From the Foreword by J.A. Konrath: "Crouch is one of the best thriller short story writers I know. He uses words like an artist uses a paintbrush; to hurt, to stun, to shock, to provoke, to touch. This collection also features my very favorite short story of all time. Not just my favorite by Crouch, but the best one I've ever read by anyone. It's called "Unconditional." It is flat-out brilliant and unforgettable, and that one tale is worth the price of this entire collection." From the author of DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS comes this complete collection of short stories and novellas. *69 - Tim and Laura West receive a bizarre voicemail on their answering machine that seems to have unintentionally recorded a brutal murder. But what happens when the killer realizes their mistake? This story develops over one terrifying evening, and this young couple will never be the same. REMAKING - Tragic events unfold in a snowy, sleepy Colorado town. From the first scene, in which a man sits alone in the cold, watching a father and son in a diner, you know something is about to go horribly wrong. You may think you know what's happening, but in this thrilling, heartbreaking story, nothing is as it seems. ON THE GOOD, RED ROAD - A group of four hard men trying to reach a remote 19th Century mining town become stranded in an early blizzard and resort to drastic, terrifying measures, to stay alive. SHINING ROCK - An older couple encounter a strange and menacing visitor during a camping trip in the North Carolina mountains. Friendly at first, this stranger seems to know them, seems to know their secrets, and as things escalate, they become convinced that they may never leave these mountains alive. PERFECT LITTLE TOWN - Ron and Jessica Stahl are a power couple from California, on a Christmas holiday in Colorado. When they stop for the afternoon in sleepy Lone Cone, they're charmed by the quaint tourist town. But the folksy hospitality will vanish as the sun drops behind the mountains. The Stahls couldn't have picked a worse night of the year to get snowed into this perfect little town with a dark, dark secret. SERIAL - The classic horror short I wrote with J.A. Konrath, in which we turn our attention to the twin golden rules of hitchhiking: # 1: Don't go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy. # 2: Don't pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be a raving nutcase. So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Nutcase #2? THE NEWTON BOYS' LAST PHOTOGRAPH - At 25 words, the shortest story I ever wrote. But it packs a wallop. THE METEOROLOGIST - Peter, a disgraced meteorologist and chronic wanderer, has traveled the country for years in his Winnebago, in search of the only thing that gives his life meaning. He's just arrived in the middle of nowhere-Hokie, Kansas-for the same purpose, but when he meets a waitress named Melanie, another sufferer, he's faced not only with his first real human contact in years, but perhaps someone who can save him. UNCONDITIONAL - A conversation between two people-devastating, tragic, and beautiful. THE PAIN OF OTHERS - Letty Dobesh, a gorgeous, degenerate thief, is fresh out of the clink and back to her old tricks-in this case, burglarizing suites at a luxury hotel in Asheville, North Carolina. But when she's surprised by returning guests on her last room of the day, she's forced to hide in the closet to avoid getting caught, and inadvertently overhears a hitman being contracted to murder the wife of a wealthy lawyer. This 60,000-word short story collection also contains a foreword by J.A. Konrath and introductions to each story by the author. BLAKE CROUCH is the author of four novels and numerous short stories, including "Serial" which he co-wrote with J.A. Konrath and has been downloaded more than 300,000 times. He lives in southwest Colorado, where he is at work on a new book. His website is www.blakecrouch.co Views: 494
Ambitious and fiery Lee Coil is determined to work her way of the ladder of a predominately male-oriented workforce. Knowing her disadvantages, but refuses to let any setbacks deter her. When she gets an opportunity to catapult her career, she jumps at the opportunity.Traveling across the country for a lead on a hot case, Lee uncovers more than she bargained for. With Darren, her boyfriend and co-worker, helping her dig for answers, Lee is forced to admit one thing: she may be in over her head. Can the dedicated cop prove that she's more than a woman in man's world? Views: 493
A short story about Online, the incredible supercomputer who runs all the city's services. Joel is on his first day as a Junior Assistant Operator for Online, and Joel is hoping for a quiet day. But Online has a plan, a plan which starts with letting Joel know about a secret rule, a rule that Online is determined to break, ensuring that Joel's day will be anything but quiet.A memorable collection of epitaphs and obituaries for the age of digital confession. Artists, athletes, activists, entertainers, evil-doers, rich widows, philosophers. . .40 poems from eight years in a lesbian novelist's on-line diary salute the famous dead—and tackle onslaughts of the ambition, desire, daydreaming, self-berating, fear of aging, loneliness and faithless women common to contemporary America. Sharply observed, often humorous, Dug for Victory also offers an anti-war record of existence in Brooklyn, New York during the days and years following the attacks on nearby Lower Manhattan. Views: 493
The Queen of Mystery has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the acknowledged mistress of suspense—creator of indomitable sleuth Miss Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and so many other unforgettable characters—brings her entire oeuvre of ingenious whodunits, locked room mysteries, and perplexing puzzles to William Morrow Paperbacks. Christie's superb stand-alone mystery, Passenger to Frankfurt, is a true masterwork of surprise and suspense, as a diplomat comes to the aid of a terrified woman in an airport, only to find that his identity has been stolen and his life is suddenly in serious jeopardy.Review“I cut my mystery teeth on Agatha Christie. She is and will always be the queen of mystery.” (John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author )“Marvelously entertaining.” (Observer (UK) )“The cleverness of it remains as unflagging as ever.” (Sunday Times (London) ) From the Back CoverSir Stafford Nye's flight home from Malaya takes an unprecedented twist when a young woman confides in him that someone is trying to kill her. In a moment of weakness, he agrees to lend her his passport. Unwittingly, the diplomat has put his own life on the line. When he meets the mystery woman again, she is a different person, and he finds himself drawn into a battle against an invisible—and altogether more dangerous—enemy. . . . Views: 492
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant comes a twisting story of love and deceit: an American man vanishes on a rural road in Vietnam and his girlfriend, an emergency room doctor trained to ask questions, follows a path that leads her home to the very hospital where they met.The first time Alexis saw Austin, it was a Saturday night. Not in a bar, but in the emergency room where Alexis sutured a bullet wound in his arm. Six months later, on the brink of falling in love, they travel to Vietnam on a bike tour so that Austin can show her his passion for cycling and he can pay his respects to the place where his father and uncle fought in the war. But as Alexis sips white wine and waits at the hotel for him to return from his solo ride, two men emerge from the tall grass and Austin vanishes into thin air. The only clue he leaves behind is a bright yellow energy gel dropped on the road. As Alexis grapples with this... Views: 492
The latest enthralling case in Tess Gerritsen's New York Times bestselling Rizzoli & Isles series, the blockbuster books behind the smash hit TNT series.
Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli is on the case of a big game hunter found dead in his apartment, alone with the body of a beautiful white snow leopard he had recently been commissioned to procure and stuff for a high-profile museum in the area.
Medical examiner Maura Isles connects the case to a number of seemingly unrelated deaths where the victims have all been found hanging upside down, the hallmark of a leopard's kill.
Rizzoli follows the puzzling trail of clues all the way to Botswana, where she uncovers the unsolved mystery of a deadly camping safari six years prior. When she realizes the two cases are connected, Rizzoli must track down the sole survivor of the tragic trip to discover who - or what - is behind these gruesome deaths.
Story Locale: Boston, MA Views: 491
He met her at the grocery store - piece by piece.Caroline is a strange and darkly funny love story.It is a full-length short story and includes a bonus preview of my second novel, Surviving Immortality, available as of August, 2012.Please do leave a review and/or contact me. Views: 491
The author of the award winning, smash bestseller, I Let You Go, propels readers into a dark and claustrophobic thriller, in which a normal, everyday woman becomes trapped in the confines of her normal, everyday world ...
Every morning and evening, Zoe Walker takes the same route to the train station, waits at a certain place on the platform, finds her favorite spot in the car, never suspecting that someone is watching her ...
It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her, a grainy photo along with a phone number and listing for a website called findtheone.com.
Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they've become the victims of increasingly violent crimes - including rape and murder. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad's twisted purpose ... a discovery that turns her paranoia into full-blown panic. For now Zoe is sure that someone close to her has set her up as the next target.
And now that man on the train - the one smiling at Zoe from across the car - could be more than just a friendly stranger. He could be someone who has deliberately chosen her and is ready to make his next move ... Views: 490
In an all-new edition, an engaging and illuminating chronicle of the life of the “Queen of Mystery,” complete with a bonus CD featuring the voice of the grande dame herself Agatha Christie was a woman of mystery, in every sense of the word. Her novels made her the world’s best-selling author, but her private life was hidden from view. For many years she dodged reporters and gave no interviews, and for a brief time she famously disappeared. She started writing her autobiography in April 1950 and finished it fifteen years later, when she was seventy-five years old and decided “it seems the right moment to stop.” In this book, which was originally published in 1977 in the United States by Dodd, Mead & Company, Agatha Christie sheds light on her past. She tells of her childhood in Victorian England, her volunteer work during World War II, her rise to success, her working habits, the inspiration for her most famous characters—Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple—and the places and people that influenced her. After being out of print for several years, this book is being brought back in a new hardcover edition with a CD featuring excerpts dictated by Agatha Christie herself. Review“This book proves as inspiring as it is charming and absorbing.” (Boston Globe )“Brisk and admirable....Capturing the experience of a generation too often made over-grim or over-glorious, it is the autobiography of a woman, not merely a writer.” (Los Angeles Times )“Especially welcome.” (Publishers Weekly )“Contains some wonderful treats....Christie writes with such wit and insight that all 542 pages fly.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer )“A fun read, full of detail about upper-crust life in the Victorian era and about Christie’s own surprise at finding herself a mystery novelist.” (Charlotte News & Observer )“The history of a unique upbringing in a time long gone. It’s a portrait of a childhood and young womanhood that vanished with World War I.” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review )“Christie writes with a wonderful dry wit. It is fascinating to see how people she met became characters in her novels.” (Daily American )“Joyful adventure....She brings the sense of wonder...to her extraordinary career.” (New York Times Book Review )“Agatha Christie is no longer merely one of my favorite writers. She is now one of my favorite people.” (Chicago Tribune )“A delightful autobiography....Warm, witty and discerning.” (Los Angeles Times )“Wonderfully easy to read and engrossing.” (The Times (London) )“Agatha Christie’s most absorbing mystery – the story of her own unusual life. She has put it all on record: her early romances; a broken (and a happy) marriage; strange events on the path to roaring success.” (Daily Mail (London) )“A wonderful book—written with a delight in the gradual unfolding of 75 years through the eyes of an exceptional old lady and writer.” (Financial Times (London) ) About the AuthorAgatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in one hundred foreign countries. She is the author of eighty novels and short-story collections, nineteen plays, and six novels under the name Mary Westmacott. She died in 1976. Views: 490
