News people have a saying: 'If it bleeds, it leads'. And a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School is guaranteed to lead any bulletin. Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is working on the case of a missing dog - and on her own need to be more assertive - when she sees the footage on TV. But when she tunes in again, to the late-night report, she realises there is something not quite right about the correspondent who was first on the scene. So begins 'If It Bleeds', a stand-alone sequel to the No. 1 bestselling THE OUTSIDER featuring the incomparable Holly on her first solo case - and also the riveting title story in Stephen King's brilliant new collection. Dancing alongside are three more wonderful long stories from this 'formidably versatile author' ( The Sunday Times) - ' Mr Harrigan's Phone', 'The Life of Chuck' and 'Rat'. All four display the richness of King's storytelling with grace, humour, horror and breathtaking suspense. A fascinating Author's Note gives us a wonderful insight into the origin of each story and the writer's unparalleled imagination
COVER TO BE REVEALED 29 JANUARY, 2021. From legendary storyteller and No. 1 bestseller Stephen King, whose ''restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained'' ( The New York Times Book Review ), comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He''s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he''ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can''t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It''s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won''t put this story down, and you won''t forget Billy.
When an eleven-year-old boy is found murdered in a town park, reliable eyewitnesses undeniably point to the town's popular Little League coach, Terry Maitland, as the culprit. DNA evidence and fingerprints confirm the crime was committed by this well-loved family man. Horrified by the brutal killing, Detective Ralph Anderson, whose own son was once coached by Maitland, orders the suspect to be arrested in a public spectacle. But Maitland has an alibi. And further research confirms he was indeed out of town that day. As Anderson and the District Attorney trace the clues, the investigation expands from Ohio to Texas. And as horrifying answers begin to emerge, so King's propulsive story of almost unbearable suspense kicks into high gear. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy but there is one rock-hard fact, as unassailable as gravity: a man cannot be in two places at the same time. Can he?
There's trouble in paradise. Following his no 1 Sunday Times bestselling novel @00000373@Camino Island@00000155@, John Grisham returns with novelist heroine Mercer Mann. Murder and intrigue combine in a breathless thriller set on a hurricane-lashed Florida island.
In his unforgettable new novel, John Grisham tells the story of an unthinkable murder, the bizarre trial that followed it, and its profound and lasting effect on the people of Ford County. Pete Banning was Clanton's favourite son, a returning war hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbour, and a faithful member of the Methodist Church. Then one cool October morning in 1946. he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder wasn't shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete's only statement about it - to the sheriff, to his defense attorney, to the judge, to his family and friends, and to the people of Clanton - was 'I have nothing to say'. And so the murder of the esteemed Reverend Bell became the most mysterious and unforgettable crime Ford County had ever known. Praise for Grisham's latest book, The Rooster Bar 'S cintillating storytelling' - The Sunday Times 'A buoyant, mischievous thriller . . . T his reliable best-selling author is feeling real pleasure, and not just obligation, in delivering his work' - New York Times 'A wild, hard-to-put-down romp' - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Deon Meyer lives near Cape Town in South Africa. His big passions are motorcycling, music, reading, cooking and rugby. In January 2008 he retired from his day job as a consultant on brand strategy for BMW Motorrad, and is now a full time author. Deon Meyer's books have attracted worldwide critical acclaim and a growing international fanbase. Originally written in Afrikaans, they have now been translated into twenty-eight languages. THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger and won the Boeke Prize in South Africa - the first time in the prize's 16 year history that a South African book has won. His novels have also won literary prizes in France, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, and the film rights to seven of his novels have been optioned or sold. Deon has also written two television series, and several screenplays for movies. In 2013 he directed one of his original scripts for the feature film The Last Tango . Visit the author's website at www.deonmeyer.com and follow him on Twitter @MeyerDeon
@2@@20@The short story OBITS won the 2016 Edgar for best short story. @21@@3@@2@A generous collection of thrilling stories - some brand new, some published in magazines, all entirely brilliant and assembled in one book for the first time - with a wonderful bonus: in addition to his introduction to the whole collection, King gives readers a fascinating introduction to each story with autobiographical comments on their origins and motivation...@3@@2@The No. 1 bestselling writer has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of novellas and short story fiction since his first collection NIGHT SHIFT was published. He describes the nature of the form in his introduction to the book: 'There's something to be said for a shorter, more intense experience. It can be invigorating, sometimes even shocking, like...a beautiful curio for sale laid out on a cheap blanket at a street bazaar.'@3@@2@In THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS there is a curio for every reader - a man who keeps reliving the same life, repeating the same mistakes over and over again, a columnist who kills people by writing their obituaries, a poignant tale about the end of the human race and a firework competition between neighbours which reaches an explosive climax. There are also intriguing connections between the stories; themes of morality, guilt, the afterlife and what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past.@3@@2@Effervescent yet poignant, juxtaposing the everyday against the unexpected, these stories comprise one of King's finest gifts to his constant reader as well as to those fascinated by the autobiographical insights in his celebrated non-fiction title ON WRITING.@3@@2@'I made them especially for you', says King. 'Feel free to examine them, but please be careful. The best of them have teeth.'@3@@2@TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS@3@@2@Introduction @16@Mile 81 @16@Premium Harmony @16@Batman and Robin Have an Altercation @16@The Dune @16@Bad Little Kid @16@A Death @16@The Bone Church @16@Morality @16@Afterlife @16@Ur @16@Herman Wouk Is Still Alive @16@Under the Weather @16@Blockade Billy @16@Mister Yummy @16@Tommy @16@The Little Green God of Agony @16@That Bus Is Another World @16@Obits @16@Drunken Fireworks @16@Summer Thunder@3@
