| FICTION |
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| #2 (Last Week: - • Weeks on List: 1) |
| Silken Prey |
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John Sandford
Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9780399159312 Governor Elmer Henderson hands Lucas Davenport a political hot potato in bestseller Sandford's intriguing 23rd thriller featuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent (after 2012's Stolen Prey). Incumbent Republican Sen. Porter Smalls had a slight lead for reelection, until a campaign volunteer accidentally discovered child porn on Smalls's computer. Now Taryn Grant-a wealthy, ambitious, ruthless Democratic newcomer-might pull off an upset. Though Henderson is a Democrat, he believes Smalls has been framed, and tasks Davenport with quietly and quickly investigating. Up against two of Grant's "security" men, both tough ex-military operatives, and the election deadline, Davenport needs all his smarts plus help from fellow BCA agent Virgil Flowers (the star of his own series) and computer genius Kidd. Sandford expertly ratchets up the suspense and delivers some nifty surprises as Davenport deals with political nastiness and paybacks regardless of party affiliations. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9780399159312 *Starred Review* A tight race for a U.S. Senate seat is drawing to a close when Lucas Davenport gets a call. A volunteer aide to the Republican incumbent inadvertently has found a cache of kiddie porn on the candidate's personal computer. Given the consequences of the discovery, Davenport, the lead investigator for Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is asked by the Democratic governor to handle a quick, discreet inquiry. Though in the opposing party, the governor has known the accused since grade school and is adamant that his friend is innocent. Inevitably, the story leaks and the Democratic candidate begins making up ground in the polls. Her name is Taryn Grant. She's in her mid-thirties, strikingly beautiful, and richer than God, and her ambition knows no limit. As the kiddie-porn scandal breaks, an amoral political operative disappears. When Davenport questions Grant about the scandal, he's taken aback by her vehement denial of any involvement. Is she guilty and attempting to intimidate him, or genuinely offended? Sandford's Davenport novels are always very good, and this is the best one in a long time. It's suspenseful, witty, and wise in the ways of modern politics. And the conclusion is darkly unforgettable. A superb thriller.--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2010 Booklist |
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| #3 (Last Week: 1 • Weeks on List: 2) |
| 12th Of Never |
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
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| #4 (Last Week: 2 • Weeks on List: 3) |
| The Hit |
David Baldacci
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| #8 (Last Week: 7 • Weeks on List: 49) |
| Gone Girl |
Gillian Flynn
Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780307588364 With her third novel (after the acclaimed Sharp Objects and Dark Places), Flynn cements her place among that elite group of mystery/thriller writers who unfailingly deliver the goods. On the day of her fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Dunne vanishes from her home under suspicious circumstances. Through a narrative that alternates between Amy's diary entries and her husband Nick's real-time experiences in the aftermath of her disappearance, the complicated relationship that was their marriage unfolds, leaving the reader with a growing list of scenarios, suspects, and motives to consider. Meanwhile, the police, the press, and the public focus intently on Nick, the journalist-turned-bar owner who uprooted Amy from her comfortable New York life to return to his Missouri hometown. VERDICT Once again Flynn has written an intelligent, gripping tour de force, mixing a riveting plot and psychological intrigue with a compelling prose style that unobtrusively yet forcefully carries the reader from page to page. [See Prepub Alert, 12/19/11.]-Nancy McNicol, Hamden P.L., CT (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9780307588364 There's the evil you can see coming-and then there's Amy Elliott. Superficially, this privileged Gotham golden girl, inspiration for her psychologist-parents' bestselling series of children's books, couldn't be further from the disturbingly damaged women of Edgar-finalist Flynn's first two books, Sharp Objects and Dark Places. But as Amy's husband, Nick Dunne, starts to realize after she disappears from their rented mansion in his Missouri hometown on their fifth anniversary-and he becomes the prime suspect in her presumed murder-underestimating Amy's sick genius and twisted gamesmanship could prove fatal. Then again, charmer Nick may not be quite the corn-fed innocent he initially appears. Flynn masterfully lets this tale of a marriage gone toxically wrong gradually emerge through alternating accounts by Nick and Amy, both unreliable narrators in their own ways. The reader comes to discover their layers of deceit through a process similar to that at work in the imploding relationship. Compulsively readable, creepily unforgettable, this is a must read for any fan of bad girls and good writing. Agent: Stephanie Rostan, Levine Greenberg. