2019 Maxy Awards "Best Thriller"

"Get in on the ground floor of this engrossing small-town crime thriller. Highly recommended for fans of C.J. Box and Craig Johnson." –Best Thrillers

Book two of the mystery series featuring Detective Doug Bateman and Investigator Anne Quinn.

When opponents of a planned resort development on Moosehead Lake in northern Maine start turning up dead, Detective Doug Bateman of the Maine State Police is called in. Concurrently, Investigator Anne Quinn with the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office is looking into a series of bizarre assaults on women. As the parallel investigations unfold, Bateman and Quinn each find their cases becoming more complex and more disturbing.

The sexual assaults may be part of a larger pattern that has played out across the country, and the axe murders of environmentalists may not be linked to the Moosehead Lake development project. Emma Lange, a reporter renting a room above Greenville’s Black Frog Restaurant on Moosehead Lake makes life difficult for both Bateman and Quinn as they struggle to solve their respective cases while also sorting out their personal relationship.

A MISSING CHILD RETURNS. BUT WHO TOOK HIM?

* BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB CHOICE 2019 *
* SUNDAY TIMES CRIME CLUB PICK *

'Brilliant, utterly compelling, heart-wrenching...I was gripped and loved it.'
PETER JAMES

'An unputdownable thriller.'
ELLY GRIFFITHS

'Sensitive and moving...but with a core of pure tension' SUNDAY TIMES

When 11 year old Evan vanishes without trace, his parents are plunged into their worst nightmare.
Especially as the police, under massive pressure, have no answers. But months later Evan is unexpectedly found, frightened and refusing to speak. His loving family realise life will never be the same again.

DI Naylor knows that unless those who took Evan are caught, other children are in danger. And with Evan silent, she must race against time to find those responsible...

A gripping, heart-wrenching thriller with the emotional power of series like BROADCHURCH and THE MISSING, this is the perfect read for fans of Cara Hunter, Heidi Perks, Claire Douglas, Fiona Barton, Susan Lewis and Nuala Ellwood.

'Critics have hailed FOUND the must read crime thriller' THE SUN

'One of those rare finds - a page turner that is equally remarkable for the beauty of the writing. It will suck you in and take you on a journey' JO SPAIN

'Gripping...once started, impossible to put down!' MINETTE WALTERS

'FOUND took me on the kind of twisting journey that kept me turning the pages until the early hours.' CHRIS WHITAKER

***

Readers and book bloggers are completely gripped and moved by FOUND:

'If you read one book this year make sure it's Found!' ***** Goodreads Reviewer

'Not often I finish a book in one day but I couldn't put it down.' ***** Goodreads Reviewer

'Heartfelt, traumatic ,terrifying...just an amazing read. An easy five stars' ***** Goodreads reviewer

'An amazing read...every single parent's worse nightmare but written in a truly beautiful way' ***** Goodreads reviewer

'It's a perfect book in every way...highly recommended' Short Book & Scribes

'I don't think a thriller has ever brought me to tears like this has...a stunning, compelling read.' The Bookwormery

From the US shores to London, France and Spain, death stalks Stella and Carter as they follow the Peacetaker's bloody trail....

Ribbons of Death (Book 1)

Three months after surviving a deadly riot in Cairo, Timothy Carter is compelled to track down Stella Hunter, a disgraced academic whose book could be the key to deciphering whether the legend of the Peacetaker is more than a dusty myth. She might be a recluse, and people think she’s crazy, but she’s his only hope to find answers to questions he’s been asking himself since receiving the scars that now mar his face.

The Harmony Scroll (Book 2)

Almost a year to date from the time Carter braved a horrible blizzard just to be able to knock on Stella Hunter’s door, the two are following a trail again—this time searching for a mysterious scroll that a few unreliable historians documented in the course of time.

The Byzantine Connection (Book 3)

Stella Hunter is an obsessive reader of all myths and legends. She and her long-time boyfriend, Carter, go to visit their old friend and priest at his church. There the journey begins when Carter sees an old Oriental couple pray, then leave the worship decades younger than when they walked in minutes before. Their story surrounds a bizarre and poorly chiseled granite statue delivered to the church. But is it just an ugly statue?

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss.

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on.

Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run. When Beth is found strangled in her home, and Moonlight goes missing again, Detective Reid can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

Reid immediately suspects Beth’s husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi—but he also has a motive, and the evidence seems to point to him. Kate and Reid, along with the sisters’ closest childhood friends, struggle to make sense of Beth’s death, but they only find more questions: Who else would have wanted Beth dead? What’s the significance of Moonlight?

Twenty years ago, Reid vowed to protect Beth and Kate—and he’s failed. Now solving the case is turning into an obsession . . .

Kicked out of the military for brawling, what can three friends from different countries do to make some needed money?

Grab your copy of the entire BOHICA Chronicles at a discount today!

Reprobates:

With nothing in their future, Former US Marine Charles, ex-SAS Booker, and ex-Australian Army Roo decide to give the Zoo a shot.

Without the contacts, without backing, without knowing what they are getting into, they scramble to get their foot in the door to even make rent in one of the most dangerous areas in the world.

With high rewards comes high risk. Can they learn on the job, where failure means death?

Relying on their training, they will scratch, claw, and take the most dangerous jobs to prove themselves, but will it be enough? Can they fight the establishment and the Zoo at the same time?

And what the heck’s up with that puppy they found?

Degenerates:

What happens when you come back from vacation to find out your dog ate the dog-sitter?

And your dog isn't a dog?

The BOHICA Warriors have had some success in the Zoo, but they need to expand and become more professional to make it into the big time.

Each member goes home to recruit more members to join the team.

Definitely bigger, hopefully badder, they return ready to kick some ZOO ass.

With a dead dog-sitter on their hands and more dangerous missions inside the Zoo, the six team members have to bond and learn to work together, even if they are sometimes at odds with each other.

Succeed, and riches will follow.

Fail, and the Zoo will extract its revenge in its own permanent fashion.

Having successfully survived the Marshan affair, Monk Buttman is looking forward to nothing more than a peaceful life filled with days at the beach. However, an unexpected call from his estranged daughter, Rebekah, pulls Monk back to Virginia and back through his past, something he doesn’t want to do. But family ties run deep, and before Monk can think it through, he, Agnes, and Rebekah, find themselves on the road searching for Rebekah’s runaway husband, encountering ghosts and angels, God and love, and murder along the way.

It’s October in South Cove, California, and the locals in the quaint resort seem to be happily pairing off in the lull before the holidays. Everyone, that is, except for Jill Gardner’s elderly aunt, who just dumped her besotted fiancé—and she won’t say why.
 
When Jill hosts a talk at Coffee, Books, and More on the topic of elder abuse, all that’s really on her mind is lunch. But the topic hits close to home when she discovers Aunt Jackie has been getting mysterious calls. Jill’s certain the caller is a con artist, of course, but her feisty aunt claims to understand this, though she’s still shaken—and Harrold’s still heartbroken. Who’s behind the scam and why was her aunt targeted? When a volunteer from the Senior Project is found murdered, Jill’s detective boyfriend is on the case—and it soon becomes clear no one is safe when a caller from beyond becomes a killer in their midst.  

Praise for The Tourist Trap Mysteries
 
“I love the author’s style, which was warm and friendly . . . [A] wonderfully appealing series.”
—Dru’s Book Musings
                                                                                                         
“Light, fun, and kept me thoroughly engaged.”
—The Young Folks

THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
As the men around her are dropping like flies

In his sixth labyrinthine hard-boiled puzzler, NYC private eye Joey Mancuso finds himself neck-deep in a maze of a murder mystery—the kind that weaves through military secrets and international espionage—at the center of which is the woman he loves.

Despite a recent drop in New York City’s crime rate, the PI business is booming for acutely-astute investigator Joey Mancuso and his partner-in-solving-crime Father Dominic O’Brian (who happens to be his half-brother). So it’s no surprise when Mancuso is called to the scene of a particularly gruesome and utterly confounding Lower Manhattan murder one otherwise pleasant afternoon.

The vic, Oscar Stanton (name etched into his designer trousers), was gunned down in Washington Square Park in broad daylight, just after a lunchtime rendezvous with a business associate. A quick and dirty ID reveals the real Oscar Stanton was working in cybersecurities for the DOD—and, perhaps unsurprisingly, was KIA in Afghanistan. And since Mancuso’s antics tend to weave a winding yarn as intricately-connected as a satisfying Sherlock Holmes, it’s even less surprise that the imposter Stanton’s lunch date was someone recently tailed by FBI agent Marcy Martinez (who happens to be Mancuso’s wife).

