When he was the NYPD’s top homicide investigator, Dave Gurney was never comfortable with the label the press gave him: super detective. He was simply a man who, when faced with a puzzle, wanted to know. He was called to the investigative hunt by the presumptuous arrogance of murderers – by their smug belief that they could kill without leaving a trace. There was always a trace, Gurney believed. Except what if one day there wasn’t? Dave Gurney, a few months past the Mellery case that pulled him out of retirement and then nearly killed him, is trying once again to adjust to his country house’s bucolic rhythms when he receives a call about a case so seductively bewildering that the thought of not looking into it seems unimaginable—even if his beloved wife, Madeleine, would rather he do anything but. The facts of what has occurred are horrible: a blushing bride, newly wed to an eminent psychiatrist and just minutes from hearing her congratulatory toast, is found decapitated, her head apparently severed by a machete. Though police investigators believe that a Mexican gardener killed the young woman in a fit of jealous fury, the victim’s mother—a chilly high-society beauty—is having none of it. Reluctantly drawn in, Dave is quickly buffeted by a series of revelations that transform the bizarrely monstrous into the monstrously bizarre.   Underneath it all may exist one of the darkest criminal schemes imaginable. And as Gurney begins deciphering its grotesque outlines, some of his most cherished assumptions about himself are challenged, causing him to stare into an abyss so deep that it threatens to swallow not just him but Madeleine, too. Desperate to protect Madeleine and bring an end to the madness, Gurney ultimately discovers that the killer has left a trace after all. Unfortunately, the revelation may come too late to save his own life. With Shut Your Eyes Tight, John Verdon delivers on the promise of his internationally bestselling debut, Think of a Number, creating a portrait of evil let loose across generations that is as rife with moments of touching humanity as it is with spellbinding images of perversity.

If Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, and Ian Fleming’s James Bond walked into a room to cross swords, knives or pistols with Christmas Pendle, the female hero of Deadly Pretty Strangers, there’d be only one person walking out again. And it wouldn’t be any of the men. This novel reads like the best action movies, fast paced, with an intriguing plot and conflicted heroes. Set mostly in London 2017, the city’s landmarks are the backdrop to a modern tale of murder, cyber tracking, chases and shootings. But let’s start somewhere near the beginning... ‘HELP ME FIND OUT WHO KILLED MY SON. PLEASE.’ A REASONABLE REQUEST. AND THERE WAS A LITTLE MONEY INVOLVED. A young Polish lorry driver is found dead. An unremarkable man killed in a strange way. And a large, lethal spider is left nearby. The police investigation stalls. The dead man’s mother intervenes and, finding little sympathy from the authorities, she persuades an unassuming desk worker, Zav Fox, to ask a few questions. Soon Zav meets Christmas, a beautiful girl with more guns than credit cards. She is gleeful in her planning, fearsome and relentless in execution, and tenderly compassionate. And though Zav doesn’t like guns, his fearless ally thinks they’re the best way to dispense justice. But her lethal power comes from a dark secret which could make her friend or foe. Zav seeks answers from the ever present web of surveillance, while haunted by strange dreams and attacked by brutal villains. The answer to the mystery death is somehow connected to a long forgotten military research programme. But in trying to find one killer, an ordinary man must confront an existential crisis greater than anyone’s worst nightmares.

Sometimes love has nothing to do with luck, and everything to do with karma. . . Marcy Paget worked full time putting her husband through university. When he finally became a success, he dumped her for a trophy wife more than ten years younger than he was, leaving Marcy to raise their seven year old daughter by herself. Even though Marcy knows she is better off alone than with a cheating husband who doesn't love her, she is still struggling to make ends meet. When an ethical dilemma is presented to her however, she never realizes the karmic chain of events that will follow her decision....

Her star power in demand on a hit Broadway play, Hollywood teen starlet Kaitlin Burke packs up her entourage (ok, her showbiz family, friends, assistant, and publicist, but not the dreamy boyfriend) and moves to the Big Apple for the summer. Kaitlin is the toast of the town and she hits the most exclusive New York nightspots, enjoys the best food (Hello, Magnolia Bakery), and even guests as a celebrity host on Saturday Night Live! But New York isn't all cupcakes and virgin daiquiris. Long distance and a handsome new costar put a huge strain on her relationship with Austin, and it turns out Broadway divas are a whole different breed of neuroses and competition from starlets.

