Bookreporter.com's Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Team (Carol Fitzgerald, Joe Hartlaub and Wiley Saichek) interviewed Iris Johansen, author of COUNTDOWN. Johansen talks about the inspiration for the character of Jane MacGuire and the decision to "age" her fiery protagonist, her disciplined writing schedule and details of her next novel, which will be released in December 2005.

COUNTDOWN by Iris Johansen (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
In this relentless psychological thriller a young woman is caught in a maze of secrets and stalked by a merciless killer. The countdown begins the moment you open this riveting novel that only grows more electrifying as the pages turn, more exciting as time runs out. . .

Whether your "beach" is on sand, your backyard deck or a grassy meadow in the country, the summer months mean it's time for "beach reading." Bookreporter.com is celebrating the lazy days of summer reading with a special feature, Bookreporter.com Beach Bag of Books.

Every week from May 20th through August 19th a different title will be featured with a review and author interview, as well as a contest prize --- a beach bag stocked with that book, plus summertime essentials that tie in to its theme. Five FABULOUS beach bags will be given away each week, as well as five copies of the book to additional winners.

Our second spotlighted title is THE FROG PRINCE by Jane Porter, a book that's funny, sweet and not your typical fairy tale. Our THE FROG PRINCE Beach Bag prize is a multi-colored straw beach bag filled with everything you need to create your own fairy tale summer. Along with copies of Jane Porter's book --- THE FROG PRINCE --- and a discussion guide, you'll find a sarong and a beach towel, Raspberry Lemonade Mix, a polka-dotted drink cup, a set of frog decorating lights, sun block, red licorice, microwave popcorn, Burt's Bees skin and beauty products, and a bookmark. We have five to give away, as well as five additional prizes of copies of THE FROG PRINCE.

Enjoying our summer beach bag contests and want to make sure you don't miss out on the next one? Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter and we'll alert you when the weekly Beach Bag contest has been updated.

May's roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles includes HISSY FIT by Mary Kay Andrews, about an interior decorator who catches her fiancée in a compromising position with her maid of honor the night before their wedding; THE QUEEN OF THE BIG TIME, Adriana Trigiani's heartfelt story of the limits and power of love; and THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB by Karen Joy Fowler, which spent 17 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Among our nonfiction selections are DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROY AND DENIM, the enormously popular book of essays from celebrated humorist David Sedaris; BIG RUSS AND ME, Tim Russert's warm and engaging tribute to his father; and HOMESICK, in which Jenny Lauren, the niece of fashion icon Ralph Lauren, bravely recounts her battle with anorexia and bulimia.

Readers love Perri O'Shaughnessy, a New York Times bestselling duo who have created a series of novels centered around lawyer and single mother Nina Reilly. The new Reilly novel is CASE OF LIES, which will be on-sale on June 28th.

We have 20 advanced reading copies of CASE OF LIES by Perri O'Shaughnessy to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. A description can be found by clicking the link below. If you are interested, please send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, June 3rd, 2005. 
 
More About CASE OF LIES:
 
For Nina Reilly, the mountain town of Lake Tahoe is home. It's where she forged a successful career as a tough, resourceful attorney -- and raised her teenage son, Bob, alone. Back from a stint in Monterey, where her love life took a tumble, Nina has returned to her Tahoe law office with her old friends Sandy Whitefeather and Sandy's son, Wish. It isn't long before she has a new client. As Nina tries to unravel the mystery of one violent Tahoe night, a harrowing journey begins -- one that takes her from the dark underworld of Tahoe's casinos to the halls of a prestigious East Coast university to Europe and an emotional reunion with Kurt.

Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes are back in Laurie R. King's highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling mystery series. And this time the first couple of detection pair up to unlock the buried memory of a shocking crime with the power to kill again --- lost somewhere in Russell's own past.
 
We have 20 advanced reading copies of LOCKED ROOMS by Laurie R. King to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. A description can be found by clicking the link below. If you are interested, please send your name and mailing address to mystery@bookreporter.com by Friday, June 3, 2005.

Watch a video with Laurie R. King here.

More About LOCKED ROOMS (on-sale June 21st):

After departing Bombay by ship, Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes are en route to the bustling modern city of San Francisco. There, Mary will settle some legal affairs surrounding the inheritance of her family's old estate. But the closer they get to port, the more Mary finds herself prey to troubling dreams and irrational behavior --- a point not lost on Holmes, much to Russell's annoyance.

The more questions they ask of Mary's past, the more people from that past turn out to have died violent, unexplained deaths. Now, with the aid of a hard-boiled young detective and crime writer named Hammett, Russell and Holmes find themselves embroiled in a mystery that leads them through the winding streets of Chinatown to the unspoken secrets of a parent's marriage and the tragic car "accident" that a fourteen-year-old Mary alone survived --- an accident that may not have been an accident at all. What Russell is about to discover is that even a forgotten past never dies...and it can kill again.

