Current Book Selections - Care For Troops - Care Packages For Military Personnel

This care package includes your choice of a current bestselling novel. Here are the current selections:

SYNOPSIS:

In The 13th Juror, Dismas Hardy, lawyer/investigator, undertakes the defense of Jennifer Witt, accused of murdering her husband and their eight-year-old son as well as her first husband, who had died nine years earlier from an apparent drug overdose. While preparing his case, Hardy learns that both of Jennifer's husbands had physically abused her. But Jennifer refuses to allow a defense that presumes her guilt. She is not guilty, she claims. Hardy is now driven to seek an alternative truth a jury can believe. As the trial progresses, the complex truth itself begins to change, to bend, to fade in and out of focus as the clock keeps ticking on Jennifer's fate, until there seems only one person left to convince, and she is "the 13th juror" - the judge. The 13th Juror is a stunning and suspenseful novel of moral ambiguity, of good intentions, bad judgements and the tortuous path to ultimate justice.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Can the President of the United States get away with murder? The fictional answer to this question has set the literary world on fire and transformed David Baldacci into a household name and overnight success. Going beyond the classic works of John Grisham and Robert Ludlum, Absolute Power combines the highest levels of political intrigue with big-money law, cutting-edge forensics, and the riveting search for a truth hidden within the power of the Oval Office.

SYNOPSIS:

The Senate Majority leader brazenly assassinated in the nation's capital. A high-rise apartment complex brought down by a suicide bomber. The most feared terrorist network aided by the most surprising--and deadly--of enemies. A dangerous new world needs a whole new set of players. Welcome to The American.In this powerful debut thriller from one of the freshest new voices in international suspense, Andrew Britton has crafted a bold novel that crackles with a high-stakes, post-9/11 urgency and introduces maverick CIA agent Ryan Kealy.

From the Publisher

The New York Museum of Natural History receives their pilfered gem collection back...ground down to dust. Diogenes, the psychotic killer who stole them in Dance of Death, is throwing down the gauntlet to both the city and to his brother, FBI Agent Pendergast, who is currently incarcerated in a maximum security prison. To quell the PR nightmare of the gem fiasco, the museum decides to reopen the Tomb of Senef. An astounding Egyptian temple, it was a popular museum exhibit until the 1930s, when it was quietly closed. But when the tomb is unsealed in preparation for its gala reopening, the killings--and whispers of an ancient curse--begin again. And the catastrophic opening itself sets the stage for the final battle between the two brothers: an epic clash from which only one will emerge alive.

KIRKUS REVIEWS:

In this thrilling, rather poignant sequel to Koontz's Odd Thomas (2003), the young psychic seeker visits a California monastery poised for attack by shadowy foes. Koontz marvelously sets the scene in the tight, heart-stopping first chapter: One December night, Odd Thomas, a 21-year-old hard-luck kid from Pico Mundo, Calif., now a guest of several months at St. Bartholomew's Abbey in the Sierra Nevada, follows some ghosts on a mission to Room 32 of the monastery's school for handicapped children. Called "bodachs," after evil spirits in British folklore, these horrifying protean spirits prefigure some kind of disaster to the children-and Odd, using the paranormal gift shared exclusively by the dog, Boo, has only a day or two at most to try to find out what the danger is and how to block it.

Odd, tragically, lost the love of his life, Stormy, 16 months before, when she perished in a fire, and yet she now seems to be speaking through one of the paralyzed children, indicating to him who among them might know more about the imminent threat. Indeed, evidence points to Jacob, a retarded artist at the school, who renders in his drawings startlingly realistic depictions of a ghoulish, bony creature at the window that he calls the Neverwas. Meanwhile, Odd interviews numerous folks at the monastery, including a former New Jersey hit man for the Mafia, a world-renowned physicist who turned increasingly self-tortured and the inimitable Mother Superior, as steely as General George Patton. Terrific characterization and patient plotting mark Koontz's work, and this novel about the triumph of modesty over hubris proves exemplary on both counts. A work both exciting and engaging-and with its heart in theright place.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

It exists at the fringes of Washington, D.C., has no power, and consists solely of four eccentric and downtrodden members whom society has forgotten. Their simple goal is to find the "truth" behind their country's actions.

