Prepub Alert
By Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 4/15/2006
Fiction | Nonfiction
FictionBell, Ted. Jackal. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2006. 432p. ISBN 0-7432-7723-4. $25.95.
Hawke, Assassin, Pirate, Spy: Alex Hawke's assignments are certainly to the point. Here he finds trouble in South America. With a 12-city tour.
Block, Lawrence. Hit Parade. Morrow. Jul. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-06-084088-9 [ISBN 978-0-06-084088-4]. $24.95; lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-06-112085-5. CD: HarperAudio.
John Keller's back, too, after five years on the lam. He's still in the mood to kill.
Brown, Sandra. Untitled. S. & S. Aug. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-7432-8933-1. $25.95. CD: S. & S. Audio.
Detective Duncan Hatcher really doesn't believe the tale spun by Elise Laird, the pretty young wife of Judge Cato Laird, when she kills a man who has broken into the house. Her next story is a real doozie. With a four-city tour.
Drury, Tom. The Driftless Area. Atlantic Monthly. Aug. 2006. 224p. ISBN 0-87113-943-X [ISBN 978-0-87113-943-6]. $23.
It's been 12 years since Drury's The End of Vandalism was pro­claimed a top novel of the year by GQ, PW, and New York magazine, and Granta has named him one of America's Best Young Novelists. Proving he's no flash in the pan, Drury weaves the tale of ever-optimistic Pierre, whose streak of bad luck culminates with his falling for a shady lady indeed.
Eddings, David & Leigh Eddings. The Younger Gods. Aspect: Warner. (Dreamers, Bk. 4). Aug. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-446-53228-2. $26.95.
In this wrap-up to “The Dreamers” series, the Vlagh prepares for a final onslaught, just as the sister of the goddess Zelana starts to lose her mind.
Franklin, Tom. Smonk. Morrow. Aug. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-06-084681-X [ISBN 978-0-06-084681-7]. $23.95.
Sick and tired of a nasty guy named Smonk, who rides into town for a weekly shoot-'em-up, the folks of Old Texas, AL, put Smonk on trial—with disastrous results. Billed as a “Southern,” instead of a “Western.” From Edgar Award winner Franklin.
George, Margaret. Helen of Troy. Viking. Aug. 2006. 608p. ISBN 0-670-03778-8. $27.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
The story behind the face that launched a thousand ships, told from her perspective. From a noted biographer who has hopscotched from Mary Magdalene to Cleopatra to Henry VIII.
Gillespie, Karin. Dollar Daze: The Bottom Dollar Girls in Love. S. & S. Aug. 2006. 336p. ISBN 0-7432-6429-0. $19.95.
It's not just dollars that have the Bottom Dollar Girls in a daze. From soda jerk Attalee to newspaperwoman Birdie to mom Elizabeth, they're all after romance. With a seven-city tour.
Hong, Y. Euny. My Blue Blood: A Comedy of Sex and Manners. S. & S. Aug. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-7432-8683-9. $24.
Descended from Korean royalty, spoiled Judith Lee is shocked when her parents stop paying her bills. So she goes to work for a Russian madame and soon discovers that both the madame and her parents hide some shocking secrets. This debut is an in-house favorite.
Kellerman, Faye. The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights. Warner. Aug. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-446-53039-5. $24.95. CD: Time Warner Audio.
Kellerman delights with 14 short mysteries, including three pieces featuring Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus that have yet to see print.
McCaffrey, Anne & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Second Wave. Eos: HarperCollins. (Acorna's Children). Aug. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-06-052540-1 [ISBN 978-0-06-052540-8]. $24.95.
Khorii, the in-your-face daughter of the legendary Acorna and Aaari, is back in the second installment of the new “Acorna's Children” series. Now she must discover the source of the deadly plague that spread through First Warning.
P., Melissa. The Scent of Your Breath. Black Cat: Grove. Aug. 2006. 160p. ISBN 0-8021-7022-6 [ISBN 978-0-8021-7022-4]. pap. $12.
This Italian teenager picks up where she left off in 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed,relating in somewhat fictionalized form her tangled relationship with new lover Thomas and his former flame Viola. With an eight-city tour.
Pelecanos, George. The Night Gardener. Little, Brown. Aug. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-316-15650-7 [ISBN 978-0-316-15650-9]. $24.99. CD: Time Warner Audio.
Twenty years ago, three teenagers with palindromic names (Otto, Ava, and Eve) ended up abused and murdered in the park. Detectives Gus Ramone and Dan Holiday must reopen the case when Asa, a friend of Gus's son, turns up dead.
Pessl, Marisha. Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Viking. (Flights of Fiction). Aug. 2006. 512p. ISBN 0-670-03777-X. $25.95.
Precocious Blue van Meer is used to moving around with her professor father, who travels from job to job and affair to affair. But she's not prepared for the consequences when both a friend and a favorite teacher die tragically. A much-touted debut; with a seven-city tour.
Powers, Tim. Three Days to Never. Morrow. Aug. 2006. 416p. ISBN 0-380-97653-6 [ISBN 978-0-380-97653-9]. $25.95.
Little Daphne doesn't know that her grandma was Albert Einstein's secret daughter. She also doesn't know that the video she swipes from grandma's house is not Pee-Wee's Big Adventure but something a bit more sinister, or else why would the bad guys be after her and her dad?
