Fiction Reviews: Week of 3/12/2007
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 3/12/2007
The River Wife
Jonis Agee. Random, $24.95 (432p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6596-7
Agee (Sweet Eyes; Strange Angels) delivers an enthralling family saga set in Missouri's boot heel, a place so remote, "it's as if the whole state of Missouri has been trying to shake it off for years, like a vestigial tail." Seventeen-year-old Hedie Rails arrives in 1930 as the pregnant bride of Clement Ducharme at his family estate, but little does Hedie know that she's carrying on a tradition: in 1811, young Annie Lark is rescued from the Midwestern New Madrid earthquake by French fur trapper Jacques Ducharme and becomes the first "river wife." Hedie discovers this—along with the dark side of the Ducharme legacy—through old diaries she finds at the family home. She also learns of the other women involved with Jacques: Omah, the freed slave girl who joins him in river piracy, and Laura, his fortune-hunting second wife whose daughter, Maddie, is Clement's mother As Hedie's experiences become increasingly ominous (where does Clement go at night, and why does he come home beaten up? Are those footsteps she hears upstairs?), parallels develop between her life and those of past river wives. Lush historical detail, a plot brimming with danger, love and betrayal, and a magnificent cast (Jacques is larger than life, and the wives are sassy, sexed-up spitfires) will keep readers entranced. (July)
Confessions of a GamblerRayda Jacobs. Overlook, $26.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-58567-897-6
A toxic mix of addiction and loss undoes the staid life of a South African Muslim woman in novelist and filmmaker Jacobs's American debut. Abeeda "Beeda" Ariefdien is a 49-year-old single mother who, having raised her four sons after her husband left the family, is now supported by them. But her pious, quiet Cape Town life unravels after her friend Garaatie suggests they take a trip to the local casino—a place Beeda hadn't known existed. Beeda wins a slot machine jackpot and becomes hooked, even though her Muslim religion forbids gambling. Beeda's addiction begins slowly, but after her youngest son tells her he is dying of AIDS, "going to see auntie" (her euphemism for gambling) is her only solace. As rumors circulate about Beeda's son's illness and the amount of time she spends at the casino, Beeda defends her son and forsakes her robes in favor of jeans when gambling (to distinguish her separate lifestyles from each other). She eventually tries to conquer her addiction, but it may be too late. Jacobs realistically portrays the psychology of an addict, though Beeda can come across as something of a sympathetic if didactic straw woman. Beeda may lose big, but readers will be enriched. (July)
On Borrowed WingsChandra Prasad. Atria, $23 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7432-9782-0
In Prasad's touching first novel, Adele Pietra, a poor girl from a Connecticut granite quarry town in the 1930s, becomes a pioneer at Yale—disguised as her brother. Adele grows up in a town where the working-class residents never mix with the upper-crust vacationers. Except, that is, for Adele's parents; her mother was cut off by her wealthy family after she married a dashing Italian stonecutter. After a quarry accident kills Adele's father and her brother, Charles, Adele impersonates Charles and attends Yale in his place. At Yale, she makes friends with a stereotypically bookish, money-minded boy from Manhattan and handsome WASP Wick, who presents the greatest temptation to shed her assumed masculinity. The polarity of her upbringing adds meaning to an unexpected twist: Adele's work-study job is to assist a bigoted professor conducting a crooked study aimed at proving the rabble is intellectually inferior to the upper classes. Prasad has obviously done a great deal of research for this novel, and while some of it is integrated clumsily, she captures the excitement and strangeness of beginning college. Transcending the sometimes labored period setting—and wisely taking for granted the strictures of society that make Adele's charade necessary—Prasad renders believable a girl who becomes herself in a most unlikely way. (June)
The Last Blue MileKim Ponders. HarperCollins, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-084706-7
Air Force Reservist and former fighter pilot Ponders (The Art of Uncontrolled Flight) explores the future of a scandal-plagued Air Force Academy. In the wake of an embarrassing rape scandal, Gen. Susan Long is appointed to reform the academy. Her initiative—a "Culture of Transformation"—causes resentment among cadets and alumni and is opposed by the Commandant of Cadets, Brig. Gen. John Waller, a former fighter pilot whose apt call sign is "Balls." When a cheating ring is exposed, Waller wants to expel Cadet Paula Snowe, the ringleader, but is overruled by Long, who argues that Snowe is "a perfect candidate" for transformation. Meanwhile, Cadet Brook Searcy's future at the academy is threatened by her fragile emotional state. Waller finds himself increasingly at odds with a politically savvy Long, and the death of Brook's friend and fellow cadet in a glider crash forces both Brook and Waller to reckon with their tormented pasts. While Ponders is most eloquent when describing the joys and perils of flight, she also manages to deftly capture the tension between the old and new guards. (June)
Be Near Me Andrew O'Hagan. Harcourt, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-0-15-101303-6
This burnished gem of a novel has drama, emotional resonance and intellectual power enough to recall one's favorite 19th century writers. At its center is David Anderton, a Scottish-born, Oxford-educated Catholic priest who, after years in England, assumes a parish in working-class Scotland to be closer to his mother, a writer and free spirit. Now in his 50s, David recalls his own passions vividly, but he has traded his 1960s university ideals to favor the Iraq war, and his realizations of romantic love for a life of the cloth. From early on, there's a glaring gap between David's first-person recollections and the elitist, alienating affectations he assumes with others. His Dalgarnock parishioners are suspicious of his education; his only companions are his sardonic but morally stringent housekeeper, Mrs. Poole, and a pair of thuggish teenagers, Mark and Lisa, who remind him of his own youthful rebellions. As Mark and Lisa draw David into their chaotic lives, the novel builds to an inevitable clash between the spiritual and the secular, the adult and adolescent, the utopian 1960s and the neoconservative 2000s. Throughout, O'Hagan (The Missing) enchants with his effortless prose, vivid characters and David's uncanny asides, making O'Hagan's fourth novel a heartrending tour de force. (June)
CataloocheeWayne Caldwell. Random, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6343-7
The first time Ezra Banks sees the promised land called Cataloochee is when he runs away at age 14 and joins the Confederate army. So begins first-time novelist Caldwell's rambling account of life in the western mountains of North Carolina from 1864 to 1928. Land-poor Ezra returns to Cataloochee in 1880, marries Hannah Carter of the land-rich Carter family, takes over some of her father's property and goes on to raise a family and acquire more land, making him one of the wealthiest men in Cataloochee. But cantankerous Ezra is mean as a snake when he's drunk (and only slightly less when sober), earning him the community's enmity. The diffuse narrative moseys from one folksy yarn to the next about the fates of various members of the Carter/Banks clan. Late in the novel, conflict arrives in the form of the government's appropriation of Cataloochee to make way for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Then, Ezra, 78 and as irascible as ever, is shot to death, and his eldest son, Zeb, is charged with his murder. The ensuing trial is as singular as Cataloochee itself. A meandering and diverting collection of tangential yarns, Caldwell's debut will find a spot on many readers' shelves near Charles Frazier's Thirteen Moons. (May)
