Prepub Exploded: May 2009

Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 1/8/2009 8:48:00 AM

Thrillers from Lee Child and Elmore Leonard, a prequel to Treasure Island, and old favorites like Elizabeth Berg and Elinor Lipman, plus nonfiction highlights covering the economy, memoir, biography, and one heart-warming tale. All in this new edition of Prepub Exploded.

Fiction | Nonfiction

FICTION

Thrillers
Anderson, Kevin J. Enemies & Allies. Morrow. May 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-06-166255-3. $26.95.
Batman and Superman together? They join forces to battle Lex Luthor, who gleefully ramps up his military-industrial empire as the Cold War deepens. Regional appearances in the West, plus national Comic-cons; for more on Anderson, see www.WordFire.com.

Child, Lee. Gone Tomorrow. Delacorte. May 2009. 432p. ISBN 978-0-385-34057-1. $27. lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
Jack Reacher follows up on a nasty suicide he’s just witnessed on the New York subway—and runs into a secret both Al-Qaeda and the feds want covered up. Look for promotion at on Child's web site.

Connelly, Michael. The Scarecrow. Little, Brown. May 2009. 384p. ISBN 978-0-316-16630-0. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
It’s a sign of the times: newspaperman Jack McEvoy has been downsized. But before he goes, he plans to write a Page One story about a 16-year-old drug dealer whose murder confession, he slowly realizes, doesn’t add up. With an eight-city tour to Washington, DC, Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, and Nashville, plus audio podcasts and cross promotion with the author’s web site.

Huston, James W. Marine One. St. Martin’s. May 2009. 320p. ISBN 978-0-312-36431-1. $24.95.
Why was the President rushing off in a helicopter during a thunderstorm? That’s what defense attorney Mike Nolan must figure out when the chopper crashes, with fatal consequences, and its manufacturer is sued. Huston, a best-selling author and Topgun grad, knows his stuff.

Ignatius, David. The Increment. Norton. May 2009. 384p. ISBN 978-0-393-06504-6. $26.95.
An Iranian scientist who has shared secrets with the CIA needs to flee, so agent Harry Pappas contacts a British spy team called the Increment. Then things get sticky. Film rights sold to Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. Look for the forthcoming author video at YouTube.

Khoury, Raymond. The Sign. Dutton. May 2009. 448p. ISBN 978-0-525-95097-4. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Originally previewed in Prepub Alert, Khoury’s latest concerns a glowing light near Antarctica that has a few men in Egypt really scared. Check out the author's web site.

King, Laurie R. The Language of Bees: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. Bantam. May 2009. 416p. ISBN 978-0-553-80454-6. $25.
Sherlock Holmes has a son? He appears at the cottage Holmes shares with wife/partner Mary Russell, then disappears. And the game’s afoot. King’s latest will profit from sponsorship announcements on public radio in key locales. Stop by King's web site and Facebook page.

Koontz, Dean. The Other Side of the Woods. Bantam. May 2009. 368p. ISBN 978-0-553-80714-1. $27. lrg. prnt.
The critic as villain: everyone loves Cubby Greenwich’s new book except for one famously nasty and reclusive reviewer, and Cubby gets into deep trouble when he simply tries to meet the guy. Koontz fans can check out his web site and Facebook page; also check the Dean Koontz bookclub at Barnes & Noble's web site.

Leonard, Elmore. Road Dogs. Morrow. May 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-06-173314-7. $26.95. lrg. prnt. $25.95. CD: HarperAudio.
Leonard is in a contemporary frame of mind as he brings back favorite characters Cundo Rey and Jack Foley for a real tussle. One-day laydown on May 12; with a five-city tour to Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New Orleans, and New York.

Marshall, Michael. Bad Things. Morrow. May 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-06-143440-2. $24.95. lrg. prnt.
Three years after his son disappeared, John returns to Black Ridge, WA, having received an email from someone who claims to know what happened. With a three-city tour to New York, Phoenix, and Washington, DC. British novelist Marshall won several awards for the early sf he wrote as Michael Marshall Smith.

Palahniuk, Chuck. Pygmy. Doubleday. May 2009. 240p. ISBN 978-0-385-52634-0. $24.95.
Pygmy is supposed to be an exchange student, but he’s really one of a cadre of young agents sent to America from a totalitarian state to initiate terrorist acts. A comedy of American manners, if a little bloody-minded. Palahniuk goes on a national tour.

