Nails by Peter Bowen

Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Nails, by Peter Bowen, Hardcover

[Source : ]
Amazingly hard to follow, insipid fare. Does nothing to grab your attention or engage you with the narrative. Not recomended at all.

Execution by Geoffrey Abbott

Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Execution, by Geoffrey Abbott, Hardcover

[Source : ]

Tamerlane by Justin Marozzi

Tamerlane by Justin Marozzi

Synopsis

Tamerlane (1336-1405)-the tartar successor to Genghis Khan-ranks with Alexander the Great as one of the world's greatest conquerors. His armies were ferocious, feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. They blazed through Asia like a firestorm, razing cities, torturing captives, and massacring enemies. Anyone who dared defy Tamerlane was likely decapitated, and towers of bloody heads soon became chilling monuments to his power throughout Central Asia. By the end of his life, Tamerlane had imposed his iron rule, as well as a refined culture, over a vast territory-from Syria to India, from Siberia to the Mediterranean. Justin Marozzi traveled in the footsteps of this infamous and enigmatic emperor of Samarkand (in modern Uzbekistan) to tell the story of this cruel, cultivated, and powerful warrior.

[Source : ]

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

From the Publisher "Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant - you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger, taller, stronger Alpha Male." "But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child." "Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie - exhausted from the birth - turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird." "People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it." Christopher Moore shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore - death and dying - and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.
[Source :Barnes & Noble.com - Books: A Dirty Job, by Christopher Moore, Hardcover ]

Strangers' Gate by Tom Casey

From the Publisher
Pilot and adventurer Jason Walker follows his bliss - into the sensuous arms of sultry Charlotte Lansing. Unfortunately, Charlotte's husband, Alan, is a Wall Street raider, a drug-lord money-launderer, and a particularly perverse pornographer. Marked for murder, Jason and Charlotte are in the race of their lives. Chasing them are Alan and his psychopathic team of drug-lord hit men. This hot pursuit will hurtle them through the tropical bars, torrid beaches, and palatial villas of the Caribbean as they flee by land, sea, and air.

Dying Light by Stuart Macbride

From the Publisher
Detective Sergeant Logan MacRae has been bumped to D.I. Roberta Steel's "Screw-up Squad" after a raid he led on a warehouse rumored to be full of stolen property ended with no arrests and one officer critically injured. The backstabbing, limelight-stealing, laziest D.I. on Aberdeen's police force, Steel's team is made up of the "no-hopers," the most worthless or inexperienced members of the homicide department, and Logan will do anything to prove he doesn't belong there. Including working overtime on two baffling cases: the murder by arson of six people, and the beating to death of a prostitute down by the docks, not a high priority compared to the fire. At least not until another prostitute ends up dead.

Although both cases seem simple on the surface--turns out the fire's victims are part of a drug dealer's inner circle, and what fate is to be expected for working girls in Aberdeen's red-light district?--in Stuart MacBride's hands, what's going on in this rainy Scottish city is bound to be much more complicated than it appears. A detailed authenticity combines with a dark Scottish sense of humor and a lively cast of characters in MacBride's unputdownable second novel, confirming his status as a rising star of crime fiction.

The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury

From the Publisher
In a hail of fire and flashing sword, as the burning city of Acre falls from the hands of the West in 1291, The Last Templar opens with a young Templar knight, his mentor, and a handful of others escaping to the sea carrying a mysterious chest entrusted to them by the Order's dying Grand Master. The ship vanishes without a trace.

In present day Manhattan, four masked horsemen dressed as Templar Knights emerge from Central Park and ride up the Fifth Avenue steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the blacktie opening of a Treasures of the Vatican exhibit. Storming through the crowds, the horsemen brutally attack anyone standing between them and their prize. Attending the gala, archaeologist Tess Chaykin watches in silent terror as the leader of the horsemen hones in on one piece in particular, a strange geared device. He utters a few cryptic Latin words as he takes hold of it with reverence before leading the horsemen out and disappearing into the night.

In the aftermath, an FBI investigation is led by anti-terrorist specialist Sean Reilly. Soon, he and Tess are drawn into the dark, hidden history of the crusading Knights, plunging them into a deadly game of cat and mouse with ruthless killers as they race across three continents to recover the lost secret of the Templars.

Lost by Michael Robotham

From the Publisher
The Washington Post called Michael Robotham's Suspect a "gripping first novel--taut and fast-moving." In LOST, Robotham brings back two of the most compelling characters in Suspect: Vincent Ruiz, the investigating detective, and Joe O'Loughlin, the psychologist implicated in a murder he didn't commit. This time, the focus is on Ruiz.

On a cold London night, Detective Ruiz is fished out of the Thames with a bullet in his leg and no memory of the circumstances surrounding the shooting. In his pocket is a photograph of Mickey Carlyle, a seven-year-old girl kidnapped three years before and presumed dead. It's anybody's guess what Ruiz was up to--especially when a bloody boat discovered nearby makes it clear that Ruiz was not the sole casualty. But with Mickey's killer convicted and behind bars, no one wants the case reopened. Ruiz's only hope of unraveling the puzzle is to retrace his steps and re-create the night of the shooting. Under investigation by his colleagues and accused of faking amnesia, Ruiz turns to Joe O'Loughlin, hoping that the psychologist can help unlock his memory. Step by step, the pieces come together, revealing a twisted trail of grief, vengeance, and the search for redemption.

