Book picks similar to
Taking Liberties by Helen Black


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Crab Bait


Carrie Enge - 2015
    No matter how you look at it, fishing in Alaska is a deadly way to make a living.

The Beatrix Rose Box Set


Mark Dawson - 2014
    A decade later, she emerges from the Hong Kong underworld with payback on her mind. They gunned down her husband and kidnapped her daughter, and now the debt needs to be repaid. It's a blood feud she didn't start but she is going to finish.Beatrix has already crossed one name off her Kill List. Her second target is a mercenary being held hostage by Somali terrorists. Can she infiltrate the most dangerous failed state on the planet and scrub him off the List, too?BLOOD MOON RISING"Murder's out of tune, and sweet revenge grows harsh."Ten years ago, Beatrix Rose headed an off-the-books hit squad that did the dirty work of the British Government. When she discovered that the commander of the squad was corrupt, he sent five of his assassins to rub her out.But they failed. Bad mistake.There were six names on Beatrix's Death List and now there are four. She's going to account for the others, one by one, even if it kills her. Beatrix has returned from Somalia with a fresh target in her sights. Bryan Duffy is in Iraq, surrounded by mercenaries, with no easy way to get to him and no easy way to get out.Will Duffy prove to be a challenge too far?BLOOD & ROSES"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."Beatrix Rose has worked her way through her Kill List. Four are dead and just two remain. But now her enemies know she has them in her sights. The hunter becomes the hunted.In a thrilling conclusion to the breakneck trilogy, Beatrix and her daughter must fight them in North Africa, New York and finally in the swamps of North Carolina. It's a lightning-paced roller-coaster of action that pits a deadly assassin against the might of the most powerful private army on the planet.It's long odds for Beatrix. And that's just how she likes it.

Hunters Moon


Lynda Renham - 2017
    Adam’s career in politics has taken a turn for the better and the only thing left to complete the couple’s happiness is a baby. Flora believes the new home will help her overcome a recent miscarriage but she soon realises the house is not all it seems. What are the villagers of Penlyn hiding and does Hunters Moon hold a dark secret? Flora soon finds herself entrapped in a web of deceit with no one to turn to. Her dream home becomes her nightmare as Flora fears for her life.

On Her Own Two Feet


Pamela Evans - 2014
    Luckily, Mollie has a loving family to turn to for help. Her mother, Marge, is delighted to look after Esme while Mollie goes to work and her nan, Nora, encourages Mollie to join a local keep fit class, which opens up a whole new world to her. Soon Mollie is a qualified teacher, running her own keep fit classes for the local community, and she makes friends with a group of women she would never have met otherwise. But with the Second World War looming, and the threat of losing her loved ones, it takes courage for Mollie to stand on her own two feet...

Crossfire


Robert Valletta - 2021
    First Lieutenant Nick Gallaher soon discovers several top Department of Defense research scientists, his father among them, were killed as part of an elaborate scheme to take possession of the game-changing laser system, codenamed Crossfire. This modern-day espionage thriller follows Gallaher at breakneck speed as he investigates and then races against time to stop the corporate black-market scheme before its consequences explode around the world. The story employs the latest in military technology from intense cat-and-mouse nuclear-powered submarine chases beneath the ocean waves, to turbulent, bullet-riddled jet fighter skirmishes in the sky, to Cape Canaveral rocket launches and space-based satellite flight deviations in low-earth orbit.

The Two Towns


J.J. Salkeld - 2014
     It is DC Jane Dixon's first week on Kendal's CID team. Her new boss, DI Andy Hall, gives her an open file to review, and it's a far from straightforward case. A woman has died in suspicious circumstances in a Windermere caravan park, and although her husband is suspected there's not a shred of solid evidence against him. Can Jane move the case forward, or will a cold-blooded killer really get away with murder? The rest of the team is busy too, because a vulnerable teenager from a troubled family has gone missing from home. There's nothing to suggest that the boy has been abducted, so what could have caused him to run away from home? DS Ian Mann, a tough ex-military man, and DC Ray Dixon are both heavily involved in the investigation. This story introduces key members of the investigative team, as well as many of the themes that are developed in the full-length Lakeland Murders novels: including a strong sense of place, and an understanding that while justice usually prevails it is rarely complete, or completely fair. Reader reviews for the full-length novels in the Lakeland Murders series include: 'Well developed, realistic, relatable characters, great plot, believable detailed scenes, good action sequences. Recommend to those that appreciate British detective novels. Always devour Lakeland murder mysteries.' 'Love J J Salkeld's books, his understanding of police procedure, his ability to draw his characters out into real people is, I believe, up there with the best of them and it is good to find crime stories set in Cumbria for a change.' 'Salkeld is good. Not just as a writer of gripping detective stories; but even more for his feisty exposure of the lunacies of institutions, hierarchies, and power. A refreshing and enlightening anarchist - much needed in these jaded, compliant and consumptive times.'

Taking a Chance on Love


Joan Jonker - 2001
    They've been friends since they were toddlers and now they've become young ladies and left school. Joan finds work at Dunlop's tyre factory, while Ginny's dream comes true when she is taken on as a counter assistant at Woolworths. But things don't work out as she had expected, and she carries around a dark secret...

