But on 7 July 2005, his life is transformed when he steps on a London underground train targeted by Islamist suicide bombers. While most passengers in his carriage are killed, Michael survives the explosion but is confined to a wheelchair as a result. Coming to terms with his predicament and controlling his own feelings of guilt as a survivor conspire to push him in a direction that is out of character and a tad reckless. In a quest to seek retribution, he resorts to embracing the internet and posing as a radical Islamist in order to snare potential perpetrators. Much to his surprise, his shambolic scheme yields results and is brought to the attention of both GCHQ and a terrorist cell. But before long, dark forces begin to gather and close in on him. There is seemingly no way out for Michael Hollinghurst. He has become, quite literally, a sitting target. "'The Chair Man' would make an excellent book club choice, stimulating discussion and lively argument. It contains masses of detailed information, selection from which can justify a wide range of interpretations. Many readers will admire Hollinghurst. He is a good father, particularly to his daughter Natasha, who considers him "the best frigging dad in the world", and he possesses "in spades" the "primal need to feel and protect your own flesh and blood." His son Ben thinks he "could always see the good in others." But that is exactly how many terrorists are remembered by almost all who knew and loved them."The nearest I ever got to a "terrorist incident" was in East London, when I heard the IRA bomb go off in Docklands in 1996. I cannot predict my reaction were I to be caught up personally in such events, but I hope I would not go the same way as Michael Hollinghurst, the central figure in this entertaining and elaborately-plotted novel. It is a gripping thriller that repays careful and close reading (and I will certainly read it again)." Graham Smith, 2020

    To learn more about Kevin’s home life, he gets to know the boy’s father, Tucker, who’s a lobsterman. James is able to put his suspicions to rest, and the two families begin to form a friendship. When a kid at the local recreation center dies of an overdose, Detective Maya Morrow adds the case to the long list related to the drug problem plaguing the small New Hampshire coastal town of Newborough. But her investigation gets her much too close to the dangerous players. Both the Morrows and the Flynns are holding dark secrets, and when their lives collide, tragedy is inevitable."A harrowing tale of abuse and addiction, told in a beautiful way that will touch your heart. This book was very emotional, very driven..." Kelly Smith Reviews "I was not expecting the level of emotional intensity that this novel achieves. Taking on Water is a horrific theater of human nature. And it begins with James." The Coffee Pot Review

    Twenty-five years later, Martin discovers hidden logbooks in his mother's attic, and vows to find out the truth. His quest takes him racing across the Atlantic in the Columbus Cup, the world's largest-ever regatta, an event that becomes a personal voyage of discovery and disaster. On the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, with his enemies closing in, Martin must make one desperate final sea passage to discover the shocking truth about his family - and himself.

    She tries to learn who wants to get rid of her and why. She co-founded a successful startup in a male-dominated world, and she’s torn between her loyalty to Jessica, her boss and co-founder, and Mike, her co-worker and new love.FBI Agent Bob Alexis’s life crashes when he discovers Lisa, his wife, wants to leave him. He’s married to his job. When he discovers she had an affair—it becomes unbearable, and he almost loses his mind.When Emily, Bob’s neighbor, turns to him for help—it might be too late for both of them.Dan Friedman's debut crime thriller Don't Dare to Dream won the 2019 Reader's Favorite Mystery Gold Medal Book Award and was a finalist thriller in the National Indie Excellence Award. If you enjoy gripping suspense, twists and turns, and unpredictable characters—you'll love Dan Friedman's thrilling novella.

