For a little escapism into the world of suspense and thrills, you could check out “Eye of Vengeance,” by acclaimed author Jonathon King. In this one, a journalist is stalked by a sniper. For nonfiction, give a look at “Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos That Reshaped America,” by Peter Charles Hoffer. If you missed “The Company Car,” by C.J. Hribal, now’s your chance to catch it in paperback. Looking ahead, August will offer Andrew Vachss’ “Mask Market,” in which he brings back his favorite antihero, Burke.
FICTION
Eye of Vengeance, by Jonathon King, Penguin, 288 pages, $24.95|King, a veteran journalist and Edgar Award- winning mystery writer, is back with the story of a grieving journalist targeted by a serial sniper.
White Guys, by Anthony Giardina, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 384 pages, $25|Here is a novelized account of the 1989 murder of a pregnant woman in Boston. When a black man is wrongly accused of the crime, racial tensions overflow.
The Catastrophist, by Lawrence Douglas, Other Press, 276 pages, $24.95|In this comedic debut, the protagonist is an art historian and academic whose life, he thinks, comes to a screeching halt when his wife becomes pregnant.
NONFICTION
Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos That Reshaped America, by Peter Charles Hoffer, Public Affairs, 480 pages, $27.50|Hoffers outlines seven fires – in Chicaco, Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland and Manhattan that not only changed urban design and function, but also helped shape our larger history.
The Reach of a Chef: Beyond the Kitchen, by Michael Ruhlman, Viking, 352 pages, $27.95|The author of the best-selling “The Soul of a Chef” returns with a look at the personal world of chefs as he takes us behind the scenes in a world where chefs are on TV, not in the kitchen.
The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors, by Ann Gibbons, Random House, 336 pages, $26|Gibbons, a Science magazine reporter, tells of recent breakthroughs in the search for human origins: fossil hunting as adventure tale.
PAPERBACKS
The Company Car, by C.J. Hribal , Random House, 432 pages, $14.95|As he drives his family cross- country for his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, a man discusses his parents, his upbringing and his six siblings.
Comrade Rockstar: The Life and Mystery of Dean Reed, the All-American Boy Who Brought Rock ‘n’ Roll to the Soviet Union, by Reggie Nadelson, Walker & Co., 352 pages, $14.95|Here is the life story of Reed, a Coloradan who became a household name in the Soviet Union before his mysterious death.
The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate’s Deep Throat, by Bob Woodward with Carl Bernstein, Simon & Schuster, 256 pages, $14|Now that Mark Felt came forward as the secret source known as Deep Throat for the Watergate affair, reporters Woodward and Bernstein offer details of the association.
COMING UP
Mask Market, by Andrew Vachss, Knopf, 304 pages, $24, Aug.|Vachss brings back underworld antihero Burke, who is on the case of a missing woman whom he saved from a pimp and returned to her father when she was only 13.
Three Days to Never, by Tim Powers, William Morrow, 416 pages, $25.95, Aug.|A novel centering on Albert Einstein, something more powerful and sinister than the atomic bomb and a little girl who becomes a target of an occult European cabal.
The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West, by Niall Ferguson, Penguin, 624 pages, $32.95, Sept.|The historian tries to make sense of how the 20th century was a time of unprecendented violence.
