To the public, Sir Maxwell Tarn is known as a powerful self-made billionaire. To British intelligence, he is known as an international arms-dealer. Spreading blood and terror, the Americans call him Apocalypse. To James Bond and his partner Flicka, he's a maniac who must be stopped-because within reunited Germany, an army of thousands knows him as "der Fuhrer." Views: 39
In a moment of madness, Ali Kingston, wife and mother of three, skips work to spend the day with Christian, a gorgeous street artist fifteen years her junior. Midlife crisis or whatever, it escalates when Ali's husband, Ed, equates her minor indiscretion with a major affair and kicks her out into the rainy night...and Christian's open arms. Soon thirty-eight-year-old Ali is ensconced in a Notting Hill love nest wondering how to introduce her children to the charismatic Christian, who could easily have been her teenage daughter's boyfriend rather than her own.Meanwhile back at the ranch house in suburban Richmond, Ed is also facing unanticipated temptations, as two younger women compete to console him for the loss of his wife, while family and friends attempt to reunite him with Ali...with deliciously droll results. Then a disconcerting event forces both Ed and Ali to decide what they really want--from themselves, from each other and from life itself. Views: 39
Barthelme . . . happens to be one of a handful of American authors, there to make us look bad, who know instinctively how to stash the merchandise, bamboozle the inspectors, and smuggle their nocturnal contraband right on past the checkpoints of daylight 'reality.' Thomas Pynchon, from the Introduction A hypothetical episode of Batman hilariously slowed down to soap-opera speed. A game of baseball as played by T. S. Eliot and Willem Big Bull de Kooning. A recipe for feeding sixty pork-sotted celebrants at your daughter's wedding. An outlandishly illustrated account of a scientific quest for God. These astonishing tropes of the imagination could only have been generated by Donald Barthelme, whountil his death in 1989seemed intent on goosing American letters into taking a quantum leap. Gleeful, melancholy, erudite, and wonderfully subversive, The Teachings of Don B. is a literary testament cum time bomb, with the... Views: 39
Clare Prentiss thinks her new home is paradise, and her brand new job seems too good to be true. It is. Lurid dreams, erotic obsessions, and twisted sexual fantasies aren’t the only things that abruptly invade Clare’s life. Is someone really peeping into her windows at night? Yes. Are those screams she hears just her imagination? No. Is Clare being stalked? Yes… but not by a man. By a monstrosity… Views: 39
Dinah Whitcomb seemingly has everything. A loving and successful husband, and a smart, precocious young son named Robbie. One day, their worlds are shattered when Dinah is attacked and Robbie is taken in a mall parking lot. Dinah, injured, attempts to follow, but is run over by the kidnapper's van, mangling her body nearly beyond repair. The kidnapper, a part-time Preacher named Chester Cash, calls himself Daddy Love, as he has abducted, tortured, and raped several young boys into being his lover and as well as his 'son'. He confines Robbie in a device called an Wooden Maiden, in essence a small coffin, and renamed him 'Gideon'. Daddy Love slowly brainwashes 'Gideon' into believing that he is Daddy Love's real son, and any time the boy resists or rebels it is met with punishment beyond his wildest nightmares. As Dinah recovers from her wounds, her world and her marriage struggle to exist every day. Though it seems hopeless, she keeps a flicker of hope alive that her son is still alive. As Robbie grows older, he becomes more aware of just how monstrous Daddy Love truly is. Though as a small boy he as terrified of what might happen if he disobeyed Daddy Love, Robbie begins to realize that the longer he stays in the home of this demon, the greater chance he'll end up like Daddy Love's other 'sons' who were never heard from again. Somewhere within this tortured young boy lies a spark of rebellion...and soon he sees just what lengths he must go to in order to have any chance at survival. Views: 39
