 14 connected short-short stories that explore the divergent lives of two close cousins whose fathers are killed in car accident when the boys are adolescents. When the cousins are both 25, a drug deal goes wrong: Terry is imprisoned, while Mike gets away, living a fugitive life in Oklahoma as a bartender and bouncer. The tales move back and forth in time: "The Sweetest Sound" describes nine-year-old Mike's being awakened during the night when his father, a war vet, cries out in his sleep; while "Full Moon Birthday" finds the boys sharing Mike's first legal drink and a friendly older woman. Later stories delve into Mike's dead-end, often dangerous job at the bar, and his attempt at striking up a friendship with his pretty adult-ed instructor. Finally, Terry gets out of prison to a tense homecoming. Hinton is clearly aiming for terse, but what's here feels bare bones; interviews with the author take up more space than these plainspoken tales. (Apr.)
Human Resources: Stories John Goldfaden. Tin House, $12.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-9776989-1-2
The seven far-out stories in Goldfaden's impressive debut explore the absurd without giving in to it. The first story, "The Veronese Circle," encapsulates a four-week group tour from Verona to Istanbul (and back) by six young writers who paid thousands of dollars to be guided by a Romeo and Juliet-quoting professor and his wife. "Documentary" imagines how a young filmmaker, Samantha, will mature emotionally (and what may come of her relationship with her rising star painter boyfriend) while filming hours and hours of women giving birth. "Looking at Animals" delves into the inner life of another kind of documentary photographer: after 30 years of photographing wild animals around the globe for National Geographic, Raymond retires and begins an acute interest in the goings-on of his neighbors. Admirably, Goldfaden roams widely and erratically, from surfers living on an exclusive beachfront ("Maryville, California, Pop. 7") to a bizarre set of contemporary pirates who give up robbing yachts to join a pirate-busting agency ("Nautical Intervention"). Goldfaden is an undeniable talent. (Apr.)
Black Hats: A Novel of Wyatt Earp and Al CaponePatrick Culhane. Morrow, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-089253-1
The pseudonymous Culhane (aka Max Allen Collins) once again shows himself a master at the historical thriller. In 1920, 70-year-old Wyatt Earp, who's working as a PI in Los Angeles, is hired by "Big Nosed Kate" Elder, the widow of his best friend, Doc Holliday. Kate wants Wyatt to go to New York and help her speakeasy-owning son, John (fathered by Doc as he was dying), who has fallen afoul of a local tough guy, the young Alphonse Capone. In New York, Wyatt teams with another old pal, Morning Telegraph sportswriter Bat Masterson. It's a fabulous setup, and Culhane has all the skills and experience to bring these great characters leaping off the page. The bad guys may have organized gangs and tommy guns, but in the end these whippersnappers are no match for Wyatt's cunning and 10-inch-long-barreled .45. The exigencies of historical fact force Culhane into a tamer ending than some readers might like, but the sheer fun of riding along with the two old lawmen and their memories will run roughshod over any quibbles or complaints. (Apr.)
Looking for HeroesPatricia Grossman. Permanent, $26 (246p) ISBN 978-1-57962-149-0
An uneven but affecting tale of suburban familial angst, Grossman's fifth novel follows Brian in Four Seasons. It's 1998, and Emma Mallick, at midlife, is weary of her sterile life in a gated community in Foster Mills, Long Island. She's been fired from her long-tenured social worker job, and her marriage to Gerald Strauss, a radiologist in private practice with a history of depression, is shaky and largely sexless—even Viagra fails them. Emma fills her days by administering her late father David's art estate, while Gerald sees hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Mallory and studies biographies of do-gooders like Albert Schweitzer. The Clinton sex scandal dominates news and conversation, and this tired motif holds up a derisive mirror to Emma and Gerald's own hangups with intimacy, trust, and caring. Meanwhile, their gay son, Aaron (a stock figure), and Gerald's aging racist father, Sid (very credible), add to the sense of upheaval. Emma and Gerald can sense their disconnectedness, but can't find a way to bridge the gap. This serious-minded novel's shorter, final section shows Emma and Gerald finally overcoming their various anxieties and paralyses. While Grossman makes quiet desperation palpable, her tendency to overexplicate gives the proceedings a fussy air. (Apr.)
