He thought he could get away with it. He was wrong.Gia Santella's hunt for her best friend leads her on a road trip to Mexico where she learns that there is no refuge from evil despite sunny skies and bucolic beaches. Many Americans flee to Baja, California to escape something—the drudgery of a 9-to-5 life. An abusive husband. A hefty tax bill. But others go there to kill.The beauty of Baja hides dark secrets and soon Gia finds herself caught up in a group of ex-pats who like the advantages of living in a place where people can disappear without a trace and nobody bats an eye. But then Gia comes to town. She will risk everything to save the innocent ...Download this book because you love fierce women, dark mysteries, and riveting suspense.He thought he could get away with it. He was wrong.Gia Santella's hunt for her best friend leads her on a road trip to Mexico where she learns that there is no refuge from evil despite sunny skies and bucolic beaches. Many Americans flee to Baja, California to escape something—the drudgery of a 9-to-5 life. An abusive husband. A hefty tax bill. But others go there to kill.The beauty of Baja hides dark secrets and soon Gia finds herself caught up in a group of ex-pats who like the advantages of living in a place where people can disappear without a trace and nobody bats an eye. But then Gia comes to town. She will risk everything to save the innocent ...Download this novella because you love fierce women, dark mysteries, and riveting suspense. Views: 73
Nikki Black, 17, a self-imposed lone wolf since her mother died, fled suburban Chicago to escape her painful past. But when her so-called boyfriend reveals why he really lured her to Southern California — to star in child porn flicks — she ends up on the streets of L.A. with only the clothes on her back and a twelve-year-old addict named Rain trailing in her shadows. The girls seek refuge at a residential hotel above a punk rock bar in downtown L.A. a few months before the city erupts into chaos during the 1992 riots. At The American Hotel, Nikki makes friends and for the first time in years feels as if she has a real family again.All that changes when Rain disappears. Everyone except Nikki, including the police, thinks Rain succumbed to the seductive allure of addiction and life on the streets. Nikki finds herself fighting for her own life the closer she gets to unveiling a sinister cover-up by a powerful group that secretly controls the city of angels. City... Views: 73
Roy Grace tracks a stalker obsessed with a Hollywood starlet in Not Dead Yet, the latest from #1 international bestselling author Peter JamesDays before one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, Gaia Lafayette, leaves her Bel Air home for a movie role on location in Brighton, England, there is a bungled attempt on her life. The whole city of Brighton awaits Gaia’s arrival, including her dangerously obsessive Number One fan looking for revenge and an anxious Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, charged with protecting Gaia.When a mutilated torso is found on a chicken farm miles away in the countryside, Roy Grace has no reason at all to connect this to the star’s visit to the county. But as events rapidly begin to unfold, Roy Grace and his team find themselves in a desperate race against time to save Gaia’s life from a clever maniac who will stop at nothing to kill her.About the AuthorPETER JAMES is the #1 international bestselling author of the Roy Grace series with more than 13 million copies sold all over the world. His novels have been translated into thirty-five languages; three have been filmed and two are currently in development. All of his novels reflect his deep interest in the world of the police, with whom he does in-depth research. He has produced numerous films, including The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, and Joseph Fiennes. He lives in England.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.NOT DEAD YET (Chapter 1)I am warning you, and I won't repeat this warning. Don't take the part. You'd better believe me. Take the part and you are dead. Bitch.Gaia Lafayette was unaware of the man out in the dark, in the station wagon, who had come to kill her. And she was unaware of the email he had sent. She got hate mail all the time, mostly from religious nutters or folk upset by her swearing or her provocative costumes in some of her stage acts and music videos. Those emails were screened and kept from bothering her by her trusted head of security, Detroit-born Andrew Gulli, a tough ex-cop who'd spent most of his career on close protection work for vulnerable political figures.He knew when to be worried enough to tell his boss, and this piece of trash that had come in, on an anonymous Hotmail account, was not something he figured had any substance. His employer got a dozen like this every week.It was 10 p.m. and Gaia was trying to focus on the script she was reading, but she couldn't concentrate. She was focused even more on the fact that she had run out of cigarettes. The sweet, but oh so dim-witted Pratap, who did all her shopping, and who she hadn't the heart to fire because his wife had a brain tumour, had bought the wrong brand. She had her limit of four cigarettes a day, and didn't actually need any more, but old habits die hard. She used to mainline the damned things, claiming they were essential for her famed gravelly voice. Not so many years back she'd have one before she got out of bed, followed by one burning in the ashtray while she showered. Every action accompanied by a cigarette. Now she was kicking free, but she had to know they were in the house. Just in case she needed them.Like so much else she needed in life. Starting with her adoring public. Checking the count of Twitter followers and Facebook likes. Both were substantially up again today, each nearly a million up in the past month alone, still keeping her well ahead of both the performers she viewed as her rivals, Madonna and Lady Gaga. And she now had nearly ten million subscribers to her monthly e-newsletter. And