Book picks similar to
Gangsters of Shanghai by Gerry O'Sullivan
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When I Found You
Catherine Ryan Hyde - 2009
To his shock, the child—wrapped in a sweater and wearing a tiny knitted hat—is still alive. To his wife’s shock, Nathan wants to adopt the boy…but the child’s grandmother steps in. Nathan makes her promise, however, that one day she’ll bring the boy to meet him so he can reveal that he was the one who rescued him. Fifteen years later, the widowered Nathan discovers the child abandoned once again—this time at his doorstep. Named Nat, the teenager has grown into a sullen delinquent whose grandmother can no longer tolerate him. Nathan agrees to care for Nat, and the two engage in a battle of wills that pans years. Still, the older man repeatedly assures the youngster that, unlike the rest of the world, he will never abandon him—not even when Nat suffers a trauma that changes both of their lives forever.From the bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes When I Found You, an exquisite, emotional tale of the unexpected bonds that nothing in life can break.
Among the Lesser Gods
Margo Catts - 2017
Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart.”Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. From the deadly fire she accidentally set as a child, to her mother’s abandonment, and now to an unwanted pregnancy, she knows better than most that small actions can have terrible consequences. Driven to the high mountains surrounding Leadville, Colorado by her latest bad decision, she’s intent on putting off the future. Perhaps there she can just hide in her grandmother’s isolated cabin and wait for something—anything—to make her next choice for her.Instead, she is confronted by reflections of her own troubles wherever she turns—the recent widower and his two children adrift in a changed world, Elena’s own mysterious family history, and the interwoven lives within the town itself. Bit by bit, Elena begins to question her understanding of cause and effect, reexamining the tragedies she’s held on to and the wounds she’s refused to let heal.But when the children go missing, Elena’s fragile new peace is shattered. It’s only at the prospect of fresh loss and blame that she will discover the truth of the terrible burdens we take upon ourselves, the way tragedy and redemption are inevitably intertwined—and how curses can sometimes lead to blessings, however disguised.
The Breckton Trilogy
Mary Wood - 2013
Bridie O’Hara, a beautiful young girl, is torn away from her native Ireland by her father – a freedom fighter, turned traitor, when he has to flee the wrath of the Fenians. Violated by him she ends up in a correction convent. Her escape, and meeting up with Bruiser Armitage, a pimp, sets her fate. One man tries to save her, Will Hadler, a kind, hard-working miner, whose love for Bridie knows no bounds. His rescue of her brings her happiness, but the demons inside her never give her peace. When Andrew Harvey, master of Hensal Grange, takes a fancy to her it is the beginning of Bridie sinking back into degradation. Her daughter, Bridget pays the price. Unprotected by her drunken mother, Bridget suffers rape and the heartbreak of having to give up her child, Megan.Book Two: AN UNBREAKABLE BOND: It is 1913 and for Megan and her friend, Hattie, the time has come to take up their placements and make their way in the world. Megan’s path leads her to fall into a marriage with a man she does not love and at whose hands she suffers beatings and rape. With Hattie’s help she finally escapes, but her path crosses that of the beautiful, rich and powerful, Laura Harvey. It is Laura’s need to have her wish at any price that triggers an eruption of violence that brings Megan near to death and sends Jack, the man both Megan and Laura love to prison, for a murder he did not commit.Hattie’s path crosses that of paedophile, Lord Marley. She is raped by him and his companion. Her ten pound silence money buys her an abortion but her choices have gone and she is forced into a life of prostitution. It is when she stumbles across an evil, child sex ring and is determined to break it that she once more encounters Lord Marley and though she succeeds in her quest and gets her revenge, she pays a terrible price. Hers and Megan’s enduring friendship bring them through.Book Three: TOMORROW BRINGS SORROWSet in 1939 – 1959, As the world faces many changes brought on by war, Megan has found happiness with Jack, but the threat of Megan’s schizophrenic son Billy, still casts a shadow over them. His release is imminent and for Sarah, Jack’s daughter, this opens up a fate she cannot fight. With her love and respect for Billy eroded over the years as she came to realise he has an evil core, Sarah now lives in fear of him and what he will do if she refuses him. Forsaking her true love, she marries Billy in an attempt to protect those who are very dear to her, but love and hate will out and the consequences are devastatingThose consequences are compounded by the incestuous love between twins Theresa and Terrence Crompton and their taking of all they need from whatever source they please.
