Crime By The Book | April 11, 2021

Is it a little bit early to be talking about summer crime fiction releases? Maybe… though I don’t know about you, but I for one am already eagerly anticipating summer and all that it will bring with it! It’s been a long year since the pandemic began, and I will take any and every excuse to look forward to the future - including looking forward to future crime fiction releases. In that spirit, rather than doing separate Spring 2021 and Summer 2021 Most-Anticipated lists, I decided to combine them both into one massive rundown of the upcoming crime fiction releases that I’m most looking forward to in the coming months!

THE HUNTING WIVES by May Cobb
I’ve been saving my advance copy of THE HUNTING WIVES for a rainy day when I need a purely fun suspense novel to dig into - I can’t wait to give this one a try! I’ve heard it compared to Desperate Housewives (yes please!), and can’t wait to get into this juicy, dramatic thriller. This book has “popcorn thriller” written all over it, and looks perfect for a poolside read as the weather warms up.

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The Nerd Daily | April 10, 2021

Thriller lovers, we are about to be spoiled! There are an incredible number of new books coming out in the next few months that are sure to be nothing short of outstanding. We have highlighted a few that are scheduled to be published in each of the next few months with (hopefully) just enough information to get you as excited as we are. With an amazing mix of debut authors and perennial favourites, there is definitely something for everyone. We promise, no spoilers here!

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb
An elite club that focuses equally on target practice and martinis leads to a life of dangerous behavior, obsession, seduction, and murder when Sophie, her husband, and young son settle down in a small Texas town.

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The New York Times | April 9, 2021

MY MOTHER’S HOUSE, by Francesca Momplaisir. (Vintage, 304 pp., $16.) This debut novel is narrated from three perspectives: a Queens house on fire (its walls “talk, scheme and ultimately give in to an impulse to self-destruct”), its Haitian owner and a mysterious woman living in the basement. Our reviewer, Stephanie Powell Watts, called it “an ambitious attempt to tell a story of despotism and terror, toxic masculinity and survival.”

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Publishers Weekly | February 26, 2021

Lifestyle journalist Sophie O’Neill, the narrator of this nail-biting thriller from Cobb (Big Woods), leaves a successful job in bustling Evanston, Ill., wishing to “slow down” with her architect husband and preschooler son in small town Mapleton, Tex. Soon, a bored Sophie seeks the company of oil-rich Margot Banks, the force behind an exclusive conspiratorial clique of four wives, a group of dysfunctional friends heavily lubricated with a steady diet of martinis and mojitos. Friday nights light up with their private skeet shooting club, followed by barhopping. The flirting women have only two rules: first names only, and don’t go all the way. But rules are meant to be broken. Fueled by alcohol, rage, jealousy, unhappy marriages, and blind lust, the women indulge in adultery and raunchy sex. It’s Texas, so keep an eye out for hunky football players, and when a teenage cheerleader ends up dead, Sophie becomes the prime suspect. Wild plot twists keep the pages turning up to the unexpected ending. This romp is a guilty pleasure.

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Essence | February 25, 2021

Patrisse Cullors has been a force in the social justice and activism space as one of the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement alongside Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza.

As an artist, author, and freedom fighting organizer, Cullors has been no stranger to vocalizing her opinions through any medium necessary, and she unapologetically uses her social platforms to speak out about artistic and cultural work within the Black community. As we approach the one-year anniversaries of the unjust killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the self-proclaimed abolitionist has announced the release of a new book for the everyday activist looking to play their role in the fight for justice and equality.

Set for release on October 5, 2021, “An Abolitionist’s Handbook: 12 Steps to Change Yourself and the World” is available for pre-order now and will be published via St. Martins Press. The handbook will serve as a framework for the activists and abolitionists of today’s generation who want to learn about and implement the necessary skills to effect change among Black people and other poor, marginalized and disenfranchised communities during these unprecedented times. If you’re looking for a how-to guide on becoming a modern-day abolitionist through “love, fierce compassion and precision,” you should add this to your cart.

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People | February 25, 2021

Patrisse Cullors, one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, has inspired millions of people around the world to take to the streets in protest of systemic racism and police brutality.

