An ex-detective gets mixed up in a plot to use a revolutionary supercomputer system to provide power for a magic ritual. Of course, such a thing is going to require a virgin, and in this case, the girl is a quadraplegic. However, a computer system of this power can do a lot of things—change people being one of them. Views: 54
After breaking out in Washington state, the rare galloping, pneumonic strain of bubonic plague explodes across the country, the Center for Disease Control is paralyzed by bureaucracy, and only a quartet of unorthodox specialists offers hope for deliveranc Views: 54
Graham Park is in love. But Sara Ffitch is an enigma to him, a creature of almost perverse mystery. Steven Grout is paranoid - and with justice. He knows that They are out to get him. They are. Quiss, insecure in his fabulous if ramshackle castle, is forced to play interminable impossible games. The solution to the oldest of all paradoxical riddles will release him. But he must find an answer before he knows the question. Park, Grout, Quiss - no trio could be further apart. But their separate courses are set for collision... "A feast of horrors, variously spiced with incest, conspiracy, and cheerful descriptions of torture... fine writing" The Times "The author's powerful imagination is displayed again here every bit as vividly as in his debut" Financial Times "Establishes beyond doubt that lain Banks is a novelist of remarkable talents" Daily Telegraph Views: 54
From one of the most accomplished writers to emerge from Latin America, No Place for Heroes is a darkly comic novel about a mother and son who return to Buenos Aires in search of her former lover, whom she met during Argentina’s Dirty War. During Argentina’s “Dirty War” of the late ’70s and early ’80s, Lorenza and Ramon, two passionate militants opposing Videla’s dictatorship, met and fell in love. Now, Lorenza and her son, Mateo, have come to Buenos Aires to find Ramon, Mateo’s father. Holed up in the same hotel room, mother and son share a common goal, yet are worlds apart on how they perceive it. For Lorenza, who came of age in the political ferment of the ’60s, it is intertwined with her past ideological and emotional anchors (or were they illusions?), while her postmodernist son, a child of the ’90s who couldn’t care less about politics or ideology, is looking for his actual father—not the idea of a father, but the Ramon of flesh and blood. Anything goes as this volatile pair battle it out: hilarious misunderstandings, unsettling cruelty, and even a temptation to murder. In the end, they begin to come to a more truthful understanding of each other and their human condition. No Place for Heroes is an addition to that long tradition of the eternal odd couple—in works ranging from Waiting for Godot to Kiss of the Spider Woman—waiting for their fortunes to change, written by one of the most talented and internationally celebrated authors at work today.From the Hardcover edition.From Publishers WeeklyFrom Restrepo (Delirium) comes a surprisingly plain-faced novel of parenthood set in the aftermath of the Argentine Dirty War. A journalist and one-time revolutionary, Lorenza is returning to Buenos Aires in the late 1990s with her teenage son, Mateo. Both are looking for RamoÌün Iribarren, a shadowy resistance leader and Mateo's father, with whom Lorenza spent the years of General Videla's junta distributing underground newspapers and frequenting apartment safe houses with toothpaste tubes filled with microfilm. As their search takes them deep into Argentina's recent past, Lorenza fills her impressionable son's head with tales of his troubled nativity, but Mateo has been brought up a member of a generation that may ultimately be beyond Lorenza's understanding. Restrepo is surefooted when it comes to depicting life during wartime, but the authenticity of that world is so starkly juxtaposed with her fumbling grasp of Mateo and youth culture that readers may wish that Restrepo had set the novel in the fascinating times that the characters seem largely content to relive. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"Luminous and delightful"—San Francisco ChroniclePraise for Laura Restrepo’s *Delirium“Stunning, dense, complex, mind-blowing . . . This novel goes far above politics, right up into high art.” —Washington Post Book World“One of the finest novels written in recent memory.” —José Saramago“Masterful . . . Literary dynamite.” —Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel “Every word in Delirium is perfectly chosen, painfully honest and brutally effective. Restrepo chooses her words like a poet, with infinite care.” —Philadelphia Inquirer“A disconcertingly lovely book, and its depiction of Colombian society at an awful moment in its history is sharp, vivid, utterly persuasive.” —New York Times Book ReviewFrom the Hardcover edition. Views: 54
