Book picks similar to
Winter's Law by Stephen Penner


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Thread of Hope


Jeff Shelby - 2011
    Now he’s been brought back to San Diego by the news that this friend has been arrested for beating up a teenage girl—a girl not much older than Elizabeth would be now.Joe is convinced Chuck Winslow is innocent, but Chuck is in a coma and can’t explain what happened. And the more Joe hears about what Chuck’s been up to in the years he’s been gone, the less Joe recognizes his old friend. To find out the truth, he will have to face his ex-wife, his former bosses, and a hometown full of wealth, lies, and illicit privilege. When Chuck’s accuser goes missing, Joe must decide where his loyalties truly lie.

8th Amendment


Jonna Ivin - 2012
    When a murder hits close to home and clues tie her to an old forgotten case, Lauren must stop at nothing to find the killer.With her marriage crumbling and her life in shatters she begins to question everything she has been fighting for. Will her views on the death penalty change once the killer is revealed?

The Inheritance


J. Galliano - 2020
    

The Ride


Aric Davis - 2013
    The biggest game in town centers on a massive, deadly roller coaster that winds its way through the Strip’s most famous attractions. On the first Saturday of every month, twenty-four desperate passengers get strapped into the notorious ride and gamble with their lives in a twisted game of chance, to the thrill of webcast audiences worldwide. One of them will win, and one will die, but the other twenty-two will escape with nothing but their lives. Bets are placed as the ride begins, but in Vegas, the house always wins.The Ride by acclaimed author Aric Davis is a terrifying near-future vision of bloodlust-as-entertainment taken to a horrific extreme.

Breathless


Louise Marley - 2012
    Nothing ever happens in the seaside village of Port Rell, which is why Lainey Jennings is so keen to leave it. She’s only twenty-four, there’s so much more she wants to do with her life. Crazy and outlandish things; like ice diving in Alaska, explore the underwater caves in Mexico, maybe even search for the lost city of Atlantis. Stay in Port Rell forever? Talk about purgatory! Since the death of her father, she’s struggled to keep the family diving business from bankruptcy. There’s just one thing that keeps her going. Her dream that one day she’ll discover the lost wreck that her father was so obsessed with, the legendary Mary Eliza - responsible for destroying Port Rell almost four hundred years ago. When an old, unknown wreck is discovered in the bay, sleepy Port Rell is under siege once again. This time it’s from the media, including a team from the Wreck Raiders TV show, led by handsome archaeologist Zac Nelson. The villagers are quick to cash in on their unexpected popularity, but ancient wrecks aren’t the only things waiting to be discovered in Port Rell. Because someone in Port Rell has a secret. And it's deadly. Breathless is a romantic comedy with a murder mystery

Sold Out


Stan R. Mitchell - 2012
    The wary man, named Nick Woods, just wants to be left alone while he recovers from bouts of paranoia and PTSD. Since developing the conditions in the ’80s due to several top-secret missions behind enemy lines, Nick remembers daily how his handler double-crossed him, almost robbing him of his life. Now, a tenacious reporter has uncovered Nick’s secret, and in doing so has started a massive manhunt by a group that wants nothing more than to capture Nick — and this time, the group will stop at nothing to get him.

Playing with Fire: A Legal Thriller


James Taylor Adams - 2015
    Thwarted in a previous attempt to bring charges for other nefarious crimes, Ms. Battle is determined to put the crime boss behind bars, and this time she has what looks like an airtight case. Claiming he has been framed, Carmine hires the blue blood, Harvard-educated attorney Harrison Fletcher, Jr. who was recently fired from his position as Assistant DA for refusing to compromise his ethics, to help him prove his innocence. Assisted by his beautiful wife and a scruffy, alcohol-loving detective, Harry sets out to discover who set the fire and why. As what really happened that June night becomes clear, evidence begins to disappear. With the defense’s case starting to crumble, Harry devises a way to prove Carmine’s innocence. But will the plan work?

Plague


Victor Methos - 2012
    . . A lethal pathogen appears on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Dr. Samantha Bower of the Centers for Disease Control is handed the case and assigned to investigate its containment and origins. A MYSTERIOUS FIGURE WHO ISN'T WHAT HE APPEARS TO BE . . . Dr. Bower finds a microorganism unlike any she has run across in her lifetime. The symptomology points her to the most destructive disease in human history. One man has offered her help. A man with insight into the disease who reveals nothing about himself or his past. THE WORLD ON THE EDGE OF A CLIFF . . . Dr. Bower discovers that there are forces at work she can't understand. All applying pressure to use the chaos of an epidemic to their advantage. But there is one thing she is certain of: humanity may soon be an endangered species . . .

