Category: Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with July’s location being at A Sea of Books.

From Bookmooch, requested solely for a reading challenge:

 DID J. EDGAR DIE A NATURAL DEATH? . . .  OR WAS HE MURDERED?
Inver Brass-a group of high-minded and high-placed intellectuals who see a monstrous threat to the country in Hoover’s unethical use of his scandal-ridden private files.  They decide to do away with him-quietly, efficiently, with no hint of impropriety.  Until best-selling thriller writer Peter Chancellor stumbles onto information that makes his precious books like harmless fairy tales.  Now Chancellor and Inver Brass are on a deadly collision course, spiraling across the globe in an ever-widening arc of violence and terror.  Hurtling toward a showdown that will rip Washington’s intelligence community apart-leaving only one damning document to survive . . .

From PBS, a wishlist book:

 Amelia Wilkes’s strict father does not allow her to date, but that doesn’t stop the talented, winsome high school senior from carrying on a secret romance with her classmate Anthony Winter. Desperately in love, the two envision a life together and plan to tell Amelia’s parents only after she turns eighteen and is legally an adult. Anthony’s mother, Kim, who teaches at their school, knows – and keeps – their secret. But the couple’s passion is exposed sooner than planned: Amelia’s father, Harlan, is shocked and infuriated to find naked pictures of Anthony on his daughter’s computer. Just hours later, Anthony is arrested. Despite Amelia’s frantic protests, Harlan uses his wealth and influence with local law enforcement and the media to label Anthony a deviant who preyed on his innocent daughter. Spearheaded by a zealous prosecutor anxious to turn the case into a public crusade against “sexting,” the investigation soon takes an even more disturbing and destructive turn. As events spiral wildly out of control and the scandalous story makes national news, Amelia and Anthony risk everything in a bold and dangerous attempt to clear the names and end the madness once and for all.

From a MysteryBookSwap member for a birthday book:

 In St. Peter’s Basilica, a man sits in a confessional asking forgiveness for a murder he’s about to commit. And a young priest begins a desperate journey to stop him. It’s the beginning of a ruthless race to find a rumored cache of sacred texts that could be one of the most explosive discoveries of all time. For as Clara Tannenberg and a team of renegade archaeologists journey deep into an Iraq on the brink of war, another far more sinister group is determined to get there first. Sweeping from the time of the biblical patriarchs to the front lines of the Iraqi conflict, from the horrors of Nazi Germany to the back rooms of Washington, D.C.

For Review:

 When Nick Davis, a forty-something small town machinist, spots an intruder’s shadow through the mist of an early morning storm. He is oblivious that the seemingly random occurrence will lead him on a path that will change his life forever. After Nick accidentally overhears a conversation between Lou Evans – his boss and the owner of Lou-Paul Machine Shop – and a mysterious person, he unwittingly becomes a pawn in a game of international proportions. When Lou gruffly asks him to take possession of prototype blueprints, Nick has no idea that the blueprints contain a dark secret – a secret with the potential to kill. Combined with unwanted attention from a local police officer as well as a skeletal, dangerous former FBI agent, Nick’s normal life is suddenly not that at all, and no one can guarantee his safety – not even the beautiful FBI agent who has been assigned to the case. Lou may not be who he says he is, and, unfortunately for Nick, his downfall may be that he is the best machinist around and the only one Lou can count on to help him carry out a perilous mission.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with July’s location being at A Sea of Books.

Here we go. Another week, another pretty full mailbox. I didn’t think I was going to get anything this week and then Friday’s mail housed all my new goodies! I’m super excited that I finally received my first LibraryThing Early Reviewer book!! I will definitely be picking that one up next because I want to read and get my review up on the site! So here’s my mailbox:

I received four books as part of a Box-of-Books trade at PBS:

 Ashley Freeman, a beautiful, bright art student, had what she thought was just a fling with Michael O’Connell, a blue-collar bad boy. But now, no amount of pleading or reasoning can discourage his phone calls, ardent e-mails, and constant, watchful gaze. For Michael’s brash, handsome features conceal a black and empty soul. Control is his religion and rage is his language. In desperation, Ashley turns to her divorced parents and her mother’s new partner – three people locked in a cold triangle of resentment. But their fierce devotion to Ashley is the common bond that will draw them together to face down a predator. For Ashley’s family, her ordeal is a test of primal love that will drive them to the extreme edge – and beyond – in a battle of wills that escalates into a life-or-death war to protect their own.

