Book picks similar to
16 Souls by John J. Nance
fiction
thriller
aviation
drama
Primal Fear
William Diehl - 1992
Vail is certain to lose, but Vail uses his unorthodox ways to good advantage when choosing his legal team—a tight group of men and women who must uncover the extraordinary truth behind the archbishop's slaughter. They do, in a heart-stopping climax unparalleled for the surprise it springs on the reader...
The Good Lawyer
Thomas Benigno - 2012
Working as a Bronx Legal Aid Attorney he learns how to twist the system, how to become an unbeatable defense lawyer, and he his peacock proud of his perfect record-not a single conviction. But it's 1982. The Spiderman rapist is on the loose and New York City is a city in fear. When an outraged rape victim commits suicide right before his eyes, searching for absolution, he grabs the headline case of a teacher’s aide accused of molesting three students. Armed with a firm belief in his client’s innocence, he knocks the pegs out from under the prosecution’s case. When one of the children turns up dead, he discovers that his client may be strangely connected to the Spiderman. Digging deeper, horrifying revelations about his family's past collide with the true identity of the sadistic sociopath behind the Spiderman's rampage. In the process, this good lawyer comes face-to-face with his greatest conflict and deepest fear: to win, really win-save the city and even the woman he loves-must he sacrifice every principle he believes in and embrace his family's mafia past to become judge, jury, and executioner?
Lawyers, Guns and Money
J.D. Rhoades - 2011
Local crime boss Voit Fairgreen has just dropped a bag full of cash on his desk and hired him to defend Voit's brother Danny on a murder charge. Andy's one of the movers and shakers in the small southern town of Blainesville, and Voit figures Andy's the kind of inside guy that can cut a deal to get his baby brother out of the jam. The problem is that Danny just might be innocent. But someone powerful needs this case buried, and if an innocent man dies for that, so be it. Andy Cole is a guy who's made a good living by going along to get along. He's been willing to bend every rule, except Rule One--always get paid. But this case will cause him to re-examine his life and push him and his lover, beautiful newspaper editor Elizabeth Sinclair, to risk everything--including their lives-- for the truth. J.D. Rhoades, author of the Kindle bestseller BREAKING COVER and an attorney himself, turns his eye on his own profession in a book that combines the hard-boiled tone of the classic P.I novel with the white-knuckle suspense of the legal thriller.
Unintended Consequences
Marti Green - 2012
They arrested George Calhoun for murdering his daughter, and his wife testified against him at the trial. George maintains he didn’t do it. That the body isn’t his little Angelina. But that’s all he’s ever said—no other defense, no other explanation. The jury convicted him. Now his appeals have been exhausted, and his execution is just six weeks away.Dani Trumball, an attorney for the Help Innocent Prisoners Project, wants to believe him. After all, there was no forensic evidence to prove that the body in the woods was George’s daughter. But if the girl isn’t Angelina, then who is it? And what happened to the Calhouns’ missing daughter? Despite the odds, the questions push Dani to take the case.For nineteen years, George Calhoun has stayed silent. But he’s ready to talk, and if the story he tells Dani is true, it changes everything.
The Mourning Hours
Paula Treick DeBoard - 2013
Kirsten Hammarstrom hasn't been home to her tiny corner of rural Wisconsin in years-not since the mysterious disappearance of a local teenage girl rocked the town and shattered her family. Kirsten was just nine years old when Stacy Lemke went missing, and the last person to see her alive was her boyfriend, Johnny-the high school wrestling star and Kirsten's older brother. No one knows what to believe-not even those closest to Johnny-but the event unhinges the quiet farming community and pins Kirsten's family beneath the crushing weight of suspicion. Now, years later, a new tragedy forces Kirsten and her siblings to return home, where they must confront the devastating event that shifted the trajectory of their lives. Tautly written and beautifully evocative, The Mourning Hours is a gripping portrayal of a family straining against extraordinary pressure, and a powerful tale of loyalty, betrayal and forgiveness.
