 The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
Milo Burke, a development officer at a third-tier university, has “not been developing”: after a run-in with a well-connected undergrad, he finds himself among the burgeoning class of the newly unemployed. Milo is offered one last chance by his former employer: he must reel in a potential donor—a major “ask”—who, mysteriously, has requested Milo’s involvement. But it turns out that the ask is Milo’s sinister college classmate Purdy Stuart. And the “give” won’t come cheap. The Ask is a burst of genius by a young American master who has already demonstrated that the truly provocative and important fictions are often the funniest ones.
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 The Barbary Pirates by William Dietrich
This is Dietrich's fourth book in the Ethan Gage series which follows the intrepid diplomat during the reign of Napoleon. From Publisher's Weekly: "A heart-stomping pulpy yarn, Gage's narrow escapes, hardboiled banter, and unexpected surprises ensure Dietrich's imaginative page-turner will enjoy a long and lively run." |
 Black Hills by Dan Simmons
When Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, "counts coup" on General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at the Little Bighorn, the legendary general's ghost enters him - and his voice will speak to him for the rest of his event-filled life. Seamlessly weaving together the stories of Paha Sapa, Custer, and the American West, Simmons depicts a tumultuous time in the history of both Native and white Americans. |
 Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
Eighteen years ago, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered -- after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy's mother is convinced he is alive. Her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to find his uncle's corpse. Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose. Then he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W.P." -- William "Billy" Peters. So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut in psychological suspense.
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 The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd
Steve Vail, an ex-FBI agent fired for insubordination, is lured back to the Bureau to work a case that has become more unsolvable-and more deadly-by the hour. A young agent slips into the night water off a rocky beach. He's been instructed to swim to a nearby island to deposit a million dollars demanded by a blackmailer. But his mission is riddled with hazardous tests, as if someone wanted to destroy him rather than collect the money. One thing is clear: someone who knows a little too much about the inner workings of the Bureau is very clever-and very angry-and will kill and kill again if it means he can disgrace the FBI. |
 Eight White Nights by Andre Aciman
From the author of Call Me By Your Name, comes an unforgettable journey through that enchanted terrain where passion and fear and the sheer craving to ask for love and to show love can forever alter who we are. A man in his late twenties goes to a large Christmas party in Manhattan where a woman introduces herself with three words: I am Clara. Over the following seven days, they meet every evening at the same cinema. Overwhelmed yet cautious, he treads softly and won't hazard a move. The tension between them builds gradually, marked by ambivalence, hope, and distrust. They move both closer together and farther apart, culminating on New Year's Eve in a final scene charged with magic and the promise of renewal.
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 The Forty Rules Of Love by Elif Shafak
In this follow-up to her 2007 novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives - one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century. Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. |
 A Week In December by Sebastian Faulks
A powerful novel that melds the moral heft of Dickens with the satirical spirit of Tom Wolfe. With daring skill and savage humor, "A Week in December" explores the complex patterns of modern urban life.
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 Hard Rain by David Rollins
Special Agent Vin Cooper travels to the most dangerous corners of the world, investigating a conspiracy that reaches up the military chain of command, in this explosive thriller from the bestselling author of "A Knife Edge." |
 The Heights by Peter Hedges
The Welches are seemingly the last middle-class family in the Heights whose world is turned upside down by a new wealthy neighbor. The author of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" once again turns his keen eye to the surprising truths of daily life.
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 Heresy by S.J. Parris
A page-turning murder mystery set on the sixteenth-century Oxford University campus. Giordano Bruno was a monk on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic. Bruno's pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen. His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. If you liked The Dante Club or The Alienist, this historical thriller should be next on your list. |
 The Hole We're In by Gabrielle Zevin
From an award-winning screenwriter and author comes this bold, timeless, yet all-too-timely novel about a troubled American family trying to navigate an even more troubled America.
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 If The Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr
If the Dead Rise Not is everything fans have come to expect from Philip Kerr: twisted intrigue, tight plotting, quick-witted one-liners, a hang-by-your-thumbs ending, and, most significant, a richer, wiser Bernie Gunther. |
 In The Company Of Angels by Thomas Kennedy
Imprisoned and tortured for months by Pinochet's henchmen for teaching political poetry to his students, Bernardo Greene is visited by two angels, who promise him that he will survive to experience beauty and love once again. Months later, at the Torture Rehabilitation Center in Copenhagen, the Chilean exile befriends Michela Ibsen, herself a survivor of domestic abuse. In the long nights of summer, the two of them struggle to heal, to forgive those who have left them damaged, and to trust themselves to love. Dense with wisdom and humanity, possessed of a timeless, fable-like quality, In the Company of Angels is a riveting read and a testament to the resilience and complexity of the human heart. The novel marks the first large-scale US publication of a major American author, known internationally but only within literary circles in his homeland.