Out of the Shoebox: An Autobiographic Mystery
Yaron Reshef - 2014
An unexpected phone call hurls Reshef into an intensive two-year journey, during which he has to solve a mystery that took shape in the 1930s and gradually unfolded in the present. A mysterious lot, a forgotten bank account, a people long gone – along with their memory which were obliterated during the Holocaust. All of these rise to the surface, bearing with them memories and emotions previously hidden away in the shoebox. “I had no intention of writing a book. I had no need to write a story in general nor a story about my family and the Holocaust in particular. But life being what it is, sometimes things happen in mysterious, even surprising ways. Stuff that used to take center stage moves to the background, and background stuff moves downstage and center. That’s what happened in my case.” (Yaron Reshef)
Children of the Night: A Novel
T.C Paul - 2019
Ming was an only child born to loving parents during the ‘one child per family’ regime ,known as the “one child policy”,. She was lucky enough to be an only child but many in her village were not! Second-born children were hidden by their families from the authorities – kept up at night and hidden asleep under their houses during the day. “Children of the Night” fascinated Ming and she sneaked out to join them. She began staying up at night and playing with her friends until she too, started sleeping during the day. One night, the authorities raided her village, and brutally removed all the ‘identity less’ children who were playing outside at night, including Ming, despite her mother’s screams that she is an only child. The militia took them to a remote children’s house for re-education. Under harsh conditions of cold, hunger and physical abuse, Ming spends her adolescence there, even though she has an identity and belongs with her family. Her deep longing for her parents and home, instill in her a strong desire to escape. Will she succeed?
Rising From the Ashes
Katy Pierce
Allie Grecco will make them pay.Allie Grecco is living a double life. Thoughtful friend, office drone, and girly college student by day, she becomes a deadly hunter by night, lurking New York City’s seediest alleys to eliminate scumbag predators the cops can’t—or won’t—catch.Since her discharge from the military, it’s the only thing that keeps the nightmares at bay. But everything changes when Allie realizes she’s not the only hunter out there.When one of her sting operations is interrupted by another ex-military operator, Allie learns a secret about her day job at Soldiers for Hire, and is soon put to the ultimate test... a case that could alter the course of her life forever.A civil rights lawyer is missing, and the cops have declared her dead. It smells like a cover-up. Allie Grecco won’t have it. Not on her watch.Rising From the Ashes is book one of Katy Pierce’s Allie Grecco series, perfect for fans of L.T. Ryan. A thrilling roller-coaster ride of one soldier’s journey to face her demons—vigilante-style.
Time Is Money
Silk White - 2014
He lives by the motto shoot first and ask questions never. Stone's life changes when his lieutenant assigns him to a bank robbery case. His job is to take down four ruthless and vicious bank robbers who will do anything to stay alive and more importantly stay out of jail. The leader of the bank robber's is a man that goes by the name Ghost. When it comes to money Ghost and his team will do anything it takes to get it, even if that means taking innocent lives. Ghost's one weakness is his little sister Dana. Dana is a beautiful young lady that always seems to attract the wrong type of guy. But when she finds Mr. Right and refuses to leave him no matter what anyone says including her brother Ghost things take a turn for the worst. Join Anthony Stone as he goes deep into the underworld to track down a crew of the most violent and deadliest bank robbers.
The Girl in the Box: A Psychological Suspense Novel (A Let Me Go Series Book 1)
Lisa Akers - 2017
After a tumultuous childhood in a broken home, keeping secrets became a way of life for twin sisters: Gabby and Olivia, and their little sister, Emma. They've all got skeletons in their closets; memories locked away never to see the light of day. But after they take divergent paths in life, disaster strikes, and their pasts collide head-on with a mysterious present in this surreal and gripping family drama. The worst has happened, and if they want to find the key to survival and reconciliation, they must learn to let their skeletons out; shake the dust off of them, and maybe even let them dance across the floor. At turns heartbreaking, dark and beautiful, The Girl in the Box explores not only the consequences of secrets--even secrets kept out of fear--but also the courage it takes to speak the truth, to let go, and to survive. Trigger Warning: The content of this novel contains graphic scenes: violence to women, victimization, abduction, and abusePreviously titled: Let Me GoFiction: Psychological Suspense, Family Drama, Stand-Alone (no cliffhangers)
Aztec Odyssey: Historical Action Adventure
Jay C. LaBarge - 2020
Wracked by plague and war, the majestic Aztec empire begins to crumble. As their beloved capital city falls to the ruthless Spaniards and hordes of vengeful tribes, the Aztecs make a last-ditch attempt to secretly save their heritage before it’s lost to the sands of time forever.Meanwhile in the modern day, a string of high-profile robberies lays waste to archaeological sites and museums across Mesoamerica, overshadowed by a brewing nationalistic fervor which threatens to topple already fragile countries. Rumors say the artifacts hold the secret to a legendary myth—The Seven Cities of Cibola—which has concealed countless treasures for centuries.Faced with unraveling the mysteries of both the present and the past, aspiring archaeologist Nick LaBounty embarks on a dangerous mission to solve a long-held family mystery and discover the truth behind the stolen artifacts.He soon finds his fate irreversibly entangled with a civilization from over five hundred years ago. But time is running out, and the future of both a fabulous treasure—and all Central America—teeters precariously in the balance.
