The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Final Target, Iris Johansen raises the stakes and the heart rate with this relentless new thriller that follows the harrowing trail of a ruthless killer on the hunt--and the woman who is determined to hunt him down. He is the most terrifying of killers: ruthless, cunning, charismatic. And he has the means to get whatever he wants. And what Rico Chavez wants most is Elena Kyler--and he wants her dead. Trained as an assassin, Elena didn’t need anyone to survive. But now she finds herself on the run from one dangerous man and turning for help to another. Sean Galen was a man without illusions. He knew it was only desperation that caused Elena to accept his help--a mother’s desperation to save her young son from a psychopath father who would raise their son in his own chilling image. And yet he was determined to get this woman who had never been able to trust anyone or anything in her whole life to accept him as her ally. But both Galen and Elena know that Chavez’s power and wealth mean there is no place they can be safe and no one they can trust--not even each other. Already Chavez’s assassins and connections to those in the highest positions of power have turned this into a war with no rules. With two shocking acts of brutal violence, Chavez shows he will stop at nothing and that nothing will stop him. Soon a trail of horrifying murders will follow Galen and Elena across country to a last stand and a shattering showdown. For Chavez is a master of control and he wants more than just to take Elena’s life. He wants her alive long enough to see him destroy every reason she has for living. He wants her to turn against everything and everyone she ever believed in. He wants her to commit the ultimate act of betrayal. And by the time he is through, he wants her to beg him to take the only thing she’ll have left to give: her life. From the Hardcover edition.

Effected Intent is a bioterrorism meets cyber thriller with an unlikely protagonist at the center of the story.Steve Pfister is a reticent polymer chemist who lives in the past, unable to let go of his military experience. His latest invention gets the attention of some high level government officials, leading to an opportunity to work on a top secret project with national security implications.Life couldn’t be more routine for computer programmer Bill Miller, until he stumbles on information that he shouldn’t have, including a bioterrorism plot. Unable to come forward with the information, he needs to find an ally to believe him before it’s too late.

Thomas and Juliandra Lee begin sharing a long anticipated day together with love making, laughter, and tea, but their joy ends in tragedy when Juliandra is murdered and Thomas becomes trapped in a repeating nightmare which forces him to relive the event each time he wakes.Thomas must choose to accept his new reality or fight to change it by discovering a way to save his beloved wife, JuliandraOctober 2016 Revised Edition:Thomas and Juliandra Lee begin sharing a long anticipated day together with love making, laughter, and tea, but their joy ends in tragedy when Juliandra is murdered and Thomas becomes trapped in a repeating nightmare which forces him to relive the event each time he wakes.Thomas must choose to accept his new reality or fight to change it by discovering a way to save his beloved wife, Juliandra.

Kara, a vampire psychic, learns of a storm brewing between the two supernatural factions, and hears rumblings of a new war on the horizon, which she is literally caught in the middle of. Will Kara find the source of the conflict before it's too late? With strong female heroines, this action packed vampire series is sure to please. See the war between psychics and vampires unfold!It should have been a normal job, but when psychic police show up and kidnap her best friend, Olivia, Kara the female vampire must become a vigilante and take justice into her own hands. Kara's on her own though, as her kind shuns her for being born with psychic powers. The wars might have ended, but there's bad blood between the blood suckers and the mind readers of the world. To get help and save Olivia, Kara makes a deal with the devil, or the closest equivalent: Vasha, a gangster with ties to vampires and psychics. As Kara works to free her friend, she discovers a storm brewing between the supernatural factions, and hears rumblings of a new war on the horizon. Will Kara save Olivia before she becomes the spark that starts a new conflict, or is it already too late? With a female protagonist and strong female heroines, this action packed vampire series for adults is sure to please. Buy the book, and see the war between psychics and vampires unfold!