Rose Wood is almost thirteen and lives in the Wood Briar Hotel, a cosy country guest house near the sea, which she helps run with her parents. But Rose, although favourite with all the guests and loved by her parents, feels very ordinary: she is clumsy and no matter how hard she tries, she can never improve her horse-riding skills, despite her great love for horses. And she always fails to impress Ben, a fifteen year old prodigy athlete, who comes every year with his family for summer holidays.But strange things begin to happen on the day Rose turns thirteen. Her birthday party is disturbed by the arrival of the mysterious Mr Vingo, a pianist and composer whose unusual music has a peculiar effect on Rose – it makes her travel in time where she is summoned as the emissary for the magical Great Gray Horse, whose mission is to protect innocent people from evil and misery and to absolve them from the haunting happenings of the past... Views: 53
No ordinary soldier had the machine-like skill and raw nerve of the berets. They chose to be the best, but only after the United States military chose them. To be among the select meant punishing preparation and sacrifice for the ultimate test: a war like no other in a land that most Americans knew nothing about: Vietnam."Powerfully authentic, insightful and honest." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board) Views: 52
A NAMELESS STRANGER rides into the corrupt and explosive gold rush town of Lahood, California. His arrival coincides with the prayer of a young girl who is hoping for a miracle to end the sudden and random violence in the community. Fifteen-year-old Megan quietly recites from the Bible: "And I looked, and beheld a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." A story of confrontation in a lawless time, the nameless stranger becomes a catalyst for hope and retribution. A struggle between ruthless corporation gunmen and innocent independent miners takes on new meaning with the appearance of an enigmatic horseman. Clint Eastwood is the Pale Rider. Views: 52
I don't much like working for clients. It means that I have to follow someone else's instructions, and I've never been too good at that. When those instructions came from a spirit guide at a seance, I just had to laugh. Well, you would, wouldn't you?The rather attractive young woman whose husband the spook had said I should help her to fine took me on a quest that turned into a trail of lucrative antiques deals, spoiled only when the police came plodding in and I found myself up to my neck in forgeries and murders. Situation normal, really.Then the killer turned his attentions to me, just as the spirit had said he would, and I certainly wasn't laughing an more.ReviewSurely now established as an enduring sleuth (and snogger). The Times About the AuthorJonathan Gash is the pen name of John Grant, who also wrote under the name of Graham Gaunt. Born in 1933 in Bolton, Lancashire, Grant trained as a doctor and worked as both a GP and a pathologist. He also served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, where he rose to the rank of Major, and was head of bacteriology at the University of London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His first Lovejoy novel, The Judas Pair, won the Crime Writers' Association's prestigious John Creasey award in 1977. Grant lives in Colchester, Essex. Views: 51
Everyone in Timber Falls knows that his family is trash, and sometimes Harry White thinks he'll always be trash. But he can't help getting angry—what had he and his sister, Helen, ever done to anybody? When he discovers the local carpet factory is polluting the river, he comes up with a bold expose to make people sit up and show him respect—if his plan works. He wants to do it alone even though he knows he's asking for trouble. As trash, Harry's got nothing to lose. Or does he? Gripping, disturbing, and exhilarating, When the Stars Begin to Fall reveals the hidden forces that conspire against well–meaning innocents. Harry's desire to change himself and society is so powerful, his voice so direct and real, that listeners won't forget his struggle for dignity. In this striking departure from the historical novels he is so well known for, James Lincoln Collier has written a powerful—even shocking—novel that challenges and defies the rhetoric of... Views: 51
