Book picks similar to
Firetrap by Earl Emerson


mystery
fiction
earl-emerson
suspense

The Quickie


James Patterson - 2007
    But while she's sneaking around, her husband is hatching a plan of his own. After a torrid quickie with a co-worker, Lauren hears a struggle outside her window and looks out just in time to see her husband loading her lover's limp body into the trunk of a car. When the body shows up in a pool of shallow water, she races to the scene of the crime. But Lauren Stillwell is no regular wronged woman. She's a NYC cop—and she's just been assigned to this case. Unable to tell anyone what she saw and unwilling to turn her husband in, Lauren is paralyzed by a secret that will tear her life apart. But as she attempts to point fingers away from her husband, she uncovers something shocking: her husband didn't have an affair—what he did was far worse than she could have ever imagined.A gripping story of secrets and infidelities that begins where Adrian Lyne's movie Unfaithful leaves off, The Quickie will have readers' hearts pounding to the very last page.

The Rendition


Albert Ashforth - 2012
    Alex Klear, a veteran intelligence officer, is sent to the Balkans on a hastily planned rendition which goes terribly bad. Alex decides it's time to retire. However, when he is persuaded to go to Germany as part of an operation connected to the rendition, he finds himself caught between two dynamic women, an old girlfriend and the female colonel running the 'op.' While there, he becomes a target of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a murder suspect to the German police, and for his superiors the perfect fall guy to take the heat for a badly botched secret operation. With Kosovo's independence declaration coming closer by the day, the secret war heats up and Alex comes to realize that he is at the center of a murky conspiracy aimed at making the United States an international pariah.

Catch as Catch Can (Merseyside Crime, #1)


Malcolm Hollingdrake - 2021
    Together with new colleague Skeeter Warlock, Decent quickly discovers there’s a sinister link between them all, one that will bring them face-to-face with some uncomfortable home truths.Catch as Catch Can is the first in the Merseyside Crime Series from Malcolm Hollingdrake – bestselling author of the Harrogate Crime Series.

Vince Flynn Collectors' Edition #1: Term Limits, Transfer of Power, and The Third Option


Vince Flynn - 2010
    Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals the killers are elite military commandos. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country's future.Transfer of PowerOn a busy Washington morning, the stately calm of the White House is shattered as terrorists gain control of the executive mansion, slaughtering dozens of people, taking hundreds hostage, and threatening the life of the president. One man is sent in to take control of the crisis. Mitch Rapp, the CIA's top counterterrorism operative, makes a chilling discovery that could rock Washington to its core: someone within his own government wants his rescue attempt to fail.The Third OptionCIA counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp falls prey to government forces with an agenda of their own after Dr. Irene Kennedy is named the successor to dying CIA Director Thomas Stansfield -- a choice that enrages many inside the world's most powerful intelligence agency. Her detractors will resort to extreme measures to prevent her from taking the reins, which makes Rapp an expendable asset. But Mitch Rapp is no one's pawn, and he will stop at nothing to find out who has set him up.These special collectors’ edition hardcover books are bound in premium bonded leather with foil stamping.

Act of Vengeance


Michael Jecks - 2012
     Cut adrift and superfluous in a changing world, he was discarded by British Intelligence. Then, after 9/11, rapid recruitment brought in a rash of new, talented young men and women. They were trained and put into the field swiftly - often too swiftly. And then the mistakes started to happen. Mistakes that should have been avoided. Mistakes that could be embarrassing to Her Majesty's Government. Thus, Jack was brought back into the intelligence fold, heading up a new team of "Scavengers" - experienced agents who could be sent to clear up the messes left behind by newer recruits before evidence incriminating MI5 and MI6 could be discovered. Jack is sent to tidy up one last case. In a quiet Alaskan backwater, a man named Danny Lewin has committed suicide with a handgun. But this was no ordinary suicide. This was an agent who held secrets. A man haunted by his past interrogating prisoners in Iraq. And British Intelligence fear that he put his secrets down on paper. For Jack, his mission is straightforward. He must travel to Alaska and retrieve Lewin’s journal before someone else can lay their hands on it. Before long, Jack realises that there are individuals just as skilled and determined as himself searching for the journal - individuals who are willing to kill in order to get what they want. Case is drawn into a manhunt that drags him into the murky underworld of contemporary espionage and leaves him questioning who his allies and who is enemies are. The rules of the game have changed since the days of the Cold War. Now Case must impose his own rules. Scavenger rules. Praise for Michael Jecks: 'An instant classic British spy novel - mature, thoughtful, and intelligent ... but also raw enough for our modern times. Highly recommended.' - Lee Child, author of the Reacher series 'More magic by the master of the medieval' - Quintin Jardine 'Michael Jecks is a national treasure' - Scotland on Sunday 'A textbook example of how to blend action and detection in a historical' - Publishers Weekly Michael Jecks is the author of the bestselling Knights Templar series, comprising thirty-two novels starring Baldwin de Furnshill. Fields of Glory is the first novel in a new trilogy, set around the Hundred Years' War. A regular speaker at library and literary events, he is a past Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at Exeter University. He was shortlisted for the Harrogate/Theakston’s Old Peculier prize for the best crime novel of the year 2007, the year Allan Guthrie won. He lives with his wife, children and dogs in northern Dartmoor. To find out more visit his website http://www.michaeljecks.com, follow him on twitter @michaeljecks, or find him on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Michael.Jecks...

