August 15, 2012: Volume LXXX, No 16

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REVIEWS

t h e w o r l d’s t o u g h e s t b o o k c r i t i c s f o r mo r e t h a n 7 5 y e a rs fiction

T. Geronimo Johnson delivers a rich, passionate novel set against the backdrop of war p. 1734

nonfiction

chi l dr en’s & te e n

Historian Jon Meacham returns with an outstanding biography of Thomas Jefferson p. 1773

Linda Tarrant-Reid delves into the archives to find little-known stories of African-American history and compiles them in a gorgeous volume p. 1817

in this issue: continuing series feature

featured indie

Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel discusses his brilliant new novel, Hostage p. 1732

Darcie Chan is the author of The Mill River Recluse, a self-published debut novel that has become a wordof-mouth e-book sensation. The book has appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists for more than 28 weeks. p. 1827

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Appreciations: Rebooting the Oxford Latin Dictionary B Y G RE G O RY MC NA M EE

Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N # President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N Chief Operating Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N mkuehn@kirkus.com

B a c k i n t h e h i p p i e d ays , w h e n b o o k i s h eccentricity was no vice, I knew a young man, a telephone lineman by trade, who had three passions. The first was snakes, and one wall of his cottage was given over to a glass cage full of the things. The second was opera, and another wall was devoted to recordings of Verdi, Mozart, Wagner and the other greats of the genre. The third was Latin, and a third wall was covered with editions of Virgil, Plautus, Martial and the other authors of ancient Rome. I still hold in my mind’s eye the image of him, a boa constrictor draped over his shoulders, reading Propertius while Maria Callas filled the air, a study in, well, unusualness.

Never mind serpents and arias: In those days, it wasn’t common to nurture a fluency in Latin unless you were a professional classicist or a priest. Nowadays, though, Latin has been enjoying a quiet comeback. The New York Times reported a few years back that schools in the leafy suburbs of the city were seeing a marked increase in enrollment in Latin classes, while Advanced Placement test applicants nationwide had doubled since 2000. One motive was obvious: Students with a background in Latin do better as a group on such life-course-altering exams as the SAT than do those without it. Another cause was less obvious: the zeitgeist-y fascination with the Latinate spells uttered

by Harry Potter and cohort, yet another reverberation of that improbably influential series of books.

Meanwhile, a minor industry has sprung up around what might be called Latin summer camp, where stockbrokers and executives gather to conjugate Amo, amas and amat and decline matella, since it’s always useful to know how to deploy the word for chamber pot grammatically. Just ask Brian, the lead of that Monty Python movie: Romani ite domum, indeed.

Back in the day—so far back that they were practically living languages—I studied ancient Greek, absorbing enough Latin along the way to read the ancient monuments of Rome. I had as my companions old dictionaries, in the case of Greek, one compiled by the father of Alice Liddell, of Alice in Wonderland fame. Along with the resurgence in classical study in the last couple of decades has come a freshening of key reference works, the most recent of them P.G.W. Glare’s new edition of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford University Press), with its more than 40,000 entries revealing the way the ancients thought about the world. Some of my favorite words: antelucanus, “of the hours before dawn,” a word inside which a night-stalking wolf hides; deformiter, “in an ugly manner, hideously”; purpurissum, “an earth dyed with Tyrian purple.” Dip into its 2,400 pages, and you’ll doubtless find favorites of your own.

“Oxford Latin Dictionary is in the unusual position of having no obvious rival, certainly in English-speaking countries,” writes classicist Christopher Stray. That monopoly hasn’t kept the editors from making of the two-volume set the best book possible, an exemplary investigation into a language that is very much alive. There’s much to be said for retreating with it into the pages of Pliny and Propertius, after all, instead of turning on the television, for preferring the swordplay of a Spartacus to the latest episode in armed psychopathy that the headlines bring. Everyone repeat after me: Arma virumque cano…

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This Issue’s Contributors Maude Adjarian • Mark Athitakis • Michael Autrey • Joseph Barbato • Derek Charles Catsam • Marnie Colton • Dave DeChristopher • David Delman • Kathleen Devereaux • Daniel Dyer • Gro Flatebo • Julie Foster • Sean Gibson • Faith Giordano • Amy Goldschlager • Robert M. Knight • Christina M. Kratzner • Paul Lamey • Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch • Elsbeth Lindner • Raina Lipsitz • Joe Maniscalco • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Brett Milano • Carole Moore • Clayton Moore • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth • John Noffsinger • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota • Christofer D. Pierson • William E. Pike • Gary Presley • David Rapp • Kristen Bonardi Rapp • Karen Rigby • Lloyd Sachs • Bob Sanchez • William P. Shumaker • Rosanne Simeone • Elaine Sioufi • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer • Matthew Tiffany • Steve Weinberg • Rodney Welch • Carol White • Chris White • Joan Wilentz • Homa Zaryouni • Alex Zimmerman

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contents The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.

fiction INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS...................................................p. 1723 REVIEWS........................................................................................p. 1723 MYSTERY...................................................................................... p. 1746 SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY...................................................p. 1758 Q&A WITH ELIE WIESEL..............................................................p. 1732

nonfiction INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS...................................................p. 1761 REVIEWS........................................................................................p. 1761 Q&A WITH STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY........................................p. 1776

children’s & teen INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS.................................................. p. 1787 REVIEWS....................................................................................... p. 1787 Q&A WITH FAITH AMANDA HOCKING....................................p. 1804 INTERACTIVE E-BOOKS.............................................................p. 1818 CONTINUING SERIES ROUND-UP............................................p. 1819

indie INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS...................................................p. 1821 REVIEWS........................................................................................p. 1821 Q&A WITH DARCIE CHAN..........................................................p. 1827

David Byrne delivers a supremely intelligent, superbly written dissection of music as an art form and way of life. See our starred review on p. 1764. |

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on the web w w w. k i r k u s r e v i e w s . c o m / b l o g s Here’s what’s online at kirkus.com…

Fall is nearly here and with it, a slew of top new titles to watch out for. Go online all month long to get a sneak peak at our Fall Preview and some of the biggest books soon to be released.

We’ll also feature our Best Books for Fall in fiction, nonfiction, kids and teen genres, as well as our best of back-to-school books to get your little ones headed off right. All month long, online at kirkus.com.

Continue to follow our Indie publishing series featuring some of today’s top self-publishing gurus and authors, including Guy Kawasaki, Karen McQuestion, Theresa Ragan, Christiana Miller and more. Every week, we will feature a new author on how they achieved their success in self-publishing, as well as published authors sharing their tips of the trade.

It’s a must-read resource for anyone interested in getting their books out there.

In his latest, How Children Succeed, critically acclaimed journalist and New York Times Magazine editor Paul Tough effectively argues that policymakers are putting entirely too much emphasis on exams. Despite that, parents are as frustrated as ever, teachers are tired of “teaching the test,” and too many students are still failing. So why does this culture of hyper-testing persist? Well, for one thing it’s easier—at least for those administering the exams. Just in time for back-to-school, Tough talks to us more about that surprising phenomena, the significance of noncognitive learning and from which direction the fomenting backlash against excessive testing might finally come.

Rebecca Stead won the 2010 Newbery Medal for When You Reach Me. Now, she returns with Liar & Spy, about Georges, a seventh-grade boy coping with social and economic issues. After Georges’ family moves into a new apartment, he spends a lot of time watching America’s Funniest Home Videos with nobody but a print by Seurat (his namesake) for company. His dad is trying hard to build up a clientele, and his mom is working double shifts at the hospital to keep the family afloat. But when Safer, the boy who lives upstairs, starts giving him spying lessons, Georges finds more than he expected in his new home. Stead talks to us about families, names and the writing life after the Newbery, exclusively online.

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fiction FOBBIT

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Abrams, David Black Cat/Grove (384 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-8021-2032-8

TALKING TO THE DEAD by Harry Bingham............................. p. 1725 BEGGAR’S FEAST by Randy Boyagoda..................................... p. 1726

IEDs, VBIEDs, EODs, G-3 and even CNN contrive a constant Catch-22 as Fobbit Chance Gooding Jr. fights the acronym war in Abrams’ debut novel.

FOB is an acronym, meaning Forward Operating Base. It’s 2005 in wartorn Iraq, and a Fobbit is a soldier working within that secured area, never venturing beyond the wire and guard towers to cope with AK-47–toting terrorists and improvised explosive devices.

Staff Sgt. Gooding mans a computer in FOB Triumph’s Public Affairs Office. Though he uses no active unit’s designation, the author knows the Army, good and bad. Abrams is a 20-year veteran who served in Iraq as part of a public affairs team. While the narrative generally feeds off Gooding, it is peopled with far more outlandish and intriguing characters. One is Gooding’s immediate superior, Lt. Col. Eustace Harkleroad, timid, overweight, incompetent and subject to stress nosebleeds.

Bunkered in a cubicle in one of Saddam’s old palaces, Gooding shoots off cliché-riddled press releases meant to obscure casualty numbers. The doublespeak must earn three chain-of-command initials before they’re ready to be ignored by the media.

The tipping point comes when news outlets begin to salivate over killed-in-action numbers reaching 2,000. With notations from Gooding’s diary and woeful, lie-laden emails-to-mother from Harkleroad, the author’s narrative reflects the Fobbit war, the heat and the sand, civilian contractors and guest workers at the FOB’s burger and chicken franchises. Abrams saves his best work for two supporting characters, Lt. Col. Vic Duret, a harddriving, stressed-out, uber-responsible battalion commander haunted by his brother-in-law’s death in the World Trade Center attack, and the inept and fear-filled Capt. Abe Shrinkle, a West Pointer who bungles his way into shooting an innocent Iraqi civilian on one mission and incinerating another on the next.

More a Fobbit’s Jarhead than a Yossarian Catch-22, although one character meets a Kid Sampson-like fate.

Sardonic and poignant. Funny and bitter. Ribald and profane. Confirmation for the anti-war crowd and bile for Bush supporters. (Agent: Nat Sobel)

TELEGRAPH AVENUE by Michael Chabon................................ p. 1727 THE GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS by Tan Twan Eng............. p. 1730 HOLD IT ’TIL IT HURTS by T. Geronimo Johnson..................... p. 1734 THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED by Jonas Jonasson........... p. 1735 SOMETHING RED by Douglas Nicholas..................................... p. 1739 THE FORGIVEN by Lawrence Osborne...................................... p. 1740 BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HERE by Susan Straight................. p. 1744 THE THREE-DAY AFFAIR by Michael Kardos........................... p. 1752 A DEATH IN VALENCIA by Jason Webster.................................. p. 1756 DEATH WHERE THE BAD ROCKS LIVE

by C. M. Wendelboe...................................................................... p. 1756 TELEGRAPH AVENUE

Chabon, Michael Harper/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $27.99 Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-06-149334-8

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“An accomplished debut.” from the dangers of proximal alphabets

THE DANGERS OF PROXIMAL ALPHABETS

that were to be Gretchen’s next memoir. In this new memoir (Tammyland dealt with a divorce-inspired road trip merged with anecdotes of country music’s tragic divas), Gretchen was focusing on the sad circumstances of her own childhood. Shelly was a teenager when she became pregnant with Gretchen, so her older sister, Linda, and her husband raised the baby. Gretchen would visit her mother on the weekends, until one day, Shelly was found beaten to death. Shelly’s drunken boyfriend was acquitted, but everyone in the small New Hampshire town still thinks he did it. Jamie begins by simply organizing all the material, but when her house is broken into (the only things stolen are related to Gretchen) and it becomes clear that Gretchen’s death was not an accident, she becomes an unlikely detective, attempting to piece together the last days of Gretchen’s life. Arsenault builds the framework of a taut mystery—the present crime is directly related to the past—but the novel’s pace is frequently slowed by excerpts from Tammyland and, to a lesser extent, Gretchen’s field notes and rough drafts of the new memoir. Though Arsenault is playing with the idea of constructed realities, of multiple versions of truth, much is peripheral to the mystery and feels like a drag on the excitement being built as Jamie gets closer to the truth, and the murderer gets closer to Jamie.

Flawed but affective.

Alcott, Kathleen Other Press (224 pp.) $14.95 paperback | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-59051-529-7 In Alcott’s first novel, a young woman dissects a shattered relationship as she strives to understand the elements and emotions that have defined her life.

Throughout childhood, neighbors Ida and Jackson share an indivisible bond that can’t be penetrated, even by Jackson’s younger brother, James. They have that rare connection that sometimes forms between individuals, a tie so strong that the two breathe, eat, sleep and function almost as one. The boys’ mother and Ida’s guilt-ridden father (Ida’s mother died in a horrific fire while he was in an alcoholic stupor) maintain a friendship and quasi-family unit based on compatibility and necessity, and the children spend most of their time together. Jackson and James are somnambulists, and Ida is intrigued by their ability to converse in their sleep. As Jackson and Ida’s love evolves into a physical relationship, James struggles with drugs and mental illness, and the three contend with inevitable changes in the dynamics of their friendship. When Jackson strikes Ida in his sleep, she buys art supplies to divert his actions, and Jackson begins to produce amazing artwork—a feat that he can only accomplish while in a sleeping state. Against his wishes, Ida takes his work to an art gallery owner, who then arranges a public showing, and this ultimately signifies the end for the couple. The narrative, which begins after the breakup, expertly interweaves Ida’s current reflections with her introspection about past events, some simple and innocent, others complex and appalling: the circus wallpaper held together by tape in the boys’ bedroom; a toy Godzilla purchased by James at a garage sale; sexual exploration at an early age; the kidnapping of a neighborhood girl. All add dimension to each character and help establish the emotional depth of a well-told story.

An accomplished debut.

SEVEN HOUSES IN FRANCE

Atxaga, Bernardo Translated by Costa, Margaret Jull Graywolf (256 pp.) $14.00 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-55597-623-1

The title alludes to the brutal exploitation of rubber-tappers in the early-20thcentury Congo, for Capt. Lalande Biran of the Belgian Force Publique has promised his Parisian wife seven houses with the proceeds of his licit and illicit dealings.

Biran is one of many merciless Belgians in the service of King Leopold in 1903, yet in some ways he’s the most urbane of them all, for he’s a poet and a cultivated man of letters. Every week, however, he has his orderly Donatien procure him a native girl—and she must be a virgin owing to his fear of contracting a disease. (Biran’s usual habit is to give the girl to Donatien after his carnal desires are sated.) Second-in-command is Lt. Richard Van Thiegel, who keeps a list of amorous encounters by the race of the girl he exploits. When Van Thiegel finds a picture of the captain’s ravishing wife, he decides to make her number 200 on his list once he leaves the service. Introduced into this morass of corruption is Chrysostome Liège, a new soldier in the Force Publique, and one who doesn’t fit the mold. He’s a crack shot, is devoted to the Virgin Mary and doesn’t seem to have an interest in the native girls, a fact that Van Thiegel begins to exploit by referring contemptuously to Chrysostome as a “poofter.” Biran tries to speed up his ability to acquire his seven houses and is able to when the price of ivory and mahogany, both of which he

MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE

Arsenault, Emily Morrow/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Jul. 31, 2012 978-0-06-210310-9

An uneven mystery about a murdered writer researching the suspicious death of her own mother.

When Gretchen Waters dies, it appears to be a tragic accident: She falls down steep library steps after a reading of her memoir Tammyland. Her best friend, Jamie, a ripely pregnant journalist, is asked to become Gretchen’s literary executor, which means she’ll be organizing the vast quantities of notebooks, audio recordings and computer files 1724

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TALKING TO THE DEAD

illegally harvests, soars. Meanwhile, as a public relations gesture, Leopold is sending a statue of the Virgin Mary to the Congo, and the soldiers must prepare an adequate welcome.

Like Heart of Darkness, with which similarities abound, this narrative is both tragic and traumatic.

Bingham, Harry Delacorte (352 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-345-53373-9

Introducing Fiona “Fi” Griffiths, a young Welsh police detective with a difference. She’s in recovery from a rare dissociative condition that, at its worse, makes her feel as dead as the prostitutes whose murders she is investigating.

Five years ago, in her late teens, Fi had a prolonged breakdown. Now, she relates to people and experiences herself in strange ways. She’s able to identify emotion, but not feel it. But that only enhances her go-getter investigative skills. Her willingness to break rules puts her at odds with her kindly superiors in Cardiff—until the truths she uncovers lead to breaks in the case. She quickly connects the murder of a prostitute and her six-year-old daughter to a sex-trade ring run by a British millionaire that brings in Russian prostitutes, hooks them on heroin, enslaves them and snuffs them when they have outlived their usefulness. The plot is a good one, the climax in a remote lighthouse better than good. But what sets the book apart is the first-person narration of Fi, one of the most intriguing female characters in recent fiction. Even Lisbeth Salander wouldn’t spend the night in a morgue lying between dead bodies in an effort to get closer to their killers. After getting viciously slapped by a former cop gone bad, Fi is stricken with fear. Not only does she overcome it, she comes to appreciate her attacker’s better qualities. A budding romance with a sensitive and caring fellow cop helps.

The promising first installment in a new series, this book is so good it has you wondering who should play Fiona on the big screen. How about Keira Knightley?

TRUST YOUR EYES

Barclay, Linwood New American Library (496 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-451-23790-3 Rear Window crossed with Rain Man and updated for the virtual age, Barclay’s latest nail-biter has a map-obsessed schizophrenic discovering a murder while browsing street images online.

He and his brother are targeted by the people behind the murder, who work for the New York attorney general and his gubernatorial campaign. Thomas Kilbride spends most of his time in his bedroom in upstate New York, walking the streets of the world via Whirl360, a program akin to Google’s Street View. He says he works for the CIA, absorbing cartographic details for the day when a cyberterrorist attack wipes out all maps, and regularly confers with Bill Clinton. His older brother, Ray, a successful political cartoonist who has returned home from Vermont for their father’s funeral, rejects Thomas’ fictions, sometimes harshly. But after Thomas shows him the chilling image of a woman with a bag pulled over her head in a New York City apartment window and Ray investigates the scene in person, there’s no dismissing the possibility of murder. One death leads to another, the brothers become targets, and a crucial mistake by the female hired killer, a one-time Olympic gymnast who now scores with an ice pick, puts her life at risk. Though a few of the plot turns squeak, Barclay is a master of the understated surprise. And though the climax of the book loses some of its heat to its humor—and a secondary plot involving the accidental death of the father and a childhood incident involving Thomas—the payoff is still plenty satisfying. Thomas is one of Barclay’s best and most sympathetic characters yet. The scene in which he finds himself walking actual streets for the first time, exposed to their smells and sounds, is memorable.

The Toronto-based Barclay (The Accident, 2011, etc.) delivers another page turner that contains as much pleasure in the setup as the outcome.

ONLY ONE LIFE

Blaedel, Sara Pegasus Crime (352 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 15, 2012 978-1-60598-350-9 What looks depressingly like the honor killing of a young Jordanian immigrant takes Louise Rick from the Copenhagen Police Department to a special assignment in the town of Holbæk.

Why would someone strangle a ninth-grade student and sink her body in Udby Cove? At 15, Samra al-Abd wasn’t old enough to have serious enemies; according to her protective parents Ibrahim and Sada, she wasn’t even old enough to have a boyfriend. And surely Benedicta Møller, the friend who reported her missing, couldn’t possibly have hated her enough to kill her or gotten access to the boat that must have been used to dispose of her body.

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which Louise (Call Me Princess, 2011) has been assigned looks inside her family for suspects, even though that’s the last place they’d look if the victim weren’t Muslim. So does Louise’s friend, crime reporter Camilla Lind, whose editor ups the ante further by slapping an incendiary headline on the story she’s struggled to make evenhanded. The only thing that could possibly undermine the assumption that someone in Samra’s family killed her to protect their reputation after she committed some unforgivable sin that Louise has yet to discover is another murder, and that’s exactly what happens when Dicta Møller is found dead. Given the dramatically different crime scenes, it’s hard to believe that the same killer is responsible for both. Yet what are the odds that two murderers are walking the streets of Holbæk targeting schoolgirls?

Conventionally shaped and a bit slow-moving, but distinguished from the increasingly crowded pack of Scandinavian imports by its open-mindedness in handling sensitive material and its respect for the dignity of every single character and viewpoint.

redemptive about-face in later years adds yet another layer to a multifaceted, engrossing story.

Prepare for a verbal feast that will thoroughly entertain and satisfy, yet leave you hungering for more.

SAN MIGUEL

Boyle, T.C. Viking (384 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-670-02624-1 The prolific author’s latest is historical, not only in period and subject matter, but in tone and ponderous theme.

The 14th novel from Boyle returns to the Channel Islands off the coast of California, a setting which served him so well in his previous novel (When the Killing’s Done, 2011). Some of the conflicts are similar as well—man versus nature, government regulation versus private enterprise—but otherwise this reads more like a novel that is a century or more old, like a long lost work from the American naturalist school of Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser, both of whom saw mankind caught in mechanistic forces and nature as something other than the Eden of innocence so often romanticized. The novel tenuously connects the stories of two families who move, 50 years apart, to the isolation of the title island, in order to tend to a sheep ranch. For Marantha Waters, the symbolically fraught pilgrimage with her husband and daughter in 1888—on “New Year’s Day, the first day of her new life, and she was on an adventure...bound for San Miguel Island and the virginal air Will insisted would make her well again”—is one of disillusionment and determination. Even the passage of time feels like a loss of innocence: “The days fell away like the skin of a rotten fruit”; “The next day sheared away like the face of a cliff crashing into the ocean and then there was another day and another.” The ravages of the natural world (and their own moral natures) take their toll on the family, who are belatedly succeeded in the 1930s by a similar one, as newlyweds anticipate their move west as “the real life they were going into, the natural life, the life of Thoreau and Daniel Boone, simple and vigorous and pure.” Reinforcing their delusions is national press attention, which made much of their “pioneering, that is, living like the first settlers in a way that must have seemed romantic to people inured to the grid of city streets and trapped in the cycle of getting and wanting and getting all over again.”

What may seem to some like paradise offers no happy endings in this fine novel.

BEGGAR’S FEAST

Boyagoda, Randy Pintail/Penguin Canada (320 pp.) $16.00 paperback | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-670-06658-2 Boyagoda’s (Governor of the Northern Province, 2006) historical tale about a man who strives to avenge his past is a savory delight.

When a young boy is born into an impoverished family in British-occupied Ceylon in 1899, his parents, convinced that he’s bad luck, abandon him near a monastery. Humiliated by rejection and abused by a monk, the boy runs away, travels to Colombo and reinvents himself as Sam Kandy. There, he becomes one of the many street urchins who scrabble for survival. But Sam is fueled by more than just the need to survive. He’s embittered and driven, and he dreams of one day avenging the wrongs committed against him. He hungers for riches and recognition, certain that one day he will return to his birthplace as the most powerful man in the village. Traveling from Ceylon to Australia and Singapore and back again, he amasses and loses fortunes, but he never loses sight of his goal. Through vivid depictions of political turmoil and cultural transition during Sam’s century of life, the reader is drawn into Sam’s world by the very nature of his single-mindedness, aptly described by the author. Like him or not, Sam’s an intriguing man who’s insensitive, selfish and cowardly, and his actions—whether he’s opening a butterfly hall, leading a gang of ragamuffins, starting a shipping agency or striking a deal with Lord Mountbatten—are always calculated to give him an advantage. Sam extracts what he can from each experience as he schemes, plots and bribes his way through the early years of his life, and he ruthlessly weeds out those who threaten to get in his way, whether they are family or not. His 1726

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“An end-of-an-era epic.” from telegraph avenue

THE CREEPER

two families, with parallels that are more thematically resonant than realistic. Two partners own a used record store that has become an Oakland neighborhood institution, “the church of vinyl.” One of the partners, Archy Stallings, is black, and he is estranged from his father, a broken-down former B-movie action hero, as well as from the teenage son he never knew about who has arrived in Oakland from Texas to complicate the plot. The other partner is Nat Jaffe, white and Jewish, whose wife is also partners with Archy’s wife in midwifery (a profession as threatened as selling used vinyl), and whose son develops a crush on Archy’s illegitimate son. The plot encompasses a birth and a death against the backdrop of the encroachment of a chain superstore, owned by a legendary athlete, which threatens to squash Archy and Nat’s Brokeland Records, all amid a blackmailing scheme dating back to the Black Panther heyday.

Yet the warmth Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, 2000, etc.) feels toward his characters trumps the intricacies and implausibilities of the plot, as the novel straddles and blurs all sorts of borders: black and white, funk and jazz, Oakland and Berkeley, gay and straight. And the resolution justifies itself with an old musicians’ joke: “ ‘You know it’s all going to work out in the end?’ ” says one character. “ ‘No....But I guess I can probably fake it,’ ” replies another.

The evocation of “Useless, by James Joyce” attests to the humor and ambition of the novel, as if this were a Joycean remix with a hipper rhythm track. (Author tour to Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Portland (Ore.), Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.)

Carver, Tania Pegasus Crime (448 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 15, 2012 978-1-60598-359-2 A sadistic killer targets the few young women of Colchester to have survived Carver’s blistering debut (The Surrogate, 2011).

Speech therapist Suzanne Perry awakens from an unusually vivid nightmare to find a revealing, very recent photograph of herself on which someone’s written, “I’M WATCHING OVER YOU.” Her nocturnal visitor is the Creeper, who’s already claimed at least one victim, missing occupational therapist Julie Miller, though the gruesomely disfigured corpse will have to await DNA evidence for identification. But who is the Creeper, and what does he have against the staff of Colchester General Hospital? DI Phil Brennan, once again in charge of the investigation, hasn’t a clue. Nor has his scheming boss, DCI Ben Fenwick, who’s presumably too busy shagging DS Rose Martin, the CID plod in charge of Julie’s disappearance, to get any brainwaves that reach as far north as his brain. The psychological portrait that Fenwick’s handpicked profiler, Ph.D. student Fiona Welch, compiles could apply to just about anyone. The first suspect Phil and his colleagues focus on, Suzanne’s ex-tutor and alleged stalker Anthony Howe, tries to kill himself while he’s in police custody. In the meantime, the Creeper has returned to Suzanne’s flat to kill Zoe Herriot, the friend and colleague who’d been staying with her, and abscond with Suzanne to a place of unspeakable horrors.

Carver doesn’t stint on the fun-house shocks and shivers, and gourmands of violence, physical and psychological, will have a field day. But there’s so much straining to get in your face, so many chapters from the Creeper’s point of view, and such a pat motive for all the mayhem, that the nasty thrills never upstage the dysfunctional relationships within the Colchester constabulary. (Agent: Jane Gregory)

A WANTED MAN

Child, Lee Delacorte (304 pp.) $28.00 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-385-34433-3

Will Jack Reacher ever make it to that woman in Virginia he was trying to reach in Worth Dying For (2010)? Not if all hell continues to break loose in Nebraska.

Shortly after an eyewitness sees three men enter a small concrete bunker outside an anonymous town and only two of them emerge, Reacher, “just a guy, hitching rides,” is picked up by a trio of corporatesales types: Alan King, Don McQueen and Karen Delfuenso.

In a tour de force that runs well over a hundred pages, Child cuts back and forth between the clues county sheriff Victor Goodman and FBI agent Julia Sorenson gather concerning the unidentified man in the green coat who was stabbed to death inside that bunker and the inferences Reacher is making about his traveling companions. For one thing, it’s clear that King and McQueen know each other better than either of them knows Delfuenso; for another, a good deal of what they casually tell him about themselves isn’t true. Just when you’ve settled down expecting Child to keep up this rhythm indefinitely, he switches gears in an Iowa motel, and Reacher’s left out of danger but on

TELEGRAPH AVENUE

Chabon, Michael Harper/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $27.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-06-149334-8 An end-of-an-era epic celebrating the bygone glories of vinyl records, comicbook heroes and blaxploitation flicks in a world gone digital.

The novelist, his characters and the readers who will most love this book all share a passion for popular culture and an obsession with period detail. Set on the grittier side in the Bay Area of the fairly recent past (when multimedia megastores such as Tower and Virgin were themselves predators rather than casualties to online commerce), the plot involves generational relationships between |

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THE EXCEPTIONS

his own—at least until Sorenson arrives to arrest him and the two of them form a quicksilver partnership whose terms seem to change every time Sorenson gets another phone call from the cops or the Feds. After working every change imaginable on their relationship, Child switches gears again and sends them a bang-bang assault on a hush-hush installation that shows how far into America’s heartland its enemies have penetrated.

In this latest attempt to show Reacher enjoying every possible variety of conflict with his nation’s government short of outright secession, Child (The Affair, 2011, etc.) has produced two-thirds of a masterpiece.

Cristofano, David Grand Central Publishing (480 pp.) $24.99 | Aug. 7, 2012 978-0-446-56735-0 In Cristofano’s (The Girl She Used to Be, 2009) latest, an all-American suburban family stumbles upon Mafioso justice in New York City’s Little Italy.

Arthur, Lydia and Melody McCartney only want breakfast. What they find is the bloody aftermath of Don Tony Bovaro settling a score with Jimmy “the Rat.” The family flees, but 10-yearold Jonathan, the Don’s son, idly copies their car’s license plate number and naively relays it to the police, who come questioning. The McCartney family enters the Federal Witness Security Program. Meanwhile, an empire is endangered, and its emperor is in peril. The murder case is dismissed on a technicality, but the McCartneys become a target of revenge.

Thus begins Edgar Award nominated Cristofano’s psychological thriller; a tale of vengeance and love. Spurred by moblogic, the job eventually falls to Jonathan, a mission made relatively simple by the mob’s manipulation of a gamblingaddicted government computer specialist with the capacity to trace the McCartney’s whereabouts. Initially, Jonathan and his cousin are dispatched to Wisconsin to eliminate the McCartneys, but for reasons he cannot fully understand, Jonathan cannot kill Melody, even as he tries but cannot prevent his cousin’s murder of her parents. He is sent after her again, and again, but instead of killing Melody, he becomes her protector, soon comprehending her innocence and fragility, loneliness and vulnerability. A love grows that he cannot admit. Cristofano gives veracity to crime-family life while creating protagonists as cinematic characters; Melody in her beauty and vulnerability, John in his duality, his propensity for violence contrasted against a passion both redemptive and fraught with hope that he might escape the bloody norms of crime-family life. To suggest the novel is The Godfather rendered by Nicholas Sparks does it no justice, for Cristofano can ratchet up dramatic tension and then send readers off on a tangent, only to once again draw nail-biting scenes.

Unique premise, empathetic characters, believable villains, all beautifully played out as a tale of the limits of love and loyalty. (Agent: Pamela Harty)

BEAUTIFUL LIES

Clark, Clare Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (512 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-15-101467-5 A well-rendered novel of extraordinary lives in Victorian London.

Bodices are ripped, to be sure, but Clark (Savage Lands, 2010, etc.) offers much more than a genre romance with her tale of the darkly beautiful Maribel Campbell Lowe, of whom we learn, early on, “Mrs. Campbell Lowe is from Chile where llamas really live and therefore, unlike a little English girl, knows exactly how to say it right.”

She knows more than how to pronounce the double ell. Maribel is a freethinker, savage smoker of cigarettes, literata and artist who knows her way around that newfangled thing called a view camera (“The darkroom smelled as it always did of chemicals and used-up air”). Her husband, wild and Scottish, is no slouch in the bohemian department, either; an aristocratic imbiber of great quaffs of distilled goodies, he’s a headline waiting to happen. Enter newsman Alfred Webster, who professes to admire their free-spirited ways—but then begins to warm up to a carefully hidden secret from Maribel’s past, for how could she not have a fathomlessly deep mystery at her core? Amid Dickensian flourishes (“Them jam tarts’ll need taking out in a minute”) that sometimes wander into Drood territory, Clark’s characters play fine and psychologically dense games of cat and mouse, some with unlikely set decorations furnished by Buffalo Bill and his immensely popular Wild West Show—not to mention Queen Vicky herself. It makes for a grand adventure, and Clark’s novel is so richly textured and detailed that the reader might rightly wish that she return to her former profession as a historian— for a rousing social history of the Victorian era, written to these standards, would be a welcome thing. But given some of her book’s subthemes, including the endless tawdriness of Fleet Street and the endless hypocrisy of the social world, that era, as Clark recounts it, seems all too modern.

Long, intricate and very well-realized: a page turner for the smart set.

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THE REVOLUTION

famed German archaeologist, Albrecht Fischer. Fischer believes he’s unearthed a major find near Szeged, Hungary. The Fargos head off to Europe to help. Then, Fischer is kidnapped and taken to Szeged, only to be rescued by a Fargo-led amateur commando raid on a pharmaceutical complex owned by Arpad Bakor, a Hungarian who claims Attila as an ancestor. Bakor believes Fischer’s find may be the location of Attila’s legendary lost tomb. And so it goes, Sam and Remi, assisted by character-actor players who always appear at the right time, follow a series of Attila-supplied scavenger-hunt clues to the location of his triple-coffin burial site. The dialogue is sophisticated rom-com snappy, and there’s much mention of the right vintages and exotic gourmet dining and five-star hotels. Best of all are dozens of Wow! historical factoids about Attila and concurrent history. The settings are exotic: a vineyard south of Budapest; the confluence of the Po and Mincio rivers in Italy, the point where Attila turned away from Rome; then Châlons-en-Champagne, the furthermost western point of the Hun’s dominion; Transylvania; Kazakhstan, and finally, Rome’s Catacombs of Domitillia. There the story should end, but coming free with all the interesting Hun history is a multi-chapter shootout involving Hungarian, French

Cury, Augusto Atria (240 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-4391-9605-2 Series: The Dreamseller, 2 A mysterious traveler and his disciples provide enlightenment in Cury’s second book in the Dreamseller series (The Dreamseller: The Calling, 2011).

The Dreamseller is a modern-day philosopher whose journey helps others realize that what mankind has produced is often more harmful than good, but humans have the power to change for the better. Liberated from his own past, he uses teachable moments to gently point out many of the failures that we as individuals and societies have created: a value system that teaches that when we give, we should expect to receive something in return; an educational system that fails to encourage students to engage in critical thinking; a social system that deems some people more important than others. Whether his group is dining at the home of amputees or performing for the most hardened criminals, this modern-day messiah has a message to impart, and very few of these are messages that you haven’t already heard. What makes this book distinct isn’t necessarily the message; it’s the way the writer chooses to convey each message. Cury, an award-winning Brazilian author, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, is out to espouse his views, and he’s created an excellent vessel for doing so. Instead of a dry, textbook approach, he employs a ragtag crew of relatable and amusing characters who bring their own spin to the story, the “anonymous” heroes.

These disciples have all traveled different paths and include former sociology professor Julio Cesar and two buffoonish alcoholics, Bartholomew (Honeymouth) and Barnabas (the Mayor), who provide comic relief and exhibit undying loyalty when they risk their own lives to aid their Master during a life-threatening situation. But the characters, situations and twists (most of which are fairly predictable, but not all) are only a means to an end.

Cury aims to encourage people to rise above their problems, enact change and seek improvement in their lives.

Message heard, loud and clear.

THE TOMBS

Cussler, Clive; Perry, Thomas Putnam (484 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-399-15926-8 Cussler and company (The Kingdom, 2011, etc.) send treasure hunters extraordinaire, Sam and Remi Fargo, onto the windy steppes of the ancient Hun empire searching for the tomb of the Scourge of God. The Fargos are volunteering temporarily as excavators at a Paleo-Indian village site under shallow water off Grand Isle, La. The dive’s interrupted by a hasty call from |

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“Sharply observed and morally challenging.” from this is how you lose her

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER

and Russian bad guys, each of whom wanted a share of the tomb but will settle for revenge.

Even with a plot hole or two, a tacked-on narrative thread about a corporate treasure-hunting enterprise and a believability buy in—the Fargo’s bottomless money bucket—Cussler fans can expect more than a few hours of page-turning action.

Díaz, Junot Riverhead (240 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-59448-736-1

From the author of Drown (1996), more tales of Dominican life in the cold, unwelcoming United States.

Eight of the collection’s nine stories center on Yunior, who shares some of his creator’s back story. Brought from the Dominican Republic as a kid by his father, he grows up uneasily in New Jersey, escaping the neighborhood career options of manual labor and drug dealing to become an academic and fiction writer. What Yunior can’t escape is what his mother and various girlfriends see as the Dominican man’s insatiable need to cheat.

The narrative moves backward and forward in time, resisting the temptation to turn interconnected tales into a novel by default, but it has a depressingly unified theme: Over and over, a fiery woman walks when she learns Yunior can’t be true, and he pines fruitlessly over his loss. He’s got a lot of other baggage to deal with as well: His older brother Rafa dies of cancer; a flashback to the family’s arrival in the U.S. shows his father—who later runs off with another woman—to be a rigid, controlling, frequently brutal disciplinarian; and Yunior graduates from youthful drug use to severe health issues. These grim particulars are leavened by Díaz’s magnificent prose, an exuberant rendering of the driving rhythms and juicy Spanglish vocabulary of immigrant speech. Still, all that penitent machismo gets irksome, perhaps for the author as well, since the collection’s most moving story leaves Yunior behind for a female narrator. Yasmin works in the laundry of St. Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick; her married lover has left his wife behind in Santo Domingo and plans to buy a house for him and Yasmin. Told in quiet, weary prose, “Otravida, Otra Vez” offers a counterpoint to Yunior’s turbulent wanderings with its gentle portrait of a woman quietly enduring as best she can.

Not as ambitious as Díaz’s Pulitzer Prize winner, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), but sharply observed and morally challenging.

THE MIRRORED WORLD

Dean, Debra Harper/HarperCollins (256 pp.) $25.99 | Aug. 28, 2012 978-0-06-123145-2 From Dean (Confessions of a Falling Woman, 2008, etc.), a lightly fictionalized retelling of the life of the Eastern Orthodox St. Xenia, who left her comfortable home in 18th-century Russia to live as a “holy fool” among the poor.

Xenia’s cousin, Dasha, who grew up with Xenia and her older sister, Nadya, narrates Xenia’s history. From an early age, Xenia clearly has an independent spirit. She is an eccentric who cannot help showing her often-passionate feelings about the world around her without restraint. She also has dreams that are particularly vivid and can “see” what others cannot. At one of Empress Elizabeth’s balls, ethereally lovely Xenia doesn’t care that she makes a spectacle of herself over the choral singer Andrei because she knows immediately that she will marry him. It is a love match—Xenia may seem otherworldly, but she also enjoys earthly passion. Dasha does not find a husband because she is plain and enjoys reading—considered a dangerous ability among Russian women of her class. Living with Xenia and Andrei, Dasha witnesses Xenia’s meltdown after her infant daughter’s death. Then Andrei suffers a comic yet tragic death, falling down the steps in Xenia’s gown after attending the empress’ famous cross-dressing ball. Xenia’s first reaction is catatonic grief. Then, although almsgiving is against the law, she starts giving away her belongings to any beggar who asks. When Dasha at last marries an Italian castrato per Xenia’s prediction, Xenia’s wedding gift is her house. Calling herself Andrei and dressing in his clothes, Xenia lives on the streets among the poor. She becomes known as the “holy fool.” Widowed herself, Dasha is influenced

by Xenia’s example to open her home to those in need. Xenia even leads Dasha to adopt a child in an underdeveloped plotline.

The novel follows the factual particulars, but Dasha’s narration remains at such a formal remove that readers never experience what makes Xenia tick as a saint or a woman.

THE GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS

Eng, Tan Twan Weinstein Books (352 pp.) $15.99 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-60286-180-0 The unexpected relationship between a war-scarred woman and an exiled gardener leads to a journey through remorse to a kind of peace.

After a notable debut, Eng (The Gift of Rain, 2008) returns to the landscape of his origins with a poetic, compassionate, sorrowful novel set in the aftermath of World War II in Malaya, where the conflict was followed by a

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CRACKPOT PALACE

bloody guerilla war of independence. Chinese-Malayan Judge Teoh Yun Ling, who witnessed these events when younger, has been diagnosed with aphasia, which will shortly strip her of her mind and memory. So she returns to Yugiri, in the mountains, to record her memories of the place she visited 34 years earlier to persuade ex-Imperial Japanese gardener Aritomo to make a garden in memory of her sister. The sisters had spent four years in a horrific Japanese slave labor camp, sustained by memories of the gardens of Kyoto. Aritomo turns down Yun Ling’s request; instead she becomes his apprentice, then lover. Aritomo is an enigmatic figure, steeped in art and wisdom, perhaps also a spy.

Only years later, when Yun Ling finally pieces together his last message to her, can she reconcile her grief and guilt as the sole survivor of the slave camp.

Grace and empathy infuse this melancholy landscape of complex loyalties enfolded by brutal history, creating a novel of peculiar, mysterious, tragic beauty.

Ford, Jeffrey Morrow/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Aug. 14, 2012 978-0-06-212259-9 The fourth collection of stories from Ford includes examples of fantasy, science fiction, neo-steampunk, noir and a few genre-busting curiosities.

The longest piece in the book, “The Wish Head,” is a haunted police procedural set in upstate New York in the mid-20th century.

“The Double of My Double Is Not My Double” doubles down on the rich history of the doppelganger; it is funny, morbid and very clever. “Every Richie There Is” is a dry-eyed look at our inevitably mixed feelings about our neighbors. “Glass Eels” smarts like a sliver of glass under a fingernail. To all but one story, Ford adds a note. These notes pay homage to generous editors, describe flashes of inspiration, explain references

THE SHAPE OF THE FINAL DOG And Other Stories

Fancher, Hampton Blue Rider Press (288 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 13, 2012 978-0-399-15823-0

Bizarre stories, some bordering on the absurd and others going over the border.

Fancher’s best story is “The Climacteric of Zackary Ray,” a tale of an over-thehill movie actor who had once reveled in playing evil characters with a dash of humanity. Ray glories in the reflections of one reviewer who claimed his performances exhibited “the gears of corruption lubricated with honey,” but such praise is unrecoverable because it is so far in Ray’s past. In the present, he’s deep in gin and selfpity. Another story involving a failed actor—this one far more surreal than “Zackary Ray”—is called “Cargot.” The “hero” (though the boldness of the word is misplaced) reclaims a new identity but shuns a first name, choosing instead the initial “S” (yes, it’s French).

Ultimately, he undertakes a long journey up the body of the wife of a hated producer, getting a kind of revenge of intimacy. The most involved story is “The Black Weasel,” which Fancher presents in two parts, separated by four other stories. Here, Spencer Hooler returns to his home in Townsville, Miss., from New York (where he works at a nightclub called “The Torture Chamber,” which he redundantly informs us is a “specialty club”) immediately after his mother’s death, accompanied by a black man known as Mot who barks rather than speaks. In a twist on Huck Finn, Spencer tries to turn Mot into a circus wild man. Along the way we meet a cast of eccentrics that include Spencer’s almost constantly drunk sister (called Sister). We also hear of Spencer’s dead father, who taught a cat to walk backwards. (Spencer’s sure of this because his mother showed him a black-and-white picture of it.)

Fancher’s writing is long on whimsy but short on humor.

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h el i e w i e s e l HOSTAGE

Elie Wiesel Knopf (224 pp.) $25.95 Aug. 21, 2012 978-0-307-59958-2

A l o n g t i m e p r o f e s s o r o f literature and notable survivor of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel is the author some 50 books of fiction and nonfiction, including the famed memoir Night, many addressing philosophical and moral issues surrounding the use of state terror in the last century.

With his latest, Hostage, he moves to the more personal scale of a relatively nameless—or at least certainly not politically prominent—Jewish writer who is kidnapped from his Brooklyn home by terrorists and subjected to a kind of stateless trial even as he awaits what is almost certain to be a death sentence. We spoke with Wiesel about his new novel.

Q: Hostage is set in 1975—and, unusually, its setting is in America, far away from many of the most terrible events of the time, from Munich and Entebbe. Why did you choose that year and place, and not, say, Israel or Italy in the year 2012?

A: It was an urgent time. Suicide terrorists were popping up all over the world. But why America? First of all, because I live here. It was the only country at the time that had been spared hostage taking and suicide terrorism. But anything is possible, even in our country—look at what just happened in Colorado, and before it Columbine, and so many attacks in classrooms, of all places. So I thought, why not imagine that what happens so often in so many other countries could happen here in our own country.

Munich was a sports event. Why do people gather at sports events if not for camaraderie? These are competitions, but not fights. National teams don’t hate other national teams. But still the Munich massacre happened. That’s the time in which the book is set. Suicide terrorism has transcended national communities, and acts of terrorism occur everywhere.

That’s why the book is set in America.

Nikos Kazantzakis often told a Greek proverb that says that it is not because two clouds meet that a spark is lit. Two clouds meet before the spark is lit. There are no accidents. All encounters therefore might be almost predestined. Down one street goes Shaltiel, down another Luigi and Ahmed, and all of a sudden, they meet. Shaltiel may feel that his place is there among them. A victim who is used to great suffering can at times doubt his own innocence. Wrongly, of course. Shaltiel may wrongly feel that way, but it remains for him to find some conscious part, some role in that story. It is natural for him, of course, to feel that he is a victim.

Q: Ahmed and Luigi, the terrorists who kidnap Shaltiel, himself a storyteller and writer, respond to him in very different ways. Are there degrees of complicity in acts of terror? Put another way, are there degrees of humanity in the characters?

A: Writing, as I’m sure you know, is not a conscious affair but a subconscious one. The subconscious forms consciousness through words. Magic, if it exists, is there. That’s Sheherezade: My life is made up of stories that I can tell in many different ways.

As for Kafka, in my life there are two authors who have always been there, Kafka and Dostoyevsky. Is Joseph K guilty? Kafka remains an example, or a guide, or both.

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–By Gregory McNamee

9 For the full interview, please visit kirkus.com.

P HOTO © ED D IE A DA MS

A: Both Ahmed and Luigi are part of the same international terrorist group. Both of them have the same general background. But there’s a difference. Luigi is loyal to the cause, but Ahmed is patriotic. He’s concerned with the future, but Luigi is part of the past.

With one you can talk, with the other you can’t. The language of the terrorist is violence, and its expression is also violent. That is the complicity between both of them.

This is perhaps a stretch, but is there any sense in which Shaltiel deserves what has happened to him?

Certainly there are moments in the book in which he feels very guilty.

Q: At times Hostage seems a tale from Sheherezade, with Luigi keeping Shaltiel alive in order to hear more of his stories. At other times it seems a lost work of Kafka. Were you conscious of such literary forbears as you unfolded your story?

“Freveletti turbocharges tension to nonstop levels in this Covert-One thriller.” from robert ludlum’s the janus reprisal

KEPT IN THE DARK

and enlighten the ignorant. One note contains a bonus track, an additional story.

Ford finds his way into scenarios infernal, haunted or merely strange, and keeps his wits about him on the journey.

Hancock, Penny Plume (352 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Aug. 28, 2012 978-0-452-29833-0

ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE JANUS REPRISAL

A middle-aged woman imprisons a teenage boy in Hancock’s spooky debut.

When daughter Kit departs for University, Sonia expects empty nest syndrome, but not intrusive memories of her adolescent encounters with a charismatic, seemingly homeless boy named Seb. Sonia is being nagged by her absentee neurologist husband, Greg, and her aging mother, to sell her beloved childhood and current residence, River House, overlooking a seedy stretch of the Thames in London. In short, conditions are ripe for a meltdown, and when golden boy Jez, her best friend Helen’s 15-year-old nephew, comes over to borrow a vintage vinyl album, Sonia gets him drunk on the wine she was saving for her daughter’s 21st birthday (the novel is rich in such choice details) and, almost on a whim, locks him in the River House music room. The point of view alternates between Sonia’s first-person voice and Helen’s third-person narration, as Jez’s disappearance is chronicled day by day. Unlike a more seasoned sociopath, who might target a victim no one will miss, Sonia has selected the son of Helen’s sister, Maria, a helicopter mother.

Arriving from Paris, Maria blames Helen for not keeping any closer tabs on houseguest Jez (in London to interview for admission to music schools) than she does on her own teenage sons.

Helen is frantic to keep the police from learning that, on the day Jez disappeared, she was in a pub nursing a hangover rather than at work, and she’s also increasingly distressed at the enthusiasm with which husband Mick is consoling his anguished sister-in-law.

Hancock gradually unveils the sinister parallels between Sonia’s tortured infatuation with Seb and her obsession with Jez and creates enough sympathy for both Helen and Sonia that, despite the fact that one is a criminal and the other is criminally negligent, we root for both.

Unfortunately the secret at the novel’s core is one the first-person narrator could have revealed all along, but doesn’t, making the ending seem contrived.

Freveletti, Jamie Grand Central Publishing (368 pp.) $26.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-446-53984-5 The ninth in Ludlum’s Covert-One series (The Ares Decision, 2011, etc.) again joins the perilous adventures of Lt. Col. Jon Smith of the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases.

Series fans will forgive a clunky first chapter wherein extraneous exposition interferes with the play-by-play of a terrorist attack on the Grand Royal Hotel at The Hague. Smith is in the Netherlands for a World Health Organization conference on Third-World infectious diseases. Coincidently, Oman Dattar is incarcerated at The Hague by the International Criminal Court.

Dattar and Smith have a history. Dattar is wont to employ population “cleansing,” and once Smith extorted the warlord into allowing treatment to stem a cholera outbreak. Dattar seeks vengeance on Smith and on Great Britain and the U.S. Thus, the hotel attack was also a diversion to help engineer Dattar’s escape, with henchmen tasked specifically to kill Smith and to purloin conference bacteria and virus samples from the hotel’s safe. Action flies to the U.S., with the CIA’s Randi Russell brought into the mix because Smith found a target list on his assassin. Besides his own name and that of old friend and fellow covert operator Peter Howell, there’s a photograph of a mysterious woman. Internet hacking by Smith’s longtime friend and computer expert, Marty, discovers the woman is Rebecca Nolan, a high-wattage Wall Street money manager. Dattar wants her captured rather than dead. Every chapter ricochets with needto-know action, especially after a bioweapon attack on Russell at her home. An analysis of the substance reveals Dattar may be developing a near-unsurvivable form of avian flu virus mated with Shewanella MR-1 bacteria, a life form that can conduct through metal, something akin to a microbial fuel cell. Good guys and bad meet in New York City. Smith finds and then loses an uncooperative Nolan, a woman with a secret that makes her a target for Dattar, in town to conduct a terrorist attack.

Freveletti turbocharges tension to nonstop levels in this Covert-One thriller.

PAINTER OF SILENCE

Harding, Georgina Bloomsbury (320 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-60819-770-5

A double portrait, executed in clean lines and strong light, of a daughter of the manor, a mute servant boy and the destruction of their settled life in rural Romania by World War II. The English writer Harding has published both novels (The Spy Game, 2009, etc.) and nonfiction. Though the title refers to Augustin, nicknamed Tinu, a |

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deaf-mute with a savant’s gift for drawing and whimsical constructions of paper and cardboard, much of the book belongs to Elisabeta, who answers to Safta. Safta and Tinu grow up alongside each other in decadent tranquility. Safta’s mother brings Tinu into the governess’ classroom to be educated alongside her own children. The failure of this initiative unravels the weak ties that bind the master’s child to the servant’s. Tinu and Safta lead separate, unequal lives. Safta’s brothers leave home, return for vacation; she falls in love. Tinu works in the stables. The war arrives. Circumstances drive them apart, and fate, it seems, reunites them. Throughout, Tinu continues his methodical recording of his surroundings in drawings and constructions. If he carries a torch for Safta, it burns no brighter than a match; he is locked in himself and locked out of the world. The slow accumulation of the details and implications of Tinu’s rejection of language is perhaps the finest of this book’s many excellences. The other characters, the author, even most readers, are trapped in language, and what looks like stubbornness is just as likely Tinu’s choice, a viable alternative to our given reality, even if it severely limits his capacity to share it. When Tinu’s drawings get him into trouble, Romanian words he copies for their forms, unaware or uninterested in their meanings, appear untranslated in the text, as strange to us as they are to him.

Harding has created a memorable portrait in words of an exile from language.

tell us about her life on the island and her mother’s vanishing.

The adults think Mama is dead. Minou can prove she is not. But almost nothing can happen when characters are mere amalgams of quirks. In more capable hands this material would have been dispatched in 20 pages.

A saccharine fable.

HOLD IT ’TIL IT HURTS

Johnson, T. Geronimo Coffee House (340 pp.) $15.95 paperback | $9.99 e-book Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-56689-309-1 978-1-56689-310-7 e-book Afghanistan’s brutal war and Hurricane Katrina’s ominous shadow haunt Johnson’s powerful literary debut.

It is 2004, and Achilles and Troy Conroy return home to once-rural, now McMansion-ed, Maryland after tours in the same airborne infantry squad in “Goddamnistan.” The brothers expect a surprise party, but the surprise is that their father had been killed in an auto accident just as they began transit home. That shock is compounded by news that their parents had been living apart. The brothers are AfricanAmerican, and their parents white. Their mother gives them each an envelope that contains information about their biological parents. Achilles refuses to open his envelope, while Troy, the younger, sets off in pursuit of his history without telling either his mother or brother. Johnson’s descriptions of the very different brothers, of anecdotes from Afghanistan and of New Orleans are brilliant. Wages, Achilles’ squad leader in “Goddamnistan,” calls and reports that he has seen Troy in New Orleans.

Achilles pursues Troy there, ostensibly for his mother, for family, but truly because he has been his brother’s keeper since youth.

