Category Archives: Mystery

PULSE

Title:  Pulse

Author:  Michael Harvey

Boston, 1976.  Daniel Fitzsimmons is just sixteen years old and totally on his own–his parents are long dead, and his beloved brother, Harry, is off at Harvard, the star of the football team.  When Harry is murdered, Daniel wrestles not only with inconsolable grief but with strange new powers he never knew he possessed.  Powers he’s not sure he can control.

Detectives William Barkley “Bark” Jones and Tommy Dillon are assigned to Harry’s case.  The veteran partners thought they’d seen it all, but they are stunned when Daniel wanders into the crime scene.  Even stranger, Daniel claims to have known the details of his brother’s murder before even happened.  The investigation leads the detectives deep into the Fitzsimmons brothers’ past.  They find heartbreaking loss, sordid characters, and metaphysical conspiracies.  Even on the rough streets of 1970s Boston, Jones and Dillon have never had a case like this.

Pulse is laced with real danger and otherworldly twists–a stunningly original and mind-bending novel that stretches the boundaries of the crime thriller.

BLOOD OATH

Title:  Blood Oath

Author:  Linda Fairstein

Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper of the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit is finally back at work following a leave of absence., and not a moment too soon.  With more women feeling empowered to name their abusers, Alex is eager to return to the courtroom to do what she does best.  But even she can’t anticipate the complexity of her first case when she meets Lucy, a young woman who testified years earlier at a landmark federal trial….and now reveals that she was sexually assaulted by a prominent official during that time.

Yet Lucy’s isn’t the only secret Alex must uncover, with rumors swirling about one colleague’s abusive conduct behind closed doors and another’s violent, mysterious collapse.  As the seemingly disparate cases of her client, adversary, and friend start to intertwine, Alex along with NYPD detectives Mike Chapmen and Merce Wallace, finds herself in uncharted territory within Manhattan’s Rockefeller University, a premier research institute, hospital, and cornerstone of higher learning.  But not even the greatest minds in the city can help her when unearthed secrets begin to collide in dangerous ways…and unless she can uncover the truth, the life saving facility just may become her grave.

PET SEMATARY

Title:  Pet Sematary

Author:  Stephen King

Has Stephen King ever conceived a story so horrifying that he was for a time unwilling to finish writing it?  Yes.  Pet Sematary is that story.

As king says in his introduction, “When I’m asked what I consider to be the most frightening book I’ve written, the answer I give comes easily and with no hesitation. Pet Sematary.”

When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true.  Yet despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here.  Those trucks on the road outside the Greeds’ beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing….as is evidenced by the makeshift pet cemetery in the nearby woods.  Then there are the warnings to Louis, both real and from the depths of his nightmares, that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard.  A blood-chilling truth is hidden there–one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful.  An ominous fate befalls anyone who dares to tamper with this forbidden place, as Louis is about to discover for himself.

As the story unfolds, so does a nightmare of the supernatural, one so relentless you might not want to continue reading but will be unable to stop.  There’s a reason King put this novel in a drawer for several years, ” thinking I had finally gone too far.”

A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS

Title:  A Noise Downstairs

Author:  Linwood Barclay

College professor Paul Davis is a normal guy with a normal life.  But that normal existence is turned upside down late one evening when he spots his colleague Kenneth driving in a suspicious manner along a deserted road.  Curious and concerned, Paul follows Kenneth, and catches him in a horrifying act–trying to dispose of two dead bodies.

That was eight months ago.

After nearly losing his own life that night, Paul is battling PTSD, depression, and severe problems at work and home.  To cheer him up, his worried wife, Charlotte, gives him a surprise present: a vintage typewriter–complete with ink ribbons and heavy round keys–because he’s always wanted one.  Paul heels inspired to write about the terrifying experience that damaged his life.  ” If I can look into the eyes of evil in the real world, “Paul explains, “maybe I won’t have to run from it in mu sleep.”

However, the typewriter soon becomes a source of anxiety itself.  Paul swears he can hear the keys clicking  in the early hours of the morning when everyone id in bed.  Charlotte and his son deny playing with the old-fashioned machine or hearing any strange sounds.  It is only Paul who can hear the noise he swears is coming from downstairs.  Are Paul’s claims real–or is he going off the rails as Charlotte fears?

Paul believes that the typewriter is connected to the dark events that night on the Post Road, as implausible as that seems.  After all, Kenneth is in prison and he worked alone.  so how could the typewriter have anything to do with the crime?  Increasingly tormented yet determined to discover the truth, Paul begins reinvestigating the deaths himself.

But that may not be the best thing to do.  Maybe Paul should just get rid of the typewriter.  Maybe he should stop asking questions and simply walk away while he can.  Because if he doesn’t his darkest nightmares just might come true.

 

 

PARADOX

Title:  Paradox

Author:  Catherine Coulter

With the unparalleled suspense and her trademark explosive twists, #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter delves into the terrifying mind of an escaped mental patient obsessed with revenge in this next installment of her riveting FBI series.  When he fails to kidnap five-year-old Sean Savich, agents Sherlock and Savich know they’re in his crosshairs and must find him before he continues with his kill lust.

Chief Ty Christie of Willicott, Maryland, witnesses a murder at dawn from the deck of her cottage on Lake Massey.  When dragging the lake, the divers not only find the murder victim, they also discover dozens of bones.  Even mores shocking is the identification of a unique belt buckle found among the remains.  Working together with Chief Christie, Savich and Sherlock soon discover a frightening connection between the bones and the escaped psychopath.

