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The Forbidden Place


Susanne Jansson - 2018
    . .In the remote Swedish wetlands lies Mossmarken: the village on the edge of the mire where, once upon a time, people came to leave offerings to the gods.Biologist Nathalie came in order to study the peat bogs. But she has a secret: Mossmarken was once her home, a place where terrible things happened. She has returned at last, determined to confront her childhood trauma and find out the truth.Soon after her arrival, she finds an unconscious man out on the marsh, his pockets filled with gold -- just like the ancient human sacrifices. A grave is dug in the mire, which vanishes a day after. And as the police investigate, the bodies start to surface . . .Is the mire calling out for sacrifices, as the superstitious locals claim? Or is it an all-too-human evil?Richly atmospheric and haunting to the last page, Susanne Jansson's stunning debut is a gripping tale of the power of nature to shape our reality, the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world, and the terrible consequences they may have. This international sensation will captivate fans of the celebrated suspense fiction of Jane Harper or Tana French.In the North Swedish wetlands lies Mossmarken: the village on the edge of the mire where, once upon a time, people came to leave offerings to the gods.Biologist Nathalie has come to the village to study the peat bogs, but she has a secret: Mossmarken was once her home. She has finally returned, determined to confront her childhood trauma and uncover the truth behind the terrible things that happened.Soon after her arrival, Nathalie finds an unconscious man out on the marsh, his pockets filled with gold - just like the ancient human sacrifices. A grave is dug in the mire, which vanishes a day after. And as the police investigate, the bodies begin to surface . . .Is the mire calling out for sacrifices, as the superstitious locals claim? Or is it an all-too-human evil?An international sensation, The Forbidden Place is a gripping tale of the power of nature in shaping our reality; the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world and the lasting consequences they may have.

The Dirty Streets of Heaven


Tad Williams - 2012
    He knows a lot about sin, and not just in his professional capacity as an advocate for souls caught between Heaven and Hell. Bobby's wrestling with a few deadly sins of his own -- pride, anger, even lust.But his problems aren't all his fault. Bobby can't entirely trust his heavenly superiors, and he's not too sure about any of his fellow earthbound angels either, especially the new kid that Heaven has dropped into their midst, a trainee angel who asks too many questions. And he sure as hell doesn't trust the achingly gorgeous Countess of Cold Hands, a mysterious she-demon who seems to be the only one willing to tell him the truth.When the souls of the recently departed start disappearing, catching both Heaven and Hell by surprise, things get bad very quickly for Bobby D. "End-of-the-world" bad. "Beast of Revelations" bad. Caught between the angry forces of Hell, the dangerous strategies of his own side, and a monstrous undead avenger that wants to rip his head off and suck out his soul, Bobby's going to need all the friends he can get--in Heaven, on Earth, or anywhere else he can find them.You've never met an angel like Bobby Dollar. And you've never read anything like The Dirty Streets of Heaven. Brace yourself -- the afterlife is weirder than you ever believed.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea


J.L. Murray - 2012
    They don’t often haunt people or places for revenge, and as far as I know they don’t befriend lonely children. Usually. If you could see them, you might not even know them from some of the living. Empty-eyed and looking around at the world like they can’t believe it’s all still there and going on without them. Or maybe they’re seeing it for the first time. This city is full of ghosts. I can see them all. Lucky me.”Niki Slobodian sees things – things that aren't supposed to be there. Labeled an Abnormal by New Government, her name is tacked onto the Registry, which seems to be getting longer these days. Now she can't work or she'll end up the same place as her father: in prison. But with no money coming in, Niki's getting desperate. So when a mysterious client offers to get her off the Registry in exchange for taking his case, Niki jumps at the chance. All she has to do is round up a homicidal Dark that's escaped from Hell and is cruising around the city in borrowed bodies. The murders are piling up, with Niki's notorious father somehow involved, and Niki's running out of time. And it seems the Dark isn't the only thing that escaped...

The Hollow City


Dan Wells - 2011
    That’s bad enough. But what can he do if some of the monsters he sees turn out to be real?

