Books That Changed the World tells the fascinating stories behind 50 books that, in ways great and small, have changed the course of human history. Andrew Taylor sets each text in its historical context and explores its wider influence and legacy.Whether he's discussing the incandescent effect of The Qu'ran, the enduring influence of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, of the way in which Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe glavanized the anti-slavery movement, Taylor has written a stirring and informative testament to human ingenuity and endeavour. Ranging from The Iliad to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the Kama Sutra to Lady Chatterley's Lover, this is the ultimate, thought-provoking read for book-lovers everywhere. Views: 47
Homicide detective Harry Belltree wouldn't usually be looking too hard at an elderly couple's suicide pact. Especially now, when his brother-in-law Greg has just been stabbed to death. But it seems Greg and the old couple had ties to the same man, a bent moneylender with friends in high places - and low.Harry can't get officially involved in Greg's murder, but he suspects a link with two other mysterious deaths: his parents'. And when he goes off-grid to investigate, that's when things start to get dangerousSet in Sydney, this dark, morally ambiguous and adrenaline-charged new series is a triumphant change of direction for Barry Maitland.Barry Maitland was born in Scotland, studied architecture at Cambridge University and went on to work as an architect and urban design expert. In 1984 he moved to Australia to head the architecture school at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales. In 1994 The Marx Sisters, the first in his Brock and... Views: 47
It is the late summer of 1938, Europe is about to explode, the Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is on his way to Paris to make a movie for Paramount France. The Nazis know he’s coming—a secret bureau within the Reich Foreign Ministry has for years been waging political warfare against France, using bribery, intimidation, and corrupt newspapers to weaken French morale and degrade France’s will to defend herself.For their purposes, Fredric Stahl is a perfect agent of influence, and they attack him. What they don’t know is that Stahl, horrified by the Nazi war on Jews and intellectuals, has become part of an informal spy service being run out of the American embassy in Paris.From Alan Furst, the bestselling author, often praised as the best spy novelist ever, comes a novel that’s truly hard to put down. Mission to Paris includes beautifully drawn scenes of romance and intimacy, and the novel is alive with extraordinary characters: the German Baroness von Reschke, a famous hostess deeply involved in Nazi clandestine operations; the assassins Herbert and Lothar; the Russian film actress and spy Olga Orlova; the Hungarian diplomat and spy, Count Janos Polanyi; along with the French cast of Stahl’s movie, German film producers, and the magnetic women in Stahl’s life, the socialite Kiki de Saint-Ange and the émigré Renate Steiner.But always at the center of the novel is the city of Paris, the heart and soul of Europe—its alleys and bistros, hotels grand and anonymous, and the Parisians, living every night as though it was their last. As always, Alan Furst brings to life both a dark time in history and the passion of the human hearts that fought to survive it.Advance praise for *Mission to Paris “The writing in Mission to Paris, sentence after sentence, page after page, is dazzling. If you are a John le Carré fan, this is definitely a novel for you.”—James Patterson“I am a huge fan of Alan Furst. Furst is the best in the business—the most talented espionage novelist of our generation.”—Vince FlynnPraise for Alan Furst“Unfolds like a vivid dream . . . One couldn’t ask for a more engrossing novel.”—The Wall Street Journal, about Spies of the Balkans “Though set in a specific place and time, Furst’s books are like Chopin’s nocturnes: timeless, transcendent, universal. One does not so much read them as fall under their spell.”—Los Angeles Times, about The Spies of Warsaw“Alan Furst’s novels swing a beam into the shadows at the edges of the great events leading to World War II. Readers come knowing he’ll deliver effortless narrative.”—USA Today, about The Foreign Correspondent“Positively bristles with plot, characters and atmosphere . . . Dark Voyage has the ingredients of several genres—the mystery, the historical novel, the espionage thriller, the romance—but it rises above all of them.”—The Washington Post, about Dark Voyage“No other espionage writer touches [Furst’s] stylish forays into Budapest and Berlin, Moscow and Paris. No other writer today captures so well the terror and absurdity of the spy, the shabby tension and ennui of émigré communities at the time. His characters are hopeless, lethal, charming. His voice is, above all, knowing.”—Boston Sunday Globe, about Blood of Victory*Amazon.com ReviewGuest Reviewer: Justin Cronin on Mission to Paris by Alan Furst *Justin Cronin is the New York Times bestselling author of The Passage, Mary and O’Neil (which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize), and The Summer Guest. Other honors for his writing include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Whiting Writers’ Award. A Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Rice University, he divides his time between Houston, Texas, and Cape Code, Massachusetts.