Books with Big Laydowns

Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb,  600,000 copies.   Release date Feb. 22

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison,   250,000 copies.  Release date  Feb.22

Our Last Best Chance by King Abdullah II or Jordan, 150,000 copies.  Release date Feb. 22

Wear This, Toss That!  by Amy Goodman,  100,000 copies.  Release date Feb. 22


Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child,   325,000 copies.  Release date Feb. 22

Night Vision by Randy Wayne White,    150,000 copies.   Release date Feb 22

The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry

The tomb of China's First Emperor, guarded by an underground army of terra cotta warriors, has remained sealed for 2200 years. Though it's regarded as one of the greatest archeological sites in the world, the Chinese government won't allow anyone to open it.

Why not?

That question is at the heart of a dilemma faced by former-Justice Department operative Cotton Malone, whose life is shattered when he receives an anonymous note carrying an unfamiliar web address. Logging on, he sees Cassiopeia Vitt, a woman who's saved his life on more than one occasion, being tortured at the hands of a mysterious man who has a single demand - "Bring me the artifact she's asked you to keep safe." One problem: Malone doesn't have a clue what the man is talking about, since Cassiopeia has left nothing with him. So begins Malone's most harrowing adventure to date-one that offers up astounding historical revelations, pits him against a ruthless ancient brotherhood, and sends him from Denmark to Belgium to Vietnam then on to China, a vast and mysterious land where danger lurks at every turn.

**Havng been taught that oil is a fossil fuel,  this book was a eye opener!  Steve Berry is one of the best researcher and willing to pass his research on to the rest of us.

The Emperor's Tomb left me with questions, thanks to the internet I can find some of the answers.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Ages;  Young Adult

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade"a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up"the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

 

The third book in this series,------The Death Cure, by James Dashner due out Oct. 11, 2011

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Ages; Young Adult

*some violence

 

 

 

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.

In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.

Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated-and with it, order-and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.

The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Thomas can only wonder-does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

 

The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials set out to trick the readers brains.  And, they do just that.  Picking up where The Maze Runner leaves off, solving one riddle only to create 3 more. 

A good dystopian world, if you like this new trend------read this series!

Death Cloud, Young Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lane

 

 

Death Cloud by Andrew Lane

ages; 12 and up

 

 

 

It is the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with eccentric strangers—his uncle and aunt—in their vast house in Hampshire. When two local people die from symptoms that resemble the plague, Holmes begins to investigate what really killed them, helped by his new tutor, an American named Amyus Crowe. So begins Sherlock’s true education in detection, as he discovers the dastardly crimes of a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent.

 

Andrew Lane start of a new series.  Action packed writing with attention to detail make this a great read.

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.
Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing.
But they know.
They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.
I am Number Four.
I am next.

I like to read the book before seeing the movie.  This is a must for this book and movie. 

Luthiel's Song; Dreams of the Ringed Vale by Robert Marston Fanney

First Summer's Eve has come and all elves celebrate as the black moon's shadow fades from the world. It is also Luthiel's fifteenth birthday. With it come two extraordinary and dangerous surprises: a Wyrd Stone, its silvery heart a window into a world of dreams and nightmares, and a Blade Dancer, dreaded protector of the Faelands, who bears a dark message. Instead of celebration, Luthiel is given a terrible choice: if she does nothing, someone she loves deeply will die. Or to save a life, she can break the most perilous law of the Faelands, and venture alone to the Vale of Mists. If she chooses the journey, she must race Othalas -- eldest and most feared of all the werewolves -- past great back spiders who weave webs out of nightmares, through glittering mists with the power to reshape flesh, and at last into death by the teeth of dark and ancient Vyrl, who feed on the blood of elves. Either choice will bring death -- unless Luthiel can find the secret in her remarkable Stone, a secret that even the nightmares fear.

A strong female lead novel, magic, mystery, adventure........what more could you ask for?