Carl Hiaasen

Bad Monkey

Knopf; ISBN: 978-030727259-1; Pub: 6/11/2013; $26.95

"Carl Hiaasen is by far one of the funniest satirist in America today.  Bad Monkey is a true return to form, denouncing (in the most hysterical ways) the destruction of his beloved Florida.  You will laugh, cringe, and get a moral lesson along the way.  One of the funniest, and funnest books I've read in awhile.  A great beach read."

--Reviewed by Margo

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

David Rhodes

Jewelweed

Milkweed Editions; ISBN: 978-157131100-9; Pub: 5/14/13; $26.00

"I liked Driftless, but his emotionally rich new novel, Jewelweed, a sequel of sorts, is even better.  The novel emits frequent solar flares of surprise and wonder."

--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Suzanne Rindell

The Other Typist

Amy Einhorn Books; ISBN: 978-039916146-9; Pub: 5/7/13; $25.95

"With hints toward The Great Gatsby, Rindell’s novel aspires to recreate Prohibition-era New York City, both its opulence and its squalid underbelly.  She captures it quite well, while at the same time spinning a delicate and suspenseful narrative about false friendship, obsession, and life for single women in New York during Prohibition."

--Booklist

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs

Knopf; ISBN: 978-030759690-1; Pub: 4/30/13; $25.95

"Riveting...Messud is adept at evoking complex psychological territory, and here favors a controlled and notably unreliable style of narration.  She is interested in the identities that women construct for themselves, and in the maddening chasm that often divides intensity of aspiration from reality of achievement."

--The New Yorker

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Amy Brill

The Movement of Stars

Riverhead Books; ISBN: 978-159448744-6; Pub: 4/18/13; $27.95

"Brill has created a compelling and likable character in Hannah Price; it’s easy to root for her to find her comet and acknowledge her feelings for Isaac.  Hannah’s search during a period of great discovery and advancement in astronomy, as well as her relationship with Isaac amid widespread abolitionist sentiments, adds up to a stirring historical drama."

--Booklist

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Jonathan Maberry

Extinction Machine: A Joe Ledger Novel

Credit: St. Martin's Griffin; ISBN: 978-031255221-3; Pub: 3/26/13; Paperback Original; $15.99

"Previously, Joe Ledger has gone up against unusual incarnations of zombies (Patient Zero), monsters (The Dragon Factory), secret societies (The King of Plagues), and even vampires (Assassin's Code).  Now, in Extinction Machine, Ledger and the Echo Team of the DMS (Department of Military Science) have to go up against a new threat...which may not be of this earth.  Fans of Lee Child and F. Paul Wilson will likely enjoy this.  Jump on in and enjoy the wild and gritty world of Joe Ledger!"

--Reviewed by Barry

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Laura Lee Smith

Heart of Palm

Grove Press; ISBN: 978-080212102-8; Pub: 4/2/13; $25.00

"It's easy to fall in love with the very dysfunctional Bravo family in their very small dysfunctional Florida town.  As the town is transforming so is the family, and Smith's lyrical prose makes the reader hang on to the good, bad, and whatever else is thrown into the mix."

--Reviewed by Margo

Miriam Karmel

Being Esther

Milkweed Editions; ISBN: 978-157131096-5; Pub: 4/2/13; $22.00

"Esther and her friend take turns calling each other every morning to make sure they have lived through the night.  At 85, Esther is struggling to stay independent.  Karmel puts us inside Esther's head and lets us in on the uncertainty, memories, foibles, and even the fun of being Esther--the incident at the grocery store is not to be missed."

--Reviewed by Percy

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Jill McCorkle

Life After Life

Algonquin Books; ISBN: 978-156512255-0; Pub: 3/26/13; $24.95

"Jill McCorkle brings the residents of Pine Haven, a retirement facility in North Carolina, vibrantly to life in this charming and colorful novel.  The residents and their caretakers, as well as some of their neighbors, are given voice in this moving and revelatory tale.  Their past and present lives are told with such depth and feeling that I found myself wishing I could inhabit their world for a little longer.  Each character is beautifully drawn, and while sad and sometimes shocking, this engaging novel is a delight."

--Reviewed by Tova

Indie Bound Description

Matthew Specktor

American Dream Machine

Tin House Books; ISBN: 978-193563944-2; Pub: 3/26/13; $25.95

"Nate and his friends live the privileged lives as sons of Hollywood talent agents.  This fascinating peek into the back room dealings of Hollywood and how it changes throughout the years is told through the character of Beau as seen through the eyes of Nate.  Half the fun while reading was picturing who would portray each character in a film."

--Reviewed by Percy

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Jonathan Dee

A Thousand Pardons

Random House; ISBN: 978-081299321-9; Pub: 3/12/13; $26.00

"Dee is adept at meshing the complexities of marriage and family life with the paradoxes of the zeitgeist.  In his sixth meticulously lathed and magnetizing novel, he riffs on the practice of crisis management...[and] nets the absurdities of a society geared to communicate in a thousand electronic modes while those closest to each other can barely make eye connect."

