At bookstores is a new novel, “The Icon,” that should appeal to fans of “The Da Vinci Code.” Also look for an account of what’s going on at Guantanamo Bay and the paperback version of Richard Russo’s tale of hardship in a declining mill town.
FICTION
“The Icon,” by Neil Olson, HarperCollins, 353 pages, $24.95|Old enemies from the partisans in Greece during World War II struggle for a Byzantine icon in present- day New York.
“Countdown,” by Iris Johansen, Bantam, 403 pages, $25|The veteran thriller writer centers her story on a young woman who is surrounded by secrets and stalked by a killer.
“Flight,” by Ginger Strand, Simon & Schuster, 320 pages, $24|Family trials are put on display as everyone gathers for a big wedding.
NONFICTION
“Inside the Wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier’s Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantanamo,” by Erik Saar and Viveca Novak, Penguin, 292 pages, $24.95|A portrait of one soldier’s shocking six months at the U.S. terrorist detention center in Cuba.
“Them: A Memoir of Parents,” by Francine Du Plessix Gray, Penguin, 529 pages, $29.95|Journalist and novelist Gray turns her sights on the lives of her legendary and glamorous parents.
“The Scariest Place in the World: A Marine Returns to North Korea,” by James Brady, Thomas Dunne, 278 pages, $24.95|Fifty years after fighting there, Brady returns to North Korea to ruminate on what happened there and tell of the companions who fought with him.
PAPERBACKS
“Empire Falls,” by Richard Russo, Vintage, 483 pages, $14.95|Russo depicts the life of the working class in a failing Northeastern mill town.
“War Trash,” by Ha Jin, Vintage, $14.95|The National Book Award-winning author tells a tale of Chinese soldiers held in a U.S. prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War.
“Gutted: Down to the Studs in My House, My Marriage, My Entire Life,” by Lawrence LaRose, Bloomsbury, 278 pages, $14.95|Loads of laughs, ironies and sarcasm in a tale of a remodeling project gone terribly sour.
COMING SOON
“Cabaret: A Roman Riddle,” by Lily Prior, Ecco, 288 pages, $24.95, July|The author of “La Cucina” returns with a comic mystery set in the back streets of Rome.
“The Black Angel,” by John Connolly, Atria, 480 pages, $25, June|Detective Charlie Parker returns to investigate the case of a young woman who has gone missing in one of New York’s seamiest neighborhoods.
“Eudora Welty,” by Suzanne Marrs, Harcourt, 672 pages, $28, August|A new biography of one of the South’s greatest writers.
