Release Week: 6 February 2024
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Release Week: 6 February 2024
Posted on 2024-02-06 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
The County Line: A Novel By: Steve Weddle, read by Brian Troxell for Brilliance -- "Life has never been easy for Cottonmouth Tomlin. Raised by an uncle in a hardscrabble Arkansas town, Cottonmouth couldn’t leave fast enough. As a young man, he set out to seek his fortune but was soon caught up in a life of low-level misdeeds, taking him from New Orleans all the way to Honduras. Now he’s back in Columbia County, mourning his uncle and worrying on what to do with the broken-down outlaw camp that represents the sum of his family legacy."
The Women: A Novel by Kristin Hannah, read by Julia Whelan for Macmillan -- "From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided."
The Tainted Cup: A Novel By: Robert Jackson Bennett, read by Andrew Fallaize for Random House -- "A Holmes and Watson-style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with a mystery twist, from the Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated Robert Jackson Bennett."
Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel by The Authors Guild, edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, read by Shayna Small for Harper -- "Set in a Lower East Side tenement in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive collaborative novel from the Authors Guild, with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of New York neighbors has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice—from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Tommy Orange and Celeste Ng."
Your Shadow Half Remains By: Sunny Moraine, read by the author for Macmillan -- "The Last of Us meets Bird Box in Sunny Moraine's Your Shadow Half Remains, a post-apocalyptic tale where eye contact causes people to spiral into a deadly, violent rage."
Burma Sahib: A Novel by Paul Theroux, read by Charlie Anson for Harper -- "From the acclaimed author of The Mosquito Coast and The Bad Angel Brothers comes a riveting new novel exploring one of English literature's most beloved and controversial figures—George Orwell—and the early years as an officer in colonial Burma that transformed him from Eric Blair, the British Raj policeman, into Orwell the anticolonial writer."
The Adversary: A Novel by Michael Crummey, read by Mary Lewis for Books on Tape -- "In an isolated outport on Newfoundland's northern coastline, Abe Strapp is about to marry the daughter of a rival merchant to cement his hold on the shore when the Widow Caines arrives to throw the wedding and Abe's plans into chaos. That ruthless act of sabotage is the opening salvo in a battle between the man and woman who own Mockbeggar's largest mercantile firms, each fighting for the scarce resources of the north Atlantic fishery, each seeking a measure of revenge on the person they despise most in the world. As their unshakeable animosity spirals further each year into vendettas and violence, the community is increasingly divided and even the innocents in Mockbeggar find themselves forced to take sides, with devastating consequences."
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories By: GennaRose Nethercott, read by GennaRose Nethercott, January LaVoy, Gabra Zackman, Max Meyers, and Elena Rey for Random House -- "The stories in Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart are about the abomination that resides within us all. That churning, clawing, ravenous yearning: the hunger to be held, and seen, and known. And the terror, too: to be loved too well, or not enough, or for long enough. To be laid bare before your sweetheart, to their horror. To be recognized as the monstrous thing you are."
Owning Up: New Fiction by George Pelecanos, read by Dion Graham for Hachette -- "Four blistering novellas, drawn together by themes of strife, violence, and humanity."
Past Crimes By: Jason Pinter, read by Ellen Quay for Dreamscape -- "Welcome to Earth+. The year is 2037, and nearly all human interactions have migrated to the virtual world. Now, true-crime fans don't just listen to podcasts or watch documentaries—they participate in hyper-realistic simulations and hunt for clues to solve the most famous and gruesome crimes in history. Criminal entertainment is a multibillion-dollar industry, and at the forefront is Past Crimes: known by its millions of fans as the Disneyland of Death."
The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel By: Nikos Kazantzakis (1938, translated by Kimon Friar in 1958), read by Joshua Saxon for Crossroad Press -- "A continuation of Homer’s epic poem, Kazantzakis’s own Odyssey finds Odysseus once again leaving Ithaca on finding that the satisfactions of home and hearth are not as he remembered them. Following an encounter with the former Helen of Troy (now returned to her husband, the king of Sparta, after the ignominious defeat of the Trojans), Odysseus gradually wends his way to Egypt and southward, grappling all the while with questions about the nature of God."
MORE FICTION:
The Year of the Locust: A Thriller by Terry Hayes, read by Jeff Harding for Simon and Schuster -- "If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again—by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide—and when to shoot. But some places don't play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane's experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan meet are such a place—a place where violence is the only way to survive."
The Young of Other Animals: A Novel By: Chris Cander, read by Amy Hutchins for Brilliance -- "Mayree and Paula are a mother and daughter drifting apart, separated by grief and more, after the death of Mayree’s husband. Mayree faces a future with no income, career, or social life. Even ties with her best friend have been severed. Paula, feeling abandoned by the father she loved, is left with only a bitter mother. When Paula reveals that she narrowly escaped a violent assault, Mayree’s initial reaction is dismissal and disbelief. But as details unfold, it’s clear that it was real and not just one random night gone horribly wrong—someone is out to destroy their lives."
This Impossible Brightness: A Novel By: Jessica Bryant Klagmann, read by Caroline Hewitt for Brilliance -- "Taking refuge on a remote island, a grieving woman develops unlikely connections with the community and the wild in this haunting novel of hope and perseverance."
