Max


D.M. Mitchell - 2011
    Terrible things. My mind is in a whorl, confused as to what I should relate first. Where to begin? I must describe my cell. After all, it has become my world. Strange, that I who once had the entire globe to choose from, am now confined within a twelve feet by twelve feet boundary." So writes Philip Calder. He is being kept a prisoner, alone, on a remote Scottish island. His life is shrunk to the stifling confines of his small room, a courtyard surrounded by high walls, and the sterile company of two uniformed guards whom he ironically names Morcambe and Wise. He is only allowed a pen and paper to break the monotony. So he writes. He writes about how he came to be there, starting at the beginning, when Maxwell Stone first came into his world.He relates how his world was altered forever when Connie Stone and her ten year old son Max moved into the small mining town of Overthorpe. It's the 1960s, and Connie causes a stir amongst the locals, for wearing bright lipstick, short skirts, and, the worst of all, being a single mother. Calder is at once captivated by her. Philip becomes friends with her son, but it is a strange, volatile relationship. Max is unfathomable, unpredictable, often violent, and as they grow older both Philip and Max vie for one young woman's attention - Ruby. But it's Max's strange fascination with wanting to be Philip Calder, to have his life, his identity, that triggers a series of unpredictable events that will lead to Calder's imprisonment.Gavin Miller is a successful author. He is in possession of Calder's manuscript, having been handed it by the manager of a nursing home called Overton Hall. He knows he must destroy it, because in it is laid bare his own dark secret. In it lies the seeds of his own ruin and why he is irrevocably tied emotionally and physically to the enigmatic Mrs Randolf.But who exactly is Gavin Miller? Who is Mrs Randolf? What is the truth behind Philip Calder's bizarre imprisonment on a remote Scottish island?Max is a brooding novel that twists and turns through the decades to explore the dark workings of a troubled friendship, a diseased mind, and the jealousies and hatred that leads ultimately to madness, deceit and murder.

Either Side of Midnight


Tori de Clare - 2013
    I rate this book as a ten-star and expect to see it as number one on the best selling list for many, many weeks.” Reviewed by Trudi LoPreto for Readers'Favorite.WHAT IF THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE TURNED INTO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE?When nineteen-year-old Naomi Stone is snatched from her husband at knifepoint on the night of their wedding and taken to a deserted cemetery, she knows her life is finished. Drugged and disorientated, she loses consciousness as she lies in an open grave with a gun to her head. But the following day, she mysteriously awakes to find herself unharmed and secured to a bed. She's in a beautiful bedroom in a secluded cottage in open countryside. Only one person knows she’s there – the man in the balaclava who’s holding her, feeding her, revealing nothing. Naomi senses the unfolding of a plan. She should be on honeymoon in the Caribbean. Instead, she’s trapped with an emotionless psycho with no hope of escape . . . And his voice is chillingly familiar.Who is he? What does he want? What's happened to her husband? Where is she? Will anyone find her before it's too late?

A Cold Day For Murder


Dana Stabenow - 1992
    But the world has a way of beating a path to her door, however remote. In the middle of one of the bitterest Decembers in recent memory ex-boss - and ex-lover - Jack Morgan shows up with an FBI agent in tow. A Park ranger with powerful relatives is missing, and now the investigator Jack sent in to look for him is missing, too.Reluctantly, Kate, along with Mutt, her half-wolf, half-husky sidekick, leaves her wilderness refuge to follow a frozen trail through the Park, twenty thousand square miles of mountain and tundra sparsely populated with hunters, fishermen, trappers, mushers, pilots and homesteaders. Her formidable grandmother and Native chief, Ekaterina Shugak, is - for reasons of her own - against Kate's investigation; her cousin, Martin, may be Kate's prime suspect; and the local trooper, Jim Chopin, is more interested in Kate than in her investigation. In the end, the sanctuary she sought after five and a half years in the urban jungles may prove more lethal than anything she left behind in the city streets of Anchorage.

Gray Justice


Alan McDermott - 2011
    But when the killer is let off with time served on remand, Gray knows there is something fundamentally wrong with the justice system. Engaging the help of his ex-SAS buddies, he kidnaps five repeat offenders and asks the public to vote on their fate: Should they be allowed to continue their criminal ways with inadequate punishment, or has Britain had enough?His website attracts a worldwide audience and, although the authorities know where he is, they are powerless to stop him.Can Gray carry out his audacious plan? Will Andrew Harvey and his fellow MI5 operatives find a way to stop him?Gray Justice is more than a simple tale of revenge: it’s a rollercoaster ride with an ending you’ll never forget.

Take No More


Seb Kirby - 2013
    As the prime suspect, he flees England and sets out on a journey that takes him to Florence and Venice and into a dark underworld of corruption, a trail that will lead him to the killer - and the shocking truth behind the mystery.

Free of Malice


Liz Lazarus - 2016
    She manages to defend herself from the would-be rapist, though he threatens to return as he retreats. Traumatized with recurring nightmares, Laura seeks therapy and is exposed to a unique treatment called EMDR. She also seeks self-protection— buying a gun against the wishes of her husband. When Laura learns she could have gone to prison had she shot her fleeing assailant, she decides to write a hypothetical legal case using the details of that night. She enlists the help of criminal defense lawyer, Thomas Bennett, who proves to be well versed in the justice system but has an uncanny resemblance to her attacker. As the two work together to develop the story, Laura’s discomfort escalates particularly when Thomas seems to know more about that night than he should. Reality and fiction soon merge as her real life drama begins to mirror the fiction she’s trying to create.

