New Releases – January 2019

January 29

DVDs:

• Hunter Killer– An untested American submarine captain teams with U.S. Navy Seals to rescue the Russian president, who has been kidnapped by a rogue general.
• Boy Erased– Jared Eamons, the son of a small-town Baptist pastor, must overcome the fallout after being outed as gay to his parents. Fearing a loss of family, friends and community, Jared is pressured into attending a conversion therapy program. While there, Jared comes into conflict with its leader and begins his journey to finding his own voice and accepting his true self.
• The Wife– Joan and Joe remain complements after nearly 40 years of marriage. Where Joe is casual, Joan is elegant. Where Joe is vain, Joan is self-effacing.  As Joe is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his acclaimed and prolific body of work, Joan starts to think about the shared compromises, secrets and betrayals.
• The Hate You Give– Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds — the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what’s right.

Books:

• We Cast a Shadow: A Novel by Maurice Carlos Ruffin– In this near-future Southern city plagued by fenced-in ghettos and police violence, more and more residents are turning to this experimental medical procedure. Like any father, our narrator just wants the best for his son, Nigel, a biracial boy whose black birthmark is getting bigger by the day. The darker Nigel becomes, the more frightened his father feels. But how far will he go to protect his son? And will he destroy his family in the process?
• Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine by Emily Bernard– An extraordinary, exquisitely written memoir (of sorts) that looks at race–in a fearless, penetrating, honest, true way–in twelve telltale, connected, deeply personal essays that explore, up-close, the complexities and paradoxes of growing up black in the South with a family name inherited from a white man.
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer– Fall in love, break the curse. Break the curse, save the kingdom. In a lush, contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Brigid Kemmerer gives readers another compulsively readable romance perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer.
• The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff– One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs–each of a different woman. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal

January 22

DVDs:

• First Man: Oscar®-winning director Damien Chazelle tells the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969. A visceral, first-person account that explores the sacrifices and the cost of one of the most dangerous missions in history. 
• Johnny English Strikes Again– The new adventure begins when a cyber attack reveals the identities of all active undercover agents in Britain, leaving Johnny English as the secret service’s last hope. Called out of retirement, English dives headfirst into action with the mission to find the mastermind hacker.

• The Crooked Street by Brian Freeman– San Francisco homicide detective Frost Easton hadn’t seen his estranged friend Denny in years. Not until he dies in Frost’s arms uttering a final inexplicable word: Lombard. Denny appears to be the latest victim in a string of murders linked by a distinctive clue: the painting of a spiraled snake near the crime scenes. Is it the work of a serial killer? Or is Denny’s death more twisted and personal?
• The Rule of Law by John Lescroart– Attorney Dismas Hardy is called to defend the least likely suspect of his career: his longtime, trusted assistant who is suddenly being charged as an accessory to murder. Her out-of-character behavior and sudden disappearances concern Hardy, especially when he learns that her convict brother has just been released.
• The Suspect by Fiona Barton– When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight. What were the girls up to before they disappeared? Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, whom she hasn’t seen in two years. As the case unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think.
• Crucible: a thriller by James Rollins– Arriving home on Christmas Eve, Commander Gray Pierce discovers his house ransacked, his pregnant lover missing, and his best friend’s wife, Kat, unconscious on the kitchen floor. With no shred of evidence to follow, his one hope to find the woman he loves and his unborn child is Kat, the only witness to what happened. But the injured woman is in a semi-comatose state and cannot speak.
• The Current by Tim Johnston– In the dead of winter, outside a small Minnesota town, state troopers pull two young women and their car from the icy Black Root River. One is found downriver, drowned, while the other is found at the scene — half frozen but alive. What happened was no accident, and news of the crime awakens the community’s memories of another young woman who lost her life in the same river ten years earlier, and whose killer may still live among them.

January 15

DVDs:

• Goosebumps 2 Haunted Halloween– Best friends Sonny and Sam meet Slappy, a mischievous talking dummy from an unpublished “Goosebumps” book. Slappy kidnaps Sonny’s mother and brings all of his ghoulish friends back to life — just in time for Halloween. As the sleepy town becomes overrun with monsters, witches and other mysterious creatures, Sonny joins forces with his sister, Sam and a kindly neighbor to save Sonny’s mom and foil Slappy’s plan.
• Halloween– It’s been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived a vicious attack from crazed killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. Locked up in an institution, Myers manages to escape. Laurie now faces a terrifying showdown when the masked madman returns — but this time, she’s ready for him.
• The Old Man and the Gun– At the age of 70, Forrest Tucker makes an audacious escape from San Quentin, conducting an unprecedented string of heists that confound authorities and enchant the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt and a woman who loves him in spite of his chosen profession.

Books:

• Liar, Liar by James Patterson– Detective Harriet Blue is a very good cop . . . gone very bad.  It’s all because of one man, Regan Banks. He viciously killed the only person in the world who matters to Harriet-and he plans to kill her next. As she recklessly speeds toward the dark side-and finally crosses it-Harriet won’t stop until Regan pays for the many lives he has taken.
• Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee– Thirteen-year-old Min comes from a long line of fox spirits. But to keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic. They must appear human at all times. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.

