"In the form of a crackling thriller, Felony Murder explores the murky areas of right and wrong when the cops become a law unto themselves. Klempner's fast-paced page-turner is more than entertainment . . . He writes with power, color, and compassion. . . . Felony Murder takes you through the tawdry, real-life criminal justice system where you cannot tell the cops from the crooks."- William KunstlerOn the surface, the court-appointed case that lands on young Dean Abernathy's desk is a biggie; he is slated to defend a homeless man accused of the felony murder of the popular black New York City Police commissioner during an early-morning mugging attempt. But at second look, the case promises to be a routine conviction. The evidence is overwhelming. The police have come up with an eyewitness, they have physical evidence, and Joey Spadafino has given the arresting officers a signed confession.Dean's course seems obvious: Get Joe Spadafino, an ex-con, to plead guilty,... Views: 37
His code name is Phate -- a sadistic computer hacker who infiltrates people's computers, invades their lives, and with chilling precision lures them to their deaths. To stop him, the authorities free imprisoned former hacker Wyatt Gillette to aid the investigation. Teamed with old-school homicide detective Frank Bishop, Gillette must combine their disparate talents to catch a brilliant and merciless killer.Amazon.com ReviewIn this 21st century version of the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," two computer wizards engage in the kind of high-tech combat that only a hacker could love. Wyatt Gillette, a cybergenius who's never used his phenomenal talent for evil, is sitting in a California jail doing time for a few harmless computer capers when he gets a temporary reprieve--a chance to help the Computer Crimes Unit of the state police nail a cracker (a criminally inclined hacker) called Phate who's using his ingenious program, Trapdoor, to lure innocent victims to their death by infiltrating their computers. Gillette and Phate were once the kings of cyberspace--the Blue Nowhere of the title--but Phate has gone way past the mischievous electronic pranks they once pulled and crossed over to the dark side. While Trapdoor can hack its way into any computer, it's Phate's skill at "social engineering" as well as his remarkable coding ability that makes him such a menace to society. As Wyatt explains to the policeman who springs him from prison so that he can find and stop Phate before he kills again, "It means conning somebody, pretending you're someone you're not. Hackers do it to get access to data bases and phone lines and pass codes. The more facts about somebody you can feed back to them, the more they believe you and the more they'll do what you want them to."Bestselling author Jeffery Deaver (The Empty Chair, The Devil's Teardrop) ratchets up the suspense one line of code at a time; his terrific pacing drives the narrative to a thrilling and explosive conclusion. This thriller is bound to induce paranoia in anyone who still believes he can hide his deepest secrets from anyone with the means, motive, and modem to ferret them out. --Jane AdamsFrom Publishers WeeklyHow do you write a truly gripping thriller about people staring into computer screens? Many have tried, none have succeeded until now. Leave it to Deaver, the most clever plotter on the planet, to do it by simply applying the same rules of suspense to onscreen action as to offscreen. Much of the action in this novel about the hunt for an outlaw hacker turned homicidal maniac does takes place in the real world, but much else plays out in cyberspace as a team of California homicide and computer crime cops chase the infamous "wizard" hacker known as Phate. The odds run against the cops. With his skills, Phate can not only change identities at will (a knack known as "social engineering" in hacking parlance) but can manipulate all computerized records about himself. The cops have a wizard of their own, however: a former online companion of Phate's, a hacker doing time for having allegedly cracked the Department of Defense's encryption program. He's Wyatt Gillette, coveting Pop-Tarts (the hacker's meal of choice) and computers, but also the wife he lost when he went to prison and it's his tortured personality that gives this novel its heart as Wyatt is sprung from prison, but only for as long as it takes to track down Phate. The mad hacker, meanwhile, no longer able to discern between the virtual and the real, has adapted a notorious online role-playing game to the world of flesh and blood, with innocent humans as his prey. As he twists suspense and tension to gigahertz levels, Deaver springs an astonishing number of surprises on the reader: Who is Phate's accomplice? What are Wyatt's real motives? Who is the traitor among the cops? His real triumph, though, is to make the hacker world come alive in all its midnight, reality-cracking intensity. This novel is, in hacker lingo, "totally moby" the most exciting, and most vivid, fiction yet about the neverland hackers call "the blue nowhere." Agent, Sterling Lord Literistic. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Views: 37
Jesse Burrell's passion for life was extinguished the day his son died. Years later, it was rekindled by an internationally famous model, her own heart shattered by the death of her brother. Noted Western movie actor Alex Cord bares his soul in this modern Western tale of love and passion. Views: 36
