Book picks similar to
Temple Mount by Keith Raffel


thriller
archaeology
middle-east
05-tr-not-in-od

The President


Parker Hudson - 1995
    Mid-way through his term, a secular-humanist President becomes a Christian and has to decide how his new worldview must change his policies. His wife, children, siblings, staff and the entire nation grapple with how his new faith informs his actions. Meanwhile, terrorists are plotting to detonate a nuclear warhead in New York. The many strands of the story all come together in Manhattan as the terrorists use the World Trade Towers to launch their attack, the center of action is a place called Ground Zero and one of the characters yells, "Let's Roll" near the end. The President is a gripping action thriller with a strong Christian message for the individual and the nation.

Calculated Deception


K.T. Lee - 2017
    A professor caught in the middle. Can Dr. Ree Ryland help the FBI stop a killer before it's too late? Dr. Ree Ryland is an engineering professor who loves her job and plays by the rules. Her life is reassuringly predictable – until an enemy hiding in plain sight decides her squeaky-clean reputation is the perfect cover to commit a crime. When Agent Parker Landon and his FBI team discover that someone at the university has been procuring military-grade hardware by disguising it as test equipment, all evidence points to Ree. After the FBI intercepts a shipment that puts Ree in the clear, Parker is forced to tell her that she’s being used as a pawn by an unseen enemy. And now she’s in that enemy’s crosshairs. Ree turns down the protective detail offered by the FBI and insists on using her inside knowledge to help with the investigation. Parker is leery of bringing a civilian on to the team, but he’s surprised at how much fun he has working with Ree, even as he tries to keep her out of harm’s way. Parker, Ree and the FBI team find increasingly worrying evidence that someone is quietly acquiring everything they need to cause destruction on a massive scale. Now, they must uncover the motive and identity of the killer hiding among Ree’s friends and colleagues before it’s too late. Calculated Deception is Book 1 in The Calculated Series. All books in The Calculated Series may be enjoyed as standalone novels or as a series.

Burned


David Hagberg - 2009
    Her captors were affiliated with early al Qaeda partisans. While this book is fiction, Burned captures the spirit of Yvonne’s resistance and ultimate triumph. Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition with this ISBN here.

The Past Is Never


Tiffany Quay Tyson - 2018
    According to their father, it's the devil's place, a place that's been cursed and forgotten. But Mississippi Delta summer days are scorching hot and they can't resist cooling off in the dark, bottomless water. Until the day six-year-old Pansy disappears. Not drowned, not lost . . . simply gone.After years with no sign, no hope of ever finding Pansy alive, Bert and Willet have tried to move on. But as surely as their mother died of a broken heart, they can't let go. So when clues surface drawing them to the remote tip of Florida, they drop everything and drive south. Deep in the murky depths of the Florida Everglades they may find the answer to Pansy's mysterious disappearance . . . but truth, like the past, is sometimes better left where it lies.Perfect for fans of Flannery O'Connor and Dorothy Allison, The Past Is Never is an atmospheric, haunting story of myths, legends, and the good and evil we carry in our hearts.

The House


Tom Watson - 2020
    . . and betrayal.

Button Man


Andrew Gross - 2018
    Morris apprenticed himself at twelve years old to a garment cutter in a clothing factory; Sol headed to college and became an accountant; and Harry, the youngest, fell in with a gang as a teenager and can’t escape. Morris steadily climbs through the ranks at the factory until he’s running the place and buys out the owner, and Sol comes to work with him. But Harry can’t be lured away from the glamour, the power, and the money that comes from working for mobster Louis Buchalter, an old bully from the neighborhood. And when Louis sets his sights on the unions that staff the garment makers’ factories, a fatal showdown is inevitable, and puts brother against brother.This new novel is equal parts historical thriller, rich with the detail of a vibrant New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, and family saga, based in part on Andrew Gross’s family history, and will cement his reputation as today’s most atmospheric and original historical thriller writer.

Book of Spies PB


Alan FurstJohn le Carré - 2003
    The Book of Spies brings us the aristocratic intrigues of The Scarlet Pimpernel, in which French émigrés duel with Robespierre’s secret service; the savage political realities of the 1930s in Eric Ambler’s classic A Coffin for Dimitrios; the ordinary (well, almost) citizens of John le Carré’s The Russia House, who are drawn into Cold War spy games; and the 1950s Vietnam of Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, with its portrait of American idealism and duplicity. Drawing on acknowledged classics and rediscovered treasures, A Book of Spies delivers literate entertainment and excitement on every page.

