The Jaguar's Children

John Vaillant

Houghton Mifflin

"Otto, " From the best-selling author of "The Tiger" and "The Golden Spruce," this debut novel is a gripping survival story of a young man trapped, perhaps fatally, during a border crossing. Hector is trapped. The water truck, sealed to hide its human cargo, has broken down. The coyotes have taken all the passengers' money for a mechanic and have not returned. Those left behind have no choice but to wait. Hector finds a name in his friend Cesar's phone. AnniMac. A name with an American number. He must reach her, both for rescue and to pass along the message Cesar has come so far to deliver. But are his messages going through? Over four days, as water and food run low, Hector tells how he came to this desperate place. His story takes us from Oaxaca -- its rich culture, its rapid change -- to the dangers of the border. It exposes the tangled ties between Mexico and El Norte -- land of promise and opportunity, homewrecker and unreliable friend. And it reminds us of the power of storytelling and the power of hope, as Hector fights to ensure his message makes it out of the truck and into the world.

Happy are the Happy

Yasmina Reza

Other Press

"Happy are the loved ones and the lovers and those who can do without love. Happy are the happy." --Jorge Luis Borges This citation of Borges resonates with every character in Yasmina Reza's novel, except that they are never so lucky. In fact, what happens to them is the exact opposite of what they crave. The twenty short chapters that make up this unusual book deal with both marital and extramarital vicissitudes, the elusiveness of intimacy, the fear of loneliness, and the desire to be loved or at least understood just once in our lives. The mixing of tones--cruelty and despair competing with humor and fantasy--and the quality of the monologues--taut and highly original--adds to the novel's virtuosity. This is without a doubt Reza's most accomplished work.

Pillar to the Sky

William R. Forstchen

Tor Books

In "One Second After," William R. Forstchen stunned readers with an all-too-plausible doomsday scenario. In "Pillar to the Sky," he offers to answer another. Pandemic drought, skyrocketing oil prices, dwindling energy supplies, and wars of water scarcity threaten the planet. Four people are key, but they are surrounded by enemies at every turn--oil-rich nations and the ruthless transnational petrol firms which feed off of them, corrupt but influential politicians and ideological fanatics who see the tower as an assault on God. Eva Morgan--a brilliant and beautiful scientist of Ukrainian descent, she has had a lifelong obsession to build a pillar to the sky, a vertiginous tower which that would mine the power of the sun and supply humanity with cheap, limitless energy forever. Gary Morgan--a man who has shared her quest from the beginning and struggled with her every step of the way. He sees the pillar as nothing less than earth's salvation and humanity's last chance. Victoria--their fierce fiery daughter, she is as stunningly attractive and ferociously intelligent as her mother. To her, the project is life-or-death, and she will do anything to make it work. Jason Fitzhugh--his passion for Victoria is as relentless as his dedication to her dream. He will risk life and court death for the pillar--and for the woman he loves. Franklin Smith--a powerful, aging billionaire, who has risen from the poverty-stricken world of the segregated south to wealthy beyond dreams, is imbued with an overpowering vision . . . to save the human race from itself and to set the world on a course toward the stars. Seeing the pillar as his own personal destiny, he will spend every cent, pressure every friend, and destroy every opponent to make it a success. Smith and the Morgan family are on a mission to build a pillar to the sky and to the stars beyond. But their foes will stop at nothing to topple the tower and profit off its wreckage--even if it means global war.

Rembrandt's Eyes

Simon Schama

Penguin Books

A masterful portrait of one of the most celebrated painters of all time This dazzling, unconventional biography shows us why, more than three centuries after his death, Rembrandt continues to exert such a hold on our imagination. Interweaving the few known facts of the Dutch master's life with fully illustrated explorations of his work and his age, renowned scholar Simon Schama reveals Rembrandt's genius anew. "Rembrandt's Eyes "is a commanding synthesis of scholarship and storytelling that contributes a wholly new understanding of the artist and his place in history.

One Nation, Under Gods: A New American History

Peter Manseau

Little Brown and Company

At the heart of the nation's spiritual history are audacious and often violent scenes. But the Puritans and the shining city on the hill give us just one way to understand the United States. Rather than recite American history from a Christian vantage point, Peter Manseau proves that what really happened is worth a close, fresh look. Thomas Jefferson himself collected books on all religions and required that the brand new Library of Congress take his books, since Americans needed to consider the "twenty gods or no god" he famously noted were revered by his neighbors. Looking at the Americans who believed in these gods, Manseau fills in America's story of itself, from the persecuted "witches" at Salem and who they really were, to the persecuted Buddhists in WWII California, from spirituality and cults in the '60s to the recent presidential election where both candidates were for the first time non-traditional Christians. "One Nation, Under Gods "shows how much more there is to the history we tell ourselves, right back to the country's earliest days." "Dazzling in its scope and sweep, it is an American history unlike any you've read.

The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers

Nicholas Irving, Gary Brozek

St. Martin's Press

Groundbreaking, thrilling and revealing, "The Reaper" is the astonishing memoir of Special Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving, the 3rd Ranger Battalion's deadliest sniper with 33 confirmed kills, though his remarkable career total, including probables, is unknown. Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary military career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, when he set another record, this time for enemy kills on a single deployment. His teammates and chain of command labeled him "The Reaper," and his actions on the battlefield became the stuff of legend, culminating in an extraordinary face-off against an enemy sniper known simply as The Chechnian. Irving's astonishing first-person account of his development into an expert assassin offers a fascinating and extremely rare view of special operations combat missions through the eyes of a Ranger sniper during the Global War on Terrorism. From the brotherhood and sacrifice of teammates in battle to the cold reality of taking a life to protect another, no other book dives so deep inside the life of an Army sniper on point.