Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis

Tim Townsend (Get this book)
In his first book, Townsend, a writer and editor with the Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project, examines World War II's most unusual ministry: the pastoring of the architects of the Third Reich. On Nov. 20, 1945, the Allies commenced the Nuremberg Trials, an unprecedented proceeding that charged Hitler's top lieutenants--Goering, Kesselring et al.--with conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity. Townsend authoritatively addresses the excruciating moral and religious issues confronting wartime chaplains and deftly explains the role of a spiritual adviser in bringing the wrongdoer, even one seemingly beyond redemption, back to "a place of restoration." Gerecke's story is only a footnote to "the trial of the century," but Townsend thoroughly understands and skillfully handles the rich, potentially explosive material it contains.--Kirkus

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