Character development and a good story team up with technology in Hausman's innovative debut novel set in the world of virtual reality. Tallulah Wilson, 27 years old and part Cherokee, works as a tour guide, along with her boyfriend, John Bushyhead Smith, also part Cherokee, on a virtual Trail of Tears in the Tsalagi Removal Exodus Point Park, or TREPP, a tourist attraction in Georgia. Her grandfather, Art, invented the original virtual Trail of Tears using an old Jeep Cherokee with television screens replacing the windows, taking Tallulah on the ride when she was only 12 years old. "Grandpa said that the Indians walking the Trail were digital and couldn't see inside the car, but Tallulah thought they stared right through her... thousands and thousands of digital eyes." On one of Tallulah's tours, which consists of 11 people—a "motley bunch" is Tallulah's assessment—strange things start to happen, an imminent terrorist attack is suspected, and Cherokee residents inside the virtual world plan to change the ride's programming and point of view. Hausman, who has published articles in Native American Indian journals, addresses and revises this piece of America's past, taking readers on an unforgettable ride of their own. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

In Bass's uneven sixth forensic procedural featuring Dr. Bill Brockton (after The Bone Thief), Brockton, who's in charge of the Body Farm, a Tennessee research facility where cadavers are left to decay for research purposes, agrees to help a visiting Florida forensic analyst, Angie St. Claire, with a personal tragedy. St. Claire's sister has died of a shotgun blast to the head in Georgia, a death ruled a suicide by the local authorities, but St. Claire suspects her brother-in-law killed her sister. Brockton's efforts to preserve evidence that could support St. Claire's theory ends up taking a backseat to another puzzle, based on events at an actual Florida reform school, where boys were routinely physically abused. Realistic descriptions of forensic work compensate only in part for less than convincing action sequences. Bass is the writing team of Bill Bass, the real-life model for Brockton, and Jon Jefferson. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Thompson's stellar second thriller featuring Insp. Kari Vaara (after Snow Angels) finds Vaara working as a homicide detective in Helsinki, where he investigates the torture murder of Iisa Filippov. While Vaara suspects the victim's Russian husband, Ivan, he can't touch Ivan because the Russian is well connected within the police department. Vaara also looks into international accusations of war crimes against a Finnish national hero, 90-year-old Arvid Lahtinen, who allegedly executed Jews and other POWs at a secret Finnish stalag during WWII. But he soon learns that not only did his own grandfather serve in the same unit but the stalag is just one of the wartime secrets Lahtinen is hiding that are potentially embarrassing to the Finnish government. The arrival of Vaara's pregnant wife's brother and sister from the States doesn't make his home life easy. Thompson elegantly threads Finland's compelling national history with Vaara's own demons in this taut, emotionally wrought novel. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

In Maberry's audacious third novel featuring Department of Military Science agent Joe Ledger (after The Dragon Factory), Joe must stop a cult bent on overthrowing the world order. Though Ledger is unofficially retired, a terrorist attack that levels the Royal London Hospital killing thousands compels him to return to action. The London tragedy proves to be just the opening move in a meticulously planned plot. When a viral research facility in Scotland is compromised, the Bombay Stock Exchange is bombed, and Ledger himself is almost killed by assassins, he and his DMS cohorts quickly realize that they're up against a terrorist group with virtually unlimited resources—about which they know little except its name, the Seven Kings. Powered by a cast of over-the-top characters, breakneck pacing, nonstop action, and a subtle sense of humor, this is an utterly readable blend of adventure fiction, suspense thriller, and horror. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Hollick (A Hollow Crown) constructs a magnificent epic in this unabashedly pro-Saxon recounting of a turning point in English history. Twenty-two years before the Battle of Hastings, Harold Godwinesson lives happily with his wife in the turbulent era of Edward the Confessor, but as a member of the most powerful noble family in England, Harold is drawn into a political drama that will eventually lead him to assume the rule of England as the last of the Saxon kings. While Edward's Norman associates stir resentment in England, an enemy is consolidating his position across the channel: the ruthless William, duke of Normandy, who considers himself heir to Edward's throne. Hollick's enormous cast and meticulous research combine to create a convincing account of the destructive reign of the hapless Edward and the internecine warfare that weakens England as William prepares to invade. Thanks to Hollick's masterful storytelling, Harold's nobility and heroism enthrall to the point of engendering hope for a different ending to the famous battle of 1066. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

