For Any Book Worm

The Investigation: A Novel – Philippe Claudel (July 10)

The Investigator – a normal man as ordinary as any other – arrives in Town.  He has been assigned to look into a string of suicides that have occurred at the Enterprise.  But his train is delayed, the weather gets worse, and the Investigator is becoming impatient.  As he grows more tired, cold, and confused, he can’t help shake the feeling that he is being watched.  This story plays with the more surreal points of human existence in a way that would make Kafka proud.

For the Big Kids

Purple Daze – Sherry Shahan (July 31)

Introducing a verse novel, one that explores what it means to be a high school student living in suburban LA in 1965.  In an age where our young minds are trying to find voice, here they will find echoes of the same.  Not only does Purple Daze explore the universal themes of teen life, love, sex, and friendship, but it touches on race, riot, and war too—highly relevant to today’s ever-shifting and turbulent culture.

For Magicians and Astronauts

Batman: Earth One – Geoff Johns, Gary Frank (July 10)

A reimagined beginning for the Dark Knight, Earth One explores the boy before the bat.  Young Bruce’s thirst for vengeance transforms him into something fierce, and no one can stop him.  The timing for this graphic novel is perfect, especially for when you’re waiting in line for The Dark Knight Rises, coming out on July 20^th.

For Romantics

The Great Escape – Susan Elizabeth Phillips (July 10)

Lucy, daughter of a former president, has been nothing if not perfect about upholding the family’s image…until now.  Escaping from her own wedding on the back of a beat-up motorcycle with an obscene man is the one thing she could do to upset that.  Lucy finds herself physically and mentally in unknown territory as she tries to figure out her own life as well as her new love’s.  Can she learn to distance herself from her upbringing?  And how does one get to know a man who reveals nothing about himself and only paints an ugly picture on the surface?

For Thrill-Seekers

I, Michael Bennett – James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge (July 9)

After detective Michael Bennett sends a Mexican crime lord to jail, he decides it’s time for a relaxing escape to an old family cabin.  But the town he remembers and the town in which he arrives now are far from similar, and what’s worse: steel bars aren’t holding back his recent prisoner’s wrath back in NYC.  Can Michael keep his family safe in one town while fighting to protect New York from an uprising?