Nightlife


Thomas Perry - 2006
    By turns horrifying and erotic, Perry’s new thriller takes us on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that pits two women against each other: a beautiful serial killer and the detective who is determined to stop her.When the cousin of Los Angeles underworld figure Hugo Poole is found shot to death in his Portland, Oregon, home, police find nothing at the scene of the crime except several long strands of blond hair hinting that a second victim may have been involved. Hotel security tapes from the victim’s last vacation reveal an out-of-focus picture of a young blond woman entering and leaving his room. Could she also be a murder victim?Portland homicide detective Catherine Hobbes is determined to solve the case and locate the missing blonde, but her feelings, and the investigation, are complicated when Hugo hires private detective Joe Pitt to perform a parallel investigation. As Joe and Catherine form an uneasy alliance, the murder count rises–and both realize that the pretty young woman in the security tapes is not a victim at all. As Catherine follows the evidence, she finds herself in a deadly contest with an unpredictable adversary capable of changing her appearance and identity at will. Catherine must use everything she knows, as a homicide detective and as a woman, to stop a murderer who kills on impulse and with ease, and who becomes more efficient and elusive with each crime.From the Hardcover edition.

Vanished


Joseph Finder - 2009
    Twenty-four hours later, Lauren awakes in the hospital to find that her husband has vanished without a trace. The only one who has any chance of finding him is his brother, Nick, a high-powered investigator with a private intelligence firm.Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. Trained in the Special Forces, he specializes in digging up secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He and his brother have been estranged ever since the imprisonment of their notorious billionaire father. But Nick will do anything to protect Lauren and her son. He never backs down. Even if it means taking on the most lethal enemies he’s ever had to face.Plunged headlong into a desperate chase, Nick begins making shocking discoveries about his brother's life — and about the giant defense contractor he works for. Now, in order to keep Lauren and her teenage son alive, Nick must take on a powerful and deadly conspiracy that will stop at nothing to protect its secrets.With breathtaking suspense and pulse-pounding action, right down to its final, astonishing twist, here is "the finest of the contemporary thriller novelists" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) at the top of his game.

Blind Faith


C.J. Lyons - 2012
    But for Sarah Durandt the nightmare is just beginning... Sarah has just witnessed the execution of the man who confessed to killing her husband and son, among others. She leaves with no closure as the killer has refused her repeated requests to reveal the site of her family's graves. Sarah returns home to her small town of Hopewell in the Adirondacks Mountains and vows to search until she finds Sam and Josh.Her hunt leads her to a trail of lies and unearths a new killer. In a race to save everything she holds dear, Sarah is forced to place her faith in the man who betrayed her...her husband.

Camino Island


John Grisham - 2017
    Their loot is priceless, impossible to resist.Bruce Cable owns a popular bookstore in the sleepy resort town of Santa Rosa on Camino Island in Florida. He makes his real money, though, as a prominent dealer in rare books. Very few people know that he occasionally dabbles in unsavory ventures.Mercer Mann is a young novelist with a severe case of writer's block who has recently been laid off from her teaching position. She is approached by an elegant, mysterious woman working for an even more mysterious company. A generous monetary offer convinces Mercer to go undercover and infiltrate Cable's circle of literary friends, to get close to the ringleader, to discover his secrets.But soon Mercer learns far too much, and there's trouble in paradise--as only John Grisham can deliver it.

Closure


Randall Wood - 2009
    Special Agent Jack Randall of the FBI finds himself appointed to track down and stop the shooter. Not by his superiors, but by the killer himself.As more bodies fall the shooter takes his message to the press, earning the support of the public with his choice of targets and confounding the FBI at every turn. From the desert of Nevada to the urban jungle of New York City, Jack and his team follow the trail of bodies and haunting messages left behind by the killer. With the pressure to find him mounting on Jack, the assassin’s crimes grow bolder, and his message more sinister and closer to home.It becomes clear to Jack that in order to find the shooter, he may have to look inside his own past, and become the man he was years ago.

The Last Drive: A Golfing Mystery


Rex Stout - 2013
    Featuring death on the links, this tale is full of golfing, red herrings, and a detective determined to run down the villain. A great read for Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe fans alike! Originally published as a 6-part serial in Golfers Magazine (July to December, 1916).

The Gun Seller


Hugh Laurie - 1996
    Within hours Lang is butting heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femmes fatales, whilst trying to save a beautiful lady ...and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.

A Cold Day For Murder


Dana Stabenow - 1992
    But the world has a way of beating a path to her door, however remote. In the middle of one of the bitterest Decembers in recent memory ex-boss - and ex-lover - Jack Morgan shows up with an FBI agent in tow. A Park ranger with powerful relatives is missing, and now the investigator Jack sent in to look for him is missing, too.Reluctantly, Kate, along with Mutt, her half-wolf, half-husky sidekick, leaves her wilderness refuge to follow a frozen trail through the Park, twenty thousand square miles of mountain and tundra sparsely populated with hunters, fishermen, trappers, mushers, pilots and homesteaders. Her formidable grandmother and Native chief, Ekaterina Shugak, is - for reasons of her own - against Kate's investigation; her cousin, Martin, may be Kate's prime suspect; and the local trooper, Jim Chopin, is more interested in Kate than in her investigation. In the end, the sanctuary she sought after five and a half years in the urban jungles may prove more lethal than anything she left behind in the city streets of Anchorage.

The Death and Life of Bobby Z


Don Winslow - 1997
    When Tim Kearney, a small-time criminal, slits the throat of a Hell's Angel and draws a life sentence in a prison full of gang members, he knows he’s pretty much a dead man. That’s until the DEA makes Kearney an offer: impersonate the late, legendary dope smuggler Bobby Z so that the agency can trade him for one of their own, who was captured by a Mexican drug kingpin. Knowing his chances of survival are a little better than in prison, Kearney accepts, and he winds up in the middle of a desert at the notorious drug lord’s lavish compound. To his surprise he meets Bobby Z's old flame, Elizabeth, and her son. At first, it’s a short vacation by the pool, but when things turn bloody, the three of them begin the most desperate flight of their lives, with drug lords, bikers, Indians, and cops furiously chasing after them. Whether he pulls it off, whether he can keep the kid and the girl and his life, makes this compelling novel a hilarious, fast-paced thriller about a con caught in a devil’s bargain.

Amagansett


Mark Mills - 2004
    Little has changed in the three centuries since white settlers drove the Montaukett Indians from the land. But for Conrad Labarde, a second-generation Basque immigrant recently returned from the Second World War, and his fellow fisherman Rollo Kemp, this stability is shattered when a beautiful New York socialite turns up dead in their nets.On the face of it, her death was accidental, but deputy police chief Tom Hollis - an incomer from New York - is convinced the truth lies in the intricate histories and family secrets of Amagansett's inhabitants. Meanwhile the enigmatic Labarde is pursuing his own investigation.

Cherub Boxed Set, #1-12


Robert Muchamore
    and Shadow WaveThe RecruitCHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented--and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is an exceptionally dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: adults never suspect that teens are spying on them. James is the latest CHERUB recruit. He’s a bit of a troublemaker, but he’s also brilliant. And CHERUB needs him. James has no idea what to expect, but he’s out of options. Before he can start in the field he must first survive one hundred grueling days of basic training, where even the toughest recruits don’t make it to the end.Class ADrugs, cars and guns! Keith Moore is Europe's biggest cocaine dealer. The police have been trying to get enough evidence to nail him for more than twenty years. Now, four CHERUB agents are joining the hunt. Can a group of kids successfully infiltrate Keith Moore's organisation when dozens of attempts by undercover police officers have failed? James Adams must start at the bottom, making deliveries for small time drug dealers and getting to know the dangerous underworld they inhabit. He needs to make a big splash if he's going to win the confidence of the man at the top.Maximum SecurityCHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented—and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is a highly dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: Adults never suspect that teens are spying on them. In Maximum Security, James’s newest mission brings him to the sun-baked desert prison Arizona Max, home to 280 child criminals. One of them is the son of a weapons dealer who has been selling U.S. missiles to terrorists. If James can get the kid, CHERUB has a chance to stop the father. Getting into the prison is easy. Breaking out is the hard part.The KillingLeon is a small time crook who's ridden his luck for three decades. When he starts splashing big money around, the cops are desperate to know where it came from. James' latest mission looks routine: make friends with Leon's kids, infiltrate his home and dig up some leads. But the plot James begins to unravel isn't what anyone expected. And the only person who might know the truth is an eighteen-year-old boy. There's just one problem. The boy fell to his death thirteen months earlier.Divine MadnessWhen religion goes bad... When CHERUB uncovers a link between eco-terrorist group Help Earth and a wealthy religious cult known as The Survivors, James Adams is sent to Australia on an infiltration mission. It's his toughest job so far. The Survivors' outback headquarters are completely isolated and the cult's brainwashing techniques put James under massive pressure to confirm. This time, James isn't just fighting terrorists. He's got to battle to keep control of his own mind.Man vs BeastCHERUB agents are all seventeen and under. They wear skate tees and hemp, and look like regular kids. But they're not. They are trained professionals who are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists and international drug dealers. CHERUB agents hack into computers, bug entire houses, and download crucial documents. It is a highly dangerous job. For their safety, these agents DO NOT EXIST. Mainstream animal protection groups have always stayed within the law, but a new band of radical liberationists argues that if humans and animals are equal, then it's right to kill or threaten one human in order to save the lives of many animals. In a new mission, James and the other CHERUB agents must go up against the most radical group yet in a daring and violent attempt to save hundreds of lives . . . including their own.The FallWhen an MI5 mission goes disastrously wrong, James Adams needs all of his skills to get out of Russia alive. Meanwhile, his sister Lauren is on her first solo mission trying to uncover a brutal human trafficking operation. And when James does get home, he finds that his nightmare is just beginning.Mad DogsThe British underworld is controlled by gangs. When two of them start a turf war, violence explodes onto the streets. The police need information fast and James Adam has the contacts to infiltrate the most dangerous gang of all.The Sleepwalker345 people are dead... An airliner has exploded over the Atlantic leaving 345 people dead. Crash investigators suspect terrorism, but they're getting nowhere. A distressed twelve year old calls a police hotline and blames his father for the explosion. It could be a breakthrough, but there's no hard evidence and the boy has a history of violence and emotional problems.The GeneralRiots, robbery & the biggest ever training exercise. The world's largest urban warfare training compound stands in the desert near Las Vegas. Forty British commandos are being hunted by an entire American batallion. But their commander has an ace up his sleeve: he plans to smuggle in ten CHERUB agents and fight the best war game ever.Brigands M.C.Every CHERUB agent comes from somewhere. Dante Scott still has nightmares about the death of his family, brutally murdered by a biker gang. Dante is given the chance to become a member of CHERUB, a trained professional with one essential advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.Shadow WaveAfter a tsunami causes massive devastation to a tropical island, its governor sends in the bulldozers to knock down villages, replacing them with luxury hotels. Guarding the corrupt governor’s family isn’t James Adams’ idea of the perfect mission, especially as it’s going to be his last as a CHERUB agent. And then retired colleague Kyle Blueman comes up with an unofficial and highly dangerous plan of his own. James must choose between loyalty to CHERUB, and loyalty to his oldest friend.