Of Song and WaterJoseph Coulson. Archipelago (Consortium, dist.), $25 (288p) ISBN 978-0-977-85766-1
Coulson (The Vanishing Moon) mines a put-out-to-pasture jazz guitarist's halcyon past and hardscrabble present in a poignant sophomore outing. It's 2003 and Jason Moore (on stage, he was Coleman Moore) lives near Detroit, driving a beer delivery truck. Though his battered hands can no longer handle a guitar, they work well enough for drinking, which he does frequently while reminiscing about his band, the CBT Trio, once the toast of Chicago. Other frequent rumination topics are Maureen—the girl he married and lost—and Jennifer—the girl he didn't marry. Tragic memories of his paternal grandfather Havelock and father, Dorian, both skillful sailors, also haunt Jason. The one joy in his life is his 17-year-old daughter Heather, though they, too, hit a rough patch after her high school graduation. The book isn't a total downer; the jazz scenes crackle with energy and authority, and Jason's sexy religious zealot landlady generates some chuckles. Coulson moves fluidly between the past and the present, and the novel is ultimately quiet, affecting and redemptive. (Apr.)
The Last Communist VirginWang Ping. Coffee House, $14.95 paper (218p) ISBN 978-1-56689-195-0
Wang's second story collection follows two collections of poetry (The Magic Whip and Of Flesh and Spirit), a nonfiction work on footbinding (Aching for Beauty) and a novel (Foreign Devil). These seven loosely linked tales follow emigrés from the Chinese mainland to New York and environs. The title story, by far the longest, finds recurring narrator Wan Li in New York, homesick and clueless, but relying on the kindness of friends to get her an apartment share in Queens, a restaurant hostess job and a rich boyfriend (who doesn't realize that she really is a virgin bumpkin). "Forage" is a depressing look at the grasping single-mindedness of Wan Li's friend, Jeanne Shin, whose ascension into New York money hinges on "sweat and semen." "House of Anything You Wish" traces the despair of a young husband lodged in an Atlantic City casino, ruminating on the effect of assimilation on his beloved wife and son. Wang manages a magical realist return to China in the final story, "Maverick," where a man grieving for a lost river goddess (with whom he lived for 18 years) recalls her as the area is about to be flooded by a dam. Wang goes far beyond typical immigration story fare into uncharted territory. (Apr.)
No Legal GroundsJames Scott Bell. Zondervan, $13.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-310-26902-1
Bell, a former trial lawyer and Christy Award–winner (Final Witness), offers a disappointing faith suspense story that illustrates this genre's recent preoccupation with sexual violence against women. Attorney Sam Trask has his hands full with his rebellious 17-year-old daughter, Heather, the lead singer of Screech Monk. Nicky Oberlin, a shadowy figure from Sam's college past, shows up unexpectedly, and for reasons that are inexplicable until the closing pages, stalks Sam and his family. More troubles pile up: a dog is poisoned, credit cards are mysteriously maxed out, Sam's law practice suffers, a rattlesnake attacks and a child from out of wedlock is revealed (a stock plot element in Christian fiction). One of the nastiest turns in the novel involves the sociopathic Nicky's kidnapping and sexual victimization of Sam's daughter ("I may have to spank little Heather") and the suggestion that Sam must have sex with a prostitute to get his daughter back. One scene has Sam beating Nicky with the skull of Nicky's dead father. Awkward prose is scattered throughout (e.g., "the lights of the city illuminating the night sky like forbidden candy"), and Bell relies upon heavy back-to-back dialogue to move the plot along. Readers will want to skip this one. (Apr. 13)
Christine FallsBenjamin Black. Holt, $25 (352p) ISBN 978-0-8050-8152-7
In this expertly paced debut thriller from Irish author Black (the pseudonym of Booker Prize–winner John Banville), pathologist Garret Quirke uncovers a web of corruption in 1950s Dublin surrounding the death in childbirth of a young maid, Christine Falls. Quirke is pulled into the case when he confronts his stepbrother, physician Malachy Griffin, who's altering Christine's file at the city morgue. Soon it appears the entire establishment is in denial over Christine's mysterious demise and in a conspiracy that recalls the classic film Chinatown. And the deeper Quirke delves into the mystery, the more it seems to implicate his own family and the Catholic church. At the start, the novel has the spare melancholy of early James Joyce, describing a Dublin of private clubs, Merrion Square townhouses and the occasional horse-drawn cart; as the plot heats up and the action shifts to Boston, Mass., it becomes more of a standard detective story. Though Black makes an occasional American cultural blooper, he keeps divulging surprises to the last page so that the reader is simultaneously shocked and satisfied. Author tour. (Mar.)