Tiffany Rhodes's horse farm was in trouble long before she met Zane Sheridan, a breeder with a shady reputation. Yet she can't help but feel relieved when Zane offers to buy her out. Though Tiffany doesn't trust him, she's drawn to him like a magnet. What does this mysterious man want from her...and can she contain her desire long enough to find out? Views: 51
When you have eliminated all which is impossible...only the improbable truth remains.She'd been found on a lonely bluff, naked, emaciated, filthy but physically perfect - TOO perfect. And amnesiac.The policemen who found her had not lived to file a report.Now "Jane Doe" challenges the skill of psychoanalyst Kevin Blake, star of a crack govemment-fiinded psychiatric unit, Probe. Drawn to the utter innocence of the personality he uncovers, he is obsessed by what may lie behind her amnesia. He will risk his career, his life - even his sanity - to discover it."A well-crafted science fiction novel!'-Science Fiction Review Views: 50
Hard-hitting, hard-running, and, most of all, hard-hearted, Hank "The Hun" Hunsinger, superstar tight end for the Pontiac Cougars, is murdered by ingenious and macabre means in his own shower. There's no shortage of suspects from the canny club owner to a miffed mistress to a humble rookie.Himself a religious football fan, Father Koesler is thrust from the stands to the center of a mystery that shrouds the spirited God Squad, the Cougars' Bible study group with a disturbingly freewheeling way with Scriptures. The ferreting Father unearths a secret every bit as astonishing as a winning eighty-yard touchdown pass with three seconds to go.... Views: 50
First published in 1985 and long out-of-print, Big Fish, one of Thomas Perry’s most sought-after titles, is now available to readers in an e-book format. Powerfully-plotted and funny, Big Fish follows dangerous and mysterious Los Angeles entrepreneur Altmeyer, and his wife Rachel whose quiet lives in the Hollywood hills are disrupted when a multi-million dollar gunrunning deal goes bad. Under most circumstances, Altmeyer might be mildly amused by the audacity of the double-cross. But whoever cheated Altmeyer may also be planning to destroy the world. With so much at stake, Altmeyer and Rachel and their friend, super-agent to the stars Bucky Carmichael, set off on a perilous adventure in search of the identity of the Big Fish. What they find is shocking and horrifying and all too credible. Reviews: “A fast-reading, big-time, silky thriller.” - People “A new contender for top tough guy… We wanted to sell our house and buy the film rights, we were that impressed. Big Fish features a dashing, upscale couple… the Nick and Nora Charles of gunrunning… Altmeyer and Rachel have a chemistry that reaches critical mass on the opening page.” – Playboy “Written with the same expertise as Mr. Perry’s previous successes… and that should keep his fans happy. All men will want to be Altmeyer and all women his Rachel.” – New York Times Book Review ** Views: 50
Anne Foster's husband is in France. She has stayed behind in their small college town with her two young children -- whom she loves with an intensity that awes her -- to finish writing the catalogue for a major exhibition of the work of American Impressionist painter Caroline Watson. As she delves into Caroline's life, Anne sees a side of "mother love" she'd never fathomed. Meanwhile, Anne's live-in babysitter, Laura Post, is obsessed with a different kind of love. She sees herself as one of God's chosen and believes she has been sent to "save" Anne and her children, whether they want it or not . . .From Publishers WeeklyGordon introduces the reader to women who form an "enabling chain": Caroline imparts strength to her daughter-in-law Jane, who befriends Anne, who cheers up teenage babysitter Laura. But when Laura becomes "born again" and tries to "save" Anne, a successful woman who nonetheless has a streak of self-loathing, disaster looms. Although Anne's self-pity wearies, as a whole the book succeeds "on the strength of Gordon's plunging insights into the nature of mother love, family relationships, ambition and responsibility," PW observed. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. From the Inside FlapAnne Foster's husband is in France. She has stayed behind in their small college town with her two young children -- whom she loves with an intensity that awes her -- to finish writing the catalogue for a major exhibition of the work of American Impressionist painter Caroline Watson. As she delves into Caroline's life, Anne sees a side of "mother love" she'd never fathomed. Meanwhile, Anne's live-in babysitter, Laura Post, is obsessed with a different kind of love. She sees herself as one of God's chosen and believes she has been sent to "save" Anne and her children, whether they want it or not . . . Views: 50
