Martin Buber, who died in 1965, was a philosopher, Zionist, lover of Hasidism, scholar, professor, and prolific author, best known for introducing the idea of I-Thou (as contrasted with I-It) to characterize the desired relationship between individuals and between a person and God. In 1948, Buber gave six lectures in Holland, called "The Way of Man According to the Teachings of Hasidism." Author Kramer, who knew Buber and is professor emeritus of comparative religious studies at San Jose State University, asserts that these talks are Buber's "most profound presentation of spiritual life and faith." Kramer offers his summary of each lecture; his commentary on them; the Hasidic stories with which they began and ended; anecdotes from Buber's life, stressing the lesson being taught; and questions designed to help readers incorporate the teaching into their lives. The first three lectures aim to prepare people for spiritual change and the last three offer insights as to how individuals can fulfill their lives through meaningful connections to others and with events.  Kramer has largely succeeded in making Buber's complex ideas accessible and understandable. (Jan.)

DeFelice's third thriller featuring maverick FBI Agent Andy Fisher (after Threat Level Black) features neither a compelling storyline nor a memorable lead. In the "near present," Fisher, who occupies a unique niche in the Bureau as the "one-man problem-solver" for the director, ignores an email from a former girlfriend, Kathy Feder, and lives to regret it. While he's otherwise engaged at a bar, Feder is gunned down in her hotel room. Tragically, Feder's last communiqué is opened too late; Fisher learns after her murder that she wanted his help to deal with something "terrible," and dedicates himself to tracking down her killer. She had been working as the vice-president for finance for Icarus Sun Works, an energy concern whose Helios project aimed to capture the sun's energy via satellite and beam it down to earth. The threat that innovation poses to other players in the energy business supplies an obvious motive for her murder, and Fisher travels the country to bring Feder some justice. The author keeps things moving, but the lead's quirks aren't enough to sustain interest. (Feb.)

Blake's newest (after The Killings of Stanley Ketchel) is an immersive and complex epic set in New England, Mexico, and the American Southwest and spanning three generations of the Wolfe family, a rough-and-tumble clan sired in 1828 by pirate captain Roger Blake Wolfe, whose execution shortly after the birth of his twin boys, Samuel and John Roger, starts the book off with a violent start. The brothers' paths separate when Samuel accidentally kills a watchman and signs up for the Army under an alias to avoid prosecution, and John Roger goes to Dartmouth, from whence he graduates with a law degree. Both brothers end up in Mexico--Samuel deserts the Army and John Roger accepts a position as a sales agent at his wife's uncle's trading company--, but neither can escape the curse of the Wolfe blood, which persists across generations and geography. Murder, politics, and illegitimate children fuel this engrossing and wonderfully realized saga. The familial relationships are deep and sometimes difficult to trace (though a Wolfe genealogy at the beginning of the book helps a little), but Blake methodically moves his narrative forward to the tragic (but inevitable) conclusion. While he reveals little of his protagonists' inner lives, readers will be curious to see what tragedies befall the Wolfes and whether the family will be redeemed. (Jan.)

In irregular warfare consultant Hamlet's debut, the year is 1978 and over a million planes, tanks, and jeeps have mysteriously disappeared from various National Guard enclaves across the country, only to reappear at other previously defunct National Guard facilities. This hard-to-believe premise drives a rapid-fire story of cat-and-mouse between the CIA and the Right Guard, a rogue military group that the Agency believes is responsible for the relocation of the armaments. 38-year-old CIA operative Eric Brent is tasked with gaining the trust of Right Guard member Rake Benson and infiltrating the group, which eventually leads him to Deacon Malway, the elderly fanatic leader who dreams of taking over the United States and putting it under martial law in order to tailor the fabric of American life to his liking. The novel shifts rapidly between the efforts of Deacon's group to implement its goal, and those of Eric and his support team to thwart it. Countless new one-dimensional characters are introduced at such a dizzying speed that it's difficult to keep their loyalties straight. The novel's multitude of details lend authenticity to the story (such as epigraphic real-life newspaper clippings at the beginnings of many chapters), but their sheer volume impedes the flow of the novel. (Jan.)

The sequel to Susan Jane Bigelow's outstanding Broken finds guilt-ridden superhero Sky Ranger on the run from the fascist Reformist government he served for years. His motley crew includes an Earth exile with a secret, and a young extrahuman with extraordinary powers who the government wants for a nefarious purpose. Along the way, Penny Silverwing--formerly known as Broken, and Sky Ranger's former lover--finds her path crossing his again. Multiple extrahumans and refugees are saved from the government during the escape while a little surprise looms before another mission is handed down. Filled with hairpin plot turns, breathtaking escapes, compelling characters, and a profound sense of humanity, this installment of the Extrahuman series expands upon an already fascinating universe and leaves the reader hungry for a third book. (Jan.)