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.

Back to Lazarus


Judy K. Walker - 2014
    He beat and choked her to death. I'm told that he was found hanging from a homemade noose in his cell. I want to know why he waited so long to do it." Sydney Brennan isn't sure how to answer her client's question, short of holding a séance, and the Tallahassee detective has some questions of her own. Why does Noel Thomas remember so little about her childhood? Why is she delving into her father's suicide now? And, most importantly, why isn't Noel telling her the truth?Sydney crisscrosses the Florida Panhandle, reconstructing the tragic Thomas family history. The violence that destroyed the Thomas family connects to a present-day web of deceit and corruption through a desperate man willing to do anything to keep his secrets safe. To discover his identity, Sydney must go Back to Lazarus, back to the town where Noel's beautiful but troubled mother began her inevitable descent over twenty years ago. But by following in the footsteps of the murdered woman, does Sydney risk sharing her fate?Rooted in bars and back roads and Panhandle prisons, forgotten towns and forgotten people, at its heart Back to Lazarus is about stories: the stories people tell us, the stories we tell ourselves, and what happens when we realize it's all a lie.

The Ones We Trust


Kimberly Belle - 2015
    As the story of what happened comes to light, Abigail will do anything to write it. The more evidence she stumbles upon in the case, the fewer people it seems she can trust, including her own father, a retired army general. And she certainly never expected to fall in love with the slain soldier's brother, Gabe, a bitter man struggling to hold his family together. The investigation eventually leads her to an impossible choice, one of unrelenting sacrifice to protect those she loves.Beyond the buried truths and betrayals, questions of family loyalty and redemption, Abigail's search is, most of all, a desperate grasp at carrying on and coping -- and seeking hope in the impossible.

Sacrifice


Russell James - 2012
    None of the friends will ever forget the horror of those weeks…or blood chilling image of the Woodsman. Now the six have returned to town for a long overdue reunion. Except the Woodsman hasn’t finished with them yet. As a new nightmare unfolds, ripping open old scars and inflicting fresh terror, what will each of them have to sacrifice this time to keep the children safe and the Woodsman at bay?

Beyond the Shadows


Christy Barritt - 2016
    A decade later, when Charity receives a mysterious letter that promises answers, she returns to North Carolina in search of closure. With the help of her new neighbor, Police Officer Joshua Haven, Charity begins to track down mysterious clues concerning her friend’s abduction. They soon discover that they must work together or both of them will be swallowed by the looming darkness. The Unrelenting Tide by Lynnette Bonner: Widowed former-Hollywood-actress Devynne Lang has been living a quiet life in the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest. For years, she's hoped her fabricated death would keep her identity safe from the public, and more to the point, from the stalker who forced her into hiding. But strange things have been happening around her place and this time, with a daughter to protect, she can’t afford one mistake – even if it means letting Carcen Lang get close enough to help. The End Came with a Kiss by John Michael Hileman: When the world died, my wife died with it. She became like the rest—a beautiful zombie, acting out a scene from our past, over and over again. But I know she is alive inside that dead body. She's been trying to tell me, trying to show me—and I won't stop until I save her. I won't stop until I save them all. Saving Grace by Lesley Ann McDaniel: When an obsessive fan forces opera singer Tracy Fontaine to change her name to Grace Addison and go into hiding in a small Montana town, the last thing she wants is to get to know the locals. Now, not one but two men have worked their way into her daily routine, much to the chagrin of a jealous local girl, who insists on prying into Grace’s past and stirring up deadly trouble. Will Grace find love in Madison Falls…or will her stalker find her? When Night Comes by Dan Walsh: Jack Turner comes back to his alma mater to give a series of lectures for his old history professor. Within days, he starts having bizarre experiences at night. Like he’s traveling back in time, experiencing the epic events in his lectures firsthand. Several college students suddenly start dying in their sleep. The Professor who’d invited Jack begins acting edgy and strange. And there’s this beautiful brunette in the back row. Every time he looks at her, she’s smiling at him. She looks vaguely familiar. Battered Justice by Linda Bradley White: FBI Special Agent Jake Tucker works hard to be an excellent investigator and a great dad. Having Cass McKenna as his partner helps. An investigation into a shooting leads them to a shadowy trail of crime connected with a casino--and the battered body of Jake's ex-wife. Jake is sure Tam's new husband, a powerful state senator, killed her. But Lady Justice can be battered, too. Soon Jake and Cass find themselves in the fight of their lives.