GOD & SPIES: RECENTLY DECLASSIFIED TOP SECRET OPERATION


Garry Matheny - 2018
    Author GM Matheny was a US Navy saturation diver on the nuclear submarine USS Halibut. Involved in Operation Ivy Bells. America's most important (and most dangerous of the Cold War) clandestine operations. If you like good old fashioned American bravado, espionage and American history, you will enjoy this book. GOD & SPIES is a firsthand account of America's greatest intelligence coup! Operation Ivy Bells was not a onetime intercept of foreign intelligence but an ongoing operation of multiple Soviet military channels! Another reason for the high interest in our operation was the audacious nature in which it was done—with not one person risking his neck but the crews of two US Navy nuclear submarines which rendezvoused in Soviet territorial waters. “How did I end up as a navy diver, four hundred feet down in a frigid Russian sea? After making my dad totally disgusted with me, I set out to make him happy. ‘Honor thy father’ - I struggled with a decision to serve God. ‘Lord, I will give my life to you and serve you if you let me make this dive.’ But I had the impression He only wanted to know one thing: ‘What if I do not let you? Will you serve me anyway?’”

Into the Darkness: The Harrowing True Story of the Titanic Disaster: Riveting First-Hand Accounts of Agony, Sacrifice and Survival


Alan J. Rockwell - 2017
    No human being who stood on her decks that fateful night was alive to commemorate the event on its 100th anniversary. Their stories are with us, however, and the lessons remain. From the moment the world learned the Titanic had sunk, we wanted to know, who had survived? Those answers didn’t come until the evening of Thursday, April 18, 1912―when the Cunard liner Carpathia finally reached New York with the 706 survivors who had been recovered from Titanic’s lifeboats. Harold Bride, “Titanic’s surviving wireless operator,” relayed the story of the ship’s band. “The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first while still we were working wireless when there was a ragtime tune for us. The last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea with my lifebelt on, it was still on deck playing ‘Autumn.’ How they ever did it I cannot imagine.” There were stories of heroism―such as that of Edith Evans, who was waiting to board collapsible Lifeboat D, the last boat to leave Titanic, when she turned to Caroline Brown and said, “You go first. You have children waiting at home.” The sacrifice cost Evans her life, but as Mrs. Brown said later, “It was a heroic sacrifice, and as long as I live I shall hold her memory dear as my preserver, who preferred to die so that I might live.” There was mystery. There was bravery. There was suspense. There was cowardice. Most men who survived found themselves trying to explain how they survived when women and children had died. But mostly, there was loss. On her return to New York after picking up Titanic’s survivors, Carpathia had become known as a ship of widows. Rene Harris, who lost her husband, Broadway producer Henry Harris, in the disaster, later spoke of her loss when she said, “It was not a night to remember. It was a night to forget.” Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished letters, memoirs, and diaries as well as interviews with survivors and family members, veteran author and writer Alan Rockwell brings to life the colorful voices and the harrowing experiences of many of those who lived to tell their story. More than 100 years after the RMS Titanic met its fatal end, the story of the tragic wreck continues to fascinate people worldwide. Though many survivors and their family members disappeared into obscurity or were hesitant to talk about what they went through, others were willing to share their experiences during the wreck and in its aftermath. This book recounts many of these first-hand accounts in graphic, compelling detail.

KILLING WOMEN: The True Story of Serial Killer Don Miller's Reign of Terror


Rod Sadler - 2020
    As a former youth pastor, he seemed a devout Christian. No one would have ever suspected that the recent graduate of the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice was a serial killer.However, when Miller was arrested for the attempted murder of two teenagers in 1978, police quickly realized he was probably responsible for the disappearances of four women. Offered a still-controversial plea bargain, he led police to the bodies of the missing women.Now, after forty years in prison, Miller has served his time and is due to be released into an unsuspecting population. In KILLING WOMEN, author Rodney Sadler examines the crimes, the “justice” meted out, and the impending freedom of a man nationally renowned psychiatrist Dr. Frank Ochberg wrote:“… is a member of a small, deadly, dangerous population: murderers who stalk, capture, torture and kill; murderers who derive sexual and narcissistic gratification from their predation; murderers who maintain a ‘mask of sanity’ appearing normal and harmless.”

The Girl Who Sees Angels


Jeffrey McClain Jones - 2020
    Even her mother doubted her as a child. Psychiatrists doubted her too. Psychics tried to recruit her to enrich and empower themselves. Now she’s thirty-two, living on her own, and sharing her secret only with her mother and a few friends.A threatening specter begins to visit her at night, and more than her sleep is at stake. She follows a friend’s recommendation to visit Detta Washington, a church lady who believes that Sophie does see angels and demons. Even if Sophie is skeptical about the labels Detta uses for what she sees, she comes to respect Detta and finds ways to use her gift to help others.When she helps free Detta from an incurable disease and releases two of her friends from creepy creatures shadowing them, Sophie starts to embrace her identity. But she still needs help with the ghoul that hovers above her bed at night. And that’s not the last enemy who threatens her in the dark.Anthony, Detta’s handsome son, helps Sophie understand his mother’s religious language, and he becomes convinced that Sophie is for real. After years of doubt and frequent commitments to mental hospitals, Sophie’s mother comes to trust her daughter’s visions as well.Recovering from a life of being condemned as a crazy person, Sophie finds new confidence. She is gifted. She is the girl who sees angels.

The Wives of Billie's Mountain


Kelly L. Simmons - 2014
    Second families must go into hiding or be arrested. There is even a finder's fee for those who turn in their own. Ten-year-old Mary's father, a poor farmer, abandons Mary, her nearly-blind mother, and six brothers and sisters in the hills of the Wasatch Mountains to live in a shallow dugout not much better than a cave. Close to starving, the family is rescued by a nearby polygamist. As the much older man's intentions become more threatening, Mary finds it harder and harder to resist his proposal of marriage. Her family and friends, even her own mother, turn away from her. During the six-year period, from Mary's childhood to a forced marriage at sixteen, Mary must first survive, and then choose her fate. This is the story of survival, love, and compassion in a sometimes heartless existence. It is also the story of Mary's deep conflict with the Church's teachings on plural marriage, and with her father, who has abandoned them. Based on a true story."...filled with rich description that makes its early 20th-century setting and people come alive." -The Salt Lake Tribune"...an emotionally wrenching narrative out of U.S. history."-Kirkus Reviews

Another Five Patients


Melissa Crickard - 2019
    When one of the resident physicians, Dr. Kip Paiva, becomes a critically ill patient herself, the team is forever changed. This suspenseful story of medical fiction traces foreign medical graduate Dr. Kip Paiva, an emigrant and survivor of human trafficking in post-apartheid South Africa. Her refuge from a Zulu militant captor comes to an end, as his brutal violence has finally tracked her across the ocean. While her past catches up to her, Dr. Paiva also becomes the scapegoat of a malpractice suit. Frightened for her and her son’s lives, Dr. Paiva begins a journey fueled by bottomless resiliency and a mother’s love. Her story intertwines through five others, all riveting, and all taking place in the busy Spectrum General Hospital in New York. Debut author Melissa Crickard uses this microcosm to illustrate larger aspects of modern medicine. Another Five Patients combines international intrigue and hospital politics with individual human stories involving hospital staff, patients, and their families. The result is a captivating, at times satirical, experience that reminds us that, whether doctor, mother, or child, we are all people, with flaws and emotions in a world of uncertainty.

One Night in the ER


G. Scott McCreadie - 2021
    Jim McCray through a single twelve-hour night shift working in the emergency room of a small Midwestern hospital. The fast-paced writing chronicles Dr. McCray’s experience with wit and candor as he manages a series of typical but poignant patient interactions. The book dives deeply into the practice of modern emergency medicine with detailed descriptions of medical care and procedures. It is based on the author’s real-life experiences as a young resident physician.

The Malay Dilemma


Mahathir Mohamad - 2012
    First published in 1970, the book seeks to explain the causes for the 13 May 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur.Dr Mahathir sets out his view as to why the Malays are economically backward and why they feel they must insist upon immigrants becoming real Malaysians speaking in due course nothing but Malay, as do immigrants to America or Australia speak nothing but the language of what the author calls “the definitive people”. He argues that the Malays are the rightful owners of Malaya. He also argues that immigrants are guests until properly absorbed, and that they are not properly absorbed until they have abandoned the language and culture of their past.

