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Private Berlin
James Patterson, Mark Sullivan
(Little, Brown & Company, $27.99)
No 1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestbrsellers list (2.10.13)
Chris Schneider is a superstar agent at Private Berlin, the Germanbrheadquarters of the world's most-powerful investigation firm. He keeps hisbrmethods secret while he tackles Private's highest-profile cases. When Chrisbrsuddenly disappears, he becomes Private Berlin's most-dangerous investigationbryet.
Mattie Engel is another top agent at Private Berlin. Gorgeousbrand ruthlessly determined, she's also Chris's ex. Mattie throws herselfbrheadfirst into finding Chris, which leads her to the three people Chris wasbrinvestigating when he vanished: a billionaire suspected of cheating on hisbrwife, a soccer star accused of throwing games and a nightclub owner with tiesbrto the Russian mob. Any one of them would surely want Chris gone — and one ofbrthem is evil enough to want him dead.
Mattie's chase takes her into Berlin's most guarded, hiddenbrand treacherous places, revealing secrets from Chris' past she'd never dreamed existedbrwhen they were lovers. On the brink of a terrifying discovery, Mattie holds onbrto her belief in Chris — in the face of a horror that could force all of Europebrto the edge of destruction and chaos.
The Last Girlfriendbron Earth
Simon Rich
(Little, Brown & Company, $19.99)
Author Simon Rich — a graduate of Harvard University — hasbrwritten for The New Yorker and was the youngest staff writer at Saturday Night Live. With a reputation for writing relatable stories full ofbrrazor-sharp humor, Rich has also written scripts for Lorne Michaels and JuddbrApatow.
His latest book, a collection of 30 short stories, includes “Centerbrof the Universe,” in which God struggles to balance the demands of his careerbrwith the needs of his long-term girlfriend. In “Magical Mr. Goat,” a young girl'sbrimaginary friend yearns to become “more than friends.” In “Unprotected,” anbrunused prophylactic recalls his years spent trapped inside a teen boy's wallet.
Rich explores love's many complications — losing it, findingbrit, breaking it and making it — and turns the ordinary into the absurd.
Killing Lincoln
Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
(Holt, $28.)
No. 5 on The New York Times hardcover non-fictionbrbest sellers list (2.10.13)
The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of thebrmost dramatic stories in American history — how one gunshot changed the countrybrforever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America’s Civil War finallybrcomes to an end after a series of increasingly harrowing battles. PresidentbrAbraham Lincoln’s generous terms for Robert E. Lee’s surrender fulfill Lincoln’sbrdream of healing a divided nation, with former Confederates allowed tobrreintegrate into American society. But one man and his band of murderousbraccomplices, perhaps reaching into the highest ranks of the U.S. government,brare not appeased.
In the midst of the patriotic celebrations in Washington D.C.,brJohn Wilkes Booth murders Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. A furious manhuntbrensues and Booth immediately becomes the country's most-wanted fugitive. KillingbrLincoln is history that reads like a thriller.