My Foray into Thriller & Suspense

I've never been one to browse in the Thriller or Suspense section of a bookstore but recently I've found myself drawn to several books within these genres due to particularly compelling reviews. In each case, after hearing a description of the book's plot I just had to find out how each one ended, which required me to read the complete book for myself.

One thing I discovered is that I don't think I'm going to ever become a regular thriller or suspense reader because they all seem to have endings that leave me frustrated and unsatisfied. It's as if the author knows the kind of ending the reader wishes for and goes out of their way to head in the opposite direction. Not that I'm opposed to surprise endings but, because I usually enjoy them, but the ones in these books just really frustrated me.

OK, this review is starting to get side tracked before I've even begun, so let's head back on course.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Amy Dunne goes missing on the day of her fifth wedding anniversary and her husband, Nick, is the number one suspect. Amy's diary paints the picture of a loving wife in a troubled marriage but Nick's narration doesn't quite match up.

It's hard to know who the reader should believe, Nick or Amy, which is part of what's so compelling about this book. Even though we are inside of Nick's head we still don't know everything that he's thinking. He's hiding something from us, but is it murder? But don't we have to believe Amy if we are reading her personal diary?

Halfway through the book a revelation is made that turns the story on its head and forces us to reevaluate everything that we've read so far. Until the very end I had no idea what to expect, and even then I was still surprised. 

I have to say that pf all three books, I disliked the ending of this one the most. Actually, I think I would go so far as to say that I hated it. It just seemed so wrong.  In the course of reading the book I came up with at least several acceptable scenarios that I hoped to find on the last page, none of which came to pass. But what did happen just bothered me so much that if I had a paper edition of this book I would have been strongly tempted to shred those last few pages. Maybe even rewrite the ending myself.


Alright now, moving on....

The Expats by Chris Pavone

A story about a housewife undercover spy? Sign me up! While I usually like my spy stories to be of the non-fiction variety I couldn't resist picking up a copy of this one as soon as I read a review of it. It sounded like a fun, suspense mystery that I would enjoy.


Kate Moore has been living a double-life that even her husband isn't aware of. She's done a good job of hiding the fact that after dropping off the kids at school each day she goes off to do super-secret, sometimes dangerous, spy stuff. But keeping so many secrets gets exhausting after a while, so when her husband announces that they are moving to Luxembourg, Kate isn't too disappointed to say goodbye to her life as a spy.

Learning how to be a housewife in a foreign country offers up a new set of challenges full of laundry, cooking and playdates. Slowly Kate begins adjusting, and even starts making new friends with some of the other expat wives. But a spy's instincts are hard to turn off so when some of these new friends begin acting suspiciously Kate can't help wondering if there is something strange going on that she should be aware of, and if it might have to do with a secret from her past that she's done her best to erase.

Even Kate's husband isn't immune from her suspicions, and now with all this extra time on her hands Kate's wondering what exactly it is that her husband does all day. Suddenly this housewife has a lot of suspicious activity to investigate and the answers she discovers are not at all what she had expected to find.

It's actually been a while since I read this book so I can't quite remember all of my impressions of it, so I will only be able to offer those few that really stayed with me.

Overall I had enjoyed the story, but there were several things about it that frustrated me. First, there was the matter of Kate's husband. I wanted to be convinced that he was worth the love and dedication that Kate felt towards him, as well as the sacrifice of leaving a job that she loved, but this never comes across because his character was so undeveloped.

Second, the story jumps around quite a bit to different time periods, some from before the move, some from after (which is when most of the story takes place) and some from Kate's spy missions. Sometimes these transitions were not made very smoothly and I was confused as to when some events were taking place.

And finally, I remember being somewhat let down by events towards the end, but I can't quite remember why. I don't think I disliked the ending but not everything came together in a way that really made sense to me. The book was a lot more lighthearted than I had expected it to be, which I was happy with, but if you go in to it anticipating a thriller then you might be disappointed. 

