Christopher Sorrentino takes readers back to the heady days of the 1970s and the Patty Hearst kidnapping in his new novel, while Michael Finkel’s memoirs tell how he was fired by The New York Times and had his identity stolen by a murderer. In paperbacks, look for works by Thomas Berger (“Little Big Man”) and Jennifer Weiner. In the fall, everyone’s favorite Olympic wrestler, Rulon Gardner, releases his memoirs.
FICTION
“Trance,” by Christopher Sorrentino, Farrar, Straus
& Giroux, 511 pages, $26|
The author fictionalizes the 1974 kidnapping and indoctrination of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst by the radical Symbionese
Liberation Army.
“This Dame for Hire,” by
Sandra Scoppettone, Ballantine, 253 pages, $21.95|It’s 1943, New York City, and diminutive Faye Quick, a secretary by trade, is forced into private-eye work when her boss is called into the military.
“The Traveler,” by John Twelve Hawks, Doubleday, 456 pages, $24.95|Two brothers in L.A. may be among the last surviving members of the secret Travelers, but they are being sought by the Tabula, a group that wants to rule the world.
NONFICTION
“True Story,” by Michael Finkel, HarperCollins, 309 pages, $25.95|A memoir by a journalist who was fired from The New York Times for falsifying an article only to learn that a murderer has stolen his identity.
“Dissecting Death: Secrets
of a Medical Examiner,” by Frederick Zugibe and David L. Carroll, Broadway, 240 pages, $24.95|For 35 years, Dr. Fredrick Zugibe, as medical examiner of
Rockland County, N.Y., worked many notorious cases and now he lets readers into the world of forensic pathology.
“Divided by God: America’s Church-State Problem – And What We Should Do About It,” by Noah
Feldman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 306 pages, $25|Those the author calls “legal secularists” want the state cleansed of religion, while “value evangelicals” want government to endorse Christianity. Feldman contends that both
positions are too narrow.
PAPERBACKS
“Sneaky People,” by Thomas Berger, Simon & Schuster, 315 pages, $13|The author of “The Feud” is back with the story of a used-car salesman who has decided to murder his wife and marry his mistress.
“Courtesan,” by Dora Levy Mossanen, Touchstone, 290 pages, $14|The author of “Harem” returns with a
romantic tale that follows the education of a young
seductress.
“Little Earthquakes,” by Jennifer Weiner, Washington Square Press, 414 pages, $14|The story of three very different women as they each address the problems of new motherhood.
COMING UP
“Never Stop Pushing: My Life From a Wyoming Farm to the Olympic Medals Stand,” by Rulon Gardner, with Bob Schaller, Carroll & Graf, 320 pages, $14.95, September|Memoirs of Rulon Gardner, a Wyoming farm boy with learning disabilities who became an Olympic wrestler and achieved a stunning upset.
“The Stranger House,” by Reginald Hill, HarperCollins, 480 pages, $24.95, October|The Diamond Dagger Award-winner is back with the story of two young strangers who arrive at a tiny English village only to find deceit, obstruction, mystery, violence and love.
“Where God Was Born: A Journey By Land to the Roots of Religion,” by Bruce Feiler, William Morrow, 352 pages, $26.95, September |
The author of “Walking the Bible,” a New York Times best seller, pushes even deeper into the origins of religion and the roots of
religious war.