Vine Street
Dominic Nolan - 2021
SOHO, 1935.SERGEANT LEON GEATS' PATCH.A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code.The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early.But Geats - a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay - knows the dark seams of the city.Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer - a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect.
Rise of the Dunamy
James R. Landrum - 2014
When a string of gruesome murders break out all over downtown Atlanta, the case falls on the desk of the most promising new detective on the force, Sofia Milena. Along with her strong-armed partner, Eric Bishop, they attempt to locate the men responsible. Thwarted at every turn by the twisted minds behind the crimes, Sofia allows her attention to be stolen away by the overwhelming charm of medical examiner and colleague, Lucian Grey. As a break in the case brings Sofia in contact with those responsible, she is forced to reconsider everything she believes about good and evil; as well as some things she believed to be myth.
City of Angeles (Memoirs of Marlayna Glynn Brown)
Marylayna Glynn Brown - 2012
Glynn Brown unflinchingly begets a self from the unlikeliest beginnings, and now delivers a sequel illustrating both heaven and hell on her continuing flight for self discovery."An amazing story of a young girl who comes of age with only snippets of guidance from the adults around her. This is a well written book with explicit prose of Marlayna's continued journey looking for love and acceptance. She tells this very personal story vividly. There were moments I had to stop reading to absorb the "life shattering" events Marlayna experienced that would have crushed many and other moments in the book that I laughed out loud." - Eileen Cahill Moalli
A Danger to Himself and Others
J.E. Fishman - 2014
Days later, a second man blows himself up in Brooklyn. Are these the first attacks in a wave of terrorism that could bring New York City to its knees? Or is there a psychotic murderer on the loose, executing a twisted plan for his own hidden motives?Detective Manny Diaz—also a veteran, and the newest member of the NYPD Bomb Squad—doesn’t yet know the answer. But he desperately wants to exonerate an honorable man who now lies dead.In defiance of his fellow cops, Diaz sets out to develop an independent theory about what’s really going on—even though pursuing this investigation will require pushing himself to the very limits of his own sanity. Already burdened by his reputation for resisting authority, Diaz now must solve the crime with no support from his bosses, while convincing those same men that he hasn’t gone crazy.And Diaz has only hours to locate a maniacal bomb maker before many more New Yorkers die.
The Casebook of Inspector Blackstone
Sally Spencer - 2017
Yet to Inspector Sam Blackstone, the case is as puzzling as any he has ever come across. As his investigation proceeds, Blackstone finds himself entering the world of the aristocracy and tramping the dangerous streets of London's Little Russia, where English law and order are not welcome. So begins the illustrious career of the talented inspector, who earns the equal ire and respect of his superiors for his controversial tactics. Absorbing in their detailed depictions of the period, gripping in their ingenious plots, this trilogy of historical whodunnits is the perfect box set for any mystery-lover. Praise for Sally Spencer 'Spencer's finest hour: a tightly plotted puzzler with surprises at every turn' – Kirkus Reviews 'Spencer is an accomplished craftsman who serves up a good puzzle and deftly solves it with intelligence and insight' – Publishers Weekly Sally Spencer worked as a teacher both in England and Iran - where she witnessed the fall of the Shah. She now writes full time.
Sweet Water
Christina Baker Kline - 1993
When a grandfather she never knew bequeaths her a house and 60 acres of land in Sweetwater, Tenn., a restless young artist leaves New York to recover her past and rethink her future. Cassie Simon's mother Ellen died when Cassie was only three; raised in Boston by her grieving father, she never knew her maternal relatives. Unprepared for the thick veil of mystery that surrounds them, Cassie is especially bewildered by her brusque grandmother, whom rumor credits with hiding a terrible secret about Ellen's death. In alternating sections told from their respective points of view, Cassie and her grandmother fight their separate battles to cope with the truth about the tragedy. Kline perfectly renders each woman's voice: Cassie's, probing and often uncertain, propels the narrative and creates an appropriate level of psychological suspense; the grandmother's quavers with the weight of memory as Cassie's search forces her beyond family myth to a painful and perhaps dangerous truth. The result is a powerful, immensely readable tale of loyalty and betrayal, family and memory, made fresh by Kline's often beautiful and always lucid prose.