All posts by Emily Berg

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

“Wow! What an incredibly fun book! An ensemble cast of miscreants, monsters, heretics, enemies of God, and a priest embark on a holy quest with improbable odds of success. My first Abercrombie book and it’s everything I expected and more! Epic, gory, FUNNY, thrilling, and emotional.
-Joey, Books & Books Staff

A brand-new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey

Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.


About the Author

Joe Abercrombie was born in Lancaster, England, studied psychology at Manchester University, and worked as an editor of documentaries and live music before his first book, The Blade Itself, was published in 2006. Two further installments of the First Law trilogy, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings, followed, along with three standalone books set in the same world: Best Served Cold, The Heroes, and Red Country. He has also written the Shattered Sea trilogy for young adults, the Age of Madness trilogy for old adults, and Sharp Ends, a collection of short stories. He lives in Bath, England, with his wife and three children. The Devils is his thirteenth novel. 


Praise For…

The Devils is just an incredibly fun, incredibly action-packed and, by the end, incredibly affecting book. It slammed the living shit out of me.”—Tamsyn Muir, New York Times bestselling author of Gideon the Ninth

“Devilish fun, an unholy delight. Wielding his trademarked grit and stiletto-sharp prose, Abercrombie is at his bloody best weaving a tale of monstrous heroes who discover the humanity in themselves.”—Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, the first in a new series, is ferociously imagined, and rumbles along with the unstoppable force of a city-burying avalanche. It’s also frequently shout-out-loud-with-laughter funny. When it comes to big, shamelessly entertaining fantasy, Abercrombie is in a class of his own.”—Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box

“Mixing the central conceit of Suicide Squad with Hammer horror vibes, as viewed via the lens of alternate history, The Devils is a gore splattered roller coaster ride from start to finish. Probably the most fun you can have reading a fantasy novel.”—Anthony Ryan, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Song

“Joe Abercrombie is, to me, the undisputed master of creating deep, distinct characters that leap off the page, and never more so than in The Devils. This book is hilarious, profound, tragic, and so thrillingly paced one scarcely has time to breathe between one calamitous adventure and the next. I loved every page, and can’t wait to see where the story goes from here. Straight to hell, I hopefully suspect!”—Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld

The Collaborators by Michael Idov

“The Collaborators feels like it can’t wait to be a blockbuster movie, but first it’s a fast-paced, twisty thrill ride of a novel. If you like old-fashioned spy novels, but want an update that’s fewer tuxedos and more rock band t-shirts, this is a book for you.”
-Robin, Books and Books Staff

Named a Best Book of the Year by Vogue

Slow Horses meets Red Sparrow in this “sharp, freshly conceived, [and] thoroughly entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) spy thriller featuring a brilliant young intelligence officer and a troubled heiress who stumble into a global conspiracy that pits present-day Russia against the CIA.

Combining realistic thrills with sophisticated spycraft and witty dialogue, The Collaborators delivers a gut-punch answer to the biggest geopolitical question of our time: how, exactly, did post-Soviet Russia turn down the wrong path?

Crisscrossing the globe on the way to this shocking revelation are disaffected millennial CIA officer Ari Falk, thrown into a moral and professional crisis by the death of his best asset; and brash, troubled LA heiress Maya Chou, spiraling after the disappearance of her Russian American billionaire father. The duo’s adventures take us to both classic and surprising locales—from Berlin, to Latvia, Belarus, and an abandoned technopark outside Moscow.

Dynamic, fast-paced, and filled with captivating details that provide a window into a secretive world, The Collaborators is a first-rate thriller “with a propulsive plot and fantastic twists” (Chris Pavone, author of The Expats) that pays homage to both meanings of “intelligence.” 


About the Author

Michael Idov is a novelist, director, and screenwriter. A Latvian-born American raised in Riga under Soviet occupation, he moved to New York after graduating from the University of Michigan. Michael’s writing career began at New York magazine, where his features won three National Magazine Awards, and he has also been the editor-in-chief of GQ Russia. He is also the author of Ground Up and Dressed Up for a Riot. Michael has worked on numerous film and TV projects, including LondongradDeutschland 83Leto, and The Humorist. He and his wife and screenwriting partner, Lily, divide their time between Los Angeles, Berlin, and Portugal. 


