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Thrillers and SuspenseFebruary 2016
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"Tuesday morning started out damn near perfect. Right up until Demarco Jones told James Beck, 'Manny wants to kill somebody.'" ~ from John Clarkson's Among Thieves
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| The Good Goodbye by Carla BuckleySuspense Fiction. The Good Goodbye starts with a fire in a dorm room; the roommates (best friends and look-alike cousins) sustain major burns; a boyfriend is killed. The girls are unconscious, so when the cops start talking about arson, it's their parents who must try to piece together what exactly happened -- and as in Herman Koch's bestselling The Dinner, old secrets and disturbing truths are revealed. This is the sort of book that is often referred to as "domestic suspense," in part because the events within could all too easily happen to any of us... |
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| False Positive by Andrew GrantSuspense Fiction. In this series debut, Birmingham, Alabama cop Cooper Devereaux and his new partner, Jan Loflin, are investigating the kidnapping of a seven-year-old boy, one of a string of missing children. Both are damaged individuals: she did undercover work for a little too long; he's got a troubled past, with terrible memories of his childhood, a criminal rap sheet, and a spotty record as a cop. Both fall under suspicion as bodies start to pile up; short chapters told from multiple perspectives (including that of the kidnapper) increase the tension, which builds to an unpredictable ending. |
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Breakdown : an Alex Delaware novel
by Jonathan Kellerman
Bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman has been universally hailed as the master of psychological suspense, and the blockbuster new thriller featuring Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis confirms his status as today’s preeminent practitioner of saber-sharp storytelling. Psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware meets beautiful and emotionally fragile TV actress Zelda Chase when called upon to evaluate her five-year-old son, Ovid. Years later, Alex is unexpectedly reunited with Zelda when she is involuntarily committed after a bizarre psychotic episode. Shortly after Zelda’s release, an already sad situation turns tragic when she is discovered dead on the grounds of a palatial Bel Air estate. Having experienced more than enough of L.A.’s dark side to recognize the scent of evil, Alex turns to his friend LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis for help in finding out who ended Zelda’s broken life. At the same time, Alex is caught up in another quest: the search for Zelda’s missing son. And when other victims vanish from the same upscale neighborhood, worry turns to terror. As Alex struggles to piece together the brief rise and steep fall of a gorgeous, talented actress, he and Milo unveil shattered dreams, the corruption of a family, and a grotesque betrayal of innocence. With each devastating revelation and damning clue, Alex’s brilliant mind is challenged as never before—and his determination grows to see a killer caged and the truth set free.
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Supernotes : a thriller
by Agent Kasper
In the Cambodian hinterlands, a lone Western prisoner suffers through a hot, muddy, interminable sentence. Wasted by repeated torture, lack of sleep, malnutrition, and psychotropic drugs, he has been abandoned. His years of exemplary service to his government mean nothing. No one is coming for him.
This is Agent Kasper, a man with a staggering résumé: commercial airline pilot, firearms expert, highly accomplished practitioner of several of the martial arts, a secret agent par excellence. It is this incredible competence that will be his undoing. While investigating Mafia money laundering in Phnom Penh, Kasper is approached by the CIA to track down the source of the so-called supernotes—illegal U.S. banknotes counterfeited so perfectly that they are undetectable, even by sophisticated machines—that are flooding Southeast Asia. With patience, skill, and courage, Kasper uncovers the explosive secret behind them and is badly burned by the truth.
Meanwhile, back in Rome, a sharp, scrappy lawyer named Barbara Belli has been hired by Kasper’s family to work for his release. She has contacts in the foreign ministry, and while officials make sweeping claims about moving heaven and earth, nothing happens. It’s more than just creaking bureaucracy. Kasper has really pissed off the wrong people.
Based on true events in the life of a former spy, Kasper’s journey makes for a shocking and spellbinding page-turner of petty corruption, high-level betrayal, and state secrets so powerful that governments will protect them by any means.
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Breaking wild
by Diane Les Becquets
It is the last weekend of the season for Amy Raye Latour to get away. Driven to spend days alone in the wilderness, Amy Raye, mother of two, is compelled by the quiet and the rush of nature. But this time, her venture into a remote area presents a different set of dangers than Amy Raye has planned for and she finds herself on the verge of the precarious edge that she’s flirted with her entire life. When Amy Raye doesn’t return to camp, ranger Pru Hathaway and her dog respond to the missing person’s call. After an unexpected snowfall and few leads, the operation turns into a search and recovery. Pru, though, is not resigned to that. The more she learns about the woman for whom she is searching, and about Amy Raye’s past, the more she suspects that Amy Raye might yet be alive. Pru’s own search becomes an obsession for a woman whose life is just as mysterious as the clues she has left behind. As the novel follows Amy Raye and Pru in alternating threads, Breaking Wild assumes the white-knuckled pace of a thriller laying bare Amy Raye’s ultimate reckoning with the secrets of her life, and Pru’s dogged pursuit of the woman who, against all odds, she believes she can find.
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Find her
by Lisa Gardner
It is the last weekend of the season for Amy Raye Latour to get away. Driven to spend days alone in the wilderness, Amy Raye, mother of two, is compelled by the quiet and the rush of nature. But this time, her venture into a remote area presents a different set of dangers than Amy Raye has planned for and she finds herself on the verge of the precarious edge that she’s flirted with her entire life. When Amy Raye doesn’t return to camp, ranger Pru Hathaway and her dog respond to the missing person’s call. After an unexpected snowfall and few leads, the operation turns into a search and recovery. Pru, though, is not resigned to that. The more she learns about the woman for whom she is searching, and about Amy Raye’s past, the more she suspects that Amy Raye might yet be alive. Pru’s own search becomes an obsession for a woman whose life is just as mysterious as the clues she has left behind. As the novel follows Amy Raye and Pru in alternating threads, Breaking Wild assumes the white-knuckled pace of a thriller laying bare Amy Raye’s ultimate reckoning with the secrets of her life, and Pru’s dogged pursuit of the woman who, against all odds, she believes she can find.
