Book picks similar to
Pure Justice by Linda L. Barton


crime-fiction
mt2-mystery-thriller
mystery-suspense
mystery-thriller

Stray Cat Blues: A Mystery Crime Thriller (Max Plank Mystery Series Book 1)


Robert Bucchianeri - 2017
    He’s looking forward to a well-deserved vacation. His plan includes nothing more than a little fishing, a bit of fooling around, and a whole lot of hammock time. Little does he know that this small, cute, skateboarding time bomb will lead him into a mystery with a tangled web of secrets and lies involving small-time hoods, powerful gangsters, corrupt politicians, paranoid hippies, and most dangerously, his long-time nemesis, a twisted casino operator at the heart of the city’s criminal trade. As Max races to untangle the convoluted case and find the little girl’s sister, the mayhem and dead bodies pile up. Finally, he realizes that the only way to get the whole truth involves risking his own life. But for Max Plank, this is just the price of admission to the game he’s decided to play. Stray Cat Blues is the first Max Plank mystery. Coming soon the next two adventures: The Ties That Bind and Devil’s Arcade.

The Brass Hall


Kevin Tumlinson - 2016
    And finding a tomb for a Celtic god in a mountainous region of Egypt certainly qualifies. As Kotler investigates, he finds an amazing array of artifacts and evidence, and all of it points to something so remarkable it could redefine history—if Kotler can survive long enough to reveal it to the world. Join Dr. Kotler for an adventure an Egyptian adventure with a Celtic twist in this thrilling prequel to 'The Coelho Medallion.' — RE: The Coleho Medallion “Kevin has crashed onto the action-thriller scene as only an action-thriller author can: with bombastic plot lines, unforgettable characters, and enough adrenaline to keep you awake all night.” —Nick Thacker, author of 'The Enigma Strain' — HERE'S WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT KEVIN TUMLINSON'S BOOKS: ★★★★★ “[Kevin Tumlinson] is what every writer should be—entertaining and thought-provoking.” — Shana Tehan, Press Secretary, U.S. House of Representatives ★★★★★ “There was something so fascinating about [Citadel] and the cast of characters [Kevin Tumlinson] put together.” — Leah Petersen, Author of Fighting Gravity ★★★★★ "I discovered Kevin Tumlinson from The Creative Penn podcast and immediately got his novel, Evergreen. I read it in like 3 seconds. It's the most fast paced story I've encountered." —R.D. Holland, Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★ "[Sawyer Jackson and the Long Land] was a great read! I love these style of books—magic, science fiction, alternate reality. I couldn't put it down." —S., Amazon Reviewer

Betrayal Bend


Andrea M. Long - 2021
    A gorgeous couple with sunshine smiles and a perfect marriage.But behind Shay’s smile lies unrest. She loves the husband she met in high school, but sometimes she feels trapped. Trapped by the island, trapped by her marriage and providing stability to her younger sister, and trapped by the whole ‘good’ ethos that underpins their company.The tourists provide a distraction. They come, stay a short while, and leave again, and that leaves Shay with opportunities. Ones where she can not be such a good girl.But on Liar’s Island you can trust no one... so Shay’s betrayal might not stay secret for long.

The Silence of the Stones


Rebecca Bryn - 2014
    Twists and turns will keep you guessing to the end. Alana is a struggling artist and sculptor, scarred by her parents' relationship and a lost love but determined to grab life by the throat, whatever the cost. Opportunity beckons when she is left a cottage in a West Wales’ village by an aunt she didn’t know existed, but strange runes painted on her door and carved onto ancient stones in a stone circle, hint at a dark undercurrent of tragedy and intrigue and she is caught up in the village’s conspiracy of silence over a thirty-year-old crime. An eccentric old woman, a young female investigative journalist, a two-year-old girl, a good-looking male busker and an ex-lover make unlikely bedfellows but combine to send Alana on a voyage of self-discovery that changes her world forever.

Mercy


Stephen Bentley - 2019
    He’ll never get her back.Set in the near future, Matt Deal is a British businessman married into a wealthy Florida family.Mercy, his fifteen-year-old daughter, is the glue in his rocky marriage to Lorey. His life is changed forever after Mercy is brutally sexually assaulted on a Destin beach leaving her in a persistent vegetative state.Trusting the local detectives to bring the rapists to justice, mixed martial arts expert Deal concentrates in vain on his Florida gym business, only to have his world further explode on learning the men responsible for his daughter’s injuries may escape justice. Deal is isolated and at his wit's end after his rich father-in-law sends death threats blaming him for all these ills.Who can he turn to? Where can he go? What will he do? Who can he trust?Will he return to a post-Brexit Britain or ultimately will he seek revenge?Fans of Jack Reacher, Barry Eisler, and any vigilante justice novel will love this book.*** Trigger Warning ***Contains a scene of sexual violence and some scenes of explicit consensual adult sex.