 Every politician has a secret. And when the daughter of a politically connected family is kidnapped abroad, America’s new president will agree to anything – even a deadly and ill-advised rescue plan – in order to keep his secret hidden. But when covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is assigned to infiltrate one of the world’s most notorious prisons and free the man the kidnappers demand as ransom, he quickly learns that there is much more to the operation than anyone dares to admit. As the subterfuge is laid bare, Harvath must examine his own career of ruthlessly hunting down and killing terrorists and decide if he has what it takes to help one of the world’s worst go free.

 When the president of the United States is blackmailed into releasing five detainees from Guantanamo Bay, a sadistic assassin with a vendetta years in the making is reactivated. Suddenly, the people closest to counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath are being targeted and he realizes that somehow, somewhere he has left the wrong person alive. With his life plunged into absolute peril, and the president ordering him to stay out of the investigation, Harvath must mount his own covert plan for revenge – and in so doing will uncover shattering revelations about the organizations and the nation he has spent his life serving.

 June 632 A.D.: The prophet Mohammed shares a final and startling revelation. Within days he is assassinated. September 1789: Thomas Jefferson uncovers a conspiracy that could change the face of Islam. Present day: Men still kill to keep the secret hidden. When a car bomb explodes outside a Parisian cafe, counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is thrust back into the life he has tried desperately to leave behind. In a race to uncover an ancient secret with the power to stop militant Islam, Harvath will risk everything to reclaim Mohammed’s final revelation and defeat one of the deadliest evils the world has ever known.

And finally the LibraryThing Early Reviewer book that I received. I read this book immediately! Read my review here.

 After tragic events tear him away from his parents, fifteen-year-old Mickey Bolitar is sent to live with his estranged uncle Myron. For a while, it seems his train wreck of a life is finally improving – until his girlfriend, Ashley, goes missing without a trace. Unwilling to let another person he cares about walk out of his life, Mickey follows Ashley’s trail into a seedy underworld, revealing a conspiracy so shocking it will leave him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with July’s location being at A Sea of Books.

Well, I went a little nuts on PBS with the BOB feature again. Oops. I really need to restrain myself a little bit, but I can’t. Received ten books, here’s what I got:

 A high-level assassination attempt in Russia has the newly elected Ryan sending his most trusted eyes and ears – including antiterroism specialist John Clark – to Moscow, for he fears the worst is yet to come. And he’s right. The attempt has left the already unstable Russia vulnerable to ambitious forces in China eager to fulfill their destiny – and change the face of the world as we know it…

  In the secretive world where fearless men and women wage a daily covert war, the CIA has intercepted two terrorist cells – but a third, led by a dangerous mastermind, is feared to be on the loose. Counterterrorist agent Mitch Rapp joins forces with a warrior as dedicated – and lethal – as they come: ex-Marine and elite operative Mike Nash. Both Rapp and Nash have stared down the jihadist culture of death. Both have saved thousands of lives without accolades or acknowledgement of their personal sacrifices. But the political winds have changed on Capitol Hill, and certain leaders want Mitch Rapp put back on a short leash. And when a nightmare scenario descends on Washington, D.C., Rapp and Nash will follow new rules of engagement: their own.

  Mitch McDeere is a young, intelligent and ambitious lawyer. When he gets a job with a top law firm in Memphis, he is delighted, but soon Mitch discovers that the firm is listening in on his phone calls and that the FBI want to speak to him.

  Twenty-one-month-old Cassie Jones is the picture of health. Yet her parents rush her to the emergency room night after night with symptoms no doctor can explain. Cassie’s parents seem genuinely concerned. Her favorite nurse is a model of devotion. When Delaware is called in to investigate, his instinct tells him that one of them could be a monster. Then a physician is brutally murdered. A shadowy death is revealed. And Alex and his friend, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, have only hours to uncover the link between Cassie’s terrifying condition and these shocking, seemingly unrelated events.

