In Montana, a man attends the funeral of his parents, ostensibly killed in a car crash. In Los Angeles, a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by a man assumed dead. These events are linked by the fact that in both there is something missing. As there is in so much of the world, for so much of the time. What's missing is a secret, something which strikes at the heart of what it is to be human. What it is that makes us this way. "Sarah tries to struggle, but the man holds her. The scream never makes it out of her throat… Sarah is the fifth girl to be abducted by this maniac. Her long hair will be hacked off and she will be tortured. She has about a week to live… Former LA homicide detective John Zandt has an inside track on the perpetrator — his own daughter was one of his victims. But the key to Sarah's whereabouts lies with Ward Hopkins, a man with a past so secret not even he knows about it. As he investigates his past. Ward finds himself drawn into the sinister world of the Straw Men — and into the desperate race to find Sarah, before her time runs out…" "Brilliantly written and scary as hell." Stephen King. Michael Marshall is a novelist and screenwriter. He has already established a successful writing career under the name Michael Marshall Smith. His groundbreaking first novel, Only Forward, won the Philip K. Dick and August Derleth awards; its critically-acclaimed successors. Spares and One of Us, have both been optioned for film. He lives in North London.

Detective Isaac Bell returns in the remarkable new adventure in the #1 New York Times — bestselling series.It is 1902, and a bright, inexperienced young man named Isaac Bell, only two years out of his apprenticeship at the Van Dorn Detective Agency, has an urgent message for hisboss. Hired to hunt for radical unionist saboteurs in the coal mines, he is witness to a terrible accident that makes him think that something else is going on, that provocateurs are at work and bigger stakes are in play.Little does he know just how big they are. Given exactly one week to prove his case, Bell quickly finds himself pitted against two of the most ruthless opponents he has ever known, men of staggering ambition and cold-bloodedness… who are not about to let some wet-behind-the-ears detective stand in their way.

Tess Monaghan’s life is back on course. She is beginning to make a name for herself as a PI, she’s even banking good money. And then her father asks her a favour: to investigate the death in prison of a friend’s brother convicted of killing an unidentified girl, otherwise known as “Jane Doe”. Tess’s search leads her to “the Sugar House”, a brutal institution where she discovers Jane Doe’s real identity. And then Tess’s father begs her to drop the case… It is not until her parent’s house is set on fire and a body pulled from the wreckage, that she realises that her life may have taken a very wrong turning indeed – one from which there is no going back…

Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his radiant novel in stories, Mary and O'Neil, Justin Cronin has already been hailed as a writer of astonishing gifts. Now Cronin's new novel, The Summer Guest, fulfills that promise – and more. With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man's last wish into a rich tapestry of family love.On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him.From the battlefields of Italy to the turbulence of the Vietnam era, to the private battles of love and family, The Summer Guest reveals the full history of this final pilgrimage and its meaning for four people: Jordan Patterson, the haunted young man who will guide Harry on his last voyage out; the camp's owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who has spent a lifetime 'trying to learn what it means to be brave'; Joe's wife, Lucy, the woman Harry has loved for three decades; and Joe and Lucy's daughter Kate – the spirited young woman who holds the key to the last unopened door to the past.As their stories unfold, secrets are revealed, courage is tested, and the bonds of love are strengthened. And always center stage is the place itself – a magical, forgotten corner of New England where the longings of the human heart are mirrored in the wild beauty of the landscape.Intimate, powerful, and profound, The Summer Guest reveals Justin Cronin as a storyteller of unique and marvelous talent. It is a book to treasure.

Once a luxurious southern getaway on a rustic lake, then reduced to a dilapidated crash pad, the Summer House is now the grisly scene of a nighttime mass murder. Eyewitnesses point to four Army Rangers — known as the Night Ninjas — recently returned from Afghanistan.

To ensure that justice is done, the Army sends Major Jeremiah Cook, a veteran and former NYPD cop, to investigate. But the major and his elite team arrive in sweltering Georgia with no idea their grim jobs will be made exponentially more challenging by local law enforcement, who resists the Army’s intrusion and stonewall them at every turn.

As Cook and his squad struggle to uncover the truth behind the condemning evidence, the pieces just won’t fit — and forces are rallying to make certain damning secrets die alongside the victims in the murder house. With his own people in the cross-hairs, Cook takes a desperate gamble to find answers — even if it means returning to a hell of his own worst nightmares...

