River Readers

U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport has his choice of cases to work, but misses what he does best, hunting the hard-to-catch criminal. A shooting at a drug counting house in Mississippi, one that includes a child, puts him on the trail of Garvin Poole, a vicious killer who has escaped capture for years. Davenport isn't the only one looking, however; the drug cartel wants their money back and has dispatched a pair of killers who torture and kill anyone who might know Poole's whereabouts.

Leslie Odom, Jr. has acclaimed much recognition and a Tony Award playing Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical Hamilton. But it almost didn't happen. Odom shares his beginnings as a mouthy boy who meets his match in a teacher that gets his attention and trust, and then channels his expression. He shares the decisions he made, even when it is choosing between two good options. A key moment is when he considers giving up and is challenged to make the most of those times when the phone isn't ringing, a story told on a late-night show told with such passion that it drew me to this book.

Have you ever wondered what the president would look like as an action hero? Former President Bill Clinton and best-selling author James Patterson have combined their talents in the tale of a president in the midst of an impeachment process for conspiring with a terrorist. Only he and handful of people know the true story of an impending cyber threat that could decimate the power grid, financial network and communications. President Duncan must trust some unusual allies while determining who the mole is in his inner leadership circle.

He was just trying to hitch a bus ride, but after an accident, Jack Reacher finds himself stranded in Bolton, S.D. The town's police department asks his help in keeping a witness alive, especially after two people have been found shot to death.

When Virgil Flowers gets involved in a murder investigation, it usually goes sideways, with a good dose of laughter. His return to Trippton, Minnesota, is no exception, where one of the planners for a class reunion has turned up frozen in a block of ice -- and even the killer isn't sure how. While tracking the killer, the governor has requested Flowers look into another case in the area involving Barbie and Ken dolls that have been...altered...by someone who everyone is protecting.

A woman on the subway car is acting suspiciously, and Jack Reacher's training tells him why: she must be a suicide bomber. He confronts her and she kills herself, but there's no bomb to be found.

The story opens on Jack Reacher between Hope and Despair -- literally. In the 12th book of Lee Child's popular series, Reacher finds that Despair is a place that doesn't want visitors, and soon finds himself in jail for vagrancy. Determined to explore what the town might be hiding, he encounters a beautiful deputy down the road in Hope and, later, stumbles upon a dead body between the towns.