Almost Surely Dead By: Amina Akhtar, with an introduction by Mindy Kaling, read by Kelsey Jaffer with a full cast for Mindy's Book Studio -- "A psychological thriller with a twist, Almost Surely Dead is a chilling account of how one woman’s life spins out of control after a terrifying—and seemingly random—attempt on her life."
The Bad Weather Friend By: Dean Koontz, read by Ray Chase for Brilliance -- "Benny Catspaw’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée, and his favorite chair. He’s not paranoid. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why. Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. 'All will be well in time.'"
We Ate the Dark: A Novel By: Mallory Pearson, read by Alaska Jackson for Brilliance -- "Four women investigating the haunting murder of their friend discover more than they ever imagined in a terrifying novel about good and evil, love and death, and the spaces between."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
Bride by Ali Hazelwood Thérèse Plummer for Books on Tape -- "A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis."
The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck By: Kylie Scott, read by Andi Arndt for Harlequin -- "When Lilah Goodluck saves the life of Good Witch Willow as they’re crossing a busy L.A. street, the last thing she expects is five unwanted predictions as a reward. Who gives someone the winning lotto numbers then tells them they’ve only got a week to live? And who believes in that nonsense anyway? But when the first three predictions come true within twenty-four hours, Lilah’s disbelief turns to mild panic. She’s further horrified when she nearly runs a car off the road that belongs to Alistair Lennox, who just happens to be the illegitimate son of the British king."
Time Trials By: M.A. Rothman and D.J. Butler, read by Joshua Saxon for Tantor -- "Meet Marty Cohen, a brilliant linguist turned woodworking shop owner who thought he had left behind the politics and rivalries of academia for good. But when his woodworking business takes a hit, an offer he can't refuse pulls him back into the world of Egyptology. Marty is summoned to an off-the-grid archaeological dig, where ancient texts may hold the key to Earth's past and future. With the promise of riches, Marty embarks on a journey that defies belief."
The Trials of Empire: Empire of the Wolf, Book 3 By: Richard Swan, read by Lucy Patterson for Orbit -- "The third novel in Richard Swan's acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy triumphantly concludes the tale of Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice–a detective, judge and executioner all in one."
BACKLIST WATCH:
The Slingerman By: Aaron Gudmunson (2018), read by Lou Del Bianco for Crossroad Press -- "With the nation on the verge of a second World War, a young man finds work at the house of the wealthiest family in town. Harold Albright has a simple job: keep quiet and do as he's told. This decree comes from Alice Tandy, the no-nonsense head of the housekeeping staff. The homeowners, Donald and Hannah Brenton, are urban transplants seeking a quieter lifestyle, who keep their business mysteriously concealed. They are also the proud parents of two daughters: Sally, who has recently married, and Lily, who supposedly took ill after the wedding, and has been quarantined to the attic. When word spreads that three bodies have been found mutilated, Donald offers to help authorities seek the killer. He coaxes Harold into assisting and winds up leading the naive young man and the dutiful Alice into a labyrinth of deceit, madness, and murder."
The Changing Land: Dilvish Stories, Book 2 By: Roger Zelazny, read by Eric Michael Summerer for Tantor -- "The Changing Land picks up shortly after the events chronicled in Dilvish, the Damned. Dilvish must gain entry to Castle Timeless if he is to destroy his nemeses Jelerak. Unbenounced to Dilvish, Jelerak is also seeking to gain entrance to his own castle as his apprentice has blocked him out while attempting to lean the castles secrets so that he may become lord of Castle Timeless."
INDIE WATCH:
- How to Survive a Unicorn By: L.G. Estrella, read by Fred Berman for Podium -- "Are you being attacked by a pissed-off unicorn? Has an angry basilisk slithered into your camp? Is a dragon about to eat you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this book is for you."
MOST MISSING:
Dragonsgate: Angels by James Maxey -- "Dragongate: Angels, is the thrilling conclusion to the Dragonsgate trilogy. In this saga, dragons and humans are at war in the ruins of post-apocalyptic America. In the ruins of Oak Ridge Tennessee, a malfunctioning machine hidden in a government laboratory has ripped a hole in reality, and now dinosaurs are appearing in the surrounding wilderness. When a band of adventurers led by the famed dragon-slayer, Bitterwood, sets out to destroy the malfunctioning machine, some of them are swept away to a parallel earth where humans have never evolved. On this world, magic is real due the presence of a cosmic dragon named Emeralla. Unfortunately, cosmic dragons are the favorite meal of an even larger cosmic dragon, the planet devouring Waste-Wyrm. Now, Bitterwood must battle devils, spirits, and angels across a series of parallel worlds if he hopes to save his own reality from the interstellar predator."
Blister: And Other Stories by Brian Biswas (Obie Books) -- "These stories paint a portrait of a magical realist world that is both chaotic and corrupt. In "Blister" a young widow remains faithful to her wedding vows even after her husband's deception is revealed. The husband in "Others" is haunted by a picture from the sixteenth century that has seemingly come to life and threatens to destroy his marriage. The soldier in "A Soldier's Lament" refuses to order the execution of an enemy combatant with whom he has fallen in love. The teenage girl in "Skipping Stones" is troubled by her father's second marriage, resulting in an existential crisis."