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Lesson Plan by Brett Battles


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Code Name Camelot


David Archer - 2018
    With the help of childhood friends, he learns to watch others around him and mimic their behaviors, in order to conceal the fact that his mind operates more like a computer that he has spent years programming. That program is what allows Noah to pass himself off as normal, by establishing parameters of right and wrong that are completely inviolable to him.As a young adult, Noah finds structure in the U.S. Army, and becomes an excellent and exemplary soldier, but when his self-imposed programming is put to the test by the murderous acts of the superior officer, Noah finds himself quickly made expendable, charged with crimes he did not commit and facing the possibility of execution. Without any reasonable hope for a reprieve, Noah's logic-based mind accepts his fate.Sometimes, though, things are not all as they seem to be, and Noah is offered one chance to save himself. It was his disability, his lack of emotion, that made him the soldier he had become. Now, an ultrasecret organization known as E & E wants Noah's talents, offering him a chance to survive…As the most deadly assassin the world has ever known.

Broken


Don Winslow - 2020
    In Broken, he creates a world of high-level thieves and low-life crooks, obsessed cops struggling with life on and off the job, private detectives, dope dealers, bounty hunters and fugitives, the lost souls driving without headlights through the dark night on the American criminal highway.With his trademark blend of insight, humanity, humor, action and the highest level of literary craftsmanship, Winslow delivers a collection of tales that will become classics of crime fiction.

Keller's Adjustment


Lawrence Block - 2012
    He collects stamps. He used to have a dog, until the dog walker walked off with him. Now he soldiers on alone. It's his profession that sets him apart. He's a hit man. He kills strangers for a living.And he's a Guilty Pleasure for an ever-increasing number of readers. "I don't think I ought to like Keller," readers tell me. "But I can't help myself..."Keller’s Adjustment was written in the early months of 2003, in a small ship cruising the South Pacific from Tahiti to Guam. That was far indeed from New York City, Keller’s home base. (And mine.)I wrote the novella for Transgressions, a prestigious anthology of lengthy stories by prominent writers, commissioned and edited by my friend Evan Hunter/Ed McBain. It subsequently appeared as a key episode of Hit Parade, my third book about Keller—so if you own Hit Parade, you’ve already read Keller’s Adjustment.If not, or if you’re ready renew your acquaintance, I’m pleased to recommend the novella to your attention. It was written in the wake of 9/11, and shows Keller’s reaction to the assault on his city. And, as its title implies, it’s about adjusting to a new reality. Perhaps it echoes the story Sam Spade recounts in Hammett’s Maltese Falcon, about a man who has a narrow escape from accidental death on his way to work one morning. He reponds by disappearing, and by the time Spade finds him he has recreated his original life halfway across the country. He adjusted to a world in which beams fell, Spade tells us, and then no more beams fell, and he adjusted to that.

Namaste: The Whole Story


Sean Platt - 2013
    Death Comes From Without. Amit is a member of the order of shadow monks, his every waking moment is spent training his body and mind to the peak of human ability - and beyond. But the order is pacifist, a repository for deadly weapons with their safeties permanently set to "on." Until everything is taken from him, and Amit decides that turning the other cheek is no longer an option. Now, every ounce of his training will be put to the test. His epic quest for revenge will see wrongs righted - or see Amit forgotten in an unmarked grave. Namaste includes Prelude, as well as the rest of the adventure. Join Amit as he chases Nisha's killer from boss to boss, all the way to the last place he ever expected. He will fight, and die if he must. What will be, will be. It's a Zen thing. ˃˃˃ Readers Love Realm & Sands. Here's What They're Saying About Namaste "Having read just about everything that these guys have written (separately and together), I absolutely loved it! Suspense, mystery, mysticism, monks, murder, love, fear, blood, revenge...just about anything you could imagine (all crammed into this one episode!). I'm still trying to wrap my brain around Amit. Do I love him? Do I hate him? Is he justified in his actions or a man gone over the edge? Knowing Sean and Johnny, no matter what I decide, they'll blow it out of the water! Can't wait to read more. Well done guys!""Screw these guys. I have things to do but I decided to load this just to check out a serial on kindle and now I'm hooked. My dogs need to be fed, I need to change the oil in my car and I'm not sure where my infant son is. But I know where I'll be for the foreseeable future: sitting on my ass reading the sequels.""Sean Platt, Johnny Truant, and David Wright are masters of their craft. They excel at taking all that is good and fun from episodic t.v. and monthly comics and crafting well written stories. Namaste is no exception. A tale of love, loss, and vengeance with their special skewed vision. Like the Punisher main character Amit is almost instantly likable and even before you learn his reasoning you know that he is justified in his pursuit. Like all of the authors books I look forward to the continuing adventures of Amit.""In Namaste, Platt and Truant deftly sketch out the background, setting, and characters of their latest serial with minimal description and brief snatches of dialog, keeping the action at a fever pitch in a high-intensity Hong Kong cinema style thriller. Punctuated by scenes of graphic violence, the experiment in non-linear storytelling is effective for this short action-oriented installment. Over the course of a longer story, the back-and-forth narrative flow might grow tedious or confusing, but here the approach lends a filmic flair to the introduction of "a pacifist monk on a rampage." Fans of Chow Yun Fat or John Woo films looking for a literary equivalent should appreciate this latest Platt & Truant effort." ˃˃˃ WARNING: Namaste is the most violent thing Realm & Sands has so far written. An Unlikely Tale of Vengeance Like Nothing You've Read!

