There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way though the alphabet. There seems little chance of the murderer being caught - until her makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans . . . Views: 16
Devastation from the nukewar shattered civilization and left a planet both primitive and ripe for rebirth--or retaking. While the balance of power has fallen to avaricious, amoral barons, a handful of humanity still holds hope of a future worth fighting for or dying to defend. If a better life inside the hellground exists, Ryan Cawdor and his friends will find it.The Deathlands feudal system may be hell on earth but it must be protected from invaders from Shadow Earth, a parallel world stripped clean of its resources by the ruling conglomerate and its white coats. Ryan and his band had a near-fatal encounter with these genetically enhanced aggressors and their advanced weaponry and wags once before. Only a fatal chink in enemy armor saved planet Earth from plunder. Now, these superhuman predators are back, ready to topple the hellscape's baronies one by one. Views: 16
Cook's popular medical thrillers are designed, in part, to keep the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical problems. His topic this time is reproductive science and the often murky baby-making business. Epidemiologist Marissa Blumenthal, seen before in Outbreak, now has a successful pediatrics practice near Boston and an affluent health-care-entrepreneur husband. But her inability to become pregnant threatens both her marriage and her career. After unsuccessful visits to a local fertility clinic, she discovers a suprising and suspicious link between her medical records and those of an inordinate number of the clinic's clients. Traveling to Australia to learn more about a worldwide in vitro fertilization organization, Marissa and her friend Wendy are trailed, and a tragedy occurs. Marissa, now accompanied by the physician whose work she had come to Australia to investigate, goes to Hong Kong and eventually China — fleeing murderous assailants every step of the way — before a billion-dollar international scam is revealed. As always, Cook enlivens predictable action and shallow characterization with medical expertise and timely subject matter. Views: 16
From Publishers WeeklyThe squeamish will want to avoid this violence-laden sequel to Smith's Yellow Medicine (2008), in which terrorists framed Billy Lafitte, a former Minnesota deputy, for some gruesome murders. Now in South Dakota, Lafitte is serving as sergeant at arms for Steel God, the ruler of a biker gang whose control over his clan is coming under challenge as his health declines. After Lafitte gets an emergency message to return home, he crosses paths with the FBI agent he once assaulted, Franklin Rome, who's plotting revenge against him. Most of the action concerns the efforts of Rome, aided by his assistant, Joshua McKeown, to catch up with Lafitte, who accumulates additional enemies along the way. The book's brutality is exemplified by the blood sport that provides the title, which matches vicious dogs like rottweilers against helpless pigs. Fans of darkest noir will be most satisfied. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistDodging federal arrest warrants and his old nemesis (special FBI agent Franklin Rome), ex–rogue cop Billy Lafitte—introduced in Smith’s Yellow Medicine (2008)—abandons his job as enforcer for a motorcycle gang and rumbles back to Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota. Rome is squeezing Lafitte’s suicidal wife to lure him home, planning his own unauthorized revenge play. Lafitte thinks he’s riding his turquoise-blue chopper to the rescue, but violence and destruction follow in his wake. Smith’s version of Minnesota is no Lake Wobegon; the inhabitants are refreshingly made up entirely of the deranged, the damaged, and the doomed. If you can picture the intellectual and physical mayhem that might have resulted from a Jim Thompson and Harry Crews collaboration, you’d be on the right track. But Anthony Neil Smith is his own writer—and a very fine one, indeed. --Elliott Swanson Views: 16
Strange lesions found in the brain of a dead man have forensic pathologist Andy Broussard stumped. Even more baffling are the corpse's fingerprints. They belong to Ronald Cicero, a lifer at Angola State Prison... an inmate the warden insists is still there. Broussard sends psychologist Kit Franklyn to find out who is locked up in Cicero's cell. But an astonishing discovery at the jail and an attempt on her life almost has Kit sleeping with the crawfish in a bayou swamp. And Broussard, making a brilliant deduction about another murder, may soon be digging his own grave. Views: 16
For Callie and Rebecca, finding each other was the easy part. In the follow-up to Autumn Leaves, Rebecca and Callie have made a commitment to their relationship. New challenges arise as Rebecca continues to find her identity. Callie is confronted with an ex she would have preferred to avoid. Nicole wants to be back together with her, and she uses all her manipulative skills trying to achieve that goal. With a new minister in town, and an unexpected threat, Rebecca and Callie will face even bigger trials and find out how much their new-found love can take. Views: 16
Originally published in 1908 and out of print for more than half a century, this collection of stories, complete with a Preface by the author, presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at his finest. These are seventeen tales of suspense and adventure, of the mysterious and the fantastic, meant to be read "round the fire" upon a winter's night. Murder, madness, ghosts, unsolved crimes, diabolical traps, and inexplicable disappearances abound in these exciting accounts narrated by doctors, lawyers, genetlemen, teachers, burglars, dilettantes, and convicted criminals. The titles are inviting—"The Pot of Caviare," "The Clubfooted Grocer," "The Brazilian Cat," "The Sealed Room," and "There Fiend of the Coopergate"—and the stoires are riveting. This is a rediscovered classic by a master storyteller. Views: 16
The future is dark; no Seer or Wizard can see into it, no prophecy speaks of a time past it. The fate of the world hangs between the darkness and the light... Out of the Dark Rift Baelthrom came to take all of Maioria into Oblivion. His ruthless armies of immortal Maphraxies scourge the land and one by one entire kingdoms fall. But the Dark Moon of Zanufey is rising and hope sparks in the hearts of the people. When the raven messenger of Zanufey bursts into Issa's life the tides of prophecy are set in motion and she is violently dragged into the battle for the fate of the world. Only Asaph, last of the mighty Dragon Lords, can hope to reach her in the deathly Shadowlands before the White Beast does. All Maioria is lost unless Issa survives to become the greatest warrior the world has ever known; she must become the Raven Queen of prophecy. Here is a tale of benevolent Goddesses and fallen Dark Lords, Dragons and Dragon Lords, Witches and Wizards, forgotten Kings and Raven Queen's. Dark Moon Rising is the first volume in a stunning new fantasy epic brimming with magic, adventure and the strength of the human spirit to face impossible odds.** Views: 16
