Book picks similar to
Short Shockers: Collection One by Peter James
horror
short-stories
peter-james
crime
Top Suspense: 13 Classic Stories By 12 Masters Of The Genre
Dave ZeltsermanJoel Goldman - 2011
This pulse-pounding anthology - packed full of cold-blooded killers, erotic tension, shady private eyes, craven drug dealers, vicious betrayals, crafty thieves, and shocking twists - is only a taste of the thrills you will find in the breathtakingly original ebooks by these authors at Top Suspense Group. So sit back, bite down on a piece of strong leather, and prepare to get hit by some gale-force suspense and writing so sharp it will draw blood.
Seven Patients
Atul Kumar - 2012
It is not intended for the faint of heart. The stories are extreme and the descriptions graphic. Patients come and go, but some leave behind a memory so intense that it cannot be erased.Third year medical student Raj Mok quickly learns that patients don’t behave like his beloved medical texts led him to believe.The seven most outrageous patients of his first year in clinical medicine teach Raj that medicine isn’t always about healing and that killing isn’t always murder.
Gloop!
David Brian - 2015
It has lain in the cold and dark of the bog, waiting patiently for a host to set it free. Now, for John Cluer and his family, nothing will ever be the same again.A novelette of approximately 10,000 words.
Twice the Chill: Two SHORT Horror Stories
Rachel A Olson - 2016
Bey had spent his entire life running through the woods and never once saw anything to convince him there were creatures worth fearing. When his littler sister, Chensei, whines about the trip home at night, Bey only mocks her. Until she disappears beyond the treeline. I, PONTIANAK Everyone hates and fears monsters, except for when you’re the monster. I never asked for it, and honestly I can’t say I’ve really enjoyed it. But I am what I am, and I can’t change it. Hell, I can’t even control it. My name used to be Anastasia, and I am a Pontianak.
The Sea Breeze Cottage:
Amy Rafferty - 2020
Along the way, Jennifer and her family will discover the true meaning of trust and friendship as they learn to open their hearts to love.The Sea Breeze Cottage. A La Jolla Cove Series is a heartwarming, edgy, and all-around entertaining read filled with romance, excitement, intrigue, butterflies, and adventure.This must-read book rekindles hope after a tragic loss, trust after bitter heartache, shows that life lessons are learned throughout your life and that finding your soulmate has no time or age limit.An ageless inspiring adventure romance that can be enjoyed by everyone.La Jolla, a hilly sea-side coastal town, perched along the rugged shores of the Pacific Ocean forms part of the city of San Diego. Having spent the summers there with her Aunt, it was the place Jennifer had called home as a young girl. It had always been a place filled with the happiest of memories and times for Jennifer. Even as an adult, La Jolla was Jennifer’s haven and place to recuperate from the fast-paced world of New York where she had moved to so she could pursue her career after law school.Now a single mother of three children and a messy divorce behind her, her safe haven is scarred by a tragic accident that rips a hole in her world. Not only does she lose someone she loves dearly, but she unwittingly gets tangled up in a web of betrayal, mystery, and lies.The Sea Breeze Cottage. Book 1 is the first in a series of sun, mystery, and romance. Join Jennifer, her family, and friends as they learn that even the closest of families have secrets. Get tangled in the many twists and turns Jennifer, along with her family, starts to unravel as they dig up buried family pasts to reveal shocking revelations.Fall in love with each of the characters as they each play their part in the mysteries of the cove. Follow them through their heartaches, betrayals, and adventures as they find a way to open their hearts and let true love in.
All the Shiny Things
Robin Mahle - 2013
That is, until she discovers it was all a lie. Now, her desperate search for the truth begins.After learning of the terrible events that forever altered her childhood, Katie is compelled to dig into a past no one wants to relive. A past her parents kept hidden from her at all costs.A decades-old investigation is reluctantly unearthed when Katie discovers her role as the lone survivor. It is Detective Marshall Avery who lends her the resources needed to hunt down the person responsible. When that search breathes new life into an old monster—one who has left a trail of innocent blood in his wake—it is too late to turn back.Katie’s desire for retribution places her in great danger and costs her dearly. So when the tables are turned, and the hunted becomes the hunter, will Detective Avery be able to keep Katie from going too far?
Famished
Meghan O'Flynn - 2016
At least, it feels that way until a serial killer starts dicing up women from the shelter where she volunteers. Despite the ever-present tingling at the nape of her neck, Hannah manages to convince herself that the killings have nothing to do with her brutal past—until her boyfriend is murdered in the same ruthless manner as the others. It doesn’t help that the police think she might have done it. But the cops are right about one thing: Hannah is responsible. Because she knows who the killer is. Now she must face the fact that she brought a monster with her to Ash Park—and his appetite for blood is insatiable. Everyone's hungry for something. Some are more famished than others.
The Last Lesson
Jon Athan - 2019
A gang-infested school. A vengeful teacher. After his star pupil, Rina Ogawa, is sexually assaulted in a school restroom, Edward Clifford sets out on a journey to find the truth and bring her attackers to justice. He finds himself delving head-first into the lives of his other students—lives filled with crime, violence, and hatred. What starts as a desperate attempt to achieve justice quickly sends Edward down the path of vengeance... Who attacked Rina Ogawa? Can Edward bring her attackers to justice? Or will he take matters into his own hands? From the provocative author of The Law of Retaliation and Grandfather’s House, Jon Athan brings you a shocking thriller packed with mystery, suspense, and extreme violence. This is a story of human horror. WARNING: This novel contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.
Stay Awake
Dan Chaon - 2012
Now, in Stay Awake, Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his masterly Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award.In these haunting, suspenseful stories, lost, fragile, searching characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection—and find themselves in unexpected, dire, and sometimes unfathomable situations.A father’s life is upended by his son’s night terrors—and disturbing memories of the first wife and child he abandoned; a foster child receives a call from the past and begins to remember his birth mother, whose actions were unthinkable; a divorced woman experiences her own dark version of “empty-nest syndrome”; a young widower is unnerved by the sudden, inexplicable appearances of messages and notes—on dollar bills, inside a magazine, stapled to the side of a tree; and a college dropout begins to suspect that there’s something off, something sinister, in his late parents’ house.Dan Chaon’s stories feature scattered families, unfulfilled dreamers, anxious souls. They exist in a twilight realm—in a place by the window late at night when the streets are empty and the world appears to be quiet. But you are up, unable to sleep. So you stay awake.
Preternatural Affairs, Books 1-3: Witch Hunt, Silver Bullet, and Hotter Than Helltown
S.M. Reine - 2014
I'm a witch working for a division of the government you've never heard about. The world's not what everyone thinks it is--unless you think that our world's a pawn in a game of chess between Heaven and Hell, and riddled with as much magic and wonder as it is with evil. In that case, the world is exactly what you think. My place of employment--the Office of Preternatural Affairs--takes a modern approach to an ages-old problem. It used to be that inquisitors would burn demons and the people in league with them. Now we get warrants, perform arrests, put the suspects on trial, and send guilty parties back to the Hell from whence they came with the travel forms filled out in triplicate. This stuff I do with the OPA, it saves lives on most days. Most days, I said. ABOUT WITCH HUNTThere are scratches on Cèsar Hawke's arms, a discharged Glock on his coffee table, and a dead woman in his bathtub. Yeah, maybe he brought the waitress home for some fun--he was too drunk to remember it--but he knows for a fact that he didn't kill her. He's an agent with the Office of Preternatural Affairs. He doesn't hurt people. He saves them. The cops disagree. Now Cèsar is running. Isobel Stonecrow speaks with the dead. She brings closure to the bereaved and heals broken hearts. But when she talks to the wrong spirit, the OPA puts a bounty on her head. Tracking down Isobel is the last case assigned to Cèsar before he bolts. If he finds her, he can prove that he didn't kill that waitress. He can clear his name, get his job back, and bring justice to all those wronged families. She's just one witch. He's bagged a dozen witches before. How hard can one more be? ABOUT SILVER BULLETFormer private investigator Cèsar Hawke has one rule: He doesn't deal with dead bodies. That's why he enlisted with the Magical Violations Department in the Office of Preternatural Affairs. He's happy tracking down witches that commit petty crimes, but he leaves the homicides to other agents. Except that he's been assigned to a new team--a team that handles special investigations--and the job has suddenly changed. Now Cèsar has to deal with dead bodies. He also has to deal with necromancers, murderous cults, and demons that can stop a man's heart with fear. This isn't the job he signed up for, but it's the job he needs to do. If he survives the first week. ABOUT HOTTER THAN HELLTOWNA killer is mutilating bodies in Los Angeles. Agent Cèsar Hawke is on the case, but the murderer is ahead of him--way ahead of him. Wiping the memories of the dead so that the team's necrocognitive can't talk to them? Done. Preventing magical reconstruction of the crime scenes? Oh yeah. And the murders keep getting more brutal while Cèsar struggles to catch up. The best way to heat up a cold case is to go to Helltown, where Los Angeles's most powerful evil hides out, but even those demons are afraid of the murderer. Their fear adds one more question to the growing pile of unknowns: What kind of bad guy is too hot for Helltown?
Black Evening
David Morrell - 1999
Fear of loss, fear of pain, fear of madness, fear of being trapped, fear of the inescapable, unspeakable horrors that fester deep within the soul.... No matter who or where you are, fear is always with you, always ready to attack from behind the masks of thought and dream.Let David Morrell tell you a story...A Trap for the Unwary • (1999)Black and White and Red All Over • (1985)Black Evening • (1981)But at My Back I Always Hear • (1983)Dead Image • (1985)For These and All My Sins • (1984)Mumbo Jumbo • (1985)Orange Is for Anguish, Blue Is for Insanity • (1999)The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves • (1991)The Dripping • (1972)The Hidden Laughter • (1981)The Partnership • (1981)The Road to Damascus • (1999)The Shrine • (1992)The Storm • (1984)The Typewriter • (1983)
The Best of Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson - 2017
Though known by many for novels like I Am Legend and his sixteen Twilight Zone episodes, Matheson truly shines in his chilling, masterful short stories. Since his first story appeared in 1950, virtually every major writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy has fallen under his influence, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, and Joe Hill, as well as filmmakers like Stephen Spielberg and J.J. Abrams. Matheson revolutionized horror by taking it out of Gothic castles and strange cosmos and setting it in the darkened streets and suburbs we recognize as our own. He infused tales of the fantastic and supernormal with dark explorations of human nature, delving deep into the universal dread of feeling alone and threatened in a dangerous world. The Best of Richard Matheson brings together his greatest hits as chosen by Victor LaValle, an expert on horror fiction and one of its brightest talents, marking the first major overview of Matheson's legendary career.
Off the Leash
D.D. VanDyke - 2015
Mystery short story. Previous published in the anthology Eight the Hard Way.A murder in San Francisco's Tenderloin District is nothing new, but when ex-cop and private investigator Cal Corwin stumbles across the body of a witness she needs to find a runaway teenager, she find the two cases inextricably entwined - and time is running out.Off the Leash is a short Cal Corwin mystery. Set against the rich backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area, Cal Corwin stories brim with intrigue and fully fleshed characters from cops and criminals to hit men, oddball family and unexpected allies.The California Corwin P. I. Mystery Series:- Loose Ends- In A Bind- Off The LeashMore to come!
Trance
Adam Southward - 2019
He is in control. This is his revenge—and he’s only just begun.Three university scientists are found dead in a gruesome murder-suicide, and the only suspect in the case, Victor Lazar, is quickly captured. When the spate of violent suicides follows him to prison he is moved to solitary confinement, reserved for the highest-risk inmates. And then his assigned psychologist inexplicably takes his own life.Alex Madison, a former forensic psychologist turned private therapist, is brought in to interview Victor. He suspects that Victor is controlling his victims, somehow coaxing them into a suggestive trance. It seems like science fiction, but as Alex digs deeper he uncovers a frightening reality of secret research and cruel experimentation—and the perpetrators are closer to home than he could ever have imagined.Too late, Alex learns the true extent of what Victor is capable of—and who he’s after. With everything he holds dear at risk, can Alex take control of a dangerous mind—before it takes control of him?
Adrenaline Rush
C.J. Lyons - 2014
Help be a part of the solution: 20% of the proceeds from this special edition set of 6 full-length novels plus a bonus short will be donated to the National Center for Victims of Crime, providing resources, advocacy and training to help crime victims rebuild their lives. Over half a million words total and 600+ 5-star reviews for the individual novels! _________________ SNAKE SKIN (A Lucy Guardino FBI Thriller) - CJ Lyons A loving mom and wife, consummate professional, and kick-ass federal agent, Lucy Guardino is living the perfect life. Until she comes up against a predator more vicious and cunning than any she's tackled before. Now Lucy must choose between the life of the young victim she's fighting to save and that of her own daughter. _________________ POST (A Byron Tibor Thriller) - Sean Black Exhausted by combat and haunted by ghosts from his past, nothing will stop special forces veteran Byron Tibor from returning home to the woman he loves. Not even the American government hot on his tail. But nothing -- from the Hindu Kush to Manhattan, or the underbelly of the Las Vegas Strip to his very life -- is what it seems. _________________ THE BLOOD WHISPERER - Zoë Sharp After serving 5 years for involuntary manslaughter she can't remember, the only work ex-CSI Kelly Jacks can get is crime-scene cleaner. But old habits die hard, and her instincts tell her a routine suicide is anything but. Someone doesn't want her asking questions, and Kelly is soon on the run from police, Russian thugs, and gangsters. _________________ THE WORLD BENEATH (A Joe Tesla Novel) - Rebecca Cantrell Joe Tesla is a software millionaire trapped in the subway tunnels under New York City by his mental illness. There he uncovers FDR’s presidential train car and a conspiracy going back to World War II. But can he conquer his own inner demons to save the very world he fears to tread? (A 2014 International Thriller Writer's Award Nominee!) _________________ KISS HER GOODBYE (A Fourth Dimension Thriller) - Robert Gregory Browne In a ruthless act of revenge by a charismatic madman, ATF Agent Jack Donovan's daughter, Jessie, is kidnapped and buried alive, with barely enough oxygen to sustain her. Now the only man who can save her, the only man who knows where to find her has just been shot dead -- and the clock is ticking... _________________ THE DESTROYED (A Jonathan Quinn Novel) - Brett Battles Mila Voss is dead. Now those who paid for her elimination want to know why she just showed up on a hotel’s security camera in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Jonathan Quinn, one of the best cleaners in the business and the man tasked with the disposal of her body, should know -- but he doesn't seem to be in a sharing mood. _________________ "THE THIEF" (Short Story) - Gregg Hurwitz When a mentally challenged teen with a penchant for stealing is framed for murdering his mother, relying on his innate talent may be the only way to outwit the real killer.