In Robinson's overwrought second novel, Ray Carrier comes face to face with his troubled past when he returns to his hometown of Ontario to bury his father. The use of a present-day investigation into his father's dealings with the wealthy, powerful, and possibly corrupt Miller family finds Carrier flashing back to his teenage years when a brief tryst with Quentin Miller made a lasting impact on him. Though the two spent little time together, Carrier became close to the Millers, particularly Quentin's brother Jack, whose damaged moral compass and interest in an underage local girl threaten the political future his family have carved out for him. Now back at Providence Island after more than two decades, and carrying guilt about his own past indiscretions, Carrier uncovers long-buried secrets about the Millers that will shed new light on not only their family but his own. Robinson's hyperbolic style quickly grows tiresome, while the melodramatic torment, decades-long struggles, and dramatic revelations amount to little without well-drawn characters for readers to care about. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 02/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Razor-sharp writing, laugh-out-loud humor, and a sturdy plot combine to make Thomson's sequel to Once a Spy a real treat for thriller fans tired of more of the same old same old. Charlie Clark has left his life as an inveterate gambler far behind as he and girlfriend Alice go on the lam in Switzerland from Alice's employer, the NSA, and a special CIA black ops unit known as Cavalry. The real star of the group is Charlie's father, Drummond Clark, who after a career as a CIA agent is sinking into the throes of early Alzheimer's, but who's able, when the occasion demands, to revive his old skills and save their skins. The plot surrounds the sale to terrorists of a small nuclear bomb disguised as a washing machine. The nonstop action and quirky, engaging characters will leave readers eager for the next installment and the next and the next. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Swiss author Stamm (Agnes) examines the complications of love and attraction in this captivating novel. Alex and his gorgeous and brilliant wife, Sonia, run an architecture firm and have a lovely daughter. It is the life he always thought he deserved, but during the fateful seventh year of marriage Alex scratches a familiar itch with Ivona, an old flame who is so tremendously plain and boring that Alex considers himself too good for her, and yet, for reasons inexplicable, his attraction to her runs hotter than it ever has for Sonia. His revulsion toward Ivona's fundamental underwhelmingness gets a lengthy—at times, tediously so—examination, as does the magnetism that pulls him to her and his own fiery self-hatred. Ego, passion, and deception run wild, but the novel's strength is found in the characters Stamm has created: powerfully imperfect, sometimes despicable, horribly conflicted, and always believable far beyond the archetypes that too often pop up in novels of marital ennui. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

This first novel from Monk (Now You See It... Stories from Cokesville, PA) moves between the perspectives of several different residents of Warrenside, Pa., a former steel town in the throes of change. In 2004, on the trip home from Afghanistan, 25-year-old National Guardswoman Kat Warren-Bineki, the last of the Warrens who founded the town, dumps her longtime boyfriend for Max Asad, the beloved son of a Lebanese real estate magnate whose power is on the rise in Warrenside, just as Kat's family's is waning. Meanwhile, Wind Storm, the last of the Lenape tribe that originally lived in the area, struggles after her father's death with the decision to remain on the land or sell. When a mighty flood threatens the area, Kat's schizophrenic mother runs naked through downtown, setting off a disastrous string of events (fire! murder! more nudity!) that affects Warrenside and everyone who lives there. Though the narrative runs aground near the end, Monk's authority (she hails from Pennsylvania and served in the Army) and a winning mix of humor, mysticism, and sympathy for people adapting to a swiftly changing world make for an appealing tale. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett must try to prove that his despised mother-in-law, Missy Alden, isn't guilty of murdering Earl Alden, her fifth husband, in Box's searing 11th Joe Pickett novel (after Nowhere to Run). Pickett's gruesome discovery of Alden's body is followed almost immediately by the stage-managed arrest of Missy by Sheriff Kyle McLanahan. Both Missy and Earl have done plenty to earn the enmity of their neighbors, so Missy's arrest benefits McLanahan's bid for re-election, but Pickett is surprised to find county attorney Lisa Rich already convinced the case is solid. Pickett could use the help of his friend Nate Romanowski, but they are on the outs. Meanwhile, Romanowski, hunted by the widow of a man he killed, finds his withdrawal from the world has endangered others. Box parlays a heady mix of Wyoming politics and the advent of wind power into a deadly brew. This engaging series just keeps getting better with each new entry. Author tour. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2011 | Release date: 03/01/2011 | Details & Permalink