October 2023 Adult Top 10 Picks

← Return to Archive Sign up for our mailing list
  1. The Exchange
    by John Grisham
    Doubleday
    Oct 17, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    The Exchange
    by John Grisham
    Doubleday
    Oct 17, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • John Grisham delivers high-flying international suspense in a stunning new legal thriller that marks the return of Mitch McDeere, the brilliant hero of The Firm.

    What became of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country? The answer is in The Exchange, the riveting sequel to The Firm, the blockbuster thriller that launched the career of America’s favorite storyteller. It is now fifteen years later, and Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications—and once again endangers his colleagues, friends, and family. Mitch has become a master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. The Secret
    by Lee Child
    Delacorte Press
    Oct 24, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    The Secret
    by Lee Child
    Delacorte Press
    Oct 24, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher!

    A string of mysterious deaths. A long-classified mission. A young MP with nothing to lose.

    1992. All across the United States respectable, upstanding citizens are showing up dead. These deaths could be accidents, and they don’t appear to be connected—until a fatal fall from a high-floor window attracts some unexpected attention.

    That attention comes from the secretary of defense. All of a sudden he wants an interagency task force to investigate. And he wants Jack Reacher as the army’s representative. If Reacher gets a result, great. If not, he’s a convenient fall guy.

    But office politics isn’t Reacher’s thing. Three questions quickly emerge: Who’s with him, who’s against him, and will the justice he dispenses be the official kind . . . or his own kind?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. The Woman in Me
    by Britney Spears
    Gallery Books
    Oct 24, 2023
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
    Hardback
    The Woman in Me
    by Britney Spears
    Gallery Books
    Oct 24, 2023
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
    Hardback
    Named a Best Book of the Year by Elle, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, NPR, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, and more!

    “In Britney Spears’s memoir, she’s stronger than ever.” —The New York Times

    Over 2 million copies sold of the “moving” (Time), “powerful” (Los Angeles Times), “radiant” (The New York Times), “poignant” (Vogue) #1 New York Times bestseller. The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

    In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

    Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Dirty Thirty
    by Janet Evanovich
    Atria Books
    Oct 31, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Hardback
    Dirty Thirty
    by Janet Evanovich
    Atria Books
    Oct 31, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Hardback
    INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    Janet Evanovich, the “most popular mystery writer alive” (The New York Times), is in top form as she sends Stephanie Plum on the trail of a stolen stash of dirty diamonds.

    Stephanie Plum, Trenton’s hardest working, most underappreciated bounty hunter, is offered a freelance assignment that seems simple enough. Local jeweler Martin Rabner wants her to locate his former security guard, Andy Manley (a.k.a. Nutsy), who he is convinced stole a fortune in diamonds out of his safe. Stephanie is also looking for another troubled man, Duncan Dugan, a fugitive from justice arrested for robbing the same jewelry store on the same day.

    With her boyfriend Morelli away in Miami on police business, Stephanie is taking care of Bob, Morelli’s giant orange dog who will devour anything, from Stephanie’s stray donuts to the upholstery in her car. Morelli’s absence also means the inscrutable, irresistible security expert Ranger is front and center in Stephanie’s life when things inevitably go sideways. And he seems determined to stay there.

    To complicate matters, her best friend Lula is convinced she is being stalked by a mythological demon hell-bent on relieving her of her wardrobe. An overnight stakeout with Stephanie’s mother and Grandma Mazur reveals three generations of women with nerves of steel and driving skills worthy of NASCAR champions.

    As the body count rises and witnesses start to disappear, it won’t be easy for Stephanie to keep herself clean when everyone else is playing dirty. It’s a good thing Stephanie isn’t afraid of getting a little dirty, too.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. The Road Years
    by Rick Mercer Canada
    Doubleday Canada
    Oct 31, 2023
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
    Hardback
    The Road Years
    by Rick Mercer Canada
    Doubleday Canada
    Oct 31, 2023
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
    Hardback
    THE INSTANT #1 BESTSELLER

    Rick Mercer is back—again!—with the eagerly awaited sequel to his bestselling memoir

    At the end of his memoir Talking to Canadians, Rick Mercer was poised to make the biggest leap yet in his extraordinary career. Having overcome a serious lack of promise as a schoolboy and risen through the showbiz ranks—as an aspiring actor, star of a surprisingly successful one-man show about the Meech Lake Accord, co-founder of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, creator and star of the dark-comedy sitcom Made in Canada—he was about to tackle his biggest opportunity yet.