When crucial evidence from the scene is found in Marcy’s car—and Marcy’s hands test positive for gunshot residue—it’s off to the races. Clearly, Mancuso deduces, she’s being framed—elementary, dear Watson. But why? At first, the signs point to her partner, Thomas Lyons. After all, she has a history of shall we say unreliable partners (i.e. murderous psychopaths). And Lyons, as luck would have it, has mysteriously gone awol—until his body is found stuffed in a janitor’s closet at a subway station.

As a complex white collar crimes case unfolds with the usual barrage of infighting between the NYPD, CIA, FBI, and military intelligence, it becomes increasingly evident that, despite personal ties to the case, Mancuso and his associates are Marcy’s only hope. They must race the clock—and a likely well-connected killer, not to mention the intelligence forces the killer certainly has in his back pocket—to catch the FBI’s missing suspect and clear Marcy—before she’s falsely accused of espionage and murder. Or goes the way of the men surrounding her.

Who will like this: It's Matt Scudder meets Father Brown. Fans of both New York PI novels and police procedurals like those by Raymond Chandler, Joseph Wambaugh, Lawrence Block, and Rex Stout — and of clerical mysteries — will love this offbeat detective team. As will devotees of the greatest detective of all time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

2014 National Book Award Finalist

A New York Times Bestseller

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
 
One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur’s chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.
 
Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten’s arm is a line from Star Trek: “Because survival is insufficient.” But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.
 
Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

A girl who sees ghosts navigates a world of magical haves and have-nots, in the “ingenious, insightful debut” of a dystopian fantasy epic (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

In the City, magic guarantees a life free from illness, hunger and hardship—unless, of course, you have none. Without even a spark of bright magic, Xhea can't even buy breakfast, let alone tell the City's systems that she exists. But she does have a special gift: an ability to see ghosts and control the tethers that bind them to the living world.

Xhea thought she knew everything about ghosts—until she took possession of Shai, the ghost of a girl who hasn't actually died. Suddenly Xhea finds herself hunted through the Lower City's dangerous streets. Because Shai's body has been stolen, her ghost is running scared, and Xhea is now trapped between two powerful entities that will stop at nothing to regain the girl, dead or alive.

But soon the manhunt for the living ghost is eclipsed by the strange power that Shai's presence brings to life in Xhea: a dark magic that is slowly growing in power. A magic whose very touch brings death…
 
In this “captivating start” to the Towers Trilogy, a multiple Nebula nominee invites readers into a dark and dangerous world that is about be changed by two remarkable girls (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

He's the result of a genetic experiment gone wrong. What happens when the government tries to kidnap a teenager with a weapon of mass destruction inside his mind?

Michael Cairne is a lowly dishwasher in his parents' failing restaurant when he discovers he has the power to manipulate minds through telepathy.

Suddenly on the run from the government men who created him, Michael seeks help from a group of rebels. They give him shelter in a hidden mountain community of gifted outcasts.

But his enemies will stop at nothing to find him. They will unleash a telepathic assassin to hunt Michael and bring him back at any cost.

They believe they know Michael because they designed him - but these men will soon learn the dark truth about a power that could change the world.
________________________

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT ASCENDANT (1ST EDITION):

"This book was definitely worth the read. It has the perfect blend of sci-fi, action, adventure and romance." - Julekat, Amazon Customer

"This is a book I just couldn't put down. It has everything. Personal conflict, action, love....there was even a scene that actually made me cry...My only complaint is that it ended." - Charity, Goodreads Member

"This was an incredible book...If you want to see a post-apocalyptic novel done right, read this." - Kamagi, Amazon Customer

"I loved this book from start to finish...It's well written, very engaging, hard to put down and the characters are well crafted. 10 out of 10 for me." - J, Amazon Customer

"I loved the writing style of the book, fast paced and exciting; almost perfect... In a word: Impressive." - mamma, Amazon Customer

"This book is masterfully written. The author uses such descriptive phrases and wording that I was just THERE so many times." - Lady Evanlee Troll, Amazon Customer

Everything you thought you knew about mermaids is wrong.