Sean Freeman


Kerry J. Donovan - 2015
    “Diamonds are nothing more than compressed carbon.” Veteran cop, DCI David Jones, is tough and uncompromising. His Serious Crime Unit has the best arrest record the Midlands Police Service has ever seen and Jones wants to keep it that way. Locksmith turned jewel thief, Sean Freeman, is the best in the UK. He's never been caught—the police have never even come close. When Freeman's boss forces him to break into the Stafford Museum, the UK’s most secure premises outside of the Bank of England, he's in trouble—the Stafford is in the heart of Jones' jurisdiction. Someone's record is going to suffer. In the third instalment of the DCI Jones Casebook series, veteran detective, David Jones tackles a series of cases and faces a clever and engaging criminal he respects and would probably like--under different circumstances. But Jones has a job to do and Freeman is going down. . This book can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Extraction


Douglas Preston - 2012
    In New Orleans' French Quarter, the Tooth Fairy isn't a benevolent sprite who slips money under your pillow at night....he's a mysterious old recluse who must be appeased with teeth--lest he extract retribution. When young Diogenes Pendergast loses a tooth, however, his skeptical older brother Aloysius is determined to put the legend to the test...with dire consequences. *Includes a special preview chapter of Preston & Child's new full-length novel TWO GRAVES, available December 11, 2012.

Burke's War


William F. Brown - 2015
    Whether or not anyone believes him, Bob Burke isn’t the kind of guy to let a thing like that rest. He knows what he saw, and it isn't going to end well for the men responsible.Mild-mannered and slight of build, this telecommunications company executive is easily dismissed as the "phone guy." But after four tours running ‘special operations’ missions in Iraq and the rugged mountains of Afghanistan as an Army Ranger and Delta Force commander, he's one of the most lethal killers the US government ever produced.Over the next three days, Bob Burke finds himself butting heads with the Chicago mob, crooked suburban cops, an overzealous US Attorney, a psychopathic doctor, and his own vindictive soon-to-be-ex-wife, who is trying to take his company away from him. But as his big, muscular, Delta Force sergeants will readily admit, whether he’s carrying a .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle, a tactical knife, or just his bare hands, he’s the one you don’t want to meet in a dark alley.His new combat zone might be a glittering high-rise office building, a suburban tract house, or a wooded Chicago Forest Preserve District park, but when the bodies start falling and a young woman needs help, The Ghost doesn’t hesitate.After all, they started it, and he intends to finish it. And if he does need a little backup, he knows just the guys to call down at Fort Bragg. After all, it wouldn't be fair to leave them out of the fun, would it?

The Dagger in the Desk


Jonathan Stroud - 2013
    It lurks in the shadows, spreading fear and icy cold – and it carries a sharp and very solid dagger...The headmaster wastes no time in enlisting the help of ghost-hunters Anthony Lockwood, Lucy Carlyle and George Cubbins.Can Lockwood & Co. survive the night and save the day?