REQUIRED READING

Quarterback Dads

Teddy Greenstein (nonf iction, Quarterback Dads LLC) Longtime Chicago Tribune columnist Teddy Greenstein interviewed almost 50 people — from coaches and private quarterback trainers to dads and sons — for this truly entertaining look at the world of Quarterback Dads — one of the most important groups in college football.

Geiger

Gustaf Skördeman (f iction, Grand Central Publishing) One night at a posh villa in the Stockholm suburbs, the phone rings. When Agneta answers it, the caller says one word: “Geiger” — before hanging up. She puts down the phone, calmly walks over to Stellan, her husband of 50 years, and shoots him in the back of the head, killing him, before disappearing without a trace. Sara, a policewoman who was once their next door neighbor, begins a confusing investigation.

Tom Clancy Zero Hour

Don Bentley (f iction, GP Putnam’s Sons) The leader of North Korea has been injured and a “dead man’s switch” has been accidentally triggered, activating an army of sleeper agents in South Korea. Jack Ryan is in Seoul interviewing someone when acts of violence break out. Now, he just might be the only person who can stop an all-out war.

The Teacher of Warsaw

Mario Escobar (f iction, Harper Muse) When the Nazis invade Warsaw in September 1939, the lives of Janusz Korczak and the students and teachers at his Dom Sierot Jewish orphanage are forever changed. When he and 400,000 other Jews are forced to move into the 1.3 mile area of the Warsaw Ghetto, the educator does everything he can to let the children live with love and dignity, even in the most inhumane circumstances.

Scars and Stripes: An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself

Tim Kennedy (memoir, Atria Books) Kennedy is a decorated Green Beret sniper and a UFC fighter who has leapt out of airplanes, fought the Taliban, tackled bulls with his bare hands, and wrestled with plenty of his own demons in the process.

After the Lights Go Out

John Vercher (f iction, Soho Press) Xavier “Scarecrow” Wallace is an MMA fighter waiting out a one-year suspension from fighting, making ends meet teaching youth classes while trying to ignore his own losing battle with pugilistic dementia. Then he’s offered a big chance: A highprofile comeback fight that just might allow him to pay off some debt and clear his name.