Ready to Read - De negentien van december (Engelstalig)

Every Breath You Take

Van Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

De koningin van de misdaadromans, Mary Higgins Clark, komt met een vijfde deel in de Under Suspicion-serie, die ze samen met Alafair Burke schrijft. In 2018 volgt weer een nieuwe standalone, I've got my eyes on you.

'The Met Gala ball: the world's most glamorous fundraising party, an incredible night where the rich and famous wear extraordinary designer gowns and rub shoulders in New York's famous Metropolitan Museum of Art. People would kill for an invitation. Three years ago, Virginia Wakeling, a member of the Met's board of trustees and one of the museum's most generous donors, was found dead in the snow outside the building. Police soon discovered that she'd been thrown from the roof during the Met Gala, but no one has ever been arrested for her murder. Although suspicion has always hovered around Virginia's much younger boyfriend, there are a bevy of suspects. Laurie Moran decides to investigate Virginia's death for her successful cold-cases television show, Under Suspicion. But the more she pries into Virginia's murder, the closer Laurie comes to discovering just how dangerous an invitation to the Met Gala can be...'

Every Breath You Take is in november verschenen in paperback en hardcover. Een Nederlandse vertaling ligt in de lijn der verwachtingen aangezien het vorige deel ook vertaald is (De schone slaapster).

In the Midst of Winter

Van Isabel Allende

De Chileense auteur Isabel Allende kennen we van prachtige romans als Het huis met de geesten, van waargebeurde verhalen als Paula, van sprookjesachtige series als de Jaguar- en Adelaartrilogie en van spannende boeken als Zorro en Ripper. Een maand geleden verscheen In the midst of winter, een prachtige roman over strijd, doorzettingsvermogen en vriendschap tegen wil en dank.

'Amid the biggest Brooklyn snowstorm in living memory, an unexpected friendship blossoms between three people thrown together by circumstance. Richard Bowmaster, a lonely university professor in his 60s, hits the car driven by Evelyn Ortega, a young undocumented migrant from Guatemala. But what at first seems an inconvenience takes an unforeseen and darker turn when Evelyn comes to him and his neighbour Lucia Maraz, desperately seeking help. Sweeping from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala to turbulent 1970s Chile and Brazil, and woven with Isabel Allende's trademark humanity, passion and storytelling verve, In the Midst of Winter is a mesmerizing and unforgettable tale.'

In the Midst of Winter is in paperback en hardcover leverbaar. In februari 2018 volgt ook de Nederlandse vertaling: De winter voorbij.

The Darkest Day

Van Hakan Nesser

Die arme Engelstalige lezers hebben lang moeten wachten om te kunnen starten met de geweldige Gunnar Barbarotti-reeks. In oktober verscheen in paperback eindelijk het eerste deel onder de titel The Darkest Day, jaren na de Nederlandse vertaling De man zonder hond.

'It's December in the quiet Swedish town of Kymlinge, and the Hermansson family are gathering to celebrate father Karl-Erik and eldest daughter Ebba's joint landmark birthdays. But beneath the guise of happy festivities, tensions are running high, and it's not long before the night takes a dark and unexpected turn. Before the weekend is over, two members of the Hermansson family are missing, and it's up to Inspector Barbarotti - a detective who spends as much of his time debating the existence of God as he does solving cases - to determine exactly what has happened. And he soon discovers he'll have to unravel a whole tangle of sinister family secrets in the process...'

Een groep Hebbanlezers heeft zelfstandig een online leesclub rond De man zonder hond georganiseerd. Lees de discussie hier na en vul aan met je eigen inzichten en visie.

Two Kinds of Truth

Van Michael Connelly

De 22e Harry Bosch is uit (in paperback en hardcover) en dat hebben we geweten, want Onno recenseerde hem al met een 4*-recensie: 'Connelly schrijft over Bosch nog altijd op een wijze die ontzettend boeit. Hij krijgt het voor elkaar om een al ingewikkeld verhaal nog gecompliceerder te maken om uiteindelijk tot een prachtige ontknoping te komen.'

'Harry Bosch is back as a volunteer working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department and is called out to a local drugstore where a young pharmacist has been murdered. Bosch and the town's three-person detective squad sift through the clues, which lead into the dangerous, big business world of pill mills and prescription drug abuse. Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch's LAPD days comes back to haunt him when a long-imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him and seems to have new evidence to prove it. Bosch left the LAPD on bad terms, so his former colleagues aren't keen to protect his reputation. He must fend for himself in clearing his name and keeping a clever killer in prison. The two unrelated cases wind around each other like strands of barbed wire. Along the way Bosch discovers that there are two kinds of truth: the kind that sets you free and the kind that leaves you buried in darkness.'

