Detective T. Merle Banning vowed to conduct the Holiday Hookers homicide investigation based on cold, hard evidence, not psychobabble from the department's "crackpot" consultant. So, despite their smoldering attraction, he scoffed at Kelsey Ryan's unsettling visions of one of the murders. But even he couldn't discount the truth when Kelsey provided a break in the case that had stymied the Fourth Precinct for years. As their pursuit of the twisted killer led them down the seedy back alleyways of Kansas City, the flamboyant beauty bewitched T's battle-scarred heart...and propelled him to breach her isolated world. Could these partners in passion unravel the killer's web of darkness before it ensnared them both? Views: 45
A brilliantly observed modern morality tale, Talitha Stevenson’s Exposure explores the terrible effects of deceit, obsession, and shame on a dangerously complacent family. Alistair Langford, a respected and powerful barrister, has been hiding his past since he left his hometown of Dover to study at Oxford in the late 1950s. Embarrassed by his working-class upbringing in a guesthouse run by his single mother, with whom he has not had any contact for forty years, he has lied about himself to everyone in his life since Oxford, including his wife, Rosalind, and his two children, Luke and Sophie. But after the death of his mother and a one-night stand with a devious defense witness, his tightly woven tapestry of lies begins to unravel.Exposure is a deftly plotted, psychologically suspenseful, and compulsively readable novel from one of the most exciting young fiction writers today.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Rich and psychologically astute, British author Stevenson's impressive second novel (after 2004's An Empty Room) refracts the life of an upper-middle-class English family—Alistair Langford, a prominent London lawyer; his devoted wife, Rosalind; and two grown children, Luke and Sophie—through the prism of a single, scandalous affair Alistair has with a witness in one of his cases. The event exposes the intricate web of lies that forms Alistair's life, in particular the flagrant denial of his middle-class past as he pursues success and respectability by virtue of his amazing intellect. The most intricate portrait is that of 28-year-old Luke, an advertising executive who embarks on a torrid affair with a high-strung, beautiful and self-absorbed actress, only to be emotionally devastated when she leaves him. Luke's increasingly desperate ploys to win her back are a key narrative arc, though the main story is Alistair's. A fine writer who paints her scenes with loving detail, Stevenson also depicts her characters' thoughts and insights with an acuity reminiscent of Ian McEwan's recent triumph, Saturday. The increasingly baroque plot threatens to overwhelm the novel, but this is nonetheless the work of a writer to be watched. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistDistinguished barrister Alistair Langford has never been one to throw caution to the winds. Since childhood, he has purposefully adhered to a rigid demeanor, setting about achieving his life's mission--the proper home, proper wife, proper career--with a quiet zealousness. How, then, does one explain Alistair's total abandonment of all these lofty ideals when he heedlessly has a sordid one-night stand with a defense witness in a high-profile case he's trying? The scandal, luridly exposed in Britain's infamous tabloid gossip rags, predictably destroys his career and endangers his marriage; and yet the disgrace is oddly liberating, even as it reveals shocking secrets about a past he'd worked so hard to renounce. Along with a complex subplot involving Alistair's ne'er-do-well son, whose own failed love affair sends him into paroxysms of grief and dreams of depraved retribution, Stevenson limns the depths of passion and privacy in a quietly tense cautionary tale that forces her peevish characters to cope with the fallout from their moral ambiguities. Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 45
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. This powerful story of a mother trying to cope with her daughter's bipolar disorder reads at times like a heightened procedural. Keri, the owner of an upscale L.A. resale clothing shop, is hopeful as daughter Trina celebrates her 18th birthday and begins a successful-seeming new treatment. But as Trina relapses into mania, both their worlds spiral out of control. An ex-husband who refuses to believe their daughter is really sick, the stigmas of mental illness in the black community, a byzantine medico-insurance system—all make Keri increasingly desperate as Trina deteriorates (requiring, repeatedly, a "72 hour hold" in the hospital against her will). The ins and outs of working the mental health system take up a lot of space, but Moore Campbell is terrific at describing the different emotional gradations produced by each new circle of hell. There's a lesbian subplot, and a radical (and expensive) group that offers treatment off the grid may hold promise. The author of a well-reviewed children's book on how to cope with a parent's mental illness, Moore Campbell (What You Owe Me) is on familiar ground; she gives Keri's actions and decisions compelling depth and detail, and makes Trina's illness palpable. While this feels at times like a mission-driven book, it draws on all of Moore Campbell's nuance and style. