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Hotlists 2008
Crime Fiction - embedded
Seeing Stars
Lists of (mostly) hardcover books which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ).
The review journal assigns the star.
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Stellar All Stars
Tree of Smoke
by Denis Johnson
The Zookeeper's Wife
by Diane Ackerman
The Dead Father's Club
by Matt Haig
Consumption
by Keith Patterson
Down River
by John Hart
The Terror Dream by Susan Faludi
Overbooked specializes in providing timely information about fiction (all genres) and readable nonfiction. Overbooked has been online since 1994. Overbooked is a work in progress . . .
Starred Reviews
Christian Fiction Stars
April 2, 2008
- Last Resort: A Hideaway Novel
Author: Alexander, Hannah
Publisher: Steeple Hill $ 12.95 ISBN: 0373785402 Date: 2005
LJ
When 12-year-old Clarissa Cooper is abducted near her home, her cousin Noelle rushes to Hideaway to help in the search. Reunited with her childhood friend Nathan Trask, Noelle steps into a web of secrets that has haunted her family for generations.
Updated 6.9.05 - Rekindled
Author: Alexander, Tamera
Publisher: Bethany $ 12.99 ISBN: 0764201085 Date: 2006
LJ
When her husband disappears, Kathryn Jennings is flung into the world of ranching, banking, and business. Most disconcerting of all is the uncanny familiarity she feels toward the badly scarred ranch hand who works in the dark shadows of the horse stables.
Updated 1.31.06 - A Light To My Path
Author: Austin, Lynn
Publisher: Bethany $ 12.99 (paper) ISBN: 1556614446 Date: 2004
LJ
Kitty, a house slave, always figured it was easiest to do what she'd always done--obey Missy and follow orders. But when word arrives that the Yankees are coming, Kitty is faced with a decision: continue to follow the bidding of her owners, or embrace this chance for freedom?
Updated 11.2.04 - All She Ever Wanted
Author: Austin, Lynn
Publisher: Bethany $ 13.99 ISBN: 0764228897 Date: 2005
LJ
A masterful tale of family secrets, forgiveness, and reconciliation, in the bestselling tradition of Eve's Daughters and Hidden Places.
Updated 11.1.05 - Birth of an Age:
The Christ Clone Trilogy, Book Two
Author: BeauSeigneur, James
Publisher: Warner $ 18.95 ISBN: 044653126x Date: 2003
Kirkus
In book two of the Christ Clone Trilogy, Christopher Goodman--cloned from the ancient cells of Jesus Christ--is forced to sit back and watch the seeming destruction of Earth in order to fulfill his destiny.
Updated 5.9.03 - With this Ring, I'm Confused
Author: Billerbeck, Kristen
Publisher: Westbow $ 14.99 ISBN: 1595540334 Date: 2005
LJ
In this third book in the popular series by Billerbeck, Ashley Stockingdale has finally found that nice, good-looking Christian guy who actually wants to commit. Will she make it to the altar with her sanity intact?
Updated 6.9.05 - Let the Church Say Amen
Author: Billingsley, Reshonda Tate
Publisher: Pocket $ 13 (paper) ISBN: 0743477146 Date: 2004
LJ
"In her riveting second novel, ReShonda Tate Billingsley -- winner of the Gold Pen Award for Best New Author for My Brother's Keeper -- crafts a bold and heartwarming story of family and faith that will inspire readers everywhere." - Publishers Marketing
Updated 9.20.04 - Delirious Summer
Author: Blackston, Ray
Publisher: Revell $ 12.99 (paper) ISBN: 0800759583 Date: 2004
Booklist
To Neil Rucker, seven months, one week, and a day is too long to wait in between dates. But life as a Spanish language teacher to missionaries in Ecuador affords little opportunity for romance. When his worst student, Jay Jarvis, suggests a respite in Greenville, South Carolina, so begins Neil's delirious summer.
Suggested Reading List: Adult Books for Teens
Updated 6.10.04 - Abigail's Story
Author: Burton, Ann
Publisher: Signet $ 5.99 ISBN: 045121479x Date: 2005
Booklist
A compelling new series that focuses on the courageous women of the Bible begins with the story of Abigail. As Abigail grows to love David, the warrior-son of Jesse, David faces her husband, Nabal, in a senseless war that destroys Abigail's hope for peace.
Updated 6.20.05 -
The
Storyteller's Collection: Tales of Faraway Places
Author: Carlson, Melody (com)
Publisher: Multnomah $ 16.99 ISBN: 1576737381 Date: 2000
Booklist
Short works by some of CBA's best-loved fiction authors--including Jerry Jenkins, Randy Alcorn, Terri Blackstock, Deborah Raney and Angela Elwell Hunt--are compiled in one gripping volume. These masterfully told short stories transport readers around the globe with amazing tales of international romance, mystery and humor.