Praise For…

“What the ever expanding world of espionage fiction needs, it turns out, is a Yale-educated Millennial field operative who dresses in Weezer t-shirts and knows his way around a semi-automatic. . . . [The Collaborators is a] slim, well-paced, deceptively complex novel of American and Russian intelligence. . . . a novel as cool as it is accomplished, that knits together action, tradecraft and quippy dialogue with flair.” —Vogue

“[A] globe-trotting spy adventure . . . Idov balances modern-day intrigue with Cold War flashbacks, tracing spy bloodlines from the former Soviet Union into today.” —Paste magazine

“Idov gathers stories from the headlines and blends them into a hipster spy smoothie.” —The Times (UK), Named a Best Thriller of the Year

“A cutthroat international financial scheme with grave political implications . . . Unlike most spy fiction, it’s driven in the liveliest sense by young characters who reflect their generation. Falk, a millennial who wears Weezer tees, and Maya, who was up for a part in a Peacock vampire series, are an irresistible pairing. . . . Sharp, freshly conceived, thoroughly entertaining spy fiction.” —Kirkus (starred review)

The Collaborators is a terrific espionage thriller with a propulsive plot and fantastic twists, but what really sets this book apart is the writing, sparkling on every page.” —Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author of The Expats and Two Nights in Lisbon

“Compulsively readable, with more twists than a bar full of martinis, The Collaborators takes a deep dive into global espionage, what-ifs, and the things we do for those we love.” —I. S. Berry, Edgar Award-winning author of The Peacock and The Sparrow

“This is a hell of an espionage thriller—thoroughly modern and frighteningly relevant, yet with clear reverence for the genre’s roots. This book has it all—memorable and well-drawn characters, globe-spanning locales full of fascinating and authentic detail, and a complex plot that unfolds at just the right pace. Idov’s prose is first-rate—concise, colorful, and insightful. He is a writer who understands the power of life’s small details, which adds another layer of texture to this highly entertaining novel. I did not want to put this book down.” —Alex DeMille, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Lines

Running the Light by Sam Tallent

“The story of Billy Ray Schafer, a road comic just trying to make it another day, is at turns hilarious and bleak. Tallent has successfully created a wreck of man who you can’t help but route for. An essential read for fans of stand up comedy but a great book for all.”

-Emily, Books & Books Staff

A bona fide “instant classic” (Doug Stanhope) novel that tells the story of a road comic crashing and burning by acclaimed comedian Sam Tallent

Billy Ray Schafer stepped off the plane in Amarillo, Texas, with twenty-six hundred dollars tucked down the leg of his black ostrich-skin cowboy boot. He walked to baggage claim slowly, jelly-legged and nearing lucidity, coming out from under the Xanax he snorted before the flight.

Debauched, divorced, and courting death, Billy Ray Schafer is a comedian who has forgotten how to laugh. Over the course of seven spun-out days across the American Southwest, he travels from hell gig to hell gig in search of a reason to keep living in this bleak and violent glimpse into the psyche of a thoroughly ruined man. Ex-inmate, ex-husband, ex-father—comedian is the only title Schafer has left. Trapped in the wreckage of his wasted career, Billy Ray knows the answer to the question: What happens when opportunity doesn’t come—or worse—it comes and goes?

“In vivid, electric sentences that read like cinematic tracking shots,” (Denver Post) Tallent hurls you into an absolute mess of a man’s life as we search for the mercy he does not want. 


About the Author

Sam Tallent is a comedian, novelist, and host of the Chubby Behemoth podcast. For the last decade, he has performed more than forty-five weekends per year in North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Sam has two comedy specials: Waiting For Death to Claim Us and The Toad’s Morale. He also has a travel show, Wide World, on YouTube. He lives in Detroit and cooks dinner for his wife every night. 


