Black Horizon

James Grippando (Get this book)
Bestseller Grippando draws inspiration from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill for his fantastic 11th Jack Swyteck novel. Criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck and his new wife, FBI agent Andie Henning, cut short their honeymoon in the Florida Keys after an explosion on Scarborough 8, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, results in a massive crude oil spill. Finely crafted dialogue and a realistic yet nuanced hero make this thriller a standout.--Publisher's Weekly

House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World's Most Powerful Address

Michael Gross (Get this book)
Fifteen Central Park West is the New Gilded Age address of a new generation of moguls enjoying the costliest real estate in an enclave of international wealth from the worlds of finance, technology, information, and entertainment. Gross, chronicler of the wealthy in 740 Park (2005) and Unreal Estate (2011), looks beyond the list of notable tenants (Sting, Denzel Washington, top executives from Goldman Sachs, Google, and Yahoo) to explore the changes in the architectural and social landscape of elite Manhattan. Drawing on interviews with real-estate titans and power brokers, Gross provides a deliciously detailed and completely engaging look at how the 0.1 percent live in one building.--Booklist

The Black-Eyed Blonde

Benjamin Black (Get this book)
Man Booker Prize-winning novelist John Banville, already disguised as mystery writer Black, goes under even deeper cover to imitate Raymond Chandler in this flavorsome pastiche. Nobody knows better than Clare Cavendish that self-styled Hollywood agent Nico Peterson is dead. Clare saw her ex-lover killed by a hit-and-run driver outside the Cahuilla Club two months ago. But she hires peerless shamus Philip Marlowe to find him anyway since. The portrait of 1950s LA is less precise than Chandler's, but the aging, reflective Marlowe is appropriately sententious. A treat for fans, even if they end up throwing it across the room.--Kirkus

Two Sisters

Mary Hogan (Get this book)
YA novelist Hogan ventures into adult fiction with this novel about a family weighed down by festering secrets and resentments. Twenty-three-year-old Muriel Sullivant is a Broadway casting assistant in Manhattan, but she's still riddled by the same insecurities that plagued her as a child: namely, that her mother favored her older sister, Pia, over her and she'll never be the kind of sister that glamorous, elegant Pia wanted. Book clubs will find much to discuss in this fraught, fascinating family drama.--Booklist

A New Leaf: The End of Cannabis Prohibition

Alyson Martin and Nushin Rashidian (Get this book)
How, where and why the United States lost the "War on Drugs." The authors frame the book squarely in the recent passage of Colorado's Amendment 66 and Washington state's Initiative 502, both of which legalized the drug for recreational use during the 2012 elections, and the narrative opens on those victory ceremonies. Not as much fun as Cheech and Chong, but a piercing work of sociological reportage.--Kirkus

Gemini

Carol Cassella (Get this book)
In a new mystery from Cassella, the lives of a doctor and her critically injured patient intertwine in unexpected ways. When the unconscious patient is brought into Dr. Charlotte's intensive care unit, very few facts are known. The apparent victim of a hit-and-run along a rural Washington road, "Jane Doe" lapsed into a coma after emergency surgery and was airlifted to Charlotte's hospital in Seattle. No family member has come forward to identify or make decisions for this Jane, and the police have no clues. Readers may well overlook Cassella's frequently interjected bromides about love ("Is it a room inside your soul that opens when your lover enters?") since this engaging medical mystery makes far more compelling points about economics and sociology.--Kirkus

Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance

Julia Angwin (Get this book)
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist describes today's world of indiscriminate surveillance and tries to evade it. Angwin, who spent years covering privacy issues for the Wall Street Journal, draws on conversations with researchers, hackers and IT experts, surveying the modern dragnet tracking made possible by massive computing power, smaller devices and cheap storage of data. Such data sweeps, including increased police surveillance, gathering of information by private companies, and federal interceptions of phone calls and Internet traffic, constitute "a new type of surveillance: suspicionless, computerized, impersonal, and vast in scope." A solid work for both privacy freaks and anyone seeking tips on such matters as how to strengthen passwords.--Kirkus