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Of all the three books, Defending Jacob was the one that required me to step the furthest out of my reading comfort zone, because not only is this a mystery and a thriller but it also involves lawyers and legal stuff.

But, once again, a review pulled me into a book I would never have otherwise picked up, forcing me to read it just so I could discover how the story ends.

Although my only intention was to find out if Jacob was guilty or not I soon realized that this wasn't actually what the story was about. This wasn't a mystery which would, after a series of clever clues, provide me with the answer that I so badly wanted. Instead, Defending Jacob turned out to be an exploration of the parent- child relationship, questioning how well it is that parents really know their children and how far into the deep end will a parent go for their child.

When a small New England town is shaken by the murder of a fourteen-year old boy, Assistant D.A, Andy Barber, takes on the case himself, determined to hunt down the killer. But slowly the evidence begins to point to a single suspect, Andy's own son, Jacob. Soon Andy is taken off the case and is forced, instead, to stand on the other side of the courtroom, defending his son.

I imagine that any parent reading this book is certain to put themselves in Andy's place and wonder what they would do in a similar situation. As we get to know Jacob through the eyes of his friends and classmates we wonder how it is that his parents could have overlooked so many of his strange behaviors. We would certainly notice if our own kids did such strange things, wouldn't we?

Eventually even Laurie, Jacob's mother, begins to voice her own doubts about Jacob, and Andy finds himself having to defend his son to his own wife as well.

As seems to be common with these type of books, there is no nicely wrapped up conclusion, providing us with a simple yes or no answer to the burning question.  But I wasn't necessarily dissatisfied with the way the book ended because I did feel like I got an answer, it was just the story itself that didn't play out in the manner I had expected to, which wasn't neccessary a bad thing.

So, in conclusion, I had an interesting time stepping over the genre line for a bit but it's with some relief that I'm going to retreat back to my fantasy books now. 
I think that one of the reasons that I enjoy reading fantasy so much is that I know that at the end of the adventure I'll be rewarded with a victorious hero (or heroine) and a satisfyingly vanquished villain. Each author has their own way of getting there but that predictability of the genre is partially what makes it so enjoyable for me. All these inconclusive endings and loose threads just make me very uneasy and somewhat on edge. Yeah...that's enough of that for me for now.

New SciFi & Fantasy Releases: September 23 - 29

If you're a Harry Potter fan than you've probably been looking forward to this week ever since you first heard about J.K Rowlings' intentions to write a new book. And from the book's Goodreads page it looks like that her fans are expecting to love it even though this story is not at all similar (and seriously guys, why are you rating a book that you haven't even read?! The book has a 4.41 rating and not a single review, which completely defies the purpose of a book review site. But I'll leave this rant for another time).  

Personally, I'm not running to the bookstore to buy The Casual Vacancy until I see what others have to say about it first, despite how much I loved Harry Potter. It just doesn't sound like my kind of book. (Unfortunately Rowlings has also been tarnished for me, somewhat, after I read about the poor way her books' translators are treated.)

Though I can't say there is really much else here that has me particularly excited this week, so I guess I'll be sticking to what I already have on my bookshelves.

Hope you have a great reading week!

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Fantasy

Crown Thief (Tales of Easie Damasco #2)
David Tallerman
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: September 25

Meet Easie Damasco: Thief, swindler and lately, reluctant hero.

But whatever good intentions Damasco may have are about to be tested to their limits, as the most valuable - and dangerous - object in the land comes within his light-fingered grasp.  Add in some suicidally stubborn giants, an old enemy with dreams of empire and the deadliest killers in two kingdoms on his heels, and Damasco's chances of staying honest - or even just surviving - are getting slimmer by the hour.