FaithfulReader.com, The Book Report Network's website for Christian readers, has been updated for May. Our features include a Father's Day roundup of great books to give/get; an interview with David Murrow, author of WHY MEN HATE GOING TO CHURCH; and an interview with award-winning writer Catherine Palmer, who responds to the Faithful Fifteen, a list of questions developed to give readers insight into Christian authors --- and what they write. We also present the 2005 nominees for the Christy Awards and the Gold Medallion Book Awards, and have added 12 new reviews in three different categories: Fiction, Christian Living, and Marriage & Family Life.

VELOCITY by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
One evening, bartender Billy Wiles finds a typewritten note under the windshield wiper of his car. The message is chilling; no matter what course of action Wiles decides to take, an innocent person will be murdered. But this is only the beginning, as Wiles is taunted and pursued by an unknown assailant who possesses not only an uncanny knowledge of his whereabouts at any given moment but also detailed insight into his past.

RAGE: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman (Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
In this brilliant, haunting work by bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis revisit a horrifying crime from the past that has taken on shocking and deadly new dimensions.

ZORRO by Isabel Allende (Fiction)
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Just how did Diego de la Vega, a young man of some privilege, become the dashing Zorro? Someone who knew him well recounts his formative years in Isabel Allende's richly imagined tale of this legendary hero.

WATCH YOUR BACK! A Dortmunder Novel by Donald E. Westlake (Mystery)
Reviewed by Tom Callahan
Preston Fareweather, an obnoxious rich guy who is hiding from numerous ex-wives seeking his fortune, leaves his luxury penthouse apartment on New York's Fifth Avenue empty. And it just happens to be filled with priceless art. Could it be any simpler for a crew of professional thieves? But, alas, Lady Luck once again has other things on her mind when it comes to John Dortmunder.

A PERFECT STRANGER: And Other Stories by Roxana Robinson (Fiction/Short Stories)
Reviewed by Alexis Burling
Roxana Robinson's latest collection of short stories examines the complex, intricate network of experiences that binds us to one another, with powerful, gripping meditations on such weighty subjects as premature death, extramarital affairs, and unrelenting depression.

MY LIFE SO FAR by Jane Fonda (Autobiography)
Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol
From her youth among Hollywood's elite and her early film career to the challenges and triumphs of her life today, Jane Fonda reveals intimate details and universal truths that she hopes "can provide a lens through which others can see their lives and how they can live them a little differently."

DOWN CAME THE RAIN: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression by Brooke Shields (Memoir)
Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller
In this compelling memoir, actress Brooke Shields candidly documents her painful time dealing with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, and provides millions of women with an inspiring example of recovery.

BANGKOK TATTOO by John Burdett (Thriller)
Reviewed by Roz Shea
From the author of the highly acclaimed bestseller BANGKOK 8 comes a head-spinning new novel that reintroduces readers to the Buddhist Royal Thai Police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

LIGHT OF DAY by Jamie M. Saul (Fiction)
Reviewed by Lourdes Orive
Jamie M. Saul's debut novel is a moving and elegant story about love and loss, and the unforeseeable darkness that lurks around the corners of everyday life. It will linger with the reader long after the final page is turned.

LEGENDS: A Novel of Dissimulation by Robert Littell (Fiction)
Reviewed by Colleen Quinn
Martin Odum, a traumatized ex-CIA operative turned private detective, struggles to remember which of his espionage identities represents his actual self. He is caught in a "wilderness of mirrors" where both remembering and forgetting his past are deadly options.

HIGHWAY 61 RESURFACED by Bill Fitzhugh (Fiction)
Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds
FM rock deejay and private investigator Rick Shannon is asked to find a long-lost blues recording, which is somewhere out there on Highway 61, in this second novel of a series that began with RADIO ACTIVITY.

OUR FATHERS' WAR: Growing Up in the Shadow of the Greatest Generation by Tom Mathews (History)
Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
Tom Mathews's relations with his father, a veteran of World War II's fabled 10th Mountain Division, were terrible. He came back from the war to a young son he'd barely met and proceeded to bully and browbeat him --- for his own good, he thought. Mathews relates his awkward experiences, and those of his contemporaries, in this truly touching story.

THE FRIEND WHO GOT AWAY: Twenty Women's True Life Tales of Friendships that Blew Up, Burned Out or Faded Away edited by Jenny Offill and Elissa Schappell (Essays/Nonfiction)
Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
Twenty writers, including Francine Prose and Diana Abu-Jaber, share their tales of lost friendships in this thought-provoking and intriguing anthology. These stories are filled with pain, joy, humor and anger --- and all are fascinating to read.

Which author (name up to 3) is a must-buy or must-borrow as soon as his or her book comes out?  

Please note: Our question of the week will update June 10th.

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of VELOCITY by Dean Koontz and ZORRO by Isabel Allende. Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on June 10th.