De Nederlandse vertaling volgt vast en zeker, recent verscheen immers ook al Harry Bosch #21, De keerzijde.

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Van Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward won de National Book Award voor haar tweede roman Salvage the Bones uit 2011. In de tussentijd schreef ze twee non-fictie boeken, maar vorige maand verscheen dan ook eindelijk weer een roman, Sing, Unburied, Sing.

'Jojo is 13 years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn't lack in fathers to study, chief among them his black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent white father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent white grandfather, Big Joseph, who won't acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager. His mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister's lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is black, and her children's father is white. She wants to be a better mother but can't put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she's high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances. When the children's father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the state penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another 13-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He, too, has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.'

Sing, Unburied, Sing is in hardcover en paperback leverbaar. Op 30 maart 2018 volgt de Nederlandse vertaling onder de titel Het lied van de geesten. Wards eerdere romans zijn niet vertaald.

Strange Weather

Van Joe Hill

Zoon van Stephen King en auteur van Nos4r2, Horns (verfilmd met Daniel Radcliffe in de hoofdrol) en The Fireman brengt ons nu een collectie van vier angstaanjagende verhalen: Snapshot, Aloft, Rain en Loaded.

'Snapshot is the disturbing story of a Silicon Valley adolescent who finds himself threatened by "The Phoenician," a tattooed thug who possesses a Polaroid Instant Camera that erases memories, snap by snap. A young man takes to the skies to experience his first parachute jump. . . and winds up a castaway on an impossibly solid cloud, a Prospero’s island of roiling vapor that seems animated by a mind of its own in Aloft. On a seemingly ordinary day in Boulder, Colorado, the clouds open up in a downpour of nails—splinters of bright crystal that shred the skin of anyone not safely under cover. Rain explores this escalating apocalyptic event, as the deluge of nails spreads out across the country and around the world. In Loaded, a mall security guard in a coastal Florida town courageously stops a mass shooting and becomes a hero to the modern gun rights movement. But under the glare of the spotlights, his story begins to unravel, taking his sanity with it. When an out-of-control summer blaze approaches the town, he will reach for the gun again and embark on one last day of reckoning.'

Strange Weather telt bijna 450 bladzijden, dus deze korte verhalen zijn volwaardige novellen om van te genieten tijdens deze donkere dagen. Het boek is in hardcover en paperback verkrijgbaar. Een Nederlandse vertaling is nog niet aangekondigd.

Bonfire

Van Krysten Ritter

Krysten Ritter ís Jessica Jones uit de gelijknamige Marvel superheldenserie op Netflix. Ongeduldig wachten we op het tweede seizoen. Ondertussen laat Ritter op een andere manier van zich horen. Ze debuteert met een spannende thriller waar geen enkel bovennatuurlijk tintje in terug te vinden is. Verwacht dus geen Jessica Jones-taferelen in Bonfire.

'It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all evidence of her small town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands. But when a new case takes her back home to Barrens, Indiana, the life Abby painstakingly created begins to crack. Tasked with investigating Optimal Plastics, the town's economic heart, she begins to find strange connections to a decade-old scandal involving the popular Kaycee Mitchell and her friends - just before Kaycee disappeared for good. But as Abby tries desperately to find out what happened to Kaycee, troubling memories begin to resurface and she begins to doubt her own observations. And when she unearths an even more disturbing secret, her search threatens the reputations, and lives, of the community and risks exposing a darkness that may consume her.'

Bonfire is in hardcover en paperback leverbaar. Over een eventuele Nederlandse vertaling is nog niets bekend. De Hebban Leesclub beoordeelde het boek met een gemiddelde 3,5*-waardering en de mooie woorden: 'Ritter is trouwens bijzonder sterk in dialogen.'

The Midnight Line

Van Lee Child

The Midnight Line is de 22e Jack Reacher-thriller. Het boek is leverbaar in hardcover en paperback. Het boek is gelijktijdig verschenen in het Nederlands, onder de titel Nachthandel.

'Jack Reacher takes an aimless stroll past a pawn shop in a small Midwestern town. In the window he sees a West Point class ring from 2005. It's tiny. It's a woman cadet's graduation present to herself. Why would she give it up? Reacher's a West Pointer too, and he knows what she went through to get it. Reacher tracks the ring back to its owner, step by step, down a criminal trail leading west. Like Big Foot come out of the forest, he arrives in the deserted wilds of Wyoming. All he wants is to find the woman. If she's OK, he'll walk away. If she's not ... he'll stop at nothing. He's still shaken by the recent horrors of Make Me, and now The Midnight Line sees him set on a raw and elemental quest for simple justice. Best advice: don't get in his way.'