First Do No Harm (Benjamin Davis)
A. Turk - 2013
Turk has embarked on a second career, writing fiction inspired by the remarkable stories and events from his personal and legal experiences. This first novel in the book series features A. Turk’s fictitious alter ego Attorney Benjamin Davis, a young New York transplant seeking to make a name for himself in the Nashville legal community. After miscalculating the huge risks involved in accepting ten medical malpractice cases at one time, Davis discovers that a hospital and several of its personnel, including doctors, had conspired to provide unnecessary tests and surgeries on innocent patients…for years. With small town physicians pushing all the ethical and legal boundaries, Davis decides he has no alternative but to protect an entire community and quickly finds himself caught up in a high-stakes courtroom drama. Davis could never have anticipated his decision to right a wrong could risk his legal career, marriage, financial security, and personal safety.
Gerald's Game
Stephen King - 1992
A game of seduction between a husband and wife goes horribly awry when the husband dies. But the nightmare has just begun...
Frozen Past
Richard C. Hale - 2012
Eliana is his whole world and for someone his age, the burden is immense. You see, Eliana is being stalked. Stalked by a madman who wants nothing more than to see her dead. The madman knows things that no one should know and sees things that no one should see. He tells them if they say a word to anyone, they will both die. And Luke can’t let that happen. Eliana’s past is catching up with her and Luke must do anything to save her. Anything.
The Last Kind Words
Tom Piccirilli - 2012
Upon the razor-thin edge between love and violence lives a pair of brothers, their bonds frayed by betrayals and guilt, their loyalty to each other their last salvation.Raised to pick a pocket before he could walk, Terry Rand cut free from his family after his older brother, Collie, went on a senseless killing spree that left eight dead. Five years later, only days before his scheduled execution, Collie contacts Terry and asks him to return home. Collie claims he wasn’t responsible for one of the murders—and insists that the real killer is still on the loose.Dogged by his own demons, Terry is swept back into the schemes and scams of his family: His father, Pinsch, a retired cat burglar, brokenhearted because of his two sons. His card-sharp uncles, Mal and Grey, who’ve incurred the anger of the local mob. His grandfather, Shep, whose mind is failing but whose fingers can still slip out a wallet from across the room. His teenage sister, Dale, who’s flirting dangerously with the lure of the family business. And Kimmie, the woman Terry abandoned, who’s now raising a child with Terry’s former best friend. Terry pieces together the day his brother turned rabid, delving into a blood history that reveals the Rand family tree is rotten to the roots, and the secrets his ancestors buried are now coming furious and vengeful to the surface.A meditation on how love can confine a person just as easily as it can free him, juxtaposing shocking violence and sly humor, The Last Kind Words is the brilliantly inventive family saga that only a singular talent like Tom Piccirilli could conjure.
The Ghost of Blackwood Lane
Greg Enslen - 2010
He’s got a new career and new friends, but they can never know his real name or where he comes from. But the program can’t protect him from the relentless dreams of a young woman in danger. It’s the same dream, night after night, and Gary is helpless, unable to stop the dream’s inevitable and horrifying conclusion. The woman seems strangely familiar…is she someone from his dark past? Is she even real? All he knows for certain is that she needs his help, or she will die.
Killing Floor
Lee Child - 1997
He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.
Dark Water
Evan Graver - 2018
He’s settled down to work for his father’s construction firm in Wilmington, N.C. But it’s not so easy. When the grandfather of his former lieutenant, Greg Olsen, shows up at his work site, Ryan is pulled back in. His practical knowledge of sailing and skills as a former Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician make him the ideal candidate to track down the pirates. His first step is to consult with insurance investigator Emily Hunt. Ryan learns the pirates have sunken some of the sailboats off the Florida Keys. He and Emily don their scuba gear to investigate the wrecks. Their discoveries point them toward a smuggling ring and lead them to several people who have lived to tell their tales of being attacked by the pirates. Mango and Jennifer Hulsey survived because Mango was no stranger to war. He joins forces with Ryan to sail Ryan’s own boat into harm’s way, to bait the pirates into attacking them. On the journey from North Carolina to Mexico, Jennifer plays matchmaker with Ryan and Emily. Their romantic weekend in the Florida Keys is interrupted by hitmen. Undeterred, Ryan and Mango sail for Mexico to lure out the pirates. Can they survive the deadly forces arrayed against them to stop a madman bent on war with the United States? From the Book: The boat rocked again. His eyes snapped back open. He held his breath and listened intently. He heard silence and the ringing of his tinnitus. Very slowly, he slipped from the bed and stood. He kept his weight centered in the hull, so he wouldn’t give away his movements by causing the boat to rock as the person above had just done. Outside, he could hear someone moving. Eventually, they would come through the cabin door. Ryan moved to the navigation table and gently lifted its top. He grabbed the Walther pistol and eased the table top back down. He took three quick steps to the kitchen and tucked himself behind the cabin wall, so he was out of the line of sight for whomever entered the cabin. A man dropped down the ladder holding a pump-action shotgun. He moved down the narrow passageway, placing himself between Ryan and Emily. Ryan feared his bullet would go through the man and hit Emily. A shot in the wrong place could also sink his boat. He looked down at the filet knife he’d left by the sink after washing dishes last night. He slipped his gun into the waist band of his shorts and picked up the knife. Metal scraped on metal as he lifted the blade from the stainless-steel sink basin. The sound drew the man’s attention. He spun, leveling the muzzle of the scattergun. Reviews: Dark Water is Graver's debut novel. It kicks off with a bang and he keeps it moving in this taut, fast-paced, action thriller. He writes with authority and passion. The settings are vivid and well researched. He writes in the same vein as Mark Greaney's Grey Man series, Wayne Stinnett's Jessie McDermitt Caribbean Adventure Series, and Mark Dawson's John Milton. ⸻ Third Reef Publishing
The List
Steve Martini - 1997
Gable Cooper has penned a novel to kill for. Six million dollars in book and film rights are looming just off the table for this unknown author. But there is a problem: Gable Cooper doesn't exist.
Abby Chandlis is an attorney turned novelist and the creator of Gable Cooper. In an age when glamour, not grammar, is often the secret to selling books, Abby has an intriguing plan to keep her writing career alive: find a charismatic male face to pose as the phantom author for the knock-dead thriller she has written. Jack Jermaine is a man with dangerous good looks and a shadowy past. Trained by the military to kill, his obsession is to pen a blockbuster book. He has a trunk filled with rejected manuscripts and a gnawing problem that has turned him bitter: Jack can't write. Desperate to find a man to play the role of Gable Cooper, Abby is about to give up when Jack forces his way into her life. Reluctantly she is convinced that Jack's humor and looks will clinch success for her novel. She uses her legal wits and makes a deal with the devil. Jack becomes Gable Cooper. When Jack is propelled into the orbit of celebrity, Abby finds herself at once seduced and trapped by her own creation. Success turns to terror.The story careens from the Pacific Northwest to New York City and finally through the islands of the Caribbean as Abby races for her life to the one person she can trust--the one person who can prove to the world that she wrote the novel, and put an end to the nightmare that was once her dream, the dream of making The List.
The Halo Effect
Anne D. LeClaire - 2017
Over dinner of lamb tagine, his wife, Sophie, would share news about chorus rehearsals for the upcoming holiday concert, and their teenage daughter, Lucy, would chatter about French club and field hockey. Only Lucy never came home. Her body was found, days later, in the woods.The Eastern Seaboard town of Port Fortune used to be Will’s comfort. Now, there’s no safe harbor for him. Not even when Father Gervase asks Will to paint portraits of saints for the new cathedral. Using the townspeople as models, Will sees in each face only a mask of the darkness of evil. And he just might be painting his daughter’s killer.As Will navigates his rage and heartbreak, Sophie tries to move on; Father Gervase becomes an unexpected ally; and Rain, Lucy’s best friend, shrouds herself in a near-silent fugue. Their paths collide in a series of inextricably linked, dark, dangerous moments that could lead to their undoing…or to their redemption.