New Book Releases: June 2017

These new exciting books are set to be released by Penguin Random House in June 2017:

INTERNATIONAL FICTION

Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach

Ava doesn’t believe it when the email arrives to say that her twin sister is dead. It’s not grief or denial that causes her scepticism it just feels too perfect to be anything other than Zelda’s usual manipulative scheming. And Ava knows her twin.

Two years after she left, vowing never to speak to Zelda again after the ultimate betrayal, Ava must return home to retrace her errant sister’s last steps. She soon finds notes that lead her on a twisted scavenger hunt of her twin’s making.

Letter by letter, Ava unearths clues to her sister’s disappearance: and unveils harrowing truths of her own. A is for Ava, and Z is for Zelda, but deciphering the letters in between is not so simple…

A clever, twisty, suspense novel for readers of The Ice Twins by S. K Tremayne and Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberley McCreight.

DI Helen Grace 07: Love Me Not by M.J. Arlidge

She Loves Me A woman’s body lies in the road. At first it looks like a tragic accident. But when Helen Grace arrives on the scene it’s clear she’s looking at a coldblooded killing. But why would anyone target a much-loved wife and mother?

She Loves Me Not Across town, a shopkeeper is killed while his customers are left unharmed. But what lies behind the killer’s choices?

She Loves Me Who lives? Who dies? Who’s next? The clock is ticking.

She Loves Me Not If Helen can’t solve this deadly puzzle then more blood will be shed. But any mistake and it might be her own…

House of Names by Colm Tóibín

 On the day of his daughter’s wedding, Agamemnon orders her sacrifice. His daughter is led to her death, and Agamemnon leads his army into battle, where he is rewarded with glorious victory. Three years later, he returns home and his murderous action has set the entire family – mother, brother, sister – on a path of intimate violence, as they enter a world of hushed commands and soundless journeys through the palace’s dungeons and bedchambers. As his wife seeks his death, his daughter, Electra, is the silent observer to the family’s game of innocence while his son, Orestes, is sent into bewildering, frightening exile where survival is far from certain. Out of their desolating loss, Electra and Orestes must find a way to right these wrongs of the past even if it means committing themselves to a terrible, barbarous act.

His daughter is led to her death, and Agamemnon leads his army into battle, where he is rewarded with glorious victory. Three years later, he returns home and his murderous action has set the entire family – mother, brother, sister – on a path of intimate violence, as they enter a world of hushed commands and soundless journeys through the palace’s dungeons and bedchambers. As his wife seeks his death, his daughter, Electra, is the silent observer to the family’s game of innocence while his son, Orestes, is sent into bewildering, frightening exile where survival is far from certain. Out of their desolating loss, Electra and Orestes must find a way to right these wrongs of the past even if it means committing themselves to a terrible, barbarous act.

Three years later, he returns home and his murderous action has set the entire family – mother, brother, sister – on a path of intimate violence, as they enter a world of hushed commands and soundless journeys through the palace’s dungeons and bedchambers. As his wife seeks his death, his daughter, Electra, is the silent observer to the family’s game of innocence while his son, Orestes, is sent into bewildering, frightening exile where survival is far from certain. Out of their desolating loss, Electra and Orestes must find a way to right these wrongs of the past even if it means committing themselves to a terrible, barbarous act.

No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories by Lee Child

Jack Reacher, lone wolf, knight errant, ex military cop, lover of women, scourge of the wicked and righter of wrongs, is the most iconic hero for our age. This is the first time all of Lee Child’s shorter fiction featuring Jack Reacher has been collected into one volume.

A brand-new novella, Too Much Time, is included, as are those previously only published in e–book form: Second Son, Deep Down, High Heat, Not a Drill and Small Wars, as well as every Reacher short story that Child has ever written.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know 01: Mad by Chloé Esposito

Alvie’s heart is in the wrong place. Perhaps that’s why nothing in her life has ever gone right. Until now… She can finally abandon her fruitless three-way relationship with Tinder and Twitter when fate gives her the chance to steal her identical twin’s perfect life. It’s just a shame Beth had to die.

Alvie may be an accidental murderess, but who can blame her for taking lemons and making lemonade? Well, Beth’s husband and the police might, but only if they can catch her on her wild week of sex, violence and unapologetic selfies. It might be madness, but rules are meant to be broken… right?

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness  by Arundhati Roy

‘How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody. No. By slowly becoming everything.‘

In a city graveyard, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet between two graves. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby appears quite suddenly, a little after midnight, in a crib of litter. In a snowy valley, a father writes to his five-year-old daughter about the number of people that attended her funeral. And in the Jannat Guest House, two people who’ve known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around one another as though they have only just met.