#1 bestselling author Lora Leigh is back—with a vengeance—in her latest novel of passion and intrigue, Dagger's Edge, featuring the men of Brute Force.Ivan Resnova wants nothing more than to escape his hard, brutal past. Starting over is not so easy once you've been a powerful crime boss but now, instead of being punished for his alleged crimes, Ivan fears that the one woman he can't forget is in danger of paying the price. Crimsyn "Syn" Delaney thought the danger she'd faced was over, and that she could resume her life. She never imagined it would return with a vengeance and throw her back into Ivan's world. But when an attempt is made on her life, she needs Ivan more than ever to keep her safe—even if she is in danger of falling deeply and dangerously in love. . ."Leigh's books can scorch the ink off the page."—RT Book Reviews Views: 39
Something has gone wrong. A group of American bombers armed with nuclear weapons is streaking past the fail-safe point, beyond recall, and no one knows why. Their destination—Moscow. In a bomb shelter beneath the White House, the calm young president turns to his Russian translator and says, “I think we are ready to talk to Premier Kruschchev.” Not far away, in the War Room at the Pentagon, the secretary of defense and his aides watch with growing anxiety as the luminous blips crawl across a huge screen map. High over the Bering Strait in a large Vindicator bomber, a colonel stares in disbelief at the attack code number on his fail-safe box and wonders if it could possibly be a mistake. First published in 1962, when America was still reeling from the Cuban missile crisis, Fail-Safe reflects the apocalyptic attitude that pervaded society during the height of the Cold War, when disaster could have struck at any moment. As more countries develop nuclear capabilities and the potential for new enemies lurks on the horizon, Fail-Safe and its powerful issues continue to respond. Views: 39
SUMMARY: This unforgettable odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman. Cruelly cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through a stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself. The short summer gives her little time to look, and when she finds a sheltered valley with a herd of hardy steppe horses, she decides to stay and prepare for the long glacial winter ahead. Living with the Clan has taught Ayla many skills but not real hunting. She finally knows she can survive when she traps a horse, which gives her meat and a warm pelt for the winter, but fate has bestowed a greater gift, an orphaned foal with whom she develops a unique kinship. One winter extends to more; she discovers a way to make fire more quickly and a wounded cave lion cub joins her unusual family, but her beloved animals don’t fulfill her restless need for human companionship. Then she hears the sound of a man screaming in pain. She saves tall, handsome Jondalar, who brings her a language to speak and an awakening of love and desire, but Ayla is torn between her fear of leaving her valley and her hope of living with her own kind. Views: 39
Amazon.com Review When last encountered (2000's Dead and Gone ), career criminal Burke was on the rebound from a nearly successful assassination attempt, lying low and licking his wounds in Portland, Oregon. Severed from his connections in NYC, Burke survives on jobs--"violence for money" mostly--brokered by his live-in lover, Gem, an Asian beauty with a painful, larcenous past and a present to match. At hand is a task Burke has done before: the recovery of a runaway, a 16-year-old girl named Rosebud. But Burke, an assassin with scruples, knows when things aren't right. Rosebud's father, Kevin, has a '60s-era contempt of "The Man" that doesn't jibe with his obvious wealth. Mother Maureen limps through life on pharmaceutical crutches. Younger sister Daisy and best friend Jennifer know things but won't share. As his search spirals out from Portland's mean streets, Burke encounters a mysterious young woman, Ann O. Dyne, who offers to help for a price. Her raison d'être is pain management--securing and dispensing medications vital to the terminally ill but held beyond their reach by a largely uncaring cadre of doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Eventually, of course, this plot line connects with Rose's whereabouts. Andrew Vachss's MO here, as usual, is a mystery (Rosebud's disappearance) plus an actual cause célèbre (humane pain management). It's a risky formula that aims both to entertain and to enlighten. With its believably unbelievable characters, Vachss's spare noir, and steely pacing that counterpoints a bolt-upright climax, Burke's 13th outing is every bit as satisfying as the dozen that came before. Views: 39
