Book picks similar to
China Star by Bartle Bull


historical-fiction
fiction
russia
mystery

Secret of the Himalayan Treasure


Divyansh Mundra - 2017
    THE GREATEST TREASURE IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. THE MOST EPIC MYSTERY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.When the richest man of India confesses to being part of a secret society in a live press conference; chaos ensues. His daughter Aanya Vashishtha takes the help of Aarav Kohrrathi, a brilliant but egoistic treasure hunter and his friend Rehann to solve the mystery of The Ring of the Seven, a society of influential men who are tasked to protect the greatest treasure in history. What starts off as a quest to uncover her father’s secret leads them to something bigger which they themselves couldn’t have fathomed. They take help from her father’s associate, Shayna Maheshwari, a billionaire banker and someone herself involved with the secret, as they progress towards a treasure hidden somewhere in the Himalayas.They brave bullets, puzzles, deadly chases, cult of assassins, and betrayal as their quest takes them across the length and breadth of South Asia; from the bustling metropolises of Mumbai and Delhi to the ancient temples of Nepal; from the serene beaches of Sri Lanka to the towering mountains of the Himalayas. They try to uncover a set of secret books of ancient wisdom, which are believed to reveal the map of the treasure, and strive to discover the identities of the masters of The Ring of the Seven to solve the penultimate mystery.In a tale of love and loss, logic and emotions, religion and history, action and adventure, and the trial of a few good men against the most powerful organization in the history of mankind; will Aarav and his companions be able to uncover the secret of the Himalayan Treasure?

Lost Boy Found


Kirsten Alexander - 2019
    Originally published in Australia as Half Moon Lake.In 1913, on a summer's day at Half Moon Lake, Louisiana, four-year-old Sonny Davenport walks into the woods and never returns. The boy's mysterious disappearance from the family's lake house makes front-page news in their home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential, and will do anything to find their son. For two years, the Davenports search across the South, offer increasingly large rewards and struggle not to give in to despair. Then, at the moment when all hope seems lost, the boy is found in the company of a tramp. But is he truly Sonny Davenport? The circumstances of his discovery raise more questions than answers. And when Grace Mill, an unwed farm worker, travels from Alabama to lay claim to the child, newspapers, townsfolk, even the Davenports' own friends, take sides. As the tramp's kidnapping trial begins, and two desperate mothers fight for ownership of the boy, the people of Opelousas discover that truth is more complicated than they'd ever dreamed.

The Professor: Book 2


Alexandria Clarke - 2017
    Her team of unexpected allies harbors its own destructive secrets, leading Nicole on a dangerous mission to the heart of the society. As time and options dwindle, can Nicole make one last stand to save herself and her friends?

The Eleventh Hour: The Enlightened Ones


Kathryn Dionne - 2012
    As she begins to translate the writings she realizes three very important facts. This is a book of prophecy foretelling the end times; it is the personal diary of Jesus Christ; and she has been chosen to save mankind from the next cataclysmic event. But when she discovers a small piece of fabric tucked inside the scroll, she and her husband David, a geneticist, are propelled into a life of science, secrecy and government conspiracy.

Hot Siberian


Gerald A. Browne - 1989
    Browne’s thrilling, atmospheric novel Nikolai Borodin has been assigned to the Soviet diamond export agency’s London station for one purpose only: to keep in close touch with the System, the ruthless worldwide diamond cartel headquartered at 11 Harrowhouse Street. Recently the System has been buying large quantities of one-carat diamonds mined in Siberia. But now contraband from the same source is showing up on the market, and the System wants the smugglers stopped.   Nikolai knows the System suspects him and his beautiful, spendthrift British girlfriend, Vivian. Determined to find the secret path along which the diamonds flow, Nikolai and Vivian discover something far more terrifying—apocalyptic secrets that spell sudden death.

Melt


Shane M. Brown - 2013
    A schoolboy. A CEO. A UPS delivery driver. A retired schoolteacher. A computer gamer. A hunter. They are just everyday people with nothing in common.No ransom is demanded. No one knows why they are taken. And no one could possibly imagine the horrors they've been chosen to face. Given no instructions, totally isolated from the outside world, all they find is ice.From the moment they awaken, the ice begins to melt and their terrifying struggle for survival begins. The ice will push them beyond their limits of endurance. It will reveal their personal secrets. It will torture them in ways they hadn't imagined possible, but it is also their only hope of escape.As cryptic patterns emerge, the ice reveals its rules. Rules they must obey or die. Thrust into the most horrifying ordeal of their lives, seven strangers must band together to survive. But as the ice melts, what they find inside begins to tear their group apart.They will learn terrible things about each other. They will learn their own personal limits. Scariest of all, they will learn what humans are capable of when pushed to the edge of sanity.

