September 2023 Adult Top 10 Picks

← Return to Archive Sign up for our mailing list
  1. The Armor of Light
    by Ken Follett
    Viking
    Sep 26, 2023
    FICTION / Historical / General
    Hardback
    The Armor of Light
    by Ken Follett
    Viking
    Sep 26, 2023
    FICTION / Historical / General
    Hardback
    An epic continuation of the series that began with The Pillars of the Earth, The Armor of Light heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond

    The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother’s husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, all the while war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to become emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters’ lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they must rebuild from the ashes of war.

    Over thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, with this electrifying addition to the Kingsbridge series we are plunged into the battlefield between compassion and greed, love and hate, progress and tradition. It is through each character that we are given a new perspective to the seismic shifts that shook the world in nineteenth-century Europe.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. The Last Devil to Die
    by Richard Osman
    Pamela Dorman Books
    Sep 19, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / General
    Hardback
    The Last Devil to Die
    by Richard Osman
    Pamela Dorman Books
    Sep 19, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / General
    Hardback
    An instant #1 New York Times bestseller!

    A new mystery is afoot in the fourth book in the Thursday Murder Club series from million-copy bestselling author Richard Osman


    It's rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club.

    Shocking news reaches them—an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

    The gang's search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters—as well as heartache close to home—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust.

    With the body count rising, the clock ticking down, and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out?

    And who will be the last devil to die?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. Holly
    by Stephen King
    Scribner
    Sep 05, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    Holly
    by Stephen King
    Scribner
    Sep 05, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    #1 New York Times Bestseller * New York Times Notable Book * NPR Best Book of the Year

    Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and resourceful characters, returns in this chilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

    “Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.”BILL HODGES

    Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

    When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

    Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

    Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.

    “I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr. Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.” STEPHEN KING
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Traitors Gate (William Warwick Novels)
    by Jeffrey Archer
    HarperCollins
    Sep 26, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback
    Traitors Gate (William Warwick Novels)
    by Jeffrey Archer
    HarperCollins
    Sep 26, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback

    ***Order now to secure the special Collector’s Edition – available only while stock lasts! The Collector’s Edition features a gold foiled design underneath the dust jacket and is exclusive to the first print run in the UK only***

    24 hours to stop the crime of the century

    The race against time is about to begin…

    THE TOWER OF LONDON…

    Impenetrable. Well protected. Secure. Home to the most valuable jewels on earth. But once a year, the Metropolitan Police must execute the most secret operation in their armoury when they transport the Crown Jewels across London.

    SCOTLAND YARD…

    For four years, Chief Superindendent William Warwick – together with his second-in-command Inspector Ross Hogan – has been in charge of the operation. And for four years it’s run like clockwork.

    THE HEIST…

    But this year, everything is about to change. Because master criminal Miles Faulkner has set his heart on pulling off the most outrageous theft in history – and with a man on the inside, the odds are in his favour.

    Unless Warwick and Hogan can stop him before it’s too late…

    An unputdownable new thriller from the master storyteller

    'Archer always delivers, and this heist thriller hits the spot again' The Sun

    'Archer can still tell a gripping yarn' The Sunday Times

    ‘Probably the greatest storyteller of our age’Mail on Sunday

    ‘If there were a Nobel Prize for storytelling, Archer would win’Daily Telegraph

    ‘Peerless master of the page turner’Daily Mail

    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Elon Musk
    by Walter Isaacson
    Simon & Schuster
    Sep 12, 2023
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science & Technology
    Hardback
    Elon Musk
    by Walter Isaacson
    Simon & Schuster
    Sep 12, 2023
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science & Technology
    Hardback
    #1 New York Times bestseller

    From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.


    When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.

    His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.

    At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said.

    It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.

    For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. Payback in Death
    by J. D. Robb
    St. Martin's Press
    Sep 05, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback
    Payback in Death
    by J. D. Robb
    St. Martin's Press
    Sep 05, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback

    A retired colleague's suspicious death puts Lt. Eve Dallas on the case in Payback in Death, the electrifying new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author J.D. Robb.

    Lt. Eve Dallas is just home from a long overdue vacation when she responds to a call of an unattended death. The victim is Martin Greenleaf, retired Internal Affairs Captain. At first glance, the scene appears to be suicide, but the closer Eve examines the body, the more suspicious she becomes.

