Tag Archives: Nelson DeMille

PETRUCELLI PICKS: GIFT GUIDE 2019: THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR (PART DEUX)

Without a doubt, our favorite (read: best) holiday book of the year. The 1942 Sears Christmas Book (Dover Publications, $19.99) is a faithful facsimile of the retailer’s 1942 Christmas edition . . . weeks after first “reading” it, I am looking forward to reliving those bygone years again and again.
The 1942 Sears Christmas Book also provides an interesting look at how merchandise has evolved over the years. In 1942, Sears shoppers could purchase toys as well as housewares, clothes, furniture, candy, and gifts to send to servicemen (all at prices that now seem astonishingly low). The wartime catalog even includes information about the importance of saving scrap metal for munitions and encourages readers to buy war bonds.
Nostalgia has never been nicer!


Picking this book as one of the year’s best is easier than picking a guitar. Guitar: The World’s Most Seductive Instrument (Workman Publishing),s an obsessive, full-color book presented in an irresistible slipcase, features 200 instruments in stunning detail.
Get thisclose to Prince’s Yellow Cloud; Willie Nelson’s “Trigger”; Muddy Water’s Thunderbird; and “Rocky,” lovingly hand-painted by its owner, George Harrison. Met historic instruments—Fender’s Broadcaster; Les Paul’s “Log”; the Gibson Nick Lucas Special, the very first artist model—and stunning acoustics from a new wave of women builders, like Rosie Heydenrych of England, who’s known to use 5,000-year-old wood retrieved from a peat bog, and quirky one-of-a-kind guitars, like Linda Manzer’s Pikasso II, a musical marvel consisting of four necks, 42 strings and a thousand pounds of pressure.


War sucks. Yet Vicksburg: Grant’s Campaign That Broke the Confederacy (Simon & Schuster, $35) tells the full story of  the last stronghold of the Confederacy on the Mississippi River. It prevented the Union from using the river for shipping between the Union-controlled Midwest and New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The Union navy tried to take Vicksburg, which sat on a high bluff overlooking the river, but couldn’t do it. General Grant moved his army south and joined forces with Admiral Porter, but even together they could not come up with a successful plan.
At one point Grant even tried to build a canal so that the river could be diverted away from Vicksburg.is year-long campaign to win the city.
Donald L. Miller brings to life all the drama, characters, and significance of Vicksburg, a historic moment that rivals any war story in history.


Cute book, clever design. The Queeriodic Table: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Culture (Summersdale , $13.99) plays on the periodic table to celebrate all aspects of the culture in small, easy-to-digest sections.
Celebrate the richness of modern queer culture and its vast history with this fascinating introduction to all the essential elements that helped sculpt the queer community up to the present day.


Stephen King calls the book “one hell of a suspense novel.” We couldn’t agreed more.  ?—Stephen King
Linwood Barclay’s Elevator Pitch (William Morrow, $26.99) begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.
Right to the bottom of the shaft.
It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world—and the nation’s capital of media, finance and entertainment—is plunged into chaos.
You expect us to give more away?
Take the elevator to the bottom floor and go get your copy!


People from all over the United States visit Nantucket Island to celebrate Christmas in a charming Early American setting. From the Christmas Stroll along cobblestoned Main Street to the Festival of Trees held each year at the historic Whaling Museum, Nantucket celebrates the holiday season with traditions and decorations that transform the island into a winter wonderland.
Can’t make it this year? Opt for Lesley Linsley’s Christmas on Nantucket (Globe Pequot, $29.99) as she takes readers on a holiday tour through this picturesque island, offering her own ideas for recreating a quaint Nantucket-style Christmas along the way.


