Book picks similar to
The Orphans by J.S. Donovan


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Influence


Chris Parker - 2014
    Influence equals power, the power to affect people and events. The most powerful people alive have the greatest influence. And they can use it for good or bad. Marcus Kline is the world's leading authority on communication and influence. He can tell what you are thinking. He can see inside you. He can step inside your mind. Yet when a series of murder victims bear the horrific hallmarks of an intelligent and remorseless serial killer, Detective Inspector Peter Jones turns to Marcus for help - and everything changes. As the killer sets a deadly pace, the invisible, irresistible and terrifying power of influence threatens friendships, reputations, and lives. When events appear to implicate the great Marcus Kline himself, everyone learns that the worst pain isn't physical...

Honorable Death


Linda S. Prather - 2019
    She’d known since the day she graduated from the academy that one day he’d wind up on her beat, and she’d have to arrest him… or kill him. She could accept the fact he’d been murdered. What she couldn’t accept was the massive torture he’d endured before his death. Someone would pay for that.A multilayered, fast-paced archaeological dig of a mystery.

The Tegen Cave


Inge-Lise Goss - 2013
    But when people around her start dying from poisonous spider bites after she receives a mysterious package with a spider concealed inside, she worries that the family has found her. Life takes an even more bizarre turn when she seems to be not only immune to the spider venom, but also surrounded by a sinister group of people using spiders to incapacitate their prey. Even her new boyfriend starts acting suspiciously. Just who can she trust?Then to make matters worse Sara’s twenty-fifth birthday approaches, and her dark heritage begins to emerge. She is forced to make a life-or-death decision. And somehow, she must find a way to deal with the crime family.

Night Terrors


Mark Lukens - 2014
    And she's suffered from night terrors where a shadowy man pursues her. The Shadow Man found her once before when she was sixteen years old and slaughtered her parents. And now, nine years later, he's found her again.The Shadow Man is killing people as he works his way closer to Tara. She can see the murders through his eyes, the clues left behind, and he wants it that way. He takes things from each victim: blood, skin, and other items he needs for his bizarre ritual. But it's all leading up to the most important and central piece of the ritual - Tara.Tara wants to run. She wants to hide - it's what she's always done. But she makes a decision to fight back, to stop the Shadow Man before he kills again.

Sickness Behind Young Eyes


Jack Lewis - 2015
    It doesn't matter how much horror he has seen though, because nobody will believe him. He has never been able to prove it, until now. He gets a letter from a man desperate for help. A village is being haunted. Nobody dares speak of it, and those who do are visited by something terrible. A dark horror is at work here, and Jeremiah wants to get to the heart of it. Ella is a university student obsessed with her work, but she's slipping. Her attempts to keep hold of her dreams lead her to a remote Scottish village with a dark history, where a tragedy has cast a shadow over the streets. Beneath this village lies a horrific secret, and those who uncover it will wish they hadn't. What kind of evil is at work here, and what is terrifying the people so much? What's the deal with the creepy cottage and the woods that lurk just beyond it? This is the beginning of a new horror series from the author of the Fear the Dead.

Primeval Valley


Edward J. McFadden III - 2019
    The town’s peace is shattered when a young boy is taken by a strange creature, and a distraught father goes on a desperate hunt only to uncover a valley that shouldn’t exist. A world where dinosaurs roam hunting prey. A world better left hidden.

Birdsongs


Jason Deas - 2009
    Fired from the FBI for inadvertently sleeping with the perp in a murder case, he tries to disappear to a houseboat and retirement. Not having what it takes to relax, Benny starts a service offering discreet investigations. That is until a body is found crucified near his marina. The local police department requests Benny’s help and he knows if he can catch the killer, redemption is his. The Chief gives Benny and the department ten days to solve the crimes before he promises to request the help of the FBI. As the case grows, grabbing national attention, and the murders continue, the media soon fills the normally quiet town. Media goddess, Rachael Martin arrives and adds spice to an already flavorful mix. A few newcomers straggle in as well. An ex-convict fresh out of prison from a thirty year murder rap slinks in unnoticed with revenge on his mind. Days later, a Greyhound bus delivers a strange young man raised by deaf-mute parents from deep within the Ozark Mountains. An old newspaper clipping and a dark secret pulls him to town. Whatever is going on has something strange to do with birds. At each murder site, dead birds are displayed in disturbing ways—the killer arranging them as an artist might. All the strange occurrences and unexplained visitors to this quiet town press Benny James to his max as he vehemently struggles to solve the most important case of his life.

Kiss Hidden Lies


Dan Taylor
    But there’s a catch. His client’s parents are unaware she knows the guy who’s been posing as her father is an imposter. And she insists Hancock poses as her older boyfriend to discover the truth from within her family home.Her parents are onto him the moment he steps through the front door, and the roller coaster of an investigation begins.To escape the heat of scrutiny, Hancock rushes his client to an age-regression hypnotherapy session to learn about a time period her parents seem hazy about. What he discovers throws him a curveball: His client had two different parents up to the age of three…something she’s unaware of now. The strange part? They lived together in the same family home.There’s a bizarre secret at the heart of his client’s childhood. And Hancock must face an ethical dilemma for which he isn’t prepared.As a detective, he’s bound to reveal the truth…but at what cost to his client’s happiness?