Romeo's Town (Mike Romeo Thrillers Book 6)


James Scott Bell - 2021
    

Mindless


R.W.K. Clark - 2018
    Step into the mind of a sociopath.Melvin discovers a past buried deep inside his memories that shouldn’t be revisited. His controlling mother is determined to not let him go, and she goes to extremes to not only save his life but maintain control of it. What she doesn’t understand is that her son is not the same good boy he used to be.Melvin finds himself harboring fantasies and psychotic thoughts that lead him down a terrible violent path, where he leaves a trail of victims behind him.Get ready to meet the most hideous menace ever in this spine-tingling serial killer psychological thriller.Author Commentary‘Mindless’ is my fourth psychological thriller and one that I am quite excited about. ‘Mindless’ is a tale that I geared directly at adults; this book is not for the young mind. The reason for going back to this genre was based around the response I got from my book ‘Passing Through,’ which seemed to garner a more extensive fan base and made me realize that perhaps fans wanted me to stick with Psychological thrillers. Personally, I was ready for such a change myself.I wrote the book with the full intention of disturbing the reader. That was the reason for Melvin Frink’s mental instability being as shaky as it was. This guy has been through so much in his life, so many terrible things. That even though he had made it to med school, he was walking a fine line in his mind.Why did I choose to write such a sexually disturbing and violent psycho-thriller? After so many that were so mild-mannered. Many reasons come to mind. For one, fans expressed a liking for my novels, ‘Passing Through,’ ‘Brother’s Keeper,’ and ‘Box Office Butcher’; all three are Psychological thrillers. I felt that it was time to indulge my love for thrillers while satisfying my fan base by giving them what they wanted. ‘Mindless,’ while much more disturbing in many ways than the others, was just what I think we all needed to bring us the satisfaction of reading a book that kept us turning pages only to find out what type of sickening behavior could occur on the next page. I think readers will be surprised, and I hope that they enjoy every last page of this suspense thriller.I have to admit that I was ready for something a bit more gritty, and I don’t think that I have it out of my system quite yet. I am longing to write more that causes my readers and me alike, to grind the teeth and wince while allowing the passages to wander through the mind. Deep inside, we carry our anger and our resentments, our pain, and our suppressed memories, but we can never be totally rid of them. I like to explore the sickness of the mind and where it can take an individual. As a matter of fact, that is precisely what Melvin Frink, with all of his education in neuropsychology, should have been petrified of the most, but he was not.I also understand that some will not like the book. That’s okay. As individuals, we must be true to what we prefer, and this will not be the book for everyone. I wrote it for my Psychological thriller fans. I should warn those who prefer more laid-back plotlines; if this type of thing is not your preference, you should avoid this.So, I offer you ‘Mindless,’ and it is my desire that you get from reading this book, what I got from writing it: The realization that insanity is just a step away from each and every one of us. With that in mind, tread lightly, and enjoy the food for thought that I am offering to feed you.

Killing Rebecca


K.J. North - 2022
    Her heart is filled with love for them. It’s a life that excites her every morning when she gets out of bed. She is lucky to be living in a beautiful home overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and she loves her career as a crime fiction novelist.Until Her Life is Shattered…A late-night knock at the door destroys her world when news of her family’s fate is too devastating to bear. Her life turns into one of the stories she only writes about.When She Finds Out Who is to Blame…Marni must act on the shocking truth. Like in her books, the perpetrator needs to be caught and held prisoner until she decides their fate. Nothing too quick—they need to suffer slowly before they’re sentenced to death.

Shadow Soldiers


Jim Heskett - 2018
    A quick and clean assassin. But he's burned out and ready to quit.Trained by a government agency with no name, Layne Parrish can snap a neck with one hand. But tea parties and cartoons with his three-year-old daughter is where his priorities are. After retiring to the mountains of Colorado for a simpler life, Layne thought that perilous world was behind him.He was wrong--dead wrong.When his former boss begs for his expertise, Layne knows he has one mission:  Eliminate an assassin to save a life. It's a job he can't refuse. This particular assassin is a ghost from his past--a murky past he wants destroyed.  But when Layne picks up his pistol for the last time, will his plan backfire?

