Book picks similar to
The Judgment Key by Shawn Hopkins
fiction
horror
supernatural
thriller
Mushroom in the Sand
Farsheed Ferdowsi - 2009
Ross Shaheen is at the top of his game. Between his internationally-recognized nuclear weapons research career at the prestigious Berkeley Lab and his picture-perfect family in the San Francisco suburbs, it's a good life that can only get better - until he is lured into lecturing before an elite group of scientists in his home country. The 7000-mile trip takes Shaheen back to the land of the lion and the sun, yet it also delivers to Iran's very doorstep an important American citizen with Top Secret security clearance. Taken captive in a subterranean plant by Amir Meshkin, head of Iran's secret nuclear weapons program, will Shaheen be forced to provide him with the access needed to successfully advance the Iranian nuclear agenda? The answer lies in the twisting plot of espionage and survival, putting to the test not only Shaheen's secret knowledge but also the very core of his allegiance. If he lives, he could walk away a hero for his country. The question is - which one?
Deadly Intruder
Anne Kelsey - 2013
He just won the Rookie of the Year award at the advertising company he works for in Boston, and he is married to beautiful Amanda, the love of his life. After his recent purchases of a new home and a sports car, his life is just about perfect. Then he makes one seemingly innocent decision to play an Internet game. The website www.DieorDieTrying.com offers a big payoff to the winner of the deadpool game they host, and Brent thinks he has just as good a chance to win as anyone else. After all, the game is all luck. Or is it? When a fellow player, known only as Intruder, gains access to Brent’s personal information, Brent’s life is thrown into chaos. A gruesome discovery makes Intruder’s goal all too clear. Soon Brent is careening through the shadowy world of cybercrime, identity theft, and murder on a non-stop thrill ride he wants no part of. Will Brent or Intruder make the final move of the game? Praise for Deadly Intruder: "This novel moves like a hurricane revealing the dangers of what starts as an innocent little bet. A good read." —Dennis Foley, author of A Requiem for Crows "Anne Kelsey's Deadly Intruder is compulsively readable, with characters that will intrude into your psyche and not let you go until you finish the last page. Taut writing, superb pace, and characters you'll root for. Highly recommended." —Mary Johnson, author of An Unquenchable Thirst“In Deadly Intruder, Anne Kelsey has given us a delicious serving of intrigue, mystery, romance, and edge-of-your seat excitement. This book sent chills up my spine as I began to see how easily lives can be destroyed or turned upside down by Internet stalking. Deadly Intruder was a book I simply didn’t want to put down. Kudos to Anne Kelsey. I will be looking out for more from her.”—Maureen McMahon, author of Shadows in the Mist
Trapped in Whittier
M.W. Layne - 2013
Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it can’t kill you.-----------------------------Trent Walker is a mentalist who makes his living off of people believing in magic and the afterlife, even though he doesn’t believe in anything other than science, logic, and sleight of hand.The two hundred or so residents of the strange town of Whittier, Alaska, are convinced that vengeful spirits and a horrific curse have doomed them to lives of eternal darkness.When Trent finds himself trapped in Whittier, with no way to leave until the next morning, he's forced to reassess his own beliefs and to fight for his life against an unnatural force that his logical mind can’t explain.
Shallow Graves
Patrick Logan - 2016
Robert Watts is having the worst day of his entire life: first he's laid off, then he finds out that his wife is having an affair... with his boss no less. And that's only the beginning. Before the month is out, Robert finds himself alone to raise his daughter with no money, no job, and a house that is minutes from being repossessed. Just when he hits rock bottom, a strange visitor arrives at the doorstep of his soon to be foreclosed house with a letter from an Aunt he didn't know existed. The offer is simple: look after Aunt Ruth during her dying days, and in return Robert will be bequeathed the Harlop Estate in which she currently resides. It's a no brainer and Robert jumps at the opportunity, equally motivated by the prospect of financial security as he is for a fresh start. Problem is, it only takes a few nights in the Harlop Estate before he begins to question Aunt Ruth's claims that they are the home's only inhabitants... It's the scratching he hears during the night, the voices that he can barely make out over the constant rain, and then there's the girl with the rat... With their house foreclosed and their bank accounts liquidated, Robert and his daughter Amy desperately need a place to live. But the question Robert soon finds himself struggling with is whether living in the Harlop Estate is worth it... and if he can survive until Aunt Ruth passes to collect his inheritance. Shallow Graves is the first book in the Haunted Series, chilling, gruesome, and truly haunting tales with a twist that you will never see coming.
