Topic: Monthly highlighted books

New York is being held to ransom. Manhattan's electricity grid has been the victim of a horrific attack and more are planned.

While the FBI and Homeland Security try to determine who's behind the carnage, Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs race to decode the forensics in order to prevent the next assault.

Electricity can be as lethal as it is vital, and Lincoln Rhyme soon finds he's up against a merciless killer with a unique weapon – one that can be found in everyone's home and office.

And in the meantime, the Watchmaker, one of the few criminals to have ever slipped Rhyme's net is under surveillance in Mexico. Lincoln Rhyme must race against the clock, juggling the two investigations, as they hurtle headlong toward their deadly outcomes.

The Burning Wire – Jeffrey Deaver 9780340937297
Hodder & Stoughton
9780857201706
TPB
R185.00

We start our September fiction list with a number of authors new on the scene, all of whom are already receiving rave reviews. Zimbabwean author Ian Holding’s Of Beasts and Being is a thought-provoking look at racial violence and oppression; Boxer Beetle is a dazzling debut novel from Ned Beauman, a clever, inventive, and enjoyable read through a fascinating period in history; while The Last Kestrel, the first novel from journalist Jill McGivering, is a deeply moving and lyrical story of lives caught up in the horrors of war. Another debut, The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli, is an evocative love story set in the hallucinatory atmosphere of war.

Vanora Bennett’s new novel The People’s Queen is a rich and dramatic tale of late fourteenth century England while Peter Walker’s The Courier’s Tale is set in the treacherous worlds of the English court of Henry VIII and Machiavellian Italy.

Our highlighted crime titles are from some of the best in the genre – Peter Robinson’s latest Inspector Banks novel, Bad Boy, is a powerful story of how the volatile emotions of love and resentment can turn deadly; in The Shadow of Your Smile Mary Higgins Clark weaves a spellbinding thriller around a long-held family secret and at the heart of Tana French’s Faithful Place lies a tragic misunderstanding that has for too long defined a member of the Dublin Undercover Squad. Tough Customer from Sandra Brown is a heart-pounding tale about obsession and murder while The Woodcutter is a fast-moving, stunning new standalone psychological thriller from the award-winning author of the Dalziel and Pascoe series, Reginald Hill.

Perfect spring weather reads include Lauren Weisberger’s Last Night at Chateau Marmont – a thoroughly entertaining read about the ins and outs and ups and downs of life as a celebrity; for ultimate glitz and sheer escapism, it has to be Tilly Bagshawe’s Scandalous; Tasmina Perry is at her sizzling best with Kiss Heaven Goodbye, a delicious cocktail of glittering escapism and gripping entertainment; Wendy Holden keeps us laughing in the hilarious Gallery Girl, a witty look at the art world and finally there’s all the trademark glamour and suspense in Sidney Sheldon’s After the Darkness written by Tilly Bagshawe.

James Rollins latest title in the Sigma Series is an action packed adventure set within the ruins of a cursed lost colony of the Americas known as The Devil Colony. The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries Omnibus 1 is the first four books in the mystery series of the same name from Charlaine Harris, bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

From Sci-Fi / Fantasy there’s Galileo’s Dream, a dazzling new novel from the acclaimed author of the groundbreaking MARS trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson, and the third book in the gritty, sexy urban fantasy series Downside Ghosts, City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane.  

Paulo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage, considered to be one of his most important works, is published in a beautiful gift edition this month.

In non-fiction we learn from one of the best – Raymond Ackerman shares his key principles to help build your business in A Sprat to Catch a Mackerel. Antony Lentin takes a closer look at the extraordinary life of one of our great leaders in Jan Smuts: Man of Courage and Vision.

In the best-selling The Secret Rhonda Byrne revealed the law of attraction, now, with The Power, Rhonda Byrne continues her groundbreaking work as she reveals the single greatest force in our universe.

You are meant to have an amazing life! This is the handbook to the greatest power in the Universe – The Power to have anything you want.

Every discovery, invention and human creation comes from The Power. Perfect health, incredible relationships, a career you love, a life filled with happiness, and the money you need to be, do, and have everything you want, all come from The Power

The life of your dreams has always been closer to you than you realised, because The Power – to have everything good in your life – is inside you. To create anything, to change anything, all it takes is just one thing...The Power.

The Power – Rhonda Byrne
Simon & Schuster
9780857201706
HB
R210.00

‘Jan Smuts did not belong to any single state or nation. He fought for his own country, he fought for the whole world.’
Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 26 June 1952

In this new biography, Professor Antony Lentin reassesses the life of one of South Africa’s great leaders. Smuts was scholar, statesman and soldier with a career spanning half a century, but what was his lasting contribution? In the earlier half of his life, he focused his efforts primarily on the birth pangs and development of South Africa: the Boer Wars, the formation of the Union of South Africa, and South Africa’s role in the First World War.

When twelve-year-old Katherine Howard comes to live in the Duchess of Norfolk's household, it's her poor relation Cat Tilney whom Katherine confides in.

Summoned to court at seventeen, Katherine leaves Cat in the company of her ex-lover, Francis, and the two begin their own love affair.

Within months, the king has set aside his Dutch wife Anne for Katherine. The future seems assured for the new queen but allegations are made about her girlhood love affairs.

Desperately frightened, Katherine recounts a version of events which implicates Francis but which Cat knows to be a lie. With Francis in the Tower, Cat alone knows the whole truth of Queen Katherine Howard – but if she tells, Katherine will die.

The Confession of Katherine Howard – Suzannah Dunn
HarperCollins
9780007340347
TPB
R180.00