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Publication Date:  April 20, 2011 Format:  Paperback Genre:   Noir Crime Publisher:  Hard Case Crime Length:   254 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Paperback Synopsis 5 [IMPORTANT / VALUABLE] LESSONS YOU CAN LEARN BY READING  BUST : 1) When you hire someone to kill your wife, don’t hire a psychopath. 2) Don’t use Drano to get rid of a dead body. 3) Those locks on hotel room doors?  Not very secure. 4) A curly blond wig isn’t much of a disguise. 5)  Secrets can kill. Review:  This is about the 3rd book I've read under the Hard Case Crime Insignia.  " Hard Case Crime is dedicated to reviving the vigor and excitement, the suspense and thrills—the sheer entertainment—of the golden age of paperback crime novels, both by bringing back into print the best work of

Publication Date:  August 3, 2021 Format:  Audio Genre:   Psychological thriller Narrators:  Cassandra Campbell Publisher:  Penguin Audio Length:   11 hours 40 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since they can remember. Growing up, they were homeschooled and trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents' death in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters began running the school together, along with Charlie, Dara's husband and once their mother's prized student.   Marie, warm and soft, teaches the younger students; Dara, with her precision, trains the older ones; and Charlie, sidelined fr

Publication Date:  September 27, 2022 Format:  Kindle Genre:   Mystery, Psychological Thriller Publisher:  Gallery Scout Press Length:   303 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Paperback Synopsis Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.” Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well. She even begins to paint again. But as the days start to blur together,

Publication Date:  October 18, 2022 Format:  Audio Genre:   Memoir Narrators:  Tom Felton Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing Length:   6 hours 36 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis Tom Felton’s adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame in beloved films like  The Borrowers  catapulted him into the limelight, but nothing could prepare him for what was to come after he landed the iconic role of the Draco Malfoy, the bleached blonde villain of the  Harry Potter movies. For the next ten years, he was at the center of a huge pop culture phenomenon and yet, in between filming, he would go back to being a normal teenager trying to fit into a normal school.    Speaking with great candor and his signature humor, Tom shares his experience grow

Publication Date:  February 5, 2013 Format:  Audio Genre:   Dystopian  Narrators:  Kate Simses Publisher:  Harper Audio Length:   11 hours 53 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis tick  tick  tick  tick  tick  it's almost  time for war.  Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her - people with gifts - and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.  She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.  Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.  In this exhilarating sequel to  Shatter Me , Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between

  Publication Date:  January 25, 2022 Format:  Kindle Genre:   LGBT/Mystery Publisher:  Kensington Books  Length:   350 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Paperback Synopsis At first, the death of millionaire businessman Charles Parsons seems like a straightforward suicide. There’s no sign of forced entry or struggle in his lavish New Jersey mansion—just a single gunshot wound from his own weapon. But days later, a different story emerges. Computer techs pick up a voice recording that incriminates Parsons’ adoptive daughter, Ann, who duly confesses and pleads guilty. Erin McCabe has little interest in reviewing such a slam-dunk case—even after she learns that Ann, like herself, is a trans woman. Yet despite their misgivings, Erin and her law partner, Duane Swisher, ultimately can’t ign

Publication Date:  November 26, 2021 Format:  Kindle Genre:   Dystopian  Publisher:  Evernight Teen Length:   196 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Paperback Synopsis Her father is the terrorist who released a virus that devastated most of the world and created vampire zombies. The cure is in her veins, and she’s sacrificed her freedom to find a vaccine. Now, Ember holds the last mutated strain in her blood, and the government votes whether to keep her alive or kill her. A film crew arrives to document her story, and it may be her only chance to sway the vote. However, an unexpected kiss leads to an infection that may start another worldwide outbreak. Ember must fight the effects of the darkness inside her to keep from turning into the monster. Will that be enough to save her life or will she start

  Publication Date:  February 28, 2023 Format:  Audio Genre:   Crime Thriller Narrators:  Rosalie Craig  Publisher:  MacmillanAudio Length:   8 hours 1 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever. Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once

  Publication Date:  May 10, 2022 Format:  Paperback Genre:   Contemporary Romance Publisher:  Penguin Publishing Group Length:   320 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Paperback Synopsis They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without. For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s

Publication Date:  November 15, 2011 Format:  Audio Genre:   Sci/fi Fantasy Narrators:  Kim Simses Publisher:  Harper Audio Length:   9 hours 12 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis "You can't touch me," I whisper. I'm lying, is what I don't tell him. He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him. But things happen when people touch me. Strange things. Bad things.  No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.  But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time - and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever. Review:  I wen