One man leads this aging, ragtag crew. He has no known past and has taken the name "Oliver Stone." Day and night, Stone and his friends study wild conspiracy theories, current events, and the machinations of government, hoping to discover some truth that will hold America's leaders accountable to its citizens. Yet never in Stone's wildest nightmares could he imagine the conspiracy the Camel Club is about to uncover...

After witnessing a shocking murder, the Club is slammed headfirst into a plot that threatens the very security of the nation, full of stunning twists, high-stakes intrigue, and global gamesmanship rocketing to the Oval Office and beyond. Soon the Club must join forces with veteran Secret Service agent Alex Ford, who becomes an unwilling participant in one of the most chilling spectacles to ever take place on American soil. It's an event that may well be the catalyst for the long-threatened Armageddon between two different worlds, and all that stands in the way of this apocalypse are five unexpected heroes.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

Everyone is celebrating St. Patrick's Day in New York City. But born into the heat and hatred of the Northern Ireland conflict, IRA man Brian Flynn has masterminded a brilliant act of terrorism - the seizure of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Among his hostages are the woman he once loved, and a former terrorist tamed peace activist. The cops face a perfectly planned, booby-trapped killing zone inside the church. The hostages face death. And Flynn faces his own demons in an electrifying duel of nerves, honor, and betrayal...

SYNOPSIS:

Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, joins forces once again with private detective Regan Reilly to solve a Christmas mystery. Last time in Deck the Halls, they had rescued Regan's kidnapped father. This time they must track down the beautiful ninety-foot tree that had been hijacked on its way to Rockefeller Center for the Christmas season. What they do not know is that a hole in the trunk of the tree contains the fortune in priceless gems that Packey Noonan, a scam artist just released from prison, had hidden there twelve years ago. What they do know is that this particular tree is irreplaceable. It has been chosen because it was in the forest near the Vermont home of Maria von Trapp, and the Christmas festival in Rockefeller Center is geared to the fortieth anniversary of the film The Sound of Music. The rumor is that Maria von Trapp loved to sing songs from the film under that tree.

SYNOPSIS:

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.

Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.” Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties. From sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda’s children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antique store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers, Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

"The Emperor of Ocean Park is set in two privileged worlds: the upper crust African American society of the eastern seaboard - old families who summer on Martha's Vineyard - and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school. It tells the story of a complex family with a single, seductive link to the shadowlands of crime." "The Emperor of the title, Judge Oliver Garland, has just died, suddenly. A brilliant legal mind, conservative and famously controversial, Judge Garland made more enemies than friends. Many years before, he'd a earned a judge's highest prize: a Supreme Court nomination. But in a scene of bitter humiliation, televised across the country, his nomination collapsed in scandal.

The humbling defeat became a private agony, one from which he never recovered." But now the judge's death raises more questions - and it seems to be leading to a second, even more terrible scandal. Could Oliver Garland have been murdered? He has left a strange message for his son Talcott, a professor of law at a great university, entrusting him with "the arrangements" - a mysterious puzzle that only Tal can unlock, and only by unearthing the ambiguities of his father's past. When another man is found dead, and then another, Talcott - wry, straight-arrow, almost too self-aware to be a man of action - must risk his career, his marriage, and even his life, following the clues his father left him.

LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW:

Coben has written another winner, guaranteed to keep readers awake all night. On the day of his mother's funeral, Will Klein discovers a photograph proving that his brother, Ken, is alive. Eleven years earlier, a young woman who was dating Ken was found strangled, and Ken's blood was found at the murder scene. Will never heard from Ken after that night, and his family and the police assumed that he was dead. While Will is contemplating this stunning revelation, his girlfriend, Sheila, vanishes under mysterious circumstances. Will's efforts to solve the disappearances of Sheila and Ken open a terrifying Pandora's box. Complex and unpredictable, this is even better than Coben's last novel, Tell No One. Highly recommended.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

What star quarterback has been spotted with a new flavor of arm candy? It's notorious bad boy Riley Nash, but his newest flame is the last person this reporter could imagine -- none other than Sophie Jordan, beautiful, buttoned-down co-owner of The Hot Zone, the industry's top sports management agency.