    To create oil, dinosaurs died. Now the tables are turning!The perfect energy storm is sweeping over the United States: Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown has paralyzed nuclear expansion globally, BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill has stalled deep water drilling, Arab oil countries are in turmoil causing doubt about access to future oil, the intensity of hurricanes hitting the Gulf’s oil rigs and refineries has intensified due to global warming, and the nation’s Strategic Oil Supply is riding on empty.As the energy storm intensifies, the nation’s access to Arab oil, once supplying over sixty percent of our fossil fuel, is being threatened causing people to panic for lack of gas at the pumps, stranding cars across the country and inciting riots.The U.S. Military is forced to cut back air, land, and sea operations sucking up 58% of every barrel of oil to protect the nation; U.S. commercial airlines are forced to limit flights for lack of jet fuel; and businesses are challenged to power up their factories, and offices as the U.S. Department of Energy desperately tries to provide a balance of electric power from the network of aged power plants and transmission lines that power up the nation.The United States must find new sources of domestic fossil fuel urgently or face an energy crisis that will plunge the nation into a deep depression worse than 1929.The energy storm is very real and happening this very moment. But, at the last moment of desperation, the United States discovers the world’s largest fossil fuel deposit found in a remote inaccessible mountain range within Alaska’s Noatak National Preserve surrounding six and a half million acres.Preventing access to the oil is a colony of living fossil dinosaurs that will protect its territory to the death.Nobody gets out alive; nobody can identify the predator--until Dr. Kimberly Fulton, Curator of Paleontology at New York’s Museum of Natural History, is flown into the inaccessible area by Scott Chandler, the Marine veteran helicopter pilot who’s the Park’s Manager of Wildlife. All hell breaks loose when Fulton’s teenage son and his girlfriend vanish into the Park.Will the nation’s military be paralyzed for lack of mobility fuel, and will people across America run out of gas and be stranded, or will the U.S. Military succeed in penetrating this remote mountain range in northwestern Alaska to restore fossil fuel supplies in time to save the nation from the worst energy driven catastrophe in recorded history?

    Simon's industry happens to be the international spy game. When tragedy rips his life apart he relocates to a new town and starts over, only to find that his old life has followed him home. Pursued by industrial spies, domestic terrorists, and his old boss, Simon must unravel a plot to steal secrets from the Department of Homeland Security and frame him for murder. Cut off from official channels and hounded by the police, Simon recruits his own rogue team of operatives to take down the conspirators.

    government investigator vanishes while on assignment in China. Former detective Lars Severin is hired by the investigator's family—mysterious scions of an international trade dynasty—to find out what happened to her. Was her disappearance the result of a random act of violence or something more sinister? Did she uncover something that drove a hidden enemy to make her disappear? Could she still be alive? Severin's quest casts him into a labyrinth of double-dealing and conspiracy, taking him from the misty streets and alleys of Seattle's old Chinatown neighborhood, to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., to the dazzling city of Shanghai, to the ancient heart of rural China. The case grows more complicated with each step Severin takes, until all at once he realizes that his own life is in great danger.

    Until now, when a stranger rolls into town claiming to be a long lost Corrigan. Inviting the locals to a tour of the derelict property, the stranger regales the townsfolk with a gruesome tale of how his family was slaughtered by an armed mob. The murderers, he claims, were the ancestors of everyone assembled before him. Jeered as a fraud, the man’s claims are dismissed but doubts linger over what happened all those years ago. Dissent grows as the stranger agitates for retribution and long dead feuds reignite. Caught in the middle is Jim Hawkshaw, a struggling farmer living near the old house. As he digs for the truth, Jim is forced to choose sides when the locals decide to take matters into their own hands and punish the outsider for his lies. While the town prepares for its first heritage festival, a band of vigilantes march on the old Corrigan house to exact revenge but this time... this time the Corrigans are ready for them.

    A teacher who can show you what it takes to live to the fullest, to love until your heart bleeds out—to have it all, and then to let it all go. Now, suppose your teacher is only five weeks old. When the Sullivans are told their unborn child has a congenital heart defect, they have no idea where the news will lead them. Their dreams of bedtime cuddles and soft baby coos give way to the incessant beeping of hospital machinery and the sharp smell of antiseptic. With two young children in tow, the uprooted family takes an unexpected journey discovering the truth of love, sorrow, and ultimately, the gift of life. This true story—comprised of journal entries, letters, and emails—is the legacy of one small boy’s lifetime.