Publication Date:  March 2, 2021 Format:  Audio Genre:   Ghosts Narrators:  Seth Numrich Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Audio Length:   6 hours 32 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis SOMETIMES GROWING UP    MEANS FACING YOUR DEMONS   The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.  Review:  Part of the Hard Case Crime books -  Hard Case C

Publication Date:  March 1 2016 Format:  Kindle Genre:   Government Social Policy Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA  Length:   400 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis What if everything you think you know about addiction is wrong? Johann Hari's journey into the heart of the war on drugs led him to ask this question--and to write the book that gave rise to his viral TED talk, viewed more than 62 million times, and inspired the feature film  The United States vs. Billie Holiday  and the documentary series  The Fix .  One of Johann Hari's earliest memories is of trying to wake up one of his relatives and not being able to. As he grew older, he realized he had addiction in his family. Confused, not knowing what to do, he set out and traveled over 30,000 miles over three years to discover what really causes addiction--and what really sol

Publication Date:  January 26, 2023 Format:  Kindle Genre:   Dark Romance  Publisher:  Self published  Length:   312 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Paperback Synopsis I've been kidnapped by a dangerous man, and am being used as collateral while my father comes up with the funds to pay off his debt (sadly not the worst thing he’s ever done although it’s up there), and if he doesn't come up with the cash soon I'll be auctioned off to the highest bidder. In the meantime, four gorgeous men are tasked with keeping me in their control and protecting me, and they take their role very seriously. Zeke, Skyler, Dom and Rake— they grew up on this island and are in charge of protecting its various interests. They’re used to being in control of everything here. Including the surf. But

  Publication Date:  February 7, 2023 Format:  Kindle Genre:   Horror  Publisher:  Gallery Saga Press Length:   461 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis December 12, 2019, Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to  My Heart Is a Chainsaw  from  New York Times  best-selling author Stephen Graham Jones. Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted serial killer Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for 38 Dakota men hanged in 186

  Publication Date:  February 7, 2023 Format:  Audio Genre:   Supernatural, ghosts Narrators:  Adam Lazarre-White Publisher:  Macmillan Audio  Length:   11 hours 15 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money—it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you. When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haun

Publication Date:  March 2, 2021 Format:  Audio Genre:   Supernatural, ghosts Narrators:  Reba Buhr Publisher:  Scholastic Audio  Length:   5 hours 36 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis Where there are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows....  Unless it's the other way around?  Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting thing down. After all, she and her ghost best friend, Jacob, have survived two haunted cities while traveling for her parents' TV show.  But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans, which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve. In a city of ghost tours and tombs, raucous music and all kinds of magic, Cass could get lost in all the colorful, grisly local legends. And the city's biggest surprise is a foe Cass never expected to face: a ser

Publication Date:  October 21, 2014 Format:  Audio Genre:   Horror, Dark Fantasy Narrators:  Jeff Cummings Publisher:  Brilliance Audio  Length:   6 hours 52 min Buy:  Kindle  |  Audio Synopsis The dark history of Spring House, a beautifully restored plantation mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans, has long been forgotten. But something sinister lurks beneath the soil of the old estate.  After heiress and current owner Caitlin Chaisson is witness to her husband’s stunning betrayal at her birthday party, she tries to take her own life in the mansion’s cherished gazebo. Instead, the blood she spills awakens dark forces in the ground below. Chaos ensues and by morning her husband has vanished without a trace and his mistress has gone

Publication Date:  February 14, 2023 Format:  Kindle Genre:   Assassination Thriller  Publisher:  Minotaur Books Length:   347 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Audiobook Synopsis As a child, Evan Smoak was plucked out of a group home, raised and trained as an off-the-books assassin for the government as part of the Orphan program. When he broke with the program and went deep underground, he left with a lot of secrets in his head that the government would do anything to make sure never got out.  When he remade himself as The Nowhere Man, dedicated to helping the most desperate in their times of trouble, Evan found himself slowly back on the government's radar. Having eliminated most of the Orphans in the program, the government will stop at nothing to eliminate the threat they see in Evan. But Orphan X has always been several steps ahead of h

Publication Date:  November 18, 2019 Format:  Paperback Genre:   Horror  Publisher:  Poisoned Pen Press  Length:   298 pages Buy:  Kindle  |  Paperback Synopsis Clare remembers the cold. She remembers abandoned cars and children's toys littered across the road. She remembers dark shapes in the snow and a terror she can't explain. And then... nothing. When she wakes, aching and afraid in a stranger's gothic home, he tells her she was in an accident, a crash in the snow. He claims he saved her. Clare wants to leave, but a vicious snowstorm has blanketed the world in white, trapping them together, and there's nothing she can do but wait. At least the stranger seems kind... but Clare doesn't know if she can trust him. He promi