The New York Public Library. A silent sanctuary of knowledge; a 100-year-old labyrinth of towering bookcases, narrow aisles and long marble hallways. For Doctor Stephen Swain and his daughter, Holly, it is the site of a nightmare. Because for one night this historic building is to be the venue for a contest. A contest in which Swain is to compete - whether he likes it or not. The rules are simple: Seven contestants will enter, only one will leave. With his daughter in his arms, Stephen Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. The stakes are high, the odds brutal. He can choose to run, to hide or to fight - but if he wants to live, he has to win. For in this contest, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all. Readers all over the world have been cheering about Matthew Reilly’s lightning fast adventure thrillers. Contest, the action-packed extravaganza that launched this international bestselling career, is vintage Reilly at his explosive best.

“Wonderfully wicked…a nonstop, pedal-to-the-metal romp.” —Chicago Tribune Over-the-hill former counter-culture SDS revolutionaries decide to turn bomb-making—and detonating—from a political statement to a profitable enterprise in the master Elmore Leonard’s electrifying and explosively funny thriller Freaky Deaky. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch calls Leonard, “the world’s greatest cops ‘n’ robbers novelist.” The Seattle Times says, “Leonard is more than just one of the all-time greats of crime fiction. He’s fast becoming an authentic American icon.” No matter where you wish to place the man who created the character of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, lately of TV’s hit series Justified, in the pantheon of mystery and noir detective fiction demigods—John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and the like—there is no denying that nobody does it better than the Grand Master Elmore Leonard!

Charlie Swift just pumped three . 38-caliber bullets into a dead polar bear in his taxidermist girlfriend’s garage. But he’s a gun monkey, and no one can blame him for having an itchy trigger finger. Ever since he drove down the Florida Turnpike with a headless body in the trunk of a Chrysler, then took down four cops, Charlie’s been running hard through the sprawling sleaze of central Florida. And to make matters worse, he’s holding on to some crooked paperwork that a lot of people would like to take off his hands. Now, with his boss disappeared and his friends dropping like flies, Charlie has got his work cut out just to survive. If he wants to keep the money and get the girl too, he’s really going to have to go ape. . . Nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, Gun Monkeys is a fast, furious collage of wit and wise guys, violence and thrills—and a full-throttle run through the dark side of the Sunshine State.

Having been raised and trained for the past 12 years by the United States government’s former top operative has made Canadian high school senior Lance Rock the most dangerous teenager on the planet. He is forced into using his skills to protect an American woman and her two teenage daughters from the woman's ex-husband-a crime lord who has been terrorizing the family for over a decade!One honorable young man can make all the difference.In this thrilling and suspenseful action/romance novel, a fatherless Canadian high school boy, Lance Rock, has been raised and trained by the United States government’s former top operative. For his senior year, Lance decides to travel to California in the hope of finding a girlfriend as well as freedom from his regimented life. Once there, he inadvertently ends up in the home of a mother and her two teenage daughters. He is forced to use his skills to defend them and himself from the woman’s ex-husband—a crime lord who has been terrorizing the family for over a decade!

Lance Hudson and his wife, Melanie, are survivors of a devastating car accident that shattered their world six months ago. While Lance emerged relatively unscathed, Melanie was not so fortunate. Desperate and willing to do anything to aid in his wife’s recovery, Lance has made the difficult decision to transfer Melanie to Bright Horizons, a clinic renowned for its unorthodox treatments.Lance Hudson and his wife, Melanie, are survivors of a devastating car accident that shattered their world six months ago. While Lance emerged from the wreckage relatively unscathed, Melanie was not so fortunate. Desperate and willing to do anything to aid in his wife’s recovery, Lance has made the difficult decision to transfer Melanie to Bright Horizons, a clinic renowned for its unorthodox treatments. Today will be his first time seeing Melanie since she was admitted to the facility and Lance is not sure what to expect. Although he has done everything possible to prepare for this visit, he will soon find there is no way to truly brace himself for what he is about to experience.This is a short story of approximately 4700 words.

In the prequel to A World Without Angels, see how life was for the angel and his girl before the adventure began.This is a short story prequel to A World Without Angels.Before angel Jerome fell to Earth, he was just an ordinary angel in the village. And before Leila started her adventure, she was a prisoner in her own home as the world crumbled around her.In the prequel to A World Without Angels, see how life was for the angel and his girl before the adventure began.In the Aron Angels Series:Before the FallA World Without AngelsAngel's Uprising

Nathan's solitary life is shattered by the visit of an old school friend. With him he brings Terri - beautiful, mysterious and the doorway to a world of danger, and Nathan finds himself running from unknown, dark forces. As he desperately tries to find answers, can he trust anyone?Nathan is a lonely, solitary person. Small town, dead end job, estranged from his parents, no real friends. When he gets a call from Joshua, a guy he used to know from school – and not just anyone, the most popular kid in class – who wants to meet up for a drink, he’s both excited and afraid. But Joshua doesn’t come alone – he brings a beautiful and mysterious girl, dangerous and seductive. But neither Joshua nor the girl are what they seem, and the night of fun goes spectacularly wrong. Nathan suddenly finds himself on the run, trying to escape both the police and other unknown, dark forces, that seem intent on his destruction. As he desperately tries to find answers, can he trust the people who say they will help him, or are they too using him for their own vicious ends?