Troy searches drug dens, morgues and shelters for Troy without success, but over the months there, he meets and becomes lovers with Ines Delesseppes, a shelter coordinator he first believes to be white. But the Delesseppes family, ensconced in the Garden District since 1806, is thoroughly New Orleans, “we’re Creole, not mulatto, or octoroon or quadroon,” a mixture Ines celebrates in spite of her white appearance. Achilles, Troy, Ines and the men of the infantry squad are archetypical yet singularly distinctive, thoroughly and believably human. The depth, complexity and empathy within Johnson’s narrative explores issues great and small—race, color and class, the wounds of war suffered by individuals and nations, the complications and obligations of brotherhood and familial love.

Transcendent contemporary American literary fiction, a rich and passionate story rewarding enough to be read again.

THE VANISHING ACT

Jakobsen, Mette Norton (208 pp.) $23.95 | Sep. 17, 2012 978-0-393-06292-2

A young girl comes to terms with her mother’s disappearance in Jakobsen’s undernourished debut novel.

Picture a small, nameless island in a northern clime, by deep, cold waters surrounded. Seventeen pines and an apple tree grow, on a high plateau the wind gusts, in one inlet fishing is good. There are but two houses, one attached to a lighthouse, and a church. Minou, 12 when we meet her, lives with her Mama and Papa next to the lighthouse. Boxman, a retired magician, and his dog, No Name, occupy the other, and Priest, naturally, is at home in the church. Minou is a descendant, on her Papa’s side, of Descartes. She and Papa have a philosophical cast of mind; Mama, who arrived on the island with a pet peacock in a golden bowl, is impulsive and imaginative. When he is not fishing, cooking or trying to forget terrible hardships suffered in an unnamed war, Papa is searching, like his father before him, for the “absolute truth.” Minou finds a dead boy on the beach.

Out of respect for the dead, Papa opts to keep the boy in the house until the boat comes. Minou’s Papa stays up talking to the dead boy and instructs his daughter to sit with the corpse during the day. No danger of putrefaction, because Papa leaves a window open in the room, and it is winter in this nameless place.

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“A tissue-box-worthy collection of animal tales.” from dancing dogs

THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED

Dog Year. With this book, the author brings together 16 stories about pets and people and how they keep each other company.

The opener, “Gracie’s Last Walk,” carries on the theme of Katz’ book Going Home (2011), about dealing with the loss of a pet.

Another heart-rending story, “The Surrender Bay,” chronicles the day-to-day courage of Emma, a part-time employee of a local animal shelter. One of the best, “Lucky’s Day,” deals virtually not at all with people, but follows the daily schedule of a small brown mutt who is unusually self-aware about The Deal: “It was a trade-off, Lucky cautioned. You got food and shelter and attention, but you gave up much of your natural life as a dog. Most of the time, it was a good deal.” The collection runs the gamut, from a sappy story about a young girl on a mission to connect with a stray, to a gravely elegant piece about a barn cat.

A tissue-box-worthy collection of animal tales. (Agent: Richard Abate)

Jonasson, Jonas Hyperion (400 pp.) $15.99 paperback | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-4013-2464-3 A Swedish debut novel that will keep readers chuckling.

Allan Karlsson has just turned 100, and the Old Folks’ Home is about to give him a birthday party that he absolutely doesn’t want. So he leaves out his window and high-tails it to a bus station, with no particular destination in mind. On a whim, he steals a suitcase and boards a bus. The suitcase’s owner, a criminal, will do anything to get it back. This is the basis for a story that is loaded with absurdities from beginning to end—the old coot has plenty of energy for his age and an abiding love of vodka. The story goes back and forth between the current chase and his long, storied life. From childhood, he has shown talent with explosives. This knack catches the attention of many world leaders of the 20th century: Franco, Truman, Stalin, Mao and Kim Il Sung, to name a few of the people he meets. Want to blow up bridges? Allan’s your man. Want much bigger explosions? Just pour him a drink. He’s neither immoral nor amoral, but he is certainly detached, and he is absolutely apolitical. In the past, he insults Stalin (luckily, the translator faints), learns Russian in a gulag and walks back to Sweden from China, barely surviving execution in Iran along the way. In the present, he meets a strange and delightful collection of friends and enemies. Coincidence and absurdity are at the core of this silly and wonderful novel. Looking back, it seems there are no hilarious, roll-on-thefloor-laughing scenes. They will just keep readers amused almost nonstop, and that’s a feat few writers achieve.

A great cure for the blues, especially for anyone who might feel bad about growing older.

DANCING DOGS Stories

Katz, Jon Ballantine (256 pp.) $24.00 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-345-50268-1 For fans of man’s best friend, a collection of insightful, moving and often unforgiving stories about dogs, cats and their people.

There are lots of good books about animals, usually written for children, and a rash of bad books about dogs in particular, written to wring out the widest possible audience. But it’s unusual to unearth a collection of great stories about dogs written for adults. Former journalist and mystery novelist Katz (Lenore Finds a Friend, 2012, etc.) settled comfortably into a gold mine of a niche with his 2002 memoir A |

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BLOOD LINE

tycoon Henry Holt Carson, has Crawford knotted up in corruption. And there’s a shadowy general and a black project by the code name of Three-thirteen. McClure himself is bedded down in Moscow with his lover, Annika Batchuk, granddaughter of the grand old criminal Dyadya Gourdjiev. All that is intertwined with the descendants of the Norn, a group of once-Nazis coopted by World War II’s famed OSS undercover organization.

Werner von Verschuer is the current Dr. Evil, being the bastard offspring of Josef Mengele and the daughter of the founder of the Nazi Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene.

Add a Middle Eastern criminal mastermind called “the Syrian,” experiments with twins and a “security company” called International Perimeter, and new readers will need a scorecard.

The action kicks off with a purple prose prologue in which an assassin attempts to murder McClure and Annika. Next comes the incessant scene-hopping, character-shifting narrative flow that’s a thriller staple. Enough back story develops a quarter into the novel to give readers some insight into the book’s two narratives. The first involves a mysterious cabal of powerful Americans conspiring to take advantage of the Arab Spring uprisings to secure control of the Suez Canal and Middle Eastern oil production. The second involves sneaking Gourdiev out of Russia to escape murder by Grigori Batchuk, the rogue second-wife offspring of his former son-in-law and thus Annika’s half brother. With strobe-flash scenes and action-clichéd dialogue occasionally spiced by keen wordplay, Lustbader powers through with plentiful hand-to-hand martial arts combat described blow by blow.

Fans will appreciate this installment. Lustbader newbies should start with the first in the series.

La Plante, Lynda Harper/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Aug. 21, 2012 978-0-06-213432-5 A seemingly run-of-the-mill missing persons investigation evolves into something more complicated in this installment of La Plante’s Anna Travis series.

An attractive London DCI, Anna Travis still reels from her boyfriend’s murder, prompting her former lover and supervisor to secondguess the handling of a suspicious missing persons case. Alan Rawlins’ father, an employee of the court system, has pulled strings to force the police to cast a wider net while searching for the absent mechanic. Initially skeptical of whether or not Rawlins was, indeed, missing or simply vanished of his own volition, Travis resents being ordered to expand the investigation but after a while, comes to suspect that the likable young man is the victim of foul play. It doesn’t help that his girlfriend, Tina Brooks, comes across as unconcerned that her live-in boyfriend may be dead or that Travis is saddled with a gay partner she doesn’t much like. Soon, the missing persons case turns into much more, and Travis and her team find themselves digging into an underworld of drugs and deception. La Plante intends for Travis to come across as a crack investigator, but falls far short. Instead, Travis is short and unpleasant to her subordinates, lacking in criminal insight, ignorant of the laws she is supposed to enforce, and she knows little about the investigative process. La Plante also pads the story by repeating the steps the investigators have taken in the case over and over, even though nothing new emerges from the reexamination. In addition, the plot twists come across as artificial and contrived, with cartoonish characterization. As a protagonist, Travis is bumbling and mean-spirited. The novel lacks suspense, making it a far cry from those featuring Jane Tennison, the female DCI from her Prime Suspect series.

Plodding and dull, this thriller probably won’t appeal to even the most die-hard La Plante fan.

LOVE’S WINNING PLAYS

Majors, Inman Norton (256 pp.) $25.95 | Aug. 27, 2012 978-0-393-06280-9

Majors (The Millionaires, 2009, etc.) goes comic on football when he follows graduate assistant Raymond Love, scratching for a coaching slot at a bigtime SEC program, as he is assigned to drive for Coach Woody during the university’s annual Pigskin Cavalcade.

A top-notch small-college quarterback, Raymond grabbed a big-time SEC (think, Crimson Tide) graduate position, but he’s mostly an errand boy. Raymond stays on tiptoes when dynamic head coach, Von Driver, glad-hands through the locker room.

Now Von Driver has assigned him to baby-sit Woody, the popular, talented, but eccentric assistant coach. Out among the boosters, Woody needs a keeper, something Raymond comprehends after he arrives at Woody’s house at midnight to find the old man sprawled on the floor in his bathrobe crying over Del Monaco’s operatic rendition of Othello. A Doberman is comforting Woody by licking his head, and the kitchen is equipped with a bottle of George Dickel whisky. Laugh-out-loud comedy

FATHER NIGHT

Lustbader, Eric Van Forge (320 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-7653-3339-1 Readers unfamiliar with Lustbader’s (Blood Trust, 2011, etc.) Jack McClure action series might want to keep a pencil handy when diving into this book.

Arlen Crawford is the U.S. president.

Alli Carson, the previous president’s daughter fresh from being rescued by McClure, is training at “Fearington, one of the prime secret service training centers.”

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JANE The Woman Who Loved Tarzan

populates the narrative, but the story’s essence evolves from the raunch and roll of Semi-Tough into a test of Raymond’s character. That’s on and off the field, for women are involved. In his spare time, Raymond has joined a book club, primarily to pursue the charming Brooke. Only later does he learn the beauty is the school athletic director’s daughter. There’s also Raymond’s good friend on campus, Julie, a grad student employee of the football office with a lawyer-to-be fiance in Washington. Woody is beloved, with goodwill in the bank, but on the calvacade, his love for the game’s purity means he cannot tolerate flunky treatment from a drunken, moneybags booster. A nose is punched.

Jobs are lost. Raymond must choose between honor and ambition. Good lessons all, but Majors’ talent shines through his characters—Raymond, amiable, introspective; Woody, the lovable-crazy-amiable uncle; Von Driver, the archetype; TNT, who puts fanatic in the fan; and Barbara Driver, coach’s wife and ideal dinner companion on the rubber-chicken circuit.

A sardonic, fun take on big-time college football, where booster money plays first-team offense.

Maxwell, Robin Tor (320 pp.) $25.99 | paper $14.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-7653-3358-2 978-0-7653-3359-9 paperback

The old “Me Tarzan, You Jane” dynamic established in Johnny Weismuller movies gets a radical update by shining the spotlight on adventuress Jane Porter.

The author fully reinvents the character of Jane Porter, so often the “damsel-in-distress,” by making her a budding paleoanthropologist and giving her good reasons to explore the wilds of Africa. At 20-something, Porter is considered a spinster by her family, save her beloved father, a fellow scientist. They’re both intrigued when American Ral Conrath invites them to join an expedition to West Africa, luring them in with tales of the

BLOOD LIES

Marcinko, Richard; DeFelice, Jim Forge (368 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-7653-2541-9 Series: Rogue Warrior, 4 In the latest covert-ops Rogue Warrior caper penned by and starring wisecracking ex-Navy SEAL Marcinko, two damsels in distress in Mexico need help— and then there’s the matter of a Hezbollah camp the female secretary of state has heard is being harbored by the Mexican drug cartel.

Marcinko first must rescue Melissa, the beautiful and feisty 22-year-old daughter of a retired SEAL, from kidnappers. Then he must help the equally stunning Veronica, a former Detroit cop, find her grandparents, who vanished after buying a home in Mexico. When not being complimented on his books, which are in the possession of friends and foes alike, our op-for-hire spends most of his time dodging bullets, bombs, missiles, land mines and vicious dogs. All the while, he instructs the reader on the do’s and don’ts of thwarting the enemy, à la superspy Michael Weston on TV’s Burn Notice, only with a higher degree of self-appreciation. It takes a certain skill to maintain a genial attitude while blowing the top of a baddie’s head off, but Marcinko the narrator/action figure has that down pat. Even when requiring snarky or explanatory footnotes, his riffs—to a point—keep the book afloat. (Credit for that is due to co-author DeFelice, whose FBI thriller The Helios Conspiracy is spiked with wit). The plot is little more than an excuse for chest-thumping, making disappointingly little of the Hezbollah angle.

Navy hero Marcinko’s latest fictional adventure may well get rave reviews from characters in his next Rogue Warrior novel, but its modern-day swashbuckle wears thin. |

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THE WHITE FOREST

apelike, croc-killing creature with white skin. A neatly framed narrative finds Jane recounting her story to budding storyteller Burroughs during an encounter in Chicago in 1912. Meanwhile, flashbacks to 1905 find a rifle-wielding Jane nearly shooting Ral Conrath, a cad and corrupt treasure hunter, before falling into the arms of the missing Lord Greystoke and his tribal comrades (it’s worth using the Mangani-English glossary helpfully included). Maxwell ticks all the boxes, including offering up a hunky Tarzan, primeval jungle life and a bit of tasteful lust on Jane’s part. “You do not live in Africa, my dear,” she’s warned.

“Africa lives in you.” Jane Goodall and Isak Dinesen would be right at home with Miss Jane Porter.

A respectful, exciting and disarming update of one of the last century’s most oft-told tales. (Agents: David Forrer and Kimberly Witherspoon)

McOmber, Adam Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-4516-6425-6 A young woman can hear the souls of man-made objects, and they’re not exactly singing happy tunes in McOmber’s Victorian gothic debut.

Jane Silverlake, an isolated young girl who lives with her father at Stoke Morrow, is grateful when Madeline Lee befriends her. When Nathan Ashe joins the girls, both develop deep feelings for the privileged young man. Jane, no ordinary girl, possesses a power that makes her very different from others: Ever since her mother’s death when she was 6 years old, she’s had the ability to hear the souls of man-made objects. Wishing to appear fascinating to her two friends, Jane shares her secret with them. Maddy is frightened, but Nathan is intrigued and convinces Jane to conduct experiments to further explore her power. Then Nathan, a veteran of the Crimean War, joins a secret society led by charismatic scoundrel Ariston Day and vanishes during an evening with Day’s followers, the Fetches. Famed French Inspector Vidocq arrives to look into the disappearance, but Maddy convinces Jane that the two need to conduct their own investigation. A trip to Nathan’s home reveals a secret hiding place that contains, among other things, a picture of Maddy and Jane, a pistol, a journal and a white ape’s finger. Armed with Nathan’s journal and haunting images of a white forest when she touches certain objects belonging to him, Jane uncovers hidden truths about Nathan and herself while confronting Day and the Fetches. Teeming with as many twists and turns and shadowy characters as the narrow Victorian streets in which the tale is partially set, McOmber creates a convoluted supernatural mystery that bombards the senses with rich dialogue and imagery; but the story’s flow is often lost amid lengthy explanations about motive and meaning, and the narrative may ultimately prove difficult for some to follow.

Casual readers may be confused by the symbolism and terminology, but lovers of the Victorian gothic genre should enjoy. (Agent: Eleanor Jackson)

THE VANISHING POINT

McDermid, Val Atlantic Monthly (448 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-8021-2052-6

Against all expectations, London ghostwriter Stephanie Harker becomes friends with her latest subject, bad girl reality show star Scarlett Higgins, only to become caught up in a scheme that leads to the abduction of Scarlett’s little boy.

The book opens at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where Stephanie, who has become five-year-old Jimmy’s guardian, flips out when she sees a male stranger lead him away as she’s being examined in a security box. After being Tasered by agents and told she’s making up the abduction, she pours out an exhaustive account of the events leading up to it to a sympathetic female FBI agent. Though “Scarlett Harlot” gained fame as an epithet-spouting bimbo on a survivor-type show, Goldfish Bowl, she actually is a woman of savvy intelligence who invented that image to escape her bad circumstances. Like Stephanie, whose moody musician boyfriend attempts to control her, Scarlett has a disagreeable mate: a gadabout club DJ who is into drugs and guns. The women become close, shutting the men out of their lives after Jimmy is born, and closer still after Scarlett is diagnosed with cancer. To escape the tabloids, Scarlett imports a half sister who looks a lot like her to be her public surrogate.

The story also involves a British detective with whom Stephanie becomes involved, a doctor who devotes himself to the terminal Scarlett, and a Romanian nanny. For all its twists, the narrative never gains traction. The plotting is so mechanical, the writing so pedestrian (“She watched, the tension in her body growing with every passing minute”), you half suspect this book was concocted not by McDermid, author of such masterpieces as A Place of Execution (2000), but a different kind of ghostwriter.

If anything vanishes in this book, it’s the first-rate writing fans of McDermid (best known in the States for her Wire in the Blood series) have come to expect. (Agent: Jane Gregory)

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SEVEN DAYS

Meyer, Deon Atlantic Monthly (320 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-8021-2035-9 In Deon Meyer’s previous mystery (Thirteen Hours, 2010, etc.), South African detective Benny Griessel had all of one workday to solve a murder.

In this follow-up he’s allowed a full week to find the killer of a glamorous lawyer, Hanneke Sloet. And given the number of leads and complications that keep turning up, he needs every minute he can |

“A hauntingly affecting historical novel with a touch of magic.” from something red

get. At first, Griessel’s department, a select team known as the Hawks, can find few clues in the Sloet case. And that’s unfortunate, because an elusive sniper is so preoccupied with the case that he’s shooting policemen and sending emails full of Biblical quotes and anti-Communist rhetoric. Stepping up the investigation, the Hawks discover the kinks in the victim’s respectable life: She’d been negotiating a high-finance deal that may have involved the Russian Mafia; and she’d lately done a nude photo shoot after breast-enhancement surgery. Meanwhile, the list of dead and wounded cops piles up, and Griessel has good reason to suspect he might be next. Meyer is good with sexy plot complications, and the mysteries of Sloet’s murder and the sniper’s identity take interesting turns along the way. But the book’s main strength is in its characters; as Griessel’s colleagues include Vaughn Cupido, a hot-blooded “bad cop,” and Mbali Kaleni, a strong policewoman who harbors an embarrassing secret from a recent Amsterdam trip (this too is revealed at book’s end). Griessel himself is no typical action hero: A recovering alcoholic prone to self-doubt, he’s fighting to get over his broken marriage and to build a new relationship with Alexa, a former pop star who’s also in recovery.

Griessel is flawed but likable, and his trials give a bittersweet edge to a strong mystery. (Agent: Isobel Dixon)

Country, but it isn’t until they seek shelter from a blizzard in Castle Blanchefontaine that the two seers understand a shapeshifter, a beserker, runs amok. Nicholas’ portrayal of Blanchefontaine and its inhabitants, from castellan to page, rings with authenticity. It slowly unfolds that the shape-shifter lurks among the castle refugees, and an epic battle unfolds. Nicholas’ final chapters wind down the story and set young Hob on the path to become the warrior consort of Nemain, destined to return triumphantly to Eire.

A hauntingly affecting historical novel with a touch of magic. (Author appearances in New York. Agent: George Hiltzik)

THE CONSTANT HEART

Nova, Craig Counterpoint (336 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-61902-023-8

From Nova (The Informer, 2010, etc.), another illustration, painted in noirish tints, that love is all we need.

Jason Brady is the hero, father of the protagonist, Jake. Jake is an astronomer, and the constant of the title refers to both his father’s virtue and to the Constant, a component of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The book is set in upstate New York, in a small city devolving into a generic suburb of all-night pharmacies, auto parts stores and mini malls. Jake is in love with Sara, a cynic from a broken home. Together, they stare into space at pictures beamed back from the Hubble telescope. When cracks appear in Jake’s home, his father is a rock, doing right even by those who wrong him. Jake escapes into academics. Sara, afflicted, falls into trouble. Returning to live near his father, Jake becomes reacquainted with Sara in an encounter of cable-ready cinematic mayhem—an absurd, even laughable moment. But the book gains momentum, as if Nova has come back to the monochrome country where he is most comfortable. Sara is in the thick of what rhymes with it, and she draws the two men out of their comfort zones and into her eccentric orbit. The exquisite, excruciating climax pits Sara’s boorish pursuers against the Brady patriarch’s implacable virtue. If the rest of the book were half as gripping as this adventure in the noir wilderness, it might be considered a classic. But the taut moments only make the execrable and the platitudinous more so.

Wildly uneven, by turns cringe-worthy and hilarious, this is an uneventful trip to a worthy destination.

SOMETHING RED

Nicholas, Douglas Emily Bestler/Atria (336 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-4516-6007-4 Award-winning poet Nicholas (Iron Rose, 2010, etc.) treks into the wilds of medieval England in his first novel, a saga vibrant with artful description.

Maeve, known as Molly in England, is an Irish warrior queen, musician and healer. Exiled, she leads a caravan populated by Jack, once a crusader, now her companion; Nemain, her granddaughter; and Hob, an orphan put in her care by an aging priest. In baleful winter weather, Molly’s troop travels toward Durham, taking refuge first at St. Germaine de la Roche, a mountain monastery.

An ominous atmosphere descends when one of the guardian monks, Brother Athanasius, is discovered dismembered nearby.

Nicholas adeptly creates the medieval world, intriguingly populated by guilders, knights and wayfarers from faraway Lietuva.

The group next stops at a vibrant country inn, a near-fortress against bandits, run by Osbert atte Well. Nicholas’ language, its relevance to ancient times in syntax and vocabulary, and his extensive research into medieval England, bring this book to life in a brilliant fashion. Nicholas’ descriptions of life at the inn and later at the redoubt of the Norman, Sir Jehan, the Sieur De Blanchefontaine, are superbly realistic. With religious pilgrims tagging along, Molly’s troop is attacked by bandits after they leave Osbert’s inn and are forced to return to its safer confines.

But the inn has been destroyed, every creature massacred. Both Molly and Nemain know something wicked haunts the North |

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BLACK DAHLIA & WHITE ROSE Stories

THE FORGIVEN

Osborne, Lawrence Hogarth/Crown (288 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-307-88903-4

Oates, Joyce Carol Ecco/HarperCollins (288 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-06-219569-2 978-0-06-219571-5 e-book

Violence and debauchery in the Moroccan desert lead to cultural misunderstandings...and to more violence and debauchery.

On their way to a weekend of freewheeling partying sponsored by a gay couple, Richard and Dally, David and Jo Henniger meet up with something both unforeseen and untoward.

Late at night, two young Moroccans, putatively selling fossils to tourists, crowd in on the Hennigers’ car, and one of them, a young man named Driss, is run over. David checks to see whether Driss is in fact dead, and not knowing quite what to do, he and Jo put the body in the car and take him to the ksour of Richard and Dally’s, deep in the Moroccan desert. The situation is complicated by several factors, including David’s reputation as a drinker (and he had been consuming alcohol before the accident) and the suspicion of Hamid, a servant, that Westerners are utterly reckless and morally irresponsible. Although Richard feels there’s nothing to worry about—for if necessary, the opinion of the local authorities can be bought—Driss’ grieving father insists that David return the body and show at least some modicum of guilt and grief. While David is whisked away to Driss’ home, Jo remains at Richard and Dally’s.

She’s disgusted with her husband (and actually has been for years) and feels liberated in his absence. David’s return in one piece is questionable. Osborne comes up with an ending that’s at the same time ironic, surprising and completely fitting.

A gripping read with moral ambiguity galore.

Another gallery of grotesquerie from the staggeringly prolific Oates.

This latest collection of Oates’ previously published short stories (the sheer range of venues, from Playboy to Ellery Queen, The New Yorker to video game-inspired e-fiction is an indication of her vast reach) showcases her talent for imbuing mundane events with menace and the kind of irony that springs from narrow brushes with disaster. Thus, in the title story, the depraved serial killer of a Hollywood pinup model known as Black Dahlia could, but for circumstance, just as easily have targeted the starlet who would become Marilyn Monroe. Protagonists are drawn, with equal authority, from the underclass and the self-satisfied professional class. In “I.D.,” a pre-adolescent whose single mother has left her alone for days desperately clings to normalcy even as she’s being called out of class, possibly to identify her mother’s body. In two stories, “Roma!” and “Spotted Hyenas: A Romance,” middle-aged women married to prominent, uncommunicative men act out in diverse ways, from a frightening foray down Rome’s back alleys to a walk on the wild side as a were-hyena. (“A Brutal Murder in a Public Place” is a more contrived attempt at human/animal identification.) Narrators can be so subtly unreliable as to force readers to question their own perceptions. In “Deceit,” a mother summoned to discuss her child’s possible abuse may be the perpetrator—her memory has been ravaged by anti-anxiety meds. The divorced father in “Run Kiss Daddy,” attempting to start again with a new family in a favorite vacation spot, uncovers evidence of a long-ago crime that could be his own. A young woman who finds a wallet on a train injects herself capriciously and dangerously into a family of strangers. The linked stories “San Quentin” and “Anniversary” cover the excruciating discomfort—and unmistakable voyeurism—of well-meaning individuals teaching in maximum security prisons.

Although her material can be macabre, mawkish and deeply unsettling, Oates’ hypnotic prose ensures that readers will be unable to look away.

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IN BETWEEN DAYS

Porter, Andrew Knopf (336 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-307-27351-2

A busted marriage, gay prostitution, a potential murder charge—what’s a nice Texas family doing in a state like this?

Porter’s absorbing debut novel chronicles the slow-motion fracture of an upper-middle-class Houston clan. Elson, a well-regarded architect, has recently split from his wife, Cadence, and both are clumsily pursuing new relationships. Their son, Richard, is a promising young gay poet who’s uncertain about how much he wants to commit to his art. But the real problem is their daughter, Chloe, who’s been suspended from college under obscure circumstances. As Porter (The Theory of Light and Matter, 2008) cycles through each family member’s inner life, their turmoil becomes more pronounced, and it becomes clear just what a heap of trouble Chloe is in: Her boyfriend, Raja, was involved in the violent beating of a fellow student who was bullying him, and Chloe’s efforts to protect Raja have attracted police attention. The prose |

WHAT IN GOD’S NAME

is smooth—practically frictionless, thanks to Porter’s realistic yet meaningful dialogue and his plainspoken, nonjudgmental descriptions. (Porter operates in a practically metaphor-free universe.)

Such simplicity can be to the book’s detriment—the emotional conflicts, particularly between Elson and Cadence, sometimes feel undramatic and shopworn. Porter is on much firmer footing with Chloe and Richard: Every chapter in which they appear is more tense, defined by the clattering of existential questions they ponder. Porter wants to explore why we take such firm hold of some parts of our emotional lives but willfully neglect others, and his surprise ending suggests why it’s worth breaking free of others’ definitions of emotional attainment. The plot strains credulity in its later chapters, as Chloe disappears, and Richard is willing to do anything to help, but Porter’s cool tone helps sell the story.

A conventional dysfunctional-family tale that gets over on the author’s firm command of language and his characters’ neuroses. (Author tour to Houston, Iowa City, Los Angeles and San Antonio)

Rich, Simon Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown (240 pp.) $23.99 | Aug. 7, 2012 978-0-316-13373-9 The angels of Heaven, Inc. must save Earth.

God’s had enough. He thinks Earth is “just as frustrating as a Rubik’s cube,” and so he’s decided to destroy humankind and open an Asian fusion restaurant.

God even sent out a staff memo, and he’s personally told Raoul, a homeless guy in Detroit, his current prophet. God needs Earth only as a source of Xenon gas, and things like a book by “some fancy pants Oxford professor trying to get attention” represent the sort of ingratitude that have God ready to pull the plug. But two angels in the Miracles Department, Craig and Eliza, are upset, especially since a random existentialist comment from Eliza spurred God’s apocalyptic decision. But deals

THE GOOD WOMAN

Porter, Jane Berkley (336 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-425-25300-7 Beautiful Meg Brennan has constructed the perfect life by always doing what’s best for everyone else. But what if she wants something for herself?

When the Brennan sisters gather for their annual weekend in Porter’s (His Majesty’s Mistake, 2012, etc.) latest, almost everyone arrives with some girl troubles. Sarah worries that her husband might cheat on her again. Kit worries that her boyfriend of 10 years will never ask her to marry him. Kit’s surly twin, Brianna, has flown in from Africa seemingly for the sole purpose of criticizing Meg. Their sister-in-law, Cass, has just undergone her third round of IVF and can’t even come to the beach house. But worst of all, Mom’s cancer has returned. The Brennan girls are tight, yet Meg cannot bring herself to share what’s troubling her.

How could she? Meg is, and always has been, the good girl. With a loving husband, Jack, and three happy children, Meg herself holds a classy job as a publicist for local Dark Horse Winery.

But lately, Meg has been feeling romantically neglected by Jack.

Coincidentally, her hunky boss, Chad, has invited her on a business trip to the London trade show. It’s a sure recipe for a torrid affair, an affair that Meg agonizes over, repeatedly telling herself that a fling with Chad might restore her self-confidence, but it would also destroy her marriage.

It turns out that Meg was right: A good woman lives for, and is judged by, others. (Agent: Karen Solem)

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“Top-notch geek lit.” from trojan horse

TROJAN HORSE

can be made at Heaven, Inc. Craig agrees to invest in God’s restaurant and then, on his good side, persuades God to make a bet. Mankind will be preserved if Craig and Eliza can perform one impossible miracle: make two socially challenged people fall in love. The author has the difficult task of sustaining the superb comic premise throughout a book-length work, which he accomplishes by having his outlandishly capricious God appear at regular intervals.

Deliciously funny.

Russinovich, Mark Dunne/St. Martin’s (336 pp.) $24.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-250-01048-3 In his second techno-thriller, Russinovich’s (Zero Day, 2011) computer-genius power couple, Jeff Aiken and Daryl Haugen, find themselves enmeshed in a Chinese government attack on the Internet.

And right from the headlines, the Chinese also want to rid Iranian computers of the Stuxnet virus that will let the mullahs test their nuclear weapon. With the first third of Russinovich’s novel offering a precis on vulnerable computer networks and evildoer apocalyptic plans, readers learn Aiken and Haugen fired the code-bullets that defeated Al Qaida geek-terrorists. They’re now a couple and operate Red Zoya Systems LP, a computer security company. Aiken is called to London to cope with a virus wreaking havoc after transmission via a document attachment. Exotic locales sprinkle Aiken’s itinerary, including Geneva, where the virus was installed; then Prague, the lair of Ahmed Hossein al-Rashid, an Iranian undercover agent; and then Ankara and the dangerous road to Iran.

The London-discovered virus is Chinese, and Col. Jai Feng, the People’s Liberation Army’s computer warfare chief, has also developed a work around for Stuxnet for the mullahs. Not satisfied, PLA-techies are also code-infiltrating the U.S.’s 7th Fleet computers and inserting a Trojan horse into the U.S.’s electric power grid computers. Russinovich, a Microsoft Technical Fellow, turbocharges the narrative once an assassination-kidnap team, led by Ahmed, kidnaps Aiken and Haugen in Geneva, with Aiken escaping and then rescuing Haugen in Prague.

Thriller action, true, but the story occasionally bogs down when it goes full nerd. However, it switches scenes rapidly enough to keep interest churning, especially with characters like CIA tech-wizard Frank Renkin; Saliha, a beautiful Turk immigrant in Prague seduced into muling code into Iran; and Gholam Rahmani, aka Hamid, a triple-agent with his own agenda. Heavy on tech terms, much worried about the ever-growing vulnerability of the Internet, Russinovich is nuanced enough to write terrorists as sometimes insecure, frustrated and anxious, authoritarian states as rotten with the human frailties to be found in every society, and good guys engaging in near-plausible heroics.

Top-notch geek lit.

RESURRECTION EXPRESS

Romano, Stephen Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (448 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-4516-6864-3

Unhinged ex-soldier and professional thief Elroy Coffin is spared more time in a Texas maximum security prison when a high-powered mystery woman gets him out—on the condition he’ll use his genius at computer hacking to break into an impossible-to-crack security grid. The lure: his wife, Toni, who Elroy thought was dead.

The mystery woman, who says the plot is all about rescuing her daughter from a sex ring, is part of a secret conspiracy to wipe the planet clean with newly devised smart bombs and “resurrect” civilization. The man behind the plot is the superwealthy and supersadistic David Hartman (not the former TV personality!), who cut off the fingers of Elroy’s criminal father, tortured and killed Elroy’s mentor and is in possession of Toni.

Elroy, who already has hardware in his head from a shooting that left him with an impaired memory—he can’t recall what Toni looks like—gets shot again, battered, stabbed, slashed and injected with nasty drugs in his efforts to get to Hartman. His allies betray him, his likable female sidekick gets her throat slit while she sleeps and Toni, when she finally appears, isn’t really Toni. Reflecting Romano’s background in horror and graphic fiction, this first novel is written in the key of excess. But for all the violence and torture, the book is mostly taken up with posturing: Elroy obsessing over getting even with Hartman.

Basic scenes are repeated over and over, promising characters are summarily dismissed, and when the big climax we’re being set up for arrives, it’s a letdown.

Elroy’s dual identity as a tough guy and a “wirehead” gives the book one of its most distinctive elements, but in the end, Romano sells the computing elements short.

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FREUD’S SISTER

to Adolfina. Six years younger and once close to her brother, she is the product of a distant father and a verbally abusive mother who constantly lashes out at the daughter whom she tells should never have been born. Lacking formal education and remaining a lifelong spinster, Adolfina remains in the background and, from her vantage point, offers keen insight into the Freud family dynamics. Her brother, around whom the family revolves, is a genius whose star soars while Adolfina suffers years of neglect (she is, after all, merely a woman), an ill-fated love affair, confinement in a psychiatric clinic, where silence is a prized commodity for Adolfina and her friend Klara, and the responsibility of caring for her aging mother. Based in part on true events, the book probes numerous aspects of psychoanalytic theory through the characters’ conversations, actions and reflections: the psychosexual development of the individual, the nature of mental illness, the roles of the conscious and the unconscious, and religion. Each falls naturally into the narrative and serves to enhance a balanced, provocative and poignant story.

A sensitive portrayal and a well-crafted debut.

Smilevski, Goce Translated by Kramer, Christina E. Penguin (288 pp.) $16.00 paperback | Aug. 28, 2012 978-0-14-312145-9 Smilevski creates a fictionalized version of the life of Freud’s sister in a superb debut.

On the brink of World War II, Sigmund Freud receives permission for a chosen group of family and friends to leave Austria for England. Among those he elects to take with him are his doctor and his dog, but Freud excludes his four sisters and assures them that the situation is only temporary. Elderly and in declining health, Paulina, Rosa, Marie and Adolfina are transported with other Jews to a concentration camp, and eventually, they perish in the gas chambers. Smilevski’s awardwinning narrative—he won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2010—is translated from his native Macedonian and gives voice

WINN

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THE FORGETTING TREE

Smith, Zadie Penguin Press (400 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-594-20397-8

Soli, Tatjana St. Martin’s (416 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-250-00104-7

A wildly ambitious jigsaw puzzle of a novel, one that shuffles pieces of chronology, identity, ethnicity and tone, undermining cohesion and narrative momentum as it attempts to encompass a London neighborhood that is both fixed and fluid.

Many of Smith’s strengths as a writer are journalistic—a keen eye for significant detail, ear for speech inflections, appreciation for cultural signifiers and distinctions—as she demonstrated in her previous collection (Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, 2009). Yet, she first earned renown as a novelist with her breakthrough debut (White Teeth, 2000), and her fourth novel (first in six years) finds her challenging herself and the reader like never before. The title refers to “North West London, a dinky part of it you’ve never heard of called Willesden, and... you’d be wrong to dismiss it actually because actually it’s very interesting, very ‘diverse.’ Lord, what a word.” What initially seems to be a comedy of manners, involving two women who have been lifelong friends but now feel a distance in the disparity of their social standing (the one raised poorer by a Caribbean mother has done far better than the middle-class Caucasian), ultimately turns darker with abortion, murder, drug addiction and the possibility of a suicide. Much of the drama pivots on chance encounters (or fate?), making the plot difficult to summarize and even a protagonist hard to pinpoint. Each of the book’s parts also has a very different structure, ranging from very short chapters to an extended narrative interlude to numbered sections that might be as short as a paragraph or a page.

The pivotal figure in the novel goes by two different names and has no fixed identity (other than her professional achievement as a barrister), and she doesn’t begin to tell the back story that dominates the novel’s second half until the first half concludes (it highlights different characters). “At some point we became aware of being ‘modern,’ of changing fast,” interjects the author, who has written a novel so modern that nothing flows or fits together in the conventional sense, but whose voice remains so engaging and insights so incisive that fans will persevere to make of it what they will.

Smith takes big risks here, but some might need to read this twice before all the pieces fit together, and more conventionally minded readers might abandon it in frustration.

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The fate of a struggling Southern California citrus farm shifts after the arrival of a mysterious Haitian woman.

The second novel by Soli (The Lotus Eaters, 2010) centers on Claire, the matriarch of an orchard that’s been the source of plenty of financial and emotional heartbreak. Her young son was killed there, and the aftermath of his death drove a wedge between her and her husband and two daughters. Years later, when Claire is diagnosed with breast cancer, she begins to search for live-in help and is introduced to Minna, a young woman low on housekeeping experience but high on charm: She speaks enchantingly of her academic work and her great-grandmother, the novelist Jean Rhys.

Minna soon brings touches of her homeland to Claire’s house, building a shrine in her room and making herbal concoctions to bolster Claire’s recovery, and the new assistant also pursues a relationship with a movie-star neighbor. But all is not well: Minna grows increasingly possessive and demanding of Claire, and a later section of the novel shows that Minna’s background isn’t quite what she’s claimed it was. This book aspires to be a multilayered story about class and race distinctions—Soli explores Claire’s white guilt and cultural confusion to better get at the source of emotional divisions. Though Soli cannily shows how each woman exploits the other, her noble goal is undercut somewhat by baggy, sometimes pedantic storytelling, particularly the wooden arguments between Claire, her daughters and her ex-husband. (Soli’s affinity for sentence fragments amplifies the prose’s stiff feel.)

Minna’s own section of the novel, which chronicles her travels from Haiti to Miami to California, features some of Soli’s most engaging writing, though it owes a clear debt to the troubled Haitian heroines of the works of Edwidge Danticat.

Ambitious but overripe.

BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HERE

Straight, Susan McSweeney’s (240 pp.) $22.00 | Sep. 12, 2012 978-1-936365-75-3

Set several years before the events of Straight’s Take One Candle Light a Room (2010), the third installment of her trilogy concerns the reactions and memories that a prostitute’s death stirs up in the tightknit black community in Rio Seco, Calif.

Video store employee Sidney Chabert notices Glorette Picard’s body in a shopping cart in the alley behind the Mexican restaurant where he’s just eaten. Glorette has become a streetwalker and a drug addict who has dangerously neglected her |

brilliant son, Victor. But like every guy who knew her in high school, Sidney has remained in love with Glorette, although it has been 20 years since she was an innocent, preternaturally beautiful girl growing up in orange groves that belonged to her “uncle,” Enrique Antoine, and her father, Gustave—the men’s binding relationship, their establishment of Rio Seco as a refuge for young women escaping a brutal white rapist in Louisiana, and the method by which Enrique gained ownership of the land are haunting subplots reaching back for generations. Once Sidney alerts Antoine’s sons, they bring Glorette’s body back to her family to be buried without police involvement. But her death roils the souls of all those whose lives she’s touched, however tangentially. In less than 250 pages, Straight develops a lot of characters in surprising depth: Enrique is bound for vengeance, while Gustave is overwhelmed with silent grief. Glorette’s former boyfriend Chess has remained devoted to her even after fathering a child with someone else. Enrique’s sons can’t quite leave their father’s home despite wives who strive, with mixed success, to assimilate their children into middle-class America. There are Glorette’s frankly skanky prostitute competitors and the men they service, or don’t service. And there is Glorette’s son, Victor, desperate to make it to college though thwarted at every turn.

Straight (who is white but eschews the self-congratulating, cliché-laden condescension of books like The Help) employs glorious language and a riveting eye for detail to create a fully realized, totally believable world.

an Oscar early on, there is scant other evidence of her celebrity status since we see mostly her home life. Already a passive character, she becomes more so after Irving’s death. (He had a weak heart and was never robust.) She resorts to barbiturates to get her through her not-so-busy day. The tragedy of Irving’s death compounds the psychic wounds opened by Hildy’s suicide and more recently, her beloved father’s passing. Although Straub’s languid language convincingly conveys Laura/Elsa’s inability to cope, the reader at times wishes this screen star would go less gently into the good night of the aging female in Hollywood.

A life in pictures, mostly out of focus.

STRANGER IN THE ROOM

Williams, Amanda Kyle Bantam (320 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 21, 2012 978-0-553-80808-7

Bodies are piling up in Georgia and a former FBI profiler uses her sleuthing skills to solve the cases.

Williams’ second in the Stranger series once again features private investigator Keye Street, a wisecracking Krispy Kreme addict with a cop for a boyfriend and a cat for a companion, who’s tough on cars and works as a bond enforcement agent to help pay the mortgage and finance her Krispy Kreme habit. This may seem like familiar territory for Evanovich and Grafton fans who are used to witty, quirky female protagonists, but the author adds a couple of unique twists to distinguish her lead character from others: Street is a Chinese-American adoptee with a Southern drawl, a flawed past and a Ph.D. And whether she’s in Big Knob, Ga., checking out a crooked crematorium owner who substitutes cement and chicken feed in the dearly departed’s urn, or in Atlanta looking into a break-in at her cousin Miki Ashton’s home, you can bet she’s surrounded by a whole slew of quirky characters, and yes, once again it’s familiar territory. As a seemingly unconnected series of murders occurs, including a 13-year-old baseball prodigy who is strangled, an elderly man shot to death and then hanged and a young woman raped and shot, Street partners with homicide detective and boyfriend Aaron Rauser to piece together the evidence and find the killer. Hired as a consultant with the APD, Street risks her own safety as she probes into the psyche of a man with a turbulent past that’s similar to her own. While exploring dark themes, Williams manages to infuse the story with frothy, amusing situations and dialogue. When she’s in this mode, her writing is solid and snappy, and her characters deliver some delightful zingers.

But the author throws an occasional curveball into the mix that just doesn’t fit into the plot.

The story works best when Williams keeps it light, unencumbered by heavy psychological and social issues.

(Author events in Atlanta. Agent: Victoria Sanders)

LAURA LAMONT’S LIFE IN PICTURES

Straub, Emma Riverhead (320 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-59448-845-0

A film star of Hollywood’s golden age goes mild, in Straub’s curiously bloodless debut.

Elsa Emerson, whose father owns and manages a Wisconsin summer stock playhouse, wasn’t always destined for stardom.

Her older sister, Hildy, is the one with the glamour, presence and grace. But when Hildy hangs herself after being jilted by an actor, Elsa’s discovery of her sister’s body forever alters her worldview.

Just how, is the novel’s task to reveal, and unfortunately it fails in that purpose. Elsa seems to drift into the various phases of her life. Having escaped Wisconsin by marrying fellow Hollywoodbound thespian Gordon, she gives birth to two daughters in quick succession and is consigned to housewifery while her husband achieves a modicum of success under contract to Gardner Brothers Studio. When Elsa meets Gardner mogul Irving Green, he sees her diva potential, renames her Laura Lamont and changes her Nordic blond looks to the persona of a sultry brunette. Gordon is quickly dispensed with, and she marries Irving, who provides security and an opulent house in Beverly Hills. By the time her son, Irving Junior, is born, Laura’s career again takes a back seat, this time to a more luxurious domesticity—now even her husband is touting her for matronly roles. Although Laura wins |

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PANORAMA CITY

Day Celebration by preparing to plant a batch of Confederate roses, which are really hibiscus, at the local cemetery when their attention is called to the plight of Verna Tidwell, who’s accused of stealing $15,000 from the town coffers. Darling president Liz Lacy, who works for a lawyer, enlists the help of a few close friends to prove Verna’s innocence. In the meantime the reticent Miss Rogers, town librarian and Dahlia member, has discovered a mystery of her own. Miss Rogers was left in an orphanage as a young child, her only possession a pillow that belonged to her grandmother, Rose. Now that a pesky tomcat has ripped the knitted cover, Miss Rogers finds that the pillow has been embroidered with a series of unusual symbols. The editor of the local newspaper takes on the task of researching the pillow and comes up with a remarkable discovery.

As usual, Albert (The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies, 2011, etc.) plumps up her wisp of a mystery with plenty of charm and period detail.

Wilson, Antoine Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (304 pp.) $24.00 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-547-87512-5 The history of literature is full of simple characters who become transformed or enlightened through their experiences.

But there are some who just stay simple, like Oppen Porter, the hero of the second novel by Wilson (The Interloper, 2007).

We never learn exactly what’s wrong with Oppen. When we first meet him, he’s attempting to bury his recently deceased father in his backyard. This draws the attention of the police, who turn him over to crusty but kindhearted Aunt Liz; she gets him a job at a burger franchise and encourages him to get involved with a Christian fellowship. Oppen also becomes attached to Paul Renfro, a petty criminal whom he meets on a bus and mistakes for a philosopher. That’s about it for the plot, except that Oppen winds up hospitalized when two of his best friends engage him in a jolly game of chicken, their pickup truck vs. his bicycle. Mercifully, he also gains a love interest, and the book’s narrative device is a transcription of hospital tapes (complete with endlessly repeated conversational tics) that he makes for his unborn son. But the book’s intent is neither dark nor satirical; we’re supposed to identify with Oppen as he dispenses homespun homilies and folksy wisdom (some of which seems too clever to have come from this character).

Yet it’s hard to root for a character who seems as clueless after his transformational journey as he was beforehand.

There are some witty moments here, like the scene where he smokes pot for the first time, but this is most likely to appeal to readers who took Forrest Gump seriously.

DEATH WARMED OVER

Anderson, Kevin J. Kensington (304 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-7582-7734-3 Tireless sci-fi chronicler Anderson (Enemies & Allies, 2009, etc.) creates a dayafter-tomorrow world in which a zombie sleuth prowls the mean streets as he works a half-dozen seriously weird cases.

Ever since the Big Uneasy, when a 58-year-old virgin accidentally spilled her blood on a copy of the Necronomicon and “caused a fundamental shift in the natural order of things,” vampires, werewolves, ghouls, goblins and other undead creatures have been common. One in 75 dead people rises from the grave, like zombie private eye Dan Chambeaux. One in 30 becomes a ghost, like Dan’s equally murdered girlfriend, Sheyenne. Together with Dan’s still-living partner, Robin Deyer, they juggle a dizzying caseload. Dan, Robin and Sheyenne work to protect vegan vampire Sheldon Fennerman from harassment by the Straight Edgers, who want to keep human nature human. They fight for the emancipation of Ramen Ho-Tep, a long-dead pharaoh whose museum demands he stay put in his glass exhibit case. They search for a way to keep Jackie Dorset’s late Uncle Stan from haunting her family. They press Mavis Wannovich’s suit against the publisher whose book of spells had a typo that turned her sister, Alma, into a giant sow. And they seek evidence that will allow Miranda Jekyll to break the prenup that prevents her from divorcing her wealthy husband, Harvey, CEO of Jekyll Lifestyle Products and Necroceuticals, on her own terms. Mainly, though, they try to solve Dan and Sheyenne’s own murders.

Like Alexander McCall Smith’s Mma Precious Ramotswe, the sleuths really do settle most of their cases, and they provide a lot of laughs along the way. It’s hard to disagree with Dan’s verdict: “Never a dull moment.” (Agent: John Silbersack)

m ys t e r y THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE CONFEDERATE ROSE

Albert, Susan Wittig Berkley Prime Crime (304 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-425-24776-1 A third unruffled retro whodunit for the ladies of the Darling Dahlias garden club.

Despite their ability to grow some of their food and barter for needed items, life isn’t easy for the citizens of Darling, Ala., during the Great Depression. But it’s harder for some folks than others. The Dahlias are busy getting ready for the Confederate 1746

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“Black’s third procedural uses his 30 years of police experience to ballast a credible and often exciting tale.” from sacrificial offerings

HISS AND HERS

he finds himself a pawn in a deadly geopolitical chess game. Still, Billy knows that if a pawn plods straight ahead long enough to reach the last rank, “it can be anything it wants.”

The gobs of back story have the unfortunate effect of nudging charming Billy off center stage. A shame.

Beaton, M.C. Minotaur (304 pp.) $24.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-312-61625-0 A private detective’s amatory obsessions get her in trouble once again.

Agatha Raisin (As the Pig Turns, 2011, etc.) may be a dogged investigator and no fool, but her penchant for falling for the wrong man always seems to lead to disaster. This time her gardener, George Marston, is the object of her desire. She does everything she can to attract him and is madly jealous of gorgeous TV star Jessica Fordyce and the many other less attractive women who employ him. When Agatha finds George dead, drugged into unconsciousness with a plastic bag filled with deadly adders placed around his head, she’s determined to investigate. So getting hired by his sister just adds a financial fillip. To her chagrin, she discovers that George was quite the ladies’ man. He’d been having it off with many women, including several ladies in a village he left after one of his lovers became overly vindictive. Of the two crack investigators, Toni and Simon, Agatha has placed on the case, Simon unfortunately falls for Jessica and is lucky to escape death when he is bitten by an adder while searching for clues. Agatha’s self-confidence ebbs, but as usual, she keeps stirring the pot until something happens.

Beaton may not supply a great mystery this time out, but as usual, the many amusing characters make it a hoot.

SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS

Black, Michael A. Five Star (394 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 19, 2012 978-1-4328-2618-5

Chicago police officers fight crime and each other.

When Olivia Hart is transferred to the SWAT team, her partner, Sgt. Frank Leal, is left lumbered with a computergeek intern and a former canine officer,

DEATH’S DOOR

Benn, James R. Soho Crime (352 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-61695-185-6 In the depths of World War II, Lt. Billy Boyle (A Mortal Terror, 2011, etc.) is tasked with solving the murder of an American priest in German-occupied Rome.

Who tasks him? His Uncle Ike, of course: Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower.

The supreme allied commander apparently has an endless trove of thorny missions set aside for his nephew, all of which turn out to be survival tests. In Vatican City, Monsignor Edward Corrigan has been found stabbed to death, and FDR, whose close friend he was, wants an all-out investigation. So Roosevelt leans on Eisenhower, who leans on Billy. Though a homicide investigation is not exactly foreign territory to an ex–Boston cop, this latest assignment comes Billy’s way at a particularly complicated time.

British spy Diana Seaton, the love of his life, has been taken by the Gestapo. Given their famously untender mercies, Billy isn’t sure that he should hope Diana’s alive, but he’s learned that she is, jailed somewhere in Rome. Monsignor Corrigan’s murderer is also somewhere in Rome. The upside is that now, Billy too has been deployed where the action is. The downside is how quickly |

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a ventriloquist who uses his glove as a puppet. Ollie isn’t happy either, but she can’t tell Frank that her transfer to SWAT is at the instigation of the Internal Affairs Division, which is convinced that members of the SWAT team are stealing some of the money and drugs they’ve confiscated. The politically motivated citywide crackdown on drugs could lead to higher office for the police chief and the head of IAD, who are both desperate for success.

Meanwhile, a homicide in a motel turns into a hot case for Frank when he discovers that the dead man is a former TV actor who was apparently involved in a kinky, drug-fueled sexual liaison gone bad. Ollie, a serious bodybuilder, has no trouble getting through SWAT school, but her romance with a fellow police officer runs into trouble when he wants to move to a different city to be near his prison-bound brother. While Frank uses all his resources to crack the motel homicide and the rest of his caseload, Ollie goes on several raids, but sees nothing suspicious. Their paths converge when they lead back to the same drug lord, a formidable figure who threatens their careers and lives.

Black’s third procedural (Hostile Takeovers, 2009, etc.) uses his 30 years of police experience to ballast a credible and often exciting tale.

Cross, Neil Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4516-7309-8

A particularly repellent case moves DCI Luther closer to the edge he’s never been far from.

A young married couple is found murdered, the husband sadistically savaged, the wife, eight and a half months pregnant, ripped open, her infant—just possibly still alive—torn from her. Luther, “a big man with a big walk” and a near-legendary capacity for sensitivity, catches the case, as he catches all the truly bad ones. But this case just might be one too many. Stoic by nature and principle, Luther has never been easy to read, but now the tells are becoming unmistakable. He’s been unable to sleep and looks it. Instead of resolving to push to the end, he asks to be taken off the case. At home, his wife and soul mate, Zoe, has grown restless to the point of no return. Their moribund relationship deprives Luther of the ballast and empowerment his marriage has always provided. Meanwhile, a monstrous killer continues to select victims, like the little girl who goes missing. By now Luther’s famous intuitiveness has been productive, and he’s closing in on his crafty antagonist. When the two confront each other, will Luther retain his commitment and remain the embodiment of law and order?

Relentlessly bleak, often downright ugly, yet heartbreakingly well-done. Troubled, self-tormenting Luther, who debuted in the BBC America TV miniseries Luther, is a compelling and memorable figure in print as well.

BUFFALO BILL’S DEAD NOW

Coel, Margaret Berkley Prime Crime (304 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-425-25271-0

A lawyer and a priest must solve yet another murder on the Wind River Reservation.

The Arapaho Museum is about to mount a big exhibition of artifacts featuring Chief Black Heart’s regalia, which is being returned after being discovered hidden in a vault in Germany. Black Heart and his adopted son, Sonny Yellow Robe, were in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Germany when Black Heart’s regalia vanished along with Sonny. Black Heart’s family blamed Sonny for the theft, and the feud continues over a hundred years later. When the artifacts go missing once more, stolen from the local airport, Native American lawyer Vicki Holden (The Spider’s Web, 2010, etc.) has the feeling that her client Trevor Pratt, who had arranged their return, knows who took them. But before she can confront Pratt, she and her friend Father John O’Malley find him murdered at his ranch, and they’re almost run off the road by someone fleeing the scene. Then the museum curator is kidnapped, leaving the FBI and local law enforcement to search for him and the murderers. Research shows that Pratt is a former artifact thief who changed his name, invented a new persona and apparently changed his ways. Vicki’s former law partner and lover, Adam Lone Eagle, has returned eager to resume their relationship, but she’s consumed by her need to solve the case and is more than a little in love with Father John.