The Complete Swanson Court Trilogy: Drawn to You - Addicted to You - Lost in You


Serena Grey - 2018
    I pretended to be someone else. Now, he's found me. And he's determined to make me pay for deceiving him. But how can I resist when the payment he demands is so, so sweet? On the night she discovers her ex's engagement, Rachel meets Landon, the sexiest man she's ever seen, and he mistakes her for a hooker. The thing is, he's so sexy...what harm can there be in losing herself in his touch just for one night?Landon prefers his women beautiful and sophisticated, with no desire for commitment, so when his brother ignores his protests and sends him a hooker on his birthday, he's surprised by how willing he is to continue paying for her services. It should be easy, except she's no hooker, and she has no intention of letting him into her life.As the billionaire owner of Swanson Court Hotels, Landon is used to getting what he wants, and Rachel is not going to be an exception.This collection includes Drawn to You, Addicted to You, and Lost in You.

One of the Family


John George Pearson - 2003
    Moreover, he was as legendary a figure on the streets of New York as on the streets of London.Pearson persuaded the mysterious criminal leader to talk to him - and the result was a story even more extraordinary than that of the Kray twins. Here Pearson reveals the true story of the Englishman who became the adopted son of Joey Pagano, the head of one of the major New York crime families. Here the Englishman tells the story that no-one else dared to tell.

Beverly Hills Confidential: A Century of Stars Scandals and Murders


Barbara Schroeder - 2012
    Co-written by Clark Fogg, the lead CSI investigator for the Beverly Hills police department and Barbara Schroeder, Emmy-award winning journalist, this book is “A rip-roaring read,” documenting not only long forgotten scandals and crimes, but also those that made international headlines.

Rosé's... Bent Stem


Nomita Khanna - 2019
     Tana, a diligent, young nurse with a troubled childhood, can’t believe her luck when she finds Vikram, a rich widower who says she is the ‘love of his life’. The strong attraction quickly turns into something else, unraveling her life. Nightmares that wrecked her childhood are back—and ripping her world apart. Evil has already claimed victims. Is it about to take another? As the four walls of her majestic Lutyens bungalow begin to close in on her, she spirals down into a dungeon. In this twisted world with betrayal at every step, she decides not to stay miserable and becomes the person she never thought she could be. The path to escape is swarming with grisly ambushes and ... intrigue. No one really knows what happens behind closed doors or what goes inside a person’s mind. How far will someone go to protect their secrets or to get what they want? Farther than anyone can imagine. PEOPLE ARE UNKNOWABLE.

Roan


E.R. Barr - 2012
    With the help of new friends, Jace the captain of the football team and Beth, his twin sister, along with a strange Labrador Retriever named Troubles, Conor has to discover who he really is and how he is tied to the mystery of the 'Dark Ones'. They are the children the town is protecting from an ancient river demon and a shapeshifter in the nearby Indian Burial mound. Into the midst of Conor's hunt for the truth comes DIOGENE, a biogenetics company with a scientist willing to do anything to unravel the mystery of the 'Dark Ones'. Conor finds himself caught in a web of lies where myth and science war for humanity's soul.

Leave No Man Behind: The Untold Story of the Rangers’ Unrelenting Search for Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL Lone Survivor in Afghanistan


Tony Brooks - 2021
    . . but just one lone survivorOn June 28th, 2005, a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance team under Operation Red Wings was ambushed in northeastern Afghanistan--as depicted in the book and film Lone Survivor. A quick reaction force was dispatched to assist them. Turbine 33, carrying eight Navy SEALs and eight members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was struck by a rocket propelled grenade, bringing the dual rotor chinook careening toward the rugged peak of Sawtalo Sar.The result was the deadliest single incident in Afghanistan Special Operations at the time.Commanders, unwilling to let this disaster get any worse, quickly called on the largest element of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the 75th Ranger Regiment. The rescue mission: Operation Red Wings II.Tony Brooks, then a newly minted Army Ranger, tells a first-hand account of the daring recovery of Turbine 33, and the subsequent search for the remaining compromised Navy SEAL reconnaissance team--one of whom was Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor. The Rangers would need to overcome lack of intel, treacherous terrain, violent weather, and an enemy that was born and raised to fight.Like his fellow Rangers, Tony Brooks lived--and many died--by the axiom, "Leave No Man Behind." His account is the first to tell the story other books and films have left out, one of courage, skill, and perseverance in overcoming overwhelming odds to accomplish a mission to bring every American soldier home.

Plays With Cars


Doug DeMuro - 2013
    In “Plays With Cars,” the former Porsche manager covers some of his most ridiculous decisions, like buying an old Land Rover sight unseen, taking a Mercedes AMG station wagon to a rural Georgia dragstrip, and roadtripping across the United States in a Lotus Elise without air conditioning. He’s also reviewed his former cars, which range from a Mercedes G-wagen to a Nissan Cube. Most importantly, he wrote this entire description himself in the third person.