Aging Mafia Don Salvatore Padronelli, a.k.a. the Padre, is furious when fanatical terrorists capture his beloved daughter and grandson on a trip to Egypt. Fed up with diplomatic caution that prolongs their captivity, the Padre and his loyal henchman cleverly insinuate themselves into the White House to hold the President and his wife hostage. Now the Padre calls the shots on getting the President to take steps to release his family. But will his plan go as expected? - HOW THE GODFATHER INFLUENCED WE ARE HOLDING THE PRESIDENT HOSTAGE - I have long been a fan of Mario Puzo's The Godfather ever since we attended Don Wolfe's creative writing course in the New School years ago. Mario was more than ten years my senior, a World War II veteran, while I was a twenty-year-old college graduate who took Dr. Wolfe's freshman English course at NYU, inspiring me to devote my life to writing. The class met once a week, but a few of us from the class were chosen by our classmate Harold Applebaum, who was a published poet that frequently appeared in The New York Times, to meet periodically in our homes to read our work and generally socialize. Mario and I were among some of the select few; we liked to think that Harold had chosen us because he deemed our work as reflecting superior talent. We were flattered of course, although in retrospect, many of the students in that class were extraordinarily talented. I think there were about six of us among Harold's chosen, all determined writers hoping to make our mark and who were all flattered by Harold's attention. Years later when The Godfather was published, I was quick to purchase the book and gobbled it up with relish. I thought the book was wonderful. When it hit the silver screen its impact was extraordinary and spawned a giant career for my fellow classmate. I can trace a direct line from The Godfather to my characters in We Are Holding the President Hostage. Another influence was the fact that I had grown up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in the neighborhood that was the headquarters of Murder Inc. and had observed in person many of the gangsters who were part of that era. Another influence of mine was the fact that I had become familiar with the White House and its inner workings, having been a consultant to the Nixon White House with a blue pass that gave me access. Although there was tight security in those days it was far more lenient than it is today. It was also a time when hostage taking was just beginning to show its ugly face and the news was filled with incidents in which the taking of a hostage was becoming a political act of choice. For me, it was a question of connecting the dots. I was able to imagine a story where a group of mafia characters, one of whose daughters was taken hostage in Egypt, were able to infiltrate the White House with the express purpose of persuading the president to use mafia tactics to deal with the hostage taking. The Godfather will always have a special place in my heart, being one of the major influences that sparked We Are Holding the President Hostage, including my political experience and the events going on around me during the 1980s. But it really comes down to my relationship with Harold and Mario. If I had never known them, then perhaps the course of events wouldn't have played out the way they did and the idea for my book never would have materialized.

    It came suddenly, a rushing whoosh of something that made her gag, and when she reached to wipe her mouth, her hand came away smeared with blood." So begins this thriller about a young intern, Jill Raney, determined to investigate tragedies and terror at a famous fertility and genetic engineering hospital. When two pregnant women die and a fetus is delivered with severe chromosomal abnormalities, Jill's superiors - including handsome, smitten-with-her resident David Levine - insist there's no common link. But her suspicions deepen with the grotesque murder near the hospital of another pregnant woman - her belly drained of amniotic fluid. And when a woman miscarries in the hospital and then disappears, Jill frantically searches for her - following a terrifying path that seems to link all the victims: Is someone playing with life...and the structures of human life itself? An unforgettable tale of suspense with a shocking denouement, Embryo takes you deep into the mind of malignant genius..    .    .    .    .    .    .The heart-stopping ending of Embryo creates a new crisis in its sequel, Embryo 2: Crosshairs

    One killer. A devastating secret. On a lazy and warm summer evening in 2001 young Sadie and Madison Hunter and their parents are brutally assaulted. The case has been cold for eighteen years, and it's a shock for the Snohomish County Police Department to find a man dead in Sadie's niche bookstore, It’s a Mystery, with the same MO that killed her parents: four stab wounds in a perfect square.What could tie the death of her parents to this strange man killed in Sadie’s store almost two decades later? The sisters vow to catch the killer who destroyed their lives and they must do it before newly-minted homicide detective Michael Kwon does—or risk exposing their biggest secret of all.

