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The Sea Came in at Midnight: A Novel (G - Reference, Information And Interdisciplinary Subjects Ser.)
by Steve Erickson&“If you read one philosophical-doomsday kinky-sex road-trip novel this year, make it this one.&” —SalonIt&’s New Year&’s Eve 1999, and the members of a powerful cult are about to commit ritual suicide. Fleeing their ranks at the final moment, teenager Kristin lands in Tokyo, where she gains employment listening to clients&’ stories in a &“memory hotel&” designed to address the decay of Japanese collective memory after the Second World War. But Kristin herself has a startling odyssey: Among other things, it involves answering a personal ad only to wind up imprisoned, naked, in an empty house presided over by a man known as the Occupant, hard at work on a millennial calendar that has serious implications for the future. The Sea Came in at Midnight is a breathtaking fable of redemption and one of Erickson&’s most impressive visions to date.
Lunch with the Deadly Dozen: A brand new totally brilliant cozy crime novel
by Peter BerryThis group likes to stay active in retirement—by catching killers . . . Widowed and in his sixties, Thomas Quinn has been asked to lunch by Lexington Smith, the leader of a covert team who call themselves The Twelve. When Quinn accepts the invitation to join the group, he finds himself united with other retired experts—from a surgeon to a locksmith to a cabbie—in a quest to capture a killer targeting homeless victims on London&’s transit system. As the body count rises, Quinn and his companions try to puzzle out a pattern. But can they protect this vulnerable population by identifying a predator amid the crowds of the London Underground?
Hell Is Too Crowded
by Jack HigginsAn engineer is caught in a lethal trap after he follows a beautiful woman home in this thriller from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Midnight Bell. Matthew Brady was just out for a good time. After a long dry spell working in the deserts of Kuwait, the young engineer was ready to let loose in merry old London. So when a beautiful young woman drifts out of the fog and asks him to accompany her to her apartment, it seems like a dream come true for the happily muddled American. His drunken dream soon becomes a waking nightmare when he comes to with the mysterious woman dead on the floor, the police ready to pin a murder on him, and absolutely no memory of what happened. Running for his life, Brady knows his only chance for freedom is to clear his name. But to do so he will have to descend into the twisted London underworld, where money isn&’t the only currency, death is a final payment, and the man behind the set-up is waiting with a bullet just for him. From the international bestselling author of The Eagle Has Landed and the Sean Dillon series, this twisting mystery will keep you racing to the last page.
Zone of the Interior: A Novel
by Clancy SigalA riotously funny saga of institutional insanity, based on the author&’s association with the notorious psychiatrist R. D. LaingDespite massive literary success, Sidney Bell feels perpetually unsatisfied and suffers unexplained physical ailments. Desperate to straighten out his twisted life, anxiety-ridden Sid seeks help from experimental psychiatrist Dr. Willie Last, whose therapeutic methods involve hallucinatory drugs such as LSD and trading places with his patients. After a tumultuous first trip, Sid ends up at Conolly House, a radical hospital for young schizophrenics where he serves as a &“barefoot doctor.&” From there, Sigal launches readers on a sardonic, rambling journey through a fantastic breed of insanity.With his freewheeling, ecstatic prose, Sigal spins a manic psychological quest into a telling portrait of a society in the grips of a turbulent decade. Zone of the Interior is a subversive and uproarious search for clarity and comfort in an increasingly mad world, grounded by an unforgettable narrator.
Pious Deception: A Kiernan O'shaughnessy Mystery (The Kiernan O'Shaughnessy Mysteries #1)
by Susan DunlapFormer medical examiner Kiernan O&’Shaughnessy investigates a scandalous suicide in a Catholic churchQuick-witted, precise, and comfortable with corpses, Kiernan O&’Shaughnessy was perfectly suited to life as a medical examiner. In her four years with the coroner&’s office, she never had one unhappy shift until the day they let her go. Enraged and adrift, she made her way to La Jolla, California, to set up a high-class private investigation service for medically suspicious deaths. She works only the cases she wants, and charges a steep enough fee that she can afford a cherry red Triumph and a former NFL player as a houseman. Her latest client is one of the biggest moneymakers on the planet: the Roman Catholic Church. A troubled young priest is found hanged in Mission San Leo in Phoenix, Arizona. Hoping to avoid scandal, the bishop bypasses the police, and hires Kiernan to determine whether the death was an accident or a suicide. They ask her to be quiet, but the secrets she uncovers will make her want to sing louder than any church choir.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&’s personal collection.Pious Deception is the 1st book in the Kiernan O'Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Dillinger
by Jack HigginsA novel of the last, desperate days of John Dillinger, America&’s most notorious bank robber. In 1934, after his spectacular jailbreak from a cell in Indiana, John Dillinger was like a ghost—some claimed to spot him in New York, others in London, New Orleans, or California. Though the FBI would eventually find and kill Dillinger in Chicago, speculation about his whereabouts in those mysterious final months never waned. In Jack Higgins&’s suspenseful imagining, Dillinger flees to Mexico, where his attempts at finding freedom launch the fugitive into the clutches of men much more dangerous than the federal agents on his trail. This dramatic account of Dillinger&’s final days brings him face-to-face with bloodthirsty bandits and corrupt police officers, breathing vivid life into the story of America&’s most fascinating outlaw.
