Betrayal

April new releases include a significant amount of betrayal -- affairs, abandonment, murder and corruption. These stories will pull you in and keep you guessing until the end.

1. Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman

Just like any other day, stay at home mother and wife Frances Bloom or “St. Frances” as some of the snarky soccer moms call her, straps on her seat belt and begins her morning routine. Frances runs the neighborhood carpool, taking kids to and from school. She doesn’t mind it one bit, she's always lending others a hand. Although that willingness to help sometimes leads her to oversteps her boundaries and gets her involved in drama. As is the case when she walks in on her neighbor Anne having an affair.

Witness the lives of four families unravel from multiple points of view. How can somebody be unfaithful but still love their partner? Do responsibilities come before personal happiness? If trust is destroyed, can it be rebuilt? How much privacy should we give our children. Abbi Waxman author of The Garden of Small Beginnings returns with a hilarious and poignant new novel about four families and the affair that changes everything.

“Once again, Waxman manages to take a far-reaching topic and sprinkle it with spicy dialogue, adorable kids, and characters who feel like best friends...Frances is equal parts warmth and snark as she considers her friends and neighbors through the lens of TMI. Recommend to those who like to turn pages quickly without sacrificing complex characters.”—Booklist

2. Big Guns by Steve Israel 

When Chicago’s mayor starts a national campaign to ban handguns from America’s cities, towns and villages, Otis Cogsworth, the wealthy chairman and CEO of Cogsworth International Arms, works to convince a congressman to introduce federal legislation mandating that every American must own a firearm.

The mayor in Cogsworth's village then passes an ordinance to ban guns in the town. Otis orchestrates a recall election of the mayor, bringing political consultants, Super PACs, celebrities and the national media to the village. Meanwhile, Washington politicians in both parties are caught between a mighty gun lobby and the absurdity of requiring that every American carry a gun.

“This book delivers what America needs now more than ever—a good laugh at ourselves. Big Guns is a satire about the gun lobby, political corruption, and Washington power, but it is more than the sum of its parts; it’s a serious indictment of America, told by a man who has spent 16 years in Congress and knows of what he writes. Steve Israel is not only a fine writer; he is perhaps the finest, funniest, and best political satirist writing today. You don’t need to completely agree with him (I don’t) but you need to hear what he has to say. Congress should pass a law making Big Guns mandatory reading for themselves."—Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Cuban Affair.

3. Our Little Secret by Roz Nay

Angela Petitjean is being held in a police interrogation room with J. Novak. He wants to know what happened to the wife of Angela’s high school sweetheart, HP.

Instead of answering the detective’s questions, Angela begins to tell her whole story starting 10 years ago, explaining how she met and fell in love with HP. He was a popular athlete, she was an awkward shy teenager. Angela’s past reveals dark secrets, a love triangle and countless betrayals. It’s a cat-and-mouse game between detective Novak and the truth.

"Nay lures readers down a dark and tangled path that explores the aftereffects of lost first loves...a gripping addition to the psych thriller world." ―Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl

 4. Inquisition by David Gibbins

The tenth installment in the Jack Howard series, Inquisition is a great mix of history, action and adventure. The book spans three main time periods.

258

As the blood of martyred Christians runs through Rome's catacombs, Pope Sixtus entrusts their most sacred object to a devoted follower. Soon after, the Holy Grail disappears into the darkness of time.

1684 

While overseeing the evacuation of the English colony of Tangier, Samuel Pepys attempts to retrieve a treasure that has resurfaced after more than a thousand years. Meanwhile, a Jewish merchant is tortured by the Altamanus, a secret group determined to locate the Grail.

Present Day

A wreck off the Cornish coast reveals clues to a mystery that marine archaeologist Jack Howard had thought beyond solving. He embarks on an epic quest that takes him to the sunken ruins of the pirate city of Port Royal in Jamaica. Jack must face a descent into hell itself if he is to uncover the greatest reward in Christendom.

"A sophisticated plot lifts bestseller Gibbins’s superior 10th thriller featuring archeologist Jack Howard.... Steve Berry fans eager for an intelligent blend of suspense and reality, including some horrific contemporary developments, will be rewarded." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 5. Paris by the Book by Liam Callahan

Right before Robert married Leah, he promised her he would one day take her to Paris. Twenty years and two daughters later that promise has yet to come to fruition. Leah has become the breadwinner of the family and Robert’s writing career falters.

One day Robert disappears and no one can find any trace of him. Is he dead or alive? Leah and her daughters are devastated, confused and inconsolable. They can’t believe he would leave them, but they also don’t want to believe he’s dead. By a stroke of luck Leah and the girls find hidden plane tickets to Paris. Quickly they head to France in search of Robert. Upon arrival Leah discovers Robert's unfinished manuscript set in Paris. She also finds herself becoming the new owner of a struggling English-language bookstore.

"Liam Callanan’s Paris by the Book is much more than an elegiac portrait of an artist who has vanished. Here we witness the sacrifices and yearnings of the ones left behind as they continue to love, live, and flourish. Like James Salter’s Light Years, Callanan depicts the once seemingly simple conditions of a young marriage and what it takes to let such conditions go." —Min Jin Lee, National Book Award finalist author of Pachinko