    The Road Years picks up the story at that exciting point, with the greenlighting of what would become Rick Mercer Report. Plans for the show, of course, included political satire and Rick’s patented rants. But Rick and his partner, Gerald Lunz, were also determined to do something that comedy tends to avoid as too challenging: they would emphasize the positive. Rick would travel from coast to coast to coast in search of everything that’s best about Canada, especially its people. He found a lot to celebrate, naturally, and was rewarded with a huge audience and a run of 15 seasons.

    The Road Years tells the inside story of that stupendous success. A time when Rick was heading to another town—or military base, sports centre, national park—to try dogsledding, chainsaw carving, and bear tagging; hang from a harness (a lot); ride the “Train of Death;” plus countless other joyous and/or reckless assignments.

    Added to the mix were encounters with the country’s great. Every living prime minister. Rock and roll royalty from Rush to Randy Bachman. Olympians and Paralympians. A skinny-dipping Bob Rae. And Jann Arden, of course, who gets a chapter to herself. Along the way he even found the time to visit several countries in Africa and co-found and champion the charity Spread the Net, which has gone on to protect the lives of millions.

    Join the celebration, and revive a wealth of happy memories, with what is Rick Mercer’s funniest, most fascinating book yet.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. The Defector
    by Chris Hadfield Canada
    Random House Canada
    Oct 10, 2023
    FICTION / Action & Adventure
    Hardback
    The Defector
    by Chris Hadfield Canada
    Random House Canada
    Oct 10, 2023
    FICTION / Action & Adventure
    Hardback
    #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

    "A full throttle, adrenaline-laced espionage page-turner . . . Get ready to blast off and enjoy the ride!"—Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL Sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the James Reece Terminal List series

    "Continuous action, Mach-speed mayhem, sharp intrigue, and well-rounded characters—what more could you want from a thriller?"—Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The 9th Man and the Cotton Malone series

    From the author of the #1 bestselling thriller The Apollo Murders comes the supersonic hunt for a shadowy Soviet defector.


    Israel, October 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MiG fighter is racing at breakneck speed over the arid scrublands below . . . and promptly disappears.

    NASA Flight Controller and former top US test pilot Kaz Zemeckis watches the scene from the ground—and is quickly pulled into a dizzying, high-stakes game of spies, lies and a possible high-level defection that plays out across three continents.

    The prize is beyond value: the secrets of the Soviets’ mythical “Foxbat” MiG-25, the fastest, highest-flying fighter plane in the world and the key to Cold War air supremacy. But every defection is double-edged with risk, and Kaz needs to tread a careful line between trust and suspicion. Ultimately, he must invite the fox into the henhouse—bringing the defector into the heart of the United States’ most secret test site—and hope that, with skill and cunning, the game plays out his way.

    For Chris Hadfield’s second heart-stopping thriller, we move from Space to another rich and exciting part of Chris’s CV: his time as a top test pilot in both the US Air Force and the US Navy, and as an RCAF fighter pilot intercepting armed Soviet bombers in North American airspace. Full of insider detail, excitement and political intrigue drawn from real events, The Defector brings us the nerve-shredding rush of aerial combat, as told by one of the world's top fighter pilots.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. Judgment Prey
    by John Sandford
    G.P. Putnam's Sons
    Oct 03, 2023
    FICTION / Crime
    Hardback
    Judgment Prey
    by John Sandford
    G.P. Putnam's Sons
    Oct 03, 2023
    FICTION / Crime
    Hardback
    Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers team up to crack an unsolvable case in this thrilling new novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford.

    Alex Sand was spending the evening at home playing basketball with his two young sons when all three were shot in cold blood. A wealthy federal judge, there’s no short list of people who could have a vendetta against Sands, but the gruesome murders, especially that of his children, turn their St. Paul community on its head. Sand was on the verge of a major donation to a local housing charity, Heart/Twin Cities, and with the money in limbo, eyes suddenly turn to his grieving widow, Margaret Cooper, to see what she might do with the money. Margaret, distraught over the death of her family, struggles to move forward, and can’t imagine how or why anyone would target her husband.

