Book picks similar to
The Devil's Masterpiece by Rain Hanley
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PUSHING UP PURPLE DAISIES
Amanda Glenn - 2011
Three times married, twice widowed, once divorced, she live beach side on the Oregon coast. The purchase of a bargain lid for her septic tank occasions the discovery of the body of a local real estate developer/good old boy. The local sheriff, a poker playing buddy of the deceased could be the killer The sheriff likes her friend Rob, the business partner of the dead man for the deed.
Beautiful Animals
Lawrence Osborne - 2017
Naomi, the daughter of a wealthy British art collector who has owned a villa in the exclusive hills for decades, convinces Sam, a younger American girl on vacation with her family, to help this stranger. As the two women learn more about the man, a migrant from Syria and a casualty of the crisis raging across the Aegean Sea, their own burgeoning friendship intensifies. But when their seemingly simple plan to help Faoud unravels all must face the horrific consequences they have set in motion.
The Child Thief
Dan Smith - 2012
Luka is a veteran of the First World War and the Russian Civil War. All he wants now is a quiet life with his wife, twin sons and young daughter. Their small village has, so far, managed to remain hidden from the advancing Soviet brutality and labour camp deportations. But everything changes the day the stranger arrives, pulling a sled bearing the bodies of two children. In a fervour, the villagers lynch the stranger, despite Luka's protests. But when calm is restored, the mob leader, Dimitri, discovers his daughter has vanished. Luka is the only man with the skills to find who could have stolen a child in these frozen white wastelands - and besides, the missing girl is best friends with Luka's daughter Lara, and he promises her that he will find her friend and bring her home. Together with his sons and Dimitri, Luka sets out in pursuit across lands ravaged by war and gripped by treachery. Soon they realise that the man they are tracking is a no ordinary criminal, but a skilful hunter with the kidnapped child as the bait in his violent game. It will take all of Luka's strength to battle the harshest of conditions, and all of his wit to stay a step ahead of Soviet authorities. And though his toughest enemy is the man he tracks, his strongest bond is a whispered promise to his family back at home.
The Full Series, Vol. 2
Janet Evanovich - 2006
Full of fun! From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich comes the Full Series #2 boxed set, containing one copy each of Full Blast, Full Bloom, and Full Scoop.
Kicking The Habit
Kari Lee Townsend - 2013
When the Feds swarm into the small, eccentric town of New Hope, Massachusetts, seeking answers, Army Ranger turned police detective Ace Jackson finds himself sidelined. He isn’t thrilled when he’s assigned to nun-sit while the investigation unfolds, ordered to keep his disconcertingly attractive charge safe at all costs.That turns out to be easier said than done when Sister Mary Sleuth drags Ace through a series of misadventures and crazy encounters as she attempts to solve the case herself, despite a ruthless assassin who keeps popping up to take potshots at her.
The Sweet Taste of Muscadines
Pamela TerryPamela Terry - 2021
Both Lila and her brother, Henry, fled north after high school, establishing fulfilling lives of their own. In contrast, their younger sister, Abigail, opted to remain behind to dote on their domineering, larger-than-life mother, Geneva. Yet despite their independence, Lila and Henry know deep down that they've never quite reckoned with their upbringing.When their elderly mother dies suddenly and suspiciously in the muscadine arbor behind the family estate, Lila and Henry return to the town that essentially raised them. But as they uncover more about Geneva's death, shocking truths are revealed that overturn the family's history as they know it, sending the pair on an extraordinary journey to chase a truth that will dramatically alter the course of their lives. The Sweet Taste of Muscadines reminds us all that true love never dies.
Age of the Seer
Michael Joseph Murano - 2014
Six years later, in order to win his freedom and return home, Ahiram enters the elite Games of the Mines. Pursued relentlessly by his enemies and driven to the limit of his endurance, Ahiram unwittingly awakens a dormant fury within him, and its resonance is caught by a hidden malice that turns the Games into a living nightmare. Refusing to submit to a cruel tyranny, Ahiram must face a harrowing death in the bowels of the earth. Still, a glimmer of hope remains. For deep within the mines, between stone and gold, a power–unlike anything the world has seen–quietly calls his name.
