Book picks similar to
The Scorpion by John A. Autero
science-fiction
fantasy
thriller
shelf-a-authors
Abomination
E.E. Borton - 2010
They became unstoppable monsters. Four decorated U.S. Marines with spotless service records are wanted for the brutal rapes and murders of over a dozen women within four months. Their hunting grounds stretch from New York to Georgia. When Ryan Pearson and his team of FBI agents close in on the first killer, the cornered Marine nearly defeats three heavily armed assault teams with nothing but unbridled violence and grossly deformed hands.
Interest
Kevin Gaughen - 2015
It’s nothing that a stiff drink won’t cure. After all, bad news only hurts optimists.But when the mysterious leader of the rebels cherry-picks him to acquire certain information for her, Len is forced to go on an investigative mission where he uncovers millennia-old secrets and unwittingly triggers a chain of disturbing events that will determine the future of humankind.Author Kevin Gaughen’s dynamic debut novel, Interest, creates a seamless alternate reality behind real-world political tensions while keeping pace with its page-turning plot. Interest is as riveting as it is thought-provoking.Who really runs the world we live in? The further Len digs, the darker the answers appear to be…
Cutter's Grove
Patrick Dakin - 2011
Is it his imagination? He's not sure.A few weeks later, in the nearby town of Cutter's Grove, Lucas is told about the mysterious disappearance of a girl that took place a year earlier. Shown her picture Lucas sees a beautiful child with long, shiny black hair and an angelic smile.She looks nothing like the ruined creature he saw in the desert.But there is absolutely no doubt in his mind ... it's her.Now he's faced with the problem of what to do with this knowledge. If he goes to the authorities and starts expounding about a ghost sighting he'll be locked up for sure, based on irrefutable evidence of insanity. It seems he has little choice - he has to try to determine the girl's fate on his own and, in the process, learn who might have been responsible.
Embryo
J.A. Schneider - 2012
It came suddenly, a rushing whoosh of something that made her gag, and when she reached to wipe her mouth, her hand came away smeared with blood." So begins this thriller about a young intern, Jill Raney, determined to investigate tragedies and terror at a famous fertility and genetic engineering hospital. When two pregnant women die and a fetus is delivered with severe chromosomal abnormalities, Jill's superiors - including handsome, smitten-with-her resident David Levine - insist there's no common link. But her suspicions deepen with the grotesque murder near the hospital of another pregnant woman - her belly drained of amniotic fluid. And when a woman miscarries in the hospital and then disappears, Jill frantically searches for her - following a terrifying path that seems to link all the victims: Is someone playing with life...and the structures of human life itself? An unforgettable tale of suspense with a shocking denouement, Embryo takes you deep into the mind of malignant genius.. . . . . . .The heart-stopping ending of Embryo creates a new crisis in its sequel, Embryo 2: Crosshairs
Undead Winter
T.M. Williams - 2013
That's all it takes for the darkness to penetrate. To infect. To destroy.A plague has incapacitated humanity, spreading across the globe faster than it could ever possibly be contained. Almost overnight the world is awakened to a new reality and the realization that no one is safe, not a single living soul.As the virus takes control, humanity is brought crashing to its knees. The few left untouched fight frantically for their survival, even as they know their future no longer exists, doing the uninmaginable at the brink of death.A dark tale that shows exactly how desperate, how dark, humanity can get once the undead winter arrives.This short story will haunt readers long after the last page has been read. A story you will want to read over and over.
Shift
Zack Mason - 2011
In the tragic aftermath, he also loses his wife, his job, and everything else of value. Grief-stricken, Mark turns his back on society for a life wandering through the North Georgia woods.That is, until he finds a strange watch in the middle of those woods. A very special watch. One that gives its wearer the power to travel through time at will, rectifying past wrongs and stopping tragedies before they happen.Mark is determined to use the watch to save his kids, yet certain mysterious forces are poised to stand in his way — and a shadowy group of assassins has decided that Mark Carpen must die.
Bandwidth
Eliot Peper - 2018
But when a close brush with death reveals that the influence he wields makes him a target, impossible cracks appear in his perfect, richly appointed life.Like everyone else, Dag relies on his digital feed for everything—a feed that is as personal as it is pervasive, and may not be as private as it seems. As he struggles to make sense of the dark forces closing in on him, he discovers that activists are hijacking the feed to manipulate markets and governments. Going public would destroy everything he’s worked so hard to build, but it’s not just Dag’s life on the line—a shadow war is coming, one that will secure humanity’s future or doom the planet to climate catastrophe. Ultimately, Dag must decide the price he’s willing to pay to change the world.
The Good Neighbor
A.J. Banner - 2015
That’s what Sarah thinks as she settles into life with her new husband, Dr. Johnny McDonald. But all too soon she discovers an undercurrent of deception. And one October evening when Johnny is away, sudden tragedy destroys Sarah’s happiness.Dazed and stricken with grief, she and Johnny begin to rebuild their shattered lives. As she picks up the pieces of her broken home, Sarah discovers a shocking secret that forces her to doubt everything she thought was true—about her neighbors, her friends, and even her marriage. With each stunning revelation, Sarah must ask herself, Can we ever really know the ones we love?