Patterson, James & Maxine Paetro. The 8th Confession. Little, Brown. Apr. 2009. 400p. ISBN 978-0-316-01876-0. $27.99; lrg. prnt. $29.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
A murdered preacher may not have been so godly, a dead couple may not have been so perfect, and the Women’s Murder Club is back in action. More than a book series, more than a TV series; there’s even a Women’s Murder Club game. From the prolific Patterson.

Pears, Iain. Stone’s Fall. Spiegel & Grau. May 2009. 576p. ISBN 978-0-385-52284-7. $28.95. CD: Random Audio.
In the latest literary thriller from Pears, financier Stone plummets from the window of his London home in 1909, and then the story treads backward to 1890s Paris and 1860s Venice to find out why. With a ten-city tour; promotion to business and finance web sites and blogs should spark a certain interest.

Preston, Douglas & Lincoln Child. Cemetery Dance. Grand Central. May 2009. 480p. ISBN 978-0-446-58029-8. $26.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
It looks as if New York Times reporter William Smithback and his archaeologist wife were attacked by their creepy neighbor. But he’s dead. There’s more work for Agent Pendergast. With an eight-city tour, plus audio podcasts, a Facebook fan page and quiz, and Pendergast’s tour map of Manhattan.

Sandford, John. Wicked Prey. Putnam. May 2009. 416p. ISBN 978-0-399-15567-3. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Not only have the Republicans come to St. Paul, but a disgruntled thief now in a wheelchair is planning to wreak revenge on agent Lucas Davenport. Sandford’s 19th Prey novel.

Smith, Tom Rob. The Secret Speech. Grand Central. May 2009. 432p. ISBN 978-0-446-40240-8. $24.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
Why not follow up the success of Child 44 with the further tales of MGB officer Leo Demidov? It’s 1956, innocent people whom Demidov put away are coming home, and his sense of desperation sends him on a mission—straight into the Hungarian uprising. Check out Smith’s MySpace page and catch this video on the composition of Child 44.

Smith, Wilbur. Assegai. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. May 2009. 512p. ISBN 978-0-312-56724-8. $27.95. CD: Macmillan Audio.
In British East Africa, professional hunter Leon Courtney befriends Count Otto Von Meerbach—and falls for his beauteous mistress. Alas, World War I is around the corner. Smith continues his Courtney Saga.

First Novels
Drake, John. Flint & Silver: Treasure Island; The Prequel. S. & S. May 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-1-4165-9275-4. $25.
Meet Captain Flint, already dead at the beginning of Treasure Island, and Long John Silver before he lost his leg. Biochemist Drake followed his heart to write this prequel. And step aside, Capt. Jack Sparrow, Material Entertainment has bought the films rights.

Freveletti, Jamie. Running from the Devil. Morrow. May 2009. 320p. ISBN 978-0-06-168422-7. $24.95. lrg. prnt.
A biochemist with some secrets of her own escapes from the wreckage of a plane hijacked over Colombia and tracks the guerrillas who have taken the surviving passengers hostage. The folks at Morrow are plumping for this debut by trial lawyer, martial artist, and dedicated runner Freveletti (the protagonist really pounds the turf in this work).

Gibson, Tanya Egan. How To Buy a Love of Reading. Dutton. May 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-525-95114-8. $25.95.
Anti-intellectual Carley’s parents hire someone to move into their upscale home and write a book their daughter will love, but at first Carley’s more interested in her Scotch-swilling, F. Scott Fitzgerald–reading crush, Hunter. Another highly touted debut; with a reading group guide.

Howard, Ginnah. Night Navigation. Houghton Harcourt. Apr. 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-15-101432-3. $24.
Del’s grown son can’t seem to conquer his addiction, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to help him. A novel about the depths of love from a first timer who’s being talked up; check out this story to see why.

Keane, Mary Beth. The Walking People. Houghton Harcourt. May 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-547-12652-4. $25.
Greta, who’s made a life for herself in America after leaving Ireland, still can’t face going back after 50 years because of a long-shuttered secret. A big debut, billed as an old-fashioned read.

Larsen, Reif. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). May 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-1-59420-217-9. $27.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Brilliant cartographer T.S. Spivet, all of 12 years old, wins an award that takes him from his family’s Montana ranch to the Smithsonian—riding the rails, no less, as he maps out landscapes exterior and interior. With an eight- to ten-city tour; Larsen’s debut has generated a lot of heat.

Moerk, Christian. Darling Jim. Holt. Apr. 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8947-9. $25.
When three women are found dead in suburban Dublin, a diary points to a wandering storyteller who declaims hair-raising accounts of murder that could be his own. With a national tour; reading group guide. Danish-born Moerk got an MS in journalism, has worked as a movie executive, and has written about film for the New York Times. This is his first novel published in America.