Here is a cast of unforgettable characters caught up in the tide of history. Told with a whisper, with a shout, with tears and with laughter, it is a love story and a provocation. Its heroes, present and departed, human and animal, have been broken by the world we live in and then mended by love – and for this reason, they will never surrender.

Murder Games by James Patterson

The next hand he deals you… may be your last. A serial killer is loose on the streets of Manhattan. His victims appear to be total strangers. The only clue that links the crimes is the playing card left behind at each scene that hints at the next target.

The killer, known in the tabloids as The Dealer, is baiting the police into a deadly guessing game that has the city increasingly on edge. Following her instincts, the tenacious cop in charge of the case turns to an unlikely ally – Dylan Reinhart, a brilliant professor with a keen insight into the criminal mind whose book turned up in connection with the murders.

As the tabloid frenzy over The Dealer reaches fever pitch, Dylan and Elizabeth must connect the clues to discover what the victims have in common before The Dealer runs through his entire deck.

Numa Files 14: Nighthawk by Clive Cussler

A Kurt Austin NUMA files adventure, Nighthawk is a gripping, action packed and suspense–filled tale that treks from the Galapagos Islands, to jungles of South America, to the icy birth-place of the Inca people.

A missing aircraft: Flying over the South Pacific, the most technologically advanced spacecraft ever built vanishes into thin air. Extremely valuable, both China and Russia would kill for the state-of-the-art machine.

An unstable cargo: Kurt Austin and the NUMA team are drawn into a stealthy race to locate the wreck, before someone else does. Only the United States know that waiting in its debris is a payload of exotic matter, stripped from the outermost reaches of the atmosphere.

A devastating weapon: Kept at absolute zero, the matter is so unstable that it could obliterate the face of the earth if allowed to thaw. In a race they cannot lose, the NUMA team will risk everything to stop the world’s most dazzling research from being the very thing that destroys it. The fate of humanity depends on them.

Oregon Files 11: The Emperor’s Revenge (Paperback release) by Clive Cussler

Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon face their toughest challenge yet when a violent bank heist during the Monaco Grand Prix decimates the Corporation’s accounts. To get the money back, Juan joins forces with an old friend from his days in the CIA so they can track down a rogue hacker and a ruthless former Ukrainian naval officer.

It is only after the hunt begins that the enormity of the plan comes into focus: the bank theft is just the first step in a plot that will result in the deaths of millions and bring the world’s economies to a standstill. The catalyst for the scheme? A stunning document stolen during Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia.

But two hundred years later, it may be the thing that brings Europe to its knees.

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

Where do you go when you can’t go home?

On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Salma is forced to leave her home in Nablus; Alia’s brother gets pulled into a politically militarised world he can’t escape; and Alia and her gentle–spirited husband move to Kuwait City, where they reluctantly build a life with their three children. When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990, Alia and her family once again lose their home, their land, and their story as they know it, scattering to Beirut, Paris, Boston, and beyond. Soon Alia’s children begin families of their own, once again navigating the burdens (and blessings) of assimilation.

Spanning fifty years, Salt Houses is a devastating and lyrical debut about one family in the wake of war, about needing to remember, and learning to forget.

INTERNATIONAL NON-FICTION

Wild Ride by Adam Lashinsky

Uber is one of the most fascinating and controversial businesses in the world, both beloved for its elegant ride-hailing concept and heady growth, and condemned for CEO Travis Kalanick’s ruthless pursuit of success at all cost.

In Wild Ride, Adam Lashinsky, veteran Fortune writer and author of Inside Apple, traces the story of Uber’s meteoric rise: from its murky origins to its plans for expansion into radically different industries. The company has already poached entire departments from top research universities in a push to build the first self-driving car and possibly replace the very drivers it’s worked so hard to recruit.

With access to current and former employees, as well as CEO Travis Kalanick, this book will be the first to unlock Uber’s vault. It’s a story that start-up founders, business executives, tech-savvy readers, and drivers and riders will find riveting.

Science in the Soul by Richard Dawkins

Science in the Soul is a kaleidoscopic argument for the power and the glory of science. Breath-taking, brilliant and passionate, the essays, journalism, lectures and letters in this new collection make an unanswerable case for the wonder of scientific discovery and its power to stir the imagination; for the practical necessity of scientific endeavour to society; and for the importance of the scientific way of thinking – particularly in today’s ‘post-truth’ world.

More than forty pieces are gathered here, with an introduction and new commentary by the author in dialogue with himself across the years. They range over subjects from evolution and Darwinian natural selection to the role of scientist as prophet, whether science is itself a religion, the probability of alien life in other worlds, and the beauties, cruelties and oddities of earthly life in this one. Alongside the explications, the celebrations and the controversies are wonderfully funny ventures into satire and parody, and moving personal reflections in memory and honour of others.

