Prolific novelist Brouwer (Broken Angel) sweeps up readers in this fast-paced thriller of demon possession, genetic mutations, and Vatican intrigue. Twelve-year-old Jamie Piper has been bounced around foster homes, tracked by a mysterious but tangible "evil" that has left her shaking with hate. When Jamie arrives on the doorstep of her teacher Crockett Grey, she draws him into a web of lies that lands him in jail for possession of child pornography. But is Jamie a dangerous preteen psychopath or a pawn in an international power play? Why has her psychiatrist sent her DNA sample to be reviewed for abnormalities? And why is a powerful Roman cardinal tracing the genealogy of women who were burned as witches in the Middle Ages? Setting the story in both Southern California and the hills of Rome, Brouwer's demon fighters battle their ancient foe within modern urban landscapes. Rather than the Christian moral struggle central to some other Brouwer novels, he exploits a less than fresh anti-Vatican theme to the hilt. Nonetheless, his fans will love this breakneck drama, eager to learn exactly who is on "the canary list" and why. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 06/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

First-time novelist Reid taps into two fan bases—Amish fiction and angel tales—in this lovely story that seamlessly blends both worlds. Judith Fischer is the first to reach her brother, Samuel, after a dramatic fall, and she sees a tall Englischer kneeling near him. The stranger disappears, but Judith later meets him repeatedly, coming to understand he's an angel. The Amish community doesn't believe, as Judith does, that Samuel will walk again; instead, they turn on her for her talk of angels. Only Andrew Lapp befriends her as Judith struggles with her faith, her wayward sister, Martha, and the chaos of her feelings for Levi Plank. Judith's dreams reveal the choices she must make, but can she face the ire of her Old Order Amish community in light of what the angel reveals? Will she leave her Michigan home, and perhaps her dreams for the future, and so avoid shaming her family? Reid has written a fine novel that provides, as its series title claims, a bit of "heaven on earth." (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 05/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Novelist Musser (The Swan House) returns with this story of Mary Dobbs Dillard and Perri Singleton, teenage girls in Atlanta during the 1930s who form a close friendship as they deal with tragedy, heartbreak, and the Depression. Musser's historical research and love for her setting show through on every page, and her competent writing provides readers with a tightly plotted story, though the pacing of the second half is more satisfying than the first. Her characters, however, shine less than their setting; at their worst they are predictable and slightly flat, and even at best they can be overly precious and melodramatic, especially Mary Dobbs, whose Christian faith is emphasized so strongly that it borders on self-righteousness and makes her later crisis of faith seem contrived. Musser also pushes her theme of God's mercy and providence rather heavy-handedly, but despite these flaws, the novel boasts an engaging mystery subplot and satisfying conclusion, and thus should please fans of her previous work. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 06/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Cdr. Mackenzie "Mack" Bedford takes on Somali pirates in Robinson's rousing if less than suspenseful third action thriller to feature the courageous U.S. Navy SEAL (after Diamondhead). Mohammed Salat, "the Godfather of the Dark Continent," is the brains and the money behind the so-called Somali Marines, well-equipped, well-trained brigands who seize tankers and cargo ships off the African coast that they hold for massive ransoms. When the pirates grab a freighter chartered by a U.S. aid agency, Mack takes charge of the Delta Platoon, a new unit of handpicked SEALs. The plot slows as Robinson dwells on the SEALs' extraordinary training and the smooth, sophisticated operations of the Somali Marines. When the order is finally given to go, the Delta Platoon is ready for both daring rescue operations at sea and the brutal task of attacking the pirates' fortified headquarters in the Somali town of Haradheere. Readers will cheer as Mack and his team solve the vexing problem of Somali pirates. (May)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 05/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

The uninspired fourth installment of the Cobbled Court series introduces newcomers Tessa Woodruff and Madelyn Beecher to the sleepy town of New Bern, Conn. The two women lived in the town as childhood best friends until Tessa dumped Madelyn as her friend at the age of 12 for not being cool enough. Forty-three years later, Tessa moves back with her husband to pursue their dream of being farmers and opening an herbal gift shop. Madelyn returns after her wealthy husband is jailed for running a Ponzi Scheme, leaving her with nothing but the deed to her dead grandmother's New Bern house. They rekindle their friendship as Madelyn begins to remodel her inheritance into a bed and breakfast and Tessa struggles through a poor economy. While the plot is thin and the protagonists are uncomplicatedly moral folks, Bostwick remains true to the formula that has created her following—fill a quaint town with good, warm people who are always happy to help each other out. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 06/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

