Book picks similar to
Crispy Critters by Theo Cage
horror
short-story
suspense-thriller
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Silent Victim
Caroline Mitchell - 2018
But the truth can’t stay hidden for long.Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen.It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect. A promotion for Emma’s husband, Alex, means they can finally move to a bigger home with their young son. But with a buyer lined up for their old house, Emma can’t leave without destroying every last trace of her final revenge…Returning to the shallow grave in the garden, she finds it empty. The body is gone.Panicked, Emma confesses to her husband. But this is only the beginning. Soon, Alex will discover things about her he’ll wish he’d learned sooner. And others he’ll long to forget.
Wanted
Terry Compton - 2014
He hunts them down and brings them to justice – one way or another. When he and his android partner Cherry Kang close in on one of the worst, the fireworks start. After the big explosion, they wake up in a different galaxy with their spaceship crashed on an asteroid and shot to smithereens. When they get a derelict spaceship ready to fly with parts from their ruined ship and escape, Josh finds something he hates worse than pirates. Josh Gunn and Cherry Kang intend to hunt every last one of them down and make sure they pay.
A Familiar Sight
Brianna Labuskes - 2021
Gretchen White is a specialist in antisocial personality disorders and violent crimes. She’s helped solve enough prominent cases for detective Patrick Shaughnessy that her own history is often overlooked: Gretchen is an admitted sociopath once suspected of killing her aunt. Shaughnessy still thinks Gretchen got away with murder. It’s not going to happen again.When a high-profile new case lands on Shaughnessy’s desk, it seems open and shut. Remorseless teenager Viola Kent is accused of killing her mother. Amid stories of childhood horrors and Viola’s cruel manipulations, the bad seed has already been found guilty by a rapt public. But Gretchen might be seeing something in Viola no one else does: herself.If Viola is a scapegoat, then who really did it? And what are they hiding? To find the truth, Gretchen must enter a void that is not only dark and cold-blooded, but also frighteningly familiar.
An Event to Remember. . .or Forget
Melissa Baldwin - 2014
Her days of slaving away at Carrie’s Classic Events and More are numbered as she is on the brink of launching her own event planning company. Her relationship with Luke Price is headed in the right direction and they are approaching their one-year mark. The future is looking bright and she knows that life could not get any better . . . That is until her perfectly planned world is thrown upside down by the unexpected arrival of someone from Luke’s past. She receives the shock of her life on the night of the biggest event of her career. Sienna will now have to pull it all together without a list or a plan. The question is, can she do it?
Grey Areas
Brad Carl - 2015
After finding a job and a place to live, he quickly establishes himself as the friendly and reliable "new guy." Despite being elusive about his past, local hometown girl Claire Mathison discovers an irresistible attraction to Henry. But major trouble begins to brew one night and it soon becomes unclear whether Henry Fields is part of the problem or the solution. Filled with psychological drama, suspense, and thrills, Grey Areas is the debut release from Brad Carl.
Wired In
Toby Neal - 2016
identifies an anomaly that leads her into a cat-and-mouse game online with a deadly enemy whose motives are unclear. The chase lures her through dark corridors of cyberspace into a confrontation with the violence from her past that sent her fleeing to the United States. She’ll need every skill she’s learned to defeat her worst nightmare — and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Ward of the Vampire
Kallysten - 2013
Socialites, artists and A-list stars have been invited to Morgan Ward’s birthday bash, including Angelina’s boss, Delilah.For months, Angelina has been looking at the preparations from afar, but never did she imagine that, come the day, Miss Delilah would put her in a gorgeous gown and bring her along as her ‘plus one.’Wandering from crowded room to crowded room in the sumptuous mansion, Angelina grows overwhelmed and escapes onto a balcony, only to find it occupied by her host. That first meeting leaves her struggling for her very life, but she soon gets an unexpected do-over.Meeting Morgan Ward for the first time all over again, Angelina finds herself falling into his arms… But is it all only a fantasy?
Long Time Coming
Edie Claire - 2003
But back at home, the past is ready and waiting to haunt her...Eighteen years have passed since Joy's childhood best friend, Jenny, met her death in a tragic car accident just a few days after their senior prom. A broken Joy left their small Kentucky hometown shortly after - determined never to come back. But when her father's illness forces her to return, she realizes that neither time nor distance have truly healed her troubled soul.Plagued with nightmares of the accident and crippled by a vague fear whose source she can't identify, Joy realizes that in order to move on she must face the truth behind several disturbing gaps in her memory of that fateful spring. But the only person who can help her is a man she despises - Jenny's erstwhile boyfriend Jeff, now a respected doctor, whose carelessness as a teenager was the cause of Jenny's horrendous death - and Joy's own emotional destruction. Can she ever forgive? She may have no choice but to try. Because both the danger she sensed - and the childhood friendship she treasured - now suddenly seem very much alive...