An interesting combination of historical information on Buffalo Bill’s wildly popular show and modern-day mystery.

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MORE THAN SORROW

Delany, Vicki Poisoned Pen (312 pp.) $24.95 | paper $14.95 | Lg. Prt. $22.95 Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-59058-985-4 978-1-59058-987-8 paperback 978-1-59058-986-1 Lg. Prt. The author of the British Columbian cozies starring Constable Molly Smith (Among the Departed, 2011, etc.) moves east to Lake Ontario, where a considerably more beset heroine must confront demons without and within.

Toronto journalist Hannah Manning was at the top of her game when she fell victim to an IED in Afghanistan. Now she’s unable to work or drive or even live on her own. Living for the moment with her sister, Joanne and her husband, Jake Stewart, she finds life on J & J Organic Farms, on the island of Prince Edward County, predictable and slow, but still challenging for her and Omar, the name she’s given her disabling headaches.

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FACE OF THE ENEMY

farm, so Hannah is especially eager to befriend Hila Popalzai, a shy Afghan refugee who’s been offered shelter by the farm’s neighbors, Maude and Grant Harrison. And she takes considerable interest in some old papers Joanne has found in the house.

Hannah sees in the story of Maggie Macgregor, the widow of a Loyalist sympathizer during the American Revolution, a mirror of her own. Taken in by her late husband’s cousin, Nathanial, Maggie becomes little more than a servant in a household not her own. Hannah’s nagging questions about her new life—is she only imagining the woman’s voice she hears in the root cellar?

Will Omar ever quiet down for good?—are abruptly upstaged when Hila disappears and is found dead. Hannah doesn’t know just how instrumental Maggie, dead over 200 years, will be in resolving the mystery.

An absorbing whodunit-cum-flashbacks whose so-so mystery is redeemed by a deft use of historical parallels.

Dobson, Joanne; Myers, Beverle Graves Poisoned Pen (390 pp.) $24.95 | paper $14.95 | Lg. Prt. $22.95 Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4642-0031-1 978-1-4642-0032-8 paperback 978-1-4642-0033-5 Lg. Prt. The days surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack find New York City gripped by hysteria.

Private-duty nurse Louise Hunter moved from Kentucky with her doctor fiance only to be dumped when his mother disapproved. She’s outraged when patient Robert Oakley’s wife, gentle Japanese artist Masako, is swept up by the FBI and accused of espionage. Masako’s art show had recently been shut down by racist demonstrators, and when the body of her art dealer is found under one of her paintings, Masako is accused of murder.

One of Louise’s Brooklyn housemates, ambitious Cabby Ward,

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who works for the New York Times, is ready to exploit Masako’s problems to get a good story. The German immigrant who owns their house has troubles of her own: Her underage son runs off to enlist to make up for the fact that his missing father is a Nazi.

NYPD lieutenant McKenna has to fight the FBI for access to Masako until another of Louise’s roommates helps her find a civil liberties lawyer who will take on her case. McKenna is getting pressure from above to charge Masako; Oakley is at death’s door in the hospital; and all Masako’s paintings have vanished as Louise joins a skeptical McKenna to try to prove Masako innocent.

Dobson (Death Without Tenure, 2010, etc.) and Myers (Her Deadly Mischief, 2009, etc.) collaborate to introduce a planned series on wartime New York. Even mystery mavens who spot the villain early on will savor the colorful characters and the evocation of Gotham in the 1940s: the Bund, America First, egg creams, Schrafft’s, Horn & Hardart.

More, please.

Ellis, Kate Creme de la Crime (240 pp.) $28.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-78029-027-0

The police in the Yorkshire city of Eborby get a case that brings up shocking events from the past.

Now tastefully converted to an apartment building, Boothgate House was once an insane asylum, Havenby Hall, home to the notorious serial killer Peter Brockmeister. Local solicitor Melanie Hawkes is found murdered in the style of Brockmeister after her child is kidnapped. Melanie’s husband, Jack, was the architect for Boothgate, and Melanie had been looking into a suspicious death at Havenby. Lydia Brookes, a young woman with tragedy in her past, has acquired one of the apartments, along with a series of nightmares about a clock that she later finds in an antique shop.

Her apartment is burgled, apparently by a thief known as The Builder who targets the unoccupied apartments of women and piles furniture in front of the door. This time he leaves an unsettling note: “I’LL SEE YOU NEXT TIME I CALL. BE READY.” When a college professor investigating paranormal activity in the basement of Boothgate becomes the next victim, DI Joe Plantagenet, who’s working both cases, begins to suspect that the past is influencing the present. Investigation reveals that many of the people involved in his current cases have connections to creepy Havenby Hall. Joe and his colleagues have their hands full trying to catch a killer before he strikes again. Police procedural meets horror in Plantagenet’s fourth (Kissing the Demons, 2011, etc.).

The tricky mystery is best read in the bright light of day.

THE MIDNIGHT MAN

Doherty, Paul Creme de la Crime (224 pp.) $28.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-78029-026-3 An exorcist and his assistant fight demons from hell to solve a series of murders.

Geoffrey Chaucer and his fellow pilgrims listen to a physician’s disturbing tale in a tavern on their route from London to Canterbury. Brother Anselm and his novice, Stephen, have been asked to perform an exorcism at the church of St. Michael’s, Candlewick. The demons that inhabit the church seem to have been called up by a sorcerer known as the Midnight Man, but there is more to the story. Some valuable property stolen from the king years ago may be hidden in the church. The current king has sent men to protect Anselm and hunt for the treasure. Anselm knows he must solve a recent series of murders of young women if he is to have any chance of banishing the demons. Stephen, the son of a physician who has thrown him out because of his disturbing visions, has fallen in love with the daughter of a tavern owner. Despite his doubts about a future in religion, he continues to experience horrible and revealing visions as he supports Anselm. Anselm, Stephen and the king’s men must uncover the sins of past and present to have any hope of success.

The latest addition to Doherty’s Canterbury Tales series (A Haunt of Murder, 2003, etc.) is so tightly packed with the minutiae of everyday medieval life that mystery readers who aren’t history buffs may give up long before the excellent finale.

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LUCKY STUFF

Fiffer, Sharon Minotaur (304 pp.) $24.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-312-64303-4 A part-time detective and full-time collector finds that her old hometown is more exciting than it used to be.

Jane Wheel is recently divorced, her son is off to a boarding school that suits his talents, and her house is on the market. She’s packed up years of collectibles to make the house more appealing, and her best friend, Tim, is having it all shipped to a storage unit, when the house suddenly sells. So Jane stays with her parents in Kankakee, a quiet Illinois town suddenly energized by the return of a former resident, second-rate comedian Lucky Miller, who’s filming a roast for himself. Lucky has paid a big crew to restore many of the old businesses he remembers from the short time he spent there. Struggling to recover memories of his life in Kankakee, where he fears he may have done something awful, Lucky hires Jane as temporary help. Her task is to discover who’s messing with Lucky’s head by disturbing his |

“When love dies, which is the better option, divorce or murder?” from a question of identity

ANGEL WITH A BULLET

box of lucky charms and leaving cryptic notes accusing him of unspecified crimes. With help from her partner, Detective Oh, Jane looks into Lucky’s past and discovers a number of things that don’t add up. In addition to her latest job, she’s also worried about her parents, who are struggling financially, mourning the loss of an old friend and still spending long hours running the EZ Way Inn. Can Jane solve Lucky’s problems, help her parents and settle into a new and vastly different life?

Jane’s eighth doesn’t live up to some of her earlier adventures (Backstage Stuff, 2011, etc.) but still provides a pleasant, if unexciting, read. (Agent: Gail Hochman)

Grant, M.C. Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (336 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Sep. 8, 2012 978-0-7387-3415-6 A tough San Francisco reporter investigates the death of a former lover.

Dixie Flynn is on the scene shortly after the death of artist Diego Chino. A carefully arranged signed canvas that uses his blood and other body materials to depict rage and despair paints a lurid portrait of a suicide. In the fickle world of art, Diego had been a hot seller, but lately he had been overtaken by an artist known as Adamsky. Although Dixie suspects murder, her father-figure friend DS Frank Fury isn’t persuaded, and the case is quickly shut down by the highest reaches of the police department. Meanwhile, a man representing the wealthy collector Sir Roger Kingston shows up before the blood has dried on the canvas, claiming Chino had texted him with instructions on where and when to find Chino’s posthumous work. Even after the investigation is closed, Dixie, still certain that Chino was murdered, takes the fact that she is harassed and almost run over in a Chinatown alley as confirmation of her suspicions. Can she find the truth before she’s killed by whoever is determined to keep the case closed?

Under a sort-of-pseudonym, thriller writer Grant McKenzie (No Cry For Help, 2010, etc.) offers the first of a planned series featuring wisecracking Dixie, with a fast-paced combination of violence and sex and a game-changing twist at the end.

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY

Fraser, Anthea Severn House (208 pp.) $28.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-7278-8168-7

When love dies, which is the better option, divorce or murder?

Rona Parish has a solid marriage, a thriving career as a biographer and a reputation for solving murders that she’d rather downplay (Unfinished Portrait, 2010, etc.). Her twin, Lindsey, has a messy love life, a job that may be terminated if she resumes her dalliance with a co-worker and a mystery she’d like her sister to look into for a member of her book club: Who is the person that’s been viciously obliterated in a school photograph of Springfield Lodge that was taken back in July 1951? Rona would rather not get involved, but she’s bored with her research on artist Elspeth Wilding; she’s upset with her mother’s decision to sell the family home now that she’s remarrying; and she’s concerned about her pal Magda’s nightmares, which began after being called onstage at a hypnotist’s performance. Coincidences spur Rona on. Her dad’s new love knows someone who knows someone who was at Springfield at the time.

Someone else knows someone else, who might know something.

Before Rona can firmly decline to investigate, she’s tracking down clues to that mutilated identity. She’s also trying to explain why Magda’s night terrors include images of a family she doesn’t know and why she insists that she’s telepathically connected to the husband who murdered his wife and disappeared. The school figure, who kills herself after being dumped by her great love in Moscow, is more easily resolved than Magda’s turmoil, which sends her and Rona off to confront that murderous husband and disengage her from the man’s psyche.

A plot overburdened with coincidences. And surely most readers will find telepathy as a plot device problematic.

RED JACKET

Heywood, Joseph Lyons Press (352 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-7627-8253-6 The creator of the Grady Service Woods Cop adventures (Strike Dog, 2007, etc.) launches a new series that follows the adventures of another Upper Michigan game warden a century earlier.

Col. Theodore Roosevelt values the men who follow him and inspires them in turn to fierce loyalty. So when the old Rough Rider asks trapper Luther Bapcat, who followed him up San Juan Hill 15 years earlier, to become Deputy Game, Fish and Forestry Warden for Houghton and Keweenaw Counties, there’s no way Lute can refuse. Partnering with bounty hunter Pinkhus Sergeyevich Zakov, he heads to his new headquarters in Ahmeek and immediately realizes there’s a lot more to his job than protecting fish, game and forests. The copper miners of the Upper Peninsula are preparing to strike, and Capt. Madog Hedyn, the hard-nosed boss of the Delaware mine, has hired gunslingers to shoot the native deer and leave the carcasses to rot in order to deprive the strikers of food that might help them through the winter. Even though Lute once |

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worked in the mines himself, it’s hard to find anyone to root for in the free-for-all that develops. The mine bosses are ruthless, the strikers surly, the local law clearly in the bosses’ pockets. Rumor has it that the Black Hand is involved, and Zakov is always happy to explain how things are no better here than in Russia. Even Lute’s lover, lusty dry-goods widow Jaquelle Frei, is said to be involved in the flesh trade, as a wholesale supplier of all the necessary material, including human material. The inevitable murders, when they finally begin, are almost incidental to a doomy tale that ends with a calamity that claims 73 lives in one fell swoop.

Heywood’s dialogue-driven story, which manages to be both brisk and lumbering, reads less like a self-contained tale than the opening salvo in an ongoing saga—which presumably is just the idea.

Johnson, D.E. Minotaur (352 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-250-00662-2

A young man risks his life for the woman he loves.

Will Anderson and Elizabeth Hume have had a rocky romance. Certainly no one in the wealthy families they were born into would have predicted the drama of their lives. A drunken Will forced Elizabeth into a sexual encounter, resulting in a pregnancy she aborted. Will himself has been disfigured and fought both mobsters and morphine.

Now that his life’s on a more even keel, he’s willing to put himself in danger again to help Elizabeth’s family. Elizabeth’s mother, who suffers from early dementia, is the guardian of her nephew, Robert, who’s been shut up in the Eloise Hospital Insane Asylum for many years. Robert is accused of killing a fellow inmate by bizarre means straight out of The Phantom of the Opera. Certain of Robert’s innocence, both Will and Elizabeth go undercover in the hospital, Elizabeth as a volunteer, Will as an amnesiac patient. They get some help from Detective Riordan, who once suspected Will of murder, but fail to reckon with the power of the hospital’s private police force. Will is soon subjected to inhumane treatment by a staff that’s apparently covering up other murders. When some of the inmates seem more normal than the staff, Will’s decisions about whom to trust could cost him his life.

Johnson’s third chronicle of early-1900s Detroit (Motor City Shakedown, 2011, etc.) provides a mystery with suspects aplenty and a scary portrait of life in an insane asylum.

THE NINTH STEP

Jerkins, Grant Berkley Prime Crime (304 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-425-25598-8 An irresistibly nerve-racking account of the consequences that follow from the chance meeting of two drivers, neither of whom ever should have taken the wheel.

Helen Patrice thinks of herself as a functioning alcoholic because she can get through days at her veterinary clinic without any of her employees noticing her drinking. One night, while she’s on her way home from a particularly ugly pickup at one of the bars she takes care not to visit often enough to become a regular, her car collides with that of geometry teacher Edgar Woolrich and his wife, Judy, who’s just announced that she’s going to have a baby. Helen doesn’t know that Edgar, who was hunched over his smart phone while he was driving, was at least as much to blame for the accident as she was. All she knows is that Judy Woolrich is dead, and Helen’s car is easily identifiable as the one that killed her. Months after Helen covers up every trace of her involvement and sobers up with the help of her AA sponsor, Martha, she realizes that she’ll never be at peace until she’s worked through all of the 12 steps, including the one that requires her to make amends to anyone she’s injured. So she goes to visit Edgar. Despite his resistance to her, Helen wears him down, wins his love and marries him. The stage is set for a happy ending—unless a blackmailer emerges who knows the truth about that fatal night, unless Edgar and Helen find a new resolve in themselves to do coldblooded things they’ve never imagined, unless the postman rings twice.

Jerkins (At the End of the Road, 2011, etc.) produces a twisted valentine to noir masters James M. Cain and Cornell Woolrich that still creates its own distinctive nightmare world.

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THE THREE-DAY AFFAIR

Kardos, Michael Mysterious Press (256 pp.) $24.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-8021-2026-7 This first novel from storyteller Kardos (One Last Good Time, 2010) leads three ordinary guys into a dark wood and turns the screws on them.

Will Walker, ex-drummer and recording studio engineer, is trying to put away a little money for the child he and his wife, Cynthia, would like to have. And he’d like to raise funds to launch an indie label, Long-Shot Records. So he asks his Princeton buddies, attorney Evan Wolff, dot-com millionaire Jeffrey Hocks and Kansas City Senate-hopeful Nolan Albright, to forgo the usual glamorous destinations for their annual golf reunions and come instead to his town in New Jersey. The results are different, all right, but not in the way he intended. After Evan’s begged off till the following morning, the other three drive to a Milk-n-Bread, where Will and Nolan wait outside till Jeffrey, whose stomach has been killing him, emerges |

TRICKSTER’S POINT

not with antacids, but with the cashier in tow, pushes her into the car and demands that Will drive off. The tale that emerges is both incredible—Jeffrey, who’d lost all his money when the bubble burst, saw a chance to clean out the store’s cash register, then decided he had to grab the cashier to prevent her from identifying him to the police—and impossible to resolve. No matter what they do now, all three buddies are already parties to robbery and kidnapping, and the only way they can see to cover their tracks is to take unimaginably irreversible measures. As they wrack their brains to come up with a way out of this mess, the odds of a fatal mischance keep rising. What if they’re spotted by a neighborhood panhandler? Or by Will’s boss? And what if they turn on each other?

An agonizing moral nightmare interspersed with flashbacks to happier times whose import becomes clear only in the final chapter. (Agent: Jody Klein)

Krueger, William Kent Atria (336 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Aug. 21, 2012 978-1-4516-4567-5 978-1-4516-4573-6 e-book The murder of a rising political star who just happens to be one of his oldest friends lands Minnesota private eye Corcoran O’Connor in the hot seat.

Even though he wanted to go for help, Cork agreed to sit with Jubal Little for three hours after their backwoods deer hunt was cut short when his old schoolmate was shot by an arrow that closely resembled the arrows Cork made for himself. He listened to Jubal ramble about his romance with their mutual friend Winona Crane, his foreshortened run for the Senate and the mysterious Rhiannon, whose fate was “the worst sin of all.” Now all of Cork’s friends and former colleagues in the Tamarack County sheriff ’s office suspect Cork of shooting Jubal. Even Jubal assumed that Cork had fired the fatal arrow. Determined to clear himself, Cork makes the rounds of alternative suspects—Jubal’s politically connected widow, Camilla, and her family, Ojibwe activist Isaiah Broom, logger Buzz Bigby, whose bullying son, Donner, met a bad end after one last run-in with Jubal many years ago—with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop, though he can’t catch eternal wild-child Winona, who’s taken a powder once again. More revealingly, Krueger interleaves the present-day story with a series of flashbacks that trace the winding steps in Cork’s relationship with his old friend, whose charm, warmth, wide range of skills and iron ambition made him easy to like but hard to love. The climactic revelations, if they aren’t exactly surprising, are as logical as they are poignant.

Krueger’s 12th (Northwest Angle, 2011, etc.) is alternately muscular and tender, and maybe a tad synthetic—middling for this fine series. (Author tour to Minneapolis, Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, Houston, Phoenix and San Diego)

MURDER MOST AUSTEN

Kiely, Tracy Minotaur (304 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-250-00742-1

A much-anticipated trip to the Jane Austen Festival in Bath becomes a nightmare for an amateur sleuth.

Elizabeth Parker (Murder Most Persuasive, 2011, etc.) is out of a job, living with her cranky sister and unsure whether she wants to commit to her current boyfriend. A trip to England with her beloved Aunt Winnie, a fellow Jane-ite, seems just the ticket to cheer her up, but things go wrong from the minute they meet Professor Richard Baines on the plane. The obnoxious Baines, who contends that all Austen’s novels conceal scandalous hidden stories, plans to present a paper at the meeting claiming that the author herself died of syphilis. Elizabeth and Winnie enjoy a day exploring London and a night at Claridge’s Hotel until they run into Cora Beadle, another Jane-ite, and her stunningly beautiful daughter, Izzy. Cora is so angry with the news about Baines that she threatens to kill him. When he’s found dead after a fancy dress ball in Bath, Cora is the obvious suspect. When Winnie, who’s sure that her old friend is not a killer, asks her niece to investigate, Elizabeth isn’t surprised to learn that the outspoken professor had quite a few people angry with him, beginning with his ex-wife, his son, his hard-as-nails daughter-in-law and the graduate student with whom he’d been having an affair. As she digs up more dirt, Elizabeth makes herself a target.

A light, enjoyable read with just enough homicide to ballast the Austen quotations Elizabeth and Winnie keep swapping.

SUMMON UP THE BLOOD

Morris, R.N. Creme de la Crime (224 pp.) $28.95 | Aug. 1, 2012 978-1-78029-025-6

A bold and twisted killer challenges one of New Scotland Yard’s most brilliant young detectives.

March, 1914. A beautiful young rent boy named Jimmy accepts a carriage ride from a top-hatted toff despite a few details about the man he finds worrisome. The next morning, DI Silas Quinn is called to investigate a bizarre murder on the London Docks. Quinn, dubbed “Quick-fire Quinn” by the Daily Clarion, is meticulous but also a bit of a maverick. His two stolid sergeants, Inchball and Macadam, pose quite a contrast |

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“Newton introduces a solid character in Sheriff Pruett while neatly weaving the Bigfoot legend into a so-so murder mystery.” from hopsquatch

BLEEDING THROUGH

to Quinn, who started as a medical student but dropped out after his beloved doctor father committed suicide. Quinn is as socially awkward as he is professionally accomplished. He lives in a boardinghouse, devotes himself entirely to his work and is unable to converse easily on even the most casual topics. This case gives him plenty of reason to concentrate his attention.

The throat of the victim was slit, and all of the blood drained from the body. His file at the local police station bears the designation, “Unidentified Sodomite.” Starting from a beautiful cigarette case found on the body, Quinn probes the seamy London subculture in which wealthy and influential men buy the sexual favors of disadvantaged youth.

Morris, author of the Porfiry Petrovich series (The Cleansing Flames, 2011, etc.), kicks off this promising new series by focusing as much on the conflicted and vulnerable character of Quinn as on the crime itself. Though his prose is often too pedestrian for the sinister complexity of his tale, his sense of the historical moment is strong.

Parshall, Sandra Poisoned Pen (312 pp.) $24.95 | paper $14.95 | Lg. Prt. $22.95 Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4642-0027-4 978-1-4642-0029-8 paperback 9781464200281 Lg. Prt. Are two stalkers better than one?

Veterinarian Rachel Goddard and her boyfriend, Deputy Sheriff Tom Bridger, are supervising a group of teens cleaning trash when they find the body of a law student reported missing months ago in northern Virginia. Shelley Beecher had been working for the Innocence Project on the case of Vance Lankford, a local musician imprisoned for murdering fellow band member Brian Hadley. Although both men have roots in rural Mason County, their families haven’t exactly bonded. The Hadleys, who’d threatened Shelley for trying to help Vance, are still tormenting Vance’s parents. Tom has his hands full handling the volatile feud while trying to hunt down a murderer.

As she considers the ins and outs of Shelley’s death, Rachel gets a visit from her sister Michelle, who’s terrified by a stalker her husband is not sure exists. The two sisters, who were stolen from their birth mother years before, have yet to come to terms with their past. Rachel confirms the stalker’s reality when she gets threatening phone calls and her office is broken into. Since she once had her own problems with a stalker who’s been committed to a mental hospital, but is currently out on a family visit, she wonders if the two stalkers might be the same. When their two cases combine, Rachel and Tom face imminent danger.

Rachel’s fifth adventure (Under the Dog Star, 2011, etc.) combines nervewracking suspense with a twisty mystery.

HOPSQUATCH

Newton, Michael Five Star (300 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 19, 2012 978-1-4328-2596-6 Move over, supercriminals. The sheriff of Cascade County, Oreg., is on the trail of Bigfoot.

When Paul Braithwaite is found dead in the wreck of his new Lexus, his head almost twisted from his body, there’s no dearth of suspects. The head of Paul Bunyan Logging had plenty of enemies among the local Native American population and the environmentalists who waged a destructive and sometimes violent campaign against his company. On top of that, he was rumored to have killed his first wife and was on his way to visit his mistress.

Sheriff Jason Pruett, a former Portland police officer, is all for the quiet life, especially since he faces a re-election campaign against another former police officer. But it’s not a quiet time. The coroner, who’s sexually attracted to the sheriff, is surprised by the amount of brute strength it took to twist Braithwaite’s head off with just one hand. The stories the local paper runs suggesting that Bigfoot could be the culprit don’t exactly calm the waters. When a visiting Bigfoot expert dies, followed by one of the trouble-prone Wekerle brothers who work as loggers, Pruett would have a full-time job reassuring his jealous girlfriend and trying to keep the loggers, tribe members and environmentalists from killing each other, even if he weren’t trying to solve the crimes.

Newton, who has written scores of books in other genres (The Invisible Empire, 2001, etc.), introduces a solid character in Sheriff Pruett while neatly weaving the Bigfoot legend into a so-so murder mystery.

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A SUNLESS SEA

Perry, Anne Ballantine (384 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 28, 2012 978-0-345-51064-8 Cmdr. William Monk, of the Thames River Police (Execution Dock, 2009, etc.), continues his quest to cure Victorian London of all its social ills—this time, of the horrors of unregulated opium.

No one would care tuppence about the murder of a woman Monk has trouble even identifying as Zenia Gadney, a reputed widow of uncertain means, if she hadn’t been killed in such a spectacular fashion: bashed to death, gutted and left on Limehouse Pier. But the news that the monthly visitor who paid Zenia’s household expenses for 15 years was Dr. Joel Lambourn turns the case into a hot potato. Before he was found dead in Greenwich Park, Lambourn had been conducting research into opium use on behalf of a government commission chaired by rising political star Sinden Bawtry, a commission considering the regulation of opium whose members included |

BONES ARE FOREVER

Barclay Herne, the husband of Lambourn’s sister, Amity. The verdict on Lambourn’s death was suicide, but Dinah, his widow, tells Monk he was murdered. Little does she know that her insistence that Monk reopen the case will lead to her own arrest for Zenia’s murder. Begging Sir Oliver Rathbone to defend her, she sets up an impossible situation: The more Rathbone learns about Lambourn’s research into the evils of opium—especially the threat of its injection directly into the bloodstream through those villainous new hollow-stemmed needles—the more difficult he realizes it will be to make a case against powerful forces deeply invested in keeping the drug freely flowing.

Lumbering, repetitive and preachy. But the final surprise packs a punch, and the overlong courtroom sequences show how much Perry’s learned about legal testimony since Cain His Brother (1995). (Agent: Donald Maass)

Reichs, Kathy Scribner (304 pp.) $26.99 | Aug. 28, 2012 978-1-4391-0243-5

A grisly discovery at the home of a suspected baby-killer leads forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan and the Sûreté du Québec on a wild chase to the depths of far-off Edmonton and environs.

Complaining of vaginal bleeding, Amy Roberts gives every sign of having recently borne a child.

So when she disappears from the Hôpital Honoré-Mercier, the law naturally goes after her. They don’t find Amy, but they do find a slew of interchangeable false names and something much more horrible: three dead infants, one recently deceased, the others not so recently. The investigation would be ticklish even if it didn’t bring Tempe together with her long-ago fling Sgt. Oliver Isaac Hasty, who’s convinced against all the evidence that she wants to get back together, and Lt. Andrew Ryan, her much more recent and serious lover. The ill-matched trio follows the trail of Annaliese Ruben, if that’s indeed her real name, to Edmonton, where a fellow prostitute reported her missing four months after she quit working the streets. There the case takes an abrupt turn from personal vice to grand-scale economic malfeasance with the news that Ruben’s late father, Farley McLeod, had been involved in a quest for diamonds that pitted McLeod’s unexpectedly numerous brood of survivors against environmental activists like Friends of the Tundra’s Horace Tyne, with the DeBeers organization hovering barely offstage. Nor are the opportunities for forensic surprises at an end.

Reichs (Flash and Bones, 2011, etc.) delivers solid, albeit grueling, post-mortem work, nonstop complications and enough action for a weekend at the bijou. Even if you can’t keep track of all the suspects, you’ll be deeply relieved when she brings down the curtain. (Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh)

ROMEO SPIKES

Reay, Joanne Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $25.00 | Aug. 14, 2012 978-1-4516-7444-6 Reay’s debut is a steampunk tale of humans, their hunters and the hunters who hunt their hunters. Yes, it’s that confusing.

Detective Alexis Bianco isn’t happy to be called into the SCURO Bureau.

Even though she can’t remember exactly what relation to the supernatural world the acronym SCURO indicates, she knows it can only mean trouble for her. Maybe it’s related to the recent case of Maddy Pool, who may or may not have been murdered, leaving only a carbon ring behind. Welcome to Reay’s gothic world, where humanity is plagued by miasmal evil and mysterious creatures, perhaps the most dangerous of these last is the Tormenta. A Tormenta, as Reay reveals nearly halfway through her tale, lives by convincing some human to commit suicide, then sucking the remaining life span through the human’s open mouth in a death kiss. Now it’s time for the coming of the Mosca, an ancient being that will band Tormentas together to eradicate humanity. Lola has worked alone as a hunter of Tormentas since her rebirth into the world, but now she must lead Bianco’s ad hoc team in their search for the Mosca. This search leads from an ugly patch of land known as “Swamp Gravy” to Morphic Fields Penitentiary, where Lola hopes prisoner-cumprophet Agnus Day will illuminate lives current and past and give the team the clues to save mankind.

The prodigious array of characters, every one with his or her own past lives, multiple names and myriad relationships, can be intriguing, but ultimately the throngs bury the essential story in obscurantist detail.

DELUSION IN DEATH

Robb, J.D. Putnam (400 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-399-15881-0

The latest quarry of Lt. Eve Dallas is the homegrown terrorist who masterminded a pair of unfathomable attacks that left 127 citizens dead.

One minute On the Rocks is a bar full of whatever they call yuppies in 2060 whining about their jobs and plotting seductions; the next minute the yuppies morph into murderous savages who kill each other with cocktail forks, stemware and their bare hands. What could have made 93 model citizens run berserk? Since Eve’s billionaire husband, Roarke, owns On the Rocks, he’s involved in the case from the beginning, but it’s the personnel of the |

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DEATH WHERE THE BAD ROCKS LIVE

police lab, not Roarke’s minions, who figure out that the disaster was caused by a nefarious gas based on LSD and tweaked with even more dangerous hallucinogens. The attack was so successful that there’s bound to be another one, and so there is, at nearby Café West. But this second outrage leads to a breakthrough when Eve realizes that the two episodes both involve a group of employees from the marketing department of Stevenson and Reede. And the case cracks wide open when she links both attacks to the wild schemes of the late crackpot scientist Guiseppi Menzini and the Red Horse terrorist network. Fighting off nightmares that connect her latest investigation to the unfortunate birth parents she identified in New York to Dallas (2011), she zeroes in on the killer.

The detection is uninspired and a bit of a slog. As so often in this bestselling series, the high point is the police interrogation of the perp—this time by a corps of five strong women who unite to bamboozle him in a most satisfying way.

Wendelboe, C. M. Berkley Prime Crime (384 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-425-25611-4 An FBI agent’s cold case gets hotter by the day.

Manny Tanno thought he’d left his early years on the Pine Ridge Reservation far behind, but his presumed failure to solve a case (Death Along the Spirit Road, 2011) gets him reassigned from D.C. back to Pine Ridge.

When three bodies are found in a bombed-out old Buick in the Stronghold area of Badlands National Park, Manny’s investigation reminds him that the past won’t stay buried. One of the bodies is identified as that of a mining engineer. Another is that of Oglala holy man and famous artist, Moses Ten Bears. A more recent body from the 1960s is that of a college student whose roommate at the time was Alexander “Ham” High Elk, who’s been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. High Elk is the grandson of Senator Clayton Charles, who’s remained Moses Ten Bears’ close friend even though Clayton never married the Native American woman who bore his child. Not only is the case politically sensitive and hard to solve, but Manny ignores his diabetes while struggling to resurrect his love life and help a young tribal police officer who’s being sexually harassed by the niece of the police chief. Despite trying to forget it, Manny has a strong connection with his past that will help him solve the case if he can escape death at the hands of a determined killer.

An exciting and quirky mystery that seamlessly shifts between past and present, offering a number of finely delineated characters and a strong sense of life on the reservation and the beauties of a hostile land. (Agent: Bill Contardi)

A DEATH IN VALENCIA

Webster, Jason Minotaur (320 pp.) $24.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-312-58184-8

Someone just murdered the best paella chef in Valencia.

That would be Pep Roures, whose lifeless, badly mistreated body the cops are about to drag from the sea. Chief Inspector Max Cámara of the Spanish National Police watches the operation bleakly. Like most Spaniards, he takes the poetry of paella seriously and has visited La Mar, Roures’ restaurant, frequently enough to become a partisan. At first Cámara fears internecine warfare among the great paella chefs. As it turns out, however, their rivalry has less to do with the Roures homicide than the restaurant itself. Situated in El Cabanyal, once a working fishermen’s quarter, La Mar stands in the way of a huge redevelopment scheme generated in Valencia’s corridors of power. Was Roures’ murder simply a matter of his stubborn refusal to sell? As Cámara’s investigation deepens, he finds himself enmeshed in secrets, lies and long-smoldering animosities, all exacerbated by the impending visit of the pope. Meanwhile, a variety of more mundane matters clamor for his attention. He has no home, for instance. The entire block on which his flat was located has suddenly collapsed. And he has no lover. The girl in Madrid that he can’t get out of his mind apparently has far less trouble getting him out of hers.

Returning after a well-received debut (Or the Bull Kills You, 2011), CI Cámara remains a fresh and appealing protagonist whether in victory or defeat. (Agent: Peter Robinson)

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White, Randy Wayne Putnam (336 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-399-15849-0 After 19 manly adventures starring marine biologist Marion “Doc” Ford, (Chasing Midnight, 2012, etc.), White introduces a heroine who’s just as stubborn and capable and even more appealing.

All that Olivia Tatum Seasons has to do to inherit $90 million from her late father’s estate is sign a few papers.

Since she hasn’t responded to phone calls asking her to do so, and her own fortnightly calls to check in with her executor’s office have been telegraphic, her uncle, Lawrence Seasons, suspects that her disappearance from the Ten Thousand Islands wasn’t entirely under her own control. He wants Hannah Smith to track down his niece.

Hannah’s main qualification for the job seems to be the unflappable way she brought in her fishing boat from a sudden storm |

“What chance does a cabal of bombers have against New York uber-lawyer Stone Barrington?” from severe clear

DEATH IN HER FACE

that threatened her clients, Seasons and his lawyer, Martha CalderShaun. No sooner has Hannah taken on the job, however, than new qualifications emerge. She’s sensitive and well-enough connected to extract some very personal information from local landowner Elka Whitney, savvy enough to zero in on Ms. Whitney’s handyman/ boy toy, Ricky Meeks, as Olivia’s likeliest companion, and beautiful enough to snag an interview to be first mate of the Sybarite, a cruise ship that offers its well-heeled patrons an exceptional level of, um, personal service. Just as every step brings Hannah closer to Ricky and presumably Olivia, every step provokes further reflections and flashbacks that flesh out Hannah’s personality. The only ingredients missing are suspense and surprise: Hannah’s quest moves so deliberately that she might as well be swimming underwater, which she could no doubt do perfectly.

Now that big-boned Hannah, whom Doc Ford aptly describes as “a man’s woman,” has established her voice and her credentials, here’s hoping she’s back next time with a meatier case.

York, Sheila Five Star (266 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 19, 2012 978-1-4328-2620-8

A dead body and a vanished starlet pull heiress/screenwriter Lauren Atwill back to Hollywood for another retro whodunit.

Ever since her last dose of amateur sleuthing (A Good Knife’s Work, 2010, etc.) left her scarred in more ways than one, Lauren’s been lying low.

But an urgent request from her sometime employers at Marathon Studios brings her back to Tinseltown. Someone has shot boxing trainer Mickey Triton to death and set fire to the cabin he used to cuddle Hungarian actress Mala Demara, who’s gone missing.

The studio’s paramount interest, of course, is Mala’s latest film.

Marathon producer Sam Ross is determined to get British director Alastair Bishop to finish the picture even if he has to bring in another actress, like Mala’s stand-in, Jane Graham, and a woman’s screenwriter, like Lauren, to rewrite Mala’s dialogue for her. The FBI, meanwhile, takes a somewhat different interest in the case, especially after Lauren finds the body of Maj. McCann, the film’s military advisor, in the bungalow she’s been assigned. Even without the constant reminder of her forceful cousin, spiritualist Zorka Karoly, no one can forget Mala’s murky background as a European émigré, or Mickey’s early years as a boxer in bed with mobster Jack Dragna. With the whole town crawling with suspects and motives, how can Lauren possibly identify the killer?

A fast-paced, lightweight talkfest with a surprisingly clever solution. The greatest pleasure, however, is watching a bunch of variously amusing studio types take turns pouting, posturing, mugging and declaiming as if they’re the hottest story of 1946.

SEVERE CLEAR

Woods, Stuart Putnam (320 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-399-15984-8 What chance does a cabal of bombers have against New York uber-lawyer Stone Barrington; his ex–NYPD partner, Lt. Dino Bacchetti; the CIA’s Holly Barker; head of MI-6, Felicity Devonshire; CEO of Strategic Services, Michael Freeman; Woodman & Weld attorney, Herb Fisher; President Will Lee; and his wife, Katharine, Director of the CIA? Determined to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden, an agent calling himself Algernon has recruited a Pakistani nuclear scientist gone freelance and a trio of lower-level experts to sneak a bomb into the new Los Angeles hotel where President Lee is to meet with his Mexican counterpart for some high-level talks. It’s their bad luck that from a distant cellphone conversation in a foreign language, the NSA’s computers pick up two English words: “The Arrington.” The Arrington just happens to be the brand-new hotel memorializing the late actress Arrington Carter, co-owned

by Stone, Strategic Services and Superlative Hotel Management, that’s about to open by playing host to the two heads of state and incidentally, a rare concert by Hollywood musical star Immi Gotham. Algernon estimates 2-3 million fatalities from the blast, but that’s only if he and his minions can embed themselves in trusted positions in the hotel, smuggle in the nuclear device’s component parts, assemble, arm and detonate it, all without arousing enough suspicion to be unmasked. What are the odds?

Since the possibility that Woods will kill off virtually his entire stable of regulars (Unnatural Acts, 2012, etc.) is too remote to generate much suspense, fans of this series are left to enjoy the sex, the bling and the reassurance that in Stone’s world, “Sometimes everything goes right” with less effort, error and complexity than you could ever hope for in real life.

STEALING FROM THE DEAD

Zerries, A.J. Forge (368 pp.) $24.99 | Aug. 21, 2012 978-0-7653-2717-8

An NYPD detective incongruously juggles a gang of murderous swindlers whose ill-gotten gains are financing international terrorism and a more traditional kind of gang that operates considerably closer to the streets of New York.

Theo Appel, who used to counterfeit documents for the CIA, has been turned away by nearly every cop in town, but Detective Greta Strasser, who can’t persuade anyone in Manhattan’s 24th Precinct that concentration-camp survivor Pauline Kantor’s death was murder, is prepared to listen to him. The story he tells is a wild one. A well-financed band of outlaws has been persuading Holocaust survivors like Pauline, whose assets have never been returned by the Swiss banks in which they were deposited, to file paperwork with |

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the Claims Restoration Tribunal and then killing the claimants and taking over their claims. The most cogent evidence in support of Theo’s theory that the thieves are targeting claimants in several large American cities and murdering them at the rate of one a month comes when he dies himself under circumstances that look like suicide to everyone but Greta. In the meantime, the intrepid heroine narrowly escapes death at the hands of an assassin who breaks into her home and shoots her dog. Greta’s decisive reaction to this home invasion makes it too late to ask the would-be killer whether he was a professional working for the swindlers or a homeboy associate of Viper Xtreme, a gangster Greta can’t help going after even though she’s repeatedly warned to stick to desk duty by both sympathetic Lt. Nick Geracimos and bullying precinct commander Capt. Quill.

So Greta keeps working both cases, even after FBI agent Thomas August gets her seconded to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Whew.

Zerries (The Lost Van Gogh, 2006) keeps both great matters and small moving along smartly courtesy of what may be New York’s toughest female cop.

of apparent lucky breaks does Linnet survive and kill the brute.

Evidently, her diligent research has turned up something that the werewolf parties to the case would rather not have revealed. And there are other venues in which Linnet uses her brains and subtlety to achieve victory. Is she just fortunate—or extremely talented in ways she doesn’t herself fully understand?

A refreshing new take on an old idea, with a strong, intelligent and independent protagonist: a highly promising debut.

THE RAPTURE OF THE NERDS

Doctorow, Cory; Stross, Charles Tor (352 pp.) $24.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-7653-2910-3

Obviously, the title must be understood in two senses: How rapturous is it that two titanic figures of geek culture collaborated for this trippy, technobabble-laden tale of the Singularity (aka the technological Rapture)?

Billions of humans have abandoned their meat bodies and uploaded themselves into the cloud surrounding the Earth, where they engage in esoteric amusements, spamming the incarnated with bizarre inventions and concocting Byzantine political schemes. Their pawn is Huw Jones, a cranky, neo-Luddite Welsh potter whose larynx, accustomed to the complex glottals of his native tongue, is ideally suited to host the sophisticated communications array of their ambassador. The ascended humans’ machinations convey Huw to a Libyan courtroom run by an insanely dictatorial judge; a Charleston, S.C., inhabited by fundamentalists, an underground cult of kinky hedonists and an invading Hypercolony of cyborg ants; and finally the cloud itself, where the continued existence of humanity…depends on Huw’s reconciliation with his estranged parents. The novel offers a technologically updated, if less emotionally resonant, discussion of the digital mind/body conundrums explored by William Gibson and Charles Platt 20 years ago, and Tony Daniel 10 years ago. Even though Earth’s fate hinges on Huw’s relationships, they don’t have much depth to them—which may be intentional. In particular, Huw’s alleged love for the transhuman, Bonnie, never truly comes into focus; the authors are far more adept at illustrating Huw’s incredible self-involvedness and immaturity. Although this book is clearly meant to be broadly humorous, a little less petulance from the protagonist would have made this absurdist sci-fi quest a more absorbing read.

Fun, but one might expect more from these two.

science fiction and fantasy THIS CASE IS GONNA KILL ME

Bornikova, Phillipa Tor (368 pp.) $25.99 | paper $14.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-7653-2682-9 978-0-7653-2682-9 paperback

A New York lady lawyer battles sexism and arrogance in a world ruled—gently, invisibly, but insistently—by vampires, werewolves and elves, who collectively emerged from the shadows less than half a century ago.

Linnet Ellery, the daughter of an old-money Colonial family and fresh out of law school, finds a job at a powerful New York “White-Fang” law firm—all the partners are vampires, along with most of the senior associates. Despite her credentials, she only got the job thanks to her connections with a high-ranking vampire family. Office politics, Linnet finds, are exceptionally vicious in a world where humans can succeed only by becoming allies or slaves of the powerful near-immortals. Her first assignment seems to be a hopeless case, a wretched affair that’s been dragging on for years and involves the disputed inheritance of a billion-dollar security firm currently owned by werewolves. And, ominously, the first words uttered by Chip Westin, the well-meaning lawyer who’s been struggling ineffectually with the case single-handedly, are those of the title. Then one evening, when she’s working late with Chip, a werewolf shows up and kills Chip; only by a series 1758

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IN A FIX

Grimes, Linda Tor (336 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-7653-3180-9 First entry in an urban fantasy series, from newcomer Grimes.

Ciel Halligan is an “aura adaptor,” meaning she can take on the exact appearance and demeanor of another person.

Professionally, this ability enables her, with a little research, to undetectably replace her clients in situations where the clients find it inconvenient to be themselves. The fat paychecks don’t come amiss either. The only blot on the horizon is the smothering, overprotective attitude of cousin Billy (being adopted, he’s not actually related) and CIA operative Mark; both share her talent, and neither thinks anything of snooping through her files.

Ciel also has a huge and longstanding crush on Mark, which makes for amatory complications. Ciel’s current assignment is a plum: masquerading as Mina, a stunningly attractive society girl, so Mina can take care of other business while Trey, her gorgeous hunk of an about-to-be fiance, pops the question in a luxury bungalow on a tropical resort island. Fun stuff, not to mention the prospect of hopping into the sack with Trey—until Trey suddenly vanishes and the bungalow explodes into flinders. Whodunit, and why? Well, a bunch of modern-day Vikings who, it turns out, have designs other than just adopting manly postures and dressing their womenfolk in early medieval garb. Ciel, despite the strictures imposed by Billy and Mark, refuses to be sidelined and gets on with her own investigation. Despite Mark’s continuing allure, Ciel—in between getting half-drowned and shot at—notices that Billy, beneath all his teasing and banter, is pretty hot, too. But can she convince them that she is, in fact, competent to run her own life?

Bright, fizzy, sexy and amusing—the perfect antidote to an attack of post-summer blues. (Agent: Michelle Wolfson)

THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2012 EDITION

Horton, Rich--Ed. Prime Books (576 pp.) $19.95 paperback | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-60701-344-0

A fourth annual anthology from this editor, and not to be confused with its rival, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, edited by Jonathan Strahan, which appeared in April 2012.

Of the 29 mostly top-quality offerings, no less than six of what are arguably among the best stories here—perhaps inevitably—also appeared in the rival volume: Karen Joy Fowler’s “Younger Women,” Kij Johnson’s “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Paul McAuley’s “The Choice,” K.J. Parker’s “A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong,” Robert Reed’s “Woman Leaves |

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Room” and E. Lily Yu’s “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees.” That disappointment aside, there’s plenty of great writing and dazzling ideas among the rest: “The Silver Wind” by Nina Allan, a wonderful yarn of a strange genius in an alternateworld London; a Martian odyssey from John Barnes; a stunning take on the essential tragedy of the vampire condition, “Late Bloomer” by Suzy McKee Charnas; the riveting and surpassingly strange “Walking Stick Fires” by Alan DeNiro; a tale of World War II, Indian magic and a blacklisted writer, Bradley Denton’s “The Adakian Eagle”; historical time travel from Theodora Goss; “Ghostweight” (Yoon Ha Lee), an ugly war on a distant planet; a weird life-after-death yarn from Rachel Swirsky; a typically elliptical and engrossing tale of fairyland from Catherynne M. Valente; a woman under an evil enchantment, forced to bear children for her enemies (C.S.E. Cooney’s excellent “The Last Sophia”); urban fantasy from Kelly Link and other eclectic offerings from Jonathan Carroll, Alexandra Duncan, Neil Gaiman, Gavin J. Grant, Kat Howard, Vylar Kaftan, Margo Lanagan, Chris Lawson, Marissa Lingen, George Saunders, Lavie Tidhar and Genevieve Valentine. The duplicates are worth re-reading too, of course.

Make no mistake, this is a fine collection, but it’s an unfortunate fact: If you bought and enjoyed the Strahan and your budget is limited, you’ll probably think twice about this one.

LORD OF MOUNTAINS

Stirling, S.M. ROC/Penguin (336 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-451-46476-7

Stirling (The Tears of the Sun, 2011, etc.) offers up the latest book in his longrunning Change series, set in a postapocalyptic yet distinctly feudal America.

In Stirling’s version of alternate history, a 1998 catastrophe known as the Change rendered electricity, explosives and other power sources useless all over the world. The chaos that followed caused much of the United States to devolve into a sword-and-arrow-wielding medieval society, with numerous independent small republics dotting the continent. In this latest installment, which takes place in 2023, 25 years after the Change, many peoples are at war with the Montana-based Church Universal and Triumphant.

The high king of Montival, Artos (also known as Rudi Mackenzie), leads armies in violent skirmishes on the battlefield while wielding the powerful Sword of the Lady. Meanwhile, he also wields diplomacy as he aims to unite the disparate republics.

Stirling has created a truly original combination of post-apocalyptic sci-fi and military-oriented medieval fantasy with this series and in the process, has built up a highly complex fictional universe with loads of characters and political intrigue. Unfortunately, although his battle scenes occasionally come across with a certain grandeur, Stirling’s prose is more often flat, lifeless and full of stilted dialogue. His incredibly leisurely pacing,

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“Agreeably creepy, with original flourishes and flashes of dark humor.” from hidden things

though perhaps in some ways appropriate to such a low-tech setting, will be frustrating to some readers. That said, many of those dedicated fans who have followed the series thus far will likely be satisfied with this latest.

A slow-moving chapter in the Change saga. (Agent: Russell Galen)

HIDDEN THINGS

Testerman, Doyce Harper Voyager (336 pp.) $14.99 paperback | $9.99 e-book Aug. 21, 2012 978-0-06-210811-1 978-0-06-210814-2 e-book Supernatural detective yarn: blogger Testerman’s first novel.

In California, Calliope Jenkins of White Investigations receives a phone call from her partner, Josh White, who’s pursuing a case in Iowa, although he’s explained nothing of what the case involves. The following day, Detective Darryl Johnson and Special Agent Walker show up at her office with the news that Josh has been murdered. However, on the answering machine is another message from Josh, mysteriously warning Calliope to watch out for the “hidden things” and, according to the time stamp, left several hours after Josh was killed. There’s no question that Josh is dead. Walker doesn’t believe that Calliope knows nothing and insists on raiding the files. Outside, Calliope notices she’s being followed by a homeless bum wearing a hoodie and clown makeup; being a martial arts expert, albeit with anger management issues, she clobbers the unfortunate creature and thinks nothing more of it. However, Vikous proves tougher than he looks, and very persistent. Finally he persuades Calliope to listen: He is, in fact, one of the “hidden things,” a bogeyman, and the clown makeup isn’t makeup, it’s his real face. Clearly a road trip to Iowa is in order, where Calliope grew up and her estranged family still lives. But Vikous isn’t the only supernatural operator in the game, and the opposition proves treacherous, powerful and cunning, with motives that Calliope won’t understand until much later. Along with the clever, determined, dauntless protagonist, Testerman brings an impressive dark energy to the scenario and plotting, even though, despite the profanities and sexual situations, the characters dwell rather YA-ishly long on working through prior issues and hang-ups.

Agreeably creepy, with original flourishes and flashes of dark humor. (Agent: Shana Cohen)

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nonfiction FOUNDATION The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors

These titles earned the Kirkus Star: THE BRONTËS by Juliet Barker.................................................. p. 1762

Ackroyd, Peter Dunne/St. Martin’s (496 pp.) $29.99 | Oct. 16, 2012 978-1-250-00361-4 978-1-250-01367-5 e-book

THE VOYEURS by Gabrielle Bell..................................................p. 1763 THE LAST VIKING by Stephen R. Bown..................................... p. 1764 HOW MUSIC WORKS by David Byrne...................................... p. 1764 MORTALITY by Christopher Hitchens......................................... p. 1768 NOW ALL ROADS LEAD TO FRANCE by Matthew Hollis....... p. 1768 MARVEL COMICS by Sean Howe................................................ p. 1768 THE VOICE IS ALL by Joyce Johnson........................................... p. 1769 THE FINE PRINT by David Cay Johnston...................................p. 1770 JUST PLAIN DICK by Kevin Mattson..........................................p. 1773 EVERY LOVE STORY IS A GHOST STORY by D.T. Max............p. 1773 THOMAS JEFFERSON by Jon Meacham.....................................p. 1773 SUBVERSIVES by Seth Rosenfeld................................................ p. 1780 DEADLINES AND DISRUPTION by Stephen B. Shepard........... p. 1782 FORMER PEOPLE by Douglas Smith.......................................... p. 1782 THE VOICE IS ALL The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac

Johnson, Joyce Viking (512 pp.) $32.95 Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-670-02510-7

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Once again, Ackroyd (London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets, 2011) exhibits his magic touch with the written word, this time with the first in a six-volume history of England.

The first few thousand years of English history is understandably sparse. Written records amount to a few carvings, physical evidence is found in barrows or other burials, and myths passed down over the years tend to become adulterated. The author spends little time in the years of Roman rule, other than to point out that the pilgrims’ paths and the great Roman roads are on prehistoric pathways to shrines and holy wells. Ackroyd’s genius is in his focus on individual kings and on England alone, without Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He explains some myths, debunks others and brings England’s kings to life. Change was slow but inexorable. From even the earliest times, England had central, organized administrations, an aristocratic society and social stratification. However it came to pass, the country has always held a sense of community. Alfred the Great set the foundations for civil service, the judiciary and Parliament; most of today’s villages in England were formed before the 12th century; King John’s reign increased the use of written records; and it wasn’t until the 14th century, with the arrival of the Franciscans and Dominicans, that sermons were first delivered. Curiously, invaders occupied the land from the first through the 13th centuries, and England’s monarchs have all had non-English origins, from the Normans through to the Hanoverians (e.g., French, Welsh, Scots). Delightfully, with each king, Ackroyd summarizes their good and bad attributes along with delightful non sequiturs, such as the first use of the handkerchief.

A true history of England tightly focused on the building blocks that made her. (Three 8-page color photo inserts)

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“A massive, almost certainly definitive biography that both demystifies and restores one of England’s most legendary literary families.” from the brontës

ROUTE 66 STILL KICKS Driving America’s Main Street

Antonson, Rick Skyhorse Publishing (384 pp.) $16.95 paperback | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-62087-300-7 An uninspiring grab bag of a journey down the storied highway.

Route 66 is crumbling in spots, even gone to grass and dirt across decommissioned stretches along its path. But it lives on, largely because of Bobby Troup’s musical anthem, given in incomplete form to Nat King Cole and forged in his hands into a pop hit. The best part of Antonson’s (To Timbuktu for a Haircut: A Journey Through West Africa, 2008, etc.) grinding biography is his look at Troup’s song; given the importance of Albuquerque, N.M., as a waypoint along the route, he wonders why it isn’t celebrated in the song. The author travels the length of the highway, stuffing his narrative with as many anecdotes and oddments as he can cram in, with the result that the book has a tight-as-a-tick bloat to it. Some of them do useful work; Antonson does a good job, for instance, of considering the contributions of documentary photographer Dorothea Lange to the making of the Route 66 image in the American mind. But others are there just to be there, it seems, from the painfully obvious (“ ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues, a character portrayed in the 1980 Blues Brothers movie by actor John Belushi, drew his nickname from this town”) to the painfully overstretched (of Mickey Mantle: “many people stopped caring— not unlike the highway he called home”). A moment of confused dialogue concerning whether the author of the line “Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” was Jackson Browne or Savoy Brown is emblematic—the answer is easy to look up, utterly unimportant and well-known to anyone who cares about such things.

