7881 books
Someone We Know by Shari Lapeña (2019)
In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses - and into the owners’ computers as well - learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too. Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they’re telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets? In this neighborhood, it’s not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide…
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan (2020)
An intimate, bracingly intelligent debut novel about a millennial Irish expat who becomes entangled in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer. Ava, newly arrived in Hong Kong from Dublin, spends her days teaching English to rich children. Julian is a banker. A banker who likes to spend money on Ava, to have sex and discuss fluctuating currencies with her. But when she asks whether he loves her, he cannot say more than "I like you a great deal." When Julian's job takes him back to London, Ava stays put, unsure where their relationship stands. Enter Edith. A Hong Kong-born lawyer, striking and ambitious, Edith takes Ava to the theater and leaves her tulips in the hallway. Ava wants to be her — and wants her. And then Julian writes to tell Ava that he is coming back to Hong Kong... Should Ava return to the easy compatibility of her life with Julian or take a leap into the unknown with Edith? Politically alert, heartbreakingly raw, and dryly funny, *Exciting Times* is thrillingly attuned to the great freedoms and greater uncertainties of modern love. In stylish, uncluttered prose, Naoise Dolan dissects the personal and financial transactions that make up a life — and announces herself as a singular new voice.
Assassin's Creed by Oliver Bowden (2011)
“I have been beaten, deceived and betrayed. They murdered my father—and I will have my revenge at whatever cost!” 1789: The magnificent city of Paris sees the dawn of the French Revolution. The cobblestone streets run red with blood as the people rise against the oppressive aristocracy. But revolutionary justice comes at a high price... At a time when the divide between the rich and the poor is at its most extreme, and a nation is tearing itself apart, a young man and woman fight to avenge all they have lost. Soon Arno and Élise are drawn into the centuries-old battle between the Assassins and the Templars—a world with dangers more deadly than they could ever have imagined.
The Death Trust by David Rollins (2005)
As shocking as today's headlines, this internationally bestselling thriller plunges readers into the revelation of a terrifying conspiracy that begins with a sniper's bullet on a routine patrol in Iraq...and leads all the way back to the White House--where the ultimate betrayal of trust is being played out....Amid the dust, death, and chaos of Iraq, an American soldier on a routine patrol is killed by an unseen enemy. It's a tragedy but not a crime--until it's linked to the bizarre death of a decorated four-star general who happens to be the dead man's father...and the son-in-law of history's most feared and powerful U.S. vice president. Major Vin Cooper of Air Force Special Investigations is the kind of loose cannon no commanding officer can completely control...or survive without. Cooper's a man whose capacity to absorb grief is matched only by his ability to dish it out. And this case--which will be either his most important or his last--has plenty of both. Scarred by battle and a recent divorce, Cooper answers to no one but his own tough-as-nails female general. She knows there's no one as relentless, as insubordinate, and as effective in prying out the truth as Cooper--no matter where it leads or who it angers.Reluctantly paired with Special Agent Anna Masters, Cooper begins his search at the scene of a suspicious crash at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. There they uncover a trail of inexplicable "accidental" deaths that leads from the war-torn streets of Baghdad to sex slavery in Latvia and a marriage that began in the White House Rose Garden and disintegrated into bitterness and infidelity. And with every step they take, Cooper and Masters come closer to the shocking truth about the biggest and most murderous lie of all.From the Hardcover edition.
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud (2014)
In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper. Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom. Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood's annoyance. Bickerstaff's coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.
Night Film by Marisha Pessl (2013)
Ashley Cordova is dead. Scott McGrath, a veteran investigative journalist wants to know why. The reason why the death of this beautiful, young woman has piqued his interest so much is because of who her father is. He is Stanislas Cordova, the world famous director of strange cult/horror films that hasn't been seen publicly in over thirty years. The last time McGrath got involved with Cordova he lost his marriage, child, and career. This time he might lose everything else. With the aid of two strangers, McGrath takes a strange and psychedelic journey where not everything in front is real and what is real is more horrifying than anything that Cordova has put on screen.
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (2016)
For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he's drawn others into his mission: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a life; and Blue, who loves Gansey … and is certain she is destined to kill him. *Nothing dead can be trusted.* *Now the endgame has begun.* *Nothing living is safe.* Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path.
The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage (2009)
Living on a diet of fried Spam, vodka, sardines, cupcakes, and Southern Comfort, Andrew Whittaker is slowly being sucked into the morass of middle age. A negligent landlord, small-time literary journal editor, and aspiring novelist, he is—quite literally— authoring his own downfall. From his letters, diary entries, and fragments of fiction, to grocery lists and posted signs, this novel is a collection of everything Whittaker commits to paper over the course of four critical months. Beginning in July, during the economic hardships of the Nixon era, we witness our hero hounded by tenants and creditors, harassed by a loathsome local arts group, and tormented by his ex-wife. Determined to redeem his failures and eviscerate his enemies, Whittaker hatches a grand plan. But as winter nears, his difficulties accumulate, and the disorder of his life threatens to overwhelm him. As his hold on reality weakens and his schemes grow wilder, his self-image as a placid and slow-moving sloth evolves into that of a bizarre and frantic creature driven mad by solitude. In this tragicomic portrait of a literary life, Sam Savage proves that all the evidence is in the writing, that all the world is, indeed, a stage, and that escape from the mind’s prison requires a command performance.
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña (2015)
Every Sunday after church, CJ and his grandma ride the bus across town. But today, CJ wonders why they don't own a car like his friend Colby. Why doesn't he have an iPod like the boys on the bus? How come they always have to get off in the dirty part of town? Each question is met with an encouraging answer from grandma, who helps him see the beautyand funin their routine and the world around them. This energetic ride through a bustling city highlights the wonderful perspective only grandparent and grandchild can share.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)
The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home. Following their ancestor's star maps, they discovered the greatest treasure of a past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New monsters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare. Now two civilisations are on a collision course and must fight to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (2013)
Whenever foreigners visit Paradise they always ask Darling and her friends to smile for the camera. Here are some of the things Darling and her friends have to smile about: stealing guavas, gifts from NGOs, singing Lady Gaga at the tops of their voices. But they all want to go to the real paradise in America or Britain.
It's All Right Now by Charles Chadwick (2005)
Meet Tom Ripple, a man with an uncommon outlook on his common life. Through the vividness of his voice and his growing sense of the sorrow and absurdity of the world, Tom Ripple becomes an unusually appealing antihero, aware of his ordinariness and the limits of his intelligence, with a ribald sense of humor, and a clumsiness in his attempts at emotional connection with others. He is a bewildered everyman navigating his way through modern times.By turns poignant, funny, heartbreaking, and profound, It's All Right Now is a towering achievement and a singular work of the imagination.
Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend by Francesca Simon (2006)
Horrid Henry is determined to win the class football match and defeat Moody Margaret, by whatever means necessary ...
Irène by Pierre Lemaitre (2014)
For Commandant Verhoeven life is beautiful: he's happily married, and expecting his first child with the lovely Irene. But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder so savage that even the most hardened officers on the force are shaken to the core. In the face of the seemingly motiveless horror, only Verhoeven makes the vital connection - the crime scene resembles one described in a James Ellroy novel too closely for there to be any coincidence. As the stylised murders continue, Verhoeven traces the crimes' literary inspirations, and risks his superiors' ire by taking out adverts to inform the killer of his progress. Before long, the case develops into a personal duel, with each man hell-bent on outsmarting his opponent. There can only be one winner - whoever has the least to lose ...
