Book picks similar to
The Prettiest Feathers by John Philpin
thriller
have-in-soft-want-in-hard
detective
20th-century
A Brutal Hand: There's No Escape (SHORTZ)
Ravi Subramanian - 2020
The Letter Promised
Kevin Wignall - 2013
Returning to the Paris hotel where he spent his honeymoon six years earlier, he decides to take what seems like the only way out - suicide. But a chance encounter with a Russian in a similar predicament leaves Nick with an unlikely obligation to fulfil, one that will take him to Italy, and offer him a chance at something like redemption. www.kevinwignall.com
Still Waters: Secrets Always Have a Way of Rising to the Surface
Linda Kavanagh - 2013
But she didn't. Now she's burdened with a terrible secret - something so awful that she must constantly live in fear, since its disclosure could destroy her marriage, her career, and turn her own son against her.As the star of Bright Lights, a soap that airs nightly on TV, Ivy has achieved fame and fortune, and led a charmed life, adored by millions of fans. Her husband Danny is managing director of one of the country's leading supermarket chains, and their son Joseph is at university.And all this time, her secret has lain hidden beneath the waters of the lake in the Lincolnshire village where she grew up. As a regular visitor to Willow Haven, where Ivy and Danny's families still live, she must regularly confront the scene where terrible things happened many years earlier. The demons are never far away, and the tragic legacy of her teenage years has always been on her mind. Will she ever be able to forget what happened? Or will her past destroy her future?Ivy soon discovers that being a celebrity can be a double-edged sword. Her worst nightmare comes true when someone discovers the secret she's been hiding all those years. And their whispered phone calls make it clear that they're keen to ensure she suffers. Now she must face terror of a different kind as this unseen enemy twists the knife. Who is this person and what do they want? Terrified, she flees to South Africa, where her brother Owen lives, hoping that this person can't find her there. But there is no escape, even six thousand miles from home. Ivy must now battle for all she holds dear, maybe even her own life...Linda Kavanagh is a former journalist. She has worked for various newspapers and magazines, and as a travel and health columnist, she has travelled extensively. She lives in Dublin, but commutes regularly to the UK and the USA. She is the author of the top-five bestselling novels Hush Hush, Love Child, Love Hurts, Time After Time, and had her first Number One bestseller with Never Say Goodbye. Still Waters is her new novel. To find out more, please visit her website, www.lindakavanagh.com
Natasha Mehra Must Die: Book One of the Doomsday Trilogy
Anand Sivakumaran - 2018
Someone is slaughtering every woman, girl and child named Natasha Mehra . . .Which is what Natasha Mehra, the most unpopular girl on campus, discovers. Though she’s always hated her name, she would’ve never imagined that it would be the reason she would be on the run from a gruesome death. But these murders aren’t random acts of madness. Rather, they are part of a conspiracy hatched by the Kul, an all-powerful secret organisation with tentacles everywhere. And the success or failure of this 2000-year-old mission will determine the future of humankind . . .About the AuthorAnand Sivakumaran has been telling stories since he was five. After passing out of IIT Bombay, he did stints in journalism, advertising, event management and youth marketing, before landing up in the entertainment business. His credits include films like Kalyug and Nazar and TV shows like The Buddy Project, Sadda Haq, Miley Jab Hum Tum, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, Rishtey, Adhafull, etc. He has directed two films as well—Detour and Money Devo Bhava (awaiting release).He currently runs CROCTALES, a creative shop that makes and runs web series, films and TV shows.Anand also does live, interactive storytelling which involves making up stories on the spot in front of a live audience using their words. He also has a storytelling podcast—The Croc’s Tales—again telling stories using listener’s prompts.Mumbai is his base in between exploring the world.
Witness to Death
Dave White - 2011
Suspecting her new boyfriend is cheating on her, John decides to follow Frank's Lexus and find out the truth once and for all. Turns out John's in for a major surprise. Frank isn't heading for some sack time with another girl. Instead he drags John into the middle of a shootout on the banks of the Hudson River, and before John knows what's happening, he's knee-deep in bodies.Before the corpses can even cool, Frank disappears and John finds himself wanted for five murders. With no way to prove his innocence, John goes on the run—not only from the police, but a vicious assassin as well. And when Michelle is kidnapped, John’s worst-case scenario comes true. Though his head tells him to stay in hiding, his heart says otherwise. He has to save the woman he loves or die trying.As John begins to uncover the truth surrounding the events that have turned his life upside down, he learns it isn’t just Michelle he must rescue. Thousands of other innocent lives are in jeopardy too.
