Book picks similar to
Mercy, Alabama by Heather L. Mattern


1-fiction
4444-stars
general-library
novel

The Art Of Falling Apart


Mark Dawson - 2001
    Then one of them dies, an apparent accident, and there begins to unravel a chilling saga of petty emotions, cynical manipulation, and murderously ruthless self-interest.

The White Cuckoo


Annie Ireson - 2012
    Is destiny just the past, rewritten?

Love Hurts


Brenda Grate - 2012
    It’s this mystery that’s also at the heart of the broken relationships with her two daughters.Catarina paints breathtaking landscapes, but always with the little child’s face somewhere in the midst of the painting. Instinctively, Anna knows it’s the child, although she doesn’t know who it is, who has stolen their mother’s ability to love her own children.Anna and her sister, Jilly, walked away from their mother and the family fortune over a decade ago in order to not only find themselves, out from under the shadow of their famous mother, but also to get away from the constant pain of being ignored for the sake of their mother’s passion.Anna followed in her mother’s footsteps when she walked away from her childhood sweetheart, Chris Mackenzie, in order to escape the pain of the relationship with her mother. Her mother left Italy, and Anna’s father, many years ago for the same reason. Anna not only has to face her mother if she’s to make peace with her past, but also Chris, and the guilt from breaking his heart. Anna knows that unless she faces what she’s done, she will never have what she wants most.

To Probe a Beating Heart


John B. Wren - 2011
    She was last seen talking to a man as the clouds opened and a rain began. Th e only witness is an elderly woman whose description of the possible kidnapper could fi t any number of people. As police, friends and family search the immediate area for Annette, she is taken farther away and becomes one of the predator's early victims. Over the course of the next several years, along the interstate 90 corridor between Toledo, Ohio, and Albany, New York, a number of young girls disappear without a trace. Jim McLarry, Annette's cousin and a rookie cop with the Cleveland Heights police force, pursues his own investigation of the missing girls in hopes of finding his cousin. As he feeds information to the detectives assigned to the case, McLarry demonstrates his ability as an investigator. Years earlier, a boy, born and raised in difficult circumstances, determined that he will kill his adoptive mother and sister. Each summer a new victim is another rehearsal for his intended goal. As he plans and executes his annual killings, he leaves virtually no clues. Only little mistakes, the dogged determination of the Cleveland Heights cop and the intervention of Annette's extended family, the Clan, lead to Averell's downfall. To Probe a Beating Heart is a fi ctional, but realistic study in the creation of a killer. Th e monster that Averell has become must be stopped and if the authorities cannot make that happen, the Clan will.

Sweet By and By


Ramona Bridges - 2009
    An invalid mother whose health continues to fail. A son banished from home. Thirty-three-year-old Addie Coulter is certain life can't get any worse. But after a series of tragedies and losses that challenge her will and test her faith, Addie is forced to leave the only home she's ever known and travel with her daughter to live with her brother and sister-in-law in Golden Meadow. It is here, on the road to recovery, that she meets the dashing Hiram Graham and begins to believe it's possible to love again. Set during a time when life itself was filled with strife and hardship, author Ramona Bridges weaves an unforgettable story about unfailing love, deceit, and forgiveness in her debut novel, Sweet By and By. When the revealing of a horrible secret and the arrival of a dangerous criminal threatens to disrupt everything Addie's built and destroy her chance at true love, she's left with only one option: trust in her Savior to bring her safely to the other side. With a cast of characters that will capture your imagination and your heart, Sweet By and By celebrates God's promise of faith and hope amidst life's inevitable disappointments.

The Snow's Meltdown (Snow Series: Meet the Snow's PART 1)


Marita L. Kinney - 2013
    Calvin has everything that he could possible want, but soon realizes that giving his wife Katrina the child that she so desperately wants would be harder than he ever imagine. Pastor and Lady Snow try to be there for them, but struggle with their own problems and martial secrets. Lady Snow starts to see her family crumble before her own eyes and tries to hold everyone together, but the truth hurts. Will this family be able to handle their own "Meltdown?"

