High in an office tower in the heart of the financial district, lawyers and bankers are fighting a deadline to close an $840,000,000 leveraged buyout.  Under the pressure of the crowded agenda, no one notices that a zero has been dropped from the mortgage document.  The papers are signed, cheers and applause roar from the boardroom--and the fuse of a time bomb is lit.  When it explodes, there will be hell to pay.  As the partners of Freer, Motley, the presiding law firm, will discover, they are collectively and personally liable to their client to make up the multimillion-dollar shortfall.And so begins an accelerating and dire chain of events.  Freer, Motley's senior partner is found dead, and its brightest young associate is charged with murder.  The firm needs a fall guy, and John Shepard, brilliant but arrogant--and recently passed over for partner--fills the role to perfection.  Defending John Shepard in a Boston court is going to be a career buster.  No one wants the job, and no one understands why Ed Mulcahy accepts the case, even if he is Shepard's friend--but they don't know that he's already in way too deep to walk away.On a par with Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent, The Deal is the most exciting new legal thriller from a first-time author to be published in years.  Written by a young partner with one of Boston's prestigious old firms, it is an utterly authentic view of the city's judicial system, from the ex-con informants, paid for their evidence, to the district attorney who needs a conviction for the sake of his political career.  It is also the compelling story of two young lawyers--a defendant and his attorney--realizing too late that they are up against an old-guard establishment more powerful than they could ever imagined.

    Eggers’ irreverent approach included a pioneering design that incorporated chapbooks, drawings, and all manner of cultural confetti previously unseen in the lit-mag format. McSweeney’s became an instant hit, showcasing the work of major new voices as well as literary luminaries such as William T. Vollman and Joyce Carol Oates. Long out of print and available only in the pricey collectors’ market, the first three issues appear in this omnibus, reproduced precisely as they first appeared. Longtime fans can revisit some of the best of the early McSweeney’s, while those new to the journal will see what all the fuss was about. A bracing range of topics include John Hodgman writing on the topic of cavemen, Jon Langford on Lester Bangs, Gary Greenberg on the Unabomber, and much more.

    Powerfully written, keenly felt, "The Trouble Boy" heralds an exciting new voice in fiction. "This is about fame and celebrity and the lengths to which people will go to have a taste of it. . ."At twenty-two, Toby Griffin wants it all--fame, fortune, an Oscar-winning screenplay and a good-looking boyfriend by his side. For now, what he's got is a freelance writing job at a tanking online magazine, a walk-up sublet in the East Village and "the boys," a young posse of preppy Upper East Siders with a taste for high fashion, top-shelf liquor and other men.But for Toby, downing vodka cranberries and falling in and out of lust with a series of guys he knows as Subway Boy, Loft Boy and Goth Boy is getting old. That all changes when Toby gets the chance of a lifetime--working as a personal assistant to hip, ruthless film mogul, Cameron Cole. In this decadent, drug-fueled world of VIP lounges, endless networking and relentless hype, Toby discovers that nothing is what is seems and that anything and anyone can be spun into PR gold. Though he's making friends with all the right people. Toby realizes that succeeding in Manhattan isn't as easy as he thought--until the one tragic night that changes his future forever and puts him in a position of power he never could have imagined.But with Toby's name suddenly becoming Page Six material, his life is coming unglued. And as his professional contacts betray him and his friends reveal troubling secrets, his choices become that much harder--and that much more important. Now, in his first year on his own, Toby Griffin is about to learn the price of getting everything he ever wanted."What really makes Toby's world so familiar--along with the author's lively, often-hilarious eye for even the most mundane social details--is the crisp prose and the snappy story."-- "The San Francisco Chronicle"

    The narrator, Steve Geddes, is a writer doing a book on collectors, especially those with "unlikely, bizarre, or exceptionally useless collections." His research leads him to the Havergals, a wealthy, eccentric couple. They "collect people"; that is, she does the "collecting" while he watches-"a bout of troilism," as Geddes calls it. By accident, Geddes learns that reclusive "cult author" Thornton McCain may have written a book that Geddes hasn't heard of. Geddes the observer becomes both obsessed collector and, for the randy Havergals, object to be collected. An insightful delight from start to finish; recommended for all fiction collections.

    A fast, funny trip through the looking glass into an oddly engaging mix of royal family scandals and Hollywood derring-do.--Los Angeles Daily News.

    

    Deputy Marshal in Kansas for a great deal of his life. As soon as his brother Tommy stops answering his letters, he gets extremely alarmed and decides to take matters into his own hands. When he puts a plan in place to travel to Texas, little does he know that a shattering surprise awaits him there; his brother has been found dead, next to the body of one of the most powerful ranchers in town. Will Lee manage to unravel the truth behind these enigmatic and shocking deaths?While Lee is still aghast, the local sheriff declares Tommy's death a suicide, and also accuses him of attempting robbery and murder. On the spur of the moment, the case is considered closed, which makes Lee highly suspicious. Feeling that they drag Tommy's name through the mud, he decides to defy the law and seek vindication. Will he succeed in this lonesome yet risky mission? How will he solve this demanding riddle and clear his brother's name?Lee's hazardous quest begins, having Susan Marsh and Ki'Somma, a young Cherokee medicine man, on his side. Doubts, lies, deceits, serious injuries as well as many other roadblocks will derange their endless undertaking. Will they manage to join forces triumphantly and complete this challenging mission? Or will Tommy always be remembered as a ruthless criminal?

    Set in downtown New York City, Whores of Lost Atlantis features Julian Young, a performer and playwright who tells the story of his acting troupe's hilarious struggle to assemble an Off-Broadway production of Julian's play, Whores of Lost Atlantis, in which Julian acts in drag. The novel's unforgettable cast of characters includes Joel, a perfect English gentleman from Indiana; Roxie, an actress/librarian with moxie; Buster, a voluptuous young alcoholic; Camille, the fiery wig designer Julian considers having an affair with; Perry, Julian's best friend, with a weakness for plastic surgery and peroxide; and Kiko, the wonderfully wicked performance artist who tries to sabotage Julian's career. Getting his play produced proves to be a picaresque adventure with plenty of surprises, leaving the reader feverishly turning pages to see if the show can go on.

    I had a cousin, Randall, killed on Iwo Jima. Have I told you?So begins Kate Walbert's beautiful and heart-breaking novel about a young woman, Ellen, coming of age in the long shadow of World War II. Forty years later she relates the events of this period, beginning with the death of her favorite cousin, Randall, with whom she had shared Easter Sundays, secrets, and, perhaps, love. In an isolated, aging Maryland farmhouse that once was a stop on the Underground Railroad, Randall had grown up among ghosts: his father, Sterling, present only in body; his mother, dead at a young age; and the apparitions of a slave family. When Ellen receives a package after Randall's death, containing his diary and a book called The Gardens of Kyoto, her bond to him is cemented, and the mysteries of his short life start to unravel.The narrative moves back and forth between Randall's death in 1945 and the autumn six years later, when Ellen meets Lieutenant Henry Rock at a college football game on the eve of his departure for Korea. But it soon becomes apparent that Ellen's memory may be distorting reality, altered as it is by a mix of imagination and disappointment, and that the truth about Randall and Henry -- and others -- may be hidden. With lyrical, seductive prose, Walbert spins several parallel stories of the emotional damage done by war. Like the mysterious arrangements of the intricate sand, rock, and gravel gardens of Kyoto, they gracefully assemble into a single, rich mosaic.Based on a Pushcart and O. Henry Prize-winning story, this masterful first novel establishes Walbert as a writer of astonishing elegance and power.

    In boarding school and on trips with his mother into the countryside, Matthew navigates his budding sexuality and complicated new relationships with trepidation and hardship until he is forced to confront Finistère—lands end—where the brutal truths of the world can be found. Finistère was a profound achievement in the early years of the 1950's, and sold over 350,000 copies. This new edition, which returns this beautiful book to print, includes an appendix of historical materials about the book and author, as well as an introduction by Michael Bronski, author of such books as Culture Clash, The Pleasure Principle, and Pulp Friction.

    DOUBLE TAKEAriel Gold has come to South Carolina for a much-needed break from L.A. -- and to continue to piece together her life after a devastating memory loss. But her wish for a little downtime is shattered when she arrives at her grandfather's home on Kiawah Island. A chance encounter with her past on a deserted beach is about to pull her into a spiral of Southern family scandal with all the force of a coastal hurricane. The deeper she delves into a chilling legacy of jealousy and bad blood, Ariel finds the truth can be twisted -- and memories can be murder...With the electrifying thrills that made "Fast Forward" a coast-to-coast hit, Judy Mercer brings her "irresistible first-person voice -- clever, caustic, and brash" (Minneapolis "Star Tribune") to a dazzling suspense winner.

    'Oath Breaker' sees Torak becoming the hunter as he swears to avenge the killing of one of his closest friends. And in 'Ghost Hunter', Torak must defy demons and tokoroths, and make the most heart-rending choice of all.

    Little has changed there. Her father's silk ties still hang limply in the closet even though he left years ago, and Hanako busies her days in relentless pursuit of all things European--especially opera. But when Hanako returns from a Pavarotti concert proclaiming that the opera star himself has promised to visit their home, Emily is amused. Until Hanako hires Alex, an aging, widowed carpenter to renovate the house for Pavarotti's imminent arrival--provoking Emily to seriously question her mother's sanity.As the remodeling consumes Hanako's every waking moment, along with a growing friendship with Alex, Emily grows suspicious of the handyman and the home improvements that her mother haphazardly pours her money into. But as Emily charts the course of her mother's odd preoccupation, and begins to wonder if Pavarotti will indeed make an appearance, she inadvertently finds herself learning some of life's most profound lessons. . . .

     First, he selects them. Strips them of their identity. Then he kills them. All for her... DS Harri Jacobs transferred to Newcastle from the Met in the hope of leaving her past behind: the moment where her stalker turned violent. He left her alive, saying that one day he would be back. And she ran. But a year later, she realises he has followed her from home. He'll prove his devotion. With blood...

    And so when she meets and falls in love with Daniel Fallow, son of a successful businessman, she's quick to accept his proposal of his marriage. His family, though, are against the match, and so the young couple marry in secret. Grudging acceptance follows, and as the Depression worsens Daniel is persuaded to join the family business, unaware of his father's dodgy dealings. Tragedy is just around the corner, and worse is to come when war is declared in 1939: as Daniel leaves to fight and her children are evacuated, Hope wonders if she will ever have all her family around her again...