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Scientific AmericanHell, being black is hard enough.... Please don't add crazy. So writes Bebe Moore Campbell in her compelling new novel that confronts two taboo subjects in the African American community: mental disorder and homosexuality. The book is named for the three-day maximum period that a mentally ill adult can be legally held in a public health facility if she demonstrates a danger to herself or others. The novel tells the story of Keri Whitmore, a successful black businesswoman struggling to care for a teenage daughter with bipolar disorder, which causes radical mood swings between mania and depression. The fictional prose is not meant to offer an inside look at brain disease. Rather it presents a brutally honest and devastating account of a mother's love and the desperate degree to which she will go to rescue her child from mental illness. In doing so, Campbell exposes the woeful inadequacies of our current public health care system in treating such patients and introduces the novel's greatest value: its insight into the challenges faced by people who must care for such loved ones. Nevertheless, this noble effort is undermined when Campbell invokes slavery to convey the horrors of mental illness. Though poignant, the comparison seems forced, relying on overwrought passages about whipping posts and slave auctions. The metaphor clouds the novel's purpose, especially since the author seems to decide, by the end, that the best way to deal with a family member's brain disease is through acceptance rather than emancipation. The same cannot be said of slavery. Campbell also draws parallels between brain disorders and homosexuality to suggest that both issues must be dealt with more openly. Her point that both are unfairly stigmatized is overshadowed by the unsavory implication that being gay is a malady somehow akin to mental illness. The novel offers important lessons to family members about caring for the self and seeking the support of others. And yet Campbell's main character is overly ambitious, much like the book itself. Keri seems more like a wonder-mom with an endless supply of time, energy and patience than a desperate mother on the brink of collapse. She not only cares for her manic daughter but runs her thriving business, strokes the ego of her workaholic exhusband, counsels her boyfriend's gay son and advises a drug-addicted ex-prostitute. Then again, Campbell has taken on ambitious aims, which she accomplishes with some success despite the novel's distractions. Jeanne Hamming Views: 45
Kindap and murder collide in Alex Barclay’s heart-stopping new thriller featuring FBI Agent Ren Bryce.When an FBI agent is found dead on the white slopes of Quandary Peak in Colorado, a brilliant but volatile agent is drafted in from Denver to lead the investigation. Fighting personal demons, pressure from Washington and dwindling leads, the case stalls and a career faltersBut as summer comes, Quandary Peak has disturbing new secrets to give up. And as one agent fights failure and hopelessness, another has left behind a trail that leads to a man with a dark past and even darker intentions. Views: 45
England in the sixteenth century: a nation at a fatal fork in time, leading to two possible futures forseen by the Sidhe of Elfhame Avalon. Either an evil queen will join forces with the Inquisition and rule with a blood-spattered iron hand, threatening humans and elves alike¿or a benevolent, red-haired queen named Elizabeth will rule wisely and well. But the evil Unseleighe Sidhe, who feed on human suffering and dark emotions, are determined that the little girl Elizabeth shall never grow up to take the throne. Opposing them are the good Sidhe of elfland, who have so far managed to protect the young girl. Denoriel had foiled one attempt to kidnap both Elizabeth and her half-brother and replace them with changelings, almost at the cost of his own life. But a few years have passed, and Denoriel has healed and returned to guard the young princess, now all of eight years old, secure in the knowledge that his enemy Vidal, leader of the evil Unseleighe, is dead, killed with an iron bolt fired from a primitive gun. Unfortunately, he is wrong: Vidal¿s armor was far stronger than any of the good elves realized. Though the wound was deep and Vidal was forced to bide his time in his own slow healing, his recovery is complete, his determination to hurl England into a new dark age is as strong as ever, and he has set in motion a plan to achieve this end of which Denoriel and his comrades are dangerously unaware. . . . Views: 45
When something is most important to me and I do not want to lose it, I gather it into a poem. It is said that women must employ the needle and not the pen. But I will be a Poet! That's who I am!Before she was an iconic American poet, Emily Dickinson was a spirited girl eager to find her place in the world. Expected by family and friends to mold to the prescribed role for women in mid-1800s New England, Emily was challenged to define herself on her own terms.Award-winning author Barbara Dana brilliantly imagines the girlhood of this extraordinary young woman, capturing the cadences of her unique voice and bringing her to radiant life. Views: 45