then there were her seven homes, of which this copy of a Tuscan palazzo, built five years ago to her specification on a three-acre lot, was the largest.The walls, mirrored full length floor-to-ceiling to create the illusion of infinite space, were decorated with Aztec art interspersed with larger-than-life posters of herself. The house, like all her others, was a catalogue of her different incarnations. Gaia had reinvented herself constantly throughout her career as a rock star, and more recently, two years ago at thirty-five, had started reinventing herself again, this time as a movie actor.Above her head was a huge, framed monochrome signed photo of herself in a black negligee, titled WORLD TOUR GAIA SAVING THE PLANET. Another, with her wearing a tank top and leather jeans, was captioned, GAIA REVELATIONS TOUR. Above the fireplace, in dramatic green was a close-up of her lips, nose and eyes - GAIA UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.Her agent and her manager phoned her daily, both men reassuring her just how much the world needed her. Just the way that her growing social networking base - all outsourced by her management company - reassured her, too. And at this moment, the one person in the world she cared about most - Roan, her six-year-old son - needed her just as much. He padded barefoot across the marble floor, in his Armani Junior pyjamas, his brown hair all mussed up, his face scrunched in a frown, and tapped her on the arm as she lay on the white sofa, propped against the purple velvet cushions. 'Mama, you didn't come and read me a story.'She stretched out a hand and mussed up his hair some more. Then she put down the script and took him in her arms, hugging him. 'I'm sorry, sweetie. It's late, way past your bedtime, and Mama's really busy tonight, learning her lines. She has a really big part - see? Mama's playing Maria Fitzherbert, the mistress of an English king! King George the Fourth.'Maria Fitzherbert was the diva of her day, in Regency England. Just like she herself was the diva of her day now, and they had something profound in common. Maria Fitzherbert spent most of her life in Brighton, in England. And she, Gaia, had been born in Brighton! She felt a connection to this woman, across time. She was born to play this role!Her agent said this was the new King's Speech. An Oscar role, no question. And she wanted an Oscar oh so badly. The first two movies she had made were okay, but had not set the world on fire. In hindsight, she realized, it was because she hadn't chosen well and the scripts were - frankly - weak. This movie now could give her the critical acclaim she craved. She'd fought hard for this role. And she'd succeeded.Hell, you had to fight in life. Fortune favoured the brave. Some people were born with silver spoons so far up their assholes they stuck in their gullets, and some, like herself, were born on the wrong side of the tracks. It had been a long journey to here, through her early days of waiting tables, and two husbands, to the place she was now at, and where she felt comfortable. Just herself, Roan and Todd, the fitness instructor who gave her great sex when she needed it and kept out of her face when she didn't, and her trusted entourage, Team Gaia.She picked up the script and showed him the white and the blue pages. 'Mama has to learn all this before she flies to England.''You promised.''Didn't Steffie read to you tonight?' Steffie was the nanny.He looked forlorn. 'You read better. I like it when you read.'She looked at her watch. 'It's after ten o'clock. Way past your bedtime!''I can't sleep. I can't sleep unless you read to me, Mama.'She tossed the script on to the glass coffee table, lifted him down and stood up. 'Okay, one quick story. Okay?'His face brightened. He nodded vigorously.'Marla!' she shouted. 'Marla!'Her assistant came into the room, cellphone pressed to her ear, arguing furiously with someone about what sounded like the seating arrangements on a plane. The one extravagance Gaia refused to have was a private jet, because of her concerns over her carbon footprint.Marla was shouting. Didn't the fuckwit airline know who Gaia was? That she could fucking make or break them? She was wearing glittery Versace jeans tucked into black alligator boots, a thin black roll-neck and a gold neck chain carrying the flat gold globe engraved Planet Gaia. It was exactly the same way her boss was dressed tonight. Her hair mirrored her boss's, too: blonde, shoulder length, layered in a sharp razor cut with a carefully spaced and waxed fringe.Gaia Lafayette insisted that all her staff had to dress the same way - following the daily emailed instructions of what she would be wearing, how her hair would be. They had, at all times, to be an inferior copy of herself.Marla ended the call. 'Sorted!' she said. 'They've agreed to bump some people off the flight.' She gave Gaia an angelic smile. 'Because it's you!''I need cigarettes,' Gaia said. 'Wanna be an angel and go get me some?'Marla shot a surreptitious glance at her watch. She had a date tonight and was already two hours late for him, thanks to Gaia's demands - nothing unusual. No previous personal assistant had lasted more than eighteen months before being fired, yet, amazingly, she was entering her third year. It was hard work and long hours, and the pay wasn't great, but the work experience was to die for, and although her boss was tough, she was kind. One day she'd be free of the chains, but not yet. 'Sure, no problem,' she said.'Take the Merc.'It was a balmy hot night. Gaia was smart enough to understand the small perks that went a long way.'Cool! I'll be right back. Anything else?'Gaia shook her head. 'You can keep the car for the night.''I can?''Sure, I'm not going anywhere.'Marla coveted the silver SL55 AMG. She looked forward to driving the fast bends along Sunset to the convenience store. Then to picking up Jay in it afterwards. Who knew how the night might turn out? Every day working for Gaia was an adventure. Just as every night recently, since she had met Jay, was too! He was a budding actor, and she was determined to find a way, through her connection with Gaia, to help him get a break.She did not know it, but as she walked out to the Mercedes, she was making a grave mistake.NOT DEAD YET Copyright © 2012 by Really Scary Books / Peter James. Views: 73