Here Comes the Night
Linda McDonald - 2013
But that was long ago. Now the only tomorrows he considers worth living are those that include his lover, the wife of his boss. Hard as he finds it to do, once Buck kills the mean-spirited bank president, his path to happiness seems clear . . .for mere moments. How could Buck have known henchmen would grab him only minutes later to roust him for gambling debts? And who would have guessed a dangerous parolee would--as daylight turns to dusk--impulsively take Buck’s custom Mustang on a bloody joyride?There’s no way to know who’ll survive until dawn, and of those that do, who’ll be charged with which crime. Hang on tight, Here Comes the Night. A dark, steamy thriller in the tradition of film noir.Written by the winner of Oklahoma’s 2013 Book of the Year in Fiction.
Out of Time
Monique Martin - 2010
When a mysterious accident transports Simon and his new assistant, Elizabeth West, back in time, Simon finally finds both the proof that he's been looking for, and the romance that he hasn't.In 1920s Manhattan, they find that are more than mobsters vying for power in the city's speakeasies. Will Simon and Elizabeth's developing relationship survive the vampires' teeth? Will they survive to make it back? Or will they be forever out of time?From the AuthorDon't miss the sequel,"When the Walls Fell", now available for Kindle. Look for more books in the Out of Time Series coming in 2012.
The Witch Hunter
Nicole R. Taylor - 2013
The problem was, he didn't stay that way. Present day, he's just another vampire with another unremarkable story. That is, until he manages to provoke a two thousand year old witch named Katrin, who wants to make him pay in the most horrible way imagined.Along with his brother Sam, newly made vampire Liz and their only witch ally, Gabby, his only chance for survival is to summon the ancient and unpredictable vampire known as the Witch Hunter.Zac is just looking for a way out of his psychopathic witch problems, but instead will find himself falling head first into a blood feud that has stretched thousands of years.Aya has been asleep for the past 150 years, until she was awoken by a haunting call. The witch she has been hunting for thousands of years, Katrin, has resurfaced and marked a young, annoyingly arrogant vampire by the name of Zachary Degaud. Unless she does something, he will die a slow and painful death. He has given her an opportunity to end the witch, but does she want to help him or leave him to his fate? Zac will get under her skin like no one else has and she just might find herself making the ultimate sacrifice before he is gone forever.They will both have to choose sides and look deep within themselves before the end. But, what Zac learns about himself, will surprise him most of all.
Daughters of the Lake
Wendy Webb - 2018
Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is an infant, as cold and at peace as its mother. No one can identify the woman. Except for Kate. She’s seen her before. In her dreams…One hundred years ago, a love story ended in tragedy, its mysteries left unsolved. It’s time for the lake to give up its secrets. As each mystery unravels, it pulls Kate deeper into the eddy of a haunting folktale that has been handed down in whispers over generations. Now, it’s Kate’s turn to listen.As the drowned woman reaches out from the grave, Kate reaches back. They must come together, if only in dreams, to right the sinister wrongs of the past.
Tropical Knights
John F. Beckman - 2012
He has left behind the Vietnam War, the SEC, the IRS, and a scheming ex-wife. Life is good. And then he meets Amy, the half Cuban beauty who invites him on the adventure of a lifetime. The Latin lovely offers Jack the opportunity to save the eastern U.S. from annihilation by a dying Castro, the dictator of Cuba. Jack wants nothing to do with this woman or her mission. But before he knows it Jack is involved with the Cuban Mafia, the CIA, and duplicitous politicians. When his brother is kidnapped Jack is torn between saving America or saving his only benefactor. Jack has an impossible decision to make. Sail along with Jack and Amy on the life or death voyage which makes Jack’s existence more complicated than he ever dreamed possible.