    Meanwhile, a killer, newly released from prison, resumes the bone-chilling handiwork for which he was locked away thirty years earlier.Sinister tarot cards turn up on Jericho's desk, each one more grotesque than its predecessor. As he investigates a series of seemingly unrelated deaths, he becomes aware that a noose is gradually tightening around his throat. Someone is setting him up for a neck-breaking fall.

    Over 800 pages of mystery, thrills, and suspense.*** Live For The Hunt Frozen Past Jaxon Jennings. Cop. Homicide detective. Partner. He always had your back and rarely made mistakes. Until the death of his son. Until the night he couldn’t save him. Until everything he held dear was taken away from him. Now, a shell of a man, his reckless actions mark him as a burn-out. A Loner. A dangerous man whom many in the Fairfax County Police Department cannot trust. The criminals he pursues in the suburbs of Washington D. C. are nothing more than ways to bide his time until his next drink, next fix, next loss of control. His past haunts him no matter how hard he tries to hide from it. So, when a boy’s body shows up floating under the ice of a quiet neighborhood pool, Jaxon finds himself immersed in a world where the ghosts of his past feel too close for comfort. A psychopath is using the innocent in ways that appear familiar. Jaxon’s past is catching up with him. And the anger that seethes below the surface threatens to destroy not only his life, but the lives of a group of kids somehow connected with him. The answers are locked, frozen in the part of his past he refuses to confront. But people are counting on him. And he must do anything to save them. Anything. Even if it costs him his life. Cache 72 72 hours. That's what the note said. 72 hours and the girl would be dead. Jaxon held the paper in one hand and the severed finger in the other. It was not a hoax. A day with his new hobby had turned into something he hadn’t seen coming. GeoCaching—a modern scavenger hunt—was now a race against time. A woman he had never met was praying he wouldn't fail. 72 hours. Three days. A life hanging in the balance and the clock ticking. The killer's game deadly. Jaxon Jennings, retired cop and private eye, knew the girl had only one chance… And he was it. Father Figure The truth will set you free. What a crock. Jaxon Jennings knows the lie in the cliché. He’s lived it his whole life. So when his partner witnesses the murder of their client’s wife, he isn’t surprised by the trail of deceit, corruption, drugs and rape underlying the façade of truth in his city. Paid to uncover the real murderer, Jaxon finds himself immersed in a world of treachery and lies. Lies so deep they cut like knives. And when his recently deceased father is somehow connected, he must find the man who pulls the strings behind the scenes. The man who has the answers to all the questions. The answers that send Jaxon over the edge. For he knows… Only the dead are set free by the truth. And the truth will burden you for life. Jaxon Jennings Mystery Thriller eBook Categories: - Thriller Action - Detective Thrillers - Detective Romance - Romantic Suspense - Murder Fiction - Mystery Action - Mystery Adventure Thank you for reading!

    She has a job as a local newspaper reporter, a flat above an antiques shop in a village by the sea, and a close group of friends. But one day her carefully erected existence collapses when tragedy explodes back into her life. Ten years ago Kate’s eight-week-old baby, Jamie, was stolen. The loss destroyed her marriage and still haunts her dreams with guilt and longing. And now letters have started arriving on her doormat, anonymous letters that read, ‘I know where he is…’ Tragedy strikes again when her colleague and close friend, Maggie, is found, dead. Kate is torn between running once again or finding out who sent the letters so she can finally have some answers. She enlists the help of Johnathon Reeve, a psychiatrist, to help her work through her issues. He seems to be exactly what she needs – someone who listens, understands, and is willing to help. Kate soon comes to the realisation that she must put her fear to one side and find the truth behind her son’s disappearance. Even if the child will always remain just Out of Reach... Praise for Eliazabeth McGregor ‘Compulsive and claustrophobic … the writing embroiled me … and, like a pit-bull terrier, refused to let go. Just when it seemed the suspense had peaked, McGregor turned the ratchet another notch and forced me to read on … made me turn pages with an eagerness that defied sleep’ – Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News ‘Without doubt the most unputdownable psychological thriller I have come across for a long time’ The Lady Elizabeth McGregor is the pen name of Elizabeth Cooke. She also writes under the name Holly Fox and has had over a hundred stories and serials published in the UK and abroad. She has worked for both magazines and radio, and currently writes a weekly column for the Dorchester Guardian. She lives in Dorset with her husband, her daughter and the world’s most laid-back golden retriever.