  The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex Delaware remembers a little girl. It is eleven years since seven-year-old Melissa Dickinson dialed a hospital help line for comfort – and found it in therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the lovely young heiress is desperately calling for the psychologist’s help once more. Only this time it looks like Melissa’s deepest childhood nightmare is really coming true. Twenty years ago, Gina Dickinson, Melissa’s mother, suffered a grisly assault that left the budding actress irreparably scarred and emotionally crippled. Now her acid-wielding assailant is out of prison and back in LA – and Melissa is terrified that the monster has returned to hurt Gina again. But before Alex Delaware can even begin to soothe his former patient’s fears, Gina, a recluse for twenty years, disappears. And now, unless Delaware turns crack detective to uncover the truth, Gina Dickinson will be just one more victim of a cold fury that has already spawned madness – and murder.

  Only two rival spies – and one mysterious woman – can stop them: Scofield, CIA, and Talaniekov, KGB. They share a genius for espionage – and a life of terror and explosive violence. Sworn enemies, they have vowed to terminate each other – yet now they must become allies. Because only they possess the brutal skills and ice-cold nerves vital to destroy an international circle of killers, the Matarese.

 Andrea Labore is a beautiful, ambitious Twin Cities TV newscaster, hungering for an anchor chair, and with two men hungering for her. One is Rick Beanblossom, a star reporter who hides his disfigured face behind a cotton mask and his scarred soul behind a cynical shield. The other is the channel’s uncanny weatherman, Dixon Bell, a gentle bearlike genius whose claws are as concealed as his past. When Andrea goes after the story of a serial killer of pretty young women, it becomes clear that the monstrous murderer is after her. Trusting the wrong man with her love can cost her life. And as the clouds of suspicion darken, the only sure forecast is that death will strike like lightning again and again … closer and closer.

  Death row inmate Rommy Gandolph insists he’s innocent – and new evidence has convinced his court-appointed attorney. Once a skeptic, Kindle County corporate lawyer Arthur Raven is now a fervent crusader. But in the world of criminal law he’s a rookie squaring off against a D.A. determined to prove she’s right, a female judge who served time for taking bribes, and the original detective on the case eager to seal Rommy’s doom. The battles are hard-fought and more vicious than anything Raven has ever imagined. Because when the state has the power to kill, everything is life or death.

  A shocking act of violence plunges Boulder, Colorado, clinical psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory into the most challenging and dangerous case of his career. At the heart of the sensational crime are two women trapped by the furies of fame. One is the beautiful daughter of an assassinated U.S. official, whose life is threatened by a mysterious attacker. The other is Alan’s wife, associate district attorney Lauren Crowder, who has just been arrested on suspicion of murder. His desperate search for answers will bring Alan face o face with true evil: a conspiracy fueled by human greed and bound by a deadly secret someone will kill – and kill again – to keep.

 One month in 1865 witnessed the frenzied fall of Richmond, a daring last-ditch Southern plan for guerrilla warfare, Lee’s harrowing retreat, and then, Appomattox. It saw Lincoln’s assassination just five days later and a near successful plot to decapitate the Union government, followed by chaos and coup fears in the North, collapsed negotiations and continued bloodshed in the South, and finally, the start of national reconciliation. In the end, April 1865 emerged as not just the tale of the war’s denouement, but the story of the making of our nation. Jay Winik offers a brilliant new look at the Civil War’s final days that will forever change the way we see the war’s end and the nation’s new beginning. Uniquely set within the larger sweep of history, and filled with rich profiles of outsize figures, fresh iconoclastic scholarship, and a gripping narrative, this is a masterful account of the thirty most pivotal days in the life of the United States.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with June’s location being at Bluestocking’s Thoughts on Books.