The Room: A Novel
by Hubert Selby Jr.&“A terrifying journey into the darkest corners of the psyche&” by the author of Requiem for a Dream and Last Exit to Brooklyn (The Guardian). A small-time criminal sits alone in his cell, his mind reeling with sadistic thoughts of retribution against the police and, eventually, all those he believes have failed him throughout his life. A deeply disturbing exploration of a character the Guardian described as &“a genuinely frightening American Psycho,&” Hubert Selby Jr.&’s second novel is made all the more chilling by the narrator&’s brief flashes of humanity. The Room is a tale so terrifying the author himself couldn&’t read it for decades after writing it. Called &“brutal&” by the New York Times when it was first published, it is a dark masterpiece about a man who may be temporarily trapped in jail, but whose true prison is his own anger, as he is enslaved by out-of-control passions and sickening fantasies of revenge. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Hubert Selby Jr. including rare photos from the author&’s estate.
The Eighth Square
by Herbert LiebermanFor an unsuspecting group of friends, a hike through the forest turns into a desperate fight for survival Mr. Rogers is the ideal guide for a few neighbors looking to survey a large, wooded piece of property: He remembers every tree, stream, and bush; when there&’s a fork in the road, he knows which way to go. But the surveying trip goes horribly wrong when Rogers suffers a debilitating heart attack and the group is left wandering lost through the woods, with Rogers a murmuring shadow of his former self.Almost immediately, tensions that have existed among the friends since childhood begin to flare up. The forest grows darker and more threatening. Leadership claims are staked and rescinded. Fears start to overwhelm rational decision-making. Then Rogers starts spouting instructions in what sounds like a mystic cipher.The Eighth Square is a rollicking psychological thriller that deftly demonstrates how thin the barrier between man and animal truly is.
In the Name of a Killer (The Cowley and Danilov Thrillers #1)
by Brian FreemantleAt the end of the Cold War, a brutal murder in a Moscow alley forces two rival agents together in a mission to catch a serial killer—before it&’s too late Moscow is a bad place for an American to walk alone, particularly a woman as beautiful as Ann Harris. An economist in the American embassy, she thinks she knows the town. She thinks she is safe. She&’s wrong. Colonel Dimitri Danilov is irritated that Harris had to die on his watch. The peculiarities of the murder promise an interesting case, but American involvement will make everything needlessly complicated. Gumming up the works is William Cowley, the head of the FBI Russian desk, whose job is to keep men like Danilov from sweeping the murders of Americans under the rug. But as a serial killer terrorizes Moscow, the two must work together to thwart not only the killer, but also the corrupt city that protects him. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Brian Freemantle including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.In the Name of a Killer is the first book in the Cowley and Danilov Thrillers, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Coming Down Again: A Novel
by John BalabanBased on a true story: A magnificent portrayal of chaos, darkness, and adventure in Asia's Golden Triangle as the war wages in Vietnam Adrift at the end of the Vietnam War, Paul Roberts and his girlfriend, Fay, are arrested at the Burmese-Thai border for smuggling a couple of ounces of hashish. Stranded in a small Thai prison, they become part of a grisly contest played out by opium warlords, corrupt border patrol police, and two AWOL GIs. The war echoes through their intrigues and jailbreak attempts, especially when a regiment of North Vietnamese joins the skirmish. Transcending the adventure story, John Balaban&’s lyric prose conjures beautiful and frightening images, evoking the Golden Triangle&’s jungle as well as the complex hazards of the opium trade.