Billions of years ago, humans abandoned their cradle and are now scattered across the galaxies. But the legends speak of a time when the sun threatened to burn away the inner worlds of the solar system when it became a red giant, and a remnant of mankind returned to Earth from the farthest stars to install a machine to move humanity’s cradle out of danger.Since then, the remnant communities built settlements in the cracked and broken slopes of the old continental plates, exposed to the elements when the Earth was moved. Now nestled in the outer reaches of the solar system, Earth faces a new challenge—the sun has begun to collapse into a white dwarf. As the sun grows smaller and the world gets colder, the quest for the mythical machine that can move the planet closer to the fading sun becomes a race to save the planet from final extinction."Blending steampunk, fantasy, and science fiction concepts, 'Of Machines & Magics' is a riveting read that is hard to put down." —The Midwest Book Review"An engrossing Steampunk quest to save our dying future planet. Fresh off selection as a finalist in the Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now contest, Adele Abbot is a writer to watch!"—David B. Coles, Author, The Tourist and The Last Free Men"Adele Abbot has a new take on past and future history alike. A fascinating and refreshing view which has a great filmic quality to it. Echoes of Terry Pratchett, perhaps?"— Jack Everett, Author, 1/1: Jihad-Britain and The Faces of ImmortalityAbout the AuthorADELE ABBOT graduated from Manchester University, where she majored in law. Her interest in Fantasy was first fired when she came across the Lyonesse series by Jack Vance. Working backwards from there, Adele discovered Vance’s earlier works, including the Dying Earth series, and was immediately fascinated by the way violence and evil could be hidden behind beautiful prose or absurd situations.After several false starts and plenty of encouragement from friends and family, she began writing her first book, Of Machines & Magics. While shopping for a publisher, Adele began work on another fantasy, Postponing Armageddon, which she entered in the “Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now” contest for aspiring debut novelists, sponsored by Sir Terry Pratchett and Transworld Publishers. Out of more than five hundred entries, Postponing Armageddon reached the prize shortlist of just six novels.In addition to pursuing a writing career, Ms. Abbot is a full-time law partner by day. She currently resides in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom with her son. Find out more at her website, www.adeleabbot.info. Views: 36
Handsome, dashing Henry Wright, the Duke of Westerland, needed a wife in a desperately short period of time. If he could not find a wife, he would lose the legacy he so desperately desired. Young, lovely but sheltered Miss Frederica Sayers needed a husband just as much as Henry Wright needed a wife, only she needed a husband to save her from the life of shame that almost certainly awaited her when she fled the callous cruelty of her family. Marriage between the dashing lord and this reckless runaway was clearly the answer for both of them - until the duke discovered he had a duchess he could not tame and the duchess found that she would rather lose her until then spotless reputation than lose him to another beautiful woman who was everything she was not. Views: 36
Emmy has been through tough times these past couple of months. First was the death of her old friend, Annabeth. And then she and Daniel broke up—and things haven’t been the same since. She didn’t know what to do with her life, and she didn’t know if there was any chance for their businesses to come back on top.Then she receives an invitation to a party from Frank Albert Holt—a man she doesn’t even know. She wonders why she got invited to the party but decides to go. Then she realizes that Frank is actually a guy who could change her life—for better or for worse. Meeting Frank takes Emmy into an adventure of the unknown, and she begins to question herself more than she ever did before... Views: 36
It’s 1727. Tom Hawkins is damned if he’s going to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a country parson. Not for him a quiet life of prayer and propriety. His preference is for wine, women, and cards. But there’s a sense of honor there too, and Tom won’t pull family strings to get himself out of debt—not even when faced with the appalling horrors of London’s notorious debtors’ prison: The Marshalsea Gaol.Within moments of his arrival in the Marshalsea, Hawkins learns there’s a murderer on the loose, a ghost is haunting the gaol, and that he’ll have to scrounge up the money to pay for his food, bed, and drink. He’s quick to accept an offer of free room and board from the mysterious Samuel Fleet—only to find out just hours later that it was Fleet’s last roommate who turned up dead. Tom’s choice is clear: get to the truth of the murder—or be the next to die.Review"Historical fiction just doesn’t get any better than this. A riveting, fast-paced story…Magnificent!" —Jeffery Deaver, author of the bestselling The Kill Room and Edge"Antonia Hodgson’s London of 1727 offers that rare achievement in historical fiction: a time and place suspensefully different from our own, yet real. The Devil in the Marshalsea reminds us at every turn that we ourselves may not have evolved far from its world of debtors and creditors, crime and generosity, appetite and pathos. A damn’d good read." —Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian and The Swan Thieves"A wonderfully convincing picture of the seamier side of 18th-century life. The narrative whips along. Antonia Hodgson has a real feel for how people thought and spoke at the time—and, God knows, that’s a rare talent." —Andrew Taylor, author of An Unpardonable Crime and The Four Last ThingsAbout the AuthorAntonia Hodgson is the editor in chief of Little, Brown UK. She lives in London and can see the last fragments of the old city wall from her living room. The Devil in the Marshalsea is her first novel. Views: 36