Updated 10/10/00 - Crystal Lies
Author: Carlson, Melody
Publisher: Waterbrook $ 12.99 ISBN: 1578568404 Date: 2004
Booklist
Updated 10.4.04 - Bad Ground
Author: Cramer, W. Dale
Publisher: Bethany $ 12.99 (paper) ISBN: 076422784x Date: 2004
PW Booklist LJ
To honor his mother's dying wish, 17-year-old Jeremy seeks out his bitter, estranged uncle. Despite his uncle's protests, he takes a job as a miner where his faith is tested by gritty coworkers, the threat of danger . . . and the possibility of love.
Suggested Reading List: All Stars
Updated 6.1.04 - Levi's Will
Author: Cramer, W. Dale
Publisher: Bethany $ 13.99 ISBN: 0764229958 Date: 2005
LJ Booklist
Nineteen-year-old Will leaves behind his pregnant girlfriend when he flees his Amish community in pursuit of a new life. Years later, Will is unable to regain his father's respect. Can he learn that love, not work, will heal the past and give hope to his family's future?
Updated 6.20.05 - Lethal Harvest
Author: Cutrer, William
Publisher: Kregal $ 10.99 (trade paper) ISBN: 0825423716 Date: 2000
Booklist
A brilliant embryologist-the nephew of the president of the United States-is dead. The freakish accident that sent Dr. Tim Sullivan's car plunging into an icy river has left troubling questions: Why is his in vitro fertilization clinic suddenly mired in a lawsuit? What was the nature of the embryo research with which he was obsessed? Is the president somehow involved?
Updated 10/10/00 - River Rising
Author: Dickson, Athol
Publisher: Bethany $ 17.99 ISBN: 076420162X Date: 2006
Booklist
In 1927 Louisiana, Rev. Hale Poser arrives in the bayous of Pilotville, looking for his roots. In the swamp beyond the cypress lies a lingering evil. For years it slept in dreadful isolation. Now comes Hale Poser, and it will sleep no more.
Updated 1.21.06 - The Duet
Author: Elmer, Robert
Publisher: Waterbrook $ 12.99 (paper) ISBN: 1578567408 Date: 2004
Booklist
When widower Gerrit Vandekamp takes his granddaughter to piano lessons one day, he finds himself drawn to her music teacher, a woman unlike any he has known. Neither can predict how their duet will sound as they practice the music of renewed hope and second chances.
Updated 4.6.04 - The Celebrity
Author: Elmer, Robert
Publisher: Waterbrook $ 12.99 ISBN: 1578567416 Date: 2005
Booklist
Caught between a charade and the Truth, singer Jamie D. Lane assumes a new identity, secretly slips away from his celebrity lifestyle, and heads to the Pacific Northwest incognito. But what he finds in small-town Washington could open up Jamie's future and change him forever.
Updated 5.26.05 - Stones
of My Accusers
Author: Groot, Tracy
Publisher: Moody $12.99 (paper) ISBN: 0802431062 Date: 2004
Booklist
In this stand-alone sequel to The Brother's Keeper, the transforming difference that Christ's mercy makes on each character's life is forever impacted by the amazing mercy of God.
Updated 1.15.04 - Madman
Author: Groot, Tracy
Publisher: Moody $ 12.99 ISBN: 0802463622 Date: 2006
PW
From the author of The Brother's Keeper comes a tale of mystery, horror, and hope in the midst of unimaginable darkness, the story behind the Geresene demoniac of the gospels of Mark and Luke.
Updated 2.21.06 -
Home to Harmony
Author: Gulley, Philip
Publisher: Multnomah $ 14.99 (trade paper) ISBN: 157673616x Date: 2000
Booklist
In the small town of Harmony, Indiana, Sam Gardner is called as pastor of his hometown church. In this novel told in first person, Sam describes in a warm, down-home style the humorous adventures he encounters in his first year at Harmony Friends Meeting. Author Philip Gulley tackles the sticky issues of grace, faith and forgiveness through skillful storytelling, subtly introducing lessons on the power of relationships with each other and God.
Updated 10/10/00 - Boo
Author: Gutteridge, Rene
Publisher: Waterbrook $ 11.99 (paper) ISBN: 1578565731 Date: 2003
Booklist
The biggest thing to happen to Skary, Indiana, is renowned horror novelist Wolfe Boone-or, "Boo," as the locals fondly call him. For the past sixteen years, the reclusive writer has been the town's greatest attraction, having unintentionally turned the once-struggling Skary into a thriving tourist-trap for the dark side: from the Haunted Mansion restaurant, famous for its "bloody fingers" (fries splattered with ketchup) to Spooky's Bookstore (where employees dress like the walking dead).
