The Ark Boyd Morrison (Touchstone, 9781439181799, $24.99) When brilliant archaeologist Dilara Kenner is contacted by Sam Watson, an old family friend who says that he has crucial information about her missing father, Dilara abandons her Peruvian dig and rushes to Los Angeles to meet him. But at the airport, Sam speaks instead of Noah’s Ark – the artifact her father had long been searching for – and the possible death of billions. Before Sam can explain, he collapses. With his dying breath, he urges Dilara to find Tyler Locke – a man she’s never heard of. Two days later Dilara manages to track down former combat engineer Tyler Locke on an oil rig off Newfoundland. Her helicopter transport goes down well short of the oil rig’s landing pad and Dilara and those aboard nearly drown. No sooner is Dilara safely on the rig than she convinces Tyler the crash was no accident. Tyler agrees to help her uncover the secret behind Noah's Ark and, more important, her father's disappearance. As the picture begins to come into focus, they realize they have just seven days to find the Ark before its secret is used to wipe out civilization once again. With a chilling premise and a blistering pace, Boyd Morrison combines all the best elements of a blockbuster thriller with an intelligent and fascinating exploration of one of the Old Testament’s great mysteries. Joe’s Comments: “This debut thriller from Boyd Morrison is a perfect choice for beach reading. A fast-paced adventure with Indiana-Jones verve, this tale with will have loads of appeal to fans of Steve Berry, Dan Brown, James Rollins, and Clive Cussler.”

I, Sniper Stephen Hunter (Simon & Schuster, 9781416565154, $26.00) Four famed '60s radicals are gunned down at long range by a sniper. Under enormous media scrutiny, the FBI quickly concludes that Marine war hero Carl Hitchcock, whose ninety-three kills were considered the leading body count tally among American marksman in Vietnam, was the shooter. But as the Bureau, led by Special Agent Nick Memphis, bears down, Hitchcock commits suicide. In closing out the investigation, Nick discovers a case made in heaven: everything fits, from timeline, ballistics, and forensics to motive, means, and opportunity. Maybe it's a little too perfect. Nick asks his friend, the retired Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, to examine the data. Using a skill set no other man on earth possesses, Swagger soon discovers unseen anomalies and gradually begins to unravel a sophisticated conspiracy – one that would require the highest level of warcraft by the most superb special operations professionals. As Swagger penetrates the deepest secrets of the sniper world and its new technology, Nick stands firm in the face of hardball PR initiatives and an inflamed media calling for his ouster. Swagger soon closes in, and those responsible will stop at nothing to take him out. But these heavily armed men make the mistake of thinking they are hunting Bob, when he is, in fact, hunting them. I, Sniper will satisfy Stephen Hunter's legions of fans and win him droves of new ones with its signature blend of brilliant plotting, vivid characters, razor-sharp dialogue, and extraordinary gunfights. And when Swagger and the last of his antagonists finally face each other, reenacting a classic ritual of arms, it is clear that at times there's nothing more necessary than a good man with a gun and the guts to use it. Joe’s Comments: “Hunter has written 16 novels, and every one has been a satisfying read for an action fan like myself. The retired chief film critic for The Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, he has also published two collections of film criticism and a nonfiction work, American Gunfight. ”

The Bricklayer Noah Boyd (Morrow, 9780061827013, $24.99) The Bricklayer is the pulse-pounding novel introducing Steve Vail, one of the most charismatic new heroes to come along in thriller fiction in many years. He's an ex–FBI agent who's been fired for insubordination but is lured back to the Bureau to work a case that has become more unsolvable – and more deadly – by the hour. A woman steps out of the shower in her Los Angeles home and is startled by an intruder sitting calmly in her bedroom holding a gun. But she is frozen with fear by what he has to say about the FBI— -- and what he says he must do. . . . A young agent slips into the night water off a rocky beach. He's been instructed to swim to a nearby island to deposit a million dollars demanded by a blackmailer. But his mission is riddled with hazardous tests, as if someone wanted to destroy him rather than collect the money. . . . Vail has resigned himself to his dismissal and is content with his life as a bricklayer. But the FBI, especially Deputy Assistant Director Kate Bannon, needs help with a shadowy group that has initiated a brilliant extortion plot. The group will keep killing their targets until the agency pays them off, the amount and number of bodies escalating each time the FBI fails. One thing is clear: someone who knows a little too much about the inner workings of the Bureau is very clever – and very angry – and will kill and kill again if it means he can disgrace the FBI. Steve Vail's options – and his time to find answers – are swiftly running out. Noah Boyd's The Bricklayer is written with the bracing authenticity only someone who has been a crack FBI investigator can provide. And in this masterful debut Boyd has created a mind-bending maze of clues and traps inside a nonstop thrill ride that is sure to leave readers exhilarated and enthralled. Joe’s Comments: “As a mystery and thriller buff I am always on the lookout for new talent. This exciting debut is action-packed, well-plotted, and introduces a terrific new personality to the suspense field. I have been recommending this one to the readers of Lee Child.”