Paul the Traveller: Saint Paul and his World
by Ernle BradfordThe life of the first-century man born Saul of Tarsus, who went on to become Paul the Apostle, by the acclaimed historian and author of Thermopylae. Paul, born into Asia Minor&’s Jewish aristocracy and a passionate student of scripture, was part of the crowd that killed Stephen, a deacon regarded as the first Christian martyr. But on the road to Damascus, Paul experienced a miracle that would change his life and in turn change history. His conversion left him convinced that his true master was the man who would come to be known as Jesus Christ. Drawing on his vast command of ancient history and blending it with superb storytelling skills, author Ernle Bradford weaves a tale that takes the reader from city to city as Paul spreads the teachings of Christ despite being beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. It&’s a thrilling tale and stirring biography of a man whose devotion and rhetorical genius laid the groundwork for the religion that soon swept the civilized world. Written by a historian known for immersing himself in his subjects, which range from the ancient world to World War II, this is a fascinating look at the convert who helped shape Christianity as a worldwide force.
Bitter Lemons of Cyprus: Life on a Mediterranean Island
by Lawrence DurrellFrom the New York Times–bestselling author of the Alexandria Quartet: &“A superlative piece of . . . writing . . . rooted in the Mediterranean scene&” (Time). In 1953, as the British Empire relaxes its grip upon the world, the island of Cyprus bucks for independence. Some cry for union with Athens, others for an arrangement that would split the island down the middle, giving half to the Greeks and the rest to the Turks. For centuries, the battle for the Mediterranean has been fought on this tiny spit of land, and now Cyprus threatens to rip itself in half. Into this escalating conflict steps Lawrence Durrell—poet, novelist, and a former British government official. After years serving the Crown in the Balkans, he yearns for a return to the island lifestyle of his youth. With humor, grace, and passable Greek, Durrell buys a house, secures a job, and settles in for quiet living, happy to put up his feet until the natives begin to consider wringing his neck. More than a travel memoir, this is an elegant picture of island life in a changing world.
Career in C Major: And Other Fiction
by James M. CainFrom a famous tough-guy writer, a collection of shockingly funny storiesEver since she got married, Doris has regretted giving up her singing career. After years of domestic drudgery, she decides to take one last crack at becoming an opera singer, even if it means sacrificing everything for the sake of her dream. Her contractor husband is fully supportive, having no idea that the family&’s true musical genius isn&’t Doris—it&’s him.In this and other stories in Career in C Major, James M. Cain shows off a light comedic touch that will surprise readers who are familiar only with his crime novels The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. But Cain had been publishing funny stories, articles, and satire since his early days as a reporter for H. L. Mencken&’s Baltimore Sun, and was just as comfortable writing about singers as he was about killers. This collection of Cain&’s lighter work shows that if an author is tough it doesn&’t mean he can&’t crack a smile.
The Alpha Deception: The Omega Command, The Alpha Deception, And The Gamma Option (The Blaine McCracken Novels #2)
by Jon Land&“The greatest thriller writer alive today&” puts rogue agent Blaine McCracken in the sights of a space-borne superweapon in this Cold War nail-biter (Bookviews).In the last years of the Cold War, policy and trust for the Russians have led to disarmament treaties and hope for a new beginning. But peace is not yet within grasp. An entire American town has been wiped off the map: not by nuclear strike, but rather a space-borne particle cannon capable of reducing the entire nation to dust in hours. But who pulled the trigger? Was it the Russians, making a final bid for world domination? Or was it a third power—some aspiring conqueror hoping to pit the superpowers against each other? It&’s up to Blaine McCracken to find out. An old flame has contacted the rogue op, begging for help protecting her father, a jeweler who has just been robbed of five rare stones—five rubies that could mean life or death for the United States. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Jon Land including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.
The Great Ship: How Battleships Changed the History of War
by Ernle BradfordThe evolution of the battleship through centuries of war, told by a nautical expert and author of The Mighty Hood. During its reign from the sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth, the battleship was the most powerful weapon of war known to man. Strategically, it determined a war&’s outcome. Tactically, it dominated every sea battle. But at the Battle of Taranto in 1940 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, carrier-borne aircraft made a decisive display of superiority over the once-mighty battleship. Thus World War II heralded the end of the era of The Great Ship. In The Great Ship, noted naval historian Ernle Bradford traces the evolution of battleships through centuries of conflict and innovation. Selecting one or two ships from each period, Bradford illustrates their use in action and the significant roles they played in the course of history.
