Four thousand years ago, a stranger's death at the Old Temple of Ratharryn and his ominous "gift" of gold precipitates the building of what, for centuries to come, will be known as one of mankind's most singular and remarkable achievements. Bernard Cornwell's epic novel Stonehenge catapults us into a powerful and vibrant world of ritual and sacrifice at once timeless and wholly original, a tale of patricide, betrayal, and murder; of bloody brotherly rivalry; and of the never-ending pursuit of power, wealth, and spiritual fulfillment.
The facts pound hard and cold in Lew Archer's mind: a woman who means something to him is missing, a man has bled to death beneath a magnolia tree, and a killer is on the loose. The facts are falling into place, but he doesn't have to like them.
In his eagerly awaited fourth novel, New York Times best-selling author Nick Hornby mines the hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they've reached the end of the line.
Meet Martin, JJ, Jess, and Maureen. Four people who come together on New Year's Eve: a former TV talk show host, a musician, a teenage girl, and a mother. Three are British, one is American. They encounter one another on the roof of Topper's House, a London destination famous as the last stop for those ready to end their lives.
In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Nick Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.
Intense, hilarious, provocative, and moving, A Long Way Down is a novel about suicide that is, surprisingly, full of life.
Through the story of the brilliant but conflicted young Raskolnikov and the murder he commits, Fyodor Dostoevsky explores the theme of redemption through suffering. Crime and Punishment put Dostoevsky at the forefront of Russian writers when it appeared in 1866 and is now one of the most famous and influential novels in world literature.
The poverty-stricken Raskolnikov, a talented student, devises a theory about extraordinary men being above the law, since in their brilliance they think "new thoughts" and so contribute to society. He then sets out to prove his theory by murdering a vile, cynical old pawnbroker and her sister. The act brings Raskolnikov into contact with his own buried conscience and with two characters — the deeply religious Sonia, who has endured great suffering, and Porfiry, the intelligent and discerning official who is charged with investigating the murder — both of whom compel Raskolnikov to feel the split in his nature. Dostoevsky provides readers with a suspenseful, penetrating psychological analysis that goes beyond the crime — which in the course of the novel demands drastic punishment — to reveal something about the human condition: The more we intellectualize, the more imprisoned we become.
Stephen King's most gripping and unforgettable novel, Bag of Bones, is a story of grief and lost love's enduring bonds, of a new love haunted by the secrets of the past, of an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire. Set in the Maine territory King has made mythic, Bag of Bones recounts the plight of forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife, Jo, and who can no longer hear to face the blank screen of his word processor. Now his nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of the house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, Mike finally returns to Sara Laughs, the Noonan's isolated summer home. He finds his beloved Yankee town familiar on its surface, but much changed underneath -- held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, who twists the very fabric of the community to his purpose: to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother. As Mike is drawn into their struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever-escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here -- and what do they want of Mike Noonan? As vivid and enthralling as King's most enduring works, Bag of Bones resonates with what Amy Tan calls "the witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination." It's no secret that King is our most mesmerizing storyteller. In Bag of Bones -- described by Gloria Naylor as "a love story about the dark places within us all" -- he proves to be one of our most moving.
Jack Vermillion is a businessman with a problem: a son with a criminal record who is in trouble again. This time, Jack's kid is looking at twenty-five to life in maximum security. And there's nothing Jack can do . . .or is there? Black Water Transit is Jack's container ship company, and when Jack is approached by a man wanting to ship his gun collection to Mexico - very simple, very illegal - he sees an opportunity. So Jack cuts a deal with the ATF to trade one illegal gun dealer for one slightly imperfect kid. The deal is set, the weapons on board, the cops and feds in place. Everything should come off without a hitch. . .until the shooting starts and people start dying. As the body count rises, Jack must go on the lam, in a race for his life, and there isn't a law enforcement agency in the world that can help him now.