Lillian Langley is a young single woman living with her family in the highlands of Tasmania, she ends up with child. Disowned by her father, she flees the family farm where she is waylaid by two masked men. While escaping she falls over a cliff. Because of her injuries, her clearly marked trail is found leading to the river where it is presumed she has drowned. Everyone believes her deadEstranged from her family after she discovers she is pregnant, Lillian boards the stage for Hobart. The stage is held up by two masked men. Lillian flees and falls over a cliff. Her trail to the river is found where it is presumed she has drowned.The aborigines find Lillian and Jim Hawkins, the stage coach driver,sees to her recovery with the aid of the local doctor. Lillian insists that her family not be told of her survival as she fears for her life and the life of the child she carries.Also, the added fact that she will be shunned by society even more because of her disfigurement from her injuries when she fell over the cliff. She becomes friends with Jim Hawkins and accepts a proposal of marriage from him even though she does not love him. He gives her a home, keeps her secret, raises her daughter Matilda, and their son William.After eighteen years, Matilda, who has been in England to further her education arrives back in Gladstone where she is seen by Frank O'Connor. He is a suspect in the stage coach hold up all those years ago. Frank, a little worse for wear after spending most of the day in the saloon sees Matilda and swears he has seen the ghost of Lillian. He informs Lillian's brother, Robert, who immediately becomes suspicious. Robert's father is on his death bed and the farm and all that goes with it will soon be his, what he dosen't need is a ghost from the past hindering his future plans. Robert sets about confirming what he fears and puts in place a plan to make sure that the ghost stays a ghost.

It could have been just any night, and they could have just been any two brothers -- but it wasn't, and they weren't. The scene is an Atlanta bar. The music is loud and the dance floor is packed. The good-looking brother picks up a girl. But when dark deeds ensue out in the parking lot, what happens next can only be described in two words: vintage Slaughter.

Paramilitary terrorists who have taken over a top-secret nuclear complex kidnap Maryland welder Jack Hummel and force him to cut through a half-ton titanium block that conceals the launch button.

A spinster devotes herself to a shamefully selfish form of charity work, until the day a stranger enters her world...A tainted love…Iris is a seventeen year old experiencing her first signs of love. She was your average teenage girl who had a secret crush on the most popular guy in school and her best friend. Typical.Axel Rotterdam was sick. There was something lurking inside him and it wanted out. He was terrified of it and afraid of what it would do. It had set its sights on a new target. It wanted Iris McDerman…and it would take her kicking and screaming.Torn between her heart desires, Iris would make a decision that will alter the course of her life and change it forever.

A collection of short stories that give a sense of suspense with a hint of truth. These short stories that could happen to you or someone you may know.A collection of short stories. Start off your journey with a jogger in Central Park. Go on the hunt to see who the stranger is that performs a weird routine. Continue on your journey through the mind of a young lady that suffered a devastating lost. Your journey moves toward a happy couple. Well that is what they want you to think. A couple has just bought a house together but this magical moment only ends to guns being aimed at each other’s head with one having to die. End this amazing journey off in the home of the mafia. See what happens when a member of the Mafia family works with the FBI. This could only end with blood.

Joseph wants a new life, he wants to go to college and make something of himself. But when his mother develops cancer and his disabled brother gets involved with the local drug dealers he has to put everything on hold. Now with a widening circle of his friends in danger Joe must race to put the pieces together before it is too late.Romantic comedy with an Irish lilt (part 1 of a 3-part serial)… The year is 1975. The place is Ramhaillim Manor, a whimsical old mansion (which may or may not be haunted) on the west coast of Ireland. The girl is Sharon O’Shaughnessy, an Irish-American spitfire who has just inherited Ramhaillim from her Great-Aunt Deirdre – or half of it anyway, as Sharon discovers when she reaches Ireland and meets Rory Egan, the handsome Irishman who has inherited the other half of the house. This could be a good thing, because Sharon loves horses, and Rory is a horse breeder. Except Rory is also full of blarney, Sharon is quite sure. He’s an incorrigible rascal, and a smart girl shouldn’t believe a word he says. Sharon, of course, is a smart girl. You’ll never find her falling under the man’s roguish spell. Or will you?