A sparkling showcase for his rapier wit, the clarity, precision and vigour he brings to an argument, the beauty of his prose, the depth of his feeling and his capacity for joy, Science in the Soul is further evidence of Richard Dawkins’ status as one of science’s all time great communicators.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

I Have No Secrets by Penny Joelson 

Jemma knows who did the murder. She knows because he told her. And she can’t tell anyone.

Fourteen-year-old Jemma has severe cerebral palsy. Unable to communicate or move, she relies on her family and carer for everything. She has a sharp brain and inquisitive nature, and knows all sorts of things about everyone. But when she is confronted with this terrible secret, she is utterly powerless to do anything. Though that might be about to change…

A page-turning thriller seen through the eyes of a unique narrator, this is a truly original, heart-rending and compulsive book for young adult readers. Perfect for fans of Wonder, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Looking for JJ.

Bodyguard 05: Assassin by Chris Bradford

Russia – the most dangerous place on earth to be a bodyguard.

Teenage bodyguard Connor Reeves faces his deadliest assignment yet. In a country governed by criminals, he must protect Feliks, the only son of Russian billionaire and politician, Viktor Malkov.

Viktor wants to change Russia for the good of all its people. But the mafia have different plans and a contract is out for the billionaire’s life. With Feliks being the one chink in his father’s armour, Connor must join forces with his rival Jason to act as a bulletproof shield against blackmail, assassination and kidnapping.

This is the first mission Connor and Jason have worked together. And with a deadly assassin on the loose it could be their last…

SOUTH AFRICAN NON-FICTION

Making Money Through Buy-to-Let in South Africa by Francois Janse van Rensburg

Just by reading and applying the easy-to-follow processes in Making Money Through Buy-to-Let in South Africa, you will realise that ordinary people can become extraordinary. This book explains why buy-to-let property investment is the only sensible opportunity to earn an inflation-linked, passive income for the rest of your life. It gives ordinary South Africans the hope that they might enjoy a financially secure retirement by building a substantial property portfolio, either when they start at a very young age or by supplementing their lifetime savings or pension pay-out at a later stage.

Making Money Through Buy-to-Let in South Africa addresses all the questions would-be property investors would ask, including how to: establish legal entities; determine which properties have the best return on investment; leverage other people’s money and use very little of their own; obtain finance and register a bond; manage the transfer process; and select and manage the best tenants.

Making Money Through Buy-to-Let in South Africa is written for the ordinary person, in everyday language, and guides you step by step through the entire process of property investment so that you, too, can become financially independent.

Tim Noakes: The Quiet Maverick by Daryl Ilbury

A dissident scientist, a disrupted media …

On 5 February 2014, world-renowned scientist Tim Noakes fired off a tweet allegedly dispensing dietary advice to a young mother into a highly volatile media space; the fallout threatened to destroy his career. This is the untold backstory.

Veteran journalist and writer Daryl Ilbury unveils, layer by layer, a combustible mix of scientific ignorance, academic jealousy, the collapse of media ethics, and the interests of a world-renowned scientist in highlighting the intricacies of human nutrition and exposing those he believes have vested interests in regulating it.

Featuring interviews with people who have worked closely with Noakes, including former Springbok coach Jake White and polar swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh, as well as award-winning journalists and fellow scientists and academics, some of whom now consider Noakes dangerous and out of control, this book is bound to be as controversial as the man himself.

The Man Who Founded the ANC by Bongani Ngqulunga

In 1912, just a year after returning from his studies at Columbia and Oxford, the thirty-year-old Pixley ka Isaka Seme succeeded where others had failed in forming a political organisation that represented all black South Africans.

Seme also established a national newspaper, became one of the pioneering black lawyers in South Africa, bought land from white farmers for black settlement at the time when opposition to it was gaining momentum, became an adviser and confidant to African royalty, and was considered a leading visionary for black economic empowerment.

And yet, when he became president-general of the ANC in the 1930s, he brought it to its knees through sheer ineptitude and an authoritarian style of leadership. On more than one occasion he was found guilty for breaching the law, which partly led to him being struck off the roll of attorneys.

This book discusses in detail Seme’s extraordinary life, tracing it back to his humble beginnings at Inanda Mission to his triumphs and disappointments across the continents, in his public and private life. When Seme died in 1951 he was bankrupt and his political standing had suffered greatly. And yet he was praised as one of the greatest South Africans ever to have lived. For all this, he has largely been forgotten. This biography brings the remarkable life of this extraordinary South Africa back to public consciousness.

Bongani Ngqulunga is a fellow at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he earned three degrees, and he also holds a PhD from Brown University in the USA. After working at the Policy Unit in the Presidency, he currently serves as the chief of staff and spokesperson of the President of the Republic of South Africa.

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Are you excited for the new June releases? What new book are you planning on reading this coming June? Let me know in the comments below 🙂