Life for a small-town high school kid in Saltford should be simple and straightforward – for 17-year-old Targa MacAuley, it’s anything but. Navigating life with a supernatural mother is tricky enough, but dealing with the feelings of guilt that she’s never been able to ‘change’, and confusion that she doesn’t seem to be attracted to boys (or girls for that matter), Targa feels like she’s got more demons than the average kid.

When the opportunity to salvage a mysterious wreck in the Baltic arises for her mom, a professional salvage diver by day, Targa jumps at the chance to go abroad for the summer. But it’s when she meets Antoni Baranek, and a boating accident puts them both in danger, that Targa’s world turns completely inside out in more ways than one.

"Margolin continues his return to the exceptional form of his early novels with this gripping, tightly plotted, and smoothly written legal thriller... A winner from a veteran genre author." —Booklist

The “master of heart-pounding suspense” returns with a brand new series and a USA Today bestseller The Third Victim is New York Times bestseller Phillip Margolin at his very best.

A woman stumbles onto a dark road in rural Oregon—tortured, battered, and bound. She tells a horrific story about being kidnapped, then tortured, until she finally managed to escape. She was the lucky one—two other women, with similar burns and bruises, were found dead.

The surviving victim identifies the house where she was held captive and the owner, Alex Mason—a prominent local attorney—is arrested. Although he loudly insists upon his innocence, his wife’s statements about his sexual sadism and the physical evidence found at the scene, his summer home, is damning.

Regina Barrister is a legendary criminal defense attorney, known as “The Sorceress” for her courtroom victories. But she’s got a secret, one that threatens her skill, her reputation, and, most of all, her clients. And she’s agreed to take on the seemingly impossible task of defending Alex Mason.

Robin Lockwood, a young lawyer and former MMA fighter, has just left a clerkship at the Oregon Supreme Court to work for Regina Barrister. The Alex Mason trial is her first big one, a likely death penalty case, and she’s second chair to Regina. Increasingly, she’s worried her boss’s behavior and the details in the case against their client don’t quite add up.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU FOUND OUT THAT YOUR WHOLE LIFE IS BASED ON A LIE?

Vicky Collins has a seemingly enviable life. She is a successful agent for the FBI and lives with her social media star and real estate entrepreneur boyfriend in an upscale neighborhood of San Diego.

But appearances can be deceiving.

When Vicky is recruited to an elite unit at the FBI to investigate a serial killer piggybacking on the murders of other serial killers, her life begins to spiral out of control.

To complicate things further for the young special agent, a routine background check at the FBI reveals a sibling DNA match — a brother she didn’t know existed. Determined to unravel the mysteries of her past and to find her long lost brother, Vicky retraces the boy’s footsteps through the foster care system, uncovering the abuse and neglect he suffered growing up. The secrets she unveils are more monstrous and terrifying than she ever imagined, and a new truth about her childhood threatens to consume her.

Then the Piggyback Serial Killer strikes again, but this time, Agent Collins has multiple suspects—including members of her own family.

If I Had Two Lives was inspired by a story of a young woman in a vegetative state who was sexually assaulted and impregnated by an employee of the care facility. It's an emotionally-charged and thought-provoking psychological thriller about the ripple effects of childhood experiences and our obsession in seeking the truth that will leave you wanting to research your own family history.
 

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN!

From Tom Clancy, the celebrated author of the Jack Ryan series, comes the #1 New York Times bestseller that puts CIA operative John Clark front and center....

His code name is Mr. Clark. His work for the CIA is brilliant, cold-blooded and efficient...But who is he really?

In a harrowing tour de force, Tom Clancy shows how an ordinary man named John Kelly crossed the lines of justice and morality to become the CIA legend, Mr. Clark.

It is an unforgettable journey into the heart of darkness. Without mercy. Without guilt. Without remorse.

“A suspense novel from page one, and you never knew which way the character or storyline was going to go.” –Reading Is My Remedy

Kenny Elliot has decided to quit his job as a police detective with a knack for perceiving things beyond the scope of ordinary people. He dreams of leading a normal life with Carmen, the woman he loves, and the mother of his child. But when the pastor of his church asks for his help, he discovers that a fellow police officer, David Yates, has gotten himself into a jam that only someone like Elliot can handle.

