I am going to finish up January titles before I take off until the new year. Perhaps I can do some reading and come back with some more possibilities for you.
I am going to start out with a strange but delightful book by Emma Hooper. Hooper was written other things (nonfiction, short stories, poetry, etc) but Etta and Otto and Russell and James is her debut novel. It arrives on January 20th. Etta is an 82 year old woman who has begun to forget things. She lives with her husband Otto on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. Otto has an old friend who is their next door neighbor, Russell. And James is a talking coyote. See, I told you it was strange. Emma has never seen the ocean and decides to walk the 2000 miles to see it. Oscar stays home and writes her letters he never mails. I found it delightful because it is really about their lives. One review said "This is a beautiful story with threads that weave together past and present as one, not unlike the way Etta experiences time."
This next book I had to buy because ..... well, because of the title and subject matter. Mobile Library by David Whitehouse is also out on January 20th. The story is about 12 year old Bobby Musku. Bobby is bullied at school and abused at home. His mother has left. His best friend is tragically injured. Bobby befriends a bullied neighborhood girl who had special needs. Her mother cleaned and took care of the mobile library. When the mother loses her job and Bobby is badly beaten by his father - they take off across England in the mobile library. A book that makes you redefine the meaning of family and one that stays with you after you close the cover.
OK - one more quirky book and then I will go back to bigger name authors, I promise. Brooke Davis has Lost and Found coming on January 22nd. Davis is an Australian author who wrote a PhD dissertation on grief and this eventually became the result. Basically it is about a 7 year old girl, Millie, whose father died and whose mother abandons her in a department store. She is assisted in her search for her mother by Karl, a nursing home escapee and Agatha, a reclusive bitter woman in her seventies. The three of them form a search party of sorts but it is more about death, love, companionship and dealing with grief. Highly reviewed in Australia.
Breaking Creed by Alex Kava comes out on January 27th. This title is advertised as a new series with Ryder Creed. Creed, however, was introduced in Kava's 11th Maggie O'Dell title and O'Dell is in this one too. Regardless, Creed is a former Marine who trains dogs to be search and rescue or drug dogs. Creed is searching a vessel when they discover not drugs but humans. Creed helps a 14 year old girl escape who reminds him of his sister. She happened to be a mule for a drug cartel. Maggie O'Dell is investigating a series of murders when she uncovers a hit list with Creed's name on it. Is it too late?
Jayne Ann Krentz has Trust No One coming out on January 6th. Grace Elland is an assistant to a motivational speaker who she discovers dead in his bed. Something about the murder brings back bad memories of her past and she retreats to home. After an awkward blind date with Julius Arkwright, she discovers she is being stalked and she has to rely on Arkwright, who is an ex-marine. Can they find the person after Grace before that person manages to entrap her?
Lastly, No Fortunate Son by Brad Taylor comes out on Dec 30th. This is the 7th in the Pike Logan series. Logan and his partner, Jennifer Cahill, have been fired from the top secret counter terrorist unit, Taskforce, much to their shock and dismay. Then their former commander calls them with a request to find his missing niece. While investigating, they discover that there has been a series of kidnappings of high US officials children. The terrorists are threatening to kill the hostages one by one unless they counter terrorist actions. Who better than Logan to find the bad guys?
Enjoy the holiday season. I will be back in January.
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