The Indigo Pheasant (Longing for Yount #2)
Daniel A. Rabuzzi
Publisher: ChiZine Publications
Release Date: September 25

London 1817. Maggie Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world's most powerful and sophisticated machine—to free the lost land of Yount from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm. Sally, of the merchant house McDoon, who displayed her own powers in challenging the Wurm and finding Yount in The Choir Boats, must choose either to help Maggie or to hinder her. Together—or not—Maggie and Sally drive to conclusion the story started in The Choir Boats—a story of blood-soaked song, family secrets, sins new and old in search of expiation, forbidden love, high policy and acts of state, financial ruin, betrayals intimate and grand, sorcery from the origins of time, and battle in the streets of London and on the arcane seas of Yount.

Science Fiction

The Fractal Prince
Hannu Rajaniemi
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: September 27

“The good thing is, no one will ever die again. The bad thing is, everyone will want to.”
A physicist receives a mysterious paper. The ideas in it are far, far ahead of current thinking and quite, quite terrifying. In a city of “fast ones,” shadow players, and jinni, two sisters contemplate a revolution.
And on the edges of reality a thief, helped by a sardonic ship, is trying to break into a Schrödinger box for his patron. In the box is his freedom. Or not.

Jean de Flambeur is back. And he’s running out of time.

In Hannu Rajaniemi’s sparkling follow-up to the critically acclaimed international sensation The Quantum Thief, he returns to his awe-inspiring vision of the universe…and we discover what the future held for Earth

Great North Road
Peter F. Hamilton
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: September 27 (UK)

A century from now, thanks to a technology allowing instantaneous travel across light-years, humanity has solved its energy shortages, cleaned up the environment, and created far-flung colony worlds. The keys to this empire belong to the powerful North family—composed of successive generations of clones. Yet these clones are not identical. For one thing, genetic errors have crept in with each generation. For another, the original three clone “brothers” have gone their separate ways, and the branches of the family are now friendly rivals more than allies.

Or maybe not so friendly. At least that’s what the murder of a North clone in the English city of Newcastle suggests to Detective Sidney Hurst. Sid is a solid investigator who’d like nothing better than to hand off this hot potato of a case. The way he figures it, whether he solves the crime or not, he’ll make enough enemies to ruin his career.

Yet Sid’s case is about to take an unexpected turn: because the circumstances of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to a killing that took place years ago on the planet St. Libra, where a North clone and his entire household were slaughtered in cold blood. The convicted slayer, Angela Tramelo, has always claimed her innocence. And now it seems she may have been right. Because only the St. Libra killer could have committed the Newcastle crime.

Problem is, Angela also claims that the murderer was an alien monster.

Now Sid must navigate through a Byzantine minefield of competing interests within the police department and the world’s political and economic elite . . . all the while hunting down a brutal killer poised to strike again. And on St. Libra, Angela, newly released from prison, joins a mission to hunt down the elusive alien, only to learn that the line between hunter and hunted is a thin one.
 

Helix Wars (Helix, Bk 2)
Eric Brown
Publisher: Solaris
Release Date: September 25

The Helix: a vast spiral of ten thousand worlds turning around its sun. Aeons ago, the enigmatic Builders constructed the Helix as a refuge for alien races on the verge of extinction. Two hundred years ago, humankind came to the Helix aboard a great colony ship, and the Builders conferred on them the mantle of peacekeepers. For that long, peace has reigned on the Helix. But when shuttle pilot Jeff Ellis crash-lands on the world of Phandra, he interrupts a barbarous invasion from the neighbouring Sporelli - who scheme to track down and exterminate Ellis before he can return to New Earth and inform the peacekeepers.

Helix Wars, sequel to the best-selling Helix, is a fast-paced adventure novel about the ultimate threat to the Helix itself.

Janus
John Park
Publisher: ChiZine Publications
Release Date: September 25

In the near future, Jon Grebbel arrives on the colony world of Janus, and finds himself mysteriously without memory of his life on Earth. It seems that the long journey has caused severe memory loss in many of Janus’s colonists. While Grebbel wants to start his new life, he also wants his memory back, and starts treatments to restore his past. But they only leave him angry and disturbed and he begins to doubt the glimpses of the past the treatments reveal.