Another good mailbox this week. Three books came in:

     John Clark is the man who conducts the secret missions President Ryan can have no part of. Whether hunting warlords in Japan or druglords in Colombia, Clark is efficient and deadly but even he has ghosts in his past. And nowhere more than the peril he must face in Rainbow Six: a group of terrorists the world has never encountered before. This is Tom Clancy’s most shocking story ever – closer to reality than any government would care to admit.

     It’s a hideous echo of a violent past. Across America, murders are being committed with all the twisted hallmarks of the Boston Strangler, the Zodiac Killer and Son of Sam. The media frenzy explodes and Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson knows instantly that The Pretender is back … and he’s got helpers. As The Pretender’s disciples perpetrate their sick homages – stretching police and the FBI dangerously thin – Taylor tries desperately to prepare for their inevitable showdown. And she must do it alone. To be close to her is to be in mortal danger, and she won’t risk losing anyone she loves. But the isolation, the self-doubt and the rising body count are taking their toll – she’s beside herself and ready to snap. The brilliant psychopath who both adores and despises her is drawing close. Close enough to touch…

     Detective Alex Cross and Bree Stone’s wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington, DC’s most corrupt: a dirty congressman and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked insiders, sparking a blaze of theories – is the marksman a hero or a vigilante? The case explodes, and the FBI assigns Agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Alex and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, the murders continue. It becomes clear that the killings are the work of a professional who has detailed knowledge of his victims’ movements – information that only a Washington insider could possess. As Alex contends with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in DC and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross and his family for good.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with June’s location being at Bluestocking’s Thoughts on Books.

It was a slim mailbox this week, with only one book coming in. However, this was a PBS wishlist book that I waited FOREVER for and that I’m going to be picking up as soon as I finish my current read because I’m super excited for it!!!

     Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker – his classmate and crush – who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah’s pain, and learns the truth about himself – a truth he never wanted to face.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with June’s location being at Bluestocking’s Thoughts on Books.

Here’s what I got:

Both of these were PBS wishlist offers:

     An invalid for most her life, Alice James is quite used to people underestimating her. And she generally doesn’t mind. But this time she is not about to let things alone. Yes, her brother Henry may be a famous author, and her other brother William a rising star in the new field of psychology. But when they all find themselves quite unusually involved in the chase for a most vile new murderer – one who goes by the chilling name of Jack the Ripper – Alice is certain of two things: No one could be more suited to gather evidence about the nature of the killer than her brothers. But it anyone is going to correctly examine the evidence and solve the case it will have to be up to her.

    The Cosgrove Reportis both a gripping historical thriller and a new and entirely plausible solution to that still unanswered question: Why was Abraham Lincoln murdered? Republished to coincide with the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, this is a novel of immense power and imagination, based on meticulous research into the government’s official records of the assassination and the forgotten memoirs of many eyewitnesses. The novel opens when a recently discovered nineteenth-century manuscript falls into the hands of modern-day private investigator Michael Croft. His assignment is to verify the historical accuracy of the papers, which reveal the shocking cover-up of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the alleged capture and death of John Wilkes Booth. The manuscript itself, written by Pinkerton detective Nicholas Cosgrove, plunges both Croft and the reader back into post-Civil War Washington, where Cosgrove is hired by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to investigate rumors that Booth is still alive. His search brings him face-to-face with some of the most illustrious people of the period, and exposes a trail of lies and evasions equal to any modern day political scandal.

And the next three were a PBS Box-of-Books swap:

     Two men possess vital data on Russia’s Star Wars missile defense system. One of them is CARDINAL – America’s highest agent in the Kremlin – and he’s about to be terminated by the KGB. The other is the one American who can save CARDINAL and lead the world to the brink of peace … or war.

     Top military and intelligence personnel on both sides of the Iron Curtain are reading a remarkable work of fiction – a new thriller so gripping in its action and so convincing in its accuracy that the author is rumored to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: The greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: The chase for a top-secret Russian missile sub. Its title: The Hunt for the Red October.

