Prepub Alert

By Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 2/15/2007

Fiction | Nonfiction

Fiction

Amirrezvani, Anita. The Blood of Flowers. Little, Brown. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-316-06576-5 [ISBN 978-0-316-06576-4]. $23.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
When her father dies, a teenaged girl in 1600s Persia ends up working for her uncle and soon becomes a master at carpet design—which doesn't look good for her marriage prospects. Rights flew out the door to 17 countries. An LJ note: the debut author is the niece of reviewer Barbara Conaty. With a four-city tour; reading group guide.

Brown, Dale. Strike Force. Morrow. Jun. 2007. 400p. ISBN 0-06-117310-X [ISBN 978-0-06-117310-3]. $25.95.
The clerics are out of power in Iran, but with terrorists declaring war on the new pro-West regime, U.S. presidential advisor Patrick McLanahan must come to the rescue.

Carey, Jacqueline. Kushiel's Justice. Warner. Jun. 2007. 768p. ISBN 0-446-50003-8 [ISBN 978-0-446-50003-6]. $26.99.
Even as he's forced to abandon the gorgeous cousin with whom he is having an affair, Imriel finds he must avenge the murder of his wife and child. The second in a trilogy launched by Kushiel's Scion. With a five-city tour.

Deaver, Jeffery. The Sleeping Doll. S. & S. Jun. 2007. 400p. ISBN 0-7432-6094-5 [ISBN 978-0-7432-6094-7]. $26.95. CD: S. & S. Audio.
To stop a raving Charles Manson type named Daniel Pell, special agent Kathryn Dance (back from The Cold Moon) must find the little girl called the Sleeping Doll who alone survived Pell's slaughter of her family. With a 12-city tour.

DeLillo, Don. Falling Man. Scribner. Jun. 2007. 256p. ISBN 1-4165-4602-2 [ISBN 978-1-4165-4602-3]. $26.
A man emerging from the Twin Towers blaze heads uptown to reconnect with his ex-wife and son. If any novelist can do justice to 9/11, it's DeLillo.

Dillard, Annie. The Maytrees. HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 240p. ISBN 0-06-123953-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-123953-3]. $24.95. CD: HarperAudio.
Home in Provincetown after the war, radical poet Toby Maytree and his more self-contained wife lean on friend Deary when their son is born. But then Deary helps to fragment their marriage. Reading group guide.

Evanovich, Janet. Lean Mean Thirteen. St. Martin's. Jun. 2007. 304p. ISBN 0-312-34949-1 [ISBN 978-0-312-34949-3]. $26.95.
Lucky 13? Stephanie Plum is back for another cockeyed mystery. With a one-day laydown; national tour.

Green, Jane. Second Chance. Viking. Jun. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-670-03857-1 [ISBN 978-0-670-03857-2]. $23.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
An awful death brings together friends who haven't been in touch since school. Maybe they'll all get a “second chance.” Reading group guide.

Greenwood, Gillian. Satisfaction. Shaye Areheart Bks: Crown. Jun. 2007. 304p. ISBN 0-307-35138-6 [ISBN 978-0-307-35138-8]. $24.
Once the twentysomething editor of the Literary Review and now executive producer of the South Bank Show, the London-based Greenwood comes up with a first novel about psychologist Patrick; his patient, the cheerful Amy; her devoted husband, James; her nutty sister, Grace; and more.

Grippando, James. Lying with Strangers. HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 400p. ISBN 0-06-113838-X [ISBN 978-0-06-113838-6]. $24.95. CD: HarperAudio.
No one, including her suddenly hostile husband, believes that a stranger deliberately drove first-year medical resident Peyton Shields off the road one snowy night. But her life keeps getting scarier and scarier.

Hamill, Pete. North River. Little, Brown. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-316-34058-8 [ISBN 978-0-316-34058-8]. $25.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
In Depression-era New York, Dr. James Delaney generously helps others, but since his wife and daughter have disappeared, he can barely help himself. Everything changes when he must care for the grandson abandoned on his doorstep. Hamill revisits the New York he loves; with a five-city tour.