Grebbel meets Elinda, an earlier arrival, whose lover, Barbara, vanished and then was found lying in the woods, apparently brain-damaged. Elinda has also lost her memories of Earth, but unlike him she has abandoned the effort to recover them. Now their meeting brings each of them a glimpse of an experience they shared back on Earth.

Investigating Barbara’s fate and their own, the two find their love and their search for justice turning toward bitter self-discovery and revenge, even as they begin to uncover the darkness at the heart of their worl.

Urban Fantasy

Alchemystic
Anton Strout
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 25

AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY…
Alexandra Belarus is a struggling artist living in New York City, even though her family is rich in real estate, including a towering Gothic Gramercy Park building built by her great-great-grandfather. But the truth of her bloodline is revealed when she is attacked on the street and saved by an inhumanly powerful winged figure. A figure who knows the Belarus name…

Lexi’s great-great-grandfather was a Spellmason—an artisan who could work magic on stone. But in his day, dark forces conspired against him and his, so he left a spell of protection on his family. Now that Lexi is in danger, the spell has awoken her ancestor’s most trusted and fearsome creation: a gargoyle named Stanis.

Lexi and Stanis are equally surprised to find themselves bound to each other. But as they learn to work together, they realize that only united can they save the city they both love…

Dark Light of Day
Jill Archer
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 25

Armageddon is over. The demons won. And yet somehow…the world has continued. Survivors worship patron demons under a draconian system of tributes and rules. These laws keep the demons from warring among themselves, and the world from slipping back into chaos.

Noon Onyx grew up on the banks of the river Lethe, the daughter of a prominent politician, and a descendant of Lucifer’s warlords. Noon has a secret: She was born with waning magic, the dark, destructive, fiery power that is used to control demons and maintain the delicate peace among them. But a woman with waning magic is unheard of, and some would consider her an abomination.

Noon is summoned to attend St. Lucifer’s, a school of demon law. She must decide whether to declare her powers there…or to attempt to continue hiding them, knowing the price for doing so may be death. And once she meets the forbiddingly powerful Ari Carmine—who suspects Noon is harboring magic as deadly as his own—Noon realizes there may be more at stake than just her life.

Blood Riders
Michael P. Spradlin
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: September 25

Civil War veteran Jonas R. Hollister is recruited by the U.S. government to hunt down and destroy an ancient tribe of vampires that is terrorizing the frontier territories of the Wild West in this action-packed new novel from New York Times bestselling author Michael P. Spradlin

Personal Demon (Law of the Blood, Bk 6)
Susan Sizemore
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 25

Vampire Enforcer Christopher Bell is in Chicago to investigate rumors of a revolution, but when he comes across vampire hunter Ivy Bailey being followed through dark streets, what he finds is a ghost from his past. Over a century ago, Christopher fought the vicious London serial killer Jack the Ripper—and won. But now, the Ripper’s tainted soul is back—on the hunt once more.

Redlaw
James Lovegrove
Publisher: Solaris
Release Date: September 25

They live among us, abhorred, marginalised, despised. They are vampires, known politely as Sunless. The job of policing their community falls to the men and women of the Sunless Housing and Disclosure Executive - SHADE. Captain John Redlaw is London's most feared and respected SHADE officer. But when the vampires start rioting in their ghettoes, and angry humans respond with violence of their own, even Redlaw may not be able to keep the peace. Especially when political forces are aligning to introduce a radical answer to the Sunless problem, one that will resolve the situation once and for all..

The Wrong Goodbye (The Collector, Bk 2)
Chris F. Holm
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: September 25

Meet Sam Thornton, Collector of Souls.

Because of his efforts to avert the Apocalypse, Sam Thornton has been given a second chance – provided he can stick to the straight-and-narrow.

Which sounds all well and good, but when the soul Sam’s sent to collect goes missing, Sam finds himself off the straight-and-narrow pretty quick.

