August 2022 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. House of a Thousand Lies
    by Cody Luke Davis
    Crooked Lane Books
    Aug 09, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    House of a Thousand Lies
    by Cody Luke Davis
    Crooked Lane Books
    Aug 09, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Perfect for fans of Julia Heaberlin’s We Are All the Same in the Dark and Megan Collins’s The Family Plot, Cody Luke Davis’ debut psychological thriller brings a sinister serial-killer tale to life with hair-raising twists and chilling turns.

    How far will some families go to protect their legacy?

    Diana Wolf likes to think she has it all: a rock god husband, an empty nest, a wine cellar, and a dream home in the woods. Life is good. It has to be. But when she hires a cartographer, Kerry Perkins, to survey and map her estate in rural Tennessee, she pulls back a frayed corner of the lie that is her fairytale life. On his first night at Wolf Hollow, Kerry stumbles across a young girl's skeleton buried in the woods. But what really scares Diana is a familiar symbol carved into the girl’s skull: two wolves.

    A week later, the cops are digging in her backyard. Diana begins to question how good her life really is. How good of a man is her husband and how good a father? She’s not the only one with questions. Kerry Perkins can’t shake what he saw in the woods that night. He suspects that Diana recognized that symbol, that she lied to the police; that someone is watching him, and that whoever it is, they desperately want him to keep his mouth shut.

    His search for answers leads him to Pink, a deeply disturbed man obsessed with the Wolfs’ celebrity. Pink knows the family better than they know themselves—and he knows that the more he and Kerry dig, the more bones they will find.

    Told through the eyes of multiple narrators, none reliable, this is a story about parents, the lies they tell their children, and the lies they tell themselves.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. Into the Broken Lands
    by Tanya Huff Canada
    DAW
    Aug 23, 2022
    FICTION / Fantasy / Action & Adventure
    Hardback
    Into the Broken Lands
    by Tanya Huff Canada
    DAW
    Aug 23, 2022
    FICTION / Fantasy / Action & Adventure
    Hardback
    From sci-fi and fantasy master Tanya Huff comes a new epic fantasy saga set in a land of dangers and mysteries

    Shattered by mage wars, the Broken Lands will test the bonds of family and friendship, strength and sanity. To save their people, the Heirs of Marsan have no choice but to enter, trusting their lives and the lives of everyone they Protect, to someone who shouldn't exist, who can't be controlled, and who will challenge everything they believe about themselves.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. Carrie Soto Is Back
    by Taylor Jenkins Reid
    Doubleday Canada
    Aug 30, 2022
    FICTION / Women
    Paperback / softback
    Carrie Soto Is Back
    by Taylor Jenkins Reid
    Doubleday Canada
    Aug 30, 2022
    FICTION / Women
    Paperback / softback
    NATIONAL BESTSELLER
    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    In this powerful novel about the cost of greatness, a legendary athlete attempts a comeback when the world considers her past her prime--from the New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising.


    Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two.

    But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.

    At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the "Battle-Axe" anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

    In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Love on the Brain
    by Ali Hazelwood
    Berkley
    Aug 23, 2022
    FICTION / Romance / Workplace
    Paperback / softback
    Love on the Brain
    by Ali Hazelwood
    Berkley
    Aug 23, 2022
    FICTION / Romance / Workplace
    Paperback / softback
    An Instant New York Times Bestseller

    A #1 LibraryReads and Indie Next Pick!

    From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.


    Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project—a literal dream come true after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia—Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

    Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school—archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

    Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it’s her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas…devouring her with those eyes. And the possibilities have all her neurons firing. But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Only Sisters
    by Lilian Nattel Canada
    Random House Canada
    Aug 02, 2022
    FICTION / Women
    Paperback / softback
    Only Sisters
    by Lilian Nattel Canada
    Random House Canada
    Aug 02, 2022
    FICTION / Women
    Paperback / softback
    One sister runs away and the other stays behind. But what happens when the dutiful sister has to impersonate the rebel? In her page-turning exploration of familial loyalty, resentment, secrets, and grief, Lilian Nattel explores the meaning and reach of family bonds.

    Joan has always done the right thing, both as a palliative care doctor and as a caregiver for her widowed mother, Sheila. Joan’s adventurous sister, Vivien, is a different story. She left home as soon as she was able—running from an insecure childhood troubled by an alcoholic father and a mother who constantly threw away all their possessions in order to buy new ones. Vivien’s rarely been back, working as a nurse in the world’s trouble zones, leaving the heavy burden of family on her sister.

    Still, when Vivien learns that their mother is seriously ill, she reaches out to Joan. She's heading for a remote village where Ebola is spreading, and she’s afraid she may die. If she does, she wants Joan to pose as her online so her dying mother won’t have to grieve a daughter. It’s a lie, but it’s the good kind of lie, designed to spare their mother, and so Joan reluctantly agrees, figuring it will never come to that.