The Legend of Devil's Creek
D.C. Alexander - 2012
More abductions and killings soon follow. Justin Riddley, recently transferred to the island’s small college, faces growing evidence that one of his new friends and fellow students may be the murderer. John Marshall, redemption-seeking captain of the local police force, leads the frantic murder investigation and struggles to figure out whether the killings are tied to the island's dark and violent past. Tormented by tragic wartime memories, and more convinced with each day that it is humanity’s fate to destroy itself, Marshall races against both the murderer and the specter of his own mental breakdown. As blood continues to spill, Riddley and Marshall wonder whether there may be a dark, universal force that drives evil deeds great and small, and whether the nature of one’s childhood might sometimes, in the end, be all that separates the saint from the psychopath.
Shell Game
Joseph Badal - 2012
Federal regulators, in the aftermath of the Capital Markets Meltdown that began in 2007, have ordered the bank to reduce its loan portfolio. But the Winter family’s problem becomes more complicated when Gerald Folsom, a sociopathic vulture investor, in league with a corrupt banking regulator, takes over their bank. And Folsom has a decades-long grudge against Katherine Winter, Edward’s mother.
Lost Girls
Celina Grace - 2012
She was never seen again.In the present day, Maudie is struggling to come to terms with the death of her wealthy father, her increasingly fragile mental health and a marriage that’s under strain. Slowly, she becomes aware that there is someone following her: a blonde woman in a long black coat with an intense gaze. As the woman begins to infiltrate her life, Maudie realises no one else appears to be able to see her. Is Maudie losing her mind? Is the woman a figment of her imagination or does she actually exist? Have the sins of the past caught up with Maudie’s present... or is there something even more sinister going on?Lost Girls is the new novel from the author of The House on Fever Street: a dark and convoluted tale which proves that nothing can be taken for granted and no-one is as they seem
No Good Deed
M.P. McDonald - 2010
It triggers dreams of disasters. Tragedies that happen exactly as he envisions them. He learns that not only can he see the future, he can change it. Then the unthinkable happened and everyone ignored his frantic warnings. Thousands die. Suddenly, the Feds are pounding on his door and the name they have for Taylor isn't urban hero. It's enemy combatant. And, it means they can do anything they want to him. Anything at all.
Girls of Brackenhill
Kate Moretti - 2020
It’s been seventeen years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.Fueled by guilt over her sister’s vanishing, Hannah becomes obsessed with discovering what happened all those years ago, but by the time Hannah realizes some mysteries are best left buried, it’s too late to stop digging. Overwhelmed by what she has exposed, Hannah isn’t sure her new life can survive her old ghosts.
Untapped
M.C. Soutter - 2010
The question is: what kind of genius? The awesome potential of the human mind is an incredible thing, but it is also a very dangerous thing. After several years of neurology research on autistics and children, Dartmouth psychology professor Frederick Carlisle has made a startling discovery. With a custom-made device and a simple set of steps, he can unlock fantastic mental abilities in his test subjects. But the brain is a delicate, complicated piece of equipment, and side-effects are inevitable; when one part of the brain ramps up, another will inevitably shut down...Charcot's Genius is part one of the Great Minds series. It is the story of two very different people: an asylum inmate who is haunted by memories of the murder they say he committed, and a self-possessed first-year Dartmouth student who is trying to escape a small town and a destructive father. Both grapple with the effects of Professor Carlisle's treatment, and both discover powers of thought they never imagined possible. But while our Dartmouth first-year simply hopes to lead a normal life, the asylum inmate is out for revenge. He blames Carlisle for his condition and his imprisonment, and soon he will make his return to the Dartmouth campus.Professor Carlisle has some explaining to do.