A snooze. There’s no ill intent here, but so important a road deserves a better book.

DEFENDING THE FILIBUSTER The Soul of the Senate

Arenberg, Richard A.; Dove, Robert B. Indiana Univ. (248 pp.) $32.00 | $27.99 e-book | Sep. 6, 2012 978-0-253-00191-7 978-0-253-00698-1 e-book

Two Senate veterans stand up for a little-understood and much-maligned legislative tactic.

For more than a century, filibusters have been attacked as undemocratic, unconstitutional, obstructionist barriers to the work of the Senate, yet they have resisted all but the most tepid attempts at reform or elimination. Old Senate hands Arenberg, who served as an aide to three senators, and Dove, the body’s parliamentarian emeritus, rejoice in that fact in this brief celebration of each senator’s right to nearly unlimited debate.

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the filibuster undergo almost hilarious changes as members of a frustrated majority become members of an embattled minority, suddenly aware that legislative efficiency may not be the highest political virtue. While the authors admit that this dilatory tactic has been abused far more than the historical norm in recent sessions, they contend that any fault lies not in the rules of the Senate but in the increased partisanship and lack of comity among the senators themselves. Far from exemplifying the Senate’s allegedly dysfunctional nature, the authors regard the filibuster as an indispensable brake on the tyranny of a potentially despotic majority, essential to the building of consensus around well-considered legislation. Remove it, they argue, and the Senate will become only a pale shadow of the House of Representatives, where the minority party is consigned to impotent oblivion. Arenberg and Dove effectively demystify the arcane rules and customs that make possible the filibuster and related tactics like holds and “filling the amendment tree,” and they explain why perennial reform suggestions like requiring old-fashioned marathon speaking filibusters or ratcheting cloture majorities will not work. Finally, they offer some modest suggestions for reform while adamantly defending the underlying right that they consider to be “the soul of the Senate.”

An impassioned and cogent defense of the Senate’s most controversial practice.

THE BRONTËS Wild Genius on the Moors: The Story of Three Sisters

Barker, Juliet Pegasus (1,184 pp.) $39.95 | Aug. 1, 2012 978-1-60598-365-3

A massive, almost certainly definitive biography that both demystifies and restores one of England’s most legendary literary families.

In this updated, entirely revised version of her 1994 biography, Barker (Conquest: The English Kingdom of France, 1417-1450, 2012, etc.) completely submerges herself in the world of her subjects, delivering a rich, illuminating group portrait of the real and imaginative lives of a family of writers: the father, Patrick Brontë, a Church of England parson, and his children: Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their legendary if lesser-known brother Branwell, a poet and painter. (Two other children died young.) Barker knows the Brontës and their 19th-century world on an intimate basis, almost as if she breathes the clammy air of the Haworth parsonage where they lived. She knows what they read and how they imagined. Barker pays especially close attention to the contemporary journalism, which had a demonstrable impact on the Brontës’ own fantasy worlds of Angria and Gondal. The Brontës would, in turn, become myths themselves.

Indeed, part of Barker’s ambition is to save the family from its legend. Her particular nemesis is the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, whose 1857 classic The Life of Charlotte Brontë, writes Barker, whitewashed Charlotte’s life, ignored or misread the lives of her siblings and depicted Patrick as a cranky, eccentric tyrant. Barker sees Charlotte as a selfish, manipulative literary genius; Patrick, the book’s major |

figure, is convincingly rendered as a dominant but loving father and a pioneer of liberal reform. While not a critical biography, Barker doggedly traces the inspiration of all the novels and, especially in Charlotte’s case, astutely matches fiction to fact.

A triumph—it’s hard to imagine anyone else ever again getting quite this close to the Brontës.

THE VOYEURS

Bell, Gabrielle Illus. by Bell, Gabrielle Uncivilized Books (160 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-9846814-0-2 “Graphic memoir” only hints at the artistry of a complex, literary-minded author who resists the bare-all confessionalism so common to the genre and blurs the distinction between fiction and factual introspection.

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Who are “The Voyeurs?” In the short, opening title piece, they are a mixed-gender group standing on an urban rooftop, watching a couple have sex through a window in a nearby building. They tend to find the experience “uncomfortable,” even “creepy,” though those who remain raptly silent may well be more interested, even titillated. Bell (Lucky, 2006, etc.) is also a voyeur of sorts, chronicling the lives of others in significant detail while contemplating her own. As she admits before addressing an arts class in frigid Minneapolis, where she knows the major interest will be on how she has been able to turn her comics into a career, “I feel I need to disclaim this ‘story.’ I set myself the task of reporting my trip, though there’s not much to it, and I can’t back out now. It’s my compulsion to do this, it’s my way, I suppose, of fighting against the meaninglessness constantly crowding in.” The memoir encompasses travels that take her from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and from Japan to France, while addressing the challenges of long-distance relationships, panic attacks, contemporary feminism, Internet obsessiveness, the temptation to manipulate life to provide material for her work, and the ultimate realization, in the concluding “How I Make

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“Highly recommended—anyone at all interested in music will learn a lot from this book.” from how music works

My Comics,” of her creative process: “Then I want to blame everyone I’ve known ever for all the failures and frustrations of my life, and I want to call someone up and beg them to please help me out of this misery somehow, and when I realize how futile both these things are I feel the cold, sharp sting of the reality that I’m totally and utterly alone in the world. Then I slap on a punchline and bam, I’m done.”

Playfully drawn and provocatively written, the memoir reinforces Bell’s standing among the first rank of the genre’s artists.

THE LAST VIKING The Life of Roald Amundsen

Bown, Stephen R. Merloyd Lawrence/Da Capo (320 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0306820670

Bown (1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half, 2012, etc.) delivers an intensely researched, thoroughly enjoyable life of one of history’s best explorers.

As the author demonstrates, Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) was certainly the most skilled polar explorer. Obsessed with adventure from boyhood, the teenage Amundsen led companions on exhausting attempts to cross the mountains of his native Norway during winter. He joined the 1897 Belgian Antarctic expedition, receiving a painful education on the consequences of poor planning. In 1903, he outfitted a fishing boat with a crew of six and crossed the Northwest Passage from Greenland to Alaska. Moored for two years in the Arctic, he eagerly learned from the local Inuit. The lessons he learned— ignorance of which killed many polar explorers—included: Animal-skin clothes trump wool, and transportation requires dogs and skis. The crossing gave Amundsen international celebrity, making it easier to finance an expedition to the North Pole.

When both Robert Peary and Frederick Cook claimed to have reached it (a controversy that persists), Amundsen aimed for the South Pole, announcing the decision before Robert Falcon Scott announced his expedition. Superbly organized and supplied, Amundsen’s expert skiers and dog handlers won the race in 1911 and survived, while Scott’s less efficient team died. After World War I, Amundsen failed to reach the North Pole by plane but succeeded by dirigible, finally disappearing in 1928 while flying to rescue another expedition.

A superb biography of a fiercely driven explorer who traveled across the last inaccessible areas on earth before technical advances made the journey much easier. (16 pages of b/w photographs)

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HOW MUSIC WORKS

Byrne, David McSweeney’s (256 pp.) $32.00 | Sep. 21, 2012 978-1-936365-53-1

From the former Talking Heads frontman, a supremely intelligent, superbly written dissection of music as an art form and way of life.

Drawing on a lifetime of music-making as an amateur, professional, performer, producer, band member and solo artist, Byrne (Bicycle Diaries, 2009) tackles the question implicit in his title from multiple angles: How does music work on the ear, brain and body? How do words relate to music in a song? How does live performance relate to recorded performance? What effect has technology had on music, and music on technology? Fans of the Talking Heads should find plenty to love about this book. Steering clear of the conflicts leading to the band’s breakup, Byrne walks through the history, album by album, to illustrate how his views about performance and recording changed with the onset of fame and (small) fortune. He devotes a chapter to the circumstances that made the gritty CBGB nightclub an ideal scene for adventurous artists like Patti Smith, the Ramones, Blondie and Tom Verlaine and Television. Always an intensely thoughtful experimenter, here he lets us in on the thinking behind the experiments. But this book is not just, or even primarily, a rock memoir. It’s also an exploration of the radical transformation—or surprising durability—of music from the beginning of the age of mechanical reproduction through the era of iTunes and MP3s. Byrne touches on all kinds of music from all ages and every part of the world.

Highly recommended—anyone at all interested in music will learn a lot from this book. (Author tour to St. Paul, Minn., Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, New York)

FORTRESS EUROPE Dispatches from a Gated Continent

Carr, Matthew New Press (304 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-59558-685-8 978-1-59558-839-5 e-book Military patrols using live ammunition against unarmed men, women and children scaling barbed wire fences, captains dumping their human cargo in the sea after being detected by the navy: These are scenes not from North Korea or divided Berlin, but from the modern-day European Union.

While the global economy encourages the seamless transfer of goods and money around the world, and members of the international elite feel equally at home in Paris, New York, Dubai or Shanghai, those who have the misfortune of being |

born in the wrong place face ever higher barriers to their freedom of movement. Carr (Blood and Faith, 2011, etc.) explores the seedy underbelly of the Schengen Area’s open-borders policy, highlighting the paradoxes and injustices that become apparent once one realizes that the “new borderless European space has been dependent on a persistent hardening of Europe’s ‘external’ frontiers.” Employing a personable, readable style, the author shares vignettes from his extensive travels along Europe’s outer reaches, from the African exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla to the Greek archipelago to the Slovakian-Ukrainian border. He chronicles his interviews with migrants living off the grid in the Moroccan scrubland, Somalis living eight to a room in the factory cities of Eastern Europe, overtaxed border-patrol agents and harried psychologists at immigration detention centers (he was often forbidden from speaking to the inmates themselves, who are often held for years at a time, unable to work or study while their cases are being adjudicated). While Carr’s sympathies are clear, and his attempts to link restrictive immigration policies to the racist fringe of European politics are not entirely successful, his focus on the human consequences of global inequality transcends ideological distinctions.

An unflinching look inside “an extraordinarily elaborate and complex system of exclusion and control that is simultaneously ruthless, repressive, devious, chaotic, and dysfunctional.”

BILL AND HILLARY The Politics of the Personal Chafe, William H. Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (400 pp.) $28.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-8090-9465-3

A fresh look at the political rise and fortunes of the Clintons, a saga conditioned, writes Chafe (History/Duke Univ.; The Rise and Fall of the American Century, 2009, etc.), by the best and worst in their natures.

“Bill Clinton…is the first politician in history who has perfected the ability to cry in just one eye,” remarked Republican political operative and longtime foe—but now, oddly, friend— Haley Barbour, not unappreciatively. Clinton, as Chafe tells it, mastered the psychological survival skills necessary of a child of an abusive, alcoholic parent. Neglected and tormented as a child, he was also raised by a doting grandmother to be a force of destiny, literate by the age of three and a ham and class-time monopolizer by the time he was in elementary school. Clinton’s eagerness to please and be adored, oddly mirrored in the current president, played out politically in many episodes. One of the key moments in his early political career was being turned out of the governor’s office in Arkansas, which bewildered and depressed him, but which came as no surprise to anyone who shared the widespread view that he was “of an intent to impose ideas on Arkansas’s citizens whether they were ready for them or not.” Another key moment was the defeat of the omnibus |

health care act while Clinton was serving his first term as president; he had labored under the view that he could charm the opposition away, while Hillary rejected any suggestion of altering her carefully crafted bill. “The personal dynamic between Bill and Hillary helps explain why repeated possibilities for compromise were persistently rebuffed,” writes the author.

Psychobiography is always suspect, particularly in the hands of someone who doesn’t possess a degree in psychiatry, but Chafe is careful to back up his suppositions with good evidence, and the portrait that emerges is both believable and of consummate interest to political junkies.

An illuminating glimpse behind the scenes, though fans and detractors alike will find much room for debate. (8 pages of b/w illustrations)

APOCALYPTIC PLANET Field Guide to the Everending Earth

Childs, Craig Pantheon (352 pp.) $27.95 | Oct. 2, 2012 978-0-307-37909-2 978-0-307-90781-3 e-book

The Earth has always been prone to violent changes, natural disasters, mass extinctions and climate extremes. Global warming will make matters worse, but this lyrical natural history is both a polemic and a preview.

Science writer and NPR commentator Childs (Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession, 2010, etc.) aims to experience the apocalypse firsthand. Childs walked the ergs (wind-swept sand with no vegetation) of Mexico and the rainless plains of northern Chile. He visited the frigid Bering Sea, only 100 feet deep and once a vast, ice-free plain, listening to native Inuits complain of rising seas. Trekking the Andes, he observed rubble left by the retreat of the greatest nonpolar glaciers before visiting Greenland, where researchers are recording travails from a far more massive ice sheet. He turned up mass extinction in prosperous Iowa, formerly home to thousands of High Plains species, today a monoculture of genetically modified cornfields in soil that now consists mostly of high-yield petroleum products harboring a dozen other life forms barely surviving in the chemical soup. Civilizations collapse when infrastructure fails. Childs recounts the Hohokam, whose culture and complex irrigation infrastructure withered centuries before settlers arrived at his native Phoenix. American infrastructure (water delivery, sewers, bridges, dams) is crumbling; 240,000 U.S. water mains burst every year. Childs pauses regularly to allow scientists to explain what’s happening and deliver gloomy forecasts, but he eschews the traditional how-to-fix-it conclusion.

Gripping descriptions of deteriorating ecosystems that may soon require less travel and perhaps none at all for readers to experience.

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“Fans of Elliott’s work will welcome this wacky, fictionalized narrative; others should steer clear.” from the guy under the sheets

STROM THURMOND’S AMERICA

Crespino, Joseph Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (432 pp.) $30.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-8090-9480-6

Think Strom Thurmond, uber-rightwinger and segregationist, is a figure from America’s political past? By Crespino’s (History/Emory Univ.; In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution, 2007, etc.) account, Thurmond is the guiding spirit of the modern GOP. Readers of a certain age might remember South Carolinian Thurmond as the fiery door-blocking defender of the Old South who, hypocritically, fathered a daughter out of wedlock with an African-American constituent. He was famous in his time for delivering a 24-hour-long speech in filibuster against a civil rights act in 1957; less well known was the fact that as soon as he finished talking, the Senate voted the act into law. It is a mistake to dismiss Thurmond as a relic, though, for Crespino reminds readers that when Barry Goldwater was just beginning his political career, Thurmond was busily “denouncing federal meddling in private business, the growing socialist impulse in American politics, and the dangers of statism,” all things of compulsive concern to rightists today. Thurmond was also a pioneer in obsessing over Fidel Castro, “the only senator to issue an unequivocal call for invasion” following the revelation that the Soviets were housing missiles in Cuba. Crespino traces Thurmond’s enduring influence to the intervention of Ronald Reagan, who led the conservative charge in the GOP’s first effort to denature its “dreaded moderate or liberal” wing, and of Richard Nixon, who, rather than view Thurmond as a “reactionary southern racist and Bircher extremist,” played to the senator’s fervent desire to be perceived as a statesman. Given the influence of Thurmond’s protégés and successors—not least Lee Atwater and his protégé, Karl Rove—on the GOP today, it’s small wonder that Thurmond’s legacy should be thriving.

A solid contribution to contemporary political analysis and a highly useful and timely companion in an election cycle marked by the resurgence of the controversies of Thurmond’s day.

THE GUY UNDER THE SHEETS The Unauthorized Autobiography Elliott, Chris Blue Rider Press (256 pp.) $26.95 | Oct. 11, 2012 978-0-399-15840-7

Comedian and actor Elliott (Into Hot Air, 2007, etc.) spoofs his own life, mixing fact and fiction in this “unauthorized biography.”

The author begins with an account of his 1984 appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, when Elliott’s name first became known. Working back in 1766

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time from that event, he poses questions about his life and career—e.g., was he just a pampered child of celebrities seeking attention? “In order to attempt to answer these questions, we must go through his life chronologically and in excruciating detail, at least for long enough to fill about two hundred pages, most of which will have to be padded with a lot of childhood anecdotes and pop psych speculation,” he writes.

Readers learn how, as a young boy, Elliott absorbed the local characters surrounding him on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, “squirreling them away for later retrieval.” Including a bout with hysterical blindness, an encounter with Jackie Kennedy at the infamous East Hampton Grey Gardens, surviving a shipwreck and washing up on Marlon Brando’s private island (where Brando passed on the arts of acting and lovemaking), Elliott continues to spin his tale to greater lengths of absurdity. The author bumps up against mobsters like John Gotti, who secured Elliott a gig as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center.

Interwoven with the fictional events are a few facts concerning the author’s career, but it becomes a tiresome chore sorting the fictional fluff from the real-life episodes.

Fans of Elliott’s work will welcome this wacky, fictionalized narrative; others should steer clear. (8-page full-color photo insert)

TIM GUNN’S FASHION BIBLE The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet Gunn, Tim with Calhoun, Ada Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $28.00Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-4516-4385-5

Fashion history meets style guide in the latest from the Project Runway mentor.

Gunn (Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work, 2010, etc.) combines his signature style advice with a history of common items of clothing. Garment by garment, the author explains the development and significance of each, showing readers how what was once essential is now unnecessary (gloves as daily wear) and what was now unthinkable is now commonplace (denim as a back-to-school staple). Gunn is deeply knowledgeable about American sportswear and introduces readers to designers, such as Claire McCardell (1905–1958), who deserve more recognition for their contributions to fashion. The scope is intentionally narrow; the author limits his analysis to Western fashion, and though he supplies unobtrusive footnotes, he does not provide an exhaustively scholarly perspective. Instead, he admonishes both women (“[leggings] are not an alternative to actual pants”) and men (“let’s talk about pleats. I maintain: never”) in his signature voice; helpful diagrams and illustrations are included, as is an appendix designed to help readers evaluate their own wardrobes.

The chapter on dresses, in which Gunn distinguishes between draped “Helen” dresses and tailored “Cleopatra” dresses, is outstanding. The author manages to seamlessly integrate his style advice and the historical material, an accomplishment not always

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duplicated throughout the book. Nevertheless, the book charms even when disorganized, and it’s the closest most readers will get to a lunch date with the dishy author.

Zingy and opinionated, this romp through the development of American fashion gives readers a historical perspective with which to view their closets.

MAN VS. MARKETS Economics Explained (Plain and Simple)

Hirsch, Paddy Illus. by Archer, Dan Harper Business (272 pp.) $17.99 paperback | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-06-219665-1 A cartoon-laced, elementary but not terribly dumbed-down introduction to the dismal science by American Public Media Marketplace producer Hirsch.

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Anyone seeking to explain the economy, much less economics, in simple language has his or her work cut out, particularly since the natural tendency is to go simpleton-level simple in the face of complexity. Hearts may sink at Hirsch’s opener, which posits as a sample enterprise an ice-cream van. An icecream van with public shares and derivatives? Fortunately, the author then steers the discussion onto generally more grownup ground without ever substituting a liquor store as exemplar.

Even there, the ideal reader seems to have limited ability to conceive of abstract entities gauged in abstract terms (“It helps to think of the entire market as a body, and the indices like the readings from a thermometer”). In the urge to simplify, Hirsch sometimes glosses over important realities; he tells us what short selling is, for instance, but not how risky and ruinous it can be. Even so, moral hazard—that fine economic concept—is never far away from his discussion of commodity trades, derivatives and securitization, with the dialogue describing the last take on a kind of I’ve-got-a-bridge-to-sell-you sense of surrealism. While some things resist simplification, others make good sense when reduced to cartoons or cartoonlike textual

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“An impeccably researched, authoritative history of Marvel Comics.” from marvel comics

NOW ALL ROADS LEAD TO FRANCE A Life of Edward Thomas

explanations, as when a banker walks away smiling from a teller’s window while an ordinary consumer stalks away fuming, the explanation for which is the discriminatory lending rate of 1 percent for the former and 5 for the latter.

Quibbles aside, if this can help those ordinary consumers understand what’s happening to their money, this accessible, often entertaining book will serve a valuable purpose.

MORTALITY

Hitchens, Christopher Twelve (128 pp.) $22.99 | $12.99 e-book | CD $24.98 Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4555-0275-2 978-1-4555-1782-4 e-book 978-1-61969-188-9 CD A jovially combative riposte to anyone who thought that death would silence master controversialist Hitchens (Hitch-22, 2010, etc.).

Even as he lay—or sat or paced—dying in the unfamiliar confines of a hospital last year, the author had plenty to say about matters of life and death. Here, in pieces published in Vanity Fair to which are added rough notes and apothegms left behind in manuscript, Hitchens gives the strongest possible sense of his exhausting battle against the aggressive cancer spreading through his body. He waged that battle with customary sardonic good humor, calling the medical-industrial world into which he had been thrust “Tumortown.” More arrestingly, Hitchens conceived of the move from life to death as a sudden relocation, even a deportation, into another land: “The country has a language of its own—a lingua franca that manages to be both dull and difficult and that contains names like ondansetron, for anti-nausea medication—as well as some unsettling gestures that require a bit of getting used to.” One such gesture was the physician’s plunging of fingers into the neck to gauge whether a cancer had spread into the lymph nodes, but others were more subtle, including the hushed tones and reverences that came with the business. Hitchens, famously an atheist, visited the question of whether he should take Pascal’s wager and bet on God, concluding in the negative even as good Godfearing citizens filled his inbox with assurances that God was punishing him for his blasphemies with throat cancer. A reasonable thought, Hitchens concludes, though since he’s a writer, wouldn’t such a God have afflicted his hands first?

Certainly, Hitchens died too soon. May this moving little visit to his hospital room not be the last word from him.

Hollis, Matthew Norton (416 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 24, 2012 978-0-393-08907-3

A perceptive biography that traces an author’s trajectory from disillusioned prose scribe to acclaimed poet.

American readers may be forgiven for not knowing the work of Edward Thomas (1878–1917). While lauded as one of England’s best 20th-century poets, his work has been overshadowed in the United States by that of his fellow World War I–era bards Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Yet Thomas’s life was just as dramatic and his poetry equally haunting, especially considering that he only began composing poems in the last three years of his life. A man tormented by depression, ill-suited to his marriage, aloof toward his children, and disgusted by the hack work that he had to churn out in order to earn a living, Thomas underwent a radical transformation when he met Robert Frost in 1913. Frost had moved to England in hopes of finding the success that was still eluding him back home, and he quickly fell in with Thomas’ literary circle. The two men immediately hit it off, sharing a keen understanding of the importance of cadence and rhythm to creating the mood of a poem. With Frost’s encouragement, Thomas began drafting poems that reflected his keen appreciation of nature as well as his thoughts on romantic love, rural landscapes and, increasingly, the war. By the time of his death, he had left behind a significant oeuvre, but the only poems published in his lifetime were written under a pseudonym. Poet Hollis (Ground Water, 2004), who edited a volume of Thomas’ selected poetry, expertly recreates the upheaval of English society as it made the transition from genteel post-Victorianism to brash modernism. Thomas stood poised on the dividing line between W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot and justly remains a towering figure in English poetry.

This diligently researched and masterfully written exposition will appeal to Anglophiles and fans of literary biography. (8 pages of illustrations)

MARVEL COMICS The Untold Story

Howe, Sean Harper/HarperCollins (496 pp.) $25.99 | Oct. 9, 2012 978-0-06-199210-0

An impeccably researched, authoritative history of Marvel Comics.

Former Entertainment Weekly editor Howe (editor: Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers!: Writers on Comics, 2004) interviewed more than 150 former Marvel employees, freelancers 1768

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and family members to weave together a tapestry of creative genius, bad business decisions and petty back-stabbing. Progenitors of Spider-Man, the Avengers and the X-Men, Marvel’s rocky road to merchandising success is as epic as any of the company’s four-color adventures. Howe pulls no punches as he details the fledgling enterprise’s slow rise from Timely Publications in 1939 to its official emergence as Marvel Comics in 1961, when the groundbreaking brilliance of writer Stan Lee and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko led to the creation of the company’s most iconic characters. In an era before movie-making technology facilitated lucrative cross-merchandising, however, Marvel struggled financially while its editors massaged the bruised egos of freelancers who poured their lifeblood into creations in which they didn’t retain an ownership stake. Kirby, bitter over what he perceived as Lee’s efforts to take undue credit for his stories, ultimately left, becoming a rallying point in the struggle for the rights and compensation of writers and artists. Lee relocated to Hollywood in an effort to bring Marvel’s characters to the big screen, a frustrating endeavor that would take decades and a procession of other individuals to come to fruition. Compared to the thorough account of Marvel’s formative years, Howe gives relatively short shrift to recent corporate machinations—including only a brief mention of Disney’s $4 billion purchase of Marvel in 2009—and the work of current superstars, but that’s a minor quibble in what is otherwise a nuanced and engrossing narrative of a company whose story deserves its own blockbuster film.

Brilliantly juxtaposes Marvel with its best characters: flawed and imperfect, but capable of achieving miraculous feats.

VICTORY LAB The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns Issenberg, Sasha Crown (304 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-307-95479-4

How political campaigns have mastered marketing tools to profile the electorate.

In his second book, Monocle Washington correspondent Issenberg (The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy, 2007) incorporates his experiences covering the 2008 election for the Boston Globe. He provides anecdotes gleaned from interviews with leading political consultants and a historical overview of the integration of computer technology and behavioral psychology into social marketing, and he traces the increasing sophistication of modern campaigns to the Kennedy campaign. Confronting prejudice against Catholics, JFK’s advisors recommended tackling the issue head-on after subdividing the electorate into specific demographic categories. Issenberg explores the parallel development of the application of behavioral psychology and the recognition that many voting decisions are heavily influenced by emotion rather than rational choice. He tracks the influence of a group of academics from top universities like Yale, who influenced the shape of the modern election campaigns. They |

developed a finely tuned approach to profiling voters by using a series of criteria such as the magazines they subscribe to, the liquor they drink and their answers to surveys with loaded questions intended to reveal biases. An integral part of this process involved breaking down the population into subcategories— rather than looking at whether precincts customarily vote for a specific party—and directing targeted messages to them, as well as exposing different population clusters to different messages in order to scientifically determine response patterns.

This enables an election campaign to efficiently micromanage get-out-the-vote operations in order to focus on the most likely voters for its candidate.

Issenberg illuminates how modern elections exploit marginal advantages, but the narrative becomes scattered at times as the author jumps around from point to point.

THE VOICE IS ALL The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac

Johnson, Joyce Viking (512 pp.) $32.95 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-670-02510-7

An exemplary biography of the Beat icon and his development as a writer.

With unprecedented access to the New York Public Library’s extensive Berg Collection of Kerouac artifacts, Johnson (Missing Men, 2005, etc.) tells the familiar story of the rise of the reluctant “king of the Beats” through the unfamiliar lens of his notebooks, manuscripts and correspondence with family, friends, lovers, editors and writers. The collection was unavailable to scholars for three decades, and access to it is still tightly controlled by the Kerouac estate.

Johnson uses her opportunity as a pioneer in this new era of Kerouac scholarship to turn a laser-sharp focus on Kerouac’s evolving ideas about language, fiction vs. truth and the role of the writer in his time. She ends her chronology in late 1951, as Kerouac found the voice and method he’d employ for the rest of his brief career while seeking a publisher for On the Road and working on the novel he considered his masterpiece, Visions of Cody. While still detailing the chaotic and occasionally tragic events of the writer’s life—from mill-town football hero to multiply divorced dipsomaniac mama’s boy/cult idol—Johnson’s focus allows her to trace a trajectory of success rather than follow his painfully familiar decline into alcoholism and premature death. “[T]o me,” she writes, “what is important is Jack’s triumph in arriving at the voice that matched his vision.” Of perhaps most interest was her discovery of just how important his French-Canadian heritage was to Kerouac’s sense of identity. He considered its earthy patois his native language and seems to have translated his thoughts from it into the muscular English with which he’s associated. There’s plenty of life in these pages to fascinate casual readers, and Johnson is a sensitive but admirably objective biographer.

A triumph of scholarship.

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“Investigative journalism at its best, as Johnston seeks to comfort the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable.” from the fine print

FUTURE PERFECT The Case for Progress in a Networked Age

THE FINE PRINT How Big Companies Use “Plain English” to Rob You Blind

Johnson, Steven Riverhead (272 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-59448-820-7

Forceful argument for a new politics modeled on the structure of the Internet.

As the title suggests, bestselling science writer Johnson (Where Good Ideas Come From, 2010, etc.) is a proud optimist. He believes that most problems facing us are soluble and only becoming more so, thanks to new patterns of social relations that increasingly mirror the organization of the Internet. Johnson coins the term “peer progressive” to describe an outlook that favors building the kind of society where power is distributed more or less equally among a self-regulated network of peers, who are free to contribute to the greater good according to where their strengths lie. (Think Wikipedia writ large.) Borrowing from Frederick Von Hayek, Johnson views heavily centralized organization as the enemy of progress. He cites Hayek’s critique of the star-shaped rail system of 19th-century France as an example of raw power put to poor social use; on the other hand, Prussia’s organic weblike system enabled it to efficiently transport troops and materiel via rail, without fear of the bottlenecking that plagued the French system. But unlike Hayek, Johnson argues that capitalism is prone to its own failures (a prime example being its inability to produce cheap HIV/AIDS drugs), particularly when practiced by top-down, hierarchical corporations that are just as self-deluding and corruptible as centralized government. The greater part of this slim but idea-packed book looks at how, even as older institutions with concentrated power are failing us, peer-to-peer networks are already having positive impacts on local politics, activism, journalism, education, elections, businesses and even the arts. Johnson praises new approaches to problem-solving like Kickstarter, which enables artists to connect with patrons willing to contribute small amounts en masse; Whole Foods and employee-owned businesses that spread power and rewards throughout the organization; and New York City’s much-imitated 311 telephone service, a virtual two-way problem-solving system between citizens and public officials.

A thought-provoking, hope-inspiring manifesto.

Johnston, David Cay Portfolio (320 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-59184-358-0

Veteran investigative reporter Johnston reveals how businesses, with the consent of government agencies, rip off consumers in plain sight.

This book completes a kind of trilogy, after 2003’s Perfectly Legal (about tax scams) and 2007’s Free Lunch (about government subsidies). The “fine print” refers to a variety of bills— telephone, electric, water, insurance, credit card, hospital—and other documents that technically disclose costs to the bill payers but are intended to obscure as many hidden costs as possible.

Although Johnston’s research is meant to shame the powerful for accumulating eye-popping wealth by exploiting the less fortunate, the book also serves to empower recipients of the bills so they can demand repayment and maybe even systemic reform. In a closing chapter, Johnston recommends self-education by consumers, and he provides a start by delineating, for example, how to analyze a utility bill in order to fully understand the many clever surcharges and fees. The author hopes to encourage organized campaigns aimed at all levels and branches of government. The influence of the ballot box can speak truth to power, Johnston believes—perhaps naively but with heartwarming passion. Minimum-wage laws once seemed hopeless to achieve, he writes, yet they are now prevalent because consumers banded together effectively.

Investigative journalism at its best, as Johnston seeks to comfort the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable.

I AM THE CHANGE Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism

Kesler, Charles R. Broadside Books/ HarperCollins (304 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-06-207296-2

A conservative scholar argues that Barack Obama’s presidency represents the hidden decline of liberalism.

Avoiding the vitriol of many right-wing critiques, Kesler (Government/Claremont McKenna Coll.) regards Obama as a figure who will transform liberalism terminally, by calling most of its assumptions into question. Much of his critique seems semantic in nature: referring to “the famous monosyllables, hope and change,” he acidly asserts, “judging by his record as president they are likely to remain his most renowned utterances.” However, much of the narrative looks 1770

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away from the current political landscape and at the presidencies of Woodrow Wilson (“a genuine democrat who kept his leadership theory firmly grounded in Progressive democracy”), Franklin Roosevelt (“Never one to let an emergency go to waste”), and Lyndon Johnson (“The Great Society… ended with a bang, followed by the long whimper of white liberal guilt”). Kesler peruses their historical narratives and political philosophies for some clue as to how these ambitious individuals’ idealism could lead to his nightmare vision of Obama as steward of a vast, grasping and nonfunctioning government. Regarding Obama himself, the author attempts nuance in his harsh assessment. “As Obama’s grappling shows,” he writes, “intelligent and morally sensitive liberals may try to suppress or internalize the problem of relativism but it cannot be ignored or forgotten.” Kesler adeptly wields secondary sources as well as Obama’s own books and speeches (and those of the earlier presidents), but his own key assertions can be less comprehensible: “Avant-garde liberalism used to be about progress; now it’s about nothingness.” The author is undoubtedly erudite, but he seems to subscribe, cynically, to the post-1960s conservative view of progressive accomplishments as merely a sort of incomprehensible outgrowth of white guilt and to see no value in the presence of the post-1930s social safety net.

Will provide argumentative intellectual ammunition for conservative book-buyers dissatisfied with the last four years.

that too many Dutch teams did so too willingly. Ajax, a team beloved of Israelis today, was no exception. Some Jewish players wound up in Auschwitz and other death camps; some nonJewish players resisted, while others collaborated. Though Kuper’s book promises to explore the history of Ajax and other soccer clubs, it goes much deeper, dissecting the widely held view that the Dutch were guid and the Germans fout during those ugly years. “The Israelis are right in a way; the Dutch were good in the war,” Kuper writes. “Not the Second World War, though, but the war of 1973.” If you want a nation that really resisted the Nazis, he adds, look at Denmark. Kuper’s narrative is a little loopy, and he kicks topics around the way Maradona smacks a ball, sometimes with a great roundabout curve to it—but always hitting the goal.

A footnote to history, to be sure, but a fascinating one.

AJAX, THE DUTCH, THE WAR Soccer in Europe During the Second World War

Kuper, Simon Nation Books/Perseus (256 pp.) $15.99 paperback | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-56858-723-3

Were the Dutch a nation of heroes of World War II resistance, as they like to claim? Paris-based Financial Times columnist Kuper (The Football Men: Up Close with the Giants of the Modern Game, 2011, etc.) rains on the liberation parade by suggesting that the right answer is, not quite.

Soccer, a British wag once remarked, is way more important than life or death. By this account, it sometimes trumps even war. When the Nazis were rising in power in Germany in the 1930s, they used competitive games—and particularly soccer—as a vehicle of diplomacy; they were good sports when they lost, and they cheered good performances on the pitch no matter who gave them. Even when the Nazis declared war on half the world and overran most of Europe, soccer occupied a kind of hallowed ground. “The point of the game was distraction,” writes Kuper, “not propaganda; soccer was a space where Germans could escape from the war, where life continued as it always had.” That did not keep the Germans from insisting that soccer teams in occupied countries be cleared of Jewish players, managers, owners and others. Kuper asserts |

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DISTILLED SPIRITS Getting High, Then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk

KILLING THE AMERICAN DREAM How Anti-Immigration Extremists Are Destroying the Nation

Lattin, Don Univ. of California (328 pp.) $29.95 | Oct. 1, 2012 978-0-520-27232-3

A former religion reporter details the occasionally intersecting lives of three spiritual seekers in order to tell the story that compels him more, a personal account of addiction, recovery and sobriety.

“Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, and Bill Wilson set the stage for the spiritual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s,” writes the author of the “famous writer,” “forgotten philosopher” and “hopeless drunk” of his subtitle. “They distilled the spirits of organized religion into a powerful new blend that would help change the way Americans practice their faith and live their lives.” Though Lattin (The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America, 2010) maintains an engaging, conversational tone as he meanders through the lives of these three, their selection might seem arbitrary, with Heard seemingly the odd man out. Even if one accepts his influence on The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, written by Wilson, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, the reader might agree with one contemporary who says, “There was something not quite right about Gerald Heard.” The increasingly mystic and ascetic philosopher meditated six hours a day, practiced celibacy while advising married couples to stop having relations, and retreated from contact with formerly close friends such as Huxley. As for Wilson, who published pieces by both of the other two in his AA Grapevine publication, he was an early advocate of LSD who remained addicted to sex and tobacco, and he howled for whiskey on his deathbed. The key figure in this “blend of memoir and biography” is Lattin, whose narrative arc might be the strangest.

He somehow balanced his religion reportage with a descent into cocaine addiction and alcoholism, and he sees this book as a crucial element in his ongoing sobriety (five years now), even though some may feel it violates the anonymity precept of AA. “One of the things I learned from AA is that many of us drink in an effort to quench a religious thirst,” he writes. “It’s how we get some temporary relief from the spiritual emptiness.”

The book might provide more inspiration to fellow alcoholics than it will add to the scholarship on three figures of various accomplishment and renown.

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Marrero, Pilar Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $27.00 | Oct. 2, 2012 978-0-230-34175-3

La Opinión senior political writer Marrero, an American citizen born in Venezuela, attempts to untangle the contemporary debate over illegal immigration.

The author provides an informed overview of the evolution of America’s immigration policy from the Reagan administration to today, and she argues passionately and persuasively that, far from draining our resources and “taking” jobs from native-born Americans, illegal immigrants ultimately contribute to a more diverse, productive, competitive and prosperous America. In Marrero’s view, the debate over immigration has been hijacked by anti-immigrant extremists relying on hateful rhetoric to breathe life into their floundering political careers.

Rational, sober reflection on an economically and socially complicated issue has, she argues, fallen by the wayside. Though comprehensively researched and eminently sensible, this book is awkwardly written and frequently soporific. Marrero has a journalist’s habit of leaching her prose of vitality by attempting to convey an evenhandedness she does not feel. Herself an immigrant, Marrero clearly has an opinion about and a stake in America’s treatment of its immigrants, regardless of their legal status. Unfortunately, she goes to such lengths to avoid coming across as a rabid ideologue that she ends up looking mealymouthed and ineffectual instead. Though she provides several notable and outrageous examples of illegal immigrants victimized by the violent bigotry of their angry white neighbors, these stories are recited so mechanically that they barely register.

Readers may sympathize with her desire to sound as rational and fair-minded as she wishes our national politicians did, but they will likely grow frustrated by her insistence on pirouetting away from real emotion. Marrero is long on glowing paeans to the immigrant spirit and legitimate grievances against willfully ignorant, shamelessly rabble-rousing politicians, but she is short on new ideas and practical solutions.

An overly cautious, platitudinous entry in the immigration debate.

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“A thorough, understated account of the life of the pioneering author and how his addictions and fiction intersected.” from every love story is a ghost story

JUST PLAIN DICK Richard Nixon’s Checkers Speech and the “Rocking, Socking” Election of 1952 Mattson, Kevin Bloomsbury (272 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-60819-812-2

A cocker spaniel and a plain cloth coat become emblems of the paranoidstyle right-wing politics of the 1950s, courtesy of one Richard Milhous Nixon.

The time is 1952. As Mattson (History/Ohio Univ.; “What the Heck Are You Up to, Mr. President?”: Jimmy Carter, America’s “Malaise,” and the Speech that Should Have Changed the Country, 2009, etc.) opens his narrative, Nixon is pitching a fit: “Goddamn bastards want me out. They want to sack my political career. They don’t have much on me, but they’ll use what they have. That’s how they play, those sluggers and smear boys in the liberal press.”

What they had was slender evidence that Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower’s running mate, had been handed some thousands of dollars to help his cause. Nixon’s defense was the famous “Checkers speech,” which forms the centerpiece of Mattson’s account. But rather than take Nixon’s strained words about his frugality and Pat’s wifely virtues at face value, Mattson neatly deconstructs the speech, which “started off a bit rough” but developed into a work of “political genius,” showing how Nixon used it to set the notion of himself as a plain man in a land of plain men in a time when claims of heroism were all around—thus distinguishing himself not just from opponent Adlai Stevenson, that famed egghead, but also from Eisenhower himself, chief general during a war in which Nixon was middle management in the Pacific.

“The speech,” writes Mattson, “saved Nixon’s career by making him into a man of the people, a ‘real’ American—a term that rang throughout the letters and telegrams that poured in for him.” By implication, Stevenson and even Eisenhower weren’t real Americans, thus helping establish the kind of lowest-common-denominator politics that has held sway ever since.

In that sense—and given the talk of “real” American-ness that persists today—Mattson’s excellent book is a timely companion to the current election season. The question is: Who’s playing Nixon?

EVERY LOVE STORY IS A GHOST STORY A Life of David Foster Wallace

Max, D.T. Viking (336 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-670-02592-3

A thorough, understated account of the life of the pioneering author and how his addictions and fiction intersected. |

Before his suicide, David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) pursued a host of paths as a writer. He was a showy ironist who drafted his Pynchon-esque debut novel, The Broom of the System (1987), while an undergraduate student at Amherst. He was a bright philosopher who wrote at length on Wittgenstein and infinity. He was a skilled (if not always factually rigorous) reporter who covered state fairs, politics and tennis with intelligence and style. But the biggest inspiration for his admirers was the compassion, wit and understanding of our media-soaked age that emerged in later novels like Infinite Jest (1996) and the posthumous The Pale King (2011). In this appropriately contemplative biography, New Yorker staff writer Max (The Family that Couldn’t Sleep: A Medical Mystery, 2006) avoids overdramatizing climactic events in Wallace’s life, though it had plenty of emotional turmoil. Wallace was hospitalized for addiction and depression multiple times, and even at his steadiest he could collapse into rages. (Max chronicles in detail Wallace’s disastrous relationship with memoirist Mary Karr.) Max emphasizes the psychological tug of war within Wallace, who struggled to reconcile his suspicion of mass media with a habitual gulping down of hours of it; his high-minded pursuit of art with a need for emotional and sexual attention; and his resolve to blend entertaining fiction and dense philosophy. Max draws upon the rich trove of Wallace’s papers (he was an inveterate letter writer) and dozens of interviews, from Alcoholics Anonymous sponsors to literary contemporaries like Jonathan Franzen. Wallace’s family relationships get relatively short shrift, but it’s clear that under the veneer of a successful, brainy novelist was an eager-to-please native Midwesterner.

A stellar biography of a complicated subject: Max’s portrait skillfully unites Wallace’s external and internal lives.

THOMAS JEFFERSON The Art of Power Meacham, Jon Random House (800 pp.) $35.00 | Nov. 13, 2012 978-1-4000-6766-4 978-0-679-64536-8 e-book

A Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer lauds the political genius of Thomas Jefferson.

As a citizen, Jefferson became a central leader in America’s rebellion against the world’s greatest empire. As a diplomat, he mentored a similar revolution in France.

As president, he doubled the size of the United States without firing a shot and established a political dynasty that stretched over four decades. These achievements and many more, Time contributing editor Meacham (American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, 2008, etc.) smoothly argues, would have been impossible if the endlessly complicated Jefferson were merely the dreamy, impractical philosopher king his detractors imagined. His portrait of our most enigmatic president intentionally highlights career episodes that illustrate Jefferson’s penchant for balancing competing interests and for compromises that, nevertheless, advanced his own political goals. Born to the Virginia aristocracy, Jefferson effectively disguised his drive for control,

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charming foes and enlisting allies to conduct battles on his behalf.

As he accumulated power, he exercised it ruthlessly, often deviating from the ideals of limited government he had previously— and eternally—articulated. Stronger than any commitment to abstract principle, the impulse for pragmatic political maneuvering, Meacham insists, always predominated. With an insatiable hunger for information, a talent for improvisation and a desire for greatness, Jefferson coolly calculated political realities—see his midlife abandonment of any effort to abolish slavery—and, more frequently than not, emerged from struggles with opponents routed and his own authority enhanced. Through his thinking and writing, we’ve long appreciated Jefferson’s lifelong devotion to “the survival and success of democratic republicanism in America,” but Meacham’s treatment reminds us of the flesh-and-blood politician, the man of action who masterfully bent the real world in the direction of his ideals.

An outstanding biography that reveals an overlooked steeliness at Jefferson’s core that accounts for so much of his political success. (Author tour to Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, Atlanta, Nashville, Chattanooga, Jackson, St. Louis, San Francisco, Los Angeles)

SOCIAL MEDIA IS BULLSHIT

Mendelson, B.J. St. Martin’s (208 pp.) $21.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-250-00295-2 978-1-250-01750-5 e-book

Mendelson dethrones the ubiquitous myths spewed by influence peddlers claiming special insight into how individuals and small-business owners can profit using social media.

The author lays out his thesis in four easily digested sections and a short introduction, in which he offers an overview of his career in marketing, from which he happily decamped in 2010. “Marketing is fiction created by salesman to get companies to buy ideas they don’t need,” he writes, “to sell customers what they don’t want, to an end that only benefits their own.”

Following the introduction, Mendelson dives into a readerfriendly discussion of a variety of topics, including the basics of social media; who really runs the Web and how its history has been “selectively revised” for public consumption; how YouTube and Google work; and the rise of the Cyber Hipsters and their role in the marketing feedback loop. “Cyber Hipsters have their ideas spread to businesses through marketers, increasing their perceived influence,” he writes, “and the marketers get backing from the Cyber Hipster crowd, which does the same for them.” Mendelson introduces the people behind all the social media shenanigans and deconstructs its puffed-up role in marketing and business. He dissects the questionable role the Internet played in several touted corporate success stories, including Zappos, Dell and KIA. The author then turns to what Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Foursquare can and can’t do for a business. “In most cases, money spent on social media 1774

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platforms is money wasted,” he writes. The author concludes with a section titled “How to Really Make It On the Web.” This small book packs a welcome, refreshing punch.

ARGO How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

Mendez, Antonio and Baglio, Matt Viking (320 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 17, 2012 978-0-670-02622-7

A real-life tale of intrigue and deception from a former CIA agent.

When the U.S. embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979, a small group of American employees escaped from an outlying building and took to the streets in an attempt to evade capture. Mendez (Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations that Helped Win the Cold War, 2002, etc.) was the CIA man who got them out of the country without being discovered. With the assistance of Baglio (The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, 2009), he tells the story of the exfiltration from beginning to end.

Though no one knew about the escapees in the immediate aftermath of the hostage crisis, Mendez was actively involved in drafting a plan to free the hostages. He gives an overview of the situation from the moment students entered the embassy grounds. With plenty of background information on how the CIA practices its deception, Mendez leaves no guesswork for readers. The difficulty of operations in hostile territory is clear, as is the work that goes into disguises. Occasionally, the story slows—real spies spend much more time in the office than fictional ones—but the writing remains fresh and engaging. The Hollywood portions of the book are peppered with recognizable names and unexpected spycraft, but they are a smaller part of the narrative than the subtitle indicates. While the eventual ending is no surprise, the journey is always enjoyable.

A solid choice for fans of thrillers and international intrigue. (Film version to be released in October 2012)

THROUGH THE GLASS

Moroney, Shannon Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $25.00 | Oct. 9, 2012 978-1-4516-7820-8

A young woman’s page-turning account of how she faced the trauma that came in the aftermath of sadistic sex crimes perpetrated by her husband.

When Canadian restorative-justice advocate Moroney met Jason Staples, she thought she’d found the perfect man. Not long after their first encounter, however, Staples revealed his troubled past, which included his incarceration for a murder he committed at 18. Troubled as she was by his confession, |

Moroney eventually decided to begin a relationship with him— “[e]verything in my heart, mind, and body told me it was the right choice.” The couple married after a happy three-year courtship that included more than two years of cohabitation. But just one month after their union, their picture-perfect world collapsed when police confronted Moroney with the news that Staples had kidnapped and raped two women. Neither she nor anyone else (including his parole officer and psychologist) could believe what had happened, and public outrage began to swirl around the case.

Soon, the young newlywed found herself jobless, abandoned by friends and victimized by the justice system. Yet for all the hardships she endured, Moroney refused to sever ties with Staples.

Instead, she chose to work through her grief and anger by trying to understand what had driven her husband to commit such heinous crimes. It was only by forgiving the man she had once loved that she believed she could learn to love and trust again.

Moroney’s compassion and courage are remarkable, but her story is disturbing because of the questions it raises about the effectiveness of criminal rehabilitation, particularly where violent felons are concerned. (8-page 4-color insert)

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THE MILLION DEATH QUAKE The Science of Predicting Earth’s Deadliest Natural Disaster Musson, Roger Palgrave Macmillan (272 pp.) $27.00 | Oct. 16, 2012 978-0-230-11941-3

A British seismologist explains earthquakes.

The rumbling and shaking of earthquakes puzzled people for centuries, writes Musson, chief spokesman at the British Geological Survey. Aristotle blamed the noise on roaring winds forced through subterranean caverns.

The people of Lisbon, Portugal, racked by a massive quake in 1755, felt certain God was punishing the wicked. Shortly thereafter, working with limited data, scientists began to develop an understanding: British geologist John Michell posited that earthquakes transmitted on elastic waves; his colleague Charles

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kirkus q & a with stephen tobolowsky

THE DANGEROUS ANIMALS CLUB

Stephen Tobolowsky Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $24.00 Sept. 11, 2012 978-1-4516-3315-3

You might not immediately know the name Stephen Tobolowsky when you hear it, but if you’ve turned on the TV or gone to the movies in the last 25 years, you probably know the face. Yeah, he’s that guy.

Higher-profile gigs on HBO’s Californication, the hit film Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party (2005) and his latest book The Dangerous Animals Club might threaten Tobolowsky’s sublime anonymity, but he hopes not. In a starred review, we called his book of essays “a copiously examined life rendered with humor and heart.”

Here, Tobolowsky explains why his perennial role as a supporting Hollywood player beats being the star of the show any day of the week—and a lot more.

Q: Is your lack of name recognition something you embrace or wish you could change?

A: When I started off as a little kid wanting to be an actor, I imagined that I was going to be Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda, or someone like that. Instead, I’m Robert Middleton. He was my rabbi’s brother-in-law who was a character actor and did millions of things.

My mother always used to say, “Stephen, maybe you’ll grow up to be like Robert Middleton.”

As it turns out, as you get older you kind of realize the benefit of being a Robert Middleton as opposed to being someone who has his name above the title. For example, one thing I think that’s led to the longevity of my career is that when you are a really recognizable star, a lot of times the success or failure of a venture will be pinned on you. So, if a movie does not do well, and the project sinks, guess who gets blamed for it? After that, it becomes very difficult to get work.

In a way, I’m very happy that I’ve been in great films and terrible films, and none of them really seemed to affect me. I was able to keep moving along under the radar.

Q: With all of the success you’ve had acting, what compelled you to write?

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Q: How did you find the whole process of writing the book?

A: The hardest work I ever did was trying to lay sod in my backyard all by myself. The second hardest work I ever did was writing this book, because when you act on a television show, there is a discreet beginning and ending of the project. When you write, you never finish.

Now, there is a point when the publisher will say, “Hey, Stephen. This is the last rewrite. You’re finished, pal.” But you’re never finished because that story takes on a life of its own. It talks to you. It says, “We need to work here. And there’s a little thing that needs to be fixed there.” And so, it becomes very difficult to stop. But unlike laying sod in the yard, it is something that I will be doing again.

Q: What gives you the confidence to be a good storyteller?

A: I trust that my instincts are pretty well common. The things that I find interesting, I think most people would find interesting. Surviving against adversity, stories of horror and hilarity that take you by surprise, people generally like those. I don’t think my taste is idiosyncratic.

I’ve also been a good reader in my life. So, I know the difference between a story and an event.

I know that an event is like turning on a light. It is a one-time thing. I sat on an airplane next to Madonna, that’s an event. That’s not a story. A story has a beginning, middle and an end. And where you end up is not where you began.

—By Joe Maniscalco

9 For the full interview, please visit kirkus.com.

P H OTO © J IM B RI T T

A: That was a perfect storm of catastrophes. I ended up in a situation where I lost my voice. I couldn’t talk and I had to have surgery. I couldn’t audition.

Then, after recovering from that, I broke my neck [while horseback riding]. I started to talk again but I couldn’t do anything else, and I was pretty much helpless. So, I started writing. All of my energies went into writing, and it dawned on me: When I broke my neck on that horse, it could have been the last moment I ever saw my kids again. So, I thought, why don’t I combine the fact that I can’t work with the fact that I am writing and start writing stories so that my sons will know who their father was?

Right at that time the managing director of [film blog] slashfilm saw a movie I did called Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party. He wanted to interview me about the movie and said, “Would it interest you to continue the movie?” I thought, well, this could be good in terms of the story I was writing for my kids.

“Unique—and essential to any understanding of German mentalités in the Hitler era.” from soldaten

Lyell found evidence of moving faults. Based on observations of the archetypal San Francisco quake of 1906, Johns Hopkins geologist Harry Fielding Reid accurately defined an earthquake as a violent movement of rocks that releases energy in the form of waves that spread outward at high velocity. Musson describes the evolving science of seismology, including the development of today’s global seismological networks. Analyzing the most significant earthquakes of all time—Lisbon, San Francisco and Sumatra (2004)—he explains what we know about these “strange and uncanny things” and scientists’ “persistent failure” at predicting them. Based on the growing population of urban areas, especially in developing nations, where buildings are not designed to withstand violent shaking, scientists are able to predict that a massive future quake will eventually result in 1 million deaths. In villages in seismically active areas, builders generally use available materials and follow traditional practices, which can lead to high death tolls. In earthquake-savvy cities, builders prevent collapses through reinforcement and other techniques.

Musson urges national governments to mandate earthquake safety programs. In the meantime, he writes, the safest place to be during a quake is under a solid piece of furniture.

An authoritative and accessible investigation of one of nature’s most destructive forces.

