Episodes

Brian and Barbara review the book Holly by Stephen King, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction lists of September 24 and October 1, 2023. Private detective Holly Gibney, introduced in King’s Edgar-award winning mystery novel Mr. Mercedes, gets her own book, and her own case: tracking down a pair of octogenarian college professors with an appetite for abduction and murder before they strike again. Twenty minutes with us, and you'll know whether to read it ... or regift it! Episode...

Brian and Barbara review the book Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of September 3, 2023. In her ninth novel, award-winning author Ann Patchett builds a story within a story. Secluded on the family’s cherry orchard due to COVID, the Nelson family picks fruit together while listening as their mother, Lara, reveals the full story of her romantic involvement with one of the world’s most famous actors, Peter Duke, who she shared a stage with in a 1980...

Brian and Barbara review Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Demon Copperhead, forty-four weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction list as of September 17, 2023. In her acclaimed new novel, Kingsolver reimagines the story of David Copperfield, transplanting Dickens’ classic hero from Victorian England to late 1990s Appalachia, where the young Demon struggles to thrive and survive while facing challenges of poverty, prejudice, abuse, neglect, and addiction. Episode 13 of bests...

Brian and Barbara review the “romantasy” book Fourth Wing, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list for six weeks (so far), from July 23 to August 27, 2023. In the adult fantasy novel blowing up BookTok, romance author Rebecca Yarros introduces us to the world of the Empyrean: dragons, gryphons, magic, and young cadets like Violet Sorrengail managing complicated love lives while fighting the odds (and each other) to claim the honor of riding their own dragon and wielding their ow...

Brian and Barbara review the book The Five-Star Weekend, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list from July 2 to July July 16, 2023. In the latest novel from Elin Hilderbrand, “Queen of the beach read,” beloved food blogger Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages of her life for an impeccably curated getaway weekend on Nantucket, as she seeks to begin rebuilding her life after a tragic family loss. Twenty minutes with us, and you'll know whether to read it ... or ...

Brian and Barbara review the romantic suspense novel Identity by Nora Roberts, number one selling book on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of June 11, 2023. Baltimore bartender Morgan Albright's life is turned upside when a psychotic serial killer steals her identity and kills her roommate. Emotionally devastated and financially ruined, Morgan moves back to the Vermont home shared by her mother and grandmother, and painstakingly begins putting the pieces of her life back together--new ...

Brian and Barbara review the book Only the Dead by Jack Carr, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of June 4, 2023. The sixth novel in the Terminal List espionage series finds Navy SEAL and CIA operative James Reece locked in a federal supermax prison, accused of organizing the assassination of the President of the United States. His mission, beyond surviving months of solitary confinement, is to figure out who pulled the strings behind his arrest, and to stop them before the...

Brian and Barbara review the book Happy Place by Emily Henry, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list for five weeks, from May 12 to June 25, 2023. Harriet and Wyn are the perfect couple--well, except they broke off their engagement five months ago and haven't yet told any of their friends. In this romantic beach-read set in a Maine resort town, we see how it goes when two ex-lovers join their friends for a week-long getaway and agree to pretend they're still together--even shar...

Brian and Barbara review the book Simply Lies by David Baldacci, number one novel on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of May 7, 2023. In Baldacci's latest thriller of psychological suspense, single mother and former detective Mickey Gibson is drawn away from the security of her desk job--tracking down the hidden assets of deadbeat billionaires--and back into the field when an anonymous call by a suspicious, possibly psychotic woman lures her to the site of a stashed murder victim: acco...

Brian and Barbara review the book Dark Angel by John Sandford, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of April 30, 2023. In the second suspense novel featuring Homeland Security agent Letty Davenport (the adopted daughter of Minneapolis detective Lucas Davenport from the 32-volume "Prey" series), Letty is partnered with NSA computer nerd--and reluctant field operative--Rod Baxter and charged with infiltrating a terrorist hacker organization known as "Ordinary People" before the...

Brian and Barbara review the book I Will Find You by Harlan Coben, number one novel on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of April 2, 2023. Coben's new thriller of murder and mistaken identity: five years into a life sentence for killing his three-year-old son Matthew, David Burroughs gets unexpected evidence that Matthew is still alive and resolves to escape his maximum security prison, find his son, and figure out what really happened. Twenty minutes with us, and you'll know whether t...

Brian and Barbara review the book Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list for FOURTEEN weeks from December 25, 2022 to April 23, 2023 (in other words, from Christmas to Shakespeare's birthday--or is it his deathday?). In this stunningly successful debut novel, single mother Elizabeth Zott confronts the entrenched sexism of early-1960s corporate culture as she makes ends meet by developing the kind of cooking show she thinks housewives need,...

Brian and Barbara review the book "Storm Watch" by C.J. Box, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of March 19, 2023. In the 23rd novel of his suspense series, Wyoming Game Warden turned homicide detective Joe Pickett races against gathering storm fronts to solve the murder of a University of Wyoming professor, his partially decapitated body spotted outside a mysterious high-tech facility hidden in the remote wilderness. Twenty minutes with us, and you'll know whether to read...

Brian and Barbara review the book Encore in Death by J.D. Robb, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of February 26, 2023. In this, the 56th novel in the author's futuristic "In Death" suspense series, New York City detective Eve Dallas investigates the murder of stage and film star Brant Fitzhugh, who collapses at his wife's glittering play-opening party, poisoned by cyanide slipped into his champagne cocktail. Twenty minutes with us, and you'll know whether to read it ... ...

Brian and Barbara review the book Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction list of January 29, 2023. In this follow-up to her bestselling fantasy novel Ninth House, Galaxy "Alex" Stern must navigate the magic, violence, and guarded lore of Yale University's secret societies to break her friend and mentor Darlington out of purgatory. Twenty minutes with us, and you'll know whether to read it ... or regift it! Episode 1 of bestseller, recorded on 2/7/2023