January 2022 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. Reckless Girls
    by Rachel Hawkins
    St. Martin's Press
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / General
    Hardback
    Reckless Girls
    by Rachel Hawkins
    St. Martin's Press
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / General
    Hardback

    Instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller
    Indie Next Pick and LibraryReads Pick

    From Rachel Hawkins, the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history.

    "A literary pina colada." —Entertainment Weekly
    "A high-octane thriller." —New York Times Book Review (Staff Pick)

    ONE ISLAND

    Beautiful, wild, and strange—Meroe Island is a desolate spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. It’s the perfect destination for the most adventurous traveler to escape everything... except the truth.

    SIX VISITORS

    Six stunning twentysomethings are about to embark on a blissful, free-spirited journey—one filled with sun-drenched days and intoxicating nights. But as it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in, sending them on a dangerous spiral of discovery.

    COUNTLESS SECRETS

    When one person goes missing and another turns up dead, the remaining friends wonder what dark currents lie beneath this impenetrable paradise—and who else will be swept under its secluded chaos. With its island gothic sensibility, sexy suspense, and spine-tingling reimagining of an Agatha Christie classic, Reckless Girls will wreck you.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
    by Eva Jurczyk Canada
    Poisoned Pen Press
    Jan 25, 2022
    FICTION / Women
    Hardback
    The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
    by Eva Jurczyk Canada
    Poisoned Pen Press
    Jan 25, 2022
    FICTION / Women
    Hardback

    "With its countless revelations about the dusty realms of rare books, a likable librarian sleuth who has just the right balance of compassion and wit, and a library setting that is teeming with secrets, The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is a rare treat for readers. I loved this book!"—Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

    Anxious People meets the delights of bookish fiction in a stunning debut following a librarian whose quiet life is turned upside down when a priceless manuscript goes missing. Soon she has to ask: what holds more secrets in the library—the ancient books shelved in the stacks, or the people who preserve them?

    Liesl Weiss long ago learned to be content working behind the scenes in the distinguished rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the library's most prized manuscript is missing.

    Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book, but is told repeatedly to keep quiet, to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian unexpectedly stops showing up to work. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues' pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long—and about the people who care for and revere them—shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life.

    The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is a sparkling book-club read about a woman struggling to step out from behind the shadows of powerful and unreliable men, and reveals the dark edge of obsession running through the most devoted bookworms.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. The Maid
    by Nita Prose Canada
    Viking
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Traditional
    Paperback / softback
    The Maid
    by Nita Prose Canada
    Viking
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Traditional
    Paperback / softback
    OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE • *WINNER OF THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDGAR ALLAN POE BEST NOVEL AWARD* • SHORTLISTED FOR THE KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE • INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • CITYLINE BOOK CLUB PICK • “A twist-and-turn whodunit, set in a five-star hotel, from the perspective of the maid who finds the body. Think Clue. Think page-turner.”—Glamour

    NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Glamour, W magazine, PopSugar, The Rumpus, Book Riot, CrimeReads, She Reads, Daily Hive, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Stylist, Canadian Living

    “Excellent and totally entertaining . . . the most interesting (and endearing) main character in a long time.” —Stephen King

    “An endearing debut. . . . The reader comes to understand Molly’s worldview, and to sympathize with her longing to be accepted—a quest that gives The Maid real emotional heft.” —The New York Times

    The Maid is a masterful, charming mystery that will touch your heart in ways you could never expect. . . . This is the smart, quirky, uplifting read we need.” —Ashley Audrain, #1 bestselling author of The Push


    A dead body is one mess she can’t clean up on her own.


    Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

    Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

    But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanour has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black. But will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

    Both a Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Her Hidden Genius
    by Marie Benedict
    Sourcebooks Landmark
    Jan 25, 2022
    FICTION / Historical / General
    Hardback
    Her Hidden Genius
    by Marie Benedict
    Sourcebooks Landmark
    Jan 25, 2022
    FICTION / Historical / General
    Hardback

    "Brings to life Franklin's grit and spirit...an important contribution to the historical record." —The Washington Post

    The new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie!

    She changed the world with her discovery. Three men took the credit.

    Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider—brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at a university in London, she feels closest to the science, those unchanging laws of physics and chemistry that guide her experiments. When she is assigned to work on DNA, she believes she can unearth its secrets.

    Rosalind knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture—one more after thousands—she can unlock the building blocks of life. Never again will she have to listen to her colleagues complain about her, especially Maurice Wilkins who'd rather conspire about genetics with James Watson and Francis Crick than work alongside her.

    Then it finally happens—the double helix structure of DNA reveals itself to her with perfect clarity. But what unfolds next, Rosalind could have never predicted.

    Marie Benedict's powerful new novel shines a light on a woman who sacrificed her life to discover the nature of our very DNA, a woman whose world-changing contributions were hidden by the men around her but whose relentless drive advanced our understanding of humankind.

    Also By Marie Benedict:

    The Other Einstein

    Carnegie's Maid

    The Only Woman in the Room

    Lady Clementine

    The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
    by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
    Doubleday Canada
    Jan 18, 2022
    FICTION / Romance / Multicultural & Interracial
    Paperback / softback
    Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
    by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
    Doubleday Canada
    Jan 18, 2022
    FICTION / Romance / Multicultural & Interracial
    Paperback / softback
    "Modern and fresh...I adore Yinka" Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of People We Meet on Vacation

    Meet Yinka: a thirty-something Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman whose mother's constant refrain is "Yinka, where is your huzband?"