     In the newly unified Germany, old horrors are reborn. It is the beginning of Chaos Days, a time when neo-Nazi groups gather to spread violence and resurrect dead dreams. But this year Germany isn’t the only target. Plans are afoot to destabilize Europe and cause turmoil throughout the United States. Paul Hood and his team, already in Germany to buy technology for the new Regional Op-Center, become entangled in the crisis. They uncover a shocking force behind the chaos – a group that uses cutting-edge technology to promote hate and to influence world events.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with April’s spot being at MariReads.

Another slim mailbox, but that’s okay 🙂 This was a PBS wishlist book:

      London in 1856 is gripped by a frightening obsession. The specimen-collecting craze is growing, and discoveries in far-off jungles are reshaping the known world in terrible and unimaginable ways. The new theories of evolution threaten to disrupt the fragile balance of power that keeps the chaotic city in order – a disruption that many would do just about anything to prevent. When the glamorous Lady Bessingham is found murdered in her bedroom, surrounded by her vast collection of fossils and tribal masks, Adolphus Hatton and his morgue assistant Albert Roumande are called in to examine the crime scene – and the body. In the new and suspicious world of forensics and autopsy examinations, Hatton and Roumande are the best. But the crime scene is not confined to one room. In their efforts to help Scotland Yard’s infamous Inspector Adams track down the lady’s killer, Hatton and Roumande uncover a trail of murders all connected to a packet of seditious letters that, if published, would change the face of society and religion irrevocably.

And these two came from a trade with a fellow reader on the MysteryBookSwap Yahoo group:

     In the remote wastes of Greenland, a young scientist has unearthed an artifact hidden in a cave for a millennium – a 50,000-year-old meteorite known as the Sacred Stone, which possesses potentially catastrophic radioactive power. But the astounding find places him in the crosshairs of two opposing terrorist groups who seek the stone for themselves. One is a group of Muslim extremists who have stolen a nuclear device. With the power of the meteorite, they could vaporize any city in the West. The other group is led by a megalomaniacal industrialist who seeks to carry out the utter annihilation of Islam itself. Caught between two militant forces bent on wholesale slaughter, Juan Cabrillo and his ship of high-tech mercenaries known as the Corporation must fight to protect the Sacred Stone – and prevent the outbreak of World War III…

     Kansas City trial attorney Lou Mason is back … and this time, it’s personal. Hired to defend the accused murderer of local lawyer and political fixer Jack Cullan, he finds himself putting everything on the line to exonerate none other than his friend and mentor, ex-cop Wilson “Blues” Bluestone, Jr. With private files that rivaled those of J. Edgar Hoover, Cullan had the goods on any number of Kansas City high-rollers, from Mayor Billy Sunshine on down. But the homicide detective on the case has it in for Blues, who faces the death penalty if he’s convicted. Digging deeper, Mason unearths the kind of secrets someone will do anything to keep. And as he closes in on a desperate killer who’s leaving a bloody trail through very high places, Mason may be setting himself up as the next target…

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with April’s spot being at MariReads.

WELL! After two weeks of NO BOOKS in my mailbox, I had a 3 book mailbox this week. Very happy that the books arrived as quickly as they did! So here’s what I got:

     As a child, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone was told that his father died in a submarine disaster in the North Atlantic. But what he now learns stuns him: His father’s sub was a secret nuclear vessel lost on a highly classified mission beneath the ice shelves of Antarctica. Twin sisters Dorothea Lindauer and Christl Falk are also determined to find out what became of their father, who died on the same submarine – and they know something Malone doesn’t: Inspired by strange clues discovered in Charlemagne’s tomb, the Nazis explored Antarctica before the Americans. Now Malone discovers that cryptic journals penned in “the language of heaven,” conundrums posed by an ancient historian, and his father’s ill-fated voyage are all tied to a revelation of immense consequence for human-kind. As Malone embarks on a dangerous quest with the sisters, he will finally confront the shocking truth of his father’s death and the distinct possibility of his own.

     Burr is a portrait of perhaps the most complex and misunderstood of the Founding Fathers. In 1804, while serving as vice president, Aaron Burr fought a duel with his political nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, and killed him. In 1807, he was arrested, tried, and acquitted of treason. In 1933, Burr is newly married, an aging statesman considered a monster by many. Burr retains much of his political influence if not the respect of all. And he is determined to tell his own story. As his amanuensis, he chooses Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler, a young New York City journalist, and together they explore both Burr’s past and the continuing political intrigues of the still young United States.

