Book picks similar to
Blood, Sweat, and Flame: A Short Story by J.F. Penn
thriller
short-stories
suspense
fiction
The Sean Wyatt Series: Books 10-12 Box Set
Ernest Dempsey - 2019
This digital box set contains the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth adventures: The Uluru Code: Sean Wyatt and partner Tommy Schultz venture to Australia in search of an ancient treasure, long forgotten by time. They aren't the only ones looking for this artifact, though, and if found it could change the history of an entire continent. And its future. The Excalibur Key: Excalibur, sword of legend, destroyer of evil, builder of empires. This weapon has been shrouded in mystery for centuries. Now, a sinister plot seeks to uncover the sword's true location and use it to forge a new global empire that would enslave the planet. The Denali Deception: The real reason Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and his secretary of state targeted is a far cry from what the history books tell us. Dive into the mystery and the epic cover up of one of the greatest plots in American History as Sean Wyatt and Tommy Schultz try to uncover the truth behind the real reason the United States purchased Alaska and why it has remained a secret for so long.
Slice
David Hodges - 2010
THERE’S A KILLER INSIDE THE POLICE STATION. A police station should be a safe place. But not when there’s a psychotic serial killer working there. THE FIRST VICTIM IS FOUND GRUESOMELY MUTILATED IN HIS MOST SENSITIVE AREA. HE IS DRESSED IN A JUDGE’S WIG. Detective Superintendent Jack Fulton takes on the grisly murder enquiry and discovers that his murderer might actually be one of the police station staff. MORE EMINENT VICTIMS FOLLOW. KILLED IN THE SAME SADISTIC MANNER. The press nickname the razor-wielding assassin “The Slicer.” With the killer stalking the shadowy Victorian building, Fulton has to contend not only with press harassment and police who will stop at nothing to get a result, but also with other problems much closer to home. As the killer leads him on a grim game of cat and mouse, Fulton has little idea of just how personal that game is about to become . . . YOU WON’T WANT TO PUT THIS ONE DOWN Perfect for fans of Rachel Abbott, Robert Bryndza, Mel Sherratt, Angela Marsons, Colin Dexter, or Ruth Rendell. THE AUTHOR A former police superintendent, with thirty years’ service. Since ‘turning to crime’, he has received critical media acclaim, including a welcome accolade from Inspector Morse’s creator, the late great, Colin Dexter, and he is now a prolific novelist with eleven published crime novels and an autobiography on his police career to his credit. His previous police experience has enabled him to provide a gritty realism to his thrillers and his Somerset Murder Series, featuring feisty female detective, Kate, and her partner, Hayden, has gone from strength to strength, attracting interest in the United States as well as in the UK. DETECTIVE KATE HAMBLIN MYSTERY SERIES Book 1: MURDER ON THE LEVELS Book 2: REVENGE ON THE LEVELS Book 3: FEAR ON THE LEVELS Book 4: KILLER ON THE LEVELS Book 5: SECRETS ON THE LEVELS Book 6: DEATH ON THE LEVELS STANDALONES SLICE
The Girl in the Spider's Web: by David Lagercrantz | Recap and Analysis
Instarecap - 2015
It brings back two memorable characters from the blockbuster trilogy by the late Stieg Larsson; “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl Who Played with Fire”, and, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” . Like the three books, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is translated from the original Swedish language, and most of the action happens in and around Stockholm. Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant anti-social hacker once again teams up with Michael Blomkvist, a relentless reporter, to help infiltrate a murderous technology organization with links to powerful corporations, law enforcement agencies, and nothing less than the the United States’ National Security Administration, or NSA. There appears to be a distinct difference in storytelling between the three Larsson books and Lagercrantz’s Spider, which can be attributed to the subject matter on hand or the writer’s style, and maybe even both. Larsson seemed to let events unfold slowly, since he did, after all, have three books to gradually introduce us to, and develop, the characters especially Lisbeth Salander. Some critics decry Lagercrantz’ narrative as fragmentary and confusing, with dozens of characters in a wide array of backgrounds: journalists, spies, hackers, law enforcement officers, scientists and of course killers, who at times seem to briefly emerge, vanish, and then