English books
Dance Dance Dance – Haruki Murakami
This wildly propulsive novel by the acclaimed author of A Wild Sheep Chase focuses on a man searching for a former lover who vanished mysteriously from a seedy hotel. But each new clue to Kiki's whereabouts leads him deeper into a labryrinth of physical violence and metaphysical dread. "A world-class writer".--Washington Post Book World
DANIEL CLAY – BROKEN
Skunk Cunningham is a normal little girl, who nags her dad about smoking and always thrashes him on the X-box. She’s being bullied by the Oswald girls who live next-door. And she has a crush on Mike, the au pair’s boyfriend, who also happens to be her new teacher at school.
But then one day Skunk watches Bob Oswald beat friendless teenager Rick Buckley to a bloody pulp, and life on Drummond Square is never the same again.
Now a major film – winner of ‘Best British Independent Film’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for Rory Kinnear at the British Independent Film Awards 2012 – Broken is Skunk’s attempt to withstand a world intent on breaking all she holds precious, as her neighbourhood struggles to rebound from this brutal act of cruelty.
DANIEL KEHLMANN – F: A NOVEL
It's the summer before the financial crisis. Martin Friedland, a Catholic priest without faith, overweight because he's always hungry, meets his half-brother Eric for dinner. The heavily indebted financial advisor, teetering on the brink of prison, has unsettling visions, but he shares them with no one. Shadowy men, even two children, warn him of something, but are these warnings really meant for him, or perhaps for his twin brother Ivan, the art connoisseur and aesthete who looks exactly like him? And so the disaster unfolds.
Daniel Kehlmann tells the story of three brothers who—each in their own way—are swindlers, hypocrites, and forgers. They've settled into their lives, but suddenly an abyss opens up. A moment of inattention, a coincidence, a wrong step, and what seemed like a ghostly nightmare becomes reality.
A novel about lies and truth, about family, forgery and the power of fiction: a virtuoso work of art – multifaceted, mysterious and bold.
DANIEL POLANSKY – SHE WHO WAITS
The third novel in the brilliant dark fantasy Low Town series
Low Town: the worst ghetto in the worst city in the Thirteen Lands. Good only for depravity and death. And Warden, long ago a respected agent in the formidable Black House, is now the most depraved Low Town denizen of them all. As a younger man, Warden carried out more than his fair share of terrible deeds, and never as many as when he worked for the Black House. But Warden's growing older, and the vultures are circling. Low Town is changing, faster than even he can control, and Warden knows that if he doesn't get out soon, he may never get out at all. But Warden must finally reckon with his terrible past if he can ever hope to escape it. A hospital full of lunatics, a conspiracy against the corrupt new king, and a ghetto full of thieves and murderers stand between him and his slim hope for the future. And behind them all waits the one person whose betrayal Warden never expected. The one person who left him, broken and bitter, to become the man he is today. The one woman he ever loved. She who waits behind all things.
DANIEL POLANSKY – TOMORROW THE KILLING
Dark, violent, and shot through with corruption, TOMORROW, THE KILLING is a fantastic successor to THE STRAIGHT RAZOR CURE, one of the most heralded fantasy debuts of recent times.
Once he was a hero of the Great War, and then a member of the dreaded Black House. Now he is the criminal linchpin of Low Town. His name is Warden. He thought he had left the war behind him, but a summons from up above brings the past sharply, uncomfortably, back into focus. General Montgomery's daughter is missing somewhere in Low Town, searching for clues about her brother's murder. The general wants her found, before the stinking streets can lay claim to her, too.
TOMORROW, THE KILLING was chosen as one of the best novels of 2012 by Forbidden Planet, Fantasy Faction, The Founding Fields and A Fantastical Librarian.
DARREN SHAN – CIRQUE DU FREAK
In the tradition of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Stephen King's Salem's Lot, the nightmare continues for the new vampire's assistant in the popular Saga of Darren Shan.