In the WoodsTana French. Viking, $24.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-670-03860-2
Irish author French expertly walks the line between police procedural and psychological thriller in her debut. When Katy Devlin, a 12-year-old girl from Knocknaree, a Dublin suburb, is found murdered at a local archeological dig, Det. Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, must probe deep into the victim's troubled family history. There are chilling similarities between the Devlin murder and the disappearance 20 years before of two children from the same neighborhood who were Ryan's best friends. Only Maddox knows Ryan was involved in the 1984 case. The plot climaxes with a taut interrogation by Maddox of a potential suspect, and the reader is floored by the eventual identity and motives of the killer. A distracting political subplot involves a pending motorway in Knocknaree, but Ryan and Maddox are empathetic and flawed heroes, whose partnership and friendship elevate the narrative beyond a gory tale of murdered children and repressed childhood trauma. (May)
The Folded WorldAmity Gaige. Other Press, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59051-248-7
Gaige follows up on the 2006 National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" selection O My Darling with a measured account of a mildly troubled marriage and the hurdles faced by well-meaning social caseworkers. Gorgeous and dark-haired Alice Bussard, the 22-year-old daughter of a librarian, leaves "shabby" hometown Gloucester, Mass., to find bigger and better in a nearby (and unnamed) city. What she finds, however, is a job as a dentist's receptionist and the attention of 25-year-old, big-eared Midwestern transplant Charlie Shade, who is finishing his master's in social work. Before long, they're married and Charlie's found an underpaid and overworked job. They have twins, and Charlie's dedication to his work—and two patients, Hal Kramer and Opal Ludlow, specifically—sparks domestic tension (Alice is predictably tempted by another man), professional trouble and physical danger. Alice's mother comes to help with the kids, but ends up sharing with Alice the truth Alice would rather not hear about the father she never knew. Gaige's sophomore effort is polished and competent, with measured doses of dry humor leavening overwrought prose . Details about the mechanisms of the social work system are convincing, as is Gaige's portrayal of a young marriage on the rocks, but the narrative may be too tidy for some. (May)
A Good and Happy Child Justin Evans. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $24 (336p) ISBN 978-0-307-35122-7
This stunning novel marks the debut of a serious talent. Evans manages to take a familiar concept—the young child haunted by a demon invisible to others—and infuse it with psychological depth and riveting suspense. The setting alternates between George Davies's difficult childhood in Preston, Va., a small college town, after his father Paul's untimely death, and his equally challenging life as an adult and new father in New York City. Ostracized by his classmates and emotionally isolated by his mother, a struggling academic, young George begins to be visited by a doppelgänger, who, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, intimates that foul play was involved in Paul's death. When those visitations lead to violence, George begins receiving psychiatric treatment. Meanwhile, some of his late father's colleagues claim that demonic possession is a reality. Evans subtly evokes terror and anxiety with effective understatement. The intelligence and humanity of this thriller should help launch it onto bestseller lists. (May)
Snow, AshesAlyson Hagy. Graywolf, $15 paper (214p) ISBN 978-1-55597-468-8
Childhood friends return from the Korean War differently damaged in Hagy's moving and stark fifth work of fiction (Keeneland; Graveyard of the Atlantic). John Fremont Adams, 64, lives on the 36,000-acre sheep ranch in Baggs, Wyo., where he grew up, though he retired his hook and sheep dogs four years ago and has since been living a marginally pointless bachelor existence. But Adams finds purpose when childhood friend C.D. Hobbs, who served with Adams in Korea and has wandered into and out of Adams's life ever since, shows up at the ranch one night in 1995. Both men barely survived combat at the Chosin Reservoir: Adams lost his toes to frostbite, and C.D., who had been weird before enlisting, emerged very weird and badly wounded. Adams, C.D.'s protector since childhood, makes a desperate and ill-advised attempt to restart the sheep business, sparking battles with Adams's retired lawyer brother, Buren, and impetuous younger sister, Charlotte. Hagy crafts first-rate prose—unsparingly raw and visceral with flashes of high lyricism—that carries the reader from the napalmed mountains of Korea to the vast pastures of the west. The inevitable but surprising conclusion will yank tears from hard hearts. (May)
I Love You, Beth CooperLarry Doyle. HarperCollins, $22.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-123617-4
Former TV writer and magazine editor Doyle frenetically chronicles in his debut a long night of goofy teenage antics. After concluding he has nothing to lose, geekazoid valedictorian Denis Cooverman declares, during his graduation speech, his love for Beth Cooper, the way hot chief cheerleader. He is amazed to discover Beth is not completely repulsed by his feelings for her, although her army boyfriend, Kevin, is enraged. Beth, implausibly, later shows up at Denis's graduation party with two interchangeable sidekicks, Cammy and Treece. The party comprises exactly two guests, Denis (aka "The Coove") and his possibly gay best friend, Rich. Once Denis and Rich recover from the shock of being in the presence of pretty girls, they attempt to party, but the awkward celebration is cut short when Kevin arrives with his bruiser friends. Denis and Co. make their first of what will be several escapes, the circumstances of each providing Denis with evidence that Beth isn't the flawless goddess he'd imagined her to be. Overly rapid pacing, unlikely turns of events and quirky, funny dialogue reveal Doyle's TV roots (he has written for The Simpsons and Beavis and Butt-head). Doyle wrings from his typecast crew just enough teenage agony and ecstasy to keep readers interested. (May)
Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8thNewt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. St. Martin's/Dunne, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-312-36350-5
Having completed their Civil War trilogy, ex–House Speaker Gingrich and historian Forstchen return their attention to World War II (they previously collaborated on 1945). The attack on Pearl Harbor occupies the final quarter of the book, and the extensive leadup begins in 1930s Japan and provides readers not well versed in Japanese history a decent thumbnail sketch of Japanese culture and the events that preceded the attack. The authors' research shines in accurate accounts of diplomatic maneuvering as well as the nuts-and-bolts of military action, beginning with the Japanese invasion of China. Fans of the authors will expect their trademark "alternative" ending. In this case, the Japanese attack far more vigorously and devastate a larger chunk of the U.S. Pacific fleet than they actually did. How this affects the war's outcome will be revealed in the sequel. Gingrich and Forstchen, though adept at bigger-picture issues, falter when it comes to establishing and developing characters; FDR, Churchill and Hirohito come across as caricatures who move the plot along by mouthing historically appropriate lines, while the soldier-heroes exist to explain their nation's point-of-view to the reader. The recent success of Letters from Iwo Jima may attract readers who would otherwise shy away from military history fiction. (May)
