‘The Ice Coven’ is Max Seeck’s new novel. Photo: amazon
Max Seeck devotes his time to writing professionally. An avid reader of Nordic noir for personal pleasure, he listens to film scores as he writes. His accolades include the Finnish Whodunit Society’s Debut Thriller of the Year Award 2016. He is The New York Times’ bestselling author of “The Witch Hunter” and has a background in sales and marketing and loves to promote his works. Investigator Jessica Niemi is in a race against time to find the link between a body with strange markings that has washed up on a frigid shore in Finland and two baffling disappearances in his terrifying new novel “The Ice Coven.” It will be released on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. (amazon, 2021)
“The Ice Coven” – Six months have passed since Jessica’s encounter with the mysterious serial-killing coven of witches and the death of her mentor. Her nightmares about her mother and the witchcraft that undid her have only gotten worse, but she is doing what she can to stay focused. Her homicide squad, now under new leadership, has been given a murder case and a new series of disappearances to investigate. A young woman’s corpse has washed up on an icy beach, and two famous Instagram influencers have gone missing at the same time. The missing influencers and the murdered woman all have ties to a sinister cult. Jessica finds an eerie painting—of a lighthouse on a remote island—as she investigates, and under the picture is a gruesome poem detailing a murder. The nightmares about her mother suddenly seem all too real, making Jessica wonder if the dead woman might be trying to tell her something about the killings. And as Jessica works frantically to solve her latest case, her horrific past comes roaring back and threatens to destroy her.
‘The World Played Chess’ is Vincent Bianco’s new novel. Photo: amazon
Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series, which is set in Seattle and has sold more than seven million books worldwide. He is also the author of the Charles Jenkins espionage series and the David Sloane series of legal thrillers. He has also written several stand-alone books, including the novels “The 7th Canon” and “Damage Control;” The literary novel “The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell” was Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni won an AudioFile Earphones Award for narration. His nonfiction exposé “The Cyanide Canary,” was Washington Post’s best book of the year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Book Award for fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages. His new book “The World Played Chess: A Novel” is an emotionally arresting follow-up to “The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell.” (amazon, 2021)
“The World Played Chess: A Novel” – In 1979, Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. His only desire: collect a little beer money and enjoy his final summer before college. When he lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew working alongside two Vietnam vets, one suffering from PTSD, Vincent gets the education of a lifetime. Now forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer―Vincent’s last taste of innocence and first taste of real life―dramatically unfold in a novel about breaking away, shaping a life, and seeking one’s own destiny.
‘Constance’ is the new mind-bending thriller by Matthew FitzSimmons. Photo: amazon
Matthew FitzSimmons is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling Gibson Vaughn series, which includes “Origami Man,” “Debris Line,” “Cold Harbor,” ‘Poisonfeather,” and “The Short Drop.” Born in Illinois and raised in London, he now lives in Washington, DC, where he taught English literature and theater at a private high school for more than a decade. In his new mind-bending thriller “Constance,” a breakthrough in human cloning becomes one woman’s waking nightmare. (amazon, 2021)
“Constance” – In the near future, advances in medicine and quantum computing make human cloning a reality. For the wealthy, cheating death is the ultimate luxury. To anticloning militants, it is an abomination against nature. For young Constance “Con” D’Arcy, who was gifted her own clone by her late aunt, it is terrifying. After a routine monthly upload of her consciousness―stored for that inevitable transition―something goes wrong. When Con wakes up in the clinic, it is eighteen months later. Her recent memories are missing. Her original, she is told, is dead. If that is true, what does that make her? The secrets of Con’s disorienting new life are buried deep. So are those of how and why she died. To uncover the truth, Con is retracing the last days she can recall, crossing paths with a detective who is just as curious. On the run, she needs someone she can trust. Because only one thing has become clear: Con is being marked for murder―all over again.
