Book picks similar to
Thicker Than Soup by Kathryn Joyce


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fiction
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The Wisdom Of Secrets: The Templar Covenant


Ami Noone - 2014
    Although they have been mentioned in the bible and traces of their existence are scattered throughout the globe, Peter Madeloy had always presumed that the myths of the possible existence of an ancient brotherhood, living on Earth for milennia, was nothing more than that, a myth. Until one day his father is brutally murdered and his mother is kidnapped. In exchange for his mother’s safe return, Peter must enter his father’s secret world, uncover the truth about his mother’s kidnappers and find the ancient artefact his father had dedicated his life to protecting. Peter enlists the help of his uncle, Daniel O'Brien, a professor of Philology and avid researcher of veiled organisations and his wife, Emily, a geneticist, to unravel a series of clues his father has left him. Together they embark on a journey that thrusts them into the centre of an ancient battle for supremacy that uncovers a truth that for them, will change the history and future of humanity simultaneously. With the enemy watching their every move Peter, Daniel and Emily must figure out his father's clues in time to save his mother and ultimately protect the world from the true secret that was unearthed from beneath King Solomon's Temple all those centuries ago.

Jack And Di Rum Song (Di Island Song Series, Volume 2)


Anthony Bjorklund - 2011
    The adventures of Jack Danielson continue right where they left off, when our hero inherits a dilapidated rum factory on a tiny island in the Caribbean. Filled with more colorful characters than you can shake a limbo stick at, "Jack And Di Rum Song" is a perfectly mixed concoction for an escape from the ordinary. Just be sure to keep a weather eye open for pirates...

A Place for Violence


Kevin Wignall - 2008
    There's Luke Williams, a young American who's been left in a wheelchair by a drunk driver. Then there's Brian Tully, a wise-cracking bully with connections in Vegas, together with his sheepish family. And finally there's Dan Borowski, an Australian security analyst. Trouble is, Dan isn't there to relax, and though they don't yet know it, nor are any of the others... This short story first appeared in "Storyglossia" in May 2008. Dan Borowski first appeared as a character in "For the Dogs", and this is one of two short stories (the other is "Retrospective") to feature him.

It's a Love Story


Lincee Ray - 2019
    And we love to fall in love. As children we pour our love into our pets and our friends. As teenagers we fall in love with musicians and actors and the boy whose locker is next to ours. As we mature, we long for romantic love that will last a lifetime. Sacrificial love, unexplainable love, familial love, desperate love. Love songs and love stories. Clearly we were created with the longing for love ingrained in our souls.With lots of wit and a bit of wisdom drawn from a lifetime of falling in love, Lincee Ray invites you to an unabashed celebration of that loving feeling. As she reveals the loves of her life and encourages you to recall your own, you'll discover alongside her that there is only one who can ever truly fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts. And he made us to be part of a divine love story.

North of Here


Laurel Saville - 2016
    Dix is kind, dependable, and good with an ax—the right man to help the sheltered Miranda heal—but ultimately, her sadness creates a void even Dix can’t fill.When a man from her distant past turns up, the handsome idealist now known as Darius, he offers Miranda a chance to do meaningful work at The Source, a secluded property filled with his nature worshipers. Miranda feels this charismatic guru is the key to remaking her life, but her grief and desire for love also create an opportunity for his deception. And in her desperate quest to find herself after losing almost everything, Miranda and Dix could pay a higher price than they ever imagined.

A Train to Moscow


Elena Gorokhova - 2022
    When she leaves for Moscow to audition for drama school, she defies her mother and grandparents and abandons her first love, Andrei.Before she leaves, Sasha discovers the hidden war journal of her uncle Kolya, an artist still missing in action years after the war has ended. His pages expose the official lies and the forbidden truth of Stalin’s brutality. Kolya’s revelations and his tragic love story guide Sasha through drama school and cement her determination to live a thousand lives onstage. After graduation, she begins acting in Leningrad, where Andrei, now a Communist Party apparatchik, becomes a censor of her work. As a past secret comes to light, Sasha’s ambitions converge with Andrei’s duties, and Sasha must decide if her dreams are truly worth the necessary sacrifice and if, as her grandmother likes to say, all will indeed be well.

Some People Deserve To Die


Colin Knight - 2013
    Riven by guilt and remorse he runs, but he can’t outrun his conscience. For twenty years, Alan tries to silence his conscience with alcohol and drugs as fate and chance propel him in to the dangerous world of smugglers, nationalists, guerrillas, and mercenaries.Battling alcohol and drug abuse, Alan dodges death and betrayal as life erodes his humanity and transforms him into a merciless killer until, used up and spent, he returns home. Destitute and dysfunctional, a street scuffle brings him eye-to-eye with the men responsible for his heinous crime. Harnessing skills and cruelty learned through a crime and violence-laden life Alan seeks justice for himself and his victim. But when justice has been served, Alan discovers the devastating truth about his crime, his family and himself.