Keeper


Greg Rucka - 1996
    For Atticus Kodiak, professional bodyguard, the object is to keep people alive, and there is no margin for error. Now Kodiak faces his toughest challenge: to protect a woman and her daughter from a killer with a fanatic agenda of his own....Tense, taut, and as brutally real as this morning's headlines, Keeper marks the debut of a talented young writer of tough, unflinching prose--and the beginning of an electrifying new series.

Slow Horses


Mick HerronMick Herron - 2010
    London, England: Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what's left of their failed careers. The "slow horses," as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. Maybe they messed up an op badly and can't be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they all have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another.River Cartwright, one such “slow horse,” is bitter about his failure and about his tedious assignment transcribing cell phone conversations. When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. But is the victim who he first appears to be? And what’s the kidnappers’ connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone has his own agenda.

Good and Valuable Consideration: Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller


Lee Child - 2014
    In this action-packed short story, Reacher and a new acquaintance—Sox fan Nick Heller—find themselves drawn into a much less friendly rivalry when the guy sitting between them at the bar turns out to be a marked man. For more exciting pairs, check out all eleven short stories in FaceOff!

The Fifth Profession


David Morrell - 1990
    From the bestselling author of First Blood comes a spectacular thriller, in which a former Navy SEAL and a Japanese samurai master are bound together in a terrifying past that never happened.

Paris Is A Bitch (John Rain, #6.5)


Barry Eisler - 2011
    But for gorgeous Mossad operative Delilah and trying-to-retire contract killer John Rain, nothing is ever easy, and when Rain sees a crew of hard-looking men setting up outside the restaurant, he realizes someone has been bringing her work home with her. Is it a hit -- or something even worse? When it comes to killing, business and pleasure is the most dangerous mix of all.Includes an essay called Personal Safety Tips from Assassin John Rain, which contains information that will be at least as valuable to civilians as it has been to Rain.This story is approximately 8500 words -- Listening Length: 49 minutes

The Repairman: A Mike Reardon Novel


L.J. Martin - 2013
    You son in debt to a dope dealer, your captain steal your plane or boat? Someone has put a hit on you? If you can find Reardon, he'll repair the problem...even if he has to reach beyond the law.

Agent Zero


Jack Mars - 2019
    Kent Steele, 38, a brilliant professor of European History at Columbia University, lives a quiet life in a New York suburb with his two teenage daughters. All that changes when late one night he gets a knock on his door and is abducted by three terrorists—and finds himself flown across the ocean to be interrogated in a basement in Paris. They are convinced that Kent is the most lethal spy the CIA has ever known. He is convinced they have the wrong man. Do they? With a conspiracy around him, adversaries as smart as he is, and an assassin on his tail, the wild game of cat and mouse leads Kent on a perilous road—one that may lead back to Langley—and to a shocking discovery of his own identity.

The Geneva Decision


Seeley James - 2012
    But now she's taken the helm of her billionaire father's private security company, and she's playing against a whole new set of opponents: the kind who shoot to kill.On her first day on the job, Pia's client is assassinated in front of her. There's no time for training, so Pia must trust her instincts and athletic skills to unravel the complicated maze of money laundering and piracy that will take her from Swiss mansions to the jungles of Cameroon.Her battle-hardened employees suspect she's just a spoiled rich girl with a mean corner kick. But Pia's got some unexpected moves of her own. Will they be enough to bring her team through its mission?

Stalker


Donald Wells - 2013
    White's husband is immune to fate's cruelty.