Young Adult

 

Alchemy (Mercian Trilogy #2)
K.J. Wignall
Publisher: Egmontusa
Release Date: September 25

In the thirteenth century, William, heir to the Earl of Mercia, was attacked and turned into a vampire. For 750 years, Will has spent his life in the shadows. Until he met Eloise.

Together, Will and Eloise must destroy an ancient evil that has led them to Marland Abbey, where Will’s ancestors lived and Eloise attends school. Here they uncover the truth about the four vampire kings, Will's past, and an uncertain future.

But the mysterious sorcerer, Wyndham, is still hunting Will and using Eloise as bait. To protect the girl he loves, Will goes in search of answers—but does that mean walking right into the enemy's trap?

Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1)
Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: September 25

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish. 

The Blessed (The Blessed #1)
Tonya Hurley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: September 25

From the author of the New York Times bestselling ghostgirl series, the start to a captivating and haunting teen trilogy about three girls who become entangled with an enigmatic boy—a boy who believes he is a saint.What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?

Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief. 

Boyfriend From Hell (Falling Angels, Bk 1)
Jamie Quaid
Publisher: Pocket
Release Date: September 25

Fifteen year-old Megan Barnett and her single mom, Suze, have a special relationship—they are friends, close friends, who do almost everything together.

“But come on, guys, she’s my mother… Can I really tell her that while we’re snuggled up on the sofa watching Spider Man Three, I’m secretly undressing James Franco with my eyes? Of course not…”

The special bond takes a turn for the worse when Suze decides to start dating again. She hasn’t had a man in her life since Megan’s father left ten years ago.

Enter two mysterious young men, Megan’s new classmate, sinfully attractive bad boy, Guy Matson, and the dangerously handsome art dealer, Armando. Before long Megan and Suze both wind up in steamy relationships.

But neither of the handsome pair is quite what he seems. In fact, one of them is Satan, with his sights set on a new bride. Megan has precious little time to figure out how to stop him. If she doesn’t, either Megan or Suze are quite literally going to HELL 

Covet (The Clann #2)
Melissa Darnell
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Release Date: September 25

Dangerous to be together. Painful to be apart.Savannah Colbert knows she broke up with Tristan Coleman for the right reasons. Most of all, to keep from killing him with her new vampire abilities. But try telling her heart. Now, lost in a sea of hostile Clann faces, Sav tries to come to terms with what she's becoming and what that means for her future. And that someone is doing their best to bully her into making a terrible mistake.

Tristan can't believe Sav won't even talk to him. If being apart is her decision, fine. Just don't expect him to honor it. But even as he prepares to fight for the girl he loves, forces beyond their control take them both in directions neither could have foreseen or prepared for.

A reckoning is coming… and not everyone will survive

Dodger
Terry Pratchett
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: September 25

A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's . . . Dodger.
Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl—not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.
From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

Flock (Stork, Bk 3)
Wendy Delsol
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date:  September 25

After surviving her (shall we say) intense adventure in Iceland, Katla is psyched to be back for a blissfully uneventful senior year of homecoming and fashion explorations. But her hopes of dodging unfinished business are dashed by the arrival of two Icelandic exchange students: Marik, an oddly alluring merman-in-disguise, and Jinky, a tough gypsy girl. It seems Katla not only enraged the Snow Queen by rescuing her boyfriend, Jack, she also was tricked into promising her frail baby sister to the water queen — and Marik has come to collect. What’s worse, Katla doesn’t dare confide in anyone lest she endanger them, so even her soul mate, Jack, is growing suspicious. And now Katla’s stork dreams, her guide for matching babies with mothers, have become strange and menacing as well. Hold on for a thrilling finale as the heroine of Stork and Frost calls on her wits (and her wit) to protect those she loves and face a final mythic disaster.

The Paladin Prophecy
Mark Frost
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

Will West is careful to live life under the radar. At his parents' insistence, he's made sure to get mediocre grades and to stay in the middle of the pack on his cross-country team. Then Will slips up, accidentally scoring off the charts on a nationwide exam.

