It's that time of the year to go through the Winter catalogues and see what we have in store for the guys this season. Here are a few titles that jump out so far, and descriptions included are from publishers. What have you seen that looks like it's got potential? Please leave us a comment. 

Ripper by Stefan Petrucha
March 2012 Penguin Young Readers Group
Nice cover! Sophisticated and mysterious. And Jack the Ripper. Need I say more.
Carver Young dreams of becoming a detective, despite growing up in an orphanage with only crime novels to encourage him. But when he is adopted by Detective Hawking of the world famous Pinkerton Agency, Carver is given not only the chance to find his biological father, he finds himself smack in the middle of a real life investigation: tracking down a vicious serial killer who has thrown New York City into utter panic. When the case begins to unfold, however, it's worse than he could have ever imagined, and his loyalty to Mr. Hawking and the Pinkertons comes into question. As the body count rises and the investigation becomes dire, Carver must decide where his true loyalty lies. Full of whip-smart dialogue, kid-friendly gadgets, and featuring a then New York City Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt, Ripper challenges everything you thought you knew about the world's most famous serial killer. 

Kill Switch by Chris Lynch
April 2012 Simon & Schuster
Cover looks kinda boring, but the espionage plot sounds pretty good, and Chris Lynch is a pretty good writer.
All Daniel wants to do is spend one last summer with his grandfather before he moves away for college and his grandfather’s dementia pulls them apart. But when his dear old Da starts to let things slip about the job he used to hold—people he’s killed, countries he’s overthrown—old work “friends” show up to make sure he stays quiet. Was his grandfather really involved in a world of assassinations and coups, or are the stories just delusions of a crumbling mind? On the run from the police (and possibly something worse) before he has time to find out, Daniel may have to sacrifice everything to protect his grandfather from those who would do him harm. 


Lexapros and Cons by Aaron Karo
April 2012 Simon & Schuster
By a stand-up comedian, and film rights have been sold already.  Hopefully it's good funny and not the unnatural kind.
High schooler Chuck Taylor knows his OCD is out of control. The weird routines that he relies on to keep himself together are scaring everyone off. Yes, he shares a name with the icon behind the coolest shoes in the world—but even he knows his complicated system for which pair of "Cons" he’s going to wear on which day is completely nuts. The shrink his parents make him see isn’t helping, partly because her patient only pretends to take the drug she’s prescribed, and partly because he doesn't like the fact that she wears sneakers in their sessions.
Bad things are definitely going to happen to Chuck. But maybe that’s a good thing. Because in order to get a handle on his life, win back his best friend, and have a chance with the amazing new girl at school, he’s going to have break some hardcore habits, face his demons . . . and get messy.

Playground by 50 Cent
November 2011 Penguin Group
Thirteen-year-old Butterball doesn't have much going for him. He's teased mercilessly about his weight. He hates the Long Island suburb his mom moved them to and wishes he still lived with his dad in the city. And now he's stuck talking to a totally out-of-touch therapist named Liz.
Liz tries to uncover what happened that day on the playground - a day that landed one kid in the hospital and Butterball in detention. Butterball refuses to let her in on the truth, and while he evades her questions, he takes readers on a journey through the moments that made him into the playground bully he is today. 

The Final Four by Paul Volponi
March 2012 Penguin
Four players with one thing in common: the will to win
Malcolm wants to get to the NBA ASAP. Roko wants to be the pride of his native Croatia. Crispin wants the girl of his dreams. M.J. just wants a chance.
March Madness is in full swing, and there are only four teams left in the NCAA basketball championship. The heavily favored Michigan Spartans and the underdog Troy Trojans meet in the first game in the semifinals, and it's there that the fates of Malcolm, Roko, Crispin, and M.J. intertwine. As the last moments tick down on the game clock, you'll learn how each player went from being a kid who loved to shoot hoops to a powerful force in one of the most important games of the year. Which team will leave the Superdome victorious? In the end it will come down to which players have the most skill, the most drive, and the most heart.

  
Of course there are going to be sequels:
Fugitives (Alexander Gordon Smith's Escape from Furnace series. See review)

Seeds of Rebellion (Brandon Mull's The Beyonders series. See review)
Invisible Sun (sequel to David MacInnis Gill's Black Hole Sun. See review)
Ruins (Orson Scott Card's Pathfinders series)
Run (sequel to James A. Moore's Subject Seven. See review)
The Dragon's Apprentice (James A. Owen's Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series. See review)
A Million Suns (sequel to Beth Revis' Across the Universe. See review)
The Rising (sequel to Will Hill's Department 19. See review)


More to come in the next few weeks...