Watching You

Michael Robotham (Get this book)
Aussie thriller master Robotham starts with a touch readers have seen before. Every person who does wrong by the hero, therapist Joe O'Loughlin, has something awful happen to them, and all Joe knows is that he didn't do it. Meanwhile, Marnie Logan could use help. Abandoned by her husband, raising two children, and behind in the rent, she joins an escort service. Revelations increase rather than release tension until the last page delivers the final chill. It will be a long time before memories of this one retreat back into the shadows.--Booklist

Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (Get this book)
Plato returns to 21st-century America in this witty, inventive, genre-bending work by MacArthur Fellow Goldstein. As the author imagines him, Plato is an intense, curious visitor from ancient Greece who is touring the country to promote his famous tract, The Republic. He lands first in Mountain View, Calif., where he is scheduled to speak to the staff of Google but gets waylaid by an employee who engages him in a conversation about truth, beauty, goodness and justice. Goldstein's philosophical background serves her impressively in this reconsideration of Plato's work, and her talent as a fiction writer animates her lively cast of characters: the arrogant, leering scientist in charge of a neurological research lab; the psycho-babbling advice columnist; the egotistical cable news interviewer. Goldstein's bright, ingenious philosophical romp makes Plato not only relevant to our times, but palpably alive.--Kirkus

The Weight of Blood

Laura McHugh (Get this book)
In this clever, multilayered debut, McHugh deftly explores the past of an Ozark Mountain family with plenty to hide and the ruthlessness to keep their secrets hidden. Seventeen-year-old Lucy Dane, from Henbane, Mo., is grieving for her murdered friend, Cheri, and her mother, Lila, who vanished soon after Lucy was born. Determined to solve both mysteries, Lucy never realizes just how close the answers might lie. This is an outstanding first novel, replete with suspense, crisp dialogue, and vivid Ozarks color and atmosphere.--Publisher's Weekly

The Antidote: Inside the World of New Pharma

Barry Werth (Get this book)
This follow-up to the author's book about upstart Vertex Pharmaceuticals details the firm's transition from boutique creative group to profitable prescription drug maker. Business and science writer Werth offers a blow-by-blow account of visionary Harvard chemist Joshua Boger's struggle to create a pace-setting drug company to develop breakthrough drugs for serious diseases. Attracted by Vertex's seemingly quixotic quest to put patients first in an industry dominated by profits and Wall Street, the author once again obtained unusual access to company scientists and officers and followed their passion and work as they shepherded their first drugs through discovery, development and introduction to the marketplace. A revealing, readable book about "some of competitive capitalism's most complicated science and most cutthroat marketing maneuvers.--Kirkus

The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World

Zachary Karabell (Get this book)
Our leaders regularly agonize over unemployment figures, the consumer price index, gross national product and the balance of trade. These and other leading indicators are important but also overrated, writes journalist and Reuters "Edgy Optimist" columnist Karabell in this lucid measurement of how the United States is faring. Readers of this intelligent introduction to iconic economic indices will agree that Karabell makes an excellent case.--Kirkus

The Physics of War: From Arrows to Atoms

Barry Parker (Get this book)
This breezy but intelligent introduction to the physics of war covers weapons from ancient times to today's missiles and H-bombs. Besides weapons, Parker describes devices helpful to making war, from clocks to the telegraph, radio, radar, lasers, and computers. The accompanying military history seems to come from the History Channel but Parker takes his physics seriously. Readers who pay attention, study the diagrams, and do not ignore the simple equations will learn a great deal of the science of war.--Publisher's Weekly

Like a Mighty Army

David Weber (Get this book)
Weber's seventh far-future Safehold novel is a complex and fascinating epic about change, identity, and the nature of faith. The empire of Charis and its allies are valiantly attempting to end the corrupt Church of God Awaiting's centuries-long planetary stranglehold on all innovation. Unfortunately, even Merlin Athrawes, their swashbuckling robot ally from a more scientifically advanced past, hasn't been able to save the Charisian side from heavy losses over a brutal winter campaign. Weber is refreshingly interested in the civilian and social consequences of revolution. Weber's sensitive portrayal of his transgender robot hero's identity issues takes new and fascinating turns, and a colorful assortment of saints and schemers fill out the cast.--Publisher's Weekly

Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes

Tom Rath (Get this book)
Since best-selling motivational author Rath was diagnosed at 16 with a rare disease, he has lived with the threat of tumors. He learned how everyday decisions affected the length and quality of his life and shares the results of his voracious reading and research. His essential prescription for a longer and healthier life is, eat right, move more, sleep better. Each chapter focuses on three findings and ideas concerning those three basic ingredients of a good day. Known for his work on enhancing potential in organizations, Rath has turned his talent to how the little decisions about mundane things, from what you eat to how you sleep, can have a significant impact on your life.--Booklist

The Free

Willy Vlautin (Get this book)
Vlautin's fourth novel is about damaged people caring for each other across a spectrum of society. Vlautin creates a community of survivors through a handful of well-wrought characters, each linked to the others through the attempted suicide by Leroy Kervin, a disabled Iraq war veteran who seizes a moment of clarity to escape his irreparable life. "The Free" of the novel's title appear in a Cormac McCarthy-like vision of a demonic wasteland. Vlautin writes cleanly, beautifully about the people who hang on despite odds. This is a fine novel, grim but bounded by courage and kindliness.--Kirkus

The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man

Luke Harding (Get this book)
A newsworthy, must-read book about what prompted Edward Snowden to blow the whistle on his former employer, the National Security Agency, and what likely awaits him for having done so. In June 2013, the Guardian published the first of the revelations of the "Snowden file"--a huge trove of data, "thousands of documents and millions of words"--put in its lap by way of columnist Glenn Greenwald. Guardian foreign correspondent Harding (co-author: WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, 2011, etc.) re-creates the curious trail that led Snowden to Greenwald and that led him to leak those documents in the first place. Whether you view Snowden's act as patriotic or treasonous, this fast-paced, densely detailed book is the narrative of first resort.--Kirkus

The Martian

Andy Weir (Get this book)
Weir combines the heart-stopping with the humorous in this brilliant debut novel about an astronaut stranded on Mars. When its mission is scrubbed as a result of a powerful windstorm, the team of "Ares 3" move from their habitat to the ascent vehicle. In transit, Mark Watney's spacesuit is punctured by debris, knocking him unconscious and disabling the suit's biosign monitor so that he appears to be dead. When he regains consciousness, Mark realizes that his crew has left him. By placing a nail-biting life-and-death situation on Mars and adding a snarky and wise-cracking nerdy hero, Weir has created the perfect mix of action and space adventure. Mark is hilarious, which makes the terror of marooned death on Mars not just bearable but downright fun.--Library Journal

Uprising: A New Age Is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter

Sally Armstrong (Get this book)
A Canadian journalist and human rights activist chronicles the acts of empowerment undertaken by women and girls across the globe against inequities and acts of brutality, which have been perpetrated against them for decades. After 25 years of reporting on the dehumanizing conditions confronting females around the world, Armstrong sensed a shift in attitudes concerning their rights. "Until recently," she writes, "the oppression and abuse and second-class citizenship that we endured were seen as women's immutable lot in life, dictated by culture and religion. Women of all persuasions will appreciate Armstrong's in-depth, passionate exploration of this important topic.--Kirkus

The Traitor's Wife: The Woman Behind Benedict Arnold and the Plan to Betray America

Allison Pataki (Get this book)
A young lady's maid is witness to Benedict Arnold and his wife's treachery in this fictional account set during the American War for Independence. In a well-balanced narrative that interweaves historical detail with the lives of servant Clara Bell and her employers, Peggy Shippen Arnold and her husband, Pataki successfully captures an infamous act in American history. Those familiar with U.S. history may already know how Arnold's saga unfurls, but the author's interpretation of events offers fresh perspective, plenty of intrigue and a host of interesting, multidimensional characters. Benedict Arnold isn't a name that's popular among patriotic Americans, but Pataki delivers an admirable book focused on the betrayal.--Kirkus