Now, the activist is sharing her best advice for cultivating positive change and lasting equality in our communities in her new book.

Cullors is unveiling the cover of her upcoming book, An Abolitionist's Handbook: 12 Steps to Change Yourself and the World, exclusively to PEOPLE.

For An Abolitionist's Handbook's cover art, Cullors chose to showcase the title in a straightforward, bold and black typeface set against a grainy white background.

The book offers a framework for readers to push for reform that helps Black, poor and disenfranchised people, initiate reparations and practice compassion.

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NPR | February 19, 2021

Contributed by Clover Hope, writer, professor, and author of The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop.

Several bright, young women rappers have owned the Tiny Desk stage in the past few years, and I'm honored to highlight some of my favorites from the archives.

• I love that Chika kept her performance low-key, even with four backup singers behind her. Her set is pure charm, poetry and comedy. At one point, she pulls out a tiny tub of Vaseline and erroneously calls it ChapStick.

• Notice first (as if you couldn't) that Mulatto is sitting in an oversized, tufted, white throne in a studio and not in front of a wall of books per the usual Tiny Desk aesthetic. It's the perfect ambiance for her to suavely rap about riches and insecurity, while a violinist gives the performance an extra air of grandeur.

• Noname raps with a level of clarity and calm that hangs in the air like smoke. It's a treat to watch her perform selections from her album Telefone and talk about how we should "heal the world with vulnerability."

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Rise Feminist Books | February 18, 2021

2020 challenged all of us. A pandemic physically separated us. In the midst of loss, isolation, and injustice, we forged new paths of togetherness. We created new models of community. We developed new tools. We connected with our loved ones virtually. We took to the streets in protest.

We are not finished. There is still work to be done.

“We are a generation called to action.” (Khan-Cullors/bandele, When They Call You a Terrorist)

As we take stock of what we have lost, we must continue to fight. We must hold both in our hearts: the past and the future.

We are inspired by women who have used their voices for change, lifting the voices of other women. Women like Shirley Chisholm, Ella Baker, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Jennifer Keelan, Harriet Tubman, and Ethel L. Payne chose to lead with more than just words; they led with action.

Named to the 2021 list:
Khan-Cullors, Patrisse & bandele, asha. When They Call You a Terrorist: Young Adult Edition.
2020. 245p. St. Martin’s/Wednesday $18.99 (9781250194985). Gr. 8-up.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors shares life stories that have influenced and built the international movement.

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The Providence Journal | February 18, 2021

There’s a lot to like in Daniel Pyne’s “Water Memory” (Thomas & Mercer, 386 pages, $24.95), most notably a refreshing, pulse-pounding structure that narrows the landscape even as it expands the playing field.

Think “Die Hard” on a cargo ship as shell-shocked special operator Audrey Sentro finds safe passage that turns out not to be so safe at all when pirates seize the vessel. It’s almost like fighting by choice, instead of out of duty, is precisely the tonic she needs to get her mojo back. Problem is, Sentro is one more concussion away from her brain packing it in, meaning she'd better dispatch the bad guys just as she was trained to do.

“Water Memory” is original, wondrously paced and, well, memorable. At the book’s heart, it’s basically one long action scene in a manner best befitting the great David Morrell and the best book of its kind since Roderick Thorpe’s “Nothing Lasts Forever,” the basis for the aforementioned film “Die Hard.”

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Mountain Times | February 16, 2021

With a pace that will have you racing through Daniel Pyne’s thriller, ‘”Water Memory,”’ it’s no surprise that the second in the series is already in the works. Black ops specialist Aubrey Sentro won’t be held back.

Or will she? There’s a lot going on in “Water Memory,” and Pyne’s story covers a lot of ground: motherhood, memory and munitions, separately and often all at once.

When the ship, its crew and passengers are captured by pirates, Sentro comes into her own, showcasing the military skills she’s honed over decades. That those skills are tested by her dark recall and that no one is really who they seem to be — including Sentro herself, who for years fed her now-adult children the fiction that she was a well-traveled desk jockey — confound and propel the novel.