turn up again. Then there is the sometimes arcane language of hacking, cryptography, physics, and artificial intelligence, where there are complicated moments when the characters discuss such prime-number factorization (PNF), self-teaching algorithms, singularity theory, black holes, prime-number factorization and black holes. Many of the characters are indeed geniuses and Lagercrantz mostly succeeds in allowing the science to be decipherable. The original trilogy’s anti-heroine, Lisbeth Salander, isn’t much seen in the first half of the book, but is quickly inserted into the action, and of course, turns into the main focus of events. Most of the characters from the original trilogy show up in the book, including the shadow of Lisbeth’s horrendous dead father, Zalachenko, and the traitorous Hans Faste. Two new compelling characters are introduced: Camilla Salander/Zalachenko, Lisbeth’s evil twin, and 8-year old August Balder, and autistic savant and mathematical genius, who shares most of the spotlight with Salander. The action is fast paced and the characters, many, and like the first three Larsson novels, may be a tough read to put down. Read more.... Download your copy today! for a limited time discount of only $2.99! Available on PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet or Kindle device. © 2015 All Rights Reserved by Unlimited Press Works, LLC
The House on Hill Street
Judy Nunn - 2012
But the neighbours are becoming concerned. Eileen Jameson and the boys haven't been seen for quite some time...When a gruesome discovery points the finger, quite literally, at the Professor's house, Inspector Max Carruthers and Detective Sergeant Lucas Matthews come knocking at the door. It's a day they will never forget ...
Another Five Patients
Melissa Crickard - 2019
When one of the resident physicians, Dr. Kip Paiva, becomes a critically ill patient herself, the team is forever changed. This suspenseful story of medical fiction traces foreign medical graduate Dr. Kip Paiva, an emigrant and survivor of human trafficking in post-apartheid South Africa. Her refuge from a Zulu militant captor comes to an end, as his brutal violence has finally tracked her across the ocean. While her past catches up to her, Dr. Paiva also becomes the scapegoat of a malpractice suit. Frightened for her and her son’s lives, Dr. Paiva begins a journey fueled by bottomless resiliency and a mother’s love. Her story intertwines through five others, all riveting, and all taking place in the busy Spectrum General Hospital in New York. Debut author Melissa Crickard uses this microcosm to illustrate larger aspects of modern medicine. Another Five Patients combines international intrigue and hospital politics with individual human stories involving hospital staff, patients, and their families. The result is a captivating, at times satirical, experience that reminds us that, whether doctor, mother, or child, we are all people, with flaws and emotions in a world of uncertainty.
The Lady on the Road: An Urban Legend Short Story
Nick Herntier - 2019
After leaving her friend's house, she decides she's going to prove to her brother that "The Lady on the Road " urban legend is just that...
The Lake and 17 Other Stories
David McAfee - 2010
and Saying Goodbye to the Sun. THE LAKE THE SPIDER AND THE FLY EXHIBIT A Plus 14 Horror Microstories! BONUS STORY: One last Dinner Party, by David Dalglish, author of the Half Orc series.
Jack Ryder Mystery #4-6
Willow Rose - 2019
Mystery, love, suspense, and action these books have it all.
The hit series from #1 Bestselling author Willow Rose is impossible to put down.
- BLACK JACK:
Welcome to the Blackwood House. Enter if you dare. It is said about a house in Savannah that all who have ever lived there have gone insane. When Kimberly and Joseph inherit the house from an unknown aunt, they don’t know the house’s murderous history. They move in and soon a series of strange events occur. It’s like the house doesn’t want them there. Little by little, Joseph starts to change, and soon Kimberly begins to wonder: is the house haunted or is her husband just going mad? Jack Ryder and Shannon King have run away from the press and paparazzi to Savannah to get married. They are preparing for their wedding when they stumble upon a young girl sitting alone on the docks at the harbor at night. She doesn’t seem to have any parents, nor does she know where she lives. Her feet are bare, and she has nowhere to go. They take her in for the night, but as they try to pull out information from her, bizarre stories are revealed, and soon they start to speculate about the girl. Is she telling the truth or hiding unsettling secrets of her own?
