Jim Crace is a writer of spectacular originality and a command of language that moves a reader effortlessly into the world of his imagination. In The Pesthouse he imagines an America of the future where a man and a woman trek across a devastated and dangerous landscape, finding strength in each other and an unexpected love.Once the safest, most prosperous place on earth, the United States is now a lawless, scantly populated wasteland. The machines have stopped. The government has collapsed. Farmlands lie fallow and the soil is contaminated by toxins. Across the country, families have packed up their belongings to travel eastward toward the one hope left: passage on a ship to Europe.Franklin Lopez and his brother, Jackson, are only days away from the ocean when Franklin, nearly crippled by an inflamed knee, is forced to stop. In the woods near his temporary refuge, Franklin comes upon an isolated stone building. Inside he finds Margaret, a woman with a deadly infection and confined to the Pesthouse to sweat out her fever. Tentatively, the two join forces and make their way through the ruins of old America. Confronted by bandits rounding up men for slavery, finding refuge in the Ark, a religious community that makes bizarre demands on those they shelter, Franklin and Margaret find their wariness of each other replaced by deep trust and an intimacy neither one has ever experienced before.The Pesthouse is Jim Crace’s most compelling novel to date. Rich in its understanding of America’s history and ethos, it is a paean to the human spirit. Views: 42
The Amateur Spy recasts the spy novel for the post-9/11 world—anyone might be watching, everyone is suspect. Freeman Lockhart, a humanitarian aid worker and his Bosnian wife have just retired to a charming house on a Greek island. On their first night, violent intruders blackmail Freeman into spying on an old Palestinian friend living in Jordan. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., a Palestinian-American named Aliyah Rahim is worried about her husband, who blames their daughter's death on the U.S. anti-terror policies. Aliyah learns that he is plotting a cataclysmic act of revenge; in a desperate effort to stop him, she flies to Jordan to meet her husband's co-conspirators. There she encounters Freeman neck-deep in his own investigation. As their paths intertwine, the story rises to its fast-paced, explosive climax. From the Trade Paperback edition.From Publishers WeeklyWar correspondent Fesperman, the winner of the CWA's John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award, shines the light of his insider's knowledge into the dark corners of Jordan and Jerusalem in his gripping fifth thriller. After a career as an aid worker in some of the world's hot spots, 55-year-old Freeman Lockhart has retired with his 37-year-old Bosnian wife, Mila, to the Aegean island of Karos. The first night in their new home they wake to find three intruders, who spirit Freeman away to a nearby location where he's ordered to fly to Jordan to spy on a former friend and co-worker, Omar al-Baroody. When Freeman declines, his captors tell him that if he doesn't do what they ask, they'll tell the world his dark secret involving Mila from their days working in Africa. Freeman heads off to Amman to do their bidding. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., a wealthy doctor, Abbas Rahim, plots an act of terrorism that will threaten the lives of the government's highest power brokers. Freeman may be an amateur spy, but Fesperman (The Prisoner of Guantánamo) proves once again that he's a consummate professional. Author tour.(Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistBurned-out aid worker Freeman Lockhart wants nothing more than to retire to a Greek island with his beautiful young wife. He makes it to the island, but three men break into his house with a job offer: they want him to get back in the business, this time to spy on an old friend whose Jordanian charity may be financing terrorists. Fesperman is a former globe-trotting journalist whose nonfiction informs his novels. But after a terrific debut (Lie in the Dark, 1999), subsequent works have gradually grown more cerebral and less thrilling—and this latest effort is hamstrung by both a surplus of expository dialogue and by curiously old-fashioned prose (Lockhart, allegedly American, exclaims “Good Lord!” and calls other men “fellows” and “scoundrels”). Although politically savvy travelers will find much to interest them in the background, the action in the foreground is somewhat slack. We don’t doubt Fesperman’s reportorial skills, but given the contemporary nature of his knowledge, it would have been nice if this novel didn’t read like a work from the past. --Keir Graff Views: 42