Nine Andrzej Stasiuk, trans. from the Polish by Bill Johnston. Harcourt, $23 (240p) ISBN 978-0-15-101064-6
Grim and harrowing, this novel by a deserter from the Polish army under communism paints a vivid and disturbing picture of contemporary life in Poland. Pawel, a young man in debt to loan sharks, wakes up one morning to a trashed apartment. As Pawel makes his way around Warsaw, trying to borrow money from Bolek, a drug dealer, and Jacek, his addict friend, Stasiuk chronicles their endless circuits around a Warsaw in the grip of booming cutthroat capitalism. Pawel, Jacek, Bolek and Bolek's henchman, Iron Man, are pursued by thugs and leave chaos in their wake, which has dire consequences for their women friends Beata, Syl and Zosia. Hobbled by the fast pace and gadget trappings of modern life, the characters are unable to express themselves, to connect with one another or to fully understand much of what they're doing. The seedy Warsaw criminal underground underscores Stasiuk's bleak motif, creating a tone that is unmistakably European and distinctly influenced by Poland's former communist regime. The novel, impressively translated by Johnston, offers a sobering vision of the new face of central Europe in a narrative that is at once hallucinatory, haunting and abject. (May)
Lying with StrangersJames Grippando. HarperCollins, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-113838-6
Beautiful doctor Peyton Shields, head resident at Boston's Children's Hospital, and handsome lawyer husband Kevin Stokes would appear to have bright futures at the start of Grippando's stand-alone, which falls short of the standard of the author's Jack Swyteck series (When Darkness Falls, etc.). Mutual suspicions of infidelity and the fundamental failure of either partner to trust the other pave the way for the misunderstandings that make Peyton and Kevin ripe pickings for a psycho obsessed with Peyton. First Peyton nearly dies during a snowy accident that only she believes was deliberate. Then she and Kevin are ensnared in a web of escalating circumstances that drive them further apart. The soap opera plot will disappoint those expecting something meatier, and even the two lead characters play stock roles (the strong, independent woman; the dissatisfied, jealous husband). The result is a thriller that doesn't offer many thrills, even when Grippando takes the wraps off some late surprises. This title was first released in 2006 by Bookspan as a Madison Park Press book club exclusive. (May)
The King of MethlehemMark Lindquist. Simon & Schuster, $23 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4165-3577-5
Lindquist (Carnival Desires) puts his experience combating the scourge of methamphetamines as a Washington State narcotics prosecutor to good use in his fourth novel, a gripping thriller. Tacoma detective Wyatt James is dead set on putting an end to the operations of a shadowy figure who uses the alias Howard Schultz (after the Starbucks mogul), who has moved to establish himself as the preeminent meth dealer in the Pacific Northwest. James's efforts to turn smalltime dealers into informants who could lead him to his quarry are aided by Mike Lawson, supervisor of the drug trial unit, and the author's alter ego. When Schultz again beats a rap, James's obsession with his white whale intensifies, leading to a tragic conclusion. The quality writing and flashes of gallows humor raise this above the usual tale of good guys vs. bad guys. (May)
The Edict: A Novel from the Beginnings of GolfBob Cupp. Knopf, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-307-26645-3
Renowned "golf architect" Cupp's love of the game, plus loads of hooks, slices, mulligans and flying divots give his debut a charming and suspenseful flair. In 15th- century Scotland, golf is popular among commoners and noblemen alike, but no one swings a club better than young shepherd Caeril Patersone. Caeril and his best friend and clubman (caddie) Micael Carrick are favored to win the annual championship tournament at St. Andrews. But a devious nobleman who has made a bad wager and his crooked moneylender set out to orchestrate an upset by enlisting Eta, the beautiful daughter of a debt-ridden family, to distract Caeril during the match. If that scheme fails, they also have a more ruthless and final solution to their problem. Caeril, Micael and Eta must act fast to save their lives, but the nobleman has one more trick to protect his wager: he must convince the king to ban golf, thus canceling the tournament before it concludes. (This true but short-lived event occurred March 4, 1457.) How the Scottish golfers prevail adds much to this lively and colorful tale of playing golf with someone who refuses to lose. (May)
The Dead PlaceStephen Booth. Bantam, $25 (400p) ISBN 978-0-385-33906-3
In the sixth circuitously plotted police procedural from British author Booth (after One Last Breath), Det. Constable Ben Cooper and his boss, Sgt. Diane Fry, pursue a possible serial killer who leaves haunting phone messages—about impending murders, flesh eaters and decomposition—at the Derbyshire police station. Cooper and Fry chase down all sorts of dead ends: a woman who disappears from a local car park, another whose body is found in the woods, and skeletal remains discovered on a hilltop. None of the crimes appears to be the killer's work, but they all may be connected in disjointed ways to a local funeral parlor whose business has dropped off significantly in recent years. Booth's meandering style—lots of subplots and droll diversions—may not be to everyone's liking. Some readers may also be put off by the lack of chemistry between the earnest and bumbling Cooper and the cranky and aloof Fry. (May)
Fresh Fields Peter Kocan. Europa (Consortium, dist.), $14.95 paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-933372-29-7
Australian writer Kocan, who spent 10 years imprisoned for attempted murder, unflinchingly renders the isolation, grief and longing of a troubled outsider in this dire, semiautobiographical novel. Having fled a violent home with his mother and younger brother, an unnamed 14-year-old soon finds himself on his own. He drifts between Sydney and brief jobs in the bush, often lost in the expanses of his mind. He pours his heart into the objects of his imagination, including Grace Kelly, whom he calls "Sweetheart," and Diestl, who is probably Marlon Brando's character from The Young Lions (Brando plays a young Nazi officer who wanders alone through the French countryside after Germany's WWII defeat). "The youth" identifies painfully with Diestl. And whether abusive, careless or sympathetic, the various adults that pass in and out of the youth's life fail to draw him into any community: his sense of the world as lacking promise becomes increasingly justified. Nevertheless, Kocan indulges in neither sentimentality nor rage, and his unnamed protagonist's story is a fine achievement. As the young man descends into madness, "the Diestl mood" becomes more and more pronounced; by the end Diestl seems to speak to the youth. Here and throughout, Kocan writes clearly and beautifully. (May)
The Sirens of BaghdadYasmina Khadra, trans. from the French by John Cullen. Doubleday/ Talese, $19.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-385-52174-1
Khadra's latest political thriller set in the Middle East couldn't be more timely. The versatile Khadra brings the reader inside the mind of an unnamed terrorist-to-be, an Iraqi Bedouin, radicalized by witnessing the death of innocents and the humiliation of the civilian population by the American forces in the Second Gulf War. Without apologizing for the carnage caused by either side in the conflict, the author, a former officer in the Algerian army, manages to make the thoughts of a suicide bomber accessible to a Western readership, even as the scope of the terrorist's intended target, meant to dwarf 9/11 in its impact, and the method's plausibility will send a shiver down the spine of most readers. Despite the essential bleakness of the book's themes, Khadra (The Swallows of Kabul; The Attack) manages to inject a note of hope toward the end, without betraying his powerful message of how the occupation of Iraq has brutalized both the Iraqis and the Americans. (May)
