Best of
Suspense

1997

Term Limits


Vince Flynn - 1997
    ONE POLITICIAN AT A TIME In one bloody night, three of Washington's most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their reach—not even the president.A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals the killers are elite military commandos, but no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike next. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country's future ...

The Bone Collector


Jeffery Deaver - 1997
    But now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits. With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City's past -- and reach further into the darkness of the mind of a madman who won't stop until he has stripped life down to the bone.

Postmortem / Body of Evidence / All That Remains


Patricia Cornwell - 1997
    In "Postmortem," "Body of Evidence" and "All That Remains," Chief Medical Examiner Scarpetta's sometimes grisly milieu is brought to like in authentic and fascination detail. Readers and reviewers agree that Cornwell's finely plotted and suspenseful tales "read like gangbusters."

The Winner


David Baldacci - 1997
    All she has to do is change her identity and leave the U.S. forever.The KillerIt's an offer she dares to refuse...until violence forces her hand and thrusts her into a harrowing game of high-stakes, big-money subterfuge. It's a price she won't fully pay...until she does the unthinkable and breaks the promise that made her rich.The WinnerFor if LuAnn Tyler comes home, she will be pitted against the deadliest contestant of all: the chameleonlike financial mastermind who changed her life. And who can take it away at will...

Long After Midnight


Iris Johansen - 1997
    She wanted to save lives.  The killer wanted to end hers.The first warning was triggered hundreds of miles away.  The second warning exploded only yards from where she and her son stood.  Now Kate Denby realizes the frightening truth:  She is somebody's target.Danger has arrived in Kate's backyard with a vengeance.  And the gifted scientist is awakening to a nightmare world where a ruthless killer is stalking her...where her innocent son is considered expendable...and where the medical research to which she has devoted her life is the same research that could get her killed.  Her only hope of protecting her family and making that medical breakthrough is to elude her enemy until she can face him on her own ground, on her own terms—and destroy him.

If Looks Could Kill


Heather Graham Pozzessere - 1997
    But she saw it. Saw the gloved hand...felt the knife strike...knew her mother’s terror. That was a lifetime ago. But the nightmares have returned; only, this time they’re of a faceless serial killer stalking women in south Florida. A killer she can’t see but who knows she is watching. Surrounded by her family, Madison knows she should feel safe, but she doesn’t. And how much can FBI agent Kyle Montgomery protect her, when he can’t let go of the past they’ve shared? Madison is Kyle’s only link to the killer, but can they find the truth before the killer strikes again? Because sometimes, it’s what--or who--you can’t see that holds the greatest danger....

The Blackstone Chronicles


John Saul - 1997
    John Saul, the master of supernatural suspense, John Saul, brings to chilling life the small New England town of Blackstone--and the secrets and sins that lay buried there. . . . — From atop Blackstone's highest hill, the old Asylum casts its shadow over the village. Built in the 1890s to house the insane, the Asylum has stood vacant for decades. But now, the wrecker's ball is about to strike--and unleash an ominous evil. Strange gifts begin to appear on the doorsteps of Blackstone's finest citizens.Each bears a mysterious history.Each brings a horrifying power to harm.Each reveals another thread in the suspensefully woven web of . . .THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLESPart I--An Eye for an Eye: The DollPart II--Twist of Fate: The LocketPart III--Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's FlamePart IV--In the Shadow of Evil: The HandkerchiefPart V--Day of Reckoning: The StereoscopePart VI--Asylum

Starting Over


Marcia Willett - 1997
    Frances and Stephen Ankerton are desperately worried about their son, Hugh, who wrongly blames himself for a fatal accident that took place nearly a year ago. While Frances turns to Annie for advice, Stephen finds a way to set Hugh's mind at rest... When Max Driver inherits some land on Dartmoor his dream becomes a reality. And a chance encounter with Frances leads to each and every one of them being touched by his warmth and enthusiasm. Soon he is an integral part of their lives and his determination to fulfil his own goal inspires the others to start over again.

And Then You Die


Iris Johansen - 1997
    Instead they find every person in the village is dead, killed in a bloodless carnage. The sisters are aided only by a mysterious agent who holds the key to stopping a vicious weapon aimed at America.

Killing Floor


Lee Child - 1997
    He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.

