There's no love lost between criminal defense lawyer Suzannah Phelps and the Fredericdton police department. Now she's being stalked, but she won’t turn to the police, who may be behind it. But when Det. John Quigley learns of it, he's determined to protect her, no matter who is harassing her. They've struck sparks off each other in the courtroom, and he's burning to do the same in the bedroom.Finn Ahearn’s Irish luck runs out when he travels half way around the world to Sydney.The seedier side of the city’s Kings Cross soon catches up with him and he finds the only way he can get back on stable footing is to accept a bartending job, working for tough Aussie bar owner Ellie Finch.Ellie is a decade older than Finn but that doesn’t stop the charming Irishman from wooing her.Ellie doesn’t believe in the happily-ever-after dream any longer, not since hers imploded a long time ago. Her values are a world apart from Finn’s. They have absolutely nothing in common.But can a smooth-talking Irishman sway a hard-hearted cynic to believe in love again? Views: 1 047
Award-winning author Melina Marchetta reopens the story of the group of friends from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca - but five years have passed, and now it's Thomas Mackee who needs saving. After his favorite uncle was blown to bits on his way to work in a foreign city, Tom watched his family implode. He quit school and turned his back on his music and everyone that mattered, including the girl he can't forget. Shooting for oblivion, he's hit rock bottom, forced to live with his single, pregnant aunt, work at the Union pub with his former friends, and reckon with his grieving, alcoholic father. Tom's in no shape to mend what's broken. But what if no one else is either? An unflinching look at family, forgiveness, and the fierce inner workings of love and friendship, The Piper's Son redefines what it means to go home again. Views: 1 045
From the Foreword by J.A. Konrath:
"As a horror writer, I often get asked what scares me. My answer is always the same: Blake Crouch. More than any other author working today, Crouch knows how to make the reader squirm. This short story collection is a perfect introduction to Crouch’s skewed world. But before you dive in, please heed my warning. I don’t care how tough you think you are. You still need to brace yourself. Because this is going to hurt…"
From the author of DESERT PLACES, ABANDON, and “Serial,” comes this 21,000-word collection of four short thrillers.
*69 - Tim and Laura West receive a bizarre voicemail on their answering machine that seems to have unintentionally recorded a brutal murder. But what happens when the killer realizes their mistake? This story unfolds over one terrifying evening, and this young couple will never be the same.
REMAKING – Tragic events unfold in a snowy, sleepy Colorado town. From the first scene, in which a man sits alone in the cold, watching a father and son in a diner, you know something is about to go horribly wrong. You may think you know what’s happening, but in this thrilling, heartbreaking story, nothing is as it seems.
ON THE GOOD, RED ROAD - A group of four hard men trying to reach a remote 19th Century mining town become stranded in an early blizzard and resort to drastic, terrifying measures, to stay alive.
SHINING ROCK – An older couple encounter a strange and menacing visitor during a camping trip in the North Carolina mountains. Friendly at first, this stranger seems to know them, seems to know their secrets, and as things escalate, they become convinced that they may never leave these mountains alive.
FOUR LIVE ROUNDS also contains a Foreword by J.A. Konrath, introductions to each story by the author, an interview with Blake, excerpts from all four of his novels, and “The Agreement,” a bonus short story by J.A. Konrath.
About the Author:
BLAKE CROUCH was born near the piedmont town of Statesville, North Carolina in 1978. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 2000 with degrees in English and Creative Writing. Blake is the author of four novels and numerous short stories, including “Serial” which he co-wrote with J.A. Konrath and has been downloaded more than 250,000 times. He lives with his family in southwest Colorado, where he is at work on a new book.
Praise for Blake Crouch’s ABANDON:
ABANDON would make an excellent movie, switching back and forth between the plain-but-sturdy homes, saloon and church in 1893 and the same structures rotting to dust in 2009...a clever dual story.
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
ABANDON [is] two separate works of past and present seamlessly melded together into a single novel that demands to be read in one sitting, so you can better appreciate the beauty of Crouch’s storytelling…[O]ne of those books that almost instantly puts you in the mind of a classic.
