Prepub Alert

Abu-Jaber, Diana. Origin. Norton. Jun. 2007. 384p. ISBN 0-393-06455-7 [ISBN 978-0-393-06455-1]. $24.95. What appears to be a series of crib deaths might actually be murder. From the author of Crescent; with a nine-city tour.

Burdett, John. Bangkok Haunts. Knopf. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-307-26318-5 [ISBN 978-0-307-26318-6]. $24.95. Royal Thai Police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is shocked by a video he receives. It depicts a murder, and the victim is a woman he still loves. With a six-city tour.

Child, Lee. Bad Luck and Trouble. Delacorte. May 2007. 384p. ISBN 0-385-34055-9 [ISBN 978-0-385-34055-7]. $26; lrg. prnt. $28.95. CD: Random Audio. It certainly is “bad luck and trouble” for Jack Reacher when he finds that all his old buddies are getting killed. With a national tour.

Coulter, Catherine. Double Take. Putnam. Jun. 2007. 432p. ISBN 0-399-15424-8 [ISBN 978-0-399-15424-9]. $25.95. First, Julia Ransom’s husband dies. Then she’s tossed into the San Francisco bay. Then it appears that she’s a dead ringer for the vanished wife of a Virginia sheriff. What’s next?

Cussler, Clive with Paul Kemprecos. The Navigator. Putnam. Jun. 2007. 448p. ISBN 0-399-15419-1 [ISBN 978-0-399-15419-5]. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio. The NUMA team is back, trying to figure out why anyone would kill for a little statue stolen years ago from the Baghdad Museum.

Durham, David Anthony. Acacia. Doubleday. Jun. 2007. 415p. ISBN 0-385-50606-6 [ISBN 978-0-385-50606-9]. $26.95. Arkan, ruler of the Known World, has been felled by an assassin, and his four children fight to restore his empire to its former peace and prosperity.

Eisler, Barry. Requiem for an Assassin. Putnam. Jun. 2007. 368p. ISBN 0-399-15426-4 [ISBN 978-0-399-15426-3]. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio. What, John Rain is quitting the assassination business? Not before a rogue CIA operative kidnaps his best friend, threatening murder if Rain doesn’t carry out three more hits. With a national tour.

Frey, Stephen. The Fourth Order. Ballantine. May 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-345-48064-3 [ISBN 978-0-345-48064-4]. $24.95. What successful chief financial officer Michael Rose doesn’t know might kill him: the global information company he wants to buy is the pawn of various intelligence agencies.

Ghelfi, Brent. Volk’s Game. Holt. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-8050-8254-9 [ISBN 978-0-8050-8254-8]. $19.95. Servant to both crazed Russian mafioso Maxim and a shadowy figure called the General, Volk (with razor-sharp sidekick Valya) must decide whom to betray when he is asked to steal a Da Vinci from the Hermitage. A highly touted debut; with a ten-city tour.

Goodman, Carol. The Sonnet Lover. Ballantine. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-345-47957-2 [ISBN 978-0-345-47957-0]. $24.95. A good-bye letter from a dead student directs literature professor Rose Asher to an Italian villa that just might house some missing Shakespearean sonnets. With a five-city tour; reading group guide.

Griffin, W.E.B. & William E. Butterworth IV. The Double Agents. Putnam. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-399-15420-5 [ISBN 978-0-399-15420-1]. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio. Griffin and son add to the “Men at War” series with this account of OSS struggles to fool Hitler into thinking that the Allies won’t be coming through France when they invade Europe. With a national tour.

Hagen, George. Tom Bedlam. Random. Jun. 2007. 480p. ISBN 1-4000-6222-5 [ISBN 978-1-4000-6222-5]. $24.95. In Victorian London (beloved new setting for many a literary novel), young Tom Bedlam rushes to find the older brother he never knew he had.

Howard, Linda. Up Close and Dangerous. Ballantine. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-345-48652-8 [ISBN 978-0-345-48652-3]. $25.95. No plot details yet, but expect more topnotch romantic suspense from Howard.

Koontz, Dean. The Good Guy. Bantam. May 2007. 384p. ISBN 0-553-80481-2 [ISBN 978-0-553-80481-2]. $27; lrg prnt. $30. CD: Random Audio. Timothy Carrier goes to the local bar for a drink and instead is handed a wad of cash and a photograph; someone thinks he’s a killer-for-hire.

McEwan, Ian. On Chesil Beach. Nan A. Talese: Doubleday. Jun. 2007. 176p. ISBN 0-385-52240-1 [ISBN 978-0-385-52240-3]. $22; lrg. prnt. $25. CD: Random Audio. Shy musician Florence and her fiancé, earnest Edward, look forward to married life, but a momentary misunderstanding on their wedding night changes everything.

McFadyen, Cody. The Face of Death. Bantam. May 2007. 448p. ISBN 0-553-80466-9 [ISBN 978-0-553-80466-9]. $24. After the successful Shadow Man, McFadyen brings back Smoky Barrett, now intent on helping a teenager whose every friendly contact meets with death.

Notaro, Laurie. There’s a Slight Chance I Might Be Going to Hell. Villard. May 2007. 304p. ISBN 1-4000-6501-1 [ISBN 978-1-4000-6501-1]. $19.95. Having just moved to town, Maye hopes to ingratiate herself with her new neighbors by entering the revered Sewer Pipe Queen pageant. Instead, she discovers some nasty secrets. Popular humorist Notaro’s first fling with fiction; with a five-city tour.

