Book Chat May 13: Fintastic Friday

Jack Reacher meets an elderly couple on a Greyhound bus and gets embroiled in a dangerous gang war trying to protect them. "In the next highly anticipated installment of Lee Child's acclaimed suspense series, Jack Reacher comes to the aid of an elderly couple...and confronts his most dangerous opponents yet. This isn't one of those times. Reacher is on a Greyhound bus, minding his own business, with no particular place to go, and all the time in...

A history of Western civilization's rise to global dominance offers insight into the development of such concepts as competition, modern medicine, and the work ethic, arguing that Western dominance is being lost to cultures who are more productively utilizing Western techniques.

When Liv and Nora decide to take their families on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The ship's comforts and possibilities seem infinite. The children--two eleven-year-olds, an eight-year-old, and a six-year-old--love the nonstop buffet and the independence they have at the Kids' Club. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor misfortunes leads the families farther and farther from the ship's safety. One minute...

"One woman, multiple personas. But which one is telling the truth? Alexa W nearly has her life together: a new relationship, a job that pays the bills, and a promising interview for a photojournalism position. But, it's complicated. Alexa is manipulated by a series of alternate personas that run her life, and it's a constant struggle to keep her other selves in check, to prevent them from coming out when it's not safe, to make sure no one is aware...

“By far the best” in the New York Times–bestselling, Macallan Silver Dagger–winning series featuring Venetian detective Commissario Brunetti (Evening Standard).
 
In this vivid and atmospheric mystery, Commissario Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the construction of Brunetti’s apartment years before. What began as a red tape...

Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war.

Ginny Beale is eighteen, irreverent, funny, and brave, with a brother she adores and a circle of friends for whom she would do anything. Because of one terrible night, she loses them all--and her adventurous spirit--seemingly forever. While the town cheers on the high school football team, someone sets the school's auditorium ablaze. Ginny's best friend Gray Marsden's father, a fire fighter, dies in the blaze. While many in the town believe a notoriously...

Phoebe Lin and Will Kendall meet in their first month at prestigious Edwards University. Phoebe is a glamorous girl who doesn't tell anyone she blames herself for her mother's recent death. Will is a misfit scholarship boy who transfers to Edwards from Bible college, waiting tables to get by. What he knows for sure is that he loves Phoebe. Grieving and guilt-ridden, Phoebe is drawn into a secretive cult founded by a charismatic former student with...

Set in medieval England, this chilling novel combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the drama of historical fiction, as a mistress of the art of death--an early version of a medical examiner--arrives in Cambridge from Italy to investigate the suspicious deaths of four children.

It was a relatively minor criminal matter, but enough that the U.S. Marshals obtained a warrant to enter the home. They didn't expect to unearth trophies from a score of killings. Now Lucas Davenport is on the trail of a serial murderer, one who was able to operate for years without notice or suspicion. But there's even more to this killer than meets the eye.