From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. No one does steamy suspense like Brown (Chill Factor), as shown by this expert mix of spicy romance and sharply crafted crime drama. Det. Sgt. Duncan Hatcher, a sexy Savannah homicide cop, falls hard for Elise Laird, a dishy damsel-in-distress, the moment he spots her at a police awards dinner. Too bad she's married to Judge Cato Laird, who consistently subverts Hatcher's efforts to bring local drug lord Robert Savich to justice. When Hatcher and his feisty partner, Det. DeeDee Bowen, are called to the Laird home after Elise supposedly shoots an intruder in self-defense, the desperate trophy wife confides to Hatcher that she believes her husband, a secret Savich crony, intended her to be the intruder's victim. Later, as the uncertain Hatcher grapples with his desires, Elise vanishes, leaving behind another dead body. Tight plotting, a hot love story with some nice twists and a credible ending help make this a stand-out thriller. (Aug.)From The Washington PostMy criteria for book reviewing are pretty clear: Did I believe the characters? Was it a good story, well told? Did I want to put the book down or keep reading? Bottom line, would I read another book by this author?For Ricochet, my answer to these questions is a resounding yes. It's a great, entertaining read, with lots of surprising twists and turns, credibly flawed characters and a love affair that's as steamy as a Savannah summer.Hunky yet sensitive Detective Duncan Hatcher is called to investigate the gorgeous and wildly manipulative Elise Laird when she kills a burglar in her elegant home, supposedly in self-defense. Complicating the case is that Mrs. Laird is the trophy wife of a patrician judge who dislikes our hero. Worse, her account of the murder is somewhere between sketchy and laughable.Hatcher finds himself falling for the mysterious Mrs. Laird, even as he uncovers each new fact that seems to suggest that the murder was intentional and the burglar, Gary Ray Trotter, no stranger. Hatcher doubts Mrs. Laird's increasingly weak explanations, but he still can't help thinking about her body. Here's Mrs. Laird explaining her case to him:" 'I'd been expecting it for several months. Not a burglary, specifically. But something. This was the moment I'd been dreading.' She pressed her fist against the center of her chest, right above her heart, pulling the fabric of her T-shirt tight across her breasts. 'I knew, Detective. I knew.' Whispering that, she raised her head and looked up at him. 'Gary Ray Trotter wasn't a thief I caught in the act. He was there to kill me.'" Duncan pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes as though concentrating hard, trying to work out the details in his mind. Actually, he had to do something to keep from drowning in those damn eyes of hers or becoming fixated on her breasts. He wanted to haul her up against him, kiss her, and see if her mouth delivered as promised. Instead, he pinched the skin between his eye sockets until it hurt like hell. It helped him to refocus. Some."Then he finds out she used to be a topless dancer. How great is that?You've seen this femme-fatale plotline before, of course, but it's terrific when it's well done, as it is here. Mrs. Laird may be a double-crossing dame, but she's no dummy, though to tell more would ruin the fun. The storyline is updated by the presence of Detective DeeDee Bowen, Hatcher's no-nonsense female partner. Naturally, Bowen suspects every scheming inch of Mrs. Laird and calls Hatcher on his crush with your basic snap-out-of-it speech. Leave it to a woman to add that touch of testosterone.The cat-and-mouse relationship between Hatcher and Mrs. Laird kept me turning the pages, and when the mystery blonde vanished in the middle of the novel, I found myself worried about her, even though I wasn't sure I liked her or her employment history. Still, I was happy to be kept guessing until the end, which came as a genuine surprise.My only quibble is that this bestselling author sometimes settles for phrases such as "copious notes" and even "silver-tongued." She's a better writer than that, and I'm enough of a Strunk and White fan to want her to avoid clichés.But I'm also a Sandra Brown fan, thanks to Ricochet.Reviewed by Lisa Scottoline

Can an ordinary guy make extraordinary choices in a battle between humanity and unearthly evil?

