Book picks similar to
Black Water by Cormac O'Keeffe
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Black Irish Blues: A Caesar Stiles Mystery
Andrew Cotto - 2020
Black Irish Blues is the return-to-origin story of Caesar Stiles, an erstwhile runaway who returns to his hometown with plans to buy the town's only tavern and end his family's Sicilian curse.Caesar's attempt for redemption is complicated by the spectral presence of his estranged father, reparation seekers related to his corrupt older brother, a charming crime boss and his enigmatic crew, and - most significantly - a stranger named Dinny Tuite whose disappearance under dubious circumstances immerses Caesar in a mystery that leads into the criminal underbelly of industrial New Jersey, the flawed myth of the American Dream, and his hometown's shameful secrets.Black Irish Blues is a poetic, gritty noir full of dynamic characters, a page-turning plot, and the further development of a unique American character.
The Doll Collector
Joanne Stephen-Ward - 2018
Utterly brilliant." Marjorie Hall-Venmore - reviewer
A couple and their young son burn to death in a house fire.
A girl dies from a nut allergy.
A woman falls under a train during the rush hour.
An accountant falls down the steps to his basement.Their deaths appear to be accidents but Gloria knows they were murdered because she murdered them. And every time Gloria kills she buys a doll.But how many dolls will she need to keep her satisfied?When Gloria takes a room as a lodger her behaviour starts to spin out of control. Gloria wants love and happiness and friendship and she will do anything she can to get what she wants... What everyone is saying about The Doll Collector: "Amazing book. Loved it from beginning to end." Tracey Shults - reviewer"The ending was a real twist and I did not see it coming" Michelle Debnam - reviewer"OMG. A crime book with a difference." Nicki's Book Blog"The Doll Collector is one hell of a creepy read that is sure to give you goosebumps." Chelle's Book Reviews"I highly recommend this book.... a breath of fresh air and not too graphic." Peggy Beaver - reviewer"OMG I loved this twisty and creepy read which had a couple of twists I just didn't see coming!" Sandra Robinson - reviewer The Doll Collector is a twisty and gripping serial killer thriller. It will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers, as well as fans of authors like Mel Sherratt, Sharon Bolton, Jenny Blackhurst and Rachel Abbott.
Summer of Love
Caro Fraser - 2018
In the hot summer of 1949, a group of family and friends gather at Harry Denholm's country house in Kent. Meg and Dan Ranscombe, emerging from a scandal of their own making; Dan's godmother, Sonia; and her two young girls, Laura and Avril, only one of whom is Sonia's biological daughter. Amongst the heat, memories, and infatuations, a secret is revealed to Meg's son, Max, and soon a terrible tragedy unfolds that will have consequences for them all.Afterward, Avril, Laura, and Max must come of age in a society still reeling from the war, haunted by the choices of that fateful summer. Cold, entitled Avril will go to any lengths to take what is hers. Beautiful, naive Laura finds refuge and love in the London jazz clubs, but Max, with wealth and unrequited love, has the capacity to undo it all.
The Good Mother
Rae Cairns
Can she save them from her past?Sarah Calhoun is a regular Sydney soccer mum, but she's keeping terrifying secrets from everyone she loves . . . and her past is about to catch up with her.When two men from Northern Ireland hunt her down, she's forced to return to Belfast to testify at a murder trial. Caught in the crossfire of an obsessive policeman, driven by a disturbing past, and a brutal IRA executioner, Sarah faces an impossible choice: lie and allow a killer to run free, or tell the truth and place her children in the line of fire.With her family and innocent people at risk, Sarah must find the courage to fight for the truth. But righting the wrongs of the past just might cost her everything . . .This taut, plot-fuelled thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat to its gripping finale.'Show me a soldier who would fight harder than a mother to save her son.'PRAISE'This story wouldn't let me go' Michael Robotham'Past and present collide on and off the page in this explosive debut . . . a pacy, plot-driven thriller that stands up against some of the best in the genre.'