    The Revised and Expanded Edition includes a Bonus Chapter."You have love, hate and indifference. Choose."A doctoral candidate in Theological Studies accepts recruitment by a friend in the U.S. State Department for an initiative to the most troublesome province in 2006 Iraq. The many challenges of nation building expand the mission from diplomacy to a survival situation as local and international interests position themselves to oppose a State Department initiative: one vital to progress in an uncertain theater.Terrorism and counter-terror operations threaten to keep the team from leaving the relative safety of Baghdad. Until, that is, a former USAF Special Tactics operative hunting the men who want to kill them draws duty as their protector. The simple questions posed during a tribal council threaten provincial and regional stability; the conclusions reached explode into a clash of faith, loyalty, schism and betrayal that will help shape the future of two nations.The Anvil of the Craftsman, the debut novel by author Dale Amidei, will be appreciated by fans of a broad range of fiction; from aficionados of the haunting themes of Ernest Hemingway to readers of the tightly woven plots of Tom Clancy and popular titles of authors like Vince Flynn, David Baldacci, W.E.B. Griffin and Richard Marcinko.The Anvil of the Craftsman is presented in its Kindle Edition with a fully functional Table of Contents and navigation controls (NCX). Approx. 97,900 words / 327 pp. print length. © 2011 Single Candle Press

    His name is Silas Kane.Dr. Grant Armstrong has returned home from his medical work in Africa. His grandfather is dead. His remaining family has gathered on Armstrong Island where a billion dollar inheritance is in play. And he’s just learned from his best friend, NYPD Detective Eric Johnson, that the old man may have been murdered.When Silas Kane—the ruthless second son of an infamous serial killer—escapes police custody, Eric embarks on a mission to recapture the monster. Following a bloody trail through the streets of New York, Eric races against time to stop Kane before he strikes again.Meanwhile, Grant is left alone to investigate his grandfather’s death with each clue leading him further down a path he doesn’t wish to follow.A violent storm envelopes the State of New York as Eric and Grant each pursue a killer. Will either succeed…or survive?Brimming with tantalizing mystery, pulse-pounding suspense and unexpected twists, Second Son is a complex, exhilarating thriller and an electrifying follow-up to the stellar Hostile Takeover.

    A man was the last thing she needed. But that was before Richard Lynch literally crashed into her life.After Reilly and the charismatic Brit are involved in a fender-bender, she's unable to resist the exhilarating romantic freefall. The enigmatic Rick is not who she thinks he is, however, and Reilly finds herself in a twisted maze of sordid secrets and devious manipulations. Navigating this terrifying new reality, can she rally and find a way out before her soulmate-turned-stranger destroys everything she treasures.

    As al-Qaeda hunts the pair across Europe and the Middle East, Cameron must rely on his wits to survive relentless attacks designed to silence his Saudi friend and preserve a sweeping plan to attack the American homeland.From the subways of Paris to the parched dunes of the Arabian Desert, The Phoenix Affair is a fast-paced and intricately-wrought thriller that skips across three continents. Cameron is a natural survivor, and his is a sweeping tale of technology, tradecraft, quick-thinking and hard fighting from the first pages to the final climactic conflict.

    On it is Galis City, a sea of shanties ruled by gangs and violence.James is the Shadow of Galis, a master thief and skilled killer. Through cunning and near inhuman agility, James has become a living legend among the criminals that rule Galis.But not even the blood-thirsty gangs of Galis can stop the invasions of the alien Xank Empire. James realises he cannot stop the horde alone and embraces the defenders of humanity – the Trooper Order.But despite all his skill, can a master criminal be a good soldier?

    Friendly, kind to strangers, a devoted husband and father. A gentle soul quietly moving through life. But still waters run deep, and Terry’s inner turmoil derives from a secret that he can’t share with anyone. As fate would have it, Terry’s guarded world is turned upside down the day he walks into a hardware store and meets Renee Patrick, a free-spirited beauty who is as tough as the nails she sells out of her family business. Unfiltered and unapologetic of her questionable lifestyle, Renee ignites a spark deep inside Terry. As these two lost souls embark on an unlikely relationship, they are both forced to face secrets they have long kept hidden in order to survive. Now, each of them must decide if they will risk completely destroying their fragile existence in a last attempt to find true happiness. "Van De Yacht’s talents as a storyteller are solid and impressive. Well-structured, the appealing book delivers polished writing and multidimensional characters." -- Kirkus Reviews "An unassuming yet potent novel about the power and possibilities of personal transformation after traumatic events." -- Kirkus Reviews