    A big one, a monster F5--a mile wide and eight miles tall. The writhing finger of death hurls across the prairie toward Graham, Oklahoma, one Friday afternoon in May, 1963, on a collision course with the lives of 4 people—each of whom has already planned a personal rendezvous with death in some other form that day. In Jonas Cunningham’s mind, what he’s planning isn’t murder. The handful of little white pills that will free his precious Maggie from the fog of Alzheimer's is a gift, a final act of unconditional love. Jonas’s 16-year-old granddaughter, Joy, isn’t planning “murder” either. She's pregnant and sees only one way to keep from shaming her family. Secrets like that are hard to keep though, in a small town. Joy's father, Rev. Mac MacIntosh has lost his wife and his faith and on Friday, he plans to commit professional suicide—not just leave his church, but abandon his call to ministry. Princess has an appointment with the Reaper on Friday, too, one she’s been staring down for 14 years. At 5 o’clock, the state of Oklahoma will strap her into an electric chair called Sizzlin’ Suzie and turn on the juice. But as the strange, psychic death row inmate meets daily with the minister during the final 5 days of her life, everything in both their lives begins to change. Princess knows—about Mac’s life and family. And sees—the Big Ugly coming to eat up the world. She sees other terrible things, too, and is determined to carry to her grave an incredible secret about the little sister she confessed to beheading a decade ago. When the savage tornado roars with a sound like gravel in a blender into their small prairie town on that May Friday, all 4 of the people who'd penciled in "death" on their calendars actually do confront eternity. But none of them comes to the crossroads of life and death by the path they'd planned or leaves with the result they expected. In the end, the Big Ugly decides who lives and who dies that day.

    Mark Wilson, a decent, well-liked gay man, lives alone in a beautiful house in Cardiff. One Saturday evening, his closest friends go to his house for an evening of drinks and catching-up. Finding no answer, the concerned friends break in - to a horrific murder scene. For Mark Wilson has been brutally, sadistically murdered in his own home. As DCI Phelps investigates, Mark's traumatic early life is revealed. Was his killer someone from his past? Was his sexuality a motive? What about his violent, homophobic father - a man who has already killed more than once ... Meanwhile, Mark's estranged sister Amy broods on the hatred she has for her brother, blaming him for turning their father into a killer. As she sinks further in to the depths of drug addiction, who's to say what her next move will be? As the body count rises, Phelps and his sergeant, Matt Pryor, soon realise they are on the trail of a serial killer ...

    Presumed dead. Until now...Twenty-five years ago, Chelsea Thomson disappeared after a party in the American seaside town of Hyannis. Her body was never found, yet the evidence that amounted against high-school dropout Hector Sims led to his life imprisonment.When Chelsea’s former sweetheart Jimmy Quinn arrives in Hyannis for a conference—his first trip to the U.S. since her murder—it unleashes a rollercoaster of raw emotions. Discovering an old journal belonging to her, Jimmy makes a shocking discovery that suggests she could still be alive.Detective Bryan Myers has never been able to dispel the shred of doubt surrounding the murder case. While he welcomes the new evidence that Jimmy has uncovered, it unwittingly puts Myers on a tumultuous trail to a psychopath who is willing to kill to keep the truth concealed...