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| Once a Crooked Man by David McCallumSuspense Fiction. Actor Harry Murphy has just left an audition when he happens to overhear three guys planning a murder. That's bad enough, but when he flies to England to prevent it, he's mistaken for a mob enforcer and nearly killed himself. With plenty of humor, a plot that threatens to careen out of control, and a large cast, this quirky thriller will appeal to those willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of a fun read. This is actor David McCallum's fiction debut; clearly he was paying attention during the filming of NCIS and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.! |
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The wolves
by Alex Berenson
Determined to bring an insidious war instigator to justice, John Wells confronts obstacles in the form of political resistance, CIA agendas and meddling by foreign interests before embarking on a high-risk solo mission. By the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Faithful Spy.
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| Beside Myself by Ann MorganPsychological Suspense. In a bid to get attention, identical twin sisters Helen and Ellie decide to swap identities. Helen's always been the golden child, while Ellie's the difficult one, so when Ellie pretends to be Helen, she finally gets the positive attention she craves. She refuses to switch back, and eventually grows into a successful young woman. The original Helen, however, fulfills her mother's expectations of Ellie, and exists on the margins of society. Told in two timelines from Helen's point of view, this is a fascinating exploration of nature, nurture, identity, and mental illness. |
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Orphan X
by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz
"Orphan X is the most gripping, high-octane thriller I've read in a long, long time. Hang onto your seat because Gregg Hurwitz will take you on a dizzying ride you'll not soon forget!" -Tess Gerritsen The Nowhere Man is a legendary figure spoken about only in whispers. It's said that when he's reached by the truly desperate and deserving, the Nowhere Man can and will do anything to protect and save them. But he's no legend. Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets---i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear. Now, however, someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training. Someone who knows Orphan X. Someone who is getting closer and closer. And will exploit Evan's weakness---his work as The Nowhere Man---to find him and eliminate him. Grabbing the reader from the very first page, Orphan X is a masterful thriller, the first in Gregg Hurwitz's electrifying new series featuring Evan Smoak.
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Books You Might Have Missed
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| The House of Wolfe: A Border Noir by James Carlos BlakeCrime Fiction. This final act in the trilogy starring the Wolfe family of outlaws, which operates on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border, features a Mexico City wedding ruined by the kidnapping of the wedding party (and you thought bad music and worse food was the worst that could happen). They're being held for ransom, five million dollars that must be paid with 24 hours. One of those kidnapped is Jessie Wolfe, niece of the head of the Wolfe's gun-running operation. He launches a rescue, she attempts an escape, and the stage is set for violence, bloodshed, and tragedy. |
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| Badlands by C.J. BoxSuspense Fiction. Thanks to a massive oil discovery, once-dying Grimstad, North Dakota, has been transformed into a sprawling boom town full of newcomers and new construction -- as well as drugs, gangs, and violence. Early one morning, 12-year-old paperboy Kyle Westergaard witnesses a vehicle force another car off the road -- with fatal consequences. But the police say it's a single-car accident, and Kyle has complicated things with the theft of a bag from the crashed car -- a bag that lots of people want. Narrated by both Kyle and deputy sheriff Cassie Dewell (readers of The Highway will remember her), this atmospheric novel brims with suspense and action. |
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| Among Thieves by John ClarksonCrime Fiction. With the help of a cushy settlement upon his release from prison, James Beck has set up a Brooklyn-based operation to help other ex-cons. One of his buddies gets him in touch with his cousin, who's been assaulted, threatened, fired, and blackballed after trying to correct a rogue trader at her brokerage firm. Turns out, her firm is managing the investments of a Russian arms dealer, who doesn't appreciate Beck poking around. Vivid prose, plenty of violence, and a hard-as-nails (if not particularly likable) hero characterize this gritty novel. |
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| Palace of Treason by Jason MatthewsSpy Fiction. In this "extraordinarily commanding, acidly relevant, and unrelentingly suspenseful" (Booklist) follow-up to the Edgar Award-winning Red Sparrow, Russian intelligence double agent Dominika Egorova edges ever closer to danger. She's got President Putin in her cross-hairs, but a rival operative has her in his. Add to that a treasonous American who knows enough to expose her, and a tricky Russian uranium deal with Iran, and Dominika and her CIA lover/case officer are in trouble. Complexly plotted and extremely detailed in characterization and tradecraft alike, Palace of Treason is a must-read for spy fiction fans. |
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| What Doesn't Kill Her by Carla NortonSuspense Fiction. In The Edge of Normal, former kidnapping victim Reeve LeClaire helped another girl escape a predator. Now, in What Doesn't Kill Her, her own kidnapper has escaped from the psychiatric hospital he's serving his sentence in -- and Reeve can guess at his plans. To help prevent what happened to her from happening to others, she puts herself at risk, traveling back to Seattle to do what she can. "The pages fly by," says Library Journal. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Prince George's County Memorial Library System 6532 Adelphi Rd. Hyattsville, Maryland 20782 301-699-3500http://www.pgcmls.info/ |
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