Cloud Crash: A Technothriller


Phil Edwards - 2011
    He won’t stop until the “cloud computing” that powers the internet is destroyed. But he’s not acting alone—he’s part of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of power. His only obstacle? A team of professionals with serious flaws: a corporate investigator who’s too brash to stay out of trouble, a hermit-like blogger with crippling paranoia, and a beautiful public relations expert with her own fair share of secrets. They’ll have to work together to discover the true source of the attacks—before it’s too late. Along the way, they’ll come in contact with modern technology’s greatest risks. The chase takes them from Silicon Valley to New York City, with stops at Napa and Area 51 in between. They’ll have to move quickly—there’s only one chance to keep the cloud from crashing. The print edition is 385 pages. If you love taut, puzzle-based thrillers with big ideas, you'll want to start Cloud Crash immediately.

The Millstone Prophecy


Jack Harney - 2011
    Lieutenant, Dax McGowan, attempts to track down and kill the pedophile priest who caused his daughter to commit suicide. A city-wide investigation soon turns into an international manhunt taking him to the gates of the Vatican and beyond with startling results. An intransigent hierarchy, a wimpish legal community's response, and his own conscience thwart the detective's efforts as his own life becomes imperiled in the process. Short chapters, fast action make for a hard to put down read.

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.

Dark Visions


Jonas Saul - 2010
    Routine blackouts occur to her on a random basis. What’s different about her temporary unconsciousness is she wakes to various notes written by her own hand. These notes are prophecies. Dark Visions. Future events of dire circumstances. Circumstances that she can avert, for Sarah is what they call an Automatic Writer.The novel begins with Sarah perched under a bridge with no idea why she’s there, except what the note said;Sit under the Elizabeth St. Bridge at 10:18am. Bring hammer.There’s a car accident on the bridge, plunging a vehicle into the river below. If Sarah wasn’t there at the right time, with the hammer to force her way into the car, people would’ve died.The novel’s intensity increases as more blackouts occur, causing her to note them down. Her next task is to avert a kidnapping. She’s done it before. Couldn’t be that hard. But on this one, the kidnappers recognize her and nab her instead of their intended victim.People are killed. Witnesses place Sarah at the scene. The police find her notebook riddled with prophecies of accidents and crimes.They want answers. They want to know how she has such information.All this happens while the eighteen-year-old star in this first novel of a trilogy suffers from trichotillomania, which means she’s a puller.Most of her hair is missing.The story has numerous twists and turns and finally ends with a massive climax and a lead in to The Warning, which is Part Two of this trilogy.Overall a great read, combining the likes of John Saul, and Dean Koontz.

Ascension Day Part 2 of 2


John Matthews - 2011
    Trouble is, everyone thinks Larry's guilty, from the Louisiana Governor right down to the accused, who has confessed to the crime and now wants to make peace with his maker.Jac soon discovers that someone doesn't want anyone - especially a lawyer - digging around this case. And they'll stop at nothing to make sure Larry's execution goes ahead on schedule. Now Jac must decide whether he's prepared to risk his career, his reputation and his life to save a man who, by his own admission, is a murderer . . .When DEATH is your only hope...Ascension Day is the most exciting and compelling death-row thriller since The Shawshank Redemption.

Malevolent


Jana Deleon - 2015
     Everyone wondered about Shaye Archer’s past. Including Shaye. Shaye Archer’s life effectively began the night police found her in an alley, beaten and abused and with no memory of the previous fifteen years, not even her name. Nine years later, she’s a licensed private investigator, with a single goal—to get answers for her clients when there aren’t supposed to be any. And maybe someday, answers for herself. Emma Frederick thought her nightmare was over when she killed her abusive husband, but someone is stalking her and tormenting her with mementos from her past. With no evidence to support her claims, the police dismiss her claims as post-traumatic stress, but Shaye is convinced that someone is deliberately terrorizing Emma…playing a cat and mouse game with only one goal in mind. To kill Emma.

The House of Closed Doors


Jane Steen - 2012
    Yet Nell is determined to elude the duties and restrictions of matrimony. So when she finds herself pregnant at the age of 17, she refuses to divulge the name of the father and even her childhood friend Martin is kept in the dark.Nell's stepfather Hiram sends Nell to live at the Poor Farm of which he is a governor, to await the day when her baby can be discreetly adopted. Nell is ready to go along with Hiram's plans until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out.Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced that the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and the incident prompts her to rethink her decision to abandon her own child to her fate. But the revelations to which her questions lead make her realize that even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby, she may have no safe place to run to.

The Shadow Box


Luanne Rice - 2021
    But her well-connected husband, Griffin—who is running for governor—is her prime suspect.Just before the attack, Claire was preparing for an exhibit of her shadow boxes, one of which clearly accuses Griffin of a violent crime committed twenty-five years ago. If the public were to find out who her husband is, his political career would be over. Claire’s certain her husband and his powerful supporters would kill her to stop the truth from getting out.When one of Claire’s acquaintances is murdered, the authorities suspect the homicide is linked to the attack on Claire. As the dual investigations unfold, Claire must decide how much she’s willing to lose to take down her husband and the corrupt group of elites who will do anything to protect Griffin’s interests and their own.