The first page of Joel C. Rosenberg's first thriller, The Last Jihad, put listeners inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city...but it was written nine months before September 11, 2001. As Jihad unfolds, an American president finds himself in a war with Saddam Hussein over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction...but it was published five months before the actual war with Iraq began. Rosenberg's second novel, The Last Days, opens with the death of Yasser Arafat and an American president pressing for peace in the Middle East...but it was published thirteen months before the actual death of Yasser Arafat. Now comes The Ezekiel Option, an explosive new political thriller that literally feels ripped from tomorrow's headlines. With Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat out of the way, a dazzling era of security and prosperity seems to have come to the Middle East. With the help of an American president trying to spread freedom and democracy, the Israelis and the Palestinians have signed a historic peace agreement. Violence is down. Their economies are booming. But a new evil looms on the horizon. A dictator is rising in Russia. Iran is feverishly building nuclear weapons. A new Axis of Evil is emerging, led by Moscow and Tehran. And Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy - two senior White House advisors - find themselves facing the most chilling question of their lives: Is the world rushing to the brink of an apocalypse prophesied more than 2,500 years ago?
In 1985, with much fanfare, a time capsule was buried under the front lawn of a small-town county courthouse, to be reopened in 2085. But just twenty years later, in the dead of night, the capsule is dug up, its contents stolen. That same night, one of the contributors to the capsule is brutally slain in his home - with no sign of forced entry or indication of a struggle. One by one, others who had placed items in the time capsule are murdered. Besides his suspicions about the sudden, mysterious appearance of Nikita Stover, the chief investigator, Knox Davis, has absolutely no leads. And while Nikita's no murderer, she seems to be hiding plenty of secrets. With more at stake than anyone else realizes, the smart-talking Nikita is determined to catch this cunning killer - while at the same time battling her own deepening feelings for a man and for a world in which she doesn't belong.
Despite his brilliance, Paul Skoglund hasn't held a steady job for years, partly because of his Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder that forces his body into wild swings and to blurt out words that are hilariously, often tragically inappropriate. When his eccentric, wealthy aunt asks him to take on the repairs of her magnificent hunting lodge, he is in no position to refuse. But inside the lodge lies a scene of almost superhuman destruction: a violence now mirrored by a series of disappearances and deaths haunting the region. As Paul delves in to the wreckage, he can't help but wonder what dark passion - and what strength could cause such chaos. Janet' Paul's icy ex-wife, plans to use his condition to wrest away custody of their young son. And in his otherwise uncertain world, Paul is sure of one thing: nothing and no one is going to come between him and Mark. But quickening events lead him deeper into his family's past, and as Paul faces the darker aspects of his own nature, he must brave the possibility that in saving those he loves, he might well destroy himself ...
On November 23, 1942, German U-Boats torpedoed the British ship Benlomond. It sank in the Atlantic in two minutes. The sole survivor was a second steward named Poon Lim who, with no knowledge of the sea, managed to stay alive for 133 days on a small wooden raft. Based on three years of interviews, Sole Survivor reconstructs Poon's remarkable ordeal. We learn of a ship's crew that saw him but refused to pick him up; his ingenious ways of trapping water and catching fish (later used in US Navy training films); and his arrival at land, only to find it an impenetrable jungle. When he was finally rescued at the mouth of the Amazon River, Poon was hailed as the "World's Champion Survivor." He still holds the Guinness World Record for survival at sea. His story is an amazing tale of a young man's fortitude in the face of overwhelming odds.
Arson investigator Billy Nightingale and his brother-in-law, Officer Sebastian Bly, are called in to investigate a house fire that killed two young children. The discovery of a baby hiding underneath the porch put Billy and Sebastian on the trail of a murderous mother while Sebastian and his wife, Annie, raise baby Meredith without revealing her dangerous and frightening past. But the truth threatens their charmed family circle as Merry's biological mother returns to finish what she started.
In The Barbarous Coast, Lew Archer's pursuit of a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living leads him to an ex-fighter with an unexplained movie contract, a big-time gambler who died by his own knife, and finally to an answer he would rather not have known.