In the Driver's Seat: StoriesHelen Simpson. Knopf, $22 (192p) ISBN 978-0-307-26522-7
Adulthood weighs heavily on the shoulders of well-heeled British marrieds with children in these 11 new stories by Simpson (Dear George), who extracts gentle pathos and humor from her aging characters as they despair of their narrowing futures. To a group of lithe young teens eavesdropping on an English couple with a new baby at a Mediterranean resort, the ghastly emotional neediness and flabby bodies of the adults seem grotesque and frightening. In "Every Third Thought," a mother of three daughters bemoans the unrelenting news of sickness among her friends—until a bus hits her (the story continues). Anxiety about the loss of romance and vitality leeches into "If I'm Spared," about a philandering husband who ceases his cheating to get treatment for lung cancer. There's a steadiness throughout, as when Simpson records the attachment of Zoe to her third and last child during their daily drive to school in "Early One Morning." The meandering last story, "Constitutional," is a meditation on mortality and memory that's literally a walk in the park, and it beautifully showcases Simpson's limpid prose and unforced deductions. (May)
Free Fire: A Joe Pickett Novel C.J. Box. Putnam, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-399-15427-0
When four environmental activists employed by Yellowstone Park are murdered in an isolated area, the Wyoming governor sends outspoken Joe Pickett, fired in his last outing, In Plain Sight (2006), from the state's game and fish department, to investigate in Anthony-winner Box's absorbing seventh crime novel, his best yet. Helped by astute park ranger Judy Demming and his antisocial pal, falconer Nate Romanowski, Joe gradually connects the murders to competition for bio-mining rights in Yellowstone's hot springs. Joe's often harassed family is on the sidelines, except for a startling appearance by his long-estranged father. Box skillfully weaves ominous scientific phenomena and legal loopholes peculiar to Yellowstone into his story of corruption, greed and deception. The author vividly evokes Yellowstone's natural beauty, but the book's real power emanates from Pickett's (and Box's) passion for preserving the wilderness and stopping those who would cynically destroy it. (May)
Christopher's GhostCharles McCarry. Overlook, $25 (272p) ISBN 978-1-58567-914-0
Veteran McCarry (The Tears of Autumn) remains a compelling storyteller, as shown in his latest spy thriller, which chronicles the early career of his series hero, Paul Christopher. In 1939 Berlin, 16-year-old Paul struggles, with his American novelist father and German aristocrat mother, against the Nazi rulers of Germany. The Christophers are refined intellectuals and known to be sympathetic to the persecuted Jews. A sadistic SS officer, Major Stutzer, takes pleasure in harassing Paul, who has fallen into an impassioned but forbidden love affair with a Jewish doctor's daughter. As war breaks out, Paul barely escapes, while his lover meets a horrible fate at Stutzer's hands. Flash forward to 1959: Paul, now one of the CIA's top operatives, undertakes a clandestine operation in East Berlin, where the Soviets have recruited a certain ex-Nazi officer to train their Arab allies. Can Paul finally face his old nemesis and put the ghosts of the past to rest? The book speeds toward a satisfying, inevitable conclusion. (May)
The Fall of RomeMichael Curtis Ford. St. Martin's/ Dunne, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-33362-1
Fans of The Sword of Attila will open this follow-up with happy anticipation. Since it begins with the unexpected death of the great Hun conqueror in A.D. 453, readers unfamiliar with the previous work will not suffer. In the chaos following Attila's death, Odoacer and Onulf, sons of a leading Hun general, flee after a greedy rival kills their father. They split up, with Odoacer traveling across Europe to Noricum, his dead mother's homeland. Although he arrives in rags, he soon learns he is the grandson of its king. A talented soldier, he reorganizes the army and wins a victory against marauding Huns, only to see a Roman invasion destroy his people six years later. He flees to Italy where he again rises to military prominence and reunites with Onulf, also serving in the Roman army. Encountering their father's murderer, now a leading figure in the crumbling empire, the brothers lead a revolt. History buffs will admire the author's research as he recounts the final bloody decades of the Roman Empire. Though Ford's heroes are more convincing on the battlefields than when negotiating the plot that leads from one clash to another, there's more than enough action to sate fans of the genre. (May)
Envious MoonThomas Christopher Greene. Morrow, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-115387-7
As in Mirror Lake and I'll Never Be Long Gone, Greene deals with the theme of paternal loss to striking effect in his third novel, a book as incandescent as it is disturbing. Seventeen-year-old Anthony Lopes, who lives with his mother in the working-class town of Galilee, R.I., has prepared himself for a life at sea, like his late fisherman father before him. Yet one night, he and his best friend decide to rob the house of a wealthy lady, who's recently deceased, and his life goes irreversibly wrong. During the robbery, Anthony is hypnotized by a young woman's silhouette at the top of the stairs and doesn't see her father crouched in the darkness. In the struggle, the man falls from the staircase and is killed. Horrified and filled with remorse, Anthony becomes obsessed with the girl, Hannah Forbes, and begins a tortured, all-consuming odyssey to earn her forgiveness and convince her of his love. This richly detailed novel, its tone gentle but heavy with foreboding, is a powerful tale of chance, love, loss and redemption. (May)
The Hindi-Bindi ClubMonica Pradhan. Bantam, $12 paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-553-38452-9
The age-old intergenerational struggle between mothers and daughters gets a curried twist in Pradhan's debut, in which the subcontinent meets the modern West. As children, first-generation Americans Kiran Deshpande, Preity Chawla Lindstrom and Rani McGuiness Tomashot gently mocked their Indian mothers, collectively nicknamed "The Hindi-Bindi Club" for their Old World leanings. Though the three are now successful adults, they aren't necessarily seen as such by their parents. For starters, none married Indian men. But now, Kiran's parents may get their chance to "semi-arrange" a marriage for their divorced daughter as she considers the possibility that there may be something to the old ways. Preity, mostly happily married to business school beau Eric, carries a small torch for a long-lost love—a Muslim her parents didn't approve of—and considers seeking him out. Meanwhile, rocket scientist Rani's passion for art starts to pay off as she becomes spiritually listless. Pradhan's debut is breezy (there are enough recipes dotting the narrative to fill a cookbook), though it touches on not-so sunny issues—prejudice, breast cancer, infidelity. The prose isn't dynamite and the characters are stock, but the novel easily fulfills its ready-made requirements. (May)
Life's Golden TicketBrendon Burchard. Harper San Francisco, $19.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-06-117390-5