Nerve DamagePeter Abrahams. Morrow, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-113797-6
In this gripping political suspense novel from Edgar-finalist Abrahams (Echo Falls), Vermont sculptor Roy Valois has never recovered from the tragic death of his beloved wife, Delia, in a helicopter accident while on a humanitarian mission to Honduras. Delia worked for the Hobbes Institute, "a think tank specializing in third-world economic problems." Roy's internal scars have kept him at a distance from others, even as the effects of asbestos exposure in his youth begin to ravage his body. When a chance remark leads Roy to search out the text of his already written obituary for the New York Times, he finds a minor error concerning the Hobbes Institute. That niggling loose thread obsesses the artist, but his efforts to set the record straight reveal that much of what he knew about his wife was a lie. The action and suspense are first-rate, but fans may find fewer insights into human nature than in such brilliant earlier books as Oblivion and End of Story. (Mar.)
Year of the DogShelby Hearon. Univ. of Texas, $21 (200p) ISBN 978-0-292-71469-4
Hearon's 17th book, the first since Ella in Bloom (2001), is a solid story of second chances and renewing family ties. Janey Daniels, 25, is taking a "sabbatical" in Vermont from her job as a pharmacist in Peachland, S.C., after her high school sweetheart and husband of five years dumps her for an ex-girlfriend. In Vermont, with its brilliantly colored Octobers and frigid winters, Janey bonds with Beulah, a Labrador puppy she's raising to become a companion for a blind person. It's while walking Beulah that she meets James Maarten, a potential boyfriend who is secretive about his past. At Janey's insistence, James eventually comes around to opening up and reconnecting with his family. Janey's attempts at intimacy, though, are sometimes rebuffed, leaving her with Beulah to love, socialize and wonder if she will ever be able to part with. In these moments, Janey's neediness is deeply felt, but she often appears far wiser and more even-keeled than her background and youth would allow, especially regarding her budding romance. Hearon's in good, but not top, form. (Mar.)
Cover Girl ConfidentialBeverly Bartlett. 5 Spot, $13.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-446-69558-9
From the author of Princess Izzy and the E Street Shuffle comes the rise and fall and rise of Addison McGhee, a Turkish-born immigrant turned American media darling. After a smalltown Nebraska upbringing, Addison ditches the heartland for L.A. and lucks into a small role on ER, but her fame is brief and she's soon a Hollywood square—as in the television show. Luckily, she is spotted by a hotshot producer who decides she is the "coolest thing on earth" and hires her to co-host a morning show alongside the "dapper and dashing" Hughes Sinclair. The show becomes a hit and the two get hitched in Vegas. But what bumps her from famous to infamous is a photo snapped at a White House barbecue that captures drunken President Samson Briarwood kissing her. (She, for the record, thinks the pres is a pig.) A national scandal erupts, and when Addison's marriage is mistakenly annulled, an enraged and devious first lady creates citizenship trouble for Addison. Bartlett is witty and irreverent, with a keen sense of what makes American pop culture simultaneously attractive and ridiculous. (Mar.)
It's Like CandyErick S. Gray. St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-34997-4
Sex, violence and crime dominate Gray's fifth novel, a wild trip through Jamaica, Queens, that reads not unlike a novelization of a Jay-Z album. Eric, a smalltime hustler who sells marijuana and promotes underground parties, is content with his low-key life until he meets River, a stunner who captures his heart and libido. River, it turns out, is a hustler in her own right, and sets up Eric for her two male partners to assault and rob, but even the $35,000 take can't blunt the feelings River has for her mark. Meanwhile, River's younger sister, Starr, a 16-year-old prostitute hospitalized after a run-in with a violent john, wants out of the life. Eric's cousin Russell, paroled after seven years in prison, is hell-bent on retaking the Queens neighborhoods he once ran. Though Gray's not the sharpest stylist, he keeps the story moving, and as the narratives converge, he pours on the luridness. The characters are thin, but the atmosphere is frighteningly seductive. Street lit fans will definitely want to take a look. (Mar.)
ForgivenessJim Grimsley. Univ. of Texas, $21 (136p) ISBN 978-0-292-71669-8
Grimsley's hollow fantasy of upper-middle-class homicide has little to do with forgiveness. Three years after being laid off from his senior job at Arthur Anderson, Charley Stranger can no longer support the haute California lifestyle he and his spoiled, Botoxed wife, Carmine, are used to. Carmine wants a divorce, knowing Charley is no longer bothering to look for work, though it takes a visit from their obese banker son, Frankie, to realize the true extent of the financial damage. The fights are nasty: Carmine tells Charley he looks like "[o]ne of the fucking Teletubbies.... the purple one, the grey one." Meanwhile, Charley rehearses his violent thoughts in imaginary exchanges with famous actresses and interviewers like Barbara Walters, and in running sitcom scripts that chronicle years' of the family's mutual scorn. When Charley actually kills Carmine and Frank, the murders are described in some detail—as part of a literary tongue-in-cheek, of course. Grimsley's tale is a single-minded, scathingly unfunny look at American materialism. (Mar.)
