PLAYMATE OF THE DAYJack Ryan has a man's fists, a boy's mind, and the cunning of an ex-con. Nancy Hayes has a woman's sleek moves and the instincts of a shark. Now, in a Michigan resort town, a rich man wants Jack gone and Nancy for himself.For Ryan the choice is clear: Nancy's promises of pleasure, her crazy, thrill-seeking schemes of breaking into homes, shooting guns, and maybe stealing a whole lot of money are driving him half mad. But there's one thing Ryan doesn't know yet: his new playmate is planning the deadliest thrill of all.Razor-sharp and wholly unpredictable, The Big Bounce is an Elmore Leonard classic--a sly, beguiling story of a man, a woman, and a nasty little crime. Views: 58
Best-selling poet Sophie Hannah returns with a wonderful collection of poems that explore and celebrate strong feelings: love, hate, anger, hope - and which strip away the veils of hypocrisy and pretence from all aspects of everyday life. From relationships to the world of work, motherhood and marriage, Sophie Hannah tells it how it is in her own inimitable style. Funny and moving, these poems combine traditional form and rhyme with a contemporary take on modern life that simultaneously raises a smile and provides thoughts to linger over. This collection also include A Woman's Life and Loves, eight poems set to music by the composer Gabriel Jackson that form a song cycle originally concieved as a contemporary and feminist response to the Schumann song cycle. Sophie Hannah's first book was greeted with amazement. The Poetry Review declared, 'Shall I put it in capitals? SOPHIE HANNAH IS A GENIUS.' Each subsequent collection has been formally more inventive, thematically more... Views: 58
The novel that launched the astonishing career of one of the 20th century's greatest writers of action and suspense -- an acclaimed classic of heroism and the sea in World War II. Now reissued in a new cover style. The story of men who rose to heroism, and then to something greater, HMS Ulysses takes its place alongside The Caine Mutiny and The Cruel Sea as one of the classic novels of the navy at war. It is the compelling story of Convoy FR77 to Murmansk -- a voyage that pushes men to the limits of human endurance, crippled by enemy attack and the bitter cold of the Arctic. Views: 58
In New Orleans' historic Garden District, life is all about attending the right parties, impressing the right people, and making the right amount of money (a lot!). It's an attitude fifty-nine-year-old Charlotte LaRue has never really understood. She leads a quiet, simple, practical life. Business is booming at her housecleaning service Maid-for-a-Day. Everything's perfect. Well, almost everything... Views: 58
From Publishers WeeklyIn this solid sequel to Hominids (2002), the much-praised first volume in Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, which introduced an alternate Earth where for reasons unknown our species, Homo sapiens, went extinct and Neanderthals flourished, Neanderthal physicist Ponder Boddit brings Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan back to his world to explore the near-utopian civilization of the Neanderthals. Boddit serves as a Candide figure, the naive visitor whose ignorance about our society makes him a perfect tool to analyze human tendencies toward violence, over-population and environmental degradation. The Neanderthals have developed a high artistic, ethical and scientific culture without ever inventing farming-they're still hunters and gatherers-and this allows the author to make some interesting and generally unrecognized points about the downside of the discovery of agriculture. Much of the novel is devoted to either the discussion of ideas such as these or to Boddit and Vaughan's developing love affair. Sawyer keeps things moving by throwing in an attempted assassination, his protagonists' confrontation with a rapist and, on a larger scale, the growing danger of what appears to be the imminent reversal of Earth's magnetic field. As the middle volume in a trilogy, this book doesn't entirely stand on its own, but it is extremely well done. When complete, the Neanderthal Parallax should add significantly to Sawyer's reputation. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistPonter Boddit, the Neanderthal physicist thrown into the human world in Hominids [BKL Je 1&15 02], is relieved to be back in his own safe, unpolluted, thoughtfully governed universe, though he misses his human friend, Mary Vaughn, who in her world has been offered a plum research position. Glad to leave the Canadian university at which she was brutally raped, she misses Ponter and worries that, because she never reported her attacker, other women remain at risk. Both universes' governments can't decide whether to permit travel between them, but Ponter forces the question by assembling a first ambassadorial party, though as it happens, he goes on ahead of it. He then persuades Mary to visit his world, where she faces aspects of Neanderthal culture that disturb her, such as Ponter's male lover, Adikor, and near-total male-female segregation. Then another woman is raped on Mary's former campus. Look for the further volume about Ponter and Mary that disquieting ramifications of the interaction of the alternate worlds and their magnetic fields portends. Roberta JohnsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 58
From Publishers WeeklyBestseller Harris's exciting third Harper Connelly mystery (after 2006's Grave Surprise) finds the psychic sleuth faced with her most challenging and heartbreaking job to date: locating the bodies of runaway boys who the people of Doraville, N.C., suspect have become victims of a serial killer. After Harper locates eight long-dead bodies, much to the surprise of skeptical Sheriff Sandra Rockwell, a mysterious figure attacks Harper. Though all Harper wants is to go home and recover from her injuries, the local authorities and State Bureau of Investigation agents demand that she stay in town to help with their investigation. The cold case heats up fast, attracting media attention as well as Harper's friends, ailing psychic Xylda Bernardo and her doting grandson, Manfred, who make another gruesome discovery. Harper's changing relationship with her stepbrother, manager and confidant, Tolliver Lang, lends personal interest. Harris dependably delivers fear with charming down-home finesse. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistAfter being struck by lightning as a teenager, Harper Connelly has developed the unique ability to find the dead and see how they died. She and her stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, run a business in which they travel the country assisting law-enforcement personnel and family members of the dead. In her third case, Harper is hired by a woman to find her missing grandson. In fact, numerous teenage boys have disappeared from Doraville, North Carolina. Harper finds the bodies, but still reeling from coming into contact with her first serial killer, she is attacked and injured. She stays in Doraville to recover and assist in the investigation. Harris' series makes the most of its unusual premise, using the paranormal elements to good effect. She has also created a winning heroine; Harper is a caring person who gives closure to victims' families often at great cost to herself as she deals with the skepticism of the law-enforcement community. Her developing relationship with Tolliver grows and changes in this installment. Sue O'Brien Views: 58
An intriguing mystery from this popular author - James Markham jilts his fiance for a woman about whom he appears to know very little. Callum Firbank has always been evasive about his childhood, and his wife realises she knows little about her husbands upbringing or family. Jill Irving has everything she could wish for, but she, too, has secrets in her past. What links these three very different people, and who is the mysterious stranger whose appearance in their lives seems to cause such terror? Views: 58
When Frank and Joe set out to explore caves and tunnels, they dig themselves into some dark and dangerous trouble in this Hardy Boys adventure.When a sinkhole opens up and swallows one of Bayport’s historic statues, Frank and Joe suspect something—or someone—shady at play. They jump at the chance to investigate; Joe as a member of an urban exploration club, and Frank as photographer for the school paper. But in the thick of their search, the boys stumble upon an entire underground city that’s been abandoned for years. Now the city is home to a cultish band of criminals who plan to take over Bayport. Frank and Joe are determined to shut down the crooks, but after being barreled down by a boulder and nearly squashed by a runaway train, they have to wonder: are they in over their heads? Views: 58
