On the shelves — Dec. 4

The following books are available at:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

“Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free” by John Ferling traces the nation’s journey from Bunker Hill to Yorktown and across the Atlantic into Parliament in a story not only of how freedom was won, but how, in a series of disastrous overreactions, an empire was lost.

“Before I Go to Sleep” by S.J. Watson centers on Christine, a woman who wakes up every day without recent memory, and whose daily journal painfully pieces together a fragmented picture of what happened and what is being kept from her by her husband and her doctor, both of whom are telling her different versions of her life.

“Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life” By Thomas Geoghegan is an idiosyncratic, entertaining travelogue that considers some of the most important public policy questions of the day and helps us understand why the European model may well thrive well into the twenty-first century without compromising its citizens’ ease of living.

“Buried Secrets” by Joseph Finder sends Nick Heller, a former intelligence operative in the Special Forces, on a desperate search for Alexa Marcus, the teen-aged daughter of a billionaire hedge-fund titan, who has been kidnapped and buried alive.

“Global Girlfriends: How One Mom Made It Her Business To Help Women in Poverty Worldwide” by Stacey Edgar traces the steps of a Colorado woman who created a sustainable market for handmade apparel and other crafted items from women on five continents, enabling them to feed their families and send their children to school.

“Disturbance” by Jan Burke resumes the story of reporter Irene Kelly who learns that a serial killer she helped send to prison has unexpectedly escaped and is stalking her again.

“The Fence: National Security, Public Safety, and Illegal Immigration Along the U.S.-Mexico Border” by Robert Maril examines the 2000-mile-long project that was designed to keep illegal immigrants, narcotics, and terrorists on the other side of the border, and how it may be making an incendiary situation worse.

Portales Public Library

“New York to Dallas” by J.D. Robb.

Isaac McQueen had been one of Eve Dallas's earliest takedowns back in her uniform days. He was a monster that had been abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. Thanks to Eve, he was removed from society and ended up in Rikers where he belonged, but he's not behind bars anymore. Now, after his escape, McQueen has two things in mind. One is to take up where he left off, preying on the young and innocent and the other to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago who is now a high-profile lieutenant in the NYPSD and married to one of the city's richest men.

“Bonnie” by Iris Johansen.

Eve Duncan experienced a love she never knew existed when she gave birth to her daughter, Bonnie. Her plans were to give Bonnie a wonderful life, but then the unthinkable happened and the seven-year-old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in a nightmare from which there was no escape, but emerged a different woman. Eve would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. With the help of her beloved Joe Quinn and CIA agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth, but the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie's father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle and that her disappearance was not as random as everyone had always believed.

“The Mostly True Story of Jack” by Kelly Barnhill.

Jack expects a summer of boredom, when he is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa to live with his strange aunt and uncle. Unaware to Jack, is that the people of Hazelwood have been waiting for him for a long time. Three astonishing things happen when he arrives: First, he makes real friends and not imaginary ones. Second, he is beaten up by the town bully when previously at home, the bullies always ignored him. Third, the richest man in town begins to plot Jack's hopefully painful and imminent demise. Back home, Jack was practically invisible and now it is up to him to figure out why suddenly everyone cares so much about him. The Mostly True Story of Jack is a tale of friendship, magic, and sacrifice. It's also about putting broken things back together and above all, it's about finding a place to belong.