Metaphor and Musical Thought
by Michael Spitzer"The scholarship of Michael Spitzer's new book is impressive and thorough. The writing is impeccable and the coverage extensive. The book treats the history of the use of metaphor in the field of classical music. It also covers a substantial part of the philosophical literature. The book treats the topic of metaphor in a new and extremely convincing manner."-Lydia Goehr, Columbia University The experience of music is an abstract and elusive one, enough so that we're often forced to describe it using analogies to other forms and sensations: we say that music moves or rises like a physical form; that it contains the imagery of paintings or the grammar of language. In these and countless other ways, our discussions of music take the form of metaphor, attempting to describe music's abstractions by referencing more concrete and familiar experiences. Michael Spitzer's Metaphor and Musical Thought uses this process to create a unique and insightful history of our relationship with music—the first ever book-length study of musical metaphor in any language. Treating issues of language, aesthetics, semiotics, and cognition, Spitzer offers an evaluation, a comprehensive history, and an original theory of the ways our cultural values have informed the metaphors we use to address music. And as he brings these discussions to bear on specific works of music and follows them through current debates on how music's meaning might be considered, what emerges is a clear and engaging guide to both the philosophy of musical thought and the history of musical analysis, from the seventeenth century to the present day. Spitzer writes engagingly for students of philosophy and aesthetics, as well as for music theorists and historians.
Memoirs of a Dance Hall Romeo: A Novel
by Jack HigginsA New York Times–bestselling author delivers a different kind of thriller—in which the artist as a young man is unleashed upon the world. It&’s 1949, and young Oliver Shaw has just been demobilized out of the British army. After two lonely years of battling little more than paperwork and boredom, he&’s ready to start living. But first he has to figure out just what that means. So begins the uniquely comic adventure of a boy who yearns to be a man—in every way possible. While trying to find success as a writer, Oliver gamely tries to teach in a broken-down slum school during the day, and at night desperately tries to learn as much as possible about wine, women, and . . . more women—with results that will forever change him for both the better and the slightly worse. Warm, funny, and brimming with mischief, Memoirs of a Dance Hall Romeo is a coming-of-age tale by one of modern fiction&’s greatest storytellers. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Jack Higgins including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s personal collection.
Fire Cracker (The PJ Gray Series #2)
by Shirley KennettPJ Gray plays a high-stakes game of computer cat-and-mouse—with a man who doesn&’t existSomeone has hacked into the St. Louis Hospital, and not merely to steal information. The hacker alters patient results and drug dosages in the hospital&’s computer network, with fatal consequences. Who better for the police to have on the case than PJ Gray, psychologist and master of forensic computer simulation? As Gray gets to work with her old-school partner Leo Schultz, the pair discover the killer&’s trail to be far more opaque than usual: They&’re chasing someone who&’s successfully manufactured his own death. When they start to untangle his plot, they become part of it, as the brilliant murderer puts Gray to the toughest test she&’s ever faced. An outstanding follow-up to Gray Matter, and featuring a techno-hunt worthy of Patricia Cornwell, Fire Cracker sizzles with suspense.
Reckless Endangerment: Corruption Of Blood, Falsely Accused, Irresistible Impulse, And Reckless Endangerment (Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi #10)
by Robert K. TanenbaumThe Israeli/Palestinian conflict erupts in NYC in this &“hair-raising&” pre-9/11 thriller from the New York Times–bestselling author of Material Witness (People). An elderly Jewish couple has been gunned down in their Fourteenth Street delicatessen. Above them, anti-Israel graffiti has been scrawled in Arabic. Evidence points to a few clueless teens, but this seemingly open-and-shut case threatens to stir up a dangerous and divisive media frenzy. As rhetoric from Jewish and Muslim community leaders reaches fever pitch, prosecutor Butch Karp and his wife, private investigator Marlene Ciampi, fight to keep the city from coming apart at the seams. But the truth behind the horrifying crime is far more dangerous than anyone thought—and more victims are turning up. If public outrage doesn&’t destroy the city, an ingenious group of conspirators just might. From the former New York assistant DA and bestselling author of Infamy, this is a classic entry in the Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi series, which shows 1970&’s New York in all its violent, dirty glory. Reckless Endangerment is the 10th book in the Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. &“While the legal writing is as expert as ever, this book gets its punch from Tanenbaum&’s knotted, tangled vision of Manhattan.&” —The Washington Post Book World &“Hair-raising.&” —People
The Tomorrow War: Death Orbit, The Sky Ghost, Return Of Sky Ghost, The Tomorrow War (Wingman #16)
by Mack MaloneyA fighter pilot embarks on a daring journey in this unique blend of science fiction and fast-paced action-adventure. In an alternate universe, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1998. Within weeks, their massive navy has seized control of the Panama Canal and all of South America. Hope lies in Hawk Hunter, a refugee from another dimension who&’s the greatest fighter pilot the world, in any dimension, has ever seen. He mounts a daring raid on Tokyo, dropping a bomb so powerful that it obliterates the Japanese mainland—sinking it beneath the waves like a new Atlantis. And then, after his greatest triumph, the Wingman vanishes. Finding him is left to Yaz, the sharpest spy the government has to offer, and Zoltan the Magnificent, a US Psychic Corps officer with a dramatic streak. As they get on Hunter&’s trail, they find that the Wingman isn&’t dead—he&’s embarked on his greatest adventure yet. The Tomorrow War is the sixteenth book of the Wingman series, which also includes Wingman and The Circle War.
