Four bodies, each with a single bullet wound in the back of the head, stacked like cordwood in a weed-choked vacant lot: That’s the front-page news facing Carter Ross, investigative reporter with the Newark Eagle-Examiner. Immediately dispatched to the scene, Carter learns that the four victims—an exotic dancer, a drug dealer, a hustler, and a mama’s boy—came from different parts of the city and didn’t seem to know one another. The police, eager to calm jittery residents, leak a theory that the murders are revenge for a bar stickup, and Carter’s paper, hungry for a scoop, hastily prints it. Carter doesn’t come from the streets, but he understands a thing or two about Newark’s neighborhoods. And he knows there are no quick answers when dealing with a crime like this. Determined to uncover the true story, he enlists the aide of Tina Thompson, the paper’s smoking-hot city editor, to run interference at the office; Tommy Hernandez, the paper’s gay Cuban intern, to help him with legwork on the streets; and Tynesha Dales, a local stripper, to take him to Newark’s underside. It turns out that the four victims have one connection after all, and this knowledge will put Carter on the path of one very ambitious killer.Faces of the Gone won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel and the Nero Award for Best American Mystery--it is the first book to receive both awards. The book was named to lists of the year's best mystery debuts by the Chicago Sun-Times and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. From Publishers WeeklyParks's entertaining debut introduces an appealing hero, 31-year-old investigative reporter Carter Ross of the Newark (N.J.) Eagle-Examiner. When the bodies of four men, each with a single bullet wound in the back of the head, turn up in a vacant lot, Ross doesn't buy the police theory that the quadruple homicide was the result of a bar robbery gone bad. Despite his white upper-class background, Ross works the streets well, if not fearlessly, in his search for a link among the victims. Parks ratchets up the tension by occasionally interjecting the viewpoint of the Director, who orchestrated the slayings. Colorful supporting characters plus Ross's grit and determination keep the story moving at a good clip. Parks, a former print journalist himself, knows his way around a newsroom as the laments for the newspaper industry and the digs at TV reporters attest. Readers are likely to figure out the shadowy Director's identity before the intrepid reporter, but this is a quibble. (Dec.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThe murder of a single drug dealer in Newark, New Jersey, barely registers as news; but four bodies, shot execution style in a weedy Newark vacant lot, even attracts the New York media. Carter Ross, investigative reporter for the Newark Eagle-Examiner, begins to pound the pavement, uncovering information that even the cops haven’t found. Then Carter’s modest bungalow in a Newark suburb is bombed, and Carter himself becomes the primary target of the Director, a megalomaniac drug kingpin. Faces of the Gone is an engaging but uneven debut novel by a former reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger. Parks’ writing is graceful and often gripping, and he creates a handful of vivid characters, both journalists and their sources. His portraits of the city and its drug trade, the newspaper, and Carter’s journalistic techniques all sound knowing, though it’s odd that he chose to invent a new federal agency, the National Drug Bureau. Plotting remains something of a problem; his red herrings, in particular, have passed their sell-by date. Still, this could develop into a solid series. --Thomas Gaughan Views: 49
Chelsea Adams has visions. But they have no place in a courtroom. As a juror for a murder trial, Chelsea must rely only on the evidence. And this circumstantial evidence is strong---Darren Welk killed his wife. Or did he? The trial is a nightmare for Chelsea. The other jurors belittle her Christian faith. As testimony unfolds, truth and secrets blur. Chelsea's visiting niece stumbles into peril surrounding the case, and Chelsea cannot protect her. God sends visions---frightening, vivid. But what do they mean? Even as Chelsea finds out, what can she do? She is helpless, and danger is closing in. . . . Masterfully crafted, Dread Champion is a novel in which appearances can deceive and the unknown can transform the meaning of known facts. One man's guilt or innocence is just a single link in a chain of hidden evil . . . and God uses the unlikeliest of people to accomplish his purposes. Views: 49
With fugitive parents, a brother dodging loan sharks, a hunky cop who's made her outlaw family his business, and her ex-fiancé back in the picture, Carlotta Wren thought her life couldn't get any more complicated. And then…
Her fugitive parents phone home.
Her identity is stolen by a look-alike.
Her look-alike is found, well…dead.
Under suspicion for murder, Carlotta discovers that her devious double might have been bumped off accidentally�and that she could be the real target! Throw in dealing with her motley crew of family, friends and wannabe lovers, and Carlotta begins to think that jail isn't such a bad alternative after all…. Views: 49
Book 1 in the Phoenix Agency series.For Faith and Mark, the telepathic connection they'd shared for years was nothing compared to the scorching physical connection they realized as adults. From the first moment they came together, "erotic" was too pale a word to describe their relationship. Together they explored each other's deepest, darkest desires.But now Mark, survivor of an ambush to his Delta Force team, is a prisoner of a terrorist group in the Peruvian jungle, and his telepathic communication with Faith is his only contact with the world. While she searches for help to save him, they survive on dreams that take them beyond all sexual boundaries.Publisher’s Note: This story was previously published elsewhere under the title Always On My Mind and has been revised for Ellora’s Cave. Views: 49
Award-Winning and Bestselling Author Jen Talty
Lacy DeGeorgio never imagined she'd have to be responsible for anyone but herself. She's strong, stubborn and fiercely independent. She needs no one. She's a woman determined to do things her way, on her own. But when a freak boating accident takes her sister Hannah's life, Lacy finds herself not only back in her hometown of Lake George, New York, but in a custody battle for her eleven-year-old nephew, Andy. Just when things couldn't get any worse, pesky State Trooper Frank Harmon starts showing up, tearing down all her defenses, making her want things she's never wanted before. She'll trust him with her nephew, but can she trust him with her heart?
New York State Trooper Frank Harmon is a man of honor and duty. He's always done things by the book, believing the law always works in favor of those who uphold it. Until the day he took a domestic disturbance call at the DeGeorgio trailer, and even though he knew something bad was about to happen, he had to walk away. Two days later, he pulled Hannah DeGeorgio's body from the icy cold waters of Lake George, changing his life forever. He sets out to make sure Hannah's killer is brought to justice and in the process makes a home for a family he thought he never wanted. Views: 49
Ryan has been an under cover narcotics cop for so long, he can’t remember what it’s like not to jump at shadows. But when a dark haired beauty shows up claiming that she was hired by his brother to track him down, she’s jeopardized his cover and put both their lives in danger from one of the most powerful Mexican drug lords. Now they need a quiet place to hide and his cousin’s farm just might be the safest place in Texas.** Views: 49
Christmas Past by Debra WebbAfter a tragic mountain-climbing accident changed his life forever, NASCAR driver Jason Fewell hasn't been himself, on or off the track. So he heads into the wilderness to face his worst fears—and miraculously finds the one woman who can make him whole again. If only she didn't have secrets of her own. Views: 49
