February 4, 2022
New Fiction
Something to Hide by Elizabeth George – When a police detective is taken off life support after falling into a coma, only an autopsy reveals the murderous act that precipitated her death. She’d been working on a special task force within North London’s Nigerian community, and the work she and the other officers were doing was fiercely divisive. Acting Detective Chief Superintendent Thomas Lynley is assigned to the case, assisted by Detective Sergeants Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata. In pursuit of a killer determined to remain hidden, they must sort through the lies and secrets lives of people whose superficial cooperation masks the damage they do to one another.
Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins – One Island. Beautiful, wild, and strange – Meroe Island is a desolate spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. It’s the perfect destination for the most adventurous traveler to escape everything….except the truth. Six Visitors. Six stunning twentysomethings are about to embark on a blissful, free-spirited journey – one filled with sun-drenched days and intoxicating nights. But as it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in, sending them on a dangerous spiral of discovery. Countless Secrets. When one person goes missing and another turns up dead, the remaining friends wonder what dark currents lie beneath this impenetrable paradise – and who else will be swept under is secluded chaos.
The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff – Eighteen year old twins Helena and Ruth are raising their three younger siblings in Nazi-occupied Poland, where the perpetual threat of arrest has made everyone in their village a spy and turned neighbour again neighbour. Though the young women couldn’t be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats the war brings closer to their doorstep with each passing day. Then Helena discovers an American paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides him – a Jew- and together, they make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all – and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades.
Wahala by Nikki May – Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2 kids. She’s dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one” (perfect, like her dead father). Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends. Boo has everything Ronke wants – kind husband, gorgeous child. But she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt, and desperate to remember who she used to be. Simi is the golden one with the perfect lifestyle. No one knows she’s crippled by imposter syndrome and temped to pack it all in each time her boss mentions her “urban vibe.” Her husband thinks they’re trying for a baby. She’s not. When the high-flying, charismatic Isobel explodes into the group, it seems at first she’s bringing out the best in each woman. (She gets Simi an interview in Shanghai! Goes jogging with Boo!) But the more Isobel intervenes, the more chaos she sows, and Ronke, Simi and Boo’s close friendship begins to crack.