A Pilgrim for Freedom


Michael B. Novakovic - 2016
    It is one part the account of a refugee family who barely survived explosions and hunger while seeking safety during World War II, and includes vivid descriptions of the hardships Mike, his siblings, and parents endured. It is another part the story of an immigrant family who came to the United States (by way of Argentina) after the war and with great ingenuity and industry worked their way up to levels of success that had been unimaginable during the darkest days of war. Finally, it is also the chronicle of a loyal and valiant soldier who sought to pay back his debts to the United States for defeating fascism and communism through distinguished service in the U.S. Air Force's intelligence operations. In sum, it is a riches-to-rags-to-riches story that testifies both to the resilience of one man and to the ideals of the nation that inspired him.

The Borrowed Souls


Paul B. Kohler - 2015
    A failed suicide attempt launches him into a world that continually tests his ability to forgive and forget. With each new soul that he's entrusted to collect, he learns more about himself and his horrific decisions in life. Through the tutelage of his befriended trainer, Jack will be compelled to make decision after decision about who gets to live and who will lose their soul. The Borrowed Souls concludes when Jack comes to a crossroads: continue on with his eternal commitment, or forfeit the tremendous power that has been bestowed upon him. Forever.

The Word Game


Steena Holmes - 2015
    So it’s a big step for her when she lets Lyla attend a sleepover at her cousin’s house. Comforted by the knowledge that her sister, Tricia, is the chaperone, Alyson does the one thing she never thought possible: she lets go and trusts that her daughter will be safe.But Alyson’s sense of peace is short lived. When Lyla comes home the next morning, she reveals something that could tear apart not only their family but also the entire community. Now, Alyson and Tricia must confront their painful shared past as they come together to help a little girl who they fear might be harboring terrible secrets similar to their own. Will the sisters be strong enough to face their demons in order to protect the child, even if it means telling their most private truths?

The Case Of Billy B


Cindy Vine - 2010
    Abandoned by his own mother, rejected by all but his loving father, Billy B is thrust into a silent hell alone, branded a freak and a misfit. Billy becomes the ultimate life spectator in a game of survival. Who can he count on to save him, when all seems lost?

Picture Perfect


Kate Forster - 2015
    She’ll do anything to help them – and herself – get ahead.Actress Maggie Hall has been America’s sweetheart for nearly twenty years. And she’s about to learn that there are two things in life you just can’t fight: growing older and falling in love.Dylan Mercer – young, beautiful and defiant – has run away from New York to try her luck in Hollywood. She’s not after fame and fortune, though. Dylan’s on a quest to find her birth mother.All three women are swept up in the search for the actress who will score the role of a lifetime. But ambition and desire can bring out the worst in people. And in a town built on illusions, believing you can escape your past might just be the biggest deception of all.

Driven to Distraction


Stuart Bone - 2016
    Apparently it’s fine for Scrimshaw Travel to make last minute amendments to the holiday without incurring any penalties or reducing the price in any way. That’s what the indifferent courier tells him on day one of the tour as she arrives in a clapped-out, old coach being driven by a partially-sighted driver. With the spa hotel replaced by a rundown guest house staffed by a neurotic manager, decrepit waitress and under-sexed, Italian waiter there doesn’t appear to be much of the brochure-described holiday left. Thank goodness for Angela, the rather lovely woman Derek pals up with on the journey down. She might just make the trip bearable. If only the other members of the group would leave them alone long enough to get to know each other, but Derek has always had the ability to attract the eccentric characters to him and he can’t escape them. Still, perhaps they’ll surprise him as he learns about their lives and secrets as they move from one hilarious excursion to another. And maybe Angela will provide one or two surprises herself. Driven to Distraction is a fun romp through the English countryside with characters finding love and friendship while travelling at twenty miles an hour. (Well, it is a clapped-out, old coach).

The Exterminators Trilogy: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Box Set


Mark Gillespie - 2018
     And all the people are going mad in the darkness. Has humanity met its match? Or will hope spring from the unlikeliest of places? For the first time ever, The Exterminators Trilogy (Black Storm, Black Fever, Black Earth) is available for you to own in one handy box set. Read this chilling post-apocalyptic horror series from start to finish at your leisure with no waiting in between for the next installment. And when it’s all over, you’ll never take sunlight for granted again… Get The Exterminators Trilogy now!

Breaking Light


Karin Altenberg - 2014
    Returning to this Dartmoor village where he grew up, Gabriel attempts to come to terms with what he lost as a boy so long ago. Slowly the mysteries hidden in this small community on the edge of the moors begin to unravel. But one of Gabriel's memories remains sharper than all the others: that of his boyhood friend Michael, the tenderness of their first summers and the violent betrayal that destroyed it. And, intruding on his self-enforced isolation, the beautiful Mrs Sarobi, meddling Doris Ludgate, and the frightful specter of Jim of Blackaton will become bound in with Gabriel's search for acceptance and the possibility of love. In her striking, lyrical prose, Karin Altenberg imagines what it is to be incomplete. Set in this haunted landscape, a mesmerizing tale is told of the ways in which something once broken in two may, finally, be made whole.