The Wild Bunch has been named one of the greatest Westerns of all time by the American Film Institute. With good reasonSam Peckinpah’s film is the story of a gang of outlaws who are one big steal from retirement. When their attempted train robbery goes awry, the gang flees to Mexico and falls in with a brutal general of the Mexican Revolution, who offers them the job of a lifetime. Conceived by a stuntman, directed by a blacklisted director, and shot in the sand and heat of the Mexican desert, the movie seemed doomed. Instead, it became an instant classic with a dark, violent take on the Western movie tradition.
In The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film  Bloomsbury Publishing, $28), W.K. Stratton tells the fascinating history of the making of the movie and documents for the first time the extraordinary contribution of Mexican and Mexican-American actors and crew members to the movie’s success. The Wild Bunch is an authoritative history of the making of a movie and the era behind it.


Written in Gary John Bishop’s  irreverent, in-your-face style that resonated with the hundreds of thousand of fans who read his  Unfu*k YourselfStop Doing That Sh*t: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back (HarperOne, $22.99) reveals our deepest subconscious machinery, with a real-world approach to powerfully translate our most negative thoughts and behaviors into a vitalizing, sabotage-free future.
Think you’ve unfucked yourself? Yet why do you act the way you do? Do you ever feel like you get stuck in destructive cycles that hold you back from living the life you really want? In a dynamic, compelling and aha-filled journey, the book helps you connect the dots of your “stuff” all the way from your past to the present. You’ll make sense of yourself as you uncover how to interrupt those destructive cycles of yours and make the kind of profound shift needed to get your life on track.


Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen ( W. W. Norton & Company, $25.95) is a charming account of Mary Norris’s lifelong love affair with words (pencils and punctuation kept her busy in The New Yorker’s celebrated copy department)  and her solo adventures in the land of olive trees and ouzo.
Along the way, Norris explains how the alphabet originated in Greece, makes the case for Athena as a feminist icon, goes searching for the fabled Baths of Aphrodite, and reveals the surprising ways Greek helped form English. Filled with Norris’s memorable encounters with Greek words, Greek gods, Greek wine―and more than a few Greek men―Greek to Me is the Comma Queen’s fresh take on Greece and the exotic yet strangely familiar language that so deeply influences our own.


Since the moment we first entered Downton Abbey in 1912, we have been swept away by Julian Fellowes’ evocative world of romance, intrigue, drama and tradition. Now, in 1925, as Downton Abbey prepares to close its doors for the final time, Jessica Fellowes leads us through the house and estate, reliving the iconic moments of the wonderfully aristocratic Crawley family and their servants as they navigate the emerging modern age.
St. Martin’s Press has released two scumptions books that fans will relish. Downton Abbey A Celebration: The Official Companion to All Six Seasons ($22.99) is crammed with  in-depth cast interview, as well as a complete episode guide for the first five seasons and a teaser for the sixth.
Downton Abbey: The Official Film Companion (St. Martin’s Press, $29.99) brings the world and the characters of our favorite fictional country house to life.
Featuring spectacular photographs from the production, interviews with the cast and crew, and a look into the historical and geographical backdrop of the film, this official guide to the film is made to be treasured and loved by fans across the globe.
The film revolves around the King and Queen making an official visit to Downton in 1927, and not only sees the return of all the main cast from the final television series, but also introduces some great British actors to the world of Downton, as we meet the royal family and their retinue. The accompanying book is lavishly illustrated with stunning shots from both behind and in front of the camera, which capture some wonderful off-guard moments during filming, as well as the original costume illustrations.


Did you know that one of the world’s sharpest and most forensic minds inhabited the persona of an attractive old lady, with pink cheeks and blue eyes and a gentle, rather fussy manner? Discover the secrets of Miss Marple in Murder, She Said: The Quotable Miss Marple (William Morrow, $16.99).
It’s a tiny tome of her quotes and sayings, and an essay by Agatha Christie (the Queen of Crime who created MM) appearing for the first time in any book.


Experience the work of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest painters, inventors, and scientists of all time, in a brand-new way. Courtney Watson McCarthy has crafted many brilliant pop-up books, and Leonardo Pop-Ups (Thames & Hudson, $34.95) is the most dynamic.
Featuring many of Da Vinci’s most enduring artworks, both as illustrations and pop-ups, including The Vitruvian ManThe Last Supper, and, of course, the Mona LisaLeonardo Pop-Ups also includes Da Vinci’s self-portrait, an overview of his architectural designs, and inventions such as a flapping ornithopter.


