A timely and topical thriller which looks at the seedy back dealings of criminals and the police. A terrifically fast-paced novel that has you hooked from the first chapter with a captivating central female lead who you can?t help rooting for. Join Marie Donovan as she races for the truth? As a covert officer specialising in ?deep cover? operations, Marie Donovan works amongst the most dangerous criminals in Manchester. It?s a precarious life that puts Marie on the edge of the law. When she begins an affair with Jake Morton, an informer due to give evidence against crime lord Jeff Kerridge, Marie knows she?s breaking a cardinal rule. Yet just as she comes to her senses and puts an end to their relationship, Morton is murdered. Suddenly Marie?s undercover role is exposed and only one thing is certain ? she can TRUST NO ONE. An addictive read for fans of P.J.Tracey and Peter Robinson. Views: 24
Ex-CIA agent turned suburban scout leader, Merry Wrath, is just trying to live a normal, quiet life. But all that goes out the window when a convicted traitor (who's inconveniently not in his prison cell) dies on her doorstep, and an obese cat, who bears a disturbing resemblance to Hitler, decides to move in. To make things worse, it's time for the annual troop cookie sale, her new boyfriend's old college flame shows up to win him back, and someone's shooting at Merry in the frozen foods section of the grocery store. Is the assassin after her or the cat? Is Riley, her hot former CIA handler, hitting on her? Is Rex, her boyfriend, going to dump her? Will she sell enough cookies to take her troop to Winter Sniper Camp? If Merry doesn't find answer to these questions soon, it may be too late! Views: 24
From Publishers Weekly Just one look at Coben's latest stand-alone thriller (after No Second Chance) highlights the author's customary strengths (swift pacing, strong lead characters) but also his weaknesses, including limited originality and, in this case, a plot so complicated that many final pages are devoted to sorting it out. The premise is simple enough: suburban housewife Grace Lawson collects some pictures at the local Photomat; inexplicably, one is an old print depicting her husband, Jack, with other college students; when Grace shows the photo to Jack, he drives away-and disappears. Grace's hunt for her missing husband, whom we learn has been kidnapped (but why? and Coben fans will note that the author's last novel also hinged on a kidnapped family member), sweeps her back into a nightmare she thought she'd escaped: the evening years ago when she survived a rock concert rampage, occasioned by a shooting that left many dead. Meanwhile, Eric Wu, a-dare we say?-inscrutable martial-arts killer who has snatched Jack for reasons unknown, menaces assorted folk. Eventually Grace, aided by a Gotti-like mobster whose child was killed in the rampage, gloms on to Wu, as well as on to Jack's sister, a high-powered attorney who, it turns out, is representing the guy who started the rampage by firing his gun. Only he didn't start the rampage after all, and then there's the rock star who vanished after the shooting and resultant mayhem-what's he now doing on Grace's doorstep? This is all as complicated as a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle and about as hard to figure out, although in the midst of the murk there are some wonderful character touches. Coben can write thrillers that lift readers off their seats; this one, alas, will have them slumping. From Booklist If the trick of suspense writing is to get readers to identify so passionately with the beleaguered principal character that they disappear into the story, feeling the knife points of tension themselves, then Coben is the Houdini of the form. Coben, who has won the Trifecta of mystery writing-the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus Awards-likes to burst the bubble of suburban security by having his characters' well-ordered, happy lives upended in ways that mirror readers' fears. In his four stand-alone thrillers, the past comes back to bite or haunt the protagonist, or the present vanishes in one fatal moment. In this latest excursion into the dark, a suburban mother finds one picture that does not belong in the pack of family outing photos she's just picked up. The picture, showing a group of college students, seems as if it was taken 20 years ago. One of the group looks like her husband. A girl in the group has an X drawn across her face. When Mrs. Happily Married shows the picture to her husband, he seems shaken, then leaves home. Coben ratchets up the suspense of the wife trying to find her husband with another drama, that of a serial killer in the neighborhood. A tragic accident from the woman's past intersects with her husband's secrets and the movements of the killer in ways that are satisfyingly creepy. Views: 24
John Jordan returns to search for an escaped prisoner, a shocking murderer, and a sadist forcing his victims violate themselves--all while trying to take care of his family, friends, and the members of his very errant flock. Witness the 6th entry in what Florida Weekly called "a treasure of contemporary literature--suspenseful, provocative, and unsettling," and bestselling author Julia Spencer-Fleming says is "one of the most ambitious and unusual crime fiction series going. Read this and see what crime fiction is capable of." Views: 24
Jessie Black is a rising star at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. But all of her abilities will be put to the test when Frank Ramsey, a brutal serial murderer and rapist she successfully prosecuted over a year ago, petitions the court for a new trial.
Public defender Jack Ackerman represented Ramsey at his first trial. Beating him had not been easy. That was before his spectacular public breakdown, which saw him singing and dancing in open court and resulted in his commitment to a mental institution mere weeks after Ramsey's guilty verdict.
Now, Ramsey may have a chance at a new trial based on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. To stop Ramsey, Jessie will need to defend a defense attorney she never liked, and prove that he's not crazy--a fact she's far from sure of. A new trial would devastate Kristen Dillard, the teenage girl whose life Ramsey shattered and the only witness to his horrific crimes. And to make matters worse, powerful forces are hellbent on putting Ramsey back on the street for their own mysterious purposes, and won't let anyone--including a prosecutor--stand in their way.
Will one lawyer's nervous breakdown set a killer free? For Jessie, this fight will be the toughest of her career, and one she's not willing to lose. Views: 24
AMISH COUNTRY DANGER Returning to her Amish hometown to open a bed-and-breakfast, Heather Miller thinks she's finally safe from her violent ex-husband—until he escapes from prison. Now with her ex determined to hurt her, she must rely on US Marshal Zachary Walker for safety. For Zach, this mission isn't only his duty—it's personal. The escaped convict killed his sister, and Heather was instrumental in putting the man behind bars. But with Zach's natural protective instincts toward Heather turning into something deeper, he must keep his emotional distance. He can't be distracted, because the danger that lies in wait is as evil as it is unexpected...and a lapse in judgment could prove deadly. Views: 24
One of the greatest of all horror writers, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) also composed pioneering tales that seized upon the scientific developments of an era marked by staggering change. In this collection of sixteen stories, he explores such wide-ranging contemporary themes as galvanism, time travel and resurrection of the dead. 'The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfall' relates a man's balloon journey to the moon with a combination of scientific precision and astonishing fantasy. Elsewhere, the boundaries between horror and science are elegantly blurred in stories such as 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar', while the great essay 'Eureka' outlines Poe's own interpretation of the universe. Powerfully influential on later authors including Jules Verne, these works are essential reading for anyone wishing to trace the genealogy of science fiction, or to understand the complexity of Poe's own creative vision** Views: 24