Insects: The Complete Trilogy (The Insects Trilogy)


John Koloen - 2016
     A scientific expedition journeys deep into the Brazilian jungle in search of a career-making discovery: a carnivorous insect so rare that no team has ever managed to confirm its existence. But surviving the rainforest's many unknown and mysterious dangers will be far more difficult than the team could have imagined. Insects: The Complete Trilogy includes three full-length novels: Insects (Book 1): a team of scientists journey into the uncharted Amazon rainforest in search of a deadly, career-making discovery: the rare carnivorous insect reptilus blaberus. But when rising floodwaters cut the expedition off from civilization, the hunters quickly become the hunted in the terror-filled night. Insects: The Hunted (Book 2): the team returns to a different section of the remote jungle again in pursuit of reptilus blaberus, this time accompanied by a reality TV production crew to fund, document and protect the expedition. Insects: Specimen (Book 3): the team attempts to continue its studies of reptilus blaberus under different circumstances, but the carnivorous insect's lethal instincts aren't dulled by a change of scenery. This exclusive set contains all three full-length novels (1000+ pages) in the Insects Trilogy: Insects, Insects: The Hunted, and Insects: Specimen.

Legal Reserves


James Rosenberg - 2018
    The two lawyers and the judge all have major reasons to worry: Jeri Richards, a newbie judge, is presiding over her first trial concerned she is too inexperienced to handle it. Mike Reigert, the plaintiff’s attorney, must try his biggest case because his client refuses the department store’s huge settlement offers—just to make sure that what they did to her won’t ever happen to anyone else. The company’s attorney, Jack Rogers, is told that he must win this trial or face banishment from his law firm.If that weren’t enough, the three of them have been best friends since their first day of law school. Back then, they were the cream of their law school and thought their legal careers would involve nothing but success . . . . Now, they aren’t so sure. Jeri adored her two friends in law school. They helped her overcome the trauma of almost being raped. After graduating, she prosecuted the scum that preyed on the weak and became the youngest judge in her county. Mike was planning to work in Geneva stopping international terrorism, but his uncle convinced him to help in his small practice in a sleepy town outside of Pittsburgh. Mike itches for more responsibility and finally comes to represent a woman mercilessly chained to a table until she confessed to a crime. Jack craves the big money he would make if he became a partner at his huge law firm, and is willing to do anything to make it happen. Now five years after graduating from law school they are thrown back together on opposite sides of a trial where Mike’s client seeks to regain her life while Jack will not stop to make sure the company prevails.Jeri watches as the battles between her two buddies escalate until she has to intervene to protect the life of one of her friends.

A Confusion of Murders


Marina Johnson - 2017
    A brother obsessed with his looks, a dog that thinks it’s human and a happy though, dull routine. Until that is, her father starts talking nonsense and she makes a shocking discovery about herself. Not to mention the strange events occurring in Frogham – a missing person and a case of dog-napping. And then, on top of everything Louise finds romance in the unlikeliest place....

Vengeance is Mine


Harry James Krebs - 2013
    When a series of decapitated female victims is found in neighboring communities, he is helplessly drawn in to the investigation to help bring the killer to justice. But in a bizarre twist of events, the psychopathic murderer becomes fascinated with Tucker and stalks him, presenting him with unimaginable, grotesque gifts. The hunt for the killer turns personal and Tucker isn’t sure if he’s become the killer’s idol or his next victim.Vengeance is Mine, a gripping thriller with a healthy dose of droll humor, is a tale of sadistic revenge guaranteed to keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page.

Fatal Exchange


Russell Blake - 2011
    financial system.From the sweltering streets of Seoul to the sex-and-drug-driven underbelly of Greenwich Village, attempts at silencing a leak in an international counterfeiting operation leave a trail of butchery that leads inevitably to Wall Street, pitting a counter-culture heroine against a ruthless state-sponsored assassination team that will stop at nothing to achieve its lethal ends.As the body count climbs, Tess is assisted by Detective Ron Stanford, a NYPD homicide specialist tracking a brutal serial killer whose ritualistic cycle of murder and mutilation targeting bike messengers is escalating to fever pitch.Tess's battle to survive propels her into a deadly underworld where she must become judge and executioner, challenging her core beliefs about morality, justice and love.

Derelict: A Novella


Todd Travis - 2016
    But when she and her all-female crew answer a mysterious distress call during a tropical storm, they stumble across an abandoned yacht worth millions. It seems like a dream come true, the Lotto, the Big Ticket to all their dreams... Until they discover what's waiting for them inside the ship... DERELICT A horror novella by Todd Travis

The Ryder Quartet


Ian Patrick - 2015