    With public pressure mounting and both the local police force and FBI hitting dead end after dead end, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to do what others could not: find answers. With each potential lead flawed, Davenport and Flowers are determined to chase every theory until they figure out who killed the Sands. But when they find themselves being stonewalled by the most unlikely of forces, the two wonder if perhaps each misdirection could lead them closer to the truth.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. Second Act
    by Danielle Steel
    Delacorte Press
    Oct 03, 2023
    FICTION / Women
    Hardback
    Second Act
    by Danielle Steel
    Delacorte Press
    Oct 03, 2023
    FICTION / Women
    Hardback
    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this gripping novel from Danielle Steel, a top Hollywood executive seeks a new beginning when his career takes an unplanned turn.

    As the head of a prestigious movie studio for nearly two decades, Andy Westfield has had every conceivable professional luxury: a stunning office on the forty-fourth floor, a loyal assistant who can all but read his mind, access to a private jet and company cars. The son of Hollywood royalty, Andy always put his career before his marriage, and now, besides his daughter and young grandchildren, it’s the only thing he truly loves.

    But then Andy’s world is upended. The studio is sold, and the buyer’s son demands the top seat. Out of a job and humiliated, Andy spirals. When his head clears, he decides to get as far away from Los Angeles as possible until the dust settles and he can find a new way forward.

    Andy signs a six-month rental agreement for a luxurious home in a tiny, forgotten coastal town two hours from London. When he arrives, he hires a local woman to help get his affairs in order. A former journalist, Violet Smith is at a crossroads as well, and this temporary job is exactly what she needs to tide her over. But when Violet leaves the manuscript of her unfinished novel behind after work one day, Andy lets his curiosity get the best of him and is captivated by a story that begs to be adapted for the big screen. Could this be the miracle they’ve both been looking for?

    In Second Act, Danielle Steel presents a heartening tale of how challenging times give way to opportunities and an original outline does not always contain the perfect ending.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. Sisters Under the Rising Sun
    by Heather Morris
    St. Martin's Press
    Oct 24, 2023
    FICTION / Historical / 20th Century / World War II & Holocaust
    Hardback
    Sisters Under the Rising Sun
    by Heather Morris
    St. Martin's Press
    Oct 24, 2023
    FICTION / Historical / 20th Century / World War II & Holocaust
    Hardback

    From the New York Times bestselling author of the multi-million copy bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz comes a story of sisterhood and survival, inspired by a true story.

    A phenomenal novel of resilience and survival from bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris.


    In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again.

    Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed.

    After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side every day, helping whoever they can, and discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination.

    Sisters under the Rising Sun is a story of women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery and friendship in the darkest of circumstances, from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey and Three Sisters.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Moon of the Turning Leaves
    by Waubgeshig Rice Canada
    Random House Canada
    Oct 10, 2023
    FICTION / Dystopian
    Paperback / softback
    Moon of the Turning Leaves
    by Waubgeshig Rice Canada
    Random House Canada
    Oct 10, 2023
    FICTION / Dystopian
    Paperback / softback
    #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

    Twelve years after the lights go out . . .
    An epic journey to a forgotten homeland

    The hotly anticipated sequel to the bestselling novel Moon of the Crusted Snow.


    In the years since a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy, Evan Whitesky has led his community in remote northern Canada off the rez and into the bush, where they’ve been rekindling their Anishinaabe traditions, isolated from the outside world. As new generations are born, and others come of age in a world after everything, Evan’s people are stronger than ever. But resources around their new settlement are drying up, and elders warn that they cannot stay indefinitely.
    Evan and his teenaged daughter, Nangohns, are chosen to lead a scouting party on a months-long trip down to their traditional home on the shores of Lake Huron—to seek new beginnings, and discover what kind of life—and what danger—still exists in the lands to the south.

    Waubgeshig Rice’s exhilarating return to the world first explored in Moon of the Crusted Snow is a brooding story of survival, resilience, Indigenous identity, and rebirth.
    View this title on BNC CataList

Sign up for our mailing list!

Sign up for the latest top 10 lists and other news about Loan Stars. You can unsubscribe at any time.


Sign up!