One to Go
Mike Pace - 2014
Texting while driving across Memorial Bridge, he loses control and crashes into an oncoming minivan carrying his own daughter and three of her friends. The minivan tips up on two wheels, about to flip over into the Potomac. Time freezes, he s alone on the bridge. A young couple approaches and offers him a re-wind. The crash would be averted, the children saved. All he must do is kill someone every two weeks anyone a soul exchange. A moment later, Tom is back in his spinning car, but averts the deadly crash. He laughs about the hallucination, attributing it to bumping his head on the steering wheel when his car came to an abrupt stop. But his encounter wasn t a hallucination. Two weeks later, the minivan driver is brutally murdered. Tom receives a text: one down, four to go. He has never shot much less owned a gun in his life, and now must turn himself into a serial killer or his daughter and her friends will die."
Beyond Hades
Luke Romyn - 2012
Were they just highly imaginative, or was their inspiration from somewhere else?Doctor Talbot Harrison, a professor in archeology, receives a phone call one day which will destroy everything he perceives as reality. His brother has been mysteriously killed and within moments the United States Military appear at his door, literally dragging him from his home. Thrown into a helicopter under intense armed guard, it doesn’t take long until they are attacked by something which cannot possibly exist, something drawn to destroy the one man who can stop the beasts from a land beyond Hades....
Broken Symmetry
Dan Rix - 2013
To her, a mirror feels like a film of honey. She can reach through it, grab things…even step inside.On the other side she lives every teenager’s fantasy: a universe all her own, zero consequences. She can kiss the hot guy, break into La Jolla mansions, steal things…even kill. When finished, she just steps back into reality and smashes the mirror—and in an instant erases every stupid thing she did. Gone. It never happened.But breaking symmetry is also dangerous. First there’s the drug-like rush she gets when passing through the glass, like a shot of adrenaline. She suspects it’s degrading her body, making a new copy of her each time. A reflection of a reflection, each one a little hazier. Then, of course, there’s the risk of getting cut off from reality.When she narrowly escapes a military quarantine zone with the San Diego Police Department hot on her heels only to discover her escape mirror littering the floor in shards, her worst fear is realized. Now, trapped in a broken reflection, she must flee through a mind-bending maze of mirrors, going deeper into the nightmare as she struggles to grasp a betrayal, uncover the chilling truth about her ability, and somehow find a way out of a dead-end universe that “never happened.”Somehow, she must find a way home.
Hellfire
Drew Avera - 2014
Military Science Fiction Short Story Nate is a test pilot for the United States Army. Actually, he is the best damned test pilot period, even with the headaches. The United States is developing a new kind of piloted war machine with the help of Franklin Industries and they have secured some of the most high tech, abrasive equipment on the planet. Does it work? According to the test pilot, it works like a champ. If that's the case, then why is everything shrouded in mystery at the end of Nate's test flight? Furthermore, why does Nate suffer such horrific migraines? Read here to find out!
Black Rain
Matthew B.J. Delaney - 2016
And the hottest consumer products are artificially synthesized humans that serve as everything from domestic slaves to combatants in savage gladiatorial games. For Jack Saxton, the young heir to genetic design powerhouse Genico Inc., these Synthates are just a fact of life…until the murder of a high-profile genetic scientist leads a pair of seasoned NYPD detectives to Genico’s door.As a small band of Synthate rebels steps up its attack on the status quo, Jack encounters a pleasure-parlor girl who opens his eyes to their cause. When he dares to sympathize with the rebels, Jack is hunted down and arrested for the murder. Sentenced to die in the brutal games on Bloomberg Island, Jack will be forced to fight—for his life, for the future of all Synthates, and for a chance to uncover the mind-bending secret buried in his past.
After the Sky
Milo James Fowler - 2020
The world isn't how they left it. When the bunker airlocks release them after twenty years in hibernation, the survivors find a silent, barren world outside. But they are not alone. There is a presence here, alive in the dust—spirits of the earth, benevolent and malicious as they interact with the human remnant. Milton is haunted by a violent past he's unable to escape, despite the superhuman speed the spirits give him. Not interested in bearing the next generation, Daiyna is determined to destroy the flesh-eating mutants lurking in the dark, pierced by her night-vision. Luther is a man of conviction who believes the Creator has offered humankind a second chance, yet he's uncertain they deserve it—and he's perplexed by the talons that flex out of his fingers. Willard is a brilliant engineer-turned-soldier who refuses to leave his bunker, afraid of becoming infected and willing to destroy any obstacle in his way. As their lives collide, the mysteries of this strange new world start unraveling, culminating in the ultimate life-or-death decision one survivor will make for them all. Don't miss this Post Apocalyptic Adventure with a Paranormal Fantasy twist! It's perfect for fans of Stephen King, T.W. Piperbrook, and The Walking Dead.
Day After Disaster
Sara F. Hathaway - 2014
We're seeing a lot of social criticism through literature these days, across all genres, and I think this book definitely contributes to that trend. Movie-wise, this kind of story never goes out of style. I see it as being sort of like the Hunger Games meets the Day After Tomorrow." -MCS Film Review Team“How fragile everything had been. People walked through life everyday taking it all for granted, their cars, their cell phones, their lattes, their dramatic social issues and their medical problems.”She had started her day at her home in the mountains just like any other. There was nothing unusual about making the familiar drive down to Sacramento to go to work. Then in a flash Mother Nature decided it was time to create a new landscape. Follow the journey of a dynamic young woman, mother and wife, Erika, as she is thrust into a world turned upside down by a series of natural disasters. Alone in a city mutilated by disaster, she must navigate the path home, back to her family. Not knowing if they are alive or dead she must call on all of her survival instincts to navigate this broken environment. Will she make it home? Will her family still be alive? What will Mother Nature dish out next?