But when a newly reformed Wolfe suddenly quits the genre and subsequently starts to pursue Skary's favorite girl-next-door, Ainsley Parker, the little town made famous by his writings becomes truly horrified. Soon, a scheme is plotted to put the fright back into Skary-and get their most famous resident out of love and back into the thrill business.
Filled with humor, small town charm, and a gentle message of enduring faith, Boo shows how even the most colorful group of busybodies and hypocrites can become a community changed forever by God. - Publisher Marketing.
Updated 10.8.03 - Splitting Storm
Author: Gutteridge, Rene
Publisher: Heartquest $ 9.97 ISBN: 0842386025 Date: 2004
Booklist
In this gripping novel with underlying themes of faith and spiritual blindness, FBI agent Mick Klein embarks on a journey to discover the truth about his brother's murder.
Updated 10.4.04 - The Light of Eidon
Author: Hancock, Karen
Publisher: Bethany $ 12.99 (paper) ISBN: 0764227947 Date: 2003
Booklist
The first novel in a new dynamic series follows the life of Abramm Kalladorne in his turbulent search for truth and self--a search that will transform him from a sickly, head-in-the-clouds youth to a legendary hero of strength and courage.
Updated 10.8.03 - True Valor
Author: Henderson, Dee
Publisher: Multnomah $ 11.99 (trade paper) ISBN: 1576738876 Date: 2002
Booklist
In this second book in the Uncommon Heroes series, Air Force pararescueman Bruce "Striker" Stanton must save his love, a pilot, when she crash lands in Turkey after a deadly air battle.
Updated 1/24/02 - Fallen Angels
Author: Hickman, Patricia
Publisher: Warner $ 12.95 ISBN: 044691011 Date: 2003
Booklist
Award-winning author Hickman presents the first installment in the Millwood Hollow series about an unlikely hero and a trio of abandoned siblings struggling for survival in the South during the Great Depression.
Updated 6.25.03 - Grace in Thine Eyes
Author: Higgs, Liz Curtis
Publisher: Waterbrook $ 13.99 ISBN: 1578562597 Date: 2006
LJ
Readers can rediscover the Genesis story of Dinah through a 19th-century Scottish lens in Grace in Thine Eyes, a tale of passion, revenge, lost innocence, and cruel retribution.
Suggested Reading: Christian Fiction
Updated 4.3.06 - The Justice
Author: Hunt, Angela Elwell
Publisher: W $ 15.99 (trade paper) ISBN: 0849916313 Date: 2002
Booklist
A gripping political mystery about the first woman president of the United States examines the corrupt side of government and the intense impact produced when Christ changes a life.
Updated 1/24/02 - Uncharted: Expect the Unexpected
Author: Hunt, Angela Elwell
Publisher: Westbow $ 19.99 ISBN: 0849944848 Date: 2006
Booklist
Six college friends meet up at their friend's funeral, and out of loyalty to him, they grant his last request when they embark on a journey at sea -- a journey that takes them farther than they'd ever want to go as they land on an uncharted island where all is not as it first appears. - Publisher Marketing
Suggested Reading: Christian Fiction Stars
Updated 4.17.06 - Sunday Clothes
Author: Lemmons, Thom
Publisher: Broadman & Holman $ 14.99 ISBN: 0805727635 Date: 2004
Booklist
Addie Caswell finds herself in a precarious position in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century South, especially for a young girl from a religious, proud family. Addie falls in love with a traveling Church of Christ salesman, much to the disapproval of her stern, Methodist father. Defying her father in the face of estrangement, she marries Zeb, only to be betrayed by his subsequent infidelities. Alone but determined, Addie must find redemption as she comes to terms with her faith and the healing power of family and relationships. - Publisher Marketing.
Updated 4.6.04 - The Preacher's Daughter
Author: Lewis, Beverley
Publisher: Bethany $ 13.99 ISBN: 0764201050 Date: 2005
LJ
A new series from "The New York Times" bestselling author of the"Abram's Daughters" series begins a remarkable journey of heartache and homespun delight. Paradise, Pennsylvania, seems like a dead-end street for Annie Zook, the preacher's eldest daughter who is expected to join the Amish church, but is "still deciding."
Updated 11.1.05 - A Window to the World
Author: Meissner, Susan
Publisher: Harvest House $ 11.99 ISBN: 0736914145 Date: 2005
Booklist
Megan and Jen, who meet in first grade and become inseparable friends until one of them is snatched by kidnappers as the other watches helplessly. Sixteen years later, the stunning truth of the disappearance is revealed--and lives are changed forever.
Updated 5.26.05 - Wild Rose
Author: Morren, Ruth Axtell
Publisher: Steeple Hill $ 12.95 (paper) ISBN: 0373785275 Date: 2004
Booklist
An outcast all her life, Geneva Patterson endures the cruel taunts of the townspeople. Once a respected sea captain, Caleb Phelps moves to her small Maine town after he is accused of a shameful crime. Through God's grace, Geneva and Caleb try to find redemption and love.