     In this profoundly moving work of epic proportion and intense human sympathy, Abraham Lincoln is observed by his loved ones, his rivals, and his future assassins. Seen by his wife, Mary, who adores him even as she is going made … by the Machiavellian Secretary of State Seward, who begins by scorning LIncoln and ends by worshipping him … by Lincoln’s rival, Salmon P. Chase, and his beautiful daughter, Kate … by David Herold, the druggist’s clerk at the center of the plot that will eventually take Lincoln’s life … and by the twenty-three-year-old presidential secretary, John Hay, who comes to know Lincoln intimately during his four years in the White House, Lincoln emerges as a complex and towering figure who presided over some of the most divisive and dangerous years in American history. In a brilliantly realized, vividly imagined work of fiction, Gore Vidal gives us a portrait of America’s great president that is at once intimate and public, stark and complex, and that will become for future generations the living Lincoln, the definitive Lincoln.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with April’s spot being at Passages to the Past.

Slim mailbox this week, but that’s definitely a good thing right now 🙂 I recently signed up for Bookmooch, this is the first book I’ve mooched:

  To pay for her last semester of school, college senior Lily Madison makes the difficult decision to donate her eggs to a fertility clinic. There she meets Peter Kelly, another penniless student who supplements his tuition money by visiting a sperm bank. Bound by their secret, and by a powerful attraction, they continue to think of each other even as life takes them in different directions. Nineteen years later, Pete – now a wealthy entrepreneur – sees Lily in an airport, and falls for her all over again. But while they enjoy their unlikely reunion, a news story about the fertility clinic they visited long ago will have shocking repercussions for both of them…

And this was a PBS Wish List book that I’ve waited a long time for:

    Although the private lives of political couples have in our era become front-page news, the true story of this extraordinary and tragic first family has never been fully told. The Lincolns eclipses earlier accounts with riveting new information that makes husband and wife, president and first lady, come alive in all their proud accomplishments and earthy humanity. Award-winning biographer and poet Daniel Mark Epstein gives a fresh close-up view of the couple’s life in Springfield, Illinois (of their twenty-two years of marriage, all but six were spent there), and dramatizes with stunning immediacy how the Lincolns’ ascent to the White House brought both dazzling power and the slow, secret unraveling of the couple’s unique bond. The first full-length portrait of the marriage of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln in more than fifty years, The Lincolns is written with enormous sweep and striking imagery. Daniel Mark Epstein makes two immortal American figures seem as real and human as the rest of us.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with April’s spot being at Passages to the Past.

Another full mailbox with the final two PBS Box-of-Books packages I had come in. I’m very tempted to put my account on hold because there’s no way I can keep up anymore ….. but that wouldn’t be very much fun 🙂 Anyways, here’s what I got:

     The Cold War is over. And chaos is setting in. The new President of Russia is trying to create a new democratic regime. But there are strong elements within the country that are trying to stop him: the ruthless Russian mafia, the right wing nationalists, and those nefarious forces that will do whatever it takes to return Russia to the days of the Czar. Op-Center, the newly founded but highly successful crisis management team, begins a race against the clock and against the hardliners. Their task is made even more difficult by the discovery of a Russian counterpart … but this one’s controlled by those same repressive hardliners. Two rival Op-Centers, virtual mirror images of each other. But if this mirror cracks, it’ll be much more than seven years bad luck.

     Fighting for their lives aboard the hijacked submarine, ship superintendent Amy Russell and Commander Darius McCann have only one hope for survival. With the lives of millions at stake, they must play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, where capture would mean certain death. On land, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Connelly and Commander Bruce Dunn are working to learn the details of the hijacking in time to stop the attack. As mass hysteria paralyzes New York City, the two investigators uncover a trail of secrets as dangerous as the silent weapon aimed at the heart of America.

