Books of the month for December

General Fiction: Lily King – Euphoria

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award 2014 and winner of the 2014 New England Book Award for Fiction."Euphoria" is Lily King's breakout novel of three young, gifted anthropologists of the '30's caught in a passionate love triangle that threatens their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives. Inspired by events in the life of revolutionary anthropologist Margaret Mead.

British Crime: Karen Perry – Only We Know

Only We Know is the captivating new novel from Karen Perry, packed full of secrets and suspense. In 1982, on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday beneath the stifling heat of the midday sun, three children start a game that ends in tragedy. Now, thirty years later, Nick, Luke and Katie are estranged, yet still bound together by the dark truth of what happened at the river that day.

Tough Crime: Paul Doiron – Poacher's Son

Set in the wilds of Maine, this is an explosive tale of an estranged son thrust into the hunt for a murderous fugitive—his own father.

Game warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find an alarming voice from the past on his answering machine: his father Jack, a hard drinking womanizer who makes his living poaching illegal game. An even more frightening call comes the next morning from the police: they are searching for the man who killed a beloved local cop the night before—and his father is their prime suspect. Jack has escaped from police custody, and only Mike believes that his tormented father might not be guilty.

Science Fiction: Linda Nagata – The Red: First Light

This powerful military SF trilogy opener (a Nebula Award nominee in its earlier self-published incarnation) is set in a near future where defense contractors call the shots. Reality TV and advanced technology make for high drama in this political thriller that combines the military action of "Zero Dark Thirty" with the classic science fiction of "The Forever War."

Fantasy: Susan Murray – The Waterborne Blade

The citadel has long been the stronghold of Highkell. All that is about to change because the traitor, Vasic, is marching on the capital. Against her better judgement, Queen Alwenna allows herself to be spirited away by one of the Crown's most trusted servants, safe from the clutches of the throne's would-be usurper.Fleeing across country, she quickly comes to learn that her pampered existence has ill-equipped her for survival away from the comforts of the court.

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy:  Jonathan Wood – Yesterday's Hero

Another day. Another zombie T-Rex to put down. All part of the routine for Arthur Wallace and MI37—the government department devoted to defending Britain from threats magical, supernatural, extraterrestrial, and generally odd. Except a zombie T-Rex is only the first of the problems about to trample, slavering and roaring, through Arthur's life. Before he can say, “But didn't I save the world yesterday?” a new co-director at MI37 is threatening his job, middle-aged Russian cyborg wizards are threatening his life, and his coworkers are threatening his sanity.

As Arthur struggles to unravel a plot to re-enact the Chernobyl disaster in England's capital, he must not only battle foreign occult science but also struggle to keep the trust of his team. Events spiral out of control, friendships fray, and loyalties are tested to their breaking point.

Classic of the Month: Jerome K. Jerome – Three Men in a Boat

"The only one who was not struck with the suggestion was Montmorency. He never did care for the river, did Montmorency"

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a 'T'. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks - not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.'s small fox-terrier Montmorency. Three Men in a Boat was an instant success when it appeared in 1889, and, with its benign escapism, authorial discursions and wonderful evocation of the late-Victorian 'clerking classes', it hilariously captured the spirit of its age.

Teen reading: Nicola Yoon – Everything, Everything

Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone?