23 results for "Thriller"

Crime scene: a novel

Kellerman, Jonathan,Kellerman, Jesse
"A former star athlete turned deputy coroner is drawn into a brutal, complicated murder in this psychological thriller from a father-son writing team that delivers "brilliant, page-turning fiction" (Stephen King). Natural causes or foul play? That's the question Clay Edison must answer each time he examines a body. Figuring out motives and chasing down suspects aren't part of his beat--not until a seemingly open-and-shut case proves to be more than meets his highly trained eye. Eccentric, reclusive Walter Rennert lies cold at the bottom of his stairs. At first glance the scene looks straightforward: a once-respected psychology professor, done in by booze and a bad heart. But his daughter Tatiana insists that her father has been murdered, and she persuades Clay to take a closer look at the grim facts of Rennert's life. What emerges is a history of scandal and violence, and an experiment gone horribly wrong that ended in the brutal murder of a coed. Walter Rennert, it appears, was a broken man--and maybe a marked one. And when Clay learns that a colleague of Rennert's died in a nearly identical manner, he begins to question everything in the official record. All the while, his relationship with Tatiana is evolving into something forbidden. The closer they grow, the more determined he becomes to catch her father's killer--even if he has to overstep his bounds to do it. The twisting trail Clay follows will lead him into the darkest corners of the human soul. It's his job to listen to the tales the dead tell. But this time, he's part of a story that makes his blood run cold. Praise for Jonathan Kellerman "Jonathan Kellerman's psychology skills and dark imagination are a potent literary mix."--Los Angeles Times "Kellerman doesn't just write psychological thrillers--he owns the genre."--Detroit Free Press "A master of the psychological thriller."--People Praise for Jesse Kellerman "Gripping and compelling. but what truly separates Kellerman from the pack is his prose. Jesse Kellerman tightens the noose slowly, and we his readers can do nothing but turn the pages."--Harlan Coben, on The Genius "Kellerman has a gift for creating compelling characters as well as for crafting an ingenious plot that grabs the reader and refuses to let go."--Publishers Weekly (starred review), on The Genius"--
Ballantine Books 2017 381 pages

The hunt

Kellerman, Faye
"Peter and his partner, Detective Tyler McAdams, are thrown into an unsolved case and propelled into action when a body is found in Upstate New York, in the very woods where a man previously went missing ... But that's not the only crisis that Peter has to deal with. Teresa McLaughlin, the biological mother of Peter and Rina's foster son, Gabe, has fled to Los Angeles with her two other children in tow, hoping to avoid a court injunction amid a messy divorce. But L.A. is no escape from her problems--she is found by ruthless men and beaten mercilessly. When Terry wakes, barely conscious, she discovers that both of her children are gone and frantically calls Gabe for help. Unable to assist his mother immediately, Gabe enlists the help of Peter and Rina and contacts his biological father, the notorious Christopher Donatti, a former hit man from a known crime family who's now a multi-millionaire in Nevada. By bringing Donatti into the fray, Gabe, Peter, and Rina know they have made a deal with the devil--but with Terry on the verge of death, they have no choice. As these unlikely allies rally to find the kidnappers of Terry's children before things end tragically, they race headlong toward an explosive confrontation from which no one will emerge unscathed..."--Dust jacket flap.
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 2022 483 pages

The beast

Kellerman, Faye
"Over the years, Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus have got through a lot together. They've faced more than their share of serial killers and psychopaths. But this time two very different cases may cause them to re-evaluate everything they hold dear. One case involves Gabe, the troubled boy they've taken into their home. The other is much stranger - a man is found dead in his apartment, apparently mauled by his pet tiger. There is more to each case than anyone expects. But will Decker's family distractions finally prove too much? And when the truth comes out, will Rina and Peter's family survive?"--
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2013-08-06 371 pages

Hidden in smoke

Goldberg, Lee
"After dozens of Hollywood apartment buildings erupt in flames during a single night of terror, arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker are assigned to catch the serial torcher and end his spree. But then a catastrophic fire destroys a major freeway, crippling the city and forcing Sharpe and Walker to take on another massive case. Desperate for help, they know exactly who to call: homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone. Together the four detectives must quickly figure out whether the freeway disaster was a tragic accident...or the work of a mastermind with a horrific plan. As the investigations collide, an old foe with a revenge scheme enters the fray, igniting a race against time to stop a conspiracy of deception, corruption, and murder."--
Thomas & Mercer 2025 279 pages

Home

Coben, Harlan
A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For ten years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for ten years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken? And most critically: what can he tell Myron and Win about the fate of his missing friend? Drawing on his singular talent, Harlan Coben delivers an explosive and deeply moving thriller about friendship, family, and the meaning of home.
Dutton 2016 387 pages

Blood defense

Clark, Marcia
Samantha Brinkman, an ambitious, hard-charging Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, is struggling to make a name for herself and to drag her fledgling practice into the big leagues. Sam lands a high-profile double-murder case in which one of the victims is a beloved TV star, and the defendant is a decorated veteran LAPD detective. It promises to be exactly the kind of media sensation that would establish her as a heavy hitter in the world of criminal law. Though Sam has doubts about his innocence, she and her two associates (her closest childhood friend and a brilliant ex-con) take the case. Notorious for living by her own rules and fearlessly breaking everyone else's, Samantha pulls out all the stops in her quest to uncover evidence that will clear the detective. But when a shocking secret at the core of the case shatters her personal world, Sam realizes that not only has her client been playing her, he might be one of the most dangerous sociopaths she's ever encountered.
Thomas & Mercer 2016 389 pages

36 righteous men

Pressfield, Steven
"New York homicide detectives pursue a serial killer in this apocalyptic thriller. When detectives James Manning and Covina "Dewey" Duwai are called in to investigate a series of bizarre murders, they make a shocking discovery: the legend of the hidden righteous ones, the 36 who preserve the world from destruction, is no legend at all. They are real, and they are being murdered. As the bodies pile up and the world tilts into chaos, Manning and Dewey must protect the righteous ones from a ruthless killer able to beguile his victims and command them against their will"--
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc 2020 340 pages

Killer look

Fairstein, Linda A.
"New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein delivers a heart-pounding thriller that explores the dark secrets of Manhattan's iconic fashion scene in her latest Alexandra Cooper novel. New York City is one of the fashion capitals of the world, well-known for its glamour and style. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the runway, where American haute couture continually astounds with its creativity, daring, and innovation in the name of beauty. Yet high fashion means high stakes, as Alex Cooper quickly discovers when businessman and designer Wolf Savage is found dead in an apparent suicide, mere days before the biggest show of his career. When the man's daughter insists Savage's death was murder, the case becomes more than a media sensation: It is a race to find a killer in a world created entirely out of fantasy and illusion. With her own job at the DA's office in jeopardy, and the temptation to self-medicate her PTSD with alcohol almost too strong to resist, Alex is not anyone's first choice for help. But she is determined to uncover the grime--and the possible homicide--beneath the glitz. Along with detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must penetrate the twisted roots and mixed motives among the high-profile players in the Garment District. The investigation takes the trio from the missing money in Wolf Savage's international fashion house to his own recovery from addiction; from the role of Louisiana Voodoo in his life to his excessive womanizing; and to the family secrets he kept so well-hidden, even from those closest to him--just as things are about to get deadly on the catwalk. With Killer Look, Linda Fairstein proves once again why she is the "Queen of Intelligent Suspense."* *Lee Child Linda Fairsteinwas chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the district attorney's office in Manhattan for more than two decades and is America's foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard"--
Dutton 2016 383 pages