THE SEVENTEEN SOLUTIONS Bold Ideas for Our American Future

Nader, Ralph HarperCollins (288 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Oct. 2, 2012 978-0-06-208353-1

Third-party presidential contender and environmental activist Nader (Getting Steamed to Overcome Corporatism, 2011, etc.) offers “an attempt to start a new conversation about our problems.”

In a follow-up to The Seventeen Traditions (2007), the author reiterates his defense of civil liberties, environmentalism, anticorporatism and anti-militarism, and calls for renewed civic engagement and activism. He appeals to the legacy of Madison and Jefferson, as reflected in his defense of small-town communities capable of supplying their needs through their own efforts.

Though he advocates for cuts in defense spending, Nader supports the military’s globally significant medical research in combating yellow fever and malaria, and he is grateful for its contribution to his own initial work on automobile safety. He would now like to see the military contribute such skills to water safety and food preservation. Nader’s legal background shapes an interesting discussion about the history of corporate charters in the United States. He shows that the right to form corporations through state-level charters was originally specific to a particular purpose, and the modern corporate form, with eternal life, limited liability and general capacity, results from willful political transformations. This discussion gives a sharp focus to an otherwise diffuse narrative about the dangers of |

corporate greed. The author also charges that President Obama “has exceeded Bush’s lawless example” with his war in Libya; the Bush administration “was a dress rehearsal for its successor.”

Less a new conversation than a restatement of an older agenda.

SOLDATEN On Fighting, Killing, and Dying

Neitzel, Sönke; Welzer, Harald Translated by Chase, Jefferson Knopf (496 pp.) $30.50 | Sep. 27, 2012 978-0-307-95812-9 A trove of transcripts of bugged recordings providing specific, startling evidence that German soldiers in World War II were not just following orders.

Neitzel (Modern History/Univ. of Glasgow) and Welzer (Social Psychology/Univ. of Hanover) pore over two stores of documents from the British and American national archives, numbering some 150,000 pages in all, of transcripts from recordings of German prisoners of war secretly made in various holding facilities. Those prisoners passed the time by telling each other tales relating the ugly stuff of war: killing enemy soldiers and civilians alike, slaughtering Jews, raping women. “The stories we will be examining in this book…were not intended to be well-rounded, consistent, or logical,” the authors write.

“They were told to create excitement, elicit interest, or provide space and opportunity for the interlocutor to add commentary or stories of his own.” One such story involves a Gestapo officer who propositioned a Russian woman, and on being rejected, shot her and had sex with the dead body. Did the event happen? We’re not sure; what matters is that the soldier who told the story and the one who heard it believed it was true. Other reports were closer to the documentable mark. For instance, the SS and the Wehrmacht had a fierce rivalry that continued behind the prison walls, with SS soldiers insisting that they were indispensable and Wehrmacht soldiers marveling at the grimly ridiculous losses they sustained. Some prisoners vied to out-Nazi the Nazis, with one general saying that there would be no complaint about their actions if only they’d been successful in exterminating the Jews. The authors layer on commentary that sometimes threatens to bury the soldiers’ stories in a gray cloak of academese, but the point remains: These German soldiers were utterly normal, for all the atrocities they committed, men who killed simply “because it’s their job.”

Unique—and essential to any understanding of German mentalités in the Hitler era. (First printing of 40,000)

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ALL OF ME How I Learned to Live with the Many Personalities Sharing My Body

a tomb painting of Egyptian Queen Nefertari to George Lucas’ film Revenge of the Sith. (Yes, Paglia had to include one item to assert her hip openness to pop culture, but it’s a minor irritant.)

The author cogently locates individual pieces within a cultural continuum and eloquently spotlights the artistic qualities that make them unique. Each essay includes a full-page photo of the work in question. Paglia is especially good on classical art. The bronze sculpture The Charioteer of Delphi, for example, is nicely described as embodying “the Greek principle…which saw virtue and physical beauty as inseparably intertwined.” Paglia’s discussions of a medieval mosaic of St. John Chrysostom and the illuminated Book of Kells show her equally receptive to Catholic art, and an exegesis of Titian’s Venus with a Mirror lovingly evokes the glories of Renaissance painting. Moving through romanticism, impressionism, surrealism and abstract expressionism—to name only a few highlights—Paglia gives a vivid sense of the sweep and scope of art history. The author loves pop art (Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych), but sections on Eleanor Antin’s 100 Boots and Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field display a surprising fondness for conceptualism and minimalism as well. African-American artists get their due in essays on John Wesley Hardrick’s sensitive portrait, Xenia Goodloe, and Renee Cox’s witty Chillin’ with Liberty.

When she gets off her soapbox, Paglia is a wonderful popularizer of art history and art appreciation. (Full-color illustrations throughout)

Noble, Kim Chicago Review (384 pp.) $16.95 paperback | Oct. 1, 2012 978-1-61374-470-3

Noble’s story of living with dissociative identity disorder and of being misdiagnosed, misunderstood and adrift in society.

The author’s powerful memoir begins right from the dedication: “This book is dedicated to our muchloved daughter Aimee, the sunshine of my life, and our wonderful therapist for her footsteps in the sand.” Noble isn’t referring to a husband or partner with “our”—she’s referring to herself. More specifically, herselves: Noble has more than 20 identified personalities, 14 of which are individually renowned artists with their own distinct styles and strengths. Throughout the book, the author switches between “our” and “my,” heightening the connection of readers to the story. Growing up, her parents struggled with their own problems, as individuals and as a couple, which added to Noble’s struggle with being overlooked while she found ways to compensate for the growing discord in her head. As the difficulties of adolescence compounded her challenges, the compensations became inadequate and she found herself—the self she identified as her primary personality at the time—awaking in the hospital more frequently. But little came of the hospitalizations. As Noble began to tentatively form connections with others, she found the ground under her feet shifting constantly: Who had she met? With whom did she do this activity, or that one? Which personality was responsible for the teenage misbehaviors? These and other similar questions form the core of the narrative.

The main question is whether Noble was better served in the mental health system, or outside of it, and the answers she reaches trying to grow into adulthood and motherhood are at once jarring and deeply moving.

GLITTERING IMAGES A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars Paglia, Camille Pantheon (176 pp.) $30.00 | Oct. 16, 2012 978-0-375-42460-1 978-0-307-90780-6 e-book

Critic/provocateur Paglia applies to the visual arts the same close scrutiny she lavished on poetry in Break, Blow, Burn (2005).

Readers who have found the author grating in the past are advised to skip the introduction, which contains her usual rants against “the Marxist approaches that now permeate academe.” Beyond this predictable prelude, however, lies an intelligently detailed examination of 29 works of art, ranging from 1778

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LET ME CLEAR MY THROAT Essays

Passarello, Elena Sarabande (240 pp.) $22.95 | paper $15.95 | $12.00 e-book Oct. 1, 2012 978-1-936747-52-8 978-1-936747-45-0 paperback 978-1-936747-50-4 e-book A collection of essays by a regional theater actress and writer about the relationship of voice to identity.

When Passarello won the 2011 Stella Screaming Contest in New Orleans, it marked the culmination of a lifetime interest in voice. As a child, she took pleasure in trying to out-shout her mother, whom she calls “one of the loudest people I have known in my life.” Throughout her young adulthood, she used her voice “as an actor in plays that required lots of talking, some singing and the very occasional scream.” Passarello explores how voices work and how a few famous voices became cultural icons. Marlon Brando found screen immortality through the pained screaming of his lover’s name in A Streetcar Named Desire. The author writes that his “transmutable hurt is what moves the line of dialogue to raw sound.”

Brando’s Hollywood colleague Judy Garland was the diminutive star with the big, electrifying voice that shook buildings and overwhelmed listeners with its emotional complexity. However, writes Passarello, voices and what they communicate can be the undoing of their owners. In 2004, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean’s “hostile mutation of a ‘Yeah!’ cheer” helped sabotage

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his election hopes. The author’s book is a mostly fascinating study of the meaning behind individual voices and other sounds, such as rebel yells, manufactured sound-artist screams and even birdsongs.

However, because Passarello does not link the essays together, the text comes across as haphazardly constructed.

Fun and intelligent but disjointed reading.

HELP THE HELPER Building a Culture of Extreme Teamwork

Pritchard, Kevin; Eliot, John Portfolio (256 pp.) $25.95 | Oct. 1, 2012 978-1-59184-545-4

Business-advice book emphasizing the importance of selfless teamwork.

Indiana Pacers general manager Pritchard and leadership professor Eliot

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(Overachievement: The New Model for Exceptional Performance, 2004) approach their “help the helper” theme from a wide variety of angles, some of them barely distinguishable from the others. Though the near-repetition gives the book a tired feeling at points, the authors offer interesting, instructive anecdotes. Sports fans—especially basketball, baseball and football—will quite likely relate to the dozens of illustrative examples from the realm of athletics, especially when the authors recount their firsthand experiences. Readers unfamiliar with the players or coaches may become bored or confused or both. Those readers, however, should be able to relate to the examples drawn from various business sectors, such as restaurants. Pritchard and Eliot explain that a restaurant adopting the most effective teamwork approach would hire servers and managers who place customers above all else. If a customer sitting at a table in the sector of server A asks for a clean fork from server B, server B will bring the fork immediately—although server A might benefit from a slightly larger tip later in the evening. In addition to pithy lessons about leadership, the book is salted with brief quotations from significant leaders, including

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“A potent reminder of the explosiveness of 1960s politics and how far elements of the government were (and perhaps still are) willing to go to undermine civil liberties.” from subversives

SUBVERSIVES The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power

Gandhi: “Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow men.”

A welcome relief from business books filled with dog-eatdog advice.

Rosenfeld, Seth Farrar, Straus and Giroux (720 pp.) $40.00 | Aug. 21, 2012 978-0-374-25700-2

GOD BELIEVES IN LOVE Straight Talk About Gay Marriage

Robinson, Gene Knopf (208 pp.) $24.00 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-307-95788-7

A kaleidoscopic look at the FBI’s willingness to undermine American citi-

Reasoned argument for gay marriage by one of its most famed proponents.

Ever since openly gay clergyman Robinson was elected as an Episcopal bishop in 2003, he has been one of the most visible champions of gay rights and gay marriage. Here, he attempts to persuade others of the viability and legitimacy of gay marriage through a point-by-point approach. Beginning with a brief retelling of his own personal story, he moves on to ask why this topic has so suddenly come to the forefront of debate. Then he tackles a series of questions that have been brought up against gay marriage: “Doesn’t Gay Marriage Undermine Marriage?” “Don’t Children Need a Mother and a Father?” etc. Robinson’s strength is his willingness to see these questions from another perspective. He charitably realizes that, to many people, the concept of homosexuality is foreign and even distasteful; rather than condemning such viewpoints, he reasons with readers. While many of his arguments concern such issues as respect, civil rights and family dynamics, Robinson also discusses issues of faith and theology.

He counters arguments taken from Scripture against homosexuality and points out that Jesus was silent on the issue. Beginning and ending his work with the statement that he believes in marriage, Robinson’s points often seem highly focused on family values. “At the end of the day,” he writes, “this is a very conservative argument being made for gay marriage.” Nevertheless, his reasoning may not move conservative Christians (or conservatives of other faiths). Robinson approaches the topic with a view of separation of church and state (“In simple shorthand, the State marries and the Church blesses”) that will not be shared by many of his opponents.

Sober and well-structured, but still preaches to the choir. (First printing of 50,000. Author tour to Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.)

zens during the 1960s.

Former San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporter Rosenfeld explores the many ways in which J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI undermined the rights and especially the privacy of American citizens in his efforts to undercut the many protest movements that emerged at the University of California, Berkeley, in the ’60s. Hoover had long been concerned with events at one of the country’s greatest universities, and as the decade progressed, the FBI utilized increasingly devious cloak-and-dagger methods to address those concerns.

In addition to Hoover, Rosenfeld focuses on other significant figures, interweaving their stories into his larger narrative. Mario Savio, the star-crossed leader of many of the student movements, drew much of Hoover’s ire. He also drew the ire of Ronald Reagan, an outspoken critic of the left in Berkeley who, upon assuming the governorship of California, created the perfect conditions for his friend and ally Hoover to step up his already pervasive investigations. Caught in between was Clark Kerr, the liberal and oftenvisionary president of the university who became a target of scorn from Savio and the student left as well as from Reagan, Hoover and the right. One of the subtexts of this masterfully researched book is Rosenfeld’s yearslong struggle to gain access to the relevant FBI documents, a fight that reveals the extent to which the FBI knew how explosive and embarrassing this story could be to the government. In an appendix, the author details that struggle, which “resulted in the release of the most extensive record of FBI activities concerning a university during J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure, and the most complete release of bureau records on Ronald Reagan.”

A potent reminder of the explosiveness of 1960s politics and how far elements of the government were (and perhaps still are) willing to go to undermine civil liberties. (8 pages of b/w illustrations)

THE END OF MEN And the Rise of Women Rosin, Hanna Riverhead (320 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-59448-804-7

Atlantic senior editor Rosin (God’s Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America, 2007), co-founder of Slate’s women’s section, DoubleX, argues that women are more likely than men to succeed in the modern workforce.

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The author conducted extensive interviews with women of various backgrounds, from the Midwest to Korea. She bases her argument partly on the flexibility of women and partly on the fact that employers are beginning to value characteristics stereotypically attributed to women, such as empathy. Rosin suggests that the world may be headed toward a matriarchy. It is refreshing to find optimism in a book about the gender gap, but in some cases it seems that women haven’t progressed as much as men have fallen behind. In several of the households Rosin discusses, what has made the women the main breadwinners is not just drive, but the fact that their men don’t hold steady jobs. Most of those men do not completely fulfill domestic duties either, leaving the women to work both outside and inside the home. Though she later takes up the issue of splitting household duties, Rosin glosses over it early on to paint a picture of matriarchal utopia.

The author covers an impressive amount of ground about women, including the professions they dominate, how they can rise to the top, and their relationship to casual sex. Particularly interesting is Rosin’s examination of female violence. She shows that as women gain power, they encompass the negative traits that were once only attributed to men, therefore countering the myth that a world ruled by women would be more peaceful.

A great starting point for readers interested in exploring the intersecting issues of gender, family and employment.

TIBET WILD A Naturalist’s Journeys on the Roof of the World Schaller, George B. Island Press (400 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-61091-172-6

The internationally renowned field biologist’s account of the 30 years he spent observing endangered animals on the Tibetan Plateau.

In a narrative that is part travelogue, part scientific logbook and part memoir, Schaller (A Naturalist and Other Beasts: Tales from a Life in the Field, 2007, etc.) takes readers on a journey through the northern Chang Tang plains of Tibet. For most of his long career, the eminent naturalist found himself drawn to the Chang Tang’s “totemic loneliness...silence and desolation.” When he got the chance to travel there in 1984, it was to observe mammals like the Tibetan wild yak and snow leopard. Schaller eventually switched his focus to the chiru, or Tibetan antelope, and their migrations across Asia. At one time, the chiru were a plentiful species; by the late 1980s, however, Tibetan poachers had slaughtered them to near-extinction. In the beginning, Schaller’s interests were purely scientific. But the more he became acquainted with Chang Tang, the more he developed a passion for what it represented: “a reminder of our moral obligation to discard self-indulgence and to protect life on Earth.” He made the plight of the chiru public through his work as a lecturer and quickly became the target of accusations that he was “a voice of the Chinese government.” Through |

his work and the work of other dedicated conservationists in Asia, the chiru has made a comeback. Schaller’s single-minded dedication to wildlife preservation in Chang Tang and around the world is genuinely inspiring. However, his tendency toward meticulous factual recitations, his surface descriptions of people and places and his fragmentary reflections on himself and his life will likely not appeal to a wide audience.

Admirable work from an engaged, but not necessarily always engaging, author.

THE AXMANN CONSPIRACY The Nazi Plan for a Fourth Reich and How the U.S. Army Defeated It Selby, Scott Andrew Berkley Caliber (320 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-425-25270-3

An entertaining account of a lastgasp Nazi effort.

The director of Hitler Youth escaped Hitler’s bunker after his suicide and attempted to organize a postwar Nazi underground movement. He did not succeed. Selby’s (co-author: Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History, 2010) narrative is partly a dual biography of Artur Axmann (1913-96), an important Nazi official, and Jack Hunter (1921– 2009), the American counterintelligence officer who tracked him. Mostly, the book is a procedural. The author follows Hunter, other American operatives and their German undercover workers as they investigate, infiltrate and, finally, after less than a year, round up Axmann and several dozen members of a trucking firm that employed a remarkable number of ex-Youth personnel but did not otherwise seem threatening. While the book’s title is wildly hyperbolic, contemporaries without the benefit of hindsight had to deal with Joseph Goebbels’ fiery 1945 warnings that loyal Nazis would retreat to a well-stocked fortress and fight on until the Allies tired of occupying the Reich. This “operation werewolf ” was never more than rhetoric, and Axmann quickly dropped plans for violent resistance.

His group planned to build a commercial organization whose income and influence would support a revived Nazi party after the occupation. Most of those arrested were tried, imprisoned for a few years, and then released to live out their lives in a prospering West Germany.

Although this was a tempest in a teapot, readers will enjoy Selby’s account of a hitherto-obscure Nazi plot and the energetic counterintelligence that foiled it.

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“Insightful and convivial account of a bright, bountiful life dedicated to words, information and wonder.” from deadlines and disruption

DEADLINES AND DISRUPTION My Turbulent Path from Print to Digital

Shepard, Stephen B. McGraw-Hill (304 pp.) $28.00 | Sep. 14, 2012 978-0-07-180264-2

The digital media revolution powers a lifelong journalist’s sharp, businessminded autobiography.

Former Newsweek senior editor and BusinessWeek editorin-chief Shepard, now in his 70s, acknowledges the inevitable replacement of traditional media with digital, portable formats.

He writes that he foresaw the progression but never imagined its enormity. These musings fittingly accentuate his memoir, a chronicle that recalls a 50-year history as a distinguished journalist, beginning in the Bronx as a Jewish child born to a depressive mother and a hardworking father. A pretty grade school penmanship teacher helped foster an early love of writing, though Shepard misguidedly majored in engineering in college. In 1966, he became a 26-year-old rookie at BusinessWeek, married the first in a line of fellow journalists and penned stories as a foreign economic correspondent. Throughout a breezy wealth of anecdotes, truisms and historical asides, Shepard writes of spending a defining five years at Newsweek, a stint at the doomed Saturday Review, overseeing seminal investigative pieces and advocating an online version at BusinessWeek. While he firmly considers the Internet a destructive “Category Five storm for journalism,” Shepard concedes he’s come full circle in the understanding and even the advocacy of the great migration to digital formats. The author reports rather than complains or bemoans this media acculturation and feels the industry would be best suited by “a convergence of traditional and revolutionary.” Celebrating a two-decade tenure at BusinessWeek and a founding deanship at CUNY’s top-tier graduate journalism program, Shepard’s authoritative and cautionary blessing on the journalism world is both fitting and resolute.

Insightful and convivial account of a bright, bountiful life dedicated to words, information and wonder.

Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great’s Russia, 2008, etc.), takes a different approach to revolutionary history, focusing on the fallen class: Who were they? What had their lives been like?

What happened to them? The author follows two aristocratic families (later, they intermarried), the Sheremetevs and the Golitsyns, showing the splendor in which they lived and then the squalor into which they declined. The author is deeply sympathetic to their fates. Although he states that the aristocracy had, of course, flourished on the servitude of others, he tells such wrenching, emotional stories about his characters that it’s easy to forget who once wore the silken slippers. Smith’s research is remarkably thorough in its range and detail, so much so that readers may feel overwhelmed by such powerful surges of suffering. Searches, arrests, firings, confiscations of property, internal exile, imprisonments, tortures, executions, desecration of graves—these and other grim experiences Smith chronicles in his compelling narrative. He mentions significant historical events, but his intent is to show how these events affected his characters. He portrays with brutal clarity the truth of Orwell’s Animal Farm: A new aristocracy—a political one—emerged to enjoy the benefits of living on the labor of others.

Sobering stories about the politics of power—its loss, its gain—and the deep human suffering that inevitably results. (16 pages of b/w illustrations; 3 maps; 2 family trees)

FORMER PEOPLE The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy

Smith, Douglas Farrar, Straus and Giroux (496 pp.) $30.00 | Oct. 2, 2012 978-0-374-15761-6

When the Bolshevik Revolution came in 1917, the new order began transforming aristocrats into paupers, exiles and corpses— a transformation that consumed decades.

Smith, a former U.S. diplomat and authority on the Soviets and author of several previous works (The Pearl: A Tale of 1782

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SECRET SEX LIVES A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality

Spencer, Suzy Berkley (352 pp.) $16.00 paperback | Oct. 2, 2012 978-0-425-21936-2

Investigative journalist Spencer expands her own sexual boundaries through the exploration of others’.

“Worn out from all the tragedy” of a decade penning true crime books, Spencer (Wages of Sin, 2010) engagingly steers readers through the wonderful world of contemporary sexuality. The pensive, unmarried Texan considers herself sexually ignorant, doesn’t particularly like to be touched (never has), and comes from a religious family who shunned the idea of crafting a memoir exploring the sex lives of random Americans. Surprisingly, the project transformed her from lonely, sexually timid 50-something into a woman budding with intimate possibilities. Posting a succession of inquisitive online personal ads probing responders’ bedroom activities, Spencer unleashes a battalion of sexed-up soldiers eager to interact and share prurient and often tabooed sex-drenched adventures.

Among her profiles are a few hypersexual females, a flirtatious adulterer half her age, horny swingers looking for “more on the side,” a parade of randy bisexuals, phone-sex enthusiasts and a cross-dressing father of two. As Spencer exposes the flesh behind the fantasy, she incrementally reveals aspects of her own personal life, which frequently saves the text from dissolving into a blur of America’s hot and bothered. Eventually, the book |

THE JOY OF X A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity

becomes a psychological science project, as the author experimented, challenged her beliefs, and arrived at epiphanies far different from her opening declaration that “it’s a lot safer to laugh about sex than have sex.”

Both a celebration of sexuality and, for the author, an embracive awakening to it.

AUTOMATE THIS How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World

Steiner, Christopher Portfolio (256 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-59184-492-1

A look at the rise of algorithms and how they can be found in nearly every aspect of modern life.

An algorithm, writes engineer Steiner ($20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, 2010), is simply “a set of instructions to be carried out perfunctorily to achieve an ideal result. Information goes into a given algorithm, answers come out.” The author examines what information goes in and, more importantly, what answers emerge. Although much of the narrative focuses on Wall Street and how algorithms have changed how stocks are traded, Steiner also discusses other industries, including health care, sports betting and even music recording. For example, the author writes about how an algorithm was used to help unravel a musical mystery: the composition of a unique chord struck at the opening of the Beatles’ 1964 song “A Hard Day’s Night.” However, instead of using the story as a brief example of what algorithms can do, Steiner drags out the tale for pages, dissecting every minute detail.

But in other sections, he glosses over some algorithms readers may be most familiar with, such as the one Netflix uses to suggest movies or the algorithms that connect users of an online dating site. Perhaps the book’s oddest turn is the cheerfulness with which Steiner describes how algorithms will eventually replace millions of workers, pointing out that since June 2009, “corporations have spent 26 percent more on technology and software but haven’t raised their payrolls at all.” His advice for readers? “Get friendly with bots,” and learn to write new algorithms.

Unsatisfying survey of an issue that will be increasingly important in the coming years.

Strogatz, Steven Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pp.) $27.00 | Oct. 2, 2012 978-0-547-51765-0

A neat survey of the major fields of math by a professor adept at writing both popularizations and textbooks.

Strogatz (Applied Mathematics/Cornell Univ.; Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order, 2003, etc.) begins with counting and a reference to a Sesame Street video called 123 Count with Me, “the best introduction to numbers I’ve ever seen.” Throughout the book, the author never loses sight of the mystique and charm of numbers, and at the end, he explores concepts of infinity. There, Strogatz includes a classic proof of why some infinite systems of numbers contain more numbers than other infinite systems, an idea that shocked 19thcentury mathematicians as much as the concept of imaginary numbers (the square roots of negative numbers) shocked their peers a century earlier. What’s remarkable about the author’s approach is that he conveys so much of the basic essences of the topics he covers, including algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, probability theory, vector analysis and group theory, and he often stresses intuition and visualization. His discussion of the Pythagorean theorem expertly shows how the squares on the sides of a right triangle can be added to make the square on the hypotenuse. Not surprisingly, Strogatz also emphasizes the utility of math, quoting the physicist Eugene Wigner on “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences.” In many cases, however, the author states the utility as a matter of fact rather than something to be proved—e.g., the ripples on a pond, the ridges of a sand dune and the stripes of a zebra, which reflect “the emergence of sinusoidal structure from a background of bland uniformity.” To learn why, readers should dig into the math more deeply.

A great book for the bright and curious, including even kids at grade school level up to college and beyond. (154 b/w illustrations)

THE LAUNCH PAD Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s Most Exclusive School for Startups

Stross, Randall Portfolio (240 pp.) $26.95 | Oct. 1, 2012 978-1-59184-529-4

An inside look at a Silicon Valley training program for nascent online companies.

In 2011, New York Times columnist Stross (Business/San Jose State Univ.; Planet Google, 2008, etc.) was granted round-the-clock access to a small but prominent |

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“An invigorating memoir about coming of age as the daughter of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants and Holocaust survivors.” from the watchmaker’s daughter

venture capital firm called Y Combinator. Sometimes called a “seed accelerator,” Y Combinator offers seed money to a very select group of startup companies (in exchange for equity in the company), combined with an intensive three-month program of instruction and critique. It culminates in a presentation to a group of outside investors who will hopefully invest in these new companies. Graduates include file-sharing site Dropbox and the online commenting service Disqus, used by many major publications. With so much at stake, this book should be thrumming with dramatic tension: Who will fail or succeed? Unfortunately, instead of highlighting a few budding CEOs, Stross tries to cover far too many, leaving readers with little insight into the struggles these (often quite young) entrepreneurs must be experiencing. The book also suffers from a lack of insight into key issues. For example, a chapter ostensibly meant to look at “the dispiriting lack of women founders in tech” begins by pointing out that “[i]n the six-year history of YC...there had been only one instance in which there had been an all-female team.”

But instead of seriously examining the question of why the YC applicant pool is largely, in the words of YC founder Paul Graham, “a bunch of white and Asian dudes,” Stross introduces the male YC teams who happen to have wives and young children, before concluding the chapter with only vague theories behind the lack of women in tech.

A superficial examination of the tech elite.

“The world reels a little bit and the lesson tattoos itself inside: there are no sane adults in power anywhere.” His mother finally moved them out of the house, but she was allowed only a quarter of her husband’s salary to support the seven of them. The author mostly explores the brothers’ story, but we also understand the trauma his mother endured.

Sullivan ably captures the culture of the 1960s with the advent of TV, rock ’n’ roll and the limitations of addiction treatment. (58 b/w illustrations)

THIRTY ROOMS TO HIDE IN Insanity, Addiction, and Rock ’n’ Roll in the Shadow of the Mayo Clinic

Sullivan, Luke Longstreet Univ. of Minnesota (320 pp.) $24.95 | Oct. 1, 2012 978-0-8166-7955-3

An imposing 30-room mansion provides the backdrop for a “boys will be boys and drunks will be drunks” romp through the 1950s and ‘60s.

Through the eyes of a young boy steeped in comic books, we see how former adman Sullivan (Advertising/Savannah Coll. of Art and Design; Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads, 1998) and his five brothers survived their abusive, alcoholic father, a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. The author peppers the text with the comic-book characters who helped him live within the chaos. He recounts the family legends of BB guns, cherry bombs strapped to arrows, poison ivy– infused squirt guns and a bowl of urine tossed in one brother’s face. Sullivan mined decades of letters between his mother and her father, together with his brothers’ diaries and journals to provide the narrative and emotional content for his father’s slide into rage and addiction. Few lifelines existed for his family. When his father tried to smash a locked door that he, his brother and mother were hiding behind, Sullivan climbed out the second-story window and ran next door for help. However, the neighbor was drunk and couldn’t comprehend the danger: 1784

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THE WATCHMAKER’S DAUGHTER A Memoir

Taitz, Sonia McWitty Press (256 pp.) $14.95 paperback | Oct. 16, 2012 978-0-9755618-8-1

An invigorating memoir about coming of age as the daughter of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants and Holocaust survivors.

Taitz’s (In the King’s Arms, 2011, etc.) childhood was punctuated by stories of her parents’ and grandmother’s loss as well as their faith during their time in the ghetto and Dachau. Here, the author explores her early awareness of standing out as a child; the transition from desiring assimilation to appreciating her Yiddish heritage; personal relationships; a vow to her father; travel to Israel; the differences between life on the West and East coasts; the search for meaningful work after she realized a Yale law degree did not align with her artistic impulses; study at Oxford; marriage, divorce and remarriage; and the deaths of her parents, Simon and Gita. Motifs of time, filial love, the preservation of memories and the biblical story of Queen Esther weave throughout these chapters, which also stand alone as essays that capture the spirit of the postwar decades.

Taitz evokes popular culture, from the silver screen to commercial jingles, and intersperses lighter moments with deeper considerations of suffering. Though the author focuses mostly on her experiences, it is Simon and Gita’s perseverance that truly shines—the former a respected watchmaker who began life anew more than once, the latter a concert-level pianist whose dreams were thwarted by war and who rescued her own mother from the Nazis’ infamous selections. Taitz portrays her parents with tenderness while acknowledging their imperfections.

An affecting, brisk read, especially noteworthy for its essential optimism and accomplished turns of phrase.

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COMMANDER The Life and Exploits of Britain’s Greatest Frigate Captain Taylor, Stephen Norton (320 pp.) $27.95 | Oct. 15, 2012 978-0-393-07164-1

In a biography of Edward Pellew (1757–1833), the legendary British captain, Taylor (Storm and Conquest: The Clash of Empires in the Eastern Seas, 1809, 2008) demonstrates his commanding knowledge of naval history, especially during the late18th and early-19th centuries, a period of some of the greatest battles on the seas.

The author’s research went far beyond the Admiralty archives to an old barn with a trunk full of notes written by Pellew’s son.

This story is all the more remarkable because of Pellew’s meteoric rise to midshipman within four years and his first command by age 25. Rare in a seaman, he could swim and more than once dove into the sea to save a crewmember, and his physical prowess (“tall, broad, keen-eyed, animated and beaming, master of the quarterdeck and athlete of the tops”) was the stuff of legend. Rather than just a long list of Pellew’s achievements, the author provides a detailed picture of life at sea during wars in America, the English Channel, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. His captaincy of the Indefatigable established his position as a master of single-ship command with the expert crew he built of men from his native Cornwall. While Pellew gained fame and considerable fortune, he was derided as a “tarpaulin officer” rather than a gentleman. Still, letters from his colleagues, comrades and notably from defeated enemies testify to his strength of character and sense of responsibility and fairness. During a lull in the Napoleonic War, he stood for Parliament, although he only delivered one speech, assuring the members that, from his experience in the Channel, England’s waters were secure.

Edward Pellew was “the First Seaman of the Age.” Taylor illuminates his extraordinary life, and the book is especially vivid and enlightening to landlubbers who don’t know a hawser from a yardarm. (10 color plates; 3 b/w illustrations)

BOSS ROVE Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power

Unger, Craig Scribner (320 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4516-9493-2

The longtime critic of the Bush family levels his guns at today’s most notorious political consultant.

Just in time for the 2012 election, along comes Vanity Fair contributing editor Unger (The Fall of the House of Bush: The Untold Story of How a Band of True Believers |

Seized the Executive Branch, Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils America Today, 2007, etc.) to remind liberals that Karl Rove did not depart the scene with his patron, the reviled W. The “Evil Genius” has been very busy attending to his long-term project of capturing all three branches of government for the Republican Party. From prestigious perches at Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, Rove has been preparing the public battle space for the coming election. Behind the scenes, contemptuous of the amateurish tea party and circumventing the ossified GOP apparatus, he’s strung together his own SuperPAC network. He has taken full advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and he’s seeded the Romney campaign with any number of close associates and acolytes. If Romney prevails with the help of Rove’s hidden hand, Unger insists, the consequences for the nation promise to be “monumental,” none of them good. To support his ominous prediction, he marches through Rove’s career scandals, none of which bear the hard-nosed operative’s fingerprints—he’s too smart for that—but they all reek of the master manipulator’s sulphurous odor. Unger discusses Rove’s role in the outing of Valerie Plame, his effort to manipulate Ohio’s 2004 election results and his use of the criminal justice system to target political opponents, along with his part in the Swift Boat ads that drowned John Kerry and his orchestration of the takedown that ended Dan Rather’s career. For the conscienceless Rove, issues—tort reform, voter fraud—matter only insofar as they advance the Republican cause. But, then, power has always been his objective, a 30-year effort “to game the American electoral system by whatever means necessary.”

An unrelenting critique of the bogeyman of liberals who refuses to go away.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK Five Brother and a Million Sisters

Van Noy, Nikki Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $25.00 | Oct. 2, 2012 978-1-4516-6785-1 The story of how five boys from Boston rose from nothing to become unlikely international recording stars in the late 1980s—and the more interesting story of the legion of devoted “Blockheads” that has sustained them ever since.

None of the largely nondescript personalities (save perhaps the gregarious Donnie Wahlberg) that comprise the New Kids on the Block is revealed to any significant degree in Van Noy’s (So Much to Say: Dave Matthews Band—20 Years on the Road, 2011) otherwise readable band biography. But that clearly is not the point. Instead, the author is more concerned with illustrating the truly fascinating (bewildering?) bond that has seemingly been magically forged between NKOTB and their female fans— aka “Blockheads.” The author quotes random fans extensively, and she dutifully chronicles the group’s humble beginnings on the streets of Boston to their jet-setting zenith conquering the

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“Rarely has a book with so much information been such an entertaining read.” from consider the fork

pop world. Despite the general banality of Jordan, Jon, Joe, Donnie and Danny, there is true profundity in the stories of accomplished adult women who, during their formative years, fell in love with five flickering images on TV screens and never let go. Van Noy maintains the gossamer veneer throughout, collecting the band’s dirty laundry and tidily stowing it far out of sight. The author quickly skates over many of the intragroup conflicts – including hot-button issues like NKOTB’s decision to part ways with original producer Maurice Starr, Joey McIntyre’s gripes about his perennial outsider status and Jon Knight’s surprising sexuality. Even though the NKOTB/Blockhead romance burned as hot as a neutron star inside teenage girls’ hearts, you’d never know it by the way Van Noy manages to keep everything so chaste.

A gauzy, PG-13 love letter from NKOTB to the throngs of faithful women responsible for making their rock-star dreams come true.

THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE OF BIG STONE GAP A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book

Welch, Wendy St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $24.99 | Oct. 2, 2012 978-1-250-01063-6

How a couple of outsiders captured the heart of a small Virginia community in the Appalachian Mountains and succeeded in the unlikely enterprise of opening an independent bookstore.

When her husband, Jack, retired from his position as head of a college department in Edinburgh, the couple decided to move to the United States. Welch, an American ethnographer, had been offered a seemingly attractive position directing an arts nonprofit in the United States, but it didn’t work out.

Checking out new places, they settled on Big Stone Gap, the scene of Adriana Trigiani’s popular novels as well as the 1908 classic, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, by John Fox Jr. On impulse, Welch and her husband purchased an old Edwardian mansion in poor repair and then decided to open a secondhand bookstore, which they gave the whimsical name Tales of the Lonesome Pine Used Books, Music and Internet Café. In Scotland, the couple had spent weekends performing at local fairs (she as a professional storyteller and he singing Scottish ballads), and Lonesome Pine soon doubled as a community center with a writing group, Celtic songs and dancing, mystery nights, gourmet treats and more. They worked to draw people in from surrounding communities, and initially, their unlikely gamble proved to be a big success as the store thrived. However, to supplement their income, the author took a job at a local nonprofit and ran into a conflict on policy. Gossip spread that they were “uppity incomers,” her husband was refused membership in the Kiwanis club and customers fell away. This time, they determined to stay and 1786

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in time were accepted as “Jack and Wendy, who run our town’s bookstore.” Welch discusses the financial practicalities and the ephemeral aspects involved in creating a peaceful space where people can hang out.

An entertaining book with a full cast of eccentric characters.

CONSIDER THE FORK A History of How We Cook and Eat

Wilson, Bee Basic (336 pp.) $26.99 | Oct. 9, 2012 978-0-465-02176-5

From British food writer Wilson (Sandwich: A Global History, 2010, etc.), a savory survey of kitchen implements and their impact.

We normally apply the word “technology” to military and industrial equipment, writes the author, but in fact developments in those fields often carry over to the kitchen. The inventor of stainless steel was trying to improve gun barrels, and the creator of the microwave oven was working on naval radar systems. In addition, innovations in cookware can have enormous social impact: Before food was cooked in a pot, people who lost their teeth and couldn’t chew literally starved to death. In the lively prose of a seasoned journalist, Wilson blends personal reminiscences with well-researched history to illustrate how the changing nature of our equipment affects what we eat and how we cook. “Knife” explores the difference between Western eaters, who cut big pieces of cooked food at the table, and the Chinese wielders of a tou, who chop up food into equal-sized pieces to be quickly cooked, saving energy in a country with limited fuel. “Fire” traces the evolution from open hearths to enclosed stoves, which brought women into the professional kitchen after centuries when their billowing skirts posed too much of a fire hazard for them to serve as cooks. In “Grind,” Wilson notes that the endless labor involved in producing smooth, highly refined food wasn’t an issue in a world where middle-class and wealthy Europeans had lots of servants; Wilson praises the Cuisinart as a revolutionary device “for the transformation of cooking from pain to pleasure.” Although she enjoys and vividly describes time-honored, painstaking methods of cooking, she also appreciates modern conveniences. Eating utensils, refrigeration and measurement (with a bemused look at Americans’ affection for measuring by volume as opposed to the much more accurate method of weighing) are among the other topics Wilson addresses in a narrative whose light tone enlivens formidable scholarship.

Rarely has a book with so much information been such an entertaining read.

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children’s & teen A GAME FOR SWALLOWS To Die, To Leave, To Return

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

THE SECRET OF THE FORTUNE WOOKIEE by Tom Angleberger.................................. p. 1789

Abirached, Zeina Illus. by Abirached, Zeina Graphic Universe (192 pp.) $9.95 paperback | $21.95 e-book PLB $29.27 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-57505-941-9 978-1-4677-0047-4 e-book 978-0-7613-8568-4 PLB

NIGHTSONG by Ari Berk; illus. by Loren Long......................... p. 1791 ELECTRIC BEN by Robert Byrd....................................................p. 1793 HELLO! HELLO! by Matthew Cordell......................................... p. 1795 AMBER BROWN IS TICKLED PINK

by Paula Danzinger; Bruce Coville; Elizabeth Levy; illus. by Tony Ross.......................................................................... p. 1796 IN A GLASS GRIMMLY by Adam Gidwitz................................. p. 1801 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK OF ANIMAL POETRY by J. Patrick Lewis................................... p. 1807 A SOLDIER’S SECRET by Marissa Moss..................................... p. 1810 YOU ARE A STAR! by Michael Parker; illus. by Judith Rossell....................................................................p. 1813 SHADOW ON THE MOUNTAIN by Margi Preus....................... p. 1814 DISCOVERING BLACK AMERICA by Linda Tarrant-Reid .......p. 1817 THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET by Shelley Moore Thomas......p. 1817 THE VOYAGE OF ULYSSES by Elastico srl.................................. p. 1819

A stark look at the civil war in Lebanon in the 1980s, as seen through the eyes of a child anxiously awaiting her parents’ arrival from her grandmother’s house on the other side of the demarcation line.

With shells and gunfire delivering staccato bursts of violence, young Zeina and her brother have been sequestered within the small foyer in their apartment. This tiny room offers the most protection from the constant artillery fire, and it becomes a place for neighbors in the building to congregate and seek asylum. Though war is raging and death always seems to loom near with shells falling and snipers possibly crouching behind every wall, Zeina and her neighbors try to live the best they can—making cakes, acting out scenes from Cyrano de Bergerac and drinking strong Turkish coffee. Through austere black-and-white illustrations (with a detectable influence from Persepolis’ Marjane Satrapi), Abirached easily conveys the overarching sense of unease and how something as simple as a visit to grandma’s can inspire fear. Abirached’s readers will instantly empathize with those who do not readily have access to simple luxuries many take for granted—running water, electricity or the simple return of our loved ones from an outing—and this may perhaps spur them to re-examine what they may have otherwise overlooked.

Quietly mesmerizing and thought-provoking. (Graphic memoir. 12 & up)

READY OR NOT, HERE COMES SCOUT!

Abramson, Jill; O’Connor, Jane Illus. by Melmon, Deborah Viking (32 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-670-01441-5

A boisterous golden retriever puppy narrates her attempts to make friends at the dog park in this earnest but uninspired story that fails to capture the bouncy charm of a real puppy.

Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times, |

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previously relayed the story of rearing her puppy in a book for adults, The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout (2011). For this effort, Abramson collaborates with her sister, the author of the popular Fancy Nancy series. Despite their extensive publishing experience, the authors present an unexceptional story with a stilted text that reads like a stale beginning reader from the 1950s. Scout narrates in a coy, overly cheery tone with an abundance of exclamation marks and repeated refrains of “Ooh ooh!” and “Ready or not, here I come!” After learning to play nicely and to share her toy, Scout proclaims, “Wow! See how popular I am now!” Appealing illustrations of the cast of cavorting canines add interest but fail to rescue the lackluster text.

Kids don’t want a lesson in playground etiquette delivered in didactic fashion from a puppy, even a cute one.

Ready or not? Not. (Picture book. 3-6)

I WANT TO HELP!

Adams, Diane Illus. by Hayashi, Nancy Peachtree (32 pp.) $15.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-56145-630-7

Emily Pearl, that not-so-helpful but very independent girl, is back in her second outing, this time “helping” at school.

Emily Pearl goes to school and can do lots of things—count to 14, write her name and hit a home run. But as in I Can Do It Myself! (2009), while the gentle rhyming verse brags about all of her accomplishments, Hayashi’s watercolor, pen and coloredpencil illustrations reveal that her efforts are not always successful or welcome. Yes, she can do the monkey bars two at a time, but it involves pushing other kids off. Yes, she can neatly stack the blocks…after she causes her classmates’ creation to tumble.

Indeed, she is often the cause of the mishaps and chaos that she is so anxious to help with. While Emily Pearl’s previous outing was charming in its simplicity and its snapshot of a too-true phase in every child’s life, this one is not as successful. Emily Pearl is obviously older and so should be a little more clued-in about the effect her actions have on other people; readers scanning her classmates’ faces will know immediately that Emily is not always appreciated by kids or adults, but those who don’t pay attention to facial expressions and the small details may not get the point of the book at all.

This misses the riotous humor and innocent naughtiness that make Olivia and Eloise such delicious fun. (Picture book. 4-6)

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OUTPOST

Aguirre, Ann Feiwel & Friends (336 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-312-65009-4 When this follow-up to Enclave (2011) begins, trained Huntress Deuce and fellow travelers Fade, Stalker and Tegan have lived two months amid the town of Salvation’s affluence, strict gender roles and relative freedom from the putrid, slavering, mindless Freaks who plague their world.

The customs in Salvation are strange and confining to Deuce, a fact continually impressed upon readers by Deuce’s accessible but sometimes repetitive narration. Deuce is frustrated by mandatory schooling and by the fact that some townsfolk find armed women a dangerous abomination. After an attack by a group of Freaks whose actions are suspiciously organized and deliberate, Deuce and a group of villagers form an outpost that is Salvation’s first defense. War is brutal, and readers see Deuce kill enemies and lose friends as well as defend herself from “forced breeding” at the hands of a brutish fellow soldier. There is, of course, a love triangle, the conventionality of which is almost jarring given Deuce’s ignorance of and resistance to romance and traditional roles. One boy insists on “exclusive kissing rights”; the other vows he will keep trying to win her over; Deuce seems to tolerate both sets of attentions.

Overall, an engaging world and forward-moving plot with a resolution that promises new settings and challenges in Book 3. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

COME AUGUST, COME FREEDOM The Bellows, the Gallows, and the Black General Gabriel

Amateau, Gigi Candlewick (240 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-7636-4792-6

Inspired by the Haitian slave uprising led by black general Toussaint L’Ouverture, Gabriel, a literate Virginia slave and blacksmith, attempts to parallel that effort on his own turf.

Gabriel and Thomas Henry Prosser, the master’s son, were raised together since both were nursed at Gabriel’s mother’s breast, Gabriel rarely getting his fair share. But the power dynamics of slavery fully destroys their relationship as they age, until they are at odds with one another’s goals—Gabriel, hoping to lead his people to freedom in the aftermath of the American Revolution; Thomas, aiming to squelch the effort. Based on a true story of planned rebellion by “Prosser’s Gabriel,” Amateau deftly tucks well-researched period documents into the narrative at opportune moments. Her use of language is both kirkus.com

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“Angleberger’s third in the series continues the fun but relies on knowledge of its predecessors, but unlike the movies, going back to the prequels is no hardship.” from the secret of the fortune wookiee

startling (“To Gabriel, Ma’s whip marks resembled the earth between the tobacco hills, newly tilled and ready for planting”) and gratifying (“…he went only to find the girl who could look into his smile and see the deep and secret life inside him”). As an adjunct to classroom study, readers will be drawn in by Gabriel’s determination and motivations, including his devotion to his beloved bride, Nanny. Yet while historically accurate and beautifully written, the plotting ultimately lacks the tension or uncertainty that will drive readers to the finish.

Despite inevitability, an anguished tale told with poetry and heart. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

THE SECRET OF THE FORTUNE WOOKIEE

Angleberger, Tom Illus. by Angleberger, Tom Amulet/Abrams (160 pp.) $12.95 | Aug. 7, 2012 978-1-4197-0392-8 Series: Origami Yoda, 3

A short time ago in a middle school not far away…

The forces of good have lost Dwight and Origami Yoda to Tippett Academy. McQuarrie Middle School is suddenly as boring as linoleum flooring. On the second day of the post-Dwight era, Sara, Tommy’s sorta girlfriend and Dwight’s neighbor, arrives at school with a fortune Wookiee (a cootie catcher shaped like Chewbacca) and says Dwight has sent Chewie to help in Origami Yoda’s absence. Kids ask advice.

Sara counts off their favorite movie, spells the name of their favorite Star Wars character, lifts a flap and: “Mmmrrrgggggg!”— Chewie offers sage advice. Thankfully, Han Foldo’s there to interpret, usually offering a Han Solo quote from the movies.

Chewie solves several student problems as Tommy compiles a case file with stories from each, but Tommy’s also concerned that Tippett Academy seems to have drained the weird from Dwight. Will Harvey expose the fortune Wookiee as a fraud?

Will Dwight return to McQuarrie? Will principal Rabbski outlaw origami and destroy what little fun there is to be had at school? Angleberger’s third in the series continues the fun but relies on knowledge of its predecessors, but unlike the movies, going back to the prequels is no hardship. A chorus of spot-on middle school voices and plenty of laughs are wrapped around this tale of friendship and seasoned with Star Wars references.

The end is foreboding…all young Jedi rejoice! There will be a sequel. (Graphic hybrid fiction. 9-14)

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I’LL BE HOME SOON

Armstrong-Ellis, Luanne Ronsdale Press (200 pp.) $11.95 paperback | $7.99 e-book Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-55380-180-1 978-1-55380-181-8 e-book When 13-year-old Regan’s mother disappears, the girl is forced to fend for herself as she desperately tries to figure out whom she can trust.

It is not the first time her mother has gone away, but as the weeks roll by, Regan is fearful that she is gone for good. Hungry, frightened and tired, Regan must navigate the dangerous innercity streets alone. Determined to find her mother, she finds shelter wherever she can, whether it is under a bridge or in a run-down squat. Regan dodges dangerous street people, hostile men who claim her mother has stolen from them, and even the police and social workers who want to lock her away in a group home. Gritty details paint the horrific landscape and give faces to the desperate people who populate this hidden world. The premise of Regan’s story has all the hallmarks of a wonderful study of resilience. Unfortunately, clunky prose and affected dialogue keep this story from rising above others with similar themes. Readers will quickly grow weary of the repetitive plot and flat characters. Regan, with her hopefulness and determination, is the only bright light in an otherwise gray landscape.

Underdeveloped writing collides with a too-familiar plot. (Fiction. 10-14)

DRAGON OF SEAS

Baccalario, Pierdomenico Random House (320 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $20.99 Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-375-85898-7 978-0-375-89229-5 e-book 978-0-375-95898-4 PLB Series: Century Quartet, 4 Elettra, Mistral and Harvey unite in Singapore with Sheng to bring this fantasy/thriller series to a thoroughly satisfying end (City of Wind, 2011, etc.).

Singapore has never been so exciting, as the four—all born on February 29th—careen around the city avoiding villains, unearthing clues and aided by fantastic beings from Chinese mythology and history. Baccalario ups the ante with this series conclusion.

The action begins before Elettra, Mistral and Harvey get on a plane; flight from the henchmen of Heremit Devil begins almost when they land; and tension builds exponentially with every shadowy alley, nighttime park and ancient monument negotiated.

Characters from the first three installments make appearances, and the cast is expanded by local helping spirits, new allies and new villains. Illustrations, grouped in the center of the book, include photos, reproductions of maps and pictures of tickets |

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“There is some brief drama, but it’s less a tale of hardship or survival than a celebration of the season’s turn and an authentic glimpse of life in northwestern Alaska.” from kumak ’s river

and currency, bringing readers a sense of the city and adding reality to the plot. The ending is a doozy—violent (not graphically), unpredictable (despite foreshadowing) and gratifying.

Loose threads are wrapped up in an epilogue that leaves room for follow-up. The fans will be happy. (Adventure. 11-14)

JOSHUA DREAD

Bacon, Lee Illus. by Dorman, Brandon Delacorte (272 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-385-74185-9 978-0-375-98721-2 e-book 978-0-375-99027-4 PLB

“It’s embarrassing to run into your parents when you’re with people from school, especially when your parents are about to destroy the planet.”

Sixth-grader Joshua has always had to contend with his parents’ secret identities, The Botanist and Dr. Dread—the Dread Duo. They keep trying to destroy the world, and Captain Justice keeps thwarting them. Now, it looks like Josh might be Gyfted (Genetic Youth Fluctuation, Triggering Extraordinary Development). He’s not sure how he feels about that. Does he want to be a supervillain? He certainly doesn’t want to shill for every product on the planet like Captain Justice. To make matters worse, when strange creatures attack the Vile Fair, a yearly expo for supervillains, the world’s most evil villains begin vanishing. When the Dread Duo fall prey, can Josh solve the mystery and save his parents? Bacon’s debut is a fast and often funny entry in the kid-withsuperpowers subgenre. Joshua, his normal friend Milton and new friend Sophie all contend with real preteen troubles (bullies and gossip) as well as those particular to the Gyfted. Dorman’s occasional black-and-white illustrations of the characters are a nice addition, but there are far too few of them.

A twisty, swiftly moving adventure sure to please superhero fans. (Fantasy. 8-12)

PIGEON POOP

Baguley, Elizabeth Illus. by Chambers, Mark Good Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-56148-769-1

veritable monsoon of muck, the splattered citizens rise up in wrath to construct “a whopping, / super-duper, / Snapping, zapping… // ...birdy scooper!” Though his pigeon poop looks more like globs of whipped cream or yogurt (thank goodness), Chambers smears the stuff over his cartoon figures with a liberal hand.

He endows the pigeon with an engaging “Who? Me?” grin and concocts a comically complicated trapping device made from miscellaneous junk. When said device finally traps the avian offender, a softhearted lass takes charge, and “soon our Pidge was clean and tidy / In a poop-proof… // pigeon didey!”

Even young children will find this, at best, a short-term solution, but in the end, at least it leaves both the townsfolk and the guano-gusher itself happy. (Picture book. 5-7)

KUMAK’S RIVER A Tall Tale from the Far North

Bania, Michael Illus. by Bania, Michael Alaska Northwest Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | paper $9.99 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-88240-886-6 978-0-88240-887-3 paperback Iñupiat villagers cope with a flood in a cheery tale that’s not so much “Tall” as it is Wet. Watching the river ice break up after eight frozen months, papa Kumak comments to his family, “As sure as seagulls return in spring, that river will come to visit us today.” Indeed it does— as Kumak and his neighbors watch from the roofs of their stiltbased homes, the water rises behind a temporary jam to carry away the village’s oil drums, fish tubs, net floats and toys, as well as the boat into which Kumak has herded his motley pack of dogs. The river doesn’t “visit” long, though, and once the dam breaks up, everyone climbs down to help one another successfully recover their strayed goods and animals. The Alaskan author draws from her own experiences to tell the lightly patterned tale, and she illustrates it with bright watercolor scenes replete with frisky dogs and smiling people (the latter in modern dress). There is some brief drama, but it’s less a tale of hardship or survival than a celebration of the season’s turn and an authentic glimpse of life in northwestern Alaska.

A valuable, loving look at an often-overlooked culture. (afterword) (Picture book. 5-7)

Unlikely resolution notwithstanding, this thoroughly poopiferous tale of a pigeon with an outsized alimentary issue will leave readers wiping their…eyes from laughter.

It’s bombs away when a pigeon comes to a proudly pristine small town: Not only are “Umbrellas, shoes, and smart new hats…spoiled by Pidge’s splots and splats,” but statues (of course) and even dogs are covered in gunk. Afflicted by this 1790

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REDWING

Bennett, Holly Orca (208 pp.) $12.95 paperback | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-4598-0038-0 Wandering musician Rowan, his family dead of plague, and Samik, on the run from a vicious warlord, join forces, at first with misgivings.

