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New and Notable Fiction: January 2012

Cover art for A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY
FICTION
Released: Jan. 25, 2012
A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY
by Joshilyn Jackson
"Snappy dialogue with a Southern twang, spiritual uplift and undeniably likable characters—"Quirky Cute" at its best."
Jackson (Backseat Saints, 2010, etc.) sticks with her specialty—plucky Southern women who overcome male ill treatment from their past—in this novel about a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter who confront a suddenly uncovered family secret. Read full book review >
Cover art for EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON
FICTION
Released: Jan. 24, 2012
Kirkus Star EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON
by Mark Hodder
"Enthralling, dizzying and as impressive as they come."
Third entry (The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, 2011, etc.) in Spain-resident Englishman Hodder's time-travel/alternate-reality/steampunk saga; though originally billed as a trilogy, the ending here leaves considerable scope for further augmentation. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE ODDS
FICTION
Released: Jan. 23, 2012
THE ODDS
by Stewart O’Nan
"A Valentine to marriage as it is actually lived in troubled times."
An emotional richness permeates this short novel about a couple on the verge of ending their marriage while pondering whether they can salvage it. Read full book review >
Cover art for GONE WEST
FICTION
Released: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Star GONE WEST
by Carola Dunn
"Dunn (Anthem for Doomed Youth, 2011, etc.) adds another winner to a long string of charming mysteries evocative of the period between the Great Wars."
The wife of a Scotland Yard detective is such a clever sleuth that she's on the scene before her husband. Read full book review >
Cover art for SHADOWS IN FLIGHT
FICTION
Released: Jan. 17, 2012
SHADOWS IN FLIGHT
by Orson Scott Card
"If you still prefer Ender to Bean after this, you're really hardcore."
Warning: Do not attempt to appreciate this book without at least some familiarity with Card's child-warrior Ender series. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE INQUISITOR
FICTION
Released: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Star THE INQUISITOR
by Mark Allen Smith
"A breezy, involving thriller that handily overcomes any resistance to its grisly premise and leaves you hoping for the return of its oddly winning hero."
Geiger, a strange, dispassionate genius at torture who hires himself out to clients in need of high-level "information retrieval," must confront deeply repressed memories of his traumatic upbringing when a duplicitous client uses a young boy as a pawn. Read full book review >