The Lost Island - Free Preview (first 11 chapters): A Gideon Crew Novel
Douglas Preston - 2014
When his mysterious employer, Eli Glinn, gives him an eyebrow-raising mission, he has no reason to refuse. Gideon's task: steal a page from the priceless Book of Kells, now on display in New York City and protected by unbreakable security. Accomplishing the impossible, Gideon steals the parchment--only to learn that hidden beneath the gorgeously illuminated image is a treasure map dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks. As they ponder the strange map, they realize that the treasure it leads to is no ordinary fortune. It is something far more precious: an amazing discovery that could perhaps even save Gideon's life.Together with his new partner, Amy, Gideon follows a trail of cryptic clues to an unknown island in a remote corner of the Caribbean Sea. There, off the hostile and desolate Mosquito Coast, the pair realize the extraordinary treasure they are hunting conceals an even greater shock-a revelation so profound that it may benefit the entire human race . . . if Gideon and Amy can survive.
The World of Tim Frazer
Francis Durbridge - 1962
Tim keeps the rendezvous but there is no sign of Harry.A series of strange happenings, including a Russian shipwreck and a dying secret agent, pulls him into the murky world of international espionage and leads him to uncover the truth behind Harry's disappearance.
Back Hander: An electrifying racing thriller
John Francome - 2004
Ex-National Hunt Champion Jockey John Francome presents Back Hander, an electrifying racing thriller. The perfect read for fans of Felix Francis and Lyndon Stacey.
'Back Hander is a tightly plotted and well-schooled story... that delivers everything it promises' - Tangled WebNot much is going right for jockey Alan Morrell. He can't get the rides he needs and when he sets up a bloodstock partnership a tragic accident robs him of the business and his best friend Lee. Now Alan owes £100,000 and his only asset is a racehorse who has yet to be put to the test. But all that fades into insignificance next to the suspicion that Lee's fatal fall was more than an accident... Things aren't looking so hot for fellow-jockey Max Ashwood either. There's the backlash from his affair with a trainer's wife and the little matter of his gambling. There's also the convenient death of another man to whom Max owed money. But surely no one is ever going to find out the truth about his part in that... Two riders, two unexplained deaths - but overshadowing both is a conflict that dwarfs the cosy world of racetrack winners and losers. As the noose closes round the neck of one man's criminal empire, just how many others will swing?
What readers are saying about Back Hander:
'A gripping story from start to finish''Highly recommended if you like horse-racing thrillers''Brilliant plotline which hinges on two doomed love affairs'
Mark of Cain
Marcus Hünnebeck - 2014
But when a disturbing pattern in recent cases begins to emerge, he chooses to postpone his self-imposed retirement in order to help out an old flame.Detective Katharina Rosenberg has a new case and a new cop killer on the run. When two colleagues are murdered in rapid succession, a shocking theory emerges: Is someone killing off the detectives Christian worked alongside solving homicide cases? And is Katharina next?Now, Katharina and Christian must team up once again to catch the murderer before it’s too late. With their buried passion rising to the surface, they give in to their desire while racing against time to find the vengeful cop killer before he finds them.
No Man's Land
Neil Broadfoot - 2018
For DCI Malcolm Ford it's like nothing he's ever seen before, the savagery of the crime makes him want to catch the murderer before he strikes again. For reporter Donna Blake it's a shot at the big time, a chance to get her career back on track and prove all the doubters wrong. But for close protection specialist Connor Fraser it's merely a grisly distraction from the day job. But then another bloodied and broken corpse is found, this time in the shadow of the Wallace Monument - and with it, a message. One Connor has received before, during his time as a police officer in Belfast.With Ford facing mounting political and public pressure to make an arrest and quell fears the murders are somehow connected to heightened post-Brexit tensions, Connor is drawn into a race against time to stop another murder. But to do so, he must question old loyalties, confront his past and unravel a mystery that some would sacrifice anything - and anyone - to protect.
From Dundee International Book Prize and Bloody Scotland book of the year nominee Neil Broadfoot comes No Man's Land, the first in the white-knuckle Connor Fraser series.