Darren Shan was just an ordinary schoolboy until his visit to the Cirque Du Freak. Now, as he struggles with his new life as a Vampire's Assistant, he tries desperately to resist the one temptation that sickens him, the one thing that can keep him alive. But destiny is calling. The Wolf Man is waiting.
DARREN SHAN – CIRQUE DU FREAK (TUNNELS OF BLOOD)
Book 3 in a compelling series about a boy who visits a mysterious freak show that leads him on a journey into a dark world of vampires.
Darren Shan, the Vampire's Assistant, gets a taste of the city when he leaves the Cirque Du Freak with Evra and Mr. Crepsley. When corpses, drained of blood, are discovered, Darren and Evra are compelled to confront a foul creature of the night who may prove to be the end of them all...
DAVID ANTHONY DURHAM – OTHER LANDS
“David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next."
—George R. R. Martin
David Anthony Durham’s gripping Acacia Trilogy continues with an epic novel where loyalties are tested, new worlds are discovered, and battle lines are being drawn.
A few years have passed since Queen Corinn has usurped control of the Known World—and she now rules with an iron fist. With plans to expand her empire, she sends her brother, Dariel, on an exploratory mission across the sea to The Other Lands. There, he discovers an alliance of tribes that have no interest in being ruled by Queen Corinn and the Akarans. In fact, Dariel’s arrival ignites a firestorm that once more exposes The Known World to a massive invasion, one unlike anything they have yet faced . . .
DAVID BILSBOROUGH – A FIRE IN THE NORTH
This second volume picks up the ongoing story in a tunnel leading out of enchanted mountain realm of Eotunlandt. Fighting their way through subterranean dangers, Nibulus and his diminished retinue of ‘questers’ finally reach the open again, only to discover that their rivals the Thieves have mysteriously disappeared.
Meanwhile, Gapp and a sinisterly altered Methuselech continue towards Wrythe, the last settlement. They find the population strangely degenerated, under the influence of a local leader, in fact the evil being Scathur who has been hiding there for five hundred years, awaiting his moment of vengeance. Scathur recognises that inside Methuselech is the outcast soul of a rival necromancer, Mauglad, so imprisons them both till they manage to flee for their lives.
The rest of the original questers also turn up for a scary sojourn in Wrythe, before heading on to Melhus island with Scathur’s deathly henchmen in pursuit. During strange dreams, the wanderer Bolldhe learns he must use a strange sword he has found to kill the evil demigod Drauglir, once and for all. They all venture into Melhus (the Underworld), contesting with the hosts of the dead sent against them. There ensues a colossal battle, with thrills and spills and monumental destruction, before the questers achieve an unexpected victory –and most of them will return to Nordwas sadder but wiser.
DAVID BROCK – THE FOX EFFECT
Here is comprehensive overview of the tumultuous career of former Fox News president Roger Ailes and a must-read for anyone looking to understand his legacy and impact on news media.
Based on the meticulous research of the news watchdog organization Media Matters for America, David Brock and Ari Rabin-Havt show how Fox News, under its president Roger Ailes, changed from a right-leaning news network into a partisan advocate for the Republican Party.
The Fox Effect follows the career of Ailes from his early work as a television producer and media consultant for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Consequently, when he was hired in 1996 as the president of Rupert Murdoch’s flagship conservative cable news network, Ailes had little journalism experience, but brought to the job the mindset of a political operative. As Brock and Rabin-Havt demonstrate through numerous examples, Ailes used his extraordinary power and influence to spread a partisan political agenda that is at odds with long-established, widely held standards of fairness and objectivity in news reporting.
Featuring transcripts of leaked audio and memos from Fox News reporters and executives, The Fox Effect is a damning indictment of how the network’s news coverage and commentators have biased reporting, drummed up marginal stories, and even consciously manipulated established facts in their efforts to attack the Obama administration.
DAVID DALGLISH – A DANCE OF MIRRORS
One has conquered a city. The other covets an entire nation.
