Two 30-something singles stuck in a time loop are forced to relive the worst days of their lives, so they team up to find a way to break the cycle. For fans of Palm Springs and Oona Out of Order, NOT YOU AGAIN offers a fresh new take on the Groundhog Day story.
In Julian, California, every day is April 22. Most people have accepted the loop—after all, reliving the same day every day, there’s nothing to lose. Day drinking until you pass out? Yes. Partner swapping? Why not.
But Carly has woken up at her dad’s funeral exactly 238 times, and she wants out. She doesn’t want to waste her life away reliving the worst day ever in the small town she always hated visiting. Carly wants to go back to writing film scripts in LA; she’s determined to find a way to break the cycle.
She discovers an unexpected kindred spirit in Adam, the mortician she met at her dad’s funeral. April 22 was also one of the worst days of his life: his fiancée admitted to cheating on him with his best friend. Every day Adam wakes up on April 22 to his ex-fiancée’s admission, starting each day with a breakup. April 22 was supposed to be his last day working for his parents at the funeral home, and the start of his new life as an astronomer. Adam is a man of science, and like Carly, he believes there must be a way out of the time loop.
Together, Carly and Adam team up to find out what’s causing the time loop. And in trying to find a way out, they also find their way to each other.
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Madeline and Wes Drake have invited two hundred of their closest friends and family to their sprawling horse ranch for the most anticipated event of the year: a “pistols and pearls” gender reveal party so sensational it is sure to make headlines. But the party descends into chaos when the celebratory explosive misfires, leaving one woman dead and a trail of secrets.
As the aftershocks of the bloody party ripple across the small town, Agent Jamie Saldano is brought on the scene to investigate. Battling his own demons from the past, Saldano unearths a web of deceit spun around the Drakes. The appearance of some unexpected houseguests only deepens the mystery. And as tensions mount, it becomes clear that the explosion wasn’t just an unlucky accident. But who was the target, and why? As the shadow of a killer looms, the happy parents-to-be must unravel the truth before it’s too late.
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Set during the early years of Lebanon’s fifteen-year civil war, We Walked On immerses readers
in the landscape of war, weaving political unrest into everyday life. With Hisham, a thirty-year-
old Arabic teacher, and Rita, his fourteen-year-old student, Chehade has created two richly
drawn characters who counter violence with the redemptive power of books and human
connection and find authentic hope in untenable circumstances. We Walked On is a timely
novel that examines the power of war to pervert our moral sense and asks if peace is ever
possible in an unjust world.
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Four friends. A campus reunion. A dark new way to relive the past.
It’s been twenty-five years since The Midnight Club last convened. A tight-knit group of college
friends bonded by late nights at the campus literary magazine, they’re also bonded by
something darker: the death of their brilliant friend Jennet junior year. But now, decades later, a
mysterious invitation has pulled them back to the pine-shrouded Vermont town where it all
began.
As the estranged friends gather for a weeklong campus reunion, they soon learn that their host
has an ulterior motive: she wants them to uncover the truth about the night Jennet died, and
she’s provided them with an extraordinary method—a secret substance that helps them not only
remember but relive the past.
But each one of the friends has something to hide. And the more they question each other, the
deeper they dive into their own memories, the more they understand that nothing they thought
they knew about their college years, and that fateful night, is true.
Twisty, nostalgic, and emotionally thrilling, The Midnight Club explores that innate desire to
revisit our first loves, our biggest mistakes, and the gulf between who we are and who we hoped
we’d be.
About the Author: MARGOT HARRISON is the author of four young adult novels, including
an Indies Introduce Pick, Junior Library Guild Selections, and Vermont Book Award Finalists.
She grew up in New York and now lives in Vermont. The Midnight Club is her debut adult novel.
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Berlin 1961: When Uli Neumann proposes to Lise Bauer, she has every reason to accept. He offers her love, respect, and a life beyond the strict bounds of the East German society in which she was raised — which she longs to leave more than anything. But only two short days after their engagement, Lise and Uli are torn violently apart when barbed wire is rolled across Berlin, splitting the city into two hostile halves: capitalist West Berlin, an island of western influence isolated far beyond the iron curtain; and the socialist East, a country determined to control its citizens by any means necessary.
Soon, Uli and his friends in West Berlin hatch a plan to get Lise and her unborn child out of East Germany, but as distance and suspicion bleed into their lives and as weeks turn to months, how long can true love survive in the divided city?
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Becoming the star is easier when the rest of your band is dead…
All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she’d take it—as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs…
Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured.
In order to survive the frigid night, the rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin. But Vienna’s dreams devolved into a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members met a gruesome end…and Madison simply vanished in the night.
What really happened to the Bittersweet? Did Vienna’s closest friend finally decide to take center stage on her own terms?
She doesn’t want to believe it.