314


A.R. Wise - 2012
    She has a good life as a music teacher now, and might rekindle her relationship with her one true love. However, the number 314 haunts her, and threatens to bring her back to the day that her brother disappeared. When a reporter shows up, just days before March 14th, Alma realizes that her past is coming back to haunt her. What happened on March 14th, at 3:14, 16 years ago? No one but The Skeleton Man can remember.

Girl Gone Mad


Avery Bishop - 2020
    Well, someone did—and now the game has changed…Emily Bennett works as a therapist in Pennsylvania, helping children overcome their troubled pasts—even as she struggles to forget her own. Once upon a time, Emily was part of a middle school clique called the Harpies—six popular girls who bullied the new girl to her breaking point.The Harpies took a blood oath: never tell a soul what they did to Grace Farmer.Now, fourteen years later, it seems karma has caught up to them when one member of that vicious circle commits suicide. But when a second Harpy is discovered dead shortly after, also from apparent suicide, the deaths start to look suspicious. And when Emily starts seeing a woman who looks a lot like Grace Farmer lurking in the shadows, she’s forced to wonder: Is Grace back for revenge? Or is Emily’s guilt driving her mad?Sticks and stones may break your bones, but the Harpies are about to find out just how much words can hurt you.

White Out


Danielle Girard - 2020
    Scattered Bible verses and the image of a man lying in a pool of blood haunt her memory.The same night of the accident, a young woman is murdered and tossed in a dumpster. Kylie Milliard, Hagen’s only detective, doesn’t immediately recognize the victim, but Kylie soon discovers that Lily and the dead woman share a dark past…if only Lily could remember what it was.Lily and Kylie both want answers. But Kylie has to play by the book. Lily has to play it safe. And the more Lily learns about her identity, the more she fears the truth.

Greed


C.M. Sutter - 2018
    She devours everything she can during her detective training in hopes of being promoted soon. Living in small-town USA has its advantages, like a sense of security, and disadvantages, like being close to Milwaukee and its crime. Washburn County has become the dumping ground of murder victims, courtesy of its neighboring county to the south. When two men are discovered on the outskirts of North Bend, each with a bullet to the head, Amber’s team, led by Lieutenant Jack Steele, hits the highway in search of a killer. Assisted by the Milwaukee PD, they go deep into Brew City’s underbelly, which reveals far more than anyone ever expected. Crimes involving murder and counterfeiting keep the team running in every direction, but it’s Amber’s attraction to a new man in North Bend that puts her front and center on the killer’s short list. She doesn’t get far before the entire case turns upside down. Note: All Amber Monroe books are standalone stories but since characters carry over, they are best read in chronological order. Series One - Amber Monroe Crime Thriller Series #1 Greed #2 Avenged The Amber Monroe Crime Thriller Series follows on the heels of the conclusion of Malice, Book 5 in the Agent Jade Monroe FBI Thriller Series.

The Donzerly Light


Ryne Douglas Pearson - 2010
    But the success he’d imagined is frustratingly elusive.Until he meets the bum. An enigmatic transient who occupies a Manhattan corner, offering puzzling morsels of wisdom on a sign he changes daily. Drawn to the bum one day by a familiar snippet on his sign, Jay gives the man some spare change.What he gets in return shakes him to his core.Suddenly gifted with some power of prescience, Jay becomes the darling of Wall Street, picking winning stocks as if he can glimpse the future.Or shape it.But the dark side of this gift reveals itself as a curse when Jay tries to turn away from what he’s been given, leading the bum to reach into his life with murderous results. Running from the horrific reality that his power now unleashes, Jay finds his flight coming full circle as he must face the man, the thing, that set him on this path.

Nowhere to Hide


Joan Hall Hovey - 1993
    The character development in this book is unreal. I was actually holding my breath long before the ending. Ms. Hovey has done an incredible job of getting into the mind of a serial killer. If you haven't gotten this book yet, I highly suggest you do. You will not be disappointed as this is one of the best thrillers I have read yet."Raised in an atmosphere of violence and unpredictability, Ellen and Gail Morgan have banded together, survivors of a booze-fertilized battleground, forming a fierce united front against an often cold and uncaring world. When their parents are killed in a car crash, Ellen becomes the mother figure for Gail.When fifteen years later Gail is brutally raped and murdered in her shabby New York basement apartment, practically on the eve of her big breakthrough as a singer, Ellen is inconsolable. Rage at her younger sister's murder has nearly consumed her. So when her work as a psychologist wins her an appearance on the evening news, Ellen seizes the moment. Staring straight into the camera, she challenges the killer to come out of hiding: "Why don't you come after me? I'll be waiting for you."Phone calls flood the station, but all leads go nowhere. The police investigation seems doomed to failure. Then it happens: a note, written in red ink, slipped under the windshield wipers of her car, 'YOU'RE IT.' Ellen has stirred the monster in his lair … and the hunter has become the hunted! "If you are looking for the suspense thriller of the year-look no further…you will find it in Nowhere To Hide..."Jewel Dartt Midnight Scribe ReviewsAlso by Joan Hall Hovey, and published by Books We Love at Amazon, The Abduction of Mary Rose, Chill Waters, Listen to the Shadows, Night Corridor and coming in 2012 Deception.

The Jury Series


Lee Goldberg - 1985
    Over 160,000 words/550 pages of non-stop action, wildly erotic sex, and wicked humor. And as a special bonus, this edition includes "Hot Sex and Gory Violence," Lee Goldberg's Newsweek essay about the writing of the series.