Book picks similar to
Aceldama by John Hazen


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The Golden Crystal


Nick Thacker - 2013
    One is shunned and resigns in disgrace, and the other is all but forgotten. Years later, an original copy of the plans long thought to have been destroyed is found, with hastily marked notations by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.During the second World War, American military scientists discover some fascinating properties of the hydrogen atom and its link to an ancient mystical number. The exact findings are never published, but a national laboratory is built in 1943 to further their research in covert silence. America is told it is a defense project, code-named The Manhattan Project. An egomaniacal entrepreneur and his company, Vilocorp, will stop at nothing to build the perfect human specimen. His firm's research has been getting closer every day, but they seem to have uncovered a horrific, ancient secret that has been locked away for thousands of years.Now, it's up to two men to understand the mystery surrounding the events and ancient symbolism before Vilocorp unleashes a hellish fury upon the earth; one that hasn't been seen for ages.

That Old Witch Magic (Wicked in Moonhaven #2)


J.D. Winters - 2016
    Ames isn’t guilty of murder. Sure he’s a vampire. Sure he was threatening the victim. Sure he just broke out of jail. So what? She’s going to prove he’s innocent and she’ll risk facing up to gremlin wranglers, evil hunters and even Shane and her own sorceress grandmother to do it. He’ll thank her in the end—if she lives that long!

Nerves of Steel


Lee Hayton - 2017
    They bent men to their will and molded cities into hotbeds of depravity.Ha! Just kidding. Vampires are weaklings that catch fire if you push them into sunlight. As soon as humans found out they existed, they captured the suckers, enslaved them, and put the pallid creatures to work.So, imagine my surprise when a free vampire strolled into Joe's Bar just before closing. Fair enough if he's ditched his chains but walking around in public? That does not compute. As an escapee cyborg with a bounty on her head, I don't want to dig for trouble. Don’t see, don’t tell is the motto for survival on the empire’s rough streets.If it weren't for my best friend, I'd turn a blind eye. But I owe that thirteen-year-old vampire my freedom and most probably my life. If something is changing for his species, then he deserves to know.Sure, this investigation might open a seething can of bother, but if trouble comes for me, I'm ready. My body is 34% titanium, my skin is silicone polymer, and I’ve got nerves of steel.

The Amun Chamber


Daniel Leston - 2010
    Believed irretrievably lost to all but legend, few dared dream the possibility that it might still exist . . .Until now! Guided by the discovery of an ancient artefact, a determined professor of archaeology and a beautiful New England heiress join forces in the quest of a lifetime. Overcoming treachery and deadly obstacles, they follow an ever-murderous trail that eventually leads them to a barren, desert valley containing a stunning secret -- one the modern world may not yet be prepared to accept.

Ribbons of Death


Edita A. Petrick - 2015
    *** One snowy evening, a stranger with a horribly scarred face stomps on the porch of Stella Hunter’s house, holding her latest book of myths and legends. He points to the bloody fingerprints of the book’s now deceased owner, marking a passage of the Peacetaker myth. When she asks how he came by the book, he tells her he took the controversial book from the lifeless hand of a traffic fatality in Cairo. And suddenly, Stella could swear that somewhere a clock started ticking down to doomsday. After all, the fate of humanity depends on whether she was right or wrong when she wrote her infamous book.