Now Will is being courted by an exclusive prep school . . . and is being followed by men driving black sedans. When Will suddenly loses his parents, he must flee to the school. There he begins to explore all that he's capable of--physical and mental feats that should be impossible--and learns that his abilities are connected to a struggle between titanic forces that has lasted for millennia.

Co-creator of the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, Mark Frost brings his unique vision to this sophisticated adventure, which combines mystery, heart-pounding action, and the supernatural.

The Assault
Brian Falkner
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

The first in a high octane sci-fi adventure series by best-selling and award-winning author, Brian Falkner.

It is 2030, and the world is at war with an alien race. The Bzadians. The battleground: Earth. Recon Team Angel, made up of teenagers from around the world, has been training for years. They have learned Bzadian languages. Learned how to operate their weapons. How to work, eat, and think like them. Now it is time to act. Recon Team Angel must slip behind enemy lines, work their way into the top-secret alien facility under Uluru, and uncover the truth. But what they discover will shock not just them, but all of humanity.

The Turning
Francine Prose
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 25

Jack is babysitting for the summer on an isolated island with no Wi-Fi, no cell service, and no one else around but a housekeeper and two very peculiar children. He immediately senses something sinister-and it's not just the creepy black house he's living in. Soon he is feeling terribly isolated and alone, but then he discovers there are others. The problem is, he's the only who can see them. As secrets are revealed and darker truths surface, Jack desperately struggles to maintain a grip on reality. He knows what he sees, and he isn't crazy…Or is he?

Where does reality end and insanity begin? The Turn of the Screw reinvented for modern-day teens, by National Book Award finalist Francine Prose.

Yesterday
C. K. Kelly Martin
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy? When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered. Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from.

A Fractured Light (A Beautiful Dark, Bk 2)
Jocelyn Davies
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 25

When she wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings, Skye knows something terrible has happened to her. It's not until she hears Asher, the dark, rebellious angel she fell in love with, that the memories come flooding back. She tries to put the past behind her, but she knows she'll be forever haunted by the ruthless betrayal that almost took her life.

Skye returns home, but with the knowledge of who she really is, nothing can ever be the same. As she tests the limits of her newfound powers, Skye discovers that she's capable of far more than anyone could have imagined. Both the Order and the Rebellion want her for their side as war between the factions looms. She can't forget the terrifying truth she now knows about the Order, but something holds her back from embracing the Rebellion. 

The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel
Jeanne DuPrau & Dallas Middaugh
Publisher: Random House Books For Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

In the spring 2003, kids, parents, teachers, librarians—whole communities—discovered and fell in love with Jeanne DuPrau's story about a doomed city, and the two children who found a way out. Nearly 10 years later, that story, The City of Ember, is a bona fide classic, with over 1.7 million copies sold. Now experience Jeanne DuPrau's vision anew as artist Niklas Asker faithfully brings to life the glare of the lamps, the dinginess of the streets, and the brilliance of the first sunrise.

Darkwater
Catherine Fisher
Publisher: Dial
Release Date: September 27

What would you sell your soul for?

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Trevelyan would give anything to regain the power and wealth her family has lost, so she makes a bargain with Azrael, Lord of Darkwater Hall. He gives her one hundred years and the means to accomplish her objective--in exchange for her soul. Fast-forward a hundred years to Tom, a fifteen-year-old boy who dreams of attending Darkwater Hall School but doesn't believe he has the talent. Until he meets a professor named Azrael, who offers him a bargain. Will Sarah be able to stop Tom from making the same mistake she did a century ago?

This is smart fantasy mixed with elements of horror from master storyteller Catherine Fisher. She says, "Darkwater Hall is an image of the power and knowledge we all desire. But what will we pay for them, and are they worth the price?"

