The Prisoner

June 1, 2022

Following a misjudged post gone nastily viral, popular mommy blogger Alex discovers that The Personal Assistant who knew too much about her has vanished, with USA Today best-selling author Belle shifting perspectives between the two (75,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Small Game, a fiction debut from Braverman (Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube), survival instructor Mara lands on a reality TV show with a mixed bag of teammates hoping to win a pile of money by camping out in some undisclosed woodlands but not counting on being stranded (150,000-copy first printing). Slipped into German intelligence by the Soviets (and by Single Spy author Christie), Double Agent Alexsi Smirnoff is captured in 1943 by the British, who recruit him for their own purposes (50,000-copy first printing). In Connelly's Desert Star, LAPD detective Ren�e Ballard rejoins the force to run the newly minted Open-Unsolved Unit, where Harry Bosch volunteers so that he can pursue a psychopath who slaughtered an entire family (750,000-copy first printing). In this follow-up to Graham and Land's The Rising, high school seniors Alex Chin and Samantha Dixon must counter a threat to all humanity, signaled by the ascent of a Blood Moon over the vanished Mayan city of El Mirador (75,000-copy first printing). "Beware of The Couple at the Table nearest to yours" says the note to honeymooners Jane and William, but the tables at their swanky resort are all equidistant--New York Times best-selling Hannah's way of chilling protagonists and readers alike (50,000-copy first printing). Searching for a mountain caribou reportedly spotted in Washington State-- A Ghost of Caribou because this subspecies was thought extinct in the contiguous United States--wildlife biologist Alex Carter instead encounters environmental conflict and a murdered forest ranger; wildlife researcher Henderson follows up A Blizzard of Polar Bears (75,000-copy first printing). Living in the Soviet Union in 1973, above the Arctic Circle--Winterland, indeed--eight-year-old Anya is tapped as a promising gymnast even as she mourns her mother, who vanished after challenging state policies; following Meadows's LJ-starred I Will Send Rain (75,000-copy first printing). Having built a successful life for herself in London after being orphaned as a child in Paris, Amelie marries dashing billionaire Jed--and realizes when she's kidnapped that she feels less like The Prisoner now than she did in her marriage; from the mega-best-selling Paris (200,000-copy first printing). Grandson of action hero Doc Savage, nerdy professor Brandt Savage is pressed into a top-secret training program that re-creates him mentally and physically as The Perfect Assassin; following Patterson's first comic-book hero foray, The Shadow (250,000-copy paperback and 45,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Steadman's latest, emerging novelist Harry husband loves her husband, Edward, but he's one of the Holbecks--filthy rich and dangerous--and though he's tried to be shot of them, the couple is soon dragged into The Family Game. In Unger's Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, Hannah's rich techie brother is graciously facilitating a weekend getaway for themselves, their spouses, and another couple, but an intrusive rental host, the personal chef's creepy stories, and a sneaking suspicion that someone in the group has a vendetta put a damper on things (150,000-copy first printing).

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 26, 2022
Soon after the narrator of this subpar thriller from bestseller Paris (The Therapist), Amelie, marries Ned Hawthorpe, “one of the most eligible men in England,” whose father is a billionaire philanthropist, she’s surprised in her bedroom by a kidnapper and driven off in a car to an unknown destination, where she’s imprisoned in a dark room. Ned has also been taken by their unidentified captors. Amelie wonders whether there’s more going on than a simple abduction for ransom, given that the Hawthorpes have expensive private security. Her suspicions of an unknown motive for the kidnapping and the involvement of an insider are enhanced given that the crime happened just three days after Ned’s primary protector was murdered, which should have elevated the threat level. Flashbacks fleshing out the nature of Amelie’s relationship with Ned, which is, inevitably, complicated, alternate with her desperate efforts to escape and learn the truth. Thinly drawn characters make relating to the lead’s plight difficult, and the eventual answers to why Amelie and Ned have been targeted come as a letdown. Hopefully, Paris will return to form next time.

October 1, 2022
Amelie's life is changed when she meets Carolyn, who lifts her from London's streets and folds her into a tight circle of friends. Kismet seems to intervene again when Amelie snags a position as personal assistant to Ned Hawthorpe, the playboy owner of Exclusives magazine. Then Ned makes an irresistible proposal: if Amelie helps him avoid an unwanted engagement by marrying him, he'll fund her law degree. Unfortunately, their marriage is actually Ned's attempt to distract the media from sexual assault accusations, and Amelie becomes his captive after she discovers the true extent of Ned's brutality. Before Amelie can escape, she and Ned are kidnapped and held for ransom. Weeks of terror end abruptly when their captors leave with Ned and order her to fake his disappearance. They don't expect Amelie to claim control by tracking them down and unveiling a mind-blowing betrayal. A harrowing Cinderella thriller featuring an underestimated heroine in ruthless survivor Amelie, whose sharp-edged narrative keeps the suspense churning and offers a counterweight to the malignant entitlement of Hawthorpe's world.

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October 1, 2022

In a pitch-dark room, kidnapped Amelie Lamont tries to understand why she was taken. Her silent captors offer no clues. After her father passed, she had moved to London to earn money and eventually attend law school. Instead, homeless, she meets Carolyn Blakely and her friends Lina and Justine, who help her turn her life around, but also introduce her to Ned Hawthorpe, son of a billionaire philanthropist. Unexpectedly Amelie and Ned marry for mutually self-serving purposes, but soon Ned's noxious character emerges. Amelie must use her wits to survive a controlling husband and soon an angst-filled prolonged captivity. Weaving between the recent past and present, the book's first half is tense and uneasy with a lonely young woman stumbling into a world she can barely conceive of with its wealth but also darkness. The attention-grabbing beginning unfortunately deflates with a long set of revelations as to why she was kidnapped. VERDICT Paris (Behind Closed Doors) reduces a woman to a state of near incapacitation and then enables her to face a terrible situation with resolve. For fans of Joy Fielding.--Gloria Drake

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.