Praise For RUNNING THE LIGHT

“You’d never expect this abomination of a man to write such beautiful prose, but Sam Tallent has done it. . . . Wow, what a book!”—Shane Gillis, stand-up comedian

Running the Light is a majestically bleak, hilarious, and bruising tour of regret, delusion, and the detonation of the soul. In Billy Ray Schafer, Sam Tallent has created one of contemporary fiction’s more memorable self-destroyers, and it’s a harrowing delight to witness him evade and then perhaps finally confront his truth.”—Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask

“A hell of a novel, too fucked-up to miss.”—Ron White

“A thrilling, nauseating and painfully real depiction of what happens at length as youth, talent, and charisma sour, Running the Light is the best novel I’ve ever read about comedy but also about a particular strand of relentless hedonism. Sam Tallent is that rare thing, a funny person who can convey his funniness in fiction and do it alongside prose that will break your heart, too.”—Megan Nolan, author of Acts of Desperation

“It reads like a heightened satire of a life on the lowest tier of show business, but I’m here to tell you, it all rings true.”—Marc Maron, stand-up comedian

“Chaotic bliss . . . vivid, electric . . . reads like cinema.”The Denver Post 

“Sam Tallent is one of the true originals. He’s as much myth as man, like a character who wandered off the pages of a Jack Kerouac novel. But he’s very real and full of real integrity that shines through in all his work.”—Chris Gethard

My Darling Boy by John Dufresne

“I really liked this book. It’s different, engaging, heartbreaking, yet hopeful. All the characters, no matter how important, come to life – some are funny, some not. I love this dad who never gives up on his son. And it takes place in weird Florida.”

-Judy Blume, Store Co-Founder

A brilliant and gut-wrenching novel about a father and son from a “master” (Lee Martin) of the tragi-comic.

Known for his bold voice and unforgettable characters, John Dufresne tells the story of Olney, whose beloved son Cully collapses into addiction and vanishes into the chaotic netherworld of southern Florida. Aided by his terminally ill girlfriend and the colorful inhabitants of a local motel—including a doomsday prepper, an ex-nun, a pair of blind twins with an acute sense of smell, and a devoutly Catholic shelter worker—Olney sets out to save his son. Hilarious and devastating in equal measure, My Darling Boy is a hero’s quest for our time, a testament to families touched by the opioid crisis, and a remarkable achievement from one of our most talented, genre-bending authors.

About the Author


John Dufresne is the author of 25 works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including Louisiana Power and Light and Love Warps the Mind a Little. He lives in Florida, where he teaches writing at Florida International University. 

Praise For…


Improbably entertaining…My Darling Boy is a tale of parenthood, friendship and resolute love.
— Heller McAlpin, The New York Times

A sensitive portrait of parenthood…
— The New Yorker

John Dufresne has an unfathomable ability to make me laugh and break my heart, often in the space of a single sentence. My Darling Boy is both a lamentation and a celebration of the infinite mystery we call human nature. A masterwork.
— Dennis Lehane, author of Small Mercies

My Darling Boy is a big-hearted love song to being human. Populated by unforgettable characters in Florida towns like Melancholy and Whynot, and written in John Dufresne’s unique voice, the novel examines love and addiction and despair, and most of all, hope. I love this book.
— Ann Hood, author of The Stolen Child

John Dufresne hits it out of the park with My Darling Boy…. Follow along as this wordsmith keeps you laughing, while imparting wisdom about how to navigate life’s peaks and valleys. Dufresne is a master of the craft and a writer to be celebrated.
— Jonathan Escoffery, author of If I Survive You

Roses, In the Mouth of a Lion – Bushra Rehman

“A beautiful coming of age story set amidst the Pakistani community in Queens. About family, community, not belonging and finally finding a different home. Moving and remarkable. A great read!” – Anna, Store Volunteer

New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice * An NPR Best Book of the Year * A Padma Lakshmi Book Club Pick

For fans of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, an unforgettable story about female friendship and queer love in a Muslim-American community

“Stunningly beautiful.” —
The New York Times Book Review

“An unforgettable voice that moves you from the start.” —People Magazine

Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting school to explore the city. 

