March 2018 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. Let Me Lie
    by Clare Mackintosh
    Berkley
    Mar 13, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Let Me Lie
    by Clare Mackintosh
    Berkley
    Mar 13, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    The stunning new novel from Clare Mackintosh, the international bestselling author of I Let You Go and I See You.

    The police say it was suicide. Anna says it was murder. They're both wrong.

    Last year, Tom and Caroline Johnson chose to end their lives, one seemingly unable to live without the other. Their daughter, Anna, is struggling to come to terms with her parents' deaths, unwilling to accept the verdict of suicide.

    Now with a baby herself, Anna feels her mother's absence keenly and is determined to find out what really happened to her parents. But as she digs up the past, someone is trying to stop her.

    Sometimes it's safer to let things lie....
    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. The Punishment She Deserves
    by Elizabeth George
    Viking
    Mar 20, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
    Hardback
    The Punishment She Deserves
    by Elizabeth George
    Viking
    Mar 20, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
    Hardback
    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley are forced to confront the past as they try to solve a crime that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of a quiet, historic medieval town in England


    The cozy, bucolic town of Ludlow is stunned when one of its most revered and respected citizens--Ian Druitt, the local deacon--is accused of a serious crime. Then, while in police custody, Ian is found dead. Did he kill himself? Or was he murdered?

    When Barbara Havers is sent to Ludlow to investigate the chain of events that led to Ian's death, all the evidence points to suicide. But Barbara can't shake the feeling that she's missing something. She decides to take a closer look at the seemingly ordinary inhabitants of Ludlow--mainly elderly retirees and college students--and discovers that almost everyone in town has something to hide.

    A masterful work of suspense, The Punishment She Deserves sets Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Inspector Thomas Lynley against one of their most intricate cases. Fans of the longtime series will love the many characters from Elizabeth George's previous novels who join Lynley and Havers, and readers new to the series will quickly see why she is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed writers of our time. Both a page-turner and a deeply complex story about the lies we tell, the lies we believe, and the redemption we need, this novel will be remembered as one of George's best.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. 1979
    by Ray Robertson Canada
    Biblioasis
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    1979
    by Ray Robertson Canada
    Biblioasis
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback

    It’s 1979 and Tom Buzby is thirteen years old and living in the small working- class city of Chatham, Ontario. So far, so normal. Except that Tom’s dad is the local tattoo artist, his mother is a born-again former stripper who’s run off with the minister from the church where the pet store used to be, and his sister can’t wait to leave town for good. And everyone along his daily newspaper route looks at him a little differently, this boy who’s come back from the dead, who just might be the only one who understands the miraculous, heart-breaking mystery that is their lives.

    Set in the year that real newspaper headlines told of North America’s hard turn to the right, 1979 offers a smalltown take on the buried lives of those who almost never make the news, and one boy’s attempt to make sense of it all.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. The Gunners
    by Rebecca Kauffman
    Counterpoint
    Mar 20, 2018
    FICTION / Friendship
    Hardback
    The Gunners
    by Rebecca Kauffman
    Counterpoint
    Mar 20, 2018
    FICTION / Friendship
    Hardback
    A group of childhood friends reunites after tragedy strikes one of their own in this “riveting portrayal of the joys and mysteries of growing up, and of friendship itself”—with echoes of Freaks and Geeks and The Big Chill (People).

    ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: O, The Oprah Magazine • Entertainment Weekly • Southern Living • Huffington Post • Esquire Book Riot • Harper’s Bazaar • NYLON • Real Simple

    Following her wonderfully received first novel, Another Place You’ve Never Been, Rebecca Kauffman returns with Mikey Callahan, a thirty–year–old who is suffering from the clouded vision of macular degeneration. He struggles to establish human connections—even his emotional life is a blur.

    As the novel begins, he is reconnecting with “The Gunners,” his group of childhood friends, after one of their members has committed suicide. Sally had distanced herself from all of them before ending her life, and she died harboring secrets about the group and its individuals. Mikey especially needs to confront dark secrets about his own past and his father. How much of this darkness accounts for the emotional stupor Mikey is suffering from as he reaches his maturity? And can The Gunners, prompted by Sally’s death, find their way to a new day? The core of this adventure, made by Mikey, Alice, Lynn, Jimmy, and Sam, becomes a search for the core of truth, friendship, and forgiveness.