Designer shoes, runaway demoness, South Beach penthouse and a stolen hellhound? Who says the daughter of the devil can't get what she wants? It'll be a cold day in hell. Views: 45
Kendra Kellogg's back in town. Big Falls and Dax Russell will never be the same. Con-artist Kendra is back in small-town Big Falls for one reason only: to save her father's life. Jack is dead unless Kendra can get his kingpin captor what he wants. And what he wants is for Dax Russell, Kendra's ex-lover and the only mark she ever regretted conning, to take over his father's thoroughbred racetrack, Aurora Downs.Dax is the sole heir to a legacy he doesn't want, from a hateful father who never showed love. All the other tracks in Aurora Springs NY belong to the State Racing Association. When there are no more relatives to inherit it, Aurora Downs becomes their property as well.And that's fine with Dax.Sadly, it's not fine with Kendra. If Dax refuses his inheritance it will spell her father's end. So she has to con the sweetest, sexiest man she's ever known. Again. And that means spending Thanksgiving with the most honest family in Oklahoma.For Dax, Kendra's return means a second... Views: 45
Jane Kramer started cooking when she started writing. Her first dish, a tinned-tuna curry, was assembled on a tiny stove in her graduate student apartment while she pondered her first writing assignment. From there, whether her travels took her to a tent settlement in the Sahara for an afternoon interview with an old Berber woman toiling over goat stew, or to the great London restaurateur and author Yotam Ottolenghi's Notting Hill apartment, where they assembled a buttered phylo-and-cheese tower called a mutabbaq, Jane always returned from the field with a new recipe, and usually, a friend. For the first time, Jane's beloved food pieces from The New Yorker, where she has been a staff writer since 1964, are arranged in one place—a collection of definitive chef profiles, personal essays, and gastronomic history that is at once deeply personal and humane. The Reporter's Kitchen follows Jane everywhere, and throughout her career—from her... Views: 45
Lily's summer is off to a rocky start. Her best friends have abandoned her for sleep-away camp, without even considering whether she'd want to go or not. Worse, she's stuck with a long summer reading list her parents insist she finish when all she really wants to do is hang out at the aquarium so she can learn everything she'll need to know to become a marine biologist someday. They don't understand her dreams. So when Lily discovers a dolphin in a nearby canal, she's torn. She knows she shouldn't be spending all her time watching over the sweet, playful creature. But if the dolphin can't find the way back to its pod in the bay, it could be in serious trouble. Lily can't help feeling that saving the dolphin might just be her destiny... Views: 45
This is high action, ideas driven noir SF of the highest order. Morgan has already established himself as an SF author of global significance. Takeshi Kovacs has come home. Home to Harlan's World. An ocean planet with only 5 per cent of its landmass poking above the dangerous and unpredictable seas. Try and get above the weather in anything more sophisticated than a helicopter and the Martian orbital platforms will burn you out of the sky. And death doesn't just wait for you in the seas and the skies. On land, from the tropical beaches and swamps of Kossuth to the icy, machine-infested wastes of New Hokkaido the hard won gains of the Quellist revolution have been lost. The First Families, the corporations and the Yakuza have a stranglehold on everything. Embarked on a journey of implacable retribution for a lost love, Kovacs is blown off course and into a maelstrom of political intrigue and technological mystery as the ghosts of Harlan's World and his own violent past rise to claim their due. Quellcrist Falconer is back from the dead, they say, and hunting her down for the First Families is a savage young Envoy called Kovacs who's been in storage. Views: 45
A Prize Worth the Risk Despite years of effort, ComStar has been unable to repair the HPG interstellar communications grid. Now The Republic is taking a hands-on approach to fixing the problem. An active hyperpulse generator can turn its planet into a tempting target. So when ComStar appears close to reactivating the HPG on Wyatt, The Republic takes steps to counter any threats to the world--at a time when ComStar is determined to prove that it's once more a force to be reckoned with.... Knight-Errant Alexi Holt is assigned to defend Wyatt for The Republic. But her greatest challenge is to protect Tucker Harwell--a genius possessing unmatched HPG skills--from the invaders who will certainly try to capture him. Both the Oriente Protectorate and Clan Spirit Cat have an interest in Wyatt. The first seeks to control the man who can fix an HPG, the other a safe haven. Unsavory characters will also step forward. After all, though a reactivated HPG makes Wyatt a target, Tucker Harwell is the biggest prize of all. Views: 45