‘Inhuman Trafficking: A Legal Thriller’ is the new novel by Mike Papantonio and Alan Russell, releasing October 5, 2021. Photo: amazon
Mike Papantonio is a senior partner of Levin Papantonio, one of the country’s largest plaintiffs’ law firms, and was one of the youngest inductees into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He has aggressively taken on Big Pharma, tobacco, weapon manufacturers, and the automobile industry, among other bastions of corporate greed, and uses his own cases as springboards for his novels. Papantonio is also a well-known media presence as host of America’s Lawyer and co-host of the syndicated radio show Ring of Fire. He is based in Pensacola, Florida. Alan Russell is the #1 bestselling author of seventeen mystery and suspense novels, including “Burning Man,” “Shame,” “St. Nick,” and “A Cold War.” Russell’s novels have been nominated for most of the major awards in crime fiction, and he has won a Lefty award for best comedic mystery, a USA Today Critics’ Choice Award, multiple San Diego Book Awards, and the Odin Award for Lifetime Achievement from the San Diego Writers/Editor Guild. They are co-authors in the upcoming new novel “Inhuman Trafficking: A Legal Thriller.” It will be released October 5 and is available for pre-order on amazon. (amazon, 2021)
“Inhuman Trafficking” – For Nick “Deke” Deketomis, going where angels fear to tread in waging legal battles has long been a way of life. As managing partner for one of the nation’s largest plaintiffs’ law firms, Deke has gone toe to toe with some of the largest corporations in the world. His firm specializes in the tough, even quixotic, cases that few lawyers would dare to take on. Like human trafficking. Deke’s target this time is Welcome Mat Hospitality, a firm known for its truck stops and lodging throughout the United States. What Welcome Mat does not advertise is the human trafficking—for sex work and slave labor—going on at many of its properties. For the sake of better profits, Welcome Mat’s ownership has turned a blind eye to this lucrative enterprise. As invested as Deke is in the case, though, it takes on even greater urgency when the past comes calling with word that his fifteen-year-old goddaughter, Lily Reyes, is missing. When Deke learns that Lily has fallen prey to a notorious trafficker, his personal and professional worlds converge. For his goddaughter to survive, Deke must prevail not only in the legal arena but outside of it. This is a fast-paced thriller in the tradition of John Grisham, Joseph Finder, and John Lescroart.
2021-10-05T11:48:00
days
hours minutes seconds
until
‘Inhuman Trafficking: A Legal Thriller’ release date
‘Babe in the Woods’ by Yvonne Wakefield will be released October 26, 2021. Photo: amazon
Yvonne Wakefield, also known as Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield, is an internationally exhibited artist and published author who lives and works from a home and studio on an Oregon-side shore of the Columbia River. Both of her books, “Suitcase Filled with Nails: Lesson Learned from Teaching Art in Kuwait,” and “Babe in the Woods: Building a Life One Log at a Time,” are available in print, digital and audio formats and have been the focus of film, television, and radio interviews across the country, including Rick Steves’ NPR program. They have also been reviewed in print and electronic media, and incorporated into college curricula. In 2018, Yours in Sisterhood, a documentary, premiering at the Berlineal, included an interview with Yvonne at her log cabin with filmmaker Irene Lusztig. “Babe in the Woods: Self Portrait” is the second book in her three-book series that chronicles her over four-decade-long relationship with her wilderness log cabin. “Babe in the Woods: Self Portrait” is releasing October 26, 2021. (Yvonne Wakefield, 2021)
The first book, “Babe in the Woods: Building a Life One Log at a Time” was recently re-released. The first edition received acclaim and outstanding reviews. In it, Wakefield strikes out on her own as an 18-year-old orphan, with a chainsaw and an axe, to build a log cabin in the Oregon woods. The second book in the series, “Babe in the Woods: Self Portrait,” follows Wakefield as an artist as she continues to learn to live with the uncertainties of the wilderness – such as experiences with bears – while independently building her second log structure and exercising her artistic skills. Over forty years later, both the cabin walls and the author show signs of weathering, but both remain rooted in a place of peace, quiet, beauty and repose.
Of her series, Yvonne says, “Whether it is one book or the entire series, it is for anyone who wants to read a story that is simply told about surviving the wilderness within and outside of oneself. I wrote the series because one book could not contain my over a four-decade-long relationship with this wilderness, and the cabin.”
Beyond her time in the woods, Yvonne delves into her younger years and life as an orphan. For most of her childhood, Yvonne floated about in a Catholic Middle-Class system. Detailing her ongoing sexual, physical, psychological and financial manipulation and abuse, she explores the important differences between caring and grooming that she was unable to differentiate as a child. Once Yvonne was able to build the cabin and reflect with her art, this distinction came to light. Follow Yvonne Wakefield in her triumph over adversity, and her experiences in the rawness of nature.
