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The Thicket
Joe R. Lansdale - 2013
Jack Parker thought he'd already seen his fair share of tragedy. His grandmother was killed in a farm accident when he was barely five years old. His parents have just succumbed to the smallpox epidemic sweeping turn-of-the-century East Texas -- orphaning him and his younger sister, Lula. Then catastrophe strikes on the way to their uncle's farm, when a traveling group of bank-robbing bandits murder Jack's grandfather and kidnap his sister. With no elders left for miles, Jack must grow up fast and enlist a band of heroes the likes of which has never been seen if his sister stands any chance at survival. But the best he can come up with is a charismatic, bounty-hunting dwarf named Shorty, a grave-digging son of an ex-slave named Eustace, and a street-smart woman-for-hire named Jimmie Sue who's come into some very intimate knowledge about the bandits (and a few members of Jack's extended family to boot). In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But as Jack's about to find out, blood and redemption rule supreme. In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure equal parts True Grit and Stand by Me - - the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm -- or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review).
The Missing
Karl Vadaszffy - 2012
He pulls into the London Gateway Services, leaving Jennie in the car. But when he returns, she has disappeared. Frantic with worry, he turns to the police for help. The police doubt that Jennie exists: there is no trace that she ever existed.John, convinced Jennie was not a figment of his imagination, sets out in a desperate attempt to find the woman he fell in love with. He has the help of Detective Sergeant Kate Nielsen, herself haunted by a botched undercover operation that led to her being raped four years earlier.Everything he can remember of Jennie – where she worked, where she lived – turns out to be untrue. Nielsen, following John as he lurches from one lead to another, begins to wonder if Jennie could be the eleventh victim of a serial killer. Their investigation becomes increasingly urgent and threatens to bring back dark and murky images from Nielsen’s past.Praise for The Missing:“Karl Vadaszffy’s The Missing is a terrifying and perplexing debut mystery, spare and fast-paced with a terrific ending. I wouldn’t be surprised if it spawns a DS Kate Nielsen series.”
Glenn Cooper (Library of the Dead and Book of Souls)“A thriller to make your pulse race. Desperation and frustration stain the pages – a cracking good read.”
James Becker (The First Apostle and The Moses Stone)“Karl Vadaszffy delivers a real treat in The Missing, a thriller written with the passion and intensity of a master storyteller. Mystery, action, a flawed but determined protagonist, this book has it all. I’m a fan of Karl’s skill.”
Matt Hilton (Dead Men’s Dust and Judgement and Wrath)“A mystery that grips, provokes and most definitely causes the spine to tingle. Nothing is as it seems in this suspense-laden tale, the pith darkening on each exquisitely written page. The Missing moves at a relentless pace, taking the reader on a journey into the twisted mind of a very dark soul. A spellbinding thriller.”
C. M. Palov (The Templar’s Quest and The Templar’s Code)“The Missing plunges you into a nightmare scenario worthy of Harlan Coben at his best. However, this is more than a suspense novel, it is a perceptive and intriguing human drama. All the interactions ring true and the characters – even the monsters – are always believable.” Elly Griffiths (The Crossing Places and The Janus Stone)
“The Missing is a fast and compelling book, by turns tender and brutal, with a pounding sense of approaching crisis. The author’s command of the scenes is impressive.” Patrick Lennon (Corn Dolls and Steel Witches)“The Missing is a nightmare of a book, triggering a reader’s darkest fears and keeping him in a state of tension from the first page until the last.” Thomas Perry (Strip and Silence)"Karl Vadaszffy's 'The Missing' is a superior thriller, at once an exercise in vicarious paranoia and a horrifyingly convincing look into the mind of a killer. It's a shame Hitchcock isn't around to film it, it's exactly the kind of story he did best." Scott Phillips (The Ice Harvest and The Walkaway)“Karl Vadaszffy is just the sort of writer we should encourage – young, ambitious and creative.” Michael Dobbs (House of Cards and Winston’s War)Visit karlvad.com for Karl's official website.
Rick Cantelli, P.I.
Bernard Lee DeLeo - 2013
After twenty successful years, Rick's old high school girlfriend shows up to turn their world upside down. Suddenly, they're back killing bad guys, facing down mobsters, and escorting movie stars. They were a deadly team in their CIA years, and they prove they’re just as deadly now.