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 King Ship and Sword by Dewey Lambdin
Captain Alan Lewrie returns for espionage and action in the 16th entry of this popular series of historical adventures. If you enjoyed Master And Commander, give this series a try.
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 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Edgecombe St. Mary: a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired). Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew will steal your heart. The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?
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 The Mapping Of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear
The latest installment in the New York Times bestselling series, Maisie Dobbs must unravel a case of wartime love and death - an investigation that leads her to a long-hidden affair between a young cartographer and a mysterious nurse. August 1914. Michael Clifton leaves California to serve in the British army. Three years later, he is listed among those missing in action. April 1932. London psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs is retained by Michael's parents, who have recently learned that their son's remains have been unearthed in France. They want Maisie to find the unnamed nurse whose love letters were among Michael's belongings. Her inquiries, and the stunning discovery that Michael Clifton was murdered in his trench, unleash a web of intrigue and violence that threatens to engulf the soldier's family and even Maisie herself. |
 Murder In the Palais Royal by Cara Black
The tenth book in the best-selling Aimée Leduc series -- Her partner, René, has been shot, and eyewitnesses have identified Aimée as the culprit. A mysterious deposit has been made to their firm's bank account, interesting the taxman in their affairs. Someone seems to be impersonating Aimée; someone wants revenge. Two murders ensue. How do they relate to the youth whom Aimée's testimony sent to jail in the very first Aimée Leduc investigation, Murder in the Marais? |
 One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni
When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull at an American passport agency trapping nine characters together, their focus first jolts to their collective struggle to survive. There's little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, a young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, "one amazing thing" from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself. From the author of bestselling novels as Sister of My Heart, The Palace of Illusions, and The Mistress of Spices. |
 One Good Dog by Susan Wilson
a moving, tender, and brilliantly crafted story about two fighters--one a man, one a dog--hoping to leave the fight behind, who ultimately find their salvation in each other. |
 Ransom by David Malouf
In his first novel in more than a decade, Malouf gives us a stirring reimagination of one of the most famous passages in all of literature: The Iliad. A moving novel of suffering, sorrow and redemption, Ransom tells the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved Patroclus in the siege of Troy; and woeful Priam, whose son Hector killed Patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles.
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 Ruby's Spoon by Anna Pietroni
In its eerie and atmospheric evocation of time and place and its masterful narrative control, this remarkable debut spins a story that is both mythical and mysterious.
Cradle Cross in 1933 is a town in the heart of Black Country, England, still reeling from the Great War and dominated by a button factory in terminal decline. Into this exotically grim environment arrives a white-haired young woman from the coast named Isa Fly. Isa is a mysterious and magnetic presence who exerts a romantic pull on everyone she meets. Motherless, thirteen-year-old Ruby Tailor is instantly drawn to her, as is Captin, the proprietor of the local chip shop, a fifty-year-old bachelor and father figure to Ruby, and Truda Blick, the Oxford-educated spinster who’s inherited the failing button factory. As the reasons for Isa’s sudden appearance become less clear with each passing day, she is viewed with increasing suspicion by the tight-knit women of Cradle Cross who come to see her as the cause of the town’s accelerating misfortunes and ultimately fear her as a witch.
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 Still Midnight by Denise Mina
Alex Morrow is not new to the police force—or to crime—but there is nothing familiar about the call she has just received. On a still night in a quiet suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, three armed men have slipped from a van into a house, demanding a man who is not, and has never been, inside the front door. In the confusion that ensues, one family member is shot and another kidnapped, the assailants demanding an impossible ransom. Is this the amateur crime gone horribly wrong that it seems, or something much more unexpected?
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 The Surrendered by Chang Rae Lee
A spellbinding story of how love and war echo through an entire lifetime from the author of Native Speaker, A Gesture Life, and Aloft. |
 A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic
A stunning debut novel that unravels the hidden story behind a school shooting. As detective Lucia May pieces together the eyewitnesses' accounts, she begins to realize that she has more in common with the killer than she could have imagined.
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Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett 
Walking To Gatlinburg by Howard Frank Mosher 
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
Venetia Kelly's Travelling Show by Frank Delaney