For seven victims, death comes in the dark . . .

Once a luxurious southern getaway on a rustic lake, then reduced to a dilapidated crash pad, the Summer House is now the grisly scene of a nighttime mass murder. Eyewitnesses point to four Army Rangers — known as the Night Ninjas — recently returned from Afghanistan.

To ensure that justice is done, the Army sends Major Jeremiah Cook, a veteran and former NYPD cop, to investigate. But the major and his elite team arrive in sweltering Georgia with no idea their grim jobs will be made exponentially more challenging by local law enforcement, who rests the Army's intrusion and stonewall them at every turn.

As Cook and his squad struggle to uncover the truth behind the condemning evidence, the pieces just won't fit — and forces are rallying to make certain damning secrets die alongside the victims in the murder house. With his own people in the cross-hairs, Cooks takes a desperate...

In the quiet Basque countryside in 1914, Jean-Marc Montjean, a handsome young doctor, is bewitched by the seductive, beautiful Katya. He is driven to know everything about her. He is devastated by the unspeakable secret horror buried in her past.

Evil doesn't always look scary…Built at the turn of the twentieth century by one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, tucked away in the pristine Pocono Mountains, Summer Place, a retreat for the rich and famous, seems the very essence of charm and beauty, "a scene borrowed from a wondrous fairytale of gingerbread houses, bright forests, and glowing, sunny meadows."But behind the yellow and white trimmed exterior lurks an evil, waiting to devour the unwary…Seven years ago, Professor Gabriel Kennedy's investigation into paranormal activity at Summer Place ended in tragedy, and destroyed his career. Now, Kelly Delaphoy, the ambitious producer of a top-rated ghost-hunting television series, is determined to make Summer Place the centerpiece of an epic live broadcast on Halloween night. To ensure success, she needs help from the one man who has come face-to-face with the evil that dwells in Summer Place, a man still haunted by the ghosts of his own failure. Disgraced and alienated from the academic community, Kennedy wants nothing to do with the event. But Summer Place has other plans…As Summer Place grows stronger, Kennedy along with the paranormal ghost hunting team, The Supernaturals, sets out to confront…and if possible, destroy…the evil presence dwelling there.But sometimes in a paranormal investigation, the ghosts hunt you…

In Boston, there’s a killer on the loose. A killer who targets lone women, who breaks into their apartments and performs terrifying ritualistic acts of torture on his victims before finishing them off. His surgical skills lead police to suspect he is a physician — a physician who, instead of saving lives, takes them.But as homicide detective Thomas Moore and his partner Jane Rizzoli begin their investigation, they make a startling discovery. Closely linked to these killings is Catherine Cordell, a beautiful medic with a mysterious past. Two years ago she was subjected to a horrifying rape and attempted murder but shot her attacker dead. Now she is being targeted by this new killer who seems to know all about her past, her work at the Pilgrim Medical Center, and where she lives.The man she believes she killed seems to be stalking her once again, and this time he knows exactly where to find her…

To a penniless twenty-year-old like Jamie Long, surrogate motherhood seemed both an act of altruism and a financial opportunity. But once pregnant and under contract to Amanda Hartmann, the head of a famous evangelical family, Jamie realizes that she's getting more than she bargained for. Whisked away to the vast, isolated family ranch, she's closely supervised and carefully cut off from the outside world. She learns the family's dark secrets – and sees the enormity of their ruthlessness. When Jamie hears Amanda's plan to claim the baby as her natural-born child, she begins to suspect that her own life is in danger and resolves to flee.Alone with a tiny newborn, she calls on the one man in the world she can trust – her high school crush, Joe Brammer. Their love unites them in a struggle to escape, and soon enough their flight becomes a fight for their lives.Brilliantly weaving some of today's most controversial social issues into a captivating page-turner, The Surrogate is Judith Henry Wall's greatest triumph to date.