- THE GIRL NEXT DOOR:
He came in the morning when they were still making lunches and getting ready for school and work. He killed them all. Mother, father, children. Brutally slaughtered them in the comfort of their own home. They called him the Monday Morning Killer. That was forty years ago, but now it is happening again. A mother and her daughter are brutally murdered in their house, on a peaceful Monday morning in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Home alone with six children while his wife - country superstar Shannon King - is on tour, Detective Jack Ryder gets the most terrifying case of his career, chasing a deranged serial killer, unlike anyone he has ever seen. No one feels safe, especially not the girl next door, who just bought the house where the first family was killed forty years ago.
Who is capable of such cruelty? And why?
Could one person be responsible for these brutal killings of entire families so many years apart? Or is Jack dealing with a copy-cat? You’ll never guess the shocking answer.
- HER FINAL WORD:
Ella Maria Chauncey walks home after a night out with her friends, hurrying to get back before her parents realize she's been out with the boy they don't want her to date. Living in the gated community of Lyford Cay, in one of the world's wealthiest neighborhoods, she believes it is safe.
Ella Maria never makes it home. She is found the next day floating in her family's pool, her tongue cut out..
Seven months later Jack Ryder is visiting the Bahamas with his adopted daughter Emily. They're trying to find Emily's relatives, but it turns out to be easier said than done. The only living relative they can track down is a woman…in jail. She's doing time for murdering Ella Maria Chauncey, but as Jack digs into the case, he starts to wonder if she was wrongfully convicted and the murderer is still out there, hunting for his next prey. As the shocking investigation unfolds, and secrets are revealed, no one in in the lucrative Lyford Cay can be trusted.
She Had To Kill Him
Aviva Gat - 2021
The first, an expensive lawyer. The second, suicide. Robert Derby used the first one. I’m using the second."Mara was celebrating her 21st birthday when her family was killed by a drunk driver. Two years later, Mara wants justice. She wants the drunk driver to understand how it feels to lose everything. She has a plan and a gun and she knows how to use it. But is she capable of murder?Garrett can’t help the family he was born into. His name puts a target on his back. Maybe that’s why he always dates women who need help. But can helping the wrong person lead to disaster?She Had to Kill Him is a gripping story about the things people do for their loved ones. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Colleen Hoover, and Paula Hawkins.
Fire in Bone (Jake Pettman #2)
Wes Markin - 2021
A suspected child killer from a bygone era. And a schoolgirl washed up on the banks of the River Skweda.A storm is coming to Blue Falls, Maine.An unprecedented storm. And in the eye of the storm stands ex-detective Jake Pettman. A man desperate for sanctuary and desperate for the truth. But in a place of undying and heinous secrets, such desperations become dangerous.Both to yourself, and the people that you love. Fire in Bone is an adrenaline-pumping crime thriller novel from the Amazon bestselling author of One Last Prayer for the Rays, and the DCI Yorke series. Perfect for fans of Chris Carter, James Patterson, Chris Brookmyre, and Stuart Macbride.
Locked Room: A Katla KillFile
Martyn V. Halm - 2012
Using an updated version of a lethal puzzle that astounded forensic scientists at the end of the twentieth century, Katla recreates a diabolical killing method that became a landmark in the forensic sciences. Thwarting forensic scientists is not her only hurdle in fulfilling her contract, as her target has to be killed in his home, an opulent penthouse in a fortress-like apartment building…The Katla KillFile short stories chronologically precede the novels in the Amsterdam Assassin Series. Each KillFile features Katla Sieltjes, expert in disguising homicide, executing one of her contracts. While not mandatory reading, each KillFile provides insight both in Katla’s work methods and skill, and additional background information in her character and personal history. The KillFiles can be read out of order, as the contracts are random samples from her past.