In the long-awaited follow-up to the #1 bestselling thriller INVISIBLE . . . t he perfect murder always looks like an accident.FBI agent Emmy Dockery is absolutely relentless. She's young and driven, and her unique skill at seeing connections others miss has brought her an impressive string of arrests.But a shocking new case-unfolding across the country-has left her utterly baffled.The victims all appear to have died by accident, and have seemingly nothing in common. But this many deaths can't be coincidence. And the killer is somehow one step ahead of every move Dockery makes.How?To FBI special agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, everyone in the FBI is a suspect-particularly Emmy Dockery (the fact that she's his ex-fiancee doesn't make it easier).But someone else is watching Dockery. Studying, learning, waiting. Until it's the perfect time to strike.**About the AuthorJames Patterson is the world's bestselling author. He has donated more than one million books to students and soldiers, as well as millions of dollars to independent bookstores and school libraries. He lives in Florida with his family.David Ellis is a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court and the author of nine novels, includingLine of Vision, for which he won an Edgar Award, and The Hidden Man, which earned him a 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination. Views: 73
Releasing the same month as the MIDDLE SCHOOL movie, this next installment of James Patterson's hit series has non-stop laughs starring everyone's favorite underdog.It's a dog-eat-dog world, and Rafe Khatchadorian is just trying to live in it. Life in middle school is finally starting to seem bearable-until Rafe spots his grandmother standing on the free-meal line at the local soup kitchen. In order to help bring in more money, Rafe concocts a brilliant plan-a dog-walking business that soon turns into a huge money-making neighborhood empire. He'll even have extra cash to buy his own WormHole Deluxe Multi-Platform GameBox!That is, until two terrible twins launch the Great Dog War by sabotaging Rafe's flyers and stealing his customers. Plus, his bratty kid sister Georgia has skipped a grade-so now she's in all of Rafe's classes. Throw a kid a bone! Views: 70
"Have you seen my cousin...alive?"Rejected by the Navy SEALs, Mitchum is content to be his small town's unofficial private eye, until his beloved 14-year-old cousin is abducted. Now he'll call on every lethal skill to track her down-but nothing is what it seems....BookShotsLIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSON Novels you can devour in a few hours Impossible to stop reading All original content from James Patterson Views: 69
Going home for the holidays can be murder.
Joanie was dreading Thanksgiving with her family at their strange new house. And that was before she saw her brother Alan standing in the kitchen. It was hard to know what to say to him, seeing as he'd died five years ago....BookShots
LIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
Novels you can devour in a few hours
Impossible to stop reading
All original content from James Patterson
**From Publishers WeeklyThe Patterson bestseller factory has turned out another high-drama thriller, this time in collaboration with Honeymoon coauthor Roughan. Kristin Burns, a New York City nanny and aspiring photographer, is devoted to the two children under her care, but her desire for their father, Michael Turnbull, leads her to a risky, torrid affair with him. Kristin's anxiety about her guilty secret is heightened by a series of frightening nightmares centering on a vision of four body bags being loaded onto gurneys in front of a prominent Manhattan hotel. Her nightmares also feature recurring encounters with dead people, including her father and the pediatrician who abused her as a child. Kristin's breathless, superficial narration doesn't generate a lot of reader sympathy or interest in figuring out the source of her macabre experiences. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review
"You've Been Warned will keep yoy spellbound. Kadushin's haunting voice is spot on, and the echoing numbers set in the skin-crawiling tone for each chapter."... MyShelf.com Views: 69
It has an ocean-front view, a private beach--and a deadly secret that won't stay buried. No. 7 Ocean Drive is a gorgeous, multi-million-dollar beachfront estate in the Hamptons, where money and privilege know no bounds. But its beautiful gothic exterior hides a horrific past: it was the scene of a series of depraved killings that have never been solved. Neglected, empty, and rumored to be cursed, it's known as the Murder House, and locals keep their distance. Detective Jenna Murphy used to consider herself a local, but she hasn't been back since she was a girl. Trying to escape her troubled past and rehabilitate a career on the rocks, the former New York City cop hardly expects her lush and wealthy surroundings to be a hotbed of grisly depravity. But when a Hollywood power broker and his mistress are found dead in the abandoned Murder House, the gruesome crime scene rivals anything Jenna experienced in Manhattan. And what at first seems like an open and shut case turns out to have as many shocking secrets as the Murder House itself, as Jenna quickly realizes that the mansion's history is much darker than even the town's most salacious gossips could have imagined. As more bodies surface, and the secret that Jenna has tried desperately to escape closes in on her, she must risk her own life to expose the truth--before the Murder House claims another victim. Full of the twists and turns that have made James Patterson the world's #1 bestselling writer, THE MURDER HOUSE is a chilling, page-turning story of murder, money, and revenge. ** Views: 68