In his debut motivational novel, Burchard (The Student Leadership Guide) narrates a fantasy trip through a ghostly mountain amusement park that offers visitors a "golden ticket," or second chance at transforming their lives. The price of admission to the closed-down park, the narrator discovers, is to be open to possibility, face the truth and give up believing that change equals pain. He also must stick closely to his host, Henry, who serves as wise counselor ("let me reflect back to you what I've heard"). During the narrator's trip, he samples various amusement park rides (all with allegorical meaning) and revisits his past. Each carnie he meets is a motivational guide with spiritual wisdom to impart. The themes are familiar: risk change; forgive; take responsibility; be bold; contribute; look at the other person's point of view. A gimmicky addition: readers are invited to open an envelope (not seen by PW) attached to the inside back cover after completing the story. Burchard is a competent writer and full of earnest enthusiasm for his topic; the introduction tells of a real-life car accident a decade ago that served as a wake-up call and precipitated this fictional message. Readers dissatisfied with their lives but not wild about nonfictional self-help books may find inspiration for change here. (May)
Revenge of InnocentsNancy Taylor Rosenberg. Kensington, $24 (368p) ISBN 978-0-7582-1303-7
Carolyn Sullivan has much to be grateful for at the start of bestseller Rosenberg's riveting fourth romantic thriller to feature the Ventura County, Calif., probation officer (after 2006's Sullivan's Evidence). She's getting married in two weeks, she has two healthy and happy almost-grown children, and she's been promoted to division manager. These developments help her deal with the many brutal cases that daily pass through her office, but when her best childhood friend, Veronica Campbell, is murdered, it's almost too much to bear. Determined to find the killer, Carolyn embarks on a path of twisted truths that becomes more and more tortuous with each step as she discovers how little she really knew about Veronica. Rosenberg, who worked 14 years in law enforcement, puts her knowledge of the criminal justice system to expert use in her frightening portrayal of a dysfunctional family. (May)
When We Get ThereShauna Seliy. Bloomsbury, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-59691-350-9
In her elegiac debut novel, Seliy explores one boy's coming-of-age over the course of a long, eventful, brutally cold winter. In 1974, 13-year-old Lucas Lessar's family lives in the shadow of one of western Pennsylvania's last remaining coal mines, King Mine in Banning. Lucas's father was killed there years ago; the mine is now about to be shuttered. As the book opens, Lucas's mother, Mirjana, who has been in "a long sleep" of grief and depression, has disappeared. Her suitor, Zoli, threatens Lucas to learn her whereabouts; anguished Lucas, who narrates, doesn't know and is protected by his close-knit extended family (of eastern European descent). Inspired mostly by his larger-than-life great-grandfather, Lucas sets out to find his mother and make her life better. He comes to recognize how loss—of his parents, but also of his immigrant family's work and ethnic identities—has shaped his life. Lucas is an authentic adolescent who, despite his anger (Zoli continues to rage, too) and taciturnity, develops empathy and transforms into a sympathetic young man. Suffused with close observations of family legends, superstitions and cultural traditions, Seliy's accomplished debut bids a bittersweet farewell to one way of life while anticipating promise down the road. (May)
Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment Deepak Chopra. Harper San Francisco, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-087880-1
Eastern philosophy popularizer and mind-body pioneer Chopra has done novels before, and critics have not found fiction his long suit. That should change with this tale of how the Indian prince Siddhartha came to be the enlightened one, the Buddha. The subject is tailor-made for Chopra. He can draw on what he's familiar with: the ancient Indian culture that shaped the historic personage of the Buddha, and the powers of mind that meditation harnesses. Although the novel begins a little slowly with exposition and character introduction, once the character of the Buddha is old enough to occupy center stage, Chopra simply portrays the natural internal conflict experienced by any human seeking spiritual wisdom and transformation. Centered on a single character, the narrative moves forward simply and inexorably. Especially imaginative and intriguing is the low-key nature of the Buddha's enlightenment experience. In case Chopra's fans want something more direct, an epilogue and concluding "practical guide" offer nonfiction commentary and teaching on core Buddhist principles. Chopra thanks a film director friend for sparking the project, and the novel has clear cinematic potential. This fast and easy-to-read book teaches without being didactic. Chopra scores a fiction winner. (May)
Stormy WeatherPaulette Jiles. Morrow, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-053732-6
Jiles's eloquent, engaging sophomore novel celebrates four strong women toughing out the Great Depression in the Texas dust bowl. As the book opens in 1927, Elizabeth Stoddard and husband Jack have three daughters: the pretty Mayme, the tomboyish Jeanine and the writerly Bea. Jeanine, resented for being daddy's favorite, soon becomes the novel's primary point of view. After the disgraced Jack dies in 1937, the four Stoddard women move back to the 150-acre homeplace on the Brazos River in Central Texas. Drought, hail and dust storms, land-tax debts and grinding poverty make life a struggle; radio shows, horse-racing, wildcat oil well speculation and stuttering news reporter friend Milton Brown provide diversions. Jeanine falls in love with local rancher Ross Everett; Mayme dates soldier Vernon. Visceral detail of the 1930s rancher life and the hardscrabble setting add authenticity, particularly in the characters' feel for horses. While forthright, some of the dialogue is less than believable (as when Ross compliments Jeanine on her "furious bloody purple" dress), but it serves the characters' greater-than-usual emotional bandwidth. Jiles winds this gritty saga up on the eve of WWII with a patchwork quilt's worth of hope. (May)
7: The Mickey Mantle NovelPeter Golenbock. Lyons, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59921-270-8
This book would make Henry Miller blush. Golenbock, author of many sports books, has written a novel about baseball great Mickey Mantle. It takes place in heaven, where Mantle, talking with dead baseball writer Leonard Shecter, coauthor of Ball Four, recalls his three favorite things in life: "puss," booze and, lastly, baseball. Mantle is the first-person narrator and in the first half of the book takes us on a hedonistic yet misogynistic ride. There are stories of him and fellow teammate Billy Martin and their endless pursuit of women, in bars, on ledges outside of hotel rooms, in dark movie theaters, with telescopes and while signing autographs ("We'll sign your balls if you'd... play with ours"). Mickey seems more of the gentleman ("I don't believe in having sex with women against their will the way Billy sometimes did"), but the quest for sex is endless. Perhaps the most controversial part of this book will be the part about Mantle supposedly bedding Marilyn Monroe while she was married to Joe DiMaggio. In a scene where Mantle prematurely ejaculates and Monroe is "frigid," Mantle pronounces Marilyn "a lousy lay." Dropped into the book apparently randomly are samples of Mantle's sophomoric humor ("How can you tell when two lesbians are twins? They lick alike") that are sometimes downright offensive. The second half of the book looks at Mantle's impressive Hall of Fame career, but no one will be talking about that. This is not a book to give to your favorite nephew. In fact, it will be interesting how Mantle's fans will receive it—as an insult to their hero? or a prurient look at the Mick that they can't help themselves from buying? 250,000 first printing. (Apr. 3)
Note: This review is based on a galley received under the Regan Books imprint of HarperCollins; the book occasioned a firestorm of controversy and was contributory to publisher Judith Regan's firing and the cancellation of the book, since picked up by Lyons. The text of the book is unchanged.