"If this keeps up, I'm going to blow my brains out."It wasn't until I actually said those words that I realized I'd hit rock bottom. I didn't just say them. I meant them.Think back to your school days. Do you remember the kid in the back of the classroom? That quiet one who was different from everyone else? Maybe he didn't dress the same as most kids. Maybe he had a different haircut or liked different music. Perhaps he came from a poor family and his clothes were often dirty. You picked on him for being different. It was no big deal; everyone else did it. You giggled at him and called him names. You knocked his books off his desk and pretended it was an accident. You shot spit-wads at him. You excluded him from games at recess. It was funny to you, and that's all that really mattered.Remember that kid? That was me.Now, I'm about to relive my past in an attempt to understand why God, the God of peace and love, permits the cruel injustices of the world.

An interesting book about the re-burial of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in Paris. Thackeray penned it using Michael Angelo Titmarch as his nom-de-plum. Composed of three letters, this book is not only significant for its historical content but also throws light on the political scenario of the time. Riveting

A young couple go to Bermuda on their honeymoon. They dive on the reefs offshore, looking for the wreck of a sunken ship. What they find lures them into a strange and increasingly terrifying encounter with past and present, a struggle for salvage and survival along the floor of the sea, in the deep.

Lizzie's mama has to make a decision that will change their lives forever. Will Lizzie have the courage to make an equally important decision for herself?"Jump" is a short prequel to the young adult novel, "Jack."In a dimension where dragons in human form roam, a darker species struggles to come to light. They are the chaos. They are spiteful. They have no morals. They taint whatever they touch.Seventeen years ago, a halfling was born in the human world. An abomination. Her parents were killed for committing such a crime, but Austin was kidnapped and taken in by one of them. She grew up as chaos dragons do, despite somehow remaining pure of their filth. She was, of course, rescued by the brightest minds of the opposing force. She was hidden in the human world until she would posses the power needed to defend herself.Except months before that time would come, the chaos have found her again. In order to protect her, she is brought to their home world--Affelil. In the famous stronghold, she is safe. No chaos in their right mind would dare infiltrate the city's walls, but chaos dragons aren't exactly known for their sanity.Her best friend, in love but friendzoned, plays the role of a knight in shining armor to slay the dragons that would ever dare harm her, but Austin doesn't need a knight nor prince. She isn't a damsel in distress, and her Once Upon A Time Kidnapper knows this. She's caught in her kidnapper's game, a game where she is his prize.Still, Austin isn't going down without a fight. She will learn the ways of their kind, how to defend herself, and along the way, she'll learn how to make a mean cup of tea. She is evolving. She is adapting. Still, there's a war brewing inside her; her human and dragon blood is fighting, ideals fighting against tradition. Like the chaos, her human side is fighting to be heard.

Like all other young men of the Island, Cicerello wants to go to the three dances at the Royal opera house when the Princess will choose her husband. But Cicerello’s stepmother would not allow him to go. With the little help from his friends, Cicerello manages to attend the first dance and catch the Princess’ attention. But will she see him again? The greatest love story ever, completely retold.Like all other young men of the Island, Cicerello wants to go to the three dances at the Royal opera house when the Princess will choose her husband. But Cicerello’s stepmother would not allow him to go. With the little help from his friends, Cicerello manages to attend the first dance and catch the Princess’s attention. But will she ever see him again?This Cinderella-inspired tale with reversed roles takes fearless boys and girls on a journey of creative thinking, adventurous curiosity, and romantic persistence. The greatest love story ever, completely retold. It will make your child's eyes glow, and your heart melt. The short scientific and linguistic explanations throughout the book make it very tangible.

Book 12. A companion volume to The Lost Years of Merlin epic, Merlin's Dragon trilogy, and The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy. Maps, character descriptions, magical terms, timelines, and other tidbits from the author's Merlin saga.

