Last week, I shared the first part of my most anticipated books of May. I warned you, May is a big month for books!
Today, I’ll share the titles releasing the second and third weeks of the month. As always, I’ve included the publisher’s summary and a brief note as to why that title made my “must read” list.
The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley
(May 10):
The eerie, suspenseful debut novel — hailed as “an amazing piece of fiction” by Stephen King — that is taking the world by storm.
When the remains of a young child are discovered during a winter storm on a stretch of the bleak Lancashire coastline known as the Loney, a man named Smith is forced to confront the terrifying and mysterious events that occurred forty years earlier when he visited the place as a boy. At that time, his devoutly Catholic mother was determined to find healing for Hanny, his disabled older brother. And so the family, along with members of their parish, embarked on an Easter pilgrimage to an ancient shrine.
But not all of the locals were pleased to see visitors in the area. And when the two brothers found their lives entangling with a glamorous couple staying at a nearby house, they became involved in more troubling rites. Smith feels he is the only one to know the truth, and he must bear the burden of his knowledge, no matter what the cost. Proclaimed a “modern classic” by the Sunday Telegraph (UK), The Loney marks the arrival of an important new voice in fiction.
When the great Stephen King recommends a book, you (or at least I!) drop everything and add it to my must-read list!
Diane seems to have the perfect life. She is a wife, a mother, and the owner of Happy People Read and Drink Coffee, a cozy literary cafe in Paris. But when she suddenly loses her beloved husband and daughter in a tragic car accident, the world as she knows it instantly vanishes. Trapped and haunted by her memories, Diane retreats from friends and family, unable and unwilling to move forward.
But one year later, Diane shocks her loved ones and makes the surprising decision to move to a small town on the Irish coast, finally determined to heal and rebuild her life alone—until she meets Edward, the attractive yet taciturn Irish photographer who lives next door. At first abrasive and unwelcoming, Edward initially resents Diane’s intrusion into his life of solitude . . . until he can no longer keep her at arm’s length, and they fall into a surprising and tumultuous romance. But will it last when Diane leaves Ireland, and Edward, for the home she once ran away from in Paris? At once heartbreaking and uplifting, Diane’s story is deeply felt, reminding us that love remembered is love enduring.
There are so many things I like about this title! The title itself, the cover, the premise? Sounds like the perfect book to curl up with on the patio on a relaxing Spring day!
The Fireman by Joe Hill (May 17):
The fireman is coming. Stay cool.No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.
Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse as pragmatic as Mary Poppins, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she’s discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term. At the hospital, she witnessed infected mothers give birth to healthy babies and believes hers will be fine too. . . if she can live long enough to deliver the child.
Convinced that his do-gooding wife has made him sick, Jakob becomes unhinged, and eventually abandons her as their placid New England community collapses in terror. The chaos gives rise to ruthless Cremation Squads—armed, self-appointed posses roaming the streets and woods to exterminate those who they believe carry the spore. But Harper isn’t as alone as she fears: a mysterious and compelling stranger she briefly met at the hospital, a man in a dirty yellow fire fighter’s jacket, carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged.
In the desperate season to come, as the world burns out of control, Harper must learn the Firemans secrets before her life—and that of her unborn child—goes up in smoke.
JOE HILL!! I mean, really, that’s all I have to say, right? This brilliant horror author is one of my favorites, I’ve read (and then listened to!) each and every one of his books. I, too, have this title in every format available. I can’t wait to dive in!
Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica (May 17):
In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate Quinn Collins to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she’s the person Quinn thought she knew.Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected.
As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under the stranger’s spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us in the end.
Mary Kubica is an author I follow diligently; I’ve read all of her thrillers and love every one of them. I’m sure I’ll feel the same about this one!
In the wake of this incident, bright but lonely Hannah Dexter is befriended by Lacey Champlain, a dark-eyed, Cobain-worshiping bad influence in lip gloss and Doc Martens. The charismatic, seductive Lacey forges a fast, intimate bond with the impressionable Dex, making her over in her own image and unleashing a fierce defiance that neither girl expected. But as Lacey gradually lures Dex away from her safe life into a feverish spiral of obsession, rebellion, and ever greater risk, an unwelcome figure appears on the horizon—and Lacey’s secret history collides with Dex’s worst nightmare.
Like The Virgin Suicides or the novels of Elena Ferrante, Girls on Fire stalks the treacherous territory between girlhood and adulthood. By turns a shocking story of love and violence and an addictive portrait of the intoxication of female friendship, set against the unsettled backdrop of a town gripped by moral panic, it is an unflinching and unforgettable snapshot of girlhood: girls lost and found, girls strong and weak, girls who burn bright and brighter—and some who flicker away.
Mercy: by Daniel Palmer, Michael Palmer (May 17):
Dr. Julie Devereux is an outspoken advocate for the right to die – until a motorcycle accident leaves her fiancé, Sam Talbot, a quadriplegic. He begs to die, but Julie sees hope in a life together. With the help of an organization that opposes physician-assisted suicide, Julie has Sam coming around to her point of view when he suddenly dies from an unexpected heart attack. An autopsy reveals that Sam died of an unusual heart defect, one seen only in those under extreme stress – in fact, it appears that Sam had been literally scared to death. As Julie investigates similar cases, threats begin to confront her. The more cases Julie discovers, the more the threats escalate until she finds herself accused of a mercy killing of her own. To clear her name and save her career, she must track down who is behind these mysterious deaths… but someone has decided that killing Julie is the only way to stop her.Michael Palmer was my favorite author of medical thrillers. I devoured each and every one of them. Unfortunately, he passed away before completing this most recent thriller. Thankfully his son, Daniel Palmer (a brilliantly talented thriller writer in his own right) picked up his father’s work and finished it. I cannot wait to read this one!
Best friends with Joan since pre-school, Cece Buchanan is either Joan’s chaperone or her partner in crime, depending on the night and whom you ask. With her solid husband and sweet toddler son, some say Cece shouldn’t be concerned with Joan’s single-girl exploits. But the two have grown up almost like sisters, to the point that it isn’t always easy for Cece to tell where she ends and Joan begins. When Joan starts to drift out of reach and beyond the borders of their confined world the summer they are twenty-five, Cece considers it her responsibility to bring her back to the fold, for better or for worse. But as Cece’s investment and involvement in Joan’s life evolves, her judgment also clouds – ultimately allowing one questionable choice to appear to be the only one there is.
Immersing readers in the big, sun-drenched world of 1950s Texas oil money and social clubs, DiSclafani’s captivating new novel unfurls a story of female friendship as obsessive, euphoric, and consuming as any romance.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (May 17):
A heartwarming story of friendship and demonic possession. The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act…different. She’s moody. She’s irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she’s nearby. Abby’s investigation leads her to some startling discoveries—and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil? Like an unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist, My Best Friend’s Exorcism blends teen angst, adolescent drama, unspeakable horrors, and a mix of ’80s pop songs into a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller.Doesn’t it sound like this book was written for me? I mean come on! Hendrix’s debut, Horrorstör, got my attention, the premise of this one has sealed the deal!
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