Death at Hazel House


Betty Rowlands - 1997
     Years ago, Sukey was hoping to become a detective but life took a different turn. Now she’s happy to be involved with the local police force, as long as she still gets to work the occasional murder case... When Sukey arrives to photograph the body of Lorraine Chant, the beautiful wife of a wealthy businessman, she’s baffled. At first, it looks like a botched burglary, as the huge family safe has been left wide open and empty. But why does Lorraine’s rich husband claim nothing was taken? And what is he not telling the police? Deciding to do a little investigating of her own, things take a darker turn for Sukey when she is set upon by a shady figure. What do they think she knows? As Sukey finds herself in the firing line, can she expose the true killer before it’s too late? If you love murder mysteries by Agatha Christie, Faith Martin or Joy Ellis, then this unputdownable novel from the bestselling queen of cozy crime will have you hooked! This book was previously published as An Inconsiderate Death.

Plum Island


Nelson DeMille - 1997
    the wry wit of The Gold Coast...this is vintage Nelson DeMille at the peak of his originality and the height of his powers.Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide cop John Corey is convalescing in rural eastern Long Island when an attractive young couple he knows is found shot to death on the family patio. The victims were biologists at Plum Island, a research site rumored to be an incubator for germ warfare.Suddenly, a local double murder takes on shattering global implications -- and thrusts Corey and two extraordinary women into a dangerous search for the secret of PLUM ISLAND....

Fortune


Erica Spindler - 1997
    A brother's dark obsession... And one woman's desperate fight for survival... Something dark and dangerous had long shadowed Skye Dearborn's life. She had seen the fear of it in her mother's eyes. It was there, locked in her memories of blood spilling across a gleaming floor. In the sound of her own screams. And in the terror she'd felt the night her mother disappeared. Then fortune smiled on Skye. With help she was able to put the horror behind her and look to the future.But now that same fortune is leading her into the arms of danger--and back into the nightmare of her past. For the evil that has haunted her dreams has a human form--a man obsessed with Skye since her birth. A man who alone knows who Skye Dearborn really is.

The Chamber / The Rainmaker


John Grisham - 1997
    From the world's number one bestselling author, two more electrifying legal thrillers in one bumper volume.--back cover

Wildfire


Susan Lewis - 1997
    Her career is on the up and Oliver, the great love of her life, has just asked her to marry him. The future couldn't look better. But their married bliss soon starts to evaporate when Oliver's power-crazed boss decides that Rhiannon is an unsuitable wife. And when American billionaire Max Romanov, engaged to supermodel Galina Casimir, turns his charm on her, Rhiannon is overcome by the intensity of her feelings for this enigmatic man who proves to be a challenge too hard to resist. Until the web of passion becomes more and more tangled and threatens to destroy a love that consumes like wildfire...

Chase the Moon


Dinah McCall - 1997
    Living off the land in rural Kentucky, they adhere closely to the words of the Bible. But there is more going on at their compound than either Elijah or Gracie realises. In fact, a man has been killed for knowing too much. When the victim's twin, Jake Baretta, arrives at the compound to search for his twin's killer, he struggles to keep his heart and attraction to Gracie to himself, and his mind on the job. Everyone knows the first rule of undercover work: Never fall in love with enemy.

The Cobra Event


Richard Preston - 1997
    By her midmorning art class, Kate's runny nose gives way to violent seizures and a hideous scene of self-cannibalization. She dies soon after. When a homeless man meets a similarly gruesome — and mystifying — fate, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta sends pathologist Alice Austen to investigate. What she uncovers is the work of a killer, a man who calls himself Archimedes and is intent on spreading his deadly Cobra virus throughout New York City. A silent crisis erupts, with Austen and a secret FBI forensic team rushing to expose the terrorist.Even more frightening than Preston's story about the fictitious Cobra virus, however, is the truth that lies beneath it. As the author writes in his introduction, "The nonfiction roots of this book run deep.... My sources include eyewitnesses who have seen a variety of biological-weapons installations in different countries, and people who have developed and tested strategic bioweapons." In fact, the only reason The Cobra Event was not written as nonfiction is that none of Preston's sources would go on record.Woven throughout the novel are sections of straight nonfiction reporting that reveal the terrifying truth about the development of biological weapons and the clandestine operations of Russia and Iraq. Three years of research and more than 100 interviewswithhigh-level sources in the FBI, the U.S. military, and the scientific community went into The Cobra Event. The result is sure to shock you.