Dressmaker, Raye Dawkins, is obsessed with her neighbor, Eric Mandini, an international businessman. When they meet by chance, she later becomes his lover, his domestic goddess, his babysitter to his ten-year-old son, Enzo. Just when she believes their relationship is moving to the next level, he dumps her by email. Heartbroken, devastated, she wants to hurt him back and begins her vengeance.The drummer for the Cramping Violets, an up and coming grunge band, lies dead in his apartment. Nicholas Peltier knows about it. How does he know? The Devil just told him. After the death, the band becomes a national phenomenon. "Love Blender," a song that Nick wrote for them becomes number one. It's the worst song he ever wrote. It was supposed to be a filler for their album but now it haunts him just as much as Satan herself. After being sent across the country in search of a replacement drummer, he suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in the murder.Now, if he could only find himself...

International news photographer Mike Scott is on assignment in The Bahamas working on a story about the recovery being made by Tiger Sharks because of the island-nation’s no take laws. When he discovers several sharks that have been finned and thrown back in the ocean to die, he goes searching for the most dangerous predator in the ocean: Man!Is there a problem at the behavioral science lab? No one is responding. Has something gone terribly wrong? The ownership has sent Jason Brentwood to find out. What he finds is hard to describe. Has everyone gone a little crazy? Or have some of the subjects received a long overdue and richly deserved freedom? It may depend on your perspective. Animal lovers may rejoice at this...then again---maybe not.

A free-flow art experiment that plumbs the depths of tolerance.A NaNoWriMo entry.DEFINITELY NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.Agents 32 and 33 take a ride on the Gold Line streetcar on a snowy Sunday morning in Charlotte. They are headed to an uptown bar to watch the Liverpool - Man Utd. soccer/football match. On the way, they strike up a conversation with a passenger from NYC. The subject of the Seahawks - Panthers game comes up. At the final stop, the passenger has a surprise announcement.No sex, religion, politics, violence, or Mr. Malloy in this one.Percent real-life experience: 92%.Approx. 1400 words.

In this extraordinary novel, William Boyd presents the autobiography of John James Todd, whose uncanny and exhilarating life as one of the most unappreciated geniuses of the twentieth century is equal parts Laurence Stern, Charles Dickens, Robertson Davies, and Saul Bellow, and a hundred percent William Boyd.   From his birth in 1899, Todd was doomed. Emerging from his angst-filled childhood, he rushes into the throes of the twentieth century on the Western Front during the Great War, and quickly changes his role on the battlefield from cannon fodder to cameraman. When he becomes a prisoner of war, he discovers Rousseau's Confessions, and dedicates his life to bringing the memoir to the silver screen. Plagued by bad luck and blind ambition, Todd becomes a celebrated London upstart, a Weimar luminary, and finally a disgruntled director of cowboy movies and the eleventh member of the Hollywood Ten. Ambitious and entertaining, Boyd has invented a most irresistible hero. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Michael came from old money, but when he married Rita, his parents disapproved and cut him off from the family wealth. With his beautiful wife and their three children, Michael never regrets what he lost -- until Rita is diagnosed with breast cancer and he doesn’t have health insurance. Michael hatches a desperate plan to fund Rita’s life-saving treatments and exact revenge against his family.Michael came from old money, but when he married Rita, his parents disapproved and cut him off from the family wealth. With his beautiful wife and their three children, Michael never regrets what he lost -- until Rita is diagnosed with breast cancer and he doesn’t have the health insurance to cover her care. Michael hatches a desperate plan to fund Rita’s life-saving treatments and exact revenge against his family.

Balik is an obedient member of society on Space Station Hope: he follows The Council's systems, excels at school and seems happy to follow in his parents footsteps... But, his real life is filled with secrets he can share with no one. As he follows his suspicions about the space station into ever more dangerous territory it seems like his whole world will unravel around him. What is the truth?“I wasted no time looking around the bland plastic space I had lived in all my life. There were no real memories here for me, no cherished moments or things to reminisce over: all that had stopped when I was eight years old and learned that life on the SS Hope was built on lies.”Outwardly, Balik is an obedient member of society on Space Station Hope: he follows The Council's systems, excels at school and seems happy to follow in his parents footsteps...Balik's real life is filled with secrets he can share with no one. As he follows his suspicions about the space station into ever more dangerous territory it seems like his whole world will unravel around him. But, he doesn't understand everything: things are wrong, he is sure of that, he just doesn't know why.When Cassie unexpectedly comes into his life, Balik struggles to find his balance. For years he's investigated the oddities of the world he lives in, but Cassie makes him question things in a different way... Can he believe in this girl who seems so much a part of the system he distrusts? Would she put a stop to his plans to break out if she knew what he was really up to? Balik can't be sure of anything - except the fact that he can't leave her alone.

Eerie and gruesome describe the dark confession of the office manager, who tells you why he kills an obnoxious employee. If you wish to enter the secret thoughts of the Office Manager as he prepares his forbidden deed, read on carefully.Eerie and gruesome describes the dark confession of the office manager as he confesses why he must murder an obnoxious hillbilly at a Los Angele's warehouse. If you wish to enter the secret thoughts of the Office Manager as he prepares his forbidden deed, read on carefully.

After an early morning machinegun attack by a madman called the Digger leaves dozens dead in the Washington, D.C., subway, the mayor’s office receives a message demanding twenty million dollars by midnight or more innocents will die. It is New Year’s Eve, and with the ransom note as the only evidence, Special Agent Margaret Lukas calls upon retired FBI agent and the nation’s premier document examiner Parker Kincaid to join the manhunt for the Digger—or for hundreds, the first moments of the new year will be their last on earth.