But guilty people run.
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A recent widow’s plan to spend the summer in Cape Cod hiding from her interfering family is upended when she discovers her beach house has an unexpected guest, and the secret she’s been keeping about her marriage threatens to be exposed. Perfect beach reading for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry.
70 year old widow Cecilia Lapthorne can’t bear the prospect of a family party to celebrate her birthday and the memory of her husband, famous artist Cameron Lapthorne. They had a toxic marriage but stayed together for the children, and bound by a big secret. She runs away to the Cape Cod seashore cottage she owned with Cameron–it’s where they first fell in love–but she hasn’t returned since she discovered him cheating on her there (for the first time). No one in her family knows about it, so she will be perfectly, delightfully alone for the summer.
Except struggling artist Lily has been secretly crashing on the sofa of the seashore cottage for the last couple of weeks. Unable to make rent after dropping out of medical school to pursue her dreams of becoming an artist and working as a housekeeper in Cecilia’s Cape Cod enclave, she’s been illicitly camping at the cottage. Which isn’t a problem as it’s been unoccupied for years…until Cecilia unexpectedly shows up.
After the drama of discovering she has an unexpected house-guest has faded, Cecilia decides she’ll get along just fine with Lily for the summer. They form a tentative and powerful bond, based on shared love of art, but also the vulnerabilities they both share with each other. And when Todd, Cecilia’s beloved grandson (and the man who broke Lily’s heart in college) tracks her to the cottage, the three of them settle in for a summer of self-discovery, self-belief and second chances.
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The Babadook meets The Blair Witch Project in this chilling contemporary horror novel about confronting trauma. When fake spiritualist Brigit returns home to investigate the disappearance of two teenagers, the case eerily echoes her own sister’s death sixteen years earlier.
This chilling tale of siblings, the emotional toll of the places you once called home, and the necessity of confronting and moving beyond past trauma brings together the psychological horror of The Babadook with the found footage and supernatural eeriness of The Blair Witch Project.
Brigit Weylan’s older sister, Emma, is dead. Sixteen years ago, Emma walked into the woods in their small hometown of Ellis Creek and slit her wrists. She was troubled, people said—moody and erratic in the weeks leading up to her death, convinced that there was a monster in Ellis Creek, and had even attempted to burn down the copse of trees where she later took her life. Marked by the tragedy, Brigit left and never once looked back. Now, Brigit and her cameraman Ian travel around the country, investigating paranormal activity (and faking the results), posting their escapades on YouTube in the hopes that a network will pick up their show. The last thing she expects is a call from an Ellis Creek area code with a job offer—and payout—the two cannot refuse.
When Brigit and Ian arrive in Ellis Creek, they’re thrust in the middle of an investigation: two teenagers are missing, and the trail is growing colder with each passing day. It’s immediately apparent that Brigit and Ian are out of their depth; their talents lie in faking hauntings, not locating lost kids. Except for the fact that, in the weeks leading up to their disappearance, the teens had been dreaming about Emma—Emma in the woods where she died, ringed with trees and waiting for them. As Brigit and Ian are drawn further into the investigation, convinced that this could be the big case to make their show go viral, the parallels to Emma’s death become undeniable. But Brigit is worried she’s gone too far this time, and that the weight of being back in Ellis Creek, overwhelmed by memories of Emma, will break her…if it hasn’t already. Because Brigit can’t explain what’s happening to her: trees appearing in her bedroom in the middle of the night, something with a very familiar laugh watching her out in the darkness, and Emma’s voice on her phone, reminding Brigit to finish what they started.
More and more, it looks like Emma was right: there is a monster in Ellis Creek, and it’s waited a long time for Brigit Weylan to come home.
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ABOUT NECESSARY DEEDS: Matt Connell, a formerly successful literary agent who’ s been in prison for four years for a crime of passion— homicide by strangulation after learning his wife slept with a friend— receives an early release from Sing Sing to join an FBI undercover investigation of multiple murders in Manhattan. Killings continue to mount as Matt does his best to calm his “ Ferrari brain” — a condition in which his mind accelerates wildly into negative thoughts and worst-case scenarios— even as he falls in love with a suspect, then discovers disturbing truths about his past and hers. When he finds his own life in danger, can he stand up for the Bureau’ s heralded principles of Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity? Not to mention genuine love?
ABOUT MARK WISH: Mark Wish’s previous novels have been praised by Daniel Woodrell, Delia Ephron, Salman Rushdie, Rebecca Makkai, Ben Fountain, Anne Serling, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. His short fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and appeared in more than 125 print venues including BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. A renowned book doctor for thirty years, he now edits and publishes COOLEST AMERICAN STORIES, whose inaugural volume went to a third printing.