Spanning every episode of Game of Thrones across all eight seasons, Kim Renfro goes deep into how the show was made, why it became such a phenomenon and explores every detail you want to know.
The Unofficial Guide to Game of Thrones is the perfect book to look back at all you may have missed or to jump-start you on a second viewing of the whole series. Valar morghulis!


We would not have honey without honeybees. Without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures.
With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we’ll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects (Simon & Schuster, $26) is an essential introduction to the little creatures that make the world go round.


Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille’s blistering thriller The Deserter (Simon & Schuster, $28.99) is and features a brilliant and unorthodox Army investigator, his enigmatic female partner, and their hunt for the Army’s most notorious—and dangerous—deserter.
When Captain Kyle Mercer of the Army’s elite Delta Force disappeared from his post in Afghanistan, a video released by his Taliban captors made international headlines.
But circumstances were murky: Did Mercer desert before he was captured? Then a second video sent to Mercer’s Army commanders leaves no doubt: The trained assassin and keeper of classified Army intelligence has willfully disappeared.
And we ain’t telling you anything else: Why spoil the read?


1973 was the year rock hit its peak while splintering―just like the rest of the world. Ziggy Stardust travelled to America in David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane. The Dark Side of the Moon began its epic run on the Billboard charts, inspired by the madness of Pink Floyd’s founder, while all four former Beatles scored top ten albums, two hitting #1. FM battled AM, and Motown battled Philly on the charts, as the era of protest soul gave way to disco, while DJ Kool Herc gave birth to hip hop in the Bronx. The glam rock of the New York Dolls and Alice Cooper split into glam metal and punk. Elvis Presley’s Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite was NBC’s top-rated special of the year, while Elton John’s albums dominated the number one spot for two and a half months.
Just as U.S. involvement in Vietnam drew to a close, Roe v. Wade ignited a new phase in the culture war. While the oil crisis imploded the American dream of endless prosperity, and Watergate’s walls closed in on Nixon, the music of 1973 both reflected a shattered world and brought us together.
Celebrate the year with 1973: Rock at the Crossroads (Thomas Dunne Books, $29.99). You will be glad you did.


 

K.J. Howe is not a mystery: She simply has written a damn good thriller, “The Freedom Broker”

We were fascinated by The Freedom Broker (Quercus, $26.99), the debut novel by K.J. Howe. Actually, it’s better described as a mystery . . . a book that almost drowns readers as they swim throughout the world of freedom brokers, those whose sole job is to brings hostages home. “You’re alive,” says Howe, “but not really living, dependent on your captors for absolutely everything.” The tome introduced us to The tome introduced us of Thea Paris, a female freedom broker.

Those who know us know we relish the underbelly of life (think Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapped; better yet, think about Patty Hearst) so we wanted to chat with Howe about her words and wisdom, hoping there’s another trip to Paris.

There are many authors writing mysteries. How did you make sure your book idea was fresh and different?

From where do ideas come?
Growing up, I lived all over the world, as my father worked in telecommunications. I experienced many adventures in places like Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Puerto Rico, Austria and Switzerland. Several locales had a shadow of danger associated with them, so when I started writing, I chose the international thriller genre. It was an ideal fit.  I discovered there were a group of 30 elite kidnap negotiators who travel to the globe’s hotspots to bring hostages home. This led to the creation of Thea Paris.  For Thea, rescuing hostages is more than a job; it’s a calling, as she had a very personal experience with kidnapping when her brother was abducted at 12.Image result for K.J. Howe

Kidnapping intrigued me; it’s a purgatory of sorts. Hostages have to deal with intense hardship, loneliness, boredom and the terror of waking up every day wondering if it might be their last. I’ve spent the last three years immersed in this world to bring verisimilitude to the series.  I have the deepest respect for these freedom brokers who risk their own lives to help people in captivity.

