FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HEAT WAVEWhen Derrick Storm needed to leave the CIA, he couldn't just retire. He had to fake his own death. So when his former boss calls in an old favor that will bring Storm out of early retirement and back to Washington to investigate a high-profile kidnapping, he knows there must be more at stake than the life of a senator's son. Working alongside, but not exactly with, bombshell FBI investigator April Showers, Storm must make sense of a confusing flurry of ransom notes and a complicated web of personal relationships and international politics. He'll get to the bottom of the kidnapping, but the storm is still brewing . . . Views: 127
'The novel walks a line between comedy and wrenching sadness. It is fluently written and its depiction of domestic chaos ... is all too recognisable' Sunday TimesA Family Man tells the story of thirty one year old Matt Webster, who arrives home from work one day to find that his wife, Kath, has walked out, leaving him to care for their four year old son.Shock and hurt are compounded by the challenge of suddenly having to juggle work with being a single parent. While the needs of his confused, unhappy little son come first, Matt embarks on the difficult quest to find out what could have driven his wife to abandon their child. It is only as the truth emerges that he learns the full heartbreak and joy of unconditional love.Praise for Amanda Brookfield's novels:'There should have been a trumpet fanfare when this book was launched, for Amanda Brookfield is, surely, the queen of the relationship novel. I have read (and enjoyed) all her previous... Views: 127
In The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez, Amalia Gomez thinks she sees a large silver cross in the sky. A miraculous sign, perhaps, but one the down-to-earth Amalia does not trust. Through Amalia, we take a vivid and moving tour of the "other Hollywood," populated by working-class Mexican Americans, as John Rechy blends tough realism with religious and cultural fables to take us into the life of a Chicano family in L.A. Epic in scope and vision, The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez is classic Rechy. Views: 126
A dark and bitingly humorous collection of short stories from the "brilliantly evocative" (Time) Paul Theroux A family watches in horror as their patriarch transforms into the singing, wise-cracking lead of an old-timey minstrel show. A renowned art collector relishes publicly destroying his most valuable pieces. Two boys stand by helplessly as their father stages an all-consuming war on the raccoons living in the woods around their house. A young artist devotes himself to a wealthy, malicious gossip, knowing that it's just a matter of time before she turns on him. In this new collection of short stories, acclaimed author Paul Theroux explores the tenuous leadership of the elite and the surprising revenge of the overlooked. He shows us humanity possessed, consumed by its own desire and compulsion, always with his carefully honed eye for detail and the subtle idiosyncrasies that bring his characters to life. Searing, dark, and sure to unsettle, Mr.... Views: 126
I SOMETIMES TALK ABOUT MY MUM TO MABEL, BECAUSE MABEL DOESN'T EVER GET UPSET. Verity adores her cat, Mabel, and is desperately sad when she dies. Remembering her recent school lessons about the Ancient Egyptians, Verity decides to mummify Mabel and keep her hidden. Verity's dad and grandparents can't bear to talk about death, having lost Verity's mum in childbirth, but when they eventually discover what Verity has done with Mabel, the whole family learns that it's time to talk. A superb handling of bereavement in Wilson's uniquely accessible and enjoyable style, for readers of 7+. Views: 125
Fans of Bruce Coville's wonderfully weird storytelling will be thrilled to know that the expert of odd is back with a new collection of nine curious and thought-provoking tales. From stories about a girl who learns the horrifying secrets about what's really at the bottom of a murky, desolate pond, a strange chemical factory causing mutations in frogs, and a Halloween mask that becomes a gruesome clue in the disappearance of a child, the odd adventures in this new collection are filled with terrifying and ghoulish details. In the eerie, surreal tradition of Edgar Allan Poe, these reveries are sure to linger in the minds of readers. Views: 124
"An ingenious tale [that] takes its heart from Dickens and its soul from America's great outlaw West." —ElleHalf Apache and mostly orphaned, Edgar Presley Mint's trials begin on an Arizona reservation at the age of seven, when the mailman's jeep accidentally runs over his head. As he is shunted from the hospital to a school for delinquents to a Mormon foster family, comedy, pain, and trouble accompany Edgar through a string of larger-than-life experiences. Through it all, readers will root for this irresistible innocent who never truly loses heart and whose quest for the mailman leads him to an unexpected home. Views: 122
At the end of The Day of the Triffids, the hero,
Bill Masen, his wife, and four-year-old son leave the British mainland to join a
new colony on the Isle of Wight. The Night of the Triffids takes up the
story 25 years later. David Masen, the now grown-up son of Bill, is a pilot,
still searching for a method of destroying the implacable triffid plant as it
continues its worldwide march, seemingly intent on wiping out humankind. David
eventually manages to reach New York, where a very different sort of colony has
been set up, a colony whose members seem to be immune to the triffid string and
where David comes face to face with an old enemy from his father's past.