“Water Memory” is a speedboat on steroids and Pyne’s use of the present tense and blind narrative turns fuel the propulsion. Tackle this one while you’re wide awake, hang tight until the end and wait for “Vital Signs,” book two in the Sentro series, due out a year from now.

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AudioFile Magazine | February 11, 2021

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

An epic novel enveloping a wide swath of European colonialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is deftly narrated by Robin Miles. The novel opens in Montana with the adventures and tribulations of Victor, a Crow Indian boy who, approaching manhood, is heading out on his vision quest. Victor's mother, Rosa, from Trinidad, is the daughter of a formerly enslaved father from Africa and a woman from Martinique. Miles beautifully captures numerous accents in the account of Rosa's early life in the Caribbean, voyage to the American West, and life with the Crow Indians. This little known part of America's story is riveting in itself. Coupled with Miles's stunning narration, this novel will no doubt find many attentive listeners.

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Midwest Book Review | February 9, 2021

Black ops specialist Aubrey Sentro may be one concussion away from death. But when pirates seize the cargo ship she's on, she must decide whether to risk her life to save her fellow passengers. Sentro's training takes over, and she's able to elude her captors, leaving bodies in her wake. But her problems are just getting started. Her memory lapses are getting more frequent, symptoms of serial-concussion syndrome.

As she plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with the pirates, she pushes herself to survive by focusing on thoughts of her children. She's never told them what she really does for a living, and now she might not get the chance. While her memories make her vulnerable, motherhood makes her dangerous.

Critique: A deftly crafted and simply riveting read, "Water Memory: A Thriller" effectively showcases author Daniel Pyne's impressively entertaining narrative storytelling style as a novelist.

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Deadline | February 5, 2021

EXCLUSIVE: Gil Birmingham (Twilight, Hell or High Water), Terry O’Quinn (Perpetual Grace LTD, Patriot) and Calum Worthy (Out of Order, I Was A Rat) are set for recurring roles opposite Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote in Netflix’s dramatic thriller series Pieces of Her.

Based on the 2018 book by bestselling crime author Karin Slaughter, the eight-episode series comes from an all-female creative team led by Charlotte Stoudt, Bruna Papandrea, Lesli Linka Glatter and Minkie Spiro, who will direct the season.

Written by Stoudt, who serves as showrunner, Pieces of Her is set in a sleepy Georgia town where a random act of violence sets off an unexpected chain of events for 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Heathcote) and her mother Laura (Collette). Desperate for answers, Andy embarks on a dangerous journey across America, drawing her towards the dark, hidden heart of her family.

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Los Angeles Times | February 4, 2021

When “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” was published some 15 years ago, it accelerated an unofficial crime subgenre with a rebooted style of heroine — the kick-ass female. Of course this wasn’t exactly new: Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller and other writers of previous generations wrote female protagonists who take no tea for the fever. But Stieg Larsson and the myriad 21st century writers who stand on their shoulders have taken those characters to new heights of physical prowess — even as they sometimes sucked plot, character development and even logic into their thrillers’ action-packed vortex.

Into this maelstrom comes Aubrey Sentro, the heroine of Daniel Pyne’s “Water Memory” — a former government agent who now works black ops missions for a private security firm called Solomon Systems. The blistering prologue establishes that Sentro knows her way around an exfiltration, despite a mix-up about the hotel room where the victim is being held. This time it’s a middle-aged Chinese American corporate type who’s been kidnapped at a conference in Cyprus but naively thinks he’s having a marathon lovemaking session with a beautiful woman. Sentro’s momentary hesitation about the room contributed to the mission going sideways, resulting in unintended bloodshed and something more in the aftermath: “She heard but couldn’t understand the voices, as if she were underwater.”

“Water Memory” is elevated from its genre moorings by the parallels it draws to classic seafaring literature, including “Lord Jim” (whose title character’s journey is echoed here) and even Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” excerpted for the novel’s epigraph. But neither that nor the well-placed and succinct flashbacks, illuminating the flash points in Sentro’s past that led her to this fateful moment, can distract a reader from the ripping good yarn Pyne has spun — or the prickly, endearing Aubrey Sentro, ugly scars and all.