“What makes Necessary Deeds so irresistible and addictive is that it’s a devilishly inventive murder mystery presented in the finest of sentences and filtered through a mind wonderfully beset at every turn by the dark truths of human desire, ambition, envy, and jealousy—but most of all by love itself. If Mark Wish’s life imitates his art, his gift for storytelling might just get him
murdered. But not before his next book deal, please. In any case, Necessary Deeds is a necessary read.”
—TIM JOHNSTON, New York Times bestselling author of Descent
“By turns tense and tender, Mark Wish’s Necessary Deeds delivers a high-stakes noir and a taut tale of jealousy, murder, and redemption.”
—LAURA MCHUGH, internationally bestselling author of The Weight of Blood
“Necessary Deeds is a tight, tense thriller that explores some of the darkest, twistiest workings of the human mind. Mark Wish asks the question: Who can you trust if you can’t trust yourself?”
— LOU BERNEY, winner of Edgar, Hammet, Anthony, Dagger, and ALA Awards, author of November Road
“Mark Wish’s Necessary Deeds hits the sweet spot: sly, sharp, and satirical. Highly entertaining!”
—ALAN ORLOFF, Anthony, Agatha, Derringer, and two-time Thriller Award Winning author
“Smart and gripping, nuanced and wryly observed, Necessary Deeds is unputdownable, and Wish is clearly a writer at the top of his game. A phenomenal thriller that will leave you breathless.”
—TISH COHEN, author of The Summer We Lost Her
“Bursting at the seams with voice and tension, Mark Wish’s Necessary Deeds reads like the literary lovechild of Bellow, Chandler and Robert Bolaño. This is a literary page-turner, full of life and poetry. A novel to be devoured, then savored.”
—DANIEL TORDAY, two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, author of The Last Flight of Poxl West
“In Necessary Deeds’ Matt Connell, Mark Wish has created a diabolically compelling anti-hero—a literary agent with both romance and murder in his heart. As soon as I read the first few lines of this novel, I was all the way in—Wish portrays the high-stakes New York City literary world and the conflicted soul of Connell with humor, pathos, and supreme suspense.”
—Grace Paley Prize Winner CHRISTINE SNEED, author of Little Known Facts
“Smart, exceptionally told, and a pleasure to read, this mystery by Mark Wish is complemented by dialogue brimming with emotional insights, whether about the foreboding passion between a man and a woman, or the rage of a wounded husband. Necessary Deeds is the kind of book you read in a rush but remember long after.’
—E. A. AYMAR, bestselling author of No Home for Killers
“I was hooked by the first sentence—one of the best I’ve read—and followed Mark Wish’s tale on and on. Wish knows how to tell a story, and in Necessary Deeds, he has given us a varied, surprising, and irresistibly engaging one.”
—Pulitzer Prize winner TIM PAGE, author of Parallel Play
“Necessary Deeds is a captivating, spiraling story that doesn’t let up off the throttle. When it was over, I found myself wanting—no, needing—that speed again. Wish has created a stunning narrative with so much drive and power. Any reader would love this.”
—PEN Award winner MORGAN TALTY, national bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez
“Necessary Deeds is a rarity: A murder mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end, and most important, is a lot of fun. Mark Wish has written a witty page-turner that’s necessary reading.”
—LELAND CHEUK, author of No Good Very Bad Asian
“Mark Wish’s Necessary Deeds is a deliciously gleeful send-up of the New York literary world, a wildly satirical removal of the veil over High Art. Most notably, it’s a genuine whodunnit: Who is murdering the Talented Writers in the city (with their outsized advances)? Intertwined throughout is a noir love story and humor, but also a clear-eyed gaze at what has happened to notions of Integrity, Literature…and Fame. The twist at the end took me by surprise while making perfect wicked sense.”
—Drue Heinz Literature Prize winner KATHERINE VAZ, author of Fado and Other Stories
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Maria moved to the city in 1969, leaving her daughter with her family but hoping to save enough to take care of her one day. She worked as a housekeeper, then a caregiver, and later a cleaner, and somehow she was always taking care of someone else. Two generations later, in 2018, Alicia was working at the snack shop in Madrid’s Atocha train station when it overflowed with protestors and strikers. All women—and so many of them—protesting what? Alicia wasn’t entirely sure. She couldn’t have known that Maria was among them. Alicia didn’t have time for marches; she was just trying to hang on until the end of her shift, when she might meet someone to take her away for a few hours, to make her forget.
Readers will fall in love with Maria and Alicia, whose stories finally converge in the chaos of the protests, the weight of the years of silence hanging thickly in the air between them. The Wonders brings half a century of the feminist movement to life, and launches an inimitable new voice in fiction. Medel’s lyrical sensibility reveals her roots as a poet, but her fast-paced and expansive storytelling show she’s a novelist ahead of her time.
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The Inkblotters 