In A Glass Grimmly (A Tale Dark and Grimm, Bk 2)
Adam Gidwitz
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: September 27

More Grimm tales await in the harrowing, hilarious companion to a beloved new classic

Take caution ahead—
Oversize plant life, eerie amphibious royalty, and fear-inducing creatures abound.

Lest you enter with dread.
Follow Jack and Jill as they enter startling new landscapes that may (or may not) be scary, bloody, terrifying, and altogether true.

Step lively, dear reader . . .
Happily ever after isn’t cutting it anymore.

In this companion novel to Adam Gidwitz’s widely acclaimed, award-winning debut, A Tale Dark & Grimm, Jack and Jill explore a new set of tales from the Brothers Grimm and others, including Jack and the Beanstalk and The Frog Prince.

Story Collections

Freaks in a Box: The Myths of Media
edited by Paul Di Filippo
Publisher: NonStop Press
Release Date: September 27

Exploring the theory that media is the real opium of the masses, this collection of timely and provocative speculative fiction brings together some of the most talented contemporary fantasy, horror, and science fiction writers. Stories by J. G. Ballard, Lisa Tuttle, Robert Silverberg, and William Gibson, among others, combine noir city elements with thought-provoking scenarios that look at the future of television, radio, and the internet. With a focus on the possible horrors stemming from entertainment devices found in every home, this chilling anthology is a unique survey of the theme of the evolution or devolution of media.

Baba Yaga's Daughter and Other Stories of the Old Races
C.E. Murphy
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Release Date: September 30

Ancient rivals, best of friends, best of enemies: dragonlord Janx and master vampire Eliseo Daisani are the threads upon which a tapestry of lives and loves are woven across the centuries. From the coldest Russian nights to the heat of Chicago's greatest fire, nothing brings the immortal adversaries together--or tears them apart--like a woman. — And there is always a woman.

Vanessa Grey has been at Daisani's side for decades, but the secrets borne by a witch may be her undoing. Baba Yaga's daughter has plots that are decades in the hatching, but they may only succeed if Margrit Knight, named 'the Negotiator' by Daisani and Janx themselves, will work with her. And there are others: the greatest vampire hunter mankind has ever known, and a woman for whom the Old Races are a wonder to walk away from.

Horror

Bad Glass
Richard E. Gropp
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: September 25

Something has happened in Spokane. The military has evacuated the city and locked it down. Even so, disturbing rumors and images seep out, finding their way onto the Internet, spreading curiosity, skepticism, and panic. For what they show is—or should be—impossible: strange creatures that cannot exist, sudden disappearances that violate the laws of physics, human bodies fused with inanimate objects, trapped yet still half alive. . . .

Dean Walker, an aspiring photographer, sneaks into the quarantined city in search of fame. What he finds will change him in unimaginable ways. Hooking up with a group of outcasts led by a beautiful young woman named Taylor, Dean embarks on a journey into the heart of a mystery whose philosophical implications are as terrifying as its physical manifestations. Even as he falls in love with Taylor—a woman as damaged and seductive as the city itself—his already tenuous hold on reality starts to come loose. Or perhaps it is Spokane’s grip on the world that is coming undone.

Now, caught up in a web of interlacing secrets and betrayals, Dean, Taylor, and their friends must make their way through this ever-shifting maze of a city, a city that is actively hunting them down, herding them toward a shocking destiny.

Your House Is On Fire, Your Children All Gone
Stefan Kiesbye
Publisher:Penguin
Release Date: September 25

Shirley Jackson meets The X-Files in this riveting novel of supernatural horror

The village of Hemmersmoor is a place untouched by time and shrouded in superstition: There is the grand manor house whose occupants despise the villagers, the small pub whose regulars talk of revenants, the old mill no one dares to mention. This is where four young friends come of age—in an atmosphere thick with fear and suspicion. Their innocent games soon bring them face-toface with the village's darkest secrets in this eerily dispassionate, astonishingly assured novel, evocative of Stephen King's classic short story "Children of the Corn" and infused with the spirit of the Brothers Grimm.