Bestselling author Ben Elton delivers a heart-stopping thriller and a killer comic romance. With old friends like these, who needs enemies? It's a question, short, mild mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself having, in romantic desperation, logged on to the Friends Reunited website searching for the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of '86 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more. Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, while comprehensively failing to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again. "From the Trade Paperback edition.

In the tradition of Ready Player One and The Matrix, New York Times bestseller Andrew Klavan's MindWar is a complex thriller about a seemingly ordinary teenager who discovers a hidden gift--a gift that could make him a hero . . . or cost him everything. New High Score! New Record Time! Rick nodded with grim satisfaction. He laid the game controller aside on the sofa and reached for his crutches. Rick Dial was the best quarterback Putnam Hills High School had ever seen. Unflappable. Unstoppable. Number 12. But when a car accident left him crippled, Rick's life as he knew it ended. He disavowed his triumphant past. He ignored his girlfriend. He disappeared into his bedroom--and into the glowing video screen. But Rick's uncanny gaming skills have attracted attention. Dangerous attention. Government agents have uncovered a potentially devastating cyber-threat: a Russian genius has created a digital reality called the Realm, from which he can enter, control, and disrupt American computer systems . . . from transportation to defense. The agents want Rick, quick-thinking quarterback and gaming master, to enter the Realm and stop the madman--before he sends America into chaos. Entering the Realm will give Rick what he thought he'd never have again: a body as strong and fast as it was before the accident. But this is no game, there are no extra lives, and what happens to Rick in the Realm happens to Rick's body in reality. Even after Rick agrees to help, he can't shake the sense that he's being kept in the dark. Why would a government agency act so aggressively? Can anyone inside the Realm be trusted? How many others have entered before him . . . and failed to return? "Edgar Award-winning Klavan's well-orchestrated fantasy thriller features . . . an imaginative mix of gaming action with real-life stakes. With just the right cliff-hanger ending, this trilogy opener shows promise." --Booklist Readers love MindWar's creative worldbuilding, high-stakes virtual reality battleground, relatable protagonist, and themes of morality, inner strength, redemption after personal failure, and good vs. evil.

"From the bestselling master espionage writer, hailed by Vince Flynn as "the best in the business," comes a riveting novel about the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris. Paris, 1941. The City of Light, occupied by the Nazis, is dark and silent at night. Streetlamps are painted blue and apartment windows draped or shuttered in the blackout ordered by the Germans. But when the clouds part, the silvery moonlight defies authority, and so does a leader of the French Resistance, known as Mathieu. In Paris and in the farmhouses, barns, and churches of the French countryside, small groups of ordinary men and women are determined to take down the occupying forces of Adolf Hitler. Mathieu leads one such Resistance cell, helping downed British airmen escape back to England. This suspenseful, fast-paced thriller by the author whom Vince Flynn calls "the most talented espionage novelist of our generation" captures this dangerous time as no one ever has before. Alan Furst brings Paris and occupied France to life, along with courageous citizens who outmaneuver collaborators, informers, blackmailers, and spies, risking everything to fulfill perilous clandestine missions. Aiding Mathieu as part of his covert network are Lisette, a seventeen-year-old student and courier; Max de Lyon, an arms dealer turned nightclub owner; Chantal, a woman of class and confidence; Daniel, a Jewish teacher fueled by revenge; Joëlle, who falls in love with Mathieu; and Annemarie, a willful aristocrat with deep roots in France, and a desire to act. As the German military police heighten surveillance, Mathieu and his team face a new threat, dispatched by the Reich to destroy them all. Shot through with the author's trademark fine writing, breathtaking suspense, and intense scenes of seduction and passion, Alan Furst's A Hero of France is at once one of the finest novels written about the French Resistance and the most gripping novel yet by the living master of the spy thriller. Praise for Alan Furst "Furst never stops astounding me."--Tom Hanks "Suspenseful and sophisticated. No espionage author, it seems, is better at summoning the shifting moods and emotional atmosphere of Europe before the start of World War II than Alan Furst."--The Wall Street Journal "Though set in a specific place and time, Furst's books are like Chopin's nocturnes: timeless, transcendent, universal. One does not so much read them as fall under their spell."--Los Angeles Times "[Furst] remains at the top of his game."--The New York Times "A grandmaster of the historical espionage genre."--The Boston Globe"--

Will Barrent had no memory of his crime . . . but he found himself shipped across space to a brutal prison-planet. On Omega, his only chance to advance himself - and stay alive - is to commit an endless series of violent crimes. The average inmate's life expectancy from time of arrival is three years. Can Barrett survive, escape, and return to Earth to clear his name?