Bennett has crafted a believable, medievallike world. Rowan travels about in a mule-drawn caravan playing a button box, a type of accordion. He’s a gifted musician, but life is hard and he’s haunted by the deaths of his parents and beloved little sister, Ettie. Samik successfully defended his younger brother from attack by a warlord, and now he’s fled pursuit to Rowan’s country. Gifted with second sight, he points out to Rowan that Ettie is always with him, the girl’s spirit adding an attractive paranormal twist. The narrative switches between the points of view of Rowan and Samik and occasionally ratchets up the suspense by cutting back to the savage men who are trailing Samik—and clearly getting closer. Rowan shows a growing maturity as he learns to make his way without his parents’ guidance; Samik, from a privileged background, is less determined to mature. He hides his growing affection for Rowan both from the boy and from readers, who might be surprised when he finally gives himself away. Suspense rather than action sustains the plot, but a scary climax doesn’t disappoint.

An appealing fantasy with enough tension to firmly hold readers’ interest. (Fantasy. 12-18)

NIGHTSONG

Berk, Ari Illus. by Long, Loren Simon & Schuster (48 pp.) $17.99 | $12.99 e-book | Sep. 25, 2012 978-1-4169-7886-2 978-1-4169-8552-5 e-book Exquisite design coupled with evocative illustrations enrich this charming tale of a little bat taking his first solo flight and how he learns to “see” with his “good sense,” otherwise known as echolocation.

Although picture books about bats abound, small Chiro will capture readers’ hearts immediately. When the bat-mother tells her child it is time for him to fly alone, the little one shares his fears about the darkness and his inability to see. His mother instructs him on what to do—“sing out into the world, and [listen to] the song the world sings back to you. Sing, and the world will answer. That is how you’ll see.” Up to this point, Long, utilizing acrylics and graphite, features the two creatures up close in toasty browns against a textured dark background. When the mother lets Chiro go, the page turn reveals an emotional change in perspective. No longer is the young bat cuddly and large on the page; now he appears tiny and vulnerable in the immense black spread. Talented storytelling features rich yet |

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concrete language to describe and to build suspense during the bat’s nocturnal trip. Vague but frightening shapes in the dark become defined as trees, bugs, geese and ocean waves in the bluish-green tones used to render a visual of the bat’s echolocation.

Young ones will relate to Chiro and cheer as he gains confidence with his newfound skill and will be deeply satisfied flying along on his sensory-rich journey. (Picture book. 4-7)

AVA AND THE REAL LUCILLE

Best, Cari Illus. by Valentine, Madeleine Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-374-39903-0 Ava and her little sister, Arlie, win first prize in a poetry contest at their local pet store, with an unspecified pet as the prize. But instead of a longed-for dog, the pet turns out to be a parakeet—not what Ava had in mind at all.

The girls had planned to name their prize-dog Lucille, so the parakeet is awarded the name instead and welcomed into the family by Arlie and the girls’ mother. Ava resists, glaring at the bird and making snide, often hilarious comments. Gradually the girls come to understand their new pet, and bit by bit, the bird wins them over, leading Ava to proclaim the parakeet as “the real Lucille” in a concluding poem. The parakeet’s minor illness adds drama and solidifies her importance to the family.

The story unfolds gracefully with just the right amount of text, incorporating subtle humor, natural dialogue and interesting tidbits of information about parakeets. Softly shaded illustrations convey a nostalgic air, full of cozy details of the pleasant home shared by the mother, her daughters and little Lucille.

A quiet, warm story with real emotions and a real plot.

As a pet, Lucille is the real deal. (Picture book. 3-7)

THE HALLOWED ONES

Bickle, Laura Graphia (320 pp.) $8.99 paperback | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-547-85926-2 While the world outside succumbs to a fast-moving plague of horrific violence, Katie’s Amish community remains intact and at peace—for now.

Katie’s been looking forward to venturing into the wider world and sampling its pleasures with Elijah, whom she expects to marry. Rumspringa, the Amish-youth rite of passage, won’t happen this year.

Instead, their own world’s invaded, heralded by a helicopter crash in a cornfield. Trying to free the pilot, Katie is shaken to see glowing red eyes amid the smoking wreckage. An outsider family friend brings news of more catastrophes. Seeking Elijah’s |

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missing brothers in town, Katie and Elijah find it perplexingly abandoned. Although elders have decreed no one may enter or leave their community, when she discovers a Canadian outsider on the verge of death, Katie risks everything to save his life.

Readers will find the misuse of “eh” jarring. (Canadians don’t start sentences with “eh,” but tack it onto the end for interrogative emphasis.) More importantly, the opposing forces feel mismatched. “What is good?” begs the question, “What is evil?”

While Katie questions the faith and traditions she was raised with and wrestles with tough ethical dilemmas, her mindlessly rule-bound antagonists simply wreak senseless violence.

Philosophical quibbles aside, readers will find it hard to put down this suspenseful, scary, compulsively readable adventure, which has a companion title coming in 2013.

(Horror. 12 & up)

EVERYTHING GOES In the Air

Biggs, Brian Illus. by Biggs, Brian Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (56 pp.) $14.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-06-195810-6 For young fans of things with wings, another oversized visual riot from the creator of Everything Goes: On Land (2011).

Following a departing family as it wends its way through a teeming airport, Biggs doesn’t just confine himself to winged aircraft—covering instead the entire history of flight from the Wright Brothers on. Topical spreads are filled edge to edge with early airplanes, modern working planes of various designs, helicopters, gliders, blimps and balloons. Knowing just how much visual busyness to pack into each bright cartoon scene without turning it into a confusing jumble, he also offers alternate spreads a-bustle with activity. Passengers wheel luggage through a concourse, undress to various degrees at a security station (“NOPE” flashes the red sign over the gate as a peg-legged pirate tries to pass), board a jetliner (later seen in a cutaway view) and taxi out to the runway for a climactic double-gatefold takeoff. Along with identifying labels, viewers inclined to take closer looks will be rewarded by the sight of five rug rats leading a harried mom on a merry chase, birds with or without jaunty hats, at least one personal cameo of the artist and other diversions.

Required reading for both plane-iacs and any first-time flier. (Informational picture book. 4-6)

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LITTLE SWEET POTATO

Bloom, Amy Beth Illus. by Jones, Noah Z. Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-06-180439-7 Accidently uprooted from his garden patch, a sweet potato is repeatedly excluded from other gardens before landing in just the right place.

Little Sweet Potato has lived peacefully in his garden patch until vibrations from a tractor shake him loose from his vine and toss him onto a road. Wondering how to get back home, he bravely rolls to another garden, occupied by resident carrots who wiggle “their long orange bodies,” call him “lumpy, dumpy, and…bumpy” and reject him. Little Sweet Potato resolutely continues to another patch, where handsome eggplants with satiny skin refuse him because of his “dumpy, bumpy, and kinda lumpy” appearance. At the next garden, flowers with “velvety blue and yellow faces” shun Little Sweet Potato because he’s a “lumpy, bumpy, dumpy vegetable.” Following similar receptions from the grapes and squash, Little Sweet Potato is about to give up when he’s welcomed into a garden teeming with all kinds of plants who praise his lumpy, dumpy, bumpy figure. Rendered in strong black outlines and bright colors, the comical illustrations track Little Sweet Potato’s solitary roll across sequential double-page spreads. Cartoonlike, anthropomorphic veggies, fruits and flowers add humor with their hilarious expressions, ranging from haughty and scornful to enthusiastic and approving.

A tale of rejection and acceptance with echoes of “The Ugly Duckling.” (Picture book. 4-7)

BLACKWOOD

Bond, Gwenda Strange Chemistry (352 pp.) $9.99 paperback | $6.01 e-book Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-908844-07-1 978-1-908844-08-8 e-book The only mystery here is how one of America’s oldest unsolved events—the Lost Colony of Roanoke—becomes tedious in this piece of speculative fiction.

Seventeen-year-old Miranda Blackwood knows she’s the town freak because her family carries a curse that has confined them for centuries to Roanoke Island, N.C., the same island from which the English colonists attempting to found the first colony disappeared without a trace. It doesn’t help that she’s begun seeing strange visions of the settlers’ ships. After the island awakens to find 114 of its residents missing (matching the number of Lost Colonists)—and Miranda’s father murdered— Miranda aims to find the causes. Phillips, a descendant of the “Witch of Roanoke Island,” can “hear voices” when he is on the island, so his police-chief father summons him from his safe boarding school on the mainland to assist. In a third-person kirkus.com

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“Ben Franklin’s multiple geniuses might be too large to be contained in a simple narrative, but Byrd finds a way to convey with warmth and enthusiasm an appreciation for [his] long and influential life…” from electric ben

narration that alternates viewpoints, the passionless teens enlist the aid of crackpot theorist Dr. Roswell. Through him, they learn more about their ancestries and Elizabethan alchemist John Dee, who, according to Roswell, wanted to build a New London on Roanoke as a first outpost of an empire of immortals. When Dee returns from the past and takes possession of Miranda’s dead father’s body, the teens’ new mission becomes keeping this egomaniac from realizing his dream. Just when adventure should set in, the story grows increasingly repetitive and mind-numbing.

Readers will be lost, indeed. (Speculative fiction. 13 & up)

ONE STARRY NIGHT

Butler, M. Christina Illus. by Macnaughton, Tina Good Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-56148-768-4

Little Hedgehog and his friends enjoy a splendid evening of stargazing.

From his window one night, Hedgehog sees a silver shower of stars sparkling and flashing across the sky. He can’t wait to tell his friends. Fox and Mouse are walking home through the meadow when Hedgehog catches up to them. Rabbit soon joins the party, jumping up and down with excitement. The baby mice ask politely if they can stay up to watch, so Mouse agrees. A fallen tree proves to be a tough obstacle, but the animals work together to get over it. Old Badger, in pince-nez with a blanket around his shoulders, advises that the top of the hill is the best viewing spot, and he joins the rest in their trek there, with a lantern to guide them all. Rabbit carries a net; he intends to catch a falling star. And Little Hedgehog carries his trusty binoculars. Mild excitement enters the plot when Rabbit falls into an old badger den, and in trying to see down inside, everyone else falls in too. Little Hedgehog finds another tunnel, and when everyone climbs up and out, there they are at the top of the hill, looking at a sparkly sky that stretches on forever.

Impossibly cute-looking animals, embossed stars and minor close calls add up to a delightful bedtime adventure story for children who absolutely, positively can’t stand tension. (Picture book. 3-5)

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ELECTRIC BEN

Byrd, Robert Illus. by Byrd, Robert Dial (40 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 13, 2012 978-0-8037-3749-5 A beautifully realized labor of love and affection brings to life one of our brightest founding fathers.

Ben Franklin’s multiple geniuses might be too large to be contained in a simple narrative, but Byrd finds a way to convey with warmth and enthusiasm an appreciation for the long and influential life that Franklin lived as printer, inventor and statesman. Byrd’s sparkling marriage of text and illustration lowers the barriers to comprehending the brilliance, energy, passion and inventiveness of this early American phenom. Four generously wide columns across each opening offer a space for the straightforward, clear-voiced narrative accompanied by full-color, captioned artwork—sometimes several illustrations on a page—along with charming, brief inset quotations from Franklin’s writings. The design evokes the two-columned early newspapers that Franklin might have known. Byrd’s prose is respectful of his young readers and sophisticated at the same time, providing historical and cultural context for events and significant moments in Franklin’s life and selecting from a very big life the stories that best convey a sense of the personality and character of the man. The artwork and distinctive design must stand as markers for readers who want to return to specific places in the text, as there are neither page numbers nor an index. However, a comprehensive timeline and bibliography will serve young scholars well, and the author’s notes add to an understanding of both Franklin and the historical record about him.

A work of breadth and energy, just like its subject; engaging and brimming with appeal for a wide audience.

(Biography. 8-14)

THE SECRET OF OTHELLO

Cameron, Sam Bold Strokes Books (246 pp.) $11.95 paperback | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-60282-742-4 Series: Fisher Key Adventures, 2

This second adventure featuring twin amateur sleuths Steven and Denny Anderson focuses on the teens’ personal lives.

Steven has sworn off dating, but multiple girls are pursuing him. Denny, finally out as gay to friends and family, is dating Brian and eager to lose his virginity before leaving to train for the Coast Guard at the end of the summer. Meanwhile, a tree falls on the Andersons’ house, and the twins take up temporary residence on their friend Nathan Carter’s boat. There are scuba-diving lessons with a cantankerous war veteran and his teenage daughter, a runin with a strict and homophobic aunt, a martial arts challenge and a variety of relationship conflicts. Among so many subplots, |

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“Cameron...spins a deliciously gothic tale peopled with appealing and not-so-appealing secondary characters, punctuated by the requisite madness and shot through with intrigue.” from the dark unwinding

the titular secret, which involves a mysterious, crashed satellite and violent out-of-towners eager to retrieve it, fades somewhat into the background. The result is a busy but lively teen drama with Steven and Denny’s practical, caring, sometimes antagonistic and often humorous brotherly relationship at its center.

Mystery fans may wish for more sleuthing; those following the twins’ love lives and military careers will find plenty of twists and turns to appreciate here. (Mystery. 14-16)

THE DARK UNWINDING

Cameron, Sharon Scholastic (336 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-545-32786-2 978-0-545-46964-7 e-book “Why had life singled me out for drudgery and isolation, and to be the instrument of others’ unhappiness?”

Katharine, an orphan reliant entirely upon the charity of her father’s sisterin-law, has been dispatched by her horrid aunt to the estate of her father’s only remaining living sibling—to declare him a lunatic and thereby settle the family’s fortune on her odious cousin. The pragmatic 17-year-old is astounded and appalled to find that Stranwyne is home to a gasworks, a kiln and a foundry, along with two idyllic villages populated by some 800 souls plucked from the workhouses of London to serve and support her Uncle Tully. While far from a lunatic, Katharine’s uncle is nevertheless terribly vulnerable, a man today’s readers will recognize as on the autistic spectrum, a wizard with numbers and gadgets but entirely helpless in society. At the behest of handsome, gray-eyed Lane, her uncle’s chief caregiver, Katharine agrees to a stay of 30 days, possibly the only free days of her entire life. Cameron, through wry, observant Katharine, spins a deliciously gothic tale peopled with appealing and not-soappealing secondary characters, punctuated by the requisite madness and shot through with intrigue. Though readers may not be surprised by Katharine’s arc, there are more than enough twists and turns along the way to maintain suspense.

By turns funny and poignant, this period mystery is a thoroughgoing delight. (Historical mystery. 12-16)

I’M NOT SLEEPY

Chapman, Jane Illus. by Chapman, Jane Good Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-56148-765-3 A little owlet employs a big bag of tricks when Grandma tries to get him to settle down to sleep.

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a soft nest and lays Mo carefully in the middle. “Play with me?”

Mo giggles. “No, Sweetie, it’s time for bed,” Grandma responds.

She reads in pleasant silence for a while, until Mo calls out that he hasn’t had his bedtime snack. With effort, Grandma flies down to get it (a cookie, disappointingly, not a vole) and bring it back up to Mo, who again asks to play. Grandma’s answer is the same. Not even leaves falling from the nest onto her head or Mo’s loud declaration that “It’s an emergency!” changes her mind. But she does come up with a plan. She will go to sleep, and Mo, after putting her to bed, can play to his heart’s content. Mo is delighted, but he finds that the effort of arranging a nest for Grandma and flying down to get her bedtime snack has made him...sleepy. At last, he settles into his makeshift nest, and Grandma has a chance to read her book in peace. Chapman’s story is simple and hardly original but pitch-perfect. Her owls look soft and friendly, and her backgrounds use an appropriately warm palette that frames them nicely.

An ideal story for those who prefer softer edges to their bedtime shenanigans. (Picture book. 3-6)

SEED BY SEED The Legend and Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman

Codell, Esmé Raji Illus. by Perkins, Lynne Rae Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-06-145515-5

A simple introduction to an American legend turns up inspiration for making the world a better place.

Frontier nurseryman John Chapman, born in Massachusetts just before the Revolutionary War, had traveled thousands of miles by his death and covered the Ohio River Valley with apple-tree nurseries, showing pioneer families how to start the orchards that would strengthen their attachment to the land. He had already become the legendary “Johnny Appleseed,” known for singular habits of dress, kindness to animals, friendship with pioneer and original settlers and a love of books.

Saintly stories (“The Native Americans respected him for his spiritual bond with his surroundings, his kinship with all that grew and lived”) about Chapman inform this account. Codell says that Johnny Appleseed “left five [footsteps] for us to fill: Use what you have. Share what you have. Respect nature. Try to make peace where there is war. You can reach your destination by taking small steps.” Perkins’ watercolor, gouache and collage illustration is lively and disarming; a stitched sampler across one full opening offers rolling hills with apple trees in both blossom and fruit, Johnny Appleseed in the distance. Sources and acknowledgments appear on the title-page verso, while a final page offers suggestions for celebrating Johnny Appleseed’s September 26 birthday, including a simple apple pie recipe and the graceful Swedenborgian hymn many children will know as “the Johnny Appleseed song.”

Sweet. (Picture book/biography. 5-9) kirkus.com

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DARE TO DREAM...CHANGE THE WORLD

Corcoran, Jill--Ed. Illus. by Jepson, J. Beth Kane/Miller (40 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-61067-065-4

An illustrated collection of poems celebrating those who have, as the title indicates, “changed the world.”

While the individuals profiled here are undeniably inspiring, the biographical poem, brief text and topical poem intended to illuminate each person’s achievements don’t adequately convey personality or relevance, resulting in an uneven collection that, ironically enough, fails to live up to its potential. Thirty poets have contributed their work, from familiar, prolific authors such as Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jane Yolen and Marilyn Singer to those whose writing is less well-known. Subjects range from the contemporary (Temple Grandin, Steven Spielberg) to the historical (Jonas Salk), and from the well-known to the obscure (Father Greg Boyle). Unfortunately, the poems are uneven in quality, with many seeming forced or predictable. In general, the topical poems are the most successful, with particularly engaging verses by Singer (about the joys of flight) and Alice Schertle (pondering the mysteries of a mummy’s tomb). A variety of poetic forms are used; some feature rhyme and are composed of multiple stanzas, others seem more like prose portraits arbitrarily broken into short lines. Jepson’s vibrant collage-style illustrations incorporate a variety of patterns and textures.

Complementary colors help to tie facing pages together and also serve as backgrounds to the text, further linking the concepts on each double-page spread.

Potentially useful in classrooms that include character education in the curriculum, this purposive anthology will likely find it hard to find an appreciative audience in lessstructured settings. (Picture book/poetry. 8 and up)

HELLO! HELLO!

Cordell, Matthew Illus. by Cordell, Matthew Disney Hyperion (56 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-4231-5906-3 Into a family’s device-dominated existence, Cordell inserts this tribute to the realms of nature and the imagination.

Lydia, bored with gadgets that fail to activate or stimulate, turns to parents and a brother too immersed in their own digital miasmas to look up. An open door and a fluttering leaf beckon, and Lydia, once outside, encounters a bug, a field of flowers and—leaping from the natural to the fantastic—a horse who greets her by name. In ensuing double-page spreads, the galloping girl is joined by an increasingly exotic horde of animals—from bison to gorilla, T. rex to blue whale. With her |

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cellphone’s “RING RING RING,” it all comes to a screeching halt, as both parents call her home. Now nature’s ambassador, Lydia—always depicted in color against the tonal gray-washes of her home and family—exchanges Mom’s laptop for a leaf, Dad’s PDA for a flower and brother Bob’s tablet for the ladybug that’s clung to her dress throughout her adventure. Inked letters toggle between a digital look (for the device-obsessive scenes) and a brushy, casually penned script for the wider world.

In the charming penultimate spread, the family (with that ladybug now clinging to Bob) admires the falling leaves; in the last, all four ride careening (or swimming) animals.

This wry object lesson blends clever design and a sincere, never-preachy delivery. Terrific! (Picture book. 3-7)

IT’S MINE

Corderoy, Tracey Illus. by Pedler, Caroline Good Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-56148-766-0 Baby Bear learns an important lesson in sharing.

Lulu comes to play at Baby Bear’s house. The two friends look identical—small and tan and furry—except that Lulu has a tiny polka-dot bow on top of her head. The play date begins with a game of tigers for Lulu and Baby Bear and Rory, Baby Bear’s stuffed tiger (bright orange and palpably fuzzy, for a touch-and-feel element). Baby Bear’s rumbling tummy means it’s time for a snack; he hurries to the kitchen and returns with two pawfuls of food. But he doesn’t like what he sees: Lulu is playing with Rory. A tug of war follows, and Lulu ends up crying. Mommy intervenes, suggesting a trip to the park. “I’ll bring Rory along with me,” she says. At the park, Lulu at first sits on the seesaw and Baby Bear on the swings. Then after a while, Lulu offers to push Baby Bear, and his sadness melts away as he swings higher and higher. He gets an idea. He rushes to Mommy and brings Rory back, offering him to Lulu, who suggests that they push Rory together. But it’s Mommy who makes the best suggestion of all. She pushes all three of them, sharing the swing.

Corderoy’s admirably simple storytelling is matched by the clarity and boldness of Pedler’s illustrations, nicely composed and devoid of extraneous elements.

Sweet and useful, if duplicative and lacking the crystalline emotional depths of Lisa Jahn-Clough’s My Friend and I (1999). (Picture book. 3-6)

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MY BRAVE YEAR OF FIRSTS Tries, Sighs, and High Fives

A very handsome, fundamental introduction to a fish that captures the attention, imagination and heart. (glossary, author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Curtis, Jamie Lee Illus. by Cornell, Laura Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-06-144155-4

NIGHTTIME NINJA

Curtis and Cornell pair up for their 10th outing to hilariously chronicle the many “firsts” their spunky, irreverent protagonist experiences.

With an abundance of kinky, sunny yellow hair and a face nimble with a variety of rapidly changing and humorously exaggerated facial expressions, a young girl blithely describes her initial feats: riding a two-wheeler, choosing a pet and picking up its poop, getting caught in a lie, going to work with Dad, attending ballet class and playing T-ball. The comic narrative moves forward with a choppy clip—some of the rhyming couplets are a tad forced or use odd phrasing: “I tried for the first time to taste my mom’s truffles / that apparently come from when pigs use their snuffles.” Some humor seems aimed at adults, but in the main, it employs the right amount of silliness, such as when milk squirts through her nose or when she becomes hopelessly tangled in her jump-rope. Also in the frenetic flurry of bright watercolor-and-ink images, readers learn about some homonyms and peruse a funny chart of the umpteen ways to “tie” shoes. Finally the girl comes to realize that “first things / first happen / when I’m brave, true, and strong.” Indeed.

Fans will enjoy the many laugh-out-loud scenes regardless of the less-than-smooth text. Get ready for an onslaught of enthusiastic requests. (Picture book. 4-7)

SEAHORSES

Curtis, Jennifer Keats Illus. by Wallace, Chad Henry Holt (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-8050-9239-4 A lovely, gentle examination of this most charming and fascinating of sea creatures.

Written in clear, straightforward yet poetic prose, this small book conveys basic information in an awestruck tone befitting this ethereal animal. Wallace’s softly colored and delicately textured, digitally created artwork beautifully captures the seahorse’s graceful, lyrical movements and lush habitat. Closeups bring out its remarkable appearance. Most delightful are the scenes with a mated pair, their tails coiled. One senses that perhaps only such otherworldly creatures could form a perfect heart while in each other’s embrace. Young readers will be captivated to learn that seahorses, like chameleons, change color to match their environment and that males carry their mate’s eggs and, amazingly, give birth to live young. The author has not provided a bibliography, though many books about seahorses have been written for young readers. She includes a list of websites for further inquiry and inspiration.

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DaCosta, Barbara Illus. by Young, Ed Little, Brown (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-316-20384-5

Debut picture-book author DaCosta pens the quietly suspenseful quest of a ninja on a late-night mission…to the kitchen!

Succinct language full of vivid verbs describing the action sets the mood for Young’s lushly textured illustrations composed with cut paper, cloth, string and colored pencil. “The clock struck midnight…” and a grappling hook appears on the page turn, followed by a nimble and stealthy figure in black ably navigating every obstacle in his path. Climbing and clambering, balancing and leaping, he finally reaches his goal. Just as the ninja takes out his tools and goes to work, “Suddenly the lights flash on!” On this spread, the dusky hues and patterns utilized up to this point vanish to show an imposing hand-on-hip towering black silhouette against a glaringly bright, white background. Of course it turns out to be the child’s mother catching her little one with a spoon stuck into what appears to be a chocolate-flavored treat. With the mission for a sweet snack aborted, mother proposes, “how about a getting-back-into-bed mission?”

This relatively gentle tale celebrating the power of imagination fails to cover new territory but is executed quite well. Good to share at bedtime with antsy adventurers but too subdued a choice for die-hard Ninjago fans. (Picture book. 3-5)

AMBER BROWN IS TICKLED PINK

Danzinger, Paula; Coville, Bruce; Levy, Elizabeth Illus. by Ross, Tony Putnam (160 pp.) $14.99 | Sep. 13, 2012 978-0-399-25656-1 Amber Brown fans will rejoice; against all odds, their favorite protagonist is back.

After Paula Danziger passed away in 2004, it looked like readers would never find out how things would work out for Amber as her mother faced remarriage and a move to a new house. Through the efforts of two of Danziger’s author friends, Amber has returned, with her funny, often slightly ironic, first-person voice that perfectly captures the tribulations and triumphs of the middle-grade years. Assigned to create a personal budget for a million dollars, she sets aside $25,000 to provide for kirkus.com

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“The Canadian author’s enthusiasm is unflagging, and she takes preteen readers with her on the ‘clothes + art = fashion’ formula.” from learn to speak fashion

“anti-nose-picking therapy for Fredrich Allen,” a classmate. He becomes less easy to mock when she gets to know him better, since it turns out her mother and fiancé Max are going to get married at the Allens’ summer camp to save money, a plan Amber dreamed up. What’s harder for Amber is trying to find comfortable middle ground between her father and her mother’s wedding plans.

She’s trying not to take sides but sometimes finds herself caught between them, even in their mostly amicable split, a problem she good-naturedly deals with, setting a fine example for kids in the same position. Simple, often humorous illustrations completely capture the gentle spirit of the tale.

Fully faithful to the voice Danziger gave Amber Brown, this visit with an old friend will totally satisfy readers. (afterword by Danziger’s niece, “the real Amber Brown”) (Fiction. 7-11)

LEARN TO SPEAK FASHION A Guide to Creating, Showcasing, and Promoting Your Style

deCarufel, Laura Illus. by Kulak, Jeff Owlkids Books (96 pp.) $24.95 | paper $16.95 | $14.95 e-book Sep. 15, 2012 978-1-926973-37-1 978-1-926973-42-5 paperback 978-1-926973-44-9 e-book

The third in a series of lively approaches to creative endeavors (Learn to Speak Dance, by Ann-Marie Williams and illustrated

by Jeff Kulak, 2011, etc.), this offers genuine advice amid a sea of exclamation points.

DeCarufel has been a fashion intern and an editor, and she co-founded a Web fashion magazine, Hardly. The Canadian author’s enthusiasm is unflagging, and she takes preteen readers with her on the “clothes + art = fashion” formula. She starts with finding one’s own style and continues with learning to see: using visual curiosity to examine design, pattern, color and so on to find what inspires. Window shopping, building a wardrobe, preparing a sketchbook and learning to sew are all part of the plan. She gives advice about runway shows, models, fashion shoots, stylists and so on. She frames these events as activities that young folk could actually perform, and she makes it all sound possible. The layout is full of boxes, sketches and quotes pulled from famous fashion folk: Some may find the type on dark backgrounds to be hard to read, but visually it is very effective. The last chapter lists “essentials” for designers, photographers, stylists, magazines and interns. These are very simple but really cover the basics, and her attitude that fashion and style are worthy and enjoyable pursuits is spot-on.

The whole is written in a gender-neutral tone, without condescension but with a certain number of assumptions about access to technology and tools like cameras and sewing machines. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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EARTH AND AIR Tales of Elemental Creatures Dickinson, Peter Big Mouth House (256 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-61873-058-9

Twice before, Dickinson teamed up with his wife, Robin McKinley, to create short story collections centered on elemental themes; now he concludes the elemental quartet with this solo collection of earth and air stories.

The elements are not the only thing holding these six stories together; thematic territory here is concerned primarily with the meanings of humanity and love. Divinity and magic also weave throughout, from the earthy, lonely troll of “Troll Blood” to the small magics of an almost forgotten goddess in “Scops.” Aside from science-fiction gem “The Fifth Element,” these are all firmly fantasy, half set approximately now and two set in a somewhat indeterminate past. Opening tale “Troll Blood” is perhaps the weakest in the collection, with imaginary academics and exposition-heavy chunks; “Ridiki,” a version of Eurydice about a boy and his beloved dog, and “The Fifth Element” round out earth, while air is covered by the peculiar “Wizand” (witches as hosts to a parasite that lives in their broomsticks, with the burning of witches part of the wizand’s life cycle) and the haunting, ancient-world–based “Talaria” and “Scops.” None of the stories focus particularly on childhood or adolescence, making it hard to pin down the ideal audience.

These strange, sometimes beautiful tales might find their best readership among those who think they have moved beyond YA. (Fantasy and science fiction short stories. 14 & up)

WHAT CAN A CRANE PICK UP?

Dotlich, Rebecca Kai Illus. by Lowery, Mike Knopf (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-375-86726-2

This is the sort of book readers cowrite along with the author.

Children already know how to play this game. If they like construction vehicles, then any time they look at a large object, they’re probably thinking, “Could a crane pick that up?” A truck, of course, and another truck and yet another truck, and even “a railroad car, if it gets stuck.” On Dotlich goes, upping the ante, until she asks, “Can a crane pick up a crane?” By the end of the book, the crane has lifted a crane, a polar bear and a submarine. Most readers will be impressed, but children who play the game year-round will wonder why it didn’t pick up a brachiosaurus or a pirate ship or a wagon full of elephants. But items like “an ancient mummy’s case” and “boxes and boxes of underwear” will satisfy them. Sometimes an entire page is covered with objects, as though the artist couldn’t stop |

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“Quiet thinkers will enjoy meeting a character like themselves, and others may gain a better understanding of those who crave a little peace.” from too noisy!

drawing. Even the words of the story are scattered all over the page. This can make the rhythmic, pleasingly rhymed text fragmented and difficult to follow, but most of the time, it gives the story an energy that’s hard to resist.

For some children, however, the real excitement will come after they’ve reached the last page and their grownup asks, “What else can a crane pick up?” Children will ask to read this book many times, but the words may change every time they read it. (Picture book. 2-7)

TOO NOISY!

Doyle, Malachy Illus. by Vere, Ed Candlewick (40 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-7636-6226-4 Everyone in the Bungle family squeaks, squawks and squelches too much for Sam, the quiet, dreamy middle-child creature (the Bungles look vaguely like raccoons).

Sam is bombarded by noise in Doyle’s captivatingly onomatopoeic free verse. Vere illustrates sound as colorful bubbles and bursts that issue forth from each family member. Against the paper-bag–brown background, readers see pink upsidedown teardrop shapes coming from Mama, a purple balloon of sound from Granny’s knitting needles and a spiky orange blast from sister Bella. But poor Sam has a squiggly tornado of black lines above his head. He needs to get away from this noise. “So he upped / and so he offed / and so he wandered / to the woods.” At first all is bliss, as he finds himself surrounded by clouds, trees and a small stream. Bunnies and birds emit tiny sound shapes in pink, yellow and blue. Sam is inspired to create some rhymes, but gradually it gets dark. The deepening purple scenes become increasingly scary as he feels “a flitter-flutter / flap around his face” and then a “slippy-slidy / [slither] / down his neck!” Young ones will see that these threatening things are only benign nocturnal creatures. Predictably, Sam must resort to the behavior he usually loathes and yells for help. Slowly he hears his family come for him as a double-page spread shows him happily engulfed in a “HURRICANE OF NOISE!” Quiet thinkers will enjoy meeting a character like themselves, and others may gain a better understanding of those who crave a little peace. (Picture book. 4-6)

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MICE ON ICE

Emberley, Rebecca; Emberley, Ed Illus. by Emberley, Rebecca; Emberley, Ed Holiday House (32 pp.) $14.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8234-2576-1 Series: I Like to Read The latest collaboration from the father-and-daughter team is nice indeed.

Beginning with its title, this very beginning reader employs a controlled, rhyming text to tell the story of mice who strap on ice skates and joyfully glide across the ice. Bright, colorful cut-paper and digital illustrations adopt a perspective that enables readers to see the increasingly intricate tracings left on the ice by the skates. Then, three successive pages read, “Someone is waiting. / What is this? / What is that?” and careful readers will see that the marks of the tracings have come together to look like the outline of a cat’s face. Rather inexplicably, the page turn then reveals a cat in full color, accompanied by the words, “That is a cat.” Ensuing pages show the cat merrily skating along with the mice, who don’t seem to be the least bit afraid. “The cat with a hat skates with mice on ice. / Nice!” read the concluding lines, putting a cheery, if not particularly exciting, end to the book.

An accessible, inviting title for brand new readers. (Picture book/early reader. 4-6)

CIRCLE OF HEROES

Epstein, Adam Jay; Jacobson, Andrew Illus. by Call, Greg Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-06-196114-4 978-0-06-219011-6 e-book Series: The Familiars, 3 Despite obvious new injections of suspense and complexity, this questender is mediocre.

The “Prophesized Three”—telekinetic cat Aldwyn, illusionsummoning blue jay Skylar and frog Gilbert, who sees the future in puddles—leave their human “loyals” behind for safety (human magic’s been stolen) and journey to collect “[d]escendants of the seven species that formed the First Phylum.” In their way stands an army of ravaging zombie animals, raised from the Tomorrowlife by evil hare Paksahara. Paksahara claims she wants animals to rule themselves rather than being enslaved by humans, but it’s clear that in this world a human-animal alliance is the morally superior goal. Obstacles are variable and sometimes adorable (“very, very small hippopotamuses….no taller than cucumbers wearing body armor and carrying blowguns”), but they’re incredibly easy to defeat. (Knife thrown? Aldwyn’s telekinesis will turn it aside. Exhausted? A neveryawn nut offers “a full night’s sleep in mere seconds.”) Beginning a sentence with the word “Amazingly” can’t force excitement, nor can superlatives (“the fake glyphstone must have been their cleverest trick kirkus.com

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yet”). Welcome notes of unpredictability—an alternate-history concept and the question “what if… prophecies d[o]n’t always come true?”—buckle before the obvious ending.

The prose doesn’t live up to the nuance it attempts, and narrative thrust is weak; hand this off to readers who crave episodic danger that doesn’t feel too dangerous. (Fantasy. 7-11)

FISH IN THE SKY

Erlings, Fridrik Candlewick (288 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-7636-5888-5

A turgid observation of pubescent male angst translated from Icelandic by the former Sugercubes guitarist.

“My childhood has faded like a bright summer day... . Before me is the black forest of my grown-up years...a thick undergrowth that I have to fight through to move onward... . Is this being a grown-up? Or is this just being thirteen?” Josh Stephenson is a boy on the cusp of manhood, and his worries are many. Will his distant father’s new baby replace Josh? What will happen if his single, working mom finds out that he’s been ditching school? How often can he sneak peeks at his 17-year-old cousin Trudy in the bathtub before getting caught? And most importantly, how does he keep the class bully from noticing his impressive new patch of pubic hair in the gym showers? This leisurely paced meditation, full of phrases like, “I’m both the creator and the created; I’m both the matter and the spirit, a fish in the sky and a bird in the ocean,” might be better appreciated by former adolescents than by current ones.

Nevertheless, while Josh’s long-winded philosophical musings are often ponderous, the chapters that chronicle his lust, loneliness and longing are sure to resonate with teens dealing with these universal adolescent issues. (Fiction. 12 & up)

THE YEAR COMES ROUND

Farrar, Sid Illus. by Plume, Ilse Whitman (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8075-8129-2

First-time author Farrar here teams up with the Caldecott Honor–winning Plume (The Bremen Town Musicians, 1980, etc.) to capture signature poetic snapshots of the four seasons.

While global warming may make these 13 haiku noting distinctions among the seasons ever more historical as the years continue to come round, the evocative scenes Farrar paints are sure to inspire young readers to note cyclical changes in the natural world. And just in case these wonderfully imagistic poetic kernels or Plume’s warm, lushly hued watercolors miss their mark, readers can always turn to Farrar’s prose expositions on |

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time and the seasons at the volume’s end. But the tight marriage of word and image present in the majority of these double-page spreads should render that explanatory annex unnecessary. Farrar excels in choosing natural elements and events that prove quintessentially seasonal. “Like tiny fallen / stars, fireflies quietly blink / their secrets at dusk” suggests the magical depth of a summer’s twilight without needing a syllable more. Similarly, Plume’s exquisite artistry renders a slightly more complex winter poem—“Each windowpane’s a / masterpiece, personally / signed: Your Friend, Jack Frost”—accessible through its abstract amalgam of blue, gray and white icy designs. Plume smartly avoids the temptation to overcompensate for the spareness of these 17-syllable works, lending to Farrar’s year outdoors graphic dimensions as vibrant as nature itself.

A richly illustrated view of the seasons through haiku.

(Picture book/poetry. 4-8)

THE BOOK OF STYLING An Insider’s Guide to Creating Your Own Look Flaherty, Somer Zest Books (160 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 26, 2012 978-0-9827322-4-3

A matter-of-fact tone removes the mystery from style in this work that is one-part fashion manual and one-part career guide.

Flaherty begins by explaining what a stylist is and the tools he or she uses. She moves on to a wide range of different looks like Socialite, Tomboy and Hipster; fashion elements like color and prints; and a thorough understanding of body type. While the number of fashion personalities is impressive, not one is male, a confusing omission given that boys wear clothes, too.

The section on body types is very useful with its real-world examples, Naomi Campbell representing the Inverted Triangle type. The second half is more practical, focusing on “curating” a closet, building a wardrobe, styling oneself and others, and styling as a career. Sprinkled throughout the text are activities like a fashion-movie night and organizing a clothing swap. The illustrations are attractive, yet it’s too bad there isn’t a greater variety of body types represented.

For a guide to fashion, there’s not much flair here. But there’s plenty of valuable info for budding fashionistas and stylists, going beyond the shallow glitz of fashion magazines and blogs. (index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

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WEIRD

Frankel, Erin Illus. by Heaphy, Paula Free Spirit (48 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-57542-398-2 Series: Weird, 1 One of a trio of books that present the topic of bullying from three perspectives: the bullied, the bystander and the bully.

No matter what Luisa does, from wearing her favorite polka-dot boots to telling jokes at lunch, Sam declares that she is Weird! Luisa gradually stops being herself, until her mother and friends help her realize that she is wonderful the way she is. Jayla’s fear of becoming the target governs her actions as she alternately stands by and does nothing and takes Sam’s Dare! to participate. She eventually realizes that she has lost too much to feeling scared and befriends Luisa. From glimpses of her home life, it is not hard to see why Sam acts as Tough! as she does.

But her attempts at keeping things cool are not winning her any friends, and the fact that no one is playing by her rules anymore gets her to start thinking about her behavior. While the series is slightly didactic, the well-drawn characters have real problems with (mostly) credible resolutions. Extensive backmatter, with separate sections for children and adults, in each book summarizes the lessons learned and provides activities to help change ingrained behaviors. Heaphy’s pen-and-ink illustrations are dotted with highlights of color that spotlight the main characters. She is a master of facial expression and body language; Sam’s hoodie sweatshirt speaks volumes all on its own.

While the series would benefit from a boy’s version, the message is still loud and clear; this should find a home in every school library. (Picture book/bibliotherapy. 6-12)

THE PALADIN PROPHECY

Frost, Mark Random House (560 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $20.99 Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-375-87045-3 978-0-375-98001-5 e-book 978-0-375-97045-0 PLB New school and new mental powers meet ancient mysteries and ancient war.

Fifteen-year-old Will West’s parents have moved him around a lot, and his father’s taught him 99 rules to live by. One of the most important rules: Don’t draw attention to yourself. When Will accidentally draws the attention of (and a scholarship from) the prestigious Center for Integrated Learning, it’s a lucky thing, because his world shatters; he needs an avenue of escape. Arriving at the school, Will finds the mystery back home deepening. Who is he? And is his father safe? He makes new friends, and all of them must face an everwidening net of conspiracies that make them question everything they know about reality and the history of the world. Twin 1800

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Peaks co-creator Frost’s first for young readers is a slick, hot mess of Judeo-Cthulhu-an, sci-fantasy palaver. The constant quoting of Dad’s rules wears thin early on. Will’s interactions with a helpful taxi driver from home while at school are stupefyingly improbable. The tale stumbles at nearly every turn: The plotting is clumsy, the dialogue is unrealistic, and the characters so annoying readers will be rooting for the bad guys. The fantasy elements are interesting enough, but they’re strangled in an overabundance of detail and long-winded, extraneous scenes, making this twice as long as it should be—especially given the “Book 1” on the spine.

Superficial adventure with arbitrary authorial intrusions at every plot twist. (Fantasy. 12-16)

LOSING IT

Fry, Erin Amazon Children’s Publishing (272 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-7614-6220-0 Overweight eighth-grader Bennett receives a wake-up call when his obese father collapses with a stroke.

Bennett doesn’t deceive himself about the condition of his body. He knows he can’t manage exercise and is addicted to junk food. But with his father hospitalized and emerging from a coma, he’s taken in by his aunt and uncle. His uncle is a serious runner, and his aunt controls everything she can manage—and one of the things she’s now decided to control is Bennett’s obesity. Bennett, for himself and perhaps to model a healthier lifestyle for his father—though at first reluctantly—begins to cooperate with her overbearing management: initially a short walk, and then, ever so gradually, pushing himself to run. Readers will be rooting for this likable and determined teen as he bravely goes out for the track team, willing to suffer potential humiliation in order to rescue himself and his dad. He isn’t helped in his efforts by his best friend, P.G., who views Bennett’s new efforts as a betrayal of their friendship. Bennett’s gradual weight loss and improving fitness don’t come easily; his hard work is believably portrayed in his engagingly realistic voice. Fry’s purposive debut is reminiscent of Chris Crutcher’s works, but for a younger audience.

An energizing and ultimately uplifting tale of the power to change. (Fiction. 10-15)

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“...Gidwitz ensures that each adventure involves at least severe embarrassment or, more commonly, sudden death, along with smacking great washes of gore, vomit and (where appropriate) stomach acid.” from in a glass grimmly

FIRST MOTHERS

Gherman, Beverly Illus. by Downing, Julie Clarion (64 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-547-22301-8 Behind every great man….And behind many of our presidents, there’s also an unknown woman. This book sheds light on our leaders’ mothers and how their influences possibly shaped the founding dads.

If they care, browsers will eke out at least one factoid they never knew about each presidential mom, even famous ones.

Some tidbits are intriguing—Nancy Lincoln’s prowess as a wrestler, Malvina Arthur’s efforts to prove Chester was Americanborn, and Elizabeth Harrison’s warnings to Benjamin to avoid cucumbers. Many share commonalities. While some came from privilege, many raised their (usually) large families more humbly, even in poverty. Many mothers were religious and passed on strict moral values to their progeny, including an abhorrence of social injustice. Some profiles are more detailed than others, perhaps due to spottier information in older historical records.

The mothers of the more recent presidents are given slightly fuller portrayals. Occasional captions and cartoon-y speech balloons add supplemental information. Some facts are simplistic, even incorrect, as in the case of Warren Harding, “one of our worst presidents,” whose corrupt administration is passed off “because he did not stand up for his ideas.” Sadly, there are several instances of disputed or inaccurate dates in various profiles.

The watercolor-and–colored-pencil illustrations are bland, with many women looking identical, the passage of time marked only by changes in fashions, hairstyles and “props.”

There’s not much for kids about presidential mothers, and at least this book covers every White House resident so far. (bibliography, author’s note) (Nonfiction. 7-11)

NORA THE MIND READER

Gidali, Orit Translated by Appel, Annette Illus. by Gordon-Noy, Aya Enchanted Lion Books (32 pp.) $15.95 | Sep. 3, 2012 978-1-59270-120-9

A little girl’s sensitivity to childhood banter is assuaged with the help of her resourceful mom, who provides an inventive tool for interpreting altered meaning.

When kindergartner Nora is insulted by a classmate’s comment about her “flamingo legs,” mother gives her a magic wand to look through in order to see people’s thoughts as they speak.

Using a photo-collaged–in pink soap-bubble wand like a pair of fancy spectacles, Nora sees not only the traditional speech bubbles with everyone’s commentary, but also a soap bubble with a more insightful thought, thus reading the mind of each person. For example, when a little boy states, “I’m hungry,” his |

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accompanying thought bubble says, “I want some chocolate.”

When Nora’s animal-loving friend Harry calls her “flamingo legs,” she sees his thoughts as, “When you’re around, everything looks pink. I know what a flamingo is! I’m so smart.” Armed with this ability to hear between the lines and infer meaningful interpretations, Nora gains confidence and realizes that the key to social interactions is understanding that what people say aloud is not always what they really think. Essential to completing the concept in this Israeli import is the striking collage art created with cream-hued paints over a Hebrew newspaper and curvy-lined crayon drawings filled in with rosy pinks and indigo for Nora and Harry respectively.

A thought-inspiring approach. (Picture book. 5-7)

IN A GLASS GRIMMLY

Gidwitz, Adam Dutton (336 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 27, 2012 978-0-525-42581-6

The author of A Tale Dark and Grimm (2010) starts over—sending young Jack and Jill on a fresh quest for self-knowledge through trials and incidents drawn (stolen, according to the author) from a diverse array of European folk and fairy tales.

Foolishly pledging their lives on finding the long-lost Seeing Glass, cousins Jack and Jill, with a three-legged talking frog to serve as the now-requisite comical animal sidekick, set out from the kingdom of Märchen. They climb a beanstalk, visit a goblin market and descend into a fire-belching salamander’s lair (and then down its gullet). In a chamber of bones (“It gave new meaning to the term rib vaulting”), they turn the tables on a trio of tricksy child eaters. Injecting authorial warnings and commentary as he goes, Gidwitz ensures that each adventure involves at least severe embarrassment or, more commonly, sudden death, along with smacking great washes of gore, vomit and (where appropriate) stomach acid. Following hard tests of wit and courage, the two adventurers, successful in both ostensible and real quests, return to tell their tales to rapt children (including one named “Hans Christian,” and another “Joseph,” or “J.J.”) and even, in the end, mend relations with their formerly selfabsorbed parents.

Not so much a set of retellings as a creative romp through traditional and tradition-based story-scapes, compulsively readable and just as read-out-loudable. (source note) (Fantasy. 11-14)

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“The balance between the particular experience of this central cast of characters and the general narrative comments about families is executed well, and the tone remains positive and affirming…” from who’s in my family?

UNIVERSE Journey into Deep Space Goldsmith, Mike Illus. by Garlick, Mark A. Kingfisher (48 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-7534-6876-0

A handsome, tightly constructed exploration of our solar system, galaxy and beyond.

Here, poetically described, are many of the denizens of our galaxy, our friends the moons of fire, the asteroids of gold, star nurseries, supernovae, cosmic lighthouses, brown dwarfs—all rendered in near-photorealistic artwork by Garlick. Along with the illustrations’ phantasmagoric colors, Goldsmith’s text keeps readers’ attention with just the right amount of information and a little frisson of spooky pleasure added in: “Out here at the cold edge of the solar system, strange, dark worlds of ice and rock drift slowly by on their centuries-long journey around the distant Sun—a star that is no more than a bright spark in the black sky.” The author ventures ever deeper into the universe, but for the most part sticks to our galaxy, which is a strange enough space. Every now and then readers might wish for a colossal image from the Hubble or other deep-space probe, but small windows mostly do the trick, as with the photo of our galactic heart, with its breathtaking, uncountable populations of yellow, white, blue and red stars. Garlick is no slouch in the eye-pop department. Included are a very helpful glossary and a website resource guide.

Should keep any young sky watcher enthralled, and the text, despite its fleetness, provides plenty of illumination of the deep-space dark. (Nonfiction. 8-14)

UNSTOPPABLE

Green, Tim Harper/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-06-208956-4 978-0-06-208958-8 e-book Harrison has led a hard-knock life up until he’s taken in by loving foster parents “Coach” and Jennifer.

After he inadvertently causes the man’s death, Harrison is taken from a brutal foster home run by a farmer who uses foster kids as unpaid labor, a situation blithely ignored by the county. His new foster parents are different. Coach is in charge of the middle school football team, and all 13-year-old Harrison has ever wanted to do is to play football, the perfect outlet for his seething undercurrent of anger at life. Oversized for his age, he’s brilliant at the game but also over-the-top aggressive, until a hit makes his knee start aching—and then life deals him another devastating blow. The pain isn’t an injury but bone cancer. Many of the characters—loving friends Justin and Becky, bully Leo, a meanspirited math teacher, cancer victim Marty and the major, an 1802

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amputee veteran who comes to rehabilitate Harrison after lifechanging surgery—are straight out of the playbook for maudlin middle-grade fiction. Nevertheless, this effort edges above trite because of well-depicted football scenes and the sheer force of Harrison himself. His altogether believable anger diminishes his likability but breathes life into an otherwise stock role.

A predictable, fast-paced sports tale with some unexpected heart. (Fiction. 11-14)

WHO’S IN MY FAMILY? All About Our Families

Harris, Robie H. Illus. by Westcott, Nadine Bernard Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-7636-3631-9 Series: Let’s Talk About You and Me

Harris and Westcott, who previously collaborated on Who Has What? All About Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies (2011), return with another matter-of-fact and sensitive informational book, this time not about the human body and sexuality, but about human families and relationships.

Beginning with cover art introducing an interracial family comprised of a mother, father, daughter, son and pet dog, the book follows the family on an outing to the zoo, where they encounter many different kinds of families. Narrative text and speech balloons introduce diverse family constellations in a celebratory spirit of inclusivity and community. In addition to the outing to the zoo, the family also spends time at home, which includes a get-together with extended family members. The balance between the particular experience of this central cast of characters and the general narrative comments about families is executed well, and the tone remains positive and affirming even as it acknowledges that “sometimes, families have mad times. And sometimes, families have sad times.” Throughout, Westcott’s cartoonlike illustrations echo and extend the text, making a wide range of families visible and accessible to readers.

A welcome addition. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

BREAK-UPS AND MAKE-UPS

Haston, Meg Poppy/Little, Brown (352 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-316-06826-0 Series: How to Rock, 2

Mostly reformed mean girl Kacey Simon returns in this preteen drama with a heart.

The How to Rock series (How to Rock Braces and Glasses, 2011) has spawned a Nickelodeon TV show, and this second volume is perfectly pitched for mass appeal. Kacey’s friends are recognizable types: Molly, the queen bee; Paige, the studentgovernment geek; Liv, the vegan environmentalist; and Nessa, kirkus.com

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the self-help–book devotee. When the story opens, Kacey discovers she has boy troubles: Molly has broken up with Zander, the guitarist on whom Kacey has a secret crush, but she declares Zander off-limits because of something called the Girl Code.

Further tension develops when Kacey rejoins Zander’s band and meets Stevie, Zander’s friend and former girlfriend. What seems poised to become a rivalry, however, becomes a loose alliance when Kacey and Stevie discover that their parents, both divorced, are dating. Kacey is a believably flawed character. Her schemes and decisions often have a negative impact on those around her, including a plot to get Stevie kicked out of an aquarium field trip and the pair’s attempt to break up their parents’ budding romance. But Kacey is easy to relate to, and readers will empathize with her desire to fix and control social situations, even as they anticipate the consequences.

Accessible, funny and ultimately safe: Kacey may make mistakes, but readers can trust that all will turn out right in the end. (Fiction. 10-14)

SPIKE, THE MIXED-UP MONSTER

Hood, Susan Illus. by Sweet, Melissa Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $16.99 | $12.99 e-book | Sep. 25, 2012 978-1-4424-0601-8 978-1-4424-5243-5 e-book While Spike, a tiny axolatl salamander, practices being the monster he believes he is, the other animals call him cute and funny because he is small. Will Spike show his true nature?

Fully adorned with a slithery tail, a spiky crown and stumpy teeth, Spike displays all his scary moves for his neighbors el pato (cinnamon teal duck), el armadillo and el campañol (Mexican vole).

Instead of being terrified, they are charmed by this cutie. “You’re almost as adorable as I am!” says el campañol. This book introduces simple Spanish words and names by effortlessly embedding them into the storyline. When the truly terrifying Gila monster arrives on the scene, all the animals cry “¡El monstruo!” and scatter.

Spike alone stays to scare the creature off in his own unique way.

Vibrant colors and creatures fill the double-spread swamp scenes, which strongly complement the text. Touches of whimsy in the landscape, both unusual and cheery, mimic Spike’s personality.

Readers of the endnotes might be surprised to see a photo of a real axolatl, smiling very much like the tiny hero.

Hood and Sweet succeed admirably in creating a new twist on an identity story while cleverly introducing Spanish words and exotic creatures. (endnote, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

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TIGER’S DESTINY

Houck, Colleen Splinter/Sterling (432 pp.) $17.95 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4027-9843-6 978-1-4027-9844-3 e-book Series: Tiger’s Curse, 4 Ablaze with fiery passions—and sheets of actual fire, too—this conclusion to the Tiger’s Curse quartet brings Oregon teenager Kelsey and the two Indian were-tiger princes who have divided her heart through a climactic battle to a final, bittersweet mate selection.