Tot en met woensdag 6 december kun je kans maken op een gesigneerde, hardcover van The Midnight Line op de Hebban Readers Club.

Artemis

Van Andy Weir

The Martian, het in 2014 verschenen debuut van Andy Weir werd een dikke hit. Op Hebban ontving het een 5*-recensie: 'Het slot van dit boek is spectaculair. Over de top, maar dat mag dan ook in een sciencefictionthriller.' En de gelijknamige verfilming met Matt Damon in de hoofdrol maakte ook zeker indruk. Artemis is zijn nieuwe boek.

'Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itselfand that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.'

Vijftien lezers van De Hebban Leesclub kregen Artemis al vroeg te lezen, genoten van de humor en actie en beloonden het met een gemiddelde 3,5*. De Nederlandse vertaling van Artemis is deze week ook verschenen.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles

Van Hiro Arikawa

De Japanse Hiro Arikawa is met haar romans en Travelling Cat Chronicles in thuisland bij iedereen bekend. Nu mag ze de wereld veroveren met een enorme serie vertalingen.

'Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn't know why and Satoru won't say.'

The Travelling Cat Chronicles is verkrijgbaar in een fijngeprijsde pocket. Het verschijnt half april 2018 in een Nederlandse vertaling onder de titel Reisverslag van een kat.

A Gentleman in Moscow

Van Amor Towles

Na zijn debuut Rules of Civility verschijnt nu de literaire roman A Gentleman in Moscow in pocket.

'In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.'

Towles' beide romans zijn in Nederlandse vertaling beschikbaar. Zijn debuut als Een kwestie van hoffelijkheid en zijn nieuwste roman als Graaf in Moskou.

How to Stop Time

Van Matt Haig

Matt Haig schrijft bijzondere romans. Romans waar je als lezer je een beetje flexibel door moet laten meeleiden. Ze zijn namelijk net een beetje 'anders'.

'Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life. So Tom moves back his to London, his old home, to become a high school history teacher--the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city's history first hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him. But the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.'

Vijf lezers beoordeelden het boek in een Hot or Not-panel: 'Dat hij het ongeloofwaardige als volstrekt normaal kan neerzetten bewijst zijn kracht als schrijver.' Over een vertaling is nog niets bekend, maar we vermoeden dat die wel zal komen in de nabije toekomst. How to stop time is leverbaar in een pocketeditie.

Assassin's Fate

Van Robin Hobb

Het is zoals de Readers het noemen, een trilogie van trilogieën. Robin Hobb schreef drie boeken over de Zieners, drie boeken over de Nar en drie boeken over Fitz & de Nar (naast nog heel veel meer boeken en andere trilogieën). Met Assassin's Fate, het laatste boek van de laatste trilogie komt er een bitterzoet einde aan de serie waar wereldwijd miljoenen lezers al ruim twintig jaar van genieten. Lees de beschrijving hieronder alleen als je Fool's Quest ook hebt gelezen, het tweede deel in de laatste trilogie.

'Prince FitzChivalry Farseer’s daughter Bee was violently abducted from Withywoods by Servants of the Four in their search for the Unexpected Son, foretold to wield great power. With Fitz in pursuit, the Servants fled through a Skill-pillar, leaving no trace. It seems certain that they and their young hostage have perished in the Skill-river. Clerres, where White Prophets were trained by the Servants to set the world on a better path, has been corrupted by greed. Fitz is determined to reach the city and take vengeance on the Four, not only for the loss of Bee but also for their torture of the Fool. Accompanied by FitzVigilant, son of the assassin Chade, Chade’s protégé Spark and the stableboy Perseverance, Bee's only friend, their journey will take them from the Elderling city of Kelsingra, down the perilous Rain Wild River, and on to the Pirate Isles. Their mission for revenge will become a voyage of discovery, as well as of reunions, transformations and heartrending shocks. Startling answers to old mysteries are revealed. What became of the liveships Paragon and Vivacia and their crews? What is the origin of the Others and their eerie beach? How are liveships and dragons connected? But Fitz and his followers are not the only ones with a deadly grudge against the Four. An ancient wrong will bring them unlikely and dangerous allies in their quest. And if the corrupt society of Clerres is to be brought down, Fitz and the Fool will have to make a series of profound and fateful sacrifices.'

Met bijna 900 bladzijden in een moddervet pocketje komt er nu een einde aan de fantasyreeks rond FitzChevalric en zijn vrienden (en vijanden). In vertaling is dit boek verschenen onder de titel Het lot van de moordenaar.

Otherworld

Van Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller

Alweer een acteur in het rijtje, nu Jason Segel die een van de hoofdrollen speelde in How I Met Your Mother. In Otherworld, dat hij samen met Kirsten Miller schreef, kun je je fysieke lichaam achterlaten en in de virtuele wereld toegeven aan al je wensen, driften en grillen.