“Showing a flair for lip-biting suspense, bestselling novelist Gardner combs out a tangled plot to an engrossing effect… Riveting action… This club is worth the dues.” -People, Beach Book of the Week“Lisa Gardner’s Survivors Club is a high-octane, nerve-jangling tale of suspense.” -Harlan Coben, author of Tell No One“Hot dang, a new Lisa Gardner book! I love her hot, fast thrill rides. I’m always first in line to grab my copy of her newest release the day it arrives in stores. For my money, when it comes to suspense, nobody does it better.” -Jayne Ann Krentz“A book seething with suspense and violence, one that will snatch your attention and attach your emotions to the characters.” – Columbia (SC) State“One cannot read this excellent new novel by bestselling author Gardner without wondering what actors might play these characters… Rocks and rolls right up to a nail-biter ending.” -Publishers Weekly“Her best effort yet in this dynamite tale… Readers are forewarned that they may be up all night finishing this masterfully crafted thriller.” -Booklist“The Survivors Club has it all-provocative plotting, an astute eye for detail, engaging characters, and a razor-sharp emotional edge.” -Stephen White“Another surprise-filled, suspenseful yarn from the gifted Ms. Gardner.” – Denton (TX) Chronicle“Lisa Gardner knows how to produce a hair-raising mystery thriller, and this offering is no exception… Gardner keeps the reader guessing with twist after ingenious twist.” – Charleston (SC) Post and Courier“There’s a whiff of The Silence of the Lambs in this gripping new crime novel… A suspenseful page-turner.” – Toronto Sun“Here’s a winner to keep you on the edge of your beach chair.” – River Falls Journal***From Publishers WeeklyOne cannot read this excellent new novel by bestselling author Gardner (The Next Accident) without wondering what actors might play these characters, especially the detectives. (Russell Crowe in his Bud White mode should star as Roan Griffin, and Dennis Franz seems a natural for the rumpled and sarcastic Fitz.) A sensitive but tough Rhode Island state police detective just returned from a bereavement leave (his beloved wife has died of cancer), Griffin encounters a hell of a case: a serial rapist, Eddie Como, is professionally hit in the courthouse parking lot, but whoever set up the kill doesn't want any loose ends: a car bomb results in an extra-crispy assassin. The prime suspects for this crime are Eddie's surviving victims: Jillian Hayes, who was beaten when she nearly caught the man after he raped her young sister, Trisha, who died; Carol Rosen, neglected wife of a successful attorney with a secret, who was raped in her own home; and the first victim, young Meg Pesaturo, who has mob ties but remembers nothing about the attack. But this is only the beginning of the case, for the rapist seems to rise from the dead to strike again and an old nemesis of Griffin 's may have everything to do with it. The three-dimensional characterizations are compelling, and the plot barrels along with surprising new twists that feel inevitable once they occur. Though the plot doesn't jell until our hero meets his match in city cop Fitz, the book then rocks and rolls right up to a nail-biter ending coming perhaps a tad too quickly. Roan Griffin is a triumph: hurt, tightly wound, but holding it together and regaining his compassion and ability to reach out. And the grace-note minor characters, the wily nurse Toppi and Jillian's silent former singer mother, Libby, are gems. Gardner should hit the charts again with this one.From Library JournalThese survivors overcame the consequences of rape, but one of them seems to have taken things too far by murdering the accused rapist. A follow-up to The Accident, the best-selling Gardner 's hardcover debut.

Filled with action, suspense, crackling dialogue, complex characters, and realistic portrayals of police procedures and courtroom strategies, The Suspect is a powerful novel where crime and punishment meet family secrets and the aspirations of the human heart. Listeners will be thrilled to find their favorite characters – Gina Roake, Wyatt Hunt, and Dismas Hardy – in John Lescroart's new suspense-filled blockbuster.

For more than two years, one book has taken over Germany’s hardcover and paperback bestseller lists, reaching number one in Der Spiegel and setting off a frenzy in bookstores: The Swarm.Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic, eyeless crabs poison Long Island's water supply. The North Sea shelf collapses, killing thousands in Europe. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean's revenge as the seas and their inhabitants begin a violent revolution against mankind. In this riveting novel, full of twists, turns, and cliffhangers, a team of scientists discovers a strange, intelligent life force called the Yrr that takes form in marine animals, using them to wreak havoc on humanity for our ecological abuses. Soon a struggle between good and evil is in full swing, with both human and sub-oceanic forces battling for control of the waters. At stake is the survival of the Earth's fragile ecology-and ultimately, the survival of the human race itself.The apocalyptic catastrophes of The Day After Tomorrow meet the watery menace of The Abyss in this gripping, scientifically realistic, and utterly imaginative thriller. With 1.5 million copies sold in Germany-where it has been on the bestseller list without fail since its debut-and the author's skillfully executed blend of compelling story, vivid characters, and eerie locales, Frank Schatzing's The Swarm will keep you in tense anticipation until the last suspenseful page is turned.