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UNDER THE DOME
By Stephen King, read by Raúl Esparza, Simon & Schuster, 35 hours on 30 CDs, unabridged, $98.99

One beautiful day, the town of Chester's Mill, Maine, is sealed off from the rest of the world by a huge dome, as impenetrable as it is inexplicable. Inside the dome, once people have stopped dying from trying to escape, the town is taken over by a bullying local politician and militiaman.

CLEAVING: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession
By Julie Powell, read by author, Hachette, 10.5 hours on 9 CDs, unabridged, $35.98

In the wake of the massive success of her bestselling memoir Julie and Julia, about cooking all 524 recipes of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, Powell found herself confused about her marriage, fascinated by the art of the butcher, and sexually obsessed with a lover.

DECEPTION
By Philip Roth, read by David Colacci and Susan Ericksen, Brilliance, 4 hours on 4 CDs, unabridged, $103.95

A little novel about adultery, presented almost entirely as a conversation between a middle-aged American writer named Philip and his married lover, a smart, well-educated Englishwoman, in their London hideaway, before and after they make love.

FEAR THE WORST
By Linwood Barclay, read by Buck Schirner, Brilliance, 12.5 hours on 11 CDs, unabridged, $51.95

Tim Blake is a car salesman in suburban Connecticut, separated from his wife and somewhat worried about his flakey girlfriend. Then one day his daughter disappears, and the hotel where she is supposed to be working tells Tim they have never heard of her. Not only is his daughter missing, Tim realizes he doesn't know her as well as he thought he did.

THE BEAST MASTER
By Andre Norton, read by Richard J. Brewer, Brilliance, 6.66 hours on 6 CDs, unabridged, $34.95

Norton's 1959 science-fiction classic anticipated all of the post-apocalyptic dystopic works that have followed. The Earth has been reduced to a radioactive cinder, and Hosteen Storm, Navajo commando and master of beasts, is sent to the planet Arzor to kill someone he has never met, on a world where aliens and human colonists co-exist in an uneasy truce.

I, ALEX CROSS
By James Patterson, read by Tim Cain and Michael Cerveris, Hachette, 5 hours on 4 CDs, abridged, $29.98

When Detective Alex Cross finds out one of his most beloved family members has been brutally murdered, he vows to get to the bottom of the case. He and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, soon discover that the young woman was mixed up in one of Washington's kinkiest scenes, and find themselves facing off against some of the most powerful people in the country, people who have a secret that goes much deeper than murder.

ROUGH COUNTRY
By John Sandford, read by Eric Conger, Penguin, 10 hours on 8 CDs, unabridged, $50

Detective Virgil Flowers, of the Minnesota Brueau of Criminal Apprehension, is participating in a fishing tournament in the northern part of the state when his boss tells him to help out with the investigation of a murder at a nearby resort specializing in women, where one of the clients was shot while kayaking. His investigation soon uncovers links between the victim and local women, and then he discovers that there had been a similar murder at the resort the year before.

THE FORSYTE SAGA, Volume I: The Man of Property
By John Galsworthy, read by Martin Jarvis, CSA, 5 hours on 4 CDs, abridged, $33.95

Soames Forsyte's desire to own things extends to his wife, Irene, whom he plans to move to the countryside. But she falls in love with architect Philip Bossiney, who is engaged to her best friend, Soames's cousin, June Forsyte.

LEVEL 26: Dark Origins
By Anthony E. Zuiker with Duane Swierczynski, read by John Glover, Penguin, 9.5 hours on 8 CDs, unabridged, $50

Police categorize killers in 25 levels, from naive first-timers to organized serial torture-murderers. But there is one Level 26 killer out there, as well, and he is the target of an elite, secret police unit that answers to no one.

THE GOOD THIEF
By Hannah Tinti, read by William Dufris, Brilliance, 10.75 hours on 9 CDs, unabridged, $48.95

Twelve-year-old Ren is an orphan with a missing left hand. When a young man named Benjamin tells the monks who run the orphanage that Ren is his brother, and spins a convincing tale of how the youngster's hand was lost, Ren thinks that the mysteries of his life are about to be solved. As he and Benjamin wander the New England underworld, consorting with scam artists, thieves and grave robbers, Ren begins accumulating clues about his hidden parentage.