Hunter's MoonRandy Wayne White. Putnam, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-399-15370-9
The 14th Doc Ford Florida thriller (after 2006's Dark Light) from bestseller White requires more suspension of disbelief than most readers may be willing to provide. Marine biologist Ford, a shadowy figure with multiple links to the intelligence community, gets an unusual commission from Kal Wilson, a former one-term president who recently lost his wife in a mysterious plane crash. Wilson, who has a terminal illness, asks Ford's help in slipping his protective detail so that the politician can search for those he believes responsible for his wife's death. Implausibly, the psychotic serial killer who's Ford's bête noir, Praxcedes Lourdes, appears to have been involved in the attack on the former first lady, giving the covert op a personal incentive to assist Wilson. The action sequences, especially those involving Wilson, are less than convincing, and the climax is particularly far-fetched. (Mar.)
Homeland SecurityAlexa Hunt. Forge, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-765-31150-4
Former journalist Hunt's sequel to Corrupts Absolutely (2005), which boldly imagined a near-future U.S. in which the war on terror has led to martial law, further explores the war's impact on American society, but the execution falls short of the intriguing premise. In the opening pages, headlines announce that the Martial Law Act has been repealed, the shadowy Bureau of Illegal Substance Control is to be disbanded, and Islamic fundamentalists have finally overthrown the Saudi royal family. As a bitter presidential election looms, Elliott Delgado, an investigative reporter, and Leah Berglund, a social worker who used to be an officially sanctioned assassin, learn that some suitcase nukes have entered the U.S. as part of a plot meant to dwarf the 9/11 tragedy. Paul Oppermann, the Yiddish-spouting FBI director, and former senator Adam Manchester, the leading Republican presidential candidate, make unlikely action allies as the plot builds to its uninspired climax. (Mar.)
Autumn BlueKaren Harter. Hachette/Center Street, $12.99 paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-931722-61-2
Single mom Sidney Walker has a problem. Her son, Tyson, a troubled teen already on the wrong side of the law for armed robbery, has been missing for a week. Now police have implicated him in another crime. Sidney's family includes two young daughters who also need care, and Sidney's stretched to the limit when Millard Bradbury, senior citizen and retired teacher, comes to Ty's rescue. Sidney, an insurance agent with the soul of an artist, is grateful for Millard's help, but knows what her family really needs is a full-time father. Her wannabe rock star husband abandoned them long ago, and she still regrets turning down a perfectly good marriage proposal from ex-boyfriend Jack. Maybe with a man in his life, Ty would not have turned into a rebellious hellion. Sidney decides to give romance with Jack one more try, but she's more attracted to Sheriff's deputy Alex Estrada, a tough cop with a grudge against good-looking women. When Ty's worsening situation brings Sidney to her knees, she begs for God's guidance. A touching story of family and faith, Harter's second novel (Where Mercy Flows is her first) doesn't shy away from gritty realism. But she tempers the grim truths of broken families by delving into her characters' hidden dreams and giving them the courage to choose again. (Mar.)
The Fortune QuiltLani Diane Rich. NAL, $12.95 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-451-22027-1
This vibrant novel from Rich (The Comeback Kiss) shows that chick lit can deal intelligently with fate, family issues and romantic relationships. Carly McKay, a 29-year-old TV producer in Tucson, Ariz., comes from a loving Catholic family—a great dad and two sisters—all of whom have been scarred by the wife and mom who abandoned them 17 years earlier. On assignment from Tucson Today, Carly travels to Bilby, a small town revitalized by a thriving artist community, to interview Brandywine Seaver, a hip psychic quilt maker. Brandy gives skeptical Carly a quilt and a reading, telling her that her mother's not dead and that "[e]verything's about to change." When her mother's shocking return confirms Brandy's reading and she also loses her job, an angry Carly returns to Bilby to give back the "Quilt of Evil." She ends up staying in order to reimagine her life, and in the process discovers new love and the courage to take charge of her destiny. (Mar.)