Deadfall

Fairstein, Linda A.
"Hunting a killer within New York's urban jungle becomes the biggest case of Alexandra Cooper's career inNew York Timesbestselling author Linda Fairstein's latest riveting thriller. A wild heart beats within New York City. Amid concrete and skyscrapers, the Wildlife Conservation Society works to preserve and protect the animal kingdom both within and beyond the borders of the five boroughs. But dangerous creatures don't always have claws and fangs, as Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper and NYPD detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace know all too well. Predators lurk close to home, and in the aftermath of the shocking assassination of an iconic public figure--someone Alex has worked with for years--the trio must unravel the motive behind the shooting to discover who is the bigger snake: the killer or the victim. The murder investigation provides more questions than answers, as a tangled mess of secrets slowly comes to light. From street gangs to secret societies, from big-game hunting to the illegal animal trade, from New York City zoos to the highest offices in city government, Alex has her work cut out for her--especially since the task force, led by the US Attorney, seems to be more against her than with her. As tensions rise between Alex and the feds, she must determine just how far she is willing to go to uncover the truth--and uphold the integrity of the office she has so proudly served. Deadfallproves once again why Linda Fairstein is hailed as "a champion teller of detective tales."* *USA Today"--
Dutton 2017 385 pages

The killings at Kingfisher Hill

Hannah, Sophie,Christie, Agatha
"Hercule Poirot is traveling by luxury passenger coach from London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate. Richard Devonport has summoned the renowned detective to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent of the murder of his brother, Frank. Poirot will have only days to investigate before Helen is hanged, but there is one strange condition attached: he must conceal his true reason for being there from the rest of the Devonport family. The coach is forced to stop when a distressed woman demands to get off, insisting that if she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. Although the rest of the journey passes without anyone being harmed, Poirot's curiosity is aroused, and his fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered with a macabre note attached... Could this new murder and the peculiar incident on the coach be clues to solving the mystery of who killed Frank Devonport? And if Helen is innocent, can Poirot find the true culprit in time to save her from the gallows?"--
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2020 272 pages

Trouble

Kellerman, Jesse
Jesse Kellerman's debut thriller wowed the critics. His latest sets the bar even higher. Young, idealistic, and overworked, Jonah is living the lonely life of a medical student in New York City when he accidentally stumbles across a murder in progress: a woman, being stabbed to death in the middle of the sidewalk. Without thinking, he rushes in to protect her-inadvertently killing her attacker in the process. Thrust into the media spotlight, crushed by guilt, Jonah quickly learns that heroism isn't all it's cracked up to be. He receives a shower of unwanted attention-and hostility-from his superiors. The district attorney wants to "interview" him. The family of the dead man wants revenge. Everything is further upended when the woman whose life he saved shows up at his apartment. What begins as a thank-you drink turns into a wildly passionate love affair. As their relationship deepens, however, Jonah realizes that she isn't quite the woman she appears to be. His nightmare has only begun, and the price of kindness will turn out to be higher than he could have imagined. Expertly crafted and chillingly suspenseful, Trouble is a heart-stopper: proof positive that Jesse Kellerman has joined the "first ranks of mystery and suspense writers" ( Forbes ).
G.P. Putnam's Sons 2007 352 pages

Keep her safe

Hannah, Sophie
Pushed to the breaking point, Cara Burrows flees her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied -- by a man and a teenage girl. A simple mistake at the front desk but soon Cara realizes that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving natural life sentences for her murder. Cara doesn't know what to trust -- everything she's read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2017 346 pages

Walking shadows

Kellerman, Faye
Greenbury, New York. The brutally beaten body of a young man is discovered in the woods adjacent to an empty vacation home. Brady Neil had no criminal record, few friends, worked full-time, and attended community college. When Brady was a baby, his father, Brandon Gratz, was convicted of robbing and killing the owners of a local jewelry store. Decker begins to suspect that the son's murder may be connected to the father's sins. When one of Brady Neil's friend goes missing, Decker and his temporary new partner, Hamilton PD cop Lenora Baccus, discover a bloodbath. With the help of the Greenbury detectives, Decker is determined to see justice done. -- adapted from jacket.
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2018-08-28 367 pages