     She lies in a pool of her own blood. More blood decorates one wall in macabre finger paintings. The victim is a fortune teller from the Little Saigon community of Westminster, California – a seemingly random murder. Detective Seven Bushard wonders cynically if she saw it coming. When local artist Gia Moon shows up at the precinct claiming to have had visions of another murder yet to happen, Seven doesn’t buy it. Some say Gia’s paintings give a glimpse into the next world, but all Seven knows is cold, hard evidence. But when per prediction comes true, his investigation becomes a hunt for a serial killer. But Gia is not all that she seems. A link to her past points to a lunatic whose desire to complete a bizarre collection has become an obsession. Now, Seven is locked in a game of greed and murder with a woman he can’t entirely trust, and a killer who will silence anyone who gets in the way.

     It is 1982. In the Vatican, priestly vultures gather around the dying Pope, whispering the names of possible successors. In a forgotten monastery on Ireland’s gale swept coast, a dangerous document is hidden, waiting to be claimed. And in a family chapel in Princeton, New Jersey, a nun is murdered at her prayers. Sister Valentine was an outspoken activist, a thorn in the Church’s side. When her brother, lawyer Ben Driskill, realizes the Church will never investigate her death, he sets out to find the murderer himself – and uncovers an explosive secret. The assassini. An age-old brotherhood of killers. Once they were hired by princes of the Church to protect it in dangerous times. But whose orders do they now obey?

     Shadow is the Secret Service code name for First Daughter Nora Hartson. And when White House lawyer Michael Garrick begins dating the irresistible Nora, he’s instantly spellbound, just like everyone else in her world. Then, late one night, the two witness something they were never meant to see. Now, in a world where everyone watches your ever move, Michael is suddenly ensnared in someone’s secret agenda. Trusting no one, not even Nora, he finds himself fighting for his innocence – and, ultimately, his life.

     Charlie and Oliver Caruso are brothers working at an ultra-exclusive private bank when they’re faced with an offer they can’t refuse – three million dollars in an abandoned account no one even knows exists. Almost as soon as they take the cash, a friend is killed and the bank, the Secret Service, and a female P.I. are closing in. Now the Caruso brothers are on the run and about to uncover an explosive secret that will test their trust and forever change their lives.

     Grace Hart seemed to have it all: a bright, beautiful daughter, a successful career as a judge, and a lovely home in an Ohio suburb. But beneath the placid veneer, darker truths lie waiting. Her fifteen-year-old, Jessica, is teetering on the cusp of drugs and delinquency. And someone is stalking the troubled teenager. Someone who has already violated their home and stolen their peace of mind. Now the police are involved, Grace is relieved – and worried. Is Jessica in danger from a drug dealer who wants to silence her? Detective Tony Marino is on the case. He’s too close for comfort, asking disturbing questions, probing into her long-buried past, igniting feelings Grace has tried to suppress. In Tony’s strong arms, Grace finds comfort, protection – passion – as he tries to shield them from the evil lurking just beyond their door…

     When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court dies unexpectedly, the lame-duck president is only too happy to appoint his successor, a well-liked and respected decorated Vietnam veteran – who will be the first black chief justice in U.S. history. But one of the most conservative justices on the court feels that the position should have been his, and he is hell-bent on claiming it no matter who gets in the way … or how dishonorable and shameful his tactics. As nomination-ending scandals brew in Washington, former judge Tim Quinn races to uncover the real truth. He believes in the nominee’s innocence, but his report must prove it to the SEnate Judiciary Committee – before it is too late.

     As the city sizzles under the early summer sun, New York chief assistant D.A. Butch Karp and his family are happily vacationing on Long Island’s north shore. Their reverie changes to horror when they learn that their beachfront neighbors, Rose and Ralph “Red” Heeney – a coal miners’ union leader – have been brutally murdered back hom in tiny McCullensburg, West Virginia. Irresistable force meets immovable object when the governor appoints Karp special prosecutor to bring justice to the corrupt rural town, its ruthless union boss, and his band of violent henchmen. Now, Karp finds himself not only searching for the killers, but fighting to protect his own family from an evil that runs as deep as the mines that fuel it.