The Killing Pool


Kevin Sampson - 2013
    The slaying carries all the hallmarks of a gangland hit -- a message from the underworld to snitches, cops and rival gangs. One mile away, a Liverpool-Somali girl, Misha, staggers into a run-down bar, dazed and confused. The bar's owner, a career criminal called Shakespeare who dresses like an Edwardian dandy, cannot get a word out of her. Shakespeare, a chivalrous old Trinidadian who has called Liverpool his home since the 70s, is smitten. DCI McCartney is all too well aware that the clock is ticking. The butchered body was one Kalan Rozaki, youngest brother of a notorious Liverpool-Kurdish crime family -- except Kalan is no criminal. For almost a year his brothers have been under full-time Drug Squad surveillance as McCartney slowly closed the net on the Rozakis' intercontinental heroin trafficking organisation. McCartney's key witness and chief informant on the case is someone with intimate insider knowledge of the Rozaki clan's operation... their newly deceased baby brother, Kalan. McCartney's investigation into Kalan's murder peels back layer after layer of a decades-long dynasty of drug smuggling. Each revelation plunges Mac further back into the dark heart of an unsolved drug crime that weighs heavy on his soul. He wants to catch the Rozakis -- badly -- but he wants the shadowy men behind their drug empire even more. The closer McCartney gets to Kalan's killer, the closer he comes to facing down a lifetime's torment -- and facing up to the possibility, finally, of closure. There is one solid gold witness to the killing, Kalan's girlfriend, Misha -- but Misha has vanished. Meanwhile a shipload of unadulterated heroin is sailing ever closer to the Port of Liverpool and Mac's key informant is dead. As dawn breaks on his day of destiny, Mac's priorities have become fatally intertwined: find Kalan's killer, rescue Misha and swoop on the Rozakis -- hopefully elbows-deep in heroin. Then, and only then, can he unmask the demon who has haunted his adult life.

Deadly Touch


Audrey Walker - 2021
    She is finally pursuing her dreams, getting justice for all. But when she messes up on her very first day, she starts to wonder if this isn't the right career for her after all.Her day takes an interesting turn when a man suddenly dies at the precinct of the police station. With no external injuries or apparent cause of death, rookie Robin and her seasoned partner, Kyle, are left bewildered. The case is more complicated than it seems...Their investigation takes them to a remote town where they face horrors they have never experienced before. Robin must learn to fight her fears, or else she will be lost forever.Will Robin manage to find the murderer? Can she stop him in time, or will her fears become her downfall?A prequel to the amazing Robin Matthews series; find out where it all begins.The Robin Matthews Mystery Thriller Series is perfect for fans of Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Robert Crais, David Baldacci, Stuart Woods, and James Patterson.

The Betrayers


James Patrick Hunt - 2007
    Louis has ever seen. Did Deputy Chris Hummel and Deputy Wade Childers simply pull over the wrong reckless driver, or did someone target these two for a more sinister reason? Lieutenant George Hastings is the primary investigator on the case, along with his detective Bobby Cain, an inexperienced but connected detective who is ambitious and impolitic. Hastings and Cain dissect the lives the two murdered officers, focusing in on Hummel after they learn that he did a year-long stint with narcotics undercover and helped put away one of the biggest meth dealers in the area. But what they uncover is much bigger than one bitter dealer's revenge, and much more personal. With The Betrayers, James Patrick Hunt decisively marks his territory as a crime novelist to rival the best writers on the shelf today.

Carnage


John Lutz - 2014
    Abduct a girl from a beachside community. Tie her up. Torture her to death. Move north along the coast. Repeat. With each gruesome killing, a clue is delivered to New York City investigator Frank Quinn. The ex-homicide detective understands that the message is more than a taunt. It is an invitation—to play. And the game has just begun…12,500 Words

Poison Lake


L.G. Davis - 2021
    She had to save herself from a man who hurt her more than he loved her.As Eden Sparks, she now lives in Liar's Island, where she spends her days running her interior design business or hiding from the world inside her secluded lake house.Each day she still looks over her shoulder, still expects him to emerge from the shadows.When he finally does, she's far from prepared.Is it time to stop running and fight for her life? Or has she already lost before fate deals her another blow?***Welcome to Liar’s Island, a stand-alone series of interconnected, novella-length domestic thrillers set in the picture-perfect community of Liars Island. Here, nothing is quite as it seems.On this island, families, and friendships are more than meets the eye...secrets, deceptions, and jealousies threaten to ruin everything these influential people have built. But it isn’t only the rich that live here...and power comes in all shapes and sizes. Everyone here is a liar...just how far would you go to get what you want?

One by One


Robert Enright - 2015
    Daily Muay Thai training sessions with his best friend, a progressive career as a mechanic and married to Helen, the love of his life. All of it comes to an end on a rainy saturday night in London. When Helen is ripped from the world by the notorious Drayton family on a visit to the capital and the police, including the prodigal Officer Starling, do little to bring them to justice, Lucas embarks on a rain soaked London to put things right himself. As the body count rises and the ripple effects of the escalating violence reaches further than he could have imagined, Lucas has to confront his dark past, his continuous grief, a nationwide police hunt and, of course, the Draytons.... One by One. A riveting story of revenge and redemption with hard-hitting action and heart-wrenching grief, One by One is a must for fans of Crime Thrillers.