*Fans of Alan Furst are a passionate lot, and I count myself among them. Put a group of Furst’s readers in a room, and before long they will be ardently advocating for their favorites (I always come out swinging for The World at Night), only to change their minds, and change them again, as they are reminded of an especially harrowing episode in The Polish Officer, or a perfect turn of phrase in Blood of Victory, or a sumptuous love scene in The Spies of Warsaw.So which of Furst’s novels is his best? In my opinion, it’s an eleven-way tie.Now, make that twelve.Furst’s elegant thrillers of World War II Europe are often grouped with the works Graham Greene and John le Carre for the literary quality of his prose. The comparison is apt, but Furst is really one of a kind: a novelist whose body of work has recast his genre, elevating it to the level of literature. He has a way of getting everything right, putting every sentence to flawless use with a compact, suggestive style. In just a few brush strokes, Furst can capture the essence of a character—man or woman, friend or foe, Gestapo officer or society doyenne—and his ability to evoke a setting makes me weep with envy. Furst’s foggy Paris streets and glittering salons aren’t just places we see; we actually seem to visit them, bathing in their rich atmospheres. When a Furst character steps into a café in the 16th Arrondissment, you can practically smell the Gauloises smoke wafting from the pages.But what truly sets Furst apart is his characters’ alignment with their circumstances. Like every great novelist, he understands that history is an overlay of private lives and public events, and therein lies the richest, most morally edifying human drama. Furst’s protagonists aren’t professional spies. Dashing, yes. Romantic, to be sure. Capable of the bon mot, without doubt. But in their hearts, they are men and women like the rest of us, adrift in the currents of their lives. It’s the exigencies of war, with all its political murk and unlikely gunpoint bedfellows, that ignite them to personal heroism. You can hear them saying, with existential fatalism, “Well, it’s been a marvelous life—wonderful food, sumptuous parties, and surprising nights of love—but I guess it’s over now. I’ll have to become something more. Count me in.”Mission to Paris is trademark Furst, a book not merely to read but to luxuriate in. Vienna-born Fredric Stahl, nee Franz Stalka, is a Hollywood actor of modest renown sent to Paris to star in a French movie named, ironically, “Apres la Guerre” (“After the War”). The year is 1938; Hitler has just taken Czechoslovakia and set his sights on Poland. With his American connections, high profile, and Germanic ancestry, Stahl attracts the interest of the political arm of the Reich’s Foreign Ministry; their goal is to manipulate him into making a public declaration against French rearmament. Initially, all Stahl wants to do is enjoy his time in Paris, where fond memories and sensual adventures await, and finish his film, for which he has high hopes. But he can’t stay on the sidelines for long; the next thing he knows, he’s flying to Berlin to judge a film festival of nakedly propagandist “mountain movies,” with stacks of Swiss francs stuffed inside his suit to purchase Nazi secrets. The night he meets his contact—the glamorous Russian actress Olga Orlova, who proves surprisingly adept with a silencer—Stahl awakens to the smell of smoke and the sound of shattering glass: beyond the windows of his hotel room, Kristallnacht is in full swing.What happens then? Please. I’ve said too much as it is.Suffice to say that for Furst’s legion of the obsessed, the novel is everything we crave and more. And for newcomers—why there should still be any, I simply don’t know—it’s certain to send them back into his rich body of work, hungry for more.Review“This is the romantic Paris to make a tourist weep ... The brilliant historical flourishes seem to create – or recreate – a world ... In Furst’s densely populated books, hundred of minor characters – clerks, chauffeurs, soldiers, whores – all whirl around his heroes in perfect focus for a page or two, then dot by dot, face by face, they vanish, leaving a heartbreaking sense of the vast Homeric epic that was World War II and the smallness of almost every life that was caught up in it.”—*The New York Times Book Review“Alan Furst again shows why he is a grandmaster of the historical espionage genre. Furst not only vividly re-creates the excitement and growing gloom of the City of Light in 1938-39, as war with Nazi Germany looms, but also demonstrates a profound knowledge of the political divisions and cultural sensibilities of that bygone era ... As summer or subway reading goes, it doesn't get more action-packed and grippingly atmospheric than this.”—*The Boston Globe“Between them, Fredric and Paris make this a book no reader will put down to the final page. Furst evokes the city and the prewar anxiety with exquisite tension that is only a bit relieved by Fredric’s encounters with several women, each a vivid and attractive character. Critics compare Furst to Graham Greene and John le Carré, but the time has come for this much-published author (this is his ninth World War II novel after Spies of the Balkans) to occupy his own pinnacle as a master of historical espionage.”*—Library Journal (starred)“Furst conveys a strong sense of the era, when responding to a knock might open the door to the end of one’s days. The novel recalls a time when black and white applied to both movies and moral choices. It’s a tale with wide appeal.”