Harbison, Beth. Shoe Addicts Anonymous. St. Martin's. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-312-36468-7 [ISBN 978-0-312-36468-7]. $21.95. CD: Audio Renaissance.
A shoe group? Yes, it's four women—from a politician's wife to an unhappy nanny—who work out their problems as they meet to drool over fancy footwear. Romance and cookbook author Harbison leaps into the big time. With rights sold to seven countries.

Kraus, Nicola & Emma McLaughlin. Dedication. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2007. 288p. ISBN 1-4165-4013-X [ISBN 978-1-4165-4013-7]. $24.
Kate's boyfriend disappeared two days before the senior prom, then resurfaced as a rock star whose songs were always about her. Now he's back in town. From the team that gave us The Nanny Diaries; with a five-city tour.

Lively, Penelope. Consequences. Viking. Jun. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-670-03856-3 [ISBN 978-0-670-03856-5]. $24.95.
Life is bliss for Lorna and Matt until World War II comes along; daughter Molly has baby Ruth in Sixties London; and Ruth looks back on their twisted pasts. With an online guide.

Lowell, Elizabeth. Innocent as Sin. Morrow. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-06-082982-6 [ISBN 978-0-06-082982-7]. $24.95. CD: HarperAudio.
Rand can't find the man who shot his twin brother to death, but he does find Kayla, who needs help when her employer tries to assure her silence about unscrupulous doings. With a one-day laydown.

Michaels, Leonard. The Collected Stories. Farrar. Jun. 2007. 592p. ISBN 0-374-12654-2 [ISBN 978-0-374-12654-4]. $27.50.
All the short works of a master.

Moody, Rick. Right Livelihoods: 3 Novellas. Little, Brown. Jun. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-316-16634-0 [ISBN 978-0-316-16634-8]. $23.99.
What do nasty office politics, the travails of a hard-drinking xenophobe, and a mind-blowing drug that eases survivors in bombed-out Manhattan have in common? Each figures in one of these novellas by Moody.

Oates, Joyce Carol. The Gravedigger's Daughter. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 624p. ISBN 0-06-123682-9 [ISBN 978-0-06-123682-2]. $26.95. lrg. prnt.
Having fled Nazi Germany, Rebecca Schwarts's father is compelled to dig graves for a living, but he encourages Rebecca to feel that she's part of America. With a ten-city tour; reading group guide.

Sierra, Javier. The Lady in Blue. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 1-4165-3223-4 [ISBN 978-1-4165-3223-1]. $25.95. CD: S. & S. Audio.
Jennifer Narody, once a U.S. defense department worker, sees it. So did Mexico's Jumano tribe over 300 years ago. And so does journalist Carlos Albert in the midst of a snowstorm that brings him to the door of a forgotten convent. It's a vision of a lady in blue, and she's at the center of this new work from the author of The Secret Supper. With an eight-city tour.

Smith, Dominic. The Beautiful Miscellaneous. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2007. 304p. ISBN 0-7432-7123-8 [ISBN 978-0-7432-7123-3]. $24.
Young Nathan may be extremely talented, whiling away his summers in whiz-kid camps, but he's not the prodigy his father dreams of until he emerges from an accident-induced coma with a rare condition that lets him memorize...everything. With a five-city tour; a BookClubReader feature.

Smith, Martin Cruz. Stalin's Ghost. S. & S. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 978-0-7432-7672-6. $26.95.
Poor Arkady Renko. Now he's got to tussle with folks who would like to resurrect “Stalin's ghost.”

Temple, Peter. The Broken Shore. Farrar. Jun. 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-374-11693-8 [ISBN978-0-374-11693-4]. $25.
Detective Joe Cashin had hoped for a little peace when he accepted a posting in his quiet South Australia hometown. But no such luck; he's in the midst of a murder investigation, with three aboriginal boys as the main suspects. Reading group guide.

Tepper, Sheri S. The Margarets. Eos: HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 512p. ISBN 0-06-117065-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-117065-2]. $26.95.
Margaret was certainly lonely as the only child from an unsuccessful human settlement on Mars, but as an adult she has a mission that requires her to unite with a lot of other Margarets universewide.