A riveting thriller, LOST combines a fast-paced plot and searing insights into human psychology.

Private Practices by Stephen White
Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Private Practices, by Stephen White, Mass Market Paperback

From the Publisher Dr. Alan Gregory is a practicing psychologist with a few little problems to work through. He has an office filled with bloody corpses. He has a teenage patient who may be a sad victim or a savage killer. He has a beautiful estranged wife who wants him back in the worst way, and a lovely lover doing her best to keep him. He has a cop who wants him off the case, and an unknown enemy who wants him permanently out of action. To round out his many dilemmas, the list of suspects reads like a Who's Who of his posh Colorado community. And as a Rocky Mountain winter wonderland is swept by a nightmare blizzard of evil, secret sins leave a trail of blood leading to their hiding place deep in the heart and mind of a monstrous murderer...

[Source :Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Private Practices, by Stephen White, Mass Market Paperback ]

Good Day in Hell by J.D. Rhoades

From the Publisher "From a writer rapidly becoming the master of engrossing, bullet-scarred redneck noir comes another thrill-a-minute Southern suspense novel full of atmosphere and action. Bail enforcement officer Jack Keller is doing a skip trace on a young woman from the right side of the tracks who somehow got involved with the wrong kind of man. But Laurel Marks's history doesn t matter to Jack - she's wanted on a parole violation, and his paycheck depends on tracking her down." "Meanwhile, Keller's girlfriend, sheriff's deputy Marie Jones, is called to the scene of a grisly murder - a gas station owner has been shot point-blank in the face, and his teenage stepson, plus the cash from the register, is missing. But something in the back of her mind tells Marie not to jump to conclusions." When a bloody, merciless killing spree starts in a church on the other side of the county, it seems impossible that Keller's skip and Marie's murder/kidnapping case could be related. But the local media is soon involved, and the mess they make of the situation soon reveals just what Keller, Marie, and every other peace officer in the state of North Carolina doesn't want to believe: three people are viciously angry, incredibly well armed, and they re ready to strike again at any time.

[Source :Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Good Day in Hell, by J. D. Rhoades, Hardcover ]

The Kama Sutra of Reading

Via Fun And Jokes with Morals..:

Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke

Publishers Weekly After stepping into stand-alone territory with "Cimmaron Rose" (1997), Burke choreographs a masterful return to the lush and brooding world of volatile New Iberia Sheriff's Deputy Dave Robicheaux ("Cadillac Jukebox", 1996). This tale's strength lies in breathtaking, moody descriptive passages and incisive vignettes that set time, place and character. Burke's major themes, that the past is key to the present and that money buys power, pervade this mystery. The narrative, with more twists and bounces than a fish fighting a hook, rises from the violent, unsolved murder 40 years ago of union organizer Jack Flynn. The story encompasses at least eight disparate but interlocking subplots: the crooked money behind a movie directed by Flynn's son Cisco; the hold that ex-con Swede Boxleiter has on Cisco's photojournalist sister, Megan; Willie "Cool Breeze" Broussard's theft of a mob warehouse; his wife Ida's suicide 20 years ago; the shooting of two white brothers who raped a black woman; alcoholic Lisa Terrebonne's haunted childhood; her wealthy, arrogant father's ties to Harpo Scruggs, a vicious murderer; the post-Civil War killing by freed slaves of a Terrebonne servant. Hired assassins, snitches, lawmen and FBI agents weave through the novel. Dave and his partner Detective Helen Soileau find the connections, but Dave knows that in the ongoing class war, the worst criminals wield too much influence to pay for their crimes. In rich, dense prose, Burke conjures up bizarre, believable characters who inhabit vivid, spellbinding scenes in a multifaceted, engrossing plot.

[Source :Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Sunset Limited, by James Lee Burke, Mass Market Paperback ]

Kill Me by Stephen White
Rich Entrepreneur hires an underground organization which specializes in end-of-life services for those who are terminally diagnosed and would like to die with their facilities intact. Later changes his mind about it but the Death Angels's services when invoked are irrevocable. So begins a cat and mouse game between the Death Angels and the main character with a surprising twist in the end. Recommended

Above Suspicion by Lynda La Plante

From the Publisher
In the footsteps of Jane Tennison, immortalized by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, comes Anna Travis, a rookie female detective about to embark on her first murder case. The murders couldn't be more gruesome. The method of killing is identical, the backgrounds of the girls very similar — all are prostitutes. As the book opens, a seventh body is found, same modus operandi but the victim this time is a sweet young student. Anna stumbles on a vital piece of information that links one man to the killings, a well-known, much-loved actor. His protestation of innocence is convincing, and Anna might be succumbing to his flattering attention. What if he is arrested, the media erupts, and he is the wrong man?