The Gandy Dancer


Jeff Andrews - 2012
    His ex-wife is demanding more money. A woman he can’t even remember accuses him of fathering her child. Newspaper reporter Mitch Corsini shrugs and takes another drink. However, when his estranged teenaged daughter mysteriously disappears, his life finally has a purpose: find the child he's neglected for too long and rekindle the love they once shared. Mitch’s quest takes him to the Virginia mountains and his ancestral home. There, he finds himself locked in a life or death struggle to save his daughter as seventy-year-old family secrets and the fate of a long-forgotten railroad worker combine to shatter the very foundations of his world.

The House of the Wicked


D.M. Mitchell - 2011
    It is an isolated Cornish fishing community, largely untouched by the modern, developing Victorian world, hanging onto its old traditions, superstitions and beliefs – a community that lives with a disturbing secret. So too does Denning. He is a reluctant visitor, and though he is supposedly joining his one-time artist friend Terrance Wilkinson to form an artists’ colony it is circumstances that force him there. Denning is still haunted by the brutal death of a young woman in Brittany, and shouldering guilt for the fact that he covered up for Wilkinson when he suspects the man of having been been involved with the murder. But Porthgarrow is haunted by its own demons and secrets. He learns about the savage murder of a woman by her husband Jowan Connoch thirteen years previously, and of Jowan’s son who has returned to Porthgarrow to uncover the truth and to clear his father’s name. Yet it is far from over. Before long three more people are destined to die in Porthgarrow before the village gives up its sinister secrets, and Stephen Denning will learn of his own family’s mysterious involvement. The house of the Wicked is peopled with larger than life characters – the powerful businessman Gerran Hendra and his beautiful daughter Jenna; the Reverend Biddle who collects photographs of the dead; Benjamin Croker, the journalist; and Tunny, the village wise man and healer. From its atmospheric Gothic undertones to its shocking and unexpected end, ‘The House of the Wicked’ is D. M. Mitchell at his darkest and most imaginative best. Some secrets will not stay buried...

Paper or Plastic


Mackey Chandler - 2011
    He is living in rural Sitra Falls, Oregon trying to deal with hyper-vigilance and ease back into civilian life.When an unusual looking young woman enters his favorite breakfast place he befriends her. Little does he know he'll kill for her before lunch and start an adventure that will take him around the world and off planet.When you have every sort of alphabet agency human and alien hunting for you survival is the hard part. But you might as well get rich too.

Warship Poseidon


Peter Greene - 2010
    It is a YA and above historically-based, action-adventure fiction book. Homeless and alone on the streets of London in 1800, twelve year-old Jonathan Moore survives a harsh and dangerous world using courage, intelligence and determination. His dismal fate changes dramatically one day after he is abducted by a gang and pressed into service aboard the warship HMS Poseidon, a forty-four gun fighting frigate of the British Royal Navy. However, there is more to the event than just a change of address. How is it that some members of the crew, including the Captain, already know his name? Why do the officers seem to favor him above the other new crewmembers? As Jonathan endeavors to solve these mysteries, he is thrust into a daring mission to recover a hidden treasure on a remote Caribbean isle. Unfortunately, the crew and officers of the Poseidon are not the only ones searching for the prize. In a desperate race across the Atlantic, Jonathan is pitted against sword-wielding spies, engages in terrifying ship- to-ship battles and in the end, must match his wits and courage against a ruthless and cunning French Captain and the infamous French battleship Danielle. Warship Poseidon is the winner of the 2012 Clive Cussler Collector's Society's Grand Master Award and the 2015 Independent Author Network's Outstanding Action Adventure Novel of the Year. Kirkus reviews: "A heartwarming tale of a boy essentially orphaned in search of his father, the novel never ceases to entertain as Jonathan learns the ropes of sea life. The reader learns the ship's nomenclature, discipline and command structure, food preparation, the proper loading and operation of cannon. One even learns the difference between how British and French ships operated back in the early 1800s. Characters are interesting and sympathetic, or unsympathetic, as the case may be. The reader will grow to admire the officers of the Poseidon and her crew-and despise French Capt. Champagne and his knife-wielding cohort, Marcel. Greene's swashbuckling tale of high-seas adventure is pure, uncomplicated fun." Clive Cussler: "A robust story of a young lad in the British navy during the Nelson years. A thorough insight and beautiful portrait of those days under wind-blown sails and the creak of wooden hulls. Peter Greene has created a story that shines from every page. An excellent book. He truly nails an insight of nineteenth century sailing ships and their crews." PREVIOUSLY RELEASED AS "SKULL EYE ISLAND