On Loving


Lili Naghdi - 2019
    Rose Hemmings has just finished her general surgery residency when a haunted stranger is shot in front of her in a New York City bar, and their lives become forever intertwined. And when, having been given the blessing of her adoptive father on his deathbed, Rose travels to prerevolutionary Iran to discover the past her American family kept secret from her, she finds a true Pandora's box. It is a world both foreign and familiar, in which her primary place is as the heiress to a great tribe. In Iran, Rose will find family she never dreamed of, her own people, and a man who loves her as passionately as he does the rare black roses of his garden. She will return to the United States carrying a new secret and torn between two men: the one she loves helplessly, and the one who loves her unconditionally. Woven throughout with Persian poetry ancient and modern, On Loving is the story of one woman's lifetime of love and loss, of societal change in a nomadic people, and of overcoming personal challenges, including mental and physical health, to find true contentment. Above all, it is a story of love: its physiology, psychology and philosophy; the many forms it takes; its myths and truths; its challenges, its joys and its gifts.

The Tattoo Artist (Women of Redemption #3)


Lori Lacefield - 2020
    An unknown and unstoppable outlaw. When their paths cross, all clues point to a killer. Reno, Nevada. Nine years after her mother’s still unsolved murder, former homeless teen Zoë Cruse has found stability with a husband, child, and a career as a tattoo artist. But when a biker comes in and asks for new ink, Zoë can’t help but draw comparisons between one of the images on his back and her mother’s death. Worse, his other ink appears to represent a deadly pattern, one that may indicate he’s a serial offender.Determined to unearth the truth despite her husband’s disbelief, Zoë researches the images and infiltrates the man’s notorious motorcycle club in search of evidence. But with the police, federal agents, and a rival gang all in pursuit of the same outlaw, her quest for closure may end with more than one person in the morgue…including her family.Can she unravel the mystery and find justice before she ends up six feet under?The Tattoo Artist is the chilling third book in the Women of Redemption suspense thriller series, featuring women who may not be perfect, but perfectly kick-ass when given a second chance. If you like strong female characters, fast-paced plots, and tension-filled pages, then you’ll love Lori Lacefield’s spine-tingling tale.

The Peninsula


Michael Burns - 2018
    Navy Lieutenant James Truman and his crew are back in action in an adventure even more dangerous than their first. Sailing into the waters off the Korean Peninsula, after all negotiations for denuclearization have failed, the Nemesis is tasked with giving support to a covert SEAL operation to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

The Barry Island Murders


Andrew Peters - 2013
    Will Williams' budding detective skills be equal to the task of catching any of the murderers? Will his current gin intake permit him to remember any of the details?Transcribed from the original interviews, the only changes made have been to names, places, dates and facts. Oh, and cutting out all the heavy swearing.

I Quit! Now What?


Zarreen Khan - 2017
    Of endless weekdays, working weekends, making presentations, working with complicated Excel sheets, handling a boss with time-management issues and the general politics of the workplace. Sigh! After eight years of this life, her only personal insight is that she's terribly unambitious and constantly struggling to be an average performer in the competitive corporate world. When a colleague flashes the glint of a golden sabbatical she catapults into it headfirst. After all, one has to find one's calling at some point in one's life. So will the sabbatical miraculously change her life forever? Or will she go rushing back to her pocket money-generating job?

We Can't Be Broken


H.K. Christie - 2017
    Once Anna is born everything changes for the better: a new sister, a new house and a perfect life. It’s as if nothing can go wrong—until Anna gets cancer. 

 In the wake of seemingly never-ending hospital stays and chemo treatments, Casey and her older siblings, Kelly and Sam, are suddenly forced to fend for themselves while constantly adapting to a new normal, which is anything but. Now growing up in the shadow of their sister’s cancer, Casey and her siblings try to survive as well as figure out their own place in the world. 

 With the family they once had no longer in existence, Casey finds herself wondering what’s next. Will they ever again find peace, happiness or each other? We Can't Be Broken is a novel inspired by true events.

The Wilder Side of Chaos


Pete Brassett - 2014
    A riveting read. Ex British agent Nathan Pearson has settled into Parisian life when his design agency receives a lucrative offer he can't refuse. When it transpires that the contract is a cover for a Russian smuggling operation he is drawn into a violent man chase that has Interpol and the CIA stretched to their limits. But when the smoke has settled, who will pay? Pete Brassett is the author of Clam Chowder at Lafayette and Spring which is also available on kindle.http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wilder-Si...

Tales from a Vending Machine


Anees Salim - 2013
    Unfortunately, a stint at the airport lounge's tea vending machine does not seem to be getting her any closer to her dreams. To pass the time she daydreams, chats with air-hostesses and takes part in mock anti-terrorist drills. At home, she studies her English, fights with her twin and engages in a secret love affair with her cousin and neighbour, Eza. But when a scandal threatens her tenuous happiness, she must pull out all stops on her overactive imagination, and seek a terrible revenge.