Charles Fort and the Beast of Loch Ness (Charles Fort Historical Mysteries #2)
T.E. Scott - 2016
Together they must investigate a strange murder at Boleskine House on the banks of Loch Ness. But what dark creature lurks at the heart of the Loch? And what do the murders have to do with Boleskine’s most infamous resident, Aleister Crowley? Second in the Charles Fort Historical Mysteries series by TE Scott, for fans of Golden Age style detectives and historical mysteries.
Mafia Summer: A Novel
E. Duke Vincent - 2005
One is a tough Sicilian Hell's Kitchen gang leader, and the other is a sickly but brilliant Orthodox Jewish boy who lives next door. But after they meet on a fire escape during the blistering New York City summer of 1950, a friendship takes off.When Gee-gee Petrone, a ruthless and brilliant mobster, puts into motion a plan to knock out the other mob bosses and to make himself capo di tutti capos, Vinny finds himself caught in the crossfire. Now Vinny has to put to use everything he's recently learned to survive-and, with the help of his gang of up-and-coming young mobsters, the Icemen, to get his revenge on Petrone.Based on actual events, Mafia Summer brilliantly fictionalizes the pivotal moment in Mafia history when Vito Genovese attempted to undo Frank Costello and become the leader of the Luciano family. At the heart of this classic tale of the Mob, replete with plot twists, violence, and suspense, is the story of an unforgettable friendship and an indelible portrait of an era.
Slice
David Hodges - 2010
THERE’S A KILLER INSIDE THE POLICE STATION. A police station should be a safe place. But not when there’s a psychotic serial killer working there. THE FIRST VICTIM IS FOUND GRUESOMELY MUTILATED IN HIS MOST SENSITIVE AREA. HE IS DRESSED IN A JUDGE’S WIG. Detective Superintendent Jack Fulton takes on the grisly murder enquiry and discovers that his murderer might actually be one of the police station staff. MORE EMINENT VICTIMS FOLLOW. KILLED IN THE SAME SADISTIC MANNER. The press nickname the razor-wielding assassin “The Slicer.” With the killer stalking the shadowy Victorian building, Fulton has to contend not only with press harassment and police who will stop at nothing to get a result, but also with other problems much closer to home. As the killer leads him on a grim game of cat and mouse, Fulton has little idea of just how personal that game is about to become . . . YOU WON’T WANT TO PUT THIS ONE DOWN Perfect for fans of Rachel Abbott, Robert Bryndza, Mel Sherratt, Angela Marsons, Colin Dexter, or Ruth Rendell. THE AUTHOR A former police superintendent, with thirty years’ service. Since ‘turning to crime’, he has received critical media acclaim, including a welcome accolade from Inspector Morse’s creator, the late great, Colin Dexter, and he is now a prolific novelist with eleven published crime novels and an autobiography on his police career to his credit. His previous police experience has enabled him to provide a gritty realism to his thrillers and his Somerset Murder Series, featuring feisty female detective, Kate, and her partner, Hayden, has gone from strength to strength, attracting interest in the United States as well as in the UK. DETECTIVE KATE HAMBLIN MYSTERY SERIES Book 1: MURDER ON THE LEVELS Book 2: REVENGE ON THE LEVELS Book 3: FEAR ON THE LEVELS Book 4: KILLER ON THE LEVELS Book 5: SECRETS ON THE LEVELS Book 6: DEATH ON THE LEVELS STANDALONES SLICE
Save Yourself
Kelly Braffet - 2013
His father is in jail, he works the midnight shift at a grubby convenience store, and his brother's girlfriend, Caro, has taken their friendship to an uncomfortable new level. On top of all that, he can't quite shake the attentions of Layla Elshere, a goth teenager who befriends Patrick for reasons he doesn't understand and doesn't fully trust. The temptations these two women offer are pushing him to his breaking point.Meanwhile, Layla's little sister, Verna, is suffering through her first year of high school. She's become a prime target for her cruel classmates, not just because of her strange name and her fundamentalist parents: Layla's bad-girl rep proves to be too huge a shadow for Verna, so she falls in with her sister's circle of outcasts and misfits whose world is far darker than she ever imagined.Kelly Braffet's characters, indelibly portrayed and richly varied, are all on their own twisted paths to finding peace. The result is a novel of unnerving power-darkly compelling, addictively written, and shockingly honest.
The Tightrope Men / The Enemy
Desmond Bagley - 2009
But it is only the beginning of a hair-raising adventure in which Denison finds himself trapped with no way to escape. One false move and the whole delicately balanced power structure between East and West will come toppling down…THE ENEMYWealthy, respectable George Ashton flees for his life after an acid attack on his daughter. Who is his enemy? Only Malcolm Jaggard, his future son-in-law, can guess, after seeing Ashton's top secret government file. In a desperate manhunt, Jaggard pits himself against the KGB and stalks Ashton to the silent, wintry forests of Sweden. But his search for the enemy has barely begun…Includes a unique bonus - Desmond Bagley's pen portrait, written for the original publication of The Tightrope Men.
React
Jack Harding - 2021
A crowded fairground. A simple sequence of numbers that appear over and over again... and a horrible feeling that something is very, very wrong.Nina Vogel is haunted by a recurring nightmarish vision - but what does it mean?In this powerful short story by Jack Harding, step into this nerve-racking, fast-paced fever dream that blurs the lines between the real and the unreal.
A Forever Home
Kaleigh Mills - 2014
It tells the story of Bailey, from her own viewpoint, who begins her life in circumstances beyond her control. She longs for love and to live in home where she will be cared for. This short story follows her adventures from her start and through the trials she faces to reach her Forever Home. This is the first book of a new series that will introduce you to Bailey and each of her friends and how they all find their way home. I hope you enjoy her journey.
Road to Perdition
Max Allan Collins - 2002
Michael O'Sullivan is a deeply religious family man who works as an Irish mob family's chief enforcer. But after his elder son witnesses one of his father's hits, the godfather orders the death of O'Sullivan's entire family. Barely surviving an encounter that takes his wife and younger son, O'Sullivan and his remaining child embark on a dark and violent mission of retribution against his former boss. Featuring accurate portrayals of Al Capone, Frank Nitti and Eliot Ness, this book offers a poignant look at the relationship between a morally-conflicted father and his adolescent son who both fears and worships him.
BAD INTENT
Michael Tabman - 2013
Douglas and his partner NYPD Detective Mark Zucarelli on the streets of New York City as they find themselves in the middle of raging drug wars.The Colombian Cartels are flooding the streets with cocaine. They are violent and ruthless criminals.The Mob has been cut out. What will they do?The FBI and the NYPD have an uneasy alliance.Who can be trusted?Does everyone have bad intent?Inspired by my years on the FBI-NYPD Drug Task Force, BAD INTENT will take you to the dark side of the drug wars.Peek into the hearts and minds of the FBI Agents and NYPD Detectives on the front lines.Do you have BAD INTENT?
Pop. 1280
Jim Thompson - 1964
He doesn't solve problems, enforce rules or arrest criminals. He knows that nobody in tiny Potts County actually wants to follow the law and he is perfectly content lazing about, eating five meals a day, and sleeping with all the eligible women.Still, Nick has some very complex problems to deal with. Two local pimps have been sassing him, ruining his already tattered reputation. His girlfriend Rose is being terrorized by her husband. And then, there's his wife and her brother Lenny who won't stop troubling Nick's already stressed mind. Are they a little too close for a brother and a sister? With an election coming up, Nick needs to fix his problems and fast. Because the one thing Nick does know is that he will do anything to stay sheriff. Because, as it turns out, Sheriff Nick Corey is not nearly as dumb as he seems.In Pop. 1280, widely regarded as a classic of mid-20th century crime, Thompson offers up one of his best, in a tale of lust, murder, and betrayal in the Deep South that was the basis for the critically acclaimed French film Coup de Torchon.
Death at the Black Bull
Frank Hayes - 2014
Virgil Dalton’s been the sheriff for over a dozen years and has lived there all his life. It’s a place where everybody pretty much knows everybody—but they don’t know each other’s secrets… Buddy Hinton is just a good ole boy. So when he disappears after a night drinking at the Black Bull, his friends just figure he went down to Mexico to find himself a girlfriend and eventually will come back. But this case quickly becomes a homicide after the sheriff discovers the missing man floating in one of his stock tanks. For a man who wasn’t known to have enemies, Buddy clearly upset someone. Figuring out who that was will require Virgil and his deputy, Jimmy, to retrace Buddy’s last steps—and to remain a step ahead of a murderer who may have no qualms about killing again …