Her chiseled suitors, Ren and Kishan, must first rescue her from a forced marriage to archenemy Lokesh (“I watched vile ecstasy overtake him as he kissed my palm and licked the red droplets from his lips”). Kelsey then accompanies the sultry siblings on an arduous quest beneath an active volcano for a Rope of Fire that will convey the trio to a decisive face-off with the demonic sorcerer thousands of years in the past. Having privately settled in a previous episode on Kishan as the more rational choice but still gobsmacked by Ren, her “dark Poseidon,” her “warrior angel,” Kelsey nevertheless still rattles between the brothers. They continue to ply her with verses from Shakespeare, Tennyson and other poets as part of a rival courtship impregnated (so to speak) with manly sensitivity. After battling her way past a teeming array of minor deities, vampiric Rakshasas and like creatures from Hindu and other mythologies, Kelsey at last fulfills her destiny as savior of India. Then, in fulfilling their own destinies, one brother dies (temporarily), and to clear the way for a wedding described in protracted, luxuriant detail, the other makes the ultimate sacrifice by going off with another woman (albeit a goddess in the making).

The end is a long time coming, but readers sufficiently hardened by the preceding adventures’ florid prose to survive lines like “After a few seconds of delicious fantasy, I mentally rebuffed myself,” and “[t]ingling bubbles of power coursed lazily between us,” are sure to be left throbbing and misty-eyed. (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)

NOCTURNE DREAM RECIPES

Isol Illus. by Isol Groundwood (32 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-55498-179-3

This innovative title puts a spin on bedtime reading but ends up being more of a gift book with an interesting premise than a children’s picture book that can deliver on its promise.

Unique physical design is immediately apparent as a spiral binding at the top of the book invites readers to flip pages from the bottom, while the back cover folds out into a base that |

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h a m a n da h o c k i n g WAKE

Amanda Hocking St. Martin’s (320 pp. ) $17.99 | Aug. 7, 2012 978-1-250-00812-1

Harper and Gemma, sisters for better or worse, haven’t had the easiest few years. After a tragic automobile accident left their mother mentally impaired and in an assisted-living home, their domestic day to day has been all but easy.

In the physical absence of their mother and mental absence of their father, Harper has adopted an authoritarian role. And as adorable boy-nextdoor Alex begins to court Gemma, disapproving Harper has only tightened the reins. The only place Gemma can shed the shackles of Harper’s obsessive, watchful eye is the bay to which she escapes for ill-advised nightly swims (she’s a promising competitive swimmer).

It turns out that undercurrents and rogue sharks are the least of Harper’s nautical worries when three mysterious out-of-towner bombshell girls set their sights on recruiting Gemma for their clique. It’s a clique that has the deviant power to transform Gemma into a mythical siren, Alex into lunch and Harper into an only child. Self-publishing phenom Amanda Hocking, the author of Wake, is aboveboard about crossing over from e-publishing, her fear of sea monsters and the long-term effects of cartoons.

Q: How has the crossover from e-publishing to traditional publishing been?

A: So far it’s been really great. I still get to do all the fun stuff like writing and talking to readers—without all the stress of the publishing process.

Q: Gemma and Harper are respectively the naive, defiant one and the practical, worrisome one. Are you a Gemma or a Harper?

A: I think I’m defiant like Gemma, but I have tons of anxiety like Harper. But if I had to pick one, I’m probably more like a lazier version of Harper.

Q: Like Gemma’s nighttime swims in the bay, what have you done in spite of someone else’s better judgment?

Q: Where is your fascination with nautical lore rooted?

A: The first time I remember hearing about sirens was actually an episode of DuckTales when I was probably 6 or 7. I remember it very vividly, and it was that idea that stuck with me. I was really into 1804

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Q: Gemma is a teen girl in the midst of a sexual awakening that is nipped in the bud when she transforms into a bloodthirsty siren. Is there a metaphoric lesson on abstinence here?

A: I try to not have lessons about sexuality in my books, but the transformation has definitely intensified Gemma’s emotions. Fantasy and paranormal creatures give writers the ability to create a physical manifestation of an emotional urge, and I think the sirens definitely represent that in a way. But how much Gemma abstains from romance and how she learns to deal with her urges is really just her journey—one that some readers can relate to, but it’s not meant to be a lesson in the right way or the wrong way.

Q: You’re a mythical siren luring strangers and sailors with your hypnotic voice. What’s your siren song?

A: I would sing a tantalizing cover of “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell because it’s an awesome song, and lyrically, it seems to fit the situation quite well.

—By Gordon West |

P HOTO © MA R IA H PA A RVA RU D W IT H C H IME RA

A: I would never swim at night in the bay because I would honestly be terrified of being eaten by a shark or a sea monster. But I do have several tattoos, much to my mother’s chagrin. She’s OK with it now, but when I got my first few tattoos, she was not pleased.

Greek mythology when I was a kid, too, and I read just about everything I could on it. I do love the ocean, even though I’m rather frightened of it—or maybe that is why. I tend to write about things that scare me a lot—zombies, trolls, even vampires.

These were all things that gave me nightmares as a child, especially trolls.

enables the book to stand upright like an easel. Introductory text says that “this book offers a list of possible dreams and inspiring visions that will guide your sleeping hours.” Instructions for carrying out the “dream recipes” follow, telling readers to select a page, put it under bright light for five minutes and then turn out the lights to see the glowing “traces that the dream leaves behind” in order to then follow them in one’s sleep. The dreamscapes have brief text introducing each scene: “The Dream of the dead singer”; “The cozy, warm Dream.” The scenes themselves have spare illustrations that then reveal richer glow-in-the-dark-details. Design ultimately trumps the conceit, however, since child readers might hinge their expectations on actually having dreams inspired by the pictures.

A clever idea, but one that is better suited to older readers as a gift book than to young children’s bedtime routines.

(Novelty. 10-14)

THAT’S WHAT I’D DO

Jewel Illus. by Bates, Amy June Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $17.99 | $12.99 e-book | Sep. 18, 2012 978-1-4424-5813-0 978-1-4424-5815-4 e-book A mother’s love song is presented with appealing, appropriate illustrations.

Country singer Jewel composed and recorded a series of songs before her son Kase was born in July 2011. Most were released on the album The Merry Goes ’Round, but this one didn’t fit. Instead, it’s the basis for the new mother’s first children’s book. Bates has fancifully recreated song scenes using watercolor, gouache, pencil and pastels. A variety of objects—rabbits, goldfish, play house, rocking chair, hats and jewelry and the sun—appear in various iterations, inside and outdoors and, toward the end, together in baby’s room. The mother paints the sun for baby’s amusement, rocks him while giving him his bottle, and plays with him in a boat that looks much like a bathtub. They dance to bird song and admire themselves in a mirror.

After a final rock in the chair, mother and baby end the story nose to nose. Butterflies flit through the pages, but the poem’s rhythm limps. Mothers who hope to share this tender sentiment with their own children would be wise to listen carefully to the accompanying CD. Rather than reading, it’s much easier to sing, “That’s what I’d do, do, do, do, do. / ’Cause I love you, you, you, you, you.”

Might be better as an app. (Picture book. 0-3)

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FAME, FORTUNE, AND THE BRAN MUFFINS OF DOOM

Kelley, Marty Holiday House (160 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8234-2606-5

Simon’s dream to win a fortune in the school talent show with his two best pals, Munch and Ralph, is thwarted by the band trio’s lack of practice.

Simon likes to speak in big words (boldfaced and defined in a lengthy glossary in the end). Munch eats anything, even boogers and turds. Everything makes Ralph sick. These three jokes are repeated ad nauseam. But the exaggeration in this first novel by picture-book writer Kelley (Twelve Terrible Things, 2008) doesn’t end with these characterizations. Everyone is a stereotype: Simon’s hated big sister, their overweight and inattentive teacher, their ancient, muffin-flinging neighbor, Mrs. Annand, and their archenemies Mike, Evil Ernie and Eviler Ernie (who actually loves to knit).

Chapter by chapter, Simon describes their failed attempts to practice for the Friday night show, Mrs. Annand’s bran-muffin attacks and finally, their lame performance, dancing to a toddler’s CD. Kelley’s graphite sketches accompany each chapter. Simon, with his glasses and V-neck sweater, is easily identifiable, as are other characters. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that Munch is not the only one who gets a haircut. The concluding glossary includes example sentences but no pronunciation guides, making it less-than-useful.

Only for the strong-stomached. (Fiction. 8-10)

FLUFF AND BILLY

Killen, Nicola Illus. by Killen, Nicola Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4027-9781-1

In a bit of elemental relationship-modeling, two active young penguins play together until a short-lived huff brings a temporary halt to the fun.

Echoing the pattern in Mirra Ginsburg’s Chick and the Duckling (1972), where Fluff leads (“ ‘I’m sliding down!’ said Fluff”), Billy follows (“ ‘I’m sliding down!’ said Billy”). The pattern breaks when Billy throws a snowball that clobbers Fluff and results in a silent, back-toback standoff. Being different in size and coloration, the two playmates are easy to tell apart, but Killen (Not Me!, 2010) leaves both their gender and their relationship (they could be either sibs or friends from different families) indeterminate. The two chicks cavort against Antarctic-white and icy blue backgrounds, her watercolors deliciously liquid in the swimming and splashing scenes. Spotting a tear in Billy’s eye, the larger Fluff finally plays peacemaker with a tummy tickle that dissolves into an entire closing spread of big HA HAs and HEE HEEs. A little forced at the end, but young children will recognize the issue and require no encouragement to chime in with Billy’s lines. (Picture book. 3-6) |

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“Vanished animals from around the world, 26 extinct and one sole survivor, are here displayed on oversized pages in a beautifully designed album.” from small and tall tales of extinct animals

HISS-S-S-S!

Kimmel, Eric A. Holiday House (160 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8234-2415-3 Ophidiophobes beware! Readers who aren’t genuine snake lovers will likely find it difficult to sink their fangs into this tale.

In this predictable story that often reads like a how-to manual for first-time snake owners, Kimmel tells the tale of Omar, a fourth-grader who desperately wants a pet snake. Unfortunately, his mother is deathly afraid of the creatures. After painstaking negotiations with his parents, plenty of research and an afternoon with the Snake Dude, Omar is finally allowed to bring home a pet corn snake. Of course, it isn’t long before the snake escapes, and Omar must race to find it and spare his mother from coming face to face with her biggest fear. Even if readers aren’t put off by the excruciatingly detailed conversations about what makes a suitable reptile habitat, including rheostats, substrate, hides and heat sources, it is difficult to ever warm to Omar. The omniscient, third-person narration feels remote and often preachy, and the children’s voices never ring true.

With a disappointing lack of emotion and humor, the story feels less like a boy’s adventure with his first pet and more like a manual on how to (and how not to) care for a pet snake. (Fiction. 7-12)

MOBY DICK Chasing the Great White Whale

Kimmel, Eric A. Illus. by Glass, Andrew Feiwel & Friends (40 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-312-66297-4

Melville’s classic gets a lush, if wildly oversimplified, retelling under its author’s generally sure hand.

Call him Ishmael. To rhyming verse, one lad’s adventures on the Pequod are retold in brief, generally accurate detail. Readers meet the harpooner Queequeg (ambiguous ethnicity and tattooed head intact), the obsessed Ahab (red eyes matching that of the titular whale’s) and the crew. Ahab challenges his men to spot the leviathan, and after much searching, they find it, marking the beginning of the end for the Pequod and its crew.

Kimmel’s rhymes scan with clarity from the start, and he has a genius for synthesizing the loquacious storyline down to its plot essentials. A pity he chooses to end the retelling with the simplistic and wholly un-Melville-ian lesson, “The moral of this story is, / as my sad tale has shown: / Respect all creatures, great and small, / and leave the whales alone!” The high point of the title turns out to be Glass’ art. His oil-and-pencil illustrations create a white whale hide interlaced with the scars of 1806

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countless harpooners, his sheer girth a towering mountain of angry flesh. Readers will have little difficulty understanding the awe inspired by such a creature.

For a bare-bones retelling of the original’s plot, this has no equal. Just don’t expect any more than that. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 6-10)

VULTURE VERSES Love Poems for the Unloved

Lang, Diane Illus. by Gallegos, Laura Prospect Park Media (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-9834594-5-3 The sincerity in these versified valentines to 13 often-reviled animals may ring true, but the natural history doesn’t always pass muster.

Following a strong opener—“Turkey vulture, please be mine, / Not because you soar so fine, / But ’cause you rock on clean-up crew; / No rot is left when you are through”—the quality of the informational content takes a sharp nose dive. There are arguable claims that moles and opossums do no damage to gardens and that flies and cockroaches should be considered helpful recyclers of dead matter, as well as the befuddling, apparently rhymedriven assertion that moths (not as caterpillars but in their flying, adult stage) are pests that “dine on fields of grain.” Dubbing these and other subjects from skunks and vampire bats to mosquitoes and snakes “secret friends,” Lang closes with an invitation to readers to compose similar love notes to “someone who is misunderstood.” In oval or unbordered natural settings, Gallegos renders each creature with reasonable accuracy, though sometimes with a smile or oversized eyes for extra visual appeal.

Well meant, but not very well researched. (Picture book/ poetry. 7-9)

SMALL AND TALL TALES OF EXTINCT ANIMALS

Laverdunt, Damien Translated by Craddock, Jen Illus. by Laverdunt, Damien; Rajcak, Hélène Gecko Press (78 pp.) $22.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-877579-06-6 Vanished animals from around the world, 26 extinct and one sole survivor, are here displayed on oversized pages in a beautifully designed album.

This French import (by way of New Zealand) is an appealing combination of fact and fancy. Each animal is presented on a double-page spread. On the left, a series of often humorous cartoon panels describe tradition and myth. On the right, under the English and Latin names and a short descriptive paragraph, a single, large panel shows the creature in a natural context. kirkus.com

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These images have flat, muted colors and carefully inked details.

A medallion with fast facts and silhouettes shows the animal in comparison to humans, and insets on the main image add further information. Organized into four general areas, the Americas, Africa, Eurasia and Oceania, these animals appear again at the end in four panels of a frieze, chronologically according to their disappearance, from 15,000 years ago to today. Silhouettes grace the endpapers and an opening world map as well. From the Australian long-beaked echidna to the Galápagos tortoise called Lonesome George (the “sole survivor,” now, sadly, deceased), the range is impressive. (Two unfortunate errors early in the book will surprise American readers: the claims that humans arrived in the Americas only 10,000 years ago and that the Bering Strait separates that landmass from Europe.)

Otherwise, a handsome and useful work. (Nonfiction. 9-15)

WHO PUSHED HUMPTY DUMPTY? And Other Notorious Nursery Tale Mysteries

Levinthal, David Illus. by Nickle, John Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-375-84195-8

In language reminiscent of old-time-radio detective stories, Officer Binky narrates a few of his cases, which will be very familiar to young readers.

A call from Mrs. Bear sends Binky to his first crime scene: eaten porridge, broken chair, rumpled bed. “It could only be one dame: Goldilocks! I nabbed her trying to make her getaway….

They’ll feed her three meals a day where she’s going.” A missingperson report has Binky driving to the Deep Dark Woods to investigate a woodcutter and his two children. It doesn’t take long for him to determine it was self-defense. An omelet leads the diminutive frog cop to Humpty’s killer, while the crime lab helps him solve the case of the poisoning of a beautiful girl by a beauty-pageant judge. The final case is less a mystery than an investigation into the cause of an explosion/earthquake. Luckily, some golden eggs are the hard evidence Binky needs to get the lieutenant to believe what happened. The acrylic artwork suits the noir atmosphere, somber colors and tension-filled scenes alternating with humorous details that match the tongue-incheek text. The one quibble is that Nickle’s people are rather stiff, with oddly shaped heads and strange facial expressions.

Still, there is humor to appeal to all ages here.

Levinthal’s children’s-book debut lacks the laugh-outloud silliness that is Margie Palatini and Richard Egielski’s mashup The Web Files (2001), but this will find an audience.

(Fractured fairy tales. 5-9)

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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK OF ANIMAL POETRY 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!

Lewis, J. Patrick--Ed. National Geographic (192 pp.) $24.95 | PLB $28.90 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-1-4263-1009-6 978-1-4263-1054-6 PLB

Gathered by the United States children’s poet laureate, 200 (mostly) lighthearted poems from the likes of Basho and Ben Franklin, Leadbelly, Jack Prelutsky and Joyce Sidman share space with eye-popping animal photographs.

A well-stirred mix of old and recent limericks, haiku, short lyrics, shaped poems and free verse, the poetry ranges far and wide. There are rib ticklers like Gelett Burgess’ “Purple Cow” and Laura E. Richards’ “Eletelephony” (the latter’s line “Howe’er it was, he got his trunk / Entangled in the telephunk” dated in these days of cellphones but still hilarious to read, especially aloud). Others are more serious, such as Tracie Vaughn Zimmer’s graceful tribute to an indoor centipede—“a ballet of legs / gliding / skating / skimming / across the stage of white porcelain”—and David McCord’s elegiac “Cocoon.” All are placed on or next to page after page of riveting wildlife portraits (with discreet identifying labels), from a ground-level view of a towering elephant to a rare shot of a butterfly perched atop a turtle. Other standouts include a dramatic spray of white egret plumage against a black background and a precipitous bug’s-eye look down a bullfrog’s throat. Lewis adds advice for budding animal poets to the excellent bibliography and multiple indexes at the end.

A spectacular collection—“And,” the editor notes with remarkable understatement, “the pictures are pretty nice too!” (Poetry. 7-12)

SUMMER OF THE MARIPOSAS

McCall, Guadalupe Garcia Tu Books (352 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-60060-900-8

In her first fantasy, Pura Belpré winner McCall (Under the Mesquite, 2011) tells the story of five sisters and their myriad adventures as they travel from their home in Texas to Mexico.

When narrator and eldest Odilia and her sisters, Juanita, Velia, Delia and Pita, find a dead man in their swimming hole, Odilia wants to call the authorities. She is soon overruled by her sisters, who clamor to return the man to his family and visit their grandmother, all of whom live in Mexico. What follows is a series of adventures that hover somewhere on the border between fantasy and magical realism as the sisters are helped and hindered by supernatural forces including Latin American legends La Llorona, lechuzas and chupacabras. |

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Despite multiple decisions that lead them into danger, the younger sisters persist in dismissing Odilia’s warnings, their bad choices ranging from silly to decidedly immature. When they reach their grandmother’s house, the dialogue-heavy story continues with extensive reflection of a level of maturity incongruous with the behavior exhibited in prior pages. The sisters then return home to face real-world problems that may prove most challenging of all.

While this story is sometimes bogged down by moralizing and adventures that don’t always seem to support the plot, originality and vibrancy shine through to make it a worthwhile read despite its flaws. (author’s note, glossary) (Fantasy. 9-14)

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A RAT

McCarthy, Maureen Amulet/Abrams (288 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-4197-0161-0 Everything goes wrong after Ruth loses Rodney the rat, a present from her Aunt Mary Ellen: Mary Ellen dies, Ruth fights with her friends, and her family becomes an embarrassment.

In an opening scene, Ruth’s relationship with Mary Ellen is warmly drawn, presenting a stark contrast to her situation one year later. In a pivotal move, Ruth skips a family outing to search for Rodney, an eerily lifelike, clothed toy. Sympathetic children will understand the link between Ruth’s decision and her grief; all will recognize her loneliness. When she finds Rodney, he has come alive and offers her three chances at the perfect life. Problems develop with each and even become menacing when it seems that Ruth may not be able to escape before being permanently stuck, making readers doubt Mary Ellen: Was Rodney really a good-luck gift? Two of the scenarios offer familiar fare, but in one, Ruth is deposited in a draconian 1950s Catholic orphanage, where she befriends a girl who will grow up to touch Mary Ellen’s life. However, this connection is tenuous and the dream-lives feel rather superfluous, since it is the search itself that sparks Ruth’s memories of Mary Ellen’s encouragement, allowing her to grow. A subplot concerning an abused schoolmate is almost lost until, in a questionable move, Ruth gives Rodney to him.

Despite winning, original moments, the parts, unfortunately, do not add up to a satisfying whole. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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SCOUT

McMillan, Gordon Illus. by McMillan, Gordon Sleeping Bear Press (40 pp.) $14.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-58536-797-9 A dog searches for his lost ball and finds friends in this pedestrian tale.

Scout is a Scottie dog who lives on the top floor of a highrise. To find his toy, he explores the building and encounters a feline, fish and hamster who each boast that their attributes are better than the ball’s. When the toy is found with a confused mouse (it thinks the ball is cheese), comparisons are made, play ensues and friendships form. The closing gag demonstrates that a bouncy ball continues to be a magnet that serves to bring animals together. It’s a good idea, yet uninspired in its telling. The animals’ alliterated names feel trite, and the skills they vaunt seem unrelated to their species (the cat can bounce higher, the fish’s bowl is rounder, and the hamster can run faster, for instance). McMillan’s digital illustrations have a simple, graphic style done in an almost monochromatic palette. There are moments of impact, especially in his exterior shots of the building. One shows a lone Scout looking out a top-floor window during the day, and another shows all the animals on their respective floors, looking out their windows at night—a road map to Scout’s adventure and newfound friends. Unfortunately, these moments don’t outweigh the mundane spreads filled with characters that feel stamped out, with only scale or location changed.

An enthusiastic effort, but with lackluster results. (Picture book. 3-5)

SICK DAY

McPhail, David Illus. by McPhail, David Holiday House (32 pp.) $14.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8234-2424-5 Series: I Like to Read A sick boy’s devoted friends try to help him feel better.

Dog lies on Boy’s feet to help him get warm, then shares his bone with him. (Boy eats his mom’s chicken soup instead.)

Bird comes calling, but Dog tells him Boy is sick, and he flies off, returning with a slice of pizza to help him get well. (Boy doesn’t eat that either.) Feeling better the next day, Boy and Dog head to the tree house and find Bird sick (too much pizza).

At this point, the minimalist story devolves even further, losing the slight humor of the first part. “Boy and Dog sit with Bird. // Then Bird is fine. / But Dog is sick.…Boy and Bird sit with Dog. // Then they nap. / Dog jumps up. ‘I am fine,’ he says.” Upon which, the three happily play together with a ball. Unlike its precursor, Boy, Bird, and Dog (2011), this one feels (and reads) like a Dick and Jane primer, stilted language, thin plot and all.

McPhail’s ink-and-watercolor artwork depicts the three friends kirkus.com

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“The incomparable Ellis more than rises to the challenge—her sly, wistful, abundant illustrations provide an emotional through line.” from under wildwood

VIVA JACQUELINA! Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Over the Hills and Far Away

in the softly colored, rounded vignettes on each page that, along with the 64 simple words and short sentences, help those new to reading decode the words.

Just doesn’t compare to Shelley Moore Thomas and Jennifer Plecas’ similarly themed Get Well, Good Knight (2002) or even to the trio’s prior adventure. (Early reader. 4-7)

Meyer, L.A. Harcourt (368 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-547-76350-7 Series: Bloody Jack Adventures, 10

UNDER WILDWOOD

Meloy, Colin Illus. by Ellis, Carson Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (560 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-06-202471-8 Droll and ornate, elegiac and romantic—the sequel to Wildwood (2011) brings readers deeper into and under the pinescented, magical world tantalizingly close to Portland, Ore. Prue is drawn back to Wildwood by herons who rescue her from a trio of terrifying shape-shifters, and there she is reunited with Curtis, who stayed to enjoy the exhilarating life of a banditin-training. Attacked at their secret hideout, the bandits vanish.

Adrift, Curtis and Septimus the rat join Prue on a quest that takes them under Wildwood, a setting straight out of M.C. Escher with a hint of Hieronymous Bosch. In the Industrial Wastes above, Curtis’ grieving parents search for him after parking his sisters at an orphanage. In this Dickensian institution, children labor to make machine parts, the owner dreams of extending his industrial nightmare into the Impassable Wilderness he sees but can’t reach, and his partner, Desdemona, former B-movie actress in Ukraine, dreams of Hollywood glory. Indulging a free-range imagination, Meloy mulches his verdant wilderness with wildly eclectic cultural references—real (Macbeth, Moby-Dick) and un(Tax Bracket magazine, Lego replicas of Soviet-era statues). The incomparable Ellis more than rises to the challenge—her sly, wistful, abundant illustrations provide an emotional through line.

Reflecting on her Wildwood experience, Prue “learned to not consider the minutiae of things, but rather take each episode as it came.” Take Prue’s advice and enjoy the ride.

(Fantasy. 10-14)

While her beloved Jaimy Fletcher recuperates in Burma from his recent madness, irrepressible Jacky Faber leaves the high seas and goes to war once more.

Dispatched to Portugal by British Intelligence to aid (and spy on) General Arthur Wellesley in his campaign against the French, Jacky finds her loyalties and background questioned.

As Wellesley points out, Jacky has both accumulated an unbelievable number of military medals and consorted with the enemy, specifically Napoleon but also thieves, rogues, rebels and pirates. Jacky is not modest, but she seems to stumble into fame rather than seek it out, making her an admirable instead of an insufferably arrogant protagonist. As usual, her plans go awry, and Jacky strikes out alone for Madrid, where she finds lodging with Goya, the painter, and experiences a slew of stereotypical Spanish activities. Plot matters less than personal development; action is intermittent and the ending abrupt, but Jacky adds to her impressive repertoire of skills and amorous encounters. Jacky seems amused by her sexual allure—which indeed strains credulity—and toes the line of impropriety but technically remains faithful to Jaimy. Meyer makes many references to previous books and seems to be biding time until the next novel; this installment is entertaining but not exceptional.

Teenage rogue trades Spanish Main for the Spanish plains in a solid adventure tale. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)

NATURE’S PATCHWORK QUILT Understanding Habitats

Miché, Mary Illus. by Powell, Consie Dawn Publications (32 pp.) $16.95 | paper $8.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-58469-169-3 978-1-58469-170-9 paperback

More a collection of loosely related definitions than an elucidation of habitats as the subtitle implies, this is nonetheless beautifully illustrated.

Stunning watercolor quilts of different patterns dominate Powell’s double-page compositions. A large center scene is surrounded by tiny blocks that each house lifelike depictions of the plants and animals that make up a habitat: forest, desert, ocean, rainforest, etc. A list of the flora and fauna on each page can be found on the publisher’s website (not seen). Unfortunately, Miché’s text does not match the level of the artwork. Beginning with a simile comparing nature to a patchwork quilt of |

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“Readers will delight in repeating Hank’s affable reply to each person that he meets: ‘Okey dokey.’ (Impossible not be read aloud in a slow, drawn-out voice.)” from railroad hank

different habitats, the author presents some of those habitats while introducing environmental vocabulary: interdependence, niche, food chain, adaptations, biodiversity, deforestation and domestication, among others. But the quilt metaphor quickly breaks down, becoming just a way to arrange the illustrations.

Boldface words are sparsely explained within the text, and nothing is given in-depth coverage; readers and teachers may wish for a glossary with more detailed definitions. As is characteristic of the publisher, extensive backmatter includes activities and resources for further information and learning extensions, though they are aimed primarily at the adults who are sharing this title with children. One spread sure to spur further investigation presents the portraits of 22 environmentalists with tantalizing clues as to their areas of involvement.

Skip the rudimentary introduction to the environment and purchase this solely for the artwork and extended learning. (Informational picture book. 4-9)

MISS SALLY ANN AND THE PANTHER

Miller, Bobbi Illus. by Lloyd, Megan Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8234-1833-6

Miller and Lloyd team up for another rollicking tall-tale adventure (Davy Crockett Gets Hitched, 2009).

While gathering onions on a bone-cold morning in woods so thick the sun can’t shine through, Miss Sally Ann Thunder, dressed in her best bear fur, and Fireeyes, the “hugeceously smart and mean as tarnation” panther, come face to face, each coveting the other’s coat to keep out the winter chill. The riproaring battle that ensues changes the world around them—a new gorge is formed, skunks lose their stripes, the Milky Way curdles—but neither is able to gain the upper hand. By the next morning’s light, they stop to appreciate each other’s fine fighting skills…and smile at one another, suddenly great friends. Fireeyes lives with Miss Sally Ann now, helping around the house and lying on her feet to keep them warm in the winter, her best bear fur around his shoulders. Miller’s rambunctious read-aloud is peppered with word itching to be shared—thunderific, swaggerous, conbobberation, terrifiacious, ripsnorting, as well as the delightful, though too-often-repeated, varmint. Lloyd’s acrylic artwork masterfully conveys texture, each hair on the panther and needle on the evergreens sharply defined. Miss Sally Ann’s larger-than-life personality comes through as she wrestles with the giant cat, though some readers may have trouble with her pioneer attitudes: She collects eagle eggs for eggnog and wants to kill the panther just for his pelt.

Still, another solid addition to tall-tale collections. (Picture book/tall tale. 4-8)

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RAILROAD HANK

Moser, Lisa Illus. by Davies, Benji Random House (40 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $19.99 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-375-86849-8 978-0-375-96849-5 PLB A lovable engineer gets confused and takes a train full of surprises up a mountain.

Granny Bett is feeling blue, so Railroad Hank is a-comin’ to her rescue. But what should he bring to cheer her up? Folk from all around the town give suggestions as Hank and his little red train chug past. Missy May from the Happy Flap Farm says that scrambley eggs always make her smile. Bringing Granny Bett some eggs is a fine idea. But instead of taking the eggs, Railroad Hank loads the chickens onto the train! After all, that is where the eggs come from, isn’t it? And of course, when Cinnamon Cobbler suggests giving Granny Bett a crunchy red apple, Railroad Hank takes the whole tree instead. By the time he makes it up the mountain to Granny Bett, with a string of townsfolk running behind him, his train is about to burst. But that just might be exactly what Granny Bett needs. With a large, rounded chin and kindhearted grin, Railroad Hank’s bumbling nature comes through with affection, not malice. Readers will delight in repeating Hank’s affable reply to each person that he meets: “Okey dokey.” (Impossible not be read aloud in a slow, drawn-out voice.) Plus, the inevitable train sounds will have everyone joining in.

An endearing tale of a jovial fellow, trying to do good by the world. (Picture book. 3-5)

A SOLDIER’S SECRET The Incredible True Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero

Moss, Marissa Amulet/Abrams (400 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-4197-0427-7

A female Civil War soldier is brought alive for readers.

Though 19 years old, Frank Thompson is rejected the first time he tries to join the Union Army: He looks too young. Three months later, the conscriptors aren’t so picky, and Frank signs on as a “nurse,” a mostly untrained orderly who pulls injured soldiers off battlefields, holds them down during amputations and writes to their loved ones if they die. With his stamina, determination and genuinely caring nature, Frank excels, and he is soon given riskier duties: first, postmaster, responsible for carrying mail to the front lines; second, spy, where Frank proves a master at disguise. And no wonder: Frank is a woman. Sarah Edmonds, Canadian by birth, first passed for a boy to escape her abusive father and an arranged marriage; after the war, she became the kirkus.com

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only female to receive a soldiers’ pension. Moss’ moving firstperson narration, based largely on Edmonds’ own autobiography and other first-person documents, shows Frank gradually finding in her war comrades the close-knit and loving family she never had, while becoming increasingly valued for her courage and compassion. Moss convincingly but never gratuitously portrays the gore, horror and boredom of war.

An intimate look at a soldier’s life from a compelling, historical perspective. (author’s note, thumbnail biographies, timeline, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

LOST IN PARIS

Moss, Marissa Illus. by Moss, Marissa Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (224 pp.) $12.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-4022-6606-5 Series: Mira’s Diary, 1 Her mother’s mysterious absence, a perplexing postcard and a unique family ability sends Mira on a race through time.

A trip to France with her father and brother in search of her mother becomes a fateful odyssey for Mira when she is abruptly transported to Paris circa 1881.

Mira is shocked to find out she can travel through time, a talent she has inherited from her mother. She also discovers that her mother has travelled into the past on a quest for justice for Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer wrongly accused of a crime, and needs Mira’s help. A series of letters from her mother guides Mira as she visits various moments in time between 1881 and 1899. Mira’s encounters with anti-Semitism during her investigation further compel her to seek out the truth. While striving to unravel the secrets surrounding Dreyfus’ trial, Mira becomes involved in the lives of several impressionist artists and, of course, writer Émile Zola. With vividly detailed descriptions, Moss deftly recounts Mira’s journey among the backdrop of historical events and people. Moss’ thought-provoking tale examines the devastating effects of prejudice and intolerance; in her author’s note, she gives more background on the Dreyfus Affair and Zola’s “J’Accuse.”

A surprise ending will leave readers anticipating Mira’s next mission as she follows her mother through time and history. (bibliography) (Fantasy. 10-14)

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PIP AND THE WOOD WITCH CURSE

Mould, Chris Illus. by Mould, Chris Whitman (176 pp.) $12.99 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8075-6548-3 Series: A Spindlewood Tale, 1 Children are an endangered species in Hangman’s Hollow, a town under siege from dark and malevolent forces in this first book of a planned trilogy.

Ten-year-old orphan Pip is sent to be a cabin boy on a pirate ship, but he escapes and finds himself in Hangman’s Hollow, a place where children can be caught and imprisoned by either the town guards or by the forest creatures, for various nefarious purposes. He is taken in and hidden by a kind and brave tavern keeper who is also hiding his own son. What follows is a confusing and illogical series of misadventures involving child catchers, wood witches, a live wooden toy soldier, malevolent crows and a host of other creatures. It’s dystopian and supernatural, with deliberate Dickensian elements that will likely fly over the heads of the intended audience. To succeed, fantasy needs a structure on which to build the magic, but that is entirely lacking here. None of the characters are fully formed, and there is no rhyme or reason to their actions. There’s “an almost happy ending,” but nothing is explained or resolved. Highly detailed black-and-white illustrations are appropriately dark and spooky.

Several are placed in a series of panels similar to a graphic novel, which might be a better choice of format for this material.

Confusion reigns. (Fantasy.8-12)

OSTRICH AND LARK

Nelson, Marilyn Illus. by San Artists of the Kuru Art Project of Botswana Boyds Mills (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-59078-702-1 When does an ostrich come into his own?

Ostrich and Lark, two bosom buddies, travel through the Kalahari Desert, interacting with the birds, insects and animals of the southern African veld. Each one makes its individual sound, together singing “their rainshower jazz.” That is, everyone except Ostrich. But as the minimal story ends, Ostrich finally booms out a “TWOOWOO-WOOOT.” It is a sound “part lion’s roar, / part foghorn, / part old man trumpeting into his handkerchief.” The language is spare, like the land it describes. It has the flavor of folklore, but this is an original story that Nelson has created to complement the paintings made by !Kung San people participating in the Kuru Art Project of Botswana. The San people were traditional hunter-gatherers, but development has forced them into the modern economy. The author’s royalties will go to the |

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Project, part of an income-generating group of programs. The cause is worthy, and the vibrantly colored, naive oil paintings, bordered uniformly with a broad stripe with a zigzag line in a contrasting hue, are bold and attractive. The message is clear: Ostrich finds “his voice at last, / his own beauty, / his big, terrific self.” However, there is no precipitating reason for this change.

Does his voice come to him as a matter of maturity? While the story is not fully satisfying, the book deserves an audience for its successful portrayal of the natural world of the Kalahari.

Eye-catching and lyrical. (Picture book. 4-8)

GLAMOROUS GLASSES

Newman, Barbara Johansen Illus. by Newman, Barbara Johansen Boyds Mills (40 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-59078-878-3 Who wouldn’t want a pair of chic new frames?

When Bobbie accompanies her cousin and best friend Joanie to buy a pair of glasses, Bobbie finds the most perfect, most glamorous pair ever. Unfortunately, she doesn’t need glasses. Joanie unwillingly chooses a pair, and the girls leave, but Bobbie just can’t forget about the ones she saw. Brightly colored mixed-media illustrations show a dizzying plethora of glamorous glasses, and it’s easy to see why Bobbie would like a pair. In fact, she starts noticing glamorous glasses everywhere she looks! Struck by inspiration, Bobbie starts missing the ball in gym and claims to be unable to see the board, which results in a visit to a very sharp-eyed eye doctor. Foiled, Bobbie talks Joanie into loaning her her glasses while their mothers are shopping, but after a series of mishaps, both girls realize that it’s better to stick with what they’ve got. Will Bobbie ever be able to wear glasses? A yard sale just might hold the solution. Charming, positive and replete with kidlike observations and gentle humor, this tale of friendship will offer encouragement to any child who needs help adjusting to glasses and will discourage teasing before it starts. A nice choice for home or school reading.

Glamorous glasses for everyone! (Picture book. 4-8)

OCTOBER MOURNING A Song for Matthew Shepard Newman, Lesléa Candlewick (128 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-7636-5807-6

Nearly 14 years after the unspeakable tragedy that put Laramie, Wyo., on the hate crimes map, lesbian literary icon Newman offers a 68-poem tribute to Matthew Shepard.

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Readers who were infants on October 6, 1998, may learn here for the first time how the 21-year-old Shepard was lured from a bar by two men who drove him to the outskirts of town, beat him mercilessly, tied him to a fence and left him to die.

Ironically, months before Shepard’s murder, Newman had been invited to Laramie to speak at the University of Wyoming’s Gay Awareness Week and actually delivered her keynote address on the day he died. This cycle of poems, meant to be read sequentially as a whole, incorporates Newman’s reflections on Shepard’s killing and its aftermath, using a number of common poetic forms and literary devices to portray the events of that fateful night and the trial that followed. While the collection as a whole treats a difficult subject with sensitivity and directness, these poems are in no way nuanced or subtle. For example, Newman repeatedly employs personification to make inanimate objects, such as the fence, road, clothesline and truck, unwitting accessories to the crime, and she imitates William Carlos Williams’ “This Is Just to Say” false-apology format no fewer than four times with mixed results.

Though somewhat heavyhanded, these poems are sure to instill much-needed empathy and awareness to gay issues in today’s teens. (Poetry. 14 & up)

BETRAYAL

Olsen, Gregg Splinter/Sterling (288 pp.) $17.95 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 4, 2012 978-1-4027-8958-8 978-1-4027-9010-2 e-book Series: Empty Coffin, 2 Taylor and Hayley Ryan, the twin girls who can connect to and sense past events are again involved in mysterious events in Port Gamble, Wash., in this second Empty Coffin tale.

In their debut, Envy (2011), the girls uncovered the truth about a recent death, but the death they’re involved with now is clearly murder. Adult characters are more defined than in many novels for teens, with S’Kallam Tribal Police chief Annie Garnett and Mindee the hairstylist at the forefront. The thirdperson narration allows Olsen to cherry-pick events to keep the suspense going and the mystery intriguing. The paranormal abilities of the girls are just understated enough to make them almost believable, as are the many forensic details of autopsy and crime scene investigation. It’s a disappointment when the murderer makes a telling comment about two-thirds of the way through, and it seems like a purposeful delaying tactic when the girls chase information about their family’s past, which is clearly irrelevant to the core mystery. That secondary plot aside, there is plenty of action, as well as many snide remarks and unlikable characters, to keep readers’ attention.

Despite the paranormal element, this is more a police procedural than anything else, albeit one that’s on the fluffy side. (Paranormal mystery. 12-16)

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“Unexpected, drily funny and full of the pathos and wonder of life: Don’t miss it.” from dodger

YOU ARE A STAR!

Parker, Michael Illus. by Rossell, Judith Walker (40 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 18, 2012 978-0-8027-2841-8

Star light, star bright…a child takes a lyrical journey to the heavens and discovers she’s a star—in the best possible way.

In simple, poetic prose, a young girl soars into the night sky and discovers the origin of stars. Eons ago a star got hotter and hotter until it exploded. The resulting bits came to settle on what is now Earth and thus became a part of everything on the planet, including humans. The language is clear and directly addresses readers (“Are you okay? Yes? Good”). Imagine children’s delight in learning they were born from and are made up of stardust, even down to the grooves of their fingertips. Sweet and captivating illustrations, created from multiple media and often set against vintage-looking maps of constellations, are the stars here, too. They work perfectly with the text to demonstrate for youngsters how their bodies and all living things came to be imbued with pieces of stars. The book is intended to make nighttime less frightening—after all, the sky isn’t really dark with all those stars up there—but it also allows children to think larger, deeper thoughts about how marvelously they and their whole universe are connected. No wonder the lucky “star” sleeps so contentedly on the final page.

A twinkling delight for bedtime and storytime. (star facts) (Picture book. 4-8)

LINDSEY LOST

Phillips, Suzanne Marie Viking (224 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 13, 2012 978-0-670-78460-8 Life, death and suspicion in the pressure cooker of high-stakes teen athletics.

Siblings Lindsey and Micah, premiere teen athletes, look forward to lives of athletic greatness: the 2012 London Summer Olympics in track and field for Lindsey and a major league pitching career for Micah. Lindsey is especially focused, maintaining excellent grades and working closely with Coach Kelley—herself an (nonmedaling) Olympian—while Micah struggles a bit academically and is content to bask in Lindsey’s reflected glow. Lindsey’s murder crushes her family’s dreams, casting amnesia-stricken Micah and their cagey father as prime suspects. Micah has lost his entire memory of the day of Lindsey’s death, and he both fears and distrusts his father’s attempts to help him recover it. As Lindsey’s secrets unravel and Micah’s memories of Lindsey’s last afternoon alive slowly return to him, red herrings pile up, but ultimately only Micah—so tormented by the idea that he might have killed the sister he loved and admired that he resorts to increasingly |

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drastic methods of self-cutting—is sufficiently three-dimensional to inspire the page-turning mix of reader sympathy and suspicion essential to a good thriller’s success. When the murderer is ultimately revealed, the result is not so much a satisfying clicking into place of clues carefully planted in past chapters as a shrug-inducing narrative thud.

Readers looking for a twisty, satisfying mystery should look elsewhere. (Mystery. 12-15)

DODGER

Pratchett, Terry Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | PLB $18.89 Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-06-200949-4 978-0-06-219015-4 e-book 978-0-06-200950-0 PLB Pratchett leaves Discworld to bring us something that is quite nearly—but not exactly—actual historical fiction.

Dodger is a guttersnipe and a tosher (a glossary would not have been amiss to help readers navigate the many archaic terms, although most are defined in the text, often humorously).

He knows everyone, and everyone knows him, and he’s a petty criminal but also (generally) one of the good guys. One night he rescues a beautiful young woman and finds himself hobnobbing quite literally with the likes of Charlie Dickens (yes, that Dickens) and Ben Disraeli. The young woman is fleeing from an abusive husband and has been beaten until she miscarried; power and abuse are explored sensitively but deliberately throughout.

And when he attempts to smarten himself up to impress the damsel in distress, he unexpectedly comes face to face with— and disarms!—Sweeney Todd. As Dodger rises, he continuously grapples with something Charlie has said: “the truth is a fog.”

Happily, the only fog here is that of Dodger’s London, and the truth is quite clear: Historical fiction in the hands of the inimitable Sir Terry brings the sights and the smells (most certainly the smells) of Old London wonderfully to life, in no small part due to the masterful third-person narration that adopts Dodger’s voice with utmost conviction.

Unexpected, drily funny and full of the pathos and wonder of life: Don’t miss it. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

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“Newbery Honor winner Preus…infuses the story with the good-natured humor of a largely unified, peace-loving people trying to keep their sanity in a world gone awry.” from shadow on the mountain

SHADOW ON THE MOUNTAIN

Preus, Margi Amulet/Abrams (304 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-4197-0424-6 A teenage boy becomes a spy in Nazioccupied Norway.

After the Germans invade his country in 1940, Espen goes from a life of school, Scouts and soccer games to delivering underground newspapers. Gradually, he advances to transporting secret documents via bicycle or skis and spying on Gestapo locations for the intelligence branch of the Resistance. Along the way, he navigates relationships with a beloved best friend who has joined the Nazis, his younger sister and peers who share his passion for opposition, as well as a budding romance with Solveig, who wears a red stocking hat signaling displeasure with the new regime. Newbery Honor winner Preus (Heart of a Samurai, 2010) infuses the story with the good-natured humor of a largely unified, peace-loving people trying to keep their sanity in a world gone awry. Based on a true story, the narrative is woven with lively enough daily historical detail to inspire older middle-grade readers to want to learn more about the Resistance movement and imitate Espen’s adventures. A selectively omniscient narrator moves from sister Ingrid’s diaries to the inner thoughts of Espen’s nemesis, Aksel. Preus also incorporates a Norse myth about Odin to shed light on what it means to be wise, the possibility of knowing too much and how to resist shadowing the mountain of hope.

A morally satisfying page turner. (author’s note, archival photographs, maps, timeline, selected bibliography) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

THE CASE OF THE INCAPACITATED CAPITALS

Pulver, Robin Illus. by Reed, Lynne Rowe Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8234-2402-3

Mr. Wright’s class learns the importance of capital letters in this latest from Pulver and Reed.

Feeling underused and ignored, the bandaged and splinted capital letters are not doing their job—they are incapacitated. But life goes on as usual in Mr. Wright’s class, the students not noticing the absence of the uppercases, even when they compose a letter. But Mr. Wright notices. “[W]riting a letter is not the same as texting.” His clueless class takes a while to cotton on to the problem, though, getting wrapped up in guessing Mr. Wright’s nickname. Humorous asides punctuate their teacher’s lesson on capitalization rules and the format for writing a letter (both of which are summed up in the backmatter). But when the kids try to 1814

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correct their mistakes, they discover the deplorable condition of the uppercase letters. Luckily, the lowercase letters sent out an SOS, and the medics arrive to save the day. A fascinating note caps things off by explaining how capital and small letters got the monikers uppercase and lowercase.

Reed’s acrylic-and-digital artwork sports her now-trademark style, childlike figures surrounded by doctored plastic fridge magnets. But this is not as strong as their other language-arts titles, Pulver taking too long setting up the story.

Still, this is a pretty painless way to teach capitalization and letter writing. (Picture book. 4-8)

DRAGON DREAMS

Rennert, Laura Illus. by Florian, Melanie Dial (112 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 13, 2012 978-0-8037-3750-1 Series: Royal Princess Academy, 1 Princess Emma doesn’t like pink and would rather kick a soccer ball than dance, and so beginneth the lessons.

She’s in her first year at the Royal Princess Academy, where her best friend is Rapunzel. Emma fears for her team in the All-School Princess Contest, which does start badly for her: Her chocolate volcano cake, while delicious, explodes all over everyone, and she doesn’t feel the rocks under her mattress. But Emma saves the day single-handedly when she is tasked to “create a happy ending” and rescues Rapunzel, Alex and Moriah from their various difficulties (Rapunzel, her hair newly cut, is trapped in a tower). What Emma really wants is to study dragons, which have been forbidden freedom of the kingdom because it is thought that they are dangerous for the environment. But when her class finally gets to visit the dragon caverns, she has another adventure and convinces the kingdom that letting the dragons roam free is better for both forest and waters. After a birthday surprise, Emma writes a letter to the princesses who will follow, reminding them that they can write “our OWN stories.” It’s all very affirming, and the illustrations are squiggly and cute, but it is awfully preachy.

As this begins a series, readers can be sure that Princess Emma, her cousin, Prince Ben, and the gnomes who train dragons and riders will be seen again. (Fantasy. 6-9)

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WITH ALL MY HEART

Rock, Brian Illus. by Chaffey, Samantha Tiger Tales (24 pp.) $12.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-58925-648-4

A day of outdoor fun prompts a big question to Momma Bear from her two young cubs.

Cub Jacob tags Momma—“You’re it!”—and the game is afoot. These bears are reasonably shaggy but anthropomorphic; Momma wears a large red-and-white apron, Jacob’s in a bright blue sweater, and his sister Casey has on a red dress. Jacob throws Momma a curve when he suddenly asks, “Who do you love best?”

Casey wants to know the answer to this as well. Momma answers slowly. She loves the way that Jacob makes art, and how Casey dances and that both of them make her laugh. The children make funny faces until they send themselves into gales of helpless laughter, but when that subsides, they come back at Momma with the same question. She thinks a bit before tackling it again. “You’re both a part of me,…like my paws. How can I love one of my paws more than the other?” She needs them both. Or maybe they’re like her legs or her arms. She needs both her arms to give them big hugs. At last the cubs get it: Momma Bear loves them both the best. She scoops them up in a big hug. “With all my heart,” she says. The bright illustrations and extra-sturdy pages suit a very young readership, as does the accessible prose.

Sweet and apt, but slight. For another, more artful ursine exploration of the same question, try Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram’s You’re All My Favorites (2004). (Picture book. 3-5)

ROCKET RIDE

Salisbury, Graham Illus. by Rogers, Jacqueline Wendy Lamb/Random (160 pp.) $12.99 | $9.99 e-book | PLB $15.99 Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-385-73965-8 978-0-375-89798-6 e-book 978-0-385-90799-6 PLB Series: Calvin Coconut, 8 When Calvin Coconut’s father schedules a concert in Oahu to promote his popular new album, Rocket Ride, Calvin is nervous and excited to see him for the first time in four years.

This is the eighth offering in a highly entertaining, heartfelt series. As in previous story arcs, Calvin must contend with a bully, Tito, whose obnoxious behavior often creates quandaries for Calvin as he squares off against him, which he does even as he realistically quakes in his boots. This installment is no exception—Tito initially ridicules a girl at school for liking Calvin’s dad’s music, but that doesn’t stop him from later demanding that Calvin score him a ticket for the sold-out show.

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Calvin’s reunion with his father. His dad is contrite, committing to make a change in order to see Calvin and his sister more often. Calvin feels good about this promise and feels immediate warmth toward Marissa, his dad’s new wife. The ease with which everyone accepts one another in Calvin’s family is remarkable, at times perhaps a touch unbelievable. Yet this story is also replete with strengths—funny, genuine dialogue, multidimensional characters and well-paced plotting, to name a few.

Calvin continues to charm. (Fiction. 7-10)

SAVING MOBY DICK

Samson, L.L. Zonderkidz (192 pp.) $7.99 paperback | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0310727972 Series: The Enchanted Attic, 2 Fresh from their experiences with Quasimodo in the series opener (Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame, 2012), three young people again use an elusive inventor’s magic, painted circle to bring a liter-

ary character to life.

Choosing to call up Captain Ahab because he’s “the only really interesting character in Moby-Dick,” teen twins Linus and Ophelia and their hunky British buddy Walter embark on a project to turn the sailor away from his obsession with killing the white whale. Though a silly, strung-out deception involving a live cougar and a big plush lion that ends with Walter almost drowning in the nearby river provides little more than comic relief, by the time Ahab has to sink back into his story, he’s come around to understanding that the real issue isn’t the whale but his own wounded pride. Along with a remarkable number of continuing side plots, Samson tucks in frequent commentary about the use of clichés, point of view and like writerly topics from a particularly unlikable intrusive narrator who dubs himself “Bartholomew Inkster, self-taught literary fussbudget.” He also includes short (spoiler-free) dialogues on character, values and motivation—both in Moby-Dick and in general. Next up: D’Artagnan!

Though plainly crafted to spark and model book discussions, the tale is generously infused with animating elements of mystery, romance and comedy—plus a particularly lively and diverse supporting cast of grown-ups. (Fantasy. 12-14)

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DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER

Slater, Dashka Illus. by Docampo, Valeria Dial (40 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 13, 2012 978-0-8037-3374-9

A story about a princess who relishes danger, illustrated with incongruous glossiness.

Princess Amanita loves anything perilous, from “her pet scorpion, and her brakeless bicycle, and her collection of daggers and broken glass” to a sporting walk, blindfolded, at a moat’s edge.

Prince Florian (from a neighboring kingdom) accidentally blows a hole in her wheelbarrow by cutting, from her vine, an apparent bunch of grapes that are actually “grenapes”—they “explode three seconds after being picked.” Apologetic, he brings roses (new to Amanita, but luckily they’ve got thorns). She demands rose seeds to grow more thorns, but instead receives nose seeds due to an ambiguously handwritten note. Humor and wordplay— grape + grenade = grenape; nose plants rather than rose plants— sit alongside the danger theme, never quite meshing. Theme notwithstanding, Amanita’s shown in peril only late in the story, and few pages feature an aesthetically threatening vibe. Not only do most of Amanita’s dangerous things go without depiction, the garden, “filled with prickles and stickles and brambles and nettles,” shows many cactus spikes as blunt-tipped. Despite much texturing, Docampo’s bright colors and stylized, dominantly curving lines feel more slick than dangerous, though Amanita’s scorpion-sting hairdo is nicely menacing.

Given that feisty, dirt-or-danger-loving princesses are almost a subgenre of princess books, don’t choose this one first. (Picture book. 4-7)

THE STORY OF SILK From Worm Spit to Woven Scarves

Sobol, Richard Illus. by Sobol, Richard Candlewick (48 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 25, 2012 978-0-7636-4165-8

Crisp, bright photographs and a simple, personal narrative create a remarkably informative look at the process of silk production in a Thai village.

The book opens with a legend about how a Chinese empress discovered a secret treasure in cocoons she’d gathered from a mulberry tree 5,000 years ago: The amazing fabric that could be woven from the long strands of the cocoons was a closely kept secret in China for hundreds of years. In this account, Sobol is a welcome visitor when he arrives in a Thai village at the start of the school holiday. Although the boys, he is told, are studying with the monks during the holiday, the girls help with the silk production in the village. The author introduces himself to readers as a learner (“Everywhere I look, I see something interesting happening and I hardly know where to point 1816

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my camera”), and the inclusion of his own reactions gives the narrative immediacy and personality. A satisfying abundance of photographs shows the baskets of mulberry leaves with white, striped silkworms nestled munching inside, the cheese-puff– like cocoons, the boiling pots, the long fibers stretching over spools, the looms and the girls dressed in their silk dresses, all elaborated on and explained in a friendly and accessible way.