--Booklist

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

John Joseph Adams, ed.

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination:

All Original, All Nefarious, All Conquering Tales from the Megalomaniacal Pens of...Evil Geniuses

Tor Books; ISBN: 978-076532645-4; Pub: 2/19/13; Paperback; $14.99

"Mwuahahahahahah!!!  These twenty-two tales from as many authors run a plethora of interpretations on the classic science fiction/horror image of the obsessed genius.  With contributions from Laird Barron, Naomi Novik, Daniel H. Wilson, and Diana Gabaldon, it's a welcome anthology for anyone looking for dark tales of questionable experiments and diabolical aspirations.  It is, indeed, alive!"

--Reviewed by Barry

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Caitlín Kiernan as Kathleen Tierney

Blood Oranges

Roc; ISBN: 978-045146501-6; Pub: 2/5/13; Paperback Original; $16.00

"''Flawed protagonist' doesn't begin to cover the story of Quinn, the foul-mouthed demon hunter (and junkie) who has found herself in over her head when a vampire and a werewolf bite her on the same night.  A major departure from Caitlín R. Kiernan's dark tales (hence the pen name), Blood Oranges is a hoot of a genre-mashing, trope-trumping read."

--Reviewed by Barry

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Simon Armitage

Walking Home: A Poet's Journey

Liveright; ISBN: 978-087140416-9; Pub: 3/25/2013; $24.95

"[Armitage] displays a sharp appreciation of place, both in its unique contours and its mystery…doling out small stories—about the people he walks with or the history of the landscape, the misery of midges or the terror of a deep fog high in the Uplands—that flash like sun on chrome."

--Booklist, starred review

Gerald Shea

Song Without Words:

Discovering My Deafness Halfway Through Life

Da Capo Press; ISBN: 978-030682193-6; Pub: 2/26/12; $25.99

"It's hard to believe Gerald Shea went through half his life without knowing that he was partially deaf after an illness at the age of six.  He just thought everyone heard as he did, that others were better at interpreting and understanding than he was.  His life is a daily struggle to understand, yet he carries on.  I would have liked to hear more about his life outside work, but his amazing story reminded me how everyone perceives and understands the world around them differently, hard of hearing or not.  The moments of joy that transcend the overwhelming stress of constantly trying to hear and translate make you cheer him on, hoping for more."

--Reviewed by Percy

Jonathan Grotenstein & Storms Reback

Ship It Holla Ballas!

St. Martin's Press; ISBN: 978-125000665-3; Pub: 1/15/12; $25.99

"This fast-paced, fun read takes you into the lives of a group of underage kids learning the ropes of poker through the internet.  Not only do they learn the ropes, they take internet poker by the reigns, and by the time they are old enough to enter a casino they've dropped out of college, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars living it up, and have the skills to take over the [actual] gambling world.  As someone who knows next to nothing about the gambling world, I really enjoyed this book. "

--Reviewed by Margo

Indie Bound Description

John R. Gillis

The Human Shore

Chicago University Press; ISBN: 978-022692223-2; Pub: 10/17/12; $27.50

"In The Human Shore, historian John Gillis offers a history of shorelines around the globe and in the process shows us how coastal exploration occurred much sooner than previously anticipated (thanks to the emergence of 'wet archaeology'), and that such exploration accomplished much more than the ballyhooed crossings of the oceans by the Portuguese, Spanish, French, and British explorers.  Gillis explores the evolution of the coastlines to our modern preoccupation with waterfront property, and the legions who go to the ocean to bathe, or merely 'gaze at the sea.'  This is a fascinating history, and one that will resound deeply for any beachcomber this summer..."

--Reviewed by Bob

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave

Putnam; ISBN: 978-039916241-1; Pub: 5/7/2013; $18.99

"Yancey's heartfelt, violent, paranoid epic, filled with big heroics and bigger surprises, is part War of the Worlds, part Starship Troopers, part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and part The Stand…a sure thing for reviewers and readers alike."

--Booklist, starred review

Indie Bound Description & Reviews

Lemony Snicket; Jon Klassen, Ill.

The Dark

Little, Brown & Co.; ISBN: 978-031618748-0; Pub: 4/2/2013; $16.99

"The dark lives in the same house as Laszlo. Mostly, though, the dark stays in the basement and doesn't come into Lazslo's room.  But one night, it does.

This is the story of how Laszlo stops being afraid of the dark."

--publisher description

Indie Bound Description

Eva Moore; Nancy Carpenter, Ill.

Lucky Ducklings

Orchard Books; ISBN: 978-043944861-1; Pub: 2/1/13; $16.99

"Carpenter’s warm, retro spreads salute McCloskey in what might turn out to be this generation’s duckling rescue story. Seeing public officials put civic machinery to work to save baby animals is every bit as charming today as it was 70 years ago…The rescue depicted actually took place on Long Island in 2000; Moore enlivens the account with engaging narrative devices, repeating the duckling’s rhyming names and punctuating the story with 'Oh, dear! That could have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t.'  It’s worthy of its predecessor, and a welcome sequel of sorts."

--Publishers Weekly