    A quietly startling, beautiful book, The Gunners engages us with vividly unforgettable characters, and advances Rebecca Kauffman’s place as one of the most important young writers of her generation.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. I'll Keep You Safe
    by Peter May
    Quercus
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / International Crime & Mystery
    Hardback
    I'll Keep You Safe
    by Peter May
    Quercus
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / International Crime & Mystery
    Hardback
    "RICHLY WRITTEN." --KIRKUS REVIEWS

    "VIBRANT DETAILS." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

    "NO ONE CAN CREATE A MORE ELOQUENTLY WRITTEN SUSPENSE NOVEL THAN PETER MAY." --NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS

    A stunning standalone thriller from Peter May that alternates between the glamorous fashion world of Paris and the rugged beauty of the Isle of Harris.

    When a killer strikes a pair of fabric entrepreneurs, is the motive money or something far more personal?

    Friends since childhood, and lovers and business partners as adults, Niamh and Ruairidh are owners of a small company that weaves its own very special version of Harris Tweed--a niche brand in the world of fashion and haute couture.

    But the threads of their relationship are beginning to fray. When Niamh accuses Ruairidh of having an affair with Irina, a Russian fashion designer they work with, Ruairidh storms off and gets into Irina's car. Moments later, Niamh watches in horror as the car explodes in a ball of flame.

    With Niamh a prime suspect in the murder, she begins to suspect that things are not what they seem; and when there is an attempt on her life, she becomes convinced that what looked like a terrorist attack on her lover might be something more personal by far . . .
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. The Red Word
    by Sarah Henstra Canada
    ECW Press
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    The Red Word
    by Sarah Henstra Canada
    ECW Press
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback

    Winner of the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction

    The battle of the sexes goes to college in this nervy debut adult novel by a powerful new voice

    A smart, dark, and take-no-prisoners look at rape culture and the extremes to which ideology can go The Red Word is a campus novel like no other. As her sophomore year begins, Karen enters into the back-to-school revelry — particularly at Gamma Beta Chi. When she wakes up one morning on the lawn of Raghurst, a house of radical feminists, she gets a crash course in the state of feminist activism on campus. The frat known as GBC is notorious, she learns, nicknamed “Gang Bang Central” and a prominent contributor to a list of rapists compiled by female students. Despite continuing to party there and dating one of the brothers, Karen is equally seduced by the intellectual stimulation and indomitable spirit of the Raghurst women, who surprise her by wanting her as a housemate and recruiting her into the upper-level class of a charismatic feminist mythology scholar they all adore. As Karen finds herself caught between two increasingly polarized camps, ringleader housemate Dyann believes she has hit on the perfect way to expose and bring down the fraternity as a symbol of rape culture — but the war between the houses will exact a terrible price.

    The Red Word captures beautifully the feverish binarism of campus politics and the headlong rush of youth toward new friends, lovers, and life-altering ideas. With strains of Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot, Alison Lurie’s Truth and Consequences, and Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons, Sarah Henstra’s debut adult novel arrives on the wings of furies.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. Heart Berries
    by Terese Marie Mailhot Canada
    Doubleday Canada
    Mar 13, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Indigenous
    Hardback
    Heart Berries
    by Terese Marie Mailhot Canada
    Doubleday Canada
    Mar 13, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Indigenous
    Hardback
    *Canada Reads 2019 Longlist

    *National Bestseller

    *New York Times Bestseller

    *Finalist for the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction
    *Finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards
    *Longlisted for the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize
    *Winner of the Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize
    *Winner of the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature
    *Winner of the 2019 Whiting Award for Nonfiction
    *Shortlisted for the 2019 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize
    *Shortlisted for the 2019 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction

    *A New York Times Editors' Choice
    *A Globe and Mail Best Book of 2018
    *A CBC Best Book of 2018
    *A Toronto Star Best Book of 2018
    *A Walrus Best Book of 2018
    *An NPR Best Book of 2018
    *A Chatelaine Best Book of 2018
    *A Bustle Best Book of 2018
    *A GQ Best Book of 2018
    *A Thrillist Best Book of 2018
    *A Book Riot Best Book of 2018
    *An Electric Lit Best Book of 2018
    *An Entropy Best Book of 2018
    *A Hill Times Best Book of 2018
    *A BookPage Best Book of 2018
    *A Library Journal Best Book of 2018
    *A Goodreads Best Book of 2018
    *A New York Public Library Best Book of 2018

    *Named one of the most anticipated books of 2018 by: Chatelaine, Entertainment Weekly, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Huffington Post, B*tch, NYLON, BuzzFeed, Bustle, The Rumpus and Goodreads

    *Selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for March/April 2018


    Guileless and refreshingly honest, Terese Mailhot's debut memoir chronicles her struggle to balance the beauty of her Native heritage with the often desperate and chaotic reality of life on the reservation.


    Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar II, Terese Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father--an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist--who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.