Short Shockers: Collection One
Peter James - 2013
Funny, sad, but always shocking, each tale carries a twist that will haunt readers for days after they turn the final page . . .This 25,000 word collection, available exclusively in this ebook edition, includes:12 Bolingbroke Avenue (First published in 1998)Number Thirteen (First published in 2010)Just Two Clicks (First published in 2004)Dead on the Hour (First published in 2006)Virtually Alive (First published in 1997)Meet Me at the Crematorium (First published in 2009)Venice Aphrodisiac (First published in 2011)Time Rich (First published in 2013)Christmas is for the Kids (First published in 1993)
Behind Dark Doors (two): Six Suspenseful Short Stories
Susan May
Dive into the second collection of Behind Dark Doors, filled with stories of suspense, horror, paranormal and supernatural, from the dark mind of short story award-winning author Susan May.SCENIC ROUTEWhen a young family stop overnight at a quaint country bed-and-breakfast what they don’t know is that something is wrong in Broken Springs, population 402.HIDE-AND-SEEKHenry doesn't like playing hide-and-seek because his siblings don’t play nicely. Until the day he discovers there are worse things than being found. Not being found.HARASSMENT DAYDammit, thinks Edwin, when he sees those people have followed him onto the train and they’ve even gotten off at his station. What can he do to be rid of them for good?THE MONSTER RULESWhen Harry’s best friend shares the Monster Rules he learns how to stay safe at night until he's awoken by strange, scratching noises. Luckily, he knows what to do.WHERE WE ONCE WERETamara dreamed of visiting her distant ancestors' 1897-time line for her PhD research paper. What she discovers is a family secret two hundred years in the making.DESPERATETwo agitated women run into freeway traffic. Both are horrifically injured and should be dead, but they’re determined to get to the other side. What awaits them there?⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Short stories at their best"⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "5.0 out of 5 stars It totally lived up to the hype!"⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I absolutely loved this collection!"
The Relic of the King
Bill Thompson - 2015
Whatever it takes, there will be no sharing of the fame he’ll receive. Deep below a quaint street in London there’s a secret room. A sarcophagus has rested there for a thousand years. When an astonishing set of diaries is found, secrets lost for centuries are revealed. Even the journals themselves are amazing. They were written by a monarch whom history says never existed. Roberto Maas, a businessman who’s not what he appears to be, searches a medieval crypt for answers. You’d expect to find bodies in a crypt, but along with ancient corpses there are modern ones too. Roberto must be wary – his psychotic partner has dark secrets of his own. The mystery unravels and time begins to run out. Roberto Maas races to learn what the discoveries beneath the ancient city really mean.
Redemption
Phil M. Williams - 2021
I had it all. At least that’s what people told me. Beauty, brains, and a rich husband. I deserved it too. My fiancé had cheated on me with my best friend. But I won in the end, or at least I thought I had.Until Christmas of 1999. My ex-fiancé, Danny, showed up at my parents’ house, wanting to talk to my father. Danny’s a police officer, and my father’s a retired officer. A six-year-old girl had disappeared without a trace, resembling a case my father had worked on years earlier.My parents still loved Danny. The gregarious local cop. A man’s man with manners. What’s not to love? My introverted and awkward husband, Jason, couldn’t compete. My parents weren’t impressed by his money. Jason’s job in finance was too abstract. He made money from other people’s money, like a banker or a loan shark.I think this made it easier for my family to blame Jason. They were right to blame him. He was alone with her. It was his DNA. It was an impossible choice for me though. My family or my husband. I suppose we all made our choices. We were never the same after that. We all suffered from his terrible crime.Twenty years later, I had a happy life and a happy family. I wanted to forget the past, but it all came back, forcing me to choose all over again. This time we couldn’t bury the secrets. Jason. Danny. My parents. My daughter. All those missing girls.Never in a million years could I have seen it coming.Buy Redemption today if you enjoy page-turning domestic thrillers that will keep you reading late into the night.Adult language and sexual content.