The Edge of WinterLuanne Rice. Bantam, $24 (352p) ISBN 978-0-553-80527-7
A maimed owl and a sunken U-boat spark an inordinate amount of activism, romance and multigenerational family healing in this winsome melodrama. Out to observe a single rare snowy owl, high school beauty and passionate bird-watcher Mickey crashes her bicycle and goes sailing into the arms of soulful surfer-dude Shane. She joins his guerrilla campaign to prevent greedy developer Cole Landry from raising said U-boat from its resting place just off their local Rhode Island beach, where the underwater hulk churns up sublimely gnarly waves. Meanwhile, Mickey's struggling divorced mom, Neve, falls for hunky park ranger Tim, who has his own anguished reasons for revering the submarine. When the developer's son, Josh, bashes the owl with a log, Mickey, Shane and Neve take it to an ancient raptor healer, who, in an unsurprising coincidence, turns out to be Tim's estranged dad, Joe O'Casey, the commander of the navy ship that sank the U-boat. From this tangle of totems and relationships erupts a torrent of emotional catharsis and romantic rapture that salves the psychic scars of war. Yes, it's saccharine (" 'Love's what counts in this world... even for snowy owls' ") and soap-operatic, but Rice (Sandcastles) draws her cast of appealing characters sharply, from overexcitable teens to disarmingly deadbeat dads, and her significant storytelling skills are fully deployed. (Feb. 27)
Mystery
Glass Houses: A Gregor Demarkian MysteryJane Haddam. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-34307-1
In the 22nd Gregor Demarkian book (after 2006's Hardscrabble Road), Haddam as usual effortlessly melds a puzzling mystery—a baffling serial murder case in Philadelphia—with the latest developments in the romance between her FBI profiler hero and his longtime lover, Bennis Hannaford. The perpetrator, named the Plate Glass Killer, targets unattractive middle-aged women, leaving their bodies in alleys, their faces mutilated by glass. The body count has reached double digits by the time Gregor (known popularly as the Armenian-American Hercule Poirot) is consulted, and he finds that the official investigation is a mess due to hostility among the senior detectives. The resolution may be a tad far-fetched, but the intelligent, thoughtful prose elevates this twisty whodunit far above most other contemporary traditional mysteries. The author also deserves plaudits for making the long and complex Gregor-Bennis relationship accessible to first-time readers. (Apr.)
Looking Good Dead Peter James. Carroll & Graf, $25.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-78671-642-5
British author James dreams up a horrific intersection of extreme perversion and Internet technology in his frightening, expertly constructed second Det. Supt. Roy Grace novel (after 2006's Dead Simple). London marketing exec Tom Bryce makes the mistake of popping a CD he found on the train into his computer: it logs him onto a snuff film Web site, where he watches helplessly as a beautiful woman is butchered. Soon thereafter, Grace and his partner, Det. Sgt. Glenn Branson, find the mutilated body of the victim, Janie Stretton, a law student from Brighton, whose murder reminds him of the unsolved disappearance of his wife, Sandy, nine years earlier. While the lawmen pursue elusive leads, Bryce draws the ire of the twisted criminals behind the Web site and sees his family's comfortable suburban life unravel. The rapid-fire suspense builds to a terrifying, graphic conclusion that leaves tantalizing room for future installments in the series. (Mar.)
Magic CityJames W. Hall. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-27179-4
In the fast, entertaining 14th novel from Edgar- and Shamus-winner Hall (after 2005's Forests of the Night), the sharp-witted, multitalented Key Largo beach bum, Thorn, follows his girlfriend, Alexandra, to Miami, where he's caught in the violence whirling around a decades-old photograph taken during the 1964 Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston heavyweight boxing championship. After Thorn is threatened by two Cuban-American men looking for Alexandra's father, he starts investigating and in short order uncovers evidence of a plot to destroy all copies of the photo—and, if necessary, kill anyone who owns or has access to the prints. As Alexandra's father—a retired Miami cop as well as an old friend—is one such person, Thorn naturally takes a personal interest in stopping the men. While Thorn is no Travis McGee (John D. McDonald holds the edge in depictions of sharp-witted Florida beach bums), Hall offers lively characters, livelier dialogue and an excellent depiction of contemporary south Florida. 75,000 first printing; author tour. (Mar.)
Secret SinsKate Charles. Poisoned Pen, $22.95 (354p) ISBN 978-1-59058-356-2
St. Valentine's arrows rain over London in the engaging second installment of Charles's ecclesiastical mysteries (after 2005's Evil Intent) starring newly ordained Anglican cleric Callie Anson, who's mooning over charming cop Mark Lombardi. When not distracted by romance, Callie tends to the needs of parishioner Morag Hamilton, who, in short order, receives bad medical news and learns that her granddaughter has gone missing. The wife of Callie's boss has a bad case of empty-nest syndrome and frets about her son's serious girlfriend. Mark's police buddy Neville Stewart has, after nearly a decade, gotten back together with the love of his life, but she's sending mixed signals. Neville must also solve the murder of a successful young computer whiz, who has left behind a seemingly grief-stricken and very pregnant wife. All the characters are well drawn, and the multiple story lines make for a page-turner. (Mar.)