The DCI Jack Logan Collection Books 1-3: A Scottish Crime Fiction Series


J.D. Kirk - 2020
    

Retribution


D.V. Berkom - 2020
    Now she wants revenge.Spring 1880: Claire Whitcomb and her family are building a good life near the boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, when tragedy strikes: a group of renegades attack, killing everyone but Claire and burning their home. Not knowing who to turn to, Claire teams up with Mart Duggan, the town’s tough-as-nails marshal, to track down the outlaws responsible. Duggan and his friend, Thomas, a local Ute, skirt the law to get results, but that’s fine by Claire. She’s gunning for the men who destroyed her life—and won’t settle for anything less than retribution.

Thirteen for Dinner


Denise Daisy - 2013
    But it’s Averie who needs rescuing when all hell begins to break loose. Averie Cooke has never set foot on the old Faulkner plantation. The macabre history surrounding it is what keeps her away; not to mention everyone says the place is haunted. A hundred and fifty years ago Lunar Wilson was hung there. His lifeless body dangled in the breeze along with the gray Spanish moss. Later that same night, the petite southern belle, Emily Faulkner wrapped a thick rope around her delicate neck and joined her lover in the afterlife. Legend says all hell broke loose after that. Unaware that their only daughter was hanging dead up in the cupola, Emily’s parents continued on with their festivities, gorging themselves on prime rib, and guzzling expensive wine. They were pretty drunk by the time the Wilson boys burst inside the house slinging their hatchets, vindicating their brother’s murder. They decapitated James Faulkner, his socialite wife, Elizabeth and dismembered all eleven dinner guest. The massacre was the bloodiest ever recorded. So why does Averie agree to attend a dinner party in the same mansion where the massacre took place? She needs the money that’s why. But, she gets much more than a paycheck when she and another mysterious guest transports back to the year 1859, exactly one month before the gruesome event. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers the only way back home is to stop the murders. But can she put her fears aside long enough to change the past and find life in the place she fears the most?Thirteen for Dinner is a page turning thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat one minute, laughing out loud the next, and crying while you contemplate the meaning of life. Dealing with issues such as racism, slavery, hatred, and fear you’ll discover the only weapon that has the power to damage them all is love.

Glass Tiger


Joe Gores - 2006
    Halden Corwin, legendary Vietnam sniper and mercenary, has vowed to assassinate the recently elected president of the United States, and the government’s computers have picked Thorne as the most likely person to find Corwin. Special agent Terrill Hatfield’s crack FBI team will take care of the rest. But when the plan doesn’t go as described, Thorne discovers he’s been drawn into a web of lies, ambitions, and double-crosses that will force him to stand and fight.

Cast A Long Shadow


Kwen D. Griffeth - 2018
    He was a man, who by his own definition, limited his concentration to no more than eight seconds at a time. The time required to ride a bull or saddlebronc and win. He’s tough, independent, shallow and always looking for a good time. Then his father is murdered. Sheriff Robert Trent, longtime chief law enforcement officer of Lodge Pole County Montana. He was stern, fair, honest and dependable. He tried to see the best in people, and always ready to give them one more chance. Ambushed, shot dead at the side of the road. Set up by someone he knew. Now, rumors claim the sheriff wasn’t all that he claimed. Rumors claim he was dirty; paid off by persons’ unknown. Slapped by reality, Bobby is determined to investigate the killing. He’s set on finding the one who did this. Only one problem, he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing.

A Murder in Gurgaon


Manish Dubey - 2016
    December 2014. A young event manager, an ex-cop's son, ismurdered. Inspector Ajai Singh vows justice. There is little to begin with, andfrustration mounts when the initial suspect – a reclusive woman with amysterious past – is found missing.Digging deeper, Singh uncovers a sordid tale of adultery, blackmail andrevenge, only to find himself staring at a conspiracy unlike any he has seen.There are deceits, little and big, to decode; the predator and victim areindistinguishable; his witnesses could be misleading; his closest ally may not bean ally at all.Will Singh succeed? Or has the sick, wily mind behind the crime always been afew steps ahead?Refreshingly told, with a cast of morally ambivalent characters and an accenton the minutiae of crime, A Murder in Gurgaon will keep you hooked till thevery end.

The Weight of Water / Resistance


Anita Shreve - 2011
    

Odds Against Tomorrow


Joseph T. Nutter
    Her father, a former territorial governor, must now make the hard decision to recruit a former friend and gunfighter, whom he tried to hang in the past, to join in pursuit of his strong-willed daughter and the violent men she seeks. The energetic and exciting story is told from both perspectives as they must fight their way through the still untamed towns and locations of New Mexico Territory and Texas of 1884. And blended into the backdrop of their journey are the final days of the spirited campaign to elect a new President—Grover Cleveland. Behind this story lies the dynamics of two former friends who grew up together and fought alongside one another as members of the Texas Brigade in the Civil War and later as Texas Rangers. But they would be driven apart later by the sides of the law they would hold to. They now come together once again in an epic tale and must reach beyond their strained relationship to the strong bonds of friendship of their youth.

Betrayed


Brendan DuBois - 2003
    He considered his brother dead, but thirty years later a knock on the door heralded the arrival of his long-lost brother and the beginning of a terrifying journey of revenge.