Suspense In Print M To Z

M TO Z

July 12, 2008

MacDonald, Patricia. STOLEN IN THE NIGHT. Atria Books. October '07. $24.95. "Patricia MacDonald has won a worldwide audience of readers with her page-turning crime novels that expertly blend riveting suspense and powerful family drama. Now, she delivers the chilling story of a woman who discovers that her own eyewitness testimony about her sister's abduction led to the conviction and execution of the wrong man - and that the real killer is still at large. When Tess DeGraff was nine years old and on a camping trip in New Hampshire with her family, a stranger kidnapped and killed her sister Phoebe. Thanks to Tess's eyewitness testimony, a man named Lazarus Abbott was arrested and convicted for the heinous crime. But twenty years later, a test reveals that Abbott's DNA does not match that of Phoebe's murderer. Driven by her fear that she may have sent an innocent man to his death, Tess and her adopted son, Erny, return to the New Hampshire town in which it all happened years ago. Stone Hill, New Hampshire, is still an idyllic New England town. Tess's courageous mother, Dawn, who suffered the violent loss of her daughter and the early death of her heartbroken husband, now runs the charming Stone Hill Inn. Tess's older brother, Jake, lives nearby with his wife, a local girl he fell in love with during the trial of his sister's killer. While Tess's family stands by her account of the crime, nerves are frayed throughout Stone Hill, and others in town accuse her of lying and view her as a murderer. In a race against time to untangle the truth about her sister's murder, Tess encounters an anti-death penalty lawyer, Ben Webster, who infuriates her but who also might open her eyes and her heart; a biased police chief related to the Abbotts; and an unknown killer who has Tess and Erny in his sights." Paperback edition. Pocket Books. August '08. $7.99.

MacGregor, T.J. KILL TIME. Pinnacle Books pbo. October '07. $6.99. "NOWHERE TO RUN... Nora McKee has never forgotten the terrible day her mother was abducted by government agents and 'disappeared.' Now, it's happening again. In a crowded cafe on an ordinary street, they've come for her husband, Jake, a man who knows too much. And the last thing he says to Nora before he vanishes is a chilling warning...Run, Nora, run... NOWHERE TO HIDE... Alone and hunted by a shadow organization that will stop at nothing to find her, Nora is in a fight for survival far more important than she knows. For she a a link a discovery beyond all human imagining...a brilliant experiment that has suddenly crossed the line into uncontrollable nightmare... NOWHERE IS SAFE..."

Maberry, Jonathan. BAD MOON RISING. Pinnacle Books pbo. May '08. $6.99. "A new master of terror reigns supreme. And in his most horrifying novel yet, the clash between good and evil explodes in an apocalyptic showdown few will survive... FROM A FUNFEST... Each year, the residents of Pine Deep host the Halloween Festival, drawing tourists and celebrities from across the country to enjoy the deliciously creepy fun. Those who visit the small Pennsylvania town are out for a good time, but those who live there are desperately trying to survive... TO A BLOODFEST. For a monstrous evil lives among them, a savage presence whose malicious power has grown too powerful even for death to hold it back. Only a handful of brave souls stand against the King of the Dead and a red wave of destruction. Daylight is fading and a bad moon is rising over Pine Deep. Keep watching the shadows...."

Michaels, Fern. FREE FALL. Zebra Books. October '07. $6.99. Seventh in the series. "SOONER OR LATER, THE SISTERHOOD ALWAYS GETS THEIR MAN... The loyal friends who make up the Sisterhood have gathered at Myra Ruthedge's beautiful Virginia home for the first time in a year, eager to talk, laugh, and share their joys and heartaches. For one of their, it's an evening filled with anticipation. Because tonight, over delicious food and in the company of those she trusts most, it will finally be time to tell her story - and for the Sisterhood to help plan her revenge. Yoko Akia's mother was only fifteen when a wealthy man swept her off her feet with promises of love. Instead, he filled her brief life with horror and misery. The Sisterhood has helped each other exact vengeance on rotten men before, but time it's different. Their target is none other than America's favorite movie star - a brute who has conned the world into believing he's Mister Perfect. But he's about to learn that nobody - not even a powerful superstar - is above the Sisterhood's special brand of payback...." Simuleous release on Audio Cassette and Audio CD from Brilliance Audio.