Bestselling science fiction master Peter F. Hamilton delivers the first of a two-book saga set in his popular Commonwealth universe. Distinguished by deft plotting, a teeming cast of characters, dazzling scientific speculation, and imagination that brings the truly alien to life, The Abyss Beyond Dreams reveals Hamilton as a storyteller of astonishing ingenuity and power.
 
The year is 3326. Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel—self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.
 
Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics—the Fallers—that are intelligent but merciless killers.
 
Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever—if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers’ relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers—before he is killed by the very people he has come to save.

Praise for The Abyss Beyond Dreams
 
“The work of an author at the top of his game.”—Science Fiction and Fantasy World
 
“Incredibly robust and exciting and rousing, sharing flavors of Jack Vance, John Wright, China Miéville, Orson Scott Card, and A. E. van Vogt . . . Hamilton’s deployment of lots of grand super-science is utterly deft and convincing.”—Locus
 
“Solidy engrossing fare . . . The characters, always Hamilton’s strength, remain as distinctive as ever.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“Everything one wants in sf—great characters, mind bending stuff, adventure, politics, romance, revolution . . . just superb.”—Fantasy Book Critic

“Hamilton does a particular kind of planetary politics and space opera very well, and this is a perfect example of it. . . . [The Abyss Beyond Dreams is] a satisfying and well-oiled story, with potential for more epic adventure to come.”—Booklist

Humanity’s greatest export—Justice.

Space is a dangerous place, even for the wary, especially for the unprepared. The aliens have no idea.

Here comes the Bad Company.

Colonel Terry Henry Walton takes his warriors into battle, for a price, in this first installment of The Bad Company. He believes in the moral high ground and is happy getting paid for his role in securing it.

Set in the Kurtherian Gambit Universe, Terry, Char, and their people—humans, Werewolves, Weretigers, and Vampires—form the core of the Bad Company’s Direct Action Branch, a private conflict solution enterprise.

Join them as they fight their way across Tissikinnon Four where none of the warring parties were what they expected.

--- PLEASE NOTE ---

Inside this book is cursing, amusing cursing, but cursing nonetheless. If bad language offends you, perhaps this book is not for you.​ ​

Set on the foundation laid by the Kurtherian Gambit Series, The Bad Company tells an entirely new story in the Age of Expansion--when the Etheric Empire is fast becoming the Etheric Federation with all of the trials and tribulations that come with bringing together different peoples, systems, and ideals.

When I walked into that bar, I didn’t know I would wind up witnessing a murder. The Supernatural Bureau of Investigation agents can’t hold me since I didn’t commit a crime. But if I don’t want them digging into my past, I must find the real killer — fast. If I don’t, I risk having them discovering the truth — the person they think is Valentina Sanz doesn’t exist.

I’ve been using this secret identity to hide from the Society. The only witch allowed to leave the Society is a dead witch. And that’s what I'll be if the Society learns where I am.

‘Wowzers, what a read… I absolutely LOVED this book… An unputdownable page turner of a read.’ Ginger Book Geek, 5 stars

Jacob Reese enjoys the quiet life, running a coffee shop and renting out his cottage in The Hollows, Vermont.

But the calm is shattered when a woman who looks eerily similar to his ex-girlfriend Laura turns up to stay in the cottage, and leaves a mysterious note in the guest book.

Now Jacob’s seeing Laura everywhere—a glimpse of her face across the street, her music box left outside his house, a gift he gave her years before hanging from the trees.

But it can’t be Laura. Because Laura’s dead.

Someone knows Jacob’s secret—what really happened the night Laura died—and they’re out for revenge…

A gripping and twisted thriller. Fans of Gillian Flynn, Gregg Olsen and Mark Edwards will love Steve Frech.

Readers LOVE Dark Hollows:

‘Wow!… This book just pulls you right in… I couldn’t put it down!’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘One of the best thrillers I’ve read this year.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘Best psychological thriller of 2019.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘Couldn’t put it down… Absolutely fantastic nail-biting novel, so gripping I just could not stop reading.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

‘Exciting and thrilling… Like riding a rollercoaster… Should be on everyone’s reading list.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

‘I burned through this.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘Once I started I couldn’t put it down!!’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

‘Wow! I absolutely loved this book! I was hooked from page one.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘Impossible to put down.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘Great book! I could not put it down. Read the book in one day. Had me guessing until the end.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘This one would go down on my list of favorite thrillers this year… I loved this book!’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars