Book picks similar to
The Message by Hylton H. Smith


mysteries-and-thrillers
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thriller
detective-crime

Right to an Attorney


R. Sims - 2016
    Or End It. Dexter Parker just got out of prison and has $3.3 billion a few weeks later. He most certainly is guilty of something. A double-homicide and theft, for starters. Dexter Parker,35, is a former investment banker and a killer. He gets 106 investors to believe in a new computer invention. After stealing more than 3.3 billion dollars, he exercises his right to an attorney. In fact, he believes he has a right to a lawyer named Janet and another named Dana. Sex with either of them would leave no room for error in the client-attorney relationship. The FBI wants to bring in the mastermind of the investment scam, but their investigation is complicated when the IRS informs them that the main suspect is a victim of identity theft. A stakeout and video recording reveal that Dexter flirts and sleeps with his brother's wife. The Feds see no reason to keep this a secret. When one of the lawyers gets kidnapped by an angry investor, Dexter has to decide whether he should give up all the stolen money—and even his life—for her safe return. She is, after all, pregnant with his only child. First, though, he will have to go to trial for his crimes, and this means facing his brother on the witness stand. Not even a judge can predict what happens next in the courtroom. ˃˃˃ If you like legal thrillers or psychological thrillers that defy your predictions, Right to an Attorney could make you look at other thrillers differently.

The Assassin, The Grey Man and The Surgeon


D.C. Stansfield - 2012
    He had a hold on the producers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His receiver network was increasing and the distribution was now being handled by four of the biggest gangs in London. With business so good, he was starting to expand. He was becoming very, very rich.The only small annoyance had come from a little old lady who owned of all things a small corner shop. She had refused to accept any of his little parcels and wanted to go to the police, so she’d been given two bullets, the ‘double tap’, both to shut her up and to send a message to everyone else in the network.Unknown to Lee she was married to a specialist, a man who, in a former life killed men for a living. He had two friends, one a gatherer of information, the master in his field, one a breaker of men, who was so vicious that it was rumoured that each time he hit a man he cut him. Each of these three men had spent thirty years and more playing the ‘great game’. Inside the security company called ‘The Firm’ they were legends known only as The Assassin, The Grey Man and The Surgeon. Now living at the edge of the secret world and about to disappear into history, this atrocity had brought them back centre stage but the question is, do they still have what it takes to go up against today’s hard men?

Tread


Clayton Lindemuth - 2014
    Soon he stumbles onto a packet of photos showing Governor Virginia Rentier lustily paired with three high-ranking women in state government. Though Cinder and the Governor clashed sixteen years before when his wife died in a car accident, Cinder prefers to keep his dislike of Rentier focused on her politics. He's too busy blaming himself for his wife's death, fighting his way back into his son's life, and leading a crew of lazy secessionist misfits to become involved in an intrigue about the Governor's sex partners. But when the bullets fly, Nat asks questions, and learns that his sudden war with the Governor traces back sixteen years. And that the photos were put in his path by a provocateur who knows Nat Cinder's a rough-hewn rebel with enough weaponry cached across Arizona to start a revolution, and that the secret at the bottom of his wife's death will turn him into a powder keg. TREAD is what fans of Clayton Lindemuth's "thrilling, visceral, and unsparing" prose (Publishers Weekly) have been waiting for: a novel that pairs his lean noir voice with the explosive tempo of the modern political thriller.

The Judas Deception


Mike Scott - 2017
    The boy’s father turns to his old friend, Professor Daniel Huxley for help. The only clue is an obscure fragment of parchment belonging to the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. As Huxley and brilliant linguist, Samantha Davison, begin to investigate the link, they are astonished to find a trail that leads to the very depths of the Vatican - a trail strewn with the untimely deaths of any who have tried to follow it and that could expose the greatest lie ever perpetrated by the Church. It takes them on a frenzied chase through the streets of Cambridge. The renowned, historical city is transformed into a sinister, threatening stage where Vatican secrets and buried revelations lead them to a truth so powerful and damaging that some will stop at nothing to protect it.

The Loner


Clinton Spurr - 2017
     In his thirst for revenge, he hunted not just their killers but every killer who had a price on his head. It’s not long before his way of life sickens him, but when he tries to start afresh and leave his way of life behind him, he realises that it’s already too late. Everywhere he went he was known as the bounty hunter with badmen slinging lead his way and whole communities questioning his motives and character. In an attempt to escape this judgement, Clint tries to lose himself in the vast hinterland of the West, and eventually arrives at the Arrowhead ranch in Kansas. It was there that he realised that he was not the only one to suffer from the violence of the times. There’s a woman and a boy who need a man, and Branch himself has two aching voids in his wearied heart. He can only hope that things will work out for once as he fights big odds with impassive courage and a fast gun. Or will his quest for justice ultimately cost him his life…? Either way Branch is hell-bent on a quest that will send him into legend either as a hero, or The Loner... Praise for Clinton Spurr ‘A classic gun-toting adventure that will transport you straight back to the old west’ – bestselling author Tom Casey Clinton Spurr (1928), is one of fifty pseudonyms for British author, Donald S. Rowland, who was born in Norfolk, England. Rowland is married with three children, and previously had a variety of jobs, including film projectionist and Senior Clerk and Local Government Officer. It was only in 1964 that he dedicated his time to writing full-time and has since written a variety of novels, from science-fiction to westerns.

The Ice Maiden (Detective Inspector Jack Gilbert)


Michael Saunders - 2018
    Simply waiting for a bus why should Anne ever dream of dying? He was an opportunist driven by lust, needing to climax while looking into her eyes as she died. Found two months later she will be like all the others - frozen in time. Hunting the killer down is Detective Inspector Jack Gilbert, a dinosaur of the old school, a fish out of water in the swinging sixties, but with a reputation second to none. What is Jack’s sad secret? What does the future hold for him? Read the ICE MAIDEN and there’s a link at the end allowing you to download for FREE, number one in the Jack Gilbert Series – THE CHOCOLATE KILLER. For you, chocolate will never taste the same again!

Nyrae & Symeer: When Love Conquers All


E. Shanie - 2017
    Heart break isn’t Nyrae’s only issue, the man that took her and her best friend Louann in has a couple of secrets that’s been coming out of the closet lately. When she’s forced to face the truth she is left wondering who can she trust. Symeer is the man around the way. He is known for doing jobs and getting them jobs done if you know what I mean. One job in particular, has him on the fence. Always hitting his mark Symeer is left in a world of confusion when his mark becomes his heart beat. He is left with the burning question, is she worth it. Both Nyrae & Symeer need each other in ways neither one of them understands. Will their love conquer all or will it leave them heart broken & heartless?

Our Vinnie - Part 1 of 3: The true story of Yorkshire's notorious criminal family (Tales of the Notorious Hudson Family, Book 1) (Our Vinnie Boxset)


Julie Shaw - 2014
    So when one of their own was wronged in any way, the community always had its own way of dealing with it.The first title in a series of gritty family sagas, Our Vinnie accounts the dramatic true story of a brother’s determination to avenge his younger sister’s rape. Josie was just 11 when her Vinnie, then 14, was taken away to a detention centre. Distraught by his absence and left alone with indifferent parents, when she escapes from one of their rows she naively enters the house of a neighbour, Melvin, who – horrifically – leads her upstairs and overpowers her.Convinced by her friend Carol, Josie tells her sister Lyndsey about the rape but, with Vinnie out of the picture, Lyndsey uses the information for her own ends. When Vinnie returns, hardened by years inside the system, his outrage on discovering the truth is severe. And with new abuses continually coming to light, a cataclysmic series of violent events begins to spiral out of control…Dramatic and shocking, Our Vinnie is an unbelievable page-turner, documenting a community forsaken by society, and one brother’s unrelenting determination to take justice into his own hands.

Pinnacle Of Deceit


Eric Rill - 2014
    Set in the gilded world of luxury hotels, high-stakes politics, drug czars, and money launderers, it follows the astonishingly successful lives of four men who share a dark secret from their troubled past in an Arizona orphanage, and a sadistic killer bent on hunting them down. Anthony Marshall, self-made owner of the world’s largest luxury hotel chain, Pinnacle Hotels—Gerald Pratt, his tortured accomplice—Ricardo Sanchez, the world’s most ruthless drug lord—and Harmon Baker, an aspiring congressman who becomes an accidental world leader—are all caught up in a web of intrigue that not only pits them against a merciless outside force, but also against one another. As the plot surges through the glamour capitals of the world to its shocking conclusion in Montreal, the price that the relentless pursuit of wealth and power can extract is made devastatingly clear. Pinnacle Of Deceit will have you frantically turning pages until the very end. In the style of Robert Ludlum, David Baldacci, and Nelson DeMille.

Riders of the Lone Star: Heck Carson Series Volume 1


John Spiars - 2017
    Johnstone, Best-selling western author, John Spiars has created a timeless hero of the old west. The first novel in the Heck Carson Series, Riders of the Lone Star brings the wild and lawless Texas frontier to life. When the Law ain’t enough… He brings Justice. The year is 1852. Settlers on the Texas frontier are at the mercy of hostile Comanche and vicious outlaws, and the only ones holding the line between life and death are a few brave men, known as Texas Rangers. Outnumbered and outgunned, they bring law and order to the untamed land. They face impossible odds with nothing more than grit, determination, and a fast gun. It is this adventure and excitement that lures sixteen-year-old Jesse “Heck” Carson to leave his families ranch to join the fight. Heck quickly learns that this life comes at a price, the cost of which is hardship, danger, and possibly his own life. The bonds of friendship, loyalty, and duty lead him into epic battles that test his courage and resolve, and along the way he learns what it means to wear the star of the Texas Rangers. Excerpts: As fast as he could, he pulled the hammer back and fired, the first Comanche jerked once and hit the ground. The other warrior was no more than two feet away now. Heck wondered if he had another bullet left. Had he fired five or six shots? He couldn’t remember. Saying a silent prayer, Heck pulled the hammer back and looked at his approaching enemy. The point of the warrior’s lance was inches away from his chest when heck pulled the trigger. The barrel of the Walker was almost touching the chest of the charging Indian. Heck heard no sound, but saw the smoke pour out of the barrel and the big warrior dropped to his knees, and fell on top of the young Ranger. Lieutenant Sutter and Corporal Anderson approached the men on horseback, ready to do what had to be done. Looking at the group of riders, however, Sutter immediately recognized he had made a terrible mistake. These men were not military, not even by Southern standards. They were unkempt, filthy, and armed to the teeth. His heart sank as he noticed that most of the detachment were Mexican and their guns were not in their holsters. “What is going on here?” he said, unable to believe what he was seeing. The lead rider smiled and said, “This was even easier than Senor Cortina said it would be. Thank you.” Without saying another word, the man raised his pistol and fired two quick shots, hitting both Lieutenant Sutter and Corporal Anderson between the eyes. The man wheeled around with his rifle as Heck landed on his back, but it was a fruitless gesture. There was a look of pained surprise on the man’s face as Heck covered his mouth and pulled him to the floor. Heck plunged his knife into the man’s chest several times, as he kept his hand over the man’s mouth. After several seconds his muffled cries were silent. John Spiars is the author of the Heck Carson Series. He is a writer and amateur historian with a passion for the history and myths of the "Old West". His hope is to keep alive the western genre for this generation and all of those to come, while both entertaining and educating readers of all ages. He is a native Texan and lives in North Texas with his wife and four children. When not writing western novels, he maintains a blog and Facebook page about Texas history and travel entitled Under the Lone Star.

Kill Shot


Cameron Blake - 2017
    Caught between the past and the present, truth and lies, death or life, Abram must make a choice. Refuse and risk death; or assassinate the Prime Minister and embrace the darkness within. The veil between reality and fantasy quickly blurs as Abram is thrust into a world of espionage and murder, where terrorists are merely mercenaries for hire. Will killing the Prime Minister set him free of his past, or only serve to enslave him further to the very corruption he’s sworn to destroy?

Liberation Day


Dustin Stevens - 2013
    In present day Washington, D.C., an employee stands before the controlling board of his company and makes a pitch that will either make or end his career. In Boston Harbor, shipments of high-end automobiles bound for Italy and containers of refugees inbound from Cuba continue to go missing.At the center of everything stands Thorn Byrd, a recent college graduate just twenty-two years old. Plucked away from the life he had planned and thrust into one he never knew existed, he is forced to decipher who is behind the sinister plot unfolding around him and the global implications it holds.Aiding in his journey are the combined forces of the Cuban and Irish cartels, both of which have lost a great deal of face and are seeking revenge, along with a brother/sister pair desperate to find a lost family member. Opposing them are a conglomerate with ties reaching back to the Second World War and bent on righting wrongs seventy years in the making.Armed only with his instincts and the help of those around him, Thorn must determine who to trust and what to do before it is too late.

Domestic Hunt (Thomas Cole Book 4)


Scott Jones - 2016
    To the local authorities they are random acts of violence, robberies gone wrong. But to Army Ranger Thomas Cole there are too many coincidences. With the unofficial help of a shadowy presence from his past, Tom begins digging and soon discovers the War on Terror is very close to home.

Nowhere


Roger Smith - 2016
    A dark tale of fate, revenge and violence in a country where wrong is the new right.When the president of South Africa murders his wife in a fit of drunken rage he charges his most trusted henchman, the bloodthirsty Steve Bungu, with orchestrating a cover-up that pivots on blackmailing Joe Louw, a retired cop of impeccable ethics, to mount a fake investigation that'll clear the crooked head of state.In a seemingly unconnected case, Investigator Disaster Zondi (Mixed Blood, Dust Devils) who, because of his criticism of the corrupt post-apartheid regime, has been banished to the fringes of law enforcement, is given the thankless task of traveling to the remote Kalahari Desert to arrest Magnus Kruger, a notorious white supremacist who rules over an Afrikaner-only enclave, for the slaying of a young black man.As Louw and Zondi peel away layers of lies, hatred and festering secrets they reveal the connections that bind them, connections that reach back deep into the nightmare of South Africa's apartheid past.

The Gender Experiment


L.J. Sellers - 2016
    After discovering they were born at the same clinic two decades earlier, she investigates further and uncovers a startling list. With the realization that more gender-fluid people are targeted for elimination, Taylor kicks her investigation into high gear. But the researchers who conducted the experiment aren’t about to let anything interfere with their plans. Soon Taylor is in deep trouble and needs the help of FBI Special Agent Bailey. As Bailey scrambles to track down leads, events spin out of control and she finds herself blocked at every step by powerful military forces. With the clock ticking on Phase 2 of the experiment, can Bailey and Taylor uncover the truth in time to save the other subjects?