    An unlocked open window, a loving wife and family, a too-perfect suicide note—Eve's gut says it's a homicide. After all, Greenleaf put a lot of dirty cops away during his forty-seven years in Internal Affairs. It could very well be payback—and she will not rest until the case is closed.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. 23 1/2 Lies
    by James Patterson
    Grand Central Publishing
    Sep 12, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Hardback
    23 1/2 Lies
    by James Patterson
    Grand Central Publishing
    Sep 12, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Hardback

    Enjoy three heart-racing thrillers from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

    23 1/2 LIES: Lindsay Boxer's estranged father is gunned down execution-style, and her investigation uncovers life-altering truths. (with Maxine Paetro)

    FALLEN RANGER: To Rory Yates, being a Texas Ranger means absolute loyalty to the badge. But he’s put through the ultimate test when an armored car robbery suspect might be an ex-Ranger gone rogue. (with Andrew Bourelle)

    WATCH YOUR BACK: When a starving artist is paid to expose his client's cheating wife, can he paint the picture that will save his own life? (with Loren D. Estleman)

    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Running Grave
    by Robert Galbraith
    Mulholland Books
    Sep 26, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Private Investigators
    Hardback
    The Running Grave
    by Robert Galbraith
    Mulholland Books
    Sep 26, 2023
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Private Investigators
    Hardback
    In this New York Times bestselling installment of the "outrageously entertaining" Strike series (Financial Times), detective duo Cormoran and Robin must rescue a man ensnared in the trap of a dangerous cult.​

    Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

    The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

    In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .

    Utterly page-turning, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. 12 Months to Live
    by James Patterson
    Little, Brown and Company
    Sep 25, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Legal
    Hardback
    12 Months to Live
    by James Patterson
    Little, Brown and Company
    Sep 25, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Legal
    Hardback
    “Patterson and Lupica make a great team” (Carl Hiaasen) who get “deep into the lives of strong women” (Louise Penny) and Jane Smith is their greatest creation—a badass lawyer with a year to live.

    “Jane Smith is the best character we’ve ever created. Bar none.”
    —James Patterson and Mike Lupica

    Tough-as-nails criminal defense attorney Jane Smith is hip-deep in the murder trial of the century.

    Actually, her charmless client might’ve committed several murders.

    She’s also fallen in love with a wonderful guy. And an equally wonderful dog, a mutt.

    But Jane doesn’t have much time. She’s just received a terminal diagnosis giving her twelve months.

    Unless she’s murdered before her expiration date.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. The Circle
    by katherena vermette Canada
    Hamish Hamilton
    Sep 05, 2023
    FICTION / Indigenous / General
    Hardback
    The Circle
    by katherena vermette Canada
    Hamish Hamilton
    Sep 05, 2023
    FICTION / Indigenous / General
    Hardback
    NATIONAL BESTSELLER

    The Circle is a polyphonic masterpiece.” —Erika T. Wurth, author of White Horse

    From the award-winning and #1 bestselling author of The Break and The Strangers comes a poignant and unwavering epic told from a constellation of Métis voices that consider the fallout when the person who connects them all goes missing


    The concept was simple. You sit a bunch of people in a circle—everyone who hurt, everyone who got hurt, all affected—and let them share. Some people, it helped them heal, for sure. Others went in angry and left a different kind of angry. Learned how the blame belonged on the system, the history, the colonizer, the big things that were harder to change than one bad person.

    The day that Cedar Sage Stranger has been both dreading and longing for has finally come: her sister Phoenix is getting out of prison.

    The effect of Phoenix’s release cascades through the community. M, the young girl whom she assaulted, is triggered by the news. Her mother, Paulina, is worried and her cousin is angry—all feel the threat of Phoenix’s release. When Phoenix is seen lingering outside the school to catch a glimpse of her son, Sparrow, the police get a call to file a report—but the next thing they know, she has disappeared.

    Amid accusations and plots for revenge, past grievances become a poor guide in a moment of danger, and the clumsy armature of law enforcement is no match for the community. Cedar and her and Phoenix’s mother, Elsie, continue down different paths of healing, while everyone in their lives form a circle around the chaos, the calm within the storm, and the beauty in the darkness.

    Fierce, heartbreaking, and profound, Vermette’s The Circle is the third and final companion novel to her bestsellers The Break and The Strangers. Told from various perspectives, with an unforgettable voice for each chapter, the novel is masterfully structured as a Restorative Justice Circle where all gather—both the victimized and the accused—to take account of a crime that has altered the course of their lives. It considers what it means to be abandoned by the very systems that claim to offer support, how it feels to gain a sense of belonging, and the unanticipated cost of protecting those you love most.
    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!