Four Scarpetta Novels: The Last Precinct / Blow Fly / Predator / The Book of the Dead


Patricia Cornwell - 1996
    Then she receives news that chills her to the core: Jean-Baptiste Chandonne-the vicious and unrepentant Wolfman, who pursued her to her very doorstep-has asked to see her..."Predator" Investigating the disappearance of two sisters in Florida, Dr. Kay Scarpetta follows clues that twist and turn, leading her into the psychopathic depths of a jailed serial killer's mind..."The Book of the Dead" The Book of the Dead is the morgue log, the ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to acquire a new meaning.

Five Complete Hercule Poirot Novels: ABC Murders / Cards on the Table / Death on the Nile / Murder on the Orient Express / Thirteen at Dinner


Agatha Christie - 1980
    Novels included; Thirteen at Dinner/Murder on The Orient Express/The ABC Murders/Cards on the Table/ Death on the Nile.

Squall


Sean Costello - 2014
    On a clear winter morning he sets out in his Cessna 180 to do some repairs on a remote hunt camp, leaving his five year old son and very pregnant wife snug in their beds.On the return trip, a squall forces him into an emergency landing and he winds up—quite literally—in the lap of petty criminal Dale Knight. Dale, now a fugitive from the law—and worse, from a merciless drug lord who just happens to be his brother—draws Tom into a web of mayhem and treachery that puts not only his life at risk, but the lives of his wife, son…and unborn child.SQUALL is a fast-paced, darkly-comic tale of murder and gang-style retribution that grabs the reader on page one and simply does not let go.

Whispers


Lisa Jackson - 1996
    . . In the chill of an Oregon night, a man plunges to his death. Another vanishes without a trace. A third drowns in the murky waters of a quiet lake. Alone in the dark, a ruthless killer is certain that every loose end has been cut, every enemy silenced except one. . . Be Afraid. . . It's been sixteen years since Claire St. John fled in terror from her family's home on Lake Arrowhead. Sixteen years since her fiancé's tragic death and the shocking secret she promised never to reveal to anyone. But that was before journalist Kane Moran began probing the mystery of that horrible night, turning a light on the darkest corners of Claire's life, exposing her once again to a cold-blooded murderer's vicious fury. . . Be Very Afraid. . . Now, as Claire returns home to face a past she's tried to forget, another body is unearthed, revealing the twisted nature of a killer who is ready at last to make Claire pay the ultimate price. . .

Moran and Moran (Death Hunter #2)


Ron Ripley - 2020
    

Hair of the Dog (A Gil Mason Novel Book 2)


Gordon Carroll - 2020
    

Necessary Evils


Bill Carson - 2012
    The pain and anguish over his wife’s murder has been harnessed, molded and channeled into a hatred of the most abnormal ferocity, and an un-closable door had now been wrenched open in his mind, and he had crossed over into the darker realms of humanity where the merciless, cruel, vicious and uncompromising sides of human nature reside. His brain had been rewired and the switch had been flicked.Has all this been preordained? Are there sinister dark forces at work at here? Necessary Evils will have you on the edge of your seat with your heart in your mouth.

The Hiding Place: A Thriller


David Bell - 2012
    After his body was found in a shallow grave in the woods two months later, the repercussions were felt for years.Janet Manning has been haunted by the murder since the day she lost sight of her brother in the park. Now, with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Justin’s death looming, a detective and a newspaper reporter have started to ask questions, opening old wounds and raising new suspicions. Could the man convicted of the murder — who spent more than two decades in prison — really be innocent? Janet’s childhood friend and high school crush, who was in the park with her that day, has returned to Dove Point, where he is wrestling with his own conflicted memories of the events. And a strange man appears at Janet’s door in the middle of the night, claiming to know the truth.Soon, years of deceit will be swept away, and the truth about what happened to Janet’s brother will be revealed. And the answers that Janet has sought may be found much closer to home than she ever could have imagined.

I Choose You


Gayle Curtis - 2020
    Now, grown up and married with a young family, they feel their worst nightmares are behind them. Until the day their daughter is abducted and murdered.Both Elise and Nathaniel lost their mothers to a notorious killer who manipulated innocent victims into taking their own lives. Could it be that ‘the Watcher’ has returned for another round of the same sadistic game? Why now? And why are Elise and Nathaniel being targeted again?When Elise’s family falls under suspicion, her world crashes down around her. Is there anyone she can trust, or is her whole life built on lies?Only one thing is clear: someone left their cruel game unfinished all those years ago. This time the Watcher intends to win – once and for all.

The Greatest Good


Craig N. Hooper - 2018
    Which should be easy, given his assignment is a routine protection detail for Stanley Tuchek, the California Governor’s son. But on the first morning of protection an intruder breaks into Chase’s home. When the cops arrive and discover Chase’s unusual collection of weapons, he’s taken to the local police station for questioning. By the time Chase catches up with the governor’s son, Stanley gets shot, and Chase starts to suspect this might all have something to do with his own murky black-ops past. Though he’s pulled off protection, and ordered to stay away from Stanley, Chase won’t let the case go. Desperate to figure out what’s going on, Chase begins an unofficial investigation that takes him from a bullet ridden confrontation with a government hitman to a conspiracy that reaches to the highest level of American intelligence. With no-one to trust, and the line between good and evil becoming increasingly blurred, Garrison Chase must do everything in his power to uncover the truth, stop the conspiracy, and bring down the players involved.