Alena

Rachel Pastan (Get this book)
Hitchcockian suspense infiltrates the cloistered contemporary art scene in Pastan's riveting third novel. On her first trip to the Venice Biennale, the unnamed narrator, a naive young curator, is taken under the wing of a wealthy, well-bred man named Bernard Augustin, who offers her the job of a lifetime at the Nauquasset, his jewel-box museum on Cape Cod, Mass. She seizes the opportunity, but not without some hesitation: all she knows about "the Nauk, " as it's called, is that its previous curator, an enigmatic Russian beauty named Alena, disappeared two years ago under mysterious circumstances, and that her disappearance broke Bernard's heart. Flush with erotic intrigues and insights into real, working artists, Pastan has written a smart, chilling thriller that leaves readers thoroughly spooked. Publisher's Weekly

Piero's Light: In Search of Piero Della Francesca: A Renaissance Painter and the Revolution in Art, Science, and Religion

Larry Witham (Get this book)
Cultural historian Witham returns with a wide-ranging account of the life, work and legacy of Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca (1412-1492). The author writes that he was drawn to Piero because of the interplay of art, religion and science in his work, and throughout this illuminating treatment, he unwinds and examines each of these cultural threads. First, Witham examines Piero's life, a life, the author admits, whose details are hard to come by. The author also pauses periodically to describe and appreciate Piero's key artistic works--The Baptism of Christ, The Flagellation of Christ and others--as well as his various publications, including Abacus Treatise and On Perspective for Painting. A thorough account of an actual "Renaissance man"--in every way.--Kirkus

The Good Luck of Right Now

Matthew Quick (Get this book)
Quirky, feel-good fiction from the author of The Silver Linings Playbook. Bartholomew Neil describes himself as having above-average intelligence, though it's clear his intelligence is unconventional and idiosyncratic. Neil tells his story in a series of letters he writes to Richard Gere, a figure much admired by Neil's mother. A whimsical, clever narrative.--Kirkus

My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind

Scott Stossel (Get this book)
In this captivating and intimate book, the editor of the Atlantic spares no detail about his lifelong struggle with anxiety and contextualizes his personal experience within the history of anxiety's perception and treatment. Stossel, whose assorted phobias and neuroses began to manifest when he was a toddler, provides an exceptionally relatable and frequently hilarious account of a modern sufferer. Throughout, the author's beautiful prose and careful research combine to make this book informative, thoughtful and fun to read. Powerful, eye-opening and funny. Pitch-perfect in his storytelling, Stossel reminds us that, in many important ways, to be anxious is to be human.--Kirkus

One more thing: stories and other stories

B.J. Novak (Get this book)
An adept zeitgeist miner, Novak excels at topsy-turvy improvisations on a dizzying array of subjects, from Aesop's fables to tabloid Elvis to our oracular enthrallment to the stock market. A master of cringe, Novak imagines a blind date with a warlord, a Comedy Central TV roast of Nelson Mandela, and a mortifying misunderstanding between mega-best-selling novelist John Grisham and his new editor. Writing with zing and humor in the spirit of Woody Allen and Steve Martin, Novak also ventures into the realm of George Saunders and David Foster Wallace. Baseline clever and fresh, at best spectacularly perceptive, and always commanding, Novak's ingeniously ambushing stories of longing, fear, pretension, and confusion reveal the quintessential absurdities and transcendent beauty of our catch-as-catch-can lives.--Booklist

The Contest of the Century: The New Era of Competition with China--And How America Can Win

Geoff Dyer (Get this book)
After decades of dominance in world geopolitics, the U.S. is now facing a growing rivalry with China that will be the major factor in world politics in the coming decades. But that rivalry is not likely to be as intense and bitter as the Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union. Instead, it will be characterized by a constant balancing of power and shifting coalitions, according to Dyer, economics correspondent for the Financial Times. Dyer focuses on three phenomena: the rising Chinese challenge to U.S. power in military might in Asia, nationalist policies on the world stage, and the challenge to the U.S. dollar by the strengthening Chinese currency. A thoughtful, insightful look at changing geopolitics.--Booklist