The Monkey's Raincoat / Free Fall / Lullaby Town
Robert Crais - 2003
The search for Ellen's errant husband leads Elvis into the seamier side of Hollywood. He soon learns that Mort Lang is a down-on-his-luck talent agent who associates with a schlocky movie producer, and the last place he was spotted was at a party thrown by a famous and very well-connected ex-Matador. But no one has seen him since - including his B-movie girlfriend. At the same time the police find Mort in his parked car with four gunshots in his chest - and no kid in sight - Ellen disappears. Now nothing is what it seems, and the heat is on. It's up to Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike to find the connection between sleazy Hollywood players and an ex-Matador. FREE FALL Read by James Daniels (Sandra Burr, Jill Sovis) Elvis Cole is just a detective who can't say no, especially to a girl in a terrible fix. And Jennifer Sheridan qualifies: Her fiance, Mark Thurman, is a decorated LA cop with an elite plainclothes unit, but Jennifer's sure he's in trouble - the kind of serious trouble that only Elvis Cole can help him out of. Five minutes after his new client leaves his office, Elvis and his partner, the enigmatic Joe Pike, are hip-deep in a deadly situation as they plummet into a world of South Central gangs, corrupt cops, and conspiracies of silence. And before the case is through, every cop in the LAPD will be gunning for a pair of escaped armed-and-dangerous killers - Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. LULLABY TOWN Read by James Daniels (Joyce Bean, Russell Byers) Hollywood's newest wunderkind is Peter Alan Nelson, the brilliant, erratic director known as the King of Adventure. His films make billions, but his manners make enemies. What the boy king wants, he gets, and what Nelson wants is for Elvis to comb the country for the airhead wife and infant child the film-school flunkout dumped en route to becoming the third biggest filmmaker in America. It's the kind of case Cole can handle in his sleep - until it turns out to be a nightmare. For when Cole finds Nelson's wife in a small Conneticut town, she's nothing like what he expects. The lady has some unwanted - and very nasty - mob connections, which means Elvis could be opening the East Coast branch of his P.I. office . . .at the bottom of the Hudson River.
Our Wicked Lies
Glede Browne Kabongo - 2021
With a gorgeous, successful husband who whisks her away on romantic trips, a beautiful home in one of the country's richest zip codes, and two wonderful daughters, life couldn't be better. However, she'll soon discover that an enviable marriage comes at a deadly cost. Who is Faith, and why are dozens of emails between her and Alicia's husband hidden in his draft folder? Why were the messages never sent? As Alicia embarks on a desperate quest to uncover Faith's identity, a shocking death hits close to home and sends her reeling. Was it a tragic accident or cold-blooded murder? In this beautiful town of wealth and privilege, nothing is as it seems, and everyone has something to hide. As Alicia struggles under the weight of dark secrets from her own past, someone knows more than they're saying--someone who knows the truth will come at a devastating price. Emotionally gripping and expertly plotted, this heart-pounding, compulsive read is the perfect domestic thriller for fans of The Wife Between Us, The Husband's Secret and The Couple Next Door.
Hunter's Moon
Chuck Logan - 1996
A survivor, he is guided in all things by his unfailing loyalty and honesty. But a tragic altercation in Minnesota's North Woods that leaves a young man dead and suspicions of murder hanging in the air tests Harry's courage as never before. Nothing could have prepared him for the eerie silence that has fallen over the incident, the challenge to his nerve, and the raw carnality of his best friend's wife.Digging for answers in a town ready to lash out in fear of the dark secrets he is moving ever closer to, Harry ignores the signs of danger at his own peril. Until it all ignites in a fire of unexpected betrayal and a bloody settling of accounts.
White Fire (Pendergast): By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child -- Review
Expert Book Reviews - 2013
While it will greatly enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the book, it is not intended to stand in its place.* In "White Fire," Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast makes his 13th appearance as the modern Sherlock Holmes investigator. Whether familiar with the novels of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child or not, readers will enjoy the twists throughout this bestselling mystery thriller "White Fire." Fans may remember Corrie Swanson from "Still Life with Crows," but now she is a college student trying to enter law enforcement. While aiming to achieve an academic prize for her thesis, Swanson uses manipulation and other schemes to uncover the mystery behind a case from the 1870s. The clues behind a man-eating grizzly bear that attacked and killed 11 miners are provided by Arthur Conan Doyle. Swanson digs through old evidence and comes up with new discoveries that suggest human culprits. Supported by Pendergast, the protagonist encounters many obstacles, including imprisonment and the threat on her own life. Before you engage in this mystery thriller, read what the experts think of the latest bestseller from Preston and Child "White Fire." Compare the pros and cons of the co-authors' writing styles while seeing quotes from well-known critics and publications. This review offers an insider's view of the novel to prove why "White Fire" is worth your time.