—*Kirkus (starred)“[Furst] is most at home in Paris, which is why legions of his fans, upon seeing only the title of his latest book, will immediately feel pulses quicken ... Furst has been doing this and doing it superbly for a long time now ... Long ago Furst made the jump from genre favorite to mainstream bestsellerdom; returning to his signature setting, Paris, he only stands to climb higher.”—Booklist (starred) “Alan Furst’s writing reminds me of a swim in perfect water on a perfect day, fluid and exquisite. One wants the feeling to go on forever, the book to never end ... Like Graham Greene, Furst creates believable characters caught up, with varying degrees of willingness, in the parade of political life. And because they care, the reader does, too ... Furst is one of the finest spy novelists working today, and, from boudoir to the beach, Mission to Paris is perfect summer reading.”—Publisher’s Weekly“The writing in Mission to Paris, sentence after sentence, page after page, is dazzling. If you are a John le Carré fan, this is definitely a novel for you.”–James Patterson"I am a huge fan of Alan Furst. Furst is the best in the business--the most talented espionage novelist of our generation."—Vince Flynn“Reading Mission to Paris is like sipping a fine Chateau Margaux: Sublime!”—Erik Larson Views: 47
North Africa is in turmoil. The new Libyan president has had the new Egyptian president assassinated, and the latter's widow, Susan Salaam, vows revenge. She enlists the high-tech help of Air Force general Patrick McClanahan and his Night Stalkers. But the Libyans, and their scheming secret allies, hold a trump card-one with a deeply personal meaning for McClanahan-and it may be one that will leave even the Night Stalkers powerless… Views: 47
Sometimes it takes a stranger to see you as you really are.Born and raised on sprawling Texas land, Margaret O’Brien prides herself on her competence as a rancher. But her father believes she’s made for more than just dawn-to-dusk work. He wants her to have the love of a good man, to raise children, to build a life. But Margaret gave up such dreams years ago. She’s convinced no man would have her, that the ranch is her life now.So when Margaret’s father hires Daniel Cutler as a new foreman, she’s frustrated and suspicious. Then an overheard conversation links him with a gang of bank robbers, and she’s downright worried. Daniel swears he’s not involved, but Margaret’s not convinced. She knows the man still has secrets. But would a criminal be so kind and talk so convincingly of his faith? As a series of tragic “accidents” threatens all she holds dear, Margaret must decide what to trust: her own ears, her best judgment . . . or what her heart keeps telling her.From the author of the best-selling Blue Moon Promise . . . an exciting tale of danger, romance, and faith played out under Texas stars.“Romantically tense, but with just the right touch of danger, this cowboy love story is surprisingly clever—and pleasingly sweet.” —USAToday.com for Blue Moon PromiseAbout the AuthorRITA-finalist Colleen Coble is the author of several best-selling romantic suspense novels, including Tidewater Inn and the Mercy Falls, Lonestar, and Rock Harbor series.
Sometimes it takes a stranger to see you as you really are.Born and raised on sprawling Texas land, Margaret O’Brien prides herself on her competence as a rancher. But her father believes she’s made for more than just dawn-to-dusk work. He wants her to have the love of a good man, to raise children, to build a life. But Margaret gave up such dreams years ago. She’s convinced no man would have her, that the ranch is her life now.So when Margaret’s father hires Daniel Cutler as a new foreman, she’s frustrated and suspicious. Then an overheard conversation links him with a gang of bank robbers, and she’s downright worried. Daniel swears he’s not involved, but Margaret’s not convinced. She knows the man still has secrets. But would a criminal be so kind and talk so convincingly of his faith? As a series of tragic “accidents” threatens all she holds dear, Margaret must decide what to trust: her own ears, her best judgment . . . or what her heart keeps telling her.From the author of the best-selling Blue Moon Promise . . . an exciting tale of danger, romance, and faith played out under Texas stars.“Romantically tense, but with just the right touch of danger, this cowboy love story is surprisingly clever—and pleasingly sweet.” —USAToday.com for Blue Moon PromiseAbout the AuthorRITA-finalist Colleen Coble is the author of several bestselling romantic suspense series, including the Mercy Falls, Lonestar, and Rock Harbor series. She lives with her husband, Dave, in Indiana. Views: 47
In the English village of Beckworth, the local residents live in fear. Five houses have been defaced with the same graffiti. A grotesquely leering gargoyle’s head on the the front door. The vandalism is blamed on the ‘Bedworth Bruisers’, a gang of local youths who notoriously terrorise newcomers to the village. As the marked houses becomes targets for break-ins and theft, Detective Chief Inspector Webb steps in. When the body of Carol Dexter, who has just moved from London, is found floating in a pond, Webb can’t help but note that her door was also marked by this strange symbol. It seems to act as a warning...or as a target... With three more houses marked, DCI Webb must consider whether murder is the meaning behind the symbols on the doors. Or is it something even stranger... 'Symbols At Your Door' is a compelling crime thriller that will keep readers gripped from the first page to the last. Praise for Anthea Fraser: “A superbly crafted, riveting, page-turner of a read" - Booklist “Ms Fraser is her dependable elegant, guileful self withholding the killer's identity till a dying fall" - Sunday Times 'A well-mannered, well-plotted and well-told story' - Birmingham Post 'Sympathetic, well-executed book, in which full attention is paid to human feelings and failings' - Yorkshire Post ANTHEA FRASER has written all her life but did not begin to take it seriously until after marriage, when she found herself at home with two small daughters and embarked on a correspondence course with the London School of Journalism. She wrote short stories before turning to novels of the supernatural, and then to crime. Her other books include ‘Pretty Maids all in a Row’, ‘Eleven Who Went Up to Heaven’, The Ten Commandments’, ‘The Seven Stars’ and ‘One is One and All Alone’. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books. ** Views: 47
