Book picks similar to
Brilliant Insanity by Yvonne Mason
bis-authors
misc-authors
suspense-thriller
responsible-shaming
The Jamie McGuire Collection: Beautiful Disaster, Walking Disaster, and A Beautiful Wedding
Jamie McGuire - 2014
Travis’s life is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he’s invincible, Abby brings him to his knees.A BEAUTIFUL WEDDINGEveryone knows that Abby Abernathy suddenly became Mrs. Maddox—but what really happened when she and Travis eloped to Vegas? Find out in this special novella that takes you inside the wedding day…and night.
Her Deadly Secret
Chris Curran - 2017
Perfect for fans of BA Paris and Sue Fortin.A young girl has been taken. Abducted, never to be seen again.Joe and Hannah, her traumatized parents, are consumed by grief. But all is not as it seems behind the curtains of their suburban home.Loretta, the Family Liaison Officer, is sure Hannah is hiding something – a dark and twisted secret from deep in her past.This terrible memory could be the key to the murder of another girl fifteen years ago. And as links between the two victims emerge, Joe and Hannah learn that in a family built on lies, the truth can destroy everything…
Beautiful Lies
Gina Whitney - 2014
Enigmatic and moody, all he cares about is his career…until he meets Lilly Amsel. A honey-haired fashion model with a killer body, she knocks him right off the fast track. Their undeniable physical attraction is white hot, their desire for one another an unstoppable force of nature. They unleash years of pent-up carnal frustration on one another, leading to some mind-blowing sex. It also brings something unexpected into their lives: love with no limitations. But can their relationship survive their past demons? Cam has been alone for so long, he’s forgotten how to open his heart. Lilly keeps memories of her abusive childhood at bay with an addiction to prescription meds. And then there’s the big problem: Lilly is already involved with a wealthy, powerful older man who controls her emotionally and financially and has no desire to share her. When he finds out about her trysts with another man, he deploys his thugs, sending Cam and Lilly on the run, fighting for their lives—and their love.
Final Target
Steven Gore - 2010
. .Private investigator Graham Gage believes the injured man—his closest friend Jack Burch—had no part in the ever-widening criminal conspiracy surrounding the collapse of defense contractor SatTek Industries. But Gage's search for the truth is rocketing him to hot spots around the globe—and dragging him into a deadly morass of lies, greed, and terror alongside traitors, killers, and international gangsters. As the plot slowly unravels the body count soars, and Gage finds himself in an impossible race to prevent the unimaginable.Because the first target was his friend . . . but the final target is his country.
Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema
Anne Helen Petersen - 2014
And the stars of yesteryear? They weren’t always the saints that we make them out to be. BuzzFeed’s Anne Helen Petersen, author of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, is here to set the record straight. Pulling little-known gems from the archives of film history, Petersen reveals eyebrow-raising information, including:*The smear campaign against the original It Girl, Clara Bow, started by her best friend *The heartbreaking story of Montgomery Clift’s rapid rise to fame, the car accident that destroyed his face, and the “long suicide” that followed *Fatty Arbuckle’s descent from Hollywood royalty, fueled by allegations of a boozy orgy turned violent assault *Why Mae West was arrested and jailed for “indecency charges” *And much more Part biography, part cultural history, these stories cover the stuff that films are made of: love, sex, drugs, illegitimate children, illicit affairs, and botched cover-ups. But it’s not all just tawdry gossip in the pages of this book. The stories are all contextualized within the boundaries of film, cultural, political, and gender history, making for a read that will inform as it entertains. Based on Petersen’s beloved column on the Hairpin, but featuring 100% new content, Scandals of Classic Hollywood is sensationalism made smart.
Limbs
Tim Meyer - 2019
He spends most nights sneaking into support group meetings for the disabled in order to satisfy his deepest, darkest desires—to hook up with unfortunate, down-on-their-luck women who’ve recently lost a limb. There's a name for Ray’s preference; it’s called acrotomophilia, a paraphilia involving amputees.Conflicted, Ray wishes he could change. But he can’t. His body won’t let him. Nor will his mind. He’s destined to live this life, forever. That is . . . until he meets the perfect girl. Falls in love with her. Only problem: her arms and legs are attached.Unable to find her attractive, Ray embarks on a dark, twisted journey of self-discovery, one that will force him to make an impossible choice: abandon his pursuit of true love or find a way to make it work, even if that means getting the girl of his dreams to shed an appendage. Weird, comedic, and often raunchy, Limbs is the craziest love story ever told.
My Splendid Concubine
Lloyd Lofthouse - 2007
During the nineteenth century, driven by a passion for his adopted country, Hart became the "godfather of China's modernism," inspector general of China's Customs Service, and the builder of China's railroads, postal and telegraph systems, and schools, but his first real love is Ayaou, a young concubine.
Ultimate Thriller Box Set
Lee Goldberg - 2012
Konrath, Blake Crouch, J. Carson Black, Lee Goldberg, and Scott Nicholson—were asked to choose their favorite novel to include in a groundbreaking box set, which is bursting with chills, thrills, laughs, scares, and hours of page-turning, thrill-a-minute reading pleasure.If thrillers are your passion, this is a must-have for your Kindle Library.CONTENTS:Origin by J.A. KonrathDesert Places by Blake CrouchDarkness on the Edge of Town by J. Carson BlackWatch Me Die by Lee GoldbergDisintegration by Scott NicholsonTogether, these novels have accrued over 250 5-star reviews and sold hundreds of thousands of copies. We hope you enjoy!