Sellers, Susan. Vanessa and Virginia. Houghton Harcourt. May 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-0-15-101474-3. $23.
Rethinking the relationship between sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf from Vanessa’s perspective; a first novel from a coeditor of Woolf’s works. Get some more insight into this novel by reading this interview.

Award-Winning Authors
Flanagan, Richard. Wanting. Atlantic Monthly. May 2009. 272p. ISBN 978-0-8021-1900-1. $24.
After Sir John Franklin and his crew are lost on an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage, search parties find evidence of cannibalism, and Charles Dickens uses the occasion to investigate his own dark heart. With a reading group guide; Flanagan has won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and his works have appeared on numerous best books lists. He also cowrote the screenplay for the recently released Australia.

Hemon, Aleksandar. Love and Obstacles. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). May 2009. 240p. ISBN 978-1-59448-864-1. $24.95.
Fresh off his National Book Award nomination for The Lazarus Project, Hemon returns with stories linked by a narrator coping with his past in Communist Yugoslavia and his present efforts to feel at home in America. With a national tour.

Johnson, Denis. Nobody Move. Farrar. May 2009. 192p. ISBN 978-0-374-22290-1. $22. CD: Macmillan Audio.
In case you missed it in the pages of Playboy, here is Johnson’s follow-up to National Book Award winner Tree of Smoke. A bunch of ne’er-do-wells in California duke it out over $2.3 million.

Mandanipour, Shahriar. Censoring an Iranian Love Story. Knopf. May 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-307-26978-2. $25. CD: Random Audio.
An award-winning Iranian author (shut down by censorship for much of the 1990s), Mandanipour appears for the first time in English. His protagonist attempts to write the story of two secret lovers, knowing that he is putting himself—and them—in danger. With a three-city tour to Boston, New York, and Washington; reading group guide.

Meno, Joe. The Great Perhaps. Norton. May 2009. 400p. ISBN 978-0-393-06796-5. $24.95.
Bad luck for the Caspers: paleontologist Jonathan can’t find a prehistoric giant squid, Madeline can’t get her science experiment to pan out, and their daughters can’t achieve their dreams. Then the couple decides to split. More mayhem from the author of Hairstyles of the Damned; with a seven-city tour to Chicago, Sam Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Brooklyn, Seattle, and Portland.

Tóibín, Colm. Brooklyn. Scribner. May 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-1-4391-3831-1. $25.
Post–World War II, Eilis can’t make a living in Ireland, so she heads for teeming New York, where she finds a love with blue-eyed Italian Tony that might be jeopardized by bad news from home. Another charmer from celebrated Irish author Tóibín.

Urrea, Luis Alberto. Into the Beautiful North. Little, Brown. May 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-316-02527-0. $24.99.
Why does 19-year-old Nayeli leave Mexico for the “beautiful North”? That’s where all the men have gone, and she’s determined to find seven (she’s just seen The Magnificent Seven) to bring back to the village. With a seven-city tour to Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle; reading group guide. Urrea is a Lannan, Christopher, American Book Award, and Western States Book Award winner.

Old Favorites
Allen, Sarah Addison. The Girl Who Chased the Moon. Bantam. May 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-553-80721-9. $23. CD: Random Audio.
After her mother’s death, teenaged Emily goes to live with her grandfather in Mullaby, NC, where the wall­paper’s flowers can change to stripes and the dead leave little notes to loved ones. Lots of promotion, including at Shelf Awareness, Reading Group Guides, Reading Group Choices, and Book Movement.

Berg, Elizabeth. Home Safe. Random. May 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6511-0. $25. lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
Helen Ames’s milquetoast husband seems to have wiped out their retirement fund before his untimely death, and Helen aims to find out why. Berg will enjoy a six-city tour to Boston, Chicago/Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Portland (OR), and San Francisco; reading group guide.

Bogosian, Eric. Perforated Heart. S. & S. May 2009. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4165-3409-9. $25.
Bogosian’s third novel stars a protagonist who really, really wishes that Times Square hadn’t been Disneyfied.

Gold, Glen David. Sunnyside. Knopf. May 2009. 640p. ISBN 978-0-307-27068-9. $26.95. CD: Random Audio.
It’s 1916, and Charlie Chaplin faces down heartbreak, studio moguls, suspicions about his patriotism, and trouble from Mom so that he can make a movie that matches his genius. With a five-city tour to Los Angeles, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle; from the author of the best-selling Carter Beats the Devil.