The City of Good Death
Priyanka Champaneri - 2021
He lives and works contentedly with his wife, Shobha, their young daughter, Rani, the hostel priests, his hapless but winning assistant Mohan, and the constant flow of families with their dying kin. But one day the past arrives in the form of a body pulled from the river—a man with an uncanny resemblance to Pramesh.Called “twins” in their childhood village, he and his cousin Sagar are inseparable until Pramesh leaves to see the outside world and Sagar stays to tend the land. After Pramesh marries Shobha, defying his family’s wishes, a rift opens between the cousins that he has willed himself to forget. Yet for Shobha, Sagar’s reemergence casts a shadow over the life she’s built for her family. Soon, an unwelcome guest takes up residence in the death hostel, the dying mysteriously continue to live, and Pramesh is forced to confront his own ideas about death, rebirth, and redemption.Told in lush, vivid detail and with an unforgettable cast of characters, The City of Good Death is a remarkable debut novel of family and love, memory and ritual, and the ways in which we honor the living and the dead.
Patriarch Run
Benjamin Dancer - 2014
Bold, beautifully written, and surprising." - Marcus Sakey, bestselling author of THE BRILLIANCE TRILOGYNine years ago, Jack Erikson was deployed to China to protect the United States from a cyberattack. Now, suffering from a drug-induced amnesia, he is unable to recognize his own son. What Jack knows for sure is that an elite group of operators is determined to kill him. What he does not yet remember is that he controls a cyber-weapon powerful enough to return human civilization to the Stone Age. If Jack lives long enough to piece together his mission and his identity, he will be forced to choose between the fate of humankind and that of his own family. Readers of Cormac McCarthy and Peter Heller will appreciate both the suspense and the Western setting. In his thrilling literary debut, Benjamin Dancer also explores the timeless themes of fatherhood and the fraying fabric of global stability."Patriarch Run accomplishes something few thrillers have achieved: it gets the guns right, and it gets the psychology of the gunfight right. Benjamin Dancer writes the gunfight scenes with a realism seldom seen in fiction." —Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, author, ON KILLING"Unsparing, violent and cinematic, Patriarch Run starts with a bang and doesn't let up. Benjamin Dancer is an immensely talented writer; his assured, lean prose and stark realism will appeal to fans of Cormac McCarthy and Don Winslow." -A. J. Banner, author, THE GOOD NEIGHBOR"Benjamin Dancer tells a story that moves at breakneck speed and draws you into the mind of a madman. The story is packed with realistic gunfights, and the bad guy presents an apocalyptic vision that haunts us because of how easily his nightmare can become our reality." —Scott Pratt, author, AN INNOCENT CLIENT"A seemingly futuristic story about a new way of warfare, played out against a seemingly futuristic background of disillusioned patriotism, divided personal loyalties, and identity crisis—except Dancer understands that the future is now!” —Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, Executive Director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, author, BLACKOUT WARS “From the first page, Patriarch Run will hook you, reel you in, pull you out of the pond, and leave you gasping for breath at the bottom of the rowboat!” —Gregory Hill, author, EAST OF DENVER“Benjamin Dancer has illustrated that our greatest villain is overpopulation. Can the global community confront this most daunting adversary--too many people on a limited planet?" —Paul R. Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies Emeritus, President, Center for Conservation Biology“Overpopulation isn't just one more environmental problem: if there weren't so many of us, there wouldn't even be environmental problems. Fortunately, this one is solvable, humanely and surprisingly cheaply. I hope that once the blood from this dark spy saga dries, Dancer's readers are inspired to inquire how. They just might find their hopes rekindled." —Alan Weisman, author, THE WORLD WITHOUT US
At the Edge of the Haight
Katherine Seligman - 2021
She knows whom to trust, where to eat, when to move locations, and how to take care of her dog. It’s the only home she has. When she unwittingly witnesses the murder of a young homeless boy and is seen by the perpetrator, her relatively stable life is upended. Suddenly, everyone from the police to the dead boys’ parents want to talk to Maddy about what she saw. As adults pressure her to give up her secrets and reunite with her own family before she meets a similar fate, Maddy must decide whether she wants to stay lost or be found. Against the backdrop of a radically changing San Francisco, a city which embraces a booming tech economy while struggling to maintain its culture of tolerance, At the Edge of the Haight follows the lives of those who depend on makeshift homes and communities. As judge Hillary Jordan says, “This book pulled me deep into a world I knew little about, bringing the struggles of its young, homeless inhabitants—the kind of people we avoid eye contact with on the street—to vivid, poignant life. The novel demands that you take a close look. If you knew, could you still ignore, fear, or condemn them? And knowing, how can you ever forget?”
