Click here for additional new Prepub Alert columns  

Burdah, Farhan. A Dangerous Book. Grand Central. Jul. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781538724125. $28. THRILLER/ESPIONAGE

On a top-secret job protecting a Saudi prince, Desi Muslim Irfan Mirza learns that his estranged wife is in so-called protective custody in Karachi, Pakistan, after uncovering a terrible secret. He knows he must break her out—for her sake and for their daughter’s—but it’s not as simple as it seems. From Pakistan-born, U.S.-based Burdah, currently a practicing attorney.

Freeman, Brian. Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Defiance. Putnam. Jul. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780593419885. $29. lrg. prnt. THRILLER/ESPIONAGE

Treadstone agents worldwide are being hunted down and killed as a U.S. government official seeks to erase all evidence of a fraught mission called the Defiance, and Jason Bourne is on the list. That puts him in opposition to an archenemy assassin known as Lennon. Next in Ludlum’s New York Times best-selling series, taken over by ITW/Macavity winner Freeman.

Koryta, Michael. An Honest Man. Mulholland: Little, Brown. Jul. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780316535946. $29. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

Regarded fearfully on Salvation Point Island for having killed his father a decade previously, lobsterman Israel Pike is an obvious suspect when he discovers seven murdered men (including two feuding senators) aboard a yacht. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Lyman Rankin seeks shelter from an alcoholic father in a seemingly empty house where he encounters a scary woman with a hatchet. Watch the masterly Koryta pull those plotlines together. With a 60,00-copy first printing.

Patterson, James & Brian Sitts. Circle of Death. Grand Central. Jul. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9781538711118. $32; pap. ISBN 9781538711101. $18.99. CD/downloadable. lrg. prnt. THRILLER

It’s 2088, and with the Command, aka, the World Destroyer, running amok, people are dying en masse. It looks like the end of the world, but not if the Shadow and his allies can help it. With a 250,000-paperback and 75,000-copy hardcover first printing; the publisher has had success with its trade paperback original program and will be expanding it.

Patterson, James & James O. Born. Obsessed: A Michael Bennett Psychological Thriller. Little, Brown. Jul. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780316499576. $30. CD/downloadable. lrg. prnt. THRILLER

A killer is targeting young women in every New York borough, and Det. Michael Bennett has just discovered the latest victim floating in the Hudson. It’s especially scary that Bennett’s eldest daughter seems to fit the victims’ pattern. With a 350,000 first printing.

Rimmer, Kelly. The Paris Agent. Graydon House: Harlequin. Jul. 2023. 416p. ISBN 9781525805080. $30; pap. ISBN 9781525826689. $18.99. lrg. prnt. THRILLER/HISTORICAL

Helping her former SOE operative father discover who saved his life in World War II France, Charlotte Ainsworth uncovers two women, codenamed Chloe and Fleur, who were deployed to France by the SOE in 1943 and took huge risks to support Allied troops. She also learns that there was a double agent in their midst, threatening their operations—and their lives. With a 200,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing.

Sims, Laura. How Can I Help You. Putnam. Jul. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9780593543702. $27. SUSPENSE

Margo works inconspicuously at a small-town public library, hiding her past as a nurse whose patients sometimes met suspicious deaths. But newbie staffer Patricia thinks there’s something off about Margo and becomes especially alert when a patron dies at the library. From the author of the multi-best-booked Looker, who works part-time as a reference librarian.

Tapper, Jake. All the Demons Are Here. Little, Brown. Jul. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9780316424387. $29. THRILLER/POLITICAL

Son of a senator, Ike Marder joins Evel Knievel's pit crew in 1977 after a terrible experience as a U.S. Marine and ends up hiding from neo-Nazis with a bunch of Vietnam vets. Meanwhile, sister Lucy is a star journalist getting too cozy with a British family launching a tabloid in Washington, DC. Their stories cross at a political retreat in Georgia that turns violent. From CNN anchor Tapper, following the New York Times best-selling The Hellfire Club.

Click here for additional new Prepub Alert columns