Koslow, Sally. The Late, Lamented Molly Marx. Ballantine. May 2009. 320p. ISBN 978-0-345-50620-7. $23.
Molly is dead, but with a little help she can watch over her husband, friends, and beloved daughter, even as she puzzles out what really happened in her past. With a six-city tour to New York, Chicago, Dayton, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Fargo. Koslow is the author of Little Pink Slips; look for a Bookreporter Summer Beach Bag promotion and outreach to mommy and women’s interest web sites and blogs.

Lipman, Elinor. The Family Man. Houghton Harcourt. May 2009. 320p. ISBN 978-0-618-64466-7. $25.
All’s well with quietly successful if isolated Henry until a call from a long-ago ex-wife puts him back in touch with twentysomething stepdaughter Thalia, who promptly moves in. Lipman goes on a major tour to New York, New England locales, Washington, DC, Milwaukee, Seattle, Sam Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego; reading group promotion.

Littell, Robert. The Stalin Epigram. S. & S. May 2009. 384p. ISBN 978-1-4165-9864-0. $26.
Not what you’d expect: instead of a thriller, Company man Littell has reenvisioned the life of Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam, who perished in a Siberian transit camp after writing luminous verse that captured his age: “And every killing is a treat/ For the broad-chested Ossete.”

NONFICTION

Facing Down the Economy
Andrews, Edmund L. Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown. Norton. May 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-0-393-06794-1. $25.95.
A New York Times economics reporter, Andrews shouldn’t have fallen for an easy mortgage pitch. Now his personal story is everyone’s.

Brooks, Katharine. You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career. Viking. May 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-670-02082-9. $25.95.
Good news for college grads as the job market falters: the director of the Liberal Arts Career Services at the University of Texas at Austin explains how to rethink one’s academic experiences, dropping the lockstep approach.

Memoir
Beha, Christopher R. The Whole Five Feet: What the Great Books Taught Me About Life, Death, and Pretty Much Everything Else. Grove. May 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-0-8021-1884-4. $25.
What happens when an assistant editor at Harper’s reads the Harvard Classics, known as Dr. Eliot’s Five-Foot Shelf for the Harvard president who assembled the series 100 years ago. Read more about Beha’s enterprise.

Buckley, Christopher. Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir. Twelve: Hachette. May 2009. 336p. ISBN 978-0-446-54094-0. $24.99; lrg. prnt. $26.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
Sharp-tongued novelist Buckley recalls his close relations with his parents, conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and socialite Patricia Taylor Buckley, both recently deceased. Buckley’s recent novel, Supreme Courtship, was a New York Times best seller.

Buergenthal, Thomas. A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy. Little, Brown. May. 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-0-316-04340-3. $24.99.
A judge at the International Court of Justice, Buergenthal had already done time in two ghettos and a labor camp before arriving at Auschwitz at age ten. A best seller in Germany and Holland, with rights sold to eight other countries.

Jeffs, Brent W. with Maia Szalavitz. Lost Boy. Broadway. May 2009. 272p. ISBN 978-0-7679-3177-9. $24.95.
Raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jeffs shows that boys, like girls, are victimized by this church. With an eight-city tour to New York, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, and Portland (OR); major reading-group promotion.

Senna, Danzy. Where Did You Sleep Last Night? A Personal History. Farrar. May 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-0-374-28915-7. $23.
The memoirs of a highly praised novelist (Caucasia), whose blue-blood Bostonian mother and black father married hopefully and divorced like monsters. With a national tour; reading group guide.

Van Liere, Donna. Finding Grace: A True Story About Losing Your Way in Life...and Finding It Again.

St. Martin’s. May 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-0-312-38051-9. $21.95.
The author of the beloved “Christmas Hope” series recalls her struggle to overcome disappointment and achieve grace. With a reading group guide and promotion at Reading Group Gold.

One Important Biography
Martin, Gerald. Gabriel García Márquez: A Life. Knopf. May 2009. 688p. ISBN 978-0-307-27177-8. $37.50.
Emeritus professor of modern languages at the University of Pittsburgh and a research fellow in Caribbean studies at London Metropolitan University, Martin spent 15 years crafting this biography. With a five-city tour to Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Look for a Spanish edition from Vintage Español in August (ISBN 978-0-307-47228; pap. $19.95).

…And One Heart-Warming Story
Isaacson, Rupert. The Horse Boy: A Father’s Quest To Heal His Son. Little, Brown. May. 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-316-00823-5. $24.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
When told that his son, Rowan, was autistic, Isaacson despaired of ever being able to communicate with him. But then Rowan responded wonderfully when riding, which inspired a journey to Mongolia, famed for both horses and shamanic healers. Over the Hills and Far Away, a film of the trip, is a Sundance official selection.