The Council of Ten
by Jon LandWhen his drug-smuggling grandmother is murdered for informing on her employers, a journalist takes justice into his own hands Four old women return from a Bahamas vacation with four more suitcases than they had when they left. They leave them behind at baggage claim, and a stranger picks them up—disappearing with the extra suitcases and the hundreds of pounds of cocaine they hold. The grandmothers are smugglers, supplementing their social security with criminal income, but one of them is tired of the deception. Doris goes to the DEA to out her boss, a vicious drug lord named Trelana, and when he learns she has snitched, her age does not buy mercy. Doris&’s grandson, Drew Jordan, is a journalist with fantasies of life as a commando. Now it&’s up to him to avenge the woman who raised him, and get retribution even if the whole international drug trade stands in his way. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Jon Land including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.
Cold Poison (The Hildegarde Withers Mysteries #13)
by Stuart PalmerWhen a Hollywood cartoonist is poisoned, sharp-witted sleuth Miss Withers must draw her own conclusions. &“[Miss Withers is] . . . still one of the best&” (Anthony Boucher). At Hollywood&’s most renowned cartoon studio, there are a few things you simply do not draw: snakes, cows with udders, violence, and death. So when Janet Poole finds a doodle of the studio&’s famous cartoon penguin with a noose around its neck, she takes the drawing as a threat. Someone at the studio has murder on the mind. The top brass reach out to Hildegarde Withers, a retired amateur sleuth who has come to Los Angeles to relieve her asthma. The obvious suspect is Larry Reed, a disturbed cartoonist with a dark sense of mischief, but on Miss Withers&’s first day working the case, something happens that suggests Larry is likely innocent: He&’s murdered. This studio may work in animation, but Miss Withers will find the violence on the lot anything but cartoonish. Cold Poison is part of the Hildegarde Withers Mysteries series, which also includes The Penguin Pool Murder and Murder on the Blackboard.
Female Friends: A Novel (Picador Bks.)
by Fay WeldonFrom bestselling author Fay Weldon comes the story of three women&’s enduring friendship They first met as children in 1940s London. Thirty years later, Marjorie, Chloe, and Grace make their way through an almost unrecognizable post-war society, coping with husbands, children, parents, and the messy business of life. Trapped by her dependency on her tormented screenwriter husband, Chloe finds a novel way of liberating herself from his sexual and domestic oppression. Marjorie, a childless BBC director, is overwhelmed with guilt upon seeing her mother, the woman who abandoned her thirty years earlier, dying in a hospital bed. And egocentric Grace, who lives with a much younger man, her husband having passed away, sacrifices the wellbeing of her son upon the altar of pleasure. A smart, prescient novel that speaks for a generation of women struggling to find their place in a male-dominated world, Female Friends is a masterwork from a storyteller at the top of her game.
Preservation Hall
by Scott SpencerA romantic getaway becomes the setting for a terrible act of violence when two unlikely couples are stranded by a fierce snowstorm in this masterful novel from bestselling author Scott Spencer Virgil Morgan&’s precarious relationship with his father has served to cut him off from the world at large for most of his life. But when he meets Tracy, their immediate, intense love for each other grounds him in a way that nothing else can—until his old insecurities return in the form of his father&’s new stepson. And the tensions between them will come to a head during one fateful snowbound stay at a secluded country house.Preservation Hall is the spellbinding tale of a man who has trapped himself in a fortress of money and success, and of the redemptive power of unconditional love. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Scott Spencer, including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.
Keeplock: A Novel of Crime
by Stephen SolomitaA repeat offender freshly sprung from prison tries to do the impossible: Stay out troublePeter Frangello hasn&’t spent three straight years out of jail since he was sixteen. Now past thirty, he&’s nearing parole when his prison block neighbor is burned alive in his cell, a vicious attack that was intended for Frangello himself. He spends his last week in protective custody, and when he is released back into the world he makes a resolution to stay clean—not for morality&’s sake, but because if he goes back inside, the next hit won&’t miss. But for a man whose only skills are stealing and doing time, staying out of trouble is not easy. As old associates and an army of crooked cops put pressure on him, Frangello will find that, inside or out, he&’s doomed to remain a prisoner for life.