January 8

DVDs:

• Mid90s– Stevie, a kid in 1990s Los Angeles, escapes his turbulent home life with a new group of friends he meets at a local skate shop, plunging him into a world of fun, danger and excitement.
• Monsters and Men– Tensions rise when a young man records a police officer shooting a black motorist in a Brooklyn neighborhood.

Books:

• Untouchable by Jayne Ann Krentz– Jack Lancaster, consultant to the FBI, has always been drawn to the coldest of cold cases. The more cases Jack solves, the closer he slips into the darkness. His only solace is Winter Meadows, a meditation therapist. After particularly grisly cases, Winter can lead Jack back to peace. But as long as Quinton Zane is alive, Jack will not be at peace for long.
• Turning Point by Danielle Steel– Four exceptional doctors are chosen for an honor and a unique project: to work with their counterparts in Paris in a mass-casualty training program. When an unspeakable act of mass violence galvanizes them into action, their temporary life in Paris becomes a stark turning point: a time to face harder choices than they have ever made before–with consequences that will last a lifetime.
• The Burglar by Thomas Perry– Elle Stowell is a young woman with an unconventional profession: burglary. But Elle is no petty thief–with just the right combination of smarts, looks, and skills, she can easily stroll through ritzy Bel Air neighborhoods and pick out the perfect home for plucking the most valuable items. But after stumbling upon a grisly triple homicide while stealing from the home of a wealthy art dealer, Elle discovers that she is no longer the only one sneaking around. Somebody is searching for her.

January 2

Books:

A Delicate Touch by Stuart Woods– When an old acquaintance reaches out to Stone Barrington requesting assistance, the job seems easy enough. She needs an expert in an esoteric field, someone with both the knowledge and careful dexterity to solve a puzzle. But the solution to one small problem blows the lid open on a bigger scandal going back decades, and involving numerous prominent New Yorkers who would prefer the past stay buried.

The Boy by Tami Hoag– When Detective Nick Fourcade enters the home of Genevieve Gauthier outside the sleepy town of Bayou Breaux, Louisiana, the bloody crime scene that awaits him is both the most brutal and the most confusing he’s ever seen. Genevieve’s seven-year-old son, P.J., has been murdered by an alleged intruder, yet Genevieve is alive and well, a witness inexplicably left behind to tell the tale. There is no evidence of forced entry, not a clue that points to a motive. Who would murder a child and leave the only witness behind?

Verses for the Dead by Preston & Child– After an overhaul of leadership at the FBI’s New York field office, Special Agent Pendergast and his new colleague, junior agent Coldmoon, are assigned to investigate a rash of killings in Miami Beach, where a bloodthirsty psychopath is cutting out the hearts of his victims and leaving them with cryptic handwritten letters at local gravestones. The graves are unconnected save in one bizarre way: all belong to women who committed suicide.

What to Eat When by Michael Roizen and Michael Crupain– What if eating two cups of blueberries a day could prevent cancer? If drinking a kale-infused smoothie could counteract missing an hour’s worth of sleep? When is the right time of day to eat that chocolate chip cookie? And would you actually drink that glass of water if it meant skipping the gym? This revolutionary guide reveals how to use food to enhance our personal and professional lives–and increase longevity to boot. What to Eat When is not a diet book. Instead, acclaimed internist Michael Roizen and preventive medicine specialist Michael Crupain offer readers choices that benefit them the most–whether it’s meals to help them look and feel younger or snacks that prevent diseases–based on the science that governs them.

In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin– Rebus’ retirement is disrupted once again when skeletal remains are identified as a private investigator who went missing over a decade earlier. The remains, found in a rusted car in the East Lothian woods, not far from Edinburgh, quickly turn into a cold case murder investigation. Rebus’ old friend, Siobhan Clarke is assigned to the case, but neither of them could have predicted what buried secrets the investigation will uncover.

Crewel and Unusual by Molly MacRae– Yarn shop owner Kath Rutledge is looking forward to the grand opening of the Blue Plum Vault, a co-op of small shops on Main Street. But in the week before the grand opening, Kath and her needlework group hear rumors of an unpleasant rivalry developing between two of the new shopkeepers. Nervie Bales and Belinda Moyer declare each other’s embroidery patterns and antique embroidered linens fakes, copies–and stolen goods. Kath is caught in the middle when she’s asked to use her textile expertise to decide if there’s any truth to the accusations.

DVDs:

Night School– Teddy Walker is a successful salesman whose life takes an unexpected turn when he accidentally blows up his place of employment. Forced to attend night school to get his GED, Teddy soon finds himself dealing with a group of misfit students, his former high school nemesis and a feisty teacher who doesn’t think he’s too bright.

A.X.L– A.X.L. is a top-secret, robotic dog that has advanced artificial intelligence created by the military. After an experiment gone wrong, A.X.L. is discovered hiding in the desert by Alex, a kindhearted outsider who finds a way to connect with the robot. The two soon develop a special friendship based on trust, loyalty and compassion. Helping Miles gain confidence, A.X.L. goes to any length to protect his new companion, including facing off against the scientists who want their creation back.