The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

A:  Heidi Lange  P:  Doubleday  C:  Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT:  3     LAT:  3     BS:  3

It's a follow-up to the Da Vinci Code, it's the fastest selling adult novel in history.  Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon takes on Mal'akh, a tattooed and brilliant villain, while wrapped up in the secrets of Freemasonry that lurks all around him in Washington, D.C.

An Echo in the Bone, by Diana Gabaldon

A:  Russell Galen  P:  Delacorte  C:  Speculative Fiction
NYT:  2     LAT:  2     BS:  2

In the new installment of Gabaldon's "Outlander" series, time traveling nurse, Claire and her outlaw husband, Jamie take on the troubles of the late 18th century in America.

 

Rough Country, by John Sandford

A:  Esther Newburg    P:  Putnam   C:  Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT:  1     LAT:        BS:  1

Part of the wildly successful Prey series, detective Virgil Flowers is back on the case, tackling a series of murders at an exclusive resort for women.

The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks

A:  Theresa Park  P:  Grand Central  C:  Mainstream Fiction
NYT:  4     LAT:  4     BS:  4

Soon to be a film starring Miley Cyrus, Nicholas Sparks revisits themes familiar to his readers:  love, the beach, faith and unfortunate circumstances.   Also, there are loggerhead turtles.

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

A: Susan Ramer      P: Putnam     C: Literature/Fiction
NYT:  27     LAT:  18     BS:  34

In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.

Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger

A:  Regal Literary    P:  Scribner    C:  Mainstream Fiction
NYT:  1     LAT:        BS:  1

When you inherit a cemetery, you should probably expect a few attached strings.  In the case of twin nieces in London, it's their aunt haunting the premises.

The Perfect Christmas, by Debbie Macomer

A:  Theresa Park    P:  Mira     C:  Mainstream Fiction
NYT:  1     LAT:     BS:
A thirty-three year old woman wants a husband and to start a family more than anything.  After trying everything, she gives in and and pursues the services of a matchmaker.  For better or worse, Simon Dodson is a different kind of matchmaker...one that will help his client discover love right under her nose and right under the mistletoe.
Hothouse Orchid, by Stuart Woods

A:  Morton Janklow     P:  Putnam    C:  Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT:  2      LAT:           BS:

Even a seasoned CIA agent like Holly Barker deserves a holiday after an international terrorist nearly takes her life.  But a trip to Florida, where the aforementioned terrorist is in hiding and someone who nearly raped Barker in the past is now a police chief, may not have been the best idea.

South of Broad, by Pat Conroy

A:  Marly Rusoff Literary Agency  P:  Doubleday  C:  Mainstream Fiction
NYT:  8     LAT:       BS:  8

Pat Conroy returns with his first novel in fourteen years with a book full of tearfilled moments as a gossip columnist in Charleston, South Carolina looks back on his life, his group of friends, and their loves and losses.

Alex Cross's Trial, by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo

A:  Jennifer Rudolph Walsh/William Morris Agency  P:  Little, Brown  C:  Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT:  7     LAT:       BS:  

Instead of an Alex Cross story, per se, this new entry in the endless parade of novels with James Patterson's name on the cover is a story told by Alex about the past.  Alex tells the story of Ben Corbett, a brave lawyer at the turn of the century who takes on the Ku Klux Klan.  

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

A:  Vivienne Schuster   P:  Doubleday   C:  Speculative Fiction
NYT:  2    LAT:        BS:  2

A followup to Oryx and Crake, the survivors of an apocalyptic environmental disaster still search for answers in the destruction.

Blood's a Rover, by James Ellroy

A:  Nat Sobel   P:  Knopf    C:  Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT:       LAT:  1     BS:  

The final volume in Ellroy's Underworld USA trilogy is a brutal look at where politics, crime and voodoo (seriously...voodoo) collided at the end of the sixties, with Howard Hughes, J. Edgar Hoover and Richard Nixon as characters.

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

A:  Rosemary Stimola    P:  Scholastic Press    C:  Spectulative Fiction
NYT:        LAT:  4     BS:  

I don't know when the post-apocalyptic second novel of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series is set, but I'm quite certain I don't want to be around if this future comes to be as children are forced in a pop culture arena death match.

A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore

A:  Melanie Jackson   P:  Knopf   C:  Literary Fiction
NYT:       LAT:  4    BS:  5

Although it's been a decade and a half since Moore's last novel was published, she hasn't lost a bit of her biting charm over those years.  A Gate at the Stairs pokes dark fun at the midwest while simultaneously telling the story of a young, naive woman's coming of age.

The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson

A:                     P:  Knopf     C:  Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT:       LAT:  10     BS:  10

The "girl with the dragon tattoo", Lisbeth Salander, returns in the second thriller in Stieg Larsson's posthumous trilogy in a thriller mixing journalism, cybercrimes, murder and sex trafficking.
The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory

A:  Esther Newberg     P:  Touchstone     C:  Historical
NYT:       LAT:  7     BS:  

The wars of the Plantagenets are detailed by Philippa Gregory as the the kings and queens prior to the Tudor era battle for power, including the White Queen, Elizabeth Woodville.  Woodville catches the eye of the young king and quickly pushes for her sons to rise up the royal ladder, until the Tower of London collides with her plans.

Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby

A:  Caroline Dawnay   P:  Riverhead    C:  Mainstream Fiction
NYT:  1    LAT:      BS:  1

Nick Hornby might not stretch himself as a writer outside familiar pop culture laden confessional themes, but he does them so well, it's hard to complain.  Filled with longing and regret, Hornby's new novel tells the story of an out of love couple tied together (and driven apart) by the work of an obscure singer-songwriter.