Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman’s noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can’t help but reach for his wallet. I will “sell” my stepfather’s ghost to the highest bidder. . . . For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man’s suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn’t afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the band-mates he betrayed. What’s one more? But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It’s the real thing. And suddenly the suit’s previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude’s restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . . .
Genre: Staff Picks
Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
The school was on fire, and Grace’s last memory is of trying to reach her daughter, Jenny, trapped inside the inferno. While their burned bodies are frantically cared for by doctors, Grace and Jenny awaken in the hospital in a strange in-between state. When they learn that someone purposefully set the fire, and Jenny may still be in grave danger from someone who wants her dead, Grace realizes she may be the only one who can discover who might be responsible. The police are looking at Adam, Jenny’s younger brother, who is struck mute by the horror he witnessed and can’t defend himself when he is accused of the arson.
The Short Drop by Matthew Fitzsimmons
A decade ago, fourteen-year-old Suzanne Lombard, the daughter of Benjamin Lombard—then a senator, now a powerful vice president running for the presidency—disappeared in the most sensational missing-person case in the nation’s history. Still unsolved, the mystery remains a national obsession.
For legendary hacker and marine Gibson Vaughn, the case is personal—Suzanne Lombard had been like a sister to him. On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, the former head of Benjamin Lombard’s security asks for Gibson’s help in a covert investigation of the case, with new evidence in hand.
Haunted by tragic memories, he jumps at the chance to uncover what happened all those years ago. Using his military and technical prowess, he soon discovers multiple conspiracies surrounding the Lombard family—and he encounters powerful, ruthless political players who will do anything to silence him and his team. With new information surfacing that could threaten Lombard’s bid for the presidency, Gibson must stay one step ahead as he navigates a dangerous web to get to the truth.
Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk
She isn’t your typical teenage kidnapped victim. She’s a 16 year old pregnant teenager and from the moment she is kidnapped, she feels a calm desire to not only save her unborn son but to also exact merciless revenge. Leaving nothing to chance, and secure in her timing and practice, she considers what her assets are and waits for the perfect moment to strike. Method 15/33 is what happens when the victim is just as cold as her abductors.
Subjects: Kidnapping, Pregnant Teenagers, Revenge
Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was A Dog by Laura L. Young
As a baby, Pumpkin the Raccoon was abandoned by her parents after falling out of a tree and breaking her leg. Taken in by a family with two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo, Pumpkin gained a new set of “parents” and a life of luxury in the Bahamas.
Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog is a sweet, unique look at an adorable household pet, captured in gorgeous, never-before-seen photographs in luxurious settings. Pumpkin’s message is that friendship and love can be found in the most unlikely of companions. With a lot of personality, and a little bit of mischief, Pumpkin will capture hearts all around the world.
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
This is Where it Ends
Minutes after the principal of Opportunity High School in Alabama finishes her speech welcoming the student body to a new semester, they discover that the auditorium doors will not open and someone starts shooting as four teens, each with a personal reason to fear the shooter, tell the tale from separate perspectives.
The World’s Tallest Man: A Memoir by Harrison Scott Key
A humor columnist describes his father, who was more like a remote frontiersman than a 20th-century Mississippian, and the impact he ultimately had on how he related to his own children, despite his polar opposite views and life choices.
Make Me by Lee Child
“Why is this town called Mother’s Rest?” That’s all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It’s a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal. Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang…so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way–right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine. Walkng away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me.
Series: Jack Reacher | Subjects: Investigation, Murder
God Save the Queen by Kate Locke
Series: The Immortal Empire | Subjects: Conspiracies, Vampires, Women soldiers