Brett's second mystery set in 1920s England (after 2011's Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter) starts off as a passable Wodehouse imitation, but soon grows tiresome with its relentless wordplay, banter, and speech mannerisms evocative of Bertie Wooster (e.g., "Oh, trucky-trockle. Well, me old poached egg, tell me what your notion is zappity-ping"). The over-the-top plot finds the dim Honourable Devereux Lyminster (aka Blotto) and his brainy sister, Honoria (aka Twinks), investigating a murder that leads them to a sinister gang straight from the pulps, the League of the Crimson Hand. Wodehouse's genius lay in pairing memorably goofy characters with complex, rigorously constructed plots that maximized the farcical potential of misunderstandings and missteps. Brett's inability to do so renders this a slight diversion rather than a genuinely memorable comic mystery. (Jan.)

O'Hara makes only minimal changes to the plot of Stoker's Dracula, while lifting scenes and dialogue wholesale from it, in this subpar pastiche that unconvincingly introduces the supernatural into the hyper-rational Baker Street universe. Essentially Holmes takes over Van Helsing's role after Watson's niece, Mina, asks for help locating her vanished husband, Janos Svbado, the Jonathan Harker stand-in, who's unaccounted for after a visit to Dracula's castle. Holmes and Watson journey to Transylvania, where they have the exact same encounters with wolves and a mysterious coachman that Harker did in the original, before meeting the vampire-king himself. Unlike authors like Loren Estleman or Fred Saberhagen, O'Hara doesn't even attempt to have Holmes wrestle with a phenomenon outside his experience, and implausibly has the great detective adopting the use of garlic and other wards against the undead without batting a deerstalker. Unfortunately, the best-written passages are lifted directly, and without attribution, from Doyle's short story "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches," and the author rushes the final showdown between Holmes and Dracula, robbing it of any dramatic power. (Nov.)

Jack-of-all-trades Hoffman (Bitches on a Budget) compiles the tips and tricks she's learned in her careers as marketer, mother, and writer to produce an all-in-one guide to frugal parenting. Written to other mothers in tone, but not gender-specific in content, this valuable tome offers suggestions on how to survive the giant-plastic-stuff phase of infancy (buy a used stroller, but a new crib) and paying for college, though the bulk of her advice is focused on the many years between. With two of kids out of college and on their own, she confidently dispenses advice on topics ranging from clothing choices to sex-ed, but manages to do so in a chatty, friendly voice that is never overbearing. Food is a large part of any family's budget, and Hoffman discusses MyPlate, organics, and "smart shopping" with equal ease. She also provides a brief overview of financial management basics including budgeting, insurance, and credit cards, and her advice about helping kids distinguish "wants" from "needs" is astute and practical. In addition to everyday tips, Hoffman also offers tried-and-true insights into developing strong relationships with one's children--in the end, "a smart mom never loses sight of what her kids really need: unconditional love, safe boundaries, and room to play." Informative, entertaining, and applicable, this is a must-read for "smart mamas" and papas. (Mar.)

Luery, an investigative television reporter, has written a baseball travelogue bound to be the envy of any father and son fans of the game. Luery and his son, Matt, spent parts of their springs and summers over a 16-year span traveling to every Major League Baseball stadium. Along the way, the self-professed "baseball buddies" argued over music, free speech, and sex, first exploiting and then accepting each other's quirks and shortcomings. Luery includes interviews with ballplayers he met on the road, including former Los Angeles Dodger Maury Wills, and he incorporates a few observations about each ballpark. His main focus remains his evolving relationship with Matt, who by book's end has grown into a witty young man bonding over beers with his dad at ballpark No. 32, Target Field in Minneapolis; Matt's epilogue offers his own revealing take on this father-son journey. Often falling prey to overeager prose and contrived dialogue, Luery also strikes out with simple solecisms and sentences that read like term-paper extracts. But a glossary of baseball terms and several pages of family-friendly activities and places to stay in every Major League city make this book a useful travel guide as well. While not quite the "Road Map to a Winning Father/Son Relationship" as claimed by the subtitle, this is a heartwarming and entertaining read. (Mar.)

Reading Gerard's well-crafted first essay collection is like spending time with an easygoing yet erudite uncle, with whom you're happy to sit around on the front porch on "lazy afternoons…drinking beers and [speculating]" on all manner of personal and historical oddments and occurrences. The book ranges widely in subject matter, the devastation visited upon the North Carolina coast by Hurricane Fran in 1996 to an investigation into whether or not a North Carolina man who died in 1846 really was, as he intermittently claimed to be, the exiled favorite general of Napoleon Bonaparte. As regards the latter, Gerard (Secret Soldiers) doesn't commit to either side; rather he uses it as an opportunity to meditate on the idea of being an imposter, and why so many people fall for them: "Maybe it just makes a better story somehow. Maybe in one sense we are all imposters, wishing for a more glamorous backstory to our lives than the one we have." He demonstrates some unique linguistic brilliance, painting vivid, pullulating scenes of "summer skies choked with thunderheads" and "golden afternoon light cooled by the deep verdure of swaying evergreen trees." However, when this sort of thing goes on for too long, the proceedings can get tedious. But Gerard has a mostly sharp instinct for when to take his leave, and he mostly does so at the right time to leave his reader looking forward to the next visit. (Mar.)