Mailbox Monday -- March 8th

Thanks to host Marcia at The Printed Page I'm participating in the Mailbox Monday round up. This week I received the following advance review copies:

1) White Cat by Holly Black. Amazon Product Description. Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love -- or death -- and your dreams might be more real than your memories.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster.

2) The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann. Amazon Product Description. Whether he’s reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone- tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession and that piece together true and unforgettable mysteries.

Each of the dozen stories in this collection reveals a hidden and often dangerous world and, like Into Thin Air and The Orchid Thief, pivots around the gravitational pull of obsession and the captivating personalities of those caught in its grip. There is the world’s foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes who is found dead in mysterious circumstances; an arson sleuth trying to prove that a man about to be executed is innocent; and sandhogs racing to complete the brutally dangerous job of building New York City’s water tunnels before the old system collapses. Throughout, Grann’s hypnotic accounts display the power—and often the willful perversity—of the human spirit.

Compulsively readable, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant mosaic of ambition, madness, passion, and folly.

Thanks to Random House.

3) The Mafia Princess Diaries by Dionne Lee Nelson. Amazon Product Description. Angelina Merrezzi grew up with many things, but a safe, normal childhood was not one of them. As the only child of Angelo Merrezzi, head of the Merrezzi 5000 syndicate, she has lived through enough danger and excitement in her 18 years to fill a book. And her latest experience is providing her an opportunity to do just that. For reasons not immediately known to her, Angelina finds herself kidnapped. The culprit is PAG-the crime family of Juliani Paglia and the chief rival to Merrezzi 5000. Given a notebook and pen by her captors in hopes that she will record important information from her father, the ever-rebellious Angelina instead begins to record a diary. Through these entries Angelina is able to vent about her current situation while recanting memories that have led her to this point in life.The ever defiant Angelina tells her captors nothing, but tells her diary everything.

Thanks to the author.

4) Supercoach by Michael Neill. Amazon Product Description. IF SUPERMAN NEEDED A COACH,
HE’D HIRE MICHAEL NEILL!

In this fun, easy-to-read book, best-selling author and internationally renowned success coach Michael Neill shares the secrets of transforming your life and the lives of the people you care about most—your family, friends, colleagues, and clients.
Inside, you will learn:
· How to stop thinking like a victim
· The secret to financial security in any economy
· Proven techniques to produce dramatic changes in yourself and others
· Simple ways to create lasting relationships
· The key to lifelong happiness
· Strategies for increasing productivity, energy, well-being . . . and more!
Whether you want to powerfully impact the lives of the people around you or simply wish to create a deeper, more meaningful experience of being alive, this book is your essential guide to helping yourself and assisting others.

Thanks to the Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc.

5) Flawless by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell. Publisher's Weekly Summary. Campbell, the author of Blood Diamonds, teams with fellow blood diamond expert and lawyer Selby for a fascinating chronicle of the $108 million theft at the Antwerp Diamond Center on February 15, 2003. Documenting every detail, they begin with Leonardo Notarbartolo, who rented an office in the Diamond Center, from which, over a two-year period, he surveyed all angles of the supposedly impenetrable subterranean vault. His photos were used by his Italian partners in crime to construct a replica rehearsal vault. The theft was devastating and embarrassing for the diamond district and threatened the city's major industry. In reconstructing the heist and aftermath, the authors take the reader through every step to show how the thieves were able to get past 10 layers of security, including surveillance cameras, electronic sensors, and a double-locked foot-thick steel door. Although the authors encountered conflicting details, divergent opinions, and incongruous theories, numerous interviews (including with Notarbartolo in prison) and key documents enabled them to assemble a triangulation of facts from reliable sources. Like a finely cut gem, this well-polished, multifaceted book sparkles. Maps. (Feb. 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thanks to Sterling Publishers.