Sunday Telegraph
The Collier's Wife
Chrissie Walsh - 2020
When Amy visits her husband Hugh at Beckett's Park Hospital, he doesn't recognise her. Broken after serving four devastating years in the First World War, Hugh is a shadow of the man he once was. Can he ever again be the man Amy knew and loved?Barnsborough, 1912. The first time Hugh and Amy meet, the connection between them is instant and electric. While a librarian's assistant and a collier might not be the most conventional pair, the two come together over a love of books that quickly turns into more. Neither suspects their families have secrets that threaten to tear them apart...True love's path is rarely simple... but can Hugh and Amy find their way back to each other?
Lynchpin: The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men
Siddharth Maheshwari - 2021
A sinister plan, of a shrewd calculating mastermind, has set the wheels of doom in motion. He is now pulling the lynchpins across the country and making it fall into disarray. He is using everyone in his path to achieve his goals. Within thirty days he intends to control the nation’s soul. As chaos grips the country, it’s a race against time for DSP Ranbir Roy of the Intelligence Bureau and Inspector Vikram Aditya Singh to stop him before anarchy dooms the country. The pieces are set, the board is laid out but what happens when your own pawns move against you? What will be the end game?
Love Under French Skies
Gill Bryant - 2016
In a career rut, abandoned by her husband, with a daughter who has left home and a best friend who has recently re-married, life seems to be passing her by. Then a letter from a French lawyer shakes everything up: it seems she has inherited a house in France from an aunt she didn’t even know she had. Fiona recognises that this might be just what she needs and, taking voluntary redundancy from her lecturing job, packs up and goes to see the house for herself. The beautiful Lot valley and the people she meets in the village begin a much-needed healing process. Fiona falls head over heels in love with France, and with the house — not to mention two very different but equally attractive men: sensible, solid Englishman Mike and wildly impulsive Frenchman Xavier. And Aunt Bernice’s real legacy turns out to be something more deeply significant and life-changing than the house itself. But Fiona has to find out exactly what that is for herself…. Love Under French Skies is a charming contemporary romance, inspired by a real house, with a wonderful view, in the beautiful Lot region of South West France. Praise for Gill Bryant 'A charming love story' - Holly Kinsella, bestselling author of Uptown Girl In February 2015 Gill Bryant's first short story, 'The Swim', was judged runner-up in the Purbeck Literary Festival's Short Story Competition. Love Under French Skies is her first novel. Following a varied career in Adult Basic Education and community project work, Gill retired to rural Wiltshire, where she pursues her love of writing and wide interest in arts and crafts.
The Girl on the Train
Rachel Wagstaff - 2018
Her only escape is the perfect couple she watches through the train window every day, happy and in love. Or so it appears. When Rachel learns that the woman she's been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself as a witness and even a suspect in a thrilling mystery in which she will face bigger revelations than she could ever have anticipated.Adapted from Paula Hawkins' novel - an international phenomenon selling over twenty million copies worldwide - this gripping new play will keep you guessing until the final moment.
Caly's Island
Dick Herman - 2011
These aging giants, calling themselves the ‘freakin’ old guys’ are hard-working leaders in their respective fields and have a menagerie of skills to show for it. But what starts out as a dream quickly turns into a nightmare.With these guys, the action never stops.While preparing to set sail, they have a run in with a teenage troublemaker that plagues the locals. The son of a senator, Sean has no respect for authority and is a little lost. The FOGs come from an era where a little rough handling never hurt anyone, and so strike a deal with Sean’s mother to have him sail along with them. She agrees, hoping that two weeks of hard work alongside six respected, intelligent men will get Sean turned around. Things quickly take a turn for the worst when the six small boats get caught in the crossfire of a mafia drug deal. It soon becomes clear that some of the group’s members may be hiding secrets and past lives from the others… Suddenly, the six boats are caught in an odd fog bank, and when they come out the other side, things are not as they seem. Their radios and compasses no longer work and time seems to have lost its way. Where are they? Things quickly start to defy the accepted order of things. Suddenly dropped into their own Odyssey, they fight against strange creatures and demi-goddesses as they try to find a way back home. Together, they must navigate this strange new land.