A Kiss Before Dying


Ira Levin - 1953
    Now a modern classic, as gripping in its tautly plotted action as it is penetrating in its exploration of a criminal mind, it tells the shocking tale of a young man who will stop at nothing--not even murder--to get where he wants to go. For he has dreams; plans. He also has charm, good looks, sex appeal, intelligence. And he has a problem. Her name is Dorothy; she loves him, and she's pregnant. The solution may demand desperate measures. But, then, he looks like the kind of guy who could get away with murder. Compellingly, step by determined step, the novel follows this young man in his execution of one plan he had neither dreamed nor foreseen. Nor does he foresee how inexorably he will be enmeshed in the consequences of his own extreme deed.

The Troupe


Robert Jackson Bennett - 2012
    Yet as he chases down his father's troupe, he begins to understand that their performances are strange even for vaudeville: for wherever they happen to tour, the very nature of the world seems to change.Because there is a secret within Silenus's show so ancient and dangerous that it has won him many powerful enemies. And it's not until after he joins them that George realizes the troupe is not simply touring: they are running for their lives.And soon...he is as well.

Amokspiel


Sebastian Fitzek - 2007
    "Good morning, Berlin. It’s 7.35 AM. And you’re listening to your biggest nightmare." Today, renowned criminal psychologist Ira Samin is going to die. The grief from her daughter's death has been too overwhelming, and she just can't go on any longer. She's planned every detail meticulously. She's going to go out on her own terms, with a drink in hand to toast to oblivion. But fate has other plans for her. A psychopath has taken over the city's leading radio station and is holding everyone inside hostage. For each hostage, he calls a number from the phonebook, at random. If they answer with a specific slogan, a hostage goes free. If they don't, a hostage dies. So the police call in Ira to negotiate. The man has only one demand: he will stop his twisted game once his fiancée is brought to him. His fiancée who has been dead for months...

Bloodman


Robert Pobi - 2012
    As a massive hurricane approaches the Eastern Seaboard, FBI consultant Jake Cole must return to Montauk to care for his father, formerly a brilliant painter, now in the grip of madness. When a twisted serial killer strikes nearby, the local sheriff is ill equipped to battle an increasingly bold killer. Soon Jake finds himself dragged into the bloody case, all the while trying to care for a father he never wanted to see again. As bodies pile up and the storm edges closer, Jake rushes to keep his family from harm and find the killer. It’s a race against the clock, and there are forces at work that could end up pushing Jake permanently into the dark. Robert Pobi’s brilliant debut thriller, Bloodman, is twisted, gritty, and utterly compelling. Slated for publication in nine countries, Bloodman is poised to take the world by storm.

The Town


Bentley Little - 1997
    Population: 200...199...198...197...Gregory Tomasov has returned with his family to the quaint Arizona community of his youth. In McGuane, the air is clean, the land is unspoiled. Nothing much has changed. Except now, no one goes out after dark. And no one told Gregory that he shouldn't have moved into the old abandoned farm on the edge of town. Once upon a time something bad happened there. Something that's now buried in its walls. Something now reborn in the nightmares of Gregory's young son. Something about to be unleashed. What happened once is going to happen again in...The Town. You can't go home again.

The Medea Complex


Rachel Florence Roberts - 2013
    1885. Anne Stanbury wakes up in a strange bed, having been kidnapped from her home. As the panic settles in, she realizes she has been committed to a lunatic asylum, deemed insane and therefore unfit to stand trial for an unspeakable crime. But all is not as it seems…. Edgar Stanbury, her husband as well as a grieving father, is torn between helping his confined wife recover her sanity and seeking revenge for his ruined life. But Anne’s future rests wholly in the hands of Dr. George Savage, chief medical officer of Bethlem Royal Hospital. The Medea Complex is the darkly compelling story of a lunatic, a lie, and a shocking revelation that elucidates the difference between madness and evil….

Strange Bodies


Marcel Theroux - 2013
    So when a man claiming to be Nicholas turns up to visit an old girlfriend, deception seems the only possible motive.Yet nothing can make him change his story.From the secure unit of a notorious psychiatric hospital, he begins to tell his tale: an account of attempted forgery that draws the reader towards an extraordinary truth – a metaphysical conspiracy that lies on the other side of madness and death.With echoes of Jorge Luis Borges, Philip K. Dick, Mary Shelley,Dostoevsky’s Double, and George Eliot’s The Lifted Veil, StrangeBodies takes the reader on a dizzying speculative journey that poses questions about identity, authenticity, and what it means to be truly human.