Michaels, Fern. HIDE AND SEEK. Zebra Books pbo. January '08. $6.99. "When it's time for payback, these friends play to win... Whoever said living well is the best revenge never met the Sisterhood... Together, the seven fearless friends known as The Sisterhood have served sweet justice to villains who thought they were above the law. But payback has its price, and the Sisterhood's last assignment almost landed them in jail. Now the women are fugitives with a bounty on their heads, but they're not planning on hiding out for long - not when good friends need the kind of help only they can give. Mitch Riley, the ruthless assistant director of the FBI, intends to frame Cornelia 'Nellie' Easter, the judge who helped the Sisterhood evade prison, and their lawyer, Lizzie Fox, in order to save his own career. He's created a special task force t hunt the Sisters down. Mitch has the entire FBI behind him, but he's about to discover that he's no match for seven formidable women with an unbreakable bond and a wickedly cunning plan to bring the fight right to his door..."

Michaels, Fern. HOKUS POKUS. Kensington Books. December '07. $27.95. "Not even an ocean can keep the Sisterhood from helping a friend in need. There is no match for the Sisterhood - the seven friends who have taken vigilante justice to a new level - not even the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although the women foiled former FBI director Mitch Rileys plot to frame their friends Judge Nellie Easter and lawyer Lizzie Fox, now they must remain in exile or risk capture. They can't complain about their opulent digs on a remote, luxurious mountaintop, but the ladies desperately miss home. Their wish to return might come true sooner than they expect when they receive a panicked call from Supreme Court Chief Justice Pearl Barnes, who faces blackmail for her own illegal brand of justice. Now the women must not only sneak back into the United States, but also remain undetected as they investigate. But how do you make seven women disappear? With a nosy reporter on the brink of exposing them, the clock is ticking as the Sisterhood tries to create a little magic - and save the day...." Paperback edition. Zebra Books. April '08. $6.99. Simultaneous release on Audio CD from Brilliance Audio. Abridged edition.

O'Brien, Kevin. ONE LAST SCREAM. Pinnacle Books pbo. January '08. $6.99. "WHEN YOU'RE CAUGHT IN A KILLER'S WEB... Twelve women have vanished, leaving behind no trace or clue - their whereabouts still a mystery after eleven years... THE ONLY THING THAT CAN SAVE YOU IS... Amelia Faraday is beautiful, smart, and walking disaster. Suffering from blackouts, she also suffers from something worse - the feeling that she is personally involved in a series of deaths. ONE LAST SCREAM... Now as a new series of murders begins, and she continues to suffer from blackouts, Amelia is left wondering if she is a cold-blooded killer - or a pawn in a deadly game that's only just beginning..."

Penney, Stef. THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES. Simon & Schuster. March '08. $15.00. "The year is 1867. Winter has just tightened its grip on the Dove River, a tiny settlement in the Northern Territory, when a man is brutally murdered. Laurent Jammett had been a yoyageur for the Hudson Bay Company before an accident lamed him four years earlier. The same accident afforded him the little parcel of land in Dove River, land that the locals called unlucky due to the untimely death of the previous owner. A local woman, Mrs. Ross, stumbles upon the crime scene and sees the tracks leading from the dead man's cabin north toward the forest and the tundra beyond. It is Mrs. Ross's knock on the door of the largest house in Caulfield that launches the investigation. Within hours she will regret that knock with a mother's love - for she soon makes another discovery: her seventeen-year-old son Francis has disappeared and is now considered a prime suspect. In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the crime and to the township - Andrew Knox, Dove River's elder statesman: Thomas Sturrock, a wily American itinerant trader; Donald Moody, the clumsy young Company representative; William Parker, a half-breed Native American and trapper who was briefly detained for Jammett's murder before becoming Mrs. Ross's guide. But the question remains: do these men want to solve the crime or exploit it? One by one, the searchers set out from Dove River following the tracks across a desolate landscape - home to only wild animals, madmen, and fugitives - variously seeking a murderer, a son, two sisters missing for seventeen years, and a forgotten Native American culture before the snows settle and cover the tracks of the past for good."