Edge of Midnight: A Police Chief Susan Wren MysteryCharlene Weir. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-34797-0
Police chief Susan Wren puzzles out the crimes directly and coincidentally linked to battered woman Cary Black, who flees California for Hampstead, Kans., to escape her abusive husband, cop Mitch Black, in Weir's dark, skillfully plotted seventh outing (after 2003's Up in Smoke). Cary's contact in Kansas, Kelby Oliver, appears to have vanished, so a desperate Cary temporarily assumes her identity. But when Cary hears a friend back in California was murdered, she knows it's only a matter of time until her husband finds her. What she doesn't know is that Kelby Oliver has enemies of her own, who are also out for retribution. Susan digs up the file from the brutal rape and murder of Lily Farmer two years earlier and pieces together clues to the threats facing Cary and Kelby. Blending the murderous and mundane, Weir deftly ties up the many threads of her tale. (Mar.)
A Crazy Little Thing Called Death: A Blackbird Sisters MysteryNancy Martin. NAL, $21.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-451-22041-7
The Blackbird sisters—Nora, Libby and Emma—tackle their sixth arch mystery (after 2006's Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too) set among Philadelphia's contemporary blue-blooded (and red-handed) set. When former child star Sweet Penny Devine goes missing and is presumed dead, her brother, Porter "Potty" Devine, opts for a memorial party and polo match instead of a funeral, which Nora, a society reporter, covers for a Philadelphia paper. The festivities falter after Nora discovers a severed hand that could be Penny's. Nora, Libby and Emma aid detective Ben Bloom in an investigation whose suspects include Potty; Vivian, Penny's cat-crazy sister; the Devines' former housekeeper's daughter, Julie Huckabee; Julie's missing father, Kell Huckabee; and Crewe Dearborne, a food critic. Sleuthing provides a welcome distraction for Nora, still grieving over a miscarriage and a little nervous about her engagement to Michael Abruzzo, son of a notorious New Jersey mobster. Martin's wicked observations about the horsy set enhance another fine-feathered mystery. (Mar.)
Vegas Nerve: A Sheriff Milt Kovak MysterySusan Rogers Cooper. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-312-35603-3
In Cooper's amusing eighth Sheriff Milt Kovak mystery (after 2003's Lying Wonders), the Oklahoma lawman arrives in Las Vegas, Nev., for an overdue vacation, only to get embroiled in an assault and battery case. His cousin, Maida Upshank, in town visiting her daughter, Denise, begs Milt to bail out her husband, Burl, who's been arrested for beating up his son-in-law. It appears Denise's husband, Larry Allen, attacked his pregnant wife. Kovak gets Burl released under his recognizance, but Burl disappears just in time to be the prime suspect in Larry's subsequent murder. Maida summons her five geographically scattered sons to help Milt find Burl, but the brothers' personality differences cause friction and scant progress. Meanwhile, back in Prophesy County, Kovak's second-in-command, Emmett Hopkins, longtime widower, embarks on a not-so-graceful, midlife office romance. Between the Sin City shenanigans and Hopkins's humorous woes back home, this light romp should leave readers satisfied. (Mar.)
The Blue CheerEd Lynskey. Point Blank (www.pointblankpress.com), $12.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-8095-5667-0
Set in the remote mountains of West Virginia, this gritty contemporary detective novel, Lynskey's second to feature former PI Frank Johnson (after 2006's The Dirt-Brown Derby), will remind many of such masters of hard-boiled prose as Loren Estleman. Johnson has sought to still the memories of a deadly encounter with the Ku Klux Klan by retreating to the Appalachian town of Scarab, where people—and friends—are few and far between. Johnson witnesses what appears to be a Stinger missile strike against an unmanned aerial drone hovering above his yard, and he calls on his closest local companion, Old Man Maddox, a retired CIA agent. When the pair pursue the mystery with the local sheriff, a cascade of violence overwhelms the quiet community—murders that may be connected with a shadowy local racist cult known as the Blue Cheer. Despite a somewhat predictable resolution, the first-rate writing will leave readers eager to see more of Johnson. (Mar.)
SF/Fantasy/Horror
Rollback Robert J. Sawyer. Tor, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-765-31108-5
Canadian author Sawyer (Mindscan) once again presents likable characters facing big ethical dilemmas in this smoothly readable near-future SF novel. Astronomer Sarah Halifax, who translated the first message from aliens and helped prepare humanity's response, is 87 when the second, encrypted message arrives 38 years later. To aid the decoding, a tycoon buys rejuvenation treatment for Sarah and Don, her husband of 60 years; however, only Don becomes young again. While coping with the physical indignities of old age, Sarah tries to figure out the puzzle of the second message. The bond between Don and Sarah continues, even while Don is joyfully and guiltily discovering the pleasures of living in a young body again. They want to do what's right for each other and the rest of humanity—for the aliens, too—if they can figure out what "right" could be. By its nature, a story about moral choices tends to get talky, but the talk is intelligent and performed by sympathetic and believable people. Sawyer, who has won Hugo and Nebula awards, may well win another major SF award with this superior effort. (Apr.)