Joe Mandel is a perfectly ordinary guy from a perfectly ordinary town—a college student and community volunteer who dreams of one day publishing a novel. When a series of strange intuitions leads him to a crime in progress, Joe jumps headlong into danger without hesitation. In the aftermath, he wonders about the uncanny impulse that suddenly swept over him.

Until new friend Portia Montclair, the strangely wise daughter of the local police chief, explains to him what sent him ricocheting around town like a crazy pinball. Portia tells of another reality, a reality more thrilling—and terrifying—than Joe ever imagined. Timeless, elemental forces of good and evil have come to the quiet town of Little City: a cosmic entity capable of infecting human beings, and the seeker who has chosen Joe to find it.

To stop the malevolent invader, this average Joe must be braver than he ever thought possible… and face the hardest decisions of his life.Two Ways to Read

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A secret from Chris Martin’s past disrupts his happy suburban life. A novel of suspense.STARK TERROR BECOMES A TOTAL REALITY.There is a special numbing quality to fear that strikes in the safety of your own home. Here is where you should feel most secure. Here’s where you wash the dishes, polish the car; where friends can drop in; where nobody intrudes except the in-laws. Murder has no place here. Terror doesn’t belong.And when monstrous fear and murder bludgeon their way in, you don’t believe it. You’re numb. Until the bleak, deadly truth forces you to frantic terror for those you love. Then you believe it—then you RIDE THE NIGHTMARE.

Derek Strange and Terry Quinn are ex cops turned private detectives in Washington, DC. Hired to investigate the death of an off duty black police officer at the hands of a white policeman, Strange and Quinn are faced with the institutionalised racism of the nation's most poorly trained and dangerous police force. As the two private detectives confront the degradation of the city's flourishing drug trade, they find themselves up against some of the most implacable, dead eyed killers ever to grace the pages of a novel. In Right As Rain George Pelecanos introduces a memorable new pair of characters into the grittily real Washington DC landscape which has led to him being acclaimed as 'A great writer' (The Times) who 'deserves to be listed among the best' (Observer).

Hired to protect Maisy Andrus-a vociferous supporter of the right to die-from a potential assassin, John Francis Cuddy must put his marathon training on a back burner to get involved with the Andrus case-a job that dredges up painful memories of his own wife's slow death.

In South London, an unlikely gang of kidnappers hatch a plot. Nick, an ex-bouncer, Dex, a charismatic sociopath, and Lisa, a motor-mouth junkie femme fatale. Their prey is a powerful, local businessman with an obsession for the poet Rilke. Thing is, each kidnapper has a very different agenda. Which means it's only a matter of time before the joking stops, and the ever threatening violence begins.Rilke on Black is an eerie, crooked tale of sex, obsession and betrayal. Ken Bruen’s dark contemporary thriller matches a razor sharp vernacular with a country music soundtrack to create a truly intoxicating and original mix.

Due to a stag that may or may not have been on the road, Matthew Cahill's vehicle is in a ditch. The tow truck driver, who believes Rush is a liberal, takes him to the "nuthouse" where Matt is going. After his driver mentions looking at the eyes to see the soul Matt peeks at the man and he sees beetles in the sockets as the guy says he plans a surprise for his ex and her beau in Tacoma to night.At Westland County Mental Health Center, Matthew set up an interview to discuss how to fight the evil Dr. Dark with thirty seven yeas old Jesse Weston, an encyclopedia of mental illness. However, the hospital administrator who arranged it Dr. Dindren no longer works there and Weston was transferred elsewhere. Employee Maloria, who he has a Tase moment h just before arriving at the MHC explains what is going on. He needs to see Dindren in order to learn where Weston is. However, to do that he must enter the monitored modules escorted by Maloria; there he will learn first hand what happens to those with mental illness and the cause of seeing the abnormal and paranormal while finding getting in is easy but getting out alive is lunacy.The second DEAD MAN paranormal novella is a taut thriller that grips the audience from the moment Matt sees the driver's eyes and never slows down especially when he enters the house of horrors. Action-packed throughout yet key support players like Maloria, Drindren and teenage patient Annica come across fully developed as readers will appreciate Cahill's search for answers to death and Dr. Dark after coming back from the dead.Harriet Klausner