Caly’s Island
is a rip-roaring pseudo-fantasy thriller of a modern quest to conquer the unknown amongst seas of turmoil. Dick Herman retired from the US Air Force in 1983 with the rank of Major after serving for twenty- one years. He has flown over 200 combat missions himself and was stationed in Vietnam, West Germany and Great Britain. He has flown the F-4 and C-130 and received five medals, including the Bronze Star. He and his English-born wife now live in Fair Oaks, California. He is the author of several aviation thrillers from Endeavour Press.Venture Press is a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We are committed to the discovery and rediscovery of immensely talented authors in the SFF genre, and continue to push boundaries in search of great literature. Join us as we venture across universes and unknown landscapes – past, present and future. Sign up to our newsletter: http://bit.ly/1LUVI4n Follow us on Twitter @venture_pressFacebook: http://on.fb.me/1NnFow7
Any Old Iron
Lynda Page - 1998
Her mother is dying and needs constant care; her father has returned to Leicester from the Second World War but is an emotional wreck; and her brother Mickey has turned to a life of crime that is putting the whole family at risk. Kelly's boyfriend Rodney and his sister Glenda know that she's scared of what Micky might do next. But they turn a blind eye to her fears - with disastrous consequences for them all. When Kelly has lost eveything she holds dear, she and Glenda pick up the pieces and start again. And one man in particular, Alec Alderman, is there when she needs him most. But Alec has problems of his own...
Braving the Storm
Jennifer Brooks - 2016
eastern seaboard at once, the Eastern Power Grid fails and plunges half of the country into a complete blackout--no power, no phones, and no cellphones. Hospitals, banks, and grocery stores stop running, and chaos rules. Cities are controlled by gangs, and citizens have two choices: leave their homes or fight for what supplies are left. Luckily some people are ready. Four families from Pittsburgh flee the city and join together to live in a cabin in the middle of the forest and try to wait it out. But when IS the power coming back on? What will happen to a recession-era United States when half the country doesn’t have power?
The Suppressor
Erik Carter - 2021
government. The organization makes Silence an irresistible offer: if he joins their ranks as an assassin, they’ll lend their full support to his blood-soaked rampage.But when Silence discovers that the people who killed his fiancée have much bigger plans in mind—plans with deadly implications for national security—his mission suddenly shifts focus from vengeance to duty. A catastrophe is ready to explode, and the only person who can stop it is an untested assassin.
Day of Atonement
Jay Rayner - 1998
Down the side of a dilapidated synagogue in North-west London, a great partnership is born. Apart, Mal Jones and Solly Princeton are two teenage no-hopers scrabbling about in the dirt. Together they are dynamite: a world-beating team who turn a company selling chicken-soup machines to the Jewish mothers of Edgware into an international hotel and leisure empire.But success is never simple. Before long pressures draw them away from the comforts of their roots. They find themselves cutting corners, taking risks and breaking the law. Finally Mal has to confront his life, his friendship with Solly and where their very different ambitions have led them.Thirty-five years later as sunset ushers in the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, Mal, his fortune gone, picks over the ruins of his past with his niece, Natasha. He tells her the story of the Sinai Corporation, of his best friend and business partner, Solly, and at last begins to ask himself: how far must you go before you lose faith in yourself?
Betsy and Lilibet
Sophie Duffy - 2018
Two baby girls are born just hours and miles apart. One you know as the Queen of England, but what of the other girl- the daughter of an undertaker named in her honour? Betsy Sunshine grows up surrounded by death in war-torn London, watching her community grieve for their loved ones whilst dealing with her own teenage troubles… namely her promiscuous sister Margie. As Betsy grows older we see the how the country changes through her eyes, and along the way we discover the birth of a secret that threatens to tear her family apart.Sophie Duffy dazzles in her latest work of family/historical fiction. A tale which spans generations to explore the life and times of a family at the heart of their community, the story of a stoic young woman who shares a connection with her queenly counterpart in more ways than one…
The Price
Kerry Kaya - 2020
Together they work for notorious East End gangster Billy King. Across the water in South London is Billy’s rival George Bannerman and the two firms are locked in a bitter turf war.Amid murder, drug deals, and rival firms, Fletch is harbouring his own secrets and it’s only a matter of time until those secrets are revealed, and when you break the rules you have to pay the price.