Haern is the King's Watcher, protector against thieves and nobles who would fill the night with blood. Yet hundreds of miles away, an assassin known as the Wraith has begun slaughtering those in power, leaving the symbol of the Watcher in mockery.
When Haern travels south to confront this copycat, he finds a city ruled by the corrupt, the greedy and the dangerous. Rioters fill the streets and the threat of war hangs over everything. To forge peace, Haern must confront the deadly Wraith, a killer who would shape the kingdom's future with the blade of his sword.
Man or God; what happens when the lines are blurred?
Fantasy author David Dalglish spins a tale of retribution and darkness, and an underworld reaching for ultimate power
DAVID EDDINGS – Guardians Of The West
BOOK 1 OF THE MALLOREON, the worldwide bestselling fantasy series by one of the godfathers of the tradition. Discover the epic stories that inspired generations of fantasy writers - from Raymond Feist's The Riftwar Cycle to George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
Evil doesn't disappear. It just changes form...
The evil God Torak is slain, and Garion, the long-awaited King of Riva, hopes for peace. And for a while he gets his wish.
But then a darker prophecy is revealed, and new and more insidious forces gather. As danger mounts from all quarters, and his son is kidnapped, Garion has no choice but to follow his fate, wherever it might lead...
DAVID EDDINGS – KING OF THE MURGOS
BOOK 2 OF THE MALLOREON, the worldwide bestselling fantasy series by one of the godfathers of the tradition. Discover the epic stories that inspired generations of fantasy writers - from Raymond Feist's The Riftwar Cycle to George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
He will travel even to the edge of the world...
Garion and Ce’Nedra are on a desperate journey to find their young son Geran. His kidnapper Zandramas is powerful and elusive, with many disguises. But they must not give in to despair, or all is lost.
Their search leads through the foul swamps of Nyissa, and on into the dark Kingdom of the Murgos, where human sacrifices are still made to the dead god Torak.
In the end they must face the ultimate danger – not only to themselves but to all mankind...
DAVID HEWSON – THE FALLEN ANGEL
When British academic Malise Gabriel falls to his death from a Rome apartment, detective Nic Costa rapidly comes to realize that there is much more to the accident than he had first thought. It also becomes apparent that Malise’s family – mysterious and tragic daughter Mina, stoic wife Cecilia and troubled son Robert – may be keeping vital information hidden. Nic becomes obsessed with the case, and is especially intrigued by Mina’s story which seems to be linked with the sixteenth century-legend of a young Italian noblewoman, Beatrice Cenci. As the investigation deepens, Rome’s dark and seedy side is uncovered, revealing a web of deceit, treachery and corruption. Costa realizes that the key to the truth lies with the Gabriels. Why are they so unwilling to co-operate, and who, or what, is the reason for their silence?
DAVID HEWSON – THE KILLING III
A FAMILY IN TURMOIL. A COUNTRY IN CRISIS. ALL DEBTS MUST BE SETTLED
Sarah Lund is contacted by old flame Mathias Borch from National Intelligence. Borch fears that what first appeared to be a random killing at the docks is the beginning of an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Troels Hartmann. The murder draws attention towards the shipping and oil giant, Zeeland, run by billionaire Robert Zeuthen.
When Zeuthen’s 9-year-old daughter, Emilie, is kidnapped the investigation takes on a different dimension as it soon becomes clear that her disappearance is linked to the murder of a young girl in Jutland some years earlier. Hartmann is in the middle of an election campaign, made all the more turbulent because of the mounting financial crisis. He needs Zeeland’s backing. Lund needs to make sense of the clues left by Emilie’s perpetrator before it’s too late. And can she finally face the demons that have long haunted her?
Lund’s last case is now adapted from screen to page in the final instalment of The Killing trilogy. This is an adaptation — not a novelisation. So if you’ve seen The Killing III on TV expect plenty of surprises, included a changed cast and an entirely different ending.