Mortal Fear


Greg Iles - 1997
    But at night, Harper serves as system operator for E.R.O.S., a highly exclusive, sexually explicit on-line service whose clients range from the glitterati of Hollywood to the literati of New York. Shielded by a guarantee of absolute anonymity, these clients pour their secrets into the digital confession box of E.R.O.S. Only "sysops" like Harper - the high priests of the system - know and see all. When six female clients inexplicably drop off the network, Harper suspects that something is amiss. But when a world-famous New Orleans author - and E.R.O.S. client - is decapitated in her mansion, Harper breaks the code of silence and contacts the police. They are as shocked as Harper to learn that all six women have been brutally murdered, each with a different weapon, and in a different city. And each time the killer has claimed the same bizarre trophy. Horrified to find himself the prime suspect in the murders he reported, Harper is swept into a secret manhunt led by the FBI's Investigative Support Unit. While the FBI uses the technology of the future and the psychology of the past to trap the brilliant killer, Harper realizes that he alone stands a chance of luring the elusive madman into the open.

Digger


Joseph Flynn - 1997
    What separated him from everyone else was knowing right where the enemy was hiding. Even in the dark. That made him a natural tunnel rat. Then one day he went down a hole with his best friend Jamie Doolan. John was almost killed by a grenade and Doolan … disappeared. Leaving a man behind is a mortal sin and John did penance every day. When he got home, he and two vet friends secretly recreated a portion of the VC’s tunnels under the town of Elk River. Years later, a fight comes to Elk River, a strike against the town’s biggest employer. The labor dispute turns deadly when Tommy Boyle, the union leader and John’s closest living relative, is killed — and the county sheriff might be an accomplice. That leaves John with no choice but to investigate, using his tunnels to help find the truth. When Tommy’s nemesis, company owner Tony Hunt, learns of the tunnels’ existence, he decides there’s only one thing to do. Bring in his own Viet Cong.

Ryder's Wife


Sharon Sala - 1997
    Beautiful Casey adored her grandfather and had been groomed by him to rule his financial empire. She refused, however, to let him rule her private life as well. With her back to the wall, she foils his last attempt to force his handpicked husband on her; instead, she walks into a roadhouse deep in the Mississippi Delta and announces that she'll marry the first man who has the guts to stand up to her pack of barracuda relatives. Ryder Justice has his own demons to fight and is running from a past that torments him. But there's something about the lovely, desperate Casey that makes him step forward. Casey thinks he has the coldest eyes she's ever seen, but she's desperate enough to make a deal with him. Fate throws Casey and Ryder together, but the heat of passion and their forced intimacy forges a bond that will make their marriage of convenience last a lifetime.

Life Support


Tess Gerritsen - 1997
    She strove to keep her life in order, her ER in order. But no one could have been prepared for the man she admits one quiet night to the Springer Hospital. Delirious and in critical condition, he barely responds to treatment. And then he disappears without trace. The subsequent search leads Toby to a second patient with the same infection. And it reveals an unsettling twist - the infection can only be spread through direct tissue exchange. Soon Toby's on a trail that winds from a pregnant sixteen-year-old prostitute to an unexpected tragedy in her own home. Only then does she discover the unthinkable: a terrifying and deadly epidemic is about to be unleashed ...

A Thin Dark Line


Tami Hoag - 1997
    A suspected murderer is free on a technicality, and the cop accused of planting evidence against him is ordered off the case. But Detective Nick Fourcade refuses to walk away. He’s stepped over the line before. This case threatens to push him over the edge.He’s not the only one. Deputy Annie Broussard found the woman’s mutilated body. She still hears the phantom echoes of dying screams. She wants justice. But pursuing the investigation will mean forming an alliance with a man she doesn’t trust and making enemies of the men she works with. It will mean being drawn into the confidence of a killer. For Annie Broussard, finding justice will mean risking everything—including her life.The search for the truth has begun—one that will lead down a twisted trail through the steamy bayous of Louisiana, and deep into the darkest reaches of the human heart.

Solemn Duty


Leonard B. Scott - 1997
    They are truly a mismatched pair: Sutton is a by-the- book, competent, tough, smart feminist; Tanner is a confident, competent, take-charge, battle-scarred Neanderthal.But their days of action are far from over—especially when Tanner suspects that a “suicide” at Fort Benning is actually murder, leading him and Sutton to uncover a chilling series of killings tied to a betrayal in Cambodia in 1969.A thrilling read for those who like their action hot, Solemn Duty is a roller-coaster ride through a landscape of carnage and death, as Cambodian hit men, the Chinese mafia, and the FBI vie to outdo one another in an ultimate life-or-death climax…