Day WatchSergei Lukyanenko, trans. from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield. Miramax, $13.95 paper (464p) ISBN 978-1-4013-6020-7
The morally ambiguous second volume in Lukyanenko's trilogy (after 2006's Night Watch, a major literary and cinematic success in Russia) portrays the epic supernatural struggle between good and evil from the point-of-view of the witch Alisa Donnikova. Lukyanenko imagines a parallel reality, where human history has been shaped by a centuries-old conflict between the Dark Ones and the Light Ones, magical beings whose existence is kept carefully hidden from humanity. After Alisa, a Dark One, loses her powers in a minor confrontation with some Light Ones, she heads to the Crimea to recuperate at a girls' camp, where she feeds on children's nightmares. There she falls in love with Igor, who turns out to be a Light magician. The plot centers on the ramifications of their romance and the theft of Fafnir's Talon, a powerful artifact whose provenance is linked to the legendary Ring of the Nibelungs. Though the artifact conceit is less well developed than that of the truth-telling instrument in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, the fast-paced story augurs well for the last installment. (Mar.)
X-Rated BloodsuckersMario Acevedo. Rayo, $13.95 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-083327-5
Hard-boiled action mixes with soft-core titillation in Acevedo's second novel featuring soldier– turned–vampire PI Felix Gomez (after 2006's The Nymphos of Rocky Flats), who's approached by porn actress Katz Meow to investigate the murder of her colleague Roxy Bronze. Before you can say XXX, Felix is off to California's San Fernando Valley and up to his fangs in intrigue implicating a vampire producer of adult films, a sham evangelist, a power-hungry local politician and the Araneum, the secret vampire hierarchy tasked with stamping out unorthodox human-vampire interactions. Felix endures the usual silver bullets and garlic, as well as several very human double crosses and miscalculations, before the story speeds to an unlikely conclusion that exposes a somewhat unconvincing villain. The novel's true appeal lies in its zippy banter and witty repartee on vampire lifestyle, particularly in Felix's ongoing partnership with Coyote, a low-rent vamp from the barrio. Acevedo has a natural flare for the hard-boiled idiom, and readers who enjoyed Felix's first adventure will find this follow-up equally entertaining. (Mar.)
Fortune's FoolMercedes Lackey. Luna, $24.95 (362p) ISBN 978-0-373-80266-1
Lackey's ornate, meandering third installment in her Five Hundred Kingdoms romantic saga (after 2006's One Good Knight) heralds the fair Princess Ekaterina, seventh daughter of the Sea King, whose magic enables her to surface from the watery deep and live on land as well. When her father dispatches her on a spying mission to the Drylands, she falls in love with the land-born seventh son of the king of Led Belarus, Prince Sasha Pieterovich, a Songweaver who calls on magic through music. But their steamy courtship is soon interrupted by an evil Jinn, who captures Katya and confines her to his castle along with dozens of other magically gifted females, whose powers he saps to enrich his own. But stealing clever Katya is a big mistake for the Jinn, as it leads to a pyrotechnic showdown—dragons and all—before the gifted couple continue on their path to wedded bliss. (Mar.)
Wolf's BloodJane Lindskold. Tor, $27.95 (544p) ISBN 978-0-765-31480-2
Lindskold's fantasy saga about Firekeeper, a young woman raised by intelligent, talking wolves and destined to save her world, concludes in this intricately plotted sixth adventure (after 2006's Wolf Hunting). Long ago, the sorcerers who ruled the Old World beyond the magical gates were destroyed by a terrible plague—one which Firekeeper and her allies accidentally freed when they reopened the long-closed gates between New and Old Worlds. In the aftermath, which left New World magic users damaged or crippled, Firekeeper is compelled to learn the source of the plague and how to destroy it once and for all. Meanwhile, the kingdoms around her home in the Nexus Islands prepare to fight to get the gates—necessary for trade—reopened, no matter what. While a complex backstory obliges new readers to start with an earlier entry point in the series, this volume rewards patience with a thought-provoking tale of magic and politics, enlivened by Firekeeper's wry and wolfish point-of-view. (Mar.)