Jimmy, Dave y Sean crecieron juntos en la sección peligrosa de Boston. Veinticinco años después vuelven a reunirse, cuando la hija de 19 años de Jimmy es brutalmente asesinada. Sean, que ahora es policía, es asignado para resolver el caso. Además de desenredar este crimen, Sean deberá estar pendiente de su amigo Jimmy, quien busca vengarse del asesino de su hija. Conectado al crimen por una serie de circunstancias, Dave se ve obligado a enfrentarse con los demonios de su propio pasado. A medida que la investigación se concentra alrededor de estos tres amigos, se despliega una siniestra historia, que tiene que ver con la amistad, la familia y la inocencia perdida demasiado pronto.

Jimmy, Dave y Sean crecieron juntos en la sección peligrosa de Boston. Veinticinco años después vuelven a reunirse, cuando la hija de 19 años de Jimmy es brutalmente asesinada. Sean, que ahora es policía, es asignado para resolver el caso. Además de desenredar este crimen, Sean deberá estar pendiente de su amigo Jimmy, quien busca vengarse del asesino de su hija. Conectado al crimen por una serie de circunstancias, Dave se ve obligado a enfrentarse con los demonios de su propio pasado. A medida que la investigación se concentra alrededor de estos tres amigos, se despliega una siniestra historia, que tiene que ver con la amistad, la familia y la inocencia perdida demasiado pronto.

Jimmy, Dave y Sean crecieron juntos en la sección peligrosa de Boston. Veinticinco años después vuelven a reunirse, cuando la hija de 19 años de Jimmy es brutalmente asesinada. Sean, que ahora es policía, es asignado para resolver el caso. Además de desenredar este crimen, Sean deberá estar pendiente de su amigo Jimmy, quien busca vengarse del asesino de su hija. Conectado al crimen por una serie de circunstancias, Dave se ve obligado a enfrentarse con los demonios de su propio pasado. A medida que la investigación se concentra alrededor de estos tres amigos, se despliega una siniestra historia, que tiene que ver con la amistad, la familia y la inocencia perdida demasiado pronto.

When pirates attack a cargo ship off the Somalian coast and one of them is found to be a British-born Pakistani, alarm bells start ringing at London's Thames House. MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle is brought in to establish how and why a young British Muslim could go missing from his well-to-do family in Birmingham and end up on board a pirate skiff in the Indian Ocean, armed with a Kalashnikov.Meanwhile, the owner of the charitable NGO that leased the ship suspects that his fleet is being deliberately targeted. But why would pirates be interested in charitable supplies? And how do they know the exact details of his ships' cargo and routes?When an undercover operative connected to the case turns up dead in Athens it looks like piracy may be the least of the Service's problems.Now Liz, with the help of Peggy Kinsolving, Dave Armstrong, and the rest of her unit, attempts to unravel the connections between Pakistan, Greece and Somalia. She'll have to rely on their wits-and the judicious use of force-to get to the truth. And she doesn't have long, as trouble is brewing closer to home: the kind of explosive trouble that MI5 could do without.

When pirates attack a cargo ship off the Somalian coast and one of them is found to be a British-born Pakistani, alarm bells start ringing at London's Thames House. MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle is brought in to establish how and why a young British Muslim could go missing from his well-to-do family in Birmingham and end up on board a pirate skiff in the Indian Ocean, armed with a Kalashnikov.Meanwhile, the owner of the charitable NGO that leased the ship suspects that his fleet is being deliberately targeted. But why would pirates be interested in charitable supplies? And how do they know the exact details of his ships' cargo and routes?When an undercover operative connected to the case turns up dead in Athens it looks like piracy may be the least of the Service's problems.Now Liz, with the help of Peggy Kinsolving, Dave Armstrong, and the rest of her unit, attempts to unravel the connections between Pakistan, Greece and Somalia. She'll have to rely on their wits-and the judicious use of force-to get to the truth. And she doesn't have long, as trouble is brewing closer to home: the kind of explosive trouble that MI5 could do without.