What's behind this unlikely team? Some say it has to do with the sudden disappearance of superagent Spencer Atkins. Could there be a connection between the red-hot quarterback and the missing dealmaker? Or has the famous groupie magnet simply met his perfect match in cool, collected Sophie? Watch this space, because the resulting news is bound to be one Hot Item.

SYNOPSIS:

What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill?

We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.

Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch’s wife and he’s named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn’t care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He’s confident that Mitch will find a way.

If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He’s got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he’ll pay a lot more. He’ll pay anything.

From its tense opening to its shattering climax, The Husband is a thriller that will hold you in its relentless grip for every twist, every shock, every revelation…until it lets you go, unmistakably changed. This is a Dean Koontz novel, after all. And there’s no other experience quite like it.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

Just seventy-two hours ago, Dirk Pitt was lying in the hot California sun with a beautiful woman, a Scotch-rocks in one hand, but an urgent call from Admiral James Sandecker, his commander at the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), brings Pitt out of the warm Pacific breezes and straight into a North Atlantic deep freeze. The reason: the discovery of a long-missing luxury yacht, en route to a secret White House rendezvous, frozen solid in a mil- lion-ton tombstone of ice.

Tunneling his way into the core of the berg, Pitt comes upon a gruesome scene -- a crew of corpses, horribly incinerated at their posts -- but the vessel's price- less cargo, which could alter the balance of world power and put the threat of annihilation at America's doorstep, has vanished. This discovery is the springboard from which Clive Cussler -- The Grand Master of Adventure -- launches a compelling and powerful story that takes Dirk Pitt from the remote, uninhabited tundra of Iceland to the frigid abyss of the North Atlantic, determined to force his deadly, unseen opponent -- a multibillionaire in the business of playing God -- to make his next move. But first Pitt will have to penetrate the shroud of mystery concealing a titanic network of international financial intrigue -- and mass murder.

Lives, nations, continents are at stake. And although his enemies may have the firepower as always, Dirk Pitt has the skill and the daring, the ruthlessness and resourcefulness to meet it. He also has Kirsti Fyrie, an Icelandic beauty whose twin brother died on the ice-encased yacht and who carries in her heart the secret that Pitt needs to destroy his opponents in this deadly game. Iceberg is classic Cussler.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

John Grisham's first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet.

In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory.

Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.

In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row.

If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.

LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW:

This fiction debut from former lawyer Dugoni, author of the nonfiction The Cyanide Canary, displays few of the pitfalls commonly seen in a first novel. David Sloane is a San Francisco wrongful death attorney everyone either envies or hates. With his words and actions, he can manipulate a jury into doing anything he wants, and he hasn't lost a trial in 15 years. But his existence begins to unravel when, on the other side of the United States, a presidential adviser evidently takes his life. Days later, Sloane receives a mysterious package from the man. Suddenly, he finds himself the target of assassins who want the contents of the package and who also know that the adviser's death was no suicide. Sloane must use all of his courtroom powers of persuasion in the real world if he is to survive and shatter a conspiracy. This thriller is reminiscent of the early John Grisham.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

Jason Steadman is a thirty-year-old sales exec for a major electronics company in Boston. He’s witty and well-liked but, to the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks like Jason’s career has hit a ceiling. He lacks the one thing that could help him get ahead: the KILLER INSTINCT

All that changes when Jason meets Kurt Semko, a former Special Forces officer just back from Iraq. Looking for a decent pitcher for the company softball team, Jason gets Kurt, who was once drafted by the majors, a job in Corporate Security. Soon, good things start to happen for Jason—and bad things start to happen to Jason’s rivals.

Too late does Jason discover that Kurt has been paving his path to the top by the most efficient, devious means available. Now that his new best friend has become the most dangerous enemy imaginable, Jason stands to lose far more than his job...

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

Wanted:
One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply.

Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day.

When the Xs marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

Get ready for a holiday season you'll never forget with three of today's most sensational writers who know what every woman wants for the holidays. You'll believe in Santa all over again with these seductive stories from:

JENNIFER CRUSIE
Mayhem ensues under the mistletoe as a determined shopper grabs the very last hot toy action figure off the shelf, only to find herself plunged into the middle of a real-life spy game--in the arms of a sexy secret agent. . .

LORI FOSTER
Two dedicated coworkers with a lot of secrets (and fantasies!) between them must plan a Christmas party side by side--and discover a love worth celebrating--in this steamy office romance.