When Veil Kendry was born, a brain infection almost ended his life. Surviving that illness has left him with a power that is both a blessing and a curse. Veil dreams with a clarity unknown to normal people; his dreams bring him to the edges of time and infinity---and to the minds of other men. Veil left his career in the CIA to become a painter, an artist whose landscapes are of another place...usually unseen, totally unknown. He has volunteered to undergo tests at the Institute for Human Studies, and now someone there is trying to kill him. Veil's background has left him with enemies, both inside the Agency and out. He doesn't know where the threat is coming from. He does know that the U.S. Army shares land with the Institute, and that some of the investigations going on there have nothing to do with psychic research but with something perhaps more important---those persons known as the Lazarus People. The Lazarus People are those who were clinically dead, but who have returned to life with stories of another place---the place of Veil's painted landscapes. The place where Veil's final battle will be fought. Views: 47
M.J. Holliday and her crew interrupt the frantic schedule of their reality TV show, Ghoul Getters, and hotfoot it to New Mexico, where a dreadful demon is waging tribal warfare. Same Whitefeather- M.J.'s spirit guide-urgently needs her help to stop this evil spirit from wiping out the descendants of his tribe. It doesn't take a psychic to predict that M.J.'s going to have a devil of a time making New Mexico a demon-free zone. Views: 47
A BLOODY MESSAGE
As DI Nicola Tanner investigates what appears to be a series of organised killings, her partner Susan is brutally murdered, leaving the detective bereft, and vengeful.
A POWERFUL ALLY
Taken off the case, Tanner enlists the help of DI Tom Thorne to pursue a pair of ruthless killers and the broker handing out the deadly contracts.
A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE
As the killers target their latest victim, Thorne takes the biggest risk of his career and is drawn into a horrifying and disturbing world in which families will do anything to protect their honour.
From number one bestseller Mark Billingham comes a masterful, intense crime novel that pits DI Tom Thorne against an evil beyond comprehension, yet shockingly real.
** Views: 47
The second novel in the award-nominated Byron Tibor series. Having fled his home in New York, and still hunted by the Federal government, special forces veteran Byron is forced to intervene when he stumbles across unsettling events in a small Texas border town. The first novel in the series, Post, is nominated for the 2015 International Thriller Writers' Awards to be held in New York on July 11th.
**Review
"Byron Tibor is not an ordinary ex-veteran; he is one that underwent an a programme which involved the US Government inserting an implant into their best soldiers to create a 'guilt free and enhanced' soldier. No doubt some will be rolling their eyes (as I was when I read the synopsis to Post, Book 1) however there is so much more to these stories and the character that you are compelled to keep reading. This element of the story hasn't been overdone and is balanced with fantastic writing and characters you like.
I have been an avid fan of the Ryan Lock series that Sean Black writes but Byron Tibor is practically matching it for the love of the series now. I think what makes this refreshing is that Byron doesn't always make the right choices, and in this latest instalment we see even the toughest lead characters in situations even they can't fix. The different plot threads that unravel are intriguing and full of tension and I just wanted to read on and see what happens next top Byron.
I know that many well-known writers have their loyal fans such as Peter James, Lee Child, Mark Billingham and the like. However, I truly think that Sean Black is one of THE most underrated authors out there. He continues to write brilliant book after brilliant book (no I'm not on his Payroll!). I just think it's a shame that people automatically choose the more mainstream authors and never glance outside of that. I truly hope that if you haven't read a Sean Black before you debate picking one up, I don't think anybody would be disappointed!" BEST CRIME BOOKS BLOG
About the Author
To research the Ryan Lock series of thrillers, Sean Black has trained as a bodyguard in the UK and Eastern Europe, spent time inside America's most dangerous Supermax prison, Pelican Bay in California, undergone desert survival training in Arizona, and ventured into the tunnels under Las Vegas. The Ryan Lock books have been translated into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portugese, Russian, and Spanish. Views: 47