    Yinka's Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she's too traditional, her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life . . . well, that's a whole other story. But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her, and when her cousin Rachel gets engaged, Yinka commences Operation Wedding Date. Aided by a spreadsheet and her best friend, Yinka is determined to succeed.

    Wry, acerbic, moving, Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? brilliantly subverts the traditional romantic comedy with an unconventional heroine and a love story that makes you smile but also makes you think—and explores what it means to find your way between two cultures, both of which are yours.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. Good Rich People
    by Eliza Jane Brazier
    Berkley
    Jan 25, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Good Rich People
    by Eliza Jane Brazier
    Berkley
    Jan 25, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    A Good Morning America 'January Book That Can Get Us Through Anything'

    A Most Anticipated Novel of 2022 by The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, New York Post, PopSugar, Shondaland, Yahoo!, and Crime Reads

    A destitute woman deceives her way into the guesthouse of a Hollywood Hills mansion and inadvertently becomes a target in the twisted game of the wealthy family upstairs in the next intoxicating novel from Eliza Jane Brazier.


    Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than a bootstrapper.

    Demi has always felt like the odds were stacked against her. At the end of her rope, she seizes a risky opportunity to take over another person’s life and unwittingly becomes the subject of the upstairs couple’s wicked entertainment. But Demi has been struggling forever, and she’s not about to go down without a fight.

    In a twist that neither woman sees coming, the game quickly devolves into chaos and rockets toward an explosive conclusion.

    Because every good rich person knows: in money and in life, it’s winner takes all. Even if you have to leave a few bodies behind.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. The School for Good Mothers
    by Jessamine Chan
    37 Ink
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    The School for Good Mothers
    by Jessamine Chan
    37 Ink
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
    Longlisted for the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Excellence
    Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize
    Selected as One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2022!

    In this New York Times bestseller and Today show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance, in this “surreal” (People), “remarkable” (Vogue), and “infuriatingly timely” (The New York Times Book Review) debut novel.

    Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

    Until Frida has a very bad day.

    The state has its eye on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgement, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.

    Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

    An “intense” (Oprah Daily), “captivating” (Today) page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of “perfect” upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Almond in the Apricot
    by Sara Goudarzi
    Deep Vellum Publishing
    Feb 25, 2022
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    The Almond in the Apricot
    by Sara Goudarzi
    Deep Vellum Publishing
    Feb 25, 2022
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback

    Emma had the perfect trifecta: a long-term job as an engineer designing sewers; a steady relationship with her reliable boyfriend; and an adoring and creative best friend (about whom she wasn’t quite ready to admit her unrequited feelings). Then early one morning, a phone call changed her world forever.

    Now she’s having nightmares that threaten to disrupt the space-time continuum –– nightmares of hiding from bombs in basements, of glass shattering from nearby explosions. But these disturbing dreams, in which she inhabits the body of a young girl named Lily, seem all too real, and Emma’s waking life begins to be affected by the events that transpire in this mysterious wartime landscape. Convinced she has been given a chance to save a life, Emma tries to rescue Lily from heartache, but ultimately it is through Lily that Emma finds her way back.

    The Almond in the Apricot navigates connections formed across space and time and explores love, grief, and the possibility that the universe might be bigger than either Emma or Lily ever imagined.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. Between the Lines
    by S. J. Butler
    Headline Accent
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / General
    Paperback / softback
    Between the Lines
    by S. J. Butler
    Headline Accent
    Jan 04, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / General
    Paperback / softback

    'An excellent debut novel, I couldn't put this down! A definite must read' 5* reader review

    The closer you are, the less you see . . .

    When Kev's girlfriend is killed in a hit-and-run, he thinks he's suffered the worst.

    Haunted by his past, Kev attempts to put his life back together, throwing himself into his new relationship with Stella and his job as a literary agent.

    Then a book lands on his desk that changes everything. And he quickly realises his nightmare has only just begun.

    Between the Lines is a darkly gripping psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Teresa Driscoll, K.L Slater and Shalini Bolland.

    Readers LOVE S. J. Butler's BETWEEN THE LINES:

    'This story gets hold of you and makes you shudder. Five stars' 5* reader review

    'An extraordinarily fantastic literary thriller. A huge five star read for me' 5* reader review

    'Plenty of twists to keep you guessing! Just brilliant' 5* reader review

    'Gritty, well written, a real page turner' 5* reader review

    'Makes the reader think more deeply about the themes of identity, loss, perception and self-perception. Highly recommended' 5* reader review

    'Gem of a debut' 5* reader review

    'Great twists and turns . . . Can't wait to read more of S. J Butlers books!!' 5* reader review

    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. A Flicker in the Dark
    by Stacy Willingham
    Minotaur Books
    Jan 11, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Hardback
    A Flicker in the Dark
    by Stacy Willingham
    Minotaur Books
    Jan 11, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Hardback

    A New York Times Bestseller

    “A smart, edge-of-your-seat story with plot twists you’ll never see coming. Stacy Willingham’s debut will keep you turning pages long past your bedtime.” —Karin Slaughter

    When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

    Now twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren't actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?

    From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.

    View this title on BNC CataList

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