Falling


J. Bennett - 2000
    The stranger’s glowing hands were a big tipoff.When the stranger murders Maya’s boyfriend with a single touch and injects the college sophomore with a DNA-altering serum, Maya prays for a savior. Instead, she gets a double helping of knight-in-not-so-shining-armor when two young men claiming to be her half-brothers pull off a belated rescue. Now Maya is swiftly transforming into an “angel”, one of the scientifically enhanced, energy-sucking creatures her brothers have spent their whole lives trying to destroy. Maya’s senses sharpen, her body becomes strong and agile, and she develops the ability to visually see the emotions of those around her as colorful auras…beautiful auras…tempting auras. Struggling to control the murderous appetite that fuels her new abilities, this reluctant protagonist must find a way to accept her new condition and learn to trust her angel-hunting brothers as she joins them in their fight against the powerful and destructive creatures. On the up side, at least Maya’s eldest brother has stopped trying to kill her!FALLING takes all the foul-mouthed, attitude-driven humor of the BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD series and combines it with the action-packed, love/hate family dynamics of the CW show SUPERNATURAL. Get ready to fall hard for FALLING, the first novel in J Bennett’s new adult paranormal series, GIRL WITH BROKEN WINGS. Warning: This book contains violence, sexual content, and strong language.

Collecting Death


Ron Ripley - 2017
    

Silent is the Grave


Candle Sutton - 2018
    Despite his efforts, the case has grown as cold as his brother’s body.A teenager is brutally murdered.Experience tells Zander that the body count won’t likely stop at one. The sole witness is in the wind, terrified for her life. His best resource for finding the witness is a woman named Elly who claims to hear from God.Elly knows things she shouldn’t.Unexplainable events shadow Elly. While Elly insists it’s God at work, Zander doubts it’s as simple as that. Solving the mystery of Elly might be the key to finding the teenager’s killer. With the murderer moving freely about the city’s fog-shrouded streets, Zander must act quickly to stop the grave from claiming another victim.Because the grave silences all who enter.A riveting, miracle-laced story merging suspense with fantasy, Silent is the Grave explores love and loss, and the supernatural power of God working through His people to bring healing in the most desperate of situations. Begin your journey today!

Speak The Dead


Grant McKenzie - 2015
     Jolted awake by the scary noise, Sally ran to her parent’s bedroom for comfort. Instead, she found her mother slumped against the headboard, her ravaged nightdress drenched from a double-barreled wound. Climbing on the bed, Sally cradled her mother’s head against her tiny chest, mindless of the blood and the cloying stench of death. There was no sign of her father, and Sally was too frightened to call out, when a voice from deep within her dead mother’s throat screamed: “Run, Sally! Run!” Twenty-five years later, Sally has finally stopped running. She finds peace among the dead as a mortician’s beautician, and on the night of a strange murder that reawakens a special gift within her, she actually meets an interesting man: Jersey Castle, homicide detective by day, punk rock drummer by night. But what Sally doesn’t know is that someone has been hunting for her all this time, and now that she’s passed his test of blood, he will stop at nothing to bring her home again.

Corridor Man Volumes 1, 2, 3,4 5


Nick James - 2017
     The Dirty Lowdown wrote: "Nick James has nailed it. The all too dark side of our legal industry, and the type of character we're all too afraid to admit exists!" It looks like disbarred attorney Bobby Custer has won the lottery. After serving four years of a seven-year sentence, he gets an offer he can’t refuse – from the feds. They just want him to keep an eye out for shady goings-on at one of the most prestigious law firms in the city. And suddenly he’s out – out of jail, but also totally cast out of his old life: shunned by family and friends, working the hallways and back alleys of the legal game and finding plenty of shady dealings to keep an eye on. He's psychotic, narcissistic, psychopathic, greedy, unprincipled ... and always charming. He did all the right things -- went to law school, got a job in a good law firm -- right up until the conviction for “a minor dalliance with a trust fund”. You could almost feel for the guy – a young man tempted by the high life could make a mistake he regrets and end up losing everything. And a guy who’ll help you hide a body could just be a good friend. But as the bodies start piling up, you have to wonder if there’s something about Bobby that’s just not … right. Chilling and action-packed, Corridor Man exposes a dark, violent undercurrent just beneath the surface of “perfectly legal and above-board”. A combination of Breaking Bad and House of Cards, Corridor Man series are a collection of sinister, disturbing thrillers that are bound to keep you awake at night. Books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the Corridor Man series.

And A Meadowlark Sang


Jen Pretty - 2018
    One woman makes a life for herself after tragedy. One vampire is hell bent on keeping his city streets free of violent rogues. Where they intersect… …a journey begins. Lark’s life is strange. Vampires roam among us undetected, except by her. She learned the hard way to keep her curse to herself and run at the first sign of trouble. Meditation and yoga have been the core of her sanity as she sets down roots in the city she calls home. When she is suddenly backed into a corner, its fight-or-flight time, but a huge secret is lurking beneath her skin. One that will change the course of her life, forever. The time for running is over. But will the price of her new purpose be too high?

American Ghost Stories


S.K. Dines - 2012
    Subtle horror unexpected is many times more chilling and terrifying than horror that smacks you in the face.