Full Moon Security: The Complete 5 Books Series


Glenna Sinclair - 2018
    5 Books. Full Length. No Cliffhangers. More than 1,000 pages :) Magic and monsters are very much real, and very much a threat. Follow the shifters of Full Moon Security as they fight hard for family, friendship, and love. SAM Like all the other agents of FMS, Samuel Fitzgerald left the US Government's secretive Paranormal Research Board to focus entirely on protecting the homeland. But when Col. Harrington disappeared six months before without any word, their supernatural-focused missions seemed to have disappeared with him, and now they're stuck working plain old, boring security cases. That is, until Sam and his dragonkin boss get a call on a phone they didn't know Harrington possessed. A demon-worshiping cult has surfaced in East Texas, and it's up to him to save the small town of Potterswell, and the most beautiful coroner's assistant he's ever met: Faith Riley. CARTER Carter Grant is like any other bear shifter out there: he wants a nice tree to sharpen his claws on, some peace and quiet to keep away his memories of the war, and a mate. But when his dragonkin boss Kris Cole and FMS's resident witch Tabitha show up out of nowhere, he has a feeling they're going to take the first two from him. How was he to know their mission to stop a possession and series of murders-by-fire in the town of Shamrock would lead him to the third? Now, though, it's a race against time as Carter has to compete with a group of international hitmen who have descended on the town with the same goals in mind. These shifter hitmen may be more than Carter can handle, even with the help of Lucy Skinner, Shamrock's finest fire investigator. RYDER It started with an investigation that turned out nothing extraordinary in Philadelphia. But now Ryder Williams, panther shifter, has run over a phantasmal ghost on the highway outside Camelot, the most haunted town in the US. At least, he thinks he has! Turns out the small town is putting on some kind of music festival to celebrate the 150th anniversary of a witch cursing their town while they burned her at the stake, but not everything is as it seems. As ghosts of residents begin to revisit the living and concert-goers begin to change for some reason into shapes not normally their own, it's up to Ryder Williams and Stephanie Kaufman to save Camelot and all its residents. Not to mention the hundreds of visitors who are now stalking the streets looking for fresh meat. LUKE With Kris Cole and the elusive dragonkin shifter Hunter Jackson away from the office, Tabitha finds an old case the PRB had to ignore years before. Someone is murdering high class call girls in the small town of Prophet, Arizona. Not just any murders, either. Somehow, they're stealing their hearts without any signs of surgery! When Luke arrives on the scene, he finds the beautiful Molly Long looking for her roommate, and they're talking their way past the security gate of an exclusive club for the rich and powerful. Is this some cult, or just a deranged madman who has figured out how to tear the hearts from his victims? As the shadows lengthen, though, they'll have to race to find the killer, and to hopefully find Molly's kidnapped roommate. KRIS Kris and Hunter disappeared three months before in the northern tundra while on their search for Col. Harrington. Now, they've found what happened to him . . . and may have found their true feelings for each other, as well. Their discovery is complicated, though, by a paramilitary group striking out from the deserts of western Mexico. The group has been excavating strange Aztec ruins, but haven't yet found the weapon which will bring the mortal world to its knees and allow the supernatural to once again reign supreme. Until now.

The Docent


Tom Kenny - 2018
     A pair of the city’s most prominent lawyers takes on the task of defending an acerbic tycoon accused of fleecing his niece and nephew of their interest in the family business empire. As the court proceedings take a decided turn against their unforgiving client, defense counsel turn to insidious means in a desperate attempt to avoid a catastrophic judgment. They scheme to besmirch and derail the trial judge through the manipulation of her law clerk. Unknowingly, the clerk provides information that could involve Her Honor in the disappearance of the priceless museum paintings. The story unfolds in both posh and hardscrabble neighborhoods of Boston and its suburbs as its players succumb to greed, power and love, without concern for those left in their backwash.

Absolution


George S. Mahaffey Jr. - 2017
    They way they are proven innocent? Evade, escape, and survive their hunters. At nineteen, Marisol never thought she would be a tracker of humans. In this post-apocalyptic world where justice is determined by a system of Absolution, Marisol steps up to do her duty. She hates everything that Absolution stands for, but there's nothing she can do about it. Nothing, that is, until one of her Runners turns out to be the key to uncovering a vast conspiracy that threatens to topple the dictator of New Chicago and change their lives forever.

The Last Whisper of the Gods


James Berardinelli - 2015
    With powers so mighty that even kings bowed to them, they existed outside the common laws of men. But a thousand years ago, the gods, angry at their creations for giving adulation and worship to wizards, withdrew magic from the world. The wonders of a lost age faded from memory with history giving birth to myths and children's stories... For one common stableboy, Sorial of Vantok, wizards are no more a real concern than the other long-gone creatures of legend: elves, wyrms, dragons, and trolls. There is only the immediacy of keeping the straw clean and the animals fed to avoid the wrath of his master, the innkeeper Warburm. But Sorial's mysterious past is about to impinge on his present. The secrets surrounding his birth are set to collide with a heretical theology decreeing that the gods are no more. With assassins lurking in the shadowy recesses of the stable, a relentless heat wave turning Winter to Summer, and a duke's daughter showing more interest in him than is proper, Sorial discovers that the "safe" world of his childhood is under assault. His destiny will not allow him to merely observe the disintegration of the social order; he must uncover his past so he can act to safeguard the future.