Karma GirlJennifer Estep. Berkley, $14 paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-425-21511-1
Chick lit meets comics lit in Estep's fresh debut. Carmen Cole, "reporter extraordinaire" for the Exposé in Bigtime, N.Y., is on a mission—to unmask all superheroes and über villains—after catching her fiancé, Matt Marion (aka the Machinator), in bed with her best friend, Karen Crush (aka Crusher), on Carmen's wedding day. But after Carmen outs a member of the Fearless Five, Travis Teague (aka Tornado), and Travis kills himself, she's not only devastated, she's demoted to society reporter. When the Terrible Triad nabs Carmen, their snarky Malefica insists she unmask the Fearless Five's Striker or suffer dire consequences. By the time Carmen knows who Striker is, they're in love, and turning him over to a superbitch isn't an option. A zippy prose style helps lift this zany caper far above the usual run of paranormal romances. (May)
Whistling in the DarkLesley Kagen. NAL Accent, $13.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-451-22123-0
The loss of innocence can be as dramatic as the loss of a parent or the discovery that what's perceived to be truth can actually be a big fat lie, as shown in Kagen's compassionate debut, a coming-of-age thriller set in Milwaukee during the summer of 1959. Ten-year-old Sally O'Malley fears that a child predator who has already murdered two girls, Junie Piaskowski and Sara Heinemann, will target her or her little sister, Troo, next. Sally's mom is in the hospital, while her big sister, Nell, is distracted by love and her stepdad, Hall, by the bottle, so who can save her if the killer is, as she suspects, her neighbor, David Rasmussen, a popular cop who has a photo of Junie hanging in his house? Though the mystery elements are sketchy, Kagen sharply depicts the vulnerability of children of any era. Sally, "a girl who wouldn't break a promise even if her life depended on it," makes an enchanting protagonist. (May)
SkinTed Dekker. WestBow, $24.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-5955-4277-9
Derivative of such puzzle dramas as Lost, The Usual Suspects, Fight Club and The Matrix, this thriller by Dekker (Thr3e; Blink) reads more like a screenplay than a novel. Its third-person omniscient narrator includes mostly dialogue, blocking and description of scenery and little else. Early in the novel, five young adults are sucked into a serial killer's evil game. While experienced Dekker readers will see some of what is coming, a number of plot points are entirely unpredictable, due in large part to the constant barrage of red herrings the reader must endure before discovering the novel's final revelations. Unfortunately, the dialogue-dominated prose is hackneyed and juvenile; a reason is given for the childishness of some of the language, but this does not fully excuse the many clichéd passages of the book. These problems, however, are secondary to the novel's central flaw, which is that the ambitiously twisty plot does not make sense. The characters' backstories are implausible, and their actions and experiences in the present never quite add up. The novel is clearly intended to be a challenging exploration of the nature of beauty, morality and truth, but despite having put lots of words about these concepts in his confused characters' mouths, Dekker offers no new insights. (Apr. 3)
Mystery
Death at the Old Hotel: A Bartender Brian McNulty MysteryCon Lehane. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-32300-4
Trouble is brewing at Brian McNulty's new gig at the Savoy Hotel in Lehane's intriguing third mystery to feature the New York bartender (after 2005's What Goes Around Comes Around). Fellow barman and union rabble-rouser Barney Saunders suspects the hotel's new manager is cashing in on corruption between union bigwigs and organized crime. An all-out strike turns violent when flirty waitress Betsy Tierney rushes to commiserate with Barney on the picket line, and her jealous husband, one of New York's finest, attacks Barney, who's then loyally defended by Brian. That evening, the hotel manager and Betsy's cop husband are both murdered, and Barney becomes the prime suspect. McNulty investigates, suspecting a union middleman of both murders. Lehane does a good job of depicting the underbelly of the city's working class. Readers will look forward to more outings from his world-weary, savvy and imperfect protagonist. (June)
The Execution of Sherlock Holmes and Other New Adventures of the Great Detective Donald Thomas. Pegasus (Consortium, dist.), $25 (368p) ISBN 978-1-933648-22-4
The five long tales in Thomas's third Sherlock Holmes collection (after 2002's Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt) offer gripping plots and masterfully evoke the flavor of Doyle's original stories of the great detective. Holmes's legendary powers of logic are deftly displayed in "The Case of the Greek Key," in which a German cipher must be cracked to preserve some vital military secrets, and "The Case of the Peasenhall Murder," in which he finds evidence that a parson accused of a brutal murder has been framed. The high point is "The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid," in which Holmes's intervention on behalf of a fired servant leads him to foil a diabolical murder plot. Few authors have done as well as Thomas in bringing these beloved and familiar characters to life, and Sherlockians everywhere will hope that less time passes before Thomas again delves into Watson's fabled cache of untold adventures. (May)
A Fatal GraceLouise Penny. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-35256-1
When sadistic socialite CC de Poitiers is fatally electrocuted at a Christmas curling competition in the tiny Québecois village of Three Pines, only the arcane method of the murder is a surprise in Penny's artful but overwritten sophomore effort (after her highly praised 2006 debut, Still Life). CC had cobbled together a spiritual guidance business based on eliminating emotion, but the feelings she inspired in others were anything but serene. Everyone around the cartoonish victim—from a daughter cowed by lifelong abuse to the local spiritual teacher whose business she threatens to ruin—has a motive, and the crime also links to a vagrant's recent murder as well as to the pasts of several beloved village residents. The calm but quirky Chief Insp. Armand Gamache, who arrives in Three Pines from Montreal to head the investigation, is appealing as the series' focus. Though Penny gorgeously evokes the smalltown Christmas mood, the novel is oddly steeped in holiday atmosphere for a May release, and the plot's dependence on lengthy backstory slows the momentum. (May)
Tumbling Blocks: A Benni Harper MysteryEarlene Fowler. Berkeley Prime Crime, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-425-21519-7
With the imminent arrival of her mother-in-law, unfinished Christmas shopping and unexpected dog-sitting responsibilities, Benni Harper, amateur sleuth and folk art museum curator in San Celina, Calif., has enough on her hands even before she looks into a suspicious death in Fowler's delightful 13th entry in her Agatha Award–winning series (after 2006's Delectable Mountains). When Constance Sinclair, Benni's boss, can't get help from Benni's police chief husband, Gabe, the art patroness demands that Benni investigate the death of her friend Arva "Pinky" Edmondson. Pinky apparently died of a heart attack in her sleep, but Constance is convinced she was murdered by one of the local socialites vying for admittance to the exclusive 49 Club. Benni delves into the secrets of the town's elite with her usual flair, unraveling a plot that is as dangerous as the bulls on her father's ranch and as cozy as the quilts she reveres. (May)
The Water Lily Cross: An English Garden MysteryAnthony Eglin. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-36546-2