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9780307588364 *Starred Review* When Nick Dunne's beautiful and clever wife, Amy, goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary, the media descend on the Dunnes' Missouri McMansion with all the fury of a Dateline episode. And Nick stumbles badly, for, as it turns out, he has plenty to hide, and under the pressure of police questioning and media scrutiny, he tells one lie after another. Juxtaposed with Nick's first-person narration of events are excerpts from Amy's diary, which completely contradict Nick's story and depict a woman who is afraid of her husband, has recently found out she's pregnant, and had been looking to buy a gun for protection. In addition, Amy is famous as the model for her parents' long-running and beloved children's series, Amazing Amy. But what looks like a straighforward case of a husband killing his wife to free himself from a bad marriage morphs into something entirely different in Flynn's hands. As evidenced by her previous work (Sharp Objects, 2006, and Dark Places, 2009), she possesses a disturbing worldview, one considerably amped up by her twisted sense of humor. Both a compelling thriller and a searing portrait of marriage, this could well be Flynn's breakout novel. It contains so many twists and turns that the outcome is impossible to predict.--Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2010 Booklist |
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NONFICTION |
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| #2 (Last Week: 1 • Weeks on List: 9) |
| Lean In |
Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell
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| #4 (Last Week: 4 • Weeks on List: 3) |
| Cooked |
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Michael Pollan
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| #5 (Last Week: - • Weeks on List: 1) |
| Dad Is Fat |
Jim Gaffigan
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| #8 (Last Week: - • Weeks on List: 1) |
| Obsessed |
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Mika Brzezinski with Diane Smith
Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9781602861763 Svelte and fit, Brzezinski is the envy of millions of women who watch her on MSNBC's Morning Joe, a bully pulpit she uses to forcefully admonish viewers about the importance of proper diet and exercise. Few would suspect that her vehemence stems from a personal addiction to junk food and binge eating that has plagued her all her life and that her ironclad willpower actually borders on an unhealthy obsession to stay thin at any cost. Only when she candidly confronted a friend, coauthor Smith, who was morbidly obese, did Brzezinski come to realize that her famously stringent attitudes toward food and fitness were just as harmful as her friend's more indulgent lifestyle. With personal and professional input from celebrities such as Jennifer Hudson and public officials such as Governor Chris Christie, whose weight-loss battles are headline-generating events, Brzezinski and Smith polls the worlds of medicine, media, entertainment, and business to analyze our nation's obesity epidemic and offer advice about adopting healthier habits.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9781602861763 Svelte and fit, Brzezinski is the envy of millions of women who watch her on MSNBC's Morning Joe, a bully pulpit she uses to forcefully admonish viewers about the importance of proper diet and exercise. Few would suspect that her vehemence stems from a personal addiction to junk food and binge eating that has plagued her all her life and that her ironclad willpower actually borders on an unhealthy obsession to stay thin at any cost. Only when she candidly confronted a friend, coauthor Smith, who was morbidly obese, did Brzezinski come to realize that her famously stringent attitudes toward food and fitness were just as harmful as her friend's more indulgent lifestyle. With personal and professional input from celebrities such as Jennifer Hudson and public officials such as Governor Chris Christie, whose weight-loss battles are headline-generating events, Brzezinski and Smith polls the worlds of medicine, media, entertainment, and business to analyze our nation's obesity epidemic and offer advice about adopting healthier habits.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist |
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| #9 (Last Week: 6 • Weeks on List: 2) |
| Bunker Hill |
Nathaniel Philbrick
Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9780670025442 Like most popular historians, Philbrick (Mayflower) writes about discrete events, not large developments. And he's good at it, even if the larger context is rarely considered and critical analysis gives way to story and celebration. Here, his focus is on events that began with the humiliations of the British at Lexington and Concord and ended with the siege of Boston, the American victory at Bunker Hill in 1775, and the departure in 1776 of British forces from New England's largest city. Philbrick correctly presents the battle at Bunker Hill as a critical moment in the opening stages of the War for Independence, and displays an empathy for the out-maneuvered British caught in the traps that the Patriots laid for them. He wisely makes as one of his central figures the Patriots' charismatic leader, Joseph Warren, who was killed at Bunker Hill, and who has since been largely forgotten, despite having been the man responsible for "orchestrating the on-the-ground reality of a revolution." Philbrick tells his tale in traditional fashion-briskly, colorfully, and with immediacy. The book would have benefited from a point of view more firmly grounded in a contemporary evaluation of the battle, but even as it is-no one has told this tale better. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky, Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, Inc. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. |
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| #10 (Last Week: - • Weeks on List: 1) |
| Keep It Pithy |
Bill O'Reilly
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