Burntown


Jennifer McMahon - 2017
    But the most important invention of all was the one that Miles claimed came from the mind of Thomas Edison himself--a machine that allowed one to speak with loved ones long passed. Smuggled out of Edison's laboratory, the blueprints were passed down to Miles, and he's been using them to protect Eva, her mother, Lily, and her brother, Errol, ever since.Then, one night when a storm is raging and the river is threatening to flood, the machine whirrs to life on its own. Danger, it says. You're in terrible danger. The next thing Eva knows is waking up on the side of the river and seeing her mother's grim face. Eva's father and brother are dead, their house has been washed away and an evil man is searching for them both. They need to hide.Eva changes her name to Necco--a candy she always loved--and tries to put everything in her past behind her as she adapts to her new life off the grid. But when her boyfriend is murdered and her mother disappears, she knows that the past is starting to catch up to her.What really happened the night of the flood? As Necco searches for the truth, her journey unites her with two women who are on desperate quests of their own. And as the trio follows the clues to solving the mystery of Necco's past, they discover that sometimes it's the smallest towns that hold the strangest secrets.

Girl in the Walls


A.J. Gnuse - 2021
    She knows which boards will creak. She knows where the gaps are in the walls. She knows which parts can take her in, hide her away. It’s home, after all. The home her parents made for her, before they were taken from her in a car crash. And home is where you stay, no matter what.Eddie is a teenager trying to forget about the girl he sometimes sees out of the corner of his eye. But when his hotheaded older brother senses her, too, they are faced with the question of how to get rid of someone they aren’t sure even exists. And as they try to cast her out, they unwittingly bring an unexpected and far more real threat to their doorstep. Written with grace and enormous heart, Girl in the Walls is a novel about carrying on through grief, forging unconventional friendships, and realizing, little by little, that we don’t need to fear what we do not understand.

Orient


Christopher Bollen - 2015
    One late summer morning, the body of a local caretaker is found in the open water; the same day, a monstrous animal corpse is found on the beach, presumed a casualty from a nearby research lab. With rumors flying, eyes turn to Mills Chevern—a tumbleweed orphan newly arrived in town from the west with no ties and a hazy history. As the deaths continue and fear in town escalates, Mills is enlisted by Beth, an Orient native in retreat from Manhattan, to help her uncover the truth. With the clock ticking, Mills and Beth struggle to find answers, faced with a killer they may not be able to outsmart. Rich with character and incident, yet deeply suspenseful, Orient marks the emergence of a novelist of enormous talent.

Compulsion


Martina Boone - 2014
    Two wishes. One ancient curse.All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead—a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions. Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family's twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn't what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

The Cruelty


Scott Bergstrom - 2014
    Traveling under a new identity in a world of assassins, spies, and criminal masterminds, she uncovers a disturbing truth. To bring her father back alive, she must become every bit as cruel as the men holding him captive.Taken meets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Bourne Identity in The Cruelty, Scott Bergstrom's action-packed debut thriller (optioned for film by Jerry Bruckheimer).This program includes a bonus interview with the author.

No Kissing Allowed


Melissa West - 2015
    No touching. And definitely no falling in love...Armed with her besties, an embarrassing number of shots, and her list of 10 Wild Things To Do Before Adulthood, recent grad Cameron Lawson is partying it up before she starts her dream job at New York's biggest ad agency. Her last task? Hook up with a random guy. And while it's so not her style, the super-sexy guy sitting next to her is definitely game. No names. No details. At least, that was the plan.On her first day of work, Cameron discovers her hook-up is none other than Aidan Truitt—her new boss's boss. Talk about failing the “no fraternizing with coworkers” policy on an epic level. Especially when Aidan makes it clear their one night was only the beginning. Falling for him could cost her everything, but sometimes the only way to get what you want is by breaking a few rules...

A Dangerous Trade


Steven Veerapen - 2018
     In the bleak midlands, Mary Queen of Scots has begun a long imprisonment. Plots and counter-plots swirl around her. In the earl of Shrewsbury’s crumbling castles, the captive queen hopes for rescue. At the heart of the earl’s household is Jack Cole, a haunted and secretive figure with a dark past. Converted to Queen Mary’s cause by a charismatic secretary, Jack finds himself entangled in a Catholic plot to free her. Yet the queen’s household is under surveillance. Everyone is a potential spy, or is being spied upon. As Jack is drawn into the dark web of Catholic plotting, he must face a hideous truth. Meanwhile, his wife Amy must choose whether to protect her husband or betray him. Poison is poured, daggers are drawn, and guns are loaded. England's future hangs in the balance. Moving from crumbling castles to the imposing palaces of Queen Elizabeth, Jack Cole must decide where his loyalties lie – with queen, country, or wife.

