The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Everyone's invited...everyone's a suspect...

For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge . . . and murder and mayhem ensue.

All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirty-something friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?

406 pages (February 2019)

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Title Read-alikes: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie; Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins; 1222 by Anne Holt; Go to My Grave by Catriona McPherson; One by One by Ruth Ware; They Did Bad Things by Lauren A. Forry; The French Girl by Lexie Elliott; The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan; The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse; Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase; The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewel; and The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

The Mother Code by Carole Stivers

What it means to be human-–and a mother-–is put to the test in Carole Stivers' debut novel set in a world that is more chilling and precarious than ever.

It's 2049, and the survival of the human race is at risk. Earth's inhabitants must turn to their last resort: a plan to place genetically engineered children inside the cocoons of large-scale robots—to be incubated, birthed, and raised by machines. But there is yet one hope of preserving the human order—an intelligence programmed into these machines that renders each unique in its own right—the Mother Code.

Kai is born in America's desert southwest, his only companion his robot Mother, Rho-Z. Equipped with the knowledge and motivations of a human mother, Rho-Z raises Kai and teaches him how to survive. But as children like Kai come of age, their Mothers transform too—in ways that were never predicted. When government survivors decide that the Mothers must be destroyed, Kai must make a choice. Will he break the bond he shares with Rho-Z? Or will he fight to save the only parent he has ever known?
 
In a future that could be our own, The Mother Code explores what truly makes us human—and the tenuous nature of the boundaries between us and the machines we create.

336 pages (May 2020)

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Title Read-alikes: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez; Immunity Index by Sue Burke; Year One by Nora Roberts; Nexus by Ramez Naam; The Robots of Gotham by Todd McAulty; Lock In by John Scalzi; It Takes Death to Reach a Star by Stu Jones; One Second After by William R. Forstchen; White Horse by Alex Adams; Reset by Sarina Dahlan; The Companions by Katie M. Flynn; Seed by Rob Ziegler; and Goldilocks by Laura Lam.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

The remarkable, little-known story of Belle da Costa Greene, J. P. Morgan's personal librarian--who became one of the most powerful women in New York despite the dangerous secret she kept in order to make her dreams come true, from New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict and acclaimed author Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps build a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle's complexion isn't dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white--her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths to which she must go--for the protection of her family and her legacy--to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

341 pages (June 2021)

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Title Read-alikes: An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege by Heidi Ardizzone; The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe; The Great Mrs. Elias by Barbara Chase-Ribould; Josephine Baker's Last Dance by Sherry Jones; Passing by Nella Larsen; The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett; Black Girls Must Die Exhausted: A Novel for Grown Ups by Jayne Allen; The Muralist by Barbara A. Shapiro; The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin; The Paris Library by Janet Skelien Charles; Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian; The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles; and The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis.

Cherokee America by Margaret Verble

From the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Maud's Line, an epic novel that follows a web of complex family alliances and culture clashes in the Cherokee Nation during the aftermath of the Civil War, and the unforgettable woman at its center.

It's the early spring of 1875 in the Cherokee Nation West. A baby, a black hired hand, a bay horse, a gun, a gold stash, and a preacher have all gone missing. Cherokee America Singer, known as "Check," a wealthy farmer, mother of five boys, and soon-to-be widow, is not amused.

In this epic of the American frontier, several plots intertwine around the heroic and resolute Check: her son is caught in a compromising position that results in murder; a neighbor disappears; another man is killed. The tension mounts and the violence escalates as Check's mixed race family, friends, and neighbors come together to protect their community—and painfully expel one of their own.

Cherokee America vividly, and often with humor, explores the bonds—of blood and place, of buried histories and half-told tales, of past grief and present injury—that connect a colorful, eclectic cast of characters, anchored by the clever, determined, and unforgettable Check.

400 pages (February 2019)

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Title Read-alikes: The Bones of Paradise by Jonis Agee; Fools Crow by James Welch; House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle; This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger; Paradise by Toni Morrison; Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi; Sin Killer by Larry McMurtry; A Good Neighborhood by Therese Fowler; The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber; In the Night of Memory by Linda LeGarde Grover; Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford; The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich; Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason; The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue; Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell; The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd; and The Bell in the Lake By Lars Mytting.

Trust Exercise: a novel by Susan Choi

Pulitzer finalist Susan Choi's multi-part, narrative-upending novel.

