The Associate by John Grisham

Released January 27, 2009

Perennial bestseller John Grisham is back with a new legal thriller that may remind readers of the author’s early work. Shortly after graduating from Yale Law School, Kyle McAvoy discovers that someone else is aware of a secret in his past.  And that secret is caught on tape.  His blackmailers have a creative demand: that Kyle take a job at a high profile firm in New York City and pass them inside information on crucial trials.

It isn’t long before Kyle is inextricably caught up in his role as a lawyer, an informant and an inexperienced associate desperate to save his future.

Any reader who enjoys cerebral suspense stories should find great satisfaction in Grisham’s latest.  — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

Released October 2008

“Confirming her mastery of the middle-grade novel, Mass (Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life ) combines astronomy and storytelling for a well-balanced look at friendships and the role they play in shaping identity. Three narrators take turns: Ally, who lives with her parents and younger brother at the Moon Shadow Campground and loves every tree and every rock on it, but most especially the stars above it; glamour-loving Bree, who announces to readers that she must have been ’switched at birth’ to explain her presence among physicist parents and a geeky younger sister; and Jack, who is helping his science teacher lead a solar eclipse tour to the Moon Shadow to make up his failing grade. The trio’s paths converge because Ally’s parents have sold the Moon Shadow to Bree’s, and everyone meets up at the campgrounds during a major eclipse. The voices reflect the distinct personalities, and while the outcome is never in doubt—each character discovers unexpected powers of adaptability and new talents—Mass keeps the developments believable. Information about solar eclipses and astronomy is carefully woven into the plot to build drama and will almost certainly intrigue readers. Ages 8–12.”  –Publisher’s Weekly

The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent

Released Sept. 3, 2008

“History is more than facts and figures; it’s something that happens to all of us. That’s the thought that may strike readers of Kent’s luminous first novel, set at the time of the Salem witch trials. In fact, Martha Carrier, Kent’s grandmother back nine generations, was hanged as a witch in 1692. As portrayed here by her daughter, Sarah, Martha is a proud, stubborn, prickly woman, unbending in her beliefs and uninterested in public opinion. When Sarah returns to her family, having been sent away with a little sister because one of her brothers has the plague, she’s not sure she wants to go back to her cold mother and dour, seven-foot father, who has some mysterious connection to Cromwell. But when malicious girls start pointing fingers, neighbor turns against neighbor, and Martha is told she will be arrested for witchcraft, she will not run, and she will not make a false confession. But Martha tells Sarah that when she is interrogated about her mother’s activities, she must lie to save herself. Amidst the painful details of jail and persecution, deep-seated suspicion and familial betrayal, it is this powerful act of love that crowns the book. Highly recommended.” - Library Journal

All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Released: May 1, 2008

“Riveting, compassionate and psychologically nuanced, Mitchard’s (Now You See Her ) second YA novel reimagines the macabre true story that is also the subject of the current bestselling memoir Mistaken Identity. She brings to her treatment an emotional depth that balances the sensational plot: after a car crash, a 16-year-old lies in a coma, wondering at first if she is dead; meanwhile, friends and family bury the girl’s best friend, a victim of the same accident. Weeks pass before the girl emerges from the coma and begins trying to say her name—and before various inconsistencies alert the hospital staff that the girls have been misidentified. Both major and minor characters move through this novel with their histories succinctly evoked: readers will understand how each arrives at this shocking moment, and they will marvel at the acuity with which Mitchard moves them forward. As the survivor, Maureen, recovers—incompletely, as she is left with brain injuries—she struggles to redefine herself in the wake of powerful mixed reactions from her small-town community, including both sets of parents, reactions that intensify as she and her late friend’s boyfriend explore previously submerged feelings for each other. Utterly gripping, and far more compelling than the factual version. Ages 12–up.”  Publishers Weekly