From The Booking Desk:

Based on my earlier reviews, I am hoping that you have already pre-ordered some of this week’s releases, because there are many stellar books on this list – both ones you have heard about before and new mentions that also must be experienced.  This is one of the best book release weeks of the season.  Don’t miss these titles!

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Megan Abbott – Give Me Your Hand (Little, Brown, Hardcover, $27.00, 07/17/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

Megan Abbott never fails to deliver, but this new release may just be her best novel yet. Check out the spoiler-free BOLO Books review of Give Me Your Hand for more of my thoughts.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane’s academic brilliance lit a fire in Kit, and the two developed an unlikely friendship. Until Diane shared a secret that changed everything between them.

More than a decade later, Kit thinks she’s put Diane behind her forever and she’s begun to fulfill the scientific dreams Diane awakened in her. But the past comes roaring back when she discovers that Diane is her competition for a position both women covet, taking part in groundbreaking new research led by their idol. Soon enough, the two former friends find themselves locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to destroy them both.

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Lori Roy – The Disappearing (Dutton, Hardcover, $27.00, 07/17/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

Lori Roy is another author who always satisfies. The fact that she is the first (and currently only) woman to win the Edgar Award for both Best First Novel and Best Novel speaks volumes. I fully expect this one will be nominated as well. The BOLO Books review of The Disappearing will clue you in to my thoughts in typical spoiler-free manner.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

When Lane Fielding fled her isolated Florida hometown after high school for the anonymity of New York City, she swore she’d never return. But twenty years later, newly divorced and with two daughters in tow, she finds herself tending bar at the local dive and living with her parents on the historic Fielding Plantation. Here, the past haunts her and the sinister crimes of her father–the former director of an infamous boys’ school–make her as unwelcome in town as she was the day she left.

Ostracized by the people she was taught to trust, Lane’s unsteady truce with the town is rattled when her older daughter suddenly vanishes. Ten days earlier, a college student went missing, and the two disappearances at first ignite fears that a serial killer who once preyed upon the town has returned. But when Lane’s younger daughter admits to having made a new and unseemly friend, a desperate Lane attacks her hometown’s façade to discover whether her daughter’s disappearance is payback for her father’s crimes–or for her own.

With reporters descending upon the town, police combing through the swamp, and events taking increasingly disturbing turns, Lane fears she faces too many enemies and too little time to bring her daughter safely home. Powerful and heart-pounding, The Disappearing questions the endurance of family bonds, the dangers of dark rumors and small town gossip, and how sometimes home is the scariest place of all.

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Zoje Stage – Baby Teeth (St. Martin’s Press, Hardcover, $26.99, 07/17/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

The BOLO Books review of Baby Teeth reveals my spoiler-free thoughts on this gripping debut. I also love the cover design, tag line, and title of this book – all elements perfectly match the creepiness held within.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Afflicted with a chronic debilitating condition, Suzette Jensen knew having children would wreak havoc on her already fragile body. Nevertheless, she brought Hanna into the world, pleased and proud to start a family with her husband Alex. Estranged from her own mother, Suzette is determined to raise her beautiful daughter with the love, care, and support she was denied.

But Hanna proves to be a difficult child. Now seven-years-old, she has yet to utter a word, despite being able to read and write. Defiant and anti-social, she refuses to behave in kindergarten classes, forcing Suzette to homeschool her. Resentful of her mother’s rules and attentions, Hanna lashes out in anger, becoming more aggressive every day. The only time Hanna is truly happy is when she’s with her father. To Alex, she’s willful and precocious but otherwise the perfect little girl, doing what she’s told.

Suzette knows her clever and manipulative daughter doesn’t love her. She can see the hatred and jealousy in her eyes. And as Hanna’s subtle acts of cruelty threaten to tear her and Alex apart, Suzette fears her very life may be in grave danger…

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Shannon Kirk – In The Vines (Thomas & Mercer, Hardcover, $24.95, 07/17/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

Filled with Gothic elements and a creepy tone, Shannon Kirk’s latest proves that while every family in unique, everyone can related to the tensions within that dynamic (and sometimes we are more alike than we might want to admit.) In the Vines is a masterpiece of structure wherein Shannon Kirk sinisterly manipulates the reader in only the best way possible, thereby escalating the ultimate shock and power of her words at the conclusion of the story.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Family ties so strong you can’t escape…

Mary Olivia Pentecost, known as Mop, was born into one of the wealthiest families in the country—and one of the most guarded. Now, two years after her mother’s mysterious death, Mop is seeking closure on the disquieting tragedy by returning to the New England seaside estate of her cloistered Aunty Liv—once her closest relative and confidante.

But behind the walls of the isolated estate, the shadows of the past are darker than Mop imagined. The puzzles of the family history are not to be shared, but unearthed. With each revelation comes a new, foreboding threat—and for Mop, the grave suspicion that to discover Aunty Liv’s secrets is to become a prisoner of them.

How well do we know the people we love? How well do we want to know them? The answers are as twisted as a tangle of vines in this throat-clutching novel of psychological suspense.

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Eric Beetner (Editor) – Unloaded 2 (Down & Out, e-book, $3.99, 07/16/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

This short-story anthology is a veritable who’s who, feature some of my favorite crime fiction writers (and people!). The original volume was deservedly nominated for an Anthony Award and this second collection is sure to follow in those ground-breaking footsteps. Proceeds are going to an excellent cause so that alone is reason enough to purchase, but the quality of story within is first-class. I plan to provide a more in-depth look at some of these stories soon so be sure to check back with BOLO Books.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

The Anthony-nominated collection of crime stories without guns—the collection we didn’t want to be necessary—is back for Volume 2.

Two dozen more crime writers have come together to raise their voices and take pen in hand to call for a sensible and reasoned debate about guns in America. As the mass shootings continue, the avoidable accidents, the suicides, the gun violence that consumes our country rolls on unabated and unaddressed by our leadership other than to say, “Now is not the time to discuss it,” these crime writers have chosen to start the dialogue.

In stories of crime, mystery and suspense these authors have left the guns out to show for a short while that we can do without them and the plot doesn’t fall apart. Maybe, in a small way, we can show that the American way of life doesn’t cease to be, either.

Not anti-gun, Unloaded Volume 2 is pro-reason. These authors comprise gun owners and non-owners, voters on both sides of the political aisle. The cause that unites us all is the desire to see the senseless killing stop and to be able to have the discussion without the divisive language, vitriol and name calling that too often accompanies this debate.

The top priority in these stories is to entertain with thrilling action and suspense that readers know and love about a crime story. To do so without guns leads to some creative leaps from writers who spin tales of simians on the loose, androids with buried secrets, punk rock shows and tattoo shops.

Bestselling authors like Chris Holm, Lori Rader-Day, Bill Crider, Laura McHugh, James Ziskin and John Rector along with many more join together to call for an end to the needless violence and a start to a reasoned debate. With a forward by legendary Sara Paretsky, Unloaded Volume 2 is a book we wish wasn’t needed. But staying silent is no longer an option.

Proceeds go to the non-profit States United To Prevent Gun Violence.

Edited by Eric Beetner. Introduction by Sara Paretsky.

Contributors: E.A. Aymar, Kris Calvin, Andrew Case, Steve Cavanagh, Bill Crider, Chris Holm, Michael Kardos, David James Keaton, Dana King, Nick Kolakowski, Jon McGoran, Laura McHugh, Lori Rader-Day, John Rector, Scott Loring Sanders, Alex Segura, Terry Shames, Josh Stallings, Jay Stringer, James R. Tuck, Dave White, Lili Wright, and James W. Ziskin.