The Edge of Normal


Carla Norton - 2013
    She’s finally landed her own apartment, she waitresses to pay the bills, and she wishes she wasn’t so nervous around new people. She thinks of herself as agile, not skittish. As serious, not grim. But Reeve is anything but normal. Ten years ago, she was kidnapped and held captive. After a lucky escape, she’s spent the last six years trying to rebuild her life, a recovery thanks in large part to her indispensable therapist Dr. Ezra Lerner. But when he asks her to help another girl rescued from a similar situation, Reeve realizes she may not simply need to mentor this young victim—she may be the only one who can protect her from a cunning predator who is still out there, watching every move.From the author of the #1 non-fiction bestseller Perfect Victim: The True Story of the Girl in the Box comes a novel that draws you into a chilling and engrossing world. With masterful plot twists and shifting points of view that make it as irresistible as Gone Girl, Carla Norton's The Edge of Normal is a stunning debut thriller.

Outside the Law


Phillip Thompson - 2017
     Sheriff Colt Harper lives by his own moral code. His relentless crusade against drug crimes in his rural Mississippi county infuriates a Memphis mobster who sends Hack, his cold-blooded assassin, to stop him. ATF Special Agent Molly McDonough, looking to save her troubled career, follows Hack’s trail of corpses to Harper’s turf. The fates of Harper, McDonough and Hack collide in a bloody, brutal showdown for justice, redemption and survival that can only be fought outside the law. "Outside The Law is a winner in the tradition of Justified and Walking Tall. There’s right and there’s wrong and the no man’s land in between. Thompson explores them all, but it’s the reader who gets the big payoff in the end." Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author of Robert B. Parker’s Debt To Pay "If you’re a fan of Justified you're going to love Outside the Law. Sheriff Colt Harper is an old-West gunfighter in the modern world. The action doesn’t stop." David Morrell, New York Times Bestselling author of FIRST BLOOD and creator of the legendary character Rambo. "Pure entertainment with an edge. The guy can write!" Linwood Barclay, New York Times bestselling author

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.

Prime Target


Ellis Vidler - 2014
    Madeleine Schier heeds her husband's panicked call and runs home, only to witness his brutal murder by a crime boss and become a target herself. Under police security, she vows to testify. But when the police protecting her are killed, the last of her NYC life disintegrates, leaving her no place to hide. She flees, relying on her wits and imagination to survive on a dangerous journey to become someone else. Who can she trust? The helpful widower who advises her on farming? The damaged recluse who's always near? The neighbor who brings cherry pie? With the murderer still searching, one wrong move could be her last.

Submerged


Cheryl Kaye Tardif - 2013
    But his family isn't the only thing he has lost. An addiction to painkillers has taken away his career as a paramedic. Working as a 911 operator is now the closest he gets to redemption—until he gets a call from a woman trapped in a car.Rebecca Kingston yearns for a quiet weekend getaway, so she can think about her impending divorce from her abusive husband. When a mysterious truck runs her off the road, she is pinned behind the steering wheel, unable to help her two children in the back seat. Her only lifeline is a cell phone with a quickly depleting battery and a stranger's calm voice on the other end telling her everything will be all right.*SUBMERGED has a unique tie-in to Tardif`s international bestseller, CHILDREN OF THE FOG.

The Dirty Secrets Club


Meg Gardiner - 2008
    A superstar 49er jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. And most shocking of all, a U.S. attorney launches her BMW off a highway overpass, killing herself and three others.Enter forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, hired by the SFPD to cut open not the victim’s body, but the victim’s life. Jo’s job is to complete the psychological autopsy, shedding light on the circumstances of any equivocal death. Soon she makes a shocking discovery: All the suicides belonged to something called the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of A-listers with nothing but money and plenty to hide. As the deaths continue, Jo delves into the disturbing motives behind this shadowy group—until she receives a letter that contains a dark secret Jo thought she’d left deep in her past, a secret that ends with the most chilling words of all: “Welcome to the Dirty Secrets Club.”Praise for Meg Gardiner:“If you read Sue Grafton, Lee Child, Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly, or Nelson DeMille, you’re going to think Meg Gardiner is a gift from heaven.” —Stephen King“A winner in every way. The Dirty Secrets Club is nuanced and layered—and a harrowing thriller.… Meg Gardiner makes every one of her characters leap alive off the page.” —Jeffery Deaver“Meg Gardiner is an astonishing writer, and The Dirty Secrets Club is a humdinger of a thriller, with shocks and twists galore. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.” —Tess Gerritsen

Footprints


Rosen Trevithick - 2010
    However, cracks start to form, causing Jenna to ask some startling questions and she sets off to Cornwall to find answers.At first the people of Bosdower are welcoming and friendly, but Jenna slowly finds herself drawn into a web of unrequited passions, abduction and perhaps, even murder.

In Sheep's Clothing


L.D. Beyer - 2015
    One man vows to protect him. One man vows to destroy him. Caught in a game of chess he didn’t know he was playing until it was too late, the President makes the only move he can, plunging Washington and the nation into chaos. Stunned and reeling, Vice President David Kendall takes the oath of office and tries to heal a nation in mourning. But what the new president doesn’t realize is that things in the White House aren’t always what they appear to be, and sometimes what looks like the best option may turn out to be the worst. When one fatal decision triggers consequences he never envisioned, President Kendall finds himself caught up in the same game that cost his predecessor his life. Although there was nothing he could have done, Secret Service Agent Matthew Richter is haunted by the death of the man he had vowed to protect. When his girlfriend dumps him and his boss tells him that his job is on the line, he thinks his life cannot get any worse. He soon realizes how wrong he is when he finds himself fighting to save another president from the deadly forces that he has unwittingly unleashed. This new release by L.D. Beyer is a fast-paced, action-packed political thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Long Bright River


Liz Moore - 2020
    Then, one of them goes missing.In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling. Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.