With his characteristically brilliant wordplay and extraordinary scope, Tom Stoppard has in Hapgood devised a play that "spins an end-of-the-cold-war tale of intrigue and betrayal, interspersed with explanations of the quixotic behavior of the electron and the puzzling properties of light" (David Richards, The New York Times). It falls to Hapgood, an extraordinary British intelligence officer, to try to unravel the mystery of who is passing along top-secret scientific discoveries to the Soviets, but as she does so, the web of personal and professional betrayals—doubles and triples and possibly quadruples—continues to multiply.

A superb collection of fifteen stories by an American master, E. L. Doctorow—the author of Ragtime, The March, The Book of Daniel, and Billy Bathgate He has been called "a national treasure" by George Saunders. Doctorow's great topic, said Don DeLillo, is "the reach of American possibility, in which plain lives take on the cadences of history." This power is apparent everywhere in these stories: the bravery and self-delusion of people seeking the American dream; the geniuses, mystics, and charlatans who offer people false hope, or an actual glimpse of greatness. In "A House on the Plains," a mother has a plan for financial independence, which may include murder. In "Walter John Harmon," a man starts a cult using subterfuge and seduction. "Jolene: A Life" follows a teenager who escapes her home for Hollywood on a perilous quest for success. "Heist," the account of an Episcopal priest coping with a crisis of faith,...

When a down-on-her-luck divorcee meets a determined-to-dominate detective, they find out that falling in love can be murder... Nell Dysart's in trouble. Weighed down by an inexplicable divorce and a loss of appetite for everything, Nell is sleepwalking through life until her best friend finagles a job for her with a shabby little detective agency that has lots of potential and a boss who looks easy to manage. Gabe McKenna isn't doing too well, either. His detective agency is wasting time on a blackmail case, his partner has decided he hates watching cheating spouses for money, and his ex-wife has just dumped him...again. The only thing that's going his way is that his new secretary looks efficient, boring, and biddable. But looks can be deceiving and soon Nell and Gabe are squaring off over embezzlement, business cards, vandalism, dog-napping, blackmail, Chinese food, unprofessional sex, and really ugly office furniture, all of which turn out to be the least of their problems. Because soon, somebody starts killing people. And shortly after that, they start falling in love...

From NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller Mimi Jean Pamfiloff, Comes Part One of Mr. Rook's Island, a Sexy, Dark, Romantic Suspense. ~~~~~ He's Enigmatic, Dangerously Handsome, and COMPLETELY OFF-LIMITS... The women who vacation on Mr. Rook's exclusive island are looking for one thing and one thing only: to have their wildest romantic fantasies come to life. Pirates, cowboys, billionaires--there's nothing Rook's staff can't deliver. But when Stephanie Fitzgerald's sister doesn't return after her week in paradise, Stephanie will have to pose as a guest in order to dig for answers. Unfortunately, this means she'll need to get close to the one thing on the island that's not on the menu: the devastatingly handsome and intimidating Mr. Rook. And he's not about to give the island's secrets away.

Every action has consequences. Waking in an unfamiliar bedroom in a luxurious mansion, Claire Nichols is terrified to discover that a chance encounter led her into the cruel hands of her abductor, Anthony Rawlings. Claire has no understanding of why she's there, but it's been made abundantly clear--she is now his acquisition and every action has consequences. Learn the rules to survive. Facing incomprehensible circumstances, Claire must learn to survive her new reality--every aspect of her livelihood depends upon the tall, dark-eyed tycoon who is a true master of deception. Driven by unknown demons, he has no tolerance for imperfection, in any aspect of his life, including his recent acquisition. Anthony may appear to the world as a handsome, benevolent businessman, but in reality Claire knows firsthand that he's a menacing, controlling captor with very strict rules: do as you're told, public failure is not an option, and appearances are of the utmost importance. Captivate the captor. To fit together the pieces of the puzzle, Claire must follow his rules. Will her plan work, or will Anthony become enthralled by Claire's beauty, resilience, and determination, changing the game forever? If that happens, will either of them survive the consequences? Nobody ever did or ever will escape the consequences of his choices.--Alfred A. Montapert