CARLY PHILLIPS
A "mistletoe moment" begins when a no-nonsense lawyer intent on seducing her boss meets his twin instead--after giving him a scintillating kiss that leaves him begging for more. . .

PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:

Twenty-five years ago, Rufus Harms was convicted of a murder he doesn't remember committing. When his memory is jogged by a letter from the army, he has a shocking realization: he never intended to kill anyone--he was coerced. From prison, Rufus files an appeal with the Supreme Court, unaware that the real killers are on to him. But the long-time convict knows he's running out of time when the Supreme Court clerk, who is the first to see Rufus' appeal, is murdered. Sprung from prison by his brother, Rufus must now elude capture long enough to expose a shocking cover-up and save his own life.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:

Jack Reacher, the hulking ex-soldier readers will remember from Child's first two thrillers, Die Trying and Killing Floor, can kill with his bare hands, and sports chest muscles thick enough to stop bullets. He's actually a dynamo of a character, wily in an innocent sort of way, and the anchor to one of the best new series in thriller fiction. Here, Reacher is incognito, living the life of a drifter and digging swimming pools in Key West.

When a PI from New York comes looking for him, and shortly afterwards turns up dead with his fingertips sliced off, Reacher flies north and discovers that the instigator of the search is Leon Garber, his former army commanding officer. But Garber has died the day before Reacher arrives. As Reacher finds out from Jodie Jacob, Garner's beautiful attorney daughter, Garber was helping an elderly couple to locate their son, who supposedly died in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War. The military won't confirm the death, however, or even classify the soldier as missing in action. Pursuing the search together, Reacher and Jacob narrowly escape murder attempts by a pair of dark-suited thugs who work for an evil corporate loan shark named "Hook" Hobie, who has a hideously disfigured face and a metal hook for a right hand. Hobie is harboring a terrible secret linking him to the couple's vanished son, and he'll kill anyone who tries to discover his diabolical past.

A showdown between the two men is inevitable, and when it happens, it's a beaut — almost as good as Child's skillfully laid surprise ending and the crisp and original dialogue throughout. Reacher is a complex, contemplative brute whose aversion to social and material entanglements entail very peculiar habits and ideas. He never cleans his clothes, preferring to buy new ones (going to a dry cleaner implies a commitment to return); and he's spellbinding whether kicking in doors or just kicking around a thought in his brain.

LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW:

A prospector discovers the treasure of his lifetime and takes bullets in the back for his effort. With his dying breath, he gives a journal to innocent bystander Tom Broadbent (the hero of Preston's previous standalone, The Codex) and asks Tom to deliver the information to his daughter. The prospector's killer, of course, wants the ledger, so now Tom and his wife are in mortal danger.

Why is the journal so valuable? It contains information leading to the fossilized remains of a complete Tyrannosaurus rex, a scientific discovery worth millions and a lifetime of accolades to the finder. In addition, a mysterious black ops agency wants the skeleton to hide a deadly secret originally discovered on the moon over 30 years ago by the crew of Apollo 17.

The truth will shake the foundation of paleontology to its core. Preston's exhilarating and absorbing science-based effort will thrill readers from the first page to the last. Michael Crichton wishes he could write half as well; for all fiction collections.-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.I. Copyright 2005 Reed

SYNOPSIS:

Ever felt like the last item left on the clearance rack?

As a successful patent attorney, Ashley Stockingdale has all the makings of a perfect catch - the looks, the brains, even a convertible. But at 31, she's beginning to wonder if she's been passed over for good.

Deciding to adopt a new attitude, Ashley suddenly becomes the romantic interest of three men within a matter of days. While her heart enjoys turning the tables on the dating game, the rest of her previously predictable world is being turned upside down. Is it more than Ashley can handle? Or is it exactly what she wants?

Award-winning author Kristin Billerbeck combines comedy with spunk to create a memorable story in What a Girl Wants--an all-too-realistic picture of a single girl's search for being content with who she is...with or without a man.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

He cemented his reputation with the blockbuster Total Control and now David Baldacci brings us another thriller that grabs hold and doesn't let go. It's the story of a rags-to-riches heroine. LuAnn Tyler is tough and smart, but she's plunged into a realm of corruption that will make readers think twice the next time they buy a lottery ticket.

