Readers > New Books > Fiction, September 2006
Fiction, September 2006
General Fiction |Mysteries |Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy
General Fiction
- Alderman, Naomi
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In this poignant debut novel, a woman finds herself caught between the Orthodox Jewish community that raised her and the secular world that changed her.
- Atwood, Margaret
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This collection of ten stories is almost a novel — by turns funny, lyrical, incisive, tragic, earthy, shocking and deeply personal — displaying Atwood's celebrated storytelling gifts and unmistakable style.
- Baingana, Doreen
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In her collection of linked short stories, Baingana follows three Ugandan sisters as they navigate the uncertain terrain of adolescence. As they cope with Uganda's collapsing infrastructure and food shortages, the Mugishas also contend with the universal themes of family cohesion, sex and relationships, disease, betrayal and spirituality.
- Barone, Sam
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Former software designer Barone sets his debut novel in Mesopotamia at the dawn of civilization. The nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes who dominate the fertile valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are uneasy about encroaching gentrification.
- Barron, Sandra Rodriguez
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Monica Winters Borrero is a child of mismatched parents: her father is a romantic American journalist and her mother a beautiful, rebellious Salvadoran. Monica's childhood in the idyllic world of upper-class El Salvador ends in 1985, when the civil war comes too close and her mother disappears, presumably drowned. Years later, Monica is living in the United States and working as a physical therapist when she encounters Will Lucero, the grieving husband of comatose Yvette. As Monica and Will investigate the mysterious clinic and its ties to secrets from Monica's past, they fall in love and discover the connection of the women of Monica's family to the ocean and its creatures.
- Canobbio, Andrea
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Claudio Fratta is obsessed with wreaking vengeance on the loan shark who bankrupted his father and pursuing an alluring woman, constantly wracked with guilt at having watched his brother die from an overdose. The first of Canobbio's novels to be translated into English, The Natural Order of Things is at once a murder mystery, a tale of erotic obsession and a meditation on order and disorder.
- Chen, Da
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A sweeping family saga, Brothers follows the parallel paths of two brothers born to different mothers. Da Chen paints a mesmerizing portrait of their lives, of their desperate love for the same woman, and of China during the cultural revolution.
- Danielewski, Mark Z.
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From the author of House of Leaves comes a stunning shoot-from-the-hip American road novel about two wild and wayward kids who magically drive from the Civil War to the Iraq War and beyond.
- Dodd, Renee
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Set in 1927, this tale confronts the spectacle of the Freak Show and steps through the curtains and out the other side, taking readers to a candid, complex and human space where they can know outsiders as intimates.
- Emley, Dianne
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A year after surviving a brutal attack, police officer Nan Vining returns to duty and has her courage tested by her first case. The corpse of young, blonde LAPD vice cop Frankie Lynde, who got "too close to her work," murmurs a cryptic message to Nan at the crime scene. Nan's ability to hear the dead cracks the case and provides a clue about Nan's unknown attacker.
- Faulks, Sebastian
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What is it to be human? The story begins in Brittany where a young, poor boy passes his medical exams and goes to Paris to attend the lectures of Charcot, the Parisian neurologist who set the world on its head in the 1870s. With a friend, he sets up a clinic in the mysterious mountain district of Carinthia in southeast Austria.
- Fitch, Janet
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From the author of White Oleander comes a powerful story of passion, first love and a young woman's search for a true world in the aftermath of loss.
- Feehan, Christine
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For the first time, all the inhabitants of Feehan's Carpathian legend reunite for a celebration of sensual adventure, undying passion and astonishing fantasy.
- Freudenberger, Nell
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A famous Chinese performance artist and political activist accepts an artist's residency in Los Angeles, where he is hosted by a wealthy Beverly Hills family. Freudenberger uses ensuing cultural misunderstandings to examine questions about art, politics, love and betrayal.
- Gerritsen, Tess
The latest Maura Isles/Jane Rizzoli thriller is a chilling journey through a diabolical past to a terrifying present-day evil.- Gilmore, Jennifer
Gilmore reinvents the classic Jewish American novel in her ambitious debut that follows the intertwining lives of three immigrant families from the 1920s to 1960s.- Hamilton, Jane
When Aaron Maciver's wife, Madeline, suffers brain damage in a bike accident, she is left with the intellectual powers of a seven-year-old. In the years that follow, Aaron and his second wife care for her in this exquisite portrait of how a family tragedy forever shapes and alters the boundaries of love.- Heller, Jane
After failing to score an interview with the notoriously mediaphobic actor Malcom Goddard, Ann Roth is jobless. Back home in Missouri, Ann learns that Malcolm — under an alias — is in town recovering from a heart problem. Soon, Ann is volunteering at the hospital, a plan that has hilarious, romantic and life-affirming consequences for both.- Jones, Edgar P.