It had been thirty years since the Convergence, when the dimensions aligned and combined Earth and the world of Gwyllon, known in human mythology as "Underhill". Elven castles and ancient ruins sprouted in vacant lots, on major highways, sometimes merging with existing buildings, twisting into completely new structures. Roads and rail systems reformed, and after the rioting, starvation and death, agriculture finally sorted itself and food began to flow. A new government formed of elves and men had arisen, a society of human tech and elven magic. Cell phones and frost giants, race cars and elven steeds, dungeons and dragons...And everywhere, monsters.Tree mage Juniper was twenty-three, a child of the new generation. When she found a source of magic buried in an abandoned park, she made a deal with the city. If she can stabilize the park's wild magic, she'll own it...if she can survive.Now she has to clear out magic spawned monsters, deal with a werewolf suitor and survive her... Views: 42
Five years ago, Jane's marriage to Demetri Souvakis ended. Devastated and betrayed, she left him and started a new life.Now Demetri needs an heir and demands a divorce. But they have one last night together—for old times' sake....However, that one last loving has dramatic results. How can Jane tell her soon-to-be-ex-husband that she's pregnant with his child? Views: 42
Heard the one about the airline that has introduced 'corpse cupboards' on new planes to cope with the number of people who die in the air? Heard the story about the First Class air hostess who got fired for sitting on the face of a passenger during a long haul flight? Heard about the amount of knickers and false teeth that are left behind in the body of the plane? Heard how pissed-off stewards put laxatives in your drinks? Heard about the pilot who ran out of runway? Heard of the disabled passengers who miraculously walk again?No? Then you haven't read Air Babylon.Do you know the best place to have sex on a plane? Do you know how to dress for an upgrade? Do you know that one drink in the air equals three on the ground? Do you know who is checking you in? Who is checking you out? Do you know exactly what happens to your luggage once it leaves your sight? Is it secure? Are you safe? Do you really know anything about the business that you entrust your life to several times a... Views: 42
In this short novella, Dr. Shapre swears to “go straight” and stick to academic pursuits. He is dragged into a series of polite poisonings after a student in his 'Physics for Poets' class dies of an apparent heart attack. Someone is slowly knocking off the undergraduates and the only common feature of the victims seems to be their involvement in an on-line English course. Is it? Views: 42
Warhammer 40,000: The Horus Heresy Book 7a Views: 42
Fifteen-year-old Tilly, Fran, Marlee and Pink are surfer girls. They have been meeting for the first surf of the season every year since they first met at the surf school run by Tilly's dad, Phil, when they were eight.Phil has big plans for the surf school this year, but when he is injured in a hit-and-run accident, everything suddenly seems uncertain.While Phil languishes in hospital and the police track his attacker, Tilly is determined to realise his plans and keep the surf school open. To do this, she needs all the help she can get from her friends. But Marlee is training for the surfing competition to win a new board and beat the moody Kyle, Pink is warring with her parents and intrigued by the stranger Kim, and Fran is busy making jewellery.As the girls negotiate their relationships, tensions and friendships, in a very familiar Australian setting, the summer is set to explode! Views: 42
SUMMARY: WHO KILLED HER BOSS?Local police had tagged single mom Becky Dennison as their prime suspect. But she'd only been in the wrong place at the wrong time... admittedly, with her boss's lifeless body. Sure, it looked bad, but Becky had no motive for killing the man-even if she had opportunity.Then, Scott Lewis, handsome assistant manager of a nearby horse farm, entered Becky's life. Soon the amateur detectives were hot on the trail of the murderer...even as their feelings for each other deepened. And for Becky and Scott, this race on the Kentucky tracks had the greatest stakes of all: life or death. Views: 42
SUMMARY: Merry Christmas to all, and to all a very, very hot night…"Holiday Inn Bed" by Jacquie D'AlessandroWhen Eric and Jessica decide to spice up their Christmas engagement, they play out their favorite fantasy—Do Not Disturb. They'll be a little tied up for the weekend in their private hotel room…."His for the Holidays" by Joanne RockWatch out—Heather Dillinger and Jared Murphy are back in the sack for some holiday sex! And this time they find that sweet revenge makes their reunion the hottest gift they never expected…."Dear Santa…" by Kathleen O'ReillyWhen a secret Santa invites Rebecca Neumann for a holiday getaway, she jumps at the chance. And when a sexy blast from her past appears, she's tempted to jump him, too…. Views: 42