Thompson, Jean. Throw Like a Girl. S. & S. Jun. 2007. 288p. ISBN 1-4165-4182-9 [ISBN 978-1-4165-4182-0]. pap. $13.
National Book Award nominee Thompson (What Do You Love) comes up with tales about girls who grow up.

Umrigar, Thrity. If Today Be Sweet. Morrow. Jun. 2007. 336p. ISBN 0-06-124023-0 [ISBN 978-0-06-124023-2]. $24.95.
Recently widowed Tehmina Sethna has a big decision to make. Should she remain in India, clinging to her past, or vote for the future and go live with her son in America? With an eight-city tour; reading group guide.

Van Lustbader, Eric. Robert Ludlum's™ The Bourne Betrayal. Warner. Jun. 2007. 464p. ISBN 0-446-58037-6 [ISBN 978-0-446-58037-3]. $25.99; lrg. prnt. $27.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
Conceived by Ludlum, crafted by van Lustbader: here's another tale featuring Jason Bourne, who rescues CIA buddy Martin from Africa and then begins having odd flashbacks. Is someone trying to brainwash him? Is the Martin he rescued the real Martin? Conveniently, you can see The Bourne Ultimatum on big screens this summer.

Wiggins, Marianne. The Shadow Catcher. S. & S. Jun. 2007. 384p. ISBN 0-7432-6520-3 [ISBN 978-0-7432-6520-1]. $25.
The incomparable Wiggins fictionalizes the life of photographer Edward Curtis. Given how tellingly she wrote about light and photography in Evidence of Things Unseen, this should be good. With an eight-city tour.

Nonfiction

Bascomb, Neal. Red Mutiny: Eleven Fateful Days on the Battleship Potemkin. Houghton. Jun. 2007. 384p. ISBN 0-618-59206-7 [ISBN 978-0-618-59206-7]. $26.
Why 600 Russian sailors mutinied aboard the Potemkin in 1905 and how their mutiny changed the world. Good testimony: the clutch of foreign rights sales.

Burton, Orville Vernon. The Age of Lincoln. Hill & Wang: Farrar. Jun. 2007. 384p. ISBN 0-8090-9513-0 [ISBN 978-0-8090-9513-1]. $25.
Lincoln's real legacy? The idea that personal liberty really matters—and should be protected by law. From history professor and Pulitzer Prize nominee Burton.

Corson, Trevor. The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket. HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-06-088350-2 [ISBN 978-0-06-088350-8]. $24.95.
Journalist Corson (Atlantic Monthly, New York Times) follows top Japanese chefs and American newcomers to uncover the secrets of sushi.

Dallek, Robert. Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power. HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 752p. ISBN 0-06-072230-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-072230-2]. $35. CD: HarperAudio.
The noted biographer of JFK and LBJ considers the wayward dance of Richard Nixon and his advisor in chief. With a six-city tour.

Dash, Mike. Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century. Crown. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 1-4000-5471-0 [ISBN 978-1-4000-5471-8]. $24.95. CD: Random Audio.
A cop whose beat was a notorious patch of early 1900s Manhattan called Satan's Circus, Charley Becker is the only U.S. police officer executed for murder. But was he really guilty?

Doerr, Anthony. Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World. Scribner. Jun. 2007. 224p. ISBN 1-4165-4001-6 [ISBN 978-1-4165-4001-4]. $24.
On the day his twins were born, novelist Doerr got another big surprise: he won the prestigious Rome Prize. An account of his sojourn with famiglia in the Eternal City. With a three-city tour.

Ferguson, Andrew. Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America. Atlantic Monthly. Jun. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-87113-967-7 [ISBN 978-0-87113-967-2]. $24.
A Lincoln nut as a child, Weekly Standard editor Ferguson presents a witty portrait of the current crop of Lincoln impersonators and memorabilia collectors. With a 12-city tour.

Geist, Bill. Way Off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small-Town America. Broadway. May 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-7679-2272-7 [ISBN 978-0-7679-2272-2]. $23.95.
Geist celebrates 20 years of traveling through small-town America for CBS Sunday Morning by recapping some of his nuttier stories. With a seven-city tour.