THE ROAD TO HELL
Paul Levine - 2011
Levine's heroes travel dark and dangerous paths as they confront devilish and powerful villains. The journeys are by land, by sea, and in one case, perhaps only in the mind. In "El Valiente en el Infierno," (The Brave One in Hell), a 13-year-old Mexican boy tells his own story as he makes a treacherous midnight crossing into California in search of his father. The boy's courage is tested when he runs into two gun-toting American vigilantes, and the confrontation will change all of them forever. "Development Hell" imagines a pitch session in which a bedraggled Edgar Allan Poe squares off with a slick Hollywood producer who wants to make a cheesy slasher flick out of "The Pit and the Pendulum."Bookgasm praised the story as "going straight to the funny bone." In "A Hell of a Crime," a prosecutor prepares for a homicide trial while being pestered by his domineering mother, a famous lawyer herself. Just what role did she play in the murder? And how is the prosecutor's enigmatic wife involved in the case? Two of the author's best-loved characters, mismatched law partners Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord, appear in "Solomon & Lord: To Hell and Back." Steve says he's going fishing with Manuel Cruz, a sleazy con man. Victoria knows that Cruz is an unlikely fishing buddy. So just what is Steve up to now? Something between mischief and murder.The book also contains an excerpt from "Solomon vs. Lord," the first novel of the bestselling series of legal thrillers. A quick synopsis: Victoria Lord follows all the rules. Steve Solomon makes up his own. When they defend an accused murderer, they'll either end up in ruin, in jail...or in bed. Here's what number one bestselling author Harlan Coben had to say: "Hiaasen meets Grisham in the court of last retort. A sexy, wacky, wonderful thriller with humor and heart."Finally, an excerpt of "Mortal Sin," one of the award-winning Jake Lassiter novels, is also included in the collection. This time, the linebacker-turned-lawyer has a dangerous conflict of interest. He's sleeping with Nicky Florio's wife...and defending the mob-connected millionaire in court. One false move, and Jake will be gator bait. "Recalling the work of Carl Hiaasen, this thriller races to a smashing climax." - Library Journal. PRAISE FOR THE FICTION OF PAUL LEVINE
"Mystery writing at its very, very best." - Larry King, USA TODAY"Irreverent...genuinely clever...great fun." - The New York Times Book Review"Just the remedy for those who can't get enough Spenser and miss Travis McGee terribly." - St. Petersburg Times"Genuinely chilling." - Washington Post Book World "Take one part John Grisham, two parts Carl Hiaasen, throw in a dash of John D. MacDonald, and voila!" - Tulsa World"Wildly entertaining blend of raucous humor and high adventure."- St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Cracking good action-mystery...funny, sardonic, and fast-paced." - Detroit Free Press ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Housewife Assassin's Handbook
Josie Brown - 2011
Donna Stone has one…and it happens to be government-sanctioned. She earned it the hard way: her husband was killed the day she delivered her third child. To avenge his death, she leads a secret life – as an assassin. But espionage makes for strange bedfellows – and brings new meaning to that old adage, "Honey, I’m home…"
A Cue to a Kill
Lilian Watts - 2015
but can it, when one of the actors has a cue to a kill?Backstage at the last night performance of the murder-mystery play "Bone Chiller," a real life killer is stalking the corridors of the theater.The Goose Meadow Bay Players' Halloween production has been declared an artistic success by enthralled audiences, but onstage and backstage the cast and crew are just a little bit bored.On the last night, one of the actors has a great idea to liven things up and everything seems harmless enough, but then an attempt is made on one actor's life. Not long after that, another goes missing.With the audience's laughter ringing in their ears, the cast are more intent on stardom than finding the potential murderer lurking amongst them. Can Kath keep the show running, the cast safe and make sure the killer sticks to the script?This is a cozy mystery short read in the Stage Door series.
False Step
Victoria Helen Stone - 2019
In this marriage of secrets and lies, nothing is what it seems.For days, all of Denver, Colorado, has worried over the fate of a missing child, little Tanner Holcomb. Then, a miracle: handsome, athletic Johnny Bradley finds him, frightened but unharmed, on a hiking trail miles from his wealthy family’s mountain home.In a heartbeat, his rescuer goes from financially strapped fitness trainer to celebrated hero. The heat of the spotlight may prove too much for Johnny’s picture-perfect family, however. His wife, Veronica, despises the pressure of the sudden fame, afraid that secrets and bitter resentments of her marriage may come to light. And she’s willing to do anything to keep them hidden.But when a shocking revelation exposes an even darker side to Tanner’s disappearance, Veronica realizes that nothing in her life can be trusted. And everything should be feared.
I Will Never Leave You
S.M. Thayer - 2018
Banking heiress Trish and her husband, James, seem to have it all, from a lavish lifestyle to a historic mansion in the nation’s capital. All that’s missing from their privileged life is a baby.So when Trish sees Anne Elise for the first time, it’s no surprise that she falls deeply in love. There’s just one problem: Trish isn’t the mother. The baby belongs to Laurel, James’s young mistress. And James and Laurel want the wife out of the picture.When Trish becomes perversely obsessed with making Laurel’s baby her own, the lovers come up with a wicked plan to end James’s marriage that quickly goes awry. As the love triangle becomes more and more dangerous, how far is each of them willing to go to get what they want?
Hawthorn Inn
Heidi Willard - 2013
New friends introduce him to legends and rumors that have swirled around the inn since time-immemorial, and he finds plenty of proof to believe them as strange noises and twisted shadows stalk the halls.Worst of all, his estranged grandfather has invited himself to join them at the inn. Creepy doesn't begin to describe that black-cloaked gentleman with the pale skin and weird, ever-constant glasses. Old secrets, mysterious sealed-up rooms and creeping shadows abound as Jack tries to manage his new life at Hawthorn Inn.
The Fey
Claudia Hall Christian - 2009
With her family and friends close, and her enemies closer, she strives to collect the pieces of her shattered life.Then everything falls apart.Haunted by the past, and terrorized in the present, Alex must reach past pain, through memory, and beyond the grave to find her self and her future."The fey is a romance for people who hate romances; a thriller for people who hate thrillers. If I'd read this on a bus, I swear I'd have missed my stop."-- J. C. Denver, Colorado."This is ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I have ever read. It sucked me right in and I was unable to put it down. Get it now and enjoy. It really is a great book." --V.A. Carpenteria, California""I couldn't put it down! Every time I stopped reading, even for a second, I wandered what was coming next." --K.M. Long Beach, California