BOOKREPORTER
Haunting, fast-paced, and thoroughly engrossing... ABANDON is one of the most original tales of ghosts, greed and gold I've come across. Crouch aligns both eras so perfectly, it's as if the characters are occupying the same breath within the space/time continuum. ABANDON will be one of the most talked-about books of the summer.
THE MADISON COUNTY HERALD
Ambitious…the palpable suspense just keeps building, and many thriller fans—especially those who like a touch of horror—will lose sleep to find out how it all ends.
BOOKLIST
ABANDON is terrific…a great storyteller hitting his stride. Views: 1 042
Jaclyn Wilde is a wedding planner who loves her job—usually. But helping Carrie Edwards with her Big Day has been an unrelenting nightmare. Carrie is a bridezilla of mythic nastiness, a diva whose tantrums are just about as crazy as her demands. But the unpleasant task at hand turns seriously criminal when Carrie is brutally murdered and everyone involved with the ceremony is accusing one another of doing the deed.
The problem is, almost everyone— from the cake maker and the florist to the wedding-gown retailer and the bridesmaids’ dressmaker—had his or her own reason for wanting the bride dead, including Jaclyn. And while those who felt Carrie’s wrath are now smiling at her demise, Jaclyn refuses to celebrate tragedy, especially since she finds herself in the shadow of suspicion.
Assigned to the case, Detective Eric Wilder finds that there’s too much evidence pointing toward too many suspects. Compounding his problems is Jaclyn, with whom he shared one deeply passionate night before Carrie’s death. Being a prime suspect means that Jaclyn is hands-off just when Eric would rather be hands-on. As the heat intensifies between Eric and Jaclyn, a cold-blooded murderer moves dangerously close. And this time the target is not a bride but one particularly irresistible wedding planner, unaware of a killer’s vow. Views: 1 039
Ryne Taylor was a sexy bad-ass Alpha set on establishing a new pack. Melody Greene was a journalism student researching his work as a photographer or so she said. But could Mel really be trusted or had she stumbled upon his secret? And if she knew, could Ryne save himself and the pack he d left behind without enacting a deadly ancient law known as The Keeping? Sequel to The Mating. Views: 1 038
London, after the money-shock.
Semi-famous former hit-singer Hollis Henry is running on empty. Short of funds. Short of a new project. Short of whatever it was that made her life tick, she agrees - reluctantly - to work again for sinister Belgian businessman Hubertus Bigend, proprietor of the mysterious ad agency Blue Ant.
Bigend, an excavator of the world's hidden architectures, explains that he needs a freelancer, a wildcard. There's a secret, obscurely fashionable denim called 'The Gabriel Hounds', which is revered by an exclusive, well-connected elite. He needs Hollis to hunt down the person behind the Hounds.
Ex-junkie Milgrim's also on the payroll. Bigend appreciates Milgrim's knowledge of the street and his linguistic skills so much that he's paid for his costly rehab, and now he has him on a project working on something involving military designs. Milgrim doesn't know why - and Bigend isn't saying. But then Milgrim's also not telling Bigend about the US agent on his trail.
Soon it's clear to Hollis and Milgrim that Bigend and Blue Ant are in trouble. Deep trouble. Powerful and threatening groups want Blue Ant to back off. And anyone considered a footsoldier for Bigend, or even just in the way, is liable to find themselves caught in the crossfire.
Set among London's dark and tangled streets, Zero History is a brilliant thriller about the hidden webs and patterns that underlie the new century. Views: 1 037
From the author of the twenty-five-million-copy bestseller The Shack comes a captivating new novel destined to be one of the most talked-about books of the decade.Eve is a bold, unprecedented exploration of the Creation narrative, true to the original texts and centuries of scholarship—yet with breathtaking discoveries that challenge traditional beliefs about who we are and how we're made. Eve opens a refreshing conversation about the equality of men and women within the context of our beginnings, helping us see each other as our Creator does—complete, unique, and not constrained by cultural rules or limitations. When a shipping container washes ashore on an island between our world and the next, John the Collector finds a young woman inside—broken, frozen, and barely alive. With the aid of Healers and Scholars, John oversees her recovery and soon discovers that her genetic code connects her to every known race. No one would guess... Views: 1 037
TODAY: Sulis, a teenage girl with a mysterious past, arrives in Bath, England, with a new identity. She feels safe at the King’s Circus, a ring of old, strange stone houses where she lives with her foster family—until she spots the one person she’s been trying to outrun.
THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO: Zac is apprenticed to a mad architect who plans to create the world’s first circular street, King’s Circus. Zac probes the mysticism surrounding the structure, but he has his own secret agenda.
THE ANCIENT PAST: The mythical first builder of the city of Bath, a leprous druid king, discovers its healing waters . . . but to what end?
In each voice, unexpected mysteries entwine, linking together three haunting stories as they hurtle toward a smart and brilliantly intriguing climax. Views: 1 037
She harbors a secret yearning.
As a lover of animals and nature, Beatrix Hathaway has always been more comfortable outdoors than in the ballroom. Even though she participated in the London season in the past, the classic beauty and free-spirited Beatrix has never been swept away or seriously courted... and she has resigned herself to the fate of never finding love. Has the time come for the most unconventional of the Hathaway sisters to settle for an ordinary man—just to avoid spinsterhood?
He is a world-weary cynic.
Captain Christopher Phelan is a handsome, daring soldier who plans to marry Beatrix's friend, the vivacious flirt Prudence Mercer, when he returns from fighting abroad. But, as he explains in his letters to Pru, life on the battlefield has darkened his soul—and it's becoming clear that Christopher won't come back as the same man. When Beatrix learns of Pru's disappointment, she decides to help by concocting Pru's letters to Christopher for her. Soon the correspondence between Beatrix and Christopher develops into something fulfilling and deep... and when Christopher comes home, he's determined to claim the woman he loves. What began as Beatrix's innocent deception has resulted in the agony of unfulfilled love—and a passion that can't be denied. Views: 1 035
The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.
Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan's peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.
Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what's ahead. Views: 1 034
A collection of Wilde's aphorisms published posthumously in 1911, together with an essay reprinted from the Fortnightly Review.
** Views: 1 034
Clive Cussler's tales of the Oregon and its crew-"the clever, indefatigable Juan Cabrillo and his merry band of tough, tech-savvy fighting men and women" (Publishers Weekly)-have made fans of hundreds of thousands of readers. But the Oregon's sixth adventure is its most remarkable one yet.
On December 7, 1941, five brothers exploring a shaft on a small island off the coast of Washington State make an extraordinary discovery, only to be interrupted by news of Pearl Harbor. In the present, Cabrillo, chasing the remnants of a crashed satellite in the Argentine jungle, stumbles upon a shocking revelation of his own. His search to untangle the mystery leads him, first, to that small island and its secret, and then much farther back, to an ancient Chinese expedition-and a curse that seems to have survived for more than five hundred years. If Cabrillo's team is successful in its quest, the reward could be incalculable. If not . . . the only reward is death. Views: 1 034
Shep Knacker has long saved for "the Afterlife," an idyllic retreat in the Third World where his nest egg can last forever. Exasperated that his wife, Glynis, has concocted endless excuses why it's never the right time to go, Shep finally announces he's leaving for a Tanzanian island, with or without her. Yet Glynis has some news of her own: she's deathly ill. Shep numbly puts his dream aside, while his nest egg is steadily devastated by staggering bills that their health insurance only partially covers. Astonishingly, illness not only strains their marriage but saves it.
From acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Lionel Shriver comes a searing, ruthlessly honest novel. Brimming with unexpected tenderness and dry humor, it presses the question: How much is one life worth? Views: 1 033
The second book in Philippa's stunning new trilogy, The Cousins' War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series - The White Queen - but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses.
The Red Queen tells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England.
Through collaboration with the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees to a betrothal between Henry and Elizabeth's daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty. Views: 1 032