Eight years ago, John was haunted by the clown. A despicable clown that only he could see. It took everything from him then, but he managed to escape before it could take him too. Eight years later, as he sits at the café on the corner, it returns. Unknown to space and time and others' eyes, it has come to make John choose to give up his life or uselessly run from something he can't defeat.As John runs from the hollow gaze of the ever-nearing clown, he is forced to question his importance to the clown and his very own sanity. He frantically searches for answers while knowingly sacrificing friends and loves to the demon, hoping to finally be rid of the monster that refuses to let him live in peace. He knows he's no one special, living a monotone life full of routine, but yet the clown only visible to him seems to desire him above all. This leaves John to wonder if it's possible to find a way to be rid of his foe or give up his benign existence so that the clown can finally have what it wants.

Michael's morning commute was made more bearable with the purchase of his new book - a collection of short stories that allowed the reader insights into the mind of the authors. But, as Michael read, the similarities between his life and the story became clearer. Lines blurred and where fact ended and fiction started was not so certain...narratorAUSTRALIA Volume Three is a collection of more than 210 poems and short stories from more than 90 emerging and established Australian writers which were published on the narratorAUSTRALIA blog during the period 1 May to 31 October 2013. Contributors are: Alexander Gardiner, Alexander Ryan-Jones, Alexandra Plummer, Alexandra Smithers, Andris Heks, Ann Pigott, Ariette Singer, Armin Boko, Athena Zaknic, Beau Porter, Ben McCaskill, Bob Edgar, Connie Howell, Craig Stanton, Crystal Lee, David Anderson, David Jenkins, David Keegan, David Newman, DavidVee , Deborah Stanbridge, Demelza, Douglas Radcliffe, Emma Hall, Emma-Lee Scott, Esther Campion, Fayroze Lutta, Felicity Lynch, Graham Sparks, Gregory Tome, Heather Jensen, Henry Johnston, Hettie Ashwin, Sammy , Irene Assumpter, Irina Dimitric, James Craib, Jane Russell, Jean Bundesen, Jennie Cumming, Jenny Kathopoulis, Jessica Soul, JH Mancy, JL Warren, Joanna Rain, Joemass, John Arvan, John Ross, Jordan Black, Judith Bruton, Judith La Porte, Julie Martin, Ken Ward, Kerry Karamaroudis, Kylie Abecca, Lauren David, Leonie Bingham, Fantail, Lynn Nickols, Marilyn Linn, Mark Fowler, Mark Govier, Mary Krone, Michele Fermanis-Winward, Mitchell Walker, Mubarak Hameed, Evelyn MD, Paul Humphreys, Peter Goodwin, Rachel Branscombe, RL, Robert Murphy, Robertas, Robyn Chaffey, Ruchi Khare, Ruth Withers, Sallie Ramsay, Sarah Baker, Sarah Clay, Shane Smithers, Shannon Todd, Shirley Burgess, Stephanie Adamopoulos, Subroto Pant, Susan Kay, Thomas Gibbs, Virginia Gow, Vita Monica, Wendy Vitols, Whitney McIntosh and Winsome Smith.

(10,000 words)Luke is a single widower with a pet cat. He is just shy of retirement and about to take the ride of a lifetime on a train headed west. He is prepared for two weeks of adventure. When a pause to take leak during a run turns into more than a quick stop, his plans change dramatically. Luke quickly discovers he doesn’t have to venture far from home for the adventure of a lifetime.This is a 10,000 word short story, approximately 1/5 the length of a novel)Luke is a single widower with a pet cat. He is just shy of retirement and about to take the ride of a lifetime on a train headed west. He is prepared for two weeks of adventure. When a pause to take leak during a run turns into more than a quick stop, his plans change dramatically. Luke quickly discovers he doesn’t have to venture far from home for the adventure of a lifetime.