Edward P. Jones returns to the form that first won him praise in this new collection of stories. Here he turns an unflinching eye toward men, women and children caught between the old ways of the South and the temptations that await them in the city. With the legacy of slavery just a stone's throw behind them and the future uncertain, Jones's cornucopia of characters will haunt readers for years to come.- Just, Ward S.
Just's insightful and nuanced novel shows the corrosive effects of today's war and its unexpected consequences for the individual conscience.- Koen, Karleen
The prequel to Through a Glass Darkly tells the story of the formidable Alice Verney, also known as the dowager Duchess of Tamworth, in her much younger days at the treacherous court of Charles II.- LaZebnik, Claire
Sometimes it feels like their weekly knitting circle is the only thing that keeps Kathleen, Sari and Lucy from falling apart. Their fine-gauge scarves may look fabulous, but their lives are starting to unravel.- Le Carre, John
A naive young interpreter stumbles into the heart of an outrageous British plot in the new novel by the master of the literary thriller.- Ledgard, J. M.
Ledgard bases his novel on the true story of the largest herd of giraffes ever held in captivity, which met its demise at the hands of communist secret police in a small Czechoslovakian town in the early 1970s.- Lehane, Dennis
From the author of Shutter Island comes a collection of riveting short stories which prove that Lehane is a master of the psychological thriller.- Marlette, Doug
Pulitzer Prize-winning Marlett returns with a spellbinding story that follows New York City newspaper columnist Carter Ransom on his journey home to Mississippi after an emotional breakdown. As he faces his disappointed father and the reopening of a 25-year-old unsolved civil rights murder case, the truth of it all may be more than he or his family can bear.- McDermott, Alice
Witty, compassionate and wry, After This captures the social, political and spiritual upheavals of the middle decades of the 20th century through the experiences of a middle-class couple, their four children and the changing worlds in which they live.- Meltzer, Brad
A dark conspiracy and a 200-year-old secret add up to a fast-paced, explosive thriller.- Moers, Walter
From the author of the cult classic The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear comes another fantastical journey into Zamonia.- Rosenthal, Pam
This erotic romance set in Regency England follows Kit, a rising star in the British military, and Mary, a member of an intellectual society of poets and reformers. After a quick, disastrous marriage, Kit and Mary meet again, but can they put their differences aside long enough to stop a conspiracy that threatens all of England, or will passion be their downfall?- Rubenfeld, Jed
In this ingenious, suspenseful historical thriller, Sigmund Freud is drawn into the mind of a sadistic killer who is savagely attacking Manhattan's wealthiest heiresses.- Salter, John
In the tradition of Carl Hiaasen, this mirthful debut tracks the midlife chaos of one man's world as he travels from the winter of North Dakota to the beaches of Mexico.- Setterfield, Diane
Amateur biographer Margaret Lea receives a letter from reclusive author Vida Winter, summoning her to write Vida's life story. As Margaret pieces together Vida's story on her own, what she discovers is a chilling and transforming experience.- Starr, Jason
High school baseball stars Ryan Rosetti and Jake Thomas were Major League-bound until an injury sidelined Ryan. Returning home, Jake discovers Ryan is having an affair with his fiance, and none of the players in the triangle have any idea what's about to play out.- Sundaresan, Indu
Sundaresan pens her first novel set in the 20th century, merging her Indian and American inspirations into a heartrending tale of tragic love and clashing cultures in a time of war.- Turrill, David A.
Tin's brother Satchel was on the verge of his major league debut when he took his fiance to meet his brother. He couldn't have known that Tin and Wendy would fall in love and break his heart. Several years later, Wendy is murdered, bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat, and Satchel is the prime suspect.- Walter, Jess
In the tradition of Franz Kafka, Joseph Heller and Don DeLillo comes this extraordinary story of searing humor and sublime horror, of blindness, bewilderment and that achingly familiar feeling that the world has suddenly stopped making sense.- Zigman, Laura
From the bestselling author of Animal Husbandry comes a touching and hilarious novel about a stay-at-home mom reentering the working world as a celebrity publicist with the client from hell.Mysteries
- Benjamin, Carol Lea
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Private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit bull Dashiell once again team up in this gritty mystery from a former detective and noted dog trainer turned acclaimed mystery writer.
- Benn, James R.
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A 22-year-old Irish American cop thinks he's avoiding military service by becoming a general's staff member, but the general turns out to be Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dispatched as an "investigator," Billy searches for a German spy amongst the exiled Norwegian government.