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Gumshoe Review | February 1, 2021

Daniel Pyne's Water Memory is a violent, action-packed thriller of a desperate woman, Aubrey Sentro, who is on the verge of losing everything she loves. She is forced to become a fierce tigress in order to save the lives of innocent civilians, including her own son. Aubrey is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, having been trained in the army. She has participated in covert operations around the world. She has made many sacrifices in order to rise among the ranks. Unfortunately, she has lost her husband, Dennis Twoon, to cancer; her grown children resent her for being absent when they were growing up, and now she learns that her body is turning against her. Her memory is becoming unreliable.

Its unique setting is one of the reasons why I enjoyed reading Water Memory. Much of the storyline takes place aboard a cargo ship, Jeddah, which is owned by a Singapore shipping company. I didn't know that people vacation aboard these slow-moving ships that meander from port to port. Mostly elderly, retired people who have a great deal of free time and flexible schedules are able to vacation aboard cargo ships. Except for the bustling, hectic crowds, these vessels offer many comforts that the large cruise liners have. I've been on enormous cruise boats where I became extremely stressed from the constant rushing; I felt I needed a vacation after my cruise. Cargo ships transport about a dozen passengers, the food is good, there are libraries and gyms, and interesting ports of call.

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Forbes | January 31, 2021

Hip-hop is usually told through the perspective of men and usually emphasizes a celebration of male legends. Music journalist Clover Hope wrote The Motherlode to tell hip-hop’s story through the perspective of women—something rather revolutionary.

With over 100 quick profiles and vibrant illustrations, The Motherlode tells a new story of hip-hop through the women who made it and continue to shape it.

“People have done TikTok videos to ‘Push It’ or, you know, to J.J. Fad’s ‘Supersonic’ but don't know the history of that group or what they went through,” Hope said. “They kind of hear all these songs, and they hear these artists out of context.”

So, she created “a text where you could see hip-hop from the perspective of women.” Profiles include artists from MC Sha-Rock and Da Brat to Nicki Minaj and Cardi B.

Hope wanted to provide a historical context for trending artists and lesser known artists alike. She wanted to highlight their journeys and acknowledgement their contributions that may not otherwise get the spotlight they deserve.

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Deadline | January 28, 2021

Jessica Barden (End of the F***ing World), David Wenham (Lion), Joe Dempsie (Game Of Thrones), Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life) and Omari Hardwick (Power) have been set as leads opposite Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote in Pieces of Her, we can reveal.

Netflix’s dramatic thriller series is based on the 2018 book by bestselling crime author Karin Slaughter.

The eight-episode series comes from an all-female creative team led by Charlotte Stoudt, Bruna Papandrea, Lesli Linka Glatter and Minkie Spiro, who will direct the season.

Written by Stoudt, who serves as showrunner, Pieces of Her is set in a sleepy Georgia town where a random act of violence sets off an unexpected chain of events for 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Heathcote) and her mother Laura (Collette). Desperate for answers, Andy embarks on a dangerous journey across America, drawing her towards the dark, hidden heart of her family.

Follow the link above to learn more.

Booklist | January 27, 2021

Adapting The Great Gatsby into a graphic novel is no easy feat because the metaphor and imagery are so well known. Instead of a strict recreation of every word, Woodman-Maynard uses muted single-color panels and pages to communicate the different moods of the story, from excessive parties to melancholy remembrances. When Nick Carraway moves to West Egg, he quickly gets pulled into the world of his nouveau riche neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Over in East Egg, Nick spends time with his cousin Daisy and her hulking husband, Tom Buchanan. Nick then finds out that Gatsby’s plan is to recreate his past with Daisy, and he gets caught in the middle of their reconciliation. Woodman-Maynard chooses to turn many metaphors into literal drawings, adding to the heightened euphoria of Gatsby’s parties. Although most readers will know the story, Woodman-Maynard’s artwork brings a new perspective to the character’s histories and actions—Daisy especially benefits from this. This adaptation deftly pays homage to Fitzgerald’s iconic phrases through the artwork and pushes readers to question Nick’s status as narrator.

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