	SYNOPSIS: In The 13th Juror, Dismas Hardy, lawyer/investigator, undertakes the defense of Jennifer Witt, accused of murdering her husband and their eight-year-old son as well as her first husband, who had died nine years earlier from an apparent drug overdose. While preparing his case, Hardy learns that both of Jennifer's husbands had physically abused her. But Jennifer refuses to allow a defense that presumes her guilt. She is not guilty, she claims. Hardy is now driven to seek an alternative truth a jury can believe. As the trial progresses, the complex truth itself begins to change, to bend, to fade in and out of focus as the clock keeps ticking on Jennifer's fate, until there seems only one person left to convince, and she is "the 13th juror" - the judge. The 13th Juror is a stunning and suspenseful novel of moral ambiguity, of good intentions, bad judgements and the tortuous path to ultimate justice.

	FROM THE PUBLISHER: Can the President of the United States get away with murder? The fictional answer to this question has set the literary world on fire and transformed David Baldacci into a household name and overnight success. Going beyond the classic works of John Grisham and Robert Ludlum, Absolute Power combines the highest levels of political intrigue with big-money law, cutting-edge forensics, and the riveting search for a truth hidden within the power of the Oval Office.

	SYNOPSIS: The Senate Majority leader brazenly assassinated in the nation's capital. A high-rise apartment complex brought down by a suicide bomber. The most feared terrorist network aided by the most surprising--and deadly--of enemies. A dangerous new world needs a whole new set of players. Welcome to The American.In this powerful debut thriller from one of the freshest new voices in international suspense, Andrew Britton has crafted a bold novel that crackles with a high-stakes, post-9/11 urgency and introduces maverick CIA agent Ryan Kealy.

	From the Publisher The New York Museum of Natural History receives their pilfered gem collection back...ground down to dust. Diogenes, the psychotic killer who stole them in Dance of Death, is throwing down the gauntlet to both the city and to his brother, FBI Agent Pendergast, who is currently incarcerated in a maximum security prison. To quell the PR nightmare of the gem fiasco, the museum decides to reopen the Tomb of Senef. An astounding Egyptian temple, it was a popular museum exhibit until the 1930s, when it was quietly closed. But when the tomb is unsealed in preparation for its gala reopening, the killings--and whispers of an ancient curse--begin again. And the catastrophic opening itself sets the stage for the final battle between the two brothers: an epic clash from which only one will emerge alive.

	KIRKUS REVIEWS: In this thrilling, rather poignant sequel to Koontz's Odd Thomas (2003), the young psychic seeker visits a California monastery poised for attack by shadowy foes. Koontz marvelously sets the scene in the tight, heart-stopping first chapter: One December night, Odd Thomas, a 21-year-old hard-luck kid from Pico Mundo, Calif., now a guest of several months at St. Bartholomew's Abbey in the Sierra Nevada, follows some ghosts on a mission to Room 32 of the monastery's school for handicapped children. Called "bodachs," after evil spirits in British folklore, these horrifying protean spirits prefigure some kind of disaster to the children-and Odd, using the paranormal gift shared exclusively by the dog, Boo, has only a day or two at most to try to find out what the danger is and how to block it. Odd, tragically, lost the love of his life, Stormy, 16 months before, when she perished in a fire, and yet she now seems to be speaking through one of the paralyzed children, indicating to him who among them might know more about the imminent threat. Indeed, evidence points to Jacob, a retarded artist at the school, who renders in his drawings startlingly realistic depictions of a ghoulish, bony creature at the window that he calls the Neverwas. Meanwhile, Odd interviews numerous folks at the monastery, including a former New Jersey hit man for the Mafia, a world-renowned physicist who turned increasingly self-tortured and the inimitable Mother Superior, as steely as General George Patton. Terrific characterization and patient plotting mark Koontz's work, and this novel about the triumph of modesty over hubris proves exemplary on both counts. A work both exciting and engaging-and with its heart in theright place.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: It exists at the fringes of Washington, D.C., has no power, and consists solely of four eccentric and downtrodden members whom society has forgotten. Their simple goal is to find the "truth" behind their country's actions. One man leads this aging, ragtag crew. He has no known past and has taken the name "Oliver Stone." Day and night, Stone and his friends study wild conspiracy theories, current events, and the machinations of government, hoping to discover some truth that will hold America's leaders accountable to its citizens. Yet never in Stone's wildest nightmares could he imagine the conspiracy the Camel Club is about to uncover... After witnessing a shocking murder, the Club is slammed headfirst into a plot that threatens the very security of the nation, full of stunning twists, high-stakes intrigue, and global gamesmanship rocketing to the Oval Office and beyond. Soon the Club must join forces with veteran Secret Service agent Alex Ford, who becomes an unwilling participant in one of the most chilling spectacles to ever take place on American soil. It's an event that may well be the catalyst for the long-threatened Armageddon between two different worlds, and all that stands in the way of this apocalypse are five unexpected heroes.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: Everyone is celebrating St. Patrick's Day in New York City. But born into the heat and hatred of the Northern Ireland conflict, IRA man Brian Flynn has masterminded a brilliant act of terrorism - the seizure of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Among his hostages are the woman he once loved, and a former terrorist tamed peace activist. The cops face a perfectly planned, booby-trapped killing zone inside the church. The hostages face death. And Flynn faces his own demons in an electrifying duel of nerves, honor, and betrayal...