Gorant, Jim. Fanatic: Ten Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die. Houghton. Jun. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-618-61298-X [ISBN 978-0-618-61298-7]. $24.
Once Sports Illustrated staffer Gorant realized that he had never actually attended a lot of iconic sports events (e.g., the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl), he decided to have a look.

Heinrich, Bernd. The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 480p. ISBN 0-06-074215-1 [ISBN 978-0-06-074215-7]. $29.95.
Noted experimental biologist Heinrich (Winter World) considers his naturalist father's complex life (he fled the Red Army in 1945) and his influence on his rebellious son.

Kershaw, Ian. Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940–1941. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). May 2007. 480p. ISBN 1-59420-123-4 [ISBN 978-1-59420-123-3]. $35.
Six leaders (Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, Mussolini, and Tojo), 19 months, and ten decisions, from Britain's determination that it would fight on after the fall of France to Hitler's implementation of the Final Solution.

King, Ross. Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power. Atlas Bks: HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 176p. ISBN 0-06-081717-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-081717-6]. $21.95.
The author of Brunelleschi's Dome should have a lovely time with Machiavelli.

Kinsella, Bridget. Visiting Life: Women Doing Time on the Outside. Harmony: Crown. Jun. 2007. 304p. ISBN 0-307-33836-3 [ISBN 978-0-307-33836-5]. $24.
PW correspondent Kinsella traipsed into a maximum security prison, having determined to help a convict there get his work published, and ended up in a committed relationship—which goes to show that there's not just one sort of woman (crazies at that) who becomes involved with prisoners. With a five-city tour.

McClanahan, Rue. My First Five Husbands...and the Ones Who Got Away. Broadway. May 2007. 352p. ISBN 0-7679-2676-5 [ISBN 978-0-7679-2676-8]. $24.95.
Golden Girl McClanahan tells all—and since she's on her sixth husband, there's a lot to tell. With a five-city tour.

Maclean, John N. The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal.John Macrae Bk: Holt. Jun. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-8050-7578-X [ISBN 978-0-8050-7578-6]. $24.
The forest fire that blazed in Washington's North Cascade range in 2001 seemed to be under control, but then a series of blunders led to the deaths of four young firefighters. From the author of Fire on the Mountain.

Neffe, Jürgen. Einstein: A Biography. Farrar. May 2007. 512p. ISBN 0-374-14664-0 [ISBN 978-0-374-14664-1]. $30.
An award-winning German journalist relies on newly unearthed letters and documents to examine the life and times of the man who gave us E=mc2.

O'Connor, Anahad. Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths About Our Health and the World We Live in. Times Bks: Holt. Jun. 2007. 224p. ISBN 0-8050-8312-X [ISBN 978-0-8050-8312-5]. pap. $14.
The lightning really can get you in the shower, yo-yo dieting won't wreck your metabolism, and other fascinating facts; from New York Times reporter O'Connor.

Shalleck, David with Erol Munuz. Mediterranean Summer. Broadway. May 2007. 240p. ISBN 0-7679-2048-1 [ISBN 978-0-7679-2048-3]. $22.95.
Having spent four years perfecting his culinary talents in Europe, Shalleck got the assignment of a lifetime: to serve as chef for the summer aboard the yacht of a high-profile Italian couple. But he he could never repeat a meal.

Shlaes, Amity. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 432p. ISBN 0-06-621170-0 [ISBN 978-0-06-621170-1]. $26.95. CD: HarperAudio.
Revisionist history from Bloomberg syndicated columnist Shlaes, who argues that federal intervention helped prolong the Great Depression.

Taylor, Frederick. The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961–1989. HarperCollins. Jun. 2007. 512p. ISBN 0-06-078613-2 [ISBN 978-0-06-078613-7]. $27.95.
The acclaimed author of Dresden fast forwards to the building of the Berlin Wall and its impact.

White, Emily. You Will Make Money in Your Sleep: From Boom to Bust with Dana Giacchetto in the 1990s. Scribner. Jun. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-7432-5996-3 [ISBN 978-0-7432-5996-5]. $25.
Money manager for the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Dana Giacchetto lost a whole lot of glamour—not to mention his freedom—when he was convicted in 2000 of pilfering the not inconsiderable sum of $20 million.