April's Big Names

On to another month and the publishing business is picking up. There are quite a few big name authors who are coming out with titles this month.

David Baldacci comes out with Memory Man on April 21st. This seems to be the beginning of a new series for Baldacci. Adam Decker is a football player who sustained a head injury and now, remembers everything. Almost 20 years later, as a police detective, he comes home to find his world destroyed and his wife and daughter murdered. The scene, which he is unable to forget, causes him to leave his job, lose his home, and basically live on the streets. When someone goes to the police and confesses to the killing and a horrific event takes place, Decker is called back in to find the perpetrators.

Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors. Her titles aren't suspenseful or thrilling but quiet truths. This one, The Dream Lover, comes out on April 7th. Unlike her others, this is a fictional retelling of the life of George Sand, the famous, unconventional French novelist. It is just different enough to perhaps gain her some more fans or perhaps not ..... reviewers are going both ways.

Greg Iles' last novel, Natchez Burning, was extremely successful. He comes out with another title featuring Penn Cage. In the first work, Cage and his fiancee survived an attack by a secret KKK-like sect. In this title, The Bone Tree (out also on April 21st), he finds that the real leader is the chief of the state police's Criminal Investigations Bureau. Sounds like something Cage would have trouble accepting, especially since his father is on the run after being accused of murder. Most strongly suggest reading Natchez Burning first, both hefty volumes but worth the effort.

Who can resist the next Iris Johansen. Your Next Breath comes out on April 28th. This is the 4th in the Catherine Ling series. Ling's son Luke was kidnapped when he was two years old. Now, 9 years later, he is suddenly returned. As she attempts to rebuild her relationship with Luck, she finds that many of her closest associates are being picked off, one by one. Is Luke in danger too? Ling has to find out who is doing this.

Lisa Scottoline has Every Fifteen Minutes coming out on April 14th. This is a stand-alone which features Dr. Eric Parrish who is the Chief of the Psychiatric Unit of a major hospital. He is going through a messy divorce and trying to be the single father of his 7 year old daughter. He thinks though that at least things at work are going well until they start crumbling around him. He is charged with sexual harassment and of acting inappropriately with a patient. He has a 17 year old patient with OCD who has disappeared after it is discovered that a girl has been murdered. Parrish needs to find out who is behind all these things and makes some strange decisions. I love Scottoline, her plots always surprise me.

Stuart Woods has Hot Pursuit coming out on April 7th. This is the 33rd in the Stone Barrington series. These are always fun reads. Barrington goes to pick up his plane, a Citation M2 and discovers the pilot who is delivering it is an attractive young lady who is moving to NY. Stone and she start seeing each other but unfortunately, he ex criminal boyfriend keeps popping up. Trouble is also brewing on the international stage. Stone just has to help.

Next week, I will look at some 'not quite as big' name authors. Hope you find something to read from those above.