Remainder established McCarthy as a contemporary champion of the experimental novel and heir to the postmodern stylists of the late 20th century, but it's difficult to come up with a suitable thematic or stylistic precursor to his unclassifiably brilliant latest. The enigmatic title signifies (for starters) Serge Carrefax, who grows up in early 1900s England on the grounds of the Versoie House, where his inventor-father Simeon runs a school for the deaf, using his pupils to test the copper-wire telegraphs and radio gizmos that are his obsession. There, Serge and his ill-fated sister, Sophie, enact strange experiments in chemistry and star in a school pageant depicting Ceres's journey to the underworld. More C-words follow, as an older, haunted Serge travels to a Bavarian sanitarium in search of the healing chemical cysteine and, following his enrollment in the 104th Airborne Squadron, enjoys flying reconnaissance while high on cocaine. The young century unfurls, bringing with it spiritualists, Egyptian espionage, and a fateful tryst in an ancient tomb, where Serge will at last discover the delicate wavelengths that connect him to the historical signals for which he is an ideal receiver. Each chapter of McCarthy's tour de force is a cryptic, ornate puzzle box, rich with correspondences and emphatically detailed digressions. Ambitious readers will be eager to revisit this endlessly interpretive world, while more casual readers will marvel at the high-flying picaresque perched at the crossroads of science and the stuff dreams are made of. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 09/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

In the towering launch of Hickman’s Annals of Drakis high fantasy series, Drakis, a lowly human warrior-slave, is content to fight for the empire of elves as they crush the last dwarf king. However, everything changes when a captured dwarf jester shatters his master’s well of power. Abruptly released from implanted memories, Drakis and his comrades realize to their horror that their beloved masters are in fact cruel tyrants. The dwarf insists that Drakis is the liberating hero foretold in legends, and soon they are all on the run. While word spreads of the rebellion, conspiracies twist and turn as the reluctant Drakis finds that fate has forced him onto a path that may indeed awaken the storied dragons but destroy everything he values. With this volume, bestseller Hickman (The Immortals) creates memorable characters and realms of immense richness, while holding the reader enthralled with exhilarating action. (July)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 07/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Adair launches a “paranormal romantic suspense” series with this heavy-handed tale. Local wizards in San Cristobal are dying hideous deaths. Beautiful Sara Temple hates her pyrotechnic powers and can’t get her magic working to save herself from such a fate. She calls mentally to her despised ex, handsome Jack Slater, whose wizardly powers bring him teleporting to her aid. The Wizard Council informs them they must work together to ward off the evil Omnivatic snake wizards who show up every three centuries and attempt to procreate and become more powerful. Meanwhile, Jack distrusts Sara’s rich, gorgeous boss, Grant. When not over-explaining the obvious, Adair (Hot Ice) keeps the pace brisk and the action vivid. This book should appeal to readers who like bickering protagonists, plenty of sex, and a hero who always comes to the rescue, and who don’t mind a risible magic system or an obvious villain. (July)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 07/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

The twisting paths of love and duty collide in this engrossing and lively romance introducing Miss Sophie Harlow, a journalist whose column has taken 19th-century London by storm. Sophie, herself recently jilted at the altar, has reluctantly taken on the newspaper’s task of writing about weddings, and is invited to cover the marriage of the handsome “double duke” of Brandon and Hamilton to Lady Clarissa Richmond. The moment Brandon and Sophie lay eyes on each other, the chemistry is undeniable. But Brandon’s reputation as a truly good man, coupled with Sophie’s regard for Clarissa, conflict with their deepening desires. Meanwhile, Lady Clarissa’s mother will stop at nothing to see the wedding through, despite her daughter’s sudden attachment to the Prince of Bavaria (it’s mutual). As the wedding day draws neigh, schemes are unleashed and bonds are broken. With wonderfully drawn characters, intrigue, and tantalizing passion, Rodale (The Rogue and the Rival) is certain to delight readers and keep them waiting, with baited breath, for more. (June)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 06/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Swedish horror author Lindqvist moves from vampires (Let the Right One In) to zombies in this gripping, subtle tale. Stockholm is overtaken by the undead after a period of strange weather, and the uprising has surprising consequences for several people, including David, a comedian whose dead wife comes back to life; self-harming psychic teenagers Flora and Elvy; and journalist Gustav Mahler, whose only hope of saving his daughter and himself from grief lies in exhuming his young grandson and hoping the boy will be reanimated. Lindqvist's character-driven narrative is at times slow and confusing, but pop culture references keep the story relevant and interesting. This intelligent look into the psychological side of the undead will entice longtime zombie fans eager for a subversive examination of some of the horror genre's most recognizable monsters. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 08/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