Paradox is a chilling  mix of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, old secrets that refuse to stay buried, and ruthless greed that keeps Savich and Sherlock and Chief y Christie working at high speed to uncover the truth before their own bones end up at the bottom of the lake.

Don’t miss Paradox, the twenty-second FBI thriller.

COME SUNDOWN

Title:  Come Sundown

Author:  Nora Roberts

The Bodine ranch and resort in western Montana is a family business, an idyllic spot for vacationers who want to ride horses in the apple-crisp air or couples holding weddings under the wide-open sky.  A little more than thirty thousand acres, it is home to four generations–and behind the scenes, Bodine Longbow does all she can to keep things running with the help of her siblings, the staff, and the new hire, Cullen Skinner.

But not far away, an aunt Bodine has never met lives in her own twisted version of a family, one no one knows about, one she never chose.  Years ago, Alice was a rebellious eighteen-year-old who ran off looking for freedom and adventure.  Now she cowers in fear, rarely seeing the sunlight, her mind shattered by a man who views her–and her offspring–as his rightful property.  The Longbows don’t talk about Alice anymore.  Many quietly presume that she is long dead.

Then a young bartender leaves the resort late one night, and Bo and Cal discover her battered body in the snow.  It’s the first sign that danger lurks in the mountains that surround them, and it will not be the only murder to unnerve this peaceful town.  But the greatest shock is yet to come when Alice returns–and the threat that follows in her wake will test the bonds that hold Bodine to this place and these people, and thrust her into a darkness she could never have imagined.

RUFF JUSTICE

Title:  Ruff Justice

Author:  Laurien Berenson

As owner of prize-winning Poodles, Melanie Travis knows how to handle fierce competition.  But when a conformation show turns deadly, it’ll take every trick in the book to outsmart a murderer who refuses to lose.

With the excitement of the spring dog show season sweeping Connecticut, Melanie is determined to help her son finally lead his Standard Poodle toward a championship title.  Aunt Peg even skips the judging panel to exhibit a pup of her own, and she’s set on standing out from the pack with a handmade leash from Jasmine Crane, a talented canine portrait artist who also crafts stunning accessories for discriminating show-goers.  Jasmine’s handwork is to die for –but Aunt Peg didn’t expect to discover the woman murdered behind the concession booth, strangled by one of her dazzling custom creations.

Another shockwave ripples through the close-knit show community when Amanda, Aunt Peg’s longtime dog sitter and a renter on Jasmine’s property, ominously vanishes that same day.  While nosing around for clues, Melanie suspects a dangerous connection between Amanda’s disappearance and the homicide case–a hunch that grows as her investigation reveals sketchy secrets about the late artist.  Juggling a demanding teaching job, the pressures of the show ring, and a daunting suspect list, Melanie finds herself entangled in a mindboggling murder mystery…and hot on the trail of a desperate killer.

 

 

LUCID INTERVALS

Title: Lucid Intervals

Author: Stuart Woods

It seems like just another quiet night at Elaine’s. Stone Barrington and his former cop partner Dino are enjoying their drinks when in walks former client and all-around sad sack Herbie Fisher….in need of a lawyer.

But while he’s trying to fend off Herbie, Stone is propositioned by another potential client, this one a bit more welcome, because she’s both a potential employer and a beautiful woman. She’s looking for somebody whom somebody wants dead.

She takes Stone into the posh world of embassy soirees and titled privilege, where high society meets government intrigue. And when trouble follows him from his Manhattan townhouse to the tranquil summer home in Maine, Stone has to decide what to do with the explosive information he’s uncovered.

PIRATE HUNTERS

Title: Pirate Hunters

Author: Robert Kurson

Early one January morning in 20012, I received an international call from an unknown number. It was coming from the Dominican Republic, But I didn’t know anyone in that country. I had never been there in my life. The voice on the line, however, was unmistakable. “if you like pirates, meet me in New Jersey.” The caller was John Chatterton, one of the heroes of my book Shadow Divers. I hadn’t spoken to Chatterton in more than a year, but knew his New York-tinged baritone right away. “What kind of Pirates?” I asked. “seventeenth century. Caribbean. The real deal.”

So begins Pirate Hunters, a thrilling new adventure of danger and deep-sea diving, historic mystery and suspense, by the author of the New York Times bestseller Shadow Divers.

Finding and identifying a pirate ship is the hardest thing to do under the sea. But two men–John Chatterton and John Mattera–and willing to risk everything to find the Golden Fleece, The ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. At large during the Golden Age of Piracy in the seventeenth century, Bannister should have been immortalized in the lore of the sea–his exploits were more notorious than Blackbeard’s, more daring than Kidd’s. But the story, and his ship, have been lost to time. If Chatterton and Mattera succeed, they will make history–it will be just the second time ever that a pirate ship has been discovered and positively identified. Soon, however, they realize that cutting-edge technology and a willingness to lose everything aren’t enough to track down Bannister’s ship. They must travel the glove in search of historic documents and accounts of the great pirate’s exploits, face down dangerous rivals, battle the tides of nations and governments and experts. But it’s only when they learn to think and act like pirates–like Bannister–that they become able to go where no pirate hunters have gone before.

Fast paced and filled with suspense, fascinating characters, history, and adventure, Pirate Hunters is an unputdownable story that goes deep to discover truths and souls long believed lost.

THE WHISPERING ROOM

Title: The Whispering Room

Author: Dean Koontz

These are the words that ring in the mind of mild mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun–just before she takes her own life, and many others, in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better.

In the words of her husband’s inexplicable suicide–and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals–Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But the ruthless people bent on hijacking America’s future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue–and become the nation’s most wanted fugitive–in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough.

Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have n9owhee to run when her shadow falls across them.