'Our concern – and we've communicated this over the weekend to all stations – is that the opposition may be about to deploy an invisible.'An invisible is CIA speak for the ultimate intelligence nightmare: the terrorist who, because he or she is an ethnic native of the target country, can cross its borders unchecked, move around that country unquestioned and infiltrate its institutions with ease. An invisible on mainland Britain was the worst possible news. For Liz Carlyle, an MI5 Intelligence officer, this report from MI6 marks the start of an operation which will test her to the limit and put her own life in jeopardy. As she sifts the incoming evidence and gets reports from her agents she realizes there is an immanent terrorist threat. But who or what is the target? And who and where is the invisible? Time is of the essence in this desperate search and it becomes clear that it is Liz's intuitive skills, her ability to get inside her enemy's head, which offer the only hope of averting disaster. In this terrifying and tautly drawn debut thriller Stella Rimington takes us to the heart of the Intelligence world. It is a place she is uniquely qualified to describe.

The real Jack the Ripper is loose, and this time he’s brought friends to the darkness of the deep desert in the newest adrenaline rush from David Golemon, The New York Times bestselling author of Legacy.In the tradition of works by James Rollins, Preston and Child and Matthew Reilly, Ripper is the latest in an action-packed series about the nation’s most secret agency — The Event Group. In 1887, the British Empire contracted brilliant American professor Lawrence Ambrose to create a mutant gene to turn an ordinary person into an aggressive fighting machine. But all too quickly, Ambrose was found to be behind a streak of vicious murders, and in a cover-up of massive proportions, Queen Victoria ordered the project, and Ambrose, terminated. Thus the legend of Jack the Ripper was born.The killings stopped as suddenly as they had begun — but not because Ambrose was caught. Instead, he escaped and returned home to America where he and his formula faded into history. But in 2012, a raid against a Mexican drug lord uncovers a small cache of antiquated notebooks containing long-buried instructions to create blind killers out of normal men. Enter the Event Group and Col. Jack Collins, who are desperate to stop one of their most feared enemies. When the formula is loosed in the underground halls and vaults of the Event Group complex itself, brother will battle brother, and for the first time in many men’s brave lives they will understand the true meaning of fear.The next heart-stopping chapter in the New York Times bestselling Event Group series, Ripper takes readers to new levels of suspense, where death could be hiding around any corner on this non-stop thrill ride.

Becca Matlock is at the top of her profession, as the senior speechwriter for New York's popular governor. But then she receives the first in a series of deadly phone calls – calls which threaten both her life and the life of the governor. Becca reports the calls but after a while, the police stop believing that Becca is being stalked, even when the stalker kills to prove a point. Then the governor is shot. Becca flees to the safety of a friend's home in coastal Maine, Riptide. It might seem like a sanctuary to begin with but soon Becca finds herself at even greater risk.

Spring 1941. Britain, standing alone since Dunkirk; Russia, on the brink of entering the war; America, struggling to stay neutral. And in Germany, after ten years spying for the Americans, Wolfgang Stahl disappears during a Berlin air raid. The Germans think he's dead. The British know he's not. But where is he? MI5 convince US Intelligence that Stahl will head for London, and so recruit England's first reluctant ally into a 'plain clothes partnership'. Captain Cal Cormack, a shy American 'aristocrat', is teamed with Chief Inspector Stilton of Stepney, fat, fifty, and convivial, and between them they scour London, a city awash with spivs and refugees. But then things start to go terribly wrong and, ditched by MI5 and disowned by his embassy, Cal is introduced to his one last hope – Sgt Troy of Scotland Yard…