    Mailhot "trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain and what we can bring ourselves to accept." Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people and to her place in the world.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Queens of Innis Lear
    by Tessa Gratton
    Tor Books
    Mar 27, 2018
    FICTION / Fantasy / Epic
    Hardback
    The Queens of Innis Lear
    by Tessa Gratton
    Tor Books
    Mar 27, 2018
    FICTION / Fantasy / Epic
    Hardback

    Dynasties battle for the crown in Tessa Gratton's debut adult epic fantasy,The Queens of Innis Lear.

    Three Queens. One crown. All out war.


    Gaela. Ruthless Commander.
    I am the rightful heir of Innis Lear. No more will I wait in the shadows and watch my mother’s murderer bleed my island dry.

    The King’s hold on the crown must end—willingly or at the edge of my sword.

    Regan. Master Manipulator.
    To secure my place on the throne, I must produce an heir. Countless times I have fed the island’s forests my blood. Yet, my ambition is cursed.

    No matter what or whom I must destroy, I will wield the magic of Innis Lear.

    Elia. Star-blessed Priest.
    My sisters hide in the shadows like serpents, waiting to strike our ailing king. I must protect my father, even if it means marrying a stranger.

    We all have to make sacrifices. Love and freedom will be mine.

    "Amazing. Just Amazing."--Robin McKinley

    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. Girls Burn Brighter
    by Shobha Rao
    Flatiron Books
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Girls Burn Brighter
    by Shobha Rao
    Flatiron Books
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback

    Best Book of the Year:The Washington Post, NPR, Shelf Awareness, Paste, LitHub,Real Simple
    2018 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist: Best Fiction
    Longlisted for the 2018 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

    “Incandescent...A searing portrait of what feminism looks like in much of the world.” —Vogue

    “A treat for Ferrante fans, exploring the bonds of friendship and how female ambition beats against the strictures of poverty and patriarchal societies.” —The Huffington Post

    An electrifying debut novel about the extraordinary bond between two girls driven apart by circumstance but relentless in their search for one another.

    Poornima and Savitha have three strikes against them: they are poor, they are ambitious, and they are girls. After her mother’s death, Poornima has very little kindness in her life. She is left to care for her siblings until her father can find her a suitable match. So when Savitha enters their household, Poornima is intrigued by the joyful, independent-minded girl. Suddenly their Indian village doesn't feel quite so claustrophobic, and Poornima begins to imagine a life beyond arranged marriage. But when a devastating act of cruelty drives Savitha away, Poornima leaves behind everything she has ever known to find her friend.

    Her journey takes her into the darkest corners of India's underworld, on a harrowing cross-continental journey, and eventually to an apartment complex in Seattle. Alternating between the girls’ perspectives as they face ruthless obstacles, Shobha Rao'sGirls Burn Brighterintroduces two heroines who never lose the hope that burns within.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Find You in the Dark
    by Nathan Ripley Canada
    Simon & Schuster
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Paperback / softback
    Find You in the Dark
    by Nathan Ripley Canada
    Simon & Schuster
    Mar 06, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Paperback / softback
    In this chilling debut thriller, in the vein of Dexter and The Talented Mr. Ripley, a family man obsessed with digging up the undiscovered remains of serial killer victims catches the attention of a murderer prowling the streets of Seattle.

    Martin Reese is obsessed with murder.

    For years, he has been illegally buying police files on serial killers and studying them in depth, using them as guides to find missing bodies. He doesn’t take any souvenirs, just photos that he stores in an old laptop, and then he turns in the results to the police anonymously. Martin sees his work as a public service, a righting of wrongs that cops have continuously failed to do.

    Detective Sandra Whittal sees it differently. On a meteoric rise in police ranks due to her case-closing efficiency, Whittal is suspicious of the mysterious caller—the Finder, she names him—leading the police to the bodies. Even if the Finder isn’t the one leaving bodies behind, who’s to say that he won’t start soon?

    On his latest dig, Martin searches for the first kill of Jason Shurn, the early 1990s murderer who may have been responsible for the disappearance of his sister-in-law, whom he never met. But when he arrives at the site, he finds a freshly killed body—a young and recently disappeared Seattle woman—lying among remains that were left there decades ago. Someone else knew where Jason Shurn buried his victims . . . and that someone isn’t happy that Martin has been going around digging up his work.

    When a crooked cop with a tenuous tie to Martin vanishes, Whittal begins to zero in on the Finder. Hunted by a real killer and by Whittal, Martin realizes that in order to escape the killer’s trap, he may have to go deeper into the world of murder than he ever thought.
    View this title on BNC CataList

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