Hardcover Fiction

by Anna Quindlen · Random House

It's an otherwise ordinary Monday when Meghan Fitzmaurice's perfect life hits a wall. A household name as the host of 'Rise and Shine', the country's highest-rated morning talk show, Meghan cuts to a commercial break, but not before she mutters two forbidden words into her open mike. In an instant, it's the end of an era - not only for Meghan, who is unaccustomed to dealing with adversity, but also for her younger sister, Bridget, a social worker in the Bronx who has always lived in Meghan's long shadow. The effect of Meghan's on-air truth-telling reverberates through both of their lives, affecting everyone around them. But in very different ways, the Fitzmaurice women adapt, survive, and manage to bring the whole teeming world of New York to heel, by dint of their smart mouths, quick wits, and the powerful connection between them that even the worst tragedy cannot shatter.

by James Patterson and Andrew Gross · Little, Brown

Thriller.

by Sandra Brown · Simon & Schuster

When Detective Sergeant Duncan Hatcher is summoned to the home of Judge Cato Laird in the middle of the night to investigate a fatal shooting, he knows that discretion and kid-glove treatment are the keys to staying in the judge's good graces and keeping his job. At first glance, the case appears open-and-shut: Elise, the judge's trophy wife, interrupted a burglary in progress and killed the intruder in self-defense. But Duncan is immediately suspicious of Elise's innocent act. His gut feeling is that her account of the shooting is only partially true--and it's the parts she's leaving out that bother him. Duncan investigates further and quickly finds his career, as well as his integrity, in jeopardy--because he can't deny his increasing attraction to Elise Laird, even if she is a married woman, a proven liar, and a murder suspect.--From publisher description.

by Frederick Forsyth · Putnam

by Claire Messud · Knopf

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year • A bestselling, masterful novel about the intersections in the lives of three friends, now on the cusp of their thirties, making their way—and not—in New York City. “A masterly comedy of manners. . . . Splendid.”—The New York Times Book Review “Ambitious, glamorous, and gutsy. . . . A marvel of bold momentum and kinetic imagination.” —Elle There is beautiful, sophisticated Marina Thwaite—an “It” girl finishing her first book; the daughter of Murray Thwaite, celebrated intellectual and journalist—and her two closest friends from Brown, Danielle, a quietly appealing television producer, and Julius, a cash-strapped freelance critic. The delicious complications that arise among them become dangerous when Murray’s nephew, Frederick “Bootie” Tubb, an idealistic college dropout determined to make his mark, comes to town. As the skies darken, it is Bootie’s unexpected decisions—and their stunning, heartbreaking outcome—that will change each of their lives forever. A richly drawn, brilliantly observed novel of fate and fortune—of innocence and experience, seduction and self-invention; of ambition, including literary ambition; of glamour, disaster, and promise—The Emperor’s Children is a tour de force that brings to life a city, a generation, and the way we live in this moment.

by Terry Brooks · Del Rey/Ballantine

Fifty years from now, our world is unrecognisable. Pollution and warfare have poisoned the skies, the water and the soil. Pockets of society still exist, living in highly fortified strongholds, while those outside the walls roam the landscape - either predator or prey. But even these isolated compounds are not safe; armies of demons and once-men assault their defences, and inevitably, one by one, they succumb. Civilisation has fallen and anarchy is the only law. Logan Tom and Angel Perez are the last two Knights to stand against the forces of chaos. These two extraordinary people have the ability to resist the dark tide, and to them will fall twin tasks: to find and protect a very old and a very new magic. They are humanity's last hope. Although the odds are stacked against them, Logan and Angel have the power to halt the destruction of the Old World. It will be up to others to usher in the New.

by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson · Tor/Tom Doherty

by Marisha Pessi · Viking Press

by Suzanne Brockmann · Ballantine

Gale Local 10-13-2011 $24.95.

by Sara Gruen · Algonquin

A great, glorious, big-hearted novel set in a travelling circus touring the backblocks of America during the great depression of the early 1930s. It's a story of love and hate, trains and circuses, dwarves and fat ladies, horses and elephants - or, to be specific, one elephant, Rosie, star of the Benzini Bros Most Spectacular Show on Earth . . .

by Ted Bell · Atria

"Discover the world of espionage-- from the early spymasters to the electronic surveillance of today"--Cover.

by Daniel Silva · Putnam

On the trail of a deadly al-Qaeda operative, Gabriel Allon returns in a spellbinding story of deception, power, and revenge by the #1 New York Times bestselling "world-class practitioner of spy fiction" (Washington Post). Gabriel Allon—art restorer and spy—is about to face the greatest challenge of his life. An al-Qaeda suspect is killed in London, and photographs are found on his computer—photographs that lead Israeli intelligence to suspect that al-Qaeda is planning one of its most audacious attacks ever, aimed straight at the heart of the Vatican. Allon and his colleagues soon find themselves in a deadly duel of wits against one of the most dangerous men in the world—a hunt that will take them across Europe to the Caribbean and back. But for them, there may not be enough of anything: enough time, enough facts, enough luck. All Allon can do is set his trap—and hope that he is not the one caught in it.

by Fannie Flagg · Random House

Back in Elmwood Springs, Missouri the experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ask the question "Why are we here"?

by Nora Roberts · Putnam

by Robin Cook · Putnam

The inventor of the medical thriller shows the profession’s dark side: the terrifying story of a doctor who is sucked into the maelstrom of the current medical malpractice crisis. When Boston-based Dr. Craig Bowman is served with a summons for medical negligence, he’s shocked, enraged, and more than a little humiliated. A devoted physician who has endured grueling years of training and worked continuously in the service of others, he is now a partner in an exclusive concierge medical practice. No longer forced to see more and more patients while spending less and less time with each one just to keep his office door open, he provides the kind of medical care he has been prepared to do, lavishing twenty-four-hour availability and personalized attention on his handpicked patients. And at last he is earning a significant income, no longer facing decreased reimbursements from insurance companies. But this idyllic situation comes to a grinding halt one sunny afternoon—and things get much, much worse. Enter Dr. Jack Stapleton, a medical examiner in New York City and Bowman’s brother-in-law: Jack’s sister Alexis—now Bowman’s estranged wife—begs for his help as her husband’s trial drags on. Jack agrees to travel to Boston to offer his forensic services and expert-witness experience to Craig’s beleaguered defense attorney. But when Jack’s irreverent suggestion to exhume the corpse and thereby disprove the alleged malpractice is taken seriously, he opens a Pandora’s box of trouble. As Craig’s life and career are put on the line, Jack is on the verge of making a most unwelcome discovery, of tremendous legal and medical significance—and there are people who will do anything to keep him from learning the truth.

by Fern Michaels · Kensington

When her mother, who supposedly died in childbirth, leaves her a vast fortune with a caveat regarding a crime committed years ago, Olivia Lowell turns to a handsome young lawyer for help in understanding who her mother really was.