Soul Stealer


Joseph J. Bailey - 2015
     The legions of Chaos have overrun the world. Uërth is in ruins. With the Heavenly Host’s fall, Angel Swords rained from the heavens, littering the world in what was. Only the most honorable and purest of heart are able to take up the Angel Swords and wield them against the throngs of Chaos. These mighty Empyrean Knights are all that stand between Uërth and annihilation. Saedeus is neither pure of heart nor honorable. Nor does he wish to wield an Angel Sword. He just wants to be left alone with his mushrooms. And his pet rock. But he might not have a choice. When he inadvertently takes the soul of a dying Empyrean Knight into himself, his world, and his obligations, grow forever larger. With the help of his pet rock, the spirit of a heavenly knight, and the sword of a fallen angel, he might be able to make all the difference. If he doesn’t die first.

Genetic Imperfections


Steve Hadden - 2012
    But despite his sacrifices and prayers, he helplessly watched him die. On that day his heart hardened, and he embarked on a path of cynicism, materialism and self-indulgence. Now, at forty-five, he's ready to collect the payoff for selling his soul when he takes Rexsen Labs public. Propelled by the pending FDA approval of CGT, the first genetic cure for leukemia, he's on the verge of becoming Newport Beach's newest billionaire. But his dream suddenly becomes a nightmare when his jet crashes into the Pacific Ocean. While David miraculously survives, he loses control of Rexsen to his ruthless wife, Priscilla, her scheming brother, and her Wall-Street-cover-boy lover. Meanwhile, Rexsen researcher Tori Clarke discovers a fatal flaw in CGT, and becomes the target of a deadly cover-up to save their multi-billion dollar payday. Framed for murder and on the run, David joins forces with Tori to regain control of Rexsen, fix CGT, and save a young girl's life. Trapped between the authorities and the company he helped build, David risks everything to give meaning to his second chance at life and his only chance for love. Genetic Imperfections is a story of redemption uniquely packaged in the thriller genre. It's a story about how the fundamental goodness in one man can be buried by tragedy and replaced with bitterness and greed--and how the path to redemption reveals itself in mysterious ways. According to the National Institute of Health, there are over sixty clinical trials for cancer using gene therapy underway in the US--there are none underway to treat greed.

Marie


Ana Elise Meyer - 2015
    Dr. Carl Stanley’s efforts are no exception, his creation, Marie becomes the picture of physical perfection; possessing the ability to heal at a rapid rate. She has been groomed from infancy to apply her gifts in the service of war. However even a woman given all the physical gifts in the world is not immune to pain and suffering. One can only be pushed so far before pushing back. Can they handle what they have created....Can she? Sometimes the cure is far more dangerous than the disease…..

Origins


Sean Hayden - 2011
    She was born a vampire, a trait that makes her utterly unique. Knowing this, her family strived to keep her existence a secret. Tragedy forces her from hiding and hunger drives her into the open. Unfortunately, living in a world that has accepted, embraced, and yet still fears the supernatural is never a good place to stand out. Especially when the one who notices you wants you dead. The only people who can save her want to use her as well, but she's left with little choice. Ashlyn joins the FBI and becomes torn between two worlds. She can either be a monster, or she can help destroy them.

Suspicion


Alexandra Monir - 2014
     “There’s something hidden in the maze.”  Seventeen-year-old Imogen Rockford has never forgotten the last words her father said to her, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family’s English country manor. For seven years, images of her parents’ death have haunted Imogen’s dreams. In an effort to escape the past, she leaves Rockford Manor and moves to New York City with her new guardians. But some attachments prove impossible to shake—including her love for her handsome neighbor Sebastian Stanhope. Then a life-altering letter arrives that forces Imogen to return to the manor in England, where she quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind Rockford’s aristocratic exterior. At their center is Imogen herself—and Sebastian, the boy she never stopped loving.Combining spine-tingling mystery, romance, and unforgettable characters, Suspicion is an action-packed thrill ride.

Message Bearer


M.S. Dobing - 2015
    I can see it. You are Latent.’ For reasons unknown, Seb is constantly drawn to random places without meaning, following an instinct he doesn't understand. One night that instinct lands him in trouble when he encounters Sarah, a young woman hunted by a fiend that can only be described as the stuff of nightmares. Against his better judgement Seb attempts to intervene, only to nearly get himself killed in the process. Before she passes, Sarah transfers something to him, an arcane knowledge that gets buried deep into his subconscious. Rescued by the Brotherhood warrior Cade, Seb's life takes on an unexpected turn when he is told he is a Latent, able to manipulate the very energies of reality to his own devices. He is brought into a world within our own where the Magistry and its allies engage with the demonic Sheol in a timeless conflict that has traversed entire universes. A world where he, and he alone, carries the message that could change the course of the conflict forever.