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Belle, Kimberly. The Personal Assistant. Park Row: Harlequin. Nov. 2022. ISBN 9780778333630. $28.99; pap. ISBN 9780778333258. $17.99. CD. THRILLER/PSYCHOLOGICAL

Braverman, Blair. Small Game. Ecco. Nov. 2022. 288p. ISBN 9780063066175. $27.99. CD. SUSPENSE/LITERARY

Christie, William. The Double Agent. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Nov. 2022. 352p. ISBN 9781250080820. $27.99. THRILLER/ESPIONAGE

Connelly, Michael. Desert Star. Little, Brown. (Renée Ballard, Bk. 5). Nov. 2022. 400p. ISBN 9780316485654. $29. lrg. prnt. CD/downloadable. CRIME

Graham, Heather & Jon Land. Blood Moon. Tor. (The Rising, Bk. 2). Nov. 2022. 400p. ISBN 9780765389718. $27.99. THRILLER/SUSPENSE

Hannah, Sophie. The Couple at the Table. Morrow. Nov. 2022. 368p. ISBN 9780063257702. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD. THRILLER/SUSPENSE

Henderson, Alice. A Ghost of Caribou: A Novel of Suspense. Morrow. (Alex Carter, Bk. 3). Nov. 2022. 352p. ISBN 9780063223004. $27.99. CD. THRILLER/SUSPENSE

Meadows, Rae. Winterland. Holt. Nov. 2022. 288p. ISBN 9781250834522. $27.99. THRILLER/HISTORICAL

Paris, B.A. The Prisoner. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2022. 288p. ISBN 9781250274144. $28.99. CD. THRILLER/PSYCHOLOGICAL

Patterson, James & Brian Sitts. The Perfect Assassin: A Doc Savage Thriller. Grand Central. Nov. 2022. 400p. ISBN 9781538721858. $32; pap. ISBN 9781538721841. $17.99. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

Steadman, Catherine. The Family Game. Ballantine. Nov. 2022. 304p. ISBN 9780593158067. $28. lrg. prnt. CD/downloadable. THRILLER/SUSPENSE

Unger, Lisa. Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six. Park Row: Harlequin. Nov. 2022. 352p. ISBN 9780778333234. $27.99. lrg. prnt. THRILLER/PSYCHOLOGICAL

Following a misjudged post gone nastily viral, popular mommy blogger Alex discovers that The Personal Assistant who knew too much about her has vanished, with USA Today best-selling author Belle shifting perspectives between the two (75,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Small Game, a fiction debut from Braverman (Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube), survival instructor Mara lands on a reality TV show with a mixed bag of teammates hoping to win a pile of money by camping out in some undisclosed woodlands but not counting on being stranded (150,000-copy first printing). Slipped into German intelligence by the Soviets (and by Single Spy author Christie), Double Agent Alexsi Smirnoff is captured in 1943 by the British, who recruit him for their own purposes (50,000-copy first printing). In Connelly’s Desert Star, LAPD detective Renée Ballard rejoins the force to run the newly minted Open-Unsolved Unit, where Harry Bosch volunteers so that he can pursue a psychopath who slaughtered an entire family (750,000-copy first printing). In this follow-up to Graham and Land’s The Rising, high school seniors Alex Chin and Samantha Dixon must counter a threat to all humanity, signaled by the ascent of a Blood Moon over the vanished Mayan city of El Mirador (75,000-copy first printing). “Beware of The Couple at the Table nearest to yours” says the note to honeymooners Jane and William, but the tables at their swanky resort are all equidistant—New York Times best-selling Hannah’s way of chilling protagonists and readers alike (50,000-copy first printing). Searching for a mountain caribou reportedly spotted in Washington State– A Ghost of Caribou because this subspecies was thought extinct in the contiguous United States—wildlife biologist Alex Carter instead encounters environmental conflict and a murdered forest ranger; wildlife researcher Henderson follows up A Blizzard of Polar Bears (75,000-copy first printing). Living in the Soviet Union in 1973, above the Arctic Circle—Winterland, indeed—eight-year-old Anya is tapped as a promising gymnast even as she mourns her mother, who vanished after challenging state policies; following Meadows’s LJ-starred I Will Send Rain (75,000-copy first printing). Having built a successful life for herself in London after being orphaned as a child in Paris, Amelie marries dashing billionaire Jed—and realizes when she’s kidnapped that she feels less like The Prisoner now than she did in her marriage; from the mega-best-selling Paris (200,000-copy first printing). Grandson of action hero Doc Savage, nerdy professor Brandt Savage is pressed into a top-secret training program that re-creates him mentally and physically as The Perfect Assassin; following Patterson’s first comic-book hero foray, The Shadow (250,000-copy paperback and 45,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Steadman’s latest, emerging novelist Harry husband loves her husband, Edward, but he’s one of the Holbecks—filthy rich and dangerous—and though he’s tried to be shot of them, the couple is soon dragged into The Family Game. In Unger’s Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, Hannah’s rich techie brother is graciously facilitating a weekend getaway for themselves, their spouses, and another couple, but an intrusive rental host, the personal chef’s creepy stories, and a sneaking suspicion that someone in the group has a vendetta put a damper on things (150,000-copy first printing).

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