Nora Roberts just keeps churning them out, and they all end up on the best-seller lists. Her newest, “Gabriel’s Angel,” is set in Colorado. In nonfiction, see what all the fuss is about with “The Monster at Our Door,” a look at the potential for a pandemic caused by the avian flu. Michael Chabon’s mystery, “The Final Solution,” set in wartime England, is out in paperback. In late December, look for a new thriller by Greg Iles, “Turning Angel.”
FICTION
“Gabriel’s Angel,” by Nora Roberts, Silhouette, 256 pages, $17.95|The mega-selling author is back – this time set in Colorado – with another top seller. When a woman is stranded in a snowstorm, a man offers her help. But he gets something he needs in return.
“The Camel Club,” by David Baldacci, Warner, 448 pages, $26.95|Members of an unconventional group of conspiracy theorists witness the killing of a CIA agent and soon find themselves wrapped in intrigue.
“At First Sight,” by Nicholas Sparks, Warner, 288 pages, $24.95 |This one continues the story of science columnist Jeremy Marsh and Lexie Darnell begun in Sparks’ last novel, “True Believer.” It centers on small-town life.
NONFICTION
“The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu,” by Mike Davis, New Press, 192 pages, $21.95 |Experts warn us that the avian flu could, and probably will, become a pandemic that threatens millions of people, as well as the world’s economy. Davis examines the political and scientific history of the disease.
“No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah,” by Bing West, Bantam, 400 pages, $25|West (“The March Up”) for the most part leaves the policy issues behind as he describes the 2003 battle in which coalition forces threw the Iraqi insurgents out of the volatile town of Fallujah.
“Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her,” by Melanie Rehak, Harcourt, 384 pages, $25 |The author takes us on a tour behind the scenes as Nancy Drew was created in 1929 and how she has changed through the efforts of several authors down through the years.
PAPERBACK
“The Final Solution,” by Michael Chabon, Harper Perennial, $12.95 |Chabon tackles the classic mystery with the story of a murder in England during World War II. It involves a young Jewish boy and an aging eccentric detective in a plot full of spies and intrigue.
“Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America,” by John M. Barry, Simon & Schuster, 528 pages, $16 |While tracing the history of one of this country’s worst natural disasters, Barry tells of how greed and ineptitude helped cause it and then changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta.
“Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means,” by William T. Vollman, Harper, 752 pages, $16.95 |This is an abridgment of Vollman’s treatise on man’s motivations and justifications for violent action, whether it be suicide, slavery, torture or genocide.
COMING UP
“Turning Angel,” by Greg Iles, Scribner, 512 pages, $25.94, December |Iles takes readers to his home in Natchez, Miss., and to Penn Cage, hero of his earlier “The Quiet Game.” This time, one of Penn’s oldest friends finds himself in deep trouble after the teenage girl with whom he has had an affair turns up murdered.
“President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination,” by Richard Reeves, Simon & Schuster, 480 pages, $28, December|Reeves, who has already written about Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy , turns his attention to the two-term president who is the darling of conservatives.
“The Fifth Horseman, by James Patterson, with Maxine Paetro, Little, Brown, 400 pages, $27.95, February|In this hospital drama, the members of the Women’s Murder Club take on the case of a hospital where patients who are about to be released suddenly come down with serious problems.