Keep calm: a thriller

Binder, Mike
"Former Michigan cop Adam Tatum receives an unexpected offer from Heaton Global Investments, a golden opportunity that seems almost too good to be true. He travels to 10 Downing Street to help implement a new pension program for the British Civil Service. The deal goes off without a hitch--and so does a bomb in the conference room. The Prime Minister is gravely wounded. And the only attendee with a checkered past is Adam Tatum. Sensing a trap, Adam flees with his family, desperately fighting for survival in an unfamiliar country. The lives of his children, the future of his marriage, and the fate of a nation depend on Adam exposing the conspirators who pegged him for a fall. Georgia Turnbull, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Davina Steel, the lead investigator, each stand to gain from the successful manhunt of Adam Tatum. But, as motives emerge and desires excite, each must decide what they're really after. Layered plots, crackling dialogue, and propulsive action mark Keep Calm, the riveting debut thriller from award-winning actor, director, and screenwriter Mike Binder"--
Henry Holt and Company 2015 367 pages

The clarity: a novel

Thomas, Keith
"For fans of Black Mirror and True Detective, a visceral high-concept thriller about a psychologist who must protect the life of an eleven-year-old girl whose ability to remember past lives makes them both targets of a merciless killer. Dr. Matilda Deacon is a psychologist researching how memories are made and stored when she meets a strange eleven-year-old girl named Ashanique. Ashanique claims to harbor the memories of the last soldier killed in World War I and Matilda is at first very interested but skeptical. However, when Ashanique starts talking about being chased by the Night Doctors--a term also used by an unstable patient who was later found dead--Matilda can't deny that the girl might be telling the truth. Matilda learns that Ashanique and her mother have been on the run their whole lives from a monstrous assassin named Rade. Rade is after a secret contained solely in memories and has left a bloody trail throughout the world in search of it. Matilda soon realizes Ashanique is in unimaginable danger and that her unique ability comes with a deadly price. Fast-paced, suspenseful, and a chilling blend of science and danger, The Clarity is a compelling take on the possibilities of reincarnation and life after death"--
Atria/Leopoldo & Co 2018-02-20 295 pages

Innocence: or, murder on Steep Street

Kovály, Heda
"This rediscovered gem of Czech literature, a crime novel by renowned Holocaust memoirist Heda Margolius Kovaly, depicts a chilling moment in history, redolent with the stifling atmosphere of political and personal oppression of the early days of Socialist Czechoslovakia. In 1985, Czech Holocaust memoirist, literary translator, and political exile Heda Margolius Kovaly turned her pen to fiction. Inspired by the stories of Raymond Chandler, Kovaly knit her own terrifying experiences in early 1950s Socialist Prague -- her husband's imprisonment and wrongful execution, her own persecution at his disgrace -- into a gorgeous psychological thriller-cum-detective novel. Set in and around a cinema where a murder was recently committed, Innocence follows the unfolding of the investigation while telling the stories of the women who work there as ushers, each of whom is forced to support herself in difficult circumstances. As the novel brings this group alive, it tells their various life stories that have brought them to this job, the secrets they share with one another, and the secrets they keep. When the detective trying to solve the first murder is found slain by the cinema, all of their secrets come into the light. A smart, evocative, and deeply stirring literary crime novel with international appeal"--
Soho Crime 2015 234 pages

Fear itself

Greenburg, Dan
Why would a nurse's aide terrified of heights hurl herself from a twentieth story rooftop in Queens? Why would an attractive librarian with a water phobia be found naked and floating facedown in the Astoria Park swimming pool? How did the scantily clad body of a young bookstore clerk with a horror of snakes end up inside a Central Park Zoo cage with a two-hundred-pound python? NYPD Detective Max Segal, strung out from a devastating divorce, is determined to find the killer before more women die. A sadistic ex-con who masquerades as a shrink is seducing phobic women into psychic hell and literally scaring them to death. When Max Segal picks up the killer's trail, Max's new girlfriend is chosen to become victim number four. Like Love Kills and Exes , Dan Greenburg's previous bestselling thrillers, Fear Itself is a terrifyingly realistic, darkly humorous, startlingly sexy, street-tough page-turner with a surprising climax.
Thomas & Mercer 2013 385 pages