The Descendants
October 2011
Writing this on a beautiful fall afternoon as we head into a long weekend. Lovely!
I got a note from a reader about her book club this week with a problem that she would like some feedback on. It seems they are bursting at the seams in membership, which is why they now meet at a library instead of people’s homes. They had 26 members as of June, and now members are asking friends to tag along. At this month's meeting, some hadn't even read the book and some never verbally participated. It appeared they enjoyed some refreshments and listened to others discuss a book. The group was so large that little side discussions were going on here and there, and the leader had to use her “schoolteacher voice” to ask them to wait their turn and share what they had to say with everyone. They almost needed a microphone for some of the participants. Do any of you have any suggestions on how the group leader can handle this? All ideas are welcome. Please send them to Katherine Tandler at [email protected].
October is National Reading Group Month! How old were you when you *first* joined a reading group?
October 1, 2011, 619 voters
Editorial Content for Serial
Reviewer (text)
I have to hand it to John Lutz. When you pick up one of his novels, you better plan on giving it your undivided attention. He begins with a horrific crime visited upon an innocent, the specifics of which are revealed as the police investigation gradually unfolds.
"If Lutz’s novels were simply gore fests and nothing else, there would be little to recommend repeated returns to his work. But Lutz uses the graphic descriptions of the murders as an initial draw, something to get the clock ticking very loudly and quickly."
Teaser
In SERIAL, the latest Frank Quinn thriller, Quinn and his quirky, prickly team are brought in as consultants almost immediately when a fiend who quickly becomes known as the Skinner begins preying on seemingly random people in Manhattan.
Promo
In SERIAL, the latest Frank Quinn thriller, Quinn and his quirky, prickly team are brought in as consultants almost immediately when a fiend who quickly becomes known as the Skinner begins preying on seemingly random people in Manhattan.
About the Book
Frank Quinn is sure he is hunting for a madman: someone who is shooting young women in the heart, defiling their bodies, leaving only the torsos to be found. Quinn, a former NYPD detective, is called into the case by an ambitious chief of police and mobilizes his team of brilliant law-enforcement misfits. But in the concrete canyons of New York, this shocking serial murder case is turning into something very different...
Jill Clark came to the city with too many hopes and too little cash. Now a seemingly deranged woman is telling her an extraordinary story. New to an exclusive dating service, Jill is warned that other women have died on their dates-and that she could be next. Struggling against a death trap closing in around her, Jill has a powerful ally in Frank Quinn. But no one knows the true motives behind a rampage of cold-blooded murder --- or how much more terrifying this is going to get...
Editorial Content for The Stranger You Seek
Reviewer (text)
One of the many great things about genre fiction is that there is no lack of something new from someone you’ve never read before. Amanda Kyle Williams is the someone, and her debut novel, THE STRANGER YOU SEEK, is the something. I predict that you will quickly enjoy becoming familiar with both.
"THE STRANGER YOU SEEK is an impressive novel, debut or otherwise, that will leave you wanting more from both character and author."
Promo
Ex-FBI profiler Keye Street is given her last shot to help catch a serial killer who has eluded police for years --- one who has now taken a terrifyingly personal interest in Keye.
About the Book
The papers have called me a monster. You’ve either concluded that I am a braggart as well as a sadist or that I have a deep and driving need to be caught and punished.
In the sweltering heat of an Atlanta summer, a killer is pushing the city to its breaking point, preying on the unsuspecting, writing taunting letters to the media, promising more death. Desperate to stop the Wishbone Killer before another victim meets a shattering end, A.P.D. lieutenant Aaron Rauser turns to the one person he knows can penetrate a deranged mind: ex–FBI profiler Keye Street.
And you must certainly be wondering if I am, in fact, the stranger you seek.
Keye was a rising young star at the Bureau until addiction derailed her career and her life. Now sober and fighting to stay so, Keye picks up jobs where she can get them: catching adulterers, serving subpoenas, chasing down bailjumpers, and dodging the occasional bullet. With multiple victims, little to go on, and an entire police force looking for direction, the last thing Keye wants is to be pulled into the firestorm of Atlanta’s worst nightmare.
Shall I convince you?
And then it suddenly becomes clear that the hunter has become the hunted --- and the stranger she seeks is far closer than she ever dared imagine.
An electrifying thriller debut, THE STRANGER YOU SEEK introduces a brash, flawed, and unforgettable heroine in a complex, twisting novel that takes readers deep into a sultry Southern summer, a city in the grips of chaos, and a harrowing cat-and-mouse game no reader will ever forget.
Biography
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 2, 1905. At age six she taught herself to read and two years later discovered her first fictional hero in a French magazine for children, thus capturing the heroic vision which sustained her throughout her life. At the age of nine she decided to make fiction writing her career. Thoroughly opposed to the mysticism and collectivism of Russian culture, she thought of herself as a European writer, especially after encountering Victor Hugo, the writer she most admired.
Ayn Rand