“Babe in the Woods: Self Portrait” by Yvonne Wakefield is available for pre-order on Amazon. ISBN: 978-1737459118 Price: $16.95 Publisher: Pepin Enterprises
‘The Bone Code’ is the new Temperance Brennan novel by Kathy Reichs. Photo: amazon
Kathy Reichs’s first novel “Déjà Dead,” published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Kathy was a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which is based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Kathy divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Montreal, Québec. Her new novel “The Bone Code” is Kathy’s twentieth entry in her series featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. This time around, Temperance’s examinations, fifteen years apart, of unidentified bodies ignite a terrifying series of events. (amazon, 2021)
“The Bone Code” – On the way to the hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many of the details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she travels to Montreal to gather evidence. Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh-eating contagion spreads. So focused is Tempe on identifying the container victims that, initially, she does not register how their murders and the pestilence may be related. But she does recognize one unsettling fact. Someone is protecting a dark secret—and willing to do anything to keep it hidden. An absorbing look at the sinister uses to which genetics can be put, and featuring a cascade of ever-more-shocking revelations, “The Bone Code” is Temperance Brennan’s most astonishing case yet—one that gives new meaning to today’s headlines.
‘The Girl in the Red Boots’ is the new book by Judith Ruskay Rabinor, PhD. Photo: amazon
Judith Ruskay Rabinor, PhD is a clinician, author, writing coach, speaker, and workshop leader. In addition to her New York City private psychotherapy practice, she offers remote consultations for writers, clinicians, and families. She has published dozens of articles for both the public and professionals and has authored two books, “A Starving Madness: Tales of Hunger, Hope and Healing” (Gurze Books, 2002) and “Befriending Your Ex After Divorce: Making Life Better for You, Your Ex and Yes, Your Ex!” (New Harbinger Publications, 2012). A sought-after speaker and workshop leader, Judy speaks at national and international mental health conferences and runs workshops at spas, colleges and universities, and retreat centers such as the Esalon Institute, California. Her new book “The Girl in the Red Boots: Making Peace with My Mother” weaves together tales from Rabinor’s psychotherapy practice and her life to help readers appreciate how painful childhood experiences can linger and leave emotional scars.
“The Girl in the Red Boots” begins with a Prologue where the author writes that one lesson she has learned from over forty years of specializing in mother-daughter relationships is that stories are excellent teachers. She hopes “the tales from my office and my life may help you untangle your stuck places and develop compassion for yourself and, possibly, for your mother.” While leading a seminar exploring the importance of the mother-daughter relationship, she is blindsided by a memory of a childhood trauma. As an eight year old girl, her mother tricked her by telling her that she was going to a birthday party but instead she ended up in the hospital having her tonsils removed. When she realizes that this trauma has haunted her for most of her life, she sets out to heal herself. She shares her personal journey from becoming a therapist with her own issues to eventually making peace with her mother and herself as well as stories from her psychotherapy practice. The book is divided into eight parts: Part One: Welcome to Womanhood, Part Two: The Secret, Part Three: Becoming a Therapist, Part Four: Love, Marriage, and Divorce, Part Five: Mother-Daughter Complications, Part Six: Making Peace, Part Seven: When “When” is Now, and Part Eight: Retelling Our Stories. Each chapter begins with an active imagination/guided-imagery exercise that introduces the topic and lays the ground work for the work to be done. At the end of the book, these exercises are listed together in an appendix to make them easier to access.
Therapists are usually taught not to talk about their own issues with their patients, but Judith Rabinor often shared her experiences with them in the hopes that by doing so, they might find common ground. This might seem unconventional to some, but it does help people realize that their troubles are more common than they think. In this case, she worked with mother-daughter clients and by helping them deal with their problems, she found that it is never too late to let go of her own trauma, hurt, and disappointments and learn compassion for her own mother. For readers, this memoir hits home because we all have disputes with our mothers and no mother-daughter relationship is perfect. It is not a ‘how to’ manual, but rather a series of life lessons the author learned the hard way. Her reflections are poetic sometimes: ‘A low-flying airplane flashed by, illuminating a grove of leafless maples trees swaying in the wind.’ Sometimes the flashbacks disrupt the time line, but for the most part, the narration is easy to follow, in part because she does not use complicated language or psychology terms. It is no wonder her clients trust her. “The Girl in the Red Boots” is a must-read poignant memoir about one woman’s journey from troubled little girl to an adult who learns to see her mother as a flawed but compassionate woman. It is recommended for readers who enjoy memoirs that entertain and help them grow as individuals.
