At her age, she figured most of the good ones were already taken. That was before she met Alex. The sight of him sent shivers down her spine. But what impressed her more was his natural ability to be both strong and sensitive. Was it too good to be true? Could she have finally met the man she would actually marry?Or would his unique proposal send her into a tailspin that she never saw coming?After years of searching for the man who would be her husband, Sara finally stopped looking and moved to a new area to start over with a new life. As luck would have it, that is where she met Alex, the man of her dreams.Alex loved Sara dearly and wanted to marry her and spend the rest of his life caring for and protecting her. But would she agree to his request for a marriage that included domestic discipline?

    When he arrives, he finds the guards shot dead and a ruthless team of American commandos killing everyone in sight. Carmellini escapes in a hail of bullets with what seems to be the sole survivor-a stunningly attractive translator, who then steals his car and abandons him after a deadly mountain car chase. But someone else survived the massacre-someone who holds the answers to a deadly conspiracy.Catapulted into a life and death struggle, Tommy must employ all his savvy and skill just to stay alive. But to find out who is hunting him and why, he'll need the help of retired Admiral Jake Grafton. Now they must learn to tell friend from foe as they fight their way through a poisonous wilderness of intrigue, all the way to a presidential convention in New York City-and to the surprising identity of someone standing on the verge of absolute power who has jeopardized the safety of the entire nation to prevent a dark secret from ever seeing the light of day...

    An oil tanker runs aground in Japan when its navigational system suddenly stops dead. Hospitals everywhere have to abandon their computer databases when patients die after being administered incorrect dosages of their medicine. In the Midwest, a nuclear power plant nearly becomes the next Chernobyl when its cooling systems malfunction.At first, these random computer failures seem like unrelated events. But Jeff Aiken, a former government analyst who quit in disgust after witnessing the gross errors that led to 9/11, thinks otherwise. Jeff fears a more serious attack targeting the U.S. computer infrastructure is already under way. And as other menacing computer malfunctions pop up around the world, some with deadly results, he realizes that there isn't much time if he hopes to prevent an international catastrophe.Written by a global authority on cyber security, Zero Day presents a chilling "what if" scenario that, in a world completely reliant on technology, is more than possible today -- it's a cataclysmic disaster just waiting to happen.

    She’s an assassin without remorse or fear, doing the bidding of an agency so secret that only three people know of its existence. But when her cover gets blown, she becomes the target of a wide-reaching conspiracy led by a mysterious figure whose connection to Chandler goes far beyond what she could have imagined. Now she faces an explosive twenty-four hours—a single day in which everyone she encounters seems hell-bent on ending her life. With any past ally suddenly a possible traitor and every present emotion a weakness for her enemies to exploit, Chandler must tap into her deepest reservoirs of strength and skill in order to survive. But her survival is just the beginning as she confronts a murderous lunatic with a personal agenda, a squad of assassins just as skilled as she is, and a diabolical plot to unleash nuclear holocaust across the globe.Spree:Super spy and assassin Chandler has just barely averted nuclear annihilation when the very organization she works for has her brought in on treason charges, trussed up for interrogation. After a run-in with Chicago Homicide cop Jack Daniels, Chandler discovers one of her sisters, Fleming, has been transferred to a black ops site where the modus operandi is torture and death. Chandler launches a breakneck mission to infiltrate an impossibly secure prison—putting her on a collision course with a squad of violent psychopaths trained to negate her precise skill set. As old enemies reemerge and new ones appear around every corner, Chandler will rely on the help of unexpected allies, including an ex-mob enforcer named Tequila and a firefighter named Lund. But even they may not be enough to stop what lurks within the unlisted military base: a rogue government agency plotting to destabilize the entire nation—and conquer the world.Three:Time is running out for Chandler, the elite assassin whose mission to rescue her sister from a notorious black ops prison landed her at the top of the nation’s Most Wanted list. Burned by her handlers and forced to work with her mortal enemy in a race to preserve the very government that wants her dead, the living weapon has become a ticking time bomb. In saving her sister, Chandler unleashed a power-mad American president dead set on controlling the world—no matter how many millions of innocent people he must kill to do it. To stop him, Chandler will go deeper than she’s ever gone before, pushing her body and mind to their absolute limits. All the while she is hunted by the one man who knows her every secret, her every hiding place—and her every weakness. Infiltrating the White House, crashing a bullfight in Mexico City, hijacking a blimp in Toronto…these are just the beginning of the end, as the Codename: Chandler trilogy races towards its stunning conclusion.