"With gimlet eyed cool and razor sharp wit, The Low Desert explores both the depravity and humanity at the heart of Tod Goldberg's critically acclaimed gangster universe, first introduced in Gangsterland, continued in Gangster Nation, and expanded here with all-new and returning characters. The uncle of an FBI agent spends his life as sheriff in different cities, living too close to the violent acts of men; a cocktail waitress moves through several desert towns trying to escape the loss of an adopted daughter who went missing under unexplained circumstances; a drug dealer with a penchant for karaoke and a bullet hole in his foot meets a talkative lawyer and a silent clown in a Palm Springs bar. These surprising and thrilling stories from a master of modern crime fiction elaborate and enrich the dynamic Sal Cupertine/Rabbi David Cohen gangster universe"--

As a potentially cataclysmic situation brews between Beijing and Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Desaix Clark is sent to China to assess the threat that this enigmatic Asian nation could pose to the United States. The two Chinese rulers vying for power - the machiavellian Prime Minister and the ruthless Defense Minister - each seek to manipulate Clark against the other. But whom can he trust? Before he can unravel the final mystery, he must confront some fundamental facts about himself and the mission upon which he was sent. Why did his closest friend, the Secretary of State, really send him to China? Thrust into a deadly web of conspiracy, deceit, and betrayal, Clark races to uncover the truth as the West faces one of the most insidious threats to its security.

A Library Journal Horror Best Seller From Nebula Award winner Sam J. Miller comes a frightening and uncanny ghost story about a rapidly changing city in upstate New York and the mysterious forces that threaten it. Ronan Szepessy promised himself he'd never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City's distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge. Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom's wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become--overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbors getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose their true motives. But in doing so, they unleash something far more mysterious and uncontainable. Hudson has a rich, proud history and, it turns out, the real-state developers aren't the only forces threatening its well-being: the spirits undergirding this once-thriving industrial town are enraged. Ronan's hijinks have overlapped with a bubbling up of hate and violence among friends and neighbors, and everything is spiraling out of control. Ronan must summon the very best of himself to shed his own demons and save the city he once loathed.

After the publication of her best-selling book To Begin Again, Naomi Levy received a flood of feedback from readers telling her how much the prayers in it had helped and moved them. Many urged her to publish a collection of her prayers—and now she has. In a time when we all need inspiration, comfort, and connection, Talking to God will help us reclaim prayer as an integral part of our lives, making it as natural and uninhibited as talking to our loved ones. Prayer is essential to the lives of millions, but many of us are searching for ways to supplement traditional prayers with ones that are less formal and more intimate. Written in a simple and direct style, the prayers in this book—and the wonderful stories that accompany them—are for people of all faiths, and for all occasions large and small. Naomi Levy’s personal prayers address the anxieties and roadblocks we all face in contemporary life. There are prayers for facing a new day, realizing one’s potential at work, celebrating an anniversary or birthday, and going to sleep at night. And there are prayers for the more profound occurrences in life—love and marriage, pregnancy and childbirth, illness, loss, and death. Rabbi Levy’s words, imbued with grace and empathy, touch on the entire range of human experience. Many of us will recognize ourselves in her prayers and stories and will be comforted by them, as well as challenged and uplifted. Perhaps most important, they are stepping-stones for us to go on and create our own prayers, to find meaning in our own lives, and to begin or renew our own relationships with God. From the Hardcover edition.

Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is "a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent." That talent explodes with her third book, "Blame," a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all. The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail--"yet again"--after another epic alcoholic blackout. "Okay, what'd I do?" she asks her lawyer and jailers. "I really don't remember." She adds, jokingly: "Did I kill someone?" In fact, two Jehovah's Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy's driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life--in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA--trying to atone for this unpardonable act. Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up. For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished? When Huneven's first novel, "Round Rock," was published, Valerie Miner, in the "Los Angeles Times Book Review," celebrated Huneven's "moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity." The same spirit electrifies "Blame." The novel crackles with life--and, like life, can leave you breathless.

Haunted by his inability to stop the murder of a beautiful young painter twenty years ago, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Investigating a crazed collector who's begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation—dedicated to the science of past-life study. There, to maintain his cover, he submits to the treatment of a hypnotist. Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: a fifteen-hundred-year-old sculpture the nation of Iran will do anything to recover.

"When a soldier is found stabbed through the heart at a US Army base, there is no doubt that his wife, Luz, is to blame. But was it an act of self-defense? An attempt to save her infant daughter? Or the cold-blooded murder of an innocent man? Ambitious public defender Abby is determined to win at all costs. As a new mother herself, she wants to keep Luz out of prison and with her daughter. But when the surprises stack up and shocking new evidence emerges, Abby realizes the task proves far more difficult than she suspected and will require a terrible sacrifice. As the trial hurtles toward an outcome no one expects, Abby, Luz and a captivated jury are forced to answer the question that will decide everything--what does it mean to be a good mother?"--Provided by publisher

When the enigmatic billionare founder and CEO of Tetration, the world's most powerful tech company, is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, he hires a failed novelist, Josh Cohen, to ghostwrite his memoirs. This tech mogul, known only as 'Principal', takes Josh deep into his own mind, and outlines the history of Tetration, which started by revolutionising the search engine and later ventured into smartphones, computer manufacturing and the surveillance of American citizens. Accompanying Josh on a mind-bending world tour of local Tetration offices, from Palo Alto to Dubai, Principal soon initiates Josh into the secret pretext of the autobiography project, and the life-or-death stakes that surround its publication.