Needle


Craig Jordan Goodman - 2012
    Sometimes, I wish it wasn't. Regardless, in many ways I still can't believe it actually happened. After all, I’d graduated from a prestigious university, was reared in an affluent home and knew that drugs were for losers. In fact, I’m not even sure when the metamorphosis occurred—when I made the official leap from struggling musician to struggling junky—but it was definitely before I first stuck myself with a needle and began selling liquor camouflaged in fruit juice to underage children of the rich and famous. Of course, that was merely the tip of the illicit iceberg as so much remains hidden in that shadowy world where dope dealers pose as sales associates in drug fronts disguised as clothing boutiques, and chemically dependent cabbies provide shuttle services to junkies on a quest for the perfect fix. But certainly, the veil of deception would eventually be torn away when I was banished to that awful place, that asylum for the wretched, where another horrific decision would seal my fate with the watery wreckage of an international tragedy.***Profits from NEEDLE will be used to eliminate animal cruelty and improve the lives of homeless pets.***

Shadow People: How Meth-Driven Crime Is Eating at the Heart of Rural America


Scott Thomas Anderson - 2012
    He spent 18 months - between May of 2010 and October of 2011 - working as an embedded reporter with law enforcement agencies, partnering with officers on night patrols, accompanying detectives on warrant searches and probation sweeps, observing SWAT operations and spending hundreds of hours with attorneys and victims' advocates in small-town courtrooms. The result is "Shadow People," a stark and sometimes brutal exploration of America's modern methamphetamine crisis.

Bogmeadow's Wish


Terry Kay - 2011
    He also has the tender memories of his grandfather's exaggerated stories of Irish wonder and magic stories of leprechauns and legends and the mysterious power of fate. But he doesnot have the story of why his grandfather left Ireland as a young man.Mesmerized by his romantic vision of Ireland, Cooper begins his search with a charming, down-on- his-luck Irish actor. He is also unprepared for the presence of Kathleen O'Reilly. As Cooper hunts for his grandfather's ghost, the landmarks and the fate of the Irish that Finn Coghlan talked of magically brings Cooper and Kathleen together. Yet, there is a truth between the two of them that not even the enchanting tale of Finn McCool and Sally Cavanaugh can resolve. For that, Cooper must use the one gift bestowed on him as a child by his grandfatherBogmeadow's wish.

Cold Crossover


T.R. Kelly - 2012
    And for real estate agent Ernie Creekmore, his father figure, friend and former coach, the news hits hard. Ernie's suffered too much loss and pain in his life — his wife, a state basketball championship, a mysterious medical malady — and he just can't accept the idea that Cheese might have taken his own life. Working with sheriff's detective Harvey Johnston, Ernie uses his contacts in real estate and hoops to trace Cheese's movements. Meanwhile, hints at possible foul play turn up in pieces of North Fork's rough-and-tumble history in fishing, logging and railroading, and the past and the present violently collide in a series of heart-stopping moments that peel back layers of greed, secrets and twisted family ties that refuse to stay buried.

Midwyf: Liza


Valerie Levy - 2010
    Liza’s midwifery skills are needed by the inhabitants of Hollingham. Knowing this keeps the lonely old woman going, together with the occasional ‘trip’ to her long dead husband and children. But she makes one mistake, and the villagers begin to suspect she is using occult spells to harm them. She tries desperately to regain their trust, but time is running short. Rosalind, rich, lonely and naïve, wants to experience true love and falls in love with a monk, by whom she conceives a child. Liza and the Lady Isabella, Rosalind’s mother, must pick up the pieces. None of the three women will ever be the same again.LIZA is the first book in the MIDWIFE series, which tells the story of midwives, women and childbirth in England from medieval to modern times. Author's note - This book was previously titled 'MIDWYF: LISA'. The cover still contains the old title because I like the medieval spelling, but the 'official' title brings the book into line with the series. MIDWIFE: BEATRIX, set in Hollingham and London in the 1630s, is due to be published early 2013. Valerie Levy holds a PhD in Midwifery Studies from the University of Sheffield. She has published in many professional, peer reviewed journals, and co-edited the ‘Midwifery Practice’ series of textbooks, which are still in use worldwide. Now retired, Valerie lives in France with her husband.