    But Vivien does die. And even as Joan mourns her sister, she begins to impersonate her online, as promised. It's difficult at first, but to her surprise, posing as Vivien becomes liberating, even addictive. Then she receives a message on her sister's Facebook from a man claiming to be the son Vivien gave up for adoption, and the line between right and wrong, adventure and tragedy, really begins to blur.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. All Good People Here
    by Ashley Flowers
    Bantam
    Aug 16, 2022
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Hardback
    All Good People Here
    by Ashley Flowers
    Bantam
    Aug 16, 2022
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Hardback
    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie, a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later.

    ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar


    You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

    Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

    When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.

    But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?

    Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. Love in the Time of Serial Killers
    by Alicia Thompson
    Berkley
    Aug 16, 2022
    FICTION / Romance / Romantic Comedy
    Paperback / softback
    Love in the Time of Serial Killers
    by Alicia Thompson
    Berkley
    Aug 16, 2022
    FICTION / Romance / Romantic Comedy
    Paperback / softback
    One of Cosmopolitan's Best Romance Novels Ever

    Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn't exactly conducive to modern dating—and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she's used to suspecting the worst.


    PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analyzing the genre in her dissertation—if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years.

    It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he's clearly up to something). It's not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier—a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Last Housewife
    by Ashley Winstead
    Sourcebooks Landmark
    Aug 16, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    The Last Housewife
    by Ashley Winstead
    Sourcebooks Landmark
    Aug 16, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback

    "Deliciously unputdownable." —The Washington Post

    "A stunning, disturbing thriller that will have your mind and heart racing." —Samantha Downing

    From the author of the acclaimed In My Dreams I Hold a Knife comes a pitch-black thriller about a woman determined to destroy a powerful cult and avenge the deaths of the women taken in by it, no matter the cost.

    While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall. By senior year, Shay and her friend Laurel were the only ones who managed to escape. Now, eight years later, Shay's built a new life in a tony Texas suburb. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel's death—delivered, of all ways, by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader—she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive, and the predators more dangerous than ever.

    Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend's life, she's pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar. When Shay's obsession with uncovering the truth becomes so consuming she can no longer separate her desire for justice from darker desires newly reawakened, she must confront the depths of her own complicity and conditioning. But in a world built for men to rule it—both inside the cult and outside of it—is justice even possible, and if so, how far will Shay go to get it?

    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. Long Gone
    by Joanna Schaffhausen
    Minotaur Books
    Aug 09, 2022
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback
    Long Gone
    by Joanna Schaffhausen
    Minotaur Books
    Aug 09, 2022
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback

    Long Gone, the next installment of Joanna Schaffhausen's critically acclaimed Detective Annalisa Vega series.

    Chicago detective Annalisa Vega shattered her life, personally and professionally, when she turned in her ex-cop father for his role in a murder. Her family can’t forgive her. Her fellow officers no longer trust her. So when detective Leo Hammond turns up dead in a bizarre murder, Annalisa thinks she has nothing to lose by investigating whatever secrets he hid behind the thin blue line.

    Annalisa quickly zeroes in on someone who had good reason to want Hammond dead: a wealthy, fast-talking car salesman who’d gotten away with murder once and wasn’t about to let Hammond take a second shot. Moe Bocks remains the number one suspect in his girlfriend’s brutal unsolved death, and now he’s got a new woman in his sights—Annalisa’s best friend.

    Annalisa is desperate to protect her friend and force Bocks to pay, either for Hammond’s death or his earlier crime. But when no one else believes the connection, she takes increasingly risky chances to reveal the truth. Because both Hammond and Bocks had secrets to die for, and if she doesn’t untangle them soon, Annalisa will be next.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Bad Fruit
    by Ella King
    Astra House
    Aug 23, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Bad Fruit
    by Ella King
    Astra House
    Aug 23, 2022
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    “[A] blistering psychological thriller.” —The New York Times Book Review

    "A compelling debut that fizzes with tension from start to finish, blending the subtle erudition of literary fiction with the drama and suspense of the very best thrillers. Masterful in its evocation of the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, this is a darkly fascinating, tightly plotted narrative from a writer to watch." —Harper’s Bazaar (UK)


    Just graduated from high school and waiting to start college at Oxford, Lily lives under the scrutiny of her volatile Singaporean mother, May, and is unable to find kinship with her elusive British father, Charlie. When May suspects that Charlie is having an affair, there’s only one thing that calms May down: a glass of perfectly spoiled orange juice served by Lily, who must always taste it first to make sure it's just right.

    As her mother becomes increasingly unhinged, Lily starts to have flashbacks that she knows aren’t her own. Over a sweltering London summer, all semblance of civility and propriety is lost, as Lily begins to unravel the harrowing history that has always cast a shadow on her mother. The horrifying secrets she uncovers will shake her family to its core, culminating in a shattering revelation that will finally set Lily free.

    Beautiful and shocking, Bad Fruit is as compulsive as it is thought-provoking, as nuanced as it is explosive. A masterful exploration of mothers and daughters, inherited trauma and the race to break its devastating cycle, Bad Fruit will leave readers breathlessly questioning their own notions of femininity, race and redemption.
    View this title on BNC CataList

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