December 22, 2023
Library Corner
December 22, 2023
New Fiction
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam – Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G.H. are an older couple – it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept New York. But in this rural area – with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service – it’s hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple – and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, truly a safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
The Engagement Party by Darby Kane – Emily Hunt went missing from her affluent liberal arts college on graduation weekend. Her body was found floating in a river. Across campus, a quiet loner died by suicide. A tenuous link – one text-bound these two dead students together and was enough for law enforcement to close the case. But they got it wrong, and now someone is determined to set it right. Twelve years later, college friends gather to celebrate an engagement with a long-overdue getaway to a swanky private island in Maine – with only one way in and one way out. Sierra Prescott, invited as a guest and unconnected to past events, is the only person who soon senses not all is what it seems. The tension in the air is ignited when they find a dead man in the trunk of a car with a note: time to tell the truth. And things only get worse. As a torrential storm strands them together, the group’s buried stories begin to surface, and secrets are bartered. To survive this deadly party, they’ll need to stop a killer before they become prey.
October in the Earth by Olivia Hawker – Del Wensley, wife of the most celebrated preacher in Harlan County, tries to mind her place. Until her husband’s infidelity pushes an already strained marriage to a breaking point. Clinging to her last hope for self-respect, Del turns her back on the rigid life she’s known. A coal train is rolling through the valley. With her eyes wide open to the unfamiliar, and to the freedom she craves, Del takes to the rails. Rumbling across America, Del is soon drawn into a transient community among outcasts – and finds a special friend in Louisa Trout. A nomadic single mother, Louisa teaches Del the ways of the boxcars and promises to help her reach a migrant enclave where Del can learn the skills she’ll need to survive. But as they move forward together under desperate circumstances, even the closest of bonds threatens to break. With the Depression taking its toll, Del must gather her strength and faith. As she carries on toward one unknown after another, her life becomes a fulfilling, sometimes dangerous, and exhilarating adventure. But no matter the risks, it’s a life that she alone controls.
The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen – Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement. But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends – all retirees from the CIA – to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives. Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information – and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn. As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends – and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau – Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.