Hell's Bay

Hell's Bay

James W. Hall

James W. Hall

Master of suspense James W. Hall's Hell's Bay sends Thorn deep into the wilds of South Florida, in a story with all the haunting atmosphere of Deliverance and the sheer terror of Cape Fear.Descended from pioneer stock, the Bateses are an aristocratic Floridian family with vast holdings in real estate and mining. When matriarch Abigail Bates is discovered drowned in the Peace River, a chain of events is set into motion, embroiling Thorn with a family he never knew he had and a fortune he doesn't necessarily want. Thorn is leading a fishing expedition into the isolated lakes and mangrove swamps of Hell's Bay when Abigail's son and beautiful granddaughter arrive, claiming Thorn as a long-lost relative and asking him to solve the woman's murder. Little do they know that the killer is already on their trail. Soon their houseboat becomes a precarious island of safety in a landscape of escalating violence. What does the killer want?...
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One Twisted Valentine

One Twisted Valentine

T. Lee Alexis

T. Lee Alexis

Two months ago, Eva Ravenwood and her husband Peter shared a woman in their bed and made their wild fantasy a sexy, sinful, unforgettable reality. Little did Eva know it was just the beginning. Now, as Valentine's Day approaches, she wants to do something special with her husband and their new girlfriend, Brooke. But what Eva dreams up is so twisted, kinky and shocking it may change her forever.
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Sacred Bones : A Novel

Sacred Bones : A Novel

Michael Byrnes

Michael Byrnes

Fast-paced and intelligent, blending historical fact with persuasive fiction, The Sacred Bones is an addictively compelling thriller that calls into question many of modern religion's most deeply-held beliefs. Jerusalem is a ticking time bomb ...An ancient artefact is stolen from beneath Temple Mount. With thirteen Israeli soldiers dead, and the Palestinians outraged over the desecration of the sacred ground, tensions are running high. Detectives must work against the clock to identify the stolen relic and the thieves, before civil unrest escalates to deadly proportions. Meanwhile, in Vatican city, American scientist Charlotte Hennesey and Italian anthropologist Giovanni Bersei have been secretly summoned to analyse a mysterious artefact, that could prove to be history's darkest secret: a human skeleton, approximately 2,000 years old, and bearing the unmistakeable marks of crucifixion ...With the malevolent eye of Vatican security expert Salvatore Conte watching her every move, Charlotte must work against the clock to uncover an astonishing truth that threatens the very foundations of belief.And there's a more immediate question to face: whether the Vatican will allow this information - and Charlotte - to see the light of day . ..
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Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Guanzhong Luo

Guanzhong Luo

In 220 EC, the 400-year-old rule of the mighty Han dynasty came to an end and three kingdoms contested for control of China. Liu Pei, legitimate heir to the Han throne, elects to fight for his birthright and enlists the aid of his sworn brothers, the impulsive giant Chang Fei and the invincible knight Kuan Yu. The brave band faces a formidable array of enemies, foremost among them the treacherous and bloodthirsty Ts'ao Ts'ao. The bold struggle of the three heroes seems doomed until the reclusive wizard Chuko Liang offers his counsel, and the tide begins to turn.Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's oldest novel and the first of a great tradition of historical fiction. Believed to have been compiled by the play-wright Lo Kuan-chung in the late fourteenth century, it is indebted to the great San-kuo chi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms) completed by the historian Ch'en Shou just before his death in 297 CE. The novel first appeared in print in 1522. This edition, translated in the mid-1920s by C. H. Brewitt-Taylor, is based on a shortened and simplified version which appeared in the 1670s. An Introduction to this reprint by Robert E. Hegel, Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Washington University, provides an insightful commentary on the historical background to the novel, its literary origins and its main characters.This epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, of loyalty and treachery, of victory and death, and the deeds of its heroes and villains during one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history, forms part of the indelible core of classical Chinese culture and continues to fascinate modern-day readers.
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Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895

Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895

Anton Chekhov

Classics / Fiction / Humor and Comedy

These stories from the middle period of Chekhov's career show him exploring complex, ambiguous and often extreme emotions. Influenced by his own experiences as a doctor, 'Ward No. 6', set in a mental hospital, is a savage indictment of the medical profession. 'The Black Monk', portraying an academic who has strange hallucinations, explores ideas of genius and insanity; in 'Murder', religious fervour leads to violence; while in 'The Student', Chekhov's favourite story, a young man recounts a tale from the gospels and undergoes a spiritual epiphany. In all the stories collected here, Chekhov's characters face madness, alienation and frustration before they experience brief, ephemeral moments of insight, often earned at great cost, where they confront the reality of their existence.
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