Siegel, James. Deceit. Warner. Aug. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-446-53186-3. $24.95. CD: Time Warner Audio.
Busted for writing fake stories, former ace reporter Tom Valle is doing time at a small-town newspaper. But an accident he's working on leads him to a conspiracy that might be the biggest thing he will cover.
Toole, F.X. Pound for Pound. Ecco: HarperCollins. Aug. 2006. 368p. ISBN 0-06-088133-X [ISBN 978-0-06-088133-7]. $25.95.
Featuring a famed L.A. trainer and upcoming boxer Chicky Garcia, this follow-up to Rope Burns will surely have a lot of pounding. Toole first published at age 70 and died before he could see the film of his story “Million Dollar Baby” win an Oscar.
Winston, Lolly. Happiness Sold Separately. Warner. Aug. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-446-53306-8. $21.95. CD: Time Warner Audio.
Good Grief! What a follow-up to Winston's best-selling debut. When picture-perfect Elinor can't conceive, she's deep in depression, and her husband launches an affair with perky Gina. Too bad Gina's ex-boyfriend has a taste for violence.
Woodrell, Daniel. Winter's Bone. Little, Brown. Aug. 2006. 208p. ISBN 0-316-05755-X. $22.95.
Teenaged Ree Dolly has got to track down her bail-skipping dad or the entire family will be out in the cold—no fun during an Ozarks winter. From an award-winning author.
Callow, Simon. Orson Welles. Vol. 2: Hello Americans. Viking. Aug. 2006. 656p. ISBN 0-670-87256-3. $32.95.
Is there life after Citizen Zane? Actor/director Callow continues his investigation of auteur Welles. With a national tour.
Chayes, Sarah. The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2006. 320p. ISBN 1-59420-096-3. $25.95.
Having reported on the conquest of Afghanistan for NPR, Chayes dropped reporting in 2002 to help the country by running a nonprofit—not, as she shows us, such an easy task with corruption all 'round.
Holtz, Lou. Wins, Losses, and Lessons: An Autobiography. Morrow. Aug. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-06-084080-3 [ISBN 978-0-06-084080-8]. $25.95.
The football Coach of the Year (in 1977 and 1988) follows up two best sellers with a full account of his life and career.
Jervis, Lisa & Andi Zeisler, eds. Bitchfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine. Farrar. Aug. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-374-11343-2 [ISBN 978-0-374-11343-8]. pap. $15.
The best of Bitch, that cutting-edge sociocultural zine that left Sixties feminists way behind, drawn from ten years' worth of issues; with new pieces, too.
Joseph, Jamal. Tupac Shakur Legacy. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2006. 64p. ISBN 0-7432-9260-X. $45.
Not just an authorized bio but a scrapbook, with family photos, lyrics, poems, and an audio CD, packaged by former Black Panther Joseph, now a professor in Columbia's graduate film division.
Neumann, Jeff & Ray LeMoine with Donovan Webster. Babylon by Bus; or, The True Story of Two Friends Who Gave Up Their Valuable Franchise Selling “Yankees Suck” T-Shirts at Fenway To Find Meaning and Adventure in Iraq, Where They Became Employed by the American Occupation in Jobs for Which They Lacked Any Qualification and Witnessed Much That Amazed and Disturbed Them. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2006. 352p. ISBN 1-59420-091-2. $24.95.
Having made their little T-shirt fortune, Neumann and Le­Moine cast about for a new challenge: Why not go to Baghdad? With a ten-city tour.
Paesel, Brett. Mommies Who Drink: Sex, Drugs, and Other Distant Memories of an Ordinary Mom. Warner. Aug. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-446-57873-8. $23.95.
How does actress Paesel balance work and career? With a little help from her friends as they gather at the bar. Lots of buzz—and we don't mean from the liquor.
Quart, Alissa. Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2006. 256p. ISBN 1-59420-095-5. $24.95.
“Better baby” programs. IQ testing for the “severely gifted.” Prodigy hunters who chase down star kids, like the eight-year-old skateboarder with corporate sponsors. It's dangerous to be a really talented child. With a seven-city tour.
Taraborrelli, J. Randy. Elizabeth. Warner. Aug. 2006. 528p. ISBN 0-446-53254-1. $26.95; lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-446-57985-8. $28.95. CD: Time Warner Audio.
Having taken on celebs from Princess Grace to Jackie, Ethel, and Joan (the “women of Camelot”), the author should be ready for larger-than-life Liz Taylor.
Weller, George. First into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War. Crown. Aug. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-307-34201-8. $25.
Disguised as a soldier, Chicago Daily News reporter Weller snuck into Nagasaki after the bomb dropped, observing the effects of radiation and talking to POWs at a camp nearby. But MacArthur censored his dispatches, which were thought lost and are restored here.
Wilentz, Amy. I Feel Earth­quakes More Often Than They Happen: Coming to California in the Age of Schwarzenegger. S. & S. Aug. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-7432-6439-8. $26.
What's in California for a former Time reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief for The New Yorker? Fires, fantasy, and a movie star governor.
Williams, Juan. Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America—and What We Can Do About It. Crown. Aug. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-307-33823-1. $25.
Heard on Fox News and NPR, Williams raises his voice to insist that African Americans must continue combatting racism while returning to traditional values that have helped them in the darkest times.