Chasing the Boogeyman
Richard Chizmar - 2021
The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. But soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman—and he’s playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end. Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch is formed. In the midst of preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into the real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Richard writes a personal account of the serial killer’s reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come. A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, Chasing the Boogeyman is the ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime. Chizmar’s writing is on full display in this truly unique novel that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.
Jim Knighthorse Series: All Three Books
J.R. Rain - 2011
It doesn't take long for Knighthorse to realize that not all is as it seems at tranquil Huntington High, from a band director who preys on the innocent to a vice-principal with a secret agenda of her own. Not to mention someone's hired a professional killer to keep Knighthorse permanently off the case. As the investigation continues, Knighthorse's personal life is shattered by the discovery of new evidence relating to his mother's unsolved murder, a murder dating back twenty years. Reeling from the discovery, a determined Jim Knighthorse sets out to bring two killers to justice.THE MUMMY CASEPrivate investigator Jim Knighthorse takes on a very, very cold case. When historian Willie Clarke dies of mysteriously of dehydration in the California deserts, ex-football hero Jim Knighthorse is hired to dig a little deeper—and discovers a shocking connection to one of the West's oldest mysteries. Over a hundred years ago, an unnamed cowboy was murdered in the California desert and, due to freak weather conditions, would become mummified within twenty-four hours. Now known to the world as Sylvester the Mummy and displayed in a creepy curiosity shop, Sylvester and historian Willie Clarke will be forever linked in mystery. That is, unless private investigator Jim Knighthorse can survive long enough to untangle one of the West's greatest unsolved murders.HAIL MARYIn this third book of the series, Private investigator Jim Knighthorse finds himself on the trail of his mother's killer, a cold case spanning two decades. While on the hunt, he takes on a brutal case that takes him into shark-infested waters and deep into the heart of Mexico. All the while, Knighthorse comes closer and closer to finding his mother's killer...and there's going to be hell to pay.(Includes a clickable Table of Contents.)
Unofficial Series List - Dean Koontz - In Order: Odd Thomas, Frankenstein, and all other books
This Fangirl - 2015
This information is available on the author's website, deankoontz.com. If, like me, you'd like to have the list on your kindle where you can pop it open just like your other kindle books instead of logging on to your laptop or PC, you will find this list handy. Hopefully you have the Kindle Unlimited subscription and can download it for free. If not, you'll have to decide if the convenience is worth a buck. TIP 1: Titles you've read can be "checked off" with the kindle highlight feature. TIP 2: Turn on Automatic Updates so that this series list updates on your kindle when new titles are added. How-to included. This is a title list only. In reading order. No portions of the books mentioned have been reproduced here. No copyright infringement is intended. Just to avoid any misunderstandings about copyright, according to the United States Copyright Office, “Copyright law does not protect names, titles, or short phrases or expressions.” (copyright.gov, circular 34). I hope you find this made-for-kindle list as helpful as I do in deciding which of Mr. Koontz's books to purchase and enjoy next.
Bedlam: A Year in the Life of a Mental Hospital
Dominick Bosco - 1992
Bedlam follows the dramatic stories of the hospital staff and the patients themselves, whose stories break hearts as much as they fascinate.
The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld
Jamie Bartlett - 2014
A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think.The dark net is an underworld that stretches from popular social media sites to the most secretive corners of the encrypted web. It is a world that frequently appears in newspaper headlines, but one that is little understood, and rarely explored. The Dark Net is a revelatory examination of the internet today, and of its most innovative and dangerous subcultures: trolls and pornographers, drug dealers and hackers, political extremists and computer scientists, Bitcoin programmers and self-harmers, libertarians and vigilantes.Based on extensive first-hand experience, exclusive interviews and shocking documentary evidence, The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world.
Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found
Frances Larson - 2014
It accommodates four of our five senses, encases the brain, and boasts the most expressive set of muscles in the body. It is our most distinctive attribute and connects our inner selves to the outer world. Yet there is a dark side to the head’s preeminence, one that has, in the course of human history, manifested itself in everything from decapitation to headhunting. So explains anthropologist Frances Larson in this fascinating history of decapitated human heads. From the Western collectors whose demand for shrunken heads spurred massacres to Second World War soldiers who sent the remains of the Japanese home to their girlfriends, from Madame Tussaud modeling the guillotined head of Robespierre to Damien Hirst photographing decapitated heads in city morgues,from grave-robbing phrenologists to skull-obsessed scientists, Larson explores our macabre fixation with severed heads.
The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers
Adam Lankford - 2013
As it turns out, this claim originated with the terrorist leaders themselves, who insisted that they would never recruit mentally unstable people to carry out suicide attacks. As these strikes have become both increasingly common and increasingly deadly, no one has challenged this conventional wisdom. These are fearless ideological warriors, we're told, who have the same resolve and commitment to their beliefs as our own Navy SEALs, because they're willing to die for the sake of their cause.In The Myth of Martyrdom, Adam Lankford argues that these so-called experts have it all wrong. The truth is that most suicide terrorists are like any other suicidal person—longing to escape from unbearable pain, be it depression, anxiety, marital strife, or professional failure. Their "martyrdom" is essentially a cover for an underlying death wish. Drawing on an array of primary sources, including suicide notes, love letters, diary entries, and martyrdom videos, Lankford reveals the important parallels that exist between suicide bombers, airplane hijackers, cult members, and rampage shooters. The result is an astonishing account of rage and shame that will transform the way we think of terrorism forever.We can't hope to stop these deadly attacks, Lankford argues, until we understand what's really behind them. This timely and provocative book flips a decades-old argument on its head—and has huge implications for our future.