The Lock Artist Steve Hamilton (Minotaur Books, 9780312380427, $24.99) "I was the Miracle Boy, once upon a time. Later on, the Milford Mute. The Golden Boy. The Young Ghost. The Kid. The Boxman. The Lock Artist. That was all me. But you can call me Mike." Marked by tragedy, traumatized at the age of eight, Michael, now eighteen, is no ordinary young man. Besides not uttering a single word in ten years, he discovers the one thing he can somehow do better than anyone else. Whether it's a locked door without a key, a padlock with no combination, or even an eight-hundred pound safe ... he can open them all. It's an unforgivable talent – a talent that will make young Michael a hot commodity with the wrong people and, whether he likes it or not, push him ever close to a life of crime. Until he finally sees his chance to escape, and with one desperate gamble risks everything to come back home to the only person he ever loved, and to unlock the secret that has kept him silent for so long. Steve Hamilton steps away from his Edgar Award-winning Alex McKnight series to introduce a unique new character, unlike anyone you've ever seen in the world of crime fiction. Joe’s Comments: “I have long admired the writings of this award-winning mystery writer, so I really welcomed this new work. I have to say that it was one of the most unusual and smartly written crime novels that I have read so far in 2010. If you haven’t read Steve Hamilton previously, this standout – and stand-alone – book would be a great introduction.”

The Lonely Polygamist Brady Udall (Norton, 9780393062625, $26.95) Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family's future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging. Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family – with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy – pushed to its outer limits. Joe’s Comments: ”On my life-list of readings The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall is in my top three. I have waited nearly a decade for a new volume from this talented writer, and I was overjoyed to receive an advance copy of The Lonely Polygamist. What a lovely book! This tale is masterfully told with both humor and heartbreak radiating off the pages. Look for the May 2010 release of this literary gem and meet Brady Udall here on May 16, 2010 when he visits the Chester County Book & Music Company.”

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession David Grann (Doubleday, 9780385517928, $26.95) Whether he’s reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone-tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession and that piece together true and unforgettable mysteries. Each of the dozen stories in this collection reveals a hidden and often dangerous world and, like Into Thin Air and The Orchid Thief, pivots around the gravitational pull of obsession and the captivating personalities of those caught in its grip. There is the world’s foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes who is found dead in mysterious circumstances; an arson sleuth trying to prove that a man about to be executed is innocent; and sandhogs racing to complete the brutally dangerous job of building New York City’s water tunnels before the old system collapses. Throughout, Grann’s hypnotic accounts display the power – and often the willful perversity – of the human spirit. Compulsively readable, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant mosaic of ambition, madness, passion, and folly. Joe’s Comments: “One of our favorite staff selections of 2009 was The Lost City of Z, a spellbinding non-fiction narrative by David Grann, concerning the doomed exploits of British explorer Percy Fawcett. I was very excited then to receive an advanced copy of Grann’s forthcoming book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, in the mail. Moreover, I found this sophomore effort to be an equally compelling study of other obsessive personalities – anyone of which could be featured in a volume all their own. This book is due for release in early March 2010 and it certainly is one that you want to add to your reading list.”

Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Barbara Demick (Spiegel & Grau, 9780385523905, $26.00) Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years – a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape most of us have never before seen, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today – an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, in which radio and television dials are welded to the one government station, and where displays of affection are punished; a police state where informants are rewarded and where an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. Demick takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors. Through meticulous and sensitive reporting, we see her six subjects – average North Korean citizens – fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we experience the moments when they realize that their government has betrayed them. Nothing to Envy is a groundbreaking addition to the literature of totalitarianism and an eye-opening look at a closed world that is of increasing global importance. Joe’s Comments: “I know so very little about North Korea, and yet, this is a country frequently in the news and very much a concern in overall American foreign policy. This very accessible volume seemed like a good place to start in learning more about this most secretive of nations. To say that this book was astounding, revelatory, and even a little disheartening would not do the fine reporting proper justice. How do we communicate with and reach a people who have been so isolated – and indoctrinated – over the past five decades? This is a great read for those endeavoring to understand the challenges in American foreign policy.”