EDITORS CHOICE
Adam, Ted Dekker, $25.99. Dekker’s (“The Circle Trilogy”) latest supernatural thriller is both a character study and a highly charged suspense drama that shows Dekker at his best as he reminds us that evil is all around us. Library Journal
FICTION
Comfort Food, Kate Jacobs, $24.95. Jacobs follows “The Friday Night Knitting Club” with another multigenerational tale, this time on the foodie circuit. Popular Cooking with Gusto! host Augusta “Gus” Simpson, a widowed mother of two adult daughters who’s about to turn 50, is tiring of her many obligations. Publishers Weekly
The God of War, Marisa Silver, $23. An elegantly observed coming-of-age story steeped in poverty and violence, this novel by the author of No Direction Home offers a poignant and often heartbreaking account of Ares Ramirez. The characters are painted with compassion and unflinching honesty, and the climax is pithy and consequential. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts, Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby, $26.95. With talents such as Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien and David Spade analyzing his humor and detailing Farley’s escapades and hijinks, this is a boisterous book the comedian’s fans will want to buy, borrow or steal. Publishers Weekly
With Honor: Melvin Laird, In War, Peace, and Politics, Dale Van Atta, $35. The two key contenders for influence in the Nixon administration were “the equally matched Laird (first term secretary of defense) and Kissinger,” writes Van Atta. Still, in placing Laird at the center of the era, Van Atta has made a significant contribution. Library Journal
Please Don’t Remain Calm: Provocations and Commentaries, by Michael Kinsley, $25.95. Partisan political writing generally enjoys the life expectancy of a weather report, but this collection of Kinsley’s trenchant commentary is worth preserving. Kingsley has assembled 127 essays on the American political scene from the Clinton administration to the present. Publishers Weekly
PAPERBACKS
Coal Black Horse, Robert Olmstead, $13.95. To the steady drumbeat of powerful Civil War novels that continue to arrive, you must add Coal Black Horse. Here, distilled into just 200 pages, is the story of how a young man and a young nation lost their innocence. With his lush, incantatory voice, Robert Olmstead describes a boy thrust into one of the war’s most horrific moments.Washington Post
The Last Summer (Of You and Me), Ann Brashares, $14. Having conquered YA fiction with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequels, Brashares takes on adult fiction with this story of a young woman who’s getting leery of her talent for returning lost objects. Kirkus
Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror, by Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. and Aziz Z. Huq, $17.95. “…the book serves as a valuable compendium and chronicle of the Bush administration’s aggressive efforts to expand the power of the executive branch, providing a detailed account of the unilateral actions it has taken on matters ranging from torture policy to domestic surveillance. The New York Times
COMING UP
Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed The World, David Moraniss, $26. These were the first televised games. East and West Germany competed as one team but hated each other. The U.S. and Soviet Union thought of them as propaganda tools. It was the Olympics of Cassius Clay, Rafer Johnson and Wilma Rudolph. (July)
The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry, $24.95. This first novel, already sold in 20 countries, is the story of the Whitney women who can read the future in a piece of lace. Set in Salem, Mass., the book features characters with ties to the past and to a place. (July)