In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving "Brotherhood of the Arts," two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed―or untoyed with―by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley.

The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school's walls―until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true―though it's not false, either. It takes until the book's stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place―revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.

As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, and about friendships and loyalties, and will leave readers with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.

272 pages (April 2019)

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Read-alikes; Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday; The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer; Normal People by Sally Rooney; My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell;  The Truants by Kate Kate Weinberg; Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami; Skippy Dies by Paul Murray; Mina by Kim Sagwa; Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips; Weather by Jenny Offill; Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner; The Topeka School by Ben Lerner  and Luster by Raven Leilani.

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

A richly imagined, powerful new novel about how we explain the world to ourselves, ourselves to others, and the meaning of our lives in a universe that remains impenetrably mysterious.

On a dark midwinter's night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed.

Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless.

Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son's secret liaison, stand ready to welcome their granddaughter. The parson's housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister. But the return of a lost child is not without complications and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone's. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl's identity can be known.

Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. Suspenseful, romantic, and richly atmospheric, the beginning of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will continue to give up their treasures long after the last page is turned.

480 pages (December 2018)

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Title Read-alikes: Sin Eater by Megan Campisi; The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern; The Storyteller of Marrakesh by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya; A Tall History of Sugar Curdella Forbes; Orkney by Amy Sackville; The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton; The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman; The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian; and Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor.

Star of the North by D. B. John

A propulsive and ambitious thriller about a woman trying to rescue her twin sister from captivity in North Korea, and the North Korean citizens with whom she forms an unlikely alliance.

Star of the North opens in 1988, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twenty-two years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her - including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed.

As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways, ultimately building to an explosive and unforgettable climax.

402 pages. (May 2018)

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13 Book Club Questions to Energize Any Meetup from Bustle

 

To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)

 

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"My North Korea bucket list trip" by D. B. John at salon

 

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Title Read-alikes: A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church; How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleischmann; The Accusation by Bandi; Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews; The Swimmer by Joakim Zander; The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer; The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva; The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim; A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer; D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber; and Nightfall Berlin by Jack Grimwood.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

From New York Times bestselling author of the "twisty-mystery" (Vulture) novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, comes The Woman in Cabin 10, an equally suspenseful and haunting novel from Ruth Ware—this time, set at sea.

In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins.

The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant.

But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.

340 pages. (July 2016)

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To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)

 

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Title Read-alikes: The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn; Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek; The Elizas by Sara Shepard; The American Girl by Kate Horsley; Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown; Little Face by Sophie Hannah; Freefall by Jessica Barry; The Blue by Lucy Clarke; The Guest List by Lucy Foley; The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena; Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris; The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins; and Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.

Trust No One by Paul Cleave

In the exciting new psychological thriller by the Edgar-nominated author of Joe Victim, a famous crime writer struggles to differentiate between his own reality and the frightening plot lines he's created for the page.

Jerry Grey is known to most of the world by his crime writing pseudonym, Henry Cutter - a name that has been keeping readers at the edge of their seats for more than a decade. Recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of forty-nine, Jerry's crime writing days are coming to an end. His twelve books tell stories of brutal murders committed by bad men, of a world out of balance, of victims finding the darkest forms of justice. As his dementia begins to break down the wall between his life and the lives of the characters he has created, Jerry confesses his worst secret: The stories are real. He knows this because he committed the crimes. Those close to him, including the nurses at the care home where he now lives, insist that it is all in his head, that his memory is being toyed with and manipulated by his unfortunate disease. But if that were true, then why are so many bad things happening? Why are people dying?

Hailed by critics as a "masterful" (Publishers Weekly) writer who consistently offers "ferocious storytelling that makes you think and feel" (The Listener) and whose fiction evokes "Breaking Bad reworked by the Coen Brothers" (Kirkus Reviews), Paul Cleave takes us down a cleverly twisted path to determine the fine line between an author and his characters, between fact and fiction.

345 pages (August 2015)

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13 Book Club Questions to Energize Any Meetup from Bustle

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Title Read-alikes: The Chameleon's Shadow by Minette Walters; Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante; Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey; Still Alice by Lisa Genova; Engleby by Sebastian Faulks; Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson; The Good Son by Yu-jŏng Chŏng; Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin; Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney; The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon; Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon; Watching Edie by Camilla Way; and In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware.