A sizzling thriller for fans of James Patterson and Patricia Cornwell--an exciting tour into the real-life world of cops, crime, drugs, and murder. Retired inspector Jack Bertolino had strict rules when dealing with confidential informants. But Mia had the kind of beauty that could make a grown man contemplate leaving his wife, his job, and his kids. After a passionate night together, Mia is found murdered--and Jack is the lead suspect.Facing threats from the LAPD, the 18th Street Angels, and a Colombian drug cartel, Jack delves deeper into the seedy world of drug dealers and murderers and discovers that the top players knew Mia personally. And now Jack is torn between fearing for his life and seeking revenge for his slain lover....either way, the body count will rise. Views: 47
Words mean things. And Samantha Turner should know that better than anyone. Associate editor of the Flanders Herald, she's buried herself in word-smithing for the better part of a decade as she labors at her father's newspaper. But when she unleashes some well-deserved but incendiary words for her former boyfriend, she unwittingly sets into motion a chain of events that will change her life forever. Views: 47
Who says a vamp can't have it all? Darcy Newhart thought it was a stroke of genius — the first-ever reality TV show where mortals vie with vampires for the title of The Sexiest Man on Earth. As the show's director, Darcy's career would be on track again. And she can finally have a life apart from the vampire harem. Okay, so she's still technically dead, but two out of three's not bad. Now she just has to make sure that a mortal doesn't win. If only she wasn't so distracted by a super-sexy and live contestant named Austin… But Darcy doesn't know the worst of it. Austin Erickson is actually a vampire slayer! And he's got his eye on the show's leggy blond director. Only problem is, he's never wanted any woman — living or dead — as badly. But if he wins her heart, will he lose his soul? And if it means an eternity of hot, passionate loving with Darcy, does that really matter anyway? Views: 47
The end excuses any evil.Tor Frankenstein, Paris High's resident scientific genius, never expected that her long-awaited "eureka!" moment would end with her becoming a murderer, but texting while driving through a thunderstorm at midnight is a pretty solid equation for disaster. Looking down at the dead teenage boy—the one she just accidentally killed with her car—there's only room for one thought in her head: I have to fix this. Fortunately, Tor's latest science experiment is the perfect solution. Reanimating the dead was meant to be her one-way ticket out of Paris, Texas and into Harvard and scientific glory, but now it's going to be a life-saver (literally) for both her and this unknown boy. Her high school science project is going to save this boy's life—or at least give him a second one . . . This deliciously dark twist on Frankenstein blends the classic horror story with the ordinary struggles of high school and adds just the right... Views: 47
Ancient Egypt is in trouble; evil Pharaoh Oba has captured five of the most powerful gods and now bloodthirsty monsters terrorise the people. Only one person can stop them: Akori, an orphaned farm-boy with a huge destiny...Akori must brave the crocodile – infested waters of the Nile to battle two evil gods – the terrifying Crocodile King and his gruesome wife, the Frog Goddess – both hungry for his blood... Views: 47
"This sequel to Samurai Awakening continues the story of an American exchange student turned mystical warrior with the power to save Japan." — School Library JournalIt's time for Revenge. Benjamin Martin, author of the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semi-finalist Samurai Awakening, returns with another masterpiece of young adult fiction and the next installment in his riveting shapeshifter saga.American teenager David Matthews has more to deal with than the average exchange student living in Japan—a lot more. In Samurai Awakening, David woke one morning to discover that he'd been empowered and possessed by the tiger god Kou. Now a Jitsugen Samurai in Revenge of the Akuma Clan and able to take on Kou's form, David must use his new abilities to protect Japan from the terrifying evil creeping across the land—and waiting for him to fail.As his relationships, especially with Rie his host sister, grow... Views: 47
Once you’re part of The Family there’s no getting out! After Paige’s father disappeared without a trace she never expected her mother to find another family, but she does. Paige’s world is turned upside down when she discovers Donnie Martinez is her brand new stepbrother. He’s dangerous, vicious—and Paige realizes the rumors about Donnie and his family are true. Her new stepfamily is part of the mafia. Paige doesn’t intend to stick around to get mixed up in those problems. The moment she can, she’ll be gone. Ordered by The Family, Donnie has to get close to Paige in order to find out what she knows about her father’s disappearance. But he finds Paige herself to be worth more than her information. He doesn’t want her to end up dead, but on the day of her eighteenth birthday, there is only one way to save her. Indebted to Donnie, Paige has no choice but to do as he says. She must marry him in order to stay alive. But how can she be with a man who has taken lives for The Family? Is there any way out for all of them? Is it possible for Paige to love a monster? Can Donnie overcome a lifetime of training to discover love? Views: 47
There’s something wrong with Estrella Del Mar, the lazy, sun-drenched retirement haven on Spain’s Costa Del Sol. Lately this sleepy hamlet, home to hordes of well-heeled, well-fattened British and French expatriates, has come alive with activity and culture; the previously passive, isolated residents have begun staging boat races, tennis competitions, revivals of Harold Pinter plays, and lavish parties. At night the once vacant streets are now teeming with activity, bars and cafes packed with revelers, the sidewalks crowded with people en route from one event to the next. Outward appearances suggest the wholesale adoption of a new ethos of high-spirited, well-controlled collective exuberance. But there’s the matter of the fire: The house and household of an aged, wealthy industrialist has gone up in flames, claiming five lives, while virtually the entire town stood and watched. There’s the matter of the petty crime, the burglaries, muggings, and auto thefts which have begun to nibble away at the edges of Estrella Del Mar’s security despite the guardhouses and surveillance cameras. There’s the matter of the new, flourishing trade in drugs and pornography. And there’s the matter of Frank Prentice, who sits in Marbella jail awaiting trial for arson and five counts of murder, and who, despite being clearly innocent, has happily confessed. It is up to Charles Prentice, Frank’s brother, to peel away the onionlike layers of denial and deceit which hide the rather ugly truth about this seaside idyll, its residents, and the horrific crime which brought him here. But as is usually the case in a J.G. Ballard book, the truth comes with a price tag attached, and likely without any easing of discomfort for his principal characters. Cocaine Nights marks a partial return on Ballard’s part to the provocative, highly-successful mid-career methodology employed in novels such as Crash and High Rise: after establishing himself as a science fiction guru in the 1960s, Ballard stylistically shifted gears towards an unnerving, futuristic variant on social realism in the 1970s. Both Crash and High Rise were what-if novels, posing questions as to what the likely results would be if our collective fascination with such things as speed, violence, status, power, and sex were carried just a little bit further: How insane, how brutal could our world become if we really cut loose? Cocaine Nights asks a question better suited to the ’90s, the age of gated communities and infrared home security systems: Does absolute security guarantee isolation and cultural death? Conversely, is a measure of crime an essential ingredient in a vibrant, living, properly functioning social system? Is it true, as a character asserts, that “Crime and creativity go together, always have done,” and that “total security is a disease of deprivation”? Suffice to say that the answers presented in Nights will be anathema to moral absolutists; the world of Ballard’s fiction, like life in the hyperkinetic, relativistic 1990s, abounds with uncomfortable grey areas. On the surface, Cocaine Nights is a whodunit and a race against time, but as it proceeds – and as preconceived conceptions of good and evil begin to dissolve – it evolves into a thoughtful, faintly frightening look at under-examined aspects of 1990s western society. As is his wont, Ballard confronts his readers with some faintly outlandish hypotheses unlikely to be embraced by many, but which nonetheless serve to provoke both thought and a bit of paranoia; it’s a method that Ballard has developed and refined on his own, and as usual, it propels his novel along marvellously. Cocaine Nights doesn’t have either the broad sweep or brute impact of the landmark Crash, but it retains enough social relevance and low-key creepiness to more than satisfy Ballardphiles. As is often the case in Ballard’s alternate reality, it’s a given that his most appealing, human characters turn out to be the most twisted, and that even the most normal of events turn out to be governed by a perverse, malformed logic; that this logic turns out to be grounded in sound sociological and psychological principles is its most horrific feature. David B. Livingstone Views: 47
The overlooked Quaker from Rhode Island who won the Revolutionary War's crucial southern campaign and helped to set up the final victory of American independence at Yorktown Nathanael Greene is a revolutionary hero who has been lost to history. Although places named in his honor dot city and country, few people know his quintessentially American story as a self-made, self-educated military genius who renounced his Quaker upbringing-horrifying his large family-to take up arms against the British. Untrained in military matters when he joined the Rhode Island militia in 1774, he quickly rose to become Washington's right-hand man and heir apparent. After many daring exploits during the war's first four years (and brilliant service as the army's quartermaster), he was chosen in 1780 by Washington to replace the routed Horatio Gates in South Carolina. Greene's southern campaign, which combined the forces of regular troops with bands of irregulars, broke all... Views: 47
MANNY WANTS TO BE A FOOTBALLER. OR A POP STAR. OR WRITE A BESTSELLER. HE DOESN'T WANT TO GET MARRIED...'Harry and Ranjit were waiting for me -- waiting to take me to Derby, to a wedding. My wedding. A wedding that I hadn't asked for, that I didn't want. To a girl who I didn't know... If they had bothered to open their eyes, they would have seen me: seventeen, angry, upset but determined -- determined to do my own thing, to choose my own path in life...'Set partly in the UK and partly in the Punjab region of India, this is a fresh, bitingly perceptive and totally up-to-the-minute look at one young man's fight to free himself from family expectations and to be himself, free to dance to his own tune. Views: 47
Stretching 215 miles from its source in Gloucestershire, through England's capital and across to the North Sea, the River Thames has always enticed swimmers.From bathing kings to splashing school children, intrepid wild swimmers to international athletes, this famous river has long been a favourite. But it was the Victorian era that saw the birth of organised river racing with the launch of the long distance amateur championship of Great Britain. Views: 47
The little boy from The Best Place to Read can now read by himself, and he's looking for an audience. But everyone--his parents, siblings, grandparents, even his dog!--is too busy to hear a story in this fun and lively tale. When our young reader finally settles in to read to his toys, he gets a surprise visit and learns that the best time to read is whenever you have loved ones to listen! With catchy, rhyming text and vibrant illustrations, this is the perfect read-aloud--anytime!From the Hardcover edition. Views: 47