Updated 10.4.04 - Not a Sparrow
Falls
Author: Nichols, Linda
Publisher: Bethany House $ 16.99 ISBN: 0764227556 Date: 2002
Booklist
In this powerful story of redemption and love, a prodigal young woman from the hills of Virginia flees the men who have lured her away from a godly upbringing into a life of desperation. A heart-tugging tale about the extraordinary struggles that turn ordinary people into heroes.
Updated 8.13.02 - The Assignment
Author: Olsen, Mark Andrew
Publisher: Bethany $ 12.99 (paper) ISBN: 076422817x Date: 2004
LJ
In his first solo novel, Olsen poses the question: What if the Restrainer of II Thessalonians, an immortal man, flawed and discouraged over his inability to better succeed at his immense mission to restrain evil in the world, is discovered? And what if at a time when the world hangs on the precipice of a third world war, this man is given one final opportunity to do battle with the Evil One?
Updated 6.1.04 - Monster
Author: Peretti, Frank E.
Publisher: Westbow $ 24.99 ISBN: 084991180x Date: 2005
LJ
Miles away from the hectic city, Reed and Rebecca hike into the beautiful Northwestern woods. They're surrounded by gorgeous mountains, waterfalls, and hundreds of acres of unspoiled wilderness. But something--or someone--begins closing in on them, and it's killing everyone in its path without remorse.
Updated 4.7.05 - Dying Declaration
Author: Singer, Randy
Publisher: Waterbrook $ 13.99 (paper) ISBN: 1578567769 Date: 2004
Booklist
Cultures and lawyers collide in this fast-paced, edgy, and issue-driven suspense novel, which powerfully illustrates the triumph of grace over legalism.
Updated 9.7.04 - Boaz Brown
Author: Stimpson, Michelle
Publisher: Walk Worthy $ 22.95 ISBN:0446532479 Date: 2004
LJ
Prejudices that exist in the African-American church are addressed in this daring debut novel about a young Christian woman who finds her own racist attitudes--as well as those of her family, friends, and church--challenged when she is drawn to a man of a different race.
Suggested Reading List: African American Stars
Updated 6.1.04 - All the Way Home
Author: Tatlock, Ann
Publisher: Bethany $ 11.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 0764226630 Date: 2002
Booklist
From the award-winning author of the compelling novel A Room of My Own comes a heart-wrenching story of two women and their rediscovery of a childhood friendship. Laced with soul-touching humor, All the Way Home is a moving portrayal of the vital importance of family and the bitter consequences of prejudice.
Updated 6.29.02 - No Dark Valley
Author: Turner, Jamie Langston
Publisher: Bethany $ 12.99 ISBN: 0764227300 Date: 2004
Booklist
When Celia's grandmother dies, she must return to the small Southern town she hoped never to see again. In this masterfully written, inspiring story of reconciliation, Celia and the guilt-ridden next-door neighbor will both come to recognize the vastness of God's grace.
Updated 9.7.04 - Troublesome Creek
Author: Watson, Jan
Publisher: Tyndale $ 12.99 ISBN: 1414304471 Date: 2005
LJ
Born and raised in the hills of Kentucky in the late 1800s, Laura "Copper" Grace must come to terms with her family and discover the true meaning of "home." Nothing could drag her off of the mountain until one day when she realizes that God has other plans for her life.
Updated 11.1.05 - Forgiving Solomon Long
Author: Well, Chris
Publisher: Harvest House $ 11.99 ISBN: 0736914056 Date: 2005
Booklist
Fat Cat Catalano doesn't need troublemakers rocking the boat. So he hires a "cleaner" to fly in to make sure the local "churchies" and storeowners get the message. Meanwhile, detective Tom Griggs is determined to bring Fat Cat down, even if it means neglecting--and losing--his own wife.
Updated 5.26.05 -
Velma
Still Cooks in Leeway
Author: Wright, Vinita Hampton
Publisher: Broadman & Holman $ 12.99 (paper) ISBN: 0805421289 Date: 2000
PW Booklist
The chief cook in Leeway, Kansas, and the part-time janitor for Jerusalem Baptist Church, Velma takes good care of everyone around her. Then her husband stops talking, her cousin comes to live with her, and she finds herself dealing with the town's problems. Her journey of love and forgiveness lies at the heart of this novel. Recipes included.
Suggested Reading List: Cooked Books
Updated 10/10/00
Hotlists
Crime Fiction - embedded
Stars
Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
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Hotlists
Hotlists: Fiction | Crime Fiction
Genre Hotlists: Christian Fiction | African American Fiction
Stars
Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
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