Castle Rock is a small town, where word gets around quickly. That's why Scott Carey wants to confide only in his friend Doctor Bob Ellis about his strange condition: he's losing weight, without getting thinner, and the scales register the same when he is in his clothes or out of them, however heavy they are. Scott also has new neighbours, who have opened a 'fine dining experience' in town, although it's an experience being shunned by the locals; Deidre McComb and her wife Missy Donaldson don't exactly fit in with the community's expectations. And now Scott seems trapped in a feud with the couple over their dogs dropping their business on his lawn. Missy may be friendly, but Deidre is cold as ice. As the town prepares for its annual Thanksgiving 12k run, Scott starts to understand the prejudices his neighbours face and he tries to help. Unlikely alliances form and the mystery of Scott's affliction brings out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others. From master storyteller Stephen King, our 'most precious renewable resource, like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work' ( Guardian ), comes this timely, upbeat tale about finding common ground despite deep-rooted differences. Compelling and eerie, Elevation is as gloriously joyful (with a twinge of deep sadness) as ' It's a Wonderful Life.'
@2@@20@After 602 days dry, Captain Benny Griessel of the South African police services can't take any more tragedy. @21@@16@@20@@21@@16@So when Benny is called in to investigate a multiple homicide, it pushes him close to breaking point - a former friend and detective colleague has shot his wife and two daughters, then killed himself. Benny wants out - out of his job, his home and his relationship with his singer girlfriend, Alexa. He moves into a hotel and starts drinking. Again.@3@@2@But Benny's unique talent is urgently required to help investigate another crime - the high profile murder of Ernst Richter, MD of a new tech startup, Alibi, whose body is discovered buried in the sand dunes north of Cape Town. Alibi is a service that creates false appointments, documents and phone calls to enable people to cheat on their partners. It has made Richter one of the most notorious people in South Africa. Can Benny pull together the strands of his life in time to catch the killer?@3@
'The Best Thriller Writer Alive' Ken Follett John Grisham's newest legal thriller takes you inside a law firm that shouldn't exist. Law students Mark, Todd and Zola wanted to change the world - to make it a better place. But these days these three disillusioned friends spend a lot of time hanging out in The Rooster Bar, the place where Todd serves drinks. As third-year students, they realise they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specialising in student loans, the three realise they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam. So they begin plotting a way out. Maybe there's a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. But to do so, they have to leave law school, pretend they are qualified and go into battle with a billionaire and the FBI . . . Ingenious, immersive and page-turning, The Rooster Bar is a John Grisham legal thriller bar none.
The Dark Web is everywhere - and those who know where to look, and who to ask, can find anything. Drugs, guns, porn, ideologies, lives and deaths are all up for sale . . . and everything must go. Set in the technological underbelly of the 21st century, this conspiracy thriller follows elite hacker Azi Bello on a journey of discovery into the dark marketplace known as Gomorrah, within which the world's worst people trade lives and influence. Taking the reader between London, Berlin, Athens and Los Angeles, as well as into terrorist-controlled Syrian cities, THIS IS GOMORRAH explores what it means to win, and to lose, at the global game of ideology and power. A loner, charmer, idealist and connoisseur of other people's mistakes, Azi's life is spun around by a mysterious approach from a young Muslim woman called Munira, and before long his carefully crafted privacy comes crashing down. Munira is at her wits' end, a fellow hacker whose cousin has been recruited by terrorists, and who has unearthed a terrible conspiracy in her struggle to bring him home. She needs Azi's help and connections to track him down. But can she be trusted? Can Azi trust anyone when identities can be changed with just a few clicks. . ?
Author of the bestselling Thora Gudmundsdottir crime series and several stand-alone thrillers, Yrsa Sigurdardottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1963 and works as a civil engineer. She made her crime fiction debut in 2005 with LAST RITUALS, the first instalment in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series, and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Her work stands 'comparison with the finest contemporary crime writing anywhere in the world' according to the Times Literary Supplement. The second instalment in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series, MY SOUL TO TAKE, was shortlisted for the 2010 Shamus Award. In 2011 her stand-alone horror novel I REMEMBER YOU was awarded the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award and was nominated for The Glass Key, and has been made intoa film starring Johannes Haukur by ZikZak Filmworks. In 2015 THE SILENCE OF THE SEA won the Petrona Award for the year's best Scandinavian crime novel, and THE LEGACY , the first novel in the Freyja and Huldar series, was nominated for The Glass Key and won the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award. All of her books have been European bestsellers.
