Dawn of Empire by Sam Barone

Dawn of Empire by Sam Barone

From the Publisher
The leader of a band of marauding barbarians, Thutmose-sin is a warrior gifted by the gods with extraordinary perception and cunning. To survive, he and his people plunder and pillage, killing and enslaving the dirt-eaters who dwell in villages across the plains. But Thutmose-sin also secretly fears these enemies, for they possess a weapon far deadlier than any bow or lance: the food they coax from the ground that allows them to multiply. Someday, he worries, there might be so many of them that even his warriors will not be able to kill them all. And in a prosperous settlement near the headwaters of the Tigris, his suspicions are about to come true . . .

Determined to preserve their way of life, the peaceful people of Orak refuse to flee the oncoming barbarians. Instead, they devise a bold, untested plan of defense: build a wall around the village high and strong enough to repel the invaders. Under the guidance of an outcast barbarian named Eskkar and his true love, an enchanting and wise slave girl named Trella, the villagers begin the wall's construction and await the epic battle that will pit them against the unstoppable barbarians - a battle whose outcome will change the world forever.

An enthralling historical novel of war, passionate love, courage, and savagery, Dawn of Empire tells in sweeping prose and with heroic, unforgettable characters the story of an ancient people's triumph - an amazing feat that marked the building of the first walled city and the beginning of an era that gave rise to some of history's greatest civilizations.

Slay Ride by Chris Grabenstein

Slay Ride by Chris Grabenstein
From the Publisher
Scott Wilkinson is a successful young advertising executive on his way to the top. Christopher Miller is an FBI legend who has been willing to do whatever it takes to see that justice is done. However, at age 50, he's ready to spend more time with his family.

Two weeks before Christmas, Scott goes on a routine business trip that will forever entangle their two lives. It starts like so many others. Wilkinson calls for a car service to take him from his home to the airport. But the driver of Lincoln Town Car 716 is late. When he finally shows up, he drives like a maniac, and Wilkinson feels fortunate to reach the airport alive.

Then, he makes a big mistake. Wilkinson calls the limousine company to complain. Customer Service assures him the bad driver will be "dealt with." Nicolai Kyznetsoff looks and sounds like all the anonymous others who whisk successful young executives back and forth to the airport every day, but the man behind the wheel of Car 716 is something much more sinister: an avenging dark angel who will stop at nothing to wreak revenge on the one man he holds responsible for ruining his life.

Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke

Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
From the Publisher
Detective Dave Robicheaux is facing the most painful and dangerous case of his career. A troubled young woman breezes into his hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana. She happens to be the daughter of Robicheaux's onetime best friend -- a friend he witnessed gunned down in a bank robbery, a tragedy that forever changed Robicheaux's life.
In Pegasus Descending, James Lee Burke again explores psyches as much as evidence, and tries to make sense of human behavior as well as of his characters' crimes. Richly atmospheric, frightening in its sudden violence, and replete with the sort of puzzles only the best crime fiction creates, Burke's latest novel is an unforgettable roller coaster of passion, surprise, and regret.

The twists begin when Trish Klein -- the only offspring of Robicheaux's Vietnam-era buddy -- starts passing marked hundred-dollar bills in local casinos. Is she a good kid gone bad? A victim's child seeking revenge? A promiscuous beauty seducing everyone good within her grasp? And how does her behavior relate to the apparent suicide of another "good" girl, an ace student named Yvonne Darbonne, who apparently participated in a college frat orgy before her death?

Can Robicheaux make his peace with the demons that have haunted him since his friend's murder so many years ago? Can he figure out how a local mobster fits into all the schemes and deaths? Can Robicheaux's life be whole again when it has been shattered by so much tragedy?

Once again, Burke proves why he is the virtual poet laureate of southern Louisiana, and why his novels, especially those featuring Dave Robicheaux, stand as brilliant literature and entertainment for our time.

Never End by Ake Edwardson

Never End by Ake Edwardson

From the Publisher Detective Erik Winter is back, chasing a copycat murderer in a gritty procedural from one of Europe's most popular crime writers With twelve Erik Winter novels published in countries as diverse as Italy, Norway, France, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Germany-where the series has sold more than 700,000 copies-it's only a matter of time before an American readership discovers what Europe has already declared: Ake Edwardson is a European master of the stylish and gritty crime novel. In Never End, the second Erik Winter novel to be translated into English, a heat wave is smothering the Swedish coastal city of Gothenburg. School is out, and parks and beaches are teeming with people. But a spate of unsolved rape/murders casts a disturbing shadow on this particular summer. Chief Inspector Erik Winter, now forty-one and a father, assembles the scant but grisly details of the crimes, and begins to see an eerie connection to a five-year-old unsolved rape/murder, a case he, in typically obsessive fashion, has refused to let go cold. Has the same rapist reemerged to taunt the police and flaunt his stolen freedom, or are these copycat crimes? In the absence of any hard leads, and haunted by the case he could not solve, Winter desperately hunts for a link bridging the victims, convinced that each crime holds the key to the others. Someone knows more than they are letting on, and Winter knows they are running out of time. Never End is a chilling, moody novel replete with Hitchcockian depictions of Gothenburg's vibrant summer spaces and seamy dark corners, that will appeal to readers of George Pelecanos and Elizabeth George

[Via : Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Never End, by Ake Edwardson, Hardcover ]

The Third Person by Steve Mosby

The Third Person by Steve Mosby

From the Publisher Steve Mosby's brilliant debut crime novel is a dark futuristic thriller in the tradition of Philip K. Dick and James Ellroy. "This isn't some kind of 'Dear John' letter. I'm coming back again." But Amy didn't come back. The note on the kitchen table was the last her boyfriend, Jason, heard from her. At first, he let Amy have her space, but when weeks turned to months, Jason went after her. What he found appalled him. It seemed that Amy led a secret life on the Internet. There she met people who could put her in touch with a horrible experience from her past. Now Jason sits at home and cruises those same horrific websites to find her kidnapper. And one day, in a place called "The Melanie Room," he finds him...

[Via : Barnes & Noble.com - Books: The Third Person, by Steve Mosby, Mass Market Paperback ]

Pressing the Bet by W. L. Ripley

Pressing the Bet by W. L. Ripley

From the Publisher The word is that Jesse Robinson is dead. But when Cole Springer goes to Vegas at the behest of Jesse's father, he finds Jesse very much alive. Unless Springer can figure out what's going on--he won't be alive for very long. Jesse believes that whoever killed his "double" was really trying to kill him, only he doesn't know why--or who was killed in his place. The Vegas strip is full of murder, robberies and red-hot former flames in this fast-paced tale.

[Via : Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Pressing the Bet, by W. L. Ripley, Hardcover ]