Blood Oath
by Christopher Farnsworth (Putnam)
True story: In 1867, President Andrew Jackson pardoned a sailor who was accused of killing two sailors and drinking their blood. Not true (as far as you know): That man was a vampire who pledged an eternal oath to serve the president. Farnsworth has written a rollicking Washington thriller about this “Drac Bauer” — Nathaniel Cade — who battles spies, monsters and an out-of-control Congress (kidding about that last one).
Somewhere Inside
by Laura Ling and Lisa Ling (Harper Collins)
Fourteen months ago, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were filming at the China-North Korea border for a project, when they were seized by North Korean soldiers. Laura’s sister, fellow journo Lisa, went into action to secure her release. This is their story. Perhaps the oddest part of North Korean captivity: Sunday evenings, when 10 minutes of “Tom and Jerry” cartoons would come on her guards’ TV. Allowing her to watch with them, they would shout, “Miss Laura! Tom and Jerry!”
The Beautiful Between
by Alyssa B. Sheinmel (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
This debut novel is the perfect antidote to the “Gossip Girl”-ization of young adult literature. Connelly Sternin is a quiet, bookish Upper East Side high school girl who lives with her mother and grandmother. Jeremy Cole is the big man on campus with a very ill sister. Connelly is surprised when he befriends her. Endearing, realistic and heart-wrenching, Sheinmel offers a thoughtful look at teens.
Supreme Justice
by Phillip Margolin (Harper)
Margolin, who worked for years as a defense attorney before turning to writing — he’s penned more than a dozen best-selling crime thrillers — has a keen sense of timing. Just as President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, Margolin’s latest is a fast-paced yarn connecting a Supreme Court vacancy, a death row inmate, an ex-CIA chief and an attack on another Justice. And he’s brought private eye Dana Cutler (from “Executive Privilege”) back to sort out the mystery.
The Lonely Polygamist
by Brady Udall (Norton)
What do you do if you have four wives and you’re lonely? Build a brothel. What do you tell your 28 children? That it’s a senior center. How do you tell which child you’re telling? From your chart, of course. Udall, the author of “The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint,” gives us protagonist Golden Richards, proving — in spades— Tolstoy’s famous words: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”