You don't have to be a zombie-lover to enjoy this outstanding follow-up to 2008's The Living Dead. Anthologist extraordinaire Adams has assembled 43 stories that showcase strong writing and imagination. Unexpected settings include a lost world with surviving dinosaurs (Brian Keene's "Lost Canyon of the Dead") and a pirate ship (Amelia Beamer's "Pirates vs. Zombies"). Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due's "Danger Word" and David Wellington's "Good People" contain powerful depictions of humans facing extinction at the hands of the undead. Cherie Priest revisits the steampunk America of her Clockwork Century books in "Reluctance" and Mira Grant adds to her Newsflesh trilogy with "Everglades." For the most part, the authors convey horror through suggestion rather than graphic gore. Readers will hope for many further additions to the series even after the zombie craze passes. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 08/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

The humor in this parody lies in the simple truth that even a zombie bear with a hatchet in its head won't faze a Minnesotan. After dead people and animals begin coming back to life, Lutheran pastor Daniel Inkfist and Catholic priest Father Edsel band together to form the Interfaith Anti-Zombification League. Power-mad mayoral candidate Eileen Munson tries to work the situation to her own advantage while dominatrix Julie Olafson dreams of creating a zombie-free green zone around Lake Woebegotten. Mr. Levitt, secretly a serial killer, easily dispatches the undead as well as the living, but then he decides to dig up the cemeteries (once the thaw hits) and release a zombie army. As in Garrison Keillor's writing, dry humor leads to moments of real feeling and pathos. A Minnesotan might say that it's pretty good if you like that kind of thing. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 08/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

McGuire hits her stride with this fast-paced, sharply plotted, tense urban fantasy, the third featuring half-fae detective Toby Daye (after 2009's A Local Habitation). Toby is dismayed to encounter her frighteningly upbeat Fetch, May Daye, a magical doppelgänger heralding her imminent demise. Hot on its heels comes the discovery that Blind Michael, lord of the Wild Hunt, has kidnapped a number of fae and human children—including several whom Toby considers family—to replenish his riders. Determined to outfight or outwit Michael, Toby chases him down several increasingly dangerous Faerie Roads and through the streets of San Francisco, finding unexpected allies and new inner strength. McGuire adeptly plunders folklore, nursery rhymes, traditional ballads, and fairy tales for her framework, and fleshes it out with plenty of action and intrigue. With the addition of May, the cast finally clicks and the series really solidifies. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 09/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

This threadbare dystopian sequel to 2008's Fallen and 2009's Guardian never approaches the heights attained by Delacroix's better-known historical romances (The Snow-White Bride, etc.). Armand and Baruch are a pair of fallen angels determined to assassinate an evil politician and thus inspire beneficent angelic intervention in human affairs. Unknown to them, the mercenary and astoundingly hypersexual assassin Theodora is planning a hit on the Oracle—Delilah from Guardian—at the same event. Both marks escape, Baruch falls into the hands of the Institute (affiliated, naturally, with the Society and the Republic), and Armand and Theodora are left to figure out how to accomplish their goals and make a clean getaway. Delacroix is no world-builder, slapping together half-baked prognostications with tired paranormal tropes. The feeble speculative elements will annoy SF fans, the superficial use of religious themes will annoy believers, and there's more romance and character development in your average obituary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 08/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Medeiros (Some Like It Wild) leaves Regency England for Scotland (exact time and place not specified) in this charming romance. About to speak wedding vows that will bind her to the elderly earl of Hepburn and save her family from poverty, Emmaline Marlowe finds herself abducted by Hepburn's sworn enemy, Jamie Sinclair. Trapped in the Scottish wilds with Jamie and his men, she tries to unravel a tangled mystery around the source of the feud: the unsolved murder of Jamie's parents. Readers will enjoy the appealing, self-reliant heroine and her efforts to avoid her marriage, find the man of her dreams, and take care of her parents and three younger sisters. Quick-paced, clever dialogue lightly sprinkled with Scottish slang moves things along almost too quickly toward a somewhat rushed conclusion. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/26/2010 | Release date: 08/01/2010 | Details & Permalink