Book picks similar to
Stories Of An Awkward Size: A Slipstream And Hard SF Anthology (Awkward Stories Book 1) by Jonathan Swords-Holdsworth
science-fiction
parallel-universe
free-from-amazon
sf-hard
Learning to Fly
April Henry - 2002
She has a career, if you can call it that, as a pet groomer. And she has just learned that she is pregnant, and that her boyfriend is a two-timing bastard. Then a disastrous highway pile-up erroneously adds her name to its list of victims - and hands Free a chance for a new life. In the chaos of the fiery accident, she acquired the identity papers of the hitchhiker who is mistaken for her - plus a gym bag filled with $740,000 in drug money that otherwise would have been burned up. Go, Free, go! Free sets out to transform herself into Lydia, the sweet-faced girl whose identity she has assumed. Raised by aging hippies, Free has always secretly longed to be more "normal," to try shaving her underarms instead of her head. Now she has a chance to make herself over. But Free doesn't know that two men are hot on her trail. One man wants the money back. If he doesn't get it soon, he knows he will end up dead. The other man wants his wife back. He doesn't know the real Lydia died in the accident, on the run from his pathological abuse. Now he is determined to "teach her a lesson" - even if the lesson is fatal. As Free/Lydia settles into a new life full of possibilities, she is completely unaware that it is threatened by resourceful pursuers who are closing in on her.
Don't Turn Around
Michelle Gagnon - 2012
Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her hacking skills to stay anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in a warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life in no uncertain terms. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.
Wreckage
Emily Bleeker - 2015
On the surface, she looks like a brave survivor of a plane crash. But she’s been lying to her family, her friends, and the whole world since rescue helicopters scooped her and her fellow survivor, Dave Hall, off a deserted island in the South Pacific. Missing for almost two years, the castaways are thrust into the spotlight after their rescue, becoming media darlings overnight. But they can’t tell the real story—so they lie.The public is fascinated by the castaways’ saga, but Lillian and Dave must return to their lives and their spouses. Genevieve Randall—a hard-nosed journalist and host of a news program—isn’t buying it. She suspects Lillian’s and Dave’s explanations about the other crash survivors aren’t true. And now, Genevieve’s determined to get the real story, no matter how many lives it destroys.In this intriguing tale of survival, secrets, and redemption, two everyday people thrown together by tragedy must finally face the truth…even if it tears them apart.
Fighting Dirty
Blair Denholm - 2020
With everything poised to go pear-shaped, the embattled cop embarks on a path that could destroy his career, or save him from destruction. One thing you can be sure of, ex-boxer Lisbon never backs down from a fight!The twist at the end will leave you breathless!⭐ A story of evil and redemption⭐ The characters leap off the page⭐ Jack Lisbon is a kick-ass investigator who packs a punch⭐ An action-packed page-turnerFollow Jack Lisbon's journey in the upcoming series: "The Fighting Detective"
Friend Me
Sheila M. Averbuch - 2020
In fact, she is falling apart under constant abuse from a school bully, Zara. Zara torments Roisin in person and on social media. She makes Roisin the laughingstock of the whole school.Roisin feels utterly alone... until she bonds with Haley online. Finally there's someone who gets her. Haley is smart, strong, and shares anti-mean-girl memes that make Roisin laugh. Together, they are able to imagine what life could look like without Zara. Haley quickly becomes Roisin's lifeline.Then Zara has a painful accident, police investigate, and Roisin panics. Could her chats with Haley look incriminating?Roisin wants Haley to delete her copies of their messages, but when she tries to meet Haley in person, she can't find her anywhere. What's going on? Her best friend would never have lied to her, right? Or is Haley not who she says she is...With twists, turns, and lightning-fast pacing, this is a middle-grade thriller about bullying, revenge, and tech that young readers won't be able to put down.
Summer of Fear - a murder-mystery thriller
Chris McGarry - 2014
Over his 20 - year career, Antonio Guardini has investigated some very disturbing, grisly crimes. But the latest string of murders that have New Yorkers in a paralyzing state of fear have struck a personal chord within Antonio. A devout Catholic and prolife activist, the hardened cop is tasked with tracking down the wily serial killer who is stalking and butchering the city's abortion physicians. As his personal beliefs begin conflict with his job, a struggle ensues as Antonio delves deeper the twisted myriad of clues left by the murderer and his victims. Will Antonio identify and apprehend the 'Abortion Avenger' before he kills again?
SENTINEL
John Stanley - 2015
But when they finally track down who was behind a brutal beating of a priest, not everything turns out to be as it seems.
WhiteSpace: Season Two
Sean Platt - 2013
But the shooter wasn’t acting alone.Roger Heller was part of something bigger…A conspiracy of scientific experiments, missing citizens, and ancient secrets threatening the island and its people.Behind it all: the enigmatic Blake Conway.Can Jon Conway piece the mystery together before he loses someone else that he loves?Can Roger Heller’s surviving family move on from his heinous actions?Will Cassidy’s addictions destroy her new family with Emma and Jon?Can Milo trust the mysterious Don Bellows?What will happen when Brock Houser launches his own investigation?WhiteSpace is a character-driven, mysterious, sci-fi thriller that would be right at home with superbly scripted TV shows like LOST, The Killing, and Fringe.