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
‘Martita, I Remember You/Martita, te recuerdo’ is the new novel by Sandra Cisneros. Photo: amazon
Poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist and artist, Sandra Cisneros is the author of “Bad Boys,” “My Wicked Wicked Ways,” “Loose Woman,” “Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories,” “The House on Mango Street,” “Caramelo,” “Have You Seen Marie?” “Vintage Cisneros”—a compilation of her works— and “Bravo, Bruno.” Her most recent books are “A House of My Own: Stories from My Life,” which is illustrated with photographs, and “Puro Amor” in a dual-language edition translated by Liliana Valenzuela and featuring illustrations by the author. In her new book “Martita, I Remember You/Martita, te recuerdo: A Story in English and Spanish,” a long-forgotten letter sets off a charged encounter with the past. (amazon, 2021)
“Martita, I Remember You/Martita, te recuerdo” – As a young woman, Corina leaves her Mexican family in Chicago to pursue her dream of becoming a writer in the cafés of Paris. Instead, she spends her brief time in the City of Light running out of money and lining up with other immigrants to call home from a broken pay phone. But the months of befriending panhandling artists in the métro, sleeping on crowded floors, and dancing the tango at underground parties are given a lasting glow by her intense friendships with Martita and Paola. Over the years the three women disperse to three continents, falling out of touch and out of mind—until a rediscovered letter brings Corina’s days in Paris back with breathtaking immediacy. “Martita, I Remember You” is a rare bottle from Sandra Cisneros’s own special reserve, preserving the smoke and the sparkle of an exceptional year. Told with intimacy and searing tenderness, this tribute to the life-changing power of youthful friendship is Cisneros at her vintage best, in a beautiful dual-language edition.
‘These Toxic Things’ is the new thriller by Rachel Howzell Hall. Photo: amazon
Rachel Howzell Hall is the author of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize– and Lefty Award–nominated “And Now She’s Gone;” and the Anthony Award–, Lefty Award–, and International Thriller Writers Award–nominated “They All Fall Down.” She also writes the acclaimed Detective Elouise Norton series, including “Land of Shadows,” “Skies of Ash,” “Trail of Echoes,” and “City of Saviors.” Rachel is also the coauthor of “The Good Sister” with James Patterson, which was included in the New York Times bestseller The Family Lawyer.” She lives in Los Angeles. In her new book “These Toxic Things: A Thriller,” a dead woman’s cherished trinkets become pieces to a terrifying puzzle. (amazon, 2021)
“These Toxic Things” – Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs are not forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman’s last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d’art. A music box, a hair clip, a key chain―twelve mementos in all that must have meant so much to Nadia, who collected them on her flea market scavenges across the country. But these tokens mean a lot to someone else, too. Mickie has been receiving threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone. It is becoming a mystery Mickie is driven to solve. Who once owned these odd treasures? How did Nadia really come to possess them? Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past. One that might, Mickie fears, be inescapably entwined with her own.
‘Apples Never Fall’ by Liane Moriarty will be released September 14, 2021. Photo: amazon
Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of eight internationally best-selling novels: “Three Wishes,” “The Last Anniversary,” “What Alice Forgot,” “The Hypnotist’s Love Story,” “Nine Perfect Strangers,” and the number one New York Times bestsellers: “The Husband’s Secret,” “Big Little Lies,” and “Truly Madly Guilty.” Her books have been translated into over forty languages and sold more than 20 million copies. “Big Little Lies” and “Truly Madly Guilty” both debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list – the first time this was ever achieved by an Australian author. “Big Little Lies” was adapted into a multiple award-winning HBO series with a star-studded cast including Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. Hulu adapted “Nine Perfect Strangers” into a limited series starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy. Her new novel “Apples Never Fall” will be released September 14, 2021. It is a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest. (amazon, 2021)
“Apples Never Fall” – The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They are killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they have finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable? The four Delaney children―Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke―were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that is okay, now they are all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.
One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted. Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure―but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.
SA Examiner 