'The best thriller writer alive' - Ken Follett I'm not a typical lawyer. I don't maintain a pretty office filled with mahogany and leather. I don't belong to a big firm, prestigious or otherwise. I don't do good works through the bar association. I'm a lone gunman, a rogue who fights bad systems and hates injustice . . . Sebastian Rudd takes the cases no one else wants to take: the drug-addled punk accused of murdering two little girls; a crime lord on death row; a homeowner who shot at a SWAT team. Rudd believes that every person accused of a crime is entitled to a fair trial - even if he has to cheat to get one. He antagonises people from both sides of the law: his last office was firebombed, either by drug dealers or cops. He doesn't know or care which. But things are about to get even more complicated for Sebastian. Arch Swanger is the prime suspect in the abduction and presumed murder of 21-year-old Jiliana Kemp, the daughter of the assistant chief of police. When Swanger asks Sebastian to represent him, he lets Sebastian in on a terrible secret . . . one that will threaten everything Sebastian holds dear. Gritty, witty, and impossible to put down, Rogue Lawyer is the master of the legal thriller at his very best.
The twenty-fifth instalment of the Number One Bestselling DCI Banks series 'Robinson remains the master of the police procedural. ' Mail on Sunday 'Robinson is prolific, but with each book he manages to ring the changes.' Guardian A young local student has apparently committed suicide. Her body is found in an abandoned car on a lonely country road. She didn't own a car. Didn't even drive. How did she get there? Where did she die? Who moved her, and why? Meanwhile a man in his sixties is found dead in a gully up on the wild moorland. He is wearing an expensive suit and carrying no identification. Post-mortem findings indicate he died from injuries sustained during the fall. But what was he doing up there? And why are there no signs of a car in the vicinity? As the inconsistencies multiply and the mysteries proliferate, Annie's father's new partner, Zelda, comes up with a shocking piece of information that alerts Banks and Annie to the return of an old enemy in a new guise. This is someone who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get what he wants - and suddenly the stakes are raised and the hunt is on.
This is a fact: Ryan Summers walked into Three Rivers College and killed thirteen women, then himself. But no one can say why. The question is one that cries out to be answered - by Ryan's mother, Moira; by Ishbel, the mother of Abigail, the first victim; and by DI Helen Birch, put in charge of the case on her first day at her new job. But as the tabloids and the media swarm, as the families' secrets come out, as the world searches for someone to blame... the truth seems to vanish. A stunningly moving novel from an exciting new voice in crime, ALL THE HIDDEN TRUTHS will cause you to question your assumptions about the people you love, and reconsider how the world reacts to tragedy.
Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons 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.
Fasten your seatbelts for an anthology of turbulent tales curated by Stephen King and Bev Vincent. This exciting new collection, perfect for airport or aeroplane reading, includes an original introduction and story notes for each story by Stephen King, and brand new stories from Stephen King and Joe Hill. Stephen King hates to fly. Now he and co-editor Bev Vincent would like to share this fear of flying with you. Welcome to Flight or Fright, an anthology about all the things that can go horribly wrong when you're suspended six miles in the air, hurtling through space at more than 500 mph and sealed up in a metal tube (like - gulp! - a coffin) with hundreds of strangers. All the ways your trip into the friendly skies can turn into a nightmare, including some we'll bet you've never thought of before... but now you will the next time you walk down the jetway and place your fate in the hands of a total stranger. Featuring brand new stories by Joe Hill and Stephen King, as well as fourteen classic tales and one poem from the likes of Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Dan Simmons, and many others, Flight or Fright is, as King says, "ideal airplane reading, especially on stormy descents... Even if you are safe on the ground, you might want to buckle up nice and tight." Book a flight for this terrifying new anthology that will have you thinking twice about how you want to reach your final destination. Table of Contents: Introduction by Stephen King Cargo by E. Michael Lewis The Horror of the Heights by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson The Flying Machine by Ambrose Bierce Lucifer! by E.C. Tubb The Fifth Category by Tom Bissell Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds by Dan Simmons Diablitos by Cody Goodfellow Air Raid by John Varley You Are Released by Joe Hill Warbirds by David J. Schow The Flying Machine by Ray Bradbury Zombies on a Plane by Bev Vincent They Shall Not Grow Old by Roald Dahl Murder in the Air by Peter Tremayne The Turbulence Expert by Stephen King Falling by James L. Dickey Afterword by Bev Vincent
She's borrowed your life. But what if she decides to keep it? Glamorous Margot Jones is the fashion editor at glossy women's magazine Haute , and pregnant with her first child. Margot's used to her carefully curated life being the object of other women's envy - who wouldn't want her successful career, loving husband, beautiful house and stylish wardrobe? Maggie, a freelance journalist, certainly knows she doesn't measure up. So when Margot gets in touch to suggest she apply for her maternity cover at Haute , Maggie seizes the chance at living a better life - even if it's only temporary. But the simultaneous arrival of Margot's baby and a brutal end to her oldest friendship sends Margot into a spiral of suspicion and paranoia. Are Maggie's motives as innocent as they seem? And what happens at the end of the year when Margot wants her old life back - especially if Maggie decides she doesn't want to leave?