Ondaatje, Michael. Divisadero. Knopf. Jun. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-307-26635-4 [ISBN 978-0-307-26635-4]. $25; lrg prnt. $28. CD: Random Audio. Along with a mysterious guy named Coop, Anna and Claire help their father on his Northern California ranch, circa 1970, until a terrible incident sends Anna on the run. Ondaatje’s first novel in six years; with an 11-city tour.

Parker, Robert B. Spare Change. Putnam. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-399-15425-6 [ISBN 978-0-399-15425-6]. $24.95. Holed up for three decades, a nasty killer called Spare Change returns, and Phil Randall shucks off retirement to track him down—with the help of daughter Sunny Randall, Parker P.I. extraordinaire.

Peterson, Holly. The Manny. Dial. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-385-34040-0 [ISBN 978-0-385-34040-3]. $25. Is charming 29-year-old Peter, the male nanny (or “manny”) hired by beleaguered mom Jamie Whitfield, too good to be true? A big movie sale and rights out to 16 countries: a hot debut.

Rimington, Stella. Secret Asset. Knopf. Jun. 2007. 336p. ISBN 1-4000-4395-6 [ISBN 978-1-4000-4395-8]. $24.95. CD: Random Audio. Talented M15 intelligence officer Liza Carlyle is asked to stake out a probable terrorist cell at an Islamic bookstore and then asked to pull back; it seems that there’s a mole in the system. From former M15 director general Rimington.

Ward, Amanda Eyre. Forgive Me. Random. Jun. 2007. 224p. ISBN 0-345-49446-6 [ISBN 978-0-345-49446-7]. $23.95. Injured on assignment, foreign correspondent Nadine is too restless to recuperate comfortably at her father’s bed-and-breakfast on Cape Cod, so she gets involved with a local couple whose son has been murdered in South Africa. With an eight-city tour; from the author of How To Be Lost.

Allen, Woody. Mere Anarchy. Random. Jun. 2007. 176p. ISBN 1-4000-6641-7 [ISBN 978-1-4000-6641-4]. $21.95. Allen’s first collection in a quarter century includes 18 barbed bits of humor, eight never before seen in public.

Brook, Daniel. The Trap: Selling Out To Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America. Times Bks: Holt. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-8050-8065-1 [ISBN 978-0-8050-8065-0]. $23. Today’s smart young people literally can’t afford to follow their convictions, argues award-winning journalist Brook in his first book. Reading group guide.

Brown, Tina. The Diana Chronicles. Doubleday. Jun. 2007. 365p. ISBN 0-385-51708-4 [ISBN 978-0-385-51708-9]. $26.95. CD: Random Audio. What really explains Diana? Actually, it’s the women in her life, argues Brown, who at least knew the princess.

Drew, Elizabeth. Richard M. Nixon. Times Bks: Holt. Jun. 2007. 192p. ISBN 0-8050-6963-1 [ISBN 978-0-8050-6963-1]. $20. For the “American Presidents” series, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., famed journalist Drew limns a paranoid prez focused on international affairs.

Gifford, Rob. China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power. Random. May 2007. 416p. ISBN 1-4000-6467-8 [ISBN 978-1-4000-6467-0]. $26.95. NPR’s Beijing bureau chief for six years, Gifford saw just how much China is changing as he traveled along its famed Route 312 from Shanghai to the Kazakhstan border.

Keen, Andrew. The Cult of the Amateur: How the Democratization of the Digital World Is Assaulting Our Economy, Our Culture, and Our Values. Currency: Doubleday. Jun. 2007. 208p. ISBN 0-385-52080-8 [ISBN 978-0-385-52080-5]. $24.95. Blogs, wikis, YouTube: they’re all free, but can you really trust their content? A former Silicon Valley entrepreneur worries about the debasement of knowledge.

Mooney, Jonathan. The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal. Holt. Jun. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-8050-7427-9 [ISBN 978-0-8050-7427-7]. $24. Considered learning disabled as a child, Mooney still managed to graduate with honors from Brown. Here he recounts a four-month cross-country trip to meet children and adults who have similarly triumphed. With a ten-city tour; reading group guide.

Schultz, Connie. ...And His Lovely Wife: A Campaign Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man. Random. Jun. 2007. 304p. ISBN 1-4000-6573-9 [ISBN 978-1-4000-6573-8]. $24.95. Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Schultz may have won a Pulitzer Prize, a Robert F. Kennedy Award, two National Headliner awards, and more, but during husband Sherrod Brown’s successful run for Congress, she was just his “lovely wife.” A smart insider’s view of campaigning.

Secrest, Meryle. Shoot the Widow: Adventures of a Biographer. Knopf. Jun. 2007. 272p. ISBN 0-307-26483-1 [ISBN 978-0-307-26483-1]. $25.95. A famed biographer reveals the story behind getting the story.

Vogel, Steve. The Pentagon: A History. Random. Jun. 2007. 304p. ISBN 1-4000-6303-5 [ISBN 978-1-4000-6303-1]. $26.95. It took only 17 months to build the Pentagon and only a year to rebuild the outer ring after 9/11. How it happened.