*It all begins and ends with The Argument: Free will is an illusion. The soul? Merely neurons firing. * Someone is determined to prove the truth of The Argument, no matter who has to die. Psychology professor Tom Bible is surprised to find the FBI on his doorstep, asking for help analyzing the prime suspect in a series of gruesome murders.  That?s not what Tom does?he?s just a teacher, not a profiler.  But in this case, the FBI feels Tom has special knowledge.  The suspect is his best friend Neil Cassidy. Using the neuroscience he developed at the NSA, Neil can control the human brain. With just the flip of a switch, he can manipulate pain, pleasure, faith, morality....even love. He taunts the FBI with videos, forcing them to watch as his victims destroy themselves at the direction of their captor. He leaves no clues and the FBI cannot predict his next victim. Only Tom Bible has insight into his mind.

Ann Rule presents another collection of fascinating and disturbing true-crime stories—drawn from her real-life personal files—in this seventeenth volume in the #1 New York Times bestselling Crime Files series. MOVING IN FOR THE KILL In this all-new collection of investigative accounts from her private archives, “America’s best true-crime writer” (Kirkus Reviews) exposes the most frightening aspect of the murderous mind: the waiting game. Trusted family members or strangers, these cold-blooded killers select their unsuspecting prey, wait for the perfect moment to strike, then turn normality into homicidal mayhem in a matter of moments. Ann Rule will have you seeing the people and places around you with heightened caution as you read these shattering cases, including: • New mothers murdered, their infants kidnapped, in an atrocious baby-selling scheme • The man who kept his criminal past hidden from his wife—and his wife from his mistress—until he coldly disposed of one of them • The beautiful daughter of a State Department official ran away from the privileged world she knew and hitched a ride with a man she didn’t . . . with fatal consequences • For months, a vicious, rage-filled serial rapist eluded police and terrorized Seattle’s women—when would he strike next, and how far would his violence escalate? • A criminal known for his Houdini-like escapes is serving time for murder in a botched robbery—now the convict is being served dinner in a civilian’s home, where he has one more trick up his sleeve • A long-lost relative who came home to visit, leaving a bloody trail through Washington and Oregon; no one realized how dangerous he and his ladylove were—until it was far too late. . . . With her ability to translate the most complex cases into storytelling “as dramatic and chilling as a bedroom window shattering at night” (The New York Times), Rule expertly analyzes the thoughts and deeds of the sociopath, in this seventeenth essential Crime Files volume.

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Lance Ragatti has a score to settle. Two centuries ago werewolves killed his bride. Two centuries of waiting and searching for Lilith to be reborn has left Lance more than a little aggressive towards the enemy. Not to mention he's a hungry vampire, because part of his marriage oath to Lilith was that he would never partake of the blood of another, but that's all history now that he's found her, right? Wrong! Lilith has been reborn, but she's working for the enemy! Lilith is a psychic, with what she considers to be lame abilities, but the Lingstons pay her the big bucks to find vampires for them. It leaves her isolated, but that's easily solved: She can talk to animals. What's wrong with a little blood money? After all it's not like vampires are human! There's definitely something different about Lance Ragatti, but Lilith can't quite put her finger on it. He's a vampire, better dead than alive, but he's also sexy and mysterious! What's a girl to do when her view of the world is challenged? Deny everything of course! Will Lance be able to make Lilith see the danger she's in before it's too late?

Gary Nelson has problems with his father-in-law, the CEO and majority holder of the Trionid Corporation, who likes to make life difficult for Gary, the finance director of the same company. His father-in-law’s sudden violent death puts Gary in the CEO’s shoes. But now that Gary has everything a person could possibly want, he gets bored. Finally, he realizes how to spice up his daily life. ...Gary Nelson has problems with his father-in-law, the CEO and majority holder of the Trionid Corporation, who likes to make life difficult for Gary, the finance director of the same company. His father-in-law’s sudden violent death puts Gary in the CEO’s shoes. But now that Gary has everything a person could possibly want, he gets bored. Recently he has even felt that someone is following him. Finally, he realizes how to spice up his daily life. ...

THEY KILL WITHOUT CONSCIENCE. ANN RULE PORTRAYS THEIR SHATTERING CRIMES WITHOUT PITY. In eight stunning Case Files volumes, from A Rose for Her Grave to the #1 blockbuster Last Dance, Last Chance, Ann Rule reigns as "America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus Reviews). Now, she updates the most astonishing cases from that acclaimed series -- and presents shocking, all-new true-crime accounts -- in one riveting anthology. In every explosive chapter of Without Pity, Ann Rule deepens her unrelenting exploration of the evil that lies behind the perfect facades of heartless killers...and the deadly compulsions of greed and power that shatter their outward trappings of material success. They are the admired, trusted neighbor; the affable family man; the sexy, charismatic lover; the high-achieving professional. Perhaps most frightening of all is that they are heroes in their own minds. But when someone gets in the way of their deluded dreams, they are capable of deadly acts of violence with no remorse. Analyzing the true nature of the sociopathic mind in chilling detail, Ann Rule traces the murderous crimes of seemingly ordinary men -- killers who drew their unsuspecting victims into their twisted worlds with devastating consequences.