    For Rose Bennett, banking consultant turned private investigator, the event shouldn’t be more than a headline in a newspaper. Except that Rose is investigating a bank fraud at the East & Northern Bank, and Pandora Mitchell’s evidence is the key to her enquiries. As Rose begins to uncover evidence of Pandora’s involvement in the fraud, her colleagues at the bank begin to close ranks. Soon old acquaintances from the past begin to look more like enemies than friends, and as word spreads that Rose is assisting DI George Mulligan to investigate Pandora’s disappearance, someone makes it pretty clear that her presence in the town isn’t welcome.But as the days pass, and fears for the missing girl grow, there’s more at stake than a bank’s reputation, and Rose doesn’t scare that easily …*Previously published under the title Collusion

    They find it to be quite charming and the inhabitants endearing, except for a few residents. Odd laws are enforced, confrontations begin, and insanity reigns as a madman sits upon his imaginary throne, trying to keep the threads of his dream from unraveling. Will Sophia and Angus Barner be able to protect their children from the malevolence that lurks within the small township? This is the story of Cold Hollow, a place you’ll never want to visit.

    Commander Mason Cole never intended to follow his brother into law enforcement, but the murder of a loved one gave him the motivation needed to take a position as the head of Chicago's Serial Crimes Unit. Along with his brother, Detective Devon Cole, former FBI Profiler and Technical Analyst Melinda Kade and Detective Piper Torello, Mason is tasked with finding some of the cities most prolific serial killers.As a former Navy SEAL, Mason has seen some of the worst the world has to offer, but nothing could have prepared him for his initiation into the world of a serial killer. Their first case came with a gruesome introduction from a man who has given himself his own press ready moniker. Known for his macabre signature and the white rose he leaves at the scene with a calling card signed in blood,THE ROSE RED REAPERMason and his team will pursue the killer through the vast streets of Chicago, across the affluent suburbs of the North Shore following cryptic clues left at each crime scene and pointing them to a web of violence dating back to The Reaper's own childhood.Complications begin to arise when The Reaper makes a connection to the woman that Mason loves. Dakota Rose Shelton. The stunning, raven-haired beauty that has carefully salvaged Mason's broken heart may also be the key to ending The Reaper's bloody reign. Left blind by a childhood illness, she must help them to assemble the pieces of the Reaper's past with no visual memories to aid her.Can Dakota help the team put the pieces together before The Reaper targets one of there own? And will she be able to fight off a killer that she cannot see?

    A town still held in the grip of an unsolved mystery. A breathtaking novel of psychological suspense by the bestselling author of We Were Mothers.A decade ago in upstate New York, art student Emma McCullough walked into the woods and was never seen again. It’s a mystery that still haunts her bucolic university town and her broken family, especially her sister Haley, whose need for closure has become an obsession. But now, finally, the first piece of evidence in the vanishing has been found: Emma’s bracelet, lodged in a frozen piece of earth at the bottom of a gorge. For Emma’s three best college friends, for a beloved former teacher, and for Haley, the chilling trinket is more than a clue in a resurrected cold case. It’s a trigger.Then a woman is attacked during an open house, and the connections between the two crimes, ten winters apart, begin to surface. So do the secrets that run as deep and dark as the currents in this quiet river town.

    Now, Billy Gamble, a drifter turned fugitive, will stop at nothing to find and exact his revenge on the sadistic serial killer traveling the world and sowing chaos wherever he goes. His search for the nomad will take Billy to the exotic islands of Thailand, the old colonial towns of Malaysia and into the darkest jungles of Borneo. But the real question is… who is hunting whom and why? To find the answers, Billy must delve into the mind of a madman and question his own sanity.

    An incident in a Queens housing project hurls highly decorated detective Tommy Galvin not only onto the front pages of the newspapers but also into the crosshairs of the sociopath. The hunter becomes the hunted! Galvin’s actions on a warm spring evening ignite a powder keg of racial tension and civil unrest, capturing national attention which must be dealt with and brought under control by the NYPD. When the two men finally come face to face, Galvin’s life has changed forever, in a way he could have never imagined. The Blue Executions will take you from the eyes of the killer to the investigation charged with taking him down; from the inner workings of a major New York City newspaper that the killer has entrusted, to the behind the scenes politics of the NYPD at the highest levels. All of the while, Galvin’s life is on the line.