For me, ideas tend to sprout when I’m researching a topic, and the story grows from there. When I read novels, I like to be entertained and also learn something.  I tried to integrate interesting facts about kidnapping in The Freedom Fighter so that people can understand more about this international growing crisis.

I know you worked with and interviewed Dr. Frank Grimm and Peter Moore before stepping in the shoes of a K&R negotiator. What did you learn that surprised you? What pre-conceived notions were blown away?
Spending time with these experts has been an illuminating experience. There are over 40,000 reported kidnappings every year—and that means around five people are abducted with every hour that passes.  Kidnapping has become an international crisis, and the problem continues to grow; terrorist organizations are using it as a fundraising mechanism, and displaced military and police in struggling countries are turning to kidnapping as a way of putting food on the table for their families.

One shocker was on the insurance side of the business. It is the one type of insurance where if benefactors know they are covered, the insurance may be null and void.  The reason for this is to protect against people “kidnapping” themselves and collecting the ransom.  Kidnap and ransom insurance coverage can go up to 50 million dollars.

It used to be that targets were mostly executives in foreign countries and high net-worth individuals. This is no longer the case.  Journalists, aid workers, missionaries and everyday people are targeted.  It’s important to be cautious if you are traveling to an area where there is a high risk of kidnapping.  My website www.kjhowe.com has a  map of the world that highlights hot zones.

Are you a mystery reader? Who are some favorite authors?
Crime fiction is my favorite genre. I’m an avid fan of authors like Greg Iles and his incredible Natchez Burning trilogy; David Morrell, the creator of Rambo and author of more than 40 bestsellers; Andrew Gross, whose latest book The One Man really resonated with me; and Lisa Gardner, as every book she writes is a guaranteed great read.

Are you scared to read mysteries at night?
I don’t mind dark fiction, day or night. I find it fascinating.  That said, sometimes I am scared to start a good crime novel in the evening, as I might stay up all night reading it!

Do you know Mary Roberts Rinehart, highly regarded as the first female mystery author who is now an icon?
Yes, if I’m not mistaken, the talented author of The Circular Staircase is attributed with creating the well-known phrase, “the butler did it” in her novel The Door, where the butler actually did the crime. Mary also spoke publicly about her breast cancer in 1947 when health issues were not openly discussed.  She was a trailblazer in the book world, and I have a great deal of respect for her work.

You both gave us thrills. Talk about Thrillerfest.
It is a conference held every July in Manhattan for thriller enthusiasts. I have the honor of being the executive director of this week-long event.  We welcome more than 1,000 people, including some of the top names in the genre.  We host a day at the FBI, where special agents talk about their area of expertise.  We also offer an event called PitchFest where aspiring authors pitch their novels to agents, editors and producers.  Add in workshops, spotlight interviews, panels and cocktail parties, and we have summer camp for anyone who loves page-turning fiction.  This year, we have a blockbuster line-up that includes Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, C.J. Box, Nelson DeMille, Charlaine Harris, Steve Berry, J.A. Jance, and many others.  Visit thrillerfest.com for more information.

I have Type II diabetes. My mother had Type I, and I know the struggle of living with the disease. Having known Mary Tyler Moore, who did much to fight diabetes, I know the struggles she confronted. What are your struggles? What keeps you from reaching for a piece of gooey cake you know you should not (must not?) have?
There are more than 29 million Americans who have this illness, and, sadly, the numbers are on the rise.  My character Thea Paris has Type 1 Diabetes.  I’m a former medical writer, and my grandfather had diabetes, so this issue strikes home with me.  I remember watching him inject himself with needles, and that left an indelible impression.  I wanted to feature a strong, talented woman with diabetes to inspire people with any chronic illness to keep striving for their dreams.  Anything is possible with the right determination.  As for that gooey cake, I try to always think long-term gain vs. immediate gratification!