Eglin's engaging third horticultural cozy (after 2006's Lost Gardens) pits retired London botanist Lawrence Kingston against rapacious, lawless foes when his longtime friend and colleague, Stewart Halliday, goes missing. Drawing on his cruciverbalist skills, Kingston interprets a coded message in his friend's date book that leads to another cryptogram. Clues indicate that Halliday discovered how to desalinate seawater with a unique crossbred water lily, a scientific breakthrough with potentially far-reaching benefits—and profitability. Kingston believes Halliday has been kidnapped because of the salt-sucking lilies, and even when Kingston is nearly shot down on a helicopter flight, he remains dogged in pursuit of his missing friend. Fans of the brave and erudite Kingston will savor his latest breakneck botanical adventure. (May)
Cat in a Red Hot RageCarole Nelson Douglas. Forge, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-765-31401-7
In Douglas's arch 19th cat caper (after 2006's Cat in a Quicksilver Caper), feline sleuth Midnight Louie and his human companion, PR whiz Temple Barr, scramble to clear the name of their friend and landlady, Electra Lark, when Electra's wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time makes her a murder suspect. Electra had volunteered for security at the Vegas convention of the Red Hat Sisterhood, an association of aging women determined to prove their pizzazz. The crime du jour occurs when Pink Lady Oleta Lark (an under-50 Red Hatter) is strangled with a purple scarf that Electra earlier happened to help her tie. And the common last name? Oleta was another ex-wife of Electra's third ex-husband, Elmore Lark. Eager to prove Electra's innocence, Temple and Midnight Louie swing into action with the help of Electra's fellow Red Hatters and some clever cats. Douglas's humor and keen plot twists keep this long-running series purring. (May)
The Lark's Lament: A Fool's Guild MysteryAlan Gordon. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (275p) ISBN 978-0-312-35426-8
At the start of Gordon's winning sixth medieval mystery (after 2004's An Antic Disposition), series hero Theo and his wife, Claudia, both members of the Fool's Guild, visit Cistercian Abbot Folc—previously a troubadour known as Folquet—to solicit his help preserving the guild from enemies in the church. But that night, someone murders one of Folc's monks and leaves a threatening message for the abbot next to the body. When Folc demands that Theo find the man responsible, Theo and Claudia's quest takes them deep into the recesses of domestic and religious life in 13th-century France. At the center of the mystery lies a haunting song, which implores "Sweet Lady Lark, why will you not fly?" To discover who's threatening Folc, Theo and Claudia must identify the Lark. While Gordon makes confusing and distracting shifts in first-person point-of-view between Theo and Claudia, the husband-and-wife jesters are charming, the story behind the murder unpredictable yet entirely believable. (May)
Keep It RealBill Bryan. Bleak House (www.bleakhousebooks.com), $24.95 (310p) ISBN 978-1-932557-37-4
TV writer and producer Bryan spoofs, satirizes and burlesques his way through that kingdom of sin and sizzle, Hollywood, in this uneven, coarse but funny debut crime novel featuring Ted Collins, a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter turned reality TV producer. Ted works for one of reality TV's biggest hits, The Mogul (any resemblance to The Apprentice is not coincidental). His journalism career, and the rest of his life, derailed when his wife left him for an attorney and took him for virtually everything he had, including his darling seven-year-old daughter, Hallie. An unlikely confluence of events (a key promotion, a chance encounter and the disappearance of a lovely model) gives Collins a chance to get his investigative talents back into play and also to earn better terms for seeing Hallie. Bryan's humor is often adolescent, but when he lifts his aim to skewer targets like the manipulations that make reality TV a farce or the perils of race relations, he shows a real gift for satire. (May)
The Three Kings of CologneKate Sedley. Severn, $28.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6481-9
In Sedley's well-crafted 15th medieval historical to feature Roger the Chapman (after 2006's The Prodigal Son), Alderman John Foster, the mayor of Bristol, suspects foul play when the corpse of a young woman, identified as Isabella Linkinhorne, is unearthed while land is being cleared for a new chapel to be dedicated to the three kings of the novel's title. The mayor asks the perceptive peddler to determine which of her three suitors killed her. The rub is, she disappeared 20 years earlier, in 1460, and the identities of her suitors, whom Roger nicknames after the three wise men, were unknown even at the time. Sedley effortlessly incorporates the details of daily life for a range of socioeconomic groups as Roger goes in search of answers. Roger's droll sense of humor enlivens a narrative full of unexpected plot twists. (May)
SF/Fantasy/Horror
SFWA European Hall of Fame: Sixteen Contemporary Science Fiction Classics from the ContinentEdited by James Morrow and Kathryn Morrow. Tor, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-765-31536-6
Wondrous worlds await U.S. SF fans in this sensitively chosen, impeccably translated anthology of Continental European science fiction stories, ranging from 1987 to 2005. Offering "emotional satisfaction and cerebral excitement," as James Morrow puts it in his introduction, highlights include Johanna Sinisalo's "Baby Doll," a Finnish denunciation of materialistic exploitation of children; Romanian Lucian Merisca's "Some Earthlings' Adventures on Outrerria," an excruciating political satire; Valerio Angelisti's "Sepultura," which offers a neo-Dantean Infernoscape; and W.J. Maryson's "Verstummte Musik," a Dutch near-future Orwellian nightmare. A French twist on human-machine interface lifts Jean-Claude Dunyach's "Separations" into a meditation on the nature of artistic creativity, while Elena Arsenieva's "A Birch Tree, a White Fox" exquisitely illustrates the quintessential Russian soul. These "disciplined speculations" by European writers and their painstaking translators not only excite the mind, they move the heart. (June)
All Together DeadCharlaine Harris. Ace, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-441-01494-1
Bestseller Harris mixes humorous Southern-fried fantasy with biting satirical commentary in her seventh novel to feature Sookie Stackhouse, the bubbly telepathic barmaid from Bon Temps, La. (after 2006's Definitely Dead). Sookie attends an all-important central U.S. vamp summit on the shores of Lake Michigan as a "human geiger counter" for Sophie-Anne Leclerq, vampire queen of a Louisiana weakened by Katrina and who will be tried during the event for murdering her king. Sookie knows the queen is innocent, but she's hardly prepared for other shocking murders, not to mention protests by the Fellowship of the Sun, a right-wing antivampire movement. Her sleuthing skills, along with those of her new telepath friend, Barry the Bellboy, are put to the extreme test. Harris juggles a large cast, including several romantic contenders for Sookie's heart, with effortless exuberance. HBO's True Blood, based on this addictive series, is scheduled to begin its TV run this fall. 11-city author tour. (May)
The Silver SwordDavid Zindell. Tor, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-765-31674-5
Set in the world of Ea, Zindell's plot-driven sequel to The Lightstone, which was notable for its lively characters, falls short of the first book's promise, but delivers plenty of action. Having gathered together his band of seven adventurers and recovered Alkaladur, the legendary silver Sword of Fate, in accordance with ancient prophecy, Prince Valashu "Val" Elahad leads his friends deep into enemy territory to find the fabled Lightstone, the Cup of Heaven. Guided by the glowing silver gelstei, the magical stone in Alkaladur, Val's party fight their way to the great library of Khaisham, where they learn they must seek the Lightstone in the dark halls of Argattha, an ancient underground city once ruled by evil Morjin. At Argattha, Val will face his most difficult test, coming face-to-face with Morjin and choosing between killing him or saving the sacred Lightstone and completing the quest. Fans of Terry Goodkind, Greg Keyes and Steven Erikson will find much to like. (May)
13 BulletsDavid Wellington. Three Rivers, $13.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-307-38143-9
Minimally plotted and driven by nonstop action, this gory vampire tale is of a piece with Wellington's zombie novels (Monster Island; Monster Nation). Special deputy Jameson Arkeley stopped a vampire rampage 20 years earlier, during which he whittled down all known bloodsuckers to a single survivor, Justinia Malvern. Kept alive at a sanitarium in rural Pennsylvania by minimal life support and bizarre laws preventing her extermination, wispy Justinia seems a threat to no one—until a series of vampire killings in the area suggest that she has found a secret way to spread her taint. Convinced that Justinia's minions plan to spring her and revive her to full power, Arkeley commandeers state trooper Laura Caxton to help him find their lair and wipe them out before they can get their vampire queen the blood she needs. A surprisingly anticlimactic finale leaves loose ends that will likely be tied up in subsequent volumes of a projected trilogy. (May)
The Broken Kings: Book Three of the Merlin CodexRobert Holdstock. Tor, $27.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-765-31109-2
In the intriguing if convoluted conclusion to British author Holdstock's Merlin Codex trilogy, the near immortal time travelers Merlin and Jason journey to Alba (England) to prevent Jason's two sons by Medea from usurping the throne in place of the ruler known as the Pendragon (Arthur, of course). Those unfamiliar with the previous two books, Celtika (2003) and The Iron Grail (2004), or ancient Celtic lore may find the choppy narrative hard to follow. On the other hand, there are passages full of high intelligence rendered with the skill fans have come to expect from this World Fantasy Award–winning author. Nice touches include a depiction of Jason's sentient ship, Argo, decayed in frame but not in mind, and the adventures of Jason's son Kryptoii in the form of a hunting dog. While not quite up to Holdstock's usual standard, this volume shows he's still one of today's masters of mythic fantasy. (May)
Death's HeadDavid Gunn. Del Rey, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-345-49827-4
First-time novelist Gunn, a Brit who's served his country by undertaking mysterious military or espionage "assignments," delivers a hilarious far-future shoot-'em-up featuring a flawless antihero. As Sven Tveskoeg survives one certain death after another, he reveals himself to be a supernaturally quick healer, able to communicate telepathically with aliens, honorable and compassionate in the face of terrible consequences and equally capable of masterminding a prison planet rebellion, the invasion of a city and the assassination of cyborg generals. Fortunately for Gunn (and Sven), readers are much more likely to cackle with glee than to point and snicker. Some may accuse Gunn of autobiographical wish-fulfillment that would make a fan-fic author blush, and Sven's adventures read almost like a novelization of a movie or video game. Those looking for hard-bitten military SF will be disappointed. Those who love schlock that stops just short of parody will be delighted. (May)
Mass Market
Getting Old Is CriminalRita Lakin. Dell, $6.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-440-24386-1
Florida retiree Gladdy Gold; her sister, Evvie; and their outspoken friends at the Gladdy Gold Detective Agency return (after Getting Old Is the Best Revenge) to tackle a pair of puzzlers: the case of a peeping tom haunting their Fort Lauderdale retirement community, and the case of one Alvin Ferguson, who's hired them to prove that his elderly mother didn't die of natural causes, but was murdered at the hands of her suave lover. The latter investigation sends Gladdy and Evvie, in disguise, to take up temporary residence in the ritzy development that the alleged murdering paramour, Philip Smythe, has made his home. There's no sign that he profited from the death, but some sleuthing uncovers a suspicious pattern of similar entanglements—and similarly "natural" deaths—in his past. When Evvie begins to fall for Smythe, to her sister's dismay, she becomes convinced of his innocence even as she edges closer to danger. Beyond the skillful blend of Yiddish humor, affectionate characters and serious undercurrents—note especially the way Lakin pulls off a tricky, funny-sad scene at a grief therapy session—the simple story picks up speed and flavor with some twists worthy of Agatha Christie's archetypal dame detective, Miss Marple. (May)
Immortals: The CallingJennifer Ashley. Love Spell, $6.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-505-52687-8
This drawn-out kickoff to a four-novel series follows Adrian, one of five immortal brothers who possess more power than any other creature in the universe and who fight to maintain the balance between dark magic and life magic in a modern fantasy world. When Adrian meets the tiger-eyed Amber Silverthorne, a witch full of strong life magic, a whirlwind romance and a world-saving quest ensues featuring a variety of sweltering loves scenes and sword-and-sorcery battles. When they aren't scorching the sheets, the pair hunt down a powerful demon who killed Amber's sister for unknown reasons. With the help of a vampire, a shape-shifting dragon, a werewolf and a Seattle detective, the two trek from Seattle to L.A., on to the Arctic and back, hoping to find answers, vengeance and possibly Adrian's brother, Tain, who's been missing for centuries. Though it would have benefited from a tighter plot, intriguing characters and a genuine sense of humanity pick up some of the slack, giving this promising series a stimulating first act. (May)
Here She LiesKate Pepper. Onyx, $7.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-451-41239-3
Pepper's newest whodunit (following last year's One Cold Night) is a suspenseful, well-written yarn that will leave most readers guessing until the final (albeit derivative) twist. Narrator Annie Milliken, a young mother, having recently found evidence that her husband, Bobby, has been cheating, decides to leave him for a new life in New York State with her identical twin sister, Julie. The happy reunion is marred when a murdered woman—who bears a striking resemblance to the Milliken twins—is found on Julie's property, just as Annie and her infant daughter arrive. Uncertain whether the killer was targeting them, and unsettled by Bobby's presence at the scene, Annie finds things going from bad to worse when she herself becomes a suspect. Though the plot may be a little hard to swallow, and the villain's motivation is a little undercooked, those looking for a quick, distracting thrill will find it here. (May)
Don't ScreamWendy Corsi Staub. Zebra, $6.99 (448p) ISBN 978-0-8217-7972-9
In Staub's latest suspense novel (following last year's bestseller The Final Victim), four Massachusetts sorority sisters make a pact following the accidental death of their sorority sister, Rachel Lorant, on her birthday; together, they swear never to speak about what they saw that night. Ten years later, the women start receiving mysterious letters alluding to Rachel's demise. When one of the four is brutally murdered on the night of her birthday, the others begin to worry what their own encroaching birthdays hold for them. While police try to track down the murderer, our heroines hold tight to their secrets, even as they're hunted and killed one by one. By the time the past finally does come to light, it may be too late for one desperate survivor. Though her prose is strictly utilitarian, Staub keep things taut and unpredictable, changing perspective often and offering up a whole school of red herrings; capped with a gratifying conclusion, Staub's latest is a surprisingly effective thriller. (May)