    5,000 words (16 pages).For Bafion, there is no farther to fall. Once a banneret, officer, and gentleman, he is none of those things now. He is a swordsman who has slipped through the cracks of society and is eking out an existence as a thug for hire.Bafion is presented with the opportunity to reclaim some of what was lost to him, but to do so will mean facing part of his past that he would rather forget.The Swordsman of Tanosa is a swashbuckling fantasy short story set in the same world as the Society of the Sword trilogy.

    Concealment. In the shadow of Dimmingwood, she finds temporary protection with a band of forest brigands led by the infamous outlaw Rideon the Red Hand. * * * * * Book 2: Betrayal of Thieves -- Ilan has narrowly escaped her last encounter with the soldiers of the evil Praetor but many of her outlaw friends have not been so fortunate. When her closest companion is dragged off to Selbius for execution, Ilan has no choice but to defy the captain of the forest brigands and journey to the stronghold of her enemies. * * * * * Book 3: Circle of Thieves -- In the wake of a painful betrayal, Ilan abandons her friends among the river people to return to the peace of shadowy Dimmingwood. But things in the forest are not as she left them. A deadly new enemy is attacking the local villagers, threatening the very existence of the forest outlaws. * * * * * Book 4: Redemption of Thieves -- Compelled to join forces with her life-long enemy, the Praetor, Ilan sets out to defend her friends in Dimmingwood from the murderous raiders across the border. But when Ilan, Terrac, and the Fists in their command enter Skeltai territory through a magic portal, they find themselves in more danger than they bargained for.

    The action-packed finale to THE NEW ENEMY. Full story available in hardback on January 1st.

    Stranded in a valley teeming with enemy troops, Sol scrambles to survive and evade capture. Pararescueman Bo Bolick has been given just twenty-four hours to find Sol before a US carpet bombing destroys every living thing in the valley, friend or foe.As Bo’s search intensifies, Minh, a young Hanoi woman who entertains the fighters and travelers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, becomes inextricably caught up in the raging battle between her North Vietnamese troops and the American forces sent to rescue Sol. In the midst of heavy combat, Minh tries to find and understand love for the first time in her life.But the clock is ticking. A curtain of fire is going to descend. The desperate realities of jungle warfare are about to collide with a warrior’s code that says no man will be left behind.

    what happens when you never let go of the ones you love?

    Now highly placed people are trying to silence her about something she witnessed when she was wounded. But she can’t remember what she saw.

    Do you love a good laugh? Enjoy clean rural humor from a farmer's daughter! What happens when a farmer who’s been wishing for a boy ends up with a girlie-girl?Come along on the humorous and sometimes agonizing adventures from a childhood spent on a farm in the Eastern Oregon desert where one family raised hay, wheat, cattle, and a farm girl.

    Fans of Jimm know her from the four novels where, with the help of the members of her strange family, she usually solves the crime. Move over Miss Marple, Jimm Juree does it for the 21st Century. In this story, Jimm, exiled from the north of Thailand and just about surviving in the south, finds a new career by accident. Being Jimm, a crime is never far away. We will be adding to this short story series every couple of months. Collect them all.

    In Sneeze for Danger, a killer is unmasked by unfortunate means, and in The Consolation Blonde, a misunderstanding turns a bestselling author to crime…‘Very smart and memorable . . . both stories are great reminders of a time when McDermid was sharpening her teeth on the crime fiction genre and the great writer she was to become . . . an excellent aperitif before the next McDermid novel’

    When she is blamed for ruining Rachel’s wedding in circumstances beyond her control, Molly decides enough is enough and makes a clean break to Wiltshire to begin a new life. However, the persistent interference of her ex presents difficulties. Can Molly find the courage to stand up for herself and finally move on?

    Each of them will need spirit, courage and immense luck to survive the next forty-eight hours.Corrie Rankin is already a legend at MI6 when he is called back with little regard for the horrors of his recent past. Corrie is sent to take advantage of a chance to take down a high value player in the war against Al Qaeda - and, a chance for the Brits to succeed without begging help from the Americans.The sniper and his spotter who will go with Corrie are less than top team, but the best that can be found if the mission is to stay 'deniable'.And once the three misfits are in-country, they must rely on intelligence brought to them by a young British Jihadi - on the ground and close to the target - and now turned. And, close to him, is an archaeologist digging in the ruins of the Queen of Sheba' civilisation who will be their cut-out contact point.The mission is the brain-child of an apparently old, fat fool in a striped cricket blazer, a sweating figure of fun among the ex-pat community across the border in Muscat. This is Jericho ... not as old or fat or foolish as he appears, nor as harmless.This is Jericho's War. The weapons it deploys, the brutal aims it pursues, are state of the art. The fear it breeds and the raw bravery it demands are as timeless as the desert itself.