- Church, James
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Sit on a quiet hillside at dawn among the wildflowers; take a picture of a car coming up a deserted highway from the south. Simple orders for Inspector O, until he realizes they have led him far, far off his department’s turf and into a maelstrom of betrayal and death. North Korea’s leaders are desperate to hunt down and eliminate anyone who knows too much about a series of decades-old kidnappings and murders — and Inspector O discovers too late he has been sent into the chaos.
- Doogan, Mike
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The icy interior of Alaska is the setting for this first mystery by the winner of the Robert L. Fish Award for short fiction. In the tradition of Nevada Barr and C.J. Box, Lost Angel explores the darker side of man's nature.
- Gleeson, Janet
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From the author of The Arcanum comes an atmospheric murder mystery set in 18th century London, featuring an unlikely and immensely likable sleuth, Agnes Meadows, cook to the Blanchards of Foster Lane.
- Hamilton, Steve
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Gun smugglers, drug dealers and a secret from the past figure heavily in the seventh in the series by an Edgar Award-winning author.
- Johnston, Dorothy
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A mild young man's addiction to a role-playing internet game has led to his death. Disturbingly, his suicide is a bizarre echo of his chilling execution in the game. His mother seeks out the help of Sandra Mahoney, a computer crime consultant, when she finds her son's suicide note — a computer image of himself, lying dead at the bottom of a cliff. While juggling her own baby daughter, a Russian lover, a needy dog and a plaguing ex-husband, Sandra races across the globe in pursuit of truth on behalf of a mother who wants to know how a game killed her son.
- Jungstedt, Mari
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The island of Gotland is in the middle of a busy tourist season and getting ready for Midsummer when a young woman and her dog are found brutally murdered. What looks like a crime committed by the victim's jealous husband keeps the local police force on their toes. Then a second victim is found and Inspector Anders Knutas has to face additional pressure from local politicians who are worried about bad PR for the island. In his quest for the murderer, he is aided by Johan Berg, a young journalist from Stockholm who has been sent to cover the incidents and who gets involved with Emma, one of the first victim’s close friends. Three women die before Knutas and Berg, each approaching the case in their own way, close in on the killer, who has always, until now, been the one unseen by everybody. Swedish crime at its best — dark, atmospheric and chilling.
- Lakeman, Thomas
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For fans of John Sandford and Michael Connelly comes a gripping debut about an FBI agent on the run from his own mistakes and straight into the path of a killer.
- Olson, Karen E.
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Following the success of Sacred Cows, Olson brings back Annie Seymour to investigate a suspicious fire in a neighborhood fraught with deadly secrets.
- Pirie, David
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Pirie brings his rich familiarity with both the Doyle biography and the Sherlock Holmes canon to a mystifying Victorian tale of vengeance and villainy. The howling man on the heath, a gothic asylum, the walking dead, the legendary witch of Dunwich — perils lurk in every turn of the page throughout this ingenious pastiche.
- Schorr, Mark
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Psychologist Brian Hanson, a Vietnam Vet and recovering alcoholic, is crushed by the death of one of his clients. He's sure it's not suicide. When he investigates, he discovers that a string of suspected criminals have been murdered without explanation. Is Portland America's safest small city because of a vigilant police force, or are there other forces at work?
- Talton, Jon
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When a former student turns up in David Mapstone's office, she seems to have the perfect case for this history-professor-turned-deputy: a letter left by her deceased father, confessing to a 40-year-old murder and providing directions to the body. But things are never what they seem in Phoenix.
Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy
- Frost, P. R.
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Tess Noncoire was a successful fantasy writer when her life took an unexpected turn. Nursed back to health by the Sisterhood of the Celestial Blade Warriors, it's now up to her to fight off the demons looking to invade the world.
- Heinlein, Robert A.
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Determined to forget the love of his life and make a life for himself among the stars, Joel Johnson was on his way to succeeding when his plans — and the plans of billions of others — were shattered by a cosmic cataclysm so devastating it would take all of humanity's strength and ingenuity just to survive.
- Hodgell, P. C.
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P. C. Hodgell's latest high fantasy novel, the sequel to Seeker's Mask, chronicles Jamethiel Priest's-bane, otherwise known as Jame, as she struggles to find a place in a universe full of danger, intrigue and more than a bit of downright lunacy.
- Karpyshyn, Drew
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For the first time ever, the Star Wars adult fiction program ventures back to the past, to a time when the Sith were as numerous as the Jedi.
- Robson, Justina
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From one of Britain's new talents comes a novel of hard SF exploring the nature of identity, both inherited and engineered.
- Smith, Robert James
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The first novel in a new series follows the adventures of Cassandra, an artificial person who experiences a moral awakening and must forge new friendships with old enemies, while attempting to confront the most disturbing and deadly realities of her own existence.