Detective Isaac Bell returns in the remarkable new adventure in the #1 New York Times–bestselling series. It is 1902, and a bright, inexperienced young man named Isaac Bell, only two years out of his apprenticeship at the Van Dorn Detective Agency, has an urgent message for his boss. Hired to hunt for radical unionist saboteurs in the coal mines, he is witness to a terrible accident that makes him think that something else is going on, that provocateurs are at work and bigger stakes are in play. Little does he know just how big they are. Given exactly one week to prove his case, Bell quickly finds himself pitted against two of the most ruthless opponents he has ever known, men of staggering ambition and cold-bloodedness . . . who are not about to let some wet-behind-the-ears detective stand in their way.

*This is an alternate cover edition for B01C5F19WA * A STREETWISE VIGILANTE who will do anything to cure her dying sister A RUTHLESS GANGSTER on a grisly quest to attain immortality A DESPERATE FATHER who crossed oceans to free his enslaved son A TRAIL OF RIDDLES and the mythical treasure they all seek: THE SERENGETI SAPPHIRE

Legend held that whoever possessed it would rule the destinies of nations. Renaissance Italy, where intrigues were as intricate as carved cathedral doors and affairs of state were ruled by affairs of the bedchamber ... where the rustling richness of silk hid the quick glint of deadly stilettos, and poison vied with port as the favored drink to offer guests.... From the spellbinding pen of Iris Johansen comes her most lush, dramatic, and emotionally touching romance yet--the captivating story of the lovely and indomitable slave Sanchia and the man who bought her on a back street in Florence.... Passionate, powerful condottiere Lionello Andreas would love Sanchia and endanger her with equal wild abandon as he sought to win back the prize possession of his family--the Wind Dancer.

The CIA, the FBI, the KGB, Interpol—not one of the world's premier intelligence organizations knows quite what to make of Evan Michael Tanner. Is he a spy, a mercenary, a footloose adventurer, or simply a screwball sucker for hopeless causes? (Actually he's a little bit of all of the above. Plus he never sleeps. Ever. ) One thing's for sure: Tanner's a true romantic, which is why he can't refuse a distraught mother who begs him to rescue her lost, pure-as-driven-snow daughter. Phaedra Harrow (nee Deborah Horowitz) once shared Tanner's apartment but not his bed. And now the virginal beauty's been abducted by white slavers in the Afghan wilderness. Finding Phaedra will be difficult enough. Bringing her back alive and unmolested may be impossible. And first Tanner will have to swim the English Channel, survive trigger-happy Russian terrorists . . . and maybe pull off a timely assassination or two.

New York Times-bestselling author Garwood weaves magnificent stories of passion, adventure, and intrigue. Now she raises the heat and spices up the action with a sexy, smart, daring new heroine and a smoldering thriller.

Nancy tries to find out who is trying to sabotage the International High School Track and Field Games before it is too late.

The world of Patricia Highsmith has always been filled with ordinary people, all of whom are capable of very ordinary crimes. This theme was present from the beginning, when her debut novel, Strangers on a Train, galvanized the reading public. Here we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, passengers on the same train. But while Guy is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. “Some people are better off dead,” Bruno remarks, “like your wife and my father, for instance.” As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy is trapped in Highsmith’s perilous world, where, under the right circumstances, anybody is capable of murder. The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train launched Highsmith on a prolific career of noir fiction, proving her a master at depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.

THE UNKNOWN HAS AN ADDRESS. . . . Hidden away in the Badlands of South Dakota, Warehouse 13 is a top-secret repository for historical artifacts imbued with dangerous supernatural properties. Secret Service agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering are ever on the lookout for loose artifacts threatening to ruin the world’s day. Their mission:“Snag it, bag it, tag it.” Reports of a genuine psychic healer, along with a simultaneous epidemic of mysterious illnesses, lead Myka and Pete on a hazardous investigation that stretches from a carnival sideshow back to the bloody history of the Civil War. But when Pete is infected with a deadly disease, Myka and the rest of the team, including Artie Nielsen and Claudia Donovan, must track down a pair of cursed gloves—before a madman unleashes a virulent plague upon America!

In the rural town of Verdon, Nebraska, in the early days of the 20th century, you can't go ten feet without running into one of the Fargos. So, Grant Fargo argues to his grandfather Lincoln, it's perfectly all right that he's desperately in love with his first cousin, Bella-she's the only source of intelligent conversation for miles, and in a town like Verdon, it would be hard not to end up with a relative of one kind or another. Before it all plays out, men will be murdered, jailed, tarred and feathered or worse, and while everyone in the Fargo clan would kill for the family deeds, God might just end up with them instead. In HEED THE THUNDER, one of Thompson's earlier works, Thompson's signature style collides with a sweeping picaresque of the American prairie, in a multigenerational saga that's one part Steinbeck, two parts Dostoyevsky, and all Jim Thompson.