Angelo Perino lives life on the bleeding edge of speed and success--a race car driver of humble origins who dominates on and off the track. Loren Hardeman is the ruthless patriarch of an auto empire, fighting to keep his family from self-destructing under the weight of its own greed and decadence. The two men, bound by their passionate vision as well as their charismatic power over women, come together to create the world's fastest, most advanced automobile, "The Betsy"--named after Hardeman's great-granddaughter, who has captured Perino's heart. Their creation threatens to disrupt the industry, whose power brokers are determined to prevent it no matter the cost. This pits Hardeman's own grandson, the company's current CEO, against him, revealing the depths to which Hardeman went to build his empire--including murder, incestuous adultery, and organized crime. As the family feud escalates, Perino makes his move to conquer Hardeman's empire... as well as his great-granddaughter. From master storyteller Harold Robbins, The Betsy pulls back the curtain on the glittering world of fame, fortune, and passion of the auto industry, giving a look into a world riddled with scandal, graft, family drama, and product recalls.

The thrilling follow-up to Alpha continues the Jad Bell series from New York Times bestselling author Greg Rucka. Still recovering from traumas both physical and emotional, Jad Bell is tasked with bringing in the Uzbek, principal organizer of the terrorist attack that nearly cost Bell his ex-wife and daughter. But the Uzbek's just the beginning: his employer, the Architect, has already set in motion another, even more devastating attack. At the center of it all are two women under deep cover. One, as beautiful as she is deadly, has just been dispatched on American soil to execute the Architect's deadly plans. The other is an American just emerging from a complex web of lies, whose intel may be the only hope Bell has to stop the assault before it begins. But after years of pretending to be somebody else, can she be trusted?

New York Times bestselling author It’s 1975, and Shaltiel Feigenberg – professional storyteller, writer and beloved husband – has been abducted from his home in Brooklyn, blindfolded and tied to a chair in a dark basement. His captors, an Arab and an Italian, don’t explain why he was chosen, just that his life will be bartered for the freedom of three Palestinian prisoners. As his days of waiting commence, Shaltiel resorts to what he does best, telling stories – to himself and to the men who hold his fate in their hands. A Communist brother, a childhood spent hiding from the Nazis in a cellar, the kindness of liberating Russian soldiers, the unrest of the 1960s – these are the stories that unfold in Shaltiel’s captivity, as the outside world breathlessly follows his disappearance and the police move toward a final confrontation with his captors. Wiesel’s] terse first-person, present-tense narrative will hold readers . . . With the intense contemporary action, the prisoner’s memories also bring close the sweep of Jewish history, including persecution and survival. - Booklist

From Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author, Robert Silverberg comes the classic: The Book of Skulls. Four friends embark on a cross-country trip in search of a legendary monastery. There, they hope to find the secrets of immortality promised in an ancient manuscript, the Book of Skulls There, they will present themselves-and pay the horrific price demanded. For immortality requires sacrifice. Two victims to balance two survivors. One by suicide, one by murder. Beneath the gaze of grinning skulls, the terror begins. . . .

Atticus Kodiak knows where people go to hide. That's why he and Alena Cizkova have come to a secluded Georgian town in the former U.S.S.R. What he doesn't know is what his friend and neighbor Bakhar Lagidze was hiding from. Bakhar and his entire family have been viciously murdered--all except for Lagidze's fourteen-year-old daughter, whose nightmare is just beginning. To rescue her, Atticus must enter a lethal web that stretches from Russia to Istanbul, from Dubai to Las Vegas, and into the very heart of evil. But what troubles Atticus the most is that Alena, once one of the world's most fearless assassins, is clearly terrified of what Atticus will uncover--and what he'll become when he does.

An enthralling literary mystery that connects some of the world's most famous authors--from Norman Mailer and Truman Capote to B. Traven and J. D. Salinger -- to a sinister collector in Chicago Adam Langer, the narrator of this deft and wide-ranging novel by the author of the same name, tells the intertwining tales of two writers navigating a plot neither one of them could have ever imagined. There may be no other escape than to write their way out of it. Adam is a writer and stay-at-home dad in Bloomington, Indiana, drawn into an uneasy friendship with the charismatic and bestselling thriller author Conner Joyce. Conner is having trouble writing his next book, and when a menacing stranger approaches him with an odd--and lucrative--proposal, events quickly begin to spiral out of control. A novel of literary crimes and misdemeanors, The Salinger Contract will delight anyone who loves a fast-paced story told with humor, wit, and intrigue.