***
From Publishers Weekly
In John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids (1951),
mankind is overtaken-and much of it blinded-by the demonic walking plant of the
title, a monster created in a lab in an act of Cold War profiteering. Clark
(Vampyrrhic, etc.) picks up the story more than 25 years later, puts a
new narrator at the helm and spins a brisk and engaging adventure-cum-horror
yarn. Clark's narrator is David Masen, son of scientist Bill Masen (the
protagonist from Wyndham's book). The Masen family, along with a handful of
other survivors, has set up an outpost on the Isle of Wight, and have gone about
rebuilding society. A major part of this renewal involves a particularly bizarre
idea called the Mother House, a convent-like home where women spend their lives
giving birth over and over again. All seems well, until one morning when the sun
doesn't rise and the triffids, long thought condemned to the mainland, attack.
Clearly marketed as a genre horror title, this crafty continuation is elegant in
its construction. Clark's prose is clean, thoughtful and perfectly suited to his
faux doomsday-memoir approach. Less cautionary than the original, but more
literary than many books of its ilk, this is a truly enjoyable voyage.
***
From Library Journal
A quarter of a century after an invasion by the deadly
alien plants known as triffids blinded most of the world's human population and
caused the collapse of civilization, only a small colony of survivors on the
Isle of Wight continues to preserve what they can of society and culture. When a
new phenomenon arises, resulting in the darkening of the atmosphere, pilot David
Masen, the son of the colony's founder, sets out to discover the source of the
problem-and encounters a new group of technologically advanced survivors from
across the Atlantic. Continuing the classic tale of alien invasion begun 25
years ago in John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Clark envisions a
world poised to fight back against their invaders. Winner of the 2002 British
Fantasy Award for Best Novel, he retains a feel for SF pulp horror in an
action-filled tale that captures the spirit of the original story. Recommended
for most SF collections.
***
'The hottest new purveyor of horrific thrills currently
working on these shores.'
-Big Issue
'A master of eerie thrills.'
-Richard Laymon
'NIGHT OF THE TRIFFIDS, essentially a story of good
versus evil, is an intriguing and enjoyable sequel that should delight
appreciators of Wyndham's work.'
-The Third Alternative
'A definite confirmation of this author's growing
reputation as one of the top genre novelists around today.'
-Starburst
'Readers will relish Clark's uncomplicated cocktail of
chlorophyl and human blood.'
-Financial Times Views: 121
For Anna, the narrator of Bo Caldwell's richly lyrical and vivid first novel, growing up in the magical world of Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s creates a special bond between her and her father. He is the son of missionaries, a smuggler, and a millionaire who leads a charmed but secretive life. When the family flees to Los Angeles in the face of the Japanese occupation, he chooses to remain, believing his connections and luck will keep him safe.He's wrong. He survives, only to again choose Shanghai over his family during the Second World War. Anna and her father reconnect late in his life, when she finally has a family of her own, but it is only when she discovers his extensive journals that she is able to fully understand him and the reasons for his absences. With the intensity and appeal of When We Were Orphans, also set in Shanghai at the same time, The Distant Land of My Father tells a moving and unforgettable story about a most unusual father-daughter relationship. Views: 121
Split Second (Maggie O'Dell Novels) Views: 120