	SYNOPSIS: Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, joins forces once again with private detective Regan Reilly to solve a Christmas mystery. Last time in Deck the Halls, they had rescued Regan's kidnapped father. This time they must track down the beautiful ninety-foot tree that had been hijacked on its way to Rockefeller Center for the Christmas season. What they do not know is that a hole in the trunk of the tree contains the fortune in priceless gems that Packey Noonan, a scam artist just released from prison, had hidden there twelve years ago. What they do know is that this particular tree is irreplaceable. It has been chosen because it was in the forest near the Vermont home of Maria von Trapp, and the Christmas festival in Rockefeller Center is geared to the fortieth anniversary of the film The Sound of Music. The rumor is that Maria von Trapp loved to sing songs from the film under that tree.

	SYNOPSIS: While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses. Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.” Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties. From sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda’s children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antique store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers, Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: "The Emperor of Ocean Park is set in two privileged worlds: the upper crust African American society of the eastern seaboard - old families who summer on Martha's Vineyard - and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school. It tells the story of a complex family with a single, seductive link to the shadowlands of crime." "The Emperor of the title, Judge Oliver Garland, has just died, suddenly. A brilliant legal mind, conservative and famously controversial, Judge Garland made more enemies than friends. Many years before, he'd a earned a judge's highest prize: a Supreme Court nomination. But in a scene of bitter humiliation, televised across the country, his nomination collapsed in scandal. The humbling defeat became a private agony, one from which he never recovered." But now the judge's death raises more questions - and it seems to be leading to a second, even more terrible scandal. Could Oliver Garland have been murdered? He has left a strange message for his son Talcott, a professor of law at a great university, entrusting him with "the arrangements" - a mysterious puzzle that only Tal can unlock, and only by unearthing the ambiguities of his father's past. When another man is found dead, and then another, Talcott - wry, straight-arrow, almost too self-aware to be a man of action - must risk his career, his marriage, and even his life, following the clues his father left him.

	LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW: Coben has written another winner, guaranteed to keep readers awake all night. On the day of his mother's funeral, Will Klein discovers a photograph proving that his brother, Ken, is alive. Eleven years earlier, a young woman who was dating Ken was found strangled, and Ken's blood was found at the murder scene. Will never heard from Ken after that night, and his family and the police assumed that he was dead. While Will is contemplating this stunning revelation, his girlfriend, Sheila, vanishes under mysterious circumstances. Will's efforts to solve the disappearances of Sheila and Ken open a terrifying Pandora's box. Complex and unpredictable, this is even better than Coben's last novel, Tell No One. Highly recommended.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: What star quarterback has been spotted with a new flavor of arm candy? It's notorious bad boy Riley Nash, but his newest flame is the last person this reporter could imagine -- none other than Sophie Jordan, beautiful, buttoned-down co-owner of The Hot Zone, the industry's top sports management agency. What's behind this unlikely team? Some say it has to do with the sudden disappearance of superagent Spencer Atkins. Could there be a connection between the red-hot quarterback and the missing dealmaker? Or has the famous groupie magnet simply met his perfect match in cool, collected Sophie? Watch this space, because the resulting news is bound to be one Hot Item.