A dreaminess marks Plummer's debut collection featuring troublesome first love among young Latinos in Los Angeles's San Gabriel Valley. An abuelita watches warily in "Olivia's Roses" as her sheltered granddaughter, Olivia, nearing high school graduation, is wooed by Anthony, a lanky, blue-eyed college student who stirs up unfamiliar feelings of being grown-up. College student Andi Rowe is a repeat character in several stories: in "Yard Work," Andi, intent on becoming an architect, is washing the car when she's called over by her elder neighbor, Rosa, and the two have a brief, awkward visit that underscores Old World neighborhood manners. In the title story, Andi's former boyfriend, Pete, a musician thinking about med school, is filled with a sense of loss and nostalgia after his breakup with another girl, and he starts writing a kind of bolero he and Andi used to listen to together. Similarly, a vague loneliness grips the precociously experienced Inez Suarez as she haunts a club on Sunset Boulevard in "All the Sex Is West," picking up two Israeli men who show her some kindness. The action is muted and understated, while Plummer's characters, anchored in a crass present, hanker for a sweeter world of their own imagining. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 06/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

At the start of this workmanlike psychological thriller from British author Edwards (Dancing for the Hangman), lawyer-turned-author Nic Gabriel is startled to see a "dead woman," Ella Vinton, walk into a party at Westminster. Five years earlier, Ella reportedly killed herself over Nic's legal headhunter friend, Dylan Rees, who's also at the party. Nic races to save his friend, but is too late to stop Ella from fatally stabbing Dylan with a butcher's knife, then plunging the knife into her own heart. Later, Nic investigates a law firm plagued by strange deaths that Dylan had told him about. Meanwhile, Roxanne Wake, who's changed her name and colored her hair in an effort to conceal her tormented past, joins a human rights law firm to begin a new life as a paralegal. The two story lines take a few twists and turns before colliding in a shocking, melodramatic conclusion. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 06/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Surgery aimed at rendering the offender harmless has replaced capital punishment in MacBride's effective if gory futuristic crime thriller set in Scotland. The procedure, which removes half the subject's head, leaves the criminal docile and capable of carrying out menial jobs. William Hunter, at 32, the youngest ever assistant section director of a super police force known as the Network, is trying to find out who killed Allan Brown, a vicious serial killer who targeted "halfheads." As he goes about his investigation, Hunter is unaware that he's being stalked by a halfhead killer he earlier brought to justice, Dr. Fiona Westfield. MacBride (Shatter the Bones) populates his universe with details that help maintain the suspension of disbelief (e.g., Hunter's college degree was in Unauthorized Data Access) and there's more than enough material, for those with strong stomachs, to justify a sequel. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 04/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

In Lyle's so-so second thriller featuring Huntsville, Ala., criminal consultant and lumber company owner Dub Walker (after Stress Fracture), Walker's college crush, Miranda Edwards, asks for his help in tracing her wayward 18-year-old daughter, Noel. Noel, who's been paying for her higher education by turning tricks, hasn't been heard of since going on a date with a friend 10 days earlier. The assignment, which has a personal resonance for Walker (his sister, Jill, was abducted and never found), morphs into something quite different after two corpses turn up in a shallow grave with wounds consistent with some kind of surgical procedure. Walker's investigation alternates with the perils of Alejandro Diaz, the utterly unsympathetic lowlife who's responsible for burying the two cadavers. The clichéd climax will leave few readers satisfied. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 06/01/2011 | Details & Permalink

Set in the 3340s, this broadly satirical thriller imagines that, in the aftermath of a devastating global nuclear war, humanity has managed to rebuild a world that closely resembles our own early 21st century. Boice (MVP) plays with the aphorism that those who fail to remember the past are doomed to repeat it (the 34th century has its own Hitler, Adoranso Horater, who's committed to exterminating the Jews), but otherwise offers stock characters and situations indistinguishable from those in a contemporary crime novel. The more significant changes, such as a different approach to obesity (all newborns get gastric bypasses) or an evolutionary scheme that produced a squirrel with a scaled tale and vestigial wings, are mere throwaways that define the setting as "other." Those whose idea of biting social commentary is a future in which people celebrate Christmas by human sacrifices to a huge stone statue of Garfield, the cartoon cat, will feel right at home. (June)

Reviewed on 04/11/2011 | Release date: 06/01/2011 | Details & Permalink