True Crime Stories: 3 True Crime Books Collection (True Crime Novels Anthology)
Jack Rosewood - 2017
They can lead you to double-check your windows and doors at night, and question everything you thought or believed about human nature. Yet they are intriguing and fascinating at the same time. What is it that makes us different from those who take the lives of others? That is a question that many ask themselves, and these true crime stories help to identify the method and psychology behind some of the most terrifying killers in modern history. This set includes three true crime books, volumes 1-3, and each is filled with a variety of true crime murder cases, including spree killers and massacres, some of which are yet to be solved. You are taken through the background of the story, the murders, and the criminal investigations that took place. Some pages will be difficult to read, due to the emotion behind them. Yet you will be unable to stop reading, turning page after page. Each true crime anthology in this collection will leave you to ponder whether the perpetrators of these crimes were really monsters. When you learn of the background of these killers, the age-old question of whether a serial killer is born to kill will be at the forefront of your mind. Explore the stories behind the murders in these True Crime volumes, the anger, the horror, and the sadism, inflicted by each killer. Feel for the victims, their families, and the investigators who had to deal with each case. And don’t be surprised if you have to sleep with the light on.
Divorce Horse
Craig Johnson - 2012
Still recovering from his manhunt chasing down escaped convict and sociopath Reynaud Shade in the Bighorn Mountains, Walt just can’t find the opportunity to sit back and kick off his cowboy boots. His daughter, Cady, is getting married in a few months to the brother of his under-sheriff Victoria Moretti and is in town, helping her dad ‘recuperate’ and to talk about love, life, and weddings. Meanwhile, the American Indian Days Parade and Pow Wow are attracting tourists and trouble. The pride and joy of Tommy Jefferson’s stables—and the catalyst for his marital troubles—the notorious divorce horse, has gone missing, and Jefferson, renowned Indian Relay Racer and one-time meth head, wants him back. With the help of his best friend Henry Standing Bear and his daughter, The Greatest Legal Mind Of Our Time, Walt sets off to the races.
The Best Lies
Sarah Lyu - 2019
But now, she doesn’t even know what tomorrow will look like.She was happy once. Remy had her boyfriend Jack, and Elise, her best friend—her soulmate—who understood her better than anyone else in the world.But now Jack is dead, shot through the chest—And it was Elise who pulled the trigger.Was it self-defense? Or something deeper, darker than anything Remy could have imagined? As the police investigate, Remy does the same, sifting through her own memories, looking for a scrap of truth that could save the friendship that means everything to her.Told in alternating timelines, Thelma and Louise meets Gone Girl in this twisted psychological thriller about the dark side of obsessive friendship.
Grace, Grits and Ghosts: Southern Short Stories
Susan Gabriel - 2015
Whether white or black, living or dead, down home country or upscale urban, Gabriel’s characters are quirky, poignant and deep. They include: A Gullah woman using folk magic to cast her latest spell. A girl coming-of-age dealing with death in 1940s Tennessee. A wealthy Savannah matriarch with gastrointestinal issues guarding family secrets. A good ol’ boy observing himself shortly after his death. An agoraphobic woman striking up a unique friendship with the girl across the street. And a band of seventy-year-olds finding healing in a mountain stream. Written in the tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty, the eight short stories in Grace, Grits and Ghosts: Southern Short Stories are all rooted in the southern landscape—from the steamy coast of Georgia, to the current day Atlanta suburbs, to the ancient Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Pull up a rocker on the front porch, take a sip of your sweet iced tea and lose yourself in these original stories of soulful southerners and their sultry landscape.
Plague
Matthew James - 2016
Its victims soon become violent, viciously attacking anything that wanders into their path.Logan Reed, a former Australian Special Forces soldier turned African game warden, is at the front line of this disastrous. Together with his team, including his sister, a Serengeti Zoologist, Logan searches for clues to the contagion's origin in hopes that knowing where it came from will help them stop it.And they'd better hurry.It’s spreading...
Broken Monsters
Lauren Beukes - 2014
As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams? If you're Detective Versado's geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you're desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story. If you're Thomas Keen, known on the street as TK, you'll do what you can to keep your homeless family safe--and find the monster who is possessed by the dream of violently remaking the world. If Lauren Beukes's internationally bestselling The Shining Girls was a time-jumping thrill ride through the past, her Broken Monsters is a genre-redefining thriller about broken cities, broken dreams, and broken people trying to put themselves back together again.
Kinesis
Ethan Spier - 2012
But they are shocked to find the mutilated bodies of the two intruders in the front room of Leonard’s home, while he waits in the kitchen with the surviving members of his family. Clarissa Chapman is a DCI of Psychokinetic Investigations - a new area of police work - instigated after the first genuine case of psychokinesis was discovered, some fifteen years earlier. The Samson case is brought to her attention due to the strange way in which the two intruders were killed. She suspects Leonard Samson is a Kinetic. All Kinetics are blessed with a gift to move objects with only the power of their mind. But it is also a horrific curse. Within a few years of discovering their ability, they all develop violent insanity, and for this reason, are locked away in specially designed prisons for the benefit of public safety. After discovering that the authorities suspect him of being a Kinetic, Leonard Samson runs; unaware that the police are not the only ones pursuing him. As the days pass by, Clarissa becomes increasingly aware that certain aspects of the Samson case just do not add up...