New books: Drood, Fool, The Gamble and more
New releases this week include: Drood by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown, $26.99). Simmons creates a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative, based on the historical details of Charles Dickens’ life. Narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens’ friend, collaborator and Salieri-style rival), Drood explores the unsolved mysteries of the author’s last years and may provide the key to his final, unfinished work.
Fool by Christopher Moore (William Morrow, $26.99). It’s 1288, and the king’s fool, Pocket, and his dimwit apprentice, Drool, set out to clean up the mess King Lear has made of his kingdom, his family and his fortune — only to discover the truth about their own heritage.
The Gamble by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin Press, $27.95). Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on-the-ground reporting to document the inside story of the Iraq war since late 2005. He examines the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself, the surge was launched and a very different war began.
Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein (Doubleday, $26). When Assistant District Attorney Alex Cooper is summoned to Tina Barr’s apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, she finds a neighbor convinced that the young woman was assaulted. But the terrified victim, a conservator of rare books and maps, refuses to cooperate with investigators.
The Silent Man by Alex Berenson (Putnam,$25.95) CIA agent John Wells pursues Russians who have killed and injured several people in Washington, including Wells’ fiancee.
Gladiator by Dan Clark (Scribner, $25). Athletic and aggressive, Clark rose to fame as Nitro on American Gladiators. But a 20-year affair with steroids led to a life of smuggling drugs, destroying hotel rooms, getting arrested, growing breasts and lying bloodied in the street after a fight with his best friend. This is Clark’s account of his life, career and steroid addiction.
Amazon.com and Publishers Weekly