The Lakeview Man (The Lakeview Man Series Book 1)


D.A. Roberts - 2020
    Trained to trust his instincts and to pay close attention to detail, his rational brain is at war with what he has seen. Something very strange is happening in rural Sloan County, Missouri. Nothing in his experience has prepared him for anything like this. More disappearances only make the mystery deepen as the Sheriff tries to cover up what's really going on. Clark enlists the aid of other deputies who, like himself, have seen things that don't make sense. Things that aren't real. Or are they?A creature from our primordial nightmares has found its hunting grounds in the rural Ozarks, along the shores of Table Rock Lake. The closer they get to finding the creature, the more pressure they get to stay out of the investigation. Pressure from the sheriff and mysterious F.B.I. Agents who know more than they will admit. Soon, Clark learns that the creature he's been hunting has been hunting him as well. The ultimate battle of man versus beast is about to take place in the Ozarks. Can Clark defeat a beast from out of our nightmares or will the creature claim yet another victim?Can anything stop The Lakeview Man?

Diverted


Lori Matthews - 2021
    Now, too hurt to return to his former position and not wounded enough to be benched, he’s assigned as the new Coast Guard team leader in…Panama. They’re there as part of a drug interdiction unit, but really, they’re Team RECON. Recon as in reconstructed. Each of the four men is like him; a Humpty Dumpty. Except they were trying to put themselves back together so they could do what they loved best, kicking ass, and taking names.Dr. Carolina Alvarez had moved on from research and was working for Doctors Without Borders. A chance meeting with her old boss set her on a dangerous mission to deliver much-needed medicine to South America. Her failure would mean the sure extinction of a tribe clinging to their ancient traditions.Nick should have realized from the instant Carolina walked back into his life things would not go according to plan. But harbored resentment still clouded his vision. Now they were on the trail of the missing vaccine, and the assignment just turned deadly.

The Retreat: A Romantic Suspense (Triquetra Series Book 3)


L.C. Kincaide - 2019
     Casey Barrow and a group of co-workers were looking forward to a few days of rest and camaraderie at a Catskill Mountains retreat away from their demanding careers. Reunited with a man she turned down years ago when working in Chicago, she hopes to make up for lost time during this getaway. However, rather than unwinding, the group becomes stranded in the dreary mountain mansion. By morning, four people have disappeared without a trace. Someone carrying a grudge has lured them there and cut off every means of escape. Running out of time, the captives face a new danger at every turn to liberate themselves. With the men injured from their efforts, Casey realizes it is up to her to find help before the killer returns to finish the rest of them off one by one. ** If you haven't read the first two books in the series and plan to, be warned of Major Spoilers in the Epilogue.**

Eyes of the Predator


Glenn Trust - 2012
    His next victim is only feet away. Within hours a backwater south Georgia county will be rocked by two seemingly unrelated murders that signal the arrival of a serial killer in the rural southland.Hunting the killer and preventing the next brutal murder falls to a plainspoken country deputy and two agents of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). The chase leads north from the swamps along the Florida line to the foothills of the Appalachians.GBI agents Bob Shaklee and Sharon Price know that Deputy George Mackey is a natural hunter and if anyone can find the sadistic killer, Mackey can. But Mackey, haunted by his own demons can only wonder if he will be late again. It is his greatest fear.

The Silent Patient


Alex Michaelides - 2019
    A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

The Grownup


Gillian Flynn - 2014
    On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan's terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan's teenage stepson, doesn't help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.“The Grownup,” originally appeared as “What Do You Do?” in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology.

Gone Too Long


Lori Roy - 2019
    Armed with skills honed while caring for an alcoholic mother, she must battle to survive the days and months ahead.Seven years later, Imogene Coulter is burying her father--a Klan leader she has spent her life distancing herself from--and trying to escape the memories his funeral evokes. But Imogene is forced to confront secrets long held by Simmonsville and her own family when, while clearing out her father's apparent hideout on the day of his funeral, she finds a child. Young and alive, in an abandoned basement, and behind a door that only locks from the outside.As Imogene begins to uncover the truth of what happened to young Beth all those years ago, her father's heir apparent to the Klan's leadership threatens her and her family.

Disruption


Jessica Shirvington - 2014
    An evolution of the smartphone, the bracelets promised an easier life. Instead, they have come to control it. Two years ago, Maggie Stevens watched helplessly as one of the people she loves most was taken from her, shattering her world as she knew it. Now, Maggie is ready. And Quentin Mercer – heir to the M-Corp empire – has become key to Maggie’s plan. But as the pieces of her dangerous design fall into place, could Quentin’s involvement destroy everything she’s fought for? In a world full of broken promises, the ones Maggie must keep could be the most heartbreaking.