'That's how Otherworld traps you. It introduces you to sensations you'd never be able to feel in real life. You discover what's been missing - because it's taboo or illegal or because you lack the guts to do it for real. And when you find out what's missing it's almost impossible to let it go again. There are no screens. There are no controls. You don't just see and hear it - you taste, smell, and touch it too. In this new reality, there are no laws to break or rules to obey. You can live your best life. Indulge every desire. It's a game so addictive you'll never want it to end. Until you realize that you're the one being played. Welcome to Otherworld, where reality is dead. Step into the future. Leave your body behind.'

Otherworld wordt op dit moment besproken in een Hebban Leesclub. De eerste geluiden zijn positief. Het is onduidelijk of we een Nederlandse vertaling kunnen verwachten. Segels eerdere jeugdboeken zijn wel vertaald. Otherworld is in een behaaglijk geprijsd pocketje verkrijgbaar.

Renegades

Van Marissa Meyer

Marissa Meyer leverde ons al de geweldige Lunar Chronicles. Ze stoomt nu door met het eerste deel van een nieuwe reeks, de Gatlon trilogy. Renegades is het eerste deel.

'The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies - humans with extraordinary abilities - who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice - and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to the villains who have the power to end them both.'

Renegades is als pocket beschikbaar. Een Nederlandse vertaling verschijnt morgen onder de titel Alter Ego.

The Amazing Story of the Man who cycled from India to Europe for Love

Van Per J. Andersson

Even iets heel anders dan fictie, een reisroman. En wel te fiets en dwars door landen en continenten. En dat alles voor de liefde.

'The story begins in a public square in New Delhi. On a cold December evening a young European woman of noble descent appears before an Indian street artist known locally as PK and asks him to paint her portrait – it is an encounter that will change their lives irrevocably. PK was not born in the city. He grew up in a small remote village on the edge of the jungle in East India, and his childhood as an untouchable was one of crushing hardship. He was forced to sit outside the classroom during school, would watch classmates wash themselves if they came into contact with him, and had stones thrown at him when he approached the village temple. According to the priests, PK dirtied everything that was pure and holy. But had PK not been an untouchable, his life would have turned out very differently.'

Dit boek met de lange titel is leverbaar als pocket. Over een vertaling is niets bekend.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life

Van Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Na het daverende Aristoteles & Dante ontdekken de geheimen van het universum waarmee Sáenz echt doorbrak als schrijver volgt nu The inexplicable Logic of My Life.

'Sal used to know his place with his adoptive gay father, their loving Mexican American family, and his best friend, Samantha. But it's senior year, and suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and realizing he no longer knows himself. If Sal's not who he thought he was, who is he? This humor-infused, warmly humane look at universal questions of belonging is a triumph.'

Op 20 februari 2018 volgt de Nederlandse vertaling onder de titel De onverklaarbare logica van mijn leven. The inexplicable logic of my life is beschikbaar in een betaalbare pocketeditie.

The note

Van Zoe Folbigg

Een waargebeurde debuutroman vol romantiek over een klein briefje dat een groot verschil kan maken.

'One very ordinary day, Maya Flowers sees a new commuter board her train to London, and suddenly the day isn't ordinary at all. Maya knows immediately and irrevocably, that he is The One. But the beautiful man on the train always has his head in a book and never seems to notice Maya sitting just down the carriage from him every day. Eventually, though, inspired by a very wise friend, Maya plucks up the courage to give the stranger a note asking him out for a drink. After all, what's the worst that can happen? And so begins a story of sliding doors, missed opportunities and finding happiness where you least expect it.'

The Note is een grappig en charmant verhaal dat het belang aantoont van risico nemen in leven en liefde. Het boek is verkrijgbaar als pocket. Een Nederlandse vertaling is nog niet aangekondigd.

Scythe

Van Neal Shusterman

De Amerikaanse auteur Neal Shusterman heeft inmiddels tientallen boeken op zijn naam staan. Een deel daarvan is ook naar het Nederlandse vertaald. Laten we hopen dat ze Scythe ook een kans geven. Scythe is het eerste deel van een nieuws reeks, Arc of a Scythe, waarin jongelingen de kunst van het moorden moeten leren.

'A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.'

Scythe is leverbaar als pocket en wordt volgende maand al opgevolgd door Thunderhead, het tweede deel in de serie.

Genoeg titels voor op je 'wil ik lezen'-plankje. Meer ontdekken?

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Let op: waar paperback genoemd wordt, is het meestal een groot formaat paperback. Een pocket is de aanduiding voor een goedkopere editie met slappe kaft.