Skin Trade
Mason Sabre - 2019
They call them Blood Auctions, where vampires auction off blood slaves to the highest bidders. Fresh blood is passed amongst them all. Payton is a blood slave. Seth is a vampire, and as one of the most powerful bloodsuckers in the city, but for some reason, he’s got his eye on Payton and is willing to pay anything for her.
A Good Fuck Spoiled
Laura Lippman - 2008
The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories—and reveals another level of mastery.Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel—to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.Each of these ingenious tales is a gem—sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.
Out Of The Shadows
Tessa Van Wade - 2021
It is not a random attack, as she soon discovers. The stranger who rescues her tells her she’s part of a hidden race of people whose oppressive government is on the verge of a violent uprising. Against her will, she is drawn into a maze of deception and conspiracy, which defies everything she has ever known. As she attempts to separate fact from fiction, she becomes too entrenched to retreat. Her only hope is to discover the truth before it is too late. In this first installment of The Velieri Uprising, newfound novelist Tessa Van Wade, creates a deeply layered world of unforgettable characters in a fast-paced struggle for survival.
Invisible
Carla Buckley - 2012
Growing up, Dana Carlson and her older sister, Julie, are inseparable—Dana the impulsive one, Julie calmer and more nurturing. But then a devastating secret compels Dana to flee from home, not to see or speak to her sister for sixteen years. When she receives the news that Julie is seriously ill, Dana knows that she must return to their hometown of Black Bear, Minnesota, to try and save her sister. Yet she arrives too late, only to discover that Black Bear has changed, and so have the people in it. Julie has left behind a shattered teenage daughter, Peyton, and a mystery—what killed Julie may be killing others, too. Why is no one talking about it? Dana struggles to uncover the truth, but no one wants to hear it, including Peyton, who can’t forgive her aunt’s years-long absence. Dana had left to protect her own secrets, but Black Bear has a secret of its own—one that could tear apart Dana’s life, her family, and the whole town.
Mr. X
Clarissa Wild - 2014
X is ready for you, but are you ready for him?USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR Clarissa Wild brings you Mr. X, a dark Romance thriller, which is a stand alone without cliffhanger.*Author Note: This is not your average romance story. Some people will kill for love.*He’s come to kill me.I’m a user and abuser of my own body. In my darkest hour I sold my soul to the devil and now I must pay the price. With his gun to my head I have no choice but to listen and obey, but I refuse to go down easily. Nothing is stronger than the will to survive. My instincts kicked into full gear the second he stepped into my motel room.Except when I look at him I see my own heart staring back at me. A history tainted by blood.I don’t know his name, but I know he wants me. To save myself I’ll sacrifice my sanity. My body. My soul. Something tells me the x-shaped scar that marks his eye is the only escape I have. He is Mr. X: the man who comes to claim my life. Can I save myself before he demands my heart?WARNING: This book contains very disturbing situations, strong language, drugs and alcohol, and graphic violence.No Cliffhanger. Complete at 90800 words. Stand Alone.