A pleasingly engaging look at the subject. (silk facts, glossary) (Nonfiction. 6-10)

BECAUSE AMELIA SMILED

Stein, David Ezra Illus. by Stein, David Ezra Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 11, 2012 978-0-7636-4169-6

Amelia’s smile, brought on by a rain shower and seen by a neighborhood grandmother, catalyzes a cheery chain of happy consequences.

The ripple of resultant good acts (the grandmother makes her grandson cookies, he teaches his class a song about cookies, one of his students then decides to become a teacher...) travels from New York to Mexico, England, Israel, Paris, Italy and finally back to New York. This streaming story, with its lively artwork and satisfying page turns, allows even young readers to see the interconnectedness of people, the effects of open-hearted deeds and the contagion of happiness. Indefatigable linework (in pencil, water soluble crayon and watercolor) encourages readers to explore every corner of the page, from every angle.

Energy zigzags across the illustrations, showing each teeming locale, rendered jaggedly and joyfully. Such dizzying inclusion makes sense in a book about how we’re inextricably bound together in this kooky world, but readers might feel adrift in these busy, sometimes murky pictures. There’s little variation in color saturation and therefore no visual relief or fixed point of focus. Stein manages to expand and reduce the world at once, jumping across wide oceans, countries and continents while connecting the teeny-tiny lives of individuals. When the chain of smiles comes full circle, returning to Amelia and making her grin, readers smile too.

A playfully profound picture book that does its part in passing on good feelings. (Picture book. 4-8)

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“...even those for whom selkies and banshees are brand-new will appreciate the clever way Thomas weaves together traditional elements and her fictional creations.” from the seven tales of trinket

NOBODY KNOWS

Tanaka, Shelley Groundwood (144 pp.) $16.95 | $9.95 e-book | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-55498-140-3 978-1-55498-305-6 e-book The spare, heartbreaking tale of four children struggling to make do after their mother abandons them in a Tokyo apartment.

Smuggled into a “No Children” flat and forbidden to go to school or even venture outdoors except to run quick errands, Akira, Kyoko, Shigeru and Yuki—12, 10, 8 and 4 respectively—live for their hard-partying mother’s increasingly rare appearances. By winter, she and the money she occasionally sends are gone completely, but the children, knowing that they would be split up if they asked openly for help, remain in hiding—even after Yuki, the youngest, takes a fatal fall and is quietly, sadly buried in a suitcase with chocolates and her favorite toy. Tanaka’s narrative is a novelization of a 2004 Japanese film inspired by true events; though the children’s situation would probably not have gone unremarked so long in this country, there is certainly a universal element in her observation that “[n]obody seemed to notice four kids living on their own right under their noses. It was as though the children were invisible.” Yuki’s death isn’t the only shocker here, but the author consistently describes disturbing incidents in oblique ways and, echoed in the film stills thinly scattered throughout, adopts a tone more poignant than outraged.

A tale without a tidy end, all the more tragic for being told in such a simple, low-key way. (Fiction. 11-14)

DISCOVERING BLACK AMERICA From the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-First Century

Tarrant-Reid, Linda Abrams (244 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0-8109-7098-4

This handsome, engaging study of African-American history brings to light many intriguing and tragically underreported stories.

This is a comprehensive approach to African-American history, beginning with accounts of black explorers before the settlement of North America. The straightforward narrative includes major historical events but places emphasis on unusual aspects. For example, during the segment on the American Revolution, there is good discussion about those who fought for both the Patriots and the Loyalists. Another section of distinction is the period following the Civil War and Reconstruction, including blacks in the West and an intriguing look at the differing views of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. The |

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societal changes brought on by World War II and the civil rights movement receive their due. Little-known exchanges between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King are the kinds of detail that lift this narrative above the standard history text. Not surprisingly, the story concludes with the election of President Barack Obama and the challenges facing the first black president. This is a well-researched, readable overview with an attractive layout that will engage young readers. There are few pages that are not accompanied by an interesting sidebar or image, many archival.

From attractive page design to an afterword that encourages readers to search for their own history, there has been much attention to detail in this handsome volume. (notes, bibliography, art credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)

THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET

Thomas, Shelley Moore Farrar, Straus and Giroux (384 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-374-36745-9 Like her main character, Trinket, Thomas clearly loves storytelling, and she has a real talent for it, too.

Seven interlinked episodes follow a brief exposition. The distinctness of these episodes keeps the text from seeming overlong, particularly since the smooth flow and intriguing elements will easily capture readers’ interest.

Unusual characters (a gypsy princess, fairy queen and ghostly highwayman, among others) add excitement and suspense, while the overarching tale, which effectively connects the disparate characters and individual events, features a quest of sorts.

Eleven-year-old Trinket recently lost her mother to a fever. Her father, a wandering bard, abandoned the family five years ago when he failed to return as promised from a storytelling sojourn.

With no one to care for her, Trinket sets out with a friend to discover what became of her father—and to collect some stories to tell. Hardships abound, and the two often go hungry, but they persevere in their search. Readers familiar with Celtic folklore will recognize the outlines of some of the sections. But even those for whom selkies and banshees are brand-new will appreciate the clever way Thomas weaves together traditional elements and her fictional creations.

Though it’s filled with incident, emotion, magic and adventure, what stands out most is Trinket’s clear voice and loving heart, both of which will endear her to readers.

(Fantasy. 8-12)

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“Children with wheezles and sneezles of their own will sympathize with the droopy monster and perhaps feel a little less anxious about doctor visits, too.” from even monsters get sick

PRIVATEER’S APPRENTICE

Verrico, Susan Peachtree (224 pp.) $15.95 | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-56145-633-8

In a nautical tale that leaks from stem to stern, a printer’s son survives one unlikely adventure after another after being shanghaied by British privateers.

First orphaned, then sold into indenture on a false charge, then clubbed and carried off to sea, 13-yearold Jameson finds himself sailing into the Caribbean aboard the Destiny, Captain “Attack Jack” Edwards commanding. Jameson inexplicably worms his way into the captain’s good graces despite being sullen, accident-prone and so slow on the uptake that he has to be told twice why the ship doesn’t fly British colors in enemy waters. He goes on at Edwards’ behest to bury a packet of maps in a secret cave during a wild storm for no good reason (except perhaps the general paucity of dramatic scenes), then, before sailing off to deliver the aforementioned maps to Queen Anne (this is 1713), he rescues the captain from being hanged as a pirate by forging a Letter of Marque. The author displays an incomplete knowledge of nautical terminology and the techniques of letterpress printing, and the climactic courtroom scene is so contrived that even Perry Mason would wince.

With the likes of Peter Raven, Tom Cringle and even Jacky Faber roaming the literary sea lanes, not even the frequent references to dung, dirt, blood and noxious foods are enough to float such an underresearched, arbitrarily plotted clinker. (Historical fiction. 11-13)

HUNTER

Walters, Eric Orca (208 pp.) $9.95 paperback | Sep. 1, 2012 978-1-4598-0157-8 An interesting experiment in collaborative creation and complementary storytelling, this Canadian import falls short as a stand-alone work.

As he did with Catboy (2011), Walters solicited feedback from students as he wrote. Both books feature the same plot but differ in perspective. Hunter, the title character, is a member of a feral cat colony, and the story is told from his perspective. Because the cats don’t understand human speech, readers unfamiliar with the earlier work know nothing of the motivations of the people involved and will likely have trouble following the events. An uneasy mix of anthropomorphism and realistic animal behavior further limits audience appeal. An old raccoon talks like a stereotypical wise teacher, a rival cat is a one-dimensional tough guy, and Hunter’s mate, Mittens, a former house cat, is ridiculously sweet. Her interactions with Hunter are decidedly domestic and extremely affectionate, which contrasts oddly with 1818

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Hunter’s concern that stress might lead Mittens to kill their newborn kittens. Walters’ writing style is choppy and repetitive, most likely the result of incorporating input from, as he notes, “hundreds of student co-authors.”

As a companion piece, this may be of interest to readers who enjoyed Walters’ previous book; as a plea for humane treatment of feral cats, it’s a somewhat clumsy but obviously heartfelt statement; unfortunately, however, it’s ultimately less than the sum of its parts. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)

interactive e-books EVEN MONSTERS GET SICK

Bruza, Michael Illus. by Bruza, Michael Busy Bee $0.99 | July 5, 2012 1.1; Jul. 5, 2012

Zub looks like a bad bargain until his new young owner, Harry, realizes that the monster isn’t sad and boring but actually ill.

Resembling a big orange Wild Thing in the angular cartoon illustrations, Zub just lies about, groaning and dripping unusually gross-looking slime—until his young friend, with a flash of insight, calls upon his “Uncle Doctor Bob” for a house call (“Zub was nervous because some monsters are afraid to go to the doctor”) and learns that the creature has a cold. A little TLC and Zug and Harry are rocking out with Rock Hero, sharing ghost stories at Kid Camp and even setting out on a pirate treasure hunt. The options and interactive features are simple, smooth and satisfyingly varied. Fledgling readers can either tackle the first-person tale themselves or listen to an expressive child narrate over pleasant background music. A fingertip moves Harry and Zug through two easy mazes, elicits moans and cheers with taps, catapults cans of soup into the monster’s mouth, sets a frog band to playing a hornpipe and, after a closing hug, ignites fireworks in a nighttime sky.

Children with wheezles and sneezles of their own will sympathize with the droopy monster and perhaps feel a little less anxious about doctor visits, too. (iPad storybook app. 4-6)

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THE VOYAGE OF ULYSSES

A DOLLAR, A PENNY, HOW MUCH AND HOW MANY? Math Is CATegorical

Elastico srl Elastico srl $4.99 | Jul. 3, 2012 1.0; Jul. 3, 2012

A delightfully entertaining telling of the tale of brave Ulysses.

This slimmed, prose version of Homer’s epic can be read aloud by a lilting narrator, or it can be read silently. All of the characters Ulysses meets on his long journey home are here—the Lotus Eaters, Polyphemus the Cyclops, Aeolus and the spiteful winds, Circe, the Sirens, Calypso, a truly scary Scylla—with a suitable amount of smoothly written text material to flesh out their backgrounds and roles. Pop-up boxes can be activated to provide further interpretive access to the tale. The stained-glass quality of the artwork is enchanting, as are the atmospheric background music and sounds. The interactive features are many and clever. Little hints are given for activating them—jugs do a quick tip to the side, Ulysses’ helmet tinks when touched—but the true joy here is the act of discovering the interactive features, which are not gimmies by any stretch: dragging a storm cloud against the sky to bedevil Ulysses’ boat, figuring out how Penelope weaves and unweaves the shroud, activating Circe’s fireworks or an island volcano, helping Polyphemus hurl a boulder at Ulysses’ ship and watching Poseidon rise from the waves. Readers, in essence, are exploring, just like our man Ulysses. That’s engagement.

An inventive and entertaining introduction to the classic. And that kiss at the end: perfect. (iPad epic app. 10 & up)

continuing series CAM JANSEN AND THE MILLIONAIRE Cam Jansen, #32

Adler, David A. Illustrator: Allen, Joy Viking (64 pp.) $14.99 | Sept. 13, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-670-01258-9 (Mystery. 6-8)

A ROCK IS LIVELY A _____ Is…

Aston, Dianna Hutts Illustrator: Long, Sylvia Chronicle (40 pp.) $16.99 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4521-0645-8 (Informational picture book. 5-10)

UPSETS AND UNDERDOGS The Greatest Moments in Sports, #3 Berman, Len Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (128 pp.) $19.99 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4022-7226-4 (Nonfiction. 8-12)

LITTLE MAGIC SHOP OF HORRORS Deadtime Stories, #5

MALLORY MCDONALD, SUPER SNOOP Mallory, #18

Cleary, Bryan P Illustrator: Gable, Brian Millbrook (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sept. 1 2012 ISBN: 978-0-8225-7882-6 (Math picture book. 5-9)

Freedman, Laurie Illustrator: Kalis, Jennifer Darby Creek (152 pp.) $15.95 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-7613-6073-5 (Fiction. 7-11)

COVET The Clann Trilogy, #2

THE CASE OF THE PIGGY BANK THIEF First Kids Mysteries, #4

Darnell, Melissa Harlequin Teen (432 pp.) paper $9.99 | Sept. 25, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-373-21056-5 (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

Freeman, Martha Holiday House (144 pp.) $16.95 | Aug. 15, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-8234-2517-4 (Mystery. 7-11)

LURE OF THE DEAD The Last Apprentice, #10

D IS FOR DESERT World Alphabet

Delaney, Joseph Illustrator: Arrasmith, Patrick Greenwillow (432 pp.) $17.99 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-06-202760-3 (Fantasy. 12 & up)

Gowan, Barbara Illustrator: van Frankenhuyzen, Gijsbert Sleeping Bear (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-58536-501-2 (Informational picture book. 6-10)

THE MEPHISTO KISS The Redemption of Kyros, #2

HER PERMANENT RECORD Amelia Rules!, #8

Faegen, Trinity Egmont (448 pp.) $17.99 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-60684-171-6 (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

Gownley, Jimmy Illustrator: Gownley, Jimmy Atheneum (160 pp.) $19.99 | Aug. 28, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4169-8615-7 (Graphic novel. 7-12)

MAKE A WISH BEAR Greg Foley’s Bear, #5

Foley, Greg Illustrator: Foley, Greg Viking (24 pp.) $15.99 | Sept. 13, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-670-01239-8 (Picture book. 2-5)

THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH Alex Van Helsing, #3 Henderson, Jason HarperTeen (320 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-06-195103-9 (Horror. 13 & up)

Cascone, Annette; Gina, Cascone Starscape (224 pp.) $14.99 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-7653-3075-8 (Horror. 8-12) |

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CAPTAIN DISASTER Squish, #4

LUNCH LADY AND THE PICTURE DAY PERIL Lunch Lady, #8

Holm, Jennifer L.; Matt Holm Illustrator: Holm, Jennifer L.; Matt Holm Random House (96 pp.) paper $6.99 | PLB $12.99 Sept. 25, 2012 paper: 978-0-375-84392-1 PLB: 978-0-375-93786-6 (Graphic novel. 7-10)

Krosoczka, Jarrett J. Illustrator: Krosoczka, Jarrett J. Knopf (96 pp.) paper $6.99 | PLB $12.99 Sept. 11, 2012 paper: 978-0-375-87035-4 PLB: 978-0-375-97035-1 (Graphic novel. 7-10)

MELONHEAD AND THE VEGALICIOUS DISASTER Melonhead, #4

SHADOW OF DOUBT Robyn Hunter Mysteries, #5

McClintock, Norah Darby Creek (232 pp.) $27.93 | paper $8.95 Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-7613-8315-4 paper: 978-0-7613-9397-9 (Mystery. 11-16)

Kinsman, Naomi Zonderkidz (224 pp.) paper $7.99 | Sept. 4, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-310-72668-5 (Fiction. 10-13)

Knight, Jennifer Running Press Teens (496 pp.) paper $10.95 | Aug. 14, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-7624-4118-1 (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)

Rylant, Cynthia Illustrator: Howard, Arthur Harcourt (40 pp.) $14.99 | Sept. 11, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-15-206415-0 (Early reader. 6-9)

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LOVE AND OTHER DRAMA-RAMAS Ask Amy Green, #4

Webb, Sarah Candlewick (256 pp.) $15.99 | Aug. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5582-2 (Fiction. 11-14)

Speck, Katie Illustrator: Rátz de Tagyos, Paul Holt (64 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 7, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-8050-9468-8 (Fantasy. 2-5)

DINO-FOOTBALL Dino-sports, #5

Wheeler, Lisa Illustrator: Gott, Barry Carolrhoda (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-7613-6394-1 (Picture book. 5-9)

Steer, Dugald A. Illustrator: Carrel, Douglas Candlewick (256 pp.) paper $7.99 | Aug. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-7636-3428-5 (Fantasy. 9-13)

McKee, David Illustrator: McKee, David Andersen USA (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4677-0319-2 (Picture book. 2-5)

This Issue’s Contributors #

Ross, Tony Illustrator: Ross, Tony Andersen USA (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sept. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4677-0318-5 (Picture book. 2-5)

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Voelkel, Jon; Pamela Voelkel Egmont USA (352 pp.) $16.99 | Sept. 25, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-60684-073-3 (Adventure. 10-14)

MAYBELLE AND THE HUNTED CUPCAKE Maybelle the Cockroach, #3

I WANT MY MOM! Little Princess

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THE RIVER OF NO RETURN Jaguar Stones, #3

THE DRAGON PROPHECY The Dragonology Chronicles, #4

ELMER AND THE BIG BIRD Elmer the Elephant

BLOOD CRAVE Blood on the Moon, #2

Vernon, Ursula Illustrator: Vernon, Ursula Dial (208 pp.) $12.99 | Sept. 13, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-8037-3678-8 (Graphic novel/fiction hybrid. 8-12)

Shepard, Sara HarperTeen (304 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-06-186976-1 (Fiction. 13 & up)

Lore, Pittacus Harper/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 21, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-06-197548-8 (Science fiction. 10-14)

BRILLIANT HUES From Sadie’s Sketchbook, #4

WHEN FAIRIES GO BAD Dragonbreath, #7

HIDE AND SEEK The Lying Game, #4

RISE OF NINE Lorien Legacies, #3

Kelly, Katy Illustrator: Johnson, Gillian Delacorte (224 pp.) $14.99 | PLB $17.99 Sept. 11, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-385-74164-4 PLB: 978-0-375-99015-1 (Fiction. 8-12)

MR. PUTTER & TABBY DANCE THE DANCE Mr. Putter & Tabby, #21

Elizabeth Bird • Marcie Bovetz • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley • Sophie Brookover • Timothy Capehart • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Lisa Dennis • Carol Edwards • Robin L. Elliott • Brooke Faulkner • Laurie Flynn • Judith Gire • Carol Goldman • Melinda Greenblatt • Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig • Julie Hubble • Jennifer Hubert • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Betsy Judkins • Megan Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Ellen Loughran • Lori Low • Joan Malewitz • Jeanne McDermott • Kathie Meizner • Daniel Meyer • Lisa Moore • R. Moore • John Edward Peters • Melissa Rabey • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Erika Rohrbach • Ronnie Rom • Leslie L. Rounds • Ann Marie Sammataro • Stephanie Seales • Karyn N. Silverman • Rita Soltan • Shelley Sutherland • Jennifer Sweeney • Deborah D. Taylor • Melissa Yurechko

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indie DEATH OF THE REPUBLIC

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Andison, F. Scott CreateSpace (330 pp.) $12.99 paperback | $2.99 e-book May 6, 2011 978-1461001188

THE FINAL RACE by Oliver Chiapco......................................... p. 1822 REPEATERS by Erica Ferencik..................................................... p. 1823 KINGDOM by Anderson O’Donnell.............................................. p. 1828

A wealthy retired colonel with strong Christian beliefs supports his brother-inlaw’s presidential candidacy, but ulterior motives may prove lethal in the author’s debut novel, the first in a proposed series.

Rev. Robert Strong, Independent presidential hopeful who had a good showing in the 2016 election, may have an even greater chance in 2020. His Christian-driven campaign is backed by Col. Sherman Gale, who has covertly initiated The Plan, under the rigid belief that God has spoken to him. After FBI agent Derrik Chu fails at gaining access to The Ranch—Gale’s 300,000-acre Christian community—the colonel seems to have a vested interest in him. But does Gale’s promise to get a Christian president elected at any cost necessitate the release of biological warfare?

Andison rolls out an admirable thriller, one that’s propelled by plotlines that, like Gale himself, avoid predictability. The colonel’s Plan is frighteningly ingenious and leads to many impressive twists, most saved for the book’s final act. Christianity takes center stage, but the story’s treatment of religion is neither sanctimonious nor irreverent. There are fanatics as much as there are people with genuine faith and a persistent dichotomy—Gale’s erratic behavior versus Robert’s empathetic disposition. The first third of the book, as Chu is incorporated into the lives of Gale and his family, feels more like exposition than story, but this makes it all the more shocking when a narrative bombshell is dropped—courtesy of CIA agent Dr. Audrey Kunitz, who claims that all contacts and agencies are likely compromised. From that point, the book is decidedly more volatile, as Chu and Kunitz don’t know whom to trust. Chu is a flawed character—he has a short temper and doesn’t always make the right decisions—but he’s likable enough to garner sympathy. An open (and memorable) ending sets the groundwork for a sequel.

A religion-imbued story with a solid tempo and a bevy of surprises.

TENEMBRAS by Mary Ellen Wall...............................................p. 1829

REPEATERS

Ferencik, Erica Waking Dream Press (382 pp.)

Sep. 17, 2011 $14.95 paperback $4.95 e-book 978-0981574110

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“The pages are packed with fanciful, whimsical watercolors of butterflies, caterpillars, flowers, children and garden life.” from airplanes in the garden

IMPORTANT NONSENSE

elegantly teaches the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Bonnie shares her childlike joy and observations with her parents, promoting curiosity and family togetherness. The pages are packed with fanciful, whimsical watercolors of butterflies, caterpillars, flowers, children and garden life. The illustrations colorfully supplement and enhance the tale, which is a fitting read-aloud for parents and children.

Simple enough for a confident young reader, the book would facilitate a fun science lesson for the first- or second-grade classroom. The clear writing explains complex ideas in kid-friendly ways, and the parent-child dialogue is believable. The ideas and writing are too advanced for preschoolers, but they’ll love the pictures anyway. Calder is a horticulturist and garden designer who shares her knowledge well with young readers, who’ll enjoy Quiel’s award-winning artistic style. Backmatter includes information and maps about monarch migration, more monarch facts, web resources and directions to make your own butterfly garden. This section will help parents and teachers further engage kids in backyard nature.

A vibrant, enriching tale that kids will love.

Brutus, Steven CreateSpace (252 pp.) $10.00 paperback | $9.50 e-book Apr. 12, 2012 978-0615608808 Brutus’ first book of philosophy offers a glimpse into the minds of some of history’s greatest thinkers.

Starting with the ancient Greeks and jumping through cultures and epochs, Brutus leads his readers through various musings on the titular question: Is philosophy merely important nonsense? After focusing by turn on suffering, peace, hope and other philosophical dilemmas, his essays ultimately conclude that philosophy is, indeed, a worthwhile—though occasionally nonsensical—pursuit. Of course, a philosopher would say that; still, while Brutus posits (along with Buddha and others) that life is all about the problem of suffering and how to best deal with it, he nonetheless leans toward the Nietzschean attitude of striving ever forward as the best way to surmount life’s difficulties, rather than developing any new theories on the subject. In fact, Brutus identifies Nietzsche’s philosophy as the cure for the disease of modern life. Brutus also contemplates Wittgenstein’s idea that “doing philosophy” is actually the product of a diseased mind, where one must eventually be cured of this funny habit of pondering existence if one is to “get well.” Therefore, can or should one stop doing philosophy? Wittgenstein, the notoriously dour Austrian, certainly believed so, but here the question is left unanswered for the reader to decide, depending on his or her preferred school of thought. Rather than bringing any new ideas to the table, this book reads more like a primer on philosophical thought throughout the ages, in which Brutus demonstrates considerable command over the looming philosophical questions that continue to plague contemplative modern man.

A fine philosophical text to aid in considering the big ideas.

THE FINAL RACE

Chiapco, Oliver Mill City Press (288 pp.) $16.95 paperback | Aug. 14, 2012 978-1-938223-28-0 An intriguing, thought-provoking fusion of medical thriller and apocalyptic fiction.

Physician Chiapco’s debut novel begins with inexplicable outbreaks of deadly diseases all over the southern United States and around the world: brain-eating amoeba, malaria, dengue hemorrhagic fever, etc.

With trophozoites (“savage microscopic beasts”) inhabiting the water and hordes of mosquitoes infesting the air, the death count soon rises into the millions; medical infrastructures all over the world verge on collapse. As civilization devolves, unheralded heroes like Bronx Metropolitan Hospital physician Jamal Jackson race to somehow find a way to stop the modern-day plague, which has brought out the worst in human nature—selfishness, brutality and deep-seated prejudice. The pandemic scenario isn’t exactly original, but the brilliance of this storyline comes from Chiapco integrating deeply contemplated scientific speculation (the influence of fossil fuels on climate change and the viability of potential renewable energy sources, for instance) and history (the trans-Atlantic slave trade, racism, etc.) with Jackson’s profound experience with sickle cell disease—his younger brother died from it—and its possible connection to saving the human race. Although the narrative’s multiple-viewpoint structure helps showcase the scope of the looming disaster, it also, in places, slows down the story’s momentum and dilutes some of its impact. Even though Chiapco’s story isn’t character-driven, he succeeds in creating multidimensional players who are integral to the story’s overall arc, like Jackson, meteorology professor John Garrett and even white supremacist Wayne Joseph

AIRPLANES IN THE GARDEN Monarch Butterflies Take Flight Calder, Joan Z. Illus. by Quiel, Cathy Patio Publishing (32 pp.) $16.95 | May 28, 2011 978-0983296218

Calder and Quiel present an engaging, educational and beautifully illustrated story about two monarch butterflies.

The story follows a little girl named Bonnie as she watches monarch butterflies—which she playfully calls airplanes—in her family’s garden. Her mother shows her a place where a butterfly has laid eggs. Bonnie watches the eggs until they hatch, then follows two caterpillars, whom she names Sergio and Stanley, as they grow and change into butterflies. The narrative 1822

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“Goodman’s portrait of hell as a dreary corporate bureaucracy is a satiric gem—the chief torments are pointless routine, office gossip and nasty performance evaluations.” from breaking the devil’s heart

Tucker. Fans of medical thrillers by Robin Cook, Tess Gerritsen and Daniel Kalla (all doctors turned authors, like Chiapco) will find this thematically powerful novel well worth a read.

A page turner of the highest order.

physically and emotionally. Alone in her riverside cottage, she paints and makes friends. Unexpectedly—even she can’t explain why—she agrees to leave paradise and follow her husband back to New York, the city of her childhood. The subsequent chapters follow the narrator’s life as a child in the 1940s with a cold mother and absent father; through her time as a Foreign Service wife in Japan, Korea, Mexico, Washington, D.C., and Virginia; and her later travels in Europe and the U.S. The author recounts her life with an artist’s eye, furnishing telling details about the places and people she encounters. Arranged by locale, chapters contain shorter sections prefaced by a thematic word or phrase such as “No More Talking” or “The Dress,” making the book more accessible and richer than a list of events. Despite the disappointments in her life, the narrator doesn’t wallow in self-pity. Instead, she ties her experiences to political and historical events with clear, sometimes funny one-liners: “There was war in the Pacific and in Europe, and in our apartment.” In this way, her writing mirrors her line drawings—simple lines with surprising nuance and depth. The book’s title evokes her love of calligraphy, her meandering travels, her poetry (the book includes several poems) and society’s expectations for women that she must decide to uphold or not. Her deliberate storytelling style makes for thoughtful, but not especially dramatic, reading.

Artists, writers and other “outsiders” will find much to ponder in this reflective memoir.

REPEATERS

Ferencik, Erica Waking Dream Press (382 pp.) $14.95 paperback | $4.95 e-book Sep. 17, 2011 978-0981574110 The petrifying tale of a chain of reincarnations that can only be broken by finding true love.

Kim is a blind college student who’s in a relationship with her biology teacher.

When they get engaged, he urges Kim to contact her estranged mother, Astra, a psychiatrist who didn’t come back after leaving Kim at a school for the blind when she was 6 years old. For Astra, having a child was a failed attempt to feel love—the only way for a Repeater to conclude his or her string of lives. Finding herself incapable of the emotion, Astra abandoned Kim; but over a decade later, Astra finds the motivation to monstrously destroy her life as part of their grisly mother–daughter rivalry.

The destruction bleeds into 16-year-old Lucy’s life as well; she’s a new patient who’s been having blackouts and flashbacks from another life. Lucy doesn’t yet understand that she, too, is a Repeater. With prose so poetic, it’s easy to forget this is a horror story: One evil action collides with the next as a cursed Repeater ruthlessly seeks the true love she hasn’t yet found in the hundreds of lives she remembers—love that would finally end her streak of reincarnations. More than a battle of good and evil, Ferencik’s (Cracks in the Foundation, 2008) story is rich with layers, well-developed characters, and moments of gruesomeness and tenderness. The loveless malice contrasts sharply with characters—some Repeaters, some not—who feel love so deeply that they seem to glow from it on the page.

The gripping pursuit and protection of the love of a lifetime.

BREAKING THE DEVIL’S HEART A Logic of Demons Novel

Goodman, H.A. Outskirts Press Inc. (352 pp.) $18.95 | paper $11.95 | $0.99 e-book May 4, 2012 978-1432790790 978-1432790585 paperback Celestial gumshoes search for the source of evil in this knotty supernatural allegory.

Recently deceased ex–CIA agent Stewart Willoughby is an Observer, an almost-angel who uses rough tactics in the fight against demonic adversaries. He gets a break when he recruits a new informant, a senior executive at the Company—aka hell— who’s willing to give him information on “The Formula” that demons use to goad humans into sin. (The impish fiends are forever whispering malevolent hints into people’s ears, sometimes in person and sometimes over the phone from infernal call centers.) With his fetching partner and former fiancée, Layla, Stewart embarks on an extended investigation into the nature and causes of evil, from garden-variety manslaughters to horrific genocides.

Their sleuthing takes them to some of history’s grisliest crime scenes—and eventually starts to eat away at their souls, as they resort to methods that are uncomfortably similar to the brutalities they want to eradicate. In this installment of his Logic of Demons series, Goodman continues fleshing out his inventive vision of the afterlife as an edgy, inglorious, down-to-earth place, where heaven itself is divided between hostile liberal and fundamentalist

DRAWING THE LINE A Passionate Life

Gardner, Susan Red Mountain Press (288 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 1, 2011 978-0979986550 An artist and poet searches the world for a place to call home.

Gardner (Box of Light, 2008, etc.) opens her debut memoir in the place she felt happiest: Tepoztlán, Mexico in the 1980s. One son is in college; the other is finishing high school in nearby Mexico City. Her unfaithful, controlling husband also lives in Mexico City, a place the narrator finds suffocating, both |

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factions, and no one is sure that an always-absent God even exists.

The devils, as usual, get the best lines; Goodman’s portrait of hell as a dreary corporate bureaucracy is a satiric gem—the chief torments are pointless routine, office gossip and nasty performance evaluations. The novel drags, though, when it focuses on Stewart and Layla’s relationship, which stays blissfully bland even after it takes a satanic turn. But Goodman also probes meaty philosophical themes with sophistication, as his characters wrestle with the problem of evil and the blurry line separating right from wrong.

Subversively, he suggests that evil may not be a demonic plot but just another name for human nature. Goodman’s allegorical symbology isn’t too intricate—a farm boy Stewart encounters turns out to be the quite literal embodiment of Time and Chance—and at times the novel’s intellectual debates feel like an undergraduate seminar. Still, Goodman’s cross between a detective novel and The Screwtape Letters makes for a stimulating read.

A smart, entertaining take on eternal conundrums.

the Beat influence—jazzy rhythms and narrational confessions that echo Gregory Corso, or the long-lined, epic free verse shot through with barely contained eroticism and Eastern religious figures that calls Ginsburg to mind. Hill’s strengths are as varied as his topics. He has the eye and the sensitivity to convey a raw experience without compromise or condescension.

Intoxicatingly fun; disturbing yet hopeful.

OPPORTUNITY DISCOVERY AND ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOR Theory and Evidence Hitchcock, Jon E.; Gordon, Jean Mill City Press (134 pp.) $24.95 paperback | $9.99 e-book Mar. 27, 2012 978-1937600976

FROM A SAVAGE CITY

By boiling down more than 140 studies and research papers from 1934 to 2009, Hitchcock and Gordon have compiled a noteworthy collection of entrepreneurial questions and answers.

The research addresses fundamental studies of personality styles and learning traits, as well as recent research into opportunity recognition, proactivity and innovation, and how all of those things affect entrepreneurs, managers and the organizations in which they work. The book also explores risk-taking—particularly how risk differs from uncertainty.

While readers may lament the lack of practical examples, it’s amazing how much perspective is contained in just over 100 pages. Small academic studies appear next to larger ones, some obscure and others highly regarded, including Edith Penrose’s 1959 study on theories of organizations. Although the authors state in the introduction that their intention is to further the understanding of “concepts and theories that are useful to all readers” rather than offer a compendium of “anecdotal success stories,” the book is so packed with research that it may appeal to few beyond the academic realm, which is unfortunate given the lucid, albeit sparse insight the authors provide. For example, after discussing business innovation related to a valuable but unconventional, independent-minded type of employee— an “entrepreneurial-oriented manager”—the authors go on to helpfully describe, in limited detail, how a leader could potentially harness that employee’s particular talents and mindset in new ways, for the benefit of the company. That being said, the authors’ overall effort would be even more useful if it spent less time describing the research methods of various studies and more time explaining how the research could apply in practice.

An absorbing look at what makes an entrepreneur; ideal as an aid for MBA candidates, business school professors and upper-level managers looking to restructure an organization.

Hill, Gary PublishAmerica (118 pp.) $19.95 paperback | $9.95 e-book Apr. 5, 2010 978-1448970087 Exuberant, uncensored and wise free verse informed by a benevolent relativism and populated with social outcasts.

Hill’s poems may surface from the depths of a savage city, but savage is hardly the adjective that comes to mind when reading them.

Rendered in careful but vibrant language and filtered through Hill’s gently self-deprecating wit, even the grittiest of his poems evince a nonjudgmental candor and a tender concern for human foibles. East St. Louis pervades these poems, not merely as a setting, but as a sort of code, a paradigm and sometimes as a character itself. East St. Louis is the place to find a one-legged prostitute for $10; “a city of immorality and deception / where looking at the wrong woman / can get you killed” and “[taking] one in the leg” is just part of “an ordinary night.” Yet it’s also the place where “taxes are lower” and “people got soul,” where “Glamorous Candy” will pull you into the bathroom and “make life interesting.” Here, you’re part of “a dangerous, exciting, chaotic place.” Hill’s characters are not characters in East St. Louis; they’re characters because of East St. Louis. In fact, amid the scattered topics this collection covers, the one steady theme is the essentialness of context, which Hill explicitly addresses in “Fritangas,” a poem about a Colombian street food, a “beautiful food that comes / with children and dogs and flies / with dirt and smoke / with grease and hoke.” However, when the mayor attempts to clean up the street vendor operations—no “dogs and flies, / no dirt, no smoke, / no grease, no hoke”—the decontextualized fritangas “taste simply awful…clean as a virgin’s kiss.” Comparisons to Bukowski and his dedication to the down-and-out of Los Angeles are inevitable and accurate; Bukowski fans will be hooked immediately. Undeniable, too, is 1824

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“[E]vocatively brings to life not only the boundless, inspiring spirit of a dog who “smells like fresh-cut grass, baked pork, and a hint of unmentionables,” but also the beauty of the…landscape and the sacredness of a moment.” from the angel on my shoulder

SO L.A.

STRESS PANDEMIC The Lifestyle Solution

Hoida, Bridget Lettered Press (384 pp.) $16.00 paperback | $9.99 e-book Jun. 20, 2012 978-0985129439

Huljich, Paul Mwella Publishing (288 pp.) $16.95 paperback | $15.99 e-book Jul. 31, 2012 978-0615489209

One woman juggles the five stages of grief in this novel’s cutting portrait of a marriage’s slow-motion deterioration.

Twenty-nine-year-old, 6-foot-tall Magdalena de la Cruz (nee Jablonowski) mourns the death of her “Polish twin” brother, Junah; they were born 19 months apart, though they were nearly identical. A Northern California viticulturist turned water mogul, Magda begins her story while desperately treading water in the Pacific Ocean after falling overboard. After Junah’s death, she explains, she’s done everything to “rebirth herself”: moving to LA and erasing the many physical similarities she shared with her brother. She’s been Lasiked, Jeuvedermed and Botoxed; pumped with saline, small white pills and gin—everything “short of a corneal transplant.” Yet nothing brings her closer to Ricky, her overcommitted (possibly unfaithful) husband, or to the acceptance of grief, as her psychiatrist advises.

Magda agrees to see “the Shrink”—a female therapist “highly recommended by Eric Clapton’s personal assistant”—only because it gives her 45 minutes of alone time with Ricky in rush-hour traffic.

As they drive their tanklike Mercedes home from “Lynda Carter’s Hillary for President Beach Bonfire and Benefit in Malibu,” Ricky stops in “the dead middle of Sunset” and violently takes her, as drivers honk, scream and drive around them. Despite the blood, bruising and noise, Magda feels nothing. Instead, she sets out to discover what it’s like to be unfaithful, hooking up with Quentin, a tattooed rock-star wannabe. After the “third worst day” of her life, when she realizes “infidelity wasn’t fun,” Magda returns to her hometown to rediscover the beauty of a place that also smells like cow manure.

She seeks solace in art, eventually making a larger-than-life selfportrait out of rhinestones. Prone to embellishment, melodrama and laugh-out-loud set pieces, Magda isn’t an unreliable narrator, even though she admits to being “inconsistent.” Hoida gives her a sure and steady voice, full of caustic wit and raw emotion. With bright similes and shining epigrams, she gleefully mines Tinseltown tropes while skewering class, consumerism and body image. Revelations are punctuated with punch lines that land squarely in the gut.

Although the ending is abrupt, it’s as clever as the rest of the book.

Best of all, it leaves hope that readers haven’t seen the end of Magda.

In this razor-sharp debut, grief and loathing beget a juicy tragicomedy.

A common-sense guide to managing everyday stress.

In 1998, Paul Huljich was chairman of the board and joint CEO of a large, successful organic foods company, living in one of New Zealand’s largest homes, with all the trappings of success, including stress. And it got to him. Huljich candidly describes the dramatic, full mental breakdown that tore him away from the home and life he’d built for himself and his family. He goes on to briefly describe his personal experience as he returned to mental health, weaned himself off the psychotropic medications prescribed for him, and developed habits to maintain his overall wellness. This telling is far more self-help than autobiography. (Readers interested in a full account of his breakdown can pick up his barely fictionalized Betrayal of Love and Freedom.)

While there’s nothing earthshaking in Huljich’s “nine natural steps to survive, master stress and live well,” the recipe he provides for better living is unusual because it’s so practical and seemingly easy to follow. For example, in spite of his experience with organic foods and nutrition, he doesn’t insist that wellness depends on sticking to a strict diet, just a sensible one. But smart eating habits comprise only one of the nine steps in Huljich’s recommended process for achieving better health by developing a lifestyle that acts like a stress buffer. Sound sleeping, exercising and practicing positive affirmations also make his list. Chapters devoted to each of the nine steps are chock-full of practical advice and suggestions that seem reasonably easy to incorporate into a normal (i.e., stressful) modern life. Huljich’s point—based on his experience, not medical research— is that the key to mental health is having a healthy response to stress, not necessarily avoiding it. “A dependence on avoiding stress…is a mask, not a cure,” he writes. These nine steps aren’t the be-all, end-all answer, but they’re worth following.

Reasonable though lightweight advice.

THE ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER My Life With An American Pit Bull Terrier

Mercadante, Jolene iUniverse (236 pp.) $28.95 | paper $18.95 | $3.99 e-book Nov. 17, 2011 978-1462027620 978-1462027613 paperback Mercadante, a librarian and animal lover, recounts the life lessons she and her family learned after she adopted a pit bull.

Rumer—named after novelist Rumer Godden—was a puppy “the size of a sausage.” She was an ordinary dog who nonetheless |

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I N DI E

A Life-Changing Year B Y DA RC I E

C HA N

I have wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl.

I began writing poems in fifth grade. I attended middle school in Cheraw, Colo., and when I was in the seventh grade, I won a multischool, one-day writing contest. Clutching my little trophy, I burst through the front door and announced to my parents what I wanted to be when I grew up.

“Follow your dreams! You can do anything you put your mind to,” said my book-loving, English-teacher mother.

“You should think about another career, because writers have a hard time earning a living,” said my very practical and honest father. “You can always write on the side.”

In the end, I took the advice of both my parents. I eventually became an attorney and found a legal job that I loved, and I began to work on my first novel in my spare time.

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I poured my heart into writing that novel, even though I realized that getting it published would be a long shot. I was a complete unknown, never having published anything before. My novel could not be easily classified to any specific genre. When it didn’t find a home with a traditional publisher, I put the manuscript away, intending to make another run at publication with a second novel, but I never stopped believing in my first story. It had provoked tears and rave reviews from the people I’d trusted to provide honest opinions and constructive criticism of it. I knew that it moved people.

A few years passed, and e-books suddenly exploded onto the scene. I started to think about the novel languishing on my hard drive. If I made it available as an e-book, maybe I could get some valuable feedback from readers. And perhaps, over the course of months or years, I might be able to sell enough copies so that I would no longer be completely unknown when I had a second novel ready for my agent to submit. I decided to try it—my “e-book experiment” was how I described it to my family—and I uploaded The Mill River Recluse to Amazon’s Kindle Store on May 18, 2011. I didn’t know it at the time, but my lifechanging year had begun.

What I did realize, though, was that if I didn’t do something to bring my e-book to the attention of readers, it would be lost in the vast and expanding sea of stories available in electronic form. My first steps were to set up a website and Facebook author page, and to open a Twitter account. I kept the price of my e-book very low, and I started looking around for places where I could advertise that were affordable but highly targeted toward readers of e-books, such as websites and blogs of people who review e-books.

Additionally, I did several short interviews on various individual blogs, including kindle-author.com and bargainebookhunter.com, which were picked up by the Internet search engines. I also arranged |

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for features and banner ads to appear on several larger blogs and websites that highlight new and reduced-price e-books, such as EReaderNewsToday.com and PixelofInk.com. Booking these and a few other advertisements and featured posts required a total outlay of around $1,000, which is all I was willing to gamble, and in fact all I could afford to spend, on my little “experiment.”

I noticed that the sales numbers for my e-book started to increase slightly, and after about a month, it had sold about 100 copies. I was ecstatic! To think, 100 people had my book! A few days later, my novel was mentioned as a “bargain e-book” on EReaderNewsToday, the first time it was listed on any of the huge—and still growing—websites that feature e-books. Within 24 hours of the post, it had sold more than 600 more copies. I about fell over. My husband said, “That’s really cool! What if you can sell 1,000 copies?” I started to think that that might actually happen.

More of the features and advertisements I’d lined up on the big websites, such as Kindle Nation Daily, Pixel of Ink, The Frugal eReader and Week in Rewind, began to run. I placed a banner ad on Kindle Boards and smaller ads on Goodreads and in the online version of the Rutland Herald, the newspaper serving the area of southern Vermont in which my novel is set.

I also took some of the early royalties that came in and reinvested them in a review from Kirkus Indie. I didn’t know whether it would turn out to be positive, but if it was, I thought it would be a valuable marketing tool, something that might encourage more readers to take a chance on my novel.

In mid-July, I called my agent and told her that something very unexpected was happening with the e-book sales numbers.

In mid-August, she called me to say that The Mill River Recluse would appear on the New York Times bestseller list.

It subsequently remained there for 28 weeks.

P H OTO CO U RT ESY O F T HE AU T H OR

The rest of the year became a surreal blur. My publishing journey was featured in the Wall Street Journal and mentioned in the New York Times and USA Today. Since then, I’ve accepted an offer from Ballantine Books to write two new novels, both of which will be set in the fictional world of Mill River, Vt. I’m also thrilled to report that The Mill River Recluse will be translated and published in several foreign countries.

This past April, with the encouragement of my husband and both my parents (including my very practical and honest father), I left the legal job I’d held since graduating from law school to write fiction full time, which is truly a dream come true.

After the Wall Street Journal feature, I was inundated with e-mails from authors asking my advice. Honestly, I’m still not sure how or why all of this happened to me, but my working theory is that it was the confluence of three things. First, my quiet story did, in fact, resonate deeply with readers. I’ve received many letters from women and men alike saying that they had never been moved to tears by a novel until they read mine. The second factor is that somehow, through trial and error and a little luck, the steps I took to introduce my e-book to readers worked well enough to allow word-of-mouth recommendations to take hold. And third, I believed in my story and my dream of being a writer enough that I didn’t get pulled down by countless rejections. I never gave up.

Looking back over the past year, there is one final lesson that comes to mind, something rooted in the memories of my college years. While I was a student at Indiana University, I took a poetry class taught by Yusef Komunyakaa. During one session, the graduate assistants gave readings of their work for the undergraduates. Khaled Mattawa, the graduate student who was in charge of my discussion section, read a poem he had composed about looking through the Sears catalog when he was

Chan lives north of New York City with her husband and son. When she isn’t chasing after her toddler, she is hard at work on her second novel, which will also be set in the fictional world of Mill River, Vt. Visit Darcie online at http://www.darciechan.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Darcie-ChanAuthor/193245487387883, or follow Darcie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/DarcieChan.

THE MILL RIVER RECLUSE

Chan, Darcie Amazon Digital Services (308 pp.) $2.99 e-book May 18, 2011 ASIN: B0051PRFLQ

a boy growing up in Libya. The entire lecture hall listened, spellbound, and Khaled received a thunderous round of applause. I learned that day that it is possible for a writer to transform a concept as ordinary as the old Sears catalog into something wondrous enough to enrapture 300 undergraduates.

Today’s publishing climate affords writers so many potential paths to success. So, if you believe in a story, put your heart into the writing of it, even if you’re told that it’s quiet, or genrebending or “ordinary.” Get your manuscript in tip-top shape and do your best to get it in front of readers.

If you don’t give up, your experience just might be life changing.

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Darcie Chan is the author of The Mill River Recluse, a self-published debut novel that has become a word-of-mouth e-book sensation. With over 650,000 electronic copies sold, The Mill River Recluse appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists for more than 28 weeks and became a heartwarming favorite of readers across the country. |

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K I R K US M E DI A L L C # President M A RC W I N K E L M A N

touched the lives of everyone who knew her. With her sideways glance and mascara eyes, she shattered the myths attached to this unfairly maligned, naturally loving dog breed. Whether carrying out her self-appointed task of corralling the horses, participating in daily visits to nearby family members, riding the No. 8 golf cart, playing hockey with her “uncle” or wearing crazy glasses for Halloween, Rumer demonstrated the keys to a life well lived: guilelessly give and receive, and seize the moment.

Mercadante follows Rumer from her carefree, funny puppy days through a rebellious adolescence, to her physical peak of adulthood and finally her heartbreaking but courageous end. She evocatively brings to life not only the boundless, inspiring spirit of a dog who “smells like fresh-cut grass, baked pork, and a hint of unmentionables,” but also the beauty of the Southampton, Mass., landscape and the sacredness of a moment. Even more importantly, she sheds light on the importance of understanding the pit bull for its admirably loyal nature—not for its unfortunate stereotype forged by cruel, inhumane owners intent on turning these promising animals into violent attack dogs. Rumer, on the other hand, proved herself to be a joyous, loving and good-natured soul who wholeheartedly embraced life and eagerly became a grounded center for each family member. Also included here is a delightful centerfold featuring photos of Rumer and her family.

A charming portrait of unadulterated pet love.

KINGDOM

SVP, Finance JA M E S H U L L

O’Donnell, Anderson Tiber City Press (250 pp.) $9.99 paperback $2.99 e-book May 10, 2012 978-0615553184

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Against a backdrop of dystopian urban sprawl and human suffering, a morally questionable scientific corporation hunts for the gene responsible for the soul in O’Donnell’s debut novel, the first in a planned sci-fi trilogy.

As the novel begins, the chronology bounces forward and backward from the late 1980s— when scientist Jonathan Campbell flees from the “Exodus” project he has been working on after he discovers the horrifying human experiments authorized by his employer, Mr. Morrison—to a grim 2015. In the not-too-distant future, Morrison has nearly reached his goals, which involve genetic experimentation and test-tube humans, and Campbell has spent the past 30 years hiding

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among a secret order devoted to cultivating the soul, part of which involves rescuing Morrison’s human collateral damage. Meanwhile, the novel also tracks a troubled, drug-addicted young man, Dylan Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s father was once a promising presidential candidate before committing suicide when Dylan was a boy—a thread that dovetails with the main arc in surprising, harrowing ways. O’Donnell captures the darkness in humanity and the world, particularly in such elegantly composed passages as this one: “Morrison imagined women and children packed into…overcrowded refugee camps…mistaking the deployment of a Predator missile for a shooting star, making a wish as a $40 million toy dealt death from impossible heights.” The overall effect is a taut, brilliantly conceived thriller with impeccable pacing bursting with ideas.

For fans of noir-laden science fiction in the vein of Philip K. Dick that is in equal measures suspenseful, gripping, darkly funny and philosophically challenging.

OUR YEAR AT THE FAHM or, Blessed are The Cracked for They Shall Let in the Light

Parker, Sara CreateSpace (180 pp.) $16.99 paperback | $5.99 e-book | Apr. 12, 2012 978-1468150612 You can take the girl out of California, but you can’t prepare her for a New England winter, as Parker learns in her witty memoir.

In a funny and breezy voice (one can guess at the inherent levity based on the subtitle), Parker details her bold move from temperate Northern California to snowy, rural New England following her job loss in the financial disaster of 2008. Parker is disillusioned

by Wall Street, skeptical of politicians and searching for new professional direction. In a move spurred by financial desperation and emotional burnout, Parker and her partner, Raj, pack up their three cats and drive cross-country to settle at a farm in Massachusetts owned by Raj’s brother. The beautiful, historic farmhouse desperately needs some loving care, an opportunity that appeals both emotionally and financially to the struggling couple. The plan consists of spending a year at The Fahm, and the travelers arrive in time to enjoy a glorious New England autumn prior to the deep freeze of winter. What follows is a year’s worth of hilarious observations

BUILDING A BETTER CHINESE COLLECTION FOR THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Selected Writings

and amusing anecdotes. The Fahm is covered in mouse poop and appears to be a vortex of bad luck, yet Parker adapts beautifully using a combination of wry humor and a full measure of patience.

Despite mice and snakes, an old belching furnace, massive snowstorms and floods of biblical proportion, Parker perseveres, all the while documenting her everyday experiences. Initially a series of blog posts, the book holds together well; posts are sprinkled with observations and insightful quotes on topics ranging from politics to economics. Despite a few slow moments, her voice and sense of humor come through loud and clear. Parker’s stories should inspire laughter and groans at the couple’s continuous run of mishaps, yet one cannot help but applaud her strength and perseverance. She is on a journey to find meaning and direction in life, a path that is certainly familiar to many of us.

A wonderful set of stories to be enjoyed from coast to coast, on sunny California days or chilly New England nights.

Wang, Chi Scarecrow Press (208 pp.) $75.00 | $59.99 e-book | Sep. 1, 2012 978-0810885486

Wang offers his account of his tenure as head of the Chinese collection of the Library of Congress.

Academic in style and scope, Wang has collected his various writings that center on Chinese culture, publishing and library collections. Starting with his many years working for the Library of Congress, the author maps out his life, from his marriage and Ph.D. to the years of the Cultural Revolution in China and the Tiananmen Square protests. Attention is given to the nature of the library system and the publication processes throughout China; these are told mostly via firsthand accounts of Wang’s visits there. Throughout the work, there is an underlying theme that the Library of Congress has long played a role in the cultural history of China. He notes a remark from the Honorable Elaine Chao, secretary of labor, “The Chinese collection at the Library of Congress is indeed our nation’s crown jewel.” But not all attention is given strictly to the Library of Congress, as other libraries, specifically those of China and of Hong Kong, are also discussed. Moving beyond the historical, Wang gives recommendations for future plans of action, such as recommending that Chinese scholars involved in American studies be given opportunities to come to the U.S. on study tours. The range here is broad—the Hong Kong University Library, a trip to the Chinese Film Festival of 1982, the teaching of U.S. History in the People’s Republic of China—and competently covered.

May be of great value to those interested in the history of Chinese studies in America and/or the Library of Congress.

TENEMBRAS An Elise t’Hoot Novel

Wall, Mary Ellen CreateSpace (428 pp.) $14.99 paperback | $2.99 e-book Apr. 24, 2012 978-1469942995 A rollicking interplanetary tale of cunning, gumption and the human spirit.

In the not-too-distant future, Earth is environmentally wracked, with much of its population corralled in refugee (i.e. prisoner) camps or dispatched to colonies on far-flung planets. Wireless-network monitoring and mind-reading scans are the norm, tactics for totalitarian “Patriots” to both rein in rebels who revere the Constitution and to keep Earthly ethnic and geopolitical loyalties alive in outer space. After one outpost goes down in flames, spacecraft arrive on the planet Tenembras with a doomed settlement’s few remaining vestiges— the exact nature of which must stay off the Patriots’ radar. The band that rallies to protect the payload is wide-ranging enough to warrant the introduction’s playbill-like character list. At the group’s core is Elise t’Hoot, a gutsy technological genius and all-round survivor with a knack for bridging language and cultural barriers between peoples, not to mention between her species and the nonanthropomorphic aliens who are infinitely better-intentioned than most humans. Not immune to the ravages of harsh politics and terrains, t’Hoot succeeds as a poster child for girl power. Wall’s (The Distant Trees: An Elise t’Hoot Novel, Pre-Elise, 2012) Kentucky roots and pride help illuminate her heroine and the folksy, fast-moving narrative, which pits greed and oppression against ingenuity and the basic goodness of humanity. Her high-spirited, irresistible storytelling extrapolates an all-too-possible future from current political and environmental conditions. She fleshes out this couldbe world with pitch-perfect dialogue and characterizations, song lyrics that enhance the plot instead of stalling it, and an astute yet accessible command of technology, science and human nature.

Despite its length, this unflagging novel invites a one-sitting read.

A stellar sequel that can stand on its own. |

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