The Doll Collector


Joanne Stephen-Ward - 2018
    Utterly brilliant." Marjorie Hall-Venmore - reviewer A couple and their young son burn to death in a house fire. A girl dies from a nut allergy. A woman falls under a train during the rush hour. An accountant falls down the steps to his basement.Their deaths appear to be accidents but Gloria knows they were murdered because she murdered them. And every time Gloria kills she buys a doll.But how many dolls will she need to keep her satisfied?When Gloria takes a room as a lodger her behaviour starts to spin out of control. Gloria wants love and happiness and friendship and she will do anything she can to get what she wants... What everyone is saying about The Doll Collector: "Amazing book. Loved it from beginning to end." Tracey Shults - reviewer"The ending was a real twist and I did not see it coming" Michelle Debnam - reviewer"OMG. A crime book with a difference." Nicki's Book Blog"The Doll Collector is one hell of a creepy read that is sure to give you goosebumps." Chelle's Book Reviews"I highly recommend this book.... a breath of fresh air and not too graphic." Peggy Beaver - reviewer"OMG I loved this twisty and creepy read which had a couple of twists I just didn't see coming!" Sandra Robinson - reviewer The Doll Collector is a twisty and gripping serial killer thriller. It will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers, as well as fans of authors like Mel Sherratt, Sharon Bolton, Jenny Blackhurst and Rachel Abbott.

The Carrion Birds


Urban Waite - 2013
    A widower and father who has made some tragic mistakes, he's got one good thing going for him: he's calm, cool, and efficient under pressure, usually with a gun in his hand. A useful skill to have when you're paid to hurt people who stand in your boss's way.But Ray isn't sure he wants to be that man anymore. He wants to go home to Coronado, New Mexico, to see the twelve-year-old son he hopes will recognize him. He wants to make a new life far from the violence of the last ten years. One last job will take him there. All he has to do is steal a rival's stash. Simple, easy, clean.Ray knows there's no such thing as easy, and sure enough, the first day ends in a catastrophic mess. Now, the runners who have always moved quietly through this idyllic desert town on the Mexican border want answers. And revenge. Short on time, with no one to trust but himself, Ray must come up with a clever plan or Coronado's newly appointed lady sheriff will have a vicious bloodbath on her hands.Relentlessly paced and beautifully orchestrated, with refreshingly real, vulnerable, and very human characters and a vivid sense of place, The Carrion Birds is an unsettling and indelible work of literary noir in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy, Elmore Leonard, and Dennis Lehane.

Rafe and the Redhead


Gerry Bartlett - 2015
    Clair’s bodyguard Valdez. Now see what happens when he gets his own story in Rafe and the Redhead. When his best friend gets married, Rafael Valdez realizes it’s time to get his own life in order. His lady, were-cat Lacy, is pregnant and he needs to step up before the babies, triplets, are born. Lacy figures he’s only willing to give her a ring because his true love is no longer available. Rafe is determined to woo and win Lacy. But before that can happen, he’s taken away at gunpoint to his dying grandfather’s bedside. He’d left his shape-shifter clan centuries ago and never wanted to return, but Grandfather needs him now. Can Rafe help save the old man and the clan? Will a woman with an agenda come between Lacy and Rafe? And how can a were-cat and a shape-shifter find their own happily ever after when the families from both sides are dead set against their union? Read Rafe and the Redhead to find out.

Seven Minutes to Noon


Kate Pepper - 2005
    But when Lauren doesn't come home, then fails to pick her son up from school, a normal day turns into a nightmare-and Alice begins to realize that nothing will ever be ordinary again.A GROWING FEARThe police desperately search for Lauren, who is nearly nine months pregnant. Alice, herself pregnant, realizes she's being followed and has the creeping fear that she and her unborn twins are in danger. As the investigation intensifies, Alice is shocked as her familiar world begins to unravel. And as new life grows within her, she must fight to save her family-and herself..