These are some of the books our books editor, Meneesha Govender, received recently. They may be reviewed later
...
The Verdict
by Nick Stone (Little Brown, R284)
Terry Flynt, a struggling legal clerk, is desperate for a break in his career.
Then he is given the biggest opportunity that could possibly make his career.
He is asked to help defend a millionaire accused of murdering a woman in his hotel suite.
But the man he is asked to help is also the man he knows and loathes. He has wanted to see this man brought to his knees for years.
Vernon White is a former friend who betrayed Terry badly. As he works on the case Terry is forced to confront secrets from their shared past which could destroy them both.
...
The Troop
by Nick Cutter (Headline R300)
The scouts of Troop 52 are on a three-day camping, hiking and survival expedition on Falstaff Island. They’re cut off from the mainland.
But this is as close as they will get to a holiday.
Then an emaciated man stumbles into their camp, begging for food. The man is not just hungry – he is sick in a way the scouts have never seen before.
Suddenly the troop face a terror that in order to survive, will force them to fight their own fears, the elements as well as each other.
...
Allegiant
by Veronica Roth (HarperCollins)
Apparently Veronica Roth’s Divergent series is a huge hit in South Africa. I missed it completely.
The third book, Allegiant, in the trilogy landed on my desk this week.
Tris Prior is unhappy with her lot in the society she lives in.
Marked by violence, power struggles, betrayal and loss, Tris is happy to get away from it.
She jumps at an offer to explore the world beyond the limits she knows.
Her hope is that she and Tobias will be able to live a simple life together somewhere away from the mayhem of their society.
But outside Tris finds herself in a situation even more precarious than the one she left behind.
It’s a battle filled with impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.
...
Burn
by Julianna Baggott (Headline, R280)
This is the last book in the Pure trilogy.
It is a truly wretched life for the Wretches who live outside the Dome.
And in the Dome the Pure have a good life now that the tyrant has been vanquished.
Partridge has dreamt of the day when his father would no longer rule the Dome.
Now he must decide whether he will use his new power to bring about change in the Dome.
His friends outside the Dome, Pressia and Bradwell, are counting on him.
Every day their life as Wretches is a struggle and they are determined to rid the Wretches of the oppression imposed on them by the Dome.
In the Dome itself, Partridge realises things are complex and dangerous despite his position. Change, if it comes, will not come easily.