	SYNOPSIS: What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill? We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare. Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch’s wife and he’s named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn’t care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He’s confident that Mitch will find a way. If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He’s got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he’ll pay a lot more. He’ll pay anything. From its tense opening to its shattering climax, The Husband is a thriller that will hold you in its relentless grip for every twist, every shock, every revelation…until it lets you go, unmistakably changed. This is a Dean Koontz novel, after all. And there’s no other experience quite like it.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: Just seventy-two hours ago, Dirk Pitt was lying in the hot California sun with a beautiful woman, a Scotch-rocks in one hand, but an urgent call from Admiral James Sandecker, his commander at the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), brings Pitt out of the warm Pacific breezes and straight into a North Atlantic deep freeze. The reason: the discovery of a long-missing luxury yacht, en route to a secret White House rendezvous, frozen solid in a mil- lion-ton tombstone of ice. Tunneling his way into the core of the berg, Pitt comes upon a gruesome scene -- a crew of corpses, horribly incinerated at their posts -- but the vessel's price- less cargo, which could alter the balance of world power and put the threat of annihilation at America's doorstep, has vanished. This discovery is the springboard from which Clive Cussler -- The Grand Master of Adventure -- launches a compelling and powerful story that takes Dirk Pitt from the remote, uninhabited tundra of Iceland to the frigid abyss of the North Atlantic, determined to force his deadly, unseen opponent -- a multibillionaire in the business of playing God -- to make his next move. But first Pitt will have to penetrate the shroud of mystery concealing a titanic network of international financial intrigue -- and mass murder. Lives, nations, continents are at stake. And although his enemies may have the firepower as always, Dirk Pitt has the skill and the daring, the ruthlessness and resourcefulness to meet it. He also has Kirsti Fyrie, an Icelandic beauty whose twin brother died on the ice-encased yacht and who carries in her heart the secret that Pitt needs to destroy his opponents in this deadly game. Iceberg is classic Cussler.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: John Grisham's first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.

	LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW: This fiction debut from former lawyer Dugoni, author of the nonfiction The Cyanide Canary, displays few of the pitfalls commonly seen in a first novel. David Sloane is a San Francisco wrongful death attorney everyone either envies or hates. With his words and actions, he can manipulate a jury into doing anything he wants, and he hasn't lost a trial in 15 years. But his existence begins to unravel when, on the other side of the United States, a presidential adviser evidently takes his life. Days later, Sloane receives a mysterious package from the man. Suddenly, he finds himself the target of assassins who want the contents of the package and who also know that the adviser's death was no suicide. Sloane must use all of his courtroom powers of persuasion in the real world if he is to survive and shatter a conspiracy. This thriller is reminiscent of the early John Grisham.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: Jason Steadman is a thirty-year-old sales exec for a major electronics company in Boston. He’s witty and well-liked but, to the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks like Jason’s career has hit a ceiling. He lacks the one thing that could help him get ahead: the KILLER INSTINCT All that changes when Jason meets Kurt Semko, a former Special Forces officer just back from Iraq. Looking for a decent pitcher for the company softball team, Jason gets Kurt, who was once drafted by the majors, a job in Corporate Security. Soon, good things start to happen for Jason—and bad things start to happen to Jason’s rivals. Too late does Jason discover that Kurt has been paving his path to the top by the most efficient, devious means available. Now that his new best friend has become the most dangerous enemy imaginable, Jason stands to lose far more than his job...

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: Wanted: One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply. Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day. When the Xs marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: Get ready for a holiday season you'll never forget with three of today's most sensational writers who know what every woman wants for the holidays. You'll believe in Santa all over again with these seductive stories from: JENNIFER CRUSIE Mayhem ensues under the mistletoe as a determined shopper grabs the very last hot toy action figure off the shelf, only to find herself plunged into the middle of a real-life spy game--in the arms of a sexy secret agent. . . LORI FOSTER Two dedicated coworkers with a lot of secrets (and fantasies!) between them must plan a Christmas party side by side--and discover a love worth celebrating--in this steamy office romance. CARLY PHILLIPS A "mistletoe moment" begins when a no-nonsense lawyer intent on seducing her boss meets his twin instead--after giving him a scintillating kiss that leaves him begging for more. . .

	PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS: Twenty-five years ago, Rufus Harms was convicted of a murder he doesn't remember committing. When his memory is jogged by a letter from the army, he has a shocking realization: he never intended to kill anyone--he was coerced. From prison, Rufus files an appeal with the Supreme Court, unaware that the real killers are on to him. But the long-time convict knows he's running out of time when the Supreme Court clerk, who is the first to see Rufus' appeal, is murdered. Sprung from prison by his brother, Rufus must now elude capture long enough to expose a shocking cover-up and save his own life.

	PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: Jack Reacher, the hulking ex-soldier readers will remember from Child's first two thrillers, Die Trying and Killing Floor, can kill with his bare hands, and sports chest muscles thick enough to stop bullets. He's actually a dynamo of a character, wily in an innocent sort of way, and the anchor to one of the best new series in thriller fiction. Here, Reacher is incognito, living the life of a drifter and digging swimming pools in Key West. When a PI from New York comes looking for him, and shortly afterwards turns up dead with his fingertips sliced off, Reacher flies north and discovers that the instigator of the search is Leon Garber, his former army commanding officer. But Garber has died the day before Reacher arrives. As Reacher finds out from Jodie Jacob, Garner's beautiful attorney daughter, Garber was helping an elderly couple to locate their son, who supposedly died in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War. The military won't confirm the death, however, or even classify the soldier as missing in action. Pursuing the search together, Reacher and Jacob narrowly escape murder attempts by a pair of dark-suited thugs who work for an evil corporate loan shark named "Hook" Hobie, who has a hideously disfigured face and a metal hook for a right hand. Hobie is harboring a terrible secret linking him to the couple's vanished son, and he'll kill anyone who tries to discover his diabolical past. A showdown between the two men is inevitable, and when it happens, it's a beaut — almost as good as Child's skillfully laid surprise ending and the crisp and original dialogue throughout. Reacher is a complex, contemplative brute whose aversion to social and material entanglements entail very peculiar habits and ideas. He never cleans his clothes, preferring to buy new ones (going to a dry cleaner implies a commitment to return); and he's spellbinding whether kicking in doors or just kicking around a thought in his brain.


	LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW: A prospector discovers the treasure of his lifetime and takes bullets in the back for his effort. With his dying breath, he gives a journal to innocent bystander Tom Broadbent (the hero of Preston's previous standalone, The Codex) and asks Tom to deliver the information to his daughter. The prospector's killer, of course, wants the ledger, so now Tom and his wife are in mortal danger. Why is the journal so valuable? It contains information leading to the fossilized remains of a complete Tyrannosaurus rex, a scientific discovery worth millions and a lifetime of accolades to the finder. In addition, a mysterious black ops agency wants the skeleton to hide a deadly secret originally discovered on the moon over 30 years ago by the crew of Apollo 17. The truth will shake the foundation of paleontology to its core. Preston's exhilarating and absorbing science-based effort will thrill readers from the first page to the last. Michael Crichton wishes he could write half as well; for all fiction collections.-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.I. Copyright 2005 Reed

	SYNOPSIS: Ever felt like the last item left on the clearance rack? As a successful patent attorney, Ashley Stockingdale has all the makings of a perfect catch - the looks, the brains, even a convertible. But at 31, she's beginning to wonder if she's been passed over for good. Deciding to adopt a new attitude, Ashley suddenly becomes the romantic interest of three men within a matter of days. While her heart enjoys turning the tables on the dating game, the rest of her previously predictable world is being turned upside down. Is it more than Ashley can handle? Or is it exactly what she wants? Award-winning author Kristin Billerbeck combines comedy with spunk to create a memorable story in What a Girl Wants--an all-too-realistic picture of a single girl's search for being content with who she is...with or without a man.

	FROM THE PUBLISHER: He cemented his reputation with the blockbuster Total Control and now David Baldacci brings us another thriller that grabs hold and doesn't let go. It's the story of a rags-to-riches heroine. LuAnn Tyler is tough and smart, but she's plunged into a realm of corruption that will make readers think twice the next time they buy a lottery ticket.