When Razia is accepted to Stuyvesant, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, the gulf between the person she is and the daughter her parents want her to be, widens. At Stuyvesant, Razia meets Angela and is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding. When their relationship is discovered by an Aunty in the community, Razia must choose between her family and her own future. 

Punctuated by both joy and loss, full of ’80s music and beloved novels, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a new classic: a fiercely compassionate coming-of-age story of a girl struggling to reconcile her heritage and faith with her desire to be true to herself.

Poor Deer – Claire Oshetsky

NOW IN PAPERBACK!

“Margaret Murphy is only 4 years old when tragedy sets her life in motion. Living with her mother and aunt has its ups and downs as she tried to navigate the future and understand the past. This book and its unreliable narrator is not for everyone but for us weirdos it is a gem of a read.”
– Emily, Books and Books Staff

A wondrous, tender novel about a young girl grappling with her role in a tragic loss—and attempting to reshape the narrative of her life—from PEN/Faulkner Award nominee Claire Oshetsky

Margaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died.

No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Her mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy, Margaret wills herself to forget these unbearable memories, replacing them with imagined stories full of faith and magic—that always end happily.

Enter Poor Deer: a strange and formidable creature who winds her way uninvited into Margaret’s made-up tales. Poor Deer will not rest until Margaret faces the truth about her past and atones for her role in Agnes’s death.

Heartrending, hopeful, and boldly imagined, Poor Deer explores the journey toward understanding the children we once were and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of life’s most difficult moments.

We Solve Murders – Richard Osman

“This was my first Richard Osman book, but it definitely won’t be my last. A delightful, engaging cozy mystery, full of wonderful characters and fun locales.”  
-Robin, Bookseller and Social Media Manager


From the #1 bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club Series
. A brand new mystery. An iconic new detective duo. And a thrilling new murder to solve . . .

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He still does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him at home. His days of adventure are over. Adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s job now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. Working in private security, every day is dangerous. She’s currently on a remote island protecting mega-bestselling author Rosie D’Antonio, until a dead body and a bag of money mean trouble in paradise. So she sends an SOS to the only person she trusts . . .

As a thrilling race around the world begins, can Amy and Steve outrun and outsmart a killer?

Solving murders. It’s a family business.

Richard Osman is an author and television presenter. His novels, The Thursday Murder ClubThe Man Who Died TwiceThe Bullet That Missed, and The Last Devil to Die, were number one, million-copy international bestsellers as well as New York Times bestsellers. He lives in London with his wife, Ingrid, and Liesl the cat. We Solve Murders is his fifth novel. The movie adaptation for The Thursday Murder Club will start filming in 2024, produced by Amblin Entertainment.

The Women – Kristin Hannah

What a dynamic book, it pulled me into Frankie’s life and her service in Viet Nam as an army nurse during this turbulent time in history of a nation divided by war and politics.  I could not put it down  Kristin Hannah is a master in writing. 
-Betty, Store Volunteer

A #1 bestseller on The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times!

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam. 

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

The Safekeep – Yael Van Der Wouden

About as steamy as any novel I’ve ever read, but also profounding eye-opening politically, having nothing to do with sex. More twists than plateful of fusilli.  
-George, store co-founder

June 2024 Indie Next List


“A suspenseful story of two women forced to stay in a house in the Dutch countryside. This novel gives tremendous insight on how the Dutch handled the repercussions of the Holocaust, and how a generation lost affects those who survive.” 
— Josie Williams, Invitation Bookshop, Gig Harbor, WA 

Description


LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 

“Remarkable…Compelling…Fine and taut…Indelible” —The New York Times • “Mesmerizing and shockingly good…I was utterly blown away.” —Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace • “A brilliant debut, as multifaceted as a gem.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) • “Moving, unnerving, and deeply sexy.” —Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring • “Fans of Patricia Highsmith and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen will find much to admire here.”—Vulture

An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

A house is a precious thing…

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation—leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel you won’t soon forget.