60 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 29, 2019
Review_FICTION
Lampedusa
Steven Price. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27
(336p) ISBN 978-0-374-21224-7
Price (By Gaslight) illuminates in fine
fictionalized fashion the last years of
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa as he
struggles to write one of the glories of
Italian literature, his only novel, The
Leopard. In January 1955, Lampedusa is
diagnosed with advanced emphysema.
His marriage childless, Lampedusa wants
to leave something behind after his death
and comes up with the idea of a novel that
takes place during Garibaldi’s invasion of
Sicily in 1860. The result is The Leopard,
an intimate epic of the dying social order
in 19th-century Sicily, mirrored by
Lampedusa’s observations about his own
dying social order in the 20th. While
writing, Lampedusa visits the remains of
the family estate in Palma, considers
adopting a young friend in order to pass
on his title of duke, and reminisces about
fighting on the Italian Front during WWI
and meeting his wife, Alessandra, in
London in 1925. Though light on plot,
Price vividly recreates an Italy transitioning
from postwar austerity to the beginnings
of la dolce vita, juxtaposing crumbling
palazzos with sleek, supercharged sports
cars. Price makes Lampedusa as compelling
a figure as Lampedusa’s hero, Prince Don
Fabrizio Salina. Readers will savor this
rich look at Italian history. (Sept.)Mystery/Thriller
Takes One to Know One
Susan Isaacs. Atlantic Monthly, $26 (368p)
ISBN 978-0-8021-4755-4
Every Wednesday, 38-year-old freelance
literary scout Corie Geller—the heroine of
this breezy suburban suspense novel from
bestseller Isaacs (As Husbands Go)—meets
for lunch with other Shorehaven, Long
Island, self-employeds. Unbeknownst to
her neighbors, Corie was an FBI agent
before she wed widowed federal court judge
Joshua Geller and retired to help raise his
young daughter, so when she senses
something hinky about group member
Pete Delaney, she starts digging. His back-
ground checks out, but if Pete is nothing
more than a packaging designer, why does
he constantly switch cell phones, have no
personal social media presence, and payfor everything with cash? Corie’s best
friend maintains that she’s fixating on
Pete because she’s bored with her own life,
but Corie trusts her gut and partners with
her father, a former NYPD detective, to
investigate. Despite the predictable plot
and a climax lacking punch, Isaacs amply
compensates with vibrant characters,
snappy dialogue, and an arresting first-
person narrative. Readers in search of a
stylish beach read will be satisfied. Agent:
Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (Oct.)★ Heaven, My Home
Attica Locke. Mulholland, $27 (304p)
ISBN 978-0-316-36340-2
Edgar-winner Locke’s searing sequel to
2017’s Bluebird, Bluebird finds African-
American Texas Ranger Darren Matthews
reconciled with his wife, though to main-
tain their marriage, he has agreed to take a
desk job at the Rangers’ Houston office,
where he’s assigned to analyze digital
surveillance data on his state’s chapter of
the Aryan Brotherhood. Then nine-year-
old Levi King, the son of Aryan
Brotherhood of Texas captain Bill “Big
Kill” King, disappears in Marion County,
and Matthews returns to field duty.
Meanwhile, Bill, who evaded justice for
killing a black man but is serving 20 years
in prison on drug charges, writes to the
governor to request an exhaustive search for
his son. Matthews’s boss, who’s seeking an
indictment of the Brotherhood, including
Bill, hopes that the search for Levi will
yield information that can be used against
his father—before the incoming Trump
administration, with its lack of interest in
pursuing white supremacists, takes power.
Matthew’s legal jeopardy from a prior case
hovers over the action, but Locke makes
the complex backstory accessible. This one’s
another Edgar contender. Agent: Richard
Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (Sept.)Blood in the Water
Jack Flynn. Minotaur, $27.99 (352p) ISBN 978-
1-250-09017-1
Set in Boston, the pseudonymous Flynn’s
propulsive debut, a series launch, intro-
duces FBI special agent Kit Steel, who’s
nicknamed the Hunter for her intense
sleuthing skills. Kit is laser focused on
Vincente Carpio, a psychopath who wants
the police to know he’s murdering
Americans as revenge against U.S. soldierswho stormed his
native village in
El Salvador
when he was a
child. Vincente
also has the
backing of
MS-13, an
über-dangerous
international
criminal gang;
his older brother
is one of its high-ranking captains. Kit’s
investigation also spins on revenge—
MS-13 killed her husband and six-year-old
son. To expand its reach, MS-13 turns its
attention to Boston harbormaster and
union chief Cormack O’Connell, who,
legally and illegally, controls the city’s
waterfront. To reach Cormack, MS-13
targets his 19-year-old daughter. The
action-packed plot quickly escalates as
international intrigue and personal
betrayals intersect. Kit is a solid heroine,
but the complicated Cormack emerges as
the most intriguing character. Thriller fans
will eagerly await the sequel. Agent: Aaron
Priest, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (Sept.)Lethal Agent: A Mitch Rapp Novel
Kyle Mills. Atria, $28.99 (372p) ISBN 978-1-
5011-9062-9
Bestseller Mills’s rousing fifth Mitch
Rapp novel (after 2018’s Red War) pits
Mitch, the creation of Vince Flynn (1966–
2013), against Mullah Sayid Halabi, an
ISIS terrorist grievously wounded in an
earlier battle with Mitch. Halabi, a man
with a grudge, kidnaps Gabriel Bertrand,
a brilliant French microbiologist, to assist
him in spreading the deadly disease known
as Yemeni acute respiratory syndrome
around the world. The only way Mitch can
stop the plan is to sacrifice his personal life
and go undercover into the ranks of
Mexican cartel boss Carlos Esparza, whose
minions are set to infect populations with
the disease. Meanwhile, Senator Christine
Barnett, a traitor, lusts to win the U.S.
presidency, an ineffectual president just
wants to sit out the remainder of his term,
and an American electorate reacts only to
partisanship and hatred. Despite these
familiar plot elements, Mills makes them
fresh and handles the writing as skillfully
as Flynn as ever did. The pages will fly
by. Eight-city author tour. Agent: Simon