2023 New Releases on Our Radar (Part 1- First Half of the Year)

My 2023 “To Be Read” list is already full with books, but I cannot resist looking at shiny new things, so here are 4 books coming out in the next few months that I’m personally looking forward to.

TANYA PATRICE

Because it’s been 5 years since the last book. Listen … The Passage series by Justin Cronin fucking did me in! That was some EPIC horror / vampire / couldn’t put it down / don’t listen to the audiobook because it will freak you the fuck out … but also DO listen … because it WILL freak you out. And 5 years later – Cronin is back with The Ferryman (pub date: May 2, 2023).

Founded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera’s lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh. But The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order.

Because I NEED the next book in the series. HARRY HOLE is back people! If you know you know … if you don’t know, you need to find out! This is one of my favorite detective series and I have been waiting and stalking and checking and it’s coming in 2023. Killing Moon (Harry Hole #13), Jo Nesbo (pub date: May 13, 2023). The last book in the series was EVERYTHING so I am going into hermit / recluse mode when I get my hands on this one.

Harry has gone to Los Angeles to drink himself to death, in the wake of his life back in Oslo falling to pieces. He’s nearly managed to, but Harry has been helping an older film actress, Lucille, to get away from the grips of a drug cartel to which she owes one million dollars, and in return she’s given him shelter, company and a tailored suit. In Oslo, two girls have disappeared and been found murdered and one of the suspects is a well-known real estate magnate. Katrine Bratt wants to bring in Harry Hole. The real-estate magnate under suspicion on the other hand wants to hire Harry as a private investigator to clear his name from the case. Harry declines, but that’s before the drug cartel takes Lucille hostage. If Harry achieves the task, the real estate magnate will award him a bonus enough to cover Lucille’s debt. He puts together a team consisting of a cocaine-dealing childhood friend, a corrupt police officer and a cancer-stricken psychologist. The drug cartel has given them ten days. The clock is ticking, and a blood moon has been forecast over Oslo.

Because I need more from authors I’ve read before. I devoured The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty last year – reading one book after the next. That rarely happens, so I’m making time for her next book – The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. (pub date: Mar. 2, 2023).

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural. But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever.

Because I want to show a new author some love! Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (pub date: Apr. 4, 2023). This is by a new to me author and I couldn’t resist reading about female gladiators fighting for their freedom within a depraved private prison system.

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom. In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer.

Looking back at last year (2022 New Releases on Our Radar), of the 4 books mentioned only one of them didn’t really do it for me – Goliath, Tochi Onyebuchi.

What new book are you most looking forward to reading in 2023?