Fenzig's FortuneJean Rabe. Five Star, $25.95 (279p) ISBN 978-1-59414-567-4
In this light, fizzy brew of a quest fantasy from Rabe (The Finest Challenge), a thieving but charming young gnome, Fenzighan "Fenzig" Wiznagrik, is caught red-handed in King Erlgrane's treasure trove. To avoid punishment, he agrees to steal three precious emeralds from Erlgrane's rival, Duke Rehmir of K'Nosha—the gnome's assignment made all the more dangerous by a wizard's spell that will kill him should he not return with the jewels in two weeks. En route to the duke's castle, Fenzig meets a traveling performer and gifted thief who goes by the name of Carmen the Magnificent. But Carmen turns out to be more than meets the eye, and the two thieves join forces to foil Erlgrane's devious plans to usurp Rehmir's fortune. Readers of all ages will find simple pleasures in this traditional hobbit-inspired fantasy. (Mar.)
Imaro 2: The Quest for CushCharles Saunders. Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $14.95 paper (222p) ISBN 978-1-59780-066-2
In Saunders's exciting sequel to Imaro (2006), the fearless black warrior Imaro and his faithful pygmy sidekick, Pomphis, set out for the city of Cush, where they hope to rescue his beautiful lover, Tanisha, who's been kidnapped (but not ravished) by the evil Bomunu. Along the way, Imaro and Pomphis must overcome fierce storms and treacherous sorcerers with weird bodies, among other obstacles. Once the pair reach Cush, Tanisha has some wonderful news for Imaro. First published in 1984 and now considerably revised, this straightforward sword-and-sorcery adventure will resonate with fans of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian. (Feb. 26)
Mass Market
Lover RevealedJ.R. Ward. Onyx, $7.99 (480p) ISBN 978-0-451-41235-5
Newbies to Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood may struggle to fill in the backstory, but these erotic paranormals are well worth it, and frighteningly addictive. The six "brothers" are vampires: enormous, tattooed, tormented warriors who protect other vampires from destruction by the "lessers," desouled humans in the evil Omega's Lessening Society. Hero and ex-cop Butch is the only human allowed into the Brotherhood's inner circle, but Butch is no mere human, a fact suspected by one of his vamp colleagues, and confirmed by the sinister plans of the Omega. The book is fully committed to its urban sensibility, the vampires' rarified language (a glossary is provided) and their revved-up sex drives, and it all works to great, page-turning effect (with the notable exception of a chick lit–like attention to designer brands). Though Butch's love interest, the virginal, aristocratic vampire Marissa, initially elicits more annoyance than empathy, she grows a spine as the book progresses and Butch's destiny comes to light. In just two years, the first three books in the series have earned Ward an Anne Rice–style following, deservedly so; this entry should prove no less popular. (Mar.)
No Safe PlaceJoAnn Ross. Pocket, $7.50 (400p) ISBN 978-1-4165-0166-4
Ross's return to the bayous of Louisiana sizzles with the sensuality and danger fans of her romantic thrillers have come to expect, as Chicago detective Kate Delaney travels to post-Katrina New Orleans to investigate the supposed suicide of her estranged twin sister. Once there, Kate finds she can't trust the NOPD, so joins forces with bad-boy private investigator Nick Broussard, a former New Orleans police officer recently thrown off the force. Their investigation turns up a killer, a plague of corruption and a mystery assailant whose target is unclear; is Kate the next victim of a serial killer, or are Nick's crime world contacts looking to silence him? Though Nick and Kate's instant attraction might seem predictable and precipitous—yes, she's a "no-nonsense, Joe Friday, Yankee police detective" and he's "the most frustrating man she'd ever met"—the scintillating love scenes it yields shouldn't disappoint. Though new readers will find Ross's casual, chatty prose style a love-it-or-hate-it affair, it pairs well with the Big Easy backdrop, and her deliberate pace pays off in the powerful, action-packed conclusion. (Mar.)
A Dangerous ManCandace Camp. HQN, $6.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-373-77136-3
The prolific Camp again pits an independent American heiress against the staid traditions of English aristocracy (as in So Wild a Heart) in this winning Regency mystery romance. Already grieving over the tragic drowning death of her husband, the gifted composer Sir Edmund Scarborough, the strong-willed widow Eleanor, known among London society as "the bossy American," is unprepared for the enmity of his family. When Edmund's overbearing, histrionic mother learns Edmund had appointed Eleanor the trustee of his estate and that she is bringing his ashes—and not his body—home for burial, she accuses Eleanor of murdering her son and sends her brother, Lord Anthony Neale, to investigate. Eleanor and Anthony clash immediately, but a rash of mysterious intrusions draws the two closer, and they begin to suspect that gentle Edmund's death was no accident. Pulling together political intrigue, a delightful menagerie of characters and two likable, unconventional leads, Camp has again produced a fast-paced plot brimming with lively conflict among family, lovers and enemies. (Mar.)