Rollins, James. THE LAST ORACLE: A Novel. William Morrow. July '08. $26.95. "What if you could bioengineer the next great world prophet: scientifically produce the next Buddha, the next Muhammad, or the next Jesus? Would it mark the Second Coming or initiate a chain reaction with disastrous consequences? A master at combining historical and religious intrigue with edge-of-your-seat adventure, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins brings back SIGMA Force to battle a group of rogue scientists who've unleashed a bioengineering project that could bring about the extinction of humankind. In Washington, D.C., a homeless man dies in Commander Gray Pierce's arms, shot by an assassin's bullet. But the death leaves behind a greater mystery: a bloody coin found clutched in the dead man's hand, an ancient relic that can be traced back to the Greek Oracle of Delphi. As ruthless hunters search for the stolen artifact, Gray Pierce discovers that the coin is the key to unlocking a plot that dates back to the Cold War and threatens the very foundation of humanity. An international think tank of scientists known as the Jasons has discovered a way to bioengineer autistic children who show savant talents - mathematical geniuses, statistical masterminds, brilliant conceptual artists - into something far greater and far more frightening, in hopes of creating a world prophet for the new millennium, one to be manipulated to create a new era of global peace...a peace on their own terms. Halfway around the world, a man wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of who he is, knowing only that he's a prisoner in a subterranean research facility. With the help of three unusual children, he makes his escape across a mountainous and radioactive countryside, pursued by savage hunters bred in the same laboratory. But his goal is not escape, nor even survival. In order to thwart a plot to wipe out a quarter of the world's population, he must sacrifice all, even the children who rescued him. From ancient Greek temples to glittering mausoleums, from the slums of India to the toxic ruins of Russia, two men must race against time to solve a mystery that dates back to the first famous oracle of history - the Greek Oracle of Delphi. But one question remains: Will the past be enough to save the future?" Simultaneous release on Audio CD from HarperAudio.

Sherer, Michael W. ISLAND LIFE. Five Star. March '08. $25.95. "How do you live without someone who's been part of your life for twenty years? Jack Holm begins to find out when his wife doesn't return to their suburban Seattle home after shopping one day. Her absence is not unusual given her flight attendant's job, and it's a respite from recent marital discord, so Jack feels relief not worry. But when a day goes by with no word, then another, Jack, his teenage daughter and ten-year-old son do worry. After three days, Jack reports her missing. Suddenly, Jack is swept up in a terrifying conflagration of events that threaten to tear his world apart. The police suspect him of foul play. Children and Family Services suspects him of abuse. And someone is spying on his kids. Now a single dad, Jack tries to help his kids deal with their mother's disappearance, but when he's arrested on suspicion of murder, he stand to lose it all. The state and his mother-in-law want to take away his kids. The police want him in jail. Abandoned by friends and family, Jack has nowhere to turn, and the mounting evidence begins to make him think he might actually be a killer. But mysterious phone calls and a CD containing child pornography that turns up in his wife's belongings convince him otherwise. He quickly realizes the only way to stay ahead of the law and prevent his children from being put into foster care is to find out what happened to his wife. With new-found courage from a woman who believes in his innocence and the help of another outcast, Jack pursues a shadowy Japanese Yakuza crime boss from Seattle to Las Vegas and back, putting himself and all the people he loves in mortal danger."

Staub, Wendy Corsi. DYING BREATH. Zebra Books pbo. May '08. $6.99. "A SEASIDE RETREAT... It's summer on the Jersey Shore. Children play on the beach. Husbands are off working in the city. And the surf echoes in the night. Here, in this perfect place, a serial killer has no worries in the world - except choosing the next victim. HAS JUST BECOME... Cam Hastings has come to Long Beach Island with her teenage daughter and the hope that maybe she can save her failed marriage. Cam has never stopped loving her husband Mike nor has she been able to outrun her flaws and demons - a vanished mother, a lost sister, and the ugly visions she has of missing children... A KILLER'S FAVORITE PLAYGROUND... Now, Cam is about to step over the edge. For once, she will act on one of her visions - and then face the consequences. For a killer has just struck again. And for Cam, and the people she loves most, fear has come home for good...."

Thewlis, David. THE LATE HECTOR KIPLING. Simon & Schuster. November '07. $25.00. "Hector Kipling is a famous artist. But Hector is not as famous as his best friend, Lenny Snook. And as they are standing in the Tate Gallery one afternoon, Hector's life begins to unravel. For a painter, this existential crisis is the place from which great art is born. If the painter happens to be a forty-three-year-old man with a girlfriend away from home, it is the recipe for disaster. Soon it's all Hector can do to keep it together - between his therapist who shows up drunk at a party and introduces herself to his parents, an irresistible young female poet with a terrifying taste for S&M, and a deranged stalker with an oil-and-canvas-inspired vendetta, just trying to cope is enough to make a man cry. As the events in his life threaten to drive him toward full-blown dementia, Hector finds himself in a bizarre and murderous pursuit of a man threatening to kill him in return, spiraling into a hysterically surreal Hitchcocklike thriller - the story of how a man can become desperate enough to shoot his way out of a midlife crisis. At turns warm, witty, and joyfully absurd, David Thewlis's wicked comedy marks the debut of a savagely funny and observant literary talent."

Wignall, Kevin. WHO IS CONRAD HIRST? Simon & Schuster. November '07. $14.00. "Who is Conrad Hirst? Knowing the answer could get you killed. Not knowing could get him killed. Conrad Hirst is a hired killer working for a German crime boss. Disturbed by the death of his girlfriend ten years earlier and still bearing the scars of post-traumatic stress after serving as a mercenary, he's valued precisely because of how broken he is, by how coldly he kills, by the solitary existence he leads. But something has happened on Conrad's most recent job that's shattered his equilibrium and left him determined to quit. Fortunately for him, there's a simple way to leave the business and begin life anew: Only four people know who he is and what he's done - kill those four people, and Conrad is a free man. A simple plan, but life is never that simple, and as Conrad's scheme unravels, he quickly realizes he isn't the only one doing the killing. With the certainties of his life crumbling around him, he's no longer sure whom he's been working for, or why, or what they want of him now. In fact, he can't even answer the ever-looming and ominous question: Who is Conrad Hirst? Fast-paced, dark, and disturbing, Kevin Wignall's newest page-turner is the story of a broken young man seeking retribution against those who have used him for their own gain, and of the devastating secret that fuels his anger. It is a story of identity and loss, of missed opportunities and the cruelty of fate." Soon to be a major motion picture.

Winegardner, Mark. THE GODFATHER'S REVENGE. Signet Books. November '07. $9.99. "In THE GODFATHER'S REVENGE, the third and concluding novel in Mario Puzo's landmark saga, Winegardner moves the Corleone family onto the biggest stage of all: the intersection of organized crime and national politics. At it's center: Michael Corleone, boss of America's most powerful family, is a haunted man - tormented by demons from his past even as he pursues the mantle of legitimacy. Former caporegime Nick Geraci, Michael's onetime top earner, is a hunted man - sought with equal fervor by the Corleones, who want him dead, and the feds, whose designs are less clear. U.S. Attorney General Daniel Brendan Shea, brother to the galvanizing young President James Shea, is an ambitious man - determined to forge a name for himself by topping the kingpins of organized crime. Carlo Tramonti is a vindictive man - the capo of the New Orleans syndicate, who will exact his revenge for a public humiliation, no matter the cost. Tom Hagen is a trapped man, an Irish consigliere in an Italian world, charged with brokering a nearly impossible compromise to spare his organization the wrath of the government - and in so doing, putting himself in mortal peril. The explosive conclusion of these five powerful men culminates in a tragedy of historic proportion - an unforgettable capstone to Puzo's great American epic - in a story that spans Miami and New Orleans, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York City. But the measure of Mark Winegardner's achievement is in capturing not only the outsized personalities working against one another for power and control, but also their interior lives, the colorful array of wives and daughters, parents and friends who surround them - the intimate details and textures that constitute the world of contradictory impulses and best intentions of that strangest and most exotic of institutions, family."

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